Disclaimer: I don't own Mai-Hime/Otome…
"!" The cobalt-haired woman grimaced as she gingerly massaged her shoulder. She glared at it wearily. That's going to bruise…
Natsuki was walking up the steps of Garderobe on her way back from a mission. It had ended well, with the exception of a few annoying kinks. She paused in her climb to turn and look towards the sky. The sun was setting, making for a soothing conclusion to her mission as she appreciatively watched the sun dip below the horizon, a small smile at her lips.
She let her hand drop from her should and hand loosely by her side as she took a deep breath and resumed her trek up the stairs. She thought about flying straight to the top, but decided against pushing materializing. I'll take muscle soreness over open wounds any day.
She grunted as she reached the top, hunched over with her hands on her knees and huffing from the exertion. She sat on the top of the steps and continued to send the sun off below the horizon, leaning back and catching her breath.
She closed her eyes and smiled as the wind caressed her cheeks and gently tousled her hair.
"Tadaima."
She softly spoke to the wind. The sound of approaching footsteps was lost on Natsuki, covered by the rustling of leaves. The figure watched the blunette and waited for the wind to die down.
"Okaeri." The smoothly-accented voice replied.
Natsuki opened her eyes and turned at the voice. Her eyes, though weary, showed mild surprise.
"Shizuru." She said softly.
The brunette smiled and walked over to the blunette. She smoothed out her light lavender dress before sitting down next to Natsuki at the top of the steps. Natsuki sat up, wincing slightly as her sore muscles complained openly to her. She hoped Shizuru hadn't noticed her small wince.
Busted…
Natsuki felt a soft on her shoulder, a gentle tug begging the blunette to look at her.
"Natsuki." The brunette asked in a very soft voice.
The blunette slowly turned to face the Third Column, looking a bit embarrassed.
"You noticed…"
Natsuki hated seeing Shizuru sad; especially hated being the cause of Shizuru's sadness. She felt guilty as she noticed the Third Column's pale hand gripping the lapel of her jacket, trembling slightly as her other hand tightly gripped the folds of her dress. The blunette also knew Shizuru was gripping the lapel tightly in consideration for her…bruises…at least, she sincerely prayed that the nanomachines had reduced them to bruises by now.
The soft, suppressed sobs the blunette's ears picked up made her heart ache. She strenuously reached out a hand to gently pat the brunette's head, using her arm to pull the brunette into an embrace. Though it hurt a little, Natsuki tightened her embrace to let the brunette know she was okay.
"I'm sorry, Shizuru."
They stayed like that for a few moments. The hug loosened as the brunette calmed down and the sobs subsided. After some time, the brunette broke the embrace and sat back up, rubbing the last of the tears from her eyes.
"…How bad…is it?" The brunette inquired softly, fingers idly playing with the folds of her dress.
"They'll be bruises soon…" I hope. Natsuki chuckled dryly.
"…I want to have Yohko-sensei check you over." Shizuru softly stated. It wasn't a question. But neither was it was an order.
It was a worried plea.
Natsuki smiled softly, reaching over to cover the Third Column's hands with one of her own. The brunette timidly massaged the blunette's hand with her fingers.
"Alright. Let's go see Yohko then."
Shizuru, head downcast, simply nodded. The brunette slowly stood up, smoothing the wrinkles from her dress before helping the shaky blunette to a standing position. The pair then headed off towards the infirmary.
Natsuki sighed as she lay on the bed. Yohko had finished her examination and had gone off to get some medicine and a nanomachine booster for the Second Column. Shizuru stood beside her as they waited for the doctor to return.
"She was pretty mad, huh."
Natsuki sighed heavily as re-runs of the worried and worked-up doctor echoed in her memory.
"She and I both were under the impression that this mission wasn't going to have any…complications."
Shizuru supplied a voice to the reasoning the blunette already knew.
"Yeah…I thought so too." Natsuki stared up at the ceiling.
"Especially this severe of a complication, seriously!" The dark-haired doctor huffed worriedly as she returned with a canister and a tube in each hand. She handed the canister to Shizuru, who accepted it, before prepping the booster infusion for Natsuki.
"That's a balm that should help with Natsuki's bruises; applying generously is fine. I can trust you to help her with that, Shizuru-san?"
The Third Column smiled, eyes twinkling suggestively.
"Of course, Yohko-sensei. I will make sure my Natsuki is fully covered."
Natsuki coughed while the doctor smiled in relief and resignation.
"Well, I'm glad I know I can count on you to keep an eye on Natsuki, Shizuru-san."
She disinfected Natsuki's arm with rubbing alcohol, breaking the Second Column out of her embarrassment.
"Alright, Natsuki, so as I explained earlier, this is a temporary nanomachine booster. Like the name implies, it boosts your nanomachines' function for a short period of time. Now, since you've had your nanomachines for a while, you shouldn't experience too much discomfort, but you should refrain from moving around too much for a couple of days."
"I shouldn't have too much piled up right now, so I think I can manage a few days off."
Natsuki thought aloud for the doctor's approval. Yohko smiled in approval.
"Good. You'll be taking the rest of the week off then. I'm sure we can get that approved between the two of us, right, Shizuru-san?"
"The rest of the week?!" Natsuki winced as the doctor poked her with the booster, the solution of nanomachines slowly entering her bloodstream. She looked incredulously at the dark-haired doctor who was placing a Band-Aid over the injection site.
"It's not that serious of an issue, is it?! The week?! It's only Monday, isn't it?!"
"Natsuki." Shizuru's voice spoke dangerously in low tones.
"Y-Yes…?" Natsuki swallowed nervously at Shizuru's no-nonsense aura. But it suddenly dissipated; Shizuru was…smiling again (?)
"Here, hold this."
"Huh?" Natsuki felt something in her hand. Is this what I….
Shizuru gracefully grabbed Natsuki's wrist with the object in hand, rubbing it on an inkpad.
"And then we stamp this here like this, pochitto~!"
[pochitto = someone saying the sfx for pressing the stamp onto paper]
Due to her position, Natsuki couldn't clearly see what was going on, though she had a sinking suspicion what was going on. "Stamp"…wait, what?! Shizuru continued smoothly in her sing-song voice.
"And then Yokho-sensei signs here, and I stamp here~"
Natsuki felt paper near her hand, but only for a moment before it was pulled from beneath her hand.
"Aaand, we're all approved for Natsuki taking the rest of the week off~!" Shizuru announced happily after handing the drafted and signed paper to the doctor, who waved it in Natsuki's field of vision but out of her reach.
The doctor scanned the document briefly.
"Good, we have the Second Column's stamp, another meister's stamp, and my signature."
"W-Where did you get that?" Natsuki's eyes were widened in shock. Yohko smiled and gestured to the Third Column.
"Ara, I just happened to have a drafted approval of absence document in my possession…at all times."
She finished happily, clapping her hands together in delight.
"I finally got to put it to good use~ I was starting to worry I was never going to be able to use it~"
A drop of sweat trickled down the Second Column's neck. The blunette was speechless. She sighed as she waited for the outburst of excitement to die down. It's better this than having a worried expression on her face.
"Okay, Gakuencho. I think we're all done here. You should get some rest; it's getting late."
The doctor carefully guided Natsuki to a sitting position, helping her avoid hitting her head on the machinery overhead.
The dark-haired doctor then released the blunette into the brunette's arms, and together, after thanking the doctor and bidding her a good night, the pair headed towards their apartment.
A/N: Konbanwa, YH desu *bows* Here's another GMM short! First and foremost, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed and encouraged me to write more of this GMM shorts! Really, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! *almost cries* This one is also fluffy, hopefully cute about Natsuki getting injured while on a mission. There is, or at least should be another part to this chapter that I still have to write, but I wrote so much in this first part unexpectedly that I decided to split the chapter into two parts…I'm not sure how this'll pan out chapter-wise since the first one isn't directly related to this one…maybe I'll experiment with the titles…? Who knows…but anyways, thank you for the reviews! I'm trying to get myself writing more often! I had some family in town so I was busy for a while…
Aaanyways, after a long blurb…as always, I hope you enjoyed your stay! Please read and/or review?
Mata ne~
YH
