Author's Notes: Ok, here it comes... I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SO SORRRRYY for taking so long to update, really I am. But life has really been chaotic, with my little cousins coming over from Chile and trying to study for midterms among other things I have been very busy. I am updating this today because tomorrow I take midterms and if those don't go too well it might take an even LONGER while for my next update. I'll try my best. Btw, for those of you who tried to guess why Natsume cried and all in the last chapter and those of you wondering someone really did leave a review and guessed it right! But, I won't tell you who. Anyway, on to the story.

Read, review, and most of all ENJOY!

Chapter 7

Healing and afternoon surprises

I growled softly and rolled unto my side so I wouldn't have to stare at the ceiling, like I had been doing for the last two hours while trying to get some sleep. Even as I burrowed into the soft blankets around me my mind refused to shut down, my eyes to close. I was fully awake.

Natsume and I had awoken at dawn and I helped him back to the boy's dormitories. The progress had been slow but in the end we had finally reached the entrance and he'd shooed me away with a scowl, saying he could go the rest of the way. I had returned to my own room and, after taking a long relaxing bath and eating something, headed straight for bed.. It had been two in the morning when I first laid down, and now, and hour and a half later, I still couldn't sleep.

Deciding I wasn't going to fall asleep I finally stood up and headed for my door. I might as well get something to eat. My thoughts wondered over what Hotaru's reaction would be when she got back from school. I winced. At the very least, it wouldn't be good. I was going down the stairs when a sudden wave of dizziness slammed into me and I stumbled. My head pounded, throbbed, and I gripped the banister as I uttered a small groan. Light flashed in front of my eyes, images whizzing by too fast for me to register what they were and when another wave of vertigo hit me my hand slipped.

Pain overwhelmed my body as I slipped and rolled down the stairs and when I reached the bottom my head hit something hard and white flashed in my eyes. Then everything went dark.

Wind blew lightly, the grass on a small hill moving to it's rhythm as shrieks of laughter rang out into the clear evening sky. A small brown haired little girl ran through the lush, green grass, stopping now and then to catch small flowers along the way.

"Mikan," an old man called, his voice carrying over the clearing. The pigtailed girl grinned and gave a small shriek of delight as she hurled herself into his arms. The man let out a small grunt and then a chuckle, taking the flowers from her small outstretched hand.

"Grandpa!" She giggled again, clapping happily when he took the flowers. She brushed bits of dirt and grass off her light pink sundress then raced down to the hill again in search of more flowers to give to her grandfather.

"…is she going to be okay…?"

"I think she's waking up."

The voices rang loudly in my ears, though they sounded distant, making me head throb even more. I groaned in protest. Slowly, weakly, I cracked my eyes open, trying to fight down the heaviness that threatened to overwhelm them. I blinked once, twice, and the third time the people around came into clear view.

Ruka and Hotaru stood beside; Ruka was staring at me worriedly and Hotaru was frowning, her eyes bright. A doctor stood behind them. I looked around the room I was in and realized I really was in the hospital.

"Mikan..are you ok?" Ruka leaned into peer into my face. I must have looked pale, or tired, I'm not sure, for his frown deepened. I opened my mouth to tell him I was fine but all that came out was a small moan and his face creased with even more concern. Hotaru reached over and laid a gentle hand on my forehead and, for the first time, I realized my head was bandaged. And so was my right arm.

The doctor cleared his throat.

"I'm afraid you two have to leave now. I need to ask Miss Sakura a few questions and then she needs to rest," the man smiled slightly ", you may come back to see her later on in the afternoon."

Hotaru opened her mouth to argue, eyes cold, but stopped when Ruka laid a hand on her shoulder. He mumbled something but I was too far way to hear and Hotaru sighed and closed her mouth. Shock registered in my now clearer mind but was quickly replaced by happiness, it seemed that Hotaru and Ruka were getting closer. I watched as they exchanged a few more words with the doctor and could only smile weakly as they turned to me and said their goodbyes before leaving.

"Well then," the doctor turned light brown eyes my way and picked up a pen from the small table next to my bed ", I know it probably hurts to talk right now so I'm just going to ask you simple questions to which you can shake your head no or nod yes to, ok?"

I nodded dutifully and he grinned. I'm not sure how much time passed with him asking me questions and me answering as best that I could but I could tell from the light streaming in from behind the shades that some time had passed. I started to shake my head yes to the doctor's latest question but stopped when the door suddenly slammed open.

Natsume stood at the entrance, breathing deeply as he stared at me from where he had just burst through the door.

"What happened!"

"Fell…" I barely managed to say the word and it came out raspy and weak, I gave a small smile, hoping he'd find as amusing as I sort of did.

He didn't.

"What the hell where you doing!" he scowled and walked up to me, ignoring the doctor's protests. "Are you trying to kill yourself!

I felt slightly miffed at his harsh attitude but my anger disappeared when he brushed his hand against the bandage on my forehead gently. A tiny hint of concern came over his feature for a second and then he was back to his scowling façade.

"S-…sorry…" I mumbled then coughed. My throat felt like a cat's toungue and even speaking small words wore me out. I wanted to ask him if he was ok, if anybody had questioned him about last night, but I could not. I'd just have to wait until I felt stronger.

"Natsume, you should be in class right now. You can come back in the afternoon," the doctor spoke up from where he had been standing and I realized I had totally forgotten about him. I felt slightly surprised that he'd spoken to Natsume with such familiarity and the fact that the latter hadn't snapped the man's head off at the suggestion.

Not completely anyway.

"No." Natsume's answer was short and firm, I wondered why he was so set on staying. There wasn't snything he could do here."

"Natsume…"

"No." Silence swallowed the room at the deadly note in the raven haired boy's voice and I tried to sit up, worried of just what Natsume would do to my doctor. Unfortunately, my sore muscles didn't approve of the sudden movement and I fell back down against the bed with a whimper. Natsume was by my side so fast I swear he had had to fly, an arm wrapped around my back to keep me still until the shooting pain in my limbs stopped.

"You idiot…" he muttered.

"Sorry…" I whispered again and he shook his head. Lifting his free hand he poked the tip of my nose with his finger as his dark e yes met mine.

"No, not sorry. Idiot."

I smiled.

The next day, much to my joy, Anna, Nonoko and Koko also came to see me. The girls fussed over me, asking me if I was alright, comfortable, or if I needed my pillow fluffed. Kokoroyumi simply watched from afar with a grin and just when I thought I was going to scream I heard him speak.

"She says if someone asks her one more time how she feels she's going to jump out the window," he pointed to the only window in the room, a wide one next to my bed.

"I never said that!" I yelped, quickly trying to clear my mind. Damn the boy's mind reading Alice.

"But you were thinking it," he smirked, then, as if switching to a whole new person his smile turned innocent and he brought out a big basket out from behind him ", anyway, I thought you might need these. We all know how horrible hospital food is."

" I made some of them!" Anna chirped up happily. I smiled.

"Thanks guys, I'll be sure to eat the-"

"The hell you will."

I jumped in surprise when Natsume suddenly spoke up beside me, I hadn't even noticed he was in the room! He walked out from the dark corner where he had been leaning against the wall and scowled at Koko who suddenly had a look of horror plastered on his face.

"It's not what you think!"

"….."

"No! I'd never-…NO! I MEAN-"

"Kokoroyumi, shut up."

Koko sighed and hung his head gloomily, muttering something about always being misunderstood. My eyebrows furrowed, I looked at Natsume and then back at Koko. What was the big deal with Koko bringing me chocolates and a big get-well card? I shrugged, deciding that guys were just weird.

"You're not eating these until you get better," Natsume grabbed the basket full of chocolates and cookies out of Koko's hands and walked back over to my side of the room, placing the basket on the highest shelf on the wall.

"Hey!" I shouted, indignant, and tried to sit up. He glared at me harshly and with a grumble I laid back down. Geez, he sure was bossy today.

" Oh, and Hotaru says to tell you she's sorry she couldn't come, something about photos of someone and an oppurtinity she couldn't pass up," Nonoko commented and then put a hand to her chin in thoughtful contemplation ", she had that same look in her eyes that she's done when she's about to get a lot of rabbits."

I paused to think about Nonoko's words then laughed quietly. No doubt my raven haired friend had caught Ruka in another 'cute act' and had to go off to take more pictures that would soon sell out the minute Natsume and Ruka's fan club saw them. Somehow, the thought that Hotaru had actually ditched seeing me to take pictures of Ruka made me really happy. Slowly, I'd realized that my cold friend had a sort of weakness to Ruka and the minute I thought about I realized I was right. With the money she made off of her other inventions Hotaru had no need to take pictures of Ruka and sell them, but she still chose to, and one time I had even caught her staring at a nice pic of him with his rabbit by some rose bushes for a long time.

When she'd seen me she had immediately told me she was checking the picture for any flaws that would make it unwanted to her customers. I hadn't believed her.

"That's ok, I finally said, grinning ", I'm sure I'll see her tomorrow sense I'll already be getting out."

"Good thing too," Koko put in ", class isn't as interesting without you there getting hit by Hotaru's baka gun and annoying the hell out of Natsume even though he li-"

A fireball flew at Koko and he ducked sharply.

"You talk too much." Natsume glared at him and threw another flaming fireball there way.

"Ack, got to go now Mikan!" he called to me, half tripping half running out the door. Laughing, Anna followed him. Nonoko came up to me and smiled widely, handing me a small bottle. I stared at the weird, gurgling, geen potion swishing inside and then at her.

"It's a potion that'll make you heal faster! I just made it up after experimenting for a while," she explained, her smile growing almost as fast as my apprehension was ", I tried it out on this bird with a broken wing and worked!" She turned and walked towards the door and, just as she left, I heard her mutter to herself;

"But I wonder why it grew a fin too…"

I paled.

"I'm guessing I don't need to tell you not to take that do I?"

I looked over at Natsume and quickly handed him the bottle.

"Nope."

He rolled his eyes and went back to the corner of the room where a trash can stood and dumped out the formula and then the bottle. I watched him for a minute then my eyes wandered over to the basket of sweets mournfully. He caught my stare and scowled at me.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, burrowing into my sheets and closing my eyes to sleep ", none 'til I get ..better.." My eyes suddenly felt heavier than before and with one big yawn I quickly fell into blissful sleep.

I blinked sleepily, my vision clearing with each one as I turned and stretched in my bed. Wondering what had awoken me, I looked around my hospital room. It was dark and I figured it was probably late afternoon, still, I didn't see anything that stood out. It wasn't until I shifted again that I felt it and I sat up slowly, staring at the small get well bag at my feet curiously. Reaching for it, I opened it gently and took out the box of Fluff Puffs in awe.

Opening it, I found two of the cookies I had seen in the basket that Koko had brought inside of it and when I turned to look at the basket I could tell that the paper in which it had been wrapped in had been opened then closed again Smiling, I laid back down and ate one of the Fluff Puffs, holding the small box close to me.

Thank you…Natsume…

Well, what'd you guys think? Was it good or bad? I tried to make this one lighter since the last one was kind of gloomy. I know a lot of you must be wondering about this whole mystery with Mikan and her memories and what Natsume had to do with it but dont worry, all will soon be shown. Patience is a virtue! ( though I really shouldn't be talking since I myself have no such virtue XD) Until next time!

Kiki