Author's note: I will admit this was a long process. I had been gone for so long, I really started from the very beginning and revised each chapter. This stay-at-home thing had me going back to fix things, and even write this chapter.

Besides letting life happen. And the whole breakup thing that I went through as well. I did get to meet and date someone new, but even as we got along so well. I feel like I was more or so using him to get back up. So now I'm doing my own thing, and I feel right about it.

I can look back and say I'm okay. So I'll keep moving forward.

I have the next chapter mostly mapped out and won't be long for the next post.

SO WELCOME to the new readers, and welcome back to my old time (back we go) readers.

Sorry for the delay guys, thanks for reading.

Natsume's POV

"Let me guess, she kick you out?" I couldn't help the joke as Narumi appeared to be standing outside of my apartment door carrying a large duffle bag and rolling a travel carrier.

"For the record, I left. Mind if I stay here?" His question was more of a statement as he walked past me and didn't bother waiting for my answer.

"Apparently, not." I closed the door and followed him into the living room. "You can stay, just… don't have much as you can see…" I noticed him scoping out the place. "I just moved back in myself a few days ago." There really wasn't much to my apartment, and I never really added much to it besides the necessities. The kitchen was small, which shared the space with the living room. I had a plain black couch to the back of the room with a worn-down coffee table where Youichi used to spend most of his time. A small tv across from it, which didn't have much of a purpose besides playing DVDs for his cartoons. I had a breakfast table along with two chairs in between the kitchen and living room space that seemed to have most of my books piled up, but Narumi didn't seem at all bothered by it.

"I can tell you don't have much."

I rolled my eyes at the comment, "Yeah… well, I never thought you'd come crashing at my place either."

"My shock too." He shrugged at my defense, "I'll stay on the couch."

"There's…" I began to speak without realizing I was about to offer Youichi's room to him. "I mean, it's a kid's bed in the other room, but you can use the room if you want." Even I sounded unsure of the arrangement I was trying to offer.

Narumi didn't budge. He casually dropped his bags by the couch. "It's fine. I'll use the couch. It's bigger than a kid's bed anyway."

True… "Then, whatever works for you then." Didn't have much to offer besides that. "There's a bathroom at the end of the hall. Laundry is downstairs on the first floor, and you'll probably need a key…" my voice trailed off, remembering I had a second key somewhere.

"You have water and gas?"

"Yeah, I got them back up the same day I moved back in."

"Good, I need a shower." He fixed a set of clothes out from one of his bags. "Don't mind me."

I raised a brow at how calm he seemed after being kicked out of his own place. I was somewhat curious about the reason, but even I understood that it was on a personal matter.

None of my business. "Suit yourself." I returned to the table where my books were and continued with my classwork.

I watched as he casually retreated into the hall and heard the bathroom door shut.

It was a little after nine at night, and so him showing up now raised a few questions, and I was strangely curious to hear how things ended with him here, but…

Again, none of my business.

I refocused on my work and breezed through the last remaining questions that I didn't notice Narumi out of the shower and drying his hair a few feet in front of me.

"How's school going so far?" His question broke my focus as he took the empty chair across from me.

"Doing alright." I spared a glance as I finished up in the last few sentences. "Still catching up on some papers, but should be all caught up by the last day." It had finally come down to the last week of my Sophomore year.

"You make it sound like you're off for the summer."

"I know." I snapped my book shut too aggressively, "I fucking have summer school too."

And it wasn't because I was failing or too fucking dumb. It was for the random excuse that I had to make up in-school hours.

"Mind if I smoke in here?" Narumi raised his pack of smoke, bringing out a lighter as well.

I couldn't help the small glare, "What do you think?" I sarcastically asked while standing up, lifting the corner of my shirt, and reminded him of my scar. "But if you must, open the window behind you and stick your head out."

Disgusting habit.

I turned into the kitchen and filled a glass with water.

"Are you still having trouble eating?"

I shrugged, "Not really." My sensitive gag for food was gone for sure. But I still couldn't taste anything, or crave food for the matter. "I can eat, but not hungry."

"Well, when's the last time you ate?"

"This morning." I lied. "But anyway, if you want, help yourself to anything in the fridge or whatever you can find. I'm heading to bed."

I began heading for the hallway when he stopped me.

"You're not going to ask why I'm here?"

I raised a brow, "Thought your wife kicked you out?"

"No, I left," He pointed a finger at me from the couch, "that's how it ended, but as for the reason…" He breathed out a long exhale of smoke out the window. "She found out I was still looking into Izumi's past. She fucking threw a huge fit about it." Narumi shrugged, disappointed, "She didn't stop until Mikan got home and heard all the shouting from outside."

The simple mention of Izumi's name was enough to turn my stomach, "Was it that bad?"

"Well, she hates anything that has to do with him. Can't even mention a single thing about him."

Was that all pent up anger because he left her? "He abandoned her with a kid. I think that's reason enough." I crossed my arms and sat down next to the hallway entrance.

"It wasn't that he abandoned her…"

"Uh yeah, he did." If I recall correctly, "Based on what you told me, he left you to pick up the pieces." Knowing what I know of Narumi, he had a debt to repay to Izumi. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but you got your life together with his help just in time to return the favor and listen to his last request." Hell, I didn't blame Narumi for accepting to look after his friend's wife and kid. But I mean come on, to the extent of marrying her? Well damn.

"He gave me a purpose to keep moving."

I couldn't comment on that. I knew the feeling too well. And the emptiness that followed with it.

"Even after serving in the military and completing my degree. I thought I'd feel accomplished. But I didn't. I didn't know why I was pushing myself to complete all of that. All I did was follow what Izumi told me to do. And with time, I found myself being hired here in this town and buying a new house. I was going to work every day and coming home to eat, shower, sleep. You'd think by then, I'd feel accomplished. But no. I reached the point that I needed to get to, but then what? What was I supposed to do next? That kind of shit drove me to work overtime to the point of passing out and sleeping whole days."

Sounds like something I'd do.

I found the familiarity in the pattern I fell into once Youichi was taken away. Be it drowning myself in school, work, or keeping busy to the verge of passing out. "So, what'd you do?"

"Yuka started working there in the same police station after."

"Was this before or after Izumi left?" I clued in.

"It was right before. I'm guessing he knew we were working together. That's why when he called me telling me to take care of his wife and kid, I thought as a friend I would, but… then I noticed Yuka's change in behavior, I grew concerned for her, and couldn't leave her alone after that."

"So, does she know that?"

"She didn't at first." He admitted, "With time, she ended up finding out the truth. Remember, I told you she caught me looking for Izumi's research? That's when I had to tell her the whole truth about who I was and what Izumi had instructed me to do."

"Doesn't sound like something worthy of kicking you out of the house, though." Maybe I wasn't seeing the critical point of their disagreement, but Narumi, in the long run, had to leave his house.

"Nah, I left because I told her I wasn't going to give up on finding out what happened to Izumi. Especially now, that I've been working with you."

"Wait," I sat up alarmed, " You didn't tell her about my connection to Izumi, right?"

"Hell no." His answer relaxed me, "But she'll really divorce me if she ends up finding out." Narumi dared to laugh at the possible outcome.

I knew he was joking about the matter, but it somewhat dawned me that I could risk ruining their marriage. "You know, you don't have to help me."

Narumi surprisingly brushed off my concern, "Then where would you get your answers? Didn't you say you wanted to figure out where or what's going on with you?"

"Yeah, but that's all in the past too…" I slumped back onto the wall behind me, "It doesn't change anything."

"But it gave you the answers you were looking for."

True.

Thinking back on how Narumi found me back at Reo's place, and how desperate I was for answers, he provided me with everything he had collected to give me that comfort I needed at the time to understand more about myself.

"What if… I told you about the last time I remember seeing Izumi?" I turned to see Narumi's surprised expression. "At least, its what I think it was."

"What's this all of a sudden? You remember?"

"I think so. It had been a reoccurring dream slash nightmare to be flat honest." I pushed my hair back and tried remembering the dream by detail. "I'm not sure why it starts off this way, but I'm running down a dark hallway with flashing hazard lights. I want to run faster, but I can't because my body is too small to run any faster. And I can see Izumi in front of me, tugging me to run quicker, but he shortly picks me up and runs faster with me in his arms. I always remember the fear that strikes me whenever I recognize the blood coming from a head injury he has. The blood eventually makes its way down my arm and coats one of my hands. Not only that, but the people chasing us keep getting closer. There's a point where Izumi stops and decides to defend me. I don't know who… Serio is…" After the many times I've had this dream, I was sure to remember that name now, "but… that person wants to blame Izumi for having a close relationship with me. He proceeds to blame him and insists that I'm not normal. This is the part that I don't really remember…" My voice trailed off, leaving Narumi on the edge of his seat.

"Did they hurt him? What did they do?"

"I think I hurt them. Izumi tried stopping me too, but before I can see anything else, a wall of fire started burning between us." I still had a hard time believing it myself, "That's what you confirmed for me too. That report you read me a while back, it was also a dream of mine—the lighting of a candle. Apparently, I grew worse from there since they decided to test my limits. They hurt Izumi in front of me to get a reaction out of me."

"Fucking bastards." Narumi hissed.

"Yeah, that's why I wanted them gone. And so that research facility you showed me? The picture of the hospital, I think. It was my fault. I burned the whole place down. I remember seeing it in my dream up in flames. It's hazy from there, but at some point, Izumi was still carrying me down a dark road in the middle of a forest. It was cold, and he was bleeding a lot. We came across some kind of shelter. Probably a vet clinic. At the time, I didn't know what it was, but remembering all the loud animal noises, I can clarify it now. We were out in the middle of the night, but the older man running the place still tended to Izumi. He gave Izumi new clothes too, but he didn't have anything for me. All I had on was a blood-stained gown. So all he could give me were a pair of long socks and a scarf."

"Do you remember knowing where this was? What if we tried going there?"

I shrugged, "Who knows, but I'm pretty sure we left as soon as we could and got a ride into the nearest town by daybreak. My memory skips forward, and I'm sitting inside a train with Izumi next to me. The last thing I remember is him breaking the tag I had on my wrist and writing something down on the back of it."

"Do you remember what it said?"

I gave a slight nod, "That's when he gave me my full name."

"And that's it? Nothing more?"

I shook my head, "From there, I have memories of the orphanage, but don't remember seeing Izumi after taking the tag off me."

"Do you remember ever using your energy after that?"

I chuckled, being able to remember a few occurrences, "I think, I lit a few trees on fire to piss people off, especially the ones that would adopt me and take me back. At one point, I ended up falling off one of the rooftops at the orphanage and forgot everything up until I was six years old."

"When did you start remembering all of this? Why haven't you mentioned any of this before?" Narumi seemed to relax more now that we weren't talking about Izumi.

"I thought they were random dreams. I started taking them more seriously after you told me about the candle report. How was I supposed to know they were memories at the time? I had this dream again after you started making me a believer about the fire thing."

"Well, have you tried it?" Narumi gave me a curious stare.

"I haven't…" But the thought had been sitting in the back of my head for some time now. "Want to see if it works?"

I stood up just as he did the same and followed me into the kitchen.

"I saw I had a few candles in here." I had a stack of long white candles stored beneath the kitchen sink for emergencies but had yet to use any of them.

"Any idea how to make it work?"

"Not a clue." I moved over to the breakfast table and pushed my books out of the way. "Won't know until I try, right? Here, you hold the bottom."

I sat across the table with Narumi holding the candle in the middle of it.

"Alright…" I took a few deep breaths getting somewhat nervous about it working or not.

I stared at the candle for a few seconds without moving, that Narumi ended up breaking the silence.

"Are… you ready?"

"What are you talking about? I've been trying."

"With what- your mind? This isn't telekinetic Carrie shit. Take it seriously, come on."

"Worth a try." I gave up on the idea and pinched the small cord on top of the candle. "Okay…" Another deep breath. "Focus…"

I tried envisioning the candle lighting, thinking it was more heavily based on mental perception and concentration, but no luck. "It's not working."

"Can you remember anything Izumi told you about using your energy?"

"I'll try…" I switched hands and pinched the cord with my left hand instead.

The slight memory of Izumi taking out a lighter crossed my mind.

"Quick, give me your lighter." I reached my right hand out for him to hand me the metal piece.

I sparked the lighter a few times to see the small red flame ignite. I stared at it a few seconds concentrating on its dancing pattern.

Slowly but surely, a slight warmth began creeping down my forearms and tingling my wrists. I closed my eyes, concentrating on the feeling.

There it was—a familiar warmth at the tip of my fingers.

Focus.

More.

The heat in my arms intensified.

A sudden scent of something burning alarmed me just as Narumi called out to me.

"Natsume- look!"

I forced my eyes open to see the slight hint of smoke coming out of my fingertips, but what was more shocking was the small hint of smoke coming from freshly made holes on my long sleeves. "What the hell?" I patted my forearms getting rid of the smoke, before pushing the sleeves up.

The two metal bars I had on both of my inner arms were still producing smoke.

"What are those?" Narumi leaned in closer, trying to inspect them.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I woke up with them already in my arms after my last blackout."

"Someone put those on recently?"

"Yeah."

"Then, someone else knows about you?" Narumi stood up from his seat alarmed. "It can't be-"

"It's not Izumi." I added. "But you know him. And I think he knows Izumi too." He sat down, quickly figuring out the relation.

"Rei Izumi." He scoffed at the name. "Should have known him using Izumi's name was a cover-up for the time you said Izumi's name in your sleep. I knew that nurse had something to do it."

I drew my conclusion, "That's why she disappeared too."

"And that's why they broke into my house."

"Shit, that's right."

Everything was starting to connect. I knew Persona had something going on with me since the moment he was reluctant to let me stay at the orphanage.

Who the hell was he, and what more did he know about me?

"Word of advise…" Narumi placed the candle down before standing up, "Next time that guy decides to show up, whatever the reason, make sure to turn your tracker on."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Something about Persona has never been right.

"You know how it works now, right?" Narumi left for the couch, while I went to put the candle back in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm used to it." Since the time Narumi pierced my right earlobe with the tracker, it's been about a week since, and it hasn't given me any issues.

I watched as Narumi tried lying back on the couch but didn't appear comfortable.

Without saying anything, I left down the hallway to retrieve an extra pillow and blanket from the linen's closet.

"We'll talk more about things tomorrow. It's getting late for you." He accepted the things from my arms and laid back again.

I was about to leave for the hallway again, when he shortly called out to me one last time. "Thanks for hearing me out, by the way. Glad to see you're opening up and doing better."

I shrugged, not really sure on what to say, "Don't have anyone but you to blame." I turned to leave, "Night."

Getting to school the next morning finally marked the final week for this school year. By now, the majority of the students have started caring less about showing up on time or paying attention in class. Some didn't even bring their backpacks anymore. Most of the seniors have cleared out, so chances of seeing Andou or his girlfriend around were slim to none, which in the long run allowed me to focus on classwork during breaks.

I showed up at the usual time for the morning. Ever since I came back, I haven't spared the chance of running late.

I headed into the main building and intended to cross the main lobby for the stairs when a group of girls waiting by the stairs suddenly turned to look in my direction. Their screams and giggles followed as they continued to point at me, but didn't think much of it. I figured they must have meant someone behind me, so I kept walking past them.

"It's him!" "You're that guy!"

They jumbled up in front of me, stopping me right before the stairs.

"You're the guy from the picture, right?" One of the taller girls quickly brought out a thick book and began flipping through it. "Look! Right here!" She pointed to one of the back pages and turned it for me to see.

On the bottom-left corner of the page was a six-inch picture of me in my gym clothes. I was standing slightly turned away from the camera, but apparently, they managed to snap a photo of me wiping my sweat with the corner of my shirt, which somewhat exposed part of my stomach.

I couldn't help cringe at how well they purposely edited the lighting to add more detail to my abs and arms.

And the sub-text to it, 'Notorious Dark Prince, Natsume Hyuuga.' -Picture by Nobara Ibaragi.

What the hell? "This is in all the yearbooks?" I knew it was a dumb question, but I was having a hard time believing people had a picture of me like this.

"Yeah, look!" All four other girls cracked their yearbook open to show me the same picture, and some even turned to other pictures of me with the same subheading, and same fucking camera person!

Fucking Nobara was the freshman girl that was stuck with me, Andou, and Misaki during our in-school-suspension for recording the fight at Sakura's birthday party. Had she been snapping pictures of me throughout the school year and turning them into the yearbook committee?

Why the fuck me?

There was even a picture that went as far back as the homecoming football game I played in. The only time I took off my helmet, she caught me at the right moment as I went to shake hands with the coach.

The pages continued to flip.

Another picture was taken through a window of the tech club I was in with Imai and Tobita. All three of us were writing numbers up on the whiteboard. But even so, the picture was focused on me.

"This one too!"

She eagerly brought the book even closer, forcing one of her friends back.

I cringed again, another overly dramatized picture of me pushing my hair back with one hand while looking away.

This was utterly disturbing.

"Can you sign it?" The same blonde girl insisted, holding a marker out for me.

"No," What the hell, " I'm not signing this crap."

"Oh come on, we're all seniors, and we came to school just for this!" She insisted as her friends crowded even closer, "Please?"

This was disturbing to say the least, I had no idea this was going around, and I was suddenly getting ambushed by a group of random girls wanting my signature.

"Oh come on, please! We won't be here next year, and won't get another chance."

"Please."

I bit back my frustration, "Alright, fine." I swiped the pen out of her hand to quickly sign it, but that immediately backfired.

"Ladies! He's signing!" One of the girls called out to an even larger group of girls waiting around the stairs.

I backed up in surprise but was caught even more off-guard by the presence of more girls waiting to ambush me from behind.

"You gotta be kidding me…" I wasn't even done signing the first four yearbooks, and now the number had suddenly tripled.

"Hurry, he's signing!" More cheers erupted as I felt more of them rush to force their books in front of me.

It got even more uncomfortable as some of them also started taking pictures with their phone or even tried pulling me into a photo with them.

I kept shrugging away from the unwanted touching and pulling, but the crowd continued growing.

"He's the guy that fought three guys at once and won."

"Oh, I also heard he got in a fight at school as soon as he transferred here."

"He's really smart too. I heard he was tutoring classes at one point."

The rumors continued while I pretended to ignore their comments.

"Heard he also broke up with his girlfriend." This one made me pause for a second.

"No way! For reals?!"

The crowd grew louder and close to unbearable.

Without much warning, I began moving through the swarm of girls and ignored their cries and pleads.

I slowly proceeded to move through the crowd of girls as I stepped onto the stairs and continued onto the second floor.

"No fucking way…" another group of girls was waiting for me realizing the line went all the way to where my classroom was. "No, I'm not signing anymore." I blocked the first girl trying to push her yearbook at me.

"Oh come on, please?"

I shook my head, and kept ignoring the random tugs and pictures going off.

I had no idea how many girls were after my signature, but they wouldn't back off.

"Enough ladies," I recognized Nogi appear on my side, "Give the guy a break. He's just trying to get to class." He innocently smiled as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "He'll sign more later. Promise."

The line of girls whimpered in protest, but felt their presence ease off as some of them began to walk away.

Fucking finally.

Nogi had unexpectedly helped, but that didn't stop me from shrugging off his arm and leaving his ass behind.

"Yeah, I know, no need to thank me." He proceeded to follow me down the hallway. "You know, they already got to me, so I know how it feels."

"I didn't ask." I purposely shot his gloat down.

Going into the classroom didn't stop some of the girls either. The occasional group of girls would attempt to rush a quick signature while I was at the back of the class, getting my things ready for lecture.

Nogi even presumed to take the seat next to me.

I didn't bother asking why he was suddenly sticking to me like glue. The reason was pretty obvious.

I wasn't the only one weirded out by Nogi, suddenly wanting to sit next to me. Everyone that filed into class had the same look of skepticism as they ventured in.

Sakura and her two friends made it in at one point, that even she couldn't ignore the fact that Nogi was sitting next to me.

I didn't mean to stare as she crossed the front of the class, but she had unexpectedly cut her long hair to shoulder-length over the weekend. The color was different too, as it had gone from an ash-brown to a silver-blonde.

She was first to break eye contact as she turned her attention to her friends.

I wasn't going to ignore the fact that the new look worked well on her. It had definitely gotten my attention.

We had a few minutes left before the start of class, yet the occasional girl or so continued coming into class to get a quick signature.

If they had their book open and pen ready by the time they got to me, then I didn't turn away the quick signature. That would be one less to deal with later down the road.

"So any plans for the summer?" Nogi's fake smile and interest weren't fooling me. He noticed I was blatantly ignorings his advances, so he kept talking on his own along with his friends.

It was only the beginning of the day, and it already felt like the day was set to be a long one.

Finally, after the first warning bell, it marked the end of signing yearbooks for the time being.

"Hey," Strangely one of Nogi's friend from in front of us turned back to get my attention, "You think you can join us for summer training? Football season starts up pretty early into the new semester."

"Probably not."

"Come on, at least give it some thought." Nogi was seriously getting annoying. "Let bygones be bygones. We can really use your help out on the field. You wouldn't even have to try-out. You'd be on the starting lineup if you do join. So give it some thought."

I shook my head about to decline, but the warning bell rang, along with the morning teacher walking in to end our conversation.

Lecture carried on like usual with no one really paying attention at this point, and even ending the class slightly early.

That slight early break only gave the opening for the girls in my class to come up and ask for my signature too.

Sakura and her friends were the only ones that kept their distance.

They had their yearbooks too, which could only mean they were aware of the situation.

It's been a few weeks now with me being back in school regularly, but the distance with Sakura and I hasn't gotten any better. She's been distant, and I've been busy.

And it wasn't like I haven't tried talking to her. There were times that I did accidentally walked into her, but before I could say anything, she was quickly evading me or pretending she didn't hear me. Even her friends were keeping her away, which wasn't anything new.

"You better hurry if you want to avoid the next wave coming at you after the bell." Nogi quickly moved over by the door to see if any people were waiting outside. "Looks clear for now."

I sighed, getting up and fixing my backpack over my shoulder.

There had to be a better way to get through the day.

I got stopped a couple of times in between switching classes, but it was tolerable. The hour I was utterly coming to dread was the lunch hour. And it was coming up fast.

And I couldn't leave campus. So I had to figure out a way to hide or avoid the sudden swarm of chicks wanting to either take pictures or get me to sign their books.

"You look like you're having a fun day." I was in the middle of handing in some paperwork at the front of the class, I didn't notice when Andou had slipped into my class. He was deceptively trying to blend into the class by taking the empty stool next to me at my lab station.

"What are you doing here?" I boredly sat down next to him, "Shouldn't you be as far away from here as possible?" Seniors didn't have to be on campus this week unless they had something to pick up.

"I saw the yearbook pictures," He chuckled clearly getting ready to make fun of me, "And you got the majority of the senior girls ambushing you for pictures," He paused to take out his phone, "See?"

Andou scrolled through a random social media site on his phone screen, that showed a bunch of girls uploading either pictures or video of me taken recently while signing yearbooks earlier.

Why…

How the fuck do I make this go away?

"You know lunch is coming up."

I rolled my eyes, "I know."

"Well, I have a plan knowing you'd need the help." He offered, "Misaki came up with it, so she's in on it too."

These guys could have been anywhere else but here, yet here they were.

Anything at this point was better than going out there again, "Let's hear it."

Mikan's POV

"Told you the new hairstyle was going to look amazing on you." Anna cheerfully walked next to me as we proceeded to our lockers, "I still can't believe you finally got rid of all that long hair." She playfully slipped her hands into my short loose curls and gave it a gentle ruffle. "God, I love how cute it looks."

"Thanks, Anna," I forced a smile even though the look was still relatively fresh to me. I haven't had short hair for the longest time. And to top it off, bleaching the entire thing and doing a silver-tone, was a drastic change from what my hair used to be like.

It had only been two days since Anna and Nonoko managed to convince me to welcome the new style, so it's going to feel a little off.

"Hey guys," Nonoko appeared on my other side, "Tell me I'm not the only one weirded out that Ruka is trying to be friends with Hyuuga so suddenly."

I couldn't help shrug at the topic.

"I know, right?" Anna chimed in, "I'm guessing that's him not taking it well?" Anna gave me a slight push with her elbow.

"I was just being honest with him," I sighed, knowing Anna and Nonoko were still hoping I'd give Ruka a chance, "I didn't want to lie to him or get his hopes up." It was just too soon.

Seeing Hyuuga at school on a regular basis, was something I learned to cope with. Trying to avoid him was another.

I didn't need an apology or any form of closure from him this far along.

I had to find it myself.

And now he has to do the same.

"Mikan?" Nonoko waited for me to refocus on her, "Did you hear me?"

"Sorry," I winced, knowing I had zoned them out, "What was it?"

"Well, it's just that I think that by friend-zoning Ruka could be the reason why he's trying to be friends with Hyuuga."

"You know the saying, an enemy to my enemy, is my friend." Anna pitched in getting an instant approval from Nonoko.

"See, what I mean?"

"You guys are too much," I giggled closing my locker, "Ruka's a nice person. He fully understood about wanting only to be friends."

"Ouch," Anna playfully clutched at her chest, "Even I felt that."

"Oh, stop that," I laughed as I gave her arm a light push. "He'll be fine. Now let's go, I'm hungry."

Finally, after dropping off our books in our lockers, we headed for the lunch area where we immediately noticed the large group of girls waiting by the cafeteria entrance.

"Do you think they're…" Anna's voice trailed off as I simply gave her a short nod.

"Yep, looks like it." Nonoko agreed.

Seeing the pictures myself and thinking who in their right mind would believe Hyuuga would get a straight shot to being the most popular guy in school, didn't sit right with me. And it wasn't because of our past. But more like because I knew he wasn't the type of person to want the attention.

It was the complete opposite.

This was silently killing Hyuuga. And as much as I hated to admit it, it was killing me too.

"Maybe we should go and buy something out of a vending machine or something?" Nonoko offered just as I spotted Misaki quickly approaching from behind her.

"Mikan, Hi—Oh my gosh, I almost didn't recognize you!" She gave me a long stare, "I love what you did with your hair."

"Thanks," I cheerfully accepted the compliment. "What are you doing here? I would have guessed you'd be sleeping in or out with Andou?"

"Nah," She sarcastically waved the plan away, "I had to bring something for you girls."

"Really?" both Nonoko and Anna excitedly exchanged glances. "You didn't have to."

"Well it's in one of my classes, and I need help getting it since Andou didn't want to help me." Misaki swiftly wrapped an arm through mine, "Mikan, can you help me come get it?"

"Um sure?" I blinked a few times surprised she was already guiding me away.

"Okay, as for you two, get the squad together after lunch and wait in the gym. We'll meet up then." She cheerfully finished calling out over her shoulder before returning her attention to me, "I'm so excited to see you're guys' reaction." Her smile grew into a complete grin.

Seeing how overly cheerful Misaki was acting slightly put me on edge. It almost seemed like she was forcing herself.

"Umm, Misaki? Where is the surprise your keeping again?" She continued guiding me to the stairs and up onto the third floor.

"It's this way."

"Misaki?" I gave my arm a slight tug, not being so sure about what my gut feeling was trying to tell me.

"It's in here." She stopped short at a classroom door.

She went in first to which I followed, and only saw Misaki in the room heading for a pile of boxes towards the back of the class.

"Here, help me carry one of these." She was fast on picking up a box and heading past me. "Don't just stand there." She gave a suspicious wink, to which I couldn't help grow even more suspicious.

I copied her action and went to retrieve one of the boxes, "If you would have said how many boxes there were, you should have let Anna and Nonoko tag along to help-"

The door suddenly slammed shut behind me as I heard keys being used to lock the door.

"Misaki?" I was quick to drop the box and rush to the door. "Hey—wait!" I quickly panicked, trying the door handle, followed by pounding my fist on the metal a couple of times.

She was locking me in!

I gave up on this door and ran down the same wall to the other end of the class where a second door was.

I reached it just in time to see Hyuuga being shoved inside by Andou, almost knocking me over in the process.

"Watch out!" I yelled, trying to avoid falling sideways, but Hyuuga was able to react fast enough to lessen my fall by taking hold of one of my arms.

"Shit- what the hell?" Hyuuga glared back, hearing the door locking behind him.

"They locked us in." I grimaced at the uncomfortable situation.

A taunting knock came from the other side of the door, "Have fun you two. We'll be back to get you later." Their laughs echoed as they retreated down the hallway.

"Fucking great…" Hyuuga uneasily released my arm and walked away allowing space between us. "So much for getting a break."

"She told me she needed help with carrying some boxes."

"And he said he was going to help me hide out from all the fucking mess during lunch." I watched as Hyuuga went to inspect the stack of boxes to prying one open. "It's empty. They all are." He lifted and kicked another.

"I should have listened to my gut feeling." I defeatedly sighed taking a seat on the floor next to the door. "Now what?" The sudden realization had me strangely growing nervous.

"We wait it out." Hyuuga stayed over by the long window on the opposite end.

A few minutes went by with neither of us saying a single thing to each other. And I had my phone in my bag, but went against the idea of pulling it out and calling someone for help.

I strangely found myself sitting alone with Hyuuga in a room, and this was definitely awkward, but I couldn't help the situation much either.

"So you're hiding from all those girls chasing you?" I broke the silence.

"Yeah, I fucking hate those pictures."

"Why? You have plenty of girls chasing after you now." I swear my words weren't meant to come out that way. "I mean, I'm not jealous or anything, I'm just saying. You're pretty popular now."

"You sound jealous." Hyuuga casually leaned off the wall from where he was standing and began walking in my direction.

"Uh—what are you doing?" I tensed seeing him growing closer, "I said I wasn't jealous. I'm just saying what people are saying."

"And that is…?" He coolly played clueless as he sat next to me.

"That's…" I grew more nervous as I tried sliding away slightly, putting a few inches between us, "About those pictures. All the girls- they all suddenly like you."

"So, I don't care."

"Sure, you don't." I strangely found myself getting annoyed, "Like any guy wouldn't be happy to have a bunch of girls chasing after him."

"You sure you're not jealous?"

"I'm not!" I spitefully glared at him. "It's not like it matters to me anyways."

Hyuuga didn't insist on the topic as he gave it a simple shrug and crossed his arms without saying anything in return.

The fact that he didn't bother arguing any further, allowed the silence to annoy me further.

"You know there's an entire classroom you can use to your dismay, why are you sitting right here next to me?"

He breathed out a long sigh, "If I told you that I missed you and wanted to see you up close, you wouldn't believe me."

The strange hard thump in my chest from hearing him say that, was something I was trying desperately to avoid. "Yeah, whatever."

"And I'm sorry for leaving the way I did, and making you worry."

Geez—no what was he doing saying these things? This wasn't like Hyuuga at all to be saying those kinds of things.

"I messed up and hurt you in the process. I've always wanted to get the chance and at least admit it to you."

The more he spoke the louder the thump in my chest grew, "Well, you're too late for that."

"I know."

"And I hate you so much." I gritted my teeth, trying to control my pent up anger.

"I know."

What the hell? Since when was he the understanding type? I couldn't hold the urge to sharply turn in his direction, "What's with you all of a sudden?!"

"Nothing. I just don't want to regret letting things go between us without having the chance to tell you these things. I know things have ended between us. And I'll respect your decision. Whatever you decide on. But I need to know that there's no hope for me to fix things between us. Tell me there is nothing left."

The knot in my throat was suddenly threatening to break loose. Remembering the endless tears and sleepless nights. Worrying my parents to the point that they feared I would fall into a deep depression. I got so sick- so, so, sick from being in that state of mind, I ended up needing to take meds.

I knew I wasn't ready to let go.

I wanted to prove to him and everyone that I could be strong on my own, and that I could overcome this pain.

But my biggest regret was never telling him how I truly felt.

'If you want to do something, do it. You can avoid a whole mess of regret that way.'

It has come down to that point. Hyuuga was speaking his regret.

"For what it's worth now, I never had the chance to tell you I love you directly." That hitched my breath from how unexpected it was for him to say that, "I should have said it to you when you surprised me chocolates and tried comforting me about Youichi being taken away from me. I really wanted to say it then, but I did the opposite and pushed you away instead."

My tears began to pool.

I still couldn't believe it. He what? "You fell in… love with me since… then?" I slowly wiped the pair of tears that rolled down my cheek.

"No," He chuckled doing the same to remove a stray tear from the corner of his eye, "Since the time you saw my real eye color the first time." He scoffed bringing back the memory, "After everything I said to you that morning, you were crying and ready to jump into the pool after me. I felt it then. I Never thought there would be someone to care if something were to happen to me. And I even held back from grabbing onto you right then and there," He admitted, "but then you saw one of my red eyes, and you…" His voice trailed off as a thin smile hinted on his lips. He turned away slightly, trying to hide it, "You hit it hard after you stared into it so innocently and so honest. I just- you said it was… beautiful. It was then and there- I just didn't want to admit what it was."

The tight noose that had been tugging inside my throat was threatening to break loose. "Is… that why you… kissed me, back then?" I couldn't help remember our first kiss.

"You seriously thought I was only kissing you because of what Youichi did? Think about it. I played an entire football game with half the people in the team hating me. The whole time, I wasn't playing to win. I was playing to see if you cheered for me. If you smiled, it was because of me. I wanted you only to watch me- God, that's so hard to admit out loud." He paused bringing his knees up and resting his arms, "I kissed you wanting to do it. But not in the way it turned out. I wasn't planning on scaring you like I did. My intention was to just go in for a simple kiss, almost like a peck. And I messed that up."

"Ye- ah…" I hid my crying face as I began to sob into my hands without feeling an ounce of strength to stop.

It wasn't long after I felt Natsume move and pull me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

His short sniffles and sharp intakes of breath proved he was also trying to hold back his tears.

I tensed as he buried his head onto my shoulder and squeezed me even tighter in his arms.

The hard thumping that vibrated within his chest only showed how much his heart was in pain.

"I'll wait, as long it takes." He whispered into my ear, "I don't care just…"

I didn't reply but instead gave s small nod into his chest understandingly.

Minutes went by as he silently waited for my crying to subside.

Steadily my tears became less, and the storm of emotions began to calm.

Without moving too quickly, I pulled away to remove the remaining traces of tears with the back of my hands.

His arms steadily released me and seized the small opening to fix my hair back behind my ears.

He continued to angle my head slightly to softly feel the warm presence of his lips press up onto the corner of my left eye. And then another on my cheek before he shifted back and granting an ample amount of space between us.

"I messed up your make-up." He spoke, clearing his throat, "Sorry for making you cry."

"It's fine…" I took a moment to run the side of my index fingers underneath both my eyes, "It looks like I ruined your shirt too."

The traces of glitter from my shimmer eyeshadow and mascara were smudged a little under his left shoulder of his grey shirt.

"It's a dark color, so you can't really tell."

Probably for now, but I was pretty sure once the light hits that particular area, it would most likely shimmer from the glitter being stuck on there.

Hyuuga had been quietly watching me, waiting to see if I would look up at him, but I knew I was beyond hesitating.

He began to move before me, so I couldn't stop myself from catching onto his shirt.

The awkward silence my sudden action brought was enough to get my heart racing again. Even so, I couldn't bring my sight to meet his.

I felt him shift closer again, this time feeling the smooth touch of his hands cover the sides of my face.

Ever so slightly, he leaned in to place a light kiss on my forehead.

A tiny gasp escaped me as I felt him tilt my head to welcome a second kiss to the tip of my nose.

He was so close.

The warmth and anticipation of waiting for more had me growing more nervous.

Without faltering this time, I lifted my gaze to meet the soft glowing crimson color to his eyes.

"Can I…" His eyes briefly left mine to glance down to my lips.

His subtle plea froze my voice.

I short simple nod was all I could convey as I shyly pressed my eyes shut to feel the soft contact of his lips press up against mine.

The lengthiest most frustrated sigh suddenly made its way up and through my nose, finally admitting how much I missed his kisses.

I missed his warmth, his taste, and the way his lips moved against mine.

I could feel his restraint behind the kiss. He wasn't moving his lips anywhere close to how fast I wanted him to move. It was soft.

And apparently too short since he retracted before I could even tempt him to deepen the kiss.

"I won't do anymore." He spoke like he was trying to convince himself. "I'll wait."

His determination won a smile out of me. "I want to… make something clear." His eyes met mine. "I don't want to break-up if our feelings are still mutual for each other. That much makes sense. You did hurt me a lot because of the way you did things, but… I also admit my faults that led to the way things played out in the end. I was wrong too. I was pushing you into doing uncomfortable things. And it wasn't right."

"I did things that weren't right, either." He admitted.

"And me too, so what I'm trying to say is that its not just you who needs to fix things. But together, we can."

I watched as Natsume strangely turned away and covered his mouth, hiding his expression.

"Does… that sound… okay?" I tried leaning over to sneak a glimpse at what he was trying to hide.

"So, is that a yes?" His eyes glanced at me, but he continued covering his lips.

"I would say, yes." I moved to sit back, but Hyuuga took the chance to pull me towards him and trap me into his chest.

The hard thumping against my ear was much livelier than before.

"I do… want to add one condition." I spoke up trying to make the suggestion, "I really don't want anyone else getting involved anymore." That was one of the biggest challenges we encountered the first time around. "I think we can avoid a lot of trouble… that way."

He didn't agree right away. I took his silence as a sign of him getting his thoughts sorted out.

"Then, it's fine."

"You're okay with that?" I pulled away to get a stern response from him.

"If you want to be strangers in front of others, I can… work with it."

"We'll make it work, somehow." I felt relieved that he didn't dispute the arrangement. "We just have to—" My words were cut short just as the lock on the door began to make noise.

Hyuuga was quick to react as he stood up and moved to the other side of the room where the window was.

I sat there a little confused as Andou, along with Misaki, stormed the room with cheeky grins on their faces.

"So did you guys kiss and make up?" Andou teased as Hyuuga surprisingly ignored him and continued walking past him. "Hey what's-"

"Thanks a lot. It's clear she wants nothing to do with me, and you, yet you guys continue to fucking get in other people's business."

Misaki quickly moved over to help me up while Hyuuga unexpectedly shot a glare in my direction.

"Suit yourself." He left the room with Andou following him out.

"What—wait, Hyuuga-"

It shocked me how well Hyuuga was able to revert back to his cold unemotional ways. But I didn't have time to stall and blow the plan of keeping our relationship a secret.

"Mikan, are you okay? What did you tell him?"

"Uh- its just as he said." I stalled while picking up my bag, "What's done is done." My jaw gave a short quake as I turned to leave for the door.

"He made you cry didn't he?" Misaki was fast to make the deduction judging from my puffy eyes and smeared eyeliner. "At least tell me you put him in his place. You really needed the closure, Mikan. I thought this would help."

"I appreciate the help Misaki. I really do, but doing things like this?" She followed closely as we left the classroom and down the hallway. "We both didn't ask for this, so please stop. As a friend, I'm asking you."

Her persuing stopped as I made it down the set of stairs. It wasn't long before I began to hear the cheers and laughter of girls on the first floor.

It seemed like they had been running around the school looking for him this entire time.

A few girls rushed past me and down the set of stairs as they joined the larger group crowding around Hyuuga and Andou.

Hyuuga continued pushing their books away while Andou tried doing the same and guiding him through the pack.

Seeing how all these girls latched onto Hyuuga, smiled up at him, and sweetly called out his name… it seriously stirred such an ugly feeling in my stomach.

And even though Hyuuga and I agreed to get back together, we were to remain strangers in other people's eyes.

What I thought to be a good idea at the time, was quickly coming back to get me.

Chapter 20 END

Thanks to those that made it this far, and those that are returning. Now that I've gotten all caught up. It won't be long for my next update.

Please review, comment, follow, like, etc

Until next time.