Mai-HiME Fan Fiction ❯ All With Good Intentions ❯ Chapter 6b: Aftermath - The Other SIde ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 6b - Aftermath (Other Side)

 

Natsuki stared out the window at the landscape flowing by beneath the fast moving jet, her deep green eyes were lost in thought. There was so much to contemplate, choices to be made. The dark-haired girl sighed in frustration and leaned on the window, cupping her chin in her hand. Snippets of her conversations with Shizuru the previous night and her confrontation with Touro that morning, swirled through her mind like a heavy fog; the meanings hidden within them were just as ephemeral.

 

“Why is it so hard for me to make a choice?” she thought with frustration. “I know what I want! Why can't I simply reach for it?”

 

The heavy drone of the aircraft engines couldn't even drown out the inevitable response from her conscience. Because you're afraid of the cost. You're afraid that Shizuru will want to give up so much more for you, even though she's already given more than enough. You don't want that responsibility. A pang of bitterness twinged in her chest. Despite her fears, she really did want to be the one to give Shizuru the happiness she so deserved. However, as much as she wanted to compensate for all that selfless sacrifice, she knew she had nothing in return that could ever equal it. Someone once said that if you can't afford something, you don't steal it. You leave it where you've found it and walk away. The reasoning sounded logical enough, but that little nagging voice in her head wasn't having any of it.

 

Touro's right…you are a coward.

 

Natsuki's brow furrowed in annoyance as she gave that voice a mental slap for insubordination. Deep down, she felt that Shizuru's breakdown was her fault. The Festival had brought out the worst in all of them but it was her insecurities and heartlessness that had driven the most important person in her life to the brink of madness. Touching that hidden darkness had terrible consequences for Shizuru; all because she dared to love someone so utterly foolish and self-absorbed. A laundry list of “what ifs” and “If I'd onlys” marched through her mind, promptly diving off the steep precipice of “Too late now” like a herd of lemmings. The trouble was that, although Natsuki now realized that she loved the caring brunette deeply, she always had this nagging feeling that Shizuru deserved someone far better than herself.

 

“Honestly,” the dark-haired woman muttered. “This is giving me a headache.”

 

“Then maybe you should not strain yourself by thinking too deeply,” came a caustic response from across the aisle where Touro sat glaring at her in frosty silence. She had not been happy that her mistress requested her to accompany the insolent girl back to school but she had no choice. Natsuki had barely suppressed an all out laugh at the poor servant's facial expressions when Shizuru's orders were delivered by way of her secretary. She could tell the girl was incensed, yet, Natsuki had to admit, she held it together rather well.

 

“If I remember correctly, you were the one who suggested that I do so” she muttered darkly. “Or was that holier-than-thou speech this morning just idle chit-chat?”

 

“I meant every word I said. I simply cannot comprehend all of your convoluted deliberations. To me it is all quite simple.”

 

Her steel grey eyes shone with barely concealed anger. She held Natsuki's wavering gaze for a long moment before returning to view the deep blue expanse of sky.

 

The young servant shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. “Really, what is there to think about? You love Fujino-sama,” she paused and drew in a shuddering breath. “…and it is apparent that she feels the same way. Though it would complicate her life somewhat if she decided to forgo the omiai her father had planned for her to be with you instead.”

 

“You're not making this any easier, Touro-san.”

 

“That was never my intention,” Touro replied with composed arrogance.

 

Natsuki growled and was about to launch across the aisle to throttle the girl when the voice of the pilot crackled over the cabin loudspeaker.

 

“Kuga-san, Touro-san, please fasten your seat belts and secure any loose gear. We will be approaching the Fuuka Gakuen airstrip in approximately five minutes.”

 

The two women's icy stares bored holes into each other while the plane prepared for landing.

 

“I'm warning you for the last time,” the former HiME hissed through clenched teeth. “This is between your mistress and myself. To put it bluntly, it is none of your business.”

 

A confident smile slid across Touro's fine features, contrasting the dark look in her eyes. “You needn't concern yourself overmuch, Kuga-san,” she remarked in a deceptively quiet voice. “For the moment you destroy Fujino-sama's heart, I will be there. And, make no mistake, I will give you plenty of time to realise just how much of my business this truly is.”

 

Each turned to face forward in their respective seats, lost in their own thoughts as the plane began to make its slow descent.

 

Natsuki's eyes teared as she disembarked the sleek-bodied aircraft. The influx of campus sights and sounds induced a tidal wave of nostalgia in her. Never had the ache of missing Shizuru felt stronger than at that moment. She supposed that she should have felt more relieved to be home. Instead, pangs of loneliness and guilt gnawed at the edges of her sanity. Shizuru made this place home to me, she thought ironically. I see a part of her everywhere. It hasn't felt the same since. The insistent vibration of the cell phone in her coat pocket interrupted her ruminations just as she stepped into a waiting limousine that was to take her to the campus apartment complex. She flipped open the cover, noting that it was Shizuru's phone number that showed on the viewscreen.

 

“Hello? Hey, are you all right?…You didn't tell me that you were sending along that demon of a servant…I'm not entirely sure why you find that so funny, Shizuru…How are your classes?...Must be nice to be good at school work. I guess I should let you go. You'll call, right?...Ok, take care of yourself…Goodbye,” the erstwhile HiME's wistful voice faded into the stillness as the line closed on the other end.