Best friends to rivals
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Do you…really like Natsume?
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It was a beautiful Sunday morning. She decided to spend a little time under this shades of trees for a while to relax her senses and guess what? She's right. The cool wind feels so damn good. This is the perfect time to have some thinking.
Should she meditate? She shook her head in her self stupidity. She didn't even no how to meditate! But based on her grandpa, meditate is the best thing to do to calm her nerves. He told her that meditation is not as easy as one might think. It's about clearing the mind of all unwanted thoughts and thinking absolutely nothing.
She was about to close her eyes to meditating but stopped when a familiar figure caught her eyes.
Mikan smiled brightly when she saw Ruka walking towards her spot.
"Hey." Ruka called and sat behind her. He placed down his sleeping rabbit beside him before turning his body to face her fully. "What are you doing?"
Mikan scratched the back of her head and forced a smile. "Well, you see. I'm trying to do a meditation! Isn't that great?!"
Ruka nodded in return. "Good for you. U-uhm, am I disturbing you?"
Mikan shook her head immediately. "Of course not, Ruka-pyon! You can accompany me here dor a while."
Silence
"Christmas is in the air." He commented, trying to break the tension between them.
"Yeah. One week to go." Mikan agreed while playing with her hair. Speaking of her hair, she remembered Hotaru asked her once about it.
'You're almost sixteen yet you're still having that kind of hair style.' Hotaru muttered in a hushed voice while looking at her.
Mikan who was currently enjoying one of Hotaru's inventions looked at her in a weird way. 'why? What's wrong wit my hair?' she asked while pointing at it childishly.
'Aa. Forget it. It kinda suits you, though.' Hotaru shrugged and continued whatever-she's-doing.
'I don't quite understand you today, Hotaru.'
'Ssshh...'
Mikan smiled as she glanced at Ruka in the corner of her eyes and realized that he's also lost to his own thoughts as he looked at God-knows-where. Somehow, she got a chance to observe his features secretly.
Obviously, he's much taller than her, lightly tanned with his lustrous blonde hair, a fine forehead and a determined chin. His eyes were bright sky blue and widely set under well-marked eyebrows.
He's quite a catch. She thought plainly. What more could she want? Handsome, a great friend and honest person's now here, sitting beside her, waiting for her. Other people will envy her, that's for sure. Let's just say, Permy. She'll definitely eat her head without any other thought if she found this out.
She saw his head slowly turning to her direction and fortunately, she's able to tear her gaze away from him as he laid his eyes on her.
Mikan felt long, warm fingers touched her right small ones. She didn't stop him, though. She looked back at him quietly. Yes, she admits. She got a crush on him since the first time she saw him here at the Academy.
Flashback
"Answer me in five seconds." The dark-haired boy muttered in a dangerous voice as he positioned himself on top of her. He pulled the end of her hair down and asked, "If you don't answer, I'll burn this hair of yours. Who are you?!"
"Let me go!" Mikan struggled against him but Alas, he's much more powerful than her.
Suddenly, a sound of shattering glasses was heard. She looked up sharply and met the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen. She froze in her spot helplessly for a moment, observing the boys.
"You're late, Ruka." The jerk scowled.
"And just whose fault do you think that is, Natsume?" said 'Ruka' as he massaged the back of his nape to prevent it from hurting more.
'Ruka…' Mikan thought cautiously, still watching the boys intently. 'So, Ruka it is.'
End of Flashback
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Chapter Eleven: London Bridges
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Mikan shook her head. It's been always a crush. But somehow, she had a crush on Natsume as well. It started when Natsume mentioned her real name on the last night of their Festival at the very first time; once in a blue moon – they said. Not idiot, not boring girl, not polka-dotted girl, not stupid and that made her brush really, really hard.
…but Mikan.
Another Flashback!! Grrr…
"Don't bother coming any closer to the darkness you don't need to see." Natsume said his voice barely above a whisper. "In that head of yours that doesn't bother to think about anything."
Silent passed between them.
"I don't want…to show you." he continued afterwards.
Mikan narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Darkness? Do you mean…"
"That's enough! Just go away, boring girl!" he exclaimed, glaring at her.
"What?!" Mikan's eyes grew bigger. "Just when I thought you're becoming nice. You should go back to how you used to be."
Natsume grunted at this. "Hn."
Mikan glared back. "I don't get it! How would you feel if I call you names like "boring" or "polkadot' or "strawberry print"?
"…Mikan." Natsume whispered.
And this startled Mikan.
Again, silence passed between them. Fireworks burst out in the night sky, illuminating their surroundings.
"Natsume…did you just—"
"—Go." He interrupted. "Just go."
Mikan had no choice but to obey him.
End
She looked down at her folded feet, trying to shoo her sinister thoughts.
Ruka sighed. He whirled his head sideward to glance at the sleeping form of his rabbit. A thought crossed his mind for a moment.
Maybe it's even better to be an animal like them. You know, they're not having these emotional problems. All they did was to spend time with their masters and all that. He looked up at some tree and saw lovebirds singing a song with a beautiful melody.
He looked at his left side and saw two ants walking together towards the black hole, seems having a great time, eh?
He closed his eyes. I'm being paranoid already.
"Mikan?" Ruka called to the surprisingly silent girl who looked back at him just in time.. "Did you already make your decision?"
Mikan swallowed hard at this. In her thoughts, she should punch herself thousand times for being a real idiot. For her, she's still a child who doesn't really familiar about the matters of the heart. Did she even know the real meaning of love in the first place? She likes him, yes. But she likes Natsume too!
But she knew very well that Ruka's the only one who likes her back. The only question is: Is it enough? Should she take the risk?
"Ruka-pyon." Mikan started, lowering her long lashes. "I—"
She's not able to finish her statement since Ruka suddenly let go of her hand then sighed. He fell silent for a while. Looks like he's thinking of something. Come to think of it, if she and her best friend, Hotaru, were always together, they had never boring moment. She gives her a lot of jokes and in return she'll just be called 'stupid'.
How about Ruka and Natsume? Those two were silent types. For sure, whenever they're spending time with each other, they've never been as loud as them. For another time, her thoughts were interrupted by Ruka.
"It's fine." He smiled, shaking his head slowly to convince her that he's still willing to wait. "Take your time."
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Mikan was now inside Hotaru's laboratory. Her best friend was busy at that moment so she's not allowed to make some loud sounds. Her mind was still fully occupied by her unclear thoughts.
Hotaru glanced at the pig-tailed girl who seems lost into her own world. She smirked.
Back to Mikan, Okay, this'll be her options. If she'll take Ruka's offer, she'll be definitely happy having him by her side. But if she refuses,
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Looking in your eyes, I see a paradise
This world that I found is too good to be true
Standing here beside you
Want so much to give you this love in my heart
That I'm feeling for you.
Natsume's voice suddenly rang into her ears.
Boring Girl, you look uglier when you cry.
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Then it was replaced by Ruka's voice.
Mikan, are you alright?
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Then Natsume's voice.
You're so stupid…and innocent.
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Ruka's
Take care of yourself. Smile
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Leave me alone, idiot.
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You can talk to me anytime, Mikan.
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Stupid girl. Stop making fool out of yourself.
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Do you want me to accompany you?
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You're way too easy to see through.
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Natsume's really kind person. He won't ever abandon anyone he considered as his true and loyal friends. He always thinks about his friends' feelings, not his. It's okay for him to be the one who'll get hurt but not his friends.
It's time to let you know
I am so glad that I have you
Through all these years
I am so thankful.
Ruka's probably here by now. For sure, he's making his way to us. I bet he's looking for us this whole time. Even if we were in an even darker place, a place with no light. He'd come to find us. Even if I told him not to.
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"Having a hard time?" Hotaru said out of the blue as she fixed all her things neatly and put them inside a real big box which she thought sometimes as Superman's hiding spot.
Mikan blinked stupidly at her best friend's words. She sat up straight when Hotaru gave her a glass of orange juice and sat in front of her. "What do you mean?"
Hotaru shrugged. "I know you." then drank her own juice. "I remember the last time you had THAT expression when you just broke the glass of Jinno-sensei."
Her mouth opened in an 'O' as she remembered that incident then smiled, "It's good you remembered it—"she continued to smile and added, "—but it wasn't really intentional! It's an accident! It's an accident! Accident! Acci—"
"…hai, hai." Hotaru waved her hands to dismiss the subject. "Now, about your problem…"
Mikan stared at her hands as hard as she could. "Well, you see. When Ruka and I were together last time, he… he told me likes me. So…"
The purple-eyed girl nodded in understanding. "You told me you like him… why don't you give it a try? Let him make you happy?" But her best friend didn't look up, she sighed.
She slides her right hand down to her back pocket and reached for the pink colored reading glasses which she—or rather Mikan called: invention code number 0460: the mind-reader-ish pinky blast toot toot!!
Argh, Mikan's the one who suggested that… ugh, wonderful name – or so she says.
Back to the story; she wore it as careful as she could and began using it. Hmm… "So, you've been dreaming about Natsume, huh?" she said, smirking. "And oh. Not just an ordinary dream, I see."
Her smirk widened then added, "That's why you're hesitating. You like him?"
Mikan stared at her in horror. "You! you're so unfair! Using THAT device for reading my thoughts! How…how could you do this to me?!!"
Hotaru rolled her eyes upward. "Stop being dramatic, idiot."
Mikan cried like a waterfall and looked at the floor, sulking. "I didn't do it on purpose." She sniffed loudly then grabbed a tissue box just in time before she sneezed.
The pale-faced girl sighed in annoyance. "I just thought there's no way you'd tell me 'bout your real problem."
No response.
"…just be true to yourself and you'll be able to know what the best thing to do. Now, get out."
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"You-chan!" Mikan called out to the boy who just closed the door of Natsume's room. "I didn't quite saw you lately."
The nine-year old boy shrugged his shoulders. It's been six years and yet… he's still cutie as ever… she giggled.
"Maybe you're just busy eating the heads of the other fools like you."
Mikan's small smile disappeared in a blink of an eye. Thirty-eight nerves popped on her head at the same time. She said in gritted teeth, "You're… you're quite malicious today, am, I right You-chaaaaaaan?"
Youichi smirked. "Of course I'm not. I love seeing you like THAT."
The girl balled her hands, "You've been always hanging around Natsume, boy. You've been hanging around Natsume, haven't you?
He gave her a plain stare. "I'm going."
"Hai." Mikan nodded, waving her hand at him. "See you around, You-chan."
Youchi stopped walking then looked at her in the corner of his eyes. "Mood swing?" He whispered but enough for Mikan to hear it clearly. But she didn't react. "I'm going, hag."
Mikan smiled forcefully, turned to face Natsume's door and knocked.
Knock, knock…
She heard him moaned out loud; probably annoyed.
"Natsume, I'm going in." she declared as she grasp the cold doorknob and opened it just to see Natsume glaring at her like there's no tomorrow. "Now, now…what did I do wrong again?"
Natsume scowled at this, turning his head to look at the other side of the room. "What do you want now?"
Mikan shrugged and took her sit beside the bed. "Just decided to pay you a visit, is it wrong?" she asked.
"Yes." He answered dully. "Now, get out."
Her jaw dropped. Natsume's being more arrogant these days, she thought. Maybe, he had…period? No way. And besides, Natsume's a BOY.
She straightened herself up and told him her real reason. "U-ugh, Natsume…you know, uhmm…Ruka-pyon, he, he told me he likes me. Don't…get me wrong Natsume; I just wanna know, well, he's your best friend after all, so—"
"Why don't you accept him?" he said in a soft voice, cutting her off. This seemed startled Mikan that she's now looking back at him slightly wide-eyed.
Mikan, however, managed to reply, "I…like him as well, I admit. But, I'm not sure if it's enough. You know me; I've never been into a relationship, so I don't really know a single thing about this."
Natsume sighed. What should he say now? He looked down for a moment, and then looked at her again. "Ruka's a good person. He can be a good partner, you know."
She flinched at the word partner. She hates to say this but it's like he's pushing her away from him and it didn't felt quite good. She replied quietly, "I thought, we're partners?"
Natsume balled his fist. "Then he could be your new partner. It's not that bad."
Mikan nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But, whatever happens…remember this… If I'll ever accept Ruka-pyon…"
"…you'll be always my partner and no one can replace you, alright?"
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"Reo," one of his people called. He stood up and turns around. "What is it, Hojun?"
The man smiled darkly as he answered, "It'll be a matter of weeks or few months 'til we can attack the academy."
Reo returned the smile then touched his ear by his left hand, "Good."
This time, I'll definitely get you, Natsume. And that Mikan can help as well.
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A/N: Chapter eleven it is, there you go. Argh, about the weird title, can't think clearly and normally right now! My mind was full about those stupid triangles, angles, quadrilaterals, and other stuffs at school!! It even appears on my dream. How stupid can I be? Exams will be this week, so wish me luck, friends. It'll be a one hell of a test. One failing subject and I'm dead meet. It's our principal's fault! She would act like an angel in front of other officers in our school and says that we won't always listen to her so in return; all the teachers must give us 150 items each subject! It might really happen but hell, I'm still silently praying that they just said it to threaten us students.
And about the story, I'm still not sure yet. Maybe It'll be longer, or maybe two or three more chappies to go since I'm trying to start a new story, it'll be more okay if you'll tell me your suggestions too. So, all in all, God bless you.
Review please!
-pinkistaz