Hello friends, and welcome. This is my own personal venting station. Since I think Natsuki and Shizuru belong everywhere, my imagination has beaten me black and blue with settings they could be in.
These will all be only one shots, in various settings that are completely and 99.9% ripped off from an existing franchise, and will probably be stupidly long. It'll be pretty much every genre ever.
Also, they will make sense for the setting, but I refuse to explain why everyone is Japanese. It's not important. It's Shiznat. Enjoy it as it is.
So, here we go!
"Ara, ara. And what fresh fish do we have here?"
The voice that had haunted her dreams every night for two years entered her head and echoed. It was a lullaby; it was a dreaded, dreaded lullaby. It called to her in the night, in the day, it conjured memories she never thought she'd dwell on again.
She turned.
And was met with those eyes, those red, red eyes. They looked not a single day unchanged, but she knew better. Shizuru was older, her hair was longer, but currently up and out of her face.
But no matter what changes two years had made to the woman, Shizuru Viola was still beautiful. A powerful, enticing sort of beautiful, and Natsuki hated herself for being so aware of it.
"My, my." Shizuru had glided up to the group of new prisoners, huddled together for protection of numbers while in the yard. "So many new faces."
She was surrounded on all sides by women who looked at her admiringly. Immediately to her sides was a tall, black-haired woman who was strong of jaw and had glasses. On her other side was another woman who had teal, unevenly cut hair with stormy grey eyes.
Natsuki vaguely wondered what she was here for. Murder, most likely. All the murderers she knew back home had all had that glint in their eye. The one that this woman had.
Shizuru's advancement had backed the nervous pack of newbies up to the brick building's wall that made up one border of the prison recreation yard. If Natsuki reached her arm out behind her, her finger tips could have brushed it.
Was that room enough to run away?
Run away?
And go where?
She made her way down the line of new prisoners, and made comments to some. When she was three people away from Natsuki, she stilled completely. And turned her head.
There.
Those red, red eyes took in her presence, as if doubting her own mind's ability to translate images from her eyes to her brain. And strangely enough, a slow, slow smile spread across those hauntingly beautiful lips. It didn't touch her eyes.
"Ara, it seems funny to me." Her steps were predatory. "You look just like someone I used to know."
Up close, Natsuki could tell that her face was leaner and just a touch more angular, like she'd gone hungry for quite some time.
Hungry.
That was the word that came to mind when Natsuki looked into those eyes. They burned with a ferocious anger. It was an intense flame that lit those red, red eyes. Anyone would have easily said those eyes burned with hatred, or loathing.
"But that just can't be, not can it?" Shizuru's smile disappeared, and she was standing right in front of the dark-haired woman. "Because I am in here, and that must mean that she is out there."
Her voice had quieted, and then she finally fell silent, taking in the woman who stood, unbending, in front of her. The two women stared at one another, not a whisper of an expression on their faces.
The two women behind Shizuru shot each other concerned looks.
So quietly, only the wind might have heard it, Natsuki spoke.
"Hello, Shizuru."
Suddenly, the orange jumpsuit of the new prisoner was grabbed, and Natsuki was forced backwards against the brick wall, a lioness' snarl in her face. The women around Shizuru immediately jumped to surround the two, blocking them from the eye of the guards and looking as casual as possible.
"What are you doing here?"
Natsuki swallowed. Shizuru had never looked like this before. Not even on that night, not even on the day she said goodbye to her. Never. But this was a rage that had no end.
"Answer me!" The accented voice was a rolling thunder, and Natsuki's throat dried.
"I- Shizuru-"
"Shizuru-sama." The grey-eyed woman had touched the woman on the shoulder. She immediately let go of the shorter woman and straightened.
"What is it?" Shizuru flattened out, her inferno of a gaze never leaving Natsuki's.
"The guards are going to start looking for you, we should go. They know you like to play with the new fish." As she spoke, the teal-haired woman put her hand on Shizuru's elbow familiarly, and Natsuki felt herself bristle.
"Hey, fuck off, Two-Face." She said, feeling a little bit of normalcy return thanks to her temper. "We're talking."
The grey-eyed girl whirled her unevenly cut hair around to stare incredulously at her, and if she weren't hyper-aware of the woman, Natsuki would have missed the small, reluctant smile that escaped Shizuru.
"Don't fuck with me, newbie." The woman said dangerously.
"Then don't touch her." Natsuki replied icily. The grey eyes widened, but Natsuki continued, "Listen, I don't want to start anything, I just want to talk to her. So get off of her, and get lost."
"You have no idea who you're talking to."
"You're right; I don't. And I don't give a shit."
The hand on Shizuru's elbow released. The woman swallowed, and boldly wrapped around the woman, and rested on Shizuru's hip. The woman herself stiffened.
Natsuki grabbed the girl by the collar of her jumpsuit and landed a solid punch to her jaw. The girl recoiled, and was about to come back at her when an elegant hand was held up, stopping her in her tracks.
"Thank you, Tomoe-san, but I don't think that's a good idea."
This woman, Tomoe, glared with pure hate in her eyes at Natsuki and held her jaw.
"Shizuru-sama, you can't seriously think of letting this insolent newbie off the hook? She clearly disrespected you." She glanced grey eyes to the two women next to her. "And everyone knows what happens to people who disrespect you. Right, Chie?"
The tall and handsome woman nodded, her face grinning fiercely.
Natsuki resisted the powerful urge to roll her eyes.
"Thank you, Tomoe-san. As always, I appreciate your efforts. But as you said, let us not raise the guard' suspicion, yes? We're leaving."
Shizuru didn't spare Natsuki a single glance as she turned on her heel and left. The tall woman, Chie, followed immediately and took the larger crows with her. The teal-haired bitch lingered for a moment, drilling those grey eyes into jaded emeralds.
Emeralds that masked the slight hurt at Shizuru's dismissal.
Natsuki distracted herself from the thoughts that chased after the beautiful woman by staring back at Tomoe challengingly. Finally, the woman turned and followed her lady.
"You've got a serious set on you, you know."
Natsuki looked to the voice that called to her. It came from a younger girl with long brown hair tied in braids. The girl was shorter than her, and walked towards her lightly.
"I'm Arika." She said happily. Natsuki felt like recoiling at this strange, happy creature.
"Uh," She started while being stared at by Arika. "I'm uh, Natsuki."
"Hello, Natsuki! And welcome to prison!" Here, she laughed airily, and Natsuki had half a mind to actually ask if the girl was mad. Eventually she settled down, and heard the small girl speak again.
"Come on, let's get you out of here before you try to make anymore of Viola-sama's girls try to kill you."
Natsuki started to follow the happy girl for no reason what so ever. What else did she have to do? Nothing. She was in prison. Arika started blathering on about something or another, and Natsuki ignored her. She was dwelling on the confrontation she had just had.
"Say, it looks like you're with me! Yay!" Arika's cheer broke Natsuki out of her thoughts.
"What?" Natsuki grunted.
"Look, here." The girl pointed at a corkboard with several papers held up by tape instead of pushpin. It was almost like an elementary school's class list, but instead held two names per line to indicate cell numbers, and the two women who would share it.
And sure enough, Arika Yumemiya and the name Natsuki Kruger were scrawled carelessly next to each other. It wasn't intentional, she swears, but the name Shizuru Viola was written down on the same floor as them, with no name beside her own.
"Does Shizuru get her own cell?" She blurted out, never once thinking about filtering herself.
Arika gave her a strange look.
"You know Viola-sama, don't you?"
Natsuki hesitated, and the blue eyes of the small girl didn't miss it.
"I used to know her. At least, I thought I did."
Arika nodded, like that was a good answer, even when they both knew it wasn't.
"Well, I'm guessing you don't know her in here. So, I'll help explain since you're my new roomie!" Her cheerful voice was back again. "But, it'll probably have to be tomorrow, because we gotta get you all set up first!"
Natsuki nodded, and let herself be swept up in the slow, crawling flow that was prison life.
As she was set up, given a few meager supplies, and told where to be and when, she reflected. Natsuki hadn't been behind bars for a long while, the last stint being when she was still eligible for juvie. Sure, she was no stranger to getting arrested, processed, and spending the occasional night in jail. But that was back when she could wake up and know that Shizuru would always come to collect her, bailing her out, and probably taking heads along the way.
She had always scolded the younger girl like a child.
It was the next afternoon at lunch that Natsuki found herself with Arika in line to get food, that the real light on how the place was run was shed.
Arika was currently speaking rapidly about her job in the laundry and how everyone needed to be a little bit more courteous to the laundry folk. Natsuki merely hummed along and nodded her head, eyeing the surprisingly clean and good-looking food on her plate. Her favorite foods in the world ran a long list, and red curry and rice were way up there.
Still though, it could have used some soy sauce. But like hell was she going to complain. This meal was better than she ever expected. After receiving their trays from the inmate workers, Arika led her, still yammering, to a table occupied by people.
Natsuki froze at its occupants. Then, she breathed and sat on Arika's other side, directing in front of Shizuru Viola, who was sitting elegantly with one foot propped on the bench, and holding her knee.
She could feel those red, red eyes on her, and focused on staring at her food. It was as if those eyes were Shizuru's own fingers, tracing every curve and line on her face, memorizing and scrutinizing. She willed herself not to blush. Natsuki could see, out of the corner of her eye, the unwanted presence of Tomoe on the seat next to Shizuru, in front of Arika.
Suddenly, Tomoe stood. Glancing up, Natsuki locked eyes with the rising figure of Shizuru. She rose gracefully, but leaned down, hands flat bracing on the table. Natsuki noticed that strangely enough, she wore a crisp white apron over her jumpsuit. Her hair was held back beautifully by a bandana. It exposed her long neck, and the flexing tendons visible made Natsuki almost shiver.
Still, she watched Shizuru's face descend towards her own, and she swallowed. When the lean had all but enclosed them in their own space, Shizuru spoke.
"You cut your hair," The accented voice whispered out. Her eyes weren't soft, but they were no longer furious. Natsuki simply stared back at her, not knowing what her eyes were showing the woman.
"I did." She graveled out. There was a spark of pride in her heart at her own level tone.
Natsuki had actually had a piece of her bottom-rib length hair sheared off for her in a knife fight. She was forced to cut the rest of her hair to match it. Still, she didn't know how Shizuru had been able to tell after not seeing an inch of her after two years.
With those red, red eyes, and those red, red lips, and those two damn years away from this woman, Natsuki couldn't stop the overwhelming urge to touch her. Just to see if the soap the prison used had soiled that soft skin.
Shizuru's lips fluttered into a ghost of a smile. Natsuki moved her hand a centimeter to let her pinky skim the hand the older woman rested her weight on.
"Don't." Shizuru whispered.
And then she was gone, straightening smoothly and turning to leave.
To leave.
She always leaves.
Natsuki looked down from the retreating backs of Shizuru and her faithful lackey. And smiled gently. There, where Shizuru's hand had been a moment ago, and where Natsuki's pinky almost touched, were two packets of soy sauce.
She hid the smile and tucked away the packets up her sleeve.
"So, you definitely know Viola-sama." Arika was smiling at her largely on her other side, no sort of judgment or prodding question in her eyes like all the other occupants at the table.
Natsuki shrugged it off and asked a question of her own that filtered through her mind.
"Say, Arika?" She started curiously. The girl perked up and looked at her fully, waiting. "Why do you call her that?"
"What?"
"Viola-sama." Natsuki shrugged. "Seems like with a title like that, you'd be part of her little posse."
To her surprise, Arika heaved a great sigh.
"Well, to explain that, I have to explain mostly everything. Now's a good a time as any." She laughed. "But first!" Arika turned to the girls seated with her at the table. "Let's introduce everyone and see if they can help me while we're at it."
She pointed around the table.
"That's Nina, Erstin, Akira, Shiho, Irina, and I believe you've already met Chie."
The handsome woman smirked at Natsuki from down the table, and Natsuki merely nodded to everyone, whether they waved at her or not.
"So, let's start off by just pointing out that since Viola-sama came to this place a couple years ago, it's become a much better facility." Arika spoke like Shizuru had really done a lot, and Natsuki didn't doubt it.
"We get more funding, more time in the yard, better leisure hours, more lenient guards, and the food is so much better!" She exclaimed. "Don't get me started on the food." Arika playfully shivered. "But now that Viola-sama took over the kitchen, everything's amazing!"
"Wait, Shizuru runs the kitchen?"
Arika nodded happily, and Natsuki all of a sudden reassessed her lunch.
"So, you're telling me that Shizuru made this?"
The low voice of the tall woman rang out, Chie, "Shizuru-sama didn't make it herself, but everyone who supports her works in the kitchen. But Shizuru-sama is head of the kitchen, and she makes all the decisions."
"For instance," the cute blonde woman, Erstin chimed in. "She changed the lunch for today this morning, as is her right to do so."
Natsuki started.
"She changed the menu?"
Erstin nodded.
"It was probably due to something wrong with the originally planned meal. She's very careful like that." Erstin sounded like she was a big fan of the caring woman.
Natsuki simply sat and realized something. There was probably nothing wrong with the food. Shizuru changed the menu for her. Because she knew Natsuki loved curry and rice.
With soy sauce.
The food in her stomach felt all of a sudden warm, and the packets up her sleeve seemed to feel cool on her arm.
"Right. And like Chie said, most of Viola-sama's supporters and friends work in the kitchen for her." Arika continued. "But most girls wishes they could work the kitchen to be close to her. Everyone benefits from Viola-sama."
She was grinning from ear to ear dreamily, when Natsuki had a question.
"Well, then why don't you work the kitchen?"
Arika's smile melted, and she huffed while Erstin and Chie laughed aloud. Natsuki's brow crinkled.
"I'm 19." The girl said fretfully. Natsuki immediately understood. "So, Viola-sama won't-"
"-Won't let you join her crew?" The older woman smiled lightly.
"Yeah." Arika replied, half wondrously.
"How'd you know that?" Chie asked, voice bordering on hard.
Natsuki laughed.
"Shizuru has always operated under her own rules." She said, shrugging lightly. She knew that in this moment, she was proving that she had a history with the apparent Queen of the prison. Natsuki was basically staking claim as the closest person to the woman. "One of those rules is that she doesn't let anyone under 21 into her world." She paused, then let off a sort of show-off ish bit of information that was actually fuelled by curiosity.
"She also had an identifier for her inner circle of people. On the outside, they tattooed a snake on their left forearm. Are you guys still doing that?"
Chie was casting her a cool sort of searching look, eyes flicking to Natsuki's left arm, trying to see underneath the cuff of her jumpsuit. Next to her, Arika twirled the ends of her hair in a finger and answered.
"No," She cast about unhurriedly. "Viola-sama said that it wasn't a safe tradition to carry out in here. Instead, the people who love her cut their hair when she lets them join up with Viola-sama."
She sighed.
"Nina, Me, Irina and Shiho are still too young." She cast a glance about the table, and jealously eyed Chie and Erstin.
For the second time that meal, Natsuki sat in shocked realization. Her brain flashed back to only moments ago.
"Don't." Shizuru whispered.
Again, Natsuki tried to tamp down the aggressive spreading of heat that bloomed in her chest. Then, it was replaced by an ice. Did Shizuru not want her around her? She doesn't even want to speak to her.
"Are you going to cut your hair?" The girl, Nina, asked carefully. The entire table paid attention to her.
"Don't." Shizuru whispered.
"No." Natsuki said. "I'm not." She spooned more curry into her mouth and watched as the younger girls raised their eyebrows, Erstin bit her lip, and Chie narrowed her eyes dangerously at her. Arika only tilted her head.
She shrugged and continued to eat.
"A-anyways," Arika said lightly, moving on. "Something else you should know, is that Viola-sama controls any and all contraband that moves through here. If you want something," She nodded proudly. "She can get it."
Natsuki only smiled slightly. From what she knew of Shizuru, she wasn't surprised in the least about any of her activity here.
"I don't know about that."
Emerald eyes cut to the brown ones looking back at her. Chie had spoken slowly, her hands crossed from where she had stood.
"What's up, Chie?" Arika asked lightly.
The woman shrugged.
"Tomoe put out the word that we're not gonna help this one." She shrugged again. "She's not sure what's going on with her, so we're just being careful." Her brown eyes flicked to Natsuki again.
"Sorry."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Natsuki jumped up from her spot at the table. "What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Where am I gonna get a radio? Things to do? A fucking toothbrush? Posters and shit for my cell? Am I just supposed to stare at my blank fucking walls?"
"Natsuki!" Arika had yanked on her jumpsuit's arm until she paid attention to her.
"What?" She shouted, turning to her. Then, she noticed the tables around her, and how every one of them with short hair had stood up and was glaring at her. "Oh, for Christ's sake." She muttered.
"Natsuki, come on." Arika was yanking her whole body now, pleading for her to leave the cafeteria.
Natsuki never backed down from a fight, a flaw that had led to multiple arrests and more stitches than she could count, but she knew when it was just suicide to go after someone.
"Fine." And she let Arika tug her away from the cafeteria, back towards their cell. With the cell door open during the day, they freely entered and Natsuki flopped on her bed, a forearm covering her eyes.
Arika let her seep in her own silence, and then broke it.
Softly, she said, "You're not going to cut your hair?"
"No." Natsuki replied, sounding tired.
Arika fell silent.
Then, "But what about your-"
"I don't want to talk about it."
Arika nodded and let her be. She leant Natsuki a couple of books, which the woman was deeply grateful for. Prison time was slow time, all the time in the world. Without something to occupy that time, one was likely to go mad.
And time passed like that for a while. Natsuki counted every hour that the reigning ruler of the prison ignored her, and eventually the hours turned into days, and the days transformed into weeks.
The raven-haired woman had moved on to hanging out in the library to take up her time, having positively devoured the books Arika owned. She mostly kept to herself, trying to avoid the more deranged devotees of 'Viola-sama', but hung around with the younger girls for the most part.
Four weeks after entering prison, Natsuki returned to her cell one night to find Arika looking at her strangely. By now, she had gotten used to the young, strange girl's strange looks and could immediately tell this was something different.
"What?" Natsuki carefully asked, her dark brow descending.
"Uhm." Arika's blue eyes flicked to the bed across from her own.
There, on Natsuki's bed, was a large brown box. Her eyebrows furrowed even more. Emerald eyes sharpened.
"Where did this come from?"
"I dunno," the girl replied, sounding confused. "I just came back after going to the toilet, and it was there."
Natsuki nodded and set down the books she was holding on her bare nightstand. Unsure as to why she suddenly felt nervous, she approached the box and quickly flipped the lid off.
And almost burst out laughing.
Inside the box was a handheld radio, a Rubik's cube, an old-fashioned GameBoy, several books that she loved, an electric toothbrush, and a handful of rolled up papers that turned out to be some of her favorite metal, punk, and electric bands' posters.
"I guess Shizuru took my request of a 'fucking toothbrush' a little bit too seriously." She laughed out.
Arika's mouth was hung open.
"…Natsuki.." She started cautiously.
"Yeah?" She answered, slightly distracted. Natsuki was trying not to openly weep from joy at seeing a poster for the new line of Ducati Monsters.
"We're friends, right?"
Natsuki looked over at the girl. She was sitting up on her bed, feet on the floor. She was uncharacteristically playing with her hands in a nervous-like fashion.
The raven-haired girl put her newly acquired things down slowly, sank on her bed across from Arika, and focused her attention on her.
"Yeah." She said carefully. "I guess so. We're friends."
And it was true. Arika was the one she went to whenever she wanted to socialize, and she was the one she trusted most. She was her best friend behind these cold, unfeeling bars. Natsuki wasn't sure if Shizuru counted as anything.
The girl clasped her hands together in distress.
"Good. Then I don't feel guilty about needing to ask you what's going on with you and Viola-sama." She rolled her eyes, smiling slightly at Natsuki's look. "I mean, Shizuru-sama."
A while ago, Natsuki had finally put her foot down on the reverent title of 'Viola-sama' and insisted Arika call her Shizuru when in her presence. She told her the whole thing gave her the creeps. Arika had been adamant that she keep some form of respect in the title. They compromised with 'Shizuru-sama'.
"Or whatever has gone on." She continued. She glanced nervously at the dark-haired woman. Over the past month, Natsuki had gotten a little famous for her dynamite-timed temper. A buzzer sounded through the prison, and every cell in the complex simultaneously slammed shut electronically and locked.
Natsuki thought for a moment.
"I don't mind telling you," She said after a moment. "But why now?"
Arika swallowed lightly.
"It's Tomoe." Natsuki scowled. "She put a bounty on your head. Anyone who can even hurt you will get a crazy reward. But I'm not sure why Shizuru-sama wants you hurt, especially after seeing this."
She spread a hand out to indicate the box of contraband on Natsuki's bed.
The woman herself had a hardened face as she replied deeply, darkly.
"It's not Shizuru." Natsuki's tensed body relaxed forcibly as she looked out of the cell, and back to Arika. "I know it's not Shizuru. Is there any way Tomoe could have put this out without Shizuru knowing about it?"
Arika thought for a moment.
"It's possible. Most people just assume that whatever Tomoe says comes directly from Shizuru-sama. She's very devoted."
"She's psychotic." Natsuki aired dryly.
Arika laughed. "Maybe." Then, she frowned. "I only ask so I can get a better handle on things. Maybe if I knew, I could calm Tomoe down."
Natsuki shrugged.
"Sure, why not?"
Truthfully, Natsuki had never spoken about it. Any of it. Maybe this was a sign she needed to get it off her chest. Maybe it would help her figure some things out as well.
She swiveled her head back to Arika.
"Do you know what Kiyohime is?" Arika frowned lightly. She was in for possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute. A high school felon. Kiyohime might be a little far from her reach.
"I've heard whispers on the outside." She mused. "I thought it was a drug ring?"
Natsuki nodded.
"It is. But it's so much more." She stared off into the distance as she recited as though reading from a book. "Kiyohime began as a smuggler's ring. Just a bunch of lame, bum guys recruiting pretty girls to get a couple pounds of ecstasy into the country every year or so based out of New York." She shrugged. "Nothing fancy."
"But then came Jiro Viola."
She let her eyebrows drop lightly, ignoring Arika's gasp when she connected the last names.
"Jiro Viola was a business man with a particular liking for ecstasy. He quickly saw the potential business and did what came naturally to him. He expanded and soon had X moving in on a regular basis. He was a charismatic guy, and his influence only grew with him.
"The power came naturally to him, and soon their little circle of druggies turned into a new force in the nation. They were modern-day gangsters. Jiro had people everywhere, and they introduced him to the heroin game. It was heroin that Jiro really shone. It was smaller than X, and easier to smuggle."
She smiled at Arika.
"And it sold for a hell of a lot more."
Natsuki continued on.
"For someone who had everything at his fingertips, women was no exception. And with women came children. An annoying side effect of straight couples." She laughed. "And Jiro had a bunch of them, kids, I mean. He had a shit load of them, and didn't care about any of them."
She sighed.
"Except for one. The only one of his children to inherit his own eyes. Those red," she bit her lip. "..red eyes. Those eyes were the key to his charisma, and he knew with another pair of those eyes he could keep Kiyohime and his wealth for years to come."
Natsuki took a breath.
"Naturally, as I'm sure you've figured out, the one child Jiro cared about was Shizuru. And so that's what she grew up to do. And she did. But when Shizuru took over Jiro's empire, she didn't just continue it." Natsuki laughed. "Hell no. Shizuru took Kiyohime and turned it into the nation's biggest crime syndicate America had ever seen. The pretty girls Jiro had relied upon were turned into something else altogether, and the men turned into pure muscle."
"Shizuru perfected the art of offence and defense, and became a master of the human psyche. The people under Jiro's control and influence rejoiced at her. They loved her for her rules and laws. They were almost like the prestige of criminals. The best of the best."
Natsuki chuckled a little bit darkly.
"That woman could talk you into happily walking off of a cliff," Arika could only keep processing fast enough to laugh at the joke.
"She was 18 when she took over." Arika's jaw dropped.
"And it was at the beginning of all of this that I came in." Natsuki smiled.
"Were you a smuggler?" Arika asked excitedly, caught up in the story like it was some kind of fairy tale.
Natsuki laughed at her.
"No. I was really only an errand girl." She shook her head. "When the smugglers needed a get away driver, I was called. It was a good living, and I didn't have a problem with it."
"Then, one night, a job went bad." She grimaced. "The way Shizuru's operations ran, that didn't happen often. The plans relied heavily on loyalty to each other, and allegiance with reliance to Kiyohime. So, they happened almost this time, someone squealed."
"We were all busted and taken into custody." Natsuki smiled fondly. "But by then, Kiyohime owned most of New York and we all were released under proof of only circumstantial evidence. The whole team got taken back to the official office of Kiyohime, and every last one of were put in hand cuffs and lined up in front of Shizuru."
A small blush formed on her face, and Arika was floored by how adorable it was on the hardened woman.
"That was the first time I had ever seen her." She said softly. "And I remember wondering how someone so beautiful could look so exhausted. Because beautiful people didn't work, especially not in this business." Natsuki swallowed lightly. "She was like an angel."
The woman coughed and seemed to snap out of her memory, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"A-anyways, from then on, that was it for me. And Shizuru." She studied her hands as she spoke. "We met, we fell in love, we moved in together, we were getting married. You know the drill." She paused in her supposedly flippant explanation. Softly, she added, "Life was like a dream."
"And it all ended one night two years ago."
"I said get me my supply, or I'm going to get Viola!" The tall man was sweating profusely and swearing even more.
"Do you know who I fucking am?" Natsuki roared, infuriated. "Go ahead and get her if you want to end your own worthless fucking life!"
This guy was a low-level distributor. Probably new, as she was missing a snake tattoo on his arm. How he even found their private apartment was an enormous breach in security that Natsuki would deal with later. She had really liked this place, too. It wasn't a penthouse, just a normal apartment for just her and Shizuru. It was intimate and romantic. And she probably would have to move out after this leak. It was two in the morning, and she did not want to deal with this shit.
"NO!" He cried, spittle flying from his mouth. He was probably going through the beginning stages of withdraw. "Do YOU know who I am? I'm Hikedi Matsumoki and my father, the Senator of California, will fucking crush you!"
Natsuki scoffed. So, he was some pissed off daddy's boy, come to beg for more supply to keep his personal party going. He could fuck off. Useless fucking junkies.
She had waved his ranting off and turned to go to the bedroom to get a phone and call Shizuru's security. The woman herself was away at a meeting and would be home later.
"NO!" Natsuki heard a curious clicking sound. A clicking sound that was incredibly familiar, given her background. She turned slowly to face the sweat-slicked and grinning face of Hideki.
He was holding a pistol in shaking hands, and aiming it directly at Natsuki. She raised her own empty hands in a calm sort of surrender.
Shit.
"Now," He breathed heavily. "You are going to give me my supply." Natsuki merely nodded her head. He waved the gun around erratically, gesturing to nowhere and everywhere at once. "Lead me to it."
Natsuki nodded and cast about madly. This guy wasn't high, but he wasn't in his right mind either. Reasoning with him would be pointless. She needed to find somewhere to fight. Something to fight with. Natsuki madly tried to remember all the street fighting she'd ever done, preparing for the worst.
When she arrived at a large television screen in a living room, she turned around.
"There." She said lowly. "We keep an extra stash inside the screen for emergencies." Her voice seethed with hatred, and his manic eyes widened in glee. Then, quicker than the blink of an eye, Natsuki grabbed the gun from his hands, took it in her own and shot him. Twice in the chest.
She gasped as Hideki collapsed.
It wasn't supposed to be that easy. There was supposed to be a struggle. Some kind of effort to fight back. Some sign that Natsuki didn't just murder a man in cold blood. She collapsed to the white carpet and watched as blood pooled on the pristine surface.
Shizuru loved the carpet in this apartment.
"Shizuru…" Natsuki whispered.
And if you speak of the devil, then she will appear. The door to the building burst open, and the woman on the floor didn't move an inch, staring at the lifeless body of Hideki Matsumoki on her living room floor.
"Natsuki!" The Queen of the underground cried upon seeing her beloved collapsed on the ground. The people who followed their boss' every move entered the building with guns drawn. She immediately swept to the woman and held her. It was secondary to observe the situation at hand.
"We heard a gun while we were on the landing…" And she trailed off, her eyes searching, calculating, and recognizing everything that currently surrounded her.
Very carefully, her hand slid down Natsuki's arm, to gently grasp her wrist. Her nose inhaled the sweet midnight hair and whispered, "Let it go, my love."
The gun fell to the carpet.
So carefully she might have been made of glass, Shizuru helped the numbed woman stand. She called to one of her most trusted advisors.
"Mai, get her in the shower. Tell her I will be back shortly. And send for, hm." She searched about, her brilliant mind flying a mile a minute. "Get me Reito." She glanced at the dead man on the floor. "Yes, that should be about right."
The orange-haired woman wrapped a tattooed arm around the catatonic woman and nodded seriously.
"And Mai?" Shizuru added gently. "Please be quick about it. I want to get this over with as soon as possible. As soon as you call Reito, call my lawyer. And then the police. In that order. Do you understand?"
Mai nodded tragic blue eyes seriously once more.
"Yes, Shizuru-sama."
"Thank you."
Mai left with the raven-haired woman. Natsuki walked by herself and robotically took her clothes off, and stepped under the stream of water. She felt the presence with her disappear and reached outward to turn the knob to 'C'.
Immediately, the water chilled to glacial temperatures and she shuddered, her eyes sparkling to life. She had just killed a man.
But he held her at gunpoint?
He was still dead.
A knock at the door startled her and reflexively she called out,
"Shizuru?"
The door opened to reveal a sheepish-looking Mai Tokiha, one of Shizuru's advisors and confidantes.
"No, it's just me." She said quietly.
Not caring about her nakedness, Natsuki shut the shower off and stepped out. "Where is she?" Her voice cracked and broke, but it didn't matter. She just needed to see Shizuru.
"Natsuki, calm down." Mai gently keened. "She's taking care of things. She told me that she'll only be a little bit, and that you should shower."
Natsuki tried to calm her breathing. Mai was right. Shizuru was here, and that meant everything would be okay. She tried to focus on that as she stepped back into the shower, still at a bone chilling temperature, and cleansed herself slowly.
The sounds of breaking wood and glass came from the next room. And she forced herself to relax. Mai had even turned the radio on for her and left. By the time she had gotten out, it was 3 in the morning and their bedroom was pitch dark. She fumbled around for the light switch when suddenly the room was split by piercing light and then it disappeared.
Footsteps sounded across the carpeted floor, and Natsuki hugged the towel around her tighter in a tense grip. Then, the smell of honey and roses met her and her muscled relaxed. The towel dropped to the ground as she fell into the arms of her life's only and greatest love.
"Shizuru." She muttered out. The throat she buried her face in hummed deeply, soothingly.
"Ara, ara." The soft voice murmured. "It's alright, my love. Please relax." Kisses rained down on her head and Natsuki felt herself believe that everything was going to be okay.
Shizuru stroked her face into tilting upwards, and in the darkness, those soft, soft lips found her own. Kissing Shizuru was indescribable. It was comfort and home and excitement all in one. It was what kept her heart beating. It made her blood boil, and her bones hum.
And Shizuru never disappointed.
"Natsuki." Her accent was rich and deep and full. "My dearest, darling love." She paused once more to lay another scorching kiss to her lover's lips. "My beloved sweetheart. My most prized girl." The criminal boss lavished her lover with affectionate titles, the names thrumming from her heart to another.
Clever fingers slowed to run over the naked back, and even without the slightest shred of light, she knew what she traced. She could picture it in her mind's keen eye; the enormous, coiling cobra on the woman's slim back. Its scales gleamed over Natsuki's kidneys, wove over her delicate vertebrae. Its sleek head rested on her right shoulder blade, facing outward mouth close, but fangs still glowing.
In turn, the shorter woman slid a hand over Shizuru's stomach, ribs and chest, tracing the beautiful snake that wound it's way over the woman's body. The hand rested on her heart when she felt Shizuru shudder, and the snake practically purred in her skin at the warm and familiar hand resting on its head.
If the women felt the inclination, they could strip naked and lie together on their sinfully expensive and luxurious bed. When Shizuru laid on her back with Natsuki on top of her, cuddled under her right arm, the serpents would be kissing.
"Natsuki." The woman chanted.
"Shizuru?" Natsuki answered, unmoving.
"I need you to understand something, my love."
Natsuki lifted her head to get a better look at her life's partner, but still saw nothing but darkness.
"What is it?"
"I need you to understand that my every action, my every move, thought, word, and decision is for you."
Natsuki frowned. She had been with Shizuru for a long time, and was used to such declarations. But this felt… Different, somehow.
"Yes, Shizuru." She softly replied. "I know that."
"Good." The taller woman said, running a hand over wet hair. "And know that no matter what happens, no matter where we find ourselves," a smile sounded through her voice. "I will always, always love you."
"Shizuru," Natsuki replied smally. "You're scaring me, baby."
"Don't be scared, Natsuki." Another soft kiss. "You will never be in harm's way."
In the far-off distance, a wailing siren was heard.
"Shizuru?" Natsuki asked worriedly.
"Natsuki," Shizuru said urgently, her hands gripping the woman she loved so very much. "What did I just tell you?"
"What?" She asked, distracted by the growing sirens.
"What did I just ask you to remember? Listen to me, please, Natsuki."
She focused slightly.
"That-that your every action is for me. And. Uh, that I'll never be in harm's way." She trailed off, thoughts flying.
"Natsuki!" Shizuru practically shouted. "What else?"
"That you love me!"
The hands slackened, and disappeared. Softly, so she almost couldn't hear it, she heard Shizuru's voice whisper out,
"That's my girl."
And then the light split the room again, blinding Natsuki, and then it was gone. Natsuki stood, stunned in the darkness. She couldn't shake the feeling that she should have kissed her one more time. From just outside the door, that beautifully accented voice could barely be heard, but barely was just enough.
"Now, now Reito-san. Don't be sorry. You've done me a greater service than you could ever imagine."
The man she spoke to was a friend of theirs and long-time enforcer.
"Please, let me ask one more request of you that you may not particularly like."
A muffled response of acknowledgement.
"Ensure that she does not leave that room. And for God's sake, make sure that she says nothing to the police. Ever."
The sound of an enormous kick to the front door, and cracking wood. Then, large, scary voices telling the room to freeze, and get down.
Natsuki flew about the room, turning the light on, grabbing a robe, and wrenching open the door. The carpet at her feet was stained with red. She was caught about the middle by the enormous form of Reito Kanzaki, tears freely flowing down his face.
She caught sight of three men guiding a woman across the room.
Not just any woman, though, her Shizuru! But her Shizuru had bruises on her face and arms, and blood was tracking across the carpet where she stepped, running down her leg.
Her Shizuru was in handcuffs.
Her Shizuru was turning her head, and smiling at her.
Her Shizuru was gone.
Only police officers remained, with crime scene officials crawling around their apartment, boots marking up the pristine carpet that Shizuru loved.
"No." She shook her head. "No. NO. NO!" Natsuki whirled around, panic in her eyes. "Reito!" She screamed.
He simply cried harder, and drug her back through the bedroom doors to whisper to her.
"I'm sorry, Natsuki-sama." He sobbed, but his arms never released her. "I'm sorry! But she made me do it!"
It all clicked together in her head. Shizuru had made Reito beat her. She had asked him to inflict the same amount of damage a man of his size could. She had told Natsuki to shower to make it seem like she was out of the way. She even had Mai play the radio to make it seem like the noise level was too high for her to hear a gunshot.
Shizuru was going to tell the world that she had killed a man, and she didn't. What a brilliant mind that woman had, what exceptional skill that clever brain of hers possessed. Natsuki screamed.
When a police officer came to collect their statements, Reito had covered her mouth and immediately asked for a lawyer. Funnily enough, Shizuru's lawyer was already at the police station.
It wasn't until Natsuki was seated in a courtroom, Reito's sedative pumping through her veins, that she finally realized what it all meant. When she heard that sweet, honeyed voice reply,
"I plead guilty, your Honor."
It wasn't until then that she realized.
Her Shizuru was going away.
Going away. The elegant woman turned as two bailiff's descended upon her, and those red, red eyes made contact with the emerald greens.
"My every action, my every move, thought, word, and decision is for you."
"You will never be in harm's way."
"I will always, always love you."
"And that's our history. The summary, I guess." Natsuki fiddled with her own hands as she look at anywhere except Arika across from her was sitting, her mouth wide open.
A minute of pure silence.
Another minute.
And another.
Finally,
"Well, that's pretty much what Tomoe was afraid of." Arika laughed. Natsuki stared at her and laughed.
That was the last reaction she had expected.
"Natsuki, why are you here?" Arika asked lightly. "If Shizuru-sama loves you enough to take the fall for you, then you're only throwing her gift back in her face."
Natsuki scowled.
"I never wanted this gift."
Arika raised her hands in surrender and laid off. "So, what do you want with her? Do you want to get back together with Shizuru-sama?"
Natsuki sighed.
"I don't really know. I want-" She clenched a fist and then relaxed it again. "I want so much to be mad at her. I want to be furious. But I just want to hold her. And listen to her voice. And I also want to never speak to her again."
She groaned, flopping back on her bed.
"It's complicated." Her voice floated out.
"Well, it'll be complicated tomorrow, too. So let's get some sleep, yeah?"
Natsuki merely grunted.
She placed the box on the floor, and was about to move back to her bed when something at the bottom of the box caught her eye. Leaning down, she gasped the twinkling piece of metal.
Semi-comfortable in her bunk, she opened her hand to examine the cool lump of metal and plastic. It was a Hot Wheel. A miniature and toy car. A Ferrari F150, brand new. Blood red.
It was the car Natsuki had jokingly asked Shizuru for for Christmas one year while in Miami. On Christmas day, Shizuru had presented a key-sized gift-wrapped box. Natsuki had gasped in half horror, and half astounded excitement and glee. She had torn the paper off the box, and opened it- to find the miniature car.
Shizuru had laughed herself silly before presenting actual keys to her irked lover. Natsuki had relaxed, thrown the keys aside, and tackled her life's greatest love backwards into the colored paper-cover ground.
They had laughed and played like children.
It was one of her fondest memories, and Natsuki clutched the little red car to her heart. She bit her lip and rolled over, a singular tear escaping her and lulling her to sleep.
At almost an exact two-month anniversary, Shizuru's most faithful follower received what she had asked for. Because like most people discovered sooner or later, if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.
It was an ordinary day in the cafeteria. On the outside, it was a weekend, but that meant piss-all to the inmates. Natsuki sat with Nina and Irina, settling in for another meal. Ramen with actual beef slices.
Natsuki loved beef ramen.
The day before, she had received another mysterious box filled with any and all the things she could ever need in a place like this. Shizuru had even managed to get her a hamburger. A still hot hamburger. She was unbelievable.
The day before that, Natsuki had been visited by a man in a suit and tie. He was a prison-appointed liaison. And his message was that her lawyer (Shizuru's lawyer) was about to make a break through on her appeal and inquiry, something that almost never happened.
She had stood up, and left.
Unbelievable.
But the ramen was good, and Natsuki was satisfied about that. That was, until it was quite literally slapped from her hands.
The cup flew sideways and splashed all over the unoccupied seat next to her. Slowly, she looked up to meet those sinister grey eyes. Tomoe stood over her, breathing rather heavily for someone who hadn't done anything yet.
Natsuki said nothing. She simply stood, turned, stepped over the bench, and right-crossed Tomoe into next week. The bitch rightened and came back at her. Natsuki took the punch and used the woman's momentum to force her past herself, and into the table behind her. Natsuki grasped the unevenly cut hair and slammed it into the table.
Tomoe turned and launched herself at Natsuki. The cafeteria had exploded into activity and three poor guards had been left there on the weekend to try to control the entire area.
"Enough!" The voice that ricocheted like a bullet through the room made Natsuki instinctively cease all action. She hated that it had the same effect on Tomoe.
"Enough of this." It whispered, deadly in it's tranquility. The two women turned, bloody and beat, and found Shizuru Viola, crime lord of Kiyohime and undisputed ruler of this prison standing before them.
Natsuki felt oddly slighted that her crimson eyes bore into only the downturned grey ones.
"Tomoe." She whispered. The woman looked up. "I demand to know why this has happened. Why have you attacked this woman for no reason what so ever."
"Shizuru-sama, there's a reason!"
"Please." Those enraged irises burned. "Enlighten me."
"She disrespects you!" The woman cried. "You obviously favor her, even though she refused to join us, and she think nothing of your kindness!"
Shizuru raised a hand and the woman fell silent immediately.
"You assume you know what you are dealing with." Her livid eyes narrowed. "I assure you, you do not." Her head turned to the side, but her eyes never left Tomoe. "Chie, take her back to her cell. Tomoe, you may retire your services to me. I have no need for brutes who mindlessly attack innocent women, and meddle in affairs that are not their own."
Tomoe immediately quieted her protests and freely left with the tall and handsome girl.
Shizuru inhaled deeply and massaged a temple. The crimson eyes flickered to where Natsuki stood, infuriated. She resisted the urge to smirk.
"I can take care of myself!" The emerald-eyed woman cried.
Shizuru didn't reply. Instead, she turned to leave.
No. Not again.
"NO!" Natsuki howled out, beyond enraged. This was the sort of mad she knew she felt. She was angry; angry that she was here, angry that Shizuru had left, angry that she never even got a kiss goodbye.
"Don't you dare leave me again, Shizuru Viola!"
The woman paused. She froze in motion, and then whirled around to face the furious woman.
"I don't understand why you won't speak to me." Natsuki breathed heavily. The adrenaline from her fight still pumped through her body, and she knew getting this all out while she still had the drive was her best option. Shizuru was silent.
"I don't understand why you're here in the first place."
She stepped toward the unmoving woman.
"I called, and I wrote, and nothing. NOTHING!" She yelled. "Two fucking years, Shizuru! I've thought about you every minute of every day for two years!"
Natsuki was screaming at Shizuru, but also at herself.
Do. Not. Cry.
"Every day! And you have thought about me none! Never! I never heard from you. So what do I do? I come to you. Because you told me, you said it and you swore it, that you loved me. That no matter what, you loved me."
Her voice tore.
"But I guess you saw a way out of that one, and you sure as hell took it. What a grand exit you make, Shizuru. Almost as good as your entrances. But now I'm here, so it's all well an good to give me gifts and shit I didn't ask for because I'm all of a sudden in your life again. But let's face it- you're through! You left, and you left pretty thoroughly."
Natsuki laughed bitterly, right in Shizuru's unmoving face. It was a very human thing, she thought to herself. To hurt, and to want to hurt back.
"So here you are, living the life! You've even got your own personal Kiyohime again! You've got the power and control again. You've got everything you ever wanted on the outside, on the inside. Hell," she laughed. "You even went and got yourself Tomoe! Didn't have that on the outside, huh?"
Natsuki was just mocking now.
"Well, that's not exactly true now is it? You had me on the outside. So I guess you really do have everything, don't you Shizuru? You even found a replacement for me!"
SMACK!
Natsuki's head whipped to the side. Her cheek burned and stung, and she could taste copper where her teeth had cut her own cheek inside her mouth. She laughed shortly.
Straightening, her emerald eyes admired the look of pure, unadulterated horror in those crimson eyes. A hand was held to those perfect lips. The dismayed eyes flickered from Natsuki's reddened cheek to her own hand, as if it was no longer a part of her self.
Silence reigned.
And then another chuckle. Natsuki laughed through her grimace. Shizuru was stronger than she looked. Apparently that hadn't changed.
"Well, I guess I got you to respond. That's something, right?"
"Natsuki…" Her accented voice was smaller than it's ever been heard.
"Don't worry about it," Natsuki waved her off. Then swayed on her feet. One could only take so many blows to the head.
Shizuru instinctively reached forward, but was beaten by another figure.
Arika immediately fitted herself under Natsuki's arm, steadying her. Natsuki more like sagged over the girl's front and muttered out a 'thanks.' Shizuru's eyes narrowed. The two began a slow walk away from the scene.
The red eyes stared on until they turned the corner.
She then turned, and disappeared the other way, trying to rid the image from her eyes.
If it had been Shizuru to catch the swaying girl, their tattoos would have kissed.
That night, Shizuru Viola, the Angel of Death, Queen of Cocaine, Mistress of Crime and Corruption, average woman, prisoner, heart heavy lover, made it back to her cell just in time to have the timed sliding bolt lock her cell behind her.
She stared at the contents of her bed.
It was much nicer than the bunks in the other cells, and she had paid a sinful amount for the luxury. And tonight, sitting atop it, was Natsuki Kruger.
"Natsuki." She said, surprised.
"Shizuru." The other woman said, straining out a chuckle.
Shizuru couldn't help it; she smiled at the other woman. Ever since she first laid eyes on her, she had never been able to resist smiling at such beauty.
"Natsuki." Shizuru began, knowing that this was the unavoidable talk. Her girl had certainly assured that she couldn't run away. "Why are you here?"
Those emerald eyes rolled.
"To talk to you."
Shizuru shook her head.
"Why are you here?" Natsuki frowned at the question. Quietly, she answered with a glance down.
"Because you are."
Shizuru felt her heart start to beat erratically. It double timed when that flush spread across that heartbreakingly beautiful face, and those glass green eyes looked up at her.
The anger and pain was gone; there was only timid hope and overwhelming fear of rejection now.
"Natsuki," Shizuru began, her usually smooth voice breaking in odd places. "Do you really think I re-replaced you?" She felt her eyes well with moisture, but she did not break away from those eyes.
Natsuki swallowed.
"Well, you just." She huffed, frustrated. "You spoke to her so- so privately. So closely." Her voice fell. "So intimately." Her hands fumbled. "It's just like the way you used to speak to me." Her voice was a wire pulled taut.
And then she was in motion. For the second time in her duration here, she felt the collar of her jumpsuit be grasped by Shizuru. But instead of being push into the heated wall, she was pulled into the chest of the woman herself.
Her body rejoiced at the contact, and it brought unintentional tears of pure joy to her eyes to feel those curves pressed against her body. But more importantly, were the lips that covered her own.
And Shizuru's kiss never disappointed.
They kissed, just a brush of soft lips against soft lips. But then instinct took over, and pure, carnal desire won out. Natsuki's hands wound their way through honeyed locks, and Shizuru's clever fingers quickly stripped them both of the ugly jumpsuits.
Their bodies reacquainted with each other like the sky met the stars again. And stars were seen by both.
Hours later, sated and happy, Natsuki's serpent kissing Shizuru's, the older woman spoke.
"My dearest darling, never doubt my love for you. Never again tell me you don't understand. Because if that were to happen again, I don't think I could bear it, my love. I don't think I could."
Shizuru's broken accent caressed Natsuki's bare skin almost as lovingly as the fingers stroking her back. She shivered and stretched her spine. She was wrong; Shizuru had never spoken to Tomoe like this. Never even got close to it.
"I love you, Shizuru." She whispered. "Please don't leave me again." She placed a kiss to Shizuru's collarbone.
The kissed chest heaved a sigh, the great snake on it moving with the action.
"I won't. I promise." A kiss to her hair.
"Why did you?"
Natsuki wiggled up the bed to stare at Shizuru directly.
"Ara, I suppose I had been looking for some time. And the situation presented itself to me."
"Looking for what?" Natsuki asked carefully.
"A way to keep you away from Kiyohime. To get you out of that world. To keep you safe." Shizuru sounded sadder than she ever had. Like she had failed. Like she had personally put Natsuki in harm's way.
"Shizuru," Natsuki tilted the woman's face toward herself. And smiled. "Baka."
"Eh?"
"Kiyohime is our world. Yours and mine. I don't want a world without you in it." She flushed lightly as she said this, but she had meant it.
Shizuru smiled.
"Perhaps, my love." She sigh as she stole another kiss and Natsuki resettled her head on her chest, the snakes kissing once more. "But I had hoped we could retire in the next couple of years."
Natsuki hummed tiredly.
"Who would run Kiyohime?" She asked lightly.
"Ara, why Nao, of course."
"Nao?"
"Yes, my love."
"Little Nao?"
Shizuru laughed and kissed the ebony crown again. "She is not so little anymore, you know. She has been keeping things under control while I have been away."
Natsuki grumbled, feeling old. "I suppose."
Silence fell.
"Ne, Shizuru?"
"Yes, my love?"
"Do you think you could maybe get us out of here? It sort of sucks."
Shizuru laughed heartily. Natsuki couldn't help but smile.
"Of course, my Natsuki."
They sealed their night with a long and passionate kiss. Just before she fell asleep, under her head, Natsuki felt Shizuru's chest hum.
"I will always, always love you."
Fin.
Please, please let me know what you readers think! Think of this story, think of this idea, everything!
If you couldn't tell, I ripped a bunch of this off from Orange is the New Black. I was next thinking of something like Pirates of the Caribbean.
Thank you so much for reading.
With Love,
Konstantine