Disclaimer- I do not own this! I really wish I did though! All credits go to the amazing Tachibana Higuchi .

Some POV's from Natsume and Hotaru. I think their contrasting attitudes make a hilarious pair. All the POV's have touches of humour except for the last one, and the whole chapter is quite long compared to usual. Anyway... hope you enjoy them!

Before I write the next chapter, I want 40 reviews. Please! You people haven't been reviewing recently, and I am getting sad, and my inspiration is going, so PLEASE REVIEW! I don't mind if it is full of criticisms, in fact, I want to improve my writing, but I just want to know what you think.

Thank you for reading this!

~The Meepsta~ :) :)

Chapter 20- Disconcertion

Natsume POV

It was merely five minutes before Hotaru and I arrived at the block of elementary school girls' dorms.

Hey. Hang on! The girls' dorms?

In the direction we were coming from, we must have already passed by the boys' dorms, as the two dorms are both built on the same road for convenience. Then there can be no excuse for being late to lessons, as you have to walk the same distance as everybody else. A clever, but rather pointless scheme.

Maybe Hotaru thought I wouldn't notice that we had passed the boys' dorms, as the buildings and scenery have been whizzing past in an unintelligible blur. But I know this school inside-out: all the secret pathways, cameras, buildings, and roads. My escape routes when the fan-girls get me cornered, or when Maths lessons get too repetitious.

I knew this school almost too well.

If it was anybody else driving the scooter, I would have pointed out the mistake. But with an armed Ice-Queen at the controls, I decided I would not give it a try. Too dangerous.

Shudder.

Plan 1: Jump off the scooter.

Annoying voice in my head: It is travelling too fast, and Hotaru will probably hit me with one of my inventions.

I was starting to regret taking up her 'kind' offer of the lift. Suspicious...

Shudder.

Plan 2: Smile and hope she thinks it is normal human behavior.

Annoying voice in my head: The Natsume I know never smiles. Don't be stupid.

There was no doubt about one thing, though. She had a plan up her sleeve.

Quite literally, if the plan consisted of one of her inventions.

Hotaru POV

Damn.

Natsume was getting increasingly suspicious about my kind offer of the ride. I could see doubt written all over his face. The thing that shocked me the most about his expression was that he was actually smiling for once!

Shock horror.

His extremely idiotic grin might have worked on a naive person like Mikan, but not on the Ice- Queen, the Queen of Blackmailing. Whatever you want to call her. She knows how to read any human expression in the world perfectly, and that's why her face is almost always an emotionless blank mask. That's why my face is almost always a blank mask. But sometimes, my best-friend, that stupid Baka Mikan, just makes me happy too much to ignore. And sometimes, my best-friend, that stupid Baka Mikan, is just too idiotic to ignore. She is quite laughable at times.

Well, at least all this wasn't my idea, but Ruka's for once. At least I could blame the bunny boy for all of this. But there is one question I asked myself again and again: why oh why did I ever listen to his rambling? Just because he claimed to know the fire-caster better than I, it doesn't mean he had superior intelligence and experience.

In fact, he definitely didn't. You just had to look at his star ranking:

Hotaru Imai- 3 star.

Ruka Nogi- 2 star.

Ha.

I started to wonder whether Ruka knew the present Natsume as well as he said he did. Natsume changed a lot in the last year or so, basically since Mikan came to the Academy, so maybe his best-friend wasn't quite up to date.

But maybe there was nothing in Ruka's head except for white rabbit fluff. My personal favourite theory.

Stupid bunny boy.

He and his rabbit would certainly face the wrath of the Baka gun. Or lose much money. Their choice. I hoped they would choose the latter, and the less painful.

Hm... money... what would I buy? Crab brains? Sushi? Or more materials for a new invention?

$Money... is life...$

Natsume POV

This stupid swan-shaped invention had finally landed! Phew...

Nobody knows... well... Hotaru might...but I wasn't one for heights. It was one of the very many things about me that annoyed Persona no end, especially on missions. I swear he chose dangerously high assignments deliberately just to be obstinate. Or to kill me. Anyway... what was that woman doing now? I was going inside? ARGH!

What the hell was she going to do to me?

Hotaru POV

The look on Natsume's face was priceless. Absolutely priceless. Good job I had it on camera!

What did he think I was going to do to him? Kill him? I suppose he had better be careful around everybody: with Persona and his missions (yes, I know about that). He already had had far too many near-death experiences.

All I was going to do was ask him a simple question.

What do you know about Mikan?

And if he didn't answer, I would force him to answer using increasingly painful methods. Yes, I was mean.

Get used to it.

Natsume POV

Hotaru led me through many corridors, even through the main common room! I avoided many curious gazes (from the staff) and admiring gazes (from the girls and Narumi-sensei), annoying little voices laughing in my head.

'Try and look like a girl...'

'Keep your head down...'

'Natsume Hyuunga in the girls dorms?'

'What is the world coming to?'

I wanted to burn something to relieve my stress. Ideally, Hotaru. But realistically, something else. I did not want the unpleasant after-affects of the Baka gun.

It would spoil my face, my handsomeness... I think that's a word... sigh...

Hotaru POV

Mission accomplished. One Hyuunga boy delivered outside Mikan's room.

Phew... time to get down to business... hope this works... this was my part of the plan, not Ruka's.

Normal POV

Hotaru led...dragged... Natsume inside Mikan's room. She did not even need to unlock the door: it was already wide open. The room was bare: all belongings of Mikan's had gone, and only the plainest of furniture was left. The special star room looked like a no star room. It was as if Mikan did not exist, as if she had died. No trace of her was to be found.

Hotaru suddenly pinned Natsume against the wall, the Baka Gun pointed at his throat. He could not escape.

"Explain." She demanded. "Tell me what you know."

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Natsume replied. "I do not know anything. I promise."

Hotaru was dissatisfied. Surely, someone except for Mikan herself and the teachers knew what was happening!

"You have a choice. Mikan is at the hospital, right?"

"Yes."

"That is partly why I was waiting there, and partly to catch you. Understand?"

"Hn."

"Two options. One: pay me 5000 yen. Then, I will not sell the pictures I have taken over the last two months. They have been altered, I assure you. I really will sell them."

A short pause.

"Two: Check on Mikan tonight in the hospital. Record as much information as you can about her whereabouts, her condition, and when she will be coming back. Keep your ear tuned for any information about what is happening around her, and why her room is empty. Then, I will also not sell the pictures I have taken over the last two months. Your choice."

"Option two. I will check on her tonight."

"Good. You can go now." Hotaru removed the Baka gun from his throat, and turned away, cupping left-hand side of her face, trying to stop the tears brimming over. But still, a few escaped, and carved deep valleys into her snowy cheeks.

Mikan, if you can hear me now, please be safe.

Be safe.

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