The Perfect Date
By: Guubear
Disclaimer: I don't own, you don't sue.
Before we start:
This story is dedicated to my wonderful girlfriend, Jenny.
Chapter 1: Premonition of Doom
Natsuki spent an insane amount of time in front of a bathroom mirror this morning. She brushed her teeth twice and tried on eight sets of different clothes but still she was not satisfied. Eyeing herself critically through the mirror, Natsuki finally put down the hairbrush with a sigh. She gave up.
Honestly, Natsuki had no idea how to make herself more appealing, not that she was completely satisfied with her appearance at the moment. Shouldn't all the female species be born equipped with the innate knowledge of how to make one attractive to one's potential mate? How come she didn't seem to have that kind of instinct? Sighing again for the umpteenth time since this morning, Natsuki patted away the imaginary dust on her black jeans and smoothed her white hoodie before donning a blue winter coat. Relax, she told herself. It's only a date. We've been on plenty of dates already. Relax.
"Damn it!" Natsuki cursed and opened up her clenched fists. A wave of tingling coldness rolled over her palms as a layer of glistening sweat quickly moistened her shaky hands. What the hell am I so nervous for? She huffed in frustration and shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat as if to hide the evidence of her distress. It's only a… Her thought was abruptly cut off as her fingers felt the velvet surface of 'the thing' in her pocket.
A freaking important date.
A surge of giddiness flooded over her mind; Natsuki jerked her hands out of the pockets and checked her watch. It was still way too early, but she decided it was about time for her to leave – any more waiting around at home would drive her crazy.
Shizuru was in a very good mood, but the fact that today was her twenty-first birthday had little to do with her high spirit. Since Shizuru knew her shy girlfriend so well, she could tell from Natsuki's subtle body language that the girl had something special planned weeks before the actual date. She wasn't so clear on the details, but she knew it must be something really important to the girl. After all, she hadn't seen Natsuki so twitchy in a long while.
Looking out the windows from her dorm room, Shizuru almost squealed in adoration when she saw the raven-haired girl leaning against her bike while tapping her foot nervously outside – the girl was over an hour early for their date. Shizuru quickly put on a brown coat and ran out to meet her date; she didn't want Natsuki to wait alone in the cold.
Natsuki was so immersed in her own thoughts she didn't notice Shizuru sneaking up on her.
"Is Natsuki planning on taking me to the amusement park on her Ducati?" Shizuru's voice made the biker jump in surprise. Natsuki whipped around and glared at the Kyoto-born. Shizuru smiled brightly at Natsuki's scowl and continued: "It's freezing. The weather forecast said it's going to snow later this evening. We don't have to go out for our date, you know. We could just…" She pushed forward and put her hands on Natsuki's rear, squeezing it gently. "Stay in."
"I already got us tickets. It's a waste not to use them." Natsuki blushed darkly as she pried her girlfriend's grabby hands away from her butt. "I swear… You are turning into a lecherous old man, Shizuru."
"Ara."
"But you're right. It's too cold to ride on a bike now." Natsuki quickly scanned Shizuru's attire and frowned a bit to herself. The Kyoto-born looked as beautiful as ever in that cream-coloured sweater and full-length lilac skirt. The brown coat Shizuru was wearing looked good on her, but it wasn't nearly thick enough for Natsuki's liking. "Are you sure you're warm enough? Do you want to change into a thicker jacket? Why are you wearing skirt in this kind of weather?"
"I'm fine." Shizuru chuckled as she attached herself on Natsuki's arm. "I'm sure Natsuki will keep me warm. Since the amusement park is not so far from here, we could just walk. This way we wouldn't be cold, wouldn't Natsuki agree?"
Natsuki thought for a second and nodded. "At least go grab a scarf from your room before we go," she added.
Shizuru beamed.
The deep frown on Haruka's face was enough to let the most clueless fellow know that the third year university student was in a very foul mood.
If there was one person who would understand why Haruka was so pissed, that person would be Yukino – she was not only the angry blonde's best friend and girlfriend, she herself was also in the same lousy position Haruka was in at the moment.
"Would it kill you to stay back just a little bit?" Haruka spun around on her heels to bark at Chie and Aoi, the two ace reporters from Fuuka University's student newspaper "Fuuka Weekly." As much as Haruka wanted to snatch away their blasted camera phones and stomp on them until they were nothing but a million tiny pieces of unrecognizable smithereens, she couldn't.
Chie grinned charmingly at the Executive Director of Fuuka University's Student Council and replied coolly. "Relax, Haruka-kun. We are old friends already, are we not? Try to think of this as a double date and you should feel better this way. You really should take it easy. We are in an amusement park, after all."
"Double…" Haruka almost choked on the dreaded phrase. "Now listen. I only agreed to let you nosy bunch write a special report about ME – The Great Suzushiro Haruka-sama, the most hopeful candidate for next year's Student Council President Election. Do you really have to follow me all the way to my DATE? The nerve of you people!"
"To see the greatness in a person, the most effective way is to observe the person's private life." Aoi said with a harmless smile.
"Ha! According to which dumb ass?" Haruka snorted.
Aoi shrugged with the most airy expression on her innocent face. "Beats me."
Haruka felt like pulling all her hair out in frustration.
Just when they were still in the middle of a conversation (albeit pointless), Chie suddenly squeaked in suppressed excitement and jerked her head away to stare intensely at something, someone, faraway. "Hold on a second… What do we have here?" Chie pushed her glasses up a bit with a finger and squinted before she let out a gleeful laugh. "Who would've guessed - it's Kaichou-san and Natsuki-kun!"
"Now that explains everything!" Mai gasped loudly. Her outburst made everyone in Linden Baum stare at the busty waitress awkwardly.
Mikoto raised her curious golden eyes up from her giant bowl of ramen and looked at her private cook with great interest.
"Natsuki lied to me about being too sick to come to the karaoke party so she could go on a secret date with Kaichou-san! I KNEW there was something fishy about that. She's sturdy as a horse!" Aware of being stared at, Mai lowered her voice as much as she could and squealed excitedly into her cellphone. "I can't believe this! She could've just told me the truth! I am her best friend for crying out loud! Oh I'm so happy for her! I wish I could see the look on her face right now. Going on a secret date… That's so cute!"
"You can, you know." Nao's sweet voice came through Mai's cellphone like a devil's whisper. "If you come to the front gate of Fuuka Fun Land right now…"
Tempting.
Natsuki couldn't shake the feeling of having many pairs of eyes boring into her back.
Then again, she suspected she was just being paranoid. She knew she was way too nervous for her own good today, so it was highly unlikely she was actually being watched.
"Ara, is there anything wrong?" Shizuru asked and squeezed Natsuki's hand gently. She noticed her girlfriend had been unusually jumpy since morning. It was probably because the girl wasn't comfortable with public displays of affection yet… Shizuru glanced over their clasping hands and felt the corner of her lips twitch upward into an indulgent smile.
Natsuki was an intensely private person. So it was considered very brave for the shy girl to willingly hold hands with Shizuru in front of so many people.
"Nothing. I'm just…" Natsuki shook her head lightly in an attempt to clear her thoughts. "Hey, let's go ride that." She pointed at Fuuka Fun Land's infamous wooden roller coaster "Doomtrain" excitedly, but her face soon fell when she saw the enormous line-up for the ride.
"Let's go to other rides first. Maybe the line wouldn't be so long during lunch hours." Shizuru suggested.
"But, but, but… That's the Doomtrain we are talking about. Do you have any idea how wild that ride is? The line won't get any shorter!"
Shizuru couldn't help but giggle at Natsuki's response. "Natsuki likes everything that moves fast, doesn't she?"
"It's not just the speed. It's the ride, I tell ya." Natuski stressed with her arms flinging around to demonstrate her point. "The cart would shake violently from side to side whenever it turns. And every time it plunges down a steep slope, you would actually be lifted off the seat. Isn't it totally awesome?"
Shizuru raised an eyebrow when she notice how the biker's brilliant green eyes glazed over as the girl described the adrenalin machine's capabilities in fervours. Strangely enough, she couldn't help but being sucked in by Natsuki's enthusiasm. "If Natsuki likes it so much, maybe we should give it a try."
"We really should. You'll definitely like it!" Natsuki grinned happily at the Kyoto-born.
"Did you see that? They are going to ride on the Doomtrain." Nao said to Mai and Mikoto with much amusement in her voice. "How simple minded, that wild dog. Going on a thrill ride with her date? That's so last century."
Mai carefully poked her flaming red head out from behind a role of neatly trimmed hedge to take a good look at Natsuki and Shizuru from afar. "Really? I think it's rather cute. See? Natsuki is smiling so much. Look! They're holding hands!" She squealed like a little girl.
Mikoto thought for a few seconds and grabbed Mai's breasts. "These feel better than hands. Natsuki should hold Shizuru's boobies."
"Mikoto! Not in public!" Mai yelped and swatted the feral girl's grabby paws away.
"Tell me, Mikoto-chan, what other body parts does Tokiha let you touch at home?" Nao asked with her shiny green eyes filled with mischievous glints.
"Nao!"
"Was it me, or did you hear someone yelling that redhead delinquent's name?" Haruka paused in her track and looked around curiously.
Yukino shook her head. "Sorry, Haruka-chan, but I didn't hear anything."
"It's probably just your imagination, Haruka-kun." Chie pushed her glasses up and mused, "Hmm… interesting. It looks like Kaichou-san and Natsuki-kun are getting on the roller coaster."
Haruka firmly grabbed Yukino's hand with a triumphant grin. "We must get on that ride too. What's that called… Doomtrain? Come, Yukino. Let's hurry!"
"Doom… Doomtrain?!" Yukino squeaked.
Mai, Mikoto, and Nao successfully snuck into the tiny control room for Doomtrain without attracting too much attention.
"Tell me again, why are we here?" Mai asked in a hushed tone while looking around nervously.
"We're here to help Kuga with her date, of course." Nao stated matter-of-factly.
"How are we going to help her by knocking out and tying up the poor park staff who is responsible for controlling the ride?" Mai pointed at the unconscious man lying face down on the ground and snapped at the redhead. If Mai had known Nao would whack the guy over the head when he saw them approaching the control room, she wouldn't have agreed to come take a closer look.
Mikoto squatted down near the poor guy and poked the unmoving man with a finger. "Is he dead?" She asked innocently.
"No one's dead. Men are like cockroaches. You can stomp on them and tear their furry little limbs apart and they'll still crawl around quite vigorously."
Mai made a disgusted face at Nao's vivid descriptions. "Enough with the cockroach talk, please. What are we going to do now? Let's get out of here before people see us!"
Nao let out a soft chuckle. "Didn't I tell you we're gonna help Kuga with her date? It's quite simple, really. All we need to do is to manipulate the environment a little so they'll have as much fun as possible."
Mai gave the redhead a dubious look. "Hai? What exactly are you planning?"
"Oh, that's easy. We'll just have to crank up the speed of this thing so it would be more exciting…"
CRACK.
"Oops." Mikoto scratched the back of her head and said with teary eyes. "Mai, what should I do? I think I broke something." She said and handed the busty girl a piece of broken pipe.
Nao and Mai exchanged a dark look…
"… Crap."
They grabbed Mikoto and bolted out of the control room.
TBC
Author's Notes:
1. Merry Christmas to you all!
2. "Doomtrain" is one of the Guardian Forces from Final Fantasy VIII. I think it's a cool name for a roller coaster.
3. Thanks Dr. Leebot for his speedy beta work! Please read and review.