Give and Take

By DrummondType2

Natsuki and Shizuru were laying naked together in bed, their hair tousled, their skin luminous with light sweat, their chests rising and falling with labored breath that they were both working to recover.

Natsuki, the more athletic of the pair, turned on her side, having recovered her mobility first, and looked at Shizuru. Her emerald eyes were staring at Shizuru with a mix of adoration and concern. Shizuru's crimson eyes met hers, and she looked away.

"Alright, Shizuru, come on. You and I are in a committed relationship, and I've known you too long to miss the signs, now that I know what I'm looking for. You're brooding on something, and it involves us."

Shizuru sighed, turning to face Natsuki, "It's nothing of any grave concern, Natsuki. I mean, it's not like I'm secretly pining for you while dark forces conspire in the shadows to orchestrate our demise."

"Humor to dodge the subject, Shizuru?" Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

"I know, it's a trifle cliched. However, I do promise you, Natsuki, it isn't anything serious."

Natsuki reached over and stroked Shizuru's hair, "Lover, communication is key to a happy and healthy relationship. That's what Mai tells me, anyway. Look, if there's one of those positions that you want to try, I promise to actually give it a fair hearing before I decide if I want to try it or not."

Shizuru actually managed a laugh at that, "You really have come a long way, Natsuki, to be able to joke about matters of sex. You were always so shy…Which is part of what I'm brooding about."

"So, it is a sex thing?"

"Not sex, exactly,"Shizuru sighed, "But it is something that might offend your sensibilities."

"Look, you spent four years pining for me. You felt up me, Mai, and lord knows how many other girls when you were filling in at that lingerie store. You shoved a green onion up my butt. And you disrobed and kissed me in my sleep. And after all of that, I agreed to go out with you. I promise, I'm not going to run screaming into the night if you say something unusual."

"I would like you to pose nude for a painting," Shizuru exhaled nervously. She closed her eyes as soon as she said it, fully expecting a loud and angry retort. None was forthcoming, and she dared a quick peek to see Natsuki giving her a quizzical but not alarmed look.

"This something you plan on hanging around the house?"Natsuki asked with a wry smile, "Or the office? Your folks were already on the fence about you dating me, remember. Rubbing it in their faces might be a bit much."

"Ikezu. Let me start at the beginning,"Shizuru sat up, "You know I have many varied and traditional hobbies, from reading the Hyakkunin-Isshu, to the occasional round of karuta, to tea, and of course, flower arranging."

"Uh-huh. You left out beating around the bush, Shizuru,"Natsuki rolled her eyes.

"It's called exposition, my little meanie," Shizuru poked her cheek with one long, elegant finger, "I have recently taken up a class on sumi-e, and the instructor wants us to do a portrait. I have tried to do portraits of others. I worked from a photo of my father, and I simply couldn't produce anything I would want to share with my instructor. There's no…passion. No inspiration. Everything is dry. Staid. Squalid. And then I looked at you in the moonlight…"

Natsuki blushed, but she also smiled, "Yeah, I feel like I understand where some of those old poets of yours were coming from when I see you in the bed at night, too. So you thought you could do a portrait of me, but you wanted it to be a nude…"

"It will be utterly tasteful, Natsuki, I promise!" Shizuru said, holding her hands together in an effort at pleading, "I wouldn't do anything to make you uncomfortable or..."

Natsuki rose from the bed and walked out of the room. Shizuru sighed and threw herself backwards on her pillow.

"Brilliant, Shizuru. You have gone and...and done something unfeeling and…"

She paused as she heard a noise, then looked to the door. Natsuki was bringing a chair into the room. She set it by the bedroom window, and then went over to the bed, grabbing a white sheet. She sat in the chair, facing the window, and draped the sheet over herself as she sat backwards in the chair, "Something like this?"

"Oh, Natsuki!" Shizuru sprang from the bed and embraced her, "Oh…you're wonderful! Thank you!"

"I mean, like you said, it'll be tasteful. And it's not like you're going to show it off to the whole world, right?"

"Only to my instructor…and possibly the class. But it isn't as if any of them know you…except for Haruka Suzushiro, and she already knows I sleep with you."

"Well…Get drawing, then,"Natsuki said.

"Well, not right now. I have to get ready for the day. How about tonight?"

Natsuki mulled it over in her head, then shrugged, "Sure, I guess. It's summer break for me, so I'll just find some way to occupy myself."

"Should I order takeout, just to be safe?" Shizuru asked.

"Which one of us was the meanie, again?"

~~*~~

"You're really determined to master this," Mai looked at Natsuki with a mix of amusement and bemusement as the dark haired girl whisked furiously at a dish, "You know, you're supposed to make baked goods with love, not anger, hostility, and frustration, right?"

"Oh…Shut up!" Natsuki set the bowl down hard, "I'm working out some stuff, okay."

"You and Shizuru have a fight?" Mai asked with legitimate concern.

"No, nothing like that," Natsuki shook her head, exhaling, "In fact, I'm enjoying this relationship stuff quite a bit. It's just…I want to do my share, y'know. But I've never been very good at the domestic stuff, and it's not fair to ask Shizuru to do all of it. So when I'm struggling with things like this…I feel kinda…"

"Selfish?" Mai asked.

"Yeah," Natsuki nodded, "Which is probably why I agreed to a bit of a strange request from Shizuru."

She realized she'd said too much the instant the words left her mouth, but it was too late. Mai's curiosity was piqued.

"Strange request? Like, what? She's not telling you to bring a third in, is she? Or doing some of that weird tied up in rope stuff?"

"Shibari?"

"Oh my God, she's making you do shibari?"

"No, Mai," Natsuki sighed, "She's not making me do shibari."

"Well, you knew what it was called so I assumed..."

"I know what it's called because more than a few of those locked filing cabinets I busted into doing my surveillance of District One had a porn stash hidden in the bottom. Bunch of dirty old men, y' ask me. How does a good girl like you know about it in the first place? And what sort of image do people have of Shizuru that that's the first thing you think of?"

"Lingerie store fitting," Mai reminded her, arching an eyebrow, "Oh, and the negi…"

"Oh, yeah. I'll ask her to apologize to you for the lingerie thing, later. No, she doesn't want to try Shibari. She wants to do sumi-e. And she wants me to model."

"That's not so bad," Mai breathed in relief.

"Nude."

Mai grinned at Natsuki salaciously, "Now I see why you were beating those eggs like they stole something. Well, for Kaichou, that's pretty tame, you ask me. But I'm sure you turned it down because of your shy streak, and now you're feeling all guilty…"

"No, I said 'yes'," Natsuki sighed, "I mean, she said it would be tasteful, and she's already seen me naked, so if she wanted she could do it from memory…"

Mai shook her head, "No. She couldn't. Because she's afraid, Natsuki. She's afraid that if she did that, she'd be betraying your trust. Look, not that he'd be capable of it, but if Yuuichi asked me to pose nude for him to do a painting, it would make me kinda happy, because I would know he'd be wanting to do something intimate and special. But if I found out he just went and did a nude painting of me from memory, I'd kick him someplace he wouldn't like it and we'd be done as a couple."

"Could he?" Natsuki asked with a smirk.

"Could he what?"

"Paint you nude from memory?" Natsuki was grinning now.

"Fujino is right," Mai scowled, "You are a meanie."

"Hey, communication goes both ways, be it a romance or a friendship," Natsuki pointed out.

"Yeah, it does," Mai sighed, "And no, he couldn't. We're waiting until we graduate, at least. But it does go back to what I was telling you. Fujino betrayed you once. You ask me, it was all the damned star. She doesn't act like that with you now, and she didn't before. But whether it was the star or not, she still did it, and she remembers doing it, and she feels guilty for it. So she's not going to do anything to remind you of that, right?"

"Yeah."

Mai nodded, "That's why she can't do a painting like that from memory. She'd feel like she'd betrayed your trust and hurt you again. She knows how shy you are. I know how shy you are. I'm surprised you even said you'd do it, honestly, even if it is Shizuru."

Natsuki pondered it for a moment, "With Shizuru, I'm not shy. I mean, okay, I'll still blush when she teases me, but it's like when I kissed her before we died. I wasn't blushing or anything. When it comes to being intimate with her, it doesn't feel like I need to be shy. I guess that doesn't make sense."

Mai shook her head, "No, it does. You're open with her because you trust her. And she proved herself worthy of that trust. So why the fury with the eggs? You did agree to pose, so…"

"I did. And Shizuru told me when she asked me that it was for a class. But I realized after the fact that meant her classmates would see a nude image of me. I mean, I trust Shizuru when she says it'll be tasteful, but…"

"Well," Mai put a finger to her lip in thought, "Is she skilled enough that people would know who it was if they met you on the street?"

"I actually don't know," Natsuki said, "But it is sumi-e. It's more likely to be vague features and such, especially since Shizuru is a novice."

"Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, you do have the right to say 'no', Natsuki. It's your body, so you get to decide."

~~*~~

"You look off, Fujino,"Haruka said, "If you're sick, you should go home. I don't want to catch anything."

"I am not ill," Shizuru reassured her, "I merely have a slight crisis of conscience."

"You?" Haruka quirked an eyebrow, "Well, better late than never, I guess."

"Suzushiro, I am feeling a bit uneasy at the moment. Might you be a little gentle with me?"

Haruka sighed, "You're right. That was unfair of me. Oh, I get it. I know what this is. You've had a look on your face ever since we started that sumi-e workshop. Can't get Kuga to model for you?"

"On the contrary, Natsuki agreed. A little to readily, actually. Now I fear I have taken advantage of her good nature."

"And if she hadn't agreed, you'd be upset that you hadn't earned her trust enough for her to do that," Haruka opined, "Look, your relationship is just that, a relationship. There are certain things that make them work, and certain things that don't. If she agreed, then be happy about that. She's a grown woman, and she made an informed decision. It…was an informed decision, wasn't it?"

Shizuru nodded, "I did tell her it would be for a class. She seemed open enough to the idea. But she's usually so shy, so I have begun to worry that she's giving in because she feels that she has to."

"Well, in the end, your choice is to either do the painting of her, or not to," Haruka said, "Clearly you want to, or you wouldn't have asked her. Your problem is whether or not she wants to, or if she's going along to get along. So figure out if her consent was genuine."

"You're surprisingly good at relationships, for someone who is currently single," Shizuru blinked.

"Heh. Well, they say that those who can, do, and those who can't, teach," Haruka gave her a half-smile.

"Oh, Haruka will find someone eventually. You're too earnest not to," Shizuru leaned over and gave Haruka a quick peck on the cheek, "My thanks to you."

Haruka sighed as Shizuru pranced off, "She is ill. I'd better go wash up before I catch it."

~~*~~

Shizuru returned to the apartment she shared with Natsuki, "Tadaimaaaaaa!"

"Okaeri!," came a reply from the kitchen area. A pleasant aroma reached Shizuru's nostrils.

"Natsuki, you cooked?"

"I can't take all the credit," Natsuki called from the kitchen, "I did the actual work, but Mai supervised."

"Yes, I'm coming to learn that a good teacher can work wonders, and…and…" Shizuru found herself speechless as Natsuki emerged from the kitchen, setting a couple of plates out on the table. Her long dark hair flowed majestically, and the red apron looked striking against the paleness of her bare skin, on which it was resting. Natsuki was walking gingerly on the balls of her feet, making her stride look more ethereal and elegant in the soft light of the apartment.

"Nat…Natsuki?"

"Well, I figured after dinner, you'd want to get right to the painting," Natsuki smiled, "So I thought I'd make it a little easier."

Shizuru sat to dinner with her, both of them blushing a bit, "I must say, it's a lovely dinner, and an even lovelier hostess."

Natsuki gave her a shy smile, "Uh, thanks. I…I'm glad you like it."

"It's a bit bold for you. Which is something I wanted to talk to you about," Shizuru sighed, "Natsuki, I know you already said you would, but I know how shy you are with other people, and…I won't hold you to posing if it makes you even slightly uncomfortable."

"It's alright, Shizuru," Natsuki gave her a tender look, "I did agree because I wanted to. I admit, I had a few misgivings when I realized that your whole class would see it, but it's not like they'll know who I am from the painting. And as Mai pointed out to me, you asking me was a romantic gesture, and I'm kinda flattered. Just so we're clear, you're the only one who gets to see the genuine article, though."

Shizuru smiled and scooted over to embrace Natsuki, "That is perfectly fine with me."

~~*~~

"You sure that's Kuga?" Haruka looked at the finished product as it hung in the sumi-e class.

"Ara, did I not capture her likeness?" Shizuru sounded concerned.

"Oh, it's a good likeness, but shouldn't there be a bit of red in the cheeks?"

"She was very at ease, actually," Shizuru smiled at the memory, a soft syrupy smile instead of her usual placid one, "Quite comfortable in her own skin, in fact."

"Well, it's easily the most striking in the class," Haruka said, "I imagine you're going to hang it in your home when the display is done?"

"I am gifting it to the model," Shizuru said, "But I won't need it. I live with the inspiration, after all."

"Speaking of, what did Kuga say when she saw the finished work?"

"Well," Shizuru's smile grew, "Natsuki is not prone to narcissism. She did however show her appreciation for my work. She was very appreciative."

Haruka rolled her eyes and walked off, while Shizuru basked in the warmth of the tender memories as she gazed lovingly at the painting. So captivated was she that she was mildly startled when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Natsuki?!"

Natsuki grinned, "I thought I'd see the university campus, since I'm going here, soon enough. Listen, I'm going to Linden Baum for a cup of coffee and a slice of cheesecake. You wanna join me? My treat. Or perhaps you want to be alone with the lovely young lady up there."

Natsuki nodded at the painting.

Shizuru smiled and shook her head, "It's a fine likeness, but I prefer the real thing. Perhaps tonight I can ask Natsuki to paint me, as well."

"Sure," Natsuki smiled, then ran her finger on the bare skin of Shizuru's forearm, "I think you'll hold acryllic paint fairly well…"

"Ikezu!' Shizuru smiled as she bumped up against Natsuki and intertwined arms with her.