A/N: I would've updated sooner, sorry! But I was having problems with friends (tons of drama) and my birthday Sunday (original update date) kind of...sucked badly.

Revised Chapter 3: Lesson 1 - Yes, Master

"I heard you got into some trouble, Natsuki." Golden eyes focused on emerald.

"Aa, I got into a fight with Tokiha-san," came the reply.

Kruger, the Gakuenchou of Garderobe, gave an inaudible sigh of disappointment and then smiled at her daughter; adopted daughter, but still hers nonetheless. Her attention turned to a knock on the door, a woman stepping in and interrupting their conversation with a smile on her lips and luggage in hand.

Natsuki followed Kruger's gaze and her eyes widened, feeling like she would faint at any moment from the sight. It was Shizuru! No, a clone of Shizuru only in an older version!

"Oh, Shizuma. You're finally here! I was beginning to worry that you'd never come or hadn't received my letter," Kruger said, a hint of concern in her eyes that was usually only saved for her daughter.

The two older women shared a look, Natsuki's eyes darting back and forth between the two confused and curious as to what was gong on. Why is mother looking at her like that?

"I'm sorry if I worried you, Gakuenchou. I'll be sure to make it up to you," Shizuma compromised, a small smirk forming on her lips.

How awkward, Natsuki thought, feeling a bit ignored since the Shizuru-clone entered the room. She immediately regretted her thoughts when she was being watched, especially by Shizuma. What's with her staring problem?

"Is this your daughter that you so often talk about? What a cute mini-Kruger!" Shizuru-clone exclaimed.

"Kuga." Natsuki corrected rather rudely, receiving a glare from Kruger.

"Ara, she's feisty too," her superior giggled excitedly. "She's just like you, Gakuenchou. It's a shame she doesn't have your eyes though."

Goddess! She even talks like Shizuru. The younger groaned inwardly. Now I have even more to deal with...including this damned woman who seems oddly attached to my mother almost.

Kruger shook her head. "Shizuma, I think that's enough of teasing my daughter. You've had your fun. Since you're here we can begin why I called you back."

"It wasn't for something more fun?" The woman blinked innocently.

The other blushed and sputtered out a few curses. "Damnit! Not in front of Natsuki!"

Thankfully, Natsuki was ignoring the whole situation at hand and proceeded to walk out the door and join her Onee-sama who was waiting patiently outside, leaning against the wall for support, eyes closed and perfectly content. Her mother and Shizuma hadn't noticed her leaving figuring they had more important 'business' to attend to, such as arguing.

"Natsuki," Shizuru said lightly. "Have you finished conversing with Gakuenchou?"

"Yes." She answered, walking down the hallway with Shizuru trailing behind her. "You know, I saw this woman in there who looked just like you and practically the same personality."

Her Onee-sama chuckled. "That's my aunt Shizuma."

"You're related to that woman!" Natsuki exclaimed a little too loudly, drawing a bit of attention from others. "She was flirting with my mom!"

"Yes," she said quite offended. "That's just the way she is. Besides, it's not like an Otome can be with one of the opposite sex. Who is your mother? The Gakuenchou I presume?"

Natsuki wondered just how observant and smart this girl was and it really started to irritate her. Instead of responding, she kept quiet.

Shizuru continued on. "Those lessons we need to get started on. After we got back yesterday you ran away from me." She reached over and grabbed the blue-haired girl's hand tightly, squeals of jealousy and excitement emitting from the girls around them, whispering starting to spread rapidly. "But I have Natsuki now."

She blushed in realization at what her Onee-sama did and tried to pull away only to fail miserably. "You can let go, Shizuru!"

"What if I don't want to?"

Before Natsuki could begin to protest she was dragged into the bathing room where no one was present except for themselves.

-----------------

"It seems your niece has taken a liking to my daughter," Kruger stated.

The teapot whistled in signal that it was finished boiling and Shizuma got up from where she was seated to pick up the pot. Setting it on a cool surface of the stove, she opened a cabinet and grabbed two small teacups placing them on the table, then she got the teapot and carefully poured in a brown liquid into each, steam rising in the air.

She handed one to the Gakuenchou and reseated herself across from her, crossing her legs in a ladylike way and sipping her tea before speaking.

"And yours hasn't. Poor Shizuru. She will get hurt one of these days."

Kruger leaned back in her leather chair and stared at the first pillar. "It's funny; Shizuru is so alike to you that it almost scares me, including sexuality wise." She sighed softly. "I'm thinking that I should keep her away from Natsuki."

Shizuma chuckled at the small joke and shook her head. "You mustn't. They could always end up like us, only on better terms."

This silenced Kruger, bringing up memories that weren't meant to be unlocked from within her mind and brought the tea to her lips.

"Aa, sorry Gakuenchou."

"It's not your fault." She set the teacup on her desk and spun around in her chair to look out the large window where she could view the sight of Windbloom. "I called you back for certain reasons."

"What were those? You hadn't explained," Shizuma questioned, thankful for the change in topic as it made Kruger and her in an awkward position of a nostalgic past.

"I wanted to talk to you about a few things," the second pillar stated.

The other's eyebrows rose slightly. "Do tell me that is not all."

"It is, for now."

"And what else might Gakuenchou want me for other than just simply talking?"

Kruger avoided the question and continued on. "It has to do with us, along with my daughter and your niece."

Shizuma just smiled and listened, drinking her tea contently.

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"Lesson number one: speak to your master properly and address them accordingly."

As the chestnut-haired girl droned on, Natsuki yawned and looked at her surroundings carefully. Just what were they doing here anyway? Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a tug at her uniform and was surprised when she was completely stripped from it too fast for her to react.

Shizuru tsked and wagged her finger. "You're not paying attention, Natsuki."

"You never said I had to," came the gruff reply trying to grab her uniform back which was then tossed across the room.

"Had I known you'd be this difficult I would've came more prepared," she sighed and continued on with the lesson. "When your master comes home what do you greet him with?"

Natsuki was again clearly not paying attention. "Uhm… 'Hi'?"

"Wrong." The younger girl's bra was ripped off and thrown into the pile where her uniform was. Her face reddened drastically and she screamed, covering her chest with her arms. "Come now, we're both girls here. Besides, Natsuki has wonderful proportions. But to correct you on your wrong answer, you say 'Welcome back, master.'"

The first year nodded absentmindedly, glaring at Shizuru with a burning passion of hate; hoping, daydreaming that the girl's head would explode just to amuse her. To bring her out of her reverie, she was smacked in the head with a wooden bucket. Falling backwards, she was fully exposed to the eyes of her Onee-sama.

Taking advantage of the situation, Shizuru decided to teach her disciple not to doze off or go into her own little world by quickly pinning the Natsuki's wrists above her head and slipping off the girl's underwear, briefly pausing to stare.

"Shizuru!" Natsuki screamed, squirming under the hold of her captor. "Stop it!"

"Natsuki, let's bathe together," she said simply, purposely ignoring Natsuki's angry shouts. "We'll do this everyday. It will be like a game. If Natsuki does not answer right, she will lose a set of clothing."

"What? We have to do this everyday?"

What have I gotten myself into? Why me? Why? Natsuki cursed.

"It seems that even if you are the top of your class, you still haven't learned a thing in the actual classes. Either that or you're not trying with me so that I can remove your clothes," She grinned slyly, a lustful look in her eyes. "In that case, I wouldn't mind doing it even without the game."

"You're crazy!"

Natsuki's heart was racing as she noticed the older girl was still on top of her. On top of her nude body Shizuru seemed as if she were enjoying herself. Gathering enough strength, she overpowered her Onee-sama and shoved her off roughly and sat up. Momentarily she forgot how good Shizuru was at sneaking up on her, and looked for the girl who had magically disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"Right here," came the familiar Kyoto-ben filled accent.

Tilting back her head, cold water was dumped on her and a light scrubbing on her back occurred. She shivered at the sudden change in temperature, however, the scrubbing of her back felt well and she forgot about how cold she was. A soft purr reached her throat.

"Feels nice, yes?" She could just hear the smirk in that question; for sure it was more of a statement.

Finally coming to her senses, Natsuki jumped up and glared at Shizuru. "You!" Taking a step, she felt something slip from underneath her fell backwards. She closed her eyes for the impact soon to come, but it never did.

Opening her eyes she found arms encircled around her waist, holding her close and she quickly separated herself from the warmth that was beginning to envelop her.

"I was going to tell you to watch your step, I was too late. Fortunately, not too late to catch you though," Shizuru smiled.

Natsuki murmured a small thanks in return, too embarrassed at her careless mistake and be helped by the one she was starting to despise to say anything else.

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After a couple of days of the same ritual, Shizuru decided Natsuki finally learned lesson one. Today, she would start lesson two and silently hoped it wouldn't be like the last one. To say the least, she had grown slightly fond of the girl, but mostly because she was the only one that bothered to be around her, though it was expected seeing as it was her Onee-sama.

Shizuru was definitely different from first glance. Yes, she sure was. And Natsuki lost all respect in her and the devil woman's tactics of making her blush when nobody else could with simple teases.

In a way, the girl seemed more of a playboy, rather playgirl. She observed her when she had free time (and Shizuru wasn't following her around like some lost puppy or she wasn't at the orphanage), taking notes on how she flirted with most every pretty girl she saw. To add to that, she could be lazy sometimes too and it wasn't good on Natsuki's part. And that smile, that horrifying, wicked smile she always had was more than enough to possibly piss her off.

"Natsuki," a voice called, the sound of footsteps coming closer to her. "We have the cooking shift today."

Natsuki turned around and stared at who she expected it to be, Shizuru. "Can I skip?"

"No." It was worth a try. "I was wondering if you could bring me into town to get some supplies that we ran out of in the kitchen."

"What's in it for me?"

"Well..."

A/N: Uhm... this seemed a tad short. Which means next chapter will definitely be longer since this one did not satisfy me.

Next Chapter- Shopping for groceries wasn't such a bad idea, for Natsuki that is. She gets to meet her prince charming while Shizuru seethes and plots on how to kill this prince. Also, the joys of cooking.

lonely bloodied rose