Bite Me Sensei

by MissTinyTinyT91

AU- 2 years ago, Shizuru Fujino disappeared from Kyoto and under the new name of Shizuru Viola, she became a teacher at Fuuka Academy where her life would be turned upside down by the Ice Princess, Natsuki Kuga. With the odds stacked against them, the two face a chilling prospect of forever being haunted by their pasts and secrets- but will their love prevail? Read to find out!

11. Punished for Unproven Crimes

A/N: HELLOOOOOOOOO! Tiny's back in Uni and with great Uni comes great Internet… and a lot of free time! So I present to you… Chapter 11! Right guys, BMS's 1st birthday is on the 24th of November. I had planned on squeezing in another chapter on the anniversary but between now and then I have 3 Uni projects all due on the 24th so it seems highly unlikely unfortunately.

I hope you enjoy this chapter- it's got a mix of everything, bit twisty and turny and I'm sure there's a bit in the middle which I may be killed for- so I'm now on a trek to the Himalayas for my safety. But I'll bring the laptop with me and get writing.

Love to all and ShizNatFizzle if you can't work out what MUSE song the chapter title is from then you are not worthy of calling yourself a MUSE fan. But if you text me and ask nicely I may just tell you. My thanks to the wonderful Shindu and the awesome ShizNatFizzle for reading through this chapter for me last night/early this morning- where would I be without either of you?

Disclaimer: Blah Blah Blah I DON'T OWN MY-HIME ALRIGHT? Stop rubbing it in!

Introducing... Seitokaichou Anh Lu!

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Chapter 11- Punished For Unproven Crimes.

Natsuki fidgeted in the chair outside of the Student Council room and looked for something to fiddle with whilst she waited to be called in- however she found nothing and so decided to twiddle her thumbs instead. Fortunately she wasn't waiting on her own as her charcoal-haired friend waited in the chair across from her. "Natsuki-kun… are you okay?" Natsuki looked up and saw the look of concern on her friend's face and so she smiled nervously as she nodded.

"Yeah… no… yeah course I'm okay." Chie chuckled quietly- clearly Natsuki was getting nervous and incredibly impatient. The two had got into enough trouble together from the moment they met and so had been subjugated to the torturous wait outside the Council room many times. Yet this time Natsuki was clearly getting worked up whilst Chie looked surprisingly calm. "How come you aren't though?"

"How come I'm not a barrel of nerves like you?" Natsuki frowned, then rather begrudgingly nodded and hummed in agreement to which Chie just relaxed more in her seat and shrugged. "I don't know- maybe it's because I didn't hit him and he's just got a personal vendetta against me."

Natsuki hummed again. "We've been here a hundred times and yet now I'm nervous. I don't get it." She said as she shook her head before brushing the midnight coloured locks out of her face.

"Yeah but don't forget this time was different. Maybe because what you did this time wasn't like the other occasions because you were looking out for me. If you didn't stop him with that punch- who knows what would have happened. Well that's what Shizuru-san reckoned anyway."

"Hmm… did you just call her Shizuru?" Natsuki frowned as Chie raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Yeah, that is her name Natsuki… she told me I can call her it after she dropped you off on Saturday. I reckon she realised it was weird you were calling her by her name and we couldn't. God she looked so pissed the other day… that was pretty damn hot. So why was she with you the other day?"

Natsuki banged her head against the wall behind her- why was she only asking now? "Alyssa brought her along to look at houses- when Alyssa left she got Viola to drive me back home- but then Mai called and I got her to take me to you." Natsuki's emerald eyes watched as Chie seemed to accept her answer before once again looking confused.

"So what's going on with your sister and 'Viola'-sensei?" Chie smirked as she thought back to the other night when she managed to inadvertently spot the two women out on what appeared to be a date- from the look on Natsuki's face it seemed clear that she wasn't particularly happy about anything that included them two women. Well one of them is her sister after all and the other is her teacher- that's bound to have pissed her off a bit… and it's so damn awkward. "Are they a couple 'cause that would be so hot!" Chie chortled as Natsuki raised her head in shock- her eyes wide and mouth twisted in a snarl.

"Alyssa's not gay! And neither is Viola-sensei." Natsuki growled before sliding further down in her seat. "Nothing's going on… they're just… friends. They worked together a while ago. Can we drop this now?" Natsuki hissed in anger through gritted teeth.

"Fine, okay, I'm dropping it." Chie replied with her hands raised in mock surrender. To say the younger girl wasn't entirely convinced was an understatement and if anything- Natsuki's protestations of innocence on her sister's and teacher's behalf had the opposite effect. "Okay I think there's something you should know and I…" Chie started off seriously.

"Chie I don't care. Alright? So please do me a favour and just keep it to yourself okay?" Natsuki interrupted- discussing Alyssa and Shizuru, Alyssa and Shizuru as a couple or the possibilities required strength- strength that Natsuki didn't have today. "Alright… clearly this is a bad time."

Natsuki snorted "Ha, yeah, you think?" she remarked in a sarcastic tone "Damn it. What's taking them so long anyway?" the older girl grumbled quietly.

Chie shrugged and went back to being just as equally bored as Natsuki "I don't know- sounds like they are having an argument though." She wasn't entirely sure as to whether Natsuki had actually asked or it was just the outspoken impatient thoughts of her friend. "Hopefully it won't be too long though."

After an agonising and tedious half-hour consisting of various threats made by the disgruntled Governor Senou, the first meeting was almost at a close… although it didn't seem like it.

"This is an absolute farce Fumi-san. This woman can enter my home, dictating how and what I do with my daughter when she has the main perpetrators in her car. Then they attack me verbally AND physically whilst she stands and does absolutely nothing… yet she's not going to be punished at all for it?" Takeshi yelled at the pink-haired Director who sighed and closed her eyes before looking at the young teacher- who also looked tired yet looked characteristically calm. Nothing ever throws Shizuru does it? The director mused as she took a deep breath - resting her elbows on the desk as she leaned forward to voice her decision.

"Governor Senou, what you are still failing to see is that Shizuru-san was merely attempting to halt you from making a very big mistake of acting irrationally by removing your daughter from our school. Your accusations hold no merit here- she was not the one to hit you nor did she commit any crime against you. Her decision, I'll admit, was equally ill advised and irrational, however I see no reason to suspend her from teaching or put it on record. My decision is final. Now I propose we take a break before calling the girls in yes?" Fumi raised her eyebrows and looked at each person in the room.

"I suppose so." Takeshi frowned as Fumi stood up and bowed at him before leaving the room with Shizuru close behind. Once the door was closed the two women breathed a sigh of relief.

"One down and another one to go." Shizuru remarked as she rested one hand on her forehead and the other on her hip. To be honest that first meeting had taken a lot out of her and she silently prayed that she wouldn't have to contribute much to the next one.

Fumi sighed as she turned her attention to the two girls who by now were both looking nervous. "Shizuru-san I'm afraid I won't be in the next meeting, I have someone from Tokyo calling soon, but I have asked the Kaichou to stand-in in my place. I hope that will be alright? Obviously you'll have to be there too- please try and keep the atmosphere as calm as possible."

"Of course- I'll try my best. Lu-san knows your decision?"

Fumi nodded and smiled as once again she looked to the young girls sitting only a few metres away- their eyes were locked on the two teachers. "Yes she does. Now I think it's about time we put those girls out of their misery- Lu-san is here now so I'll leave it to you."

"Alright I'll call them over." Shizuru gave a small formal bow and Fumi smiled in return before walking back to the Director's mansion. "Hello Lu-san." Shizuru smiled as the tall young brunette wearing the uniform of the Kaichou stood next to her.

"Afternoon Shizuru-san. Looking forward to this as much as I am?" Anh winked at the young teacher who chuckled and bumped her shoulder into the Kaichou's. The two had formed a more relaxed relationship over the past month or so from working together. Shizuru had used her past experience as a Kaichou in University and helped Anh as the young girl struggled with the loss of her partner to the military life. There were still a few days every now and again where getting the young Kaichou to perform even the simplest of duties was an uphill battle- but Anh was getting better. Surely but slowly, she was getting better.

"Oh I can't wait." Shizuru replied before she walked down the hall to where the girls were sitting. "Right girls- you can come in now." Shizuru gave Chie a reassuring pat on the arm as she walked ahead of Shizuru and Natsuki as the two seemed to hang back. "Well that was interesting." Shizuru remarked to Natsuki who walked slowly by her side.

"Did you get in trouble?" Natsuki asked quietly as they sauntered up to the door side by side- their arms occasionally brushing against each other- sending currents of electricity through each other's body. Shizuru smiled as she shook her head.

"No, unfortunately that has put the Governor in a very bad mood, so I would urge you to be careful and try not to provoke him… please?" Shizuru gently turned Natsuki to face her and the two were locked in another intense gaze. A silent plead and a reluctant acceptance passed between the pair.

"Fine." Natsuki retorted as she followed Chie and the Kaichou into the room- with a smug and pleasantly surprised Shizuru following a few seconds later. The atmosphere in the room was tense as the two girls sat on the opposite side to the Governor- who sat with an almighty scowl on his face. The only person in the room who seemed completely unaffected was the President who immediately took her seat at the desk and relaxed into the chair with a large smile on her face.

"Alrighty then, lets it get it started. So, here's how this thing will work; Harada-san will be first up, then we'll pretend that I don't already know what punishment Harada-san will get and then I'll let you know the punishment that the Director has decreed. Any objections?"

All eyes turned to Takeshi who looked as if he was biting back some sort of remark yet decided it was probably best not to- Leaving decisions like this in the hands of children- a ridiculous notion Takeshi mused bitterly as he was subjugated to having a girl, a year no less older than his own daughter, bestow judgement as if she were an officer of the law herself... and yet that was how things worked there much to his dislike.

"Brilliant! If we're lucky we can salvage some lunch break after all." Anh exclaimed as she turned her attention to Chie. "Right, what I see here is nothing more than a crime of passion, not intended to insult our esteemed Governor in any way… and therefore I see no reason why Harada-san should be expelled from the school. Just because you don't like the girl it doesn't mean that you can kick her out Sir." Anh reprimanded him in a mocking tone- as if she was berating a younger child. "Okay, now do you have any objections? But before you speak out Sir, please bear it in mind that you as of yet don't have a leg to stand on."

Natsuki's eyes widened in surprise, as the other occupants of the room stared on in shock with the exception of Anh who took a sip of her cup of tea and leaned back with a smug look on her beautiful face. And Shizuru was worried that I would provoke him? Natsuki mused as she took on a wounded expression- clearly no-one gives me enough credit these days!

"Young lady- I am confused as to why you presume to believe that you can talk to me in such a way? Clearly this case cannot be presided over by someone who is equally as disrespectful as those being punished." Takeshi yelled as he pushed back his chair and in a few quick strides was hovering over the desk- close enough to the bored looking President for the young girl to feel his warm breath on her pale skin.

"I assure you sir that despite my youth, and my actions over the past month or so, I am perfectly qualified to bestow judgement on these two. I have already heard everything I need to hear and would urge you not to purely see me as a school student but as a member of faculty too. Bear this in mind that at the moment I am currently acting in the Director's role as her stand-in and whatever judgement I pass here is merely the Director's words said in my voice. Now please step away from my desk and take a seat." Natsuki and Chie both looked at each other and nodded a mental high-5 as both enjoyed the sight of a grown man put firmly in his place by an eighteen year old girl. Takeshi took a deep breath as he straightened up his tie and ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair before taking his seat.

"Be that as it may, I ask you to take this matter seriously. A member of your Governing board has been greatly insulted by two of your students- and as of yet have not received any verbal apology from either. I do not require one, however I feel a just punishment for both of them will be sufficient enough."

"Well then I assure you that both girls will be receiving the appropriate sanctions. Harada Chie, you will be suspended for the next few days and then will be on cleaning duty in this very room every Friday for a month. Does this satisfy you Sir?" Anh watched with a smirk as Takeshi nodded- sparing a glance at the youngest girl in the room who looked unimpressed but a bit relieved to not be expelled!

"It does but I can't be fully satisfied just yet- that will only be when the other's punishment is known."

"Very well then. Now if I may ask Harada-san to leave the room please- this may take a while." Anh winked at the bespectacled girl who mouthed the words 'good luck' to Natsuki before leaving the room- where Aoi was waiting for her.

"Aoi? Why are you… not that I don't want to be here but…" Aoi cut Chie off as she pressed a finger to her lips.

"I just came to see if you got your stupid ass suspended. So… did you?" Chie sighed sadly and nodded her head- clearly Aoi was still angry and she meant what she said about needing to take a bit of time to get her head round things.

"At least you didn't get expelled… or arrested."

"Yeah... at least" An awkward silence descended upon the two girls "Aoi, I really am sorry for keeping what happened with my dad from you. I just, I didn't want you to see me as some sort of basket-case or worse… a killer. I couldn't survive if that's all you would ever think of me. I really do love you and I would do anything to put things right between us." Chie took Aoi's hand in hers yet felt distraught when Aoi quickly pulled her hand back… however before she could really react she felt Aoi's lips cover her own in a soft but sweet kiss and Aoi wrapped her arms around Chie's neck. After the initial shock had worn off Chie relaxed into the hold, kissed her girlfriend back more passionately and she didn't particularly care if anyone managed to stumble upon them.

"Well it's good to see you two have made up." The couple were interrupted as the smooth voice of Alyssa Kruger echoed through the corridor. Immediately Aoi removed her arms from Chie's neck and blushed in embarrassment. Chie on the other hand couldn't keep the smile off her face- having gone two days without kissing or touching Aoi had been the most torturous experience and not even being suspended or put on cleaning duty could now ruin her mood.

"Hi Kruger-san!" Chie waved and Alyssa gave a small smile back.

"Is Natsuki in there?"

"Err… yeah she is. They sent me out when they were done with me."

Alyssa nodded and hummed as she looked at the door- she wondered if anything had changed much since she had last been there under a decade ago. "I see. Thanks." With a nod of her head, Alyssa slid the door open and walked through- much to Natsuki's displeasure as she rolled her eyes and sunk even further into her chair.

"Alyssa what the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she rubbed her forehead.

"Never mind what I'm doing here Natsuki." Alyssa said as she sat on one of the tables in the room "My apologies, please continue Kaichou."

Anh nodded and then turned back to face the mysterious blonde woman that had randomly walked into the room "I'm sorry but who are you? Are you a member of the faculty?" Suddenly the serious atmosphere was broken as the room was filled with a loud laugh from Natsuki and Alyssa raised her eyebrows in shock.

"You don't know who I am?" Alyssa whimpered softly as her sapphire eyes turned to Shizuru who- unlike her student- actually remained composed if a little smug. Eventually Natsuki's laughs subsided with help from a disapproving glare from Shizuru.

"I know it must come as a surprise to you to know that some people haven't heard of you Alyssa." Natsuki smirked as Alyssa growled before turning her attention to the President. Alyssa jumped off the table and went to shake the young woman's hand as she introduced herself.

"I'm Alyssa Kruger. I'm Natsuki's sister…"

"Half-sister." Natsuki interrupted as she folded her arms across the chest and ignored the hurt expression on her sister's face.

"Fine, her half-sister and I also happen to be new on the Board of Governors. I was called by the Director to take Natsuki's guardian's place here today." Alyssa grumbled as she turned back to sit on the table next to Natsuki- making sure to give her sister a subtle kick in the shin as she pulled herself up.

"Fine by me. So, we're all here to decide on Natsuki-chan's punishment. Hopefully the quicker we'll deal with this, the sooner we can all leave and get back to more important things."

Anh watched Alyssa Kruger- the famous Alyssa Kruger- take a seat after kicking her younger half-sibling. She knew perfectly well who Alyssa Kruger was and what she looked like, after all, how could you possibly not know about the blonde bombshell who was more popular than Royalty? Due to her rather odd sense of humour and her tendencies to support the underdog, Anh often got a kick out of kicking popular people down to size and was rather fortunate to have had the greatest opportunity to do so the moment Alyssa stepped into her domain. Her domain.

"Good idea young lady- some of us certainly have more pressing matters to deal with." Takeshi snarled as he glanced at the dark haired girl in the chair across from him as she rubbed her shin- he too had seen the kick and chuckled inwardly. He felt more confident in a harsh punishment when he noticed the tension between the two siblings- he also knew of Alyssa's reputation and her cutthroat nature when it came to law courts and the like. He had hoped that he would finally get to catch a glimpse of the young, brilliant lawyer in action.

"You don't say! Right, considering the present circumstances," Anh started as she glanced over at Shizuru in the corner "it seems that Natsuki has been mercifully spared a criminal record. However assaulting a prominent and prestigious Governor of the school shouldn't be taken lightly and unfortunately there's only so many times that she can be suspended or put in detention. It is school policy that expulsion should remain an avoidable punishment if absolutely necessary and yet again our Director seems hesitant to follow through with this. Therefore she has left it to me to find an alternative but appropriate punishment." Anh said as she leaned back in her chair- resting her folded hands on her flat stomach as she watched the only man in the room turn purple with fury and utter disbelief.

"Why? It's blatantly obvious that expulsion is necessary. Natsuki Kruger-"

"Kuga- My name is Kuga Natsuki not Natsuki Kruger." Get it right old man. Natsuki flicked her hair back with her right hand as she crossed her ankles- sparing a glance at the older blonde who was giving her own rendition of the 'Kuga death glare'. "What?" Alyssa didn't answer and instead just shook her head- muttering 'Un-fucking-believable' under her breath.

"You were saying Senou-san?" Alyssa prompted the elder gentleman to continue.

"Yes, thank you Kruger-san. Kuga Natsuki is a menace and this school has been far too lenient with her. What example do you think it sets for the younger students when she can do things like setting off the fire alarms in the corridors and not get away with it?"

Natsuki couldn't believe her ears "Oh for fuck's sake- how times am I going to have to say this? The fire alarms weren't my fault asshole!"

Before Shizuru could intervene- Alyssa beat her to it. "NATSUKI! You are in a very dangerous position at the moment- calling the man you assaulted an asshole isn't the wisest things to do so for once keep that mouth of yours shut! Do you want to get tossed out of here?" Alyssa sighed and ran her sender fingers through her blonde tresses- clearly the relationship with her sister wasn't going to be put right anytime soon. Natsuki shook her head and turned to look out of the window. "That's exactly what I thought, so do yourself and the rest of us a favour and shut up."

Takeshi nodded and slapped his thigh before getting out of the seat "This is exactly the kind of behaviour your school seems to condone Lu-san. You see the way she talks to me? No respect whatsoever and it shouldn't be tolerated."

Anh leaned forward so all four chair-legs were on the floor. "So… what do you propose Senou-san?"

"Expulsion with immediate effect and with zero chance of re-entry." Takeshi suggested without missing a single beat. Anh shrugged and looked at Alyssa who frowned before turning her attention to the only teacher in the room who looked visibly unimpressed as she stood in the corner of the room- close to the door.

"Shizuru-san?" The brunette teacher raised her head at the sound of her name being called by the blonde- she had wondered if the others had forgotten she was even in the same room. Anh had looked at her a while ago but she had virtually gone unnoticed the entire time.

"Yes Alyssa?"

"You've been awfully quiet… is there anything you'd like to say?" All eyes focused on the young teacher.

"You are Natsuki's tutor… mentor-thing and not to mention an eyewitness." Anh pointed out as Shizuru nodded and walked further into the little circle in the room.

"Actually… I do have an idea, although I ask you all to approach this open-mindedly for it may seem a bit unconventional."

Anh smirked as she leaned back once more "Well you've got my attention- please continue Shizuru-san."

"What if, instead of expelling Natsuki from the school, we give her a position of power within the Student Council and through the responsibilities of that role, her debt is repaid?"

Takeshi instantly took a disliking to the idea and grimaced "I don't like it."

"Of course you don't. What position were you thinking?" Anh asked- she was probably just as confused as the other occupants in the room. She also had a feeling in her gut that told her that she was going to regret asking that question- Shizuru was taking a long time to answer and she also looked suspiciously guilty as she looked Anh in the eye before answering.

"The post of Vice-President has been vacant for quite some time…"

Anh violently shook her head and her face lost its usual smile "No… absolutely not. I won't let it happen."

Natsuki was confused "I thought Tomoe was Vice-President?" Shizuru shook her head no "Tomoe is on the Executive Council although she has been doing the duties of the Vice President recently. The Vice-President must be de jure and not de facto which Tomoe currently is- the only way is to be elected by the Student Body. Anh I know that you are hesitant to do so but please open the elections. I know what happened with Sasaki-san hurt you deeply but you have a responsibility to this school and right now you have no Vice-President to help you."

"I don't need any help so you can forget it." Anh muttered to herself as thoughts of her ex-lover came flooding in and tears threatened to fall from her face- however they were quickly wiped away. She had already cried too much over this and she sure as hell wasn't going to cry in front of these people.

"Even if we were to consider it- I fail to see how that would be a punishment." Takeshi grumbled. "You'll be giving her free reign to do whatever she wants- chaos certainly will follow… as it always does." He sneered as he looked at the young girl who was equally as confused.

"The role of Vice-President is full of hard work with organising the school festivities, late nights here at the school and a lot of time spent dealing out punishments and meeting with the Directors and Governors. It'll be tough work Senou-san, not a walk in the park as you may think." Anh retorted- she had started the day in a relatively good mood- now it was completely shot to hell!

Natsuki looked around the room- angry that everyone was talking as if she wasn't even in the room. "Don't I have any say in this?" she asked and watched as Shizuru frowned.

"Absolutely not. However, if Senou-san wishes..." Shizuru's crimson eyes watched as the Governor raised an eyebrow. "I am open to a compromise."

"Enlighten me… please."

Shizuru offered the older gentleman a small smile "We hold the elections and give those who genuinely want the position a chance to be voted in. If Natsuki runs and wins- she continues as Vice-President for the rest of the year and the year after in order to pay her debt to the school and in effect the Governing body as well." Shizuru raised her eyebrows as she looked around the room and saw that everyone- bar Natsuki- seemed to be considering it.

"What if she loses?" Alyssa asked.

"Then Senou-san gets his wish and we expel her. Simple as that."

Alyssa smiled and hopped off the table once again.

"Well I for one like the idea- nice one Shizuru." Alyssa flashed her friend a wide grin and winked before the pair of women turned their attention to the President who nodded slowly- a small smile creeping onto her face.

"I can see that it has its benefits to us and the school- what with Natsuki-chan's popularity and that there is a nice balance to it. In that case I like it and would be happy with Natsuki joining the Council." Anh winked at the angry looking girl who growled under her breath. The last thing she ever wanted to do was join the council. It meant pulling even more hours at school and she'd have to spend even more time with Tomoe. As if it wasn't insufferable enough to have to watch the teal-haired girl pine after Shizuru during their lessons.

"Oh great." The young girl muttered under her breath as she watched Takeshi shrug his shoulders and sigh with defeat- her hopes of the older man hating the idea so much as to contest it some more crashed and burned around her. "I suppose I should relent and let you deal with it. I look forward the hearing the gates slam behind you as you're kicked out Kuga-san. I must be off- clearly this was a waste of my time." With a curt nod and a small bow from each of the rooms occupants- Takeshi made his way out of the Council room- leaving the others to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh I totally see why you punched him- shame he hasn't got a mark on him to prove it. You should have hit him harder!" Natsuki chuckled as the Kaichou gave her a wink which in turn received a sigh from Shizuru.

"I don't think that's entirely appropriate Anh. Do you?"

Anh just shrugged her shoulders and gave her a cheeky grin "Most likely not. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the Director and I'll report back our developments. The joys of being the Kaichou huh?" Anh nudged Natsuki again who frowned and watched as Anh walked over to the door only to be stopped by Shizuru.

"Thank you for being on board with this Anh. I know that it must have been hard."

Anh just smiled and shook her head. "No, not really. I knew I was eventually going to have to hold the elections… even if it means accepting that Kae really isn't by my side anymore. But I guess it won't be that bad with Natsuki there instead. She might actually find a way to kill dearest Tomoe-chan before I do!" Anh laughed as Shizuru rolled her eyes. "Assembly tomorrow, that's when things will start so if you could get Natsuki-san to stay behind that'll be great?"

"I'll try, I doubt she likes the idea very much but… it's not like she has any options left. You should get back to the Director and then take an extended lunch." Shizuru rested a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder and smiled as Anh nodded.

"Thanks I was going to take the liberty anyway. I'll see you around." As Anh left the room, Shizuru looked over to the only two other occupants in the room who were in the middle of yet another sibling squabble.

"I know things have been rough between us but was the whole 'She's my half-sister not my whole sister don't be so disgusting' thing entirely necessary Nat? Do you really hate me that much? Or is it that you are really so embarrassed to even admit that we're related?"

"I don't hate you Alyssa it's just you butting in at every opportunity that I hate. You live on a different continent most of the time and yet you still can't help yourself from getting involved and I'm tired of always having you there when you do no good. I'm nearly eighteen; nearly an adult and I just wish that…" Natsuki ran her fingers through her hair and looked away from her sister who frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

"You wish what? Hmm? What do you wish?" Natsuki looked up- her eyes glistening with tears that were just about to spill- and she hissed through gritted teeth in a low, harsh and husky voice.

"I wish that you had just stayed in Germany. I wish that for once you wouldn't treat me like a child and insist on fighting my battles for me- every time you get yourself involved something goes wrong and I'm always the one that pays the price for it. What's worse is that ever since you've got here you've been making changes in my life which I don't want- I don't want to move, it's my apartment, it's my home and I say that I want to stay there and if you don't like it then leave and go ruin somebody else's life. Oh and another thing, my name is Natsuki, not Nat, and especially not Nattie-chan… I hate it, I hated it when Dad did it and I especially hate it when you do it. So just stop and leave."

Natsuki hissed as she spun on her heel and stormed out of the room- brushing past Shizuru who had heard every word and had tried to stop her student from leaving but had been brushed off. "Natsuki stop." Shizuru called out but Natsuki turned around to glare at her teacher.

"No Shizuru… no. Why don't you comfort Alyssa, you're such 'good friends' anyway." Natsuki shouted as she stormed down the hall and Shizuru walked up to Alyssa who stood wide eyed in a daze and completely broken by her sister's harsh words. Shizuru placed a hand on Alyssa's cheek and spoke softly and calmly to the older woman.

"Alyssa?" When she got no answer, Shizuru wrapped her arms around her friend and pulled her into a warm embrace as Alyssa began to sob.

Meanwhile down the hall, Natsuki stormed past Chie and Aoi who both eagerly waited to find out what happened and had just barely heard Natsuki's confrontation with her sister. "Hey wait up Natsuki." Chie said as they ran to catch up with their friend who had a face like thunder. "Natsuki-kun what happened? Did you get kicked out?"

"No."

"Suspended then?" Chie offered.

"No."

"Then for the love of God what happened?" Aoi asked as she tried but failed to get Natsuki to slow down.

"Nothing, I just need to punch something. Just leave me alone." Natsuki said as she took off into a run leaving Chie and Aoi confused and Chie gestured with her head for her girlfriend to follow her as she made her way back to the council room. The door was left slightly ajar and through the little sliver of light, Chie could just make out Shizuru and Alyssa hugging. The girl's mischievous eyes watched as Shizuru ran her fingers through Alyssa's golden hair to try and calm her down- it usually worked with Natsuki whenever she threw one of her tantrums.

"Oh they are definitely together, it's so damn obvious." Aoi whispered to Chie who nodded "Do you reckon Natsuki-kun knows then?" Aoi asked quietly as they moved away from the door and Chie shrugged.

"Probably. I asked her about it earlier and she really didn't want to talk about it. I guess she doesn't approve."

"I doubt she has a problem with two women being together- she's fine with us. Her sister and her teacher though… no wonder she's upset. She's got a tricky relationship with Alyssa as it is and Shizuru-san and Natsuki get along fairly well. I had always thought Shizuru-san was straight as a ruler." Chie hummed in agreement and crossed her arms.

"Although that's what people thought of you- look at us now. Plus you heard what Natsuki said to Shizuru-san as she left- I can't imagine how awkward that would be. This is too much thinking for now- can we just go get some lunch before class starts?" Chie unfolded her arms and outstretched a hand for Aoi to hold. Aoi looked at it for a couple of seconds and with a grin she slipped her hand into her girlfriend's- it felt nice to be able to hold hands so openly and not have to worry about anyone seeing it and disapproving.

"You know we're going to go find Natsuki later though right?" Chie groaned as her stomach growled causing Aoi to fall into a fit of laughter. "Fine, lunch then Natsuki- we're in enough trouble already so we can skip last period anyway!"

Natsuki's head was buzzing and could feel her hands tremble with anger as she entered the school gym, where she could see out of the corner of her eye, Takeda was training Ookami- one of Fuuka's most promising kendo prodigies. Natsuki shrugged off her blazer, pulled off her hoodie revealing a black tank-top and threw them on one of the benches before reaching into the supplies cupboard and wrapping her hands before she went to the punch-bag. Takeda had watched from the corner of his eye as his beloved fiancé had entered the room in a temper and he soon lost all concentration and failed to block Ookami's next hit which landed straight onto his face- leaving a bloody nose and a lesson to always focus on the opponent… not the sexy smouldering look of an angry fiancé!

Natsuki didn't spare a glance as some of the other occupants rushed to help her fiancée and she continued to pommel the punch-bag with a combination of punches and perfectly executed kicks. Soon she was getting so into it she seemed hell-bent on destroying the harmless object before her and as she took a breather she rested her forehead on the bag- her heart was racing and fortunately she felt a little better. Natsuki pushed herself off the bag, unravelling the wraps and nodded in acknowledgement as she saw Youko walk past and sit on the bench near to Natsuki. "Hi Youko."

"Hello Natsuki. So who's pissed you off this time?"

Natsuki smiled and took a seat next to the brunette teacher "Alyssa… and Viola-sensei."

"Ah. What have they done now?" Youko said as she passed a bottle of water to the student who took a huge sip and smiled in thanks. "Well Alyssa came back which is shit and all because of Viola-sensei I have to marry that jackass over there when I'm eighteen, I have to stay in school and now I have to become the Fukukaichou or I get expelled."

Youko laughed which wasn't the reaction Natsuki had been expecting and the raven haired girl picked up a towel that had been on the floor and chucked it at her teacher's head. "Okay okay… now I get why you'd be pissed with Alyssa- she's not exactly my number one person either but Shizuru-san? How could she have done all that hmm?"

"Well… okay how about this. On the first day she's here I end up with a) a concussion because she won't look where she's going and therefore yet another rumour about me starts b) an earlier date set for a wedding I'm dreading and c) I have to spend an hour after school learning stuff… if she wasn't here none of that would have happened and I would have been out of here sooner."

"Now both you and I know that is a load of bull Natsuki. Firstly your grandfather moving the date- I don't know why he did that- I didn't know he did that… what?" Youko asked as Natsuki scoffed and looked at her as if to say 'Ha, yeah right'.

"Okay maybe I heard it from Chie-chan. Anyway, what he did… that she could not have had anything to do with and you know it. The concussion though… you were running in the halls and she was trying to find you so it ended up for the best and the rumour is ridiculous- and if she can ignore it so can you. Plus we both know why and how it started."

Natsuki scoffed- course she remembered how it started- she had chucked Chie's brand new phone out of the window and out of revenge Chie had told a group of her fangirls to spread the word that Natsuki and the new teacher were getting it on! "If she managed to ignore it I don't see why you can't and don't forget- I'm now your homeroom teacher so I know for a fact that your grades are going up and you won't be in summer school. And I think you know why."

"Why?"

"Because for some reason that teacher is doing something right and you are letting her."

Natsuki scoffed and leaned against the wall behind her. "I'm serious Natsuki. The average lifespan for your tutors is about a fortnight if we're honest. It's nearly December and she's still here and from what I can tell, she still has everything intact. But now I'm also confused about the Fukukaichou thing- care to elaborate?" Natsuki groaned as she leaned forward and looked at her P.E teacher.

"Aoi's dad got a bit angry with Chie so I punched him to calm him down and stop hurting her… but he got Chie and I arrested for assault. Viola-sensei got him to drop the charges and we walked but then earlier we had a meeting with Anh-oneesama- Chie got suspended and I…"

Natsuki groaned again and rested her head in her hands- leaving Youko hanging on the edge of suspense.

"Shizuru suggested that I repay my debt to the school by running for Fukukaichou. If I win the vote I have to hold the position for this year and next year, but if I lose I get kicked out with no chance of getting back in. They liked the idea so much that Anh-oneesama is going to open the elections tomorrow."

"Anh's opening the elections? Now that I thought she would never do willingly. I reckon you'll have no chance of losing Natsuki. Fortunately for you your reputation as a vicious, angry and moody kick-ass girl has created a very large fan club- they'll love nothing more than to see you as Fukukaichou! You can't seriously blame Shizuru-san for wanting you to stay around though."

Natsuki hummed- she did feel confident enough that she would win even without the help of her devoted fangirls- the other remaining competition was Tomoe after all and there was no way she could keep up the innocent pretence for that long! "But why? Why would she want to keep me here? What am I to her except another step on the ladder of her career?"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe she actually cares about you? Any other teacher by now would have given up and never looked back after all the stuff you have done but she hasn't and if anything she's working her ass off to keep you in here. To be fair I think you're letting her too- I think you might actually like her." Natsuki choked as she took a sip of water and broke out in a full-on blush- Okay, obviously she didn't mean it like that right?

"I- I like her?"

Youko smirked and cocked an eyebrow. "Well… yeah I think you do Natsuki. You haven't necessarily done anything to harm her have you?" It was phrased like a question and Youko could see that Natsuki was hesitant to even attempt to prove her wrong and the young girl knew there was no point. Unfortunately the PE teacher was right. Youko checked the time on her watch and groaned "I have to go but… when you see Alyssa, give her a slap from me yeah?" Youko playfully hit Natsuki on her shoulder and headed out of the door however Natsuki called her back.

"Why is it that you hate Alyssa so much? I know you two had a bit of a rivalry years ago when you were here but she… never told me anything."

Youko scoffed- a bit of a rivalry? That was a bit of an understatement! "Somebody close to me had feelings for Alyssa, but when they confessed them to her she handled things badly and I almost lost my best friend to it. I guess I never really forgave her for it and, who knows, maybe I won't." Not surprised that Natsuki didn't know… why would Alyssa take the chance of staining her 'Golden Child' reputation?

"Now that I didn't know. She never told me what happened between you two and Midori." Natsuki said as she picked up the discarded wraps and rolled them up.

"Midori? Who said it was Midori?" Youko winked at a confused Natsuki before she turned around and left the room. "Take care Natsuki!" the young doctor called back over her shoulder.

---

"Right everyone- today we will be having an assembly. Please make your way quietly to the auditorium- it is absolutely compulsory so you must go… especially you Kuga-san!" Sakomisu-sensei remarked as he stared at the dark haired girl before making his way out of the classroom- waiting for his students to follow his lead.

Natsuki groaned and hit her head on the desk as she took a deep breath before pushing back her chair and joining Nao in leaving the room- after everyone else had gone. "This should be fun." The redhead sarcastically remarked as the two followed their classmates on their way. Natsuki released another groan and desperately tried to think of a way to get out of having to go.

Chronic stomach bug? Painters and Decorators are in? They'll have to let me go then… no I used that one two weeks ago. I could always get Chie to call with an 'emergency'. That could work actually. "I'm wetting my little panties in excitement." Natsuki remarked in a mock sweet tone- making Nao laugh.

"Please try and calm your excited-ness… especially around me."

"I'll try. There's Mai and Aoi." Natsuki caught the sight of two of her friends and nodded towards them with her head- completely oblivious to the colour completely draining from Nao's face as her lime green eyes landed on Aoi. Nao was glad that so far Shizuru hadn't mentioned anything to either Chie or Aoi… or even Natsuki, however she had Nao promise that she would set things straight and own up to her mistake. I promised her I'd do it but I never specified when- hopefully before I die… that suits me.

"Hey guys" Both Mai and Aoi smiled and waved their two other friends over to them. "Aoi was just saying that this assembly's apparently being held by the Student Council. What do you think Natsuki, Nao-chan?" Nao just shrugged and Natsuki shook her head.

"How the hell are we supposed to know?" Natsuki barked as she walked past her friend.

"You're right… silly me." Mai rolled her eyes and thanked Natsuki for holding the glass door open for them as they walked through.

By the time the four girls entered the huge auditorium, Mai's violet eyes scanned the room for her younger spikey-haired friend and smiled as she caught sight of Mikoto- who was spread out across the five seats- not an easy feat for such a small girl but the shinai proved very useful as a preventative.

"Mikoto's got our seats. Come on."

All four girls were now seated and Natsuki began vehemently searching out a particular chestnut haired, crimson eyed beauty amongst the other teachers. However once she had Shizuru in her sights, she frowned and clenched her jaw in anger as she saw the young teacher laughing as one of the male Science teachers- Yakama- leaned in to whisper something in her ear whilst resting one hand on her shoulder. Is he flirting with her? Is she flirting with HIM? Natsuki soon broke her glare when she felt the sharp jolt of pain as Mai elbowed her in the rib.

"Oi! What was that for?" she said as she rubbed the sore spot and Mai frowned suspiciously.

"You looked weird… it weirded me out. What were you looking at Weirdo?"

"Nothing." Natsuki grumbled as she rested her crossed ankles on the chair in front of her in the row below. She desperately tried to focus her attention on something else in the giant hall- she spotted Takeda a few rows from the front unfortunately near to the two flirting teachers in the front row. Can't they flirt somewhere else? Like in the centre of a volcano or something? Just somewhere away from me.

Mai glanced at her oldest friend who she could tell was angry about something and tried to follow the same line of sight as Natsuki and frowned in confusion. To her, all she could see was Viola-sensei and Yakama-sensei laughing, smiling and talking about something. Wait is Natsuki pissed because they're flirting? Something's not quite right there. Fair do's really- Yakama-sensei is really fit and Viola-sensei is beautiful, they look nice together, so what's Natsuki's beef then? She's never liked Yakama-sensei… but she does get on well with Viola-sensei… I'm not going to bother just yet. It's too early to delve into Natsuki's head! Unless she doesn't 'not' like Yakama-sensei and in fact she does?

Mai sat back and stopped watching the two teachers who promptly quietened down when the pink haired Director walked up to the podium.

"Good Morning students. I hope you are all well this Tuesday morning. Fortunately for you this assembly will be short and apart from a few, you will be out of here and free to return to your lessons very shortly. For now however I will pass you over to the Student Council President… Kaichou-san, the floor is yours." Fumi smiled warmly as the young woman stood up whilst straightening her skirt and walking up to the podium.

Anh looked over to Shizuru who winked and smiled- making Anh feel a little more at ease. She had started to regret her decision late last night and she knew there was only one person on the planet that could ever make her see sense- Kaede. Kaede- the love of her life, Kaede. Kaede had always been there to set Anh on the right path and she always strived to do her best at whatever challenge was put in front of her. But most importantly, Kaede had been the only person to ever say 'No' to Anh. Last night had been particularly awful for the young Kaichou, who after hours of tossing and turning finally did the one thing she promised never to do- she vowed never to seek comfort from her ex-lover again.

"Remember what you said to me on the day I left? You said that I had to always follow my heart and trust that what my heart tells me to do will always be the right decision in the end. You know that this is something you have to do Anh; you know in your heart that by calling these elections you'll be doing the right thing for yourself… and me. Kuga Natsuki is a menace but she is smart and determined and she is a damn good leader, like you and she could be the best thing that ever happened to you and the school."

Kaede's words ringed through her head and Anh smiled before adjusting the microphone to her height. "Good morning. Right, as the Director has said this will be short and sweet. As of now, the elections for Fukukaichou are now open. Two days from now the candidates will be announced and a week tomorrow the ballot boxes will be open for you to cast your votes. Once the number of votes are counted and verified the winner will be announced and thus begin the duties as Fukukaichou within the next week. I feel it is necessary to point out that the duties are vast and there is a lot of work to be done so I urge you to consider the extra hours and the long nights at the school that you would endure if you put yourself forward. For those who legitimately want the position I ask you to stay behind for a talk- I won't keep you for too long. Thank you, you may now leave the hall."

Anh smiled as she got a few takers- a couple of them she was surprised to find out were merely first years, Tate and Tomoe were hardly a surprise for her- and yet there was one face she didn't see among the small group. Where's Natsuki? Little did she know, as soon as the crowd of students began to leave the hall, Natsuki had made a quick dash up the stairs to leave by the fire exit and her friends were left behind confused. As Natsuki ran down the stairs with a smug smile on her face she quickly came to face with an amused looking Shizuru.

"Busted." Shizuru said in a sing-song voice as she blocked the exit of the stairwell and smirked when Natsuki huffed. "Aren't you supposed to still be in there?"

"How did you know I'd come by here?" Natsuki growled as she folded her arms- it had probably started off as a good idea- shame she got caught this time!

"Do you usually answer questions with questions?" Shizuru couldn't help but still find the brooding, smouldering look of her student in a huff incredibly sexy and the smirk only grew.

"Are you always this annoying?"

"Only to you. You should feel special you know." Shizuru watched as Natsuki raised one perfectly arched eyebrow before taking Shizuru's arm in her hands and lifting it away so she could get past her teacher. "Natsuki where do you think you're going?" Shizuru ran after her student and stopped just in front of her and turned Natsuki to look straight at her.

"You know I didn't ask for this Shizuru… and neither you or Alyssa or even my Grandfather can do anything about it. Why can't I have any say in how my life pans out? Why is it that every decision about something in MY life is never made by me but for me instead? I want control for once." Natsuki's voice quivered toward the end- she hated her voice for betraying her like that in the end but she frustration only grew in intensity when she saw Shizuru's wounded expression.

"How can anyone be so ungrateful? Natsuki, I risked my career trying to give you this chance to walk scot-free from this whole shitty situation. I could have let you get expelled but is it too much to ask… to want you to stay here with me?" Shizuru closed her eyes as she continued "I understand more than you'll ever know what it feels like to want control over your own life and you're right… I can't force you to do this so…" Shizuru opened her eyes and looked into Natsuki's own. "I'm only asking… please consider this opportunity? If you decide to not go through with it I won't stop you. I won't even guilt you into it… you have my word."

Natsuki took a step back from her teacher and looked away from her teacher's pleading eyes. The way she saw it she didn't really have much of a choice- both her heart and her head urged her to go through with the deal and run for the position. She knew in her heart that what Youko had said about Shizuru caring enough to risk her own career to keep Natsuki in school was true. She wants me to stay? She wants me to… stay here with her? She wants me to stay here with her… so I will. Natsuki smiled as she mentally came to her decision. Did she swear earlier as well? I think that's the first time I've heard her swear.

"Fine, if it makes you happy then I'll do it… I'll put myself up for the election."

Shizuru smiled widely and resisted the urge to jump up and down- clapping her hands in victory like some teenage girl- and instead pulled the unsuspecting girl into a warm embrace. Natsuki's eyes widened as she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her and without thinking she wrapped her own around the older woman's waist and nestled her face in Shizuru's neck. She took in a deep breath as the smell of Shizuru whirled through her nose- causing her hormones to go into hyper drive as she felt herself melt into the embrace.

Shizuru however felt herself being completely torn apart from the inside as she gently pulled Natsuki's body closer to her own and she couldn't believe that Natsuki wasn't pushing her away… or even resisting. The way their bodies meshed together it was, it felt like they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and that they fit together perfectly. It was nice, it was driving both of them crazy- both feeling a sense of masochism as they just stood there- both hesitant to let the other go. Shizuru ran her fingers through Natsuki's raven tresses and breathed in the scent that was purely and simply Natsuki. "Thank you… Natsuki." Shizuru cooed in her sweet and melodic Kyoto-ben as her warm breath tickled Natsuki's ear- making the little hairs on the young girl's arm stand on edge.

Natsuki knew that they would have to let go of each other… eventually and knowing their luck (or lack of it) someone was bound to come by their way and spot the two together. Not a situation either Natsuki or Shizuru felt entirely comfortable in! Eventually the two broke part and Natsuki took a deep breath as she ran her fingers through her hair. Unfortunately it felt so much better when Shizuru had done it.

"So… I should um… let you go."

Natsuki chuckled as she saw her teacher completely frazzled and stutter- to be perfectly honest it was about time that the roles were reversed and Natsuki gladly welcomed the change "Yeah, thanks and I'm sorry… again." Natsuki grinned sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"You have nothing to be sorry for this time Natsuki. I should have been a bit… no a lot more understanding. I hated it when my Father always decided things for me without at least running it by me first. To do the same to you- albeit theoretically to punish you- it doesn't feel right and I'm sorry for being such a hypocrite."

Natsuki shrugged "It's alright, I mean, it's not that I'm not grateful for what you've done for me- that's not it at all. It's just… People always have something to gain and I just wondered what your motive is."

Shizuru smiled as she took another step forward and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind Natsuki's ear before placing her hand on Natsuki's soft cheek- enjoying the slight red hue that crept onto Natsuki's face. "Isn't it obvious? Natsuki the only thing I want… is for you to stay here… with me. You can call me selfish and you won't be wrong but… it's true. You are smart Natsuki and you have the power within yourself to do anything you set your mind to. You shouldn't let such a silly thing as your engagement stand in your way of doing what you want… and I know from experience remember?"

Natsuki nodded as she thought back to when, when Shizuru had 'kidnapped' her from school and the two had spent the afternoon at Shizuru's house, Shizuru had told Natsuki about her own engagement to… whatever the hell his name was. It wasn't important but it often gave Natsuki comfort to know that Shizuru had been in the same position and here she was today… a teacher and she wasn't engaged or married!

Hopefully she's not even taken… unless she is with Yakama-sensei… Eww. Or worse, she could be with Alyssa then I'm truly f-u-c-k-e-d!

"When you say, 'stay here with me'… what does that mean?" Crap do I really want to know? Way to shatter the illusion here!

"I mean… exactly that. I have never had a student or… even met anyone quite like you Natsuki. You have changed my life in more ways than one and I would be deeply saddened if you left now." The thought of never seeing Natsuki again was unbearable and unthinkable- fortunately despite the bad feelings between the sisters- Alyssa and Shizuru were still good friends and that offered Shizuru the slightest glimmer of hope.

"I don't want to leave… at all." Natsuki whimpered quietly as she thought about the possibility that she could lose and very well be kicked out of the school forever.

As Shizuru and Natsuki stood there- their eyes locked in a gaze once more- Natsuki fought back the urge to take Shizuru's head in her hands and pull her closer so their lips met and she couldn't keep her gaze from wandering from Shizuru's crimson eyes to her luscious lips. All she wanted to do was touch them, kiss them and capture them forever.

Suddenly a cough coming from behind them made them realise they weren't totally alone and immediately the two jumped back and Shizuru pulled her hand back and rested the hand that had touched Natsuki's cheek over her heart. Her heart was pounding like a drum.

"Ara… Tokiha-san, may I help you?" Shizuru called out in her strongest and clearest voice- the young redhead in front of them looked both confused and suspicious.

"Erm… A-Anh-oneesama sent me to look for Natsuki… I figured you had come out… here. I mean come outside here." Mai sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck as she gestured for Natsuki to come with her with a nod of her head. Natsuki nodded and without a second glance at her teacher she followed her friend and once they were out of sight from the teacher, Mai pulled Natsuki by the arm and threw her against the wall.

"What the hell Mai?"

"What the hell? Why do you 'what the hell' me? What the hell was that back there?" Mai frowned as Natsuki shifted uncomfortably on her feet and avoided her violet glare. "Natsuki… tell me" Natsuki shook her head and turned to look at her friend.

"It was nothing. Look… My punishment is to run for Fukukaichou and it was all Shi…Viola-sensei's idea. I didn't want to do it so I tried to get out of it but… she caught me trying to leave." Natsuki shrugged- she hoped that Mai would just leave it at that and then be pissed off with her for not telling her to begin with- however Natsuki regularly didn't tell Mai things so there wasn't much hope at all.

"Yeah I knew all that but what was with the whole 'staring into each other's eyes' thing? Got to hand it to you, you looked like a couple."

Natsuki scoffed and laughed nervously "A couple? Ha- what have you been smoking?" Natsuki said as she poked Mai on the forehead who flinched slightly before slapping Natsuki's hand away.

"Yeah well I'm obviously smoking something because you're acting a lot like Chie did before we found out about her and Aoi… and you were looking at her weird and you know it. Plus- I know it was her that you were staring at in the hall- I'm not blind so don't go insulting my intelligence by denying it Natsuki."

"Look Mai, I… I'm really sorry but... I think I've gotten myself into something and I don't quite know what it is or how to get myself out of it. If I knew I'd tell you."

"Yeah, I'm sure you would." Mai huffed as she stormed off and Natsuki took a deep breath before turning around and hitting her head against the wall.

Oh crap- I knew something like this was going to happen. I hate it when she's right… damn it Mai!

---

"Explain to me again what is this Anh?" Natsuki shifted uncomfortably as the textiles teacher lifted Natsuki's arms up before wrapping the tape measure around her bust- making the young girl gasp and Shizuru and the Kaichou laugh.

"The votes are being counted as we speak, so we need to get all the measurements of each of the candidates… you know, for the uniform. You're just the last one to be measured." Anh replied as she sat down on the desk next to Shizuru who watched as the old woman fiddled with her notepad and the tape measure. It was a little unusual seeing someone else wearing the uniform that her Kaede had worn and yet she found that the black and red jacket suited Natsuki perfectly- maybe she was the right person for the job after all!

The Kyoto woman next to her however couldn't help but feel slightly envious of her colleague and she knew that she would have volunteered to do it herself… if she still wasn't too embarrassed still by what had happened well over a week ago. Fortunately the election business meant that Natsuki was kept busy inside and out of school and the only time they saw each other was when they were in lessons. After Natsuki's continuous rows with Alyssa, Alyssa decided to take a trip to America to negotiate some deals on products for her shop which was by now getting near to completion… therefore giving Natsuki room to breathe… and her own bed back.

"You mean Tate-kun had to wear this?" Natsuki laughed at the mental image. "He sure did, he even worried about his bulging muscles ripping the fabric… but in the end the sleeves were a bit loose." Natsuki looked to Shizuru for clarification and smirked when Shizuru nodded.

"We asked him if he wanted to wear the skirt too- he took a long time to say no" Shizuru added causing Natsuki to laugh quietly at the image.

"Do you know when they'll finish counting?" Anh shook her head and Natsuki sighed whilst looking at her teacher who only smiled apologetically.

"I'm afraid not Natsuki. The Governors of the school are the ones who are in charge of counting and they all arrived late this morning." Shizuru was careful to omit the part about how Governor Senou had tried to sway the vote so that if Natsuki emerged as the victor then the votes for her would be classified as null and void. Fortunately Natsuki's Grandfather- a man deemed a rival to Aoi's father- had intervened and put the younger man in his place.

"Oh…Great."

"Maybe it's not the news you want to hear but there are a lot of students who are going to be voting and more than likely… they're going to be voting for you Natsuki-chan."

Natsuki chortled and scoffed "Yeah, they'd better be. I'm not doing this for nothing." She said as she looked at Shizuru.

This better not take much longer- I don't know how I'm going to get through all the waiting. Natsuki thought as the textiles teacher grumbled something and then pushed Natsuki's shoulder's back- as she moaned about the young girl's posture.

Everyone- bar Yumiko the textiles teacher- turned their attention to the door where Yakama Kensei stood in the doorway and waved to Shizuru who smiled back- causing Natsuki to roll her eyes.

"Good morning Kensei- what can we do for you?" Shizuru smiled sweetly as the young male teacher blushed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Shizuru-san you're looking beautiful as ever and Kuga-san that uniform looks very good on you. Anyway… Youko-san sent me with a message. She said the votes are all in, counted and verified. They're all waiting for you." Kensei said as he flashed another 'heartbreakingly' suave smile- ignoring the quiet growl emitting from the young dark haired girl in the same room.

"We'll be there soon. Kuga-san are you alright with meeting us there? Obviously not in the uniform of course- that might be a little presumptuous." Shizuru asked as she turned back to the young girl who continued to glare at the young science teacher before nodding.

"Sure I'll see you guys there." She said as her eyes were locked in a glare that sent a shiver down the man's back and Kensei looked away from Natsuki in confusion- what had he done this time to piss her off? All he did was compliment her! I don't think I'll ever understand women. I'm not even sure I want to Kensei thought as he held the door open for both Shizuru and Anh who smiled in thanks and headed towards the auditorium where soon the student body was going to be called in to hear the results of the election. As the three entered the room, Kensei broke away and sat next to one of the fellow teachers in his department whilst Shizuru and Anh went to see the other candidates who were sitting on the stage.

"I'd just like to say that no matter what happens, we're all very proud of you all and we wish you the best of luck. I can vouch for both Kaichou-san and myself when I say that we don't know the results but they will be announced shortly when the last candidate arrives."

Shizuru stated calmly as her crimson eyes scanned the prospective candidates and as she smiled at each of them, she could see smile grow on Tomoe's face as the young girl sat up straighter. It was no secret to Shizuru that the young teal haired girl had somewhat developed a crush on the young teacher and even though she was flattered, Tomoe was no Natsuki and Shizuru felt nothing for her but enjoyed the playful banter with the young girl. Of course she was careful not to play too close to the boundaries and she didn't necessarily want to lead Tomoe on but it was slightly refreshing to have things clear and out in the open. It was after all, just a bit of fun and the girl was smart enough to know that any sort of relationship was illegal and dangerous- Shizuru hoped! Surely she wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything and actually act on those feelings?

Eventually Natsuki entered the hall and after a quick nod to Shizuru and Anh, she took a seat next to Tate who whispered something into her ear which made her chuckle slightly. Tate was a good guy, a bit of a dweeb it had to be said, but he made Mai happy and that was enough for her. Though it was made clear early on that if he hurt Mai, Natsuki was well within her rights to beat him up and Tate seemed to have taken this seriously which made everyone happy!

"By the way I brought some tissues just in case losing to a girl gets too much for you." Natsuki whispered into Tate's ear which made him snort and roll his eyes before leaning closer to his friend.

"I usually hate the thought of beating any girl but I am going to crush you."

"HA! Try it." Natsuki laughed as Tate playfully hit her arm and soon her attention was drawn to the Kaichou who took an envelope out of Youko's hand and walked back to the podium in the centre of the hall. Anh tapped the mic to check it was on and smiled as she looked around the hall- everyone was now seated and quiet.

"Right, thank you all for coming. I have in my hand the envelope with the name of the new Fukukaichou which has won, obviously with the majority of the votes. So if you could all be quiet please." Anh said as she opened up the envelope and as she saw the name written in Youko's neat handwriting, she smiled.

"Okay so your Fukukaichou for this year and next is…" Shizuru felt her heart beating rapidly and she suddenly felt nervous as she thought of the possibility that Natsuki- her favourite student- may have lost and would be kicked out of Fuuka Academy forever. She was a popular girl but she wasn't sure whether it had been enough and whoever won had to be smart and hardworking- Natsuki was but only when she wanted to be and it was hard enough getting her to apply herself and it was just Natsuki and Shizuru. Could Natsuki win? Shizuru watched as Anh took a look at the students eagerly anticipating the result and she could see that Natsuki hung her head low.

Okay enough with the suspense please… its unbearable was the collective thought of the majority of those in the room.

"Congratulations Kuga Natsuki, you are now the Fukukaichou… come on up!" Anh grinned at the young girl who genuinely looked surprised as the room erupted into a great, loud and booming applause.

"I won?" she muttered quietly as Tate laughed and carried on applauding. "Yeah you did… now get up there Kuga. Geez." Tate said as he looked to his right and saw a very angry looking Tomoe which made the young man laugh. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Tomoe Tate thought as he watched his friend stand up.

Natsuki got up out of the seat- her body trembled with the amount of adrenaline pulsating through her body- and as she made her way to the podium, she spared a glance at Shizuru who, like many people in the room, was now on her feet and smiling widely as she winked at her student before mouthing the words 'well done'. Seeing Shizuru smile like that turned Natsuki's legs into jelly and soon Natsuki found it hard to even make her legs move the few more feet from there to the podium. Eventually the applause started to die down and everybody that was on their feet took their seats again.

"I… er… T-thank you for voting for me, I really really didn't expect to win but um… thank you and I really hope I don't let you down." Natsuki nodded and then stood back as everyone started clapping again.

What have I got myself into now?

Anh shook Natsuki's hand and flashed her new Vice President a huge, beaming smile. "I knew you could do it Natsuki-chan. Well done." Anh said as she draped an arm around Natsuki's strong shoulders "I need to introduce you to a few people just as a formality, then you can go throw up or something- you look like you need it." Anh laughed at the young girl's terrified expression; she could hardly blame her though. Anh thought back to when she had become Kaichou and blacking out as soon as she reached the podium- she could still feel the slight dent on her forehead from where her head collided with the corner of the wooden podium.

As soon as she could, Natsuki barrelled through the double doors leading from the auditorium to the courtyard and as she closed her eyes, she took a couple of deep breaths of the cold fresh air. The cold air cleared her mind and she finally felt able to breathe.

"Congratulations." The sweet, soft Kyoto-ben pierced the cold air and Natsuki turned around to find Shizuru- a smile etched onto her perfect features- walking slowly towards her before stopping only a couple of feet away. "Thank you." Natsuki croaked before trying again, this time her voice was clearer and a little less shaky than before. Shizuru ached to hug Natsuki like they had done before, yet she knew that it was probably a bad idea and someone was bound to see them out in the open.

"Ookini, I know that this wasn't necessarily what you wanted but… I'm glad you won." Shizuru said as she tucked a stray strand of Natsuki's black hair behind the young girl's ear- enjoying the sight of a small tinge of pink as Natsuki blushed.

"Well I meant what I said. I didn't do this for nothing Shizuru."

Natsuki grabbed Shizuru's hand with one hand and with the other; she rested on the crook of Shizuru's neck, gently pulling their faces closer. A short gasp of breath left Shizuru's lips as she felt the soft, sweet lips cover her own in a kiss. Shizuru's crimson eyes widened in shock before fluttering and closing as she started to kiss Natsuki back- their lips caressed each other in short, sweet little kisses. As Natsuki moaned into the kiss, the moan triggered a surge of passion in Shizuru as she rested one hand on the younger girl's hip and pulled her in closer. Shizuru gently ran her tongue along Natsuki's lip before Natsuki's mouth opened more and Shizuru gently slid her tongue into Natsuki's mouth- enjoying yet another moan from her student.

"Shizuru are you alright?" The sound of a husky and very concerned voice rang through the air and suddenly the image vanished. Disappointed, Shizuru realised that what had just happened was nothing but a figment of her imagination- her very vivid and dangerous imagination- and she smiled in response. All of a sudden she felt overwhelmed with embarrassment and had no idea how it must have looked to Natsuki.

"Kannin na Natsuki… Something just occurred to me." Shizuru smiled apologetically whilst Natsuki nodded along. She wasn't entirely convinced, it had sent her into a bit of a panic when suddenly Shizuru's smile disappeared and the older woman went as still as a statue.

"Alright then… weird."

"Okay well… I'd better go prepare for my next class, but I'll hopefully see you on Monday. Congratulations again Kuga-san." Natsuki frowned in confusion but as she watched Shizuru's crimson eyes glance over her shoulder, she understood.

"Thanks. See you around." Natsuki just managed to call out as Mikoto jumped onto the older girl's back- causing Natsuki to stumble. "Mikoto… I thought Mai got you a leash." Natsuki frowned as the younger girl wrapped her legs tightly around Natsuki's stomach.

"Congratulations Natsuki-kun. We knew you could do it didn't we?" Chie lashed a beaming smile as she wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder and Mai and Aoi all agreed whilst Nao shrugged.

"Yeah, thanks Mutt, you just lost me a lot of money. Money I had on Tomoe winning."

Natsuki smirked before smiling sweetly at the unimpressed redhead "I really appreciate your support too Nao."

---

"So your plane lands at ten tomorrow right?" Shizuru said as she finished putting clean bedding on the bed in Nao's old room and moved to the kitchen.

"Yeah, are you sure I can stay at yours? I don't mind checking into a hotel Shizuru." The accented and clear voice of Alyssa Kruger spoke from the other end of the line. "I told you, it's fine by me… although I still think it would be best to tell Natsuki you're coming home for a bit."

Shizuru could hear Alyssa sigh- a clear sign that things weren't any closer to getting sorted between the two sisters. "Shizuru you heard what she said, Nat wants nothing to do with me at the moment and for once I'm going to do what she asked."

"Fine, but she will find out eventually and I doubt she'll be happy. However she won't hear it from me. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 11- have a good flight." Shizuru laughed as she heard her friend groan and in the background the airport announcement system started calling for passengers on Alyssa's flight.

"Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow and if I collapse on you from exhaustion I'm sorry. Bye."

"Bye." Shizuru pressed the call button and set the phone down. Natsuki is going to kill me.

The next morning Shizuru was up bright and early to go collect Alyssa from the airport. "So would you rather go straight to mine to sleep or get something to eat?" Shizuru asked and Alyssa just shrugged. "I'm kinda hungry so why don't we go to the restaurant? I have to talk to Midori about something anyway."

"Alright then."

Violet eyes lifted up of the counter and focused on the two girls who had just entered the Linden Baum restaurant. Mai smiled as she waved Chie and Aoi to come over to her. "Hey Mai-chan!" Aoi called out in her high pitched voice whilst Chie opted for a mock two-fingered salute and both girls walked hand in hand as they took a seat at one of the booths were Tate sat- discussing kendo with Mikoto.

"Hey Tate-kun. Did Mai rope you into this emergency meeting too?" Chie asked as she took her seat opposite the strawberry blonde young man.

"She did yeah… she hasn't said anything about what this is all about. I'd hoped you would have some ideas." Aoi and Chie shook their heads and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, we haven't got a clue either- though we'll soon find out." Aoi watched with her stunning blue eyes as Mai took a seat next to her boyfriend.

"Hiya guys."

"Hiya Mai-chan, so what's this about then? It must be serious if it's an 'emergency'." Chie asked as she took a sip of Tate's soda- totally ignoring the roll of the eyes she was given by him.

"It's serious but I don't want to start without Nao-chan. Is she coming?"

Aoi shook her head "Nao-chan's not coming- she said that she's sorry but she has better things to do." Chie snorted and rolled her eyes- Aoi had majorly changed and sweetened what the young girl had said as they tried to wake her up this morning- 'I'd rather eat my own foot now fuck off and let me sleep.' Isn't that what she said?

"Urgh… fine. Right so I've called you here today to talk about Natsuki. Something weird is going on with that girl and usually I'm good at letting her weirdness slide but… I can't do this time. It can't be just me who's noticed something odd about her recently."

"Mai-kun, Natsuki is odd full stop. You know better than all of us put together how hard it is to get inside that girl's head." Chie said as she looked at Mai whilst trying to reach for Tate's soda again- only for Tate to move it further away from her grasp. "Meanie." Chie remarked with a frown as she folded her arms on the table.

"Well I know that but… there's something not right and I think it's only started happening recently. Her mood swings are worse, but she's doing better at school and has hardly skipped school at all lately. I know she's had a fall out with Alyssa about something but she won't tell me what and there's something else but I can't begin to try and explain it. I don't know how long it's been going on for but I've only just noticed." Mai said as she reached out and took Tate's drink- taking a large gulp- before her boyfriend angrily swiped it away from her.

"Can everybody just get their own damn drinks please?" Tate exclaimed as he looked at the girls around him who all shook their heads before shouting "No!" all at once. Tate sighed and sat back in his seat- deflated, defeated and hopelessly outnumbered. Women… pfft!

"Anyhoo… has Natsuki said anything to you?" Mai asked as Aoi immediately shook her head… however Chie shifted nervously in her seat before violently shaking her head.

"Nope, nothing, nothing at all. You know what she's like." Mai raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to scrutinise her bespectacled friend- who leaned back and gave Mai a sheepish grin. Natsuki really shouldn't have told me… now I'm going to be killed for this. I've kept it to myself fine for the last couple of months but now I'm ready to crack? Heheh… crack. The others looked on in confusion as Chie giggled.

"What's wrong with her?" Tate asked as he nudged Mai with his elbow and Mai just shrugged "Try asking what's not wrong with her- it's a shorter list."

"Sorry guys… anyway Mai… she hasn't said anything." Chie regained her composure and flicked her hair from her face- trying to ignore the look of bewilderment on her girlfriend's face.

"Yeah, you've said, like a dozen times. Now I'm starting to think that maybe she has." Mai folded her arms across her large chest and eyed her friend who shifted uncomfortably. "Mai- I'm the school's biggest gossip, keeping secrets is not what I do best remember?" Aoi nodded before frowning at her girlfriend.

"You can't keep a secret? Well that's the biggest load of bull I've heard in a while Chie-chan… you kept a pretty damn big secret from me for years didn't you? Mai, we think that something's going on between Alyssa-sama and Viola-sensei- Natsuki's obviously not happy about it because she started yelling at Alyssa-sama and Shizuru-san."

Mai furrowed her brow "Who's Shizuru-san?"

"Oh, Shizuru-san is Viola-sensei. Shizuru-san was with Natsuki the other day when… you know when everything kicked off basically and they were on first-name basis and everything. Anyway she dropped Natsuki off at her apartment and then when Chie-chan called her Viola-sensei, she told us to call her Shizuru instead." Aoi finished and Mai hummed as she took everything in- Chie still looked pretty shifty and there was still more she was confused about.

"You said that you thought something was going on between Alyssa-sama and Shizuru-san? How do you know this?" Tate asked Aoi who looked at Chie, who shook her head causing Aoi to roll her eyes and look back at Tate.

"Chie saw those two together several weeks ago here- they were holding hands and staring at each other like… like you and Mai do or Chie and I do. Plus the day Chie got suspended we kinda saw them together- they were hugging but it was so damn obvious. Natsuki said they were just good friends but we all know what that means- take a look at us two a year ago."

Mai nodded and everyone else just hummed in agreement- course they remembered! "Okay there are things that just aren't right and confusing. I either think that Natsuki has a crush on Yakama-sensei- yeah I know that's a bit farfetched but it's just one possibility. Another is that when I caught her giving Shizuru-san and Yakama-sensei her evil Kuga-death-glare, it was because she was seeing her sister's partner flirting with a man and she has some weird bi-polar type sibling loyalty thing going on." Mai took a breath and let her friends ponder for a moment or two.

"Chie-chan what do you think?" Chie gulped nervously as she looked up to see Mai staring at her- her violet eyes wide and unblinking. "You're hiding something and if you don't tell us I'm sure Aoi won't mind holding sex for ransom, will you Aoi-chan?" Mai smirked as Aoi shook her head.

"Don't mind at all." Aoi chirped.

"Huh? What? Oh fine. Natsuki has… fallen for someone okay but she won't tell me who it is but I know it's someone at school. I tried guessing who it was- I mean it ticked literally all of the boxes from what she told me. But when I confronted her about it she seemed rather offended and she was very convincing when she said it wasn't who I thought it was."

"Who did you think it was?" Aoi asked as all eyes were on Chie.

"Well I thought she was talking about Nao-chan. Think about it- who drives Natsuki crazy? Nao-chan. Who is Natsuki forced to work and spend time with at the moment? Nao-chan. She said that this person teases her a lot and Nao does all the time."

Mai nodded- it was certainly plausible but apparently Natsuki had already trampled over that scenario.

Suddenly something caused Aoi to gasp "Oh my God… look, look… subtly guys seriously." Aoi nodded for Mai to look behind her as both Shizuru and Alyssa entered the restaurant. Alyssa had held open the door for the young brunette who smiled back. The gang watched as Alyssa whispered something into Shizuru's ear as she rested a hand on the younger woman's bare shoulder.

"Whoa, that is just way too weird." Coincidink I think not- What are the chances eh? Chie thought as she saw Alyssa wandering over to their booth with Shizuru close behind.

"Hiya guys. How are you?" Alyssa said as she took off her sunglasses and beamed a smile at her sister's friends.

"Yeah we're fine thanks. So when did you get back from the States?" Mai asked- it had suddenly re-occurred to her where Alyssa had been for the last week or so. "Oh I got back yesterday morning- slept all through yesterday and had to catch a flight from Tokyo this morning. Fortunately Shizuru here could pick me up." Alyssa winked at Shizuru and wrapped an arm around her younger friend's waist.

"Yes, where would you be without me hmm?" Shizuru said as she cocked a perfectly arched eyebrow at Alyssa- who pondered for a moment and then looked back at Shizuru.

"Probably still here, but I would have taken a cab from the airport instead of dragging you out of bed." Alyssa deadpanned as Shizuru pouted and Chie sniggered before getting a kick in the shin.

"Ikezu."

"Yeah… I still don't know what that means. Mai is Midori in? She promised me yesterday she was going to be in." Alyssa said as she turned to the young girl who smiled apologetically before shaking her head. "She's hung-over again isn't she?" Alyssa had to resist the urge to shout at Mai- it wasn't her fault but still, she paid Midori to work and she had never batted an eyelid when she heard that Midori was too drunk to come in. However today she had something important to tell her and she needed Midori to be sober and there.

"Well… She's in… sort of. She passed out in the pantry an hour ago I think." Mai could see her boss was starting to get annoyed and a little angry.

"Right… fucking fantastic. Thank you. Could I ask you all not to say a word to Nat…suki about me being in country please? I doubt she'll be too happy about it. Where is she anyway?" Alyssa's sapphire eyes looked on as most of her sister's friends shrugged their shoulders- much to Alyssa's dismay.

"Natsuki is with her grandfather and Takeda. The guy wanted to celebrate her winning the Fukukaichou election." Mai responded as Alyssa's brow creased in a deep frown. "If it makes you feel any better she needed a lot of convincing to go." Both Chie and Aoi nodded in agreement as they thought about how their older friend had barricaded herself in Mai's bathroom the night before. It had taken them nearly three hours and the promise of free meals at the Linden Baum for a week to coax Natsuki out of there.

"Okay… can't say I'm too thrilled about it but I promised I wouldn't interfere didn't I?" Alyssa groaned as she reached over and took a sip of Tate's soda- completely finishing it off.

"Hey! What- not fair." Tate exclaimed.

"My restaurant- I can do whatever I like." Alyssa shrugged and deadpanned as Tate folded his arms and rested his head on them- mumbling to himself 'I paid for the damn thing'.

Shizuru chuckled before turning back to Alyssa "Anyway…Yes, you certainly did… and you're going to keep it aren't you? Whilst you deal with Midori I'm going to wait in the car. I hope you lot enjoy your weekend- I'll see some of you on Monday. Please go easy on her Alyssa." Shizuru winked at the unimpressed blonde before waving goodbye to the group who called out their goodbyes too.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned back to the gang. "Right it was good seeing you lot but… no-one slacks when I'm in the building." Not even old friends… especially not Midori Alyssa thought as she walked through to the kitchens- nodding in acknowledgement as she passed her employees who thankfully were all hard at work- and she sighed as she opened the door to the pantry where her friend and employee was passed out, rather ungraciously and unladylike to add.

"Midori?" Alyssa called out, her voice stern and her face hardened and annoyed as she bent down to Midori's level. "Midori?" she called out again, this time much louder and sounding her obvious impatience as she once again failed to rouse her friend from her drunken stupor. Suddenly an idea sprang to Alyssa's brilliant mind as she rose up from the floor and entered the kitchens again- taking one of the large saucepans and filling it halfway with freezing cold water before bringing it back carefully to the pantry.

"Last chance Mids, wake up or you get a soaking… your choice." Alyssa huffed as the flame-haired woman rolled onto her side and snuggled closer to the sack of potatoes. "Fine then, don't say I didn't warn you." Alyssa smirked in satisfaction as she tipped the saucepan upside down, completely drenching her friend who woke up spluttering and completely drenched.

"What the he… Oww… my head." Midori clutched her pounding head, closing her bloodshot and weary eyes against the throbbing pain. As Midori looked up she saw the serious look on her Boss' face and she knew she was in trouble. It didn't happen that often, Alyssa had always dealt with Midori's drink habit well for an employer and took any crap from her flame-haired friend on the chin- it had started off as mere entertainment for the pair as they struggled through the original awkwardness that had formed between them. However the serious look on the blonde woman's face was truly terrifying and now Midori was scared that she had gone one step too far.

"Alyssa-chan? You know there are other ways to wake people up… nicer ways."

"Well forgive me if I don't feel like being nice Midori. I told you yesterday I wanted you here, clean and sober because I wanted to talk to you. Look at yourself… can you even stand?" Alyssa scowled and clenched her jaw as Midori rolled her eyes before pulling herself up onto her feet- shakily but eventually she stood up.

"Right, I can stand… now what?" Midori replied, smugly as she rested one hand on her hip and saw the frown deepen and the wrinkles on Alyssa's forehead crease together.

"Don't you get cheeky with me… don't forget I'm the boss and if I wanted to, I could toss you out of here on your ass, so I would keep that mouth of yours shut okay? Do you want me to fire you Midori?" Midori shook her head and Alyssa took a deep breath as she folded her arms across her chest- her expression softened as she realised what she was about to say would probably hurt Midori. And hurting Midori never came easy for Alyssa- she had hurt her too much in the past already. "I need you to be serious now okay? It isn't going to be easy to say and I need you to take this seriously."

"If you need me to be… I will." Midori shrugged as she leaned back against one of the food racks- being serious wasn't a particular strong point for her and it only ever brought about more pain that she was running low on strength to deal with. Alyssa nodded and then began.

Meanwhile, Shizuru was busy waiting in the car when suddenly she heard her phone ringing and she reached into her handbag on the back seat. "Hello?" she answered in a sweet, soft tone.

"Hello bubuzuke." Shizuru smiled at the gruff and familiar voice of one of her oldest friends. "Haruka-chan, this is a wonderful surprise. How are you?"

"Well enough I suppose, anyway I can't talk for long so I'll have to be quick. Yukino and I are coming down to you for a few days on Monday- we already have a hotel reservation so you don't have to worry or anything. But… Bubuzuke?"

"Yes Haruka-chan?"

"Yukino doesn't know about this trip so…. Keep this to yourself please."

Shizuru couldn't keep the smile off her face- she missed both Haruka and Yukino dearly and valued every minute they had together. "You can trust me. Yukino won't hear a word from me. But that sounds wonderful, the both of you will have to come to mine for dinner at some point… and there's someone I want you to meet as well Haruka-chan."

"Oh good- finally you've found yourself someone. I was starting to worry that you'd stay single forever you know."

Shizuru rolled her eyes and chuckled slightly. "Oh well I appreciate the concern Haruka-chan but alas- she's only a friend and she happens to be staying with me for a couple of days." Shizuru heard the sad sigh on the other end of the line and relaxed more into the car seat- staying single forever, Shizuru didn't know whether that was such a bad thing or not nowadays. She always had wanted to end up with someone and for a long time that person had always been Reito who she had forced herself to fall in love with. She rarely allowed herself to imagine what life would be like if Natsuki felt the same way about her- but when she did; Shizuru knew it was a dangerous thing to think, thoughts like that only served to cause her more and more pain.

"Fine then, but don't forget Yukino and I were only friends once upon a time and now look at us- nearly four years down the lime now. Anyway I've got to go- I'll see you sometime on Monday. We'll drop by in the evening okay."

"Yes that's fine. I look forward to seeing you… and it's 'down the line' Haruka."

"Yeah, whatever, that's what I said. Bye."

"Bye." Shizuru ended the call- absolutely amazed at how quickly time had flown by. Is it really going to be four years since they got together? I suppose it is if I met Yukino a year into their relationship. Suddenly the brunette's attention was drawn to a very angry looking Alyssa who kicked the door open as she left the diner and Shizuru frowned in confusion as Alyssa appeared to be holding what looked like a bag of frozen vegetables to her cheek. Alyssa opened the car door and got in before slamming the door shut.

"Can we go now please?" Alyssa growled and Shizuru nodded as she started up the engine and backed out of the parking lot.

"What happened?" Shizuru asked as Alyssa pulled down the sun-visor and checked her cheek which was already starting to go a bright purple. "I'll tell you when we get to yours." Alyssa mumbled- she hoped that Shizuru wouldn't mind putting off her interrogation.

"Okay then." Shizuru took the hint that Alyssa was definitely not in the right mind to talk and after some extensive training with the blonde woman's younger sister, Shizuru knew that when a Kruger was angry- it was best to let them stew and calm down by themselves. Alyssa rested the frozen veg on her lap, pulled out her phone from her pocket and started to dial before pressing the call button. "Hey Sarah it's me."

"Yeah I landed a while ago, Shizuru picked me up and we're now on our way from the diner." Alyssa picked up the frozen vegetables again and rested them on her cheek as she spoke "Yeah I spoke to Midori." Shizuru could hear the slight wince as Midori's name was mentioned, she couldn't quite hear what this mystery person was saying but Shizuru could tell that whatever had been said to Midori- had caused the redhead some pain.

"Yeah, she punched me in the face, which is better than I expected but still… it hurt. Anyway, I'll call you later I have to get some sleep and so should you." Alyssa smiled "Yeah, you too. Night." She replied softly as she ended the call before slipping the phone back into her pocket and looking at Shizuru.

"Sorry about that Shizuru. I'll explain later."

Shizuru nodded "I know you will."

A while later, the two women finally arrived at Shizuru's house and after leaving the suitcase in the hallway, Alyssa immediately threw herself onto the sofa and lay down. "Ah… sofa, I have missed you." Alyssa whimpered as she snuggled more into the comfort- causing a giggle from her friend- but then winced as her bruised cheek started to ache and so the blonde woman turned onto her back- her sapphire eyes gazing up at the ceiling.

"I see you're making yourself at home." Shizuru asked as she came out of the kitchen, towards the other, smaller sofa and watched as Alyssa smiled. "Hmm… obviously. It's to be expected though right?" Alyssa chuckled as she rubbed her cheek- her smile fading.

"What happened with Midori, Alyssa?" Shizuru asked softly as she leaned forward. Alyssa closed her eyes and sighed softly as she mentally cursed herself for promising to explain although she knew that Shizuru would never have let it go and it was inevitable.

"What happened is that after everything I've put her through I'm finally getting what I deserve."

Alyssa opened her eyes and turned to look at Shizuru whose brow furrowed in confusion.

"Midori and I went to school together down here when I moved from Germany. When I started, Youko and Midori were the ones that I met first, they showed me around. Youko and I got on really well, Midori didn't like it and she definitely didn't like me, but one day when I was doing my training for a competition I broke my ankle and nearly passed out from the pain. She was the only one nearby, she picked me up and carried me to the doctors' and she stayed with me… holding my hand and stroking my hair the whole time." Alyssa took a deep breath, she ran her fingers through her golden hair and she sat up straight on the sofa before continuing.

"Eventually we grew close, I grew popular but still hung around with Mids and Youko. When the student president elections came round, Midori persuaded me to go for it…. And that's when everything went wrong." Alyssa's hands curled into fists and she gritted her teeth as the memories came flooding in.

"What happened then?" Shizuru asked after she moved from one couch to the other and sat next to her friend.

"Midori helped me win, she then suggested that we have a party to celebrate the fact that I was the youngest seitokaichou in Fuuka's history, but then she got a bit too drunk and so was I."

~Fuuka Gakuen Gymnasium- 8 years ago~

Sapphire blue eyes searched the huge, dark hall for her red-haired friend and growled when she couldn't find her inside- and so decided to check the loos with no luck. Her head was spinning and she knew that she had already drank too much than she could handle, but Midori had insisted on celebrating in style and so she had successful managed to sneak a few bottles of Reigen's most expensive wine and champagne into her bag.

Eventually Alyssa managed to get the door to the trampoline room open and she could just make out in the dim light coming from the full moon in the window, the familiar figure of Midori sitting in the middle of the trampoline. "Found you!" Alyssa had called out gleefully as she jogged up to the trampoline and she saw Midori lift up her head.

"I wasn't really hiding Alyssa." Midori muttered as she rested her chin back on her arms, clutching her knees close to her chest and her olive green eyes watched as Alyssa carefully pulled herself up onto the trampoline and sat in front of her. "If you weren't hiding then why are you in here by yourself in the dark? This party was your idea Mids." Alyssa asked as she slid closer to be able to see her friend.

"I just needed to get away for a bit that's all. I'll come back in, in a minute." Midori gave her friend a reassuring smile.

Alyssa smiled back and stood up on the trampoline- finding balancing on it a bit more difficult with the amount of 'blood in her alcohol system' as Midori often put it. "Good, now have a bounce with me. Come on." Alyssa grinned as Midori furiously shook her head and batted her hands away.

"No, no I'll be sick."

"I don't care- just aim for me if you are." Alyssa smirked as she once again offered her hand out to Midori, which this time was accepted and Midori shakily stood up- opting for small bounces at the beginning. However as the two descended into a fit of giggles, Alyssa bounced high and lost her footing on the way down- and as her hand reached for something to grab onto, she found Midori and pulled the young girl down on top of her.

Midori managed to push herself up off Alyssa's chest where she had landed and saw that Alyssa was laughing and looking right into her eyes. Both girls were breathing heavily and Alyssa watched as Midori's eyes went from her eyes and down to her lips. Alyssa raised one hand and gently stroked her friend's cheek, before resting her hand on Midori's neck and lifting her head up to meet Midori's soft lips with her own. After the initial shock, Midori kissed Alyssa back and rested her own hand that had been supporting her weight on the trampoline onto Alyssa's waist just above the hip. Alyssa's heart was racing, the blood was draining from her head as she pulled Midori closer to her so their bodies meshed together and she felt Midori's hot wet tongue enter her mouth- massaging Alyssa's own.

In the heat of the moment, Alyssa flipped Midori over so Midori was below her and as the kiss intensified, the need to breathe grew and Alyssa pulled away- breaking the kiss and panting heavily. "Alyssa…" Midori whispered through quick breaths "I love you."

Thoughts of what had just happened flooded through Alyssa's brain- she was lying on top of and had just kissed Midori, one of the first true friends that she had ever had. She had initiated it. She had allowed it to happen… and now she wasn't sure why she had done it.

"Did… did you not hear me? Alyssa?"

Back to Present Day

Shizuru watched in amazement as Alyssa took a deep breath and walked up to the window in the living room. She was still trying to get her head around what Alyssa had just revealed to her and she knew that there was more left unsaid. "What happened afterwards?"

Alyssa wiped away the tears that threatened to fall- it was difficult and the memories brought a lot of pain and guilt. She was used to it by now as every time she looked at her friend's face, she only ever thought about what had happened and the pain that she had caused.

"I didn't answer her. I was a coward and ran away." Alyssa turned and rested her body against the large window- her hands behind her back and her eyes resting on the floor. She had run immediately to the bathroom and as soon as she reached an available stall- she had wretched and vomited. The bitter taste lingered in her mouth and even as Alyssa spoke now, she could still taste the bitterness.

"Midori and I managed to avoid each other for a while- both using school and council work as an excuse. One day when I was left alone, Midori came up to me and demanded an explanation. I was in a bad mood that day and told her to leave me alone- but she didn't so when she got in my way… I slapped her. I told her to stay the hell away from me. And she did, but she did it so well that she left school for a while and even then when she came in… she was different. She started to drink more, whenever she could get her hands on some; I think Youko was letting her." Alyssa frowned and bit her lower lip as the angry feelings came back at the mention of Youko's name.

"After Mids told her what happened and what I did, Youko went on a rampage, looking for me and when she did she called me out in front of everyone. We then got into a massive argument and Midori didn't talk to Youko for a while. When I graduated I sent Midori a letter explaining everything and she agreed to put it behind us and so we did. Eventually when I came back to run the restaurant, Midori and I got back in touch. She was doing her teacher training and asked if I was hiring and so I gave her the job."

Shizuru nodded. It had been a lot to take in and she didn't know how Alyssa could have kept something like that a secret for so long. There were still things that didn't quite add up "And today? What was that about?" she asked as she brought her legs up onto the couch and rested her head on the cushion.

"Today I told her that I'm engaged."

---

Natsuki was reaching the end of her tether as every time her emerald eyes glanced to the clock above the Kaichou's desk, time seemed to be going even slower and it seemed like the Council meeting was never going to end… and it was still her first day as the Vice President.

"Right so are we agreed that it's a bit too late for the Social?" Anh asked each of the members of the Council. Alongside Tate, one other girl had accepted a permanent position on the Executive Council. Nina Wong was the adoptive daughter of one of the teachers and although she was young as she was- a first year like Tomoe- she showed academic promise and was eager to join.

"There's not much point in having one now is there? Everybody's settled now and they kinda got used to not having one." Tate offered but received a scoff from Tomoe.

"There has always been a Social and just because it's nearly the end of term, it doesn't mean that we can't still have one." Tomoe retorted as she muttered 'Idiot' under her breath before turning her attention away from Tate and instead appealed to the President. "Kaichou, we can still get everything sorted, perhaps we can move it to the last day of term?"

Anh flicked through her diary, "We finish on the 18th… I don't see why not. What does our new Fukukaichou think?" Anh said as she looked at Natsuki, but frowned when she saw the young girl appeared to be daydreaming and staring out of the window. "Tate-kun… could you please?" Tate nodded and elbowed the dark haired girl in the ribs, thus breaking her concentration and sending her into a fit of curses.

"Natsuki-chan, welcome back. We were just after your opinion on moving the Social to the 18th? What do you think?"

Natsuki shrugged "I think it's a stupid idea." Anh frowned- was it only just because Tomoe had suggested it that Natsuki thought it was stupid? How was anything going to be done when the two were going to play each other off? "And why do you think it's stupid? Is it because it was Tomoe's idea?"

"No I think it's stupid because Tate already gave you a good reason. Tomoe has nothing to do with it. We don't need a stupid disco- they're just getting lame anyway."

"Before we totally scrap the idea can you provide us with an alternative?" Anh watched with curiosity as Natsuki's eyes scanned the room. One wall was decorated with pictures from past events and festivals that the Council had put on or attended elsewhere- however there was one that particularly stood out and Natsuki moved from her seat on the desk for a closer look.

"Was this photo taken at Sapporo?" Natsuki asked as Anh joined her. The photo was of a smiling Anh with her arm draped over the shoulder of the previous Vice President, standing in front of what appeared to be an ice sculpture. "Yeah… that was our trip to the Snow Festival in February." Anh's throat was hoarse and choked with emotion as she spoke quietly- her eyes focused on the photo. She had thought of removing it on many occasions before, but every time she came to do it, she felt guilty.

"What if… what if we turn things around? What if we hold our own version of the Snow festival on the last week and hold a separate event in the February?" Anh smiled and stared in amazement as Natsuki's emerald eyes continued to scan the images.

"What sort of event were you thinking?"

Natsuki bit her bottom lip and smiled when it suddenly dawned on her. "There's Valentine's Day, why don't we scrap the crummy disco and turn it into a Ball? Ball gowns, Tuxedo's too… chocolates as well." Anh winked at Natsuki, visibly impressed and loving the way the young girl's mind worked.

"I love it. Well done." Anh sat back down at her desk- her hands clasped in front of her. "Any objections to the proposal for a Ball?" Everyone turned to look at the scowling teal haired girl and to everyone's surprise and relief; Tomoe shook her head and instead opted to just go along with it. It probably wasn't worth the fight anyway.

"So it's a Snow festival in the last week of term and a High School St Valentine's Day Ball? I think it sounds good." Tate relaxed onto his chair and clasped his hands behind his head.

"I think it's a good idea- if we can we should ask if we can use the conference room of the Director's mansion that opens out into the gardens. I've been in there a couple of times and I know that it's big enough." Nina suggested. She knew that after each school year had ended, all the staff had a party in there and the room was definitely big enough to accommodate the high school population.

"That's a very good idea Nina-chan. I feel that as the brain behind the idea was the Vice President, I feel we should give the honours to Natsuki and let her present the idea to the Director." Anh scribbled down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Natsuki who took it and looked confused.

"Now? You want me to do it now?"

"Erm… yes I do. Get that cute butt of yours over there now before she leaves please." Anh flashed a set of pearly white teeth and Natsuki growled before making her way to the Director's mansion.

Deciding that it was perhaps the quickest way to get there, Natsuki decided to cut across the Director's garden. Whenever she wanted or needed to get away, the tranquillity and the serenity of the gardens proved a safe haven for the young Fukukaichou. Even in winter, when the leaves had gone from vibrant greens to reds and yellows before eventually falling to the ground, the garden was still a beautiful place and ever since her chance meeting with Shizuru at the bandstand all those months ago, Natsuki felt herself drawn to this place. She sometimes entertained thoughts of going there more often with her teacher, sharing the privacy that the gardens offered and finally being allowed to be just Shizuru and just Natsuki.

Natsuki groaned at how corny she had become since the arrival of the new teacher and how the most rebellious and argumentative student in Fuuka Academy's history had done a complete 180. Bleugh… I've not gone soft have I? Should I beat someone up? No Shizuru would kill me. Natsuki groaned as once again thoughts of Shizuru came flooding in. "I'm not going to go soft because of her." Natsuki vowed to herself.

---

Nao's lime green eyes alternated between the clock on the mantelpiece and her cousin who was sitting, contently on the sofa with a magazine. "I don't know why I have to be here. They're your friends." Nao rolled her eyes as Shizuru chuckled and turned the page without sparing her cousin a second glance.

"They may be my friends but they're also family- you are also my family so you're here."

"What kind of crappy excuse is that?"

"It's my excuse and I'm sticking with it." Suddenly there was a knock on the door, shortly followed by a few more and Shizuru put her magazine on the table and quickly ran to the door "Happy face Nao." Shizuru remarked in a high sing-song voice as she unlocked the door.

"Ha ha, no thanks." Nao sneered as she turned her back to the door and her cousin- her cousin who seemed completely unperturbed and very excited to be seeing her dearest friends. However the sight of a dishevelled Yukino- and only Yukino- soon wiped the joy off Shizuru's face as she frowned in bewilderment and took a couple of steps closer to the brunette woman who quivered and ferociously fought back the salty tears.

"Yukino-chan? What's happened? Where's Haruka-chan?" Shizuru asked- alarmed to which Yukino shook her head and gave her friend a small reassuring smile "Gomen Shi-chan, H-Har… she won't be coming." Shizuru nodded and gently guided her younger friend to one of the sofas- gently brushing Nao's legs off one of them to make room. Nao grumbled but a disapproving look and a frown from her cousin soon shut her up. Yukino-chan wouldn't say her name? Whatever it is, it must be bad Shizuru looked at Nao who nodded- the younger girl had noticed as well.

"Gomen Shi-chan, I would have called first but… I…" Shizuru smiled and shook her head as she grasped one of Yukino's trembling hands in her own.

"This house is always open to you- whenever you need it." Yukino wiped a tear from her eye and gave her friend a small smile before Shizuru wrapped her arms around Yukino's shoulders and pulled her into an embrace as the younger woman began to cry freely. Nao watched on intently as her cousin comforted her friend and the young redhead felt a pang of guilt- like she was intruding on a special sort of moment or something that she shouldn't be a part of.

Honestly- if there's one situation I have to be born uncomfortable with, it's people crying in front of me. I shouldn't even be here. Damn it Shizuru… I'm going to my room. Nao took one last glance at Shizuru, who had her eyes closed as Yukino clutched her tightly as the sobs and the tears flowed and the young redhead pushed the door open to what used to be her old room- yet found it to be somewhat occupied. On the bed was an open suitcase, on the chair there were a few neatly laid out items of clothing and on the desk was a picture of a very young dark haired girl- smiling as she was embraced by an older blonde girl with sparkling blue eyes. Natsuki? Alyssa Kruger? Don't tell me…

"Yuuki-san?" A curious but familiar voice startled the younger girl as she jumped back and hit the door behind her. Right in front of her stood Alyssa Kruger with nothing but a towel hiding her bare body and an amused smirk on her beautiful face.

"Kruger… what the hell are you doing here?" Nao scowled and mentally cursed her bad luck as Alyssa took two quick strides over to the door and pinned Nao up against it.

"I could ask you the same thing. Don't you know its bad manners to go through other people's belongings? Especially when they belong to your beloved cousin's guest?" Alyssa spoke quietly and softly as she would if she were talking to her own lover and she raised a perfectly arched eyebrow as she watched Nao process things.

"I couldn't care less who they belonged to… but I guess the only reason you don't want me to touch them is because you're afraid I'd find something right?" Nao responded with a smirk, however when Alyssa's smile grew, the smirk disappeared. "What the hell are you laughing at? Idiot."

"I was just thinking… you looked so much like your Father when you smirk like that and your tempers are very similar."

Nao's eyes widened and she felt a shiver run down her spine. Did… did she just mention my…? No. Nao shook her head and Alyssa released her hold on the stunned younger girl, but once the redhead's strength gave way Alyssa swooped in and gathered Nao in her arms and guided Nao to the bed.

"You… you know my Father?" Nao shrugged Alyssa off her and pushed herself far away from the blonde to the furthest bit of the bed. "Of course. Well… he's dead now but I met him a few times. His name was Akimoto Daiki- a politician in the Kansai region before he retired ten years ago."

"Oh yeah? And how do you know this?" Nao asked- her face may have seemed decidedly uninterested but she knew that this answered so many questions. Questions her cousin couldn't answer and questions that her Mother wouldn't.

"I know a lot about you Nao." Alyssa smirked as she shifted closer to the young girl and saw the slight flinch. "I know that it was you who told Senou-san about Aoi and Chie. I know that you are too much of a coward to even admit it and will happily let Natsuki and Chie be punished for your little slip of the tongue. I also know that if you should ever do something that endangers my sister… I will hurt you in more ways than you can imagine."

Nao scoffed "What are you going to do? Slap my butt a little bit?"

"Who said anything about hurting you directly Nao-chan? You love your cousin, but your cousin has a lot of people who want her found alive for their own gain and they will rip you two apart and they'll rip her to shreds. You never met your Uncle but he doesn't forgive or forget easily. I'll feed her to the fucking wolves Nao… you think about that for a moment and then get out of my room." Nao stared at the stone-faced woman in front of her and hissed before getting off the bed and ran out the back door leading to the garden. Alyssa chuckled as she ran her fingers through her wet blonde hair "Oh my- what a cute little tail she has between her legs." She mused to herself.

Meanwhile, back in the living room, Yukino's sobs subsided and she shakily pushed herself up off Shizuru's lap. "Thank you Shi-chan. I don't know what came over me." Shizuru smiled gently "Perhaps, if you wish to talk about it, I can help?"

Yukino nodded and stared at the ring on her middle finger of her left hand. It was a birthday present from Haruka the year they finally got together and it had come with a promise- they would spend the rest of their lives together. "I… I've left Haruka-chan. I've left her." Shizuru's calm demeanour disappeared in a flash and her brain struggled to make sense of Yukino's words.

"I don't understand. Why?"

"She… has been unfaithful. I thought at first I was just being paranoid at first but, the more I thought about what has been going on lately… everything just pointed to an affair." Yukino looked once more at the ring, the ring that had never been taken off from her middle finger, the ring that symbolised the love and affection that she had for Haruka- and in that moment she wanted nothing more than to send it to the bottom of the ocean.

"Has she confessed to it?" Yukino turned away and blushed with embarrassment before shaking her head "Yukino, Haruka-chan is the most moral person I have ever met. I find it hard to believe that she would ever be unfaithful. You spoke of things that pointed to an affair yes? What were they?"

Yukino thought back to her mental check list "Recently I got a call regarding a large amount of withdrawn money- I thought it was because Haruka had her details stolen but they weren't. I saw her appointment book and it had the name 'Fumi' written in it and a place and time- I then heard an answering phone message from, whoever this woman is. Haruka is always late from work; she tells me she has a lot of work to do but… I spoke to her assistant and he said that Haruka is hardly ever in… but when she is she's always falling asleep in meetings or working with the door closed. Shi-chan… I don't know what to do."

Shizuru sighed softly. Under those circumstances, it definitely seemed plausible that Haruka had been keeping something from Yukino- but she still doubted the possibility of an affair. Haruka-chan… what are you doing? "I will talk to her and I will get to the bottom of this Yukino-chan. I promise. For the time being, if you wish to stay, you may use my room and I will use the spare."

"Thank you Shi-chan."

After Yukino was settled in Shizuru's room, she looked at her phone and saw that she had several messages and missed calls- all of them from Haruka- and so Shizuru patiently waited as the phone rang. "Bubuzuke? I've been calling you non-stop for an hour where have you been? Have you got my messages?"

"I have been here at home, Yukino is here with me but I won't allow you to see her just yet. You and I have things to discuss." Shizuru tried to keep her voice calm and level.

"She's with you? Oh I'm glad… Shizuru" Shizuru frowned- Haruka rarely ever used her first name "Shizuru I know what she thinks is going on, but I promise you, it's not how it appears."

---

"She thinks I'm having an affair?" The words left Haruka's mouth as nothing more than a whimper and the blonde clenched her fists in anger. She was angry at herself for keeping such a large secret from the one person, she promised to share anything and everything with. Shizuru nodded and studied her friend's reaction- noting how utterly devastated and shocked her oldest friend looked when Shizuru told her. "She knows… she knows I would never… she knows." Haruka whispered as she hung her head low. Shizuru had asked for a small favour from Alyssa who had allowed Shizuru to take Haruka to the diner whilst Yukino was at the house. Everyone had gone and it was just the two women sitting in silence for what seemed an eternity.

"If you've not been unfaithful… you must be keeping something else a secret."

"I was planning on telling her everything eventually, this weekend was supposed to be when." Haruka lifted her amethyst and slightly bloodshot eyes off the table and met with Shizuru's cold crimson. "It's a lot to explain. And I have you to thank for most of it. Ever since you told me you were leaving Kyoto, since you started your teaching course at Tokyo it got me thinking. Spending more time with you made me miss certain things, whenever you spoke about what sort of things the students would do, it reminded me of when I was in school and how I missed it. So about a year ago I signed up for a teaching programme in the evenings whilst I was still working. I've been offered a place to train down here- if I impress my employer then she'll hire me full-time."

"A job… down here?" Shizuru's eyes lit up "A job at Fuuka Academy?"

Haruka nodded curtly and gave her friend a small smile "Yep, so now I can keep you in order once again." Shizuru chuckled but she didn't allow herself to be truly happy just yet. "Haruka, what were you intending to do about Yukino? Force her to move down here when your life is back in Tokyo? Did you even consider that?"

"Of course I did! Yukino was the first thing on my mind. We spoke of something like this already and besides I don't start until after the Christmas vacation. My Father knows of my decision already and he supports me… he supports us." Haruka reached into her pocket and pulled out a little blue box, placing it on the table and pushing it towards Shizuru who opened the box with a gasp.

"It's taken him nearly four years, but finally he has accepted us for who we are. I brought her here with me to ask her to marry me. At some point- when she starts talking to me again" Haruka spoke softly and with a smile as Shizuru grinned as she looked at the pure white gold ring with the most beautiful topaz surrounded by a ring of diamonds.

"It's beautiful Haruka-chan. And I truly hope all works out for the best. You know Yukino- you'll find a way to work things out so the both of you are happy." Shizuru felt joy in her heart as she placed the ring back in its box before siding it back to her friend. "Thank you… I expect Yukino will make me bay for this tenfold." Haruka sighed whilst Shizuru shook her head and smirked.

"Ara ara, I think you'll find its 'pay' Haruka-chan. And you were doing so well." Shizuru sighed- as the two had grown up, Haruka had a little difficulty in pronouncing her words correctly.- most of the time it was unintentional- but most of the time it was a little test to see if Shizuru was truly paying attention.

"That's what I said."

"Oh? Whatever you say then."

---

Natsuki looked at the time on her phone as she walked through the empty corridor of the school. The next door coming up on her right was where Chie and Aoi were going to have a lesson and as she poked her head through, Natsuki smirked as she saw there was no teacher in sight and not only were Chie and Aoi in there but so was Mai.

"Why hello there Kuga-senpai." Chie waved and winked at her friend whilst the others greeted Natsuki- all took in the sight of their friend in the uniform of the Fukukaichou- they had seen her wearing it time to time but it was still quite a sight and made Natsuki look even sexier and badass.

"Hey guys. What's up?"

Chie shrugged "Nothing much, Shizuru-san isn't here yet so we're just chilling." Chie replied as she watched Natsuki push herself up onto the teacher's desk to face her friends.

"Oh okay." Natsuki shrugged nonchalantly as she flicked her hair and Chie offered her a pocky stick to which she accepted. "So, Chie-kun… any gossip or scandals to report?" Mai asked as she took another pocky stick.

"Mmm… nothing much really. Same old, same old. My sources here seemed to have run dry lately."

Natsuki scoffed and smirked as she crossed her legs "Good- it'll allow your victims a bit of privacy for once." Chie frowned and stuck her tongue out at her dark haired friend.

"Whoa wait, what's this?" Mai asked as the headline on the day's newspaper caught her attention and she hopped off the desk to get a closer look. "Wow… that's pretty big." Mai quickly scanned the article on the front page.

"What is it Mai-chan?" Aoi asked as she moved closer to the redhead. "After nearly four decades of marriage, a spokesperson for the Fujino family has confirmed the untimely separation of Fujino Hideyoshi and his soon to be ex-wife Akemi. It is believed that the stress caused by the sudden disappearance of the couple's only daughter, Shizuru who was up until two months ago believed to be dead, is a main factor in the upcoming divorce."

Mai took a deep breath whilst Chie muttered 'wow' under her breath. Natsuki sighed- the Fujino's were the sort of people everybody seemed to know of, yet Natsuki herself knew next to nothing about any of them. The world of business never really excited or inspired her interests and so actually caring less about what went on in that stuck up family wasn't going to be easy.

Suddenly a loud crash from the hallway caught everyone's attention and Natsuki immediately jumped from her position on the desk and the girls ran to the corridor where they found an unconscious Shizuru on the floor surrounded by textbooks. "No, Shizuru?" Natsuki called out as she rushed to Shizuru's side, brushing the hair out of the older woman's face. "Shizuru?" the young girl frantically called out again as she tried to shake Shizuru awake as she cradled the teacher in her arms and without a care in the world as to whether people were staring or not- but smiled when she saw a glimmer of crimson as Shizuru started to come round.

Shizuru blinked, trying to clear her eyes of the haziness that had formed a soon as her body had hit the floor hard. Before she had even woken up, she heard her voice, she smelt her scent and she had felt Natsuki's arms wrap around her body. "Natsuki." Shizuru whispered with a smile which grew when Natsuki sighed and smiled with relief.

"I thought you were dead or something." Natsuki spoke quietly so that only Shizuru could hear.

"You aren't getting rid of me that easily you know." Shizuru smirked as Natsuki chuckled softly. "Please… help me up?" Natsuki nodded and gingerly wrapped her arm around Shizuru's waist- putting Shizuru's right arm around her own shoulders to be used as a support.

"I'm going to take you to Youko- and then you're going to tell me what happened and you aren't going to argue about it." Natsuki stopped and stared at a reluctant yet still slightly dazed Shizuru who reluctantly agreed as she let Natsuki carry her to the school nurse.

"Hey Youko, you in?" Natsuki called out as she pushed the door open- causing a wince from Shizuru as the loudness of Natsuki's voice hurt her head. "Whoops... sorry."

"Erm… Hi Natsuki I'll be with you in a moment just sit yourself down on the bed." The young doctor replied as she took a quick look from behind the dividing screen and only just saw the familiar colour hair- after all no-one was more recognisable than the new Fukukaichou! Natsuki nodded and gently placed Shizuru on the bed.

"I'm fine Natsuki… honestly I don't need to be here." Shizuru protested before she yawned, causing Natsuki to scoff. "Yeah right, if you can't stay awake how will you teach hmm? Now lie down and shut up"

Shizuru smirked as an idea popped into her head "I guess I'll just get you to teach them for me."

Natsuki's eyes widened and her face twisted into a grimace "Ha yeah, bite me sensei."

Suddenly, a cough from behind the two brought the back to reality and behind Natsuki was a very amused looking Youko.

"Well this is a first- it's usually Natsuki who needs fixing. So Shizuru-san, care to tell me what happened?"

Shizuru sighed and took a deep breath as she mentally recalled what had just happened. She had just got to the door of her classroom, she had just seen Natsuki, she had just checked out Natsuki as the other girls were too busy paying attention to something Tokiha Mai had just said. My parents… my parents are divorcing. Shizuru shook her head "I must have just blacked out… I really don't remember what happened before I did but… that's all. Thanks to Kuga-san I'm here though so thank you very much for coming to my aid." Shizuru gave Natsuki a reassuring smile to which the stone-faced girl just nodded and shrugged nonchalantly. As if it was nothing.

"No problem. Erm… I have a lesson now so… I'll… yeah. Get better soon." Natsuki blushed with embarrassment as she nodded to Youko and left the room- her face felt like it was on fire as it had been the entire trek up to the Doctor's office. It hadn't even occurred to Natsuki at the time that she was wandering through the halls, holding Shizuru up, with her hands on Shizuru's lithe waist and with Shizuru resting her tired head against Natsuki's bare neck. Where Shizuru's soft skin had grazed over Natsuki's face tingled slightly and subconsciously, Natsuki's hand lifted up to touch the spot. Her smell of Shizuru's perfume mixed in with the scent of the older woman's shampoo whirled around Natsuki's nostrils as she brusquely walked through the corridor to her classroom.

Dammit, I knew I should have Chie take her… although she'd just grope her no doubt. Wait a second, is that Nao… coming straight at me? Ha- time to have some fun. Natsuki thought as the figure of the young redhead came charging down the corridor- running at a very fast pace and so Natsuki decided to stand in the middle of the corridor with her arms outstretched.

"Didn't you know you aren't supposed to run in the corridor Yuuki Nao?" Natsuki yelled with a smirk.

"Fuck off Natsuki." Nao replied as she ran past the older girl- shoving her into the lockers… and a few unsuspecting middle schoolers.

"I'll KILL YOU FOR THAT NAO!" Natsuki exclaimed as she pushed herself up against one of the girls who had acted as a crash mat and saw the younger girl run off in the direction she had just come from.

Nao silently cursed Natsuki for getting in her way and thanked Aoi for managing to find her before she skulked off back to the dorms. Once she got to the Doctor's office, Shizuru was already fast asleep in the bed and Youko pointed to chair so Nao could take a seat beside her. After Youko had gone out of the room, Nao quietly moved the chair closer to the bed and gently brushed a bit of stray hair out of Shizuru's face. I may as well get some sleep as well- if she can why can't I?

An hour later, Nao felt a surge of warmth on her arm and opened her lime green eyes to find her cousin wide awake and smiling as she sat upright on the bed in front of her.

"Good sleep?" The young girl asked after yawing and rubbing her eyes- causing the tawny haired woman to chuckle. "What's so funny?" Nao asked with a scowl.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about the dream I had… and the last time we were in a similar sort of situation." Nao raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I dreamt about the first time we met." Shizuru answered softly.

Sixteen months ago…

Crimson eyes flickered between the clock on the wall and the blonde sleeping figure in the hospital bed- her head bandaged and a large plaster adorned her friend's cheek. Shizuru wiped her tired eyes and she knew that she had only managed to get a couple of hours of sleep and after the night she had, it was beginning to take its toll. Yukino opened the door leading to her partner's room and sighed, offering Shizuru a small smile as she passed a cup of steaming hot tea to her brunette friend.

"They ran out of coffee- we've probably drunk them dry of it. Has anything changed?"

Shizuru could sense the weariness in the younger woman's voice as Yukino took one of Haruka's hands in her own and caressed it with her thumb. "Not yet, although the doctor thinks she'll come round soon- it was just a mild concussion Yukino-chan. Her leg will heal in time and she'll be the same Haruka we know and love before you know it." Shizuru smiled and rested a hand on Yukino's shoulder as she lifted herself out of the chair she had occupied for more than twenty-four hours. "I'm going to take a walk around the gardens. You should get some sleep- she's not going anywhere."

Whilst on her walk Shizuru found a nice bench beneath one of the sakura trees and sat down among the blossoms- however when she heard the crunch of a twig come from behind her, she turned around and saw a young red-haired girl staring at the ground. "Hello, are you visiting someone here?" Shizuru said softly as she took a seat beside the young girl whose lime eyes were glassy and transfixed on the ground below her- it was almost as if she hadn't heard anything Shizuru had said.

"What's your name?" At her question the girl turned to look at the woman beside her before turning to look at the sakura tree she was sitting under.

"Nao… Yuuki Nao." The young girl said- almost with uncertainty.

Shizuru smiled and held out her hand "I'm Shizuru. Nice to meet you Nao." Nao took a look at the outstretched hand and returned her attention to the blossoms that were falling "You usually seek out people in hospital gardens? That's just weird."

Shizuru chuckled and rested her hand on her knee. "No, you just look how I feel I suppose. So are you a patient or…?" Nao turned to face the older woman and just raised her eyebrows as if to say 'Do I look like a patient?' "I'm guessing that's a 'no' then."

"Damn right it's a no. It's…my mother… she's been ill and they've kept her in for a bit longer. Longer than I'd like."Nao said as she started to dig at the ground next to her with a stick before getting bored and throwing the stick away. "Why are you talking to me anyway? You aren't some religious nut are you?"

Despite her body begging her to sleep, Shizuru chuckled and rubbed her weary eyes. "I needed to get out of there, needed to talk to someone who wasn't wearing a white coat and had a stethoscope around their neck."

"And that person had to be me?" the young girl asked as for the first time she actually took a moment to look at the strange woman sitting next to her. She was gorgeous for a start, her strange, crimson coloured-eyes were a little bloodshot and she looked tired… but she was extremely beautiful.

"If it bothers you so much I can leave?" Shizuru said as she started to stand up, however Nao just shook her head. "No."

As much as it irritated the usually fiercely independent young girl- it actually felt quite nice to have a bit of company. It wasn't that Nao chose to isolate herself from others, it usually just happened by chance- it was either her foul temper or it was that she was constantly shunned by those who knew of her or her mother and her mother's condition.

"You don't have to leave… you're not actually bothering me that much." Nao watched as Shizuru smiled and slowly began to sit back down- she could feel the aches of where she had been sitting for too long in such an uncomfortable hospital bed as she kept vigil by Haruka's side. "So why are you here?" the young redhead asked and Shizuru took a deep breath before answering.

"A dear friend of mine was knocked over yesterday morning. She hit her head very hard and fractured her leg in several places- she's still unconscious at the moment." Shizuru pulled her knees in closer to her chest and rested her head on her knees whilst looking at the young girl beside her. Nao was indeed a very pretty young girl with delicate features and indeed, very striking red hair and beautiful lime green eyes.

"Your mother… is it very serious?" Nao instead opted to nod instead of saying the words. She knew that if she was forced to say the words 'She's going to die here', it would be like accepting that her mother was really going to leave her and that Nao was going to be left all alone. And that was just something she couldn't bring herself to accept just yet.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything that can be done?" Shizuru took the girl's silence as a way of saying that basically whatever as wrong with her mother was clearly life threatening- or serious enough to result in numerous trips to the hospital.

"No… she's um… not got much… time left." Nao closed her eyes and took slow steady breaths to try and stem the flow of tears that threatened to fall down her pale cheeks. She had already cried enough tears over the years and she had vowed not to cry anymore so there was no way in Hell she was going to cry in front of a woman she had just met. Unfortunately, as hard as she tried, her efforts were in vain and the tears and the sobs started- yet Nao felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her gently to the older woman's chest. Shizuru rested her chin on the crown of Nao's head, gently stroking her hair and she didn't bat an eyelid as she felt her shirt dampen with the salty tears. The two stayed like that for a while, sometimes when it seemed like the sobs were beginning to subside they started again and Shizuru could feel her eyes start to get heavier and heavier.

However there was one thing that plagued her mind and it began to worry her- the name Yuuki Nao was extremely familiar to her.

She thought back to her childhood when one day the young Shizuru had let her childish curiosity get the better of her and she had gone into her father's study where she wasn't allowed. She had seen where her father had kept the hide-a-key and once her tutorial had finished and her father was at work- Shizuru decided to take a peak as to what was in the room. She had found a calendar which she had recognised the handwriting as that belonging to her mother- Akemi and next a particular date- although Shizuru couldn't remember which- was the name 'Yuuki Nao, born'. What Shizuru could remember was a particular woman that used to come round a lot when she had been fairly young, an auntie Yuuki who Shizuru recalled had very long red hair and for some reason unbeknownst to her, Auntie Yuuki never came round again and was never heard of again.

Eventually the sobs seemed to have completely subsided and Nao sat up and dried her eyes with her sleeve. Her eyes were heavy and she felt tired from all the crying, she also felt embarrassed that she had broken down in front of someone she hadn't known for long at all. Yet she was thankful that Shizuru had just been there for her and comforted her without seemingly sparing a second thought. Nao thought her very odd indeed!

"I'm sorry… your shirt's wet."

Shizuru smiled warmly and shook her head "It'll dry- don't worry. How are you feeling?" Shizuru stroked the young girl's cheek as a stray tear rolled down her face.

"Better… I think. Thanks… though please don't say anything to anyone. I'd deny it anyway." Nao tried to ignore the sudden surge of electricity that shot through her body as soon as Shizuru touched her skin- she didn't have a clue as to what the hell that was in the first place and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to.

"Who would I tell?" Shizuru smirked as Nao rolled her eyes and rested her head against the tree.

"You look tired and I should head back in to check on Mama anyway. She's um… she's in the ICU and it's Yuuki Shizuma so… if you- I don't know why you would- but…"

"I'll come see you… Nao-chan." Shizuru smiled as she knew that she actually had meant it and despite the foreboding sense of fear that Yuuki Shizuma was actually Auntie Yuuki- she actually wanted to see young Nao again. Nao nodded and gave a short wave as she got up and walked back into the building leaving Shizuru alone with her thoughts as she relaxed more against the sakura tree and closed her crimson eyes. There must be hundreds of Yuuki's in Japan- I highly doubt that she's my Auntie Yuuki. That would be too coincidental for words.

Soon she felt overcome with exhaustion and finally gave way to sleep.

A few good hours had passed and Shizuru woke up to find the setting had changed rather dramatically and she wasn't in the same place she had fallen asleep in- but was in fact in a hospital bed with a thin sheet over her. Next to her in the chair beside the bed was the young girl she had met a few hours later- she was filing her nails and blew away the dust before noticing the look of confusion on the older woman's face. It was priceless and brightened up the young girl's day.

"Good sleep?" she chirped as Shizuru wiped her crimson eyes.

"It was thank you for asking but… Nao?"

"Yeah?" Nao replied as she went back to shaping her nails.

"Why am I here?" Shizuru frowned as the younger girl chuckled. "Your friend- the mousy looking woman- she started to worry about you as you'd been gone for a while. She told the porters to look out for you and a woman saw you rolled into a ball by the tree. She actually thought you were dead- you may as well have been as they couldn't wake you up at all. The porter carried you in here. Mama was still asleep by the time I got back, and I got bored and came in here. Simple as!"

"Oh… how embarrassing." Shizuru said as she ran her fingers through her hair- trying to loosen the knots and tangles as a result of her sleep- and heard Nao snort quietly. "Hey- I embarrassed myself by blubbering like a baby… this makes us even. Anyway your friend wanted me to tell you your other friend's woken up and has been asking for you."

Shizuru shot up out of bed and quickly smoothed down her clothes before grabbing Nao's wrist and dragging the young girl through the corridor- despite Nao's protestations! Eventually they came to Haruka's room where a very groggy looking Haruka managed a small smile as she saw her oldest friend. "Haruka-chan… you're awake." Shizuru smiled as her friend rolled her eyes.

"Glad to see your eyesight is as good as ever bubuzuke."

The next couple of days somehow managed to blur together as Shizuru spent the majority of her time in the hospital either with Nao or Haruka who despite being on bedrest- still managed to continuing working even when begged by Yukino to give it a rest. Over the past couple of days, the young redhead started to open up to Shizuru and the more Shizuru discovered about her young friend- the more her suspicions grew and whilst searching her new friend out, Shizuru found herself outside of Nao's mother's room. As she looked through the window pane all Shizuru could see were machines and the countless number of wires all hooked up to the very small and very thin woman who was still resting with her head bandaged therefore hiding the woman's hair.

It had happened on several occasions now- Shizuru would wait outside the door- sometimes with her hand perched on the door handle ready to push it down and go in. However every time a nurse or a doctor asked her that question "Are you family?" Shizuru never knew what to say and so she would shake her head and say no before turning around and going. That was until an hour ago. Nao's mother as asleep and after taking a deep breath, Shizuru opened the door to the room and soon wished she hadn't. The woman on the bed was stick thin; the beautiful face that Shizuru remembered was now gaunt and hollow. Her skin was pale and sickly. The image of a birthmark on her aunt's neck flashed through Shizuru's mind and so she walked around to the other side of the gurney and peered in when she spotted it- the woman in front of her was her aunt. Her mother's sister... and Nao's mother. Nao's my…

"Bubuzuke?" Shizuru looked up from the papers she had been marking as a part of her teacher training and saw her blonde friend looking at her. "Yes Haruka-chan?" Shizuru said sweetly as she closed the ring binder- giving her friend her undivided attention- whilst trying to shake off the thoughts of her discovery only an hour ago.

"That girl you've been hanging around with… what's the deal with her? Why are you always with her? It's a little… creepy actually." It was no secret that Haruka and Nao hadn't particularly hit it off- even the slightest remark from Nao was able to set Haruka off on an angry rant. "And don't forget you've never been able to keep a secret from me- and as I'm badly injured you have to tell me." Haruka crossed her arms and gave Shizuru a look the left no room for argument.

"I think… that this girl is related to me. Do you remember me ever mentioning my Aunt Yuuki as a child?"

Haruka shrugged- she remembered a lot about Shizuru as they grew up. However Shizuru rarely ever spoke about her family unless it was work related. "The name sort of sounds familiar. Why?" Shizuru looked down at her trembling hands that were folded on her lap.

"Aunt Yuuki's full name was Yuuki Shizuma, and she is a patient here in the ICU. I've already checked- Shizuma is indeed my mother's sister and Nao-chan is my cousin. Although I don't think she knows it." Shizuru sighed and closed her eyes.

"Well I do now." Shizuru opened her eyes and instantly turned to face the angry young girl standing in the doorway behind Shizuru's chair. As Nao stormed out of the room, Shizuru spared an angry glance at a very guilty looking Haruka before chasing after her newly found cousin.

"Nao. Please stop. Nao, I'm so sorry I never expected this to happen. Please?" Shizuru grabbed hold of Nao's wrist, when Nao spun around and her hand poised to slap Shizuru, Shizuru shut her eyes tight… yet the hit never came. Shizuru took another timid step towards Nao as she tried not to scare her and she spoke softly so the young girl would believe her.

"Nao, my name is Shizuru Viola, your mother is my mother's sister… and right now you are all the family I have."

"Whatever you say… Shizuru."

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A/N: And that's it for today folks… right… I'm off to my lecture. Toodlepip!

Well until next time… I hope you enjoyed it. Please review- I really appreciate all your reviews and I'm sorry if there's some people who I haven't responded to yet. I'll try harder this time!

My Love and sincerest thanks to all

xxx