Living the Dream - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

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"Me and Natsume, we dream of one day living out in the country in peace. I would become a veterinarian and take care of the animals, while Natsume would do other things and be treated as a normal person. We'd be happy there, and no one would come to disturb us; nor would anyone be around to order us around. Yes, that is what we dream of."

"Ruka, I'm sure your dream will come true someday!"

"Really?"

"Of course, for sure!"

As the shadows of my memories fade back into my mind, her figure again reappears in my dream. She would be there as well...Her brown pigtails would flow down, and she would be dressed in a summer dress, showing off her curves. Her smile would light up each day, and we would both forget every pain this Academy has brought upon us. Yes, she would surely bring us the happiness that we have been searching for. I'm sure...


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A certain blonde's point of view...

"Ruka?"

Here I was, dreaming again of that time long ago when I told a certain brunette, of my dream. Even after seeing her and my best friend toppled on top of each other inside that haunted house and imagining what might have happened, I look back and laugh. Years have passed since then, and we have recently graduated from Alice Academy,

We made it through the years; and because of her, we never tried to escape school again. Sure, there were happy moments and sad moments; there was even that uncomfortable feeling that we had towards each other. My best friend never told her about his feelings because he wanted me to be happy, and so did I; but I knew that the feelings I felt for her would never be reciprocated. It was during the 'last dance' that I realized it, but he wouldn't accept it; and so that's how it went.

"Ruka..."

There, that voice came again. The once present raspyness had evolved to a sweet tune that sung a song. It belonged to her, she who had changed our lives from the moment she stepped into the Academy premises. It was because of this girl that everything in the Academy changed, not only for me and my best friend, but for all of us.

"Ruka-pyon?"

I woke up from my daydream."What?" I replied when she called me again, and she looked at me strangely. Her golden brown hair cascaded down her shoulders that ended on a formly shaped breast. She wore a white sundress with sunflower-designs printed on it, her brown sandals accentuating her shapely long legs that had grown since the first time they had met. Her long bare arms glistening under the sun as her straw hat covered her eyes from the sun. From here, I could see the glow in those dark brown eyes. I used to think that they were big and dull, but that was before I realized that her whole face was always lit up, and that made me happy.

She laughed and gave me a small poke in the stomach. "Nani? You're dreaming again?"

She took the pink bunny away from me and began tickling it like crazy on the grass. Usually, the animals would get really mad when someone did that. But when it came to her, nothing was impossible. They took to her, like bees to honey; and the animals absolutely adore her, even if she doesn't have any pheremone.

"No." I replied. "I was looking at this house and remembering how much I've dreamed of this day. I can't believe that our dream is now a reality, and it's right in front of us!"

She looked at the house again, and smiled. "Yea, we finally pulled enough money together to buy this. This cost a lot, even with Hotaru's share."

Yea, Hotaru Imai, her best friend. She knows how I feel and she's always encouraging me, but I can't. It makes me wonder if she donated so much money, just to quickly put me in this situation. If we didn't get money from her, it would take a year or more for us to have earned enough.

"Hey, you two. Polka-dotted, strawberry-designed panties girl and Ruka, come help me out with the boxes would ya?" a voice called from the black sports car that was parked beyond the white fence.

"Hai, hai..." she called out. "And stop doing that Natsume, call me by my name, I know you can." She teased him, and of course, it worked.

Natsume, my best friend, gave her that look again. She didn't notice it, but I did.

"Fine. Mikan, help me out with these boxes, darn it. More than half of these are yours. Why did you have to bring a lot of stuff from the Academy anyways?" Natsume replied in a softly annoyed voice. I noticed that the gruffness disappears when he talks to her.

"Well, I didn't want to throw away the photo albums that I collected through the years. Those albums happen to hold our memories, which is something I'd like to keep. Thank you." Mikan took the box from Natsume's hand and went over to the door of the house. With her foot, she nudged it open and went in.

I went over to the sports car and left Mr Bunny on the grass, to play with the birds that dropped by to greet us.

"Natsume". He was busy pulling out the boxes from the trunk of the car, and he didn't mind me when I walked up to the pile on the ground.

I called out to him again, and he turned to me. "What?"

I smiled at him and laughed, "We finally got to fulfill our dream."

Natsume looked at me, then at the house, and then at the figure that had entered the house. He smiled again. He has been smiling more since she arrived. I saw that he understood what I meant...

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Mikan...

The house was quite bigger than what it seemed from the outside. The serenity of the isolation only added to the grandeur of the dream. It felt like only yesterday when Ruka told me of their dream, to stay in a house such as this. And finally, after graduating from the Academy, we were able to buy a house of their own. Of course, the money that Hotaru had given was a lot, but it wasn't enough until they pooled all their money together.

"It really is huge."

I walked into a large hall and placed the box in the corner. The room was a bit musty, a little dusting would do it some good. It reminded me of the attic room thatI got when I was first assigned as a No Star, it was empty and bare, except for the bed, table and the dusts which cluttered every corner.

I walked into the next room, and it suddenly struck me. It was a library, with an uncommonly large fireplace, and a mantle that sat atop the stones. Shelves filled the walls, from left to right, and top to bottom.

I thought, This would be my own room, a place where I can relax. Since discovering romance novels in high school, I was soon addicted to the plot and words that formed such books. Countless authors such as Johanna Lindsey, Judith McNaught, Jude Deveraux and Mary Jo Putney filled many boxes that I packed when we left the school. I lose myself when I read books, it was one of the few pleasures that I truly had to myself.

I walked over to the shelves, dusty, the shelves were coated with layers of dust that had accumulated over the numerous years that this house had gone unused.

Nearing graduation, it was a good thing that I finally won an honors' award and together with Ruka, Natsume and Hotaru, we took advantage of our one week vacation and started looking for our own place. We travelled around but we couldn't find our own place, till we stumbled upon this little town and Natsume's sports car broke down. Of course, with Hotaru's recently sold invention, we were able to pay the downpayment. The rest of the money came from the salary that me, Ruka-pyon and Natsume earned through our part time jobs at Central Town.

From the library, I noticed that another door was hidden beside the shelves. The room I entered in was actually a recently remodeled modern kitchen. Numerous utensils filled the counter and cabinets, with steel appliances and silverware adorning their respective places in the kitchen. "Woah..."

Images of the food being cooked here, and its smell wafting throughout the entire house appeared in my mind as real as Yuu's Alice.

I found two more doors leading from the kitchen to other parts of the house. I opened one and found that it led to the dining room, the other led back to the hall. It was then that I noticed the staircase. It had a wooden banister, with carpeted flooring and wooden panelling on the side. The banister looked like it had been recently polished, and was clean and dust-free compared to the kitchen and the library.

The staircase led all the way up to the attic, and there on the second floor were four unused rooms. The closest one to the staircase was a small room with a high ceiling, on the side were a set of stairs that led to what looked like a second floor inside the room;Hotaru would definitely love this room.

The room across from it was large, and it looked like it had a patio leading to the garden. The sun streamed in, and I noticed that there was a great view of the garden below, as well as the mountains that lay beyond the town. A sure-Ruka room.

Down the hall was a large bathroom, with a tub and shower area installed. It was tiled and had marble fixtures that looked spick and span. The room further down the hall was medium-sized, it had a fire-place on the side and a large window that overlooked the lake that was partially covered by the Cherry Blossom trees and stables. It even had a staircase that led to the rooftop. It wasn't that roomy, but it struck me as a room that Natsume would like.

Curious as to what the attic held, I raced out of the room and ran up the flight of stairs.

In place of a musty dust-covered attic room, was a large room with two windows where the sun streamed in. It had a lot of space, and it reminded me of my first room at the academy. I instantly took to the room, and began mapping out where I would put my belongings.

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Natsume...

She finally ran up to the attic.

I had left Ruka in the garden where he stayed moving the boxes out of the trunk. The animals had finally gotten attracted to his pheremone and they surrounded him in packs.

"Bye Ruka!" I called out to him and left him to the animals that had formed a fan group around him.

I soon entered the house, and quickly caught movement in the next room. Moving towards it, a glimmer of brown catches my attention. The sun reflected through the dust-covered windows and bounced off Mikan's hair. Watching as she walked through the room, and touching the shelves as she passed by, I stood in awe at her beauty. Over the years, she had become more and more beautiful, and both me and Ruka had become more open to her.

Well, it was Hotaru's idea to have all of us living in the same house until Mikan could find where she belonged. Of course, how can that stupid girl surive in the real world if she didn't have us to watch over her. Darn it, I remind myself of that idiot Narumi-sensei.

"Woah.."

Her voice, muffled, came from the wall beyond the library. I spotted a door beside the bookcase and followed her voice. A kitchen, fully stocked! It was amazing, but not as amazing as Mikan's amused figure, gaping at the utensils that surrounded her. I could imagine her in the kitchen, cooking away like a housewife.

After about ten minutes of her figure going about the kitchen, she headed off into another room. I silently followed behind her, watching her as she ran up the stairs and as she went to each of the rooms. Even when she entered the last room, and I hid in the comfort room, I saw her run out and up the attic.

Haha. She did not even see the other set of stairs that was beyond the last room. She ran up in a hurry, with her footsteps echoing throughout the house.

I took my time going up the stairs, glancing at each room and taking it all in, my very first house. It all seemed like a dream to me. But as I climbed up the stairs, and found Mikan jumping from one corner to another, I found that this dream truly was a reality.

Her loose hair clung to her face, as it showed her annoying smile. Her laughter rang throughout the room, as she ran to the window, then to the fireplace.

For a moment, I just wanted to go over to her, and tell her what I truly felt. All those years, I never told her what she meant to me. Those countless moments that we were alone together, I had to keep myself from blurting it straight out.

You don't have to see the darkness that you aren't meant to see...

I could remember the words that I told her on that night. How could I drag her into the world of darkness that I was once trapped in. She belongs with the light, she doesn't need to see what I have been through.

She stood near the fireplace, and put her hands out to it, imagining a fire was present.

I pointed my finger to it, and a small flame emerged from the ashes.

It was then that she suddenly stood up and faced me. I quickly hid in the darkness of the attic beams, but it was too late.

There she stood, gazing at me, her eyes glued to mine. Though I was shrouded by the darkness, she could clearly see my eyes looking at her the way she looked at me. At that moment, all I wanted to do was hold her tight and never let go.

Mikan stretched out her arm to me. "Natsume...", she whispered.

At that moment, I didn't know what happened. I felt like my face was burning, and I quickly descended the stairs. I tried to walk back out of the house, and to Ruka, acting as if nothing had happened. I'm sure she didn't follow me down when I left.

There was a tree outside the house, and it reminded me a lot of the trees where I used to hide in, back at the Academy.

I walked over to it and sat down under the shades while I watched Ruka, whocontinued playing with the animals.

Yea, she doesn't need to see the darkness. This is a new beginning for me, and for Ruka and her as well. I won't let anyone take them away from me again.