An entire week had passed since Natsuki’s departure, and during that time, Shizuru did anything and everything to keep her mind off the raven-haired girl.
She had assisted the other Columns in their search for Mai Tokiha, whom had disappeared the day of graduation, but every time they went out, they would only come back empty handed. The girl had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth, and with each passing day, the searches would become shorter and shorter, leaving any hope of Mai’s return increasingly in her own hands.
Whenever she was on the Garderobe campus, Shizuru would help the students with their studying, or even sit in during some of the classes to see how the upcoming Otome were progressing, but even by doing so, it was only a mere distraction, and at the end of the day, her thoughts would always stray back to Natsuki and her heart-wrenching absence.
It was during one of those long nights that she lay in her bed unable to sleep that her thoughts wandered back to the day she had first met Natsuki.
She remembered the exact moment when her eyes had fallen on the scowling dark-haired Coral being pulled around by her shorter, redheaded roommate. It was generally said that it’s a person’s smile that attracts another, but for Shizuru it had been Natsuki’s annoyed frown that had caught her attention. She couldn’t really describe why, but to her it was irresistibly cute, and in that fleeting instant, she knew that she wanted to speak with the girl.
A few days later after that first sighting, her chance came. It was after the Coral’s initiation ceremony, in which all of the current Trias members, Shizuru included, got to stand in front of the newcomers and introduce themselves to their underclassmen. Of course, when the crimson-eyed beauty had spoke, a majority of the young girl’s had given her their full, admiring attention, and Shizuru was intrigued to see that Natsuki had a look on her face that seemed to say that she could honestly care less.
That was when the challenge had officially begun, the one where Shizuru would try to win the girl’s heart like she did all the others, but in a different, deeper way. She didn’t want to impress Natsuki like everyone else she met, no; she wanted to become a part of the girl in a genuine way…a loving way.
But what Shizuru hadn’t expected was for her to be the one to fall helplessly for the reserved emerald-eyed girl. Natsuki had simply been herself around the older girl and had won Shizuru’s heart completely, but as far as how serious Natsuki’s feelings were towards her, Shizuru really couldn’t say. The younger girl did seem to care a great deal for her, but beyond that, Shizuru didn’t know the extent of the girl’s feelings, and perhaps it was that unknown factor that kept the second Column longing to be near the other.
But now that Natsuki was gone, would she ever have that answer?
It was the question that tugged at her heart the most, the one that kept her up at night, and she couldn’t honestly tell herself that she would ever really know.
For the first time since she had landed, Natsuki changed into her Resistance uniform. The thing itself was relatively simple and made out of cheap materials, save for the jacket that was slightly heavier-duty. Altogether, it consisted of a pair of brown knee-high leather boots, a pair of grey pants accompanied with a brown leather belt, a white t-shirt, and a blue-grey jacket with metal plating attached to each shoulder. The only difference between hers and the common soldier was the black armband she, and the other commanders, wore on their upper right arm bearing the symbol of the Resistance.
Now adorned in the new attire, Natsuki zipped up the front of her jacket and rolled the sleeves past her elbows while making her way to the front of the airbase to see her mother and the other officer, Lucas Warren, off on their dire quest. The fifty men collected for the attacks on the capital were the best of the best from the Resistance army simply split into groups: East and West. Natsuki’s mother would be leading the East group, so naturally she headed in that direction, and once they had found each other, the two immediately sought solitude, but once there, neither could really find the words to say.
“Mom…I—“
“Promise me you’ll be careful, Natsuki. After the death of your father…I-I wouldn’t be able to handle losing you as well.”
“Mom…”
“Do you hear me?”
A small, compassionate smile formed on her face, “Yes, ma’am.”
“That goes for you too, Jousuke,” the woman continued, looking beyond her daughter.
“Likewise, sister,” the burly man replied, “And don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to the kid as long as I’m still breathing.”
“Well then,” Saeko began, hugging her daughter like when they had reunited days ago, “fight hard, be safe, and I’ll see you when all of this mess is over.”
“You, too, mom.”
And with that, Saeko Kruger disappeared back into the crowd of soldiers, a cheer erupted moments later, and then both groups began their march to the North. It would take some time for them to get there, Natsuki knew, because they had to travel by foot and be extremely careful while doing so. All she could do to aid them was to help her troops hold out until her mom and her men arrived at the capital.
Turning back to her uncle, Natsuki gave the man an elbow to the arm, “You ready?”
“Hell yeah,” Jousuke exclaimed before instantly becoming serious, “Let’s do this…for your father.”
“Right.”
1. I kind of imagine the Resistance uniforms resembling those of the SeeD cadets from Final Fantasy 8 (yes, I know, another FF reference...), obviously they’re different colors though.
2. The Resistance symbol looks like this Æ only with a V and R. (I hope that makes sense…)
3. Don’t worry about knowing anything about Lucas. He’s not that important XD
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