I Like You, Natsume-oniisan

Chapter 3: A Day Out

"Onii-san, can I sleep next to you?" the little brunette asked meekly in the dark.

"Go and sleep with your teddy bear," the older boy sighed and pulled down his covers from his face. "My bed is small enough to fit one person. The mattress is on the floor so sleep there yourself."

"But I'm scared of the dark."

"Learn to leave with it. Aren't you always sleeping in the bunk at night? It's even darker there."

"That's different, Onii-san. I sleep with many boys and girls on the same bed every night."

Natsume turned his body to his left side, facing Mikan's mattress, and commented, "That sounds so wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"Never mind. Please forget what I said," he sighed again.

Then, there was silence. Natsume thought Mikan had fallen asleep so he turned to his right side and closed his eyes.

It was their first night in their new home and their adoptive parents were kind too. Natsume had never imagined himself being adopted and felt very fortunate that he really was. He could not remember how his real parents looked like but according to the nuns, his parents had passed away in a ship wreck as both of them used to work as a ship captain and a sea navigator.

Just when he was about to fall asleep, Mikan's voice disturbed his peace again, "Onii-san, can I sleep next to you?"

"No, and that's final. I want to sleep peacefully!"

"Please?"

"No way."

"Please!"

"No."

"I will tidy your bed tomorrow morning!"

"I can do that myself."

"I will give you sweets."

Natsume groaned, "Who do you think I am? You can't bribe me with your sweets."

"Teddy and I are scared!" Mikan whined again and hiccuped.

Natsume shot up from his bed and glared at the obvious little black figure standing next to his bed. Though he could not see her face in the dark, he was very sure that she was sobbing. He moved to the side of the bed and patted the empty side gently.

"Come here and please stop crying," he muttered softly.

"I'm not crying."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not," she retorted with a sniff.

"Do you want to sleep next to me or not? If not, I am leaving you alone. Good night!" he raised his voice a little.

Almost quickly, he felt his bed blobbed and her voice was heard again but this time was a happier tone, "Thank you, Onii-san! Good night!"

He smiled to himself and lay down. Spoiling her once in a while would be good as an older brother. Everything became quiet and peaceful, and he fell asleep soon after.

The following morning, Natsume woke up at the first light which shone into his room through his window. He usually woke up early to do some exercises in the garden by himself. He rubbed his back and looked down at the cute little figure snoozing away next to him. Playfully, he poked her cheeks a few times and waited for her response but there was none. Finding her no fun at all, he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

After getting ready, he went to the living room and saw Misaki watching the morning news with Tsubasa sleeping next to her on the couch.

"Good morning, Mum," he greeted. "Do you need help for breakfast?"

"I have already prepared them but it's just that I don't know when you and Mikan will wake up," Misaki laughed and turned to her husband. "Wake up, you sleepyhead! Even Natsume has woken up!"

Tsubasa jolted up and looked around the living in daze.

He rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly, "Is Mikan up yet? I want to play a game with her."

"She's still asleep. And what game is that?" Misaki asked.

"Frisbee," he answered with a huge beam. "That will be a great exercise before breakfast. Oh Natsume, you have to play it too. Misaki, it is up to you whether you want to join or not."

Misaki frowned and turned to look at Natsume.

"Does he sound like he is discriminating me? Yes, right?" Misaki asked Natsume while pointing accusingly at Tsubasa.

"I'm not!" Tsubasa whined.

Natsume raised his eyebrows in surprise. Somehow, his whining sounded like Mikan. He could definitely pass as her father.

"It's a family bonding game and yet, you are discriminating me!"

"I'm not. If you want to join us, then just join us! I'm just giving you a choice."

What a noisy pair.

Natsume interrupted, "Stop it. You will disturb Mikan."

The couple stopped and looked at Natsume.

"What a nice older brother," Misaki cooed sheepishly and cupped her cheeks. "I even saw her sleeping next to you just now. Did she have a nightmare?"

"I don't think so. She kept whining to me that she was scared of the dark so I allowed her to sleep next to me."

"I've told you, Misaki. I have good eyes to pick a good boy!"

Misaki ignored Tsubasa and continued to talk to Natsume, "Would you mind calling Mikan up? We are going to play Frisbee soon."

Natsume nodded and walked into his room.

"So you want to play," Tsubasa chuckled.

Misaki turned to glare at him and hissed, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, I don't but I remember that whenever you played Frisbee during our high school days, that poor frisbee would somehow fly and smash the windows of the principal office. What a terrible grudge you had the last time!"

"Thank you, Tsubasa. I know my skills were very terrific. Maybe this time, that frisbee will fly and smash right on your face."

"Oh no, you can't do that. The kids are watching."

What a sarcastic and interesting pair of couple they were.

After Mikan had woken up and got ready, the family went to a nearby park and played Frisbee. They had a whale of the time and they even had a match among themselves; Team Tsubasa and Mikan versus Team Misaki and Natsume. Misaki was the only one who became so violent in this game, much to Natsume's surprise, as she started flinging the frisbee so hard that it flew in circles and she even made noises and grumbles which he could not comprehend. As for Mikan, he could tell that it was her first time playing the game as she could hardly fling the frisbee. Even if she did, it would just wobble and fell flat onto the ground. He thought that she would cry at her constant failure but what amazed him the most was her determination to play it right. And she was enjoying it too!

Tsubasa was a good player as he could send the frisbee flying at a long distance and he even made it so easy for Mikan to catch the flying frisbee. As for Natsume, he had played the game but only for a few times. However, he was very sure that he played better than Misaki in some ways. For instance, his frisbee did not fly in circles and he could at least control his throw.

Just as Natsume was about to pass the frisbee to Misaki, an unsuspecting man just walked in between them and did not see the flying frisbee flying towards him at high speed. Natsume was flabbergasted and quickly called out to that stranger to dodge the frisbee but it was too late. The frisbee hit directly onto that man's face and he fell onto the ground, covering his face and groaned in pain.

Everyone gathered around him and Tsubasa quickly helped him up. Natsume took a look at his face to see if there was any huge injury but luckily, he only had a swollen nose. However, that man looked particularly familiar to him.

"Who is the one who did that?" the man bellowed.

"It was me, Sir. I'm sorry," Natsume said apologetically.

"You are such a big boy and you are so careless! Wait, I think I know you. Have we seen each other before?" the man chided and took a closer look at Natsume.

Natsume squinted and answered, "Yes, we have. You have relief my class once before last year."

"What a bad boy! What is your name and class? I am going to report this incident to your homeroom teacher!"

"Wait, Sir! It was just an accident!" Tsubasa shouted angrily.

"I don't care! My nose is destroyed by him!"

"It's not destroyed. It is just a swell, that's all!" Misaki yelled.

The man did not give up at all and asked Natsume angrily again, "Come on, tell me your name and class now!"

"Na..."

"I was the one who did it. Don't blame Onii-san anymore. I'm sorry!" Mikan suddenly cried loudly.

Everyone's attention turned to the little brunette who was weeping silently. Natsume widened his eyes and shook his head rapidly.

"No, it was me!"

Mikan shouted, "No, I was the one who did it! I'm bad at Frisbee so I accidentally hit you with it!"

The man became confused but upon seeing the crying girl, his eyes softened.

"Alright. It's fine," he mumbled and waved his hand to brush the matter aside. "I'll forgive you. Bye!"

When the man walked away, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Mikan wiped her tears and smiled weakly at Natsume who was giving her a shock look on his face.

"Th... Thank you," Natsume spoke and patted her head gently.

"You're welcome, Onii-san!"

Tsubasa picked up the frisbee and said, "Hey guys, let's return home. Phew! Mikan is our lucky star today."

"Because I like Onii-san a lot!" Mikan chirped happily while holding onto Misaki's hand.

Misaki giggled, "Why?"

Mikan stared at Natsume and answered, "Last night, Onii-san protected Teddy and me. So this time, I wanted to protect Onii-san from that bad guy!"

Natsume chuckled silently to himself. If she kept doing this for him, he was sure that he would be spoilt by her heroic actions soon or later. It should be the other way round. He should be the one protecting her.

"Hey, Mikan."

Mikan looked at Natsume in surprise. It was his first time saying her name! She was so elated.

"Yes, Onii-san?"

"Tonight, I will allow you and your teddy bear to sleep next to me."

"Thank you! I really like you, Onii-san!" Mikan cheered and giggled again.

Natsume blushed and turned his head away from that girl. He knew that whatever she said had held no deeper meaning as she was still young and naive but to him, it just felt awkward and strange to be told like that so casually.

He wished she would stop saying that and doing whatever heroic action for him before he really did become spoilt by her.

Hi guys, Happy New Year to all of you! I hope 2013 will be a good year for all of us! By the way, thanks for reading up to Chapter 3.

I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 2. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D

Here are the reviewers:

- GUEST
- Vehemens Ford
- Great Story
- Crimson Rose Blooms
- lisaOpine
- yuki-chan
- i. Love. food. but. not. you
- Anna The Weird
- nyan nyan

Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)

And don't forget to leave a review! Thanks! :)