Chapter 9! I'm a slave?
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"Should I really follow you all the time, Natsume?" Mikan asked helplessly. It's been a week since that so-called 'date' happened, when she became the one and only slave of the great Natsume.
Being the slave of her master, she needs to be with him all the time, that's what he says. You know, whenever he feels lazy, she was the one who would do the things for him. There's even a time when he was the cleaner of the room and since he thinks it's too troublesome, she was the one who cleans the whole room.
"I'll help you if you want." Nonoko asked last time. But she declined. She should show him that she's not giving up. That she'll never, ever give up. Giving up is the last thing she would do. Gah, to hell with him.
Natsume smirked arrogantly, pissing her more. "Yeah. Why? Do you wanna give up already?" They were currently walking towards Natsume's room.
Mikan glared at him for a moment then heaved a sigh. "Of course not! I just wanted to make sure. Didn't I tell you before that giving up don't exist in my vocabulary?" she exclaimed, giving him a peace sign. Didn't he know that her grandpa taught her to fight all the monsters that would come to her in order to have a wonderful life?
And Natsume's one of those monsters.
Natsume shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, idiot."
"Don't call me that!" she fumed. Will this boy ever get tired of annoying the hell out of her? It's like whenever he sees her angry or pissed, it actually made him happier.
Flashback
"Natsume, you jerk!" Mikan screamed on the top of her lungs. She threw her favorite book a.k.a. 'Princess Diaries part I' straightly to his face but as expected, he was able to dodge eat effortlessly.
"What's your problem?" Natsume asked innocently.
Mikan fumed at this. "Stop acting so innocent! You shouldn't think that being your slave is a very good thing!"
Natsume then cleared his throat and smirked. "I've an idea. Why don't we have another bet?"
"I don't wanna—"
"I bet that you'll give up being my slave in a week or two."
Mikan stopped on her tracks and stared back at the raven-haired boy in front of her then flashed him a satisfying smile which he didn't return, of course.. "Fine."
Natsume raised a brow but then nod.
She watched the retreating form of his master and sighed.
End of flashback
As soon as they reached his room, Natsume signaled her to sit down for a moment which she obeyed discreetly.
She observed the large and elegant room in silence. She wondered, would she be able to have this kind of room in the future? You know, like rich men who had this one of a kind would be nice to live in. But then, girls like her who wasn't really important, who can do nothing but cause problems, one who laughs all the time which made some people to be irritated by her, will never have a special treatment.
She then remembered when Narumi-sensei told her that Natsume's a rich kid. But when that day came, his image was ruined, and forced to study in this school which he calls jail or hell all the time.
At this, she pitied the boy. Come to think of it, why those people would think that he would burn their very own house? He's very young that time, yet, he experienced to be treated like a criminal.
But her? Her grand father loved her with all his heart. Though she has no any idea who and where her parents were, still, she has her precious grand father to take care of her and protect her anytime.
"Where's my parents now?" little Mikan once asked as she looked at the blackness of the sky and those little shiny stars in different colors with his grandpa.
"They were there." He answered quietly and pointed the shining stars.
Her eyes brightened up. "But they were so many!"
"Hai. Why don't you take a closer look, Mikan-chan? The two biggest and shiniest stars are your parents. They were watching your every move in every second, they might be disappointed if you do something silly, remember that. So be careful of what you are doing." Her grandpa explained in a hushed tone while patting her small head.
"Really? It means I should be good all the time so I won't make them mad at me. Am I right, grandpa?" Little Mikan asked in a sweet voice as she looked at the wide sky cheerfully.
"Hai, Mikan-chan."
"Then—"
"–polka, stop daydreaming." Natsume snapped the hell out of her, making her shriek in surprise.
"You…sick! I'm not day dreaming!" Mikan roared, and was astounded at the power of her lungs. Their conversation wouldn't end if they would just continue insulting each other, which they both know very well.
Natsume ignored her angry expression and exclaimed in a low voice, "Go back to your room and sleep." He commanded, like a real master or something.
Mikan's brows rose up in confusion. "I thought you'll buy your new manga?"
Natsume paused then shrugged, "We'll postpone it for now, I guess." Before he could open his mouth to say his next statement, Mikan interrupted him.
"You'll be doing something, am I right?"
Natsume looked at her blankly. "Aa." It's quite obvious now that he's not planning to let her know about it.
"And may I ask what is that something?"
Natsume eyed her carefully before sitting across to her seat, "Why the sudden interest?"
Mikan could only blink in response.
Natsume took a deep breathe first before saying, "Alright. Persona just came few moments ago and told me that I will be having an important mission."
She stared back at the raven haired boy in front of her and asked in a voice of full confusion. "Is that so? Is it a crime to tell me what that is mission all about?"
"I should not tell you." he answered firmly, his eyes not meeting hers.
Her mouth open in an "O" when she realized that she shouldn't been asking about this all along. He's always doing dangerous missions since she came here. So, what's new?
Silence passed between them, but being a cheerful girl she was, she found herself smiling slightly at him instead. "Good luck then, Natsume."
"Aa." He answered briefly and gave her a curt nod. "I will."
'You'll be okay, right Natsume?'
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The shattering and unnerving scream of the alarm clock woke Mikan at 6 o'clock. She lay quiet, listening to the song of the birds outside her window. At this rate, she can even hear the thud of feet in the corridors. Door banged. Everyone must really have taken the words of Jinno-sensei pretty seriously.
"If anyone ever got late again, I'll make sure you'll regret it." Jinno announced confidently, glaring at each student in class.
Mikan heaved a sigh. The early morning was sharp and cold. Christmas is coming. And so is New Year which means…her birthday is coming too. She shook her head. So what?
Their breakfast was not until seven. Perhaps she had better get up NOW.
She got out of bed gingerly, for the floor was cold, closed her windows. Her fingers shook with excitement as she dressed. She was very wide awake now. She's been like this since forever, anyway.
A soft knock at the door startled her.
"Come in!" she called.
The door swung open and Hotaru and Ruka stood before her with a weird expression on their faces.
"Mikan," Hotaru murmured and, stepping forward held her hands for a moment in silence. "Bad news."
Mikan blinked twice as she stared at her best friend. She motioned her to continue, which Hotaru did. "Natsume was rushed into hospital this morning."
Before Mikan could open her mouth, the three friends turned, to see, standing close behind the door, Narumi, wearing a blank expression. This seemed unusual.
"How was Natsume, Narumi-sensei?" Ruka asked suddenly.
Narumi took a deep sigh. "Don't worry, Ruka. He's fine now. No one knows what happened to him back there. He was found unconscious at the gates this morning."
Mikan scrambled to her feet in panic. She should go and check on him!
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Natsume awoke; he clutched his fist because there was a stabbing pain all over his body then he struggled with the bedclothes. Darkness smothered him and his head throbbed. He tried to sit up, but the pain tore at him and he sank down gasping. They probably turned out the lights inside his room. He can tell that it's morning already. If only he could reach the lamp on his table…he tried again and felt the cool bead on the chain touching the back of his hand–eluding him. He caught it at last and gave a feeble tug.
Yellow light flooded the room. Again, he had a nightmare. But the pain still darted and stabbed him inside – in both sides, and the middle. Natsume clenched his teeth and stared at the ceiling.
Think carefully. He'll be wasting his time hanging around here. Get out of bed, open the door. Go to his room.
Natsume heard his own voice saying these words over and over and over and over. In just a minute he would get up—in just one more minute…
The door opened suddenly and a voice said:
"For heaven's sake, Natsume! What's the matter? Are you alright—"
It was Mikan, of course. She bent over the bed and took one look at his surprisingly flushed cheeks and too bright eyes.
"Where does it hurt you?"
"Everywhere." He answered in a low voice.
"Natsume." Ruka's voice was heard and approached his best friend. "Are you all right?"
"Aa."
"What happened back there? To your mission?" he asked with a concerned look. Hotaru and Narumi stayed at the back, watching the three students silently.
Natsume was dimly aware of the confusion of footsteps and voices, of Mikan's fingers on his wrist and the cool bitterness of a thermometer placed under his arm. The pain went on, stabbing and burning. But he decided not to tell them.
Mikan and Ruka's voice asking questions.
Ruka's kind blue eyes—his voice again, speaking to Natsume, compelling.
He decided to answer their main question to make them stop worrying about him. He chose the best answer he can think of instead. "I…don't remember anything about the mission."
"Maybe he wants to rest." Narumi concluded. He approached the students and patted Mikan's head just like a real father.
"What time is it?" Natsume demanded, and remembered that it was the first thing he had ever said to Narumi.
"It's precisely six-thirty in the morning."
"Get well soon." Hotaru said, her voice was light, casual, an everyday sort of voice, and the lavender of her eyes was almost black. Maybe it's the cause of sleeping up late while doing her inventions.
"I'll come over as soon as the classes have ended." Mikan exclaimed, still worried to her so-called master. "I told you to take care but you didn't."
Natsume felt an urge to smirk at the girl who was about to cry. "I'm still alive, polka."
Ruka tried to ignore the strange feeling he felt whenever these two were like this. 'Come on. Natsume's ill. That's why she's so worried.' He thought cautiously.
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1 day later.
The day threatened storm from the start. When Mikan opened her eyes the sky was leaden, and that jerked her awake. It's a Saturday morning. She sat up in bed and sighed. Natsume's image flashed into her head.
He never got better. He never mentioned a thing happened to his mission. That's what makes her more worried.
Mikan went on sighing as she dressed. Afterwards, it seemed incredible to her that she should have felt no warning in the air, which she should have stood at her bedroom window watching the black clouds and seen no threat in today.
She tidied her bedroom, putting all clothes and shoes away then stormed out of the room and went directly to Natsume.
As she grasped the cold and small doorknob, she realized that Natsume must have locked it himself for the third time. It's not new to her, actually. He told her sometime that he doesn't want any person to visit him since they would just bother him.
Mikan smiled childishly. She had key and let herself in. She saw him reading his manga peacefully while sitting. She can obviously tell that he's bored to death. As soon as he noticed her walking in, he demanded. "How did you—"
Mikan silenced him by showing him the key. "Do you see this?" she asked in a sweet voice.
Natsume glared at the girl but said nothing.
"I brought you some foods." Mikan muttered, giving him fresh apples.
Natsume growled but took the apples.
She smiled at him then stood up and approached the windows. "Are you bored?"
"Oh, you noticed?" he exclaimed sardonically.
"I know that you're trying to hide your pain, Natsume." Mikan said seriously.
"How do you know?"
"I've been studying here for a couple of years. And based on my observations, you hate it when people worry about you. You think it's annoying. And it should be you who worry about us. Got my point?"
"What are you trying to say?" he asked in a serious manner as well.
Mikan turned around to face him fully and met his eyes. "Well, I'm trying to say that I'm a person whom you can trust."
Natsume smirked. "I know." He said monotonously. "Listen to this and I'm not going to repeat it ever again."
Mikan nodded and sat beside his bed, preparing herself to listen at her 'master.'
"I know I could trust you." he started as he stared at his sides. "That's why I'm not shooing you away even though you're an idiot. You're…one of my friends here so…I guess you're important a bit."
Mikan's jaw dropped. Is this really Natsume? She never thought that Natsume can talk like this. "Really? I'm so glad to hear that! But there's one question I really want to ask."
"What?"
"Why do you love to piss me off and never call me 'Mikan'?" she asked, hoping he would give her his good reason.
"I believe that's none of your concern, polka." He answered dully.
"Hmmp! Stop calling me that." she warned angrily. "You know, ever since the day you called me that, I told myself that I'll never be a good wife anymore!"
Natsume frowned at this. "Why is that?"
"Nothing." she said as she smiled.
"Idiot."
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The blue-eyed boy closed the door behind him slowly. He heard their conversation a while ago. And he can't stop himself for being jealous.
An idea struck him.
Right.
He'll do anything to find out if Mikan can ever like him more than a friend.
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Mikan was about to open the door of the faculty room when he heard the angry voice of Jinno-sensei.
"What? Are you sure about this?"
Out of curiosity, she decided to eavesdrop for a minute.
"Hai." Narumi's voice was heard. "We shouldn't tell that to his friends."
"Of course we shouldn't!" Jinno's voice thundered. "But we need to protect him from Reo! Or else, he'd be captured by them!"
Mikan gasped at this. Meaning, it was Reo who beaten Natsume up. She balled her fist.
"And I also found out that he was after Mikan as well." Narumi informed. "He thinks that Mikan can be a big help for them. We should protect the two of them, Jinno-sensei."
Jinno took a deep sigh. "But how?"
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A/N: Thanks for the ones who keeps on reading this fic! As you can notice,sorry for making Natsume OOC here. But hey! At least he was able to say that Mikan was also important to him, ne? Sorry for the late update, guys! My apologies.
But I'll try to update faster next time since my computer was not yet fine.
Please review!