Posted: 30/05/2007
一
Stain
Thanks to Astarael00 for beta-ing.
Chapter 10
一
we're drifting out,
like all the ones we didn't know,
I wait for a silent tear,
I wait for things to disappear...
- "Waiting Game," Yellowcard
一
"Fujino-san?"
Shizuru jerked slightly, startled by the tentative voice. When had the nurse come in?
"Ye - " She stopped. Her throat felt dry, and she pursed her lips, wetting her tongue. "Yes?" she repeated, voice clearer now.
"I will need to take your blood pressure and check your temperature, Fujino-san."
The brunette paused at that. Check-up sessions usually occurred in intervals of six or twelve hours. It was a standard medical procedure performed on most patients. It was nothing strange in itself, but it still begged the question.
The sky was bright now.
How long had she spent looking out the window, lost in her thoughts?
"Of course," Shizuru said instead, gesturing for the nurse to continue with her duty. She spied the nametag that flashed under the room's light. "Iku-san."
Said nurse spared a glance at Shizuru's placid features, before approaching.
Maple eyes, haunted and soulless, made Iku pause. She gave the young woman a closer look, but the despairing look was gone. Her imagination?
There was a smile on Shizuru's face now. A completely natural, airy smile.
But for some reason, that smile sent a chill down the nurse's spine.
"Iku-san?"
Iku blinked, startled, and quickly got to work.
"Ah, y-yes, of course. I will be taking your temperature now, Fujino-san."
"Ookini."
Shizuru smiled again.
A smile that was perfect and broken all the same.
一
"Good evening...Kuga-san?"
Natsuki whirled around, and blinked once, twice.
"Alyssa." A pause. "Miyu."
The blonde girl inclined her head to a side from Miyu's shoulder, and the android let her down gently.
There was a bouquet of lilies in Alyssa's small hands.
"Quite a coincidence," the blue-eyed girl smiled. "I did not think I would see you here."
"You knew my mother?" Natsuki blurted out, surprised. There was no reason why, other than to say prayers to her dead mother, anyone would be here at the cliff.
The sound of crashing waves disturbed the brief silence.
"...I did, in a manner of speaking."
Green eyes narrowed. "In a manner of speaking?"
Alyssa nodded. "Yes."
Thoughts and speculations whirled in Natsuki's mind. That girl couldn't have possibly known her mother when she was alive; Alyssa hadn't even been born yet. So then what - Searrs? Her mother was a researcher, a scientist; but what does she have to do with Alyssa? Natsuki knew that Alyssa was an experiment child with ingrained abilities of a Hime, but only that. So how are they -
" - Kuga-san?"
"Natsuki," she replied, almost without realizing.
The young ojou-sama blinked.
There was an uncomfortable pause; but now that the black-haired girl had said it, she forced herself to continue. "Call me Natsuki."
A small smile formed on Alyssa's face. Her blue eyes seemed to have grown brighter.
"Natsuki-san, then."
Natsuki did not know how to take that. What the hell was that expression supposed to mean? It was just a name, but that reaction...
"Ojou-sama," Miyu called, "We need to go soon."
Alyssa glanced at her guardian. "Yes, of course."
The small girl walked over to Natsuki, standing not quite near her and not too far from her, looked out to the ocean and orange sky, closed her eyes briefly, and threw the flowers to the ocean.
Then, as Natsuki watched, the blonde clasped her hands together in a silent prayer.
It was only a brief moment, and Alyssa walked back to her guardian, who picked her up.
"Goodbye, Natsuki-san."
"Bye."
And they were gone.
She stared at the empty space for a few seconds, before slapping her forehead.
"Idiot," she mumbled. "You were supposed to ask how she knows Mother before they left."
一
How exactly did Alyssa know her mother?
Almost by instinct, she outlined a plan to investigate Alyssa's identity. Start with Searrs, check with Yamada, infiltrate their facilities and obtain information on Alyssa's background and -
Natsuki stopped. A grimace formed on her face.
It was so easy to fall back to old practices, even if she did not need to. She could just ask the blonde, and skip all the hassle.
And besides...
Everything was over, wasn't it? The carnival, the First District, Searrs...
...her mother...
She grunted, and glared at the setting sun.
No, she thought. Everything had been settled, and there was no need to investigate any further.
The black haired girl flexed her fingers subconsciously, feeling the numbness and sharp jabs of pain in her muscles.
Shizuru.
She almost regretted flexing her fingers. It was so easy to be reminded of her current problem.
Natsuki tore her gaze away, and walked over to her bike.
Shizuru.
She picked up her helmet, and swept her hair to a side with her free hand.
Shizuru.
Shizuru Shizuru -
Natsuki's handphone rang.
Distracted, she pulled it out from her pocket and flicked it open.
"What?"
"The usual place."
"Yamada?"
Click.
Du du...du du..
Natsuki snapped her handphone shut, frowning. She got on the bike, fastened her helmet, and sped down the road.
The rain started to pour, hard and fast.
一
Something like a little ball of warmth rolled down Shizuru's cheek, and she blinked.
What...
She lifted a finger to her cheek, and felt moisture.
Again, she blinked.
Was it raining?
Burgundy eyes looked up into the grey sky, and her ears heard the growl.
Drizzling.
Absently, she lifted both hands up, and felt the cold droplets of water falling onto her palms.
It was...drizzling.
A little smile grew on her face.
How fitting it was.
Her eyes closed, and she allowed the water to wash over her.
The drizzle was turning into rain.
There was a spark of pain that came from the back of her right palm, which she ignored.
Even healed cuts could hurt?
The dull throb on her back was marginally harder to ignore, but she, by sheer will alone, ignored it.
Gentle pattering, little splashes on the ground...they were turning into a harsh yet beautiful melody, and the falling droplets almost hurt.
Almost soothed.
Almost comforted.
She wondered if she was crying, but it was hard to tell, with the rain.
She didn't move, just stood there.
She didn't know how long she stood there.
She didn't care how long she stood there.
She didn't -
"Fujino?"
Crimson eyes opened, slowly.
Her vision was somewhat hazy, but she could see red hair, and green eyes.
Green eyes...
No, she stopped herself. Don't think about that.
"Fujino?" repeated that voice again, and this time there was a hint of concern in there.
"Yuuki-san," Shizuru replied, almost automatically. The name came to her so suddenly that even Shizuru herself was surprised.
Yuuki Nao? Why was she...?
The rain stopped their painful hammering on her suddenly, as if something had shaded her. But she could still hear the pattering of the rain, hitting a surface above her.
"What are you doing here in the rain, Fujino?" The redhead was holding something akin to a...long, thin stick, in between them?
Umbrella, probably.
It was getting harder to see.
"I..."
Her legs felt numb.
"F-Fujino!"
Warm arms enveloped her.
She felt a slender hand on her forehead, brushing away damp brown hair.
"You're standing out in this damned rain with a fever?" That tone was full of disbelief.
She wanted to say something, but her mouth seemed to clamp shut by itself.
"What are you, stupid? I figured you had more logic than most people, Fujino!"
So full of sarcasm, she thought bemusedly.
Despite the numbness that spread to her whole body, she felt a pressure going around her waist, and her arm lifted over something.
"Ah, you...now I'm going to get wet too," grumbled Nao, and begun to walk, somehow obtaining the strength to half carry and half drag her. "I'm bringing you to the dorms, and making that gunslinger do the rest of the work."
Shizuru stiffened.
"No," she said abruptly, the word coming out by itself.
But it was so soft, so soft like a little croak, and she wondered if Nao had heard her.
The redhead paused.
She did.
"Not the dorms," Shizuru managed to say with some difficulty, her whisper so quiet the other barely heard it. Even a dump would be acceptable compared to having to see her.
She felt a pair of eyes fixed on her contemplatively, even when she could barely see.
The darkness was beginning to overwhelm her.
"...Where's your apartment then, Fujino?" Nao said finally, the tone - Shizuru wondered if she imagined it - gentle, this time.
"...Rikas's..Ather..."
Her vision turned pitch black.
"Fujino!"
一
"She fascinates me."
A tone filled with wonder.
"Does she now?"
"Yes," she whispered. Slender fingers, as if of their own will, reached out to touch the still image on the screen.
"Why?"
"She's...amazing. Beautiful," she murmured. "So strong yet so delicate, so graceful...so...perfect..."
"Do you want her?"
His voice had the loving rumbles of a kind father wanting to appease his child.
"Yes," she breathed out again.
He smiled.
It was not a nice smile, but she did not notice, fixated as she was on the figure in the screen.
"And have her, you shall."
She turned away from the screen, and stared at him with shining eyes.
A child.
"Really?"
He let out a deep chuckle.
"When have I not given you what you want, my dear?"
But then she faltered. "She is spoken for, is she not?"
He pursed his lips.
"By that man," she spat out that word venomously. Her once loving tone was suddenly hateful and poisonous.
"Only by name," he countered. "We have watched them. Their affections toward each other are no more than friends or brother and sister."
He was lying. The reports had said otherwise.
"But they have kissed! They have had spent a night together, didn't they?"
At that he shrugged, masking the truth and weaving a beautifully imperfect lie for her. "They are careful people, my dear. Did you honestly think they would not do what it takes to put a facade on?"
She paused at that. "You are right," she admitted. "But..."
He waited for her to speak, to say the words he wanted to hear.
"Her heart? How about her heart? Does she..." her throat constricted, and she almost could not force the words out. "Does she have anyone in her heart that she holds dear?"
His smile widened.
She had spoken what he needed to hear.
"Yes," he sighed quietly, sympathy lacing his voice. "Her heart is taken."
She breathed in sharply. "Who?"
"Kuga Natsuki."
"What?" She stared at him in disbelief. "Kuga Natsuki? That...that imperfect girl? That girl who got her injured?"
"Yes," he said, sorrow in his voice.
There was a split second of silence, before she growled. "Unworthy."
He nodded in agreement. "Indeed. And so we must remove her."
"Yes," she bit her lip in agitation, turning back to the screen. "Yes, we must."
He smiled again; a twisted, ugly smile.
"And we shall, Tomoe-chan."
A/N
Heh. So as you (and I) had hoped, this chapter is out quick.
But, no, on the other hand, Tomoe is a new twist in the plot, and I'm not entirely sure where to go with her. I had no plans to bring Otome characters into the fic, and I still don't. Except maybe Tomoe. There needs to be a crazy (rabid) Shizuru fan somewhere, after all.
Progress on later chapters have also progressed more smoothly than before, because major chunks of scenes had been written much earlier. So that goes without saying, and though I won't guarantee anything, next chapter should not take four months.
But I will admit, I did not think 2-3 days will take this many chapters. I get the feeling that this story will be a span of 20-30 chapters, maybe more. We will see.
(And as far as the ShizNat confrontation is concerned, it will happen soon enough.)
Stay tuned,
Eagle