[fic] ShizNat Drabble Cycle #36-39
"I know not what to do; my mind is divided." -Sappho, fragment 36
Previous installments: 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-22, 23-26, 27-31, 32-35
36
From time to time, Shizuru received letters from Reito.
How are you? How are your classes? What are you studying now? What are your plans?
His letters were never quite formal and never quite familiar and they always asked, tucked somewhere among all the other questions, How is Kuga-san?
Shizuru would write back:
I am fine and Natsuki is well. From what she tells me, Mai-san is also well.
Her replies were never quite cool and never quite warm, and there always seemed to be a smirk lurking between the lines.
If their words stung, it was because they understood.
37
“Is that a love letter?” Mai said over her shoulder.
Natsuki immediately whipped around and hid the envelope behind her back. “W-what are you talking about?”
“Heeeeeeeh, Natsuki has an admirer.”
“S-shut up! Who cares about stuff like this!?”
“You aren’t going to read it?”
“Che, I have no-”
“-time for relationships?” Mai finished with a mischievous smile. “But I think you do.”
“Che, whatever.”
But what she had been going to say was “I have no interest in a relationship”-but it was a good thing she hadn’t. Who knows what Mai would have said to that?
38
“So, Mai, have you and Tate…?” Chie wagged her eyebrows suggestively.
Natsuki, who had been half-listening, was suddenly acutely aware of the conversation around her. Mai made unintelligible sounds of bewilderment and blushed such a bright red that Aoi and Chie ooh’ed and ahh’ed in excited anticipation.
“Chie, what are you saying?!”
“Don’t be shy, Mai. Sa! Have you and Ta-”
Mai slapped her hands over Chie’s mouth, eyes darting around the cafeteria and redder than an apple. “Chie! How could you-NO! The answer is no.”
Unnoticed, Natsuki released the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
39
It was summer, it was unbearably hot, and Natsuki was trying to put her hair up to alleviate the heat.
“Maybe I should just cut my hair short,” she grumped at Shizuru, who was in the kitchen preparing cool drinks. Natsuki had thought about cutting her hair before, especially after she’d started running, but hadn’t actually seriously considered it. It’d be a change, but maybe a change would be nice…
Not hearing Shizuru’s reply, Natsuki glanced into the kitchen.
Shizuru was staring at her, mouth slightly agape, with such a look of horror that Natsuki didn’t dare suggest it again.
Notes: Today's batch written early in an attempt to get myself to do my homework. That being said, none of these turned out anywhere near how I originally conceived them, which is not so unusual with me, but usually there's at least one that just writes itself. Not so today. Today's drabbles are also a practice in trying to say a lot by saying nothing. Yes, I need your help and active imaginations to make these work (pretty please?).
I hadn't really given thought to time in the story yet until today. I mean, I knew that all of these things have happened in their first year apart, but eiither I've skipped around all over this period of time (oops) or all of this really has happened before their summer vacation (omg, that short amount of time hurts me since I finally edumacated myself and discovered that the first term goes from April to July, with break over August). Ah, well. It'll get figured out at some point. -_-;
Previous installments: 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-22, 23-26, 27-31, 32-35
36
From time to time, Shizuru received letters from Reito.
How are you? How are your classes? What are you studying now? What are your plans?
His letters were never quite formal and never quite familiar and they always asked, tucked somewhere among all the other questions, How is Kuga-san?
Shizuru would write back:
I am fine and Natsuki is well. From what she tells me, Mai-san is also well.
Her replies were never quite cool and never quite warm, and there always seemed to be a smirk lurking between the lines.
If their words stung, it was because they understood.
37
“Is that a love letter?” Mai said over her shoulder.
Natsuki immediately whipped around and hid the envelope behind her back. “W-what are you talking about?”
“Heeeeeeeh, Natsuki has an admirer.”
“S-shut up! Who cares about stuff like this!?”
“You aren’t going to read it?”
“Che, I have no-”
“-time for relationships?” Mai finished with a mischievous smile. “But I think you do.”
“Che, whatever.”
But what she had been going to say was “I have no interest in a relationship”-but it was a good thing she hadn’t. Who knows what Mai would have said to that?
38
“So, Mai, have you and Tate…?” Chie wagged her eyebrows suggestively.
Natsuki, who had been half-listening, was suddenly acutely aware of the conversation around her. Mai made unintelligible sounds of bewilderment and blushed such a bright red that Aoi and Chie ooh’ed and ahh’ed in excited anticipation.
“Chie, what are you saying?!”
“Don’t be shy, Mai. Sa! Have you and Ta-”
Mai slapped her hands over Chie’s mouth, eyes darting around the cafeteria and redder than an apple. “Chie! How could you-NO! The answer is no.”
Unnoticed, Natsuki released the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
39
It was summer, it was unbearably hot, and Natsuki was trying to put her hair up to alleviate the heat.
“Maybe I should just cut my hair short,” she grumped at Shizuru, who was in the kitchen preparing cool drinks. Natsuki had thought about cutting her hair before, especially after she’d started running, but hadn’t actually seriously considered it. It’d be a change, but maybe a change would be nice…
Not hearing Shizuru’s reply, Natsuki glanced into the kitchen.
Shizuru was staring at her, mouth slightly agape, with such a look of horror that Natsuki didn’t dare suggest it again.
Notes: Today's batch written early in an attempt to get myself to do my homework. That being said, none of these turned out anywhere near how I originally conceived them, which is not so unusual with me, but usually there's at least one that just writes itself. Not so today. Today's drabbles are also a practice in trying to say a lot by saying nothing. Yes, I need your help and active imaginations to make these work (pretty please?).
I hadn't really given thought to time in the story yet until today. I mean, I knew that all of these things have happened in their first year apart, but eiither I've skipped around all over this period of time (oops) or all of this really has happened before their summer vacation (omg, that short amount of time hurts me since I finally edumacated myself and discovered that the first term goes from April to July, with break over August). Ah, well. It'll get figured out at some point. -_-;