Thanks to everyone for the reviews and for answering my question. I still haven't decided which way to go, so you'll just have to keep reading and be surprised ;)
As they sat down to eat Natsuki was lost in thought. 'If I can barely cook with her without getting all flustered and embarrassed, how am I ever going to live with her for even the shortest length of time? My face will be permanently red!' She let out a sigh and dug into the perfect pancakes and the slightly burnt eggs. As she looked across the table to see Shizuru happily eating her scrambled eggs, Natsuki mentally decided it was all worth it in order to stay in Shizuru's company.
The comfortable silence was disturbed by the blaring of the telephone. Both Natsuki and Shizuru jumped in surprise, grinning sheepishly at each other for being so easily startled. Shizuru quickly got up from the table and answered the ringing phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey bubuzuke you didn't forfeit about lunch did you!" came a loud voice from the other end of the phone, causing Shizuru to pull it away from her ear with a grimace.
"It's forget Haruka-chan." came a softer voice in the background.
"Ara, ara Haruka-chan, of course I didn't forget. But would it be okay if I brought someone else with me?" Shizuru questioned glancing over at Natsuki, who had her head cocked to the side in curiosity.
"What? Who? When did you get a girlfriend? Its not that crazy Tomoe girl is it?" Haruka exclaimed loudly.
"It is not Marguerite-san, it's just a new friend." Shizuru said frowning. She did not like being reminded of her obsessive fan girl that would never leave her alone.
"Of course you can bring your new friend Shizuru-san." Came the quiet voice in the background once more.
"Okini Yukino, we shall be there at the usual time yes?"
"Yes same time as always. We'll see you then Shizuru." Yukino responded.
"Don't be fate bubuzuke!" Haruka shouted.
"It's late Haruka-chan." was faintly heard before the call ended.
Hanging up Shizuru turned to Natsuki who was still giving her a curious and questioning expression.
"That gives us just enough time to go shopping." Shizuru said after she explained the phone call.
"Shopping for what?"
"Clothes for Natsuki-chan of course. We don't want her showing up in my pajamas now do we?" Shizuru said teasingly but secretly thinking that she wouldn't care if Natsuki went in her pajamas because she just looked too good in them.
"You don't have to take me with you if you don't want to. I mean thy are your friends and I don't want to intrude, not to mention you just met me and they probably won't like me anyway" Natsuki babbled nervously. She didn't want Shizuru to feel obligated to invite her along but she was also very nervous about meeting close friends of Shizuru.
"Calm down Natsuki. I want to take you and introduce you to my dearest friends and I'm sure they will love you. How could they not like adorable Natsuki?" Shizuru said pinching Natsuki's cheeks, smiling all the while.
Smacking Shizuru's hands from her red cheeks, Natsuki walked away from the teasing women grumbling something that sounded something like, "Baka.", and "teasing devil women." Chuckling Shizuru followed after the girl.
"Let me find something for Natsuki to wear while we go shopping, it might not fit right but it'll have to do." Shizuru said going into her room and searching through her clothes for something that would fit Natsuki.
Once Natsuki changed they made there way out of the building and walked down the street to the shopping area.
As Shizuru walked down the street Natsuki followed behind grudgingly. The brunette in front of her had a permanent smile on her face as she looked into each store they passed hoping to find something that would suit her Natsuki-chan.
Out of the corner of her eye Shizuru saw an outfit that would be perfect for the blunette behind her. She reached back and quickly grabbed Natsuki by the hand, and dragged her into the store.
"Come on Natsuki, in here." Shizuru said, as she pulled the resisting girl into the store. She made a beeline for the outfit she saw through the window. She rummaged the rack trying to find an acceptable size for Natsuki, once she did she held it up for the girl to see, hoping the girl liked it as much as she did.
Natsuki stood there and intensely scrutinized the outfit. The shirt was a simple blue cut t-shirt that had a grey image of a great wolf on it that took up the majority of the front of the shirt. Over that was a simple black jacket that had slight silver lining that matched the wolf image. The pants were just a pair of hip hugging jeans that would be comfy but stylish as well. All and all the whole get up would be the exact thing that Natsuki would pick out for herself. She was surprised that Shizuru had managed to find something she liked so much.
"So what do you think Natsuki?" Shizuru asked with a knowing smile. She had seen the look of on the younger girls face, which let her know that she approved of the clothes and actually liked them.
"I like them a lot." Natsuki said with a small smile to Shizuru, truly appreciating the elder women.
"Then Natsuki should go try them on." Shizuru said as she once again dragged Natsuki over to the changing rooms.
"H-hey! You don't need to drag me everywhere." Natsuki barked at the crimson eyed women.
"Ara ara, but I like holding my Natsuki's hand." Shizuru said with a grin as she gently squeezed the blunette's hand and softly caressed it with her other hand.
Natsuki just blushed, unable to come up with anything to say. Despite her embarrassment she never pulled her hand away from Shizuru's, loving the warm gentle touch.
With a smile Shizuru lightly pushed Natsuki into the changing room.
"If Natsuki needs any help I'll gladly come in and assist her." Shizuru said with a wink to the other girl, taking a step forward as if she was actually going to enter.
"B-baka!" Natsuki shouted and quickly slammed the door in the older women's face. Before the door closed Shizuru caught a glimpse of Natsuki's beet red cheeks, and let out a small chuckle.
Natsuki stood in the small changing room and took a deep breath, willing her cheeks to return to their normal color. After a few seconds Natsuki quickly tried on the clothes. After putting them all on she realized that they all fit perfectly. Looking in the mirror she saw how good they looked on her. She ran her hands over the new clothes and tried to remember the last time she had such nice clothes. All she had ever had were leftovers, or borrowed clothes, all were ill-fitting and worn. Her eyes watered slightly in the joy of having new clothes for the first time in years.
"Natsuki? How do they fit? Let me see." Natsuki could here Shizuru say from outside. Quickly blinking back the tears in her eyes, she ran her hand down the clothes once more before opening the door and hesitantly coming out.
Shizuru took the girls hand and guided her further out. Holding her at arms length she took in Natsuki's whole outfit loving the way it clung to the other girls curves, not to mention the style fit Natsuki perfectly. As she looked up to Natsuki's face she saw the glassy eyes and her happy face quickly turned to concern.
"Natsuki, is everything all right?" She asked looking searchingly into the blunette's eyes.
"Everything is fine, I'm just happy is all." Natsuki responded with a small laugh. Shizuru smiled at the girl happy that everything was okay.
"So you like the clothes then?" She asked, when she received a nod of confirmation she smiled. "Then lets go buy them, you can wear them right out of the store."
On the way to the checkout counter Shizuru grabbed a few other items, with Natsuki's permission, that she thought would look good on the blunette. As they went to the checkout and Shizuru went into her purse for her credit card, Natsuki noticed the clerk looking at Shizuru like a piece of meat. Lust filled his eyes as he took in Shizuru's great figure. As Natsuki watched she couldn't help the feeling of jealousy and anger that welled up inside her. 'Wait jealousy? Where did that come from? Shizuru isn't mine.' Natsuki thought, but she couldn't shake the feeling. She started glaring at the disgusting man, and tried clearing her throat to get him to stop. When that didn't work Natsuki's frown deepened. She didn't like how he was looking at Shizuru.
As Shizuru paid for the clothes she also noticed the clerks perverted gaze but just ignored it.
"You gonna stop staring and give us the bag or are you going to keep ogling her like a pervert?" Natsuki hissed at the man, her voice strong, and steely, and full of hate.
Shizuru looked over in surprise, taking in Natsuki's angry posture and frowning face. The green eyes were full of hate and anger at the man. She had been treated this way for so long and no one had ever stood up for her and tried to get people to stop. This had been happening for years too her and she just accepted it now. She stood in awe at how fiercely Natsuki told off the man.
Stuttering the man quickly finished up and shoved the bag into Natsuki's hands, not daring to even look at the gorgeous brunette again, in fear of getting his head bitten off by the fiery blunette beside her.
With one last glare, Natsuki took Shizuru's hand and pulled her out of the store. Once outside Natsuki quickly dropped the brunette's hand, slightly embarrassed by the way she acted.
"Okini Natsuki." Shizuru said quietly, "No one has ever done that for me before." She gently cupped the girls cheek to get her to look at her to show how sincere she was in her appreciation.
"I-it was nothing." Natsuki said with rosy cheeks. "That man was a pig and shouldn't be looking at you like that." She said as she scrunched up her noise, appalled at the man's behavior.
"Okini." Shizuru said softly once more before she quickly gave a light, gently kiss to the girls cheek. She smiled as the blunette's once rosy cheeks turned much a much darker shade. Giggling, Shizuru took the girls hand once more and led her down the street and into another store.
Natsuki followed dumbly with a stupid smile on her face, not caring where they went.
-ShizNat-
After an hour of shopping and several more outfits later, the two women made there way back to Shizuru's apartment to freshen up before heading out to meet up with Shizuru's friends. Glancing at her watch Shizuru noticed that it was almost time to leave.
"Ready to go Natsuki-chan?" Shizuru asked merrily, looking at the girl expectantly as she made her way to the door.
"Uh..yeah, I'm good." Natsuki said quickly following Shizuru, still wearing her new outfit.
She was still nervous about meeting more people. Shopping had distracted her but now the nervousness had returned.
Once again Shizuru led them down the sidewalk, on their way to lunch. She new the younger girl was nervous but didn't know how to ease her worries. Nothing she said seemed to help much. She reached out and hooked arms with the green eyed girl.
Natsuki looked up at Shizuru in surprise. Seeing her encouraging eyes and caring smile caused the tension to leave Natsuki's body, allowing her to relax some. She smiled up at the brunette appreciatively.
As they approached the restaurant Natsuki saw a tall, intimidating blonde and a short, meek looking brunette, waiting outside. Shizuru quickly went up to both giving them hugs in greeting.
"Haruka, Yukino this is my new friend Kuga Natsuki." Shizuru said starting the introductions. "Natsuki this is Suzushiro Haruka," she pointed to the blonde,"and Kikukawa Yukino." she said pointing to the brunette.
"N-nice to meet you." Natsuki said bowing slightly to each of them.
"Nice to meet you Kuga-san." Yukino said softly, bowing in return.
"So your bubuzuke's new fiend." Haruka said loudly, scrutinizing the blunette.
"It's friend Haruka-chan." Yukino corrected. Haruka just gave Yukino a look of appreciation for the correction before going back to the new girl.
"Your not a tea addict like Shizuru are you?" Haruka asked randomly.
"Uh, no?" Natsuki asked confused. She looked over to Shizuru questioningly only to see a slight blush on the girls cheeks. 'Is she really addicted to tea?'
"Then your fine by me." Haruka stated thrusting out her hand to shake Natsuki's. Reaching out to accept the handshake, she promptly got her hand crushed from the amount of force Haruka put into it. Pulling her hand back and wincing as it throbbed, Natsuki just gave the blonde a tight smile. 'This girl is weird.'
"Maybe we should go in and get a table." Yukino suggested softly, putting her hand on Haruka's arm to guide her into the restaurant. Shizuru smiled encouragingly at Natsuki as they followed the other two in.
As they walked into the restaurant Natsuki saw a flash of red hair from the corner of her eye. She turned to see what it was and immediately froze, her jaw dropping in surprise as she recognized the red headed girl, and said girl saw her too.
Well there is the next chapter, I know it's not that great but I'm finally introducing other characters.
Please let me know what you thought.