“Oi, Youko-sensei, you down here?” Natsuki called out as she lumbered down the small set of stairs into the doctor’s lab, a place she had become quite familiar with over the past couple of years usually on account of her and Mai’s overly competitive “training sessions”.
“Natsuki-san?” a voice questioned in return, and rounding the corner, the raven-haired girl watched as the woman rolled out from under a large piece of computer equipment that she had apparently been tinkering with.
“Long time no see, eh Doctor?”
“The Headmistress had informed me of your return, and I was quite upset to hear that you left again without even stopping by,” Youko chided, placing a few tools back into their toolbox.
“Sorry about that. It was a little unexpected.”
“Well, anyway, how have you been, Natsuki?”
“I’m still breathing, so I guess I can’t complain,” the girl remarked, “But I was wondering if you could take a look at my a—“
“This certainly is an interesting piece of equipment…” the doctor interrupted, leaning in to get a closer look at the metal incasing, “What happened?”
“I, uh, broke my arm…”
“So it’s a metal cast then?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“And what’s wrong with it?”
“Well, it’s not the device exactly, it’s my actual arm. It was kind of hurting a bit…Do you think we could get an x-ray of it?”
Youko stood once again, hand rubbing her chin in thought, “It’d probably be better without the cast…Can you take it off?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright then, come sit here, and I’ll get the machine ready.”
The two women set to their separate tasks, Youko finishing much quicker than Natsuki, and with heavy interest she watched as the emerald-eyed girl delicately took the mechanism apart.
“So, is this Vedelian engineering?”
“Mmh. I would assume so since we don’t tend to interact with the outside world.”
Picking up one of the detached parts, the doctor looked it over with her keen eyes, “It really is remarkable. It looks like it would give you more mobility than a normal cast.”
“It probably would if it wasn’t for this damn rod,” Natsuki cursed, removing the last piece to reveal what she spoke of.
“A fixation rod and external pins? It must have been a pretty nasty break then.”
“Can you still do the x-ray?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem. Lie down.”
Silently, the girl obeyed while Youko typed away on her computer, and moments later, the horizontal arm hovering above the end of table began moving forward, scanning the entire length of Natsuki’s body while a digital image of her skeleton appeared on the giant monitor where the doctor sat.
“Do you have to do a full body scan?”
“This is the only machine we have, and it’s not like it takes that much longer. Besides, we can zoom in wherever we need to.”
With another bout of rapid typing, the computer did just that, narrowing in on the girl’s left appendage. Both women could blatantly see the break that had still not completely healed, along with the pins inside that were helping to hold the bones in place. Rotating the image with the ball mouse at her fingertips, Youko stared at the screen intensely.
“Well, there doesn’t appear to be anything out of place…You might have just agitated the bone a bit.”
“And that would cause it to hurt even now?”
“If it rubbed against the nerve, than yes.”
“I-I see—“
“You should really be more careful, you know.”
“Yeah…Hey, do you have any estimate on when I’ll be able to take this thing off?”
“Two weeks, maybe?” Youko hypothesized as she shut down the machinery.
Natsuki sat up with a smile, “That’s good to hear. I’ll be glad to get rid of it.”
“Could I keep it afterwards?” the doctor asked, a hopeful look on her face.
“I don’t see why not,” came the casual response as the girl on the table began reassembling the metal exoskeleton.
Youko’s eyes lit up, but before she could express her thanks, the door above the two women slid open.
“Youko-sensei? Have you seen Nat—“
“She’s right here, Shizuru-san,” Youko informed, motioning behind her with her thumb.
“Shizuru? What’s wrong?” Natsuki murmured, watching the older woman quickly descend the steps.
“When my date suddenly disappeared on me I became worried,” Shizuru stated in her usual playful tone.
“Date, huh?” the doctor echoed, eyeing the younger girl suspiciously.
“I-It wasn’t a date!” Natsuki protested, turning her head away to try to hide the blush forming on her cheeks.
Youko turned to the Column who only shrugged nonchalantly, both exchanging a mischievous smile.
Clearing her throat, Natsuki jumped down from the table, “Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Helene.
The dark-haired girl began to make her leave, stomping up the stairs as Youko and Shizuru shared one last amused glance before the russet-eyed woman chased after her friend.
“Natsuki, wait! Please stop.”
The girl froze at Shizuru’s words, spinning on her heels to face the woman who was quickly approaching.
“Why do you always have to embarrass me in front of people?” she agitatedly questioned, glaring slightly.
The older woman, now stopped in front of the girl, tilted her head, honey colored locks swaying, “I embarrassed you?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Well, you did.”
Another smile formed on the Graceful Amethyst’s lips, “Would anything change between us whether I teased you in front of other people or not?”
Natsuki’s only response was a huff and a childish pout, averting her gaze anywhere but her friend’s face.
The other chuckled softly, “I’m sorry, Natsuki. I didn’t mean to embarrass you in front of Youko-sensei.”
“…”
Placing a hand on the stubborn girl’s cheek, Shizuru gently turned Natsuki’s head to face her, “Forgive me?”
“…”
“Please?”
Jade eyes still averted finally met the ruby orbs before them, “…I guess…”
“You guess?” Shizuru repeated, frowning slightly.
With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Natsuki gave in.
“Yes, I forgive you.”
Dropping her hand from the side of the girl’s face, the older woman took Natsuki’s right hand between her own as her gaze fell, suddenly becoming very serious.
“I was worried about you…”
“Huh?”
“When you disappeared…I didn’t know where you went, so I looked all over the school…”
“Shizuru…”
The Column looked up again, “Your arm really was hurting you, wasn’t it?”
“…Mmh.”
“Then why didn’t you just say so?”
“Because…”
“Hm?”
“Because you…you looked so happy…I wanted you to be happy.”
“Natsuki truly is sweet,” Shizuru said with a small squeeze of her hands, “but I don’t want you hurting yourself for my sake.”
“It wasn’t that bad…” the dark-haired girl mumbled.
“Well then, the party is still going on—“
“Eh…”
“—Or maybe we could just stroll around the campus?”
“In those heels?” Natsuki questioned, staring down at Shizuru’s feet.
“—Or perhaps we could just relax in one of the gazebos…?” the woman finally proposed, inwardly rejoicing when her friend finally accepted one of her suggestions with a small nod.
Linking her arm with her younger friend’s, Shizuru smiled contentedly as she pulled Natsuki closer, causing the other to blush furiously even as a small smirk tugged at her lips.
“So, uh, what was it that Oleander-sama and the others needed you for?” Natsuki questioned as the two continued to walk towards the gardens.
Shizuru’s features seemed to dim slightly before answering, “It seems that I’m being sent out again.”
“Where to?”
“Romulus.”
“O-Oh…That’s pretty far, isn’t it?”
“Relatively.”
“…How long will you be gone?”
“A couple of weeks most likely.”
“Mmh. And…when are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
“That soon?”
“Unfortunately.”
A silence drifted over the two friends, the clicking of Shizuru’s black heels on the bricked walkway the only sound reverberating on the empty path.
“Then how about we have lunch tomorrow? Before you leave, I mean,” Natsuki suggested.
“A picnic?”
“Why not?”
“Is Natsuki preparing the food?”
“Eh…do we trust me with making the food?”
“Ara…I guess that leaves it up to me.”
“Will that be a problem?”
“No, of course not,” Shizuru replied, “It’ll be like old times.”
“We should…go to the old spot by the tree, too,” the girl added.
“A splendid idea. What time should we meet?”
“Um…Around noon?”
“Twelve o'clock by the old tree it is then.”
Back to Final Distance Index - Back to Mai HiME Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction