Gosh, I'm such an idiot sometimes! I only realized it now that I posted the wrong story chapter! And guess what? It's, like 11:20 here now! Wow, I'm such a twit! Oh well, once again, I'm sorry and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Last time on City of Runaways
"Na-AH!" I gasped when he kissed my neck.
What…. What is he doing? I mean, it's not that I don't like it. Actually, I'm enjoying it quite a lot. It's just…. Why did he choose to do this now of all times? Did the talk with Tsubasa and the 'depressed' states and what I said this morning really get to him this much? And what was so wrong with what I said this morning?
All coherent thoughts slipped away when Natsume crushed his lips on mine and I relished in the feeling of ecstasy.
City of Runaways
~Chapter 10~
~Mikan's POV~
How long has it been since I last saw Natsume; since when had we kissed? It probably has been a week. Austin, Kai, Koko, and Kitsu had given me weird looks, as if they knew something was up. And Youichi, well let's just say that he got more overprotective than usual.
I don't know if they saw or guessed what had happened, but I'm pretty sure they're close to the truth, seeing that I showed up at the City a little while after them. But, Youichi wasn't even awake! Well, maybe he just guessed something was up, seeing as him and I are close. Whatever. I just don't want to think about this crap anymore. Who knew my life would become that of a drama? Certainly not me! Sigh, oh well.
Right now, I'm walking down the streets in my guy's get up. I'm wearing baggy shorts and a baggy shirt underneath a huge sweatshirt. I'm wearing a cap to cover all my hair. It's my favorite one, the one I wore to the movies with Youichi and the other guys… and Natsume…
Okay, I'm done thinking about that. But, even though I'm trying to just tell myself to stop thinking about that, my mind keeps on flickering to that night when Natsume pulled me to the side and kissed me.
Honestly I'd like to say that I reacted to the kiss; that I pulled away, or pushed him, or kissed him back. But, really, I just stood there like a dolt, eyes wide and not knowing what to do. When he pulled away from me, I just stood there for a second, mumbled something about needing to go, and rushed on off through the brush and trees, trying my best to get away from him.
But it's not like I didn't like it. I actually enjoyed it quite thoroughly. It was, probably, the best feeling I've ever felt in my life! Just remembering his lips on mine sends shivers down my spine.
Alright, mind, STAY BLANK!
Somehow, my mind actually listened (this time) and I ended up losing all thoughts of the previous week of torture and awkwardness. Alright, this is pretty good.
I walked past a policeman. He kept on staring at me, as if I looked familiar to him. Oh gosh, not good….
I lowered my head a bit and picked up my pace a little. But, I made sure not to be conspicuous. That would have been horrible. The policeman would have definitely come after me to arrest me and take me into court, then Juvenile jails, then… wherever teenage criminals go next. And I am one well known teenage criminal.
I successfully passed him and sighed in relief. Well, at least I didn't raise any real suspicion. I walked by happily. Well, that is, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. My eyes widened and I was quickly spun around by the person behind me. And when I saw him, my heart skipped a beat.
Now you may be wondering who this 'he' is. Well, he's not the policeman. He's… "Natsume, what's up?"
Natsume raised an eyebrow at my very… casual, everyday question and answered, "We need to talk."
"That wasn't the answer I was looking for" I muttered as he led me into an alley not too far down from where we were.
Okay, question number one: why are we in an alley? And number two: what exactly are we going to talk about?
Realization dawned upon me as I found out exactly what we were going to talk about. It's going to be about that awkward kiss…
"So… about that… uh, kiss…" Natsume started, cornering me against the brick wall of a building.
"Wow, you sure are strait to the point" I commented. But, of course, he ignored me.
"Did you… feel anything?"
My breath hitched. Of course I felt something! I wanted so much to kiss you back; to make you regret your actions by kissing you senseless! I was just too surprised!
But all that came out was: "Uh…"
Natsume's bangs covered his eyes. "Well then, could we just forget the kiss?"
One again, I was speechless. This is another question that I wanted to answer with all my heart; to scream a huge NO in his face. I don't want to forget the kiss. But, another part of me knows that if we hold on to that kiss (in which I hadn't actually kissed back) our relationship would be ruined.
"…O…okay" I answered, knowing that I was completely lying to him and myself.
I thought I saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes when I said that. But then, he threw me a beautiful smile and nodded his head. "Cool."
"What type of kewl?" I asked, just to break the tension.
"What?" I guess it worked.
"Well," I started, "the C-O-O-L cool means Constipated Over-weighted Out-of-style Looser. The only safe cool that there ever is, is the K-E-W-L kewl."
"That makes no sense!"
"Oh, so only S.M.A.R.T makes sense?"
"Touché."
"Yeah, thought so."
"So, what now?"
I shrugged at his question. I literally don't know what to do now. Oh, wait, what was I doing earlier? Oh yeah! I was looking for other runaways that need help and a place to stay!
"All I know is I got to work" I stated, looking towards the entrance of the alleyway.
"Oh." Natsume didn't move from his position, which was of course pinning me against a brick wall.
"Umm…" I started, looking at his arms.
"Oh, right. Sorry" he mumbled as he stood up strait and brushed off the invisible dust off of his coat.
"Well, I best be o-"
"Can I come with you?" Natsume interjected.
I started at him. "What?"
Natsume rolled his eyes. "I said, 'Can I come wi-"
"I heard you say that. I just wanted to know why."
"Well, you could have just asked." Natsume smirked. As I glared at the raven haired teen, he continued with his explanation: "I have nothing else to do and I don't want to wander the streets of Tokyo like some kind of weird loner."
I tried to picture him doing just as he said, walking down the streets of Tokyo, by himself with a whole bunch of people whispering mean things about him, gossiping and making fun of Natsume.
"Nope, I can't see it." I stated.
Natsume rolled his eyes. "Can I come or not?"
"Okay" I chuckled a bit.
I made my way out of the alley, Natsume following me close behind. As we walked, none of us said a word. But, instead of it being awkward, we actually go along just fine in a nice, comfortable silence. I'm quite thankful for it actually. Thank god it's not awkward!
While we walked, I let my mind wander to different things that needed to be done for my city, such as, new clothes, shoes, more food, and so on. I'm going to have to work on that stuff tonight.
Just as we were passing by a small house near the edges of the city, I heard some nearly silent whimpers and cursing. Lots and lots of cursing. I immediately stopped walking, trying to tune into the sounds. It seems like the parent and child weren't on the best terms. Ignoring Natsume's pleads to not go in (maybe he heard them too and he was worried? Who knows?), I went snuck in through an open window, telling Natsume to stay where he was.
I looked around the home. It was small; a very cute place. It looked to be as if it were the best home for two parents and an only child. Just by looking in here, it seemed as if there was nothing wrong. The only thing that put it off is the tension that I had felt in the air.
I followed the sound of the whimpers and sniffling, trying my best to steer clear of the muttered curses. It wasn't that hard to find the kid. She was hiding in a corner of a girly room, probably hers, covered in scratches and bruises. Seeing her in the predicament she was in made my heart ache. Poor girl! She looked like such a sweet heart!
I quickly went to her side and muttered comforting words to her, trying to cease her sobs. "It's okay, don't worry. Does this always happen? It's alright, don't cry. I'm getting you out of here."
I took the chance to examine the little girl. She looked about ten years old and had curly red hair. Her skin was pale and she had freckles and hazel eyes. She is definitely not Japanese.
As soon as she was quiet, I carefully put her on my back and carried her to the window in which I came in. I tried to make sure I didn't touch any of her bruises or anything, knowing she would whimper and, therefore, blow my cover. Now wouldn't that suck?
I heard footsteps coming down the hall towards our direction, so I picked up the pace and jumped out of the window. I steadied myself as we landed on the grass and ran to Natsume.
"Let's go!" I hissed at him, running down the sidewalk to a hiding place that I had set up nearby.
At first, he started at me like I was nuts. But then, he must have gotten to his senses because he ran after me, following me with his eyes. A few minutes later, we reached a small area of grassland where I had set up some sort of camouflage fort. I quickly scrambled inside, making sure not to hurt the little girl and Natsume cam in right after me.
I placed her down gently on a mat, reaching for the first aid kit right after. I cleaned up her cuts and put 'fun' looking band-aids on her.
As I worked, I asked her "What's your name?"
"I-I'm… my name's Bailey." She answered.
"Oh, that's a pretty name! So, Bailey, how old are you? Do you go to school anywhere?"
"Mmmm" she hesitated to tell me what I had asked. I don't blame her. I mean, I would hesitate if some strange teenage girl (but she thinks I'm a guy right now) popped up in my room, promising to take me to a place much more special than I was. I actually would be suspicious.
"It's okay. You can tell me. I won't hurt you. My name's Mikan. Mikan Sakura" her eyes widened at my statement. I took off my hat as I spoke the rest "The news and media as well as the police like to say some stuff about me. I'm pretty sure you've heard it. They say I'm some sort of 'homicidal maniac'. But really, I'm not. I'm a president."
"Huh?" Bailey asked, confused.
"If you want to find out, you have to trust me." I held out my hand for Bailey to take after I stood up.
At first she hesitated. She didn't know whether to trust me or not. But as she looked into my eyes, she must have seen my honesty and she grabbed hold of my extended hand. I smiled at her and turned towards the door.
"Are you ready?" I asked her.
"Y-yeah…" she answered me hesitantly.
I smiled down at her and gave her a reassuring smile which she returned. Just as we were about to step out, Natsume stopped me.
"Hey, Sakura, I know that you are definitely not ready to go outside yet." Natsume said.
I turned to him in confusion. "What do you mean Natsume?"
"Are you…?" Bailey started. The both of us looked at her and prompted her to go on. "Are you Natsume…Hyuuga?"
Natsume gave her a small nod. "Yeah. The one and only."
Bailey started to blush. And by blush, I mean she turned so red I thought her head was gonna explode. I'm happy it didn't though. Then, Natsume turned to me and smiled, holding up my baseball cap.
"You need to wear your hat" he stated
Instead of handing the cap to me, which I extended both my hands for, he pushed them down and came up really close to me. Butterflies formed in my stomach as he ran his hand through my hair and carefully put it into the cap. I felt his fingers run down my cheek and hesitate at my jaw line for a little. And finally, his hands dropped.
"Now you're ready" he said, patting my head.
I felt a light blush coat my cheeks as I nodded. I kept my head down as I said "yeah, thanks."
"Anytime" he answered, making my heart flutter.
I nodded and all three of us got out of the fort thing and walked to the sidewalk. We made our way to the main road as Bailey and I talked. I learned that she really is 10 years old and she's a bright one too. She'd make a great addition to the City. She ended up calling me onee-chan too. I think the way she says is cute!
And every time we walked past a policeman, she always clung on to me as if I were really her big sister (or brother in their eyes). I guess she really likes me. Hehe! She's so cute!
After a little bit, we were close to the City. I almost forgot Natsume was here! Oh my, that would have been horrible if I led him all the way into the City. I stopped and turned towards Natsume, Bailey doing the same.
"Natsume, you should go now. Don't follow me." I said.
"Why not?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.'
"I don't trust your father."
Natsume was quiet for a bit after that. I don't know what he was thinking, but he must have thought about something….. big… and having to do with his father. Haha! I'm pointing out the obvious!
Natsume shrugged. "Okay."
I smiled at him. "See you later, alligator!"
Natsume looked at me as if he were crazy. Bailey giggled at his reaction and sighed. He looked at me, grinning. "In a while, crocodile."
And with that, I led Bailey off towards the City as Natsume went on his own way.
~Chapter 10 End~
So, I'm hella late! I'm so sorry! I'm really busy these days with graduation coming up in two weeks, more tests even harder than in the beginning of the year, and the end of the year reports and trips and games and stuff. It's really fun, but really tiring! I swear that the past two weeks were the most stressful of my life! But, I don't care! You know why? 'Cuz my birthday is this Tuesday! You know, June 7? Yeah, that's it!
Well, I want to thank all of those people who have reviewed! Those people are…
Vampgal212
muzikchic4eva
natsumeslover
Saikono-san
xXBluefangXx
Kylee-Cat
OoO-Ashee-OoO
HappyHam
missforever-a-vampire
Crimson-Midnight-Moon
MiSaNaHyu
xDevilishAngelx
xxxHazelxCrimsonxxx
Thank you once again! You guys make me laugh! :P I love you all! I'll try to update as soon as I can! :D
And for all the questions about this story, Hotaru isn't really going to play a big part in the story… yet. You'll just have to wait for that! OH, and other people in the City Of Runaways help recruit the runaway kids. Just so you know, it's not kidnapping unless they take the kids by force. They invite the kids with them and persuade them towards help. And really, they want to help the kids, just as I've shown with Mikan before. GTG! :D
~xXPaintingRealityXx logging off! Wooooo! :D