DISCLAIMER: Nah, not mine.
A/N: I'm sooo sorry for the time it took to update this, one time I did get a chance to sit down and write was the morning after I watched the vampy movie and decided to write "Trance" instead. My bad. o_O
In any case, please try to enjoy chapter 3 of Late Fee and leave me any thoughts or comments about this chapter once you've read it.
Thanks guys!
Chapter 3 - I Did Not Agree To That!!
It had been two nights. Shizuru, like a truly melancholic person, sighed heavily as she pulled the bolt across the shop's front door, clicking her tongue in frustration as she locked up for the night.
It was the third shift she had worked this week, and there had been no sign of her favourite customer. With a hint of panic, the uni student began to inwardly fret as she absently made her way back to the front till to help her co-worker Akira count up the night's takings.
Perhaps I went to far with my teasing remarks... she worried, stressing over the fact that Natsuki hadn't been in to see her after the embarassing exchange that occurred the last week, even though Shizuru was sure she was making progress with the girl after the establishment of the first name and all. She thought it was a step forward in the bonding process!
This brought on another startling thought. Since when had she actually cared enough about someone who was not even an aquaintance to the point of wallowing despairingly when they're not seen for a few days?
She chuckled sadly to herself. Maybe she did feel a little something for the beautiful customer, even though she had only just learnt her name. Gah, what was she, in primary school? She was way past the stage where you crush on the prettiest girl you see!
Although, try as she might, she couldn't deny the physical attraction she felt for Kuga-han. Or should I say, Natsuki... she thought dreamily to herself.
Gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl...
She chuckled sadly to herself again. Honestly, why did her hormones have to play up this way? She was still getting over the last time she had acted on her "abnormal" desires and kissed her schoolyard crush back in the catholic academy she attended in Kyoto.
Well, abnormal was the word that her headmistress Miss Maria had used when she sat Shizuru in the office next to her disappointed parents and proceeded to ramble on about Shizuru's "unhealthy preferences" and "sinful behaviour".
THAT particular incident had been a blow to her family's image amongst the upper-class social scene of Kyoto's wealthiest, as the news of Shizuru's actions spread like wildfire throughout the prestegious school and inevitably back to the parents.
Needless to say, it had been a unanimous decision by her parents to send her to Fuka to continue her schooling thereafter.
Lost in thought, the Kyoto-born girl stared distantly at the countertop while she tallied up the totals of the coins from the till. Akira, who had been discreetly watching her for the past few minutes, reached out and touched her wrist which effectively snapped Shizuru out of her memories.
"Shizuru-san... are you feeling alright? You're staring into space and chuckling to yourself..."
Shizuru blinked. She expertly hid her momentary embarassment with a gentle smile.
"Ara, Akira-han, it is fine. I was just... thinking, of something, that's all."
"Yeah, I can tell you're distracted."
"Mou, I'm not distracted at all. I can concentrate on more than one thing at a time, yes?"
"Uhh... but, Shizuru-san, for the past two minutes you've been re-counting the coins over and over again."
"Ah? I have?"
She looked down at the small treasure-pile of coins she had gathered up and realised that Akira was waiting for the total before she could settle up the rest of the takings. Shizuru hid her embarassment yet again.
"Ara ara, I am quite distracted indeed! Kanin na, Akira-han... I was in a world of my own..."
The next few minutes were silent as the money was packed away, the alarms were set, and the two girls headed out into the chill of the night air as they both walked to the carpark. Shizuru scanned the empty lot, seeing only her own vehicle.
"Ara, Akira-san, how are you getting home tonight? Would you like a lift?"
Akira shook her head as she pointed towards a set of headlights approaching from further down the street.
"No, thanks Shizuru-san. But my boyfriend is picking me up tonight, that should him right there" she spoke with the same monotonous tone she usually did. Shizuru turned and watched as the approaching car indeed did pull up next to them, and a young brunette boy climb out of the car breathlessly.
"I'm sorry Akira-kun! There was an accident down on the other street, and the ambulances were blocking off the roads while they attended to the scene..." he trailed off, bumbling apologetically as Akira reached out and poked him in the forehead.
"It's alright Takumi, Shizuru-san was with me and besides, you're not that late anyway."
"But, my sister asked me to drop these off for her."
The young boy revealed as Takumi reached back into the car and pulled out a few dvds, waving them in front of Akira as he smiled sheepishly. Akira rolled her eyes.
"Just put them in the returns bin!"
"But they're for Mai's friend and if they don't get scanned back in by tonight, there'll be a late fee on their account!."
"Well then you'll have to tell Mai's friend that they owe some money for being lazy with their returns" Akira deadpanned.
"But you don't know this girl, she's scary! Please Akira-kun, just open up the shop for a few more minutes and return these for me..."
"Gah, then I'll have to disable all the alarms and restart the computer all over again..."
By this point, Shizuru had zoned out. It was cold, it was getting late, and she had a class in the morning. She looked up from her watch, about to voice her farewells when something made her stop.
That dvd he is holding...
She tilted her head to the side as she regarded the cover. Scream 2, and the store only ever keeps one copy of that movie...
She barely registered Akira's annoyed sigh before the tomboy pulled the store key out of her pocket and made to turn back to the store. The movement kicked Shizuru into action.
"Wait, Akira-han!"
She lunged forward and grabbed the startled girl's wrist, the one holding the key. She smiled brightly at the girl as her grip tightened.
"No, this won't do, Akira-han. Can't you see that this person would be taking advantage of your poor boyfriend if you allow this to happen?!"
Akira just stared wide-eyed at the girl, before turning to look at her equally-stunned boyfriend. Shizuru continued to lay on the theatrics.
"I mean, how dare this person neglect to take back their dvds, but expect poor Takumi-han to go out of his way to ferry them all the way over here for, hm?"
Akira slowly came out of her startled state and nodded slowly.
"You're right... Takumi, I shouldn't have to open up the whole shop just because you're scared of your sister's friend."
Shizuru took the chance to gleefully interject with a "Using intimidation on you Takumi-han? That's the lowest!" laced with false seriousness.
Takumi looked bewildered at the mood-changing girl still holding tightly onto his girlfriend's wrist, then glanced over into the eyes of his irritated girlfriend, who seemed to be siding with the older girl.
"But Akira-kun.... Kuga-san is scary!"
Akira was about to scold Takumi for his cowardliness before Shizuru gave a "suprised" gasp and broke into the conversation.
"Kuga-han... sounds familiar... Ah! Kuga-han is a regular customer of ours... and she has the audacity to bully you into bringing these movies, Takumi-han? That's disgraceful! I have quite the mind to save you a trip and take these movies directly to Kuga-han herself and have a stern talk with her about the importance of returning her movies on time!".
She ended her speech looking expectantly at Takumi, one arm folded across her torso as she rested the other on the side of her chin. Both young teens were stunned and perplexed about how worked up Shizuru was over this. After a few moments of silence (mostly caused by disbelief and sheer speechlessness on Akira and Takumi's part) Takumi hesitantly held the dvds out to Shizuru, who cheerily smiled and accepted them.
"Well, if it saves Akira-kun from having to re-open the store and me from having to face Kuga-san... then sure, you can take them Shizuru-san."
Akira glanced suspiciously at the all-to-cheery girl who was standing next to Takumi's car as he reached in and pulled out the rest of Natsuki's dvds that were sitting on the front seat. She questioned warily,
"Err, Shizuru-san... do you even know where Kuga-san lives?"
"Unit 12, third floor of the Earl Star apartment block down by the south side of Fuuka." she replied casually, only noticing the shocked stares from both other people when Takumi faltered in handing her the last dvd. She quickly moved to explain herself.
"Oh! Ara, I just happen to remember the contact information that pops up on the screen everytime I serve Kuga-san at the counter" she laughed demurely, trying to sound casual about the lie. Really, she had been looking up Natsuki's information every night since the girl first stopped showing at the store. Somehow, she felt comforted by reading the girl's contact details and movie renting history. Desperate, huh?
Clearing her throat to break the awkward silence that ensued, Shizuru bowed politely to the young couple once she had possession of the small stack of dvds before bidding the two a good night. They wished her the same. Making her back to her car, Shizuru couldn't help but let a secret smile cross her face.
Tomorrow after class, I'm going to pay you a little visit, my Natsuki-chan...
**************************************************************
Kuga Natsuki stood in the kitchen of her small apartment as she zipped up the front of her black rider's suit, the skin-tight leathers hugging all of her curves in such a fashion that Natsuki had become used to the stares and occasional nosebleeds she caused whilst out and about in public.
Hey, it may make her look like a seductress from a porno film but it did it's job as a protective riding suit, right? So, as Natsuki's confident, uncaring personality went her opinion was along the lines of "Screw you public citizens, I'm wearing it anyway".
Standing up at her kitchen bench, the girl brushed back a stray lock of hair that had escaped the pony tail and downed the rest of her glass of orange juice.
Yes, having breakfast at 1 o'clock in the afternoon was a tad strange, but she had a tendency to oversleep and and it was rare for her to crawl out of bed before lunchtime. Mostly, this was due to her late nights of watching renting rented horror movies, engaging in movie marathons that would normally last well into the early morning hours until she either passed out on the couch itself or managed to drag her tired form into her bedroom.
Carefully placing her glass and plate on the sink, Natsuki stifled a yawn as she absently picked up her helmet from the front bench, making sure to turn off the kitchen light as she passed by and made her way to the front door. Spinning her keys around by the keychain on her finger, she checked her reflection one last time in the hallway mirror before she went to leave her apartment and yanked the front door open... only to yelp loudly and stumble backwards when the open door revealed a suprised Shizuru, who was standing right in front of the door with a hand raised as if she was about to press the doorbell.
Natsuki's shock had caused her to stumble backwards blindly for a few steps before she tripped over her own legs and fell backwards onto her butt, legs sprawled out before her as her helmet fell out of her arms and rolled down the hallway. Both girls stared at each other in stunned silence.
.... Natsuki was the first to break that silence.
"What the hell do YOU want?!" She screamed, trying to scramble to her feet after catching the other's girls gaze briefly glance down to her spread legs. Shizuru winced at the deafningly loud question Natsuki had thrown at her as her beautiful crush glared at her with hell's fury.
Although she was being shot the most dangerous look she had ever seen, Shizuru couldn't help but take a moment to reply as she regarded the cute pink colouring Natsuki's cheeks, and the way her eyes glittered in outrage at being startled so badly into falling over.
Now back at eye-level with the crazy movie store employee standing in her doorway, Natsuki folded her arms in what she felt was a menacing manner when in fact she looked even more cutely indignant.
Shizuru smiled serenely and held out the small stack of dvds she had tucked under one arm. Natsuki's expression changed into one of stunned curiosity as she dropped her gaze speechlessly to the dvds she had given to Takumi to return for her last night.
"Ara, Kuga-han failed to return these on time to make her week's rental limit, so I have taken it upon myself to graciously return these to you and collect your fee on behalf of the store!"
She finished this outrageous statement with a smile so bright that it actually took Natsuki a bit of effort to retort in a negative fashion.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU STUPID WOMAN?!"
Shortly after exploding, Natsuki felt bad. Like, really bad. She watched as Shizuru first jumped slightly at her yelling, then the happy expression in her eyes dim as the smile slowly disappeared from her face. Natsuki couldn't bear the sight of it, it was like looking at an abandoned puppy, for god's sake!
Natsuki's weakness for puppies was what made her hastily backtrack over her words.
"Uh, I mean..! Look, I didn't mean to shout at you like that, ok? It's just... well, I had my friend return them last night so I'm not sure why you are telling me that I owe the store money".
She spoke in a kinder tone, yet still kept the miffed expression on her face. Seriously, what kind of game was this woman playing at?! Showing up at a customer's residence like this over an alleged late return was absurd in itself!
Shizuru withdrew the stack of dvds to her chest as she inwardly composed herself. She'd admit, it was quite a blow to have the object of her affections scream in her face like that, but she consoled herself with the fact that it was indeed a bit strange to have turned up out of the blue like this, and she knew Natsuki was still a bit twitchy after the scare she got when she nearly walked right out of the door and smack into her.
She put up another smile - a bit softer, this time - and began to try and explain her actions.
"You have every right to be on the defensive Kuga-han, but I assure you - I did not mean to offend or scare you," She paused here, eying Natsuki wearily and upon seeing that the girl seemed to be accepting this, continued on.
"You are right in saying that you gave these movies to your friend Takumi-han to return, but he arrived too late last night so I offered to come by today and hand these back to you with the intention of asking whether you wanted to re-hire these for another week or just pay the late fee - either way, I am working tonight and am able to either take these back for you now along with the payment or hand them over to you for another week and you can just give me the re-hire fee now to take back with me".
Natsuki continued watching her coldly, with the same disinterested expression she usually used when in the store. Finally, after hearing Shizuru out, she spoke.
"Ok, in that case, I'll pay the stupid fee. However, I will pay it in my own time and probably send one of my friends down to the store to deliver the damn payment to you guys. But you still had no right to come around here and put me on the spot like this!"
Shizuru winced. Damn, how on earth was she supposed to explain that she only wanted to see Natsuki's gorgeous face again since she had been so absent from the shop, and that she had come all the way out here just to have a conversation with her? Well, that's exactly how she went about explaining it.
"Ara, do not get the impression that I have come here to try and hassle Kuga-han for money! It is simply because Kuga-han hasn't been in the store to visit me lately, and I missed seeing her beautiful face... you see, I offered to come by here and check that things were ok because you hadn't been in like you normally are and I was worried that something was wrong".
Natsuki's eye twitched as the older girl finished this statement with a sincere smile. So, she was expected to be in there every night, huh? Since when did she have to follow the schedule set by some stupid store employee who hit on her non-stop and had the audacity to come around to her house when she doesn't follow aforementioned schedule?!
That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"You want to know WHY I haven't been back, huh? Well it's because everytime I go in there, you start your creepy flirting with me and I HATE IT! I can't even rent movies out without you making some kind of suggestive remark to me, but when I try to avoid you follow me to my damn apartment! YOU are the reason I haven't been back, okay?!"
Her voice rose in decibels throughout this little speech until by the end she was once again yelling in the other girl's face. And hey, what does it matter if the real reason she hadn't been back to the shop was because her bike had only been fixed as of this morning, and she was on her way to pick it up now? As far as she was concerned, if lying to the tawny-haired girl like this was gonna get her to back off her case like that then she saw no problem with lying through her teeth.
Although once again, her guilty conscience kicked her in the guts as she saw the expression on the other girl's face.
Struggling to keep her neutral expression from slipping, Shizuru's garnet eyes dropped to the floor and her whole demeanour seemed to dim somewhat.
"Oh" was all she was able to mutter softly as she shifted the stack of dvds in her arms. Feeling confident enough that she was able to look at Natsuki again without crying, she plastered on an apologetic smile before looking up and uttering,
"Kanin na, Kuga-han. I didn't know that my actions caused you such distress. I am terribly sorry to bother you like this... I'll just take these back, and you don't have to worry about that fee. I'll take care of it".
With one last struggled smile, she turned from the doorway and was about to start walking down the corridor. With her back now turned to Natsuki, Shizuru let a secret little smirk form on her lips. Her acting truly was superb, and she had her highschool drama club to thank for that.
Three, two, one...
A quiet mumble caught her attention. Quickly dropping the smug grin that she had let out after hearing Natsuki's guilt set in, she turned her head back and looked questionably at the slightly blushing girl who had dropped her arms from their folded pose and was nervously tapping her fingers against her leather-covered thigh.
"Ara? Excuse me?"
"I said 'It's Natsuki' " she repeated, slightly louder. Shizuru was at a loss for a split second before she connected the girl's words to the ones she had spoken to her the last time they interacted at Legend.
"Ah, I see. Well then, Natsuki, I'll see you la... well, perhaps not. Goodbye, then".
She once again made to leave but the husky feminine voice softly stopped her yet again.
"You... you don't have to settle that fee for me, you know. I don't really mind paying it".
"Ara, it's fine Natsuki. I feel awful for putting you in such an uncomfortable position thanks to my thoughtless teasing, so I feel more than obliged to pay this for you..."
"No, seriously. I feel worse for what I said just now... and to be honest, the flirting didn't really bother me so much. My bike was being repaired for the past few days, so I haven't had a chance to make it down the store. I've been reduced to riding a bicycle back and forth to places while my Ducati is out, and the video store is too far away to ride."
Shizuru curiously watched the fidgeting girl who was blushing slightly, avoiding eye contact as though it was the hardest thing in the world to admit that she felt bad for snapping at the older girl. Shizuru didn't really care though, she was still dwelling over the part of the conversation where Natsuki admitted that it wasn't the flirting that kept her away from the store, but rather an issue with her transportation.
Shizuru inwardly cheered. Emotional manipulation did come in handy sometimes after all; The ever-perceptive Shizuru now had a slight crack in Natsuki's defenses to work on - her guilt. And being the oppurtunist that she was, she was going to take the chance to subtly get even closer to the aloof customer of hers.
"Oh, don't worry yourself over that," she spoke, waving her hand as though she were dismissing Natsuki's concern,
"I can understand if my teasing makes you uncomfortable, I know that I can sometimes get out of hand."
"No, not at all! You're teasing is ok, it's just a bit unexpected is all... I mean, you being a girl and me being a girl..."
"Ara! So Natsuki is homophobic?!"
"What? NO! I - I don't judge people on that ki -"
"Oh, Natsuki, I'm ever so dreadfully sorry. I didn't realise that you were a homophobic... no wonder you were so opposed to my teasing. In that case, I'll understand if you don't want me to serve you at the store anymore..."
Natsuki was flustered and panicking. Completely forgetting about being angry earlier, Natsuki was terrified that she had just offended this girl on the grounds of her lifestyle choice. Betraying her cool persona, Natsuki's unconcious concern for hurting people's feelings was overriding her logic. And it kept her from realising that she was like a little rabbit being led with a carrot right into a trap.
Shizuru's eyes flashed with the knowledge of her impending victory. If she continued to stir Natsuki up like this, she was certain that the girl would unwittingly use her own words against herself. Just a little more push...
"Listen... ehh, ma'am..."
"It's Shizuru, but feel free to call me "gay girl" in a derogatory manner if you'd rather not adress me like a person..."
"OI!! I am not like that! I am so totally fine with relationship fluidity, I mean I could even prove it easily so you have to believe me -"
"Natsuki does not have to lie for my sake," Shizuru said, tilting her head sorrowfully but inwardly jumping with glee.
She's mine...
"G-Gah! Trust me, I am so fine with two girls being together that I'll even take you down to dinner at a public place to prove that I am, in no way, HOMOPHOBIC!"
Gotcha, Shizuru smugly
She ended this sentence out of breath, red faced and staring at Shizuru with such determination that Shizuru couldn't even hope to hold up the miserable facade as she visibly brightened and grinned widely.
"Ara..? You will? Natsuki is very kind, I must say."
After a moment of stock-still confusion, Natsuki's mind flooded with coprehension as she recalled the last thing she had blurted out to Shizuru out of fear that the older would burst into tears. Hurriedly, she tried to back-track over her words.
"Wait, about what I said before about the dinner, I -"
"Will pick me up from Legend at 7 tomorrow night?" Shizuru finished for her, her eyes glimering with so much undisguised happiness that Natsuki gave up then and there at any attempt to shake off the event she accidentally conned herself into. She sighed, not bothering to hide her exasperation from Shizuru as she used her fingertips to flick back her bangs and raised her eyes to ceiling to avoid eye contact with Shizuru.
"Yeah, look whatever... but this is going to be a one-off occasion, and only because I made the damn mistake of getting myself stuck into this. Shizuru opened her mouth, about to mention something regarding homophobia once again when Natsuki quickly interjected before her.
"And it's only to prove that I'm not homophobic! I can't have my reputation ruined by some crazy rumour that I'm a pig-headed discriminator."
With that, she lowered her eyes back to Shizuru, the intense worry that was there when she thought she had upset Shizuru had completely vanished now leaving two cool emerald eyes staring at her neutrally.
"Well then, it's settled. Have anywhere in mind that you're going to take me, Natsuki-chan?"
The cool emeralds turned even icier as they narrowed upon Shizuru.
"No -chan. I told you, it's Natsuki, and nothing more informal than that."
Shizuru waited for her to reply about the location she had originally asked, but realising that Natsuki had sunk back into her usual cold, disinterested mood made her begrudgingly admit to herself that further discussion on the topic was a moot point. Oh well. At least she had her dinner date with the irrestible girl, regardless of the fact that Natsuki was uncaring of the occasion and was only interested in proving a point.
After a moment of regarding each other, Natsuki finally turned around to pick up her helmet from the hallway and stepped past Shizuru so she could shut the door behind herself.
"Look, I have somewhere to be. Like you said, I'll pick you up tomorrow night since you finish early."
Shizuru nodded, then remembered that she was cradling a small stack of dvds to her chest.
"Oh, what about these?"
Outstretching her arms, Shizuru held the stack of dvds before Natsuki. The girl stared at them for a few seconds before a tiny smile tugged at her lips.
"Ah, why thank you. Here, help me strap those to my back so I can carry them as I ride."
It took a few split-seconds for Shizuru to register the sarcasm. Oh, right. She's on a bike. That thought tugged a smile at her own lips.
"Ara, I'm sure you'll look absolutely dashing in that form-fitting leather suit with the motorcycle helmet."
Natsuki blushed a furious shade of red.
"No, I'm picking my Ducati up today and will be riding it home! That's why I'm dressed in my motorcycle gear, idiot. I don't normally wear this when I get around!"
"Yes, I can imagine it would look quite strange to see a young girl pedal past the traffic lights pimped out in her biking leathers."
Both girls imagined the absurd image at the same time following Shizuru's statement and they both giggled. The glow in her eyes from the humour and the slight flush in her cheeks made Natsuki look 10x more adorable to Shizuru as she composed herself and reached out to gently push the dvds back into Shizuru.
"You take them back for me. I'll sort out the fee when I see you tomorrow, ne?"
And with a tiny smile, Natsuki brushed past Shizuru and disappeared round the corner of the hallway. After a few moments of joyful reflection on Natsuki's agreement to a "date", Shizuru turned on her heel and blissfully made her way down the corridor also.
Next time:
Shizuru goes to work gushing over her date with Natsuki later that evening while a less-than-supportive Tomoe begins to get jealous of Shizuru's obvious infatuation. Later on Natsuki takes Shizuru out to a meal like they agreed, but does Shizuru have it in her to win Natsuki over by the end of the night and secure another date? Or will she have to resort to her mind games and manipulate Natsuki into seeing her again?
A/N: Too rushed? To OOC? Please send some comments or suggestions for improvement, as I'm always looking to improve my writing style :)