Haruka's Pride
“Mmm...” Shizuru let out a purr as she hovered on the twilight between sleep and wakefulness. An annoying beeping had broken her out of her dreams, but her lover had mercifully silenced it. Her dreams had been so beautiful. She was able to relive some of her most precious moments with Natsuki, and near the end, she'd even started dreaming of future ones.
For so long, Shizuru had been afraid that Natsuki was just too shy about their relationship to push it forward any further. She didn't even allow herself to dream about getting married to Natsuki or starting a family with her, for fear that she might start to be disappointed in her real life. Until last night, that is. Natsuki had finally come open about their relationship, and she was being sweeter than ever. Even in bed last night, Natsuki had seemed determined to resolve all the remaining sources of tension between the two of them – and then she relieved all the tension that doing that raised, resulting in what had to be the most powerful orgasm of Shizuru's life.
She was more in love with Natsuki than ever, and she was confident that the subject of her affection felt the same way. Her heart was confident that Natsuki was no longer afraid about moving them forward. She simply had to wait and let her love come to the conclusion herself and pick the perfect time. There might still have been a few legal barriers to overcome, but nothing could stop Natsuki on a mission.
Shizuru purred again at the fantasy of Natsuki out on a mission to change the laws and claim her heart, holding Queen Mashiro at gunpoint until she allowed them to wed. It probably wouldn't come to that, but it was a nice fantasy, nonetheless. As she played out this daydream in her head, Shizuru snuggled her head closer into the chest of her lover. She received a little squeeze in response, and Natsuki's arms patted her back lovingly.
Time passed slowly as Shizuru allowed herself to doze, safe in her love's strong arms. She wanted this moment to last forever, but the second alarm inevitably rung and ruined it. Natsuki's chest vibrated against Shizuru's forehead as she let out a growl at the alarm, and Shizuru felt another rush of warmth in her chest from sensing Natsuki's protectiveness. She tried to snuggle even closer to her protector, but Natsuki chose that moment to try to peel away, accompanied by a series of grumbles about her responsibilities.
Shizuru wasn't having any of it, though. “No...” She said weakly, still on the edge of sleep and trying not to pull herself too far from it. She uncurled her arms from her chest and reached out blindly to try to catch Natsuki. She lucked out with her lunge, wrapping her arms right around Natsuki's pelvis and causing her to fall back down onto the bed on top of Shizuru in a particularly compromising position. To Shizuru's delight, Natsuki didn't even let out a yelp as she was pulled back down, simply breaking out into loving laughter.
Shizuru had been planning to tell Natsuki to blow off her responsibilities, but she was quickly distracted by the intimate scent of her lover, now so close to her nose. Unfortunately, this was all the time Natsuki needed to grab Shizuru's wrists and pull them off of her to make her escape, Shizuru being too weak to put up a real fight. “I'm sorry, Shizuru, but I really need to get ready for work.”
As Shizuru fell back down to the bed, she tried to pry her eyes open so she could at least observe the sight of her nude lover as she stood up beside the bed. The visage quickly brought Shizuru into an aroused state, and she wished Natsuki would simply pounce on her and take her right there. Sadly, it was not to be, as Natsuki started heading off to the washroom. Trying to stop her lover from escaping, Shizuru plead weakly, “Can't you blow it off for today, Na-tsu-ki...? Tell Miss Maria you're sick... and Natsuki-suki needs to stay in bed with...” A yawn broke through Shizuru's sentence, but she pushed through, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes. “...Personal nurse Zuru...”
Natsuki paused in her step. She turned to face Shizuru, and her face showed an internal war taking place. Temptation, responsibility, defiance of said responsibility, love, more love, and finally a mischievous grin crossed her face before she quickly restored control and brought it back to neutral. “I'm sorry, but there's a pretty big project going on I need to attend to.” Shizuru's heart sunk. She'd thought she'd had it upon seeing Natsuki's grin. “But it's Friday, so we can just push through this and then have the weekend all to ourselves. And if you can't hold yourself off until the end of the day...” The mischievous grin was back, and Shizuru's heart along with it. “Then just make sure you lock the door when you come in for tea.”
Shizuru let out a giggle as she allowed herself to roll back onto the bed. Natsuki had never let them do it in the office before, despite constant pressure. She just considered the risk of being found out too great, and Shizuru had to accept that. Now, though... Today should be fun.
Shizuru pulled up the comforter, which still held much of Natsuki's scent, and nuzzled her face into it. The scent of Natsuki and the still-exhausted state of her body soon sent her back into dreamland.
The bells rang, signaling the start of the period, which meant that the Trias' meeting also began. Normally, Haruka and I would have been accompanied by the third Pearl, Rosina Gallo, but she was disposed with a family emergency. Her aunt, Adriana Masella, the third column, had been seriously injured in a recent encounter with Aswad, and Rosina-san was the only family member near enough to take care of her until her sister could arrive.
Haruka-san, unsurprisingly, hadn't thought this was a sufficient excuse for Rosina-san to forgo her responsibilities, and she had originally wanted to have our meeting in the infirmary with Rosina-san, but Adriana-sensei had talked her down for her disrespect, even through her drug-induced haze. The sight was almost enough to break through my stupor and cause a smile to cross my face.
Haruka-san started her rants off within seconds of the bell ringing, but I wasn't really paying attention. My mind was just as absent as Rosina-san at that moment. I was still obsessed with Natsuki. I'd delivered my apology to her, but that didn't seem to have helped anything. I'd run into Natsuki in the hallway a couple days prior, and the look she'd given me was heartbreaking. I only got a brief glance before she walked past me, but her expression was furious. She explained to me much later that she resorted to showing anger to try to cover up her own confused emotions, but I didn't know that at the time, and so it just worried me even more.
It was at that point that I really should have started listening to my heart. It was telling me that the fact that Natsuki's anger hurt me more than seeing her depressed would have was important. It meant that I cared about what she thought of me, which meant that deep down, I was starting to fall for her and was wishing that she could forgive me. But if she was angry about it, forgiveness wasn't likely.
“It's settled! Shizuru! ...Shizuru!? Wait a second, are you listening!?”
I snapped back to the present, which was only marginally better than my brooding thoughts. My mind hadn't been listening to Haruka, but fortunately my ears had been. I quickly replayed her last through sentences through my mind:
“So, I've got an idea about the program for this year's enrollment battles. The two of us setting this straight with a battle would be best, huh? Yes! Nothing else will do. As I thought, an Otome needs power, skill and guts! And at that place, I will defeat you and become Pearl number one! Ah, I'm burning...”
“Ara, yes,” I said once my mind had caught up with what Haruka-san had been saying. After an idle sip of the bubuzuke I'd brought along for lunch, I continued, “Is that what you want to do? But you know I'm always ready to give you the title of Pearl number one even without doing this...”
I tried to focus simply on my meal after saying this. Haruka-san was so obsessed with standing; I just couldn't understand it, myself. What did being number one have to do with any of our goals in becoming an Otome? The second Pearl had just as good a chance at being selected as the first, and that small difference wasn't going to affect any of the final decisions. Even while we were here, it carried no benefits for me. I had all the respect from the Corals I could want, except for one...
“You... get a grip!” Haruka-san slammed her fist down on the table, shaking the bowl of bubuzuke I'd prepared. I was used to her outrage, though, and this didn't faze me in the slightest. “Ever since that Coral, Natsuki, gave you the cold shoulder, you've become such a coward! Get a grip and realize your true feelings!”
Although none of Haruka-san's actions could have provoked a start in me, these words certainly struck a nerve. “My... true feelings?” I paused in my motion to take another sip and turned my eyes to Haruka-san.
“That's right!” Haruka-san slapped the table this time, which didn't disrupt the bowl quite as much. “You're always giggling as if you don't care, but your true nature is nothing like that.”
I certainly didn't like where this conversation was heading. I might be having trouble sorting out my feelings, but I wasn't going to entangle Haruka-san in my problems. I also didn't trust any advice she might give. She'd proven herself to be almost unbelievably oblivious to the affections of many of her fangirls. If she couldn't notice that type of love, she certainly wasn't going to be any better in spotting it in me, behind the masks I was careful to keep up.
I couldn't simply tell Haruka-san to drop the subject, though. I'd been brought up to be much more subtle and tactful. Of course, that wasn't likely to work on Haruka-san, but I had to at least try. “Ara, Haruka-san,” I said, placing my cup on the table and picking out a spare.
“W-what is it?” Haruka said.
I poured some of the bubuzuke into the cup and offered it to Haruka-san. It was what my parents had taught me to do for a guest who had overstayed their welcome. I just hoped Haruka-san would catch the hint, though I knew the chance of that was slim. “I know bubuzuke isn't your favorite, Haruka-san, but would you like some?”
“Thank you,” Haruka said, grabbing the cup from me. She slurped it up greedily – and in a matter any Otome should have been ashamed of – which made me suspect she might have forgotten her own lunch today. She downed the cup quickly and then let out a content breath. “Another cup.”
Ara, I'm jealous... I wish I were this oblivious... I considered that Haruka-san was quite blessed to not have to worry as I did about this type of thing. Everything was simpler for her, with her black-and-white view of the world. It did later turn out that I was wrong about her on one count back at that time, though perhaps that's a story better suited for another time.
Haruka-san's fist hit the desk once more, harder this time. I watched in disappointment as some of the bubuzuke was spilled. “Enough!” Haruka-san said. “Come here and we'll settle this. You understand? Then, I have an idea!”
I was barely able to react as Haruka-san grabbed me by the fist and dragged me towards the door. I could have fought her off if I'd wanted to, but it just wasn't in me at the time. I'd trained myself to put up with her mood-swings, and fighting her off wasn't a good choice in the best of circumstances. I just wanted to collapse into myself and hide out from the world, and so I put up a mask of serenity and ducked behind it. For all the world knew, being dragged across campus by Haruka-san was perfectly normal for me.
If I'd paid much more thought to what Haruka-san was up to, I would have been completely baffled when she took me outside and across the greens to the Corals' dormitory, but instead I simply followed along distractedly, impatient for her to get this over with. Haruka-san first led me to the cafeteria, and she spent a minute storming through until she was satisfied that whatever she was looking for wasn't there.
This was followed by Haruka-san proceeding through the hallways and up to the second floor. The location we were in finally broke through my haze and a pang of fear struck my heart. I prayed to Shinso that Haruka-san wasn't taking me where I feared, but it was to no avail. When we reached the door, she didn't even bother knocking before barging in.
“Natsuki Kruger! You're here, right?” Haruka demanded.
I caught sight of Natsuki sitting at her desk, picking at her lunch as if she were taking all of her frustrations out on it, just before Haruka-san's words made her snap to attention and turn around. “Y-yes!” she said. She was the model of the perfect, obedient Coral up until she caught sight of me behind Haruka-san. Our eyes caught for an awkward moment and I tried to plead for her forgiveness in my expression.
The sound of Corals screaming from behind me broke this connection, though. I internally struggled with deciding whether I should be relieved that this interruption saved me from that awkward moment or if I should be embarrassed that this now had even more witness. I eventually settled on embarrassment, but I tried to put up my best mask to limit the shame.
“Huh...” Haruka-san said, as she turned to noticed the gathering Corals behind us. She shrugged them off and turned back to Natsuki. “I know I'm a bit late with getting to this, but... I've decided for you to become my heya-gakkari.”
My mask was officially shattered with this statement. I stared at Haruka-san in shock, and then at Natsuki, who seemed to be in just as much shock. “Eh? Haruka-san, you can't...” I started to plead with her on instinct. All the worries in my mind were pushed away with the certainty that I did not want Natsuki to end up as Haruka-san's heya-gakkari.
“So what?” Haruka-san said, smirking at me. “You're too late, so too bad.” I stared at her with a pleading expression on my face for another moment before she continued. “Ah, wait... At the enrollment battles, how about a challenge? Whichever of us wins will make this girl her heya-gakkari.”
If I were thinking straight at the time, I would have realized that Haruka-san must have had that planned all along, since she asked for us to settle it earlier. I would have then gone on to figure out that such a plan couldn't have come from Haruka-san, and had to stop there in bewilderment. But none of those thoughts passed my mind at the time. All I knew was that I had to win that battle, and then pray to Shinso that I could achieve Natsuki's forgiveness so that Miss Maria would allow me to take her as my heya-gakkari.
“Very well, Haruka-san,” I said, to a chorus of squeals from our audience.
It was a couple more hours before Shizuru's alarm woke her up. She didn't have quite as demanding a regular schedule as Natsuki, but she made it up through some extended missions. She would have much preferred to simply have a demanding, daily schedule like her love, so she wouldn't have to spend time apart like that, but it simply wasn't in the cards.
With her extra hours of sleep, Shizuru was much more alert now. She fished around on the bed for any notes or mail Natsuki might have left her. Finding a couple pieces of paper by her side, Shizuru pushed herself up to sit against the headboard while she read them over.
The first was a beautifully decorated card. The edges were embroidered with gold trim, with the seal of Aries in the corners. The text in the center read, against a backdrop of the Aries capital's skyline, “President Yukino Chrysant and Brigadier-General Haruka Armitage would like to cordially invite you...”
Shizuru flipped open the card. A small note fell out, but she went ahead and read the inside of the card first: “Meister Shizuru Viola and Gakuencho Natsuki Kruger, to attend their private wedding in approximately three months time. As the wedding is a closed affair, please contact President Chrysant directly to confirm your attendance and be informed of the location and date.”
Shizuru let a smile cross her face at this. Apparently Natsuki wasn't the only one who'd decided to seize life and love after the recent events. Yukino certainly must have rushed to push through the necessary legal changes this soon after her election, though the momentum from her landslide win would have helped there. Congratulations, Haruka-san. You've found quite the impressive fiancée there.
Placing the card on her nightstand, Shizuru unfolded the note that was enclosed. Haruka's distinctive handwriting read, “Ha! I win this one, Miss Bubuzuke! And as my victory prize, you'll have to be my maid of honor and watch me get married while your little pup is still too afraid to propose! Um... please?”
Insulting my Natsuki is not a good way to make me want to be your maid of honor, Haruka-san. However, perhaps by then I'll have the chance to prove you wrong. We shall see.
Shizuru placed Haruka's note with the card and read the last item Natsuki had left from her: a note from her beloved. “Mai called up, said she needed you at Cat God Mountain to mediate some negotiations with the Shwartz. Guess you'll be missing tea today... I'll try to make it up to you when you get back. Love you, Shizuru.”
Even through the disappointment of having to miss her tea with Natsuki, Shizuru let out a small smile at Natsuki's words. She used to be much more terse in her notes. This was the first time Shizuru could remember her ever stating her love in one of them. Natsuki was growing sweeter by the day, and Shizuru's love was growing with her.
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