AN: Thanks for the reviews guys, they seriously helped my pull my lazy ass to finishing this chapter. I had a lot more trouble with the one then the previous, but hopefully it all worked out for the better. Thanks again to all my reviewers and especially my beta, DarkFeenix.
Closing the door behind her, Shizuru knelt down and began to untie her shoes. Unzipping her jacket, she averted her eyes from the living room, and folded her jacket, leaving it in the closet hall.
Walking quietly, she peered down at the sofa; greeted with the sight of a disheveled blue haired girl, dozing away, oblivious to the animated show playing on the television. She continued to watch her, face passive and still, body stiff and taut as a slow tingle traveled up her back. Here she was, watching Natsuki sleep and lying there, emotionally naked for the world to see. And to exploit.
This, Shizuru decided, was much too familiar for her liking.
Glancing up at the television box, she frowned lightly at the time and looked twice at the sleeping girl before shaking her awake.
"Natsuki, I'm back. And it's almost time to meet up with the others; I think it'd be best if you got up."
Hands resting on her shoulders, Shizuru continued to gently shake her, their bodies swaying slightly.
Blinking groggily, Natsuki grunted in protest at the swaying of her unsteady body, before her eyes began to focus and realize what exactly, was occurring. Straightening up considerably, she bit her bottom lip to stifle a yawn and stared behind Shizuru's head, deciding to rather stare at the television then meet the gaze of her friend.
"Sorry, I fell asleep."
Standing, Shizuru nodded in response with a smile plastered on her smooth face.
"Its 7:00, we can meet up with the rest on time if we leave the house now."
Wrenching her eyes away from the screen, she stood up along with Shizuru, still avoiding her gaze, and began to smooth out the wrinkles on her sweater.
"We can take my motorbike."
The two left the house, with the television off and the apartment in a deep silence, the roar of the motorbike rumbling in its wake.
Gently grazing her tongue with her teeth, Shizuru bit back a sigh as her arms hung loosely around Natsuki's waist. Being careful not to touch her more then she had to, she leaned back, slightly distancing herself from the dark blue helmet in front of her. The winds continued to harass their bodies, as Natsuki sped up on the empty street.
Slowing down at the sight of the bright neon sign that signaled the entrance of the karaoke, Natsuki parked the bike to the left of the door and waited for Shizuru to detach herself.
As the two of them began to walk towards the building and group of people who were most likely waiting for them, thoughts began to pollute their minds. Primarily consisting of quick speculations as to how one was supposed to initiate or even follow a conversation with the others.
Opening the door, Natsuki held it for Shizuru who hesitantly walked in. Briskly closing the door after her, she continued to walk down the long hallway, passing black doors and frowning in impending doom as loud music continued to seep through the walls.
Stopping at the door with the sign "HiMEs" written on it, she spared a quick glance at Shizuru, as if asking her if she was ready. Noticing the lack of protest, she extended her arm and grasped the handle of the door with her clammy hand and pushed through.
"Yo, Natsuki!"
Midori grinned, shaking her hands for added emphasis, her cup of alcohol overflowing as her painfully obvious intoxicated voice broke out again.
"You took long enough, Natsuki-chan! The rest of the group got here before you did."
Thrusting a thumb behind her shoulder, she pointed to the mentioned group of people before breaking out in to another grin.
"Ah, Fujino! Nice to see you managed to come too!"
Smiling politely, Shizuru nodded in agreement and carefully avoided the attention of two very interested people from across the room.
"Fujino"
"Fujino-san"
Wincing slightly yet unnoticeably, Shizuru followed her gaze to the back of the room, and stared at the faces of Yuuki Nao and Kikukawa Yukino. Quickly examining both faces, one of which seemed troubled and hesitant, while the other was unreadable, Shizuru smiled again, acknowledging their presences.
"Nao-san, Kikukawa-san"
A moment of quiet shifted itself in to the room, shattered by a nervous coaxing laugh.
"Maybe you guys need to talk things out a bit?"
Mai meekly smiled, and stared at all three women waiting their responses.
"Fujino"
"Nao-san?"
"Fujino-san?"
"Kikukawa-san?"
The three of them stayed, locked in each others stares, before Nao sighed aloud and leaned her head back.
"This is annoying. Look, I tried to kill someone that mattered to you and failed, you tried to kill someone who mattered to me and managed to do it. We both tried to kill someone of importance to the both of us. That's it. It's a waste of time to try and decorate it with pretty words and apologies."
Slinging her right leg over her other, she stared straight at Shizuru, gaze slow and steady, lacking the hatred it had been fueled with days ago.
"So whatever, right?"
Smiling in genuine understanding and thanks, Shizuru agreed whole heartedly.
"Right, Nao-san"
The redhead managed to give a lopsided smirk before turning her head to Yukino.
"You got that?"
Fumbling with the sudden attention, Yukino nodded weakly before adjusting her glasses, completely at a lack to think of any other words to say.
Taking a swig from her cup, Midori sighed in relief and with one sentence managed to voice the thoughts of every single person in the room.
"Well gee that was odd. Anyways, its time to karaoke! Mai-chan, spin the roulette!"
Well, almost all the thoughts of every single person in the room anyways.
Seating herself next to Mikoto, Natsuki breathed a sigh of relief. It was hard to remember that the others had problems with themselves, when she was so caught up in her own. And she was somewhat happy, that Shizuru hand managed to patch up some of the stitches and wounds she had torn through previously.
Glancing over Mikoto's spiky black head, Natsuki briefly scanned over everyone in the room. They all seemed the same, not one of them having changed drastically over their short time apart. Seated across her sat Yukariko, her hands clasped in a praying motion, and Yukino, whose face still held a look of nervousness.
"Kuga-san, do you want something to drink?"
Turning to her left, she was greeted with a smiling Akane.
"No, I'm fine"
Nodding her head, Akane sat herself down comfortably on the empty left side of Natsuki.
Feeling slightly awkward and apprehensive, Natsuki spared a weary glance towards the stage, managing a small smirk at the sight of Nao, who appeared to be getting very drunk and annoyed at being forced on the stage, in a spider outfit nonetheless.
"Saa, Fujino-san you sha' take a drink! Is'o relaxing, an' no offence, you look like ya need it. Oh an' don't worry, s'not alcohol or nothin'. "
Dropping her small smirk, Natsuki faced behind her, and stared at the sight of a highly intoxicated Midori coaxing Shizuru to take a drink. She watched in mute surprise as Shizuru gave in, sighing in defeat and taking a sip out of the offered beverage.
Almost immediately Natsuki felt nervous, as she noticed the slight slump of Shizuru's shoulders and her fixed posture relax.
"Ah Natsuki, is something wrong? You look a bit troubled."
Promptly tearing her eyes away from the brown haired girl, she faced Mai, who somehow managed to stay sober.
"…It's nothing"
Nothing at all
Mai looked at her with a contemplative expression before nodding with a smile, and wandering off. Probably to talk to someone else who was actually willing to have a conversation.
Tuning out the slurring singing of Nao booming through the stereos, she slowly let her eyes wander back to Shizuru, and was horrified to find seven empty glasses besides her friend.
"Wow Fujino, didn't think ya' would drink that much. At's pretty impressive!"
With her burgundy eyes unfocused and glazed, Shizuru grinned. Not the small and quite grin, but a grin that took up half her face and showed all her clean white teeth. A childish grin that was quite rare to see on her face.
Natsuki continued to stare at the two before she blinked and lunged out for the drink that Akane had offered her earlier. Sniffing the beverage she twitched as the familiar scent of alcohol assaulted her nose. She should have known, Midori was quite the alcoholic and it wasn't much of a surprise that she had slipped alcohol in to everyone's drinks.
Carefully placing the drink back on the table, she carefully eyed everyone else in the room, suddenly realizing how intoxicated each and every one of them, save Mai, Mikoto, and herself, were.
"Go Nao-san! Do your best! God this alcohol is some good stuff."
Wincing, Natsuki faced a flushed and cheering Yukariko, who was holding a full glass of alcohol before downing it in two huge gulps. The cheer seemed to work, as Nao's slurred voice boomed louder through the speakers, which caused both Yukariko and Midori to furiously pump their fists in the air and bark out off pitch catcalls.
Inwardly groaning, she faced her right and looked at Mikoto, who was thank god, still sober and still shoveling down countless foods.
As the song came to an end, Natsuki took action and sprung up from the sofa and walked over to Shizuru. She stared at her disheveled appearance for a minute, before kneeling down in front of her and staring up at her face.
"Oi, Shizuru"
Holding up her hands she held up three fingers.
"How many fingers am I holding?"
Giggling, Shizuru swayed for a few seconds before slurring her answer,
"Eleventy-fiftey-hundreds"
Well shit, she's a lot more drunk then I thought she was.
"Shizuru, we're going to leave, okay?"
"Shizuru will go wherever Natsuki goes."
Nodding as to reassure herself, Shizuru hiccupped before repeating her sentence with a wide grin plastered on her face.
"Yes, Shizuru will go wherever Natsuki will go."
Uncomfortable with the sudden admittance of loyalty, she avoided her gaze and stood up, ready to leave.
"Wait, where you two think ya' going? Can't tell me ya leaving, righ'?"
Expecting this protest from Midori, Natsuki retorted with a quick lie.
"Yeah, we're leaving. I made arrangements and Shizuru's busy tonight."
Turning her back on Midori, she grabbed Shizuru's hand and walked out, shaking her other hand behind her, waving off to everyone else.
"Bye"
"Whoa, wai-"
The closing of the door dulled out the rest of Midori's sentence, and Natsuki didn't spare a glance behind her as she walked quickly to the exit, dragging a stumbling Shizuru behind her.
"Natsuki's hand is nice and warm."
Suddenly remembering the hand that was entwined with her own, Natsuki blinked in surprise before dropping her hand, and she continued to walk faster to the exit, keen on avoiding any sort of eye contact with Shizuru.
Opening the door, Natsuki breathed a large gulp of clean air as she continued to walk towards her bike. Sparing a glance behind her, she slowed down as she noticed Shizuru's unfocused movement.
Mounting herself on the bike, she offered a spare black helmet to Shizuru, as she clasped her own blue helmet with her free hand. Shizuru took the offered helmet, and swung her leg over the bike. Natsuki tensed as she felt a pair of arms cling tightly around her waist, and chose to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach. Biting her lower lip, she started the bike and the both of them rode off in to the dark streets.
Standing in front of the apartment, Natsuki glanced wearily at Shizuru, who was still having difficulties walking and standing straight.
"Shizuru, do you have your keys with you?"
Shizuru stared at Natsuki in confusion, the alcohol obviously having quite the effect on her, before sluggishly digging her hand in her pocket and taking out a ring of keys.
Natsuki sighed in frustration as Shizuru attempted to insert the key through the keyhole, successfully missing a handful of times.
"Here, I'll do it"
Taking the keys from Shizuru's hands, she swiftly shoved the key in the hole, turned it, and pushed open the door. Natsuki took a few steps forward, and stared at the dark hallway before speaking,
"I'm…"
What are you going to do?
"…going to put you to bed, okay Shizuru?"
Expecting no answer, Natsuki stood at the hallway for a few more seconds before she stepped forward, allowing enough space for another person to enter. But of course, Natsuki had seemingly forgotten that a drunk was not just "another person", and that Shizuru was quite the unsteady and unfocused drunk. And forgetting this little tidbit of information, Natsuki was certainly surprised when Shizuru moved forward, swaying a bit to the side before tripping over her own feet and falling face forward into Natsuki.
Falling head straight on to the floor, Natsuki's nose greeted the cold floor with a smash and she slipped out a quick yelp of surprise and evidently a lot of pain. Immediately trying to gather her scattered thoughts, she blanched as the smell of alcohol assaulted her nose and the warm heat of Shizuru's body pressed uncomfortably against her.
"…Shizuru?"
Natsuki opened her mouth, biting the instinct to just shove the girl off her, but was interrupted when she felt her right shoulder begin to dampen. Alarmed, Natsuki arched her head as far as it would turn, and felt Shizuru's cold tears wet her face and shoulder.
Speechless, she lay there confused, before forcing herself to move her body, awkwardly shifting Shizuru's own, while she leaned rigidly against the wall. Moving around, she leaned on the wall and placed Shizuru's face on her lap, and stared at her, unaware of any action that could be taken without making the situation worse.
So she continued to lean against the wall, body unmoving and still as Shizuru continued to cry, her tears quickly staining the fabric of Natsuki's jeans. It seemed to last forever, every hiccup and choked sob slowly breaking down Natsuki's resolve to do nothing but stay there.
She brushed a lock of her blue hair behind her ear, and hesitantly placed a hand on Shizuru's head. Awkwardly patting her and smoothing the knots of Shizuru's hair, Natsuki stared down and waited for the crying to stop.
The crying ceased down to a quiet sniffling as Shizuru faced the wall across Natsuki and breathed deeply. Natsuki began to move her hand back, but before she managed to pull it away, Shizuru spoke, her words void of any hint of slurring.
"Don't stop. Please."
Surprised by the raw broken tone of Shizuru's voice, Natsuki didn't hesitate this time to continue her silent comforting, finding it easier this time to actually touch her.
Natsuki stared blankly at the ceiling, thoughts drifting and a resolve forming deep inside her mind. Averting her gaze from the ceiling to the wall across her, she opened her mouth and spoke carefully,
"I won't ask, and you don't have to tell me anything."
She was met with no response other then Shizuru's light snoring.
What the fu-…
Staring incredulously at her sleeping form, Natsuki blinked and sighed, at that moment very ungrateful towards the god of fate.
I don't think it'd be a great idea to leave her here in the porch too.
Drawing a conclusion, she inwardly cursed before picking Shizuru from the floor, her left arm hooked under Shizuru's legs, and the other arm supporting her neck. Shifting her position, she averted her gaze from the awkwardness of the whole situation itself, and forced herself to kick the door shut and begin the walk down the hallway.
She searched for the light switch, frowning at the uselessness of her arms in this situation, and finding it difficult to walk in the dark with a certain brunette sleeping in her arms. Biting back a scream of frustration, she spoke to the dark,
"Okay forget it, I'll get you to your room without a freaking light."
Natsuki moved forward, and continued to hold the snoring girl with her. She almost breathed aloud in relief, as her eyes spotted the doorway to Shizuru's bedroom. Picking up her pace, she pushed open her door and unceremoniously dumped Shizuru on the bed, regretting it the moment she let loose a grunt of pain before returning to her deep slumber.
She looked down at the sleeping girl for a few more seconds, before she walked to the doorway, ready to leave the apartment. She stopped in her tracks though, when she heard a barely audible noise reach her ears. Looking behind her, she stared in surprise, at the curled up form of Shizuru. Her position frail and quite the contrast from the ungraceful position she was in just moments ago.
She continued to watch as Shizuru shook violently and curled up even tighter. Hesitating, she forced herself to walk towards her, morbidly curious and slightly afraid at the same time.
Shizuru seemed to be speaking, her voice muffled by the wrinkled blankets she was clutching with her smooth fists. Straining her ears, Natsuki kept her distance but stood still, body alert and quiet, wanting to hear what Shizuru was saying in her sleep.
She began to shake harder then before, her frame shaking from the force of her spasms before her body stopped and lay limp, the only movement being her back, which shook in sync with her breathing.
Odd, what the hell was that about?
Confused and concerned, Natsuki didn't budge, afraid to move and awaken the sleeping girl.
"…N-Natsuki"
Eyes widening at the mention of her name, she stared intently at the back of Shizuru's head and blinked in surprise.
"…Shizuru?"
Her voice died in a whisper, rough and husky from the lack of speaking in the past few minutes. Natsuki stepped forward, but refused to get any closer, as if some invisible barrier blocked her from approaching Shizuru.
Natsuki watched Shizuru, tense with the feeling of dread before she turned around again, and told her body to leave the room, valiantly trying to force herself to believe that Shizuru was talking in her sleep, and that it was nothing more.
It's not like Shizuru need her, of course not.
Coward
She froze.
Coward, coward, coward, coward, coward, co-
Stiffly squaring her shoulders she bit her lip in frustration before facing Shizuru's back again, and waited.
"Natsuki…"
Her voice was strained and hard to hear, but most of all, felt forced and pained, as if her lungs would collapse from the mere pressure.
It's the least you can do.
Natsuki sat down in the same wooden chair Shizuru had occupied the day before and watched Shizuru fall asleep before she hesitantly and mechanically began to pat her back, the gentle movement warding away the tension and stiffness of Shizuru's back.
Looks like it's my time to watch over you this time
Shizuru had slept peacefully, the first night in days that she hadn't had to cling so desperately to the last piece of sanity that remained in her mind.
AN: Huzzah! Finally I got around to finishing/writing this chapter. There's not enough thanks to the world I could muster to DarkFeenix, because seriously, he helped me more then you could imagine. Reviews are appreciated, and most definitely loved!