A/N: wow took me long.. damn i got sick these past few days and last wednesday was my bday... thanks to those who greeted me through text and facebook ^-^
well here's chapter 19 of transfer school... i just noticed, many of you guys liked this fic rather than the others... sorry if i can't update fast enough, it's hard being a 4th year college of a programming course... T-T
Chapter 19: extra curricular activities
"May I know who this fair lady is so that I can ask her for a dance?" Natsuki said valiantly, offering her hand towards the brunette infront of her. She has a dashing gentlewoman's smile that made everyone in the grassy field look at her dreamily and squealed.
The brunette whom Natsuki had asked for the name, reached out to grab her hand and be swiftly pulled up to stand up. She gave her a sweet smile as gratitude in helping her stand up. "Ara! it was sweet of you prince, but I must decline in answering who I am. But maybe I can give the prince her dance isf she wants to." She smiled and gently placed a hand over Natsuki's shoulder and waist, positioning themselves to a waltz.
But the sudden physical contact and sweetness in the brunette's voice made Natsuki blush furiously and her knees becoming weak, making her kneel down to the grass. "ah I can't do this!" she yelled out in frustration. She slumped down to the grass and turn over where she faced crimson eyes looking back at her. "I can't do this! This is lame!" she said out annoyingly.
Minamo, who was watching them together with the other student council members, stomped towards natsuki and hit her head with a rolled out soft bound book. "sempai! If you don't cooperate, your grades will be pulled down and you'll be pulled out of the setokai!" She whined, swaying the book up and down.
They were rehearsing for a small skit of a play as Natsuki's extracurricular project in her advance literature class since she had been giving her teacher glares whenever the opportunity to get close to Shizuru pops in her teacher's head and thus leaving her studies neglected. With the help of the setokai and the charms of the Kyoto-ben transfer student, they had persuaded their teacher to give Natsuki another chance. And the condition that their teacher gave to them is that Natsuki is to show a romantic skit that would make everyone in their advance literature class squeal in excite.
It was Minamo who prepared the 'cinderella dancing skit' for Natsuki and she had picked Shizuru as Cinderella since when she wanted to ask Kanade to play the part, she felt the temperature drop and two icy stares looked at her. One was from Nanaho and the other was from Shizuru. the Fuuka transfer student suggested to be the Cinderella since she was Natsuki's classmate and she clearly pointed out that she can help Natsuki boost her grades dramatically.
Natsuki sat up and rubbed her head where Minamo had hit her. She has annoyance printed all over her face but she couldn't let herself hurt the child. She harshly pointed the almost fainting fan girls with cartolinas in their hands watching them and growled. "why do we have to practice out here of all places?! Those 'Kaichou#1', 'Shizuru-megami', and I don't even wanna say what those fan girls wrote up with my name on it; are out here, distracting everything!" She crossed her arms and furrowed her brows. But her furrowing brows had ceased to furrow and turned to surprise when warm arms engulfed her into a gentle hug.
"ara, is my Natsuki already tired of practicing? We haven't even practiced the 'kissing' scene. Fufufufu." Shizuru, the one playing as Cinderella, teased. She snuggled closer to the blunette, with her head rested at Natsuki's back and her arms tightening its hold.
"SHIZURU!" Natsuki yelled out in surprise. she tried to struggle away from Shizuru's hold but the brunette's grip was tight and she couldn't do much of a movement.
The other council members decided to approached them and see why their prince charming had stopped practicing. They all sat near Natsuki who was still being hugged by Shizuru and Minamo who was reading the script.
"heh! I bet you're having fun in this huh Natsuki-san?" Nanaho taunted, grinning like a Cheshire cat. She has her arms crossed as she was seated near Kanade.
Natsuki raised her fist, giving Nanaho a death glare. She was about to retort but Shizuru pulled her back and Kanade suddenly held her raised fist. She blushed upon the two body contact and she swiped her hand away from Kanade's hold and she freed herself from Shizuru's hug. "Tch! I'll go back to the dorms. I don't care if I flunk advance lit, it's just a minor subject for me anyway." Natsuki said gruffly, standing up from the grass and walking away towards the dorms.
"oh my, I think Natsuki's in a bad mood." Kanade said worriedly, looking at the fleeing Natsuki. she looked at everyone who wasn't even worried at Natsuki.
"Natsuki-sempai's always in a bad, awful, dire mood!" Rein commented, nodding her head a few times. She was smirking knowingly that Natsuki was indeed always in a bad temper when people tend to get close to her.
Shizuru chuckled at Rein's way of speaking. The girl indeed amazed her with a synonymous sentences and she just couldn't help but chuckle. "ara, Rein-chan even if Natsuki's in a bad mood, she does look cute with it." she smiled making the gambler blush a bit.
"mou I can't let this stop here! I even made the script for her!" Minamo whined, tapping her foot to the grass. Her sister, Siena, beamed a smile and pulled her to a sisterly hug. "let her rest Minamo. Surely she had been blushing mentally at the whole skit practice and being with Shizuru-san might added that blush." she giggled seeing Natsuki flinch a little during their earlier practice when Shizuru held Natsuki's hand affectionately.
Everyone looked at the calm Shizuru who was waving at her own set of fans. They all sweatdropped when they saw half of her fans fainted and was caught by their co-fans. Seeing this made them realize why Natsuki hated fan girls and why was she always in a bad mood when they are outside the dorms.
"ne, ne, I think Shizuru-san should stop with entertaining the fans, aficionados, devotees!" Rein pointed out, snapping Shizuru from her 'must-please-fans' mode.
Since all of them are sitting at the grass, basking under the clearness of the blue sky and the gentle warm rays of the bright sun, the land lady came over to them carrying a basket which was filled with their supposed to be lunch. They all thanked the landlady and spread out the white/black checkered blanket and happily took out the packed lunch that was prepared for each of them.
"ara, ookini landlady. But can I ask, did Natsuki already eating her lunch?" Shizuru asked the landlady.
With a smiling nod and offering of green tea, the landlady said "ehe!" Shizuru gladly took the tea from her and took a calming sip from it. she also gave everyone green tea though Rino, Minamo and Nanaho ignored it, saying the tea was too bitter for them.
Kuon, who was silently eating her lunch which was a bento full of ceasar salad, smiled and looked at the slightly worried fuuka exchange student. "don't worry about her so much Shizuru-san. She is your bodyguard and also, she is capable of taking care of her own." She said knowingly since she had observed the seitokai bodyguard's daily routine.
"Kuon's right. even if Natsuki-san eats a lot of Mayonnaise which is a fattening substance, she does stay fit in her state. Though even the covert can't explain how she does that." Siena assured with a playful smile across her face. she then wiped her little sister's face who was smothered with some sandwich spread from the sandwich that she was eating.
Kanade looked at the direction of the dorms and sighed a little. She was also worried about Natsuki and she felt uneasy that they were all eating together but Natsuki wasn't there to join them. She has a slightly troubled look but her worries subsided when she felt a hand hold hers. She look beside her and saw Nanaho smiling at her.
"don't worry kaichou. She would be fine. Beside if you show that worried face of yours, Rino will be the one worried about you."
Hearing how the assault leader was also sure that Natsuki would be fine alone in the dorms, Shizuru had breathe easily and focused on her own lunch and decided to go and see Natsuki after eating. 'maybe she does need some alone-time.'
At the dorms, Natsuki was in her room, drawing at a parchment paper with her spaghetti with mayonnaise lunch just beside her. she was drawing the whole Cinderella incident in which she was prince charming and Shizuru was Cinderella. She drew herself, wearing a tuxedo with her hair tied in a ponytail and she was offering her hand towards Shizuru with a gentleman's smile. Shizuru who was drawn wearing a Drop-waist taffeta ball gown with criss-cross bodice and beaded straps and side detailing and showing a sweet true smile while her hand is gently placed atop of Natsuki's offered hand. The drawing's background features ther classroom, which was the blackboard beside them that was decorated with fancy curtains and ribbons.
'this is too picture perfect… and only picture perfect.' She sighed as she finished her drawing and placed her pencil down to the table. she felt her stomach rumbling and decided to start eating her food before she faints from lack of mayonnaise filled lunch.
Taking her plate of spaghetti towards the balcony, she gaze out to where she left the seitokai and placed her food down to the wide handrail. She leaned her sides to the handrail and jabbed her fork to her food, carefully mixing her mayo into the spaghetti as she also observe the seitokai's activities. She smiled knowing that Shizuru somehow didn't change. Always showing her fans her façade smile, accommodating to them like she actually cares and being just plain beautiful. She sighed and took a fork full of her food and placed it in her mouth. 'Shizuru… I wonder… did you ever think I'm not like your fans that likes you yet can't see who you are?' she wondered. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift on her past.
~flashback, a few weeks after Natsuki met Shizuru~
They were at the rose garden and Shizuru had just finished with her council meeting. They were going to have their usual lunch together and she was waiting for the fuuka kaichou to come and have lunch. Her heart fluttered seeing how Shizuru gracefully walked towards her with a smile that she knew that she's the only one to be given.
"Natsuki! look I found this addressed to me during our meeting." A smiling Shizuru said, showing her a parchment paper with a drawing of herself in a flower garden, smiling. "though I wonder who drew this, the only clue is 'K'." Shizuru wondered, sitting next to her at the bench.
She smiled back and mentally blushed seeing how Shizuru was happy to receive her drawing. She mentally sighed in relief knowing that Shizuru didn't suspect her as the artist who drew the artwork. "maybe one of your fans drew that for you." she said coldly, maintaining her 'ice princess' image. She smirked and grabbed her mayo sandwich from her bag and took a huge bite at it.
She drew that drawing for Shizuru. She wanted to express her feeling to her friend in a way she can't be known and for her friend not to be disgusted in her type of feelings. She assumed Shizuru was straight since she never showed any interest in the same sex, thus giving her the fear of confessing and being rejected aswell as losing her most precious friend.
"I wonder who drew this. The way the drawing seems so realistic, so full of emotions that the artist pour everything he or she feels." Shizuru explained, still admiring the drawing.
'hell she noticed that?! Please don't let her think it's me who drew it.' she mentally hoped, trying hard to coop up her inner feelings. When she saw no sign of Shizuru crossing in her mind that she drew the artwork, she sighed in relief. "heh! I bet your fans just want you to know they love you. they are crazy afterall, following you around and saying Shizuru-sama or Fujino-sama." she snickered, swallowing up the last piece of her mayo sandwich.
Shizuru playfully slapped her shoulder and chuckled at her comment. She laughed aswell for a few moments until she felt warm arms enclosed her in a gentle hug. she blushed feeling Shizuru and inhaling the brunette's sweet tea scent as she couldn't move away.
"I don't need their affection. Natsuki's all the affection I need. It's true and not a blind affection that everyone has." Shizuru whispered to her. She felt her heart soaring at what she heard and was yelling out to confess her locked up feelings. She denied what her heart says and wriggled her way out of her friend's hug with a full face blush.
"mou! Don't hug me and say stupid stuff like that! Geez!" she whined, sliding away from Shizuru and using the movement to hide her suddenly shivered body. 'thank god for my bad ass attitude! If I didn't moved away, I she might felt me shivering at her touch.' She nervously glared at her friend which somehow had no effect.
Shizuru chuckled and stood up from the bench and smiled at her. "even if you say those, I know you don't mean that what I said was stupid. Now c'mon, those people might realize where to look and finally come across this paradise of ours." She took out a violet cloth and wiped the small mayonnaise smudge on the blunette's cheek and gave the cloth to her. "
She looked at Shizuru and then at the cloth. At first she was hesitant to hold it but the fact that Shizuru might be sad if she declined crossed her mind. 'sad Shizuru=big nono!' she took the brunette's hand and stood up with her aid. "thanks…" she mumbled, grabbing the handkerchief and stuffing them at her uniform's pockets.
"ara, then shall we go back to our rooms? I shall be waiting later for my ride Nat-su-ki" Shizuru playfully smiled and left her but with the gesture to follow her back to school grounds. With a snort and a smirk, she followed her kaichou friend with the thought of another happy lunch. 'how I wish you know how much I enjoy your company, Shizuru.'
~end of flashback~
The bell rang which indicate that lunch was over snapped Natsuki from her reminisce. She was still at her room's balcony and had finished her food. She sighed as she gazes back to the whole seitokai and saw that they aren't there anymore. She picked up her utensils and turned around to the direction of her room but when she had turned around, she almost dropped her plate when she saw Shizuru, leaning at the door frame with a sweet smile plastered on her face.
"ara, it's nice you finally noticed me my Nat-su-ki." Shizuru said melodiously. She pushed off from the door frame and approached the startled blunette. "I've been calling you for a few times now."
Natsuki blinked a few times and blushed upon processing what her brunette friend told her. 'damn! I must've been too occupied in what I was thinking that I didn't hear her!' she mentally scolded herself. She cursed silently and looked at Shizuru. "sorry… you need anything?" she asked coldly.
The brunette looked at what Natsuki was carrying and took it away from her hands. Though seeing the small yellowy substance that had stick to the plate's surface brought her internal shivers, she maintained her composure and held the plate. "it's nice that Natsuki ahd finished her meal, despite the fact she was too deep in thought to unconsciously eat her own lunch." She said, chuckling slightly as she remembers Natsuki eating her lunch in a trance-like state.
The blunette's mouth fell open. Her face turned into red and she felt herself being an idiot infront of Shizuru. she felt a hand gently closed her open mouth and brushed it by her flared up cheeks. she felt the hand rested itself atop of her cheek and she found herself staring at crimson eyes.
Crimson was also staring at emeralds. The deep green pools of which she had missed over when the blunette had left her. she watched her own reflection from the blunette's eyes, reading what's behind those gleams. She felt her lips tugged up, forming a mischievous smile when she saw the red hue across the blunette's cheeks. she removed her hand that's been resting n Natsuki's cheek and she shifted her gaze onto the blunette's whole face. "is Natsuki liking what she sees?" she teased, snapping Natsuki out of her lost gaze.
Immediately after hearing and seeing Shizuru's tease, Natsuki's brows furrowed and she grabbed the plate from the brunette's hands. "baka!" she grumbled, stomping away from the brunette. She exited her room, thinking that she had to get away from Shizuru and that she also has to return her plate back to the kitchen.
Shizuru just chuckled. She knew that her tease had made Natsuki slight annoyed again but she was sure that it didn't push the blunette into anger. She turned around and walked towards the railings. She sighed and looked at the scenery of the whole Miyagami gakuen. "this place is amazing. I guess Natsuki must've been happy here." She mused, looking to the campus grounds, the green forest and the clear ocean. she laughed when she saw some of hers, Natsuki's and Kanade's fans gathered by the tree at the grass fields. "it seems wherever I go, I get to be followed by my fans." She chuckled.
She turned around and leaned herself to the railings, closing her ruby eyes she held her breath for a second as she tried to reminisce her past. "Natsuki…"
At the dorm kitchen, Natsuki had just finished cleaning her plate and returned it to the dish cabinet. She felt her nose itch and she sneezed a little loud, making the landlady, which is cleaning the table counter, look at her. "sorry… water must've entered my nose." She apologized, rubbing her nose with her violet handkerchief.
"ehe?" the landlady looked at what Natsuki was holding and tilted hr head.
Natsuki's left brow rose and looked at what the landlady was looking at. "oh this?" she raised her handkerchief to the level of her nose. "someone very close to me gave me this when I was in junior high." She explained, tucking the cloth back to her pockets. She smiled softly and bowed her head to the landlady. "well that was an awesome lunch. Thank you." she left the kitchen and headed back to her room. 'thank god today is rest day. I can relax without thinking about school work or bodyguarding the two.' She mentally sighed in relief as she made her way to the stairs.
"oh is that you Natsuki? will you please help me find Rino?" a worried Kanade asked, stopping Natsuki from her tracks.
"Rino's missing? I thought that kid clings to you like glue?" Natsuki asked flatly, her mind laughing a bit at how she refer the puppeteer to her charge. She always saw Rino near Kanade whenever they have free time and since the kid was practically Kanade's loving cousin, she don't want the kid to be sad. Then she remembered she saw Rino playing with Minamo and Nanaho by the living area. She found it odd that Nanaho was playing with the two but she ignored it since she was on her way to the kitchen.
"hey, I think I saw her by the living area. She was with Nanaho and minamo." She pointed the living area with a bored look on her face.
Kanade's worried look lightens and she sighed in relief hearing that Rino was safe with Nanaho. "Rino had nightmares last night and I'm afraid of making her feel alone." She explained.
Natsuki nods her head and excused herself. "I know that kid's alone by name but she has you and the whole seitokai as her family. Don't worry too much about her." she said before leaving Kanade and making her way back to her room. 'damn I'm so cool!' she mentally smirked at how she saw Kanade's relieved reaction at her words.