Another Christmas Eve
By aBitterLoveSong
It's another Christmas Eve in Central Town, and sometimes, all you need is a little disappearing act from a friend to make the night all the merrier.
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Snow started to descend silently, adding even more to the already white coated, cobblestone roads of Central Town. It began to blanket everything; the lamp posts, store signs, roofs, and the people walking in the streets. Familiar Christmas melodies played softly on stereos and pianos, along with the sound of many people singing with them. The multicolored lights in the shops provided a joyous feeling during that cold night while the lamp posts outside radiated a fainter, dreamy glow; almost romantic.
It was a picture-perfect Christmas Eve that a person could only find in Holiday cards.
"Ooh! Look at that Hotaru!" A young, light brown-haired schoolgirl cried out excitedly, grabbing hold of her best friend's arm. She dragged her friend towards a store window's elaborate Christmas display and enthusiastically pointed at a fuzzy golden teddy-bear. It had a tiny, white Christmas hat atop its head and a matching white scarf around its neck. "Isn't it cuuuute?"
"Mika-"
"How much do you think it is? I like it! I think I should buy it! Or maybe I should get it for Grandpa." Mikan thought aloud, going on her tip-toes to look around the display for the price tag. "I've been saving money to bu-"
Hotaru pointed directly to the tag right beside the bear. "Fifty rabbits." she said tonelessly.
Mikan's dejected look was enough to tell Hotaru she hadn't saved that much money. Mikan rested her hands against the store's glass window and looked down in misery. She began muttering to herself. "Why can't I save enough money...? I don't buy a lot of thi- oh wait, that new pen I got. But that wasn't mu- oh, and that pillow. Grrr, I just want that bear..."
She shook her head in dismay. "How do you save money Hotaru?" she asked eagerly, hoping for some advice from her money-wise friend.
When Hotaru didn't reply back she looked up only to find out her friend had disappeared... again.
"Hotaru! Where are you?" Mikan called out, standing up straight to put her hands on her hips. 'Not again...' she moaned to herself. She rubbed her hands together and started to walk around; looking inside every shop she passed by.
"Hotaru, whe-"
Her second call was interrupted by a cold clump of snow that was thrown against her winter coat. She spun around, raising her fist in the air. "Alright, who did that?" She demanded, scanning her surroundings for the snowball-pelting-culprit.
It was then she noticed the small grey-haired boy standing a few feet in front of her, tossing another snowball up and down.
"Y-You-chan?" She stuttered, instantly dropping her arm back to her side.
The boy didn't reply back, his teal blue eyes were busy choosing which part of her body would be his next target.
Mikan immediately began stepping back. She knew Yoichi for about two years now, but his evil spirits still gave her the creeps. "Umm... if you're wondering, no, I haven't seen Natsu-"
She stopped halfway. She staggered back when she noticed a couple strands of Yoichi had started to flick upwards. They always did that whenever he was about to unleash his spirits.
Yoichi slowly began to raise his hand in the air.
"Aaaaaah!" Mikan shrieked, running as fast as humanly possible away from the boy. And hey, running in the snow with boots is hard. She turned the nearest corner and paused to take a breather, positive that he wouldn't be able to find her.
Yoichi set his hand back down, looking at the footprints the brunette girl left imprinted on the snow. He could have easily followed her but he shook his head; all he wanted to do was throw one last snowball at her. He dropped the white ball he was holding and combed his grey hair back. He hated it when the wind would blow his hair upwards.
"Idiot." He muttered softly and turned around to look for Ruka.
Mikan leant against the brick wall, clutching her coat as she tried to catch her breath. "Stu-breath-pid rugrat." She said to herself, turning her head to the side to see if the kid was following her. He had begun to walk to the other direction, causing a pleased sigh to escape her lips. He was such a cute little boy, unfortunately being polluted my Natsume's despicable mind.
She stood up straight and continued to search for her missing friend. "Hotaru! Hotaru!" she shouted once more. After a few more minutes of going in and out of shops, she turned another corner and slipped on the icy surface, accidentally crashing into a blonde boy, and unluckily, falling right on top of him.
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It was as if time was playing tricks on Ruka. One moment, he was chatting with Natsume, and a few seconds later, Mikan was on top of him.
Now it seemed like time had stopped. Her face was nowhere near his, but he could feel her head on his chest, her body slowly rising up and down as she breathed. There was no desire in him of any sort, more of bewilderment. But it was almost as if he had an urge to lift his arms and-
"Get off of him." Natsume said a little too quickly, taking hold of one of Mikan's arms and throwing her off of his friend. Her back landed against the snow with a loud thud, her long pigtails spreading out on the cold surface
Ruka was still lying on his back. He could breathe normally now, the weight of another person on him was finally off his chest. Yet he wasn't sure if he was relieved, or disappointed by Natsume's action.
He didn't want to make his friend curious as to why he was still on the ground, so he slowly stood up and brushed the snow off his coat. "Thanks." he murmured.
When he saw Mikan still lying on the snow, probably still stunned of what had happened, he involuntarily offered her a hand, automatically receiving a disapproving look from Natsume. "Here." Ruka said, his voice shaking just a little bit, but he didn't know why.
"Thanks!" Mikan said gleefully, unaware of the edginess in Ruka's voice. She grabbed hold of his hand and he lifted her up, unknowingly making Natsume scoff and look away. As she regained her form she fixed her untidy pigtails and took her scarf off to brush the snow off it.
Ruka remained silent. Natsume was silent too; it was making him sick.
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"Sorry," Mikan said after a while. "I was looking for Hotaru. I didn't mean to crash into you Ruka. I hope you're not hurt." She naively took hold of one arm to see if he had any bruises.
"Oh, no, I'm fine." Ruka stammered, letting his hand go from her grip. God, he could feel the heat rising up to his face. Unlike Natsume, he couldn't control the blushes that crept up his cheeks.
"Then watch where you're going polka-dots." Natsume's cold, auburn eyes glowered at her. "You're not the only one here, you know."
If there was an Alice that could bore holes on someone by staring at them, Mikan wished she had it to inflict on Natsume. "Hi Natsume." She greeted maliciously.
Natsume rolled his eyes and put his hands back in his pockets.
"So, have you guys seen Hotaru?" Mikan asked hastily. Some part of her felt the heat from Natsume- no, not that kind of heat, the kind of heat that she felt whenever he was going to burn her hair.
"If we did, we wouldn't tell you anyway. Look for her yourself." Natsume replied back.
"That's what I'm doing." Mikan said, clenching her fists. Where was Hotaru's Baka-gun when she needed it?
"We-" Ruka began.
"Hi Mikan!" Kokoroyomi's voice emerged out of nowhere. Ruka sighed, couldn't he at least finish one more sentence? Kokoroyomi was running past Mikan when he stopped and noticed the two boys with her. "Oh, hey Ruka, Natsume."
"Hi, now go away." Natsume greeted back. Kokoroyomi's Alice was something he didn't need around him right now.
While Mikan and Ruka greeted back, Kokoroyomi shifted looks between Mikan to Ruka and Natsume. Then after a while, it seemed like he realized, or remembered something. He looked towards Mikan and said, "Oh yeah. Someone wants you to go over by a tree."
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There was confusion on all three faces, but mostly on Mikan's.
"Me? Tree? What tree?"
"Oh, you'll know." Kokoroyomi said, a peculiar smile playing on his lips. "Well, see ya." He waved goodbye to Mikan, Natsume, and Ruka, and jogged away. God, he loved his Alice.
Natsume and Ruka's eyes followed him, while Mikan rubbed her head as she thought about the tree Kokoroyomi mentioned. She didn't even have enough time to ask him if he'd seen Hotaru. "Do any of you know what he's talking about?"
"No." the boys said at the same time.
Mikan shook her head in frustration. "Great, now I have to look for Hotaru, and a tree." She heaved a sigh as she began to walk away from Ruka and Natsume. "Bye! I've got to go." she said as she looked back. Then she jogged down the opposite direction of the road, leaving both guys to themselves once again.
As Mikan jogged down the road, all thoughts of finding Hotaru were replaced with thoughts on the tree Kokoroyomi was talking about. She had no idea where to start. There were so many trees in Central Town, and was he talking about a Christmas tree, or a real tree? It was when she passed a busy store selling cotton candy when she suddenly got it.
It was the only tree in the middle of Central Town.
She walked up to the bare tree in the middle of a small patch of land, suddenly remembering what happened there more than two years ago. It was where she had given Natsume that last piece of cotton candy she bought.
She smiled to herself; time flew by so fast. She remembered how she was a tiny bit nervous when she gave the candy to Natsume and how she immediately told Hotaru and Ruka about it because they wondering where she was, only to get hit on the head by Hotaru's Baka-gun. She walked up to the tree and pressed a hand against it as she began to recall those moments, and the first time she visited Central Town.
Imagine how surprised she was when she saw that there was something there, and beside it, a card addressed to her.
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Ruka and Natsume were in a small cafe, Natsume was holding Yoichi's hand as all three of them ordered some hot chocolate and a cookie for Yoichi. After finding seats beside the cafe's large window, Natsume placed Yoichi's black mug on the marble table as the small kid elatedly sat down on a chair. Ruka and Natsume sat down, not knowing that they were both thinking about the same thing.
A lighthearted Christmas song played on a radio nearby. Yoichi was gulping down his hot chocolate, and munching on the cookie Ruka had bought for him. Natsume took a sip of his own hot chocolate, and so did Ruka. They could feel the warmth spread throughout their bodies as the hot drink ran down their throats. It was a couple of minutes later when they couldn't handle the unease between the both of them, so they both asked:
"Did you want Mikan to go to a tree?"
Both boys were stunned for a while. One, because they realized how stupid the question must've sounded, two, they both asked at the same time, and three, they both found out they were thinking the same thing. Upon realizing those things, the two boys laughed and the tense air between the both of them suddenly floated away.
"I guess we'll never know, huh?" Ruka said calmly, his lips tilting upwards as he traced his mug's rim with his thumb.
Natsume nodded as he looked out the window. He held his mug and brought it to his lips. "Yeah."
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Mikan bent down, picking up the golden bear and the Christmas card. It was the same bear she saw in the store window with Hotaru. 'For me?' she thought, tucking the bear under her arm and opening the Christmas card.
Merry Christmas.
That's all it said. Mikan looked around her, to see if the anonymous card-giver was still around. When she realized she was the only person there, she sat down and leant against the tree. She studied the card, wondering who could have bothered to send her one.
After a few seconds, she said aloud, "Maybe it was-"
Before she could finish her guess, a recognizable voice appeared. "Mikan!"
Immediately forgetting about what she was thinking at first, Mikan bolted up to her feet and sprinted away from the tree to give none other than Hotaru another bear hug.
"What are you doing?" Hotaru asked casually, stepping back as Mikan wrapped her arms around her.
"Nothing." Mikan murmured, resting her head against Hotaru's shoulder. As the snow fell on their coats and heads, she realized, the warmth of a fireplace wouldn't compare to the warmth she received from a hug from Hotaru.
Sadly, Hotaru didn't seem to share that same friendly affection. She lifted Mikan's arms off her shoulders as her violet eyes took notice of the bear and the card in her friend's hands. "Who gave you that?"
"I don't know." Mikan said, grinning widely. "It didn't say who it was from. But it's the same one we saw in that window, remember?"
Hotaru remained silent, as if not bothering to recall what Mikan was talking about. "Come on." She ordered. "We have to go now." She turned around and started to walk away.
"Ok!"
As Mikan jogged towards Hotaru, Hotaru looked back and gingerly outstretched a hand for her to hold. It was Christmas after all. Mikan was undoubtedly surprised by the gesture, but she still held it willingly. They both walked together side by side, one in higher spirits than the other. "Thanks for being my friend Hotaru." Mikan sighed happily. "Merry Christmas."
Hotaru turned her head to face Mikan, and gradually, a rare but genuine smile formed on her lips. "Merry Christmas, you fool."
So both friends walked in the drifting snow and soon left Central Town for the academy. When Mikan reached her room, she carefully placed the bear on her bedside table, admiring the golden sparkle its fur gave out with the lamp light. Soon, she climbed onto her bed, turned off the lights, and finally closed her eyes for her peaceful Christmas slumber.
So who gave Mikan the bear?
She still doesn't know.
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AUTHOR NOTE:
Haha, so who do you think gave Mikan the bear?
This is my first go in writing fanfiction. Take it easy on me, haha, I haven't even finished watching the anime yet. Please review though, if any characters seemed out of character, state it! I hoped you liked reading it, and I hope you were able to listen to the song. Well, R & R, as they say!