Here is Chapter 3. This one was harder for me to write, but I think it went OK. Again, reviews are appreciated.

Silver Ice Bullet: It'll probably take a few chapters to unroll the story.
WolfNightwind: There isn't anything wrong with wanting the canon pairing, but I'd appreciate it if pairings weren't being pushed. Otherwise I might make it a NatXTakeda.

Again, Mi-HiME is property of Sunrise.

4/26/08

"Give me a second, Mikoto!" Mai pleaded to the ravenous youth who appeared to be straining herself not to leave her seat and jump all over Mai. The incessant efforts of Mai to instill proper manners into Mikoto have had an effect, but the almost feral instincts of the girl would never be easily suppressed. This usually shows up most evidently around mealtime.

"But your food is so good," Mikoto replied. "And you won't be around much longer to feed me."

"What have I said before about watched pots?"

"…They never boil."

"Exactly. Lunch will be ready soon, just be patient," Mai reassured the hungry girl. She turned her attention back to the stove while Mikoto toyed with a spoon.

"Hey, Mai?" Mikoto asked.

"Yes, Mikoto?" Mai replied.

"Do you really think I'll be alright by myself?"

"Of course I do. You learned how to cook from me, right?"

"But what about that time when I tried to make fried chicken and it 'exploded like a volcano'?" Mikoto asked with bunny quotes.

"Shit!" Mai thought. "She heard me say that to Chie?" "Uh…well, it was a learning experience, wasn't it? You learned that dropping a frozen chicken into a pot of boiling oil is bad, right?"

"I suppose so," Mikoto replied, idly rubbing the back of her arm. If learning was that painful, though, Mikoto wasn't sure whether going to school was a good idea.

"That's what's most important," Mai added, getting on a roll. "In the end, it matters less what you learn from others as getting the ability to learn. To make mistakes and learn from them."

"Why is that, Mai?"

"Because no one knows the answer to everything."

"Not even that scary robot?"

"Yes, Mikoto, not even Miyu." Mai walked over to Mikoto and sat down in the chair next to hers. "You're worried, aren't you? About having to live by yourself."

"Mm-hmm." Mikoto nodded.

Mai sighed. Mikoto may be sixteen at this point, but she's still a little child at heart. She put her hand on Mikoto's head and ruffled through her hair. "I think you can do it."

"I can?"

"Yeah. I mean, how did you live before you met me?"

Mikoto thought about it. "I guess you're right, Mai," she answered. "But your food is so good!" Mai could only chuckle at Mikoto's logic. "No, really! I used to think that a hot bread bun from a bakery was a good meal. I can't even remember a time when Grandpa's cooking was as good as yours."

"Your grandpa cooked for you and Reito?"

"Yeah, when I was little. His food was pretty yummy for a man's cooking."

"Hey, hey," Mai gently admonished. "Most of the best cooks in the world are men, you know."

"But you're the best one in the world, Mai," Mikoto countered with a smile.

"Oh, stop it, Mikoto, you're making me blush! I still have to go through culinary school."

The two of them laughed at the embarrassment Mikoto briefly put Mai though before settling down. Mikoto then went over and hugged Mai. "Thank you, Mai."

"W-What for?"

"For…everything. For cooking such good food for me every day. And being a good roommate. And helping me with schoolwork. And reminding me to take baths. And…for the Carnival…"

Mai felt a warm tear on her breast and heard a sniffle. She returned Mikoto's hug by wrapping her arms around Mikoto and holding her tight. "It's OK, Mikoto, it's OK," she said softly like a mother might to her baby. "You'll be fine. I have faith in you. You can do it."

The two held their position for a minute or so before Mikoto finally looked up at Mai. "Mai?"

"What is it, Mikoto?"

"Is the soup supposed to boil over the pot like that?"

Mai quickly turned her head around. "Aieee!!"

"Jesus, Kuga, I hope you didn't forget anything," Nao remarked sarcastically as she dragged Natsuki's luggage case containing her extensive lingerie collection. Oh, to be sure, the two were carrying more essential items, but Natsuki would not leave without her collection.

"Shut up, Nao," Natsuki replied, herself not having a picnic carrying stuff down the stairs either. "I lost it all once; I'll be damned before I let it happen again. Besides, you should feel lucky: my current collection is only about 1/3 the original."

"Whoop-dee-doo. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket." Nao was honestly thankful for something, though: the fact that Natsuki had the foresight to call a cab to drive them over to Nao's dorm. No way in hell would the two of them be able to carry all of her stuff on Natsuki's bike. Nao placed the piece of luggage into the trunk of the cab. "Now, are you sure you have everything?" Nao mockingly asked.

"The rest I can carry with me on my bike," Natsuki said. Natsuki steered Nao into the back of the cab before she could protest. "I have some business to take care of first. I'll be at your place by this evening."

"Where are you going?"

"Like I said, business. Business that you don't need to know about now." Before Nao could ask again, Natsuki shut the door and banged on the roof of the cab, signaling the driver to go.

The knocking at the door took both Mai's and Mikoto's attention. "Who could that be?" Mai asked.

"Pizza delivery?" Mikoto asked.

Mai got up and walked over to the door to open it. "Chie? What are you doing here?"

"Had some time to kill after seeing Aoi off this morning," Chie replied. "You don't mind if I hang out here for a while, do you?"

"No, of course not," Mai replied. "Come on in."

"What smells good, Mai?"

"Ramen. What else?"

"Ah, the mainstay of Mai's Kitchen."

"Yup, yup!"

"Do you want a bowl, Chie?"

"I'd appreciate it, thanks." Mai went over to the stove and served up a second bowl for the guest. A melody played from Chie's cell phone, and she flipped it open to see what it was. "Whoa…"

"What is it?" Mai asked, carrying Chie's bowl to the table and setting it down.

"Look at this." Chie handed Mai her phone.

Mai looked at the display to see what appeared to be a building with smoke pouring out of it. "Whoa. Where is this?" Mai scrolled down the message and abruptly stopped near the end.

"What is it, Mai?" Mikoto asked.

"This is…Natsuki's address…"

"Thank God they installed elevators last year," Nao thought as she dragged Natsuki's luggage into her dormitory. Although it would certainly be true that dragging luggage up to the fourth floor where her room was located would be seen as odd by a passerby, at least the elevator meant shorter trips and fewer chances of said eventuality of occurring.

She had just brought two of the four pieces into her room when her cell phone rang. Nao picked it up. "Hello?"

"Nao-chan, it's Mai."

"Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Have you been in touch with Natsuki recently?"

"Um…a couple hours ago. Why?"

"Her apartment's on fire and I can't get a hold of her."

"Oh…that can't be good."

Mai sighed over the phone. "I'm worried that she might be hurt or something."

"Bah," Nao went. "It'd take more than a fire to take her down."

"Still, I haven't been able to contact her. Shizuru hasn't either."

"I see…"

"If she calls or if you see her, let me know right away. A lot of us are worried."

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks, Nao. Talk to you later."

"Later." Nao hung up. "Huh," she said to herself. "So that's why she went off alone like that…"

Natsuki flipped through the files in the cabinet briskly and quietly, trying to find new information while still keeping an ear out for any possible threats. The office she was currently pouring through was fairly empty since it was Saturday, but other offices in the building were not.

"Here we go…" she whispered quietly as she pulled out a folder. Opening it revealed a dossier that she had been looking for. Natsuki took out her cell phone and, with the phone's camera function, took pictures of each page of the dossier at regular intervals, frequently glancing through the door to see if anyone was around. It was perhaps an advantage of doing such espionage work in the daytime, since that meant she could use sunlight instead of the camera's flash and risk discovery. Once she was finished, she returned the folder back into its rightful place. It was at that point she noticed the eighteen missed calls that took place since she had set it to "silent". Opening up the caller list revealed that most were from Mai, with a few from Shizuru. Natsuki sighed as she put the phone away. They would have to wait until she was out of there.

Retracing her steps, Natsuki came to the window she had originally entered the office from. Graceful as a cat, she opened the fire escape, slipped out to the outer façade of the building, and closed it again. Looking around to make sure no one was looking, she carefully made her way up to the roof of the building. Natsuki then walked through the building's roof access and re-entered the building via the fire escape staircase, stealing a glance at the cut fire alarm wire on the way before slipping back into the department store that made up the first three floors of the building.

Natsuki made her way out to the street and reached a nearby park. After sitting down at a bench, she dialed Nao's number. "Hello?"

"It's Kuga. Everything OK?"

"Except for the hernia I got from your stuff, just peachy. Oh, and apparently Mai and Fujino have been running around like villagers being raided because your apartment's on fire and you haven't answered their calls."

"Figures."

"You say that as if your apartment catches on fire every other week or something. Have you tried to cook breakfast before or something?"

"I usually order take-out or something."

"Right. In any case, you might wanna call them back and tell them you're fine before they gather a search party."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get on that."

"Yeah, do it before they start asking me questions." Nao hung up, leaving Natsuki to concoct a cover story for her disappearence.

"So you haven't heard or seen anything about Natsuki...OK, thanks, anyway…Yes, please let me know, Yukino." Mai hung up the phone and placed it on the table with a sigh. "Yukino and Haruka don't know anything either."

"I got nothing as well," Chie added, her brow furrowed and her own cell phone tossed to the other end of the couch. It was rare that her gossip network failed her, though to be honest it wasn't as good in getting up to the minute information.

"Guess all we can do now is-" Mai was cut off when her cell phone rang. She picked it up and answered it immediately upon seeing the caller's identity. "Natsuki?!"

"Hey, Mai."

"Natsuki! Are you all right? You aren't hurt or anything, are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine. I just had my cell phone on silent."

"You know about your apartment, right?"

"Yeah, just saw it on TV." Mai heard Natsuki sigh from the other end.

"It's on TV?" Mai looked at Chie and pointed at the TV in the room. Chie nodded in understanding and turned it on. "Do you know which channel it's on?"

"Um…I can't tell from here…"

"Ah, don't worry about it. Yeah, so, um…" Mai was at a loss for words. Then she thought of an idea when she glanced over at Chie and saw the TV report that was playing out the fire in real time. "Hey, Natsuki?"

"Yeah?"

"You can come stay at my place, seeing how you don't have a place anymore…"

"Oh, um…I think I can handle it. Thanks for the offer, though, Mai."

"Oh, um, sure."

"I gotta go. Still have some things to take care of."

"Um…OK…"

"Later, Mai."

"Bye, Natsuki." Mai hung up and stared at her phone oddly.

"What's wrong, Mai?" Mikoto asked, munching on a box of cookies.

"Natsuki seemed kind of odd to me."

"How so?" Chie asked.

"It was like…she didn't really care about her apartment being in flames."

"You're right, that is weird."

"…I see, Mai-san. That is good to hear…I see…It would not surprise me if Natsuki had other places she sleeps in other than that apartment. One does not put all the eggs in one basket…I would appreciate it if you did, Mai-san…Bye-bye, Mai-san." Shizuru hung up the phone. She took a sip of her tea before looking up from her up and over at the bench where a couple minutes before she saw Natsuki talk on the phone, presumably with Mai.

This was indeed a strange case. Shizuru knew that the apartment everyone knew about was not the only place Natsuki rested. However, the way that Natsuki, following her conversation, had gotten up and calmly walked away as if nothing had happened was perplexing. Not even Natsuki would be that indifferent to her apartment being burned, especially when Shizuru knew she kept her lingerie collection in that one. (Ah, yes, the playful times she had messing around and teasing Natsuki about them whenever she visited from Kyoto. So priceless.)

So fixated on the bench where Natsuki had sat was Shizuru, she barely registered that the cup was full and tea had begun to spill onto the table. Shizuru gasped and quickly stopped pouring. She used her handkerchief to try to mop up the spill.

"Are you all right, miss?" one of the waiters asked, hurrying over to help clean up the mess.

"Yes, I am all right," Shizuru replied. "I am terribly sorry for this."

"It's all right, miss." Once the mess was cleaned up, Shizuru started to drink on her tea again in an effort to calm down her thoughts, but her eyes always kept going back to the bench.

"What are you hiding from us, Natsuki?"