"NATSUKI! Your face!" Mai suddenly blurted out. She was completely shocked at the sight of her friend.
"I know." Natsuki said bluntly as she pointed to her face.
"Zombie face returns, right? It's a long story again."
"Well I'd love to hear it. This one had to be good, better than the last time. I swear Natsuki Kuga I don't know what you're thinking sometimes." Mai frowned as she crossed her arms and heavily sighed with disappointment. Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows and grinded her teeth.
"Well everything seemed to be going fine, that is until we got into the more "hands on approach".
"Oh, I see." Mai said in a sarcastic way.
"JUST LISTEN! But as soon as we started… it took a turn for the worse." Natsuki had begun to explain as to what happened last night between herself and Nao. As Natsuki was telling her story, Mai's face seemed to twist in anguish and disbelief. While listening to her blue-haired friend, Mai began to make boorish sounds; which went well with all the faces she was making. Apparently the way Natsuki was describing what had happened seem to make Mai squirm; in fact it was making her very uncomfortable. Natsuki had looked up for a second when pausing in her story, she happened to take noticed of Mai's unpleasant face.
"What the HELL Mai?" Natsuki yelled out. Mai quickly waved her hands.
"NO NO NO! Natsuki, it's not what you think… honestly. Just the way you're telling me this sounds like you were more in a grudge match than trying to be intimate with someone. I wonder… how does that work between you and Fujino?" Mai questioned as she placed her finger on her chin.
"Shut up! The only reason it sounds that way is because in a way that's what happened. Instead of us trying to be… intimate, we kept fighting each other on what to do. Every time I was trying to do something, Nao did something completely different and we ending up doing that all night. It was really horrible."
"Hmmm." Mai suddenly uttered.
"What is it?"
"Well I think you two don't need to do that at the moment. Besides that the way you do it with Fujino would be different from how you would do it with Nao. The thing is you're both rushing, and you Natsuki I think from what I could tell, is that you were trying the same moves on Nao as you do with Shizuru. And also you guys aren't used to each other's bodies yet; you need to experiment with each other more before you both go any further." Mai spoke to Natsuki in a knowledgeable manner. While she explained Natsuki began to understand what went wrong.
"I think I get it now." Natsuki smiled at her friend.
"Listen Natsuki…"
"Yes?"
"Like I said, it's not important now. Knowing how she feels about you and how you feel about her is enough. Get to know each other better; you have the time now because we are no longer fighting one another."
"I know Mai. Thanks. I really do understand what it is I need to do." Natsuki stated but then let out a tiny sigh.
"I'm going to have to make a decision still. It's not fair to either Shizuru or Nao, and I can't lead anyone on. I know who it is I want… and who I want to give my life for." Mai crossed her arms and stared at her friend. She was wondering of whom Natsuki was speaking of, but she didn't want to pry.
"Well good luck Natsuki, I hope it works out for you and I'm very proud of you. You're finally growing up and making grown up choices and—
"Yeah yeah. Shut up Mai. You're embarrassing me." Mai laughed loudly. She walked over to Natsuki and patted her on the back.
"Relax. You know I can't resist teasing you!" (She's no better than Nao… or Shizuru for that matter. Why do I even bother telling her anything?) Natsuki thought to herself as Mai began to give Natsuki a few light friendly punches to the arm.
"You know what?" Mai said through her laughter.
"What?" Natsuki replied, while rubbing her arm.
"I think you already know who is it you want to be with. It's true someone's heart may get broken but in time that will heal. You need to look forward to your own happiness Natsuki." Mai stated very happily. She tilted her head to the side, noticing Natsuki was looking at her oddly.
"What's up?"
"Nothing at all. I was just thinking how smart you are about relationships." Natsuki said with a smirk.
"Thanks!"
"Makes me wonder, how many relationships you've had that have crashed and burned in order for you to know so much?" Natsuki playfully replied. Mai made a fist and walked up to Natsuki, she struck her the side of her head.
"OWWWWWW! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!"
"SEVERS YOU RIGHT! HOW DARE YOU? AND BESIDES THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! SHOULDN'T YOU BE LOOKING FOR NAO!"
"AHHHH! YOU'RE TOTALLY RIGHT! THANKS FOR REMINDING ME! BYE MAI!" Natsuki shouted back at her red-headed friend as she ran off in a flash. Mai was a bit stunned but quickly brushed it off and chuckled to herself. (Natsuki can be really silly sometimes. Well I'd better get to class; I don't want to start catching Natsuki's bad habit)
Natsuki ran and ran, so fast that she was barely able to catch her breath. She became so winded that she finally slowed down to a stop. She lent up against a near-by tree to catch her breath. The cold in the air didn't help matters much; Natsuki felt a chill run up her body then. She walked around to the other side of the tree. As she walked she felt her foot get caught on something, but before she could react she had already fallen to the ground.
Natsuki quickly looked back to see what she had tripped over but before she can say or do anything, something very heavy had once again struck her on the head.
"DAMMIT KUGA! ARE YOU THAT CLUMSY!"
"NAO!"
"Well who else! How could you trip over a person like that you idiot!"
"GRRR! HOW CAN YOU JUST RANDOMLY STRIKE PEOPLE IN THE HEAD LIKE THAT!"
"KEEP TALKING! AND YOU'LL SEE HOW!" They both bickered back and forth for a while before the two finally calmed downed. Nao lent Natsuki a hand to help her up off the ground. Natsuki brushed herself off. Nao sat back down by the tree, Natsuki soon did the same shortly after.
From raising their voices a few moments ago they quickly went silent. Neither one said a thing; Natsuki glanced over at Nao a few times before clearing her throat, ready to say something.
"Nao…"
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry… about last night again. It's my fault." Nao shook her head, turning toward Natsuki.
"No it wasn't you. Well maybe it was most of you but, it was me too. We keep thinking we know what we want to do and how we should do it but it just ends up like this. And then we either stay up all night or just awkwardly stare at each other and I hate that so much Natsuki." Natsuki could hear the sadness in Nao's voice. She moved closer to her and put her arms around her to comfort her.
"Natsuki…" Nao hushed. Her cheeks turned a light shade of red. Natsuki held Nao close to her and rested her chin on her head.
"We don't have to do those things yet. We just keep rushing into it without knowing for sure what to do. I feel that I rush into it with you because… if I don't then I might lose you…" Nao placed her hand softly in the middle of Natsuki's chest.
"You're an idiot."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you are. You think I'm that type of person, that if you don't sleep with me I'll get rid of you."
"No. That's not what I meant. I meant that you would hate me if I didn't do it. I thought that you would stop loving me." Natsuki spoke as Nao gripped onto her shirt. Natsuki felt her heart skip a beat as Nao did that.
"I could never do that. I will always love you even if we never did those things."
"Then why do you seem like you want to do it always?" Natsuki asked bluntly.
"I thought if I didn't try then you would go back to her. And I know I'm not experienced and I know you and that woman have done it before… I figured if I gave myself to you then you would want me. You would want to be with me… Natsuki. And it just made me so angry knowing that she gets to hold and touch you in that way and I can't, because I'm afraid or shy. I wish I could—
"That's enough Nao."
"Natsuki…" Natsuki cut off Nao because everything she was saying was starting to take a toll on her. She didn't want to be sad in front of the girl she loved, so instead she gazed into Nao's green eyes and kissed her softly on her lips. Natsuki's pulled back after a few seconds and retuned her gaze into Nao's eyes.
"Listen you don't ever have to prove anything to me or feel that you have to compete with Shizuru. This is about me and you nobody else. And if and when we are ready to do that kind of thing we will be ready, and we will know when the time is right. We shouldn't complicate our relationship with this stuff… I'll admit though Shizuru and I have done it a few times…" Natsuki said very unpleasantly. As she said that Nao tightened up her grip on Natsuki's shirt even more.
"At that time I didn't understand why she would want to do it. Then she explained it was her way of showing and expressing her love for me even more. Sometimes I didn't even want to do it; I didn't even like it that much. I only did it because I didn't want to disappoint her or make her sad. I guess you can say I was protecting her."
"I think you were trying to make up for what happened during the Festival." Nao suddenly stated.
"You always blamed yourself for what that psycho did to you that night. But it wasn't your fault Kuga! And you know if it wasn't for me then you—
"SHUT UP! I keep telling you! What happened to me wasn't your fault! Stop blaming yourself! What happened to me that night with Shizuru only happened because of her feelings for me! She held it back so long and that was her opportunity to finally let go and do something about it!" Natsuki shouted angrily at Nao, Nao then pushed herself away from Natsuki and out of her arms. They again sat there in silence, but for a very long time. The coldness in the air got even colder and it began to snow at once.
Natsuki took note of the way Nao was holding herself; she knew she was feeling cold. She took off her jacket and placed it around Nao. Nao looked back only to see Natsuki getting up from the ground and start to walk away. She called out to her.
"KUGA! ARE YOU JUST GOINGTO LEAVE ME HERE! IS THIS HOW YOU'RE GOINGTO TREAT ME?"
"I THOUGHT I WOULD GIVE YOU SOME SPACE!" Natsuki shouted back. Nao grumbled and got up from the ground. She stomped over to Natsuki and wacked her on the head again.
"OWW! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM! AND WHERE THE HELL DO YOU KEEP GETTING ALL THESE BOOKS FROM?" Nao shook her head.
"That's for you to figure out. Anyways it's snowing so take me home. I don't wanna get sick you know." Natsuki growled but quickly agreed to Nao's demands. She couldn't help but say yes to the younger girl, a smiled soon graced Natsuki's face as did Nao's.
They both began to walk over to where Natsuki usually parked her bike. As the couple walked along the path, Natsuki had suddenly grabbed a hold of Nao's hand and held in firmly in her own. Nao was taken aback by this impulsive move made by the blue-haired beauty. Nao simply smiled and held her hand firmly within Natsuki's.
"So, are you doing anything for New Year's?" Natsuki asked.
"No. Why do you ask?" Nao asked suspiciously.
"Would you like to spend New Year's with me?" Natsuki abruptly asked as she started to blush. Nao smiled.
"I would love too!" She said with glee. Nao was very excited at the moment but soon something hit her. She didn't want to bring it up to Natsuki but she knew this wasn't a good idea.
(How can Kuga spend New Year's with me when she's sure to be with Fujino? I know there is no way we can be together… so why is she even suggesting it? I wonder if Kuga really is an idiot, or maybe I should stop smacking her in the head with books)
They finally made it to the motorcycle. Once there Nao got on first and placed her helmet on. Natsuki got on soon after and did the same. As she started up the bike Nao wrapped her arms around Natsuki's waist, as Natsuki revved her engine a thought crossed her mind as well.
(Oh no! I completely forgot about Shizuru! What the hell was I thinking! How am I supposed to spend New Year's with both of them! Oh man I'm such an idiot. Mai was right; I should really start listening to her… DAMMIT!) As Natsuki questioned her absent-mindedness on the situation she had just gotten herself into, she sped off with Nao at a blinding speed.