Save Me[Book 2 of R.M]

Save Me/52/Words Unsaid

"So. Tell me, where should I go? To the left, where nothing is right? Or to the right where nothing is left?"

-Itachi Uchiha(Naruto)

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He licks the folding, then folds the crease closed, and places it in his pocket. After a long lasting glance of his room, he finally sighs and rolls the case outside his dorm. He closes the door and meets eyes with his best friend Ruka.

"You should tell her." His brows are scrunched up in annoyance. Since Natsume told him of his plan, he hasn't been very happy.

"Nah... it's better this way." He attempts to give him a soft smile but Ruka doesn't give in.

He's angry at his sudden decision.

And what's worse is that he said it casually over lunch the day before.

"When will you be back?"

Natsume glances down the hall for just a moment, a look of longing takes over his face. He lets it show for a second and it disappears the next.

"Who knows?"

Ruka notices this and not knowing what to do next, rubs his nose in contemplation. "You should at least write a letter."

Natsume doesn't answer and instead looks at her door. It's the only thing he can let himself do since that day.

They haven't spoken, nor seen much of each other.

She was finally able to attend class just the week before but... they don't have class together and he doesn't let his eyes follow her.

Even though his heart throbs at the thought of her.

"What's happened between you two? You haven't spoken in weeks!"

Natsume's lips are too dry so he takes a sip of his water and then turns in the opposite direction. "Who knows?" He repeats.

"Who knows?" Ruka mocks, "Who knows? How can I help if you're refusing to talk about it?!"

"There's nothing to talk about." He decides as he closes his eyes. He runs into his son who's bent down, his hands on his knees, panting.

As soon as he heard from Ruka, he came to see for himself what the fuss was about.

"Nothing to...? What is wrong with you?" Ruka sighs, his head in his hands. "Are you mad and now you're running away? You're a coward Natsume. Is this what your efforts have come too? Is this where all the work you've done-everything you've achieved-gone to?"

Natsume's hair covers his eyes and his lips remain straight, tight even to the point that it might snap easily. His throat feels dry and its starting to hurt. A taste of bitterness resurfaces.

"I heard the news from Uncle Ruka." Mitsuru finally breaks the silence, "What's going on?"

He didn't want it to be this way.

His shoulder brushes past Mitsuru in an overwhelming coldness. "Dad!!"

Natsume keeps on walking until he turns the corner where he falls on his knees. He didn't think it would be this hard nor this terrifying to leave.

His letter... still in his pocket, feels heavier as he takes a breath. Finally Natsume gets up and walks on, like it never happened.

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A sound taps at the door. Mikan hesitates to look but makes herself open it.

A breath escapes her lips.

"Tell... him... to... stop." Mitsuru says between his words. "This isn't... right."

"What?"

Right behind, Ruka has his face in his hands, "He's leaving. He told me yesterday but I didn't believe him until I saw his suitcase."

"Natsume?" Mikan says dumbfounded at the moment. "Wait. Wait. Wait a minute. What's going on?"

"NATSUME/DAD IS LEAVING!!!" They shout at the same time. 

Her eyes glisten and her heart throbs painfully at the sound of his name. She looks back at her dresser where it once stood by her as she went to sleep.

"If he wants to leave then I can't stop him. It would be selfish of me wouldn't it?"

"Are you stupid?" Hotaru slams a hand against the wall in a matter of seconds. Ruka clenches his fists in an attempt to stay calm but his friends mean so much to him. How could he not do a thing to stop this?

"Maybe it is stupid. And maybe you guys are angry at me but I have to change if this is going to work."

"No." Mitsuru interrupts, "What you need to do right now is talk to him or else you're going to regret it."

She swallows hard and screams silently into her couch pillow. "I'm emotionally unstable. How can I protect him like this? I just want to be normal!!!"

"I thought we went over this." Ruka says, his anger building up, "None of us are normal!!! So what if your love is different? So you love each other too much, who cares? Love prevails. Now go to him before its done."

As if being pushed by someone, Mikan falls forward into a sprint in order to catch up to him.

She runs out into the hall down the path to the entrance, she hasn't run in days and its evident by her breathing. Instead of stopping to catch her breath, she pushes even more-to the point that ends up falling once.

The tears pour out of her-the ones she's been keeping inside until this moment- and her heart thumps loudly to the sound of the bell.

"Natsume!" She screams, her lungs failing to bring air into her body.

Every time she feels her legs are about to slip, she thinks of his smile that day. The two story building where she was held hostage. Where they made that promise.

"NATSUME!!!"

The guards spot her from a short distance away and point at her but no one is at the gates.

"..." She leans on her knees and spits on the floor. A metal taste takes over her mouth. She feels like her heart is about to burst out into a million pieces. "Where. Is. He?"

"He left five minutes ago."

She no longer has anything left to cry for so she wipes her eyes dry, sniffling and letting them go now since she's held them in for too long.

"He told us to leave this for you."

At first it takes her a few wipes to focus her vision but eventually she spots a polka-dotted envelope with her name written neatly on it.

She holds it against her eyes.

If he knew I'd come, then why did didn't he wait for me?

"Where..." She coughs, "Where did he go?"

"That information is confidential."

She looks past the gates to see that busy streets of Japan but she doesn't see her beloved Natsume anywhere.