Still don't own Gakuen Alice. Hehe.


I'd never had so many knots in my stomach before. Never. And this time, it wasn't because of my coach. This time, it was all the race that was about to happen. I felt sick, and for the hundredth time that evening, I wanted to curl up in a ball and pretend that none of this was happening.

My heat was next. Anna had already raced, and she placed first in her heat, meaning that she moved onto the semis. I'd attempted to fake sick, but that didn't work on Natsume, since part of the contract said that I had to do my job no matter what.

I rubbed my arms furiously. It wasn't cold on the track, but my legs were shaking so bad that my body thought I was cold. My teeth were almost chattering.

"Hey, Polka," Natsume returned with a piece of paper in his hand. "You're in lane one to start, but you don't have to stay in that lane. Remember, this is eight hundred meters, two laps around this track, and you have to go fast to place top eighteen." He narrowed his eyes. "If you lose, there will be serious consequences."

"Fantastic," I said sarcastically. "Kill me now."

"Just run the stupid race and run it good. It's not that big of a deal."

"Okay, okay. Now go away so I can calm myself down."

"I've got one week of freedom, little girl. Either make it last, or make it longer." With that, her turned and left.

I made a face at his back. I wasn't sure if I wanted to break up the wedding anymore. I mean, was I really that in love with him? Was I even in love with him at all? He was so mean to me! If I did manage to break up the wedding, what would happen to us?

But my heart jumped every time he turned those crimson eyes on me, and I felt lost again.

Five other girls were stretching around me. We had only three minutes until we started our race. I got dirty looks from a lot of the girls, and I guess that they were still jealous of who my coaches were.

Oh well, they could live with it.

I blinked repeatedly until my eyes were moist, and then I bent down and started stretching my calves, one foot in front of the other. I didn't stand up until I felt someone standing beside me.

"What?" I said, glaring at Natsume.

"Don't burn yourself out on the first lap," he advised. "Take it slow, but not too slow, and then let it out on the second lap."

"Okay," I said, shrugging.

"If your ankle is bothering you, stop."

I raised my eyebrow. "You'd rather me have a good ankle than have me win a race? Hm. That's unlike you."

"I don't need you doing permanent damage."

"Sounds like a plan."

For once, he wasn't glaring at me. He looked very casual, and I felt my heart melt, though I was absolutely certain that it didn't show on my face. I had to be very careful with my facial expressions now. Just one slip and humiliation would become my best friend.

"Don't worry about semis tomorrow, and don't worry about the finals the day after that, even though you'll be running them." He looked at the paper that was still in his hand.

That was actually a great confidence booster.

He turned his eyes back to me. "Think about the reward you're going to get when you win."

"Oh, gee, I wonder what kind of reward you could possibly come up with." My voice was dry, but for some reason, I was excited to see what kind of reward I would get. Maybe they'd let me eat ice cream. I almost started drooling at the thought.

"Next heat, line up!" someone yelled through a megaphone.

I swallowed a huge breath of air and went to stand in my lane. I looked down at my feet, my bandaged ankle, and my shaking knees. I would get through this, even if it killed me. Only a few more races, and I would be able to back out.

I didn't expect myself to get to the very end, not when this was my first time competing professionally.

The sounds around me faded, like they had in my first race. For the time being, it was only me and the track and the clock. That was it. I would imagine a huge bucket of ice cream at the finish. That would help.

The gun went off and I took off after the reverberating sound. I didn't know how fast I was supposed to run. Natsume and Ruka hadn't made me do a time trial. I had to guess.

At first, I thought that I was going too fast, but then I heard the heavy breathing around me and knew that I was going at the right speed. My eyes glazed over as I dug my feet into the track.

As planned, I imagined the ice cream.

Yummy.

I tried to keep my thoughts on the race as I got to my second lap.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what happened. One minute I had the perfect speed, and the next I was stumbling, big time.

My ankle gave out, and my leg wobbled. I lurched forward, landing on my other leg. But as soon as my injured foot hit the ground again, I stumbled again.

The pain was unbelievable.

My eyes started to cloud up, but I regained my step. I was behind.

Gritting my teeth, I swallowed the pain with a quick breath of air and went all out in that last two hundred meters. My thighs burned to a point where I wanted to cry, and my lungs begged for the air that they were lacking.

I pulled up, passing one person, two people, three… I was only a stride behind the person in second when I passed the finish line.

That was when I burst into tears. I slowed to a walk and then started to pace in circles, covering my mouth with one hand and keeping weight off of my ankle. I was utterly disappointed in myself.

You stupid, weak, worthless girl, I thought in frustration. What was that supposed to be?

Knowing that I couldn't put off the storm for too long, I turned, head bowed, and limped back to the stands, where Natsume would be waiting to start screaming at me.

I'd been right about the screaming, but totally wrong about the reason.

"What the hell was that?" he shouted, putting his hand on my back and leading me over to a bench.

I was just opening my mouth to apologize when he continued.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me your ankle was bothering you?" He sat me down and crouched down in front of me. He ripped off my shoe roughly and began to prod and poke at my wrapped ankle.

I tried to steady my voice. "It wasn't," I insisted, wiping my eyes. That proved pointless when more tears came. "It just started hurting in that last lap."

He called to someone over his shoulder to bring me ice.

Ruka came running up. "What happened?"

"Her ankle," Natsume replied. "She must have stepped on it wrong."

Ruka sat down beside me. "It's okay, Mikan," he said, patting my back. "That was a great comeback. There's still the possibility that you had a top time. Are you going to be okay to race tomorrow, or do you want us to pull you out?"

I threw my face into my hands and cried. I didn't care who was watching. I couldn't help it. "I'm so stupid!"

"Stop it," Natsume growled, "before I hurt you."

I stopped talking, but I continued crying.

"Mikan!" Anna was suddenly in front of me, her hands on my legs. She nearly body-checked Natsume out of the way. "Are you okay? How's your foot? Do you need a hug?"

They speed at which she spoke made me sort of laugh, but through my sobs it sounded a little funny. "It's okay," I managed to say, though my voice cracked pathetically. "I'm so out."

Anna snorted. "Are you kidding? You definitely got a top time," she said confidently.

I wiped my eyes and looked up at her, raising my eyebrow.

"Well, Ryo just told me not ten seconds ago that I had the fourth best time, and you were only, like, a couple milliseconds slower than that, even with your stumble. That means that there's no possible way that you can be out, because there's only one heat left." She patted my leg. "If you hadn't stumbled, I can pretty much guarantee you would have gotten the top time, or come in second, right behind the top time."

The gun went off, and we both watched as the remaining heat raced. I watched the athletes, whereas Anna's eyes were glued to the clock. I was watching their feet, watching how they stepped each step carefully, gracefully.

Next time I would remember not to imagine the ice cream.

"See!" Anna said excitedly, pointing at the clock. "The best time for that heat isn't even close to being as good as yours and mine."

Ruka came back over to confirm that. "You have the fifth best time, out of eighteen, even with that little accident. I don't know what you were getting yourself so worked up about. You and Anna are probably going to snag a spot in the top six, too, and move on."

Fantastic. More running, more Natsume, and more getting molested. Well, maybe not any more molestation, since he'd be a married man in less than a week.

"Let's get you home," Ruka said. "We'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"Thanks for the comfort, Anna," I said as I stood, waving off Natsume's help. "I'll see you the day after tomorrow."

She grinned. "You sure will."

"Alright, let's go." Ruka pulled his car keys out of his pocket. "Hotaru will be waiting for us."

Natsume held my elbow as I hobbled along after them. "You're going to soak this, and then you're going to sleep."

"Sounds like a hell of a plan."

He practically threw me in the backseat, sort of in frustration. I just assumed that the frustration was for my poor performance.

Hotaru was already there, sitting in the shadowed back seat. "Have a nice trip?"

Ruka looked at her sharply in the rearview mirror, but I laughed. "It was great, thanks."

Her lips curved a little, but she said nothing more.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" I asked the two men sitting in the front.

"Relaxing," Natsume replied. "You have semis the day after tomorrow, and finals the day after that. We're not going to train you until this round is over."

That sounded nice, and I liked how he just assumed I was going to be in finals.

My eyelids were drooping the whole ride back to the hotel, and Hotaru half dragged me to my room, where she helped me out of my running clothes and into my pajamas. I was barely aware of her tucking me into bed.

Soaking my ankle could wait until morning.


I don't know what time I woke up at, and I didn't bother checking. My ankle throbbed, and the light pouring in through the curtains made my eyes hurt. I squinted, staring at the white ceiling, wondering why it looked so far away.

I found out soon after that it was because I was lying on the ground.

My stomach grumbled, and I groaned, sitting up. The sheets were tangled around my feet, bending my ankle awkwardly, hence the throbbing. I gritted my teeth and kicked the sheets away before pushing myself slowly to my feet and cautiously stepped on my throbbing foot.

It didn't hurt nearly as bad as I'd prepared myself for, and, pleased, I smiled. This meant that I could probably still race in the semis and not have to worry about tripping over my own feet because of a little pain.

In a second and a half of standing there, I decided that I would prepare myself for the pain that I knew I would probably feel at some point during my next race and that way I wouldn't be shocked and I would be able to keep running.

I crinkled my nose at the thought of Natsume's order yesterday, about how he'd told me that if my ankle started hurting, I should stop.

Thinking about it now, I couldn't decide whether that was an innocent show of concern for my health, or whether he knew I would feel the pain and had expected me to stop, like he'd ordered, because he wanted me out of this competition. The truth hit me like a slap to the face, and it stung.

Was that why he'd been frustrated? Because I hadn't stopped?

No, Natsume wasn't like that. He may be an arrogant, self-centered, indecisive bastard, but there was no way that he would do that.

Or would he?

Shaking my head, I glanced at the clock beside the bed and frowned slightly when I saw that it was six o'clock AM. It was very strange and somewhat unnerving to be up this early. What was the world coming to?

I sat down on the edge of the bed and pursed my lips. After a minute and a half of pondering my choices, I settled for the one that would let me think without being disturbed.

Half in a trance, I changed out of my pajamas and into the red and white polka-dotted bikini that I still had from Hotaru and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I tried not to look at myself in the mirror. It was something I tried my best to avoid all the time, since it hurt me to be able to easily count my ribs, to see my knobby knees and elbows and my unnaturally thin legs. My collarbone stuck out too far, and my shoulders were far too bony.

I had to admit that this was nothing compared to how I had looked before Natsume had come knocking on my door. Maybe it was for the best, doing this competition thing, the best for me and my mom. Would quitting do anything for us? Wouldn't that just send us back into financial hell? Could I really do that to my mom?

Sighing, I spit the foamy toothpaste out of my mouth and rinsed with water. I wiped my lips with a hotel towel and then grabbed a clean towel from the closet to take with me to the pool. I double checked to make sure I had my card key in my purse and then I left the room, closing the door softly behind me, hoping that Natsume or Hotaru didn't hear.

I slouched as I walked to the elevator, and kept my distance from the man in a T-shirt and shorts on the way down the first floor. He didn't seem particularly nosy, but maybe he didn't recognize me. That was nice, not being hoarded my questions by people that I just happened to come in contact with, as if my picture in magazines and newspapers wasn't enough.

I stepped off the elevator before the man and sped walked down the halls, keeping the towel pressed to my abdomen to hide my visible ribs. My bare feet made quiet slapping sounds on the tiled floor that echoed off the walls and back into my ears ten times louder, making me jump. My ankle throbbed with each step I took, but it was bearable.

The pool was almost empty, except for a couple making out in the hot tub and an old man swimming in the slow lane. That was okay, because that meant I could swim in the medium lane without any disruptions.

Carefully, I let my body drop into the shallow end of the pool and pulled an elastic off of my wrist, pulling my hair back and on to the top of my head. Shivering a little, I dove forward, enjoying the feeling of the cool water slipping across my body.

Each time I kicked my foot, pain shot up my leg, but I swallowed it, shutting the tears out of my eyes. I only got to the deep end before I had to force myself to stop and hold onto the edge, taking gasping breaths as I waited for the pain to leave.

But it didn't. If anything, it got worse.

Maybe swimming wasn't such a hot idea.

I was too determined – and stubborn, since I knew that this activity probably wouldn't sit well with Natsume – to stop, now that I was wet. So I did something drastic, that was almost going to guarantee sore arms in the morning.

I swam without using my legs at all, only using my arms in wide, powerful strokes. I only got four slow laps done before I had to stop and catch my breath.

I started to pull myself up onto the edge of the pool, suddenly feeling very drowsy, when someone spoke.

"Who said you could be down here this early?" The voice's lack of emotion was easily identified.

I squealed in surprise and fell back into the water, the words, "Mother of pearl," swallowed up with the chlorine water.

My heart in my throat, I splashed my way back to the surface and grabbed the edge of the pool again, glaring up at the disturber of my peace. "Hotaru, what the heck are you doing up?"

"I should be asking you the same," she replied dully, looking down at her wet pajama pants and then glaring back at me. "You are way too jumpy."

"How'd you know I was down here?"

She rolled her eyes. "Where else would you be?"

"Sleeping?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I heard you leave your room."

"Oh." I pulled myself up onto the edge, sitting down and leaving my legs dangling in the water. "I was just about to go back to bed, actually. I suddenly got tired while I was swimming. I'm just going to soak my ankle in the hot tub first."

She nodded. "If you're any longer than fifteen minutes there will be hell to pay." She walked off briskly, her back too straight and her legs too stiff, as if she was reluctant to leave me on my own.

I smiled a little at the thought as I limped towards the hot tub, which was now empty. I sank into the scalding water and leaned my head back, staring at the ceiling. I glanced at the clock out of the corner of my eye, and saw that it was quarter to seven. Next thing I knew, I was closing my eyes, and when I opened them again, there were four other people in the hot tub, the old man from the slow lane included.

It was seven o'clock.

Cursing, I shot to my feet, the pain in my foot barely there. I lunged out of the hot water, and then my vision blacked out, and I stumbled, my arms searching for something to grab. They found an arm, an arm with tight muscles and a familiar feel to them.

I waited impatiently for the fuzzy gray squares to leave my vision so that I could see if this person was who I thought it was, but it took longer than necessary, and I felt my stomach surge in panic.

But then the uncomfortable blindness dissolved and I could see again, and, as I'd feared, I was staring up at Natsume's perfect face. Instead of it being completely blank, he looked a little angry.

I flinched. "What?" I mumbled.

"You fell asleep in the hot tub," he stated.

I shrugged. "So?"

He scowled at me, grabbed my knobby elbow, and then pulled me after him. When I failed to keep pace with him, he turned, grabbed my waist, and slung me over his shoulder.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, pounding my fists on his back. "Put me down!"

He didn't put me down until we were in the elevator, just the two of us. I stumbled back into the wall and glared hard at him, and he glared back.

"I fell asleep. Big freaking deal!"

"It is a big deal," he growled. "You're my athlete. I have money, and you know very well that there are people out there who will go through great lengths to get my money using people like you."

My mouth moved but no words came out. He was referring to the time I'd been kidnapped by very unprofessional kidnappers. Just the thought of it made me shudder, but not because I'd been scared for myself.

I dreamt about that night, dreamt about flying through the windshield, over Natsume's crushed car. He shouldn't have even been involved. He shouldn't have gotten hurt, but he did. I'd had the situation under control, and if I'd acted just a second sooner, I wouldn't have to live with the memory of seeing his car crumple and hearing the glass shatter.

"Oh," I said, for lack of a better word.

"Go back to bed. You can sleep 'til ten, and then you're getting up." He walked down the hallway in his bare feet, and I followed timidly behind. My towel and purse were sitting in the hallway by my door.

Before Natsume had a chance to disappear into his room and do whatever he wanted to do to Luna, I stopped him, staring at him with a look of guilt written on my face, though I tried my best to hide it. I felt like a ghost in the middle of the hallway, empty.

"I'm sorry for not stopping yesterday," I said quietly. "I didn't realize you wanted me to lose." I picked up my purse and towel, took my key out of my purse, and slipped into my room, giving Natsume no chance to either confirm or dismiss my theory.

I got up at ten, and then spent the day bumming around. Hotaru and I got lunch at the diner downstairs, and then she went out with Ruka and I started to make an escape back to my room, but I saw Luna and Natsume walking down the hall to the diner. I darted into the bathroom and waited for them to pass before continuing on my way.

I avoided my back stabbing coach as much as possible, which was all the time. When he knocked on my door, I didn't answer, and when he called my cell phone, I ignored it. He didn't knock my door down or anything, so that was good, and he got Ruka to come and give me last minute coaching for tomorrow's race.

Seeing that he obviously wasn't trying very hard to find out what had gotten me upset, I assumed that my assumption was right.

I thought about forfeiting, but then decided that I would keep to my word, even if Natsume didn't keep to his. I would try my hardest to win, and I would see where that took me.

I ordered room service that night and put on a cheesy romance film. I fell asleep watching it, and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw that the TV had been turned off, though I was too tired to try and think of who might have been able to get into my room.

In the morning, Hotaru woke me up by banging loudly on my door. Feeling sluggish and not in the mood to run, I pulled myself out of bed and lazily got ready for my race, pulling on a pair of sweats and a track jacket on over top of my spandex shorts and shirt.

The ride to the track was silent. I was squashed between Hotaru and Luna in the back seat, and once again, Luna and I ceased to bicker. Once, she reached over and dusted a fluff off of my sweatpants. I silently thanked her, oddly moved by the action.

There was something on her beautiful face that said that she was exasperated. It was almost as if she was regretting doing something.

My legs felt like jelly by the time we arrived at the track. Luna and Hotaru headed for the stands, and Ruka and Natsume took me to the side of the track, Natsume a few steps in front of Ruka and I.

It didn't take long to get everything done and over with. I placed in the top three for the semis, and went back to the hotel without uttering a word to Natsume, whereas Ruka gave me a congratulatory hug.

I took the rest of the night easy, and then went to bed early, waking up at roughly the same time to Hotaru pounding on my door again. I slowed it down a bit for the finals, and placed fourth, which sent me to the next round. Anna got the sixth time, the last time that advanced. We danced around a little, excitedly, and then Ruka gave me a pat on the back and Natsume gave me a solid nod, but nothing more.


I was so happy to be going home, I didn't expect to have the most terrifying and real experience of my life.

We arrived back at the airport at nine o'clock PM that night. Luna's father came to pick her up so that Natsume and Ruka could take me to a dinner for congratulations or something, but that's only what they told her.

Ruka and Hotaru left in Ruka's car, leaving me to go with Natsume. I thought about walking, but then decided that avoiding my problems wasn't the way to go, so I got into the passenger seat next to Natsume in his new, expensive sports car.

Natsume turned the engine on and backed out of his parking space. I rested my head against the window, letting my eyelids droop. Halfway back to my house, he broke the deafening silence.

"What were you talking about the other day?"

"What other day?" I replied with a yawn.

"The day before semis, when I brought you back from the pool," he said forcefully. "What were you talking about?"

I shrugged. "You tell me."

He looked over at me, his expression showing something along the lines of indecision, once again. He was confused about something, but I, frankly, didn't want to care. "That's the thing. I have no idea what you were rambling about, Polka."

I sighed. "Really, now?"

His grunt told me that he was serious.

"You obviously don't want to train me anymore," I said, rolling my eyes. "I don't see why you don't just fire me. Maybe because that'll do something bad to your reputation and then you won't get athletes, so you want me to lose on purpose so that it'll look like it was just my flaw, not your arrogance." Saying it out loud made it make so much more sense.

My house was just up ahead, and I knew that he knew that I was planning on making an escape as soon as he pulled up in front of my door, so he slammed on the brakes, throwing me against the seatbelt.

Stopped in the middle of the road, he looked over at me.

Nervously, I looked over my shoulder to see if there was anyone coming, but aside from the streetlights, the road was dark.

"What are you thinking?" he asked me roughly.

"I-I don't know," I stuttered helplessly. "I don't know what I'm thinking at all. I don't know how to take it when you kiss me, or how to take it when you kiss Luna, or any of that kind of thing. It just makes no sense." I looked at him expectantly. "Will you please tell me what I mean to you?"

He smirked a little, but otherwise, his expression was mysterious. Very, very slowly, as if not to make sudden movements, he unbuckled his seatbelt so he could lean across the gearshift and put his hand on the back of my neck.

This wasn't like any of the other times he'd kissed me. He wasn't trying to eat my face. He was giving me the choice to pull away, but as much as he confused me, I needed this as an answer.

His lips met mine, and I couldn't help but notice how perfectly they fit with his. The hand that wasn't on my neck unbuckled my seatbelt, and still slowly, he pulled me as close as I could get to him without sitting on his lap.

This was the kind of kiss every girl dreamed of.

When he pulled away, I could barely breathe. "You and I might have very different opinions," he said softly. "I know what I want. Let that help you decide what you want."

I numbly opened the car door and stepped outside into the warm night, the warmth of his lips still on mine.

As I walked, I tried to think of what he could have meant when he said that he knew what he wanted. Did that mean he knew he wanted Luna? Or did he know he wanted something else?

His car's wheels screeched on the ground as he spun it around and took off back the way we'd come.

I groaned, smacking my forehead with my palms. Why couldn't he just give me a straight answer for once?

I didn't remember much of that night. I remembered walking in the door of the hole in the ground I called a house, and I remember turning on the lights, surprised to see a man at the table with my mom, his back to me.

Only seconds later, when I stepped one foot forward, I realized that my mom's face was streaked with tears of fear, and that her eyes silently warned me to turn around and run back out of the house. At that same moment, I saw the gun the man held in my mom's direction.

I didn't have a chance to react, because as soon as I started to lunge for him, I felt something make contact with the side of my head, and nothing more.

I'd often found myself wondering what I was getting myself into by becoming a famous person's athlete. I hadn't expected to get hurled into a world of steamy kisses, aching jealousy, and kidnappings at gunpoint. I hadn't expected to be gagged and thrown in the back of a big van, much like my first kidnapping experience. I hadn't expected to have my hands bound behind my back at an impossible angle that had me surprised that my arms weren't breaking.

But most of all, I hadn't expected to be hoping that I wouldn't get found by the person I was most likely to wish to get saved by.

If Natsume was the one that saved me, not only would his anger terrify me, but I didn't know how well he would take having his athlete's safety jeopardized like that. It was bad for his image.

I was on the brink of unconsciousness, drifting in a deep sea of black, only vaguely aware of the voices around me.

"How much do you think he'll give?"

"A lot."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I've heard things about the two of them." The voice was rough and would have sent shivers of my spine if I'd been capable of the action.

I wanted to tell them that it was useless, that he probably wouldn't give anything. Natsume wasn't like that. He didn't let other people boss him around and tell him what to do.

Whatever was in my mouth had a foul taste to it, and I would have gagged if I were completely conscious.

What had they done with my mom?

My head pounded and my legs throbbed. My arms were the worst, feeling like they were being pulled in abnormal directions.

I drifted, and when I woke up again, this time fully, I was alone, in this cool van. If it had been any cooler outside, I'd be shivering.

I groaned a little and rolled onto my side, squeaked when that hurt a lot. But lying on my back on top of my arms was much worse, so I forced myself onto my stomach, doing a face plant on the wooden floor. The obstruction in my mouth was too difficult to get out, so I left it and tried fiddling with my wrists.

..

Natsume was in his car, headed down the empty road, already half an hour from Mikan's house, when his cell phone started ringing. He frowned when he didn't recognize the number on his caller ID, and answered the call.

"Yeah?"

"Natsume?" It was the frantic voice of Mikan's mother. "Natsume, it's me, Mikan's mom."

Her panic made his pulse accelerate.

"Some guys came and took her. They had guns and they hit her on the head."

He gave her no chance to say more. He ended the call, tossed the phone onto the passenger seat, and took a sharp left, heading towards the police station.

..

I somehow managed to get onto my knees, though the task was grueling and nearly impossible. Once I was on my knees, I shuffled over to the wall and used is as an aid to stand up. As soon as I was on my feet, however, I felt lightheaded, and went crashing back down.

..

"Kidnapped?" the officer said gruffly. "When did you receive this call?"

"Ten minutes ago," Natsume replied curtly. "Don't go to her house. They might be watching."

"We need more information than that."

As if on cue, Natsume's cell phone started ringing. This number wasn't the same as the one Mikan's mom had reached him with. He had a feeling he already knew who it was.

"Where is she?"

"Hello, Natsume," the man said slyly. "Mikan is being held in a very unlikely place. We'll keep her alive if you leave fifty grand at the 45th Street bus stop tomorrow at noon." He hung up without further said.

Natsume scowled and threw the phone onto the police officer's desk. "They want a ransom."

"How much?"

"Fifty grand."

"Can you supply it?"

His scowl became more pronounced. "He said they'd keep her alive, not that he'd give her back. They don't get anything."

..

I tried to stand again, but stopped when I was on my knees. I didn't want to cause myself any more damage than I probably already had.

I tried to scream, but the gag in my mouth muffled the sound. It was then that I noticed the blood on the ropes binding my hands, and then that I noticed the sting on my wrists. The rope was sawing through my skin.

Infection could be just around the corner for me, and what that would lead to, I had no idea. I needed to find some way to notify someone where I was.

The windows at the back of the van had been painted over with black paint, so that was out, and there were no other possible ways to be seen. Would I just have to wait for the police to find me?

There was no telling when that would be.

..

"I'm not going to waste time sitting here," Natsume hissed, standing up. "You bastards need to do your job and find her before I do."

"Mr. Hyuuga, you'll need to stay here," the officer said.

"Not if you're going to sit around and do nothing."

"What do you suggest we do?"

That had him stumped, so he sat back down in the hard chair and waited for his cell phone to ring, waited for someone to tell him that she was okay.

..

I was not okay. I was panicking. I was whimpering. I was on the verge of breaking down. If I didn't get out of here within the next hour, I was ready to beg them to kill me.

..

He knew her too well. He knew that she wouldn't want to hurt anyone with this. He knew that she didn't want to get saved if that meant someone else would pay the consequence. He knew that she would rather die.

And he would have none of it.

..

It was then, lying on the floor of this van, twisted and in pain, did I realize that he was the only person I wanted to see. Did this mean that I loved him? Or did it simply mean that I missed him?

I couldn't love him. In less than a week, he would be married, and I would be nothing but his athlete.

Or did he want me to stop his wedding? A straight answer was the last thing he'd give me.

..

The call came two hours after she'd been kidnapped. It was Ruka's cell phone, but Hotaru's voice.

"She's at the track, in a white van. Go now."

He didn't have a clue how she did it, but he didn't doubt her judgement. Without a word to the officer, he darted out of the room and out of the building, to his car where he could still faintly smell her perfume, the one Hotaru had given her.

Those bastards were going to pay for messing with him.

..

I tried to fall back to sleep, in hopes that I would wake up and find that this was all just an awful dream. But the pain was too sharp, too real, and I knew that I was doomed. I might as well say goodbye to the world now. Natsume wouldn't pay a ransom. I was as good as dead.

It was pleasant that the last memory I had of him was that soft kiss, the one giving me the choice, instead of leaving it up to him.

My stomach fluttered and I gagged when I smelled cigarette smoke. Someone was out there.

..

The track came into view and he stopped the car silently. There were two more vehicles in the lot, one a van and the other a pickup truck. There were four people in the tail of the pickup truck, all with cigarettes in their mouths, puffing away.

Another car pulled up behind his, and he saw Ruka and Hotaru, watching him. They probably expected him to blow a gasket.

He stared at the backs of the men in the truck for a total of three seconds before kicking the door of his car open and moving swiftly across the parking lot, unnoticed by the other men.

..

I heard another car outside the van somewhere.

This is it, I thought wearily. They're coming to kill me.

..

Natsume hopped up onto the tail of the truck and pulled one man over the edge. He fell to the ground with a sickening crack, and the other three jumped into action, whipping out guns and knives and advancing on him.

But no one stood a chance when he was angry.

Two more went down, and the last only had a chance to pull the trigger once before he lost balance and tumbled backwards onto the ground.

..

I jumped at the sound of the gun. What's going on? Kill me if you're going to kill me.

..

The bullet lodged itself in the floor of the pickup. Satisfied, Natsume hopped down from the truck and nearly ran over to the van. The front doors were locked, and the handle of the back doors had been pulled off.

..

I could hear them fiddling with the door. This was the end.

Or, at least that was what I thought until I heard the familiar voice call out, "Natsume, here!"

..

Natsume took the crowbar from Ruka and stuck it into the small crack of the doors just as the police cars and ambulances came racing into the parking lot. He put all of his anger into the crowbar and pried the door open.

..

I would have sat up, but I had no energy, and I was in no shape to deal with the pain. I just lay helpless on the floor, once again on my back, while the door flew open and the starlight flooded in, nearly blinding me.

And then he was at my side, pulling the gag out of my mouth and trying to decide how to untangle my body from the mess it was in.

"What happened?" he demanded, slipping his hand under my back.

I tried to speak, but my mouth was dry and my throat was sore. I whimpered instead when he jostled my arms.

"Sir, let the paramedics in," a police officer said from outside.

I would have shied away from him if I wasn't so sore, but Natsume saw my reluctance to trust any unfamiliar voice, and he looked over his shoulder.

"I got it. Give me a knife."

"Excuse me?"

"Her hands are tied." This time he spoke with frustration coating his tone.

"Talk, Polka," he demanded when he had the knife.

I couldn't. My voice was gone, locked away somewhere inside of me.

Tears sprang to my eyes when he lifted me further up, enough to cut the ropes from my wrists, and I suppressed a scream. I couldn't move my arms on my own accord, and they flopped down beside me.

It hurt.

"Talk, now," he said, gently pulling me onto his lap.

I started with a whisper. "What do you want me to say?" I managed.

The relief was evident in his eyes when he heard my voice. "That's enough."

"What happened to my mom?"

"She's fine."

My eyes widened a little. "I heard a gun."

"He had bad aim."

I buried my face in his shirt, satisfied. "Can I sleep?"

"Go for it."

The blackness was crawling up my legs, pulling me under. I felt my body grow heavy, but there was one last thing that I needed to say.

"Natsume, I think I love you."

I was too drowsy to really understand what his reply was, but I locked them in my head for further study, when I wasn't half asleep. "Good. How are you going to make it work, Polka?"


A/N: I'm not going to make any excuses for this late update. I'm going to give you the honest truth; writer's block. For some reason, My Hopeless Romantic's latest chapter of her story got me going again. :)

I'm sorry for the delay, I truly am!

xoxo

Ducky-san