The Lady of My Heart: Chapter 2

#11: Gakuen Alice (Natsume & Mikan)
...xXx...

"Prince Natsume, would you like some tea?" Mikan politely asked Natsume, who was currently doing his paperwork.

A nod was his reply. As she served him the tea, he leaned on his chair with closed eyes. Okaa-sama…

Standing beside him, she quietly asked, "Prince Natsume?"

Opening his eyes, he took his cup and slowly sipped his tea. "You are from the Northern Lands, are you not?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then you must know Akira, the prince of the lands?"

"Everyone knows about him, Prince Natsume." He's also my twin brother. A part of her was curious how he knew about Akira, so she carefully asked, "Did you know him very well, Prince Natsume?"

"We were classmates when I attended Gakuen Alice," he replied boringly.

She gasped. He's an Alice.

Natsume, who heard her gasp, turned to stare at her. "Do you have something on your mind, Mika?"

"It's nothing really. I've heard about Gakuen Alice before. It’s a special school that located in another dimension of Japan." She laughed nervously.

She knows a lot for a citizen, Natsume thought while staring at her with curious eyes. Only royalty and nobility know about this stuff.

Feeling his intense stares, she started sweating mentally. Attempting to change the subject, she quickly asked, "If I may ask, what Alice you have, Prince Natsume?"

"Why do you want to know?" He smirked slightly.

She shrugged. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me. I heard Prince Akira has Elemental Alice. I've been working as a servant for the nobility family, so I know a bit about this stuff," she added the last part in hope he wouldn't get suspicious for her knowledge.

After a moment of silence, he shortly replied, "Fire."

"Huh?" she replied dumbly.

A small fire ball appeared not far from her and her eyes widened. "Oh."

The fire ball vanished a moment later.

She then glanced up at the sky through the window. It's time…

Quickly, she cleaned up everything when Natsume suddenly said, "Come with me."

"As you wish, Prince Natsume," she replied curtly and worked faster. As soon as she finished, he got up from his seat, and she followed him closely. Walking out of the room, they went through so many halls that she couldn't remember where they came from. Finally, they reached a big shoji door that had a red phoenix symbol on them.

The two guards, who were guarding the door, bowed humbly. “Prince Natsume.”

Natsume nodded in reply, and the guards opened the door for him. When they went inside, a few servants bowed their head down and walked out from the room, dismissing themselves.

Mikan followed him to the inner room. When they reached inside, she saw a woman sitting on the bed that was placed not far from the windowsill. The paleness on the woman's face told her that the woman was ill. The woman turned her attention from the window to them.

Natsume gave a small bow to her. "Okaa-sama."

Mikan quickly bowed in alarm. “My Lady.”

The woman looked over her. "You are?"

"She has been my personal assistant for the past few months, Okaa-sama," Natsume replied for Mikan.

"My name is Mika, Lady Kaoru," Mikan introduced herself with a smile.

"I see," Kaoru replied her with a smile, too. She turned to Natsume. "I'm fine, Natsume. Even though you're busy helping your father, you still come and visit me every day… Thank you…"

"Worry about your health, Okaa-sama. How are you feeling today?"

Kaoru looked up at the sky through the window. "Good."

After an hour or so, both of them returned to Natsume's palace.

Mikan was dismissed for the day since all her duties were done. She went to her own room and sat down on the bed. Shortly after, she got up and walked towards her window and decided mentally, I can do it tonight.

When night had fallen to the Eastern Lands, she made her way to her wardrobe and dug her travelling bag. She pulled out a white silk kimono from the bag. Smiling, she changed into her kimono. Her kimono came with pink obi. A sakura symbol was printed on the left shoulder.

Midnight, she noted mentally after she looked up at the sky. Softly, she breathed out, "Kaze-san…"

Within minutes, Mikan was lifted by the wind and brought to Kaoru's palace. The window was locked when she reached at Kaoru's room. A sakura symbol appeared on her forehead in count of seconds. Still floating, she held out her hands in front of her and started chanting silently. Two sakura symbols appeared before her. One went under her feet while the other shot through the room. The symbol under her feet started rotating, and her body slowly turned into sakura petals that gathered in another symbol within the room. Once she was sure her body was solid once more, she approached Kaoru quietly. Standing beside the bed, she touched Kaoru's hands. Closing her eyes, she started chanting again. A white light glowed around Kaoru's body as she concentrated her power to Kaoru's illness. After a few minutes, the white light dimmed, and she opened her eyes.

Natsume will be sad if he knows about this… She looked at Kaoru sadly before leaving and back to her room. What could I do for him? After a few minutes of pondering, she smiled and wider each second. I could make use of that.

...xXx...

Mikan woke up from her long slumber. Getting up from bed, she walked towards her window. Slowly, she opened the window and looked up at the sky. The day has come. She started morning routine like usual, but she knew today would be different from any other day. Right after she was finished, she went to Natsume's room through the door that was connected to hers. He was sleeping peacefully on his bed. Slowly, she approached him. As soon as she was at his side, she smiled and leaned down to kiss his brow. Before she could pull away, he already caught her wrist, pulled her into his bed and hugged her on the waist. She giggled and whispered into his ears, "Good morning, Natsume."

Slowly, he opened his eyes and pulled her closer to kiss her on the lips.

For the past six months, she had developed feelings for him, or she had fallen in love with him to be exact. There was no declaration that they were together, so she thought it was either one-sided love, or he didn't want to be tied with her.

The day started okay until they reached midday with the news about the passing of Lady Kaoru. Mikan already knew about this since she paid a night visit to Lady Kaoru. She had found out that her illness couldn't be healed.

"Let her go, Natsume," she whispered softly and mentally added, Let her go, for now…

She tried to comfort him by hugging him. He kissed her on the lips, and everything seemed to move in a blur. It was the dawn of the next day that she woke up and realised what had happened last night. She, the Princess of the Northern Lands had slept with Natsume, the Prince of Eastern Lands. Clutching the blanket that was covering her naked body, she slowly turned to her right side and saw the sleeping prince beside her.

Things just happened too fast, she thought sadly. Knowing the day was still early, she slowly slipped out from the bed without waking her partner. But before she did that, she gently planted a kiss to the small red phoenix symbol on his forehead.

"Goodbye, Natsume, My Prince…" she whispered into his ears very softly. Walking back to her own room, she quickly changed to her travelling kimono. The very same kimono she wore when she came to this land for the first time. Once she was done, she scanned the room she resided for a year. Just one year. It was a small room with one bed, one bathroom, one wardrobe, and one nightstand. A lone tear slid down her face, but she quickly brushed it off. It's time to go, Mikan.

She grabbed the small crystal bottle where a light resided inside and pushed the bottle inside her bag and got up. She quietly opened the window of her room. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the fresh air of the dawn.

"Kaze-san…" she breathed out after opening her eyes. No longer than a minute, a gush of wind came and immediately brought her out from the room and landed on the flower garden, as she had requested to the wind. As she pulled the hood of her mantle she was wearing, a pink sakura symbol appeared on her brow. She held out her hands in front of her and started chanting silently. A sakura symbol appeared before her hands. The symbol grew bigger and moved by itself to the ground where she stood. Her body started turning into sakura petals when the symbol started rotating, and soon, the petals floated away from the Eastern Lands.

...xXx...

A knock was heard from the shoji door, and Natsume answered without paying attention to it, "Enter."

After a moment a man stepped before him. With a smile, the man greeted, "Greetings, Natsume."

Natsume stopped reading and looked up at the man who bore the same symbol on the forehead like himself.

"Greetings, Tsubasa-nii-sama," Natsume replied stoically.

Tsubasa sighed. "Don't give me that face, Natsume."

"I'm sure a traveller like you won't even spend a few days in this castle without a good reason," Natsume said with a-matter-of-fact tone."Additionally, you only speak to me when something is up. What do you want, Nii-sama?" Natsume said straight to the point.

Tsubasa gulped nervously. Shoulders slumping, he sighed. "All right, all right, Otou-sama wan—"

"I don't want to talk about it," Natsume interrupted before Tsubasa could finish his words. The conversation was unnecessary for him, so he continued reading and started writing what was needed for their lands. He was helping his father, the Lord of the Eastern Lands, handling everything regarding their lands. It should be the work of his older brother who currently standing in front of him. But unfortunately, because of his older brother’s dream as explorer, he, as the second son or prince, had to take over the work.

Tsubasa looked at Natsume guiltily. "I'm sorry, Natsume."

"I'm used to it," Natsume replied plainly without looking at Tsubasa.

"Eventually, the crown will be set after you."

"What? Do you want it?"

Tsubasa's eyes widened. "Of course not! You know I only love travelling."

"Hn," was his only respond.

"Natsume, I know it must be because of someone that you act this way."

Natsume paused his writing for a few seconds but continued again.

Tsubasa smiled because he knew that he had guessed it correctly. "I understand why you don't want to tell me. We’re not so close to begin with but… why don't you tell Otou-sama that you already have one. He will understand how you feel since Otou-sama and Okaa-sama were married because of love."

After that said, he slowly made his way out from the room. Before closing the door, he called out, "Think about it, Natsume."
When the shoji door was closed, Natsume stopped writing and let out a long sigh. He looked up at the sky. Where are you, Mikan?

Prev Chapter 1—The New Assistant Chapter 2—The Disappearance Chapter 3—The Invitation Chapter 4—The Reunion Chapter 5—The Truth Chapter 6—The Meeting Chapter 7—The Lady of My Heart Next