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A Sickness to Forget
Written by Sitting in the Silence
ii : Burn
MIKAN WAS TRYING HER BEST to calm Natsume and herself down. Something's definitely wrong with him; the way he's acting and the way he talks. He sounded so weak; he was like, out of breath.
Natsume didn't budge away from Mikan. He kept their distance close and he didn't remove his arms around her. He can feel Mikan trying to push him off every five seconds or so but no, he won't let go of her. Not when she's in danger.
Then he heard knocking on the door.
"Mikan, it's me." hearing the voice caused Natsume to flinch. He automatically turned around and shielded Mikan from any danger that would come their way.
"No. Don't open it! Just stay behind me." Natsume said as he took a little step back, causing Mikan to step back too.
Mikan frowned, "Don't open what?"
"The door, idiot!" he answered back, almost yelling. The knocking continued and it became louder and louder, "STOP IT! STAY AWAY!" he yelled weakly as he panted.
She nervously clutched her nightdress; she can't understand him. Who is he talking to? There's no one here besides the two of them and it's making her crazy. She was woken up in the middle of the night – not that she cared right now. When she heard Natsume's voice earlier, she felt relieved yet worried. She doesn't know what's happening to him and she can't call for help. By the looks of it, Natsume won't let her out of his sight.
"Mikan. Open the door. Don't listen to that jerk. Just come and open the door for me, Mikan." said the voice again.
Natsume extended his left arm to the side, making a barricade so that Mikan won't be able to get pass him, "No! Don't listen to them. It's Ruka! He's . . . he's going to take you away from me."
Natsume glared at the door; if it wasn't for Mikan's nullification being in control then he must've probably burned the whole dormitory by now.
"Natsume . . ." Mikan called out, touching him on the shoulder, "you're really sick, I think we should go to the hos—"
"NO! We're not going out of this room. He's still out there. The others might be with him too." Natsume said as he clenched his fist. The thought of his friends backstabbing him makes him grimace in disgust. He never thought that a day like this would come, the day when he would fight – even hurt – his so-called friends.
"Natsume . . . I honestly don't hear anything. I . . . c-could go check it out." Mikan said as she tried lowering the arm that was blocking her way. She'll call Hotaru or Narumi once she manages to get pass him.
Natsume's eyes narrowed and he suddenly grabbed Mikan's hand – the one that was slowly pushing his arms out of the way. "Dammit Mikan!" He said as he tightened his grip on her wrist. He then clutched her shoulder and pushed her against the wall.
Mikan's back bumping on the wall caused a thud. Mikan winced in pain, "Ow."
Hearing that escaped from Mikan's lips, Natsume's eyes widened as his clutch loosened. "I-I . . . I'm sorry Mikan." He apologized as he covered his face with his palm. "I didn't mean to . . . to hurt you."
Mikan looked away. She can feel her heartbeat beating fast. For a moment there, she saw a different Natsume.
She knows that they always bicker and Natsume has threatened her before – especially during her first days in the Academy. But his expression earlier was . . . scary. When she officially got in the Academy, Natsume has been kind to her since then; kind in the sense that he didn't try clutching her bangs demanding for an answer again.
But he was ten times scarier earlier. She swore she could almost see hell burning in his eyes when he looked at her.
She looked at Natsume again, only to find him crouching on the floor. Mikan held her bruised wrist as she walked slowly toward Natsume, "Listen to me Natsume, you need to go to the hospital. You need to . . . rest. Please Natsume."
Natsume looked up to see Mikan crouching in front of him. He saw her amber eyes trembling. "You're right. I'm sorry again Mikan. I just wanted to protect you."
Mikan smiled at him, "I'll be fine Natsume. Here—" she stood up and tried to help Natsume stand up, "Let me accompany you to the hospital."
Natsume just gave her a light nod.
"He'll be fine; I already gave him a pill for his fever. We'll run some test on him later for further information but the best thing for him right now is to rest." The nurse said. She glanced at Natsume's bed and continued, "I also gave him a sleeping pill, it'll help him rest properly."
"Thank you so much. I really appreciate everything and I know it's pretty late." Mikan said as she smiled.
The nurse spoke, "No problem at all. And Miss Sakura, would you mind if I clean and dress up your wrist?"
"What?" Mikan looked at her wrist and she was shock to see that her wrist had swollen – like it was burned. This must have been what hurt her earlier, she remember feeling a hot sensation touched her locked wrist but she was too busy worrying about Natsume that she only winced when he pushed her to the wall. "Oh. I don't mind at all, and please call me Mikan." She smiled, at that the nurse bowed and grabbed the first aid kit.
Seconds later, the nurse came back with basin of cool water in her hands and a medical case locked under her arm. She sat beside Mikan and put the basin and the case down at the table beside them.
"Let me see that, Mikan-chan." The nurse said as she carefully pulled Mikan's hand to her lap. She slowly turned Mikan's hand, examining the burn, "It's just a first-degree burn and it's a small area so it'll peel off in about 2-3 days." The nurse looked at Mikan and smiled, "Let's soak your hand here" – she touched the basin – "for about 15 minutes."
Mikan nodded and obliged. She slowly dipped her hand in the cool water, she winced for a while but when she managed to let it stay there, the cool water seemed to have taken the hot pain away.
"That will help reduce the swelling." The nurse said as she quietly rummaged the medical case. "You're a nullifier, right?" she suddenly asked as she checked some ointment container.
"Y-yes. Why?" Mikan asked.
"And the boy over there is a fire-caster." – she smiled and laughed nervously – "I didn't mean to pry but my alice is Alice Detection. I can know one's alice once I've touched them."
"Oh. That's cool. We should've met during my first day here since I had no idea to what my alice was back then. You could have saved me from all the trouble I went through just to find it out." Mikan said as she giggled.
The nurse let out a small chuckle as well, "Well, do you regret going through all the trouble?" she asked.
"Of course not! It was one hell of an experience." Mikan answered; delighted by the fact that she loves the nurse's company.
"That's good then." – she glance inside the basin – "Well, I'm thinking of what I'm going to write in my report about that boy." She said as she turned to look at Natsume's bed that was adjacent to them. Mikan looked too.
"It's clear that he did this to you. Something happened that caused you to become off-guard of your nullification alice." The nurse said.
Mikan grimaced, "No. You don't understand. He . . . he didn't mean for this to happen. He's been acting weird earlier. I'm sure something's wrong with him. Maybe . . . something happened to him. You're gonna run some test on him, right? Find out what's wrong?" Mikan asked as she hopefully looked at the nurse.
"Yes of course. I'll immediately run some tests once he's awake. And I'll inform you myself of the results." The nurse said, assuring.
Mikan calmed down and sighed, "Thanks a lot."
"Oh. Let me see your hand." The nurse said. Mikan slowly took it out of the water and let the nurse handle it.
The nurse grabbed a towel and she slowly pressed the towel around her wrist, drying it with care. She then took the burn ointment she had ready on the table. She squeezed the container and let the ointment spread on her forefinger. She then slowly rubbed the ointment on Mikan's wrist. After that, she wrapped a dry gauze bandage loosely around her wrist.
"That should do it." The nurse said once she was done wrapping. She stood up and started putting things in the medical case.
Mikan smiled and stood up as well, "Thank you for everything . . ." she stopped, waiting for the right name to come from the good nurse before her.
The nurse smiled at her, "Ayako. Call me Aya-chan."
"Yes. Thank you again, Aya-chan." Mikan said as she bowed. She started to walk away and her feet dragged her towards Natsume's bed. She grabbed the chair and placed it beside the bed. She sat on it and stared at the sleeping Natsume.
"Mikan," Ayako called out, "I know that he's a good kid and I believe you – something might be wrong with him. I'm not gonna write anything about you having a first-degree burn in my report."
Mikan smiled at her, "Thank you so much, Aya-chan."
"I'm off now. I'll just be on the counter. By the way Mikan-chan, you seemed oblivious of this; you're still wearing your nightdress."
"Eh?" Mikan looked down and Ayako's right, she just noticed that she was still wearing her nightdress. Mikan laughed, embarrass. "I must've really panicked. Hehe."
"Do you want me to call anyone to bring you some clothes?" Ayako asked as she held the door open.
Mikan looked up and scratch her chin, now that she'd mention it, she'd been wanting to talk to Hotaru ever since the Natsume incident happened.
"Yes, please contact Hotaru Imai for me." Mikan said.
"Right away, Mikan-chan. Take care, I'll go now." Ayako said and when she saw Mikan nod, she immediately went out the room and closed the door behind her.
When Ayako had left the room, Mikan mentally smacked her brain. What was she thinking? Look at the time. She's really sure that Hotaru would aim her Baka Canon at her once she found at the she has been awaken by her, Mikan Sakura, at this time of the day.
But she shook it off thinking that Hotaru would probably forgive her, for now. She sat back on the chair and looked at Natsume.
Come to think of it, he was saying that Ruka and the others were going to take her away from him. Now why would Ruka and the others do that? She also heard him say something about not opening the door, but she swears she didn't hear anyone knock at her door ever since Natsume came in.
Mikan pouted, "My idiot of a brain can't function properly!" she let out a small whine, "Hotarruuu, hurry!" She said as she buried her head on the small part of Natsume's bed.
A/N: This was originally a four-chaptered fanfic only. But it looks like it's going to change. This won't probably have more than five chapters, I think.
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