Hello everyone, long time no see.

I have been through an emotional rollercoaster or ten, but I am now back and ready to finish my projects/start new projects. Hopefully you enjoy this offering of mine. I liked Crimson and Clover and On The Roof Again's universe so much that I decided to finish it all up with this project, so I'd recommend reading the two before starting this one.

Please enjoy.

Mai-Hime belongs to Sunrise

Prologue: First Hand

A Suzushiro was always proud with the value received from a hard day's work. Their hands were not suited for idle tasks, that much was for certain. But Suzushiro Haruka in particular had an interesting hobby that would have seemed almost laughably blasphemous. Even more baffling was the person she chose to partake in this activity with. Yes, under any other circumstance Fujino Shizuru offered the perfect example of the exact opposite of Haruka, thus making her the target of the Suzushiro scion's constant ire, but for this particular task there was no one else suitable. So every Tuesday evening they met, either in the spartan confines of Haruka's sparsely-furnished apartment or in the impeccable living room of Shizuru's apartment. On this particular evening it was Shizuru's turn to entertain her old rival—and some could say oldest friend—in their weekly activity.

Haruka watched over the rim of the glass she was currently sipping out of as Shizuru's fingers deftly maneuvered their way around the plastic cards that were beginning to show the slightest hint of wear. One by one they clicked against each other as she quickly formed a bridge and tucked them in neatly. The sound comforted Haruka somewhat while at the same time allowing her to steel her nerves. She set the glass down on the table and rested the palm of her hand on her knee. Shizuru set the shuffled deck in front of Haruka and tapped the topmost card with two fingers. Out of habit Haruka carefully picked up half of the deck and set it beside the leftover half. Shizuru nodded and re-stacked the deck before dealing out two cards each.

"Honestly, Haruka-han, the game would be much more impressive if there were more than two of us playing."

Haruka's eyes snapped up, but instead of giving a derisive glance towards Shizuru she instead jerked her thumb behind her. Shizuru followed her gaze and rested her eyes on a head of blue hair that seemingly floated up from the couch in the living room. She sighed as she watched the owner of the head pointedly stare at whatever fascinating bit of television was going on at the moment.

"It's already enough I let your puppy sit in the same room during our game," Haruka said in a dissatisfied grunt. "Besides, it's always just been the two of us playing, does it necessarily have to be a larger affair?"

If her "puppy" had anything to say about Haruka's gruff remark, she wisely chose not to voice it. Natsuki merely changed the channel on the television and absently thumbed through an engineering textbook. She paused briefly to highlight something before moving on.

"Ara, I suppose..."

Shizuru pursed her lips into a straight line, then focused on her hand of cards. Natsuki could spend every day of the week—which she did—trying to convince Shizuru that this bizarre ritual of a card game could continue every week if necessary, but the Fujino heiress still felt a twinge of uneasiness.

Unhealthy.

Sick.

Wrong.

It had been almost two years, now.

No amount of time would erase that night in their eyes.

But Shizuru could look into Haruka's eyes without remorse, and those blue eyes would stare unflinchingly back. What was that supposed to mean? Was Haruka suddenly okay with what she used to think was unnatural? Or was Haruka simply pushing aside that niggling issue in favor of simply ignoring it and moving on? Shizuru played life like a well-placed gamble and was the champion of coming out on top, but Haruka never quite played like the rules ever applied. It seemed as if the only rule she did understand was that hard work would bring results, even if the arena she happed to play in had nothing to do with how much work had to be done.

Shizuru, playing the dealer for the night, placed the top card of the pile face-down to be discarded before dealing out the first three cards face-up on the table. A ten of diamonds, four of spades, and nine of diamonds greeted them. They studied the flop for a minute before consulting their own hands. They never played with chips or any sort of monetary gamble which Shizuru thought defeated the purpose of playing any kind of casino card game in the first place. After all it was just as much a battle to determine who can make the best mathematical and psychological decisions to come out on top as it was to win the most amount of money by the end of the night. To not have some sort of collateral to worry about made the game too boring for her to play. But habit dictated that she continue, and she dutifully placed another card to be discarded before flipping over the next—a four of clubs. Haruka waved a hand to continue and Shizuru complied with the final discard. The River was placed on the table and provided the two with the passive face of the king of diamonds.

Haruka sighed before flipping over her cards. A four of diamonds and a five of clubs sat in front of her.

"Well, that was disappointing. And you?"

Shizuru stared at her cards. Truth be told she had almost forgotten about them. Smiling inwardly at her rare moment of forgetfulness she turned over her cards and was pleasantly surprised to see a jack of diamonds and queen of diamonds greeting her.

"Ara, it seems luck has favored me this round."

If it were any other event Haruka might have pointed a finger accusingly in Shizuru's direction and declare a rematch on the obvious grounds that the ex-Kaichou was cheating. Instead Haruka leaned back on her chair and sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'll never be good at this game, I'm afraid."

"I wouldn't say that, Haruka-han."

Shizuru rearranged all the cards so that they were all in one deck again.

"Perhaps tonight isn't your night?"

Haruka waved a hand to dismiss that suggestion.

"Then every Tuesday isn't my night, Fujino. I've yet to win a game against you."

"... Perhaps you would like to play again?"

Haruka shook her head, opting instead to get up from her seat. She stretched her arms above her head and sighed.

"No, I think we'll end for tonight. It's getting late and I have morning classes to attend to."

She nodded.

"Thank you for having me over."

It was a forced attempt at being polite but Shizuru was never one to be rude. She graciously nodded as she too stood up.

"Thank you for stopping by, Haruka-han."

At this point Natsuki had looked up from her textbook. Reading glasses were perched on her nose and she took them off to wipe the lenses with the edge of her t-shirt before folding them up.

"Going home now, Suzushiro?"

Haruka nodded.

"Have a good night, Fujino. Kuga."

With that stiff goodbye Haruka showed herself out. Shizuru closed the door and locked it, but did not leave the doorway immediately. Instead she stared at the door with a thoughtful expression on her face. Natsuki frowned and pushed herself off of the couch to make her way over to her girlfriend.

"Is something wrong, Shizuru?"

Shizuru knew better than to give Natsuki any sort of elusive answer, so instead she sighed and turned.

"I don't know, Natsuki. I just don't know."

Natsuki thoughtfully placed a hand on Shizuru's shoulder, letting her hand trail gently down the older girl's arm before her fingertips rested against Shizuru's palm. Shizuru took the cue and squeezed Natsuki's hand gently in response.

"You know, I notice that whenever Suzushiro stops by she rarely gets any of her grammar wrong."

Shizuru smiled sadly.

"Ara, it's interesting, isn't it? She hates being corrected when she is in the middle of some heated exposition, so she takes her time when she speaks. I dare say it's landed her in a bit of hot water at several university lectures, so she has been much more careful with grammar usage."

"Makes sense, I suppose. It's not like she has Yukino there to constantly correct her."

With that, Natsuki frowned.

"Come to think of it I can't think of the last time I've seen the two of them hanging around."

"Perhaps they have simply been preoccupied," Shizuru noted. "Exams are coming up soon if I recall correctly."

Natsuki winced.

"Ah, you don't have to tell me twice. It's scary to think I have a decent chance of not being able to graduate if I don't pass."

"My Natsuki would never fail out of classes," Shizuru reminded with a small tweak to Natsuki's nose. "After all, she has been studying so hard lately and not playing with her bike in the garage, correct?"

There was something very compelling about Shizuru's smile that made Natsuki smile back despite the feeling of cold dread that began to creep into her head.

"O-Of course! No playing around with that motorcycle at all!" She tittered nervously for a second before clearing her throat. "No, nothing like that."

Shizuru laughed then, a clear bell-like laugh that caused Natsuki to crack a warm smile before she breathed in deeply. She stifled her yawn as best as she could, but there was no denying that she was tired from an evening spent reading over mathematical equations. Shizuru sighed contentedly before leaning forward, resting her lips against Natsuki's forehead in a quick kiss.

"Go wash up. I'll join you in bed soon, okay?"

Natsuki nodded sluggishly.

"Gotcha. Don't stay up too late."

With that the younger girl turned and made her way to the bathroom. The sound of running water occupied Shizuru's mind for only a moment before she turned to look at the dining table. The deck of cards were still sitting on top and she walked over to the table.

"I wonder..."

She let the unspoken thought drift as she picked up the deck and pushed it into its box.

A/N:

I always like to imagine that Suzushiro and Fujino have a friendship that no one thinks is possible, which makes it all the more interesting. This piece is meant to be a bridge between the last chapter of On the Roof Again and the story I want to present.

Thanks for reading.