Author Note: Thank you for all the reviews and the encouragement guys. This chapter is short but I hope you like it. I will try and update soon.
Chapter 2
Twelve Years Ago
She pulled aside the loose board and squeezed through the opening. The walls scraped the skin off her arms and she could feel blood starting to drip from the cuts but she ignored it. Getting out was more important than anything. Once she was out, she pulled out the blanket she had left inside near the wall. She pushed the board back in place, as much as she could from outside and then assessed her surroundings. She was standing next to a shack in the middle of a pine forest and all she could see around her was huge trees covered in snow. The snow around her was also pristine except the red splotches made by the blood dripping from her cuts.
She took a deep breath, wrapped the blanket around her but left a large part trailing to help cover her tracks and started walking. Her sneakers were soaked within minutes but she ignored them and the cold. She was glad it was day and she had at least a semblance of warmth from the sun.
She had no idea how long she had been walking, but it had to have been longer than six hours as the sun was about to set, when she came upon a cabin. She leaned against a tree and watched, wondering if she had gone through all this only to come to her captors.
The door opened and a boy stepped out. He could not have been more than eighteen, five or six years older than her. She was sure of it just as she knew he was not one of those who had kidnapped her. She might not have seen their faces, but she recognized all of them by now.
She stepped forward and suddenly there was a gun pointed at her.
"Who're you?" the boy asked and his voice was neutral, like he did not give a damn about what she had to say.
She stared down the barrel of his gun and knew she did not have anything more left. So she told him the truth. "Mikan Sakura."
"What are you doing here?"
"Escaping my kidnappers."
"Come on in. I'm Natsume Hyuuga."
Present
Mikan ignored the scandalized looks coming her way. She saw Natsume notice, saw his eyes narrow, and then they un-narrowed and all his concentration came back to her. She grinned.
He caught the grin and chuckled.
They were at Palazzo, the most exclusive Italian restaurant in the city. Usually, snobby places were not her thing, but the food here was to die for, so Mikan came here at least once a week. Natsume was the same and so they had run into each other here pretty often. She had fallen asleep in the car, and when he woke her up, they were at the Palazzo.
They had not spoken a lot through dinner. She was tired and sleepy. Plus the close scrutiny of the other patrons had not pleased her, even though they had a mostly secluded table to themselves. The staff here knew them well after all.
Mikan swirled her fork around in the spaghetti. "Why did you bring us here straight? You could have just dropped me home to get ready Nate."
"Don't need to dress up to eat at your favorite place. Plus the way you are, you're going to crash as soon as you get home and I am not depriving you of sleep. Not for food anyways." His eyes were alight with mischief when he finished and she rolled her eyes, but her lips were turned up.
"Chocolate mousse cake or blueberry cheesecake?" he asked her after a moment and she looked up in surprise. "You know my favorite dessert?"
He shrugged, "we both come here often enough."
She started smiling, "you said 'your favorite place'. You came here to run into me." It was a statement. His mouth quirked in a half smile. Mikan's smiled widened.
They shared a blueberry cheesecake for dessert.
