Disclaimer: I own nothing except this plot. My fluff-bunny is at work, so be warned.
Of Math and Love
"I thank whoever invented Math, for he, and the whole universe conspired with me to find you,"
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Whenever you get confused by something, where do you seek comfort? To the expert of that something of course! But if that expert is your sworn enemy, you can't possibly seek comfort from that person, huh? Worse, if that 'seeking comfort' you need means that your entire future is at stake, and worst if that 'sworn enemy' you've got is an arrogant pervert. Will you even live till 20 with all the damnation he brings? God forbid.
But, if that 'sworn enemy' is secretly in love with you, then that's another story.
Completely different. Unimaginable. Impossible. Never gonna happen. Not in a million millennium.
And another BUT, if you try to go across that law, then most likely you'll know if that person is your—aherm—soul mate.
Okay, this is getting cornier by the second.
Put yourself into Mikan Sakura's shoes as she enters her 3rd year high school life as a total cement-head idiot—too stubborn to even support the sentences of an Encyclopedia Britannica. She's got the world's most gifted person in terms of perversity and most likely in everything that he does as her partner and seat mate—Natsume Hyuuga, the man behind the black cat mask. Do you mind if we flashback one week ago, and find out the reason why fan girls glare at her from every direction—like she's gonna melt—right now?
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This is where my fluff-bunny kicks in. Be warned.
1 week ago...where studying was a must, guess what...
Mikan—the world's famous idiot—is in the Library!
"So, you think an idiot like me can't read?" came the cocky reply of our brunette when Hotaru started to ask her if the world's gonna expire soon. Hotaru just rolled her eyes in frustration as she continued to screw and unscrew her latest invention—the peregrine falcon camera—for spying purposes, typical Hotaru, eh?
"Invention number 345, prototype number 23, the peregrine falcon camera, this model is based from the fastest living creature, the peregrine falcon, which reaches speeds of at least 124mph and possibly as much as 168mph when swooping from great heights during its missions and can collect information—such as voice records and video streams, as well as candid shots—from a height of 250 feet and within 25 miles," Hotaru panted slightly while Mikan's head was cocked to the right ,her eyes replaced by swirls. When she regained her composure—for a good half-hour, with poking from Hotaru—she slumped on the chair and sighed.
"You just lost me at speeds," Mikan then tied her Japanese flag headband on her forehead and made a clumsy karate-chop movement.
"What's your plan?" Hotaru eyed her suspiciously.
"Search for the pervert of course!" she beamed and went out of the Library, oblivious to the threat given by the Librarian.
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"Natsume?" Mikan searched for Natsume for almost an hour, yet even his shadow was nowhere to be seen. The Sakura Tree, the classroom, the Hospital, the cafeteria—even though he hardly goes in there, the branches of the trees, she searched almost everywhere, but Natsume's atom was nowhere to be seen. Feeling frustrated and tired, Mikan went to her one-star room, only to find the person she'd been looking for for the past hour.
"What the hell are you doing here?! I looked for you for a good hour only to find you here?! Where did you get the spare keys to my room?!" she yelled at him while Natsume wiped his face for some flecks of tooth cavities, saliva, and food fibers, much to Mikan's chagrin. She turned red then...
"..." that was when Natsume pointed to the open window, a sign of her carelessness and his trespassing deeds.
"You are making me pissed off!" Mikan neared to her window and closed it tight, afraid of colds—and Hotaru's new camera.
"Then piss off," was Natsume's mock.
"Why are you here anyway?" she asked calmly as she sat on the study table with him, peeking on the book he's bringing.
"Advance Algebra of course, don't tell me your idiotic brain forgot to remind you about it," he said lifelessly, and then Mikan remembered the details...
More Flashback!
"What is a parallel line?" Jinno-sensei tapped his weird-looking rod on the table and everyone jumped in surprise.
"Yes, Sakura?" was his stern voice calling her. She jumped in surprise again.
"Uhh..." Mikan tried to come up with an answer. Her pleading eyes went to her seat mates, Ruka and Natsume. As usual, Natsume shrugged his shoulders and Ruka mouthed words like not meeting and the same, but she cannot understand what it means, so she slumped her shoulders and looked at Natsume once again, only to find him opening his Math notebook and covering his manga with it.
'Ahh, the nerve of this bastard! Must he slap that notebook in my face?' but Jinno-sensei's creepy and ghostly voice broke her from her musings.
"So desu ne, so Hyuuga, I can see you are indirectly teaching Sakura to cheat on my class. As punishment, you will be the tutor of this one-star until the end of the review week, to help her prepare for the exams. That's all, goodbye," then he had a ghostly exit.
Back to the other Flashback
"Ahh, now I remember!" Mikan beamed as Natsume rolled his eyes.
"Let's start, now, what is an asymptote?" Natsume opened his manga and read it while Mikan though of an answer, then she saw the open book and before she could peek on it—Natsume already blocked it with his manga.
"No cheating," he said and smirked. Mikan couldn't help but think of a way to wipe off that devious smirk of his.
"Uhh, it's the...you know...the...uhmm...eto...the-"
"The curve that gets close to the line, yet never meets with it,"
"I was getting there, you bumhead! Anyway, is that the same with love? When two people gets close to each other, yet they never get to the point?" Mikan explained thoroughly, with a smirking Natsume beside her.
Natsume thought of a plan. A very life-changing plan.
"It seems that your mind works at its best when Math is compared to love. Why don't we just do it, for you to understand easily?" Natsume's mask was blown off, but he didn't care, it was for his Mikan.
"Hai~!" was her determined answer.
"Now, what is a tangent line?" Natsume asked her with amusement evident in his husky voice.
"Uhh, is it where two people meet and the never get together again?" Mikan asked while her finger was under her chin. Natsume smirked.
"No, it's when two people love, break up, then never meet again. They just touch each other's hearts, yet they never changed anything for each other," was Natsume's explanation. Mikan burst into applause.
"Wow, Natsume! I never thought you were this smart when it comes to love!"
"No, I just got blessed with a common sense,"
"WHAT DID YOU SAAAAAAY???!!!"
"Hn. Next, what is the Cartesian plane?"
"It's the invention made by a person I forgot where there are two lines, which only meet at the origin. It is the same with tangent line, where they only touch each other's lives, then never come back again," was Mikan's amazing explanation.
"It's Renè Descartes. Ok, now, for the second to the last question, what is a parallel line?"
"Ahh, there are two lines, and then those two lines are like two people that only pass one another and then they never get to know each other. In other words, they have no chance of meeting. The saddest part of love," Mikan sniffed dramatically.
"Whatever. Last, what is an overlapping line?" Natsume asked as he neared Mikan.
"Yatta! It's the loveliest part of love! It's where two lines following the same path, just like two people sharing the same fate!" she beamed happily, oblivious to the fact that Natsume was only inches away from her.
"And, would you mind giving me an example of an overlapping line?" he breathed on her cheek as she turned red.
"Uhh...I have no idea-" but then Natsume cupped her chin and faced her to him.
"I'll give you a hint: me..." Natsume kissed her nose gently.
"...and you," Mikan breathed as Natsume crashed his lips on hers like a current crashing a high cliff. It sent an electric jolt on their bodies as they danced into the beat of their hearts. It was an ethereal moment for the both of them. It was as if their lives depended on it. It was an action too sudden for Mikan to even comprehend what it is, but when she understood, she just smiled.
"We're one heck of an overlapping line,huh?" Natsume smirked at her after a minute of gasping for air.
"I can't believe I just did that," Mikan panted, and made Natsume's smirk curve upward all the more, enough to call it a smile, a genuine one, at that.
-click- -click- -fwooooooosh-
"What was that?" Mikan asked as she opened her window, and then...
"HOTARUUUUU~"
What, now?
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if you're asking me what happened to Mikan's exam scores, well, it was amazing that she got B in Math. Her other scores were just C or D, but what matters most is that she passed, and crossed my theory of sworn enemies.
I guess some overlapping line crossed my theory, again.
Again in the sense that only few people are brave enough to risk themselves to prove it wrong, and again in a sense that Imai Hotaru and Nogi Ruka proved it wrong as well, and they just have to beat me up together as an added bonus.
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Super thank you to Ah Hael for correcting my grammar mistakes and for reviewing. You're the best ever.
Thank you for the reviewers that constantly urge me to write a follow-up. Sadly, a one-shot is a one-shot. I will not make any follow-up on this, sorry.
Please read my other stories, though.
Reviews? :)
-ria.