A/N: One more chapter left!

A few language warnings for this one.

Enjoy!

Italics are for emphasis and thoughts.

Better With You

(Sequel to Waiting)

By: Leafsdude

Chapter 10: Broken Egg

Though each member of the trio spend Sunday doing their own thing, they all find the time to gather together that evening for dinner.

It was Johnny's idea that morning. They had been spending time with each other as pairs over the week as they had agreed, but they still were having difficulty making all of their schedules align.

Johnny had a project he needed to get done that day, and Natsuki had set aside the afternoon for catching up on some new Manga that had been released that week. Still, Sayori somehow managed to organize the meal around their plans. An impressive feat, at least from Natsuki's perspective.

The two women snuck in a quick cooking lesson along the way. Eventually, the simple sautéed tray filled the entire bungalow with a mouth-watering smell.

"It looks so good," Sayori gushes as they sit at the dinner table together. "I could eat all of it myself."

Natsuki rolls her eyes at the comment. "Well, we're all eating, so don't," she says, though she can barely contain a laugh from the pout in response.

"How was your day?" Johnny quickly cuts in between them, the awkward subject change not lost on either woman.

"I had a blast at work," Sayori answers gleefully, not missing a beat regardless. "Yuko's so much fun to be around. I understand why you like her so much."

The comment flows out of her mouth innocently enough, but Natsuki still feels the heat rising to her face from the glance. "I don't like her," she insists, before frowning. "I mean…I do like her, but only a little!"

Eyes meet from each end of the table, and the silence stretches on for a while.

"Stop looking at me," Natsuki finally cuts back in, her own eyes shifting back to her plate.

It's a few minutes before her feelings subside again, and the conversation between them starts flowing naturally once more. Regardless, there's a growing discomfort within Natsuki's stomach from her outburst. She doesn't really mean to take it out on her friends, but she just can't help her natural prickly attitude when talking about her new-found friend.

She's only a friend, Natsuki repeats to herself as a mantra throughout that evening. It ends up being neither convincing, nor comforting from the truth she desperately wants to avoid.

Even if the result is her misplaced expression of anger towards her friends, she still can't allow herself to give in.

After spending the previous night with her friends, Natsuki wasn't happy to have to deal with her classmates again. However, time eventually stopped giving her the choice to avoid it, and she made her way to the campus. As it turned out, the day was much worse than even her pessimism had expected.

"How many teaspoons again?" Hime asked for what must have been the hundredth time that afternoon, causing Natsuki to groan.

"Five!" She almost shouts in her irritation as her assigned partner for the day's activity strikes at her final nerve.

"Oh, oops," her grin makes it clear whatever she'd done was no mistake. "I used six!"

Muttering obscenities under her breath that would have made Gordon Ramsey proud, Natsuki quickly looked through the collection of ingredients. She lets out an angry sigh of relief when she finds she's lucky to have enough to fix Hime's error.

While she's still proud of the end product, Natsuki can't help but feel robbed to share the mark with the troublemaker who had contributed nothing, and had even forced her to work extra hard for it.

The rest of the day, thankfully, had gone smoothly. Though Hime had been unbearable, even for her, Natsuki's other class for the day was spent as a relaxing catch-up period, as their professor had something else to attend to for the day.

Walking home, Natsuki felt the lazy effects of the day hit her walking pace. The result was extra time for thoughts to run through her head.

I didn't see Yuko on campus today, she idly notes as she crosses the last intersection, her house now in sight. She pauses for a second in surprise. Well, of course not, she berates herself quickly. I've never seen her there on Monday, stupid. And it's not like I'm upset about it or anything.

The over-aggressiveness to the innocent thought punches through her unconscious mind. But although she realizes that the response was extreme, even for her, she refuses to acknowledge it, as she finally picks up her pace.

Walking through the door, she's once more met by two sets of eyes. This time, able to move past her confusing emotions, she meets their gaze as she takes off her shoes. She's surprised at Sayori's strange expression: equal parts confused, apprehensive and concerned from her seat on the couch. Standing near the bedroom doors, John's expression is easy to decipher, on the other hand: he's not happy.

"What's up guys?" Natsuki asks, her voice perky but nervous. Sayori's twitchiness increases as she forces a smile onto her face.

"You didn't happen to tell everyone stuff about work and maybe suggest there was office shenanigans going on did you?" She asks in one breath. The smile remains throughout, giving Natsuki an eerie feeling.

"Umm, no?" Completely confused, she raises her eyebrows at her best friend.

"Oh, okay then," Sayori looks down at her phone, content with the answer. Even still, the expression on her face is filled with shame.

"Look," John clearly notices his girlfriend's mood as he moves to sit next to her, placing a comforting hand on hers. "It's just meaningless drivel from some immature kids. It's not worth paying any attention to."

There's a sigh before meeting her boyfriend's eyes. "I know," she says quietly. "I just never really had to deal with this before. Everyone in high school was so nice. I guess I don't have the experience to ignore it."

"And I'm not being much help either, am I?" Now it's John's turn to sigh as he moves to get up. A hand grab his before he can, though, and he turns back to a weak but real smile.

"You just being here helps, remember?" Sayori says sweetly as he relaxes in his spot next to her again.

Standing in the middle of the living room, watching their interaction with a blank expression, it takes Natsuki a moment to snap out of it. "Okay, what the hell are you two talking about?"

Instead of answering immediately, John holds Sayori's gaze. Waiting until he gets a light nod in return, he sighs as he turns his attention back to Natsuki. "Sayori overheard someone suggesting she was slacking off at work and getting away with it because she was…involved with a co-worker."

In surprise, the smaller woman looks at her best friend, getting a low-effort shrug in response.

"What co-worker?" Natsuki's eyes narrow. Both of them shake their heads.

"They didn't say," Sayori shrugs, her tone remaining upbeat despite her mood. "They knew about those things I told you about on Thursday, though. No one else knows about that. I'm sorry I accused you about it."

Not really concerned about that, there's no hesitation before the follow-up question. "Does Yuko know?"

Sayori's look immediately turns into one of contemplation, before she nods slowly. "Maybe," she says, a touch of confusion in her tone. "Not directly, but I may have said a few things about it to her. Why?"

At this point, however, Natsuki had begun to walk to the front door, muttering under her breath. "Goddammit, she doesn't know when to just tell people to shove it, does she?"

"Where are you going?" John asks loudly, confused as he leans over to watch her retreating figure.

"To see a friend," Natsuki's voice drifts through the now open door, though the tone is anything but friendly.

It's not long before Natsuki is back on campus, making her way through the building and towards the dorms connected to the rear entrance. Though she doesn't know which room Yuko is in, she catches a break as she runs into a familiar face.

Waving a little more frantically than she intends, Natsuki gets the attention of the girl from the campus literature club. What's her name again? Ah…Ah…Aki, that's it.

"Hey, um," Aki greets tentatively as she nods at Natsuki. "From the club, right?"

"Yes, Aki. From the club," instantly forgetting her own difficulty in name-recognition, the response is terse and impatient. Immediately, Aki is clearly fighting her desire to verbally tear Natsuki a new one, but Natsuki continues before she can speak. "You wouldn't happen to know where Yuko's dorm is, would you?"

"Oh, yeah, one-oh-four, that way," she instinctively points towards the stairs leading down to the lower floor where the dorms reside. "Wait, you know Yuko?"

As Natsuki heads off in the given direction, she shouts back over her shoulder. "Naturally."

Aki is unable to reply further before she is out of earshot as Natsuki makes her way down the stairs.

As her feet land on the ground of the lower level, she checks the first door to her right: 120. There's a momentary wave of relief as she backs up to check the doors next to it and spots the one marked 118.

With a quick nod to herself, she hurries down the hallway until she stands in front of the door with the number 104 on it.

There's a flash of nervousness at first, but that is quickly replaced once more with her annoyance at her friend. The image of Sayori's distress running through her head makes sure the hesitation lasts for only a second.

"Yuko, let me in," thumping her fist on the door three times, Natsuki yells through the wooden structure, barely restraining herself from giving a piece of her mind before she even sees the brunette.

As the door opens, she's greeted by Yuko's surprised expression. "Natsuki, how did you…?"

Pushing her way into the room, Natsuki doesn't give her a chance to finish the question. "You have some explaining to do."

Looking back, Yuko's face shifts into plain confusion as her eyes follow her unexpected guest into the middle of her room. "What?"

"Did you know Sayori overheard some bitches gossiping?" Spinning around, Natsuki doesn't mince her words through her glare. Yuko quickly closes the door, hoping the small barrier can contain the noise. "Apparently, they think she's purposely slacking off at work and getting away with it."

"That's obviously not…" trailing off, Yuko's tone makes it clear she doesn't totally believe what she was about to say. She shakes her head. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, that's the really interesting thing, you know," Natsuki responds sharply, taking a step towards her friend. "Sayori told me last week that she was feeling a little underappreciated. Like she was being underused by you guys. And then there's the fun little tidbit of how they think she was getting away with it because of you."

"Me?! But, why would I do that?" Yuko's confusion gives way to defensive indignation as she meets the other set of eyes in the room. The look sent back is one of pure infuriation.

"Beyond the fact that that's kind of what you do," the words push through the filter in Natsuki's head as her eyes narrow. "They also said you two were dating."

"But that was a joke!" The words escape automatically before the brunette realizes it. The eyes in front of her narrow in response.

"With who?"

"You."

The reply throws Natsuki for a moment as she remembers the discussion they had on Saturday. Before she can think of something else to rant about, Yuko speaks up again.

"I don't let people get away with anything," the words come out softly, but are answered with a roll of the eyes.

"You're friends with Hime," Natsuki's tone is filled with a tranquil fury.

"She's really not that…"

"Exactly," cutting Yuko off sharply, her eyes narrow again. "She probably started this whole thing, and you don't even care."

"She wouldn't…" Yuko trails off as her eyes go wide. "But, but…"

"It's one thing when I defend you and you're too much of a softy to let me," Natsuki shakes her head. "But now you hurt my best friend."

"I didn't mean to," wide eyes slowly close as the words hit hard.

"Of course not," the response is harsh, but not uncaring. There's a light shuffling noise as Natsuki moves closer. "But you did."

Their eyes meet for a second before Yuko sighs, turning away to sit on the couch a few steps behind her.

Natsuki can't refrain from rolling her eyes again, before letting them roam around the room for the first time. The lighting is low, created from the small singular lamp on a corner table next to the couch. There's a book sprawled out on the arm rest that she doesn't recognise and a glass of water placed next to it. Shifting her gaze to the back of the room, there's a small twin-sized bed with simple, unpatterned sheets neatly laid on top.

"Maybe you're right," Yuko's voice cuts through the silence sharply despite the softness of her voice.

"Maybe?" The word is full of sarcasm. They stare at each other, fiery eyes meeting doubtful ones.

"But what do I do?" Frustration fills the air as Yuko puts her head in her hands.

"I don't know," Natsuki moves to sit next to her friend, her tone finally softening up properly, though her irritation still remains. "But this?" She pauses for effect, letting her gaze trace the length of Yuko's body. "It doesn't work."

"But this is who I am," brunette hair flails from her shaking head, heavy eyes boring through Natsuki. "I can't be anything else."

"You have to," the response surprises even the person the words come from, but emotions keep her from stopping. "I couldn't love someone who wasn't…" the filter in Natsuki's brain kicks in just a second too late. Two pairs of wide eyes meet for just a moment before she jumps up from her seat. "Um, I mean, I should, uh…"

"Natsuki?" Her name is spoken with soft confusion. The subtle hopefulness in the tone, however, pushes Natsuki's flight response, and she takes a few steps backwards towards the door before turning. Yanking it open, she runs through the hallways. It's not long until her lungs beg her to stop. She looks around, quickly realizing she's outside on the sidewalk that leads home.

Despite attempting to break through, Natsuki manages to keep her thoughts in check as she calmly makes her way home.

Natsuki had long learned that she was good at ignoring her emotions. And while a lot of times that was to her benefit, it also had a tendency to bite her in the ass as well.

Case in point: it's 10:00 on a Tuesday morning as she walks through the campus halls, a full hour-plus before her first class of the day. She had gotten a good night's sleep at the end of the day, and her thoughts were mostly clear, but she still couldn't shake the bad mood she was in.

She couldn't help but glare at everyone she walked past, even at the rare student that had the guts to flash her even a soft, friendly smile as they crossed paths. However, none of this was really resulting in anything beyond a few disappointed strangers. That is, until…

"Hey, if it isn't Natsuki," Hime's voice immediately pushes one of Natsuki's last buttons, though she manages to barely restrain herself…for now. "Look, I know you're kind of a stick in the mud, but I still thought you might like to hear…"

"Hime, today is not a good day," Natsuki warns through clenched teeth, but her unwanted companion doesn't care to listen.

"Whatever…you know Yuko?" The glare in return somehow seems to egg her on. "She's got this new girl she's after. Co-worker apparently. Seems to have a bit of a mutual thing going on: she gets a date, co-worker gets to slack at work."

"Hime," the seething tone seems to catch the attention of a few passersby, but the blonde remains blissfully unaware. "These are my friends you're talking about."

"Oh!" The response is actually pleased, which would have resulted in a palm to Natsuki's forehead if she had managed to see past her boiling rage. "Well, that's great. So I probably don't have to tell you, Yuko's really rather selective about this sort of thing, but it seems she managed to find a slut."

"Okay, that's it," the final gasket blows, and the slight woman stomps towards her victim with balled-up fists. "Let's go."

With that last second warning, Natsuki swings wildly with her left arm, and though it catches Hime on the nose, it's a slight, glancing blow. The follow up right, just as wild, doesn't manage to hit anything, as Hime takes a step back, now recognizing the brawl she's found herself in.

"Huh, feisty," she taunts, meeting furious eyes with her own amused glance. "Got any more?"

Accepting the invitation without pause, Natsuki takes two quick steps before aiming for the middle of her opponent's face again. This time, however, her fist ends up finding a forearm, blocking the punch.

"I took Taekwondo," Hime notes gleefully. "You didn't."

Without warning, a left fist collides with an opposite cheek, sending Natsuki reeling back a few steps. Tapping the now tender spot with a fingertip, she can already feel the bruise forming as she looks back up. Through the stars in her vision, a figure steps towards her. Reacting defensively, the pink-haired woman brings her knee up, trying to push it into Hime's stomach.

"Nice," she says as she pushes her palms down, knocking the leg away, before striking again, this time landing a right fist onto the jaw, and Natsuki falls to the ground. "I'm better."

Trying to push herself up with her arms, the smaller woman's strength fails her as she collapses again, clearly defeated.

"You got some guts," the taunting voice cuts through the air again as Hime stands over her foe. "Too bad you're such a weak little thing. What your friends must think of you."

Despite the anger still raging inside of her stomach, Natsuki is not able to get her body to obey. Instead, she lets herself gather her bearings, her head resting on her arm for the moment, careful to avoid the throbbing injuries to her face.

Just as she begins to feel strong enough to pick herself up, however, she hears the patter of running feet heading towards her from the other direction. Passing Natsuki, there's a large crack and a loud shriek from above her, followed by another person falling to the ground in a heap. Managing to peak up above her, she's shocked at the figure now standing above her…

"Yuko?" The surprised voice is muted by the dazed feeling in her head. The only response is a quick dart of the eyes downwards before they return forward, trained on a target that can't be seen from Natsuki's spot on the ground.

"No!" The voice from the other direction wails loudly, piercing through Natsuki's slowly increasing headache. "You…you broke my nose! How…how dare you, bitch! I'll see you pay for this in ways you can't imagine!"

At that, the sound of shoes stomping through the halls away from her grow quieter by the second, eventually drowned out by a soft murmuring noise coming from all around her. Before she can react, there's a hand that closes in a soft but firm grip around her elbow.

"Can you get up?" Yuko asks, tone low as she drops to a knee.

Nodding almost imperceptibly, Natsuki slowly pushes herself up with the support of the taller woman, though her legs are not able to fully support her on their own. Despite the situation, she manages a self-deprecating chuckle. "I, uh, may need some help."

Getting lost in brown eyes for a second, she feels an arm move across her shoulder supportively, and she drops her head under Yuko's armpit with a sigh. Finally shifting her sight beyond her rescuer, she notices the group of strangers surrounding the area and the sigh quickly turns into a groan.

"Dammit," she mutters as she's slowly lead away from the middle of the campus hallway. "We are in so much shit."

"Let's just get you out of here," Yuko answers with her own low voice, filled with concern, but also a touch of pride.

"Okay."