Chapter 5: Secrets—Half-Revealed

That night, Mikan stayed at Hotaru's room. She wanted to ask her lots of questions concerning…koi.

"Nee, Hotaru…have you ever been in love w/ someone before?" Mikan asked her best friend.

Hotaru stopped working on her broken alarm clock and looked at Mikan.

"And why would you ask me that? Of all the people you can ask, you chose me to answer such a stupid question…"

She returned fixing the clock, pretending not to be bothered by Mikan's question, though she REALLY was bothered. Because when her friend asked that question, Ruka's face suddenly entered her mind.

Meanwhile, Mikan was disappointed at Hotaru's answer. So she decided to ask something else.

"Nee, Hotaru…Did someone already asked you to be his partner for the Last Dance? I mean, it's tomorrow evening already…"

As she asked this question, she couldn't help but think about what Natsume's answer to the same question she just asked her best friend.

'It's…you…'

That same sentence kept on popping up in her head. She just can't seem to remove it from her head.

"Hotaru...still there?"

It seems Hotaru was still working on her clock, but she still replied to Mikan, saying, "No, no one has asked me yet. What about you?"

"I…um…well, I…"

Mikan really can't remove what Natsume said to her from her head. It kept on echoing inside her brain.

'It's…you…'

"Oh, Natsume…I…"she softly whispered to herself, but Hotaru still heard her.

So he asked you out, huh?" she said to Mikan.

Mikan was shocked. Hotaru heard. So to cover up, she said, "It's not him! Really! Trust me!"

Hotaru turned to her and looked at her, eye to eye.

"You can't lie, you know. The dance's tomorrow, so you can go without a partner, or be his partner. You only have two choices and less than a day to decide."

Mikan was quite surprised at what came out of her best friend's mouth. So she countered the comment.

"So who's your partner, huh? Last time, you were my partner, right?"

"Right, but I have other plans this time around so last year's events won't happen this time, get that?"

Mikan frowned at her and went to the door. She gave Hotaru (who wasn't looking back) one more nasty look.

"Hotaru, I really can't understand you!" she went out Hotaru's room, slamming the door.

Hotaru was really troubled now. Ruka hasn't asked her yet.

"So I'll just have to ask him or wait until tomorrow," she said. She went out of her room and opened the window.

The full moon, shining a wonderful golden shade, was beautiful along with the starry sky. It would be really perfect if this also appeared tomorrow evening at the Last Dance. It would be nice too, if it would still be a full moon tomorrow.

"Ruka…when will you tell me the truth?" she said to herself while looking out the starry sky. She gave a sigh, closed the window, the lights and went to bed.

"I'll just have to wait tomorrow then," were her last words for the day.

A/NWEEEE!!!! Was it okay? I wasted my research time typing this…I also hid this from my parents since I'm only supposed to be researching…..hehehehehe, I'm so naughty….. Anyway, RxR!