I am sorry to declare that after over a year on FFN, I have decided to RESIGN due to several reasons.

The upcoming school year will place an extraordinary strain on me due to it being my final year, I would like to focus on my studies.

In addition, writing fanfiction used to relax me, but now I feel as if it is only stressing me out.

I'm really very sorry, I had hoped to at least finish my stories, but it looks like they'll remain incomplete.

Tomorrow I'll be deleting all of my stories.

In addition to that, I must apologise for pulling such a horrible prank; it's not even april fools day.

I seriously just couldn't help myself, it's the prankster within me :)

No, I'm not quitting, I was just pulling your legs :p

So please stop throwing decomposed and mouldy tomatoes at me

~Winter's Melody

Thank you to all of the insanely awesome reviewers, who made my day ^^ Seriously, reviewers are probably the best people in the world!

Evermore888

Violet spirit

DiamondFlower1998

Emmoria

bunnyjumps (x2)

IllutiaDark

natsumeslover (x2)

j3ssicalim

CrimsonxHazel

22-green-fire-balls

Some of you are probably ready to murder me now, but oh well ^^

Well, here's the chapter, and in case anyone didn't get it, I'm not quitting, just kidding around :D

The Usurper

Chapter 5

Mikan let out a low growl of frustration. The geese simply refused to go where she wanted them to go, and her arms were starting to ache from waving around her sticks. At last she gave up and let them wonder around the lake at leisure. She lay on the ground and looked up at the sky. It was blue and sunny; the only trace of clouds a white wisp on the horizon. Mikan had been shocked to see the weather when she woke up; just yesterday the sky had been an endless canopy of stormy grey.

"Ruka, the geese aren't listening to me!" she complained when the golden haired boy came back with the said geese trailing behind him.

"They're just a little excited because they haven't been out in a while." He knelt down and started to stroke the largest one. It leaned in to his touch, eyes half-closed. Mikan was sure that if she had tried the same thing she would be attacked. "Don't worry about herding them so much, just try and keep an eye on them. Eventually they'll get used to you."

"If you say so…" trailed off Mikan, doubtful.

"It'll be fine, if there's any trouble just call me."

"Alright." she relented, then became suddenly enthusiastic, "I'll protect them with my life!"

Ruka looked alarmed at her overly gallant statement. "Really, Sakura, that won't be necessary."

"No. It is. All I've been doing is complaining complaining complaining! Here I am, with a brilliant job and a place to stay and I'm just giving up before I've even started. It's pathetic." At the last words Mikan's voice softened, and she lowered her downcast eyes. Ruka probably would've looked more comfortable with a burning stick shoved down his throat.

"Ummm…Sakura…I'll just be going now. If there's any trouble just call me." he stuttered before fleeing the scene to escape the distraught damsel.

Mikan watched, surprised as he walked off, then started to giggle. She flopped back down to ground and smiled as the gentle breeze played across her face. She felt calm. Even though her family and all of friends were leagues away. Even though she had been betrayed by her best friend. Even though the threat of death hung over her head. She was no longer Mikan, the princess of the Water Kingdom. She was no one, she was invisible.

Perhaps she could live like this: freely.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard the distraught cry of one of the geese. She looked around frantically trying to locate the goose. Her eyes widened as she noticed the water frothing in the centre of the lake. The goose was struggling against an unseen force that was dragging it down. Mikan sprinted towards the lake and frantically waded through the muddy banks. The song was drifting over the water again, but this time it was a cruel melody, as terrible as it was great. She was ankle deep. She was knee deep, she was waist deep. But this time she didn't stop. She started to swim, powerfully propelling herself through the murky water. She had to save the goose, she had promised.

'Mikan! Are you trying to kill yourself? That lake is dangerous!'

'Arrow, I have to save that stupid duck! It's my job!'

'STOP, you don't know what you're doing!' Mikan ignored him and pushed forward to the centre of the lake. She was shoulder deep. She was chin deep.

'I'm not turning back now!' She was too deep.

She could see the goose clearly. By now it was starting to lose the war, still struggling to no avail. The lake gave a powerful, swirling surge and the goose went under. Mikan cried out, trying to locate the goose under the pulsating waves. She forced her muscles on, stretching them to well past their limit. She was nearly there, just a few metres more…

Natsu watched her powerful stroke from the lake shore. He was impressed; not even he could swim that well. She was approaching the centre of the lake, nearing the drowning water-goose. Who had even heard of a water goose drowning? He laughed, amused at the thought, but his laugh died in his throat. His eyes passed over the lake. It was perfectly calm. There was nothing moving.

"SAKURA!" he called out, frantically searching for a sign of movement, for just a slight disturbance. There was nothing. Only the slight strains of distant music floating over the deathly still lake.

It was cold. Mikan could feel the water dragging her down, pushing against her from above and pulling her downwards from below. She opened her eyes, but could see nothing of her surroundings due to the thousands of tiny air bubbles rising to escape the turbulent water. She tightened her grip around the goose in her arms. Both goose and girl were perfectly still as the wavering light of the morning sun started to fade into the distance. She had never felt so helpless in her life. No matter how hard she had struggled, freeing herself was impossible, like trying to defy gravity. Death, thought Mikan, sure is peaceful. Once you just accept it, and accept that nothing can be done about it, it's not so hard. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the sharp pain of water entering her lungs. But it never came. Instead came the strange sensation of lake water flooding her body, making its way through her veins. It was as if her body was being filled with liquid elation. She suddenly felt so much more alive; it felt like she was finally waking up from a muffled dream.

Mikan gave a tentative kick and shot upwards. She wasn't simply displacing the water; she was commanding it. It only took a few kicks more for her head to break the surface of the lake. The bright sun made her squint as she looked around. Mikan yelped as she heard a startled squawk from the water goose and felt its claws scrabbling against her arms, struggling to free itself. When she loosened her arms she saw it skid, half swimming half flying, across the water surface towards the banks. Mikan furrowed her eyebrows, thinking about what she had just done. The water had seemed to obey her every thought, as if it were under her command. Even now the water calmly lapped at her.

"Sakura!" Mikan looked over at the dark haired figure swimming towards her. She didn't know why, but she felt anxious.

"Stop, Natsu! Go back!" she called out, but he didn't listen. The water started to grow rough, even with Mikan trying to calm it. She would be fine, but Natsu was starting to struggle. As the waves started to violently crash over his head, she began to swim towards him. It was déjà vu, first the goose and now Natsu. She dived down into the depths of the lake, water streaming around her. She could see him to her right and she started to propel herself towards the limp figure. His skin was the ghostly colour of porcelain and his hair danced in the swirling current like strands woven from shadows. She grabbed his cold arm and towed him to the banks.

Mikan grabbed his wrist in her hands and tried to feel for a pulse. She breathed out, relieved, when she felt a soft fluttering under her fingers. His eyes were still closed, but at he was alive. Mikan had no idea what to do next, maybe wait for him to get up on his own?

'Arrow, what do I do now?'

'What?'

'There's a guy who almost drowned, and he has a pulse but he's not moving!'

'Calm down, is he breathing?' At this Mikan placed her hand in front of Natsu's mouth and felt for the slight draft of his breath. It wasn't there.

'Arrow! He's not breathing! What do I do? What if he dies?'

'Take a deep breath, there's an emergency procedure called CPR, and...Mikan!' Mikan was too far gone to listen to reason, and in her panic decided on the best course of action by herself.

"NATSU! Wake up!" She shouted in his ear, then slapped him, hoping to elicit some response. She waited, holding her breath, for a reaction. Slowly, Natsu's lids opened, revealing his eyes like glowing embers. He sat up and started to cough up water.

'It actually worked.' observed an amused Arrow.

"You...are an idiot." Natsu managed to gasp between bouts of coughing. "I almost drown and the only thing you can think of is to slap me?"

"It worked!" exclaimed Mikan defensively.

"Haven't you heard of CPR?"

"What's that?" asked Mikan, forehead furrowed.

"Do you want me to show you?" Natsu smirked, before suddenly turning a violent shade of magenta.

"What's wrong Natsu? You're turning red." Mikan laid her hand on his forehead to gauge his temperature. "Are you sick?" Natsu seemed to be looking everywhere except at her.

"Your shirt...it's see-through..." Mikan looked down and realised that her previously white shirt was, indeed, see-through.

"Turn around, pervert! NOW!" she ordered. He obeyed.

"Do you want me to come back with some towels?"
"No." Mikan answered a little too quickly.

"I won't see anything if you turn the other way."

"NO! LEAVE, NOW!" Mikan shouted, adding quietly, "Don't come back, please." Natsu turned around, shocked to hear instead of anger, panic in her voice. Her face was white as a sheet, and there were tears of terror in her eyes. Natsu placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"Sakura, what's the matter?" Mikan just shook her head and pushed him away.

"I just feel like staying outside a while longer." she said, slowly backing away from him. He briefly wondered why she wouldn't turn her back on him.

"You'll get a cold!"

"It's warm, I'll dry out in the sun." At last Natsu shook his head and started to walk back to the stables, giving up. Mikan collapsed to her knees in relief at his receding back. She knew that if he had gotten even the slightest glimpse of her back, he would see it. A tattoo in the shape of a rearing horse. She realised that she was wrong when she thought she could live freely. She would never be free so long as she had to lie to her friends.

'Arrow?'

'Mikan.'

I'm sorry.' There was no need to explain herself, Arrow would always understand.

'I am too.'

And so the story starts to turn a little darker...

Give this lovely story the reviews it deserves (although the author probably doesn't deserve any due to the stunt she pulled earlier)