The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Ten
AN - At Silent E – MMm I hope they're chocolate Scooby snacks, that would rock my world.
Yes, Shizuru's a little bit more broken that I originally hinted on, but I went back and fixed the many continuity mistakes, so it flows a little better now. Oh yes.
Yes, Viola's showing up as a HiME, I really wanna do Natsuki waking up in the morning and poking Viola with her foot… like ... Voldie in Harry Potter Four, FOOTRAPE, ZOMG!
And your reaction is good, Viola just has to get to the ruins of her time and… 'touch the rock'. Oh yes, that would make so much sense.
Damn ancient artifacts – but your idea is the same as mine about the HiME/Otome connections. It totally makes loads of sense. Let the knife twisting begin!
And the last scene was totally Setenshi's fault. DAMN HER AND HER REALLY GOOD IDEAS. Credit to her for the idea, but I wrote it out...
this is the final version, I SWEAR!
Infirmary, Gaulderobe, Windbloom
Juliet Nao Zhang stared at the wall outside of the infirmary, hard. She was silently fuming, wanting to know how it was humanly possible for the events of the past two hours to have happened. She wanted someone to take credit for the violent and completely unprovoked beating she'd received at the hands of Fujino Shizuru. There was no one running up to her shouting that this was all some grand joke for a reality television program; it was simply a grim reality.
Nao had been defeated for being too cocky for her own good. She should have seen the latent talent in Fujino's attitude from the start. She was a fool to have missed it, really.
The fight had happened too quickly for Nao to have a real assessment as to what had actually taken place. One minute it seemed as though Fujino was perfectly fine with playing along with Nao's well-planned lesson; the next, Nao wasn't quite sure. A few comments and taunts, as was expected in a match between Meisters had been all it had taken to send the girl into a rage unlike any that Nao had ever seen before. It was as if Fujino was just barely holding onto her sanity as it was, if a simple jab about 'Natsuki' sent her over the edge.
Oh yes, Nao was quite positive that Fujino Shizuru just a little bit psychotic.
Nao shook her head, not that Fujino's mental state really mattered – it was as though the girl had not even been sane upon entering this world. There were little hints, Nao realized, the more she pondered the matter; simple clues and the central obsession on Natsuki of her world – Kuga Natsuki.
The girl had collapsed into Kruger's arms not long after the Gakuenchou had run into the practice hall. Her sudden appearance had been enough to startle Fujino into realizing what she had done. She'd stopped attacking after that, and Nao had been rather grateful to Kruger for coming in and saving her ass.
After Fujino had collapsed, Kruger had carried the girl to the infirmary and had left Nao to guard her in case she woke up. Nao was resentful of the fact that Kruger thought that she would even want to be anywhere near Fujino after what had just happened. They had to be sure that there was someone who could fend off Fujino if she did wake up before the older woman could return with Doctor Helene and the appropriate drugs to sedate Fujino.
Sedate her until they could decide what to do.
Nao had no doubt in her mind that Fujino would have killed her without Kruger's intervention, but at the same time, it irked her that now Kruger had left her in charge of the girl. Left her in charge of Fujino even though she had already proven that even a Column of Gaulderobe had no where near enough power to match up to the almost-berserker style of Fujino Shizuru.
"Youko, I really think that you should reconsider the morphine, I just want to calm her down." Kruger's voice could be heard from around the corner. Nao shook her head, this was still Shizuru, after all, and, like it or not, Natsuki Kruger was attached to the girl in ways that Nao lacked even the basic comprehension to understand.
-
Executive Offices, The Hexagon, AriesRepublic
President Yukino Chrysant sat at her desk, she was completely exhausted and the fatigue of being awake for far too many hours was starting to show in the dark hollows under her eyes. She was putting on a brave face, and trying to look as important and powerful as she could – smiling a pleasant and professional smile at the two women sitting opposite her.
She did not know either of them well enough to greet them by name, but she knew the two of them by reputation, and from Kruger and Haruka's stories. She nodded respectfully to them, and waited for Maya, Sara or even Haruka to introduce them to her. In her distant memory, she recalled the red-haired girl, from back at her time in Windbloom; but her name eluded even Yukino's near-perfect memory. Turning her expectant eyes towards Haruka, she waited for her Otome to introduce her.
Instead of identification of a foreign national and, if Yukino's memory served, member of the ranking nobility of some distant country; the first thing that came out of Haruka Armitage's mouth was, "Why did you run away?"
One of the women in front of Yukino flushed a deep red, while the other; glared daggers at both herself and Haruka. Yukino glanced at her Otome and realized that she was completely ignorant of the look she was receiving. Oh, what it must be like to see the world the way Haruka did. Everything must seem so simple.
"Haruka-sempai, don't you have more important things to be attending to right now?" The red-haired girl asked, a gentle smile on her face, but Yukino caught the twinkle in her eye, and smiled knowingly – for the girl was just teasing. She would have had to take offence, had the woman not been teasing. There were simply things that you did not say to an Otome in the presence of their Master, and the redhead's comment was dangerously close to downright rude.
Haruka blushed and stiffened almost immediately, "I'm sorry Yukino, may I present Tokiha Mai and her master, the Cat God Mikoto?" Haruka said the smaller woman's title as though she did not really believe it to be true.
Yukino smiled warmly at the still blushing Otome, "Thank you Haruka." Folding her hands in front of her, in what she could only assume was a business-like manner, Yukino nodded respectfully to the women. "It's good to see you again, Mai, it's been a while, hasn't it?" She turned to face the younger girl, and smiled gently, "I'm pleased to meet you, Mikoto. My name is Yukino Chrysant, and I'd like to personally welcome you to the Republic of Aries."
The girl with the red hair – Mai, grinned and said, "It's nice to see you again, and meet the President of Aries in person, President Chrysant. I've heard a lot about you from Haruka-sempai and from Sara on our journey here." She turned to the other girl and added, "Mikoto and I are glad to be here."
The spiky-haired girl nodded emphatically, making enthusiastic noises to prove it.
"That's good because we're glad to have you in such a crisis." Yukino's tone was now slightly more business-like, as she continued, "We are missing a Column of Gaulderobe, who vanished around the recently discovered Ruins, just on our boarder with Altai."
Mikoto frowned, muttering darkly to herself, "The Katsu Ruins? That wouldn't make any sense; they were destroyed in the last carnival."
Yukino's eyes slid over to meet her Otome's gaze, the unspoken words coming almost unbidden to the surface, bubbling slowly up – Would they really be the same ones, if even this girl could not remember them? Pushing a file folder across the table, Yukino said grimly, "Sara mentioned that you knew of some pre-Twelve Kingdoms War Ruins - can you see if these are the Ruins that Sara told you about?"
-
Master Bedroom, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe
The bedroom seemed empty as Kruger led the still silent Fujino towards the couch, pushing the girl down onto the blankets still left from where Nao had slept the night before. The girl sat, avoiding Natsuki's eyes, fiddling with the hem of her shirt, anything to avoid looking at the older woman.
"Shizuru, what do you have against Nao?" Natsuki asked, sitting down on the coffee table, their knees just barely touching. It was strange to see the youth in this girl's eyes, and the pain.
There was so much pain just barely hidden behind that smile, the expression that Kruger had taken the time to perfect the art of reading – for Shizuru Viola had been the same way, when she was younger. She knew the smile, and everything that twinkled in those russet-hued eyes, could mask any emotion. It was a mask, a fake smile to hide the pain that the girl was so clearly in.
Fujino's hair fell over her eyes, veiling her expression as she turned away from Natsuki, finding herself unable to meet the woman's eyes. It was different from the pain that she felt when she looked at the Natsuki of her world; this pain was filled with the fear of not meeting the expectations of this woman – so like her Natsuki, and yet, so very, very different. "It's none of your concern, Natsuki."
Kruger looked away from the girl, feeling her brow beginning to twitch; she was unused to seeing Shizuru act like this, for Shizuru Viola had not acted like this since her graduation from Gaulderobe, some ten years previous to the present day. It annoyed her that this girl just didn't want to tell her. What was wrong with her, not letting her emotions show, always keeping them masked behind that fake smile and unfeeling eyes? Natsuki Kruger knew, perhaps better than anyone, what it felt to hide her emotions – and how the few emotions that were shone were a simple plea, for love, for attention, for anything.
She took a deep breath, and asked, perhaps more forcefully than she had intended, "Why did you attack Nao?"
The girl before her still did not look at her, but the response came flippantly, as if Shizuru thought that it was a pointless question to even ask. Even still, Natsuki could hear the faint smile that the girl's sandy-colored mane of hair obscured from her vision. "Nao-san asked me to attack her, to prove a point. I just did what she asked me to."
"I doubt that she asked you to back her into a corner and hold her life on the edge of your blade, the way you did." Natsuki retorted, standing up and stalking over to the wall to contemplate the photographs on the wall – taking in the better times with Viola, when everything had made sense.
"I swore to you, Natsuki; that I would remove everything that stood in your way." Shizuru said quietly, standing herself and walking to stand beside Natsuki, a tentative hand rising to touch the older woman's arm. It is not her, Natsuki had to repeat again and again inside her head, for fear of letting herself slip.
"The Nao in your world is my enemy?" Natsuki asked, wondering if she had finally found a way to get Fujino to open up.
Shizuru was silent, her eyes darting over the pictures, suddenly far more interested in them than she had been a moment ago. Feigning interest, in order to avoid talking about her world, again; Natsuki remembered Youko mentioning this in the report that she had written up.
"Is she, Shizuru?" Natsuki asked again, touching the hand on her arm, grasping the fingers, remembering suddenly the way it felt to touch another, to feel the touch of the woman, that, in one way or another, was her lover – just, rather different.
No answer.
Natsuki's brow furrowed; and she pulled on Fujino's hand, maneuvering the girl into the corner, a hand firmly on her chin, so the girl could not avoid her gaze any longer. "Tell me, Shizuru, what is so horrible about the world you came from that you cannot even speak of it?" The girl, looked at her with pitiful eyes, their russet hue the same as Natsuki's own love – it was so tempting to lean down and kiss her gently, to kiss the pain way.
Come to think of it, Natsuki thought, as Fujino regarded her silently. Brown on Emerald, a battle of wills, Perhaps; it isn't such a bad idea, maybe she'll open up for me. Shizuru would understand, I think.
The girl wrenched her chin away, her eyes becoming down cast as she stared at the floor to the left of Natsuki's shoe. The silence built, slowly climbing in volume before it became unbearable – a deafening lack of noise, a mute contest, neither side wanting to hurt the other, not wanting to loose either.
"Natsuki, I-" Fujino began, tears beginning to show in her eyes.
Deftly, Natsuki ran her fingers down the girl's cheek, smoothing away the tears, tilting the girl's chin upwards, and leaning in for the kiss she knew she could no longer deny herself. She could feel Fujino stiffen under her, the girl's grip on her arm becoming more intense as their lips met.
Shizuru's hands found their way into Natsuki's hair almost instantly, as the older woman pushed her into the wall, their bodies pressing together, all the frustration and anger of the day pouring out from the union of their lips.
And, for that moment, at least, Fujino Shizuru was in heaven.
It was strange, for Natsuki, to feel the inexperience in Shizuru's actions. Her movement was awkward and did not blend as well as Natsuki and Shizuru Viola's actions usually did. But it was every bit as passionate, this gentle, innocent probing – exploring for the first time, the taste of this mouth – the subject of so many girlish fantasies.
A gentle moan into Kruger's mouth warned the older woman that she might have traveled too far, that her actions would have repercussions, that she should stop before she dug herself a hole so deep that she could not crawl out of. But this innocence, the love that Natsuki had not tasted in so long, the curiosity, instead of the knowledge, it was intoxicating.
It was different, and yet, in the back of her mind, Natsuki knew that she had experienced it all before, when she was every bit as nervous as the girl under her was.
It's not cheating, Natsuki thought, pulling the girl's hands out of her hair, pinning them to the wall, just above her head, They'rethe same person.
The situation was growing more heated, as Natsuki pushed the girl who looked so much like her lover further into the wall. It was wonderful to be with someone who would not fight her for dominance, refreshing to get the responses she got with a simple quiver of lips, of a gentle stroke of the tongue.
A soft gasp, out from behind the gentle lips pressed against her own, told Kruger that she needed to back off, for there was only so much that anyone could take. She let the hand holding Fujino's hands out of the way slowly fall to caress the girl's cheek as she pulled away, taking in the girl's features, noting with contentment the rosy-colored blush on her cheeks.
A moment passed, and then another, before Natsuki asked again, "What do you have against the Nao of your world? Shizuru, please tell me." I won't hold it against you.
The girl closed her eyes sadly, and looked away one more time, choosing to refuse Kruger the answer she was searching for. "This is not real. I will wake up back where I left, with Natsuki acting like my enemy, and my world falling apart. All I need to do is wake up."
Natsuki leaned in, placing another gentle, caste kiss on the girl's lips, "I'm sorry, Shizuru, but this is reality."
-
Elsewhere
(FuukaAcademy, Outer Campus Tea-HouseJapan)
Kuga Natsuki woke with a start, a sudden feeling of dread lodging itself deep within her stomach. She did not know why she suddenly felt so afraid, but it was as if everything in the world that she held dear to her was suddenly absent.
It was a shaking feeling, one that was quickly washed over by another – anger.
Shizuru had really messed everything up. She wasn't supposed to be a HiME; she wasn't supposed to kill Kikugawa's child right before their eyes. And she most certainly was not supposed to have done whatever it was that Suzushiro had insulated she'd done.
Fujino Shizuru would not do something like that, not to her. Natsuki would not believe it to be true.
Yet it was true. Natsuki could remember the gentle touch of Shizuru's lips on her own, the feeling of desperation behind her touch. Shizuru had gone from bad to worse when Natsuki had refused to let her touch her.
Natsuki gathered up fists of her futon's comforter and cursed quietly, "Why did you have to do that?" She demanded. Because of Shizuru, Duran would not come.
Because Natsuki did not know how she felt about Shizuru's proclamation of life and adoration.
She concentrated on her fist, willing her element into life. It took a far greater effort than Natsuki was used to, but eventually the cool metal of the gun fell into her hand. She gripped it tightly, knowing that should Shizuru fall into contact with any of the other HiME, it was her life on the line.
Natsuki was not sure she liked that.
She rolled over and found a pile of neatly folded clothes at the foot of her bed. A pair of faded and well-loved jeans that she could have sworn she'd thrown out after the third tear to the bass and a dark blue t-shirt.
There was a note with the clothes, Natsuki picked it up and flipped it over, curious as to what was written on it. She was greeted with the faint scent of lilac and a very familiar and businesslike hand:
Do not worry; I will take care of Natsuki's problem. I am sorry you had to find out that way, it was not how I'd intended it.
"Damn her." Natsuki sat up and angrily pulled at the kimono she'd been wearing the day before. She'd been so sad after Shizuru had killed Kikugawa's child in her name; she simply fled back inside.
She'd cried herself to sleep like a child, only to have Shizuru return and comfort her one more, it seemed.
Untying the obi and shrugging the outer robe off of her shoulders, Natsuki picked up the t-shirt and sniffed it. It smelled of fire and of blood, but it appeared to be mostly clean. Natsuki did not want to know where the smell had come from. It was better, sometimes, to just not ask these things.
She would go to Mai.
Mai would perhaps understand what this sick empty feeling was in her stomach.
The feeling that Shizuru was completely gone from this world.