For disclaimers (sort of), please see part one.

Author's novella:
Let me start by (hopefully) setting aside some concerns that several of you mentioned after the first chapter – I didn't respond much to those in my replies chiefly so I could cover it here and thus include the reviewers who don't or can't sign in, in one, fell swoop: To make it clear, this fic does not center around ShizNat winning out over NaoNat or vice versa. Remember: there are two distinct versions of Natsuki in this story, even if we're only hearing from the canon one.

There's a lot of questions left unanswered at this point, and to be honest, there probably will be for a while yet – because... *grins and shrugs* Well, because I'm cruel like that. I'm gonna keep you guys in the dark as long as Natsuki is, only to toss in the odd (and at times 'magnifier needed to find it'-type) clue just for the frustration-value. However, you're welcome to speculate, and if you get something right, I will confirm it via PM if at all possible.

A few of you also spoke of being somewhat apprehensive about taking on this fic; some due to the concerns outlined above and some due to disliking a pairing, but said outright that you were reading anyway simply because I'm the one writing. That... is probably the biggest compliment I've ever received. Thank you.

Unrelated, I hope I got Natsuki's year of birth right – I figure that if she was 17 at the end of the series, that means she'd turn 18 on August 15, 2005. Thus, by my math she should have been born in 1987. Oh, and the Google response at the end of this chapter? Don't read anything into it. I just have a wonky sense of humor, is all.

Enjoy.

Distortion
Chapter 2


"Good morning, kaichou-san!"

"Good morning," you return as amiably as possible – which is actually surprisingly so considering that you most of all want to snap everyone's head off at this point. God, no wonder people say that quitting is the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life. Your hands are shaking, you're constantly one wrong word – or glance, or falling leaf - away from exploding, and what really pisses you off is that this whole mess isn't even your fault.

"Hmm-hm-hmm-dieyoumiserable-hmm," you half-hum, half-growl well under your breath as you reach your locker. At least you're feeling a little less... sandblasted today than you did last night. That was absolutely the most awful you've ever felt in your life, and only the gleeful pleasure you found in digging out and ripping to shreds the cigarette packs and contents that your counterpart had hidden in various spots around her dorm helped any. Not much, admittedly, but at least it kept you from clawing anything else to pieces. Such as yourself.

Although if this damn locker doesn't open soon, that might change. Dammit, you know what the combination is, so why isn't it working?

Zero... eight... one... five. You twist and pull again, and still nothing. Only the crowd of students milling around and the knowledge that you have to act like the absolutely heartless, good for nothing piece of... grr! Definitely the only thing keeping you from openly losing your temper.

Alright, you decide and force yourself to exhale slowly through your nose, so maybe she changed the combination and Nao just doesn't know. But to what? Well, if the old code was her birthday, then maybe...

One... nine... eight... seven. Turn, pull – nope. Maybe she missed a year, too? One... nine...eight...six. Turn, pull – nada. Oh, for the love of... what else could it be?!

You turn and lean back against the locker, and pretend to be studying the one, necessary book you could bring from the dorm this morning while you think. Everything stored on the laptop is neatly labeled – you discovered that much yesterday, and coupled with the carefully folded clothes, the books sorted by both subject and title and a thousand other tiny things, you're definitely convinced that she's organized. Logical. Methodical. Not unlike you even if you've mostly turned those points in yourself towards other pursuits, and not the type of person who'd pick even something so tiny as a locker code at random. So most likely, she'd choose something that held some sort of meaning to her – and it has to be something that can be narrowed down to four numbers. Her previous choice of your shared date of birth was a little obvious, maybe, but at the same time it makes sense. Who wouldn't find meaning in the day when their life began?

Furthermore, when she did change it, she probably also changed it to something related, but it wasn't her own birth year, unless you're way off-base somewhere.

A sudden idea almost tickles at the back of your mind – one whose seeds you first came across while browsing academy profiles yesterday afternoon in an ultimately fruitless search for Shizuru as either a current or previous student - and you carefully close the book in your hands before turning and slowly – curiously – inputting another four numbers.

Click.

Huh.

0613 – or rather, June 13th. Nao's birthday.

"Hey, Natsuki!"

You somehow manage to not bang your head against the locker door when you jump in surprise. What is it with the people of this world and their apparent desire to make you go gray way too early?

"... morning, Mai." At least, you consider, the cheerful greeting and mode of address is enough to let you know that she and your counterpart are friends, too.

Mai snickers at the way you literally clutch at your chest from sheer shock, and you watch somewhat jealously as she opens her own locker a few spaces down without any incident whatsoever. "Wow, you're jumpy today," she comments. "What's going on?"

Well, you either want to kill people for breathing wrong, or claw your own skin off until the detox process is over and done with. Whichever works better and results in less trouble, really.

"I didn't sleep too well," is what you actually tell her, though, and find a package of gum in your bag to take a piece from, since that seems to take some of the edge off. It's true, too – not the entire truth, but you've learned long ago that being friends with someone doesn't mean that they know everything there is to know, and you don't really want to go into the 'yeah, I'm from a different reality', thing; nor do you wish to remember the shapeless shadows that kept invading your dreams and waking you up for no apparent reason.

The few books needed for your first class are shifted into the crook of your arm, and you set the bag into their place before shutting the locker with a click. You're busily chewing when you turn, only to find Mai leaning against the wall on one shoulder and watching you curiously.

"...what?" you ask somewhat uncomfortably.

Mai opens her mouth, then glances around and apparently changes her mind, and the next thing you know you're being practically frog-marched down the hall and into an empty classroom – while trying your best to look like the whole thing was your idea. Snick, goes the door behind you, and after Mai's spent a few moments listening to the silence and apparently deciding that no one is eavesdropping, she turns to you and sets her hands on her hips.

"You quit, didn't you?" she determines triumphantly, and claps when she undoubtedly sees your expression shift to one of get the hell out of my head. "Awesome!" You're pulled into a tight, bouncing hug so fierce that it forces your breath from your lungs and almost makes you spit your gum across the room. "I knew you could do it!"

Is it possible to 'quit' something you never actually started? Or would this be more of a matter of the old adage about shit rolling down-hill and you having to deal with a mess you didn't make?

"It sucks," you tell her emphatically, and that thankfully manages to stop her hopping excitedly in place and jolting you rather unpleasantly at the same time. "I don't think I've ever been in a worse mood."

"That's saying something," she teases gently, and only grins at the glare you send her in response. "I told you it'd be hard, but at least it'll only take your body three days to detox completely."

Three days?! "You mean I'll be feeling like this for another 48 hours?!" you almost shout at her, because the first 24 have certainly not been anything even remotely resembling a walk in the park.

"Now, now," Mai waves you off. "At least you picked a good time, hm? We only have a half-day today, tomorrow's Sunday, and when school starts up again next week, you should be over the worst of it." She frowns pensively. "Although you should probably find something to do instead of..." A glance at the closed door. "...that. You know – replace a bad habit with a better one? Just so you don't fall in again."

You glower at her while you use your tongue to roll the gum into a little ball inside your mouth, and then chomp it viciously between your molars. Frankly, you haven't felt the tiniest urge to light a cigarette at all – you've just been furious at the physical reactions you've had to endure from not doing so. But if your counterpart's been smoking for a long time and presumably enjoyed it, then she would probably be likely to fall off the wagon, and Mai's suggestion would make sense to her.

"Any ideas?" you therefore ask.

"Hm." Mai makes an appropriately thoughtful noise as she opens the door and the two of you start off down the hall, and you repeat the number of room you need to go to in your head a few times, because you can't remember if it's a class you share with her. "Well, probably not gum," she offers with a slightly apologetic tone to her voice. "You know the administration frowns on chewing it in school."

Actually, you don't, but you can very easily picture Suzushiro gleefully enforcing that notion all the same – probably by making the offender wear it on their forehead for the remainder of the day.

"Something with caffeine might be good, though," Mai goes on. "You'll get a bit of a jump from that too, it's a lot less toxic than coffin nails and there's plenty of sodas and coffees sold right here on campus."

Well, you have no real problem with either of those ideas. However, you do find yourself suggesting something else. "How about tea?"

That actually makes Mai just stop halfway through a step and stare at you. "Natsuki," she tells you lowly. "I've known you since our first day of junior high, and you've never drank any tea that I can recall."

She's right, of course – you don't particularly like it either, but it seems like a lifetime since you've last seen a cup or smelled the few varieties you can name by scent alone, and it's honestly driving you a little crazy. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

"Well..." You shrug and keep walking "First time for everything. Right?"

xXxXx

"You should probably try to watch yourself more in class," Nao tells you some time later – after school has ended for the day and you're walking around the campus aimlessly. She tracked you down in the hall and managed to sneak you out of a side door before your chemistry teacher – Hawari-sensei? - could engage you in conversation as he so obviously wanted to. "I overheard a few of the teachers wondering about your sudden restlessness."

"You try sitting still when it feels like you wanna crawl out of your own skin," you mutter in response, and then replace your words with an appropriately pleasant smile when a few middle-schoolers pass by and greet you. "It should be easier next week," you continue around a sigh once they're out of earshot again. "Right now the shakes are driving me nuts."

Nao merely grunts softly in response, and wondering about her behavior easily wins out over focusing on the very strong urge to just start punching things.

"Are you usually this quiet?" you ask bluntly, because her counterpart would be about as likely to pass up a chance to make fun of you as she would be to sprout wings and fly to the moon, and you entertain yourself with that mental image while you wait for Nao to stop gaping at you. For the second time in as many days.

"Actually, between her and me, I probably supply about ninety percent of the talking," she finally admits wryly. "You're a lot better with people than she is."

That comment makes you perform both a mental and a physical double-take, because you've been dubbed antisocial for as long as you can remember, and the knowledge that she's worse is actually kind of frightening. "Damn," is all you can think of to say in response, and so you leave it at that.

"Not the case back where you come from, huh?" Nao deducts.

"Not exactly." You shake our head. "I never really spent time with anyone. I ended up kinda being tossed into a group of people headfirst during the Carnival and things just... grew from there, but until my last year of junior high, I had no friends at all." A pause. "I wanted it that way."

"Sounds familiar," Nao muses idly. "That's around when I met her, too. She just started seeking me out, and I never could figure out what the hell she wanted until she kissed me last spring."

"Where'd you meet?"

"The director's garden." Nao's reply makes you blink several times. "I was two seconds away from destroying a flowerbed when she came up behind me and stopped me."

"... please don't tell me she said something about how beautiful flowers are meant to be loved."

"What?" That earns you an odd look, to say the least. "No, actually she told me that I was free to do what I wanted, but so was she, and if I was gonna commit a blatant act of vandalism, then she was going to make sure I got punished for it. Who the hell would say what you just said?"

Who indeed. "So what did you do?"

Nao grins. "I ripped the thing apart, and then spent two weeks' worth of detention putting it back together."

You can't help but chuckle at that. "Harsh," you comment.

"Nah, not really," Nao admits. "She helped. That's how I started getting to know her – one heck of an awakening it was, too."

"Mm?" You step over a loose branch lying on the pathway. "How do you mean?"

"I acted so weird around her," is the reply. "I'd blush at the drop of a friggin' hat, and it felt like I stuttered every time she even opened her mouth at first." She shakes her head and snickers wanly. "Probably a good thing she doesn't say much. I don't think I'd have survived if she was a chatterbox."

She's smiling as she speaks – that's easy to see – but it's a strange, sad kind of smile, and you find yourself sympathizing with her; odd as that is to realize, given how you're used to reacting around the Nao you know.

"You're in love with her," you deduce softly.

Nao grunts.

"Hey." You manage to pat her only somewhat awkwardly on the shoulder. "C'mon, at least she wants you too, right?"

"No." Nao shakes her head. "Or... well, yeah, she wants me – she seems to enjoy the kissing thing, anyway. But she doesn't feel... that way. Y'know?"

"You can't know that for sure."

That earns you a disturbingly resigned look from the lime-colored eyes. "Have you led a very sheltered life, by any chance?" she asks, and if it wasn't for the seriousness of the question, you'd probably start laughing hysterically.

"Not hardly," you scoff instead. "I survived the Carnival, didn't I?"

Surprisingly, you answer makes her laugh. "Oh, come on!" she exclaims. "God, if 'surviving' a party with silly masks and costumes is what you call excitement, you're practically a newborn!"

It takes a few seconds of total confusion for you to work that one out, and then you feel something inside you just freeze when you realize that she has no idea what you're talking about.

What the hell? Seriously, what the hell?! What does that even mean? That there's been no Carnival here? That it's in the distant future, just around the corner or that it just doesn't exist at all?!

"You okay?" Nao asks curiously. "You've got a really weird look on your face."

Seeing as how this is the first time since arriving here that you actually find yourself wanting a cigarette, that doesn't surprise you.

"C'mon." You grab Nao's arm in return for a startled squawk, and pick up the pace significantly. "You know this place better than me. Where can I buy tea?"

"Tea?!"

"Tea," you confirm. "Bagged, loose, I don't care. Preferably green, though."

"Have you totally lost your marbles?!" Nao demands as she tries to keep up. "What the hell is it with you all of a sudden?!"

"The Carnival wasn't a party," you growl at her. "Now, come on!"

"What?" Nao stares incomprehendingly at you, and manages to guide you down a side path that seems to lead to the borders of the academy campus. "Then what the hell was it?"

God, where to begin? "Ever watched a magical girl animé?"

"... WHAT?!"

xXxXx

That, you decide several hours later as you close the door to your dorm behind Nao and lean against it with a soft sigh, was one of the most emotionally exhausting afternoons and evenings you've ever experienced. Not necessarily in a bad way – it wasn't like either of you were screaming or crying at any point – but you've basically spent the far better part of the day explaining to someone else what had just sort of become... life to you. Rehashing the events of the Carnival, the ones leading up to it, the prophecies and everything connected to the HiME in general took more effort than you could've ever imagined.

In a way, it was oddly amusing, though. You've lived the insanity of being a HiME and experiencing the climax of the 300-year cycle, but it's never really hit you just how strange it must all sound until you told someone who had no idea, and got to watch their brains practically dribble out of their ears in response.

Ah, well. At least Nao didn't pass out, although there was a few times where you thought she was going to. You flop to a seat on the now neatly made bed and claim one of your latest acquisitions – a blue mug filled with gently steaming, green tea - and take a sip. Plus, while you were wracking your brain for everything you could remember, explaining, describing and clarifying whenever Nao's eyes started to glaze over in either confusion or outright disbelief, the two of you managed to undo the damage you yourself did yesterday, and got the entire dorm back the neat, orderly state it was in when you first arrived.

"Come on in," you'd told her, and closed the door behind her before starting to put away various kind of tea you'd bought. Nao, in the meantime, was looking at the all-encompassing mess with an astounded look on her face that had made you chuckle. "Not how it usually looks, huh?"

"I wouldn't know," she'd said simply, and shrugged her shoulders. "I've never been here before."

"Seriously?"

"I didn't even know her room number until a few minutes ago when you brought me here," Nao had grumbled in reply, and seemed kind of embarrassed. "So yes. Seriously."

Yeah, you remember now that you think about it. She had definitely started following your lead once the two of you left the small, nearby grocery store and you suggested your - her - dorm as a place to better talk privately in. Nao even told you later on that the chief way in which you were acting out of character for your counterpart was in how you actually didn't mind spending time around her out in public.

The Natsuki of this reality, Nao told you in no uncertain terms, has never walked with her anywhere. Ever. And that's why she's convinced that where your alternate is concerned, whatever relationship the two of them have is purely physical.

But you can't help but remember the locker combination. And wonder. You, after all, know better than practically anyone that there is really no such thing as black and white – everything is just a thousand shades of gray. Would your sudden desire to kick what in a way is your own ass qualify as slate, you muse, or is it more of a gainsboro?

You shove the thought aside, and instead lift the laptop from the bag you settled on the floor by the bed all those hours earlier. Tired as you are, there is one more thing you want to try before you let yourself go to bed, and it doesn't take many keystrokes until you're staring at the front page of Google Japan. It takes even fewer before you've entered in a name that you could type out with your eyes closed.

It just can't be. A world without Shizuru in it... that's just wrong.

Did you mean 'Shindou Naomi'? is all the search engine responds with, however, and you pinch the bridge of your nose and close your eyes as you let out a slow, shaky breath.

Dammit.

It leaves you feeling surprisingly saddened, and fruitlessly puzzling over that reaction keeps you awake for another long while, before you finally fall into an exhausted sleep.

xXxXx

One of Thirteen, One of Ice
We all tire of the fight
Find us where you know we are
Give your aid to heal the scar
Heartache's cycle, fill the lack
Mend what's broken, fix the crack

xXxXx