Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater!
(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)
A/N: This one is a little longer than usual. It was supposed to just be a cute little piece where Shizuru pulls Natsuki off to celebrate the end of her work with...well, you'll see that part. But Natsuki just wouldn't leave it at that...
~X X X~
Natsuki clicked the "Save" icon with dramatic force, stabbing her finger down on the laptop's mouse button with the kind of motion that brought to mind executions by impalement.
"There!" she crowed. "It's done!" Wasting no time, she immediately e-mailed the finished document to Mr. Sakomizu. Natsuki's vacation had been pretty well destroyed by all the makeup classes she'd had to take so she wouldn't have to repeat first-year, but getting this paper off her back was the light at the end of the tunnel. All that was left were the exams, and those would be easy enough; she knew the material cold by now. She pumped her fist in the air as she got up, even letting out a little whoop.
"Ara, Natsuki seems very enthused."
"Meep!" Natsuki went beet red as she realized that Shizuru had seen her cavorting.
"I take it that you've finished your paper?"
"Uh-huh. Finished, fact-checked, proofed, and submitted."
"Excellent!" Shizuru grabbed her arm. "Let's go."
"Huh? What? Go where?"
Shizuru being Shizuru, though, answers were not forthcoming. Natsuki found herself bundled into her shoes and jacket, all but dragged out the door, and taken across campus down to the beach. It was, ironically, the same stretch of shore where Mai had arrived at Fuuka nearly a year ago. Although they hadn't known it at the time, that had been the opening bell for the events that culminated in the HiME Festival. So much had changed for everyone involved, Natsuki among those who had gone through the most. The passion that had driven her all her life, her desire to seek revenge for her mother's killers, was through. She'd found the truth of those events at last, and nearly everyone responsible was dead now, if not by her own hand.
On a smaller scale, but maybe more important in the long run, she'd begun to open up around others, to the point that she was starting to add people to her life that she'd genuinely call friend, like Mikoto and Mai. The shell she'd kept herself sealed inside had all but shattered, and who knew what would happen now?
And then there was Shizuru. The first—hell, the only—person who'd gotten through Natsuki's shell before the Festival. Natsuki's best friend. Whose feelings toward Natsuki, as it turned out, were not precisely friendly. Whose affection was of the kind that implied kisses and red roses and bodies entwined while bathed in moonlight and walking down a church aisle in a fancy white dress.
Whose affection Natsuki was becoming more and more certain she returned.
It wasn't easy for her to think of it in those terms or easily accept it—when had she ever easily accepted anything about her feelings?—but it wasn't just that losing Shizuru out of her life would tear a gaping hole in her heart. That was a given. It was that, thinking of it in terms of being a lover...the idea of returning those feelings was starting to edge past "possible" and into the dangerous new territory of "attractive."
"So what are we doing here, Shizuru?" It was a cloudless night, and the moon, nearly full, turned the sand to silver. Natsuki was reminded of the thought she'd just had about Shizuru's feelings, of the two of them in the moonlight—What is she, contagious?
"Ara, such a cute blush. I wonder what Natsuki could be thinking."
"I-idiot!" The teasing felt even worse when it was actually true!
"But that isn't what I was thinking."
It was a cool night, and the breeze off the water made things even cooler. Shizuru led them down to where two folding lounge chairs had been set up, with a picnic basket between them.
"What's all this?"
Shizuru seemed intent, though, on holding back the answers for as long as possible. She waited until they were snuggled under lightweight blankets on their seats, and opened the basket to reveal a thermos bottle and plastic cups. She filled the cups with steaming hot cocoa and added marshmallows, then passed one to Natsuki. The dark-haired girl drank, nearly burning her tongue, making Shizuru giggle. She took a more cautious second sip.
"Mmm, this is really good, Shizuru."
"Thank you. I got the chocolate for it from a shop that specializes in imported sweets."
"Wait—you 'got the chocolate'? As in, this is homemade cocoa? No wonder it's so good!" The sudden compliment took Shizuru completely off-guard, and it occurred to Natsuki that she wasn't necessarily the only one who was trying to cope with changing perspectives. She swiftly added, "I'm surprised there isn't a second thermos with tea for you, though."
"Ikezu." Shizuru flashed Natsuki her fake pout.
"You're a meanie, too. After all, here we are, snuggled up on the beach, drinking first-rate hot cocoa to keep out the chill, and you still haven't told me what we're doing here!"
Shizuru flashed her a smile.
"Well, Natsuki has been working very hard on her schoolwork, after all, missing out on all the fun things that happen over break. You couldn't even attend any of the seasonal festivals because you were too busy with your books."
"Yeah, that's true." Fighting Orphans and investigating secret government conspiracies had played hell with Natsuki's attendance during the year (not that her attitude had helped any).
"So, I thought that we could have a festival of our own."
"A...festival?"
"Mm-hm." Shizuru said, nodding, then raised her voice. "Kiyohime! Duran!"
A loud woof from Natsuki's Child answered Shizuru's call, and then there was the dull boom of two shells firing. A couple of seconds later, the Flash Cartridges burst, sending out sprays of green and blue sparks showering the sky over the water. A moment later, there was the scratch of a light being struck, and Kiyohime, previously near-invisible in the shadows, began to juggle a dozen or more hissing, spitting sparklers in her six heads, keeping the fireworks tumbling through the air (although the third head occasionally dropped one) in a display of light. Duran continued to chip in every minute or so.
"It wouldn't be a festival without fireworks, would it?"
"Sh—Shizuru..." There was a hitch in Natsuki's voice as she watched the display. "I...I don't know what to say." Gah! You know what to say! she told herself, suddenly angry. Shizuru always knew how to do that, to slip inside her defenses and touch her heart with the grand gestures and, even more so, with the small kindnesses, using the same knowledge of Natsuki that made her so very good at teasing her. While I—
It bothered Natsuki sometimes, that Shizuru always seemed to be the one doing things between them. Shizuru gave her care, kindness, trust, support, and Natsuki gave back—what? Entertainment value, when her embarrassment and bluster made Shizuru laugh? Okay, so maybe Shizuru's actions during the HiME Festival had gone a long way toward balancing the scales—if a few days of utter insanity could be said to balance years of selfish, unconscious cruelty. But they were slipping back into the same patterns, again, starting the dance from the beginning.
Natsuki didn't want that any more. Tears stung at her eyes as she realized just how much she didn't want it.
"Natsuki, is something wrong?" Shizuru asked, worried, because of course she'd been watching Natsuki's face and of course she'd see the tears, the upset look.
"Yes, yes it is," Natsuki admitted.
"I'm sorry," Shizuru said at once, just making it worse. "I wanted to do something special for Natsuki but I've gone too far again and—"
"That's not it!" Natsuki cut her off. Shizuru looked startled, not an expression anyone often saw her show. "That's not it," she repeated, more softly. Then she took a deep breath.
"I'm not good with words like you are, Shizuru. I can't pick out a well-turned phrase to carry exactly the shadings of meaning and implication that I want, so I'm just going to come out and say it." Natsuki's gut twisted; she'd been in genuine I-could-get-killed-out-here battles where she wasn't half this scared. "Look, I know you had a pretty nasty obsession there and it ended up really working me over, and you're trying to make up for that. But I had my obsession, too, and while it may not have hit you directly like yours did to me, it made me a pretty bad friend."
"I never thought that, Natsuki."
"Yeah, well, you were crazy in love with me." She took a deep breath. "The point is, I want it to change. My past is all...past, I guess...now, and your feelings are all out in the open instead of being bottled up like a pressure cooker. So I...want us to be different, too. I want to do things for you, not just selfishly accept what you give me."
I want to love you back.
"Gah! I knew I couldn't say this right!" she exclaimed, slapping the chair arm in frustration, though in truth Shizuru's stunned look might have been because she was saying it right. It was the same look she'd had in the shattered chapel during the Festival, where they'd died together, and Natsuki had gone farther in confessing her feelings than she had before or sense.
Funny how it was easier to say things like that when she didn't expect to have to deal with consequences, with the future.
But it did give her an idea.
She reached up with one hand, cupping the side of Shizuru's face, her wind-stung cheek cool against Natsuki's palm.
Is this...what I want for us? If she had any doubts, she needed to stop now, while she was still safe, somewhere she could take it back. A person couldn't break promises that hadn't been made. But—
Yes. Yes, it is.
She'd always been better at expressing herself through actions than words, anyway. This felt right, flowed naturally, to brush her thumb over Shizuru's lips, to feel their softness, watch them part slightly at the touch. To lean in, bending her head to the side just a bit, and close her lips over Shizuru's own, softly. Lovingly. Because love was definitely what she felt for Shizuru. Maybe she'd never be as good as the older girl at anticipating what the other needed, at providing the small kindnesses that came from a close understanding of her needs. There was no chance she'd ever be as good at saying it.
But one thing was for certain: no matter what it took, she was going to make sure that Shizuru knew exactly how much she meant to Natsuki.
Promises didn't have to be in words, either.