Hello all, Author here. I figured the days coincide, so I will post this. Merry Christmas, and thank you for reading.

7 - Horse

Yukino could not, for the life of her, find any urge to sleep. She felt a distinct warmth towards her side and realized with a jolt that it was Haruka. Her brain quickly raced through memories, correctly filling in the events from the night before. Ah, now she remembered. Shizuru had given them tea and they had finished their cups in relative peace and silence. Natsuki had already fallen asleep, providing much-needed rest for her wounds. While drinking their tea Haruka deferred to a respectful silence, even towards Shizuru. Yukino had expected there to be a fight between the two, but she was proven wrong in a rare moment as Haruka finished her tea and simply asked for a blanket. Shizuru had brought back two blankets, handing them over before saying something about making a phone call.

They had sat down together, as far away from the blood as they could be. In the quiet stillness they could barely make out Shizuru's voice as she took her call in the other room, but even that gave way to silence soon enough. Yukino took in a deep breath and expelled it with a shaky sigh. Haruka shifted beside her, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Fujino did all of this, didn't she?"

Haruka was trying her hardest to keep her voice down but in the accompanying silence it nearly echoed in Yukino's ears. She adjusted her glasses and stared out into the darkness as far as she could. A small light in the kitchen was kept on but it provided only a faint glow, enough to see her immediate surroundings but not much else—something she was secretly grateful for.

"Yes... yes she did."

Haruka frowned.

"Why? Why not call the authorities?"

Yukino shifted uncomfortably.

"I... I don't think..."

"It's highly irresponsible," Haruka continued, gritting her teeth. "Always acting without any regard to anything else—"

"He shot Natsuki-san."

Haruka stopped mid-rant.

"Shot?" she asked. She pantomimed a gun being shot by closing her fist and extending her index finger and thumb. "You mean with a bun?"

Yukino's lips pressed together to form a straight line.

"He shot her, and she retaliated," Yukino said. "It wasn't irresponsible."

Haruka shot her a look.

"You cannot excuse her behavior," Haruka began, but Yukino already started to shake her head.

"If..."

Yukino paused, uncertainty beginning to take a hold of her. But she steeled herself, took in a deep breath, expelled another shuddering breath. She stared into Haruka's violet eyes.

"If this had happened to me... What would you have done?"

Haruka's expression screwed up in a mixture of confusion and frustration.

"This isn't about you or me, Yukino-chan, it's about—"

"Please!" Yukino took off her glasses, rubbing her eyes. Her hand felt wet but she paid it no heed. "Please. Just... Just answer the question."

"I..."

Haruka paused to think.

What would I have done?

If Yukino had been hurt...

Her hands closed into fists. Oh, there would be no mercy. Anyone who even moved a hair out of place on Yukino's head was subject to a one-two from her fists. There was no doubt. A fierce, white-hot anger settled in the pit of her stomach. It was primal. No control was afforded to this emotion which shook Haruka to the core.

I would have done the same... wouldn't I?

"Haruka-chan?"

Haruka swallowed and clamped her lips shut for a moment. She looked away.

"... I would have done the same."

There was no point in lying about it. Yukino breathed a sigh of relief that failed to register in Haruka's ears. The bespectacled girl noticed the suddenly-dejected line Haruka's shoulders took under the blanket. Before she could say anything, however, Haruka looked over towards Yukino.

"But would you be able to stop me, if I did?"

The question hit Yukino like a left hook out of nowhere. She sat there in shocked silence, opening her mouth to speak, then closing it once more. It was a simple matter, to admit feelings, to yearn for a return. It was even easier to act upon those feelings when all was said and done. After all, didn't she do all of these things? But how far did those feelings run? She saw Shizuru, saw just how rapidly the composed woman had descended into a rage so vicious. It was close to becoming a free fall until Natsuki quietly took the reins. Did Natsuki know what she was doing, or did she just happen to pick the right thing to do? Yukino's head began to hurt. Luck wasn't something she dealt with often. In the bottom of her heart, she knew it was something she couldn't rely on.

Haruka offered her a grim smile.

"... Forget I asked, Yukino-chan. You don't have to answer that." She rested her chin on her knees, staring out into the darkness. "We should probably get some sleep."

Yukino felt her chance begin to slip. Just as Haruka had opened up, had admitted to something, she had closed up once more, leaving her fumbling in the darkness.

"Haruka-chan—"

Haruka shook her head, effectively ending Yukino's frantic attempt to keep the conversation alive.

"It's better to rest and be up soon... Who knows what that bubuzuke-onna has planned."

With that, Haruka closed her eyes. Yukino knew she couldn't argue. Perhaps before, when it was Haruka who was fumbling for answers, could Yukino keep the conversation going. Now nothing but a hazy sense of confusion entered her brain as she attempted to piece everything together.

Natsuki took all of two minutes to realize that when she opened her eyes, it was Christmas. It was terribly early in the morning, but it was still Christmas. It took another minute of wondering why there was such a sore pain on her side to bring Natsuki right back up to speed. She breathed out a reedy sigh and blearily looked around the tattered remains of the living room. The man who shot at her was still sitting in a corner of the room, chin touching his chest as he slept through the early hours of the morning. Natsuki's upper lip curled as she glared at him before shaking her head. She froze in the act as she registered a figure perched on the far end of the couch.

The sylph-like figure sitting before her was dressed in what looked to be a variation of a Santa Claus costume, except this particular variant took on the form of a crimson-red tube dress with a white trim that barely covered the unmentionables. Knee-length black heeled boots and little white gloves with tiny golden bells attached to the wrists completed the racy ensemble. A pair of jade-green eyes with a decidedly cat-like tilt shone through the darkness, followed soon by an amused grin.

"Merry Christmas, mutt."

Natsuki blinked before closing her eyes and laying her head back down.

"Who the hell let you in, Nao?"

"A little snake gave me a call while I was out on one of my jobs." She paused and waved a dismissive hand at Natsuki's mildly perturbed expression. "I was a temporary hostess for a Christmas Eve party, perfectly legal business Kuga."

"Shizuru asked you to stop by here? I find that hard to believe."

"Understandable. I didn't know what to think at first." Nao blew a few of her bangs out of her eyes. "But I guess my services were required."

Natsuki scoffed.

"... No one asked for a stripper." Natsuki cleared her throat and smirked. "Or no, excuse me... 'temporary hostess.'"

Nao let loose a derisive laugh.

"My standards have thankfully not gone down that low. You couldn't pay me enough to even consider stripping for some mutt such as yourself, Kuga."

She jerked her chin towards the lone man in the room.

"No, I'm told I'm here because of this idiot."

They both watched the man for a second before shifting their gazes back to each other.

"Fujino didn't tell me anything else, just that there was something she would like for me to do." Nao pursed her lips. "Mind giving me something more to go on, Kuga?"

"He and his lackeys broke in here last night. Nothing else to go on... except..."

Natsuki paused.

"He went crazy after seeing Shizuru. Pulled out a gun and tried to shoot her. I managed to get there in time to knock him off target... and he managed to get me in return."

Something flickered in Nao's eyes as Natsuki spoke but she said nothing.

"Afterwards... I guess I blacked out. I woke up in time to see Shizuru..."

Natsuki took in a slow, steady breath before expelling it through her nose.

"...She really was going to do it, wasn't she?" she asked in a soft tone.

"Do what?"

Natsuki shook her head.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Apparently Shizuru beat the shit out of everyone else, and now we're left with this one."

Nao made a disgruntled noise at the back of her throat.

"Fine, whatever." She moved the edge of her glove back to look at her watch. "We've still got some time before Fujino gets back."

"Back?" Natsuki echoed. "Where did she go?"

"I asked her to pick up something for me." Nao's lips curled into a sneer. "Because of an ongoing drug investigation in Fuuka I've been avoiding the hell out of pharmacies in the area. They seem to think I'm going to go buy out their supplies of pseudoephedrine. So no trips to the pharmacy for me without getting my ass busted. I asked Fujino to go for me."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

"A drug investigation?"

"I know, right? I never touched the stuff, and apparently my name has been put on a watch-list on every pharmacy in Fuuka."

Natsuki furrowed her brow. Nao was annoying, a definite delinquent, and skirted the law way too many times to count, but that was just it—she skirted by. She never deliberately did something that would land her in hot water, especially when it came to drugs. The long prison sentence attached to being found with a handful of tabs was a great incentive to not get involved in the trade.

"Are you sure about this?" Natsuki asked.

"I had the cops called on me for buying cold medicine," Nao replied. "They looked pretty damned disappointed when they didn't find like a kilo of cocaine or something on me."

Natsuki frowned.

It's too much of a coincidence.

Nao turned and paused for a second before smirking.

"Hey, Kuga. Look."

Natsuki followed Nao's gaze and found the other two visitors to her apartment sitting against the wall. Haruka sat with her back against the wall, fast asleep and covered up to her chin in a blanket. Sitting next to her was Yukino who was also asleep. At some point it looked as if the two were sitting side-by-side, but Yukino's head had slid down and was now resting against Haruka's shoulder.

"Doesn't that just make your teeth ache?" Nao asked as she leered at the two.

Natsuki rested her head back down onto the pillow beneath her.

"Sure, but then I remember Suzushiro bellowing out how much she thinks my relationship with Shizuru is wrong and unnatural, and the aching doesn't happen quite so much."

"Well, it is wrong."

Natsuki nearly shot up, remembering just in time about her wound. Instead she settled for glaring at Nao.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't get that tone with me, Kuga. It's not because you're both girls. I could care less. It's because Fujino's crazy. And you're an idiot, but that's not exactly a terrible thing."

"What?"

Nao frowned at Natsuki.

"Did your hearing get shot at too? I'm saying she's fruit loops. Can short of a six-pack. Cray-cray. You know."

Nao drew a circle with a finger while pointing it towards her head. Natsuki rolled her eyes.

"She isn't crazy, Nao."

"Suit yourself." Nao jammed a thumb towards the sleeping man. "I'm sure he agrees with me, at least."

"She isn't crazy," Natsuki repeated, this time with in a low tone.

"Oh?"

Nao suddenly hopped down from her perch and jabbed a finger towards the collar of Natsuki's shirt. A jangle of bells caused Natsuki to flinch.

"You can't be this stupid. Look around your apartment. A struggle happened here."

"Well of course," Natsuki replied. "I just told you—"

"The coffee table is busted, there is blood everywhere on the floor. You were shot, you bled, if the man's aim wasn't so horrendous you would have been mortally injured."

Nao's eyes positively glowed in the semi-darkness.

"Fujino was going to kill him, wasn't she? You stopped her, but she was ready to. She probably would have killed everyone else in this room if you didn't do anything. And you know that, don't you?"

Nao straightened and placed her hands on her hips, the light jingle of the bells on her wrists accompanying her.

"Lie to everyone else if you'd like. But don't ever lie to yourself."

The door to the apartment opened, revealing Shizuru. She shrugged off her coat and gloves before walking over to the couch.

"Ara, Natsuki is awake." She smiled. "How are you feeling?"

The first thing Shizuru noticed was how quiet Nao was. This was never a good sign.

"..." Natsuki blinked and sighed. "Better. I'm feeling better."

Shizuru's brow twitched. She knew that tone hid something. But Natsuki failed to elaborate and Nao was still sitting around, making it impossible for any further inquiry. Instead she nodded and looked over towards Nao.

"I trust everything was fine here, Yuuki-han?"

Nao shrugged offhandedly.

"Yeah, yeah, peachy keen and everything. Did you get the stuff?"

"Yes, I did."

Shizuru walked over to her coat and extracted a small white bag that had been printed with the local pharmacy's information on it. She handed it over to Nao who flipped open the bag and looked inside its contents. She gave Shizuru a satisfied nod.

"This should do just nicely." A sadistic gleam entered Nao's eyes. "When do you want me to start?"

Shizuru's expression turned curiously blank. In the far corner Haruka and Yukino began to stir themselves awake.

"Whenever you like, Yuuki-han."

She gave Shizuru a cruel smile before hopping over to the man. She took something out of the bag, a small white box. After opening the box she took out a single white dropper with a cap. Nao yanked the man's head back, exposing his throat and causing his jaw to go slack. Carefully working his jaw open, she yanked the cap off of the dropper with her teeth and squeezed the contents of the bottle into his wide-open mouth. She gave her handiwork a nod before shutting his mouth.

As soon as he awoke, he knew he was in for a boatload of trouble. It was clear from the moment he opened his eyes and he realized he was still in that godforsaken apartment. His hands and feet were fairly numb and he looked down, noticing that he had been propped up against the wall. The broken remains of a coffee table greeted his periphery, along with a slim girl wearing what looked like a Santa Claus costume re-imagined in the most revealing way possible. He sneered at her and Nao raised an eyebrow in response.

"What the hell are you supposed to be, Santa's little slut?" he growled.

Her laugh was highly irritating to his ears.

"No, nothing like that." Her laugh died out. "You can't insult your way out of this."

"I can do what I want—"

He stopped short as he felt something gurgle in his stomach. Her eyes lit up at his sudden pained expression and he glared at her.

"What did you do?" he managed to ask before another painful pull of his stomach occurred.

"Nothing too harmful, really." Nao studied his expression. "It is working faster than I thought it would, so I would suggest you start talking."

He panted and looked around, recognizing three of the individuals that were also watching him. There was a blonde he didn't recognize from the dossiers he had been given earlier and he paid her little heed, instead zeroing in on the one he knew before this ridiculous business even began.

"Well...?" Nao asked.

He licked his lips, trying to push down the urge to heave.

"... What do you want to know?"

"Names. Who gave you this address?"

He groaned as another contraction took hold of his stomach.

"... I don't know."

"Bullshit," Nao countered. "You yakuza types aren't too bright. Especially lower-class thugs such as yourself. You got a list from someone, didn't you?"

He barely managed a nod. A fine sweat broke on his brow as his mouth hung open. She stepped forward and began to pat him on the head.

"There, that's a good boy..." A gloved finger traced a line from his forehead to the line of his jaw. "And the name of the people who gave you this list?"

He yanked his head free from her touch, shooting her a loathsome look that she appeared to drink in with much satisfaction.

"What're you going to do if I don't tell you?" he asked in a challenging tone. "Kill me?"

"Me? Kill you?" She chuckled. "Oh no honey... I don't do that."

Nao shot a disinterested look towards Fujino Shizuru.

"But I don't know about her. You kinda did shoot the woman she's in love with."

Her gaze shifted back towards the man.

"You see, I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have another... episode. Have we reached an understanding?"

Interestingly enough, the man had quite a clear idea of what she was referring to. His mind flashed back immediately to a warm summer's day, many years ago. He had just been staring out, then, when he had been given a job to shake up a family who had borrowed money and couldn't pay it back. It was simple enough, but something happened and the parents were hospitalized. It had been written off, a small on-the-job accident, and a warning was given to not do it again. But he remembered the day he went up to the offices he shared with his brothers-in-arms, and seeing the red-hot flames engulf everything around him. A young girl wearing a middle-school uniform stood before the destruction with emotionless red eyes the color of blood.

And now, all these years later, the same eyes stared at him, haunting him. He grit his teeth, feeling another painful contraction.

Just what did they do to me?

It felt terribly uncomfortable, almost unbearable. But he knew what the end result would be if he was thrown into Shizuru's hands. He swallowed, uncertain. He had to take his chances.

"... And if I talk?"

Nao clapped her hands together, setting off a brief jangle of bells as they rang from her wrists.

"Then we have reached an understanding. And I can guarantee you will be alive."

He sighed.

"It's not... one person. It's a group. Some organization."

Something curious happened to Shizuru's expression but he failed to notice.

"... Something called First District."

Nao turned and looked towards her audience.

"I believe we're done here?" she asked, waiting for confirmation.

He never got to see their responses when Nao suddenly turned, bringing something down onto his head that caused him to see black once more.

They all looked towards one another as soon as he fell unconscious. Nao motioned towards Haruka who in turn threw a confused finger towards herself. Nao rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Yes, you, you moron. Help me pick this guy up."

Haruka frowned.

"What are you planning on doing with him, Yuuki?"

"We are going to dump him somewhere in the streets before he wakes up," Nao replied, waving Haruka on hurriedly. "Hurry up, before the medicine really takes its toll."

Haruka complied, heaving the man up by his tied arms. Nao stood to hold him up from there.

"Alright I got this, now go get his legs..."

"Just what kind of medicine did you give him?" Yukino asked.

Haruka easily lifted his legs, tucking them under an arm. The two slowly began to shuffle towards the door.

"Just... something really strong... to help clean his system out..." Nao paused to shift the man's weight. "Doing him a favor, really..."

"You gave him a laxative?" Natsuki asked, suddenly feeling nauseous as she recalled that Nao had emptied the entire contents of that dropper.

"Hey! Fujino said nothing lethal or with lasting effects, so I was kinda up shit-creek so to speak."

Nao paused for a second and guffawed.

"Hah, shit-creek... That's what this idiot is going to be up." She shook her head and turned towards Haruka. "If you don't want him soiling this apartment along with his pants, you're going to help me take him outside."

Haruka didn't need to be told twice. They exited the apartment quickly, leaving the rest of them upstairs in relative silence. It was then that Shizuru finally spoke.

"It's happening again, isn't it?"

As much as Yukino and Natsuki wanted to say no, the desire to sound reassuring was soon outweighed by the cold grip of reality.

Somehow, someway, something was out to get them... Again.

A/N

A "horse" is a card player who is financially backed by someone else... a role I think Yuuki is very well-suited for.

Cheers.