Okay so here's the last chapter of this story. I don't really like it but I doubt I'll get it edited and reposted. It's just too much work for me right now.

So anyway, I have had some fun rewriting this story, even though it was kinda painful. So yeah.

There is something I want all of you who have read this to know. Almost everything that has to do with abuse in this story, it's not just made up. It actually happened, whether it be to me, or my sister. Yes that's right, in case you haven't noticed by my irritation I have been abused by my mother. All of the things that were said by Yuka, all the things she did I have either witnessed or been a victim of. That's why I had such issues with the original. For some one who has experienced abuse to read something that is so fake, it hurts.

But there are some things I want to clear up. For instance, after Mikan is hospitalized and her mother is there worried about her, there is nothing unreal about that. I remember the countless days after my mom had hurt me that she would feel so bad about it. Of course she completely forgot about or denied it later on but still... Also Mikan's explosion on her mom. It actually does happen. Getting fed up to the point of snapping is something that happens and happens often.

So anyway, that's really all I have to say about this story and I hope you enjoyed my rewrite of it. Please check out my other stories and review Review REVIEW!!!!! Thank you.

~Sunechirei

Some how I had managed to avoid Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru for the entire week. I really had nothing against them, other than the fact that they had spent three days trying to get me to talk about my past, pushing me to do things I really didn't want to do, and Natsume had even kissed me.

I turned red at the thought and headed down the hallways of the school. It was Sunday again and I needed to talk to Mr. Narumi about a homework assignment he had given out on Friday. I reached his door and was about to knock when I heard his voice behind me.

"Oh! Mikan. Your mother was looking for you. I think she went to your room so you might want to head over there."

"Um, sir, I actually have a question first..."

"I can answer that later. Right now you should go see your mom. You haven't seen her in almost two weeks right?"

"Yeah."

"So go. I'll be here later tonight if you still need your question answered. Kay?" He smiled at me. I showed a small grin in return and bowed. He headed way but I stood at his office door, reluctant to head to my room. I didn't know what my mother had in store for me. I knew she would be mad about last week, but there was nothing I could really do but face it.

With a sigh I headed towards my room. The beautiful day seemed to be laughing at me, mocking me for what I knew was about to happen. Once the dorm building was in sight, I ran as fast as I could, which I admit was not very fast, and entered the building, hoping that no one had seen me. Reluctantly, I trudged up the six flights of stairs to my floor, hoping that nothing was going to happen, though I knew that it would never be that way.

My mother was standing by my door when I arrived. She looked like a normal mother waiting to see her daughter. I put on a smile and walked over to the room.

"Hey Mom." I said. She glanced over at me. Though she didn't speak a word, her eyes told the story.

Pain.

Hurt.

Anger.

Disappointment.

I knew that I was doomed. Pulling out my key I turned to my door and unlocked it, letting myself and my mother into my room. Nothing in my room had changed since she had been here last, but my mother still wandered around my room, observing everything in it.

"Mom?" I ventured, wondering if she was going to even talk to me.

"Where were you last week?" she asked in a raspy voice. It sounded as though she had been crying.

"A few people in my class took me to one of their houses." I began in a murmur. "I tried to refuse but I didn't really have a choice. I didn't tell you because I knew you would be busy."

"So you think you deserve to have fun do you?" She turned to face me, an unreadable expression on her face. "I traveled here to see you, only to find that you weren't here. Do you know how that made me feel?"

I froze up again. She was mad, madder than I had seen her be in a long time. Not since I was in elementary school.

"No word, no nothing. Not a single peep for two weeks, so I come here today and you aren't even waiting for me." she shook her head. "This isn't how I raised you. I raised you to be a respectful young lady. Someone who cared about her family and would never do something like this, you horrible, horrible gir-"

"No you didn't." I muttered. My mom stopped talking and watched me, her cold eyes piercing into me.

"Excuse me?" she asked dangerously. I took a deep breath and knew I was going to regret this.

"You didn't raise me to be that way. You didn't even raise me, and I am not a horrible person!" With each word I got bolder, and my voice got louder. "How can you say that I'm a horrible person when you are the one who has blamed me for everything, the one who has hurt me for no reason?"

My mother took a dangerous step towards me and I cowered away, but kept talking.

"You always wanted me to be perfect, but I can never be that way. You call yourself my mother yet you don't even try to be one. Why? What did I do?"

"You killed my husband, that's what! You killed him and you act as though you did nothing wrong!"

"That's because I didn't! I didn't kill him. I didn't! I didn't!" tears began to stream down my face and fear filled my heart. "If there is anyone you should blame it's the drunk driver for hitting him, or the hospital for not being able to save him! Or maybe even yourself, for not being able to stop him from leaving your side."

I wanted to say more but my mother slapped me, stopping my rant.

"How dare you blame this on other people! Especially me!" she slapped me again, this time hard enough that I began to bleed. I could feel the single cut running down my face.

"You deserve it. You, you..." I couldn't continue. My mother charged up to me and shoved me against the bookcase.

What happened next was a blur. I heard my mother call my name, then excruciating pain.

All went black.

~%~%~%~%~%~%~

Natsume lay stretched out on his bed reading a book of manga. He hated Sundays. Everyone went to go see their parents and he was left alone. It wasn't like he didn't want to see his father, it was more like if he did the school would consider his father Natsume's guardian and then he would have to pay for Natsume's tuition.

That would be financial suicide for his father as a painter didn't make much.

Feeling sorry for himself, Natsume sat up and began to head out to the forest area of campus when he heard yelling. Stopping, he listened closely and managed to make out Mikan's voice. It was muddled so he couldn't hear what was going on but he was worried and went to go see what was going on.

Mikan's room was right next to Natsume's so he went over and stood in front of the door about to knock when he heard a loud crash and a woman calling Mikan's name.

Not waiting for an answer, Natsume burst into the room and saw Mikan lying on the floor, blood darkening her hair.

"What..." Natsume stammered.

The woman who Natsume assumed was Mikan's mom looked up at him, fear in her eyes.

"What happened?"

"Mikan, she... she... she fell and hit crashed into the bookshelf. I don't know-" the woman began to cry.

"Calm down." Natsume soothed. "Let's get her to the campus hospital. They'll know what to do."

He hurried over to Mikan and picked her up, the mom fretting over her daughter. The trek to the hospital was long and hard. Students and their parents watched in shock and horror as Natsume carried Mikan to the small clinic. When they got there, there were a few doctors and nurses waiting for them.

"Someone must have run ahead and told them we were coming." Natsume explained to Mikan's mom. She nodded and clenched the bottoms of her jacket.

"Mr. Hyuuga, please bring Ms. Sakura in." a doctor commanded. Natsume recognized him as Hotaru's brother, Subaru. Natsume nodded and followed him into the hospital.

It wasn't long before they managed to get Mikan into a room and began to stitch her up. While this was going on a doctor was talking to Natsume and Mikan's mom.

"What happened?" he asked pulling out a notebook and pen. Natsume looked over at the woman but she seemed to be in too much shock.

"I don't exactly know..." Natsume began. "I was in the room next to Mikan when I heard yelling. I wanted to know what it was about so I went over there and heard a loud crash. Confused I opened the door and saw Mikan unconscious in her mother's arms. And there was blood. A lot of blood."

The doctor nodded, writing down everything Natsume said.

"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to talk. First, what is your name?"

"Yuka. Yuka Sakura. I'm Mikan's mom." she muttered. "I don't know what happened, I really don't. We were arguing and then she tripped backwards into the bookshelf..." she trailed off, her voice trembling.

"Wait, what about Mikan?"

Natsume turned around and saw one of Mikan's special class friends, Tsubasa.

"She got hurt." Natsume replied curtly.

"How?"

Natsume was about to respond when a nurse came out of Mikan's room and told them that it was okay to go and see her. Yuka stood up and hurried over to the room.

"Who's that?" Tsubasa asked. Natsume told him. "Her mother? No don't let her go in there!" he yelled.

"What are you talking about?" Natsume questioned. "That's her mom."

"Yeah, a mom that abuses her daughter!"

No one moved or spoke. Natsume thought about what Tsubasa had just said and suddenly everything made sense.

The way Mikan acted, why she never talked to anyone, why she wore the winter uniform in the summer, all of it.

The doctor who was taking notes called over one of the guards and said something to them, causing them to charge into Mikan's room and drag Yuka out of it.

"What's going on! Let me see my daughter!" she screamed.

"Miss Sakura, this young boy has told us that you abuse your daughter. Is this true?"

"A-abuse? What nonsense is that? I have never hurt her."

"Stop lying you old hag." Tsubasa hissed. "I've seen the marks that you left. I saw Mikan break down in tears when she told us what was going on. Don't lie!"

"I'm not-"

"I apologize Ma'am, but we can't let you see your daughter until this is resolved, please leave." the doctor informed. Yuka pulled away from the guards, her entire face stoic. She looked back at her daughter's room before storming out of the hospital.

Natsume watched her go. It was weird seeing a mother leave like that, but he didn't have long to think about it because a nurse came into the main part of the hall and informed everyone that Mikan was awake.

Natsume felt his heart flutter and he began to walk towards her when someone called out to him.

"Natsume what's going on?"

Turning around Natsume saw Ruka and Hotaru hurrying towards him. They eventually caught up to him, panting.

"We heard that you were carrying a bleeding Mikan to the hospital. What happened?" Ruka asked.

"I'm not really sure." Natsume confessed. "I know that Mikan got really hurt but now I don't know how it happened."

"What do you mean now?"

"Well at first her mother said that she tripped and hit her head on a bookcase, but crazy dude here claims that Mikan has been abused."

"It's not a claim." Tsubasa explained. "It's true. She told me.

Ruka and Hotaru exchanged glances.

"I'm serious! But that's not important right now, we need to go and talk to Mikan!" he huffed, turning around and heading into Mikan's room. Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru followed after him.

~%~%~%~%~%~%~

I stared out the window, the bandage on my head reminding me what had happened. I didn't know how I got to that hospital, or even if it was Sunday still, but I knew two things:

My mother wasn't here.

They knew.

The door to my room opened and I glanced over to see Tsubasa enter. He had a goofy grin on his face that told me he had told the doctors that my mom abused me. I was angry at him, yet at the same time, relieved.

"Hey Mikan." Tsubasa chided gently. "How are you doing?" he walked over to the chair that was beside my bed and sat down in it.

"I'm fine." I muttered. "I just don't know what to do now."

"You know I had to tell them, right?"

I looked over at my friend. He had a pitiful look on his face with his wide eyes and pouted lips. I sighed and glanced back at the window right as three more people entered. The three people I didn't want to see.

"I know. But you did promise." I accused.

"So it's true." Hotaru whispered. "That's what you've been hiding from us." I nodded slowly, unsure of what to say or do. Now that the three of them knew, I would be treated differently and I really didn't want that.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Ruka asked. I looked over at him, confused. "I mean it was kinda obvious that we were worried about you and we were trying to help but you didn't tell us. Why?"

I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted.

"She couldn't. To say something is wrong is the hardest thing to do in this kind of situation."

My face turned red at the sound of Natsume's voice.

"What he said." I mumbled. Natsume snorted at my reaction but said nothing else. No one spoke for a while. I tired to get used to the idea that people knew about my secret, but it didn't work. Suddenly the door slid open again.

A man I didn't recognize walked in. He looked around the room, his eyes landing on each person in the room at least once. Finally he looked at me.

"Mikan Sakura?" I nodded. "I am the high school principal. I need to know what happened to you."

Everyone was staring at me intently, waiting for my answer. I shrunk back in my bed.

"Nothing happened. It was an accident."

"Ms. Sakura, it's okay, you can tell me what happened."

"I told you that nothing did!"

"Alright then, is it true that your mother abuses you?"

I didn't know what to do. If I told the truth, who knew what would happen to my mother, but if I lied, I didn't know what would happen to me. So I took the chance. I said something that I never thought I would.

"Yes."

I had to stay in the hospital for the next four days. I didn't get many visitors, though that was okay with me. A few people visited me everyday however. Natsume was one of them, though I couldn't figure out why. On the last day of my hospitalization, I asked.

"I don't know." he replied. "I guess you could say I've fallen for you." he grinned and I blushed.

"Are you serious?" It was the first time I heard a guy say that to me. I really had no idea what to do.

"Who knows." he laughed.

It was about then that he declared himself to be my boyfriend. It made me smile to know that someone could love me. After that things went pretty smoothly. I still talked very little and I never told anyone about that day, though it was hard when I had girls trying to get me to talk about how I got Natsume to date me.

I never had an answer for them, mainly because I didn't know myself.

Then there was my mom. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I saw her again. She had come to find me one afternoon while I was off campus. She was different. I don't know how to explain it but it seemed that she had changed a lot since I had seen her last.

We exchanged almost no words, but she did apologize to me. She told me that she was getting therapy and that she was sorry for all of the things she did to me, and asked for forgiveness. I never answered her. She is still waiting for my answer but I don't know if I can ever forgive her. It would be the best thing for me to do, but I feel as though she isn't my mother anymore.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~

I took a deep breath, relieved that I had finished my story. My therapist sat across from my, her pen scribbling furiously.

"Well, Mikan, that is certainly interesting. It's been five years since that time right?"

"Yeah."

"How are you now? Do you think you would forgive your mother if she asked you again?"

I closed my eyes, trying to imagine such a scene happening again. It wouldn't come.

"I think, I would." I said calmly. "But she could never be my mom."

"Why not?"

I smiled. "Why would she be?"

It was late when I exited my therapist's office. I walked slowly, thinking about all of the things I had talked about today. It had been hard for me back then to get close to people, though now it was easy. I guess aging five years does help.

I finally made it home. It wasn't really a home, more of an apartment I shared with Natsume. When I opened the door I got a surprise. There were a few people over, some of my friends.

"What's going on?" I asked Anna, a girl I had met in my junior year. She laughed.

"We just got the news! Ruka finally proposed!"

My jaw dropped. "Really! Took him long enough. Haven't they been dating since middle school?"

"Yeah. That's why all of us are so excited. Though Natsume doesn't seem to be." she winked and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks Anna. I'll go talk to him." I made my way into my room where I wasn't surprised to see my boyfriend lying on my bed. "Pouty much?" I asked teasingly. He grunted and sat up.

"It's too crowded."

"Really?" I grabbed his wrists and pulled him off the bed. "Come on. Let's go congratulate them." we walked out to the main part of the apartment. It wasn't hard to find the couple, but it took forever to finally get to talk to them.

"Congrats!" I cheered hugging Hotaru. She hugged me back and grinned.

"It's hard to believe how much you've changed."

I looked away sheepishly and someone added to that statement.

"Yeah Mikan. You have changed. Why were you so weird when you first transferred to Alice Academy?"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at me expectantly. I felt nervous but was comforted by Natsume's arms as the wrapped around my waist.

"I guess I never did tell you guys did I?" I began. Choruses of nos answered me. "Well, to be blunt, I had been abused."