"Arika, what the hell did you do to piss off Big Sister Shiho?" asked Naruko while they cleaned up the pool.
"What do you mean?" asked Arika.
"I mean this sort of crap sounds far too much like Shiho's doing, not that Nao-nee-sama and I have been able to catch her at it," said Naruko, sweeping up the last of the white confection. She had quickly realized that Arika had somehow mistaken the sugar for the salt, and she knew the girl could read.
"Why would Shiho-sempai hate me?"
"I have no idea," said Naruko. The only reason Shiho left her alone was because she once beat Nao in an all out sparring match between the Corals and the Pearls. Not even that nutjob was willing to piss of Naruko when she could beat someone like Nao with her robes on when she didn't even have hers activated.
Well that and for some reason those weird swirly things never bothered her.
Suddenly Ersty shrieked as the water came out of the pool and turned into some tentacled monster out of a bad hentai.
"Dammit all! Shiho-sempai, this is all your fault!" shouted Naruko as she dodged another tentacle.
"How is this my fault?" shouted Shiho, who had been stuck supervising.
"I know you did something with that weird Maki-Maki crap! ARGH!" screamed Naruko, as she immediately used a one-handed Rasengan to break loose of yet another tentacle.
Thank Inari Jiraiya wasn't around to see this crap. She had no doubt it would end up in that poor excuse of a book.
Finally Nao managed to get there in time to destroy the thing, but Naruko was still pissed at Shiho.
She was so leaving frogs in her room.
"EEK!" screamed Shiho. Several other Pearls came to see what the problem was, and screamed with her.
Her room was filled with toads! Wall to wall toads!
Nao yawned, but when she saw what was in Shiho's room she started laughing, hard.
Trust Naruko to come up with a way to prank Shiho for that tentacle monster without getting caught in the process.
"What in blazes is... My word!" said Miss Maria. She had a hand to her chest in open shock at the number of amphibians in the room.
Shiho had to sleep in an empty room while hers was cleaned and the frogs safely removed.
Naruko ended up doing punishment duty to clean the room...only to leave it five minutes later.
Nao looked in, and wasn't surprised in the least to find the room spotless already.
"Those were your little clone things disguised as frogs weren't they?" she asked.
Naruko gave her a foxy smirk in response.
"Nice prank."
"She deserved it for the pool," said Naruko flatly.
Nao cackled in agreement.
"Arika, hurry up! We'll be late for work!" shouted Naruko. She was tossing on a jacket and heading outside the school grounds. This was her biggest job, and the only one available since the usual seasonal ones already had all the spots filled.
"I'm hurrying!" shouted Arika, pulling on another sock. She finally got her other shoe on and raced outside to catch Naruko.
They barely made it on time to the construction site, where they were fixing up Mashiro's castle.
For some reason, it included a lot of weird black metal that gave Naruko a really bad feeling.
"Arika! Naruko! I need you two to take something inside the palace!" shouted the foreman.
"Coming!"
Naruko and Arika headed inside, where they found an upset Mashiro and a teasing Nagi. Naruko glared at him and his eyes met hers with surprise.
She could see the cogs in his head turn with a plan.
Knowing her luck he believed her to be the missing Princess, if only because she was the one to identify Arika as the daughter of the previous Otome of Windbloom.
She wondered how he would react if he knew Nina was the Princess he was looking for, not her.
"You okay Mashiro? That brat didn't bother you or anything did he?" asked Naruko.
"I'm fine," sniffed Mashiro.
"Want me to give him a black eye? It might ruin our relationship with Artai for a while, but I'd consider it worth it since he made you cry," offered Naruko.
Mashiro gave a startled laugh. She had little doubt Naruko would give Nagi a black eye for that stunt he just pulled.
"I'm fine. He just proposed, out of the blue without any warning or showing any interest in me before."
"I wouldn't recommend it. You're still a kid, and marriage is a heavy commitment to a guy who's a total ass," said Naruko.
Mashiro laughed openly at that one. She leaned against a spot on the wall, only to fall backwards into a secret passage. Arika went after her along with her cat, before Naruko could stop them.
Oh well, Arika was pretty hardy and Mikoto was one smart, if annoying cat.
Maybe if she had a cat like Mikoto, she would be inclined to keep it. As it stood, she couldn't stand most of the furry bastards.
She gave Mashiro's maid the general direction of where the Queen last was before she went to work.
"Has anyone seen Kyle? He's been missing since I handed him that damn letter! And where's Arika?" asked the foreman.
"Arika got stuck babysitting the Queen who's in a right fury. She might not make it back in time," said Naruko flatly. The foreman made a face, but didn't dispute her claim. Mashiro was a bit of a brat, so the idea of her commandeering one of the workers wasn't too far fetched.
Naruko could see the thought in the foreman's mind after she said that.
'At least it was the rookie and not someone more useful...'
Naruko was considered one of the guys after she explained about her shadow clone trick and the fact she had out drank four of them after a day of work without getting tipsy. The foreman paid her double because of the clones, since her abnormal strength made her ideal for carrying the heavier materials without expensive machinery.
"So what's this about Kyle?"
"The idiot vanished after he got some letter from a relative. Felt like it had something with a chain in it, and it was fairly pointy," said the foreman.
Naruko blanched. No, no, no...not even her awful luck at missions couldn't make it that bad! Suddenly there was a loud blaring sound that made her wince.
"What the hell?!" she shouted, a sentiment shared by everyone else, as they were pretty damn close to whatever was making that awful racket.
She saw some weird energy in the sky before it stopped, and blessed silence hit her. Inside her stomach, she heard the Kyuubi, who had been silent for over a year, yell loudly about something waking him up and to point him in the direction of the idiots so he could tear them a new one.
Naruko made several clones.
"I'll leave them here while I check on Arika-chan. She might need rescuing from that bratty Queen," said Naruko. The foreman waved her off, putting the clones to immediate work. They did their fair share and he knew she got their memories after.
Naruko vanished and immediately dove down the spot where Arika and the others vanished.
It took her five minutes to find them, and three seconds to smack her forehead with her palm.
She couldn't leave these two alone for ten minutes without them causing a riot?!
Naruko watched as the two made an Otome contract and felt the need to bang her head against something. Repeatedly.
Arika was able to deal with the monster, though both her and Mashiro winced when Naruko whocked them both a good one on the head.
"OW!"
"You two are the biggest pair of idiots I've seen in a while. And I'm an idiot too for not following you in the first place. You do realize that it would take a superior Otome to remove those blasted Gems from their fittings, and you'll be busted anyway because you broke your Coral gems right?" she said.
"What?!" shrieked Mashiro.
"It would take someone with the authority of a Pillar to remove a bound Meister Gem once a contract is made. Fortunately for you two, there is someone who can help you with that," said Naruko.
"I don't want to get into trouble! It's Arika's fault anyway!"
Naruko whocked Mashiro again.
"Who was it that decided to run away again? Be glad I covered for you two with the foreman. Now Arika, get over here so I can remove the Gems. Until we find a way to break the contract, you two are stuck together. Even if the gems are removed, you're still bound to each other."
Naruko carefully removed the gems, which glowed for a moment.
"Now, we are going to make a decent cover story as to why the gems shattered. How close were you to this thing when it went off?"
"In the middle of it. It was some weird musical instrument," said Arika.
"Damn...I was hoping I was wrong. Anyway, as far as the Headmistress is concerned you two idiots were directly above that weird energy that went off. It shattered your gems, and you had nothing to do with whatever the hell this thing is. If anyone asks, you weren't down here. Agreed?" said Naruko. Her eyes were narrowed a bit.
"Agreed," said Mashiro flatly.
As predicted, Mashiro and Arika got into trouble, but it was a lot less than what they would have gotten had Naruko not covered for them...and removed the gems before anyone found out. Arika had to surrender her next five paychecks to pay for the replacement gem, as the scholarship only paid for them if they were lost during a training accident.
Arika was so relieved not to be in even more trouble that she never thought to ask how Naruko was able to remove the gems in the first place.
Though of course things grew complicated fast when Naruko finally met Miyu...with Nina nearby.
Alyssa was sitting on Naruko's shoulders riding with her legs around Naruko's neck and her hands on Naruko's head. Naruko didn't actually feel any weight, but she still knew the ghost was there watching Arika chat with Miyu.
"Arika, who is this?" asked Miyu, looking at Naruko oddly.
"Hi! I'm Naruko...Alyssa's other descendant."
Miyu blinked.
"Alyssa only has one."
"I'm from the ones who were left behind. Or do I need to call down Artemis, the Golden Lightning down on you to prove I'm telling the truth?"
If Miyu doubted her claim before, that proved it.
"By the way, Alyssa says hi," said Naruko.
"Um...isn't Alyssa Miyu's bird?" asked Arika. The little gold bird chirped from Miyu's shoulder.
"Nope. She's a ghost currently riding on my shoulder."
"For the last time Naruko, ghosts don't exist," said Nina, coming up behind her.
"They do exist, otherwise I would have had trouble communicating," said Naruko.
"What are you doing here Nina?"
"It's past curfew and you two still aren't asleep," said Nina bluntly.
Miyu took one look at Nina and blinked.
"Trust the daughter of the country's former Otome to befriend the missing Princess of Windbloom."
"What?" said Nina eyes wide.
Naruko hissed.
"Dammit, I was trying to keep that quiet Miyu!"
"I'm the missing Windbloom princess?" said Nina in shock.
"Yeah, according to Alyssa you went missing down a river that lead to some Artai idiots. I kept my silence on it because I knew you always wanted to be an Otome, and being a princess sucks big time," said Naruko.
"How could being a princess suck? I mean you get a castle..."
"But at the cost of your freedom. Even a bound Otome has more personal freedom than the rulers do. We're allowed to retire and lead our own lives... Think how much freedom Mashiro has now that she's the current Queen. Why do you think she runs away and ducks out of her responsibility all the time? Being a Queen is boring as hell!" said Naruko flatly.
It was why she didn't give Mashiro a hard time about running away, even though it was technically her duty to keep an eye on her.
Being an Otome was a pain in the ass, but at least they could take breaks...being the queen responsible for an entire country was a bigger pain.
"If you want Nina, I'll keep my silence about this. I mean the only one who is aware of the truth is the headmistress, and she hasn't come out about it yet either. We left the real decision up to you," said Naruko.
"I think I would rather be an Otome than a princess. Mashiro is already the Queen, so why would I want a title I don't need, or the headache that comes with it?" said Nina.
"That's the Nina I know and love!" laughed Naruko.
Miyu looked between Nina and Naruko...she could already see a bond forming between the two, and not a sisterly one either.
She wondered if those two had realized that yet...should be entertaining to watch.
Miss Maria was visiting the grave of her best friend when she caught the scent of something...odd. It almost smelled flora.
Coming down to the tomb of the Otome who had died in battle, she found a Coral placing small vases at the base of each marker.
"What in blazes are you doing down here?" asked Ms. Maria.
"Honoring the dead. When I found out about this place I asked the headmistress if I could place flowers down here to properly honor them and she said I could," said Naruko.
Ms. Maria noticed that each grave had a small bouquet, all of them appropriate for a grave site. She was only half way done, which was unusual since the girl normally used her clones to get out of chores.
Since Naruko was being properly respectful to the dead, Ms. Maria left her alone. Though she did have a single comment to make in the event that Naruko did this again.
"Lilacs."
"Hmm?"
"One of my best friends was laid down here, and her favorite flower was lilacs."
"I'll make sure to bring some down next time," said Naruko. Once she was finished with the Otome, she went down to the Predecessor's tomb and laid down a small bouquet of white roses. She was silent for a good five minutes with her head bowed down in respect for the dead.
"Shall I assume that you'll be coming down here frequently from now on?" asked Ms. Maria.
Naruko nodded.
"The headmistress said I was allowed to read the books down here, since I'm not exactly in league with any of the nations and it'll keep me out of trouble. However this is my second trip down here, and when I realized that there was a memorial to the fallen Otome I made sure to bring flowers for my next visit."
"I'll ignore the fact you are allowed down here so long as you remember to be respectful to the dead and don't brag about it. Agreed?"
"Yes ma'am! By the way, which one is your friend's grave?"
"I'll show you so you don't get it wrong."