"I believe I'll find a better place to fall asleep. Maybe she will save me in the oceans of her dream, maybe someday long."

Disclaimer: Mai HiME is still property of Sunrise, although they don't do anything with this right anymore -.-

Chapter 10: Wrong

The clouds had silently vanished within the later hours of the night. The moon now illuminated the otherwise dark room through the wide-open window. Two pairs of green eyes were staring at the ceiling where the shadows of the wafting trees formed abstract shapes, dancing along the wild rhythm of the nightly breeze. Although the girls had said their goodnights a while ago none of them was sleeping by now. But being completely wrapped up in thoughts, they didn't bother speak a word.

Eventually, the sleep-loss forced the raven-haired girl to let go of the question marks in her head and pulled her into the arms of a much needed slumber. The changing of breathing did not go unnoticed by her pink-haired friend. Nao turned her head a bit to get a glimpse of the sleeping figure of her new roommate. The moon was giving away half of the pale face that seemed to be made out of porcelain.

So, you are exhausted after all... But you would never admit that to anyone, right? Always the strong and independent girl... I'm somewhat glad though... Glad to know what kind of person hides behind the strong façade. You're strong, that's true but you're also very vulnerable. I've seen the scars and bruises on your body... I hope that someday you'll let me know where you got all these from. But I won't question you by now. I am not ready to lose you again...

Natsuki sighed in her sleep and turned her face a bit. It was now fully visible in the dim moonlight.mSo beautiful... Nao couldn't help her thoughts. It felt awkward and she didn't know why she always had to think of her older friend as such a sight for sore eyes but something deep inside seemed to be off ever since she stumbled into the black-haired girl a few days ago. Thinking of the funny image in the hallway, a smile crossed her lips. What a weird way to meet after such a long time... Falling on top of her was probably the best coincidence that happened during the last years. Her face suddenly got a bit serious when her mind started to dig deeper. Falling on top of her... Falling... Again her eyes wandered to the now fully visible face of Natsuki. Nao's eyes were tracing along the line of the older girl's cheekbone, stopping instinctively at the rosy lips. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. The silence and the soft white moonlight framed a perfect picture of serenity. With time her eyelids became heavy and when she just entered the strange area of 'almost-asleep' her eyes suddenly shot open again by hearing the muffled screams of her roommate. She was on her feet within a second, directly jumping at the side of the raven-haired girl's bed, who was wildly tossing and turning. Nao could tell that Natsuki must have a nightmare and figured that she had to wake the poor girl. Furrowing her brow as if being in pain, Natsuki was mumbling some unconnected syllables.

"Stay..." and "...can't be real..." was all that Nao could make out from the sounds. When she was just about to reach out for face of the older girl to calm her and tear her out of her nightmare, Natsuki suddenly screamed.

"SHIZURU! NO!"

Nao, being shocked to the bone, pulled her hand back in an instant.

Shizuru? Who the hell is Shizuru? She can't possibly mean that new stuck-up Kaichou Fujino...

But before she could give it a second thought, she was torn out of her thoughts by the heavy struggling in front of her. She finally grabbed Natsuki at her shoulders and started to shake her softly back and forth.

"Natsuki," she whispered. "Wake up, you're having a nightmare."

At first, it didn't seem to work at all, but when she shook a bit harder her best friend slowly found her way back into reality.

"Huh? What happened?" The raven-haired girl blinked at her with tired eyes, obviously not knowing what was going on.

"Hush. It's okay. You had a nightmare." Nao said, while placing her hand at Natsuki's cheek.

The older girl shrugged under the contact but soon relaxed, when she realized it was her childhood friend. It took a while to fully understand her surroundings, but the sight of Nao helped her to believe that this was at least somehow real.

"Ne, Natsuki..." The younger one started with a low voice.

"What is it?" came the irritated response.

Nao was still kneeling in front of Natsuki's bed, not sure if she should go back into her own or just stay there a little longer.

"Nothing. I go back to sleep then."

Natsuki turned away facing the ceiling, saying nothing at all and so Nao stood up and walked back into the direction of her bed.

"I think they're back..." Natsuki suddenly said to Nao's back.

"Who?" The pink-haired one didn't turn around as she whispered into the night air.

"The nightmares... " The black-haired one said, sounding a little flustered.

Nao still didn't turn around. She just stood very still and waited for her friend to go on, which Natsuki eventually did.

"I mean, I am not sure since this was the first one I've had in a very long time, but it felt exactly like the nightmares I had back in the Orphanage. You could almost say it feels somehow... nostalgic."

The girl with the lime-green eyes remained silent when she turned around and started walking towards the bed again. She made gesture with her hand that Natsuki didn't really understand at first.

"Move," Nao suddenly said to make clear what she meant.

"Huh?"

"You understood me just fine."

"You gotta be kidding me." Natsuki was obviously taken aback. "No fucking way."

"Oh come on you little sissy. You can't afford to waste anymore sleep and if I remember correctly this always helped you falling asleep quickly after you had one of your nightmares."

"We were kids! I am sixteen now."

"And still having the same nightmares... So it shouldn't make a difference."

Natsuki just huffed and crossed her arms and so Nao went on.

"You have to admit it... you're a cuddle-bear after all. Always the cute little puppy." Nao just couldn't resist teasing her precious friend. She knew that it would ease the mood.

"Am not..." Natsuki responded with her sweetest pouting face.

"So?" Nao said in a bold voice while coming closer with her face.

"Fine!" was the grumbled answer before the older girl made room by turning away, bringing herself as far away from the edge of the bed as she could, her face only inches away from the wall.

Nao slid under the sheets and didn't waste any more time on words or thoughts. She just instinctively encircled the waist of the raven-haired girl and pulled her close. A burning heat instantly started to ignite when their bodies met and their hearts started to beat in the same wild rhythm. The pink-haired girl could feel that her older friend stiffened right away but she also didn't want to let go. She just hoped that Natsuki would relax after she got used to the sudden closeness and as soon as the heat started to fade the older girl calmed down a bit. Nao was overly thankful that they had decided to leave the window open to catch some of the fresh night air. Otherwise she would have possibly melted under the radiating heat. But now, she had her hand comfortably rested on Natsuki's abdomen and was more than amazed about the muscles she could feel.

"Someone sure has been working out lately," she said while slowly moving her fingers up and down.

Natsuki panted slightly under the teasing before she started to growl at her.

"Oi! It's one thing to force me into sleeping in one bed with another girl, but it's another to actually take advantage of my kindness!"

"Sorry, my bad. I thought you would like it." Nao grinned.

"What?!" Natsuki shot up into a seating position. "You better go back to your bed!"

"Relax. I was joking." She pulled her friend back onto the mattress, lying face to face now. She could see that she had crossed the line and sighed. "I'm sorry."

Natsuki just huffed, stating that she was still mad.

"I really didn't mean to upset you. What I said is true though. Your muscles are quite impressive." Nao bluntly stated.

The older girl was still pouting but her face relaxed a bit under the compliment. Nao brought her hand up to Natsuki's face but the older girl shrugged again.

"What? Am I not allowed touching you anymore?"

"I don't know if it's appropriate... We aren't kids anymore." The respond sounded a bit embarrassed.

"What? Who told you that nonsense?"

Natsuki suddenly avoided the eye-contact.

"Look at me Natsuki." She cupped the face of the raven-haired one. "It's okay. You had a nightmare and I am here to comfort you... as your friend. You're not alone anymore. I know it has been quite a while, but I am still as comfortable around you as ever." She made a pause and slowly stroke through Natsuki's black strands. "Does it feel wrong?"

Natsuki slightly shook her head.

"See." Nao smiled and embraced her childhood-friend. "You don't have to put on an act around me... By the way... I've missed you a lot." She whispered and to her amazement Natsuki buried her face into Nao's hair as a silent reply.

"But don't think this will become a habit." Natsuki suddenly said in a defending voice.

"Of course not." Nao instantly responded. Blunt lie! Hihi... After a few minutes of just comfortably listening to the breathing of her older friend, Nao couldn't help but asking the one question that was burning on her mind.

"Care to tell me about that Shizuru-person, who haunts you in your dreams?"

Natsuki brought up her head and looked at her younger friends with puzzled eyes.

"You were screaming her name during your nightmare."

"Was I?" The raven-haired girl seemed to be completely confused. So, she was the person in my dream... I only vaguely remember some images. It felt so real. As if I had been really there.

Nao nodded back becoming even more suspicious when she saw how hard Natsuki was thinking and the raven-haired girl eventually noticed the questioning look of her younger friend.

"I only met her this morning. I believe she was the one who took me to the infirmary. I'm still not sure though, since I was unconscious."

"Okay now, what happened this morning?" Nao was a bit too serious now and Natsuki decided it was for the best to tell her about her morning meeting.

"Fine. I had an appointment with an old friend this morning for getting my bike back. That you already know." She made a short pause. "And on my way back I got somehow lost in the woods, tumbling into this amazing place full of flowers." Her eyes were sparkling by thinking back of the image and Nao didn't know what to make out of it.

"The rose garden," she assumed.

"I guess so. That's where I met her."

"So, you really meant that Fujino-girl." Nao was a bit shocked about Natsuki's story.

"Yeah, I think she said her name is Shizuru Fujino. You know her? Is she a friend of yours?"

"Are you nuts? I would never be friends with such a stuck-up bitch. Especially not now, when she just became the new student-council president," the pink-haired girl said harshly.

"Student-council president... She didn't seem stuck-up at all...," Natsuki replied.

"Well, good for you." Nao's voice had become quite annoyed.

"Oi, what's wrong all of a sudden?"

"Nothing. I just don't like rich girls like her, living a perfect life in a huge house with caring parents. Their family has enough money to buy the whole academy and she always acts without flaws. She has an enormous fan club following her around and is never too busy to give a smile to everyone."

"Really? She was all alone when I met her..." Silently crushing flowers, while feeling unobserved.

Nao again noticed that Natsuki was deep in thoughts and somehow it bugged her.

"She must have left quite an impression on you if you're already dreaming of her," she said in a sharp voice.

"What's your problem? First of all, it was a nightmare and second, I don't have control over my dreams. If I had, I would make them disappear." Natsuki replied just as coldly, not getting the mood of her younger friend at all.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a bit mad at myself for not being there when you passed out but that carefree and perfect Kaichou."

"I actually don't think that she's carefree." Natsuki said in an unreadable voice.

"Why? What did she tell you?" Nao was getting slightly upset again.

"Nothing. I guess... I am just intrigued... "

"Intrigued?" Silence filled the room. "Intrigued by what?" The pink-haired girl looked at her black-haired friend with hard eyes.

"Intrigued by her."

A/N: I know this was supposed to explain what happened in the rose garden but somehow I got caught up in this moment and so I had to postpone the Shizuru with passed-out Natsuki rose garden scene to the next chapter. Be nice and don't hate me for it^^