A/N I have nearly hit 5k words already! Kimochii-! Mayo toast for all my reviewers!

As promised, there will be angst in this chapter. Hey, I have frigging tonsillitis 4 days before going back to boarding school, am I not allowed to be angsty?

A warning: this chapter has little in the way of fluff. It would be boring if Natsuki and Shizuru liked each other immediately. Bah humbug.

EDIT: there is fluff at the end of the chapter! Yey!

Disclaimer: I own my tonsils, but not mai HiME/ Otome. I may not own my tonsils soon, either… -.-;

Chapter 4: A disgruntled roommate.

Natsuki

God this woman is annoying! I save her life, take a bullet out of her back, change her clothes, give her shelter, feed her, and all I get is questions! I can't stand those types of people!

Furthermore, she's prevented me from getting out of my drear predicament, falling like that! I think I was probably hallucinating anyway. Where are those wings now, little miss angel?

I still have the halo though. Finder keepers, and I can tell you, that much gold will buy me a pretty penny. I mean, she doesn't need it, right? She's fallen to earth.

This complicates so many things. I have no money, am wanted by the police, (but I mean, another of my identities is wanted. No-body knows my face), and now unable to take my life because of this troublesome girl that's dropped from the sky!

I am definitely a disgruntled roommate.

And what's worse, I've used up the last of my Mayo.

I think I hate her.

Shizuru

I get the feeling she doesn't want me here. No, I know she doesn't want me here. From what I can tell, she's a delinquent teenager, living by scrounging an existence from doing bad things.

Stealing.

Exploiting.

Even killing.

This was definitely not the type of person I wanted to associate with. And yet, I'm under her custody. Fiddlesticks.

I'm not sure how I feel towards Na-tsu-ki. I mean, how could I like someone that rough and downright dirty? She's on the run from the law in an abandoned apartment! She's the first thing I remember!

I think I hate her.

It's infuriating. I can hardly move, my body is recovering so slowly. Her flat is grimy; she never bothers to tidy up. The windows are boarded up and very little light comes through the windows. When she's home, she moodily polishes her gun and knifes, or counting her ill-gotten gains. And when she's out I don't even WANT to think what she's doing.

Natsuki

This girl is really stretching me to breaking point. I feel as though I can't just abandon her, but I also can't bring myself to like her. Fujino Shizuru, you really like complicating things, don't you?

I need to go to school. Ask from the money back from the drinks I bought my class 3 days ago. Also, there's a certain teacher who owes me information, I've been doing everything I can to find out just exactly what this Fujino woman is. I should really be calling her Voila, but I think it may be a bit of a Taboo.

Sakomizu gave me a book. I hate reading, so I've just left it in the safe-box of the apartment for the morning. I better start on it now, I guess.

I picked it up. It's written in… what? Runes it looks like. How the hell and I supposed to decode this? Bugger, nothing seems to be going right for me today. Or yesterday, and come to think of it, the day before too. This woman is at the root of all my problems.

There's a thought, maybe she can read this damned book. I walked over to her bedside, rudely thrusting it on top of her lap.

"Read it."

She looks at me dumfounded for a minute, but picks the book up and carefully turns to the first page.

"So?' I asked, "Do you understand it?"

"Of course I do! It's plain old…" she stops.

Shizuru

"Of course I do! It's plain old…" plain old what? My mind registers the meaning of the words, but what language is it? What language am I speaking in? What language am I even thinking in?

"Plain old what?" she growls, snapping at my pause. Tsk, she's so impatient.

" Plain old… words, I guess." What a pitiful answer. The best I could come up with.

"Just tell me what the damn book's about!" she practically yells. Wow, does she have withdrawal symptoms or something? Blood sugar level low? Under craving threshold? It somehow wouldn't surprise me.

"Give me a while to real it and I'll tell you what it's about," I curtly reply, figuring out that if I can go get her to sulk in a corner, she'll calm down a bit.

Shiho, Heaven's imperial judge

Honestly, everything is so DULL! Ever since we sent old Shizuru packing, the archangel has been doing nothing but sulking in her room. She also gets violent when she's bored, which isn't good if you happen to be in bed with her.

I can't really discern much, but when did we just accept a violent archangel? Aren't they supposed to be the embodiment of purity?

I'm on my way to Juliet's quarters now, but she just woke up so I should be safe.

She wants to discuss that Viola woman.

"Nice of you to finally join me, Shiho. Been doing a few maki makis before breakfast?" she teases when I enter. I froze. How could she know about that? Gulp.

"N-no, not at all, Archangel…" that was awkward.

"Really? Oh anyway, I've discovered what's happened to our dear Shizuru Viola," she beckoned to me to look through some kind of mirror thing.

And, speak of the devil (and considering that it was Juliet Nao Zhang that spoke, that's probably what it is…) there's Shizuru sitting on a dirty futon reading a book, with a blue-haired woman (who Julliet is eyeing with that look. And who could blame her? That is one hot human) moodily sitting on the floor beside her.

"As you can see, this girl is looking after her. She's lost all her memories, too."

Which means…?

As if reading my mind, which she probably is, the archangel replies "which means we have a chance to have some fun with her. No, no; don't look at me like that, I don't mean that kind of fun.

"Remember that sprite, what was his name again? The one that's good at fiddling with dreams, Negi was it? No, it was Nagi. That's right, Nagi. Get someone to drag him here from his hangout in the grand library. I have a job for him."

Uh oh.

Natsuki

Just being in the same room as this mysterious woman makes me irate and short-tempered. I can't explain it, but I bet that if I brought anyone near her, they would get the same feeling. It's just impossible to stand.

So why, on day four, am I still going through with this?

She shut the book. Which means she either has finished reading or is royally pissed.

"The book is some fantasy tale about the history of angels," she scoffs, running her hand down the spine of the book lovingly. I get the feeling that before she lost her memory, she really liked books.

A fantasy tale about angels? Knowing what I now, it probably isn't fantasy. It helps, though, because now I at least have some information, or at least a source of it, about her.

I've decided to start attending school again, solely for the reason that I think I'll go insane if I stay in the same room as her all day. She just… looks at you, staring unblinkingly into my eyes. It's unnerving.

I still dislike staying in the same room with her at night, even more so now that she's using my futon. The sofa isn't very comfortable, being saggy and having dangerously sharp springs sticking out of it at odd angles.

Shizuru

She's been avoiding me. It's easy to tell. She goes to school in the day, something a delinquent only wants to do to hide from something or one.

Namely me.

It's not my fault I stare at her. Stare into her deep, green eyes. I just get a tug in my stomach and a misty recollection, like I've stared into those eyes before.

That night, I had a dream. Dream or nightmare, I couldn't really discern.

Hello, my little one.

So confused you look, staring into the sky at me from down there.

Fallin,g falling, through the sky,

Watch the clouds that pass you by…

Falls your halo on your head,

Then you wake up in someone's bed…

Somebody's taunting me. A singsong voice plays through my head, just out of reach from my grasping hands.

The scene changes. It's Na-tsu-ki, lying dead at the top of heaven's stair, a bullet through her chest. The sight sickens me.

I'm rising. Through the clouds, up to heaven.

This can't be what heaven looks like.

There's a thunderstorm going on. It's raining heavily. White dwellings lay smoking charcoal fumes into the heavy air. Bodies litter the floor, hacked apart in the most inhumane ways.

Cruel laughter meets my ears. On a huge throne of thorns, a red-haired woman proclaims her rule. She beams down at the destruction with maniacal eyes, chuckling all the while. She's holding something out to me. A halo of thorns. Goading. She places on my defenseless head, and pain shoots through my body.

There's someone beside me. My shoulder feels wet. Still under the sway of my vivid dream, it takes a while to recognize it as Na-tsu-ki. She's sobbing uncontrollably, hugging tight into my body. Looking at her helpless figure brings tears to my own eyes.

She's having a nightmare

"Na-tsu-ki…" I whisper, gently taking her shuddering frame.

"Please… no… don't take her…" she mumbles urgently, gripping my loose t-shirt tighter.

"shhh… don't worry, they won't take her anywhere, she'll always be with you," I cooed, trying my best to reassure Na-tsu-ki. I just can't bear to see her in pain.

"Okaa-san… you'll never leave me, will you?" she whispers, sniggling closer, almost like a child.

"Of course not… sweet dreams, Nat-tsu… Natsuki…"

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muhaahahahah! There's unexpected fluff at the end of this chapter! Shizuru has spooky dreams! Natsuki has a nightmare! I had to pack this morning, which is why this chapter is so late. It's a little longer than usual, though, so enjoy it!

Remember, I anyone has any idea on how I should continue Time before dawn (I have writers block on it) please PM me!

Omake:

Natsuki: Mum, you'll never leave me, right

Shizuru: of course not, I'll always be here!

Natsuki then mom… can we do it again?

Shizuru: (I had no idea that Natsuki has Yuri Momcest! I should take the opportunity, though…)

Have fun

(squiggly thing) Emiri