The Day Koko Almost Lost His Nose
This is a random fic, used to be the second chapter of one of my fics here. But I decided to make it a oneshot instead. So yeah. Enjoy!
"I am not in love with her. So now will you little buggers just get the hell out of my face?"
The four pairs of eyes just looked at him blandly.
Truly these people got a whole lot braver now that they're almost out of Academy bounds. At sixteen, you'd think they'd have earned a little maturity when it came to him and Mikan, but no—contrary to that, they grew a little worse, their backbones a little stiffer and their annoyingness truly well-honed. They were at their peaks as of the moment while they're all converged around him, urging him to tell the truth about an alleged plan of proposal to the Nullifier, news that had been spread around diligently by Koko. Naturally people believed the idiot, seeing as everyone knew he could read minds, and even he, the infamous Natsume Hyuuga, was no exception to the Alice.
They were all around his favorite spot, underneath the Sakura tree that was planted right behind the dorms. It was usually where he spent his lunch hours, and now it was meeting place for the chosen few who are currently making his head go boom.
And they had just recently interrupted his holy Manga hour, which was just about enough to tick him off, frankly speaking, even without this annoying interrogation.
"Oh, come on, Natsume," said Tsubasa exasperatedly, feet hanging off a branch a few feet above the Fire caster. "You've been together seven years. You kissed her at ten. You started dating at around thirteen. You give her all your attention and you've risked your life for her, say, a few hundred thousand times? You danced with her at prom, practically confessed to her indirectly—" he thought a bit before blurting out "—but she's Mikan, so she would never have noticed, but come on! You're not fooling anyone. Well, except the girl herself, of course."
A flick of an eyelash and the Shadow Manipulator's hair caught fire. A robot immediately flew up and threw a bucket of water over his head. Spluttering and gasping for air, he made one wrong move and fell down, atop Natsume, who threw him off roughly.
"You're defensive, Hyuuga," Hotaru said. She was leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of her, violet eyes alight with knowledge. The wind blew warmly, a main characteristic of summer breeze, and her now-shoulder-length hair swayed along. "Just forget about that ego of yours and admit it. After all, pride is the only poison which, when swallowed, gives cure."
Now it was about his pride?
He was really getting annoyed.
They aren't funny, these dolts…
"Yeah, it's not like I haven't noticed it as well," sighed Sumire. "I have been chasing you for years and you never so much glanced at me even though we all know I'm the prettiest girl inside this campus and when she comes bobbing along you start smiling and noticing her and you're doing stuff that you never did inside this school."
"Whoever told you you're the prettiest?" Natsume scoffed at her, trying to steer clear out of the dangerous waters he got himself into, only to find that he ran into the trap himself at those words.
"Oh, that's right," Sumire said in mock protest, triumph gleaming in her jade eyes, "I'm not the prettiest, because Mikan is, isn't she, Natsume-kun?"
And he almost said a defiant 'yes' before he caught himself.
Deep breath… Close call…
What the hell—!
These people were making him lose sense!
"Natsume," Ruka began in honeyed, knowing tones—the traitor, he's probably one of the proponents of this trouble he was stuck in. "We're about to leave."
"Technically I don't think any of us are leaving soon, Ruka," he tried to retort, but to no avail. Hotaru quirked an eyebrow at him and answered.
"How d'you know?"
He raised an eyebrow at the stoic inventor as well. "Because, oh I don't know, because I know so?"
She gave him an irking smile, as if saying I know something you don't. "I already have offers, Hyuuga." At this Ruka rounded onto her, looking much too surprised. "You do?"
He laughed. Hotaru glared at her boyfriend. "You are so tactless, Nogi." Ruka squirmed under her stony glare and he enjoyed the view for a moment before snapping his eyes back to his manga.
"At any rate, I have proof that we don't leave at the age of eighteen yet," he mumbled from behind his manga's pages.
Sumire cropped up. "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"
"Andou," he replied simply; the person mentioned blanched. "He's what? Twenty? Twenty-one?"
"I'm twenty-three, for your information," the Shadow lazily replied from beside him, looking partly scandalized but then stopped when he started looking over his manga. Quickly, like a over-possessive child of his toys, he towed it away from his senpai's sight.
"Hey! Show me! I still want to see L's death!"
"Shut up, I won't let you see it, ugly," Natsume grunted. He then turned to Ruka. "If we were to leave already then what is this dunderhead doing here still? He should've left years ago."
"Geez, so mature, Natsume," breathed out Tsubasa. "Anyways, I'm staying here at the Academy because I want to, idiot. Half my batch already works somewhere."
Natsume opened his mouth to reply but Ruka beat him to it. "Besides, Natsume, that's completely beside the point here. The Alice Wars are over, the school granted freedom to all Dangerous Ability types, and the world is basically hungry for us."
"For some," he drawled lazily in protest of Ruka's words again. "I don't think anyone'll want a human cat. Or dog, for that matter."
"Hey! Leave me out of this, Natsume-kun, I'm keeping quiet here already," said Sumire, pouting at him. He only saw a ridiculous expression and turned away his face at once. "You came here with them so no, I'm not leaving you out of it." He lifted the manga again and was preparing to disappear behind the covers when Ruka spoke yet again. Seriously, don't they ever tire of this kind of routine?
"Natsume," Ruka warned, fixing him on of those rare mean-Nogi looks. They stayed at that staring contest for some minutes before he finally gave up; other than Mikan and Imai, the only one who could beat him at that game was Ruka. He sighed out, a little exasperated at all the unnecessary drama, and put down his manga for the third time, sending Ruka a look that clearly meant Oh, keep talking, you twit.
Ruka took the hint. "Look, once we leave, well… things are bound to change. Mikan's beautiful and smart, she isn't just some boring old girl, you know."
He sneered. "Beautiful, sure, but smart? Do you really think she'd make it one second without us?"
Without me, more like, he thought smugly. Good thing Koko wasn't around to hear his gloating thoughts.
Apparently they didn't need Koko; they've been around him long enough to actually know what's on his mind even without the presence of the mind reader, and at his rhetorical question they all rolled their eyes at him.
"Stop feeding your ego, Hyuuga," Hotaru said to him, a shadow of a smile lingering by the corners of her lips. "We all know Mikan's an independent kind of girl, and we also know that if there's one person she can't live without, it's you."
"Wow, Imai, since when did you learn to give up to me?"
She sneered at him this time. "I've learned to deal with it. Quite obviously, however, you haven't."
He scowled, and his momentary silence was grabbed by Ruka as another opportunity to continue his speech. "Natsume she might find someone out there. You know that possibility very well, probably even better than most of us."
"No one would dare touch her," he bit out coldly; a split second later he realized the jealousy that had unconsciously mingled with his words and he cursed.
"No one from the Academy would dare," said Hotaru again, the malice alight in her unusually bright mauve eyes. "But people from the outside—people you don't know—would."
Ruka squared off their "talk" with a final "Are you really going to let go of her just like that?"
He froze a bit then leaned his head against the tree trunk, rubbing the bridge of his nose and keeping his eyes clamped shut. His mouth was one thin, thin line.
That statement did it.
His eyebrows twitched ever so slightly in sheer annoyance—other than those words were particularly overflowing with meanings and possibilities, his pride had also been hit. Two birds with one stone.
Had they been any other group of people with any sense, the best shot at living would be to run away, but unfortunately they weren't just any people.
Despite the twitch of the eyebrow being the only indication of the impact Ruka's words had on the Hyuuga, everyone surrounding him knew that Blondie had hit a nerve.
Picking up his manga, he sauntered away and burned Tsubasa one last time. The latter squeaked in objection and he left with his ears ringing from the shadow's screams of protest and pain.
He gave a small satisfied smirk. Serves him right, the idiot.
He was, after all, the only one in that group with whom he had the pleasure of seeing burnt—or more to the point the only one he could burn. He couldn't hurt Imai, of course, and neither could he harm Ruka. So he settled with the Shadow Manipulator.
Shouda, he thought, I could always spare. I've burned her too much she might even be mistaken for a Salem Witch.
He smiled idly to himself as another thought occurred to him. Salem? No. Witch? Definitely.
Something was very wrong with him…
The problem with that morning's proceedings is that it got into his head, and so the entire afternoon was spent with him wallowing in images of Mikan with a faceless stranger, standing at an altar saying 'yes' while everyone else gawked and swooned. It was driving him nuts, basically, because he never really gave it a thought until Ruka had so generously stuffed that idea into his brain.
Ruka's words were driving him nuts. He could not believe it. Never would he have thought such blasphemy was possible. Or at least, never would he have thought his pride would let him acknowledge it. (Truth is, he's been steamrolled by Ruka thousands of times already, being best friends and all.)
Mikan might find someone out there. You never know. Are you really going to let go of her just like that?
No, he said truthfully to himself, trying to justify his stand on the issue. I can't just let her go like that. But still, I can't go around telling her I love her and all that. It's awfully cliché, and romance isn't exactly my forte.
If it was about smashing glass windows and stealing and killing and burning, then hell, it was as easy as breathing to him.
Although… in a way, it would practically be the same with Mikan.
Smashing glass windows—smashing his own little cage to step out of his shell…
Stealing—stealing her heart and possibly getting to keep it forever…
Killing—burning to death his own little pride which he never really could remove from his system…
Yeah, it was pretty much alike… only in this version everything was so twisted up against all his advantages.
Right beside him Koko had a sly grin on his face, and in seconds he'd already figured out the reason why, because it was rather obvious Koko had heard what he just thought. No—listening to it would have to be a better word. Thousands of torture methods came flooding to him as he struggled to keep his temper in check; he had been unbelievably vulnerable in his last thoughts, not to mention extremely corny.
The thought of a roasted mind reader suddenly sounded so appealing to him…
Yeah, right, you scaredy cat, he heard someone say in his head. Not that you'd actually dare to do that, right?
Yes, the thought was rather sweet and enticing already… it was actually tempting him now.
Dammit, Koko, he thought menacingly. One word gets out, and I swear they'll find you on your bed tomorrow morning roasted black, barbecued, and toasted.
A long time ago these few threats were enough to keep people away from him and his mind, but after the baka's arrival at the academy she brought with her a whirlwind of changes that included his uncalled-for bonds with seven people he now saw as friends.
Koko was one of them.
But even though they were already under his skin, none came closer to him than Mikan. Even Koko shunned away from his presence at the start, only following his orders. Unfortunately, however, years and years of company with the Black Cat often led to the development of something called confidence, which Koko is now generously demonstrating in his temper-spiking reply.
Oh, really, Natsume? Koko's voice said inside his head. I don't think you'd do that to me. Not when I know what's on her mind as well.
Cursing inwardly he sighed in defeat. The gods really were against him today, then, and he contemplated on the small affair two years ago that just irked him now that he's been mentally cornered by his friend.
After Koko had discovered a different side to his Alice that enabled him to get into people's heads, things changed with the mind reader. He was often more silent than ever, given that he communicates with everyone through telepathy, and once upon a long, long time ago this suited him well; now, however, it was a big no-no.
Who knows, Koko might just be telling that idiot what he just thought of.
Before he could dwell further on the disadvantageous situation he was in, Narumi's sickly-sweet voice came floating to the forefront of his thoughts.
"Natsume-kun? Mind giving us a little insight about your life here at the Academy?"
He smirked. What was he supposed to say?
That's easy, he thought, knowing Koko was listening in still. Friends are bloody traitors who coerce you into getting married early, and second-degree Mind Reading Alices are the worst kind of Alices.
"Good," was he all he said, however, thinking that little mental speech might be too much.
Koko sighed comically before he heard Narumi ask another gay pre-graduation question in their homework—which he, of course, did not do—to the brunette.
"Mikan-chan, the last question of the homework please—any last words to the class?"
The mind reader sniggered heartily at this question. Following his eyes, Natsume saw the homework the brunette had done, and saw that she took it as seriously as possible. She had written lines for each and every single person inside Class B.
She began reading out her homework, and occasionally he'd hear small grunts of recognition of giggles of delight or the rare guffaw of the class, but he wasn't listening properly until he saw Koko's eyes grow wide in surprise and he caught his own name being thrown into the air by her voice.
"And to Natsume," she boldly declared, a strange, malicious, and knowing glint in her eyes, "I only have these words for you."
All in class waited with bated breath at what the brunette would say about her unofficial-boyfriend.
She breathed in then spoke. "Your words say friendship but your eyes scream romance. So if I were you I'd say 'I love you' to her already."
And then silence… and promptly his brain shut down.
He didn't notice Koko guffawing in the background of his thoughts.
All eyes inside the room turned to look at him in surprise, except for Koko who was struggling not to laugh out loud after his earlier outburst. Mikan made her way back to her seat and flashed him a smug, knowing kind of smile and suddenly, he grunted in relief. Ruka stared incredulously at him.
Narumi cleared his throat, but unless he was daydreaming, Narumi had a funny kind of smile on his face. Like he somehow knew and inside joke that he didn't…
"Well, thank you so very much for that eye-opening final statement, Mikan-chan… Well, so for today's class I have prepared…"
On and on he blabbed and on and on Natsume thought about those words. What could she possibly have meant? It's not like she knows! She can't possible know, she's too stupid for that part, and for another if she ever realized he loved her then she would have asked him up front a long time ago!
Thousands of ideas, theories, and conspiracies cropped up in his mind that no matter how hard he tried, it seemed to appear in his face how seriously he's been thinking.
A pair of violet eyes saw these most clearly, too, and when he roved his crimson ones to meet them, the Ice Queen smiled a similar smile to that of Narumi's and yet again, he thought ravenously of answers and possibilities.
Relax, jeez.
Great. That voice was the hast thing he wanted to hear at that moment, actually. In exasperation he rolled his eyes and stared at the back of the mind reader's head, thinking of the best ways to make Koko fall asleep long enough for him to be able to think in peace without anyone snooping around his thoughts—
Hey, for crying out loud, no need to get all huffy, Nat!
He grunted; any minute now and he would really be venting it out on this annoying brute. What do you want, Koko?
I said relax, you dolt.
One of his eyebrows twitched; to be called a 'dolt' by someone who had brainwaves almost parallel to Mikan's was such an insult to one as proud as him. Somehow he missed those good old days, like year 2BM (Before Mikan). During that long time ago Koko would never have dared call him 'dolt'. But since 1AM (After Mikan), the boy had grown some nerve; now, here he was calling him a 'dolt'…
He wondered if Koko would love it if he burned that brownish hair…
You do realize I can hear your thoughts clearly, do you?
Of course, Genius, Natsume scoffed. Blessed as I am with a kind of brainpower nonexistent in you, yes Yome, I do realize that.
He watched as Koko's grin widened and surprisingly, instead of wanting to wring his neck, he actually was fighting a smile as well. His mind just took a dangerous turn, more for his benefit, less for Koko's.
Sometimes, it is fun playing literal mind games with a literal mind reader.
Good. I like those thoughts, said Koko in his head in reply to the sudden bout of appreciative thoughts which he roughly pushed away as soon as they came. You don't have to keep thinking insults when I'm inside your head.
He gave another scoff. I have a suggestion. Why don't you try getting out of my head instead?
No can do. I got juicy news for you, Natsume-kuuuuun.
Disgusting, Yome. Don't say that again.
Say what? Natsume-kuuuuun?
Lazily and a little angrily, he flicked his crimson pools to the back of Koko's head and slowly, ever so slowly, began burning the brown mop of hair. He heard Koko complaining in his head and he simpered. If you don't get out of my head soon, Yome, I will turn you bald and shiny.
The whole class was beginning to wonder why Koko looked like he's about to have diarrhea and Natsume looked triumphantly gleeful.
He lit a small orb right beside Koko's head, small enough for only him to see (they were seated at the farthest end of the classroom, beside the windows) and whizzed it dangerously close around and around the aggravated boy.
Koko broke when the fire actually soared towards his nose. More specifically when it kind of burned his nose-tip. Fine! Fine! I'll say it now!
Koko…
When Koko thought it out to him, he laughed.
Class B actually saw Natsume Hyuuga laugh.
Koko puffed out air and breathed, rubbing his nose and looking at it through crossed eyes.
No one ever really knew that Mikan thought Natsume was in love with Hotaru. But then no one would ever have thought it was possible. But oh well.
Koko remembered it all too well, oh yes. Now as he sat looking at Natsume and Mikan say their vows at the altar, he recalled perfectly well the day he almost lost his nose.