Saturday evening, Shizuma knocked on Miyuki's door.

"Come in!"

"Miyuki, I'm going out. Wanna come?"

"No. I'm still not feeling all that well. And I promised Tamao I'd have time for a phone call."

Shizuma looked hard at her friend. "Do you feel guilty?"

Miyuki smiled. "No, I don't. It's just that we've barely spoken for the last three weeks."

"Must be awful to be so busy that you barely have time to even talk."

"It is. But you know how it was with Nagisa."

"Hai. But Nagisa wasn't student council president and member of the poetry club, on top of all her school work. And I don't do as many study groups as you do."

"Well, you know how much being at college means to me. Just a few months ago, I didn't think I'd ever go to college." Miyuki smiled.

"I know." Shizuma smiled back at her friend. "Listen, I've got to go. Arrigato for pulling me out of my funk yesterday."

"That's what friends are for. You look hot, by the way." Miyuki said, eying her friend's black tank top and impossibly tight jeans.

"Thanks."

Shizuma closed the door and went to catch the cab that would take her to Ran's home, where she and her friends were meeting.

Finally there, she rang the doorbell.

"Shizuma!" Ran opened the door and pulled the young woman into a hug, kissing her on both cheeks. Shizuma returned the hug and the kisses.

"Ryo, Naoko and Hiro are here already. Suki and Kenji should be on their way." She said.

Shizuma entered the living room, greeting the others.

"I thought Toya was coming, too." she said.

"Yeah, she was, but her sister called. She's lovesick, and she needed Toya." Ryo said, pulling Naoko closer.

"Oh, too bad."

"Can I get you anything to drink, beautiful?" Ran asked.

The silver-haired beauty smiled at the compliment. "I'll have some wine."

"Red?"

"Sure."

"So, did you and Miyuki get home okay last night?" Hiro asked.

"We did."

"Good. You were pretty smashed, both of you."

"We had a hell of a hangover, but thanks to aspirin and coffee, I'm fine now."

"Sounds like our breakfast." Ryo smirked.

"But it was a really cool night." Hiro grinned. "Glad to have you back, Shizu-chan."

"Miyuki persuaded me to come. I'm glad she did."

"Where's Miyuki tonight?" Naoko asked.

"She wanted to stay home. She said she wasn't feeling all that well, and she has a phone date with Tamao."

Suki and Kenji entered the room. After exchanging hellos with the others, they found a place to sit down.

"So, what are we going to do tonight?" Kenji asked.

"Let's play Risk." Ran suggested.

"You can play it with up to six people, but we're seven." Ryo pointed out.

"I'm so bad at strategy compared to the rest of you, I'll pair up with…" Ran looked around. "Shizuma."

"Big surprise." Hiro said under his breath. Suki overheard and giggled.

"Well, if you are okay with that?" Shizuma looked at her other friends questioningly.

"Sure, you can pair up."

Four hours and an exciting game later, Ran and Shizuma had managed to lose astronomically, mainly due to the fact that they'd spent most of the game flirting heavily instead of playing.

"What's going on here?" Suki whispered into Hiro's ear.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"She's your best friend."

"I have no idea. She's never reacted to Ran's flirting before. But she also wasn't single before."

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well, we're calling it a night." Naoko said and pulled his boyfriend to his feet.

"Thanks for the game. Good to know I'm still the champion." Ryo grinned as they were walking out the door.

"How about you, Suki? Are you ready to leave?" Kenji asked his girlfriend.

"Sure."

"Okay, then I can take you home. I've got a handball game tomorrow, so I really need to get to bed." He yawned. "How are you getting home, Hiro?"

Oh, I'll help Ran clean up, then I'll catch a cab."

Ran turned to look at him. "You don't have to help. Shizuma and I can manage."

"Really?" He looked questioningly at his best friend.

"Sure." She smiled at him.

"Okay. Can you take me home, too, Kenji?"

"That's why I asked." He grinned.

They gathered up their jackets and bags. As Hiro hugged Shizuma goodbye, he whispered: "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course. Don't worry about me."

The three left.

Ran turned to Shizuma, a big smile on her face.

"Let's get this place cleaned up."

Half an hour later, they were sitting on the sofa. Soft music was playing and scattered candles gave off dim light. Ran poured a glass of wine, which she handed Shizuma.

"Thank you for helping me clean up." she said, settling down close to the silver-haired beauty.

"This is a very nice way of thanking me." Shizuma's voice was a soft purr. "Nice, but unusual."

Ran smiled as she took Shizuma's arm and slipped it around herself. "I thought unusual would suit you."

Leaning her forehead on the side of Ran's head, the emerald-eyed whispered: "I think you're trying to seduce me."

Shizuma's soft breath on her ear and the husky voice were sending shivers down Ran's spine.

"What if I am?"

"Then I'm curious how you plan to continue."

That caused Ran to hold her tongue. Truth was, Shizuma was way out of her league. She was so curious about how a night with the emerald-eyed woman would be, but she had no idea how to seduce her.

"Well…I…" she stuttered.

The silver-haired beauty let out a sexy, rumbling laugh.

"You have no idea how to continue, right?"

"Right." Ran whispered.

"But you want me?" Her lips were almost touching Ran's ear.

Another shiver whispered down the brown-haired woman's spine. She'd longed for a situation like this for such a long time.

"Yes, I want you." she answered.

Shizuma slipped one leg over Ran's, straddling her.

The gray eyes looked at her with a mixture of lust, nervousness, excitement, and just a hint of fear. Almost forgotten sensations and memories came back as the predator in Shizuma slowly awakened and stretched. Seeing that mixture of emotions in a girl's eye made the game interesting.

"Then kiss me." the predator whispered.

Ran moved forward, lightly placing her lips on Shizuma's, then pulling away again. The gray-eyed woman was trembling. With a smile, the silver-haired leaned forward and kissed her friend. Kissed her softly. Kissed her temptingly. Kissed her until she moaned. Ran's hands clenched on Shizuma's shoulders, her nails digging into the emerald-eyed woman's skin.

The silver-haired moaned as the nails pricked her skin, the sharp pain heightening her lust.

Ran pulled back. "I want you." she panted. "I really want you. But I have no idea what to do."

"Just do whatever you feel like doing." Shizuma kissed her cheek. "And if I do something you don't want, tell me." she whispered.

She kissed the brown-haired woman's lips again. Ran's hands hesitantly stroked across her friend's body.

'We're not getting anywhere like this,' Shizuma thought to herself. Smiling, she peeled off her clothing and Ran's, then manoeuvred them into the bedroom. There, she pushed Ran onto the bed, slid on top of her and sent her into lustful oblivion.

"She's had about 15 different girls in the last month. Even at school she wasn't that bad. I think Suki's the only one she hasn't tried to bed yet." Miyuki said, setting down her coffee cup.

"That's because Suki's with Kenji." Toya said. "Poor you. You're really losing out on something." she went on, turning to Suki.

"Toya, come on, be serious!" Miyuki was impatient. And jealous, she grudgingly admitted to herself.

"I'm sorry, but that night was so awfully hot…" Sighing, she stared off into space.

"Okay, I think we can forget about Toya for the moment." Miyuki sounded exasperated.

"You know, Miyuki, as much as I can understand that you want to help your friend," Hiro put special emphasis on the last word, "I think there's not much we can do. Picking up women is her way to cope with Nagisa breaking up with her. And as long as she thinks she needs to go on with that to handle whatever's bothering her, we can't do anything."

"We could talk to her, find out what's wrong, tell her she's just running away from her problems instead of solving them." Miyuki said.

The others were quiet for a moment.

"Well, seeing as you live with her, and are her best friend, and know what happened between her and Nagisa, you'd be the prime suspect to talk to her." Suki finally said.

Miyuki paled.

"No. I…I…can't."

"Why not?" Suki wanted to know.

Hiro looked at Suki. How could someone studying social relations and psychology be so unbelievably blind?

"Well, I don't think Toya would be first choice." he said, saving Miyuki from Suki's question.

Toya giggled. "I'm sorry. I know sleeping with Shizuma wasn't helping her, but she can be so persuasive."

She very well remembered the party she'd been to a week ago. Shizuma had come up to her and eyed the glass she was holding.

"What are you drinking?" she'd asked.

"Bourbon." Toya had answered.

"Oh, so you like a hard liquor? Then you'd really appreciate me in the bedroom." With that, she'd drifted off.

Toya had been intrigued enough to trade the drink for Shizuma's bedroom and was glad she'd done that.

"Hiro, couldn't you talk to her?" Miyuki asked.

He sighed. "I can try."

Suki looked at her watch, then stood up. "I'm sorry, I have to get going. My class is about to start." She looked pointedly at Toya. "You're in that same class, Toya."

"What? Oh, yeah." She jumped up and grabbed her bag.

"See you later!" the two called to Miyuki and Hiro.

Miyuki looked at Hiro. "You don't seem to be convinced that talking to Shizuma is the right course of action."

"I'm not." He sipped his coffee.

"Why not? You said yourself that you're worried about her."

"I am. But I think that your reason for wanting me to talk to her isn't only because you're worried about her. Could it be that you're jealous?"

Miyuki blushed crimson.

"No, I'm not. I've got my relationship with Tamao, and I'm very, very happy with her." she said defiantly.

Hiro studied her closely.

"Well, as long as you're convinced…Listen. I'll take Shizuma out to dinner and talk to her. But if she decides to continue, it's her decision, and I'll accept it. The only thing I want her to know is that we're worried about her and that we'll be there if she wants to talk."

"Arrigato, Hiro."

He pulled out his cell phone and dialled a number. It rang a few times.

"Hi, Shizu-chan…no, I have a class in a minute…listen, do you think you could skip the bedroom antics with a hot chick tonight and let me take you out to dinner instead?...Oh, okay. Then how about next week?...Great. Then I'll make a reservation for next Wednesday…Bye, love." He hung up.

"She can't make it tonight?" Miyuki asked.

"No. She says she has a study group later on. And Toya has invited her for the weekend."

"I bet Ryo and Naoko will be annoyed if they spend the weekend in Toya's bedroom." Miyuki said, referring to Toya's room mates.

"They told me they're visiting Ryo's family this weekend."

"Oh." Miyuki sighed. "Well, I better get going, I'll see you later."

"Bye. I've got a few minutes before I have to run." Hiro finished his coffee, watching Miyuki leave the café.

The next morning, Miyuki was making coffee when the door of Shizuma's bedroom opened. The silver-haired beauty led two gorgeous girls to the apartment's door.

"Bye, ladies. I had a wonderful night." she said, kissing both of them thoroughly before they left.

She turned and entered the kitchen.

"Thank God, coffee. Can I have some?"

Glaring at her, Miyuki took a mug out of the cupboard and set it down in front of her friend.

"I can imagine you'd need coffee. Didn't get much sleep, did you?" she asked pointedly.

Shizuma grinned naughtily. "We definitely didn't. Those two were insatiable. I hope we didn't keep you up."

"I have earplugs." she noted dryly.

"Oh, good." Shizuma grabbed the coffee pot and poured the hot liquid. Adding milk and sugar, she glanced at the clock.

"Oops, I have to hurry, I have to get going in 45 minutes." She drained her mug, set it in the dishwasher and sailed into the bathroom. Miyuki looked at the closed bathroom door and shook her head. She needed to get out of here. Shizuma had told her last night that she was spending the weekend with Toya. Miyuki didn't feel like staying by herself all weekend. She reached for her phone and dialled Tamao's number.

"Hi, Tamao…I'm fine. How about you?...Good. Can you get off school grounds this weekend?...Great…No, I just want to get away with you. I'll book a hotel…No. I'll come pick you up…Oh, I can't wait. I love you. Bye!"

Smiling, she hung up. A weekend with Tamao was exactly what she needed.