Thank you all those who read, reviewed, placed my stories on their favorites/alerts, means a lot to me. Sorry for not updating my other story but I will soon. Some of you have asked for a sequel in my previous one-shot, at first I was against it but I had this idea the other night and here it is...
A/N: The paragraphs/dialogues in Italic are referred to the past. I tried to keep the grammatical/syntax errors at minimum, but betaing yourself is always hard. R/R and enjoy :)
Natsuki woke up and fidgeted in her seat. She checked her clock, only a couple of hours more. She sighed heavily and looked at the person beside her, the red-haired girl still was sleeping peacefully. She mumbled something unintelligent and picked her ipod, some music would help her relax and forget about the remaining hours of flight. It was amazing how her mind could wander with music. Sometimes she would let herself get lost in an advanced state of daydreaming where she could be anybody and have anything the way she wanted it and others she would let her mind roam to the current situation of her life, think, analyze, construct, relieve herself from all fears and doubts and come out strong.
It didn't take long for the music to fill her ears and soothe her body. She soon sunk in her seat and let her mind stroll to whatever path it chose. Her thoughts went back one and a half year ago, when Nao came to visit her and Mai. The fiery red-head girl was so vivid, so excited that day, Natsuki had never seen her like that. On the other hand it was the day when Natsuki's world almost crumbled to pieces for a second time. Nao had visited that day to announce to both of them that she's moving to Europe for further studies.
***
"London baby!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to London!!" she kept yelling while making a silly dance.
Mai jumped to hug and join her on that silly dance the moment she heard. Natsuki on the other hand was shocked or rather devastated, she had been waiting to hear that. She always knew about Nao's obsession with Europe, she knew her light green-eyed friend wanted to travel abroad, LIVE abroad. Somehow she knew that this trip wouldn't be only an one-two years studying abroad, it would be something more permanent and the sadness and despair that started filling her chest prevented the emotions of joy and happiness for her friend's future to surface. She tried not to show anything, yet she cried on Mai's arms the moment Nao left. The departure of Chie and Aoi a few months before that had cost her as well, but this was Nao. The person she considered a sister, along with Mai.
The month that followed after Nao's announcement was hell for Natsuki, she had been trying to hide her sadness for her friend, while helping her pack for her new future. Mai wasn't talking to her much about this either, she was always excited around Nao and kept saying how much she and Natsuki are going to visit but the moment they got home that subject was a forbidden area, even when Natsuki was trying to talk about it and rationalize her fears Mai was changing the subject.
Natsuki shifted in her seat and checked the red-head beside her one more time. Mai was a total mess while sleeping, disheveled hair, mouth agape. She smirked and closed her eyes again to let it continue the trip to her past.
The day they were driving Nao to the airport was one of the worse in her life. The agony and distress she was feeling reminded her of that day back in high-school, when her heart broke for the first time. She was trying hard to conceal the sorrow she was feeling. Her emotions were definitely on a roller-coaster. Sadness for the loss of her friend, anxiety for her and her friend's future, vexation for the fact that Nao didn't seem to acknowledge her distress those months, happiness, joy, excitement because Nao was chasing her dreams. Loneliness.
When they got home she had crushed on the couch, exhausted. She couldn't remember when was the last time she felt so tired, so drained. Mai had been silent on their way home, she hadn't uttered a single word, to which Natsuki was thankful but also suspicious. She had been expecting Mai to say something when they arrived home, to tell her to suck it up and get over it, that it wasn't the end of the world, that they would work something out, that Nao won't disappear from her life. Yet the only thing Mai said was to go to bed. Natsuki arched her eyebrow in annoyance.
"I'll go when I feel like it." she answered.
"Fine, go when you feel like it, but I'm waking you up at 9am tomorrow" Mai replied.
Her annoyance building up.
"Why the hell are you gonna wake me at nine? We aren't working tomorrow"
"No we aren't, but we have class" said Mai nonchalantly.
"Eh? Class? Seriously are you on crack? We graduated two years ago, what kind of class can we possibly have?" Natsuki was starting to get really annoyed, she had raised from her seat and had been clenching her fists hard.
Mai noticed the change in Natsuki's demeanor. She smiled and walked towards her dark-haired friend. She tenderly cupped Natsuki's cheeks. Natsuki made to get free but Mai hold her still and forced her to look into her eyes.
"Natsuki..."she spoke with so much love in her voice. "Seriously, do you believe that Nao hadn't realized your sadness and distress about her departure?"
Natsuki blinked, she didn't know what to say. She thought Nao was oblivious about her distress, not because she wasn't a good friend but because she was really excited about her new future.
She just nodded shyly, lowering her gaze.
"Silly Natsuki...you aren't good at hiding your emotions from people they don't know you that well and you believed you could fool Nao? I sometimes think she knows you even better than I do, since she's almost like you only not that...naive" concluded Mai with giggles.
Natsuki lifted her gaze back to Mai and furrowed her eyebrows. "Your idea of comforting someone is by insulting them?" she asked, annoyance building up again.
Mai released her friend's face and threw her head back to chuckle. Natsuki crossed her arms in her chest and let a faint growl escape her throat.
"You were getting somewhere Mai? What does all that have to do with that supposed class in the morning?"
Mai placed a hand on her lips to help her laughs subside. She cleared her throat and nodded seriously.
"As I was saying, Nao knew you won't be happy with her leaving for Europe. Even though you knew someday this will happen. She kept mentioning how much she wants to leave Japan to you to get familiar with the idea..."
"Yea...I know...I just didn't think she...not so fast...I don't know! I never thought of it seriously!" Natsuki almost yelled defensively.
"Yea, yea..." Mai moved her hands up and down in a calming manner. "I knew about Nao's plans months before she came to tell us" Natsuki opened her mouth to retort to that but Mai halted her by raising her palm towards her.
"Let me finish. As soon as she knew when she would be done with classes, she formed her application, when she got accepted she told me. I was really excited about her. She was extremely worried about you. I thought you will be fine, you were worried about Chie and Aoi as well but we have contact on a daily basis, we have plans to visit them already so Nao's departure won't scare you that much. She kept saying that her departure will be a totally different matter for you and that you will feel abandoned."
Mai paused to look at Natsuki, the dark-haired girl had hung her head but Mai knew it wasn't from embarrassment or anything, she was trying to hide the tears forming in her eyes.
"I told you she sometimes knows you better than I do. So...yea we needed time before she told you. A plan...and I came up with something which I believe you will find very interesting and fascinating...once you get over the initial shock..." Mai paused again, Natsuki had lifted her head to eye Mai, her eyebrow raised.
The purple-eyed girl cleared her throat. "I told you I was excited about Nao going to Europe as well, I was excited since Chie and Aoi left and I was thinking it for a while, but at first I didn't believe you will agree...But when Nao broke the news of leaving as well, I thought that this is the chance to convince you also..." The dark-haired girl was really curious now, she couldn't think were was Mai getting at with this prologue.
"I talked with Nao about this, she was sure it would work...so umm...you know I take lessons as a chef...and cuisine management and I know you like music...a lot!" The emerald, green-eyed girl nodded, she had no idea of what was coming.
"Well, my courses are almost done and...since I want to work on that as a future career I thought to expand my studies and get previous employment in the best place possible for that subject...and that place also happens to be one of the best to practice and start a career on the kind of music you are working at...so I send our resumes to the appropriate people and some samples of your music and we got accepted. But we need some kind of preparation so...we have French class tomorrow."
Natsuki who had been listening to Mai dumbfounded blinked twice, as soon as the red-head's words sunk in she opened her mouth to speak.
"Wait...what? French? No...no...what the...Paris? Mai! PARIS?!"
Mai smiled sheepishly and presented an opened letter to Natsuki, it was from a record company, the one Mai sent Natsuki's music samples. They wanted to work with the dark-haired girl.
Natsuki read the letter in silence, happiness, confusion and some panic started to fill her heart.
"Paris?!" she exclaimed again.
"Around two hours from London and four hours from Amsterdam, Natsuki. Close to all your dear friends!"
Natsuki fell on the couch again her arms hanging idly, she was still shocked.
Mai tapped her chin. "Right, so you should go to sleep. Classes start tomorrow, we have almost a year of preparation before leaving, tomorrow you have to contact the company, they gave you a year to prepare for an album. Goodnight!" she turned and headed to her room before Natsuki was able to answer.
The dark-haired girl stayed there silent, she wanted to scream from the shock, the joy, she didn't know. In the last twenty-four hours the foundation of her every day routine had been altered completely. She didn't sleep that night, all the new information, the future prospects unfolding in her head kept her awake.
***
Natsuki opened her eyes, Mai had shifted in her sleep. She withdrew the earphones to hear the stewardess announcing to fasten their seat-belts for the landing. She nudged Mai waking her up. The red-head grumbled and opened her sleepy eyes, when her gaze fell outside the window and saw the city's lights illuminating Paris from above she jumped on her seat completely awake. Natsuki grinned and reprimanded her to buckle up.
Around two and a half hours later they were outside their apartment. Rue Réaumur, right in the center of Paris. Fortunately the apartment was furnished, they only had to bring their cloths. Just a small amount till they get settled, the rest would be sent by Natsuki's mother within the next week. Natsuki inserted the code for the entrance door to open, they walked inside and headed for the stairs.
"Three floors, no elevator...splendid" she sighed and started climbing the stairs. Mai giggled and followed her.
***
Several months have passed since the two friends had moved to Paris. Life was starting to form some kind of routine, which didn't bother the them at all. They have settled well in their new apartment, which was quite small but had all the wanted comforts. Mai's whining for the petit kitchen hadn't seized at all in those weeks but Natsuki had managed to ignore it completely, she knew that her red-haired friend would only be satisfied if she could turn their whole apartment into a kitchen. And chances were that she wouldn't be satisfied with that either.
They were familiar with most of Paris regions now. For Mai things were going great. She was taking further classes regarding French and general European cuisine, she was top of her class. And due to her origin and her teachers' connections she managed to get a job at a very nice Japanese cuisine restaurant close to their place and Ile de la Cité. Things weren't going bad for Natsuki either, the music album she presented to the company made the producers thrilled. Her days were mostly full with recording and her weekends were busy as she was playing as a Dj in various clubs around the city. Furthermore, they had everyday contact with their friends Nao, Chie and Aoi. The three of them were about visit the upcoming week for Natsuki's first album presentation party.
***
Mai opened the apartment door and stormed to Natsuki's bedroom. She spotted her dark-haired friend and lunged in her arms.
"Natsuki!" Natsuki felt the air leave her lungs and stumbled from the force of the impact but she managed to balance herself.
"What's up Mai? Everything ok?" Mai withdrew from her friend's arms and looked at her with a wide grin.
"Ok? More than OK! Everything is perfect!" Natsuki raised an eyebrow, the red-head kept grinning at her.
"Well…?" Mai chuckled and jumped on Natsuki's bed, arms and legs sprawled.
"I got promoted to Commis…as in Junior Cook" she said with closed eyes, a smile of satisfaction adorning her face.
Natsuki's mouth fell agape, she knew some things from Mai about kitchen brigade and hearing this she knew this was a great promotion, for the little time that Mai had been working on the restaurant.
".god!" she exclaimed and threw herself on top of Mai hugging her, it was Mai's turn now to have the wind knocked out from her lungs. She opened her eyes to look at her friend and returned the hug. Soon both broke into giggles and started rolling on the bed.
"See, Na-tsu-ki…Paris wasn't a bad idea after all"
Natsuki smiled shyly, indeed things were going great for them. She hadn't felt so happy and fulfilled in her life since high-school.
"If you ignore the fact that my mouth muscles hurt every night when I return home, after spending the whole day speaking French…yes it's not a bad idea" she retorted in faint mock.
Mai laughed "Well maybe you need to find some occupation to relax those tense mouth muscles of yours, I heard French kissing does the trick" said the red-head while winking.
The green-eyed girl gazed Mai seriously, she lowered her head inches above her friend's face and whispered in a soft, seductive tone.
"Was that an invitation, Mai?" The red-haired froze and gulped, she opened her mouth to speak and felt her lips tremble. She was caught totally off-guard for this and didn't know what to reply.
The dark-haired saw the tension in her friend's face and decided to spare her, she raised herself and grinned smugly.
"Gotcha" she said amusingly while winking. Mai realized she got totally caught on a tease and furrowed her eyebrows. She slapped Natsuki's arm playfully and faked a pout.
"Moron!"
"So…where are we celebrating tonight?" asked Natsuki while raising herself from the bed.
"Umm…I was thinking…maybe we can celebrate my promotion the at your presentation party? I want the rest of our friends to be there as well" Natsuki grinned and nodded.
"Excellent idea. But still! I insist, we go partying tonight!"
Mai stood up as well, she neared the dark-haired girl and placed her palm on her friend's forehead. Natsuki raised an eyebrow in Mai's action.
"Just checking to see if you have a fever, you insisting on partying…You whine about clubbing even when you are working as a Dj" Natsuki growled and dismissed Mai's hand.
"As you said, when I'm working! Now it's a special occasion aaand you are my special friend aaand things are going well for us sooo I thought to bring out my cheerful side for a change" The green-eyed girl smile fondly at her friend and went to the door, she opened it and motioned for Mai to step out.
"If you don't mind I wanna get dressed, you should do the same"
Mai smiled widely and clapped her hands together, before stepping out of the room she turned to Natsuki and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Thank you" she said and walked out of the room.
***
The rest of the days passed mostly quietly. Mai was working a bit more at the restaurant now as a Junior Cook and Natsuki were preparing feverishly for her first album opening. They didn't have much of a free time, they mostly met during evenings when Natsuki was visiting Mai at her working place to have dinner and then go home together.
And with that Friday came, the day the rest of their friends would visit. Mai had work at the restaurant till late but Natsuki had all her tasks finished by noon and she was ready to pick up their friends from the airport. She had arrived half hour earlier, she was quite anxious and excited about meeting them again. She hasn't seen Nao for nearly two years and Chie and Aoi for almost three. They had been talking on a daily basis, they were even using web-cams and on-line conversations and such but it wasn't the same. She had missed the physical contact, Nao's constant teases, Chie's vulgar comments and Aoi's shyness. She couldn't wait to see her dear friends again and hug them tightly.
Chie's and Aoi's flight was the first to arrive, the moment they met all three of them sunk in a suffocating hug. Aoi kept mentioning how lively and energetic Natsuki seemed. When she had met the dark-haired girl for the first time she was acquainted by a shadow of Natsuki, an almost empty shell, utterly heart-broken. And in the years that followed, things weren't much better. Until her bike accident, since that it appeared that Natsuki was starting to heal, to forget and be able to move on. On the other hand Chie was mostly complimenting Natsuki's appearance, trying to make the dark-haired girl embarrassed with her comments but she was unsuccessful. Natsuki didn't seem to be bothered by the kinky comments, in fact she seemed to enjoy them and manage to answer back with an equal naughty comment.
"Seriously…what happened to shy, anti-social, blushing Natsuki?" said Chie in fake annoyance after the tenth time she tried to get Natsuki blush.
Natsuki and Aoi both laughed.
"I think your lines are obsolete, Chie. They only work on school-girls, don't forget I work at nights now" she answered to the short-haired while winking.
"Right, right. So you are dealing with the fan-horde every night now?"
"Yep! No more clubs and secluded places for me, I'll stick with the crowd. Plus I can always get lucky."
Chie laughed. "Did you pick a side yet or you are still playing on both fields?"
Natsuki cleared her throat, she placed her right hand on her chest and assumed a stern position. "I don't discriminate, based on gender." She said in a very serious tone right before her lips crack into a wide smile.
The three of them broke into laughs and giggles. They continued their chit-chat until the arrival of Nao's flight was announced. They walked quickly to the correct gate to be ready to welcome their third friend. Natsuki from being cheerful and playful went to anxious and jittery. She kept fidgeting and bouncing up and down on her heels while her eyes were glued to the doors, waiting to see that fiery red head she had so much missed.
It didn't take long, the moment Nao walked through the doors her light green-eyes locked with the deep emerald-colored ones. The smile that formed on the lips of both was so wide that could hurt their muscles. They both walked with large steps towards each other, never losing eye contact, never stop smiling. When they reached each other they lost themselves in an overwhelming hug. They kept hugging for several moments until they heard someone clearing her throat. They broke off the hug and turn to look the other two. Aoi hugged Nao tightly while Chie was eyeing Natsuki in question.
"What?" asked Natsuki in wonder.
"This hug seemed quite…needy, I'm surprised how the two of you aren't together yet."
"She's straight"
"She's too much like me"
Natsuki and Nao spoke simultaneously. Natsuki blinked and eyed Nao curiously. Chie laughed and Aoi exclaimed "I knew it!"
"Wait. What? When did you decide to switch sides?" asked Natsuki in shock.
"Aww, pup! I didn't actually decide to switch sides, I just thought of widening my experiences. After all I live in London!"
"So did you? When did you? Why didn't you tell me anything?
"Relax, relax, I haven't. I had been contemplating on this and decided that I wanna do it and see what all the fuss is about. Don't worry, you are the first person I thought…so if you ever want a red-haired in your bed, let me know"
Nao neared the dark-haired and run her finger along Natsuki's jawline.
"They say red-haired chicks are quite feisty in bed, if you have tried Mai you should know already" she said and pinched Natsuki's cheek playfully.
A faint pink hue appeared on Natsuki's cheeks.
"NAO!" exclaimed the dark-haired in annoyance.
"Damn, how she manages that!" wondered Chie.
Nao proceeded and hooked on of her arm under Chie's and the other under Aoi's and pushed them forward.
"I'll explain on the way home" she turned to look over her shoulder.
"Pup, get my bag please" she turned to look at Chie again.
"As for the together part, Natsuki is too much like me, in the long-term it wouldn't last"
***
After a couple of hours they had reached Natsuki's apartment. It was already late in the evening and Mai would be home as well. Despite the small size of the place they managed to settled down properly. An hour later Mai arrived as well with some spare food from the restaurant and a bottle of wine. The cheerful greetings that followed between the five friends filled the room. They sat down to eat what Mai had brought while filling the voids of their separate lives those couple of years. It was 4am before tiredness started to take over their bodies.
The next morning found the five of them sleeping in weird positions. It was almost noon. Mai was the first to wake up, she had her weekends off, but it was a special day for Natsuki today. She woke up the rest one by one and started preparing breakfast. The rest gathered around the kitchen table as soon as they stood up and despite their drowsiness the cheerful smiles and comments didn't miss from the table.
"What are our plans for the day?" asked Aoi while sipping some tea.
"I got*munch*ta go to the*munch*club in an hour" Natsuki paused to swallow.
"Need to check the sound, settings and some other stuff. Speak with the manager, some of Mai's friends from work are also coming, must put them on a list. I'll be home late in the evening to get ready and we can all go together. Till then you're all Mai's responsibility, she'll show you around."
The three guests nodded. Mai clapped her hands.
"Sight-seeing!!" exclaimed the purple-eyed girl happily.
The evening came by quickly, Natsuki was the first to arrive home, moments before the rest of them came. She and Mai went to prepare something for all of them to eat before they started to get ready for the club. They were all pretty tired but the excitement for tonight was keeping them pumped up.
They were from the first people to arrive at the club. Natsuki was quite anxious and she couldn't stay home much longer. So they decided to go a bit early. She introduced her friends to the club's manager and to her producers and went for their assigned table near the Dj console. Most of the tables around the console were reserved for people she knew, she could use the support and the look of familiar faces. Not that it was her first time playing as a Dj, but this time she was presenting her own personal work. They ordered some drinks and had a round of shots as they were waiting for the place to get filled. It didn't take long before the club got pretty packed up.
Natsuki was almost delirious, happiness and anxiety were twirling inside her. Soon the manager notified her that it was a good time to start. The moment she got behind the console the crowd broke into cheers, whistles, applauds. It made Natsuki's heart fill with pride but also adding to the stress she was feeling. She decided that the only way to relax is to start playing. And indeed, as soon as she placed her headphones and the music flowed into her ears she started to soothe. The first beat came out quite strong, erupting a second round of cheers and whistles from the crowd. Soon all the stress was gone as she watched the bodies in front of her swing to the beat of the music, to the beat of her music. Her own fingers were almost dancing above the mixing console. It was almost like heaven.
The heat was rising inside the club, the crowd was out of their heads already, Natsuki was playing for nearly an hour. She had an hour more before her assistant would take over, after all she was the guest star tonight. She would present her new album and then enjoy the rest of the evening with her friends. Although herself she didn't know what was more fun, seeing all those people swinging their bodies at the beat of her own music was definitely a satisfying experience. A round of shots came, treat from a couple of girls that had been dancing seductively and kissing on a table right across Natsuki since almost the beginning. Being openly bi-sexual sure had its benefits. She raised the shot towards them in 'cheers' before taking it down.
The night was progressing with the same fever, she had a bit more than half hour of playing. Moments earlier she had played Nao's favorite song, the fiery red-haired had dance a very vivid, sexy dance that made half of the club to stare at her in awe. It didn't take long before the shots kept coming towards their table along with the 'suitors'. Nao was dismissing them politely with the line "Sorry I'm a lesbian" after drinking their shots. Everything was running awesomely.
Natsuki raised her glance from her console to check her friends and then let her eyes roam in the crowd, something caught her gaze that made her whole body froze and her heart beat in a much more crazy rhythm than any music could ever achieve. She needed a nudge from her assistant to get back on track without losing the rotation of her mixing. Yet it was too late, she wasn't feeling relaxed anymore, the music couldn't soothe her, a strange kind of anxiety was building up inside her that it couldn't be tamed. She needed to check again and be sure, she wanted to be done with playing.
She kept playing but her facial features were changed, they weren't displaying joy and content anymore. It was hard to explain what her face was saying but the moment she looked at Nao and Mai both knew there was something wrong. Natsuki turned her gaze back to the console, Nao had her eyes fixed on Natsuki, she was trying to understand what was wrong. For a mere second Natsuki raised her glance and checked at the crowd again, at the spot she thought she saw that something. She furrowed her eyebrows and sharply bowed her head to her console again. Both Mai and Nao saw that and as soon as the dark-haired had lowered her face they turned to look at the crowd.
Nao gasped in shock and grabbed Mai's arm hard. That light-brown, wavy, long hair, that face, she would recognize everywhere. The girl had her eyes fixed on Natsuki, watching the Dj's every move with a serious expression. As soon as she spotted Nao's glance on her, she turned to her friend and pretended to giggle joyfully. Mai had turned towards Nao, eyeing her in question while rubbing her arm from the fierce grab.
"What's wrong?" she whispered in Nao's ear when she saw the shock on the fiery red-head's face.
"She's here" mumbled Nao, she still couldn't tear her gaze from that person.
Mai checked the person Nao was looking at. It took her only a couple of seconds to connect things. That girl, Nao's shock, Natsuki's distress. This must have been…
"Shizuru?!" Mai had never met the girl, she had never seen a picture of her. But she knew from Nao's description how she looked like. Especially from her hair, Nao always teased Natsuki that her obsession for blonde and light-brown haired girls was due to that girl.
Nao nodded in confirmation towards Mai and before turning her glance at her friends she caught the girl side-glancing at their direction and then at Natsuki. She gave her a smug grin which was sure she had noticed.
"Shizuru is here" said Nao as she got closer to Chie and Aoi.
"What?!WHERE?!" exclaimed both in unison.
"Straight ahead, but don't look. Don't worry she knows we know she's here and we aren't happy about it!" added Nao and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Has Natsuki seen her?" asked Aoi worried. They all turned to look at Natsuki. The expression shadowing Natsuki's cheerful characteristics answered Aoi's question.
"Is she alone?" asked Chie.
"What do you think, Chie?" Was Shizuru EVER alone?"
"She's very, very beautiful…" said Mai absentmindedly, her gaze had wandered to that girl again.
They all turned to look.
"Ye…"
"Yes"
"Mhm"
The moment they looked Shizuru was leaning towards her company's ear whispering something while the other girl was eyeing Natsuki with a heavy expression.
"She's with a girl?" asked Chie in shock.
"I don't know but I plan to find out" said Nao with vigor and placed her drink on the table. She looked at Natsuki, the dark-haired dj as if on cue raised her head and looked at Nao. The fiery red-haired girl turned her gaze to Shizuru and started walking towards her through the crowd.
Panic started rising inside Natsuki as she saw Nao heading that way. She had only fifteen more minutes of playing but now it seemed like eternity. Her hands moved mechanically over her mixing console, her eyes were glued to Nao and the destination she was heading. She couldn't tear her gaze. Nao had already reached the company of two and her poise screamed 'hostile'. This wasn't good. She withdrew her gaze for a couple of moments to mix her last song, the cheers and applauds from the crowd couldn't reach her anymore. When she raised her head again her eyes locked with the crimson-orbs she hadn't seen for five, six years…
she couldn't remember anymore. It seemed centuries ago.
She didn't know how long they were gazing deeply into eachothers eyes. She could swear it was for fractions of a second but she soon realized the music was off and when the wild cheers and applauses reached her ears and woke her from her slumber the connection broke. She turned to gaze at the crowd blankly and she forced herself to smile widely while offering them a deep bow. The crowd burst again, screaming Natsuki's name. She handed the reins to her assistant and got off. She was greeted by various of people on her way to her friend's table.
"What is she doing?" she asked the moment she reached the remaining three.
They shook their heads and shrugged. Natsuki turned to look at Nao's direction again. Things seemed to get pretty heated, Nao was definitely hostile towards Shizuru.
"Excuse me…" said Natsuki hastily and stormed through the crowd to reach Nao as soon as possible. It wasn't an easy task, people were stopping her to congratulate and hug her and she couldn't shrug them off.
"Nao!" Natsuki almost yelled and grabbed the fiery red-head from her shoulders, pulling her away from Shizuru and pinning her against her own front.
Nao turned to look at her friend, she could read "Let it go" in those deep, green-eyes. But those full of meaning eyes closed and Natsuki's temples tensed at the sound of her voice.
"Natsuki…" It was the voice of Shizuru, calling her name with the same passion, love and need she hadn't heard for years.
"Hi, Shizuru" said Natsuki and opened her eyes slowly, her gaze soon locked with those crimson-orbs again. She could swear she spotted desperation in them.
Nao didn't miss the interaction, she knew Natsuki like the back of her hand and she knew Shizuru quite well also. The awkwardness was building up.
The fiery red-head wiggled away from Natsuki's grasped and sighed.
"Right…well I'm Nao" she said and offered her hand to the person accompanying Shizuru.
"Erm, Nina" said the girl and shook the other girl's hand. Nao nudged Natsuki.
"Eh?" she glanced at her friend. Nao motioned towards the other girl.
Before she could manage to open her mouth and introduce herself the other girl had offered her hand.
"I know, you are Natsuki. I'm Nina. Pleasure to finally meet you!" said the girl almost in extreme joy.
Shizuru turned her head sharply to look at her friend, Nao and Natsuki raised an eyebrow in wonder.
"Oh…erm…" Nina realizing her mistake fidgeted in her place. "I'm a big fan of your music!" she side-glanced Shizuru nervously.
"Oh…" uttered Natsuki, disappointment evident in her tone. Nao on the other hand didn't fall for that. She tapped her chin in thought.
"Would you like to join us?" all three of them looked at Nao in total surprise.
None of them was expecting this suggestion from the fiery red-head.
"What?" asked Nao curiously.
"No..Nothing" said Natsuki and turned to the other two. "Yea, sure if you want"
Shizuru only had managed to nod faintly before Nina jumped exclaiming "We'd love to!"
The four of them walked back to the table where Mai, Chie and Aoi were waiting patiently. They were quite astonished when they noticed all four of them heading back towards their table. Chie and Aoi greeted Shizuru warmly and were introduced to Nina as well. The moment between Mai and Shizuru introducing to each other was quite awkward, they both turned to look at Natsuki, waiting for some kind of affirmation. The dark-haired pretended she didn't see that.
The next half hour wasn't exactly free from tension and nervousness. Almost all of them knew each other from the past but the things shading their past didn't make things comfortable. Due to that, new rounds of drinks and shots followed. Alcohol made the situation much easier. It didn't erase the nervousness completely but it helped on breaking the ice a little. Questions and answers about simple, irrelevant stuff started rolling naturally. Mai and Nina tried to roll the conversation more and break the tension since they were only two that weren't exactly involved to what had happened in the past.
More than an hour had passed and all seven of them felt tipsy. Rationality was slowly abandoning the group. There were a few times that Natsuki would brush her fingers at Shizuru's back or her arm or Shizuru would lean from the giggles in Natsuki's arms with her breath caressing her neck. Those moments though only lasted mere seconds as they breaking their actions as soon as they felt the electricity running through their bodies. They would share a nervous smile and continue with the conversation, keeping their distance.
As the night was progressing, Mai had totally caught on a conversation with Shizuru. The rest of them were playing some kind of game with shots.
"Natsuki?" asked Nina at some point.
The serious tone in her voice made Natsuki turn and look at the girl curiously.
"I know about you and Shizuru, you know"
"I guessed you knew"
"Do you still love her?" at the question Natsuki turned to glance at Shizuru, both Shizuru and Mai were looking at her the exact same moment.
"Yea…" she said faintly through her lips. She turned to Nina again.
"I mean, I haven't seen her for…dunno…years. I'm not sure" she hung her head. "I kept wondering –why- for years after we broke up…that –why- was eating me alive, it was driving me crazy. And then I decided to just keep the good and the bad memories as they were and never ask question like that to myself again"
"She never got over you, you know" continue Nina. Natsuki brow wrinkled as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"You are asking yourself –why- again, eh?" Natsuki nodded.
"Well, is it so hard to understand? She was scared, afraid. Of what it happen if someone found out"
"People did find out…I mean our friends, they didn't have a problem"
Nina shook her head. "I don't mean your friends, Natsuki. I mean people in general. We both know Japan isn't very receptive to that. Sure, we all had situations like that in our high-school lives but they were teenage infatuations. Most of them would stop during college. Both of you knew this wasn't the case."
"Yes, and this is why I was asking myself –why- all the time!"
"Shizuru was always a role model for her family, for the school community. It might be semi-accepted during high-school but it's totally off limits as an adult choice"
"She was afraid of her family, of how other people will react. She knew she was different, she was feeling something true which was forbidden and she couldn't handle that. She might seem strong and confident to the outer world but we both know how fragile she is"
Natsuki was listening silently, she didn't know what to say. She had considered this before but she always thought that if Shizuru feared that, they could handled it together.
"She wasn't ready to come out of the closet yet. She didn't know how, so she decided to end it when it was time. In High-school. It was hard for her as well to be apart from you, really hard from what she had told me."
Nina paused for a second, Natsuki also remained silent. So many questions was bombarding her head. So many feelings resurfaced again, worries, fears. She knew Shizuru suffered as well with the break up, she knew that. She wanted to ask if she was alright if anything happened to her. Ask questions, get answers, clear the haze that had been torturing her mind and heart all those years, the doubts and pain she was forced to bury.
"You remember Reito?"
Natsuki clenched her teeth, the muscles on her temples tensing.
"Yes" she said through gritted teeth.
Nina smiled awkwardly. "Erm sorry…Shizuru told him about you at some point…"
Natsuki blinked her eyes in shock.
"Yea, well in an hour of weakness she confessed of your relationship during high-school and a few more…"
"What more?"
"It's not my place to say that…I can only say that Reito told her parents. As soon as they found out they took her away from Tokyo, even Japan" Nina chuckled at her own thoughts.
"They sent her to Europe for better"
"It must have been…"
"Yea, should have been after the last time you saw her. They send her to London, Law school again. We met there."
"Oh…"
Nina chuckled again. "Poor parents, they couldn't escape destiny"
"What do you mean?" asked Natsuki curiously.
"I was the only Jap-girl in our class, well half-Jap. But we got introduced to each other from the first day. And unfortunately for her parents I am a lesbian."
Natsuki tensed, a grim expression covered her features.
"Oh…no, no, no!" Nina waved her hands in front of Natsuki.
"Nothing like that!" she laughed.
"I mean I helped Shizuru get out of her closet. I never hid the fact that I'm gay, my parents knew and they were fine with that. It didn't take long for Shizuru to tell me about you two. She talked A-LOT about you…God! Sometimes I feel like I had sl…erm... nevermind"
She coughed and cleared her throat.
"Bottom line is, she always loved you, you are the one for her"
"Why she hasn't contacted me all these years?" asked Natsuki faintly.
"It was hard, she tried but it was fruitless. She didn't even know you had moved to Europe also"
"How did you find out about tonight?"
"A friend of mine had come when she visited Paris and saw you playing. You were in one of the pictures they had taken that night. When Shizuru saw the pic, she went crazy. We searched together and found out about your new album opening tonight. Must admit she was way nervous about coming, that's why we came that late. She kept changing her mind over and over again, she didn't know how you will react upon seeing her."
Natsuki smiled faintly, she turned to look at Shizuru's directions again. Her and Mai had stopped talking together and had joined the others again. Shizuru looked at her and smiled fondly. The warmth emanating from Shizuru's smile made Natsuki grin. She turned to Nina again.
"Thank you for telling me all this"
"My pleasure" said Nina and offered her a curtsey. "Wanna answer me now if you still love her?"
Before Natsuki had the chance to open her mouth and answer a nearly drunk Nao came beside them placing her arms around their necks. She raised her eyebrow and gazed between the two.
"What are you two doing here, hmm?" She turned to Nina.
"Trying to seducing my friend?" Natsuki and Nina both threw their heads back and laughed. Nina shook her head.
"I'm much more interested in you" she said and winked at Nao.
"Really?" said the fiery red-head and withdrew her arm from Natsuki's neck and placed it atop of Nina's shoulders.
Natsuki sighed and shook her head, she left the two and headed towards the rest of the group. She stood between Mai and Shizuru, she glanced at Shizuru and offered her smile. The brunette returned the smile shyly.
"You two must have been quite hot in high-school" said Mai between giggles. Chie and Aoi broke into cackles as well. Shizuru and Natsuki shared a glance.
"You bet" said both in unison. They all laughed after that.
They kept chit-chatting and drinking more, the nervousness was gone. Neither Natsuki nor Shizuru flinched or withdrew every time it happened to touch each other by accident. On the contrary, they seemed to seek and welcome that contact. Nao and Nina joined them after a while, holding hands. Nao winked at Nina secretively and walked towards Natsuki. She stood in front her and brushed her fingers along Natsuki's collarbone and shoulders.
"Pup…tell Nina about how feisty red-head chicks are in bed. She doesn't believe me"
Natsuki felt Shizuru tense beside her, panic started rising inside her.
"What…? What the hell, Nao, how should I know?"
"Oh come on, you need to test more red-heads. Aren't me and Mai enough?" She asked while faking a pout, tease evident in her voice.
"What?!" exclaimed both Natsuki and Mai in shock. Before anyone was able to say something more, Nina and Nao broke into a serious feat of laughter.
"You were right!" almost screamed Nina. "If I knew she could glare like that, I would have used it ages ago!" They all turned to look at Shizuru and burst into giggles. Shizuru placed a hand on her face to hide her embarrassment.
"Next time I'll show you, Pup's glare. Quite fascinating as well" Nao said while sticking her tongue out at Natsuki.
"Ara, from what I remember her blushing was much more fascinating" added Shizuru.
"Good luck with that!" said Natsuki's friends with one voice.
"Oh…" Shizuru face fell into a pout.
Natsuki moved closer to her and hooked on of her arms around the brunette's waist, with the other she placed a finger under Shizuru's chin and lifted her face. The brunette raised her glance to meet those green-eyes she loved so much.
"Stop pouting and kiss me" whispered Natsuki.
It didn't take long for Shizuru to comply and crush her lips on Natsuki's. They both had missed that so much. The heat, the taste, the rhythm they always felt in that kiss they had never experienced before. Natsuki's hands soon started roaming along Shizuru's sides and lower back while Shizuru's hands were buried around the former's neck and hair, head-locking her.
Natsuki broke the kiss moments after, she leaned to touch her forehead against Shizuru's, their lips inches apart.
"Someone once told me that...if you love someone, let him go..."
"If he comes back, he will be forever yours..." concluded Shizuru and kissed Natsuki deeply again.
***
A couple of years have passed since that night. Everything was perfect. Natsuki's reputation had risen to England, Spain and Holland and travels had become a routine. When she wasn't travelling she stayed at Shizuru's place in London. Mai was working now as a Sous-chef de cuisine in one of the best restaurants in Paris. Nao had finished with her post-graduate studies and moved in with Mai. She was Natsuki's manager and promoter
"Natsuki…" she heard a voice whispering near her ear. She felt a hand sliding under her t-shirt, drawing circles around her stomach and moving upwards. She felt soft lips and a warm, wet tongue on her neck. Natsuki moaned in her slumber and turned her head to meet those lips.
"Did…we…miss…breakfast?" she asked between kisses. Shizuru giggled and kissed her again.
"Ara, I think the frequent travels are messing with my baby's head. We are in London, Natsuki. My place, remember? You are playing today at a club downtown." She said while planting kisses along Natsuki's jawline and neck.
"Oh…since YOU are skipping breakfast…" with a sudden move she got on top of Shizuru, she grabbed the brunette's hip, spread them apart and placed them around her waist. She leaned forward, her lips hovering above Shizuru's.
"…mind if I have mine?" she whispered against the brunette's ear. Shizuru bit her bottom lip and moaned.
"Not at all…"
Disclaimer: I own nothing!