Who updates fast? Lol. Just a short little chapter with some hints of the main plot of the story. Enjoy!

3 years ago

Every Sunday of the first week of the month, Tsubasa and I had our annual camping trip. My family was weird like that, having all these traditions, but that's what makes them so special. Anyway, I was psyched when I woke up this morning, because I looked forward to these trips since I was ten when Mom finally let me and Tsubasa go alone.

Our camping trips were always at the Malibu Park by the lake, and we would just lay down there and go stargazing. Or make smores. You know, the usual cliche things that people do when out camping. But still, I enjoyed it. It had always been me and my brother's bond.

"Good morning, everyone!" I said, as I walked in the kitchen. It was just like any Sunday morning, where my mom was cooking waffles (pancakes were for normal days), my dad reading the newspaper and kissing me on my head, and my brother who would ruffle my hair. The only difference is today, was Tsubasa just gave me a small smile.

"Morning, sweetheart," Dad said. "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"You bet I did." I lightly smacked my brother on his shoulder. "Hey, do you know what day it is?"

"Sunday, of course," he replied, tickling me.

"It's the first Sunday of the week!" I said, laughing. "And do you know what that means?"

He looked confused for a second, then smacked his palm on his forehead. "Oh yeah! Our camping trip."

I frowned. He didn't look like he was joking. "Did you forget?"

I saw him glance at Mom and Dad with a worried look. "Um, you see..."

"Tsubasa was going to Misaki's parents' house today," Mom told me. "In San Diego. And your dad and I are supposed to drive him there tonight, stay over night at a hotel and be back first thing tomorrow morning."

I sat in my chair, my eyes filling with tears. My good morning just went downhill in five seconds. Ugh, why was I crying? Dang it. "But I'll be alone," I muttered.

"You can sleep at Hotaru's," Dad told me, rubbing my back. "I'm so sorry honey, but we only found out about it this morning."

"Hotaru's out of town. With her mom." I sniffed. "Found out about what?"

I swear I saw my dad freeze for a second, then Tsubasa answered, "Found out that I was going to Misaki's. It's just for one night. So I could meet her parents. It was kind of a last minute thing. I'm so sorry, kiddo. We can go camping next weekend, okay?"

I nodded slowly, but still felt disappointed. It didn't make sense to me. If Tsubasa was going to meet Misaki's parents, why did they have to plan it at the last minute? I mean, isn't meeting your girlfriend's parents supposed to be a big deal? But then again, it's not like I've ever been in a relationship so what did I know?

"But where will I sleep?" I asked. "I don't wanna be alone here for the night."

"You can stay at Natsume's," Tsubasa said. "Aoi will be so excited to have you there."

My heart paced a little at that, and sank immediately. I half-expected him to say, "Nastume will be so excited to have you there."

"Perfect!" Mom said. "And we'll call you while we're in San Diego, okay?"

I shrugged. What else can I do? "Okay."

That night, when my parents left me at Natsume's after a few minutes of talking to him, I still couldn't shake of the disappointment in me. I know it was immature for a fourteen year-old girl, but for some reason I was looking forward to this trip than our other trips.

On the other hand, Tsubasa was right. Aoi was ecstatic to have me sleep over. She wanted me to sleep in her room, even when I said the couch would do me fine. After the tutoring session with Natsume, I never got to babysit Aoi again because their parents were back in town. But tonight, they were gone again for a business trip. I think in Italy or somewhere. Natsume wasn't as thrilled as Aoi, but he didn't express any annoyance due to my presence either. He was neutral. Stoic, even.

We had pizza for dinner, and after that I wanted to just sleep already. This day had been a total bust for me. But Natsume surprised me by suggesting that we all go out and watch the stars. Ten minutes later, we (Aoi, Natsume and me), were laying on the blankets that Natsume brought. Aoi was in between the two us, but that was fine. I wouldn't be able to take it if Natsume was beside me.

"The stars are so pretty," Aoi said. "I never noticed them before."

"Well, they're always there," I told her. "Only we don't get to see them because of the city lights. It has to be where it's really dark and peaceful."

"Which is not exactly in a place like this," Natsume said. "But at least we get to see some of them."

I glared at him. Really? He had to be mean now? He smirked in reply.

Minutes later, Aoi fell asleep, and I was still watching the stars. I always had this fascination about them. How they were placed carefully in the galaxy to form constellations. How each star had their own origin, their own name. How they were always there at night, but we don't get to see them and appreciate their beauty.

"What are you thinking about?" Natsume asked, breaking my thoughts.

"Just how beautiful the night sky is. I would love to live in the countryside any day and get to see this every single night."

When Natsume didn't answer, I thought my answer sounded stupid and weird. But he surprised me when he said, "I know what you mean. Sometimes, I just want to get away from it all."

I propped on my elbows and looked at him. He was staring at the sky, with a deep-in-thought expression on his face. "I don't want to get away from anything," I said. "I mean, I would love to live in the countryside, but I would definitely miss the sand, the ocean. I would always want to come back here."

"Why?"

"Because it's my home. It always will be. No matter what."

He sat up. "Yeah well, my home doesn't even feel like home."

Was he opening up to me? This was a first. I was too afraid to ask why, because he might just shut down on me, like he always did. But he didn't continue, so I went for it. "Why?"

He chuckled humorlessly. "How many times a week do you see my parents, Mikan? Given that they're actually home. It's like our house is just a stopover to wherever they're going next." He reached for Aoi's face and moved the hair that was covering it. "I feel so sorry for Aoi. She doesn't even get to see her parents on a regular basis. She's the only one that keeps me from leaving this place."

"You want to leave town?" I felt a little hurt for some reason, and hated myself for it. This was not the time to be selfish.

"For college," he said. "But then, what will happen to Aoi? I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving her."

Suddenly, I understood. Why Natsume was the way he is. I felt horrible thinking he was a cold, mean person with repressed feelings. I figured he didn't want to talk about that matter anymore, so I changed to subject. "Do you know Tsubasa and I were supposed to go camping tonight?"

I think I saw him smile faintly. He nodded. "I know. Your annual camping trip."

Something clicked in my head. "Is that why you took us out here?"

He gave me a shrug, but I saw him smirk. I felt so touched I wanted to cry. Well, not really, but he actually thought of me and did this for me.

"Well, thank you," I continued. "I really appreciate it. Anyway, I mean, not to sound selfish or anything, but isn't it weird that my family just told me this morning they were all going to San Diego to meet Misaki's parents? I don't know, it just felt so unexpected. Like out of nowhere."

His lips pressed into a thin line, like I asked something that offended him. "What's wrong? Did that sound selfish? I'm sorry, it's just, I've been looking forward to this trip for weeks now and I just feel like it's important that we have this trip. Like the world depended on it, you know?" God, that sounded... utterly stupid.

"Actually, I don't know." He stood up and carried Aoi effortlessly. "I think it's getting late. Do you mind, folding those blankets? I need to tuck Aoi in bed."

I blinked a few times, registering the sudden change of atmosphere. "Um, s-sure." Just a few seconds ago, we were actually having a normal and meaningful conversation and then he shuts down again? This was definitely not my day.

When I walked back into the house and placed the neatly folded blankets on the couch, I felt drained and just wanted to sleep. But just as I got cozy on the couch, Natsume came down the stairs with a pillow and comforter in his hands.

"Oh no, I'm good," I said, pointing to the blanket I took out of my bag.

"I'm sleeping on the couch."

"What? Where am I supposed to sleep, the kitchen floor?"

He sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes at me. "Hilarious. But you're sleeping in my room."

I prayed that he didn't notice the flush that suddenly came to my cheeks. I have never been to Natsume's room before. And okay, I'll have to admit I did fantasize what his room looked like sometimes. But it wasn't like I wanted to sleep in it! On the other hand, it might be comfier than this couch. But no way was I letting him think that.

"But I'm the guest," I said. "It's like a given rule that guests sleep on the couch."

"Right, like there's going to be a couch enforcer that would arrest you if you don't sleep there. If you're appalled at the thought of sleeping in a boy's room, mine's clean, just so you know."

This made me blush even harder, and I was sure he noticed it by now. Because he smirked at me and said, "Come on, Mikan. I know you want to. It's way comfier there. Trust me."

I didn't know if he was doing this to embarrass me or just to be nice. Maybe both. "Fine," I said, standing up. "Are you sure? Because you might hold it against me tomorrow morning."

He sighed. "I wouldn't be debating with you on this for the past five minutes if I'm not sure. And I would just feel like an idiot if I forced you to sleep in my room and hold a grudge against you the next day. So please. I am tired and sleepy. And I'm sure you are too. So go to bed."

I stood up from the couch and made my way to the stairs."Alright, I will! Geez. Goodnight."

"And be sure not to leave any feminine traces on the sheets if you know what I mean."

I froze and let out a gasp. If my cheeks were warm a while ago, well now they were burning hot. How did he know I was on my period? I twisted to look at him, but his eyes were already closed, his breathing even. But I swore I saw him smirking. Then, I noticed my duffel bag on the floor beside the couch, which I left open, with a box of tampons sticking out.

"So," I said, the next day when I was back at my house again and my family was too, "how was the trip? I bet it went well, didn't it?" We were sitting at the pier, that Sunday afternoon.

My brother got an uncomfortable look on his face before he grinned at me. "Yeah, it did. Misaki's parents were nice. They offered that I stay at their place last night."

"And did you?"

"That I can't tell you," he answered, ruffling my hair.

I frowned and combed my fingers through my hair. "Geez, what happened to telling each other everything?"

He muttered something that I didn't catch, before changing the subject. "So, how was the sleepover?"

I blushed deeply for some reason, remembering Natsume's little comment before I went up to his room. As he said, his room was surprisingly neat for a boy. And I made sure that I didn't leave "feminine traces" on his white bed sheets. "It was good," I said, my voice a little octave higher. A side effect of being embarrassed.

It was a good thing Tsubasa was oblivious to this. "What'd you guys do?"

"We ordered pizza, watched t.v., oh and we went stargazing."

"You did?"

I nodded. "Aoi was fascinated by them, of course. Although I didn't get to tell her about the stars and constellations we spent the last two years obsessing about. She fell asleep."

"And Natsume?"

Thank God for the wind that blew my hair in my face, or else Tsubasa would've seen how deeply I was blushing. "What about him?"

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Oh." I remembered our conversation last night, when he practically opened up to me then shut down right away. "He actually told me about his parents and how he wanted to leave town, but he couldn't, because of Aoi."

Tsubasa nodded. "Yeah, I know. He loves his sister too much."

"One of the many things you have in common," I said, grinning at him.

He grinned back. "Oh yeah?"

"You bet."

"Well then, if you're right, I have the best sister in the world."

Yeah, I know. Cheesy. Haha. Now I know ya'll can't wait for the next chapter, so I will update fast. But this may be the last "blast from the past" chapter (I have no idea why I call it that). But like I said, this chap has some hints of what's gonna happen later in the story. Okay, I'm talking too much. 'Til the next update! Ciao~ xx