Title: Riding the Roller Coaster (Part III)
Author: ficeler37
Note: Don't own Mai-Hime. I'll let Sunrise take the credit.
Rating: PG
Word count: 1194

Summary: Headbutts and sticky pictures.

A/N: The more I write this story, the more I realize that I'm such a hopeless sap. Hopefully you all won't fall into a sugar coma.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is a crowded Saturday at the amusement park because of the gorgeous weather. Shizuru and Natsuki are standing next to the information booth, staring at the park map held in Natsuki's hand with minimal distance between their foreheads. Suddenly a rowdy kid bumps into Shizuru while running from his father.

"Ow!" Both girls shout in unison. The unexpected force made Shizuru fall forward and the girls' foreheads collided. Shizuru puts her palm against Natsuki's forehead apologetically as her worried eyes witness the drops of tear that are lingering at the corners of Natsuki's eyes. "Sorry, Natsuki. Are you ok?" Great start, Shizuru. Way to make a first impression on your first outing with Natsuki since graduation.

Natsuki blinks away her tears, and sees the pink collision spot on Shizuru's forehead. Shizuru, your forehead probably hurts just as much as mine, why do you always have to put the blame on yourself? "Hey, don't worry. I'm ok. It's you that I'm worried about. It looks like you put blush on your forehead, hehe." Natsuki taps her index finger lightly on Shizuru's forehead with a teasing smile.

Seeing Natsuki's crooked smile, Shizuru quickly hides her face behind her hands and her shoulders tremble sporadically. "Natsuki is so mean. You think I'm like one of those little kids that put makeup all over their faces." Looks like Natsuki is ok. Ho ho, this is for trying to tease me.

"No, Shizuru. Please, I didn't mean that. You look … (blush) … really beautiful today." You have only been with this woman for 15 minutes and you've already complimented on her looks twice! I hope Shizuru is not going to think that I'm a weirdo. Too embarrassed to look up at Shizuru, Natsuki chooses to tug on Shizuru's dress softly to catch the attention of the older girl.

Unbeknownst to Natsuki, Shizuru is actually blushing behind her hands. Natsuki, can I take this as a sign that you are actually attracted to me? Am I too full of myself? In order to trick Natsuki into yielding to her wishes, Shizuru uses her flawless acting skills and lets a drop of tear slide down her face conveniently. "I want Natsuki to promise me one thing."

One drop of tear from Shizuru is enough to send Natsuki into a frenzy. "Hey, listen, I'll do whatever you want, ok? So please don't cry anymore." Oh my god, why do I feel like I'm the most horrible person in the world?

"Alright then, Natsuki has to go take sticky pictures with me." Shizuru's hands leave her face and reveal a Cheshire grin. "I think I spotted a sticky picture booth behind the merry-go-around. Let's go!" Before Natsuki can protest, Shizuru has already started heading towards the aforementioned machine.

Ok, now I feel like she just took advantage of me. (sigh) But why is there this warm feeling inside my heart whenever she teases me? Last time I checked, I don't have any masochistic tendencies …Too confused by her own feelings, Natsuki decides to shake off her puzzlement for the moment and runs after Shizuru who is a few steps in front of her.

Never been fond of taking pictures, Natsuki looks at the bright color machine skeptically. "Shizuru, if you don't mind me asking, what are you going to do with the sticky pictures afterwards?" I do NOT want to find my sticky picture being randomly stuck on a public phone booth in the city next to all the porno ads. Well, not that I think Shizuru would do that, but still.

"(sniff sniff) Does Natsuki think that I'm going to take your sticky picture all over the place? Do you not trust me?" Shizuru questions Natsuki with watery eyes and is just about to bring her hands up to her face again when Natsuki reaches out and grabs onto her hands, pulling them back down.

"NO! I trust you, ok? C'mon, let's take a picture together." Natsuki hurriedly pulls Shizuru into the photo booth with exaggerated enthusiasm. Who knows what this woman is going to get me to agree to if I have let her pull her crying face trick again?

Ho ho, Natsuki is getting smarter. We'll see for how long you can keep up with me. Shizuru decides to forego this opportunity to tease Natsuki and focuses on the machine in front of her. The girls select a light blue frame with white lilies in the background, and start to pose in front of the tiny camera.

"Ne, Shizuru. I feel really weird keeping my smile on my face while we wait for the machine to take our picture. How about you control the timer and just tell me to open my eyes and smile right before the flash?" Just as I had imagined, smiling at a machine is too weird for me.

Oh my, this is almost too easy. "Sure, when I say 'now', Natsuki just needs to open her eyes and smile, ok?"

"Alright." Not sensing the scheming grin on Shizuru's face, Natsuki closes her eyes as planned.

Shizuru positions herself to her own liking at once. "Now". What follow are a mechanical click sound and a surprised shriek from the flushed Natsuki.

"Why are your lips so close to my cheek?" Natsuki crosses her arms and refuses to look Shizuru in the eyes. Seriously, I cannot let my guards down even for a second in front of her.

Instead of answering Natsuki's question, Shizuru is busy fiddling with the switches on the machine. "Oh, you can choose to nominate your picture or vote on other people's pictures for today's cutest picture." Before the meaning of the words can register in Natsuki's mind, Shizuru has already pressed the 'self-nomination' button.

"SHIZURU!" Natsuki frantically presses on random buttons on the machine, trying fruitlessly to reverse Shizuru's action. But all she sees on the screen is 'Thank you for your submission' while a repetitious melody hums in the background.

"Ara, is Natsuki trying to speed up the photo printing process? I can't wait to see the sticky pictures, too." Shizuru smiles innocently.

Imaginary smoke comes out of the top of Natsuki's head as she tries to think of a way to get revenge on the Kyoto-ban beauty. Scanning the area around her, a ride indication sign catches Natsuki's attention.

After a few minutes, the sticky pictures finally drop down to the metallic slot of the machine. Shizuru snatches them before Natsuki can take a look at them. "I paid for the sticky pictures and it was my idea to take the pictures in the first place, so these are mine." Shizuru sticks out her tongue, expecting to see a fuming Natsuki.

To her surprise, Natsuki does not put up much of a struggle. "Fine, you can keep them. But now you have to go on a ride with me." Natsuki seizes Shizuru's hand and starts jogging towards a particular direction with a calculating grin on her face.

When they have jogged past the indication sign, Shizuru turns her head to take a look at the sign. Two words scream alarm at the wide-eyed Shizuru – DROP ZONE.

TBC.