A/N: Well I'm back again… Yay?
Three years. It's been three years and there is definitely something wrong. There is definitely something that is different about those red, hypnotizing eyes of hers. What are they looking at? Definitely not me.
Natsuki hasn't seen or heard from Shizuru since she graduated. She once heard that she withdrew from Fuuka Academy and almost couldn't believe it. Without a word, she vanished from her life. Was it fate that brought them together on this day?
After graduation, both Natsuki and Mai decided to take a year off from school to take a break, catch their breath, just to relax a bit. After working for the entire year straight, they planned to spend the next couple of months (and most of their savings) traveling around Japan. Starting at the top, they stayed in Hokkaido to see the snow festival and were now making their way down Honshu.
The two tried to catch as many events as possible while on this journey; going to various festivals, seeing as many temples and castles as they could, eating all different kinds of food. By the time they hit Kyoto, the two were pretty exhausted.
"There is no way I can go to another temple." Natsuki grumbled. "They are all the same. I mean, yeah, sure, the first like, ten were pretty cool, but after seeing another 20 or so, they get pretty boring… I mean, Mai," She turns to the red head, whispering as if it were a secret, "we're not even religious."
Mai listened to her friend's complaints. She had to admit, she was getting pretty sick of them too, but when you go somewhere new, you have to go to all the famous sites. "Natsuki, do you know where we are?" She raises her hands, signaling at the area around them, "I mean, there are a dozen or so famous temples in walking distance from our hotel!"
"Well… Yeah, I guess. If that's what you want to do, I don't really care. It's just getting pretty repetitive if you ask me." Natsuki added.
"Well, thanks for the consideration. But, I wasn't asking" Mai scoffed to the side, "Well, actually… I was thinking about going to a concert tomorrow. Apparently a new, pretty famous koto player will be performing."
"Absolutely not." Her blunt reply came quickly, "Now that I have to refuse." Natsuki exclaimed. There was no way she was going to go. That was more boring than going to a freaking temple! She had to sit and listen to something that she had no appreciation for and if she had to sit in seiza for the whole time, man, her legs would just murder her.
"Natsuki, you know that this opportunity won't come up often."
"Mai, you know that I don't care." Natsuki argued back. "And, since when did you even care for the koto anyways?"
"Natsuki, we're in Kyoto for god's sake. This is the root of Japan. This is our history!" Mai exclaimed, raising her hands above her head trying to make a big deal. "Don't you want to get in touch with your inner Japanese?"
"No."
"Well, too bad, I heard that admission would be limited, so I bought the tickets already." Mai waved the tickets in front of her face. "Come on, I mean, the whole performance will be an hour, tops."
"Well, then why did you ask me? It doesn't seem like I have a choice in the matter."
"You're right, you don't." Mai said, sticking her tongue out at the defeated Natsuki. "Tomorrow afternoon at 2. Don't forget to dress nicely." Mai added, leaving Natsuki dumbstruck.
And that's how Natsuki found herself here, feeling like an idiot, in front of Shizuru who is pretending that she doesn't even see her.
When the ceremony started, Shizuru was already sitting in the front of the room in position with her koto in front of her, waiting to begin. She wore her hair up and adorned a white kimono that had a gradual fade into purple at the bottom. A MC came out and introduced himself as Shinichi, then introduced Shizuru and the songs that she would be playing one by one. Shizuru played her music quietly and gracefully throughout the whole performance. She moved like she knew the instrument down do the tiniest detail, delicately plucking each string with ease and confidence. Natsuki had a new appreciation for music. No, not for music. For Shizuru. Such strong emotion was conveyed through the songs. She almost felt like her heart was aching while she listened to the painfully sorrowful songs. She has never seen anything so passionate before. Natsuki didn't even notice when Shizuru had finished. She was absorbed into the music, listening intently. Shizuru slowly turned to face the crowd and took a small, humble bow. It was in that moment when Natsuki saw it. She saw those, somewhat… familiar eyes, but yet something was definitely different. Shizuru did not give her a second glace, not even when she was dressed up so nicely in her blue kimono next to a slacked-jaw Mai. Shinichi took a small bow as well and exited to the side with Shizuru on his arm.
Mai was right; the performance was over before she knew it. She could only wish that it were longer. Neither Mai nor Natsuki could fathom what had just happened. A small crowd gathered outside of the room that they had just exited from, Shizuru and Shinichi were in the middle of this crowd answering questions and handing out smiles to everyone. They were changed out of their formal clothes into something more comfortable. Question after question was being asked as Shizuru politely answered each every one of them. Natsuki could have sworn that Shizuru had looked directly at her and yet, said nothing.
Slowly the crowd started to thin out. A breeze picked up the warm air and Shizuru excused herself politely from the remaining fans and removed a pair of sunglasses from her purse and put them on. She slowly walked away with her arm linked with Shinichi's and they got into a near by taxi.
Before Mai knew it, she was shoved into another taxi by Natsuki following the two.
"Did you see that guy?" Natsuki asked, baffled. "He was totally all over her! Who does he think he is?"
"Well… Maybe he's her boyfriend?" Mai responded.
Natsuki was shocked at this. She had never thought of that one, and, for a good reason. "Seriously? Shizuru?" Shizuru with a guy?
Natsuki, not being one to actually talk about anything that pertains to her life, never told Mai about her… relationship... with Shizuru. She was hoping it was kind of obvious what was going on, and that Mai just knew and chose not to ask questions about it.
Trying to change her train of thought, Natsuki spoke up. "Well anyways, what is she even doing here? Did you know that she was going to be here today?" The frustration was more than evident in her voice.
A chuckle came from the red head.
"You know I wouldn't want to see her! Why did you make me go?!" Natsuki shouted, scaring the taxi driver to slam on his brakes.
"Natsuki," Mai started calmly, "where are we right now? Why are we stalking Shizuru if you don't want to see her?"
Inside of the car turned to silence. The driver cleared his throat and decided to continue down the road where he saw the car last head down.
Within a few minutes, the car in front came to a stop and let out the two passengers while the engine kept running. The two walked arm in arm again to the door.
"Keh, look at them… Never without bodily contact. Too much PDA if you ask me…"
Shinichi returned the cab by himself and it drove off again. Natsuki and Mai's taxi started following again.
"Wait, no. We're getting out here." Natsuki stopped the driver and paid him the fare.
The two walked quietly to the front door. They stood there, no one moving.
"Uh… do you want me to wait by the street?" Mai asked, assuming that she wanted to speak to Shizuru alone.
"No," Natsuki said after a small pause, "let's just go. This was a bad idea."
Before Natsuki could take a single step away from the door, she heard the doorbell ring. Mai had pushed it, sick of Natsuki's childish, almost pathetic, behavior. Natsuki froze in her spot. Just as she was going to open her mouth to ask Mai what in the world she was thinking, Mai rang the doorbell again.
"Just a moment," a gentle voice called from the other side of the door. Within seconds, the door pealed open revealing the smiling brunette, still in her same clothes and still even holding her purse and wearing her sunglasses. She hadn't the time to do anything yet.
"Hi… Kaichou-san… I… was just in the neighborhood…" Mai started off slowly, dragging all of her words out, "and… I…"
"Tokiha-san? I did not expect you to be here…" Shizuru's smile still on place, but the two could see her eyebrows scrunching up behind her sunglasses. "What brings you here?"
"I… just… thought…" Mai continued, at a loss for words, "that… I… should…"
This was awkward. The conversation, the lack of conversation, the situation, everything was plain awkward. It was building on Natsuki's nerves. How could Shizuru not even acknowledge her?
"Uh… Nevermind. Bye." Mai said while running off down the street, leaving the two remaining girls standing there in the silence. Natsuki studied Shizuru carefully. There was something that she just couldn't quite place, but before she could come to a conclusion, the door was being slowly closed in her face.
On instinct, Natsuki grabbed it before it could be closed all the way, causing Shizuru to double back. The look of surprise was quickly wiped off of her face as she spoke. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."
Shizuru didn't see her? Who was she trying to kid? "It's been a while…" was the only thing that could come out of Natsuki's mouth.
"Natsuki?" Shizuru asked, not able to, no matter how hard she tried to, hide the look of surprise. In that instant Natsuki knew what was different.
"Oh my god Shizuru… You're… blind…"
A/N: Uhh… thoughts? Continue or not? Entirely up to you guys.
Uhh… But I do have to give credit where credit is due. I got this idea from a different fanfic written for Final Fantasy VIII by Ashbear called "Castles in the Sky." One of the first fanfics I've ever read about four or five years ago… The basic idea is from that story, Shizuru being blind and I couldn't help but feel guilty about taking that idea. It's been years since I read it, so there shouldn't be too many similarities. I don't plan on rereading it to get ideas for this fic, and I don't really remember how it went, but if you guys think that I shouldn't write this, I'll stop. I have to admit that this chapter I think is actually kind of similar because this image was burned into my imagination and I couldn't think of anything other way to introduce this situation but it should be different after this.
