"Move an inch and I'll blast a hole through her pretty little head." the brunette's two companions froze instantly. The raven haired lad glared daggers at the red-head who currently had the girl in his hold.
"Let. Her. Go." he growled. The man let out a harsh laugh.
"Down kitty. Unless you want me to sink a bullet into your little girlfriends head." He replied mockingly.
The four stood in the middle of a trashed lab. All the equipment had been smashed, burnt or demolished. The doors were hanging on their hinges, windows shattered, leaving glass scattered across the ground. The whole building shook around them, debris falling, creating cracks in the walls and ceilings, exposing the torn wires and broken pipes. The whole place was falling apart, and it was only a matter of time before it all came crashing down on them.
"Mom..." Yuka stared at her daughter's pleading face, with horror filled eyes, as realisation hit her.
"No! This isn't fair!" she tried to oppose her daughter's request.
"Mom, you promised..." her mother stepped back, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You knew, didn't you? YOU KNEW!" rage and fear hit her at once, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the tears from falling.
"Mom, please!" tears formed in her eyes as she pleaded with her mother.
"No! You can't do this to me, Mikan! You just can't! I never would have agreed if I knew! How can you do this to me?!" the brunette stared at her mother with sorrowful eyes.
"Please..." she begged, her lower lip trembling. Yuka met her daughter's gaze, knowing, in that instant, that she had no choice but to surrender to her request. Her tears flowed harder as she silently surrendered. Her heart ached at the thought of what she was agreeing to.
Reo and Natsume watched the exchanged, sinking deeper and deeper into a pit of confusion. It was Reo that finally decided to voice their curiosity.
"And what, pre tell, was all that about?" he drawled.
"Ne Natsume," Mikan called out to the raven haired lad, completely ignoring her captor's previous question. The boy in question turned to face her. "I love you." His eyes went wid. A hand clamped down on his wrist.
The building shook harder causing the ceiling above them to collapse in on them. He stared into the eyes of the brunette as the rubble fell around her and her captor.
"Mikan!" he started forward, only to be stopped by the hand on his wrist. He turned around, meeting Yuka's teary gaze with a confused one.
"Gomennasai"
"wha-?" his question was cut off as the scene before him disappeared, and he landed on the wet grass of the academy grounds.
His eyes widened in horror as the image of Mikan Sakura being buried under a ton of rubble, as the ceiling collapsed in on her played over and over in his mind. The thing that scared him most, though, was the huge smile plastered across her face, despite the tears that were pouring down her cheeks.
"Hyuuga, Azumi! What happened?! Are you okay?! Where's Mikan?!" Imai Hotaru's voice rang through the air, snapping him out of his reverie. He spun to face Yuka, only to find her on her hands and knees, with tears dripping down her face, and on to the ground below her.
"Take me back! Take me back now!" he didn't even try to hide the panic in his voice as hot tears started to flow from his eyes. Ruka and Hotaru stared at the lad, fear rising up in their chests at the sight of him crying. Hyuuga Natsume never cries. Ever.
"I...I can't, Natsume..."
"What do you mean you can't?!" he lunged at the woman before him, only to be held back by the shadow manipulator. "That's your daughter! How can you just leave her there?! We have to go back!" he screamed, quickly becoming hysterical.
"You know as well as I do Natsume, that it's too late..."
"NO! You're wrong!! It's not too late! Just take me back!" it couldn't be too late! It just couldn't! He wouldn't accept it. Because accepting it meant accepting she was gone.
"N-Natsume....y-you saw it with you o-own eyes...she's d-dead..."
"NO! She's not dead! She can't be! Take me back! We can still save her if you just take me back!"
"There's nothing we can do! There's no way she could have s-survived that..."
"How can you say that?!How can you just leave her like that?! She's your daughter!!!"
"You think I don't know that?!" she screamed. "You think I don't know that I've just killed my own daughter, my own flesh and blood?! You think I wanted to leave her there?! You think I wouldn't do anything to get her back?!"
"Then why did you leave her there?!"
"Because she made me promise to protect you!" the fire-caster faltered
"Wh-what?" he stared at the sobbing Yuka, his thoughts flashing back to the exchange the two shared before. His eyes widened in realisation. "That....that's what.....that's what you were arguing about..." Yuka nodded her head silently.
"before the mission....she came to me and made me promise that....that if s-something happened to her.... she made me promise that I would... that I would get you o-out of there....that I would k-keep you safe, at all costs...even if it meant l-leaving her...I-I tried to r-refuse, but she made me promise. I thought she was just having misgivings about the mission...b-but...she knew....she knew she was going to get captured...she knew the building was going to collapse...she knew everything that was going to happen..."
Tsubasa let go of Natsume, allowing the latter to fall to his knees. His nails dug into the dirt as his hands balled into fists. He let out an agonised scream, his fists pounding the ground, as fire sprang up around him. tears fell from his crimson eyes, as images of the young brunette flashed through his mind, her final words ringing in his ears.
I love you.
She loved him. she sacrificed herself to protect him. to protect all of them. She could have teleported out of there, just like they had. But she didn't, because if she did, Reo would have been teleported with her. But now he was dead. They were safe, because of her sacrifice.
He let the flames rage, knowing too well that it was draining his life force. He didn't care. He welcomed death. At least then he could be with Mikan. He could see her once again. After all, what's the point of living life, if she's not a part of it.
Baka! Baka! Baka!
The flames disappeared as he flew across the ground, landing face down in the grass. His hands balled up into fists as he snapped his head towards Imai, only to freeze at the sight of her. The usually stoic and emotionless Imai Hotaru was wearing an expression of grief and pain. Her amethyst eyes shone with the tears that flowed freely over her cheeks, as her shoulders heaved with silent sobs.
"Don't you dare Hyuuga!" Her voice shook with emotion as she tried not to lose it completely. "Do you think this is what she wanted? Do you really think she sacrificed herself so that you could go and kill yourself?" he stared at her as she walked towards him. She stopped in front of him.
"She loved you more than anything. You'll never know how much she cared for you. I do. I was there to listen to her ramblings about you. To see the smile that lit up her face whenever she saw you. To see the tears that she shed every time you upset her. I was there to watch her sit at her window into the early hours of the morning waiting for you to come back from a mission. She loved you enough to give her life for you. So don't you dare let it go to waste. " she held out a hand towards him.
He stared up at the inventor. He could see in her eyes how much pain she felt. Even if she didn't show it, Mikan meant the world to her. But because of him, she was gone. Her words were a symbol of how strong their bond really was. Because, even though he was the reason for her pain, she still consented to show him kindness, for the sake of her friend.
He knew she wanted to hate him, heck, he hated himself. He hated himself for letting the one person he really cared for slip through his fingers. For letting her sacrifice herself for him. For not confessing his love for her when he had the chance. Yes, he, Hyuuga Natsume, loved Sakura Mikan. And now she'll never know.
He reached forward and clasped Hotaru's hand in his own. She let a small, sad smile flash across her lips as she pulled him up. He finally took the chance to look around, and was surprised to see so many people surrounding them.
A few feet ahead of him, stood Ruka, he stared at Natsume, tears flowing freely over his cheeks, a small melancholy smile on his face. Next to him stood Andou Tsubasa, the one who had previously prevented him from attacking Yuka, stood hugging Harada Misaki, who was sobbing into his chest. If you looked closely, you could also see tear tracks glistening on the shadow manipulators face. Yuka hadn't moved from her previous position, though Shiki was now knelt next to her with his arms wrapped around her, in an effort to comfort her. Narumi stood next to the pair, watching the scene, not even trying to stop the tears that fell, as he mourned the loss of his favourite student. Then there was Persona. He was leaning against a tree a short distance away. Even though he wore his usual nonchalant expression, a lone tear made it's was down his face.
Every one of them stood in silence. Not knowing what to say to break the awkward silence that had engulfed them. Finally, Natsume spoke up.
"Yuka." She turned to face him, her eyes a perfect reflection of grief and regret. "take me back."
He eyes widened at his request. "Natsume...I already told you....she...she's g-gone..." she looked down dejectedly.
"I know that. But I want to find her body. She deserves a proper burial. There's no way I'm leaving her there with that...that...scum." she looked up at his determined face and nodded. She stood up slowly and took a deep calming breath.
"You're right."
"I'm coming too." He turned to Hotaru, seeing her determined expression and nodded.
"Me too" Ruka spoke up.
"And us. The more people there are, the easier it'll be right?" chimed in Tsubasa, as he clutched Misaki close to him.
"I'll stay here. I need to explain everything to the staff." Narumi said as he walked towards Natsume. He stopped in front of him. "Bring Mikan-chan home..." the fire-caster nodded in understanding.
The group huddled together, linking arms readying themselves.
"Ready?" they nodded in unison, and with that the group disappeared from the grounds.
They arrived at the site and stared in shock at the base, which had now been reduced to rubble. They had to be dreaming....right?
"Took your time!" a shrill voice sliced through the air.
"P-polka?!"
"The one and only!" and so it was. There, atop the rubble and debris, sat Sakura Mikan, cheesy grin intact, with an extremely pissed Reo, tied up, at her side.
"b-but...how?"
"You didn't think I'd actually leave myself completely unprotected did you? I used the shield Alice. It protected me from the falling rubble."
Natsume's face broke into a huge grin as he sprinted forwards, clambering over all of the rubble, until he reached the brunette. He enveloped her in a tight hug and buried his face in her hair. She wrapped her arms around his waist grinning like the idiot she was. He leaned down until his mouth was next to her ear.
"I thought I lost you." he whispered. She let out a small chuckle.
"How could I leave? I didn't even get an answer for my confession." She replied slyly. He chuckled.
"Well then, how about I give you one?" he smirked before pulling back enough to look into her eyes. His warm breath fanned across her face, sending shivers down her spine. "Well?" all she could manage was a small nod. He smirked again and pressed his lips against hers in a sweet, tender kiss. He pulled back slightly, admiring her cherry-red face.
"I love you too, polka." He murmured, loud enough for her to hear. "And if you ever do that again, I will personally take it upon myself to kill you. "She giggled lightly and smiled sheepishly. He flashed her a smirk and grabbed her hand, dragging her back down to the others.
Yuka was the first to rush forwards and embrace her. Her tears flowing once again. "Mikan! I'm so glad you're alright! I thought I'd lost you! I should have never agreed to that stupid request!"
"Mom, calm down I'm fine. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, but it was the only way I could get away from Reo and capture him." Yuka finally released her daughter, allowing her to turn to the group that was gathered a short way away.
"Hehe...hi guys...I didn't expect all of you to come here...."
Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka!
"Mou Hotaru! That's way more than usual!" whined Mikan, while the others all sweatdropped.
"You deserve it. idiot." She lowered the gun and held her arms out. "Now come here, baka." Mikan's face lit up instantly as she glomped her raven haired friend.
"Gomennasai" she pulled away and beamed at her friend.
"Mou, Mi-chan! What about us?" whined Tsubasa. She let out a short giggle and ran towards her two sempai, wrapping her arms around them.
"Happy?"
"Yup."
She let go and turned towards Ruka.
"I'm glad you're okay Sakura-san"
"Arigato, Ruka-pyon! Sorry for worrying you." she gave him a short hug before turning back to Natsume.
"Oi! Enough with the love-fest! Will somebody please untie me?" Reo's voice rang through the air, re-alerting them of his presence. All eyes were instantly on him. Hotaru instantly raised her baka gun, ready to pulverise him, but was beaten to it when hi hair spontaneously caught on fire. He yelped in fear and pain, screaming for someone to put it out. His wish was granted when Mikan nullified the Alice.
"Hey! I was having fun burning that bastard!" whined Natsume.
"Tough! You shouldn't be using your Alice! If you want him to suffer, let the others take care of him. But no fire." He sighed in defeat before curling his lip upwards.
"Fine. I'll just entertain myself another way." He said, smirking. The brunette cocked her hear to the side in confusion. He just smirked wider and leaned so that their faces were inches apart. "Like this." And he captured her lips once again.
hey guys. first off, for anyone who reads my other stories ( strangers, too late, and ghost girl) i am sorry! i know i promised i was gonna update quicker, since i got my laptop back, but stuff came up. i was bedridden for 2 weeks straight because i got a stomach virus, so i couldnt really write, since i was too busy throwing up. then because of that, i was really behind on my project work for college, so i was spending all of my time trying to catch up. and then my mum's friend came to visit, so i was banned from my laptop while they were here because im apparently too antisocial (stupid mother). then i couldnt get this idea out of my head, so i had to write it up. but i am now going to work on my stories, and i promise to update them all by the end of the week :)
okay, ramblings over. what did you think? my first upload was alot different, but when i read through it, it seemed really rushed and choppy. so i decided to edit it, and add some stuff in to make it flow better, and it ended up turning from a tragedy to this....ah well. i think this version is alot better than the other, though if youguys want a tragic ending then message me and i'll write it and uploaded as another story. Any comments, grammar and spelling corrections, or criticism is welcome, so review please!
Thanks for reading!
ja ne 8)