DISCLAIMER: Sunrise owns My-Hime and its characters.

Author's Notes: I apologize for a late chapter. I know I haven't updated the Criminal and the Seductress, but I kind of have a lot of ideas swirling in my mind. I've been working on a new story, two actually. The first chapter for one of them is already half written and I will perhaps put it on soon. So look forward to reading that as well. As for now, enjoy this second chapter. Read till the end please. ^^ Thanks to all my readers that are still faithfully waiting for me to update.

-BrokenxSky

Resting in her black and white colored room, Natsuki flopped on her bed. Pondering, she began to quietly rant to herself, "Hell! She got away! Damn it, how could I have let her escape?! She stole from my parents' shop; that thief shouldn't have gotten away. But then again, that thief is my dream girl; how could I have let my dream girl just slip away so easily? How the hell! I mean I had her in my grasp, and then I was… then… oh…" The rebel began to blush as her thoughts traveled back to the chaste kiss placed upon her left cheek by a specific angelic brunette, who also happens to be the devilish thief that stole goods from her family's shop. The midnight haired girl's hand subconsciously reached up to touch her left cheek, replaying the events over and over again. 'If only I had held on.'

After the crimson-eyed goddess had escaped, Natsuki had snapped out of her temporary trance and experienced mixed emotions. Shock. Confusion. Anger. Embarrassment. Determination. She ran after the thief, even though the girl was long out of sight. Trying to catch her breath, the dark-haired girl cursed, "Damn. Failed to catch her. I swear I'll turn her into the police when I catch her." Natsuki fumed, but then slowly began to sink in the image of the beautiful girl that had just escaped, "She's the one I've been searching for ages. I think she's from Kyoto. I mean that Kyoto-ben was pretty obvious…" A smile rested her smooth features until the emerald eyed girl began to furrow her eyebrows and muttered, "No! I have to arrest her. But, dream girl… Gah!"

Torn between choosing to identify the girl that had escaped as a thief or as her dream girl, emerald-eyed girl decided to just remain neutral till the next time she saw the brunette goddess until she realized, "Damn it! I don't even know her name!" With a grunt of frustration, the dark haired girl trudged back to the store, where her parents awaited her arrival as they were pretty worried when their daughter ran off to chase some pretty girl.

Summer passed by quickly for the cobalt haired girl, as every day she would volunteer to go to her parents' shop to work, hoping to catch her soulmate once more. Natsuki refused to go out with her friends and would stay put at the small store from morning till closing time. Vigilant eyes would sweep the crowd every day, every minute, wishing for just a glimpse of the brunette goddess. At night, emerald orbs would close with frustration clearly upon the young smooth face from not having seen the thieving girl again, and yet the marks of distress would disappear as soon as thoughts of maybe meeting the girl of her dreams the next day seeped in. Dreams of her soulmate, however, lessened. Perhaps since Natsuki had already met the girl, there was no need for dreams of her anymore. No matter what, the image of the brunette girl was imprinted strongly in the beginning, though as the summer went on, the navy-haired girl soon began to lose hope in meeting the girl again. She still went to the store, but her movements were more sluggish than usual, eyes less bright.

Several months had passed since that fateful incident, and school had started months ago. Today was the first day of school after winter break. Being a sophomore (1), Natsuki had but one more year after this until it was time for her to go to college. From the start of high school, Natsuki had begun to walk to school, rather than burden her parents into driving her to school. After all, school was but 1 mile away; it would only take her a half an hour walk. All she had to do was get a bit earlier to accommodate her schedule, which was to do about 15 minutes of push-ups, sit-ups, and light weight lifting.

Today, however, it would seem her alarm clock failed to start ringing, causing Natsuki to be late…

Groaning, Natsuki turned around to look at her clock. 7:30 am. She bolted up from her bed, and began cursing, "Shit. I'm going to be late. Stupid alarm clock, why didn't it ring?! Damn it!" The cobalt-haired girl ran around her room, picking her clothes from the closet and brushing her teeth at the same time. Waking up an hour late did not serve to help her as today was the first day of class after winter break. "Great, I'm probably going to get a lecture from the old principal."

Speeding out of her room and towards the kitchen at 7:40, the emerald-eyed girl ran into her mother, who looked as if she was just heading towards her daughter's room to wake her up. "The toast is on the table, Natsuki." Looking back, the said girl responded, "Got it, mom."

It would take about half an hour to walk to school, 20 minutes if she ran. As of now, her only option was to run and hopefully make it on time. Finally arriving at school, Natsuki saw that no one was on campus, meaning only one thing: the bell had already rung and she was late. Sighing, the late girl ran again, this time more like a jog, towards the school building and onto the second floor, where her classroom resided. Entering the room, Natsuki's emerald orbs widened as she walked into the classroom to witness her teacher introducing a new student: Shizuru Fujino. However, it was not the name that shocked the dark-haired girl; it was the shimmering brown hair and beautiful crimson eyes that looked into her own forest green eyes.

Overcoming the shock, Natsuki bowed to the teacher, apologizing for her tardy. The teacher, a kind middle-aged woman, excused her and went back to introducing the new girl. However, Natsuki paid no attention, rather going over the shock in her mind, 'The thief! My dream girl! She's at my school?! Hell, this day is going downhill fast. Wait, or is it uphill? I mean it's a good thing my soulmate is here right? I get to see her and…But she's also the thief. Man, why do things have to be so complicated?! I mean, even if she wasn't the thief, how would I approach her?'

Continuing her inner rambling and confusion, the midnight-haired girl failed to notice that class had already ended and she had missed the lecture and the notes on the board. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. Grinning just a bit, Natsuki walked out of the door.

Spotting the crimson-eyed goddess with her emerald eyes, Natsuki stopped her approach when she realized a certain redhead was walking beside the girl. Nao Yuuki. 'Great. What is she doing with Shizuru? How do they even know each other?' Nao Yuuki has always had a grudge against the blue haired girl; therefore it was only logical the blue haired girl hated the redhead. Nevertheless, the cobalt-haired girl gathered her courage and finally shouted, "Shizuru!"

In the morning, when Shizuru's eyes met Natsuki's, the chestnut-haired girl gave no hint that she had known dark haired girl before this meeting. Now, Natsuki wondered if the girl had actually forgotten. "Do you remember me?"

"Ara, how can I not? Are you not the girl who barged into class, interrupting the teacher while she was introducing me?" Shizuru smiled somewhat mischievously as she watched the girl's jaw drop slightly, obviously not expecting this answer. She inwardly laughed. Of course she had remembered the girl. After all, how could she forget the girl that had managed to catch her stealing? Not to mention that chaste kiss she had placed upon the rebel's smooth cheek. "I'm just kidding. Nao, can you go ahead first? I have to talk to this girl first. Alone." Nao, looking wary, agreed with a nod and walked away, but not before glaring and sneering at Natsuki.

Glaring back, the rebel watched the redhead walk away before talking to Shizuru. "Look. You and I both know what you did last summer. Now, there are two ways I can go about doing this. One, I turn you in. My mom and dad both saw you stealing, as well as some of the neighboring store owners. Or two, we strike a deal and I forget about this incident. What do you say, hm?" Natsuki remained as emotionless as she could as she watched the brunette girl contemplate her options. Inside, however, she was excited. She knew the other girl wouldn't choose to be arrested, but she needed the girl to confirm that she would like to strike a deal.

"It seems as if I have no choice but to strike a deal with you. But what is the deal, first of all? And second of all, I can't strike a deal with someone whose name I do not even know." The goddess smiled at Natsuki, causing an increase in the dark haired girl's heartbeat.

With a slight twinkle in her emerald orbs, the midnight-haired rebel smirked as she announced, "Well, first, the name's Natsuki Kuga. Second, I want you to be my tutor."

(1) In Japan, sophomores there are juniors in the United States.

Alright people, here's the end of the second chapter. Sorry it took a long time. Love it? Hate it? Leave a review, please.

Oh and to all that actually did message Blue IV, that was awesome. ^^