She will rock you
9 Years Ago
Genevieve reclined uncomfortably against the wooden bench, watching the world around her ever curiously along with the little people in it. It was August, and the family had come together in one last-ditch effort to celebrate the dying summer. It was a windy day with enough chill to warrant a jacket, but at least there was sunshine.
She sat with a view of the pebble and sand beach. The tide low, enticing people out to paddle, searching for crabs and other shellfish.
Natalie had been doing the same, but now she came hopping up the large boulders that climbed up from the beach and connected nicely with the grass verge where Genevieve sat. She wondered idly if Natalie would be alright. She'd seen a child slipping on the great rocks earlier; smashed their face in… Genevieve mentally shrugged. If it happened, at least Natty wouldn't cry. She hated hysterics of that kind.
"You should be careful."
"Why is that?" Genevieve almost laughed, re-lighting her cigarette. Damn wind.
Natalie was all out of puff from her intense rock climb. "Because… Because that man thinks you're going to litter." She pointed directly at an elderly fellow in bright yellow shorts.
Genevieve glanced round with a smirk, lightly humoured by her adopted daughter's unabashed truthfulness. "He's wrong, so I don't care what he thinks."
The little girl hummed, brushing windswept hair from her face. She skipped close to Genevieve and emptied a handful of 'treasure' into the woman's palm. Dark eyes scanned over weathered shards of coloured glass and bits of china that had been painted with blue patterns, all made smooth by the sea.
"Look," Natalie poked at the glass, "What are they from?"
"Beer bottles I should think. See? They're green like Dad's beer. And you can get brown bottles too. …I'm not sure where the pink bit is from though… and see this? It's china."
"China!?" Natalie squeaked.
"Yep, just like Gran's plates."
"WHOA." The little bluenette picked up the most decorated piece, truly impressed with its existence. "But why did someone leave plates at the beach?"
Genevieve smiled, stubbing out her fag on the steel leg of the bench, the wind made too difficult to smoke anyway. "I would imagine the plates were on a ship. A lot of vessels were sunk during wartime around this area. By Mines."
It seemed the Mines where less impressive to Natalie as her eyes searched over the water in the far distance.
"So there could be more out there?"
Genevieve chuckled, "China or Mines?"
The little girl turned back with a shrug, and then pointed excitedly at Genevieve, "Maybe the Mines are Giant Octopuses!" Green eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
Genevieve smiled, internally resisting the urge to correct her daughter and stomp on her imagination. Giving in once in a while wouldn't be too harmful, surely? She didn't want to let her believe something silly and grow up stupid… but she had read somewhere about nurturing the creative side of the developing brain… Perhaps if she didn't outright agree with Natty's theory they could both come away from this satisfactorily.
Genevieve deliberately slipped into Japanese, "Oh really now?" She felt better challenging Natalie while still allowing her brain to have its funny moment.
"Yes! And they eat all the plates on the ships." Natalie eased into the conversation with an impressive smoothness. She held up the white and blue piece in her hand and stared suddenly gravely at her mother, whispering solemnly, "…This is all that's left."
…Genevieve openly laughed. "Kraken crumbs?"
Natalie managed to stare deadpan for three seconds before succumbing to a wide grin.
"Harvey told me there are giant squid in the water."
"There probably is…somewhere." Genevieve lifted Natalie into her arms, still holding the 'treasure' in her fist, and began walking them both towards the rest of the family.
"And Harvey said that's why I learned Japanese so I can do communication with squids."
"W-What?" Genevieve fell into English and sighed in slight annoyance. "Well Harvey's a little Sh- Sheesh-kebab."
Finally they made it to the patch of land claimed by windbreakers, blankets and the barbeque. Flanked by Uncle Charlie's motor home and the family cars. Genevieve plopped Natalie down and raised her hands in surrender.
"That's it, I can't take anymore kid talk! Someone please hand me a cocktail! …And Oi, Harvey-boy…I'm watchin' you."
The boy in question squawked in response, but Genevieve ignored it in favour of a Dirty Black Russian.
Presently, Monday Morning
Adequately deprived of sleep, Natsuki shuffled her way to school. She'd had many things to think over during the night, starting with 'how to tell when a girl is serious' and 'all and any consequences sure to follow', which resulted in a too pale complexion and blood shot eyes.
Therefore, when her Stepmother had forbidden her from driving that morning Natsuki's Zombie-ish groan was wholly fitting.
"Plodding along…Plodding along, up this mother-fucking hill…" She hummed to herself, enjoying the slightly euphoric madness of too little sleep.
"Oi, KUGA!" It was Yuuichi. He came bounding up behind her grinning like they were the newest of shiny friends. "It's the first time I've seen you walk this way! Hey…you look awful."
"Yes, cheers for that." It was nice to not care though; she let out a small smile while analysing how terrible she should be feeling. "Mother-dear gave me a bike ban. I haven't slept and I have detention all week." Natsuki began whistling.
Tate gave an appropriate look of sympathy, "A-Ah… you seem to be handling it okay though. Well, apart from this crazy aura!"
She only nodded in response as the song circled in her head. Someone grabbed her shoulder and Natsuki nearly lost her footing, balance was definitely a tentative thing right now. The bluenette looked back and found the hand belonged to Chie.
"Whoa, careful there Natsuki-Chan!" Chie grinned, also far too pleased to discover her walking with the rest of the rabble. Aoi was walking alongside and greeted her with a smile.
"Ah, yeah morning… Well you pulled on me with those ape arms." She directed at Chie not pleased with how the journey was getting inexplicably harder, though she found herself giving in easily to laughing at Chie's gorilla poses.
Trotting up, Aoi eagerly gazed at Natsuki. She was incredibly fascinated by all things foreign, especially big historical cities such as London. She wanted so much to travel there, consequently she worked extremely hard in her English classes, and now she had a friend who could add so much more amazing knowledge to her limited understanding!
"Say, Natsuki-Chan, what was that song you were singing? Something about going up a hill?" Aoi had managed to grasp that much before Yuuichi had interrupted.
Natsuki glanced towards Aoi in a confused fashion. Thinking and acknowledging that some part of her consciousness strives to bring others into the same state of being, she answered as truthfully as she could.
"No, it's about being underwater on a big bed." She motioned vaguely with her hands before plonking them into her jacket pockets. "With cartoon lions and stuff."
Perplexed, Aoi answered, "A-ah, is that so?"
Tate was sniggering loudly, "Haha! Don't worry about it Senoh-Chan, Kuga's completely out of it today!"
"Hehe, I did wonder."
"Hm? Are you guys laughing at me?" Natsuki stopped, before being pulled along by her chuckling companions. …I need such sleep.
"But the question is…" Yuuichi stepped ahead but started walking backwards to face the three girls, he made a sweeping air guitar gesture with his arms, "are you with it enough to rock!"
"How laaaaame," provided Chie.
"Harada! You can drum for us!" He pointed dramatically towards Natsuki, "What do you say, Kuga? Let's jam at lunchtime!"
Natsuki blinked, then slowly ran her hand over her face. Hmmmmm errrrrrghh. Mai probably won't mind coming along…And Shizuru isn't usually around. Natsuki felt her heart do something akin to a flip, and a grin tugged on her lips. Though it would be cool if she heard me playing.
Natsuki let a tired smile claim her face as she dropped her hand. "Sure, why not?"
Tate raised his arms in victory, and bellowed a deep "YEEEEES! Dibs on Chilli Pamela!"
What? The Stratocaster again! Natsuki unleashed her best Dorset accent, "You dirty pinch-snatcher!"
"I have no idea what you just said." Tate dropped his arms while Natsuki walked on ahead.
"That's FINE! You don't need to know!" She was honestly so tired.
Monday Lunch Time
Most of the gang had indeed gathered together in the music room, and Natsuki left her belongings in there while she stepped out for something caffeinated, or chocolaty.
The last thing she heard from the room was Yuuichi getting the back of his head smacked by Aoi and Mai. She huffed a laugh through her nose, telling them "you can't sing, but you can dance exotically!" Haaaaa. Funny.
The bluenette had been struggling through her day; she'd barely been productive in her classes, and was hoping a lunchtime jam would lift her spirits. Natsuki was already feeling doubtful though, it wasn't that Mikoto, Mai and Aoi weren't welcome… they're going to be loud and distracting. I wonder if this is a waste of time. Deep in thought she entered the cafeteria.
Loneliness was her issue. And the realisation settled over her softly, like walking through an invisible spider web – it wasn't pleasant. Erruughh… Where is she? I was really looking forward to performing. And now it's going to be annoying and not fun at all. Stupid Shizuru. …Maybe she didn't come to school today.
Natsuki exited the cafeteria with a glum expression, holding her Dorayaki, Strawberry milk and apple. I guess that means I'll be serving detention with Suzushiro. Damn, why didn't I grab a coffee?! She stopped in her tracks and glanced back the distance she'd already come with a grunt. Oh, sod it.
As Natsuki decided to continue her journey a door swished open down the corridor. Surprise hit as she recognised the light blazer, then her heart thumped when she took in wavy hair, darker than honey.
Shizuru.
Natsuki may have felt like one of the undead today, but she knew exactly what it meant when her face prickled with heat. She was blushing madly. Shit!
Shizuru was walking towards her, reading something intently from a folder she held in front. Thus far it seemed Natsuki hadn't been noticed, and while she was suddenly happy to see her in school, her head panicked. I've gone red, I know it… would it be rude to just slip by? Eheh.
However, there was no such luck.
Like a target blinking on the edge of Shizuru's radar, red eyes shot up instantly at the peripheral recognition of long dark hair. Shizuru's smile was immediate.
"Hello, Natsuki."
"Ah! –Hi!" She hopped back a step, her insides jittering, "So you're here then!"
"Yes, should I not be?" Shizuru replied cheerfully, while scanning over Natsuki's flustered form.
"No I just thought – because I hadn't seen you all day – that you stayed home or something." Natsuki had been gulping a lot and edging her way around Shizuru, earning her a raised brow.
"I have been working on the tournament details. Is Natsuki alright?"
"Hm? It's nothing, just a misunderstanding."
Again Shizuru looked quizzical. "Then why do you look so tired? You should really look after yourself." Shizuru sighed. It had not gone unnoticed that Natsuki was scooting around her to escape down the hall, red eyes flicked over the girl before Shizuru obliterated the distance between them and grabbed onto the cords of Natsuki's hoodie.
"O-oi, what are you doing?"
Shizuru's height over Natsuki was obvious at such proximity. And the Brit swallowed her anxiousness as best she could; although she felt so surrounded she was surprised she hadn't been pushed up against the wall. Has she grown?
"I have two questions for you, and you must answer at least one." Shizuru's tone was serious.
"Um…Okay?"
Shizuru's left hand held onto the cords of Natsuki's hood while her right dangled by her side still holding onto the folder, their faces close enough for a whispered conversation. Shizuru was well aware of how intimate they would appear, but she had sudden concerns to alleviate.
"Firstly," She spoke softly, "Why is Natsuki blushing?"
Bitch. Natsuki thought with a tiny bit of endearment, because sure enough she could feel her whole being growing hotter. She couldn't resist pointing that out!
"…Pass!" Natsuki gritted out, nose flaring in embarrassment.
Shizuru smiled at that, glad in knowing she had at least been the cause of this new reddening.
"Then this you must answer," She stated, pulling up on the cords in mock threat. "Why is Natsuki trying to sneak past me?"
"Aha -what? No, I'm just on my way to the music room."
Shizuru wasn't letting go.
"Chie, Yuuichi and I are having a lunchtime jam. With instruments. I just went to get food. …For energy. I'm pretty tired…So…" Natsuki wanted to hide inside her hood so badly. Shizuru was almost touching her, and her stomach was doing that new troubling thing that sent tingles all over her body.
"I see." Shizuru let go, turning on her heel very suddenly. "Then I shall look forward to hearing the show." Walking slowly away she pretended to read from her folder once more.
Green eyes spotted something troubled in Shizuru's retreating form, and called out after her, "You're invited! If you want to come."
The honey-blonde paused, looking back with a smile to hide her irrational hurt. "I would love to, however I am inundated with council work… perhaps another time, Natsuki?"
"Aah, yeah. I understand. It'll probably suck anyway."
Natsuki wasn't the kind to hide her disappointment; and it was a facet Shizuru appreciated more than she realised.
She sent her a kind smile in apology, "I hope you have fun Natsuki."
Natsuki returned Shizuru's sweet smile… and then it occurred to her!
"Wait, no way!" Natsuki charged towards the other girl and pulled her into a corner, almost dropping her Dorayaki in the process. Shizuru managed to catch it for her, but had no idea what had gotten into the Brit.
"Natsuki-"
"Why didn't you say anything?" I know what that look means now!
"What?-"
Natsuki leant towards Shizuru, grabbing the lapel of her jacket. This could backfire, but she deserves it. Natsuki thought with only the tiniest quiver.
"You're jealous?"
…
A look of shock could only settle for a moment before being replaced by unmistakeable irritation.
"I'm sorry to displease Natsuki, but I am just very busy today. In fact, I'm afraid I don't have the time to supervise you after school either."
"What?" Natsuki visibly deflated. "…Who will do it then?"
"Well I'm unsure at the moment, it depends who we can spare…"
Natsuki stepped back, pursing her lips. Is she doing this on purpose? I guess I really shouldn't have said that… how big must my head be anyway? She let her hand slowly slip off of Shizuru's lapel. Rubbing the back of her neck instead she tried a smile.
"I'm sorry for being such a bother, heheh."
"…Natsuki has always been troublesome." Something in Shizuru's eyes softened, but she was still exuding a biting tension.
"Yeah, I do tend to steer that way. I'm…really sorry for grabbing you into a corner. I've been acting weird today, everyone would tell you the same."
A smirk finally made it's way to Shizuru's face, "Then I'll have to ask around."
The bluenette huffed a chuckle, retrieving the Dorayaki from Shizuru's hands. Their fingers brushing, "I'd better get going then, good luck with your workload." She dipped her head still feeling like an idiot.
Shizuru's small smile dropped once the bluenette turned, walking off down the hallway. She felt the guilt of being mean, but it had been out of her control. Striking that particular nerve so discourteously was not something Shizuru was prepared to handle.
Shizuru left the hallway behind her once she could no longer trace the bluenette's journey, heading for the cafeteria with a brisk stride. She could feel a frown tugging on her brow and fought to freeze her features in place, it was hard enough accepting that for the foreseeable future it would be a sheer battle to spend her free time how she wanted to. Let alone the realisation Natsuki would probably end up spending more time with other people, like Yuuichi Tate.
It had been a miracle she hadn't become a flustered mess, though she admitted her building frustrations and indignation had won out over her embarrassment, yet now as she sat down to her black tea and sushi did she begin to feel her cheeks burn, in that way they rarely ever did.
Oh God, it really is changing between us. Natsuki acted so…unsure. Shizuru sighed opening up her folder and placing a morsel of Sashimi into her mouth. And I was a little mean to her. Shizuru paused her actions, looking up from her lunch she gazed upon the occupants of the dinning hall, each one perking, steadily recognising the growling echoes of an electric guitar reverberating through the school.
The phantom feeling of Natsuki holding onto Shizuru's jacket wasn't leaving, and Shizuru bit her lower lip when she recalled wanting to catch it as it fell away. She sighed once again, banishing an ache in her chest.
I need to catch her later.
Much later
She had received a note in her last lesson, all official looking with boarders and typed characters. Natsuki was to report to Sakomizu-Sensei's classroom for detention, promptly at 15:05. Club activities were to be suspended until the completion of five days punishment. No excuses!
Natsuki scoffed, re-reading the note. Well that's got Suzushiro written all over it. She had been surprised to find a hand written message on the back, reading:
'I hope you will find less boredom in the music room. – S'
That had certainly taken the sting out of her day, and even with how awkwardly things had been left between them, Shizuru must have made the effort to arrange it.
She's a pretty thoughtful person…though now I feel even worse for being an idiot! I don't know what's wrong with me. First I was upset when I thought she wasn't around, and then I could barely speak to her when she sprung out from the wall! …And when I did manage to utter something properly, I pissed Shizuru off!
As Natsuki rounded a sharp corner she came upon the most vivid redhead in school. Nao, her trusted ally in all things rowdy, who took one look at Natsuki and burst into snorts.
"Pfft! S'up Major sulk face?"
"I am an idiot. When are you going to hit me over the head with something heavy?"
"I didn't realise it was my responsibility."
"Well someone has to."
"So what do you want, an anvil off the roof? 'fraid I'd have to check my calendar, I'm not constantly available to off you willy-nilly." The last part Nao spoke in English, causing the bluenette to grin.
"Well, whenever you can get around to it then." Natsuki's eyes sparkled in amusement and she tiredly skated her feet along the shiny floor towards the music room.
Nao followed bemusedly, "So the rumours are true, you're a complete weirdo today."
"So the people say." Natsuki sighed, "I just need one solid night of rest, my brain is trying to work overdrive and failing. Every train of thought links to a spider diagram of other stations with their own newspaper stands and headlines I can't read because I'm not even sure which platform I'm on. …And don't you think girls are hard to understand?"
Nao blinked, "What, you mean like you are? Fuck yes."
Natsuki came to a halt outside the door of the music room and un-crumpled the detention slip, triple-checking she'd not hallucinated the room number, or Shizuru's note.
Nao's lime eyes were drawn to the little yellow slip, to the note written mostly in Kanji and signed with an S.
Nao smirked, "You know, I'm surprised the Kaichou gave you such a long punishment. Pretty harsh considering nothing got broke. Fall out did we?"
"What? No, Shizuru didn't have anything to do with it – or at least she couldn't do anything about it."
"Uh-huh. Well!" Nao stretched her arms up and settled them behind her head. "As fun as it is watching you make a prat of yourself and wonder how you're even still functioning, I'm going."
Nao had already begun walking away when Natsuki let out a massive yawn into her palm.
"See yaarrnnNNN tomorrow…"
The red head turned back with a grin, "Yeah, lemmie know how you make it through the night!" She returned before disappearing in an emerging crowd of students.
Ehh don't say that, I wanna be able to sleep…Natsuki whimpered in her mind, fumbling at the door handle. In a controlled effort she managed to not fall completely through the door, although what caught her off guard inside was quite capable of making her swing back out.
I'm hallucinating now. Right? There's just no conceivable way I'm actually seeing this.
What Natsuki was indeed seeing; was the glowing pink face of a bespectacled girl standing atop an upturned waste bin, holding onto Sakomizu-Sensei's large white double bass. And she looked utterly caught in the act.
"U-Um…" She spoke, her fingers frozen mid-pluck on the thickest of strings.
A slow smile crept its way over Natsuki's shocked expression, and eventually she chuckled away the silence.
"Awesome."
Much, much later
Natsuki tossed the grimy rag behind her, aiming for the table and deftly missing. She admired the newly buffed windows and scowled up at the smaller ones she couldn't reach.
"…Someone's been smoking in here." She mumbled.
A little head of wild brown hair popped up to attention, "Um…Pardon, did you say something Kuga-san?"
Jet-Blue hair swished off one shoulder as she turned, suddenly remembering the mousey council member's presence.
"Uh, nothing really." Natsuki descended the stepladder and collapsed it with a loud whining clang. She walked towards her schoolmate, dragging the ladder with her, still preoccupied with the little rectangular windows out of her reach. "Don't you think they look a bit yellow?"
The girl squinted her eyes at the affronting glass, while her hands busied themselves with gathering her books and papers together, she really didn't want to be in this room longer than her duty mandated.
"Perhaps they are just old?"
"More likely stained." Natsuki murmured, settling onto a stool and resting the ladder against her leg.
Natsuki had been serving detention for almost two hours now, and she'd approached her punishing tasks with the same half-dead attitude that had accompanied her for most of the day. Truthfully the activity had spurred some unknown energy out of her, but Sakomizu's windows were almost full length along one wall! By what margin were these standards of detention ruled!
Natsuki could feel the tingling beginnings of her leg numbing under the weight of the ladder against it, and she grew certain she would die here.
"Okay Kuga-san, that's one detention completed, g-good job! Now if you could make sure to tidy up the cleaning supplies, then you're free to go."
Natsuki lulled her head to the side, watching the girl mark a little neat tick on a sheet of paper with all sorts of characters on it – which Natsuki couldn't read upside down.
Bah, she's no fun… what is her name? Kiwii-san? How awkward to forget…
"Say, I don't suppose you could do me a favour?" The bluenette asked suddenly.
The girl before her paused warily, slowly handing over some kind of new slip of paper that Natsuki couldn't be arsed to read right now.
"Um, what can I do for you?"
"It's nothing humongous," Natsuki waved the pink slip at her in reassurance, "just, if you bump into Shizuru could you, I dunno, hint that I am in dire distress and can't walk anymore."
"Y-You, want me to tell her you can't walk? Why?"…What?
Natsuki pointed at the metal apparatus currently using all of gravities force to cut the vital circulation to her leg.
"My leg is so numb right now. I daren't move it."
Without really considering the delinquent's weirdness the responsible counsel member did the only rational thing she could, and pulled the ladder away. This immediately resulted in an outcry of anguish as Kuga Natsuki clutched at her own leg.
"Noooo! Why would you do that?! The needles! The sheer stabbing pain!" Natsuki was doubled over on the stool, gritting her teeth. She had a sudden desire to laugh through it all but managed to bite it back. Natsuki didn't actually want to be committed.
"Well, shame on you for trying to distract the Kaichou. She has a great deal of work to do you know… and doesn't need you damaging school property and-and vying for her attention!" The girl picked up her books and made for the door.
Natsuki sat up a little and chuckled, causing the girl in the doorway to halt.
"…You're right, I'm sorry. I have a stupid sense of humour most of the time. And well… You're friends with the deputy, Suzushiro-san right?"
The bespectacled girl took a hesitant step back into the room, fully intrigued and wondering why. Both girls were assessing the other, and for the first time the bluenette's green pools appeared open and kind…not fierce as usual.
"Yes, we are."
"How long have you known her?" Natsuki asked, rubbing at her leg.
"We've…actually been best friends since we were small."
"Wow," Natsuki smiled, "I've never had that…well…no, not really." She shook her head lightly and sat up straighter, the pain leaving only a dull ache now. She frowned, contemplating whether she should even be talking to 'The Man' about personal stuff but…it was kind of easier.
"I'm kind of concerned…about something." She stated slowly, studying the girl's reaction acutely. If she doesn't seem interested I'll let her leave. Natsuki decided.
But the wild mouse was interested, she took another step towards Natsuki, her posture changing, arms loosening so her shield of books dropped to her tummy. And behind those glasses her eyes reflected the compassionate interest Natsuki had been searching for.
"Oh? Is this about Kaichou-sama?"
Nicely perceptive, "Yeah… I'm not really that close to all that many people. And the thing is…my background, well…shall we say, I get on with guys much easier?"
"I see. But, haven't you and the Kaichou been friends for a while now?"
Natsuki sighed, "Mm, but it's just lately, I keep putting my foot in it!"
The brown haired girl before her let out a short laugh, "Oh, dear…"
"I'm treating our friendship as naturally as the situation calls for, but I just need some kind of magical insight from someone who knows how to keep a girlfr – female friend… So can you help me?"
Natsuki could tell the girl was withholding a grin, and possibly a giggle. I admit, I think I made it sound like I'm asking how to keep a hamster… but if Kiwi-san can tell me anything I'll be grateful.
"I think, it's okay to put your foot in it Kuga-san."
Natsuki blinked, "What?"
"I can't know myself if there's a difference being friends with boys or girls, but if they become close friends, then surely the level of caring is the same?"
Natsuki thought back, to another lifetime ago and sighed. "I can't really be sure of that, it's difficult to work out people's motivations."
It was the wild mouse's turn to blink at that, "Um, do you mean, you don't trust the Kaichou's motivations for being friends with you?"
"Wah –t …no, I don't know what I mean." Natsuki surrendered, walking over to her bag and digging out a spare hairband. After the workout cleaning windows she wanted her hair away from her neck, she brushed her hair up with her fingers and spoke through the band held in her teeth. "I just don't want every conversation to feel like…like the ground is lava."
"I don't know what that means." The girl replied, quickly reading the change in Natsuki's eyes.
Natsuki huffed to herself. Her dark hair was up and out of her face; so that irritation was gone, but really, with how muddled and tired she was she ought to go home. Without thinking about it she faced the other girl and gave her a light bow.
"Thank you for the advice. I should really tidy this room now."
"Ah, you're welcome. I'll see you same time tomorrow Kuga-san." The brown haired girl returned the sudden formality and turned to leave. This strange student made her so jumpy, she hoped every session wasn't going to be like this!
Just as the bespectacled girl passed the threshold of the music room Kuga Natsuki called out to her again.
"What were you playing on the bass?"
Yukino froze. No…no she never wanted another session with this person!
"THAT. You will never speak of. To anyone."
…Put my foot in it again?
Just past Teatime
The sun began to set far off on the horizon of trees, causing most of the ground level surroundings to appear dim to Natsuki's blurring eyes. She had stopped just outside the school building to tie her jumper around her waist, and got momentarily distracted by the boisterous cries of the baseball club. They had their own special patch of field, fenced off from everything else. Maybe I should have joined a club, would've been nice to belong to something like that…
Natsuki began her walk, nice and slowly, what a shit ass day. She summarised, thinking over the many awkward moments. She was quite determined to not think about Shizuru and that awful encounter, because every time she did, Natsuki wanted to throw herself head first into a cabinet…or a train.
What she could occupy her mind with freely was the oddness of Miss Kiwi, the girl who had seemed so…nice? Though she definitely has a darker side. Natsuki just couldn't fathom why it would be so intensely, dangerously important to keep such a secret. Most people would revel in being able to play an instrument, but she wants to pretend it never happened. Natsuki squinted into the distance. Weird.
As Natsuki passed through the glossy black bars of the school gate, she instinctually glanced to her right, unconsciously checking her surroundings. When she turned to her left – wondering if she could roll down the hill towards home – Natsuki was unnerved to spot a group of third year council members hanging around. They were laughing amongst themselves, and she realised the Kaichou was there, acting as the little sun to their circle.
The honey Blonde Kaichou was standing by the brick wall boundary of the school. She held her book bag behind her, allowing her to partially lean on the wall without risking her uniform.
Shizuru became keenly aware of the bluenette's arrival, but in a controlled effort appear nonchalant she kept her gaze directed upon her friends. Reito was laughing, Haruka was brushing her yellow hair from her face, and Anh was saying something… however all Shizuru could think of was Natsuki, hovering uncomfortably beyond the circle.
What am I doing?
"…Natsuki," Shizuru called, and everyone turned.
"Hi."
Shizuru's classmates all seemed to speak at once. They were highly amused to hear about the bluenette's detention, and bantered heartily about what awful punishments they were cooking up for what was going to be the longest week of her life! Haruka quipped over Natsuki's current state of dress, and mentioned something of interrogation over what she'd said to Kikukawa-san.
To all of which Natsuki didn't say anything. She simply glanced between everyone with a growing smirk.
"Do you see where we're all standing?" The bluenette motioned with her hand, clearly making point of being beyond the school boundaries. "You have NO power here!" Natsuki passed the group and began her trek down the hill, only to feel the threatening patterns of footsteps following behind.
Shizuru caught up with a little jog, wanting to walk beside the person of her affections and newly jealous rages.
"SO…why are the creepy Council following me?"
Shizuru smiled, her heart was fluttering in her chest, but she was relieved to hear Natsuki's voice. Especially because her tone holds less irritation than I expected.
"I was waiting for you." Shizuru spoke more softly than intended, with perhaps too much feeling. Shizuru bit her tongue as green eyes regarded her, an interesting barrier of caution radiating from them, until she blinked it away and it faded into a tired gaze.
Shizuru felt safe to breath again.
"Ah. So they kept you company."
"They did. I was sorry when I heard about Natsuki's punishment, Haruka managed to keep that from me for an impressive amount of time! So I tried to find you in the music room. Ah, but then when I left, Kikukawa-san informed me you were still inside, unable to walk? I suppose we kept missing each other." Shizuru said, watching Natsuki absorb the information with a quirking brow.
"Kiku –kawa? Ah, that was her name! Wait, she actually said that?" When her friend nodded Natsuki laughed, "Thar be a funny girl."
Shizuru was confused but smiled, "How interesting, Kikukawa-san said something similar about Natsuki."
The bluenette gaped. "Are you sure you're not getting that confused with like, hatred?"
"Ara! Well I have never known Kikukawa-san to take a severe dislike to anyone."
"HEY, what are you two squawking about Yukino for!?" Haruka chimed in protectively, while Anh and Reito debated whether correcting 'Squawking' with 'Talking' would be at all necessary.
Shizuru noticed her loves immediate discomfort, and certainly didn't miss the escaping sigh from her mouth that evolved into a growl. Yes, this is all getting a bit much isn't it?
"I promise it was only the very politest conversation, Haruka."
"Hm. Well just remember Kuga's there to serve punishment, not make friends! Yukino won't be fooled by your ways Kuga!" She shouted, poking the bluenette hard on the shoulder.
Natsuki frowned, on the edge of a glare. "Tch. Jog on." Natsuki stalked away from the group leaving Shizuru behind with her council. Why the fuck did I get pulled into walking with them anyway.
It was a little more than embarrassing when they caught her up at the traffic lights. But at least they were quieter now. She sensed her friend lingering closely to her back, before she felt fingers slide around her wrist and hold it gently.
Natsuki calmed, watching for the changing light and little jingle to tell her she could finally cross the tarmac expanse.
And then Lu Anh spoke. "Kuga-san needs to watch that temper. Maybe she should speak with Midori-sensei more."
"ANH." Shizuru turned on her, furious and utterly dismayed when Natsuki yanked her hand away, crossing the road and leaving her again. "You are being beyond rude! If you do not apologise –"
" – Hey I was only teasing her a bit." Anh defended, clearly surprised by Shizuru's reaction. They all started crossing together, Anh, Reito and Haruka sharing confused glances.
Crimson eyes worriedly searched ahead and surprisingly found Natsuki waiting on the other side. She stood against a lamppost, and as the group approached she turned slightly, her eyes fierce upon them.
Shizuru and Natsuki called each other's names at the same time, though it was the latter that won due to her serious tone.
"Are you free to come over?"
"O-Oh…" Shizuru stammered, thrown by the sudden invitation. She did a quick reshuffle of her study plans in her mind and nodded. "Yes, of course." Always.
Natsuki sighed, "Cool." And straightened off the post.
The Kyoto-girl caught hold of the dangling sleeve of Natsuki's hoodie that was wrapped around her waist, and tugged gently – almost bashfully, and Natsuki raised her eyebrows in question.
"My friend Anh would like to offer you an apology." Shizuru stated as fact, looking over her shoulder towards the Council member.
Anh nearly choked. But with a nervous chuckle she gave in to the dangerous red gaze staring through her. She was the Kaichou after all.
"Yes, …please accept my apology, Kuga-san." She gritted out, bowing in Natsuki's direction. "I clearly went too far."
Green orbs watched Lu Anh with suspicion, but she made a nod of her head anyway. "Sure. Let's go Shizuru."
And with that the group separated, the three Council members headed for the dorms, while Natsuki lead her friend along a different road.
Natsuki huffed an amused breath through her nose when she realised Shizuru was walking along still holding onto the hoodie sleeve.
"Cute. It's like you're worried about losing me in the crowd." Natsuki chuckled.
Shizuru's smile was sheepish. "I am worried."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to ditch you down some weird street, haha!" …Or AM I? Natsuki's mind filled in.
"I do appreciate that, although… that's not the cause of my worry." Shizuru fiddled with the cuff in her grasp. "My classmates, …Natsuki has met my friends before, but I am still so… I had hoped they would leave a better impression than what happened." …I am so embarrassed.
"What, you mean Lu and Miss Loudmouth?" Natsuki smiled at Shizuru, shaking her head softly. "Honestly I can barely remember what they said, so I was pretty surprised when you went all Terminator eye on Lu, and next thing she's bowing at me. Anything else was probably just down to my weird moods. …Don't look so surprised! I thought you were asking around about it?"
"I-I did!" Shizuru laughed, "In fact I heard all about the attempted mosh pit inside Sakomizu-Sensei's classroom!"
"What?! I…wait, yeah that might have happened. But it was Aoi's doing."
"Oh, I'm sure it was."
"Haha, you think I'm some kind of wild deviant don't you?"
Shizuru responded with a very deliberate smirk, arching one brow and gazing at the navy haired girl like a particularly succulent piece of meat.
"While we're on the topic," Shizuru purred, watching Natsuki's wary expression with amusement. "You look very pretty with your hair up."
What fucking topic is that exactly?! "If you're trying to make my face pre-heat like an oven… Congratulations!" Natsuki hadn't been prepared for either of them to drop back into casual flirtations, not after her accusing Shizuru of being Jealous of all things.
But I'm glad we're back to normal, Natsuki smiled, watching her best friend laugh.
"Hey, did I apologise for earlier?"
The honey Blonde moved closer, dropping the hoodie sleeve in favour of Natsuki's hand, she answered, "Yes, you did already."
Natsuki gently squeezed the warm hand in hers, "Ah, …good."
Well past bedtime
"You're still up?" Jennifer remarked, flicking through piles of work paper upon the dinning table.
"I just can't get those windows out of my head. I feel like I'm Daniel-san." Natsuki demonstrated, performing the renowned 'Wax on, Wax off' motion.
"Pfft! Aww, I do feel for you Natty." Jen sniggered with a complementing sympathy. "The Nicotine must be thick on those walls by now."
Natsuki paused, turning slowly towards her dear stepmother. "What makes you say that?"
"Cause that's where I smo –"
"I FUCKING KNEW IT!"