Author's note: Does saying sorry and enjoy be enough for the delay? Heh…he…enjoy? –runs away-

Disclaimer: -sigh- this is annoying –sigh- I don't own…Mai Hime or Otome or Destiny… T.T


Chapter 3: Mother and Daughter

-Eight years ago-

Natsuki scratched the back of her neck while looking anywhere but those piercing young cherry eyes. A few centimeters below, Shizuru glared at her older companion with her arms crossed and a cute pout on her face. A little further ahead of them, Mai along with Shion and Mayo stood awkwardly as they watched the pair's interaction.

"I do not want to," Shizuru stated defiantly with a stomp from one of her feet to emphasize her displeasure. "Why should I do it?"

Natsuki sighed and gazed around the living room. "Lucky" was an understatement after the events of the last two days, now that she thought about it. Reito Kanzaki, the younger brother of Fuuka's Principal, had been more than helpful concerning her situation. In a few hours she had gotten a small apartment near the campus and was surprised to find that "Kuga Natsuki" had prepared necessary stuff for a few months.

The apartment had obviously been unused for quite a time, but it contained most of the essential furniture which was a big plus. So, in a matter of minutes, Natsuki had rearranged and cleaned the apartment for Shizuru and her to use. However, she was a little concerned regarding the sole bedroom in their new home. Reito had evidently dismissed it as he stated.

"You are mother and daughter, right? There's nothing to worry."

So she had forgotten the matter and concentrated about the primary concern: money. Of course, she tried to suppress her worries after the Principal's brother had told her about the bank account that was left to her. She knew that whatever "Kuga Natsuki" had left was enough for a couple of months at the least, which brought her a huge relief, although she still had a strange feeling about all this.

As she reflected on her benevolent benefactor, Natsuki couldn't help but think of Kuga as another person even though she knew that Kuga and she were somehow the same person. Her other self had the joy of half of their life so it was only fair for her to have this other half and begin as another.

"Hopefully, things will go smooth enough by the end of the year," Natsuki thought expectantly as she suppressed further thoughts and concentrated on the current problem: Shizuru.

The raven haired woman sighed and sat on the floor while playing with her black locks. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I told you already…"

"It doesn't mean I like it!" the ten year old girl interrupted, clearly annoyed. "I don't want to be away from Natsuki!"

The older woman blinked at the statement and hardly concealed her chuckle from her smaller companion. She looked up at the teary and pouty face of her daughter. "Last time, Shizuru got so bored she fell asleep. I just don't want a repeat."

"I still don't like it," the child stated after pondering the statement of her companion. "Natsuki owes me, a big favor….again!"

The older woman could only laugh when she had finally won, and when she stopped she was still unsure of why she had done such a thing. Natsuki shrugged when Mai stared at her curiously. Then with a mischievous grin, the raven haired woman threw herself to the child and began an infinite tickle battle.

"Ah…stop..haha…stop!" the smaller child demanded between giggles while Natsuki tickled her mercilessly. "I am going to pee!" Abruptly the attack stopped and Shizuru took a deep breath. Afterwards she glared at the older woman. "Ikezu…"

"Now, now don't be like that." Natsuki said when her smaller companion crossed her arms and began walking toward the trio.

"Go, have fun with big breast lady before I change my mind," the child stated impassively, but chuckled when Mai covered her breast with her arms in protest.

"You're one to talk, having Mayo with you." Natsuki stood up and took her jacket from the couch near by. Then she approached the quartet and took her daughter in her arms, easily lifting her until the two were face to face. "Now, be good with Shion and Mayo, alright?" her smaller companion nodded reluctantly and blushed when the older woman kissed her cheek affectionately.

"You…idiot…" Shizuru mumbled, her eyes widened from the unexpected kiss from her mother as her face took a redder color.

"You are even cuter like that," Natsuki taunted with a chuckled and patted the blushing cheek of her daughter before putting her back on the floor. Soon enough, the raven haired woman left the apartment with Mai following her hastily.

"Well, what do you want to do Shizuru-chan?" Mayo asked as she kneeled next to the small child.

"Oh, I have really entertaining prospective games, Mayo-san." Shizuru said mischievously to the couple.

It was, however, too late for the pair as Shion finally noticed the wicked glint sparkling in the scarlet eyes. Shortly after, yells and cries were heard coming from the apartment but were mostly suppressed by a very loud childish laughter.


"Is it wise, leaving them with her?" Mai asked from her side of the seat, hoping she wasn't distracting her companion. "You don't have to answer if it distracts you."

Natsuki glanced at the redhead with her eyes before staring at the street ahead as she kept driving her car steadily. "I prefer that pair over the Kanzakis or other strangers babysitting my daughter, Tokiha."

"But if I think about it, they are going to have it tough."

"Oh, they will," the driver said with a chuckle, causing her partner to frown. "Don't worry, Shizuru will behave…or at least try."

"That's not very comforting, Kruger-san."

Natsuki gave another chuckle yet kept driving quietly, thoughts beginning to attack her mind. After resolving her problem of money and home temporarily, she had to do paper work. Rei Kanzaki had told her about her peculiar situation. He had explained that both Shizuru and she didn't currently exactly exist, not if they wanted to keep being their former selves. Of course, Natsuki didn't mind since it gave her more liberty of being her own self instead of whoever she was in the past. That was when she took Kruger as her last name. But things didn't stop there; a lot of hacking had to be done, especially when it came to Shizuru's origins and guardianship. Nonetheless, it was safely completed and now, as far as the law was concerned, Natsuki and Shizuru were mother and daughter living together.

"I must thank this Kikukawa," the raven haired thought. "she is one incredible hacker and person to have done so much for me, a mere stranger."

"Kruger-san do you know where are we going?" Mai asked as she wondered where they were planning to go. After all, it had been Natsuki who called for the busty redhead to help her with her newfound job.

"Yeah and we are here," the older woman stated as she stopped her sport car.

The duo was greeted with an old and empty store as the small crowd around them glanced at the pair from time to time. Natsuki only grinned as she dragged a blinking Mai into the store. At closer inspection, the redhead noticed that the store was more of an abandoned clinic.

"It's actually a veterinarian's old place," Natsuki explained when she saw Mai scanning her surroundings. "Shortly after I woke up on my first day at my new home I found some documents and books around my desk and shelf. Apparently my former self was preparing to become a veterinarian specializing in small animals." Natsuki scratched the back of her neck while gazing around the obviously in need of repair clinic. "I kept pushing Kanzaki for more details because I obviously had a passion for this career. However, the idiot didn't tell me a thing. So I ended up coming back empty handed." Suddenly she began laughing when she recalled the events of that evening. "Shizuru noticed my mood so she tried to cheer me up by making me chase her around the house. It was then when I accidently found a set of letters from 'Natsuki Kuga'. Well, according to her I am officially a veterinarian and this store is proof of it somehow."

"You don't look very happy."

"Oh, I am. Is just still strange how things keep going."

"What do you mean?"

Natsuki blinked and shook her head. She glanced at her companion and gave her a grin. "It's nothing to be worry about," she walked around the dusty clinic for a few minutes, inspecting as she observed how much changes she had to do. "Tokiha-san, what would you say if I offered you a job as my assistant?"

"Wha-at?"

"It will apparently take some time to rearrange everything, but if you wish, I wouldn't mind your help." Natsuki began explaining when she noticed the confusion in the other's violet eyes. "Kanzaki told me you were searching for a job in the summer as well as Shion and Mayo. I already spoke with the pair, so what do you say?"

"But I don't know anything about veterinary needs or…"

"It's alright, I will teach you." Natsuki grinned when she felt victory coming to her. "So, does it mean you will help me?"

The busty redhead sighed, clearly sensing there was no way out but not really minding helping someone that resembled her friend so much. "Alright, you win Kruger-san."

"Natsuki," the older woman corrected. "It's the right thing to do, since we are going to work together."


Coming back home, the sight that greeted Natsuki wasn't pleasant at all. She felt her left eye twitching in annoyance when she saw how messy her apartment was at the moment. Trails of clothes, food and toys were spread almost everywhere she could see. What really caught her eyes was the sight of Mayo and Shion sitting on a pair of chairs, clearly unconscious and tightly tied with a jumping rope. A soft, childish and familiar giggle snapped her close inspection.

"Now, why does it look like you are at fault of this disaster?" Natsuki asked with her eyes narrowed suspiciously at her daughter who was hiding near their couch.

"Mother, how awful of you. How can you say such thing of your own daughter?" the small child asked dramatically with a hand on her forehead as she looked away.

The older woman did not answer right away; Shizuru blinked at her silent companion. Natsuki tried to grasp the idea of the first acknowledgement her daughter had given regarding their relationship. The raven haired woman had a rough time explaining to the brunette child their connection. Of course, at such age and with such a high level of intellect, Shizuru was very curious. She had firmly objected to the idea of them being mother and daughter. It was ridiculous according to her for there wasn't a remote similarity between them. Still, the raven haired couldn't simply tell her newfound daughter about how she knew because of some strange vision she had seen by touching a letter from another self. That's why as far as she knew, Shizuru would only call her by her name and not address her as mother or anything close to it. So now she stood dumbfounded at the use of such words.

"Natsuki?" Shizuru called for a second time when the older woman gave no sign of response at first. She started to panic and rushed to the raven haired woman, clinging at her leg in an attempt to get her mother's attention. "Natsuki, say something. I am sorry, alright?" Tears began threatening to fall when there was no response again. "I won't ever do something like this, so please. Natsuki say something."

At last, hearing the tiny sob from her smaller companion snapped the raven haired aftershock. Immediately, she was on her knees and reassuring her daughter. "Ah, sorry, Shizuru. It's ok; it was my fault. So no more crying, alright?"

"Natsuki is not mad?" the child asked between sniffs, trying to stop her continuous sobs.

The older woman hugged her daughter fiercely and kept hushing her until there were no more cries. This took a rather long time and by then Shion and Mayo awoke. The pair, after being untied, had energetically apologized but Natsuki reassured them it was alright. Everything went back in order after a good couple of hours of cleaning, apologizing and small tricks from the youngest of the quartet.

"My, my Natsuki looks tired," Shizuru commented happily as she bounced on the bed. Her companion merely groaned and fell on the king size bed after the long shower she had. "Natsuki you are getting the bed wet!" the child whined but then noticed how tired the other woman looked and sighed. Reluctantly the ten year old girl walked to the closet and took a clean dry towel. "Really, the things a girl is forced to do at such young age." Shizuru mocked while drying the black locks of her mother with the towel. She grinned when Natsuki mumbled an incoherent response.

"I love you too, Na-tsu-ki." The brunette bounced off the bed when she was sure she had done her job completely. "Well, I'll let her take a nap…for now," the child commented indifferent as she disappeared into the bathroom.

Hours later one grumpy raven haired woman groaned and snuggled closer into her pillow. However a soft giggle stopped Natsuki's further cuddling as she slowly opened her eyes to stare at the face of one smirking child. The older woman blinked a few times before groaning and tightening her grip on her smaller companion which prompted another set of giggles.

"How long does Natsuki plan to be sleeping?" the ten year old wondered gently while playing with one of her partner's black locks. "It's getting late and I am hungry."

The raven haired mother didn't respond; instead she caressed her daughter's head with her own. "Liar," she finally mumbled. "you smell like tea and something more besides your usual bath lotion."

"Is that so?" Shizuru giggled and cuddled back to her mother. "Alright, Natsuki wins…this time."

"Damn right…" Natsuki said falling to slumber once again, not caring her use of language in presence of her younger companion because of how tired she felt. "Night…Ru."

"Goodnight, Na-chan," the girl replied and fell asleep too.


A familiar redhead began marching slowly throughout Fuuka's campus until she stopped at the dark office of Fuuka's Principal. Without knocking or anything she strolled inside where a middle age man stood in front of an enormous window.

"I have established a relationship, Rei-sama," Mai's quiet voice hardly startled the silent man in front of her.

The bald man merely nodded to acknowledge the teenager's presence as he gazed at the marvelous city ahead of him. "Keep it up, Tokiha-san."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, one more thing." Rei glanced at the redhead to emphasize her point. "They must not find out the truth, alright? Make sure they don't think about the test till later."

Reluctantly, Mai agreed before leaving the bald man alone to his own thoughts. She suppressed a shiver when a wicked laugh came from the closed room of the office. The busty redhead clenched her fist, for a moment, the determination and submission she had showed to the Principal disappeared and an immense rage took over, yet it wasn't long before that too was gone.


-Present Time-

"I can still remember the first struggles I had to face but were solved with ease. Now I know about Rei Kanzaki's plan all along thanks to the tearful, guilty confession of my once dear friend Mai." Natsuki thought once her mind stopped recalling those first, mysterious days.

She glanced behind and noticed Shion and Mayo. The older woman gave them a soft smile and nodded, signaling her approval to come.

"You two are innocent, that's why I will spare you my rage." Natsuki remained herself silently.

"Still the same, Natsuki-san?" Shion asked clearly worried about Shizuru.

Natsuki nodded again, too tired to speak and kept watching the sleeping beauty while she kept caressing her barely warm hand.

"Please Shizuru, wake up."

Shizuru replied with the only strength she had for the moment.

She squeezed Natsuki's hand.

There was hope. It was just a matter of time now.


Omake:

Natsuki: You are such a brat.

Shizuru: Well forgive me, Natsuki but I am a child.

Nao: I am surprised you didn't try anything with Kuga sleeping.

Natsuki and Shizuru: Hey!

Rainee-chan: Now, Nao…ok…-sniggers-

Natsuki: ROFL!

Shizuru: Ara…

Nao: -eye twitching- ARGH YOU IDIOT!


Well I hope everyone liked the chapter and expect at least some more childish Shizuru before meeting our usual more grown up Shizuru which will make Natsuki finally…blush! –evil laugh-

Natsuki: Oi!

Review if you please x3 wouldn't mind reading what you think of this.