AN OATH TO BREAK

By pseudonym08

SUMMARY: Ruka Nogi was the best friend of Natsume Hyuuga, sent to live as an ordinary citizen to accompany the prince. Besides accompanying, it was also his personal duty to protect him and make sure that no one besides him would be able to know the secret of Natsume's real identity. As his best friend, he acted as a controller of Natsume's recklessness and made sure that he takes good care of himself. The first time Ruka was offered with the position of being a guardian, he declined, assuring the king that he was already contented being the prince's best friend and protecting him from a distance. However, Ruka never anticipated that Natsume's sudden disappearance would signal the start of something big… something that would lead him to question his own loyalty to the oath he had sworn a long time ago.

Chapter Three | Doubting the Doctor

Natsume Hyuuga

The moment Natsume Hyuuga woke up, he felt pain and nauseous. The smell of herbs made him want to vomit. It had the effect of lulling him to sleep as well. For a brief while, he was indeed almost tempted to rest and close his eyes despite the unpleasant feeling. Nevertheless, the unfamiliarity of the place gave him the strength to resist and the initiative to get up.

He fought the pain he felt and forced himself to sit up in a very unfamiliar bed. As he left the comforts of the pillow however, he suddenly felt dizzy. His muscles ached and his vision blurred. He had no choice but to clutch his head and pause for a while. At the same time, it gave him some time to assess the place he was at.

For one, Natsume was sure that he was not in one of the infirmaries back in the kingdom. The bed where he sat wasn't even close to the comfy sheets the hospitals were sure to have. This one was hard. The sheet was so thin that his aching back would scream from the hardness of the wooden bed. It wouldn't give comfort to a patient at all! It would just worsen the condition.

Other than that, as he turned to look at the surroundings, he realized that it didn't look like a hospital. Not even the slightest bit. Its size and its interior arrangements weren't even close to that of a private clinic.

The place was quite simple, he noticed. It looked more like a small house belonging to someone who likely practiced medicine. There were no room divisions. No weird and mysterious locked rooms. Natsume could clearly see where the kitchen was, or the sliding door that probably led outside. Slowly, he tried to straighten his back. But his body won't allow him to.

He scanned the place and found a small porcelain mug beside his bed, on top of a small wooden desk. It was half-filled with golden brown liquid, with few green streaks in it, probably from the leaves of the plant used. The contents were still hot. And Natsume realized that it was where the herbal aroma came from –his medicine.

He stretched out his hand and slowly reached for the antidote. He had no idea of what it would taste, and he was not the slightest bit interested in finding it out. He really didn't want to. However, circumstances were not in his favor this time. He had no choice but to take it and drink.

The moment the liquid slid past his burning throat, Natsume closed his eyes and tried not to think of the bitter taste. But as he emptied the mug, he realized that it didn't taste at all. In fact, it was more like water with a slight tinge of honey. He couldn't fully describe the flavor. It was something new, and a little bit strange. Were his taste buds at fault now?

Then after a few minutes, he felt his head beginning to clear. His breathing returned to normal. Natsume slowly opened his eyes. At least, his vision was better. He sighed in relief. He then straightened his back.

"Mou, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't trust me anymore! That was the past!" He heard a voice yell, from somewhere past the wooden walls of the room. He got up—slowly, carefully—trying to assess the condition of his body. When he realized his strength had fully returned, thanks to the magical but rather suspicious drink, he walked towards the door and slid it open.

When he did, the sight of a woman with shoulder-length brunette hair greeted him.

.

Natsume went back inside the house and sat on one of the dining chairs. The woman followed behind. She went on one of the chairs opposite to his, laid the dried clothes there, before pulling another and sat. Then, she began folding the laundry. All the while, Natsume simply sat and stared at her, like a tiger quietly observing his prey. Why was he here? He asked himself, curious of the woman's identity and her motives.

Ever since he woke up, Natsume expected his doctor to be a guy—a bearded, rather mysterious, middle-aged man; like the typical nerdy scientist wearing a lab coat. It never came upon him the probability of the medic to be a woman. Much less a young one at that. She's probably a year younger than him at most. But still, despite her young age, Natsume felt a strong sense of professionalism in her. In so many ways, she was different.

And it sure did peak his interest – in a rather curious, unromantic kind of manner.

"Stop staring!" she said, "It gives me the creeps."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh, right! Stupid of me to forget," she suddenly switched to her bubbly mode and paid him a brief glance. All the anger and irritation she felt gone in an instant, "My name is Mikan Sakura, a certified alice medic. And you are…?"

"Natsume," he flatly replied.

"Natsume…?"

"Hyu- Kawazaki. Kawazaki, Natsume," he leaned closer, his hands on top of the table. His voice was monotonous—like before—and serious. He went on, "You said earlier that we're at the boundary? What boundary?"

"Well, I'm from the Hibari Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Water Serpents-"

Kingdom of the Water Serpents… Natsume's eyes formed to slits as he stared at the woman. So, she's an enemy, huh? Although he would really not like to think of her as an enemy, since she was basically the one who saved him. However, after everything that happened, which was still quite unclear to him, she gave him no choice but to consider her as such. Plus the fact that he was still unsure of her real motives.

"-and right now, we're at the boundary between the Hyuuga and Hibari kingdoms."She smiled innocently at him as she continued folding the remaining laundries.

"Why are we here? Why did you bring me here?" This time, Natsume's voice was colder, curious but in an offensive, somewhat judgmental manner. Mikan had noticed this sudden change of his tone. But she simply tried to ignore it. Her thoughts pre-occupied in finding the answers to his recent questions.

Why was he here indeed? Of all people, why an arrogant man like him? She thought. "I really do not know. I just sneaked in and pretended I was part of the army. My goal was to rescue the first wounded soldier I'd see. But I wasn't able to get one from the first attack, since everyone immediately moved forward. So, I guess that's it."

Natsume leaned back in his chair. He sighed.

"I used the powder the general gave us, to conceal my presence from everyone, and took you with me. After all, that's what the citizens of the Hibari kingdom are famous for. Some can normally do tricks with water, like healing and making powders for concealment. Those are really plus points in terms of battle."

"Idiot, do you normally talk a lot?"

"No, but I thought you were asking," she smiled.

Natsume did not reply. He looked closely at her, trying to find something, anything that might give away her real intentions. But as he continued looking at her and after seeing her gleeful attitude—nope! Natsume thought it impossible. She couldn't have planned something evil. It was quite ridiculous to think so. She was just too innocent; or appeared too innocent. Well, at least, for him.

.

Mikan Sakura

Mikan walked quietly along the busy streets of the boundary. Her mind wandered back to the time she had finally come face-to-face with him. Remembering the cold countenance of the man she just recently saved—well, she couldn't get it out of her head. It wasn't that she was in love with him. By all means, she wasn't. She was simply… curious. Why was he so inquisitive and secretive?

Mikan breathed in, still spaced out. And although she was not paying much attention to her surroundings, she was quite lucky none had bumped her yet. As she absent-mindedly made her way towards the next stall, she was still unaware that a certain stranger had been following her tracks all this time.

"Yes, one of that please," she asked the saleslady as she handed her some coins. The old woman smiled at her before handing the item. Mikan happily received it. Then, she turned around and treaded on. The basket secured in her hands.

After she finished the laundry, Mikan's next task was to cook lunch for the both of them. So, after their talk, she took her basket and went out to the market. But most of the places she visited so far were the vegetable stands, instead of the meat section where she usually shopped before. The basket she held contained more herbs for her patient, than meat and even fish.

As she left another store, Mikan had finally sensed a strong presence—the presence of a man. She had been followed. As to why, she was not so certain. But her strong guess was that the man was one of the high-ranking officials of the kingdom, for he was able to conceal himself expertly at some point. Maybe he was sent out to capture her and punish her for disrespecting the code of the knights. Had they finally found out the little feat she pulled with the army?

Or maybe it was just some random thief that suddenly caught her interesting. Was she too flashy? She looked at her dress. Well, it was quite presentable, clean at the very least, but probably not handsome enough to attract robbers. Or at least that's what she thought.

Mikan turned around. But found no person she could consider suspicious. She went on with her errands, pretending that she wasn't able to notice anything weird. Whoever the person was, she just hoped it wasn't a murderer. She could pretty well accept if it was a palace guard. She would simply convince the king of her true intentions. Otherwise, she really does not know what to do.

So she went on, not minding the one trailing behind. She thought that maybe sooner or later, her pursuer would eventually get tired and walk away.

However, what she thought of –she was wrong. Even after some time, the mysterious presence still persisted. Mikan began to fear. She quickened her pace and tried to look for some place to hide or to serve as leverage for her to finally catch the unknown person. She bumped a lot of people along the way, with her muttering a quick apology right after. A few of the things she bought slowly fell off the basket because of her fast walk.

But she simply ignored it and went on.

The presence she felt was getting stronger now, and she needed to get away fast. She had no time to pick it all up. Mikan looked ahead, still trying to find a decent hiding spot. And there! A few steps to the front was a small alleyway. Well, it was quite smaller than the rest actually. Mikan paused for a brief while and held her breath.

She had definitely heard of that place alright. Its telltale legend was quite famous, especially in the academy where she studied. That smallest alley of the boundary, also called the branching alleyway was said to lead to the different parts of the kingdom. However, it was later abandoned for reasons she do not clearly know. Some said that it was cursed. Others feared they might get lost as they travel down the roads. Either way, that alley was said to be off-limits.

Nevertheless, it seemed that Mikan does not clearly know what off-limits is.

Suddenly, an idea popped out of her head. She hesitated for a while, thinking of it as an absurd idea. Nonetheless, the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was of using it to her advantage. She took a step. Then, another. One foot forward after the other. After a while, Mikan doubled her pace, almost close to a slow run. The ribbon on her hair began to loosen, and smooth brunette locks cascaded down her face.

She walked faster and immediately turned around. After so, she quickly hid behind one of the stacked boxes. In front were five or so paths branched in different directions. How strange. Mikan thought, confirming the rumors. It was just a small alleyway back then. But it happened to be actually big.

The moment she heard footsteps getting louder every minute, she silenced herself. Her heart beat quickened. She felt his strong presence once again, that very same presence she felt earlier, just past the box where she hid. Mikan stifled a gasp, trying to calm down her nervous self. Looking at his shadow, she could tell that he was confused. Then, she slowly placed the basket on the ground, just right beside her. When the timing was right, she went out of the box and swiftly tried to land a punch to his face.

But Mikan never expected for him to be fast and… strong. The man easily ducked to avoid her assault. When she kicked, he was able to block it with his arms. Because of the quick transition of events, Mikan wasn't able to easily recognize who the man was. But she knew that he was nowhere friendly. When he found his perfect timing, he then grabbed her hand and turned her around. "Let go of me!" Mikan screamed.

"You're quite strong for a girl like you," was what he said, "It is unexpected." Her eyes widened from the familiarity of his voice.

"Mister Kawazaki? Why are you here?" she asked, fuming, "And why were you following me?"

"And a loudmouth too," he went on, ignoring her enraged figure. He loosened his grip and finally let go. He placed both his hands inside his pockets and turned to the basket on the ground. He scanned its contents. "Well, at least there's no poison."

"What do you mean by that?" asked she whilst rubbing her sore wrists. Mikan turned around to better face him. She saw him shrugged.

"Nothing really," he answered.

"Are you doubting me?" Natsume did not reply.

Mikan scoffed. Then, she angrily stomped her way towards the basket and took it. "Well, I am sorry mister if I happened to be so untrustworthy for you. If you do not know and no longer wished to appreciate my hospitality, I have no means of stopping you. You can go wherever you wished to go."

She dusted her dress and walked out of the small passageway. Natsume followed behind, much to her irritation. She walked out to the main street, not minding her disarranged state. The ribbon had fallen off sometime before. Her hair was a bit messed. And the back of her dress was rather the dirtiest, probably from the wall she leaned on a while back.

But she never cared about any of it as she marched towards civilization. All she wanted was to get away from him. Such an ungrateful jerk! She thought, cussing more words inside her head. Because of her anger, she was not able to notice the little commotion happening a few distances away.

Just to the right of the main street was a black horse neighing furiously to its master. It wanted to break free from the grip of the man. But Mikan was nowhere near listening to the loud warning in front of her. She was just too angry. Plus, she was still busy arguing with someone who was certainly not listening.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Mikan asked angrily, looking at him who was not paying attention to her. "I said you can go now to wherever you wished to go! You don't have to follow me."

But Natsume's focus was not on her. It was somewhere to her right, to where a beast ferociously tried to break free. He had obviously noticed the danger. And as he looked at her oblivious face, he wondered just how blind and stupid she was for not realizing that she was practically within danger zone.

"Idiot, get the hell out of there!" Natsume warned.

"Don't yell at me! And most importantly, don't call me an idiot!" she spat back.

"LOOK OUT!" From the yell of an old man, Mikan turned towards his direction—turned to where a horse speedily made its way towards her. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, waiting for an impact that she was sure to come… soon.

For added information, I will be updating Fridays, either Friday mornings or Friday afternoon (but not necessarily every Friday). Again, I thank you for the support. Please review and/ add. Happy Valentines to all!