Author's Note:
I'm back with another chapter~! Sorry, this one might be a bit too short; at least I think it is. Anyways, on with chapter seven! Read and Review please.

-X-

Chapter Seven
-Jealousy-

-X-

Eight year old Natsume stared at the scene in front of his eyes in horror. Flames blanketed the entire village burning everything within its territory. Natsume coughed as smoke went through his lungs. But that didn't matter to him. What he was worried about was the whereabouts of his family.

Then, he heard it.

'Onii-chan, help me…'

It was faint and perhaps too quiet to be heard over the roaring flames, but Natsume heard it loud and clear.

Without thinking, Natsume dashed into the fires, ignoring the shrieks and shouts of the other villagers. All that matters was finding her.

Where are you? He thought as he ran deeper into the burning house.

'Onii-chan, I'm scared…'

There! Natsume kicked open the door of the bedroom. To his surprise, he found a girl just one year younger than him on the floor shivering, despite the heat that the flames gave off.

'Buriko, what are you still doing in here?' Natsume asked angrily as he walked towards the raven haired girl. Despite his rough tone, Natsume couldn't help but feel relieved that she is still alive.

The girl jumped at the sudden voice. 'Onii-chan?' she questioned, looking around aimlessly for her brother. 'Where are you?'

Natsume body stiffened at the question. He was right in front of her. Can't she see him? Bending down to her level, Natsume put a hand on her shoulder.

'I'm right here, Aoi,' he said in a surprisingly calm voice.

Aoi lifted her head to look at him with her crimson coloured eyes. Natsume froze at the sight of her eyes. It was totally different from the usual happy and bright eyes that she had. Right now, they looked so dull and dead.

'Onii-chan, is that you?' she asked, grabbing a hold of his hand. 'Why is it so dark in here? I can't see anything.'

Natsume didn't know how to answer her question. It was most certainly not dark; the flames were giving off so much light that it could practically blind someone if they stood right in front of them.

Is she blind?

Deciding to ignore the question in his head, Natsume stood up hauling Aoi up in the process.

'Let's go, Buriko,' he said, walking towards the door, dragging his sister along with him. Just as he was about to push the door open, the door burst into flames causing Aoi and him to jump back in shock.

Natsume gritted his teeth. What is he going to do now?

'Onii-chan, why is it so hot?' Aoi asked; her grip on Natsume's hand tightened. 'Are we going to die?'

'Shut up, Buriko!' Natsume snapped. 'We won't die. I'll find a way out of here.' His eyes softened when he saw tears brimmed at the corner of her eyes. 'I promise…'

Aoi sniffled but smiled at his at words.

Natsume smiled before looking around to find an escape route. The door was out of the question seeing as how it's already smothered in flames. There were no other places to escape except the window.

That's it! Natsume thought, running towards the window. He tried as hard as he could to open it only to find it sealed shut tightly.

Damn, maybe I could-

'Onii-chan, watch out!' came Aoi's frantic voice.

Before he could respond, Natsume felt himself being pushed to his right roughly by another body. Although Aoi couldn't see anything, she had felt danger when a tremendous amount of heat appeared above where Natsume was standing. Without giving it much thought, Aoi ran towards her brother and pushed him aside roughly.

Natsume eyes widened as debris covered in flames went tumbling down towards his sister.

'AOI!'

-X-

'AOI!'

Natsume's eyes snapped open. Sweat slid down his face as he tried to calm himself down. This was the third time he had this dream.

'Natsume!' a voice from his left called out in alarm. Natsume shifted his eyes towards the voice. It was Ruka.

'Are you alright?' he asked concerned.

'Aa,' he answered, closing his eyes trying to rid himself of that memory. 'Where am I?'

'The hospital. Sakura said that she found you unconscious last night and brought you here,' Ruka said, gesturing towards a girl who sat on a chair, staring at him impassively.

'Hn.'

Ruka smiled. 'Well, it's good that you're alright, Natsume. Try not to move too much. The doctor said that if you do it might reopen your wounds,' he said, gesturing towards the raven haired boy's bandages.

'Hn.'

The blonde sighed inwardly at his friend's lack of response. But after knowing him for so many years he knows that this is all he could get out of him.

'I've got to go. The Somatic Ability area needs my help on the preparations for the festival.'

Natsume nodded and Ruka walked out of the hospital room, leaving just Natsume and Mikan.

Silence hung in the air but it was broken surprisingly by the fire caster.

'Don't you need to prepare for the festival as well?' he asked.

'We're not doing anything,' came the response.

Natsume raised an eyebrow. 'Why not?' he asked.

'Lack of motivation,' Mikan said impassively.

'Hn.'

Silence surrounded them once again but this time Mikan was the one that broke with a surprising question.

'Who's Aoi?'

Natsume eyes narrowed. Why did she want to know?

'She's a girl,' he answered cautiously.

Mikan's body twitched slightly in annoyance. Of course I know that!

'Who's Aoi?' she asked once again.

Natsume glared at the auburn haired nullifier. 'Why do you want to know?' he asked.

'Is it that hard just to answer a simple question?' she countered his question with another.

Natsume glare hardened slightly, but nevertheless gave her an answer.

'Hn. She's my annoying sister.'

It may have been a trick of the light but Natsume thought that he saw Mikan's shoulders slump slightly in what seemed like relief; but relief from what exactly?

Mikan nodded, seemingly happy with the response and walked towards the door.

'Take care of yourself, Hyuuga,' she said before walking out the room.

'Hn.'

-X-

Mikan walked towards the Special Ability classroom wondering what had possessed her to asked Natsume such an irrelevant question. Who cares who this Aoi person was anyways?

Certainly not me, she denied. But then why did she felt a wave a relief washes through her body when Hyuuga announced that Aoi was his sister?

Mikan froze in her tracks when she finally came down to a conclusion.

Was she jealous?

No, absolutely not!

Shaking the unwanted thought out of her head, the auburn haired girl continued towards the classroom. Pushing the door opened, Mikan expected to find her classmates either sleeping or joking around but not working!

'Ah, Mikan, you're late!' Tsubasa exclaimed, walking up to her with a paintbrush in his right hand.

'What's going on?' she asked clearly confused.

Tsubasa looked away and smiled. 'Well, we thought about what you said yesterday and you were right; we did have a lack of motivation,' he said.

Misaki walked up to them. 'Thanks to you, we've all decided to work harder this year to make this event successful for all of us,' she said, putting an arm around Mikan's neck.

'Really?' Mikan asked.

'Of course!'

Tsubasa reached into his pocket and pulled out a list and handed it to Mikan, who read through it curiously.

'What's this?'

The Shadow Manipulator grinned. 'Since you're late you'll be given twice as much work as us. Start off by buying those items on the list,' he said.

Mikan nodded. 'Alright,' she answered, walking out of the room and towards Central Town. As she walked, a faint smile came upon her face. She'll be able to enjoy the School Festival with the Special Ability class afterwards.

As she passed the school gates, Mikan could see a large crowd of students pushing and shoving with excitement running through their veins.

What's going on? The auburn haired girl thought, walking closer to see what the commotion was about.

'Mikan-chan!' someone shouted over the noisy crowd. Mikan turned around to see Tobita Yuu along with Imai Hotaru running towards her. Well, Yuu was running; Hotaru simply walked.

'Iinchou, Hotaru-san,' Mikan nodded at both of them.

'Mikan,' Hotaru said. For some odd reason, Hotaru's voice had seemed vaguely familiar, as if she has heard it before.

'Are you here to see?' Yuu asked, cutting Mikan out of her thoughts.

'See what?'

'Idiot,' Hotaru muttered.

Mikan ignored her and looked at Yuu with a questioning gaze.

'Every year at the School Festival we have an opening ceremony event. For this year's opening ceremony we're going to have Mouri Reo, the famous singer, here to sing for us!'

Mikan's eyes widened slightly.

Mouri Reo is coming to the academy?

-X-

Author's Note:
Okay. Another chapter is done. Twenty more review please. Flames are not accepted. I don't know how many times I've said that… See you again on the next chapter~!

-X-

The Pretty List:

Mimi-me

FaN-LiFe13

angelji

niceladysakura

-anime-luvr25-

Fitha

Sakurasibling

FallenRaindrops

Moon'sAbyss

Akazukin-san

aznurbangrl

OxxStill DollxxO

natsumikan4eva

CherryBlossomGirl

xXxHyuuga-MikanxXx

WordlessDreams

xSapphirexRosesxFanx

Memorycutie

Chocolateoverdose

SilentGurl4Eva

NaTsUmIkAn RoMaNcE

MoonliteShadow101

bakagirl123

chris3169512

HarunaNiwa073

SimpleLuv

Thanks for reviewing~!

-X-

-Setsuna