A/N: So... chapter 3 is here! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter. This is not Beta'd: there are probably mistakes so feel free to correct!
Rated T: for slight language
Summary: "I hate everything about you." Five words. "I... I hate you too, Natsume." And so the first domino in a long line fell… "Good." For better or for worse only time would tell… He never did see the tears streaming down her face as he walked away.
Chapter 3: Poison and Mystery Girls
Burning eyes like chips of rubies narrowed to a glare behind his mask as Natsume fought.
He was currently battling it out against a large, most likely six-foot-tall, man in hand-to-hand combat. The teens breath rushed out in a hiss when he was hit by a particularly powerful blow to the stomach. He retorted by sweeping his opponents feet out from under them before striking the ending blow. Natsume scowled, dusting off his hands as he watched his partner, Kaori, aim a final kick at the person she was fighting.
"Status report?" Natsume asked quickly.
They were running again, taking out the occasional guard that still lingered with Natsume's fire or the quick throw of a dagger. They didn't have time to knock them out anymore.
"Of all guards encountered, 34% were killed and 66% were knocked unconscious," She replied neatly. "We will arrive at the heads office in approximately three minutes."
"Any chance some will wake up and escape or try and stop us?"
"Chances of recovery before destruction of the building is very low. I would say about 3% sempai."
An unseen smirk found its way onto Natsume's face.
"Good."
They continued running in silence until the door to the leader of the terrorist organization came into view.
"Battle plan, sempai?" Kaori questioned, turning her head slightly to look at him through the eye-holes of her mask.
"I will take down as many guards as possible on my way in, but you will take care of the rest. I will kill the leader. From there we will leave as fast as possible. As soon as we are outside, you will detonate the bombs."
He gave her a quick look.
"You have the remote, right?"
"Affirmative."
"Hn," he mumbled before saying, "Let's go."
They had arrived right at the simple wooden door that led them to their target. A strong kick to the door let them in and the two began the most important part of their mission that night.
Natsume downed three men right off the bat, covering them with flames before he continued running forward.
Just like Kaori had guessed, there were many guards in the office.
The large room they had broken into was richly furnished and Natsume smirked when he thought about how it would all go down in flames soon enough. He continued his dash to the front of the room where a young woman with long raven hair tied up into a ponytail and silvery grey eyes stood, looking rather at ease despite the fact that her organization was under attack.
Natsume snorted.
"I was sent to kill a girl?" he mused aloud. "Some mission..."
The woman laughed.
"Don't be so cocky..." she reached behind her back and Natsume instantly became wary, "brat!"
A glint of silver was all that Natsume saw before three daggers came flying at him. He barely managed to doge, flipping out of the way to avoid the lethal projectiles.
"Tch." he looked behind him to see the weapons deeply embedded into the carpeted floor.
Natsume got into a fighting stance.
"You know," he said with a sneer, "I've been in a terrible mood lately, so I hope that you'll be a good challenge for me."
Silver eyes narrowed before she attacked.
The fight didn't last long.
The woman may have fought well but Natsume was pissed. It ended with Natsume's only injuries being that of a slash in his right arm from one the many knives she apparently used to fight with and a gash on his left leg.
He turned back to see how Kaori was doing.
She just stood there watching him, bodies slumped against the walls and laying on the floor.
"Shall we go?" Natsume could tell she was smiling.
"Hn."
OoOoO
They both stood outside of the terrorists building and Natsume watched with a blank face as Kaori took out the little remote, and after hitting in a somewhat long key code on it, detonated all of the bombs that they had thrown down.
The moment that the first explosion was heard, they ran.
OoOoO
Natsume was feeling weird.
He was back at the Academy, on his way to his dorm, when he had started sweating profusely. Through eyes that were quickly becoming cloudy, he looked at the clean bandages that were on his arm and leg where he had gotten cut with the knives that the sliver eyed woman had used.
'Crap.' he thought suddenly, and immediately began to pick up his pace towards his room.
He dashed through the front door and up the stairs to the top floor where his special star room was. Natsume fumbled for the key he knew was in his pocket, stuck it in the lock, and left himself in.
It was when he closed the door to his dorm room that he collapsed.
'Stupid.' he thought hazily. 'Knife was... coated... Slow acting poison.'
Arms feeling like led, he slowly crawled his way to his room where he knew that the phone the academy had given him was.
Leaning against his bed and breathing loudly he flipped the cell open and began typing in a number on a keypad he could barely see. He wanted to call Ruka, and maybe even Polka, but only the DA got phones so he called the next best person. He knew Kaori was tired, but he didn't trust anyone else to help him that he could actually get in contact with. That and she was good with poisons.
"Hello?" a voice said on the other end of the line. "Sempai?"
"Yeah, it's me." he replied tiredly.
Kaori's voice sounded strangely fuzzy on the other end of the line.
"What's wrong?"
"That... that knife was coated," he took a moment to take in a deep breath, "in slow-acting... poison. I... I need you to help me... find an... antidote..."
Natsume couldn't hold out any longer and his eyes fluttered shut as the cell-phone fell to the floor.
"Sempai? Natsume-sempai? Hold on, I'll be there soon..."
OoOoO
That thursday, Natsume was absent from school.
Mikan sat in her seat, shifting uncomfortably while Jinno-sensei lectured them.
She glanced over to the empty seat beside her.
Wednesdays were mission days. Mikan didn't know why it was Wednesdays, but she did know that that was when they chose them. She also knew that something very bad has happened if Natsume didn't go to school the day after a mission.
Mikan clenched her fists.
"...san?"
What if he was seriously hurt?
"...kura-san...?"
Or what if he was captured by the enemy or something? That would be disastrous!
"Sakura-san!"
Mikan let out a small "eep!" of surprise and looked up to see a very angry Jinno staring down at her.
"Ah ha ha!" she laughed sheepishly, bringing a hand up to scratch her head. "Sorry Jin-ji-... Jinno-sensei! I spaced out..."
Jinno gave her a look of annoyance. "Don't you always?" he asked rhetorically with a small glare. Mikan shrunk in her seat. "So, would you care to give us your answer?"
Mikan looked up at the black board where the letters A, B, C, and D were written neatly with answers beside each of them.
She smiled. "Could you, uh, repeat the question?"
The class laughed at Jinno's enraged expression.
OoOoO
"You may go." Jinno said, giving Mikan a dismissive flick of his wrist and Mikan stood up and left the room.
Detention had been long.
It was 4:30 and she walked quietly through the generally empty hallways of the school, the only sound being the light tip tapping of her shoes on the tile floor.
'I want to see Natsume,' she thought with a frown.
Mikan paused when she reached the door that would let her outside. When she exited the school, if she went left she could go and see if Natsume was alright and (most likely) get yelled at by him or find him injured, help him, and then get yelled at once he was all better. Or she could go to the right and just go collapse in her room and study for the Algebra exam she had tomorrow. No yelling involved.
It only took a moment for her to decide.
Mikan pushed the door open and turned towards the boys dorms.
OoOoO
She stood outside of Natsume's room, staring at the shiny gold nameplate with a single, circled star underneath of it. The name Natsume Hyuuga was printed in fancy script. Taking a deep breath, Mikan brought her hand up to knock.
"I hate you..."
She flinched at the memory of that night and brought her hand back down to her side.
"Maybe I shouldn't do this..." Mikan mumbled. "He'll probably just tell me to go away and call me stupid - tell me that he hates me and doesn't want to see my face."
She shook her head to clear in of those thoughts and rose her hand once more.
Knock, knock, knock!
The nullifier pursed her lips as she waited, hoping desperately that Natsume would answer if only to make sure that he was fine. When she heard the door handle turn from the inside, Mikan stood up straighter and breathed in deeply.
"Natsume!" she exclaimed as the door began to open, "Look, I'm sorry for bothering you but I wanted to make sure that you-"
She broke off when hazel met jade green. A girl that looked to be a year or so younger and a few inches shorter than Mikan stood before her. She had a heart shaped face and creamy skin. She had straight across bangs and soft blond hair that ended just above her shoulder framed her face. She was very pretty.
Mikan blinked.
Leaning to the side she looked back at the door to double check that this was indeed Natsume's room. It was. Her stomach dropped.
"Umm..." Mikan began slowly, looking anywhere but the beautiful stranger. "Sorry for interrupting... what ever I was interrupting." Mikan stumbled over her words.
She forced a smile on her face and made herself look up to the girl.
"I'll just be going now-"
"You are Mikan Sakura." the girl said simply.
Mikan blinked once again.
"Yes..."
"Do you need something?" The girl wasn't smiling.
"Kaori?"a voice called from inside the room. "Where did you go?"
Natsume.
'So her name is Kaori-san...'
Mikan swallowed and bit her lip as she processed the new information.
"N-never mind," Mikan said hastily, tilting her head down to hide her face as best as possible with her bangs. "I'll just be going now."
Turning quickly Mikan ran off, away from the pretty blond and Natsume.
'I wonder if that was his girlfriend...?' she thought, hating the way that her throat constricted and her eyes stung at the thought.
OoOoO
"Who was that?" Natsume asked softly, unable to work up enough strength to speak in a normal voice.
"Mikan Sakura." Kaori informed, walking over to where he lay on his bed.
"What... what did she want?" he asked, looking up at the ceiling.
"I don't know. She ran off before she told me."
"Hn."
"You should be back to normal by tomorrow. The poison should be out of your system by then."
"..."
Kaori stared at him, green eyes probing. "Sempai, what is wrong?" she asked finally.
Natsume closed his eyes and said nothing, causing the blond to sigh.
"I'll be leaving now. If you need anything else, I'm a phone call away."
She began collecting her things, picking up a bag filled with various bottles and a small laptop. She slung her jacket over her shoulder as she walked to the door.
"Sempai?"
"Hn."
"I know you like Mikan-sempai. Talk to her - I think she was very worried about you."
She opened the door and left.
Natsume watched her go with wide crimson eyes before snorting and rolling onto his side.
"Worried?" he asked aloud. "Why would she be worried about me? Stupid girl..."
A/N: And, we will stop there for now :D
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