I Like You, Natsume-oniisan

Chapter 39: His Confession

"What do you want talk about?"

"I know everything about the school's project."

His eyes enlarged and he quickly recovered by tucking her hand away. She grabbed his sleeve again and turned him around to face her.

"Natsume-oniisan, why didn't you tell me a thing about it?"

"Why should I? It's none of your business."

"You're departing this Saturday and you won't be returning until five years later," she said. "It's such an important news and yet you didn't tell me either!"

"I was planning to tell you soon," Natsume bellowed at her.

"Soon? How soon? Like on Saturday, that day when you are departing?"

"No."

"Then?"

"Tomorrow."

Mikan's jaws nearly dropped.

"So that when you leave this house, I won't have to suffer so much of your screaming and shouting like what you're doing now," he continued. "This thing was unexpected and I knew it not too long ago when I was using your computer to check my emails."

"That was like a few weeks ago before your freakish failed wedding with Ibaragi-san," Mikan spat and then she pointed her index finger at him. "And if you had told me earlier, I won't be doing this."

"Who told you about this project? Was it Mum?"

"It was Yuka-sensei."

"Oh," that was his only response as he proceeded to walk to his desk to put down his pen which he had been carrying all these while.

He began taking off his tie and took out a book from his shelf. Sitting on his bed, he flipped open the book and read it silently. Mikan was indeed fuming with anger when she realised that Natsume was currently ignoring her presence in his room. Somehow, she felt that his actions and his secret were contradicting each other. He told Nobara that he loved her but his actions showed otherwise. It was as if she and her feelings were being played all along. She felt stupid for behaving all conscious whenever he was around her. If she had known that this would happen, she would have gladly shoved that secret aside and acted normal in front of him.

"Luckily, he's fine or else, I would have sued your brother. Speaking of your brother, he must have told you about the secret since he doesn't have much time left."

"Secret? Doesn't have much time left? What are you blabbering about? What do you mean by he doesn't have much time left?"

"It seems that he doesn't plan to tell you a thing either, not even a million years later. How pathetic..."

"Look here, I approve of it. I don't care what or how others view it but I will support you, Natsume. Tsubasa and I love you and we want you to be happy. About her, it is up to you whether or not to win her heart after your return. Well, I wish you all the best, son."

"Mum, I like her."

"I know, Natsume."

"I love her."

"I know everything, Dear."

"But I have destroyed everything."

"Then, you have to compensate the damage done using your own strength and tell her that you like her when you return. For now, it's still early for her to accept it."

Mikan clenched her fists. Of course, how could she forget about these conversations? They had finally made sense to her. There were already hints that he was leaving. And most likely, based on that conversation, he had liked another woman. There was no way he would like her anymore. The secret he had was in the past and people's feelings changed easily.

How could she be so stupid to think that he still liked her?

Angrily, she took out the miniature tanks from her pocket and threw them at him. Her aiming was so bad that most of them just bounce off his bed while one of them successfully hit his arm. He looked up at her with a frown and opened his mouth to say something.

But she interrupted him, "Giv... Giv... Giving them back to you."

"What's wrong with you? You don't have to throw them at me, right?" Natsume picked up the tanks and carefully placed them on the desk.

Mikan did not utter a word. She felt really bad for venting her anger on him. Her tears welled up in her eyes as she looked away from him, fearing that he would see her pathetic face.

"Are you crying?" his voice softened.

"No," a soft reply escaped from her lips.

"Why are you crying? Was it because I didn't tell you a single thing about my departure?"

"No."

He stood up and turned her shoulder to make her face him directly. It pained him to see her cheeks stained with her tears and her expression was also showing that she was in pain as well. What was wrong with her?

"I'm sorry that I chose to keep quiet about that matter so please stop crying."

"No, that is not it." Her voice was shaky and weak.

"Then, what is it? Nobody cries for nothing unless you're mentally not right."

"It's about your secret."

He immediately let go of her. He was wondering why she suddenly brought up this topic.

"Nobara told me that you like me, not as a sister but as..."

"Why did she tell you? I thought..."

"It's a lie, right? You liked some other woman, not me! I heard your conversation with Mum that night. You like... no, love her. And you won't tell her until you return from Cambodia," Mikan shouted.

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop acting like you don't know a thing! I feel so stupid for not realising the connection between the secret and that conversation. If I had known earlier, I won't be feeling all tense up because of you. Because of you, I was confused again. I think the reason why I can't decide on anything was because I was confused by that secret..."

"Stop blaming everything on me, Mikan. Why in the world would Nobara Ibragi tell you this?"

"I forced her to tell me, Natsume-oniisan. But anyway, I know it is a lie. You like another woman so I don't care about it anymore. I don't want to know anymore," Mikan covered her ears and sniffed loudly.

"You do care about it," Natsume said loudly so that it was loud enough for her to hear behind that pair of hands. "If not, you won't be crying and feel jealous about it."

Mikan glared at him. "I..."

"Yes, you're just jealous."

"Why should I feel jealous? Like what I've told you before, there will be no way I'll fall for you again," Mikan retorted and finally put her hands down to her sides.

"Yes, you are. Stop denying it," Natsume argued back as he held onto her elbows.

Struggling to break free from his grasp, she shouted, "Aren't you the same? You're always jealous of Ruka-pyon!"

"What?" He tightened his fists around her arm. "Why should I? So that means you have just admitted that you're jealous of that woman."

"Don't touch me! Let me go!" Mikan shrieked and pushed his shoulder, followed by a kick on his knee.

Natsume let out a gasp as he lost his balance and fell onto his bed with a soft thud, pulling Mikan along. He lay on his bed with Mikan on top of him. Her head hit his shoulder; more like her teeth hit his shoulder. Her long hazel brown hair sprawled all over his face and he could actually smell a light fragrant coming from them.

Mikan immediately pushed herself up and looked at him with a flustered face. She was bitting her lips with more tears flowing out from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you fall." She hiccuped. "Are you hurt? Oh my god. I'm so sorry..."

Before she could say anymore, Natsume overturned their current position, making Mikan yelped in shock. He was on top of her and was staring deeply onto her teary eyes.

"Wha..."

"Mikan, do you know who that woman is?"

Mikan protested angrily, "No, I don't know. Neither do I want to know."

"But I want you to know since you know my secret now," his voice was so gentle and mesmerising that Mikan could not help but listened to him. "That woman is you. The one and only you, Mikan. I have liked you for so many years that I consistently get myself into trouble because of me being too paranoid over little things. I want to change because I couldn't imagine myself living a life without you. But I just couldn't bring myself to tell you yet, not just yet because I was so afraid that you won't accept me anymore after I have rejected you. Mum knows about my feelings for you and advised me to tell you about it when I return. By the time I return home, you would be already studying in a university or working as an adult."

"Onii-san..."

"Mikan, I really love you. I really do."

Mikan reached out to touch his face. It was the same face which held the same expression as the last time when he introduced Nobara to her. It was full of regret and hurt. Unlike the last time, she had the chance to caress his face without anybody to stop her and he allowed her to do it too.

"Natsume..."

Her voice hitched as Natsume suddenly crashed his lips on hers. She was shocked and stiff at first but later, she found herself trying to push him away from her. Being a persistent person, Natsume refused to give in and continued to kiss her harder. He ignored her hands which were struggling and pushing against his chest.

After a minute or so, he finally broke the kiss but something was pulling his neck down instead. The next thing he knew, his lips were rested back on Mikan's glossy lips. That thing which was pulling his head down slowly trailed down to both sides of his face and Mikan's kiss deepened. He touched that thing on his face and realised that it was actually her hand. Both of her hands were actually pulling him towards her! Since when did her hands made their way up to his neck from his chest?

It was a passionate kiss that both of them had ever longed for. Though Natsume had kissed Nobara once, it was only a light one, like a little peck on the lips. But this time, this kiss held a lot of indescribable emotions. Both of them could feel it.

Natsume broke the kiss again and began kissing her neck. He could not control himself because his feelings were overpowering his actions. He really loved her. As for Mikan, she did not want to stop. Her arms were wrapping around his neck like a very possessive cat which refused to let go of its favourite woolly ball.

Suddenly, she remembered about Yuka's words during Health lesson. She immediately pushed Natsume's shoulders, much to his surprise because he did not expect that to happen.

"No! Please stop! Natsume-oniisan! Stop, I say!" she shouted loudly into his ear, causing him to jolt up.

"Ouch! My ear!" he groaned while covering his poor ear. "What's that for?"

"We should stop what we're doing right now," Mikan panted while wiping away her sweat from her forehead. "This is wrong."

Mikan gently pushed him away from her and got out of his bed.

She walked unsteadily towards the door until Natsume called out to her, "Will you come and see me off this Saturday?"

"No, I can't."

"But... why? Are you still angry with me?" his voice sounded very disappointed.

"No," Mikan replied as she shook her head. "I have a date with Ruka."

There was silence.

"I... I'm sorry." Mikan walked out of his room and then into hers.

After locking her door, she fell onto her own bed and cried silently to herself while Natsume continued to stare into space.

Because both of them had never felt so messed up before in their lives.

This will be the last snippet as this story is coming to the end soon. Hope you enjoy this snippet! :)

Snippet #3

"Happy birthday, Natsume! Here, this is for you!"

"Open up the present!"

He looked at his parents and smiled. He slowly tore the wrapping paper and what he saw was a box. He opened it and peered inside. Taking out a miniature military tank from the box, he looked at his parents again and held the toy up high.

"Thank you," he said softly and quickly laid out the rest of the tanks on the kitchen table. "How do you know I had always wanted these?"

"Because our beloved Natsume was being too obvious!" his mother answered with a laugh.

The boy's face turned bright red as he immediately snapped, "I… Don't anyhow say things! I know I didn't say anything about wanting these toys."

His parents stared at each other and laughed at their son's bashfulness. He could only look down and stare at the tanks with a flushed face, not knowing that this was going to be his last birthday present from them.

"Hyuuga-san! Hey, Hyuuga-san!"

"Stop calling him… He must be dead."

"Geez! He's always in daze."

"Natsume Hyuuga!"

Natsume flinched and looked up, staring at his roommates with tired eyes. Upon seeing them, he immediately adjusted the blanket in order to cover up the cause of his daze.

"You're finally up. Daydreaming again? About your girlfriends in school?" One of the boys gave him a teasing look before chuckling out loud. "Hyuuga-san, we're going to play basketball. Do you want to join us?"

"No thanks," he replied and lay in bed. "I want to sleep."

"Aww… you're always like this. Those petty nuns said before, you've to get out of your room and mix around with other kids. Staying here all day is unhealthy, you know. Well, if you don't listen, it can't be helped then," the other boy said worriedly and walked away with the other boys tagging behind him.

After they had left, Natsume sprang up of bed and pulled up his blanket, revealing his precious tanks. He smiled to himself and started to play with them as he imagined a scenario of a war. If his parents were here next to him, they would join him as well. Though his parents were just a ship captain and a sea navigator, they were pretty good at land military war games. There was one time when he had teamed up with his mother while his father was their enemy, it was really fun. His mother would come out with lots of strategies and try to overthrow his father's military forces. One of his mother's strategies, he would rather not talk about it though, was to steal the enemy's tanks without letting his father know about it.

As he silently chuckled to himself about the cheating part, a loud squeaky voice interrupted him, "Excuse me! Cleaning!"

He gawked at a little girl walking clumsily into his room with a large broom dragging behind her. For goodness sake, that broom was way taller than her and she might hurt herself with it! But he continued to stare at her with mouth agape. Suddenly, the girl tripped over something and fell flat on her face. He smacked his forehead. What was this little girl doing in the older boys' bunk? He got up from the bed and glared at her.

"What are you doing? Go back to your room," he reprimanded her as he snatched the broom from her. "Children shouldn't be playing with brooms."

The girl slowly got up and sniffed hard. He narrowed his eyes at her and then realized that she was already crying. He bit his lips and looked around desperately. He did not mean to make her cry at all! Oh no, what was he going to do?

"Ouch…" the girl winced when she pressed her nose.

Natsume looked at the floor and grimaced. Those roommates of his… they were going to get it when they returned from their basketball game. Leaving their clothes on the floor, it was no wonder the clumsy girl slipped over them.

He cleared his throat and ordered, "You… stand aside. I'll clean up the room."

The girl did not reply, instead she cried even louder.

"Shut up!" he grunted and dragged her to his bed. "Stop crying now and play with these toys. If you don't stop, I…"

He stopped talking. Before he knew what he was doing, his hand was already on the girl's head, petting her comfortingly until she stopped crying.

"Onii-san…"

He gulped and pulled his hand back.

"Now, sit here and be quiet!" he snapped and began tidying the room.

After cleaning the room, he returned the broom back to the girl and she strode away without saying anything. Little did he know that two years later, this girl was going to be part of his life. Not only was she going to be his sister, but she was also going to be the woman whom he would love so dearly till the point of hurting himself and those around him. Moreover, what was going to connect them together in the future was going to be one of Natsume's miniature tanks.

Special thanks to the reviewers of Chapter 38:

- aurora0914
- Rumi dark star
- curo neko
- Sariko-chan723
- HQ-pyon
- seraphim. 159
- Rina-Chan
- mooshy3712
- CreationsGoneAwry
- Natsume Hyuuga -Kuro Neko
- MinaSakura
- lisaopine
- Kattlyn. Sakura
- Natsuki-sama
- Guest
- AnimeMango
- SapphiRubyCrys
- me enamore de ti
- XAnimeXOtakuX
- Manga Ren

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

Preview of the final chapter (Chapter 40):

Hotaru continued, "Mikan, let's take today as a test. If you like Nogi, then go to the date. If you like Natsume-sensei, then see him off. In any case, you can't see both. It's now close to eleven o'clock. Please think about it carefully, okay? Goodbye."

"Hello Miss, are you waiting for a cab?" the old driver asked with a big grin.

"Ah, yes," Mikan replied and quickly stood up.

'Thud!' Something fell out of her pouch.

"Where is your destination, Miss?"

"Please take me..."

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