Oh btw, tomorrow is Shizuru's bday =D actually by the time i post this, it's today. actually was done with this chapter yesterday but I saved it for today since it was Shizuru's biirthday. Also, i'm posting this at 12am japan time so it's her bitrhday now(if you're reading this withtin 24 hours of posting the chapter)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FUJINO SHIZURU!~

as for this chapter.. when i was re-reading it I was listening to music so... I dont really know what i'm reading. (blur mode now.. so, uhm point out any mistakes if possible)

oh and would you mind if I changed the rating to M sometime later?

Going to publish this when japan time hits 00:00.. shall leave this page to the publish page.

CHAPTER 12- Closer

Mai stepped out of the bus for what seemed like the fifteenth time that day, she let out a small gasp in awe when she saw the hotel, "I never knew our budget school would let us stay in such a hotel"

"Of course they would, the council had to submit two whole proposals for this!", Haruka shouted and walked toward the entrance.

"Geez, wouldn't that just be the council seniors wanting a better hotel?", Mai answered back, the whole ride had consisted of Haruka shouting to Yukino about assignments despite the fact that they were only a seat apart and Mai was on the verge of wanting to tape up the girl's mouth.

"No! servant leadership is key!", the loud-mouthed girl shouted back.

Mai decided to keep quiet so Haruka would keep silent for a longer time. Yukino gave Mai an apologetic smile and ran up to join Haruka.

"Yo Mai", Tate said from the back.

"Tate!", the orange-haired girl exclaimed and hugged the tall boy, "If not for you I would have kidnapped that girl and tortured her till she was too traumatized to speak up for life"

"It's amazing how you can still look so adorable talking about such things", the yellow-haired boy hugged back with a light blush.

"That's because I'm with you"

"N-not really, you're always this cute…", Tate trailed off as his ear went red, "I-I'll go help you get your luggage.

"Teacher says to meet at the lobby of the hotel after you're done with the luggages!",Mai couldn't control her Cheshire cat grin and stood there motionless for a few minutes as she looked at Tate diligently shifting the remaining luggage.

The four members of the newer clique sat near the lift lobby, waiting for the teachers to be done with the room checks. Chie was asleep on Aoi's lap while Aoi was busy texting a family member of hers and was more than in her own world. Natsuki was complaining about the waiting time and Shizuru was sitting beside her on the lobby floor, listening to the complaints and curses her trip-partner was mumbling.

"Ara ara, Natsuki should be more patient, patience is a virtue"

"Sure is", Mai sighed and sat down beside her friends, she had walked back into the hotel when Tate was done with his task.

"You've got the patience of a mother, what could you possibly know?", Natsuki groaned , resting her head on her arm.

"Or so I thought, but never did I know that I would be spending an entire trip with a girl who shouts in my ear every few minutes", Mai said melodramatically.

Shizuru chuckled, "You mean that girl in the council who hangs out with Yukino?"

"You know her?", Mai and Natsuki said in unison.

"Other than from the bus quarrel, she was the one who had greeted me and brought me to the classroom blocks on my first day in school"

Mai sighed and stared expectantly at the lift landing, waiting for a teacher to arrive.

"Does she have a crush on Yukino or something?", Shizuru asked matter-of-factly.

"I think so", Chie said with a detective tone, waking up from her ten minute quick nap on Aoi's lap.

Aoi flipped her phone close, "sure looks that way though"

"Might be just a close friendship", to Mai, Haruka didn't look like somebody who would hide her crushes.

Natsuki wasn't much very interested in people who weren't close, but listened on anyway.

"But don't you think that the way she looks at Yukino is a little different?", Chie whispered.

"You make her sound like a pedo", Shizuru sighed, "Besides, my cousin had told me that most girls here where hetero so the chance is lower, yes?"

"Your cousin, as in Reito Kanzaki?", Aoi asked to confirm if the source of information was reliable.

Shizuru replied with a nod started to play with the keychains she had hung on her phone.

"Makes it more reliable that way, but Haruka might be the minority, like us", Chie laughed, "comrade appears!"

"That being said, are you hetero?", Chie, being extremely straightforward, had asked Shizuru, "You've joked about it on the bus but you haven't actually made it clear"

Shizuru put a finger on her chin, she wasn't very clear of it herself even though she had just assumed she was lesbian; her attraction to woman was one thing she knew for sure. Yet, she had never had a real crush in her life, most it could get would have been infatuation. She decided to change the point of interest in the conversation, "is Natsuki hetero?"

Chie and Aoi turned to the quiet blue-haired girl, curious about how she would reply.

Natsuki paused and gave the question a thought, "I don't know"

"You're almost past puberty and you don't know!", Mai asked matter-of-factly, she was concerned about how little her friend had thought about matters of the heart.

"When was the last time you've had a crush?", Chie asked.

Natsuki had a deep set frown, "I don't know, I don't think I had.."

The answer made both Mai and Chie stare at Natsuki suspiciously, "you're seventeen already…Are you A-sexual?"

"What the fuck is A-sexual?"

"It's when you don't fall in love with anybody", Shizuru said calmly, she had a feeling Natsuki wasn't one.

Natsuki put some thought into the subject. She was about to give up when Midori-sensei had exited the lift.

"Ok rooms are ready, line up in twos, one room for every pair"

"Wow, the school really is putting in a lot of money for this stay", Mai said as she walked away to find Yukino.

The rest of the students lined up obediently, they all wanted to see how it looked in the rooms.

The hotel rooms had a very 'yellow' feel, the walls were beige and the bed blankets were brown all the other furniture was wooden and hence, brown. It gave off a warm feeling despite the air-conditioners being turned on. The toilets had marble flooring and, as most air conditioned toilets- were extremely cold.

Mai stepped into the room before Natsuki could, she opened the balcony doors for air-ventilation and knocked every room door, checked for bedbugs.

Shizuru smiled at the motherly display of the girl, "must be good having such a friend around"

Natsuki growled, "Not really"

"All done and ready! Natsuki, leave your toothbrush in the toilet so you don't have to dig it out in the morning, I've washed all the cups and rinsed the boiler so they're safe to use"

"Get out", came the cold reply.

"You're welcome", Mai smiled and walked out of the room, heading in the direction of Tate's.

Natsuki closed the door after Shizuru had pulled their luggage in.

She did as Mai had told and immediately went into the toilet for a bath so she could change out into more comfortable clothes and test the bed.

Shizuru on the other hand, had taken her time unpacking her daily necessities from her luggage. When she was done she had taken a seat on the dressing table in the room, her shoulders were aching from the uncomfortable ride on the bus but she didn't want to sit on the bed; afraid that she would dirty the sheets with her dirty clothing.

She let out a small sigh and leaned back against the wall. *Ara ara, was Natsuki serious when she had said she had never thought about her sexual orientation? Well, it does make sense if she's straight since most of the straight people don't question themselves at all, it's like natural to fall in love with a guy and they never think about other options*

Shizuru pouted and remembered how much Chie had seemed to want comrades, it had seemed to have an influence on her; some part of her really wanted Natsuki to be a 'comrade'.

The chestnut-haired girl closed her eyes, took off her glasses and took in a deep breath. She went through the chances of Natsuki being a 'comrade' through the daily activities she did and her body language toward different people. Yet she had only known the girl for a short period of time; it wasn't really possible to come to a conclusion.

She exhaled when she heard sounds of the shower stop. *Natsuki must have finished bathing*

Deciding to leave the answer for a later time, she got up and took out her soap and clothes.

Natsuki came out of the toilet moments later, her hair was let down and dripping wet. She sat down on the bed closer to the balcony and pulled up her hair with the already-wet towel.

Shizuru took a second to look the girl over, she had changed into three quarter cargo shorts and a dark blue oversized jacket which probably consisted of only a bra under the material. With her hair tied up by the smaller towel Shizuru could see her entire face clearly. She took her time to thoroughly look her features over, the well-defined jawline of the girl was what had caught Shizuru's attention the most; it was what made the colour of her skin stand out. Another reason was more or less the fact that if Shizuru had slowly traced her jawline with her eyes, she would have a clear view of the girl's pink lips.

"Shizuru?", Natsuki questioned when she saw the girl stand in a daze for more than a minute.

Shizuru jolted out of her thoughts and hugged her towel closer, "D-did Natsuki call me?"

"Yea… you seemed to be distracted so I figured I'd remind you that you were going to bathe, at least that's what it looked like. A-are you blushing, what for?", the younger girl asked innocently.

Shizuru immediately placed her palms on her cheeks, she knew that when she was caught blushing, her blush would intensify, "Ara ara, Natsuki is so cute in that outfit that I can't help but fan-girl"

"Yea right, like I would believe that, what are you thinking of?"

Shizuru smiled, *reverse psychology worked*, "I already told you"

"Whatever, anyway when you're ready to sneak out after dinner, tell me, I'll go change up"

The older girl decided to try and find out if her 'nothing underneath' hypothesis was right, "Isn't Natsuki already changed up?"

"Yea, kind of, I still need to wear my shirt though", Natsuki said as she took out her iPod and untangled her earpieces.

*Score* Shizuru thought playfully and let a faux-frown appear, "Isn't Natsuki scared I would harm her?"

"Harm me? How?", the girl was too busy with her earpieces to actually think about Shizuru's hint.

"Nevermind", the older girl said and went into the bathroom.

Shizuru stepped out of the bathroom ten minutes later and took her clothes to the plastic bag she had prepared for dirty laundry.

Natsuki was lying on the hotel bed with her eyes open and her music blasting.

The crimson-eyed girl took her time to pack her clothes and check the time, it was seven sharp, time for dinner. She walked over to Natsuki's bed and sat on the side, effectively earning her attention, "Natsuki?"

Said girl took off her earpieces so she could hear Shizuru, "Yea?"

"Score", Shizuru said with a small smile.

"Huh?"

"Natsuki finally took off her earpieces to talk to me, shows that I'm not just another person"

Natsuki blushed, "I told you, you are my friend didn't I?"

"Want to skip dinner?"

"Huh?"

"As in, leave for the district in about ten minutes"

Natsuki's emerald eyes shined with anticipation after she had heard Shizuru's sentence, "Sure!"

Shizuru laughed, "Let's wait for our hair to dry first, it's not good to go out into the air-polluted streets with wet hair"

Natsuki nodded and continued to stare at the ceiling, not bothering to put her earpieces back on.

The two sat in comfortable silence until a thought had hit her mind.

"So, has Natsuki found out what she is yet?"

"What am I?", Natsuki turned to look at Shizuru in confusion.

"Straight, A, lesbian…", Shizuru trailed off, decisively putting her most possible sexual orientation as the last. No matter how much she wanted Natsuki to be in the camaraderie, she didn't want the girl to jump to conclusions. Firstly it could hurt those around her, especially is she picks up a girlfriend and then decides she is straight. Secondly, it was a fact that most of the people in the world were still homophobic.

Natsuki went silent for a while, "No, not yet I think"

"What are the chances, what do you think you are?"

"I have no idea", the younger girl said as she placed her iPod to her right and slowly sat up.

"Maybe you're bi-sexual?"

Natsuki shrugged, it seemed as though it felt normal to be any of them, except A-sexual. *probably because of the people I hang out with*

Shizuru let herself trace Natsuki's jaw line again, and said a bit louder than a whisper, "Want to test it out?"

Natsuki cocked her head to the side, "How?"

"I can't help you with the guy part, but…", Shizuru adjusted her position on the bed.

"Ok, if you have a way", Natsuki said, not knowing what Shizuru was thinking.

The chestnut haired girl took off her spectacles; she didn't want it to get in the way.

The action effectively caught Natsuki's emeralds and the younger girl found herself taking in a deep breath.

Shizuru lifted her hand onto Natsuki's cheek. *Hopefully this doesn't get in the way of our friendship if you get uncomfortable*

"Sh-Shizuru?" Natsuki questioned, not backing away.

"Tell me if you get uncomfortable", Shizuru leaned closer and felt her shoulder's and neck heat up the closer she got.

Shizuru felt the heat rush to her head and she swallowed, stopping right before Natsuki's nose, she could hear the younger girl's breathing clearly at such a distance.

Natsuki kept silent, her cheeks were a few shades dark red and what Shizuru was doing didn't feel normal but it definitely did not feel wrong, when Shizuru had stopped close it had made her heart tug and she had felt she wanted the distance to close further. *So what do I want after she gets closer?*

Shizuru wanted to go closer and catch Natsuki's lips with her own, but the fear that Natsuki would stop being a friend had made her freeze in her actions. There was hovering, yearning need to close the distance and embrace the girl, the feeling was new, it felt warmer and less lustful. *Maybe I'm just a bit too stressed now*, she thought, even though something didn't feel right about that conclusion.

Shizuru decided to pull away, leaving a cold distance between the two, "So how was it?"

Natsuki sat there in silence, she didn't feel like replying, the whole experience felt new yet it made her want more.

The older girl tightened her fists. *maybe she's so uncomfortable with it that she doesn't want to talk to me?* She stood up to get a cup of water to quench her suddenly dry mouth, if her guess was right, Natsuki probably needed more time to herself.

Shizuru stood up and walked toward the boiler, she filled it up and left it to boil, tea really could calm the heat she was feeling now. She then walked to her luggage for a bottle of mineral water, the whole time she had not turned to look at Natsuki, who was still sitting on the bed.

Shizuru noticed the phone she had originally used back from her other school, she had brought it along in case her dad had decided to call; chances were low, but it was usually important when he called. Flipping open the phone, she was shocked that she had over a hundred messages unread; it was only a few days since she had last checked. She put the phone aside, not wanting to check the messages, she didn't want to see a message from Ahn, it would only make her feel worse than how she was already feeling.

Flashback

The council room was empty; it was already eight and almost everybody had gone home. The school opened till nine, especially since the dorms were near school and the principal only went home after ten.

"Ahn", Shizuru whispered as she ran a hand over the other girl's abdomen.

Said girl let out a small satisfied sigh and kissed Shizuru's ear in answer.

Shizuru mimicked her sigh and the two teenagers sat in the middle of the classroom in silence.

Ahn shifted her position on Shizuru's lap, both the girl's only had their shirt's slung over their shoulders, "You know, I think I got my eye on somebody"

Shizuru chuckled, "Ara ara, who has the honour to recieve affection from my vice-president?"

"Some girl from softball", Ahn replied and leaned her head on Shizuru's shoulder.

"Name?"

"T-tomoe"

Shizuru giggled at the way her vice president had stuttered only because she had said the girl's name, but she had a feeling that Tomoe had been one of the girls she had did before though she chose to keep silent about it, "Describe her"

"Amazing"

The older girl looked at Ahn with a smirk, "That's what they all say"

"You won't know, you've never been in love", Ahn sighed and slowly got off Shizuru, buttoning her shirt slowly.

"I'll search up on her if I have the time, interested to see who my vice-president has fallen in love with"

Ahn pulled on her skirt, "Do it now, I want to see how she looks like in the school database"

Shizuru gave the younger girl a small kiss on the ear. She decided to delay the search on the student's profile; the girl's name had rung a bell and the more she thought about it the surer she was that she had done the girl before, "Reward me first".

"We just did", Ahn sighed but smiled at her president's antiques.

Shizuru ignored her comment and leaned her weight on the slightly shorter girl, pushing her back till she hit the council room's window.

"Shizuru!", Ahn groaned in an effort to escape.

Shizuru giggled, and undid the buttons Ahn had just redone.

The second time Ahn had managed to open her mouth was too let a moan escape, she had completely succumbed to Shizuru's need.

Flashback end

Shizuru rubbed her temples lightly, the water didn't seem to go down her throat well after she had thought of Ahn. *I'm sorry, I didn't know Tomoe was a fan of mine… forgive me for what I had done*

The chestnut-haired girl stood in silence she remembered the day before she had left to Kyoto when Ahn had talked to her like she wasnt the cause of Tomoe's death That one phrase resounded in her mind over and over, 'If you were strong like everybody has thought of you as then why not stay and stand up where fear and guilt has made you fall?'

*Why did you still talk to me in such a manner after finding out I had claimed the girl's first and caused the death of the person you had loved?

Shizuru stared at the clothes in her luggage and side glanced at Natsuki.

"Shizuru?", Natsuki's voice was hoarse.

The older girl kept silent, unsure of whether to reply, though she could feel her heart beat so fast, her chest felt blue-haired girl stood up from her place on the bed and walked toward Shizuru.

The crimson-eyed girl tightened the grip on the mineral water bottle and closed her eyes to calm herself. She decided to take a jump and tease Natsuki so it would get less awkward but her tease didn't seem to come out right, "Ara ara, does Natsuki want to do it more?"

Natsuki stopped in her steps, her answer was clear but it didn't feel like she could say it out.

Shizuru walked off toward the toilet to wash her face*she's probably really irritated with me right now*, she thought, choosing to use the word irritated instead of any other that would make it hurt more.*Why does it seem to bother me this much, I wouldn't mind if I get turned down by a junior I flirt with anyway, even though it hardly happens. What is causing this hurt, pride? But it doesn't feel like it is, the last I had pride about such a matter was… I don't actually know*

"Yea"

Shizuru's eyes widened in shock, she didn't dare to turn to Natsuki and somehow the fast beating of her chest changed to shock and a tint of happiness. She swallowed hard *Why do I even feel this happy? Natsuki.. do you even know what you mean? You probably don't mean it that way, after all you're so innocent and all*

Natsuki felt the habitual urge of covering up what she had actually felt come back, but somehow she didn't want to change her words, she had said it in the only way her feelings had taught her to, this feeling was new and she had been feeling it for a while now; since the bus trip when Shizuru had leaned closer to her shoulder when Haruka had stormed to their seats. Since the feeling was that new, she said it in the only way she knew how to express it, "I like your warmth"

*Innocence*, Shizuru tightened her jaw, every part of her was tensed up, but a sound on the door made her relax completely on habit; she was used to letting others see only the more calm side of her.

The knock on the door was from Mai and her voice could be heard from outside, "Dinner time, children!"

Shizuru walked toward the door and opened it without hesitation, relieved that Mai was a distraction this time.

Going overseas tomorrow.. for three days. Thanks for reading ^^

oh and thanks airy36 for your review haha, im glad you like it and thanks for the praise =D

haha and thanks shadowcub for reviewing constantly ^^