.

Strange Interludes
Chapter 8

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."
-Soren Kierkegaard

…

Postlude 1: Reality

If dreams were better than reality, I would love to sleep all the time.
But no, they were usually the worse.
I wish I could be able to choose what to remember and what to forget.
So I could let my past fly away with the wind.

.

.

At the time he opened his eyes, the white colors blinded his eyes. He tried to sit up, but the incredible pang of pain from his back stopped him from doing so.

He blinked his eyes repeatedly and once he finally adjusted to the light, he wandered his eyes around the room. From the looks of the room, he finally concluded that he was in hospital.

"What happened to me?" He mumbled and held his head, trying to remember what happened.

"Onii-chan?" a small, cracked voice called in the room. He looked where the voice came from and saw Aoi sitting in a sofa, crying.

"Onii-chan! Finally, you woke up!" Aoi cried and ran to hug his brother. Natsume winced in pain but tried his best to contain it. He hugged his sister and patted her head.

"I'm fine, Aoi, stop crying. You're making me sad" Natsume assured but Aoi only cried harder.

"I-I t-thought y-you'll never wake up! Don't scare me like that!" Aoi shouted and wiped her tears. "You've never been in a fight before onii-chan! Promise me you'll never do it again!" She continued, her voice was demanding yet worried. Natsume smiled and nodded his head.

He finally remembered why he was in a hospital. He was somewhat proud to his self that he was able to protect her.

'At least I kept my promise.'

Before Natsume could say anything, the door opened and revealed the person Natsume wanted to see the most.

Her head turned to the bed where Natsume was lying and her eyes widen to see him awake.

"Onii-chan, who is she? She kept on coming here every day while you're still asleep." Aoi asked in confusion. "I always tried to ask her who she was but she won't even say a word to me." She added, disappointed.

"You're awake?" Mikan, who was standing beside the door, asked with disbelief on her face.

"Looks like you don't want me to wake up?" He joked.

Mikan finally moved and approached him. She glared at him.

"If you ever do that again, I will never forgive you." She said with murderous tone.

"Ano, onii-chan?" Aoi butted in, due to her curiosity.

"She's the girl I've always told you."

"The girl you love onii-chan?" Aoi asked again, to clear all the things in her head.

"Yes." Natsume answered straightforwardly which made Mikan to blush. She poked Natsume on his forehead head and shot him a lethal glare.

"Stop embarrassing me!" She yelled and left the room, her face flushed deep red and her heart beating fast.

How could he say those words after what happened? He got beaten up to death because of her and yet, he still could say those word so sincerely.

"I will not allow them to hurt you in any means, Mikan." Those words rang inside her head which only made her more confused.

"Gaah! I hate this!" She yelled to herself and walked to who-knows-where.

…

"Onii-chan, the girl you love, she's so cute. No wonder you fell for her!" Aoi cheered, enjoying the view of the smiling face of his brother.

"So, do you like her for me, Aoi?" Natsume asked, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Of course! Because she's the girl you choose, I know she's the best girl for you."

"Thank you, Aoi." He replied and patted her head again.

"Um, onii-chan. When you're still sleeping here, mom called and she was really worried. She told me to tell you that call her as soon as you wake up." Aoi said, giving her phone to Natsume.

No questions asked, he immediately dialed his mother's number and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello, Mom?" Natsume said as soon as someone picked up the phone.

"Natsume, dear are you alright?" Natsume could almost imagine her mom's face at the moment. From her voice, she was really worried.

"Yes Mom, don't worry about me. I only have minor injuries."

"Now tell me what exactly happened?"

"Just a little fight. I'm perfectly alright." He assured, his voice sounding confident.

He heard his mother sigh.

"Tell me what happened! You don't involve yourself in any fight before! Don't tell me you'll become a delinquent child!"

"Mom, I won't be like that. So please don't worry about me." He said reassuringly, trying to sound convincing.

"That's great to know but don't expect me to stop asking questions once we see each other again. Anyway son, I have something important to tell you. Your father enrolled you and Aoi one of the school here in America. He was also dead worried about you so he thinks that it's the time that we should be together again. So when the next term starts we can be together as complete family! Isn't that great son?"

He froze for the moment. The end of the term is next week. A lot of things flowed in his mind. Like Mikan, how could he leave her?

"Natsume? Dear? Did you hear me?"

"Yes, Mom. I heard you. Aoi and me will transfer."

"Aww! Thank you, son! I will arrange your flight next week! Please pack all the things you need! I miss you, son! Take care from now on."

And that was how the call ended. Natsume remained silent, he didn't know what to do from the sudden turn of events.

"Onii-chan, are you sure about your decision. You don't want to leave the girl you love right?"

Natsume sighed and lied back to the bed. He stared at the white ceiling and released a deep sigh.

"I don't know, Aoi. I don't know."

…

Mikan went back to Natsume's room once she saw Aoi left the room. She didn't want to be embarrassed by him again in front of other people. She believed that Natsume was her responsibility. He was hurt because of her after all. She wanted to know how well he was doing right now.

"Oh, you came back." Was the words that welcomed her from the time she entered his room. She was somehow relieved that he talked instead of giving her a silent treatment.

She sat on the chair beside him and stared intently at him. Her stare was full of guilt and Natsume didn't fail to notice it.

"How are you feeling?" Mikan asked, diverting her stare from him to the window.

"I'm fine now. Did you get hurt that day? I easily passed out so I didn't remember if I was able to fully protect you." Natsume replied which surprised Mikan.

She hid her blush under her bangs and said, "You did a great job, partner."

"I'm glad. Don't get yourself into troubles again." He replied, sounding sincere as ever.

Mikan didn't answer and just stared at him once again. He also stared back to her, memorizing her face. He felt that heavy feeling in his heart once again as he remembered how he accepted his mother's invitation. He didn't want to leave her for she might do something reckless again.

Suddenly, a thought clicked in his mind.

"How's is it going between you and your parents? Don't tell me you're still running away from them?" He asked out of nowhere.

Mikan twitched her brows at his sudden question. "Why do you suddenly bring up that topic? I don't want to talk about it."

Natsume sighed, judging from how she answered him, he knew that everything was not yet settled between them.

"You know, you should really forgive them, no matter what happens, they're still your parents. They are the only ones you can count on when the worst days come." He lectured, but only receive a snort as reply.

"What's with you? Don't act like a bridge between me and my parents? Well, as you see, I'm not happy about that." Mikan snarled, feeling annoyed.

"Nothing will be fixed if you keep on running away from the reality. At least learn to face it." Natsume added, hoping that Mikan would understand. He looked at her and felt a little happy when he saw her thinking.

"What will you do if I said that I don't care about that?" Mikan replied with a challenging look.

"You don't have to act tough now. Do you even think what will you do when you lost them forever?"

Those words registered in Mikan's mind. She froze, all of the possibilities ran through her head. She never thought of losing them. She never…

Her heart felt heavy while thinking about it. Unconsciously, tears slipped out of her eyes.

Natsume looked at her, feeling relieved that she understood what he meant. Even though his body still hurt, he took all his strength to wipe her tears away, hug her, and comfort her.

"See, that's what I mean. Go back to them before that ever happen." He whispered.

"I really hate you for making me messed up like this." Mikan mumbled and hugged him back.

'At least, you still have your family to protect you when I'm not around.'

…

I will not run away anymore…

I really hate him for making me realize all of the time that I wasted.

She was walking silently at the long pathway of the Sakura residence. Holding a small baggage on her right hand, she collected all the confidence she had and stopped at the large oak door of the mansion. Before she could even knock, the door opened and revealed the man she thought she hated for the last two years.

"Mikan…" Tsubasa mumbled, happy to see his little sister again. It had been already a week since she ran away from home and he was really worried sick about her.

"What's with the stupid look?" Mikan started with annoyed tone and disgusted face. But that look changed to a smiling one and continued, "…nii-chan."

Tsubasa's eyes widen. After the two years of her rude treatment to him, he was so surprised that she called him 'nii-chan' again.

"Mikan, you…"

"Here." She gave him her baggage before he could say something embarrassing.

"Mikan!" Tsubasa dropped the baggage on the floor and hugged his little sister tightly. "I'm so happy that you've return like this!"

She didn't restrain from crying anymore. The warmth she was feeling now was something she really missed for a long time.

"I'm sorry, Tsubasa-nii." She mumbled between sobs. She rested her head on his chest, letting all the feelings she had been suppressing for two long years.

"Mikan, is that you?" The voice of her mother echoed in her ears. In the past, she really hated hearing it, but now, it was like music to her ears.

Tsubasa let go of Mikan and smiled at her. "Mom and Dad were really worried at you."

Mikan saw her mother crying with his father beside her.

"Mom, Dad… Sorry for running away… and for what I've done in the last two years." Mikan said sincerely and bowed her head.

Yuka approached Mikan and hugged her tightly. "I've already forgiven you, no matter what happens, you're still my beautiful daughter."

Izumi, on the other hand, patted Mikan's head and said, "I'm happy you're back to us, Mikan. And I'm really sorry for hurting you."

Yuka and Izumi smiled at each other. They've always wishing for this day to come, for their family to be complete again.

I missed this. I really do. I really need to thank that stupid partner of mine for opening my eyes in this matter. I didn't know if I'd ever experience this if he hadn't come to my life. Maybe I was still a prisoner of my hatred if it wasn't because of him.

Thank you for changing my life, you're really the greatest partner I could ever think of.