A/N: I UPDATED YAY!

Chapter 9: Dilemmas

Natsume was leaning dangerously close to her and it made Mikan retreat until her back lined with the door. Mikan raised her hands and started pushing Natsume away from her.

''Look, I don't know what kind of idea you have of me and you may have girls constantly throwing themselves at your feet, I'm grateful that you saved me and all, but I'm not interested in you.''

Mikan's words put Natsume in a halt and he stared at her in surprise. Is she serious? Thought Natsume in amusement.

"Don't flatter your self, polka-dots.''

He walked away from her towards his bed. He sat down arms behind his back on the bed supporting his torso. ''I have no interest in little girls like you.''

Mikan's stared at him. So rude!

''This is the third time I'm going to ask,'' said Natsume, his voice dripping with annoyance. ''What do you want?''

It took a while for Milan to remember the reason why she came to his room in the first place. Who blames her? When this person is able to boil her blood in mere seconds.

''I...came to talk to you about the missing students.''

''What about them?''

"One of them was the one that ki-''

Milan felt her eyes stinging. She can't cry now, she managed to not cry in front of Natsume before. She can't start now.

''One of...one of them was the one that two that kidnaped me.''

''I know."

Milan narrowed her eyes. ''How?''

''I just know,'' said Natsume, looking at her with bored expression. ''You're done?''

Mikan knew she wasn't getting much out of him so she made a move towards the door. Her hand clasped the handle and pulled the door open but Natsume's voice stopped her short.

''Stay away from him.''

Mikan turned her head towards natsume and was taken by the way he was looking her. Mikan knew perfectly who he was referring to but what surprised her is why he cared enough to warn her off him.

''Why?''

''Just because.''

Mikan rolled her eyes. ''You can't just drop hints like that and not elaborate.''

''I just did,'' snapped Natsume. ''Now leave.''

Mikan stood there and stared at Natsume with hard expression. After a few seconds she turned her heels towards him and slammed the door behind her but not before saying, ''I don't have to listen to you.''

Mikan's alarm rang at 7:00 am. She groaned loudly as the loud sound jolted her from her blissful sleep. Mikan would've swore that she had only slept 2 seconds.

She reached her hand out and brought the annoying sound to a stop. She rubbed her eyes vigorously and stretched her limps. Mikan was really exhausted, she hasn't really had a decent sleep in a long time. The longer she stayed here, the longer things are getting worst.

First was living with 11 dangerous guys, then the incident in the 4th floor, the kidnapping and Ty.

Ty.

Mikan groaned for the second time when she remembers the incident in the hotel room. She could not believe that Ty could hurt her like that, after all she's been through because of his betrayal. But he looked really sad and by the sounds of it he really missed her.

No Mikan, don't you let him sway your emotions, said mikan sternly to herself. She can't forgive him. First cheating on her and then forcing himself on her like that. If it wasn't for Natsume, God knows what would have happened.

Natsume.

Mikan groaned for the third time in despair. And then there's Natsume. The (annoying) dorm mate that lived just across her room. He is so hard to figure out. She is certain that he hates her. But then he has helped her earlier and he didn't tell the others about what has happened to spare her feeling.

Mikan glanced at the clock and it read 7:09. She sighed and dragged her body towards the bathroom.

''So the mission starts tonight. Have you all read the information carefully?'' Asked akira.

A chores of 'yes's sounded across the dining room. Including mikan, the guys were eating breakfast, each dressed in their school uniform.

''There's no need to look for astushi,'' announced akira. ''i was informed that this student was located in a nearby hospital supporting some injuries and accompanying him was one of the students that was missing from baker Alice academy.''

Mikan looked up in surprise. That's her old school and that's the guy that kidnapped her and the other one must be the other kidnapper. She stole a glance at Natsume's direction but he had his eyes closed.

I wonder what happened to them, thought Mikan. Did Ty really beat those guys up badly after she lost conscious? She didn't really know, what she knew is that he had saved her from them, which she really is thankful for.

''So, aki and aiya will be our main priority. Only 6 members will be needed to participate in this mission,'' continued Akira. ''the mission will happen tonight, so the six members that will be participating should be decided by tonight.''

Their breakfast ended with fujii's words as they all scrambled out of the dining room, each grabbing their school bags and heading towards the exit.

As Mikan headed for the door, someone grabbed her shoulder.

''Can I speak to you, Sakura?''

With out turning mikan recognised the voice to be fujii's.

''Sure.''

As they waited for the room to empty, Akira ushered Mikan to have a seat.

''Before I start, I want to say that I'm glad you're okay and thankful that Natsume was there in time to save you.''

Mikan opened her mouth to speak, but Akira interjected.

''Yes, I know what happened,'' he answered her wordless question. ''I was told last night.''

"Who else knows?" asked Mikan with dread.

"Apart from Hyuuga and me, Ruka and Persona."

Mikan groaned inwardly.

''So." Akira fixed his eyes on Mikan, making her feel uneasy. ''What I want to ask you is, what exactly happened?''

''I thought hyuuga filled you in already,'' grunted Mikan.

Akira smiled politely at mikan. ''I want to hear it from you.''

Mikan hesitantly looked at Akira before she continued to stare at the table.''I don't want to talk about it.''

''Miss Sakura, it's really important that I know what exactly happened,'' affirmed Akira. ''As you may know already, one of the missing student from this academy was involved in your kidnapping.''

Mikan's stomach lurched as she nodded. She really didn't want to talk about this subject and especially not to him.

''Do you have any idea why you were kidnapped?''

She shook her head once.

Akira observed Mikan carefully as he asked the next question.

''Who is Kyoko Ty?''

Mikan's eyes snapped back to Akira's eyes. Her breath quickened and her head pounded with the horrible memories that began swirling around her mind. "He's no one," she lied.

"See, I don't think that's true," argued Akira. "I believe you two used to be in the same school before this one."

Mikan raised an eyebrow. "How do you know? And so what if we were in the same school, it doesn't mean that I know him."

"Then, mind to explain why he'd kidnapped you yesterday?"

"What are you talking about?" she shook her head. "Ty did not kidnap me, it was the other two students that were found in the hospital."

"Ty arranged the kidnapping."

Mikan's eyes widened, "that can't be…" she looked at Akira with disbelieve. "Ty would never do that…that doesn't make sense!" snapped Mikan. "He saved me from them."

Akira was about to speak when mikan spoke first.

"Look…Ty and I used to date before," said Mikan with difficulty. "I don't believe he would do something like that."

There was a few seconds silence between them before Mikan continued. "How do you know all this, where did you get this information from?"

"Natsume," anwsered Akira. Noticing Mikan's face as it grew in confusion, he continued, "I'd like to explain all this, but first I need to know what exactly happened."

Mikan wanted to argue further but she sensed that Akira won't be budge until she answered his questions. "I don't know what happened exactly...all I know is that one second I was walking behind Natsume and the next thing I know, someone grabs me from behind and then I end up in this strange place outside this academy. they start harassing me and then Ty comes and saves me, then he takes me to a hotel and starts attacking me then Natsume comes and saves me. That's it!"

Mikan sighed loudly as she covered her face with her hands. "Now can you tell me how Ty arranged my kidnapping?"asked Mikan, dropping her hands on the table.

"Not now, we have school."

He quickly added when Mikan glared at him. "Why don't you come and find me at lunch?"

Mikan was ten minutes late for her first lesson, not to mention that she missed recess. She got in trouble with Mr. Jinno, adding a week to her previous detention record. Akira is really making a habit of scoring her detentions. During the remaining time of the lesson, Mikan hardly concentrated on any material that was being taught in the lesson. How can Akira tell her that Ty arranged the kidnapping, it just didn't make sense at all. Why would he just kidnap her and then pretend to save her.

Mikan glanced at the empty seat beside her and sighed.

At lunch time, Mikan scanned the dinning hall for Akira, eager to hear his explanation. She finally spotted him, sitting at the corner of the hall with Andou.

Great.

When Mikan reached her destination, she took a seat beside Andou and, completely ignoring his presence. "Hey," she addressed Akira.

"What, there is no 'hello' for me?" exclaimed Andou. "What did I ever do to deserve this?" he said in mock hurt.

But Mikan didn't pay the slight attention to him and she continued looking at Akira with meaningful expression.

Andou glanced from Mikan to Akira and then back to Mikan. "What's going on between you two?"

Neither of them answered, but Akira finally looked away from Mikan and said to Andou. "Can you give us a few minutes alone?"

Andou raised an eyebrow. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on here."

"Please." Andou snapped his eyes back to Mikan's direction. She was looking at him pleading eyes.

There was a long silence, before Andou began gathering his belonging. "Ok chill, what's with the heavy atmosphere here, anyways." He stood up and hooked his bag behind his shoulder. "I'll see you two later." He then picked his tray and walked away.

"Where's your food?" asked Akira.

"I'm not hungry."

"I noticed that you didn't really eat this morning, either."

"Why do you care?"

Akira hallf smiled and ran his hand through his dark purple hair. "I'm just concerned."

"That's not important right now," stressed Mikan. "Can you just explain what you meant earlier?"

Akira sighed, "Ok.'' He took off his glasses and fixed his eyes on Mikan. "When you went missing, Natsume checked the tracker on the outfit that he bought you that day." To answer Mikan's confused expression, he said, "Each Black Cat member has a tracker in their mission outfit, which only transponds with Black Cat organisation. Natsume then followed the signal to the location where you were held and found the two that kidnapped you."

Akira paused. "They confessed to him that Ty arranged everything. But of course, not before some interrogation."

"I don't understand..." said Mikan, confused and angry. "Why would he do something like that?"

"I don't know. But the strange thing is that someone helped them. Someone more powerful, maybe dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"No student is allowed to leave the Academy grounds and to condemn that rule, a lot of measures has been taken in to account. This academy is surrounded by a protective force that doesn't allow anyone to enter the academy grounds or leave. But there's an exception for a few. So, for a student to teleport that easily must have had help from someone."

Silence settled upon them as Mikan took in every word he said. It was so confusing, why would Ty do that? is it because he wanted to prove that he is worthy of her, that he can gain her trust?

"I still..." mumbled Mikan. "I can't believe he would do that. Yes, he's a jerk, but kidnapping...?"

"As much I would like to continue with this conversation, I can't," interrupted Akira. He glanced at his watch and picked up his glasses. "I have to be somewhere."

"Where is Ty now?" asked Mikan.

"He's still missing," replied Akira. After he gathered his stuff, he gave Mikan one last smile and walked away.

It was too noisy in the dinning hall for Mikan to think coherently about this, so she stood up to leave but someone sat opposite her. That someone was Hotaru.

"Oh, Hotaru chan," said Mikan, surprised. she at back down and smiled at her sort-of friend. "How are you?"

"Where's my money?"

"Huh..." baffled Mikan.

"The money you owe me for saving your ass," smiled Hotaru, menacingly. "You didn't forget, did you?"

"Oh...erm..." strutted Mikan. "no, i didn't forget. i will pay, i promise. soon."

"Fine."

"Thank you."

"So," prompted hotaru. "Are you and fujii dating?" She nodded at the direction Akira left to.

"What-no!" Cried Mikan.

"Bummer," said Hotaru, disappointed. "You two looked like you were having an intense conversation."

"We were just talking about stuff..." trailed off Mikan.

"Why do you look like your cat just died?"

"Nothing, its just a lot of stuff happened."

"Like...?"

"It's okay, i don't want to bore you," said Mikan.

"Whatever," dismissed Hotaru. "Class is about to start. I'll see you."

The school bell rang right on cue indicating the start of fifth lesson. Students scrambled off their seats and headed for their classes, while Mikan dragged her feet.

After school, back in the dorm, Mikan Ruka, Akira and Natsume were seated in the study room, while the rest of house mates were in the living room prepared for the mission.

"I think we should tell the rest of the housemates what really happened with Mikan," suggested Akira, glancing at Mikan's direction. "It might help."

"I don't know if Mikan would be okay with it," emphasized Ruka.

"I don't know..." hesitated Mikan.

Akira's Phone rang and he excused himself to answer it.

"I knew she would cause a trouble," scoffed Natsume.

Mikan snorted loudly. "Are you telling me I caused the kidnapping?"

"You're psycho boyfriend of yours is the blame too."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Does it look like I care?"

"You're being unfair."

"I warned you to leave," snapped Natsume.

"And I told you I am not leaving," Mikan snapped back.

"You two need to calm down," purposed Ruka, feeling like he's in a middle of a storm. "We need to find a solution for this problem, and you two constantly being at each others throats doesn't help."

Mikan mumbled a 'sorry' while Natsume just looked the other way.

After a while, Akira slipped back in to the room. When he neared his dorm mates, the look on his face made the others stop what they were doing and focus their attention on him.

"It was Persona..."said Akira.

"What? what is it?" asked Mikan anxiously.

"What did Persona say?" urged Ruka.

"...he said the students that were involved in Mikan's kidnapping were found dead in their hospital bed."

A/N: Thank you so much to each one of you that took the time to read my stories and is being patient with me. I'm really grateful for your words of encouragement in your reviews and PMs.

Bless you all.

OLA