Author's Note: For readers who followed this story from the Shoujo-Ai Fan Fiction forum, thank you. The story now has a title. ---------- Mikoto wandered the empty streets her footsteps echoing off the buildings of the darkened Fuuka Gakuen campus. Harsh security lamps ignited and extinguished with her passing, searing her already-blurred vision. Try as she might, the tears would not stop. Try as she might, the pain would not cease. Her uniform was rumpled and torn from her passage through the woods; the new high school uniform she'd been so proud to wear only a few hours ago. The stitches in the hem had unraveled. Stitches Mai had dutifully done for her. Mai. Mikoto's pace quickened, her footfalls sounding like gunshots on the cobbled streets. Mai. Mai who was always smiling. Mai who cooked for her. Mai who scolded her when she was lax in her schoolwork. Mai whom Mikoto... The feral girl redoubled her pace, reverting to all-fours and careening around sharp turns, heedless of the danger. Run! The primal command pounded into her brain, infused her muscles with adrenaline and Mikoto obeyed. She would run until her lungs burst. She would run until her legs gave out from fatigue. She would run until the pain stopped. She would run until the screaming in her heart was silenced. A sudden slip, a loose cobblestone jutting from the street sent the small girl tumbling. Skinned knees joined the laundry list of bruises and scratches she received from the night's journey. No matter. Physical pain she could endure. It was only temporary pain after all. Mikoto peered at her surroundings. Of course, the dorms. She'd come full-circle. A rueful smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She knew she'd come back eventually. This was where she belonged. Her first real home in a long time. The girl picked herself up and stumbled inside. Her thoughts failed her as her body steered her down the familiar hallway. Pass this door, then the next. Turn here. Open the door, it's never locked. The student room was just big enough for two beds, closets, a bathroom and a kitchenette. A small reading lamp on the nightstand provided the only illumination. Mikoto sighed as she saw the familiar figure sitting on the edge of one bed. The bed's occupant, another girl in a bathrobe, started slightly but quickly recovered. "You came back," she said, putting down the hairbrush she'd been using. Mikoto only nodded. The girl patted a place next to her on the bed. After a moment's hesitation, Mikoto came forward and sat next to her. The other girl looked at her appraisingly, eying her bedraggled clothing, her bruises and scratches. She placed a finger on Mikoto's cheek tracing an angry red line where a branch had scored it. "I wish I could have spared you all this," she said mournfully. "I warned you but you had to see for yourself." Mikoto's features darkened, she stared at her feet. Somewhere along the way she'd lost a shoe. The other girl put a finger beneath her chin and gently raised her face. "I used to be just like you," the girl said, "but I came to realize love is a trap. It's a burden loving someone and your feelings for them are also a burden. Do you understand what your coming back here means? It's like I said before, there can't be anything like that between us." Instead of answering, Mikoto threw her arms around the other girl, burying her face in her neck. The scent of lightly perfumed soap tickled her nose. A hand gently threaded her badly-tousled hair. "Just for tonight," Mikoto murmured. Nao smiled as she reached to switch off the lamp.
Back to A Mai HiME Fiction: Loose Threads Index - Back to Mai HiME Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction