Summary: Mikan wakes up in the hospital with no memories of the last 6 years, her grandpa tells her she was in a car accident, but something tells her thats a lie. She soon starts finding that more and more things just don't add up. She soon finds out her childhood friend is in the same condition, which she knows is to coincidental to be true, and they soon find they aren't the only ones searching for answers. One of the people they find is a crimson eyed boy who Mikan doesn't ever remember meeting, but for some reason she knows him and feels a tugging on her heart strings. Just who is this boy and what happened to them all?

The Future Is Always Beginning Now: Chapter 1

[NatsumeXMikan]

"We have all forgot more than we can remember" - Thomas Fuller

[NatsumeXMikan]

I've heard people tell me that the mind forgets more then it remembers. That's more true for me then almost everyone else out there. After all, I'm 16 and I can't remember a single thing from the last 6 years of my life.

My name is Mikan Sakura, and I just returned home from the hospital today with my Grandpa. I was supposedly in a bad car accident, which according to Grandpa was the cause of my memory loss and why I woke up with several broken bones and other numerous injuries all over my body. I can't remember what happened, but for some reason I have the weirdest feeling that he's lying to me.

When Grandpa and I arrived home, I immediately went to my room. It looked exactly like I remembered it, which means it looks exactly like it did 6 years ago, like it was decorated by a 10 year old girl. The room was pale pink, with white sheep printed on the walls. I shuddered. Did I really still like those kind of childish things?

I continued to look around my room, starting to notice things that didn't make sense. For one, out of all the pictures I had around my room, none of them were of myself or friends past when we were 10 years old. Another oddity was that the pictures, among many things in my room, were coated in a think layer of dust. Even if I've been in the hospital for over a month, the dust would not look like no one had been in this room for the last 6 years.

I quickly blew off the dust on my favorite picture near my bedside, a picture of me and my best friend Hotaru. Was Hotaru still my best friend? I couldn't imagine her not being, but what if something had changed in the last 6 years? What if she'd moved?

"Grandpa?" I called to him.

"Yes, Mikan?" He replied, coming into my room.

"What happened to Hotaru?"

Grandpa didn't answer me right away, like he wasn't quite sure what to say.

"Grandpa? What happened to Hotaru?" I asked him again. I was starting to get nervous. Why wouldn't he answer me?

"Mikan, I didn't tell you this before because you were still recovering in the hospital, but Hotaru also had an accident." He said carefully. He was frowning, causing several more wrinkles to appear on his forehead.

"W-what do you mean, Grandpa? What accident? Is Hotaru alright?" I asked him, my voice reaching a higher pitch then usual.

"You see Mikan, you remember how Hotaru loves to invent things right?" He asked me warily.

"Yes I remember," I replied. How could I not remember that? Hotaru always tested her inventions out on me, which usually ended with my face in the ground.

"Well she was building another one last month and well... something went wrong. She's alive, but Hotaru lost her memories as well... She's lost her memories of the last six years, just... like you," He finished lamely.

"Huh?" Two people who got amnesia at the same time but in different accidents? And lost their memories of the exact same length of time? This could not just be a coincidence. The feeling my Grandpa was hiding something from me, was stronger then ever. Why didn't things add up? What else could've possibly happened to me to land me in the hospital without my memories of the past six years? Why was Hotaru involved too? And what could possibly make Grandpa lie to me like this?

"Grandpa, are you telling me the truth?" I asked him accusingly.

Grandpa looked scared at my question, but then quickly put on a stern face.

"Mikan how dare you accuse me of not telling the truth! I'll let you off this time because you just got back from the hospital, but I don't want to hear anymore of this and I want you to go straight to bed. You're still recovering and need to rest." He said loudly, before he quickly walked off.

I just sighed. Except for the whole part where I knew, just knew, he was lying, Grandpa was acting like himself again. Ever since I woke up it seems like he's been walking on eggshells around me, like I was a glass doll that could unexpectedly break at any time.

Unfortunitly, this meant I wasn't going to be able to get any answers from him anytime soon. Grandpa was as stubborn as a mule, he had been for the ten years I remember him, and I doubt he's changed in the last six years.

I went to bed. I decided I would talk to him in the morning; he may be stubborn but so was I.

In my dreams, I saw the color crimson.

[NatsumeXMikan]

I woke up the next morning to the pale pink wallpaper with sheep prints and made a mental note to do some redecorating as soon as possible. When I got to the kitchen, I found a note from Grandpa. It said he went out to visit some friends and didn't know when he would be back so I shouldn't wait up for him.

Now I was angry. Was Grandpa trying to avoid me now? Unless things had changed, I remember he hardly ever left the temple (it is a temple right?) and, out of respect, almost all of his friends came here to visit him.

Well since he said not to wait up for him I guess I was going to take things into my own hands. I wasn't quite sure where to start looking for answers, so I decided to take a walk around town for the rest of the morning before trying something else. Who knows, maybe I'll see something that will jog my memory?

A little later I was just walking past a small grocery store, that Grandpa and I used to shop at often, when I heard someone calling my name.

"Mikan!"

I looked around but didn't see who was calling until I saw a girl my age running towards me, waving. Did I know this person? If she knows me maybe she could give me some clues about the last six years!

She stopped in front of me, breathing hard. Then she suddenly straightened up and examined my face closely.

"You are Mikan right?" She asked me, standing back.

"Yes?" Who was this girl?

"Mikan it's me Risa! We went to school together when we were 10!" The girl said excitedly.

"Risa? Oh, Risa! Hi!" I grinned at her, finally remembering. She looked different from how I remembered her, she had died her black hair to brown and even though she had always been the tallest out of my group of friends, she was way taller now. (A/N: I looked back at episode 1 and she is friends with 3 other girls besides Hotaru, never was any of their names mentioned so I picked one of them and gave them a name.)

"I haven't seen you in six years! How are you? Everyone was so worried when you suddenly ran away, but we assumed you finally went to see Hotaru. Am I right? Did you find Hotaru? How was she doing? Why didn't you come back until now?" She asked me, getting more and more excited after each question.

Huh? In six years? Where did Hotaru go? I RAN AWAY FROM HOME!

I didn't completely understand, but it looks like I found my first clue.

[NatsumeXMikan]

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