The class was tense, it had been a hard day and they expected it wasn't going to get better. Mikan was unreasonably irritable today and no one could figure out why. It started this morning she came in five minutes late for class and after insulting Narumi had sat down next to Natsume with not so much a glance at Hotaru. She didn't smile she didn't daydream she just sat there staring out the window. Half way through the class she glance over at our little mind reader and Koko, who had seemed a little nervous, screamed. No one wanted to ask why. She was rather scary, not even the mean king was messing with her today.
Jinno-sensei was rambling on in the front of the class about one stupid subject or another. When, since he so obviously missed the memo, asked Mikan "Mikan why does the venom of box jelly fish work so quickly?", and she quite promptly said in the most monotone voice ever produced by our pretty brunette.
"Who gives a fucking damn you old geezer." And I swear the class got whiplash from how quickly they turned their heads. Jinno on the other hand was speechless…. for all of four seconds.
"What did you say?" He whispered his voice dangerously calm. She stood up and walked up slowly to the front of the class in a very relaxed manner, stopping an inch from his face.
"I said you deaf old man that I don't give a fuck about anything you've had to say up here, so why don't you shove it up your ass. Or is that stick taking up to much room?" Gasps and murmurs filled the room. His face turned red and steam was practically pouring out of his ears.
"You insolent little...!" He raised his hand to strike her when Hotaru suddenly separated the two and turned to Mikan, brushing off her complaints and insults more easily than one should have been able to.
"Mikan?"
"What you frigid bitch?" The class flinched, expecting the Baka-gun or another weapon but there was nothing.
"How long has it been since you've slept?" Natsume looked up from his manga for the first time in a while and examined Mikan. For the first time he notice how puffy her beautiful eyes were and the dark circles hidden by faint make up. If he had to guess he would say it had been a while. Hotaru snapped in front of Mikan's face, "How long?"
"None of your damn business, so leave me the fuck alone!" She screamed. "Stop asking stupid ass questions you know I won't answer. Do yourself a favor and don't waist you time on failed endeavors." The ice queen sighed heavily.
"That's what I thought." She turned to the still fuming teacher and apologized explaining that they would have to leave early today. He was more than happy to have them leave his room for the remainder of the class. So Hotaru, herding a vicious profanity spewing Mikan out and into the halls towards the dorms, left.
Everyone breathed a breath of fresh air as the mood lightened in the room to one of mild worry. The teacher had left the room to speak to the principal so the children were left to their own devices. Chatter fluttered spontaneously around the room while Ruka sat flabbergasted. Natsume however took a proactive approach and went right to Koko our trembling physic friend.
"Eh," He looked up stopped trembling a little, "explain." He looked like he was about to say something then began to shake his head violently, no"
"N-n-not even if you p-paid me." He whispered.
Why not? Natsume was getting impatient. He was about to burn something. Koko stilled.
"Go ask Mikan if you want to know." He bit; he stood and walked past everyone leaving the room as quickly as possible. Sumire whistled in appreciation. She may not like Mikan but you got to appreciate quality work. She had spent precious time trying to scare, intimidate, and humiliate Mikan into silence with absolutely zero success. While she in a matter of minutes broke Koko, who has seen ever dark secret the world has ever had to offer in the minds of others, into a pile of whimpering saw-dust, impressive if she may say so herself. But all she had to say at the moment was three simple words.
"Now I'm curious."
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It took half an hour to get a struggling Mikan into Hotaru's room and another half hour to tie her down to the bed so that Hotaru could run some tests. General such as a cardiac stress test, neurological function, a panel of drug tests, and so on. It came up clean like she knew they would, but she had to check anyways. Sighing in resignation she pulled a chair up next to Mikan. After the first few tests she had been gagged to keep her quiet. Let's face it; it's easier to run high level equipment when it's silent. Removing the gag she looked at the sulking girl and tried one more time. "When was the last time you slept?"
"When was the last time you smiled, you icy cow?" She hissed mockingly. Hotaru shrugged.
"My way it is." She pulled out a syringe filled with a murky liquid and stuck it in Mikan's arm.
"Ow! What the hell was that for? What the fuck was it?" She growled and struggled against the restraints.
"A cocktail of pain killers, uppers, downers and hallucinogens. Which, I have recently found out, work in the same way as the truth telling serum the academy uses on us sometimes without the nasty headache. But you do fall into a two day coma, a little bug that still needs to be worked out." Mikan groaned.
"Oooh, we've got a smart one here don't we?" Her speech slowed and her eyes were getting glassy. Her limbs felt heavier than normal.
"So let's try this again. When was he last time you slept?"
"The last time I slept was…" her speech was slurry and slow but at least now she was cooperating now. "… the day after exams." Hotaru's face remained calm but she was honestly shocked.
"Nine, almost ten days… that's a very long time. You idiot, a human can only live eleven days without sleep. Why didn't you…?" She shook her head. I'll yell at her once she's better. Resting her head in her hand she suddenly looked very tired. "Are the dreams back?" Every inch of her was praying to god this wasn't the case.
"No," Hotaru relaxed slightly, only for Mikan to follow up with, "the night-terrors are," before falling into a deep slumber.
Oh shit… This is bad. Really bad.