Crossing Paths
'Once more, I'll try once more. I'll definitely do it this time' encouraging herself saying this she glided across the ice rink beautifully. She was skating in a straight line before she wished herself luck as she skilfully kicked then jumped with the skating leg as soon as the picking blade hit the ice. She artistically flipped twice in the air and just as she thought she had pulled it off she landed back on the rink with a thud. She had failed again. Sitting on the ground with her head bent down with bangs covering her eyes and her hands tightened to fists, a scream echoed through the stadium ' Arrrrghh, I don't believe this. No matter how many times I try I can't do it. I can't get that damn Toe loop jump right. I totally suck'. 'Yeah you suck big time' said a raven haired girl with bored amethyst eyes. She sat comfortably on a bench watching the figure-skater perform. To make herself comfortable she was also eating a tin of crab brains. Before putting the last spoon of the delicacy into her mouth she said 'and here she goes again'. She watched as the beautiful girl leaped into the air with confidence in the hope of pulling off the difficult stunt only to fall back on the ground again. 'No I just can't anymore. I give up Hotaru' moaned the girl. 'It's about time you did' said Hotaru as she got ready to leave. She had barely stood up when a maniacal laughing was heard 'haaaaahaaah, as if I would give up that easily. I Mikan Sakura will be one of the best, no the best figure skater in the world. I'll practice till I die.' 'I'll be there for your funeral then' said Hotaru as she walked out of the stadium. Mikan did practise until her legs gave away but all in vain. Walking or more like dragging herself to the changing rooms she realized that she had been practising since morning without having anything since breakfast. It was good that the stadium belonged to Hotaru's family so she could use it whenever she wanted. Standing in the shower she closed her eyes enjoying the sensation of the cold water on her skin. She ran her hands through her long auburn hair and closing her eyes she saw the image she always did when she lacked confidence -her performing in the winter Olympic sports. Doing all the jumps like toe loop, flips and lutze perfectly. And finally the main moment of victory when she walked up to get her gold medal. She opened her eyes and like always she reminded herself of her dream- to win the winter Olympics in figure skating and she would do anything to reach it.
'Fuck off' he said as he delivered the last blow. Wiping off the blood at the side of his mouth he grabbed his guitar case and stormed off. 'Damn, those bastards' he thought as he leaned back against a brick wall for support. He laid his guitar case next to him and gripped the left side of his stomach in pain. There were too many guys for him to have handled alone. He tried to walk but his stomach hurt too much so he sat down against the wall. He panted heavily as he bent down a little, his raven hair concealing his eyes. He cursed under his breath but there was no point in doing that. He didn't have any right to complain. If he had wanted an easy life he should have never left home. He remembered his father's angry expression every time he practised his guitar. His mother's clear refusal when he had said he wanted to pursue music. No, he didn't regret it; he didn't regret leaving home at all. But life for a fifteen year old boy who had been brought up very carefully in a rich household has got be hard outside home. For the past few months he had lived in a cheap rented flat owned by his band mate but now he was abandoned by his band and was homeless.
Nothing was more relaxing for Mikan than running at night with her earphones plugged in. She always enjoyed the night breeze that cooled her down. She ran, enjoying every minute of it. There weren't that many people around at night, only a few cars passed by on the main street. She decided to slow down after a while when a cool guy drove past her on a motorbike. She turned to get a better look but he was gone. She frowned and was about to turn back when she bumped into someone. She sat on the ground rubbing her head and was about to apologize when she heard an angry husky voice say 'what the hell, are you blind?' 'I'm sorry, my bad.' 'Fuck off' he said as he tried to get up but fell back down as he gripped his stomach. Mikan was too consumed in rage to notice his condition and angrily questioned him 'excuse me, do you know who you are talking to?' Nobody had ever spoken like that to her. She knew she wasn't famous yet but she was still well known in the town. She had won loads of competitions and people knew she was a candidate for the national figure skating tournament. She was the pride of the town and she deserved respect. Besides this guy lacked basic manners. She waited for him to reply but he didn't say anything. He was dressed in a red hoody and his navy blue jeans looked a little dirty at the knees. He looked like he was in pain so she reached her hand forward asking 'hey, you ok?' But all he did was push her hand away and told her to get lost. She got annoyed that she even cared for the stupid guy so she turned to leave when she heard a THUD. She turned and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the boy lying down, his eyes closed and painful noises escaping his mouth.
'Sorry about this onee- chan' she said to the pink haired girl who looked more than happy to treat the boy's wounds. 'Ne Mikan, doesn't he look kinda cool? 'Yeah but….. We don't know anything about him. Is it still ok to keep him here?' 'Well he doesn't have any kind of I-d or even a mobile to give us any info. So I guess we have to wait till he wakes up.' 'Why do you sound so happy? He could be a serial killer for all we know.' 'Yeah but he's just a kid, looks like the same age as you so I'll take my chances. Besides I do practise karate you know. Mikan you take care for him for a while until I go cook some dinner, ok.' Mikan sighed a little as she sat down on a chair next to the boy. He was quite good looking with perfect features apart from few bruises on his face. He must have been in a fight and a pretty bad one she thought. At any rate she didn't appreciate the way he had spoken to her. She looked at his guitar case and out of curiosity opened it. He couldn't sleep; there was some kind of noise around him like bees buzzing. He shifted a little when a sharp searing pain shot up through his body. He opened his eyes to see big chocolate brown orbs staring down at him. She was holding his guitar in one of her hands. So she was the one producing the noise. His eyes narrowed a little and he pushed the face away. 'Oww what was that for, you idiot?' 'You're face was too close.' Mikan had a blank expression on her face but the next thing she knew she felt the room rotate and found her self under the boy. She was about to scream but before she could he put his hand on her mouth and said 'who the hell are you and what am I doing here? I'll move my hand for you to answer but if you scream you're dead.' She nodded but the minute he moved his hand a resonating sound was heard throughout the room. He felt weak enough with the noise she had produced that a bunk on his head and his hand locked behind his back with a scary looking woman behind him made wonder what was going on.
Ten minutes later the three of them were downstairs having dinner. 'Sorry about that, you had every right to suspect us as much as we suspected you. It must have been shocking to wake up to a new environment. Anyway, I'm Misaki and the sulking girl over there is my sister Mikan. Nice to meet you.' 'I still don't know who you are so am not gonna bother introducing myself. I owe you for the dinner so here is your payment. See ya.' 'Wait, do you even have a place to go?' asked Misaki. 'None of your business.' 'I might be able to help you.' 'Why would you when you don't even know me?' At this Misaki just smiled and said 'My part time job a few months ago was working in the Hyuuga house as a nanny for their second son , Yoichi. I thought I had seen you somewhere just wasn't sure. ' At this he looked hard at her and sure enough he had seen the woman before. He turned to face her and said 'need a place with cheap rent.' 'I have already got one. Well you see I need a helper in this house to look after my sister since I'm busy with studies, job and also coaching her for a tournament. In return you get free food and a place to say. Howz that?' He seemed to be thinking for a while. Considering his circumstances staying here for a while until he found his own place didn't seem like a bad idea. He didn't want to babysit that girl for ever but for now it had to do. 'Fine then, for starters I need some clothes. I left mine in my old apartment.' Misaki was just about reply when she felt a devilish presence near her. She turned to Mikan who stood up and stabbed her roast potato with her fork as she said 'What is going on? I totally lost track of the conversation but it sounded like you allowed the delinquent to stay here and to top it off help me out. To remind you this boy tried to harm me.' 'Its ok Mikan I kinda know him. He's not a delinquent.' 'But I don't know him not that I want to, so no, I don't want him in my house.' At this the boy walked over to her and said casually 'hey, I'm Natsume. Don't give me too much trouble.' Mikan just turned to glare at him and after putting up a vain fight with her sister stormed up to her room
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed that. Please review so I know what you think of it.
