Chapter 32
Enjoy hohoho
The Sakuras reminded Natsume of wizards. Eccentric, dramatic, full of secrets and magic spells, but fun and a bit removed from lesser mortals. It wasn't that they didn't make mistakes or were arrogant – were kind, funny, generous and intelligent. And, despite their oddities as parents, they love their son and daughter. Natsume saw that when they finally arrived in Tokyo five days after their son was shot in Central Town park, one day after their daughter almost got herself killed in Northern Woods.
He hadn't flown up specifically for the occasion. He'd simply realized he couldn't hang around in Northern Woods and had decided to return to Tokyo, his apartment, his work, his life.
Both Yuka and Izumi Sakura had thanked him profoundly for everything he'd done, but all he could think of was the night he'd made love to their daughter in their kitchen.
He didn't want to be thanked for anything.
He thought of his own family – Persona and his egg lady and his hole-digging dog, his sister and her senator husband. They were a different kind of family. Direct, argumentative, loud. Not much going on beneath the surface, not many secrets, except, these days, for the occasional deranged killer. It wasn't subterranean stuff that got them into trouble – it was their keen sense of independence, their reluctance to rely on anyone but themselves.
Aoi had learned better.
Natsume wondered if he ever would.
He walked down the hospital corridor with Ruka, markedly improved but still with a long way to go. The Sakuras were off to some health-food store to stock up on vitamins and herbs to aid in his recovery. He was getting out of the hospital in a day or two. In another few days, he could fly down to Northern Woods. "Couldn't you have told them Mikan-chan's snakebite wasn't nonvenomous? Then they'd have to fly down there to see her."
"She's cooking casseroles and putting them in the freezer."
"She's alone."
"Not that alone. She's got the Secret Service camped out in the back yard."
Prime minister Anju was coming to Northern Woods.
And so were the Sakuras, just not soon enough to suit their only son. Mikan had urged them to stay with her brother at least until he was out of the hospital and give her a chance to get the house in order.
Wizards.
"I should have stayed on Reo Mouri," Ruka said. "I should have pushed harder. And Tsubasa Ando. Shiki Masachika. They were under my nose."
"We'll get Masachika. It's just a matter of time."
"Before Ando does?"
"I hope so. Ando's all right. I'd hate to see him go down for taking out that murderous bastard." Natsume tried to smile. "Something about Imai seemed to get to him. Maybe he's not so far gone in wanting revenge that he can't make it back."
"I knew my parents had hired him. I should have –"
"It worked out, Ruka. We all got out of this thing alive."
"No thanks to me."
"Don't do it to yourself. I was within yards of your sister when that sick bastard grabbed her. I was within inches when he threw the snake at her." Natsume could feel his pulse begin to race and knew he had to stop or he'd be no good to Ruka, never mind himself.
"Your damn tulips might have saved my life. Mouri would have had a better shot if we'd stayed on Central Town south."
"That's something, anyway. I don't know when I'll be back on the job." Ruka shuffled another few steps. "Or if."
"Just concentrate on getting well."
He glanced at Natsume with his azure eyes that were like the sky. "You?"
"It's time I went home."
Narumi Anju arrived in the Northern Woods two days after Ruka made it home himself.
Except for the presence of the Secret Service, nothing had changed.
Visibly, at least. As he walked down to the dock and stared into the coppery water, Narumi could feel the evil that had lurked here. He could taste the bitterness of how close he'd come to losing both Mikan and Ruka.
He didn't even remember Shiki Masachika from Tokyo University.
Mikan joined him on the dock. He smiled at her, saw that the snakebite had almost healed. "You always get in trouble when you're between projects. Himemiya and Shizune have been one huge, overarching project for you for a long time, but you broke it up into smaller projects – and every time you finished one, you'd get yourself into some sort of mess before you got started on the next one."
"This was a big mess."
"Natsume Hyuuga accepted a promotion to Alice Secret Service headquarters in Osaka. He starts in a couple of weeks.
He thought she squirmed, but she managed a quick smile. "Now, why do you think that'd interest me?"
He didn't hesitate. "Because you're in love with him."
"I barely know him."
"Sometimes you fall in love with someone first. Then you get to know them. It happened that way with Luna and me."
"She's a wonderful woman, Narumi."
Luna hadn't come to Northern Woods with him. This was his visit, his day of reckoning. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me. I think -" He slipped an arm over Mikan's slender shoulders. "You and the water snakes are a big story around here. All over the country. I'm going to set the record straight on what really happened that day."
"Narumi –"
"I should never have let it stand that I was the hero – that I'd been bit by a poisonous snake saving your life." He squeezed her, holding her close. "I was bit by a poisonous snake. But you're the one who saved a life that day. Mine."
"You don't know what you'd have done."
"I wouldn't have gotten medical attention in time. That I know." He glanced at her. "You told our Deputy Hyuuga?"
She nodded.
"That's good. That's very good, Mikan. You trust him."
"I trust a lot of people."
"But you don't let them in, do you? You and Ruka are so accustomed to being on your own, emotionally, physically. But you let Natsume Hyuuga in." He didn't wait for her to protest and argue and analyze, go Sakura and Ph.D. on him. "They tell me he's solid. I wouldn't want anything else for you. I remember that watery-eyes academic you brought home a few years ago – you rolled over him in two seconds flat. You need a man with backbone."
"Narumi! That was a perfectly nice man."
"I'm sure he was."
"Listen to those stereotypes. Never mind who saved whom from the water moccasin all those years, the media would skewer you for something like 'watery-eyes academic.'"
He grinned at her. "I'm not making generalizations about every academic. I'm talking about you and this – what is her?"
"A well respected medieval scholar."
"Just what you thought you were looking for hmm? I don't think so. Your parents are worried Ruka's the throwback to Sakuras of old. He probably is, but you – you are, too Mikan, with a lot of Oba-san throw in. You're full of adventure, curiosity, drive. You hate being bored. Your father's the same, but he managed to be a Sakura in a way that didn't upset Oji-san."
He heard laughter drifting from the front porch. Izumi, Yuka, Ruka. For a heartbeat, he thought her could hear Oji-san, Oba-san and Himemiya and Shizune.
Mikan's eyes misted. "Dad's not as energetic as he used to be. You can see him starting to fail."
"Your mother wasn't tempted, Mikan-chan," Narumi said softly, knowing what was on Mikan's mind. "Not even for a second. I was here when she and your father met. I've been here all the years since. Shiki Masachika was never a threat to what they have."
She nodded. "I know. Oh, Narumi. Himemiya and Shizune would be so proud of you. They never wanted you to leave Northern Woods, but the Palace…" She smiled. "They'd have liked that. They'd have taken the train to Yokohama and gone to all inaugural balls."
He laughed. "Ah, yes, they would have." And he could see them, two strong, loving, impossible women who'd raised him. "I never believed their story about Hunk-Finn-type boy living on the river, did you?"
"I could never corroborate it. I wasn't sure I never believed it."
"He was in the cave that day?"
"I think so. The snake might have left the cave because of him."
"Mikan…" He stared back toward the house, the laughter of friends he'd taken for granted for far too long. "I'm flying back to Tokyo tonight."
"After supper. I'm thawing a prune cake."
Oba-chan's prune cake. He adored these people. "I love you, Mikan. You truly are the daughter Luna and I never had. I'm convening a press conference tomorrow morning. Wherever you want to be is fine with me. I just wanted to warn you that the proverbial shit is about to hit the fan. The media's going to talk to you even more than they do now about our friendship."
"I think –" She walked next to him and hooked her arm into his. "If I get a move on it, I'll bet I could be in Hokkaido tomorrow morning."
"Hokkaido, eh?" He grinned at her, loving her as much, he thought, as he could love any daughter he'd had. "Take your woolens. It's still winter up there. Although from what I hear about you and Deputy Hyuuga," he added devilishly, "you won't need any woolens to keep you warm."
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Here's a Sneak Peek:
Persona cleared his throat, pulling her out of her thoughts. "You don't want to climb the ridge alone, especially not this time of year. Natsume's over at the house. He's been hiking every day since he got here. He's in good shape."
"They say he's good at tracking people. One of the best." Mikan handed over her signed receipt and gathered up two big bags of gear. They barely cleared her chin. She smiled at Natsume's uncle, the man who'd raised two orphans on his own. He was younger than her own mother. "Let him track me if he wants to."
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