Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!!!!!!
I know that at times it may have seemed like I was dead and buried, or otherwise indisposed!!! And I know that I may have left the story at a rather terrible point, when it was just starting to get interesting!! And I have been reminded that it's been about 4 months since I last updated!! And I can't even say it's a long chapter as my excuse! But in my defense I do just about everything at the steady pace of a crippled sloth. And I have a lot of homework! And my mother keeps on unplugging the internet. And on a totally random side note, some weird book she read has now convinced her that drinking milk will give us all liver cancer. Great, now milk has been added to the extensive list of foods that my mum won't let us eat/drink because they'll give us cancer.
Anyways, at least pretend to forgive me for my late update. Hmmm...this chapter has no Natsume, but next chapter will.
I solely dedicate this chapter to all of the people who were waiting 4 months for this
Thank you very much to the people who reviewed this story ^^
Lanel
DamageReport
JeZ-Amutolover110
mermaid princess lilian
Xxdarkness-angelxX
moonacre99
BloodlyCherryBlossom
maxeyn
l3vA
Celinaaa:)
Sakura Breeze
jazziscool
bluechibi
abbyciel
The Random Artist
uki chan
bunnyjumps
sasusakunatclairegal
XxMidnightPrincessxX
Mikage Ceres
xXShadowDreamerXx
Drowning out the echoes
~6~
Mikan kept her head down the rest of the lesson, listening desperately to the teacher's monotonous droning. She didn't want to think about anything else. But occasionally stray wisps of thought would leak out against her will, making her cringe. She had started to tune out the constant prickling at the back of her neck, alerting her to wandering eyes. But she forced herself to not think about why they were watching her. The bell rang, making Mikan jump as her absolute concentration was disturbed. She looked up to see the rest of the class already jumping up and stacking their books, shooting occasional glances her way, then rapidly looking away when they saw her seeing their furtive peeking. The replacement teacher hurried off with a meek squeeking noise. Immediatley they descended, like seagulls on a dropped pie, except that in this case the unfortunate victim was Mikan. Questioned were fired from all directions, leaving her pressed against the nearest wall, surrounded.
"How do you know Natsume?"
"Do you know him?"
"What's your Alice?"
"Why did you ignore Natsume?"
"He didn't make a mistake, did he?"
"You're Mikan, right?"
"How dare you!"
"Do you and Natsume know each other?"
And then a cold voice, cutting through all the flocking scavengers. "You're blocking the way."
"What the hell, Imai, the door's that way"
"No," she ran her finger along her bangle and the metal twisted, warped and expanded to become a small, but lethal looking, pistol, and pointed it at the offending girl "I think you are. Now, if your thick skull contains anything other than dead brain matter, you'll move out of the way so my friend can pass." That got everyone's attention, Imai didn't have friends, it was a proven fact, cemented ever further by her constant selfish behaviour. But it was still probably the pistol that did it. The flock reluctantly dispersed, eyes flicking suspiciously from face to face in search of Hotaru's friend. Mikan took the chance to grab her books and make a run for it, giving Hotaru a brief nod as she passed. Hotaru turned to the confused people before sweetly smiling "Carry on now, dimwits." before smugly walking off. She didn't need to look for Mikan, she already knew where the girl was; she had sewn a tracker button onto Mikan's shirt the previous night. Hotaru frowned as she read Mikan's vital signs. Accelerated pulse, excessive sweating, erratic breathing – her friend was clearly upset. Hotaru considered comforting Mikan, but decided not to in the end; she wasn't very good at dealing with people. Instead she turned her thoughts to the relationship between Mikan and Natsume.
Clearly they knew each other from before. But how? Narumi had claimed that Mikan was his daughter, but she had already analysed and compared their facial features to come to the conclusion that they weren't even remotely blood related. Her mind flashed back to the previous day when Katsutoshi Kuonji had spoken to Mikan. Kuonji normally didn't bother with new students, so perhaps he had been ordered to talk to Mikan by the middle school principal. In addition, Mikan had introduced herself as Mikan Sakura. Sakura...Hotaru had a brief flash of déjà vu. She felt as if she knew someone else by the name of Sakura. A voice broke her deep concentration.
"Imai." Hotaru looked up to meet the eyes of Hyuuga's loyal follower.
"Nogi." She greeted him with a brisk nod and continued on her way. She could tell he wanted to know something, but she wasn't going to make it easy.
"Hey, wait!"
'Do you have any business with me?'
'Yes.' Nogi's gaze was resolute, 'What do you know about that girl?'
'Which girl?' Hotaru's face remained impassive.
'Don't play games, Imai. You know I'm talking about Mikan Sakura.'
'Mikan? Hadn't you better ask Narumi if you want to find out about her? After all, he is her father.' Nogi opened his mouth to answer but abruptly closed it again when he noticed that Hotaru was already speeding off. He shook his head, it was useful to try to make Imai do anything she didn't feel like doing.
Mikan kept on walking, doing the 7 times tables in her head to distract her mind. She nearly lost control when she ran out of those, but soon reverted to the 13 times tables. As she walked through the corridors she tried all the door handles until she found one that was unlocked. It was a utility cupboard, empty except for the few buckets and smelling strongly of detergent. 13x10 makes 130. She stretched out her arms and took a step in. 13x11 makes 143. She cleared the floor for somewhere to sit. 13x12 makes 156. She gingerly lowered herself to the ground and grabbed the door. 13x13 makes 169. As door slammed shut and the cupboard was engulfed in total darkness, she exhaled in relief and licked the salty tears off her cheeks. Her head rested on one of the walls as she tried to suppress her sobs. For some reason, the smell of ammonia and strong bleach calmed her down, so she took deep breaths. Slowly, her muffled sobs began to subside and was reduced to a sniffle. Mikan felt herself relax when she heard a set of footstep slowly and deliberately stop outside the door. A cleaner? She hurriedly wiped her eyes in the hope that maybe her crying would go unnoticed.
The crack of light that slipped through the door stung Mikan's eyes, making her tightly clamp her lids together and raise her hands to her eyes. After much rapid blinking, she could finally see and her breath caught in her throat when she noticed that it was Katsutoshi.
'Kuonji, what are you doing here?' Mikan's voice was full of hostility.
'I was looking for you, Miki. I heard about your little spectacle earlier and came to see if there was anything I could do.' At this Mikan glared at him 'Look, here, have a tissue.' The boy held out a box of tissues, but Mikan ignored the floral box. Katsutoshi sighed. 'Fine, then, don't accept my help, but you know,' he looked Mikan straight in the eye, 'your friends are worried about you.'
'Friends? Who?'
'You know, Hotaru and Anna,' he frowned for a moment before continuing, 'and Ogasawara.'
Mikan was rendered speechless for a moment upon the realisation that she did have friends. She looked up when she saw Katsutoshi fling his arms up, as if in surrender.
'Fine, fine, I'll go.' He turned around and started to walk off before pausing and turning back, 'Sorry that I could be of no assistance.'
As soon as he turned round the corner Mikan got up and wiped her eyes, guilt-ridden for making her friends worry. She had to smile, even if she felt like crying. Right on cue, Nonoko and Anna raced around the corner, flinging their arms around their neck.
"We were so worried when you suddenly ran off! You looked so upset!' When they looked up, they were surprised to see her smiling.
'I'm fine, you guys worry too much.' Nonoko looked at Mikan suspiciously before shrugging.
'C'mon! If we're not quick we won't get seats in the dining room!'
'Huh? What? It's not dinner yet.'
Anna rolled her eyes. 'No, lunch. Jeez, sometimes you're so clueless. But that's okay, I bet you've never been to the dining room before!' She looped her arm around Mikan's and started to drag her through the corridors.
So that's it for today...probably, I'm starting work on the next chapter right away, but don't expect me to finish it today, I still have to do my Yr 12 maths homework :S
Oh, and I'm sorry again!!!!!! But if you kill me I won't get to finish the story!