Kiss of Fate
By: Esa MaRie
Chapter 14 – Last Chapter
Mikan felt dazed as Natsume slowly lifted his mouth from hers. She turned her head away trying to avoid Natsume's penetrating gaze.
'Damn! Why did I let Natsume kiss me?' she thought miserably. 'And why the hell did I respond?'
She felt her hands tighten their hold against Natsume's shirt as she tried to calm her racing heart. She gave a soft laugh and said, "You really are a pervert, Natsume. You don't care who you kiss as long as it's a girl, right?"
She lifted her eyes and caught the gaze of those bright crimson orbs. A small smile tugging at her face, Mikan lifted her hand to touch Natsume's cheek. "I should have slapped you, you know. But I guess one last kiss from my most hated enemy can be a good remembrance."
Natsume's eyes narrowed, as if trying to comprehend what the hell she was talking about. He caught her hand and pinned her against the tree.
"Stop this nonsense polkadots. You're talking like you're leaving or something," he gritted out.
"Why? Is it too impossible?" Mikan asked quietly, meeting his eyes. "And what do you care?"
Natsume stared at her in disbelief. "You're serious," he whispered with a sudden realization of what Mikan was trying to say. He shook his head. "No way. The academy won't allow you to leave."
"If it's a transfer to another Alice Academy, they will," Mikan explained.
Natsume bent his head, his bangs covering his face.
"Stop being stubborn, Natsume."
"Hn."
"You love her."
"Shut up."
"She loves you too."
"I said shut up."
"Mikan doesn't know how to lie with a straight face. Just ask her of real feelings and you'll know."
"Another nonsensical word and I'll burn you, Imai."
"It was just an advice, you idiot."
"Why?"
Mikan just turned her head sideways.
"Personal reasons," she whispered.
"Like hell!" Natsume burst out. "I heard Souma is going to transfer. Is he the reason?"
Mikan was surprised that he knew. "H-how did you know that he's going to transfer?"
"I know more about this academy more than anyone else," he snapped. "Why? Why are you going to leave?"
"I told you it's personal!" Mikan yelled as she pushed him away from her. She began to run when his next words stopped her.
"Do you love him? Do you love him that much to go after him?"
"He loves me," she answered simply, her back on him.
"Wrong answer, polkadots. Do you love him?"
She clenched her fists then turned around. Her fiery gaze met his as she faced him, then thrust her finger to poke hard against his chest as she bit out her frustration on him "Whether" –poke- "I" –poke- 'love him" –poke- "or not" –poke- "is none" –poke- "of your damn business!" she yelled at him.
Natsume caught her hand but remained stubborn on his question. "It's a simple yes or no question. Even an idiot like you should be able to answer it. Do you love him?"
Mikan's eyes began to moisten as desperation began to gnaw at her. "I don't want to answer! Why can't you just let me leave?" she pleaded pulling her hand from him.
But Natsume's hold even tightened. He pulled her closer until their faces are inches apart, his crimson orbs boring into her hazel ones. "Just answer me honestly. Do you love him?"
"NO!" Mikan cried as she finally admitted it, unaware of the slight tug at Natsume's lips.
"Do you love me?"
"YES!"
It took a few seconds for Mikan to realize what she said. She gasped as her eyes widened. "W-wait… t-that's n-not it… I m-mean…" To her disgust, she felt her heat rising up to her face. She tried to turn her head away to cover her blush. She should have denied it right away but her tongue got stuck with the lie. She closed her eyes as shame began to fill her. She was never a good liar in the first place. Her shocked silence and blush just gave away her true feelings.
She heard his soft chuckle and she felt pain in her heart. He was making fun of her, of her feelings. Suddenly, she felt her chin being tipped up and soft lips captured hers in a sweet gentle kiss. Her eyes sprung open in disbelief as she found herself in Natsume's tight embrace.
Natsume lifted his lips from hers and stared intently at her eyes. "You're not leaving," he stated as though issuing a command.
Mikan stumped her foot on his. "Just because I'm in love with you doesn't mean you have control over me, you damn playboy!"
Natsume was about to make another retort when a sound of a branch breaking caught his attention.
"That's why she needs to leave to get away from a bastard like you."
Mikan gasped as she and Natsume both turned to see Akira behind them, obviously not pleased at what he just witnessed.
"A-akira-kun…" Mikan tried to go to him but Natsume caught her hand and pulled her to stay beside him.
"She stays," Natsume said, a hint of anger evident in his tone.
"You have nothing to offer her but misery, Hyuuga," Akira sneered at him.
"A-akira, t-that's enough…" Mikan pleaded.
"All you call her is 'idiot', 'baka', and other unpleasant names. You don't care about her. She's better off with me than someone as cold like you!" Akira continued angrily.
Natsume just continued glaring at him, then he said. "She's an idiot. There's no denying to that."
"Why you…!" Mikan wanted to punch him because of his words.
"But I love this idiot so I won't allow you to take her away from me!"
Silence passed among them as Mikan and Akira stared at Natsume in disbelief.
"So you finally worked out your feelings, eh?" Akira asked quietly, but it was more of a statement rather than a question.
Natsume just grunted. Akira then slowly moved closer and without warning gave a hard punch against Natsume's cheek.
"Akira-kun!", Mikan gasped.
Natsume felt his face snapped sideward but he did not move an inch. He turned his head forward and his furious glare met Akira's serious green eyes.
"That's for being a coward, kid. And for hurting Mikan in the process," Akira said then moved back to face Mikan.
"So, you're choosing him?" Akira asked, obviously trying to cover the hurt he's feeling.
Mikan bent her head, unable to face him. "I-I'm sorry, Akira-kun…"
Akira sighed sadly, then he tipped Mikan's chin to look into her tearful eyes. "No. I'm sorry," he whispered. "I guess I expected too much even though I already know that he's the one you love." He let out a small smile. "Smile Mikan. You always look better when you smile."
Tears began to fall from Mikan's face as she threw herself to Akira's embrace, which caused quite a reaction from Natsume. "Thank you, Akira-kun," she whispered. "I hope this won't ruin our friendship. Please keep in touch with me."
"Hey!" Natsume protested quite loudly, seeing the embrace lasted longer than necessary.
"Shut up kid!" Akira answered back, Mikan still in his arms. He then removed himself from Mikan's embrace and pushed her towards the firecaster.
"Hey Hyuuga. Take care of her... or next time I'll surely snatch her from you," he bored his eyes at Natsume.
Natsume continued to glare at him as he reached out to take Mikan's hand in his, then he bent his head in a bow. "Arigatou... sempai."
Akira smiled sadly, gave one last look at Mikan and left.
Mikan and Natsume stared at his retreating back in silence, their hands still linked. Mikan still couldn't believe at Natsume's confession a while ago. She turned to look at him and called his name, "Natsume…"
"You didn't have to throw yourself at him, you baka."
"Eh? You…!" she stopped as she realized what had just happened. Then she grinned. "You're jealous, aren't you?"
Natsume lifted his eyebrow at that question. "So? That jerk was embracing my girlfriend. You expect me to just smile over that?"
"G-girlfriend?" Mikan squeaked. "W-when did I become your girlfriend?"
Natsume smirked. "Since the minute you admitted you love me."
"T-that's… a-ah… I…"
"I love you too."
Mikan just gaped at him. She already heard him confess in front of Akira-sempai but hearing him say those words in front of her is something more… romantic? Her heart began to thump widely, and her legs are turning into jelly, her mind totally blank, her…
"Before a bug finds its way into your mouth, we better head back to the dance. Besides I don't want to share the taste of a bug when I kiss you," he smirked as he pulled her towards the auditorium.
A loud screech was heard as reply. "Natsume no baka!"
"Attention Mikan Sakura! Your partner awaits you for the last dance!"
Most of the Second year class B just smiled and shook their heads. Even after six years, Mikan and Hotaru still continue to participate in the last dance together. So what happened next was a shock to all of them. This time it wasn't Hotaru who walked towards the stage to claim the dance with Mikan… it was Natsume Hyuuga! Jaws began dropping down the floor as they saw Mikan smiling and extending her hand towards the fire caster. What was more surprising was that the normally poker faced black cat has a small smile plastered on his face! They saw Natsume pulled Mikan close to him, placing his left arm against her waist while her right arms rested on his shoulder.
"No way!"
"What just happened?"
"Isn't it that Mikan Sakura already has a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, it's Akira Souma."
"So, why is she dancing with Natsume Hyuuga for the last dance?"
"What's going on?"
"Don't tell me she's the one that Natsume-kun likes?"
"Argghhhhhh!"
Well, no one could believe it. How could they? Mikan and Natsume always fight each other like cats and dogs.
"Wait a minute!" one of the fan girls shouted. "Isn't it that Natsume-kun is in love with the girl he first kissed? Don't tell me that it's Mikan Sakura?!"
"Yup, you guessed it right."
"What?!!!"
They all turned to see Hotaru behind them, a huge crab at her right hand. Beside her was a girl and on her other side poor Ruka, holding a plate of crabs (another blackmail, I guess..XD)
"Right, Hina-san?" Hotaru turned to the girl beside her. Hina, the fortune teller grinned back.
"You're really a genius, Hotaru-sempai," she said admiringly. "You were able to guess who the girl is based on the few clues I've given."
Hotaru snorted. "It was easy. And I wasn't making any guess. I was sure of it."
"That's impossible!" another girl screeched.
"So you want proof?" Hotaru challenged. She placed her crab on the plate Ruka was holding, then took a photo from her pocket and showed it to them.
Curious, Hina and Ruka also looked at the photo and were surprised. The photo was shot on top of the Sakura tree and it showed two kids sitting on one of its branches. The young boy in the picture was holding the girl's collar and is… kissing her! Ruka heard loud gasps from the fan girls as they realized that the young boy was Natsume and the girl was Mikan Sakura.
"T-this… this was the vision I've seen!" Hina exclaimed.
"H-how did you get this?" Ruka asked with wonder.
"I have dozens of cameras scattered around the academy," Hotaru answered nonchalantly. A devilish glint in the eye, she turned to Ruka. "I also have yours."
Ruka paled. "H-hey… don't show it to Natsume…"
Hotaru just shrugged as she finished her crab. "Sure." Then she returned the remains of her crab on Ruka's plate. "Now be a good boy and bring Hina and me another plate… or else…"
"Come on, Hotaru-chan. Stop terrorizing Ruka-kun," a cheerful voice came from behind them.
'Thanks Koko!' Ruka mouthed at him.
Hotaru, Ruka, Hina, and Koko smiled at each other as they turned their heads to look at the couple still dancing on the floor, oblivious to the continuous wails of the dejected members of the Natsume fan club. Akira Souma shook his head and smiled as he stared at the couple, then slammed his fist on the head of his friend Taki for continuing to tease him on being heartbroken. All of them thinking of the same thing… Finally, they are together. Two stubborn people finally were able to express their real feelings to each other. It was a nice turn of event for them. It was so romantic. Suddenly…
"You baka! You stepped on my foot!"
"I'm not stupid, you hentai! You were holding me too tight!"
"That's because you don't know how to dance! If I don't hold you, you'll fall flat on your face and embarrass us both!"
"Natsume no baka!"
Ruka, Hina, and Akira sweatdropped. Koko laughed. Hotaru was pissed off. Natsume and Mikan stopped arguing when they heard an unmistakably sound of a gun cracking and turned to see Hotaru holding her baka gun, aiming at them.
Acting on instinct, Natsume pulled Mikan out of the dance floor to escape.
"That was all your fault, you baka!" Mikan accused him as she tagged after him.
When they reached the Sakura tree, Natsume looked up and began to climb up the branch.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Mikan yelled.
Natsume looked down and stretched his hand to her. "Grab my hand."
Mikan raised her hand to him and felt him pull her up. Now they were both sitting on the top of one of the branches. Mikan looked up and held her breath as she stared at the stars. "Wow!" she gushed.
"I want it to be special and romantic. And it has to be the boy that I truly love… Night time would be more romantic I think. We could sit under a tree and gaze into the stars holding each other hands."
Mikan smiled as she remembered her answer when one of her friends asked her how she would like her first kiss to be. Her first kiss six years ago… It didn't happen the way she wanted but… She turned her gaze to Natsume who was also looking up into the stars. At least it was with the boy she truly loved.
Natsume felt her eyes on him. "What?"
Mikan shook her head. "Nothing."
Natsume stared at her, as if trying to read her thoughts. Then he reached for her hand and pulled her to him. "Déjà vu," he whispered to her. "Do you remember?"
Mikan smiled. "The time when you stole my first kiss?"
"I did not steal it. It was meant to be." Natsume said.
Mikan's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. Natsume just shook his head in amusement. 'What a cute idiot. But still an idiot.' He lowered his head and captured Mikan's lips in a kiss, a bare whisper escaping his lips.
"It was fate."
-fin-
Ahhhh! Mushy-mushy-mushy! I can't believe I made it too mushy! Hahaha! Yipee!!! Finally finished! I finished my third fic! Yahoo! Well, what do you think of the ending? Good? Bad? Did I just waste your precious time reading 14 chapters of this fic? Hehehe. Please review… :-)
Hahhhh! I'm drained. But thanks for all the readers who had kept track of this fic! Thanks for all the patience, especially for my late updates. So far, this fic has the most number of reviews in all my stories. Arigatou gozaimasu! I'm glad you liked it a lot. I hope the ending wasn't a disappointment. (hey, this is the longest chapter I've ever written! XD)
Thanks for all those who reviewed Chapter 13:
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Azurana K.. Colette G., Knight of Caeli, cupidsangel
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