A/N: And so, I am here again with my new story! Yosh! Truth is, I dunno, I was browsing some dog pictures (and honestly, I dunno why either Yeah, weirdo me) in the internet and then this plot suddenly came into my mind. I really really want to finish the other story I've been working on (If I'm Not In Love With You) first but I really can't resist to write this one down immediately for fear that I might forget the outline. Oh well, here it is! Just hope you would also like this one!
Disclaimer: I know you know the right woman to give all the credits. The amazing characters are hers. But, plot is mine! Still, thank you to my favorite author who gives me the inspiration to write. Judith McNaught, from the bottom of my imagination, thank you.
XX,
Alyx Hawthorne
It Started With A Bump
Chapter One: All the Right Friends
"It all started with this
Never knew it would end up like this
How can I resist your scent
The moment I knew you and I are meant"
Natsume Hyuuga traveled his hands down the soft, creamy flesh of her shoulder, across from her flat stomach, then continued down to her long, pliable thighs and he started to caress them as a soft moan escaped from the woman's lips. Natsume liked this particular sound because it sounded heaven to his ears, and of course, because he is the one who incited the sound from her.
"Natsume," her soft, full lips against his mouth and her whisper did not do anything to stop him from his 'little' exploring.
"Mm," he said and tugged the hem of her skirt. The pad of his thumb lazily drew circles on her thighs, and he knew he has touched again one of her sensitive spots. He heard her gasped against his neck.
He chuckled. Slowly, slowly, his fingers started to tug her skirt up until the bundle of it rests upon her abdomen.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
A faint sound of metal being scraped was heard.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
"Natsume," she said as she started to hear the metal scraping.
Natsume continued to kiss her forehead, her prominent cheekbones, her beautiful chocolate orbs, her soft lips…
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
The sound has become more demeaning.
"Natsume… Spork…" she said in between her breaths.
"Mm," he said again, not caring about anything in the world, just him and the beautiful woman in his arms but who is now starting to push him away gently.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
And the scraping sound finally entered Natsume's clouded mind.
'Shit,' he cursed in his mind. He dragged his lips away from her collarbone and looked at her eyes. He did not let go of his encircled arms around her, though, even if she is trying to entangle herself.
His intense crimson orbs looked on her deep, brown ones and Natsume felt that emotion he always gets whenever he looks deep on her. Oh, how he loves this woman so much! He would give his life just to see her happy always.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
She softly smiled, reached out her right hand and placed it upon his cheek, and said,
"Natsume, I'll be right back. I'll just give Spork his food and I'll dash back here, okay?"
Natsume tightened his grip around her waist in answer.
She giggled softly and playfully hit his chest.
"Come on! I won't be long! Besides, we cannot let Spork be hungry, he might chunk off the new cushions on the living room," she said, her lips curled up in the corners.
Natsume looked on the brown eyes he liked to drown himself to, and to the alabaster skin of his wife that is glowing from his pre-lovemaking and he sighed.
'Damn that dog,' he thought annoyingly.
His firm grip on her lessens, but he did not let go easily.
"Five minutes," he commanded.
Her wife tinkled with laughter. To Natsume's ears, that is another sound he loved hearing from her.
"Yes, yes, you little tyrant," Mikan Sakura smiled as she got up from their marital bed. She dusted off her skirt and started to go outside to make a dog food for their lovely maltese-poodle mix dog named Spork.
Mikan looked on her handsome husband and a wave of love washed over her. His jet-black hair in a messy, sexy wave, his intense crimson eyes she loved so much, his long eyelashes girls would die for (but beware! He told her he hit a guy on third grade when the poor boy said his eyelashes are like a girls'. Only Mikan could make fun of it, though) his straight nose, his lips that are curled into his trademark smirk, his golden skin…
"I love you," Mikan said sweetly and kissed her husband's nose.
"I love you, too, Polka," he murmured.
Natsume watched his wife go out of their bedroom and he sighed again, his annoyance to the dog returned. He let his head fall against the soft pillows of their bed and his eyes closed with annoyance to the dog.
Okay, not that he hates him, in fact, he likes the dog. It just irks him how bratty that dog can get. Yeah, he just called a dog a "brat." A lone example to that was the scene earlier when he was making sweet love (Fine, they were not making love but he was getting there!) with his wife and this brat dog started to scrape and scrape his metal plate, indicating he's hungry. Brat, right? But, yeah, he's fond of the dog, too. Why won't he? The dog is the reason why he met the beautiful, adorable Mikan Sakura. As much as he would not like to admit it, thanks to the dog he met an angel who later became his wife…
(Five years ago)
Natsume set the phone down and gritted his teeth in annoyance.
He walked back to his apartment's living room and sat down on his couch, a pack of Lays and a can of beer lay innocently, and forgotten, in front of him.
"What was that about?" his best friend, Ruka Nogi, who is continuously eating Doritos while watching the football game between 'Real Madrid' and 'Barcelona', asked him.
Natsume grinded his teeth again, sighed in frustration.
His friends did not miss the frustration he just let out.
"I gather that was your Mother again, pestering you?" Ruka said amusingly.
"Nah, I think it's one of Natsume's patients who suddenly called him and told him that she is sick again and that Dr. Natsume Hyuuga must go at her house and check her out, ASAP! I bet she's waiting in the bedroom now," Kokoroyomi, his close friend, said and started to laugh his ass off, snorting in between.
"Natsume is not a pediatrician! He is a surgeon, stupid," Kitsune-me said and he continued, "But I think it was the hospital telling him that Natsume's patient died suddenly and they cannot wait to cart his pompous ass away," Kitsune-me, another close friend of his, joked and joined Koko in his laughing.
Natsume glared at two of his friends and said,
"My door is there. Feel free to use it," he said pointedly to the two and Koko and Kitsune-me shut their mouth up immediately.
Murmurs like 'such a killjoy' and 'okay, okay, sorry' were heard.
Ruka watched and quietly laughed at the playful banter amid his friends.
Kokoro Yome, who likes to be called Koko, works at a television network as a senior director. He has been directing not movies nor soap operas, but news forecasts and interviews of important people. Like last year, the vice president of United States of America visited Japan and Koko has been the one who directed the interview. And though he has a professional job, his attitude and personality never changed.
Kitsune-me, on the other hand, is the assistant editor-in-chief in the famous news publishing company, Tokyo Inquirer, and lately, has been nominated as the temporary editor-in-chief while their boss is out of the country, who's having an operation because of a heart problem.
He, Ruka Nogi, is a veterinarian who got his license two years ago, when he was twenty six, and is now working at a famous animal hospital near the heart of Tokyo, the Komazawa Animal Hospital. He had just finished nursing a maltese-poodle dog, whom her beautiful and charming owner called him 'Spork', before coming here at Natsume's place.
Natsume Hyuuga is a twenty-eight year-old surgeon in Shibugawa Hospital, one of Japan's leading hospitals. He is also one of the youngest surgeons in the country. Why not? Ever since elementary, Natsume is in the top of their class and has been even without lifting a hand on those killer academic books. A genius, yes, he is.
They have been friends for God knows how long and though their personalities are not on the same wavelength, they just click.
Every Saturday, he and his friends would gather at one of their friends' apartments to hangout and unwind all the stress accumulated in the past week. Last week, they were at Koko's apartment and now, they are on Natsume's.
He looked at his friend again and saw the tired strain in his eyes, and he asked Natsume again,
"It was your mother?"
Natsume closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and rested his back, tilting his nape up on the couch.
"Yeah," was his simple answer.
"Same problem again, huh," Ruka said, reaching for the remote control and turning the volume down a bit.
"They're really getting on my nerves. Mother just used this tone of voice she never really uses on me, which means that I must obey or she'll blew my insides off," Natsume said irritably, rubbing his left hand on his face.
Don't get him wrong, Natsume really really loves his mother and his sister, Aoi. He adored them. His mother, Kaoru Hyuuga, has been the loving and supporting mother every child hoped to have. And his sister, well, is just as annoying like any other sister. But she is also sweet and kind and thoughtful. And she adores Natsume just as he dotes on her. When Natsume was thirteen and Aoi was a small nine year-old kid, their father, a renowned businessman, who was set to go to Canada for some business appointments, died in an airplane crash. Since then, Natsume became the pillar of support of the two. Kaoru Hyuuga was a strong woman, and with the help of Natsume's brave, strong stance and Aoi's sweet and caring demeanor, she found that strength in her and survived the tragic loss of her husband. Natsume's family is very rich and their wealth doubled when they received a huge amount of money from his father's company as insurance (his father was really a great man if the company gave them this kind of amount of money). With their doubled wealth, his future and Aoi's future are secured. Even their children's future and their children's children are also assured by the sum of money the Hyuuga have on their different bank accounts, if Natsume would just have a wife and kids eventually.
Natsume really loves his mother and his sister. But lately, they have been pestering him to have a girlfriend. Again.
'They really never learn,' he thought petulantly.
Once, her mother and Aoi arranged a blind date. Of him, of course, and some woman. They asked and urged and continued to plead him to accept the date and because he is no match with those lovely puppy eyes of her sister's, and he cannot bear to make them sad, so with a heavy sigh, he agreed. But the date turned out to be a total bore. The girl named Anna Umenomiya was pretty, okay he can credit that, but she was a total meek, total bore, total… you name it. When she saw Natsume, she was really awed by his appearance, his looks, and especially his intense crimson eyes, and from that moment, the woman shut up like a stupid robot. He didn't even care a damn bit if she won't talk. Actually he prefers it like that, if you may ask, 'cause he was not the talkative person. But for the sake of his mother and sister, he asked her a question, only one, and the only answer he got was, "I-I.. U-uhm… U-u-uh…" Right. What a conversation. The night ended without so much as a blink of an eye and after that, Natsume forgot everything about it.
Until another date was set.
With a defeated sigh, he agreed to their arrangement again. But the date was a complete disaster! No, not only a disaster but it was also a nightmare! The girl who calls herself Luna "Lead singer of Bunny Dolls which is the most famous girl group in Japan" Koizumi was not just overconfident, but she was simply out of her mind! In the end of the dinner, just when Natsume thought he survived it (and promised to himself that he would never ever agree to his mother's and sister's schemes), the girl started to seduce him and when it did not work she cried and practically begged him to rape her there and then! Goodness, who on earth and on the right mind will ask that?! Man, how he heaved a HUGE sigh when he was finally on the solace and comfort of his Audi TT RS. Natsume does not care if she is the lead singer of some crazy girl group but no, no way in hell he would see that insane woman again. Ever.
From then on, when Natsume notices how his mother and sister start to act too sweet and too charming for his own good, he knew they have something to ask again from him, he would automatically tell them that whatever ploy is in their strategic minds, they would just have to drop it or else he would not go over their house (their real house, or should I say mansion?) for dinner every Sunday.
But today was different. Her mother never admonishes him. True, he was scolded and reprimanded when he was young but for Pete's sake, he is twenty-eight already! He never heard that particular tone his mother used in the phone minutes ago ever since he hit that annoying classmate of his in third grade who told him that his eyelashes are like a girl's and that Natsume, maybe, was gay. Yeah, he is not scared of his mother but when she uses that tone to Natsume, his insides would just back flip.
So, with a sigh, he rubbed his face with both hands now, trying without success to drain the fatigue out of him.
"Really, Natsume, why do you not have a girlfriend? The feeling's good, you know, when someone takes care of you and all," Koko said, opening a can of beer with a 'pop', referring to her girlfriend Sumire Shouda, the pretty girl with short curly hair and green eyes.
"Yeah, I don't see why you are afraid of going into a relationship. I mean, man, hot women of all ages have been panting after you for god knows how long! And I can't sum up to words how ridiculous they look. But having a girlfriend would stop them from eating you alive. And also your mother's and sister's ploys," Kitsune-me explained.
Ruka did not say anything because he does not want to pressure his best friend and he discerns that Natsume knows what he is doing, and what he wants, with his life.
"I'll just go out and eat ramen," Natsume decided and stood up from the couch.
"What? Your refrigerator is brimming with food, man! It's bad to waste any," Koko said, lifting the packet of Lays in his mouth and shaking the remnants of it.
"Ramen? There is no ramen shop here, Natsume," Ruka asked but he knows fully that Natsume would just want to de-stress and have a breath of fresh air.
Natsume grabbed his, leather jacket, car keys, and wallet.
"Yes, there is. Two blocks from here. Newly opened. It was good so I don't see why I won't go back there. And no, I don't want to have a girlfriend," Natsume said a matter-of-factly, then opened his apartment's door and closed it firmly behind him.
Leaving Koko, Kitsune-me and Ruka looking at each other with a helpless sigh with Natsume's last sentence about not wanting to have a girlfriend.
Really, their friend is just as stubborn as a rock. Or worse than a hard-cold rock.
To Be Continued
A/N: I tried to make it a one-shot but then I realized that it will be soo long! Man, I've been trying to come up with, you know, really short but good one-shots and whenever I think of some things, I ended up making it more than one-shot. Sigh. But I think, it'll only be a two-shot NatsuMikan fic. And the title of this chapter is an exceprt from One Republic's "All The Right Moves" song. I dunno why I chose that but the song was playing on my iTunes while I was typing this. And I thought, the particular lyrics might suit. Anyway, keep updated, guys!
Oh, and yes, the crappy poem at the start, you know after the title, was made by me. I know, I know, total crap. I was searching for a perfect song for the story but, unfortunately, can't find one. Huhu. Anyway, again, sweet criticisms are okay but positive reviews are craved by the author. ;)
Leave a mark. XX,
Alyx Hawthorne