Someone: MUAHAHAHAHAHA!! I'M FREE!!

Someone shouted from nowhere. But please! Someone? All of you know who she is.

BAKA!

Someone: OUCH!

Hotaru: (Blows the smoke from her Baka Gun) You're not free, freaky author. And don't act like such a maniac there.

illutia mist: (Pouts) Geez, Hotaru. Can you not be mean to me even for a second?

…

BAKA!

illutia mist: (Rubs her forehead) WHAT THE?!

Hotaru: (Polishes her shining Baka Gun) You just asked for a second.

illutia mist: You really meant that?! It means: can you not hit me sometimes, Ice Queen!

BAKA!

illutia mist: (Holds her forehead) HEY!!

Hotaru: I'm not an idiot and I absolutely know what it means.

illutia mist: (Mutters in annoyance) Geez…Why in this fic is filled with the 'BAKA!' sound and the other with 'SMACK!' sound? What the heck is going on now?

Hotaru: Because you're an idiot.

illutia mist: (Pouts) I'm not an idiot.

…

illutia mist: (Eyes widen)…Uh…How did you know I'm here?

Hotaru: (Glint in her eyes) I have many resources.

illutia mist: (Looks around) Don't say that…

Hotaru: (Rolls her eyes) No. That character of yours is having a quite-long-boring debate with Hyuuga.

illutia mist: (Tilts her head) Is that so?

Hotaru: A hundred rabbits for repeating that.

illutia mist: … (Grins) I have to see that.

And with that, she went off.

Hotaru: What a troublesome author.

…

Hotaru: Darn. I should have asked for the payments before. (Chases illutia)

-x-

Small Pieces of You

-x-

11th Piece: A Trade

"Narumi-sensei, pleeeaaseee…" Mikan pleaded with her big-puppy eyes.

The blonde teacher sweat dropped at her pleads. "Um…I can't, Mikan-chan. You must wait until noon," he tried to persuade the brunette.

Today was Sunday. Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka, and Natsume were at hospital. They were now in front of Jacklyn's room, trying to deal with Narumi so they could visit her, except for Natsume who came because he was forced by a certain brunette.

"But-but-but why?" Mikan whined.

"Because I said so," Narumi replied jokingly. "Umm, is this just my imagination or I smell something burnt?"

"Your right sleeve got burnt," Hotaru said nonchalantly.

Narumi automatically looked at his right sleeve, and there was a small fire eating his sleeve for sure. "WHA-?!" he shouted as he tried to extinguish the fire that suddenly appeared on his right sleeve. "NATSUME-KUN!! YOU'RE MEAN!!"

"Shut up, gay," the crimson-eyed boy replied sarcastically.

"Hold on, Narumi-sensei!" Mikan concentrated on her alice and the fire extinguished after a few seconds, leaving a quite big hole on the teacher's sleeve.

"Thank you, Mikan-chan," Narumi sighed in relief as he patted Mikan's head.

"Tch. You disturbed me, Polka," Natsume said, irritated.

"It's not good to burn teacher's sleeve, Natsume!" the brunette lectured him. "And my name's Mikan!"

"Whatever," he muttered as he looked away, still irritated.

"It will be noon in two minutes again," the inventor said as she looked at the clock on the wall.

Mikan looked back at Narumi, remembering her plead before. "Narumi-sensei, can I?" she pleaded with her puppy eyes again.

Narumi shook his head and waved his index finger in front of her. "A,a, you must wait two minutes again," he said with a smile.

"Narumi-senseeeiiii…" the brunette wailed, still with her puppy eyes.

Narumi, standing on his decision, shook his head and this just caused his sleeve to be burnt again.

Of course, by a certain crimson-eyed boy.

"NATSUME-KUN!!" he waved his arm, trying to extinguish the fire. Initiatively, the brunette activated her alice and extinguished the fire once again.

BAKA!

The miserable sound was the result of being hit by the blackmailer, who had run out her patience watching the short play in front of her.

The victim?

Who again if it's not the gay teacher.

"It has been two minutes," she said with an expressionless face while pulling back her Baka Gun. Ruka just sweat dropped watching the whole scene.

"Okay, okay. Please be patience," Narumi said as he rubbed his head that was hit by Hotaru's Baka Gun.

He turned the doorknob and opened the door. He let the four friends go inside the dim room. The curtain was still closing the window, preventing sunlight to go inside the room.

In the dim room, they saw a black-haired girl still sleeping peacefully on the bed. Her uniform had changed into the patient clothes. Her scars that were said almost over all her body had been gone. She was breathing softly in her sleep, not feeling being bothered by the guests' presence.

"It looks like she is just fine," the brunette said as she sighed in relief, staring at the sleeping girl.

Hotaru gazed around the room. "Why the window must be covered with the curtain? It's dim here," she wondered.

"I think she can't rest well if it is too bright, so I decided to cover the window with the curtain," Narumi excused.

Mikan shifted her gaze from Narumi and the inventor back to the sleeping girl. She spotted something on the bedside table in the process.

Jacklyn's sketchbook.

There was a little stain of blood on it. She took the sketchbook and stared at the blood stain.

"She must have fought so hard…" she muttered sadly as she touched the stain of blood on the sketchbook. Narumi, Hotaru, Ruka, and Natsume stared at the brunette as she opened the sketchbook.

She spotted something behind the front cover. "…Oh…So that's why she gets mad if someone is messing around with her sketchbook…" she said.

"Why is that?" Natsume asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Mikan gave him a sign to come near her, which he did in the next second. She showed him what she had found behind the front cover of the sketchbook.

Guess who gave this?

That's right! Mom!

I know that you like drawing, so I gave you this.

Use it well.

Mom

"Now you know about this, don't burn her sketchbook again, okay?" the brunette lectured him, staring straight into his eyes.

"Tch." Natsume looked away. "It's none of my business."

Mikan pouted a little, not satisfied with his answer. "Natsume, that's not good, you know," she said, but the boy didn't care.

Fuming a little, Mikan looked back to the sketchbook, opening from page to page. Of course, the first page and the second page were empty because Jacklyn had made it alive before without their acknowledgement.

Still remember? The Sakura petal and shamrock. It's on chapter 3.

Some of them had drawings in it, but most of them were still empty. Mikan skipped to the last page.

There's a different drawing there.

It's a boy.

His hair was orange and he had blue eyes. His smile was a warm one, leaving a cheery impression to those who saw him. The brunette was curious because he was the only drawing in human form in the sketchbook.

'I wonder who he is,' she thought silently.

"Why are you staring at this one longer than the others?" a certain crimson-eyed boy interrupted her thought.

The brunette looked at him. "I'm just curious who he is. He looks great and he has a warm smile," she said as she smiled.

"It's just a drawing," Natsume grunted in irritation.

He's jealous? To a drawing?

Mikan focused her eyes back to the drawing. "I wonder if he's someone important to Jacklyn-chan," she said.

"Whatever. I don't care," the fire caster said as he walked away.

Mikan closed the sketchbook and put it back on the bedside table. She looked at Jacklyn whose eyes were still closed. "Get well soon," she muttered as she smiled warmly even though the sleeping girl couldn't see it.

-x-

"Something is fishy here," Hotaru suddenly said.

"Huh?" Ruka was confused at the sudden statement that came out from the inventor's lips.

Hotaru and Ruka just went out from the hospital with Natsume and Mikan. On the way, the fire caster went to the other direction and the brunette followed him, leaving the inventor and the animal prince going back to the dorm together.

"My intuition is telling me that Koko and Narumi are lying," Hotaru said in a stoic face.

"How do you know?" Ruka asked as he looked at the expressionless inventor.

The raven-haired girl looked straight at his cerulean eyes. "First, Koko said that Jacklyn told him to say her sorry to Mikan. I wonder why that is. Second, both of them were acting strange back then, whether when Koko was being asked about the kidnapper and when Mikan was being asked by Hyuuga about that girl's alice," she explained as her face still remained expressionless. "Very weird."

The animal prince fell silent, amazed of how the inventor was thinking. Hotaru kept on walking as she thought about the weird things that she just said to the blonde-haired boy beside her.

-x-

"Natsume…" Mikan called a certain raven-haired boy who was lying on the grass beside her under the Sakura tree.

"Hn," he replied while having his manga covering his face. His hands were under his head, being his pillow on the grassy ground.

"You think…when will Jacklyn-chan awake?" she asked as she stared at the blue sky.

"Don't care," he answered nonchalantly.

The brunette puffed her cheeks as she looked at the ignorant boy. "Hey! She's your friend too!" she complained.

"Who said that?" Natsume asked in a teasing tone.

"Um…Me…?" she answered unsurely.

"And I never said that I'm her friend," the raven-haired boy stated.

Mikan looked at him in dissatisfied. "She considers you as her friend," she defended Jacklyn.

"She never said that," he snapped.

"She never said it but she always considers you as her friend!" she defended her again.

"By calling me 'cocky boy'? I don't think so," Natsume retorted.

"Natsume! It's not a good thinking!" the brunette scolded as she snatched his manga away from his face, revealing his handsome face and those crimson eyes that stared at her in annoyance.

"Why are you defending her that so badly?" he asked while bending his eyebrows, annoyed.

"Because she is my friend. She's our friend." Mikan gave him a warm smile. "And you are my friend too."

"Tch. Who said that I'm your friend?" he asked annoyingly as he looked way. He couldn't stand the warm smile. It made him blush slightly.

"Why must be said? There's no need to say that we're friends just to be a friend," she said innocently. "Just being together like this is enough to be friends."

"You're the one who always disturbs me here," Natsume said matter-of-factly.

The brunette stared at him in irritation. "Geez! You don't have to be that coldhearted! I always consider you as my friend all this time even though you're always mocking and treating me badly," she grunted. 'And to think that I have a little feeling for you, I feel stupid!' she added in her thought.

"No one told you to consider me as your friend. You annoy me," he said as he sat up. 'And you'll just be my biggest weakness.'

Mikan looked at him sadly. "So…you don't like being together with me like this?" she asked, a little upset.

"…" He didn't look at her and just stared at nowhere in front of him; anywhere, but her.

"Okay, I won't talk again. I'm annoying," she said as she leaned on the trunk and hugged her knees.

"That's better," Natsume muttered.

The two sat in silence after their little quarrel. The wind blew softly, making the brunette suddenly feel so sleepy. She slowly closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. The fire caster didn't know because he was looking at the other direction at that time.

After a few minutes in silence, he wondered why the brunette was so silent. Then he remembered his manga that was taken by her before.

"Hey, Polka, give me back my-"

His sentence was cut off when he saw the brunette sleeping peacefully beside him.

He stared at her innocent face while his hand was moving by its own, pulling off the ribbon at the right side, making the hair untied and fall smoothly on her shoulder. He also untied the other pigtails too.

He looked at her new look and admired it. 'She is more beautiful like this,' he thought while lifting his hand and running his fingers through her long auburn hair.

"Natsume…" she mumbled.

Natsume raised an eyebrow, pulling back his hand slowly from her long hair. 'Is she sleep talking?' he thought in wonder.

"…You're stupid," she finished her sentence.

After hearing this, a vein popped on Natsume's head. Then he sighed as he looked at the sleeping brunette. "Stupid little girl."

-x-

Narumi opened the curtain that was covering the window before then stared at the sleeping Jacklyn. He looked at the sketchbook that had a little stain of blood on it. He let out a sigh.

"Koko lied, didn't he?" he asked to no one. "What are you hiding, Jacklyn-chan? All that wounds were too bad…"

Narumi then grew quiet, still staring at the black haired girl. He caressed her forehead gently, smiling slightly at his student's peaceful sleeping face. "Get better soon," he whispered before he went out from the room.

Unknown to him, a figure was watching from a tree branch near the window. The person smiled mischievously.

"Not only a useful alice, but you also have a big weakness too, little angel…" he muttered.

-x-

Monday, lunchtime…

"Come on, Natsume! Quick!" Mikan said as he dragged Natsume along the corridor at the hospital.

"Can't you be calm for a while? She won't go anywhere," the crimson-eyed boy said, a little irritated being dragged by the brunette.

"I can't wait to meet her! Narumi-sensei said that she has awakened this morning!" she chirped happily, still dragging the now-annoyed fire caster.

"And why must I come here with you?" he asked irritatingly.

"Because the others have their own business and you're the only one who has leisure time," she replied.

"Can't you come here alone?" Natsume complained.

"I can! But I think it's better if I bring someone or more! She will be happier!" Mikan excused.

Finally, they arrived at a certain room which they had gone the day before. Mikan directly barged into the room.

"Jacklyn-chan! I come with Natsume to visit you!!" she squealed happily.

The aforementioned girl was a little startled because the brunette suddenly barged in. She was doing her assignment when Mikan came in.

"Mikan? You're so energetic," the black-haired girl greeted the brunette with a smile.

Looking at her smile, Mikan immediately hugged her…more like bumped onto her…

"Jacklyn-chan!! I'm so worried!!" she exclaimed as she hugged the black-haired girl tightly.

"Mi…Mikan…to…tight…" Jacklyn stuttered, trying to breath. Her face started turning into a blue one.

"Oh, sorry," the brunette apologized as she released the lack-of-oxygen-now girl.

Jacklyn took a deep breath before she smiled and answered, "It's alright." She looked at the brunette for a few seconds before she asked, "Have you eaten your lunch? You didn't come here immediately after the class was over, right?"

"She is," the forgotten fire caster finally spoke out.

Jacklyn looked at the direction where the voice was coming from and found Natsume leaning on the wall near the window. "Natsume? So you came too."

"Polka forced me," he said in annoyed tone.

Jacklyn blinked. "Natsume, I've been wondering about this from the first time. Why are you calling Mikan 'Polka'?" she asked, having no idea about the nickname that the crimson-eyed boy gave to the brunette.

"Because it's her-"

"STOP IT! MY NAME'S MIKAN!" the brunette shouted, cutting off his sentence while blushing furiously.

"Mikan? Are you okay? Your face is red," Jacklyn asked in concern while Natsume just smirked at the nullifier's reaction.

The brunette tried to calm herself down and hoped that the red color was gone from her face. "Yes, I'm okay. By the way, what are you doing now?" she asked the black-haired girl, trying to shift the topic.

Jacklyn looked at her lap. "Oh, this?" she asked as she pointed the books that were scattering on her lap. Mikan nodded. "I felt so bored so I decided to do Math's homework," she answered calmly.

Mikan blinked twice then her eyes widened. "OH MY GOD!! I FORGOT ABOUT THE MATH'S ASSIGNMENT!!" she shouted in panic.

"Mikan, calm down. I still have blank here and there at the assignment too," Jacklyn tried to calm the panicked brunette.

The brunette looked at him with teary eyes. "But I'm worse than you! I haven't done it even one number!!" she was panicked.

"I've told you. It can be done in a half day," Natsume snapped, being fed enough with the brunette's panic.

Mikan glared at him, still with her teary-eyed. "Yeah! If it's you!" she retorted angrily.

"You're too stupid. That's why," the crimson-eyed boy mocked the angry brunette.

"You're the one who don't want to teach me! You're a bad partner!" she argued back.

And the quarrel went on, leaving a certain black-haired girl watching in speechless from her bed. Jacklyn just sighed at the familiar view before she saw a white bird flying in from the opened window.

She stretched out her hand and let the white bird land on her index finger.

She then moved her hand in front of her face. "Thanks you," she whispered to the bird, earning a small snuggle from the bird on the tip of her nose.

Natsume and Mikan stopped to argue as they saw the friendly moment between Jacklyn and the mysterious white bird.

"Jacklyn-chan, it's a beautiful bird." Mikan's eyes sparkled as she looked at the white bird.

"Really? It's a pigeon," Jacklyn smiled as she brought the white bird in front of Mikan.

The pigeon stared at the brunette with its cute-small-black eyes. "Wow! It's cute!" She patted the pigeon's head gently.

"Why is there a pigeon here?" the fire caster asked as he arched an eyebrow, curious.

"It flew in from the window," Jacklyn said as she pointed the opened window. 'I can't say that I create the pigeon to put the white feather under Sakura tree, right?' she admitted in her thought.

"It's so tame…" Mikan stroke its white back gently. Jacklyn just smiled.

"About the assignment, we have to turn it to Jinno-sensei on Wednesday, right?" Jacklyn reminded the brunette.

Mikan stared at him in silence.

1…

2…

3…

"OH NO! I ALMOST FORGOT!!" she shouted in panic…again…

Jacklyn sweat dropped as she stared at the brunette who was running in the circle while flailing her arms at that time. "Um, they let me out from the hospital this afternoon. We can do the assignment together," she suggested, hoping that it would calm the panicked brunette.

And it surely worked.

Mikan stopped running in the circle and stared at her for a few seconds. "It sounds great! I agree!" she finally said, excited.

"But something's missing…" Jacklyn smirked as she looked at a certain raven-haired boy.

"What is it?" The brunette was curious. She followed Jacklyn's gaze to a certain direction and spotted the fire caster.

Natsume felt gazes from both of them and knew that wasn't a good thing. "What?" he asked irritatingly, his eyebrows bent down.

"That's right! A tutor!" Mikan remembered. She approached him and stopped right in front of him. "Natsume, please tutor us!" she pleaded.

"No," Natsume replied firmly.

"Please!" she pleaded once again.

Jacklyn looked at the brunette then at the crimson-eyed boy that was still holding on his answer. Feeling need to help, she opened her mouth to talk. "Natsume, I hope you can teach us. This is emergency," Jacklyn pleaded, but in a cool way. She pleaded halfheartedly.

"No," he said firmly without any hesitation or sign that he would give up.

"Natsume, pleeeaaseee!" Mikan pleaded once again. This time she used her deadly blow, puppy eyes.

And Natsume hardly could stand this.

"How about a trade?" Jacklyn suddenly suggested. Natsume looked at her as he raised an eyebrow. "You teach us and I give you one thing that you want," she offered. Actually, she wasn't too sure about what she had just said, knowing that Natsume had many reasons to accept it. Moreover, he was curious about her alice.

And like what she had expected, the crimson-eyed boy smirked and asked, "Do you mean it?"

"I mean it. But you have to tutor us this Math assignment," Jacklyn said.

Of course he would take this chance. He almost surrendered because of the puppy eyes. Fortunately, Jacklyn offered him a trade.

"Fine. 7 pm. My room. Today," he agreed.

Jacklyn raised an eyebrow and corrected, "Today and tomorrow. You said it can be done in a half day. That means 12 hours."

"Fine," he agreed, annoyed.

Mikan's lips formed a big smile. "Thanks, Natsume! You're the best!" she squealed happily as she hugged the now-blushing crimson-eyed boy.

"Let go off me, Polka! You're heavy!" he mocked her, trying to get off from her hug…and hide his blushing face from her.

"Okay! Sorry, Natsume!" she said happily as she let go off him.

"Thank you for the agreement," the black-haired girl smiled. "By the way, you two must go back now or you'll be late for the next class," she reminded the two of them.

Mikan blinked twice. "Oh no! Jacklyn-chan is right! Let's go, Natsume!" the brunette said as she dragged the fire caster out of the room, "See you later, Jacklyn-chan!"

Jacklyn just smiled as she stared at the door where the two just went out.

"I hope Natsume won't ask for hard things," she murmured as she sighed, wondering what the fire caster would ask as a trade.

--To be continued--

Jacklyn: (Narrows her eyes) You burnt it!!

Natsume: (Smirks) I've told you.

Jacklyn: I can't believe you really did that!!

Natsume: I've warned you.

SMACK!

Natsume: (Annoyed) WHAT THE HELL?!

Jacklyn: (Puts her hands on her hips) You burnt it and I smacked you! Fair enough!

Natsume: (Bends his eyebrows) Now you're the one that challenged me.

Someone: (From far away) Hehehe…Nice…Nice…

Hotaru: (Appears from nowhere) Evil.

Someone: (Snaps her head to the blackmailer) Hotaru? When did you get here?

Hotaru: Shut up, freaky author. I want the payment.

illutia mist: Ouch. You changed the 'someone' title to my name! They'll find me!

Hotaru: Actually, your voice that made them find you.

illutia mist: (A big question mark appears on her head) Uh? Made them find me? I think your tense are wrong, Hotaru.

Hotaru: Are you sure?

illutia mist: Yup.

Jacklyn: No, freaky author. Her tense is perfect and right.

illutia mist: (Gulps and turns her head slowly to the voice's direction) Uh…Hi…(Smiles weirdly)

Jacklyn: (Smirks) Hello, freaky author.

Natsume: (Grabs illutia by the colar and drags her away) Great. Time for the punishments.

illutia mist: Pu-Punishments? MentS? (Emphasizing the S word)

Mikan & Natsume & Jacklyn: Yes. PunishmentS. (Emphasizing the S word)

illutia mist: NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Hotaru: (Grins) I better join them. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review, readers. Now I have to catch up with them. (Follows the three…four persons go to a certain direction)

illutia mist: NNOOOOOOOO!! HOTARU!! DON'T!!