"Ruka!" Natsume yelled as they landed just outside the academy gates. Narumi had quickly gotten back to his feet and was helping Mikan up.
"Natsume, we have to go. The Elementary School Principal will know we've left the school grounds." He turned back and looked at Naru with a pained look. Naru just stared back.
"It was Ruka's decision, do as he wished and I'm sure he'll be glad. You will see them again." He clenched his hands and looked at the footpath. They could hear the pursuers coming towards their position.
"Natsume, if we don't leave now, they're going to get Mikan." Natsume looked over to her. She was huffing, exhausted from the strain of having to teleport four people. As they went to run, she almost collapsed. Narumi went to help her up again, but Natsume got their first. He slung her arm over his shoulder and supported her.
"Let's go, Naru" He nodded and they began running further into the main streets of Tokyo. They made it to the station and quickly boarded the last train of the night. Natsume rested Mikan against the window gently, while he went to the back of the cart to say farewell to the academy, to his friends and to his old life.
When Mikan woke, Natsume was just coming back into the cabin. She looked over to him, the pain still clearly present on his face. She rubbed her eyes and pushed herself up.
"What's wrong Natsume?" He hid his face under his hair and looked at the floor.
"Nothing." She knew exactly what was wrong, the same thing had her sad too.
"I'm sure Ruka-Pyon is fine, Hotaru too." She smiled and looked at him. He just looked away and took a seat opposite her.
"How..." He looked up at her, eyes fierce.
"How can you act like that at a time like this?" She thought for a second.
"Act like what?" He stood up suddenly, looking down on her.
"How can you smile like that when we just lost our friends, and you just lost your mother!" Her breathe caught in her throat. She slowly tuned her head around to the corner of the cabin furthest from her, and saw Narumi asleep with Yuka in his arms. Mikan looked down at her hands and spoke very softly.
"Natsume...I only act like this, so I can see everyone else smile." She looked up at him, his face seemed to of softened.
"I want to see everyone smiling, especially you." He took a seat and gazed at her.
"When I was first told about you, and when I first met you, you never smiled. After being at the academy for a few months, I noticed that you still hadn't smiled, you always seemed so sad and distant. But I had a feeling it was because you didn't want to. Then that day when you had Yo-chan, I noticed you smiled, even if it was for just a moment, and it made me happy. So since then, I always wanted to make you smile." He just stared at her, shocked at how much she really had done for him. He reached over and pulled her into a hug.
"You shouldn't have to act differently for everyone else's sakes. Just be yourself, everyone can be happy with that. Cry when you want to cry, laugh when you want to laugh, but don't put on fake smiles. If you do, then others won't know the real you." She knew he was talking from experience. She clenched his shirt and buried her face into his chest.
"Why has everything turned out like this Natsume? I miss Hotaru, I miss everyone!" He didn't say anything, just let her get everything that she had been holding in for so long off her chest. His heart hurt, seeing the one he cared about in so much pain. As he looked out the window, the sun was beginning to rise.
"We're almost there." Mikan looked up and saw the mountains.
"Where are we going?" Natsume looked down at her and smiled.
"Home." She looked out the window and looked for anything to help her know where she was.
"Home?" He nodded.
"You'll finally get to see your Grandfather again." Her eyes opened wider, she was going home. She smiled, her face was beaming. Natsume couldn't help but smile a little too. Maybe things could work out, if they all believed. The train was quickly approaching the station. Natsume kicked Narumi in the leg.
"Hey Naru, we're almost there." He kicked him a few more times before Narumi moved. He opened his eyes and looked around the carriage.
"Already?" Natsume nodded. Mikan was sitting on her seat, clearly shining. Narumi smiled and sat up, still holding Yuka close.
"So, Mikan-chan, are you excited to see Grandpa again?" She nodded at an inhumanely fast pace. Narumi just laughed, but then his face fell. He hugged Yuka's body closer to him.
"I'm sure Yuka-senpai would of been happy to see him also..." Mikan put her hand over Naru's and her mothers.
"Mother wouldn't want us to be sad. We have to think of the happiness of everyone else, because that will make mother and everyone around us happy. If we continue being sad about it, no one will ever smile anymore and this situation would seem even worse than it already is." Natsume, who had made his way back to the seat and was staring out the window, sighed under his breath. Narumi looked over to him.
"Something wrong Natsume?" He continued to stare out the window.
"I don't quite agree with that theory. Sure, smiles can make the people around you happy, but you yourself won't feel any better. It may sound selfish, but shouldn't you worry more about yourself than what everyone around you feels?" Mikan had already started shaking her head.
"That is where you're wrong. If the others around you are happy, then you will feel a sense of happiness. Natsume, when you smile, I feel happy. That's why I tried for so long to make you smile. It's not selfish for one to want to be happy, it's selfish for one to keep all the happiness to themselves." Natsume looked over at her. She always seemed to find a way to correct him. Everything that he had every known about life, happiness and friendship, it's all been changed since meeting her. He stared back out the window, a light blush on his cheek.
"Look, we're entering town." Mikan practically leapt over him to look out the window. She was still half sitting on him but she didn't notice. Her eyes were sparkling as she saw the small town where she spent the large majority of her life. As the train passed, she spotted her old school. A smile grew wide on her face.
"It's still there! Hotaru did it!" Both looked at her in confusion. Natsume tried to push her off his lap without hurting her.
"Imai did what?" Mikan finally sat down in her seat.
"When Hotaru left to go to the academy, our school was about to be shut down. With the money the academy offered her parents, she agreed to go, but use the money to save the school. If our school wasn't in danger, she probably would have never left." As the train pulled into the station, Natsume saw how much Mikan admired Hotaru. You could hear it in her voice, they were so close, yet the way they acted could say different things. But the admiration she showed reminded him of Ruka. He held his head in his hands. Mikan immediately got over near him.
"Natsume, what happened? Are you ok?" He just spoke.
"How could I leave him behind..." Mikan's good mood instantly dropped.
"Natsume..." His voice was going crackly, like he was...crying.
"Ruka was always there for me, since the day I met him. Even with what happened to our town, he decided to come to the academy with me so I didn't have to be alone. He did all that for me, and I still left him behind at that place..." The tears were streaming down his face. Neither Mikan nor Narumi had ever seen Natsume act like this. Narumi looked over to the troubled boy, then reached over and patted his head.
"Natsume, sometimes we have to do these things, even though it may seem wrong. We would do anything for the ones we love, but sometimes we have to let them go and do what they decide. You can't always be there for him, and he knows that." Natsume hit away his hand.
"Don't touch me Naru." The train pulled up into the station.
"Let's go." He stood up and walked silently out of the carriage. Mikan looked at Naru with a worriful expression and he just shook his head.
"Just leave him for a little while, he needs time to think." They both got off the train and walked to the end of the platform. Natsume was sitting on the bench nearby. He looked over to them then stood up silently."
"Which way from here?" Mikan jumped up and did a twirl, then she pointed towards a small buch of houses.
"Just over there." She smiled the most brilliant smile, it even made Natsume smile a little.
"Lead the way then. If we stand around much longer, your grandpa will be too old to visit." Mikan's face dropped.
"MY GRANDPA IS NOT OLD!" Natsume just stood there.
"I never said he was, I said he would be." She grabbed his hand and started to pull him along.
"Fine then, let's hurry up then!" She started running, hand in hand with Natsume. The scent of the cherry blossom trees, the sight of the falling flowers, it made her forget her troubles. She felt so light headed, like she was floating . She kept running, trying to go faster, until she stopped outside a small, yet graceful looking house. She dropped his hand and walked up to the door. She knocked lightly and took in a deep breath. The door opened slowly, and an old man peeked his head out.
"Grandpa..." His eyes widened,
"Mikan?" He opened the door wider and stared at her. He reached out to hug her, but to her surprise, he grabbed a newspaper and flung it at her. She jumped out of the way just in time.
"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His face was fuming.
"Mikan Sakura, I thought I bought you up to be a good little girl, but instead you go running all around the country side? And without telling me?" Mikan hung her head.
"I'm sorry Grandpa, but I couldn't let Hotaru go by herself." She stood there, waiting for the next wave of his ranting, but instead he pulled her into a hug.
"You had me worried kid. Promise me you won't run off without telling me again." She buried her head in his shoulder and hugged him back.
"I promise Grandpa. I'm sorry." They stood there for a while, until Naru cleared his throat.
"Nice to see you again sir." He looked up at Naru, then down at his hands.
"Mikan's teacher, that woman..." Narumi shook his head.
"I'm afraid she can't be saved." Grandpa put Mikan's hands beside her and walked over to look at Yuka.
"This young woman entrusted me with her daughter many years ago. She said they were hiding from someone. May I ask if you know anything about this?" Narumi stared at the man.
"Perhaps we should go sit down inside, it's quite a long story." He nodded his head.
"We can lay her on Mikan's bed for now, may I ask her name?" Naru smiled slightly.
"Her name is Azumi Yuka." He nodded and lead them in. Naru laid Yuka on the bed gently, then brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Grandpa looked at her.
"The poor girl, she seemed so innocent. May I ask what happened to her?" Narumi looked over at Mikan and Natsume.
"Why don't you two stay in here and say goodbye to Senpai while I fill Grandpa in?" They both knew what had happened, and the story behind it, so they agreed. Grandpa patted Mikan's head.
"I can tell you've been through a lot since you left me, so I'll contact the funeral home and we can have a proper farewell for her." Mikan smiled as the tears started to spill again.
"Thank you Grandpa." Then he patted Natsume' head. He had never been shown affection by an elder, let alone someone he'd just met.
"I can tell you've been through a lot too, you can stay here as long as you need." Natsume looked up at the man. His eyes were so kind and gentle. Not like the ones he was used too, hard and uncaring. He turned to leave the room with Naru, when Natsume called him.
"Excuse me sir?" He turned slightly.
"Thank you, and my name is Natsume." He smiled and turned to leave again.
"You may call me Grandpa." Then he left with Naru. When the door closed, Natsume whispered the word to himself again.
"Grandpa..." The thought of having someone he could think of as a friend, that he could trust, just seemed to unrealistic. How much more was his life going to change? He was pulled out of his thoughts when he could hear someone in the room talking. He turned and saw Mikan sitting next to her mother, holding her hand and talking to her.
"...Now Mother, I know we didn't get very long together, but I cherished every moment that we had. I'm sorry things turned out like this, but...but..." She couldn't continue to speak. She rested her head on the bed and began to cry. He walked over and took a seat beside her, lifting her head off the bed and resting it against his chest. She kept crying, and he stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. When she was taking a breath, he began to speak.
"Mikan, try not to cry." She spoke into his shirt.
"But it's sad Natsume. I saw my mother get killed!" He took a deep breath as his memory flashed back to when Noda had taken them to view the past. It felt like something pierced through his heart.
"...So did I..." She stopped sobbing for a moment for a moment, and looked up at him.
"Natsume...I'm sorry...I..." He pulled her close again.
"Just be quiet, for a while. Think of the good things." As they both sat there in silence, neither could think of things that were happy that they did with their parents. They both had such limited time with them. Mikan's sobs were getting louder again, and this time, Natsume couldn't hold his tears in either.