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Once upon a time, there had been a girl and a boy. The boy teased the girl mercilessly, but beneath the façade of detachment, he loved her, as she had him. Once upon a time, the girl died. The boy mourned. And wished for her to be here again.
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.:Midnight Wishes:.
To littledoggy, happy birthday.
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November the twenty-seventh was a frosty night.
Snow, light and dust-like, fell from the lolling velvet skies above, coating the grounds beneath it in a thin layer of white. With the warm orange lights glowing from the lampposts dotting the school compound and the faint silver outline the moon drew on the stately school buildings, Alice Academy looked like a fairytale come to life.
It was but a façade for the terrible tragedy that had happened just mere months ago, on a night as beautiful as this very night. The deaths of many had stained the grounds red; the tears that flowed were a remembrance of wounds that would forever remain open.
The school was once again at peace after the war with the anti-alice organization, but so much had been lost. Most of the students had left, unable to face the memories head on; a scant few had remained, helping to repair the school to its former glory.
The night hid all that behind the shadows that covered the school. The burn marks that stained the walls of the buildings, the simple row of graves that covered one side of the school.
Hyuuga Natsume was stretched lazily atop a sturdy branch of the old sakura tree. He wasn't exactly enamored of the pink that surrounded him, but the faint sweet scent that came from the flowers and the cold winds that whipped around him soothed him. It helped to bring his mind away from all that had happened.
Five minutes to midnight.
The sturdy hands of the clock tower in the middle of the school grounds moved gravely in response to the seconds ticking by.
Five minutes to the end of his sixteenth birthday.
An exceptionally strong gust of wind swept over the expense of open ground then; shaken loose from the gnarled branches that held them, sakura petals fluttered down in a flurry of pink onto the powder white ground below.
Natsume caught one nimbly with the tips of his fingers, examining it lazily through the slant of his crimson eyes.
Far away, the clock hands clicked simultaneously to twelve, aligning neatly, and the clock begun to chime.
Once, twice, thrice.
The clear, resonate peals rippled through the air, chilling in its clarity and breaking through the stone-still silence of the night.
Just like that day. The day the school had burnt. The day lives had been lost, the day friendships broken and innocence was lost.
Four, five, six.
Without warning, a flame snapped out from his fingers, licking the petal feverishly until all was left were crumbling ashes left to drift away and a burst of fragrance.
It smelt just like her.
The day she had died, lain under the giant crown of the sakura tree and on the scattered petals just as she had wanted. The last minutes of her life until the time her brilliant amber eyes turned dull with death.
He had learned to hate and love the smell.
To him, it smelled of death, of love lost. He hated the memories it evoked.
Yet at the same time, it smelled just like her.
And for him, it was all it took for him to love the smell.
Seven, eight, nine.
He thought he would go insane with the black despair that had drowned him as her head lolled back, a lifeless imitation of sleep.
But she had told him to live for her.
He had hated her selfish request. But he would withhold it, because it had been her last wish.
And for everyday that had passed, he had regretted making that promise.
What he would do now just for a glimpse of her smile, to hear her chatter incessantly by his ear once again.
He would die willingly just to be with her in death.
Ten.
He was going insane, he concluded by himself. Shutting his eyes, he hit a fisted hand to his forehead viciously.
Because he thought he could hear her voice just next to his ear right now, sending puffs of warm air down his neck as she whispered to him.
He was definitely insane.
She had died.
Died protecting him, died for him.
She couldn't be here anymore.
Could she?
Eleven.
He opened his eyes as he waited for the last chime.
If Hyuuga Natsume had been a lesser man, he would have tumbled off the tree with a decidedly feminine shriek.
But as it was, he remained precisely where he was, frozen and an expression of disbelief as he stared at an apparition of Sakura Mikan.
She looked exactly as he had remembered her to be, with her hair tied up with cheerful yellow bands in twin ponytails on either side of her head. Dressed in a bright yellow sweater with a white miniskirt, she was balanced precariously on the branch opposite him, legs wrapped around the branch tightly.
And in between her cupped hands, a miniature cupcake rested sedately, the candle placed jauntily on the rounded cap burning merrily.
And as the last chime sounded, she called out merrily to him, a wide grin on her face:
"Happy Birthday!"
The candle flickered in the wake of the winds, casting shadows that played over the planes of their faces.
He didn't move, simply stared at her.
At her, who wasn't supposed to here.
At her, who cannot be here.
"Go on," She held out the cupcake to him, a quizzical smile on her face, "Blow it out and make a wish."
He finally moved, and spoke, harshly, almost viciously.
"You cannot be here."
The words lingered in the air in the silence that followed.
Mikan, or her ghost, simply tilted her head to the side as she smiled, revealing twin dimples. "Whyever not?"
Because you are dead, his mind screamed out.
"The candle is melting," She told him warningly, holding out the cake nearer to his face.
Slowly, he reached out to take the offering.
The base of the cake was warm from her touch.
"Go on," She prompted.
Eyes never leaving her face, he leaned forward and blew out the candle.
She clapped her hands together happily as she beamed at him.
"Eat it, I spent the whole afternoon baking." she continued, anticipation lighting her eyes to a light golden brown.
He plucked the candle off the cake and took one bite of the cake.
"Is it nice?" There was the same eager look in her eyes as she asked, leaning forward as though to gauge his reaction.
He nodded numbly even though the burnt edges left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Sakura Mikan was never a good cook.
Natsume had no idea what was going on.
Was she just a figment of his overwrought imagination? A clear sign he was going insane? A ghost?
Crimson eyes narrowed, he made sure in the way only Hyuuga Natsume could think of.
He set her skirt on fire.
There was a deafening shriek of horror, a loud rustle of leaves and a horrible sounding thud as the brunette fell bodily out of the tree onto the ground below.
She was real.
Natsume leaped nimbly out of the tree, landing to stare down at the brunette who lay moaning as she rubbed her sore bottom. The grass below the tree was spared of the snow, protected by the tree's evergreen crown.
"Natsume baka! Why did you do that for?" The furious tirade from the brunette was bliss to the fire alice's ears.
In one quick motion, he swooped down and crushed her in a tight hug, the forgotten cupcake falling from his hand onto the ground.
A startled sound escaped Mikan's lips. Then, her arms went to encircle him, head resting gently onto his shoulder.
"You are dead." He whispered fiercely into her ear. "No, you were dead. Why are you here now? How can you be here?"
Mikan smiled.
"Possibilities crafts lives. As long as you believe and wish hard enough for it, anything is possible."
Natsume pulled away, an amused smile on his lips as he raised a brow at her questioningly. It wasn't possible that Sakura Mikan would be able to come up with something half as eloquent.
"Oh very well." Mikan grumbled good-naturedly before grinning. "Narumi sensei once told me that before.
Silence fell.
Natsume studied the face in front of him in half-wonderment.
"Are you…staying?"
He knew the answer even before she answered. But, he had to ask. Just to be certain.
"I can't." She got out gently, a sad smile forming on her lips. "But we have tonight."
"Tonight then." He finally said.
Pulling her hand, he settled down under the tree they had so many memories with, back against the scratchy bark. Mikan settled down next to him, cuddled closely to his side.
Tonight was enough.
"Look what I brought," Mikan pulled out a pink box suddenly.
Howalons.
"Lets share!" She opened the box with the anticipation as one would with a Christmas present.
Natsume smirked slightly.
If anything, death certainly had not changed her much.
"Here." She held out a piece of the fluffy candy to him, amber eyes laughing at him.
He had never liked sweet foods much, but he took it compliantly and placed it whole into his mouth.
Beside him, the brunette happily munched away, a heavy weight at his side.
Suddenly, everything seemed right again.
Just like it had once been, once upon a time.
Long after he sat there with the one person he treasured most in his life, Natsume gradually fell off to a light doze.
Sakura Mikan moved slightly, careful not to disturb the fire alice.
She had caught sight of the forgotten cupcake lying on the grass a few feet away. Leaning forward, she carefully plucked off a small edge that wasn't dirtied by the ground and popped it into her mouth.
A moment later, her face scrunched up into a frown.
The cake taste awful.
Then, she broke up into light laughter.
Turning a head to the sleeping boy beside her, she smiled and said quietly, "Thank you. For everything."
Lifting her eyes to the star laden skies, she started singing softly under her breath a song only for his ears:
Happy birthday to you,
You are born in the zoo,
Happy Birthday to Na-tsu-me,
Happy birthday to you.
And when the last strains of the song ended, there was nothing left beside Natsume except a half-eaten cupcake and memories long-forgotten.
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He woke up to the warm rays of the sun slanting across his face.
Imai Hotaru was standing over him, staring off into the distant.
As he moved to sit up straighter, she spoke in that quiet voice of hers, "She was here."
He didn't make a move to deny.
She turned around, and Natsume saw the quiet grief that swam through the usually calm violet depths.
In her hand, she was clutching a doll.
A doll with an orange for a head.
A mikan-doll.
"How can it be possible?" She whispered out, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.
"Possibilities crafts lives. As long as you believe and wish hard enough for it, anything is possible."
As he replied, he thought he caught sight of a flash of auburn and amber, and the wide, wide smile that was hers and hers alone, gone in the next moment.
He smiled slightly.
"Maybe she never left us at all."
And as the winds whipped up, soft strains of a song rippled through the air, ethereal, and full of happiness:
Happy birthday to you,
You are born in the zoo,
Happy Birthday to Na-tsu-me,
Happy birthday to you.
Once upon a time, the girl returned. And loved him. And once upon a time, there was a boy who loved a girl and was with her forever in death. Happily ever after.
The end.
Author's Notes: The Mikan-doll mentioned within is an actual item mentioned in the manga. When Hotaru and Mikan were children, Mikan once made a 'Mikan-doll', a doll made with an orange for the head for Hotaru, who regarded it with much disdain.
The story takes place after an AAO invasion into the academy. Mikan dies in the conflict, saving Natsume from a fatal blow by putting her body in front of his. The academy eventually wins, and hence the story continues from there.