A/N Hey everyone, sorry for the late-ish, I got a little sidetracked by things. Anyway thanks all for the reviews and I'll try to get around to answering any questions in a bit. I can't decide how much background info I should be going into here, so I tried to keep everything moving along, though it may seem a bit broken here and there. This has only been read through by me, so if there are any errors, please kindly overlook them :)
BTW my German is awful but iirc wasser bitte means water please (someone I know was shouting this while drunk one night, was very strange)
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Mai Hime etc etc
The day was young, the birds were singing and the sun was shining.
What this translates to is; it was stupidly early in the morning, the pigeons were already pecking around, and the sun was beating down on the exposed shoulders on the unwary, blistering skin.
Shizuru sighed softly and brought the cup of tea to her lips, sipping delicately.
"Bubuzuke!"
She remained unfazed.
"Bubuzuke look at me you tea drinking nut!"
Still unfazed.
A hand slammed down on table making the legs buckle slightly.
"Bu-bu-zuke." A voice that was restraining itself as much as possible while still rumbling with anger.
She glanced up and smiled softly. "Ara, hello Haruka. How are you this fine day?"
Haruka Suzushiro, a loud mouthed blonde with amethyst eyes, a skull thick as steel and just as dense and self proclaimed rival of Shizuru Fujino during their high schools days, or rather all their days.
"Don't 'how are you this fine day' me, young missy!" Shizuru winced slightly. One thing to note about Haruka, she didn't understand the word 'quiet', as such, she shouted everything without a thought to people's ear drums. "I just got off the clone to your editor."
"It's 'phone' Haruka-chan." Yukino Kikukawa. Haruka's trusty side kick, not to mention the supposed brains of the pair.
"I said that!" Haruka glared at her quiet half before turning that glare onto the tea sipping brunette. "As for you, when were you going to tell us you had a peek off?"
"Ara, I was going to tell you I had the week off today Haruka. But it seems you beat me to it. Would you like a seat?"
Haruka huffed and fell into a chair, arms crossed. Yukino sat down with a little more grace.
"I'm assuming that you heard the reason?"
Haruka grunted in affirmation.
"I thought so." Shizuru took another sip of tea.
"When are you going to give up on that ridiculous theory of werewolves?" Haruka sighed in exasperation. "It's been years, yet you simply won't give it up."
Shizuru gave a miniscule shrug. "People can have their own views and theories, I have mine."
She stared into her cup of tea, lost in thought.
The three of them had been close friends for years. After what they referred simply as 'that' happened, Shizuru had moved into her God parents' house, which just happened to be the Suzushiros. Haruka Suzushiro, a robust little girl who shocked all she met with the amount of volume such a small thing could let out, had taken one look at the downcast red eyed brunette and decided that she would protect her. If that be from cruel little boys or nightmare wolves then so be it.
She could do it, after all she had GUTS!
Oh how wrong she had been…
Flashback
"So, who's this?" the blonde said, peering curiously at the brunette clutching her mother's leg.
"This is Shizuru, Haruka-chan." Her mother said softly. "She's going to be staying with us."
The blonde looked at her mother, then over to the brunette. Behind those amethyst eyes her mind was deciding what to do. She smiled and tugged on the girl's arm.
"Come on, let's go play."
She dragged the brunette through the house, giving the guided tour extraordinaire, in other words she was told everything about the house and that meant everything. Every little known and unknown fact, from who the designer was, to the history of where each tree was felled, even the private lives of the builders who had worked on it.
The small brunette was brought out of her stupor at the sheer amount of information her companion contained.
"Ara I didn't know that it wood could be so expensive."
Haruka stared at the brunette, dumbstruck for a matter of seconds before grinning widely and began rambling on about 'Saving the Rainforest' or some such.
The brunette smiled slightly at her companion's antics, the emptiness fading away as her red eyes gleamed with curiosity.
A few days later…
The door bell rang and with surprising volume the blonde roared happily.
"Yukino!" she belted from the room leaving a perplexed Shizuru behind. The brunette could hear the thumps as the blonde hurtled down the stairs, then back up again. The door flew open as Haruka shoved it aside dragging a small girl behind her.
"Shizuru! This is Yukino, she's our next door neighbour, and she just got back from Austria."
"You mean Australia, Haruka-chan." Yukino said timidly.
"I said that!"
Yukino smiled at the blonde before looking at the brunette.
"Yukino Kikukawa."
"Shizuru Fujino. So, Australia? What's it like down under?"
Over the next few hours Shizuru noticed that Haruka muddled up some of her words while Yukino quietly corrected her. Her eyes lit with an inner mischief as her smile widened ever so slightly. The two young girls never knew that there was a thin mask on the face of their new friend. A thin mask that was the only thing that stood as a barrier between the flawless and perfect image and the true inner feelings of a broken girl.
End flashback.
"Oi, Bubuzuke? You still five?"
Oh how close you come to the truth, Haruka.
She smiled. "Yes, I'm alive, Haruka."
"Good! Because I happen to have a nice surprise for you."
Shizuru shot a scared look to Yukino, terrified to learn what new disaster the blonde had prepared.
Yukino smiled softly. "Don't worry, Shizuru. She didn't plan it all."
"Of course I didn't plan it all, do you think anyone would let me do it all after the Cake Incident?" Haruka huffed. They all shuddered. It had taken days to clean up the mess.
"So, what is it?"
"We're going on the biggest pub crawl of the century!"
Shizuru blinked.
Then blinked again.
And one more blink for good luck, hoping she had misheard.
"Come again?"
Haruka smirked, one upping the devious brunette. "Weare going on a pub crawl, and not just us. I've managed to rope in everyone from our college and high school days." She grinned triumphantly.
"Why do I get the feeling this is going to end badly?" Shizuru muttered under her breath, rubbing away a crease in her forehead.
That night…
"Shizuru!"
Oh yay, drunk Haruka aka Sonic Boom Haruka.
"Haruka, how much have you had tonight?" a perfectly serious face, eyebrows lowered in concentration, and eyes slightly unfocused. Drunken Shizuru is near impossible to recognise save for a slight lowering of the mask, and a significant lessening in teasing which took everyone by surprise.
Haruka frowned in thought. "I dunno. Maybe a beer or ten. There was da wodka shots." She leaned forward slightly, over balancing completely and landing on the ground in a mess. "Oo Yuki got shum…shum…YUKINO WASSER BITTE!"
Shizuru flinched. "Wasser?"
"Here Haruka-chan." Yukino came rushing over, a glass of water in her hands. "Sip slowly now."
Yukino was the smart one it seemed. Or rather she was the designated driver of the night as she was the only one with a car big enough for a drunk Haruka.
"I think we've all had enough, ne Yukino?"
Yukino nodded, answering with sarcasm. "I agree. Oh this is going to be fun." She turned to the prone figure snoring softly on the floor. "At least she's passed out. Can you give me a hand?"
Shizuru nodded and helped heave the hefty blonde through the pub to the waiting car. In a brilliant moment of foresight Yukino had parked the car within each reach of the last four pubs, knowing that after the fifth things would start going downhill.
Safely depositing their snoring cargo and strapping it in securely (Haruka's limbs had a mind of their own when infused with alcohol, more than one person having come away bruised), Shizuru turned back to the pub, intending to go back inside.
"You staying a bit longer, Shizuru?"
"Yes, Yukino. I want to talk with Reito a little longer."
Yukino nodded in understanding then vanished into the car. The car's engine purred into life before slowly moving away.
Shizuru returned to the pub, smiling at the beaming man sitting in a corner with a cup of tea.
"Already on the tea, Reito?"
"Of course, Shizuru. Nothing quite like a good cup of tea after a pub crawl. Care to join me?"
After swiftly ordering her own beverage Shizuru sat down and together they reminisced over the last for years. Almost like old times.
Reito Kanzaki, black haired and golden eyed, dressed smartly in jeans and a shirt, a handsome specimen of man yet one that didn't 'push' Shizuru's buttons, for which they were both grateful. Who wants to be attracted to their tea drinking partner? Yuck! At that moment in time he was keenly watching the red head on the karaoke machine.
"What do you think of that one?" he asked out of the blue.
"Ara, going after the younger ones now, Reito?"
He smirked. "She doesn't look that young, Shizuru. Reckon I've got a chance?"
She watched the red head and the other woman on the other side of the room for a few moments longer, chortling when the song ended and the black spiky haired pounced on the red head. "Not any more you don't."
He sighed. "Well, it was always worth a thought."
She patted his back in mock sympathy. "I'm sure there's someone out there for you, Reito-kun."
As she was doing this the door flew open and a cold breeze blew in, accompanying a figure dressed down in baggy jeans and black hoodie, the hood pulled low so their features were hidden in shadow.
Upon entering the figure paused, almost waiting. The reason came a split second later as the two women who had been on the karaoke machine paused in their play tussle and looked up, eyes riveted to the newcomer. Instantly they broke apart and approached with tense steps.
Shizuru watched with barely hidden interest in the proceedings.
The three seemed to communicate silently for a few minutes, bodies shifting, heads tilting, eyes twitching, but all that ceased when the hooded one stiffened, head lifting as if to sniff.
As if in slow motion the dark face turned towards her and in those shadows two eyes blazed.
Two eyes of shining emerald.
Emerald eyes so alike to those from her nightmares.
Lips pulled back to reveal elongating fangs as the figure leapt towards her, snarling in fury.
A/N 'runs around in a panic' What to do? What to do? Should I kill anyone? Should I let the attacker get beaten to a pulp?
'pauses with an evil thought' Keeping me alive and the readers happy while still killing someone...where's Tomoe?
Anyway please review and share your thoughts; the good, the bad and the erm...can't think a third.