37.
I Was Told There Would Be Cake…
Mai arrived at the Fujino Estate with her delivery truck, and a large quantity of cake. She didn't know if it was a coincidence or not that Mikoto Takeda nee Minagi had suddenly found herself with free time to assister her old school friend.
"So, Midori's going to be teaching at Fuuka again?" Mikoto was lifting the lid to one of the cake boxes, peeking in. She found her hand being whacked by a large wooden spoot.
"These are for Natsuki's birthday, slash wedding anniversary," Mai chided her.
"Six years, now," Mikoto nodded, "And that means Saiyuri is five."
They carried the boxes into the house, and were greeted by an elderly man, "I am Katsumoto, the family butler. Fujino-dono and Kuga-dono are expecting you."
Natsuki poked her head around a corner, "Oh, Katsumoto, I see that Mai and Mikoto have made it. I'll show them the way, thanks. I'm sure you have all those little details that Shizuru has foisted off on you to attend to. Oh, and did that thing I ordered come in, yet?"
"It arrived while you were away," he nodded, "I left it in the master bedroom, as you requested."
"You're amazing, Katsumoto-san," Natsuki smiled at him. He smiled and bowed politely, but Natsuki shocked her former schoolmates by giving him a quick embrace.
"Wow, Natsuki's hugging people," Mikoto blinked.
"It's not unheard of," Mai grinned sheepishly, "I got a hug from her when you killed Yuuichi."
"I'm saying!" Mikoto's eyes looked like they might pop, "It's that level of serious."
Natsuki glowered, "Okay, you two, you can cut the Boke and Tsukkomi routine. Katsumoto-san has worked here for decades, and he's a very sweet, very kindly man, and I happen to find myself almost as fond of him as Shizuru does. And I saw Shizuru hug him when we moved in, so I figure I should do so, as well, to avoid any suggestions that I'm some unfriendly, crabby person."
Katsumoto chuckled lightly, "No one who saw you doting on your daughters would suggest anything of the sort, Kuga-dono. Please excuse me. I must tend to those duties, now."
"C'mon, this way," Natsuki motioned for the others to follow her, "Midori finished the ouzo off yesterday, so she should be sober enough to regale us with the stories of the previous Carnival. And I think Nao should be over her hangover by now."
"Nao? I thought she could hold her liquor," Mai blinked.
"Ouzo isn't like sake," Natsuki smirked, "It's much stronger. But it doesn't seem that way at first because of its sugar content, which means that it takes longer for more alcohol to work its way into your system. And no, I didn't learn this from experience. I looked it up, for my own personal safety. Greeks serve ouzo with food to keep from getting too plastered. But try telling our globetrotting archeologist that you don't just sip it in big gulps like sake."
"How bad were their hangovers?" Mai couldn't help but grin.
Natsuki took on a strangely sing-song tone, "Well, I'm not sure, Mai. Let's find out."
She turned and knocked sharply on a door, "Hey, Nao, you okay in there?"
Nao opened the door, looking at Natsuki with pleading eyes, "Please, I'm begging you, keep it down. I'll pay you to keep it down."
"And then we get to our guest, Midori," Natsuki grinned, pointing to the mop of red hair topping a head laying face down at the long table.
Natsuki went to rap on the table, when Midori caught her wrist.
"Do it and die, Kuga," Midori's muffled voice came.
"Oh, lord," Mai sighed, "Anyone else try that ouzo stuff?"
Now Natsuki was positively beaming, "Why, yes, Mai, as a matter of fact, one other person here did try the ouzo. Oh, Shizuru?"
Shizuru strolled gracefully into the room, clad in a kimono, "Ara, you called, Dearest?"
"Shizuru, you're okay!" Mai looked relieved.
"I have to have social drinks with business partners on a regular basis," Shizuru smiled her placid smile, "You shall never find me without access to a small snack in my purse to deter alcohol absorption, and a bottle of vitamin B12 to help with any hangover symptoms. This ouzo stuff was certainly potent, but it was hardly the strongest bit of drink I've ever had."
"Well, I'm going to sit with Midori and try to coax her back to health so I can get the information I need for my book," Natsuki said, "Shizuru, why don't you catch up with Mai and Miko."
"Ara, join me in my private study?" Shizuru gestured.
When they reached the study, Mai giggled, "So, any big plans for tonight?"
Shizuru grinned, "Why, Mai-chin, are you asking me to tell you intimate details of my love life? For shame."
"Well, I know how you like seeing her blush, so I figured that if you gave me a few tidbits, I might be able to help that along."
Shizuru feigned shock, "Why, Mai, teasing my beloved Natsuki on her anniversary AND birthday? So wicked! She's ticklish just under her chin."
"That's it?"
"Mou," Shizuru mock pouted, "I can't share all the embarrassing details about my Dearest Natsuki all at once. Some of those I have to save for my own…personal use."
"Okay. Um…Listen, Natsuki didn't give me any embarrassing details or anything, so don't be angry, but she did say that she was worried about you because you'd been having troubling dreams. Are you…okay now?"
Shizuru blinked, then smiled. Natsuki was always worrying about her, after all. And if Mai said she didn't share intimate details, then she knew that was the truth.
"In fact, I've been seeing a psychologist about it, recently. He recommended some techniques, and last night, they actually paid off. I had a dream. I was the queen of a fallen kingdom, waiting for the conqueror of our lands, and it turned out the conqueror was Natsuki. She took me as her personal slave."
"Should I be hearing this?" Mai asked.
"Oh, that's the thing. It wasn't really a sexual dream. The great Pharaoh Natsuki was not a cruel mistress. Indeed, in the dream, she was patient, just, understanding, and she showed no cruelty to me, although I was still a bit…impish to her. The worst thing that happened to me in the dream was that she forced me to due a crude wax of my legs, and she was…was married to…"
"To me?" Mai blinked, sitting upright, "Oh…Oh, this is bad."
"It was only a dream, Mai-chan."
"Yeah. I know. I had the same one. There was another slave girl, Arika, who taught you how to wait on Natsuki. And I was married to her, but it didn't seem to be a sexual relationship, more good friends getting to live life together, and…Suzushiro was a general! And Yukino was a Scribe."
Shizuru looked Mai in the eyes, her own crimson gaze unsteady, "Why are we having the same dream?"
"Because," An all too familiar, mocking voice called from above them, "They're not exactly dreams. Well, they are. Kind of. They're sort of memories, only not exactly."
"Nagi!" Mai and Shizuru spat at once, looking up at the diminutive figure sitting on a shelf next to an open clock face.
"See, you girls, well, women now, are all very special. And you're part of a much larger world than you know. There's whole worlds out there. Other dimensions. Parallel worlds. Well, not exactly. Those are pretty much comic book terms. There aren't really words to explain it properly. Think of it like this. You girls are like pins in a map. And there are other maps beneath that map. And how many of those you touch depends on how deeply the pin is shoved into the board. Powerful people like you HiME, you enter quite a few of the maps at once.
"Those dreams? They're not dreams. They you in other worlds, at other times. You're remembering, or dreaming, or experiencing in your sleep, the versions of you as you are in another world that you're pinned through.
"So many people say it's this version of you or that version of you. But the truth is that they're all you, at the same time, even if they're vastly different from you as you know yourself."
"What you're saying is that I'm not dreaming that Natsuki and I lived in ancient Egypt, but that, in another life, we did?"
"And I was married to Kuga?" Mai blinked.
Nagi sighed, "Not was. Are. That's happening. Now. Well, a little earlier. There's a bit of time for those things to catch up to you in dreams. And the worlds are always shifting.
"You see, your power of Materialization isn't just the ability to organize higher end matter. You're literally rearranging reality when you summoned your Elements. So many governments right now are trying to develop materialization as a weapon. And it can be that. But what it really is is the key to a very big door. And that door leads to whole new realities, where you'll find yourselves waiting."
"The Margueritte girl," Shizuru hissed, "She was there, too. Does that mean that she's a similar pin in the fabric of reality?"
"Oh, yes. Quite so. Whole new worlds are about to open up to you ladies," Nagi grinned, "Mashiro and I have been trying to prepare things for you, but in the end, you'll have to decide what to do about it all."
He threw a small stone to Shizuru, "A birthday present for Natsuki. I'd give it to her, myself, but as I recall, she doesn't like me much. Believe it or not, she's the most important part of the linchpins here. Although, where she goes, Fujino, you do tend to follow. Oh, and for the record, those nightmares you were having about hurting her? They are real. But they're the vast minority of the realities out there. Oh, there are recurring themes of you doing something like at the Festival. But there's an even stronger tide of her forgiving you and bringing you out of the darkness. She was definitely made for you, Fujino. Or perhaps you were made for her. Either way, you two are almost a matched set in any world there is, with a few exceptions. Including one very particular universe where I get such a headache and she's interested in Yuuichi. But that's something of a one-off."
"What is this, Nagi?" Shizuru held up the stone.
"Safety," Nagi said, simply.
"Hers? Or yours?"
"Precisely," Nagi grinned.
He was suddenly shoved off the shelf, and landed face first on the desk. A miniature Mashiro stepped out of the clock, "Sorry for my delay. The gem is a gift from me, Fujino. It's for Natsuki, as Nagi said. It will give her the ability to access all of her power. Not just her HiME power, but the powers she has in every world. More importantly, it will allow her to access it without being overwhelmed by her other selves."
"What do you mean?"
"The wars over Materialization are coming. Soon, they'll affect all the worlds, because they affect every version of each of you. We only have one Circuit Stone, and it was forged from one version of Natsuki, so only a version of Natsuki can use it. Whether you decide to trust me or not…I leave to you."
"You brought us back from the dead," Shizuru said softly, "You helped us break that cruel fate. So, promise me this won't harm Natsuki, and I will trust you."
"It won't harm her. I can only hope that it's enough to keep her safe."
888888
"Mai makes the best cake," Natsuki grinned, "No offense to the regular kitchen staff."
"Six years of marriage, you two," Nao grinned, "So, what sort of gifts did you get each other?"
"Ara, my gift to Natsuki is a sculpture I had made of the two of us, based on one of our wedding photos," Shizuru presented it.
"Wow!" Mai marveled, "How did they get wood to look like frilly fabric?"
"The artist is quite talented," Shizuru remarked, "I think he truly captured your beauty, Natsuki."
"It's beautiful, Shizuru," Natsuki smiled, "Well, I actually had to go to my Mom for your anniversary present.'
"Ara?"
Natsuki went into the bedroom, and brought back a box. Shizuru opened it carefully, to find a framed picture. Shizuru made a soft cooing noise, "Ooooohhhhhhh! Adorable!"
"I didn't have any of these left, but Mom still had one," Natsuki said, "I told her what I wanted it for, and she agreed that it would be something you would enjoy."
"What is it?" Nao was trying to look over Shizuru's shoulder.
Shizuru flipped it around so everyone could see. The picture showed a young girl with cobalt hair, tied in stubby pigtails, laughing, her cheek being licked by a large brown dog.
"Natsuki and Duran?" Mikoto laughed.
"Yeah. That's me at the age of six."
"Oh my God!" Nao grinned, "Kuga, you were such a cutie back then."
"Is Nao saying Natsuki is not cute now?" Shizuru cajoled.
"Well, she doesn't do anything for me, personally," Nao smirked, "But I'm sure you're enchanted, so, whatever works for you."
As everyone was cleaning up from their cake, Mai whispered to Shizuru, "Are you going to give her that thing, the Circuit Stone, that Mashiro and Nagi gave you?"
Shizuru looked away, "I will. But tonight is for her to enjoy."
A/N: A shout out to the enjoyable, but apparently abandoned story The Evening Star by Olivia U.L. And a major shout out to quantum mechanics for allowing me to state that every fanfic is a wholly legitimate world. The world that Nagi is referring to, where Natsuki is into Yuuichi, is, of course, the official manga, which also saw Nagi literally losing his head.