This one I'm particularly happy with so I hope you'll enjoy it too :)

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Chapter 2: The Manipulator

'Damn those dreams!' Natsuki thought as she gripped her warm mug tightly in her hands while her eyes looked incredulous. Large dark bags were visible under her eyes from the sleepless night she received because of that dream. Since 2:00 AM she tossed and turned in her sheets, trying to get the haunting images out of her head but to no improvement.

'I've gotta find some way to get them out! They won't stop! I never ever thought I would do those things and especially not to Shizuru! I wonder what she'd think if she ever somehow found out… then again maybe I don't even want to think about that either…' She sweat-dropped while she remembered Shizuru's teasing side; surely she'd actually find a sort of amusement in the idea in place of anything else.

Natsuki took in a breath and let out a long exhale and rolled her neck and shoulders, trying to ease her tensing muscles. 'That's right Natsuki, just relax and perhaps those images will finally leave…' She closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to absorb some good, peaceful feelings in her. Much to her surprise, it seemed to be working; she never really believed meditation actually helped anyone at all, but she guessed she proved herself wrong.

……………………

'…I focused all my mouth's attention solely on that spot, my excitement growing as her soft moans were replaced with sharp gasps and lustful groans while she squirmed and writhed underneath me…'

"GYYAAAHHH!" Natsuki repeatedly slapped the back of her head with her hand, trying to knock the thought out of her. "Bad images, bad images! Get out, get out!" Her eyes darted as she held her face in her hands, trying in vain to stop the blush that overflowed her face. She spun herself around in her revolving chair away from her kitchen counter, her eyes darting around her small but suitable apartment. "I have to find something, do anything that can actually take my mind off of these stupid images!" She spoke aloud now, not caring that she was talking to herself.

After looking around the living room, which consisted of a small sofa, a small coffee table, and a TV the size of a portable kitchen television set; everything was small… that's all she could afford even with her part-time job, which was a certain type that required patience but was very close to losing this job because on several occasions Natsuki had very little patience to offer.

Back to Natsuki's current situation, her eyes eventually acknowledged the piles of discarded clothes and open books scattered around her living room; she rarely cared whether her clothes made it into the hamper or not as most nights she would come home late from her college classes -- yes, she was going to college and didn't just skip it, of course she really wanted to, however it was mostly because of Shizuru's persistence that she actually attended -- and would change into her night wear as she would saunter to her futon. Though very put-off by the idea of the labor, Natsuki simply grumbled agitatedly before pushing herself off of her seat and picking up the articles of clothing and open text books; the books she just lazily left in their places after carelessly trying to complete the homework.

Eventually when she came close to the stand near the sofa that had a lamp, a phone (the only phone) and an answering machine upon it, she noticed a blinking "1" on the answering machine. Natsuki quirked an eyebrow as she eyed it. 'Must have missed someone yesterday.' She guessed before her hand reached out to press the playback button. Before her hand could touch it, she stopped.

'… What if it's Shizuru? What do I do then? I can't just see or even speak to her after having that…' Natsuki blushed then gulped. '… that really weird dream.' Her eyes stayed locked on it, her hand frozen in its path towards it. 'Wait… Shizuru doesn't really call me; she does the more formal thing and sends letters… so maybe it isn't her… I hope.' Her eyebrows knitted and teeth gritting slightly, preparing herself for what she feared, she finally pressed the button.

… "Beep… Yo! Gunslinger! What the hell happened? This was our bar-hopping night wasn't it? So where the hell were you?"

Natsuki let out a sigh of relief as she recognized Nao's voice while totally oblivious to her ranting.

"… Because your ass disappeared, I had to do our little drinking game by myself! Imagine how that was! I'll be expecting an explanation later, just so you know. Oh, and by the way, what you said about me actually finding the right guy but by not tying him up and leaving him in an alley for the cops to get… are you kidding? That's half the fun! … Beep…"

Natsuki chuckled slightly; even though Nao didn't have the power that she used to with that spider-child of hers, Nao never even thinks of changing.

Nearing the end of her labor, which did help her mind somewhat, Natsuki tried to hold all the discarded clothes and disregarded books in her arms as she went around so that when she had them all, she could just flop them all onto the sofa and sort from there. With heavy books mixed with clothes in her arms, the phone rang. With lightly furrowed eyebrows signaling her slight aggravation, she fumbled with the items in her arms until she could finally release one hand to grab her non-cordless phone and used her head and shoulder to hold it at her ear and quickly return her hand back down.

"Hello." She asked blandly.

"Ah! Maido Natsuki. I'm so happy that I was able to reach you, and I'm even more pleased to hear that you old, cute self hasn't changed." The girl on the other end seemed to giggle softly within her throat.

CRASH!

"Natsuki? Are you alright? You sound like you have your hands full." The girl asked with a hint of alarm in her voice.

'Not anymore…' Natsuki thought as her face portrayed extreme surprise and fear… as well as pain since she felt a throbbing on her foot where one of the heavier textbooks had landed. Right now, she didn't care too much about that or the fact that she would have to restart what she had done; at this point, the jaw of her open mouth dropped up and down, having no idea what to say as she knew that Kyoto-ben accent very well. She gripped the phone tightly with both hands.

"Shi-Shizuru? W-why are you calling here?" She stuttered as her voice quaked somewhat.

"Pardon?" Shizuru seemed to be a bit surprised at the blunt forwardness of Natsuki's question.

Natsuki quickly noticed her error and tried to compose herself, or at least her voice. "I-I mean, this is the first time you've ever called here, and I…"

"Am I not permitted to use the telephone when trying to contact Natsuki?"

Natsuki could easily detect her teasing tone, something that she hadn't heard in quite a while -- five years to be exact -- and although she didn't like to admit it, she did find herself missing it at some times. Though right now, Natsuki was in no mood to be happy about hearing it. "Well, n-no. It's just that you always send letters so I wasn't expecting…" Natsuki just stopped there, giving Shizuru the queue to carry on.

"Oh, I see. I apologize then. I called because I wanted to speak to you a little more directly and not have to wait for a letter to reach you then wait for your reply to come back. I called because I… wanted to ask you something."

"And that is?" Natsuki asked, feeling the tension in her muscles slowly begin to fade as she became used to Shizuru's voice.

"I've never really shown you where and how I live, so I wanted to invite you; please come to my home in Kyoto. I haven't seen you in so long Natsuki, so I believe that this will be perfect for us to 'catch up on old times'."

"Uhh…" What made Natsuki uneasy was (besides the anxiety that the dreams filled her with) the fact that she could hear the hopefulness in the other girl's voice. She paused as she tried to think; 'I can't, I just can't! There's no way I'll be able to look at her now! Man, how am I going to get out of this?' She ran a hand across her face in frustration.

"Natsuki?" Shizuru was beginning to sound worried, which really didn't help Natsuki's situation, as could be predicted. "Won't you come? You know, it's not good for friends to distance themselves from each other because otherwise the friendship may break off completely. I really don't want that to happen, Natsuki."

'Oh no, she's trying to reel me in. I can tell since that's the hopeful tone she always uses when trying to gain my sympathy or make me turn in her direction.' Natsuki's hand balled into a fist. 'But nope, there's no way in hell she's going to make me succumb to her!' "I-I don't think I can. I… I have classes all next week… tough classes." She tried, knowing full well that Shizuru would never try to take any opportunities from her education-wise.

"Ah! I'm pleased that you've become so studious, quite the impressive change since I've last seen you." Natsuki's hopes lifted a little; maybe she'll let it go then. "…But Natsuki, forgive me if I'm incorrect, but do you not have a sort of spring break next week?"

The lifted hopes immediately fell; spring break! She completely forgot about that! Natsuki felt herself sink onto the floor, flags of defeat beginning to wave around her. "Y… yeah…" She responded wearily.

"How fortunate! Perhaps Natsuki could stay for the week then!"

Natsuki was beginning to whimper inaudibly. A week? A whole week? She was running out of options. 'No, I'm going to get out of this! The only thing I'm ever going to think about when around her is that blasted dream!' Just when she was about to bring up the fact that she had a part-time job to keep, Shizuru spoke up.

"Please, Natsuki? I do miss you. It has been five years after all. Hmm… five years… you must be twenty years of age now?"

Natsuki released a sigh, at least this small change in conversation was a little easier to take. "Twenty-one."

"Ah yes, I remember now that you were a year younger than me." There was a very brief pause before Shizuru seemed to let out a sigh-like laugh into the phone. "Natsuki must be very beautiful."

Shizuru's statement accompanied with the incredibly soft voice almost made Natsuki slap a hand over her face as she tried to hold back her blush, yet again, in vain. "Shi-Shizuru!" She chided.

Shizuru laughed at the response she received. "I'm so happy that Natsuki hasn't seemed to have changed."

"I bet you are…" Natsuki grumbled. "So glad to find out that you haven't changed either…"

"Well, anyway…" The other girl continued, trying to settle her laughter. "As I said, I really do miss you, very much Natsuki. I do wish to see you again. So won't you come? If it's my teasing that makes you uneasy, then I promise that I'll be a little less… forward… than I was before. Is it a deal?"

Natsuki inwardly whined; Shizuru was the only person in the whole wide world that could make Natsuki's defenses crumble. Her sweet tones and influential words always seemed to somehow corner her. From the serious subjects such as personal problems and education to the downright stupid and worthless things like buying lingerie and undergarments! Shizuru always seemed to know her weak points, and the "I really do miss you, very much" was one.

Natsuki let out another whine-like grumble as she ran her hand hard over her face again, distorting her facial features somewhat. "Damn you…"

Natsuki heard a clap in the background. "Ureshii!" Shizuru spoke excitedly, completely disregarding the curse as she knew that meant that Natsuki surrendered. "Ookini, Natsuki. I promise I'll make the week as enjoyable as I can for you."

"Great…" Natsuki's bland voice returned as the hand continued to run over her face with her eyes closed. 'What have I gotten myself into?' "How do you expect me to get there, pray tell? You know I hardly ever travel much."

The other girl's response was quick and simple; "Take the train."

"Money for the ticket?"

"I'll send it to you, along with the directions to my house from the station. I'll send it as an overnight delivery." Shizuru stated pointedly.

Natsuki quirked an eyebrow at the "overnight delivery" she heard. "When exactly are you expecting me there? Tomorrow promptly at seven AM?"

Shizuru chuckled. "As nice as seven sounds, I was thinking more like three or four PM."

Natsuki's eyes immediately widened. "Three PM tomorrow?" She asked incredulously. "Isn't that a little early?"

Shizuru giggled in her throat again before she spoke softly. "I am eager to see you, Natsuki."

"I notice…" Natsuki released a sigh as she rubbed her nape. She stopped as she realized something."Wait, tomorrow's Sunday, how is the ticket supposed to get to me when the mail isn't even going to be delivered?"

There seemed to be a pause on the other side and Natsuki immediately felt alleviated; at least she would have a day to think things through. "Hm.. yes.. you're quite right. Well then I'll make sure to send it today and perhaps you can comeon Monday when you recieve it. I'll make sure that the departure time is later for you so that you don't feel rushed." Shizuru seemed to pause again briefly. "I just fear that you'll be too tired by the time you arrive."

Natsuki couldn't help but release a small chuckle. "Oh I wouldn't worry about that, Shizuru. When around you, it's difficult to be tired since I have to keep myself alert for your relentless teasing." Feeling the small smile on her face, she quirked an eyebrow as she stated this.

Shizuru yet again let out a giggle from her throat though it sounded a little mischevious. "I'm so glad Natsuki focuses so much of her attention on me." Natsuki could just visualize the impish grin on Shizuru's face though she didn't respond since she basically expected as much. "Well then, I'll be waiting for you." The tone her voice sounded sultrier than necessary, making the pink shade return to her cheeks.

She tightly shut her eyes and hardened her facial features complete with knitted eyebrows. "… Right."

Shizuru only giggled softly again. "Ho na, Natsuki."

"Bye." With that, she quickly hung up the phone and leaned back against the sofa behind her. "Manipulated by that girl's words again." A small smile grazed her face. "Well Shizuru, I'm glad to know you haven't lost your touch."

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Some Kyoto-ben used in this chapter (Thanks to Akuma-sama ) ):
Maido - Hello
Ookini - Thank you
Ho na - Goodbye