Remember Me[Book 1]

Editing Chapter 9: String of Fate

G.A quote of the day:

"No matter how far apart we are, our hearts will always be together."

-Hotaru Imai

----------------------------------------------------------

huff...huff...huff

"Here Natsume, a towel to cool off your head for a while." Misaki smiled as she placed the wet towel on his burning head. Natsume looked very pale and had trouble doing most things, but Ruka was there to help him.

"Ugh..." he groaned as he swallowed down some disgusting medicine. "What are you giving me woman?" He whined.

"She's trying to help, Natsume!" Ruka defended her and scowled at Natsume. "Hurry up and get better so we can find Mikan already!"

"You're right Ruka." Everyone gasped. Who knew Ruka could tame the wild black cat?

"Natsume~Are you gonna be alright?" Sumire started to act all cutesy and shy.

"..." He didn't answer, but instead replied with a glare which gave her a shock. It has been three days already since he's fallen with a fever. According to Misaki, it's something minor that happens when he uses too much of his Alice after he's just recovered. It has cooled down a little each day and hopefully, it will vanish by the next day.

"Now...Natsume." Misaki faced him with an angry look, "YOU MUST EAT AND SLEEP... BAKA!!"

"I got it. I just have to eat to make you guys shut up already." He mumbled and everyone grew furious.

"That's it!!" Misaki stood up in rage. "I'm not making any dinner today!!" She stormed into her room and slammed the door closed.

"Uh...guys what are we going to eat now?" Tsubasa slumped in his chair and sighed.

"Hey~Don't forget that I can cook too!" Sumire shouted, already putting her apron on.

"Everyone knows you CAN'T cook, permy." Koko grinned as Sumire chased him with a hammer.

"I know! I hear there's a market near this village." Iincho paused, "Maybe we can find some clues about Mikan and get food at the same time!!" Iincho cheered and everyone nodded their heads. Natsume struggled to get up and Ruka held him down.

"Natsume you should rest while we all go, okay?" But Natsume only shook his head and attempted to get up once again. "You're going to hurt yourself-"

"I want to go." He firmly stated to no one in particular. Everyone gulped and nodded as they helped him get up.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Tsubasa grinned mischeviously. 

"...Hmph..." Natsume threw a fire ball at him and leaned on Ruka for support. Then they all headed towards the market near the city.

"Permy...can you smell any food?" Iincho asked as soon as they got outside the house, she nodded. Ears, whiskers, and a tail appeared before them. She leaned down in the form a cat and began sniffing the ground. They all tried their hardest to hold in the laughter as her tail squirmed around. Koko, however did not care as he grabbed her tail and yanked it hard.

"KOOOKOOO!!" She growled, and he sweat-dropped.

"I'M SORRY!" He yelled as he ran around once again, with thousands of bumps now on his head.

Sniff...sniff...sniff...sniff...minutes later....sniff...sniff...

"WE'RE HERE!" Iincho cheered gratefully. "Now...we should split up to cover more ground." They looked around and found a lot of people walking and talking about. This was no ordinary market, it was more of a...festival of some sort.

"Okay...I should go with Natsume, Iincho with Tsubasa, and Koko with Permy." Ruka suggested and everyone agreed, well except Koko. He wasn't even given a chance to argue, because mysteriously he was knocked out.

"C'mon, let's just get this over with!!" Sumire frowned as she dragged the unconscious mind reader. Everyone split up and went in different directions. Ruka carefully carried Natsume from food stand to food stand asking everyone if they had seen a pig-tailed brunette with hazel eye's. Unfortunately they didn't but somehow they found a clue.

"Look at this Natsume..." Ruka tapped on his shoulder. He was currently drinking water from a fountain. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and looked at the pamphlet Ruka held in his hand:

JOIN US FOR OUR ANNUAL DANCE AT HOKKAIDO HIGH

"So what?" He frowned, "What does a dance have to do with Baka?" He went back to drinking water.

"No...did you notice the name of the school hosting it?!" He argued,

"Yeah...what about it?"

"What about the address of the card Mikan sent you?" He asked and Natsume narrowed his eyes at him. He widened his eye's when he finally figured it out.

"Gimme that..." Natsume yanked the paper out of Ruka's hand and took a closer look at it and then glanced back at the address on the letter. The city's name was Hokkaido as Ruka stated, "Ruka... you're a genius."

"I know..." he returned the smile. "Anyways...I think we should go to that dance. What do you think?"

"Hm..." He smirked. "Now let's get the others in on the plan."

"It'll be held tomorrow at six."

"Hm..."

"Wait a minute..." Ruka's smiled dropped and he looked closer at the pamphlet. "It is required to wear appropriate attire. One fit for a dance. And it says that the dance is a masquerade. So Mikan may be wearing a mask and it'll be harder to find her now..." Natsume glared at it and sighed. He took it and folded it nicely to fit his pocket. Then they left to find and tell the others about it.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MEANWHILE

"Mikan... what do you think about this one?!" Ami held a short strapless purple dress against her body and observed it carefully.

"It's lovely Ami-sama." Mikan said. Her hazel orbs were now a boring blank color and her lips were held firm. "Let me hold that for you." She opened her arms and Ami threw the stack. All the clothes fell all over her and the clothes that were on the floor were picked up by none other than Mikan.

"Mikan please...have a little more emotion. Or you'll make me feel bad." Ami glanced at her nails and sighed, "Well... I guess you do deserve a little credit for choosing my nail polish. Don't you think it looks great on me?"

"Everything looks great on you Ami-sama." Mikan responded as she put the piled clothes in a bag.

"Oh... aren't you honest!" Ami cheered as she chuckled lightly, "Hm... let's get you something nice for Koro Sensei. Or should I say..." She covered her mouth quickly. "Oh!! Let's try this one on you!!" 

She cheered once again and handed the pinkish-orange spaghetti strapped dress that went a little below the knee and had white polka dots on it.

"Just like your name..." She smile sadly and mumbled, "I'm sorry that I had to use my Alice on your daughter Yuka."

"It's okay." Mikan came out with the dress and that stoic expression. Ami's jaw dropped and her eye's formed O's.

"Hm..." She rubbed her chin in curiosity, "If we let down all of your hair and add a little bit of makeup here and there...YES!!!" She jumped up and clapped her hands together. "Now let's go look for your shoes to match!!"

"Thank you. I am forever grateful to Ami-sama." Mikan bowed before her and went back to take off the dress, while Ami shuddered and smiled.

"You're welcome." She laughed and wiped her eyes as she went to find a pair of heels for Mikan to wear for the dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~