Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring a Kuga-Fujino family pet)

"Happy birth-day, dear Natsuki…Happy birthday to you!" the chorus finished up, drawing out the last note so it sounded more like "yoooooooo." Which caused Duran to sit up and howl, since they'd finally hit a lyric he could sing along to. Mikoto winced and covered her ears, as she was sitting next to him. Natsuki figured that it was only simple justice since she'd been the one to start singing in English.

"Congratulations, Natsuki," Shizuru said, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. Natsuki decided it said something about three years of dating that Shizuru was willing to be so casual in publicly displaying her affection in front of their friends and that Natsuki was only mildly embarrassed (and gave no outward reaction) over it.

But then, none of us is who we were three years ago, are we? she thought, looking around the table at her friends. Come to think of it, the simple fact that she was sitting at a Chinese restaurant at a long banquet table filled with people she could legitimately call "friends"—yes, even the smirking half of Mai's boyfriend duo and Nao—was as big a change as she could imagine.

"Congratulations on finally being legal," Nao said. "Now you don't have to worry about Shizuru doing jail time for providing you with alcohol whenever you two tie one on."

Natsuki snorted. Shizuru, however, gave Nao a look and shook her head sadly.

"Ara, ara, poor Miss Yuuki. So young and immature, not to realize that the best revelry is done when one is clear-headed and can etch every moment of it into one's memory forever, such as the time when—"

"Okay, not in front of the kids!" Natsuki yelped. She didn't really think Shizuru was about to go into specific and painstaking detail about their love life in public, but…well, this was Shizuru Fujino they were talking about.

As if to prove a point, Shizuru giggled.

"Ookini, Natsuki. I never expected to be gifted with such a lovely blush on your birthday."

"Kuga is a generous person where you're concerned," Reito Kanzaki pointed out. As if Shizuru needed a partner in teasing!

"Indeed she is! Why, just last Tuesday—"

"And here's the fortune cookies," Natsuki hastily interrupted.

"That's probably not the best attempt to change the topic," Nao pointed out. "You've got a track record with those things."

"…You're not wrong, but you didn't come up with any better ideas."

"Pfft. I hear things in the confessional every day that would make anything you could get up to sound as innocent as a head pat."

"Says the woman whose ears are as red as her hair," Natsuki drawled. Shizuru was right: teasing was fun!

Besides which, Natsuki wasn't entirely unprepared this time.

The crinkle of cellophane and crack of probably-slightly-stale cookies breaking open told her that the moment of truth was upon her. Shizuru delicately extracted the slip of paper from her cookie.

"Ara, now this is interesting. 'Accept the next proposition you hear.'"

Natsuki smirked. It felt good, she had to admit. Maybe there was a reason Reito did it so often. "In that case, then," she said, then leaned over and started whispering in Shizuru's ear.

Nao winked. Her present to Natsuki had been bribing (or possibly blackmailing) the waiter.

Alyssa Searrs's gift for her half-sister had been to reserve the finest suite at the Fuuka Imperial Hotel (ejecting an oil minister in the process).

Mai and Mikoto's was to provide weekend pet-sitting services.

And Shizuru?

While Shizuru, being the kind and caring girlfriend she was, had doubtless bought Natsuki several gifts of a romantic, useful, and/or entertaining nature, what Natsuki considered her real present was the rare and immensely satisfying sight of Shizuru's face steadily growing into a full-on Kuga-style tomato blush as Natsuki detailed exactly what proposition she intended for Shizuru to accept.

"I guess these cookies really do give good luck fortunes," Mai observed.

~X X X~

A/N: It's a little late for August, but eh, I didn't want to wait until next year to post this on the actual date of Natsuki's birthday, so you get it out of season.