Tasogare

Disclaimer: Sunrise and Stephanie Meyer own Mai-Hime/Otome and the Twilight series respectively

Acknowledgements: serenitatis417 and Grak-tensai: Thanks for editing and giving me constructive criticism!

Grak-tensai: Yeah, I know it's you. Oh and the link to your parody is in my profile. xD

Sorry about the delays. School and exams are annoying. Lack of motivation and inspiration as well... So, um, comment! That'll give me more reason to keep writing...

Oh and slightly edited the Prologue and Chapter 1 so I reuploaded them.

Chapter 2: Fuuka Gakuen

Sunlight seeped through the cracks in the curtains and onto Natsuki's tired eyes. Ah damn it, need… more… sleep! Natsuki, having never been much of an early riser, flipped over and continued sleeping. She had been tossing and turning all night, thinking about the little discussion she had with the rest of the family last night and was unable to fall asleep till one in the morning. Why am I still so worked up about it? It's been three damn years…No! Stop thinking, I need SLEEP!! Natsuki grabbed her ringing alarm and threw it to the floor, pulling the covers over her head; she tried once again to fall back to sl-

Oof!

"Argh! Get your ass off me, you retard!" Natsuki growled angrily at the person sitting on top of her, the source of her rude awakening.

"First day of school and you're gonna be late if I haven't been nice enough to come by and wake you." Hikaru replied, playfully bouncing up and down on the bed in an attempt to thoroughly wake her up.

"What's the time?" Natsuki asked groggily, massaging her temples. Damn, now I have a headache... The bouncing isn't helping either.

"A bit past eight. You slept through at least ten alarms," Hikaru got off her and walked to the door. "Hurry up and get dressed, will you? Kaa-san and the old man had gone to work already! Breakfast is on the table."

That's when Natsuki noticed what Hikaru was already wearing: an orange vest over a white blouse and a tan skirt, the standard Fuuka Gakuen uniform. "Oh shit!" Natsuki yelled, bolting right out of bed.

In a surprisingly swift rate, considering how tired she had been, Natsuki was by the breakfast table, fully dressed, in five minutes flat, trying to swallow her breakfast in one big gulp.

"Slow down or you'll choke! It's not like we're going to be late." Hikaru laughed, amused by the sight before her while trying to eat her breakfast in a more decent way.

"But you said that it's already past eight! Doesn't school start at eight forty?" Natsuki asked with her mouthful.

Oops. "Oh, Ahahahaha… I lied. It's actually only half past seven. Tricking you is the only way to get you out of bed so quickly." Hikaru couldn't help but laugh harder at Natsuki's surprised face that soon turned sour.

Natsuki sent a death glare her way. Oh crap. Hikaru immediately scrambled away from the table. Just as Hikaru managed to get herself out of her chair, Natsuki lunged herself at her poor cousin with a murderous glint in her eyes. Natsuki leapt across the entire table in one leap, earning an impressed but guarded look from Hikaru. Did she just…? She thought to herself but she didn't have time to ponder on this for too long. She soon found herself under the attack of her furious cousin.

Hikaru tried in vain to defend herself from a constant flow of unpredictable blows and jabs. "If you have so much energy, then get to school already!"

Hearing that, Natsuki finally stopped her frenzy attacks. Suddenly having an anxiety attack, she blurted out, "Forget about school. I feel like slacking off already." She was starting to feel nervous about going to Fuuka Gakuen, the prestigious private school she managed to get into. What if I don't like Fuuka? That means I'll have to go back…

Hikaru rolled her eyes and asked sarcastically, "You want to get a truancy record before ever setting your foot onto the school grounds? If you want to get to class late you can always walk by yourself. I'll be taking the bike."

Natsuki snorted, saying that she could become a legend for truanting without having even gone to the school. However, when Hikaru mentioned the strict policies of the school and the possibility of getting expelled for truanting, Natsuki immediately had a change of heart, "Argh. Fine. Let's get to school." She quickly moved towards the door. "Like, now!" she urged her cousin who was trying to stifle her incoming laughter.

Seeing Natsuki's panicked expression she gave up the teasing, "Ok, ok, I'm coming." Suddenly Natsuki stopped midway through the door, almost causing her cousin to crash into her. She turned around with a question forming on her lips. Knowing Natsuki well enough, Hikaru quickly informed her before she even had the chance to ask. "Oh, you can take my old bike if you want." That earned her a small chuckle from Natsuki.

Grateful that Hikaru was being so considerate and understanding, Natsuki thanked her profusely before picking up the keys dangling from Hikaru's outstretched hand. "Just don't scratch my bike." Hikaru warned her half-seriously.

"Yeah, I'll be really careful not to scratch your precious bike." Natsuki deadpanned. "I'll do better; I'll crash it." Hikaru's horrified expression caused her to crack up laughing this time.

Both girls cleaned up before heading towards the garage. While on their way out the door, Hikaru reflected on the events of this particular morning. She turned around and gave the house a long, thoughtful look before heading to the garage.

Natsuki took off her school vest and stuffed it in her bag before pulling her leather riding jacket over her school blouse. She was ready and standing near both of the bikes by the time Hikaru got there. Natsuki gave her younger cousin an inquiring look. Hikaru smiled. Always so polite. Hikaru nodded and gave Natsuki an encouraging push to the left where her older bike, a Kawasaki Ninja, stood before heading over to her own.

"Is that bike ok?" Hikaru's voice was slightly muffled by the helmet she had just donned.

"Of course. It's awesome. Sorry to trouble you so much on my first day here." Natsuki apologised.

"It's all right. You can ride it till you can get a new one."

"Thanks. But I don't think I can afford one any time soon. I am not going to use his money. It's too weird to just accept it." Natsuki replied, as stubborn as ever. She revved the engine to emphasis her words. Its powerful roar sent a wave of excitement and confidence flowing through her body, calming her nervousness.

"I know, I know. We'll just have to take it one step at a time," Hikaru sighed, "Right now, you really shouldn't worry about the money business. We should worry about getting to school." She reminded Natsuki before turning her bike around and drove out onto the main road. Seriously not wanting to be late on her first day of school, Natsuki hastily closed and locked the garaged door before speeding after her cousin.

The trip to the school was rather uneventful. The road they travelled along was a major, busy road so the two bikers dare not go pass the speed limit like they usually do on the emptier scenic roads, unless they want the police after them so early in the morning. Fuuka Gakuen was a long drive off the main road, surrounded by woods and backed by a mountain. It's a larger than normal private school and has its own dormitories.

To get into Fuuka Gakuen, candidates need to take an entrance exam or have to pay a fairly large amount of money. Only people that passed the entrance exam with flying colours will receive a scholarship that pays for all the costs otherwise paid by the rest of the students. Luckily, Natsuki had enough motivation to get her to study this hard to get into Fuuka with a full scholarship. Normally she just wouldn't give a damn what marks she gets. Though she is a very talented student, she just can't be bothered to try very hard if she thinks the task is pointless. Thus it stunned Hikaru and her family when they learnt that Natsuki made it to Fuuka on full scholarship.

The two girls arrived at school fairly early. Most of the people already on campus were those that lived in the dorms on the other side of the school. Hikaru led Natsuki past an enormous, ancient oak tree situated close to the neighbouring woods of the school near the student car park and parked their bikes behind the screen of foliage provided by those trees.

"It's a nice spot, isn't it?" Hikaru turned to Natsuki as they were heading towards the main school building.

"It's got a nice view." Natsuki nodded approvingly. She turned back briefly to appreciate the beauty of the woods. "It's pretty inconspicuous too."

"It has to be. Truth be told, it's against the school rules to ride bikes. But no one really cares except for that Executive Director, Suzushiro. If she catches you, you're dead meat. She can be so annoying!" Hikaru explained, noting to herself at how quickly Natsuki picked things up, before continuing to bad-mouth the Executive Director under her breath.

Natsuki chuckled at her cousin's childish behaviour before deciding to ask for her opinion on the idea she had in mind for a while, "Hey, Hikaru. I reckon I should get a job as a mechanic at a local garage or something."

"Why?" Startled by the sudden information, Hikaru half-turned around to face her older cousin, curious to hear what she has to say.

"I want to earn some money to go towards buying a new bike."

That stopped Hikaru in her tracks. She turned around entirely to give Natsuki her utmost attention, interested to hear more. "So is that how you intend to buy a bike by yourself without touching your father's money?"

"Exactly. He can have the money back. I want to get a bike by myself, to prove to him that I can handle things on my own." Natsuki nodded, a smirk appeared on her face. She was pleased that her cousin caught on so quickly.

"But what happened to the plans to reconcile with him?" Hikaru reminded her though she had to agree that Natsuki's plan was actually a pretty good idea.

Natsuki snapped back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, that." She paused to reconsider her options. Chewing her bottom lips, she thought hard. At last, she sighed. "How about I ask Takashi to help sponsor me as a sign that I'm trying to forgive him. He can pay for the deposit or something and check on me to see how I was going with the rest of the money. That way he can actually involve himself in my life with me feeling that he's intruding." As if to emphasise her reluctance, she reasserted. "But I would rather pay for most of the bike myself."

"Um…You sure you can handle this? Getting the bike all by yourself, I mean" Hikaru asked with concern. I wonder how long it's going to take for her to earn the money…

"Who knows? I want to give it a go." Natsuki shrugged but her mood was optimistic. "Plus I still have…what she left behind…" With the small smile fading, her mind drifted back to the past once more.

Seeing Natsuki had already made up her mind, Hikaru decided to drop the discussion. She realised that though Natsuki is trying to be nicer, but she's still keeping her distance from her father. So leaving Natsuki to work it out her herself, Hikaru turned back around and led Natsuki through the wide, open quads to the front office.

As they approached the office door, Hikaru turned and looked at her cousin who stared uncertainly at the door. "You want me to come with you?"

Broken out of her thoughts Natsuki quickly declined, "I'll handle it from here. Thanks." She mentioned for Hikaru to go ahead without her. She preferred doing everything herself and doesn't like to rely on other people very much. This is also one of the things that she wants to handle by herself.

Hikaru nodded thoughtfully. "I'll wait for you out in the quad we just came through." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the exit.

Natsuki inclined her head to show her understanding before turning around. She took a deep breath to calm her nervousness before opening the door to the front office. Stepping in hesitantly, she took a look around. The office was cosy and brightly-lit with large windows also providing some natural lighting. Plastic chairs neatly lined up along the wall in the waiting area. The walls are plastered with notices and decorated with framed awards; there's even a majestic grandfather clock hiding in a darkened corner. Seeing as there wasn't anyone else in the queue she made her way down to the counter on the far side of the room. A lady in her mid-forties was too busy typing away at her computer to notice her. Natsuki coughed loudly to get her attention.

"May I help you?" The lady looked up, forcing a smile to mask her annoyance.

"Kuga Natsuki. I'm new here…" Natsuki answered while taking out the necessary paper works. She noticed a glint of immediate awareness in the lady's eyes but her actions did not reveal her interest in the new student.

The lady took a while to inspect the papers that she now held in her hands. Natsuki suppressed an urge to tap her fingers on the counter as she waited impatiently. Finally after typing the information on the computer and triple checking the papers, the lady handed Natsuki her timetables and a map. In a bored voice she explained to Natsuki that because of her excellent score in biology for her entrance exam, she was put into a special Accelerated Course class that combines all gifted senior students to do biology at university level. Fuuka Gakuen provides a lot of specialised Accelerated Course programs catering for many gifted and talented students, thus making it a very academically prestigious school.

"If you do not like the class or you are falling behind the standards, you are allowed to be reallocated to normal biology class," explained the office lady in a monotonous voice, sounding like she had been repeating those lines for hours.

"Now, here is a slip that you give to your homeroom teacher to notify them that you're new." Natsuki obediently took the paper from her hand. There was a small pause, "So, any questions?"

Natsuki shook her head.

The lady looked up and gave her a cursory glance before continuing, "Good. By the end of the day I want you to return here and tell me if you like your AC class. We want to sort the classes out as soon as possible, ok?" Natsuki indicated her understanding with a nod before getting dismissed. As she turned and walked out the office, she failed to notice the office lady lifting her head up and giving her a curious, lingering gaze.

"How'd it go?" Hikaru asked as soon as Natsuki came out into the quad that was their meeting place.

"I made it into that Accelerate Course Bio class. Are you in any?"

Hikaru clapped her on the back, "Congrats! I'm more a languages person than a science person. So I got in AC for English." Curious, she took the information sheets from Natsuki's hands. After briefly examining the papers she handed them back. "Looks like you're in my class for everything except bio and your chosen electives. Should I show you around now or go straight to home room?"

"Home room. There's not much time left now." Natsuki replied with an offhanded wave while being absorbed in the task of memorising the map of the school. This school is pretty big…

"You'll be fine. You've got a great sense of direction. Let's hope your memory would be just as good." the corner of Hikaru's mouth twitched up, giving Natsuki an impish smirk before leading her through a maze of hallways to their home room. On the way, she point out various features of the school to her, asking her if she could memorise them by the end of the day. Always someone who rises up to the challenge, Natsuki accept her little game at once telling her cousin never to underestimate her.

Hikaru led Natsuki to their home room using a shortcut which Natsuki had no trouble committing to her memory. Before long they reached the door of their home room. This time it was Natsuki who took the initiative despite her nervousness and led them through the sliding door. Their home room was a large, bright, cheerful looking room. Only a handful of students have arrived and taken a seat. Hikaru steered Natsuki to two tables, placed one behind the other, situated near the window.

"You take the front seat," Natsuki said. She pushed her cousin forward towards the indicated seat.

"Why?" Hikaru asked even though she already knew the answer.

"If I wasn't pay attention in class, at least you could cover me. You know, not in the teacher's direct line of sight?" Natsuki explained exasperated. "Obviously!"

I knew it. She's up to her old tricks again. Hikaru let a small smile pull up her lips, she had anticipated Natsuki's response and Natsuki never disappoints her. "You never change, do you?" Hikaru said disapprovingly even though she had taken the front seat already.

The bell rang just as Natsuki got into her seat. The rest of the students filed in right after. Soon enough, their home room teacher strolled in lazily. She was in her early to mid-twenties, with bright red hair tied up in a messy pony tail.

"All right everyone! I'm your home room teacher this year! I'm Sugiura Midori. As your teacher you'll have to call me Suigura sensei though that makes me feel old," Sugiura sensei chuckled. She has this high-pitch voice sounding like someone trying to act cute and younger than her years. Natsuki couldn't help but roll her eyes at her new teacher. But the class still laughed good-naturedly along with their new sensei.

"Hey, aren't you meant to hand in that note?" Hikaru turned around to remind Natsuki when the laughter had died down. Sugiura sensei had started marking the roll.

Natsuki groaned inwardly. She scraped her chair loudly against the floor and, unwillingly, got up to hand in her note. Natsuki doesn't want to be in close contact with someone hyper and bubbly so early in the morning mainly because Sugiura sensei looked exactly like the type of overly enthusiastic teachers that would ensure she do a self-introduction regardless of her protesting. Silently begging for the Suigura sensei not to make her introduce herself, she gave the note to her teacher with nervous hands.

"Oh! So you're the new kid! Kuga Natsuki? Such a nice name. Now let me think… I don't really remember any famous historical figures with the name of Kuga…" Sugiura sensei mused. She started listing names that sounded like Kuga before getting more and more off-track. She then proceeded to ramble on about random topics without paying any more attention to the silent girl beside her. Natsuki used this time to make her escape and crept quickly back to her seat.

"Forgot to tell you, Sugiura sensei is slightly…eccentric. Well, though she's a history genius, she''s still childishly in love with Super Sentai and Sailor Moon…" Hikaru whispered in explanation as Natsuki passed her desk. When Natsuki gave her an odd look Hikaru sighed dramatically, "You'll see. You'll see."

Natsuki returned to her seat with her left eyebrow still raised in surprise. What a bizarre combination of interests? Eccentric is a bit of an understatement… She thought. Sugiura sensei continued to drone on, this time on the subject of the Edo period because history is their subject right after home room.

The bell finally rang signalling the end of the rather tedious ancient history lesson. Sugiura sensei left them quite a bit of homework to do. She cheerfully left the classroom, oblivious to the students' groans of protest trailing behind her. As soon as she left, the class bounced back to their good-humoured selves and burst into animated conversations with each other as they waited for their next teacher. Natsuki turned her head and looked out the window at the garden below, watching a fat, grey cat lounge around lazily among the flowers. Hikaru was engaged in a conversation with a girl sitting in the front row and a girl sitting beside her.

"So… You're the new girl: Kuga Natsuki?" a voice sounded behind Natsuki. She turned around with a bored expression on her face. There behind her was a tall boy with short, oily black hair.

"Well, I'm Miyano Yuusuke. I guess we'll be in the same class for the rest of our subjects." he introduced himself enthusiastically. He pushed his hair back in the most cliché way.

Natsuki's left eyebrow twitched slightly. She can already tell that this guy is going to be the clingy type. She tried to suppress her desire to sigh loudly. It's the first day of school. I must not stand out for the wrong reasons. She quickly placed a small, polite smile on her face before replying, "Nice to meet you, Miyano-san─"

"Yuusuke is fine." he interrupted.

She mentally flinched at his eager voice, "Um, right. Yuusuke-san." Annoyed at how she was rudely cut off, her reply was subtly harsher.

"Just Yuusuke." he smiled at her, obviously unaware of the change in tone. "Need me to show you around?" he offered, extending his hand in a friendly way.

Natsuki stared at the outstretched hand, unsure of his intentions. Damn, he's the overly helpful type. It'll be hard to shake him off. Thinking quickly she settled on gentle rejection as the best approach, "Oh, no. That's fine. But I already have my personal guide." She replied, pointing to Hikaru while ignoring the hand he had shoved in front of her face.

"Hikaru-chan has been assigned to be your guide? But she's a rather busy person, you know. Maybe I'll take the load off her and show you around instead." he answered promptly. Yuusuke wasn't about to give up. Natsuki desperately tried to come up with a way to decline his offer without hurting his feelings… yet. It'll be hilarious if I ended up making enemies instead of friends in just the first hour…

"Yuusuke! So you already met my cousin." Hikaru shouted out from behind Natsuki, unknowingly coming to her rescue. Natsuki turned around to face her cousin so Yuusuke couldn't see her and sighed in relief. She mouthed a thank you at her. Hikaru, still unaware of the current situation, glanced at her questioningly.

"So she's your cousin! Wow… I should have notice the resemblance earlier. You're both so eye-catching with your green eyes." Yuusuke attempted to flirt with them both, winking at Natsuki. Hearing that, Hikaru flicked her eyes from Yuusuke back to Natsuki and a look of understanding appeared on her face.

So lame…Both Natsuki and Hikaru's eyes met, cringing inwardly, they exchanged a communicating look with each other. He would be one annoying admirer. They both thought.

Realising the silence was longer than it politely should be; Hikaru laughed awkwardly, "Thank you…I'll take that as a compliment then. Anyhow, I was about to tell you that you shouldn't trouble yourself too much." then she added in a colder tone, hinting at him to back off, "I'll show her around myself."

"You sure? But you're Kaichou-sama's assistant! You've got lots of things to do." Yuusuke pressed, moving closer to them. Both girls took an uncertain step back, feeling cornered.

Looks like the thick-head boy did not pick up on that subtle hint. With her patience wearing thin, Hikaru resolved to use her last friendly resort, "Executive Director Suzushiro-san asked me to handle this personally and report to her afterwards." she lied as skilfully as an actor delivering their lines. She didn't forget to heavily emphasise Suzuhiro's name. "If you want to show Natsuki around you'll have to report to her after."

The mention of the dreaded name seemed to have done the trick. The entire colour of Yuusuke's face seemed to have drained off. "Ah…I…I uh… You can do it then. Oh, er…I've gotta go…finish my homework!" he stammered before quickly leaving them alone.

When he returned to his desk and was out of earshot Natsuki mused, "Is Suzushiro-san's name a curse or something? He just bolted away as soon as you mentioned her name."

Hikaru put her arm around her shoulder, dragging her closer, before chuckling darkly, "Suzushiro is one of the most feared students on campus. Oh, you'll definitely hear her before you even see her. Well, I have no other choice but to bring in her name to save you from all that…harassment. No one likes to say that name out loud unnecessarily."

"Why is that?"

Hikaru looked around before leaning down and whispering dramatically, "Walls have ears."

Natsuki snorted and gave her a sceptical look. She did believe Hikaru's words that Suzushiro-san can be terrifying but walls having ears are going past the boundaries and into the realms of nonsense.

"You'll see," Hikaru assured her with a sly smirk before dragging her to join the conversation that she left a while ago. "Look busy otherwise you stand out like a sore thumb for those excessively eager guys."

Natsuki complied; she definitely doesn't want to put up with another round of unwanted attention from some admiring boys. She knew all too well how troublesome it is since she had to deal with them back home as well. Her unwanted popularity seems to travel with her.

Hikaru introduced her to the other two girls. Harada Chie was the taller glasses-wearing girl with short, black hair playing with her cell phone. She is known as the Queen of Gossip by all at the school. The shorter girl with brown hair was her faithful sidekick, Senou Aoi.

"So…you're the legendary Kuga Saeko-san's daughter." Chie purred, sounding like a journalist trying to dig up some fresh scandals. She peered over the frames of her glasses like a scientist observing an interesting specimen.

"Legendary?" Natsuki asked, lifting up an eyebrow. That's news. As far as she knows, her mother wasn't a very famous person, let alone legendary.

"Yes, of course. Your mother was famous for achieving top honours at this school. But that wasn't what made her legendary. She's a legend among us students for daring to oppose the feared Miss Maria, the infamous woman who pretty much controls this entire school." resting her chin on top of her intertwined fingers, Chie explained professionally and concisely. The Queen of Gossip had done her research.

"Miss Maria? Isn't she the English teacher and one of the teachers who also work in the administration? What's wrong with her?" Natsuki frowned, perplexed.

Crash!

Chie's hands slammed onto the table, causing those sitting around her to jerk back. So frustrated and shocked that Natsuki doesn't know about the dreaded Miss Maria she scolded, "You naïve child! Miss Maria is the strictest, most terrifying teacher of this school. If you get in serious trouble, you get sent to her. Her punishments are the most horrifying. Those who survived it to tell the tale would not disclose to anyone the exact nature of their punishments!" Despite her seriousness, her theatrical performance sent the rest of them roaring with laughter.

After they've all calmed down, Aoi attempted to recreate the seriousness that Chie failed to achieve. "Those poor students were scarred for life. When they see her in the corridors, they'll run away as if there's no tomorrow. Some of those that got punished never came back." she added ominously.

Natsuki paled. Oh, crap…She's definitely going to be keeping an eye on me if she knows about my truancy record. However, Hikaru just chuckled. "They probably just got expelled. Don't worry Natsuki. Miss Maria's not that bad; just a bitter, old lady."

"How would you know that, you traitor?!" Chie cried, waving her arms around animatedly. "You have been brainwashed into obeying her! Stay away from the Student Council!" Chie grabbed and shook Hikaru's shoulders vigorously.

"Just because I work for the Student Council doesn't mean I work for her. The Student Council is an independent body run only by students. They act as the students' representatives when dealing with school matters." Hikaru tried to explain as she struggled to pull away from her grasp.

But Chie ignored her protests. Suddenly she released Hikaru harshly and almost sent her toppling out of her chair. She turned her attention to Natsuki, "Your mother represented the students and rebelled against both Miss Maria's decisions and the Student Council."

Quickly turning to Hikaru, she added, "That shows you, Hikaru, that the Student Councils are not to be trusted!"

Turning back, she continued, "She was about to be suspended. But somehow the Gakuenchou stepped in and over-ruled her decision. Your mother was also the only one that saw the face of the mysterious Gakuenchou."

"The Gakuenchou never showed his face around here. Yukariko sensei and Miss Maria are the ones that handle the administration. All we know is Gakuenchou's last name, Kruger." Aoi elaborated. "Since Kruger is an obviously not a Japanese name, we can safely assume that he's probably overseas in one of Fuuka Gakuen's foreign campuses or even the original campus since Fuuka is most likely to be one of the foreign campuses─ Anyway, he's never around." Sensing she was rambling off topic, Aoi quickly back-tracked.

"Equally baffling is the deputy Gakuenchou, Viola. We never see her around either." Chie took over in a mysterious voice. "This school has many dark secrets. Your mother was one of those students who fought to reveal their secrets. She disobeyed Miss Maria about keeping one of her discoveries silent." Then she declared passionately, punching her fist into the air, "We'll be looking forward to the day you decide to pick up where your mother left off and lead us students to our freedom from this dark, menacing school." Though over-dramatic, her words still sent a shiver down all their spines as they reflected on how truly chillingly mystifying the school really is.

"Is that you, Harada, rambling on about the stupidest crap I've ever heard?" a new voice spoke from behind them. Startled, all of the girls jumped. Behind them stood a mischievous-looking girl with shoulder-length red hair and pale green eyes. She kept her eyes on the group while her fingers blindly yet accurately operated on her cellphone.

"You scared the life out of us, Nao!" Aoi exclaimed. She then proceeded to introduce the newcomer to Natsuki. "Natsuki, this is Yuuki Nao, my room-mate. Nao, this is Kuga Natsuki." Both Aoi and Nao are some of the students that lived in the dorms on the campus.

"So this is the Kuga kid we've all been waiting for." Nao frowned, showing her disappointment. "So Harada reckons you can lead us?"

"That's not very nice, Nao." Aoi reprimanded her room-mate. Turning to Natsuki she apologised, "I'm sorry, but Nao's like that to everyone. She's rather antisocial. Don't take it too seriously."

Nao just scoffed at her. She flipped her phone close and continued, "So, Kuga, why are you here? Sea change?"

"Personal reasons," replied Natsuki vaguely, not wanting to reveal the real reason to a random stranger.

"Like, escaping from the past?" Nao pressed, wriggling her eyebrows; little did she know how accurate her guess was.

Natsuki's well-rehearsed neutral face did not reveal her surprise. She quickly retorted, "What's it to you, Miss Nosey?"

"Ouch. But doesn't your remark just revealed how accurate my hunch was, Miss Defensive?" Nao bantered with a sly smirk while pretending to inspect her nails.

"Your hunch wasn't even close to my real reason. I just didn't like my old school. Got a problem with that?" Natsuki bluffed, continuing their ping pong game of words. She is damn annoying.

"Is that all? Were you expelled then?" Nao asked again, to which she received another negative answer.

"Then why the hell are you doing here at Fuuka Gakuen? You have no real reason to be here, rich bitch. How about your parents? Are you the rebellious, overly pampered type that goes to boarding school to get away from their nagging?" Nao struck back, sensing by Natsuki's lack of proper response as incoming victory.

"My mother's not around anymore." Natsuki replied bitterly through gritted teeth, her fists clenching unconsciously. "My reason for coming here is none of your business."

"Oh I'm so sorry." Nao didn't sound the least sorry. "Maybe she's happy that she doesn't have to deal with someone with such a troublesome attitude like you anymore."

Nao's remark hit the tender spot. Natsuki snapped and burst towards her, ready to smash her fists into her smug face. But luckily for Nao, Chie and Hikaru managed to restrain the agitated Natsuki before she could do any more damage. A small crowd had gathered to watch what the commotion was about.

"Nao! That was crossing the line." Aoi cried. "Don't forget your mother is in a pretty bad state herself." Aoi warned in a whisper.

Nao glared at her, silently warning her to shut her mouth with hateful eyes. Deep inside she actually sympathised with Natsuki because she has this terrible feeling that maybe one day her mother will just give up and never wake from her coma again. But she would never admit that to anyone. Turning back to the struggling Natsuki, she resumed their conversation, "So, how do you like Fuuka? It's not as convenient as Tokyo for some lazy, technology dependent retards with too much money to spare." Nao taunted Natsuki like a mouse dancing in front of a caged cat, laughing in delight as Natsuki struggled.

Finally pushed past her limit, Natsuki's self control cracked and she tore free from the girls restraining her. Hikaru promptly intercepted by getting in between them and holding up her hands as a sign of peace, "Now, now. Let's not start off on the wrong foot. Nao, please watch your tongue."

But not someone to let an insult get past her, Natsuki shoved Hikaru away, "Well, you don't look any better, madly texting away. Talk about being technologically dependent. You sounded like you're jealous that your mother never gave you enough money for you to play with." came Natsuki's savage comeback.

"You!" This time it was Nao who snapped.

They started another fierce round of verbal war that was getting physical until some bystanders helped the other girls to restrain them. We are so going to get along. Natsuki thought bitterly while trying to break free; at least three people were trying to hold her back.

But unknown to her or anyone present, due their little verbal jousting, Nao had established a grudging respect for Natsuki. Not only do they have a similar personality, she was also the only one who had managed to watch her in wits. Oh, she's a tough cookie, Nao smirked to herself. Maybe we should observe her for a bit longer then take the next action.

Nao was about to taunt her some more and pay her back for the jab about her mother but luckily for all, their Japanese teacher walked in. Everyone quickly returned to their seats and all talking ceased as the lesson on analysing Ancient Japanese literature began. This slow paced lesson allowed Natsuki to ponder upon her mother's past and her own future. Who was she? There's so much I don't know about her… she let out a long sigh, Nao's right, I don't have a proper reason to justify why I'm here. So what the hell am I doing here?

TBC

Next chapter: The Student Council

A/N:

This chapter was not meant to end like that… Sorry if it's too sudden. It's meant to be longer but it's gonna turn out to be too long if I kept writing till the intended end so I'm splitting it into two. Sometimes your inspiration come at the wrong time and upsets all the plans you prepared earlier. I actually re-wrote chapter 1 so I needed to fix this one too. Oh and Nao was dying to get introduced so that's what I ended up doing. I was meant to introduce Fujino Shizuru in this chapter… But, sadly, I have to cut. That means Fujino Shizuru and Kuga Natsuki's meeting will be delayed. Kannin na xD.

Ah, yes, sorry about the length. My beta scolded me for killing her eyes...^^;;

Thanks for reading. Comments are appreciated because they give me more motivation to write. Hope to see you next time.

One more thing: How many of you have actually read Twilight? (Just curious and it might affect how I'll write this fic)

I might as well make a poll...