The Wolf and the Dragon

Uncertain Dance

Another long, stinging silence weighed down the air as it had seemed to be doing all day, but, for once, only one of them felt it.

"Your father?" Shizuru said, clapping her hands together. "Natsuki finally contacted the long estranged Kuga-san?!" At that moment, she lost complete control over her expression. Shizuru still didn't stop. "Why did you insist on keeping this from me?"

Natsuki almost fell when she stumbled forwards. Quickly, she caught Shizuru's hands. "Jeez, cut it out, Shizuru... you're going to make a scene!" Natsuki glanced left and right, scanning the thin crowd.

Shizuru honestly didn't care, though. Let them look, let them gawk, she didn't care for once in her life! All she did was look upon Natsuki's face blearily before wrapping her into a tender hug. I'm so happy.

Her companion stiffened. "Shizuru, what—"

Shizuru shook her head, rubbing her earring painfully against the cotton. She didn't care. "Natsuki should have told me, she should have told me!" She repeated it, over and over, nuzzling into Natsuki's neck, into her shoulder. Warring with her heart, she fought back the need to release, fought it like she fought for her Natsuki, and lost. Shizuru wept.

"Shiz-Shizuru, I—"

Shizuru protested, lightly pounding on her shoulder. "Natsuki was so mean to hold out on me." She gripped Natsuki's loose sweater. "She made me worry so much over something like this that I... that I..."

Her voice, coarse and ragged, slipped from her tongue, and she dug deeper into the embrace. She couldn't describe what happened to her, it tore her apart. What she wanted now was to hold on for dear life to her only sense of love and comfort. Never, never letting go.

A small tug at her jacket, and then almost resigned shrugging, before Shizuru felt arms encircle her waist. Her tears stopped.

One glorious moment passed, and euphoric, alive, my dream, her love, my love, my love is her love she relaxed into the mutual hug.

"Shizuru," said an angelic voice, soothing and loving, careful and considerate, "I love you more than anything in the world, but Can you let go so we can get going?"

Shizuru tore away, and choked, "W-What?"

Natsuki groaned. "I said we should get going." She scratched her nose. "I want to get this over with and the hospital he's at is nearby, maybe only a block or two away."

Wiping away at her eyes, Shizuru felt only the tiniest, tiniest of twists in her chest. "Oh, okay." She began to turn away before she froze. Her eyes widened as she considered her friends statement. "Wait, Natsuki, you said he's at a 'hospital'?"

"Yeah, he's working early today so he should be there now."

Oh. That was a shock. "Alright, then, lead the way," Shizuru said, faintly. Her eyes were still blurry making it difficult to see, and she still felt hot tears scalding her face, and now her arms were sore. She could try to forgive herself for not being a doll.

Before she could reach for her luggage, someone grabbed her shoulder. "Hold on," said Natsuki, turning Shizuru around. She pulled a handkerchief from her pants pocket and held it to Shizuru's face, making ready to wipe.

Despite herself, Shizuru's lip twitched. "Ara ara, Natsuki has done this before?"

"Quiet, you," Natsuki replied, but Shizuru saw the blush.

She was happy. Genuinely content with the goings-on around her—sure, she felt small, diminutive in fact, but she could still say she was whole and complete, emotionally and spiritually. A little aside within her spoke up against making such judicious calls on her part, saying she was hardly in control of her own emotions and she should show more restraint. Shizuru's response was backhanded, thrusting upon her overly-rational voice the proposition that she wouldn't be in the situation she was if it weren't for its meddling. There was nothing spoken for over a minute, and she suddenly felt silly for waiting.

Natsuki stopped at the curb, and quickly said to her they were going to be taking a cab, since she actually didn't know where the hospital was at all. It took no time for Shizuru to latch on.

"So unNatsuki-like to lie to me," she said, and Natsuki replied, "Don't presume to know me so well," in that grumpy way of hers, yet she blushed and she smiled. Smiled! That was new and ridiculously adorable. Shizuru had never seen Natsuki smile at her teasing, and unlike earlier she didn't mind this difference in the slightest bit. This was a good change. Though, even if she had to, she wouldn't say she was tired of the cute pouts and frowns Natsuki gave; those were cute too, in their own simple ways, just like everything about Natsuki; simple and clean, the way she liked, the way she adored, the way she...

Shizuru rambled on, and realized what she was doing. She cut herself off before she stopped paying attention and walked into a wall. Natsuki is cute. Not before that, though.

She gazed at her friend, befuddled by the sudden frown. Natsuki shouldn't frown like that. She didn't dare say it, but it didn't look anywhere near as cute as she remembered. Maybe it is. Maybe she was just overcomplicating everything. Shizuru shrugged and chalked it up to seeing Natsuki smile at her teases for the first time.

The silence was golden again, and she hoped it would last.

(III)

Kameda General, out-and-out home to her father.

Should she be here, or shouldn't she be here. She had gotten so lost in her thoughts about visiting him for the first time in years that she completely phased out, missing her friend breakdown right before her eyes. Incidentally, right outside of the Tokyo Station and right in the middle of a crowd—she loathed crowds. Natsuki had been more concerned with the scene Shizuru was making hugging her so abruptly, and she said as much, just before she realized her friend was crying... right in front of her. Right on her!

Natsuki didn't even know Shizuru could cry. Was she dumb for thinking that? She couldn't help scratching her head. Always, in every moment of every day, she had thought Shizuru above crying, and she didn't know why. It was as she sat there in the lobby, beside a calmer Shizuru, that she felt like someone sucker-punched her for thinking something that stupid.

Pressed against an uncomfortable seat, staring ahead, Natsuki was bothered by the silence. Her foot tapped and tapped for a good two minutes before she felt a light kick to her calve. Shizuru. The silence was uncomfortable—unbearably so. It hadn't felt bad at all during the train ride, but she had been spending her time thinking then. Here, now, she felt like shit. There was not a thought in her mind or any idea as to what she would say to her father, and she had this new concern for her friend. It left her frustrated because all she had to show for everything was a headache and a boatload of anxiety.

"Is Natsuki alright meeting Kuga-san in the hospital?" Shizuru asked, a mixture of worry and excitement coloring her voice.

It would have been a heartwarming expression if not for her being so annoyed confused by her friend's rapid mood swing. First her walls fall down and she cries, crumbling a large notion Natsuki had for her ever since... ever, and now she's acting like it didn't even happen! Like every unfinished act is forgiven, forgotten, swept underneath the rug, and locked in the basement of the cottage they never visit. Just like Shizuru.

Natsuki didn't even know what it was that made her friend cry like that! Her chest felt like it was being twisted more and more as time passed. Friends didn't do that to each other, and she wanted to know what it was that she did to make Shizuru cry. She swore she'd find out.

"Oi, Shizuru?" Natsuki began, only to immediately cut herself off. "Shizuru?" Scanning the large waiting room area around her, Natsuki looked from corner to corner and found no sign of her friend—her supposed friend. The hell, she ditched me?!

Grumbling all the way, Natsuki stood up from her seat, just as someone moved to grab her. She evaded, easily, and grabbed the offending wrists, but in her sudden maneuver she forgot that both she and the assailant were standing on either side of a row of chairs. The collision was not a pretty one.

She heard a girlish giggle. "Natsuki's so forward with her invite," said Shizuru, nuzzling into her.

"Shizuru!"

It took a while to untangle their limbs, but only a long minute later—slowed down, rather than sped up by the she-devil clinging to her—they stood. Natsuki waited, crossing her arms, for something. Anything. She felt awkward... again.

"Natsuki never looks behind her," said Shizuru, quietly.

She grunted.

"Natsuki Kuga?" called another voice, one she recognized as the receptionist.

Pacing herself, she walked to the registry, careful to hide her eagerness from... Natsuki didn't know. Was it Shizuru, the receptionist, herself? Difficult answering, to say the least, with her discomfort. Breathing in... out, in... out, she looked the receptionist in the eye. "Is he...?"

The receptionist nodded and smiled. It annoyed her. "He's waiting for you in room 313, third floor, to your left as you leave the elevator."

"Right."

As they made their way to the elevator, Natsuki felt a timid tap and tug urging her to slow down her brisk pace. Glancing over her shoulder, she peered into depthless carmine eyes. "Does Natsuki wish to meet her father alone?" Shizuru looked at her earnestly, the hint of excitement no longer splitting her voice.

Natsuki glanced down. Where Shizuru had grabbed her sweater in a gentle tug before, she now held fast to her wrist, almost like she was scared to let go. Scared for me?

The Storm, raging within, subsided. Rubbing her neck, Natsuki looked into those evocative eyes, softened just for her, so possessive caring and obsessed loving. They surrounded her, capturing with feelings she's seen only once before. Calm, she felt calm. Shizuru cared for her, and she... cared for Shizuru.

She paused, shifted to face her friend, and, cautiously, she asked, "Would you mind?"