A/N: For those demanding longer chapters, this one was 3,000 words!! Ugh, sorry I took so long to update and again, but I had a really hard time with this chapter. OH yeah! THANK YOU EVERYONE THAT LEFT REVIEWS! I love you all!
After Natsuki went to town to go shopping, she realized that she couldn't wait any longer for her bike. She had been deprived of it for several weeks now and she wanted to get it as soon as possible. After she got to town, she immediately got back on the train to wait at the school for her bike to arrive.
A little before noon, she finally got the OK to take her precious bike home. Even though the dorms were only a couple blocks away, she wanted to take her baby out for a spin. She ended up circling the block several times before finally parking it in the garage. She didn't have her parking permit yet, but there was no other place she could leave it.
Leaving the parking lot, Natsuki tried to look around for someone to ask to help her figure out what she should do about her bike. She loved the thing to death, and would probably go on a murderous rampage if it were to be towed. Upon looking around, Natsuki caught sight of something much more important to her than her bike, Shizuru.
Shizuru was walked past the large windows in front of the dorm before Natsuki finally snapped out of her daze and followed her. Compared to two years, these past couple of weeks wasn't long at all, but she felt that anytime apart from her was killing her slowly. Natsuki followed Shizuru like a lost dog, and while she was lost in her thoughts, they finally came to a stop. She didn't know what to say, but just as she was about to say hello, Shizuru sneezed and startled Natsuki. Natsuki didn't even notice until now that they were both soaking wet and that it had been pouring outside until those sneezes, and just as she was about to sneeze herself, she was forced to hold it in because Shizuru started talking.
"I must be getting sick." Shizuru said, confusing Natsuki. Natsuki turned her head left and right looking for whom she was talking to. Whilst Natsuki was looking around, Shizuru continued her conversation with the wall. "All of this, all of these hauntings, are they just payback for treating Natsuki so poorly while I was in Tokyo?"
"What if it is?" Natsuki responded without thinking. She could not hold back her tongue and just started talking.
"…Natsuki…" Shizuru dumbly responded. By the look on her face, it seemed like she had not been expecting to see Natsuki even in the area. Had Chihiro not told her about her that she was her roommate?
Natsuki tried to reach out and cup Shizuru's face, but she backed out of the way hitting the wall behind her. Natsuki, deeply hurt by that, tried to reach out one more time but before she could, Shizuru spoke up. "How'd you find me here?"
'How'd I find you?' Natsuki thought to herself. "Were you trying to hide from me?"
"Yes. No, I mean no, but still, you shouldn't have known I was here," Shizuru was getting nervous. There was no running now. The elevator door to her right opened with a ping. Shizuru glanced sideways, just wanting to run in and let the doors shut Natsuki and all her problems out. "What are you doing here?" She continued.
"I saw you walking down the street and then you turned into this building." Natsuki definitely felt the need to leave out the part where she had been following her for 15 minutes before that; it seemed that Shizuru already thought that she was stalking her.
The elevator doors closed again. Shizuru let out a sigh and got off the wall to push the button again. "No, I mean what are you doing here in Kyoto?"
Natsuki gave no answer and then the elevator doors opened again instantly because it had yet to change floors. Shizuru stepped inside and held the doors open, signaling for Natsuki to get in. Natsuki stared at her, wide-eyed before Shizuru continued. "Come up and get changed. You're going to get sick if you stay dressed like that."
Nothing was said and Shizuru leaned against the elevator wall. She was extremely drained of all energy and her headache just seemed to be getting worse and worse. She was actually breathing pretty hard and she closed her eyes waiting for the elevator to arrive at her floor.
Natsuki leaned against the back of the elevator watching Shizuru. Natsuki wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or worried about how much weakness Shizuru was showing. If she showed this must emotion through her mask, it either means that she was still so comfortable around Natsuki that she could express all her feelings, or that she was so stress and troubled, that she could no longer hide it within.
When they got to her room, she let Natsuki in right away. She did not care what state her room was in because she was too exhausted and stressed out. After stepping in, she took off her shoes and wet socks, and put her socks in the washing machine.
"I'll go get you a towel," Shizuru said "you should shower and warm up. After you shower put your wet clothes here in the washing machine and I'll lend you some of mine. We can talk after while we wait for the laundry." Shizuru was making herself busy, not even looking at Natsuki while Natsuki did as she was told. She would do anything as long as it meant that she could have time with Shizuru. Even though Shizuru didn't know it, Natsuki could now be around her so much more easily and she didn't feel so rushed.
Once she entered the bathroom, Natsuki started running the hot water and looked at herself in the mirror. She covered her face with her hands before sighing deeply. After she felt a little more relaxed, she took her heavy, wet clothes off, just to realize that she had nothing to change into. She called out through the door if she could borrow some clothes, but after no response, she put all of her clothes back on so she could go outside and ask.
Natsuki looked around, and then she spotted Shizuru sitting at the table with her elbows propped up and resting her chin on her fists. She had her eyes closed, as if she were in deep thought. Natsuki walked up to her and as she got closer, she realized that she was shaking a little bit. Natsuki shook her shoulder gently. Her clothes were so soaked, that a little water came out.
"Uhh, sorry, but could I borrow some clothes?" Natsuki asked even though Shizuru's eyes were still closed.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, I'll go get them now." Shizuru left and returned with a large black sweatshirt with a hood, sweatpants and underwear. Natsuki took them from Shizuru's hands, and when they brushed over them, they felt ice cold. This caused Natsuki to look up, and noticed that Shizuru was slightly paler than usual, and her lips were a little blue. Natsuki put the clothes under her arms and grabbed both of Shizuru's hands with her own.
"You're freezing." Natsuki stated the obvious. She blew warm air into their hands while rubbing them together.
"I'm fine, just hurry and take a shower so I can take one afterwards." Shizuru reasoned. Reluctantly, Natsuki let go of her hands after rubbing them one more time and walked away.
Natsuki took her shower as fast as she could. After she got out, she put on the borrowed clothes and found them extremely comfortable. They were extremely soft and smelt like they were just washed, but Natsuki swore she could smell a small hint of tea on them. With her hair in disarray and wet clothes in hand, she stepped out of the bathroom and put them in the washing machine and went to the main room to find Shizuru.
Shizuru was still sitting at the table, but her head was down and she appeared sleeping. Natsuki was going to leave her there, but forgot that she was still in her wet clothes. She shook Shizuru by the shoulders but got no response but the opening of her eyes. Shizuru was too cold to move. By the time Shizuru was able to sit up, her hold body was shivering to keep her warm. Natsuki didn't know what to do and started panicking. She franticly started rubbing Shizuru's arms to keep her warm and hugged her tightly. Natsuki then tried to walk her over to the bathroom, but Shizuru could only walk at an extremely slow pace, so she picked her up and carried her.
Natsuki ran the water for the tub and Shizuru immediately got in without taking off any of her clothes. The tub wasn't filled at all yet so Natsuki rolled up her sleeves and started bucketing warm water over Shizuru's head to keep her warm. By the time the tub was filled about six inches, Shizuru was starting to warm up. She started to try to take off her wet clothes, but they were so heavy and she needed assistance. Once they got her shirt off, Natsuki started to ring it out while Shizuru started taking off her jeans. By the time the troublesome task of that was done, Natsuki took the wet outer garments and with a blush excused herself.
"Uh, you can take care of the rest from here right?"
"Yes, thank you. Sorry about that…" Shizuru explained, waiting for Natsuki to leave before she took off her underwear.
"No, I'm so sorry. I should've let you gone first, or taken a quicker shower…"
"It's fine. I'm ok, but unless Natsuki wishes for me to fully undress in front of her, it'd be best if she would step outside." Shizuru teased while submerging herself completely in the water.
With a huge blush and a pout on her face, Natsuki took the clothes and left, but right as she got in front of the door, her face returned to normal. "If you need anything, anything at all, just call," and with that, she exited.
After Natsuki left the room, she looked around Shizuru's new place. She wasn't surprised that it was clean to a fault, and that there were no traces of the past, or Natsuki for that matter, to be found. She was, although, jealous that there in the main room, sat a picture of Shizuru and Chihiro, yet not a single picture of Natsuki could be found anywhere. She left the living room and looked into Shizuru's bedroom. That room too, was clean as could be. As she entered, there were bloodstains on the carpet. They were faint, probably because it was well cleaned, but it couldn't be completely cleaned out. Natsuki entered and was enticed to sit on the bed, but it was so neatly made, she chose to sit at the desk. Everything was so organized, it was kind of making Natsuki sick. She decided to mess around with her a little, and tilted one of the textbooks a little to see if Shizuru would notice.
The chair was surprisingly comfortable and Natsuki just ended up twirling in it for almost ten minutes until something caught her eye. In the trash, there was a bloody piece of paper, surrounded by glass. She pulled it up and examined it. It was a picture of them two, although Natsuki could not recall when it was taken. It had to be around three to four years ago by the looks of it. It made her laugh, seeing how much simpler, fun and easy life used to be. It was a really cute picture, yet she wondered why it was in the trash, and better yet, why it had blood on it.
Shizuru finished up her bath and exited, wrapped in a towel. After getting out, Shizuru saw that Natsuki wasn't in the sitting room. She sighed, but couldn't figure out if it was because she was relieved that she was gone, or sad that she had left. She put the rest of her wet clothes in the washing machine and started it. She went to her bedroom to fetch her clothes and was shocked to see Natsuki sitting her desk holding something.
"Hey, I thought you had left." Shizuru said, walking towards her dresser.
"Do you want me to leave?" Natsuki asked, playing with the picture in her hand, spinning the chair to face Shizuru.
There was no answer as Shizuru continued in search for clothes to wear. After she chose just comfortable clothes to wear, she spoke up. "Thank you." She paused, looking at Natsuki's slightly confused face, she continued, "for earlier, I mean."
"Huh? Oh, no problem. It was my fault anyways. I hope you're ok." She said after realizing what Shizuru was talking about.
Shizuru excused herself to go put on her change of clothes and returned in a long sleeve shirt, sweats and with her hair brushed and slightly drier. She sat on the bed, bringing her legs to her chest, and hugged them. She curiously looked to see what Natsuki was holding but didn't ask anything. Natsuki followed Shizuru line of sight, and remembered that she was holding the picture.
"Oh sorry, I promise I don't normally go through people's trash, but it caught my attention." Natsuki tried to explain herself.
"Oh, it's ok. I understand." Realizing that she herself had done the same thing when she found the cup the other day. Craning her neck, still trying to see what it was that Natsuki was holding, Natsuki finally turned it around to face her. When she realized what it was, she returned to resting her chin on her knees.
Natsuki assumed by her silence that Shizuru wasn't going to offer the information, so she would have to ask. "What happened? How come it's covered in blood?" Natsuki was also curious and kind of hurt that it was in the trash, but with the state it was in, that was a good enough reason to throw it away.
"Just an accident." Shizuru replied, looking down at her feet.
"Also, you have a small blood stain on your carpet. How'd that happen?" She asked more.
"Also, just an accident." Shizuru simply replied. She didn't want Natsuki to know that what happened in Tokyo bothered her so much.
"Just an accident? Are you ok? Did someone hurt you?" Natsuki questioned. She placed the picture on the table and walked over to Shizuru trying to control her anger. She was getting irritated about how vague Shizuru was being and wanted to know what happened.
Shizuru was getting a little intimidated by Natsuki walking closer so she started straightening out her legs, which was a bad idea. After she had done this, Natsuki stopped advancing towards her and looked at her feet. In her right foot, there was a small scar about an inch and a half long that didn't look new, but hadn't healed completely. Shizuru had forgotten about it because after the first couple of days, she got used to the pain and almost completely forgot about it.
Natsuki slowly reached her hand out to touch it, and Shizuru quickly brought her legs back under her so she was sitting Indian-style.
Natsuki scoffed, "Let me guess. An accident?"
"Do you really want to know the truth?" Shizuru asked calmly while Natsuki took a seat to her left.
"Of course. I wasn't just asking you to be annoying."
"After I came back from Tokyo, it was late and I was tired. Once I saw that picture of us that I normally treasured, I got mad, angry, irritated, or whatever. I threw it. I threw it, the frame it was in shattered, and it gave me so much relief, I just fell straight to sleep." Shizuru paused, but before Natsuki could say anything, she continued. "The next morning, I woke up and completely forgot about it. I was mentally and physically drained and as I was walking out the door, a piece of glass got wedged into my foot. At that time, I was too tired to care, and just yanked it out, and walked away. But now, unfortunately, there is a stain that I can't get out and I'm constantly reminded about how unpleasant I was that day."
Shizuru finished talking and Natsuki said nothing. "So is that what you wanted to hear?"
Natsuki tried to grab the injured foot that was crossed over to her side to see how bad the scar was. Shizuru, noticing this action, unfolded her legs again which made Natsuki unable to reach it.
Natsuki gave up on that hope, and started stroking Shizuru's hair. It was slightly wet and free of knots, but not before long, Shizuru got up from the bed.
Natuski couldn't take this treatment anymore and grabbed her wrist before she could walk away. "What's wrong?"
Shizuru tried just walking away, hoping Natsuki would just let go, but that didn't happen. "What's wrong?" Natsuki asked again, "Why do you finch every time I slightly touch you? Its like you don't even trust me."
"I don't." Shizuru simply stated.
"You don't trust me?" Natsuki was losing her temper, letting go of her hand, "Wait, let me get this straight, you don't trust me? Lets not forget that you are the one that left me, that you are the one that deserted everyone and everything and here I am trying to make things better!"
"How dare you make it sound like I hurt you Natsuki." Shizuru's anger matched Natsuki's. She looked away and walked over to her table and straightened out the book that Natsuki had moved, "I don't trust you anymore, I don't trust you anymore because I still love you!" Shizuru continued, not looking her in the face, "I don't only not trust you, I don't even trust myself… I won't let myself fall so low again. You hold so much power over me…"
With tears in her eyes, Shizuru's voice started shaking as her sentence started drifting off. Natsuki got off the bed and started to walk towards her to comfort her. Several steps in front of her, Shizuru stopped her, "Don't. Please, just don't."
Natsuki put her hands down, looking at her, not knowing what to do.
"Just leave." When Shizuru received no response they both just stood there.
"Please, just leave already." She begged again, tears slowly trickling down her face.
A/N: Length doesn't make it better yeah? Sorry, I tried, but I don't really like this chapter. I don't really know what I'm writing anymore and I'm sorry if it feels like its dragging out. Also, sorry if its getting boring T.T I'm trying!! Please, R&R!
