A/N: You guys don't even want to know how many times I changed this chapter around, and I'm still not happy with it. Sigh. As always, thanks so much to the wonderful reviewers, alerters, favorites, and general readers. I'm so sorry I haven't replied to the reviews for chapter 3! I have no excuse for my negligence on that one, but please be appeased by knowing I'll be replying at some point today, even if it kills me! Another 'as always': self-proofed, so there are no doubt typos and general butchery of the English language.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the chapter's content, but I wrote a lot of the actionish parts while I was listening to Hollywood Undead; namely their song Dove and Grenade. Now every time I listen to the chorus of the song I remember certain parts of this chapter. Give it a listen if you wish.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sunrise, Mai Hime/Otome, or any of the characters in this story.


Natsuki wanted to scream in frustration. Nao wouldn't answer her cell phone and everyone she asked had no idea where she was. Natsuki even tracked down Nao's roommate (read: surprised when Natsuki broke into her dorm room) and interrogated her, but to no avail. If it were under normal circumstances, the Immortal would've given up the chase then, but with what had happened to the rest of the Immortal Unit, there was no doubt in Natsuki's mind that the infuriating redhead was in trouble. She continued running around, making a general ass of herself as she harassed the student body for answers. It seemed Nao didn't want to be found, however, for no single soul even recalled seeing the redhead after class.

The black-haired wonder was in the process considering the mental gratification of smashing her head into the wall when a soft-spoken voice chimed in from behind her, "Ms. Kuga?"

Natsuki spun on her heel and met a pair of bespectacled green eyes with her own emeralds. "Kikukawa? What're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with the rest of the Student Council?"

"I… excused myself," Yukino replied quietly, the air about her cracking with her nervousness. "Or rather… Ms. Fujino did."

Natsuki wanted to scream a celebration. 'Shizuru sent her? Then whatever this is about has got to help!' Instead of making a fool of herself, however, she posed the question, "to come find me?"

"Yes… I can help you find Ms. Yuuki," the brunette replied, seeming to gain more confidence with the words as her stance changed.

"What?" Natsuki took a quick step towards Yukino. "You can? How? Do you know where she is?"

Yukino immediately moved back to reestablish what she felt to be appropriate distance and quickly shook her head. "I don't know where she is, no… but I can find out." She glanced from side-to-side anxiously. They were currently standing in the dorm halls, and she apparently didn't like it. "But not here, not out in the open."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. We're wasting time, let's go." Natsuki insisted impatiently as she grabbed the brunette harshly around her elbow and started pulling her from the dormitories in a full-out run.

All Yukino could manage as a reply was a yelp while she struggled to keep up with the excited second year. They were out in the night in moments, students casting curious glances at the odd pair as they passed. Without slowing or changing her grip on her peer, Natsuki ran around the perimeter of the building until they were behind the dorms, and even went so far as to situate themselves in a small stretch without any windows. Immediately the gunslinger was looking at Yukino expectantly, but the brunette was bent over her knees, panting. The pang of guilt that would've come from the sight, knowing her haste was the cause of Yukino's state, was smothered by her urgency to find her teammate. She just managed to reign in her energy long enough for the Student Council member to catch her breath and look back up at the Immortal.

"The President told me… I could place my absolute trust in you. I don't wish for what… I'm about to show you to be repeated to anyone… agreed?" Yukino asked between pants, making a comical attempt at sounding stern.

The raven-haired fighter's first reflex was to roll her eyes. Thankfully, her tact took over before she could, and she instead nodded, promising, "I won't tell anyone."

Yukino let herself smile in relief before nodding shortly. Without another word, her green eyes closed in concentration before a mirror appeared her hands with a brief flash of light. Natsuki jumped back in surprise, nearly summoning her guns on instinct. The brunette's eyes reopened, and a smile appeared at seeing the normally-stoic Natsuki Kuga staring at her suspiciously. "Yes, I'm an Immortal as well," she said, answering the unasked question in Natsuki's eyes.

A small, one-eyed, green creature with a number of spindly legs dug itself from out of the ground at Yukino's feet, making the gunslinger jump back again. This time a gun did appear, but the creature scurried behind the brunette's leg before Natsuki could fire on it. "No!" Yukino said quickly. "It won't harm us! It's a part of my power. A… scout if you will."

"A scout?" Natsuki asked slowly, her gun still trained on the thing behind Yukino.

"Yes, my power is… basically spying. I can summon one of these little minions and send them looking for something. They hone in on that something, or in our case someone, and feed me what they see through their eye to my mirror," Yukino held up her mirror to back-up the claim, which currently had a rat's view of the back of the brunette's shoe.

Natsuki gave Yukino's leg one last glare before willing away her weapons and looking at Yukino expectantly. "Alright."

At the word, the brunette immediately sent her minion away. The creature burrowed itself into the ground with unreal speed and disappeared into it's hole without a trace. Yukino moved herself next to the other Immortal so they could both look into the mirror. In seconds the dark image changed to one of a dark forest.

"Yuuki," Natsuki mumbled to herself, forgetting her initial, disbelieving reaction at the unreal speed of the creature by what she saw. In a small clearing sat a pink-haired girl with a number of pigtails. She sat back on her feet, but the most surprising part was the girl was levitating off the ground. Laying before the flute player was a familiar looking redhead. The raven-haired fighter had to suppress the urge to growl at the sight of the girl's battered body.

"She's in the forest," Yukino said quietly, looking from her mirror to Natsuki.

"Do you know where?" The fighter asked harshly.

To the brunette's credit, she didn't flinch in the least at the sharp question. She instead moved to the hole her minion had made and kneeled, reaching her hand deep into the hole. After a quick investigation the hand resurfaced covered in a bit of dirt. With absolute certainty the Student Council member pointed to the forest behind the dorms. "It dug that way… that's all I know," she said, apology thick in her voice.

"I had nothing to go on before," Natsuki said a bit gruffly, though her intent was to reassure the other Immortal. "Now I have a direction. Thanks for the help. You have my word I won't tell anyone about your powers."

A small smile graced the brunette's face. "I'm glad I could be of assistance. I need to get back before Haruka gets suspicious." The girl began brushing the dirt off her sleeve as best she could. "I'm sorry I can't stick around to help fight… I'm not much good at that sort of thing," she admitted as the smile lessened and her mirror disappeared from her grasp. "Good luck, Ms. Kuga," she finished, looking up at Natsuki with forced confidence.

"Thanks…" Natsuki murmured as she turned to look out at her new objective. The sounds of footsteps crunching in the grass filled her ears, though she didn't turn to watch the other Immortal leave. Without another word she, too, set out. Only then did the daunting task before her really hit her. The forest around the academy was huge, and all she had was a direction.

'Great,' the gunslinger groused as she dashed across the lawn straight into the forest. 'I'm looking for a needle in a haystack… in the middle of the night. The only thing that could possibly make this any worse is if our metaphorical haystack was on fire!' As she finished the thought, she automatically looked up to the sky, to see if lightning may strike a nearby tree and start a blaze. Thankfully, the proverbial irony never came, and a fire didn't become one of her concerns. Natsuki crashed through brush and leaves loudly in her haste to find her teammate. Ignoring the throbbing of her old wounds and the scratches she accumulated in her intrusion of some especially sharp shrubbery, she soon came upon a familiar sound.

'I'll never be able to listen to flutes again,' Natsuki thought as she detected the sound of the instrument. A vague pulse attacked her mind with the sound of the music, but the gunslinger easily fought it off. She took on a less blundering approach and went into a crouch, trying to sneak up on the source of the high-pitched melody. The fighter-turned-sneak made her way around shrubbery in a seemingly unending maze before she came upon a small clearing. A normal human's night vision would've had trouble seeing in the half moon's light past the trees, but Natsuki could clearly make out the scene from the mirror before her as if she was out in a field during a full moon. She summoned her guns and prepared to jump out when suddenly another figure came onto the scene, entering from the brush on the opposite side of the clearing from Natsuki.

"You need hurry up with your mind crap. They aren't sending anyone and I'm getting ridiculously bored." the new figure, a female with oddly-cut, teal hair, complained.

'I know her…' Natsuki realized. 'But from where? School. Well duh, these two are obviously students here. School… hallway… lunch… shit! She's that crazy fan girl who nearly impaled me with a spork for pulling Shizuru from that crowd at lunch the other day.' She realized. 'This is so messed up.'

Apparently, the pink-haired girl heard the other girl's comment, for her flute playing picked up. Nao let out a pained gasp in reply, but her green eyes remained shut. Natsuki felt her gut wrench and her muscles tense when she realized that the extra efforts were against Nao. 'No, calm down. If you lay low you might get some info. You need information as much as you need to help Yuuki. Find out what they're doing.'

Natsuki's train of though was cut off when the teal-haired girl kneeled down next to Nao and picked her up by the collar. "Just give up already, you rotten bitch!" She yelled, shaking the redhead like a rag doll. "The longer you hold out the more this is going to suck for you!"

The gunslinger felt her control snap at the sight of her teammate being tormented. A shot rocketed past the teal-haired 'bitch,' girl and dug into the ground. Just as the girl was letting go of Nao and staggering backwards from the surprise of a bullet nearly removing her nose, another shot slammed into the flute of the pink-haired girl. Rather than destroy the device as Natsuki had hoped, the item merely tore from the girl's hands and spun through the air to land at Nao's feet.

"Crap!" The teal-haired girl yelped as she took to her feet. Her pink-haired companion fell from her previously floating position with a squeal and hit the ground. "Who's out there! Come out!" The standing girl roared as she looked about the edge of the clearing, in the general direction of where Natsuki's shots had come from.

Rather than comply, Natsuki fired another shot next to the teal-haired girl's foot. The girl jumped back, away from Nao, with a shout. Suddenly, in a bright flash, a black spear came to the girl's hands. With great flourish she brought the weapon about and in front of her. "Pansy! Stop hiding in the shadows and fight me!" She demanded.

In that instant, the seemingly unconscious Nao popped up from her previously prone position and, with an enraged yell, slashed out at the teal-haired girl's foot with her claws. The move was slow, for Nao was badly hurt, so the teal-haired fighter made an easy job of dodging in time. She struck out to counterattack the injured fighter, but was stopped short when an ice bullet skimmed over her hand.

"Fuck!" The teal-haired girl screeched, dropping her weapon to hold her injured hand to her chest as Nao made a tactical retreat from the enraged girl. "I'm going to kill you and your cowardly excuse for a rescuer!" The spear wielder screeched. She picked her weapon back up after a few seconds of nursing her hand and moved toward the crawling Nao. The redhead reached the edge of the trees and collapsed in exhaustion, with the teal-haired girl right on her tail.

The girl stopped short, however, when Natsuki stepped out into the moonlight with a gun in either hand, ready to blow off the 'bitch's,' girl's face. "Back the fuck up," she demanded in an icy voice. "I'm more than happy to blow your fucking face off for what you did."

The advancing girl did indeed pause. She looked beyond pissed with Natsuki, but the only move the gunslinger made was to kneel next to Nao and support the younger girl against her chest with one hand while the other kept a bead on the spear wielder's head.

"You're that bitch that's always with Shizuru!" the teal-haired girl screeched suddenly.

It took all of Natsuki's willpower not to gape at the sudden change in topic. 'What does that have to do with what's going on right now? Fan girls are psycho.' None of her thoughts were shown on her stoic features, however. The only thing that was present on her face was murderous intent.

"Tomoe, we need to go!" The pink-haired girl suddenly spoke up from behind her partner.

"Not when I have the perfect opportunity to kill the school whore and Shizuru's pet dog," Tomoe growled.

"She's really going to kill us!" The girl insisted fearfully.

Tomoe grinned and moved to attack. "Not if I-- fuck!" She was cut off by the searing pain of another ice bullet passing over the top of her foot, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Next shot's going through your skull," Natsuki promised as she leveled her weapon to said spot, still holding onto a panting Nao.

Tomoe grit her teeth. Everyone in the clearing knew the teal-haired girl would've loved nothing more than to impale Natsuki right then, but she appeared to be having a mental battle with her common sense and her malicious intentions.

"I'm out of here. There's no way I'm getting killed now," the pink-haired girl said suddenly, dashing from the clearing. Natsuki allowed the move without protest, still glaring down the girl before her.

Tomoe seemed to consider her options another moment, before growling and turning on her heel. Natsuki watched the girl run after her friend, out of the clearing, carefully. The sound of panting and footfalls left her ears many minutes later.

"Stop sitting there like an idiot and help me stand, Kuga," Nao grumbled when the footsteps disappeared, apparently waiting for the same thing as the gunslinger.

Natsuki looked down at the redhead apologetically as she did just that. Nao leaned heavily on Natsuki as she got up, prompting the raven-haired girl to wrap an arm under the younger's shoulders to help her stand. "You alright?" Natsuki questioned.

"Do I look alright?" Nao snarled back.

"No, you like shit warmed over."

"Thanks for the encouragement, asshole."

Ignoring the name, the gun-fighting Immortal continued, "can you walk?"

"Yeah. Let's get the hell out of here," Nao's biting tone changed to an exhausted one. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but paused. In the end, the redhead grumbled. "What're you looking at? I said let's go."

Natsuki raised a brow, well aware that wasn't what Nao had wanted to say, but dismissed it moments later. It was going to be a long trek back, so if Natsuki wanted any sleep that night, they needed to get moving. "Any idea which way is out?" She asked when she realized she had no idea where they were.

"I don't even remember how I got here! You're the one who came here on her own two legs, you don't remember?"

"I went in a few too many circles while I was walking around in the middle of the night to save your ass."

"You're so useless, Kuga."

Natsuki bit back her retort and instead said something constructive. "Do you think those girls know which way's out?"

"Let's hope they do," Nao grumbled, seeming to pick up on Natsuki's train of thought.

The pair moved to where they'd last seen the other Immortals disappear from, both of them on high alert for anything hostile. The going was slow and silent as they walked, hoping that they were going the right way. Natsuki sensed a tension that practically radiated from her red-haired burden. The muscles under her supporting arm were far from relaxed. Even injured, Nao seemed to be trying to touch Natsuki as little as possible. The gunslinger didn't find herself much caring about the younger's obvious discomfort. Their contact was just something that needed to be done, and that was all she cared about.

After a bit of wandering, the pair broke through the line of trees and stood in the school's yard yet again. They let out a mutual sigh of relief at the sight, and quickly made their way to the school building where Youko could take care of Nao's injuries. The silence between them continued, and if it was any other situation it would've been terribly awkward. However, as it was, Nao was bleeding badly, and was no doubt physically exhausted from the trip, looking about ready to pass out. Her panting was filling the silence, and Natsuki didn't necessarily mind the lack of conversation anyway. As they neared the school building (which had never before seemed so far away to either girl) Natsuki noted that Mai was standing outside the double doors into the building, scanning the area. Her violet orbs soon caught sight of the pair and she scrambled over the assist the gunslinger with her burden.

"Nao!" Mai called at the sight of the slumping and staggering redhead, "what happened to her?" She asked fervently as she examined the battered girl and noted the generous amount of blood that was going to be a bitch to get out of Natsuki's uniform.

"I'll explain once we get this one to a Youko," Natsuki said as she watched the fire Immortal move to Nao's other side and sling an arm around the first year to support her. Natsuki noted the orange-haired girl bore a few wounds, especially on her right arm. "Good to see you awake," she commented to Mai.

"Thanks to you and Shizuru," Mai said with a grin. "Mikoto and Akane are awake too. Midori filled us in on what she knows, but there's still too many gaps in the story for my liking."

"We can fill those in for you," Natsuki assured her.

Mai fell silent, the air about her thoughtful. They walked the rest of the way to Youko's office in that silence, which was soon broken by a gasp and a shout from a certain redheaded leader.

"Natsuki, you found her!"

Natsuki and Mai silently deposited the injured redhead on a clean cot, and were immediately shooed away from the girl by Youko. They complied, and Natsuki examined the room. None of the former occupants of the office had yet left, though Mikoto was snoozing on a cot with a contented smile on her face. Akane was battered from her excursion in her dream, but Mikoto looked as pristine as that morning. Emerald eyes moved from her teammates to Yukino. Their eyes met in a meaningful stare, one conveying gratitude while the other spoke praises, before Natsuki broke eye contact to look at the only other occupant of interest in the room, Shizuru. The Student Council President stood with her back to a window, looking tired, but relieved, as she smiled brightly at the now safe gunslinger. Feeling drawn to the girl, Natsuki moved up next to her best friend and gave her a cocky grin.

The silence was broken when Mai spoke up. "So you said you could fill into the blanks about what happened, Natsuki."

Green eyes left red ones to look at Mai. "Yes, I can," she confirmed. "Or at least most of them."

The room, save for Youko and Nao, gave the gunslinger their undivided attention. "Start from the top," Midori said.

"Well… some first year told me he saw Yuuki wandering off into the forest behind the dorms," she said, lying to cover up for Yukino's assistance. "I found her in the middle of a clearing passed out in front of this pink-haired pigtail girl. She was playing the flute tune that I heard during that crazy dream I had."

Natsuki paused when her keen hearing caught someone's breathing become more rapid. Her emerald eyes flicked to Tate, who had paled. Mai had noticed the change in the blonde as well, and she spoke up. "Something you need to tell us, Tate?"

"Shiho…" he mumbled.

"Who?"

"Shiho Munakata," he said, a bit more loudly. "She's a… friend of mine… who wears her hair exactly as you described."

Natsuki noted the hesitance in Tate's answer, and her eyes moved to Mai. The look on the fire Immortal's face said she also caught the slip.

"Was she the only one there?" Haruka demanded, cutting through the pair's musings.

"Let me finish, damn it," Natsuki snapped at the blonde girl. Before Haruka could retort she continued, "anyway, she was like… sitting on the air. Levitating. Another girl came out from the tree line, bi-- I mean… girl… that had this weird green hair. Shiho said her name was Tomoe or something." Natsuki paused, casting Shizuru a glance to catch the brunette's reaction when she remembered. The calm, unreadable expression was back on the face of her friend, but she still caught the surprise that flicked across the Student Council President's face. 'So you do know her,' the gunslinger realized. 'Are you more connected to her than I know?' Natsuki wanted to ask her best friend right then, but this wasn't the time or place.

"Tomoe Marguerite," Akane said, surprising Natsuki with the knowledge. "She was my roommate for a bit while they sorted out the dorms earlier in the year."

"I feel bad for you," the gunslinger growled contemptuously. "She's was crazy! I watched her throw Yuuki around, talking about 'mind crap' and screaming for her to give in or something. Yuuki and I managed to fight them off, but that Tomoe chick summoned a spear as if she were an Immortal. I shot Shiho's flute, too, and it didn't break, so they might both be Immortals. Would explain her crazy powers. They ran off after we psyched them out."

The room was silent for a minute, everyone digesting this new information, when Haruka suddenly shouted, "Shiho Munakata and Tomato Marguerite--"

"Tomoe, Haruka," Yukino corrected.

"Right, Tomoe. I'll bring the delinquents in and punish them accordingly!" Haruka said, bluster and all.

"No," Midori said suddenly. "First District definitely wouldn't let you do anything to them."

"First District?" Tate questioned curiously, unaware of what the name was.

"They sponsor the Immortals and own the school. Apparently, they even control the entire island of Fuuka," Reito quietly explained to the blonde boy.

"I'm sure you're aware how heavily First District favors Immortals," Midori said to a frustrated Haruka, giving her a meaningful look that brought memories of said 'favor' washing back to Natsuki. "Besides, we don't even know what's going on. For all we know they were working to bring you all out of your dreams."

'No way she honestly believes that. Is she leaving something out?' Natsuki wondered. "But she was playing the same music I heard while I was out," She protested.

"You conveyed that you didn't hear the flute music until you heard my voice," Shizuru interjected. "Unless one of the others heard the music throughout or before their dream then we can't assume the flute wasn't actually the reason why you woke up."

Everyone in the room looked at Akane and Mai. The two Immortals gave one another glances and Mai spoke for herself. "I didn't notice any flute music until I heard Tate."

"Same for me," Akane confirmed.

"But I saw them messing up Yuuki," Natsuki growled out, pointing to the now unconscious girl in question.

"What exactly did you see?" Youko asked from her place next to the sleeping redhead, not even looking up from her work over Nao.

"Um… Marguerite grabbed Yuuki by her shirt, and was shaking her around. She didn't get the chance to do much else," the gunslinger explained.

"That's all you saw?" Youko probed slowly.

"Are you questioning my judgment?" Natsuki growled venomously. "I know what I saw," Natsuki gestured to the unconscious redhead. "Ask her when she wakes up! I'm positive she'll tell you that those girls did some crazy crap to her!"

"We're on the same side, Nat," Midori reminded her subordinate gently. "No one will listen if all you have to throw at them is 'shaking Yuuki around'. I'll talk with Nao when she wakes up. In the meantime you all need to get to bed, it's way late for all of you to be awake when you've got classes in the morning." Midori looked at her team, one girl at a time, "But I want to talk to you ladies a quick moment."

Mai moved and awoke Mikoto, and the pair were soon standing side-by-side, the sleepy first year yawning loudly. Tate, Reito, Haruka, and Yukino caught the hint and left, calling farewells. Shizuru moved to leave as well, but was stopped when Natsuki latched onto the sleeve of her jacket and pulled her back to the wall. "I'm walking you to your dorm tonight. I know that Tomoe chick is all over you. Gods know what'll happen if she catches you alone," Natsuki whispered quietly to her friend.

"So protective," Shizuru noted with a smile. It widened to a grin when her friend blushed a light pink.

Midori spoke before the conversation could continue, not seeming to care that the Student Council President was still present. "I want you four," she locked gazes with the four young, conscious Immortals in the room, "to bunk together tonight. I don't care where and I don't care how, I just want there to be a lock on the door and a lookout posted at all times."

Akane groaned aloud. "Haven't we lost enough sleep already?"

Mikoto seemed to agree wholeheartedly as she bobbed her head up and down.

"I won't have my team caught unawares a second time. Until one of you remembers how this all happened or someone figures out how they got to you, we're not leaving anything to chance. If I walk in and find no lookout tonight, you're in for a day of punishment, Midori-style."

Natsuki caught herself cringing. Last time had ended in a hangover that could kill a moose.

"She's right," Mai said to the others, "for all we know they could try to hit us again tonight. I'd rather lose a few hours of sleep than go through a dream like that again."

Natsuki looked at her friend, suddenly interested in what the other girl had experienced. She filed the question away in her head for later. "Fine," Natsuki said, speaking up for the other two, more hesitant girls.

"Excellent. I'll be here tonight if you guys need me. Feel free to call if necessary. Now get out of my sight! Shoo!" Midori said, making sweeping motions with her hands.

Natsuki obviously had no intention to move, even though the other Immortals were moving to meet with their teacher's demand. Akane shot a question with her eyes to the immobile Natsuki.

"I'll head over in a minute," the gunslinger said to her teammate.

Akane nodded wordlessly and left with Mai and Mikoto, all three giving good nights.

"Do you think these rogue Immortals have something to do with Kazuya's accident the other day?" The raven-haired fighter asked quietly when the group had left.

"I don't know," Midori said with an overly guilty look on her face. " But I promise you, Natsuki, we're not going to let them get away with this. I just can't do anything until we're sure of what's going on." Her words were as quiet as Natsuki's from the obvious exhaustion etched on her young features.

Natsuki looked at Midori a long moment. Suspicion and skepticism were heavy on the younger Immortal's facial features, but in the end she ended up sighing and nodding. "Fine, you're the boss."

Midori shot Natsuki a grateful look before waving a dismissing hand. "Then get out of here, this 17 year old has some work to do, and the last thing she needs is distractions from the likes of you two!"

"17 year old... right," Natsuki said with a grin, moving to leave the room. "Then I'll leave you kids alone. Coming Shizuru?"

The brunette in question pushed off from the wall she was leaning against and moved alongside her friend. "At your whim," she joked as she ironically led the way to the doorway.

Good nights went about, and the pair left Youko's office to witness the last of the meeting's former occupants turning a corner down the hall, buzzing about the sudden turn of events. In perfect sync, the lagging pair moved at a deliberately slow walk to further the gap between themselves and their companions, and further their privacy.

With perfect perception born from years of companionship, Shizuru turned her gaze to her friend as she walked and questioned, "penny for your thoughts?"

Natsuki hummed thoughtfully, but did nothing more for many long moments. The brunette was well aware that she wasn't being ignored; her companion was trying to formulate how to voice her thoughts properly. A quick peek to the side gave Shizuru one of her absolute favorite views: the Natsuki thinking face. Slanted, scrunched eyebrows, a mini-glare directed at the ground, slight frown turning rosy lips, metaphorical dog ears flat against her head. Shizuru took a deep breath. 'Truly, it's the little things in life that make this all worth it,' she decided happily.

"Midori knows something that she isn't tell me," Natsuki finally said, shooting a glance over her shoulder to check the hall and make sure there weren't any loose listeners.

"What makes you say that? I gathered she is very intent on assisting her team."

"She seems pretty sure that First District won't do anything about these Immortals, even though they're rogue."

"She has a point, though. First District is frighteningly protective of the more gifted students," A ghost of a smile appeared on the brunette's face. "I seem to recall more than one occasion that said favor has worked to your advantage."

Natsuki mirrored her companion's smile as the pair exited the school building and felt the refreshing night air. The gunslinger allowed herself a moment to enjoy the cool breeze against her skin before forcing her alertness back. She could make out the silhouettes of her friends in the distance, but that did nothing to make her feel any safer. 'With what's been going on, there's no way to know if we're safe just walking around anymore.' As they passed a particular cluster of bushes, she scanned it in an overly suspicious manner.

'She just can't seem to find it in her to relax,' Shizuru mused as she almost literally felt her friend go on high alert. 'Though, with what happened to her tonight, I can hardly blame her. I wish I could help in a more direct fashion. Sending Yukino worked this time, but I can't burden the girl.'

"But they're attacking the Immortal Unit," Natsuki said, continuing her previous line of thought as she scanned the grounds about them. "For the gods' sake, we protect District's damnable school, you would think they'd do something about the malicious faction after their personal guard dogs."

"Do I detect a bit of resentment?" Shizuru teased her friend.

"I just don't appreciate being left out of the loop. I know Midori, I know she isn't being totally honest with us."

"Maybe she's protecting you."

"I can handle myself," Natsuki spat, shooting Shizuru a look to emphasize her point. "I'm practically her second-in-command. I've been with her longer than anyone else, hell I was the first one on her team. She usually comes to me with something this important."

"Perhaps she considers it too important," Shizuru pointed out, ignoring the hostile tone her friend had adopted, knowing it wasn't actually directed at her.

Natsuki initially growled, but she cut it off short and sighed instead. "I'm sorry, you know I just expect the worst."

"Midori cares about all of you. I don't think she has any malicious intent in withholding information from you. If anything she's trying to take the work burden on herself. You're all growing women after all, you don't need to investigate campus happenings on top of it."

Black eyebrows rose intently. "Investigate…" Natsuki mumbled under her breath as she seemed to mull something over.

Shizuru felt immediate unease as she heard the epiphany from the girl's voice alone. Natsuki's ideas were hardly ever good, or injury free for that matter. Neither girl spoke for a few moments, as Natsuki seemed swallowed up in her thoughts. Shizuru decided to break the silence with a question that had been nagging at her most of the night. "What happened in your dream?"

Natsuki was torn from her thoughts and faltered in her gait with the question. "Wha- what? I… told you in Youko's office."

"Indeed you did, but you weren't very convincing."

The gunslinger groaned. 'Leave it to Shizuru to bring this up after everything that's happened,' she thought. "Well… I was just in this hall… and you showed up out of nowhere and started talking to me."

The response was so vague that Shizuru wondered if her friend was just begging her to dig deeper. "Really now? Talking about what?"

"Uh…" the Immortal looked about frantically, stalling for time by trying to look busy scanning the area. "Well… you were teasing me… about getting hit by my own shot." That much was true, she just hoped Shizuru would leave it at that.

"What else?" No such luck.

'Crap, what do I say? There's no way I could tell her what else happened… think of something, dumb ass!' The hesitation in her reply surely didn't make her sound convincing, so she just burst out with, "then you attacked me."

The curiosity in those ruby eyes told Natsuki as plainly as words that the brunette didn't believe that was all that happened. 'You're such a terrible liar. What could you have possibly experienced that you can't bring yourself to share with me, Natsuki?' Inwardly she sighed, deciding, 'If she doesn't wish to indulge me then it is not my place to push her.' Shizuru glanced at her friend from the corner of her eyes and saw that her silence had made the Immortal amusingly agitated. The raven-haired girl's pace had picked up slightly from their lazy stroll, and her eyes stared at a particularly shadowy area a moment longer than necessary. She wanted to grin at how easily she now found it to read her friend, but instead finally replied, "I see. Dream Shizuru seems like a particularly nasty young woman."

Natsuki wanted to fall over for more than one reason. 'No way she bought that…. She's not one to give up on a chase so easily. She just felt bad for me? Whatever it was, it's a good thing it happened. I do not want to have that conversation with my best friend.' She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize her body language went back to normal, telling Shizuru how relaxed she'd become.

Natsuki and Shizuru were at the entrance to the dorm building before either spoke up again. The raven-haired girl held the door for her friend before following in after her, into the hall. "Good thing you're nothing like her," Natsuki remarked in the silence.

"I certainly hope not," Shizuru replied as she shot a glance at her friend's scratched cheek.

"I wouldn't hang out with you if you were," the Immortal said, catching the brunette looking at her injury. The pair moved to scale a nearby staircase as she continued, "as it stands you're nice enough to get me out of trouble with that damn Suzushiro."

"Is that the only reason you spend time with me?" Shizuru questioned in mock hurt, following her friend.

"Yes," Natsuki said, shooting the brunette a teasing grin. "That's why I let you get away with your relentless teasing!"

"Perhaps I should take my teasing elsewhere?" Shizuru retorted, expertly hiding her grin, making Natsuki wonder if she'd actually hurt her friend's feelings.

"No! I was kidding!"

She got no reply from the brunette, who seemed to be staring at the ceiling mournfully.

"Shizuru… ugh… I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. You know I don't hang out with you for such a stupid reason."

"Natsuki's just trying to make me feel better…"

"I knew it! You're teasing me again!" Natsuki shouted with a very self-assured tone.

Shizuru dropped her façade and looked to her friend in mild surprise. "How'd you figure me out so quickly?"

Natsuki grinned in prideful triumph. "You only talk to me in the third person when you're teasing me," she explained in satisfied tones.

"Ara, am I becoming so transparent?"

"Either that or I'm slow, took me years to figure it out!"

The pair shared in the joke with matching smiles as they got to the top of the stairs and began moving down the hall for Shizuru's room. Natsuki at last relaxed in her constant vigilant scanning as they neared the Student Council President's door and took a long moment just to enjoy the presence next to her.

"Thank you for the company," Shizuru said politely as she pulled out her key and moved to unlock her door. "Would you like to come in and have some tea before you go?"

Natsuki's eyes said yes, but the rest of her body spoke volumes of her disappointment when she replied, "I can't. The others will want to get a lookout order set up so they can get to bed. You don't want me to get skinned alive by a sleepy Mikoto, do you?"

"I like my Natsukis whole, thank you," the brunette replied as she opened her door. "Then I'll see you tomorrow, if luck permits. Sleep well, Natsuki."

"You too," the younger girl replied, moving to leave. "Good night, Shizuru. Oh, and thanks for sending the help."

Shizuru gave her friend a knowing smile before moving into her room. "Anything for my best friend." Then, her door was closed


Bleary, red eyes gazed out the window in the living room of Mai and Mikoto's dorm. Natsuki struggled to fight off the sleep that tried so hard to overtake her. The exciting night had drained her completely, and the others told her not to worry about taking a watch. She'd insisted, however, never being one to enjoy freeloading. She shifted in her seat on the couch, trying to fight off some of the exhaustion that relentlessly beat down her senses. She slowly nursed a lukewarm cup of coffee as she mused over what her next move would be.

'I'm not going to sit on the sidelines and wait until Midori figures out what to do. I'm going to get my act together and do something about these girls. No one messes with my teammates and gets away with it.' Unconsciously, the fighter bared her teeth in a savage snarl. 'Who do they think they are, messing with us? What were they, first years? Two lone first years can't even take my right arm, let alone the entire Immortal Unit, they should know that. Was all this a test, then? Midori still hasn't told me if they're the ones who caused Kazuya's accident, and considering the way she answered when I asked her about it, that means they probably do have something to do with it.'

Natsuki sighed in unchecked frustration. 'I just wish Midori would let me in her head again. She can't take all this burden on herself. I hope that at least Youko is assisting her. I'm not so selfish as to want to be the only person Midori trusts to help her, but I'm selfish enough to want this to be done right, and in a timely manner. They need to figure out they're not allowed to push us around like some they're schoolyard bullies.'

'What if they're just reconnaissance?' Natsuki wondered with very sudden realization. 'That would explain why they think they can take a group as established as us. There must be some bigger team, maybe an organization, backing them, but who?' Natsuki went through a list of ideas, but one name in particular chilled her blood. 'What if it's First District? What if that's why Midori won't get us involved. We're in a lot of trouble if our own sponsor is out to get us. But why would they want to harm their own group?'

Natsuki's inner musings were brought to a crashing halt when she heard muffled footfalls coming from down the hallway, where the other Immortals slept. Natsuki checked the clock under the TV and saw her watch wasn't over for another 30 minutes. She stiffened at the realization, ready to spring if necessary. The need never came, for out from the hall came Mai.

"Hey," Mai called softly to her raven-haired friend.

"Hey, what're you doing up? It isn't your turn to guard yet."

Mai hummed in thought as she walked across the room to take a seat next to Natsuki. "I couldn't sleep."

"Ah," the gunslinger sounded in comprehension. "Are Akane and Mikoto asleep?"

"Mikoto was out the second her head hit my chest," Mai said with an amused roll of her eyes, "Akane only just fell asleep. She and I were talking earlier."

"About what?" Natsuki asked, consciously taking the bait.

"What she dreamed about during that weird mind attack."

The raven-haired Immortal hummed quietly as she thought about her own dream 'nightmare'. "Coffee?" She asked, holding out her cooled off cup.

"No, thanks," Mai murmured.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"The coffee?" Mai asked, feigning ignorance.

Natsuki, completely aware that Mai's dream was the reason she couldn't sleep, and was out here with her at all, allowed her friend to play her little game. "The dream."

"You mean nightmare?"

"My thoughts exactly," Natsuki concurred before taking a sip of her coffee.

"If it isn't too much trouble…" Mai said, obviously ashamed and feeling bad.

"You've listened to me bitch and moan more times than I can count. I can be a good listener too, you know."

Mai smiled and looked away from those intense, dark-green eyes to stare down the coffee table in front of them. "She had a dream about Kazuya," she began. "It scared her to death."

"So it wasn't a good dream," Natsuki inferred.

"Definitely not," Mai confirmed. She sighed and continued talking to the coffee table. "You know what I dreamed about?"

"Hm?"

"The day I met you and Mikoto."

"Ouch, the day I met you is nightmare worthy? I thought I was pretty nice to you."

"You really can't be serious for more than a minute can you?" the fire Immortal grumbled, playfully smacking her companion on the shoulder.

"The sarcasm just comes out by itself, sorry. Continue."

"As I was saying…" violet orbs looked up to the ceiling as she leaned back against the sofa, resting her head on the top of the back. "It was like that day, but it wasn't. I walked into campus the same way I did that day, and I was attacked the same way I was that day. This time around I already knew about my powers, so I didn't discover them in the fight, but I still got the stuffing beat from me. When you and Mikoto showed up, instead of easily dispatching the shadow like you did that day, you two turned into shadows yourselves."

Natsuki raised a brow at this revelation. No wonder Mai was so shaken up. She was in a fragile state the day she discovered her powers, the gunslinger was sure that all those old emotions had come back to her during the recollection, and increased tenfold at the alternative events.

"I didn't know what to do," the orange-haired girl said as she reached down and took a handful of seat cushion in either hand, clawing into the fabric. "I couldn't bring myself to fight you two, you're my friends, and my saviors." Natsuki's heart wrenched when she heard the raw sorrow so thick in the usually strong Immortal's voice. "So I ran instead… but… after running so far my lungs felt like exploding. People even started showing up to try to help me. Your shadows… killed all of them. Chie, Aoi, Tate, even Takumi! Thank the gods I woke up before I could see anymore."

Mai was shaking now, causing Natsuki to instinctually wrap an arm about the girl's shoulders and pull her into her side. A choked sob escaped the fire Immortal's throat before she lost control and began bawling. Mai spun towards Natsuki and grabbed onto the other girl's shirt, burying her face into the cloth and crying.

Natsuki froze, unsure of what she should do. 'Crap, I'm terrible at this sort of thing,' the fighter cursed. After an awkward moment of confusion, the Immortal wrapped her other arm around the sobbing girl's shoulders to join it's companion and pulled her into a tight hug. As if the hug was a cue, Mai unclenched Natsuki's now damp shirt and moved up to hold onto the taller girl as if she were about to disappear. A tear-stained face moved to press against the gunslinger's shoulder, and Natsuki moved to accommodate the change in position.

The crying went on for so long that Natsuki wondered where Mai found the tears. She was so focused on her weakened friend that she didn't notice the figure standing in the hallway Mai had come from before. When she finally did, startled eyes snapped up to meet with clear yellow ones. Natsuki observed Mikoto watching Mai for many minutes before she finally motioned for the swordswoman to come towards them.

The gesture seemed to surprise the feral Immortal, and she stared into emerald eyes for a second longer than normal, as if she'd only just noticed that the gunslinger was actually in the room. After Natsuki motioned to her teammate yet again, Mikoto finally walked into the room and next to her ally and roommate.

Mai was still sobbing when the raven-haired fighter whispered to the standing Immortal, "she needs her best friend right now."

Mikoto looked at the elder Immortal for what seemed like an eternity before she gently pulled Mai from the other's grasp. Immediately the emotionally-weakened Immortal latched onto the new set of arms. Without a word, Natsuki stood, giving Mikoto her place on the couch, and left to dump out her coffee in the kitchen. When she came back into the living room, she saw a rapidly-calming fire Immortal in the arms of her best friend as the other girl stroked the orange mop of hair in a calming gesture.

The gunslinger decided she no longer had a place in the scene before her and moved into the hallway to give the pair some privacy. Her measured footfalls brought her to the door of the only bedroom in the house, where Akane now slept alone. A hand reached for the doorknob and cautiously opened it. Inside, Akane was covered in sheets and fast asleep on Mikoto's bed. 'At least one of us is getting some rest,' Natsuki thought as she moved into the bedroom and closed the door. When the portal was closed, and the sounds of a distraught Mai were gone, however, she realized how wrong she was. She moved into the room, closer to the brunette curiously. She examined the girl in the poor lighting as best as she could, noting that she was indeed asleep, but she was far from resting. The brunette whimpered and twitched in her sleep, seeming as distraught as Mai had been.

Natsuki knelt down at the side of the bed and searched her mind for a way to ease the other girl's obvious pains. She thought back to what Mikoto had been doing for Mai. 'Seemed like that petting thing she was doing worked on Mai, why wouldn't it work on Akane?' Hesitantly she reached out to do just that, but pulled back before making contact. It seemed too intimate an action to her. It might work for Mikoto with Mai, but it just didn't seem right for her and Akane.

Instead she reached out and put a hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to calm her with some form of physical contact. She had to stop herself from jumping back when Akane took the arm on her own and held it to her like a teddy bear. Natsuki frowned as she leaned forward to allow the girl the hug her forearm like a security blanket. The whimpering eventually quieted, but the grip on her arm never lessened. With a resigned sigh Natsuki put her free arm on the bed and laid her head on it like a pillow. She shifted from kneeling to sitting to get comfortable and closed her eyes.

As she tried to fall asleep, nagging thoughts assaulted her mind. Over and over again, one particular thing the Shizuru from her nightmare said replayed in her head. "Yes… stay with me, my Immortal. We can truly live forever, here, together."

'Forever… living forever…' Natsuki recalled the day she learned what she was: an Immortal. She remembered being surprised by the name, and the first thing she asked was if she was going to live forever. Midori's laughter echoed in her head before the woman replied, "Of course not! The name just refers to something some stuffy business man in a corner office of some skyscraper came up with. I never bothered to ask for the story behind it. Why? Do you want to live forever?"

'At the time, I said no. After all, who would want to be stuck on this decaying planet with its idiotic inhabitants. If she asked that now, what would I say?' The thought made the gunslinger pause, making her acutely aware of the fact that the back of her hand was being pressed against her teammate's bosom. Not exactly enjoying the awkward placement, she tried to move her hand away by sliding the forearm down Akane's body. She soon realized she'd rather have the back of her hand on her friend's chest than her elbow against something much more off limits. She sighed in defeat and buried her face in the crook of her free elbow.

'I would say yes.' Natsuki continued, getting back to her original train of thought. 'I'm afraid of dieing. Not the pain of dieing, or whatever comes after it, but everything I've done, all the fighting and protecting, even all the wrongs I've committed, everything will be forgotten. It's like I'll never have existed. That's really… scary. Does that mean everything we suffer through means nothing?' An image of a particular fire Immortal flashed through her head. 'Mai's hurting right now, and why? To die later?' Another image, this time of a brunette with blood-hued eyes. 'Shizuru… would the real you want to live forever with me? I can't stand the thought of being separated from you.'

A low growl escaped the throat of the Immortal as she clawed at the bed under her free arm in frustration. 'What am I doing, being so pessimistic? That dream messed with my head more than I thought. Get to sleep, Kuga.'

Her last thought before exhaustion overtook her was: 'aw damn… I forgot my vest at Youko's office…'


A/N: Sorry about the boring plot advancement stuff. I tried to keep it interesting while I did it, but considering I didn't enjoy writing it, you probably didn't enjoy reading it. If you did, then hurrah!