Something to Declare

Disclaimer: I declare that Mai HiME and its characters don't belong to me.

"I hate airports," Natsuki grumbled as she pushed her way through the crowd that surrounded luggage conveyer belt. Shizuru smirked at her lover although she secretly agreed with her.

They had spent two glorious weeks on the Greek isle of Kefalonia, enjoying each other's company as they explored and relaxed and made love into the early hours of the morning. But now they were back in Japan and the Mediterranean Sea was fast becoming a distant memory.

"Why does it take them so long to unload the plane? Are they taking a coffee break or something?" Natsuki moaned as she began to tap her foot against the floor in irritation. Shizuru stepped in close behind her and wound her arms around her waist to rest her chin on her shoulder, drawing a number of stares of mixed approval.

"Ara, ara, my Natsuki is so impatient. I'm sure they will start placing our suitcases onto the conveyer belt at any moment now," she reassured before placing a small kiss on the side of her neck, feeling all of the tension drain from the blue haired woman's body.

Her action caused the woman beside them to give a good-natured jealous smile and the old couple opposite them to start mumbling in disgust. Shizuru returned the smile accompanied with a wink and narrowed her eyes at the old couple who shifted uncomfortably when they felt it, glad that Natsuki wasn't aware of their prejudice. The last thing they needed was to end their holiday with an assault charge.

Like Shizuru had said the conveyer belt was soon loaded with luggage, but much to Natsuki's dismay their belongings arrived in the latter half of the cargo. She quickly snatched their cases and was ready to sprint towards the exit if it wasn't for Shizuru still clinging onto her back. Green eyes looked curiously into amused crimson.

"If I let go, does Natsuki promise not to run off and leave me stranded in the big scary airport?" Shizuru answered the unvoiced question, her voice quivering slightly in mock fear. Natsuki blushed at how easily her girlfriend could read her but tried to cover it up anyway.

"O-of course I wouldn't do a thing like that! Baka!"

Shizuru giggled as she released her grip and blew her a kiss before running towards the exit sign. She was half way there before Natsuki realised what had just transpired.

"Oi Shizuru! Wait for me!" she yelled as she stumbled after the tease, struggling with the two cases that were in her hands.

Navigating wasn't easy at semi-high speeds and she found that more often than not the cases flipped over when the wheels decided they didn't want to keep up with her, twisting her arms almost painfully and causing her to almost collide with a man talking on his cell phone. She finally caught up to Shizuru who was waiting for her and dumped the suitcases at her feet as she bent over double, trying to catch her breath.

"Anything to declare?" Shizuru asked cheerfully as she pointed at the sign hanging above her head, ignoring the state her girlfriend was in.

"Yeah. You're going to be the death of me."

"Anything else?"

"Nope, that's all I can think of at the moment," Natsuki heaved. She caught Shizuru pouting when she straightened up and rolled her eyes. "And that I am hopelessly in love with you."

"That's what I wanted to hear," Shizuru beamed before her tone turned into a worried one. "Ara, is our holiday officially over yet?"

"I suppose so, but some say it isn't until we walk out of the front doors. Why?" Natsuki inquired suspiciously, intuitionally knowing Shizuru had something up her sleeve. She blinked when the tawny haired woman suddenly got on one knee and a small box appeared in her hands.

"Natsuki, I in desperately searched for the right moment to do this while we were away, but it never came... yet somehow this feels like how it should be."

"Sh-Shizuru, a-a-are you doing what I think you are?"

"I'm so lucky that I have you in my life. I still can't believe you have forgiven me, let alone fall in love with me, after I... after the carnival." Shizuru cast a guilty look at the ground before returning her gaze at the stunned woman before her. "I will never be able to make it up to you; the only thing I can do is give myself to you totally and pray that no one will be like the fool I once was."

"I wasn't exactly a saint back then either... You know what I did to those First District agents," Natsuki managed to argue, but her eyes kept wandering to the black velvet box in her lover's hands. Her heart was beating like a drum and she knew that Shizuru's was hardly keeping its usual rhythm.

"Ara, nonetheless what I did was despicable and some would say I don't have the right to ask what I am about to... Natsuki, will you marry me?"

Crimson eyes gleamed with fear as shaking well-manicured hands slowly opened the box to reveal a solitaire ring that had a Celtic pattern engraved into its white gold band. Natsuki stared at the sapphire sparkling at her before she reached out and closed the case. The hope in Shizuru's face vanished as her hurt eyes as they roamed her love's face for answers. The blue haired woman slipped her hand over the case and enclosed around the tawny haired woman's wrist, pulling her up so they were standing barely a foot apart. Neither of them noticed but the airport was deathly silent.

"You do have the right to ask me but I wish you hadn't," Natsuki replied in a low voice, causing a tear to roll down the woman's cheek. "Now what am I going to do with this?"

Shizuru looked down to see another box in Natsuki's hand that was covered in white silk. The blue haired woman opened the box to reveal a ring that was identical to her own except it had an amethyst at its centre. The older woman's gaze snapped back to the twinkling emerald eyes.

"You... You..."

"Was going to ask you to marry me? Yeah, I was. But I had the same problem as you and now you've beaten me to it," Natsuki replied as she slipped the amethyst ring onto Shizuru's finger. "I belong to you Shizuru, I always have and I always will. I think it's time for you to belong to me."

"Is that a yes?" Shizuru gasped, unable to believe what had just happened.

"It's a yes," the blue haired woman grinned as she held up the hand that was adorned by the sapphire. Shizuru squealed and grabbed her new fiancée, crushing their lips together as the airport around them exploded into applause.

They left the airport hand in hand, the rings on their fingers a declaration of their love.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed that people! A short burst of spontaneity on my part and it shows that I'm over my I'm-not-interested-in-anything-I-do-including-writing phase that I've been suffering from for the past month (yup, I was depressed). It struck me that Natsuki proposes to Shizuru most of the time in fan fiction and I intended to make it straight forward… I think you can tell that that didn't happen. XD