A/N: What? Chapter 6? Wasn't it supposed to be 11 or something? Why yes, yes it was. Although during my clean up I decided to morph chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 into the prologue, and then 5 and 6 into what's now considered chapter 1. I just went through it and changed a few things to make it so it flowed better. The only "plot" change is that Suroshen (aka the annoying kid) doesn't exist and I just cut him out because he never showed up again and was a really poor plot device that I didn't like.
This being said, I will not be ending this first arc so soon (I was planning on it for this chapter) but instead continue the random pre-graduation-year fun for a few more chapters.
Last thing, there were so many possibilities with this chapter that I couldn't decide, part of what took me so long to update. This chapter may be lame but... oh well... It had to be done to advance the plot.
Thanks to Nathan5th, chum-sa, rainee-chan, Aesyl, lindred, and everyone else who read! -Hands out yummies-
Chapter 6: "Slumber Party… o' Doom!"
"I still don't like the idea of this," groaned Natsuki as she tossed her keys on the desk by her door.
She led the way into her small apartment followed by Shizuru then the four guests.
"Really… if this idea started with not having any furniture why are they here?" she pointed at Chie and Aoi before turning to Mai, "Come to think of it why don't all of you just stay in their room for the night?"
"We are going to be staying in their room tonight."
"Yeah, and for tonight our room shall be here!" announced Chie as she set up her video camera on a tripod.
Natsuki was left standing in the hallway, eye twitching, as her not-so-welcome guests walked right past her and dumped their bags in a pile on the living room floor. She didn't know how long she was left staring off blankly, but when the blunette turned around everyone was sitting around her coffee table drinking tea with Shizuru.
Natsuki stomped over to the table and hovered over Shizuru for a moment, who all the while was exchanging pleasantries with the other girls.
"You! Room! Now!"
Red eyes looked over at the clock on the wall.
"So early? Well if you insist!"
Natsuki had no time to escape being tackled to the floor by the older girl's pounce. The other four only flinched and stared, watching their friend try to claw her way out from underneath her girlfriend.
"Mai! Help!"
"Hmm… Is someone calling me?"
"What?!" she continued to grip the floor, now being dragged into her bedroom.
The door slammed shut leaving the guests to giggle to themselves outside and Natsuki to escape Shizuru's grasp inside. Although it wasn't so much of an escape as it was the other girl letting her go. The blunette huffed and got to her feet, dusting away debris and marching over to the bed to fall back on it.
"Bubble… so… violated…"
"So why am I in here?"
Natsuki smirked and pulled on Shizuru's wrist, bringing her down on the bed beside her.
"Because you're special. You get a hug-right and they don't."
"Well I hope I get more than a hug-right," she chuckled as she kissed the blunette lightly.
Natsuki nodded, "You do."
Pulling Natsuki closer by the waist, a playful smile rose to the surface of the older girl's face when she made herself more comfortable on the bed. The younger girl extended her arms over the other's shoulders and continued their kiss. Slowly but surely, Shizuru's hands began to wander up from Natsuki's waist beneath her shirt. Just as they reached the clasp on her bra the blunette smirked.
In a fluid roll Natsuki hopped off the bed, "Oh well back to entertaining our guests right?"
Shizuru was left blushing and twitching.
I completely fell for it!
Meanwhile Natsuki was grinning proudly as she left the room and went back to her friends.
"Wow Natsuki you seem to be in a much better mood," said Mai as she watched her friend practically skip over to them.
"Yeah, what did Shizuru-san do to you in there?" chimed Chie with a wink.
Mai jumped to cover Mikoto's ears.
"Oh no not what she did to me," the girl stated proudly, "It's what I did to her!"
It was then that the chestnut-haired girl slowly emerged from the room, looming like a shadow over the gloater. She put on the best smile she could, which incidentally turned out both obviously fake and psychotic, and grit her teeth.
"Natsuki… Ikezu…"
Gulp.
8 PM
Natsuki had miraculously survived Shizuru's wrath after her little stunt. Though probably only due to the fact that the latter had been distracted by being a hostess and eventually got over her irritation.
The sun had set now, leaving the six girls to contemplate what they would do for the rest of their sleep over. All were dressed in their sleepwear and sat in various places of the living room.
"Hmm... how about poker?" asked the navy-haired girl.
"Strip poker?" questioned Shizuru.
"...No... Just regular poker..."
"Oh... then no."
"How about monopoly? That always goes on longer than we want so we won't be bored for the rest of the night."
Silence from the room.
"...Strip mono-?"
"NO!"
"Aww..."
"Hang on a minute," after disappearing for a minute Natsuki sat down with a set of rotisserie sticks in her hand, "Since I've already established that the odds of all of us agreeing on something are way too slim to waste time on deciding, I figured we could draw straws to see who gets to do it first, does that sounds fair? Shortest goes first."
The room looked around at each other and agreed. All at once they reached into the selection and pulled out a stick.
"Yes! I got the shortest one!" exclaimed the blunette.
"And mine's the only one not cut so I guess I'm last," said Shizuru.
Natsuki turned her head to the side, blushing slightly, "...Wanna trade?"
"It's alright. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do for the moment so I'm fine with it."
"Okay so..."
"We're having a video game tournament aren't we?" sighed Mai, earning a grin from the girl.
The group rolled their eyes as Natsuki quickly headed over to the PS2 and put in a disk then pulled out the multitap.
"Tekken Tag Tournament! You four decide who wants to challenge us first, beat me once and we'll say it's over," she said wrapping an arm around Shizuru's shoulders with a toothy smile.
It didn't take long to decide that Chie and Mai would be the first team, and the four got set up with their characters.
As predicted, no matter who chose what, Natsuki's team won... or more precisely Natsuki won, Shizuru had yet to be tagged in the now thirty or so rounds they had fought. She sat behind the girl, enveloping her with limbs and placed her chin atop her head. Luckily, as long as the blunette kept up her winning streak she wouldn't consider this a distraction.
Several button-mashing minutes later, the four "challengers" huddled into a corner.
"All we need to do is beat her once, then we can stop," said Mai.
"But how?"
The girl sat back in thought for a second then leaned in and whispered the plan.
"...That's a dirty trick... I like it!" Chie grinned.
They turned around to get back to the game, only to be stunned in place by Natsuki doing a seated victory dance with Shizuru just swaying along anyway not letting go for a second.
"We're ready, right guys?"
They nodded, and the fight begun. By the time Mai's character was about half done, Mikoto had snuck into Natsuki's room.
"Oh no I think I broke it!" exclaimed the girl from the room after making a distinct bra-snapping noise.
"WHAT!?"
Abandoning her game instinctively, Natsuki ran into her room to make sure her recently-built-up-completely collection was unharmed. This of course left her character open to all of Mai's attacks, easily flooring him.
Then out of nowhere a second character appeared on the screen. Shizuru blinked at it, then at the controller, then over at Natsuki who could only be seen for split seconds chasing Mikoto around her room.
"What do I hit with?"
"THE SHAPES!" she yelled.
With two buttons being hit at once, a flame shot out of the monster's mouth, knocking Mai's character back to the other side of the screen and completely depleting his hit points.
"Damn it!" she cursed as Chie's character came onto the screen, only to meet the same fate.
"NUOOO!!"
"Yay! Natsuki I won!"
By now the whole bra fiasco had been dealt with and the navy-haired girl rushed out of her room.
"Really!?" she smiled and hugged the older girl before kissing her cheek.
"Good thing we beat you though Natsuki, we can finally do something where the odds are at least slightly in our favour..."
"And what would that be? Who's next?"
"Found it!" called Mikoto, who was still in the room for a bit. She hopped out into the living room carrying a dusty box that was covered in bright coloured dots. Natsuki groaned.
"Twister? Are you serious?... And I still have that?"
The girl grinned and had already taken to moving the furniture out of the way.
"I guess I don't get a say in this... despite the fact that it's my game and my apartment..." Natsuki sighed, "Alright, as long as I get to spin first."
"Fair enough."
9 PM
After nearly everyone had gotten a chance to spin, it had come to Chie's turn. She stared down at the board with a smirk and got her camera ready.
I plan on getting some good material from this night... this is just the time...
At first it started off pretty normal, just a few feet tangled, but of course things grew into more... elaborate positions; mostly due to the spinner's outright cheating.
"Mikoto! Move over!" shouted Natsuki.
"I can't! Mai's taking up that spot!"
"Left hand: red!"
"Oh hell no!" before the redhead could reach, Natsuki managed to get her hand on the dot.
With Mai now eliminated, and Aoi having been on the side from the start filming the round, the only three left were Shizuru, Natsuki, and Mikoto... The latter two so glared at each other with determination while the former miraculously stayed balanced on one hand and one leg parallel to Natsuki who was more crouched.
Chie spun again, and then looked over at the mat. Smirking, she gently pushed the arrow just a tad further clockwise and called out the next combination.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Natsuki groaned as she tried to move, flipping her free leg onto the proper dot.
On the unfortunate side of things, Mikoto's leg had taken up the spot where she was going to put extend her arm for balance.
On the fortunate side, just as the blunette was about to fall, she felt a hand on her back that held her up. Natsuki was face to face with Shizuru who was very much enjoying the compromising position they were in.
"H-how did you get there!?"
"What do you mean?"
"With the way things were called out how come I'm the only one face up?"
"Because you didn't think of crossing your legs," said Mai as if to state the obvious, "Instead you turned upside down."
Damn it...
Natsuki sighed and relaxed her muscles, "Alright I'm tired I forfeit."
Of course, with Shizuru's hand on her back, when the younger girl fell she brought the other down with her.
"Aww! Natsuki made me lose too!" she pouted, fake crying onto the blunette's chest.
"Sorry but..."
"But what? You better have a good reason!"
Blushing, Natsuki leaned her head up to whisper in Shizuru's ear, "My knees got weak with you over me like that okay! Don't you dare say anything!"
"Yay I won!" exclaimed the nekogirl as she jumped up from the mat.
Mai looked at the scoreboard, "So that means we've all won once... except Natsuki... and Mikoto won twice."
"Just help me clean up will you?"
"Hai hai..."
11 PM
"Please can this be something quiet... who's going next?" Natsuki asked.
"That would be me," announced Chie, "And of course, since the whole purpose of us being here was to find out information, what better a game to play than Truth or Dare?"
Natsuki sighed, "Alright fine... at least it's quiet... But it has to count for both of you."
She pointed to the nearby brunette.
"Got it."
"Mai... hungry..." whined the youngest girl while pulling on her "owner's" shirt.
"Didn't we buy like... five bags of party mix on the way over here?"
Mikoto shook her head.
"All gone!"
The group sighed.
"Argh but I don't wanna get changed," groaned the blunette.
"Come on Natsuki it's only like five minutes away we can just go in these."
"...Are you serious?"
Once again the group looked around at each other for approval before going to get their shoes; leaving their unfortunate host sitting on the floor stunned before shaking her head and heading out after them.
On the way to the store the six walked in pairs to accommodate the size of the sidewalk. Of course leading the way was Mikoto dragging Mai by the arm; followed by Chie and Aoi who kept turning back and forth to film. Shizuru and Natsuki were last for no particular reason other than the latter's extreme paranoia about people staring at them in their pyjamas on the street making her stop every few steps to look around.
"So what are you thinking of our adventure so far?" asked Chie while walking backwards and looking at the view panel of the camera.
The only response she got was an icy glare.
"Look!" she started again in a Discovery-channel voice, "The natural defence mechanism of the very rare-OW!"
"Shut up will you?" grumbled Natsuki as she shoved the camera into the girl's face and walked past her into an unexpected empty space, "Hey, where'd Mai and Mikoto go?"
"Ara... Are they those tiny specs in the distance?"
The other three squinted and sure enough, through a small dust cloud, they could see them entering the store.
"Well come on let's hurry, I wanna get back before anymore eyes follow me."
"You know you could have stayed back and just let us go right?"
An illusionary brick fell on Natsuki's head at the realization that true enough, no one had forced her to come.
Two blocks later they entered the store. It didn't take long for them to find who they were looking for; all they had to do was follow the trail of empty shelves. When they finally got to the cash it was taking a while to actually process the purchase but Natsuki didn't really care as long as she didn't pay for it.
"Hey Natsuki can I borrow five hundred yen I'm a little short."
"Argh! Here!" she handed over the money with a grouchy expression; though something had broken her train of thought.
The group stared as a girl who looked exactly like Natsuki come running into the store, seemingly crying and mumbling something about "stupid depressing anime." Before any of the dumbstruck teens could say anything she went through the second cash and paid for her enormous amount of Kleenex.
"There's... There's two of them!" exclaimed Shizuru with hearts in her eyes as she watched the figure run out of the store.
"Stop being silly, we just happen to look a lot alike..."
"True," she wrapped the shorter girl in her arms, beginning to sway back and forth with a grin, "There's only one Natsuki and she's aaaaaaaalllllll mine!"
"Yes yes I'm yours, but can you let go of my head please?"
As soon as Mai and Mikoto grabbed their bags, the six left for the apartment again.
Eventually when everyone was back and settled again, it had gotten to the point where a tiny bit of sleepiness was floating around the room.
"Natsuki do you mind if we unfold the couch so we can just fall asleep if need be?" asked Mai, though she didn't care too much for an answer since she was already started to pull it open.
The navy-haired girl just sat and blinked.
"My couch unfolds?"
"Yes, that's why I told you to buy it remember? So that you could fall asleep on an actual bed while playing video games..."
Not really...
She just sighed and went to help open the couch.
"This will count as my thing for the night, making sure we're prepared... it would drive me crazy if wondering where we'd sleep."
"And I think I'll use mine to make tea," said Shizuru with a quiet yawn as she walked into the kitchen.
"Are you sure that's what you wanna use your things on when you had to do the other stuff?" Natsuki asked as she followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.
"Don't worry, I've already had a lot of fun tonight," she smiled.
"Me too... I..."
"Hmm?"
"I missed seeing that side of you... the one that would only show itself to me... the normal one."
Silence covered them for a moment as they stared into each other's eyes, smiling. Suddenly Natsuki found herself pulled into a firm but gentle embrace; indicating a soft seriousness.
"... I've thrown away my mask."
The blunette flinched.
"... I have no need for it anymore... It was made to hinder my love for you... but... I will never wear it again... I promise..."
Natsuki smiled again and returned the hold.
"Good..." she pulled away and headed back into the living room, turning again briefly, "You're like a light; it can't shine if there's something covering it. That just makes no sense!"
Natsuki...
With everyone refreshed and back in a circle, it was finally time to start truth or dare.
"Well since this is my apartment I think I should be the one to go first."
"Aww man... you already got a chance to go first..." grumbled the four guests.
"Alright fine, since this is also her apartment now, Shizuru you go first."
"Okay," without a second thought, "Natsuki!"
Damn it...
"Truth."
"Don't you always pick dare?" asked Mai with a light chuckle.
"You honestly think I'm gonna let her dare me to do something?"
"Will you marry me?" asked the chestnut-haired girl with a completely straight face.
The blunette turned bright red, so much so that she was giving off some sort of radioactive glow. She choked on her drink, swayed around dizzily for a moment before falling over.
"...It was a joke Natsuki," the oldest girl said trying to hold back a laugh, though pretty much failing; along with the rest of their friends.
Still spiral-eyed, the blunette managed to sit up and focus on the world around her.
"I can only wonder what you would have done if I said I was serious," Shizuru said still smiling, "Anyways, that reaction was all I wanted, your turn."
"Oh Shizuru..." she called in a singsong voice.
"Natsuki you can't go after the same person who just asked you..."
"Damn it! Fine, I guess I'll go after... the cat."
"Dare!" shouted Mikoto.
"Simple enough, I dare you to be quiet for the rest of the night and fall asleep within the next hour."
"But!" yawn, "I'm not sleepy!" the girl rubbed her eyes.
"Yes you are," said Mai in a motherly tone as she picked up the girl and placed her on the couch, "She did you a favour by letting you get out of the game before it got too intense- eh?"
"What?"
"She's already asleep haha!"
"Wait... if she's asleep then whose turn is it?"
"I guess we just keep going in a circle, so that means... Aww damn it's Chie..."
"Yes! Don't worry Natsuki, as long as you choose the right option you'll be fine."
"Argh... I guess I'll go with dare..."
"Alright I dare you to say that you'll worship Shizuru-san forever,"
"...That's it?"
"...While sitting in the corner of the room rocking back and forth and fidgeting like a maniac."
The dare-ee stared at her in exasperation, then sighed and crawled a few feet over to the corner where she sat with her legs curled to her chest. The girls all had their fun laughing at the blunette jitter around mumbling semi-coherent phrases about Shizuru being queen of the universe and she would do what she said no matter what.
When she got back to the circle Natsuki was already bent on getting revenge on Chie, however, since she could not get her directly, she went for her partner in various journalism related crimes.
"Okay Aoi, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to turn off the camera."
"Chicken."
"What?"
"I'm using one of my three chickens to get out of that dare. The whole point of this was to see what your life was like, what's wrong with recording it?"
"It's what you get for coming up with such dumb dares Natsuki... they're all practical and just to kill the party," added Mai.
Natsuki flinched.
...Stupid chickens... Oh damn it! I could have used a chicken for my last dare!
"Whatever just go..."
"Alright then," the brunette cleared her throat and eyed Shizuru, "What'll it be."
"Hmm... I suppose I'll take truth," she replied after a brief moment in her thinking pose.
"Okay, what would you have done if Natsuki accepted your fake proposal?"
"Well I would have been very happy of course," she smiled, "Although I would have to tell her it was a joke."
"You wouldn't want to just go with it?" asked the blunette with a suspicious face.
"To be honest, as much as I do love you, I still think we're too young to be getting married."
"Right."
"And don't you think it would be better to wait until we even have enough money to pay for the wedding?"
Natsuki sighed and slumped into a ball on the floor while the rest laughed.
True... I wouldn't want to jump into something like that without being fully prepared... Once we both get settled into actual careers and not just waitressing.
Close to two more hours passed until not one person was alert enough to continue playing.
"Bed... now..." mumbled Shizuru as she fell onto Natsuki's lap, using it as a pillow.
"I can't carry you to bed if you lay on me."
"Yes you can," she whined, already half asleep, "You can do anything, carrying me to the bed shouldn't be hard."
The blunette looked up to see the other four sliding under the covers.
"Good night you guys," she said, slowly getting up while scooping the older girl up in her arms.
"Good night," they all replied.
Natsuki walked around the mess in her living room and entered her own room. She gently slid Shizuru beneath the blanket and over onto what was now deemed "her side" of the bed. After turning off the light, Natsuki cuddled up to Shizuru's side. Despite how tired she was she couldn't help but take a few minutes just to watch the other's breathing. The girl smiled and took hold of a section of her love's hair in one hand; and held her own in the other. Natsuki mindlessly began to braid the tresses together; the rhythmic pattern slowly calming her into slumber.
Rays of sunlight radiated an angelic glow upon the girl's faces. Crimson eyes slowly fluttered open to gaze on a lightning snoring Natsuki who lay beside her. Smiling, Shizuru leaned on her forearm to sit up, but was stopped when her head felt some resistance. She looked down to see the craft made with their two colours. With her heart melting a little inside, the older girl bent down to kiss the younger on the forehead before quietly slipping herself out of the bed in silence.
Shizuru was surprised to see that the kitchen was already in use by a certain redhead juggling five meals at once.
"Let me help you," she said almost on reflex as she went for the stove while Mai was working at the counter.
"Ah thank you. I haven't cooked for this many people in years."
"Me too," she stopped to chuckle a bit, "And their taste is incredibly different from Natsuki's. Sometimes I'm not even sure what to make for her."
"That girl's easy to please when it comes to food. As long as she has some meat in the morning, she'll have a good appetite for vegetables later on."
"Is that so? ...You know her very well."
Catching the sad undertone in Shizuru's voice, Mai quickly turned to the next plate of food she was preparing.
"Don't worry. I'm sure all in all you know her better than I do... and even if by chance you're missing details, wasn't it learning about her that caused you to fall in love? You'll just get to go through that process again."
"True, I would love to learn all about her again," she laughed, "Now I'm half hoping there are things I'm missing."
On cue, a half-sleeping Mikoto held between the other two guests walked into the kitchen; simultaneously greeting the two cooking and sat at the table.
"Ohayo..."
"Ohayo!" chimed Mai as she set down the three plates before turning back to get her own but stopped for a moment to watch the giddy ex-Kaichou.
Shizuru was grinning happily as she went around to the different bowls of food and prepared Natsuki's breakfast, remembering to add the meat. Without another word she practically skipped off to the room, earning some raised eyebrows.
"What's with her?" asked Chie as Mai sat down.
"Hmm... Removing of layers..."
"What? That's what they're doing in there while we're out here?"
"No! I mean metaphorically... It still hasn't been that long they've been together since being completely separated... So as a way of starting new she's being quite open and honest," the redhead smirked, "Natsuki too don't you think?"
The other three nodded and went back to eating their breakfasts.
In Natsuki's room, Shizuru came in with a plate full of the various things she had cooked with Mai. She sat on the floor next to where the blunette's head was leaning off the edge of the bed. She picked up a small piece of meat between chopsticks and held it in front of the sleeping girl's nose in an attempt to wake her.
Though still asleep, Natsuki instinctively bit onto the morsel and ate it. Her nose wrinkled a bit and her brows furrowed.
"Mm! More!" she grumbled.
Shizuru blinked for a moment, then laughed, and then repeated the feeding process. Just as she got to the last piece of meat, Natsuki woke up. Her eyes crossed when she noticed the two pieces of wood in her mouth before refocusing on the girl sitting in front of her.
"Good morning Natsuki!"
"Ah... good morning," she mumbled as she sat up rubbing her eyes; Natsuki was always a little lost in the mornings.
She looked around the room, her gaze stopping at the group of four in the doorway with the video camera.
"What's going on?"
"Ara, I think they just thought you eating in your sleep was too cute not to tape, right?"
The navy-haired girl blushed like mad and threw the blanket over herself as to not be seen. However, in her hiding she heard the muffled laughs of everyone dear to her. Even though she was hesitant at first, this night had started a new phase of her life. And the person she wanted by her wide the most, needed her as well.
Omake
Notori: I'm worried the OOC is too much...
Natsuki: You're always so insecure with this fic... You even editted this omake so that you wouldn't sound so arrogant... Or whatever you thought you were being.
Notori: I know... I should just let it flow how it is...
Natsuki: Yes, anyways, next point: what the frak took you so long?
Notori: Well I went through about 500 different possibilities for this... most of which would change the rating to M... which I didn't want to do.
Shizuru: ...Yet.
Notori: Yes... yet...
Natsuki: You're making this more... intense?
Notori: Well not now, we still have your birthday and stuff... it will probably happen when you start school again, aka the next arc. This one is mainly focusing on the "starting over" aspect, hence the random party to make you seem more normal.
Shizuru: You don't enjoy me being the personification of pwnage?
Notori: Of course I do, that's why I started The Wolf Knight; but in this I want to see what would happen if now that the HiME stuff is over you could live normally. Plus I wanted to challenge the "fan canons" about you and explore different habits, likes, and dislikes.
Natsuki: So... careers?
Notori: Stop getting so ahead of yourself! All I'm saying is no one's ever done them as of writing this.
