A/N: I wrote this based on some random lines that manifested in my head. So if you find discontinuity in the story, that randomness is the culprit. (And the quote's a modified piece of one of my original works. It's called Beyond Shooting Stars.) Sorry! But here it is, enjoy! Hope you like it! Please review!

*Hugs to all readers and reviewers!*

ANONYMOUS REVIEWS ARE ACCEPTED!=

WINTER'S CAPER
Beyond shooting stars.
That's what it would take. For peace, for freedom... for home.

Mikan sat watching the first snowfall of the year. But all she could feel was the cold, the all-pervading numbness.

"Hey, Polka," his hoarse whisper was to the right of her.

She's still silent. He's worried and doesn't know what to do. It's been like this for so many, many days. What a terrific pair they must be! He sitting there, scared, she, reeling away faster than he can even glimpse.

"Mikan, what's wrong?"

That's all he could say for god knows how long. He's slowly losing track of days. Losing track of her too, but heck, she's been gone longer than the time they first met so what's the point of mentioning it?

It has become an endless chant, "Mikan, Mikan, Mikan, Mikan, Mikan, MikanMikanMikan..." that in itself has become a charm to hold on to what she once was. The idea of her more like. Because the deeper Hotaru, Ruka, Yuu and Koko delve into her past, the longer Natsume sits here, pleading for her to return, they get more disillusioned of her. Not in a bad sense, rather they realise the endless tangle, the continuous dance she's been pulling and spinning to hold herself together. All of it to keep them safe.

Anna, Nonoko, Mochu and the rest know that something's wrong with her but there's nothing more they can do. They visit her every single day, trying, trying so hard that she should respond and tell them to stop worrying but all Natsume observes is louder pleads, mild screams and the quiet acceptance that maybe, just maybe there's nothing they can do.

She can hear them all, their tears, their hopes, their pleas but how does she go back? How does she face them in the light of the atrocities she has committed? Maybe it was for the sake of saving them, saving Natsume more like, her conscience spits. What do you call a conscience that whispers all your misgivings and failings day and night? But she's pulled herself into this bleak cell and she's got to get herself out.

Hotaru's burning daylight to get to the core of this. It's been three months and she's still catatonic. Hotaru's never learnt the meaning of futility. But day by day as this goes by, she's beginning to see why people give up. Ruka's looking pale as if someone had wrung him out once too many times and hung him out to dry and Yuu doesn't look any better. Koko's pale imitation of Mikan's smile has been wiped clean as if it was never there to begin with. They are all worried that just maybe they have hit a wall.

And it goes on, this dance, this caper around the fragile glass field of what once was Mikan. Natsume trying to salvage the shell of Mikan, the rest finding the missing pieces of her and Mikan trying to hold it all together.

But spring's about to come and there's finally a glimmer of hope.