Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater
(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)
Natsuki Kuga leaned back in her chair and let out what could be called an elegant, ladylike belch. If the lady in question was a hippopotamus, that is. For a nineteen-year-old girl, the selected adjectives might be a little bit different. Duran woke up from his post-dinner nap at her feet and raised his head quizzically to see if the strange noise heralded anything that required him to bark at in his role as watchdog. Kiyohime, whose six heads were buried in four cartons of leftover Chinese take-out, volunteered her fifth head to do the same (probably as punishment for trying to scarf a dumpling off her mistress's plate earlier during supper). Shizuru Fujino, who generally thought that the sun rose and set on Natsuki, wrinkled her nose in distaste.
For her part, Natsuki crossed her arms over her chest, fixed Shizuru with a green-eyed gimlet stare, and pointed out which one of them had ordered the scallion pancakes and the veggie dumplings knowing what onions did to Natsuki's digestion.
"Ara, ara, but Natsuki did not have to eat quite so many of them."
"If you're going to tempt someone, then don't complain about the results if they give in," Natsuki said righteously.
"Very well, I will concede the point, but only because Natsuki has shown me such a good time today."
Natsuki sighed happily.
"It was a really fun day today, wasn't it?" They'd taken a long ride on Natsuki's Ducati into the hills, Shizuru's arms snugly around her waist the whole way, then climbed the twisting path up the hillside while the warm morning sun had spilled through the trees and made the leaves seem to glow a lush green from within, attended a tea ceremony at the school located at the top of the path, then rode into Tsukimori, ate lunch at Natsuki's favorite yakitori bar, saw the matinee showing of the latest romance movie before spending two and a half hours at the aquarium (Shizuru especially liked the squid, which Natsuki supposed made sense) and picking up the food on the way back home. It was the kind of day Natsuki could never have imagined having before Shizuru had come into her life, not even meaning the date part of it, just the simple act of going off and spending the entire day having fun for its own sake.
"Hey, Kiyohime, would you toss me a fortune cookie?"
The hydra's fourth head grabbed one off the table and with a snap of its neck sent it sailing over to her; Natsuki snatched it out of the air and tore off the cellophane wrapper. Shizuru leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
"So what does the future hold for you?"
"Let's just see..." She broke open the cookie and extracted the slip of paper. Shizuru leaned over, resting her head on Natsuki's shoulder so she could read, too. Her sandy hair spilled down across Natsuki's chest and back, tickling the biker's skin through her thin T-shirt. "It says, 'Praise a fine day at night.'"
"Indeed?" Shizuru purred.
It took Natsuki a few seconds to make the implication that Shizuru had seen at once. She glanced at her girlfriend. who was staring at her with a look that could only be described as avid. Or maybe rapacious.
"And seeing as how it was a very fine day, then we should give it a great deal of praise."
"N-now, Shizuru—"
Shizuru smiled brightly at her.
"As Natsuki just said a moment ago, 'if you're going to tempt someone, then don't complain about the results if they give in.'"
Natsuki blinked, then grinned at her girlfriend.
"Well, I can't argue with such an obviously wise philosopher," she said. Shizuru gave a surprised little squeak when Natsuki wrapped her arms around her waist and fell over sideways, pulling the college student down on top of her as they stretched out full-length on the couch.
Being Shizuru, though, she immediately found other ways to celebrate Natsuki's good fortune.
~X X X~
A/N: Much like Chapter 24, Natsuki's fortune actually turned up in my cookie when we had Chinese take-out Thursday night. My inner Shizuru immediately demanded that it be made into a story.