Obedience
Author's note: Here's a long chapter for everyone. I enjoyed writing this so I hope you like it. I'll try to see if I would reach my quota before I update again. Anyways, Happy Holidays!
P.S. Thank you for your continued support everyone!
Disclaimer: I do not own GA. But I do own the story and some of the characters here.
Chapter 14: Revelations
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"What is this place?" Ruka asks but the girl beside him just ignores him. He and Hotaru are in somewhere only she knows.
The place is full of enchantments. The trees are all colorful, changing from green to yellow to red. The road, well, it is made of bricks. There are houses but they are distant from each other. These dwellings are made up of special woods from the trees in a particular forest. The wind is not too cold and not too hot either. If only Ruka knows this place, he would think that this is a nice place to go for a stroll with his special one.
The blonde man is too enthralled by his thoughts so he didn't notice when the raven-haired girl beside him stopped in her tracks. He only halted when he bumped onto a hard surface. "We're here," Hotaru says gazing at the two-storey house in front of her. Ruka rubs his head and stares at the abode in front. Suddenly, the door opens wide as if inviting them to come in. Hotaru walks past him and enters the house.
"Elrina?" the young lady called. "Are you here?" Silence. No one seems to be home right now.
"Elrina? She's a fairy isn't she?" asks the blonde lad.
"Yes," Hotaru answers.
"Then that means we're in Flyte, fairy's hometown?" Ruka realizes. The raven-haired lady looks at him as if he is dumbest person in the world. He gulps and just keep his mouth shut. 'How slow of me for not realizing where we are," he thought.
The two searches the place for a while and when they are sure that there's no one inside, they finally decided to go.
As they go out of Elrina's residence, they are greeted by the lady's fairy godmother Odette. The raven-haired lass brighten up a bit seeing her godmother. "Is that you Hotaru? What are you doing here?" Odette asks, smiling. She wears a cream dress and a hibiscus coronet on her head which greatly emphasizes her beautiful blonde hair.
"We're looking for Fairy Elrina. Do you know where she is?" she asks.
The blonde fairy touches her chin, thinking and then says, "Well you can't find her here. She went out last two days and hasn't come back since. Why don't you go look at pubs? She likes drinking so she can be there. The nearest one here is in the Giant's Village."
"Thank you. It's a really great help to us," she replies and starts walking. Ruka follows her behind. However, before they could get far, she turns around and asks again, "Odette, in some ways, is it possible for a fairy to take back her gifts?"
There is a long silence between them. It seems like the air grew thicker and colder. Ruka attentively listens to them. Hotaru patiently waits for her godmother's answer. Finally…
"No," she answers with a gloom expression on her face and turns away.
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A certain blue-haired man is cheerfully humming a happy tune while walking on the busy market street. He wasn't able to come back home last night as he promised Mikan. Her father didn't allow him to go so he stayed there for the night. However, this just made him more enthusiastic about going back to the Old lady's pub. He is too eager to see the young brunette lady again. He doesn't know why but he feels attached to her or rather he's interested in her – very interested.
After leaving his father's house, he went straight to a department store to buy a small bear. He really feels glad and more relax when he met the brunette. Moreover, it is his first time giving something to someone so he is very excited and at the same time, nervous. He walks joyfully back to the secluded part of the kingdom; back to the pub.
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"You're back. Welcome home, Natsu!" greets a pink-haired girl, clasping her hands together, to the young man who just entered the door. It's about 7 am in the morning. The sun is already shining brightly upon the whole kingdom. Natsume stayed somewhere for the night because it's dangerous to wander off the street in the dark so he is only able to get back in the morning.
"You look happy, Anna-san," he comments, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Of course, I am. You're back so I should be happy," she smiles. "Anyways, you should go and rest in your room now. Go,go,go," she adds then pushes the stunned lad towards the stairs. 'Really, what is she doing?' he thought.
Giving up, Natsume walks to his room. As he is about to open the door, his fake wife crosses his mind. He pictures her smiling across the room when he enters it. But he knows it won't happen because she's still missing. Little did he know that the person he's looking for is in a deep slumber on his bed.
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Her short hair is still orderly and there's a fixed expression on her face as they flew across the lands in her yellow scooter. The young lad is nervously and tightly holding her waist for support for he is afraid he might fall off his seat. They both agreed that they'd use the lady's scooter as transportation instead of the huge eagle. The girl argued that they can't use the eagle because it can attract more attention than by using the scooter.
Ruka is secretly enjoying the fragrant smell of the lass in front of him. This ride in her scooter is one of his unforgettable moments indeed for some reasons: 1) It's one of the times that Hotaru doesn't glare at him (for he's at the back of course); 2) It's the only time he can get close, literally, to her; 3) He can think freely about things without her noticing it and; 4) His heart thumps faster than usual.
After 2 hours of riding, they stop at a small restaurant to take a break. Hotaru parks at somewhere near the glass window so they can look after it even if they're inside. Hotaru and Ruka then walks in.
The restaurant looks normal except that it's painted green outside and a lot greener inside. The chairs and tables are in circular form. There are flower ornaments everywhere. The people inside are about the same height- 3-inch smaller than Hotaru. The girls are wearing the same dresses but in different colors – yellow, pink, red, blue and violet. The boys are also wearing the same green clothes – tunic, belt, hat and flat soled shoes. One thing in common to all of them is their long-pointed ears.
"Welcome to Bistro Elven!" greeted two green-dressed people as they enter the restaurant. Ruka bows to them as a greeting but Hotaru ignores them completely. They don't mind anyways. Hotaru finds a vacant table near the window, just exactly across the parked scooter. She seats there gracefully. She promptly takes out her laptop from her and clicks it open. Ruka just stares at her intently while holding the menu book. For the first time, he notices Hotaru's troubled face. He suddenly realizes that the reason why the girl in front of him is disturbingly quiet is because of what the fairy told them earlier – something about removing a gift. 'Now that I think of it, why does Hotaru wants to know about that? What sane person would want to remove his gift? Not all people can have that. And is this thing relevant to our quest?' he thought.
"Ahem!" he clears his throat to catch her attention but she remains unfazed. Then a group of musicians begins singing to them. "Whoah, your voices are good," he compliments but is distracted when he thought Hotaru might fire something at them for disturbing her – she hates noise. He looks at her and sees that she's still completely focused on her laptop. 'What's on her mind? Not even the noise can distract her,' he silently asks himself.
Ruka orders their food and just silently stares at her. He thinks it's safe to look at her openly since she seems so into what she's doing. Then she heaves a deep sigh and smiles. This made Ruka catch his breath. His heart beats fast. "Her smile…is so breathtaking."
"They're safe…"
"Oh… That's good,"
"We can take a break for a while then we'll resume searching for Elrina,"
Hotaru seems to be in good mood so he asks, "Are we still going to search for her?"
"…yes."
"Why?"
"Because… She can help us,"
"About removing a gift? I thought Fairies can't do that?"
"Yes, but I'm still hoping…"
"Why don't we just go to where they are?"
She takes a deep breath and says, "It's not yet the time."
Then she adds, "We'll go rescue them when the time comes… for now this is the thing we can do. Just trust me, Ruka."
With that, they return back to their normal state – keeping silent.
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"Sakura! I'm back!" he greets merrily as he enter the pub. He looks straight at the red sofa where she usually sits but finds no one. "Sakura?" he calls.
"Oh you're back Rui-san," welcomed Madam Shin, coming out of the kitchen.
"Where is Sakura?" he asks her keenly.
The old lady looks over him to scan the room and suggests, "Why don't you go look in her room? Maybe she's still there. She looked bored last night."
Rui runs towards the stairs and thoroughly searches her room but again he finds no one. He then goes to the old lady's room and to his but she's nowhere in sight.
"Is she not there?" inquires Madam Shin innocently. 'I'm sorry, Rui-san.'
"I'm going to look for her outside," he says and with that he races towards the door.
A few minutes later…
Rui slams the door shut. Smokes are starting to form from his feet. "Where is she?! Tell me where she is!" he demanded. Madam Shin struggles to keep a blank expression. The lad in front of her is now losing control of himself. Now, she's having doubts of letting the brunette go. It seems that Rui is attached to the girl more than what she expected. If this continues, she's afraid Rui might go back to his evil self.
Boom! The tables and chairs were thrown against the wall.
"I'll find her… And once I do, I'll bring her back and never let her go." Rui says, fading out of sight. The old lady silently wishes that Rui won't do any harm to others and that Sakura will be safe wherever she is.
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The raven-haired lad stops in his tracks when he sees the sleeping form of a brunette girl lying peacefully on the bed. He felt his heart suddenly stopped beating and the world stopped turning around. "Sakura…" he whispers, walking slowly towards her. He can't believe what he is seeing right now. The moment he touches her, he realizes how much he missed her – how much he longed to see her. It's as if she painted a whole new color to his life. Why is it that they've only been together in a week that he's too attached to her. Sure, her being lost made his heart torn into pieces. He's confused of what he is feeling right now but in any case, he accepts that feeling rather wholeheartedly
Mikan abruptly opens her eyes and finds herself staring at a pair of crimson eyes. She felt a sudden surge of strength within her. She thought she won't be able to see him again but here he is, right in front of her. Tears starts to form in her eyes. 'Am I dreaming?' she thought and says it out loud unconsciously.
Natsume smirks at what he heard. This just confirms that all of this is true - that this is not some part of his imaginations. Before he could stop himself, he quickly pulls Mikan into a tight hug and whispers softly in her ears, "No you're not…you idiot."
Mikan almost pushed him away for what he called her but she knows that it's just his way of teasing her. 'Could it be possible that he missed me too?' she thought. Feeling so overwhelmed, she hugged him back, feeling the comforting warmth he gives her. Truly, it's her first time feeling this happy since she lost her parents. 'I'm so glad I'm home…'
Natsume slightly pushes her away. He touches her face with her hands and stares at her eyes with full concern. Mikan blushes profoundly, earning a smile from Natsume. Their faces are near – too near that their noses touch each other. They are just inches apart. "Welcome home Sakura," he whispers and is about to touch her lips with his when…
"Papa…"
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~End of Chapter 14~
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