Another chapter monster'd out in a short space of time, if this seems a bit jumpy it's because I'm really concentrating on getting this finished rather than making it a complete perfected masterpiece, so forgive me for any crappyness you may encounter reading :D
Also I'm doing Na(tional)No(vel)Wri(ting)Mo(nth) in November, so I won't have the time to work on this, therefore don't expect any chapters in the month of November, however I assure y'all I do intend to come back to this.
So less chat, more action!
'We aren't safe until we are out of here' had been Natsume's message to Mikan right before he passed out – after all blood loss multiple head injuries and dislocated limbs hardly did well for the average sixteen-year-old boy, and Natsume was no exception.
"Natsume?" Mikan called him quietly; close enough to feel his breathing against her own chest, so she didn't really have to shout. However he didn't respond, so she tried to reach him on another level – 'Natsume?' Still no response, and she began to panic as his weight became dead against her.
"Ruka!" She cried next, and this time he was at her side within a breath.
"Yes?" he rushed, dropping down to pull Natsume's weight away from her and paling at the sight of all the blood.
"He's out cold, we have to get him away from here," she said shakily and allowed Ruka to help the two of them to their feet, shouldering most of Natsume's weight himself and letting Mikan follow on tucked meekly under Natsume's other arm: although he never went on Academy missions Ruka was certainly in the right shape to do them – roughhousing with wild animals for his entire life built up just about every hardwearing muscle that existed, and although he never liked to make too fine a point of it he was actually stronger (and healthier) than Natsume and Mikan.
But he simply carried him and didn't think for a single second about how jealous he could be of Mikan sticking to Natsume like glue, only about both of their safety, even at risk to his own.
And there was enough of a risk, as straggling AAO members were still tearing down the building as the news passed that the police were on their way to this 'gangster's den', and any one of them with a weapon could recognise them as students and simply kill them in passing irritation.
Luckily, except for one incident where they all nearly fell down the stairs after Mikan trod on a tortoise who was a little late in on the action, they managed to get out of the building without getting shot or beaten, and falling into the night air Ruka pulled Natsume off Mikan, much to her protest and his hurt, and loaded him onto his back.
"Please Mikan," he begged, "we can get away much faster like this…" Mikan felt like a part of her skin was tearing off as she parted from Natsume, but she also registered how hurt Ruka sounded, and in spite of feeling like she wanted to burst into tears and just wait, sobbing, until her grandpa came to take her away from it all Mikan relented and let Ruka carry Natsume while she followed behind.
"Just until we are out of the way, okay?" he said tentatively and started to walk down the street, his arms holding Natsume onto his back with relative ease.
When they were 'out of the way' Ruka gently sat Natsume, who was still unconscious, on a bench and then walked to a phonebox to call for an ambulance – he'd have to be an idiot not to notice that both Natsume and Mikan needed medical care.
When he looked back at the bench Mikan was already curled up against Natsume, and had wrapped one arm against his slumping torso as she started at his closed eyelids and ran her fingers through his sweat-drenched hair, soft whispers on her lips as Ruka's heart tied itself in knots.
- I must've been an idiot not to notice. He thought to himself sadly as Mikan closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against Natsume's – she's crazy about him. He didn't remember her ever being so soft for Natsume before, and wondered when on earth it had happened, as he thought they'd been spending the most time together recently, what with Natsume having been in hiding for almost a week now.
But not once in that time they'd spent together had he ever seen her look at him like she was looking at Natsume now, and that was where his most heart-wrenching conflict lay, because he saw that look and knew how Natsume felt about her in return, and that simply wasn't fair on her… he would love her so much more than Natsume ever would.
So he'd decided he couldn't give up wanting her (this much, at least) just yet, because if she would only see Natsume's version of things then he'd be in with a chance... this time around.
However, at the time he just wanted them both alive, though, so when Mikan jerked her head back and Natsume opened his eyes with a sudden gasp it was relief he felt the strongest, although there was a pang of jealousy there as he saw Natsume move one of his bloodied hands to weakly grasp one of hers in thanks.
When they reached the hospital, this time he did not beg the staff to put them in beds next to each other.
Natsume woke up in a surprisingly small amount of pain, and as he recognised his surroundings upon opening his eyes he realized it was generally a hospital's job to stop pain. After missions that ended as badly as his most recent one he was getting used to opening his eyes and seeing Howalon puffs crawling across the ceiling and Ruka's face grafted on the body of his old pet usagi – some of those painkillers distorted reality just a little.
'Mikan?' he questioned internally, but didn't hear a response right away, and unlike Mikan he didn't seem to be able to do half the tricks she could with their Alice – like finding her or knowing when she was in pain or trouble.
"Oh, you're awake at last?" An echoing female voice said tenderly as he turned his head to the side and blinked, and when the lights all blurred and left blazing trails upon his movement he realized that perhaps he had been given more painkillers than he'd originally thought.
He looked at his arms and noticed he had bandages from his hands up to his elbows, and flexing his fingers he tried to look at the source of the voice.
But she came to him instead.
"Natsume…" she said softly, and Natsume had to rationalize to himself that there really was no way his sister could be here, however, that was whose face he saw when he peered up at the girl above him.
"Umm," he murmured fuzzily, trying to grasp for her and his hands flailing around like wet eels. He heard a girlish laugh and two hands caught his own and held them still.
"What on earth happened to you, love?" she said sweetly as she steered his hands down to the pillows and lowered her face over his. In retaliation Natsume zipped his throbbing arms up and clasped her face, holding her a breath away from him and tracing the contours of her lips with his own, just feeling and trying to work out what was going on.
"Oh Natsume," she sighed and before he could straighten out his thoughts or consider why he was seeing Narumi-sensei's face before him all of a sudden she (or god forbid maybe even he) kissed him, and the tickly-warm feeling was just so that he found himself lost in it all too easily.
While at the door to the ward someone stumbled and slumped against the doorframe.
'Bang!' 'Doki-doki-doki-doki-doki' went Mikan's heart as she stepped through the doorway, and saw a form she had unwittingly come to fear leant over the bed she knew was Natsume's – how did she get here? She asked as her heart tried to beat itself out of her chest cavity – why? How did she find out? She had so many more questions had she so wished to pursue them, but the loud and terrifying beating of her heart had Mikan slightly more preoccupied and her head had started to spin.
"Ohhh, I'm sorry for" she mumbled and tried to back away as she raised her arms over her eyes; she had come here as soon as she'd been discharged from the hospital for her own injuries, but it seemed that she hadn't been fast enough, "I didn't mean to…"
"Oh. Mikan." Reira said coldly as she sat up and very obviously brushed her lips dry, while Natsume pulled a curious face and tried to reach for her long fair hair as it swayed. "I didn't know you were here."
'Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki' went Mikan's heart as Reira's words hit her like darts – hadn't they been friends not long ago? How had it all gone so wrong?
"I was just…" she muttered and blushed furiously, trying to work out which direction was away as her head whirled, "didn't mean to…"
"Yes. Well maybe you could leave a boyfriend and girlfriend alone for a while, huh?" Reira said with equal venom, and Mikan's vision immediately honed in on Natsume, who had closed his eyes with a soft smile that gave away very little.
"Boyfrie-nd and?" Mikan spluttered and her Doki Doki Doki heart suddenly went Doki Doki Doki-- and she grabbed a sharp pain in her side as her head suddenly felt like it'd gained five pounds of weight.
"Is it so hard to believe?" Reira hissed proudly, not seeming to notice Mikan gasp and stumble hard into the wall, "surely you aren't surprised, after all, you did say you had no interest in him, right?"
--do--ki—Mikan's heart finally caught its wind again and resumed a now welcome pounding beat, as it was most definitely better than none.
"Um…" she moaned as the stabbing pains subsided, but she felt like something was still very wrong in her body and wanted to lie down somewhere to rest, "I…"
"Mikan, I've tried to be nice, but I think you should leave," said Reira cruelly, and laid a hand passively over Natsume's gently raising and falling chest, "leave Natsume to his girlfriend."
Doki Doki Doki--! Doki Doki Went Mikan's heart as she somehow managed to crawl out of there without being pulled onto a stretcher.
"Bad…" she croaked to herself as she curled up on some waiting-area seats and took fragile, scared breaths, "really bad…"
When Natsume woke up he was no longer under the influence of the medication he'd been given while his stitches had been put in, so he now viewed the world as it was to the rest of the population. That scared him a little; especially as the first thing he saw was Reira craning over him like a vulture.
"Natsume!" she squealed and then zealously ducked in to give him a kiss on the mouth, "darling you're awake!" Natsume furrowed his brow and considered the word 'darling', particularly why Reira might be choosing to use it in reference to him… and it was then that he remembered…
"… I did it… because I like you…no…" he said, "I love you. Go out with me."
"This is a joke isn't it!?" Reira screamed, and Natsume very nearly smiled, but he was brought down by the fact that he was about to f—king die.
"It's not a joke, I just realized it at last… I love you," he repeated with an almost-smirk of silliness; feeling a kind of freedom at this ridiculous situation, "be my girlfriend?"
That, in retrospect, had not been the most sensible of last actions; mostly because it hadn't been his last. So now he expected he had a girlfriend.
He also knew Reira wasn't (that) stupid, and wouldn't dare asking him if he meant those words until she was quite sure he wouldn't go back on them, which wouldn't be for a long while. She could guess all too easily that if she asked him if he really wanted to go out with her now he would say 'no' right away and she'd be down on her dream. She was a bit of an airhead, but she wasn't an idiot.
However what concerned Natsume the most right now was what had happened to his friends, as he had absolutely no idea how they managed to get to him or rescue him or whether they were hurt doing either: if something had happened to either of them then there'd be hell to pay…
"Natsume? You seem a little distant." Reira said softly, and he only shrugged, "where are Ruka and Mikan?" he demanded, and after a hesitation Reira simply said (lied) "I don't know."
"Well you should." He hissed suddenly, "they brought me to the hospital, didn't they? So they can't have gone far." Reira seemed hurt, and rolling his eyes Natsume decided to try a 'carrot and stick approach', "look," he said begrudgingly, "a caring… girlfriend… would help me out and find them." Almost instantly she was on her feet and all too willingly to do his bidding, and within five minutes she had summoned Ruka to the room.
"Natsume!" he cried, "you're awake!"
"Yeah," he said weakly, "where's the blockhead?"
"Mikan? I thought she was already here? She said she was coming here as soon as she got discharged." He said worriedly, and they both foolishly missed Reira's look of guilt.
"Hm, I'll get her later then I guess…" Natsume said dryly, and then started to talkto Ruka as if Reira was not there at all, "so… how the hell did you manage to get me, huh?" Ruka smiled from ear to ear and suddenly threw a hug around his best friend.
"It was all Mikan really," he doted, "she called me, she was in a pretty bad state, but she convinced me you were worse and we just took off, I couldn't believe she managed to find the place but she must've had some kind of a hint, right?"
Right. Thought Natsume guiltily – what a hint huh? A full-blooded Alice…
"We weren't sure if that was the place at first, but a man came out the front and took some kinda parcel off a shady looking guy who ran up, and we heard enough to convince us this was the place. Then I noticed the sign," he said with a proud grin, "and from there it was easy."
Natsume remembered the animals from the pet shop, and thought to himself darkly just how good Ruka would be on missions – not only did he have an Alice for it but he was in twice as good shape as he was… that was exactly why he'd tried so damn hard to keep him away from them. He knew that if Ruka was started on missions he would only end up like him, and he couldn't bear to see that happen.
He'd always tried the same for Mikan, but she'd messed that one up a fateful week and a few days ago, when the Academy had been forced to call a large-scale operation to get back those hostages.
"Hn," he hummed as he listened, "and you carried me?"
"All the way to the phonebox," Ruka answered, "the ambulance took over from there; you're lighter than you used to be, have you lost weight?"
"Probably," answered Natsume, "I lived in a library for a week, my habits got a bit crazy." He looked at his best friend in the whole world and smiled, if he didn't have this, then he had nothing, he thought to himself, and very quietly mouthed the words, "thank you," to Ruka, who merely smiled and squeezed Natsume's arm for just a moment.
Why girls had to get in between all this was an irritating mystery to Natsume, as Mikan was problem enough with Ruka crushing on her and if Yuka was right (and he begged for her not to be) and Mikan being a bit loopy for himself… and then there was Reira who hated Mikan and Ruka hated Reira as much as he tried to hide it and…
He concluded that girls were nothing but trouble, and although this was in no way a new addition to his book of philosophies he felt it couldn't have been any more relevant than it had now. It was almost annoying that he was (quite comfortably and firmly, thank-you-very-much) straight.
'Hey Natsumee…' Mikan's voice rang out in his head all of a sudden, and in surprise Natsume responded out loud.
"What?" he said.
"What?" said Ruka and Reira.
"Oh! Um, nothing…" He rushed and then tried to respond on a more internal level, 'Mikan?'
'Hey Natsume! You're awake!'
'Obviously.'
'Oh, yes, of course.'
'Where are you then?'
'Huh? Oh… I'm around…'
'Why aren't you here?'
'…Should I be?'
'Well I nearly died yet again and you don't even have the decency to come and see me, knowing you you're probably stuffing your face in the cafeteria.'
'I am not!'
'I'm sure.'
'How can you still be a jerk when we aren't even together?!' she didn't realise it but that comment startled Natsume just a little, as he was now technically 'together' with someone else, and he was simply uncomfortably with this new step he'd made… by mistake.
'Look, Ruka's here too, so come over, we need to spend time together when one of us isn't unconscious.'
'That was you crybaby.'
'Crybaby! Look that was definitely not…'
"Natsume?" Reira probed suspiciously.
"I wasn't crying!" Natsume hissed out of the blue, and both Reira and Ruka adopted rather puzzled looks.
"I… didn't say you were…" She said, "but you'd spaced out. I was wondering if…"
'Is Reira-chan still there?'
"…you had something on your mind."
"No, uh, I'm fine." He said warily.
'Does that matter?'
"Well, good, I worry about you, I mean, how could you be so stupid to go out driving at night and get into a car accident, neh? You must be grateful…"
'She doesn't like me.'
'So?'
"…that Nogi-kun had the sense to check if you were okay, though I…"
'I don't want to intrude on you and your girlfriend.'
"…don't know why you decided to call me when you were in…"
'How do you know about that?!'
"…an accident for heaven's sake, I mean did you think you might die or something? I know they say near-death experiences but…"
'So it's true then?'
'How do you know?!'
'Natsume, we are having a conversation and I am lying on a bench in another room. Guess how I know.'
"…it seems a bit extreme in a real situation and…"
'She told you didn't she?'
'…'
'Mikan?'
'Boasted, more like.'
"…really I'm just glad you're okay… but now you're…"
'Mikan? Look don't let her get to you, so I might be going out with her, there's no way I'm going to suddenly change everything in my life, yeah? So just come over here, Ruka will be really glad to see you, and two people wanting you outweighs one silly girl easily.'
"…spacing out again and not even listening to…"
'You should be nicer to her if she's really your girlfriend, she's a nice person really. And okay, I'm coming.'
"…me and it's annoying so EARTH TO NATSUME!" Natsume jumped and looked at Reira in fright, as if he was genuinely surprised to see her there.
"Sorry were you talking?" he said perfectly innocently, but it came off much crueller than he intended, and Ruka laughed behind his hand. Reira frosted up, and practically grew icicles when Mikan arrived and she, Ruka and Natsume had a sunny moment of 'hey Natsume nearly died but he's okay thanks to us!' just like old times.
"Hey, lets go somewhere," Natsume said all of a sudden, and then feeling Reira bristle had a genius thought and shot Ruka a cheeky glance, "the four of us."
'Aw' he heard Mikan think, but only cocked an eyebrow at her face to face and challenged her to say something.
"What, like a double date?" Reira squealed happily, "It is Sunday and I know this place in Central town that…" Reira was cut off by all three of them laughing.
"Central town?" Ruka echoed scathingly, "that's boring."
"He's right," Natsume agreed, "we are even outside the Academy already, so we don't even have to break out."
"Or not break out, if we listen to any of Natsume's ideas," Mikan jeered, and he only glared playfully.
"Like you get better ones," he retorted, and Ruka chuckled and gently intervened between the bickering two.
"So where should we go?" he questioned as he gave Mikan doting, hopeful looks, "Mikan?"
"Um, well, I'm not sure…" she said hesitantly, as she realised what the implications might be of the words 'double date' – sure, she liked Natsume just a little massive bit, but then again… perhaps this would be for the best? Right? If she could like Ruka then all their problems would be solved...
However, in the end (and actually to Mikan's relief) they didn't go anywhere because Reira wouldn't let Natsume just walk out of the hospital and disappear, and by the time they'd got a discharge the car she'd taken out from the Academy had returned to take them back to school. She had also never been on illegal break-outs before, so was a hindering factor to the more free-wheeling Natsume, Ruka and Mikan combination, who'd done it all many times before.
However, neither Natsume or Reira would drop the subject of 'double dating' after that day, as it served all of their paranoid purposes, and so a few days later Mikan and to a lesser extent Ruka were bullied into coming on a 'date' to Central town with them.
They only went to a park and ate special bento boxes they bought from a supermarket, but even though Mikan tried really hard to copy the sort of things Reira did with Natsume, and be nice and flirty and attractive like she was, she just ended up feeling really awkward and embarrassed… and the fact that that happened when they got too lovey-dovey made it hard for her to relax with Ruka.
As well as the fact that she hadn't slept well for days, as with an official girlfriend installed Natsume had obviously stopped paying his late-night visits. Little known to her he was surviving on a cunning blend of sleeping pills for the night and caffeine pills for the day, and by that Wednesday it had started to show in that he kept twitching and getting the names Reira and Ruka mixed up.
As they had both (to their own disappointment) expected, Mikan and Ruka's side of the 'date' did not have the same kind of romantic quality as Natsume and Reira's. Even though they'd wanted it to go well… somehow it all ended up being forced and awkward.
"This hasn't really gone well has it?" Mumbled Ruka bashfully towards the end of the evening, as Reira stole away with a semi-willing Natsume to 'go for a walk' under a bush somewhere.
Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki
"No, it's me…I'm a terrible date," she forced a laugh, "I'm always me, you know? This whole thing has just been awkward… it's my fault. I'm not a proper gir-"
"No, of course it isn't your fault!" He protested sweetly and reached out his arm to rest a hand on her shoulder.
Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki
"It's me." He said, "I said okay to this because I didn't want to make Natsume leave her out, and…" he suddenly went very red and Mikan's already hardworking heart started doing triple-time, "…we are best friends, so it's bound to be a bit weird at first! But… you know…I do like you, Mikan." He breathed like he'd been forgetting to for the past five minutes and went rather red, "a lot."
Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki
"O" Mikan made an 'o' shape with her lips and felt the wind leaving her lungs; she was pretty bad at expecting things like this and had been so concentrated on liking Ruka to keep her mind off Natsume that she didn't ever notice whether he liked her back or not. Obviously he did. But she was just so used to them being friends that she didn't know how to get out of that mode… she wasn't sure if there was an out of that mode.
"Ruka, I…" she started, when suddenly Doki Doki Doki went Doki Doki --! And she started to hyperventilate and her arms began to shake with the pain. She'd been tolerating this for several days now, and it had become almost a background discomfort, but it was still enough to stop her in her tracks when her heartbeat started stuttering… she could also tell this was going to be a bad fit, as she knew what Natsume was up to.
"Mikan? Mikan?!" Ruka grabbed her other shoulder when he saw her tensing up and pulled her close to him, "are you okay? What's wrong?" Mikan's hand twisted up into a fist in the material of Ruka's shirt and she winced as she tried to ride out the horrible painful sensation tearing through her chest.
"…Hurts…" she bit, and resisted the urge to call for Natsume.
"What? Where? Why?" he rushed and cradled her close to him,
Doki Doki……. Doki Doki…. Doki………… Doki…. Doki Doki….
"…It's too much," she panted as tears crowded the corner of her eyes and Ruka began to panic even more, "I can't take any more…" she let out one sob and buried her face in Ruka's stomach, weeping even harder when she failed to feel as comforted as she did just being smiled at by Natsume, and all the while her heart felt like it was going to tear itself to pieces.
"Mikan? Why? What's wrong?" Ruka distressed, and had to crane his head down to hear the broken whisper of 'get Natsume' in his ear.
If this was Natsume's doing then he'd have to answer for it, Ruka steamed, and standing up bellowed through the park "Oi! Natsume!" loud enough to wake the dead. Not long after the boy in question reappeared a little sour and grumpy while Reira tried to subtly pick the leaves out of her hair.
"What?" he questioned dully: he didn't see the point in having a girl at all if he was going to be interrupted as soon as he tried to get anywhere with her.
Doki Doki…………………………………………….
"Mikan's sick," Ruka said accusingly and tried to ignore Reira coughing in a way that sounded suspiciously like the word 'bullshit', but Natsume only had to look at Mikan curled up in a foetal position on the ground to realise something was going wrong.
'Oi! Mikan!' he called to her as he skidded on his knees onto the ground next to her, and then when he didn't get a response while his pulse started to race and hands shake, he tried desperately to wake her.
"Mikan!"' Mikan!' "Mikan!!" 'Mikan!!" "Wake up!" 'Can you hear me?!'
Somewhere else entirely, Mikan felt as if she was falling.
I'll try not to leave this over November on such a cliffhanger O.o but no promises. Mikan's in it baaaaaad.
'Doki' is the japanese expression for a heartbeat sound, I prefer it to 'ba-dum' or such.
Leave a review please! Even a few words are welcome, just a couple of words/lines letting me know what you like/dislike, whether you think the characters are in-character, whether the plot is transparent or interesting and if you feel any cliches blaring out to you, just let me know! (K?)