Posted: 26/02/2006
1st Revision: 10/03/2006

一

Stain
Thanks to Astarael00 for beta-ing.

Chapter 2

一

"Do me a favor, Mai, and remind me."

"Hmm?"

"Why are we here again?" She asked dryly.

"To have fun, of course."

"Have fun?" she repeated, as if those words were foreign to her ears.

"Have fun."

"With these clothes you literally forced me into?"

"With these clothes I helped you into."

A grin - suspiciously wide, thought Natsuki - was plastered on the brunette's face.

"Here?"

"Here," echoed the other girl, and her grin got a little wider, if anything.

"Here?" repeated Natsuki, her tone clearly conveying disbelief.

"Here." The former Hime answered firmly, but the twinkle of amusement was certainly not lost in those purple eyes.

Natsuki almost growled. "Tokiha..."

The other raised her hand in mock-surrender. "Alright, alright! Sheesh, loosen up a little, will you?"

"I will when you tell me why are we here." She deadpanned.

Mai glanced at her watch, as if having just remembered something. "Shoot. I'm going to be late for my date."

In some ways, Natsuki envied Mai. She was particularly envious of how easily Mai accepted Yuuichi. The first few weeks between them had been nothing but awkward and strange, mostly because of Shiho. Not long after, however, both of them had somehow got themselves locked in the store room containing all sports equipment.

Overnight.

Natsuki would never have known about Mai's sudden disappearance if Mikoto had not suddenly appeared in the middle of the night - when Natsuki had just came out of the bathroom, having just bathed. Mikoto's face was pressed to the window, eyes wide and...no, no. Bad mind. Bad mind. No thinking about that. Natsuki inwardly shuddered.

They spent the night - or at least, almost the whole night - searching for the brunette. But, alas, without fruitful results. It was raining, and she had just bathed. It took a while to convince Mikoto to stop searching and just wait for Mai in the dorms - Mai could have sought shelter somewhere because of the rain, after all.

Natsuki didn't know how Mikoto did it, but that child somehow cornered her into staying at the dorm that night.

The blue haired girl suspected it was because Mikoto just wanted a big, cuddly pillow to wrap her arms around while sleeping - or that's how Natsuki had felt like, anyway. A big comfort blankie. Interestingly enough, Mai appeared the next morning in the dorms, mouth shaped in an "o" with two raised eyebrows when she saw Mikoto cuddling up to Natsuki.

Needlessly said, Natsuki's expression was fixed in a scowl for the whole day, and Mai was quick to explain she had been somehow locked in the store room with Tate Yuuichi before Natsuki unleashed her wrath.

There were times when she wondered what exactly happened between them that night, and if someone had intentionally locked them up in the room, because things have certainly gotten from awkward to disgustingly intimate. If not for the fact that Mikoto intervened every now and then, Natsuki could have sworn someone had applied the stickiest glue ever created on them.

And as glad as she was for her friend, that didn't mean Mai could ditch her after kidnapping her to this place.

Something was fishy.

Natsuki's green eyes narrowed. "If you have a date, why did you bring me here?"

Mai had the grace to look sheepish.

A little nervous, too.

Right on cue, however, a tall, striking, devilishly handsome man - dressed formally in black pants, blue shirt and a tie - walked towards them.

Natsuki stared.

The corner of Mai's lips twitched to form a smile.

Natsuki watched him carefully, as if not believing her eyes.

His hair was straightened and gelled to the back, with two fringes covering what little they could of his dark eyes.

But she recognized him, still, from the blush he had. Not to mention it was hard to forget someone who had literally seen her half-naked, on two separate occasions. The first occasion didn't really constitute the word half-naked, of course, but...Natsuki inwardly scowled. Oh, enough of that.

"...Takeda?" She said hesitantly, reddening a little at the memory.

He brightened at her recognition. "K-Kuga."

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together, and Natsuki was certainly bright enough to know what had happened.

One, she had been taken down by a surprise attack from Mikoto, who had appeared out of nowhere. Two, when she woke up, she was blind-folded, and her hands was tied. Three, she had the odd feeling her clothes has been changed; they were no longer form-fitting. Instead they felt loose and soft. Four, she had been bullied into absolute silence or risk getting some of her - ahem - "secrets" revealed. Five, when the blindfold and ropes were removed, she was in this...this expensive, French cuisine restaurant. Six, the appearance of Takeda.

Okay, so she may have been a little slow in concluding what was going on; usually she would have figured it out by the fifth point, but her mind had been occupied with various things - and most of them were related to a certain close friend of hers.

"Mai," growled Natsuki, head whirling around to glare at Mai who was...who was...

The blue-haired girl blinked.

...nowhere to be seen.

She stared at where Mai once stood in stunned silence.

Natsuki had been had. Her eyebrow twitched dangerously, and she reached for her phone.

She punched in a few numbers with such incredible speed that Takeda openly gawked.

...Du, du...Du, du...Du -

"Hello? Tokiha speaking."

"You are dead," she told her flatly.

A chortle was heard over the phone.

"Enjoy your date."

"Excuse me? I'm leav - "

"Remember the favor you owe me," interrupted Mai, a little too gleefully for her liking.

Natsuki closed her mouth.

"I swear I will kill you, Mai." She whispered into the phone dangerously, glancing at Takeda with narrowed eyes.

He began to sweat bullets under her glare.

Mai only laughed at that. "Have fun!"

"Mai - "

Click.

Natsuki stared at her phone incredulously.

"...Kuga?" Takeda said cautiously.

She glanced at him. Then to the entrance. Then to her phone. Then back at him.

Kuga Natsuki resisted a very, very strong urge to scream.

一

"Waiter," called Natsuki. Her features had been fixed in a scowl the moment the 'date' had started, and it didn't look like it would change anytime soon.

One came by, hastily. Her murderous expression was certainly doing a very good job of keeping the waiters in line. "Yes, ma'am?"

"I want mayonnaise."

The statement was so said matter-of-factly that it took the waiter (and Takeda) few seconds to decipher.

"Ex-excuse me?"

Her gaze narrowed. "Mayonnaise."

The waiter glanced at her food. Then back at Natsuki's scary, intimidating expression.

She had got to be kidding him. He stared - gawked, actually - at her and her food.

"With...that?"

Aqua green eyes flashed dangerously. "You got a problem with that?"

"Uh, um. No ma'am. Right away." He hurried away.

Takeda cleared his throat.

Her gaze rounded back on him.

"K-Kuga." He was stuttering. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-you look...you look-look..."

Natsuki visibly resisted the urge to snap at him. She mentally banged her head against a wall, and swore, multiple times, at a certain Tokiha whom she was certain was laughing right now. What in the nine hells did she do to deserve this?

He paused, and took in a deep breath.

"Kuga-san," he tried again, and she raised an eyebrow. His backbone seemed to have returned.

"You look..." Another deep breath, "very b-beautiful today." He said, with the straightest and most determined look (with red-tinted cheeks) she had ever seen him wear.

Natsuki blinked at him. His dark eyes were full of sincerity, and she knew he meant it. She wasn't blind, and certainly not dense. Whatever happened in the past that had brought her such embarrassment honestly wasn't his fault. This little...'date', was also a scheme - utterly sly, evil, evil, evil and evil - plotted by Mai and several more whose identity she did not know yet (but she would find out soon), and he had been threatened into attending.

Her green eyes softened just a little. There wasn't really a reason to dump her frustrations on him, really. The poor man had been enduring her annoyance silently, quietly, without complaints.

"Thank you," she nodded awkwardly, in what she hoped to portray as her most nonchalant attitude, her cheeks slightly warmer.

He immediately brightened, lips forming a smile. It was as if her words were the only thing he had been waiting for before he could do...something.

"I - "

"Your mayonnaise, ma'am." The waiter placed a bottle full of mayonnaise on the table, bowed, and left quickly.

Takeda deflated.

Natsuki decided she did not want to ask what he wanted to say, and grabbed the mayonnaise. She uncapped the bottle, and spurted a hefty dose on her food. Some heads have turned towards her - or her food, more specifically - but she ignored them.

Ding.

"Ojou-sama," a man hurried to the entrance - which wasn't too far from where she and Takeda sat. She spied his name tag. He was the manager of this fancy restaurant.

"Tsukasa-san," a lady greeted back, a heavy Kyoto-accent apparent in her soft voice. "How is business coming along?"

Natsuki froze. That voice.

"Excellent, ojou-sama." the manager said respectfully. "Your table has already been prepared, and he is already waiting for you. Please, come this way."

He?

"Oh, my. He's already here? Lead the way, Tsukasa-san."

Shizuru. Shizuru's voice.

Her head whirled around, just in time to see part of Shizuru's face as she turned and walked, before her back faced Natsuki. Shizuru was dressed in light grey, the sleeveless gown made of silk flowing all the way to her legs, and her back was slightly bare, covered only by her long brown hair.

Since when did Shizuru wear western clothes? As far as Natsuki knew, her older friend was always seen with a kimono, and only in the case of a formal event, and not...not this.

Then the manager stopped, and gestured at a table, where another man - tall, fit, obviously muscular - stood up, and walked around the table to pull the chair out.

They were too far away for her to hear them speak by then, but she saw Shizuru smile and took his offered seat.

Natsuki's green eyes wondered upwards to the face of that man Shiziru was supposingly meeting, only to widen.

Kanzaki. Kanzaki Reito.

He fished something out of his pocket.

It was a box, a dark maroon velvet box; he leaned downwards from where he stood - which was behind her - and brought the box to the center of her vision.

He whispered something.

Shizuru blinked at him, then took the box from his open palm, and opened it.

Natsuki watched ruby eyes widen in surprise, and something else glittered in those deep, unusual red eyes that she did not...understand.

Then he said something again, and the brunette nodded.

His smile grew, and he placed the box on the table, two fingers picking up the item inside, showing it to the world.

It was a chain; a silver, glittering chain with a miniature cross, encrusted with little diamonds.

Gently, he lifted her hair away, and put on the chain for her.

"Whoa," said Takeda.

He had been watching along with her.

"I thought it was just rumors, but it looks like they are really together."

Together? If he was talking about the rumors back in those days before Shizuru graduated, that was certainly not true. This, Natsuki knew.

But Takeda wasn't referring to that.

"Just the other day, a classmate of mine claimed he saw Kaichou - err, I mean, Fujino and Reito walking together at the seashore."

Seashore?

Shizuru's offered him another smile, her head tilting to meet his eyes. Natsuki wondered if she imagined it, but it seemed bright and sincere - a smile Shizuru had offered to Natsuki alone, in the past.

Then his head dropped lower.

Natsuki watched; she could see, clearly, that there was acceptance, understanding...and a little sadness, in those burgundy eyes.

Shizuru's eyes closed slowly.

Their lips touched.

Natsuki could only stare, eyes wide.

Somehow, just...somehow, it felt wrong.

He was kissing her.

So wrong.

Well, if that didn't surprise you, I don't know what will. XD

Let's, however, get things straight. I am aware of Reito's feelings for Mai, as is Shizuru's feelings for Natsuki, as is Natsuki's to Shizuru. So don't worry about that part, because, like I said, I'm well aware of it. As to what exactly is happening...well, wait and see?

Though, I will admit this is a rather big twist to what I had been thinking of before...I guess things will get interesting for both the readers and myself. As usual, I won't claim to have quick updates - as it mostly depends on how inspired I am, how (not) lazy I am, and, of course, real life situations. Not to mention the little twist in plot.

Moving on to the main agenda, I need a refresher course on Mai HiME. It's been a very long time since I last watched show, and I don't think I have a very good grasp on characters. Takeda's probably one of them, I think, depending on how off I portrayed him in this chapter. I'm suspecting this chapter isn't as good as I hoped it to be, and I will revise it sooner or later. Any opinions, my dear readers?

Trust me when I say this: I will watch back the series at any chance I get. My brother dumped the series somewhere, and now we can't find it, and now I'm ready to kick him. Sigh. Typical males for throwing things around. If you hadn't figured it out, I had actually been counting on my memory alone, and from what summaries of Mai Hime episodes I found on the net to portray characters.

I will manage. Somehow. One way or another. I think. Though that doesn't mean I'm not asking for help, I'm afraid. Can someone tell me if I'm right about thinking Natsuki is older than Mai? By a year? And if that's the case, how much younger is she to Shizuru?

...Actually, my memory's gone so bad I did just rather ask the age of all characters, and in what year of high/middle school they are in, by the time the series ended. Except for Shizuru, Suzushiro and Reito, of course - they are in university. (Though I still can't remember the age.) And where, exactly, does Natsuki live?

In anycase - my thanks for the reviews. I will be sure to keep them all in mind, especially one particular part mentioned by Vega62a. Interstate 405 had raised a good point, as well. And so...any willing volunteers to beta? XD

Until next time,
Eagle8819