I don't own G.A.

If two people are really meant to be together, eventually they'll find their way back.

The First Meeting: Still Waiting, My Love

Natsume's POV

"Dr. Hyuuga? Dr. Hyuuga? Yoohoo?"

I felt my shoulder being shaken and I was a bit confused as to who could actually come into my office without my permission. I raised by head ready to scold whoever broke my rules, but I was greeted with a pair of mischievous crimson eyes staring excitedly at me. How could my sister who was already 24, look like a pleading child was beyond me.

"What happened? Do you know that hospital personnel are the only ones allowed here?" I stated indifferently, scratching my chin which was already scruffy. Damn, I need a shave.

"You told me that you're on a break! I'm going to the restaurant with Youichi," Aoi reminded him. She straightened herself up from her squat position by my desk and I immediately thought of how short she was.

"And I told you, shortie, that I will be going at 1. Isn't it a lunch thing?" I grumbled, rolling my eyes. I caught the sight of the ticking clock on my white wall, and gulped loudly when it read 1:45.

"Yeah. Exactly. You're late by 45 minutes, nii-san," Aoi said as a matter-of-fact with dead eyes on my entire humiliated being.

"Okay. Maybe I overslept, but it doesn't mean that I won't come," I reassured her, gathering my stuff up in my bag and preparing to leave.

"Well, that's a good thing because you're the one paying for the food now," Aoi yelled out loud as she walked out of my office.

I ran my fingers on my hair and really wondered how come that innocent sister of mine changed into a demanding woman. Change. She really did changed. And a lot more did in my life.

I became a full-pledged doctor three years ago because I did every requirement with such little difficulty (however, that was the studies in college), and when I got into the real thing, I was a bit shaken to the bones. For the first time, I witnessed myself in the verge of crumbling because I found out how despairing and heart-wrenching it was to hold someone's life on your hands. My goal was to prevent someone else from dying, like my mom, but I never knew that it would be difficult.

I got over a bit of it and I gained respect from the other known doctors in the old hospital where I used to work. I spent more than two years there, but I was one of the few who were transferred to a bigger and more famous hospital, the Azumi Hospital, two months ago. I was rewarded by a small office, which I was relieved to have because despite that fact that I could get along with everyone now, I still wanted some time and peace with myself.

And of course, Aoi just had to ruin my tranquil silence every once and then.

I begrudgingly put my white coat on the rack and grabbed my suit jacket. I slung my black bag on my right shoulder and I exited my office.

One more thing that I really hated about change was my sister having a boyfriend of two years now. Apparently, they met in college and they were both in the field of arts with Aoi in fashion design and Youichi, her bratty boyfriend, in architecture. Okay, maybe he wasn't really that bad. But still...

"You really just have to stop glaring each other at some point or I'll eat your food," Aoi threatened as she eyed my steak, a fork and knife ready on her hands.

I immediately shielded my meat by stabbing it with my fork. "I'll eat it, you pig," I gritted out half-jokingly.

"I'll eat mine. I'm just happy that Natsu-nii is ready to pay for us," Youichi, that brat, said. It made my eye twitch, but really I was relieved that we were talking normally again. Yeah, well, we just have those times when we eat and get along, but with our annoying Aoi there, we just sometimes rough each other up or have this hostile atmosphere. I guess, it was really because of Aoi, and because we're guys.

We ate while me and Youichi finally got off each other's nerves and started talking about random stuff with Aoi piping in or whining. Youichi suddenly brought up something which perked my interest.

"An alumni was introduced into our arts section and apparently, she was from US. She did study at our college for a few months before moving into another country though," Youichi narrated.

"And...?" Aoi trailed off, and I thought she would know this since she was also in the arts and stuff. Guess not.

"Well, they said that she would oversee some works of students because she's successful abroad and managed to sell a lot of her artworks," the young lad continued.

"Maybe she has connections," I said, cutting up some meat and eating it.

"Yeah, she does. She's really good though and I saw some of her artworks and they're amazing," the silver-haired lad said with complete wonder in his eyes. Now, that's something you don't see everyday. Youichi rarely compliments anyone and he and my sister even started off on the wrong foot which led them to constantly bicker and insult each other to no end. Aoi would even complain to me by how this one guy annoyed the hell out of her and that she just wanted to smack him upside the head.

Oh, how those times really did change.

"What's her name? I might know her," Aoi asked, containing the same interest that her lover had, something that a doctor like me would probably not understand. But how wrong was I...

"Mikan Yukihara."

I felt like my chest was suddenly squeezed and my breath came wheezing out of me as I dropped my fork, clattering loudly on the plate. I vaguely heard Aoi's breath hitched, and Youichi scrunched up his eyebrows, not a clue to what was going on.

"Mi-Mikan?" I asked, feeling my eyes water as the sound of her name roll off my tongue seemed a bit foreign to me now. How could that be...

"Yeah," Aoi's boyfriend said slowly, as if he was trying not to step on a landmine. A bit too late for that, though.

"W-Where is she? When did you see her? Is she still here in Japan? Will she be at school tomorrow?" Aoi fired off her questions rapidly, not giving any second break for Youichi to answer. I remained frozen there, turning numb and my mind getting a bit hazy with the newfound information.

"She's going to stay here for a few months. Like I said, she'll be overseeing some students' works," he repeated more clearly.

"Oh my god," Aoi breathed out and I saw her slumped on her seat like a boulder was dropped on her shoulders. That was how it was for me; I felt like I was carrying something big on my shoulders, maybe the world, or maybe it was just because the past that I managed to bury was resurfacing again and it was making crushing me.

"Why? Do you... know her?" Youichi asked, worry laced in his voice.

Aoi didn't answer and instead, she looked at me with those eyes. That gaze that haunted me throughout my high school years; the looks of sympathies and regret that my friends conveyed to me because they assumed they knew what I was feeling when I lost her. But they did not.

And now, I felt like fate was being cruel because she was opening something again. An opportunity to see her. A chance to reunite with her again. The possibility of waking my feelings for her that I hid deep inside my heart.

"I'll... I have to go," I said weakly, surprised at how I managed to voice out those words when I felt like my insides corroded inside me. I felt languish, like my strength was sucked out from me and my knees would buckle.

"Wait, dude," Youichi tried to stop me but I was on my way out. The silver-haired lad would probably seek his answers from my sister, and I honestly didn't care if she would tell him or not. I needed to think about something else...something that would erase my thoughts of her.

I made it out of the building alive and I was soothed with the cold air washing over my face because I honestly felt suffocated when I was inside of the building. I felt like the air seemed a lot heavier, further compressing my capacity to breath.

"What the hell," I muttered under my breath.

Images started to resurface in my mind; her glasses almost falling from the bridge of her nose, her smile that seemed a lot brighter than the sun, her tears when she found out the truth about her identity, her pale face as she stared at me in the eye, the silence that enveloped us as I waited for her to wake up in the hospital, the warm lips that was pressed upon the side of my mouth, and that brunette hair that swayed with the wind as she smiled at me sadly across the bakery shop.

Why now.

Why...

I walked over to the side of the flowerbed and was about to sit down when a certain black Mercedes Benz passed by. I thought I saw a brunette inside the car and shook my head because my delusions would only give me false hopes and a confused mind. What I needed was a peace of mind, so I could continue to do my job well. Yeah, only that.

End of Natsume's POV

Youichi wanted answers. He was unable to wrap his mind around what happened at lunch and now he really was determined to unravel the mystery about this Mikan Yukihara, the subject that totally sent Natsume off the edge. Aoi didn't tell him anything for she thought that it wasn't her place to say anything, which got Youichi even more curious. And the fact that he had to pay for their lunch, which Natsume was supposed to do before he suddenly ran out of the place, added more fuel to his cause.

The silver-haired lad went to the gallery section of his art building, carrying a few drafts of his own work to show the famous Mikan. A few students were checking out the artwork that was recently displaced at the lobby.

A huge canvas was painted with reds, blues, and white and Youichi didn't know why this certain painting gave him a warm feeling whenever he looked at it. The setting of the scene was winter and judging by the shades of red, the artist intended it to be around Christmas time. The snowflakes seemed so real, and the atmosphere in the background really gave a happy feeling that you usually get around that time. A man was painted on the side, leaning on a light post and blowing a light puff in the air. He seemed to be waiting for a long time, but his head was tilted up to the sky like he knew it would open up and he would receive something.

"Do you like it?" A voice startled Youichi and he jumped back in surprise. A feminine laugh echoed in his ears and he turned red; not anyone could sneak up behind him like that.

"H-How do you do, Yukihara-san?" Youichi bowed slightly and he looked at the woman in front of him, scrutinizing her appearance for the first time since she was introduced into the building.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," she responded with that angelic-like voice and her amber eyes twinkled with something he couldn't point at. She looked mature in terms of knowledge and experience but her face seemed to indicate that she was a bit younger, like she still belonged to a college. Her brown hair was a bit wavy and Youichi might not know a lot about girl stuff, but he knew that her hair was natural. She had a light scarf around her neck and she didn't have any jewelry besides from a ring around her ring finger. She's not married, is she? Youichi thought.

Mikan might have had noticed that Youichi's gaze was lingering on her ring because she chuckled and the young lad really hated how embarrassed he could get around this woman.

"I'm not married, if that's what you're thinking," she answered his thoughts, smiling kindly at him. If it was possible, that made Youichi flush even more.

Mikan was clearly beautiful in her own way, and even if she didn't dress extravagantly like the others, she could easily attract anyone with those clear hazel eyes. Youichi could even admit that he was one of those people at first, but Aoi completely won his heart over, not that he would tell that to his girlfriend unless necessary.

Youichi's eyes went back to Mikan's painting and the title caught his emerald eyes: Still Waiting, My Love.

"Can I ask who is the person on the painting?" he asked, attempting to be polite since she was older than he was.

Mikan had this thoughtful look on her face. Her eyes softened, her eyebrows were pulled downwards a bit, a small smile on her lips that seemed more sad than happy. Youichi wondered if he shouldn't have had mentioned anything; he didn't want to be the one to make this woman cry.

"He was my first love," she answered softly. Youichi expected that much, but the fact that she mentioned him in a past tense meant that something occurred in the past, which was why they weren't together now.

"Where is he now?"

"I...I don't know," Mikan said, sadness interlaced with her voice and the younger artist regretted that he asked.

Trying out something else, Youichi asked another question. "Do you want to find him?"

There was a pause before an answer came, "I don't know."

"Do you remember him clearly?"

"Yes."

Youichi didn't want to intrude any further, but he suddenly thought of the lunch he had with the Hyuugas this afternoon. His mind started to run its gears and he felt like he was about to solve the puzzle he planned to complete.

He turned to Mikan Yukihara and looked her in the eyes, hazel ones onto his emerald ones.

"Can I ask what is his name?" His voice trembled slightly, not because of excitement but a sense of dread. What if it really was person he was thinking of? What happened in the past that made them grow apart? What will happen once they meet again?

The brunette smiled at him and looked at the man in her painting. The dark-haired man basked in the luminance provided by the light post, and the way he looked at the sky with a small smile on his face indicated that he was still hoping-hoping for that something. Youichi wondered if this man on the image was the same grouchy doctor who seemed to have some bipolar issues when it comes to his relationship with him. He wondered if it was the same protective brother who went to the lengths of supporting himself when he went to college. He wondered if that person was once capable of loving someone with all his heart... And Mikan gave the answer in his questions.

"Natsume Hyuuga. Natsume is his name."

A/N: Phew! One more chapter done! Hahaha! Thank you for those who still read my stories even though it's been years since I last posted or updated any stories XD Thank you very much! I hope you continue to stay tune and find out what happens here~

-See ya~!