Well here's the next instalment of Christmas Holidays, I hope you guys enjoy and there should be another update soon.

Chapter 7 – Tactics

By morning time the apartment was quiet and only the gentle breathing of two sleeping beauty could be heard. However as the sun shone through the windows, it s rays hit navy blue hair and continued to travel landing on the young woman's face waking her gradually from her peaceful slumber.

Shizuru's PV

I slowly stirred awake out of my joyful slumber as I heard a slight tapping at the door, followed by a gentle voice "Shizuru, I just made breakfast if you some you'd better get up quick before it goes cold."

As I rubbed my eyes, I slowly wandered over to the door and upon opening the smell of bacon and eggs hit with me and as I breathed deeply trying to remember the last time I had had smelt that gorgeous this early in the morning. I walked towards the smell and soon found myself standing in the kitchen watching Natsuki separating everything onto two plates before she turned to me, and began apologising. "Sorry for waking you up so early Shizuru I was hungry and I didn't want your food to get cold." The smile she showed was sheepish to the say the least but also slightly proud.

Turning my attention to the food I noticed that nothing seemed to be burned which was a rarity when it came to Natsuki and cooking, I was fairly certain that the girl could burn cereal if she tried, but in her defence when she got things right she really did get them right. I walked over and grabbed my plate while Natsuki finished making us both tea, she handed me mine before picking up her plate of food and heading towards the living room.

Placing her food and drink on the small table she turned back for the kitchen while I sat down, she returned with a knife and fork for us each, handing me one of each she sat and began eating. After a short moment I dug in as well and was slightly surprised at how good the food was it impressed me to see that Natsuki had been improving her cooking skills, I never thought it would be something the girl would see as important.

"Did you want to watch TV or something?" Natsuki asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

"If that is what Natsuki wants then that is what I want, and just so you know Natsuki you've really out done yourself with this food." I smile as I see the intense blush that covers her face at my compliments, Natsuki never did take compliments well she would either get extremely embarrassed like now or just storm somewhere.

She mumbled an almost inaudible thank you before grabbing the remove and proceeding to turn the TV on, after flicking through the channels for a while I was not surprised to find Natsuki stop on some morning cartoons. Although I had to say it was nice to see that even though she'd grown up some things about her just didn't change.

"By the way Natsuki, I've decided that I'm going to stay at Fuuka over Christmas so I'm going to go looking for a flat today." I heard Natsuki begin to choke as I told her this bit of information, a part of me felt a little guilty for springing the information on her like that but it was funny to see her reaction so my guilt subsided as I tried not to laugh.

"Oh…well you're welcome to stay here instead if you want, I mean if it's just over Christmas then why bother looking for a flat." She said after she got over her coughing fit, she looked so innocent with the way she was looking at me, her head tilted to the side slightly, the way a dog would look at you when it was intrigued by something.

"Natsuki, I can't do that to you, you can't exactly sleep on the sofa every night in the holiday." I almost yell this as the thought occurs to me.

"Don't worry about it, I've got a spare room but I just need to clean it first so I can do that today and you can do whatever I guess."

"Oh okay" it was my turn to blush as I noticed how forward Natsuki was being without even blushing or getting embarrass although she was watching cartoons so I guess she probably isn't paying much attention really. "Well, I guess I'd better go get changed then, I think I'll go visit some old friends today while you do that."

"Okay" she said looking at me briefly before turning back to the TV. "If you leave you plate and everything, I'll take them out to the kitchen when I'm done."

"Okay, thank you Natsuki."

It never ceased to amaze me how charming Natsuki could really be, if only she had more confidence then she could have anyone she wanted, but of course part of her cuteness is how easy it is to make her blush and if she gains confidence then that would most likely go out of the window.

Pushing my thoughts aside I begin undressing as I walk towards the bathroom, before entering I grab a towel off the side and entered closing the door behind me. Turning on the water and waiting for it to heat up I allowed my thoughts to freely flow again, the bet Mai and I had was still clear in my mind and decided that I wanted to do something about that, maybe I would go talk to Mikoto today, but if she's with Mai then that could be troublesome. Sighing slightly at my dilemma I tested the water to find it was at perfect temperature just letting myself relax as the warmth from the water spread through my muscles.

After exiting the bathroom I walked over to my suitcase and decided on what I was going to wear when I heard a knock at the door.

"Shizuru?"

"Yes" I replied not really paying attention as I continued to look through my suitcase for a suitable outfit.

"I need to get some fresh clothes do you mind if I come in?"

"Nope I don't mind."

I heard the door open and silence, before I looked up and noticed Natsuki stood still holding on to the door just staring at me with her mouth wide open and her face the colour of very dark tomato. I look down to see that the only clothing I'm wearing is a towel that only just covers what it needs to and…well that's it just a towel. I look back up to see Natsuki's nose begin to bleed as she stands there with a blank look on her face, I chuckle slightly at how bad the situation is before I take the opportunity to tease poor Natsuki.

"Natsuki, your nose is bleeding, are you feeling alright?"

Snapping out her daze it seemed she turned away as she wiped her nose to check whether I was telling the truth, finally letting go of the door handle she walks over to a set of draws standing directly in front of me but across the room and she attempts to talk through her embarrassment.

"Yes, I'm…I'm fine Shi...zuru, but you c…could have w…warned me about w…what you were w…wearing at least." She avoided my gaze the whole time as she searched through the draws.

"Ara, what am I wearing Nat-su-ki?" I all but purr her name and see a shiver run through her body as my reward.

"It…it d…doesn't m…matter." Is all she says as she grabs what she needs and practically runs to the door, grabbing the handle as she rushes out without giving me one last glance.

I chuckle before resuming my previous activity of finding something to wear as I let my thoughts drift again, I had to figure out somewhere I could go today so that I don't get in Natsuki's way too much. I guess I could go see Reito again but I don't want to impose on him too much after what I found out yesterday I'm sure he's going to be busy, but maybe I can just hide out at his even if he isn't there I know he won't mind. Plus, there's always the possibility that Mikoto may drop round, if I remember correctly he said that she liked to just turn up a lot considering that she didn't want to hinder Mai and that she hadn't seen him since god knows when. Well, I'd say that my minds been made up for me, looks like I'm off to Reito's again.

After finally find an outfit I changed and grabbed my phone off the table before I headed out into the living room. I heard clanging and clattering as I exited my room, as I made my way towards the sound I noticed Natsuki exiting what I guessed to be the spare room. Upon seeing Natsuki's face flushed up to the colour of a tomato again and I smiled slightly before telling her "I'm off to go see Reito, so I'll see you later okay?"

"Erm…y…yeah t…that's fine Sh…Shizuru, oh take the spare keys with you, you know just in case I'm out when you come back or something."

I found it funny how Natsuki was able to go from being embarrassed to being very blatant to being even more embarrassed than at the start and doing it all within the space of one sentence. She just never ceased to amaze me.

"Okay, goodbye Natsuki" I grabbed the keys of rack by the door before I opened it and headed out but not before I heard a small goodbye from the navy haired beauty I cared so much for.

Natsuki's PV

Okay I now had another dilemma. Well two technically, the first was that I invited Shizuru to stay with me over Christmas, I have no idea what I was thinking and the second I guess isn't that major except I need to get changed but to do that I need to go into my room where Shizuru is currently. For some reason I just didn't trust myself being in a room with Shizuru that has a bed and not to mention the fact that she is in the en suite at the moment so I would go in there now but even with her in the bathroom it's still too tempting. Either way though I'm stuck because I can't just wait until she comes out because that will take way too long and I can't go in without knocking or anything either because she may already be out of the shower.

That's it I don't care I'm going to knock check whether she's out of the shower yet and either way I'll be in and out of there as fast as humanly possible. So, here we go…currently I am standing outside her door trying to will my hand to knock, but will listen like hell it will.

Knocking on a door isn't meant to be this hard, yes the girl I'm in love with may be behind the door and yes there is a bed in said room and yes my self control is completely and utterly threatening to throw itself out the window at the moment. So what could possibly be so hard about knocking on a stupid door?

Luckily after I take a deep breath my hand finally takes hint of what I want and knocks on the door stood in front of me. When I get no response I knock again and ask quietly "Shizuru?"

This time however I got a small "Yes" as a response so my idea of running in while she was in the shower is blown away.

Instead of doing the smart thing and walking away though, my mind decides it was going to tell her what I wanted.

"I need to get some fresh clothes do you mind if I come in?" I hear myself ask as I mentally kick myself for being an idiot and unfortunately for me Shizuru didn't make it any easier for me as she replied with "Nope I don't mind."

Before I knew what was going on I had opened the door and I was standing facing a goddess stood wearing nothing but a towel that didn't really cover everything that it needed to. My eyes involuntary checked her out; starting at the bottom I followed the shape of her slim lower legs all the way up to her perfect knees before continuing up her deliciously creamy thighs until the skimpy towel interrupted the flow just below where the legs would finally meet. I followed the towel up until I was staring into the woman's more that ample bosom, I gulped before I continued my 'sight seeing'. I followed her long supple neck up her chin and then further up to her luscious pink lips, I only stopped my travels as I finally found myself staring into her incredible ruby red eyes.

I found myself having to grip the door as my self control finally throw itself out the window with me wanting desperately to jump after it. I had to focus on my breathing as I felt myself losing all control, I knew that at any minute I was either going to faint or I was going make a bee line for Shizuru and both options were way out of the question.

"Ara, your nose is bleeding, are you feeling alright?" was the first thing to pull me out of my revive allowing me to gain at least some composer back before I keep my face away from the ever so inviting image in front of me. Taking my hand off the door handle I made my way swiftly to my draws as I babbled on about something, my mind taking control of my talking as I tried to focus on grabbing some decent clothes before getting the hell out of the room.

I heard Shizuru ask me something and I was about to turn around but for the first time since Shizuru came my unconscious mind helped me out by answering for me as I finally found what I needed. Before Shizuru could say any more I ran for the door grabbing it as I went pass so I close the room off and hopefully stop whatever was happening to me, I couldn't believe my self control was so easier to disappear whenever Shizuru was near.

Slumping against the door for support I breath heavy as I tried to regain some form of control just so I could go change and get the spare room ready for when Shizuru returned, if I had been thinking start I would have sorted it out last night but yet again I found that my mind was working against me. When I finally regain what seemed to be enough control and brain power back I moved towards the spare room, I changed before getting to work knowing that the job was definitely not going to be a clean.

It seemed as if the room wanted to fight back today though as I managed to move one thing and a whole pile of junk decided to stumble towards me, luckily though I made it out of the room before it could squish me. However, once I was out of the room I noticed that crimson eyed goddess that was currently staying with me had decided she wasn't going to make my life any easier today. Wearing those plain demine jeans that hugged the curves of her legs perfectly, and the way her vest top clung to her was completely breath taking which threatened to make my self control jump out of that damn window again.

I was barely able to understand her as she told me she was going out, but a part of me must have been listening properly because I was suddenly worried about her getting back and me being out and not wanting to make her wait for me to return. So again before I was able to stop myself I told her to pick up the spare keys and started mumbling about why as I felt my cheeks turn a nice shade of pink.

As she left I couldn't help watching her leave and after I said goodbye and she closed the door I suddenly felt extremely lonely, but before I could dwell on my feelings I decided I was going to focus on cleaning the room, nothing more and nothing less.

Shizuru's PV

It took me a while to walk to Reito but at least he knew I was coming so he knew not to leave until I got there. My mood had improved quite a bit as well after Reito informed me that Mikoto was already at the house and that he may have to go out for a while which meant that I would have the perfect opportunity to talk with Mikoto about the situation between her and Mai.

When I finally reached Reito's apartment door I knocked and patiently waited for an answer to come, but when one did it wasn't the voice I expected to hear.

"Who's there?" although it wasn't the voice she expected it was a voice she was happy to hear though.

"It's Shizuru, can I come in Mikoto?"

There was a click before the door swung open to reveal the bouncy cat like girl standing in front of me with a huge grin on her face, before I could react she had already hugged me and was currently bounding away from the door and headed into the overly large living room. Following her lead I soon found that Reito seemed to be nowhere in sight, causing my curiosity to spike as I continued to look throughout the apartment finally ending up at the start again.

"Mikoto, where's your brother?"

"He went out, he said to apologise for the rudeness and that he would hopefully be back sooner rather than later."

"Okay then."

I sat myself down next to the young girl on the sofa as I looked towards the TV, my mind was about to delve deep into thought as I was interrupted by Mikoto.

"Shizuru, can I talk to you about something?" she head was tilted to the side in a way that made her look even more adorable that Natsuki.

I nodded as I smiled at her reassuringly.

"I want to know what love is, I mean I hear people around me talking about it all the time but I know I can't talk to them about it so I was hoping that maybe you could tell me about it."

For a moment I was taken aback at how forward the girl was being but also at how mature she sounded, it seemed that putting my plan into action would be easier than I thought. "Well, first of all I guess you need to know what like is…do you know what liking someone is?"

"I think so, but could you just explain it anyway?"

"Sure, erm…like is when you have friends for example take Reito, you enjoy spending time with him yes?" A very enthusiastic nod of the head was the only form of reply I got so I continued "Well love is just a stronger form of that, so who do you enjoy spending time with the most out of everyone?"

"Mai!"

"Well then you like the rest of your friends but you love Mai, do you think that's correct?"

Her expression was thoughtful for a moment before she answered "Well, I enjoy spending time with all of you, but I enjoy it more when I'm just with Mai. So, if I think about it…I like being with all of you guys, so I like all of you…as friends. But I…love spending time alone with Mai, so would that mean I love Mai?"

"Yes, I guess it would"

The grin that spread across her face was so wide that I was slightly afraid that it would stick like that forever. "Thank you Shizuru, you really helped, I don't think brother would have been able to explain that, especially the way he feels about Mai."

I chuckled slightly as I realised something, "You're a lot more observant than people give you credit for and I guess you're more mature than I thought as well."

"I guess; I just find people funny when they react stupidly, like how Natsuki reacts around you, that's always funny."

"Ara, how does Natsuki react around me?"

She giggled before telling me how different Natsuki was around me than she was with other people, I was surprised to hear how different Natsuki sounded when she was with other people, I couldn't help but wonder how much of an effect I really had on her.

Okay this chapter lasted way longer than I expected it to, so I thank you greatly for making it all the way to the bottom and if it isn't too much to ask could you R&R please. Many thanks.