Notes et avertissements:

This shall be a collection of oneshots for the Shizuru-Natsuki pairing. All shall be placed on a (somewhat) alternate universe as well as contain out of character portrayals. I shall upload each oneshot as a chapter here, because I propose to set them in more or less one universe/canon, to keep it simple. Each chapter is intended to be able to stand by itself. Narration technique, perspective, and tones of voice may be varied across pieces. Thematic content may range from comedy to drama, though the story below is actually one which I wrote with the intention of conveying a sober feel. Read and review if you please, and my thanks to all in advance.

To the barristers beyond: Legal disclaimers have already been placed in the summary section, and they apply to each chapter.

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On Widows and Wolves

par ethnewinter

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1

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Yuuki Nao was once called the Black Widow of Fuuka Academy. Do not think I am very much impressed by that title, but it meant a lot to Yuuki-han. It was not that she—or anyone who used the label to refer to her, for that matter—associated it with her previous activities as a mugger in the guise of a child prostitute. Those days were long past, and she had no fondness for recollecting them. It was just as well, really, that very few people knew about it, and all of them kept it quiet. She had been too young; she had too many problems; she had not known any better. One day she realized her own inner distaste for doing what she did, and then she simply stopped doing it.

She was given the title of Black Widow by other students because of her penchant for killing—emotionally, that is—the boys she dated. The first two or three times, it was looked on as a misfortune that just seemed to accompany her romantic life, but when the count came up to four and kept going, everyone knew it had to be intentional. It began to be something of a legend, how they fell in love with her, before she dealt that final blow and devastated them so terribly that some of them never really got over it.

I remember that there was one who went out with her with the intention of turning the tables. This is generally something I would dissuade most people from doing because, more often than not, these sorts of things do not work out the way you want them to. It did not work out for him, either, and when Yuuki-han left him, she did it so decisively that he nearly killed himself over it.

You would think that this would warn off anyone from being interested in her, and it did for a lot of people. But there were always those who would imagine what it would be like to change her, and then they would make the mistake of trying, only to find that the gulf between imagination and reality is really very wide. So the Black Widow kept on its killing streak, and it ruined her a little more each time, because she was still less arachnid and more human than she would have liked. I did not realize how much it was ruining her until she came to my office one day, in Fuuka University.

“Ara, good afternoon, Yuuki-han,” I said. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Um, good afternoon. I was thinking,” she said, taking a seat on one of the chairs before my desk. “Do you think maybe I need to go away somewhere? For a while?”

“Why?”

“Because it’ll be fun?”

“Yuuki-han. Is that all?”

She smiled, then, that catlike smile of hers.

“No, it isn’t,” she admitted. “I was thinking maybe I needed a break.”

“Hmm. It’s the middle of the school year, is it not?”

“That’s part of the problem.”

“Ara. Are you having trouble with your lessons?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s more like personal stuff.”

“For instance?”

“For instance: seeing that bastard giving me another puppy-eyed look is going to make me puke.”

“Ara, Yuuki-han,” I said, putting a small reprimand into it. “Who is he?”

“Kenjiro. The tough-looking one.”

“What happened?”

“He wasn’t as tough as he looked.”

“I see.”

Someone knocked on the door and I apologized to Yuuki-han before calling out that it was open. One of our aides came in.

“Excuse me, kaichou-sama,” she bowed. “But I was just informed that the meeting with the new faculty members shall be postponed for now. They will inform us of the new schedule.”

“Thank you.”

She left after having been summarily dismissed. My companion watched her retreat until the door shut.

“You really get a lot of perks with this position, don’t you?” she said. “Helpers, a private office, fame. Although you’re famous even without being the kaichou,” she added, after a pause.

I inclined my head. “Yuuki-han is famous in her own right.”

“You mean, notorious?” she asked, snarling the word to herself instead of me. “Shizuru-sama, I think I’ve really got to get out of this town for a while.”

“You will be taking yourself along wherever you go,” I told her. “Anyway, since it appears we have a little more time now that my meeting has been struck off, would you like some tea?”

She shook her head.

“It’s more dirt on me, I guess,” she said.

“If you think you have a problem, then why do you not stop what it is that causes it, Yuuki-han?”

She gave me a dry chuckle.

“Hell, I would if I could,” she answered. “What the hell.”

I did not know what to make of her answer, so I simply chose to rebuke her halfheartedly for her language. She smiled at me.

“Sorry,” she said. “You keep telling me and I keep forgetting. I’m not very good at taking your lessons, Shizuru-sama. But I try my best, don’t you worry.”

“Yuuki-han underrates herself.”

“I’m serious. I know I’m still rough around the edges, but not as much as before you helped me out,” she smirked, slightly. “Speaking of which, I better get in on my daily quota of thank you’s. Thanks again for everything.”

I smiled. “You are welcome, but as I said before, you need not keep thanking me so often. Once was enough.”

“Shizuru-sama, you’re being too kind again. That’ll get you more thank you’s, be warned.”

I laughed. “How are things at work?”

“Same old, same old, if not older. Kobayashi, I mean. He forgets his appointments like clockwork.”

“Ah, well, then it is fortunate I assigned you to be his assistant.”

“He’s getting senile. Guy’s got a mind like a sieve.”

“Indeed.”

She was about to say something when there was another knock on the door, but this time, the person didn’t wait for me to tell them to come in. I smiled when I saw who it was.

“Natsuki.”

She shut the door and sauntered over to us, all raw, regal beauty and indifferent grace. I got up to kiss her on her lips, lingering a few more seconds than was really polite with Yuuki-han in the room. I could not help it.

I looked at Natsuki after pulling back, and was pleased to see that she blushed after that. She always did.

“Hey, Nao,” she said, nodding at the other girl, who returned the gesture before rising from her seat.

“I’ve got to go,” she said to us, offering another catlike smile. “Work starts in thirty.”

“Does Yuuki-han need a ride?” I asked.

“No. I’ll take a cab. Thanks anyway, Shizuru-sama. And for listening.” She tipped her chin at Natsuki. “See you around, Kuga.”

“Later, Nao,” Natsuki responded in English, making us laugh at the odd juxtaposition. Afterwards, Yuuki-han waved off.

“So what where you talking about, Shizuru?” Natsuki asked, once she had gone.

“Just some troubles Nao-han has been having recently.”

“Is it that Kenji guy?”

“Natsuki knows about him?”

She sighed. “Everyone knows about him, Shizuru. And how Nao dumped him.”

I waited for her to elaborate.

“Well, the poor shmuck got dropped right on the day he was about to ask her to go exclusive with him. Right in the restaurant with a candlelit dinner and everything.”

“Ara… how awful.”

She nodded.

“Did Yuuki-han say why she did that?”

“She never does.”

I thought about it for a while. “Why do you think she does that, Natsuki?”

She shrugged.

“You do not speak to her about it?”

“Nope.”

“Perhaps one of her friends must speak to her about it, then. Natsuki would not like to try?”

She leaned against the desk as I moved closer to put my arms around her.

“No-o,” she said, after some thought. I nuzzled her hair, taking in the faint scent of roses from her—our—shampoo.

“Uh, I mean, don’t get me wrong, we’re friends and everything now,” Natsuki continued. “But she wouldn’t talk about something like that. She’ll talk about anything else, but ask her about that, Shizuru, and she just clams up.”

“I see.”

“Ah—Shizuru!”

“What?”

I had my hand on her inner thigh, far up her skirt. She squirmed, flushing prettily.

“Stop that.”

“Why?”

She glared at me before sputtering and pulling my hand away.

“For one thing, this isn’t our apartment.”

I giggled, because her face had turned a new shade of red. I catalogued it in my memory, for future reference.

“Ara, Natsuki should not be so worried. You did not notice what Yuuki-han did?”

She brought her eyebrows together, puzzled.

“What did she do?”

“Look at the door.”

It was locked.

--

2

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Natsuki told me later, when we were at home, about a conversation she had had with Yuuki-han about the other girl’s misadventures with romance. It took place a few days ago. Yuuki-han had asked Natsuki what it felt like when she finally realized her feelings for me.

“Uh. I don’t know,” Natsuki replied. “Sort of… nice and crappy at the same time. You know?”

“No. Like how?”

“Well, it was nice because she loved me back, I guess.”

I interrupted at this point in the story to ask if she had really been able to say this without stammering through it. Natsuki growled and told me to shut up, before she returned to her narration.

“And why is it crappy?” Yuuki-han asked.

“Because I felt bad about taking so long. And I guess I wasn’t really, really sure she still felt the same way.”

“But she did. And Shizuru-sama doesn’t seem like she minds your being slow about it.”

“Yes... But it’s not a nice thing to think of, that way, still.”

“Love isn’t nice at all, Kuga.”

“Eh. Why?”

“Just. Look how much trouble it gives me.”

Natsuki laughed. “Yeah, well, you should see how much more trouble it gives them. You’re not the one who’s in love. They get more trouble out of it.”

“Sure. They deserve it, anyway. They’re stupid enough to bite.”

“You talk kind of bitter.”

“Sorry,” Yuuki-han grinned. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Huh. Nao, hey.”

“What?”

“Can I, you know, ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You’ve never liked any of them?”

Yuuki-han laughed. “Sure, I like them. Then they get old and I dump them.”

“No, idiot. Well… loved them, I mean?”

“No.”

Natsuki decided to press it. “Have you ever? Anyone?”

Yuuki-han took a while before answering.

“Not really,” she said.

“Liar. I don’t believe you.”

“Why would you, moron? You didn’t even believe yourself enough until recently. You’re more of a liar than I ever was.”

“Oh, go to hell, Nao.”

“You started it.”

“I didn’t start that crap,” Natsuki replied, getting up.

Yuuki-han managed to look contrite, something she rarely did.

“Sit down,” she told Natsuki. “Come on, Kuga. Oh, hell, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Natsuki smiled and sat back down. What would she have done if she hadn’t?

“You say such damned insulting things, Nao.”

“I know it. I’ve got a sharp tongue. I don’t really mean it when I say things like that.”

“I know. I do it too.” Natsuki paused, smiling. “Shizuru’s trying to break me out of it.”

“She’s doing the same to me.”

“Yeah.”

“I owe her a lot,” Yuuki-han said, musingly. “She was nice enough to give me that job in their company, in the first place, but she didn’t just stop there.”

“Shizuru wouldn’t.”

“You’re really lucky, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“But I’m not buying it,” Natsuki told me, later, as the two of us stretched out in our bed. “She took too long to answer, don’t you think? About her not loving anyone.”

“Yes, Natsuki is right, I think.”

“Is that what’s bothering her, you think?”

“What is?”

I rolled over and got on top of her, putting my mouth on her collarbone. She sighed as I sucked on the skin.

“Maybe she’s hung up over someone?” she offered.

My mouth was on her throat. Her speaking sent pleasant vibrations through my lips.

“Ara, that is very probable.” I looked up. “I think so.”

“Yes, don’t you think?” She lit up with a happy smile. “See, I can be ‘intuitive’ too.”

“Yes, Natsuki can be very intuitive,” I whispered into her ear. She shivered. Her ears were very sensitive.

“But her intuition is several weeks late of schedule,” I finished.

“What?” she asked, trying to pull my head back so that she could see my face. “What do you mean, Shizuru?”

I sighed, holding back a smile. “I already deduced Yuuki-han’s problem a long time ago.”

“Liar.”

I gave in to the tugging at my lips and smiled down at her as she held on to my hair, holding a fistful of it none-too-gently. She narrowed her eyes at me and I waited.

“Unfair,” she finally capitulated, screwing up her mouth sulkily.

I laughed. “Natsuki was the one who asked her directly. That should be unfair.”

She growled softly, the sound rumbling in her throat. I suppressed a laugh and tried to placate her with a kiss. She kept her lips firmly pressed together and her eyes shut.

“Natsuki should know better than to try to stop me,” I warned, amused. I took the opportunity to gaze at her for a few seconds as she lay there, in a false slumber.

“Natsuki,” I repeated. She ignored me. “Ikezu.”

“Ara, very well. Sleeping beauty was woken by a kiss,” I said to her. “But perhaps that was just the sanitized version, Natsuki.”

I reached down and quickly stroked her between her legs. Her eyes snapped open as she yelped, and the last things I saw before I assaulted her open mouth were her irises, incandescent and startling, the colour of an emerald.

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3

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I suppose if I had really been paying attention, I would have realized it sooner. The way Yuuki-han talked around the two of us, the repeated references to ‘her debt’ to me, as though she were trying to remind herself of something, of a line somewhere… But I was too caught up in my own happiness with Natsuki to draw the conclusion. By the time I noticed it, it was already too far gone and there was nothing for me to do. Perhaps there never was.

I saw it entirely by accident, one day, when I went to meet Natsuki at the Academy. Fuuka Academy is only a few minutes away from University, so it was common for us to visit each other, even on days with class. That day, my classes had ended early and I decided to go to her. Luckily, no one noticed me enter the grounds, partly because of the large sunhat I had placed on my head. I wanted it to be a surprise, and any of the members of my unofficial fan club would have dashed that plan to pieces with a single scream.

I made my way to the gardens first, near the forest, because I knew that Natsuki’s class at this time was Math, and she would—contrary to what she insisted on telling me—in all likelihood be cutting it. If so, she was most probably hiding at the bower by the very edge of the forest. It took a few seconds of surveying the location from a distance, hiding myself behind a topiary, to see that I was right.

Natsuki was sitting cross-legged on the grass, her arms extended behind her and bracing her body as she leaned backwards. Her long hair streamed out in the wind as she tilted her head up to the sun, dappled light cascading over her.

The same people who called Yuuki-han The Black Widow—the ones who had a particular fondness for such designations—called Natsuki the Ice Princess, because of her frosty good looks and general manner. But they would hardly have believed how much she liked the sun and warmth—whether in the sense of temperature or affection. She had a need for heat that I discovered after several weeks of being with her, and it was somewhat surprising, if not ironic. Perhaps it was why I preferred the other popular nickname she had: The Lone Wolf. She was my lone wolf, coming in to curl up against me for warmth.

I observed her as she sat there, the play of the light on her face making her look otherworldly. She lifted a hand from its position against the ground and tucked a stray lock of hair behind one ear. The wind caught the dark, shimmering mane behind her and then it was a dance.

I watched, mesmerized, feeling a pang of need so strong that it almost brought me to my knees. I felt an urgent need to come up to her, to touch her, to kiss her, perhaps even bite her, but at the same time I did not want the moment to end, and suddenly I saw a flash of red, a little off from where I was: It was Yuuki-han. She was standing behind a tree, looking at Natsuki with an expression that so exactly mirrored my own feelings that I had to blink to believe it.

“Shizuru!”

The voice made me snap my attention back to the direction of the bower. In my surprise I had stepped into view, and Natsuki had seen me. I turned to her as she started running in my direction, a smile on her face. She was coming. She was coming to me. I felt overwhelming gratitude as well as an odd sense of triumph. I smiled back at her, my Natsuki, before slanting my eyes to where the flame-haired figure had been standing.

Yuuki-han was gone.

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4

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That summer, Yuuki-han decided that she would go to America for the break. She wanted to see more of the world and decided that she wanted to start with the West. Their office, too, had a business proposition with a company in New York, and her boss, Kobayashi-han, was tasked to head negotiations. Yuuki-han was more than willing to accompany him, as that would take care of her travel expenses. She came to see me and asked what I thought. I approved of it.

“Perhaps Yuuki-han was right,” I told her. “Perhaps you do need a reprieve from this place.”

She smiled, pleased. She looked like she was about to lick her paws.

“I’m happy to hear you say so, kaichou-sama,” she grinned, using my title. “Now I just need to wait it out until it’s time to go, then off to New York I’ll go.”

“I presume the arrangements have been made?”

“Oh, yes. Everything’s taken care of. Like I said, just the waiting.”

“When shall you be leaving?”

“Next week,” she replied. “All I really needed was to get your go-signal.”

I lifted my eyebrows at that.

“But Yuuki-han is free to do as she chooses. I am simply a friend.”

She nodded.

“I wanted to see, just in case you had any gripes with it,” she said. “Besides, I wouldn’t even be able to do this if not for you.”

I picked up my teacup and brought it to my lips, smiling.

“Ara, is it time already for the thank you’s?”

She snickered. “Spot-on, Shizuru-sama. Thank you,” she said very gravely, before returning to her smirk.

“And, as always, there is no need to mention it, Yuuki-han,” I replied, returning my teacup to the table. I smiled. “If anything, at least your short absence will spare me from the daily thank-you’s.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t count on it. I can send a text message, you know.”

“True.”

She lifted a hand and inspected her nails. “Hooray for technology.”

“Before I forget, Yuuki-han. Your mother?”

She nodded at me. “Oh, yeah. Mai said she’d take care of her while I’m gone. She’s pretty trustworthy.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Mai-han is that.”

“I know.”

I glanced at my watch.

“You’re going somewhere?” she asked me.

“Yes, I’m afraid we shall have to cut this short, Yuuki-han.”

She flashed her teeth.

“It’s cool,” she said. “I know you have to meet Kuga at the café.”

I looked at her, studying her face. There was no hint of malice or anything cloaked in the words. If she is an adversary, I reflected, she might even be a worthy one.

“Ara,” I replied. “Natsuki told you?”

“Mm, yeah,” she hummed. “We were talking about it earlier. She meant to come here with me—you know, save on the cab fare with her bike—but Mai and Mikoto caught up and she stayed behind to talk.”

I imagined her sitting behind my Natsuki on the Ducati, holding onto her. I bit my tongue, taking care to keep the pleasant expression on my face.

“Speaking of Mai,” she said, eyes widening a little. “I forgot to get my keys back from her. Shit.”

She slapped her head, frowning.

“Then perhaps you should come with me,” I suggested, wondering if she would accept.

“Yeah, huh, I have to.”

We ended up taking a cab to the café, Linden Baum, where Mai-san worked. Natsuki was already waiting for us at a table when we arrived.

“Oh, hey, Nao, you here?” she said, seeing my companion.

I sidled up to the chair beside Natsuki’s and slid into it. Leaning over, I kissed her harder than I usually did in public, taking care to open her lips with my tongue. I suppose it was simply me being territorial.

And Natsuki tasted so good.

I drew back and stole a glance at Yuuki-han. She was looking away with a wry smile, albeit politely—which was more than could be said for the rest of the people at the café.

“Shi-Shizuru,” Natsuki stammered, after a bit. The poor girl was in danger of having her circulation choked off by all the blood rushing to her face. I giggled, to help bring her back to her senses. She reacted predictably.

“What—what are you doing?” she growled at me, trying to keep her voice down.

“Ara, you did not know?” I asked, feigning surprise.

“Know what?” she snapped.

I leaned forward and assumed my most patient expression, pretending to be explaining something to a child.

“I was kissing Natsuki,” I said, enunciating every syllable.

She promptly flared up.

“That’s not what I—you—you’re impossible. This.”

“This?” I lifted an eyebrow.

“This is a public place. They’re still looking at me,” she complained.

“Of course they are looking at you. Natsuki is so eye-catching.”

“I—don’t you try to get around me again.”

There was a sound of muffled laughter and I turned to Nao-han, who seemed to be making it.

“Oh, goddamn, Kuga,” she said, in between snickers. “Just give it up—you don’t have a chance.”

Natsuki reacted by grumbling to herself instead of me. I smiled at her.

“Hello, hello.”

We looked up to see that Mai-han had come over to us, a menu in her hands.

“Good day, Mai-han.”

“Good afternoon, Shizuru-san,” she answered.

“Hey, Mai, I forgot. My keys?” Yuuki-han asked.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Do you want me to go get them now?”

“Yeah, so I can go already.”

“Ara,” I began, more out of cruelty than courtesy. “Yuuki-han is not joining us?”

I already knew the answer.

“No, thanks. Gotta go to work soon, anyway.”

“I see.”

“Well, I’ll go get them now. Maybe you should order now, Shizuru-san, so that I can pass the orders to the bar while I’m at it.”

“Ah, yes, of course, Mai-han. Green tea, if you please.”

“I don’t know why you even ask, Mai,” Natsuki put in. “She never changes the order anyway. Make a memo: if Shizuru comes here, green tea on the double.”

We laughed.

“Ikezu,” I murmured.

“Natsuki?” Mai-han asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Natsuki said. She got up. “I’ll go with you and see what’s available.”

Mai-han nodded, then raised her eyebrows at Yuuki-han.

“No, I’m good. Just the keys,” Yuuki-han told her.

They left. Yuuki-han and I sat there quietly for a minute or so, before she spoke.

“They’re taking a while,” she commented.

“Perhaps they are talking to each other.”

“Yeah, in other words: Natsuki was caught in Mai’s net of endless chatter.”

“Ara, Yuuki-han,” I replied, letting out a small laugh.

She smirked.

I folded my hands together, before me. It was a warm afternoon, and there were a lot of people going by, singly and in pairs. A band of young men passed by, and I felt their eyes on our table as they went.

“I guess I’ll miss this place a little.”

I looked at her, saying nothing.

“Hell,” she laughed sheepishly. “What’s wrong with me?”

“It is natural for Yuuki-han to be feeling that,” I conceded.

“Yeah?”

I inclined my head. “Especially since you have people who are…dear to you here.”

“Well, Mai’s going to take care of her anyway.”

“Yes, but I must admit that I was not taking about Yuuki-han’s mother.”

Her eyes turned to mine. We stared at each other, unblinking.

“My friends,” she said.

I held her gaze, feeling a small perversity creeping.

“Yes. And as for the other… I shall be taking care of her, of course,” I said, wanting to see how she would react to that.

The small, pretty face slipped, and I saw comprehension in the cracks, before it turned into alarm, then shame. Her lime green eyes widened slightly, as though in the face of an oncoming slap.

So unlike my Natsuki’s, I thought.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of her mouth. I waited as she searched for more. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know. It’s all right,” I replied.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“It is not Yuuki-han’s fault.”

She looked away. Her cheeks were flushed, and I felt sorry for her. I waited.

“After everything you’ve done for me…” she began. I cut her off.

“It is not something you could have helped,” I told her, noting her nervous posture, her hands gripping the armrests of the wicker chair she was in. A splinter of wood broke free under the pressure of one sharp thumbnail. For an instant I thought I saw something of the old Yuuki-han, the vindictive one, the true Black Widow, but it vanished as quickly as it came.

“I never tried anything,” she said, looking up at me.

I nodded.

“Yuuki-san should not be so worried,” I assured her. “I have no intention of telling Natsuki.”

Gratitude flickered across the lost features.

“I—I’ll stay away from her.”

“No,” I replied firmly. “There is no need for Yuuki-han to do such a thing. Nor, indeed, is there a need for you to avoid me. You are my friend now, and Natsuki’s as well.”

I smiled to soften my next words.

“But Yuuki-han must be warned: Natsuki is mine.”

Her eyes were bright as she looked at me. She smiled, a little sadly.

“I know.”

“I am glad you understand,” I said, after a moment. “And do not think I am angry or that I am in any way ‘forgiving’ you.”

I registered alarm on her face, right before I added:

“It is because there is nothing for me to forgive in this case, Yuuki-han. Nor anything to be thankful for, in your position.”

Her expression loosened. She nodded.

“But thank you,” she whispered.

“Ara,” I replied. “I thought we had finished today’s quota for that.”

She smiled.

“Here they come,” she said.

Natsuki and Mai-han walked up to us, the two of them laughing. Mai-han had a tray in her hands.

“Sorry for the wait,” she said, as she carefully set a cup of tea from the tray onto our table. “We couldn’t find the keys at first.”

“With that mess of locker, naturally,” Natsuki quipped, falling into her seat beside me.

“It wasn’t that bad. Besides, Shizuru-san,” Mai-han added. “What really made us take so long was that Natsuki here had to get hit on by one of the baristas while she was ordering.”

“Shut up,” Natsuki snapped. I lifted an eyebrow.

“I hope you watched him while he was making that,” Mai-han teased, pointing at Natsuki’s coffee. “He might’ve snuck in a kiss on the cup somewhere.”

“Ooh, Kuga, indirect infidelity,” Yuuki-han chimed in, slipping easily into her usual demeanor.

I looked at the cup, then at Natsuki, who was blushing terribly, a scowl on her face.

“Ara, Natsuki,” I said. “Perhaps you had better drink from my tea instead.”

“Shizuru, don’t tell me you believe this garbage.”

“I would not be inclined to, if Natsuki were not blushing as though she had something to hide.”

“I don’t. I just—oh!”

Her lips turned up into a lovely pout. Our two companions giggled.

“Does that mean Natsuki does not want to share the same drink with me?” I asked, trying to keep from laughing as well.

“It’s not that.”

“Then perhaps it would be better if we exchanged drinks. Natsuki shall take my tea and I shall take Natsuki’s coffee,” I suggested.

“Oh, no way,” she exclaimed, frowning. “There’s no way in hell I’m letting you get an indirect kiss from a guy.”

“Ara. So Natsuki does believe that man did something to her coffee.”

She whipped her head to me with a dismayed expression, lips parted mutely. I smiled as Mai-han and Yuuki-han began to laugh.

“Shizuru,” she groaned weakly. “I hate you.”

I giggled and kissed her cheek. “Natsuki does not mean that.”

She gave in and smiled at me, resignation relaxing the delicately hewn features. She shut her eyes and sighed.

“I never learn,” she mumbled, eliciting another laugh from the others.

“One of the differences between us,” Yuuki-han remarked, making us turn to her as she grinned impishly. “It didn’t take me an hour to figure out that you can’t win against Shizuru-san.”

I smiled at her to show her that I took her meaning. She smiled back, haughty eyebrows wiggling.

“Anyway, folks,” she said, rising from her slouch in the chair. “I’ve got to go now. Mai?”

“Oh, here.”

She handed Yuuki-san a set of keys.

“Why did you have her keys anyway?” Natsuki asked, mischievously. “Is something going on between the two of you that I should know about?”

Mai-han stuck her tongue out at Natsuki, childishly.

“I’m watching over her mom while she’s in the States,” Mai-han explained. “So Nao showed me where everything was in her place earlier, just in case.”

“I had to leave halfway and left her to lock up,” Yuuki-han said. “But I forgot that I made her hold my keys while I was explaining which one opened what. So she held onto them for me.”

Natsuki grinned.

“Looks like your boss isn’t the only one getting senile, Yuuki,” she said. “And you complain about him all the time.”

Yuuki-han snorted. “Yeah, right.”

She made her way around the chair and lifted a hand in gesture.

“I’m going now,” she said. “Thanks Mai. Later, Natsuki, Shizuru-san.”

I smiled at her as Natsuki and Mai-han acknowledged her farewell with theirs. She started off. Mai-han bowed to us and excused herself as well, saying that she had to go to work.

“Say, Shizuru,” Natsuki said, as the carrot-haired girl rushed to another table. “When is she leaving, anyway? I forgot to ask her. Nao, I mean.”

“Next week,” I replied, smiling at the feeling of a hand tentatively brushing over mine. I caught it and laced our fingers together as she blushed charmingly, looking away and trying to assume her usual stern expression.

“Natsuki,” I whispered under my breath, letting it roll off my tongue. “My Natsuki.”

Slender, slightly roughened fingers tightened around mine in response. I smiled and looked up the street, seeing a red-haired figure still walking away. I watched as she got farther from Natsuki and me. I rather liked her, really, and felt a little sympathy for her, too. Evidently, she led quite a life.

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