26. Finally, I'm back!

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She walked out of the doors, watching the road observantly, aiming to spot Megane waiting for her somewhere down the road. It had been two and a half hours since Natsume had dropped her there at her yoga class which was there in the midst of the sun burnt skyscrapers and clumsy evening rush of Kyoto's main town. She narrowed her eyes and walked forward, sweat oozing from her porcelain forehead.

But still, no trace of Megane.

She knew she had to wait, but all of a sudden, something interesting caught her eye.

"Oh... Kami-sama... It looks delicious!"

She thought, drooling over the sign board of the shop which was there in front of her eyes, on the opposite side. Ice-cream. Only God knew how much she loved ice-cream. But according to Natsume, her husband, it was RED food, meaning no ice-cream during pregnancy. She hated how her husband could be so traditional in the matters like marriage life and child birth.

"He's crazy!" She said to herself and continued to drool over the sign board again until she came up with the decision that she had to go there, all by herself. Since Megane wasn't there yet, it won't be a problem if she took two or three minutes to deal with an ice-cream secretly. "He won't find out!" She said to herself and smirked cunningly. Then she crossed the road at once and reached the store, sniffing the smell of ice-cream like a little pup. That store wasn't selling ice-cream solely; it had all kinds of sweets displayed in the showcases, making Mikan change her mind and buy two boxes of fluff puffs instead of ice-cream. She then took it in her hand and started to walk out of the store, her eyes fixed on the two nicely decorated boxes, drooling.

"Mikan?"

She felt someone tapping on her shoulder.

"Eh?" Mikan replied, turning around to see who that was. Two or three seconds passed and Mikan froze on the spot as her brain processed the picture of the intruder to bring out some meaning outta it. The meaning of his picture was never good. She felt sweat starting to roll down as the tall blonde guy moved closer to her, his eyes shifting from her face to her belly from time to time.

"Oh my god... Is this really you, Mikan?" The blonde guy spoke, walking out of the store and towards her. Hearing him speak, Mikan's ears went deaf and her heart stopped beating without giving out a warning. When he moved much closer, Mikan stepped back, unknowingly. Her face was awful, but it wasn't the case with him. His eyes had widened yet his lips were forming a weird type of smile, making Mikan's situation worse.

"Are you married now, Mikan?" The guy asked, stopping in front of her terrified face, making her back off some more.

"Are you afraid of me?" The guy asked again as Mikan hesitated to speak.

"D—don't c-come closer!" Mikan yelled, making a few of the people around them turn their heads to look at her.

"Oh... I mean no harm! I just need to talk to you..." The guy spoke as she stopped backing off and stood there still in front of him, picking up courage to face the nuisance in front of her eyes. She felt her eyes starting to blot as her gaze stopped in his eyes, and her hands trembling, eager to slap him across his face. Seeing his unchanged smile, her mind started to overflow with memories from the past, making her eyes go dim. She didn't know when he caught her by her shoulders and walked her to a table inside the café and make her sit there. Feeling the table in front of her, she rested her head on it, breathing heavily. Her lips had become pale, so was her face.

"Please, drink this, Mikan..." She heard him speak through her collapsed senses.

"No! Last time... Last time I drank something you gave me... I ended up in bed with you!" The exhausted brunette yelled, raising her head, shaking off the dizziness for a millisecond, before she rested her head again on the table, weeping silently.

"I know... You shouldn't trust me... But now you need this..." He said, shoving the glass of water in front of her collapsed face.

"Your dog needs it." The brunette yelled again in a weakening tone, clutching her belly with one hand.

"Please... Mikan... Give me one more chance to explain—" The blonde guy was saying until he was interrupted by a very angry brunette.

"Explain? What's left there to explain? It's your baby I'm carrying!" She cried out loud, making the whole place focus their eyes on them.

"What?" The blonde asked, immediately, not believing a word.

"Ah? You don't know anything huh? Don't think I don't remember how you screwed me!" Mikan yelled again as the guy's expression changed to the worst.

"What're you talking about?! Are you crazy?" The guy asked in return, his eyes had lost its colour by now.

"Of course I am! Why shouldn't I be! You ate my whole life! And thanks to Natsume, I'm alive today!" She replied as a tear fell down from her determined eyes.

"Ah... Natsume? So you're married to Natsume huh? That airhead. Of course, you should thank him then." The guy said, smirking from the corner of his mouth. But however, the thing she had said had made him change his mind. He needed to go on with the story, but with a different plot line.

"It's not Natsume. It's you who's the airhead! You're an abuser! A torturer! A perverted asshole!" Mikan yelled her lungs out, her eyes dancing in their holes like those of a lunatic, depressed yet energetic at the same time.

Hearing her trying hard to pick the perfect nickname for him, the guy just smirked, his eyes fixed on the crowded entrance of the busy cafeteria.

He'd been seeing it the whole time; that fiery gaze, looking upon them while Mikan was busy crying her lungs out, throwing different nicknames at the person in front of her. Her chair was facing the wall, but not his; it was facing the crowd and the busy entrance.

The only thing that the crowd could see was his fearless smirking face, and not her swollen teary eyes.

He felt his fingers losing the grip on the parcel he had been carrying until now: fluff puffs, her favorite. He didn't know what to do next; move forward or to stay back. But his impulse pushed him forward, his fingers forming a fist. His now pale lips were plastered together, not knowing what expression to give out, yet his blood-red eyes were burning and his heart was sighing, like a fully burnt furnace.

Seeing him approaching them, the blonde man's smirk grew wide.

"Hush... Mikan..." The guy said out suddenly, reaching out for her hand on the table and taking hold of it with a sudden outburst of emotions.

"What the..." Mikan said as her eyes grew wide, trying to take her hand back from his grip. Seeing her trying to struggle, he tightened the grip on her hand and began to squeeze and caress it with the other.

"I know... You can't forgive me..." The guy said with utmost gentleness, his eyes taking glimpses of the approaching figure of the raven haired lad from time to time. "But... I want you and my child." The blonde man said and the brunette's ears bled.

He had spoken those words loud enough to have two stiff arms around his neck, grabbing his collar and making him stand up.

Mikan had to wait two or three seconds to figure out what was going on there in front of her eyes.

"Na—Natsume!" Finally, she managed to speak the appropriate word.

Hearing her calling his name, Natsume stopped to give her a stern look and then continued with his punches at his blonde opponent's face.

Mikan wanted him to stop beating as the helpless blonde was already in a pool of blood and she was scared that Natsume might kill him right on the spot.

"Natsume... Natsume! Please stop... Please!" Mikan cried as she looked at the crowd they had attracted to their location, anxiously. But Natsume continued heartlessly, his rage had risen to the level of his throat by now.

"Huh... Do it! Kill me! But that..." the blonde stopped to spit blood from his broken mouth, smirking sarcastically. "But that won't change the fact that it's my—" He was cut off by another painful blow at his jaw, making him land horizontally on a chair nearby. Natsume approached him again as Mikan stood there silent, pale like a ghost.

The crowd gasped as Natsume turned the unconscious guy's face to make sure that he wasn't in a state to speak garbage again.

"Natsume..." Mikan spoke as he walked towards her, his eyes blotting a little.

"Natsume I'm..." Mikan said again, her voice muffled by her sighing.

"Let's go home." He said in a hurried tone, looking away, dreamily.

Mikan just followed him, piercing through the whispering crowd, away from the café towards the car.

"Natsume... that was..."

"Don't speak a word."

"Natsume, it's not what you think!"

"I told you already."

"But you gotta know the truth!"

"Truth huh."

"Why'd you make fun out of me in such a crucial time!"

" 'Cause I saw the truth. No one forced you. It was you! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"How could you! How could you say no one forced me! What you saw was only a..."

"Now stop it already."

"But I can't stand it when you suspect me!"

"Well, I don't."

"No! You do! Natsume you know I..."

"You want me to get off from here?"

"No!"

"Then be quiet."

The rest of the drive was silent and solemn. Natsume pressed his head on the backrest, tapping the steer restlessly as Mikan kept her eyes on the endless line of vehicles outside, caressing her enlarged belly.

Her mind was overflowing with questions and she didn't know how she managed to stay calm after what she had gone through earlier in the day. But one thing was clear; her past had started to haunt her again.

"Mikan-chan!" Her two maids spoke in unison as she walked in alone. Natsume had already left for work again after dropping her by the gates of the mansion house, safely.

"Yuri-san... Takahashi-san..." Mikan acknowledged them weakly making both of the maids move forward and take hold of her feeble body.

"What's wrong Mikan-chan? You don't look well..." Takahashi asked as they led Mikan towards her room which was downstairs now.

"No it's just... The yoga class... it was a bit tiresome..." Mikan answered as they made her sit down on the edge of her bed, smiling faintly.

"Oh... Is that so... Maybe because it was your first day after all... Don't worry, Mikan-chan... It all will be gone after a little nap... Just rest here for now, Mikan-chan..." Yuri said before she stood up and signed Takahashi to go back to the kitchen and bring a glass of fresh fruit juice for Mikan.

After they both had left, Mikan just lay there, staring at the empty ceiling as usual. Her heart was thumping and was heaving over the images from earlier of the day. She remembered how her past crush ignored the fact that it was his baby at first but made his mind to accept them both at the end and how Natsume heard it all and beat the hell out of him out of extreme pain and anger. She remembered his tearful crimson eyes, questioning her silently as if she had betrayed him in accepting Kaname's offer to sit inside a coffee house with him again in her life. Her heart skipped a beat at that thought. She hated that feeling of being suspected by her beloved. And she didn't know how to win his trust back.

"Huh... Do it! Kill me! But that... but that won't change the fact that it's my..." Mikan's mind was replaying that scene over and over again. She was sure what he'd been trying to say. She was sure why Natsume stopped him from saying it aloud. And she knew it was the truth as well. It was the bitter truth she'd never wanted accept. No matter how much they pretended to be a happy family, the flames were still right behind them, searching for a chance burn their happiness in to ashes. At one point she thought it was her belly which was at fault at the moment. The same belly she'd thought had made them nest together was now trying to part them mercilessly. But there was no escape from this now. Or could she escape? Somehow? Could she remove all the bonds she had with her haunting past, somehow?

Mikan opened her eyes at that thought, standing up from the bed, determined. She then caressed her belly once more, tears oozing from her eyes. She loved it, truly, yet she loved him the most.

"Mikan-chan..." Yuri-san spoke out gently from behind the closed door: Mikan's evening glass of fruit juice in her hand.
Hearing nothing from within the room, the maid spoke again; a bit louder this time, thinking she'd fallen asleep.

"Mikan-chan... Are you asleep?" Yuri called out again to receive no answer from behind the door once more.

"Mikan-chan..." Yuri spoke as she tried to open the door knob only to find that it was locked from behind. And that revelation, made Yuri shake in fear.

"Mi—Mikan-chan!"

"Tsk. That idiot is back." Tsubasa said after checking his phone for the hundredth time: anxiety was visible in his eyes.

"What's it?"

However, there was no way of hiding it from his beloved wife, no matter how hard he tried to remain calm.

"Oh... Misaki... Umm... It's just that..." He couldn't help but stammer at Misaki's sharp edged question. But, she wasn't in the mood to word play.

"Oh c'mon! Spill it at once, idiot!" The short haired girl asked, uneasy to know what was troubling him that much.

"That idiot is back."

He answered and Misaki gasped in utter disappointment.

"You mean... He?" She replied, not sure about her guess.

"Yeah. And it looks like they've already met." Tsubasa's anxious voice spoke again, making Misaki sit beside him on the couch, interested.

"How could you be so sure?" Misaki asked as she handed him his coffee, her eyes focused on his anxious ones.

"He's hospitalized." Tsubasa said, putting the cup again on the table, dreamily as Misaki jumped in utter shock.

"What? You mean, Kaname? He's hospitalized? But... what does it have to do with Mikan?"

"I dunno. But I'm sure it has something to do with Natsume."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid this guy would turn everything upside down again."

"Nothing of that sort would happen." Misaki said, putting her arm around his waist, comforting his worried senses. "Natsume will take care of it all... We needn't worry..." She added before she rested her head on his right shoulder, forcing him to push away the dark clouds.

"Only if Natsume keeps on trusting her... yeah... we won't need to worry." A very worried Tsubasa said, taking his wife into a half embrace, comfortingly.

"So... You think we should... go see him?" Misaki asked, handing him the coffee once more. Hearing her asking that, Tsubasa's anxiety reached its peak.

"I think yes. We'd better go check out his situation. I seriously wanna know what he's up to..." The blue haired guy spoke in a mysterious tone before taking a sip of his coffee dreamily.

It wasn't really hard for them to find him at the hospital; the guy was sitting on a couch in front of the busy receptionist, ready to be discharged.

"Ah... Kaname! God! What the hell happened to you?" The anxious blue hair asked from the once-so-charming blonde, who had, currently, plasters all over his body.

"Huh. Thought your master won't let you come see me. What if he finds out? After all... you guys are all his slaves now, aren't you? Licking his feet in return for feeding your starved bellies." Kaname said smirking from the corner of his mouth, peeking at Misaki over Tsubasa's shoulder. Hearing his sarcasm, Tsubasa just smiled and moved closer to his old friend, unaffected.

"So... Looks like I have nothing to say in defense..." Tsubasa said, sitting on the couch on the opposite side, facing him, signing Misaki to sit as well.

"So what brings you here, my old friend?" Kaname asked, still with that weird smirk on.

"I'm here to ask the same question, buddy." A very sarcastic Tsubasa said, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders out of habit.

"Oh... You wanna know what brought me here, eh? Simple! Your employer sent me here and guess he won't be surprised if I make him pay a visit to this same place after a little while too." The blonde guy replied nonchalantly, smirking at both Tsubasa and Misaki from time to time.

"Ah... It wasn't the answer I'd expected. By the way, if you want me to carry your warning to Natsume, all I can say is that, you made the wrong choice buddy! Listen... If there's no prize you're gonna win outta this battle, it's better to give up now than giving up later. Don't you think so?" Tsubasa asked, anxiety was slightly visible in his sarcastic tone.

Hearing what he had said, Kaname laughed his brains out before giving out his mocking remark.

"Hey, do you feel for me? You sound so serious..." Kaname said, trying hard to suppress his laughter. "And look, I'm not fighting a battle here, if that's what you wanna know. I'm just claiming... my prize." He added, looking serious this time, making Tsubasa shiver in horror.

"Claim what?" Misaki jumped into the middle as Tsubasa squeezed her hand, signing not to involve in this.

"My prize... What she's carrying around always... that's my prize."

Kaname said and Misaki's jaw dropped.

"Say what?" Tsubasa asked, not believing a word.

"I didn't know it myself until she told me today. If you have doubts, why not ask from her?" Kaname said out coolly before he stood up to receive his bill from the receptionist, smirking delightfully.

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"Do you believe him?" Misaki asked, adjusting her seatbelt, trying hard to recover from the shock Kaname had given them.

"I don't want to. But I'm afraid he's telling the truth." Tsubasa said, shifting the gears, dreamily. Hearing what he had said, Misaki looked at him surprised, wanting a proper answer.

"You really think he's telling the truth? But Tsubasa... don't you remember what happened that night? What if Mikan doesn't remember anything from that night? She could be just imagining things!"

"But still... We can't be certain about that."

"Hey, c'mon! We saw it with our own eyes!" Misaki yelled, trying to confirm her thoughts.

"But we didn't see what happened the other night. With Kaname." Tsubasa said, his eyes focused on the ceaseless darkness of the road outside.

"So... What're we gonna do now?" Misaki asked in a defeated tone as Tsubasa sighed, anxiously.

"There's nothing we can do about this." Tsubasa said and took a deep breath before he made his mind to give out his final decision. "But until they solve this matter for themselves, we'll have to keep him from spreading the news."

"Sir... You've had enough. Will you please let us call your driver to take you home? You won't be able to drive in this condition."

"Tsk. No. I'm not done with... this shit." The bartender was pushed aside by the crimson eyed young man who was drinking alone at one dark corner of the bar, away from everyone.

He tasted all kinds of drinks that night. And searched for the most suitable one to kill his pain to find nothing but worsening grief. He remembered her radiant smile which he saw in the morning at his office, a basket of sushi in her subtle hands, and his beloved son in her womb. But now, God was challenging all his dreams, and that baby he had claimed to be his this far, was now, someone else's. He couldn't believe how everything had changed in just a few hours, making him feel like an outsider of this movie. The woman he called his wife this far, she had been holding hands with her high school lover in front of his eyes, saying it was his child she was carrying, as if she wanted him to receive them both. He couldn't believe that women could change their minds that fast. He couldn't believe she would betray him and run into someone else's arms out of the blue.

"Why won't she!" He yelled, clenching the glass in his hand, breaking it right on the spot, letting his blood mix with the stream of alcohol.

"Why won't she... betray me!" He questioned himself, staring at his blood oozing palm. His body was trembling at his own question. Although he couldn't imagine that she would betray him, he actually couldn't think of a reason for her not to betray him as well. That was her past love after all. He remembered how she yearned to gain his love. And he... who was he? He was just a caretaker for her. Had she ever loved him? Or did she see him only as an option?

He cried at that thought. He was totally frustrated: his white long sleeved shirt messy with both sweat and fresh blood, his raven bangs plastered to his forehead by the oozing sweat.

He remained calm for a while though he was so high. With no more emotions, he happened to check his phone, unintentionally only to see twenty three missed calls from Ruka, six from Ibaragi, twelve from Naru and a single text message from, Imai, saying,

"Mikan's missing."

And that did it.

Natsume stood up straight, forgetting all his drowsiness. He reached for his keys, walked out of the bar, and within another few seconds he was miles away, driving his car.

Hello there my loving readers! Hey I wanna kiss you all before I start my talk! Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmwaaah! :-* If that's how you guys send online kisses! Whatever!

I'm sooo glad you people are still there for me and you won't imagine how happy I am right now!

Umm... Actually... I feel like I can face anything now that I have you guys by my side! I really really love you all!

HaCel:- Thanks a bunch my love! No your review made me shed more tears, but this time, tears of joy!

iiAriya:- Omg! I missed you too hon! Thought you were so much disappointed! I'm sorry for the delay... Thanks a lot and need another review for this chapter! :-*

Guest 1:- Hey I'm doing great, especially after reading your review! Hehe Love you and want you to put your name on your other reviews so I could address you properly! :-*

Guest 2:- Hey thanks a lot for feeling for me... Maybe you're right... I deserve more than him... Let's just hope so. Anyway, next time, please put your name on your review! Love ya! :-*

jrenamae:- Thanks for waiting and oh will you believe me if I say it was your review (for the previous chapter) that made me update after a whole month of silence?

Anilissa:- I'll reveal that tomorrow! Thanks a bunch for waiting, reading and reviewing! Love ya! :-*

Okay now... My 26th chapter is complete now and tomorrow I'll be updating the 27th and hopefully it'll be a full chapter (Most probably).

Umm and hopefully my affair is not still fully dead and I need your blessings for its survival!

Okay now... That's it for now and... please enjoy reading!

And I invite all my readers to review my story (If only you think it's worth reviewing) and if you think it's awesome (hopefully) just push the favorite button! Haha :-D

Then I'm off to bed.

You don't know how much I love you!

-Awful Nightmare-