Chapter ten: Mother's Eyes
"What's going on here?" Natsume asked as the line to the dormitory was backed up.
"That Fat Lady!" a little girl he had come to know as Ginny Wesley said, "She's gone!"
Natsume's eyes went wide and he pushed past her and a bunch of students to get a better look. The tapestry that the ugly painting was painted in was slashed to pieces. The Fat Lady herself wasn't in it. Natsume looked down and saw something that made his heart skip a beat. A lock of brown hair. Short. Brown. Almost insignificant.
Except it looked almost exactly like his brunette's hair.
"Yuka..."
"What is going...?" the teachers had noticed something was wrong. They appeared at the scene without anyone really noticing. That did not sound good in Natsume's mind. Then, a man he had not seen since he arrived at Hogwarts showed up. Dumbledor.
"We will search for the Fat Lady! And try to restore her! Ah...! Dear Natsume, where is Miss Mikan?"
"The lake." Natsume muttered.
Dumbledor blinked once but seemed to think this was good news to some extent.
"Until we can get a replacement for the Fat Lady! We will have to have you all sleep in the Great Hall! Now, if you please...?"
The kids filed out. There was a fearful whisper going around. There was one person on everyone's mind... Sirius Black.
But there were two on Natsume's mind... no... three. Sirius Black, Yuka, and, of course, his girl. Natsume would not go to the Great Hall first. He didn't care if the prefects yelled at him. He went strait for the lake, even though all the students were being rounded up anyway.
"HEY!" Percy yelled, "HYUUGA!"
"I can take care of myself!" he yelled back venomously. If Yuka was here, there was only one person she'd be after and it wasn't Harry Potter.
"MIKAN!" he yelled, actually a long way from her. She had been getting all flustered over something Hotaru had said. They both looked over at him.
"What do you want, Hyuuga?" Hotaru asked.
But he just grabbed Mikan by the hand and gestured to Hotaru to follow. Mikan blushed.
"N-Natsume!"
"No time to explain!" he souted. Hotaru sensed that he had switched into Kuro Neko mode. He was all business. Completely serious. He wasn't thinking about getting lucky or even having a little bit of alone time. He was afraid. He was in his natural fight or flight or protect instincts. (As was natural for Natsume.) He pulled Mikan into the castle.
"What, Natsume?" Mikan asked, "Is it going to rain?"
Natsume didn't answer. Boy, was Mikan dense. Hotaru got the message the moment he grabbed Mikan by the hand. She ran alongside them in her pink swimsuit and pink swim cap. Mikan was wet, too. Natsume griped Hotaru by the shoulder suddenly.
"Imai, your head of house will be worried. You need to go to the Ravenclaw dormitory."
"Care to tell me what's going on?"
Natsume didn't answer. No.
Hotaru ran for the dormitory and Natsume pulled Mikan to the Great Hall. He burst open the door, making LOTS of kids jump. Percy looked ready to have a heart attack.
"Hyuuga!" then he noticed Mikan, "Oh..."
"Eh-hem!" Percy said, not looking her in the eye, "Pick a purple palate and go to sleep!"
"Ano... Natsume-kun? What's going on?"
The room gasped when Mikan spoke. She tried to make Natsume let go of her hand, too. Natsume roughly let go.
"Natsume-kun! Answer me!"
"Ask Orange Top." He said shoving his hand in his pockets and placing himself right by the window.
Percy filled Mikan in on the situation, not feeling very comfortable doing so. Natsume watched the grounds like a hawk. He saw something in the shadows of the trees. A person... and a dog. Natsume tried to figure out what that was. Maybe Fang and a teacher?
Buy Natsume noticed something. The eyes of the person in the trees were suddenly visible as the tree branches shifted. Only the eyes, but that was enough.
Cold eyes stared back at him. Venomous eyes. Dangerous eyes. They resembled eyes that could never make themselves full of such hate, such despise, not even to her worst enemy.
These eyes belonged to none other than Mikan Sakura's mother.
To Yuka.
He watched her eyes for a moment. He could read Mikan's eyes, but Yuka wasn't Mikan. What was she trying to say to him? Natsume concentrated on Yuka's eyes. Feelings that didn't belong to him bubbled up inside. Hatred. Worry. Jealousy. Want. Need...
"What are you staring at, Hyuuga?" asked the cold demonic voice of Severous Snape. And just like that, Yuka was gone.
"Nothing." He said, in a cold, uncaring voice. Sudenly, he got a phone call.
"Konbanwa, Persona." (Konbanwa is Good Night)
"Yuka and Black are-"
"At Hogwarts. Yeah."
"Natsume-sensei," Persona said, emphasizing the fact that he knew that Natsume loved Mikan, "You have to take this chance! They can't escape!"
"I'm a child, Persona. Just because you'd let me out of the safe hold of the school when a killer and a crazy woman are on the loose doesn't mean these people will." And with that, he hung up on Persona. He looked back at the trees were Yuka had been. She's not crazy, Natsume thought, She's a mother whose child is just beyond her grasp. But I can't let her take Mikan away. I can't let her make Mikan my enemy. I might kill myself if that happened.
"Ne, Natsume!" Mikan said, grabbing his shirt sleeve. "I... I'm scared!"
Natsume looked at her. She was holding his arm so tightly. Her eyes were afraid in a simple way. Simple Mikan. Yup, she was defiantly back.
Natsume could once again feel Yuka's eyes. When he looked to the trees, he couldn't see her, but he knew she was there. He grabbed Mikan by the shoulders, and kissed her cheek. Mikan blushed.
"N-Natsume! I haven't decided yet!"
"Don't go near the windows." Was all he had to say. He could feel more hatred in Yuka's eyes than ever before. She was pissed. What could he say? He was the type of guy to mess with his enemy when they can't touch him. And sneaking a kiss from Mikan was even better.
Mikan laid down far away from Natsume, and away from the windows. Natsume placed himself next to some kid named Nevel Longbottom.
Natsume drifted off into a deep sleep after a moment. He liked knowing that other people were going to be protecting him this time. It was nice.
Very nice.
(please continue to chapter eleven)
Author Note:
I'm glad everyone liked the fact that Natsume tried to turn Malfoy into Roast Beef! I felt awkward writing that stuff, even though it just seemed to come off the keypad so easily. Hun-nya... (not a Japanese word, it's just something I say. Kind of like "Hoe" in Cardcaptor Sakura or "Ryu!" in Mamotte! Lolipop) No one new reviewed, but I do appreciate the reviews I got. I like it when people like my story enough to review it for each chapter or almost each chapter. Mikan's dense, eh? Review! All ideas will be taken into consideration, but I might play with the idea a bit.