And again, I feel as thought this is just filler. Nonetheless, it also represents the tension Mai and Natsuki feel toward each other after so long. With the concept that I am both sick and lazy, this is what you get from me. I'd like to thank my reviewers for positive critique on the story. As promised, here's the third installment to this amusing little story of mine.
A Perfect Circle
The living room was dark, and it felt barren. The icy chill from the outside world leaked through the windows and glazed the screen door over with a thin layer of frost. Natsuki was not bothered by the dry cold, however. She was used to cold climates and harsh conditions, so she remained unphased, staring down with contemplating, heavy eyes at her dark blue cellphone on the kitchen countertop.
The half bottle of sake in her stomach was also helping a bit of the consolation.
"…Kagutsuchi…" The name rolled bitterly off her tongue. She wrinkled her nose afterward. Why had Mai been the last HiME to call their Child in her dream? Why had everything burst into a violent, raging fire afterward? The image of Mai holding Takumi and not being able to scream was forced into her mind. She flinched. She remembered Takumi's bleeding eyes, watched him die slowly. She watched Mai scream, and scream. As if getting through to him just once would keep him alive. What had happened since the Carnival one year ago, Natsuki didn't have a clue. She made a grimace at her realization, that she had some kind of humanly contact with about everyone since those days. She met Midori at a bar, Youko when she had to bring Midori home from said bar, she met Chie and Aoi at the park, and had invited them over for a game of Halo…that she dominated, nonetheless. She even saw Nao performing community service, cleaning up trash in the movie theatres weeks ago. Everyone but Mai.
She sighed. "Why is this such a pain the ass? It's not like I don't like her or anything." She came to the conclusion it most likely felt awkward after not talking to the girl for a year. They killed, fought, and that was it. As if they broke the fork the road and took separate paths, never to be heard from each other again. She sighed at the sudden chill she felt against her neck from the cold breeze shifting its way through the house. She really should close that window.
"Damnit, enough procrastinating!" She said imperiously to herself, putting a hand forcefully on the table, next to the phone. "If I want to talk to Mai, I damn well will. That's my nature, so it's allowed." She stated aloud, pleased with herself. Nonetheless, she did hesitate when she felt the phone in her hand as she lifted it to her ear, finding Mai's number on the contact list, and waiting for an annoying, overly-awake female voice on the other line. Her gaze averted from the table to the wall, her eyes hollowing and the ring seeming distant as it droned on. It suddenly stopped, and there was a short breath.
"Hello…?" A soft voice was heard on the other line, but it seemed hesitant and unsure. Natsuki immediately snapped back to the present situation, the voice echoing through her mind before she could morph her lips into proper words. "Mai…" It was a start.
"Hey, it's been a long time." Nonetheless, her voice was sweet and truthful, like it always had been. Natsuki crossed her arms, holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear and leaned against the side of the kitchen wall. "Yeah, it sure has…" She trailed off as she tried to think of something to say, to no succession.
The other end was silent, save small, calm breaths that crackled against the speaker of the phone. Natsuki furrowed her brow in irritation that there wasn't anything to talk about.
"…So, what have you been up to lately?" Mai slowly broke the silent barrier and attained Natsuki's attention again.
She sighed softly and pushed off the wall, walking aimlessly about the room. "Nothing, really. Just working, trying to get by, that good stuff." She then realized at that moment why it was so hard for her to call Mai in the first place.
She fucking hated talking on the phone.
"For a while, I was beginning to think you didn't like me anymore." There was an innocent giggle from the other side. Natsuki rolled her eyes; there was no way to genuinely feel irritated at anything the girl said, and she found that amusing, considering Mai took everything seriously, and everyone took her seriously, but she never took any particular person, seriously. In that respect, Natsuki returned the feeling.
She snorted. "Funny, I was beginning to think the same thing." She smirked, and it was almost as if Mai could see that smirk over the phone. "Wipe that smile off your face, I know it's there." She replied, condescending as always.
"Yeah, yeah…" Natsuki twirled a blue lock lazily around her finger, glad to feel a little more eased at the conversation. But that awkward air still lingered, an intangible tension between the two voices that were simultaneously close and so far off. Natsuki was the first to come to this conclusion, and she sighed obliviously.
"Natsuki?"
The cobalt woman's eyes snapped open, and she felt her heart beat like a chastised drum for no more than half of a second. Hearing her name said startled her for some reason.
"Are you alright?" Mai asked inquisitively over the phone, hearing a sudden catch in Natsuki's voice that crackled against the speaker. The image of the dream, where Mai sat hopelessly on her knees in the darkness of that dream, where her lips were just about to part to being forth her Child replayed over in her thoughts like a broken record.
"I'm fine…I was just thinking." She lied in a convincing tone. She heard Mai giggle.
"You always manage to worry me, Natsuki." The voice was caring and teasing. Natsuki cleared her throat haughtily and grunted, as if annoyed. "And you always manage to make me feel like I'm in an awkward position."
"Well, you're an awkward person."
"Well I'll never match up to Superhero Tokiha, master of all that is perfect and ideal." She retorted in a mocking tone.
She heard Mai groan. "Still with the sarcasm. I was hoping that would have left when your maturity came along."
"Maturity is a pain in the ass. Besides, sarcasm is what makes me, me, isn't that right?" Natsuki asked indolently, leaning against the icy glass door, unaware of its cold surface.
"Hai, hai…Natsuki?" Mai asked skeptically, the name seeming to shake in tone. Natsuki raised an eyebrow and looked outside the glass door from where she had been staring on the floor. "What?"
"Are you busy today?" Her voice sounded less stressed, with a bit more optimism hidden in tone.
"No, why?" Natsuki asked impatiently.
"I was wondering, if you wanted to catch up on old times. Y'know?" The voice was easy, relaxed.
Natsuki looked behind her. She scanned her living room and kitchen briefly, and seeing as how the area was generally not a train wreck, she emitted a soft sigh and returned her attention to the phone. "Sounds good. You planning on coming soon?"
"I might as well. Are you living in the same place?" There was sudden laughter. "I can't believe I hadn't asked yet."
"Idiot." Natsuki replied idly. "And yeah, I am."
"Alright then. I'll be around soon."
"See you then."
"Bye." Mai finished, and Natsuki clicked her phone off.
She dropped the phone onto the countertop and sighed tiredly, making her way down the hallway and by the bathroom. She twisted open the door and stopped in front of the mirror over the sink, leaning over it and looking up at her reflection. Her eyes looked bloodshot and grey, her complexion was pale, and her hair looked oiled and battered down. She groaned and slid her hand down her face.
--
Steam was still slowly making it's way out from the bathroom as Natsuki stood in the kitchen, tapping her finger restlessly while glancing over the marble texture of the counter. Beside her sat a glass, emerald ash tray, scattered inside were the remains of rolled cigarettes, as well as worse things. On the corner sat a half-smoked joint, it's fiery tip burning off and dissipating into the chilled air. Natsuki, with eyes closed, sighed and took the joint within two fingers and in between her lips, the heated tip scorched into a bright red as its contents was sucked through and morphed into smoke that infiltrated Natsuki's lungs. As it left her lips, her breath hitched at the feeling of smoke coiling in her lungs, invading her breath as it poured out from her lips and nostrils, that of an awaking dragon.
There was a knocking at the door.
"Natsuki?" She heard Mai call out from the opposite side of the door. Cursing under her breath she coughed up the rest of her smoke, and broke the end of the joint into the ashes of the tray, and opened the bottom cabinet, sliding it in behind an assortment of plastic containers before shutting it. She took the can of Lysol atop the fridge and sprayed frantically inside the kitchen, then after setting on the counter, pulled a stick of gum out from her jeans pocket and into her mouth. She sighed, then nonchalantly made her way to the door, opening it slowly, revealing the face of the girl she hadn't seen since that long year ago.
"Hey, Mai." She spoke the words as if they were forced to crawl off her lips. They felt foreign.
Mai had been smiling her casual, warm smile. "Hello, Natsuki." Her right foot appeared to fidget a little; Natsuki had caught it with those soldier-aware eyes of hers. But those aware eyes went wide with surprise when Mai walked past the door and wrapped her arms around Natsuki in a hug. Instinctively, she hugged Mai back, but pushed back the warm flush she felt over her cheeks.
"It's been a while, Mai." The words seemed to flow more easily, a stream that flowed more fluently past the stones and fallen branches than it had before. When she felt the other girl ever so slightly hug tighter around her, Natsuki couldn't help but smile.