Chapter 8 (Part 3): Fears
"Mikan we've arrived at the day, the day we first met!" Natsume said, his voice failing to hide a hint of fear.
"Cool!" Mikan giggled. "I'm going to go say hi to my younger self!" Mikan said as she was about to get up and run to greet her younger self but was then pulled back on her arm by Natsume. "Ugh, Natsume let go, when will we ever have the chance from meeting our younger selves again? This'll be fun, maybe we can encourage the little you and me to get along," Mikan suggested.
"No Mikan are you crazy? Aren't you aware of what may happen if we come in contact with our past selves?" Natsume asked.
"Uh...We can have a really cool slumber party?" Mikan guessed. Natsume facepalmed. Could Mikan really be this oblivious?
"Mikan if we come in contact with our younger selves then we may have some sort of an influence on them. Things may get awkward between the two of them and then we may never get together. Not to mention that we may cause some of the future events to never occur if we mess around in this time period. Our very existence being here now has probably disturbed future events yet to come!" Natsume explained trying to get her to understand.
"Oh wow, I never thought about that," Mikan said as she and her boyfriend sat and saw Narumi-sensei put the younger Natsume to sleep by kissing his forehead. This clearly annoyed Natsume. "Hahaha, I remember that," Mikan said while trying her best not to laugh in order to prevent her boyfriend from becoming angry. Natsume growled.
"As much as I'd love to torch that perverted teacher..." Natsume thought as he and Mikan to their surprise were suddenly sucked up by another vortex that appeared in the sky.
"Ah, not again!" Mikan screamed as she quickly grabbed on to Natsume and our two heroes were sucked into the vortex.
"Why is this happening again all of a sudden? We're not even in the time void!" Natsume thought to himself.
"Natsume, don't let go of me!" Mikan screamed.
"Of course I won't." Natsume replied as he grabbed a tighter hold of his girlfriend. And within a few moments the vortex that they were in seemed to spit them out at another destination. The two were able to land safely this time and found themselves back at the academy however, it was now sunset and they seemed to be in the playground area.
"Hey I remember this!" Mikan squealed. Natsume covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhhhhhhh! Keep your voice down Mikan, we don't want to be discovered remember?" Natsume replied while placing his hand over Mikan's mouth and urging the two of them to go hide in a bush. "Wait a minute I remember this too!" Natsume said as he peeked through the bushes they were hiding in and he saw his younger self competing against a young Mikan in a one-on-one final round dodgeball face-off. "This was when we had our little dodgeball game and I threw the ball at you without using my alice," Natsume said looking a bit melancholy.
"Hahaha yeah I remember this day. I may have lost but the game but I still had a lot of fun, hee hee hee." Mikan giggled.
"Why are you laughing? You lost the game!" The young Natsume shouted to the young Mikan. This hit Natsume's heart like a solid brick.
Wow, I sure was cruel back then. Natsume thought to himself as memories of the dodgeball game began to flash through his head. Natsume remembered how he carelessly used his fire alice against the opposing team and showed no mercy except during the final round against the woman that he is now engaged to. I was ruthless and carelessly shoved everyone away to the point to where I was completely alone. If it weren't for Mikan, I don't know what I would've become. That's why I have to make sure we don't do anything stupid to screw it up. Natsume thought to himself with a sad expression on his face. Mikan noticed this and tried to comfort her boyfriend.
"Huh? What's wrong Natsume? Why do you look so sad?" Mikan asked as she put her hand on his back concerned about him.
"Nothing," Natsume responded.
"Ah come on, tell me. I can tell something's on your mind," Mikan said while poking at Natsume's cheek.
"I said it's nothing!" Natsume responded back, obviously annoyed now.
"Tell me or else I'm going to run over and say hi to our little selves," Mikan said while standing up.
"No you idiot!" Natsume said while pulling on Mikan's arm to bring her back to his level. Their conflict was so loud that the young Mikan and her classmates turned their heads to their direction that they were in. Mikan became annoyed by his response.
"Hmph, fine. I was only trying to help but it seems just like in our academy days you never seem to let me in and always push me away," Mikan said while pouting.
"She sure is an idiot huh?" Natsume heard his younger self tell a young Ruka in the distance while getting a drink of water from the water fountain.
Six years have passed and I really haven't changed at all have I? Natsume told himself.
"I'm sorry Mikan, you're right, I have always pushed you away and I'm sorry," Natsume said as he watched his younger self walk off like he owned the place. A seemingly permanent frown on his lips, his hands in his pockets. Mikan saw how ashamed he was by the look in his eyes, and became guilty.
"Hey, come on, don't be so hard on yourself Natsume. I can admit that I can be a bit of an air head at times not to mention that I did admittedly show up to the academy sounding a bit arrogant of alices, so it's only natural that you would've said some of those things to me. And plus, much of the time it was for my own protection wasn't it? I'll never forget what you told me at the Academy Festival Dance 'A naive girl like you should stay in the light and stay out of the dark.' Admittedly that did seem pretty mean at the time but now that I look back, you were really just trying to protect me and keep me out of the hands of the ESP while you took on the burden to secretly protect me by continuing with your missions in the Dangerous Abilities class." Mikan said she gave Natsume a hug from behind him. "Natsume, don't feel bad about the silly things we may have done to each other in the past. The past should stay in the past, it's over and done with so don't let it haunt you anymore ok?" Mikan said as she kissed his cheek.
"Hmp, uh Mikan," Natsume coughed as he turned around to face her.
"Yes? What else is on your mind Natsume?" Mikan asked concerned.
"Well it's just that, I'm scared," Natsume admitted facing the ground.
"Huh? Scared of what?" Mikan asked worried about her boyfriend, this is the first time that she's ever seen Natsume scared of something, and it certainly wasn't a good feeling.
"I'm scared of losing you Mikan. I fear every moment being in these time periods because I'm worried that the slightest bit of influence on or younger selves or anyone in this academy can cause a chain reaction which may result in us never getting together, and well," Natsume said as he began to choke, I can't bear to imagine what my life would be like without you!" Natsume said as he hugged his girlfriend. Tears began to fall from his eyes, this truly was a side of Natsume that she had never seen before. In fact it was the first time that she's ever seen him cry before.
"There there Natsume," Mikan said as she began to stroke his head. "I'm not going anywhere don't worry," Mikan said as she pulled Natsume's face into her chest. Natsume felt safe and secure here. This was a feeling that has been stript away from him for the passed four years after all and he longed to have have this feeling for the rest of his life. Natsume's own words again began to haunt him. 'baka, I'm not going anywhere,' Was what he said to Mikan so many years ago, but now it looks like the roles have been reversed and our kuro neko couldn't help but feel happy that he had someone to love, care, and worry about him for once.
"Mikan...I love you...so much." Natsume whispered to himself.
"Natsume, look!" Mikan squealed too excited to hear her boyfriend's whisper. "*giggle* The class left the court and forgot to take in their dodgeball, come on, let's play a quick game!" Mikan squealed.
"A game of dodgeball? I don't know." Natsume said questioning if he should play dodgeball with his girlfriend as it would without a doubt bring back bad memories of his early days in the academy with Mikan where he was regretfully cruel to her. Dodgeball was a violent game and he certainly did not want to cause his girlfriend any harm. But then again, dodgeball was her favorite sport and he did want to make her happy.
"Aww come on Natsume! *giggle* It'll be fun!" Mikan said as she grabbed Natsume's arm and pulled him towards the dodgeball courts. It was now dark so no one was around as all the students were now heading to bed. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh, dodgeball, the best sport ever!" Mikan said as tiny little hearts seemed to flourish around her face as she rubbed the abandoned dodgeball against her cheek.
"Mikan are you sure you want to play a game of dodgeball? I'm just worried that well, I may accidently hurt you." Natsume said as he looked melancholy. "Damn it woman, why did your favorite sport have to be dodgeball of all sports? Why couldn't it be something harmless like basketball or tennis?" Natsume cursed himself.
"Hee hee hee, ok Natsume we'll play one-on-one first person land three successful hits wins. Hitting your opponent on the head is against the rules and since it's just the two of us, dodging the ball will not be acceptable. And the ball must be thrown above the waste. Violation of these rules will result in a point to the other player. And don't you dare go easy on me because I'm a girl. I'm a great dodgeball player, it's my favorite sport after all." Mikan said while winking.
"Sheesh, this is the first time I've heard her sound so professional at something, she sure does love dodgeball," Natsume thought. "Ok then Mikan, while we're at it, why don't we make things interesting with a bet? If I win then you have to wear whatever I want you to wear for a whole month," Natsume said trying his best not to drool at the thought of Mikan wearing maid or hooker outfits as he pleased.
"Ok, and if I when then you have to be my servant for a whole week doing anything that I say just like when I became your servant after you won the Genie RPG during in the Alice Festival" Mikan said while giggling at the thought of all the crazy things that she'll be able to make Natsume do for her.
"Don't I already do that?" Natsume thought as a sweat drop appeared on the back of his forehead.
"Ok, ready to lose Natsume?" Mikan giggled.
"Heh, you won't have that attitude when you're stuck in a maid dress." Natsume said as Mikan placed the dodgeball in the middle of the court. Mikan and Natsume then slowly backed away from the ball and waited to the count of three to grab it.
"3...2...1...GO!" Mikan and Natsume shouted in unison as they both ran to the ball.
A/N: Well this has become interesting. Mikan and Natsume are about to have the rematch of the century! Who will come out victorious in this sudden game of Dodgeball, and aren't Mikan and Natsume putting themselves in danger of being spotted by someone? Don't hesitate to leave us a comment on what you think will happen next. ^_^
This chapter was written by Sonic-Keyblade 007 and edited by edwardelric108 and Neverlookback756.