*** Shotgun Marriage ***

By

Azurean

Summary: Shizuru is Natsuki's girlfriend and the two were making out on the former's bedroom when Shizuru's father caught them. Then Fujino Ken (Shizuru's father) forced Natsuki to marry his daughter. And so the eventful married life of the two begins.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mai Hime.

Genre: Humour/ Romance

Warning: There are chapters that contain LEMON.

Chapter nine

Before going back to her dorm room, Shizuru decided to pay Natsuki a visit and went to the Garderobe University Director's office and settled down on the sofa, without a word her girlfriend joined her.

'I've heard your argument with Yuuki.' Natsuki said breaking the silence in the room, 'I think she likes you.'

Shizuru sighed and rested her head on Natsuki's shoulder. 'I'm afraid so but I still hope that I was wrong because I don't want to hurt her further.'

Understanding gleamed in Natsuki's emerald orbs and cupped Shizuru's chin and tilts it up while her other hand wrapped around her fiance's waist and pulled Shizuru closed to her and captured the younger woman's luscious lips with hers.

Shizuru returned Natsuki's kissed and pulled the woman on top of her as she laid back on the sofa and instinctively, Natsuki's hand slid beneath her shoulders, lifting her to expose her throat to hungry kisses. Shizuru's hands slid beneath her fiance's shirt to caress and cling, her skin heated with passion that left her breathing in jerky gasps, her whole being centred on merciless contraction of Natsuki's hands and mouth and the weight of the older woman's body were arousing deep within her. For the nth time she was once again racked by lust, burned by an importunate need to take and be taken. From beneath Natsuki's lashes emerald orbs glittered fiercely.

Shivering, aching with desire, Shizuru smirked and instantly Natsuki's arms slid further down her back until its movement lifted her hips free of the cushions. And then Natsuki's lips force her mouth open and moved in between her legs and started grinding which she returned with intensity. 'Please... oh, please...'

Realizing what she was doing, Natsuki stopped, then lay still, placing soft kisses on Shizuru's throat until her heartbeats slowed. Then she lifted herself away from her fiancé, pulling the younger woman up with her until they were more upright. 'No,' she whispered, holding Shizuru's chin when her fiancé tried to hid her face. 'No, when I take you for the first time it's going to be properly, with the whole night to enjoy you.' she smiled and lifted Shizuru's hand to her lips, kissing the tips of her fiancé's fingers. 'You always respond with such gratifying enthusiasm, my dear, that a hurried encounter here wouldn't be making the most of your charms.'

'I think your self – control frightens me sometimes.' Shizuru muttered.

Three days later, Shizuru and Natsuki were married on a fine sunny day in a judge's office with their immediate family and closed friends as their guests and witnesses to their union.

Six hours later, Shizuru found herself standing before the full – length mirror in Natsuki's bathroom in the Kruger mansion, surveying the lavender silk robe that Saeko had given her as a wedding gift. She had to admit that the garment suited her perfectly, the lavender colour accenting the porcelain smoothness of her skin and providing a neutral contrast to the mass of chestnut coloured hair that tumbled down around her shoulders. Though loosely fitted, the silk robe somehow emphasized the flowing curves of her body and the silk was so fine, her shape was silhouetted through it whenever she moved into the light. Yet it wasn't one of those slinky, filmy negligees. Turning sideways before the mirror, Shizuru examined her reflection closely, wondering if she should change to a kimono, and then deciding at last that she shouldn't. Wondering to the dressing table, she dabbed a touch of distilled orange – blossom water on her wrists and behind her ears as she surveyed Natsuki's simply decorated, masculine room. It's her first time to be in Natsuki's room and it excites her. There were no frills in here, discounting the red carpet. The furniture was dark and heavy, with less ornate carving than most of the furniture at her parents' house. Yet simple as it was, it was a comfortable room, large and unrestrictive, and she liked it. It suited Natsuki and there was nothing about it that she wished to change, except that at the moment she wished that her wife were in there with her. 'Where is she?' leaving the dressing table, she went to sink down on the edge of the huge mahogany bed, glancing at the clock on the bedside table. 'Why didn't she come?' it was nearly an hour since they had arrived from the restaurant where the private reception was held and Natsuki showed her to the room and left to go and take shower on the guest room, so her wife said.

Shizuru had expected to find Natsuki waiting for her in here after her own shower but her wife hadn't been and now, as the minutes ticked by, she was beginning to worry. When another long half – hour had passed, a devastating thought occurred to her. 'What if she wasn't coming at all tonight? What if she had decided they shouldn't consummate their marriage?' a heavy ache settled in her chest and she stared down on the floor, chewing her nails as a million doubts assailed her. 'Surely she would have come by now if she was coming at all,' she thought miserably, yet it was difficult to believe she would be spending her night alone. Natsuki had said so often that she wanted her, if only physically, 'so why didn't she come? Why couldn't she at least come and say goodnight?' such questions had no answers and for a moment she considered going to find her wife but dismissed that idea almost immediately. She was too cowardly to seek the older woman out.

Suddenly all the tension of her arguments with Nao overwhelmed Shizuru. A dreadful sick sensation churned in her stomach and, to her astonishment. She abruptly began to cry softly. Drawing her knees up against her breasts, she wrapped her arms around them as the tears slid relentlessly down her cheeks. Then soft hiccoughing sobs began to escape her as the tears flowed faster, streaming over her temples to dampen the bedspread beneath her cheek. As the sobs became completely uncontrollable, she pressed her face into the mattress, so caught up in her unhappiness that she wasn't aware she no longer alone until Natsuki suddenly sat down on the edge of the bed beside her.

'Why are you crying?'

Unable to answer or to face her wife, Shizuru turned over onto her side, her back to Natsuki and she tensed when her wife's hand curved around her waist, warming her skin through the lavender silk.

'Why are you crying, Shizuru?' Natsuki asked gently. 'Tell me.'

Natsuki's question only caused her sobs to become more audible, Shizuru didn't want pity. Her wife had obviously only come in the room because Natsuki had heard her crying.

'Shizuru, talk to me. Don't hide. Tell me what's wrong,' Natsuki commanded softly, turning her wife over where Shizuru couldn't conceal the tear – streaked face. 'Please, Shizuru, tell me.'

'I'm – just tired, I guess.' Shizuru lied, her voice thick.

'Is that all, though?' Natsuki persisted, pressing a handkerchief against Shizuru's clenched fist. 'Then why should you be crying?'

'I'm not really sure.' Shizuru muttered, drying her cheeks and forcing her eyes open for the first time. Her breath caught at Natsuki's proximity and her wife's attire or rather, the lack of it. Natsuki was only wearing a pair of brassier and a navy blue pajama pants that hung's low on the hips. Suddenly, despite Natsuki's reason for coming to her, she ached to fling herself against her wife, to feel Natsuki's arms enveloping her. Yet she fought the temptation and continued the charade. 'Oh, I don't really know what's wrong. Too much excitement this week maybe, everything all together just upset me.'

'Little liar.' Natsuki scolded, her voice dangerously soft, somehow. Gripping Shizuru's shoulders without warning, she hauled her wife against her so that Shizuru was half – lying across her thighs. She brushed the chestnut hair from Shizuru's face with curiously urgent fingers, and then lowered her head until her mouth hovered just above Shizuru's. 'It isn't just nothing and it isn't too much excitement that's made you cry like this, is it, Shizuru? Now tell me the real reason or I'll...' with a muffled exclamation, she closed her mouth over Shizuru's, roughly at first, then with seeking persuasive gentleness.

Holding herself stiffly, willing her lips to remain pressed firmly together, Shizuru refused to respond to Natsuki, she wanted her wife, yes, but not so much that she had to sacrifice every remaining remnant of her pride. She couldn't let Natsuki to come to her out of pity, then make love to her simply because she was there in Natsuki's bed and they're married. Yet it took her iron control to resist her wife, even to save her pride. The minty taste of Natsuki's mouth, the power of her wife's kisses and the hands exploring her body were compelling inducements, but she fought her rising desires and lay lifelessly in Natsuki's arms.

'Damn it!' Natsuki groaned finally, gripping Shizuru's shoulders and shook her wife. 'Don't go all cold on me, Shizuru. If what Yuuki told you bothers you that much then you should have cancelled on me in this marriage and I will understand.'

'What?'

Natsuki sighed as she raked her fingers through her cobalt hair. 'Tell me what you're thinking, Shizuru. You're not unresponsive, something is bothering you and I'm certain about that. You're warm and affectionate.'

'Natsuki, I...' Shizuru began then stammered, 'I... I...'

'Never mind,' Natsuki said dully, lifting Shizuru up as she stood then laying her gently on the bed. 'We're both tired. Maybe we can resolve this some other time. Goodnight, Shizuru.'

As Natsuki stood from the bed and started to walk away, a horrifying sense of loss assailed Shizuru, making her entire body ache with excruciating pain. With a muffled cry she propelled herself off the bed and run after her wife, coming to an abrupt halt behind Natsuki as her wife touched the door knob. Her small trembling hand went out toward Natsuki's, hovered tentatively, then ram lightly over her wife's back. 'Don't... Don't go, Natsuki,' she whispered, tears filling her eyes again. 'Don't leave me alone tonight, please. I... need you.'

Natsuki turned slowly, her emerald orbs taking in every inch of Shizuru's body. 'Why, Shizuru?' she asked softly, taking both her wife's hands between hers. 'Why do you need me?'

'You know why, Natsuki.' Shizuru murmured. 'I love you.'

'Then why are you acting this way? Why are you pushing me away now that we're married?'

'My insecurities got the better of me and all the things that Nao had said about you that you're only...'

'Do you believe her?'

'I... No. I don't.' Shizuru answered honestly.

'Then cast away all of those nasty feelings, Shizuru. I promised you that I am yours, didn't I?'

Shizuru looks down on the floor ashamed of herself. 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'

Natsuki cupped Shizuru's face in her palm. 'You silly girl, I love you, Shizuru, forever and always.'

Happiness such as Shizuru had never known before swept through her, draining all the strength from her body and, trembling, she wrapped her arms around Natsuki's waist. 'Oh, Natsuki, I love you, so much,' she whispered, and touches her lips to her wife's. Suddenly she was crushed against Natsuki as one hand tangled in the thickness of hair on her nape.

Natsuki pulled her head back, whispering Shizuru's name as her mouth took possession of those luscious lips of her wife.

Lifted off her feet, held closed against her wife, Shizuru wrapped her arms around Natsuki's neck, moaning softly as Natsuki's hand on her hips pressed her closer and she recognized the gesture of her wife's hunger to become one with her and her lower limbs ached for it too. With a soft cry she dragged her mouth away from the onslaught of Natsuki's. 'Take me, Natsuki,' she whispered. 'Please, love me now.'

'I may never stop.' Natsuki whispered back, her eyes brilliant with light as they devoured her. Then her lips descended on Shizuru's again and as her tongue invaded her wife's mouth, she began to untangle the robes sash while Shizuru clung weakly to her. 'Where did you get this?'

'Saeko mama gave it.' Shizuru said, loving the look of admiration that her wife was sending her.

'It suits you well.' Natsuki muttered, cupping Shizuru's breast, her hands warm through the silk. And a smirked grazed her lips when she finally removed the sash that was holding the robe, she pushed the cloth from her wife's shoulders and the robe falls down on the floor. 'Lovely,' she said roughly as her eyes swept over the length of Shizuru's body, lingering on the rapid rise and fall of her wife's Rose tipped breasts. 'You're so beautiful.'

Shizuru trembled, she trailed one finger across her wife's parted lips.

Natsuki whispered, 'I love you, don't ever forget that. And I'd never hurt you deliberately, you know that, don't you?'

'Yes.' Shizuru breathed, pressing against Natsuki, suddenly shy again and slightly afraid, yet eager to belong completely to the loved of her life. 'Take me to bed, Natsuki,' she whispered against the smooth skin of her wife's neck. 'Hurry.'

'No, I won't hurry.' Natsuki muttered softly hoarsely, sweeping Shizuru up into her arms and carrying her wife to the bed, she put Shizuru down gently on the cool white sheets, then she was beside her wife, nibbling Shizuru's lips with her teeth. 'I won't hurry, Shizuru, because I want to make this as good for you as it will be with me.'

And Natsuki did. Infinitely patient, she scattered kisses over Shizuru's body as her hands set her wife on fire with a need only she could assuage. Her mouth possessed the taut straining nipples of Shizuru's breasts and the smooth sating skin of the crimson eyed beauty's abdomen. Raising herself higher, she explored the sweetness of Shizuru's mouth with her tongue, and when her wife's lips cling to hers and Shizuru was begging her to take her, she lifted her head, smiling down at Shizuru with inexpressible tenderness.

'Shizuru, love.' Natsuki breathed huskily as Shizuru's body yielded completely beneath her. 'Relax,' she whispered as her fingers dig deeper within her wife's.

Shizuru arched against Natsuki, her fingernails pressing into the muscles of her wife's shoulders as Natsuki took her and with her wife's triumphant groan of possession, her hands urged Natsuki closer. Her parted lips sought Natsuki's as their bodies merged and as a pleasure more intense than she had ever known accompanied her wife's gentle invasion of her innocence, her breath was released in a long, shuddering sigh of sheer joy. 'Natsuki, oh, I love you. So much,' she whispered against her wife's seeking lips. Then Natsuki's mouth took possession of hers again and her wife slowly and very deliberately began introducing her to an ecstatic world where every pleasure was shared and the joy of giving and taking was exquisite.

Considering later, Shizuru stirred, delighting in the feel of Natsuki's bare skin against her own, her lips explored the hollow of her wife's shoulder and when Natsuki's arm around her waist tightened, she smiled drowsily up at her beloved. 'Did I disappoint you?' she murmured softly, knowing what Natsuki's answer would be.

'Don't be coy.' Natsuki said, smiling back as she brushed her lips against Shizuru's temple. 'You know very well what a delight you are.'

'You're a delight too.' Shizuru teased and Natsuki blushed, 'if you don't mind my saying so.'

'Mind? I hardly think so. I'll just start minding when you stop saying so.'

'I never will stop.' Shizuru promised, snuggling closer to the warmth of her wife's body. 'I love you.'

'And I love you.' Natsuki whispered and covered Shizuru's body with hers and kiss the woman she loved.

Fin

Natsuki and Shizuru were now married. Hermione is starting to open up to Natsuki about her past. But there were questions that still remained unanswered;

When will Nao accept the fact that Shizuru was already married?

Is there still a chance for Shizuru and Nao's friendship to be mended?

When will Nagi learns the word give up?

And who's the French woman looking for Hermione?

ShotGun Marriage (second stage)

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