Disclaimer: GA is not mine…
Natsume's POV
Tch. I really hate this.
I hate myself for being dishonest.
All I could do is hurt her.
You look 1000 times uglier than normal in that dress.
Now I looked like a disgraceful person. How could I say that?
I'm definitely the worst human being in the whole world, hurting the person I love so much. God must hate me as well. Why couldn't I say some nice things, especially to her?
And now, here I am, wondering around the shopping mall, my head hung low, don't know what to do, even to myself.
She's going to hate me….
What should I do?
I really hate this! It really makes me feeling guilty for an idiot who doesn't know other people's feelings! Especially mine!
I hate myself for not being able to make it up to her!
Up until now, I've never felt something like this towards a girl…
She's the one who gave me hope.
Light.
Warmth.
Tenderness.
Fire that melt my heart.
Comfort.
And… love. Although I have my own fire alice, that would be not enough to melt my icy heart.
This isn't me after all. I'm slowly beginning to be a soft person, both inside and outside. Ruka has noticed the changes in me.
He knows about it.
He knows ALL.
He knows that I'm changing because of that idiot that I secretly fell in love with.
Even though I never admitted it to anyone, including him, he still knows what's in my mind by reading my expression. Seems I can't hide my feelings from him.
And he's also in love with her too.
Damn it, as he can read my heart all along… he's not Kokoroyomi!
Suddenly, my body bumped into someone's legs. I fell hard on the floor.
"Ouch…"
My butt sore… that whoever person might be must has no eyes after all.
My mood is ruined by the moment. I stood up and yelled angrily, "Hey you bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Can't you see where you're walking?!"
I looked up to glare at the person. Just then my eyes widened seeing the person in front of me.
Imai Hotaru!?
A sweat trickled down to my chin and dripped on the cold floor… This must be my worst dream…
I'm dead… Guess my intuition is right after all…
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Mikan and Ruka…
"Where in the world is Natsume?" he thought, looking around.
Mikan noticed that he had been quiet, as if thinking of something. "Daijoubu, Ruka-pyon?"
"I'm okay, Sakura. I'm just thinking about something," he replied, forcing a fake smile.
"What is it?" she asked again as she ate her chocolate ice-cream.
"Nothing…." He answered, looking away.
"Mou, Ruka-pyon, just tell me already!" Mikan pouted. The chocolate cream was all over her lips.
Ruka sweat-dropped. "It's nothing, really! Don't worry about it! There, the chocolate cream is all over your mouth."
"Eh? Really!?" she quickly took out her tissue from her pocket and wiped off the cream. There's a little bit of the cream still on the corner of her lips.
"There's still cream…" Ruka laughed and pointed to her mouth.
"Mou, Ruka-pyon! You're so mean! Don't laugh at me like that!" Mikan's face became redder as she wiped the last bit of the cream.
"Ahahhaha! Sorry!" he laughed again. "By the way, we need to find Natsume first," his eyes became serious once more.
"Yeah, I'm worried if he got kidnapped or something…" Mikan wandered worriedly. They continue walking, searching for Natsume.
"Eh?"
"Well, it's a high possibility coz his body has shrunk right now, and it's very easy to grasp his body, you know. And also his strength is a lot weaker by his normal,"
"Souka? Ahhahahaha… don't worry about it!" Ruka smiled at her.
"Eh? It's a serious matter, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan's eyes filled worries as she looked at Ruka.
"I know I know! But don't you forget, he's an alice after all. Alices are way far more powerful than normal humans. So you don't need to worry that much. He just has to burn them all!" Ruka felt really proud of his best friend.
"Makes sense…" Mikan nodded in agreement.
"Now you understand why Natsume is the only special star in the whole elementary 5 years ago,"
"Em!" Mikan smiled happily. Even though she had that big smile on her face, her heart couldn't stop worrying for her most important person.
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Natsume still had his shock expression on his entire face. He tried to maintain his usual cold expression, but seems he couldn't do it in that kind of situation.
"Doushita no, Hotaru-chan?" A male voice came behind the person.
"This kid… does his face kind of give you a remembrance?" Hotaru asked in purpose.
What remembrance?!
"Hmm… I think so…" Yuu tried to remember.
Natsume gulped.
"Heya, Natsume!" suddenly Koko popped out of nowhere behind Hotaru. He waved his hands at Natsume. He had a sly face that moment…
Natsume quickly covered his face with Mikan's cap. "What are you guys talking about?"
"There's no wa---"
"There's no way I am Natsume," Koko cut his speech. Natsume grunted. He knew Koko has been reading his mind. He really dislike person having mind-reading ability.
He looked up to give him a glare of murderous intent. He felt really irritated.
"Oh, you finally revealed your identity," Hotaru spoke. A smirk played on her lips.
"Shit…" Natsume cursed. He lit a fire on his palm. "Are you guys following me?"
"N-no! That's not it!" Yuu tried to convince him but Natsume ignored him.
"That's pointless, Natsume. You can't do anything right now." Hotaru's eyes glint evilly. "We have used a fire-proof cream spread throughout our body. Of course, it's made by me."
Tch. So fire won't work, huh?
"What are you gonna do? Spread the news about me to the whole Central Town?" Natsume scoffed. He eyed her.
"Hmm… that would be a good suggestion. By the way, I won't do that right now. It would be least interesting," she said, glancing at him. Natsume stared at her with least trust.
Least interesting?
"What the hell are you scheming? You better not doing anything suspicious," he said, glaring at her.
"It's nothing… I have no intention to do that." Hotaru said nonchalantly. Her eyes still showing no expression as she looked at Natsume.
"You're lying," Natsume narrowed his eyes to Hotaru.
"Please stop it, Hotaru-chan! Don't do that to him!" Yuu pleaded. Hotaru ignored him.
"Natsume, I want you to do me a favor," Hotaru looked down to him.
"What the hell is it?" Natsume asked harshly. He really didn't in the mood to fulfill someone's request. Hotaru sighed.
"Here's what you should do…."
After 2 minutes of whispering, Natsume yelled. "There's no way I would do that!"
"Oh, really?" Hotaru's face emotionless. A smirk played on her lips.
Natsume began to panic. I need to think of a plan…
A light bulb appeared on his head. "Hey look!" he pointed behind them.
The trio looked behind them and saw nothing. Then they turned their heads again.
Natsume is out of sight. He had run away fast with his tiny legs.
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"He's not here either…" Mikan said after walking out from the bookstore.
"That's weird. Usually he would be here reading a manga or other magazines. That's not his attitude." Ruka groaned.
"So, we should find him at the other place?" Mikan said weakly.
"Maybe…"
"Not again! I'm so tired right now, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan whined. Her legs quivered as she tried to balance herself. Finally she plopped down on the floor. Her back leaned against the wall. More sweat trickling down her chin.
"Daijoubu, Sakura?" Ruka asked her worriedly.
"I'm fine, Ruka-pyon. You can go first. Just leave me here. I need to rest for a bit."
"We cannot do that! We need to find him as soon as possible!"
Mikan smiled weakly. "Don't worry."
Suddenly a huge crowd roared from the first floor. (they r now at 2nd floor)
"What's that?" Ruka stood up and proceeded to the handle of 2nd floor. He looked down and saw a kid being chased by three people. The people around them looked at them in bewilderment. Some were whispering.
"Huh?" he focused his eyes on the kid. Then he realized.
"Natsume?! And then Imai? Inchou?! Koko??!" he said their name loudly. He quickly went over to Mikan and woke her up. "Oi Sakura wake up! We have found him!"
Mikan rubbed her eyes sleepily. The words sunk into her for a moment and suddenly her eyes opened wide. "Natsume!" she shouted. Ruka shocked and sweat-dropped. He fell.
"Where is he, Ruka-pyon?" she asked hurriedly and stood up, brushing her flowered skirt. Ruka stood up too.
"Down there…" he motioned her to follow him towards the 2nd floor handle. Mikan looked down and saw Natsume. She shouted his name but seemed he couldn't hear coz of the loud crowd. He continued running away from Hotaru, Yuu and Koko.
Ruka and Mikan quickly running down the moving-stair to save Natsume. (so pity, natsume… I 4got what a moving-stair called… u know in shopping mall... must be a specific name for it but I 4got…)
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"Shit, they are coming closer!" Natsume hissed, still running while looking behind a bit to look at them. He kept running faster.
Hotaru held her video camera in her hands and taping Natsume running. Her eyes glint evilly. She smirked as she watched Natsume in her camera screen. "This will be a hot topic this summer. Ahahahhahaha! I will get more money from his fans!" she laughed quietly. Koko glanced at her and sweat-dropped.
Yuu sweat-dropped too. "Would you quit that, Hotaru-chan?" he asked, laughing nervously.
Hotaru narrowed her eyes dangerously at Yuu. He gulped nervously.
"I will be rich. Don't block my way. Step aside. I'm gonna run faster," she ran forward and chased after Natsume. Yuu and Koko watched Hotaru chased him and sweat-dropped again.
Natsume looked behind him and saw Hotaru chased him alone, video camera in her hands. "WHAT!!?" he shouted.
"Shit he never stops, doesn't he? If that's the case…" Hotaru got an idea. She opened her mouth and shouted:
"EVERYONE! CAPTURE THAT KID AND BRING HIM BACK TO ME!! I WILL GIVE 10000 YEN FOR ANYONE WHO MANAGED TO CAPTURE HIM!! NOW MOVE!!"
Everyone nearby Hotaru caught the word '10000 yen' and immediately their eyes shaped Japanese yen signs.
"10000 yen!!" they shouted and ran after him. (OMG)
"No way!!" Natsume shouted. He knew if he gets caught, his life will be and end in a blink. He proceeded to run faster than normal.
"Whoa, he's fast!" a man shouted. I'm gonna get that 10000 yen!
Natsume ran faster as he could.
Natsume started to feel exhausted and his running became slower. He panted heavily. He felt that he couldn't continue running anymore. Finally he slowed down and his body began to fall hard on the floor and waited for the impact. But nothing came. He didn't feel any pain at all. He felt arms circling around his small body, as if protecting him.
"EVERYBODY STOP!!!!!!!!!" a high pitched voice shouted very loudly for the whole mall to hear. The building shook a little and some of the building windows cracked. The large crowd shrieked and covered their ears in pain. They afraid they might get their eardrums destroyed. Hotaru already put corks in her ears to withstand the very loud sound.
Natsume looked up to see the face of his saviour and saw Mikan's horror face. He blushed as he realized her arms wrapped around his little body tightly. He savored the little moment a bit. He also saw Ruka beside her too. Hotaru still had her video camera in her hands and taped the scene in front of her. She smirked. Finally.
After the crowd had calmed down, Mikan shrieked again. "What are you guys doing, chasing a poor little kid??!!" she looked at Natsume with sympathetic eyes. Natsume just kept quiet, his breath is now steady. He closed his eyes.
Everybody became silent.
Mikan spoke again, this time she lowered her voice a bit. "Is this what you guys usually do?! You guys are the worst human being in the whole world!!" she had tears in her eyes.
"Who told you guys to do this?" this time Ruka voiced out.
The crowd still silent and didn't answer anything.
"Come on! You guys should know something! Otherwise, this wouldn't happen!" he shouted, insisting.
Suddenly a man appeared from the crowd to the front. "There's a girl just now shouted that if one of us catch him, we can get 10000 yen."
"10000 YEN??!" both Ruka and Mikan yelled in shock.
"Who have that much money?" Mikan wondered silently.
"How did she look like?" Ruka asked again. At that time, Hotaru had already worn her famous egg-shell mask (as in manga) to hide her identity from the crowd around her.
"Err… a girl with short violet hair and had purple eyes…" he tried to remember. Ruka took in what he said. Then he suddenly remembered Hotaru. "That Imai…" he thought.
Mikan to speak again but Ruka shushed her as his arm appeared in front of her face.
"Thank you for your cooperation. We apologize for what happened and involved all of you in this mess." Ruka spoke politely at last.
The crowd sighed inwardly and felt disappointed as they didn't have the chance to get the 10000 yen. They began to go away and murmured about the 'prize money'. Hotaru also went away and meet her two 'subordinates'. She had the satisfied smirk on her face.
Ruka sighed in relief. Mikan did the same.
This was one hell of a day. Maybe they won't forget about this incident forever.
TBC
Review please…. Tee hee..