Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater
(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)
~X X X~
A/N: Happy April Fool's Day!
~X X X~
Natsuki Kuga liked autumn.
The weather was pleasant, crisp and clear without sweltering heat that made her want to melt, got her dragged off to the accursed grounds of malefic fate (or as most of her friends called it, the beach), and drove her to wear skimpy outfits that posed a genuine risk of death by exhaustion when Shizuru Fujino saw her in them. The air was cool, with a faint bite to it, but without the piles of snow that somehow she always found a way to fall into or have stuffed down her shirt, and without the jingling carols drifting by that presaged the frustrations of Christmas shopping.
It was even a pretty season, with the greens and browns of everyday nature giving way to a riot of gold and orange and red as the leaves changed. The brilliant reds of the Japanese maples in the back yard of the house she and Shizuru shared were exquisite, particularly when the midday sun hit them.
"If you ask me," she had said just that morning, "they look perfectly fine lying there on the ground. Red makes for a nice change from the green grass."
"And what happens when they start to dry out and decay?"
"Then the snow falls and covers them up until spring."
"Ara, does Natsuki believe that this suggestion would convince the homeowner's association?" Shizuru had asked. "We are already in trouble with them after the incident with Duran and Mr. Nomura's car."
"Hey, we paid for the damage. And it's not our fault he drives a car that looks like it belongs to an evil conspiracy."
Shizuru had just given her The Look for about five seconds in response to that. Then she'd turned and headed off to her history seminar and Natsuki had turned and headed off to the utility closet to get the rake.
Several hours later, she leaned on the handle, wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her sleeve, and smiled at a job well done. Every stray leaf on the property had been neatly gathered up and pulled into a waist-high pile. Now, all she needed was to gather it all up into bags for Thursday's trash pickup…or possibly stage a purely coincidental barbecue accident…and the job was done.
The sound of the patio door opening made her turn her head.
"Shizuru! You're back early."
"Well, I did not think it was fair that you had to do all the work, so I made my excuses and left early."
Natsuki grinned.
"Wait, so you used trickery and deceit so you could get the chance to do more work? It must be love."
"But of course. Surely Natsuki knows that she is the only woman for whom I would engage in physical exertion," Shizuru responded with a smirk. She touched her finger to her lower lip and added, "Indeed, seeing Natsuki all sweaty from a job well-done is making me want to exert myself physically right now."
The breeze made Shizuru's hair swirl fetchingly around her face.
"I kinda think the homeowner's association would prefer you kept your hands to yourself, Shizuru."
Shizuru pressed her hand to her chest, a look of obviously mock affront on her face, and said, "Ara, I only meant that I would massage Natsuki's shoulders and back to help her relax. I cannot believe she has such a sordid opinion of me."
Natsuki rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's pout.
"Idiot. I can't believe I used to take you seriously when you put on this act."
Giggling, Shizuru said, "Well, you are such a trusting and innocent person, with a fundamental belief in human nature."
Natsuki joined in the laughter, then walked towards her partner, slipping an arm around her waist.
"Well, that's just what you do to me, Shizuru. You take all my worse nature and smash it to pieces."
"Natsuki, that's so sweet of you."
Shizuru leaned in, letting her empty hands slide up around Natsuki's shoulders, and kissed her warmly. Her mouth was soft, but her kiss firm and direct, devoid of any of her usual teasing.
When their lips parted, Natsuki grinned at her.
"What about the homeowner's association?"
"As Natsuki might phrase it, screw them."
"No thanks, I'll stick with you," Natsuki said, and dropped her hand to give Shizuru a playful squeeze on the butt.
"Why, Natsuki, here I thought you were not interested in such things."
"I blame you and your flirting. Why can't I flirt like that?"
"Surely Natsuki knew that I would find her enticing even dressed in work clothing, carrying a rake, sweaty from effort?" Natsuki had tied up her hair while she raked, and Shizuru played her fingertips along the bare nape of her neck. Natsuki felt her mouth go dry as what had been playful flirting started to give rise to something quite different.
She wanted to respond, toss off some quip about Shizuru's general lechery towards her, but the words stuck in her throat, held back by the sudden flood of emotions.
"I love you, Natsuki," Shizuru murmured against her lips, her voice a gentle caress, so soft it was nearly drowned out by the rustling leaves. The rake thudded to the ground as Natsuki dropped it so she could put both arms around her girlfriend and pull Shizuru tightly against her. Their mouths came together again, open and needy. A soft moan welled up from inside her, the craving catching fire, and as always even as the heat suffused her it came with a sense of amazed bewilderment that she could feel like this, not just the desire but the love, the willingness to abandon herself utterly to this woman, and how much she owed it to Shizuru that she had become a person who allowed herself those feelings. She was right on the verge of surrendering herself completely when the sound of toenails on linoleum cut into her awareness.
"Shizuru, you left the patio door open," she said with a very different kind of moan than a moment ago.
"Was I supposed to close it?"
The need to explain was made moot in the next instant as Duran burst out of the house. He had, after all, been left inside for the past few hours, and once he'd woken from his nap wanted to rejoin his human at the earliest opportunity. He'd only taken a couple of bounds towards Natsuki, though, when her fears came true and the rustling leaves caught his attention.
"Oh, no…"
Dirt sprayed as his paws dug in, bracing himself for the sharp change in direction, and he took two quick steps before hurling himself into the air in one mighty bound.
The impact didn't so much crash into the leaf pile as it detonated it. Leaves fountained into the air, showering down across the yard like a sudden snowfall that happened to be red and brown. The image was pretty much exactly what Natsuki had been dreading. The sound effect, though, was very different, a hissing squeal she could only compare to one time when her Ducati had punctured a tire and dragged the deflating wheel a good sixty feet across the pavement.
"Natsuki!" Shizuru gasped, pointing up into the air. Natsuki looked up, following the finger…
"Kiyohime!"
Natsuki sprang forward, arms outstretched, and felt a fifty-pound flying hydra slam into her chest, knocking her flat on her back. Thankfully, the ground was soft.
Kiyohime's second and sixth heads nuzzled at her, apparently concerned that she might have hurt herself. The third head gave her an "I've done that to myself, too" look of commiseration.
The fourth head appeared to be looking around for the place where it could line up to go on that ride again.
"Let me guess," Natsuki groaned. "You were playing 'burrow' in the leaf pile, and that's why it was rustling."
Duran stood among the falling leaves, sporting a big, doggy grin and happily wagging his tail.
"Natsuki, are you all right?" Shizuru exclaimed, running over to her. Concern was plain on her face, so different than the placid mask, enigmatic smiles, and sly grins she usually displayed.
"Yeah, I think we're all good here."
"Thank goodness! But we should go inside now and check properly, and then I'll take care of the leaves."
"Thanks, but Shizuru, that's a three-hour job, and you've been in class all day. At least let me help."
"Do not worry, Natsuki, I will have help. As our pets seem to enjoy the leaves so much, I am certain they will be eager to provide all the assistance I need." Kiyohime's heads and Duran's tail drooped. "Unless, of course, they would prefer to be the ones to explain the leaf situation to the homeowner's association?"
Kiyohime picked up the rake while Duran ran for the garbage bags.
"Works for me," Natsuki said. "Hey, they're our CHILDs, after all, and raking leaves is a classic chore for kids."
~X X X~
A/N: I really don't write enough teasing, flirtatious Shizuru. This one was fun!