DISCLAIMER: Despite some words said in this chapter, my opinions are not Natsuki's. ^_^ I have a special place in my heart for Sailor Moon, and Nanoha, despite a few things about it that bug me, is one of my favourite anime.

((AN: Just a short little chapter that may or may not give my dear readers some things to think about. -.o ))

Natsuki was attempting once more to return to her dorm when she was again delayed, this time by a familiar smooth baritone voice addressing her from behind, "I always knew that you were a freak Kuga." The words were uncharacteristically direct for someone who was normally the ideal politician.

Natsuki turned slowly to see just what she had feared she would. Fuck me. What's Reito doing out here? She grunted, not bothering to respond verbally. Against her better judgement she stopped walking and waited for the tall boy to approach her.

"I know what I saw." He spoke lowly, his voice sounding almost angry.

"Reito, this is a really bad time." Natsuki turned to walk away, really not in the mood to try and explain anything, especially not to Reito. She was tired and in pain and just wanted to go back to her room, take a quick shower and then go to bed.

"That's why she doesn't want to be around you anymore isn't it? Shizuru-chan finally found out what a freak you are and woke up."

Before he could take another breath, Natsuki was glaring into his eyes her hands roughly fisting the collar of his uniform shirt, ignoring the pain from her still slightly bleeding stomach wound. The Slayer growled; it was requiring almost all of her willpower to keep her claws from extending themselves with the white hot rage flowing through her from his comment. "If you saw what I can do, maybe you should think more carefully before you make me angry." She forced out through gritted teeth before shoving the tall young man roughly away from her, grinning dangerously as he fell to the ground. "If you say another word about Shizuru..."

The tall male just shrugged, surprisingly unconcerned by Natsuki's anger. "I just know it can't be safe for anyone to be around you. Too many things want you dead, maybe for a good reason. I'm glad that Shizuru-chan isn't around you anymore, you'd only get her killed."

Natsuki tried not to show any emotions on her face as Reito stared up at her from where he had fallen, his brown eyes narrowed. He had managed to hit on an old insecurity of hers, that being a Slayer put those she cared about in danger, even if being strong also allowed her to protect them. "Then maybe I should be spending more of my time with you." She shook her head her voice trembling with anger as she continued, "Reito get away from me. I really can't do this right now." She turned away from him, once more attempting to make her way towards cleanness and a warm bed. "If you follow me, I'll give your pretty face some black eyes."

-MH-BtVS-MH-BtVS-MH-BtVS-MH-

The Slayer let out an exhausted sigh, leaning against the cool wooden door to her room to close it. She took a deep breath and then attempted to kick her boots off of her feet without having to lean over and aggravate her stomach wound. She carefully shrugged out of her jacket, allowing it to simply fall on the beige carpet, half-heartedly kicking it out from in front of the door, groaning softly to herself.

"Natsuki-chan?" Mai called from where she was reading her chemistry text on her bed. Looking up her blue-grey eyes widened as she took in the large dark stain and the rips in Natsuki's light blue dress shirt. "Oh my God! Natsuki what happened?" Mai exclaimed as she quickly rushed over to her friend's side, gently putting one of Natsuki's arms around her shoulders and leaning against her to support the dark haired girl's weight. "Come on; let's get you into the bathroom so I can clean that up for you alright?"

Natsuki nodded weakly, allowing the orange haired girl to help her down the short hall. "Just go ahead and get your shirt off alright?" Mai said as she helped Natsuki sit down on the bench next to the showerheads, "I brought a first aid kit with me but I think it's still packed in a box under my bed. It should only take me a couple minutes to get it, try not to move around too much."

"Sure. Thanks Mai." Natsuki replied softly, just allowing herself to sit still for a moment.

"Hey it's no problem, I'll be right back."

The Slayer watched with tired green eyes as Mai rushed out of the bathroom to grab the first aid kit. Great she's never even seen me without long sleeves on; I'm going to have some explaining to do. Guess I'll have to tell Midori about two more people who know at least part of my secret after tonight. She sighed as she looked at her shredded blue dress shirt and grass and blood-stained khaki pants in the floor length mirror. And that's what I get for not changing out of my nice clothes before slaying. She shrugged as she simply reached up and ripped her shirt open, smiling sadly as the nice buttons scattered across the blue and white tile. The Slayer winced a bit as she peeled the scraps of cloth from the clotted wounds.

Natsuki smirked at her reflection; the black bra did nothing to hide the extent of the scarring on her upper body. The long deep black scars on her chest and forearms were impossible to miss even with only a casual glance. Ugh, I really am kindof a freak. She couldn't imagine Mai not having questions when she saw them. The Slayer heard a startled gasp and the clanging of metal on the tiled floor and looked up to see that Mai had returned. Her roommate was standing in the door holding a bowl of water and some washcloths, staring at Natsuki with a shocked expression on her face. I guess it's too much to hope that she was just awestruck by how amazingly hot I am.

"Hey Mai." She said softly, hoping to get the orange haired girl to look her in the eye. Mai raised guilty looking blue-grey eyes to Natsuki's, her cheeks suspiciously flushed. Heh, well maybe she does think I'm at least a little hot after all. "I know you're enjoying the view, but I'm still bleeding here." She teased her friend, gesturing to the gashes in her abdomen just to the left of her bellybutton. She chuckled as Mai's cheeks blushed redder.

"Gah, Natsuki don't change the subject." Mai scolded as she retrieved the first aid kit from the floor. "What happened to you? The scars! And when did you get those wounds on your stomach anyway, they look like they're starting to heal already."

The Slayer glanced at the wounds from the demon's claws and saw that sure enough, the edges of them were already beginning to pinken, showing signs of healing even though they were bleeding again where she had reopened them when removing her shirt. She sighed and looked back to meet Mai's concerned gaze, "Do you want the truth?" She asked quietly, "If it's something unpleasant? Even if it's something that will change your life completely? ...and maybe not for the better."

Mai stepped closer, kneeling down in front of Natsuki to get a clearer look at her wounds. "This is probably going to sting." She said apologetically, holding a damp washcloth. At Natsuki's indifferent shrug, she began gently cleaning the three gashes wincing sympathetically as she got a better look at how deep they were. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to Natsuki. But if you'd feel better if you could tell me... and I think I'd feel better if I knew..." Mai trailed off awkwardly, desperately wanting an explanation but reluctant to pry if it would make her friend feel uncomfortable.

The Slayer was again impressed by Mai's thoughtfulness; she really had lucked out in the roommate department. She could just imagine having been saddled with someone like Haruka or even Chie. She watched for a moment as Mai carefully and tenderly cleaned her wounds, much more gently than even Midori would have. Not that Midori wasn't careful of course; she was just less hesitant and didn't make a big deal over wounds like this. Basically if the wound didn't require a hospital visit, Midori hardly even commented. Maybe it was because Midori already knew what she was, so she treated Natsuki like a Slayer and not like just a girl? Or maybe Midori just wasn't as much of a mom as Mai. Natsuki tried not to laugh at that thought, since she was getting ready to tell her friend something life-changing and laughing would really set the wrong tone. "Well... It's a long story. To start somewhere, I got that wound earlier tonight, about forty minutes ago."

Mai looked up into Natsuki's eyes, her gaze searching, "Natsuki, I've put enough band-aids on my little brother to know the difference between a fresh wound and one that has been healing for a couple days. Those wounds have had much longer than forty minutes to heal."

Natsuki sighed; this was going to take a demonstration. "Mai, back up really quick."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just humour me for a minute alright? I have to show you something so that you'll understand." Natsuki was impressed that her friend wasn't just taking her word for it; but she was just so tired from tonight. Still, Mai deserved an explanation if she was going to be coming home injured too often, and Natsuki feared with the new threat looming that might be the case. When Mai had backed up a bit Natsuki nodded that she was far enough away. "Alright, now watch this carefully because I don't want to do this more than once tonight okay?"

At Mai's nod the Slayer extended out her left fist so that the back of her hand was facing in Mai's direction. Concentrating she slowly extended her claws, watching as her friend's blue-grey eyes widened and blinked rapidly a few times, unable to believe what they were seeing. She sighed as she watched yet more of her blood dripping on the floor. "I don't heal like a normal person because I'm not normal." Natsuki explained briefly before retracting her claws rapidly, walking over to Mai and offering her the hand so that she could watch as the wounds between her knuckles completely healed right before her eyes. "My other wounds don't heal that quickly, but I still heal faster than a normal human."

Mai stood there staring for a moment, but Natsuki was impressed by how quickly her friend recovered, telling her to go sit back down. "So... are you like a...a... mutant or something?" Mai questioned, trying to keep her tone polite as she finished bandaging Natsuki's wounds. "All done. Try to be careful with it though, they look like they could still reopen if you try to be too active."

"Thank you Mai. And no, not a mutant." Natsuki looked into her friend's eyes, "This is going to sound even crazier than what I just showed you, but you'll have to trust me because as you can see from my wounds, a demonstration would be dangerous." Mai nodded. "I guess the technical term for what I am is a 'Vampire Slayer'. Yes, this means that there are vampires, so please be careful if you happen to be outside after dark. Try to make sure you are with at least a few other friends, preferably me." Natsuki sighed as she continued, "Anyway, the reason I exist is to try and keep the numbers of vampires and demons running around down. Unfortunately that means that some of them figure out who I am and that makes me a target, so sometimes they come hunting me instead of me hunting them. A demon got the drop on me tonight when I only had my claws for weapons."

Mai reached up and traced the cool metal of the cross that rested on Natsuki's chest, "Is that why you wear this every day?"

The Slayer raised an eyebrow at her roommate's calm question even as her skin tingled in a pleasantly distracting way at her friend's touch, "I tell you that there are vampires and demons, and you ask about my taste in jewellery?"

Mai just shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'm in shock or something and I'll start with the hysterics later."

"You're kindof a strange girl Mai." Natsuki said with a laugh. "Um, so you want some gossipy information? You can't tell anyone though or I might have to kill them. Which means you can tell Tate or Takeda if you want." She joked as her friend grinned, her eyes sparkling with interest, "That's why Midori is my guardian too."

"...because there are vampires?" She asked, confused.

"Um... I guess, in a manner of speaking. She's my Watcher. That means she helps train me to be a better Slayer and helps me with finding out information on the threats I face. She wasn't just an archaeologist either; she was hunting for magickal and demonic artefacts that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands." Natsuki grinned at the awestruck look on friend's face, "Yeah, Midori is even cooler than everyone thinks she is."

Mai nodded, finally starting to look overwhelmed, "And you're a superhero?"

"Yeah, but I don't have some ridiculous henshin cut scene or something where I magically transform into a slut in a miniskirt and fuck me boots or something." When Mai just looked confused, she clarified, "Sorry. Midori is kindof a big fan of Sailor Moon and Magical Girl anime in general. Which is really funny considering she already has me. What, am I not good enough because I don't wear glitter?"

Natsuki paused in her joking when she noticed the glazed over blank look on Mai's face. "Hey... Mai let's just get to bed for now. If you have more questions about what I said, you can ask Midori on Saturday alright? I'm already out to Fujikawa so it's alright to talk about this stuff around him. He and Yohko-sensei from the hospital are normally the ones in charge of patching me up." Natsuki smiled when Mai nodded and followed her out into the main room. "Did you want me to get you some hot tea or something?"

By the time the two roommates finally got to bed it was rather late indeed. Natsuki was just glad that tomorrow was Friday. She hoped Midori wouldn't stress out too much over the news she needed to tell her. The new demon threat appearing more organized than they were used to, Mai being added to the Slayer's 'inner circle' and Reito potentially making a petty nuisance of himself was a lot more to add to her Watcher's already busy schedule. She wondered if maybe she should try and get in touch with RedWiccan on the Hellmouth Online message boards. Maybe she could help with researching this demon threat without her having to give any details about the ancient glow or being a Slayer.