CAIE: Hi everyone! Sorry it took me a while to update. I started getting lost with the maze of ideas I had made (oops!). Anyway, tried making a map. Heehee. So here's part 3 (tadaah!)
Hope you enjoy it. Heeheehee….
I'll be waiting for your reviews.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mai HIME.
Shizuru's flirting antics have attracted many girls in their school. Sometimes she gets bold feedbacks from most of these girls.
"Shizuru-sama…."
The girl, stripped naked in front of her, hugged her.
"I-I'm yours…Take me…Please…"
Shizuru stared into the eyes of the girl tenderly, simply held the girl's cheeks and gave the girl apeck on the forehead.
A sound from a closing door distracted the brunette for a minute but chose to ignore it.
"I appreciate your feelings for me. But I want to keep my respect for you as a girl like me," she said gently, patting the girl on the shoulders, and went to pick the scattered clothes on the floor.
"B-But I love you so much…! I love you more than a-anything! I-I'll give everything for you Shizuru-sama," the girl stuttered fighting the urge to cry.
Red eyes met with teary ones. "You're such a lovely girl…but you deserve someone else who's much better," she replied gently.
The girl whimpered. Shizuru helped her put on her clothes and wiped the girl's tears after.
"I…I…"
The girl couldn't utter any more words. She ran away crying from the biggest humiliation she ever had.
Shizuru just followed the fleeing girl with her eyes. She's used to those kinds of things. Sooner or later, another girl would come up to her doing the same thing...
Natsuki broke the empty pots aligned on one corner of the greenhouse located in the mini forest of the school. She was raging mad and she needed to vent all of it to something. She kicked some potted plants and trampled on it. She eyed one fully bloomed flower. She was about to pluck it out and crush it against her palm when someone slapped her hard making her stumble backwards.
"What the hell-! ".
"You ignorant destructive twit! How dare you waste all the caring and loving efforts of somebody else out of your selfish and inconsiderate act!"
The once charming voice she always hears during class is now but a quivering angry voice directed to her.
Her face paled. ' …'
She stared down at the floor; anger suddenly disappeared. She felt chilly from the glaring crimson orbs eyeing on her. It took her a moment to clear her throat and speak up.
"U-Uh…I…."
"What?"
"I….I'm sorry…"
Her classmate's expression didn't change. It made her anxious. She tried to get away only to be vise gripped by the brunette. "That's it? You're just going to say sorry and then leave?"
She tried to pull away but to no use.
"Let go! What do you expect me to do-agh!"
The grip tightened more. The next thing she did was bit the brunette's arm and jerk her hand away when the hold loosened up a bit.
She ran away as fast as she can.
Shizuru wanted to scream her lungs out at the fleeing girl but she chose to shut her mouth. Slowly, she loosened her clenched fists. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the bite mark. She rubbed her sleeve on the mark.
"Breathe, Shizuru, breathe…" she chanted. Already feeling in control, she glanced at the mess then sighed.
"For a moment there, I think I was just possessed by Haruka," she muttered to herself and found herself laughing instead.
She remembered how the loud Haruka bragged about a secret place Yukino and the blonde only knew. She laughed so hard when she found out it was the old greenhouse surrounded with pine trees. Yukino once brought her there, showing her a variety of plants the short-haired girl managed to save from drying up.
Haruka would probably go berserk if she saw what happened to Yukino's plants right now.
'But this place can no longer be like what it used to be,' she thought and picked the shards of pottery. She bit her lip suppressing the tears.
After a few days from that incident, the garden somewhat changed. There were new plants planted outside the green house. The annoying weeds she saw growing on the pathway and wanted so much to uproot were gone.
She heard a grunt inside the greenhouse. She walked in quietly and saw the blue haired girl sucking on her wounded thumb. She didn't expect the other girl to do something like planting. Her surprise made her unable to feel any bit of anger for her classmate.
'How cute.'
She smirked and crept behind the girl. "What are you up to, Natsuki?" she said almost in a whisper on the girl's ear.
Startled, the poor girl choked and turned beet red. Shizuru couldn't feel more amused at the sight. She often wondered up to what extent the elusive beauty's reaction would be with her every tease.
"Geez! Do you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"S-sneak up on people."
The brunette just chuckled and srugged her shoulders. Then they were silent for a moment. Natsuki thought of something to say.
"You… You just called me by my first name," the green eyed girl managed to utter.
"Ara. Would you rather prefer me addressing you by your family name?"
The girl shook her head. "N-No…! N-Natsuki is fine…"
"Well, you need a hand?"
Natsuki flushed then slowly nodded.
"I-I'm sorry I b-bit you before,Fujino-san-" Natsuki stammered glancing at her then turned away, putting soil to an empty flower pot.
"Shi-zu-ru," the brunette corrected.
"Sh-Shizuru," Natsuki repeated, feeling awkward.
"Thinking about it, what you did was childish. Oh, but don't worry. I'll return the deed someday. You'll enjoy it probably," she teased.
Natsuki was a shade of deep red. "EEH! S-SHIZURU…!"
Shizuru let out a muffled laughter.
Shizuru watched the sun slowly disappear making the pier look like embers losing its glow. Two ferries docked. She walked away before the vessels unloaded its passengers.
"Ojii-chan! This is your fault! You gave Natsuki too much. Will she ever wake up?"
She froze. 'Natsuki?'
She tried to look back but never saw whom she wished to see with the moving crowd.
'It's hopeless…She's gone…'
She continued walking, feeling more sullen than ever.
Sakomizu eyed the orange haired girl nervously.
"Oi, Ojiichan. What am I supposed to do if she never wakes up?"
Mai was anxious.
"Like I told you before, the effect will wear out after eight hours. You just have to wait for two more hours," he reassured but Mai wasn't convinced.
The middle aged man pinched Natsuki's cheeks real hard making the girl moaned and her face twitched.
"See? She's responding to pain. She'll wake up soon. Don't worry."
Though she feels uncertain, Mai nodded. "Guess we just have to wait."
"Shizuru-sama! What are you trying to do? Please get off the roof! It's dangerous!"
'I didn't think someone would spot me immediately,' she thought as she neared the edge of the roof of the mansion.
She didn't mind the frantic pleas of the house servants as they tried their best to reach for her. She walked with ease on the gutter of the roof avoiding their hands. There were loud creaks as she took more steps. Her vision began to blur. Everything was spinning. The random pills she swallowed earlier had taken effect. Then with one more squeak the gutter collapsed. She lost her balance leading her into a fall. A quick hand was able to get a hold of her. They pulled her out and took her to a safer area. She looked blankly at them, barely hearing what the servants are saying and barely respond to what they were feeling. Foam was coming out from her mouth and her eyes had gone all white.
"We need to get her to a hospital now!"
It had almost been two years since Natsuki was taken as a hostage along with other passengers in a cruise ship. It was reported that nobody was left alive from the big explosion the terrorists had activated. But weeks later, the search and rescue team found two passengers of the cruise ship on an uninhabited isle a few miles away from where the ship exploded. That gave her hope that her friend is still alive. Together with Natsuki's devoted nanny, she searched for her friend with whatever means available.
A few months after the incident, they found an arm with the ring only she and Natsuki had. It was so hard to believe in it. They continued for their search for a few more months. There were no results from it. She slowly gave up, blaming herself that she was the reason why Natsuki had to go to a very far place. She regretted all the things she did that hurt Natsuki and wished she could turn back the time.
She then decided that she can only make Natsuki happy if she also died. She chose the exact day when the incident happened.
To be continued…
CAIE: Whew. I don't know if I ended this one well. (…teehee!) There's more for the flashbacks on the next chapters! ( I guess.. ;) )
Finally figuring out what's going on in this fanfic? Hehehe. Share your thoughts. :)