Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)

"And what does Natsuki have planned for next weekend?" Shizuru asked across the breakfast table.

Natsuki's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Which was a good trick, she thought, since her eyelids were already droopy with that morning feeling of being not quite awake. But she'd been living with and dating Shizuru for over a year now, and she was getting better at spotting her girlfriend's "tells."

The human survival instinct at work, probably.

"That sounded like a leading question."

Shizuru put on her best fake-innocent face.

"Why, Natsuki, how is it that you are so suspicious of me?"

"You started a question to me with your cutesy third-person voice instead of just asking. That never ends well."

Shizuru shook her head in mock regret.

"It is sad when my own girlfriend trusts me so little."

Since she closed her eyes during this particular piece of theatricality, Kiyohime's fifth head saw an opportunity to pop up over the edge of the table and make a move on Shizuru's grilled fish. Shizuru tapped it with the tips of her chopsticks before it could reach the plate, demonstrating how dangerous it was to assume that she didn't know exactly what she was doing with those little displays.

Not that Natsuki needed any reminders.

"Do you seriously want me to dignify that with an answer? We both have classes today and it'll take me until at least suppertime to go through all the examples."

"Natsuki ikezu."

"Idiot." Then, because Shizuru's pout was getting to her in spite of everything, Natsuki went ahead and stepped into the bear trap. "But what about next weekend? Was there a reason you thought I might have plans?"

Shizuru blinked, this time with genuine surprise.

"Halloween is next weekend."

"It is?" Natsuki ran through the calendar in her mind. It was the 22nd, which meant that Shizuru was right. "I guess it is. Did you have anything special planned? Nao isn't throwing another party, is she? I don't know what was worse, me getting dressed up in something outrageously skimpy in the middle of obnoxious crowds and spiked punch, or having to watch you deal with obnoxious crowds on spiked punch while you were wearing something outrageously skimpy."

"I…didn't realize that second part bothered you, too."

"Of course it does! I don't want my girlfriend to have to fend off drunken morons, even if you are good at it. Lots better than I am, even if for some reason you get twice as many people hitting on you because all the girls go for you, too. Which is weird."

"I was under the impression that you 'went for me,' as you put it."

Natsuki blinked, because she'd walked squarely into that one without expecting it, dammit.

"Okay, but no. We were friends for a year and a half and I didn't run around leering at you. I mean, we're dating now, and that's different, but…"

"No, I understand. You didn't even stop to think about things like sex or romance while you were focused on revenge."

Natsuki sighed. It wasn't something she liked to talk too much about—mostly because it was embarrassing, not because she was bothered by it—but her emotional growth as it related to interpersonal relationships like trust, friendship, and love had been pretty stunted. Though she supposed it was also why she'd been able to forgive Shizuru for the things she'd done during the HiME Festival. When you cash in ten years of your life, starting before you were even ten, in pursuit of an obsession, it gave you a certain insight into how out-of-control emotional stress could drive a person to do awful things.

"So yeah, any leering I may or may not admit doing in your direction happened after I realized I was in love with you, not before. And, well…" she added, glancing aside, "I…it kind of bugs me when other people hit on you. I know it's stupid of me to feel jealous and possessive like that, but—"

"No, no, you don't sound weird or wrong at all!" Shizuru rushed to assure her. "I don't mind it at all."

"Really?"

Shizuru blinked.

"You sound really surprised at that."

Apparently she was genuinely caught off-guard by Natsuki's reaction, because Kiyohime's fifth head made a second attempt at the fish and would have grabbed it had her sixth head not chomped down on the back of its neck and pulled it back under the table.

"Well…don't take this the wrong way, Shizuru, but you're kind of a flirt."

Shizuru's eyebrows rose.

"Is that what Natsuki thinks of me?"

Apparently "don't take this the wrong way" wasn't enough to keep her from taking it the wrong way. Or there isn't a right way, Natsuki thought, and I've put my foot into it again.

"Shizuru, when you were in high school you were trailed by a small army of adoring underclassmen. You had what, six girls fighting to rub suntan lotion on your back at the beach party? And you'd purr a couple of words in their ears and make them melt. I might have been your favorite teasing target, but I wasn't your only one."

Shizuru gave her a long look, then dipped her head.

"You're right."

Natsuki blinked.

"I am?"

A smile flickered around the corners of Shizuru's mouth, despite her seriousness.

"You sound surprised, which seems odd since you said it in the first place."

"Well, yeah, but I'm bad at the whole social butterfly stuff. I kind of assume there's at least a coin-flip chance I'm getting some subtlety of personal interaction totally wrong whenever I find myself getting annoyed with you."

"You should trust yourself more, Natsuki. I am a flirt. I like to tease and provoke reactions in people. I did not realize that it bothered you so much."

"Why do you do it, anyway?"

"Probably because I like having power over people."

"…It's a little scary how you say that so easily."

Shizuru sighed.

"You know that I have been somewhat…conflicted…about my sexuality?"

That was the understatement of the century, Natsuki thought. Guilt over her feelings was one of the major reasons for Shizuru's emotional breakdown during the Festival. Things would probably have gone a lot more easily if she hadn't half-convinced herself that being a lesbian made her a monster to begin with.

"Uh-huh," was all that Natsuki said, though. Discussing all of the details would likely have just devolved into a mess, anyway.

"Being able to provoke reactions and control other people made me feel a little bit better about myself. Not only did it prove I was strong, but it also meant that, specifically when I flirted, I could provoke the kind of things I felt in other people, and if other people felt what I did, well, it meant there was the chance I could still be 'normal.'"

"You are normal!" Natsuki yelped reflexively. It really wasn't true, but she figured that Shizuru would understand she'd be referring to her being gay and not, for example, about being blessed with magical powers and a pet hydra. "And…that's really self-aware of you."

"Mashiro helped find me a therapist who deals with a lot of coming-out issues after the Festival was through."

"She did? You never told me about that."

"It wasn't an easy thing to admit, and we weren't as close then as we are now."

"That's true. It took you a few months to really believe that I'd forgiven you for…well, everything."

"That was one of the most important things I had to learn to accept: until I could believe there was nothing inherently evil or wrong about myself, I couldn't truly accept that Natsuki could forgive my actions. That is, that it was only what I did that mattered to you and you could weigh those actions on their own."

"Yeah, you've said stuff like that before. I suppose that sometimes a person needs help before they can realize things. I mean, if it hadn't been for you—a little bit Mai, but mostly you—I'd have never even accepted that it was okay for me to get close to people again after my mother's death."

"Natsuki, I…"

"Hey, I don't love you just because you look hot in a pirate costume," she said, recalling Shizuru's outfit from the year before which had nearly destroyed what little of Natsuki's self-control had survived the spiked punch, making her lucky that the cab ride home was short. "Which brings me to another question. I get why you'd like to dress yourself up sexily, but why me?"

Shizuru just looked at her.

"Besides the obvious," Natsuki said with a groan. "I mean, I get why you'd want me to dress up in it here, but to go to the party? Was it to see how far I'd be willing to embarrass myself for your sake?"

"No!" she exclaimed at once, surprising Natsuki with how immediate and emphatic her denial was. "That would just be mean. If I was going to tease you like that, it would be over something harmless that no one but you would even notice. Which would actually be why it was fun, watching you tie yourself into knots over something that only existed in your own mind."

Natsuki wondered if there was such a thing as too much honesty in a relationship.

"Then why?"

It was Shizuru's turn, then, to blush.

"I…wanted to show you off."

That was not the answer Natsuki was expecting.

"You what?"

"I wanted everyone there to see how beautiful and sexy that you are."

"Shizuru, almost everybody there already knew me, and most of them are our friends."

"Yes, but while those people might have known you from school, they didn't know you as my girlfriend."

It took a couple of seconds, but Natsuki finally got it. A year ago, she might have even gotten mad, but the Natsuki she was now, with over a year of relationship experience, just threw her head back and laughed.

"You're telling me that I'm your trophy wife?"

"Well, um…"

"The beautiful woman who walks in on your arm and makes everybody else eat their livers out in envy of you?"

"I'm fairly sure that Natsuki possesses all of the qualifications to make men and women alike devolve into liver-eating envy and awe at my prowess."

"Again, Shizuru, most of those people know me."

Shizuru smirked.

"In which case, they would be in awe of my ability to get you to wear that costume in public."

Natsuki thought about that for a second, then glanced over at Duran. He offered a big doggy grin and thumped his tail on the floor.

"Yeah, no, I honestly can't argue with that one."