A/N: Well it's been about two days and I've gotten over my slump from not being able to write clearly. I'm not certain this is any better. I'm not longer thinking like Shizuru or Natsuki. Not completely that it. However, here is the most recent chapter. I'm sorry this story is in first-person limited. I should have explained that earlier. This is why the detail is so vague. Natsuki can't know everything and it's a bit too earlier for me to switch to Shizuru perspective. I'm going to do only one chapter from Shizuru's perspective and that is going to be near the end. BUT! i hope you like.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Hime.

Sober Nightmare

Not everything is supposed to make sense. I stood in my office being fitting for my uniform. Shizuru decided to stay in the apartment. I think we finish the bottle of scotch. I can't be certain. I must go on acting out the remainder of my lie, not life – the lie of a life, here in Vlas. Tomorrow I will go to a gala with Shizuru at my side, but until then I suppose after my fitting I will stay at work. I have to make a speech of some kind. I have the faintest idea of what to write about. All the ideas I have in my head are very good it just I don't have the meat to stick the ideas to. This is very nerve racking. I winced as I felt a needle pierce my flesh. The seamstress got angry at me instead of apologizing to me. Apparently I'm not the only one having a bad week. I'm sure no ones' could quite compare to mine, but having a bad time is never a good thing.

Once the seamstress finished I left my jacket off and just sat at my desk holding my hands against my head. The gala was the initial part of the assembly for the monarch and the generals of the nation of Roses. I don't believe I've ever met a monarch before. Tomorrow I meet them. I have about five days to my deadline for the Intelligence Bureau. There is so much I have to do. My office phone is ringing.

"Hello this is Col. Kuga…Mai, how are you?" I said relaxing a bit.

"Natsuki, what have you done to my employee." Mai asked.

"I killed her. She was an enemy of the state." I bluntly said.

There was no response from Mai. I don't have time for this. I hung up. I looked at my computer which had several programs running on it. I can't remember why I had them running. My cell phone is ringing now. It's Shizuru. I don't want to talk to her right now. I'm angry and I'm angry at nothing so I don't want to be mean to her, I won't answer my phone. I placed my cell phone in my desk draw and let it ring. My head is spinning. I grabbed my coffee and drank it slowly. The world is starting to become strange for me. Perhaps I'm reading into it too much. I am beginning to see what I want. I put my coffee down and began typing my ideas out. Just ideas. Until the ideas became fluid thoughts. I slammed my fists against the desk. My mind is blank.

Someone knocked on my door gently and I still barked at the poor soul.

"Who the hell is it?" I grumbled.

"Natsuki, what's bothering you?" a voice said. Ah, here comes the one person who never gives up, Takeda.

"I'm sorry Masashi. I'm just stressed out. I guess you can say I got into a fight with my lover last night." I said sighing as I reclined in my chair.

"Lover?!" Takeda coughed. "You have a lover?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let you know that way. I was going to introduce you to her at the gala, but I'm not certain if she wants to come now." I said rather sternly.

"Ah, well I'll let you be then." Takeda said in a dejected tone leaving. About thirty minutes later my cell phone was ringing in my desk again. I have only been at work for six hours. I grabbed my cell phone and answered it.

"Shizuru what is it?" I said trying not to have any tone to my voice what so ever.

All I heard on the other line was a terrible scream and the phone line cut. I felt pain shoot through my body and I looked down at my shirt, it was covered in blood. What is going on? I got up from my desk and walked outside. I'm somewhere else. I'm in a dark room. What is going on? I felt more pain surge throughout my body. I heard Shizuru's scream again followed by a gurgling sound. I must be going crazy. The darkness is surrounded me now. What is happening!!!?

"Col. Kuga! Wake up!" that's Sgt. Harrison's voice. My eye shot open and I sat up. I had fallen asleep.

"Thank you Harrison. You saved me from soiling my uniform." I said staring off in the air. What kind of nightmare was that?

"No problem Colonel. Your formal attire is ready for tomorrow's gala. Oh and here…these pain killers always work for me. You look like you have a really bad headache." Harrison said while walking out. "You should go home and rest sir." Harrison added from their desk.

"You know what Harrison…that sounds like a marvelous idea." I grabbed the pain killers and popped them in my mouth chasing them down with the rest of my coffee. "Thanks for the painkillers. Take care."

I walked out to see Takeda standing next to my beat up car staring into the driver's seat. I'm more than certain even if I had been born in a different life, I'd still not like him, but he's concern for me was always genuine.

"Excuse me Masashi; I've got to get home. Work is making me crazy." I said as he backed away just nodding.

As I got into my car I decided I would stop by Dr. Youko's office at the hospital. I drove across the base and found my way into the hospital. Youko had a section of the basement all to herself since the morgue really was never in use. I walked around down there for awhile before letting Youko know I was there. I found myself in her lab. All this equipment was hers and her creations. Youko seemed like a mad scientist at times. Where is she? I opened the door to her sitting office and found her busy typing away on her computer.

"Youko, hey can I bother you for a moment?" I said breaking the silence of her furious typing.

"AH! Natsuki, don't barge into people's offices like that; knock first to scare them and then go inside to finish it off." Youko said holding her hands out at me.

"I'm sorry." I said while sitting in the chair across her office.

"So, what is on your mind Natsuki?" Youko asked exiting her program so she could have better focus on her friend.

"I know I never ask what you do to me, but what did you to my body to make it heal so fast?" I questioned.

"I had injected a serum into your wound. I've done that for several other people, but it never seems to work. The serum temporarily allows the body to repair injuries beyond the normal abilities. However I believe it can only work of severally injured people like dying people. You came into the hospital and you had flat lined as soon as I got you on a table. I took a chance right then to bring your body down to my lab. I was determined not to let you die. The wound heal remarkably fast. I was shocked it was gone when you had woken up. That's that though. Anything else?" Youko said.

I sat there in shock for awhile she just told me I did die when I was in the hospital. Okay, this is making me reevaluate things. I'm alive now. I looked up at Youko in amazement. She can bring people back from the dead if they are brought to her in certain amount of time.

"How extensive can the damage to the body be for this serum to work if the person has only been dead for about five minutes?" I asked.

"I don't know Natsuki. I've only tried it on a few other people and it didn't work because they hadn't died. Now I can test it out on you again if you're willing to be shot up and then revived…hopefully." Youko said grimly.

"Ah, no thank you." I said leaning back in the chair. "Youko, what is that large machine in the hallway?"

"My friend Midori, she got badly injured in a battle blowing off all her limbs, but somehow I managed to save her. That was a year after I saved you from the gutting you received on the battle field. The first day I met you." Youko said staring in the direction of the hallway.

"So you named the machine, Midori?" I asked.

"No, my friend Midori is in the machine. It's the regenerator. She's been in there since the war. It's working, but slowly. So she's going to be young and beautiful when she comes out and I'll be and entire ten years older than her. I'm trying to combat that with my med-nanos though. They slow the aging process too." Youko said. "But if you want to see slowed aging…look no further than the people of Roses. Rumor has it they are immortal. They age to a particular point and stop remaining at the beautiful age for centuries, but it's just a rumor or a legend."

"Is that so? I'll have to ask General Arisugawa about that tomorrow at the gala." I looked at the time and got up. "Hate to leave, but I'm in need of some sleep. Bye Youko."

I walked out into hallway and I paused turning to the machine. "Goodbye Midori." Then I left the hospital trying to remember if Shizuru and she drank all the scotch or not. Natsuki sat in her car for awhile before going anywhere. Shizuru was drowning her sorrowing in either the form of alcohol or tea. I could not think what a worse situation was; tea or alcohol. I turned my car on and drove to the base's spirits store and walked in buying a new scotch bottle and a few others. Shizuru and I still had tomorrow morning to go shopping. If she wanted to drown her sorrows I will let her drown under my supervision.

Mini Feed:

Chuckabutt: How am I going to end this and have a sequeal to it at the same time???

Natsuki: I thought you were going to ::Kara quickly throws a book at Natsuki knocking the poor girl out::

Chuckabutt: Oops, I threw too hard.

Yay! I have 12 done but I'll post it tomorrow because I'm busy working on the 10th chapter of my other story and thinking whether I should add more to my Fu Fu Chronicles.