Disclaimer and Author's Note: Can you believe it? I've made it to a tenth chapter of this story. Thanks again to everyone who's stuck with it so far. Mai and Natsuki are a bit on edge after last night's attack, and that means things are about to change...but what exactly is it that is planned for them?

The copyright notice of this fic stays pretty much the same, though. Mai-HiME still belongs to Bandai and Sunrise, and I'm still writing this for the fun of it.

Day 10 - A Dime a Dozen
Theme #10: Ten

She wants to meet with us now?!

Mai panicked. She didn't expect school director Mashiro Kazahana to meet with her at nine o'clock in the morning. There was barely enough time for her to sleep after last night's Orphan attack, even with Natsuki at her side to comfort her. She learned about the emergency meeting by text message from Akane just a few minutes after she had woken up: "Mashiro-sama wants us to meet at her mansion. Bring Kuga-san and Mikoto-kun, too."

Great. Now I'm going to miss my morning classes again. This is not how I wanted to start my day.

She looked over at Natsuki, who was sprawled out on her bed, still sleeping peacefully. Mai figured she would use a new method to awaken her blue-haired princess. She crawled over to Natsuki's side and kissed her full on the lips, and then whispered, "Good morning, Natsuki. It's time to get up."

Natsuki was slow to rise from the bed, as she was still fighting fatigue from last night. "What time is it?" she said, rubbing her eyes until she could see clearly.

"I think it's eight-thirty," said Mai.

"Damn. That means I'm already late for my art class."

"I say don't even bother with it; you're going to miss it anyway. Besides, we have a meeting with the director at nine."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup. Got the messasge from Akane a little while ago. Don't know what she wants, but if we don't show up, we'll never hear the end of it."

"Fine...I'll get dressed right away."

While Natsuki went to change her clothes, Mai walked over to Mikoto's bed to try to awaken her. Mikoto found it much easier to sleep under pressure than the other two girls. Mai tried the same whisper-in-the-ear method she used on Natsuki, but Mikoto continued to lay there, curled up comfortably in a ball. "Come on, Mikoto! You have to get up!" said Mai, now tugging on the blanket that kept Mikoto warm.

"I'm still tired!" said Mikoto, fighting back with as much effort as possible.

"I'll get you some strawberry shortcake later on if you're good."

Mikoto listened to Mai's offer, and decided to get up from her bed. "Okay," she said. "Where are we going?"

"To Mashiro's place. Come on...Let's go change into our good clothes and get out of here."

Mikoto and Mai took turns using the bathroom to freshen up and put on their school uniforms. Mikoto was anxious to get back to her resting place and have a slice of the cake promised to her, so she calmly walked out the door ahead of Mai and Natsuki, rather than jumping out the window when she had to go somewhere in a hurry. Mai fastened the top button of her shirt and headed toward the front door, where Natsuki stood with her back against the wall. "Are you ready?" she said.

"I've been ready," said Natsuki. "I was waiting for you to finish up."

"You didn't have to do that. I'm a pretty fast runner, you know, so you could have gone on ahead of me."

"Come on, Mai. When was the last time that you and I took a walk together?"

"I see your point," said Mai. "Let's go."

When Natsuki used to walk by herself, she drew the attention of almost every boy and girl on campus on the rare occasions when she chose to show up for class. The students' stares were fixated even more heavily on her now that she was walking hand-in-hand with Mai on their way to the director's mansion. Seeing them together brought out mixed reactions from the crowd, ranging from "Is that red-headed chick her girlfriend?" to "Weren't they fighting each other just a few weeks ago?" None of them knew that the two girls had actually kissed each other, leading all of their chatter to simply be conjecture for the time being.

Mai was accustomed to being the "talk of the town" ever since her wild entry into Fuuka Academy, but had trouble getting used to everyone staring at her. She tried not to stare back at them, but instead kept her eyes on the road ahead, and her hand tightly wrapped around Natsuki's. They eventually reached the front door of Mashiro's elegant Western-style housing complex, which looked large enough to take up its own city block. Mai stepped forward and pressed a button on the side of the front door. "Who is it?" chirped a voice from the other side of the door.

"It's me, Mai. I came over, just like you asked. Natsuki's here with me, too."

"Oh...good, good. Please come in."

The door opened slowly, and the beaming face of Fumi Himeno greeted them as they entered. "Good morning," she said cheerfully. "You're just in time. The meeting is about to start. Right this way, please."

She led Mai and Natsuki into a spacious central room, where Mashiro and several other girls were seated in a circle around a table. Mikoto slid over a few inches to the right and waved the girls over. "I saved a seat for you right here, Mai!" she said.

"Thanks."

They sat down between Mikoto and Midori, separating their hands to avoid hearing further gossip from their current circle. "They called you over here too, Midori-sensei?" asked Mai.

"Yeah, but what can you do?" Midori replied nonchalantly. "I tried asking for a substitute teacher to fill in for my morning history class, but no one wanted to show up, so I canceled it."

"That ought to make a few students happy," said Natsuki.

Fumi took her place behind Mashiro's wheelchair and took a head count of everyone in attendance. "Hmm...I see only ten of you here, but weren't there supposed to be twelve?"

"Yes," said Mashiro. "It appears that Munakata-san and Kikukawa-san are still not accounted for."

"Shiho isn't coming," said Nao Yuuki, ready to fall asleep while still sitting up. "She said something about going to check on that Tate kid, and hasn't returned since seven."

"I see. And what of Kikukawa-san?"

"Yukino's still recovering from her injuries," said Shizuru. "She told me to apologize on her behalf for being unable to show up. The nurse says that it's nothing serious, and she should be up and about by tomorrow."

"Very well," said Mashiro. "Let us get to the matter at hand, shall we?"

Mashiro pointed to a bureau near one of the large windows, and Fumi opened the top drawer to retrieve a slip of paper. "In light of last night's surprise Orphan attack," she said, "it is apparent that we will need to change our patrolling strategy to prevent incidents like this from happening again. Now, I know that we will be unable to keep the campus secure at all times, but it is essential that we stay on guard when the Orphans are most likely to attack. From this point on, we will go on a rotating schedule, with teams of two HiME patrolling the campus after five o'clock in the afternoon."

"Won't this affect our homework and studies?" asked Akane.

"Do not worry. I have discussed this matter with some of the faculty members, and they have agreed not to schedule tests on the days when you conduct your patrols."

Mashiro read a list of names from the paper in her hand, dividing the patrol duties among the ten HiME in attendance. Mondays were given to Akane and Midori. They already had partnership experience as waitresses, so they were both happy to be assigned to one another. Tuedays were assigned to Mikoto and Akira Okuzaki. Though Mikoto and Akira were in the same class, they rarely ever spoke to one another. Akira looked at Mikoto once and turned away, folding her arms over her chest. The Wednesday patrol paired Shizuru with Nao. Shizuru was excited about the prospect of working with a partner, but Nao disagreed. "This whole idea is stupid," she said. "I do my best work alone."

"Come on, Yuuki-kun," said Shizuru. "It can't be that bad."

"You would say that, wouldn't you?"

"I promise I'll be a good girl. You won't get any funny business from me, okay?"

Nao sighed. "Whatever. Just don't get in my way, and I won't hurt you."

Thursday's patrol had Alyssa Searrs teamed up with chapel maiden Yukariko Sanada, a decision that turned quite a few heads. Yukariko had allegedly sworn an oath of non-violence upon her admission into the clergy, while Alyssa was still young and seemed incapable of defending herself. "Does she know something about those two that we don't?" asked Mai.

"Don't look at me," said Natsuki. "I'm not the headmaster."

Mikoto simply shrugged.

When Mashiro announced the final pairing for Friday, the room fell silent for a few seconds. Mai couldn't resist giggling to herself, as it was obvious to everyone which two HiME would be selected last. "Keep it down!" said Natsuki, gently poking Mai in the ribs.

"Sorry," said Mai. "I'm just excited that you and I will be working together." She smiled at Natsuki and grabbed her hand again.

"What about the other two?" asked Akira. "Are they going to have to take the Saturday shift?"

"Unfortunately, yes," said Fumi. "Someone has to. Sundays, on the other hand, are free for all of you to relax."

Half of the girls sighed in unison.

"I'll relay the message to Shiho the next time I see her," said Akira.

"I would also like to thank those of you who assisted in last night's defensive efforts," said Mashiro. "I know it was sudden, but you all did a decent job protecting the lives of the students. Rest assured that when you return to your rooms later today, most of the damage caused by the Orphans will be repaired. Please do not forget your scheduled patrol days. The security of Fuuka Academy rest in your capable hands. You are dismissed."

Everyone got up from their seats and left Mashiro's office to return to their respective classes. Mai, Natsuki and Mikoto headed out the door together and stopped to rest at the nearby water fountain. "That meeting was boring," said Mikoto. "I would have been better off going to class. By the way, Mai...are you still going to get that cake for us later? Huh?"

"Of course," said Mai. "I'll bring some home this afternoon."

"Great! Thanks!" Mikoto gave Mai a great big hug, and then ran off into the distance on her hands and feet. "See ya!"

Natsuki turned toward the fountain and washed her face with its cool water. "I'll never understand for the life of me why she does that," she said.

"Me, neither." Mai dipped her hands in the fountain to take a sip of the water herself. "Anyway, I should probably get going. My chemistry class starts in a few minutes. Do you want to have lunch with me later today?"

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Excellent. I'll see you then."

Mai gave Natsuki a quick hug, but refrained from pressing too hard, as her hands were still slightly damp and she didn't want to get Natsuki's uniform wet. Natsuki pressed her own wet lips against Mai's forehead, not concerned very much about whether anyone was secretly watching from the bushes. The students had already seen the two of them walking together, so they would likely continue to ask questions whether or not anything actually happened between them after coming out of Mashiro's place. Regardless, Natsuki and Mai left the fountain area with smiles on their faces, looking forward to their first day on self-governed patrol.