Note: Hehe Hi guys. Sorry it took me a really long time to post again. I lost track on where I wanted this story to go to, so I had to re-think my plot. I have no excuse for my absence, but I will try my best to make it up to you.
To my past readers who decided to check this update, this story is still Meet Mr. Perfect, but some of the things in this story have changed. For the better, I hope.
Shout out to Vanilla Coated Love for helping me get out of my funk, and for always being there to listen and/or flail with me. You da best!
And to you reading this, I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
Chapter Four
The boy, just shy of sixteen, stood up from his spot in the couch to acknowledge the group…or Natsume and Ruka, so it seemed. He gave the two boys a bow, but sent a curt nod Hotaru's way. Mikan was the only one who was completely ignored.
"Youichi, what are you doing here?"
Youichi, a boy with dull eyes and light ash blond hair, shrugged. "Dad said you'd be here, and my weekend was free."
Mikan looked at Natsume and the boy and wondered how the two were related. They didn't look like they were siblings, and she remembered hearing from Ruka that Natsume only had a sister.
"I hope you don't mind the intrusion," Youichi said, looking at Ruka.
Ruka shook his head. "Not at all. You, Natsume, and I will be staying in one room though, since we have guests with us. And I guess introductions are in order. Youichi, you've met my girlfriend, Hotaru, before. The one beside her is her best friend. She's Mikan Sakura. Mikan, this is Youichi Hijiri, Hayashi-san's son."
It was when Youichi finally acknowledged Mikan's presence. He stared blankly at her. Mikan approached him and offered him her hand. "Hello there, Youichi! I'm Mikan Sakura. It's nice to meet you! I've met your father before. He's a very nice man."
"I don't shake hands with ugly people," he said, slapping her hand away. He then turned to look at Natsume and Ruka. "Would it be alright for me to go to the room now?"
Natsume, who smirked at the boy's action, went straight to the stairs to lead Youichi to their room. The boy followed suit.
"Stop encouraging him to be rude, Natsume," Mikan called out. "I saw you smirking!"
When Natsume didn't answer, Mikan frowned and grumbled to herself. Hotaru ignored her and went upstairs, as well.
Ruka nudged Mikan and said, "Aren't you going upstairs yet?"
"Oh, yeah," Mikan said, laughing. "Sorry, I got distracted."
When she entered the bedroom, she saw Hotaru lying on one of the beds, already in her sleepwear. She was on her back, typing away on her phone.
Mikan took her toothbrush, towel, and pajamas, and walked straight to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower."
As soon as she was finished, she went back to the bedroom. Hotaru nodded her head towards Mikan's bed and said, "Your phone's been buzzing since you went to the bathroom. You either have mail from different people or one bored person has flooded you with useless text messages."
Mikan jumped on her bed and went straight for her phone. Her lock screen was filled with mail notifications from Sumire Shouda. Most of the text messages were in all caps.
"I wonder what I did to Sumire," Mikan said, scrolling through the messages from Sumire. Hotaru placed her phone down and turned to face Mikan.
"Why? What did the other idiot say?"
"Hmm. Let's see. Oh, here. 'You sly little bitch. How could you?'. Oh, and 'Learn how to share! I thought we were friends!'."
Hotaru rolled her eyes and lay back in bed. "She's probably having one of her idiot PMS sessions. You know how easily she gets riled up when she's on her period. I remember she accused you of burning the toast she made."
Mikan laughed, but she squeaked when her phone started buzzing. "Geh. She's calling."
"Put it on speakerphone."
She nodded, and cleared her throat before pressing the answer button. She winced when Sumire's loud voice boomed.
"You sneaky little bitch! How could you do this to me?"
"Do what? I don't know what you're talking about, Permy."
She heard Sumire huff and curse. "I told you not to call me that. Why the hell are you with Natsume Hyuuga?"
"What? Who told you?"
"Ruka posted a photo of the beach and tagged Hotaru, which was unusual, since the two are dating and we all know Hotaru's secretly a normal, clingy girlfriend. But, imagine my surprise when I saw that he tagged you and Natsume, too! You sneaky bitch!"
"How does that make me a bitch?" Mikan asked. "Oh, and Hotaru heard what you said by the way. She looks murderous right now."
"Shit," Sumire mumbled.
Hotaru moved to sit beside Mikan and glared at the phone on the bed. "Yeah, Shouda. Shit."
Sumire started laughing nervously on the other line. "You know I don't mean that as a bad thing, right? I'm just really hurt that Mikan did not have the nerve to tell me she's been seeing Natsume behind my back!"
"I'm not seeing… How do you even know Natsume?" Mikan asked, shaking her head.
"I work with him every once in a while. And, he went to Alice Academy before you came, stupid! I told you about him when billions of times back in school."
Mikan laughed. "Really? I must've been blocking you out when you were talking about it then."
"It's not funny!" Sumire shrieked. "How could you do this to me?"
"I'm not—"
"—You're my friend. You're supposed to—"
"We're not—"
"—Been in love with him since—"
"I'm trying to tell you—"
"—you're not even that pretty—"
"Hey! That's—"
"—refuse to give him u—"
"Permy!" Mikan snapped. "I've been trying to tell you, I'm not seeing Natsume. Geez, if you'd shut up for a second, then you wouldn't be fussing so much."
"You're telling me to shut up? Ha! You're one of the loudest people I know, so you're not in the position to tell anyone to shut up!"
"That's not the—"
Hotaru cut her off. "Shouda, the idiot's not dating Hyuuga. You don't have a chance even if they aren't. You've known him since I don't know when because honestly, I don't care. If he had any ounce of feelings for you, something would've happened by now. So, shut up. I'm tired. I'm hanging up."
"Wait! Hota—"
Hotaru pressed the End button and moved back to bed and merely shrugged when saw Mikan trying to stifle her laugh. "She was being annoying. I don't know why I have idiot friends."
"Hey! Not all of us are—"
With just one look, Mikan stopped and decided not to say what she was trying to. Hotaru could be scary sometimes.
The next day, they decided to walk around the port once more since the festival was still there. Natsume, Ruka, and Youichi led the way while Hotaru and Mikan simply followed.
For some reason, every time Mikan would try to speak, Youichi would send her an icy glare.
"What did I do wrong?" She whispered, looking cautiously at Youichi to make sure he's not looking at her.
Hotaru shrugged. "He doesn't like idiots. He can probably see the imaginary 'I'm an idiot' neon light blinking over your head."
"Meanie," Mikan said. "But, he scares me."
"Only you'd be scared of a fifteen year old," Hotaru said, rolling her eyes.
Mikan made a distinct sound of protest as she tried to explain herself. "Hey, when someone glares at you that much for no reason, you're going to be scared, too."
It seemed that Mikan was too loud, because Youichi turned to glare at her once more. Mikan squeaked and hid behind Hotaru.
Something must have caught Natsume's eye, because he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He stood completely still before finally looking at Mikan. Mikan was immediately on guard.
"What do you want?" She asked, posing like she was ready to send a karate chop his way.
He looked at her then shook his head. "I was thinking whether I should have you follow me around to carry the things I'm going to buy or not, but you'd probably just embarrass me and make me look like an idiot. No one needs to hear you talk to know what a ditz you are."
Mikan made a sound close to a growl as she tried to pounce on him. Fortunately, Hotaru held on to the hem of Mikan's shirt.
Natsume simply ignored her. "I'm going to buy something. Just text me where you are and I'll go there when I'm done."
Without another word, he left, with Youichi tailing after him. Ruka had a knowing smile on his face as he watched his best friend walk away. He then went back to Hotaru's side.
"What's up with him?" Mikan asked, nodding her head to the direction where Natsume went.
"He saw something he wanted to buy," Ruka said, still smiling to himself.
Hotaru then started walking ahead of them. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."
As soon as they found a café, the three ordered their food and drinks, and sat down to eat.
"Why are Natsume and Youichi so close? I didn't expect him to be that attached to someone who isn't related to him," Mikan asked, her mouth still half full.
Hotaru glared at her and shoved a napkin on her face. "Don't eat when your mouth's full, idiot. Or at least cover your mouth while talking. You're spitting food all over the table. It's disgusting."
Ruka took a sip from his drink. "Well, it's a long story. Natsume met Youichi for the first time when You was two years old. It was the time when Youichi's real parents left him under Hayashi-san's care. Whenever Hayashi-san would go to the Hyuugas, he would always bring little Youichi with him. Natsume and I were twelve and Aoi was four."
"Youichi was two? What happened to his parents? How could they just give him up like that?"
"He was two, yeah, but he didn't speak. He would only say 'Ah' or cry when he wanted something. And he rarely cried. He barely made a sound. I guess his parents thought there was something wrong with him. Mom said he had mild autistic symptoms, but she guessed that the way he was treated had something to do with it."
"How was he related to Hayashi-san, then?" Mikan asked, now completely intrigued.
"From what I remember, Hayashi-san was the eldest brother of Youichi's mom. He loved Youichi so much, and he made sure he grew up knowing that he was loved."
Mikan nodded her head. "Yeah, I met Hayashi-san when we had a meeting in Natsume's office. He seemed really nice."
"He is," Ruka said. "I guess when Natsume saw Youichi, he saw himself in him. Natsume started treating him like a baby brother, and Youichi got attached to him. He would follow Natsume around and would copy everything he's doing. Just imagine a two year old following someone like a baby duckling. Aoi would dote on him, too, but it took Youichi a while to open up to her. Aoi's a lot like you, Mikan; she's cheerful and she's always smiling. I guess Youichi didn't know how to react to that."
Ruka was quiet for a while. "He's still doing it now, you know. Following Natsume around and copying his moves, I mean. Luckily, Natsume doesn't mind. He cares about that kid. Treats him like a little brother."
"Natsume's a lot like Youichi. He doesn't talk to a lot of people, and he's usually closed off to people he doesn't trust. Trust is such an important thing for those two—Youichi, especially. His real parents abandoned him at such a young age. That kind of thing doesn't just go away. So, I hope you don't take offense as to why he's treating you like that, Mikan. It's just that for him, you're unfamiliar territory. I'm sure, when the time comes, he'll soften up to you," Ruka said, giving Mikan a small smile.
Mikan quietly grasped what Ruka told her. When she noticed that the mood seemed too dark, she tried to liven it up.
"You know, Ruka. I never imagined Natsume to be good with kids. I've always thought he was the kind to kick puppies and little girls like, you know, the way he's treating me now? I never thought someone as young as Youichi would idolize him and all that."
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her head. She looked upwards to see Natsume looking down on her.
"That's my impression, huh?" He said, nodding his head slowly as if contemplating on that thought.
He removed his hand on her head, and dumped a seemingly heavy plastic bag beside her. He took a seat beside Ruka, and Youichi took a seat beside him.
"You're carrying that," Natsume said, nodding his head to the plastic bag on the floor.
Mikan peeked at the bag. "Books? Why did you buy so many? This is going to be heavy!"
"None of your business, slave," Natsume said. "Now buy me my food. I'll have what Ruka ordered."
He then opened a book he was carrying, and started to read it. Manga. "Manga, Natsume? Really?"
She checked the bag on the floor once more, and saw more manga. She saw Youichi eyeing her and Natsume. He wasn't glaring at her.
She giggled and stood up to order Natsume's food. "You act so tough, but you're secretly just an otaku."
"I heard that," she heard Natsume say. It just made her giggle more.
Natsume didn't seem so scary and annoying now. For now, Mikan could only see him as a closet otaku. How amusing.