Gin: Hey guys. I'm so sorry that this took so long.
Natsuki: Where have you been?! Do you know how long we've been waiting?
Shizuru: Ara, Natsuki's right, Gin. Where have you been?
Gin: Um, school?
Natsuki: You keep using that excuse!
Gin: Dude, I really can't update as much as I like. I've got so much homework lately.
Shizuru: I see. Is that why you rarely update?
Gin: Yea, if I didn't have school, we would've been in chapter ten right now.
Shizuru: Your excuse is accepted. Right, Natsuki?
Natsuki: *grumbles* Just this once!
Gin: *smiles at both of of them* I'm never giving up this fic. You can count on it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Mai HiME so please don't sue.
Natsuki stared into Shizuru's eyes as they stared down at her questionly. "Uuuhh...It wasn't like I was intentionally "attacked"...it was umm, more like... self defense?"
"So the wolf didn't really mean to attack you?" asked Chie wrapping her arm around Aoi's shoulders'.
"Yea, I don't think he wanted to hurt me.." 'much.' Natsuki rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
Mai furrowed her eyebrows together. "How do you know its a he?"
"Err...its..um..thing..is a male's?" Natsuki blushed. The emerald eyed always gets flustered whenever the ermm.. privates are involved. Human or animal, the talk always lit her face up like a Christmas tree.
"Ara, are you trying to say that the wolf has male genitals?" asked Shizuru as she sat down with the rest of them.
"Ah, yea." replies the blushing biker.
The other four nodded in understanding. They knew how the singer acted whenever the topic of this categorie would rear its head up. It was quite amusing when the seventeen year old turned beet red when Aoi and Chie... that's another story for another time.
"But that does not explain why you're all beat up. Why is that so, Nat-su-ki?" Shizuru stared at the emerald eyed beauty.
"The idiot was being stubborn! Wouldn't let me take him to the vet willingly so I used force!"
"Moron! Do you know how dangerous that is!? To go head to head against a wolf! You're practically asking for suicide!" Mai frowned and scolded the cobalt haired teen.
"Mai-san should take it easy on Natsuki. She was just trying to help," defended Shizuru.
Natsuki mentally thanked Shizuru. "Yea! So what if I get hurt? It's for the good of an animal!"
Shizuru continued to defend her. "I'm pretty sure that Natsuki could take care of herself."
"Yea!"
"She is strong for a seventeen year old."
"I am!" The emerald eyed beauty answered, agreeing with everything Shizuru was saying.
"Natsuki would probably win if she went up against a rabid wolf. Natsuki is just tough like so."
"Got that right!"
"Would Natsuki let me take care of her?"
"Sure!...Wait! What!"
Mai, Nao, Aoi, and Chie laughed. Oh, how everyone, but Natsuki herself, saw that coming!
'She may be a genius in academics, but I don't think she understands the most simple human interactions.' Mai thought as she continued to laugh with the rest of them.
Shizuru grinned. "I asked Natsuki if she would let me take care of her. Natsuki said yes."
Natsuki shook her head. "No! I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"
The older girl's face turned sad. "Ara, so Natsuki doesn't want me to take care of her. Does that mean that Natsuki doesn't like me?" She put her face into her hands and began to sob.
The seventeen year old biker's eyes grew wide. "Ah...no! I didn't mean...Please stop crying! I like Shizuru!"
"No, you don't! You're just saying that!" Shizuru began to sob harder.
Knowing no other to solve this inciddent, Natsuki grabbed the older girl and gave her a very sudden hug. "I like Shizuru very much! Please stop crying..."
Everyone stopped laughing at their friend's action, shocked. Not once, in the years they've known the biker, have they seen her actually initiate a hug. Usually it was one of them and that was only when they catch the girl of her guard. It was really rare.
Natsuki didn't really notice as she was trying to get the school's kaichou to stop sobbing. 'Oh, why me? How did I get stuck in this sitsuation?' She thought miserably.
"Does Natsuki really mean it.." asked Shizuru in a soft voice. 'Ara, she's so warm...'
"Yea, I mean it. You can take care of me if you want to. Just please stop crying..." Normally Natsuki couldn't care less when someone cries, but the eighteen year old she was hugging seemed to get her to actually care. 'What is this girl doing to me?'
"...Ok!" said Shizuru happily as she got out of the slightly taller teen's arms. 'If she kept hugging me any longer...'
Natsuki had mixed emotions. 'Wasn't she about to cry?'
Natsuki's friends watched the two.
"If we didn't know any better, I'd say kaichou just totally owned Kuga's ass." said Nao as she kept eating.
"Right? Not many can accomplish that and those who do usually end up with Natsuki's fist on their faces.." Mai continued to stare.
"Natsuki gave her a hug..." Chie said as her left eye continued to twitch. It really was a miracle. Aoi just nodded her head as her face continued to show awe.
"Natsuki must like Shizuru!" Mikoto grinned as she wolfed down Mai's food.
Natsuki turned her head to the sound of Mikoto's voice. "MIKOTO!" she yelled.
The cat-liked middle schooler's grin grew larger. "Mikoto likes Shizuru too! Shizuru's nice to Natsuki and Mikoto!"
Shizuru thanked her with a kind smile that actually held genuine. "I'm very glad to hear that, Mikoto-chan. I like you as well."
Mikoto just gave another smile. The rest of the lunch went off without a hitch.
"Ara, Natsuki's apartment seems so clean." Shizuru commented as the younger teen ushered her in. After the lunch ended, Shizuru decided to begin her caretaker duties early. She convinced the younger girl to go home. Natsuki wasn't the only one able to miss school, as long as the crimson beauty kept her grades up. Grades were never a problem to the talented Fujino.
"What'd you expect? Pizza boxes toppled all over the ground? Ramen cups filling the kitchen table? Or maybe random pieces of junk food covering the carpet?" Natsuki asked as she threw her keys onto the table that held her other keys.
Shizuru grinned. "All of the above."
Natsuki just rolled her eyes and sarcastically said, "I'm glad that you think that. "
"Natsuki just doesn't seem to be the type to cook."
The emerald eyed singer began to walk towards the kitchen. "True, but that doesn't mean that all I ever eat is food from convinience stores. I do eat healthy...sometimes." She opened her fridge and took out some ham and cheese. Because of her friends' teasing, the bassist didn't get to eat at all. 'Man, if I didn't need to defend myself, I would've gotten a chance to actually eat something.'
Natsuki's hand reached towards the mayo bottle on the side of the fridge door only for someone's hand to stop her's.
"Ara, I don't think Natsuki should eat that. Its not very healthy especially in your condition." Shizuru smiled at her. Emerald eyes suddenly narrowed into a glare. No one messes with her mayo. No one.
The glare had no effect as Shizuru closed the fridge with the mayo still inside. "Why don't Natsuki go into the living room and watch something. I'll be with her shortly after I make her something to eat. You must be starving." With that, Natsuki was thrown out of her own kitchen.
Natsuki's eye twitched as she sat down on her couch, brooding. For some mysterious reason, the emerald eyed beauty agreed to her new caretaker too easily. 'She actually got me to leave my mayo...Who does she think she is? Better yet, who the hell is she? I barely know this person yet here she is..taking care of a complete stranger. What does she want from me?'
"Natsuki, the food is all ready. You can come back to the kitchen, now." said a voice from the kitchen.
Unconciously, the younger teen entered the kitchen still in her thoughts. It took her some seconds before finally realizing where she had went.
Emerald eyes stared in awe as she saw the spread that the older teen had cooked. It wasn't before long that Natsuki began to eat everything within her sight.
Shizuru just stared with a mixture of pride and disgust. Pride that Natsuki liked her food, and disgust on how fast she was eating. 'Almost seems inhuman...'
The younger teen gave a loud burp and patted her stomach as she finished the last of the meal. "Wow, that was actually decent."
Shizuru looked at the younger teen with a 'sad' look. "Natsuki thought that the food I would cook for her would be horrible? Natsuki's so mean!"
Natsuki frowned and began to frantically wave her hands. "I-I didn't mean it like that! I..m-meant...I'm used to people cooking badly, except for Mai! I never meant... Agghhh! Look, I'm sorry! I'll do whatever you want just don't start crying again.." Natsuki would never admit it, but she couldn't take the site of the the older teen crying. 'I really think I'm growing soft...'
Shizuru blinked. 'Whatever I want? Ara... I think you just might regret that, Nat-su-ki.'
"Whatever I want?" asked Shizuru, her act still on.
"Yea..." Natsuki said slowly, a bit suspicious.
Shizuru smiled, no longer 'sad', "Would you like to play a game?"
"What kind of game?" Natsuki tensed. 'What is she plahing at?'
"I want to get to know Natsuki more, considering I am to be her caretaker. I think we should play the question game, don't you say?"
"Question game?"
"Natsuki's never heard of it?"
Said biker shook her head. "But judging by the name, we ask each other questions, right?"
Shizuru agreed, "Correct."
"We have to take turns too?"
Shizuru nodded.
Seeing absolutely nothing wrong with playing, Natsuki just shrugged. "Alright, we'll play."
The older teen smiled. "How about we play in the living room?"
"Sure."
The two left the kitchen, after Natsuki washed the dishes( Natsuki made a deal: Shizuru cooks, she does the dishes), and settled back on the couch, ready to begin their game.
"So, Natsuki. Let's start with the basics. What's your favorite color?" Shizuru asked as the two faced each other on the couch.
"Dark blue. What's yours?" Natsuki asked.
"Ara, definitely purple."
Natsuki grinned. "That makes sense."
"Hm, how so?"
The younger girl shrugged. "It seems like you."
"Has Natsuki been watching me?" Crimson eyes slyly smiled at emerald.
Natsuki felt her face turn red. 'How the hell can she make my face go red?!' "N-no! It just seems like your color!"
The caretaker laughed. "I was just teasing you, my Nat-su-ki." 'My Natsuki... sounds right.'
Natsuki had much different thoughts. 'Her Natsuki?! The hell!?'
Trying to avoid a awkward situation, the older teen asked the younger girl her favorite food.
Natsuki's mind turned blank to Shizuru's slip, as thoughts of mayo invaded. "Mayo."
Shizuru's face twisted in horror. "The white substance in the fridge?"
The biker grinned. "Yes, the white substance in fidge. Now, enough about me, what's your favorite food?"
The two played the game for the rest of the night.
Natsuki groaned as the morning sun came in through her living room window. It seemed like she and her new friend fell asleep last night. Yes, Shizuru is now Natsuki's friend.
'Who knew that the amazing kaichou snored?' Natsuki chuckled. It was one of the things the emerald biker asked the night before.
"Natsuki? How long have you been awake?" Shizuru asked as she stood from their position on the couch.
"Long enough to actually here you snore." replied Natsuki smirking.
"Natsuki...you promised. Nothing we tell each other leaves this living room." Shizuru grinned and the other teen grinned back.
"Right..."
"I mean it Natsuki. You tell anyone and I'll make sure to let everyone know about your...uh collection." Shizuru laughed evily.
Natsuki glared at her, "You wouldn't."
"I would."
"Alright! I promise on my Ducati that none of the questions ever leave this house." Natsuki even crossed her heart.
Shizuru rolled her eyes and gave the younger teen a light punch on the shoulder. 'Acquaintances to friends in one night. I feel so comfortable with her...Like I've known her for years..'
No longer were they strangers to each other, no, they were friends now. Natsuki inwardly smiled at how their night went. 'And to think, I thought she was one of those people who just wanted to hang with the famous. Turns out, she's famous herself..'
Natsuki laughed as she began to go into the kitchen, Shizuru. Normally she would go and run, but her body still kinda hurt from her last one.
"Mayo on toast, Natsuki?" asked Shizuru as she opened the fridge.
Natsuki nodded her head with a smile. 'Oh, the next couple of weeks is gonna be fun.'
Man, I wish that was longer. Oh, well- I at least finished it. One of the good advantages of being sick is that I have time to actually type the chapter. Oh, and please ignore my mistakes. I tried to post this up before I become busy wiht make-up work and other junk. If you got any questions, PM me or something :D
Thanks for reading and I hope you all review!
Have a good day!