This is the first-ever fan fiction I've ever written, so bear with me!
This is going to be centered around the pairing Natsuki/Nao, with some initial ShizNat. So if you're here looking for an epic Shizuru/Natsuki, you might be disappointed.
Oh, and this is in dedication to Nao-Sama, who roped me into watching Mai-HiME and joining in the first place!
I never realized...
I never realized how truly alike we are, Nao.
The Carnival was over. The chaos and the speculations about "end of the world" were forgotten. Everything had returned to normal, and all of the HiMEs were regular school students, like everyone else. It was probably best for the others not to know the true nature of what had happened with the HiME Star, and all the accidents that had befallen Fuka Academy.
Natsuki Kuga was far from forgetting about the ordeal. For the sake of the others, she acted as they did, like normal high-school students. She was living with Mikoto and Mai, and the well-practiced smile she had perfected was nearly always on her face. Yet, there were the inexplicable times when she couldn't stop her mind from wandering. Somehow, the childish thought, the want for it all to have been a dream, always came to her.
But she knew better. She was not like Mai or Mikoto, who could put the past aside, and live on happily. Everything was still so fresh in her memory. Getting captured by Nao, Shizuru coming to save her, Nao's desperate cries as she mourned her lost loved one, her mother. And she, Natsuki, had not bothered to stay with Nao to comfort her, but had gone right after Shizuru. It had been the only way to ensure their victory, to ensure that Mai would be able to destroy the HiME Star.
And still, there was that aching, sickening guilt that tugged at Natsuki's insides like a stomach virus. She knew that what had rode on her decision to split up with Shizuru was the fact that she just felt something for Nao that she didn't feel for her. The love Shizuru claimed to have for her just...didn't seem right. It was unhealthy. Suffocating.
It's for the better, Natsuki kept thinking to herself. It's to benefit both of us, not just me. She has to move on, and so do I.
Trying to get to know Nao better, however, would be a longshot. The red-head was annoyingly stubborn. But it would be worth it in the end.