And Happiness Visited the Two
Title: And Happiness Visited the Two
Author: vinforspi
Fandom: Mai-HiME
Pairing: Fujino Shizuru/Kuga Natsuki
Rating: PG
Warnings: Outright silliness, plot, what plot? There is also no point to this fic, just a bunch of wiggly lines.
Request: Shizuru Fujino/Natsuki Kuga #31 - Conjoining/Influence



No. She could not, would not, and absolutely refused to wear anything that ridiculous.

But why, Shizuru gently implored in that fashion so customary to her, her burgundy eyes began to water slightly as if she had been hit. The look caused Natsuki’s heart to beat faster when she realized how beautiful Shizuru was and, at the same time, made her feel completely ashamed of herself. She hated how the other woman could invoke such a feeling inside of her, making her feel responsible for the abuse she—wait! She didn’t do anything yet! She was perfectly allowed to reject—

There it was again, that look. That insufferable, cursed look. Now Shizuru began to look down, as if trying to hide her hurt, teary-eyed expression from her. That’s ok, she said, whisper-soft, voice cracking slightly. She understood perfectly that Natsuki had her pride. She understood that there were some things that she just couldn’t push Natsuki to do, no matter how good it was for her, no matter how much her heart ached to see it. Oh yes, Shizuru understood; she had pushed too far. It was her fault, she deeply apologized for her grievance and hoped that she’d forgive her. Here Shizuru’s shoulders fell slightly as if all strength had ebbed out of her. Her head followed suit. The delivery was so perfect that it couldn’t have been more so had it been practiced and executed by a master actor leading Natsuki to believe that, perhaps, Shizuru actually did practice her masterful coercion powers in front of a the mirror or take lessons. Which was great, just great. Then she herself should probably take the “How to manipulate Kuga Natsuki 101” class just for self defense measures. Although, it was probable that Shizuru was so knowledgeable in the subject that she probably taught the class now. And, therefore, Professor Fujino, wearing glasses and dressed in one of those freshly ironed business suits, would—

“Oh my, I think I broke Natsuki.”

She tried to refocus and, otherwise, escape her insane, virtually inescapable contemplation and find her way back into reality. Concentrate, concentrate. She wiped the drool from her face. What was…oh, there Shizuru was, now giggling softly at her and gently poking her nose with one long, elegant finger. And when she didn’t reply, the slightly taller woman reached over and pinched her cheeks. Both of them. With her hands. That was obvious—but wait…both of them. Her hands. She felt her hands on her cheeks. And those weren’t the ones on her face. She took a moment to reflect on that. Shizuru’s hands were on her…OH SHIT! Theywereonherbutt! In public! She screamed.

It was also a very girly scream. That made everyone in the rather tiny shop stare at them oddly. Shizuru turned around, bowing deeply, and formally apologized to them although her voice actually cracked (for real this time) and she stuttered. The sincerity of the action was further shattered into piece when, not two seconds later, Shizuru started to laugh as hard as she could. And since the walls around them were lined with novelty prank, gags, and other such toys, Shizuru had to squat down and bury her face into her knees as she continued to laugh in a way that would’ve shattered all her fangirls’ pristine image of her, all the while rocking back in forth in place.

That, she managed to gasp out much later, was amazing. Natsuki truly was the best. This was said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Natsuki finally managed to regain what little remained of her composure, dignity, and pride and stomped out of the small magic shop and back into the streets of downtown Fuuka. And when she heard Shizuru call out for her to wait for her, Natsuki only increased her pace.

When Shizuru finally managed to catch up with her, threading her arm into her own and laying her head onto her shoulder, the older woman asked that, was trying to make Natsuki wear the fake glasses with the bushy eyebrows, large nose, and plastic mustache too much? Natsuki tensed up at the contact and the openly affectionate gesture but didn’t do or say anything else. Because saying something like, “No, Shizuru, it wasn’t those ridiculous fuzzy glasses that you were trying to make me wear that broke me, but it was before when you slapped me across the face with the rubber chicken,” was like admitting not just defeat, but that the sun revolved around the Earth and two plus two equaled one. And besides, she was still coming to terms with that extremely disturbing experience.

When she had approached Shizuru after her graduation and admitted her feelings to her, she was sure that the description of “happiness visiting the two” should be read as “and so Natsuki opened Pandora’s box.” Because she was sure that a completely unrepressed, unhindered mischievous and playful Shizuru was just as disconcerting as Shizuru in any of her different extremities. This was proven to still be true at how she, still smiling happily and clutching her arm, whispered extremely lewd comments and seedy propositions every single time they passed a love hotel. Yet, for some unknown reason (although Natsuki did suspect that she was rather masochistic), seeing Shizuru so free and relaxed made her extremely happy. It seemed like all her heavy burdens that the older woman once shouldered had been lifted off and the girl was now positively soaring. Such happiness was incredibly infectious and it, in turn, made Natsuki feel giddy and oddly school-girl like for the first times in her life. Seriously, even now in public, she felt like giggling and skipping down an open meadow with Shizuru’s arm still threaded in hers, dressed in matching white sundresses and have fluffy bunnies and other cute forest creatures…with a big rainbow in the background and WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING!?

“What is Natsuki thinking?” Shizuru asked.

Natsuki blinked rapidly and as her sight began to become less fuzzy, she realized she was sitting in an outdoor coffee shop. She was wondering how she got there when she finally noticed that Shizuru was leaning forward, dangerously close, and giving her an inquisitive look.

“Wh-Wha?” she stammered.

“What do you think of this one?” Shizuru leaned even closer—their foreheads brushed against one another’s, she could feel her breath on her face—she was sure it was an uncomfortable position for Shizuru—and pointed to something on her open menu. Not trusting her vocal chords, Natsuki only nodded dumbfounded in reply.

“She’ll have the same thing as me,” Shizuru said, smiling at their waiter and finally leaned back into her seat, allowing Natsuki regain her ability to think (for the better or for worse). As the waiter left, she said, clearly amused, “You are quite thoughtful today.”

“Um, yeah.” Understatement of the century. “I-I guess there’s a lot on my mind.”

Shizuru paused before she smiled happily, reaching over again to pat Natsuki on the cheek twice. “So cute,” she said, giving her an ambiguous smile, “so cute. What did I ever do to deserve you?”

When the other woman got into this state, Natsuki learned it was best to either hug her and reassure her, or let Shizuru brood in silence. Seeing how they were in public and she didn’t want to deal with the aftereffects (and that she was already slipping back into her daydreaming state), Natsuki chose to let her girlfriend brood so that she too could brood as well.

In truth, their relationship wasn’t completely perfect. Getting to know another person so deeply at such an intimate level was frightening and well, as close as they were before, Natsuki was still learning how to read Shizuru’s moods and, it turns out, Shizuru wasn’t as good as a Natsuki-reader as either of them once thought. And, of course, there were little things that she found grating about the other woman—especially how she would rapidly tap her pencil on the desk when she couldn’t think of the solution for a problem, or how she would sigh deeply and crack her wrists and fingers when she tired of writing, leading them to study in different rooms. And Shizuru had once admitted irritably that she only found Natsuki’s snoring adorable when she was awake, not when she was trying to sleep and she was curled next to her, her mouth near her ear. But these things, (arguably) rectifiable things didn’t matter (too) much. What mattered was how she, like she was doing now, lay her hand over Shizuru’s and grinned at her, the shocked look on Shizuru’s face whenever she did something that wasn’t expected that then melted into a completely happy expression. How they, despite some pretty overwhelming odds, managed to get to this point in their relationship.

And that she could, would, and absolutely happily admit to (only to herself, she'll still stutter and stammer if someone else confronted her about it).