Sorry, this chapter is a bit on the short side: only about 8 pages.

To answer a few questions that cropped up in reviews: The reason why I had Natsuki be a descendant of Nina is for the growth of Shizuru and Natsuki's relationship. At the beginning of this fic, Shizuru regarded Natsuki as a meal and Natsuki regarded Shizuru as a blood-thirsty monster. It would have been completely irrational for them to suddenly fall into each other's arms with teary exclamations of, "Aah, Natsuki ga daisuki da yo!" and vice versa. (Or would that be "daisuki wa yo"? Since I always imagine Shizuru speaking in a more feminine manner in Nihongo...) In any case, Nina is Shizuru's connection to her lost / buried humanity. Now knowing that Natsuki is Nina's descendant makes Shizuru look at Natsuki through a very different lens, especially one that doesn't say, "Yuuumm, lunch!" Shizuru has learned to control her blood-lust, but she can never control her heart. (As a side note, why, oh dear god, why did they make Shizuru's English dub have a southern accent? I know that the Kyoto accent is viewed as a bit rural by modern Japanese society, but it used to be considered a very refined dialect back in the day. So I can see where they're coming from but...really? Southern? Blech.)

Next: Does Shizuru have an accent in this 'verse? Indeed, she does! I've mentioned it a few times, but I haven't drawn too much attention to the fact. Usually it's something along the lines of, "...then speaking in that lilting voice..." Shizuru is supposed to have just a hint of an Hungarian accent since that is her native language in this 'verse. If you like, I'll start highlighting it a bit more, though I try to make her speech patterns in general more antiquated without being downright Shakespearean. I don't think my poor readers could handle so many thee's and thou's and thine's, if you get my drift.
And now for the votes! We have:

Mashiro: 3

Haruka: 3

Natsuki: 3

Revenant: 2

Fumi (Chronos): 1

Yukino: 1

Endymion: 1

Poor Endymion got a vote? Aww...No, I'm afraid Endymion can be crossed off this list. The rest are good guesses, however. As for who is the most powerful of the lot, whoever voted for Mashiro gets a gold star sticker. YAY! Mashiro is by far the most powerful persona in this 'verse. One could argue that the Revenant is the second most powerful, if not the most powerful, but there's a caveat that comes with that. Let's just say that the Revenant requires the power of others, and therefore technically has the greatest potential. In terms of raw power right at the fingertips, however, Mashiro outstrips them all.

But we'll get to all that later...

As I said in an earlier chapter, y'all still have a good 30 chapters or so to go. Unless things change and I decide to extend the plot. Though I doubt that. You see, I've already got the very last scene all planed out. You'll like it. Trust me :)

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Mai-HIME is not mine.

Smoke drifted before a bright computer screen. The blue-white glow of the screen washed out Nao's face to a pasty white, her red hair to a blanched purple. Her frame-less glasses caught the light, reflected images flickering across their squared surfaces. The rest of the room was completely dark and shadowy shapes of file cabinets and a table laden with a coffee machine and two used mugs loomed in the darkness. The only other light came from behind her, from her partner's computer. Every now and then, Takeda would, without looking, reach to the left for his coffee mug on the table, scrolling away on his computer, lift the mug to his lips, realise that the mug was empty with a startled look down, then place the mug back on the table, only for the process to happen again in about two minutes. Nao, on the other hand, was jamming out to music while she worked, heavy metal blaring in her ears, urging her fingers to work faster as she typed. Her lips moved, silently mouthing the lyrics, making the cigarette in her lips bob, though she did not seem to realise that she was doing it at all. A good centimeter of ash hung precariously from the end of her cigarette, but she flicked it away in a nearby ashtray without even having to think about it. She finished off the cigarette with one last, long draw before stumping it out in the ashtray already filled with cigarette carcasses teetering like a tiny burned city of paper and glass. Smoke blew from her nose as she exhaled, twin jets of white-gray flaring out only to rise between herself and the computer screen.

"Hey, Nao," Takeda began, looking at his own screen, "Nao," When she did not answer, he glanced over his shoulder to see that her head was bobbing in time to the music trickling from her ear-buds, completely ignoring him. With a sigh, he kicked his wheeled chair over to her and tugged the buds from her ears by the rubber-covered wires.

Scowling at him and snatching back the buds from his hands, Nao snapped, "What, Masashi?"

"There's nothing new on the cases from either Odessa or Minsk," he informed her, his expression one of regret, "They're the same as the one from Charing Cross and Waterloo Station. Completely clean."

"Dammit..." she muttered. She peeled off her glasses with one hand and rubbed her aching eyes with the other. For a moment, her brain worked, whirring away. Placing the spectacles back on the ridge of her nose, she pushed her own chair over to his station right across from hers, "Let me look at them for a minute."

Takeda shrugged and let her do as she wished. He knew better than to get in her way when she was frustrated. Or when she was in any mood, really. He peered over her shoulder as she tapped away on his laptop, fingers moving like blurred lightning across the keyboard as she typed. A mess of photos cropped up, one after the other. The images flickered rapidly before stopping, a whole slew of nearly identical crime-scenes from all across Europe. As of now, there were twenty-four murders total spanning from London, Odessa, Minsk and Rome.

The pattern didn't make sense. There didn't seem to even be a pattern. And yet the murders were somehow linked. The evidence to defend that was irrefutable: twenty-four killings in the past two to three weeks, all young women from the ages of fifteen to nineteen, all drained dry with their right hands neatly severed, all dumped in a major city. This couldn't be a coincidence.

Takeda was still convinced it was the work of a vampire, but Nao doubted. Why would a vampire do this? How could it possibly be a single person, at that? Unless there was some sort of psychopathic killing community that experimented on young girls and met later at a cafe to compare notes. The only way it could possibly be a single person were if they owned a god-damned private jet. None of it made sense.

Clicking through the pictures, the furrow in Nao's brow grew with every window that she exited out of. The sound of grinding teeth could be heard and Takeda looked down to see her jaw clenched tight, eyes narrowed at the screen.

This is starting to get very irritating...she thought.

And then, all of a sudden, she stopped. Leaning forward, Nao squinted at the screen.

"There!" she thrust her finger at a spot on the screen, triumphant, "You see that?"

He arched an incredulous eyebrow at her, "See what? It's just a smudge. Maybe some dirt. God knows," he said dryly, "there would never be any dirt in a back alley of Minsk."

She grinned at him and lit up a victory cigarette, blowing the smoke in his face, which he waved away, frowning, "Yea, but are smudges of dirt perfectly curved?"

"Eh?"

He studied the picture more closely.

God damn it.

She's right.

I hate it when she's right...

Upon closer inspection, the smudge of dirt was, in fact, an edge of a perfect circle drawn on a wall near the crime-scene.

"And," Nao added, looking exultant, "I doubt that's dirt."

She pushed her chair back over to her own station, kicking off of the ground with her legs and catching herself on her desk with a bent knee, "Back to work, Masashi. I want a full picture of that circle."

Running a hand through his hair, Takeda sighed and settled back in his chair.

Looks like I'm going to be here for a while...

A long line of Cynthian soldiers extended down the hall. Natsuki blinked at them. This was certainly more than she had expected. Apparently, Endymion had been expecting this much, however, for her trotted up to the front of the line without further ado and began directing people into various cells. A few of the soldiers looks a bit disgruntled at having to take off their helmets before being ushered into a cell, whereas others already had their helmets tucked under their arms. Some waited patiently, some chatted in small circles in the line, others tapped their feet impatiently, glaring off to the sides, obviously wishing they could be elsewhere. The halls were large enough that when Natsuki walked by them to get to Duran's cell, she wasn't forced to dodge around people. She received a few curious looks when she opened Duran's stall without any direction from Endymion. The looks turned to stares when an enormous wolf-pup bounded out to greet her.

"Oof!"

Natsuki landed square on her butt as Duran tackled her to the ground, tail wagging furiously, licking every inch of skin he could get his large, red tongue on.

"Aack!" she yelped, trying to ward off his slobbery attack with her hands to no avail, "Too...much...puppy-love!"

Apparently, she had kept her mouth open for too long, for Duran somehow managed to land a kiss right across her lips. Spluttering, Natsuki held him at bay by pushing his chest away and spat over her shoulder, "Blech! Duran!" She scolded, green eyes narrowing.

The wolf whined, ears going back. He halted his enthusiastic assault and obediently sat on his haunches, looking up at her, abashed.

Wiping off her face the sleeves of her hoodie, Natsuki couldn't keep the grin from her face, "Jesus, dog! I just saw you yesterday!"

He whined again, this time shooting her an accusing glance. Ah, she knew what that meant. Usually, Natsuki visited him in the morning after breakfast. Today, though, she had broken that schedule by going to see Shizuru instead, thinking that their meeting was supposed to be in the morning instead of at night.

Apologetically, she scratched him behind the ears, saying, "I'm sorry. Mama was...busy this morning..."

At this, her face flushed beet-red.

Yes, her libido mused, chortling, you were certainly very busy this morning, weren't you, Nat?

Shut up...she mumbled back.

She tried not to think about the events that had taken place in Shizuru's room less than an hour ago. Tried and failed. It was difficult to not recall the way Shizuru's lips had roved over the skin of her neck, the way her hands had roamed her torso, her legs...The memory alone made her shiver, a warm quiver running all through her body. She could still feel Shizuru's breasts pressed up against her back, her hot breath in her ear, her warm, wet mouth on her shoulder...

What was that again about not letting this "seductress of the sea defile our person", or some such nonsense?

Uh...I forgot?

Uh-huh...

God, how had that even happened?

So, of course, she reverted back to the old, It was all Shizuru's fault...

Yes, but you danced for her, didn't you?

Natsuki couldn't deny that part.

Yes, but...uh...

But what? Had she been trying to lure Shizuru in? Had she really been jealous of Herr Edwin? Had she actually liked what had occurred between them?

No? Yes?

No.

Wait! Yes.

No! What am I thinking? NO.

But maybe...

Duran slumped forward, lying down in her lap, his sharp elbows digging in to her thighs, making her wince, "Ouch!" Well, at least it jerked her out of a very heated Shizuru-Land, a dangerous nether realm of boiling oceans and festering desires beneath a turbulent troposphere of thick, noxious haze, "Christ! How much do you weigh now? 45 kilograms? 50?" she jabbed at his furry flank with one finger, "Maybe I should tell End to not feed you so much." (1)

He huffed grumpily at her and she laughed.

"Hey, Duran," she ruffled the thick fur of his neck, voice overly bright, "Wanna play?"

Duran whimpered and his tail thumped noisily on the floor.

"What's that, boy? Wanna play?"

With a happy train of barks, Duran leaped to his feet and loped back into his stall. He snatched up a torn teddy bear in his jaws, already with copious amounts of cotton stuffing missing or otherwise hanging out of holes, and shook it enthusiastically back and forth. Natsuki followed, grabbing one of the bear's legs that dangled from Duran's mouth and yanking on it. Growling fiercely, Duran lowered his head and pulled back, occasionally giving the bear a good shake to try to loosen Natsuki's hold on it. She was not to be so easily outmatched, however, and started to play with his ears with one hand while her other continued to pull. But the wolf-pup had seen this tactic before and he was not so easily distracted. In an attempt to get a better grip on the toy by shuffling his mouth along its belly, Natsuki was able to snatch the bear away. As soon as it was out of reach, he sat down, tail sweeping from side to side, staring at the toy in her hands and whining.

"Haha!" Natsuki bellowed victoriously, swinging the dilapidated toy above her head, "Natsuki: 1, Mutt: 0!" she winked at him, "You need to get on top of your game!"

Whine.

"What's that? So eager to loose in round two?"

She threw the bear across the room and Duran darted after it in a streak of gray and black fur.

The score was Natsuki: 12, Duran: 14 and the poor bear, apart from losing an arm, was starting to get soggy when Natsuki heard a commotion in the hallway. She had left the door to the cell open and she could see that the line had significantly diminished. Indeed, when she peeked outside, it seemed that there were only four more soldiers left.

Wow, that went fast, Natsuki thought to herself.

But then she realised that it was these soldiers who were causing the commotion.

They were crowding around Endymion, who stood in their midst, shoulders hunched, eyes darting nervously from side to side, looking frightened. In his arms was the eagle that had sat on Natsuki's shoulder in the cell. One of the soldiers, obviously the leader of the bunch, circled the boy like a vulture, taunting, jeering in a heavy Cockney accent, "Why should we want to bond with one of them freak animals then, eh?" The others chortled nastily, watching Endymion's reaction.

The boy clutched the eagle closer to his chest, seeming to sink further into himself, "Uh..."

"It's a valid question, ain't it?"

"Y-Y-Yes..." Endymion swallowed hard as though past an obstruction in his throat, "I-It's b-b-b-because...uh..."

"It's b-b-because what, then?" the soldier said, mocking his stammer.

Natsuki's face darkened into a thunderous expression. Witnessing this single encounter, she was suddenly driven back into memories she preferred best untraversed, hurtling back through their many glassy, amorphous forms.

Back to her days in the orphanage when the kids would all gather around her, poking her, pulling her hair, calling her "N-N-N-Nattering N-N-N-Natsuki!" while she sat on the floor and cried. The orphanage where the nuns would whack her knuckles with a ruler at every consonant she tripped over.

Back to her days of school, when the teachers would skip over her in English class for reading because they didn't want her wasting class time with her slow, faltering pace.

Back to her days with the first couple that had adopted her at the age of seven, when the man would go to the pub and stagger home at night, wailing for his dinner which his wife had left wrapped in cellophane on the counter, his wife who working the graveyard shift, never home until five or six in the morning. Whenever Natsuki opened her mouth to speak and nothing but stammers came out, he would be quick to anger, yell at her, strike her, "Just spit it out already, you fucking idiot!" Slap. "Come on! Speak!" She fell to the tiled kitchen floor, breaking her first bone, her wrist, "What the fuck is wrong with you! Stop crying!"

"Come on!" one of the soldiers now taunted Endymion, "Speak!"

Natsuki had had enough.

"Hey!" she stormed over to them, eyes blazing, Duran trotting along at her heels, "Leave him alone!"

The soldiers stepped back and regarded Natsuki with disdain, "Oh, look," the leader drawled, unimpressed by the threat she posed, "It's Viola's fuck-toy."

F-Fuck-toy? Natsuki's eyebrow twitched dangerously.

"Now listen up!" she barked at them, stomping right up to the leader and angrily prodded his chest with one finger, the force of which made him stagger back a step, "I may be on your side, but if you don't leave him alone or I will make you!"

"On our side?" His features contorted into an ugly sneer, "You murdered three of us in these dungeons! You're not on our side!" he snapped back at her, "I'd back off if I were you!" With a smirk her reached out and brushed her hair from her cheek before she could jerk away in time in disgust, "Besides, I'd hate to scar that pretty face."

The others snickered, hands already resting on their guns.

A low, menacing growl sounded from Natsuki's side and Duran snapped at him. Cursing loudly, the soldier aimed a heavy kick at the wolf, which Duran easily side-stepped.

Natsuki snarled wordlessly. In her anger, her brilliant white aura had started to slip from beneath her skin, making her glow. Her gaze flashed to one of emerald flames.

That's it!

"Soldiers!" A voice boomed out from down the hall.

Immediately, the four Artemisians snapped to attention. Natsuki turned, eyes still burning, perilous, and her gaze alighted upon a furious Mai Tokiha accompanied by Shiho Munakata. The two strode down the hall and stopped before the group. Shiho stayed a few paces back, watching, but the District Officer walked right up to the soldiers glaring at each of them in turn. When she spoke, it was through clenched teeth, "If I ever," she began in a hiss, "hear so much as a whisper that any of you lot harassed someone again, be it human or otherwise, I'll make sure you never see the light of day outside of a Company cell in Phaesporia for a month!" Her lilac eyes narrowed, "Have I made myself clear, soldiers?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Dismissed!"

They almost scrambled over themselves to get away down the hall and out of sight.

Even though they were gone, Natsuki still had to take a few deep steadying breaths before her aura retracted again.

"Th-Thank you, Ms. T-Tokiha," Endymion started to say, but before he could finish, the eagle leaped forward from his grasp with a great screech and flew right into Mai's arms.

Mai had caught the large bird purely out of instinct and now stood there, shell-shocked, eyes wide as she stared down at the eagle. It made a strange cooing noise and nuzzled against her breastplate, "What on earth -?"

"L-Look, Ms. T-Tokiha!" Endymion smiled broadly at the Officer, who was still stunned, holding the eagle to her chest, "You've m-m-made an-nother v-v-vampire f-friend!"

Mai blinked at him, "Another?"

"W-Well, yes," he gestured to Shiho, then performed a neat bow in accordance with his status in comparison to hers.

The two stared at one another with looks of loathing and revulsion.

"Friend?" Mai yelped, taking a step back from the small, vampire girl.

Shiho looked like she was going to be sick.

"Well, I don't want this thing!" she fumed, trying to thrust the eagle back into Endymion's arms.

The boy just raised his hands with an apologetic smile, though, "I-I'm s-s-sorry, Ms. T-Tokiha. It d-d-doesn't w-work that w-w-w-way."

"God damn it!"

(1) kilogram: notated as kg, 100 lbs (pounds) is about 45.5 kg. In other words, that's one big puppy! And guess what? He's gonna get even bigger. Big enough to ride, you ask? We shall see... :P

I hope you liked it! Next chapter: Shizuru and Natsuki's long-awaited night-time meeting.