"You are a monster. Remember that Natsume. And because of that, no one will ever like you."

"Even you, mummy?"

"Yes, so goodbye now."

He watched as her shadow drifted away in the darkness and the sound of sobbing and wailing echoed in the alley. Deserted alone in this warehouse, his mother had just left her.

Countless of times he had been reminded that he was not a normal human being. He had powers – yet to be revealed, or so they had been foretold. Discreetly, his mother had tried to act normal – like nothing was wrong with her little boy. However after yesterday's incident it was clear that the time to move on was now. She packed her bags like it was nothing and left. Just like that.

Present.

Natsume flicked his phone on and checked his messages.

"Are you going or not?" an angry question from none other than Ruka.

He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment. What? Oh. The party, the one where someone called Mikan was having some kind of celebration – birthday?

Whatever. It didn't really matter. Wait, it did though. He remembered Mikan, that weird girl that was always trying to avoid him whilst spending hours staring at his face. He thought about whether or not he was going. Mikan was interesting. She did prove helpful to him.

"Count me in." he replied.

6 am - office

A light flickers and a few shuffles on the chairs are made. Not everyone is patient to be woken up to work so early in the morning. If it's important, it'd better hurry up.

One man tells everyone to stop and listen to the head boss, who stands up and clears his throat. He's about to say something until he's interrupted by a small creak in the hinges.

He stares and then relaxes. It's just his fellow co-worker. Researcher.

"What new info have you discovered?" he asks expectantly. All eyes turning towards the stranger.

The man hides his face behind a pair of black sunnies and pulls his cap over to cover his face. He fidgets and looks around before he pulls out a thick brown envelope from underneath his dark coat. He takes out the papers and arranges them neatly on the desk in front of them.

A red haired woman seating near the sheets reaches out to take a closer look.

SMACK!

The man slaps the hand away.

"Don't touch these!" he hisses.

He turns his attention back to the boss.

"Something is wrong. And if I'm right we're going to be in danger."

10am.

Mikan checks the clock on her bedside table: 10am. Good, plenty of time before she had to meet up. She was officially fourteen today and not to mention it was a friend gathering/party arranged at 11am.

She giggled excitedly, peering through her wardrobe to pull out a fantastic outfit that would put her in the spotlight. After all it was her day.

Doot.

"A MESSAGE!" she cried and immediately jumped onto her bed to look at it.

'Omg. Natsume's coming!' said the message.

She looked at it doubtfully. Last time she remembered he was a slouchy guy with a fringe that kept on getting on her nerves. How could anyone be a bit uglier?

"'kay" She threw her phone back onto her pillow and roamed into her wardrobe again.

Just in case, she looked at her clock: 10:48am.

Ah. She was going to be late.

11am.

"Seriously she checks her phone every few seconds but doesn't know how to get here on time?" grumbled Sumire.

"It's okay, she just texted back that she was on her way. Five minutes!" cried Anna.

"Argh. Five minutes of waiting," Sumire grumbled again.

"How long has it been since we last saw each other?" a blonde guy asked.

"Wow- Ruka- you scared me! Is that really you? A makeover? You look totally different!" cried Anna as she jumped back in surprise.

Sumire gaped and started fiddled with the end bits of her hair.

"Boo!" A soft gust of wind blew into Sumire's ear.

"WAAAAAHAHAHAHA"

"Geez. It's just me," said Hotaru. Anti-social and quiet Hotaru. "Stop trying to curl your hair, it's already curly."

Sumire huffed in reply.

"Oh and hey Ruka, you look nice," Hotaru added.

Ruka turned away, afraid that Hotaru would see his blush. You see, he had a crush on her. A long-standing crush and he hadn't been able to tell her before she moved away. He changed his appearance just for this moment. Oh yes, this was his moment.

"Hey Ho-"

"Oh here's birthday girl coming!" cried Anna.

"Like finally," said Sumire.

Mikan ran towards them, smiling in delight. She ran to give her best friend, Hotaru a hug.

"Ew get off me," said Hotaru.

"No, I haven't seen you for ages!" cried Mikan.

She looked around. Someone was missing.

"Hey, who else are we waiting for?" she asked.

"Me."

Mikan swiftly turned around and gasped. Who was this guy? Black haired; red crimson eyes; angry scowl? She didn't remember anyone like that. Wait.

Natsume.

"Hi Natsume," Mikan said sweetly.

"Wipe that grin off your face, ugly."

Mikan stared at him open wide. This guy was totally crazy. She just said 'hi!' and he still had that angry scowl on that face. Boy, someone wasn't happy to be celebrating her birthday.

"You know it is my birthday!" she called out to him as he walked past.

"Oh really? So?" Natsume smirked.

Mikan felt the anger in her boil up. So? Her birthday so?

"Mikan, happy birthday!" said Anna holding out a neatly wrapped present.

"Thanks," Mikan smiled. At least someone acknowledged her birthday.

8am – office.

"What do you mean it could danger us?" asked head boss calmly while the others were panicking in their shoes.

"You see these people that have been murdered? They all have these deep crimson eyes." He replied.

The head boss resisted the temptation to point out that that was the most obvious thing in the world. Everyone who compared these photos could tell. What? How could this be new info?

"What I mean is- I think that someone may be playing tricks on our mind. This newest theft is proof that it's always the same crimson eyes," he states..

"You mean he has a fetish for crimson eyes. Good job Narumi, I wonder what made you come to that conclusion," head boss replied sarcastically.

"No-" Narumi said offended."I mean it's not possible. And the way he murders them, a cross - its unimaginable."

Head boss stopped and thought. From ancient times to now, the world has advanced. Nobody paid much attention to it as they all centered themselves on the view of science and technology. Looking around, he noticed that everyone in the meeting had their phones placed on the table in front of them. No books, no folders, just laptops. If he closed his eyes, he could hear the clicking of the keyboard and the sound of rumbling engines outside. A monster or freak could be out there and they had no idea how to catch him.

Mr Dean looked at his boss in agreement. This could be something that could endanger a lot of people's lives.

"Yet. How do we know that what you are saying is right? For all we know you have no information to back up your idea right now," head boss confronted.

"Yes it may be. But I'm the researcher. I find and know everything."

2pm.

Mikan munched on her hamburger while she laughed at one of Anna's jokes.

"You are just so funny!" she giggled and her hamburger slipped out from her hands creating a huge mess on her new skinny jeans.

"Damn. I liked these jeans," Mikan grumbled.

Anna spotted her accident and nudged Sumire to move out of the way for Mikan.

"Mikan had an accident-"

"What? Did she piss or something?" hissed Sumire.

"Something pissed?" asked Ruka, full of concern. Meanwhile Natsume in the corner stuffed his half-eaten nugget into his mouth. It was obvious that he was trying to stifle a laugh.

"Yeah so move," said Hotaru holding the French fries in their faces as if to throw them in their faces. Then she flashed a warm smile back to Mikan. Sometimes, Hotaru can be a little scary.

"No I did NOT piss, OKAY guys?" Mikan yelled as she made her way towards the bathroom.

"Sure!" called Sumire.

Natsume did not even try to supress his grin.

2.30pm

"Ugly," Natsume hissed as he pulled Mikan closer. "Let me share you a secret."

"What?" Mikan asked warily.

Unfortunately everyone had already left. Unfortunately Natsume lived in the same direction as her. Unfortunately she was walking back with him.

"You know, I still can't believe you changed so much," Mikan began.

"It was all for you," he whispered softly.

Mikan blinked in surprise then recovered. Boy, she was not going to be fooled by that act.

"Yeah, right. Next thing I know its a confession that you love me. No thanks."

"But you see, who else would I have changed for?" he asked teasingly.

"Natsume. You are creeping me out. Now just shut up and let me walk the rest of the way home," she said.

"But it's not safe- without me," Natsume reorted.

"It's not safe to have you fooling around me", she shuddered.

"I just remembered, I've got some things to buy. So bye!" Mikan started to run before she waited for his answer. Yes or no, she was not walking. with this creep.

"Bye!" he called. And then murmured, "Until tonight."


Thank you for reading!