The Perfection of a 'Woman' Costs

Written by Lenny Snippet


She was heavily crying as if she was a rain cloud, pouring her rain on Hotaru who never wanted it. Despite the fact Hotaru was willing to comfort her young friend, she never wanted Mikan to stain her freshly-pressed shirt with tears. Surely thirty tears must have dropped from her eyes and onto her shirt already.

Mikan sniffled and one last teardrop slid its way onto Hotaru's shirt. OK, maybe twenty-nine tears dropped but finally thirty has gone. Hotaru awkwardly patted the auburn's back and pushed Mikan away gently. Mikan looked like a wreck; eyes swollen and red, cheeks blotchy and her lips were unusually bruised.

Finally, the brunette spoke, "Tell me…" Mikan quieted herself, not sure what there was to tell. "… what happened."

If there were more tears to express, Mikan would've done so. Knowing she was done choking up and weeping, she finally opened her mouth. "It's about… Natsume."

Hotaru narrowed her eyes at the hearing of his name. What did he do now?

"He… helped me—"

"You're here crying; how on earth did he help you when he was the problem causing this pain?" Hotaru asked sternly, almost gripping too hard on Mikan's forearms. At the sight of Mikan looking depressingly at the ground, she loosened her grip. "Continue." Even though Hotaru didn't want her to.

"Well…" Mikan started again, too disturbed by what had happened. "He helped me… become a woman."

Hotaru quizzically stared at the youngin'. Her neatly combed eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean 'become a woman?'" Hotaru questioned and felt dumb that she was asking this.

"Doesn't a girl become a true woman when she has—"

The brunette finally caught on and stared at the auburn in silent horror. "You did not, did you?" she asked as she composed herself again. Mikan nodded mutely. "… And let me guess, you're—"

"Pregnant?" Mikan finished and stared wretchedly into Hotaru's violet eyes.

Hotaru gave off a soft sigh. "… As I expected."


Lenny Snippet's Notes:

... I'm disappointed in the ending, to be honest. However, I didn't want this to be long. Some stories were meant to be either long or short. This one was meant to be short. Yes, yes, I'm aware of how many Nattie (Natsume) x Mikan fans are out there--especially on here. This is more like a friendship one-shot anyway. So, yes, it needed to be a bit Anti-Nattie (Natsume) x Mikan... or a lot since it was centered around this.