Chapter eighteen: Nothing
Yuka twitched, caught between worry and anger. Worry, because her daughter passed out. And Anger, because Natsume Hyuuga, the Kuro Neko, was holding her daughter in a loving worried way.
Natsume Hyuuga could not be just as worried about Yuka's daughter as Yuka is.
Natsume couldn't care less that Yuka looked appalled at his affectionate protection. He didn't give a damn what she thought. Mikan was his, if only in his heart.
I HATE YOU!
Yes... if only in his heart.
Who fault was it that she said it? In the end, whose? Was it Yuka's? For not keeping Mikan, and not raising her as her daughter, and for when she finally met Mikan she made Mikan hate her?
Or was it Persona's fault? For looking into the matter, and finding out that Mikan Sakura was Yuka's daughter, and for telling Dangerous Ability Types about it?
Or, in the end, was the only one to blame Natsume? He could have told Mikan. He could have told the truth. So she'd know. So she wouldn't be living her life with less than half the nolage she should have. But he didn't. He didn't want to. He didn't want to tell her that. No. Not that. Hearing that Z was her mother would have destroyed her.
But Mikan had a way of finding out what she shouldn't know.
"She fine," Natsume said, noticing everyone was staring at him. He looked to Yuka, and slowly pulled himself and Mikan out of her arms. Yuka looked into Natsume's eyes in a kind of guilty way. Natsume stood up and placed Mikan on the bed.
"Why did she-?"
"She fell on tranquilizer needles," Hotaru said, not saying whose.
Natsume looked to Sirius and Remus. Remus was trying up Peter.
"I'm tying him up for now. We will discus what to do with him," Remus said.
"Can I remove all his power?" Yuka said.
"No," Natsume said flatly, "If I let you get a hold of magic, Yuka-san, bad things would happen. I would be punished, not only my body but my mind too. They would hurt Ruka, Aoi, and your daughter as well, to teach me a lesson. I don't think either of us want that."
Yuka looked at Natsume with just as cold eyes as he looked at her with.
"Now, Harry..." Sirius said, "This man is the reason you're-"
"I know that!" Harry said, "But we'll take him to the castle. After that, the dementors can have him."
"No!" the rat man begged, "No! Harry... please..."
"My dad was an auror. It was his job to make sure scumbags like you get to go to Azkaban." (A/N: I do NOT remember if Harry knew this yet or not, but let's ALL just ASSUME that Lupin told him...)
Peter looked ready to cry. Nobody cared.
"Please..." Peter looked to Natsume, "You! Boy! Beautiful boy... I knew your mother! Yes, you must be her son! Your red eyes!When I was a rat, she was kind enough to give me a little food in the Japanese market place when I was starving. She wouldn't let the dementors have me!"
"My mother is dead." Natsume said coldly, "And I've already done too many things that would make her disappointed in me. One more won't kill me."
Peter could see he was running out of options, so he changed tactics. "Natsume... Natsume Hyuuga? Yes! You are him! The Kuro Neko!"
Natsume skated back and held up his hands in a defense position at the mention of his code name.
"Yes... I've heard all about you... You think I killed Lily and James by telling Voldamort about them? Don't be so hypocritical. Killed almost half your village at age eight, aren't I right? You're a pure, full fledged, born killer. You burned down your entire village! You even injured your own father. Give me mercy, if you are not a complete hypocrite!"
They all stared at Natsume. Natsume smirked. He walked up to Peter. Lupin, Black, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all backed away. They didn't know what was going on anymore. Yuka, Hotaru, and Ruka stayed were they were.
Natsume placed his foot on Peter's chest and knocked his fat on his back. He then placed the edge of his foot lightly against his neck.
"You think we're the same? That's laughable. I choose to take on the title of murderer to protect the people I love," he applied more pressure to Peter's throat. "You choose to kill the people you claimed to love to protect yourself. You don't deserve Potter-san's pity." Natsume released Peter and began walking over to the bed. "But it's Potter-san's choice."
He sat down on the bed and stroked Mikan's hair. "Take him to the castle like Potter-san said. Siriusu-san... if Petigrew-baka is shown to be the real culprit, you can go free. You won't be a wanted criminal. Alice Academy should be-"
"That's it!" Sirius said, suddenly, "You're a student at Alice Academy! One of their soldiers..."
"Pawns." Natsume said defiantly.
"I heard about them in Azaban!" Sirius said, leaning against the wall, "Alice Academy has children soldiers..."
"Pawns."
"... who, in the old days, would fight along us wizards to defeat Voldemort. People in Azkaban... if you could call us 'people' after being in that place... always complained about being put into that prison by a child no older than nine or seventeen! And that those kids never really had real magic. They had only mastered a particular art... an Alice."
He gazed at Natsume. "Are you one of them?"
Natsume sighed, "Not like I had a choice. Those kids didn't want to be there. They were forced. We're almost always forced. We can say 'no', but then other things happen. Bad things... to people we care about..."
"Were you fighting against he-who-must-not-be—named?" Ron asked eagerly.
"Iie, Baka." Natusme looked at Ron, "I am 4 months younger than Harry Potter. I couldn't have."
Ron put on an "I'm stupid" face.
Natsume turned to Yuka.
"You have to go."
"What?" Yuka asked, "NO! I just found my daughter! I can't leave!"
Natsume's face was hidden behind his bangs. "You're a wanted criminal to Alice Academy. You think I can let you walk with me up to the castle and not get four children hurt? One of them being your daughter? I have to take you into custody. I'm giving you the option to run. I'll tell Persona you escaped."
"I can't do that!"
"Yes you can," Natsume looked up at Yuka with cold eyes, "You think you can be a mother to her? You gave up that right when you put her up for adoption."
Natsume burned the floor near Yuka's foot.
"Teme... get out of here. You're not wanted."
Yuka stared at Natsume with shocked eyes. Tears weld up behind her eyes and she turned and ran.
"Yuka!" Sirius called. He turned back to Natsume, "All she ever wanted was to be with her daughter!"
"She couldn't care for her," Natsume said, hiding his eyes behind his bangs.
"Don't act like you know everything!"
"Don't act like he doesn't."
Everyone turned to see that Hotaru had spoken. She smiled innocently. "What? If Yuka had stayed, Mikan would have been upset, and even if she wasn't, if she went with Yuka, they'd have always been on the run. Sirius can vouch that that is no way to live. Natsume had to prevent Yuka from making Mikan share her life."
Natsume stood up. "Don't pretend that you know me."
"I'm best friends with your soon-to-be girlfriend, and the girlfriend of your best friend. Don't pretend I don't."
(Please continue to chapter nineteen)
Author Note:
Am I being mean? Making Yuka cry? Oh, well... REVIEW! If you are wondering why I named it 'nothing' it's because this chapter is nothing but me writing about what needs to be put here... next chapter! They're running away from a werewolf! A-YOOOOooO!