Chapter 21: I will work hard!

Mikan looked at him, and kept her face stoic. But inside of her, she was trembling.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Akako smirked and took a piece of her hair in his hand. She shivered.

Mikan took a deep breath and looked at him in the eyes, or at least she tried to, "Great, now I have to burn my hair."

"Cocky, are we?" Akako sneered at her.

Mikan felt herself jittering again. The truth was she was still kinda afraid to be around him. He made her feel so vulnerable. "W-What do you w-want?" Mikan stuttered.

"I don't know, you tell me," Akako gave her a revolting smile. It gave her the shudders.

"Just l-leave me a-alone," Mikan said, as coolly as she could. But that didn't fool him. Mikan tried to walk away, but he blocked her path.

"Aww, it's been a while, why don't we have some fun?" Akako gave her a fake smile.

"Get away from me," Mikan hissed. Inside of her head, she was praying Natsume or Ruka would come save her.

"Why? What's wrong?" Akako stroked her cheek. Mikan quivered under his touch. She felt so defenseless.

"S-Stop, leave me a-alone," Mikan stammered, "D-Don't t-touch me."

"Ah, losing your cool, huh, Mikan?" Akako played with her hair, "how unlike you."

"Let her go or you're dead," A voice said. Mikan and Akako spun around. They saw Ruka, his eyes so dark, it was practicality black.

"Why, why, if it isn't Ruka," Akako smirked; he let go of Mikan and turned to him, "Long time, no see." Akako thought for a bit, "When was the last time I saw you? Oh yeah, I remember, it was when I broke your leg, right?"

Ruka jerk a bit, but held his ground, "That was a century ago." Mikan looked at Akako in alarm; he was the one who broke Ruka's leg! Mikan clenched her fist and grinded her teeth. Now, she just had another reason to hate him. Mikan totally lost it. For that moment she forgot all about her past with Akako, all she knew at that moment was that Akako had injured her friend.

Mikan walked in front of Akako and pushed him back with so much force, that him slammed into the wall. When he looked up at her, she glared at him and said, "Just who do you think you are? Apologize to Ruka-pyon!"

Akako wiped his mouth and stood back up, "Just when did you two get so close?" Akako looked at her, "You even have a nickname for him."

"What does that matter to you?" Mikan glared at him.

"Did you forget what I did to you?" Akako smirked at her. Mikan was completely taken off guard. She shuddered and fell on to her knees.

"Leave her alone," Ruka stood in front Mikan.

"What can you do?" Akako looked at him in disbelief, "You think you can protect her?"

"I know I can," Ruka narrowed his eyes at him.

"Hey what's going on?" a familiar voice from behind them. They all looked and saw Natsume.

"What are you doing here?" Ruka asked.

"Well, you were taking a long time, so I came to see what was up," Natsume replied, casually. He turned and saw Akako, "I didn't expect you to be here."

"Is there something wrong with me being here?" Akako looked boastful, "I just talking to my little Mikan."

Natsume looked and saw Mikan on her knees, trembling. She looked so frail. Natsume cringed and then he turned and looked at Akako with bitter hate in his eyes, anyone who did this to his Mikan deserved to die.

"I'm gonna kill you," Natsume started to advance towards Akako.

"Chill, chill, I'm not here to fight you," Akako held up his hands in surrender, "Plus, I'm at a disadvantage because there are three of you." Akako thought for a moment then said, "Wait, I take that back, I mean there are two of you, because I can tell the one on her knees probably can't even defend herself."

Mikan winced, and started to tremble even harder. By then, Natsume had reached his limit and so had Ruka. They both had a malicious and evil glint in their eyes. Ruka cracked his knuckles and advanced towards Akako. Ruka gave Akako a frightening smile.

"What do you want?" Akako sweat-dropped, "I already told you I didn't want to fight."

"Well, the thing is, we were actually gonna let you off easy, but…." Natsume walked up alongside Ruka, "But after what you just said, I rethought about it."

"So what?" Akako said unconcernedly, "I only said the truth."

Natsume had heard enough; he punched Akako hard in the stomach. Akako slammed into the wall and slid down on to his butt.

"My turn," Ruka rushed towards Akako and kneed him hard in the stomach. Akako flew five feet in the air, and then fell back down.

Akako slowly stood up and wiped his mouth, "You bast**ds."

Natsume and Ruka only looked at him in silence. Then Ruka turned to Natsume, "You're paying for the dent in the wall."

"Fine, fine, whatever," Natsume shrugged it off.

"Don't ignore me!" Akako shouted at them.

"Oh, I forgot you were even there," Ruka sneered at Akako.

"You hateful-" Akako didn't get a chance to finish; quick as a flash Natsume was right in front of Akako; he sweat-dropped.

Natsume leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Leave now, before I really lose my temper."

Akako clumsily stood up, and then he ran off saying, "You'll pay for this Hyuuga, and I'm not done with you either, Nogi!"

"Well, that went well," Ruka said. Then he kneed down in front of Mikan, "Hey, you okay?"

Mikan weekly nodded, but didn't say anything else. "Here, I'll carry you-" Ruka was about to pick up Mikan when Natsume stopped him. Ruka turned to his friend, "What?"

"Don't help her," Natsume replied.

"What do you mean? Look at her!" Ruka shouted at Natsume.

Natsume ignored Ruka and turned to Mikan. He looked at her, his face emotionless, "Get up."

Mikan tried to stand up, but fell back down. Her legs were still trembling. "Natsume stop, can't you see the position she's in?" Ruka tried to get to Mikan, but Natsume blocked him once again.

"What's wrong with you?" Ruka pushed Natsume away. In return, Natsume pushed Ruka so hard, he slammed against the wall. "Ugh…" Ruka looked at Natsume. Natsume looked impassive at Ruka, "let me handle this." Natsume turned his attention back to Mikan, "I said get up."

Mikan tried to get up but failed once again. Natsume looked at her, "You say you want to defeat Akako, yet you can't even stand up to him. Look at you; you're nothing but a mere child to him."

Natsume's eyes darker, "Stopped acting so spoiled, now stand up." Mikan swallowed and stood up, but her legs were still quivering.

"You expect to defeat Akako like that? Stand with confidence." Natsume said to her.

Mikan took a deep breath and looked at Natsume dead in the eyes. Natsume smirked at her, "That's the Mikan I know." Ruka walked up beside Natsume, "So you were trying to do that huh?"

"Mikan has to face Akako alone, or else she won't be able to live with herself," Natsume replied, "You won't be there to help her."

Ruka nodded, "I understand."

"Now let's go back to eat," Natsume shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Natsume," Mikan whispered, but loud enough for him to hear it. Natsume turned back to look at her. She looked at him with a determined look on her face, "Thank you."

He smirked and patted her head, "Work hard."

Mikan grinned, "Right!"

They went back and sat at the table. The waitress came back with all the food, "Here's…your….food…" She laid all the food on the table. "Thank you!" Mikan chirped happily.

"No…problem…" The waitress panted and walked away.

Five minutes later…

"That was so good!" Mikan sighed, happily.

"How are you done already?" Ruka asked, in disbelief.

"Yeah, we're not even done ourselves," Natsume added.

"I guess I just eat fast," Mikan shrugged, "But…I'm up for seconds!"

Ruka and Natsume sweat dropped. "Um, sorry Mikan-san, but I'm kinda out of cash…" Ruka said.

"Yeah, you pig, haven't you had enough already?" Natsume said.

"I am not a pig!" Mikan shouted at him. People from other tables turned to look at them.

"Once again, you're dragging attention to us," Natsume sighed.

"You're such a big-faced…." Mikan thought for a bit and then she shouted, "Octopus!"

"Octopus?" Natsume looked at her disbelief, "Where did that come from?"

"I don't know, I just thought of it," Mikan admitted.

"What a weird girl," Natsume turned away from.

"You're such an Octopus!" Mikan stuck her tongue at him.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Natsume sighed. Ruka paid the bill, and together the three walked out of the restaurant.

"Hey check out that sunset!" Mikan cried in glee, as they walked back to the school.

Ruka and Natsume turned to look at it. "It's so pretty!" Mikan closed her eyes, "it comes in all colors; blue, red, purple, green, orange, yello-" Mikan was about to continue, but Natsume interrupted her, "Are you an idiot? There is no blue, red, green, purp-" This time, Mikan interrupted him, she looked up at him and smiled, "If what you see by the eye doesn't please you, then close your eyes and see from your heart. Because the heart can see beauty and love more than the eyes can ever wonder."

Natsume and Ruka looked at her stunned. "Where did that come from?" Ruka asked in surprise.

"Actually, I got that from a book," Mikan replied sheepishly.

Natsume and Ruka fell, anime style. "Of course, there's no way an idiot like her could ever think of that..." Natsume said.

"Hey, who are you calling an idiot?" Mikan glared at him.

"Who do you think, idiot?" Natsume sneered at her.

"Octopus!" Mikan glared at him.

"Again with the octopus…" Natsume sighed.

"Octopus! Octopus! Octopus!" Mikan shouted at him, "Octo-" Quick as a flash, Natsume scooped Mikan up and placed her on his shoulder.

"Hey, put me down!" Mikan kicked and thrashed.

"This is for not shutting up," Natsume was about to run off, when he felt someone take Mikan off his shoulder.

Natsume spun around and saw Ruka carrying Mikan. "I'll be taking this," Ruka ran off, without giving Natsume a second glance.

"Ruka, why you-" Natsume took off after them. Mikan squealed and giggled. Mikan held on to Ruka closer. She smiled and thought to herself, I learned something today. Mikan looked up at the sky, Natsume's shouts slowly faded out and Mikan was lost in her own thoughts, 'Sometimes we tend to be in despair when the person we care about betrays us, but the truth is it's not our loss… it's theirs because they left the only person who would never give up on them. Plus… Mikan looked back at Natsume and then down at Ruka, I found people who really do truly care about me.

KK: Awww, wasn't that a cute ending….well of the chapie of course. Not the story coz, its still got a long way to go, and…okay, I'm blabbing on again. ^.^ I kinda had to sneak this chapter coz I'm grounded soooo, yea. And the worst part is I'm grounded during my birth week! My B-day's Apirl 19th! Yeah, you guys probably didn't care to know that, but I'm gonna say it coz it's my favorite holiday! . So anyways plz review! B.H! (=^.^=)