Chapter 8

The dog was finally caught hiding behind the couch. Mikan picked it up and was about to throw it out of her house, her compassion finally over now that the canine had messed up her perfectly ordered love life, when Natsume walked into the living room, carrying an old plastic tub and some soap.

"I thought you were planning to give it a bath," he said, nodding towards the pup.

Mikan froze. She was still far too embarrassed to say anything.

"Waiting for your tiny brain to process what I said?"

"Shut up!" she exploded.

Natsume smirked, satisfied. He couldn't bear those ridiculous blushes that she always treated Ruka to. At least her sheer dislike of him always removed any awkwardness between them.

"Well, we can give him a wash in the garden," said Mikan reluctantly.

"Garden?"

"Sure, there's one round the back, didn't you notice it?"

"That cramped little space full of weeds is supposed to be a garden?"

"Hey! It's not cramped! And there is a Sakura tree there!"

"I don't think one tree qualifies as a 'garden'"

"You have no idea how much maintenance a single tree takes!"

"Hn"

"Oh gods, are you back to Grunting Mode?"

"You get the dog out, I'll carry the tub."

Natsume dragged the tub outside and set it under the Sakura tree in Mikan's 'garden'. Mikan dragged the puppy out after him, still mad at the little canine. But as soon as the pup looked at her with his big, dark eyes she melted and started cooing, "Sweet doggy….."

"That dog is going to puke if you keep up that nauseating chatter" remarked Natsume, filling the tub with water. Mikan pouted and punched his arm.

As they bickered and argued over which shampoo to use, the strange bond between Mikan and Natsume strengthened.


"I can do this, I can do this," muttered Ruka, pacing in front of Mikan's house. Then he dumped his head in his hands and moaned, "Hell, I can't do this."

"Ruka? Is there a problem?"

Ruka looked up to see that Mikan had finally emerged from her house, only an hour later than she'd said she would.

"Not at all," he replied, trying to stretch his facial muscles into a smile.

"Are you ill?"

"Nope" he said, abandoning the attempt.

Mikan tried to think of something extraordinarily brilliant that would break the ice between them and also show Ruka how incredibly intelligent she was.

"Oh"

Yup, that was absolutely stunning.

They smiled nervously at each at other. This was going to be a long evening.


Mikan wondered if the restaurant would sue her for damaging their property if she poked herself in the eyeballs with one of the gazillion fancy forks on the table. The waiter had condescendingly explained to her how to use each one of them but they all still looked like just forks to her.

She looked around, wondering where Ruka had disappeared again. It wasn't the first, second or even third time that he'd suddenly left. During the appetizers, he claimed he'd left the car unlocked. In the main course, he said had to use the washroom. And for desert, he'd simply gotten up and run away, looking faintly green.

"Mikan?"

Mikan turned around to see Ruka standing behind her, a small black box in his hands.

"I'm sorry about the pathetic evening. I really wanted to do this right but I guess I just got so nervous…"

Mikan could feel a ball dropping into her stomach. It wasn't an ordinary ball either. This one was the size of a bowling ball and covered with poison tipped spikes.

"Will you marry me?"

Oh bugger.

She looked into his angelic blue eyes and for a second, she could see herself living comfortably with Mr. Perfect, in an ideal house with a great life.

"Yes"


Natsume Hyuuga was not a man/robot prone to introspection. But that evening as he walked down to the local pub to meet Koko and Mochu, he wondered why he couldn't get an irritating brunette with a loud, whiny voice out of his head.

It couldn't be her looks – she was cute enough in a girl-next-door way but hardly supermodel material. Although she did have a smile wider than a peeled banana. But that didn't make her beautiful, did it?

Couldn't be her (nonexistent) talents either. After all, making people smile and brightening up any room you enter can't be considered a talent. Being optimistic and cheerful all the time is just foolish.

Charm? As if. Tucking her hair behind her ear like that while she got him coffee, it wasn't even remotely charming.

So what was it about her then that made it so utterly impossible for him to get her off his mind for longer than 2 seconds?


As usual, Koko was the first to figure it out. The mischievous boy possessed an almost uncanny knack of knowing what people didn't want him to know. It was the reason he managed to tease Sumire and emerge alive.

"Are you going to tell her before or after the wedding?" questioned Koko, leaning across the table on his elbows.

"What wedding?" snapped Natsume. He was deeply regretting the insane impulse that had prompted him to continue his walk to the pub. He drank another shot and leaned back, resigned to his hideous fate.

"The wedding!" said Koko, who was an extremely enthusiastic drunk. Mochu, on the other hand, was slinking further back into the corner with each sip, the epitome of a quiet, moody drunk.

"Tell who?"

"Mi-chan!"

Natsume frowned. "Mickey Mouse is getting married?"

"No!" hiccupped Koko "Mikan and Ruka are!"

"I wish Mickey Mouse would get married," added Mochu thoughtfully.

Natsume stood up so fast that he upset the table, splashing a mug of cold beer into Koko's face in the process.

"WHAT?"

"Poor guy can't handle his drink," explained Mochu, to a man who'd stopped to stare at the pandemonium.

"Mikan's getting married? When?"

"Dunno"

Natsume ordered another shot.

Koko's self preservation instincts were still wrapped up in a thick layer of happy juice and so he continued, "Should I tell her that you're in love with her?"

For the second time in so many minutes, Koko received a blast of liquor in his face.

"Wish you'd stop doing that," he complained, apparently unaware of Natsume's thunderstruck expression or the long string of swear words he was muttering, "I mean, free drinks are good, but I like mine in a glass."

"I love Mikan. Oh hell!"

With that eloquent expression of his emotions, Natsume stormed out, leaving Koko behind to wonder, "What's with him?"

"Can't handle his drinks."

With that enlightening statement Mochu fell flat on the table, snoring.

His friend shrugged and joined him in his state of blissful oblivion.


An hour earlier

Mikan had thought she was nervous when she was with Ruka. However the nervousness she felt when she was with Ruka was nothing compared to the waltzing frogs that invaded her stomach when he wasn't around. When she was near Natsume, the only creature alive who she knew could talk her out of the wedding, those frogs burst into enthusiastic hip hop.

She knocked tentatively on the door. No response. A little louder. Zilch.

"Natsume?"

No reply.

"Well," she huffed, "After all that drama and intense suspense, he isn't even at home."

She looked around and found, to her surprise, that her usually chaotic house looked somewhat tidy for a change. In one corner of the room, a small bundle moved.

"I do not believe in ghosts," declared Mikan with a firmness that belied the distinct quiver in her knees.

The bundle shook a little more. A furry tail peeped out of one end and a puppy emerged from the bundle.

"That puppy is absolutely determined to give me a heart attack," thought Mikan, relieved to find out that The Secret Mover Of The Stranger Bundle was just a little canine.

But coronary-inducing or not, the puppy was very cute. Mikan melted and bent down to pat his head. He responded by licking her hand.

She laughed at the dog's antics and called out, "Natsume? You upstairs?"

There was no reply from above the stairs.

"Well, either he's out for drinks again or he's asleep," she informed the puppy. "Do you think we should go check?"

Her canine friend barked his agreement.

Her bedroom was completely devoid of life apart from a small rat scurrying around one corner. Thinking she would take care of that later, Mikan sat down on her bed and took off the earrings she had worn for the evening. Hanging them up beside her mirror, she began to talk to the dog again.

"Should I wait up for him?"

The dog barked in response.

"No wait, that sounds pretty pathetic. Plus I'm trying to avoid him, remember?"

Another bark.

"You aren't even listening, are you? Anyway I'll wait till midnight and if he isn't back then I'll walk over to the local pub myself and drag that idiotic boy back. I have to lock my house down for the night you know."

Mikan looked down and saw that the dog was busy chasing its own tail. Sighing, she fell back against the bed and picked up a novel that she had been reading before Natsume had arrived.

It was typical girly romance, with a couple holding hands on the cover. Wait a minute, did the girl have a mustache? And why did the boy have horns?

She shrugged and flipped the book open to where she had left it. For a while she read her book peacefully while the dog slept near her feet. Then she reached the final scene, where the couple kissed each other and lived happily ever after.

"Just like Ruka and I will" she thought contentedly.

Her Mr. Bear alarm clock buzzed – it was midnight.

"Right," she thought, getting up and changing into a simple pair of jeans and sneakers, "Time to get the drunkard home"

She walked to the pub, determined to hold her own against Natsume for once. As she stepped into the crowded room, she heard a familiar voice say, "I love Mikan!"

A familiar dark haired, crimson eyed boy got up from one of the corner seats and left the pub with such remarkable speed that he completely missed the girl who watched him go, her mouth open wide enough to fit a football.


I'm sorry for the long gap between chapters! I'm currently busy with a Percy Jackson/Artemis Fowl crossover that I will be posting shortly so I haven't really had time for this story. I'm sorry!

Wish me luck for my Maths exam tomorrow :)

Believe me, I really need it!