A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the reviews! It took me a little while, but here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Mai-HiME.
Chapter 2: Talks and Terrors
"Nanoha-san, is there something you—" Natsuki stood in the doorway of the lower recital hall, her mouth agape. She watched as Nanoha and an attractive blonde woman pulled away from each other to look at her. If she didn't know any better, Natsuki would assume that she just ruined an intimate moment. "… Ummm…"
"Ah, Natsuki-chan!" Nanoha beamed, which made Natsuki feel less intrusive. "I'm glad that you're here! I have some things that I want to run by you before everyone else arrives. Come here."
Natsuki couldn't help but look at her instructor with a confused expression. Why would Nanoha want to run stuff by her? She wasn't the Section Leader, though she was still upset about that. She and Tate had run against each other for the position, but even though Natsuki knew for a fact that she had most – if not all – of the votes, Tate got the title. "Umm… Why?"
Nanoha smiled again, but Natsuki could tell that she was becoming impatient. "Because I want to know your opinion."
Remembering what Nanoha was like when she got angry, Natsuki quickly nodded and hesitantly approached the gorgeous pair, with her eyes glued to the ground. It felt like forever until she reached them, though it only took an awkward two minutes to reach the front of the auditorium.
"Natsuki-chan, I want you to meet Fate-chan. You might also know her as Fate T. Harlaown. She's helping out Nan-san with the Weapon Line this year." As soon as Natsuki looked at her, she tried to stop herself from flinching. More red eyes, Natsuki thought. Fate chuckled.
"I get that a lot, Kuga-san. My eye color is a rarity and usual freaks people out when they first meet me."
"Just call me Natsuki… And I'm not freaked out by your eyes. It's just that I seem to be running into a lot of red-eyed girls lately." Fate opened her mouth to respond, but Nanoha cut her off.
"I'll meet up with you at lunch, okay, Fate-chan?" The blonde looked between Natsuki and Nanoha before a knowing smile graced her lips.
"Of course, Nanoha." She stood up and walked towards the ground level door to the right, which led to a corridor and, further down, an exit. Fate stopped with half of her body out of the room. "I'll see you later, Natsuki. Keep Nanoha out of trouble!" With one last smirk, Fate was gone.
Natsuki turned to see a blushing and pouting Nanoha. "Umm… Nanoha-san?" The redhead snapped out of it and looked at Natsuki with a small smile.
"Sorry about that, Natsuki-chan. I actually had something rather important to talk to you about, but my fiancée sort of distracted me."
Natsuki stiffened. "… Fiancée?"
"Yes, Fate-chan and I are engaged to be married this January. We asked Fumi-san not to say anything about it because we don't like it when people gush over us." Nanoha giggled. "Fate-chan especially doesn't want any of her Weapon Line girls to find out. I've heard that a certain girl can be quite a tease."
Natsuki smiled half-heartedly, thinking that she might have meant Nao, who could really be quite the tease. On the inside, Natsuki felt that familiar ache that she got when she heard about Tate and Mai. However, she was also happy to see Nanoha in such a carefree mood. Fate-san must make her really happy.
"How long of you two know each other?" Natsuki found herself asking, but immediately wished she could take it back. She didn't want to be that obnoxious teenage girl that interrogates someone as soon as she finds out that their dating some hot guy. They can be so annoying sometimes.
"We met when we were kids and started dating in high school. I was on Drumline and she was the Weapon Line captain. We even went to the same college."
"Oh, so you're high school sweethearts, huh?"
Nanoha giggled again. "You could say that. But I didn't ask for you to come here early so that we could talk about me." Natsuki shifted her weight from her left to her right leg and crossed her arms. "I've noticed… a change between Tate-kun and you. Did you two get in an argument or something?"
That stupid ache again. "I don't see how that's any of your business, or how it has anything to do with the Pit," the blunette snapped. She automatically felt terrible for lashing out at Nanoha… It wasn't her fault that Tate was so dense. "I-I'm sorry. It… It's complicated between Tate and me right now, but that wasn't right of me. I'm just… you know, a little defensive right now."
"You feel vunerable," Nanoha bluntly stated. "That's completely understandable, Natsuki. I think that I know what there was between you and Tate, and I mostly certainly have been in your situation before." The redhead sighed. "Back before Fate-chan and I dated, she had had two different girlfriends. Signum, her first girlfriend, was a great girl and a few years older than us, but they realized that their feelings were of friendship, not romance."
Nanoha turned to look up at the ceiling, trying to recall her past. "The second girlfriend was named Teana, but she met someone else while she and Fate-chan were still dating. Fate-chan walked in on her and that person, who was named Subaru."
"Was Fate-san mad?" Natsuki asked after a long pause, taking a seat next to her instructor. Blue eyes met emerald.
"No, just heartbroken… at least to an extent. It was around that time that Fate-chan had realized her true feelings for me." Nanoha sighed again, turning her eyes to stare at the stage in front of us. "Unfortunately, I had a boyfriend at the time; his name was Yuuno. I had known him since we were little – just a little longer than I've known Fate-chan – and agreed to give him a chance at a romantic relationship. He and I made a deal to become a couple for three weeks; if I didn't want to continue after that, then that would be the end of it. You see, I've loved Fate-chan ever since I met her, but since Yuuno was my other best friend, I felt like I should at least give him a chance."
"And that's when Fate-san realized that she felt the same way, after you started dating Yuuno." The redhead nodded.
"Yes." Nanoha smiled. "It seems that Fate-chan was always jealous of Yuuno-kun, always wary of his closeness with me. During those three weeks, I saw less and less of Fate-chan… until I just didn't get to see her anymore."
"Why? What happened?" Natsuki was confused, and it showed in her expression. "Why would she stop being around you if she realized that she was in love with you?"
"That's exactly why she stopped hanging out with me, Natsuki-chan. She didn't want to get in the way of Yuuno-kun and I, and Fate-chan was still dating Teana at the time. She just didn't know what to do. She was trapped."
"But when she walked in on Teana and Subaru, she told you about her feelings, right?" Natsuki frowned when Nanoha shook her head.
"I was actually the first one to confess. After I found out about what happened, I went to comfort Fate-chan. The three weeks with Yuuno were already over, and Fate-chan felt so unneeded, unwanted, so unloved that I just had to tell her that I needed her, that I wanted her, and that I loved her."
Natsuki huffed. "What's with that?"
"What's with what, Natsuki-chan?"
"Why does everything in high school have to be so dramatic, so complicated?" The blunette threw her arms in the air with aggravation. Nanoha burst out laughing. "HEY! I'm serious, baka! Stop laughing!"
"I'm sorry, Natsuki-chan. It's just that you were so many things just then that I had to laugh."
"Like what?"
"Well…" Nanoha looked up and tapped her chin with her finger, thinking. "You were really cute."
Natsuki blushed and huffed again. "Nanoha-san, you should tease me so much."
"I'm sorry again, Natuski-chan, but I just can't help it! But what I'm trying to say is that I understand what you're going through right now, and that I'm here for you. And Fate-chan is, too. I think you should talk to her sometime; you two would get along very well."
"Really? Me and Fate-san?" Nanoha nodded. "But… but she's on Color Guard and I'm in Pit."
"Ara, what does that have to do with anything, Natsuki-chan? She was on Color Guard when I met her."
"No, I'm just saying that she might not like a lot of the Drumline kids right now because of the fight at the rehearsal this morning."
"But you didn't have anything to do with that, did you? Trust me, Fate-chan is one of those people that doesn't care where you come from or what section you're in; she knows that the band is full of wonderful people, not just the hotheads that think every section is at war with all the others."
"Yeah, I hate those people." The two shared a laugh before the rest of the Pit filled in along with Tate. As everyone got ready to play, Natsuki glanced at Tate, who was checking out his marimba. It hurts to be so close… yet so far. She looked over at Nanoha, who was helping a rookie, Nina Wang, with her vibraphone pedal. The blue-eyed beauty caught Natsuki's look and wink at her, causing the biker to blush profusely, but feel a little better about her predicament. Nanoha-san and Fate-san have my back, I'm sure of it.
"BAND!" The three drum majors clapped their hands together at a certain tempo. "TEN HUT!"
"HA!" The band responded, yelling loud enough to hear the echo throughout the mountains. Let's face it, when you have 260 teenagers yelling at the top of their lungs at the same time, it's going to be ridiculously loud. All the band members stood at attention: shoulders back, chest out, hands curled into fists and resting on your hips, and standing straight. In the blazing hot August sun, it wasn't completely uncommon for someone to pass out while standing at attention, but the drum majors would be sure to remind everyone to keep their knees unlocked. Locked knees were the biggest cause of people passing out.
This is one thing that I never miss about band camp: standing at attention before every meal, waiting for the drum majors to release your class. Natsuki glared at the back of a certain drum major's head.
Tomoe Marguerite. Everyone knows that she only got the position of drum major because her family is a big financial provider for the band program. Everyone used to think she was an angel… that is, until Natsuki caught her cheating on a major test with her friend, Miya. After that, Tomoe made it her life goal to make Kuga Natsuki's life living hell. Natsuki might not be Miss Congeniality, but everyone knows that she isn't a bad person, that she isn't a liar.
So when voting for band leadership came around and Tomoe's name was on the ballot for drum major, you can bet that no one – except maybe Miya – voted for her. Yet there she is, walking down the rows of marchers, looking for anyone that might not be at attention. If they weren't, they'd get at least twenty pushups. The other drum majors – both seniors and boys that Natsuki didn't bother knowing their names – would only give five or ten. But not Tomoe. She runs a tight and completely bias outfit.
"Kuga!" Natsuki kept looking forward, but she knew that it was Tomoe addressing her. "Drop and give me twenty!"
"But I didn't even move!" … Is what Natsuki wanted to shout back at the teal-haired drum major, but she knew better. This morning, Tomoe pulled the same trick and Natsuki fought back. That only got her twenty push-ups AND made them skip her class for dismissal for breakfast. She only got a few dirty looks from her fellow juniors, but she still felt bad about making her whole class wait for food on the first morning of band camp.
So, Natsuki did as she was told. She dropped down to the scorching pavement and did only three push-ups when the drum majors dismissed the juniors. The blunette was about to get up and join the rest of her class, but Tomoe stopped her by slamming her foot on Natsuki's back. "Keep going, Kuga. You aren't leaving until you finish."
Natsuki just grunted in response and continued. She quietly growled when she heard them dismiss the sophomores. She only had five more to go. …sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty! Natsuki got up and started walking towards the doors of the college's mess hall when she felt a firm hand hold her back. "And just where do you think you're going now, Kuga?"
"I did my twenty push-ups just like you asked, Tomoe. You said I could leave afterwards."
"No, I said that you could leave when you finished. I want you to do fifteen more for trying to get out of it." Tomoe released the biker's shoulder, crossing her arms. "Come on, I don't have all day."
Natsuki wanted to punch Tomoe in the face so bad, or at least scream "You've GOT to be kidding me!" but she know that it would just lead to more pushups or maybe even a few laps around the practice field tomorrow. Fuck my life. Once again, the dark beauty got on the ground and did two push-ups when they let the freshmen go inside to eat. Natsuki huffed and noticed when three pairs of feet walked past her and inside, only one pair paused at the entrance. "You better finish those. I'll be watching you from inside, so don't get any ideas," Tomoe called, and you could hear the smirk of triumph in her tone.
It didn't take very long until Natsuki was done with her fifteen; she works out on her own, so thirty-five push-ups weren't that bad, but the heat made her all sweaty and her muscles ached from being so close to the hot pavement. Instead of immediately getting up and going inside, the emerald-eyed girl just stayed out there, sitting on the pavement just outside the entrance of the air-conditioned dining hall. Why did she do this? So that she wouldn't have to stand in line behind Tomoe. This way, there was no chance of Tomoe being able to give her another punishment without seeking her out, making everything obvious.
Tomoe might be a stuck up bitch, but she wasn't an idiot. She knew that even though her "sweet and innocent" cover was blown for the junior class, she could still come off that way to the sophomore and freshman class. As long as she made Natsuki look like that bad one, she was golden. Of course, all the kids that had stood around Natsuki when Tomoe called her out would be perplexed, wondering what she did wrong. But anyone that was smart – meaning anyone without the guts to have Tomoe as an enemy – would say that Natsuki was asking for it or something.
Natsuki glared at an ant inching its way across the pavement. What did I do to deserve this? I was a good person by reporting Tomoe, right? So why am I suffering for doing the right thing? She knew that she had done the right thing, but Tomoe was making it harder and harder to remember that. Natsuki tilted her head back and watched the puffy white clouds slowly crawl across the blue expanse of the sky, thinking how much it looked like the ant and the pavement, just better.
"Are you coming in or not?" Natsuki snapped her eyes back to the entrance, smiling when they met amber. "You've been staring at the sky for five minutes now."
"You didn't have to wait for me, Nina. I was just trying to avoid another encounter with Tomoe." Natsuki paused before speaking up again, curiosity showing on her face. "How did you get past her, anyways? She would have torn you a new one if she saw you waiting for me."
Nina shrugged. "I just made conversation with Nanoha-san until Tomoe was near the top of the stairs. Then I came out here and found you acting like you wanted to be a bird or something." Natsuki nodded in understanding.
The dining hall of Western Fuuka has two floors. The first floor is kind of like a small version of a mall food court, but all of the businesses are closed during the summer, so the band eats on the second floor, which is much bigger and has a lot more variety, but is basically the same. Right in the middle of the building is a large staircase that connects the two floors, and it reminded Natsuki of the staircase in a castle, wide and beautifully crafted. But when you go up the stairs, you end up in the middle of the second floor, which has plenty of tables and room for the band to sit and eat in smallish groups. There are two cash registers on either side of the top of the stairs, and you have to swipe this card that is given to you when you register the first day of band camp. If you don't have your card, you don't get food. Nao jokingly calls it "Natsuki's Chow Card," but when she's sassier, she'll call it "Mutt's Chow Card."
Once you reach the top of the stairs, it's difficult to see the first floor, so it made sense how Nina was able to sneak around Tomoe. "You really didn't need to do that, Nina. I've told you how ridiculous the lines can get."
"Yeah, but since I'm a freshman, the lines are going to be bad anyways, so…" She trailed off, letting Natsuki finish the statement however she wanted. Nina helped the biker up and walked into the refreshing building together. Natsuki hummed in contentment, silently thanking whoever came up with AC.
"Did you get a chance to talk with Erstin?" Natsuki smirked as Nina blushed and stammered at the question. "You should ask her out."
"And you should take your own advice," Nina retorted. Natsuki just stopped halfway up the stair, a look of pure shock and confusion taking over her expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you should tell Tate-san how you feel. Maybe—"
"Maybe that's the worst idea I've ever heard. I might be mad at her, but I wouldn't do that Mai. Besides, Tate's a loser. I think he knew perfectly well how I felt about him, but decides to ignore it and torture what feelings are left by always talking about Mai and how awesome she is." Natsuki took a deep breath. She forgot to breathe while she spoke.
"….I was going to say that maybe it would make you feel better and realize everything you just said." Nina grinned when Natsuki glared at her.
"I kinda hate that you're almost always right. Are you sure that you're a freshman?"
"Just because I'm a freshman doesn't mean I can't be cool and mature."
"No, I'm pretty sure that the term 'freshman' is an antonym with both of those words. But stop avoiding the question. Did you talk to Erstin at all?" Both blunettes took out their food cards and swiped them before continuing into the upper dining hall. They walked over to the booth that served salad since there was no line.
"A little. She said that something unusual happened during warm up today." After they go their salads and Natsuki got hers covered in mayo, they sat down next to Nao, Mikoto, Erstin, Chie, Aoi, and some freshman named Arika who closely resembled that ant Natsuki watched earlier.
It was cool that they would all sit together, despite the sections they were in. Lots of sections would stay together during the week, enjoying the time they got to joke around their friends. But not this group. Aoi plays clarinet, Mikoto is a trumpet, Chie plays snare drum, Arika and Erstin are on Flag Line (Guard), Nao is part of Weapon Line, and Natsuki and Nina are both in Pit.
"Hey, Mutt. How did it go with the Teal Terror?" Nao asked. "The Teal Terror" is the nickname that Nao came up with for Tomoe during freshman year. No one approved back then, since they all thought that Tomoe as sweet, but Nao has this crazy good intuition about people. She knew the moment that she met Tomoe that she was trouble. So whenever Nao labels a person, Natsuki tends to listen more often.
"She gave me thirty-five push-ups and made me work until after the freshman and the drum majors left. What happened with the Guard during warm up today?"
"Thirty-five? That's ridiculous." Chie voiced as she ogled a passing Guard girl, but was reprimanded when Aoi elbowed her. Chie's one of those exceptions to the Drumline-Guard rule. When she first starting dating Aoi, she got some grief from the idiots in the Drumline, but she just ignored them and kept dating Aoi. They've been going out for a year and a half now, which is much longer than anyone thought they would last. "What was that you said about the Guard?"
"I heard that something… 'unusual' happened during warm up today. Did you hit yourself in the face with the rifle again, Nao?" Natsuki dodged the spoon, chuckling.
"I didn't do anything, Mutt! It was Fujino!"
Mikoto looked at Nao with a troubled face. "Fujino? Is she that pretty girl with the red eyes?"
"I thought we were talking about some girl, not Fate-san," Natsuki thought out loud as she stabbed her salad. She looked up right after stuffing a forkful of mayo-covered lettuce into her mouth, and almost spit it out when she looked up. Erstin, who was sitting right next to Natsuki, patted her back as the blunette coughed.
"Is something wrong, Natsuki?" Erstin asked the heavily breathing girl.
"Nothing's wrong with her, she just forgot to chew her food. You can be such a stupid puppy sometimes, Mutt." Nao smirked at the glare she received from Natsuki, who was now gulping down water. "Besides, how do you know Harlaown-san?"
"Uh… long story. I met her earlier today, when I went to met up with Nanoha-san. I bumped into her as I was walking across campus, I guess. We introduced ourselves and I noticed her eyes. End of story." Natsuki kept her eyes on her plate, afraid that if she looked up, she would be found out.
"Hmph, that wasn't a long story at all…" Nao muttered, not believing her dark-haired friend for a second, but deciding to ask her about it later.
"Oh, is she the hot blonde –OW! What's the deal with everyone hitting me today?" Chie rubbed her head and shot a hurt look at Aoi.
"Serves you right. And yes, she is that blonde woman that works with the Weapon Line," Nao interjected. The redhead turned to Natsuki again, noting the frustration on the girl's face. "What's your problem, Kuga?"
"Will someone just answer my question already?" Natsuki growled. She was trying her best to not look in a certain direction of the dining hall. Those red eyes caught her by surprise twice today!
"Sheesh, calm down! All that happened was that Fujino dropped a throw –"
"Really? All of this talk over a lousy throw?" Natsuki glanced around the table before huffing and playing with her remaining salad. "At least what I thought happened was reasonable…"
"Shut it, Kuga. I haven't done that since pre-band camp, and it only happened once!" Nao glared at the stoic blunette.
"You say 'since pre-band camp,' but that was only a week ago," Natsuki replied, a smirk dancing on her lips. "Not a lot of room for improvement there, huh, Yuuki?"
"Ahem. Anyways," Nina started, hoping to avoid the possible storm that was brewing between Nao and Natsuki. "I heard that it was a pretty big deal for Fujino-san to drop her rifle so much during practice because she rarely ever drops it at all."
Natsuki looked at the side of the dining hall that she had been avoiding, staring at the bearer of those gorgeous eyes for a few moments. "Maybe she was just having an off day," she grumbled as she looked back down at her plate. "I know that I am. It's only Monday and I've already had to do forty-five push-ups." Natsuki moved her plate a little further back on the table before slamming her head into the table. She groaned at the strong possibility that she'd have to do over one hundred push-ups this week. "This is the last thing that I need right now!"
"Ara, if you wanted me to leave so much, you just had to say so." Natsuki jumped at that sound of a person's voice. The voice that's bugged her since she first heard it a little over two hours ago.
"F-Fujino! Er… I mean—" Natsuki struggled with her mouth; it was as if she no longer controlled it. What is wrong with me? It's just another girl!
The blunette made the mistake of looking behind Shizuru, noticing the fiery glare she was receiving from a certain drum major. What's the deal with her? Natsuki just glared back, which surprised Tomoe. She just gave her thirty-five pushups and she's still fighting back. Natsuki looked between Shizuru and Tomoe, Is there a connection between these two? That's when Natsuki noticed that Shizuru's mouth was moving.
"Um… What was that?" Natsuki half-heartedly glared at the Weapon Line captain when she giggled behind her hand.
"I said that I'm happy that you got your voice back… at least, it seems like you did, though you might still need to practice using it." Shizuru looked at Natsuki through lowered lashes, which made Natsuki shiver for some reason. "Ara, are you cold…?"
"No, I mean… Yes! I'm freezing, aren't you?" Natsuki made a show of rubbing her arms with her hands, acting like she was actually cold. Who would be cold in the middle of August after doing push-ups? Apparently, Nao was thought the same thing because Natsuki could see the redhead roll her eyes before snickering.
"No, I'm afraid that I'm fine, Miss… Kannin na, but I never got your name." Shizuru gave her a look of regret, but Natsuki could tell that those crimson eyes were swimming with something else, but what?
"Kuga. Kuga Natsuki, but just call me Natsuki."
"Ara, Na~tsu~ki~… What a lovely name. I have to go talk with my instructor, but I hope I get to see you again, Natsuki."
The brunette strutted off towards where the instructors sit, drawing the attention of every table she passed. Natsuki found herself watching, too, but for much longer than necessary. She quickly missed those rubies that would look at her with so much…. So much…. What? What… What is this feeling?
