A/N: Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: You get the idea already right? I don't own.

Chapter 19 Second Thoughts

(Normal PoV)

"I told you it was going to be harder than we thought…"

"This is unbelievable. That brat just doesn't give up."

"Well it's not just her; your son is also quite the pain to convince."

"Even bringing Sonou's son back didn't work." Satoshi props his elbows on the desk and intertwines his fingers in front of his face.

"That was your doing! How did you -?"

"Don't make me laugh, girl. I could have done much more than that had I wanted to." He glares at Luna, the lower half of his face covered by his hands giving him a much more menacing look.

"Then why didn't you? You could crush that girl anytime you want and yet you are just slacking off! At this rate she'll -." She slams her fist on the desk.

"Do you honestly think you can intimidate me? If I take a wrong step I could step on a land mine, and we can not afford to make any more mistakes."

"This is not the time to be cautious! If you'd been more careful from the start then all of this wouldn't have-."

"I underestimated her. I had no idea I was dealing with that man'sdaughter."

"That man? You mean it's really true? That girl is that Izumi's-."

He nods once "I thought I'd dealt with him back then, but apparently not."

Luna gasps as soon as she starts catching up "You are saying that you… you got rid of Izumi and his family!" this man was becoming scarier by the second. She couldn't believe he'd actually go as far as murdering someone.

"Well it seems not the whole family. And besides it wasn't me who did it, I let that imbecile Masao handle it. That just goes to show that if you want a job well done you ought to do it yourself."

What was going on here?

From what he'd told her before, Izumi had been killed by the police, his wife had committed suicide and after her father's death their daughter had disappeared. So what was this all about? Murder? Making it look like a suicide? Was this some sort of sick joke?

"But- you said that the police had-." She needed to clarify this, maybe she was just jumping to conclusions.

"Don't be naïve girl. That was just a cover up. The police couldn't have caught that man in a thousand years."

"But even his wife and kid, what did they have to do with anything?" What kind of monster was this man?

His face darkened as he spoke his next words "Yuuka was a possible nuisance so I disposed of her." The sadistic tone in his voice would have been enough to match the devil himself; Luna at the very least got that feeling.

"But to think that that bastard would be using his daughter to get back at me, it seems I'm going to have to finish what Masao didn't finish all those years ago."

The look on his face at that moment made Luna's blood run cold. He was dead serious about this. He was planning to 'dispose' of Mikan. Even that was too much for her. She couldn't let this go any further. She had to tell someone about it she had to warn the poli-

"And you my dear are going to help me." He suddenly got off his chair and stood right in front of her grabbing her chin between his fingers forcing her to look into his eyes and glaring down at her fiercely. "You know what will happen to you if you betray me."

Luna started shaking and tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't move an inch, she was frozen in fear. What the hell was she supposed to do! Her brain screamed for her to run away but her body just wouldn't respond. And the disgusting grin on his face showed how much he was enjoying all of this which only added to the terror she was feeling.

This man was completely insane, and if she didn't do as he said he wouldn't hesitate to make her disappear without a trace.

As soon as he releases her she collapses onto the ground. It takes her a while before she regains her composure and stands back up.

"The question is… are you or are you not on my side?"

Her brain completely shuts down as she raises her head to look at him. There was no hint of any regret or doubt in his eyes. And for an instant she could swear she saw the depths of hell in them, the dark flames of eternal torment blazing in those eyes that seemed to be calling to her, provoking her, offering her everything and anything she could ever ask for and more.

She couldn't help but feel tempted by that offer, although probably no one could have helped it. He emanated such confidence, it was impossible not to be taken in by this master trickster. She imagined for a brief second that the real reason Hyuugas had those piercing blood-red eyes was because this man had made a contract with the devil and those eyes were the way to mark him and his family as 'cursed'.

"Are you?" he repeats to snap her out of her trance.

He had caught her between the wall and the sword, and she most certainly did not want to suddenly 'vanish'. He left her no choice. It wasn't her fault, it was his. She couldn't be one to blame. Her conscience was at peace and nothing could change that. He had cornered her she was just an innocent poor little girl being threatened by one of the (if not the most) fearsome man in the world. There was no way she could have possibly helped what happened afterwards.

As he extends his right hand towards her she instinctively raises her shaking arm and gets a hold of his. A vile grin appears on his face and his sickening megalomaniacal laugh echoes throughout the gloomy office.

She stares down at his hand shaking hers, and then at the room around her. The colors seemed to have become duller, the air felt thicker and the atmosphere heavier. She felt like she didn't belong in her body anymore.

"You made the right choice." He says before releasing her hand and letting it drop to her side.

When she finally turns her gaze back to his face she tries to search frantically for that enticing ruby-red to find reassurance only to encounter pitch-black staring back at her maliciously. And it was only then she realized what had just happened. She was the one who had sold her soul to the devil, and there was no turning back now.

"You probably want to know what really happened to Yukihira Izumi." He says walking over to his desk and sitting down.

She nods stiffly once, her dreary eyes never leaving his figure.

Satoshi smirks and stares at her as if she were a puppet. A will-less hollow puppet, and the funny thing was that, that was exactly how she felt.

"Very well then"

-Flashback- 16 years ago –

Yukihira Izumi and his wife Azumi Yuuka both stare through the window of their small apartment that was barely big enough for them and their soon to be born daughter. It was no huge mansion with hundreds of servants but it was home to them and they were happy with it. They didn't really need a monstrous palace to be content after all.

Somehow they had managed to make room for Yuuka's father in their humble home; he was after all the only family member she had left besides her husband, and Izumi didn't have anyone left except for Masao who had made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with him ever again, emphasizing the word ever. Not after that incident during high school.

When Izumi turned 15 he was enrolled in Alice Gakuen where he met Masao for the first time. At that time Sakura Masao was Yuuka's boyfriend.

He had struck him as a fairly nice guy despite his stuck up attitude and conceited behavior, they were good friends for sometime. That was until Masao's father informed him about Izumi's lineage.

His father Yukihira Atsushi - Masao's mother's first cousin- had stained the family name by eloping with one of the maids from the main house, taking part of the family's money never to be heard from again.

After a not very adult-like argument they ended up in pretty bad terms with each other. Izumi called him a brainless moron who couldn't think for himself and opted to let daddy do that for him, and Masao… well let's just say he went the "talk to the fist" way.

They didn't talk again after that, and after a while it became taboo to talk about one of them in the presence of the other.

Azumi Yuuka, princess of Alice Gakuen, the most beautiful and kind girl in the whole school by popular vote; also known to be off-limits to all boys due to the fact that she was Masao's fiancée and it was common knowledge to every person that whoever messed with Masao messed with Hyuuga Satoshi, probably the scariest guy the school had ever known.

Her marriage into the Sakura family had been decided by her father and she didn't utter a word of complaint. It was the only way she could help him. The Azumi Group had once been a very important corporation that her father had created from scratch, but as the Hyuuga name started becoming more important Azumi started to steadily lose prestige.

The solution that came to them from the Sakura family was that if their two families merged with a marriage then their name could be saved. Of course they had ulterior financial motives of their own, they would be ridding themselves from a possible competitor and they would earn an ally to eventually crush the Hyuuga name; that was Sakura's plan.

Plan which never came true in the end, in stead they became business partners, but that's another story.

Yuuka being an only child could not refuse. In order to help her father she would do anything, even if it meant marrying Satoshi's puppet Masao.

Hyuuga Satoshi, Alice Gakuen's devil, contrary to what people thought, that title hadn't been given to him just because of his crimson eyes. He was the man nobody would want to mess with unless they had a death wish, and I mean it in a very literal way.

The only thing in his mind was business, everything he did had a motive and not one thing was left to chance. He was awarded the name of Master Trickster by his fellow students, it was widely known that he was able to talk himself out of any situation no matter how impossible it seemed, some even believed he could walk off with murder. He could convince anyone to do anything, and was scared of nothing.

The reason why he was friends with Masao was actually a mystery to everyone except for himself. He needed to be friends with the firstborn son of the Sakura family; he was going to buy them off eventually anyway so if he already had Masao on his side it would make matters so much easier.

A cold-blooded calculating man, he felt love for nothing or nobody, his thereafter marriage to Yukiko was also just business related, he never considered her as anything else but a tool to help him climb to the top of the social ladder. A king without a queen by his side is considered as nothing but a mere ogre; that was what he thought.

He controlled everything that happened around him and Izumi's and Yuuka's encounter wasn't the exception to that rule. The moment he heard the truth about him the whole plan formed in his head, the perfect way to make Masao his faithful lapdog who would follow him blindly anywhere he decided to go. This Izumi was a chance that had fallen to him straight from heaven, and he wasn't about to waste it.

When Izumi first saw Yuuka he thought nothing much of her. Just another brainless girl that could think of nothing but makeup and looking good for her equally brainless boyfriend, in this case he knew her boyfriend was Masao, which made it all the worse. But he was completely convinced otherwise after he talked to her only once.

They quickly became close friends and she told her everything about her family, how she was forced into that marriage for money reasons but she was willing to do it for her dad since he was the only family she had, her mother had died during labor so she didn't really know her, but she knew her father loved her a lot so she guessed she must have been a nice person.

The pain Izumi could see in her eyes reminded him a lot of his own mother's who would always make that face when talking about how guilty she felt for "screwing up Atsushi's relationship with his family" as she put it. It was the pain of regret that he saw in her eyes. He knew those eyes very well, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that. He didn't want to make her suffer even more; he knew he wouldn't be able to bear to see her cry.

It wasn't until sophomore year that Satoshi planted the seed of doubt into Masao's head. Timing was the most important thing in this matter, and when he told Masao his beloved was cheating on him with none other than his own cousin, he snapped.

And Satoshi, being the faithful friend he was, offered his unconditional help to get back at Izumi for placing his dirty paws on the pure innocent Yuuka-san.

Izumi didn't even stand a chance against them. Of course Hyuuga called in many favors and gathered a lot of people to help them, and after that he sat back and enjoyed the show from afar, he wasn't about to get his own hands dirty for a lowlife like that. Masao only dealt the last blow and before Izumi lost consciousness he warned him never to step foot in Alice Gakuen again,ever.

He was sent to the hospital after that, the doctors said he had barely survived and that he was a very lucky man. 'Lucky my ass' he thought as he tried to wiggle his fingers with all his might but gave up as a pang of pain crawled up his arm.

He hadn't even done anything wrong. What the hell was wrong with that guy!

He knew very well there was nothing he could do about it. He knew Hyuuga was behind this, he had seen his disgusting grin behind the sea of fists that assaulted him out of nowhere. He was going to get back at him no matter what.

Ah what was the point anyway? He'd probably end up being beat up again, and maybe he wasn't going to be lucky enough to survive this time. Maybe it was best if he just disappeared from Japan altogether. Nobody would miss him anyway; his parents had passed away in that car crash two years ago, the money from their life insurance was used to pay for the school tuition.

He had once thought maybe they'd crashed on purpose for him to get the money…

Money…

… Money

IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY!

His dad's family hated him not because he'd left; it was because he'd taken their money!

Yuuka was choosing that jackass Masao because of money!

His parents had killed themselves so that he could get the insurance money!

And what had they all gotten in the end in exchange for it? Pain

Suffering

They were being controlled by it and they didn't really need it. A person could live perfectly without billions of dollars raining over them, and there were so many people that really did need it to survive.

It just wasn't fair that those bastards slept comfortably in their exaggeratedly enormous mansions after beating up an innocent guy while there were people freezing outside victims of the unforgiving cold winter.

Somebody had to do something about it, and if no one else was up to the task he was going to do it. He'd throw away his present life and would become someone else.

He'd forget about Masao and Satoshi and…

"Yuuka" He manages to whisper as he watches her slip into the room. "What -?" his voice was coarse and raspy.

"Hey" she says sitting down on a chair next to his bed "You don't look so good." She comments casually.

"You caught me on a bad hair day."He barely pushes his bruised lips upward into a tiny smile.

"I'm sorry." She mutters reaching out for his hand. He attempts to move it away but finds himself incapable of such feat. She notices the twitch of his hand and immediately retreats her own looking guiltily at her lap.

"It wasn't your fault. It was that bastard Hyuuga." His raspy voice makes him cough.

"But I was the one who-!"

With all the strength he can muster Izumi smiles fondly at her "Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. You did nothing wrong. I should have known from the start that getting close to Masao's girl wouldn't-"

"I'M NOT MASAO'S PROPERTY!" she shouts with teary eyes "I'm free to befriend whoever I wish!"

"So you'd choose me over Masao?" He says before he can stop himself.

"Of course I would!" she holds his right hand between both of hers not caring if he wanted to move it away.

Izumi's eyes widen making some of the scars on his face reopen due to the sudden movement making him gasp lowly. He wasn't expecting that kind of answer. He was waiting for an 'I have no choice because my father needs the money' or something.

Before even stopping to think about the consequences of his words or considering all of the possible things that could go oh so wrong, a request escapes his mouth.

"Come away with me Yuuka."

She was left speechless.

"You said you'd choose me over Masao right? Then do so." He felt like he was begging her "I'll take care of everything. If it's your father you're worried about then let him come too."

Yuuka suddenly bursts into tears and hides her face on his chest, pain quickly making it's way throughout his entire body, but he didn't flinch, he wasn't about to let her know how much it hurt.

"I'm giving you the chance to decide what YOU want to do. You don't have to answer now, but I'm leaving this town as soon as I'm out of the hospital, so-."

Between sobs and in a muffled voice he could only understand two words she said "no…baka!"

He felt completely heart broken, she'd choose him over Masao but she'd choose money over him? What kind of joke was this!

She sniffs and looks into his eyes wiping her tearstained cheeks with her sleeve smiling sweetly at him, a smile he couldn't understand.

"Why are you smiling? Didn't you just say no?" He asks giving her a cold look.

Her smile grows even bigger and he becomes even more irritated. "I said: How could I say no baka!"

After that Yuuka kept visiting the same hospital room for two weeks until Izumi was finally discharged. That very same day they both stopped by her house and spoke to her father. She explained the whole situation to him and he hugged her tightly in response.

"The only thing I wanted…" he spoke into her ear "was for you to be happy, and if this young man can make you happy, then I have no reason to oppose your decision."

She told him that she wanted him to go with them; that she didn't want to leave him, and he agreed, he said he'd take care of some things and join them soon.

The next day Yuuka didn't show up at school… and no one saw her or Izumi again after that.

The last time someone knew anything about them was five years later when Hyuuga Satoshi and Sakura Masao found their bank accounts emptied and one last transaction record to a bank account under the name of "Yoroshiku YIaAY"

"Best regards Yukihira Izumi and Azumi Yuuka." Izumi explains as he transfers all the money to various bank accounts around Japan and finally closes that account to leave no evidence but that message for his two high school "buddies".

"Why does your name have to go first anyway?" she asks as they burn the fake they used to open the bank account.

"I don't know… what difference does it make?"

She shrugs "So what do we do now?"

"Now we go back home and rest. I don't want you to stress out to much, what are we going to do if anything happens to little Mikan?" he says rubbing her still flat belly gently.

Almost a year goes by and Izumi and Yuuka become known as THE most wanted bank hackers. Their work was so polished it became nearly impossible for the police to track them down, after all, millions of accounts are opened and closed every day around the world, and of course they'd developed various ways to shake their pursuers off.

Their system worked perfectly and it even came to the point that people started opening new bank accounts and posting them on the internet for "YIaAY" (The name the media gave them) to transfer money into them until it was forbidden and punished by law saying it was cooperating with an international criminal.

They had to move around a lot to keep themselves hidden, changing from place to place and from job to job, and even then they were happy because were ever they went they had a home, they had their family, no matter how small.

Hyuuga Satoshi knew better than to tell the police he had information about who this "YIaAY" person, or should he say persons, was. He knew they wouldn't find them anyway, and even if they did the punishment they'd give them wouldn't be enough for everything they'd done. No sentence any judge could give them would ever be enough in his opinion.

But he was one hundred percent certain it was them. It couldn't be anyone else. He was going to make that bastard pay for all he'd done to him.

No one outwitted the great Hyuuga Satoshi and lived to tell the tale. That man had become the pebble in his shoe ever since he decided not to run away after he had all those guys beat him up. He was sure he would run away and yet he didn't…

And taking Azumi with him was another unexpected factor. His business with Sakura was delayed because of that… that bastard was the only person in the world who had been able to humiliate him, and he wasn't going to tolerate it.

He was going to find him and make sure he wouldn't live to see the sun again, ever.

Surprisingly it was easier done than said in this case. They had changed their identities but there was one person with them who hadn't. Yuuka's father, they hadn't bothered to change his, there was no need to if no one knew who they were. But Satoshi knew.

He called Masao and let him know about it. His thirst for vengeance was exactly what he needed to rid himself of Yukihira and Azumi.

Masao sent her a letter as soon as he got the news from his friend about Yuuka's whereabouts.

"My dear Yuuka,

I know you are the ones behind this. Come back to me and I will spare him. Tonight 8 o'clock. You know where."

The moment she read it, she knew he didn't want her back.

She knew it was game over for her and Izumi.

She glanced over at her baby; she was sound asleep in her crib. Poor little Mikan, she couldn't bear to get her mixed up into this. She didn't want her to have to be involved with a Sakura or a Hyuuga ever.

She had to hide her somehow, but as long as she was by her side she wouldn't be safe. There was only one thing she could do.

She took Masao's letter and burned it. She approached Mikan's crib and kissed her forehead. "You will always be Yukihira Mikan." She whispered and a tear drop fell on Mikan's small face.

She walked out of the apartment slowly and looked back only once knowing she would never come back.

"Good bye Mikan."She whispered to the wind.

Downstairs at the entrance of the building she found her father and husband waiting for her. Both of them already understood. Izumi had received a similar letter.

Without saying a word Yuuka hugged her father tightly "I'm so sorry!" she cried as he smoothed her hair. "Please when she grows up, tell Mikan that…" she sniffed "Tell her I didn't mean for things to come to this and that I love her now and always." She wiped her teary eyes with the back of her hand. "Also that I'm sorry we had to leave her but that we will always be watching over her and she'll never be alone, ever."

She released him and cried even more when she noticed the unshed tears in his eyes. "Good bye for now my dear daughter" he looked at Izumi who only nodded grimly.

"I hope you will be able to forgive me someday." He said with his eyes cast down in shame.

"There is nothing to forgive, son." He extended a hand towards him but Izumi hugged him in stead.

"We leave Mikan in your care." was the last thing he said before he walked away with Yuuka hand in hand.

When the clock struck 8 Izumi looked at Yuuka in the eyes and kissed her one last time.

"I love you"he whispered.

"For all eternity" she whispered back.

Those were the last words that Yukihira Izumi and Azumi Yuuka ever uttered.

"How touching" a cold voice said from behind them before a gunshot was heard and Izumi's body fell limply to the hard floor.

"You know I expected more from you Yuuka…" Masao's voice dripped pure rage even though he was speaking so calmly. "You could have avoided all of this had you stayed with me."

She didn't reply. She wanted her last words to be those she'd said to Izumi.

"Aren't you going to beg for your life?" he said pointing the gun at her head.

She stared into his eyes filled with raw hatred and for the first time felt pity for him but still refused to answer.

"Fine then, have it your way." He looked at her up and down. "I hope you rot in hell." And without even hesitating he pulled the trigger finally ridding the world of the infamous "YIaAY".

From a car parked a couple of meters away Hyuuga Satoshi was watching everything, a malicious grin on his face, his red eyes glinting with mirth.

"Farewell my witty pebbles."

He rejoiced in his triumph and thought what they should write in their tombstones. "Here lie Yukihira Izumi and Azumi Yuuka, non-living proof that no one can trick the Master Trickster." He said and laughed sadistically.

(Normal PoV)

Luna stands in shock not being able to move a muscle, a million thoughts running through her head.

"I only found out about the girl four years later when she fell under Masao's care." He grabs a cigar from a small box on his desk and lights it "To think that now she's become the pebble in my shoe…" He takes a puff and blows a smoke ring over his head. "I just can't seem to rid myself of you Yukihira."

Luna's mouth fell agape. Did he really not feel any guilt at all? Her body didn't seem to respond and apparently Satoshi found this incredibly annoying.

"Are you going to stare at me like a fish all day?" he glares at her "If so get out of my sight this instant." He commands irritated.

As if she were under some sort of trance she starts moving and leaves the office closing the door softly behind her.

Satoshi leans back on his chair and looks at the different shapes the smoke from his cigar forms and becomes submerged into what he believed were long forgotten memories. He hadn't thought about Yukihira in so many years he had started to think maybe it had all been a distant dream.

It seemed unconceivable to even consider that Hyuuga Satoshi was being tormented by one man who had been dead for over sixteen years and yet, here he was sitting in silence in his office staring at the ceiling. Since when did he waste his time staring dumbly at nothingness? How could he get any more pathetic?

From the moment that girl had appeared things had gotten out of hand, even Natsume now thought he could make decisions on his own.

And suddenly he realized he wasn't in control of everything anymore. A strange foreign feeling started creeping from his stomach; he shrugged it off as a common stomachache due to over stress.

Sixteen years ago, he recalled, back when he had Izumi dealt with, he remembered feeling something similar, what had Masao called it again? Ah yes, guilt. He didn't have that… he remembered clearly telling him that feeling guilt meant admitting to yourself you had done something wrong, which he of course had not, he never did anything wrong.

Still that didn't change the fact that every time he saw that girl or even heard her name being mentioned he would feel his insides twisting in discomfort. Maybe he just didn't have the stomach to digest this girl. He chuckled lowly at his own stupid pun before groaning as the pain became even worse. He opened his desk drawer and felt around searching for his antacids.

He needed to finish off this girlfriend issue before he got a peptic ulcer… He held his side tightly when he felt his interior turning... 'It might already be too late for that too' he thinks as he downs two antacids without a second thought or a glass of water.

Mikan combed her hair in front of the mirror as she thought about what had happened a couple of hours ago. She had just outright confessed to two guys in less than ten minutes. That had to be a world record, okay maybe not, but it was probably very close.

Just remembering it made her feel embarrassed and flustered. She had not expected any of that to happen, not in a thousand years. Her and Natsume? If someone had told her that a week ago she would have honestly laughed in that person's face and not the giggly cute kind of laugh either.

This whole situation just seemed completely unreal to her, and she was wondering if maybe she had just let herself get caught up in the moment. She couldn't understand what was about him that made her feel so safe, like she could be her real self without the fear of being judged. In fact he would judge her when she wasn't her real self.

He was the complete opposite of everyone she had ever met in her life. For her it was always the same, people telling her she needed to keep up an appearance, a mask so to speak, to make other people like her…

"Being who you are is not good enough; you will never earn people's acceptance and respect that way."That's what her father- no, her uncle had always told her.

"That's stupid, if you go through life pretending to be someone you are not you'll eventually be found out and then it'll be worse. If you are yourself there's a chance many won't like you, but there will always be people like me who will…"that's what Natsume had said, whether or not he realized the weigh of his words at the time.

It seemed like everything he told her meant so much to her for some reason, no one had ever been so bold or straightforward to her before, normally those who noticed she was faking were too scared to say anything about it, Hotaru had simply stopped trying, but Natsume was different…

So maybe saying "I love you" was a little bit over the top but there was no time for self-consciousness at that moment, sadly the moment was now, and she couldn't bear to see her flushed face in the mirror as she replayed the whole thing in her head.

"I love you, you crazy hag." That had been his answer, and somehow she thought that she wouldn't have settled for any less than that and neither would he have, so it had been the right thing to say…

She had to stop over thinking about this- no good ever comes from that...

She sighs and puts the brush down. For a brief second wondering if he was thinking about it too. Perhaps she was thinking too little compared to him.

She smiles when an image of Natsume freaking out and pulling his hair crosses her mind. It made her feel a little relieved knowing she wasn't the only one reconsidering this.

She takes a deep breath and puts her hand on the doorknob mustering all the resolve she can to face him with a calm expression, at least one of them had to keep composure in this kind of situation…

She steps into the living room with her eyes closed and builds up some courage to speak.

"Okay, you can stop panicking now Kazume…" she knew she could break the tension by calling him that, he would ignore everything and concentrate on arguing she shouldn't call him that.

… Mikan waits in silence expecting an answer not daring to open her eyes, she can feel him staring at her and he is probably pissed after that, and he had every right to. Her face starts heating up as she pries an eye open to take a peek at his face and is shocked the instant she sees… nothing?

She fully opens her eyes and looks around in every direction, even behind her and finds herself completely alone standing at the doorway talking to no one. Mikan starts laughing out loud at the stupidity of the whole situation. She was feeling like a complete moron, getting all worked up for nothing, feeling nervous under the gaze of someone who wasn't really there, and for some reason she couldn't stop laughing.

He wasn't getting worked up about this, he wasn't wondering what she was thinking, he wasn't as concerned about this as she was, he was probably sleeping or doing something you would do on any other normal day… this was after all just another normal day, nothing special about it…

Her laughter finally dies out and she sits on the couch staring at the black TV screen. In the end there was no reason to be flustered… she knew she should feel glad it was that way but she couldn't help being a little disappointed.

She sighs deeply "It really was over the top…"

"What was?" Natsume's voice surprises her as he walks through the room.

"Um… the… I- the- you-." So much for calm…

"Right…" he throws a small square box at her accidentally hitting her on the head. "I thought you'd catch it…" he says pseudo-apologetically.

She stares weirdly at the red ribbon and the little card that reads ".U" on top of it. Mikan turns to him "What's this message about?" she asks confused.

"Well, it's as it says there. I owed you, that gift's my repayment, with all my gratitude of course. So I don't owe you anymore…"

Mikan huffs annoyed. He could have thought of a million better things to write or to say, what kind of thankfulness gift was this? Shouldn't it say something like "With love" or maybe a heart? "I owed you" what kind of man says such a thing to the woman he just told he loved!

"Aren't you gonna open it?" he interrupts her inner ranting.

She removes the lid from the little box and is for once in her life glad that she kept her mouth shut. Inside the box she finds a necklace with a round red stone that could almost look like a heart (if you squinted really hard and had a lot of imagination) hanging from it.

A big smile spreads on her face as she takes it out of the box and notices the drawing of a small heart with the words "With Love" written on it on the bottom of the box. She tangles the chain between her fingers and lets the small stone gently sway in front of her eyes.

"Are you gonna wear it or stare at it all day?" he says eyeing her with amusement, a smirk clearly visible on his face.

She extends the hand with the necklace to him and pulls her hair up with her free hand. Understanding her unspoken request Natsume walks up to her takes the piece of jewelry from her hand.

"It's garnet." He whispers into her ear. "January's birthstone." He adds as he finally manages to put it the right way.

Mikan blushes he even knew when her birthday was and she didn't even know his. "T- thanks." She manages to blurt after a while of silence.

"Don't mention it." He says sitting down on a chair opposite to her.

How could he be so calm? Mikan thought he was going to freak out and here he was being all… well… smooth and charming. She couldn't believe this was the same Natsume that had almost died of a heart attack when she kissed him.

'Well at least one of us has to know how to stay calm…' he thinks eyeing the red stone hanging elegantly from her neck.

She had to counterattack quick "How's it look?" she asks placing one hand over her chest pointing at the necklace.

Natsume smirks as if he were expecting that question "Well…" he looks around the room pretending to consider what she asked. "I suppose it could be worse…" he looks into her eyes. "Or so Kazume would say…"

Mikan smiles fondly at him "What would Natsume say then?"

"I picked it specially thinking about you, of course it looks good!" he looks away realizing she had just tricked him. "That's what Natsume would say."

She finds herself completely endeared by his every word and action "It wasn't over the top after all…" she mutters to herself. "By the way, when's your birthday?" she asks changing the subject.

"Actually…" he looks at his wristwatch "It ends in about four minutes…"

"What! Why didn't you tell me before! You even got me a gift!" she stands up from the couch and walks up to him "Well since I don't have time to get you a gift then… I'll grant you any wish you want, you name it."

"Anything?" he asks after pondering about it for a while. She nods and before she can add another word he grabs her wrist and forces her to sit on his lap hugging her tightly.

Mikan gasps at the sudden movement but finally relaxes in his arms and wraps hers around him. "Happy birthday…" she whispers at the same time the clock strikes twelve and snuggles even closer.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter although it mainly revolved around the bastard Satoshi, character I'm beginning to hate myself, somehow he came out a lot eviler than I first intended on making him...

To be continued…