A/N: Yes, again I morphed chapters during my cleaning up. I want to make a habit of making them longer so I stop splitting things. The only major plot change that happened here was that Suroshen (aka the stupid kid) got killed off soap opera style… Basically I deleted his part in the story because I realized he was just a really bad plot device, never mentioned later, and ruined a few possible future moments. I don't think anyone minds that he's gone though XP.

Thank you to Leebot, mantikora, volk83, SychoBabbleX, Bad one, SpiderLilies2007, PandorasTube, rainee-chan, lindred, and everyone else who read!

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Chapter 1: "First Day"

The sunlight shone through the dark curtains of Natsuki's bedroom across the blue-haired girl. She was still asleep in her bed, sprawled out in the sheets while humming a song in her head unconsciously.

Kirei na yume no sono hate ni…

Her senses soon caught a whiff of an intriguing smell, but her muscles were far too exhausted to react just yet. Instead the girl simply remained in her dream. All was well until her black sheets covering the windows were no longer enough to shield the bright rays. Natsuki furrowed her brows and clenched her fists as tight as she could for so soon in waking.

No let me sleep! This bed is so comfy and I'm dreaming for once!

But of course it wouldn't go that way. The girl pushed herself up on her forearm and then into a sitting up straight position while leaning on the wall her bed was pushed against. She looked around for a moment, wondering why she was alone in bed.

I could have sworn that it was real… That I wasn't alone last night.

The interesting scent started to fill Natsuki's nose again, along with some noises coming from a nearby room. She pushed herself out of bed but carried a sheet draped over her shoulders to avoid the morning chill and walked towards her destination. The girl strode through the doorway, still groggy but soon awakened fully to the sight in front of her.

"Ah, so you're finally awake? I tried getting you up at around eleven-thirty but you wouldn't move so I decided to just leave you be," said the tan-haired girl while cutting some vegetables and pouring them into the pot she was stirring, "Besides… you looked so cute while sleeping!"

That did it. With teasing and all, this was definitely real.

I don't have to dream anymore… I'm living it finally!

Natsuki couldn't hold back her smile any longer and even failed to refrain from jumping the other girl. Though shorter by a bit, Natsuki managed to grip her companion be the waist and bury her face in her hair.

Shizuru turned her head a bit, her eyes perceiving the other girl as a chibi puppy, and hugged her back with equal force. They remained like this for a moment before the steam coming from the pot squealed at a piercing volume. The two broke away and the older girl quickly returned to her cooking. Meanwhile the younger of the pair took a few steps back to observe.

"…Hey… Last time I checked I didn't have any vegetables…" she said curiously.

While still cooking the other girl replied with an almost-parental tone.

"I know. That's why I told Mai-san to buy some for you when I called her before."

The tired girl simply sighed.

Right… Mai was here. I didn't even bother to check the fridge after she left…

Shizuru passed her carrying two plates of something that was steaming, enticing Natsuki's eyes to follow the trail of smoke to the table. The pair sat down to eat, but Natsuki could do nothing but stare at the food inquisitively. She continued to observe the plate of rice and leafy things until another pair of chopsticks came into her view and lifted up a green object, bringing it closer to her mouth.

"Eat your vegetables."

The green eyed girl creased her forehead for a moment before giving in and chomping down onto the food, earning a smile from the other. While still chewing, Natsuki just had to ask.

"Why are we eating something like this at breakfast anyway?"

Shizuru smirked, "Because it's healthy that's why. You should have a larger meal at breakfast to energize yourself for the rest of the day."

The other girl simply nodded; a little voice telling her that although she didn't fully understand, arguing would only serve for trouble.

Perhaps oddly, the two ate in silence for the most part. Although they were together now, there was still a gap they needed to bridge. Caught up in excitement they hadn't noticed it last night, but there was a year where they lived separate lives. Both wanted to know, but was afraid of the answer at the same time… thus the silence continued.

Despite the existence of nutritious food, Natsuki was the first to finish and cleared her spot before sitting back down at the table with a glass of water. For the moment all she could do was gaze at the delicate way the tan-haired one in front of her finished her meal.

Why is this so entrancing?

A gentle grin grew across her face as the answer was clearer than she thought.

That's easy… I missed these moments…I missed watching the little things…

Soon enough Shizuru had finished eating as well and while placing her dishes in the sink inquired seriously about their new situation.

"Are you really sure it's okay if I stay here for good? I mean… you're still just a kid in high school," she teased.

Natsuki crossed her arms and pouted.

"Am not! I'm a recently-become-adult in high school!"

"…Much better…" inwardly laughing at the fact that Natsuki just made herself sound even less competent than before by being an adult still in high school.

"Basic point: I say it's the best idea. Now let's set up your things."

Shizuru struck her notorious thinking pose.

"I actually set up all I have."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, I didn't have much so it didn't take long to put away."

"Oh…"

"Why are you so down about something like that?"

"I'm just having trouble thinking of what we could do today… So I thought we could do that… but it's already done… I guess we could go shopping though… you're probably gonna end up needing more clothes than you brought."

Natsuki went into her room and changed, then into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair, before walking over to the desk by the corner of her room to picking up a wallet.

"Okay let's go- Eh? Why are you crying!?"

The girl exclaimed as she turned her head to see the supposedly more mature one rolling around on the bed hugging a pillow with comically massive streams of tears rolling down her cheeks.

"But I don't WANNA wear clothes around Natsuki!" she yelled continuing her tantrum, only resulting in the stiffer girl grabbing her arm and dragging her out the door.

"Well that settles it then, we have to wear clothes!" …Sometimes… though she failed to voice the rest of her sentence, in fear of what excitement it would provoke in the other.

Shizuru groaned and stood up; even though she didn't want to wear clothes around Natsuki, she did still need them for being around other people. Not to mention she had a very hard time refusing anything the younger girl wanted to do. The pair took a few minutes to put their shoes on before leaving the small living space. As Natsuki turned around and locked the door she muttered aloud.

"Yeah and remind me while we're out that you need a set of keys too."

Both started to blush a bit when she said this, thinking about the future between them. Things were finally calm. It seemed for the moment that the past year had not even existed. It was as if neither had been depressed and/or isolated, and even if a vague memory of that time came up they knew it was okay now. They were safe when together, and hoped it would stay that way forever.

The two walked down the small cement path that led to the street from the main door of the building and Natsuki started to head towards her bike when a hand grabbed onto her belt, causing her to trip forward for a bit before turning and snapping.

"What was that for!"

"We don't have helmets Natsuki-baka."

"Oh good I'm glad that's catching on…" she replied with sarcasm, "Argh fine but how to you propose we get there then?"

"We'll walk of course! Summer walks are so nice and it isn't like we have to rush to the stores," said Shizuru as she walked forward lightly and took Natsuki by the hand.

She was pulled forward, but not by the hand, by those eyes. Natsuki could fall into them forever and once they locked with hers, there was nothing she could do to pull back; not that she wanted to. Her hand unconsciously squeezed back, holding on as much as she could before weaving their fingers together. The fact that Natsuki was the one making this first movement surprised Shizuru a little but it was a nice surprise. The more this would happen the more she could realize that it was true what they had; because she believed it was true.

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Damn that walk took forever…thought Natsuki as theystood in front of the massive doors leading inside the mall. Her red face was evidence of her trying to hide the lack of air that reached her lungs. It grew redder when the older girl calmly glanced at her watch.

"Hmm… fifteen minutes… not bad for a leisurely walk I guess."

What?! Fifteen minutes? There's no way I'd be out after fifteen minutes unless it was a spint!

Of course the girl had been too enthralled in the hand holding to keep track of their exact pace.

Hmph! Leisurely walk,

"My ass!"

Unaware of having just screamed, Natsuki remained cool and stood crossing her arms and nodding to herself as if to reassure that the pace was indeed faster than a leisurely walk.

Meanwhile Shizuru was left with a sweat drop behind her head… there were too many clever things to retort that it was overloading even her brain. As usual whenever something like this would happen she merely shrugged and walked on, pulling the other girl forward again now with puppy eyes.

"Come on! Seeing all the people around here got me excited and I feel like shopping."

Despite knowing that shopping was her idea, Natsuki was soon starting to regret the outing. She sighed and reluctantly followed, angsting about having to scout the entire mall for clothes before going back through the building a second round to actually buy the stuff. Although something told her that this day was going to be a good one, and let a smile gently float on the surface of her face.

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As the pair made their way from store to store, both realized that although their tastes seemed different, they balanced. Natsuki was the two ends of the spectrum jumping from lingerie store to bike shop; whereas Shizuru was the one in the middle choosing casual but feminine wear.

"This is actually more fun than I thought…" admitted the dark-haired girl with a sigh of relief as they continued to look around.

"You thought you wouldn't have fun with me?!"

"Ah! No no! That's not what I meant… It's just… Usually I just go, buy what I want, and then get home and enjoy it… Browsing isn't my thing."

"It's because your attention span is too short."

"Yeah… wait! NO!"

The older girl giggled under her breath and led the way into a clothing store. She looked around at the sale items at the front until a "teasing device" appeared. She turned back holding up something hideously resembling a marshmallow on LSD.

"Natsuki! Look at this shirt doesn't it just scream "happy"?!"

The younger girl squinted for a second.

"…I think it just screams…"

With a sigh, Shizuru placed the shirt back and entered the store, heading further back to more normal looking clothes. While she was more observant of prices, Natuski was more observant of colours, though she remained silent about it now. To be honest, her thoughts were embarrassing her. The chestnut-haired girl held up to shirts, both blue, and poked the other in the back with one hand.

"Which is better? Short sleeve or long?"

Trying to keep her cool "I don't like this store" attitude, Natuski picked up the long sleeve mahogany shirt she had kept her eye on and held it out

"…This one," she muttered.

"Ah, why that one? Blue is such a nice colour don't you think?" came the gentle voice while petting her hair.

Miraculously keeping her blush under some control, Natsuki only muttered, "…It matches your eyes…"

Stunned at the caring words, Shizuru quickly tossed side the first two, grabbed the one Natsuki picked and eagerly put it on in the middle of the store. Although, even she in haste could falter, she put the shirt on over the one she was wearing, crumpling both sets of material as well as fraying her hair, not to mention making her seem puffier than normal. The girl rubbed the back of her head giving a sheepish smile.

"It's good!?"

Natsuki giggled and tugged on the bottom, straightening the two shirts before nodding with a smile.

"Very good!"

The two stayed there for a moment, just smiling. The recently pouting girl couldn't hold back her happiness anymore, not when laughter is contagious after all.

Of course, with every perfect moment, there was always some annoying person that had to ruin it.

"Aww look Kuga's being a softie!" called the voice of a certain redhead clung to the arm of a man even she had forgotten the name of.

Natsuki's head snapped around, bright red with both embarrassment and fury.

"You! Shut the frak up!" she yelled jabbing a finger in Nao's general direction.

The girl shrugged.

"Come on, I'm just stating the obvious."

She said with a smirk before looking at the oldest of the three, removing the tester shirt and swinging it over her arm.

She's back…?

Nao was never one to hold back, and certainly not around these two, "…Fujino…" she scowled.

Natsuki was about to start a name calling fight when a palm was raised in front of her. Somehow she knew to step back and not do the work this time while Shizuru faced her recurring foe. They remained in a deadlock stare, while the catch of the day was standing idly waiting for them to finish to get back to his business. The confident head tilt artistically executed by Shizuru was enough to push Nao of mental balance and fall into the trap of throwing the first punch.

"Dyke!"

"Whore." she snapped quickly.

Silence covered the area again; even other shoppers stayed a safe distance away from them. As for Nao, she was forced to stay silent. Her guilty conscience was getting to her, knowing that she did in fact have a man with her right now certainly didn't make it easy to think of a way to counter that comment.

Taking the lack of a response as sign of the redhead giving up, Shizuru decided to head for the second direct hit; overkill was always fun. She took Natsuki's hand tightly and held it up, entwining their fingers.

"Weren't we stating the obvious…ne?"

That did it. Nao couldn't handle anymore of this; though being her stubborn self she fled the scene refusing to admit defeat. It was as if she were to claim to be able to fly, fall off the edge of a building while yelling something as corny as "We'll meet again!"…

"We'll meet again Fujino! One day!" she began yelling while the man led her away by the arm to keep from violently rampaging throughout the store.

Meanwhile Natsuki remained stunned at the scene that seemed to play out so quickly but managed to shake her head back into reality. Suddenly realizing their hands were still touching she instinctively went to pull her arm back in behind her. Although since they were still connected, this caused Shizuru's arm to be pulled back and down as well, having her land face first in Natsuki's cleavage.

Natsuki had fainted momentarily on the floor while Shizuru barely remained standing. She swayed back and forth, attempting to keep balanced. The dark shade of her bangs covered her eyes while she brought a shaking hand up to her face.

Stupid nose! Stupid blood!

She cursed inwardly.

"Umm… are you two alright?" asked the woman at the cash who had been forced to witness everything.

Still swirl-eyed, Natsuki remained on the floor for a moment longer, mumbling something inaudible. Shizuru on the other hand was of course able to regain composure quickly and lift the other girl to her feet before placing the shirt on the counter.

"Would you mind holding onto this while we keep looking?"

The woman nodded and took the item while the two girls began to roam the store again.

They ended up staying in there longer than expected since, after much convincing, Natsuki had started to try on clothes as well.

Actually wait a minute… I've been the only one trying on stuff…

Only at the end of the trip through this store did Natsuki realize that without having any money she had simply been tricked to model for the past hour. She tried to contain the fuming after being had once again.

"Come on, let's go eat. I can smell the food court from here and it's making me hungry."

With a nod the older girl gathered all of the clothes she had picked out for herself while Natsuki was in the process of changing outfits and brought them to the cash. The two waited for the total to come up before Shizuru handed over a credit card to the woman. She slid it through the machine and waited a second before an annoying negative noise beeped.

"Umm… Miss? You're credit card maxed out…"

Natsuki's jaw dropped.

"Eh?! How can you be out of money?"

Shizuru sighed while picking out half the clothes that she surely wanted to keep.

"What do you mean how can I be out of money?"

"Well it's just… I heard it from some other people… and some more… A lot of which happened to be your fan girls so I thought they were a reliable source."

"So everyone thinks I'm rich?"

Natsuki paused. Thinking it over logically there wasn't much reason to assume that.

I can't believe I fell prey to those stupid fan girls! Of course they thought she was rich! She went to Fuuka Gakuen and stayed in the dorms…But she was on the Kazahana Scholarship too DUH!

Not wanting to admit she fell into such a superficial way of thinking, she merely rubbed the back of her head with an awkward grin and replied.

"I think it's the accent…"

Shizuru's shoulder drooped as her face fell into an expression of exasperated frustration.

With only half the original amount of clothing, the card went through fine and the pair strolled off in the direction of food. Starving Natsuki was first to eye the burger joint and practically sprinted towards the meat. Too fast to be grabbed and held back from temptation, Shizuru was forced to let her go and look for the closest thing to something she liked in fast food.

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Once they had gotten their meals, both girls sat down, each staring at the abomination to all food across from them. On one end there was a vitamin packed healthy balance of all food groups. At the other end there was a moist "blob" of what could only be described as "mystery meat" seeping more than one kind of fat between a bleach white set of bread. They gave each other a look of "What is THAT?" before sighing, accepting their own defeat, and giving into hunger.

"…Didn't I tell you to eat your vegetables?" Shizuru started, about to hand over something actually green.

"Hey! There's vegetables in here!" grumbled Natsuki still chewing, pulling out a pickle with her teeth to prove her point.

"…Right."

I'm just glad there's real stuff at home…

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The rest of the day was spent browsing through the mall, killing time, and looking to see if there was anything that they missed. By closing time when they had reached the limit of both money and energy they decided to return to the apartment. With her hands in her pockets, Natsuki huffed and pouted, kicking a rock forward as they walked.

"…I'm sorry about Nao."

"Ara? Is Natsuki getting all upset over a child?" Shizuru groaned, "And to think… all the children left in the world that haven't gotten to you yet," she grinned.

Eh… What is she getting at? That expression always means bad news for me…

Natsuki huffed again.

"She still annoys me so much… But at least I know to be more careful now."

"Ah you shouldn't worry… She seems to be busy enough to not want to be involved with your life."

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Both girls spent the growing evening getting officially settled in their new living arrangement. Despite the fact that it had only been a night they were reunited, it seemed like it was perfectly normal. These two were, after all, best friends. The natural compatibility had in fact been growing for years, though only it had finally reached its most perfect point recently.

Shizuru had taken to hanging and reorganizing both Natsuki's old clothes and her new outfits. Once both shopping bags had been emptied she looked up and grinned at her handiwork. All was well until she gracefully turned on her heel and took a step directly into a pile of old laundry. With her right leg was forced to stop moving sooner than expected, Shizuru was sent to the ground with a thud.

Mataku Natsuki… How could you move anywhere in this place?

Natsuki, who was busy cleaning up old ramen containers from the living room floor eagerly peeked her head up over the back of the sofa, giving her a direct view into her room. She cocked her head to the side and began innocently rubbing the back of her hair.

"Are you alright? Sorry about the mess in there… Just umm… yeah hang on I'll take care of it!"

The young girl quickly gathered her several small garbage bags and tossed them in the kitchen before grabbing another large garbage bag and heading to the room. When she got there, Shizuru had already gotten herself up and dusted off the debris. She was about to start helping her when Natsuki insisted that she do it.

After dragging the bag of laundry into the kitchen, the two girls looked at each other inquisitively and then back at said room. It was overflowing with everything they had just shoved in there, earning a mope and sigh from each. Neither wanted to take the first step, but eventually Natsuki, being the hungrier of the two, went for it. She placed all the small bags into one large one and turned to the doorway.

"I'll take these to the trash place downstairs," she said picking up the rather large bag of bags and tossing it over her back, "Be back in a sec."

Alone for the moment, Shizuru took this time to fully look around. To be honest, she was too consumed with the thought of living with Natsuki that it hadn't entered her mind to actually see what the place looked like. She walked into the living room, eyes moving from object to object taking in her surroundings. Suddenly she fell back onto the couch and breathed a heavy sigh. The day was also stressful on her, and the cushions seemed to be pulling her in, calling out to sleep.

I guess I can just take a short nap…

Natsuki returned to the apartment ready to eat only to see her sofa occupied with a rather uncommon sight. Vulnerable and real; the former kaichou lay sleeping. Even though the Ice Princess was the witness to a lot more than a mere fan girl, she had never seen the other girl sleep. Her mind was blank. There were no right words to explain how she felt. Gently closing the door, Natsuki quietly made her way to the kitchen.

Bah! Laundry can wait for tomorrow.

For now her concentration was on dinner. Despite her poor culinary skills, Natsuki managed to put together a rather simple set of sandwiches with a side of cheese and vegetables. It hadn't taken long for her to realize the importance of healthy foods, it had been asked of her twice in one day that was enough to get the hint. She carried the two plates out to the living room and sat down facing the couch, or more precisely, who was on it; not even catching herself staring.

"This is the most peaceful thing I've ever seen…"

With a sigh and a smile, Natsuki continued to watch and eat her meal. Halfway through, the girl had crunched on a carrot too loudly, waking the other. Dozily cracking her eyes open, Shizuru stretched her arms out before pushing herself into a more comfortable sitting position.

"Ara… How long was I asleep for?"

"Hmm… Not long. I just came up and made us some supper." Natsuki held out the other plate.

With exuberant joy Shizuru took the food, grinning even more now.

"Ookini Natsuki!"

The girl only watched with her emerald eyes.

This is it… This is what only I can see… That happiness… Such pure and innocent happiness…No one else knows the fragility of this person… It may seem that nothing breaks her but that's only a façade… She's so sensitive to even the smallest of things like this can make everything in her world perfect…and only I get to see it…

At the time when both had finished eating, they also happened to be half asleep. Natsuki piled the two plates and put them aside before crawling closer to Shizuru's welcoming arms. For the time being she was happy snuggling at this proximity, with her back against the furniture. However just when she started to really fall asleep, the arms that were draped over her shoulders reached under them and began to pull.

"Eh? What are you doing?"

"If you fall asleep sitting like that you'll ache tomorrow."

Shizuru continued to lift Natsuki onto the couch that really wasn't big enough to fit two people; not that it mattered. Still tired, both had their eyes closed, though their other senses had been temporarily heightened letting them simply feel every limb and curve. Having shifted to lying on her back, Shizuru allowed Natsuki to lie on top of her completely. The younger girl squirmed a bit before resting her head on the elder's collarbone and curling her legs in like a puppy.

About four hours later, Shizuru woke up with a slight neck pain from her position against the armrest. Dazed and looking around she noticed that the lights were still on, and slowly remembered them falling asleep on the couch. She looked down at the girl on top of her and slowly got up, still pressing Natsuki close to her body, assuring she would remain asleep. Keeping one hand on her midnight hair, and using the other to scoop up her legs, Shizuru carried her love over to the real bed. After placing her gently on the mattress she quickly went to turn off the remaining lights get into bed herself. She was too tired to care that they were both still wearing their day clothes, all that mattered now was returning to the blissful atmosphere.