Natsume turned and ran.
He ran as fast as he could. But he didn't know where to go. Everything around him was a complete darkness. The silence around him was deafening.
Still, he ran.
He ran even though his whole body was aching. Pain was shooting up his legs. His lungs felt like they would burst. And he couldn't breathe.
He wanted to stop. But he couldn't. He also wanted to go on.
Then, he saw it.
Faraway in the distance, he saw a small ball of light. It grew bigger and bigger as he ran. Until the light engulfed the darkness around him.
He stopped running and got down on all fours, panting and gasping for breath.
"Natsume."
A voice, a girl's voice, called out to him, echoing around him.
He looked around but saw no one.
"Natsume," The voice continued to call to him.
"Natsume."
A girl in brunette pigtails suddenly appeared before him. She looked at him, smiling. Her smile seemed to take away all his pain. Her happiness comforted him.
But then, a black hole suddenly opened up beneath her and swallowed her.
"No!" He shouted, trying to save her but he was too late. She was gone.
Everything around him turned pitch black once again.
But this time, he was slowly falling down… down… down…
He opened his eyes to find himself lying on his bed in his room. He sat up, heart beating fast and beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
It had only been a dream.
He got out of his bed, took a quick shower, and dressed in his school uniform.
He met up with Ruka after breakfast and together they walked towards their classroom.
All eyes looked up when they came in. Everyone was quiet, but the two just ignored their stares and walked on towards their seats.
Natsume held eye contact with Hotaru as they passed by, but neither spoke a word.
When they were already seated, the noise went back.
Natsume couldn't help staring at the empty seat beside him. Somehow he felt incomplete, like everything was a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece.
"Ne, Natsume?" Ruka called softly from beside him.
"Hn."
"Are you alright?"
"Hn."
Then there was only silence between them.
Natsume placed his feet on the desk in front of him, tipped his head back on his seat, and covered his face with his manga.
As he closed his eyes, the face of the girl with brunette pigtails flashed before his mind again. The next thing he knew, he had dozed off.
That afternoon, Natsume headed towards his favorite Sakura tree, a manga tucked in one hand.
He had slept through the lessons the whole day, and now classes have ended.
The sun was still shining brightly overhead, but in two hours or so, it would be replaced by the moon, glowing brilliantly against a star-studded black satin sky.
He climbed up the lowest branch of the tree and sat there. He leaned his back against the tree trunk, one leg perched on the trunk while the other hung loosely. He opened his manga to the page he last left off and tried to read. But he just couldn't focus.
All he could think about was the brunette girl that haunted him in his dreams. She haunted him even when he was awake.
A sudden gush of wind blew around him and sent shivers down his spine.
He remembered the memories he had with the brunette girl on this tree. Sweet memories that he wished had never happened.
He then found himself wishing he never met her.
What was the point of her coming into the darkness of his life and bringing light into it when later darkness would just creep back in and extinguish the light she has given him?
But then he also wished she never left.
He wanted her to stay forever, to be always there, to bring him the hope and light he needed, and to make him smile again.
He remembered what a good feeling it was to be out of the darkness and into the light.
Suddenly, pain seared through his heart. He clutched his chest, dropping his manga to the ground. He couldn't breathe. His head was pounding and he saw everything spinning around him.
Everything around him went dark, and then he fell to the ground.
He awoke to find himself on a bed inside a hospital ward, the excruciating smell of ammonia burning through his nostrils.
He looked out the window and saw that he had a good view of the sky outside.
It was already night time. The digital clock on the bedside table told him that it was already 9:17.
He gazed at the moon and stars shining brightly. For a fleeting second, he saw in his mind's eye the face of the brunette girl replacing the face of the moon.
He continued to stare at the sky outside until a figure suddenly blocked it from his view.
Persona stood beside him, looking down at him and smiling.
"Feel fine already, my dear Kuro-neko?" He asked him.
Natsume just grunted in response.
"Are you up for another mission?" Persona continued, touching a rose from a bouquet on the bedside table. The rose slowly wilted, turning black.
Natsume stared at him angrily but then he said, looking away, "Whatever."
"I'll be waiting for you by the Northern Woods," Persona told him sweetly and left the room.
Natsume slowly got up and headed towards his dormitory to get dressed and put on his mask.
In the dead of the night, he followed Persona deep into the woods.
There was only one person on his mind the whole time he fought all the men in black suits riding in black cars and pointing guns at him.
He was willing to do anything, even risk his own life, just to protect the persons he love, just as she did.
That's why he still kept on taking these missions despite the fact that they were the reason why the one person he loved the most was gone.
He took them so that he could keep on protecting his loved ones.
He took them for her.
A/N: Just a piece of crap to help cure my writer's block.