A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait but I have been very busy. I am still busy. I have exams coming up and I do four units of different types of maths! D: Calculations, formulas, you name it, it's there! I already have less hair on my head! Plus, it is getting cold here in Melbourne! I'm An islander, so I can't even stand temperature below 18 degrees :P Anyway, let's discuss some changes I've made here. I changed the rating from M to T(based on the violence). Why? Because the M part is far away so it would be best to let other non-M readers have a go at my writing. I also wrote a totally different chapter of what I had in mind months ago. I wrote this all today. My muse hit me suddenly. I apologise for any stupid mistake that I have done in this chapter. I have been writing non-stop for hours and I do not have the strength to go read it all. So if you find mistakes, don't write them in reviews XP PM me, it's better that way! Enjoy my friends and don't forget to review! ~ Sky Knight

Chapter 3: Healing Hands

That night, Natsuki couldn't sleep at all. It wasn't because of the springs of her old mattress digging into her back nor was it the cold that permeated in the room. She didn't have a heater, getting a good one would cost too much and then her electricity bill would go to the roof. She had enough financial trouble as it is. She wore enough clothes to ward off most of the cold anyway. What she was feeling right now was just chilly and it was a bit uncomfortable because of her still healing injuries. Cold weather and springy mattress did not help at all but that was not what was stopping her from sleeping.

It was totally another matter. She had never broken down like that before and she was so embarrassed about it. On top of it, she did it in front of Shizuru! How embarrassing! She berated herself for losing her cool that way. She had always been able to hide her feelings in any situation, even when being bullied and beaten, she had never shed any tear but she seemed to lose all her walls in front of Shizuru. She had cried that day at the music performance. Thank god, she had managed to run away before someone could notice her! Even if Shizuru had looked at her from the stage, she couldn't have seen the tears in the darkness, right? Now she'll meet the brunette tomorrow for lunch….

Damn, she was too embarrassed to want to show her face to Shizuru but she wouldn't be able to miss it. She really wanted to have lunch with Shizuru and if she missed it, on top of being sad, she would hurt Shizuru's feelings. She couldn't do that after Shizuru went through all the trouble of taking her to the infirmary, giving her a VIP seat at the music performance, comforting her and inviting her for lunch!

Rolling on her bed, she tried to get her thoughts to better places…uhmm, like lunch with Shizuru! Oh, she was so excited for that! Her first lunch with a friend!

'What would it be like? Wait! Lunch?! That means I have to bring something to eat! Do I buy something from the department store on the way to school or do I make something… Hmm, only thing I know how to make is mayo sandwich… Buying something would be waste of money and it doesn't even taste good…but mayo…oh my mayo…cheap and delicious! I've decided! I'm making mayo sandwiches!'

Checking the clock, Natsuki saw that it was 4 a.m. 'Only a few hours till the time to get ready for school, might as well start making those sandwiches now since I can't sleep' she thought. Getting up from her bed, she walked to her small corner kitchen, it wasn't much but she didn't cook much anyway. Opening her fridge, she took her extra-large mayo bottle, cheese, cold-cut chicken, wrinkled lettuce leaves and took some bread from the cupboard and started working on her lunch. Hours later, she finished her sandwiches and put them in her lunch box. It had taken that long to make 4 sandwiches because she had eaten 5 of them already, at a leisurely and degustation pace, while making them.

Looking at the clock, she saw that it was 7:30 am. 'Damn! Damn! I'm going to be late!' Hurrying into the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and took a shower as fast as she could. Jumping into her uniform while brushing her hair, she checked her appearance in her half-mirror as best as she could. 'Since when do I check how I look?! Let's GO!' She chided herself and stuffed her lunch box and bottle of water in her bag and ran for the door.

Shizuru, on her side, had the same problem as Natsuki. She was too worried and excited to be sleepy. Having lunch with Natsuki was something she wanted and she was excited about it but the feeling that was stopping the most from sleeping was worry. She had learnt a lot that day… She hadn't known anything at all about Natsuki. After learning this much today, she was tempted to go see the student profiles in the school administration network tomorrow but she dismissed that thought. It would be bad to do so. She wanted to get to know Natsuki by herself and know her for real, not through some pieces of paper. While she would know more about the blunette, she was sure that Natsuki was not ready to reveal some parts of her life and she was determined to know about those parts only when Natsuki was ready to talk about it.

Lost in her thoughts, she couldn't count the amount of tea she had ingested. There were boxes of different types of tea on the coffee table in front of her. Glancing at the clock, it was just 2 a.m. 'Natsuki must be peacefully sleeping right now. I better try to sleep as well' Going to her room, she got underneath her covers. It took some time but she finally managed to fall asleep.

(Z.Z)

Arriving at school, Natsuki kept on running to her class. The bell had already rung, she had heard it when she was rounding the corner to get to the front gate. She reached her class and tried to get in as calmly as she could. Seeing that the homeroom teacher was not there yet, she breathed in, in relief. Everybody was staring at her. Usually the students are more interested in taking to their friends around them and do not pay attention to her all in the morning but today she felt all their gazes on her. 'Why are they looking at me like that?... Oh DAMN! It must because I was called to the student council office yesterday! Damn, that attracted to much attention to me. Obviously! Shizuru herself came to get me… How am I going to explain this?" She quietly walked to her seat, trying to avoid questions that might erupt at any moment. Fortunately, she was saved by the entrance of the homeroom teacher into the class.

'I will have to get out fast at lunch time or I will not arrive on time to have lunch with Shizuru, they will block me and ask too many questions'

(~.~)

When the lunch bell rang, Natsuki felt she had been waiting for it for a millennium already. She ran out of the classroom before anyone could corner her. Thank god, Shizuru hadn't asked her to come to the student council office by announcing it through the PA system or some students would have tried to corner her in the hallways as well. Though, she felt that the song dedication at the music performance was bad enough so she went through the less frequented hallways to reach her destination.

She reached her destination soon enough and plopped herself on the hard floor under the cherry tree. It had stopped snowing last night and the sky was clear today so there was no snow on the floor. The sun had already melted that of yesterday. Thank god, the patch she was on was dry and not soaked as the other parts of the grounds. Soon she heard light footsteps coming in her direction. Looking up, she saw Shizuru walking towards her, a smile forming on the beautiful face as their gaze met.

"Hello Natsuki"

"Hello Fujino-san" Natsuki greeted

"Ah ah ah, I told you to call me Shizuru, remember? No surname, no san" Shizuru replied

"S..Sorry..Shizuru"

"Ara, Natsuki is sooo cute when she blushes! Let's eat, neh?"

They both opened their bento boxes, Natsuki suddenly realising that eating Mayo sandwiches with one hand could be really messy. She had a cloth, she always kept in her bag that she would tuck in her collar but that just meant that she wouldn't dirty her uniform, the process of eating was still messy. Well, she had no choice, did she?

Tucking her cloth in her collar, she tried to be extra careful in eating so that she wouldn't embarrass herself but in the end, it didn't work, she had put so much of mayo in the sandwiches that it was dripping, as usual. Embarrassed, she looked up at Shizuru. Shizuru on the other end, was intently studying the blunette. Other than the fact that she was eating a disgusting white substance, every bite put a smile on her face and it was admirable how she was eating with only one hand. Seeing Natsuki turn red, wipe her mouth, put the remainder of her sandwich back in her lunch box and putting the cloth and box back in her bag, she asked:

"Ara, why did Natsuki stop eating?"

"Uhmm… I'm not hungry anymore" said Natsuki. 'I must have looked like a pig! Mayo dripping on my chin and my cloth' she was just too embarrassed.

"No good. Natsuki must eat if she wants to be healthy. What if you faint in the hallway? You could hurt yourself and you need the nutrients for your bruises to heal properly. Do you not like your lunch?" she questioned.

Seeing Natsuki nod, she realised what was happening. There was no way Natsuki was not enjoying her lunch! She was smiling in delight at every bite. Being her usual perceptive self, she understood that Natsuki was embarrassed at her dripping food and way of eating. She couldn't let Natsuki go with a not-filled stomach now, could she?

"Ara, then I will share my lunch with Natsuki" she decided, sliding closer to the blunette.

"WWW..What?!"

Taking one of the bite size, pieces of food from her bento box with her chopstick, she lifted it up to Natsuki's mouth.

"Say ahhh"

"N..No way!"

Putting on a sad face, with fake crocodile tears, Shizuru asked "You…you don't want to eat with me..? *Sniff, sniff*"

Panicking, Natsuki waved her arms like a puppy trying to fly "No, that's not it! I'll eat it, don't cry, please..."

Seeing Natsuki defeated, looking like a puppy with flopped ears, Shizuru restrained herself from pulling her cheeks and guided the chopstick back to her mouth "Say ahhh"

"…. a..ahhh.." Shizuru had never seen someone go so red! 'Kawaii!'

Putting the food, she watched the blunette munch on the food, her face changing from embarrassed to that of ecstasy.

"Hmmm, this is so good!" exclaimed Natsuki with shiny eyes.

"Is it? I made it myself"

"You did? It is delicious! Can…can I have some more?" Natsuki asked shyly.

"Ara! Natsuki is so cute! Of course, you can have more! Here, say ahh"

And that's how Shizuru spent her lunch sharing food with Natsuki, feeding herself as well as the hungry puppy.

When the bell rang to signal the end of lunch, the two girls went back to their classes after Shizuru made Natsuki promise to meet her after school to go back home together. Waiting for the last minute to enter her class, Natsuki managed to avoid the questions of her classmate but she could still feel their gazes on her back as she walked to her seat at the very back of the class.

Class was no different than another day but Natsuki was feeling very uncomfortable with the glaces that some boys were giving her from a few rows in front. She easily recognised them as some of the stooges of Kanzaki. 'What if they informed Reito that Shizuru came to get me? Yesterday, I had managed to avoid confrontation over the fact that Shizuru publicly dedicated a song to me at the music performance and also called me a friend. I was hoping if I avoided them enough, they would forget about it but Shizuru's appearance in class may have dashed that'

She spent so much time thinking about it that she didn't notice that the bell had rung, signalling the end of school. She hadn't even paid attention to what the teacher was explaining during the last hours. Packing up her unused stuffs, she walked fast to get out of the building. As she was rounding out the last corner in the hallway to the front door, she stopped in her tracks. Right in front of her was Reito Kanzaki, along with two of his friends, blocking the front door. Her mind told her to turn and run away. As she was backing up, her back hit something solid. She turned and saw there were two other boys blocking that path as well. The guy she had backed into pushed her closer to Reito.

"Where do you think you are going?" asked Reito

"…Home" replied Natsuki.

The slap that came next rattled her teeth and snapped her head back so hard, she fell to the ground.

"Don't act smart with me, Kuga! Tell me why the hell did Shizuru dedicate a song to you that night?! What the fuck were you doing there anyway?! I thought I took your crappy ticket! YOUR FUCKING SEAT WAS SO BACKWARD, I COULDN'T SEE SHIZURU LIKE I WANTED! he raged, grabbing Natsuki by her collar and shaking her like a ragdoll.

"Don't think for a minute that I didn't see you come in with her!" he raised his hand and kept on slapping her face right and left, splitting her lip "Why were you with her?! I thought you were lying, dying after my boys beat you up! But no, there you were, accompanied by MY WOMAN AND SITTING IN A VIP SEAT WHILE I WAS SITTING SO FAR BACK! And why the fuck did she come get you in your class yesterday?! I know it is not due to student council matters because in case you had forgotten, I am in the student council as well!"

The loud shouts and relentless shaking and slaps were making Natsuki's ears ring. She was starting to feel dizzy and could feel her face start to swell. She was feeling nauseated but wouldn't allow herself the humiliation of vomiting right now, though puking all over Reito sounded like a good idea.

Reito was growing more enraged and violent with the silence of Natsuki. He wanted answers to his questions and he wanted them now!

"Reito! Reito!" called one of his stooges, running to him.

"WHAT?!" He roared "Can't you see I'm fucking busy here!"

"Fujino is coming this way! We gotta bounce!" he hurriedly explained.

Reito threw Natsuki like she was the most disgusting thing he ever touched. "Go!" he rounded up his boys "Drag her to the ladies bathroom and throw her in, fast!"

The boys executed his orders quickly and soon, they were all gone, leaving the school premises. The cold hard floor felt good to Natsuki's burning cheeks. She had been roughly dragged to here and was trying to muster her strength to get up but each time she would raise her head, her vision would start swimming and she would feel dizzy.

"Ah Shizuru, you are still here? Were you by any chance waiting for me, baby?" asked Reito as he walked to Shizuru who had just entered the school.

"Ara, Kanzaki-san, I told you to call me Fujino and nothing else. As for waiting for you, you are mistaken, I didn't even know you were still here" replied Shizuru coolly.

"Well, now you know. How about we go out? There is still some time for the sun to set so we can go on a date." He replied, grabbing her arm and trying to pull her to the exit.

Not budging even by a millimetre, Shizuru said "Kanzaki-san, I am not going anywhere but home. I would suggest you leave my arm. I have to go find a friend of mine."

Not letting go, Reito replied "Then let me escort you home. A pretty lady like you shouldn't walk back home alone."

"I told you I am going back home with a friend, Kanzaki-san and I give you one last chance to let go of my arm"

"Oh come on Shizuru, your friend is not here, let's go" said Reito, turning while trying to drag Shizuru to the front door. Seeing that he wasn't moving her at all, he applied more force into his pulling but to avail. Suddenly, his vision swirled and turned upside down. He found himself with his back to the floor, gasping. His back had hit the hard floor so hard, his breath had left him.

"Sorry for this Kanzaki-san but you left me no choice. I told you to let go of my arm. I would advise you to go back home if you don't want a repeat of what just happened. Goodbye" Shizuru bowed. She suddenly saw spots of red a little further from where Reito was laying. Even further, there were some more that looked like they had been stepped into or something was dragged into them. She wouldn't have noticed them if she hadn't bowed. Deciding to investigate about it when Reito is gone, she straightened herself and went deeper into the school.

Not knowing what had just happened, Reito cursed his luck. Going after Shizuru right now would not be good, it would make matters worse and make it hard for him to win her. Thinking a strategic retreat would be best, he got up, dusted himself, looking around to make sure that none of his boys had seen him getting flipped by a mere woman. It would have been a huge humiliation and bad for his reputation. Thank god, he realised that no one saw it. He might not have gone through a public humiliation but he wouldn't forget that blow to his ego soon.

Shizuru walked to Natsuki's class. She had been waiting for the blunette in front of the grounds gate but after 30 minutes, she decided to check inside the school. She was trying not to think that Natsuki had gone home already. 'She promised, she promised she would meet me after school. I have to believe in her. She doesn't look like someone to break a promise'

She found Natsuki's last class without problem based on the printout she had. Looking inside, she sighed. Natsuki wasn't inside. The whole place was desert. 'Where could she be? I have to believe that she didn't leave already. What if she stayed back to talk to a teacher or something? Or she had to go to the restroom?' Seeing that there was no teacher around the place and the fact that when she was outside waiting for the Natsuki, she had seen the teacher parking empty after the 30 mins, she decided to check out the restrooms around.

After going into 2 restrooms with no luck, Shizuru's hopes were dwindling. She was about to forgo checking the last restroom as she passed right in front of it until she heard a sound inside. Stopping in her tracks, she turned the doorknob and opened the door. There, on the floor, lay Natsuki, her blue hair splayed on the white tile floor.

"NATSUKI!" Running to her friend, she crouched down and turned the girl to face her. What she saw made her heart hurt. The blunette had the lower lip split and was bleeding onto the floor. Her usual pale creamy white cheeks were read and swollen. She stroked the hurt cheeks softly, tracing the finger marks that were showing on them. She couldn't understand how someone could do this to such a sweet girl.

"Sh…Shizuru?" called out Natsuki, blinking to clear her vision. There was no mistaking the mass of blonde hair and ruby eyes in front of her "I'm sorry… I was supposed to meet you at the gate…"

"Baka! Why are you worried about that?! Let me take care of you." Shizuru scolded Natsuki. She helped her off the floor and lifted her to sit on the sink counter. Removing her handkerchief from her pocket, she run water onto it and wiped the bleeding lip of Natsuki and the blood on her chin.

"How did you get hurt?"

"Umm, I slipped and collided with the floor." Said Natsuki, fidgeting.

Shizuru eyes widened at the obvious lie. The floor wouldn't leave prints of a hand of her cheeks and how do you even hurt yourself on both cheeks when you fall down?

Deciding to leave it be for the time being and concentrate on the wounded girl in front of her, she asked "Are you feeling ok? Can you walk?"

"Yes, I feel better now… I was feeling a little bit dizzy before."

"Ok, then come with me." Gently picking up Natsuki and depositing her on the floor which elicited a blush on the already red cheeks, making them redder, she grasped the blunette's hand and let her to the nurse office.

"Why are we going there?" asked Natsuki

"We are going to get some ice-bags for the swelling of your cheeks and some balm for your lips" replied Shizuru. She could have gotten the items while asking Natsuki to wait in the restroom but she didn't want to get her out of her sight. Who knows if she felt dizzy again or if the person that hurt her came to finish the job?

Sitting Natsuki on one of the beds in the infirmary, Shizuru went to get the ice-bags and the balm.

"Here" she said, holding out ice-bags "take them in your hands and press them on each of your cheeks." Natsuki reached out for her limp left arm and stuffed the hand in her pocket before reaching for the bags and complied without any complain. The coldness of the ice bags felt good on her overheated cheeks. Shizuru pulled a chair in front of Natsuki and sat down.

"Come closer. I want to have a better look at your lips" said Shizuru.

"Ok…Wait, what?!" exclaimed Natsuki. It seems that her brain was not functioning properly after all those slaps.

Amused, Shizuru reworded her request, "Lean closer, I want to have a better look at your split lip"

"Oh…" Natsuki realised and blushed furiously.

If the blunette wasn't in such a bad state, Shizuru would have found the response funny but it was not the time for that.

When Natsuki leaned forward, with one hand pressing an ice-bag to her cheek and the other hand in her pocket, some of her blue hair flowed effortlessly and ended up in front of her. Seeing that both hands of Natsuki was somewhat occupied, Shizuru leaned forward and brushed the loose bang back behind the pale cute ear in front of her. The action stirred something deep inside of her. She didn't know what it was. Maybe she was just amazed at how soft the blue hair was. Yep, that must be it. Shaking herself out of her daze, she grasped Natsuki's chin in her hand and pulled her closer. The girl blushed like crazy, it was just too cute. Reaching for the tube of balm, Shizuru squeezed some on her finger and proceeded on rubbing it softly on the cut pink lip in front of her. She could feel the warm breath of Natsuki on her face and was finding it hard to concentrate on what she was doing not to mention the feel of the soft lips on her finger was not helping at all. Nope, not helping at all. She glanced up to see if Natsuki was noticing her weird behaviour and found herself staring at twin whirlpools of warm green that were as if calling out to her, trying to pulling her in.

Natsuki's breath hitched when she felt the warm finger press onto her lip. The balm stung a little but she was too pre-occupied with the feel of Shizuru's finger on her lips and her breath on her face to realise it. The scent of lavender that filled her nostrils made her feel light-headed. She tried to control her breathing even if she just wanted to breathe the scent deeply. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring in crimson red and her breathing stopped altogether.

( *.)(.* )

BWAHAHAHA! Did I mention that I ABSOLUTELY HATE cliff-hangers? I'm sure you share that feeling with me yet I couldn't resist leaving you with one XD Review to express your frustration!

\(^.^)/

Sky Knight

I decided to reply to reviews as best as I could. I would like to thank everyone for their reviews. I'm replying only to certain reviews based on their contents and questions

Romanica:

Mistakes D: WHERE?! Lol! PM me when you find mistakes :) Thank you for being patient with me. I know the updates are slow. It is because of university (-.-)

About your other review, it may seem that Shizuru and Natsuki are weak but it is all based on your definition of strength. For me, someone who is disabled and went through orphanage, bullying and so much more and still be standing displays more strength than anything else. Shizuru, being able to help and be gentle to such a person displays strength in character, values and morals.

As for Reito, it is a bit early to display all his "qualities" lol. Same for the other characters. I hope you enjoy the story as the chapters add up :)

Etain Hawk:

Lol, I found the cartoon villain thing to be true but my brain was not working well at that time. I've worked hard not to portrait him the same way in Chapter 3. As from Shizuru being a ball of fluff…hmm, I would disagree. She has been portrait as a crazy, masked, maniac too many times. I wanted people to focus on the fact that she has helped Natsuki a lot in the series, a lot of people tend to forget that gentler side of her but she will still be the strong Shizuru, do not worry,we'll have to wait for more chapters :)

shezaei-neko:

I am happy that it made your heart ache in a good way! I try hard in the important parts to bring out the feelings that are there into words. It is hard. Your reaction makes me feel like I'm doing it right. Thanks :)

Leeyou:

Lol. I'm happy and sad that you cried! Happy because it means I managed to portrait the feelings well enough and sad because I didn't want you to make you cry. But you know what, I cry at stories too! :'(

Avadan232:

I loved what you wrote. It is hard to get the personalities of the characters in this story. Everybody has their own definition for the main characters, for strength, for weakness so it is hard to grasp. To be able to really grasp it, everybody will have to really get the circumstances and feelings in the story. I'm not just taking Natsuki and Shizuru and planting them in a new story without changes in their characters. Their characters are based on what they have lived through in the story. Thanks for the kind words :)

ZErO SuBsTaNce:

Thanks for the review! I'm happy that you like the new outlook here. It's just an idea that jumped to me. I've been wanting to write a fanfic for ages but was not really getting a good idea! I'm happy you like this idea!

NoName:

Thank you for your review! Next chapter is up! It's too early to go into intimate relationship, they are not even good friends yet. I hope you'll stay for the whole of the ride!

Sephiria:

Je te remercie. Je suis contente que tu aimes la façon que j'ai présenté les personnages. Mon français n'ai pas si bon maintenant que je passe mon temps à parler seulement l'anglais ici en Australie. C'était très rafraichissant de lire ton review. Merci

ZonaRose:

Thank you for your review! Just wanted to say I love your stories too! \(^.^)/