DISCLAIMER: I do not own Mai HiME, to all you lawyers out there who read fanfiction.
A/N: I had a poll in my profile to write a short oneshot for the pairing that was most voted, and ShizNat won soooo here's a story! At the moment it's a oneshot, see if you like the idea of this whole budding childhood friendship thingo and lemme know if you want it to be more than a oneshot.
Cheers!
Shizuru gave a shriek of laughter as a particularly large wave swept over their sandcastle, reducing it to no more than a pile of lumpy sand which Reito was quick to mush apart as he raked his fingers through it messily.
"Let's build it again, Shizuru-san!"
The eight year old Shizuru giggled a bit as she reached up and pulled a strand of her out of her eyes, the salty wind throwing her long tawny locks about the place. Glancing beyond Reito and at the tossing waves of the ocean, she felt an odd flutter as her sight rested on a child playing in the shallow water, bobbing up and down on the waves as she watched Shizuru and Reito on the beach. Each and every time Shizuru looked over at the lone girl, she was looking back at them with sparkling green eyes.
Shizuru thought she looked lonely. She didn't seem to have any friends here, and looked like the type who was too shy to make any on her own.
Turning back to face the young boy in front of her, she found that Reito had followed her gaze and was peering over at the dark-haired girl also.
"She's swimming here again?"
Absently humming a confirmation, Shizuru pushed her hand into the soggy sand as she began scooping up another large mound; the basis of their castle. Reito shook his head exasperatedly and turned back, the girl in the water quickly forgotten as he too began shaping their new project. After a moment of silence, Shizuru spoke up.
"Should we invite her to play too, Reito-san?"
The young boy made a face as he continued dumping handfuls of sand onto the half-formed castle.
"Mah, Shizuru-san, you always want to invite other girls to play with us. And besides, that one is a weirdo."
Pouting a bit at her friend's words, it took a mere few moments of deliberation before Shizuru called out to the other girl anyway. She was Shizuru Fujino - she did what she wanted, when she wanted. Regardless of Reito's opinion. Besides, he was a boy anyway.
"Gokigenyou, swimmer-san! Won't you come and play with us? We are building a sandcastle!"
Waving her arm at the girl who sat a little away in the water, Shizuru pursed her lips when she saw the other give a bit of a start and, blushing, ducked under the water and swam a bit further out. Reito sighed as he muttered to Shizuru.
"Told you so. She's a loner."
Shizuru watched as the girl quickly surfaced again a little further down the beach, sitting on one of the large, flat rocks that fringed the shore in clusters along the private beach. The beach itself was reserved for employees of the F.S.C, the large and somewhat powerful company that Shizuru's father was an important executive of. Reito's father, too, was one of the higher-ups within the corporation.
It was common for Shizuru to see other children playing on the beach while their parents attended conferences in the nearby function building, but Shizuru couldn't quite recall seeing the shy girl at any of the previous family mixers. Which was odd, seeing as Shizuru usually had a knack for remembering the faces of cute girls. When she had asked her father about it, he said that the girl may be a child of a new employee.
The girl in question, sitting on the submerged rock as the waves lapped at her stomach, once again glanced back over at the pair on the beach. Before embarrassingly turning away again when she found Shizuru staring at her.
Shizuru stood up, dusting loose grains of white out of her lap and the ones that had clung to her swimsuit. Reito shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked up at her.
"Where are you going, Shizuru-san? You know your father said to stay on the beach until he gets back."
"Ara, I'm just going to go and talk to that girl. I think she has no friends."
"That's because she doesn't come near anyone! We've seen her here for the last week and she never once came over and so much as greeted us!"
Shizuru shot her friend an amused look as she rubbed a bare shoulder that was glowing pink from the sun.
"I will be back shortly, Reito-san. I do not like the thought of that girl being so lonely out there when she can be over here playing with us."
And with that, the young Fujino trotted off down the beach and stood at the shore a few metres before the dark-haired girl. Surprisingly, she didn't try to move away or ignore Shizuru. Instead, she just glanced up nervously before averting her eyes and twisting her fingers on the rock she was sitting on. Shizuru daintily dipped one toe into the lapping waves, testing it's temperature before wading in and sitting herself down on the rock next to the girl with raven tresses that were dipping into the water.
Shizuru smiled warmly at the shy girl.
"Gokigenyou."
".... You already said that."
Her voice was quiet, and soft, and it delighted Shizuru.
So she speaks after all!
Granted, it was more of a mumble, but nonetheless she had initiated conversation. Shizuru giggled a bit as she pretended to smack herself in the head.
"Ah, that is true. But since swimmer-san did not answer me the first time, I figured that she didn't hear me."
The other girl finally turned her gaze away from the sparkles on the tips of the waves and met Shizuru's kind one.
"I heard you. I didn't know what to say back."
Shizuru, feeling relaxed now in her element of befriending (Read: Charming) other young ladies, bit back another chuckle at Natsuki's awkwardness.
"Swimmer-san seems incredibly shy... Has she no friends here?"
Shizuru felt a little twinge of sympathy when the girl shook her head no. Leaning back on her hands to look up and watch the seagulls swooping high up above them, Shizuru let out a loud and deliberate sigh which startled the other girl just a bit.
"Araaa, here is a girl trying to be friends with swimmer-san and she does not even know her name!"
"Well, it's certainly not 'swimmer-san.'"
"Then what is the name, may I ask?"
Shizuru, watching the girl fidget nervously, decided to share her own formalities first in the hopes of making her obviously uncomfortable companion relax a little in her presence.
"My name is Shizuru. My father works for the company. What's your name?"
".... Natsuki."
Shizuru smiled genuinely at the girl's admission.
Natsuki... what a nice name.
"Nice to meet you, Natsuki." Shizuru chirped, testing the feel of the girl's name on her tongue. Natsuki herself just nodded gruffly - So shy, Shizuru mused - and reached a hand up to smooth her long hair back over her shoulder.
Shizuru decided to cut right to the chase, and the ask the question that was the main reason for her coming over here.
"Why does Natsuki not join our games when the other children invite her over?"
The girl, Natsuki, blinked green eyes twice before lowering her head and peering down into the water as she answered Shizuru's question.
"My mother tells me it's not right to approach strangers."
"Ah, my mother tells me that also, but then Natsuki speaks to me so why not the other children?"
"You approached me, I didn't approach you."
Shizuru let out an amused breath as she regarded the girl who now eyed her defiantly and with a hint of accusation.
"Ara, my point still remains. Usually Natsuki would shy away if someone approached her, why does she talk to just me?"
The indignant look on the girl's face melted into hesitation as her ears burned red. So cute! Shizuru inwardly squealed.
After a few moments of silence, Natsuki relented.
"I, uh, like the way you speak. It's.... different."
"Ah! So Natsuki enjoys the sound of my voice, hm?"
"Y-yes, it sounds... nice."
Shizuru, ego swelling as it so often secretly does whenever girls compliment her, let out a bright and cheery smile as she cocked her head to the side.
"Well that's okay, I like Natsuki's voice too. But foremost, I like Natsuki's appearance!"
"What?!"
Suddenly looking panicked, Natsuki turned a shade of red that made her look as though she'd baked in the sun all day as she stared at Shizuru in bewilderment.
"Shizu - uh, girls can't say that to each other!"
"Oh? And why not?"
"Shizuru.... Because!."
Shizuru couldn't hold back her laughter as the girl stressed her last word, trying to convey her meaning without actually saying it aloud. Deciding to spare her embarrassed new friend the torment, Shizuru waved her hand dismissively.
"Yes, yes, I know. Only boys can say that girls are pretty, no?"
Natsuki nodded weakly, leaving Shizuru to laugh quietly again. As they both sat there, side-by-side and half-covered by the waves that softly washed past their hips and midriffs, Shizuru could definitely feel the other girl gradually adjusting to her presence and relaxing more.
So Reito-san was wrong after all.... Natsuki isn't weird, she is simply shy and lonely.
Rolling her head to the side, Shizuru looked at Natsuki through curious wine-coloured eyes as she heard Natsuki stutter out a quiet sentence.
"I-I... think you're pretty too, Shizuru."
"Ara?"
"Like your voice, you're... different. Gah!"
Natsuki twisted her fingers into the hair on her scalp, frustrated that she couldn't express her meaning any clearer to the tawny-haired girl other than the word "different."
"What I mean, Shizuru, is... Um... Well, you seem like you're more, uh, refined than the other ones."
Natsuki glanced up worriedly at Shizuru's giggling.
"What? Was refined the wrong word?"
Shizuru bit her lip as she tried to cease her giggling, thinking Natsuki was entirely too adorable in her confusion and embarrassment.
"Refined is okay... I think you're meaning that I act more ladylike than most girls my age, no?"
"Yes, that's it!" Natsuki spoke excitedly, glad that Shizuru had caught onto her meaning and not taken it the wrong way. Natsuki had trouble speaking to people, after all.
Shizuru smiled as she lifted her toes out of the water, splashing the water at her feet while Natsuki watched the action, entranced.
"I am from Kyoto, you see. It is custom to act very polite there."
"Kyoto? Where's that?"
Shizuru dropped her feet back into the water and eyed Natsuki with a little bit of disbelief, the girl having turned her gaze back to her when Shizuru stopped splashing.
"It is the most historically rich place in all of Japan. You don't know of it?"
Natsuki shook her head, a quizzical expression on her face. Shizuru smiled exasperatedly.
"Well, perhaps it is understandable for Natsuki not to know it... however, I would very much like to take Natsuki to my home there one day."
Natsuki was taken aback as Shizuru reached into the water and grasped her hand, lifting it out and holding their conjoined hands up between them.
"Because, Natsuki is my new friend!"
Green eyes looked stunned, confused and happy all at once.
"I'm... your friend?"
"That is right, and therefore it is only right for you to visit me, yes?"
Natsuki let out a sound of hollow laughter as she shook her head.
"Well, I don't think I can ever visit you, but at least I can see you every summer time when all the children meet here right?"
Shizuru pouted a little, but soon replaced it with a sunny smile as she nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes, and we can play together too, right?"
Natsuki, feeling warm and fuzzy as the knowledge of her first friendship registered, nodded excitedly herself as she grinned back.
"And when we get older, Natsuki can be my girlfriend!"
Choking on the air, Natsuki flailed about in the water for a few seconds like an injured fish as Shizuru laughed and put an arm around the girl's neck.
"Ah, Natsuki, no need to be so shy."
And, leaning forward, the young Fujino planted a kiss on her new friend's flaming cheek. Natsuki sunk a bit further into the water, blowing bubbles as her face dipped underneath up to her nose in her effort to hide her embarrassment. Well, blush.
Laughing happily, with one arm angled awkwardly still around the submerged girl's shoulders, Shizuru pulled her friend back out of the water and withdrew her arm. Natsuki, shoulders hunched and eyes fixed on the water, let out a barely-audible murmur.
"Girls are supposed to have boyfriends..."
Reaching a hand up to poke Natsuki delicately on the nose, making her turn and smile shyly, Shizuru was about to tease her friend a little further on the subject when a loud voice stole her attention away.
"Shizuru-chan!"
Sitting straighter and raising her chin to try and see over the tops of the sand dunes a bit better, Shizuru searched for the source of her father's voice. A distant figure approaching the shoreline was soon within view as Shizuru felt dismay flood her. She had to go home.
Natsuki glanced at her sadly as Shizuru sighed, beginning to slide off the rock and stand up in the chest-deep water as her father made his way towards them from the other side of the beach.
I guess I won't be seeing Natsuki again until next summer...
Lost in her thoughts, Shizuru was jolted from her mind's rambling as she registered a pair of wet lips pressed to her cheek briefly, before Natsuki pulled back and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment as she peered at a surprised Shizuru through lowered lashes.
"I have to go now, Shizuru, before he gets here. I'll see you here next time, then... a-and I'll be sure to play with you that time! Because..."
Here, she dropped her gaze to the water for a second before glancing back up.
"... Because you're my friend, Shizuru."
The two girls smiled at each other, the moment only broken when the voice of Shizuru's father - now considerably closer - called out again in their direction.
"Bye, Shizuru."
And with a flick of her tail and a shimmer of scales, Natsuki had disappeared once again into the water. Watching for any sign of the girl, Shizuru's attention was taken from the ocean when her father finally made his way over to her.
"Shizuru-chan, I thought I told you to stay on the beach. It's too dangerous to go swimming without an adult."
Shizuru waded towards the shore, stepping into the fluffy purple towel that her father held out for her. Wrapping it around herself, Shizuru piped up as father and daughter began walking back up the dunes.
"But father, I was with Natsuki! And she's a very good swimmer!"
Fujino Tousane glanced down at his young daughter with a quizzical expression.
"Natsuki? I thought it was only you and Kanzaki-kun out here today."
Shizuru huffed, pouting at her father as she looked up at him.
"She's that girl I told you about, the one who lives in the water!"
The man chuckled, his deep voice sounding amused as he affectionately mussed his daughter's hair.
"I keep telling you, sweetheart, mermaids don't exist."
"Shows how much you know! As a matter of fact, I've promised to meet her here again next year. She's very shy, but perhaps I can convince her to say hello to you when I next see her, father."
"Ara ara, sounds interesting..."
Shizuru's thoughts remained on the dark-haired girl as the pair trekked back towards their holiday condo where the car was already packed and ready to head back into Kyoto.
I'll be counting down the months until I can see you again, Natsuki...
Wooo, see that one coming? Probably, I wasn't too subtle about it ;)
Why'd I rate it T? I dunno, but let's just pretend it's necessary m'kay... K or K+ seems childish, ya know?
Was meant to be a oneshot, but I can add another chapter of their next meeting if you like? Or even a chapter of them meeting when they're a lot older, eh? That way, I can write some interspecies romance, hahaaa~ :P
Please review and let me know if you'd like that, or you'd like this to remain a oneshot, or you didn't like it at all!