Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)

Shizuru Fujino let out a deep sigh.

"This," she said, "was not a good idea."

There were no words offered in response, but she didn't expect any. After all, Duran and Kiyohime were highly intelligent pets, but wolves and hydras were not known for their mastery of human speech.

Kiyohime's sixth head did raise up from her dinner plate and offer a curious hiss. Her fifth head took the opportunity to make a move on the sixth head's unfinished dumpling, but was forestalled when the fourth head bonked it with a chopstick. Hydra psychology gave all new meaning to the phrase, "an argument with yourself."

"I didn't want to cook dinner for myself after the long day that I've had dealing with my studies," Shizuru explained. "Between the meeting with my department chair, three hours in the library, two lectures, and putting the finishing touches on my essay last night, I thought that standing over a pot or a frying pan did not appeal."

Kiyohime's head bobbed up and down. Apparently finding the topic interesting, her second head raised up to join the sixth in listening.

"Which was well enough, and I thought that Chinese take-out seemed like a promising idea. It appeared like a waste to order something that I am good at cooking myself, after all, and I didn't want something from a convenience store. I have chastised Natsuki for her poor eating habits entirely too often for me to risk her finding out that I succumbed to the same temptation."

Duran woofed approvingly. He was a strong proponent of justice and fair dealing, particularly when it pertained to his owner, as befitted the family dog.

Kiyohime hissed again, and pointed at her dumplings with her sixth head's nose.

"Oh, no, everything was very good, I agree," Shizuru hastened to assure her. "Indeed, I think that this new restaurant we've ordered from the past two times has a much lighter hand with some of the less palatable sugars and oils that can make Chinese-American cuisine stereotypically heavy.

"No," she sighed, "the problem is me."

Or rather, the problem was Natsuki. Or more specifically, the problem was that Natsuki wasn't there, as the Executive Committee had roped her into helping with another student council problem because they knew she would never turn down friends in need no matter how much she groused about it. And that left Shizuru eating Chinese take-out alone.

"I believe that I now understand what the phrase, 'hoist by her own petard' means."

The worst of it was, she had only herself to blame, hence her choice of idiom. Not long ago, she'd been amused by how Natsuki had come to associate Chinese take-out with impromptu sexual encounters. This was somewhat justifiable on Natsuki's part, since Shizuru loved to turn any vaguely suggestive fortune-cookie outcome into innuendo, and follow up with enthusiastic advances.

It might have been that Shizuru was not over the years of repressing her sexuality, and even two years into her relationship was still caught up in "wait, she loves me too?" enthusiasm. Or it might just have been that she had a naturally high sex drive without need for further psychological analysis. Whichever it was, though, she was only too happy to recognize that Natsuki now associated Chinese take-out with lovemaking to the point that the scent of fried rice was a turn-on.

The problem, she was only now realizing, was that Shizuru herself had formed a similar association.

Which made working her way through dinner while alone less of a meal and more an exercise in sexual frustration. Honestly, the only good thing about it was that it had given her the idea that if she knew she was going to be coming home late some night she could order dinner delivered for Natsuki and be fairly sure she'd be dragged off the bed the moment she walked in. Or tackled to the sofa. Or shoved up against the inside of the front door before she'd even had the chance to take her shoes off, and—

Not. Helpful!

Unfortunately, this did not help her now, because it wasn't like Natsuki was going to walk through the door a convenient half-hour or so after dinner was over, in the mood for seduction. Rather, she would very likely not drag herself in until after eleven, exhausted from working very hard to help the student council deal with the aftermath of Founders' Day Festival chaos, very much not in the mood for anything except sleep.

Kiyohime nuzzled her with several heads. She understood. After all, she and Duran had several times had to make a quick exit to avoid being exposed to activities inappropriate for their age range and species taste.

Her fifth head made a move on the spring rolls Shizuru had been too distracted to properly addressed, and got bonked again for its trouble.

"That's for Duran," Shizuru chided. "But you can have the leftover scallion pancakes." Happy hisses greeted this pronouncement. Since Shizuru was as good as done eating, she reached for her fortune cookie, broke it open, and extracted the slip. Duran gave a curious woof, so Shizuru prepared to read it aloud, only to be interrupted when her phone rang.

"Hello."

"Hey, Shizuru."

"Natsuki! I was just thinking about you!"

"Should I hold the line until you get your pants back on?"

"Natsuki has become much more comfortable with sassy, albeit sexy, flirting."

"Yeah, sorry; I think I've been hanging around Nao too much," her girlfriend said, a sentence punctuated by a "Hey!" in the background that Shizuru could just hear. "Anyway, I really hate to bug you, but I'm calling to ask a favor."

"Oh?"

"It looks like this is going to turn into an all-nighter, so we're all going to sleep over at the academy. But since you and I don't live on campus any more, it'd take a while to ride home, grab what I need, and come back here. So, um, I was hoping that you might grab me some stuff and bring it in? We're not going to get done until after midnight, and then we have to be back at it at seven in the morning."

"I'd be happy to!"

"It's okay if it's too much of a bother," Natsuki assured her. "You don't have to run around town for my sake."

"Nonsense, Natsuki; I don't have any evening plans and I'm happy to help. Besides," she added, "if Natsuki insists on paying me back, I'm sure we can work out a return favor that will…satisfy me."

"…Idiot."

Shizuru could all but hear the blush.

"So what do you need me to bring?"

Natsuki rattled off the things she wanted, omitting nothing that Shizuru could think of as being important.

"All right, then. I'll be there in forty-five minutes if I can catch the next bus."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it."

"Again, nonsense. It's no trouble, and I love you."

"Love you, too."

Shizuru managed to hold back her squee of happiness until after she hung up.

"I get to see Natsuki!" she all but sang. "And it hasn't been too long since my time as Student Council president. As long as I'm there, I ought to offer to help."

After all, if Shizuru helped, she'd get to spend more time with her girlfriend, and then Natsuki would be done that much earlier. And if Natsuki finished early…and there they were, in the school building at night, together…and, regrettably, they hadn't started dating until after Shizuru's graduation, meaning that Shizuru had never gotten the chance to explore all of the ideas she'd had over two years of then-unrequited crushing on the beautiful "ice princess." There was the homeroom-after-hours scenario; the girls' locker room showers; presiding over a student council meeting while her lover was hidden under her desk…surely Natsuki wouldn't be so cruel as to turn her down flat? (Especially given what Natsuki had once mentioned about the swimming pool and school swimsuits…)

"It just goes to show that I should have more faith in destiny," she told the CHILDs. This time, all six of Kiyohime's heads looked at her, tipped sideways in curiosity.

"It's like my fortune said," she explained. "It read, 'You may have sudden and surprising opportunities.'"

~X X X~

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day to my very own Natsuki, my wife of 24.5 years (and counting!), Tarma!