Chapter 14

Natsuki is walking slowly to make sure that her blood leaves a trail away from where Shizuru is located. Soon, she finds a big tree that she can easily lean onto. This should be far enough, she thinks. Natsuki is now breathing heavily. If this keeps up, she will probably lose her strength. She takes out her gun and hides it behind her back. Natsuki has her bullet proof helmet on since she took it from Shizuru.

I hope Shizuru won't kill me later for hitting her like that. Sigh. I have two bullets left. Must think of something before he comes.

"I finally found you." A man walks towards Natsuki with his gun aiming at her, "Where is your friend?"

From the question, Natsuki can safely assume Shizuru is still safe.

"She ran away to get some help. Any minute now, I am sure they will come get me." Natsuki tries her best to sound strong.

"I see. Then I have to make sure my job is done before they find you." The man puts his gun away and takes out a needle instead.

"What are you going to do?" Natsuki asks.

"An experiment. We just need to see how your body will react to this product. We spent billions coming up with this technology made especially for HiMEs." He walks closer.

Should I shoot him now? There is a high possibility that he is wearing a bullet proof vest.

The unknown man knees down in front of Natsuki, "You have not changed much since I last saw you ten years ago."

"I do not remember meeting you before nor do I recall giving you that scar."

"That woman must have done something," he says bitterly, "But that doesn't matter."

Suddenly, he holds up Natsuki's right arm and put a huge needle deep into her upper arm. Natsuki let out a scream. Hot solution is gradually being released by the needle into Natsuki's body. Before any more liquid escapes into her body, Natsuki gathers her last ounce of energy to pull out the gun she has been hiding. Without a second thought she shoots the guy in his right cheek using her wounded arm.

"Ahhh! You bitch!" He lets go of her and the needle immediately and yells painfully. Before long, blood is the only thing Natsuki sees near the guy. Half of her is relieved while the other half of her is horrified with the image in front of her.

"I'm going to kill you!" He shouts and takes out his gun angrily. The man's face is completely covered in blood.

Natsuki's arms are shaking miserably as she lifts her pistol.

"I'm sorry!" With that, Natsuki closes her eyes. I can't turn back anymore.

Gunfires are heard stridently…so loud that the sound echoes throughout the forest.

"Shizuru-san! Shizuru-san! Get a hold of yourself!"

Shizuru little by little opens her eyes. Natsuki?

"Shizuru-san. She's awake!" Mai says.

"Where's Natsuki?" Shizuru immediately sits up.

"We don't know yet. Yukino is trying to find Natsuki with her Child. Nao and Midori are also out trying so don't worry."

"Blood." Shizuru sees little drops of red liquid outside the storage, "Follow the blood."

"I can smell her," Mikoto sniffs.

"Then let's go!" Mai helps Shizuru stand.

Not a moment later, all of the girls can hear the sound of gun shots ringing their ears. Shizuru runs to where she believes the noise comes from right away without think if there will be any enemy waiting for her. Natsuki is the only one on her mind at this point.

"So this is what it feels like to kill someone", Natsuki whispers. She drops her revolver and glances at the dead body in front of her. At the ground, the needle stills have about 2/3 of the fluid left. Is it some kind of virus? Natsuki wonders. Her head starts to spin slightly. She takes off her helmet at a snail's pace.

No, no, no. Not yet. I have to find out who he is.

Natsuki puts the needle inside her secret pocket in her bike suit along with her gun. Then she crawls to the dead body in front of her. First, she checks the man's front left pocket. It seems like that is where he keeps extra home-made bullet. Yes, Natsuki recognizes these bullets well. She knows how to make them too. Plus, these bullets cannot kill; they can only slow down the enemy. Well, in her case, the bullets make her bleed excessively but not enough for her to die right away from the wound.

I guess he had no intention of killing me in the first place.

Natsuki continues her search. She finds his wallet. Inside, there are many fake I.D. cards with different names. However, each face on those I.D. is definitely his. This person does not carry cash either. There are credit cards with different names though, that's probably how he pays for things. Out of many, there is one I.D. card that catches Natsuki's eyes.

"Searrs Foundation" is what on the I.D. card. The guy's name on the tag is Smith. At the bottom, there is a bar code. This might be…

Out of the blue, Natsuki hears a familiar voice calling out her name.

"Natsuki!"

It sounds like Shizuru.

"Shizu-" I'm losing my voice.

"Natsukiii! Where are you?" Mai looks around desperately.

Mai is here too? Then I'm saved.

After reaching for the dead man's gun, Natsuki fires 3 shots up at the dark sky.

Maybe I am having a bad dream. Natsuki tries to convince herself. As soon as she wakes up, she is greeted by Nao, Yukino, Mai and Mikoto.

"She opened her eyes!" Mikoto jumps.

"Natsuki, are you alright?" Mai looks at Natsuki with concerns.

"Yeah." Natsuki sits up.

"We're on a private ship going to back to the Fuuka Academy, in case you're wondering." Nao says with her arms crossed.

"I'll go tell Midori and Shizuru-san that Natsuki is conscious now," Yukino leaves.

"Wait-don't-" Natsuki tries to stop Yukino a little bit too late.

"What? You don't want them to know you're alive?" Mai asks.

"N-no, it's not that," Natsuki recalls knocking Shizuru unconscious earlier. To be honest, she does not want to face the girl right now.

"Shizuru-san told us everything," Mai says, "You knocked her out cold!"

"And that's why I don't want to face her."

"What's with that attitude?" Nao comments.

"WE have A LOT to talk about, Natsuki." Midori walks into the room, "Nonetheless, seeing you awake is quite nice. Thanks to your father, no one but us will ever know about this event. I would be yelling at you like there's no tomorrow…however, we will continue the interrogation after we safely land on Fuuka Academy Campus. So rest well!"

"Thanks." Natsuki lets out a relief sigh. That is good to hear.

For some unexplainable reason, the room temperature drops when Shizuru steps inside the room.

"Can I be alone with Natsuki?" Shizuru asks quietly. She does not look at anyone either. Shizuru's fists are clinching tightly on her side. Natsuki can tell that she is upset. That Midori probably knows this and that's why she is not bothering me, Natsuki sweats. I'd rather answer Midori's question than deal with Shizuru now.

Natsuki tries hard to swallow. Nao, Mai and Mikoto look at each other with understand eyes. Then Nao mouthed to Natsuki, "Good luck and stay alive!"

And the girls left.

Natsuki can't really see Shizuru's face from where she sits. Natsuki attempts to calculate how long Shizuru is going to stand like that. Five minutes or so have passed. Yet, the older girl hardly moves.

"Shizuru, I-"

SLAP.

Natsuki's head turns to the side when Shizuru's hand makes a contact with Natsuki's face.

"Shizuru…" is crying? Natsuki is confused. Shizuru is really crying.

"Does it hurt?" Shizuru strains herself to stop the tears, "But what you did…hurt so much more."

"Shizuru…"

"How do you think I felt when I saw you lying on the ground lifeless next to a dead body?" Shizuru places herself on the bed with Natsuki while facing away from the blue hair princess. "Why do you always do things alone? What am I to you? Am I just a doll for you to carry around and throw away whenever you are pleased? Natsuki, maybe we…should not be friends. I tried so hard…yet you still…you still…"

"Shut up Shizuru!" Natsuki pulls the chest-nut haired girl. Natsuki's serious tone makes Shizuru turns around to look at the younger girl. Natsuki decides to hug the older girl firmly and speaks low into Shizuru's ears.

"Idiot."

Shizuru starts to blush.

"I don't want you to get involved. Maybe it would be better if we're not friends." Natsuki smiles warmly at Shizuru. I should go pack my stuff when we get back to Fuuka.

"Natsuki…are you thinking about going somewhere by yourself again?" Shizuru wipes her tears after a while.

"What?!" Shit. How did she do that?

"That was the same smile you gave me before you sexually assaulted me."

"Really? Haha that's funny…" Natsuki's sweat drops. I should come up with a new smile then. Wait, what did she say?

"I-sexually-you-I did not!"

"When I woke up, I was missing a shirt."

"You gave that to me for my wound!"

"Sorry, I do not recall doing such thing. And I was forced to be unconscious against my will."

"Shizuru! You...you're impossible." Natsuki feels embarrassed by the accusation. Another part of Natsuki feels at ease since Shizuru seems to be in a better mood.

Shizuru laughs.

"You owe me a date, okay?"

"A date?" Natsuki asks. That doesn't sound so bad.

"Okay," Shizuru hears the word from Natsuki's mouth. The blonde girl is surprised since she only intended for it to be a joke.

"Promise me you will not leave me like that again." Shizuru hits Natsuki softly on the shoulder.

"Yes, ma'am." Natsuki says in defeat.

"I am so glad you're okay though. I am so glad…" Shizuru leans on Natsuki chest.

I can hear her heart, Shizuru thinks. What a calm melody…

"I think now may be the right time to tell Natsuki the truth," Sergay speaks into a computer screen.

"No. I am afraid it will only make her more curious," Yasuo's face is shown on the monitor, "You must not mention who is behind this attack."

"I understand you are trying to protect Natsuki as a father. But the situation is getting out of hands. I hope you have a plan on how to deal with this. You might end up losing two people that you love to that foundation."

"Sergay, don't you think I know that?" Yasuo puts a hand on his face, "After all these years, I've been trying to destroy them and I could not even lay a finger on them. If that girl knows, she will go after them for sure and the results will not be pretty."

"You are underestimating Natsuki. She will find out eventually-"

"We must not let that happen. Please Sergay, just give me more time. When everything is done, you can tell her for me."

"No, sir. If anyone will tell her, you are the one."

Back at the Fuuka Academy dorm.

"There is a ghost in the bathroom!" Arika exclaims.

"Are you sure it wasn't you in the mirror? There is something called reflection, you know." Nina rolls her eyes.

"I don't see anything, Arika-chan," Erstin peeks out from the bathroom.

"But I really did see it! It was white and-and-and-and-" Arika's face turns pale while pointing at Nina, "and-and-and-" Arika does not finish her sentence. She turns into stone all of a sudden.

"And what?" Nina looks on Arika. Something is obviously wrong because Arika's hair is standing up a straight…as if she's seeing a ghost?

"Ni-Nina-chan…" Erstin points at Nina as well, and her face is even paler than Arika now.

"What...?" Nina turns her head around nervously.

And a loud high-pitch scream is heard throughout the building.