Next Day Mikan's POV
Damn. I'm really starting to hate keeping this from him, but…I have to convince myself that it's for his own good. The PA system came on.
"Hey. I don't know if you're here today or if you're not, and this is kind of awkward. But, listen Cinderella. I have a concert tonight and I want you to watch on tv. And if by then you really don't want to tell me your name, I guess I'll be giving you your locket the next time I see you." I heard. Oh my god. What did he do now?
Later that Night
I don't have a tv in my shed, but I know that Serah and Luna will be watching. I walked into the living room and the concert was just beginning.
"Can I give you two foot and back massages?" I asked. They both raised their eyebrows before nodding and lying on their stomachs on the L-couch. Natsume came on stage and ruffled his hair.
"Okay, so there's this girl. I call her my Cinderella because she ran away from me on the night of the masquerade ball at my school. I have her gold locket and have encountered her various times but always failed in getting her name. Yesterday was the latest failure I had and decided, I'm gonna have to get my anger and sadness on paper. So here I am, after spending an entire night writing lyrics, the song I wrote last night, "It's Not Over". The title explains it all. I'm not giving up on you. You can beat me up various times and I still won't give up. Whatever I have to do to get your name, I'll do it. If I did something wrong, tell me. Right now, you're my top priority, Cinderella. If you won't tell me, I'll still be looking for you when I'm an old geezer." He said.
After listening to the song, I had finished giving the witches massages and ran to my shed to cry. He wrote a fucking song for me? I want to tell him. But he'll just get so disappointed. I cried myself to sleep that night, out of the confusion of my own heart.
Next Morning
I knew my friends were waiting for me in homeroom once I didn't see them at my locker.
"You have to tell him." They all whispered from the minute I got in the classroom. I nodded, wearily. Just to put him out of his misery. Narumi jumped in the room, called free period, and jumped out, just as I had predicted. I stood in front of the class.
"Hotaru Imai is giving an entire album of pictures of the Cinderella girl and of Crimson Abyss for the first person who runs around the school three times." I said. Everybody ran out but Natsume's band and my friends. Just then Misaki walked in, pulling Andou behind her. She threw Andou to the side of the room that Crimson Abyss was at. We stood in a line in front of them, with me right in front of Natsume.
"Can we help you?" Mochu asked. I took off my hat, pulled the scrunchy out of my hair, and took off my glasses. Natsume's eyes immediately widened.
"Listen, I know you're disappointed now…" I said, before I felt arms envelop me. I automatically leaned into his chest.
"Why was I so damn blind? All the signs were there too. God, I missed you." He said. I was genuinely surprised when he said so and pushed him back a little.
"Wait. So, you're not disappointed?" I asked. He shook his head. Then there was a smirk on his face.
"I think this belongs to you." He said holding my locket up high. I tried to reach for it and couldn't make it. I jumped this time and his arm caught my waist and his lips met mine. I loved the kiss. It was gentle and loving but passionate at the same time.
"Wait. What about your ankle and your head?" Koko asked, interrupting the small moment I was enjoying. Natsume put me down and I moved my now side swept bangs up, revealing the bandages. Then I pulled down a bit of my sock so as he could see the bandages there. I felt something cold touch my chest before I could explain my hiding places for the bandages. Natsume had placed my locket on my neck from behind me. I spun around and hugged him.
"I almost forgot. Thanks for holding onto it for me. I don't know what I would do without it." I said.
"Awww! Mikan/Natsume finally got her/his happy ending!" Nonoko, Anna, Koko, and Kitsuneme said. They turned to each other and blushed.
"I'm not the only one." I said. I lined everybody up with who they danced with at the masquerade.
"Everybody, meet your partners from the ball." I said with a corny smile. Their eyes widened, especially Ruka and Hotaru. But then Hotaru looked away with a little blush and Ruka hugged her with a blush.
"Awwwww! Hotaru! That's so cute! I've never seen you blush before in my life!" I squealed. She pointed the baka gun at me and everybody laughed at my distressed face.
"So Ruka with Hotaru, Permy with Mochu, Misaki with Tsubasa, the twins with the twins, and you and I are the pairings from the ball." I said. Everybody nodded.
"Wait, so that's what you needed the hot water and first aid kit for? To soak her foot and change her bandages?" Ruka asked. I nodded.
"I've been walking on this thing as if there's nothing wrong with it which doesn't help me at all." I said.
"I told you that when you ambushed us with grocery bags." Natsume said. I kissed his cheek.
"And I still loved you." I said with a smile. He smiled back at me and I couldn't help but hug him again. I heard footsteps coming through the wall. I quickly released him, put my hair in a bun and put my glasses and hat on before sitting with my friends at Hotaru's table.
"They can't know." I whispered to him. He nodded and they acted normally when the people came in.
"I got it!" Luna and some guy screamed. Those things cost me a lot of money so they better take care of it. Natsume gestured the guy over to him.
"I'll give you 500 yen for it." He said. My eyes widened and jaw dropped. Seriously, he's buying the pictures. I'm right here! He doesn't even need the album! The guy sold it thinking he could buy a better album from Hotaru.
"Sorry. Price raise. 900 yen and 1000 for a strand of her hair in it." Hotaru said. Guys were rushing over and buying the albums and I was just heatedly glaring at Hotaru. But even so, all that matters to me is Natsume having my album. It makes me happy and weirded out at the same time, but oh well. I'm guessing he's happy he found out who I am because he smiled for the rest of the day and didn't ditch a single class.
After Classes
I was at my locker, pulling out my rollerblades when a guy in a black hoodie, dark blue jeans, and white sneakers grabbed my shoulders. I was about to elbow him in the stomach until I heard his voice.
"Hey." He said. I sighed in relief of not harming my boyfriend.
"I almost elbowed you because of that. At least call my name so that I don't immediately think you are a rapist." I said turning to him. He had his hood up and he was smirking at me as he caged me to the lockers. I could already see the scene. The innocent school girl with the two books in her hand and the guy caging her against the lockers.
"What's with the hood?" I asked with a smile.
"Well, I plan on giving you a ride home. If anybody spots you and me, there will be an uproar." He said.
"What if they recognize your car?" I asked.
"We're not going by car." He responded. I raised an eyebrow and suddenly I was lifted in his arms and couldn't help but laugh.
"You are so weird." I said as he began to carry me out of the school.
"No, I'm so happy." He said. I smiled brightly at him and leaned against his chest.
"I'm glad you are." I said. There was silence for a moment.
"You're heavy." He said stopping and putting me down.
"No, I'm not! Douche bag! You don't have to say that!" I said. I was busy ranting and didn't notice he got on the floor. When I did notice though, I immediately knew what to do. I crawled on his back.
"If you needed to carry me this way, you could have said so. I mean calling a girl heavy. It isn't the most gentlemanly thing to do." I ranted. He chuckled.
"Remind me never to mention your weight again. I haven't even heard my mother or sister talk this much when I said they were heavy. They simply tell me not to say that to girls." He said.
"Wow." I said. There was another silent moment. I took that time to just lean my head on the crook of his neck. So basically, my head was right beside his. I was getting comfortable. He is a very warm person.
"Mikan." He said. It snapped me out of my thoughts of his warmth.
"Uh huh." I responded.
"Why do you hide your looks from everybody? You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I don't know why you hide that." He said. I frowned a little.
"I have my reasons. I don't think I'll be telling you them now, though. There are a lot of things you might not know about me. I hope you can respect that." I said, glumly. We were in front of the door to the Koizumi's house.
"One of those things, by the way, is never look for me here. I have special reasons for that too. But if you are ever looking for me, even if I am in this house and you know it, never come. Wait until school the next day or something like that." I said. He raised an eyebrow but nodded.
"I love you. And please don't be mad at me because of all the mysteries and stuff. It's complicated and one of the reasons I didn't want you to know who I was." I said. He walked closer to me and gave my lips a gentle peck.
"No matter what the mysteries are, you're still my Cinderella." He said with a smirk on his face. I smiled and kissed him full on. I had to tip toe and he had to bend his head down a bit. He's a guy and I'm pretty short compared to him. I can't help it. His hands on my waist and my arms around his neck just felt so right, though. I really didn't want to let go. But then again, in order to be able to kiss my boyfriend, I'll have to be alive and separate to breathe when we kiss like that. We were smiling at each other when we separated and I was off the tips of my toes.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow." I said softly.
"See you." He said. He turned around and began walking away until I made a comment.
"By the way. I know you're so happy but don't try to rape me tomorrow!" I teased.
"You better watch out. When I see you leave the classroom to go to the bathroom, I'm gonna follow you in and rape you in the stalls. You know, it's always been one of my fantasies." He joked. I laughed and waited until he was completely off the perimeter before going around the house and to my shed. A day of happiness and then work.
Natsume's POV
I walked into the house and threw myself on the couch. My friends all stared at me but I didn't care.
"Dude, you've got like an uberly gay smile on your face." Koko said. I glared at him.
"Shut up." I said before putting my hands behind my head. I knew that the smile was on my face again, but I couldn't help it when I thought about Mikan.
"I noticed all the signs and did not even once think that it would be Mikan." I said. My friends raised their eyebrows this time.
"What signs? I didn't see any signs." Ruka said.
"You maybe didn't, but I did. I noticed that when her friends went to buy the pictures from Imai, she called them traitors. I noticed when she was walking slowly during class because of her ankle and that she was wearing hats even though she doesn't seem like a hat person. I noticed a lot of things." I said.
"Dude, why were you always paying attention to Sakura when you didn't know it was her, though?" Kitsuneme asked. I shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe because she was different and stayed away from us even though I sit in the seat right next to her and she never bothered us with anything at all." I said.
"Or maybe in your sub-conscious you knew it was her since she wasn't putting an effort in the auditions or anything but you, yourself, did not know." Ruka said. I nodded.
"Probably. I mean, there was no other reason for me to pay so much attention to her even though I didn't think she was my Cinderella." I said.
"Correction. You thought it in your sub-conscious. You didn't know she was your Cinderella, until she told you." Ruka said.
"This is the longest period of time I've ever seen you smile in my life, Hyuuga." Andou said.
"And I'm going to be making plenty of money from it." A voice said. We all snapped our heads to the voice and found Imai with a camera at hand taking pictures of us, but mostly me.
"Imai! What are you doing in this house?" I glared at her.
"Don't mind me. I didn't come here to take pictures of you. I just took the chance the opportunity gave me. But I'm here for other business." She said.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I'm your cousin. And I'm also Mikan's best friend. Mikan has a lot of secrets. I don't want you pressuring her or digging into them, alright. Cuz in the end, if you hurt her, cousin or not, I will kill you. My best friend will come before the cousin who broke her heart. And you know that I have many ways to hurt people. I might even just let her kill you. I mean, she specializes in swords. What's better than stabbing the person who broke your heart? Overall, I'm just saying not to pry and to make sure she stays as happy as she can be. When I met her as kids she was happier than this, not like she is now. Things happened, and you don't need to know about them until she tells you herself." She said. I raised an eyebrow.
"I just got her. Why in god's name would I break her heart?" I asked.
"You are the lead singer of a popular band. Girls throw themselves at you. If you wanted, you could have a hot blonde chick in your hands right now and they wouldn't mind. You can have a change of opinion any time. She's already trusted you enough in the time since she met you. Let's keep it that way." She said before walking away and out the front door. Though, she did not leave before giving Ruka a peck on the cheek which he blushed wholesomely about.
"Your cousin is scary." Mochu said.
"Hey!" Ruka said, defending her.
"And I thought you guys would know. Anybody and everybody who has the least bit of Hyuuga blood in them, is a person to be feared, even if they aren't always scary like me and Imai." I said.
"It's true." Kitsuneme and Koko said. Mochu was the last friend we gathered while Koko, Kitsuneme, and Ruka had been with me since kindergarten. Not to mention that I already knew Andou since first grade. I just never got around to saying his first name. That is why Mochu knows the least about my family.
"Even Aoi, his sister, can get pretty scary sometimes. Especially if you don't give her what she wants." Ruka said. We all nodded at Mochu.
"The day you meet his family will be crazy if you do anything to anger one of them." Andou said.
"Which will be soon actually. There is a family ball this weekend. My mom said I could invite my friends as
long as they behave and dress properly." I said.
"So will you be taking Mikan?" Ruka asked.
"If she accepts. I'm going to ask her tomorrow and see." I said.
"Hopefully she'll accept. I mean, if she didn't want school students to know her, what about your entire family and the press." Koko said.
"There will be no press. Many of my family members assure that. My branch of the family is holding it this year, which is why I'm allowed to invite friends. Though you guys will probably have to stick with me so that you don't get glares if you make a mistake." I said.
"Good luck to us all." Mochu said. They all nodded together. We decided we would leave early tomorrow to encounter our girlfriends at their lockers.