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Kuro Neko
黑猫传
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meow.
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Chapter one: The curse of the Kuro Neko
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Pebbles crunched under her small, booted feet as six-year-old Sakura Mikan wandered down a yellow brick path that led from the Hyuuga's mansion into their almost dreamlike garden with the tall swaying palms, sweet-smelling cherry-blossom trees and the rainbow-hued flowers that dotted the smooth jade-green lawn.
Wide amber eyes followed the crooked path of the stripped yellow and black bumblebee as it fluttered from one flower to another with the unspoiled delight of a six-year-old, giggling as it came too near with a loud buzz before flirting away again.
Creak.
The sudden creak of un-oiled iron came to her ears, almost inaudible and faint.
Creak. Creak.
There it was again.
She headed curiously to the sound, the garden forgotten in the moment.
Creak.
The sound brought her off the yellow brick path onto a path less treaded, where the weeds were over-grown and the hedges untrimmed. Pushing aside a stray sprig that came in her way, she found a little white gate, the white paint peeling off and over-grown by creepers.
Reaching out a hand, she gingerly pushed opened the gate which gave way with a rusty groan... and found herself stepping into another world.
Through her eyes, she saw magic and inexplicable beauty in the hanging roses that grew without care from the wooden archway that graced the small hidden garden, the flowers that grew without reservations out of the boundaries of the flower beds and the wisp-like weeds wedged between the cobbled stones that lined the small path from where she was standing.
Beyond stood a magnificent sakura tree in its full glory, the pale-pink crown of the tree illuminated by the golden rays of the sun, giving it a golden glow that made it almost ethereal from where she was standing.
Beneath it was a swing wrought out of weathered iron, vines winding around the sturdy structure.
But it was the boy her age who was seated there that held her attention and took her breath away.
Hands wrapped around the iron chains that held the swing securely to the frame, he was swinging only slightly, the un-oiled chain creaking with the slight movement, his feet dangling so that the toes of his sneakers were dragging on the ground below, creating two small gorges on the leaf-littered ground.
Heavy bangs the color of ebony fell untidily to obscure his eyes. He never glanced up even once, so intent he was on the ground, and he never gave a sign that he noted her presence.
There was something abjectly lonely about the picture he made, as though this was a world he existed in and existed in alone.
She wondered, with the fascination of a six-year-old, if she had found her angel there and then.
She took an uncertain step forward, wanting to touch him, to see if he was real, to prove that he was not simply a figment of her imagination and just maybe, to offer a hand in friendship.
The muffled snap of the twig under her boots echoed in the almost silent garden startling her. She glanced up to see if he heard.
And she found herself the victim of a pair of intense crimson eyes.
Crimson as the Red Sea Moses once parted, crimson as the blood that flowed through her veins.
Captivated by the unusual color of his eyes, and more than convinced he was an angel, she waited mutely to see what he would do next.
Would he spread his hidden wings and fly away?
Silence stretched taut, until he finally broke it by opening his mouth and lifting a finger to point at her, crimson eyes narrowed.
"Ugly ape."
That was the day Sakura Mikan met Hyuuga Natsume, fell in love, and fell out of love almost instantly.
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AN AN AN! TOTTEMO DAISUKI! DORAEMON!
Sakura Mikan woke up with a jerk to the loud Doraemon ring tone of her cell phone, amber eyes wild as she jerked up from her bed.
"Nooooooo! Not the yam-flavored ones- itai!"
Somewhere between dreaming about evil doraemons sent to earth and the horrifying attack on her favorite mochi snacks, Sakura Mikan found herself on the floor of her bedroom rubbing her sore bottom, Doraemon happily and obliviously singing at the top of its voice happily.
Bleary amber eyes caught the illuminated numbers of her cheese-shaped clock: 7:01.
Who in the hell wakes up at such an indecent time?
Un-humanlike.
Sulking at the interruption to her sleep, she reached up groggily to the white drawers at the side of her bed to grabble for her misplaced cell phone, toppling over a glass of water containing her contacts and her Hello Kitty lamp in the process before her hand finally closed over the slim body of the phone.
Incoherent, she muttered unhappily under her voice before flipping open the cell phone and answering with a sleepy mumble, "Hello?"
"How long are you planning to make me wait here? Baka youjo, polka-dots, ugly." The annoyed drawl that came over the phone was one that Mikan would rather NOT hear in the morning.
Mikan jerked the phone away from her ear and glared at the phone in annoyance, finally noticing the name of the caller noted there: Pest Next Door.
She could only fathom the reasons as to why he would call her.
'Pest Next Door' referred to none other than Hyuuga Natsume, menace of Tokyo, her constant nemesis, her dratted next door neighbor and childhood acquaintance.
Yes, acquaintance, not 'friend'.
One can hardly call the spawn of evil one's friend after he disillusioned her childhood dreams of him being her angel. After the 'ugly ape' fiasco ten years ago, Mikan found Natsume to be everything she hated: bad-tempered, rude and evil.
Hardly the little angel she had thought of him back then because behind that angelic face laid a dark personality so dark, flowers withered in his wake.
Too bad for her, the close proximity of their houses and the fact that both sets of parents thought them to be the best of friends practically forced them to be friendly to each other in the presence of their parents.
It was pure torture, those days their parents decide to have picnics together, because Mikan was forced to smile at Natsume and make friendly talk when all she really wanted to do was to dump the glass of punch she had in hand on him and kick him soundly in the shins. Of course, once their parents' backs were turned, the muttered sniping, insults and unscrupulous adding of bruises on to the other party begun.
What really comforted her and aided her through these periods was the fact that she knew that Hyuuga Natsume was suffering as much as her. She reveled in the strained way he was forced to smile (if a mere stretching of lips could be called one) and the way he had to say nice things about and to her. She could practically see him killing her mentally inside his head as he uttered 'lovely' and 'well-mannered' in synonyms to her name.
"Stupid Natsume! Don't lump all the names and call then all at once baka!" Irritated, she yelled back into the phone before storming over to the window and jerking open the gossamer white curtains hung there.
Sure enough, there he was one storey down, leaning against the white gate of her house nonchalantly, a dark scowl on his face, one hand tucked into the pocket of the black pants he had on.
Mikan could see why the females in their school were so crazy about him. With his crimson red eyes, angelic face, uncaring attitude and the eternal scowl on his face, he was the very embodiment of a moody bishounen. The metal piercing on his right ear only added to his appeal.
It irked her, the fact that so many people admired and respected him and also that females practically fling themselves at his feet in hopes of garnering the coveted position of Hyuuga Natsume's girlfriend.
If only they knew the wolf beneath the sheep's clothing…
Before anyone accused her of not giving the crimson-eyed male any chance of being nice to her, Sakura Mikan would have you know that the few times she tried to be nice to him ended up with her as the spectacle and victim of circumstances.
Hyuuga Natsume was simply born without a good bone in his entire skeleton.
"What are you doing here anyway?" She got out unpleasantly, sticking out a tongue at him childishly from where she was standing; taking full pleasure in knowing that he was oblivious.
"What am I-"An unsavory remark followed softly before, "Today is the fourteenth." He finally drawled out in a tone reserved for dimwits.
Mikan wrinkled her nose at the arrogant tone. "So?"
She couldn't see what was so special about the fourteenth.
"Are you daft woman?" He finally snapped out. "Fourteenth of May."
Fourteenth of May? Her brow furrowed. Hmmm…Fourteenth of May, fourteenth of May…
"Huh?" Came her very intelligent answer.
"Monday."
When there was no response, he added impatiently and none too politely, "School, you idiot."
It was on the tip of her tongue to laugh at him and asked him whether he had hit his head against the wall last night when she remembered something.
Happy schooling tomorrow, sister dear.
Tsubasa's, her older half-brother by her mother, voice floated back to her mind as she remembered last night dinner. She hadn't take note of what he had said because she was too busy trying to catch the last episode of her favorite soap opera.
Now that she thought of it…
"KYYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" The shriek involuntarily fell from her lips even as her cell phone fell from her hands.
"Stupid woman." The insult was ignored as the brunette begun the whole mad rush against time.
Now that she thought of it, Natsume wasn't just wearing any black pants. He was in fact wearing the black pants of Kushijo High School, a private academy that Mikan attended together with him.
She tore out of her pajamas at lightning speed, throwing on the dark blue mini-skirt and white sailor top with the blue collar. Knotting the black mini-tie under her collar, she grabbed the pink hairbrush from the corner of her dresser and gave her long auburn tresses a sweeping brush and tucked the ends of her heavy fringe behind her right ear.
That done, she grabbed her briefcase-like bag, dashed over to her messy table and with a large gesture, swept everything on it into the bag with a clatter. In went a pencil, hairpins, homework, scrap paper, scotch tape, plaster, CD and all sorts of odds and ends.
Closing her bag, she went down the stairs two steps at a time, darted past her very surprised parents and brother who were breakfasting at the table with a loud 'Ja!".
She hopped slightly on one foot as she slipped on the knee-length loose cotton socks and buckled on the uniform black shoes before dashing out of the door.
"Oi, Mikan, catch!" Tsubasa yelled out behind her.
Mikan turned just in time to catch the bread Tsubasa had thrown at her, barely missing hitting her face by a few inches.
"Arigatou onii-chan!" She waved back before continuing to where a certain raven-haired boy was waiting none too patiently.
"Finally." He scowled at her before he started down the street.
"Hey! I took only five minutes okay? It is not like I am always late!" She blurted out in annoyance, sticking out her tongue at him.
"Yes you are." Came his bored and lazy answer.
Mikan didn't retort, partly because there was truth in his words and also, she was too busy eating to care.
Going to school was the only time they tolerated each other moderately, because it was expected of them to.
Mikan knew the main reason why Natsume would fetch her to and from school was because his mother demanded it, because 'good friends go to school together'.
Mikan had snorted derisively the first time Natsume had grudgingly told her the reason, only to earn a painful kick in the shins.
Despite his attitude towards her, Mikan knew Natsume cared a lot for his widowed mother, who was a lovely woman.
Too bad about the son, Mikan thought as she wrinkled her nose at Natsume's back.
As if he knew she was looking at him, he shot an irritated crimson gaze back at her, a gaze that spoke of tortures and killings to come in the future if she dared to voice that thought in her head.
Biting into the fragrant loaf that her brother had given her earlier this morning, Mikan hastened her steps to catch up to Natsume's wide striding steps until she was almost running.
Caught between eating and the need to breathe, Mikan gasped out Natsume's name for him to slow down only to spit a few pieces of bread onto his white uniform shirt.
Natsume looked down at the few specks in disgust before glaring at the sheepish-looking brunette.
"Oops?"
He glared at her, but he slowed down after that.
Sometimes, he did things like that, minor acquiesces that made her wonder if he was as bad as he portrayed himself. Then, he would do something idiotic and spoiled any good feeling she had for him in that moment.
Which is why, of all the people she knew, Hyuuga Natsume remained the most enigmatic and problematic of all.
"You want some?" Since she was eating at the same time, all that came out was "Ouhh an kom?"
She waved the half-eaten bread in his face in case he didn't understand.
He gave it one disdainful look before saying, "Don't wave your saliva in my face."
Whack!
The bread, instead of the mouth it was suppose to be in, smack the raven-haired boy across the head courtesy of a very annoyed brunette.
See what she meant by him being ungrateful?
"Hah, die by my bread, you evil doer!" She crowed triumphantly around the mouthful of bread.
Twitch.
One hand shot out and clamped around a wave of her hair before she could avoid it, pulling painfully at her scalp.
"Grow up, idiot."
In that fashion, Natsume strolled along the road to Kushijo High School, the brunette half hopping, half running behind him with her hair imprisoned in his iron-grip, all the while yelling something incoherent.
"Stupid Natsume! Let go!" She wailed out painfully, which, like all her pleas the past few minutes, were ignored.
If anything, he started walking faster.
Her head tilted at a ninety-degree fashion, Mikan was finding a very different perspective to her surroundings.
There goes the horizontal lamp post, the horizontal housings, and the dog walking past vertically…
Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of an old lady leaning against the horizontal wall, her face a pasty color that was too pale to be healthy.
With new found strength, she tugged Natsume's hand off from her hair and raced up towards the old lady, determined to help whether Natsume wanted or not.
"Obaasan, daijobu?" She patted the papery cheeks softly to get the old lady's attention.
Rheumy blue eyes fixed on hers, a trembling smile slowly forming on the old lady's lips.
"Hai. Thank you for worrying, my dear." The old woman's voice was frail, just like the rest of her.
Mikan wrapped an arm around the old lady and gently assisted her to sit onto the ground.
Behind her, she heard Natsume's footsteps before his voice came, "Oi what are you doing? We are going to be late."
Mikan ignored him, simply concentrated on getting the old lady comfortable.
Behind her, she heard Natsume make an impatient sound but he let her be.
"I am alright now, please don't worry. Go before you are late for school."
"Really?" Mikan eyed her dubiously, slightly worried about the pale color of the old lady's cheeks.
The old lady smiled and nodded gratefully.
Mikan nodded and was about to stand up when she felt something hard being pressed into her palm.
Looking down in surprise, she found a small green bottle in her palm. The old lady beamed up at her as she got up from the floor, wobbling slightly.
"This is a very bottle of precious water from Maoneechuan (Spring of Drowned Cat) from Jusenkyo (cursed springs). Take it."
"But- but –" The old lady was already hobbling away, leaving Mikan behind.
Excitedly she turned to Natsume, who was looking extremely bored and irritated and brandished the small green bottle at him.
"Look what I got! It is magic water!"
Natsume lifted a fist and promptly bonked the brunette on her head.
"Don't be idiotic, ugly ape. These things don't exist." He drawled out and reached out to grab the bottle, supposedly to throw it far away as possible.
"Let go!" Mikan held onto the bottle with all her strength, but the surface was slippery and she felt her hand slipping on its hold.
Grabbling to get a better hold on it, she abruptly found herself holding air and the small bottle cork.
She watched in horror as the bottle flew towards Natsume, the contents splashing all over him before it fell onto the ground with an empty clang.
Silence fell as both parties waited for anything to happen.
Seconds passed by.
Still nothing.
Natsume looked at her condescendingly, "It is a fake."
Mikan glared at him before moving around him to pick up the bottle. "It was a gift! Baka Natsume!"
She looked mournfully at the empty bottle she picked up before spinning around, intending on giving Natsume the nastiest lecture she could…but all that stood behind her was…empty air.
"Nat-sume?" She called out questioningly into the alley, her brows raised.
"If this is a plot to scare me, it is NOT FUNNY!" she hollered out.
When there was still no answer, she 'hmph'ed and was about to turn away when ...
"Meow."
…
Meow?
Startled amber eyes shot down to the ground and she found herself staring at a sleek black cat standing in a pool of uniform.
Pool of uniform?
Crouching down, she tilted her head slightly to the side when she realized something.
The cat had crimson eyes. Just like Natsume.
"Whao!" she gasped out, "I must show Natsume this!"
What that earned her was a painful scratch across her hand.
"Itai!" She cried out, glaring at the cat in annoyance as she cradled her hand. "What did you do that for?" She was about to get up and walk away when she saw something that made her stop in her tracks.
The cat had a very peevish look on its face…one that looked exactly like how Natsume looked when he was annoyed.
And that metal clip on his ear.
The pool of uniform around the cat.
And Sakura Mikan came to a horrible conclusion.
"NATSUME?"
Who ever said life was predictable?
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.additional notes.
.kuro neko: black cat
.mochi: Japanese sticky rice cake
.jusenkyo: the fictional 'cursed' springs in Ranma 1/2
.maoneechuan: one of the cursed pools in jusenkyo. It is said anyone who comes in contact with the pool will turn into a cat, though their personality and prominent features remains.
.daijobu: are you alright?
.onii-chan: older brother (onee-chan is older sister)
.obaasan: grandmother
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A/n: likey or no likey?