Disclaimer: All rights belong to Higuchi- Tachibana sama.

This story though, belongs to me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! LOL. Or it was yesterday. XD Hope you guys like this chap! Do review and tell me what you thought of it!!

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RECAP:

He kept his eyes fixed on the intruders' back and made his mind up in a flash. Crouching on all fours, he poised himself over the intruder, balancing on his toes and fingers, like a stalking cat. The intruder looked to its right, stretching its grubby, bandaged fingers towards another book.

And Natsume jumped.

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Chapter 14: Encounter part ll

Mikan sighed. This was getting her nowhere. She'd been sitting here for god knows how long clearing and arranging book after countless book and it still felt like she had a lot of work to do. She stared around her.

"Is it just me or does this pile look larger than before I started sorting it out?" she frowned at the pile next to her.

She had taken to speaking her thoughts aloud since it felt less creepy. It was as if she had someone else with her and reassured her.

"Oh yeah...no wonder it's bigger." She giggled. She had been working for so long, she'd become a little absent minded and in her tiredness, had transferred some books from the pile on her left to the pile on her right.

She stretched herself a little and looked at the pile blearily. She was beginning to feel a little sleepy too.

"I wonder what time it is." She glanced at her wrist. It was bare.

"Damn, I should've worn my watch.", she grumbled. "It must be really late out.".

Then

"Ok Mikan, this is the last pile you're straightening out. After this, you're getting into bed for a well-deserved rest!"

She looked at the pile on her right. It loomed higher than her when she sat down. She reached out for it and she'd barely touched it when the blasted thing swayed towards her and fell on the ground next to her with a loud thud. Not only that, it had been ages since anyone had dusted the basement (a month actually), so the dust had collected on all the books and now decided to pay a visit up her nose and throat. A visit that had Mikan coughing and struggling to breathe.

When Mikan stopped coughing, she glared resentfully at the books and the mess in the basement.

"I really wish that thief comes here again. If he does, I'm gonna make him pay!!" she declared.

And how would you do that, asked a small voice in her head.

"How?? Easy! By cleaning up the basement of course!! There's no harsher punishment than that!" she grinned to herself evilly, not unlike Hotaru.

But there's no guarantee that he's gonna come back, so I might as well finish it off myself, she thought sadly. She stared at the pile again and sighed for the umpteenth time.

Last pile for tonight, last pile for tonight, she chanted in her mind and reached out for another book. Suddenly she was hit by something heavy on her back and she fell forward. She tried to scrabble out from under whatever had hit her but whatever it was, it had her pinned firmly beneath it. She twisted around in shock and saw those same eyes she'd seen under the mask a week ago.

"Yaaaaaaaa!!!" she screamed "Get away from me!!"

The scream momentarily distracted her assailant and as he pulled back, she kicked him square in the stomach and pulled herself onto her feet, clutching the shelf for support. He was on the ground now, doubled up and she turned to her left and started to run.

"No, wait!!" he shouted and grabbed her right ankle. Mikan tripped and fell into the pile of books she'd been arranging. She grabbed the first book she saw in front of her, an encyclopedia, and turned around furiously, tears in her eyes.

He looked up and she hit him in the face with the book. HARD. He let go of her ankle and fell backwards clutching his face. She got to her feet and clutched the book with both hands, and stood behind his head.

"This is what you get for coming back you jerk!!" she yelled, a mad gleam in her eyes. She raised the book high and brought it down fast just as he took his hands away from his face and she stopped with shock when she realized who it was.

"Natsume?"

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Natsume had never in his whole life, EVER felt such humiliation. Sure he'd been hit before, but the only feelings he'd ever felt at the time were either exhilaration or mild fear and trepidation. The only things he felt now were anger, directed mostly at himself, mild disgust, again at himself and humiliation. And his nose. He felt his nose very much.

He was sitting in the basement on a chair by the desk with an ice pack pressed to the face, while Mikan hovered a little nervously in the background.

He'd jumped and caught hold of the intruder; even pinned it under him; and was smugly thinking of how he'd repaid Mikan, when the intruder turned its, or more specifically her, head around and screamed in his face. He recognized the voice instantly and let go of her but she was starting to run away and in his alarm caught hold of her leg to prevent her from making a call to the authorities; which would've been a grave mistake if she had. It turned out that he was the one who'd made the mistake. The stupid girl ended up tripping and falling first and then clobbering him with a gigantic book, in his freaking FACE no less. Just when he thought the nightmare would end, she stood above him like a demoness, possessed, with that book held high and brought it down with all the ferocity she could muster. It was sheer luck that she stopped, the book just millimeters from his nose when she recognized him.

And here he was. In a library basement. Gluing an ice-pack to his bloody nose. Literally. Smarting with the unfairness of it all and wondering exactly what in the seven circles of hell he'd done to deserve this punishment.

You almost killed her.

Ah. That. Still, he sighed, did she have to go that far?

He glanced at her still hovering around and she froze. He got up and slowly made his way towards her. She looked embarrassed and mildly frightened. She backed off a couple of steps, looking around wildly for someone or something to help her. He walked right up to her and stopped a foot away.

"Ice." He muttered, holding out the handkerchief she'd made the temporary ice-pack with; now stained with blood.

She stared at it for a couple of seconds before it registered and then snatched the handkerchief and ran up the stairs without a word. He stared wordlessly at her vanishing back and sank down on the chair with a sigh, his temple throbbing. He closed his eyes and waited a little impatiently, tapping his foot and stopped only when he could feel her presence in front of him. He opened his eyes and glared at her while she held it out to him to take. He put his arm out for it and she flinched, slightly pulling her arm away.

"I'm not going to kill you damnit!!" he exploded "Stop acting like a frightened rabbit every time I move!!" snatching the ice-pack from her hands.

"I'm not frightened!!" she adamantly replied. "It's just…"

"Just what?" he snapped

"It's just- I'm just-"

"No. Seriously! Who in their right mind would leave the bloody door open all night? ALL NIGHT WOMAN!! If those people from last week had come back, you would've been killed!! Or worse!! Have you no sense?!!" he roared "And why the hell were you wearing a goddamn cloak?!! Thanks to that and your absolute stupidity and carelessness, I'm the one who is sporting a bloody nose, not you!! Do you have any idea…." He trailed off in horror as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oi…" he said awkwardly. Crap. I think I went too far. I didn't think she'd cry.

What do you expect? You assaulted her first and then put the blame on her, you know.

But it was her duty to close the door first!! He argued with himself.

She had started to sniff a little now, covering her face in her hands and he immediately felt guilt weigh down on him. He got up and gingerly went up to her, awkwardly placing an arm on her shoulder.

"Hey." He shook her a little "Don't cry. Please." And backed off when she glared at him fiercely, through her tears, blinking them away.

"You're right! I am stupid!! I get that from everyone so it really doesn't make a difference when a red eyed pervert decides to call me one!" she yelled "It was my fault that I left the door open, but you needn't have come in!!"

"What the hell!" he yelled back "Then excuse me for worrying!"

She frowned a little at this and cocked her head to the side.

"You were worried about me?"

He felt himself grow mildly warm as he realized his choice of words.

"Who the hell would be worried about you? I was worried about the library!!"

It was Mikan's turn to feel warm but only because she was boiling with anger.

"Of course you were!! That's the only thing you care about isn't it!" she yelled, all tears forgotten "and here I was thinking you might actually be nice for once! Do you have any idea," she shouted to the startled Natsume "do you have any idea how I felt when you did that?! You were just like him!!"

Natsume's chest constricted a little at this and he furrowed his brow to keep himself from displaying his shock.

"Just like whom?" he asked softly, staring somewhere beyond her shoulder.

"Like that masked guy last week." She yelled. "I had no idea what he was talking about and I even told him but he didn't believe me. Some men" she continued glaring at him through the thin film of tears that reappeared "some men are so damn cruel and so inconsiderate of how others feel...they just-" she shook her head as if to clear it out "they just do whatever they please whenever they please, not caring if others get hurt."

Natsume looked properly at her face this time. Her eyes were puffy and she had little circles under them like she wasn't getting enough sleep and she seemed tired and frail. For the first time in a long time, Natsume felt like a prick.

Mikan sniffed and tried to control her tears. She hadn't cried at all about that incident and was terribly ashamed that she almost had.

And in front of this jerk no less, she thought wryly. Normally I would've been angry with myself for almost crying in front of HIM but…I guess I'm just too tired to be angry.

She looked at him from under her eyelashes and was startled by the emotion she caught; before it disappeared from his face altogether.

Guilt? She wondered.

"Hey Polka…" he asked softly.

"Stop calling me that!!" she said angrily.

So much for being too tired to get angry.

"I have a name you know!!"

"Were you scared that day?" he continued looking her straight in the eyes.

Mikan was flabbergasted. If he'd asked her for the colour of her underwear, she wouldn't have been as surprised as she felt now.

"What do you mean did I feel scared? That's a stupid question. Besides, you already know how I felt. I answered that question yesterday." she muttered, looking away.

"Did you really?" he asked even softer this time.

It was all Mikan could take. Nobody had asked, REALLY asked her how she'd felt that Saturday night and here was a guy she'd decided, in her heart of heart's, to hate, asking her so softly…so…kindly, about how she'd felt back then. Asking like…like he actually meant it, like he actually cared.

She wrinkled her nose and screwed up her eyes, but try as she might, she couldn't prevent it. A week's pent up emotion let itself out and flowed down her cheeks, in a seemingly endless stream. Sinking to the ground, she put up her hand to wipe her face but all that seemed to do was make it even wetter.

"Here"

She looked up to see a dry handkerchief held out by its owner who looked away, embarrassed.

She took hold of it and wiped her eyes and face dry and whispered so low, he had to strain his ears to hear it.

"Yes…"