Wow! Hmm...to be honest I really didn't realize so much time had gone by since the last update of this story. Anyway, I have not forgotten this and I am sure now I will try to keep the updates coming on a regular basis. Hope you enjoy this chapter... the next will be here in a few month's time. If possible before that.

Mistakes are all mine. Thoughts are in italics.

Oh, and there will be sex related topics/talks in here but I think I will stick with "T" for now. Will see about changing the rating later on...

And yep, you guessed it, I do not own any of this except for the originality of this story.

Isn't It Incidentally Incestuous?

Chapter 3

The Absurdity Of It All

Despite the threats from the owner of the house, it was tad bit surprising when the first day had gone by without any incidence. She had filled up all the forms and submitted the required documents the first day of college. Regardless of Shizuru's rather animated coercion, Natsuki had no choice but to use the surgeon's personal details for emergency contact. The person had to be within reach during such circumstances, so of course, providing her mother's details would have been futile. And anyway, she was sure it would never come to any use!

She was having her breakfast that morning while talking to her mom on the phone.

"Yes mom," Natsuki swallowed the sweet cereal without chewing properly before she replied. "Stop worrying. I have my own room here." With the way her mother was going on about, anyone would think she had sent her daughter to live with a sworn enemy. She really didn't know better.

"Okay," Saeko sighed on the other end, "but you know I worry. It's my right." She finished in a sad yet light tone.

"Huh...so now you see how important a role I play in your life?"

"Ha ha, funny," Saeko chuckled. "Just two days away from me and see your sense of humour is already victimized."

Natsuki huffed as she hopped off the breakfast counter. She craned her neck a little and replied in a higher tone as she went to the sink to wash the bowl, "keep telling yourself that."

"You know I am right," Saeko sang away in mock pride.

"Uh huh, sure," Natsuki relented as usual, "look, I will talk to you later. Got to leave for college now."

"Okay", her mother mumbled.

Natsuki frowned at the phone that sat on the kitchen counter and picked it up. She doubted her mom would disconnect the call with that. She tapped the screen to bring it to life. Putting off the speaker option, she brought it to her right ear, "mom?"

"If Shizuru gives you any kind of trouble, you talk to me," Saeko instructed her daughter. Natsuki might be innocent enough to think nothing of that woman but Saeko knew better than to blindly trust her. "And I do mean any kind of trouble," she stressed.

"Yesss...mom!" Natsuki groaned. She really didn't know what the big deal was. "I will, I promise."

"Hmm...okay."

"Fell better," Natsuki knew it was an unnecessary question but she wasn't that stupid. There was genuine worry in her mother's voice.

"No," Saeko easily said.

"Well, then play a little poker or go shoplifting," the girl grit her teeth in irritation.

Saeko laughed out loud and Natsuki couldn't help but smile. "See, your humour is back."

"Byee moo-om," Natsuk stretched out the words.

"Bye sweetie," Saeko softly said. "Talk soon?"

"Definitely." Natsuki agreed and disconnected the call. She still had half hour left before leaving. In her room, she put the phone to charge and went to skim through her clothes. While getting ready her thoughts went back to her mother's worry and distrust of the woman she was living with. Quite honestly, she couldn't understand how Shizuru could cause her any trouble. And from what she had seen in the last two days, surgeons in-making had too little time to be home. When would she get the time to make trouble? Thinking nothing of it, she put on her jeans, a black v neck t-shirt with her new favourite high-top sneakers her mom had bought her and messaged Nao that she was leaving her place.

Shizuru had another early shift that day. Seven continuous hours into it and she was about ready to fall asleep right at the spot she stood. She was rapidly discovering that her exhaustion and exasperation, combined with all the patients' inflammations and frustrations was not a good permutation. As a result, her bedside manner had been a little snippy during the last hour. Begging for a few minutes break, she had rescued herself into an unoccupied on-call room. Her body refused to let her rest in intervals of minutes. So, she was lying down on the uncomfortably hard bed thinking about the conversation she had had with her mother the previous day.

She had called her mother in high hopes. But her mother was too good at her job. She had never met anyone as good at guilt-tripping as that woman. After that fruitless conversation, she had gone back to hating it all. Being taken advantage of wasn't something she dealt with on a daily basis and she might have been over it by now if it was any other situation. But this time, it came with the distaste of letting Saeko have the upper hand. That manipulative woman was getting what she wanted and Shizuru was helpless to do anything about it. All of it not sitting well with her would be a definite understatement of all the centuries since Christ's birth!

The cafeteria was bustling with people dressed in regular clothes and the residents with all kind of coloured scrubs. Shizuru with the fellow residents sat at the table stabbing at her food. All the occupants of the table jerked their head up when an annoyed looking Reito planted his ass on one of the empty chairs rather roughly. All the eyes stayed locked onto him, prodding him to say something. But he had this deep frown and anger emanated from his dark eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with that girl?" He barked at Shizuru.

Instantly all the eyes shifted on her. She blinked, thoroughly confused.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"That girl," he spat, "who is living with you these days."

Shizuru sat back in her chair and just raised her left eyebrow in question.

"She called me a pervert," he slammed both his palms on the table and bent forward for effect.

Nobody spoke for a few good minutes. Haruka cleared her throat, no longer able to wait for the rest of it to unfold. "Explain please."

"I went to pick up the extra pair of clothes from your place. I mean it's not that big a deal, right? We all have spare clothes at your place, being this near to the hospital and all." Reito was on a roll, "so, I had just put my scrubs into the washing machine with a few of other things kept in the hamper nearby," he glanced at Shizuru momentarily, "you are welcome, by the way," he said in a different tone and went back to his previous ranting. "So, here I am walking around, having some snacks and soda, watching tv, relaxing and that girl just jumps out of nowhere and starts screaming for me to get out." His last few words came out as a growl.

"Did you tell her you worked with me and that you had the keys," Shizuru absentmindedly asked. Any girl would freak out upon finding out a strange man roaming around the house.

"Uh...no," Reito mumbled. He ducked his chin further into his chest and a peculiar blush started creeping up his cheeks.

Shizuru noticed it and immediately knew he wasn't telling the complete truth. "What really happened?"

"I wasn't alone?" He sort of questioned.

"The whole truth, Reito," Shizuru challenged, staring hard into his eyes.

"I kind of called Youko for a quickie," he muttered and blushed full force.

The complete table groaned and booed at him.

"Ugh...I know, okay! Not cool but with my energy-sack of a sister running around at my place I can hardly watch porn and indulge myself. So, yeah," Reito explained to best of his capability.

Shizuru knew it wasn't the first time. They were just two normal people who liked sex, looking for a place to have some time for themselves. Youko had often times stayed at her flat over night too, though in the guest bedroom. Half of her friends from the hospital already lived at her place and it wasn't such an issue for her. She smirked, "you mean to say she caught you two?"

"Umm...sorta."

"Reito...," Shizuru demanded.

"We were somewhat scantily dressed and fooling around in the kitchen while my scrubs were being washed. She saw us and freaked out. Started shouting shit about how I was a pervert and that it was somebody's home, not a brothel," Reito ground out the last word angrily. "I would never think of your place as a brothel, you know," he ashamedly muttered to Shizuru.

Shizuru listened to all of this and had gone someplace else entirely in her brain. Her thoughts took a different turn suddenly, and the crimsons of her eyes shone brightly. "Interesting," she whispered. So, Natsuki wasn't that comfortable with such actions around the house. Not that anything was wrong with it but having a simple thinking and outlook to life tended to shock people when faced with the practices of metro city's much broader and meaner lifestyle. Her tiredness took a back seat now and her mind worked full-force on deck. Within seconds she had a plan, albeit rough and a little too extreme but she was willing to go a little out of her own comfort zone to win the next hand against Saeko. "Friends," she spoke softly amidst the joking around going around on the table. No one heard her, everybody pulling each other's legs with their sexual trivia. "Guys," this time she slapped her palm on the table and shut everybody up. "Good," she appreciated the silence. "Now, pass on a verbal circular in the hospital amongst all the residents, we know and actually acknowledge, that the guest bedroom in my flat is available at any time for a quickie or a full-on sex session from today itself. They don't have to endure the uncomfortable on-call room beds or have to wait for their turns or risk getting caught while pants down in the supply closets, when I have a full queen sized bed with a soft mattress waiting for them at my place. Any time, any day," she stressed out the last words. "Oh, and tell them they are free to make as much noise an ruckus as they want," she smirked and added as an afterthought.

Not to her surprise, everyone on the table stared at her like she had suddenly lost her mind. "Are you out of your fucking mind," Haruka as usual took the charge of confronting Shizuru.

"No, I am not," Shizuru smirked evilly. "But I am sure I will make Natsuki dearest lose her mind."

Second after second 'ahs' and 'ohs' of understanding sounded all around from the occupants of this particular table.

"You do know what you are suggesting, don't you?" Reito asked her carefully. "You are seriously willing to turn your flat into a mock-brothel just to get to her?" He spoke that last sentence more to himself and realized the level of distaste and hatred Shizuru must have for this Natsuki person to willing to go this far.

"Umm...Shizuru but will you be comfortable living there for however long you plan to carry out this absurdity," Yukino asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Hmm," Shizuru frowned momentarily but shrugged it off. "I will stay in the hospital, take extra shifts or whatever. I will be okay with a here and there naps in on-call rooms."

"But can you really trust people?" Reito pondered aloud. "I mean, you are giving a bunch of constantly sex-starved surgeons an open field to play around. They won't be reasonable... not one area of your house will be untouched, not even your bedroom. In short, your flat will become like a very vulgar piece of art made from body fluids which is only visible under ultraviolet radiations." Reito laughed out loud as soon as he finished his bizarre thought.

Again to everyone's surprise, Shizuru merely shrugged. "I don't care," she said nonchalantly. "Besides, I will lock my bedroom. it's just a few days till the maid will be here on Sunday. I will ask her to disinfect every nook and cranny, not an issue." It was quite obvious that Shizuru was not thinking clearly. Nobody knew what she was to achieve from such out-of-the-world madness.

"But what about tv, food, clothes, or simply relaxing on your couch," this time it was Tate who asked the question.

"Don't need tv, food is available here, clothes I can fetch when I need, and I haven't been able relax since she has arrived so the couch is not my current concern. And if it gets sacrificed during all this, then I will buy a new one," she answered as if it was not an issue at all.

"What about the neighbors," Yukino just had to ask the most sensible questions.

"I can handle them," Shizuru stated confidently.

"And you think all of it will make this Natsuki girl leave Tokyo?" Haruka asked incredulously. She knew it didn't make sense and imagining it take place felt like ridiculing the ridiculousness of this silly situation.

Shizuru stared hard at something straight ahead of her instead of answering. A few minutes later she stood up but kept both her hands on the table and bending a little. "I don't think so. But I don't want her to sleep, I don't want her to rest, I don't want her to get her studies done, I don't want her to feel safe in my house," at this point she stabbed her right forefinger at herself and returned to her previous position, "I don't want her to have a second of peace, I don't want her to have any kind of comfort in my home." She exhaled heavily and ground her teeth. "Basically, what I want is to see her distressed, tired, anxious, scared, and most of all I want to see her in a state where I could pity her. So yes, if turning my place into a brothel for a week or so gives me that kind of satisfaction, then I would gladly do it over and over again."

She stormed off with such force that the cafeteria fell silent for a few minutes there. Shizuru's friends and colleagues had never before seen her so extremely fuming ... and certainly not this distasteful towards another human being. All the time, she was soft-spoken, charming, funny, and a happy person. Which made her bedside manners as a surgeon very commendable but since the arrival of Natsuki, it seemed like she was altogether replaced by a bitter, angrier, and irritated version of herself. And the absurdity that she had planned on carrying out just then, proved it rather easily. Eh...her house, her decisions. Gradually everybody dispersed out of cafeteria to their own attendees and assigned surgeries.

Shizuru was in the washroom, livid with anger, practically seething for no reason at all. She herself was puzzled about her behavior these past days and conveniently she blamed the one person constantly on her mind. It was unreasonable and pointless, she knew that. She was furious all the time and not knowing the reason for her anger flamed it even more. Nobody had gotten under her skin this way ever, so what the hell was so fucking special about this Natsuki Kuga? She huffed and washed her face again. After a few calm breaths she proceeded towards the paediatric wing, where a senior surgeon was expecting her. She only wished she was ready for a few days of back and neck aches. With sleeping on the hard beds of on-call rooms she was bound to pop a few pain pills to function without grimacing every second. Well, with the kind of distress she expected Natsuki to be in, her back pain would be a delight in comparison. That thought brought a slight smile of satisfaction on her face as she walked through the paediatric hallway.

So do we hate Shizuru yet? And how do you think Natsuki will react to all of this?

Reviews, PMs, and suggestions are welcome.

Next chapter will be even more bizarre, I hope!

Till next time.

Ciao