It's been awhile! *cowers* I'm sorry guys! I'll try to make this chappie good to make up for it! Thanks for the forty reviews so far!

Just Try Natsume!

Chapter 9 - Cry On My Shoulder

MangaManiac6

"Natsume! Come back, Natsume! Nastume!"

He could hear her voice; clear as a whistle. But hell, he wasn't stopping. He would keep running. He couldn't show Mikan Sakura his crying face.

No matter how bad you want it, no matter how fast you go, no matter how far the distance, you can't run away from anything. Because life would be fair, if it let you escape, and life is never fair. It's like a tax collector; they never let you escape the horrible truths.

Well, this tax collector gave him a little time. About a week's worth. Actually, to be exact, it had been six an a half days. But who's counting. Either way, the russling of the bushes far below alerted Natsume Hyuuga that his time was up.

"N- Natsume!" A voice rang from below, a voice all too familiar, unfortunately.

The raven haired stayed silent, hugging his legs to his chest and hoping the sakura petals would cover him up well enough. But he was wearing all black.

"Natsume!" The voice sounded happier, "I can see you, you know!"

"Really now?" There was no use hiding. He got up, and jumped, about 20 feet's worth of distance, landing on his feet with incredible ease.

Looking down from his perch on the branch of the famous Sakura Tree, there was Ruka. The blond's pale, fragile face was cut up and bleeding and he was panting, but Ruka was smiling more than Natsume had ever seen him. Someone seems pleased with himself.

"I found you." Ruka breathed.

"What? Do you wanna prize?" Natsume teased, pulling out a small twig from Ruka's locks.

"My prize is knowing you're safe." Ruka said, grinning.

"Please, I think I might puke."

Giggling, Ruka took Natsume's hand and pulled him down so they were sitting directly under the sakura tree. "I missed you. We all did. So is this where you've been all this time?"

"Yeah." Natsume murmured, trying to ignore the throbbing he felt as a result of his bottom crashing with the hard dirt Earth seconds ago.

"I'm surprised you didn't starve." As he said this, Ruka pulled out a small basket from below the blue cloak he was wearing. opening it, Natsume caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a large tuna fish sandwich.

Natsume looked away, trying not to look eager, "Well, I'm used to it."

Ruka pulled out the sandwich and dropped it on his lap. "I'm your best friend. you can't fool me."

An embarrassingly long note came from Natsume's stomach to assure Ruka further of his suspicions. "Sh- Shut up." Natsume hissed, unwrapping the plastic from sandwich, "Both of you." He added, looking towards his, now that he noticed, flat stomach.

Ruka chuckled, "I really did miss you. you know, running off like that was really rash of you."

"Who uses the word 'rash' anymore?" Natsume murmured, swallowing a large bit of tuna sandwich. Ruka busied himself by opening his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Ruka didn't respong until he swallowed a bite of his own.

"I do. now seriously, why the hell did you run away?"

"I'm not telling."

"Oh come on Natsume."

"It's a secret."

"What are you? Five?"

"Everyone has secrets."

"That they tell their very best friends in the whole world."

"There are just some days that I really hate you Ruka."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Don't."

"Tell me."

Natsume let out a long sigh. if Ruka was anything, he was persistent. "I was scared."

"Scared?" Ruka asked, chocking on a bite of sandwich. "You? How could you be scared? Of what?"

"Mikan Sakura."

"You have to learn to stop talking in riddles."

"Maybe. Got any water?"

"Grape juice. take it or leave it."

Natsume grimaced, but held out his hand expectantly. Ruka placed a small, box into the hand: the grape juice. "Wouldn't water be more practical?" Natsume asked, poking the straw into the whole on the top.

"Are you complaining?"

"No bu-"

"I didn't expect to search several days for you."

"O- Oh." There was another pause. "So i better tell you why i ran off."

"That would be nice."

"Well..." And so Natsume told everything to his best friend. How at first, he had thought Mikan was there to see him. How he was going to tell her. How she had mentioned Ruka; wanting to see Ruka. How everything had collapsed inside. By the end, natsume was clutching his legs again, ready to tear up.

Ruka hadn't said anything the entire time. "You, natsume Hyuuga, are an idiot."

He looked up, his crimson eyes ready to burt into tears, staring into the sky blue ones of his best friend, which seemed to glare so fiercely back at him. "Huh?" was his smart reply.

"I said you are an idiot."

"I heard you." Natsume replied coldly. "I want to know why yo-"

"Because you are!" Ruka had risen up, eyes a flame. "You think Mikan wanted to see me, so you ran off for a week? You are a fool!"

"Bu-"

"So she wanted to see me! So she wanted to see where I was! We're friends! She just happened to expect me there! That doesn't mean i was the reason she came. If she heard you were coming, I'm sure she'd come in any case. You-" Ruka plopped down onto the Earth again, cheecks red as he started cooling down.

Natsume was blinking. Blinking the tears away. Blinking away his confusion. "Oh." was all he could manage.

"Yeah."

"Say, Ruka."

"Ruka."

"Hilarious."

"What is it?"

"Can I cry? On your shoulder I mean."

Ruka's blue eyes widened. For a minute, he thought he didn't hear correctly. "Wh- That's a surprise. That request."

"Can I or not?" Natsume growled, his voice growing testy.

The blond was smiling softly now. "Sure. But I thought it would be Mikan crying on your's."

Natsume leaned onto his best friend's shoulder, the tears sinking into the cotton, whit T-shirt. "Oh, it will be."

Crying on a guy's shoulder. How degrading.

"This better not reach anyone's ears."

"Well, that may cos-"

"Ru-!"

"Shush." Ruka whispered. "Come on, would I?"

"... Bastard."

It took a lot for me not to write bloody in front of fool or idiot when I was writing Ruka's piece, since Ruka is french and japanese, not british. It would have been fun.

*sighs* Ugh! More OC! I promised I wouldn't! But honestly, I do think Natsume would let himself go in front of Ruka. I do think he's get the wrong idea. XD

I promise this the last time things get all sad and messed up. It's too darn depressing.

Speaking of depressing, you should listen to Lucy by Skillet. It's a pretty song! Depressing though. if you already heard it, do you think it's good? I just wanna know. :3

Okay, next chappie: Chapter 10 : My Shoulder, This Time