Burn by Touch
Back-from-wherever-post 4/8
Summary: Mikan cannot touch hot objects. OneShot.
Warning: -
Set: Story-unrelated
Disclaimer: Standards apply.
Mikan never gave a second thought to it. But now that she thinks about it, she realizes it: she is sensitive to heat.
She just cannot touch hot objects without getting burnt.
...
It's Sunday morning and the scent of sweet cakes wafts through the house deliciously.
"It's the recipe your Grandma always used, Mikan. You see how it goes? We take the buns like this" – a demonstration – "And put them on the tray. Then you can sprinkle them with chocolate chips – yes, exactly like that. What did you say, sweetie? Yes, it does look like a star. It's perfect! You're doing great. Okay, now you open the oven door and I'll – are you sure? Fine, so I'll open the door and you place the tray inside. Careful now, don't touch the hot surface – wonderful! Your Grandma would be so proud of you! Step back, I'll close the door – MIKAN!"
The hot metal burns like the fire it is. Mikan is crying, and grandpa is close to tears, too, while cold water momentarily soothes the pain. Grandpa cheers her up with a kiss, a story, a cold, wet salve against burns and the prospect of hot, sweet cakes, but the wound still hurts days later. It is the first scar Mikan receives, the first visible one, at least, and the first time Mikan learns that fire is dangerous.
…
It's a new term in the Middle School Division of Alice Academy and laughing and calling can be heard from everywhere.
"Hotaru! Hotaru, I've missed you so much!"
"Stop the noise, idiot, I've seen you every day of our holidays!"
"But you went to the beach on Wednesday with your family! I haven't seen you for a week now!"
"Well, I doubt you can think about such things with the limited brain-capacity of yours. But we're stuck in here for 355,25 days a year, so four days of separation won't ever be remotely enough to get a little break from you."
"You're so mean, Hotaru! Did you see Luca-kun, by the way? He has a new pet, it's so cute! And Permy has a new haircut, she doesn't even have curls anymore, her hair is absolutely straight now! And Kizumeme slept all the way though- OUCH!"
A scream of indignation and pain.
"Natsume!"
"… Yes?"
"Did you just burn my skirt? Do you think it's funny? Mean bastard! My new skirt! You're so going to pay for that!"
"I can't stand your babbling mouth any longer. Keep quiet, annoying girl."
"YOU BURNED MY NEW SKIRT!"
It takes Mikan a few minutes (in which Natsume disappears, Hotaru takes a few pictures of the worried Luca and Permy declares it was Natsume's way of telling her he had missed her) before the pain of burnt skin registers in her mind. As soon as the pain reveals itself she wants to cry but swallows the tears angrily. Misaki-sensei heals the wounds with some medicine of his, but the scars remain.
…
It's Friday afternoon and Hotaru's hammering echoes through the entire house.
"Hotaru?" No answer but none is needed. Mikan finds her friend in the vast lab issued to her by the Academy and her personal sponsors. The inventor barely glances up to look at her friend. All around them, things are tattling, poofing and jiggling along in the song of the process of creation.
"Hotaru, we were to meet three hours ago."
Mikan would like to sound reproachful but she knows her friend.
"I brought you some sweets."
That gets the inventor's attention. The hammering ceases. "What is it?"
"Howalow, among other things."
Hotaru emerges from a cloud of vapor, dust and sound. "Let's have some tea."
One thing one can count on when visiting Hotaru is the fact that her solar-powered-everyday-tea-water-heater is ready to issue liters of hot tea-water on her demand. Mikan grabs two cups (a robot bows and hands them to her) and heads over to the table the boiler stands on.
"Hotaru, have you heard – damnit, that's hot!"
Her fingers tingle from a not-quite-but-very-close-burn on the hot metal.
"Idiot," Hotaru remarks without any apparent emotion. "You know the boiler heats itself, Mikan. It's the sixteenth time you got burnt this year."
"I know," Mikan mumbles, sucking on her fingers and cursing herself for the umpteenth time.
…
She burns herself every time she touches something hot. Mikan cannot help it. Even while showering she scalds herself when the hot water decides to run especially hot. Or she cleans the dishes and accidentally burns herself and even when cooking she isn't safe. It is like her body craves the head but cannot stand it.
…
Touching Natsume burns like hell.
His skin is hot, hotter than it probably should be, and her fingers tingle with the ghost of pain that follows a burn. His eyes bore into her and set her aflame and while she wishes the pain would stop she still reaches for him again and again. It is like there is a fire lit on his inside which flows all the way through him and sometimes she fears it will burn him up from the inside. But his warmth warms her when the cold spreads on her inside. Natsume's fire binds her to life and scars her at the same time, because life with him never is easy. But when he looks at her in that way he only has when they are alone she feels like some of his heat stretches over to warm her on the inside, as well. One person once said those who burned brightest would also burn shortest. Natsume might have a Fire Alice but Mikan has a Protection Alice. She can handle him - most of the time, at least. And one of the first things she forced herself to learn was to expand her own shield onto people in her near vicinity. But she protects other people considerably easier than she protects herself, and that might be the reason why she collects so many burn marks in her life.
Natsume has the ability to give her scars and to heal her. And Mikan burns at his touch.