Oddity

Dedicated to:

Michaela Millano: You're really a good friend to me (even if you're not willing to share your goddamn potato fries and pizza.) Keep drawing and I'll keep writing. Sometime, someday, we'll definitely do that promise we made. :)

Four years before.

"You wear it like this, stupid." Sumire said, and like the doting girlfriend she was, she helped Koko with his tie. Mikan looked across the room to find Hotaru; she spotted Ruka with the corner of her eyes and walked towards him.

"Oh, Mikan." Ruka looked at her with a confused glance. "Have you seen Hotaru?"

"No, I haven't." She shook her head and played with the hem of her uniform. It was already noon and their graduation ceremony just ended about an hour ago and yet no one from their batch can believe that they're just four more years away from freedom. Mikan came from the dorm with Hotaru to return their gowns, but Hotaru had asked Mikan to go before her so she did and now they're just playing a good game of hide and seek. "I was just about to ask you where she is, but… I'll just give her a call," she smiled at him and fished out her phone from her pocket. Ruka can hear the device ringing and he smiled in relief. "Have you seen Natsume?"

His smile disappeared at once and placed a hand on Mikan's shoulder. "He didn't attend the ceremony today."

Mikan looked at him and as if on cue, the ringing turned into beeping. "He didn't?" She repeated. "I guess I can't contact Hotaru after all."

She closed her phone and the beeping continues to replay in her mind. The beeping of her phone, she realized, reminded her of dying—the sound that occurs when the heart stops beating.

Natsume Hyuuga promised to kiss her after the ceremony. He promised a lot of things before that as well. That he'll continue to stay by her side even no matter how long they're going to be together. That he'll still love her no matter what. And one thing she can never forget was that he promised her that he'll never leave her alone. He'll never make her cry and he'll never let her be in pain, though it's not possible for him to make one's pain go away, he told her he'll never let her be in pain alone.

Just like that, she will and would always believe in him.

"Mikan? I've been looking all over for you." Hotaru called her; it was times like that where Hotaru would be the only person who'd knew where to find her just because they were the best of friends. Mikan had the habit of hiding in a gazebo, found by Mikan herself when they explored the depths of Northern forest, filled with plants and flowers like roses, daisies and carnations. It was her sanctuary.

"You were?" She said, laughing. "I was looking for you earlier as well, I was looking for Natsume too, I guess he didn't come, right? Maybe there was—"

"Mikan," Hotaru said gravely, her eyes holding certain clarity. "I'm going to ask you something—straight to the point—are you using contraceptives with Hyuuga or not?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Her voice quivered. "I don't understand."

Hotaru grabs her hands and asked her one more time. Mikan didn't understand what she was trying to point out.

"I found this in your room, in your bathroom." She lets go of Mikan's hands and gets a pregnancy test out from her pocket. "Tell me the truth now."

"Hotaru, going in my room like that—it's private, you know that."

"I know, I came in to get the things you borrowed from me and then I went to the bathroom to wash my face, you should've just placed it somewhere no one who come in your bathroom would see it." She rolled the thing with her thumb and her index finger and looked at Mikan. "You're in big trouble."

"Look, okay fine, I did the test, sure, but it said negative when I did it."

"Mikan, the test doesn't just say it automatically, you have to wait. Mikan, the father is Natsume Hyuuga, right?" Hotaru said, her voice was filled with anxiousness and it sounded a lot like Hotaru wishing that Hyuuga wasn't the father.

"Obviously."

With this, Hotaru sighs deeply, massaging her temples with her free hand and whispering what the hell she is going to do next. Mikan, of course, couldn't understand her behavior.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Hotaru repeats, she flashes the test in front of Mikan and points at Natsume's things are not in his room and a letter from the board of directors announced in the faculty room that Natsume Hyuuga along with three other dangerous ability students left."

Three or four seconds before Mikan got what Hotaru said. "Left where?"

"Europe. Somewhere in Europe, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention—He didn't tell you?"

"He…" Mikan's face heat up and then for a few seconds, the color drains from her face. "He… He didn't tell me anything."

"How could he do that to you? Did he give you something to contact him? Anything?" Hotaru turned to Mikan, who in that moment had her face in her palms, sobbing quietly. "Oh, Mikan…" She groaned and pulled her best friend into a hug.

"Hotaru, I'm just seventeen…" She whispered, her voice quivering. "I can't… the baby… I have to do it alone… Natsume—I don't have any idea if Natsume knows I'm pregnant, but God, Hotaru… I'm just seventeen, a big life ahead of me and a baby with no father would ruin all those wonderful dreams I planned for myself… I can't…"

"You're going to keep the baby?"

Mikan, even though at that moment where she's supposed to be showing off her graduation cap, the three stars on her uniform and that smile she's been known to have, she's in Hotaru's arms, crying because her boyfriend of three years left the country without leaving her anything but a child. Nevertheless, Mikan wiped her eyes, sniffed her nose and braved a smile at Hotaru. "Yes," she said. "I'm keeping my baby."

Hotaru smiled, throwing the pregnancy test in her hands somewhere but near them to ruffle her hair. "That's more like it."

Four years later.

At twenty one years old, Natsume Hyuuga would finally get what he wanted. A trip back to Japan, he smiled to himself. He'll be getting what he had always wanted for the past four years. He'd be back to his friends. The word seemed foreign to him. It's been four years since he was forced to leave the academy. He remembered the day when they were talking about getting two other dangerous abilities other than him. But those two dangerous ability students they were talking about never came with him. On their graduation day, just as when he was fixing his tie, two men grabbed him from behind and teleported him in a van. He didn't know what was happening, but as soon as he tried using his Alice, there was already a barrier.

And the next thing he knew, they were driving to the airport for a flight to France.

Those four years of training were hard for him. What made it harder were the nights he spent thinking of his friends and mostly, Mikan Sakura. In those four years, they promised him a flight back to Japan whenever he was asked to do a mission. Goddamn those blasted missions. He had been used to those phrases that he knew, even in a heartbeat, that that was a lie. But he kept on doing those missions nevertheless, because that's the only thing he could do—he'll be desperate for once in his life just to go back but until then, he'll continue doing missions and do all the work for the government secretly in the dark until they finally take him back to the academy. Back to where he loved the most—his friends and most specially, Mikan Sakura.

And just like that, he'd always be inspired to work because even being a thousand miles apart from her, she'd still be the reason why he wakes up every morning without feeling the pain from a previous mission—he'd never stop thinking of her.

He'd been too engrossed in his thoughts to notice that his phone had been ringing if it wasn't for the vibration from his pockets. He looked at the screen and placed the phone on speaker. "R-ruka?"

"Natsume," Although Ruka's voice wasn't heard clearly with all the shouting beside him, Natsume was still glad to hear his voice. He could imagine Ruka now. "Where are you?"

"At the conveyor." He replied. It sounded too much like a normal conversation, but they were always like that. Even with four years apart, just hearing Ruka's voice, Natsume knew he hadn't missed much. "My bag's being fucked up by the machine."

Ruka laughed, Natsume noticed that it was the same old laugh from four years ago. "You're the one who's fucked up."

"Whatever." Natsume said, spotting his bag from the corner of his eyes. He'd spent about five minutes in the airport and he's just too happy to get the hell out of there. "Hey, I saw my bag, I'll see you later."

And like always, he had let Ruka to take the last word—because if anything, even after being away for four years from him, he still knew a lot about his best friend more than everything.

"See you then."

"Chiyo!" Mikan called from across the table. "Come here and say hi to mommy's friends."

Michiyo Sakura. Everyone could tell that she was Hyuuga's child even with one look. It wasn't just her IQ, that was apparently high enough for a four year old that was her age, her Fire Alice—but it was her pair of red eyes that gave a dead giveaway. But even with red piercing eyes from her father, she was still her mother's child. Her red eyes were oozing with certain optimism and that same sparkle that her mother had and would always have. Her hair was just like Mikan's, straight but curly at the bottom—although her shade was two shades darker from Mikan's and one shade lighter from Natsume's. Even her Alice was from he mother's (And father's.) Though, they've found out about Chiyo's Fire Alice first since when she was two, she was playing with a match and as she raised it to poke the couch, fire appeared on it out of nowhere. Hotaru, Ruka and Mikan weren't too surprised, but as she turned three, when Ruka took her to the zoo and his Alice got out of hand, it wasn't Mikan who helped him but Chiyo herself with her Nullifying Alice. That was what surprised them the most. Nonetheless, she was the perfect mix of both Mikan and Natsume.

No one questioned Mikan about Natsume's disappearance from four years ago. They were completely sympathetic with her and guided Mikan throughout the times she was pregnant with Michiyo and even the years after Chiyo's birth. But it was Hotaru who supported Mikan more than any best friend in the world would. Ruka, too. And Mikan couldn't be too thankful for them.

Chiyo, although had her father's genes when it came to looks and brains, had her mother's spirit. Her positivism, her gaucheness and the power of her smile.

Sumire and Koko came in and smiled at Mikan. Koko took Chiyo in his arms and playfully threw her in the air. "Hey there sunshine."

Chiyo stuck her tongue out and laughed. In that moment, all of them stopped to look at Chiyo. That was her own thing, though, it was the way she mesmerized people. It was a Michiyo Sakura signature.

"Mikan," Hotaru said, closing and locking the door behind her as she went in. She placed the keys by the table beside her. "I have news."

Mikan looked up from Chiyo's face as she was washing her face with a dry towel. "What?"

Hotaru took a deep breath, looked at Chiyo first and then at Koko and Sumire before looking at Mikan in the eyes. "He's back."

Mikan laughed, or let out something that sounded like pure hysteria. "That's impossible. I swear, he's going to be back? For what? He has nothing to come back for."

Hotaru massaged her temples, walking in the living room where they're all seated. Anna, Nonoko and Yuu are coming over later at four. It was part of their daily routine. Every Friday, they'd go and meet in someone's house or to some place to catch up or get updated with each other's lives. It was just today when they're all scheduled to meet in Hotaru and Ruka's house. They aren't married, but Ruka's mom had bought him a house already and since Hotaru had no where to go to and buying a house would be too much of a hassle for her, he just invited her to live with him which she accepted because Mikan, who has a child with her, has no place to stay as well.

"Mikan," Hotaru told her. "He's best friends with Ruka. What do you expect?"

"Oh God…" Mikan's voice trembled as she hugged Michiyo closer. "He's going to live here? I can't…"

"Mikan…" Sumire interjected, Koko was just too busy reading everyone's minds to say anything. "I think it's time to accept him… It's been four years and only God knows what the hell happened and why the hell he didn't contact us in those four years. And," she said, looking over at Michiyo. "He's her father. She has the right to know who he is, I'm not saying that you have to tell her about Natsume, but I think Natsume has the right to know about his child. And he also has the right to get to know his child—it's been four years and I know he's going to be surprised about it, but it's unfair if you're going to keep her from him right?"

Mikan nodded slowly, taking a deep breath and shivered as she did.

"Besides," Sumire says. "With Natsume Hyuuga, it would take him seconds before he can realize she's his child. Or maybe even less than that. I mean, what are the chances that you've hooked up with someone who has those sexy crimson eyes that isn't him?"

Koko and Hotaru looked at each other and with perfect synchrony said, "She's right. Who knows, maybe with Hyuuga being here, it'll be good for all of you."

Mikan, who looked just as lost as Chiyo looked like, nodded—just because she's left with only one option to choose from.

Author's Notes:

I played with the idea of Natsume and Mikan having a child and stuff. I want to see Natsume's fatherly side and Michiyo Sakura's side that we never saw before, the side she had from her father and the side she had from her mother. And especially how she'd be able to mend their relationship back together again.

I think this will be a nice work, right? :)

Thank you for reading and please review.

PS.

I'm the author of Dear Higuchi Tachibana, I changed my penname from maarshmalloews to drinni. :)