Chapter 7:

"Shizuru, is that an iPod?" Natsuki blinked, looking at her wife.

"Ara, I was listening to some music, trying to pick some songs for our anniversary. Did you know that if you play Avril Lavigne's 'I'm With You' and Michelle Branch's 'All You Wanted' back to back, it sounds like the two are starting a relationship?"

Natsuki smiled softly, "You don't say?"

"Well, first Miss Lavigne says, ' It's a damn cold night

Tryin' to figure out this life

Won't you take me by the hand, take me somewhere new?

I don't know who you are, but I

I'm with you

I'm with you,' and then Miss Branch responds, 'If you want to

I can save you

I can take you away from here

So lonely inside

So busy out there

And all you wanted was somebody who cares .'"

Natsuki wrapped her arms around Shizuru, "Well, if you're going with English speaking artists, I'd look to the songs of Taylor Swift."

"Oh?" Shizuru raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. It was something I noticed awhile ago while doing work on my novels, but she never mentions the gender of who she's speaking to in her songs. Not in 'You Belong With Me', or 'Love Story', or 'Today Was a Fairy Tale'. It even applies to a song about an old enemy of hers, 'Mean'."

"Interesting. So that would make the love songs ideal for our purposes."

"Yeah. And if you're into Japanese music, I've become a fan of a new Japanese band called Afterglow. I relate to their lead singer, for some reason.

"Also, I've been giving some thought to what you were saying earlier, and…I want to change my name."

Shizuru blinked, "Natsuki?"

"Well, you and Mom both mentioned that our daughters have different surnames, and…I don't want Naomi to feel separated from her sisters. So, I was thinking…I want to change my name to Fujino, too, so that we could show that we were a family."

Shizuru smiled, and dabbed at her eyes, "It is a wonderful gesture, Natsuki, it really is, but…Well, the girls and I were all talking…"

"Sachiko have a lot to say on the subject?" Natsuki grinned.

"Ikezu, Natsuki. I am actually trying to be serious, you know."

"I'm sorry, Shizuru. Go on."

"Well, it seems that Saiyuri and Naomi have another idea in mind."

"Oh?"

"Well, they agree that it would be good if we all had the same family name. But they also feel that it would be unfair if we picked either your family name or mine. So, they said that they want to use your pseudonym from the novels. They want us to adopt the Kruger name as our family name."

"Are you alright with that, Shizuru?" Natsuki asked.

"I am. It's what our daughters wanted, and it allows me to share a name with you."

"But the Fujino name commands a great deal of power and respect. And if you take my pen-name as your family name, it means being open about our relationship to the world."

"After the incident where the facility was attacked, most of the world knows about our relationship already," Shizuru pointed out, "The secrets are long gone. And besides, I want the world to know that I'm in love with you."

"Alright," Natsuki said, "We can fill out the paperwork, and then we'll all be the Kruger family."

At that moment, Mai and Yukino went racing down the halls past them.

"What's going on?" Natsuki asked them.

"The entire world just went to hell," Yukino said.

Natsuki and Shizuru exchanged a glance, then followed.

There was a news report on the large television in the main lobby.

"At least four hundred people are dead after this shopping mall in Torrance, California was attacked by the same strange monstrosities that attacked the oil refineries in Saudia Arabia three months ago. The President is calling this an act of terrorism, and…"

"Someone is now definitely using Materialization as a weapon of war," Alyssa said to all the gathering HiME, "And it gets worse. There were similar incidents in London, Paris, and Moscow, though not nearly as many casualties in those places."

"Given the enemy's focus on major metropolitan areas, as well as past interest in the HiME, it's likely only a matter of time before Tokyo is attacked," Dr. Kuga said, "We're working on creating an anti-materialization field to protect the whole of the city, but at this moment it's just not feasible. We don't have nearly enough raw material to cover the whole area."

"And right now, only two people have proven capable of summoning their CHILDs," Alyssa pointed out, "Meaning that we'd be in serious danger if they were to utilize the same ROBE technology that Tomoe Marguerite used last month in her attack."

"What about the power packs that allow us to summon our Elements?" Mai asked.

"Workable, but nowhere near as powerful," Alyssa pointed out, "These ROBEs give a person the power of an Element and a CHILD at the same time. Like Shizuru, you'd need to score a direct hit that would sever the user from their GEM. And in a fast paced battle, that's a small target to have to go after."

"The upside," Saeko Kuga said, shifting her glasses, "is that I can replicate the ability to summon your CHILD as I did with Shizuru. Unless your children have inherited your CHILD, the way that Saiyuri did from Natsuki.

"And if you children HAVE inherited your CHILD, I would advise against letting them summon them for anything but the most life threatening situations. If the CHILD is defeated, then the most precious person of your children will vanish, and I expect that with most of them, that will mean that we'll then be running a small orphanage."

"We got lucky with Saiyuri and Duran," Alyssa said, "Our enemies didn't expect that, But they're forewarned now, and they will plan accordingly."

"What about Natsuki's superpowers?" Akira asked.

"I was taken by surprise by one assailant with a ROBE," Natsuki pointed out, "Now, I have the power to outclass a ROBE, but I still have human limits for focus and concentration. Put me up against a dozen well-trained operatives in ROBES, and I'd be in trouble."

"So…We're really at war, aren't we?" Shiho said. Everyone looked around. No one said anything.