Chapter 4: The Truth behind His Name

Mikan's head was spinning. She tried to open her eyes but the light surrounding her was too bright, so she let them shut. Instead, she relied on her other senses. The first thing she noticed was that it smelled somehow…healthy. Like medicaments. She had to be in the hospital then. The place she hated the most, where she had seen her father's face for the last time in her life before he died. Back then, Mikan was too young, only two years old, to understand the meaning of death. But seeing her mother's sad face day after day, she had noticed soon that her father would never return to them…

And why was Mikan in a hospital right now? Was someone sick and hospitalized? Oh no, was it her mother this time? She wasn't able to abide her mother's death, too. Her head started to ache more now. She had to look for her mother as soon as possible.

"Sakura?"

There was male voice that sounded a little bit worried. Whose voice was it? It was familiar to her but she didn't think of who he was. On the other side, there weren't too many people calling her by her last name.

"Mikan."

What was that? The second voice also belonged to a male person, but other that the first one, she heard it for the first time in her life. It was a low whisper but sounded like an order to her to wake up. It was a strange feeling but pleasant at the same time. Additionally, the oddest thing was that all the pain in her head and other parts of her paralyzed body was blown away by only hearing her name out of this person's mouth.

Mikan snapped her eyes open and adjusted herself to a sitting position so fast as if she woke up from a nightmare. "What…" She looked around the room and darted her gaze on the first familiar person she saw. "Ruka?"

The blonde boy was glad that she recognized him. "Thanks to God, how do you feel?"

She saw that Ruka relaxed a little bit. She blinked in confusion and noticed that she was sitting on a bed. Finally, she realized that she was the person who was hospitalized. Mikan was relieved that it had nothing to do with her mother. But the next question was, why was she herself hospitalized?

Mikan closed her eyes and felt her forehead. She tried to think hard but had no memory of what happened earlier. Her head began to ache again. "Ruka, why are we here?"

"Don't you remember? You were supposed to pick up Natsume from the station but you collapsed there. He was the one who brought you to the hospital." explained Ruka briefly.

"Nat-…sume?" repeated Mikan. She couldn't associate anything with that name. "Who is that supposed to be?"

"Didn't I tell you before? Natsume Hyuuga is my best friend, who came from France to Tokyo this morning." Ruka pointed at his friend next to him.

She tried to recapitulate the last few hours. "Wait… I went to the station and saw that dark-haired guy…" She looked at the second person in the room.

Mikan always thought that Ruka would be the most handsome man in their school or in Japan. However, the newcomer surpassed him by far and might even be the best-looking man in world! The first thing she realized was that this Natsume Hyuuga was taller than she was. She could barely remember making that observation at the station before. But oddly enough, she had no further memories about what happened there earlier.

So she continued observing Ruka's friend. Travelling her gaze from the bottom up, she noticed how neatly he was dressed. With his black sneakers, dark jeans and blue shirt, Mikan concluded that he favoured dark colours, which really suited him. Even if he wore loose clothes, it was obvious that he had a well-trained body. She could guess that due to his wide shoulders and strong arms. No wonder that he could carry her all the way to the hospital…

"Oh no, that's right. I couldn't even thank you for your help yet." remarked an outraged Mikan. She thought that it was unsuitable to sit lazily on the bed although she was feeling better now. On the one hand, she didn't want the two guys to wait for her any longer and on the other hand, she had to thank her saviour properly. She intended to stand up and bow to him to show her gratitude. Putting the blanket aside, she landed her feet on the ground. Before standing up, she faced the raven-haired boy and smiled. "Sorry for making you troubles, Nats…"

Mikan held her breath. Something was wrong. His name was on the tip of her tongue but wouldn't come out of her mouth. Somehow, it didn't seem to be right to call him that way. But why? Was there another Natsume in her life? Somebody, who was defined to be her only Natsume? Nevertheless, she didn't know another person with this name, right? The more she thought about it, the more she could feel the pain increasing in her head.

As she saw the two boys with the same worried expression, she quickly put a fake smile on her lips to hide her pain. Immediately, she tried to change the topic. "By the while, why are we still talking here? Let's go out and finish the introduction while having a coffee. I know a beautiful place…"

Suddenly, Mikan was interrupted mid-sentence. All she could see was a shadow before she closed her eyes protectively. Then, somebody grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her quickly, but gently back to the bed.

"Natsume, what are you doing?" protested Ruka anxiously.

When she heard Ruka's voice, Mikan slowly opened her eyes and looked directly into red eyes. Those eyes and the unusual colour were somewhat scary and captivated her. However, watching them from a tiny distance now, she could see a mix of different emotions. There were fear, concern, sorrow and many others that she couldn't identify. He was looking exhausted but longingly at the same time. Her heart warmed up and she recognized that feeling. It was the same at the station, when she met this Natsume guy for the first time. Just who the hell was he?

"Who are you kidding?" Mikan realized that this husky voice belonged to the person above her and blinked in confusion.

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "W-what do you mean, Na… H-Hyuuga?" she asked while her heart started beating rapidly. For a brief moment, she could detect a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Did she say something wrong?

"You're not fit enough to leave yet. You need to rest more." he stated.

"E-excuse me?" Mikan was surprised and scandalized. She tried to repress the agreeable feeling from earlier and looked away from his eyes. "I- I'm perfectly fine. Would you please step aside and let me move? I… I have to inform my family about my whereabouts."

"If that's all you need…" said Hyuuga, annoyed. He turned to his friend then. "Ruka, go and notify her family that their daughter will be late because she's hanging out with her friends. You can also inform Medusa that her friend has waken up."

"M-Medusa?" wondered Ruka, who was silent during the controversy of the two. He nodded understandingly to Hyuuga and turned to Mikan before he left. "Sakura, I guess Natsume is right. At least, we should let the doctor check up on you one last time. Please, stay here until I get Imai. I'll also talk to your mother so you may rest assured." He smiled gently at her and left the room not until looking one last time at his friend.

It had been half an hour since Ruka left. Meanwhile, the nurse took a blood sample, which forced Mikan to wait another hour. She didn't oppose to Hyuuga and lied down on the bed again. It was still a mystery for her how he could see through her pain before. This guy had to be as foxy as Hotaru at the least. After all, Hotaru was the only person who could ever see through Mikan's true feelings so far.

Mikan ignored her roommate at the moment. In fact, she didn't want to be rude to Ruka's friend but the girl just hated being commanded by other people, including her own mother.

Mainly, she was on good terms with her mother and they had an exemplary mother-daughter relationship. Eventually, they had to rely on each other after her father's death. There was only one time when the two of them had a huge conflict. Back then, Mikan had asked her mother about her childhood friend and told her that she'd like to see him again.

However, her mother had been absolutely against it and unsuccessfully tried to prevent Mikan from looking for her friend. After that dispute, they hadn't talked to each other for several days but they had reconciled on her dead father's birthday. In the end, Mikan had never talked to her mother about her friend again and continued the searching secretly.

That reminded her that she hadn't checked her mails for two days now. What if her friend had already contacted her? Since she was only waiting for the results of her check-up, she had plenty of time to check her mails via her mobile phone. Mikan was still feeling dizzy because of the blood withdrawal and couldn't get up. Besides, her 'bodyguard' wouldn't allow her to stand up right now.

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes and saw him looking out of the window. He seemed to be in a brown study. She turned her head to face him and asked hesitatingly. "Uhm, Hyuuga?"

"Natsume is fine." he replied, not turning his gaze from outside.

Mikan brushed off his last statement. She still felt uneasy to call him by his first name. "Well, could you please pass me on my mobile?"

"I could." he answered nonchalantly.

"So? Would you be so kind to…?"

Hyuuga shifted to face her. "What do you need a mobile for in your current condition? You can barely sit after losing half of your blood."

"What?" Mikan flipped out after hearing the last sentence. "I wasn't attacked by a vampire, Hyuuga. I only gave blood for a test."

He didn't answer to that and turned his gaze to the window again.

Mikan pouted formally. However, she didn't admit defeat so easily. She rolled her eyes and was in the process of standing up. "Fine, if you don't help me, then I'll have to get it myself."

"Don't!" After hearing his firm command, she stopped. Mikan knew what was coming next and grinned inwardly. She hid the smug expression on her face when Hyuuga fetched her mobile and handed it to her.

"Thank you, Hyuuga." she smiled.

"Tsk, as stubborn as ever." he murmured under his breath.

"Hm? What was that?" asked Mikan, who was currently distracted by her mobile, while turning it on. She checked her mails for the last two days but unfortunately, she didn't receive even one. Her disappointment could be read on her sad and thoughtful face. Thereby, something crossed her mind. "Wait, my battery ran out earlier, right? Why can I activate my mobile now?"

"I gave you mine."

"You did…?" blinked Mikan in confusion.

"I switched the batteries. I needed to contact your friends so that they could pick you up. Since the doctor said that it's nothing serious, I didn't call your mother and selected a random name on the list."

"You fumbled around my mobile?" asked a horrified Mikan. Nonetheless, she couldn't change that fact now and sighed. "Well, in the end, you had a good intention, right?" She checked her mails a second time without success.

"Is it that important to you?" asked Hyuuga after a while.

"Pardon?" Mikan wondered what he meant by that. It was not until then that she noticed Hyuuga watching her for the last few minutes. Blushing lightly, she looked away and asked again. "W-what do you mean?"

"The message you're expecting, is it that important to you?" he repeated slowly. "It's been just about an hour since you've waken up and the first thing you do is checking your mails?"

Without hesitation, Mikan faced him and answered deadly serious: "It is! Very important."

There was a moment of silence. Hyuuga observed the confident girl in front of him before he turned away from her and broke the silence. "Guess your boyfriend hasn't time to mail you yet. How pathetic, having a stubborn girlfriend like you…"

Mikan couldn't believe what she just heard and her head snapped. "You…called me stubborn? Again?" She stood up and closed the distance between them. Her blood pleasure rose so much that there wasn't any sign of her dizziness anymore. She pointed a finger at him and started yelling. "How can you call me stubborn if you don't even know me? We've just met this morning! Do you always judge people so fast?"

Hyuuga just stood there and didn't reply. He closed his eyes and didn't even seem to listen to her. Mikan noticed that and grabbed him by his arm to make him face her again. When he turned his head to her direction, she continued: "What did I do to make you believe that I'm so stubborn? Tell me, Hyuuga!"

"All right, then tell me just one thing." he stated calmly. He opened his crimson eyes and looked deep in hers. With the same seriousness as her, he asked: "Why don't you call me by my first name?"

Mikan held her breath and her eyes opened widely. What was the feeling that made her heart beat so rapidly? This same feeling as before…as if he could see through her.

While Hyuuga made a step forward and entirely closed the distance between them, Mikan could just stand there and stayed voiceless. He grabbed her chin and made her look more intensely in his eyes. "See? You even refuse to answer to a simple question like this, you stubborn girl."

Mikan was put under his spell so that she hadn't even the strength to argue with him. The heat which was arising out of his sole touch was coming up to her cheeks. She opened her mouth to say something. "I-…"

She was interrupted by the bang of the door. Mikan and Hyuuga looked coevally at the source of the noise to see Hotaru and Ruka standing at the door. Hotaru was her usual self, showing no emotions whereas Ruka stood there with an open mouth, pointing a finger at them.

Ruka gulped heavily before asking: "W-what…are you doing?"

Hotaru sounded more annoyed than surprised. "It seems to me that we came for nothing. She is as fit as a fiddle. Come Nogi, we're only bothering them."

Mikan blinked twice and didn't know what Hotaru was talking about. Then, she looked back at her opposite and understood the meaning of her words. She shrieked and stepped back in horror, loosening from his hold. "W-wait, it's not what y-you think…!"

Hyuuga ran a hand through his hair and went to his friend. "Ruka, we're done here. Let's go."

Ruka, who was still standing under the influence of the current situation, nodded briefly. "See you on Monday, Sakura. Imai." With that said, the two guys dismissed.

Never before was Mikan as dumbfounded as today. She thought about today's events from morning up to now and there was one thing she couldn't understand.

"How did he know the PIN code of my mobile?"

So...what do you think so far? Reviews would be appreciated! :)

Next chapter: The Truth behind His Hatred