Disclaimer: Alas, the dawn breaks. For it is Sunrise which Mai Hime belongs to.

1936

The Peruvian Jungle

She needed to time this just right. One wrong move and she would set off a world of booby traps. She took the weighted sack of bearings in one hand and was prepared to switch it for the gold idol. Slowly, she grabbed the idol and quickly switched it with the bag. The archeologist sighed as she stepped back, only to hear the rumbling sound.

Quickly she ran to the gap, and saw her partner on the other side.

"Midori-chan! Throw the idol!"

Midori, looking at the falling rubble, threw the idol. As she prepared to jump, she realized her assistant began to run away.

"Bye, Midori-chan!"

Angrily, she took out her whip and swung across, almost falling into the pit before her. She rolled through the door. However, she quickly went back to grab her fedora and placed it neatly on her head. As she walked out, she gasped to see her assistant stabbed many times by wooden pikes.

"Hmm. Shows what happens when you don't know the traps."

Luckily, she spotted the golden idol by his foot.

"Yoink." Then, as she began to run forward, she heard another rumbling noise. She whipped around only to be chased out of the exit by a giant bolder.

As she finally landed out the temple, she gasped at the fresh air, as well as several Peruvian natives aiming blowdarts at her.

"Madam Midori Jones." She cringed, hearing that French accent.

"Bulloq." She gritted her teeth. "Don't you know it's unfair to take other people's hard earned treasure?"

"I'll give you a bottle of whiskey for it."

"Really?" She said eagerly. "Then-Hey, wait a minute! This belongs in a museum."

"I could always have my friends shoot you with their poisonous darts."

"Okay, you win." She threw the idol back to Bulloq as she relaxed a bit.

"Alright. Now, I'll have my friends kill you."

"Dammit, Bulloq!" she shouted as she ran down the jungle path. She spotted the plane and leapt into the cockpit, where her pilot made a quick escape from the island.

Just when she thought she could have relaxed, she spotted something terrifying.

"There's a snake in here!"

The pilot chuckled a bit. "Oh, that's just my pet!"

"I hate snakes!"

My Wood Tree is Hard

Shizuru and Natsuki finally stumbled back to the ancient pathway. After a long night of running and laughing, Shizuru offered to carry the blue-haired girl back. Naturally, rather instinctively, Natsuki refused. As their high heels clicked on the stone pathway, leading up to the house, they faced each other once more. However, Natsuki couldn't stop looking at Shizuru's face. She never realized how much fun they had together, and how much time felt meaningless for them. As they stared into each other's eyes, she noticed the crimson eyes getting closer to her face.

"Did you have a good time?" A light-hearted voice sang.

The femme fatale blushed when she least wanted it. "Umm...yeah! I mean,- I did. I really enjoyed tonight."

"Does Natsuki want to give me a kiss?" Shizuru called out, smiling.

She inched closer to Natsuki's face, brushing away the random azure strands. Natsuki's breathing became short and frequent. Even with the cold wind blowing, all of her body warmth rushed to Natsuki's face. Honestly, she felt as if time played tricks on her. However, Natsuki didn't want to pull away. Unlike last time,she felt comfortable and easy to be with Shizuru. Then, her mind thought of something she didn't want to relive. Natsuki couldn't forget that night, in that garden where Shizuru-

A thin finger prevented Shizuru's lips from making contact. "Wait."

Shizuru paused and gave a deep sigh. "You don't feel the same way?"

"It's not that." She replied with a hurried response. The last time she stopped Shizuru, she put a gap inbetween them. Last time, she drove someone important away.

"Shizuru, do you remember the night when Yukino and Haruka appeared?" A silence said everything that needed to be said. Shizuru did remember. Shizuru remembered how she revealed her dark nature, how she nearly killed Haruka and left Yukino to rot. Shizuru, most of all, remembered how Natsuki pulled away from her that night. But, Shizuru's reaction to the situation remained. Her reaction mattered the most.

"Ara ara. I remember it took place in this garden." The president replied, light-hearted as usual. "Natsuki looked so pretty that night."

"Don't joke around." Natsuki responded while holding her arms in the cold. "Please. Don't joke."

At this moment, Natsuki witnessed Shizuru's mask removed. Shizuru always wore a mask of teasing, joking, smiling and sighing emotions. So when she expressed a sort of shock in her face, Natsuki watched. As the president turned away, she looked at the sand garden and said nothing for several long seconds. When she turned around, she smiled. She didn't smile broadly, but sadly.

"When Natsuki was in danger, I...I swore I would protect her. I would eleminate all of her enemies to save her. All I wanted was for Natsuki to be safe."

The femme fatale stepped forward. "Are you sure it wasn't to make me love you?"

Shizuru turned around, with a slow smile. "Have you figured me out?"

"Almost." she sighed, unsure what to do. "I want to be with you. It's just that...I'm afraid."

Natsuki could tell Shizuru's voice almost lost of of its strength when Natsuki said this. She almost didn't want to reveal the answer to that question. However, a part of her commited itself to telling the truth.

"Is Nat- Are you afraid of me?" She finally asked.

"I'm afraid of hurting you. I'm afraid of someone finding out and hurting you again. That part of you, that part of you that's so dedicated to protecting me. If I'm the cause of that problem, I don't want to be."

Natsuki turned around and cupped Shizuru's soft white face. "I just want you to be happy."

Shizuru for a moment paused in her thinking and once again, gave a carefree smile.

"If that's what Natsuki was worried about, why didn't she tell me sooner?"

The president pulled away from Natsuki's face and walked steadily towards a tree. Natuski's breath became shorter. She didn't understand what it meant. Did she hurt her again? Did Natsuki force Shizuru way again, and she would face the consequences? She gazed at Shizuru and reached her hand for her.

"I'm sorry," she giggled in her Kyoto-ben accent. "But could everyone please leave so Natsuki and I could have a quiet moment together?"

"How did she know?" Mikoto cried out as she leapt from the branch. She and the rest of the entire group sat on branches, watching the whole scene play out. Luckily, Reito had the insight to distribute popcorn to everybody. Unfortunately, Mikoto blew their cover.

"No Mikoto!" Mai urged. "She wants to lure us out!"

"Tokiha!" Tate muttered out painfully. "Your foot is in my face!"

"Onii-chan, I'm slipping." Shiho held on for dear life as she pulled on Tate's shirt.

"You little bitch!" Nao shrilled. "Don't let go of me or we'll-"

"Fall!" Chie and Aoi screamed together as everyone, except for Reito and Nagi, fell out of the tree along with several leaves.

The scene fell dead silent as all of the group stared at each other, each wearing a shocked look.

Mai scratched her head as her body couldn't movie under Tate's, Shiho's and Nao's body. "Uhh...Hi?"

The group watched in horror as Natsuki's face transformed into several phases: First came shock, in which the azure haired girl stared at them with a blank face.

"Uh...huh...wha?"

Next came embarrassment, in which Natsuki's face darkened to bright red.

"How long were you sitting there?"

Then, accusation reared its ugly head as the motorcyclist began to connect the pieces together.

"Wait. Don't tell me you were stalking us? Don't tell me you went out all this way to spy on us?"

Finally, anger appeared and with that came another familiar expression.

All Hell broke loose.

"I'm going to kill all of you!" Natsuki's scream signaled her charge as she started to run down the stone pathway, and thus off to where the group couldn't see her.

Mai gazed as far as she could see. "Isn't she going the wrong way?"

Chie, being relieved of the situation, turned to Shizuru. "So when did you find out?"

"During the time of the coffee shop. I heard Nao's background music playing."

All of the group stared daggers and possibly holes into Nao.

"What?" Nao defended. "I can't help it!"

Tate scratched his head, unsure what to make of the situation. "Wait, why did Kuga go away if she was going to take it out on us?"

Shiho tugged on his shirt. "Maybe she's going to find something to hit us with, Onii-chan."

Mai stretched out and sighed. "Well whatever it is, we should-"

"Danger." Mikoto cried out, putting her ear to the ground. "Noise."

"What could it be?" Aoi cried out. "It's not like she has superpowers or anything-"

Then, they all saw the roaring cylinders of Natsuki's 60 mile per hour Yamaha motorcycle, chasing after them.

Mai pointed to the cycle and said only one thing. "Run!"

Everyone split in several directions in order to flee the ensuing chaos. Naturally, the motorcycle first targeted Nao with a fury like no other. She literally screamed profanities as she stumbled across the sand. The cycle's wheels dug into the dirt sending dust everywhere as it hunted down the remaining victims. Shiho and Tate got a mouth full of smoke into their faces, Aoi and Chie's phones were run over and several strands of Mai's bright orange hair turned gray. Mikoto never realized how motorcycles made her run over to the other side until tonight.

"This sure is a spectacle, isn't it, Lord Kokuyou?" Nagi commented while popping more popcorn into his mouth.

"It sure is," Reito replied, happy to have found a comfortable seating place on a branch.

It wasn't long before Natsuki traumatized most of the group into leaving. Several possessions, including some tuna, a condom, a broken cell phone and a book entitled, "How to get that bitch off your Onii-chan" had been left behind. When Natsuki got off the motorcycle, she shot an accusatory look at Nagi and Reito.

"Leave. Now." She gritted between her teeth.

"Leaving!" Reito smiled politely, getting down from the tree.

"I have to go, too!" Nagi sighed dramatically. "Mashiro-chan's so feisty when I leave her for a long time!"

As the two left in the distance, the motorcyclist turned to the president and stared at her with a suspicious look.

"Anyone else?" she demanded to know. Shizuru merely turned to a bush and bent down.

"You can come out too, ninja-kun."

Immediately, a masked ninja with feminine features popped out of the bush.

"You didn't see me!" the ninja cried while throwing a smoke bomb into the ground and vanashing into the night.

"Wait." Natsuki paused, thinking about what she just witnessed. "If Okazaki Akira is here, who's looking after Mai's brother?"

Meanwhile in America...

Ninjas cackled into the night, as they carried the boy in a potato sack.

"Akira-kun!"

Back in Japan...

"Ah, I'm sure it'll all work out." She thought out loud as she turned to Shizuru once again. Rather than wearing an expression of weary, the president actually felt quite calm about the whole situation. Natsuki loved to see Shizuru smile.

In fact, she loved Shizuru more than she could've imagined.

"I'm...sorry about your garden," Natsuki rubbed the back of her head while patting her green dress down.

"Ara ara. It seems that Natsuki didn't like when people stared at her. Does that mean she wishes to stop seeing me?"

Natsuki stared into the shining rubies and grinned widely. Once again, she stumbled in confusion, only to come out with a better understanding of herself. The motorcyclist leaned in and wet Shizuru's lips. The kiss sent a sense of electricity to both of them as they began to squeeze each other passionately. The rested on each other's shoulders and sighed. Natsuki Kuga found a little peace after a night of fun, laughter, and rage. And for once, it felt good.

"Natsuki?" Shizuru smiled.

"What?"

"I think you lost our bet."

The group groaned as they walked back to Chie's car.

Tate moaned out loud. "Well, that was a waste of time!"

Shiho sobbed quietly, "I didn't get my Wii!"

Nao gritted her teeth, while rubbing her behind. "And I didn't get my revenge."

"Still," Mai spoke up, "I feel after all of this, there are several key issues that remained unresolved."

"Oh!" Tate cried out. "Am I still coming over your house this Saturday at 12, Tokiha?"

"Yeah!"

"Onee-chan, you said you're going to help me with my project at 1."

"Don't worry. I'll be there, too!"

"Mai," Mikoto urged, "Aren't you going to cook ramen for me on Saturday?"

"Sure, when Tate arrives."

Aoi and Chie smiled together, not wanting to spoil the fun.

Mai sighed. "Well, I'm glad that we all got to go on this great adventure. It looks like we didn't forget a single person here. Not a single person at all."

Meanwhile at Kazu's apartment...

"What do you want to do today, my super special lovey-dovey soulmate?" Akane grinned happily as they sat on the couch.

"Let's just sit here and wait for a fanfiction to be written about us, super special lovey-dovey soulmate!" Kazuya replied.

"Okay!"

(A/N: But the fanfic never came. I'd like to thank everybody for taking the time to review this work. You provided the crack, and I kept writing. Thank you, and good night!)