Passages, Chapter Ten
Okay. Who are these 'thirteen' year olds who keep writing NatShiz porn? Get off the Internet, you're too young.
In my life, there are not a lot of people that I can hands down say that I would trust. I'm not a trusting person. It doesn't come easily to me.
Most of the people who call themselves my friends know that they have to work long and hard to actually get close to me. Shizuru worked the longest - and I can never seem to repay her enough for loving me just for being me.
First District and Searrs tried to rip that love away from me in its infancy. I would have none of it.
I'm sick of people looking at me oddly, telling me that it is unnatural for a woman of my years to not have a steady man in my life.
I don't want a man.
People at the engineering school don't get a woman working her way through their ranks almost as much as they fail to understand my complicated love life.
I honestly don't think it to be that complicated a story. I simply go from one place to the next with the practiced precision of one who knows me. I have friends, and they accept me for who I am; but no one outside of a select group of individuals really knows me.
I like it that way.
If someone knew me the way they did, I would be scared for my self. I am a private person, Shizuru, Mai, any of my friends, really, would be the first to tell you that.
I only really open up to two people.
Shizuru, because I have to. She'd know if I was not completely honest with her, its one of those strange sixth-senses that she's developed through years of knowing me all too well.
I want to think that she returns the favor, but she's so closed that I sometimes can't tell what she's thinking. So often my indicators are just a twitch of the lip of a smile that means something that the previous one did not. Reading Shizuru is a lot like reading a book in English. I know that I should be able to do it, and I've had lots of training in the subject - but when it comes down to it, I get performance anxiety and all that comes out is a mush of gibberish that might make sense of a psychologist, but not to me.
The most aggravating part is that Shizuru will then smile that closed little smile of her's and I'm stuck trying to figure out what she's laughing at.
It almost never works.
Despite all of her misgivings, I love that about Shizuru. I love that she's still a puzzle that I have to work my way through - even if she is an exceedingly aggravating one.
Nao is my other puzzle. The one that I've solved enough times to be sure that I can put the pieces together no problem. Nao hates that I can read her so easily, but it's her own fault, really.
She's not that complex a person.
She's become something like a little sister to all of us since the Carnival. Her mother woke from the coma she'd been in since Nao's primary school days and wanted nothing to do with the young woman her little girl had grown up into.
Nao came crying to me about the injustice of it all, and I could do nothing for her but support her in any way I could.
She's a broken doll sometimes, that needs to be cared for.
More than even Mikoto, Nao has become all of our little sister since the end of the carnival. We take care of her; make sure that she's not getting into trouble.
Me more than anyone else.
She was right, that night when she told us that we were the same. We are the same, we have the same sort of odd humor that no one else understands, and the same jaded outlook on the world.
She's just more bitter than I am about, well, everything.
I try to take care of her, because I know she's bound to get into trouble some time. I have to watch her; she's too precious to everyone, too central to this great plot that we're somehow a part of.
Nao played a far greater role than anyone expected in the carnival, and we all realized that it was because none of us saw her as a real, creditable threat - just a girl with nothing to lose and a whole lot of bones to pick.
Nothing out of the ordinary, really.
Still, I have to protect her, from everyone, but mostly from herself.
There are only so many chemicals you can put into your body before something rebels.
Five Years Later.
Natsuki took her bike into work for the first time the following morning. She needed the excuse to ride her bike and the morning drive would give her a chance to think things through; as she and Shizuru were walking on thin ice.
Natsuki hated it when they fought. It was always about the stupid, inconsequential things.
Like Natsuki's continuing friendship with Nao.
She needed the ride, for it was something that she could channel all of her attention into something that was not fretting about the fact that she'd managed to piss Shizuru off quite spectacularly with only five misplaced words.
She couldn't keep doing this to herself.
She kicked the bike into a higher gear and gunned the engine. She could do this.
She was old enough that she could tell her underlings to lay off when she wore leather pants and rode a motorcycle to work. Brand disloyalty was everything in the company, but Natsuki knew that she would be blowing more mindless salarymens' brains with the concept that she was even riding a bike to work.
Let alone the leather pants.
Most of her co-workers suspected that she was just another stuffed shirt from a high-ranking college in Kyoto.
This should show them.
There was a grim satisfaction in Natsuki's actions, because she knew better than most what it felt like to wear a mask of the 'bad girl' that seemed to so fascinate her coworkers.
Still, she looked more like one of the motorcycle models than the woman who designed them in this get up.
What the fuck was she thinking?
Her secretary was busy filing when she got into the office, and Natsuki tossed her jacket onto the back of the spare chair in her office along with her helmet before settling down to contemplate exactly what her next move would be.
They were in the middle of setting the parameters around which their 'bikes could run - to comply with Japan's newest set of emissions standards. Natsuki was well-versed in electrical mechanics, and she could not understand, for the life of her, why they did not simply go electric all together.
It was far more economical for most of their customers to run electronic machines; and with the persistent lack of oil in the world, the gas prices were not making it easy for their target demographic to afford their product.
The advertising department had been all over this, and marketing did not know how to solve this problem.
They were stuck.
Natsuki tipped her chair backwards and let the file come to rest on her nose. There had to be a logical way to do this. The company's CEOs, along with most of the shareholders (mostly Americans, that could have been the problem), wanted nothing to do with the potential of creating a 'green product.' So far, the proposals to switch over to hybrid technology had been shot down completely.
Natsuki was quite at a loss as to what to do.
Her office phone chirped and her secretary's brisk voice came over the intercom, "Miss Kuga? There is a Nao Yuuki on the phone for you, to confirm your lunch time appointment?"
Natsuki leaned over and hit the speak button on the phone, "Put her through."
The phone was silent for a few seconds, and then it rang once more. Natsuki picked it up and waited for the tell-tale click of her secretary hanging up before speaking, "You confirm appointments now?"
"No, it was just that you and Fujino seemed to be on thin ice last night. Is this a good idea?" Nao sounded distracted.
"How the fuck did you pick up on that, we hadn't even fought yet." Natsuki demanded.
"Oh, Kuga, I'm unnaturally perceptive." Nao laughed, and then the sound was muffled. Nao was speaking to someone else; most likely barking at them for bothering her while she was on the phone.
Such behavior was typical of Nao at work.
"Sorry about that, you wouldn't believe the amount of bullshit that goes on in this place on a day to day basis." Nao sighed, "Look, I'm not risking my skin for a free meal if Fujino decides that today is the day that she finally snaps and kills me for real."
Natsuki's face fell. She'd been rather looking forward to pouring her heart out to Nao. The redhead had grown up to be a spectacular listener as long as you were willing to return the favor. "We do sort of have to have this conversation."
"Only as the organization dictates and I've been clean for years, Kuga. Missing meeting isn't going to kill us." Nao's tone suggested that there was no room for negotiation on this matter. She was not about to risk having anything happen to her, Natsuki guessed, not after all that she'd been through to ensure that that never happened again.
"Nao." Natsuki tried not to sound too annoyed.
"I'm not risking it. Not even for you, Kuga." Natsuki could picture the redhead's determinedly stubborn face and the fact that she was most likely pouting seemed to do nothing to deter Natsuki from asking, once again, if she'd perhaps reconsider.
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. Nao was clearly shocked that she would persist. Natsuki wasn't really the type to do something like that.
Theirs was more of a friendship of convenience.
"I'm coming to get you." Natsuki said shortly, grabbing her keys and standing up. "Be ready."
She wished that she had some way of ordering Nao around, for it would make her life so much easier if she did. Theirs was a relationship that did not require such controls - even though there were times when both of them wished they could have such control.
Natsuki was just used to taking the crap.
Now she wanted to give it back.
Shizuru would never hurt Nao, not any more, not since that night. They were complete now, and Nao had nothing to do with them.
She was just the added baggage of an event that should have been long forgotten.
"I'm going out." Natsuki said shortly to her secretary and the small man jumped. She was usually a lot nicer to her staff, but today she was in a foul mood to begin with and Nao was trying to avoid her. "Hold my calls."
"How long to you plan on being gone?" The man called after her.
Natsuki gave an overly-dramatic shrug of her shoulders.
How the fuck do I know?
Nao was waiting. For what she did not know, but she knew that it would have to come sooner rather than later - just because of the nature of how these things happened to her. Kuga was pissed at her for not wanting to have their usual weekly meet-up, but Nao was not taking any chances.
If Fujino was angry, even the slightest wrong move on Kuga's part could send her into a frenzy the likes of which had not been seen for nearly fifteen years.
After last night, Nao realized that Fujino could still summon her element and the thought of having to fight with her was even more terrifying.
Fujino could have won the carnival.
Everyone knew it, but no one talked about it. Nao was just the odd man out, stating what was on everyone's minds so that they did not have to.
She hated playing that role.
The roar of a motorcycle caught her ears and Nao looked up from the pavement she'd been studying.
It made sense, the one day that Kuga broke her unbreakable routine would be the day the world came to an end and dissolved into chaos.
It was so typical of Kuga.
The motorcycle skidded to a halt in front of Nao and she found herself with a helmet shoved in her hands, "Get on." Kuga growled.
Nao stood there for a minute, staring at Kuga and wondering what exactly it was that was bothering her so much that she had to practically force this conversation. "That bad, huh?" She muttered, shoving the helmet onto her head. She was thankful that Kuga had finally bought another helmet. She'd spend a good portion of her youth terrified that she was going end up with her head split open on the pavement.
It seemed that Fujino had finally talked some sense into Kuga.
Took long enough.
Nao climbed into the back of the bike, suddenly very conscious that wearing a skirt to work had not been the best idea this morning, and grabbed Kuga around the waist.
There was a certain level of closeness that existed between the two of them, a forbidden level of their friendship that Nao refused to admit and Kuga did not acknowledge.
That was a can of worms that no one wanted open.
Nao hung on her life as Kuga navigated the streets of the city with little respect to the traffic laws or anything else for that matter. She had a destination in mind, obviously, and she needed to get there before everything was too late.
Kuga pulled into a side alley and was soon racing though what appeared to be one of those half-constructed 'green' buildings that were popping up all over the place. Nao hated to think just how a building could be green, as she knew how expensive they were to construct in relationship of a regular building.
Out of nowhere came a white-hot bold of energy and Kuga swerved to miss it. Over the roar of the motorcycle's engine, Nao could hear the woman swear loudly. They skidded to the left and Nao watched as the seeming-fireball knocked out three of the support beams for the floor above them.
Everything creaked ominously.
They slowed and peered through the gloom, "What was that?" Nao asked hesitantly, knowing that the chances of something bad happening were very high. It was always in places like this that bad things happened.
"Midori said that the attacks would begin again." Kuga mumbled, reaching behind her, in-between their two bodies to pull what appeared to be a handgun out from her waistband. Nao tried to back away, for she did not want to descend into the level of inappropriate touching and Nao was not prepared to risk that. She clicked the safety off and cocked the gun, expertly loading a bullet into the chamber.
"Is this really an attack?" Nao mused, still looking around.
There was a dull roar and suddenly something very large and ugly pushed forward out from behind a pile of debris and lunged.
"Shit!" Kuga swore and kicked the bike into gear once more. The tires squealed and the smell of burnt rubber filled their noses.
Nao coughed and struggled to hang on. Kuga was a genius on a 'bike alone, but with a passenger it was hard for her to keep up the level of control that she boasted while riding alone. "Should I get off?" Nao shouted into Kuga's helmet, not sure if the words would make it through the thick plastic.
Kuga said nothing but gunned the engine further.
Nao took it as a sign to get off.
As Kuga drove around a particularly nasty-looking pile of bent metal and scraps of wood, Nao allowed herself to fall backwards off of the motorcycle, her claws extending as the monster surged forward. She closed her eyes and allowed pure instinct to take over; she hadn't, and yet she had, been doing this for ages.
The monster, neither of them was ready to call it an Orphan, skidded to a halt, confused as to why its single target suddenly had become two.
Nao took the opportunity to lunge forward, her claws slicing through the tender flesh of the creature's underbelly. She tucked into a roll and dove out of the way as it roared and lurched towards her; flailing in pain.
"Kuga!" She shouted, peering around through a haze of red hair that had fallen into her eyes. Her helmet must have fallen off when she attacked.
She could not see the motorcycle, or its driver, anywhere.
The monster roared loudly once more and moved in a strange sort of scuttling motion, trying to figure out where its quarry had gone. It did not seem particular fazed by the fact that it's innards were now dropping down onto the floor from the gash that Nao had made in it's underbelly.
Nao certainly noticed, however; for they smelled like rotten eggs and all other sorts of unmentionable things that Nao would have preferred to never have to smell again.
It was the smell of the Orphans – the stench of rotting flesh and decay. The smell that had haunted Nao's dreams for almost as long as the dead eyes of Fujino.
She cursed.
The monster was rolling into action once more. Scuttling from right to left as it tried to find a way of movement that did not aggravate its wounds; the monster began to make a loud hissing noise that set the hair on the back of Nao's neck straight up. Nao backed up, trying to fall into the shadows as instinct dictated, but there were no shadows here. Only bare concrete and nowhere to go.
Nao gulped. The monster was pressing forward once more, its claws moving through the air far faster than Nao was prepared to dodge them.
She had to work quickly.
A gunshot rang out, and then another.
Figures Kuga'd have a semi. Nao didn't know what kind of gun Kuga carried for the simple reason that she was averse to knowing what exactly Kuga did to 'protect' herself from whatever evils she thought still lurked in the darkness. Certainly not this guy.
The orange-colored flesh to the side of the monster's head exploded in ribbons of flesh, blood and guts. Nao's nose wrinkled, but still the hissing noise the monster was making did not stop. If anything it was getting louder.
"Nao!" Kuga shouted, and the sound confused the wounded and bleeding monster even more. It was preparing for something; Nao could see that, but what she did not know.
It's like a battery.
It has to charge before it can release that energy blast.
Fuck.
Nao threw herself to the side, knowing that she had to get out of the corner she'd backed into. Kuga's gun didn't seem to be doing any major damage and Nao did not want to risk having to claw her way out and around this creature to safety.
Suddenly, the hissing stopped. Nao felt her jaw fall open as the wounded creature before her opened its jaws and let out a shriek that could have woken the dead. Its jaws opened to reveal rows of hideously pointed teeth as its throat worked at something.
Something white, something burning.
Nao's panic grew as she tried to get out of the way of the blast, there was no way to avoid it, but if she could just get around the pile of debris, she might have a chance at surviving. Even as the metal and wood cut into her hands, desperation made her continue forward.
I won't die like this.
She knew what would happen if she did.
Fujino would never forgive her.
Sudden she heard something, a sound that she had not heard in years.
Like one of those children's toys, the tubes that made that noise when you flip them over.
Kuga's guns.