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"Search…?!"
The time she got out of her room, she hurriedly run FAST with only one destination in her mind, the hospital. By the time she left the dorm, she was welcomed by a great stampede of girls screaming, "Natsume-sama, where are you?" "Natsume my love come out!" , "I won't hurt you Natsume-sama, I promise!" , "Be my Valentine, Natsume-sama" and etc.
She was caught in the middle of the stampede and she is in dire need to get off it quick or else they could run her down. She's bugged with the bows which those girls are carrying and she's trying hard not to be pricked by those arrows.
After a LONG while, wait, a bit longer than that, she successfully escaped from the stampede of girls, thank God! But she's still wondering: Why are those girls holding those dangerous weapons, man, someone might get hurt! Then, she recalled… Natsume… girl fans… bows and arrows?.. Hariko… cupid merchandise… sum them up… equals… Those bows and arrows may be cupid merchandises that the fan girls bought from Hariko to use on… NATSUME!?
A lightning strike, "What?! I thought Natsume was in the hospital. Then, why are they-?" Then she remembered, 'Good to hear that. We were worried because you've been sleeping for almost three days now.'… 'Sleeping for almost three days now'… 'Almost three days now'… 'Three days'… 'THREE DAYS'… 'THREE'… 'THREE DAYS'… That rings the bell.
I'm so stupid! STUPID! ! STUPID! ! STUPID! ! STUPID! ! STUPID! She repeated while continuously bumping her head on a tree's trunk. She didn't notice someone was studying every move she's been taking, from her appearance down to the simplest detail of her personality. She also failed to notice the person calling for her attention. She just kept on knocking her head against the poor tree's trunk until she finally got dizzy and fell flat on her back.
"Feeling better now?" came a deep male's voice, Call him 'an unexpected someone'.
- Natsume's POV- (prone to irony or sarcasm, beware)
Darn those fan girls! Don't they know when to quit? They're pissing me off, BIG TIME! I'm hiding on a tree to escape from my fan girls and I can't help but wonder, What's with those bows and arrows? Are they trying to kill me, or something? Heck, they won't dare! Girls are creepy! But you all know I won't admit that out loud.
Sigh, good thing they haven't noticed me on my hide out, so far. They're so damn persistent. I'm still on the look out from the branch of the tree I've been hiding but to my surprise - yes, I was surprised- the tree seems shaking. God, did they spot me? Why on earth is this tree shaking as if there is a quake any way? I can't just wait there until I die out of curiosity, so I take a peek, and guess who I saw. Yes, it was Polka dots. Hurray, now my day will entirely be ruined.
The stupid girl is knocking her head on the tree where I'm at. That's right, bump your head and collapse so that you would go trouble someone else. I can't help but roll my eyes at her. She's acting like herself again… stupid.
Sigh… I just can't stand by, watching someone punishing himself like that, even if it's her. I hate my conscience sometimes. My brows furrowed, just thinking that I'll help her makes the chills run throughout my system, tch.
I'm gonna tell her to stop. That's all, right? I slowly climb down but stopped on my way when she finally fell flat on the ground. Geez that girl! I was just on my way down when I felt a presence so I stopped and heard a man's voice say "Feeling better now?" Who's he? I quickly hid myself. Why didn't I felt him coming?
-End of POV-
She slowly moved a weary eye towards a lad in a wheel chair. Do I know him? Finally aware of her condition, she hurriedly regained her composure with a tint of pink on her cheek due to embarrassment.
"You're Sakura Mikan, am I right?" came a merry question from the guy in wheel chairs, "You must have forgotten, we've met before."
Mikan stared in confusion, she pointed a finger to herself to affirm if he's referring to her. When he nodded, indicating a 'yes', she put a finger on her chin, closed her eyes and concentrate. Pondering deep for a minute… two… three… four… she raised her hands in defeat. She couldn't guess who's this handsome, green-eyed blond, in the wheel chair, if I may add, is, and yet he claims that they've met before. He doesn't seem to be within her age, too, so he can't be an old classmate.
The lad watched astound as Mikan's eyes shone under the face of the sun. The way she vow apologetically, her soft clear voice as she says "I'm so sorry, I think I forgot, hontouni gomenasai" and the way she scratch her un-itchy head and fiddle with her fingers behind her made a smile etch on his face. "It's fine, it was a long time ago any way. So, 'feeling better now'?"
That question made her more confused than before and as if reading her, he added an explanation, "I just thought that maybe you're trying to pour out your emotions that's why you did what you did lately, I know some people does that sometimes, so, aren't you hurt by doing that routine?"
"Um, not really, he, he.." she nervously laughed as the pink blush of embarrassment didn't leave her face. "No need to be nervous around me princess, tell me, what's the reason why are you knocking your head against the tree any way?" Mikan's speechless, she's quite embarrassed by the way she acted back then, all she could say is "Eto…" but she was stopped with what she was about to say, "Oh, sorry, how rude of me to ask a personal question, will you forgive me?"
"No, it was nothing, really, you shouldn't apologize."
It took a while before he could reply, his tone changed from the cheery tone to a serious one, "…You're kind-hearted Mikan-chan, I envy your innocence, and I won't deny that fact." With that said, he moved his wheel-chair without even using his hands in the process, the wheel-chair moved on its own!
All that she could do is to gape at his retreating figure, even more confused than ever, then she noticed he stopped, "Aren't you supposed to be looking for someone, Mikan-chan?" good thing he reminded him 'cause she's starting to forget about it... again. She heard something moved inside the bushes so she channeled her attention to the source of the sound. Thinking that it was just the wind, she quickly turned her head back to the lad to say 'thanks for the reminder' but to her surprise, she saw no one's there. Maybe she should stay at her room and rest longer, she's still seeing hallucinations.
Well, she thought she was hallucinating, but a certain Black Cat doesn't think so for he himself share the same experience as Mikan did. Appearing without me noticing and leaving in a blink of an eye, who is he? Good thing Mikan isn't hurt. (who?) …wait, why am I even bothered?
He's watching Mikan from where he is, intrigued at WHO might that man meant about 'looking for SOMEONE'. But after a while, he realized what he's really doing. Why should I care? He turned to his hills and started to step away from where she was but stopped hearing his name being called, he motioned to where his caller is…
-Mikan's POV-
He's right, I should be looking for Natsume by now. (how about Ruka?) I'm really worried about him. I want to know if he's alright. I also want to ask him about what happened that night. I stopped for a while to think about my situation. Let's see… the fan girls are looking for Natsume, so that means he's hiding somewhere… and I know where's the perfect place. Oh I'm so BRILLIANT!
After laughing out loud, (more of an evil laugh) for I figured something out, proving that I'm not what they call me- "baka", I hurriedly run towards my new destination where I know I can find him, leaving clouds of dust behind my trail.
-end of POV-
Natsume's patience is draining because of someone more troubling than Mikan herself. Yes, he is irritated with Mikan, but in a way that he somehow ENJOYED the moment when she's near. This time, he's not enjoying at all. This is worse than the fan girls, much worse indeed.
-Flashback-
He turned to his hills and started to step away from where she was but stopped hearing his name being called, "Natsume!" he motioned to where his caller is…
"Ruka?" seeing his friend panting in front of him, then he snapped his head back to where Mikan was, expecting her to be facing their way. Lucky for him, she's already off on her tracks leaving clouds of dust behind her trail. He sighs in relief and directs his attention to Ruka.
"Natsume,-pant- you gotta see this-pant-!" Ruka lift his hand to give Natsume a piece of paper and then fell on his rear as he breathes heavily. Natsume reached for the paper and was annoyed by the view.
It's his picture while sleeping peacefully and in comfort on the white canvases of the hospital bed. There were bandage on his arms and chest and some band-aid on his good-looking face. He may look pitiful in the picture, that is if you would apply logic, but if a fan girl is asked, this is the BEST MASTERPIECE EVER CREATED AND CAPTURED by human hands! He look so cute yet mature, in a painful situation but somehow at peace, he looked like a prince even though he can be the dragon in disguise. In short, another top selling item, in courtesy of Queen Hotaru Imai.
Natsume lift a brow at Ruka and asked, "So what? This things don't surprise me nowadays."
"There're other pictures of you around, and at a high price too. That one cost me my allowance."
"Then why did you buy it?"
"Well… you see, (now, his starting his tell-tale, so listen) there's this big crowd of people so I went to look, you know, check it out. When I came closer, I thought I heard a voice calling out my name so I made my way through the crowd. There I saw Hariko-chan and Amanatsu-chan selling something. They say it was 'Natsume-Ruka merchandise'." Ruka sigh bitterly at the thought while Natsume remained silent, waiting for him to continue. "You know I had a phobia with those pictures right?" Natsume nods, "Last time they sell those pictures, I was interrogated by Jinno-sensei because he caught a fan girl from the other class watching a photo of me with only a towel around my waist." Chills run through his spine, recalling Jinno-sensei's interrogations, "I tried to ask them for a picture-", Natsume cut him off, "Let me guess, they refused, right?" Ruka nods, Natsume folded his arms in front of him, "That girl, she became as evil as her master."
"Who, Amanatsu-chan?"
"No, the other."
"Hariko-chan?"
"She became Imai's minion in just a short span of time. I won't be surprised if one day Imai will build her own kingdom."
Ruka choked at what he said, he didn't expect him to say that, he sweat dropped, "I-I g-guess s-so." He gulped in saliva and continued, "I paid them just to claim my picture, but instead of mine, they gave me yours."
"So?…"
"Hm?"
"why are you telling me this? Don't tell me you want me to burn their stall or threat them to stop? You're kidding me, you could easily ask your animal friends to run over them anytime."
"I know, but there's still another thing aside from my photos remember? There's still your photos, and guess what their special limited edition picture that is sold for an auction this afternoon?"
"It's obviously an embarrassing picture of me."
Ruka lowered his head because a blush is slowly crawling on his cheeks, "Super embarrassing that is." he corrected. Natsume raised a brow at him, "It's your picture, alright… but… NAKED."
Natsume frowned, brows furrowing, fist clenched, eyes on flames, "Let's go Ruka!"
"O-okay."
-end of flashback-
They've been having a glaring contest for a time now, and so far, nobody can tell who's winning, is it Natsume, the famous Black Cat and Crimson-eyed devil, or is it Hotaru, the all-known Ice Queen and Goddess of Blackmailing. Everyone backed off a safe distance from the two. They can feel black auras from them… EVIL to be exact. You can feel the heat of the raging battle from the two and the chill of unexplainable fear from yourself.
"No matter how hard you stare, I won't give you thOSE pictures." Hotaru said, still emotionless, but when you search deep into her eyes, you can see determination.
Same goes to Natsume, "You must've heard me wrong Imai, I'm not asking permission from you to get my pictures. I'm giving you an order. It's mine in the first place."
"One word, Hyuuga, NO."
Everyone turned their heads back and forth from Natsume to Hotaru and vise versa as the conversation intensifies. All attention is directed to the two and no one dared to speak a word. So, when an alarm sounded, everyone (there are of course exceptions) leapt in surprise. They almost felt their soul leaving their body. They snapped their head to where the sound originated.
Amanatsu felt the urge to get off the stall since everyone's staring at her direction. What even struck a lighting on her is when Hariko popped from her side with a noisy alarm clock at hand.
"Oh no," she turned off the alarm then yelled, "Hotaru-chan, I'll be leaving now!"
"…." Hotaru didn't bother taking her gaze off Natsume, and same goes for him.
Hotru-chan didn't answer, so I guess… it's a yes? Hey, why is everybody staring at me? Geez, their weird. (who wouldn't stare at you when you do what you just did?) Hariko, in a hurry, left the stall.
Silence…
No one knows what to say or do at the moment…
Ruka gave a fake cough to collect their attentions. "As Natsume was saying… you should give us back our pictures since they're not yours any way."
"Or else, what? You'll threat me to give it; burn the stall; order your animal friends run over it or; tell a teacher? You should know that I'm prepared of what you may throw on my way."
"Imai, we won't allow you to sell nude pictures of us you know!" Ruka said forgetting the attention of the crowd for he is really… when I say really, it means REALLY… not in the mood to argue with these kinds matter.
Hotaru's eye sparkled, "Nude, huh? Who told you I'm selling pornographies?"
"I heard your two 'minions' said so."
Minions? "Those two?… I've been supervising them all this time and never have I heard of such nonsense… When you think about it, it would be a hit if you would be nude but the school will sue me for taking such pictures. You should have thought about that before you barge in here."
Ruka gawped at what she said. She had a point, but I really heard them say 'NAKED'.
Hotaru sighed. Just as I thought, "You're wasting my time." She reached inside her pocket and brought out a remote control, she pushed a button and after a while, a sound of an engine is heard. The crowd moved to give way to the flying duck scooter.
"Where do you think you're going?" Natsume hissed at her.
"I've got no business here anymore." After that statement, she rode off. She smirked at the thought: Naked? Yeah, right… what did those two said exactly?… -quick flashback- "Gather up everyone, we've got limited ACTION (Ruka thought it was AUCTION) pictures which is entitled 'hiber-NATED ( Ruka caught the latter part and thought it sounded NAKED) Prince Natsume!' Another is the action picture is the 'spilled milk' of Prince… it's limited and sale's only until afternoon!"
Natsume gritted his teeth as he watch her escape.
"Natsume!" called out Ruka.
"What?!" he shot back, Ruka ignored his tone and continued, "The stall's gone."
Natsume shot the crowd a deadly stare, as if on cue, the place was evacuated. Anger is undoubtedly seen through his eyes.
In a familiar Sakura tree, a familiar brunet is seen resting her back against the tree's shades. I thought he'd be here, so I hurried, but what met me was no one, sigh. She looked up at the sky, the wind gently blew making her hair dance along. Petals from the Sakura tree slowly glide with the wind. It's so peaceful. "Well, maybe I'll search for him later."
"Search for who?"
Mikan, startled, literally sprang up the Sakura tree, but Hariko ceased her from climbing far higher. "Mikan-chan, calm down, it's only me, Hariko." Mikan looked down and was greatly relieved to see it was really her all along. Too relieved that she forgot she was climbing a tree so she fell… on Hariko.
"GOMENASAI HARIKO-CHAN!"
"Ouch, I feel dizzzzzzzzzy. My, my, can you see all those stars…"
"Pull yourself together Hariko-chan!"
"S-S-stop-"
"What?! I can't understand, can you speak clearly?"
"STOP SHAKING ME MIKAN-CHAN!" Mikan dropped her.
"Sorry…"
Groan… "Ouch it hurts…"
"Daijoubu desu ka?"
Stands up and dusted her skirt, "Daijoubu, don't worry it's not that bad of a fall."
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay… any way, back to the question. Who are you searching for Mikan-chan?"
Mikan was taken aback by the question, she bit her lower lip, a sweat fell from her temple, she felt heat raise to her head.
Hariko gave her a malicious look. "If I recall, it's a 'him', right?"
Mikan averted her gaze from Hariko, sweats are forming on her forehead. "Any way Hariko-chan, what brought you here?"
"You're not answering me?"
"Nice weather today, ne?"
Narrows her eyes towards the brunette, "Yeah! Today's a nice day indeed. It's not too hot, nor too cold. The birds are singing happy songs everywhere, and the wind is fresh as ever!" she said as she swings around, clasping her hands together, multi-colored background, then, paused for a while to think, "Mikan-chan, I think I forgot something. What were we talking about? I really think I need to tell you something, or to yell at you rather. I just can't remember what it is…"
"We're talking about why you're here."
"Oh, yeah. Well, you see I was- blah, blah, blah" Mikan sighed in relief, whew, that's close.
"Mikan-chan, are you listening?" Hariko is waving a hand in front of her.
"Y-yeah, where were we?" Mikan let out a nervous smile, which was repaid with a meaningful smile from her friend.
"…I must admit, you look beautiful when you let your hair down, Mikan-chan. And although you're still wearing your pajamas, you still look gorgeous!"
"Pa-pajamas?" she looked down and saw that she was, indeed, still in her pajamas, she flushed in embarrassment, a grumbling sound followed.
……………………
(LOL) "You forgot to eat lunch too, right? Let's see, (looking at her watch) Mikan-chan, it's been 2 hours since you left the building, I can't believe you want to starve yourself." Hariko is practically rolling from laughter, "And all that just to find your prince charming, right? (almost choked) Man, Natsume-kun sure is a lucky husband if ever." She eyed Mikan, seeing she's as red as tomato, she laughed even more.
"Stop it Hariko-chan, it's not funny!!" irritated. "Who told you it was Natsume any way?"
"It can't be Ruka-kun because you knew he wasn't badly hurt and there's no need to worry about him, so… he's the only person aside from him that we're talking about back in your room, right? And judging from your reaction, I can say I hit bull's-eye." suppressing her laughter, but didn't succeed.
Mikan is just frowning at her. Then, she saw a spark… "Mate Hariko-chan…"
Stop me, Diary-san! I'll die laughing out here. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! (choked, serves her right)…(coughs) It's okay to have some fun while you're here, right? Don't worry, I'll try not to attract much attention and never forget my purpose of coming to this academy. Wait, Diary-san, I'm a diversion and a diversion must attract attention, right? Sigh, any way, the time for us to meet approaches, I wonder if I can still recognize you just by the looks. I'm super excited!