Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Hime and Mai-Otome Characters (I own this bowl of Mai's ramen for now!)

Hi, everybody. Sorry for updating so late! I'd like to thank all of you who follow my story and specially Zordfalco who wrote a review for the first chapter.

This time you'll see some strange dancing couples and more fun! Also some mistakes from previous chapter is fixed.

Another thing, Chie's birthday is coming (December 6) and I thought it would be great if anyone write a fanfic about her in that day. For my part, I'm thinking of writing a special

for this story which will be about Chie and Aoi (you can see signs of this at the end of this chapter!) but I don't think that I can prepare it until December 6. You can find out about the

birthday of other characters in my profile (based on reliable sources!).

Alright, now please start reading (and don't forget to review!) about "Dance of the Maidens" = "Otometachi no Mai"!


The Castle of Fuka was experiencing a truly busy night. Guests from Aries and Zipang had been arrived and the royalties from these two country were present at the ceremony that was held for the birthday anniversary of Queen of Windbloom.

Mashiro was sitting at the head of the table which president of Aries Yukino Chrysant and young prince of Zipang Tokiha Takumi no Kami Tadayori were sitting too. Arika was fidgeting at Mashiro's side and apparently she was awaiting for arriving someone. Haruka Armitage, Meister Otome of Yukino was standing besides her qualifying the ceremony and it didn't seem that she is pleased at all! And Takumi's servant, Akira was trying so hard not to let her hate of Windbloom's Queen take over her!


Opening! (Dream Wing, Crystal Energy or anything else!)

Dance of the maidens

"Nina-chan!" was almost shouted by Arika as she spotted two familiar face among the guests. It caused a death glare from Sakomizu that made her remember her position "Um, that is ... your highness! Your permission to ... to ..."

"-sigh- You are dismissed" said Mashiro in order to release her Otome from the burden of formalities! Meanwhile she secretly watched the reactions of Takumi, making sure that she has preserved her dignity.

"Thank you very much!" said Arika gratefully bowing then she left.

"Honestly!" said Mashiro with a low voice watching her friend that seemed never was going to become a real Otome!

"Nina-chan!" was shouted by Arika running among the startled guests.

"Arika!" said Nina a bit surprised as she saw Arika running toward her.

"So this is your friend" said Sergay with a warm smile "an Otome?!" his eyes widened. "Lena" was the first word that hit his mind at the moment.

Nina couldn't describe the expression on Arika's face. Was it surprise, sadness, happiness or ...? whatever it was, it made her worry.

"Ah, yeah. This is my friend Arika and that's my ..." she paused to find the right word.

"I'm Sergay. Nice to meet you!" He interrupted Nina as he turned to face Arika.

Arika bowed before him staring at his face with the same expression as before on her face.

"Hey, Arika! Nina!" was a happy sexy voice that called them.

"Nao-senpai" they both said.

"Huh?" Sergay was a bit surprised by the redhead's behavior.

"You're …" said Sergay as he quickly got interrupted by Nao "I'm Nao! Nice to meet you! Please excuse us for a moment …" as she took Arika's arm and took her to a side.

"Nice to mee..." Sergay cut his sentence as he saw them walk away and made a "whatever" expression.

"So" Sergay faced Nina "I thought you said that your friend lives in Artai. And to think that she is Queen Mashiro's Otome, I'm really surprised!" he said smiling.

She looked down sadly "I'm sorry. I just wanted to … " she said before getting interrupted by Sergay "It's alright. I'm sure you just wanted to surprise me".

Nina smiled gratefully as a response.


"…she will be really happy" Nao quietly finished her words to Arika.

"Nina-chan will be?" said Arika still looking at Nina and Sergay.

"Yeah. I'm sure of it" Nao answered with a smile (smirk?) on her face. "Now, let's go!" she said taking Arika's arm before pulling her to Nina's side.

"Nina-chan! Um, do I have the honor?!" said Arika as she bowed taking a standard pose of a invitation to dance! Sergay's eyes went wide, Nao's smirk widened too, and Nina just couldn't be more surprised than this!

"Huh?! Wh-What's this all of a sudden?" said Nina with her jaw dropped.

"Let's dance!" shouted Arika with her common happy tone.

"Arika... you..." Nina said as she looked suspiciously at her senpai.

"That's not a very polite way to treat an invitation you know, Nina" said Sergay who was really enjoying the situation.

"That's right, you should be polite in ceremonies like this" said Nao teasing.

"Now, Nina-chan!" Arika said as she grabbed Nina's hand.

"Aaaa, alright!" the latter said as the two joined the already dancing couples.

"This looks interesting" said Sergay watching the two friends dancing gently together.

"Yeah" said Nao watching Arika and Nina as well.

Sergay faced Nao "You see, we haven't known each other well yet" said Sergay with a special tone.

"You haven't changed at all" said Nao staring and smiling at him.

"Hm?" Sergay's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing!" she said with a big smile.

"Never mind. My name is Sergay. And you're … Nao, right?"

"That's right" replied Nao with a sexy tone. "Now, Please Excuse me" she said before walking away.

"Hey..." he silenced himself watching her going and then sighed in disappointment.


Natsuki was busy watching (not too happily!) Shizuru dancing with a cute Coral Otome that a voice captured her attention "Oh my, seems like someone's being jealous!".

She turned her head to see Nao standing beside her with a mischievous grin. "Shut up. It's not like I'm being jeal..." she cut her sentence when she saw Shizuru dipping the Coral.

"So?" Nao said with her grin widened.

"That's ..." she managed to get a grip on herself "What about you? You don't seem to have too much fun since you have become one of Five Columns!" she returned the tease grinning devilish.

That made Nao frown. Then she started searching the saloon with her eye as an idea reached her mind and made her smirk widely.


Arika and Nina was dancing with each other as Nina broke the silence "so how have you been lately?".

"Fine! Miss Maria said that if I study hard she will let me graduate soon. And I'm getting used to being a Meister!"

"Really you …!" said Nina smiling. She paused for a moment before saying "Oh I see, now you have become much more gentle and Aaaa!" which got interrupted when Arika's leg made her trip and fall.

But Arika managed to take hold of her back with her left hand which caused her to bend. Two girls blushed as their faces had only a few inches distance.

The scene made Mashiro spit her tea which was seen by the other sitting at the same table and made her feel embarrassed.

Arika and Nina resumed their dance silently feeling a bit weird.

"Those two have become really good friends" said Yukino with a cheerful voice. Takumi was smiling at the scene too.

"Ye- Yeah!" Mashiro answered shocked by what she saw still blushing.

Nina broke the silence again "It's better not to compliment you, you know" she said not directly looking at Arika and still blushing.

"Sorry" Arika said sadly.

"Forget it! Where we were?" Nina said smiling again.

"Umm ... That's right! I am becoming a real Meister!" said Arika, her cheerful mood returned as fast as always.

"I can't be so sure of that!" Nina teased her.

"Ha? That's so unfair" said Arika pouting.

Nina giggled "I was joking!"

"So Nina, how has you been?" asked Arika cheerfully.

"That's … sort of ..." answered Nina suddenly looking sad.

"Nina-chan … has something …?" said Arika concerned about her friend.

"No, nothing new has happened. But …" Nina answered.

"Sergay?" Arika tried to complete Nina's sentence.

Nina was a bit startle by Arika's sentence for a moment before she answered "Yeah. He wants to know about his past. And though he tries so much to look cheerful, I know that he is actually quite sad. And I just don't know what to do … about him … and about myself too ... I'm kinda scared" she said even sadder than before.

"Nina-chan ..." said Arika sadly and they stopped dancing.

"Youko-sensei said that for now she can't tell what he exactly does remember and ..." said Nina as tears filled her eyes and she faced down.

Arika remained silence for a minute watching her friend before remembering something that lit her mind "But I'm sure he loves you" she said smiling kindly.

"Huh?" Nina looked up surprised.

"It must be certainly hard for him not to remember the past, but he does remember living happily with Nina-chan whom he loves in these two years and I'm sure he is happy about it" Arika said smiling and blushing lightly, not looking straightly in her friend's face.

"Arika ..." she said still surprised before she smiled "Thank you Arika" she cleaned her tears with her hands "I'm happy that you are my friend" she said as she took Arika's hands.

"Hm!" Arika nodded before they started dancing again.

"They're quite strange" mumbled Mashiro with her eyes fixed on the dancing couple.


"Mai, Hurry up! I want to eat cake!" was the happy shout heard by the always-hungry cat goddess!

"Alright! Just calm down Mikoto! everyone is looking at us!" Mai said with a low voice that didn't have an effect on Mikoto's happy face. "Maybe I shouldn't bring her here" she murmured to herself as she looked at Mikoto who had attached herself to Mai's chest!

"Oh, that's that Ramen shop girl; and she has that cat-kid with her as well" Haruka said causing everyone at the table to look at the direction that she was looking. Despite Takumi's happiness for the arrival of her sister and Yukino's calm and happy face, Mashiro felt her blood freezing after seeing that 'cat-kid' with her own eyes!


Youko, Irina and Gal were silently watching the ceremony from TV as Gal's shouted "Minna look!".

Irina and Youko noticed the place that She pointed and were surprised by what they saw.

"What? Nao-san?" said Youko surprised.


"Aahh! ... Hey Arika!" Nina almost yelled after being pocked by Arika.

"Nina-chan is just getting more and more cute!" Arika said playfully.

"Stop it! It's embarrassing" Nina said quietly as she blushed.

"Geez, don't say things like that now, Nina-chan!" said Arika before taking Nina's back by her left hand in bridal pose and spinning, raising up Nina from the ground.

That took attention of everybody around them and made Chie grin "Hmm, not bad!" who was standing beside Aoi.

"Oh my, Arika-san surely knows how to does her things!" said Shizuru quite amused. "Yeah ..." Natsuki responded a bit surprised.

Arika made a dip move -this time intentionally- that made the other girl protest "Arika, you should stop it now ..." she cut her sentence as she noticed Arika's confused look.

"What is it?" asked Nina still being held by Arika in dipping position.

"Sergay ..." said Arika quietly.

"Hm?" Nina was surprised.

"Nao-senpai ..." Arika continued.

"Huh?!" Nina became more surprised. She stood upright and looked back and got frozen by what she saw!


"Damn that girl! what is she thinking?" Natsuki said angrily watching Sergay and Nao dancing together as Shizuru was standing beside her giggling.

"Nao-senpai ..." said Nina softly staring at the couple while Arika watched her reactions.


"... So your plan of life has failed?" said Sergay dancing gently with Nao.

"Yeah, however I keep searching and find more ways for getting rich" Nao replied grinning.

"And that would be?" said Sergay grinning too.

"It's a secret" Nao replied with her special sexy tone.

"How am I going to find out?" said Sergay softly smiling as he pulled Nao closer to himself.

That surprised Arika, Nina, and even Nao herself and made their eyes wide.

"So, how does the things going with Nina?" said Nao trying to change the atmosphere.

"She is as cold as usual. It seems that she still needs time to grow up!" Sergay chuckled after saying that.

Nao smiled as the response.

"May I have a question?" said Sergay as his voice suddenly became serious.

"What?" Nao said surprised.

"How do you know Nina?"

Nao was caught off-guard. "Well ... we were going the same school when we were children" was what she managed to reply smiling.

"I see" responded Sergay narrowing his eyes.


Aoi was busy watching the ceremony along with Chie, when a worried voice captured her attention "Um, Aoi-san, right?!" Aoi turned her back to identify the voice's owner.

"Mai-san!" she said quite delighted.

"Meister Mai" said Chie bowing politely.

"Um, could you give her a cake or something. She is quite hungry and won't be satisfied until she gets her cake" said Mai a little embarrassed.

Aoi and Chie both looked at the drooling cat-goddess who was staring straightly at Aoi's face murmuring something that could be heard as "cake"!

"A-Alright" Aoi said looking back at Mikoto feeling weird.

"Thank you, Aoi-san" said Mai as she saw the maid walking away. Chie watched Mikoto who was still staring at Aoi with the same expression as before.

"Really! -sigh- But I can't help it" Chie said as she changed her look to Aoi smiling.


"Well, thank you! I have really had fun!" said Sergay after his dance with Nao ended.

"You're welcome" she responded with a big smile "Besides, I had my own fun too" she said with a low voice having a devilish smirk as she looked at Natsuki.

"Later then" Sergay said before walking away from the redhead.

"Bye!" Nao said with a sexy voice that made Sergay smile.


Nina was sadly looking down, as Arika was holding her shoulders trying to comfort her.

"What is it, Nina? You don't look so well!" their senpai's teasing voice caught their attention.

"Nao-senpai" Nina said rising her head "really nothing ..." she continued in a low voice looking down again.

"If it's about that dance, you don't have to worry about it since I'm one of Five Columns. Besides, I've got no interest in that poor boring bonehead!"

Nina managed to make a little smile while Arika had her full attention on her a bit annoyed by Nao's behavior.

"But be careful; someone might snatch him right of your hands while you're busy trying to save the world!" Nao added that made Nina gasp in shock as she looked to her senpai's face.

"Just think about it. If I were you, I would have quickly gotten rid of that stupid right to become an Otome!" She said before leaving Arika and Nina alone.

"Nina-chan..." said Arika looking sadly at Nina.

"It's alright!" said Nina as she looked back suddenly to face Arika smiling "I did what I did because I wanted to. I was aware of its consequences" tears filled her eyes at the last part involuntarily. "It's alright..." she said wiping out her own tears.

"Hm" Arika nodded before hugging the other girl tightly.

"So you're here!" Arika let go of Nina as she heard Sergay's call "So you two aren't finished yet ... Nina, what's wrong?" He said as he saw Nina's face.

"It's nothing! I just ... we haven't seen each other for a while you know; that's why I have become a little sentimental!" she managed to make a response trying to smile.

"I see" said Sergay surprised "It's nice to have such good friend, isn't it?" he added facing Arika.

"Yup!" Arika nodded smiling. "Oh no! I have to be on Mashiro-chan's side! The guests are going to go to their resort! Just don't go anywhere, OK? I'll be right back" she said hurriedly.

"But isn't the ceremony over?" said Sergay.

"Um, I just wanted to hold a private party right after the ceremony!" Arika replied fast.

"Private party? Then it will be girls party right? I guess there is no place for me!" Sergay said smiling.

"Um, this is ..." Arika was looking for an answer which got interrupted by Sergay "Alright! I'll be leaving now" Nina gasped "Nina, I'll come to pick you up at morning" Sergay added facing Nina smiling.

"But this is ..." said Nina worriedly before Sergay put his hands on her shoulders.

"It's alright. I know the way home" he said before kissing Nina on forehead lightly which made her and Arika blush.

"Well, Bye!" he said before leaving. Arika bowed suddenly as if she remembered something!

"Don't worry Nina, He'll be alright" Arika said smiling.

"Yeah" Nina replied smiling back "What? the guests are leaving?".

"Oh no!" said Arika before rushing off that made Nina giggle.

"That's enough Mikoto ... Come on, stop it already..." Nina's attention got to the direction that she heard Mai's voice.

"Things haven't changed much, have they?" she talked to herself looking at Mikoto who was devouring a big cake at the moment and Mai that was standing by her side trying to stop her!


"Where have you been?!" said Mashiro angrily under her breath.

"Sorry, Mashiro-chan" she said under her breath too before facing Takumi "I will guide you to your resort now" she said politely.

"Thank you very much" he said before walking together with Akira and Arika.

"Then let me guide you to your resort as well, President Chrysant" said Aoi as politely as expected from a maid.

"Thank you very much!" Yukino replied smiling.

"That's very nice of you" Chie said to Aoi with a hidden special tone that made Haruka to look at her suspiciously.


Five girls in Mashiro's sleeping room, looked at the door after hearing someone knocking.

"I'll go open it!" said Arika as she jumped from her place and rushed toward the door opening it.

"Aoi-san!" she said happily.

"Hi, Arika-san. Um, your cake is ready, so..."

"Thank you very much!" Arika said before jumping back to her place and join the other four girls whom all seemed to be so happy about the cake!

Their eyes all went ... round as they saw a cake its top designed like a circle diagram with three equal parts each had "17" written on it!

"What a stupid decoration!" Nao said grinning.

"Eh?!!!" Arika sounded disappointed and protesting.

"Who has done this?!" said Mashiro looking at Aoi who made an eye move toward Arika smiling.

"You have done this?!" Mashiro said looking at completely disappointed Arika.

"Hm" Arika nodded sadly.

"Come on you guys" Nina broke the silence "That's not bad at all!" she added smiling.

"This is actually very smart!" Irina said with a great seriousness in her voice staring at the cake. She smiled and looked up "Actually, Arika-chan, Nina-chan, and Queen Mashiro, three of them are 17 now so it's a suitable design" She said which got an eyebrow raised from Mashiro.

"Really?!" Arika shouted leaning toward Irina.

Irina nodded at Arika smiling "Anyway, let's start the celebration! Firstly, start eating the cake!" she said that made anyone prepare themselves for attacking the cake before Aoi's voice stopped them all.

"Um" everybody looked at her "If you have no work with me, I will take my leave now" she said in a low hesitant voice.

Mashiro studied her for a moment "Just try not to do anything to bring shame upon me or my country, alright?!" she said with a determined tone and her eyes closed.

"Y-Yes!" Aoi said bowing and blushing lightly.

Arika and Nina looked at each other confused while Irina smiled and rubbed the back of her head.

"Knowing the opponent, I predict an awful defeat!" Nao said grinning wide.

That caused Aoi to blush even more which didn't go unnoticed by Mashiro. "W-Well, Excuse me!" Aoi said bowing quickly before she left.

Five girls in the room remained silence for a moment before they all started laughing.

"Geez, Mashiro-chan you should really let Aoi-san to be with her friends sometimes!" said Arika teasing.

"It's not like I don't let her to ..." said Mashiro pouting and blushing a bit before she got interrupted by Arika "It looks delicious!" she said happily looking at the cake.

"You haven't changed at all! All you care about is food!" Nina said with advising tone that made anyone except Arika laugh "You're so mean, Nina-chan" she said pouting.


"See you later guys" Nao said while getting out of the room together with Irina "Goodbye Arika-chan; Nina-chan!" the latter said.

"Goodbye Nao-senpai; Irina-chan!" Arika shouted "Goodbye" Nina said smiling as Irina shut the door.

"I guess it's time for sleep, right?" Mashiro with a sleepy tone.

"Ah, sorry! Let's go Nina-chan!" said Arika while getting up and taking Nina's hand.

"Where?" she asked surprised.

"To my room!"

Mashiro watched as the two girls went out of the room then she yawned.


"Go on and use my pajama. I'll sleep here. You go sleep on the bed" said Arika while pulling some sheets from the wardrobe.

"I can't! This is your bed!" Arika made a thoughtful expression after Nina's response.

"Well then … let's sleep together this night, OK?" she said playfully.

"What?!" said Nina completely surprised.

"Now, don't hesitate!" Arika said pulling the other girl to the bed causing the two of them to collapse into the bed in each other arms. They blushed slightly before Nina moved herself a bit to increase the space between them.

"A-Alright!" she said looking away from Arika that made the latter giggle.

"What is it?" Nina asked a bit annoyed.

"Nothing!" Arika said as she turned to face the ceiling smiling "It just brought back some memories".

"Memories, huh?" Nina said, she also turned her face to the ceiling as she remembered something about a certain blond girl.

"My treasure!" the blond said.

"Huh?" Nina asked confused.

"I'll make it my treasure! It's the proof that we're here together right now. I'll never forget about it. Never." the blond replied before smiling that made Nina blush "Y-Yeah!" she said.

"Ers …" Nina muttered.

"Eh?" said Arika looking at the other girl.

"Nothing. Go to sleep" Nina said smiling as Arika as she closed her eyes smiling too.

Nina looked at her friend's innocent face.

Arika; you are my best friend, so I swear I will protect you. Something that I couldn't do in the past.

She turned to face up again.

That's the best way isn't it? Isn't it Ers?

She closed her eyes as well some moment later.


Ending! ("Do your Best" or anything else!)


[Arika] Aoi-san, where did you want to go outside of the castle?

[Aoi] This is …

[Chie] A date, that is!

[Arika] Chie-senpai?!

[Tomoe] Oh my, aren't you as blunt as usual, Chie-oneesama?

[Arika] Tomoe-san?!

[Tomoe] Hi, Arika-san! It's been a while! I see that now you are …

[Aoi (Tomoe talks with Arika in background)] It's failed again as I thought!


So, how was this one? I'd be glad to read your opinion about that, so please review! I'm looking forward to them! Hm!