Chapter 3: The stars and the fish
Author's note: Wow, I've managed to put in this chapter even with my hectic schedule:) Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reviewing:)
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---that day, in the Court of the Greek Gods, goddess' of vanity section---
After the temporary hiring of Mikan Sakura as personal secretary of Ruka Nogi, a cupid who kept the updates on Mikan hurried back to the heavens, and then delivered the reports on the spa room of the goddess of love, Aphrodite.
The goddess lay there, her exquisite porcelain skin bathed in perfumed water and oil as she spent her time assessing the situation of the Love Kingdom she founded while she hummed a pleasant tune. On her hands she held a stack of papyrus papers with the color of rainbow that was rolled up, and her eyes had a dreamy look about them as she read along happily:
"Male: Hiro Tatsuya, the best in the field of banking and financing, owns a large business firm and considered as one of the most powerful men in the world. Female: Shiira Yoko, renowned celebrity, very talented in sports, famous model. A trick of fate ('cupid's arrow', laygoddess term) sent Hiro whirling towards Shiira's Mercedes car two days ago and that sent him to the hospital. From then on, love bloomed. Tonight, Hiro will propose to Shiira with a full-carat gold ring studded with the highest grade of diamonds. Happily and wealthy ever after."
The goddess smiled pleasantly at this report and continued to hum more musically, occasionally blowing bubbles with her left hand while she read on.
It seems like her cupids were pouring in extra effort to make her happy. This last one had certainly done his job splendidly…and according to her orders.
"If they only obey me by the book and all that is standard to me then nothing will ever go wrong…" she thought, remembering the cupid who rambled on and gave her a headache, thinking that he deserves it.
"Ah, well…" she dismissed the thought and dwelled on another item of interest. This one was colored pink. It read in beautiful script letters:
"Male: Shinji Nube, gifted with incredible charm and looks that are impossibly molded to perfection. He has the attitude, morals and personality to match, mind you. This afternoon, a Cupid firing squadron will stand-by on his classroom during their TLE period and will fire an arrow barrage with medium doses of oxytocin and other love-inducing substances on time to make him fall in love with his schoolmate, Hime, the most popular girl in their class with a brain and beauty to pair with. Measures have been taken to ensure the success of hit rate, as ordered by her goddess. P.S.: Cupid the Amiable, (the one who writes), requesting for more supply of oxytocin ammunition for tonight's mission. Deposit at hq, stat----" from there the letter trailed off in dots, then at the end part glared big bold letters that looked like it was scribbled by a hyperfanatic, "L-O-V-E YOU!!!" it read, somewhat accusingly with its imposing alphabet that was no longer script.
Aphrodite smiled despite this; she just adored her cupids falling on their feet in helpless adoration and worship for her, and she even loved it more when they don't hesitate to make it known. She made a mental note to fulfill the request later on, and then proceeded with the next item… To which made her frown deep.
It was colored black. Only the feeble letters were inscribed in white.
Usually, love reports were written on papyrus and came in different colors to indicate the severity or urgency of the report. Red was normal, pink for ongoing, developing love, violet was for deep, passionate love, black was for planned separation of the pair, white was for irregularities, or pending for the goddess' decision. Depending on the situation, the colors will reflect what is reported. The writings usually indicate the most important part, backed by the color next in consideration…
So this means… But the goddess had fair estimate of what was going on. Of course she does. After all, it was the most unusual thing that's happened here before.
The report read:
"URGENT! PENDING for your goddess' decision!
Mikan Sakura, the latest reported 'subject for separation' from good-looking Natsume Hyuuga, was fore seen and predicted to make another man to fall in love with her. By the name of Ruka Nogi, another one of the 'perfect list' on your goddess' notes, the 18-year old very eligible bachelor will fall for her due to her 'unusual' personality. She had just applied as his personal secretary and was miraculously admitted. You understand your goddess Aphrodite, that this distorts your standards… THAT'S WHY we await your orders!!
Ahh, DO SOMETHING!"
Aphrodite was outraged beyond words when she finished.
"This Mikan-craze is turning into an epidemic…" she thought. Yes she will definitely do something about it but… Right now, she remembered something that she realized had to be dealt with.
"TYCHE!" Aphrodite ordered, "Tyche, come here this instant!" she instantly dried herself with her magic and dressed herself in a magnificent gown.
From the corner, a flash of blue light emerged and exploded into sweet-smelling plethora of wildflowers. There standing calmly was Tyche. She yawned idly and gave a puzzled look at her mother's expression.
"Dear mother, you look more like a frustrated bull today." Tyche teased.
Aphrodite fumed inwardly, and then lashed onto her object of annoyance, "I demand you to release that spell you placed on that Mikan-mortal!"
The goddess of luck seemed puzzled and amused at the same time, "Why, haven't I told you what the girl naturally has that I cannot dispel?"
"Even so! You must do something!"
"It's hers, and I cannot do anything else to influence it." Tyche said smugly and turned her back on her, "Even if I can, I will not join in this conspiracy of yours, mother."
Aphrodite visibly scowled in such a dangerous way, and the shadows under her eyes darkened. But Tyche was unfazed.
"It's on Zeus' rules, in case you've forgotten." Tyche went on, "'Gods and Goddess' are not to participate in any activity that will invite ill luck to mortals, except if it's their job.' This is especially true for me as the goddess of chance and luck, for me and the norms control human fate. You're aware of that, are you not mother?"
Aphrodite reluctantly became silent, having no say of the matter. She went away defeated but not without a scheme brewing on her mischievous mind.
"If my own daughter will not help me in this, I will have to do it myself." she thought fiercely, "Hm! Let's just see if any love can develop on an extremely bad day…" she grinned maliciously.
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---A day after Mikan's leave, in Natsume's living room--
Natsume is seen pacing around the room restlessly. Something is bothering him he can't understand what it is.
It started when Mikan went away…
True, he said to himself to dismiss the thought that he felt anything for her but what's with this?
"Maybe I just miss seeing her around the house every hour every day…" he tried to console himself with the thought.
Or maybe it was her voice; her loud annoying voice which served as his personal alarm clock every crack of dawn or that it was consistently on time.
But the fact didn't convince him. It just has something to do with the added emptiness he felt in his heart...
(Today he woke up at 6am to water the plants and do the household chores, but there was a change… And the change stuck on his tongue like a bad taste he can't wash off.
It was Mikan's absence.)
"Tch." Natsume openly denied to himself. How could he miss someone who did nothing but pester him every moment of his life? …But that was probably it; he can't forget her simply because she was there every time, annoying or not.
"And now like a storm she's gone away…"
But he felt sad. He hated to admit it but he felt depressed and lonely being around his humble house with only his nephew around.
(All his blood relatives have passed away. Except for his sister and Youichi, his nephew, who was entrusted to him by his younger sister while she was gone abroad, he was all alone in this world.)
The boy was not a handful and seemed to enjoy being in his company and also Mikan's. But today it appeared like the boy was feeling for him too as Natsume watched him emerged from the corner of the stairs looking like he'd lost his biggest game but doesn't want to fret over it.
"Nat'me…" Youichi's cute voice beckoned from behind him as he tugged at Natsume's loose shirt.
Natsume looked at his nephew and momentarily forgot his loneliness when he saw the boy's face.
He seemed as sad as he was.
Youichi's chubby solemn face lacked the childish glee that's often seen in him; today he looked he was in low spirits as he pronounced Natsume's name as he always dows; without the 'su' and stretched the 'me' in a way that was very cute.
The young man gave his nephew a look that said speak up.
Youichi looked back at Natsume, his mellow gray eyes tinged with outright confusion and sadness.
"How come infants can say what they want and not feel any shame about it?" he thought, somewhat envying Youichi's liberty of expression.
"Mi-kan?" Youchi's voice rounded on the name to produce a question mark.
"Mi-kan, Nat'me?" he inquired, and it was as if Youichi's voice was his mind talking to him:
"Mi-kan Nat'me? Where is Mikan, Nat'me? And you let her leave you huh didn't you Nat'me? Care to have a Mikan Nat'me?"
"Huh, Youichi misses her too…" Natsume thought.
He carried Youichi in his arms and together they went to the four-paneled window of the living room. Outside rain started to fall in silence and the cold air filled the room… and in that moment in time as he held a young boy in his arms, he found himself wishing for Mikan's safety.
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---right after Mikan's job as Ruka's personal secretary, in the Nogi mansion: the office---
Back at the Nogi mansion, rain started to fall a moment after Mikan was hired, slowly at first then increased in intensity. Soon, it was heavily raining outside, and the inhabitants of the mansion felt the lethargy accompanying it….All except for one young woman.
"For a start, you can take over filing the documents in one place." Ruka was talking rapidly in a business-tone, paying attention to attending other matters. Mikan is standing by the corner. Eager to make a good impression to cover up for the awkward introduction, she started with arranging for the pile, meanwhile kept on stumbling and losing her footing more than a couple of times, and the piles of papers grew more disarrayed and scattered on the floor.
Ruka stopped himself in the midst of his busy work to notice her apparent clumsiness.
"An inherent trait…" he thought as he observed.
"Alright that's enough." Ruka said in a controlled voice when she stopped falling.
Mikan… She didn't seem to have any visible signs of possessing talents that could be helpful to his work.
She looked so ordinary.
"Why did I even let her talk me into this?" Ruka found himself thinking. He sighed inwardly; what's done is done. Might as well remedy the problem…
"What can you do?" he asked her.
"H-Huh?" Mikan tried to form a smile, but it came out sheepishly. She had an idiotic look on her face that seemed to say that she didn't belong here, amidst all this important notes on business and all.
"Look, uh…" Ruka paused and thought hard, ruffling his hair and inclining his head in concentration.
"Can you do typing?" he finally asked.
"What's tai…taiping?" she asked innocently.
Damn, what did he got himself into?
"Documenting? Organizing?" he further asked, stretching his patience to the edge.
Mikan was giggling nervously. She didn't know of course.
"Okay. Besides finding things, what can you do?"
Mikan shrugged. "What do you need done?"
Ruka thought of it… there were still lots of documents that needed to be sorted out…
He got a copy of the papers scattered on the floor and showed it to her.
"Look here. See this?" he pointed to the left uppermost figure. It was a big red star engraved on the paper. Other than that, the format of the paper was very…elegant. On the side entitled, "Twelve-star Hotel. Lodging and restaurant…" it went on with the elaborate descriptions.Next Ruka showed to her another piece, one of which looked old and scrawny.
"This one's a fish, see?" he pointed to a blue colored fish picture. On the side named, "Cerulean fishing and trading enterprises. For all your fishing needs"
"This one's important, so be careful not to mistake the star from the other." Ruka explained.
Mikan was confused, "You mean the star?"
Ruka gave her a look, "The fish is important. Don't confuse the fish." He said slowly, "Just arrange it accordingly. I'll be back in a while to check up on you."
With that, Ruka left the room all in one way as he chatted and grabbed the documents. Mikan was left in the room, having no idea what to do next.
"Fish and star…" she thought as she looked uncertainly at the papers on her hand then onto the scattered ones on the floor.
"Oh what the heck! I'm here to make a good impression!" she smiled wide top herself and began her job. It seemed so easy to her she wondered why he would even give her such a task.
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---Ruka's bedroom---
Outside the floor-length windows with its heavy green curtains came the setting sun, its orange colors looked golden inside his wide room. Ruka felt so exhausted when he arrived and managed to at least take off his shoes before he collapsed on his bed, but not without recalling all the events that happened that day. It came as a part of his organized-routine.
"So strange is this day…" his hazy thought formed, then somehow wandered to the new employee… Mikan.
"Looks silly as a goose…" from somewhere in his mind his subconscious thought, and then added,
"Too bad for day one…" the thought made him smile, and with that he drifted off to a comfortable sleep.
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Author's notes: Hehe. :) Mikan will be bad luck for now, but I'll make her lucky don't worry. XD
So don't hold back that thought, tell me what you think and review:D