sory it took so long! wah! now i am almost finito! i think round threee more cchappies then ladies and gents, we have a complete story! okok...i prmise to try and upload by around the end of this week...TRYY >...hehe...nothing to rite so bb! i feel like Bisco Hatori...

Chapter 16: As Far As They Know

Asato's P.O.V

She lay there on the hospital bed. In the same position she was in for the past week. Her face, far too pale, was scarred with emotions and what horrors she's seen. I traced a scar on her cheek, barely noticeable from years of healing, but never gone completely. My emerald eyes perked up when I saw Mikan looking at me with sad eyes.

"I was hallucinating, wasn't I?" she asked quietly. "Before I passed out. When I thought I saw…him."

I heard how much it hurt for her to even say his name. Her emotions, sadness, grief, rage, melancholy, guilt, regret, all merged into a vortex of pain.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "You were. Do you want me to call him? He lives just around the block."

I saw a slight spark in her eyes. But it dulled. Still, she smiled. Contented and satisfied. Those were the emotions that replaced the pain. She laid a hand on mine. "No, Hisoka," she said. "Leave it. I am…tired of this life. I'm ready to leave this hectic world." My mind whirled with what she had in mind. "Don't worry. I don't want to die. I just want rest. Rest and peace. As soon as I regain my strength, I am leaving to find that place where I belong."

I nodded at her decision. I couldn't deny her the request. She deserved it. And I daresay that I always wanted that future for her. She was my little sister and loved her from the bottom of my heart. If she wanted to disappear…so be it. I would help her. "I will go with you."

She shook her head. "No," she said. I opened my mouth to protest but she shushed me. "No. I want you to stay here. I want you to stay here…to protect them here. Promise you will?"

"Where will you go?"

"I honestly don't know…" she whispered. "But not too far. Far enough to make sure that they don't get caught up in this mess. But near enough for me to come when trouble finds them."

"Mikan…"

"As far as they, the Academy, our friends and even you, Asato, know, Mikan Sakura is gone and dead."

"He won't like this. Natsume I mean."

"He'll just have to live with it," she answered, so cold.

"You're being selfish."

"I know. I've always been like that. You've just never seen how much."

--,--,--,--,--,--,

Mikan's P.O.V.

My hand tightened on the strap of my sling bag. The concierge had just announced the boarding of my plane to Singapore. It'd be far. But close enough. My heart was pumping fast and I breathed hard. In front of me, Asato stood in front of my, his eyes sparkling with remorse.

"Be good, okay, Sakura?"

"Promise," I said. "But remember. My name's now Michelle Sabher, your Japanese cousin living in Singapore."

"Yes, yes," he said at my chiding. "I know."

"Last call for flight 5673."

"That's mine."

"Take care, Mikan."

"Thanks, Asato." I hugged him one last time and turned. I handed my boarding pass to the attendant there and looked back one last time. In my hand, I held the ring that Natsume had given to me in this very airport, and my heart slowed down. Before the attendant returned my pass, I returned to Asato. I dropped the ring in his palm. "Give this back to him," I said. "Tell him…I told you before I died that…I'll marry him when I next see him. Until then…keep this."

"But…"

"Goodbye, Asato."

I turned on my heel and dashed through the boarding gate.

--,--,--,--,--,--,

Natsume's P.O.V

I leaped into the window of the ID house in the Academy. It was our last hope of finding Mikan and Imai and I weren't going to let it slip. She was in the monitor room, watching for guards or teachers. I went to my assigned job.

I began tapping the keys on the keyboard, breaking firewalls, cracking passwords and banging down shields to enter the ID files.

--,--,--,--,

Author's P.O.V.

He typed in Mikan's name. He waited for it to be processed. Then, it popped up. What he saw…sent him spiraling into an unknown world. A world he didn't know anymore. He backed away from the screen and jumped out of the window he came from.

He whispered his leaving to Imai and disappeared into the night.

What he saw…

Mikan Sakura

Current Age: 24

Height: 5'6'

Weight: 42 kg

Hair color: Hazel

Eye Color: Brown

Current Location Unknown

But what stabbed him, was…

Current State: Deceased

--,--,--,--,--,--,--,

Author's P.O.V.

The intoxicating smell of alcohol filled the apartment as Natsume Hyuuga took another swig at, the longest and largest, at the decanter of wine that was held laxly in his hands.

In his I-want-to-be-drunk-and-alone mind, the same words repeated itself over and over again. With every repeat, he was brought closer and closer to insanity and suicidal darkness. When he tilted t he decanter for another swig and felt no drop of the fiery tonic, he thrust the glass into the flames of the fireplace. The fire spat and hissed at the new substance it was charged to burn.

His crimson eyes leaked out big, fat droplets of salty water. Tears. How he hated them, how he detested them, how he despised the very word. He swiped at a single crystalline teardrop, oblivious to the many others that had cascaded down his handsome face, now marred with sorrow. The fire hissed again. He looked up and saw that the flames were playing at delusions. Her face was formed in the crackling hot wisps. Her lips formed his name but no sound came out. Then, the red wisps claimed her face as their own, allowing him no further view.

He turned away, and there she was again, standing in the mirror where he should have been reflected. His and her arms moved simultaneously to touch each other but the instant his hand felt the cool glassy surface, the illusion shattered like glass. He screamed into the night, not caring who heard his cried of desperation and melancholy. He had had enough. He wanted nothing more. What he wanted, no one else could give anymore. No…Ruka wouldn't stop him this time…no one would…

--,--,--,--,--,--,

The deranged flame caster stumbled like a drunken man into the kitchen, his hands clamoring for his own Holy Grail that would grant his wish of eternal rest, never to be awakened ever again…he found it. Sharp and lethal, the knife that could make all his wishes come true. It was like a woman, tantalizing and kind, willing to go to any lengths to give a man pleasure. In his case, death.

He raised the knife to his gut and prepared for the pain. Before he could plunge it into his stomach, a torrent of water knocked him out of his senses and made his drop the knife. The water soaked him. Whoever did that would have hell to pay. Whoever did that…

…was Hisoka Asato. In his hands was the guilty empty bucket. He had a glare, menacing and accusing placed callously on his face, as thought enraged for some reason Natsume knew naught of. He threw down the bucket and grabbed Natsume by the collar, forcing him onto the ground, his arms tied behind his back, wrestling him to relent. "What the fuckin' hell do think you're doing, you friggin' idiot?!" he roared. He tightened his hold on him. "Trying to run from all yer problems aren't ya?"

"She would want to see me now," was his drunken reply.

"No!" he roared again. "She doesn't want that. She doesn't want to have to come to your funeral. If she ever finds you like this ever again, I swear I won't hesitate to kill you myself, Hyuuga." He sighed heavily and released the flame caster. "And the only reason I'm bothering to return this to you, is because she loved you. Before she, uh, left, she said she would marry you when she next sees you." He pulled out something and put it in front of the lying man.

Then, he was gone.

Natsume raised his head and nearly died when he saw what it was. The silver glinted, a promise never broken but merely prolonged. "Mikan…" he whispered.

"MIKANN!!!!!"

A poor man's screams disappeared into the night as his true love suffered alone in a whole new world. They were desperately alone…

Will they truly survive?