'Sup! I haven't been on in a while have I? (chuckles) Oh well!
This story is AU. Very, very AU; and OOCs. Also, no Alices. For those of you who are interested, Aoi is the main character, only because she's a main character who is actually RELATED to another character, both of whom are kids. It was a convenience for the purpose of the story. However, both Aoi and Natsume are 13, just because I felt like it.
So, this story is dedicated to all of my cousins, who recently started reading my fanfics and (after teasing me for a little bit) gave me support to write. One of my cousins, Janie, even reviewed one of my stories (One Day's Regret, actually). So, kudos to my family! You guys rock!
A Good Kind of Pain
Ah, summer! It's a time of many things, like the sun, the freedom, and…
"CANNONBALL!" the chance for my twin brother to get me wet even though he knows that I hate the water. Especially when it's on my clothes that I am wearing at that very moment.
"NATSUME HYUGA! DON'T GET YOUR SISTER AND COUSINS WET!" Natsume waved his hands nonchalantly and went back to attacking Youchi and Tsubasa, my younger and older cousins (respectively), in the pool. Mom sighed, and continued talking to Uncle Jinno (whom I've taken the liberty of renaming "Jin-Jin"). This is normal chaos for a Hyuga family reunion.
"Aoi, sometimes I can't believe that you and Natsume are twins," Nobara muttered. She's older than me by two years, but sometimes, it feels like we're the same age, since sometimes she acts so silly and I…well…don't. Anyway, she's really pretty, with long, curly blue hair and matching bright blue eyes. She has a little bit of acne, and she doesn't bother to use makeup to cover it, but she's still really pretty.
"Never mind that we're twins; I can't believe we're related," Unfortunately, Natsume and I actually look a lot alike, with the same hair color (a shade of black that's so dark that it almost looks dark blue) and eye color (blood red). When we were in Elementary School, he refused to cut his hair because he was afraid of the guy who worked at the barbershop. (A/N: That's right, you read correctly! The big, strong pyromaniac-afraid of the barber. Ooh, look out, Natsume! I'm going to attack you with a wet comb that has been sitting in that blue liquid-like stuff for three months! Oo- Oh, wait. I'm taking away from the story. Oops). And since my hair hadn't grown long yet, we looked identical. And, of course, I had to start wearing skirts. SKIRTS! I hate skirts and dresses. I'm strictly a tomboy. Fortunately, though, my mom had started cutting his hair off in the middle of the night until he wasn't scared, and mine grew longer.
He was very scared, however, that his hair was falling out, and proceeded to yap his 7-year-old mouth off that the barber was a zombie was trying to kill him. And he thought I had issues.
"Well, looking at it realistically, you guys are kind of the same," said Misaki thoughtfully. "You both have similar facial features and attitudes," Misaki is Nobara's much more hyper twin sister (the twin gene runs in our family (A/N: I wish it ran in mine. I'd love to have a twin…)), and looks exactly the same, except that both her hair and eyes are a shade of dark pink rather than blue. Also, her hair is straight, and she cakes on makeup, though, somehow, her skin is flawless (I would have expected her skin to be all spotty). Seriously though, she puts it on in pounds. I know. I've weighed it. If you think I'm weird, I'm not. I just tend to get bored sometimes on rainy days.
"Really, the same attitude is Natsume? So I like to splash innocent people when I know that they hate water?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You see, Aoi? The same!" Misaki said, jumping out of her seat. "You talk the same."
"'Speak,'" Nobara corrected. Nobara was the winner of the highest IQ of the womb. In exchange, however, Misaki got the most popularity and athletics. Funny how genetics work sometimes.
"All I'm saying is, I can't believe that he expected me to respect him after what he did," I said angrily.
"Did what to who?" asked Misaki, confused. Nobara sweat dropped while I slapped my forehead.
"You know, with Mikan?" I reminded her, feeling a fresh wave of pain return.
flashbackflashbackflashback
Spring Break has finally come! And I was spending it with my best friends in the Universe: Hotaru Imai, Anna Umenomiya, Nonoko Ogasawara, Sumire Shoda, and, of course, Mikan Sakura (my bestest best friend-ooh, but don't tell anyone! I'm supposed to like them all equally).
"So, what're you doing for the break?" I asked my friends eagerly.
"Well, Anna and I are going to our grandma's for most of the break," Nonoko said. She and Anna were technically cousins. I only say "technically" because Anna's mom and Nonoko's dad are brother and sister, but they had been adopted into the family. But, even though they weren't really related, they still looked similar. "We'll be leaving tomorrow" Anna continued.
"Ooh, sorry gals," said Sumire sympathetically. She was the tough one, who usually did the standing up to/for people thing, but she could be very nice when she wanted to. "I'm going on a cruise ship with most of my family. Most of my cousins are pretty little, and I'll have to watch them."
"Ouch," I said, wincing. "Sorry,"
"Nah, they're pretty cool and cute," Sumire said nonchalantly. "Besides, taking care of little kids shows off your kinder side, and there'll be a lot of boys on board so…" the rest of us rolled our eyes. Typical Sumire.
"What about you, Hota-" Mikan started, but she never got to finish.
"I will be sleeping the whole break. If I am disturbed, you will die," Hotaru said, deadpanned. We all sweat dropped. We knew that Hotaru never broke promises, so asking to hang out with her was out of the question.
"I'll be staying awake here in Kyoto for the whole summer!" Mikan announced. She turned to me. "What about you, Aoi?"
"Same," I said grinning.
the next daythe next daythe next day
"I have to use the toilet!" I announced, halfway through our game of Scrabble (A/N: I know that Scrabble is kind of OOC on Mikan's part (being an idiot and all), but it's a family game of mine and I love it).
"Did you have to actually say that?" Mikan asked, scrunching up her nose in disgust.
"Yes," I said childishly, sticking out my tongue for extra kiddie-ness. She rolled her eyes and laughed, shooing me towards the little speller's room (A/N: LOL! The photographer for a special event in my family called our bathroom the "little photographer's room," and I couldn't resist putting it in here).
I was in the hall when I bumped into none other than "brother dearest," and, much to my surprise, his best friend, Luca, was not with him (they're inseparable). I remember having a crush on him a while ago, but he's too much of a brother to me for me to like him like that (Besides, he likes Hotaru, and knows that she likes him back, but she doesn't know of his feelings for her. It's like a Shakespeare play, right?). Seriously though, it's hard to believe that those two get along when their personalities are completely different.
"And where are you going, Twinie," Ugh, I hate that nickname! When I first got my teeth pulled, I was put on anesthetics, and, while he was waiting next to me for his turn, I called him my "Twinie". He hasn't let go of it since (And we were FIVE! Even without the anesthetics, I would have had no control!).
"Well, considering that we're right in the middle of the hall, which only has bathrooms and the dining room on the other side, and that I have a full bladder, I would say, the bathroom," I said, scowling at the nickname.
"Do you really think that I'd know whether or not you had a full bladder?" he asked. Darn him and his logic.
"Just let me through," I said, annoyed.
"Nope," he said.
"Aw, come on!" I protested.
"What's the magic word?" he asked.
"NOW!"
"The other magic word,"
"I HAVE TO PEE! LET ME THROUGH!" I was dying at this point. Must. Control. Bladder.
"Not without the-" I cut him off.
"Please," I said desperately.
"Hm, I don't know…" you have got to be kidding me.
"GARGH! MOVE IT!" I said, racing past him. A mere twenty seconds later, I had achieved sweet relief.
"Ah, that's better," I thought, walking back towards the T.V. room, where I was currently beating Mikan. On my way back, I passed Natsume's room and stopped. There were sounds coming from his room. I didn't remember him inviting anyone over, so curiosity got the better of me. I peeked inside…
…and nearly had a heart attack.
Mikan and Na-
My twin brother (not to mention my only brother) and my best frie-
They were-
They were kissing. KISSING! On his bed. I saw it. And (I kid you not) I saw tongue. I SAW IT, I TELL YOU!
I was about to give them a piece of my mind when Mikan broke the kiss. Ah, so I guess Natsume was being a pervert again. That explains a lot. I mean, it wasn't the first time.
"Natsume, we shouldn't be doing this. I like you, but… I mean if Aoi-" and he cut her off with his mouth. Blech. Wait, she likes him? Since when? And why didn't she tell me?
"She won't find out. She hasn't yet," he said solemnly. Cue painful tears of betrayal. They had been going out behind my back? WAAHHH! I feel so un-loved.
"Actually, she just did," I heard myself say angrily, bursting into his room. Mikan leaped off the bed.
"Aoi, I wanted to tell you but-" I cut her off.
"It's okay. I don't blame you. I blame my idiot of a twin brother," he smirked.
"You should have known that we liked each other. You're the oblivious one," Excuse me?
"What? You little bug! How could you hunt Mikan with your playboy-ish ways!?" I screamed. Jeez, where were my parents to sort this out when I needed them.
"I didn't. She came to me. The fact is that I like her and she likes me. You can't stop us," That wasn't the point that I was getting at.
"That wasn't the point! You could have told me!" I cried desperately.
"You would have separated us. You would've, because you can't stand the ones you love ripped away from you," he mocked. Oh, I don't care what Mom says about "loving your only sibling". I hate him!
"No I wouldn't have. I would have been a heck of a pain in the butt to be around for a while, but I would have adapted!" I felt like crying.
"Oh, I bet Mikan thought that I was right, that's why she didn't tell you," he said, pointing his gaze on Mikan "Right?"
"No, I-" she started, but I interrupted. I realize that this was as much of her fight as it was ours, but when the Hyuga twins fight against each other, it means trouble, and I don't want Mikan to be pulled too far into this.
"Don't put her on the spot! You're making her choose!" I yelled.
"So what? It's her business too!" And Mikan burst into tears. I felt hopeless.
"Mikan, I'm so sor-" I started.
"No, I'm sorry!" she shouted, and tore out of the room. Me and my idiotic twin gaped at the now empty doorway as we heard the front door slam.
end of flashbackend of flashbackend offlashback
I hadn't talked to Mikan ever since. Even after the end of spring break we hadn't spoken a word to each other. The other girls didn't know what had happened, but decided that, whatever happened, they would side with Mikan, and stopped being friends with me. Mikan didn't bother to talk to the girls to defend me. I now had no one, except for my meanie brother, and Yura Otanashi, a shy, but kind girl who was deemed as "crazy" because she supposedly had physic powers. After a few days, I found out that she just had really good intuition-just like everyone else. I thought it was kind of mean for people to just assume something because they didn't understand or know about it. It was unfair to Yura. Or maybe it was unfair to me. Or, maybe it was for both of us.
Meanwhile, her relationship with Natsume became more…er…open, shall we say. Oh, yeah, did I forget to say that Natsume got the part of Romeo in our school play just because he was going out with Juliet? Oh well, now you know. But seriously, Yuu rocked his audition. Plus, he has a ten times better memory than the person who I am unfortunate enough to share genetic material with. Yuu Tobita is also a friend I made, thanks to my brother making the rest of the school reject me. Luckily for me, he doesn't believe in popularity. He's also class president, which I think is kind of cool (the rumors about me slowed after he started hanging out with me). However, it was more out of fear than respect, since there are rumors about him as well.
"Oh, yeah!" Misaki said, jolting me back to Earth. "I remember. You were pretty bummed," I glared at her.
"No, really?" I said sarcastically.
"I remember you two before you started this whole enemy-twin complex," Nobara said, a little distantly. She likes to day dream a lot (A/N: Welcome to my world, Nobara).
"I do not have a complex!" I said, a little too loudly, causing several relatives to look towards me funnily. I blushed a little as they returned to their conversations. Nobara and Misaki looked at each other, exasperated.
"Yeah, you kind of do," they said in perfect unison. You know that they're right when they speak in unison. Only twins can really understand that, though I'm starting to wish that I was an only child right about now.
"You guys were always so sweet to each other. You guys were like angels sometimes," Nobara said. I knew where she was coming from. I think I'd have liked to have the Natsume that got along with me super well more than the one that seemed to have a love of popularity. I closed my eyes and memories flooded back.
flashbackflashbackflashback
"Natsume! I found you!" 6-year-old me squealed. Natsume laughed and reached for my shoulders to push himself up. In the process, he accidentally pushed me down.
"Owwie!" I said, pouting. Natsume looked at me, worried.
"I'm sorry, Aoi!" he cried, waving his arms around frantically. I smiled.
"It's okay, Natsume!" I said happily, pushing myself up. I was about his height then, maybe a centimeter shorter. "Let's go find Mommy!" he smiled too.
"Yeah!" he said, grabbing my hand.
"TWIN POWER!" we shouted in unison, giggling, before searching for our mother, hand-in-hand.
end of flashbackend of flashbackend offlashback
"Those were good times," I said wistfully to myself, only half aware that Misaki and Nobara were listening to every word. "I wish that Natsume could be more like that now…" I continued as I watched him drown Mochu, our 5-year-old cousin who couldn't swim…
…Wait, drowning Mochu? Oh my god, if Mochu dies, I will kill Natsume.
"NATSUME!" I shouted furiously. "STOP DROWNING MOCHU!" Naturally, everyone faced me, and then at Natsume. And then a giant collective gasp. Aunt Serina, Mochu's mother, plucked him out of the water (A/N: LIKE MOSES!), before facing Natsume.
"You should be ashamed of yourself. You could have killed Mochu!" she said furiously. Mochu started crying into Aunt Serina's shoulder. Natsume winced.
"Sorry, Aunt Serina. I was trying to teach him how to swim," he said sincerely, and pushed himself out of the pool to give a kiss on the forehead to Mochu. "Sorry, Mochu," he continued.
"S'kay, Natsume," Mochu said cutely, and there was a family "Aw." I love the little guy. So does Sumire, now that I think about it. He and Aunt Serina (his dad had died a few weeks after he was born) unexpectedly visited us when Sumire was over, and upon seeing her, Mochu tore out of Aunt Serina's arms to give her a hug. It was really sweet. Ever since (until Mikan stopped talking to me), she would ask when Mochu would visit, before inviting herself over.
As Aunt Serina and Mochu walked away, I felt my anger brewing. He stole my friends. He stole my dignity. And he almost stole Mochu's life. How could he just keep on thieving like that? Did he want to totally ruin my life?
"Hey, Natsume!" I yelled. Nobara and Misaki, who had been deep in conversation, snapped their heads towards me. I walked towards him. "I have a question for you," I started feeling butterflies in my stomach.
"Yeah, what's up, Twinie?" I winced at the nickname as he pulled himself out of the pool and grabbed a towel.
"I was wondering: do you want to make my life harder?" My question was stupid, but to me, it seemed important. Though, now that I think about it, it could have been put better.
"Hm. What if I did?" he asked.
"I would be extremely mad and start crying," I said, more to myself than him.
"Then, yes, I do," Cue another round of tears. I was going to be spewing more water in a few moments. I tore inside Grandma's house, into my mom's old bedroom, tossed myself on the bed and sobbed.
one hour laterone hour laterone hour later
"Maybe I should go back to the backyard," I said to myself, scratching more paint off of the wall. It chipped off, and fell onto my shirt, which still smelled vaguely like chlorine. I couldn't believe that he had said that.
I couldn't believe that, after years of friendship, he could suddenly take it away. Maybe I really was blind to this sort of thing. Or maybe he's just sneaky like that. Whatever the reason, I still was mad at him.
"I think you should go back to the celebration," came a voice from the doorway. I bolted up, only to see a mirror image of my face.
"What do you want, Natsume?" I muttered. He smiled.
"For you to go outside," he said.
"Why should I?"
"Because I want you to," I narrowed my eyes.
"Yeah, because everything you want always turns out so well for me," I sneered. He rolled his eyes.
"Just go outside," he said.
"No," I said firmly.
"Fine," he said. My feeling of accomplishment was replaced by terror as, about three seconds later, he forced me onto his back. A piggy back ride. I hadn't rode on his back in years.
"Let me down," I protested squirming. I was answered by a bite on the hand.
"Fine, then where are we going?" I said, pouting. I was going to have to get a rabies shot.
"To the backyard. There's a surprise for you,"
"Surprise. Wee. Fun," I murmured sarcastically.
"That's the Aoi I know," Natsume replied with equal sarcasm. He opened the sliding door, and out there was…
…Mikan?
"Huh?" was the only word that my brain was able to send to my mouth. Natsume put me down, and Mikan enveloped me in a hug. Over her shoulder, I saw Hotaru, Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire, trying not to cry (that's right, even Hotaru, the unemotional one).
"I'msorryi'msorryi'msorryI'MSORRY!" Mikan was apologizing? We were friends again? My heart felt heavy, but it wasn't because I was sad. I guess that this was what they called a good kind of pain. I hugged her back, and almost instantly regretted it, as the other for girls stockpiled on us, and we ended up as a pile on the concrete. Laughing, I reached up for something to hold onto to pick me up. That thing ended up being Natsume's hand. Unfortunately for him, he fell down as he was pulling me up, causing everyone to laugh.
"Ow! Jeez, Aoi! That hurt!" Oops.
"Ah! Sorry!" I said, helping him up.
"Come on, let's join the party fun," I wondered what he meant by that, until I saw Yura, Yuu, Luca, Koko, and Kitsuneme (Natsume's friends) mingling with my cousins.
"When did…How and…Why…Wait, what?" I stuttered. Sumire laughed.
"Same old Aoi!" she laughed. Then she became serious. "We're sorry too," she muttered, followed by a chorus of "I'm sorry"s by the other girls.
"S'kay!" I said, grinning. Natsume held out his hand to me.
"For old time's sake?" he asked. Everybody looked at me quizzically, but I knew what he was talking about. We grabbed hands.
"TWIN POWER!" We both shouted, and threw ourselves into the pool, hand in hand, still in our clothes.
Wow! It's been over a month since I updated, but it was so worth it, right? It wasn't as long as my last one-shot, so the following message will be made longer than usual.
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That took me a really long time to write. Oh, well. Review. Please? For me? For my cousins? For my whole family? Pretty please? (bats eyelashes)