Hi guys, here's finally the next chapter of Gargoyle Hime. I tried to update it sooner, but yeah. . .I was a little bit busy with my new job. . .

Disclaimer: Mai Hime? No, not mine. . .

Chapter 8:

The night was over very quickly. Neither Natsuki nor Shizuru had talked one word after their last discussion. Natsuki slept once again on the couch and Shizuru had joined Mikoto in her bedroom. But they both had one thing in common. The whole night they thought about each other. One of them wanted to trust the other once more, but was unsure if that would be the right choice and the other one thought of a way to proof herself trustworthy.

The next morning Natsuki was the first one to wake up. She quickly went to the kitchen to tend to her wound. The bleeding had stopped, but it still hurt like hell. But her pride forbid her to ask for help and she was sure, that Shizuru wouldn't help her right now either.

So Natsuki said down on one of the chairs and first cleaned the wound. But something wasn't right. It still hurt, yes, but it looked somehow different like the wounds Natsuki had had before. She saw it just yet, but inside her wound was a green substance. She tried to get something out and then it hit her like thousand rocks falling down on her head.

Poison. . .

Of course, the beast, that was summoned by Shizuru, was a giant snake and they were mostly poisonous.

Shit. . .

That was just the right moment to get poisoned. How should she help Shizuru, if she was too weak to even follow her? But Natsuki decided to think about this later. Right now she felt okay. The pain wasn't that bad and hopefully it would stay that way a little while longer. Just long enough, so that she could save Shizuru, if necessary.

Meanwhile Shizuru walked into the bathroom to start her day with a long refreshing shower, maybe the last one she would ever take. As she stood there under the hot water her thoughts circled around one person, no, not Takeda, it was Natsuki. Their "relationship" now was a little bit like walking on thin ice. Shizuru still had her doubts about Natsuki's true intentions, but on the other hand she wanted so desperately to believe in her.

Maybe I'm just thinking too much. Now is not the right time anyways. I have to think of a plan to save Mai. If I survive this rescue mission, then I can think about Natsuki.

With new energy she stepped out of the shower and started dressing. Ready for everything, that would happen today. At least she thought she was ready, but in reality she couldn't have foreseen the next few hours.

As Shizuru walked into the living room, Natsuki was there, sitting on the couch. Obviously deep in thought, because she didn't say a thing, until Shizuru spoke.

„Ara, good morning Natsuki." Shizuru's tone of voice was neutral and it bugged Natsuki to no end, to hear her say her name like that.

"Morning. . ."

With no more to say Shizuru wanted to walk into the kitchen, but Natsuki stopped her.

"Shizuru. . .uhm. . .?"

"Yes?"

Shizuru looked back at Natsuki, waiting for the blunette to ask whatever it was.

"You are still going right?"

Natsuki looked at these stunningly beautiful orbs and almost pleaded for her to stay.

"Yes, of course, or do you expect me to stay here and let one of my best friends die?"

"But if you go, YOU'll be the one dying! I. . ."

"Stop it! I know the sole reason, why you are trying to convince me to stay, so. . .just stop. . ." Shizuru looked away, afraid that Natsuki would see her sad look and the tears shining in her eyes.

"Then let me go with you. I can pro. . . ."

"No!"

Natsuki was speechless. Shizuru let no doubt, that she really didn't want Natsuki by her side, even if it meant her safety.

"As you wish."

The blunette sighed and looked down at the ground, hearing Shizuru walk away into the kitchen.

It seems, that I have to follow her as a shadow. There's no other choice.

Then she winced slightly, because the pain of her wound had increased.

Shit, time is definitely not on my side today.

The poison was progressing rather fast.

In the kitchen Shizuru leaned her back at the counter and sighed deeply. Maybe she should have said yes to Natsuki's proposal, but her pride was just so damn big, that she declined the offer, even if she was in desperate need of support.

Natsuki. . .

Shaking her head to get rid of these annoying thoughts, she prepared some tea to clean her head. She had a long day in front of her and needed to be as fit as possible. She would meet with Takeda and try to convince him to exchange her and Mai, then Mai could flee and she. . .yeah. . .she would die, after Takeda's torture, which would come definitely, because she knew, that she was hated by him very much.

Sighing she took her cup and went back into the living room, where she was faced with a very pale looking Natsuki.

"Natsuki?" She couldn't contain the concern, that was flowing in this one word.

Natsuki weakly lifted her head and smiled a warm smile at Shizuru, before collapsing on the couch.

"NATSUKI!"

Shizuru ran to her side and saw the heavily breathing woman lying there on the couch, wincing in pain. Sweat was glistening on her forehead and her eyes were shut tightly.

"Natsuki? What is wrong. . ."

The blunette opened one eye and looked at the concerned woman next to her.

"N-nothing. . .I. ..ungh. . .I. . . " She couldn't end her sentence, because a huge wave of pain enveloped her whole body.

Shizuru put a hand on Natsuki's forehead and felt the temperature rising quickly. What was wrong with Natsuki? A few minutes ago she was perfectly fine.

"Natsuki, please tell me what's wrong." Shizuru didn't know what to do, because she didn't know what had happened to Natsuki, to cause her such pain.

Then all of a sudden the pain subsided and Natsuki laid completely unmoving on the couch, still heavily breathing. Shizuru sat beside her and waited, because she couldn't do anything else.

Slowly opening her eyes, Natsuki stared at Shizuru, her breathing slowing down and she was able to call Shizuru's name weakly.

"Shizuru. . ."

Shizuru placed a hand on Natsuki's still hot cheek and caressed it softly. Forgetting, that she was still angry at the blunette.

"You okay?"

"Yes, just a little bit out of breath." Natsuki tried to smile to ease Shizuru's worries.

"What was that? Why were you suddenly . .."

"Nothing." Natsuki looked away. She didn't intend to tell Shizuru, that it was because of her summoned beast and the poison, that she suffered this pain. She wanted, that Shizuru stayed focused on the "mission" she had to full fill today.

Natsuki sat up, ignoring Shizuru's worried face. She shook her head a few times to get rid of the dizziness. Her body still felt weak, because of these few minutes full of pain.

"Are you sure everything's fine? You look really pale."

"Yeah yeah, don't worry, I'll be my old self in a few seconds."

She breathed in deeply to calm her racing heart and then faced Shizuru as if nothing had happened.

Shizuru was not convinced by Natsuki act, but she knew how stubborn the gargoyle could be, so she let the topic slide. If Natsuki wanted to be in pain, who was she to forbid her that.

"Sigh. . .I'll go check on Mikoto. Then I should start thinking about a plan for today."

Shizuru walked away, but was stopped as Natsuki said her name gently.

"Shizuru. . ."

Don't give in Shizuru. She is just going to fool you again.

"Don't start. You know my opinion on this matter and that won't change. I am going alone and you can't stop me."

She was out of sight in seconds, not seeing the hurt and saddened look in those green orbs.

Shizuru. . .

The rest of the day went by really quickly. Everyone of them stayed alone, until it was time for Shizuru to leave.

All the time she was alone in her room to come up with a plan. Natsuki knew that this would be a kamikaze plan, because Shizuru wanted to save her friend first. Her own safety was not her highest priority and that worried the blunette to no end. Not because she needed Shizuru and her magic powers, no she was worried, because she started to trust the brunette and to have feelings for her. But because of her stubbornness she ruined almost everything.

The door to Shizuru's room suddenly opened and startled Natsuki a little bit. She looked up from her spot to see Shizuru's serious face. She wasn't even looking at Natsuki. The blunette knew better, than to ask Shizuru once again. Knowing the answer, which would come and she would follow her even without permission, so it didn't matter, if they talked now or not.

"I'm going."

That was Shizuru's last sentence, before she left the house, leaving a speechless Natsuki behind.

What was that just now? Did I miss something?

Natsuki was still baffled, but recovered quickly, so that she wouldn't loose sight of Shizuru.

Unfortunately she was human and she couldn't follow Shizuru, like she would have in her gargoyle form, so she choose option number two and called a cab. Driving to the address, that she remembered from Takeda's letter.

10 minutes later Natsuki was in the vicinity of the place Takeda wanted to meet with Shizuru, but something was odd. She expected a house or something like that, but not a park in the middle of the city. This was very bad. His men could hide everywhere and it would be nearly impossible to find them.

Shit.

Deciding to think about that later she cautiously walked into the park. Shortly after she heard a few voices, one male and the other was . . .Shizuru. She was too late. Shizuru was already in danger.

Natsuki hid in the shadows and tiptoed into the direction of their voices.

Please be alright.

"Here I am Takeda, so let Mai go."

"Tsk tsk. . . Shizuru, you really thought it would be that easy? Sorry to disappoint you, but I changed my mind. I will take both of you and you can enjoy watching her die. Then I'll have a little bit fun with you and yeah, if you get boring, I'll just kill you. That was my plan."

Shizuru didn't say a thing. She thought, that he wouldn't let them leave so easily. Unfortunately there was no back up. She was all alone and because she didn't know where his men hid or where Mai was, she couldn't risk fighting him.

"First time I see the mighty Fujino Shizuru speechless. I should have brought my digicam." he laughed evilly.

Meanwhile Natsuki had decided, that Shizuru was save for the moment and searched for the woman they had captured. She was hidden in the dark, between a few trees, only guarded by two men.

Just two of them? That's going to be easy.

Without a second thought Natsuki jumped out of the darkness and knocked the first one out cold within seconds, because she had surprised him. The second one choose just this moment to throw his knife at Natsuki, missing her slightly. She spun around and kicked him right in the face. He was unconscience, before he even hit the ground.

That's all they got? Piece of cake.

Then she faced the woman and used the knife to cut the ropes.

"Thank you, but who are you?"

"My name's Natsuki. I'm a friend of Shizuru."

"Where is she?" Mai was starting to panic.

"Don't worry. I'll save her. Just stay here, until everything's over."

After that Natsuki once again vanished into the darkness, not seeing one man calling his boss with his mobile phone and then falling unconscience again.

Before Shizuru could answer, his mobile-phone rang.

"What do you want? WHAT? HOW? Shit. . ."

He stared menacingly at Shizuru.

"YOU!"

Takeda pointed his gun at Shizuru's head and without a second thought he pushed the trigger.

BANG

There wasn't enough time to evade the bullet. Shizuru saw her end coming and closed her eyes, but the bullet never hit her. She opened them cautiously, only to see a woman standing in front of her, shielding her from everything.

"Natsuki. . . "

Shizuru was shocked. There stood Natsuki in front of her. What was she doing here?

Natsuki had protected Shizuru and at the same time she had thrown a sharp knife right into Takeda's head. He was dead immediately.

"Why. . .?"

Shizuru wanted to ask, just as Natsuki turned around to face her.

"I'm sorry. . ."

That was her last sentence, before she collapsed in front of Shizuru, who caught her just in time, before she could hit the hard ground.

"NATSUKI. . . ."

"Shizuru, there you are. . .Oh my god, what happened?"

"Mai? How come you are free?"

"Uhm, she saved me and told me to hid, until everything is over. I heard a gunshot and thought. . ."

"I'm fine, but Natsuki. . ."

The brunette looked down to see a red mark on Natsuki upper right body, getting bigger with each passing second.

Mai was the first to recover and said:

"I'll call the ambulance. Don't worry. She's going to be fine."

The rest of the day went by quickly. The ambulance brought Natsuki into the hospital and tended to her wounds. Shizuru never left her side the whole time, while Mai reported everything to Yukino.

The next few days were really critical for Natsuki, because her wound was serious. A little bit to the left and it would have hit a very critical point, that would have killed Natsuki immediately. Shizuru wanted to cry after she got this information, but stayed strong for the sake of Natsuki. Then the doctor told her about Natsuki's other wound, which slowed down the healing process very much. He told her, that this wound was poisoned and that they didn't have a potion. This poison was something new and they didn't know, if it would kill the woman or not.

"But you must help her!"

Shizuru wanted to save Natsuki's life very badly.

"We try our best Fujino-san, but please understand, that we can't heal something, when we don't know what the cause was. So please calm down."

"Gomenasai, you're right. Please do your best."

"Don't worry, we'll do everything in our might."

"Thank you."

She left the office and went back to Natsuki's room.

Natsuki. . .

She saw the peacefully sleeping woman and sat beside her. Maybe she would wake up any minute. But somehow Shizuru doubted, that this was possible. Not after what the doctor had told her.

Why did she do something like this? Because she tried to protect me. . .she is going to. . .

Silent tears traveled down her cheeks. She couldn't stop them, even if she wanted to. She laid her head down on the bed and silent sobs were heard in the room.

Unknown to Shizuru something absolutely unexpected happened.

Natsuki slowly opened her eyes and searched for the person, that was crying.

Shizuru. . .why. . .where am I?

The soft movement, as Natsuki tried to find out where she was, startled Shizuru and she looked up to see tired emerald orbs.

"Natsuki."

Shizuru practically pounced on the wounded woman out of happiness.

"Shi-Shizuru. . .ungh. . ."

"Oh, kani na, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay, but where am I?"

"In the hospital. You were shot by Takeda."

"Ah yes, I remember that."

"Why did you do that? He could have killed you." Shizuru looked very angry right at the moment.

"Your safety was everything I could think of." Natsuki answered honestly. She remembered the moment clearly. Takeda had aimed his gun at Shizuru and her body reacted immediately. Her only thought was to save Shizuru, nothing more. Her own life had been of less importance.

Shizuru was taken aback by this honest answer. She had expected everything, but definitely not this. She expected Natsuki to say something like: "I need your powers or you can't die, until you have changed me back." This was a really big surprise.

"Ara. . ." That was all Shizuru could voice at the moment, still too surprised to say anything else.

Don't fall for it Shizuru. She's just going to fool you again. . .But her eyes. They look at me so honestly. Maybe this time I can trust her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud intake of breath.

She looked at Natsuki, who clutched her chest in pain.

"Natsuki? What is wrong? I. . .I call the doctor. . .wait. . ."

"No, don't please. . .ungh. . ."

"But Natsuki. . ."

"Trust me. This is absolutely nothing I want the doctors to see."

After that she tried her best to keep quiet. She knew, that this pain was because of her starting transformation and nothing else.

A few minutes later everything was okay. Even her poisoned wound was gone. She was back to normal. Fortunately as a gargoyle her healing ability was very high, so that she could heal all her injuries within seconds. Thank goodness, that her body choose just this moment to change back.

"Natsuki?"

Shizuru was suddenly somewhat afraid of the creature in front of her, even if she had seen Natsuki in her original form several times.

"I' fine now. Don't worry."

She sat up and then stood in front of Shizuru. Minutes ago, she couldn't even lift a finger, but now her whole body felt just wonderful.

Sigh, finally back.

Suddenly Natsuki looked at the door, hearing footsteps coming closer. She couldn't face the doctors in this form. She needed to get away as fast as possible.

"Natsuki, what. . .?"

Natsuki looked at Shizuru, grabbed her hand and went to the window, opening it.

"You need to trust me now, Shizuru. . .please."

Without waiting for a reply she scooped Shizuru up bridal-style and jumped out of the window.

The brunette held onto the gargoyle for dear life, but knew on the other hand, that Natsuki would never ever let her fall.

It's done. . .

I'm so exhausted right now. . .*faints in front of her laptop*

Please R&R

Thanks a lot :)