Disclaimer: It seems that I fails at basic math or something and have somehow messed up the dates for the days of the week that happened for the last several chapters. I'll try and go back and replace them with the accurate numbers. Luckily (?) I think I distracted enough people with the brain-esploding MaiNat, so no one has pointed this out to me. Either that or you are all secretly laughing at me because I can't count. :-P Thanks for R&Ring the last chapter when it didn't even have any sexiness in it. You guys rock.

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"Natsuki! What the hell did you do that for?" Midori exclaimed furiously, rising to her feet to glare at her Slayer.

Natsuki just turned and glared back, ignoring her bloody and slightly rearranged face as she stared down her Watcher, "Don't question me." She growled as she turned to kneel next to Mai who was finally coming back to herself enough to open her still black in black eyes to gaze up at Natsuki. Natsuki felt a surge of anger at herself for ever agreeing to allow Mai to participate in this as she wrapped her arms around the exhausted witch. She glanced up at Miyu who was watching them carefully with her eyes narrowed, "That stopped it."

Miyu took a halting step forward again levelling her weapon arm at the small group, this time shifting it into a sword. "Why should I believe a word you say?" She asked, her voice again shaking with grief.

Natsuki carefully let go of Mai, telling her softly to stay still, as she slowly backed away from the others, breathing a sigh of relief when Miyu followed her such that she was no longer pointing her weapon at Natsuki's loved ones. "Midori, come here." Natsuki commanded, still holding Miyu's flat stare. "Miyu, I swear on my life." She grabbed Midori's arm as the Watcher approached her, holding her in front of her with metal tipped claws at the redhead's throat, causing Yohko to yell out her lover's name in panic. "And on the life of this woman, the only family I have. I would sooner kill myself than see her harmed."

Midori glanced at Yohko, trying to reassure the frightened doctor with her eyes even as she tried to clamp down on her own fear suddenly rolling in her gut at having her Slayer's strength turned on her. Knowing intellectually that Slayers were strong and deadly creatures was very different than being held in a death grip by one, knowing that there would be no possible way to escape her unless she chose to let you live. But she knew Natsuki, no matter how damaged the girl had been when they first met, Midori had found that there was a deeply compassionate part of her that the First District hadn't been able to break. Midori took a deep breath and then took a leap of faith, trusting this girl that she loved like a daughter. "The Avatar of Drakonim was the conduit for the ritual. With that one of a kind and priceless ancient artefact destroyed," Midori added with some bit of sadness, the historian in her still reeling a bit from the loss of one of her favourite treasures, "Well, there is no way that we can continue it, nor could we perform it again in the future unless we found another one, which in my professional opinion is just this side of impossible."

Natsuki withdrew her claws and released her hold on her Watcher, gently shoving the woman in the direction of Yohko who was still staring at the Slayer with a look of distrust on her face even when Midori hugged her comfortingly. Natsuki took a deep breath to try and quell the anger at herself and her Watcher for agreeing to perform this ritual if it was so dangerous, and her intense worry over Mai's health, long enough to make certain that Miyu wasn't going to turn all of them into nothing more than a few piles of smoking bone and meat. "Miyu, I swear I had no idea it was Alyssa."

"But you did know that it was extremely dangerous." Miyu said, her voice returning to its normal monotone.

Natsuki approached the android cautiously, "Yes. Dealing with dark magic is always dangerous." Natsuki gestured in the direction of Mai, who still looked like she wouldn't be strong enough to stand, weakly sipping at some water from Midori's canteen while Yohko looked her over. "All we did was absorb some of her magick so that we could trace her. Does casting those spells have that effect on Alyssa too?"

Miyu nodded stiffly, "Ojou-sama becomes very weak if she casts too much. She often experiences the changes in hair and eye colour as well."

"Miyu... your primary function is to protect Alyssa correct?"

Red eyes turned from the slowly recovering witch back to Natsuki. They retained their same flat stare, but Natsuki could tell that a normal human would be giving her a death glare, "Have I not made my position clear enough for the Champion to understand?" Miyu asked dangerously, taking a halting step in the Slayer's direction, lifting her sword arm threateningly.

Natsuki raised her hands in front of her in an appeasing gesture, "I'm not trying to question your loyalty, just bring up a point. What do you think will happen to her when whoever is making her do this gets a hold of this ancient glow?" Natsuki questioned slowly.

"The answer to that question is not in my memory files." Miyu replied flatly, cocking her head to the side as she studied the Slayer more carefully. "Why does the Champion ask?"

"Well, why is it do you think, that they don't want you to know the answer to that question?"

"I... don't know. That is not in my programming." Miyu replied haltingly, as though she were carefully thinking over each word, and what the significance could be.

Natsuki sighed, "Miyu... listen to me. They didn't tell you because if she manages to get this thing, and the person or whatever in charge uses it? Miyu, even if she doesn't die, she isn't going to be your Alyssa anymore."

"If she were alive, she would be my Ojou-sama. She could be no one else. The Champion's statement is illogical."

Natsuki sighed, "Maybe I'm not explaining this right. Listen, do you know about the existence of other realities?"

Miyu spoke mechanically, "Subatomic particles appear to come in and out of existence, some scientists hypothesize when they are not in existence here, it is because they are in another universe. However, there has been no method discovered with which to test such a hypothesis. Also, there is some evidence to suggest that magick can cross the barrier between realities under the correct circumstances."

"Well how do you explain the things that Alyssa can summon?"

"My memory files say that she creates them using her magicks and the power of her own mind."

"Miyu, that's only partially true. Alyssa might shape the creatures using her own power to an extent, but she is pulling the essence of very powerful creatures here from another dimension." Natsuki rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to think of a way to prove this to the legitimately sceptical and distrusting android, "Do you have any way to detect the magicks in an area?" Natsuki asked finally, wondering even as she did how one would create a synthetic module to detect magicks, when all that she knew said that materials that were recombined in industrial processes lost their magickal capacity.

"Yes. The Multiple Intelligencial Yggdrasil Unit contains a combination of mechanical and organic modules for maximum efficiency and the largest possible array of functionality. An organ from a hostile nonhuman entity was transplanted into the organic covering to allow the capacity to detect the concentration, rate of change in concentration, and unique signatures of magickal energies." Miyu replied, her voice suddenly switching from a cold mechanical route reply to a warm, almost nostalgic tone. "It was deemed important that I be able to monitor Ojou-sama's magickal reserves, as she is unable to cast when they are too low."

"Use it right now." Natsuki ordered her voice hard.

Miyu nodded stiffly, raising her human hand to her stomach just under her ribcage, slicing unflinchingly through the leather vest and the skin and muscle under it with a fingernail that had morphed into a surgeon's scalpel. Even the Slayer recoiled a bit at the tentacle-like pulsating bioluminescent appendage that uncoiled dripping with some sort of clear mucosal fluid from the incision. Miyu simply stood waiting for a moment, unaffected by the disgusted and morbidly fascinated stares of the humans. Only Yohko didn't look like she might be sick. After a few moments the appendage began to change colour from pure pale silver to a brilliant green. Even Miyu's normally unresponsive eyes widened slightly, "The concentration of magicks at this location is 7.429 times higher than in a control location. It is also only 5.72 percentage points lower than my records for the magickal energy emitted by an active Hellmouth, which our scientists believe to be a gateway of sorts for dark magickal energy that is emitted from within the Earth. However... the signature of this magickal energy does not match that of any in my databanks." Miyu's voice suddenly sounded uncertain, "The Champion can offer an explanation for this phenomenon?"

Natsuki sighed, "A partial explanation and a theory is the best I can give you, but please hear me out anyway."

Miyu shrugged, "The Champion is the only individual available to answer this new question. I will attempt to locate additional substantiating or disproving evidence of her 'theories' later."

Before Natsuki could reply she was distracted from her thoughts by Mai approaching her on still weak and shaky legs. The Slayer shot her Watcher a disapproving glower, but the older redhead just shrugged helplessly indicating that she'd tried to talk the witch out of getting involved. "Mai, I told you to stay over there and let Yohko make sure you're alright." Natsuki sighed in frustration when Mai just glared at her with blue eyes that were still obstructed by dark blotches; the Slayer noted that her hair was also still several shades darker than normal, more brown than orange.

"That thing's minion almost killed you. I'm not leaving you alone with her." Mai stated firmly, alternating her glare between Miyu and the Slayer herself.

Both of them were startled when Miyu actually made a small noise of amusement, "I understand Champion. My Ojou-sama does not take kindly to things that threaten my functionality either." Miyu lowered her sword-arm, once more shifting it back to appear as a human hand. "Unless she tries to attack me I won't harm her. Explain your theory. Immediately. I must return to my Ojou-sama."

Natsuki nodded and immediately launched into her explanation, "Well, I know for certain that Hellmouths and this location are not places where the Earth is releasing more magicks, but rather places where our own universe is closer to others. I also know that the creatures your Alyssa is summoning, though she might be partially manipulating their appearances by merging them with creatures from our own reality, their essence or soul if you will, already exists elsewhere, and she is using her power to draw them from their reality to our own." Natsuki sighed, her eyebrows drawing together as she tried to find words for the theory that was just now coalescing into a more coherent whole in her mind, though pieces of it had been floating around and popping up to bother her conscious thoughts about why they were confusing for weeks, "Now this is where I am speculating some, so if you have resources available to you to find out if I'm right, well feel free to use them unless doing so would alert the people in charge and cause them to harm your Alyssa."

"Of course."

Natsuki swiped absently at her nose that had mostly stopped bleeding, though it continued to throb dully as though to let her know that it was still not in the correct location on her face. She sighed slightly as she continued, "The demons she summons are much stronger at this location than they were in others. Tonight she was casting with reduced power correct?" At Miyu's nod Natsuki continued, "But what she summoned tonight was physically stronger than anything I've ever fought. Yourself included. It even told me that it was stronger here. I think the reason for that is because this place is closer to its own reality, which leads me to speculate that this glow that I am protecting is some sort of gatekeeper or something between realities. Using it would probably allow countless numbers of those demons that your Alyssa summons in their true form to enter into our own. Now, right now she summons only one or so at a time but controlling them costs her much of her energy. Do you really think that she would be able to control hundreds or thousands of them? And you saw the kindof pain that Mai was in today just from briefly having control of the magicks your Alyssa uses all the time. Miyu, I swear to you that Alyssa would only come to great harm if any of her demonic minions gets its claws on what I'm protecting."

"I will consider the Champion's ideas." Miyu replied, "But if I find out that you have lied to me again, you will get no more chances to-"

"I swear if you hurt her..." Mai interrupted the android her voice nearly unrecognizable to Natsuki it was so threatening, her hand clutched a darkly glowing ball of plasma, her eyes shifting back to pure black in black. Beside her Natsuki desperately tried to soothe the witch's rage, knowing that if her magick got out of control she probably wouldn't have to wait for Miyu to carry out her threats.

Miyu simply levelled her flat red stare at the inexperienced witch, "If Ojou-sama is still alive, I promise not to harm your Champion." Miyu shifted her arm back into its rocket launcher form, levelling its large barrel at the two humans, "But if she is not alive, then your threats are meaningless to me, as I would have no reason or motivation to continue functioning." With that Miyu turned from them, her dark trench coat flowing around her slim form, clearly not worried that any of the humans in the small courtyard, even the superpowered ones, were any threat to her. Then Natsuki blinked once and it was as though the android had simply vanished. Her eyes strained as she searched the dark for any hint of movement, but there was nothing.

Her attention was drawn away from the question of how the android was able to move so quickly when Mai fell to her knees, breathing heavily and clutching her side. Natsuki immediately allowed herself to fall to the ground next to her trembling witch, reaching out to touch her hand that was clutching a leather-clad thigh in a bruising grip. Her breathing caught when the skin she touched was so cold, "Mai! Look at me." Natsuki commanded, drawing black in black eyes to her, "Come on, don't let this control you." She pleaded, reaching out to caress a cold cheek and feeling hurt and a bit of fear when Mai flinched away from her touch. Suddenly she had a thought; the magicks around here had been painful for her even without the complications of having enough dark magick in her to manifest involuntary physical changes.

"MIDORI! We need to get Mai out of here." Natsuki yelled, momentarily setting aside being angry with her Watcher over her part in getting them into this situation in the first place, "The magicks around here, I think they are making her reaction to the dark magick worse." Midori ran up to the two teenagers, though her expression was a bit hesitant as she approached her Slayer. Natsuki growled, "Don't give me that look, you're safe for now. We just need to get her onto your vehicle so we can get her out of here."

Midori nodded, "I'll take her, Yohko can ride with you." Midori winced as she said that, even though the doctor had strangely been the one to request it a few moments ago despite her dislike of Natsuki's motorcycle.

Natsuki shrugged, "I don't care just hurry up." Running to grab their stuff and the two helmets she paused when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning she saw Yohko with a dangerous expression on her face, her blue eyes darkened. With her hands full Natsuki didn't even have a chance to defend herself when the doctor reached out and grabbed her nose, forcibly wrenching it back into place, the sound of her own cartilage scraping against bone echoing in Natsuki's ears. The Slayer let out a loud yell of pain, glaring at the doctor through reflexive tears brought to her eyes, "What the hell was that?"

"What, you didn't want it to stay at that angle did you? With your healing if we waited until we had time to go to the hospital I probably would've had to rebreak it." With that she turned away from Natsuki not waiting to see if the Slayer was following her. She continued talking though, correctly assuming that Natsuki would be only a pace behind her, "But so help me, if you ever treat your Watcher like that again, I will use all of my training to bring you worse pain than that."

Natsuki moved up next to the doctor, looking at her unapologetically, "I did what needed to be done."

"Did you?" Yohko questioned as they came up next to the motorcycle, gazing back at the clearing that once more appeared nothing more than a natural break in the thick forest, "Or were you just angry at yourself and Midori for the pain and suffering you put Mai through when we did that ritual? When you know that we all agreed that the ritual was necessary for the world's safety?" When Natsuki started to dispute her statement, Yohko cut her off, "Save it. I don't want to hear another word out of you right now. Let's just get on this illegal vehicle of yours so that we can catch up to your friend and make sure she's going to be okay."

Natsuki let out an angry huff of breath before turning, facing away from the doctor and forcefully shoving on her helmet. She didn't give the older woman another look as she climbed onto her bike and waited impatiently for Yohko to get on after her. When Yohko climbed on behind her and put her arms around the Slayer's waist, Natsuki recognized it as what she liked to call Yohko's 'doctor touch'. It was a touch that said 'I'm only touching you because it's my job, not because I want to'. Normally it reassured her, the way the doctor was always so professional. Right now though it just served to remind Natsuki of how angry she had been at Midori, and indeed how angry she still was even though she recognized Yohko's words to be the truth.

She growled softly to herself as she disengaged her bike's kickstand. Forcefully firing up the motorcycle she revved it unnecessarily, the loud screaming growl of the Kawasaki's engine echoing her own anger still roiling uncomfortably in her stomach. As she opened up the throttle, causing her bike to leap forward onto the uneven dirt road at unsafe speeds hoping to hurry up and catch up with the ATV, Natsuki found herself desperately wishing that she had Mai's arms around her instead. She missed hearing the girl's carefree laughter in her ears as they sped along, and the way Mai wrapped her arms tight around her, snuggling up against her back like there was nowhere else she would rather be. Natsuki white-knuckled the handlebars of her bike as worry threatened to overwhelm her. Duran please let her be safe.

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Midori drove the red ATV down the crumbling dirt road between the thick forest as fast as she safely could, driving with only one hand on the steering. Her other arm was wrapped securely around the weakened witch, who seemed to have passed out about five minutes ago. If Midori couldn't feel the faint rise and fall of the teenager's chest against her skin, she knew she would need to be worrying for her own safety because her Slayer would be out for blood. She had taken off her beat up old brown leather jacket and put it around the slim shoulders of the witch when they first got on the vehicle, ignoring the girl's weak protests that she was fine. She had then dug into one of the side pockets of her rucksack and pulled out a few chemical heating pads, crushing them to start them going before shoving them into the inside pockets of her old jacket, hoping that their meagre heat might help warm the weakly shivering witch. Come on kid, you showed me you were a fighter earlier. Don't you dare give up on me now.

Midori revved the throttle harder, pushing the speed of the massive vehicle up as fast as she dared; tightening her grip around Mai as even the massive tires and artfully crafted suspension of the off-road vehicle weren't enough to protect its passengers from the hard jarring impact from the large breaks in the road. She glanced up at the sky to see that the still nearly full moon now nearly obscured by thick bands of clouds. Oh God if you love me at all please don't let it rain right now. She begged to a deity whose house of worship she rarely frequented and whose very existence she questioned regularly. Finally after a trip that seemed much longer this second time even though she was certain she was driving faster, she was pulling her vehicle onto the main road. Noting the soybean farm across the way, she pulled her vehicle into it, ignoring the damage to the crops, concerned only that they were able to get Mai free from the effects of the dark magick as quickly as possible.

A short distance away from the road she whipped the vehicle around so that the high beams were facing the main road, knowing that her Slayer would know it was her. Surely any cops out this way so late at night would also notice and fine her for trespassing and destruction of property, but at this moment she couldn't care less about such concerns. She got down from the tall vehicle, placing her rucksack on the ground before carefully pulling the now barely awake Mai down after her. She had the witch lean against the large vehicle while she pulled a heavy fire blanket from her rucksack, laying it next to a huge tire over small crushed newly sprouted plants, the scent of the diesel fuel from her vehicle's engine and the disturbed earth thick in her nose.

Gently grabbing the still shaky witch's arm, Midori helped her sit down on the scratchy woollen blanket, her back leaning against the muddy rubber of the ATV's front tire. Ignoring the fact that her favourite jacket, a last gift from her late father was probably being permanently damaged, she knelt down in front of the curvy teenager who was looking up at her with unfocussed, but at least now mostly blue eyes. "Mai, listen to me. I don't care how tired you are, you have to get that magick out of your system right now." When there was no change in Mai's expression to indicate that she heard Midori's order, the tall redhead reached out a hand to slap the girl lightly across the cheek. Her hazel eyes displaying no hint of the sympathy she felt when hurt blue eyes finally focused on her, "Damn it girl, listen to me. The magick. You need to get it out now. Natsuki will be here soon, but you have to get the bad magick out before you can recharge."

"...Natsuki?" The weary teenager finally spoke, her voice slurred and weak.

Midori rolled her eyes, God save me from teenagers in love. "Yes, she'll be here. But you have to focus on getting that magick out now." Midori breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the air around her starting to heat up and saw a dark glow emanating from around the still weakened teen. She nodded her head approvingly that despite her soft appearance, the young witch was indeed something of a soldier after all.

Moments later the roar of a small engine and the harsh light from a single headlight announced Natsuki's arrival as she navigated her bike down the path already cleared by Midori's vehicle. Almost before Midori could turn her head to take in the motorcycle pulling up in front of her vehicle, Natsuki was pushing her out of the way so that she could pull the still slightly shivering and now muddy witch into her arms.

Seeing that the witch was now in good hands, Midori smiled slightly despite the pain she felt at getting the cold shoulder from her Slayer. Deciding to give them some privacy, she stood and walked over to where Yohko was standing just outside of the beams from the headlights. She mercilessly tamped down on the pain inside at the memory of the look of disappointment and disillusioned anger that had been in familiar green eyes earlier. After all, she was somewhat angry with herself for having gotten all of them to perform such a dangerous ritual, but it was a Watcher's burden to make hard decisions like this. They had needed answers quickly, some risk was necessary. Now she just had to hope that the price for her decision was one that she could afford to pay.

When Natsuki finally pulled her bike up, she barely waited to make sure that the kickstand caught in the loose dirt of the soybean field before throwing herself off of the vehicle, her ears registering the grating of the engine still rotating slightly from her yanking the key out so abruptly. She spared no emotions over the health of her beloved machine as she jogged over to Mai, the dark red of magicks radiating from her glowing more brightly for Natsuki than the daylight bright high-beams of Midori's ATV. Kneeling down next to the witch who seemed to be only barely conscious, Natsuki ignored the presence of her Watcher and the unwarranted feelings of betrayal she felt, and instead focused on Mai's ragged and shallow breathing and the uncomfortable sensation caused by the dark magicks that were steadily flowing from the girl she cared about.

Natsuki pulled the shivering Mai into her lap, noting with worry how even though the magicks around her were warm, her witch's skin was so cold. "Mai, I'm here." She spoke softly into a pale ear, her own voice trembling. She ran a dirty hand through still dark brown hair, placing a light kiss on Mai's forehead. "You're going to be okay, I promise." Natsuki breathed a sigh of relief when she felt eyelashes fluttering open against the sensitive and still bruised skin of her neck.

"...Natsuki?"

The Slayer's heart ached at how weak her witch's voice sounded, "I'm right here." She repeated roughly, purring contentedly when she finally felt Mai's magick weakly flowing into her. She wasn't sure if it helped, but she tried to keep herself calm and relaxed as Mai recharged, letting her troubling feelings float away as she concentrated on the slight weight of Mai in her lap and the warm feeling of the magick caressing her own. After several minutes that seemed to Natsuki to stretch on for indeterminate ages, she felt Mai weakly raise her arms to wrap them around her shoulders and noted as the witch gently nuzzled her nose against her neck that her skin was much warmer than it had been minutes before. The Slayer's nose twitched slightly as she noticed something different about her witch's scent, after a moment she realized it was because she was wearing her Watcher's old jacket. She gazed thoughtfully over Mai's shoulder at Midori who was chatting quietly with Yohko, while both of them pretended not to be watching the two teenagers as closely as they were, feeling relieved when she found she was wanting to offer Midori and more importantly herself, a bit of forgiveness for what they did tonight.

"Ugh Natsuki... what day is it?" Mai spoke softly, but more coherently, though she made no effort to try and move from Natsuki's arms.

Natsuki chuckled, "It's still Saturday... or maybe very early Sunday."

"It feels like it has been years." Mai snuggled closer, "I was so lost Natsuki."

"But I found you. I promise I'll always find you." Natsuki spoke in a rough voice, a small sad smile on lips that were still smudged darker with blood. For another few minutes they just held each other, ignoring the presence of the other two women and the cold dew from the damp night air that had begun to settle on their skin and in their hair.

Suddenly the peaceful quiet of the night was abruptly shattered by the loud riff of a guitar solo from one of Japan's most hardcore metal bands screaming from inside Yohko's jacket pocket. The epically masculine musical number was cut short as the doctor answered her cellphone, "Sagisawa." She spoke shortly, in a cooly professional tone, listening intently to the person on the other end of the line. "That's fine. Don't panic. I was out in the country since I wasn't supposed to be on call tonight, but I'll be there. Yeah, it will be about twenty or thirty minutes. No problem, just try and keep her calm until I get there."

As she flipped the phone closed, despite the doctor's tense interactions with Natsuki earlier that night, the Slayer could only stare at her for a moment in wide-eyed awe. Finally she spoke, "You get reception out here?"

The doctor smirked, "What can I say, I'm an important woman. The phone uses a network of satellites for reception if it's out of range of the normal towers." She then spoke to Midori, "You need to get me to the hospital, there's a patient in the waiting room who is refusing to see any doctor but me." She rolled her eyes, "I don't know who it is, but I have a couple of older ladies who get all scandalized if only one of our male doctors is on call, like they think it would be indecent."

Midori nodded slightly turning to Mai, "Are you alright to head back on Natsuki's Kawasaki?"

The witch nodded as she hugged Natsuki tighter, "Yeah, I'll be okay. Sorry for worrying you earlier."

"I'm just glad you're feeling better. You two leave a message on my machine to let me know that you got back to the school okay." The Watcher said, looking at her Slayer with sad eyes, wondering if she'd ever be forgiven, or more importantly if her Slayer would ever trust her again after tonight. She felt a bit of her internal turmoil ease when Natsuki gave her a slight smile, though it was possible the Slayer was only smiling because her witch was still snuggling with her.

"Sure. See you later Midori." Natsuki replied, helping Mai up so that they were well out of the way of Midori's ATV so that the older woman could drive it back onto the main road. "Hey, you ready to head back home?" She asked Mai, trying not to sound like she was too eager to hurry up and get back to the dorms so they could snuggle more. But it had been such a long day.

Mai smiled to be on her feet, happy that she could finally stand on her own again, "Yeah, I feel like I could sleep for a week."

"You're sure you have enough energy to ride back?" Natsuki asked, running her fingers through once again orange hair.

"Yep. All I have to do is hug you for thirty minutes right? I can handle that."

Natsuki chuckled as they both headed over to her bike. Moments later the damaged soybean field was again filled with the loud roar of an engine as the little Kawasaki gamely churned to life. Climbing on the bike behind Natsuki, Mai grinned even when she felt cold raindrops begin to fall on the exposed skin of her face and hands. She wrapped her arms tightly around Natsuki's firm stomach, snuggling close as they sped off down the dark road into the night.