DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. All trademarks (HiME, Otome, music, and all other known entities, etc.) belong to their respective owners.

WARNINGS: See Chapter 1

A/N: My apologies for the delay in posting this chapter. It was supposed to be completed a few of days ago, but two new (and totally unrelated, but still ShizNat) stories decided to worm their way into my head and wouldn't leave. Stupid Shizuru. I blame her. So, yes, I'm now working on three stories at the same damn time. Bah! Excuses. Anyhow, thank you to all of those who are kind enough to take the time to review and goofy (Natsuki) smiles to those who have made this story a Favorite. Much appreciated! (BOWS)

Chapter 4… Please enjoy! And thank you for taking the time to read and review.


Last time on Music Appreciation…

Natsuki turned away from her tormentor and tapped her head on the desk. "Oh. (tap) My. (tap) God. (tap) You make my brain hurt."


"Your thirty minutes are up. If by some questionable chance you have not finished your work, assignments one and two are due Wednesday morning, prior to the start of class." Midori scanned the room to see if anyone had a question before beginning her lecture. "What is music…?"

"I can't believe this." Natsuki mumbled to herself while keeping half an ear on what the professor was saying. 'She said my voice. She likes to listen to my voice. What kind of answer is that? Who says that? Umm, do I have a nice voice? STOP! Don't go there! She's just messing with me. Stupid class. Stupid assignment. Stupid Shizuru. We couldn't even finish any of the questions for the first assignment. And, I already have homework from my earlier class, a lab this afternoon, and now HER.'

Amused crimson eyes watched her every move, and Natsuki continued to be extremely confused at the war her body seemed to be having with her brain. So much so that she had to turn away so that any further embarrassing reactions that her body had wouldn't be seen. 'Stupid body. Acting on your own. This just confirms it. I'm a masochist. *SIGH* What's wrong with me? I just have to get these assignments finished. That's all. To do that, I have to work with HER. I just have to be serious. Remember, she's only a classmate... No other thoughts. Wait. What other thoughts? So, okay, yeah, she's very attractive... With long, soft fingers... The scents of vanilla, sandalwood, and maybe tea? And… What the hell? Oi, brain, don't go there! Assignments. Just get the damn assignments done. Remember, she's only a classmate.'

Firmly deciding on a course of action, Natsuki suddenly reached over and grabbed the brunette's lavender notepad from the desk and began writing. Then, turned it so that Shizuru could read it.

Natsuki: Do you have plans tonight?

Taken by surprise, Shizuru arched her eyebrows at the notepad.

Shizuru: Just studying. Date?

Natsuki: That's a fruit.

Shizuru: Ikezu.

Natsuki: I am not. Look, I just want to finish the assignments. So, do you want to get together or not?

Shizuru: So that means… date?

"…"

N: Whatever. It's a study date.

S: August 20th, 2012. 10:42 A.M.

"?"

N: Why did you write that?

"…"

S: I wanted to remember the first time you asked me out on a date.

"!"

N: OMG! What is wrong with you?

Natsuki could only close her eyes and bring her left hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. ''No judge will convict me. I now have physical proof of why I went insane.'

Poke. Poke. Poke.

'Oh please… tell me she's not poking me.' Natsuki opened her eyes to see Shizuru push the notepad in her direction. '*Sigh* Now what did she write?'

Shizuru: Where are you taking me?

Shizuru smiled calmly as she waited until just before Natsuki went to write her reply, and quickly pounced on the notepad before the dark haired girl could.

Shizuru: On our first date.

In order to stop herself from doing something impulsive, like smiling, Natsuki had to bite her bottom lip to keep her emotions in check. 'This woman just doesn't give up, does she?'

Natsuki: It's not a date.

Shizuru: You just said it was.

Natsuki: What? When? It's not a date… date.

Shizuru: See? You are even calling me your date.

Natsuki: That's ridiculous. YOU'RE ridiculous.

Shoving the notepad in the direction of her nemesis, Natsuki could only let out a low growl and cross her arms in front of her. 'I want to scream. I have to think about every word I say or even write. How does she pick my words apart like that?'

Shizuru: You never answered my question.

Natsuki: I'm not taking you anywhere. We'll just meet up on campus somewhere. TO STUDY.

After writing a response, Shizuru slowly pushed the notepad back in Natsuki's direction, she could not stop a smile from sneaking up on her face.

Shizuru: I do not think that is very romantic for our first date.

"…"

Natsuki: It's not a DATE! We're STUDYING!

Shizuru: Why are you shouting at me? Ikezu. Do you not think we would be more comfortable meeting elsewhere?

"…"

Natsuki: Fine. I give up. You pick the place and time, and I'll meet you there. TO STUDY!

Shizuru: Ookini. We should meet at…


Making her way out of the classroom, a highly distracted Natsuki collided with Hurricane Chie.

"Whoa! What's wrong with you? Are you… smiling? Really? Wait. Who are you and what have you done with my Natsuki?" Chie grabbed her friend's shoulders and swung her around to look into the pod person's face.

"Very funny, Harada. Stop touching me and go away. I've got to get to my lab class."

Disregarding the impending peril to her body, Chie continued to follow her dark haired friend. "Natsuki, you so owe me lunch."

"And this would be another reason why whatever you say sounds like an old-school modem connecting." Shaking her head, Natsuki started to walk off towards the Sciences Building.

"Ha! I understood that one. You and your stupid nerd jokes. Come on! Do you know who your PARTNER is?"

"Is this a trick question? Of course I know who she is. Her name is Shizuru Fujino. And?"

"THE Shizuru Fujino!" Chie looked at her friend incredulously.

"What? There's more than one so you have to put 'THE' in front of her name?" Putting her eTab under her arm, Natsuki quickened her pace.

"Hey! Once you kicked me out of OUR desk, I went around asking who she was. Well, plus, she's nothing short of stunning, so it wouldn't hurt for me to find out a little info. As a favor to you, of course." Chie stopped walking and crossed her arms, waiting. 'Three, two, one…'

"Fine!" With an annoyed tone, Natsuki stopped and turned around to face her friend. "What did you find out?"

'Ha! I KNEW you were interested in her. But, I'm so NOT going to tell you that. I do want to live.' "You owe me lunch. And, Aoi and I get the dorm room by ourselves tonight?" Chie ended with a huge grin on her face.

"No! What are you thinking? Wait, I don't want to know. And, she may be your girlfriend, but she's MY roommate. Which means, it's my room too. Where the hell am I supposed to sleep? After labs, I've already got homework to do tonight, and I have two classes tomorrow."

"You could always stay the night with your new FRIEND, Shizuru Fujino…"

"You realize that I can put a virus on your precious cell phone, right?"


"Shizuru?"

"Hey, bubuzuke!"

Shizuru reluctantly collected herself out of her daydreams when she became aware that her attention was needed. "Kannin na. Did you say something?"

"Are you all right, Shizuru? You've been really… How should I put it? Preoccupied, since our Music Appreciation class." Yukino asked worriedly.

"That delinquent you had to sit with didn't do anything to you, did she? You and your annoying fangirls." Haruka waved her arms about in disgust.

"Natsu… never mind. She is not a fan like you think, Haruka. Kuga-han is very… interesting." To try and deter her friends from continuing to ask questions, Shizuru checked her watch nonchalantly. "We should probably get something to eat before our afternoon classes. Yes?"

"Yeah, I'll go ahead and get myself some burgers. You two probably want rabbit food or something like a salad. Basically, non-food." Haruka charged off in the direction of what she considered a real meal.

When Haruka was comfortably out of earshot, Yukino moved in front of Shizuru with a questioning look. "What's going on? Haruka, of course, didn't catch your remark regarding Kuga-san, but I did. You're not getting off the hook that easily, Shizuru."

"If I feigned ignorance, would you stop your inquiry?" Shizuru smiled at her good friend already knowing the answer. "Probably not. You are too observant as always, Yukino."

"As always, Shizuru, I'm just concerned about you. This might sound rude, but you don't seem like yourself. It's just, well, you seem… entranced, if that's the right word? I know how you normally are with Haruka and me; we're your friends, but this is something completely different. You weren't behaving like you do with… your fans. Nor were you behaving like you do with those so-called potential suitors who try to date you. The way you interacted with Kuga-san isn't like you at all. Honestly, I've never seen you be like that around anyone. I'm not sure what to think."

"I cannot really explain it, Yukino. I had fun with her. In that brief time, all I can say was that I was happy. Very much so. I am still happy. SHE made me happy." With a smile on her face, Shizuru stopped walking to contemplate what she had actually just said out loud.

"I'm glad you're happy. That's all Haruka and I want for you. But, Shizuru, you just met this person. You really don't know anything about her. I am absolutely positive that Kuga-san isn't one of your fans. Actually, she kind of scares me. My impression, in the limited time I spoke with her, was that, well, she's rather anti-social. The funny thing is that when I watched the two of you together, not only were 'you' different, but I get the feeling 'she' wasn't acting like herself either." Yukino put her hand on Shizuru's shoulder. "Come on. There's not much we can do about it now. I'm sure everything will work out. You always think too much when it comes to things like this. Let's just see what happens. Why don't we go find Haruka before she eats all the so-called rabbit food too."


'Damn it! I should've gotten her cell phone number. I can't believe I'm fifteen minutes early. I'm never early. To anything! Why'd she have to meet here? What was wrong with meeting at school?' Natsuki continued to pace back and forth in front of the café like a wild animal in a locked cage.

'Wait. Why am I so damn nervous? We're just studying. Just classmates. We finish the assignments and then POOF! I won't have to see her until Wednesday. That's good, right?' She took a moment to look in the window for the third time to put a hand through her hair and re-adjust her leather jacket when someone put their hand on her shoulder.

Natsuki wheeled around to beat the crap out of whoever was stupid enough to touch her when she came face to face with someone who caused her body to involuntarily shiver.

"Kuga-han? Did I get the time wrong?"

Upon seeing anxious crimson eyes looking back at her, she hastily dropped her arms. "NO! No. Umm, sorry. No, you didn't. I'm just… I found parking faster than I thought I would. That's all. So, where's your car? Where'd you park?"

"Actually, I walked. I live about two blocks away. I hope it was not an inconvenience for you to come out here." Shizuru gave Natsuki a questioning look of concern.

"No, no worries. Really. It's fine. I'm just… Look, don't be concerned about it. Can we just go inside? If that's all right with you?" Without thinking, Natsuki held the door open for Shizuru and then placed her left hand on the small of the brunette's back to guide her into café.

At the moment of unexpected contact, Shizuru had to take a quick intake of breath and do her best not to stumble while going through the door. "O-Ookini, Kuga-han." Shizuru shyly whispered.

Upon entering, an attractive brown haired hostess greeted Shizuru with a nod and a smile. "Welcome back, Fujino-san! It's nice to see you again. Would you like your regular booth?" The hostess then noticed Natsuki standing very close (too close) to her favorite customer. "Umm, for two, Fujino-san? You and your… date?"

'What the hell? What's wrong with this woman? And what's with that look? Why would she say that I look like… Fujino-san's… uh… date?' It was right then that Natsuki became aware of how close she was standing next to Shizuru. Then, her eyes grew large when she realized where her hand was. Yes, Natsuki's hand was still pressed into the small of Shizuru's back.


A/N: Yeah, that section with Yukino and Shizuru talking. I still don't think that scene fits. I re-wrote it at least seven times. But, I needed to put it out there so you get an idea of Shizuru's mindset.