Aftermath

By DrummondType2

Chapter 1:

So, my life had taken some strange twists and turns since the whole Festival thing.

With our powers and our CHILDs gone, I had to be pragmatic and decide not to continue skulking in back alleys trolling for pervs to rob. Kuga could probably have handled it, not that she would have done something like that. Such a waste. I saw that girl do some admittedly impressive spin kicks and stuff on those Searrs bastards without even making use of her powers. When you can take out a squad of armed men single-handed without using any powers, and you decide you're not going to use that to take out the sickos in society, it's a real waste of talent. Not that I could really blame her. At the end of it all, she found true love, or something like that.

Besides, Mama was out of her coma. I had a family again. And Mama needed me to help her with adjusting to things. A lot of time had passed since she'd been beaten into unconsciousness. The biggest and most shocking change for her was me, of course. I was just an eight year old girl when she was taken from me. And when she came to, there I was, in my teens and everything. She needed someone to look out for her, and she and I had to learn who we were to each other all over again.

I guess I finally saw what it was to be responsible for someone, the way Tokiha had been with her kid brother. That was one thing from the time as a HiME that I actually felt bad about, the way I'd torn into her about being a hypocritical goody-goody. Now faced with the same challenge of looking out for someone else's well being, I realized that I was in the same boat as Tokiha, and so I apologized to her.

I tried the nun thing for a bit, but I found that I couldn't really stick with that. Turns out the church had rules about the proper path to becoming a nun, and I simply didn't have the time to spend years in some religious school learning all that stuff. Miyu was also disqualified. Seems the church has its own views on whether combat robots have souls, and they weren't compatible with Miyu's views on the subject, or Alyssa's.

And then we all grew up. We tried to keep in touch, but people have lives, and lives are complicated and messy, and you start to forget to stay in touch with people who you haven't seen in years.

I stayed at Fuuka, so I stayed in touch with Mikoto, Munekata, and Okuzaki the longest. And since Okuzaki was dating Tokiha's baby brother, and Mikoto was trying to date Tokiha herself, I saw Tokiha around from time to time. I also saw Alyssa around campus, almost always in the company of her guardian robot, Miyu. Another shocker, we learned that Alyssa was technically Kuga's half-sister, and since she didn't have any other family in her life, Alyssa decided to try to get to know Kuga better. And Kuga, well, the pup was a bit short on family herself, so she decided she was cool with that, so I'd see her from time to time as well, occasionally with Fujino as well.

And so it went.

Thanks to some money that Fumi, Kuga, and that teacher, Sakomizu, had "liberated" from District One, all of the HiME were taken care of, financially. Tokiha's brother's surgery and medical bills were covered, for example. And Mama and I bought a modest little house where we could live together.

I made it through three years of high school, and moved up to the university level. I'd decided that I wanted to do something meaningful with my life, and I was actually studying my ass off. We were eight years away from the Festival, and I was about to graduate with a degree.

It was, in fact, June 1st, my birthday, and I was going out for a drink with some of my college friends, when my life would take a drastic and very different turn.

I don't know who it was who'd suggested Rorschach, but I was all too familiar with the neighborhood. At least, the back alleys.

And that's when I saw her, there, sitting at the bar. Natsuki Kuga.

She was alone in that smoke filled den. At 25 years old, she had definitely matured into a stunner. I mean, she'd had supermodel proportions before, but she'd only improved in the meanwhile. Her hair hung off the back of the barstool as she sat, it was that long. Her legs were long and shapely, even in those jeans.

But what really caught my attention was the look on her face. It was empty, lost, and to be honest, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. She was holding a small glass. I couldn't tell what was in it, whether it was whiskey or scotch or rum. It definitely wasn't sake. She wasn't actually drinking it, just holding it. She wasn't even really looking at it. Truth be told, she didn't seem to be looking at anything.

For example, she didn't seem to see the skeezy looking guy who was staring at her ass. She didn't seem to see him get off of his barstool and walk over to her. I would have assumed she was completely oblivious to his presence as he reached out a hand to grab her. Except that he never made it. His hand was caught mid-grope, and with lightning speed Kuga had spun in her stool, twisted his arm behind his back, and slammed him face first into the bar. He fell to the floor with a bloody nose.

One of my classmates, Sachiko, looked at me, "Let's get out of here. This place is a bit rougher than I remembered."

"You guys go ahead," I said, "I have something to do."

I started trying to make my way to Kuga, and with good cause. Apparently, Grabby McGrabberson had friends, and they wanted to talk to Kuga about her rough treatment of their buddy.

Despite the very concerning look I'd seen on her face when I'd come in, she was apparently a lot more aware of her surroundings than I thought she'd been. With one deft motion, she downed the drink in her hand, then lobbed the glass into the face of the closest of three burly bastards trying to get the drop on her. Then she nailed the second one in the chin with the heel of her shoe. The third got smart and decided to lob a chair at her. She caught it in the face. It was just too large, fast, and heavy for her to avoid it completely. She was clutching at her face, and I saw blood dripping down her forehead into her eye. The goon took advantage and drew a knife.

"Hey, numbnuts!" I shouted, seizing an ashtray from a nearby table. I flung it at him discus style, and caught him in the left cheek. He turned his attention on me, and I realized with sudden clarity that I wasn't actually anything like a barroom brawler, and the sudden informed realization that being stabbed was likely to hurt. But my exit was choked off by bar patrons fleeing the scene to get away from the ensuing chaos. He was about to bring the knife down on me when there was a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, I was holding your seat for you," Natsuki declared, before swinging it like a club with both hands, knocking him to the ground, "You can have it back."

She punched before he could get up, then shook out her surely bruised hand. She then looked at me, "Nao?"

"Nice to see you, too," I exhaled, "Let's get out of here before the cops get here!"

We slipped out the back way, and wound our way through a familiar labyrinth of back alleys.

"What were you thinking?" I chided her as we made our way to an exit in the street far away from Rorschach, "I hope Fujino doesn't think your bout of crazy was my idea, or she'll skin me alive."

Kuga froze in her tracks, and her face crumpled. She leaned against the wall, and she exhaled in a soft sob.

"What, did Fujino throw you out or something? She cheat on you? What is it, Kuga? Do I need to kick…"

"Shizuru is dead, Nao!" she shouted, the she started crying. She knelt down, covering her face with her hands, "Shizuru is dead."

~~*~~

I thought about taking Kuga to a clinic to treat the cut on her head, but I was also worried that the doctor might report us to the cops, and they'd tie Kuga, and possibly me, back to the bar fight. So, instead, I had her wait while I grabbed some gauze pads, paper tape, and iodine from a convenience store, and then escorted her back to my place.

"Nao, what happened?" Mama asked with alarm as I helped Kuga in the door.

"Some guys jumped a friend of mine," I said.

Mama crossed her arms, "Nao…"

I never could lie to her successfully. No matter who else believed what I was peddling, Mama always saw through me. That's a good thing, I guess.

"That's…Kuga, was it?" Mama asked. After the Festival she'd met all of the other HiME. Fujino had apologized profusely for sending her to the grave, which only confused Mama even after we explained the details. She sort of awkwardly forgave Fujino, pointing out that she didn't really remember any of it, "Does this have anything to do with the HiME stuff?"

"No, Mama," I said earnestly, "Except that I know Kuga and had to get her out of a jam. She…Hell, I don't know what's going on. Except that she kept saying that Fujino is dead and she was apparently drowning her sorrows at the bar when some guys got handsy. That's all I know, I swear."

She nodded, satisfied, "She hasn't been slurring her speech or anything, has she?"

"Not until she started blubbering away about Fujino being dead," I said, "But if it's the knock to the head you're worried about, she was fighting pretty well after she got that little love tap."

"Alright. Are you okay with letting her take your bed, tonight?" Mama asked me in a way that made it clear that she wasn't asking.

"Sure," I replied, "If we sleep back to back, we can both fit."

"That's fine, then. She needs to sleep it off. Why don't you get her there now."

I escorted her to my room, and laid her on the bed. She was too tired, mentally and physically, to put up any resistance.

I picked up my laptop and carried it to the living room. I saw at the table, and did a quick search. What I found explained a good deal.

"Heir Apparent to the Fujino Group Among Those Killed in a Rockslide," I read aloud.

Mama shook her head, "I remember hearing something about a rockslide on the radio. She was still so young."

"Twenty-six," I said.

"I remember her. She was the young lady who was prostrating herself before me and telling me that she was sorry for causing my death. She seemed like a nice enough young woman."

Out of respect for the dead, I withheld my opinion.

"The accident was three days ago, which means today was probably the funeral service," I bit my thumbnail in thought.

"I take it that Fujino and Kuga were close," Mama said.

"Put it this way, if that sort of thing were allowed here, Kuga would be a widow right now. Hell, for all that it matters, that's probably how she feels," And having said that, I suddenly felt bad for Kuga.

I decided to call it a night. I was pleased to find that Kuga was sleeping on her side, and I cocooned myself in a blanket and took the free space beside her. After awhile of listening to her light breathing, I drifted off.

~~*~~

I woke with a start the next morning as I felt a pair of arms around me. I turned in alarm to find a sleeping Kuga holding onto me. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, and she mumbled softly.

"Shiz'ru."

I sighed, then gently shook her, "Kuga. Hey, Kuga, wake up, Pup!"

She slowly opened her eyes, then started, "Nao, what are you…?"

"Before you finish that thought, you're the one glomming onto me, Pup," I pointed out, "The bar fight last night, remember?"

There was a sudden throb in her head that reminded her of the night before, and she gingerly touched the gauze pad on her head.

"Ow. Yeah, I remember."

"I helped patch you up, and Mama said to let you stay the night," I said, "I didn't know you'd be so clingy, though."

Then I sighed, "Look, for what it's worth, I heard about Fujino. I'm…I'm sorry, Kuga. I know she meant everything to you."

Natsuki inhaled sharply through her nostrils, then exhaled slowly, "Thanks. Sorry I got you caught up in my mess."

"Forget about it. It was a rare chance for me to play hero for a change. Still…look, it's your life, but do you think Fujino would be happy with you getting yourself smashed, literally or figuratively, just because she's gone?"

"Yeah, well, it's the only thing I could think to do, seeing as how I wasn't allowed at the funeral," Kuga sighed.

"What? But I thought…the last I'd heard, her folks accepted when she came out of the closet."

Kuga scoffed, "Yeah? That's because it was still pretty much discreet and private. They agreed not to try and arrange a marriage for her, and I had to agree to keep our relationship behind closed doors. Apparently, that applied to the funeral, too. I was told, oh so politely, that my presence would only fuel speculation as to who I was and why I was there, and would bring shame and humiliation to the family."

She gave a laugh with no humor in it, "I gave serious thought to crashing. But…that would have made a spectacle out of a somber occasion. She was still their daughter, and they still had the right to lay her to rest in peace. So, I hit the worst bar in town looking for a stiff drink and a fight. And as luck would have it, I found both."

I couldn't say I approved, but hell, it wasn't my place to judge. I knew they were close. They'd been together since the Festival. Eight years. If I'd lost someone that close to me, and I'd been told I wasn't welcome at the funeral, I probably would have wanted to drown my sorrows, too.

"I am sorry, Kuga," I said, somberly, "Really."

She nodded her head, the smiled at me, "Thanks, Nao."

"Come on," I rose from the bed, "Let's get you home so you can shower. We'll have our own funeral for Fujino. I'll call the others, and we'll see to it that she's sent off in style."

Kuga looked uncertain, "You think the others…Would they come?"

~~They damn well better~~ I thought to mysef, but aloud I said, "All we can do is ask."

To Be Continued…