Title: Riding the Roller Coaster (Part XII)
Author: ficeler37
Note: Don't own Mai-Hime. I'll let Sunrise take the credit.
Rating: PG
Word count: 1267

Summary: Spray-on tattoo - part 2.

A/N: I actually cracked up while writing this. Hopefully this chapter will brighten up your mood too.

A/N 2: Just to refresh your memory, 'naginata' is Shizuru's hime weapon.

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Glancing at the blue haired beauty who seems to be deep in thought and unmindful of her surroundings, the park worker comes to an interesting conclusion on his own. Wait a minute. Is she still in the closet? Well, I really don't know why she has to hide. If I have a gorgeous girlfriend like that, you can expect me to be parading her around my friends. "You know, if you don't want people to see the matching tattoo, I can always spray it on a more discreet area so that only your girlfriend can see it."

The sudden male voice brings Natsuki's mind back to the tattoo stall. "I told you, she's not my girlfriend." The emotionally confused girl replies with an annoyed tone.

With a knowing smirk, the young man replies, "Whatever you say, miss." Flipping through the book of tattoos, he quickly finds what he is looking for. He holds the book out in front of Natsuki and points at an intricate rose pattern with an S embedded in it. "How about this one? Since you're wearing low rise jeans today, I can easily put the tattoo on your lower back. Your biggest concern is for people to see your tattoo, right?"

Putting her confusion about her feelings towards Shizuru aside momentarily, Natsuki begins imagining the smile on the older girl's face when she surprises her with the matching tattoo, and her heart is instantly filled with unexplainable warmth.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you? I can totally see it on your face." The guy punches Natsuki on the shoulder playfully. "C'mon, turn around and lift up the back of your shirt a little. I'll spray the tattoo on you quickly before she comes back. Don't you think that will be a nice surprise?"

"Yea, I guess so. Give me a purple one." The blue haired girl hastily does what he suggested. "Wait, how did you know I want the rose that has an S in it? AHHH! That's cold! You could have warned me before spraying that stuff on me." Natsuki turns her head around with a small growl.

"Oh, I overheard your names when you guys were talking. Nice ass, by the way. OWWW!" The flirtatious young man received a powerful elbow shot on the chest. "Just take it as a compliment, will ya? Stay still. Let me use some water to wipe off the excess paint, then you can run to your girl for all I care." Without delay, he grabs the water spray bottle and begins the clean up process.

When the tattoo is finally done, the blue haired girl turns around and looks the guy square in the eyes. "You know, if I bleep out all the moments when you opened your mouth, you are actually a pretty nice guy. Thanks for the free tattoo." The blue haired girl scratches her cheek nervously, unaccustomed to giving strangers compliments.

"You're …" Before the young man can finish his sentence, a melodic voice appears not far from the duo and catches their attention simultaneously.

"Natsuki, thanks for waiting. We can … Ara, did I interrupt something between the two of you?" Natsuki will never go up to a random guy and start chatting, which means …

Woah, jealous girlfriend number two alert. Somehow the smile on the porcelain face seems to chill his insides even more than the icy glares he received minutes earlier. "Haha, not at all. We were just chatting about the weather while she was waiting for you, and now that you're back, she's all yours." With a nervous chuckle, the park worker quickly hides behind his spray-on tattoo stall, fearing for his life.

Feeling a little sorry for the guy, Natsuki quickly puts her arm around the enraged woman's waist and adds, "We weren't doing anything. Honest. C'mon, let's keep going." Eager to lead her friend away from the tattoo stall, Natsuki pushes Shizuru around and carelessly runs into a body standing behind them. The older girl drops her purse due to the sudden impact.

"Well, what have we got here? No boyfriends around? Then may I volunteer myself to be the protector of you attractive ladies?" Random guy A takes a bow in an exaggerated fashion, confident that he can easily win over our heroines with his shallow charm.

"Uhm, I don't think so." Somehow, amongst all the offensive things that came out of that guy's mouth, Natsuki finds the 'no boyfriends' comment the most irritating. She grasps the water spray bottle next to her and splashes the liquid at the guy's crotch. "We don't need protection from a guy who still pees in his pants. Goodbye." The blue haired girl bends down and picks up the lost purse. "Let's go, Shizuru." She takes hold of the older girl's hand and leads her away from the petrified guy.

After a few seconds, the guy finally comes to his senses and realizes that he had been humiliated. "STOP, you damn bit… " A timely punch to the face prevents the random guy from finishing his lame outburst. Unable to stand the pompous jerk, the decent looking young man had come out from his hiding place, and delivered a blow of justice. "Leave the girls alone." Nobody messes with my loyal customers.

A couple steps away, Natsuki turns her head around at the origin of the annoying voice and is all prepared to give out a death glare when she notices that the problem has already been solved. The furrowed brows relax and the blue haired girl gives out a small smile towards the direction of the tattoo stall. He really is a nice guy.

The park worker smiles back with a little wave and teasingly holds out his pinky with the other hand at the blue haired girl, who immediately turns a deep shade of red.

Ahhhh, I take back my opinion of him. IDIOT! Natsuki quickly turns towards the most important person in her life to make sure that none of the embarrassing exchange was noticed. (phew) Thank goodness she is spaced out.

Shizuru has been quietly blushing since they left the tattoo stall because of what she saw. Am I hallucinating? The tattoo on her lower back … is that for me? The observant Kyoto woman easily spotted the tattoo in question when Natsuki was picking up the purse from the ground. Natsuki, do you realize what you are doing? Can I continue to dream about … us?

"A penny for your thoughts." The blue haired girl cannot seem to figure out why her companion has been smiling and blushing silently for the past few minutes.

"Just thinking about how handsome you are, my knight in shining armor." Shizuru playfully pulls on the black baseball cap that has been covering up the silky blue hair all day.

Green eyes lower their gaze to stare at the ground as the younger girl's body temperature rises exponentially. "As long as I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you." Natsuki mumbles softly before pulling the chestnut haired girl towards their next destination.

TBC.

----Omake begins----

"Ne, Natsuki. What does the S in your tattoo stand for?"

"Oh, you noticed it already? Well … whoever asks the question has to answer it first. What does the N in yours stand for?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

I knew it.

"Naginata, of course."

"EH!"

"Your turn. What does the S stand for?"

"Uhm …" (Intense sweat drops) "Sh … Sh ... SHOTGUN!"

"Really? That's interesting. Last time I checked, you weren't materializing shotguns in your hands when Duran was around."

(tomato face)

----Omake ends----