For an entire week Natsuki had attended Miss Maria’s physical combat classes, serving as an assistant of sorts to her former sensei while teaching the young Corals a few of her own moves in the process. Well, teaching the best that she could, anyway. Natsuki could only verbalize the moves to her understudies since the metal cast on her arm wouldn’t be removed for yet another week.
The classes themselves only took up a few hours of her day, but Natsuki’s “free time” consisted of near-relentless studying of the books that Oleander-sama had given, and continued to give, her. However, she had found the time one day to go into town and buy herself a new outfit to replace the Vedelian uniform she had been sporting since she arrived. The young woman had searched several shops before she made her decision, finally resting on a pure white form-fitting tank top, a blue half-jacket with white fur around its neck, the sleeves cuffed and falling just above the elbow, a pair of black leather pants with open slits on the outer thighs with a single silver ring residing in the center of the open area, and a pair of dark brown knee-high leather boots that she left hidden under her pants. Natsuki had also chosen a simple black choker to finish off her outfit. Accessories were always a plus, right?
Of course, when she got back to the school, a certain teacher had immediately frowned at her attire, stating that it was a “bad influence to the girls,” and Natsuki had hastily apologized and sped away to her room as quickly as her legs could carry her. Miss Maria would get used to it, right? Besides, Natsuki would be taking over the class the following week, so as long as the principle approved of it, everything would be fine…hopefully.
The weekend came and went in the blink of an eye, the only notable event being the removing of the metal cast from Natsuki’s right arm by Doctor Youko. To say that the raven-haired girl was relieved to be rid of the damn thing would be an understatement. Even though it was gone, however, Youko still wrapped the appendage in medical tape just to be cautious. Other than being a little on the stiff and sore side, the limb was perfectly moveable, as if the bone had never been shattered in the first place, something that Natsuki was certainly pleased about. She would have to thank Finias the next time she was in Vedel, the girl noted to herself.
The classes with the Corals went just about as smoothly as possible, although teaching was sometimes difficult when Natsuki still wasn’t able to materialize due to her lack of a GEM. Still, the young soldier persisted, and the girls seemed to be having a good enough time anyway.
By the time she made it to the end of the week, Natsuki was starting to get bored with the same routine she had been following day-in-day-out. Miss Maria had showed her the schedule the older woman always strictly followed like it was a religion, but Natsuki finally gave in to her rebellious side on the last day of class for the week.
“Alright, everyone gather up,” the dark-haired woman announced to the class, and the young Coral’s did so obediently although looking slightly perplexed as they huddled together.
“What’s going on, Natsuki Onee-sama?” Sara Gallagher, a prospecting Coral at the top of her class, questioned, “Shouldn’t we be in roll call?”
“We’re going to try something a little different today,” Natsuki stated, the crowd of girls muttering amongst themselves upon hearing the news.
“…But, shouldn’t we be running our usual laps around the track?” a voice from the crowd asked, and there were several acknowledging mumblings that followed it.
“Trust me, you’ll get your running in for the day. We’re going to play a little game of capture the flag today.”
That certainly seemed to get a more positive response from the girls, many heads picking up to listen to what was going to be said.
After explaining the rules of the game and splitting the class into two teams, identifiable by either a red or blue ribbon tied around the arm, Natsuki sent the girls to their separate bases, which she had set up earlier that morning, one on either side of the school. The young Gakuenchou-in-training had been sure to emphasize to her students that there was to be absolutely no fighting during the match, but robes and flying were perfectly permissible. Rather than sit out on the fun, Natsuki had tied a red ribbon around her own arm and snuck off to her team’s base, receiving a very cheerful welcome from the girls who were happy to see their Onee-sama on their side.
“Alright, we need to designate a group for defense and a group for offensive, alright?” Natsuki instructed her troops that were currently huddled around her, “Saori-chan, you’ll lead the attacking group, okay?”
“Yes,” came the curt reply from the brown-eyed Windbloom native.
“And…Eri-chan, think you can handle defending the base?”
“Of course, Onee-sama,” the tall girl answered in full confidence.
“Good. Now, let’s split up and form the two groups. Let’s keep a few more here at the base for defense right now. I’ll support the offensive group in this first raid, if that’s okay with everyone.”
Needless to say, no one objected, and once the group had been split once again, a ten-to-five ratio, Natsuki gathered her squad around her.
“Alright, Saori-chan, how do you think we should attack?”
The short girl placed one hand on her hip, the other rubbing the tip of her nose as she pondered on what tactic to enforce.
“I think two of us should attack from the right, two from the left…” the dark-haired Coral finally said before a sly smile crossed her face, “and Onee-sama from straight on, to serve as bait.”
“Bait?!” Natsuki exclaimed.
“Yep, and Onee-sama can’t go against her commanding officer’s orders.”
“But—!“
“No complaints.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the green-eyed woman finally gave in, hanging her head in pretend defeat and causing the girls to giggle in the process.
“Now, everyone, move out!” Saori yelled, swinging her arm in dramatic fashion before all the girls, including herself, flew off in their predetermined directions.
“Oi, I can’t fly though!” Natsuki whined before taking off at a full sprint towards the enemy camp.
Running across the campus, Natsuki was sure to keep an eye not only on her teammates, but also on the opposing group. She watched as some of them flew overhead in the direction of her own base, desperately wishing she could warn them of the oncoming strike, but keeping with her current task instead.
When they had come rather close to the enemy base, Saori lowered herself to the ground, the other girls following her example. Natsuki soon joined them in their hiding spot amongst some nearby shrubbery.
“Alright, Natsuki Onee-sama, you go in first. Your mission is to retrieve the enemy flag and pass it off to one of us, alright?”
“Right,” Natsuki answered.
“Good luck, Onee-sama,” Marie nodded to her sensei, and the remaining two did the same.
Taking one last deep breath, Natsuki snuck a bit closer to the encampment, the other girls flying to either side of the giant tree where the flag currently resided, making sure not to get too close and to stay low to the ground and out of sight.
“So there’s three of them around the flag…two more on close patrol…” the green eyed Vedelian thought to herself, “Alright, here goes nothing.”
Springing from the bushes, Natsuki once again entered a full-out sprint.
“Natsuki Onee-sama!” one of the blue team girls proclaimed, alerting the others of their sensei’s presence, as she dove after her teacher.
Thinking quick on her feet, Natsuki jumped, flying just under the impending tackle before tucking and rolling a few feet further. Out of the corner of her eye, Natsuki noticed that Saori had sent in two member of the offensive squad to busy some of the other guards, and she was quite thankful for the smart move of her young commander. Once back onto her feet, the young woman managed to hurdle another girl, and pulling out a spin move on another, successfully grabbed the blue flag.
“I’ve got it!” she announced, and quickly turning on her heels, Natsuki began the long trek back to her team base.
The muscles of her legs stung from their constant use, but she pushed them further still. With every breath of air her lungs felt as if they might burst, and yet she still ran. Some of the blue team had taken notable dives at her, but the more experienced soldier and Garderobe graduate managed to avoid their every try.
Or at least she did avoid their every try until she had reached the front of the academic building. There, she saw something that made her screech to an immediate stop.
“Shizu—huah!”
Contact.
The moments pause had lasted only a fraction of a second before Natsuki was piled upon by a group of the young Coral’s with blue ribbons around their arms, and now she was quite literally eating dirt…and it tasted just as bad as she had ever imagined it would. Possibly worse.
“We got you, Onee-sama!”
“Give us back the flag!”
“You have to follow the rules, Natsuki Onee-sama!”
“Yes, Natsuki-san. We administrators wouldn’t want to teach our students foul play, now would we?” came the sweet Kyoto-ben accent of the russet-eyed Column.
Suddenly, all attention from the game was turned upon the woman, and Natsuki was eventually free from the numerous bodies that had effectively trapped her, turning onto her back once she was able to.
“Shizuru Onee-sama!”
“Shizuru Onee-sama is back!”
“How was your trip, Onee-sama?”
“It’s good to see you again!”
Despite all the gleeful commotion and the growing crowd, ruby met viridian with a simple, happy smile.
1. Long time no see, eh? Sorry about that. I figured after such a long absence that a fun, slightly extended chapter was due. Think of it as an apology for taking so long.
2. Natsuki’s outfit was designed off of Squall Leonhart's from Kingdom Hearts II, along with me messing around in the character creation on Soul Calibur III. It’s a little difficult to explain, so if you want to, you can check out the rough sketch of what I kind of see it looking like (you can find the link on my profile page). Sorry if it looks a little funky. It was a quick sketch…and then I started messing with it in Photoshop (lol). Anyway, the color scheme is supposed to be similar to her outfit in Otome.
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