Mikan's Song

By Ria Rie

Verse 1, Stanza 2 – Her Melody

The sun is nearly setting, and Tokyo's lights began to glow against the creeping darkness. Mikan Sakura, Japan's Angelic Pop Idol is seen walking towards her limousine. 'It had been a long day,' the brunette superstar thought. Well, it was really a long day for her. She started it with a live performance at Good Morning, Tokyo, gone through a series of magazine photo shoots and interviews, and despite of her busy schedule, the young brunette still managed to pay her favorite nii-chan a surprise visit.

While riding past the luminous street lights, the favorite brunette was listening to her new songs in her iPod. Mikan is wearing a one-size bigger pink and black checkered polo shirt, pairing it with a white mini short and a shimmering pair of black gladiator flats. She shortened the polo sleeves by folding them up while she decided to go for braided pigtails this time.

"Mimi-chan! What a very pleasant surprise!" Tsubasa Yukihira said, ruffling her little sister's hair.

"It's been a while since we've seen each other, nii-chan!" Mikan answered as she excitedly gave her older brother a big hug.

"Hmm, you looked exhausted. Work's stressing you?" All of a sudden, Tsubasa's pleased expression became worried, seeing her one and only baby sister in a worn-out appearance.

"Heh…no, it's nothing really, nii-chan. It's just that I really had a long day today," she explained, blushing. Mikan thought that she had completely forgotten to freshen up because she might not be able to see her brother on time.

Tsubasa Yukihara is the Yukihara Corporation's Chief Executive Officer at the young age of 25. When he was 23, his parents were confident enough to put the company's name in their son's hands. He is known for his playboy approach and had always loved to be flirting with girls. Although Mr. CEO never had been in a serious relationship, his brotherly love to Mikan never changed.

"I want someone to play with this! I don't want to be alone forever!" demanded a three-year old boy, breaking all the expensive toys surrounding him. He threw all his broken toys on air that made all his servants and nurses ran away to take cover. Tsubasa never had a playmate when he was young and he longed to have a younger sibling.

"Master Tsubasa, please calm down! You will only hurt yourself more!" pleaded the butler, who was hiding in an umbrella to protect him from the hovering metal toy rails and trains.

"Please Tsubasa-sama! Your impatience could get us all in trouble!" added one of Tsubasa's nurses while helping her wounded companion. The toy bus struck the poor maid on her head, knocking her unconscious on the floor. "Please Tsubasa-sama! Please!" Sadly, no matter how many times they ask, Tsubasa certainly did not respond to any of those pleas.

Everything in the play area were in disarray when suddenly, a man dressed in gray kimono entered together with his bodyguards. The panicking people were relieved as the Yukihara head finally spoke.

"Tsubasa? What on earth is this? Rebelling again?" the old man asked, scanning the dreadful place.

The obnoxious boy suddenly stopped from whining, and did not utter a single word to his grandpa.

"Go to your room boy, I think you'll need a hard time to calm yourself down," the old man's voice sounded more of a command rather than an appealing request. The boy stood still, not giving any a glance at him. "Did your mother, Yuka, explain this to you before? Or you really want your father to know all about this?" Concern and annoyance was felt in the man's tone, making the stubborn Tsubasa ran to his room.

Thankfully, Mikan was born to the Yukihara family when he was eight; however, he was in a boarding school in England at that time. So he patiently waited to finish his elementary education before seeing his precious little sister. He immediately flew back to Japan after his graduation, and just as expected, Tsubasa was very anxious about her little sister's reaction.

Mikan, on the other hand, grew up without her brother, mother and father on her side. She was left under the care of her Jii-chan when she was only 5 months old. However, her grandfather tried his best to let the young Yukihara princess grow with much love and made her understand how important her parents' sacrifices are. The old Yukihara usually tells stories about the Yukihara clan, especially Mikan's brother and their mom and dad. Subsequently, Mikan had learned to save a special place in her heart for her barely-seen-yet-loved family.

'Will she get frightened of me and run away?' Tsubasa thought as he took off the plane. Much to his surprise, her sister's yearning expression welcomed him. As the huge oak door of the Yukihara mansion's drawing room opened, he overheard the conversation between Mikan and his grandfather about his arrival. Upon seeing his older brother, the face of the five-year-old Mikan suddenly lit up and she happily ran towards him saying, "Onii-chan is finally home with Mimi!" From that on, Tsubasa never missed the chance of expressing his love to his dear sister.

As she glanced around her brother's office, Mikan could see the faces of the past CEO's of their family's corporation. From the far left corner of her brother's office walls, she could clearly identify her parent's faces. The brown-haired woman with an appearance like hers, although much older and matured, was her mother. Below the picture read, Yuka Azumi-Yukihara, Y.C. CEO 2005-2007. On the right side of her mother's portrait was the face of her father, Izumi Yukihara, Y.C. CEO 1995-2004.

Mikan rarely shared a bonding time with her parents. As heads of Japan's leading multi-corporation, it was really a hard time for Mikan to steal her mom and dad's attention since 85% of the people and economy of Japan greatly relied on Yukihara Corporation. She really just had to accept that fact because she loves her parents so much that she couldn't afford to become another burden to them. The young brunette had greatly understood her fate despite of her very early age thanks to her Jii-chan, Y.C.'s CEO for almost 30 years and her nii-chan of course.

Just then, she remembered her upcoming guesting on one of the popular musical variety shows in Japan. Mikan was about to tell her brother about this and her upcoming projects when someone knocked and opened the CEO's door.

It was Tsubasa's secretary, Misaki Harada. Misaki-san is known for her boyish attitude, so most of her guy officemates are afraid to court her. It has been two years since Misaki applied for the secretarial position in the Yukihara Industries. When she and Tsubasa were introduced to each other, the young CEO thought that she must be some boy dressed in a girl's uniform. As usual, Tsubasa Yukihara showed off his trademark smirk, which had caught a lot of girls before. Amusingly, the pretty secretary didn't like his stupid 'cool moves' that she just ignored them. This had caught Tsubasa's attention. From then on, Yukihara Corporation's most handsome bachelor never stopped from getting his moody secretary's interest.

"Mr. Yukihara, Mr. Kaname Sono of Sono Cars Inc. wants to confirm his attendance on tomorrow's meeting," Misaki said. She was about to hand a couple of papers for her boss to sign, but Mr. CEO suddenly stood up and slipped his arms into his secretary's petite waist.

"Mimi-chan, remember my Misaki-chan? Well, she is close to become my girlfriend," Tsubasa said, a wide grin is drawn across his face. Mikan just sweat-dropped. Misaki, on the other hand, couldn't just accept her boss' rudeness. Basically, she always had two options: one, stomp his feet so hard that he could see hell, or two, blow a death punch on his evil and annoying face. And as usual, ladies and gentlemen, the murderous grin of Misaki Harada gave a hint that she picked the second option – a choice she always liked.

Mikan thought that these people in front of her were used to each other's company so she just let out a big sigh as she watched her brother being punched by his secretary.

"Ouch! Misaki-chan! You gave me another tough blow today!" the young CEO said as he touched his flaming cheeks.

"Hmph! If you can't keep up a decent attitude towards work Mr. Yukihara, then you should at least show some respect to yourself and to everyone around you!" Misaki's bloodcurdling tone was heard all over the 25th floor of the Yukihara Corporation's Building A.

Now that's a bit scary. Mikan was taken aback when she heard those loud sharp and bold words from Misaki-san. It's not every day that the Japan's Angelic Pop Idol sees a scenario where the secretary is yelling over her boss. For five years that she has been in the field of entertainment, Mikan had always seen hundreds of TV and Media corporates with their adorable secretaries. Well as for her brother, Mikan thinks that her nii-chan is quiet unfortunate to have a terrifying assistant.

Noticing fright in Mikan's eyes, Misaki felt conscious as she was reminded of her position. Gathering all the remaining calmness and poise she had at that moment, the herculean secretary straightened up and immediately gave an apologetic look to her boss' beloved guest.

"Gomen-nasai, Ms. Mikan." Then she abruptly turned to her injured boss. "My apologies, Mr. Yukihara. If you need something, I'm right outside." After that, Misaki turned to face the two and walked towards the door and said, "Please excuse me for my attitude." Those were the last words Mikan heard from her nii-chan's secretary.

"Boy that was painful!" Tsubasa whined after his secretary had gone out.

"Nii-chan, I think you could use a little self-control when talking to Misaki-nee. That's good for you and her," Mikan suggestively pointed out. "You know, she becomes a monster every time you piss her off."

"Are you afraid of her, Mimi-chan?" Mikan's nii-chan slyly inquired. "As you know, my Misaki-chan can be tough at times, but she really has that soft side." Somehow, Tsubasa is right. "Misaki Harada may seem rough and hard on the outside, however, there's still a calm and gentle Misaki-chan in her heart," he added. And judging from her nii-chan's confident face, Mikan thought that her Tsubasa-nii had deeply fallen for his secretary.

Meanwhile, a loud knock echoed throughout the dark and messy hotel room as a blonde-haired half-French boy impatiently waited outside the door. 'You're killing me, man,' he thought. After realizing that he had been standing in front of that cold door for almost half an hour, he endlessly banged the sturdy wooden door to let anyone inside know that he is there. He was about to blowup all his patience when suddenly, the door knob creaked open. A boy, much likely as his age, with crimson eyes and raven hair went out with his robe on.

"Geez Ruka, you're close to breaking my ear with that noise," said the sleepy lad in front of him. "You could've just called me or simply break inside," he shrewdly suggested with a smirk in his face. "I wouldn't mind it, you know."

But the exasperated boy didn't seem to like what his best friend had told him. "And just when did you decided to go back here in Japan, Natsume?" Instead of giving him a warm smile, Ruka just gave him a troubled face.

Seeing the concerned look of his closest friend for almost 15 years, Natsume returned a reassuring face to Ruka.

"Don't worry; I came back for a very special reason."