Chapter 12: The Fox and the Little Prince

They left the house and headed all the way to the private beach where it was well out of everyone's earshot. They could still see heads occasionally poking out of the windows, but they wouldn't be able to hear anything from that distance.

"Ara, what does Fujino-san want to talk to me about?" Viola winked. "Another kiss, maybe?"

"Drop the charade, Viola Searrs, or whatever you'd like to call yourself these days." Shizuru was not smiling.

Viola sighed. "Alright. I know you have questions. Go ahead and ask them."

Shizuru had so many questions, she wasn't sure what to ask first. After a whole minute of contemplation, she finally made up her mind. "How... have you been?"

How have I been? "I've been well. You?"

Shizuru thought about the past few years and the Carnival, the rejection and the guilt... and then she thought about Natsuki's confession... "I'm doing fine." She said. "Actually, never better."

The Otome raised an eyebrow. "Good for you. Any other questions?"

"What are you planning to do next?"

"I don't know. We didn't plan anything when we broke out, so I'll have to discuss it with my Kruger first." Viola answered.

The HiME grinned. "You are whipped."

"I'm not the only one. You are pretty whipped yourself." Viola giggled. "But you'd have to agree, that the feeling of being 'owned' by someone is kinda nice."

"Touche. The fox needs to be tamed by the Little Prince." Shizuru sighed. "Your Kruger... She is a clone, isn't she?"

Viola's smile faded a little. "Don't mention that to anyone, especially not her. She doesn't know."

"Does she know about us?" Shizuru asked.

The Otome shook her head slowly. "She thought I was born in a lab like her."

"Why did you make her think that?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" The Otome smiled. "For the one I love, I would do anything, Kiyo. Even it means to lose my identity, my past, everything."

Why else? Guess that was a dumb question. Shizuru nodded. "I understand. Your secret is safe with me, Shizuru onee-sama."

"They don't look like they are gonna fight." Natsuki stuck her head out of the window and not so subtly spied on her new girlfriend.

"They don't look like they are gonna kiss either." Kruger did the same as her double. Fortunately the window was big enough for the both of them, so they weren't fighting for the view.

Nao squeezed between those two and pouted. "They are only talking. How boring."

"Go away. There's not enough space." Natsuki frowned at the redhead.

"It's not like there's anything interesting to see." Nao waved at the two peeping idiots and bear-hugged Mikoto. "Let's go back to the kitchen and feed you more food."

Natsuki's stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food. The unholy sound made the raven-haired girl blush darkly.

"Ah, would you like something to eat? It's almost lunch time, I'll throw something together real quick." Mai offered.

"Is there mayonnaise?" Kruger asked, her green eyes sparkled.

"Mikoto ate all that earlier." Nao said gleefully.

"Yup. I ate the whole bottle. It's delicious." Mikoto nodded.

Both Natsuki and Kruger looked deflated by the unfortunate news.

Mai shook her head. "You shouldn't eat so much grease. It's unhealthy for you."

The feral girl averted her golden gaze and ran out of the room. "Nao, I'm hungry. Find me something to eat." She yelled from the hallway.

The redhead gave the unbelieving orange-haired girl a taunting glance and answered sweetly. "Yes, dear. I'll be right there. Yukino-chan, let's go."

"Ah, yes, Nao-chan." The mousy girl said, and the two left the room.

Haruka frowned deeply as her best friend abandoned her yet again for the obnoxious redhead. Nao-CHAN? She wasn't sure what to do in this situation. She felt... unwanted, and she froze in the spot.

So did Mai.

"Miyu, we should get back to work." The blond child said to her guardian.

"Yes, Alyssa ojou-sama." Miyu and Alyssa left and headed back downstairs.

"Well, I was about to take a shower and change out of the swimming suit..." Aoi said to herself and left.

"I'll take one with you." Chie followed her girlfriend out.

"It's a little late, but here is your clothes." The school nurse handed Natsuki a small gym bag. "Mai-san, Haruka-san. If you don't mind, would you like to go grocery shopping with me? Since we will be staying here at least for the night, we should stock up first."

Haruka mumbled something like a positive response and nodded. It didn't matter if she welcomed her uninvited guests or not, her generous nature dictated she be a hospitable host. And a good host never let her guests go hungry.

Mai also agreed to the errand run. She doubted there was much food in the kitchen. Mikoto needs some real food. She thought. Not the poison Nao made.

The three left. And suddenly, they found themselves to be the only ones in the room. This... is awkward. Natsuki and Kruger both thought, and decided to resume their previous activity.

They poked their heads out of the window and continued spying on their girlfriends.

When the ship exploded and her world turned upside down, she thought she was dead for sure.

So this is what being dead feels like. She thought. It isn't half bad.

She felt cold, very cold. But at the same time very warm, especially on her lips. Her limps were heavy as if they were filled with lead, and her head was pounding like mad, but the soft pressure on her lips was good enough to compensate for all that discomfort. She coughed and opened her eyes, and she suddenly realized that she was very much alive.

... And was being kissed by a girl.

She would be blushing if there were enough blood flow to her face.

"Are you alright?" Nina asked with a concerned voice. The blond girl only looked about fourteen or fifteen, probably the same age as Arika. She wasn't sure if the girl could understand her Japanese because she looked like a foreigner.

The blond girl blinked a few times and her emerald green eyes came to focus. She was still groggy, but she nodded. "I think so. I'm... cold..." Her teeth clattered.

"You were in the water too long. I'm afraid you have a mild case of hypothermia." Nina explained and helped the girl climb up to her back. "Try to hold on to me." She said.

"Thank you... Um..."

"Nina."

"Thank you, Nina-san." The girl said, pressing her face against her savior's shoulder. She is so warm...

"What's your name?" Nina asked while carrying the nearly drowned girl back to the Academy.

"Erstin Ho."

"So you were saying, you remember everything from that night when you were attacked." Chie was sitting behind Aoi and messaging her girlfriend's scalp with her dexterous finger tips, working up a thick lather.

Aoi sighed. "Yes. That's when I saw the moth monster and Sister Yukariko. The red light coming from her neck was almost blinding, and then she pulled out a strange bow and another horse monster came out. Laugh if you want, I know it sounds crazy."

Chie put her hands down and hugged the girl from behind. "I'm not laughing. Tell me more."

"Um. Then I realized that I've seen the same red mark on Nao's shoulder, Akane's back, and Mai's chest..."

Chie gave the girl a weird look. "You check them out when they were changing?"

"No! Perv." Aoi denied quickly. "You and your dirty mind."

The grey-haired girl was grinning like an idiot. "Just the way you like it. Now, would you like me to apply soap to your front too?"

"Say, Tokiha. Is Nao always so... popular with girls?" Haruka finally asked.

Mai stared at the former Executive Director with a blank expression on her face. "Huh?" She put a package of de-boned chicken thighs into the shopping cart. "What do you mean?"

Haruka fidgeted. "It's just that...Ahhhhh... This is stupid." She angrily stomped away, but came stomping back only seconds later. "Yukino and Mikoto seemed to like to hang around that delinquent a lot. What's their deal?"

"Nao-san is a good kid. I don't see what's wrong with that." The school nurse said innocently.

Both Mai and Haruka gave the woman their most evil eye.

"Good kid?" Mai scoffed. "Good? Kid? How could you lump those two words together to describe her? She is not good and she is certainly not a kid!"

Haruka nodded furiously in agreement. "Absolutely right!"

Youko frowned a little. She was always quite fond of the redhead, and she thought Mai was too harsh on Nao. "She is very sweet if you get to know her. Besides, she is the same age as Mikoto-san. If you considered Mikoto-san to be a child, shouldn't you apply the same rule to Nao-san too?"

"That's different!" Mai protested.

"She is a delinquent, not a child! She has no respect for rules and regulations!" Haruka had little love for the redhead.

"I see." Youko chuckled at the two girls' response. She found the whole thing amusing. Jealousy sure is ugly. "But it doesn't matter what you think, Mikoto-san and Yukino-san seem to like her enough to be around her all the time." Oh, I'm evil. She thought gleefully. But those two need to be taught a lesson.

Haruka was disgusted by Youko's statement. "It doesn't matter what I think? Of course it matters! It matters big time I tell ya. I'm Yukino's..."

"Best friend?" The woman raised an eyebrow. "How does that give you authority over who Yukino-san chooses to hang out with?"

"It's for her own good!" The blond protested.

"Hmph. It sounds an awful lot like you are treating her as your own property."

Haruka couldn't come up with a good comeback. She turned to Mai and asked for her support. "You tell her, Tokiha. Mikoto is in danger of Nao's bad influence too."

Mai was speechless. Have I been treating Mikoto like my own property? Am I really that selfish? The more she thought about it, the more depressed she got. For the first time in her life, she realized what a horrible person she had been. I have been treating the girl like a pet, like a play-thing instead of a sentient human being.

"You were right, Youko-sensei. I've... mistreated Mikoto." Again. She thought. And I supposed the whole Carnival thing had taught me to respect Mikoto's feelings. "I'm an idiot." She said sadly.

"Tokiha..." Haruka didn't expect Mai to switch to Youko's side.

"Good girl." The school nurse patted the girl's orange head. "There, there. At lease you realize your mistake. You can always make it up to her."

Inside the kitchen, Nao was eagerly giving out poison... no, advices to the two naive young girls. "Like I said earlier, you shouldn't be too desperate. Some people can't appreciate what they already have because it's always there, willing and available all the time."

Mikoto and Yukino nodded at the wise redhead's sermon.

"I see. That's why you told me to stay away from Mai. Nao, you are really smart!"

"Of course I am." Nao grinned. "How about you, Yukino-chan? You can't stick around that rubber brain and act all innocent and friendly and expect the dumb blond to like you back. You have to be bold! Grab her by the neck and drill your confession of love into her thick skull..."

"I can't!" Yukino shook her head in defeat. "Haruka-chan will hate me. She doesn't like girls..."

"What?" Nao was outraged. "Come on! Suzushiro doesn't like girls? No way! She is mentally humping Fujino all the time. Now there are two of them, Suzushiro will be taking cold showers three times every day!"

"What did you say?" Yukino gasped. "Haruka-chan... Haruka-chan sees kaichou-san as a rival, not... that... Besides, they always fight. There is no way..."

"Oh, grow up." Nao rolled her eyes at the mousy girl. "I bet all that bickering is Suzushiro's idea of foreplay. She probably came when she saw the two Fujino kissing."

"Nao-chan!" Yukino's face was all red.

Mikoto caught the words. "What's foreplay? What came? Is that edible?"

Yukino preyed the ground would kindly open up and swallow her from where she stood.

TBC

Omake:

"Tame me." The Kyoto-ben fox said.

"What does that mean - 'tame'?" The raven-haired prince asked.

"It means to establish ties." The Kyoto-ben fox said.

"'To establish ties'?" The only thing that had seemed to established was the nervous twitch on the raven-haired prince's eyebrow.

"Just that," said the Kyoto-ben fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a cute fan girl who is like a hundred thousand other fan girls, albeit a whole lot sexier."

"Get to the point please." The raven-haired prince interrupted.

"To you, I am nothing more than a reeeeeeeeeally hot foxy mama like a hundred thousand other foxes."

"Point, please."

"But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I will be unique in all the world..."

"I am beginning to understand." The raven-haired prince blushed. "Are you proposing to me?"

"Yes?" The Kyoto-ben fox's red eyes sparkled hopefully.

The raven-haired prince was puzzled. "Wouldn't that be beastality? You are a FOX you know."

The Kyoto-ben fox purred... and pounced!

Author's Notes:

1. The fox and the little prince line is a reference from the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

2. So here you go, Viola Searrs' real name revealed. The twin thing has been done to death, but i hope it still worked. Kudos to everyone who has mentioned the word "twins" in their reviews, and kisses to those who insisted Viola's name to be Shizuru.