Disclaimer: I do not own Mai HiME nor any of the songs whose titles I used as chapter titles.
I – The Meeting
"Come on out Natsuki! I bet you'll look great!"
"…Yeah."
The navy-haired girl in question then stepped out of her mostly-unfilled walk in closet and into her room. She stood in front of her busty redheaded friend in a flowing black dress adorned with sapphires. Against her will Natsuki turned to model the piece of clothing before scowling and heading back into the closet and slamming the door.
"Natsuki?" Mai tried to follow but was cut off.
"… I hate this," she grumbled.
"… I know… I'm sorry," the girl said, placing her hand on the door, thinking that in some way she could comfort her friend, "…Do you want to back out?"
"I can't!" Natsuki yelled, slamming her fist against the other side of the door, which she was leaning her back against to rest uneasily.
"It was my mother's wish… she left it up to me to be the heir, I have to fulfill that no matter what."
Mai sighed. There really was no arguing with this girl once her mother was involved or when that sticky pride of hers showed itself. She understood and even respected why Natsuki was doing this, even if the logical part of her said that her friend should just do whatever it takes to make herself happy. She sighed again as she heard the doorbell ring, knowing full well who it was and opening the front door against her better judgement.
"Oi oi!" the other redhead called as she burst into the room, accidently slamming Mai into the wall with the back of the door, "Oh crap, are you okay!?"
"Ugh… yes Nao… I'm fine…" Mai groaned while rubbing her nose and heading upstairs to Natsuki's room.
"Okay where's the blushing groom!?" the lime-eyed girl said with a wolfish grin, aware that this would probably cause some object to be thrown at her in anger, today it was a high heeled shoe.
"Ow!"
"Damn it Nao I'm pissed off enough as it is!"
"And?"
Natsuki gave her a blank look as she peeked out of the closet.
"And you always seem to make my day worse."
"Hey! I resent that!" she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and sliding a bag across the floor with her foot, away from Natsuki.
"Fine then, I brought you the clothes you wanted but I guess I'll just keep them for myself."
"What!? No! Come back!" the navy-haired girl yelled, racing out of the room at a frightening speed, nearly tripping over her dress and lunging at the bag that contained her favourite casual wear.
"Why'd you bring her that?!" Mai whined.
"It took me forever to find her a dress she'd realistically go with and now you've gone and ruined it!"
Meanwhile, when these two were arguing playfully, Natsuki took some much needed shelter in the closet. She sat with her back against the door like usual and dropped the bag of clothes beside her, curling her knees to her chest and hugging herself. She gave the opposite wall an empty gaze, allowing her thoughts to crawl around her brain.
"Some birthday…" she muttered, "It must be really low to have my only wish be that someone else finds this just as miserable a situation as I do…"
Groaning, the biker stood up and quickly undressed before redressing in her jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket. Without a second thought, she left the closet in a huff, passing by both Mai and Nao.
"Hey, Kuga wait!"
"Can't, I just wanna get this over with," she mumbled, grabbing her bike helmet and keys from the floor and heading out to the front foyer.
"Natsuki, seriously! Even if you're thinking of this as no more than a business transaction you can't go dressed like that."
"Sorry Mai," she said as she slipped on her running shoes, "It would be really easy if I could think of it as that… but I can't help but see it as a marriage. Sharing a life with someone... That's just the kinda person I am."
The older redhead reached out to her friend just as the door shut behind her, cutting them apart. Mai sighed and looked over at Nao who was passing the awkward moment by checking out her nails; an old nervous habit.
"I wonder if she'll be alright…"
"Don't worry, Kuga's tough, or at least pretends to be well enough not to let it bother her."
Mai chuckled.
"I meant her fiancée."
-0-
At the same time as Natsuki had been expressing her dread towards marriage to her friends, the nineteen year old Fujino heiress was doing just the opposite. Shizuru had woken up today with a bright smile, despite her lack of sleep due to excitement, and began hustling about trying to get dressed. By mid-morning her two best friends had arrived to help her, even though the bride-to-be had it all covered.
"I can't believe it's today!" she gushed.
"I finally get to meet my Natsuki!"
"I'm happy for you," the boy said enthusiastically, despite being forced to stare into a corner since his female friend was in the process of changing.
"You've been waiting a long time for this haven't you?" the blonde asked.
"Mm," Shizuru nodded, "I wonder what she'll sound like..."
She stared down at a photo her parents had given her. Each year since she was told of the arrangement, she was given an updated photograph of the girl she was to marry, and incidentally began to fall in love with it. Her parents too had delivered pictures to the Kuga family, but Natsuki only cared to look once.
"I bet she'll be perfect," Reito said with a smile, "Your parents would of course only choose the most suitable of prospects anyways."
Haruka laughed, smacking him upside the head, and Shizuru let out a giggle.
"Aren't you a tad biased to that comment considering you were their first choice?"
Upon hearing a minute signal that they were finished with the dressing part, the boy turned back around and revealed his sheepish grin.
"Guilty, although that wasn't my intention behind mentioning it. Truly, there are no hard feelings about my rejection."
"Glad to hear it, as I'd hate to lose a valuable friend over something like this. If it's any consolation you would probably be my preference... if men at all were my preference," she gave him a wink and a friendly kiss on the cheek before heading out of her room.
"Will you two be joining me?"
"We can't, sorry. Important meeting back at the house. We just came to wish you luck and help you get ready," the blonde replied and Reito nodded in agreement.
Shizuru let out a reluctant sigh, wanting to give into her inner child and simply drag them by the hand to her own meeting but deciding against. Instead she gave them a polite and happy smile in return for their troubles of coming to visit this morning. After thanking them one last time, the radiant girl left her room and went for the front doors of her mansion where her limousine was ready to pick her up. A servant opened the door for her and she gave him a gentle nod of gratitude before sitting down on the comfy seats.
I'm so nervous... I can't believe today's the day...
-0-
Close to an hour later, Shizuru was anxiously sitting in her father's office; tapping her fingers against the back of her hand. She tried to calm herself with deep breaths, but her heart was racing too fast. The rest of her family, along with their lawyers, were waiting patiently, but when the youngest girl heard quickly approaching footsteps, she simply couldn't hold in her excitement anymore. Just as the door opened and Natsuki burst in, Shizuru stood up with a bright smile.
"Damn your dojo is hard to find..." the roughly clothed girl huffed, "Anyway, you're Shizuru right?"
The stunned teenager simply gave her a raised eyebrow and nodded, and was rather confused with Natsuki's behaviour. Not only had it appeared she put no effort into this at all, she was quite terse and down to business.
She does have a beautiful voice though...
"Y-yes I am, please come and sit down Natsuki."
The navy-haired girl remained both standing and silent, closing her eyes and hoping for some strength. She knew she was being a jerk, both intentionally and not, but mostly because every step closer to this she got, the worse she felt about her future. Half of her wanted to charge right into it, which is how she was able to approach so fast, but now that she stood here, she wanted to either freeze or run.
"Kuga-san, are you alright?" the lawyer asked, setting out the papers for her to sign.
"...Not particularly," Natsuki sighed as she looked at them, "I guess I'm doing this voluntarily because I'm choosing to respect my mother's last wish... but make no mistake, that's the only reason why I'm doing this."
Please... my only hope is if you call it off...
Shizuru was stuck in her form, frozen it seemed by shock and a powerful poison flowing into her veins. It stung her, deeply, the words from this girl.
"You... haven't been waiting for me?" she hesitantly asked, however without revealing her inner sorrow.
"Sorry, I mean, have you? This was arranged by our parents, not our choice."
"... I see."
Come on! Call me an ass and kick me out!
"Shizuru-chan," her father placed a palm on his daughter's shoulder, "Due to certain... traits, coming to light, do you still wish to continue?"
The older girl's crimson eyes, though glistening with moisture, gazed up at her betrothed. She studied her, like a foreign artifact; something beautiful yet untouchable and that was part of the charm. Shizuru instinctively crossed one leg over the other and folded her hands together on her knee, blinking once to rid herself of the tears and think on this. While not rash like the Kuga girl, she too was a force to be reckoned with, and much to Natsuki's dismay her behaviour only intrigued the girl more. Undoubtedly Shizuru was hurt that this wasn't her dream come true, and she would admit that to anyone who asked, but she loved a unique situation nearly as much as her fantasy Natsuki.
Shizuru stood up and took a deep breath, looking into emerald eyes. Again she observed their every movement; trying to look deep into her soul. Powerful though she may be, she was not unkind, any sense that this would be hopeless and she would turn back. If Natsuki truly showed no signs of being open to this, the Fujino heiress would bow out gracefully.
"... Tell me Natsuki, how do you feel when I tell you I have been waiting for this since I was first told? That every picture that was sent to me was treasured?" she asked, only to get a confused and annoyed look in response.
"I don't really care..."
"I see, and of the five years this has been arranged, how many times have you bothered to look at my pictures?"
"Huh? I dunno... Once? Maybe Twice?"
Shizuru watched Natsuki's features as she spoke. Even though the words were harsh, they had only struck once because she was off guard. Now that the elder of the two was aware of the girl's bite, she dodged with finesse. Her emotions tiptoed around the tone, holding onto the interesting facial expression she was making. Even if there was frustration in her eyes, there was a light rose coloured tint in her skin; one which Shizuru subconsciously compared to the pictures she had been shown. The chestnut-haired girl closed her eyes and smirked.
Not hopeless... she showed interest. Not to mention, This time her crimson eyes seemed to observe the girl in a more intimate way, My instincts are never wrong.
"No Father, we will continue with the proceedings," she said with a smile, "I am sorry this is not what you wished for, but as you said, this is our parents' wills and we must do our best to honour that."
The navy-haired girl clenched her fist around the pen in her hand. Her plan had backfired, which unfortunately made her anger all the more honest. She watched as Shizuru went to sign the appropriate papers, confirming their engagement. In truth, they already were, but if the Fujino's chose to rip up the papers from when Kuga Saeko was alive then Natsuki wouldn't stop them. But now, since it was clear they wanted this, Natsuki was already bound by contract to sign this new one.
In a swift final marking, the girl had signed all she was required to; including the marriage licence, the contract to get married in less than ten months, and the one that declared they would live together starting immediately.
"Done," she grunted, "It's official... We're getting married... Even though I never met you before today and have no idea who you are!" she practically threw her arms into the air in exasperation then stormed out.
She didn't care that she didn't know where to go after this, and honestly had no intention of spending her birthday at this new house. The navy-haired girl hurried out the front, opening her cell phone and hitting speed dial six.
"Hey, get yourself together, we're going to a club."
"I take it you're angry?" Nao replied on the other end of the line.
"But well, I don't blame you."
"I just want a normal eighteenth birthday! Is that so much to ask!?"
"Hey! Don't yell at me! I'm meeting you there geez, Kagayaki right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, it's settled, I'll meet you there."
The two closed their phones and got into their respective vehicles, driving towards the ice-themed nightclub. Even though the real crowd wouldn't be there until later, it was still open as a restaurant, and Natsuki had nowhere better to be.
-0-
Meanwhile, all but one in the Fujino office was bewildered by the newest addition to their family. Adults hid themselves in a circle, while Shizuru stood, still staring at the hallway which Natsuki had gone through. A smirk crossed her features.
My dear Natsuki, it is true that you do not know me. I stand by my statement: if you truly were a lost cause I would not have done this. However...
She smiled.
You are promising indeed, and despite what you say, will not be closed to love... not my love.