Summary:
Kuga Natsuki thought this is what she really wanted. She had told Fujino Shizuru about her feelings but never about how Shizuru's love for her scared her beyond anything she could ever know. But Natsuki will soon find out that there are worst things in life than Shizuru's love... And that's loosing her love.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Mai Hime or the characters. They are owned by Sunrise and various Companies, Productions and Corporations. I am only a fan who is writing for leisure. So please get your lawyers out of my house before I sic my dogs at them.. I am simply an insomniac anime amateur writer who can't find any decent sleep.
This story is slightly AU and may contain some OOC. This is my first time writing a Mai Hime fic so please be kind.
This story is beta-ed by zelene2004. Thank you very much once again.
I've only seen the Anime Subbed Mai HiME so my knowledge of Mai HiME is limited so please be kind with the criticisms.
Italics means thoughts
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Nao and Natsuki weren't at all happy when Mikoto dragged them along the busy street of the amusement park. Everywhere they looked seemed to amuse the younger brunette, making her eyes go round and glassy with excitement.
Behind them were their respective school council president and her second in command. It was quite comical to see that the normally reserved Kyoto woman was as starry-eyed as their cat girl companion at the amusement park's scenery.
"Ara?" Shizuru voiced out in amazement as she saw some the rides the park had to offer. What delighted her the most was the Tea Cup ride, making her clap in unabashed happiness making her companions sweat-drop at her childish display. The rest of the group just stared at the line of people lining up for the ride, which was composed of little kids, which goes to show what type of age group the mundane ride targeted.
They had to half talk/half drag her away from the very mundane ride promising her that they will "consider" riding the giant teacups later, the key word being consider.
The group trudged on, exploring the expanse of the park. The park was huge and had different sections; before long, they were standing in front of one of the maps provided by the park.
"You are here," Nao read, as she pointed at the red arrow that indicated where they were at the map.
"Great work genius," Natsuki sarcastically praised the red head earning a growl from her.
Mikoto not really understanding Natsuki's remark, agreed with her. "Nao is really smart, yup!" proud that her friend had managed to find their location at the big map.
"Where exactly is here?" Shizuru asked, wanting to explore the park some more.
Reito noticing Shizuru's subtle restlessness decided to intervene. "We are at the East part of the park. This part is more about novelty gift shops and live shows."
"How did you figure that?" Natsuki asked in curiosity, wondering how Kanzaki was able to tell where they were.
"It says so right here," Reito pointed out in the map index right below the image rather smugly.
"We aren't getting anywhere," Nao grumbled. "Where does everybody want to go anyway?"
"FOOD!" Mikoto volunteered ever so happily.
"Rides," Reito suggested then stole a glance at his council superior.
"Games," Natsuki also suggested earning a nod of approval from the red headed rival. There was some sort of unvoiced challenged exchange between them as they exchanged the coldest of glares.
"They all sound like a lot of fun!" Shizuru clapped, trying to be diplomatic about the whole thing. In truth, she wanted to do them all, but they needed to prioritize their time. Either that or divide up and meet at a later time.
Natsuki immediately asked Shizuru what she wanted to do, earning her a blank look. "I really don't know, Natsuki," Shizuru answered her truthfully.
"FOOD!" Mikoto once again passionately suggested. Seeing as no one seemed to agree with her, she immediately latched on to her brother's arm. She gave him her best kitten look eyes (since she's a cat lover), making Reito cave in, patting her on the head as he did so.
"Very well Mikoto-chan, we shall go to the food court." Reito replied back to his now happily placated sister.
"Aniue is so kind!" Mikoto exclaimed happily before once again turning her attention to her other companions, "You guys are coming right?"
Nao and Natsuki exchanged a look. If Mikoto and Reito were to separate from them, then they only have to worry about each other having Shizuru's attention.
"'Fraid not squirt," Natsuki replied back as she ruffled the younger brunette's hair. "I already ate before we came here."
"Yeah me too," Nao agreed with her rival.
Mikoto then turned her best cute look at Shizuru, pleading her to come along with her and her brother, but before Shizuru could answer Mikoto, both Nao and Natsuki latched on to her arms.
"We're going back to that Tea Cup ride, right Shizuru?" Natsuki blurted out when she saw that Shizuru was about to give in to Mikoto's cute pleading look.
"Yeah, you go and grab some food, Mikoto, and just meet us there if you'd like," Nao suggested as she tried to persuade the young girl to take her leave, taking her charismatic brother with her.
Shizuru on the other hand wasn't really sure of what was going on, but if her two lovely green-eyed beauties seemed determined to go to the rides first, then she would oblige them. Besides, it felt nice having the two deviants cling to her so affectionately.
"I guess we'll just have to meet up at the rides section then," Shizuru agreed before turning her attention towards Reito, "You have my contact number, right?"
Reito merely nodded. He could just call her if he and Mikoto couldn't find them. Reito always had Shizuru's number in case of a council emergency. He had Haruka's and Yukino's as well, though he preferred to text Haruka instead or risk having her rave and rant on the other line.
So with a few final arrangements of where to meet and what time, Reito and Mikoto dislodged themselves from the other women and headed off to the food section of the amusement park, leaving the other three to their own devices.
"So I guess it's the rides for us then, ne?" Shizuru clapped happily. She couldn't wait to ride the teacups; she had her mind set on riding the purple one with flowers adorning the rim.
Natsuki and Nao couldn't help but mentally groan. They knew exactly where the Kyoto beauty's mind was. The ride itself was too childish and boring for their tastes, but they had no choice but navigate their way towards the evil ride.
Thankfully, to get to the rides section, they had to pass the games section of the park in which the two green eyed beauties took advantage of. They sampled almost every game booth competing like crazy. Between the two of them, they had gathered a lot of prizes. Of course being the cool girls that they were, they couldn't afford to carry such cute prizes, which Shizuru happily carried for them, cuddling the cute little stuffed toys as they continued on their merry way.
One particular booth caught Shizuru's eye though; it was a traditional goldfish catching one, where if one manages to catch a goldfish with the thin paper gauze as a net, then they get to keep the fish. Seeing Shizuru's eyes grow in interest at the game, Natsuki and Nao began to take the game on, both confident to catch a fish for Shizuru.
Natsuki tried first, her eyes trained on the fishes that were swimming unaware under water in what looked like a miniature version of a bathtub. Seeing her opportunity, she launched her attack. With lightning speed of agility, Natsuki's net broke through the calm water; unfortunately, not a mere second later her gauze broke, and the fish it contained dropped into the water almost taunting her as it swam merrily to join it's fishy comrades. Oblivious to her thwarted victory.
"Better luck next time," the barker consoled her, while Nao smirked triumphantly.
"Let me show you how a real expert does it," Nao haughtily replied as she took her turn.
Like Natsuki, she trained her eyes swimming in the water, and when the opportunity struck, she took it. Her net broke through the water, but once again, the fish, which was bouncing on the gauze, slipped off and dropped back to the water to join its friends.
"An expert, huh?" Natsuki couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at Nao's failure.
"I didn't see you do any better!" Nao quickly retaliated.
"Now, now ladies, there is no need to fight you could always try again." The barker replied back amused of the pretty girls' antics. Secretly, he was happy that these girls had shown interest in his booth because his booth now gathered a significant amount of attention from the other people. These beautiful girls brought good business to him, and if he could manage to make them linger longer then it will definitely improve his profit.
"Ara, may I give it a try?" Shizuru asked almost shyly to the barker, which earned her incredulous looks from her pretty companions.
The barker couldn't help but smile at the girl, but he doubted this one would do any better than her friends. She looked too prim and too proper, and she didn't look like she possessed the same typed of agility and reflexes her friends had.
"Are you sure, little lady?" The barker asked.
Shizuru handed her money to the barker and gave him a warm smile. "I'm sure," she said as she handed the plushies she carried to Nao and Natsuki.
The barker shrugged and handed Shizuru her net as she took her place and watched the fish swimming in the water in interest. To the barker's and her companions' shock, Shizuru moved faster than Nao and Natsuki combined and managed to catch a fish for which the barker gave her a small bowl of water to place the fish in.
Seeing the fish swim alone in the bowl and her own moist gauzy net, something moved Shizuru as her hand holding the handle of the gauze net tightened.
"Shizuru, you wouldn't," Natsuki mouthed under her breath.
"You couldn't," Nao seconded.
Displaying the same speed she had before, her net tore through the water and once again caught a fish, but because the gauze was already wet, it began to rip the paper gauze. Shizuru displayed her quick reflexes once again as she managed to catch the fish in the small bowl before the fish hit the water below.
A heartbeat later, she heard loud cheers and claps of admiration and amusement from behind her from the people who had been watching them. Even the barker looked proud and a little awed at such magnificent display.
"Show off," Nao grumbled, but secretly admiring how well Shizuru pulled off the feat.
Natsuki, on the other hand, had to ask why. Shizuru clearly had won, but why did she have to take such a risky move. "But Shizuru why would you…" but she was cut off when Shizuru showed her the small bowl with the now two swimming fishes.
"She doesn't look lonely now," Shizuru explained softly.
Nao and Natsuki felt their heartstrings being tugged by the few and sincere words. Shizuru's words filtered through them, as they understood a deeper meaning in them.
"Well done little lady," the barker praised her, then without another word added another fish in the bowl. "Just to make it fair," as he looked at the three of them with a massive grin adorning his aged face. "Come by again!" the barker encourage as more people began to pay him to try the game and hopefully perform the same feat as the Kyoto woman.
"Ara? We have three fishes now," Shizuru happily pointed out as she watched the three fishes swimming in the bowl mindlessly. "How cute!" She exclaimed as she watched the fishes swim around the bowl.
"They look the same to me," Nao nonchalantly commented.
"Don't be silly Nao-san, they are completely different." Shizuru admonished the redhead. When both of the green-eyed beauties looked at the Kyoto woman quizzically, Shizuru smiled enigmatically. "It's in their eyes and the way they swim!"
"Yeah whatever," Natsuki shrugged her shoulders, and then spied a ball throwing game. She saw that one of the prizes was a cute white and grey husky plush puppy, which immediately gained her interest.
She led her companions to the game booth, wanting to own the plush puppy. One gets three attempts at the game. The game had a stack of a pyramid bottles and one has to knock all the bottles off the stand. Nao, not really interested in the game, didn't try and compete with Natsuki. Instead, she planned to distract her rival.
After Natsuki had paid the barker, she eyed the bottles in deep concentration. Her tongue was in between her teeth as she estimated how much strength she had to put in her throw.
She pulled her hand back, her body ready for the throw, when Nao coughed something underneath her breath that distracted her.
"cough MAYO cough"
It was already too late, since the last minute distraction by Nao had affected the trajectory of the ball. The ball completely missed the bottles, but rebounded. Natsuki ducked when she saw the impending ball, but Nao, who was standing behind her, wasn't so lucky and got hit on the forehead.
"Ara?" Shizuru cried out in mild alarm as she witnessed Nao fall rather comically from the ball's impact.
Natsuki only looked at Nao without sympathy. "That's karma." She pointed out rather haughtily.
Nao could only growl in response and stood beside Shizuru in case anymore of Natsuki's renegade balls ended up hitting her.
As Natsuki once again tried to concentrate for her second attempt, Shizuru's cooing filtered through her mind. From her peripheral vision, she saw Shizuru trying to sooth Nao injury.
"Does it hurt, Nao-san?" Shizuru asked in concern as she gingerly touched the angry red mark on the redhead's forehead. She had placed the fish bowl on the table to better examine the young girl's injury.
Nao, noticing Natsuki subtly looking, decided to lay it a bit thick on Shizuru. "Uh huh," she nodded, faking tears.
"There, there, Nao-san, would you like me to kiss it better?" she heard Shizuru's teasing tone and she could only bet she was smiling rather mischievously too judging from the way she spoke to the red headed deviant.
Natsuki growled at Nao's display and since her attention was on her companions, when she threw the ball, it ended up hitting the barker.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" the barker cried out in both suprise and pain.
Natsuki apologized sheepishly at the disgruntled barker and pleaded to continue the game when the barker offered her a refund.
Nao couldn't help but smirk as she muttered "Karma, huh?" underneath her breath since she knew Natsuki heard.
Natsuki tried to block out her whole environment and unnecessary distractions and concentrated hard on the bottles in her sight. Finally, her concentration had paid off as she hit the middle of the bottle pyramid square in the middle, knocking all the bottles off. Natsuki couldn't help but whoop in delight as the barker handed her the husky plush puppy.
"Congratulations, Natsuki," Shizuru praised her then nudged Nao to do the same.
"Yeah, what she said," Nao grumbled, slightly disappointed that Natsuki won. She thought for sure those bottles were superglued or something.
As the trio walked away from the game booth, the puzzled looking barker examined the fallen bottles. "Next time, I'll buy those named brand super glues instead of a cheaper alternative."
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To both the green-eyed beauties dismay, they had finally reached their original destination, which was the teacup ride. Both girls prayed earnestly to themselves for some sort of divine intervention to postpone the inevitable. Apparently, their prayers had been heard as Mikoto happily cried out to them and made a beeline dash towards them followed by her brother at a more moderate pace.
To Nao and Natsuki's chagrin, Mikoto completely ignored them, but instead glomped Shizuru. It was a good thing that Shizuru was pretty quick and lifted the fish bowl before the wild raven-haired brunette glomped on to her, or else she might have dropped her most precious prize.
Mikoto didn't waste anytime to snuggle up to Shizuru's "girls", relishing their comfortable softness and scent. "Soft," Mikoto sighed in appreciation as she nuzzled her head on her ample bosom.
Nao and Natsuki could only stand there and watch as Reito finally joined their side. He offered Natsuki a bag, which Natsuki accepted with a puzzled look.
"I took the liberty of purchasing some food for you guys as well. I just thought that you lovely ladies might be famished by now," Reito answered Natsuki's inquisitive frown with his usual charming voice. Natsuki knew that if she were one of those naïve girls who didn't know any better, she would have fallen for his smooth charm and good looks.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mikoto had noticed that her affectionate hug was not returned and looked inquisitively up to Shizuru, who rewarded her with a warm smile. Mikoto noticed the bowl she carried just a few inches from her head and immediately stepped back to let Shizuru hold the bowl properly, giving her an opportunity to study the three goldfishes swimming in the bowl.
"Is it food?" Mikoto asked curiously. She had seen the same fishes before and wondered if the other girl wanted to cook the fishes. She frowned at the thought. If Shizuru was going to cook the fishes, she would need bigger ones, ones that she could easily get/catch if they go to the beach like last time before the HiME carnival.
Shizuru watched the young raven-haired girl in mild shock, almost snatching the bowl away from Mikoto, but controlled herself.
"Mikoto-chan, Suki-chan, Yuuki-chan and Ru-chan are not food. They are my new pets," she explained patiently to the younger girl.
"You named them?" Nao asked in surprise.
"Of course I did, Nao-san. How else can I tell them apart? I can't just call them fish one, fish two or fish three, now can I?"
"Will you eat them when they get bigger?" Mikoto asked once again as she watched the fish swimming around the bowl curiously.
"No, Mikoto-chan, I won't." Shizuru assured the other girl as she patted her head.
"It seems that you ladies had a lot of fun while myself and Mikoto were gone," Reito interrupted, eyeing the prizes they carried in interest.
"You can say that," Shizuru gave him a mysterious smile in which he returned equally.
"Why don't you ladies take a break for a while and eat somewhere. As I already informed Kuga-san, I had taken the liberty of purchasing some food for you," Reito gallantly requested.
"You are so thoughtful, Reito-san," Shizuru replied back before turning to her companions, "Why not? Let us sit over there at the nearby benches," she helpfully pointed out.
The group then took a collective break, with Natsuki and Nao narrating to Reito what they had been up to before they met up again. Mikoto stayed by Shizuru's side and from time to time asked for a portion of Shizuru's food.
It wasn't long before their little group had once again resumed their escapades, and much to Natsuki and Nao's chagrin, they still ended up riding the teacup ride. Unfortunately for them, Mikoto had latched on to Shizuru and had ridden the teacup Shizuru had her eye on (the purple tea cup with flowers on the rim) together, so the green-eyed beauties found themselves in each other's company once more, since the ride was only a two-seater ride anyways. A glance at the other teacup cheered Natsuki up a bit as she found that Reito was roped into riding the mundane ride as well, but he sat by himself.
The ride jolted with a mild start, slowly spinning.
"Now I know how Shizuru's green tea feels like," Natsuki couldn't help but groan out as they began to spin at a moderate pace, that is until she heard Mikoto shout out enthusiastically. "FASTER!"
Nao shared the very same sentiment as well, as the other riders began to shout out as well, demanding that the ride go faster.
Now initially, Natsuki had no problem with this since she enjoyed the wind on her face but not after eating a meal and spinning around in a circle. The ride controller relented and had pushed the switch button, making the ride spin faster.
"FASTER! FASTER!" Mikoto squealed in delight, laughing merrily not noticing that her companion slowly turned green.
"WOOOH!" Nao shouted her appreciation as well while she gave Natsuki a massive grin, that is until she felt her stomach churn uncomfortably but pushed the feeling aside. There was no way she was going to throw up, not when she was with her rival.
Natsuki met Nao's grin with her own, shrugging off the sickness she felt. From her peripheral vision, she saw Reito being swished around in his own tea cup, trying to grab something to hold on to since the ride wasn't meant to be a fast paced ride, so there wasn't any handle bars. He looked rather pale, and Natsuki felt a small twinge of sympathy for the broody fellow, but resumed her staring contest with her redheaded companion. All the while hearing Mikoto's joyous cries.
"FASTER! FASTER! WOOOOH!"
Needless to say, when the ride had finished the people of the ride were rather wobbly on their feet. Natsuki was sure her vision was still spinning as she tried to right her self and not meet the ground unceremoniously. She noticed that Nao was trying to hold her own as well as she tried to grab hold on something to keep her from getting to know the ground more intimately. Natsuki had to admit that she was rather surprised that Nao was able to keep the contents of her stomach quite well, given such circumstances and even managed to give Natsuki one of her damnable grins.
Not too far from them was Shizuru, who held her one arm on her stomach and the other on her mouth, probably trying to keep the contents of her stomach at bay followed closely by the still hyperactive Mikoto while Reito was suspiciously nowhere to be seen.
"That was fun, yup!" Mikoto greeted Nao and Natsuki who didn't look as good as the wild girl. When she didn't hear the same sentiments from the two girls, she turned her attention to Shizuru, her eyes asking the same question she recently asked her companions.
Shizuru took a while to respond, making sure that she had enough self-control to safely speak without gagging. "Yes, Mikoto, the ride was indeed…interesting," and while she still adored the first couple of minutes of the ride before it spun rather out of control along with her stomach, she wouldn't mind riding the ride again provided that the ride stayed at a reasonable pace.
Mikoto smiled brilliantly, hearing the acknowledgement she needed. From the corner of her eyes she had noticed her brother emerging not too far away and wiping his mouth rather disdainfully with a handkerchief.
Mikoto's smile grew even wider when she thought of something brilliant. "LET'S ALL GO AGAIN!"
A collective shout of "NO!" followed by various protests from her companions dampened Mikoto's spirits a little, but Mikoto didn't let the feeling keep her down for too long. After all, there were other rides.
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Their next destination ended up at the bumper car ride. Natsuki and Nao looked at each other rather evilly as both sported their own wicked grins, as there was a silent agreement that seemed to have formed between them. Mikoto, on the other hand, was watching the people ahead of them in the line as they took their turn and watching the other riders in unrepressed glee and even cheering the unknown people on.
Shizuru and Reito, on the other hand, were talking amongst themselves before being interrupted by Mikoto.
"This is fun, yup!" she excitedly told them as their group waited their turn.
Before Shizuru or Reito could reply back, it was their turn, and their group began to make way towards the bumper cars, choosing their vehicle. There was no surprise that Natsuki hopped on a blue one; while right in front of her, Nao chose the red vehicle. Shizuru managed to find a purple one, Reito a black one and Mikoto a yellow one. Each person was scattered around the around the track. Spying on her companions' determined evil grins on each other, Shizuru took it upon herself to warn them.
"Nao, Natsuki, there's really no need to bump. Just sit back and enjoy the ride." She told her companions, but her words of advice were left on deaf ears as Nao and Natsuki eyed each other predatorily. Shizuru could only sigh in dismay.
Hearing the shrill sound of a whistle followed by the music, the people started their engines. Natsuki and Nao didn't waste anytime and went head to head on each other. Stepping heavily on the accelerator, they both made a beeline for each other. The force of impact between their cars made the two girls jolt back rather painfully in their seats, but that didn't stop them from trying to maim each other with their own bumper cars as they once again resumed crashing against each other, determined to pin each other's cars in the corner.
Shizuru, in the meanwhile, lost control of her car and was having trouble trying to get it in the right direction. Help came when she saw Reito drive by her and reached out to grab hold of her wheel but failed when her own car bumped against his, sending him not too far away from her. Reito was then forced to shout instructions to help her control the vehicle only to be bumped away by Mikoto, who was driving her car backwards and screaming her glee.
"WOOOH!" Mikoto cried out as she passed them and bumped into the other vehicles.
Shizuru found herself out of control and before she knew it, she was in the middle of Nao and Natsuki's duel.
"WATCH OUT!" Natsuki cried out in alarm when she saw Shizuru in her path.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Nao cried out and tried to swerve away only to be propelled further by the backward driving Mikoto.
"WOOOH!"
Reito tried his best and bump Shizuru's car away but he was already far too late. He ended up hitting Natsuki's car and before they knew it, their group had managed to create a pile-up with Shizuru in the middle. The other cars had also locked them in, and soon disgruntled people began to voice their concerns.
"BACK-UP IDIOTS!"
"NO! YOU BACK UP!"
"MOVE DAMN IT!
"BAKA!"
"WOOOH!"
Natsuki sighed. This was going to be a long day.
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After the bruise inducing bumper car ride, the group then began to head off to another location, one in particular, was the Ferris wheel ride.
They stood in line waiting to have their turn on one of the booths. Nao and Natsuki had apparently started to have a heated argument over something while Mikoto watched them amusedly. Reito, on the other hand, had used this little distraction to approach one of the ride controllers responsible for closing the carriages and making sure that the doors were secure before the next batch of people to enter the next carriage.
Each carriage can actually fit 4 people in it, but Reito had other ideas. Slipping the controller a 1000yen and gesturing where Shizuru stood amusedly watching Nao and Natsuki argue, the controller pocketed the money and gave him the affirmative.
When it was their group's turn, Reito had deliberately engrossed Shizuru into a conversation about the council while Nao, Mikoto and Natsuki boarded the carriage. Once Natsuki was seated, the girls waited for Shizuru to enter the carriage, but they were surprised when the controller closed the door and the carriage moved, leaving Shizuru and Reito in each other's company.
"Why that sneak!" Nao couldn't help but cry out as she joined Natsuki by the door and watched Reito guide Shizuru to the other carriage.
"We're moving!" Mikoto enthusiastically pointed out as she watched the scenery from the window.
"I have the right mind right now to spit at him!" Nao angrily retorted ignoring Mikoto. She started formulating plans on how to spit on the unsuspecting vice president when their carriage was under her sights.
"You might hit Shizuru!" Natsuki warned, but inwardly shared Nao's mood.
"Nao, Natsuki? Why are you guys upset?" Mikoto asked since her friends didn't seem like they were enjoying the ride. The two green-eyed beauties ignored her, so she let her gaze drift to where their gazes were.
Mikoto's gaze landed on the carriage behind them, containing Shizuru and her brother alone in the carriage. Mikoto smiled as she enthusiastically began to call and wave at them.
"Aniue! Shizuru!" She called out unaware of her companions' dark mood as they glared daggers at the other carriage, more specifically at Reito.
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Reito, on the other hand, waved back at his sister and couldn't help but inwardly smirk at the glares he received from the other two underclasswomen.
Shizuru sat opposite of him and was slightly suspicious at being found herself alone in his company. If she didn't know any better, she would assume that Reito had something to with this.
"Don't frown like that, Shizuru-san, it makes it seem like you do not enjoy my company," Reito teased the gorgeous Kyoto woman he was with, earning him a smile from her.
"Ara? You know that I always enjoy your company Reito-san," she smiled at him as she banished the frown from her features.
"I am glad," Reito replied back as he studied her features carefully. It was always hard to read if Shizuru actually meant some of the words she replied to him.
Like himself, Fujino Shizuru was hard to read. There is always something lurking behind those well-placed smiles of hers just like his.
For Shizuru, however, she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable to be with him. It had been so long since they had spent time together alone and they were never really left alone for long periods of time. The conversations they always had were either about the council and always light. Nothing with real depth or seriousness, but Shizuru had a feeling that Reito had something to tell her judging from the look of determination and seriousness in his eyes.
"Why Natsuki?" Reito asked her when the silenced seemed to have become unbearable. The question caught her completely off guard and made the silence in the carriage thicker and heavier than before.
"Why Mai?" Shizuru couldn't help but ask defensively at the manner of his questioning, effectively evading his question, as the ride continued its slow cycle.
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Author's Notes:
I hope you liked the latest update. Many thanks to everyone who had continued to support and read my writing. Thank you very much.
To EnhaDyone - I just couldn't help but reply to your review. The earlier chapters in the story were filled with more angst and feelings and I thought I should give readers something more cheerful to read since I myself isn't an angsty person. Rest assured that the characters feelings will be explored as this story progresses and I am glad to have your support. (smiles)
To Kikyo4Ever - What can I say but say WOW! I really enjoy reading your review and find myself speechless trying to think of a reply that doesnt reveal my intended plotline for this story,but I'm always tempted to when I read your reviews just to clear things up. I suppose I should really hold a tight reign on my self-control ne? As for Nao and Natsuki being totally alike, I didn't mean to express that perception. I know that Natsuki and Nao are both individual people and there are some parts of their characteristic and personalities that are polar opposites but I do find myself drawn to their more similar personalities for some reason, that's probably why I write them the way I do. And as for writing Shiz/Nat fiction I say why not?
To Tomoyo-chan - I am sorry that this story did not reach your expectations but then again I can't please everybody. As for the question if I hate Natsuki the answer is plain no. Why would I hate Natsuki? If I hated Natsuki, I would have either not written her in the story at all or described her with utmost hate and loathing and trying to convince readers of this story to feel what I feel. But I still appreciate the review and this reply was in no way a come back or attack to your review. Merely a reply to your question.
To Renny-Chan - Even though you can no longer beta my work for me, I'd like to mention a big Thank you for betaing this story (the past chapters) for me. I'd like to thank you here and wish you well with your studies. (smiles)
To Everyone else - Thanks again for the review and support. It really is appreciated and humbled by your praise. I'd also like to thank my two betas for always having the time to lend me a hand and help edit my many, many grammatical and tense mistakes. Its a very difficult job to have correcting my mistakes and helping me with my writing thats why zelene2004 and renny-chan needs a special thanks from me and everyone who had enjoyed reading this story.
With that all said and done, I really do hope you enjoyed the story. Here's a little preview for the next chapter:
The Ferris wheel
House of Mirrors
Boat Ride
House of Horrors
Fireworks
Please tune in next time and find out what happens next.
Ja Ne