Chapter 24: time to choose
Natsuki awoke, after her outburst and took some medicine against for her fever, hours later.
´I don't understand,' she mentally noted to herself (again) as she looked at Shizuru, who had fallen asleep on the chair while using her arms as a pillow and resting on the edge of the bed beside her. Natsuki closed her eyes and rolled, onto her side carefully, to not awaken the other girl.
"What do you want?" she asked quietly. She'd known that she was being watched from the door for a while.
"How are you feeling, Miss Kuga?" Satoshi asked in his usual calm voice as he walked to the bed.
Natsuki ignored him completely and opened her eyes.
"Shizuru must be really tired to fall asleep like that… She took great care of you these past couple days. She was worried about your wellbeing like everyone else."
"I didn't ask for that," Natsuki answered coldly.
"I know… but it isn't necessary to ask or to be asked to help one another." Satoshi smiled at her, sensing her unapproachable attitude. "I am not here to anger you Miss Kuga…" he lowered a bit his voice and looked at her with great intensity. "…for now I just have one question… do you remember the night after your birthday?!"
"…" Natsuki moved her right wrist to her face and then turned it around so she could see the crystal of the bracelet.
"It cracked," was all she gave him as answer.
"I saw that coming and sincerely apologize…" ´how much do you really recall?'
Natsuki brows furrowed at the apology while Satoshi continued talking. "…but I had to do something…" His eyes lingered at the blue glass crystal; he could see a small crack on it and sighed, walking back to the door. "…the two of us will continue this talk after you get better and feel up to it, of course."
Satoshi paused for a moment, opening the door a slit. "Sometimes it is hard to accept things how they are or how they went… but if you don't and just try to forget them, they will break you sooner or later Miss Kuga…think about my words and make a decision for yourself before something worse happens."
The door closed and Natsuki continued to stare at the bracelet. ´before something worse happens… he must have heard my outburst. ´
Bringing all her thoughts together Natsuki turned her head more to the side burying it into the pillow and smelling the scent of freshly washed bedclothes. Her shoulders were heavy with the weight they wore. She could feel how they ached for release, how they waited for the moment in which some of it would be taken.
For years she had managed to forget, pushed everything to the deep back of her mind. It was ok like that, so she had been telling herself.
-But now?-
Her eyes opened as she felt a warm heat next to her right hand.
-It was like everything began to come back to her since she had met them…-
Looking down at the hand, she remarked that she had placed it right next to Shizuru's.
-…since she´s lived here…-
Nearly absentmindedly her hand sneaked carefully, after some hesitation, under the other hand, feeling the warmth from it.
-…right at the moment she was beginning to get used to them…-
´what should I do…why does it feel as if I am falling?' Natsuki felt lost in her mind, nothing was like it used to be anymore because the past she buried was coming back to her.
-…it was like a new beginning.-
Before Natsuki could drift deeper into her lost-being state, a soft pressure on her hand stopped her and she was once again was drawn into the crimson-dyed sea of orbs which looked, sleepily, (warmly), half-opened at her. She needed only to look into these eyes to know what the girl wanted to tell her right at that moment. How was it possible for someone to tell her that everything is ok then it all crashed ´again' was beyond her. But deep inside her was a small part which felt relieved.
…accept…
Where does the accepting begin and what should be done after it? No one told her. The only advice, told her to chose, it didn't gave her a straight way that she could simply walk down.
With a small shift Natsuki made some space. She still had made no decision. Not yet. Squeezing the hand on top of her own she drew it towards her, keeping her eyes focused at the red ones.
Shizuru, more sleeping than awake, followed Natsuki's draw and even by that, she looked as graceful as ever as she slid beside Natsuki on the bed, a small smile gracing her face.
´What should I do?' Wrapping her arms around the older girl, Natsuki drew their bodies together, feeling the other ones body heat through the blanket and the clothes. 'I don't know if I can really…'
"Natsuki?" Shizuru murmured softly; a little surprised at the sudden embrace she received. Her head was under the called girl's chin. She wanted to look up, but the strong arms around her held her in place. Natsuki didn't want to face her, not now.
"Just for now…" ´Let me hold you´ Natsuki whispered again in her monotone voice. "…till I fall asleep." ´I don't want to be alone´
"It's ok." Returning the embrace Shizuru buried her face into the crook of Natsuki's neck. As much as she wanted to stay awake and enjoy the moment, she needed the rest which she had pushed aside the past couple days. Sleep claimed her as she settled herself into a comfortable position.
Natsuki listened to Shizuru's breathing while thinking about everything till she fell asleep herself.
- - - -
"Na-tsu-ki-chan." A barely audible groan came from Natsuki's side as she refused to open her eyes.
"Natsuki-chan needs to eat something or she won't get any better." Shizuru said, tilting her head slightly to the side, her hand on her cheek. Natsuki scowled and turned her face away. "Ara, such a stubborn child."
Not getting any response from Natsuki, Shizuru smiled. Slowly she bent forward, she had another idea how she could make Natsuki to open her eyes. "Or maybe Natsuki wants to get fed by me 'that' way again…" she whispered.
Angrily Natsuki's eyes shot open immediately, glaring out of the corner of her eyes at the smiling chestnut-haired girl whose breath tickled her ear. She did not have the desire to get fed in the older girl's ´way´ again. She'd had this opportunity once but even that single time was one time too many for her liking and she hadn't yet forgiven the older girl for it.
"My, don't look like that Natsuki-chan; I had to find a way to fed you." Shizuru defended herself.
Natsuki rolled with her eyes. ´you could have found a better way´, dammit She spared herself having to wipe her mouth and instead ended it by glaring.
Ignoring the angry glare, Shizuru helped Natsuki to get into a half sitting position, putting an extra pillow behind her back.
All through the meal, Natsuki kept her eyes downcast at the bowl with the soup that she emptied while Shizuru sipped her tea.
"How long?"
Shizuru blinked at the question from the younger girl who had tilted her head up and was watching the ceiling. "Hm?"
"How long have I really lain here?" Natsuki asked.
Putting down her cup, Shizuru took the tray with the empty bowl from Natsuki's lap and placed it on the cupboard. "About four and a half days."
"I see…" strange, it feels as if I slept an eternity Tiredly, Natsuki lifted her hand to her face and began to rub her closed eyes.
The silence that inhabited the room was a proper blessing for Natsuki's mind as she stopped rubbing her eyes and relaxed in her position. A soft touch of the wind cooled her skin and she gazed to the opened window where she saw Shizuru, who had her back towards the bed.
As if she had felt her eyes on her Shizuru turned around and smiled. Like always. "I thought a bit fresh air would be nice," she said, walking back towards the bed while green eyes watched her. "What is it, Natsuki-chan?"
"Nothing," Natsuki replied, turning her face once again away, facing the door. my body is damn stiff; I should stand up.
Her thoughts were for the x-time interrupted as skilled hands worked on her shoulders, massaging the stiffness out of them. To prove her comfort she sighed, feeling how the mattress of the bed sagged a bit as Shizuru took her place behind her, replacing the extra pillow.
Shizuru began to move her hands up, massaging Natsuki's neck while Natsuki's body enjoyed the comfortable feeling more and more. Not willing to admit it openly, the young girl would not mind to sit like that forever and feel these magic and skillful hands that almost danced on her back and neck continue their work.
"Ara, such a beautiful smile on Natsuki's lips… does it mean she enjoys my handwork?" Shizuru teased in her usually melodic and soft voice, still massaging Natsuki.
Natsuki had a choice and could show her irritation from the teasing remarks of the older girl by turning around and taunting her with a death glare. That would, of course, only make those hands stop their magical work, and it wouldn't feel so good.
The smile which had formed on its own vanished and was replaced by a scowl and a blush she could not fight off. "Keep dreaming brat."
"Such a meany." Shizuru pouted.
Crossing her arms in front of her chest and making a short snort sound Natsuki ´tried' to show her I-don't-care-side.
Some minutes later the massage stopped, quite to Natsuki's disapproval, who had begun to really get used to it. A finger trailed on her back, along one of the three claw-like scars, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
´I have told her not to…'
Shizuru continued, her finger grazing over the second mark and then over the third. Mentally she recalled the words with which the younger girl had described these claw marks like scars.
The nightmare, the curse and the past
"Wahh."
Two arms sneaked forth and pulled Natsuki gently down in a half lying, half sitting position, using the older girl's body as a pillow. She blushed, still having her arms crossed over her chest. In some ways she really was just powerless to struggle against this kind of thing.
"What does Natsuki want to do?"
"Rest 'till my wounds are healed."
Shizuru couldn't help but chuckle at Natsuki's reply; she should have expected such an answer.
"That's not really what I meant Natsuki…" the older girl said, getting her seriousness back. "…what do you really want to do?"
- - - -
"What a pretty picture! What are you drawing this time, Na-chan? " a male voice asked her.
"Ahh, don't look, I'm not finished yet!" a seven year old Natsuki squeaked, covering the sketch with her body.
"Oh I see…not even a little peek? ...Please! "
"Hm…ok but don't laugh," young Natsuki said, having a wide grin on her face as she shyly pulled the paper with the sketch forth. "The teacher gave everyone a wish to draw as homework!"
The man in front of her knelt down and took the picture.
"That's you and me," the young girl said cheerfully, pointing at the two drawn people on the paper.
"And that place there?" the man pointed at a blue colored house which was hidden between woods on a small hill behind the two.
"This is where I want to go with you"´
"Oh, and does my little Na-chan knows where this place is?"
The smile on Natsuki's angelic face faded and she crossed her arms, thinking. "Uhm…" the relation about the missing part in her future plans hit the young girl rather hard. Letting her arms drop she looked with watery eyes up. "I don't know."
The man began to pet Natsuki on the head to calm her down. "Don't cry Na-chan…hm, how about this; if my little girl promises to be a good girl in school, I promise to find this place and the two of us will go there then! "
Wiping her eyes Natsuki looked up; a hopeful glimmer lay in her clear green eyes. "You promise? "
The man smiled. "Well it could take me some time to find it, but I promise."
"YEAH!!" Natsuki shouted in joy and tackle-hugged the man, throwing her arms around his neck. They landed on the floor as he lost his balance through the tackle and fell on his back on the floor. Both laughed together.
- - - -
Natsuki bit the inner side of her lip, pushing the little memory again aside. Recently she had seen more past events than she had the whole years together since her days on the street. Good ones and bad ones. Every time she saw the bad her heart bled and felt empty. The good ones weren't as good as they should be either because they made her remember...
"I… right now I have many things in my mind…" Natsuki sighed, leaning back into the warm comfort of the body behind her. She wasn't the person to talk about things like her past or her feelings but she also knew that the older man was right with his advice. She had run away so long from everything. She was tired of it. "…things which make me confused and irritate and hurt me… I don't know what I should do with them I need time…" and somehow, the other girl was the only one to whom she would maybe admit her discomfort.
"Do you want to talk about them Natsuki?" Shizuru softly asked.
"…no… they are my problems…" Natsuki answered in her stern voice. "…I don't want you to get involved…" she added, mumbling to it, trying to ignore the soft strokes of the thumb which made small circles on her pyjama covered abdomen.
Placing her chin carefully on Natsuki's shoulder, Shizuru smiled. "Such a cute comment…"
Out of the corner of her eye, she was able to detect a faint blush on the young girl's cheek before their gazes crossed each other.
-KNOCK- -KNOCK-
As someone suddenly knocked on the door Natsuki tensed up, and for a single moment, her eyes flashed in panic up at the closed door. It had gotten perhaps a bit too comfortable for her, so much so that she'd forgotten that she wasn't alone with the other girl.
Hearing the familiar annoyed growl from the young captive in her arms, Shizuru chuckled inwardly. She unfolded her arms and sneaked out of the bed while replacing her body with the pillow.
"Ara, don't make such a face Natsuki-chan…"
Turning around with an annoyed look, her lips lightly touched the black fur-like fabric of the small nose from the light drab-colored plush dog that was held by Shizuru. "…here. The little boy will keep Natsuki company for the time I am away."
Agape, Natsuki looked at the plush that was firmly put into her lap, and then stared in disbelief at the girl walking off.
Shizuru already had her hand on the doorknob as she looked back at Natsuki. such a thoughtful look "Natsuki-chan."
Natsuki's brows went up and she looked, puzzled by the older girl, not knowing what would come next.
"Don't worry, I will hurry and we can continue our little cuddle session, but till then you have to keep the bed warm." Shizuru winked.
´Cuddle session?! That ever-smiling brat!´ With her good arm Natsuki reached slowly behind, grabbing one of the small extra pillows. An annoyed vein showed up on her forehead and her eyes narrowed into slits looking dangerously forth.
In the meantime Shizuru had a really hard time to hold her laugher inside. Natsuki's oh so dangerous expression added with a touch of an adorable blush, that was exactly what she had hoped to gain.
Her crimson eyes observed the situation in front of her, rather amused. Not even as Natsuki began to grab something from behind her and waited for a single move from the other side could she drop her smile. "Natsuki, you still have some soup on you."
"Ehh?" Embarrassed, Natsuki wiped her mouth with the sleeve reflexively.
"Just kidding!"
Before the pillow could hit, Shizuru had already slipped out of the room giggling.
"DAMN YOU!!" Natsuki roared at the closed door.
Sighing, she sunk into the softness of the pillows back, eyes closed. The corners of her mouth slightly rose. Her shoulders felt lighter.
- - - - - -
Aoi was surprised as her giggling friend slipped out of the room and quickly closed the door. A thump on the door echoed a second later, followed by a roaring Damn you´.
"Sounds like she's back to her old self," Aoi said, smiling at Shizuru.
"It seems so," the chestnut-haired girl replied. ´more or less´ she added in her mind.
"There is a call for you from the representative director of the academy. It sounded really urgent…and your father, Mr. Viola, excuses himself for his absence but he had to take his leave for awhile."
"Hm…" While walking down the stairs, Shizuru wondered why the academy would make an urgent call now, hoping that it would not cause some new events in her taken vacation.
- - - - - - -
A rustling sound came from across the room, from out of the clothes cupboard. First Natsuki thought that she only had imagined the rustle, but as it continued again and again she stood up and walked to the cupboard.
Natsuki positioned herself next to the cupboard. With a firm grip on the knob she counted till three before tearing the door open with a fast tug. She let a second past before peering around just to see…nothing!
Nothing was there beside clothes. Searching through them she confirmed that there was really nothing suspect hiding inside. Just one thing…
"I know that I put that thing here." Natsuki mumbled, irritated about the missing thing.
She turned her back to the cupboard after closing the door.
"Damn. I not even was able to finish that fu- OWW!!" the missed thing landed with a loud bang on the ground after hitting the top of Natsukis head.
With painful expression Natsuki stared down on the old leather bound book, rubbing the small lump on her head. After some mumbled curses she pulled herself together and picked the book up, walking back to the bed, regretting that she even had made the effort to stand up.
Back in the bed Natsuki wrapped the blanket around her body. Her brows rose as she found her little plush dog on the floor beside the bed and not on the small cupboard where she had placed it. Placing the plush back on the cupboard Natsuki gave him a skeptical look not sure if she should let him stay there.
The book clapped open and Natsuki began to flip through the pages till she found a small torn paper with which she had marked her last read page.
-…I look. See the endless sea of sand in front, at the side of me. The sun begins to burn my sensitive pale skin and I feel the familiar coldness of that shadow behind me reaching out to my soul. Then I look behind me, however it isn't there, just sand. I know that I had been running away from the shadow…and I know that it waits for me to run again…but I am too tired and so I continue my stay and wait…because I have decided…-
Natsuki's body froze and she stopped reading. She had been so drowned in this single phrase that she hadn't noticed the unnatural bulge that was sneaking under the blanket and moving up on top of her. The bulge remained only lasted as unnoticed till it began to nudge against her chest.
- - - - - -
The beeping still sounded out of telephone receiver. The other end of the line had been hung up for a minute; still Shizuru was holding it against her ear, listening to the sound, the usual friendly smile no longer on her face, replaced by a tired one. Slowly she placed the telephone receiver back; her mind processed the received information of the call.
looks like it will be an exerting new semester Shizuru noted, heading up the stairs.
A shriek rang out of the room just as the chestnut haired girl was about to open the door. She opened the door quickly and… froze at the picture which she saw in front of her some meters away.
Natsuki was pressing into the huge pillows behind her, tensed up, the blanket in a rush pushed aside. Her eyes stared wide open at the thing that was sitting on her. She blinked, in the hope that the creature on her was just a hallucination from the left-over fever. Unfortunately, it wasn't, and the six-snake headed, octopus creature was still there.
Attentively Natsuki watched, sensing something fishy about the way the creature watched her. Naturally she still was in a light flap. One of the heads rose up and peered right into the emerald eyes from the furious acting girl. It was as if the head smirked evilly as the corner of its mouth seemed to turn up. Two of the other six heads rose up as well while the other three appeared to be asleep.
Suddenly the three raised up heads opened heir mouths, showing the blue haired girl their long white two fangs as it saw the book in Natsukis grip moving a bit. The grip around the book softened, and the hissing became silent. Long, red tongues leapt out, tickling the bare skin on her neck. Natsuki tensed up even more.
Mercifully Shizuru decided that it were time to stop the little game of the guardian. After all, Natsuki still needed some rest, not an heart-attack.
"What's wrong Natsuki?" the older girl asked innocently, sitting down on the bed.
In response Natsuki's gaze wandered away from the creature to Shizuru. how can she be so calm? "That thing is wrong!" Natsuki hissed, irritated about the calmness from Shizuru.
Dangerous hisses reminded her that it was still there; all six heads towered up. Natsuki looked back at them with narrowed eyes, growling.
The creature slithered down from Natsuki to Shizuru, curling up. Its eyes were still a slit opened, never leaving the young girl out of its sight.
"Isn't she cute?" Shizuru asked petting one of the heads.
"Cute? How can you call that thing cute and more importantly what the hell is this?" Natsuki replied, scared of losing her mind.
"Ah, where are my manners? This is Kiyohime…" her look wandered down to the purple-scaled snake head which nudged at her hand while the others rested peacefully. "…to answer your question, she is a guardian. But for the little girl to be here…" a thoughtful expression caressed the calm face. A vein popped up on Natsuki's forehead as she watched how the snake head enjoyed the coddling and mockingly peered out of the corner of its eye to her.
Kiyohime paying apt attention to not get caught in her act, grimaced at Natsuki as Shizuru looked away. Just as Shizuru looked back Kiyohime stopped grimacing and nudged the caring hand.
"What do you mean with her being here?" Natsuki was curious where the so-called guardian would usually be.
"Oh it just that Kiyohime usually rests in the library, adjusting books and guarding the entrance of father's labor."
"Or throwing books?" Natsuki cut in, having a light flashback of a session with Mrs Maria, in which she had seen something purple on the shelf after all the books had fallen down on her. Back then she had shrugged it off as having a hallucination because of a light brain concussion.
At least the secret about the library was finally out.
"I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose…maybe something Natsuki did angered her?"
"Something I did? That book-throwing-guileful-six-head-snake-octopus-mutant is going to kill me and you try to tell me it's my own fault?!" Natsuki pointed with her finger at Kiyohime, looking at Shizuru.
Kiyohime growled at the finger and one of the just-awoken heads lifted up and took the finger into its mouth sucking gently at it. Natsuki's jaw dropped, her gaze no longer directed at the older girl.
Shizuru, amused, held her hand in front of her mouth. "Ara."
A second passed before Natsuki got over her shock. "AHHH!!"
The younger girl quickly drew her finger back, jerking herself away. Maybe a little too far away, forgetting that the other edge of the bed was not so far away. Kiyohime buried her awoken heads into Shizuru's sweater and Shizuru… well, she covered her eyes with her hand, peeking out from between her fingers.
-THUMP-
"Oww." Landing on the ground Natsuki immediately jumped up, rubbing the sore spot on her butt. "Someone is going to pay for this," she muttered quietly, glaring at the other two.
"What is this?" Shizuru took the old book from the bed. She studied the outside, but couldn't find an engraved title anywhere.
"Ah… that…that is…your father lent it to me!" Natsuki stammered, blushing.
Her fine brows rose slightly. She clapped the book open, flapping through the pages. Nothing was written on them, only as she reached the very first page she found a text, a text which hadn't been there before.
-This will be the beginning. Not the end, and even though I see you searching for the middle, I can't let you go there. Read this with care, with caution. Think about the decision, about the results, and clear your mind. Because this is the beginning. Not the end.
On that you soon will see the wonder and hear the whispers from the forgotten forest which lead you to that place… As I have and still do.
Signed: The blind observer-
Shizuru closed the book. She had read enough to know that even if she would continue it would not be the same as what Natsuki had read. This book wasn't made to read every time the same like all the others. This book was special and its author individual.
"How far did you get with your reading?" Shizuru handed the book back to Natsuki, who had moved around and sat a little bit away from her down on the bed, still wary of the guardian.
"Uhm…" Natsuki took the book back. "…not far…just got to the middle of the desert chapter," she blurted out.
"Natsuki-chan should read it really with great care and think about her taken way."
"My taken way? You let it sound as if I would be the own who decides how the story progresses."
"The weather is nice today isn't it?" Shizuru said, changing the topic suddenly, not willing to give the younger girl a reply. It was up to Natsuki to find out the truth about this book.
"Ehh?" Natsuki hadn't really paid attention to the weather outside. She did now, yet only because the older girl mentioned it, shrugging the topic from before off. The sky was light blue, with white clothes hovering here and there. "It will get cold tonight."
"How can you tell, isn't it warm?" Shizuru questioned, looking at Natsuki, who had flopped down after having watched the outside long enough.
Natsuki smiled nonchalantly. "Just a feeling I have."
- - - - - -
Opening her eyes, Natsuki noticed that she was tucked back into her bed. The book was placed on a small cupboard. Shizuru was nowhere in sight.
"Come out, I know you're still here," Natsuki said after a while, waiting for the other presence in the room to show up.
A minute passed and Natsuki began to question if it was really another presence that she felt. Her lids sunk and a moment later something sat down on the bed beside her. As her lids went up as she was greeted by twelve yellow eyes. Natsuki smirked, she had been right.
"You're the one who protected me against that thing?" she asked.
The six heads coiled around each other getting into a comfortable position before one of them nodded.
"I see…" Natsuki sat up, leaning with her back against the headboard of the bed while Kiyohime watched her. Natsuki bent her left leg up, leaning her arm on her knee. Her eyes lingered on the bracelet. She had recalled mostly everything from that night. The fight with the boy, her walk away from the hall, and the creatures who had fought each other in front of her eyes, including some spoken words in her mind.
Low hisses reached her ears and distracted her. Natsuki looked with raised brows at Kiyohime, who seemed to sense her deep thoughts. Slowly the guardian laid all six heads on the outstretched thigh.
Natsuki shook her head. "…you're like them…" she mumbled, petting the guardian.
Kiyohime leaned into the hand with one of her heads nuzzling the palm. It was like she wanted to tell Natsuki that nothing would happen, the young girl observed. This guardian was really like its owners.
As Natsuki stopped to pet the heads she reached to her right shoulder, felling with light pressure against the bandaged wound. It didn't hurt. She moved her right arm up and down, stretched it into the air to check the ability to cope with pressure. It still hurt, but not much, she would be able to endure it. The wound would be healed soon, not that Natsuki cared at the moment, as long as the wound wouldn't hinder her.
The guardian suddenly spat at Natsuki, all eyes narrowed. Having a delicate sense for heat it detected immediately the temperature around the young girl which seemed to drop.
Natsuki had her head placed on her left hand, a dark shadow on her face. This time she gave the guardian not a single glance. The guardian, Kiyohime, was real and so the other creature should be too. Her nightmares hadn't been only bad dreams. They were real and she had escaped them once.
Natsuki closed her eyes, shaking inside her mind. No not once, that wasn't correct, it was the second time she had escaped the deathly claws of that creature, the second time in the hell that was called life. They would probably remember her sooner or later, just like she had. And if that would happen, then…
"OWW!" In shock Natsuki jerked, starring down at her thigh rubbing the spot that Kiyohime had pinched. "…What was that for? ..." she growled angrily at Kiyohime. The guardian gave Natsuki a stern look, a mighty aura coming from her presence. Natsuki stopped growling.
- - - - -
- Next day-
"Miss Kuga? You shouldn't be up yet," Carol said, sounding a little bit shocked as the fully dressed Natsuki, who had her hair up in a ponytail, stood near the main door, putting her Blood-Heart gang jacket on.
"Where is the key for my bike?" Natsuki asked, demanding.
"I… I do-n't…" Carol began to get nervous under the cold look from the older girl.
"I will not ask a second time."
The young maid shivered, but still tried her best to not give Natsuki an answer. Just as Natsuki was about to make a move towards the younger girl, she heard a familiar voice.
"Natsuki shouldn't go out in her condition." Shizuru said coming from the direction from the living room.
Without losing a word Natsuki waited for the older girl. "My fever is gone and the wounds are as good as healed, so there shouldn't be a problem."
"Still you aren't 100 percent alright again..."
There it was again, this nerve-racking lecture session. After the first few moments, Natsuki just shut her mind up not paying any attention to the spoken words.
"Are you finished?" Natsuki asked as the older girl's mouth stopped to move.
"If Natsuki agrees!" Shizuru replied.
Natsuki exhaled through her nose. "Only if you'll finally give me the key for my bike."
"Then it's settled… Carol, please bring us the key for the motorbike. Miss Kuga and I will be out for awhile."
Natsuki watched Carol disappear into the living room. She turned her gaze to Shizuru, growling.
"You won't come with me."
"I will. How else should I make sure that nothing happens to you?"
"Listen, I can look after myself alone, and I don't want to look after you."
"Are you worried something could happen to me? …how cute, but you don't need to worry, Natsuki-chan."
Natsuki felt how a small headache forming as she thought about another remark. She should just have listened with more attention. "Ok…Fine, do whatever you want."
Shizuru nodded, quite satisfied about the end of this short word fight.
- - - - - - -
Shizuru had her arms wrapped around Natsuki's waist, holding on tightly so as not fall off. The helmet on her head shut the lashing wind away. Natsuki drove in high speed along the road, easily outpacing cars and other motorbikes.
They finally reached the destination and disembarked. Shizuru noticed Natsuki's serious behavior as they neared one of the haywire blockhouses. Natsuki took her keys out and opened the door.
Shizuru quietly followed Natsuki up the stairs to the second floor, studying the forlorn and prosy building. Together the two girls stood frozen in front of the apartment, the door closed, a huge hole in the middle.
´What's going on,' she asked, even if the truth was as clear as the crack on her bracelet. Only slowly, the drained color came back to her face as she stepped into the place that she'd once inhabited, always being a step ahead from the older girl. Just in case!
"Is this where you lived Natsuki?" Shizuru asked stepping beside Natsuki who kicked against the bowled-over cupboard in her single room. The cupboard slumped. This was how everything else in the apartment looked like, destroyed and torn to pieces. Shizuru let her eyes wander around, as Natsuki had moments before. Someone had searched for something right here. The couch was torn into pieces, cupboards emptied and the fridge knocked over, clothes thrown carelessly on the ground. Apparently, however, it seemed as if the intruder hadn't found what he wanted to find.
"Yeah…somehow you could say that." Natsuki walked to the destroyed window, placing her hand on the sill.
"Is everything alright, Natsuki? You don't look well." Shizuru took notice, having her gaze fixed on Natsuki.
"…" the young girl wandered away from the window. "Let's go."
Natsuki's expression didn't leave any chance for a disagreement. Back down on the street, the girls climbed back on the motorbike. Natsuki made a last glance back at the apartment, memorizing what she had found there.
Black smoke clouds mounted in the air over the quondam headquarter of the Blood Heart gang. Police and fire brigade cars were already at the place, quenching the huge fire and keeping rubbernecks away from the scene. Natsuki stopped the bike near one of the blockades, looking over to the burning building.
"What the hell are you doing here?" a harsh voice called out towards Natsuki.
Shizuru took the helmet off and looked around, greeting Officer Glaser and Officer Yamamoto.
"Good afternoon."
"Miss Viola? May I ask what brings you and the young girl hither?" Carlo asked studying Natsuki, who watched the fire, the visor of her helmet still turned down.
"None of your business bold heat." Natsuki's hushed voice sounded into the round.
"May I ask what's happened?" Shizuru asked.
"It's not really a big secret. We guess that rival gang started the fire inside and then ran away to provoke a war." Nick shrugged with his shoulder.
"…shouldn't you still be in bed brat?!" Carlo said, his gaze still fixed at Natsuki.
"Put your helmet back on," Natsuki commanded, having seen enough from the destroyed places.
Shizuru gave the two officers a apologetic smile. "I wish you two a good day and my greetings to Yuri-san and Hiromi-san."
Nick nodded, looking a little worriedly at the younger girl. "Don't drive too fast."
As the motorbike drove away, Nick tilted his head to the side. "Don't you think she was acting a little weird? …Carlo?"
Carlo snorted. "I wouldn't think too much about it Nick… Come on, there are some people who're trying to get over the blockade." He walked away, shouting some not so nice sentences towards two young boys who had just hopped over the blockade.
- - - - -
Natsuki waited till midnight before she slipped out of her room and went down to the phone in the living room. The number was quickly dialed, the line beeping three times before the other end answered. Natsuki kept quiet.
Someone chuckled at the other end. "So you have found my little message… I am sorry about the mess my slave had left it in, but…" again chuckling. "…rage can be a dangerous wheel…"
"What do you want from me?" Natsuki asked.
"Ah, don't be so angry… I have something as apology for the apartment. Information which I think will really interest you… " The unknown amused voice on the other end said.
Slowly the voice fed Natsuki with information that led the girl to listen attentively. The grip around the phone tightened.
"…go now and look for yourself…"
"Why did you tell me this?" Natsuki asked, her voice lightly shaking.
"To help open your eyes, they aren't what they pretend to be…The two of us will talk soon again after you've realized the truth," the voice said before the line went dead.
Chapter 24 end