20. Leave Taking

The morning was still and serine.

He woke up to the soft rays of the morning sun and the ceaseless chirping of the crazy birds of the dawn. He felt a little stiffness in his body and a dry sensation inside his throat. Clearing it a little, he stretched his body to reach for his phone and found out that it was impossible for him to move; something was holding on to his bare chest. It was only then he realized that he had got himself a wife the previous day. He was married, and had been sharing his bed with a woman, the whole night. His head confirmed the thought when his eyes met with those tightly closed eyes that were half buried in his skin. His heart skipped a beat when he felt those arms tightening around his body, snuggling into him some more. She must've felt his movements; it looked she had no mind in letting him go so soon.

To assure her that he won't go, Natsume wrapped his arms around her warm porcelain body and held her close for another ten long minutes. Her brunette hair was all over her face, and he suddenly felt a hair inside his mouth as well. He smiled at the memories of the previous night and was scared a little if he had, somehow, hurt their baby.

With some trepidation, Natsume reached out for her belly, and touched it as if to see if it'd been alright. It felt warm and alright, so he removed his hand and checked if she had sensed his touch. No sign of danger, yet.

Everything that had happened the previous night, had resembled the dream he had been having for the past couple of months, to a certain degree. His mind was confused at that thought, yet he liked the thought of his dream coming true with no delay. As long as she was happy and content, he had nothing to worry about. He was so happy to feel that both of them shared the same eagerness to be with each other, at the moment.

Being sunk in his thoughts, he didn't notice that her eyes had been flickering for a while, struggling to open up. It was only when she opened her mouth and yawned, he realized that she was about to wake up. He could imagine how embarrassed she would be to realize her situation at the moment. He smiled at that thought, his heart lightening like a feather.

Wanting to create some humor, Natsume removed his arms, before she opened her eyes fully in the next minute.

"Won't you just let go off me?" He asked from the beet red brunette, making her blush more furiously. His tone had no emotion but fake annoyance, put in order to make his wife go crazy in their first morning together.

"Ehh?!" Mikan cried as she rushed back to her side in bed, grabbing the large white blanket all with herself and covering her exposed skin with it hurriedly. Seeing her crazy moves, Natsume tried hard not to burst into laughter, biting his lower lip hard and tight.

"W—wh—y are you making such a face!" Mikan yelled again, clutching the blanket with both hands over her chest, trying hard not to let Natsume catch a glimpse of her already seen important things.

"Huh? You're sitting on my phone! Move!" Natsume said, acting irritated, in front of his brand new wife. Hearing that, Mikan's ears bled; he was picking a fight in their first morning!

"How am I supposed to move! You idiot! I'm all— Ugh!" Mikan yelled again, her eyes widened in terror. If only she had some clothes on!

"Oh yeah. Why did you have to remove all your clothes last night?" Natsume asked, smirking inside his mind, wanting to get the right words outta her mouth. Hearing him pointing the whole thing at her, Mikan lost her mind.

"It wasn't me, you idiot! Are you muddleheaded! It was you!" Mikan cried her lungs out, pointing her index finger at Natsume's gleaming crimson eyes, clutching the blanket with one hand. Hearing her nasty report on the previous night, Natsume felt so energized from inside.

"Ah? I don't remember such a thing. Besides, why would I do something like that?" He said, as he stood up from the bed, smirking.

"Wh-a-t! You don't remember? Oh god! I hate you Natsume!" Mikan cried out loud, her eyes getting damp a little. Seeing his joke had gone so far, Natsume decided to leave it at that.

"Whatever! Hurry up and move!" He said as he turned around to make her feel comfortable. Sensing his sudden ceasefire, Mikan started to climb down the bed, dragging the blanket along with her. Then she hurriedly wrapped it around her body, making sure not to leave a single spot uncovered. Natsume kept on focusing on something on the opposite wall, the whole time.

"Alright now. Take your damn phone." Mikan said, sounding a little less irritated now.

"Thank you." Natsume said as he reached out for his phone and took it in his hand, along with something pink.

"Guess this is yours, strawberry pattern!" Natsume said as he throw her underwear onto the couch near where Mikan was standing, beet red.

"Why did you have to take it out now! Hentaiii!" Mikan yelled again, trembling in embarrassment. Her pride and her honor was severely damaged by now. Of course, it was her husband, yet how could she bear to be humiliated to such an extent!

Seeing her beet red face, Natsume smirked again.

"My phone was trapped in it." He replied coolly, smirking more than ever. Hearing his cool reply, Mikan just trembled some more and finally stood still, pale like a ghost.

"Go get your stuff ready. We'll leave in 30 minutes." Natsume said, breaking the ice between them, making Mikan fume again in anger.

"In thirty minutes! Holy crap! I won't make it!" Mikan yelled once again, much to Natsume's dismay.

"Just take a quick bath and get into some civilized clothes. You sure can't make it like that." Natsume said, pointing his forefinger at Mikan's 'uncivilized' piece of cloth as he completed the last sentence.

Just when Mikan started to compose her reply with a deep sigh, the door of the room banged opened, making both of them look in that direction with Mikan's mouth half opened.

In the next second, Kaoru Hyuuga appeared from the door, to face a messy, topless Natsume and a white blanket wearing Mikan.

"O-h my! Oh... I'm sorry guys! Bad timing!" Said she and slipped out of the room at once, closing the door behind her again, not wanting to see more of the scene. Seeing the whole thing, Mikan started to blush beet red over and over again, her mouth still half opened. Natsume just stood there, indifferent.

Kaoru on the other hand was happy to see her children had had an awesome bridal night, and had a broad smile on her lips by now.

"Natsume... There's someone waiting for you in the living room. Looks like he's that lovely travel agent you told me about." Kaoru said, staying behind the door, not wanting to break in again.

"I didn't say he was lovely." Natsume said annoyed.

"Ah... of course you didn't. Just put on a shirt and go down. He's lovely, anyways!" Kaoru said before she left the door, making Natsume become annoyed some more.

Meanwhile, Mikan was still standing by the bed, still like a pillar.

"Why, you're waiting for me to give you a bath?" Natsume asked from the stunned Mikan, whose mouth was still half opened.

"Ehh... Err... Ugh! Tell me! How did you manage to... get into those pants!" Mikan was still worrying about the dress code problem.

"Eh? What kind of a question is that?" Natsume asked, annoyed for real. They were running out of time and she was still making unnecessary remarks.

"Just tell me. You looked civilized in front of momma... but I! It was all your fault!" Mikan said, tears rising in her flickering hazel orbs. Seeing her situation, Natsume felt a sudden pang in his heart.

"You fell asleep so early. So it couldn't be helped." Natsume said and looked into her teary eyes before he continued.

"Don't be that much of an idiot. We're married now, Mikan." He said before he grabbed a shirt and left the room, letting his words keep pushing repeat button inside her mind.

Every time he called her by her name, Mikan's heart started to beat so fast. It had occurred more than once, recently.

Maybe yes, she shouldn't have overreacted, now that they were, actually married.

"Ah! Natsume-kun! Good morning!" Natsume heard the cheerful voice of the blonde man, Narumi who was sitting on the couch, sipping on his mother's awesome black coffee.

"Hn." Was Natsume's usual monotonous reply. Of course, Narumi had never expected him to say Good morning in return.

"So... Are you guys ready? We've booked the second flight of the day for you. You gotta be there before 11.30am. It's already 8.30 now." Narumi said, still smiling vigorously, much to Natsume's dismay.

"What's so funny about that? We'll be ready by 10.30. You can wait inside the vehicle." Natsume said without a halt, making Narumi spill some coffee on the saucer.

"Oh... Umm... Okay... I'll get back to the car once I'm done with this coffee." Narumi said, not wanting to get killed by his scary new customer. Knowing his clumsy wife, Natsume didn't wanna risk a thing by keeping this stupid looking man any longer inside their living room. He couldn't say just when she'd walk through it, giving him a front seat view of something he shouldn't see. So he had to eliminate this bug, this way or the other. Yet his coffee didn't seem to dry up anytime soon. So Natsume stood there, waiting; waiting for him to finish up and leave his sight. Seeing Natsume standing there watching him carefully, Narumi felt like starting a conversation with him; the worst idea of all.

"Thinking of which," Narumi said as he placed the cup again on the saucer, wanting to drag Natsume's attention. "I couldn't see your wife even during the wedding. She must've looked really pretty in the wedding dress. Sadly, we had to leave before the bride came out. The luggage thingy—" Narumi was cut off by Natsume's most fierce death glare of all times!

"Just finish the damn thing and get the hell out of here!" Natsume yelled, his crimson eyes gleaming in anger, making Narumi gulp the whole thing at once.

"Hai! I'm done! I'll be waiting outside, Natsume-kun!" Said an extremely scared Narumi before he disappeared in the next second.

"Why did you have to scare him so much, Natsume? Poor guy. He couldn't even taste my cake!" He heard his mother's kind voice, coming out of nowhere.

"Needn't worry about that." Natsume said as he turned to leave the scene, annoyed. Seeing him starting to walk away, Kaoru rushed towards him and placed her hand on his shoulder, turning him around.

"Why?" Natsume asked, softly this time.

"Can you give me ten minutes alone with you, son?" Kaoru asked, her eyes softened with overwhelming emotions.

"Mikan, are you naked?" Mikan heard her best friend's emotionless voice from behind the closed door.

"Oh no no Hotaru...! Please come in!" Mikan cried out joyfully, happy to hear that her stoic best friend had come to see her all by herself, at last. With that, Imai Hotaru walked in with a tiny box in her hand. She walked towards the now fully dressed Mikan, emotionless as ever.

"Oh Hotaru... Thanks for coming to see me... before I leave..." Mikan said, getting all emotional as she went on with her talk.

"I heard you guys are leaving the town for good. And I bet you don't know the reason?" Hotaru asked; she was totally confused over the idea of them leaving the town for some faraway place.

"Hmm... I dunno... It was all his idea... And I don't like it one bit!" Mikan said, her eyes nearing to cry.

"Then this probably would be the last time we see each other, huh?" Hotaru said, calm and cool as tears started to drop one after the other from Mikan's eyes.

"Hotaruuu..." Mikan cried in pain and jumped forward to hug her best friend, not caring about her baka gun anymore. But surprisingly, she wasn't hit by it this time and was received gently by a pair of arms, lovingly.

Hotaru was hugging her back, making Mikan's pain become worse.

"Hotaru... I don't wanna leave you!" Mikan said as she sobbed in Hotaru's arms, totally broken down.

"If it was Natsume who decided to take you there, it probably should be the best thing to do at the moment. Just follow him." Hotaru said, her emotionless eyes also flickering a bit by now.

"B—but... Promise me... You won't forget to call me text me and contact me in every way possible! Please don't let me cry alone! I it wasn't for this damn situation I'm in, I won't have... ever agreed to Natsume." Mikan hesitated a little before saying the last few words.

"You sure about that?" Hotaru asked as she broke the hug, looking into Mikan's eyes, sarcasm was thoroughly visible in her tone.

"A—about what?" Mikan asked, wondering what Hotaru was talking about.

"That you won't have agreed to Natsume, if you weren't blah blah blah?" Hotaru asked, sounding serious this time.

But Mikan, knowing what she was coming to, wanted to bypass the question by asking of something else.

"Ne Hotaru... What's in that box? A farewell gift?" Mikan asked out cutely, wisely bypassing her oh-so-hard-answer question.

"Sort of." Hotaru answered, not happy about Mikan skipping her scary question.

"Sort of? Lemme see it!" Mikan stretched her arm, wanting so much to see what Hotaru had taken with her to surprise her. Seeing her eagerness, Hotaru just handed it over to Mikan, besides, she didn't have a reason to keep it away from her anymore.

"What're these?" Asked Mikan whose eyes were no longer colourful or curious after seeing the contents of the tiny box, Hotaru had brought for her.

"They are memory cards, baka!" Hotaru said, sounding irritated.

"Yeah I can see that. But why would you give me memory cards of all the types of gifts on this earth?" Mikan asked, unhappy, as she shook the box to see if there were something else by any chance.

"There's nothing else in it. That one contains the video of your wedding." Hotaru said. "Thought you'd treasure it someday, though you have no idea about it today." She added and sealed her lips again. Hearing her say, 'you'd treasure it someday' Mikan wondered if that day had already come for her. She suddenly felt so happy to feel that she'd been given the memories of her accidental wedding by her best friend. It may have felt like nothing before the previous day, but today, she felt so much like watching it over and over again.

"Thanks... Hotaru..." Mikan said, tears rising in her eyes, once again.

"Don't you wanna know what the other chip is?" Hotaru asked, wanting to make her curious again.

"Oh... What's that anyways? It must be the video of my last B'day party!" Mikan cried out in joy, much to Hotaru's dismay.

"Oi baka! Why would I waste one of my chips to record something unimportant like that? It's your bridal night." Hotaru said as Mikan's jaw dropped, anime style.

"Ehhh? M-y W—What?!" Mikan managed to say, her heart had already stopped beating.

"You heard it right. Ruka and I thought that'd be precious to you as well." Hotaru said out flatly, distancing herself a little from lava oozing Mikan. She knew that volcano would erupt any minute.

"Hotaruuu you meanie! YOU and... Ruka-Pyon!? Oh Kamiii! I don't wanna live any longer!" She yelled, cried, stomped around the room, making Hotaru disappear from the door without making a noise.

Natsume was walking towards the stairs, keeping his eyes focused on the old steel keys he was carrying in his hand. His mind was still pondering about the thing his mother had told him a few minutes ago. To grant her wish, however, he'd have to put an end to that Narumi's agreement.

His mind was a mess so that he didn't notice his best friend's arrival at his face.

"Natsume..." His best buddy spoke, emotional as ever.

"Oh... Ruka!" Natsume expressed his surprise, as he put the keys inside his pocket, hurriedly.

"So you're actually leaving..." Ruka said, his eyes were flickering with anxiety.

"There's no choice, now that I'm outta College and jobless." Natsume said, not wanting to cause much pain to his best friend.

"But... Why can't you start doing something here? Why would you have to leave everything behind and move to some unknown place?" Ruka asked, tears rising in his sapphire eyes.

"Ruka... If I had a choice, I won't be doing this." Natsume said and sighed before he continued, "This is the best I can do for her. And for mom as well." Natsume said as he put his right arm on his shoulder, assuring him not to worry about his decision anymore.

"If it is so... There's nothing I can do to change it... But Natsume... If you need a friend, make sure not to call anyone but me!" Ruka said in a shaky tone, looking into Natsume's confident yet worried crimson orbs. "I'm happy for you and Sakura... You guys finally got to end up being together... It was like a miracle!" Ruka continued, wiping his tears quickly.

"I know... You guys won't ever be apart again... She loves you Natsume... I was really happy to see that..." Ruka said, smiling through his tears.

"To see what?" Natsume asked, not sure what Ruka was referring to.

"E-h?" Ruka said, shocked to see that Natsume had sensed something in his previous sentence. Seeing Ruka's shocked state, Natsume, however, decided to stop asking for further explanations.

"Whatever. We'll be leaving in 30 minutes. You'd better go talk to her, or she'll break into tears, saying 'Ruka-Pyon didn't even waved at me before we left home!'" Natsume said, mockingly before he left the scene, smiling at Ruka.

"Ah... Kamogamo river bank? It's so close to my estate!" Narumi said, focusing on the piece of paper Natsume had handed him. "There are several huge mansion houses around the place, I'm sure we'll find that without much trouble!" He added, still trying to locate the exact place from within his mind.

"Hn." Natsume responded, monotonous as ever.

"Since you guys are gonna live close by, I'll be able provide the repair service without much trouble as well... So... Not being one of my tenants won't hurt me so much as I thought it would." Narumi said in relief.

"It's my mom's wish, after all." Natsume said, a little emotional here.

"Oh... yeah yeah... You definitely can't go against her word! She's such a lovely woman after all, but definitely... a little scary!" Narumi said with some hesitation.

"Shut it and start the engine. We're leaving." Natsume said, annoyed.

"Oh... but... she isn't here yet! Your wife!" Narumi said, worried to death.

"She'll come once you've started the engine." "Tsk. These women take so long just to say goodbye." Natsume added from within his mind. However, he was sure that she'd come running to him once she heard the engine.

Narumi gestured to the driver and the engine started in the next second, making Mikan run towards the vehicle, carrying a huge backpack and wiping her unstoppable tears with one hand.

"Hey! Don't leave me!" Mikan yelled as she reached the vehicle, panting heavily. Seeing her carrying another huge backpack, Natsume's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"What's inside this?" Natsume asked, pointing at the huge bag, disgusted.

"Why?" Mikan asked as she tried to open the door of the vehicle, still panting a hell lot.

"Don't you know our luggage is already there safely in Kyoto?" Natsume asked as he opened the door for her, slapping her hands away, coolly.

"Momma gave me some food! Trust me, I won't share them with you!" Mikan pouted through a tears, making Natsume's expression lighten a little and got into the car, clumsily as ever. There was no way Natsume could further argue with her once she had given out such a cute remark. So he got into the car silently and tried to push the bag away which was there between them like a big dark barrier, annoyed. But Mikan on the other hand slapped his arms away and kept it there right between them, smiling inwardly. Natsume just glared at her and looked away, cursing her backpack under his breath.

"So Mikan-chan... Natsume-kun! Finally, we're leaving for Kyoto!" Narumi announced, cheerfully as he winked at puffy eyed Mikan through the mirror, making Natsume grit his teeth, annoyed.

"Aren't we supposed to take the flight?" Mikan asked as she turned around to see if she could still see their mom waving at her. But no, they had moved so fast in a millisecond.

"Natsume-kun asked me to cancel the tickets since the flight was delayed due to extreme weather." Narumi said in an official tone, making Mikan gape in confusion.

"Don't worry... Kyoto is just a few miles away from here. If we travel at this speed, we'll be there in less than 5 and a half hours." Narumi said, comforting Mikan. Natsume just kept his eyes shut, leaning his back on the seat, not wanting to listen to the ongoing conversation.

"So... Mr. Narumi... Won't we stop to have our lunch?" Mikan asked out politely, making Narumi turn and look at her face.

"Ah... Of course! We will!" Narumi replied, cheerfully as Natsume opened his eyes and shot him a death glare. His cheerfulness towards Mikan, was giving him headaches.

Three out of six hours had passed between them.

Mikan was totally unconscious and was drooling on her big bad traveling bag while Natsume was half awake, his face covered with one of his favorite comic books.

Narumi, on the other hand was snorting noisily, much to Natsume's dismay. The only one who wasn't asleep was their poor driver. Natsume actually felt sorry for him; not because he was awake, but because he had to bear with Narumi's crazy snorting.

A sudden growl released to the air, making Natsume remove the book from his face and look at the brunette sleeping soundly next to him.

"We're stopping for lunch." Natsume announced in his hoarse voice, making all sleeping figures, except for his wife jump back to consciousness.

"Ehhh? Natsume-kun... But there's no restaurant around here!" Narumi said, wiping his still drooling mouth.

"I saw one back there." Natsume said pointing at his back.

With that, the car turned and drove towards the little restaurant near a small parking lot.

"Ah... what a cute little restaurant! Natsume-kun! Believe me, you got such a smart choice!" Narumi said before he got down from the car, smiling sheepishly.

Natsume just growled at his idiotic remark and turned to his wife, who was still sleeping like a new born baby.

With some trepidation, he touched her porcelain face and cleared the hair thrown here and there over it, gently. And when he felt that she was moving, he just pinched her nose, making her open her eyes at once, annoyed.

"Ouch! What was that for!" Mikan cried out loud, making Natsume smirk, visibly.

"Huh. Your stomach's so annoying! Go stuff something inside and put an end to it!" Natsume said, trying hard to act annoyed before his cute little wife.

"Oh... Is that so..." Mikan said, smiling brightly at her husband, all of a sudden.

"What's so funny about that?" Natsume asked, knowing that he had been caught off-guard.

"No! Nothing! C'mon husband! Let's go!" Mikan said cheerfully as she dragged him by his sleeve, her eyes filled with a strange bliss which she hoped would last forever.

Hiiii my dearest readers! I'm back with the longest chapter in my recorded history! Haha! :-) 4000 words! Oh my gosh! Haha I'm overreacting! :-D

Leave taking! So how was it?
Umm I took so long to update this time, didn't I? ;-(

I'm sorry... In our country, we had a grand power failure yesterday! It was really fun! Haha! :-D My laptop has become a desktop these days, meaning it doesn't have its battery anymore! Haha! :-D So how am I supposed to type without power huh? So you gotta forgive me. *wink.

The best part of the story is yet to come. So wait!

I know this chapter wasn't mind-blowing at all! ;'( Please wait till the next chapter comes out. I'll post it tomorrow for sure!

Now that they're happily married, don't think the story's over, okay guys?

And ah... I still have to blow away your confusion, right?

So wait wait wait!

And OMG! 60+ reviews! I Love you guys so much! Looks like my story has reached its peak with my 19th chapter! You guys have reviewed it so much! Please keep up the good work! ;-) :-* :-* :-*

You guys've made me go totally crazy! :-*

cposcabee:- Thanks for being one of my constant reviewers! Love you! :-*

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HaCel:- My ever Loving HaCel! You gotta wait till the end to know that honey... Umm yup! 18th chapter sure is fun! :-) Love your reviews so much! Please keep reading and reviewing! Love you! :-*

iiAriya:- Umm some of your predictions are umm quite correct... I can't tell anything yet, honey... Let's just hope for the best! :-)

Love you! Please keep reviewing! :-)

Timey Wimey Detecter:- Oh thanks thanks thanks a bunch! It's the best complement a writer could ever receive! Love you so much! Please keep reviewing hon! :-*

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newroz:- Whoa! I'm sooo happy to see you back in my reviewers list! Of course, even I didn't expect something like this to happen all of a sudden. It looks like Mikan and Natsume have fooled me as well. Haha... Love your reviews! Please stay with me till the end! :-*

I sure can tell that, no other writer is happier than me at the moment!

You guys made me feel so proud! *Jumping up and down

Please wait for my updates! So much to come!

Ah... If you wanna see who's really behind this story, please visit my profile page, I've uploaded a picture of REAL ME! Haha!

I'm scared you guys will stop reading if you get to see that. Haha!

:-D

Really funny!

I wrote so much!

I'm gonna sleep now.

Bye my friends!

Love you all!

-Awful Nightmare-