As the Wind Turns
(or The Many Lovers of Sakura Mikan)

Chapter 3:
Ruka Nogi

This was just terrible.

Fucked up, as Tsubasa-sama would call it.

Natsume-kun stared at her impassively, the way he would look at Hotaru-chan, and why wouldn't he?

She was Hotaru-chan!

Mikan was going wring Nonoko-chan's neck when she saw her. Because whatever concoction her friend had given her was clearly not the sedative she'd asked for.

She had wanted rest, had wanted to sleep away the rest of the month. It wasn't fair that Natsume-kun was back, had been back for days now, and Tsubasa-sama wasn't. Mikan was told that he was off supervising other members of the Dangerous Abilities class, but only Nobara-chan was out, and she had Persona with her.

So where on Earth was Tsubasa-sama?

And to make matters worse, Mikan was stuck in Hotaru-chan's body! She shuddered at the reaction Hotaru-chan would have when she realized what happened, but hopefully, her genius best friend would figure out a way to get them back into their proper bodies in no time.

"Oi! Imai-san," Natsume-kun called, and it took her a moment to realize he was talking to her. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"N-nothing," she claimed, cringing when Natsume-kun's eyebrows rose at her stutter. "I'm fine, Natsume-kun."

"Hn." Natsume stared at her for another few seconds. "Ruka's looking for you. Go meet him in his room."

"Hai," she nodded quickly, running off as soon as his back was turned.

Mikan didn't want to meet Ruka in his room. Going to Ruka's room was a bad idea. Mikan had been so damn horny—

Wait a minute. Mikan stopped and leaned on a nearby building, realizing that she didn't feel horny at all.

God bless Hotaru, whose body isn't horny and burning with frustration at all, and could she please not figure out a way to switch them back first? For the rest of the month would be good, thanks.

Mikan went back to her room, barely noticing that her own body was missing from her bed as she locked the door and dove under her blankets with every intention of hiding in it until Tsubasa-sama returned.

"Hotaru-chan," Ruka-pyon panted in her ear, and Mikan felt his fingers rubbing and tugging at her clit, "come for me."

Tsubasa-sama wasn't quite as noisy when he fucked her. That was the thought that passed through her mind right before she exploded into a thousand pieces. Ruka-pyon groaned loudly as he stopped moving, and Mikan felt him come inside her. She recovered quickly enough to be thankful that Hotaru-chan had taken one look at her after that First Night and shoved an anti-pregnancy pill down her throat that would last for a month.

God bless Hotaru.

"Wow, Hotaru-chan," Ruka-pyon sighed, moving off of her almost immediately. "That was—"

"It's Mikan," she interrupted him, already rising to collect her clothes.

"Ne?" Ruka-pyon asked dumbly before scrambling up. "Oh, shit. Mikan, gomen—"

"Don't bother," Mikan told him shortly as she pulled on her panties, knowing that it was her stupid horny body that had probably compelled Hotaru-chan to come to Ruka-pyon for gratification. "Just…don't ever mention this to anyone."

"Hai, of course," Ruka-pyon replied quietly. Mikan felt guilty for a moment. "Mikan-kun, I'm so sorry. Hotaru-chan came in and told me she was in your body before she…ah—"

"I told you," she sighed, shrugging on her blouse and doing up the buttons. "It's fine. Just don't ever talk about it again."

"Okay."

When she turned to leave, uniform smoothed down completely, she spied Ruka with his head in his hands, fingers clenched tight in his hair. Mikan realized then that this wasn't his fault. She was the one feeling too damn horny all the time. She was the one who asked for Nonoko-chan's help. It was her body that had Hotaru-chan running to Ruka for relief.

It was her who put poor Ruka-pyon into this situation.

Feeling the guilt multiply ten-fold, she made her way to Ruka-pyon's side and silently lifted his face up to her for a brief kiss. Ruka-pyon looked bewildered at the gesture.

"I'm the one who should be sorry, Ruka-pyon," she murmured. "The body swap was my doing. I didn't think that this would happen, but this is my fault."

"Iie, Mikan-kun—"

"Hush," she said, and Ruka-pyon quieted instantly. "Don't feel bad." She summoned the Alice she needed from inside her, the one she'd thought she would never have to use. "I'll make it all better."

A few minutes later, she left Ruka-pyon's room, only to find Natsume-kun sitting outside, eyes dark and stormy. "I heard everything," he told her.

She knew that. "So what now?" she asked him, tensing when he stood up gracefully and walked towards her. He stopped a few inches away, giving her an impassive look that mirrored the one he'd given her hours ago in Hotaru's body.

"You'll erase Imai-san's mind too," he ordered. "They don't need to remember this." Guilt stabbed through her at the prospect of that particular deception. Mikan didn't think she could do that to Hotaru-chan. "You want her to remember that she used your body to fuck her boyfriend?"

Well, when he put it that way.

Mikan turned to leave, intending to do it while she still had the courage to do so, but Natsume-kun grabbed her arm. "Mikan."

"Don't say it," she warned, intuitively knowing what he wanted.

"You're a victim too," he pressed on. "It's okay to be mad."

Mad? She wasn't mad. She was horrified. She was guilty. She—

She couldn't look at him when she did it, when she touched his hand and siphoned away the memory of him listening through the door, and she left him standing there, unable to remember what had happened for the past five hours.

Author's Note

At Crimson-Midnight-Moon's request, I put Ruka next, and yikes! Everything's gone morbid! What happened, Muse? Where are we going with this?

Hope you're still with me on this :)
~E