►The Living Dead◄
▬Chapter One: Silent Tears▬
Ruka and Mikan are as happy as can be. The past is the past, and only the present matters. The future will be thought about later. "Live in the moment," is Ruka's motto. Natsume is believed to be dead, after not coming back from a mission, but… what happens when he comes back? Into Mikan's school, into her world, and… into her heart? Pairings: Natsume x Mikan, Ruka x Mikan, and others.
"Ruka-pyon!"
Ruka, a tall, blonde-haired boy widened his baby blue eyes and turned his head to the direction of the voice. His bored expression immediately lightened up, and his mouth spread to a wide grin, showing off his perfect white teeth.
The person calling for his name was a cute brunette, with a smile even more dazzling than Ruka's.
"Hey, Sakura-san!" Ruka called, spreading his arms wide for a hug.
Much to his disappointment, however, Mikan sniffed indignantly and folded her arms across her chest, leaving some space between them.
Ruka, sensing something was amiss, quickly dropped his outstretched arms dejectedly to his side, and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Mikan, who was looking away from him, side-glanced at him and pouted. "I thought I told you not to call me 'Sakura-san'."
Ruka grinned again, then opened his arms for another hug. "Alright, Mikan."
Mikan's eyes lightened up as she layed her head on his warm chest and hugged him tightly.
"I missed you, Ruka," Mikan whispered softly into his shirt.
"Watashi-mo (Me too), Mikan…eto (um)…"
Mikan smiled, then looked up into Ruka's perfect face. "Nani (What)?"
"How was your mission?" Ruka asked, while playing with Mikan's two pigtails absentmindedly.
Mikan's smiling face fell, and she stepped away from Ruka. "The usual."
Ruka sat on a tree stump on the ground and gently reached for one of her hands. "Why do you never tell me about your missions? Don't you trust me, enough? Do you…" Ruka paused in the middle of his sentence.
Mikan's eyes were shadowed by her hair, Ruka had no idea what she was thinking.
The wind that was there a second ago seemed to die, the trees stopped rustling, all was still. All waiting for the end of the sentence.
"Do you love me, enough?"
Mikan's head suddenly snapped up. "Ruka! Of course, I love you enough, how could you say that? It's just that, well, I don't want to talk about it, I'm sorry."
Ruka sighed, then stood up next to Mikan and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Look, I know you're really unhappy being forced into the Dangerous Abilities class after Natsume—"
Mikan turned around so fast that Ruka bumped his chin and stumbled backward.
"Don't. Talk. About. Him." Mikan's words seemed as if they were squeezing the breath out of her. Ruka never saw her this distraught. Her face was pale, her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, her fists clenched so tightly that they were white…
She opened her chocolate-brown eyes that were filled with shining tears. "Please…" were her last words, before she whipped around and ran back to the Alice building.
Mikan ran as fast as her legs would carry her, away from Ruka, away from everything. Why did he have to bring up him? Ruka, you baka! She cried inside her frazzled mind.
She ran all the way to her single-star room, and once she locked herself in from the door and the window, she threw herself on her bed miserably. She did not know how long she cried in that position, how many tears dropped, and where those tears went after flowing down her beautiful face. All she could think about, at that moment, was that person.
After she finished crying, she stared at her bed covers blankly, for who-knows-how-long. Then, a certain memory triggered her, and again, she started weeping.
Then, through her blurred vision due to her thousands of tears, she saw a white bottle on her nightstand. She slowly outstretched her arm and clutched it, shakily dumped something out of it and swallowed.
Then, everything went black.
Meanwhile…
"WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY?"
"My lord… I-I said it's gone!"
"Go catch it at ONCE! Or else you will suffer the punishment of…" The older man yelled, spittle flying from his mouth.
"Hai! My lord!" The younger man's eyes were wide with fear, then hurried out the room, leaving the old man alone. His face showed malice, and his eyes were bloodshot.
You cannot escape, it is impossible... I will find you, and when I do…
The old man lifted his index finger at a mouse scurrying in the corner of the room, and in a flash, the mouse turned to dust, leaving only a pool of blood behind…
"Shinto! Right there!" A masked man pointed to a dark figure crawling up the stairs.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU BRAT!" The man named Shinto, also wearing a mask, yelled as he charged up the stairs, carrying a stun gun.
The boy inhaled sharply, then continued scrambling up the stairs, but this time, with much more haste than before.
He heard an evil laugh echoing from bottom of the spiral stairs and shuddered—twice.
"You think you can outrun us, boy? With that twisted ankle of yours? Moreover, your fatigue, is it bothering you yet?" More laughs erupted from the bottom.
Shit, more people are coming. I guess it's time… the boy thought, kneeling down to his shoe. To a normal person, you would think he was trying to tie his shoe, but instead, he slipped his hand in his shoe and pulled something out and hid it in his pocket.
It's time…
Knock. Knock.
"Who is it?" Ruka teared his eyes from his window and looked at his door.
"Ruka."
Ruka turned his eyes back to his window view. "I don't want to talk, Imai-san, at least, not right now."
"Shikata ga nai (I guess it can't be helped)," Hotaru said, tonelessly, as Ruka jumped up in alarm as his door got blasted off its' hinges and fell to the floor with an earthquake-worthy thud.
Ruka, stumbling because his chair was overturned by his sudden movement, glanced swiftly from the wrecked door, to Hotaru, who was blowing her steaming baka-gun.
Ruka, always a calm and shy boy, fought to keep his voice controlled. "Just, why, may I ask, did you blast down my door, Imai?"
Hotaru looked at Ruka's clenching fists with amusement. "I did it because you wouldn't open the stupid door, baka."
Ruka closed his eyes, trying to quell the tornado of madness inside him. He exhaled slowly, then slowly opened his eyes, revealing his clear, blue-ocean-colored eyes. He pointed at the still-steaming baka-gun. "I thought it was only meant for idiots. How did it blast down my door?"
Hotaru rolled her eyes, while replying, "It works just fine, even when not directed at a 'baka', however, not as effective," and with that, raised her baka-gun level to Ruka's head, and fired a couple rounds.
Ruka crumpled to the ground, clutching his throbbing head in pain. "IMAI-SAN!"
Hotaru flipped Ruka's overturned chair back to its' correct position, and sat down. "I would have fired a few dozen more, but I could not let you be unconscious."
Ruka, finally gaining control over his throbbing head, managed to hoist himself onto his bed and he plopped down onto his soft double-star bed. "Why?"
"I have a few questions for you."
Ruka groaned, and turned over so his facing wasn't facing Hotaru's side. "Is it about Mikan?"
"Yes."
"Look, it's simple and clear. Everytime I ask her how her mission went, she would give me the cold-shoulder."
Hotaru folded her arms across her chest. "I already know that, baka, but this time, I sense that there's something different. She locked herself in her room, and wouldn't come out, even for Howalon (Fluff Puffs) at Central Town."
Ruka widened his eyes. "Hontoni (Really)?" Everybody knew that Sakura Mikan could not resist the sweet smells of Howalon, ever!
"Well…" Ruka began.
"Yes?" Hotaru leaned forward, secretly turning on her spy recorder. This information could get interesting and would go well on her secret files.
"I mentioned… well… ah…"
"Hurry up and flow with it, Nogi," Hotaru snapped, getting quite impatient, fast.
"I… I brought up Hyuuga." Ruka looked down, shamefully.
Hotaru scrunched up her face. "You brought up Hyuuga? Are you his parent or something?"
Ruka opened his eyes in shock and yelled, "NO! I meant that I mentioned Hyuuga."
(Author's Note: Note that even though Ruka was Natsume's best friend, why does Ruka call Natsume "Hyuuga" as if… they weren't close at all? You will find out later.)
Even Hotaru, the ice queen, couldn't contain her shock. "Why did you do that?"
Ruka looked depressed. "I wasn't thinking properly. I was a little mad at her, I guess."
"Bakayaro (You jerk)! Don't you know that she's being trying to forget about him for the past… 4 years?"
Ruka was shocked. "F-f-forget him? Mikan?" For 4 years! Ruka thought. Mikan's 16 now, so…
Hotaru interrupted his thoughts. "She did it for you, stupid. Ever since she started loving you, she did her best to forget about him. And, she did. Until, you, bakayaro, brought it up today."
Ruka looked up at Hotaru and didn't say anything. She did that for me? Really? Then, he flashed back to his conversation with Mikan from before.
Do you… do you love me enough?
He buried his face in his hands.
Hotaru, seeing that her work here was done, picked up her baka-gun and quietly left the room, not before saying, "Oh hey, you owe me 500 rabbits for me telling you that."
Ruka didn't even lift his head to complain, moreover about his wrecked door. He was too ashamed to even utter a word.
I can't believe I even said those words. Mikan does love me, I was too scared to think that she didn't. Oh, kami-san (God), why did I have to bring Hyuuga up?
Ruka lifted his head, finally. That damn Hyuuga. Who does he think he is, doing that to Mikan and making her suffer so much?
Then, he fell into a deep, but troubled sleep, full of lurking nightmares.
"Mikan!"
"Mikan-chan!"
"You're back!"
Everyone rushed to greet Mikan as she returned from her 1day absence. "Hi, everyone! Sorry I was absent yesterday, I wasn't really feeling well."
"It's okay, Mikan! As long as you're here, everyone's happy!" Anna chirped, ushering Mikan into the classroom.
Iinchou hurried over to Mikan. "Mikan-chan!" he exclaimed that slightly girly voice of his.
"Ohai-you (Good morning), Iinchou!" Mikan smiled, then walked to her seat in the back…
Which happened to be right next to Ruka's seat.
"Osu (Yo), Ruka-kun."
Ruka, looked very surprised and looked at Mikan closely.
He noticed her cheeks were a little pale, and her eyes were darker than usual… a lot duller too. Nothing like the shining eyes that he saw yesterday.
"Are you alright, Mikan?" Ruka asked, standing up to get a closer look.
"Of course, of course, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan waved absentmindedly, then sat in her seat and stared dully forward.
Ruka, sensing something was wrong, quickly felt Mikan's forehead, which wasn't hot. But the alarming thing was, Mikan didn't even react to Ruka touching her.
Hotaru also knew something was up, and tested Mikan. "What's 1+1."
Mikan giggled. "Two."
"5 times 10?"
"Eto… 50."
"Ruka's last name."
"Nogi."
"The name of this school."
"Gakuen Alice."
"Your current boyfriend's name."
"Ruka-pyon!" Mikan grinned.
Ruka felt somewhat relieved that Mikan was okay. "Imai-san, it's okay to stop—"
Hotaru ignored him and continued seriously.
"Your 1st boyfriend's name."
Ruka's jaw dropped wide open.
Hotaru pretended she didn't see that.
The class turned silent. Everybody knew who it was, and how Mikan didn't like to talk about him, and those who did, faced her wrath.
Mikan's face was curiously blank. "Ano… eto… Ruka's my first boyfriend," she answered slowly, obviously a little confused.
Hotaru looked closely at Mikan. "Don't you remember anybody with the last name of Hyuuga?"
Something pinged in the back of Mikan's head, but she was too groggy in the brain to know what it was. She tried to figure it out, because she didn't like the way her classmates were looking at her, as if they feared her, or something like that. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. "I don't remember," she managed to say.
Hotaru tried to say something to Mikan, but was cut off by Ruka.
"Imai, enough."
Hotaru tilted her face toward Ruka, and so did the other classmates. They never heard Ruka speak like that to anyone, especially a girl.
Hotaru didn't speak. It seemed as if invisible waves of communication were flowing between Hotaru and Ruka. Finally, Hotaru hardened her eyes and said, "Let's take Mikan to the hospital."
"Why? There is nothing wrong with her."
"Excuse me, Nogi, but yes there is obviously something wrong with her."
"Imai-san, I said enough. Who cares if she doesn't remember—"
"For your information, Nogi, that person was your former best friend, and should still be!" Hotaru snapped. "The fact that she doesn't remember him really troubles me, and you're not helping by being all jealous and pretending everything's all right!"
Ruka was speechless.
"I… I…"
Hotaru continued. "If you don't care about Mikan's health, then fine, but stay out of my way. Because I'll protect Mikan."
The class inhaled sharply. They never heard Ice-Queen speak with so much emotion about Mikan before.
Ruka sighed. "All right, let's take her."
Ruka and Hotaru waited patiently while the school doctor inspected Mikan's tongue, checked her fever, pulse, eyes…
Then the doctor nodded sadly and wrote something down on his paper.
"Ano… do you know what's wrong with Mikan?" Ruka asked tentatively.
The doctor sighed. "I will answer your question, but you must answer mine first. Is this girl going through some tough times in her life? Any recent family deaths, or relationship problems?"
Hotaru heard Ruka gasp when the doctor said "deaths".
Hotaru spoke for Ruka. "4 years ago, her friend died during a mission."
The doctor nodded mechanically, flipping through his notes. "Hyuuga Natsume-kun, desho (Am I right)?"
Hotaru nodded stiffly. "He was the only person she didn't remember when I quizzed her today."
"Doctor, do you know what's wrong with her? Please tell us!" Ruka pleaded. He was getting really worried.
"Well…" the doctor started, "Sakura Mikan is currently taking drugs."
Wh-hoaaa, cliffhanger, much? Sorry about that! But, I have a personal liking for cliffhangers, hehe. Did you like the chapter? I don't have much confidence in this, but I want to continue the story, but I need to make sure I'm actually writing for an audience! So, I will wait until there are 10+ reviews before writing the next chapter. Sorry, but please review! And tell me what I should improve, and stuff.
Thanks for reading, and hopefully, I'll write soon, but it's first up to you guys!
►Vanillacottoncandy◄
"To give warmth to hearts... that's the kind of person I want to become." --D-Gray Man Manga