Chapter 29: Things That Need To Be Said

"Stop moving around. You're making me..." Sick. Haruka squeezed her eyes shut and quickly covered her mouth with a hand to stop herself from puking all over the place.

Nao rolled her eyes impatiently at the blonde and grudgingly crossed her arms. "Alright, alright, I'll sit still. But gee, I was just getting up to open the windows to let some fresh air in. Is this the thanks I get when I'm trying to do something nice for you?"

Haruka wanted so much to snap back at the infuriating redhead, but she couldn't. At the moment, she was way too sick to be angry.

It was all nanomachines' fault.

Maybe it was her rotten luck, or maybe it was because Haruka wasn't a HiME; the way her body reacted to the nanomachine injection was not pretty at all. The first day after she received the injection, she ran an insanely high fever of 40 degrees Celsius and threw up everything she ate that morning. It got a little bit better the next day, but she still couldn't swallow anything other than a few sips of warm water to moisten her lips. Now it was the third day, and she finally could persuade her stomach to retain some solid food – if Nao would just quit loitering in her room, then everything would be perfect.

No, not perfect. Yukino still refused to talk to her. The girl wouldn't even come see her during these three days she was bedridden. It seemed her volunteering to be a human Guinea pig had seriously pissed that mild-tempered girl off. Physical discomfort (a lot of physical discomfort) she could handle, but getting the silent treatment from her best friend was too much for her to bear.

"So how are you feeling now?" Nao sat back down on a chair next to Haruka's bed and asked carefully.

"Still alive." Haruka groaned and massaged the bridge of her nose with a thumb and forefinger. "Go away. I know you want to keep an eye on the nanothingies' progress, but you're getting annoying."

"I'll leave when I want to."

"Fine." The blonde paused for a minute and asked again, "Tell that pink bundle of horror to leave, then."

Nao laughed dryly. "Believe me, I tried."

"I'm right here!" Shiho protested without really being offended. By now she had gotten used to Nao and Haruka talking to each other as if she didn't exist.

"Why is she following you around anyway?" Haruka had been meaning to ask this. "She is sticking to you like a fly after..."

"Honey? Yeah, I have no idea why," Nao said dismissively.

"I was gonna say 'dog poop'..."

Shiho looked like she was about to burst into tears any moment. "You have no idea why? But you ki..."

Nao interrupted her before she had the chance to finish her sentence. "That was an accident. In case you haven't noticed, but that happened because I was trying to push your slow ass out of harm's way. I only did that out of reflex; you're fooling yourself if you think i was trying to save you. Not to mention you've been stalking me even before that. It's getting creepy, so I suggest you stop now. Go wrap your tentacles around your onii-chan or whatever. Stalk him. Just leave me the fuck alone."

That little speech sent Shiho running out of the room crying.

"Hey! You don't have to be so mean to that girl. You don't have any finance at all!" Haruka sat up from the bed and glared at Nao's impassive face. Her over-inflated sense of justice wouldn't keep her from butting into other people's business.

Nao couldn't care less about the blonde's opinion. "You mean 'finesse'? What makes you think you have the right to tell me how to treat a girl? Didn't you sent Yukino running in tears just a few days ago?"

Haruka winced at Nao's comeback. "That's... different. Oh, shut up." She lay back down to her bed and turned away from the redhead. Right now the boring view of slightly peeled white hospital wall looked far more interesting than Nao's aggravating face. "What do you know about us anyway? I'm trying to do the right thing here. She shouldn't be so upset. She can be so hard to understand sometimes!"

"What's so difficult to understand?"

Haruka made a startled noise at the voice and quickly shot up from the bed. "Yukino..." She muttered, somehow finding her own voice suddenly became oddly squeaky at the younger girl's presence.

Yukino was standing at the door with a tray-full of food in her hand. The ceramics on the tray rattled softly against each other as the girl shook in anger. "Have you thought about the consequences? No! Have you even considered other options before you offered yourself up as a human Guinea pig? No! You didn't care about what I had to say about this and now you're complaining I am difficult to understand. How dare you."

The always-confident blonde could not think of a proper reply to her best friend's accusation. She wanted to argue that she was only trying to do the right thing, but now she realized that by trying to be selfless, she was actually being selfish. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sounds came out. After a few moments of awkward silence, she finally lowered her head and admitted, "I'm sorry."

Nao grinned broadly at Yukino as a sense of newfound respect welled up in her chest. She suspected it was the first time ever that someone made Suzushiro Haruka's head droop in shame. Who would've thought Suzushiro is the uke in a relationship. Must. Tell. Everyone.

Speaking of everyone... I wonder if anyone has found Kuga yet.

Natsuki was not missing, no. She just needed a break so badly, she sneaked out of the hospital in the middle of the night. Now she was standing at her favourite spot, the cliff by the ocean where everything started, and gazing at the silver ripples dancing across the black water's surface. This place calmed her. It always did.

"'Taking a walk. Be back soon. Don't worry about me. Signed: Kuga Natsuki.'"

Natsuki whipped around to face the familiar voice behind her. She knew that one would show up sooner or later, but she didn't expect it to be so soon.

Shizuru shook her head disapprovingly at the younger girl and waved the slip of note in her hand. "Is this supposed to stop me from worrying about you?"

"Apparently, it didn't," Natsuki said with a lopsided smile. "How did you know I'm here?"

"Where else would you be?" Shizuru chuckled, tilting her head slightly and brushing a lock of her sandy hair behind her ear.

"Good point." Natsuki sighed and turned back to gaze at the ocean. She put her upper arms flat against the metal railing and rested her head on top. "I guess I'm just transparent before you, aren't I?"

Shizuru walked up next to the raven-haired girl and stood with her back leaning against the railing. "No, not really. It's actually quite the opposite," she explained to Natsuki's mildly surprised face. "You are a complete mystery to me. "

"I am?"

Shizuru nodded. "Most of the time I fear that I don't know anything about you, Natsuki. Not nearly enough. 'Will Natsuki be upset if I do this?' 'Will Natsuki be happy if I do that?' I ask myself those questions all the time. And yet, each time I tremble with fear that if I do something wrong, you would end up hating me."

"Shizu... ru."

"I've made a lot of mistakes. Some mistakes more severe than others. It's mind-boggling to me that you haven't decided to run in the opposite direction when you see me coming your way... Or am I wrong again about that?"

"Shizuru!" Natsuki grabbed the older girl's hand and gave it a strong squeeze. "Don't think that. I'll never do that to you. Don't you know how important you are to me by now?"

"I... would like to think I do." Shizuru smiled sadly. "But I can't help but consider the worst alternative."

We're so similar. Natsuki thought, while trying to come up with enough mental strength for what she was about to tell Shizuru. "I'm... I hate to say this, but I think I should let you know..." She sucked in a deep breath and admitted, "I'm afraid. I'm totally freaking out now."

Her confession earned her a raised eyebrow.

"About what?" Shizuru asked.

"A lot of stuff. About Searrs, about Mai, about the nanomachines in my body." Natsuki looked away from Shizuru's face and turned to look at their linking hands. "But mostly about you."

Shizuru patiently awaited for Natsuki to elaborate on what she just said.

Natsuki straightened up and concentrated for a moment. A tiny silver and blue pistol materialized in her open palm before she caught it neatly in a snap. "This power... I know the Carnival has ended, and the HiME Star is no more…" She released the weapon to let it vanish into thin air. "But what if I'm wrong?" She stared into Shizuru's smouldering red eyes, her voice trembling with too much suppressed emotion. "I can't lose you again."

"You won't," Shizuru reassured firmly. "I'll always stay by your side if that's what you wish."

"I'm not so sure about that." Natsuki said quietly. "Willingly or not, the people I love have the tendency to leave me."

Shizuru laughed, which was the last reaction Natsuki expected from the Kyoto-born. She was laughing so much, her eyes were starting to tear up. Natsuki looked confused by Shizuru's reaction for a second and then she started to get pissed off. "Hey! I'm pouring my heart out here. Why are you laughing at me?"

"Kannin na," Shizuru said while wiping her eyes with her fingers. She gazed at her fuming girlfriend with utmost adoration in her eyes. My Natsuki surely worries about "a lot of stuff" like she said, Shizuru thought. "Natsuki," she said, and she took a step back to create some distance between them.

Bolts of energy crackled in Shizuru's palm before they materialized into a naginata, an impressive piece of weaponry almost as beautiful as the wielder herself. Natsuki watched in fascination as Shizuru effortlessly slung her naginata over her shoulder in a languid, fluid motion. How can she look so... hot? Natsuki thought faintly to herself.

"Unwillingly, of course. It's not like I won't put up a good fight if anyone ever tries to make me leave you. They'll have a really hard time trying, though," Shizuru said, and she paused for a long moment. "You're drooling."

Natsuki's hand shot up to wipe her mouth.

Shizuru wasn't joking.

Instead of going straight back to the hospital, they decided to go to Natsuki's own apartment that night. It was mostly like all the other innocent sleepovers they'd had in the past, before the Carnival, before the many confessions. Mostly. Except for the innocent part.

They forgot to call and tell the others they were not going back to the hospital for the night.

Understandably so.

Nina woke up feeling as if she'd just gotten run over by a train. It wasn't very far from what had really happened.

"...The data we've collected from Suzushiro-san is... troublesome, to say the least. Although I still can't completely agree with your proposal, I have to say that it's the most feasible method to solve our current problem. I don't want to admit it, but we're pretty much out of options."

It was Director Fumi talking. Nina couldn't see her because of the curtain surrounding the bed she had been sleeping in, but she recognized the voice. She wondered who the Director was talking to.

"There are two Cores residing in the base. One is used to summon the Slaves, and the other one is used to certify the Otome. I don't really know much about the inner working of the Cores, but I know that if we can find a way to disable them, we can render both the Slaves and Otome useless."

If Nina wasn't feeling so weak at the moment, she would have jumped up from the bed. The person talking with the Director was Erstin. There was no way she would mistake her voice... Although she did sound a bit scratchy and out of breath. Doesn't matter. As long as she is alive and well, Nina thought with much relief.

A third person spoke. Nina vaguely recognized it to be a young girl's voice, but she wasn't quite sure who that child was. "We'll just have to destroy them," the girl said coldly. "And we'll destroy all their data as well, so they'll be forced to start from scratch."

Whoever that child is, she sure is angry, Nina thought to herself.

"Viola-san, Kruger-san, what's your opinion on this?" Fumi asked.

"I agree with kiddo here. If we don't go after them, they'll come after us. We have to strike first," Kruger said with a sage nod. "Optimally, we'll need five separate groups for this: one to deal with the C-types, one to deal with the Slaves, two for the two Cores, and another one to go after their data. Hmm... Six. We need one more as our backup." Kruger put a hand on top of Alyssa's head and ruffled her soft, blond hair. The child flinched a little at the unexpected contact, but she wasn't too displeased. It was oddly nice to be pat in the head.

Kruger continued, "So we can rescue the android if we find her in the base. We can cut this down to three groups if we must, but that'll make this job twice as difficult. Do we have enough manpower to carry this out?"

Viola chuckled at her partner's question. "Oh, I think we do. After all, we have enough HiME power on our side."

"HiME..." Fumi let out a soft sigh. She really didn't like this idea one bit, but there was no other way. It was a battle they had to fight. "I understand. I will tell the girls about your proposal. I won't force them to agree with this, however. This is not another Carnival. This time, we HiME should have the freedom to choose our own destiny. I trust that all of us will make the right choice."

Author's Notes:

1. Sorry for the long wait. Muse was stuck in a really bad traffic jam and didn't came until 2 nights ago.

2. Yup. They had sex. Please don't hate me for not showing it. Shizuru told me not to.

Beta's Note: That's odd. She always tells me to show it in explicit detail. :P

Another Author's Note: Shizuru wants to save it for their nighttime activity. She wants Natsuki to read the explicit detail to her only.