Peach Blossoms
By: DarkBlue Mint

Disclaimer: I own the DVDs, some drama CDs that I don't understand, and a pretty cool keychain.

Notes: So I have been plagued with a writer's block, luckily I had help from Heart-san; although most of the chapters are written in drafts (that way is more like developing a picture than writing something from scratch) I still have to write them, something that's kinda hard when you only look the pointer appear and disappear. Anyway, the question that I made was answered by KugaElisa in a PM and WolfNightwind in a review for another fic, so they have until next chapter to claim their prizes (Rhonda-san answered after so I'm sorry?).

Tomoe Marguerite had a plan; it wasn't a world conquest plan (although if one considered the perfection of Fujino Shizuru, it could very well be). For reason of that plan she was that night waiting for the object of her dreams and her desires; she was outside the building assigned to the kaicho. As luck will have it, it wasn't the gorgeous kaicho the one that came to her but the stupid biker who had interrupted them yesterday.

Kuga Natsuki was coming back from self imposed mission, she didn't know what was going to happen between those two now, but she figured that Kanzaki could control them if something extreme happened, the guy was like Shizuru he probably had the magic powers to control people just like her girlfriend (now she was trying to forget how the Obsidian Lord had used those power to manipulate her Shizuru).

The moment she got close to Shizuru's (and her, Mai and Mikoto) dorm building she saw a sight that made her blood boil. After yesterday she had started to pay a little more attention to rumors; and today, before being drafted by Akane to help Mai, Harada Chie had informed her that the desires of Marguerite-san for the Kaicho were legendary (apparently the girl had even joined the Tea Ceremony Club).

"Marguerite-san, is there something I can help you with?" She said with false politeness, it wouldn't do to lose her cool in front of this woman. "If I know correctly your dorm building is in the other side."

"I am waiting for Fujino-san, Kuga-san." The teal haired girl answered with cold a smile.

"If you see her, tell her that I'll wait with the bath ready." With those words she showed the unnerving girl the key of Shizuru's room (the Kaicho had decided that Natsuki didn't need to share her room with Mai and Mikoto any longer… not that they had done something… nevermind).

"You think she really loves you?" Those words made Natsuki stop cold. "She's the one who called me yesterday. And when we have club meetings she's always near me." The cold smile became evil. "She's going to be with you for a while. And then, after the novelty wears off, she's going to come to--." Tomoe had to stop as Natsuki grabbed her by the neck.

"Listen to me well. You can do that?" The girl nodded, eyes filled with fear (she hadn't know that you should never cross a HiME). "You get near her, you touch her, you talk to her… I'll kill you." With those words she let go of the girl. "And don't bother to accuse me of something; I have friends in high places." She started to walk away but stopped before closing the doors of the building. "And quit that damn club."

--

After sharing some tea and conversation with Reito, Shizuru went back to the classroom that the Seitokai occupied (it wouldn't do to have Suzushiro-san screaming at her). Today had been one of the most tiring days, it was near the time of graduation so several members of the Seitokai were getting ready to pass the baton to new people (she had chosen to endorse Yukino-chan candidature, something that made the girl win by a landslide).

After she had been made to sign more papers that she cared to read, guiding Yukino through her new responsibilities (with interruptions by Suzushiro-san), and receiving a mail from Marguerite-san informing her she was quitting the Tea Ceremony Club; Shizuru was ready to leave and get to her room, were she could lie in her Natsuki's arms (something she had done last night). So in a perfect show of manipulation she made Haruka and Yukino promise to complete the rest of the work that befell on her, and left to go to her room.

Her first thought at entering the room was that Natsuki wasn't there; the room was dark and silent, too silent. That thought was quickly proved wrong, as some seconds later she found herself pressed roughly against the door; Natsuki's eyes were burning into her, her arms at each side stopping her from moving, and her body pushing into hers even though they weren't touching (she could barely contain her libido response).

"If you are going to be doing things like that, I really doubt that our relationship will get anywhere." The fury that was dripping from Natsuki's voice, and the threat she had given her scared her, even though she was trying not to show it (you never show a wild beast you are scared of them); still she didn't understand what her girlfriend was talking about.

"What is Natsuki talking abo--" She was interrupted before she could finish the last word.

"Tomoe! All those girls that you always surround yourself with." The look on Natsuki's face changed to despair, Shizuru wanted to console her but she was afraid to move. "I don't think I can compete for your attention Shizuru." And those sadness tainted words jolt Shizuru into action.

As quickly and strong as she could she hug her little wolf; Natsuki's fight left her and she, along with Shizuru, fell to her knees. Normally her attempts of using her fan club to make Natsuki jealous were to make the biker react to her feelings for her. She hadn't take in account that once they started dating, those actions could hurt her wolf (to think there wasn't even a day they started dating).

"I'm sorry, Natsuki." She felt like crying. "Natsuki doesn't have to compete with anyone; she knows I love her more than anything." They spend sometime in silence after those words from Shizuru, until the Kaicho noticed that the girl that had her head on her shoulder wasn't crying but laughing. "Natsuki!?" Had she finally broke her wolf?

"It's just… I'm pretty sure that Tomoe isn't going to talk to you anymore after I put the fear of God into her." After hearing her girlfriend's voice telling her that she loved her, al the fear and doubts had left her (though the jealousy still swam in her mind).

"Could it be that Natsuki is the reason why Marguerite-san sent me an e-mail informing me her quitting of the club?" Natsuki simple nodded against her neck. "So, it will seem that Natsuki is a very jealous person."

"Only with what is mine." Was the serious answer from the wolf.

"That means that I'm Natsuki's?" Again a nod against her neck, this time accompanied by a kiss (she was really happy with this playful Natsuki). "Should I start calling you mistress?" At those words Natsuki separated from her and she could see the blush on the dark haired girl's face.

"I like it more when you call me your Natsuki." Now the blush went to the Kaicho's face and Natsuki marked a point in her favor (sadly she was still losing in the point tally).

"Natsuki does know what happens now, doesn't she?" Shizuru said when her small blush subsided, seeing her Natsuki questioning look she provided an answer. "We just had our first fight, so accordingly Natsuki and I need to have make-up sex." Natsuki became so red that she was sure that, apart from her nose, she would also bleed from her eyes and ears.

"Th-th-That was barely a fight! You didn't scream at me or anything, and it only lasted like a whole minute." The biker was trying to put some distance between the two of them.

"Natsuki is so bad, how could she think that I will cheat on her with Marguerite-san?" Natsuki raised an eyebrow in doubt. "There I shouted at Natsuki, now it's a fight… let's make up."

"If people saw you like this you will stop having any fans." Natsuki's voice pronounced while she got up from the floor and helped her girlfriend to do the same; then a smirk showed on her face. "Actually, I think you'll end up with other kind of fans." Shizuru laughed and didn't mention again her previous idea; so she was surprised when Natsuki guided her to the room and threw her on the bed. "Still the idea of claiming what's mine sounds very nice."

Before the light haired girl could say anything else she felt Natsuki on top of her, and even if she wanted to said anything after that the passionate kiss that her wolf gave her made every coherent thought (apart from those about Natsuki) leave her mind. Natsuki spent the rest of night showing that inventive, imagination and enthusiasm could make up for lack of experience (not that Shizuru was that experienced, Natsuki was her first). Shizuru for her part showed that even amazing Kaicho passed out when put against a wolf's passion.

--

Not ten minutes after Fujino Shizuru had left, the door of the Kanzaki residence was forcefully knocked; Reito was surprised that at opening the door he found one Kuga Natsuki looking decisive and a Tokiha Mai looking completely destroyed. At seeing the woman looking as torn as his sister he felt his hate ebb away; Mai was after all as much a victim as Mikoto, the girl hadn't choose to be put in the middle of a triangle (although her indecision and denial to see what was true had hurt everyone).

A couple of hours after Akane and Natsuki irrupted on Mai's room, the biker decided that it will be better that Akane went back to class, it wouldn't do to have both of them missing the day of school (that and as they were classmates Akane could take notes for her). After making Mai take a bath and forcing her to eat something, she guided the redhead to her bike and drove her to the Kanzaki's house (it said a lot of the waitress state of mind that she had barely put up a fight at Natsuki's orders).

"Kuga-san, Mai-san, what can I do for you?" Reito preferred to act politely instead of trying to guess what where the both of them doing in his home.

"Kanzaki." Natsuki nodded in greeting, and then grabbed the arm of Mai to stop any escaping attempt. "Is Mikoto here?" Reito nodded firmly, at that Mai reacted and tried to leave, but Natsuki's foresight didn't allow her to put her plan to work. "Good, these two need to talk; you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all Kuga-san, I actually agree with you." Reito said, traces of his typical smile forming on his face. "If you follow me, my sister is in the living room."

Natsuki and a reluctant Mai followed Reito; the biker didn't let her grip slip not even when they were taking off their shoes. The moment they entered the room where Mikoto was still looking at the window, the kendoka seemed to notice her there and golden eyes found amethyst almost instantly, Mai took her eyes away, she could barely stand that sad look; she instead watched the bandaged hand, where some blood seemed to have tainted the bandages (she felt the nausea come back, she had hurt the innocent girl so much), she ran to the younger girl and carefully took the wounded hand between hers.

"Because of me Mikoto is hurt." The redhead said miserably and before she tried to apologize, Mikoto started talking.

"The hand's nothing." She took one of Mai's hands with her healthy hand and put it over her heart. "Mai hurt me here, and the pain is so much, so much… I wanted to tell Mai that I love her, I wanted Mai tell me that she loved me too."

Although the dark haired girl's words were absent of feelings her eyes were crying. Mai, for her part was openly sobbing and crying, she could barely contain the pain in her heart, a heart that had been unheard for so long and now that it's feeling were known it could be too late. Mai fell to her knees, and buried her head on the sitting Mikoto's belly, her right hand clutching the shirt over Mikoto's heart (a mirror image of what the kendoka had done yesterday with her injured hand).

"I'm sorry, Mikoto… please forgive me, I didn't know… I didn't know." At seeing her love crying so desolately Mikoto held her to her, she was going to forgive anything from Mai, she loved her too much to see her sad.

At seeing Mikoto hugging Mai, Reito and Natsuki both felt as if they were intruding so they left the alone. Reito sighed, he was sure that his little sister hadn't seen it yet, but he had noticed Mai's love for the cat in every word from her. As he kept accompanying Kuga to the door he couldn't help to look at the ceiling and sigh at what he had lost.

"She was her first kiss, you can't compete against that." He was surprised at hearing Natsuki's word, to the point that it took him a while to slip his mask back on; now he understood why the biker had took his best friend heart while not even trying.

"It may not look like it, but I care enough for my sister to quit Mai if I know it'll bring her happiness." Then he looked pointedly at Natsuki's green eyes. "She may not look like but she can be easily broken." Natsuki knew that he wasn't talking about his sister anymore (and she was actually glad that someone was willing to protect her Shizuru). "She's my best friend and if I see her hurt… you can guess what will happen to you, Kuga-san."

"Always a pleasure to talk to you, Kanzaki." She said simply while sliding her shoes on. "Keep an eye on those two. Don't let them leave until they are looking stupidly on each others eyes."

"Thanks for dropping by, Kuga-san. And I'm sorry that I could not offer you some tea, your girlfriend was here before describing how you look into her eyes." With that Reito let the door close behind her, a small smile on his lips (damn, Kanzaki! Making her blush like that).

--

Nao and Miyu had only lasted a total of forty-five minutes after class, in their last day as nuns. Alyssa had been sitting to them and kept laughing at the advice they gave to the lost souls of Fuuka; their fun had come to an end when a guy accused them to Yukariko-san after they convinced her girlfriend to break up with him and start dating Takeda. The three barely new sisters walked home together, until the moment that Nao told them she was going to Shiho's temple.

Getting there she found, to her surprise, Tate Yuuichi sitting next to the girl with the peculiar hairdo; both talking friendly. Something burned in her stomach, but she decided to ignore it and started to go up the stairs. At seeing her approaching Tate got up, said something to Shiho and went down the stairs; the moment that Nao was close enough to hear him, but Shiho wasn't, he started talking.

"You play with her feelings, or hurt her just because you want to have fun or something, I swear I'll hunt you down and kill you." And before she could answer he turned waved goodbye to his childhood friend and ran down the stairs, he was late for Kendo (and he didn't want to give her a chance of saying something).

Nao didn't know if to take the threat as real or simply laugh; it was true that they had lost most of their HiME powers, but they were still far from ordinary humans, and yet Tate had confronted Kanzaki while he was possessed by the Obsidian Lord. The former mistress of Julia shook her head and got closer to Shiho, all the while trying to get her right hand to stop trembling (when the hell had she became like Kuga? She bet the wolf also got like that when she saw Shizuru and… why had she compared this to that?)

"Hello Nao." Shiho said simply a smile on her lips. "Did Oniichan say something to you? I could hear him talking but I couldn't understand."

"No, he just asked how I was" Nao quickly lied, she was sure that Tate didn't want Shiho knowing what he said (Oniichan? Had she already lost her chance with the Miko?) "I- I came for the offer you made the other day, about working here. Today was my last day as a nun and I doubt that now Yukariko-san will take me back, so I was thinking that I should talk to your grandfather now and not let it drag on…" Oh, gods! She was rambling (she hadn't became Kuga, she was like Aoi whenever her former roommate talked about Harada!).

"Grandfather isn't here right now, if you want you could wait with me inside? I can offer you some tea." How was it that the octopus was so calm when she could barely contain herself?

Shiho got up from where she was sitting on the steps and started to guide her to the housing part of the temple, she hadn't taken two steps when she stopped abruptly; it took Nao a moment to figure why. Both of them were basically in the same positions then last night, exactly in the point under the Torii Gates where she had kissed the long haired redhead. Before she could stop herself she grabbed the younger girl's arm, brought her to her and kissed her again.

"You didn't run away this time." Shiho smiled when the short kiss was over.

"Well, you are griping my shirt, I doubt I can run that easily with an octopus hanging on to me." At Nao's words she noticed that she was exactly doing that. "I- I- I'm… I'm… damn!"

"It's alright, but if you kiss me and run again I will make you a victim of my octopus kung-fu." After that warning Shiho giggled happily and Nao couldn't stop the impulse of kissing her again.

--

The Kendo club was mostly empty at this time of day, it had some slow people who were in the process of changing or taking care of their shinai, because of that the club tended to be silent, that was the exact reason why Tate Yuuichi had chosen that place to continue his meditations. He had come here after Nao had gotten to the temple, grabbed a shinai and started practice, an hour and a half ago. The guy was at the moment too concentrated in his thought's to even think about stopping, something that Takeda noticed immediately.

"Tate-san if you keep like this you're going to hurt. I already lost one of my best kendoka; I'm not going to let you do the same." He noticed how Tate seemed defeated, as if he had already lost the Kendo match; still the boy stopped and started to put away his shinai, so Takeda started to walk to the other members of the club, it was time he closed the door, everyone had to leave.

"How did you let go of your feeling for Kuga?" The question made him look at the guy (he suspected that the little cat was going to win the game).

"I didn't let go of my feelings." He answered simply; Tate still was looking at him questioningly. "I let go of my desires, after I saw that I didn't have that much feelings for her, just respect."

"It's not the same for me, but if I let go of the desires maybe we can be friends?" Tate was at the moment not talking to him anymore, so Takeda kept walking a small smile on his lips (he wasn't going to tell him that he had met another girl that help him saw that).

Next Chapter: (It might be the last, it might not) Nao talks to Shiho grandfather. Mai and Mikoto kiss (they might do more). Certain biker discovers that she's addicted to her girlfriend. Akane is happy that things are getting better. As regards to Han-san Tate disappears (in the sense that I don't know what to write about him, not like I'm going to kill him).

More Notes: I just want to say, it's not like I dislike Tomoe (she's voiced by Tanaka Rie after all) but she's supposed to be evil. Seeing one of Mai HiME episodes (the one when they think that Yukariko attacked Aoi) I noticed that Shizuru blushes when she sees Natsuki it's just really small. By the way about the new length, I still don't know what to do, but I took out the poll cause I got more votes than reviews, I'll have an answer by next chapter.