Alright, dedications --- haven't done that in a while! This chapter is dedicated to SWEETSWIRLYPOP for being so incredible by actually reading thirteen chapters in one go! Also, I'd like to welcome and thank "new" readers --- drop a review, please? Even if you're reading this story in 2011, please leave a review if you've enjoyed it so far (:

Well, this chapter was fun to write, a kind of "break" from the dark stuff. I was reading Romeo and Juliet (Literature 2007) before I began writing this chapter so all the kissing scenes kinda left an imprint in my head... Hehe. Well, after the silly canoodling (NxM fluff, maybe?) in this chapter, Aoshi-san steps in once more and marks the beginning of the end...

On a lighter note, there's a special guest appearance of the famous broom closet from SnowMirage's G For Girlfriend! Hope you don't mind? (:

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Two Quarters And A Heart Down
14: Saviour
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Nine days.

It had been exactly nine days since I set foot on Academy grounds again --- meaning it was Wednesday already, one week after Urumi's betrayal.

As soon as I had returned to what I had hoped to be a "normal" life at the Academy, I was thrust into a dark world of betrayal and dubious relationships. Now that things had more or less cooled down, life felt terribly bored and sluggish for me.

I found it weird to be sitting still and simply studying for nearly eight hours a day compared to my physically active lifestyle on The Black Hole. There were days when I found myself staring out of the window during classes (except Jin-Jin's, no need to guess why) and gazing longingly at the lush greenery of the Northern Forest. Oh, what I would give to go for a nice, long run to stretch my legs…

But damn, I didn't mean to get exercise this way!

My breath came out in short puffs as I willed my tired boot-clad legs to run faster and further away from the mob that was after me.

Damn Natsume.

Damn his fangirls, too.

I couldn't care less where the hell my feet were taking me --- all I wanted to do was to get as far away as possible from the crazy, Hyuuga-infatuated, hormonally-driven Natsume fangirls and their (threatening) makeshift weapons, which consisted of filthy mops and brooms, mallets and even knives nicked from the Home Economics kitchens. Sadly, their cries of "How dare you steal Natsume-kun!" and "Sakura you slut!" (I am proud to say that not once have I slept with him --- I'm not that type of girl! But like hell they'd believe me) weren't getting any fainter. If ever, they were only getting louder!

To my utter horror, as I haphazardly jumped down a whole flight of stairs, the door of an innocent-looking broom closet (barely noticeable next to the staircase) opened and an arm reached out for me.

Shit, I thought, breaking into cold sweat as the arm groped my uniform collar, I've been ambushed. I'm going to die now.

The mysterious, disembodied hand brusquely pulled me inside and I fell onto the floor, my butt making contact with the cold, hard, stony floor. Light exited as the small door abruptly closed with a click (that dreadful feeling of ominous finality), disabling me from seeing the owner of the hand that "saved" me from the rabid Natsume Hyuuga fangirls (so I could be this person's personal punching bag?).

I squinted in the dark to try and make out whom my new torturer was. In the mingling shadows of the supply closet, I watched in terror as my "saviour" loomed forebodingly over me like a hulk of sorts.

I threw my arms up in defence as I muttered silent goodbyes to my darling friends. Bye, Dad. Bye, Naru-sen. Bye, Ho-chan-sama. Bye, Natsume. Bye Ruka-pyon. Bye, Iinchou. Bye, Permy. Bye, Ko –

"Oi, baka," my saviour's voice drawled. It was decidedly masculine. "You're so useless. With your Alice, you should've automatically known it was me."

My eyes widened as the familiar presence of Fire Alice welled up within me. A small fire sparked in the room and light immediately filled the dingy closet. The light was coming from a large, fat candle sitting wanly on the grey floor, its melted, waxy borders evident that it had been used several times before. I noted the musky, orange scent it gave off.

Natsume sat cross-legged opposite me and grunted to divert my attention away from the candle. A faint blush crept on his cheeks and he refused to make eye contact with me. It looked like he had come here to hide from the rabid mob of fangirls, too.

I smirked at him --- he was showing weakness! "Imagine that," I said bemusedly, "the feared Natsume Hyuuga carries around scented candles. It's so kawaii. I should tell Hotaru about this!"

In the light of the flickering candle flame, Natsume's crimson eyes grew wide as he glared at me, his jaw slack in horror. Pressing his thin lips into a straight line, he said flatly, "It helps me light the darkness of this broom closet. I come here a lot to escape those insane females."

"They're like, in love with you, you know," I said nonchalantly, twirling an auburn lock with my forefinger.

Natsume growled. "All the better to avoid those airheads."

I leaned forward. "But you don't ignore me, Natsume-kun. You once called me an airhead too, you know."

Instead of colour rushing to his tanned cheeks, Natsume smugly replied, "So you're saying you're in love with me then?"

It was my turn to blush. I broke eye contact and focused my attention on a cobweb on the ceiling. "I couldn't help but notice that your candle smells like oranges." My voice was squeaky and high-pitched for some reason. Why do my facades simply crumble when I'm with this guy?

"Because," Natsume began in a low voice --- like his baritone can get any lower --- it just makes him sound sexier! AAGGH! I shouldn't be thinking of such perverted things! --- and, before I knew it his face was only mere inches away from mine. His warm, moist breath tickled my lips as he spoke, "the smell of oranges remind me of you. You dispel the darkness and bring light to me."

I flushed even deeper. Natsume had somehow snaked his right arm around my waist and I saw his lips curl into a smirk at how my back suddenly straightened with tension. Seeing that idiotic leer on his face, I refused to let him have the satisfaction of making me feel so flustered like that!

Natsume pressed the small of my back, closing the distance between our lips but I broke away before our lips could so much as brush against each other.

I brought a finger to his lips and gently shushed his indignant protestations; I could almost imagine a wicked gleam possess my eyes as I carried out my "revenge".

I gingerly caressed his left cheek with my fingertips, leaning dangerously close into his face as though I were going for a kiss, which I was not. "Did you miss me that much, Natsume?" He didn't move.

I placed my head in the crook between his neck and shoulders, allowing some loose strands of hazel hair to fall over his chest and shoulders. "Natsume…" I breathed, wrapping my arms around his neck and raising my head to nip at his earlobe playfully.

Natsume's back was ramrod straight and his ears were red. I suppressed a giggled as he tentatively returned my embrace. I blew teasingly into his ear and he shuddered. I'm such a sadist, I know.

I drew back from his neck as I peered into his face. His arms were loosely clasped at my waist and his raven bangs were hiding his ruby-like eyes, masking whatever emotions he was currently feeling. Smirking, I leaned forward and nibbled on his lower lip. "Sorry, but I have to go now," I murmured in the sexiest voice I could muster. I tried to make it sound low and lustful to tease the raven-haired boy and, as I stood up to leave oh-so casually, a glance at his astonished sanguine features and wide crimson eyes told me that my "acting" had worked perfectly.

Or so I thought.

Before I could even so much as touch the doorknob, Natsume yanked on my skirt forcefully and a ripping sound reverberated throughout the small room.

Flabbergasted, I turned around sharply to scream at the boy who had ripped my skirt for the second time in the space of a week but I didn't have time to do so. Before I knew it, Natsume karate chopped the back of my thighs and my knees buckled, allowing him to flip me over on the floor and tower over me menacingly. Any shrieks of righteous indignation were quickly silenced as his hungry lips captured mine.

When Natsume finally broke away, I stared at him with a deadpan expression on my face. "Jeez," I muttered, "are all teenage boys this lustful?"

"It's your fault," Natsume murmured back, his hands on either side of my head to support himself as he gazed down at me. "How do you think I feel when you go around doing that to me, with your clothes like that."

I was confused. The "doing that to me" part I got but what did he mean by the last part? My clothes… My eyes instantly trailed over to my blouse…

Which was unbuttoned to reveal…

… my (insert imaginative lingerie pattern here) bra!

I screamed hysterically and thrashed about wildly from under Natsume, who held my wrists loosely as I tried to punch him. He looked bored and amused at the same time.

Every time I try and get revenge on this guy… Why do my plans always backfire? Why, Kami-sama? Why? Is it Murphy's Law?

"You don't have much to show but you can seriously turn a guy on like that," Natsume drawled.

"Hentai!" I screeched. "I didn't do this on purpose! Your crazy fangirls cornered me in the hallway and clawed at me!" I lost my blazer in the fray, too.

"I thought they were part of the Natsume Hyuuga fanclub," he drawled amusedly. "I didn't think they were the lesbian type."

I screamed in annoyance. "AHOU!" I snarled furiously. "They're not that type! They wanted my head on a silver platter and IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

One sardonic eyebrow arched.

A vein in my temple throbbed.

"During lunch --- you shouldn't have just slammed me against the pillar and kissed me like that! We were in the hallway! Now the whole school knows we're… you know…"

"An item? A couple?" Natsume's smirk had returned. "Boyfriend and girlfriend? Lovers?" He began leaving smirching my jawline and cheek with butterfly kisses, completely ignoring my woes. Stupid men and their libido.

"GAAAAAH!" I growled in frustration. "You shouldn't have kissed me in public like that! I'm now at the top of your stupid fangirls' hitlist! My life is now considerably shortened, thanks to you!"

Natsume continued to ignore my screams of protest so I began yelling to get his attention. "NATSUME YOU BIG BAKA! There was this one girl who had some kind of Strength Alice and she hit me! I mean, I'm used to Urumi beating me around but that HURT! Don't you care?" I whimpered.

Natsume only grunted in response and I shrieked as his cold hands crept up my skirt. "Big, big baka…" I said through gritted teeth. "I'm getting hurt because of you…" I tried to shove him off me but he simply held my arms down.

Not that I really minded. The part about getting hurt, I mean. To be honest, that brute of a girl's punch wasn't that much but I was tired, stressed and right now, very, very confused with my hormones so it's not my fault if I'm being all whiny right now.

I heard footsteps and female voices approach our closet.

"…maybe they're in here."

"I'm gonna rescue Natsume-kun…"

I tried to warn Natsume about the "intruders" (probably a bunch of his fangirls) but when I opened my mouth, the involuntary moan I'd been struggling to bite back came out, much to Natsume's amusement and to my chagrin.

Hey, I'm not used to being um, touched that way. I may have seen the ugliness of humanity but I'm still naïve in some ways!

"People outside," I hurriedly whispered and Natsume stopped whatever perverted thing he was doing and froze, eyes trained at the door.

"Ohmigosh. Did you just hear that… that… moan?"

"And before that I heard that girl say stuff like 'big' and 'hurts'…"

"And she was definitely calling out Natsume-kun's name!"

"OHMIGOSH! THEY'RE HAVING SEX!"

"OH NO! SHE CAN'T TAKE AWAY NATSUME-KUN'S VIRGINITY! HE'S MEANT TO BE PURE!"

"Quick, break the door down!"

I felt all blood drain from my face as I realised how we must look like to other people, especially to Natsume's insanely jealous and stupid fangirls. I mean, Natsume was on top of me, gripping my wrists and straddling my waist. And those bimbos would boil me alive: my ripped skirt (thanks to Natsume) was lying in a forgotten heap on the cold floor somewhere leaving me exposed in my blue panties with the duck prints! I don't even want to think about what bloody murderous plot they were going to come up with when they saw my blouse was half-unbuttoned.

I glared at Natsume, who was looking at me with that same, sadistic amusement aflutter on his features.

"This is all your fault," I stated.

"I know."

The door creaked as something heavy and solid (a sledgehammer?) collided with the wooden façade. One more hit and we were going to be discovered.

Suddenly, a new set of footsteps --- sure and striding --- was heard and Sumire's haughty voice filled the air. "What is going on here, Hawaki? Miho?"

"Oh, Shouda-san. Ano…"

I gulped and began an optical search for my skirt in a last minute attempt to make myself look innocent, which I was. Half-innocent for my predicament, that is.

Oh, Permy, buy me some time would ya?

I found my skirt near Natsume's candle but I couldn't budge for Natsume was still on top of me, unmoving. It was like he wanted his fangirls to find him like this! Like hell they'd take it as a signal to back off from him… It'll only make my situation worse!

I glared at my ruby-eyed "boyfriend".

"I am going to kill you for this."

"I know."

The door opened and the sudden sunlight blinded us temporarily. However, I was sure I was going to go deaf when I heard Sumire's glass shattering, blood-curdling, eerie shriek.

"OH MY GAWD. MIKAN RAPED NATSUME-KUN!"

Half a dozen fangirls promptly collapsed in a dead faint.

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I wasn't flustered, humiliated or embarrassed --- I was beyond all of those already.

If Narumi-sensei hadn't come by to save me from the wrath of the fangirls who had regained consciousness, then I'm sure I wouldn't be breathing right about now.

I glared at Natsume, who was sitting across from me nonchalantly (Naru-sen also had to save him) in the cosy living room, regarding me coolly with those crimson eyes of his… I downed another cup of warm tea to pacify my anger. Narumi-sensei was baking a batch of cookies in the kitchen --- we were in his house, currently waiting for Aoshi-san. We couldn't talk in his office because it was probably still undergoing renovations.

When I had woken up in Hotaru's room on Thursday morning last week, she was already gone and cooped up in her lab. I didn't see much of her at all as the days flew by; Iinchou said that she was probably catching up on enhancing her inventions. I smiled at that and made a mental note not to disturb her while she was busy. That didn't stop me from missing my best friend, though.

However, what I didn't expect was that Aoshi-san locked himself away from "the world" too. I assumed he had gone to the hospital to recover from his Alice's after effects but Koko told me that he was "deliberately shutting himself away from the world because he was a failure as a father, as a friend and as a headmaster". Apparently, he had stolen snippets of information from Narumi-sensei's mind.

The doorbell rang and I immediately sprang to my feet, plastering on a chipper smile as I strode to the front door to let Aoshi-san in. "Good afternoon!" I chirped brightly.

Aoshi-san was wearing casual khaki pants and a white polo shirt; his eyebags reflected just how tired and tormented he seemed to be. He smiled at me sadly.

"Mikan, we need to talk."

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One would think I should be panicking after all the "information" I learned last week but I'm not. The old, ten-year-old me would probably be bawling her eyes out right about now but I've learnt that panicking and things like that were just wastes of energy in this situation --- in which you don't really know what's going on.

Should I be more concerned about my mother's approaching death? But how can I if I never even met this person?

I know; she was the woman who gave me life but how can I trust someone who works for the AAO, which was hell-bent on destroying the Academy, a place my friends and I dearly treasure?

Of course I don't miss my mother; I can't miss what I never had.

As for that pagan charlatan the "All-Seeing Eye", I was sure that he wasn't about to take action anytime soon --- especially not after Reo's fiasco last week (the Academy authorities had him under arrest in a special facility in Okinawa). Moreover, I kind of figured that, if the All-Seeing Eye's presence had been haunting the Academy for a long time already, the reason it remained undetected was because of my mother's Nullifying Alice. However, now that she was dying (for reasons unknown), the presence of the All-Seeing Eye was unmasked and thus, it was too risky for him to execute any plans for I could easily trace the source of his Alice.

Those who were present the night of Urumi's betrayal did not talk much about the events that transpired. Perhaps they were afraid of hurting me?

I already knew (sort of) what I had to do but I was more afraid of hurting my friends than anyone else.

I put down my teacup and waited patiently for my father to start talking. I wonder if he was going to discuss those same matters, which I had mulled over already, with me. Narumi-sensei had "kidnapped" Natsume from our discussion, saying that he needed help making the cookie dough.

My father took a sip of tea and set it down on the coffee table between us. He sighed and massaged his temples, eyes closed in contemplation. "Mikan, do you remember what Tenaka said about the All-Seeing Eye's intention to take you as one of his own?"

"Yes," I said quietly. I kind of knew where this was going to lead to; it was a possibility that I had pondered upon a few days ago but wasn't sure how to go through with it.

Aoshi-san sighed again. "Well, because of your Nullifying Alice, that charlatan will resort to physical means to get to you."

I nodded in understanding.

"However, as the Academy's security has been heightened considerably ever since that incident with Reo last week, it would be near impossible for a henchman to infiltrate the campus at this point in time."

I nodded slowly, taking this all in. From Urumi's "confession" last week, I gathered that the All-Seeing Eye used a lot of subtle manipulation to get what he wanted.

"Manipulation," Aoshi-san voiced my thoughts. "That is how that man gets his cronies; he gets into their heads and messes with their thoughts. I have no doubt that this charlatan will use some kind of telepathy to turn students or teachers into his personal puppets to get you."

I licked my lips and took another sip of tea; my throat was parched. "There might be an uprising in the Academy," I said quietly, "if that happened." If I stayed.

Aoshi-san nodded. "It pains me to say this, Mikan, but I am very concerned for the future of the Academy. However, I cannot ignore my duties as a father to you. I'm sure you've reached this conclusion as well, haven't you? This is for your own safety as well as for the safety of those around you. Do you understand?"

His piercing emerald gaze pinned me as I nodded, self-conscious all of a sudden. "I don't mind doing it," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I kind of knew it all along --- but I had fun here. It was all too good to last it seems. But I really don't mind because I know it's what I have to do."

Aoshi-san smiled at me sadly.

"You need to leave the Academy."

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To be continued...

So, Naru-kun's baking yet another batch of cookies! All those who wanted to take that teddy bear-shaped cookie from Mikan, Naru-sen's making new ones for you!

As for those who have wondered what exactly happened to Urumi... You'll find out next chapter.