Erasing Natsuki by balticbard

Chapter 7: The Truth Revealed

There months passed since the incident on the cruise ship Lollipop. Shizuru's life had changed completely. She stopped going to work (and she had that luxury because she ran a multi-billion empire that was the Fujino empire). Shizuru left all of her business affairs in her father's hands who was more than happy to take over temporarily in her stead. Now, Shizuru spent all of her days in her bedroom moping in bed. Shizuru refused to speak to Nao, only the necessary words, and her wife opted wisely to stay out of the depressed woman's way.

"It cannot just end this way!" Shizuru told herself a million times as she recalled the fact that Natsuki was now Nagi's wife. "Its a nightmare. I know it is."

Shizuru heard murmurs through her door from outside. She got up from her bed, opened her bedroom door just a bit to listen to the sounds . Shizuru heard Nao's hushed voice as she spoke to someone on her cellphone. Her curiousity picqued, Shizuru left the confines of her room to listen.

"You're at the front door?" Nao whispered into her cellphone. "Don't knock. I don't want her to hear anything. She's upstairs in her room. I'll open the front door for you to come in. We can talk then."

Today, Nao had decided to spend the day at home, instead of at her office which kept her out all day and almost all night. Having Nao at home irritated Shizuru endlessly because she preffered to be alone with her thoughts of Natsuki. Shizuru heard the front door of her two-story house opening then closing. The crimson eyed woman heard Nao's voice mingling with another voice that went straight to her heart: Natsuki!

Shizuru's room was on the second floor of her house, and her first impulse was to go downstairs to meet Natsuki. But when she heard Natsuki, the object of her obsession, arguing with her wife, Nao, Shizuru decided against it. Instead, Shizuru stood next to the stairs while she listened to the voices coming up to her from the living room down below.

"Its not my responsibility anymore," Natsuki replied coldly. "You and I agreed that you would not contact me ever again! That ALL ties between she and I were to be cut permanently! She is yours now, your responsibility...your life, your affair."

"I don't know what to do!" Nao said in panic. "She...she remembers you! She's shut me out for good. Please help me!"

Natsuki stood before Nao in a cold, deadly stance, her beautiful face firm as she replied quickly, "No." Then Natsuki turned to leave.

"WAIT!" Nao shouted, and quickly stood in front of the brunette to block her path to the front door, hoping to keep the stubborn young woman from leaving. "You were the one who started this. I'm here because of you! ALL of this is your doing. you had a life with her. You deliberately cut yourself out of it...you sacrificed yourself for her. So you must still love her at least a little bit. Even for that last, small piece of love you still have in your heart for her, please help me with this!"

Natsuki looked down, and seemed to hesitate for a moment. But the brunette straightened her stance, and became resolute as she shook her head, "no. I have my committments. I have my own life now. I want no part of this."

Nao saw Natsuki's brief hesitation and doubt, and took advantage of it, "please, Nats. Please help me," the redhead said softly, helplessly.

Meanwhile upstairs, Shizuru was so shocked by what she heard that she felt as is she was about to faint. So all of what she now had really all was a lie; her life with Nao, her deal with Nagi. Shizuru garnered all her strength, then managed to go downstairs. Shizuru shocked both Nao and Natsuki as she confronted them with her sudden presence.

Shizuru was calm as she entered the living room.

"Shizzie!" Nao said with surprise at seeing her wife, "Shizzie, baby!" Nao approached the woman with open arms.

Shizuru waved Nao away with a stern hand. "Do not call me that ridiculous name anymore or come any closer, spider!" Shizuru was enraged. "So all of what we had was a lie! Our life together, our history, our feelings!"

"Well about our life, yes it was, " Nao admitted, "but I love you! That has always been true! You loved me too. Remember? We were happy together!"

Shizuru glared darkly at Nao, "Do not speak to me, spider." Then the light brown haired woman turned to face their visitor, "Natsuki..."

Natsuki turned around to face Shizuru with a look of frustration on her face. "Look...this no longer concerns me. This is your problem. Work it out, you two. Don't involve me in your affairs!" Then Natsuki started to back away with the intention of leaving the two women alone.

"NO!" Nao cried out when she saw Natsuki leaving. "Don't go," she pleaded in desperation. "Please tell Shizzie the truth!"

"Please...Nat...su...ki..." Shizuru said softly.

Natsuki faced the two women with an angry glare in her jade orbs. With shoulders slumped as a sign of surrender and defeat, Natsuki agreed to stay. "Alright. Fine!"

Nao chose to sit on a loveseat tucked in a far corner of the living room; out of Shizuru's view and rage, and yet close enough to console her if necessary. Meanwhile, Shizuru chose to sit on the sofa, and watch Natsuki pace back and forth with her arms crossed behind her, a gesture that Shizuru had never seen the girl use before.

"I always loved you, Shizuru," Natsuki began quietly. "I thought you would always love me. Till the end of time. I thought we were happy. You were all I needed to live. You were my life! I gave you my heart and soul. I loved you so very much," Natsuki said as she looked at Shizuru soulfully, sadly.

Shizuru felt a sudden surge of guilt as she rose from her spot on the sofa, and held out her arms with the intention of embracing Natsuki, "my Natsuki..."

"NO! Don't come near me!" Natsuki exclaimed angrily as she put up a hand in warning. Her voice was cold, curt, resentful. "I swear that I will leave!"

"Yes," Shizuru replied quietly. "I deserve that. I understand. I will not interupt again. Please continue."

Natsuki started to pace once more. "But you didn't feel the same way. I found out you were having an affair with Nao!"

Shizuru, now pale with shock, let out an involuntary gasp as she stood up from the sofa. "H...h...how did you find out?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Nagi told me," Natsuki said gravely as she stopped her pacing on the carpet, then confronted Shizuru with another resentful glare.

"And you believed that bastard over me? Shizuru said as she raised her voice and eyebrows in an uncharacteristic fashion which shocked Nao who was several feet away, but who decided not to interfere.

"No, I didn't believe him at first," Natsuki calmly continued. "But I had been suspicious that something was going on. But I never would have thought that it involved infidelity. You were out late a lot, or didn't come home for days on end, and didn't even bother to call me to tell me what was going on. I chalked it all up to you being a dedicated workaholic at your business. I never said anything. I trusted and loved you. But I was so very wrong, wasn't I, Shizuru?"

"You still believed him!" Shizuru was incredulous. "You chose to trust him over me! How dare he contact you with such information!"

"How dare you cheat on me!" Natsuki countered angrily. Then the brunette stopped and paced herself, then took a step back. "Its none of my business anymore. But it was back then. I turned him away at first, but Nagi persisted. He treated me very well. He became my friend and confidant. I needed him because you weren't there anymore. You were gone. I was miserable. I knew you were with someone else, so when he made sexual advances to me I accepted."

"NO!" Shizuru was enraged.

"You were with someone else. When I needed you...Shizuru...you were with Nao. So don't even dare judge me."

"I am so sorry, Natsuki," Shizuru sighed as she shook her head daintily, then sat back down on the sofa.

Natsuki was so immersed in her story, that she didn't notice or care about Shizuru's apparent shame. "Then when Nao died, or so it seemed, things got worse between you and me, Shizuru. You began to stay home but you closed yourself off from me. It was worse than before. At least before you were still civil to me even though you were sleeping with someone else. But after Nao's death, it was almost as if you died with her. You were present in the flesh, but your heart was with a dead woman. You couldn't stop crying over Nao. I couldn't stand it anymore. I loved you so much that I just couldn't stand to see you suffer anymore. So I asked Nagi to do the impossible because I knew he had the power of a million hime...he was the prince of darkness. So Nagi agreed to help me."

"No one can revive the dead!" Shizuru replied, shocked at Natsuki's words.

"Remember, Shizuru," Natsuki countered, "that we ALL died during the Carnival. Mashiro revived us. Nagi has those same powers, although in this case he didn't really have to use them.

"Then what really happened? Wasn't Nao dead? Then if he didn't have to raise her from death...how is she here, then?" Shizuru asked quietly.

"Because Nao never really died!" Natsuki looked in Nao's direction to face the now cowering woman, "its your turn now. Tell Shizuru what really happened."

Shizuru turned her concerned eyes to look squarely at the now fidgeting, nervous redhead, "well? I am waiting."

"Um...well you see..." Nao had a sickly smile on her face, and fidgeted nervously, "about a year ago I turned states witness against an old boyfriend of mine who was a powerful drug lord. I helped put him behind bars for the rest of his life for first degree murder. After that I was put in the witness protection program. Nagi pulled a few strings, made a few calls to his higher-up friends, and made sure it was safe for me to come back. So...here I am?" Nao tried to joke, then smile to somehow ease the displeasure showing on Shizuru's classic features.

"I am not amused at all," Shizuru replied coldly, but her demeanor changed quickly into one of anger as she turned to face Natsuki. "You lied to me!"

"Yeah. I did!" Natsuki chuckled sarcastically, not at all intimidated by Shizuru. "Nagi planned the entire thing. He pretended to make a deal with you, sorta like a pact with the devil kinda thing; to give you a whole new life without me, but with your one and only long lost love, Nao."

"Oh you're so kind," Nao interjected sarcastically.

Shizuru was moved beyond emotion to get up quickly from the sofa. Her heart beat quickly as she reached out, and suddenly grabbed Natsuki's left hand in both her own. Tears ran down Shizuru's cheeks as she spoke, "you sacrificed yourself for me."

"NO!" Natsuki shouted, terrified at the thought that she had come across to Shizuru as something other than angry and resentful. Natsuki tugged at her hand, trying to get it back from Shizuru's grip. "I just wanted to get away from your constant whining! I was sick and tired of you, and your atitude!"

"You still love me, Natsuki!" Shizuru cried as she continued to hold Natsuki's pale hand in a vice like grip within her own hands. "You cannot deny it."

"No. I. Don't!" Natsuki finally freed her hand, snatching it away from Shizuru as if the woman's touch was like fire, then hiding it within her pocket. Natsuki backed away from Shizuru to what she thought would be out of her ex-lover's reach. Then Natsuki turned towards Nao. "I'm through here! You two handle your problems, and keep me out of your mess!"

Shizuru was of a stubborn, stony nature driven by greed; territorial, all feelings that were muted by recently now came bubbling up as her primal desire and sense of ownership for Natsuki flared up. "NO! You cannot leave! I want you to stay here with me!"

"Not in a million years," Natsuki said slowly, though gritted teeth as her voice was laced with pure, venomous fury.

"I love you, Shizzie!" Nao interrupted. "I've suffered too! Has all the time we spent together been a waste of time? Didn't I make you happy?" Nao took a few steps towards Shizuru, but stopped and gasped at the look of almost pure, black, evil anger in the beautiful woman's crimson eyes directed back at her. "Alright! Alright! I have to fess up too!" Nao said with her hands up as if she was defeated. "Months ago, Nagi offered me a deal. He would get me out of witness protection safely. I wouldn't have to be afraid of my ex, and I could have my life back. Plus, he paid me a lot of money."

"For what purpose?" Shizuru sked suddenly.

"To seduce you, Shizzie."

"And you were successful," Natsuki replied calmly, coldly.

"But why?" Shizuru had gone pale.

"Because he wanted me to get you away from Natsuki! I had told Nagi that I was in love with you. He became like my best friend. At first I was shocked because he always seemed so evil. But now he was so caring, so nice to me. He said that all I had to do was chase you til you gave in to me. I asked him what he wanted in return. What was the price I had to pay for his help because nothing in life is for free. Nagi said that there was no price. He was my friend, he said. If I took you away from Nats, he would have his reward." Nao looked down in apparent shame, "I love you, Shizzie. That was never a lie."

Silence ensued til Shizuru suddenly woke up from her stupor. "When Nagi offered me a new life, I asked him what his price was. He said that if I accepted his offer, he would already have what he wanted!" Then Shizuru turned to Natsuki, "did Nagi want something in return for helping you?"

"Yes," Natsuki replied quietly, gravely.

"What did Nagi want?" Shizuru asked cautiously.

"Me," Natsuki replied as she turned away from the two women before her, and started to leave. "He wanted me. Permanently."

"NATSUKI!" Shizuru cried out. The name came out as a sob from her red lips because the crying was bubbling up in her throat. "You sacrificed yourself so I could be happy with Nao!"

"I loved you, Shizuru," Natsuki said gravely. "I wanted you to be happy, even if it wasn't with me. So I paid the price that Nagi asked of me."

"You gave yourself to him! Shizuru screamed, her voice shrill and bitter. "You gave him your body. You let him touch you. You let him...are you his lover?"

Natsuki turned quickly around to face Shizuru full flush. The green of Natsuki's hospital scrubs was pale in comparison to the cold, jade of her glare. "I don't have to answer you to you anymore. You are no longer a part of my life. You lost the right to judge me when you slept with Nao. But if you want to know...yes I'm his lover. I slept with him before you left me for Nao, but now I am completely his lover."

"Then you still love me if you are still angry because I cheated on you with Nao, Natsuki!" Shizuru exclaimed loudly. "But I was tricked! Nao just admitted it in front of both of us. Her seduction of me was a scheme that Nagi used to manipulate all of us so that he could get to you!"

"You were never a fool, Shizuru!" Natsuki yelled with indignation, "you know the rules of right and wrong, of love and trust! Nao never forced you, or drugged you. Isn't that so, Nao?" Natsuki turned to Nao to look at her intently for a reply.

"Yeah," Nao replied readily, but cowered when her admission earned another one of Shizuru's evil glares.

"You knew what you were doing, Shizuru!" Natsuki raged in disgust as she finally had the chance to release all the pent up anger that she had held in for so long. "You don't have any excuse! You betrayed me!"

"Natsuki...I am so sorry..." Shizuru was now openly crying and sobbing, "for hurting you this way..."

Even Nao was crying at the sight of such a powerful, magnificent woman breaking down before her pale, green eyes.

Natsuki visibly slumped. The brunette was defeated by Shizuru's tears that went straight to her once hardened heart to make it clench in pity. "Shizuru," Natsuki said gently, "please stop crying. Its all over. Look...maybe I was too selfish...self involved and opinionated. I didn't take into account that maybe I drove you away into Nao's arms."

"Natsuki," Shizuru said tenderly amid her tears, "you were never a burden to me."

Natsuki's atitude and demeanor had changed completely. The brunette's angry posture was now gone. The woman's beautiful face was like a medieval painting, now serene, her voice soft almost like a cat's purr. "Shizuru, we had a good time, but we weren't meant to last forever. If we had been meant to be, you never would have cheated on me with Nao. But you did, and I guess it was fate. We were are on our way down different destinies. Things have changed now. We have new people, and new lives. You have to move on just like I did. I've accepted it. I have Nagi. You have Nao."

"Natsuki, please!" Shizuru cried as she wrung her hands, "this is not destiny! Nagi is to blame for all of this! He manipulated you into a trap so that you would agree to become his! That is not love!"

"I'm fine where I am," Natsuki replied quietly.

"Do you love him?" Shizuru yelled with uncontrolable force.

"I'm not in love with him," Natsuki admitted, "but I love him. He treats me so well. I'm fine. I am his wife...I belong with him, and to him."

"NO!" Shizuru screamed with all of her might in utter desperation because she knew she was losing Natsuki forever. "I WILL NOT ACCEPT THAT! YOU ARE MY NATSUKI!"

Instead of anger, Natsuki's reply to Shizuru's outburst was a look of utter sadness, and a brief shadow of longing that flashed across her porcelain, delicate features. Then it was all gone as Natsuki recovered her composure. With soft, delicate steps, Natsuki approached Shizuru, and kissed the pretty woman's soft cheek. "Goodbye, Shizuru. We will never see each other again. I wish you and Nao a long life filled with peace and happiness." Then just as quickly as she had spoken, as she had been at Shizuru's side, the brunette was gone. All that was left was the scent of Natsuki's strawberry perfume, and the sound of the front door of the house closing. Natsuki was gone, and silence reigned between the women she had left behind.

Shizuru brought her elegant hands up to her face as she fell to her knees, and began to wail like a helpless child. Her fury and indignation had flown away from her forever. Shizuru felt her guilt, and the absence of Natsuki's grace from her life strike her fully. Now the crimson eyed wonder knew that she had lost Natsuki, that it was final.

In her desperation, Shizuru felt her body tremble, as her wails turned into deep sobs that rose from deep within her, making her slender frame quake strongly. She felt arms surround her securely, so that she looked up through her tear filled eyes to see Nao beside her. Nao looked at Shizuru with infinite tenderness as she held her love tightly in her arms. "Little spider," Shizuru said weakly, "what have I done? Natsuki is the love of my life...I..."

"Its okay, Shizzie. I know," Nao said as she held the woman with the chestnut colored hair close to her, "I understand."

"You, and I..." Shizuru managed to speak despite her sobs, "I am so sorry. I love you, but..."

"I'm to blame, Shizzie," Nao had started to cry also, "I seduced you. I took you away from her. I know that you won't ever love me the way that you love Natsuki."

Shizuru freed herself from Nao's embrace, and let herself fall to the carpeted floor as she wailing calmed a bit. "I destroyed the most precious thing that I ever had. I will never forgive myself for what I did to Natsuki!"

"But you have to, Shizzie! She's already forgiven you. And her heart is so noble and kind that she even forgave ME! She told me so a while back."

"I am so miserable, little spider. This pain in my heart is too great for me to bear."

"Shizzie, I'm still here with you! I'll help you. I'll never leave you. I'll take care of you no matter what!" Nao rubbed Shizuru's arms trying to reassure her.

Shizuru shook her head, and pushed Nao gently away from her. "You are sweet, my little spider. I thank you, but I cannot love you anymore. Not now that I know the truth of how you decieved me, and how Nagi tricked my Natsuki away from me."

"Yeah, I know," Nao said through her sniffles as she pulled away from Shizuru. "I figured that would happen if you ever found out. So I tried to always keep the truth away from you. But I just want you to know that I'll always be around if you ever need me. But I think its best if I moved out!" Nao started to get up from the floor where she had sat next to a grieving Shizuru. Nao was almost on her feet once more, but was stopped by Shizuru's firm hand gripping her wrist.

"No, spider. Stay. Keep this place as a gift from me. I will go instead."

"What do you mean, Shizzie? Where are you going to go?"

"I..." Shizuru started to say as she got up and stretched out, "am getting a new place. I am starting over." Shizuru was done crying, and her tears were dry.

"Wow, Shizzie. Just like that we're over."

"Yes, spider."

"Always blunt, Shizzie."

"I need a new house...or apartment to start a new life with Natsuki..."

"Shizzie! Didn't she just say it was all over...and that she's with Na..."

"MY Nat...su...ki..." Shizuru said firmly.

Nao was suddenly speechless as she watched Shizuru recover once more to her usual, confident, glorious self.

"I am going to get back MY wife," Shizuru said as she walked away from Nao, and exited through the front door of the house she once shared with the redhead.

"Poor Nagi," Nao said with a smirk.

tbc in chapter 8: Operation Natsuki's Recovery