Title: Just a Dream
Genre: General/Angst (with a bit of fluff)
Pairings: Natsume x Mikan
Summary: Mikan wakes up from a nightmare and goes for a nightly walk.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None, except that I finished this a bit past midnight, so it sounds awkward.
This means Mikan's dream or flashbacks about the dream
Just a Dream
Within the grounds of the Academy, most students where in their beds, sleeping peacefully. However, there was one particular student who did not. A one-starred threw her blanket away and sat straight up, sweating. 'Oh, good, it was just a dream' she thought to herself, relieved. Even though it was just a dream, she was sweating and shaking. She could feel dried up tears on her face. Her hair was messy. And judging by how crumpled her bed sheets were, she was tossing and turning.
The brunette picked up her clock. 12:00. Only 12:00?That dream only took up 2 hours. It seemed like forever to her. She got up and walked towards the bathroom. The girl switched on the light and looked at herself in the mirror. 'I look like I've run a marathon' she thought. The girl turned on the tap, cupped the water in her hand, and washed her face, hoping to freshen herself up. It worked, but not a lot. For one, she still felt shaky. She sighed. She'll go back to sleep again and hope that the dream did not replay itself.
Turning off the light, she walked towards the bed and tucked herself in. Slowly, she closed her eyes.
Snap! Snap! Snap! The girl found herself running through a forest, trying to escape something.
Snap! The thing—or rather—a person was slowly approaching her. She closed her eyes and ran as fast as she could. Several seconds later, she found herself out in the open. The scenery looked familiar. The sun was shining brightly. Behind her was that forest. Did she escape that person? She hoped she did.
Snap! Her eyes widened. Nope, she did not. She started running again. A thought struck her, of course it looked familiar, the dream she just awoke from replayed itself again. Wake up! Come ON! Mikan, wake up! The girl thought. She DID NOT want to go through that set of events again. Wake UP!
She sat up straight, sweating again. Great, it just replayed itself. Maybe going to back to sleep again does not work well. She put her sweater on and walked to the window. A nightly walk might help. Mikan opened the window and the cool autumn air greeted her. She shivered.
She had to go out this way since that Robot might be guarding the entrance and exit. She stuck her head out. Okay, the tree was about a meter or so away. She was two stories up. Mikan climbed up on the window sill. Two stories up, a meter-or-so jump, don't look down. She took a deep breath and jumped. Good, she did NOT fall. Mikan held onto the branch like a monkey. Now, she just had to climb down. Sometime later, she managed to do so.
'Phew,' that wasn't hard. Mikan started to walk, but where should she go?
'She'll just walk …where ever she wanted then. She just need to get that dream—no nightmare—out of her head.'She tilted her head up and looked up at the sky. It was a clear starry night, a typical autumn night. The moon was no where to be seen, neither were the clouds. Occasional breezes made her shiver. Mikan continued on her walk, with no definite destination.
After quite a while, she found herself walking towards an open clearing. It was lined with marble benches alternating with 18th century London lamps that gave off an eerie-white light. There was also a person sitting on one of the benches. This was another person who had a restless sleep. His raven black hair swayed in the breeze. His back was turned towards her. It seemed as if he was lost in his thoughts. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. His head was tilted up, watching the stars. His legs were crossed and he rested his elbow on his lap.
'Who is that?' Mikan wondered. 'Is it… Natsume? Nah, probably not.' She took a few steps towards the person, but then hesitated. Should she go talk to him?
"Oi, Poka-dots, what are you doing out of bed?" That person said. Yep, it was Natsume alright.
"None of your business. What are YOU doing out of YOUR bed?" she shot back.
"None of your business," he answered monotonously. She sighed and walked towards him. His face was expressionless. His auburn eyes staring at the sky and beyond.
A hand shot out of no where and pulled her. Na-Natsume? 'Shh! Be quiet!' He whispered in her ear. '…n' she nodded in reply. She could hear the footsteps approaching. Mikan shook her head. Gah! Stupid dream! Why did she have to think about it.
"You okay, poka-dots?" Natsume said, "Or are you rehearsing for a shampoo commercial by shaking your empty head like that."
"Oi! That was mean Natsume!" Mikan shot back. Again, she sighed, and sat next to him. Neither of them spoke, and there was an awkward silence. She wanted to break that silence, it made her feel uncomfortable, but she couldn't. Every time she looked at him, flashbacks of her nightmare replayed.
"Natsume, where are you?" A taunting voice spoke. The owner of such words was Persona. "Natsume…I know that you are here. You and that girlfriend of yours. What was her name? Ah, yes, Sakura Mikan."
She cringed.
She cringed. She cringed in real life too.
Silence.
Leaves rustled…and more silence followed.
"Natsume, it's useless for you to hide from me. I know that you are here," Persona spoke. His voice was the same taunting voice. "Come out, Natsume. You better come out now or I will harm your friends. You of all people know what I am capable of. Let's start with Mikan Sakura.'
Natsume's grip on her tightened as Persona approached. 'Mikan, when I say go, run for it.' Natsume whispered in her ear.
'But' she protested silently.
'Just do it,' he ordered. Suddenly, a hand shot out of nowhere.
'GO!' Natsume yelled.
She did not remember anything else. She did not want to remember the details. Only that Natsume had shielded her from Persona's attacks. Only that she found his body drowning in blood. Only that later she was dressed in black…
She vigorously shook her head again. Stupid dream! Stupid! She found herself tightening her grip on the bench and her eyes teary again. It's just a dream Mikan, she told herself, just a dream.
"Oi, poka-dots, you okay?" Natsume asked.
"…yeah…I'm fine…" Mikan answered, "I couldn't sleep. A dream—no a nightmare. I tried to go back to sleep, but it kept replaying. So I came out for a walk. You?"
No answer. Mikan fell silent again. Typical.
"It kept coming back, even now. I thought I could clear my mind, but I guess it didn't work. So, what are you doing out here anyways?" She asked again, hoping to strike up a conversation. Even though it was a bad topic, she had to talk, to prevent her mind from going back to that dream.
Silence.
Mikan usually felt unnerving around Natsume. Now, she felt unnerving times ten. Well, or something like that.
More silence.
"Well, I had a dream about you Natsume," Mikan said. There seemed to be a jolt to Natsume, but too small for Mikan to notice. "I…I dreamt that I was being chased by Persona…"
Natsume paid more attention to her now, but still kept his impassive, unemotional façade up. Inside, his hatred for Persona built up. Even in dreams, Persona, you can still do this.
Mikan continued "And, you came…and…" Mikan paused mid-sentence. Great, she was speaking about something that she did not want to think about. But then, many people, including her Grandpa, said that letting things out decreases the time it spends in your head. She turned to look at Natsume.
His face was still and calm. 'Probably paid no attention to me' Mikan thought. If she wanted to get this out of her head, she'll have to let it out. Hopefully, she wished, hopefully this would work. Grandpa's words always worked. 'Natsme will probably reply "stupid, it's just a dream"' Mikan thought mockingly. But she'd take chances with telling it to Natsume now, rather than telling it to Hotaru and midnight. Of course, Hotaru would say the exact same thing, but with a different, a more derisive tone to her voice. No, it'd be the same; Hotaru or Natsume. But at least, Natsume did not have a baka-gun with him.
"And…you were killed because I was too slow," Mikan finally said. That felt better. But even when it felt better, she still felt the artificial rain drops fall down her cheeks.
"Oi, poka-dots," Natsume spoke, "It's just a dream. And dreams aren't reality. Neither do they become reality. I'm still sitting here, stupid."
Still, it kept raining. "I-I know, but still," Mikan said in protest. True, there was less of an effect on her, but it was still there. 'And it didn't seem to far from reality either, given the right circumstances, it could happen, couldn't it?' she thought
"No use troubling yourself over it," Natsume said, "It'd just cause you more nightmares if you keep thinking about it."
"N.." She nodded in reply. She felt a warm hand brush her tears away. She felt a slight blush rising to her face. Skies were clearing now.
"If you still keep talking about it, I'd take it as you're cursing me, polka-dots," Natsume said teasingly.
"OI! PERVERT!" Mikan snapped. She was back to her old self now. Or almost back. Either ways, she felt better. At least better than when she left her room.
"You should go back to your room, its cold out here," Natsume told, or rather ordered, Mikan.
"How about you?"
No answer. Natsume was back on the bench looking into nothingness again. She'd take that as an 'I'll be fine'. No use pestering him about it. She'd just get perverted insults back. Finally, Mikan left for her room. (She had better luck in climbing back up and entering her room. And that she had a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night).
Meanwhile, back at a raven-colored hair boy. He stared up at the sky and thought to himself. 'I had a very similar dream to you, Mikan. Only that, I liked yours better because in mine, you died.'
-End-
Please Review and tell me how I could improve this. I wrote this past midnight because I HAD to get it down. The end part went kind of blah and strayed from my original intentions ;; Natsume went OOC in the last part also XD
Anyways, please review
Polite flames are welcome