Escape

Mikan

As soon as I opened my eyes, darkness greeted me. I was accustomed to bright white light hitting my eyes as soon as I woke up, and the shadows around me were huge in contrast. My eyes felt dry, and my lips were cracked. I ran my tongue over them and they softened back to their plump, pink state. I looked around. I was in the same room Natsume had locked me in, but there was a dark grey blanket wrapped around me. I sniffed it.

It was rosy and floral. It must've been from that sweet Demon girl, Aoi . . .

I let the blanket drop, exposing my bare flesh. I was wearing only an off-the-shoulders blue shirt that stopped right beneath my chest with a white tank underneath. I wore motocross jeans for my bottom part, and I had on white flats. Yeah, flats were just the right thing to wear if you were meeting a bunch of Demons. Stupid Mikan.

I sniffed tenderly and felt a huge lump in my throat. I seriously needed aspirin or something at the moment, and where was the sun?

"Oh, right. You're a thousand feet underground, Mikan. There's no way the sunlight'll reach you." I said sarcastically to myself, rubbing my back.

"Talk to yourself much, Polka?"

No, no, no!

"How long have you been here?" I asked in a rather calm voice, staring at the raven-haired man in front of me with controlled topaz eyes. His lips twicthed in that sexy way, and he grabbed my wrist, forcing me closer to him. I gasped and stumbled a bit, landing headfirst into his chest. As expected, not a single heartbeat errupted from his chest.

"What're you doing?" I shrieked, trying to untangle him from me rather futilely. He closed his eyes as if trying to study something.

Suddenly, I felt something crawling up my arms. Something dark raced up my body, and it throbbed into my whole body, naerly depriving my lungs of air. Blood dripped out of my mouth, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Then, to my shock, he leaned over and licked the blood off of my lips like it was a normal thing, running his lips on mine.

I slapped him hard across the face, leaving a red mark. He raised a brow, annoyed, staring at me skeptically.

"Was that even supposed to hurt?" he asked sarcastically.

"You," I gasped, my cheeks red, "You- you stole my first kiss, perv!"

He chuckled. It wasn't a dark laugh or anything; he was amused and entertained.

"Are you always this masochistic?" I asked loudly. Realizing what I had just said, I clamped my mouth shut. A growl escaped Natsume's lips.

"Watch it, little girl," he snarled, his eyes flashing a dark red unlike his bright ruby. "Just because I saved your ass and kept you alive in Hell doesn't mean I won't hesitate to kill you."

I stared at him in shock. Here I thought this guy had a soft side, but I was wrong. All Demons were monsters, and they didn't have an ounce of feeling for anyone. Especially not an Angel.

"Sorry," I said harshly. "I really didn't think that a bunch of cowardly Demons would kidnap a seventeen-year-old boy and then threaten to kill him if his sister didn't come to visit them. Maybe I should be more careful."

I had done it. I called Natsume cowardly. He slammed me into the wall, and to be honest, my head began throbbing like hell. I felt dark spots appear in my vision as he continued to pin me to the wall, growling unstoppably.

For a while, his nails just dug into my flesh, continuing to scar me. I wanted to kick him again. I felt the aching pain like before spread through my veins and desperately wanted to do something, but I couldn't. I was just so weak from hunger and thirst.

I thought I was done for, but Natsume eventually dropped me, letting me hit the floor hard. I gasped out and greedily sucked in air, not minding the sickingly sweet scent anymore. I couldn't believe the bloodsucker had done that to me.

"You're weak," he stated simply. "Vulnerable. If a simple mediocre Demon were to attack you, you'd have no defence."

"I know how to fight," I bit out in annoyance.

"Then how come you didn't even lift a finger at me?" Natsume challenged, a smirk crossing his lips.

"Because," I paused. "Just because."

"Favorite phrase?" he wondered.

"Nope. You just bring out the worst in me." I responded.

He was quiet for a minute, looking at me with a careful look. He frowned. "Your friend is crazy, no offence."

"What did you do with Ruka?" I shrieked, staring at him with a horrified expression.

"Why? Is he your boyfriend?" Natsume asked cockily, smirking curiously.

Lie, Mikan, let him believe its true. "Yeah," I said bravely, trying to sound like a lover. "He is. Ruka is the man of my dreams; he loves me and I love him back. I want him, NOW."

Natsume stared at me, shocked. He gritted his teeth, looking contorted and frustrated.

"Sorry if I can't be welcome to uninvited visitors," he sniped angrily.

"Natsume," I said his name for the first time. I hated how the name rolled off of my tongue. "What did you do?"

He shrugged. "Knocked him out. He was making too much noise. Hotaru slapped him once or twice, probably whipped him or something like that."

I knew she was a witch. That stupid little bitch witch.

"Youichi," I croaked out, my eyes wide. "I want to see Youichi."

He snorted. "Sorry, Polka. No can do. Persona's pissed at me enough. If I break the rules again, he'll break me."

"But my brother-"

"-Is in the good hands of a stupid saint. Aoi's watching him."

That relaxed me somewhat. From what I knew, Aoi wasn't really that bad. And if Natsume didn't like her, than she had to be even better.

"Hey," I said suddenly. He looked up. "Can you open the doors? I'm a little air-deprived. Angels need to breathe."

"Oh." he mumbled, wrinkling his nose. "Kay." he opened the door, and as soon as he did, I kicked his groin again. He moaned and fell to the floor, glaring at me.

"Not again," he groaned, his teeth clenched.

I grinned at him, showing my teeth, and broke out into a sprint towards the door. As soon as I got out, I headed straight to where Ruka's scent was.

But before I left, I shot Natsume a big, sparkly smile and flipped my middle finger at him impudently.

He gave me a death glare that sent shivers up my spine, and I immediately knew that once this whole mess was over, he'd whip my ass for good.

I ran down the hallway, sniffing out the vanilla. My eyes glazed darkly, and I made a sharp turn left. My feet echoed near the doorway, and I stuttered to a halt in front of a long, wooden door. The scent was strongest here.

With shaky fingers, I threw open the door and . . . .

"What the hell, Ruka!" I cried out, a blush rising to my cheeks.

Ruka was sprawled over a raven-haired Demon, his lips planted on hers. His blue eyes were closed, and he was roaming his hands through the girl's body, literally making out with her. The girl had pale skin and short ebony hair cropped into a pixie cut, her thin fingers cutting through Ruka's shirt. I gaped at the scene in front of me, blushing hard. It wasn't until after that the musky, woodsy smell of ED Hardy cologne hit me that I realized Natsume was here.

Crap. I was supposed to be his girlfriend. What kind of girl just lets another bitch kiss her man like this?

"Ruka, you lying, cheating bastard!" I screamed as hard as I could. Ruka blinked twice and gasped, seperating himself from the girl. His eyes were wild as they landed on me.

"Mikan!" he gasped. "It's not what it looks like!"

Good. He seemed like he was playing along.

"Mikan nothing." I shrieked. "You cheated on me, idiot! I. Never. Want. To. See. Your. Face." I said slowly. Confusion flickered in his eyes.

"Mikan, what-" I wasn't going to let him ruin my little girlfriend act.

"You know exactly what I mean, Ruka Nogi." I said coldly, slamming the door in his face. I took a deep breath and turned to face Natsume. His face was amused.

"Finding this funny?" I snapped.

"Very," he said, trying not to laugh.

"Well, don't I feel special," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes and walking away. He kept up easily.

"What? Aren't you going to cry and swear at him more to the point where he begs for forgiveness and wants you to take him back?" Natsume wondered, smirking.

I smiled at him. "I'm not that kind of woman, Natsume. I know that some things aren't meant to last and that acting like a bitch won't do me any good." I paused. "I'm happy with what I have. I just want to be normal and happy. Move on. Bacause, if I stay down, it's just going to be worse for me."

I blinked. This was more about my fake-breakup. This was what I believed my whole life. I learned this the hard way, knowing that smiling was my only key to happiness. Natsume stared at me wordlessly, his eyes blank. He shook his head grimly.

"I don't understand."

"I really didn't expect you to," I replied truthfully. "I didn't learn it till now. I had a whole eighteen years of experience to know that . . . moping around won't solve any of my problems."

"Aren't you mad at him?" he snapped.

"No, it's not like he's my boyfriend or anything." I blurted out.

Shit.

Natsume narrowed his eyes at me, his fangs spouting out of his mouth.

"What the hell did you just say?" he growled.

"Uh, I think I hear that Hotaru girl calling you," I said quickly.

He held my shoulders tightly.

"You lied to me," he said sternly.

"Well, he was my crush anyways!" I snapped, then immediately blushed. Damn it, why did I blurt things out so much?

Stupid Mikan . . .

"Aww, isn't that just precious . . . a blond idiot with an airheaded Angel," Natsume said bitterly.

"You're just jealous," I snapped viciously.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous of that idiotic blond? After all, he has to spend time with a stupid fan girl," Natsume hissed. I winced. He really didn't know how much that stung.

"Well, then, bite me." I snarled.

Big mistake.

Author's Note: Hah, I'm being nice by updating this quickly. . . . thank me with reviews!