I don't own these characters; Sunrise does.

7: Hide-n-seek

Shizuru and Natsuki found that they could not sit still or wait around for Kenta to contact them to find out what was going on. Natsuki was not happy to see Sakura at Garderobe and she needed to know what it was that was going on between the spoiled princess and Kenta now. They got in touch with Nao and told her to meet them at a restaurant in the city. They knew it was a bit risky to go into the city with Sakura out there, but Natsuki would feel better talking about family business off of school grounds. Besides, she did not want to chance someone at the school finding out about whatever problem Kenta was going through.

"Has Nao seen you recently, love?" Shizuru asked curiously as the couple readied to leave for the city.

"No. I've been busy and she's been avoiding me since we had that incident back when I first started my meds," Natsuki answered.

"Poor Nao. You probably took years off of her life. Where did you get that hunting knife from anyway?" Shizuru inquired.

Back when Natsuki first started taking her medications as they tried to get pregnant, Nao had had a run in with the principal. Not knowing that Natsuki was suffering from the worst mood swings imaginable, she treated Natsuki like she always did, but Natsuki did not react as she normally would. First, she pulled a knife on Nao in a fit of rage, threatening to carve her up. Barely a second later, she started apologizing for her actions. Then, she was trying to hug Nao and make sure she did not hurt the redhead. It all happened in less than thirty seconds and Nao did not even want to figure out what the hell was going on with the Second Column. The confused redhead had run for her life as soon as she could.

"Believe it or not, Koji collects them. I was sending it to him as a gift and she just happened to run into me before I could get to the post office to get a box and send it on its way," Natsuki explained.

"I suppose we might have to say something to her if she notices," Shizuru said, glancing down at her spouse's belly.

"No, no, no, we can't say anything to her or she'll be the first to know," the principal objected. "I don't want Nao to be the first to know."

A tawny eyebrow arched. "Natsuki does realize that Miss Maria is the first to know?" she pointed out.

"I know, I know, but I don't count her because she needed to know or she was going to have me committed. This is about us telling people together and we have to tell our families before anybody else."

Shizuru nodded in agreement, happy to hear that. With that, the conversation was dropped and they were off. They arrived at the restaurant first, but Nao and Kenta were right behind them. They were all seated together. Shizuru pulled out Natsuki's seat for her and the principal quickly pulled herself up to the table to hide her stomach from view.

"So, pup, you treating?" Nao inquired with a grin.

"Uh…check your ring finger. If you're not wearing my wedding band, I don't think I'm paying for you," Natsuki replied with her own smile.

"Cheapskate," the redhead huffed, turning her nose up as if she was offended by the headmistress' presence.

"So, Nat-kun, what's up? What did you need this emergency get-together for?" Kenta asked curiously. "You missed me?" He flashed her a teasing grin.

"Please, as much as you call me, I don't have time to miss you. No, something very interesting happened today," Natsuki said.

Kenta leaned back in his chair while reaching for the menu. "Yeah, what?"

"Sakura came to see me," the ebony-haired woman stated and that got her brother's complete attention. Suddenly, he had perfect posture and his eyes were larger than any plates around them. Everyone thought that was an interesting reaction; it seemed a little over the top for a simple fact that he should have seen coming.

"She came to see you?" he inquired, voice trembling a little.

"Yes, she came to see me and she came alone. Our parents weren't with her. Guards weren't with her. No swarm of ladies-in-waiting or anything. Just her. Now, that's a little out of the norm for any of the harpies-in-law. What happened between you and her?" Natsuki demanded to know, her voice calm and collected, but very firm. She spoke with him like she spoke with world leaders whose attitudes she did not like.

Kenta gulped, not sure where his baby sister got that tone of voice from. "I got sick of her…" he started and then trailed off, as if that should be enough.

"What did she do to make you get sick of her? You've been taking her bullshit for seven years and you've known Nao for a year. Why suddenly do you need to leave Sakura and be with Nao?"

Kenta put his head down and gripped his knees with tight fists. Nao put her hand on his forearm, which helped calm him down immediately. Grey eyes looked up and met emerald ones.

"Sakura's lost it, Nat-kun. She's out of her mind. She started talking about wouldn't it be great if I was actually Dad's heir and how nice it would be if she and I ruled Saxas. At first, I thought she was just wishing out loud. You know how they are. They always want more. It's never enough for them to be almost at the top. But, her wish started getting more elaborate as she kept talking. It was like she couldn't help herself and she just kept going, adding details to it and everything. It started to sound more like a plot to me and it wasn't just about the Saxas throne anymore. It was about going to war with her brother afterwards to take what she considers to be her birthright since she's older than he is," Kenta explained, sounding haunted as he remembered her words.

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "If she wanted it to be her birthright, she should've been born a male. She knows her country's customs."

Kenta nodded, but he still looked quite spooked as he continued. "Yeah, but she was starting to freak me out. I mean, like I said, it was like she couldn't help herself. I knew it was weird first of all that she was telling me about it and I know I was just getting the tip of the iceberg since she plans to use me. I think she really wanted to do it and she wanted to do it soon. Her letter writing was getting more frequent than it had been in years. I saw a few of them and they were in codes. Well, they were either codes or she likes writing nonsense about the heavens and stars. She was building allies and she is building an army. Sakura wants to be the Queen of something and I don't want any part of that. The throne is Shuichi-onii-sama's and I'm not trying to go over him and three other brothers to take it."

"I know," Natsuki said.

"If she wants your throne so badly and she has an army, why does she need you?" Nao asked curiously. The way she spoke about it and did not seem shocked led Natsuki and Shizuru to believe that Nao knew more than they did about Kenta's arrival.

"Saxas would recognize me long before they recognize her. I'm a Kruger and I'm male. Blood and gender mean a lot in our little part of the world. With me on the throne, she wouldn't have to worry about nobles challenging her for it. She thinks I would be her little puppet like I have been the past seven years. Well, to hell with that!" Kenta declared in a strong voice on his own, slamming his fist down against his thigh.

"Ara, ara, this is some mess," Shizuru noted, shaking her head a little. "So, is she looking for you because you know the whole plot?"

"I don't know the whole plot. I only know pieces of it. If anything, she is looking for me because she needs to make sure I keep my mouth shut and she needs me if she wants Saxas," Kenta replied.

"Why not just tell your parents?" Nao inquired with a confused expression on her face.

The Kruger siblings snorted and rolled their eyes at the same time. "Like they'd believe this!" they both stated. Nao was a little disturbed by their actions, especially since it was clearly unplanned.

"You mean to say that your parents would believe Sakura over Kenta-kun?" Shizuru asked. That did not sound right to her. While the Kruger parents were overbearing, they seemed to put a lot of stock and love into their children. Unfortunately, they did not seem to know when to let go.

"Not so much that they wouldn't believe me, but it would be a huge mess. They'd question me until I told them everything I know and then they'd want to question her and they'd have to handle it differently because she's the princess of one of our allies and then she would know that they're onto her and she'd take the whole operation underground and by the time everything was over, I would end up looking like a liar," Kenta explained.

"We have to tell Koji and Hiroshi," Natsuki realized.

"What? Why?" Kenta said.

"They'll find all of the proof we need before we go to Dad with this. You know how much they love this stuff. Besides, intelligence is their specialty. We'll have them hunt down her whole plot and then when they give the word, we tell Mom and Dad. Not to mention Sakura's brother. That poor kid wouldn't know what hit him if Saxas attacked that little island," Natsuki informed them.

"Wow, I didn't even think of that," Kenta admitted.

"Welcome to my world, flyboy. I strategize," Natsuki boasted.

"It's just about the only thing the dog is good at," Nao teased, smirking at the principal.

"Oh, trust me," Shizuru chimed in with a long purr. "She's good at many other things," she commented. Her tone alone got hot blushes out of the Kruger siblings.

Nao rolled her eyes and gagged. "Some things you need to keep to yourself, Shizuru."

Natsuki shook off the blush and cleared her throat to cover it up. "We have to do something about Sakura. I'll try to see what I can get out of her when I meet with her," she said, to get the meeting back on track.

"You've got a meeting with her?" Kenta asked in disbelief.

"Yes, a meeting was set up before I knew she was trying to turn you into a despot," the youngest Kruger remarked.

"More like she's trying to be the despot. I'm supposed to just sit there and look pretty," Kenta quipped.

"Natsuki, are you sure you're up to getting involved in this?" Shizuru asked, taking her beloved's hand.

Emerald eyes turned to Shizuru. "I won't do more than question her and try to stall her here while Koji and Hiroshi get the hard work done. Kenta, you make sure you stay out of sight. If we keep her in the city, we can keep an eye on her and keep her distracted, so she doesn't find out that she's being investigated."

"I can keep out of sight, no problem. Nao's been showing me places that Sakura would never think to look for me," Kenta assured her.

"Oh, so you haven't been to the motorcycle track yet?" Natsuki asked.

"They have that?" The blond was ready to jump up, but Nao's hand on his thigh kept him in his seat. "Damn it, I would've loved that, but that's the first place she'll look for me."

"It'll be fine, as long as she doesn't find you. She might not have anybody now, but once she finds you, who knows who she might call to drag you back," Natsuki warned her brother.

"It's all right. I'll stick close to him," Nao vowed, smiling to make it seem like it was no big deal. "Keep him out of trouble."

"All right, so, we have to get in touch with Koji and Hiroshi and we should be fine. They'll get to the bottom of this. We'll find out what she's up to, how far along she is with this plan, and then we'll know just where to get her," Natsuki said.

They all agreed and then had a pretty normal dinner. Shizuru and Natsuki found out how Nao and Kenta were spending their time and enjoying each other's company. Underneath all of the pleasantries, Shizuru was concerned for her spouse. She was not sure if Natsuki should be getting involved in anything beyond her normal duties as headmistress. But, she realized that this had to with Natsuki's duties as princess of Saxas and sister to Kenta. Of course, that did not help set her at ease.

On the way home, walking hand-in-hand, Shizuru did have to ask about it. "Natsuki, are you sure you should be doing this?"

Giving her lover a sidelong glance, Natsuki smiled a bit. "I can handle a little questioning and stalling, babe. It's the least I can do. It's nothing dangerous. My brothers have all the fun stuff to do."

"Okay, but if it is all right with Natsuki, I would like to be present when she speaks with Sakura."

"Of course, baby. That's no trouble at all. I'm sure you'll feel a lot better when you see you're worrying about nothing."

Shizuru smiled. She was sure it was nothing, but she wanted to make sure. The baby could not handle the strain if it did end up being a bother or somehow stressful, so if Sakura became a handful, she could easily escort the whiny princess out of the office and off of school grounds.

The first meeting with Sakura went as expected. She came into the office with all the force of a monsoon, demanding to know where Kenta was. Natsuki was not obviously interested in giving up that information. Shizuru came in under the pretext of delivering tea to the principal. Sakura openly sneered at Shizuru when she parked her butt on her usual spot on the edge of the desk and started sipping her tea too.

"Do you mind? We're trying to have a private conversation here," Sakura huffed, glaring at the Graceful Amethyst.

"I do mind. This is usually the time I have tea with my beloved. If anything, you're intruding," Shizuru commented before taking a small sip of her beverage.

"Natsuki," Sakura growled.

The principal shrugged helplessly. "You of all people should know that Krugers are controlled by their wives. I can't stop her from doing anything."

"Fine. I will come see you another time then when you're ready to be serious about helping me. For all you know, your brother could be dead in the streets and you do not seem to care!" Sakura snorted, curling her lip as if disgusted with the emerald-eyed Otome.

"Kenta can take care of himself. He doesn't need you to hold his hand and he doesn't need you to push your dreams onto him," Natsuki replied calmly. Her face betrayed nothing going on inside of her, but she watched as Sakura bristled for less than a second.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, thinking that was an odd phrase for Natsuki to use. She stood and then suddenly Natsuki followed suit.

"I would prefer to walk you out myself," the headmistress decided.

Shizuru arched an eyebrow to that, but eye contact with Natsuki let her know that it was part of some plan. Unfortunately, Natsuki had not shared that part of the plan with her. Shizuru tagged along as they started toward the front gate of the school. They took a very roundabout way to the front gate without a word being said between them. As they went by, students waved and greeted the Headmistress and the Deputy Headmistress. Shizuru understood that this was a message to Sakura for her to see and know that she was in Natsuki's element now.

The zigzag path to the exit was to confuse Sakura, just in case. Natsuki was the cautious type, so she did not want Sakura to figure out the fast way to anywhere on campus. She also knew that Sakura was not as observant about directions and locations as she was with people; it just was not a skill focused on in royal courts.

"I will see you again, Natsuki," Sakura declared, saying the name with a sneer and without any respect.

"Please, do come again. I should like to speak with you when you're ready to act maturely," Natsuki remarked.

Sakura glared at the principal before storming out of the gate and off of school grounds. Natsuki rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Shizuru. The brunette breathed a sigh of relief and took her wife's hand in hers.

"What do you make of this, Natsuki?" Shizuru asked.

"She's not an idiot. She's here to find Kenta and keep his mouth shut and getting him back home as soon as she can. I just need to distract her and off-balance as best I can," Natsuki replied.

"I don't want Natsuki getting into trouble."

"I know, babe. I'm not going to do anything crazy. I won't even press her about her plot to take over the government. I'll just try to keep her busy from finding Kenta."

Shizuru did not argue that one. It seemed safe enough. Still, she showed up whenever Sakura wanted to meet with Natsuki. The meetings did not last long because Sakura was not willing to talk much in front of Shizuru and she also did not seem interested in answering any questions that Natsuki had. Each day Sakura left more and more frustrated.

"Shizuru, babe," Natsuki said after Sakura fled the campus for the fourth time since arriving about a week ago.

"Yes?" the Third Column inquired as they started the walk back.

"I think for the next meeting, it should just be me and Sakura," Natsuki proposed.

"Natsuki, sweetheart…"

"I know you're going to worry, but we're not getting anywhere with this. I know I said I just wanted to stall her, but I can't even keep her here for ten minutes on bullshit because she acts like her words are too important for your ears. Let's just try it a couple of times and see what happens. Okay?"

"Natsuki…" Shizuru trailed off, not wanting to agree or disagree just yet.

"Baby, it's only questions and believe me, she's not going to try to attack me. She doesn't have that in her and even if she did, she knows I would kick her ass. So, you really don't need to worry about it."

Shizuru sighed. "I'm overreacting, aren't I?" she inquired with some shame in her voice.

"No, I know you're worried about me and about our treasure. I'm flattered by it, really. I just don't want you to stress yourself out over something that's not too serious. I can handle Sakura. I don't want you to worry about it."

Shizuru nodded. "I'll think about it."

For Natsuki, that was enough. With as protective as Shizuru was lately, she felt fortunate for a wishy-washy "I'll think about it." She figured that she would just work with that and try to make it work in her favor.


Sakura was certain that Natsuki was hiding Kenta somewhere on those school grounds. She had not found him anywhere in the city, even though from what she gathered, there had been sightings of him. Apparently, he was wandering around the city with some redheaded woman. There was talk that the redhead was an Otome; maybe even a powerful one. Sakura was not interested in any of that. All she wanted to do was find her husband and get him back home before he did anything drastic.

She needed to get into that school and look around to locate her husband. She needed someone to help with that. She decided to get in contact with some of her people and explain her requirements. Someone would be able to point her in the right direction or even get her what she needed, she was sure of that. Until then, she would continue to meet with Natsuki and try to find her idiot spouse before he did anything that could cost her dearly.

The next time Sakura went up to Garderobe, she tried her best to spot Kenta before being taken to Natsuki's office. Nowhere was there a spiky blond head to be found and Sakura growled as she walked the usual routine to the office. When she entered the office, she took the seat in front of Natsuki's desk. Natsuki was finishing up with a phone call and turned her attention to the visitor right after.

"So, Sakura, nice to see you again. Have you been enjoying your stay in Windbloom? The capital is a very beautiful city," Natsuki pointed out.

Sakura frowned. "There are too many people, it's too loud, too hot, and not green enough. This city is awful, but I suppose someone who's practically a foreigner to her own country would think it's beautiful," she snapped.

"I disagree. I think a close-minded, ignorant sociopath would only consider things from her homeland to be beautiful. If you can't see beauty in other places, you're only going to make yourself miserable."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Let's be serious, Natsuki. We both know you don't have enough brains to fill a thimble, so you couldn't possibly appreciate beauty. Not to mention, you're practically a man and they definitely don't have an eye for beauty. Why don't you cut off your breasts and call it a day?"

"I dunno, Shizuru's pretty fond of my breasts," Natsuki remarked with a smart-ass smirk. She could not believe that she actually said that, but she enjoyed upsetting the harpy.

"You are quite the disgusting thing. Is this why you're hiding Kenta? You want to turn him into a bigger disgrace than you are to make yourself look better by comparison?" the accusation was made so smoothly that it was like Sakura believed it.

"Since I don't see myself as a disgrace, I wouldn't have to do that. I'm not hiding Kenta," Natsuki stated. Nao's the one hiding him. And she's doing a damn good job of it.

The Fourth Column had taken it upon herself to hide Kenta without forcing him underground. She was just showing him the "unseen" parts of the city. They mostly hung out at night now. Natsuki was impressed by Nao's actions, not that she said as much. In fact, all she said to Nao was "don't rape my brother" and sent them on their way. Of course, Nao sneered and snapped back that she would do whatever she damn well pleased. Shizuru had witnessed the whole exchange and seemed to be holding back laughter as it went on.

"I'm sure he's cowering somewhere around here," Sakura spat, eyes scanning the office and looking repulsed with everything.

"I try not to keep men on the campus too long. They distract the girls," Natsuki stated. Teenage girls, no matter how intelligent and driven, could be distracted by some of the smallest things, like just seeing a man on campus, even if they knew who he was. It was just something out of the norm, so it was enticing.

Sakura's eyes rolled again. "Ah, yes, your little depraved homosexual farm. Do all the girls here service you or is it just your so-called wife?"

"No, just her so-called wife," Shizuru remarked as she entered the office with her cart, complete with tea and cakes. Natsuki smiled while Sakura scowled. The Third Column chuckled. "If any of the other girls even thought to service my dearest, well, it would be a very bad thing…"

"Very bad," the headmistress repeated with an elaborate shudder.

Shizuru then went through the motions of preparing Natsuki's tea and leaving her pregnant spouse a snack. She then surprised Sakura by leaving. Sakura watched the door, waiting for the ruby-eyed female to come back, but that never happened.

"So, Sakura, what do you think made Kenta leave anyway?" the principal inquired curiously before sipping her tea.

"I suspect he has flights of fancy about being with some other woman," Sakura replied, tilting her head slightly, almost as if being smug.

"Kenta doesn't typically meet women. And I have to say, we Krugers are usually pretty inept around them. So, what makes you think that?"

"We argued because I found letters."

Natsuki shrugged. "I write letters all the time. Some of them to women. Shizuru has yet to cut my head off for cheating."

"I wouldn't be surprised what sort of things you and yours accept. You should know it's improper for Kenta to privately communicate with any women. It's disgraceful."

"Trust me, he could do worse things than write letters. But, you want me to believe that Kenta had it out with you and then ran off to be with another woman? Where did he even have time to meet another woman? Weren't you two connected at the spine the moment he whimpered something that could be mistaken for 'I do'?" She sipped her tea, continuing to be as cool as ever.

"Natsuki, I do not have to sit here and take this interrogation. I know you know where Kenta is, so tell me where you're hiding him now," Sakura demanded, growling at the end of her sentence.

"I'm not hiding him and talking to me like that isn't going to get you anywhere. I want you to be serious with me, Sakura. Kenta was prepared to stick it out with you, no matter how horrible it was because he is honorable and he understands how it helps our homeland, so why did he suddenly leave you?" Natsuki inquired once again.

"He's allowing some foreign girl to poison his mind. If you don't tell me where he is, I'll just tell your parents that you're withholding the information, hiding him, and also trying to assist him in breaking his marriage vows to me for some foreign bitch with no breeding," Sakura hissed.

"You can tell them whatever you want. That doesn't make it true," Natsuki pointed out. Of course, that would not stop her parents from harassing her, but she supposed she would have to deal with it if it came to that.

"They'd think it was true," she stated, looking smug again. While she knew her in-laws did not care for her much, she knew that she could get them to believe her when it came to their children. After all, they knew how foolhardy their offspring could be.

The principal laughed. "They can think whatever they want. That doesn't make it true. Why didn't you say something to them in the first place?"

"I did not want to worry them over the matter. They are busy with other matters, after all."

Natsuki nodded, more to herself than anything else. She was a bit surprised that Sakura knew about Nao, but she was not surprised that her sister-in-law worked out a story to tell already. She was suspicious about why Sakura did not contact her parents yet because that would have been the move to get Kenta back quickly. That led her to believe that what Kenta was talking about was probably going to happen soon. Sakura was preparing to take what she wanted; it was not Sakura just thinking out loud and dreaming big as Kenta had assumed at first.

Sakura leveled a heated glare at the headmistress. "Natsuki, I am going to get my husband back. I promise you this. By any means necessary. So, why don't you save us the trouble and tell me where he is," she stated in a deadly calm voice.

The Otome was not moved by the tone. "I don't know where he is and even if I did, I don't think I would tell you at this point. I don't like your attitude."

"Then I guess there's nothing more to discuss," Sakura said, doing her best to remain composed.

"No, I guess not," the ebony-haired woman concurred.

Natsuki walked her sister-in-law to the gate as always. Sakura made another appointment before leaving, obviously still hell-bent on finding her insubordinate spouse. At this point, she was ready to beat Natsuki upside the head for hiding him, but she knew that would not do any good.

When Sakura got back to her hotel, she found that she had good news waiting. Someone that would be able to get her into Garderobe and help her poke around was waiting for her. All she had to do was meet the person at a café down the street. She smiled because something was finally going her way. Now, she would get Natsuki out of the way, find that idiot Kenta, and continue on with her life as a rising star…in her mind at least.


Next time: Sakura has a meeting that raises the stakes in this whole thing.