Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)

Even though Shizuru and Natsuki were lucky enough to have a house with a back yard in the suburbs of Fuuka, Natsuki still liked to take Duran for walks. This was enthusiastically approved of by Duran himself, who got to have more owner-dog bonding time that way, received a little more exercise (including, if he was lucky, getting to run off-leash in the park), and surveyed the neighborhood to make sure that it was free of suspicious, probably evil black sedans.

Sometimes, Shizuru would join them on their walks. While Kiyohime preferred shorter walks to stretch her scales and so tended not to come along on long rambles, Shizuru was remarkably fit for a delicate lady who seemed to spend her days in elegant indolence, sitting around sipping tea when not studying for her college courses. (If asked about this, her usual answer was to say that Natsuki made sure that she got plenty of exercise daily. Natsuki generally confined her response to hitting Shizuru with a throw pillow, tea cosy, or oven mitt.) Natsuki had to admit, she enjoyed having Shizuru along for company; she found it surprisingly fun to be able to share small moments like that, and it made the walk better when they saw or encountered something interesting to have her there.

Indeed, she had to admit (though not out loud), that when they passed a jogging Nao and the redhead called out, "Hey, look at Fujino walking her two domesticated dogs!" it actually gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling to think of herself as part of a couple doing traditional couples' activities.

It didn't stop her from flipping Nao off, of course, but that was just something that had to be done as a matter of principle. Even Duran just wagged, which went to show that you couldn't fool dogs.

"Do you know," Shizuru remarked, "I am surprised that Nao has remained a novice for these past two years. I had expected that she would have found the position too confining. Do you think that she genuinely intends to make a career in the Church?"

"If she does, she'll at least keep the confessional from getting lonely."

"She does have a strong sense of justice, though, albeit one which is a trifle…flexible? Pragmatic? Creative?" Shizuru fished for the correct word.

"Bent," Natsuki summed up. As if struck by divine vengeance for critiquing the purity of a holy maiden, she immediately tripped, and might have fallen had Shizuru not caught her arm.

"Is Natsuki all right?"

"Yeah, thanks to your fast reflexes." She looked down at her feet. "Aw, crap, my shoelace came untied. Hold Duran for a second while I fix that, will you?"

She passed the leash over, then turned away from Shizuru so she could put her shoe up on the top of an ornamental foot-high wall edging the yard they were passing. She bent over and started tying the laces, and had just formed the first loop when she felt a tickling touch on her lower back. After a couple of seconds, she recognized it as a fingertip stroking in patterns, the pressure creating a satiny caress against her skin. Grinning, she finished the knot, stood up, and turned around.

"Sorry, I missed most of that. What'd you write?"

Shizuru smiled, took Natsuki's arm, and deftly repeated the gesture, spelling out the characters for Natsuki daisuki—"I love Natsuki."

"Aw, I love you too, and…" Her voice trailed off as her memory of how the touch on her back had felt and Shizuru's very smug grin added up to trouble. Blushing hotly, she yanked her jeans up and the back of her shirt down. "Geez, Shizuru, I accidentally flash the neighborhood and your first thought is to write on me?"

"Ikezu. I thought Natsuki wanted to offer me a glimpse of this evening's entertainment. French cut baby blue with lace edging is, I believe, not the standard for dog walking."

"…Idiot."

Shizuru arched an eyebrow at her girlfriend and chuckled.

"If Natsuki truly believes after all this time that I would not take the chance to appreciate such a sight, perhaps she should not be using that particular insult for others?"

Duran woofed, vigorously wagging his tail.

"Traitor."

~X X X~

A/N: The best part of writing comedy or fluffy ShizNat is that real life provides all kinds of ideas for stories. Of course, things weren't exactly the same in real life: we don't own a dog, I didn't write in Japanese…oh, and Tarma prefers black to baby blue.