Chapter 6: Falling Down
For the next two weeks, Mikan did everything she could to avoid Natsume. But there was that dreaded one hour of tutoring that she had to sit through with Natsume. Each day would seem to rush to that terrible hour. Mikan arrived at the door of the tutoring class and sighed. "The quicker I go the faster I get this over with" she thought silently.
Natsume was already inside. The moment she glared at him he averted his gaze. This morning he found the statue that he ordered for her, shattered to pieces at the door. He cursed himself for being so stupid. "How was that suppose to help?" He glanced out the window and waited for this to come to an end.
The hour passed slowly. Finally it was for Mikan's next class, sparring. She quickly gathered up her things and rushed out the door. Natsume followed close behind.
"What class are you going to?" Natsume asked.
"Sparring." She replied coldly. Natsume was surprised and a little angry that she was straining her arm so much. Mikan was already walking away; Natsume reached out and grabbed her arm. Mikan winced.
"In this condition you expect to spar? Are you stupid?" Natsume asked still holding on to her injured arm. Mikan started to pull away, Natsume pulled her back causing her to drop all her books. She bent down to pick them up. Natsume caught a glimpse of her underwear. He smirked, unable to resist making a comment.
"Nice panties." He said. Mikan, for the first time, turned a furious shade of red. She whipped around and slapped him.
"Pervert!" she yelled and stormed away. Natsume stumbled back, pressing his hand against his now much in pain cheek, then he grinned.
"Wow, she's that old and still wears strawberry underwear. Looks like she's still a little girl after all." He said out loud, chuckled, and walked to his next class.
Meanwhile at Sparring Class…
Mikan was furious. Not only had she gotten her arm hurt even more, he of all people saw her underwear! Mikan groaned inside.
"He is never going to let me live this down! Why, why, why?" she desperately thought. " I have to get out of here!"
Mikan furiously jabbed at the sparring coach almost piercing through his protective gear.
"Mikan! Calm down! You can't spar properly with that much anger!" barked the coach, then he softened. "Mikan, listen, sparring isn't about how hard you can hit your opponent, it's the strategy and quick maneuvers that make sparring…well, sparring. You have too much anger right now, and I told you not to come to class with your arm like that! Come back when you're healed, both inside and out."
"But I can do it! I don't feel the pain anymore! See?" Mikan started stretching and doing some weird arm movements to prove it and immediately regretted it.
"See? You aren't fine and I wasn't just talking about your physical condition, I also meant your emotions. Now run along and go to the library or something…" the coach mumbled off.
Mikan frustrated and in pain, headed towards the library. But before she went in, she heard the Queen and Kings' voices. She leaned against the door to listen.
"Great! Just great! Why does Natsume have to be such an idiot when it comes to girls! Now he's made her angry and he doesn't even care! What do I have to do, smash them together? Put them in the same bedroo-could I do that? Hmm…" The Queen thought, while Mikan was in panic. She started to pray that the Queen wouldn't do that.
"Not unless you want our son to be slaughtered, I don't advise you do that." He King said calmly, flipping the pages in his book. Mikan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"I've got it! I'll just force them to be together! How about a marriage? They don't have to sleep together but all their classes, wherever they go the other with be right there with them! Perfect!" The Queen exclaimed, not listening to the King.
"I don't know about you, but I quite enjoy living. That plan is going to bring our deaths and you know it." The King said a bit sarcastically. "Look, we need to have a strategy. They fell in love once, they can do it again. Just let them be." The King said knowingly.
Mikan stood, frozen by that sentence. "Fell in love once? What does that mean? I've never met Natsume before…or have I? Why can't I remember?" she thought desperately.
"True, but we have that promise to Yuka! We promised that they would get married! That was her dying wish! Argh! Why don't they remember? It would be so much easier!" The Queen was aggravated.
"Well, we knew it wasn't going to be easy." The King stated and the Queen sighed.
Mikan backed away from the door stunned. "My mother already promised me to this jerk? What is going on here! How did I lose all those memories?" Mikan was getting more confused and scared by the second. She ran into the hallway, her mind racing, the pain in her arm forgotten. She suddenly bumped into someone and fell down and heard and voice say, "Baka! Watch where you're going!" Mikan looked up. There standing there was Hotaru staring down at her.
"Baka." Hotaru said but with a slight smile. Mikan grabbed her desperately.
"This is no time for greetings! Help me!" cried Mikan urgently. The small smirk on Hotaru's face disappeared.
"Tell me the truth! What exactly happened in the first part of my childhood? Why is it that I don't remember anything?"
Hotaru looked into Mikan's eyes and gave a hopeless, halfhearted smile.
"So you finally asked…" she whispered.
Heehee! Wondering what is going to happen? Well you are just going to have to wait and see !
Anyway, please read and review! Thanks to all my supportive readers! You guys are awesome!
*Diana* ^-^