I am soo sooooo sorry for not updating for so long! I've been busy with packing, moving back to college and then preseason for soccer. Not to mention the start of classes. :/ I'll try to update more consistently but no promises.
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.
"Natsuki?" the red head whispered out in surprise. "Natsuki!" the red head shouted out in joy running over and grabbing the blunette into a tight hug as tears leaked down her cheeks.
"Oh Natsuki I'm so glad to see you again. I was so worried about you especially after how you left last time." The busty red head said in a rush.
"M-mai?" Natsuki stuttered out still in a state of shock. "What are you doing here?" she asked curiously as she awkwardly returned the hug that she had yet to be relinquished from.
"Oh Mikoto will be so excited to see you again! We moved here a few months ago. But what are you doing here? Are you okay? What happened when you left?" Mai spouted out rapid fire.
Meanwhile Shizuru, Haruka and Yukino were off to the side watching the little reunion occur. All three were confused and curious as to who the enthusiastic red head was and how she knew Natsuki. Shizuru looked on with a slight frown on her face not liking how much the stranger was hugging Natsuki. She could tell Natsuki wasn't very comfortable with the contact either.
Mai paused in her interrogation of Natsuki when she felt a chill run up her spine. She glanced around to see a crimson eyed brunette standing a few feet away glaring holes in her head. She shuddered and quickly scooted closer, and slightly behind, Natsuki.
"Who're your friends Natsuki?" Mai asked guiding Natsuki over to the three other ladies, periodically glancing over at the scary brunette, that had yet to let up her fearsome glare.
"Oh..uh.. this is Shizuru, Haruka, and Yukino." Natsuki said pointing to each woman. "Everyone, this is Mai, an old friend of mine." She said with a slight grin. She was still in shock from seeing Ma here of all places.
"Why don't we all grab a table so we can talk and get to know each other?" Yukino offered as the voice of reason, noticing the cold look Shizuru was giving the redhead.
With a nod of confirmation from Haruka and Natsuki, the group went to grab a table. Shizuru just followed along mentally berating herself about being so jealous of Natsuki's friend. Just because she wanted to be the only person to hug Natsuki doesn't mean she should allow herself to lose her cool and glare so openly. Shaking her head at herself, she followed the group silently.
"Let me go grab Mikoto from the back and we'll join you." Mai said rushing off to get her ever constant companion.
As the group sat down Natsuki kept giving little looks over to Shizuru wondering why the older woman was so silent. She was going over in her mind what she could've done to annoy the brunette, but was coming up blank. She went over in her head everything that had happened so far to see what could be bothering the brunette but still couldn't think of anything. With a sad sigh she put the thought to the back of her mind in order to think about how happy she was to see Mai again. It had been almost two years since she last saw Mai and her little buddy Mikoto.
"Natsuki-san who was that?" Yukino said trying to break the awkward tension the whole table was feeling. She also thought that some clarification may ease Shizuru's ill feelings towards the red headed girl.
"Two years ago I was in some trouble and Mai and Mikoto took me in for a little while and really helped me out. They quickly became very good friends of mine." Natsuki responded to Yukino but never took her eyes off Shizuru, knowing that Shizuru would understand a lot better now that she knew her background.
Shizuru turned apologetic crimson eyes too Natsuki, knowing what a tough life she had and how hard it would have been for the blunette to make friends. Of course Natsuki would have been happy to see her old friends, she shouldn't have gotten jealous. She reached out and gentle placed her hand on Natsuki's arm in a silent apology for her cold attitude, but also to subtly comfort the blunette knowing that those memories of her past life were pretty tough, with good things happening few and far between.
Yukino smiled as she observed the mend in their friendship. She glanced over at Haruka to see a bewildered look on her face. She obviously didn't have a clue what was going on. With a sigh Yukino just reached over and grabbed Haruka's hand running her thumb over the back of it. Haruka looked over at her and smiled, giving her hand a small squeeze.
"Natsuki!"
The blunette was suddenly tackled by a small black haired girl who had latched onto Natsuki in a tight hug. The force of the tackle caused Natsuki to fall out of her chair and onto Shizuru who luckily was able to catch her before she hit the ground.
"M-mikoto!" Natsuki gasped out, "Too tight..can't..breath." She wheezed out as she tried prying the oddly strong girl off of her.
Shizuru looked down at Natsuki with a worried look as she saw the girls face turn slightly blue. With panicked eyes she quickly looked up to Mai.
"Mai-san maybe you could pull your friend off. Natsuki-chan is turning colors." She said calmly even though she was concerned about Natsuki.
Mai quickly came over and pried Mikoto off of Natsuki who quickly took in deep breaths of air trying to get her crushed lungs to work again. With Shizuru's help she got back in her chair.
"I'm happy to see you too Mikoto, but ease up on the hugs, you've gotten a lot stronger." Natsuki said reaching out and ruffling the grinning girl's raven hair.
After Mikoto and Mai took there seats the lunch when on without a hitch. They all got to know a little about one another. Apparently Yukino and Haruka worked right along side Shizuru in everything she did at her job. They had met in high school and stuck together ever since. Natsuki thought they were both pretty nice but could do without Haruka's loud outbursts.
Shizuru also got to know a little more about Mai and Mikoto, and how they literally picked Natsuki up off the streets. Seriously she was lying on the sidewalk in front of their apartment building when they came home one day. Natsuki explained that she had just gotten out of a fight and that's where she passed out. Mai and Mikoto took her in, patched her up and Natsuki wound up living there for a few more months before she had to leave again suddenly.
After the were all done eating everyone went there separate ways. Shizuru and Natsuki walked in a comfortable silence as they made their way down the sidewalk back to the apartment. They would each occasionally glance over at the other and smile, or in Natsuki's case smile at Shizuru, see that Shizuru saw her smile, blush heavily and quickly look away, to which Shizuru would giggle at her.
They made it back to the apartment and each went and changed into more comfortable clothing before meeting up in the living room.
"What would you like to do for the rest of the day?" Shizuru asked as she sat at one end of the couch with her legs curled underneath her.
"I don't care, I'll do whatever you normally do." Natsuki replied as she flopped ungracefully on the other end of the couch.
"Then lets watch some movies. I usually just sit around and read but movies sound better today." Shizuru said, "You can pick any of the movies I have." She said as she gestured towards the shelves full of dvd's next to the TV.
Natsuki grabbed a couple that looked good and popped one in. She came back over and once again flopped on the couch to watch the movie. She was excited to watch a movie since it wasn't very often she could.
Sorry that that ended so randomly and that it's so short, I really wanted to update because it has been soo long :(
This was mainly to introduce other characters into the story. Plus I love YukinoxHaruka so I just had to twist that into the story as well. Tell me what you think.
Again so so sorry about the long wait, I'll be aiming for an update a month, but with classes and homework it will be tough.