Yikes. So sorry about the late update. I was dragged on this spontaneous trip that took all my time. I wasn't even allowed my laptop. Lucky I got back sooner that expected.
To all the people who favorited, followed, and especially reviewed- thank you. You guys continue being the awesome people/supporters you are.
And to the guest who reviewed: 'Cute story. But too many clichés are used here.
For example in this chapter when Natsuki tripped and Shizuru caught her.
When an author creates such a scene with a character who has never been clumsy, it feels very forced. And Natsuki never was clumsy character.
And other instances too. It feels as if an author didn't even bother to truly analyze the characters, but read too much fanfics and use characterization from those fanfics, instead of original Mai-hime.'
I'd first like to say, I'm sorry. Really. But you have to understand that is a place for fans to write about their favorite books, movies, anime, etc. It's a place full of random scenarios, fluffy romancy stuff, and sometimes angst moments. It's where the 'what if' moments become reality, or at least, somewhat close to it. And I know I write the most cliche/cheesy stuff, like seriously- the rest of my stories are cavity induced shiznat, but it's what I enjoy. So again, I apologize that I didn't 'truly analyze the characters' and that I didn't base this story on the original Mai-hime (which is the manga right? Or are you referring to the anime?) Please don't take offense in what I've said. This is my own opinion.
Putting that aside though, I'm glad you found the story cute. It's what I was aiming for. Because of the totally different circumstances in this story compared to the anime/manga (whichever you were talking about), the characters were far more ooc than they were supposed to be.
By the way- thanks for reviewing. I enjoyed your take on this fan-fiction of mine and your opinion does put some things into a better perspective. And to an author, one's perspective is what helps capture the readers. Anyways- thank you.
Now that that's over, as per usual, I hope you guys like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Mai HiME.
A sigh of relief passed through Mai's lips as she stretched her arms to the sky. After a few hours being cramped inside a car, the satisfying feeling of her joints popping was something she really welcomed. Judging by the other sighs surrounding her, her thoughts weren't far from her friends. Really, planning their road trip the day after they literally planned it was a bad idea on Mai's part. But now that they've arrived, the orange head was very excited to see the sights. If only her tired body agreed with her.
"You're never getting behind the wheel of another car, Chie. My life literally flashed in front of my eyes when you barely made that turn!" stated an eye twitching Nao as she fell to her knees and hugged the ground, or at least attempted to. Aoi nodded furiously, eyes still wide with fear. She'd never really driven anywhere with her girlfriend, her favorite source of transportation being a bus or a train, so this was certainly an eye opener.
Chie just held the back of her hands behind her head and gave a large snort. "Hey, it wasn't that bad."
"You almost ran over a cat.." Murmured Aoi throwing the dark headed woman a look of dread. Walking towards the back of the vehicle, the brunette popped open the back door. Mai was next to her within moments, grabbing her bag first, followed by the blue eyed woman.
Chie grinned sheepishly. "In my defense, it wasn't supposed to be on the road."
"In the cat's defense, you weren't supposed to be going that fast." Mai stated drawing an end to their conversation. "Now come help me bring our luggage to the hotel. It's been a long day and I really just want to take a bath and prepare for tomorrow."
Not being able to deny the slightly grumpy orange-head, each of the college students grabbed their bags and moved into the lobby of their current place of residence. As they watched Mai talk to the front desk for their room keys, Chie began to bring up ideas on what they could do the next day.
"I think this is the perfect opportunity to see Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion). A bunch of my classmates have nothing but good things to say about it. It's apparently really nice this time of year too," suggested Aoi.
"Not a bad idea." started Chie. "I also heard that Eigamura (Kyoto Toei Studio Park) is a pretty cool place to visit. We get to dress up as samurai and explore their mock Edo-era samurai town. Doesn't that sound so awesome?"
"I bet Natsuki would love this." said Nao smirking. "If she knew about what we were going to do, she'd have dropped whatever she's doing and come hang with us in an instant."
Chie shrugged at the red head's statement. "I dunno. She sounded pretty serious about her summer plans."
Aoi nodded agreeing with her girlfriend. "Yea. It did sound really important. But cheer up Nao, we all know how much you miss her, but she'll be with us again in no time."
Nao's face turned furious at the blue eyed beauty's comment. "I don't miss that stupid dog! And she's not my best friend either!"
"Your face says other wise." at Chie's nonchalant answer, the green eyed woman's face turned a far deeper shade of red that could put Natsuki's embarrassed face to shame.
But before Nao had a chance to tackle the dark haired woman, Mai came back just in time to prevent Nao's obvious attempt at murder. Ushering the rest of the gang towards the elevator, the well endowed woman, pressed the up button before turning to only pair of eyes directed towards her, the other two glaring at one another. "Hey guys, I got us two rooms. One bed each."
Chie grinned at her friend's foiled attack on her person before catching Mai's questioning gaze. "That's fine. I'll share with Aoi." she said to the rest as if they didn't already know.
Mai nodded. "Just keep it PG rated."
Glasses with a pair of of brown eyes twinkled with mischief. "I don't know about that.. Sometimes my hands have a mind of their own."
That received her a slap on the head from her girlfriend as she walked passed the other woman, joining her other friends into the opened elevator. Chie chuckled nervously as she followed the three beautiful woman before the elevator crushed her.
The next morning, the four women woke up early for their first day on vacation. Being separated into two rooms, with Mai sharing her room with Nao and Chie with Aoi, the quartet had promised the night before to meet up in the lobby after breakfast. Mai and Nao were the first to go down followed by a tired Aoi and Chie. Their state of exhaustion didn't go unnoticed by the first duo.
Nao groaned as she caught sight of a dazed Chie and a grinning Aoi. Now normally, it would've been the other way around. But it seems like last night, the beautiful brunette had gotten the drop on the dark haired woman. Nao was happy for her two friends, but seriously, there is such a thing as going overboard.
Mai on the other hand, just smiled knowlingly. She knew that her two friends were very touchy with each other. It was just a way couples act. And Aoi and Chie were the group's couple. So the fact that the two showed up like so wasn't a shocker nor did it elicit any sort of annoyance compared to her red head friend.
"Kami, seriously?" murmured Nao as the sweet couple finally reached her and Mai. "You two sure took your sweet time."
"Hmm, I really didn't want to get up," replied Chie, shaking her head to snap back into reality. Yawning slightly, the dark haired woman took the time to sling her arm around Aoi as if it were the most natural action in the world. And to Chie and Aoi, it was.
"You weren't this tired last night. Something kept you up, am I right?" asked the scowling Nao as she began to move towards the front entrance. The three other ladies followed after her.
"Well, I honestly couldn't keep my hands off of Aoi. She's just so beautiful that all I wanted to do all nig-" Chie's sentence was quickly cut off by the red beet woman underneath her arm. Sensing a danger she'd rather avoid, the dark haired woman quickly jumped into another subject before Aoi got really furious.
This was noticed by Nao and being her sly self, the younger woman allowed a smirk to cross her face. By then, the group had reached their ride and Mai was already starting the car. Turning towards Chie before the glasses wearing woman could bring up something to talk about, Nao began her attack.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What were you about to say about Aoi and being up all night?"
The brunette in question blushed, but that didn't catch Nao's eye. No, the fidgety gaze to the brunette's girlfriend grabbed all of the red head's attention. Mentally giving herself a high-five, Nao went into phase two.
"Wait, are you telling me.. that you both were up all night doing this and that? Ohohooo, my I didn't know you were so sly Chie!"
Nao's teasing received the reaction it was hoping for. A beautiful tomato blush from both Chie and Aoi. Smiling to herself, the red head woman quickly got into the shotgun seat of the vehicle in order to prevent the murder from Chie's eyes becoming reality. Knowing she was safe within Mai's sight, the short haired woman relaxed into her seat as the couple finally entered the car, their faces regaining some of their natural color. Nao caught both their eyes and grinned.
Chie and Aoi just frowned at her before buckling themselves up. After the last click of their seatbelts, Mai began to back up and drive out of the hotel's driveway. But before the well endowed woman could enter the main street, violet eyes met warm chocolate and sky blue in the rearview mirror.
"So, you guys never did answer Nao's questions," Mai threw a quick glance towards her companion in the front only to see the red head grinning. "Were you two really up all night doi-"
Aoi quickly cut the driver's words, saying, "We were just cuddling all night! Get your minds out of the gutter!"
Nao, Mai, and even Chie gave a laugh at the twitching face of an annoyed brunette.
Three hours and four tired women later, Mai stopped their car in a small, but dainty cafe for lunch. It was a cramped looking establishment with a light blue coating, slightly chipped, but still presentable. There were two floors, and above, hung a sign that said 'Kyoto Kafe.' Now, the way the building presented itself could drive off possible customers with its tiny structure, but Mai knew better. It was the small restaurants/cafes that usually had the most delicious food that couldn't be found anywhere else. And with that, she exited the car followed by Nao, Chie, and Aoi.
Nao whistled at the sight of where they would eat their lunch. "Wow. This place sure could use a touch up."
"I hate to agree with Nao on anything, but this place does look like it's about to fall." Chie commented.
Aoi just rolled her eyes. She, like Mai, knew better than to judge a food establishment based on its looks. "Kami, you both need to see that looks don't matter. So what if it looks a little run down? It could have the best cakes or sweets in town. You'd never know unless you actually go in. "
"Aoi is right," Mai started walking towards the cafe, the brunette trailing besides her. "You never know how good the food is unless you try."
Nao and Chie were hesitant in following after their friends so they just dragged their feet with cautious looks on their faces. Arriving at the entrance, where Aoi and Mai stopped, both the hesitant women were quickly stopped from entering by Mai grabbing their arms.
Looking into violet eyes, the two troublemakers could see a hidden threat that Mai only let's out when it concerns her cooking and Natsuki's unhealthy mayonnaise addiction. "Look you two, I get that you guys think this place sucks, but don't you dare talk bad about it inside."
Nao replied by shrugging Mai's hand of her arm. "I won't, geez."
Mai then looked at Chie expectedly only to see Aoi daring the other woman to go against Mai's words. That quickly got the dark haired woman to nod her head furiously at a grinning orange head.
"Behave. Hell, both of you might even be surprised in there," murmured Mai as she open the door and allowed the others to go in. Inside, they are shocked beyond words.
The interior was much more different than the exterior. It was absolutely adorable with the room being painted a warm peach color, it's lights nice and bright (the complete opposite of what they all imagined), and the other costumers bringing forth a friendly atmosphere. Also, the whole area seemed much bigger than it looked from the outside. In completely honesty, even Mai and Aoi were rather shocked at how well they were blown away.
"... I take back everything I just said." said Nao snapping the rest of her friends out of their stupor. "This place... Looks so damn peaceful.."
"Right?" Aoi murmured. "I've suddenly got the urge move here. I mean, look at this place. It's just so home-y."
"Excuse me," someone said enthusiastically, suddenly appearing in front of the group. "This must be your first time here. Let me show you to your seats. My name is Kaira, by the way. I'll be your server."
The young teenager that stood in from of the group was medium height. She had happy blue eyes that complimented her curly blond hair. She wore the basic 'Kyoto Kafe' of a white blouse paired with black slacks, judging by the other servers in the establishment. But what caught everyone's attention was the huge smile directed at them from the young girl.
Clearing her throat, Chie spoke to their server in place of her friends. "Ah hello. Yea, this is our first time eating here."
Kaira's grin just grew bigger. "That's great! I love meeting new customers! Did you guys just move here or something?"
By then, the rest of the group was following the shorter girl throughout the floor, avoiding other taken tables and costumers who were about to leave. Soon, they came upon a cushion booth and was seated.
Kaira's menu filled arms were emptied as she handed out the menus for the four friends. Before she left to give them some time to choose their meal, she wrote down their drinks, coming back minutes later to hand them their refreshments. The bright blond left again to let the gang choose their food and to serve another table.
"Well, I guess you were right Mai. Looks can be deceiving..." Chie spoke as she poured over the menu set before her. Nao nodded her head in agreement doing the same.
Mai just gave a smug smirk. Which the red head immediately scoffed at.
"Oh don't give me that look, Mai." said Nao rolling her eyes.
"I love it when I'm right."
Chie just rolled her eyes as well at Mai's statement.
"Hey guys, did you find what you wanted to eat?" Kaira asked as she appeared to take their order.
"Yup," said Aoi. "Could I have Omuraisu please?"
"Gotcha." The teen said writing down the meal. "And the rest of you?" Bright blue eyes turned to the rest of the group.
"Hayashi Raisu for me," said Chie.
"Tempura please," Mai replied.
"Hambagu," Nao murmured playing with the phone she had taken out. Mai, who was sitting beside her, slammed her foot down on the red head's causing the other woman to slightly flinch and turn her glaring eyes to violet.
Kaira just giggled at the two friends as she wrote down the final order. "Alright guys. I'll be back in a couple minutes with your order." And with that, the younger girl disappeared.
"I wish Natsuki was here with us," said Chie gathering her friend's attention. "She'd love this place. I mean, she'd find it really girly and a contradiction to her rebel personality, but I think deep in her "ice cold" heart, she'd really like this place."
Aoi nodded her head agreeing with Chie. "Right? I think this place has some real charm. And the staff seems pretty cool. "
"Yea. Even I agree it's pretty cool." Nao said turning her head to look around. And doing so, she notices more of the details. Like the flowery paintings hanging on the wall, the random snapshots of customers, the laughing of a couple coming in- which one of the women oddly enough reminds Nao of their missing friend.
The hair looks exactly the same. The motorcycle helmet looks almost exactly like the pup's... Nao focused her eyes on the pair that were seated across the room and because of that, the red head manages to catch a glimpse of the mysterious woman's eyes. Emerald green.
"Holy shit," whispers the troublemaker gathering her friends attention from their own conversation.
"What's up Nao?" asks Aoi trying to see where the red head was looking at.
Mai and Chie tried to do the same, but had no luck as Nao suddenly stood up from her seat covering both their views. The red head then began to walk towards the mysterious couple.
"Crap!" Mai exclaimed seeing her friend head of to another table. "Chie, Aoi, quickly- Nao's getting away! Get her!"
The three friends got up from their seats to grab their friend back. But they were too late because by the time they've reached the other table, Nao had just grabbed one of the woman's menu, which was hiding her face, only to reveal one all too familiar.
"Natsuki?"
Their friend just looked at them with shock. "M-Mai? Nao? Chie and Aoi? Wha- What are you guys doing here?" the dark haired woman asks her friends, who were trading shocked looks with her. And they weren't the only ones. She and Shizuru had shocked look of their own.
"This..." Shizuru started breaking the silence. "Was certainly suprising. Hello, I don't think I've introduced myself. My name is Shizuru Viola... Natsuki's girlfriend."
That caused four jaws to drop to the floor and eyes to turn to a nervously smiling Natsuki.
"Uh yea. Surprise?"
Well how was it? I hope it wasn't so bad.
About their food- I just picked out random ones from this website- .
And their sight seeing places I found at- TIME magazine- Kyoto: 10 things to do.
I DO NOT OWN any of these websites. Nope. Nada.
I really hope to finish this fanfictic before school starts. Cause I know for sure that I won't be able to type anything.
Anyways- thanks for reading and I hope you guys drop a REVIEW so I know how this chapter went.