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Gakuen Alice is not mine
First Impressions
"Mikan Yukihara, that is the last straw!"
The said girl, Mikan Yukihara, walked faster from the front door of her house. Her long brunette hair, tied into a loose bun, bounced slightly from her pace. She knew her mother would be very angry. The party at her best friend's house, Hotaru Imai, ended a bit late. But the night was still young, it was only 9 in the evening.
Just before she entered her room, a woman with similar brunette hair stood in front of her, hands on her hips. The woman was scowling with her brows furrowed together. Her hazel eyes were dull of anger.
"Where have you been? It's already late in the evening! You better have a good explanation for me, young lady!"
Now it was Mikan's turn to scowl. Yuka Yukihara wasn't a woman to be trifled with. She was after all a woman who owned an empire of business. Her professional manner and determination were well-known among other people. And also her over protectiveness towards her daughter, which was Mikan Yukihara.
"I'm sorry, mom. Hotaru's mother's birthday party ended a little late, and her mother insisted that we stayed a bit late to congratulate her privately." Mikan's tone was emotionless. "May I enter my room now?" Although she was tired, Yuka didn't miss her slight mock in her voice.
"Mikan, I'm not mad at you. You must realize that I have tons of workload and your tardiness didn't help it." Yuka's voice was stern and full of authority. Mikan shifted on her foot. She was getting bored of the same treatment her mother showed to her. And it didn't help that her anger was rising in her.
"Look, I get it. You're worried. But, I'm not a little girl anymore. Don't you get it? You're over-protectiveness is not needed. Can't you just trust me to do anything I want?" Yuka was a little bit surprised. She glared at Mikan, her eyes were full of fire.
"Trust you? The last time I trust you, you did something foolish. And now you demanded me to trust you again?" Yuka's anger was getting bigger inside her. "I will trust you again if you stop act like a child. Now go inside your room." Mikan was desperate. Her tears were almost falling from her eyes. Where was her mother? Her kind and loving mother?
"You can't order me around! I'm seventeen years old, a legal age to take my own decisions! You never understand me! You never understand what I want!" Mikan's voice was full of distress and loneliness. The servants, who were watching from the hallway, watched their young lady with sadness. They knew what made Mikan like this.
"Oh for Goodness sake then, what do you want?" Mikan pushed her way to her room. With full force she opened it. Her face was already strained by tears and sadness.
"I want my dad!" With a slam, Mikan closed the door on her mother's face. Outside, Yuka heard her daughter's cries. She sighed and closed her eyes. She knew she was a bit harsh towards Mikan. The only reason she acted that way was to protect her. She was her only precious. The loss of her husband taught her many things. Including a harsh lesson about losing someone you love. They were once a perfect family, full of laughter and smiles. So warm and happy until it was almost impossible to let go. But of course, reality knocked on their door to take her husband away. The pain was unbearable. The news about her husband was killed on his way home was painful. Especially for little Mikan, who was only ten years old. She knew, she must protect Mikan at all costs. Because if she lost her, she would have no reason to live.
Inside Mikan's tears were falling. She shouldn't be crying, she promised her dad to be strong. Vigorously she dried her tears away. With small steps she entered her bathroom. She turned on the faucet, the water fell freely. She wiped her face with the ice cold water. She hate herself, she was so easy to cry. Her tears would pool around her eyes if she got struck by someone. For Mikan, tears are a sign weakness.
She turned off the faucet, and looked up to the mirror. The girl in front of her was a mess. Her eyes were red, and so was her nose. Her hair was a bit tousled. She climbed to her bed, and quickly fell asleep. Her loneliness and sadness was overwhelmed by her lack of sleep.
"….Kan….Mikan….Miss Mikan!" Mikan eyes shot open. The curtain was still closed but she can saw the sun rays peeking through it. It was already morning. Mikan sat up on her bed when she realized she wasn't the only one in her room.
"Nanny Mirei?" The said woman smiled a wrinkly smile to her. Despite her age, she was very loyal to the family, especially Mikan. She said Mikan was like her own daughter she never had.
"Wake up now, Miss. It's already 6am. Your mother wants to see you before you go to school." Mikan nodded weakly. She ran her hand to her hair, it was greasy and tangled. She sighed and started walking to her bathroom.
"Hey, Nanny. Thanks for waking me up." Mikan smiled a little. Mirei just nodded and head outside. 'Another day of school.'Today she decided to wear her favorite blood red skirt that ended mid-thigh, a black and white striped tank-top, and with black blazer to perfected her style.
Mikan head downstairs to the kitchen. As usual she ate her breakfast with all the maids and servants in the house. The smell of onigiri was assaulting Mikan's nose. Her stomach grumbled lightly. She opened the door to the kitchen.
"Hey guys. Good morning."
"Ah Miss Mikan. Today's breakfast is your favorite, onigiri with strawberry fruit salad for dessert." The cook, Koga-san, skillfully cut each strawberry and place it nicely on her plate. She smiled and searched for a fork in the cabinet. Just seconds before her fork landed to the onigiri, Mirei took away Mikan's plate.
"What? Nanny?" Mikan was already half pleading to her Nanny. Mirei only shook her head and laughed lightly.
"You can't have it now Mikan. Your mother is waiting for you." Mikan shook her head. She gave Mirei her best puppy dog eyes. But apparently Mirei was already immune to it. Mikan started to pout. The other servants watched Mikan with amused eyes. This was the real Mikan without her cold exterior she showed to strangers.
"But Nanny, it's my birthday. My seventeenth birthday."
"No, no. Go to your mother's room now. I promise this onigiri won't go anywhere." Mikan laughed lightly as she was seeing her Nanny's excitement. Nanny Mirei was after all her second mother in the house. She practically raised her after her father's death, when her real mother was too busy to take care of her.
Mikan walked slowly to her mother's office. Her heart was beating fast, curious to what her mother would say to her. She stood in front of a mahogany door. The carving of the door was elegant and fancy. Clearly it was showing their social status. Mikan took a deep breath, calming her heart down before she knocked lightly on her door.
"Come in." A soft reply was heard from inside. Mikan opened the door and stepped in. Like last time came to her mother's office, it was cleaned and full of book shelves. Her mother was sitting in front of her desk. But, today seemed different. A young man with raven hair was standing in front of her, his crimson deep eyes were staring at her with curiosity.
"Mother. You called me?"
"Yes, I did. Happy seventeenth birthday, sweetheart." Yuka smiled to her only daughter. Her voice was calm, but too calm. The last time her mother used this tone was when she was telling her about her father's death. Mikan was getting suspicious. Her eyes narrowed a little.
"Um, Thanks?"
"So, to congratulate your birthday I already prepared a gift." Yuka tossed Mikan a key. Swiftly Mikan caught it. It was a car key. An Audi A6 car key. Now Mikan was confused.
"I thought yesterday the last straw. What's with this key?" Yuka laughed airily. She knew Mikan would get suspicious. Her daughter was smart. Mikan was more confused when she heard her mother's laugh. For a bit, she forgot that there was someone else in the room.
"Smart as always. That is your birthday present. And yes, yesterday was your last straw. But I guess I was too harsh yesterday," Mikan snorted at her mother's statement. "So, I figured you'd be happy if I gave you something."
"So this is mine? I can go whenever and wherever I want?"
"Yes and No. Yes that'll be your car, and no you cannot go whenever and wherever you want. So, to fix this problem, I hire Natsume Hyuuga-san as your bodyguard, that car will be driven by Hyuuga-san to drive you around." Yuka gestured her hand to the young man in front of her. For a split second Mikan was mortified. The next second she was banging her mother's desk.
"I DON'T NEED A BABYSITTER! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!" Yuka sighed. She was expecting this kind of outburst. Despite her intelligence, she was also very stubborn.
"Mikan calm down…"
"CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN?! How could you tell me to calm down. To think you were going to give me a birthday present instead you give me a babysitter?!" Mikan's hand was waving and pointing towards the young man. Her body lifted a bit. She seemed to forget she was wearing a mini skirt.
Natsume smirked at the scene. Mikan Yukihara really piqued his interest. Oh, this was going to be tough job, but the payment was high though. Natsume continued to observe the enraged girl. Her big hazel eyes were lit by her anger. But, of course he couldn't say this bodyguard thing was for the best, cause if he was her he would be pissed as well. But, something distracted him, something interesting. He saw a pattern with black and red circle everywhere.
"Mikan! You said you want freedom, now I gave you a little bit of freedom. Besides Mikan, he will just only tagging you along everywhere."
Yuka seemed to add the fuel to the fire because Mikan was now burning in her anger. Her eyes narrowed and her face was frowning.
"Tagging...me….everywhere?"
"Well, not everywhere. If you're in the house he'll stop tagging you around." Yuka smiled again to her daughter, who seemed to slowly controlling her anger.
"Is this your form of punishment, mother?"
"I'm not punishing, honey. Just to keep you save."
"Fine." Mikan walked hastily to the door, eager to get out of the room. She opened the door and walked towards the kitchen, not bothering to close the door. Not long, she heard footsteps following her, she glanced back and scowled.
"What are you doing?"
"Following you around of course. I heard you have school today, so I'll be driving you there." Mikan frowned again. All the way to the kitchen she ignored Natsume.
'What was mother thinking? I'm seventeen for goodness sake! I can take care of myself perfectly. And now she did this! Oh, Natsume Hyuuga, you don't know who I am. I'll show you hell on earth!' Mikan, still scowling, opened the kitchen door.
"Miss Mikan! Happy birthday!" All the servants gather around her. Her favorite cake, black forest was sitting perfectly on the table. Mikan smiled a small smile, and thanked the rest of the servants. Her mood lit up a bit.
"Excuse me?" Everyone's attention turned to Natsume. He was standing in the door way, his black coat was hanging sloppily on his shoulder.
"Oh my, you must be Mikan's new bodyguard. Pleased to meet you, I'm Mirei Nadeshiko, the head servant, and this is all the maids and servants that served the Yukihara household." Natsume nodded and bowed. His crimson eyes shifted to Mikan, whom once again ignored his presence. Mirei and the other servants were still admiring Natsume's handsome face.
"I'm here to pick up Miss Yukihara to school." Mirei who snapped from her reverie, quickly shuffled to Mikan.
"Oh, of course. Come now Mikan, it's not good to make other people wait. Hurry up and finished your breakfast."
"He's paid to serve me. Let him wait." Her voice was annoyed. Natsume smirked inwardly, Mikan Yukihara seemed to be an interesting person.
"I didn't know rich people were never taught about manner of politeness." Natsume's voice was calm. Mikan snapped her head to him. Her eyes were flaring up. Her eyes clearly spoke 'how dare you?!'. Leisurely, he walked towards Mikan and grabbed her car key.
"I'll be waiting outside, princess." His tone was full of mockery and sarcasm. Oh, Mikan was pissed. Everyone were silent as a ghost when Natsume got out of the room. The maids and servants were waiting for their young lady to burst. But that didn't happen. Mikan collected herself and started to eat calmly, although this time her pace was faster. The maids and servants scrambled to their respective duties when they saw their young lady was overly pissed. Mikan stood up from her chair after she finished.
"Good day, guys." Her tone was clipped and emotionless. She walked stiffly towards the terrace, where Natsume was waiting for her. Natsume was leaning on her brand new car, the color was silver, aloof and suave color. Mikan had to admit though he looked handsome with his tousled raven hair, but of course she wouldn't admit it out loud.
"Took you long enough, princess." His tone was still mocking her.
"Stop calling me that, pinhead."
"Or do you prefer polka-dots. You seem to like it a lot, since you're wearing that underwear today." Mikan's face was burning with embarrassment, despite the cold weather of January. Natsume smirked lightly as he opened the door for Mikan.
"You, You stupid pervert! You peeked in my skirt! I hate you! I hate you!"
"The feelings are mutual, polka-dots. Don't worry, I don't peek little girls' skirt. You showed it to me when you were throwing your anger on your mother's face."
"Ugh, stop, stop calling me that you pervert!" Mikan angrily climbed in to her car. Natsume closed the door. He was so amused by her reactions, it was just too easy to ruffled her feather. Maybe this job wasn't so bad after all.
Mikan ignored her new bodyguard all the way to school. She didn't really care of what people said, but her best friends opinion mattered to her a lot. Sumire would think he was a hunk, Hotaru would be stoic as usual, Anna and Nonoko would think he was sweet. No problem, she got all of this under control.
"OH MY GOD, MIKAN! Where did you get that hot looking guy?" Just like Mikan predicted, Sumire would think this way. Sumire was gushing and stealing obvious glances to Natsume. By the time Natsume and Mikan got out of the car, Sumire dragged her to a corner where her friends were chatting merrily.
"He's not hot. And he was my new bodyguard. My mom was pissed when I came home late from Hotaru's party. So, she decided a bodyguard would fix the problem." Mikan's tone was stoic and emotionless. A tone she usually used when she was pissed.
Hotaru only shrugged. She was busy tinkering with her newest invention. Understandable, Hotaru's parents were famous because their invention. Hotaru didn't seem interested, but Mikan knew better what laid beneath those amber eyes. Mikan tightened the blazer she wore. The weather was colder than she thought.
"He seemed like a nice guy." Mikan gaped at her best friend's opinion. She never expected this kind of response from her.
"Oh my god, Hotaru. What happened to you? Did you eat something bad?" A hint of surprise was so clear in Mikan's voice. Beside her, Anna and Nonoko also nodded vigorously.
"Are you guys serious?" Hotaru didn't say anything, but her gesture said she was serious.
"Oh come now, Mikan. It's not that bad. I would give anything to have a bodyguard that hot! So, can I come to your house?" Mikan glared at Sumire. Her mood dropped again.
"Okay, Okay, I'll come next time."
"Anyway, Mikan. How old is he?"
"Don't know, don't care."
'This is going to be a long day' Mikan thought. From afar she could see their male best friends. Kokoro Yome, Kitsuneme, and Mochu were waiting for them. Mikan could only sigh and walked towards the school building.
A usual, school left Mikan tons of homework. Almost all the home works were physic, and she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
Mikan and Hotaru were strolling to the parking lot. Sumire, Anna, and Nonoko still had courses to do, so they weren't coming with her.
"So, what do you think of Natsume Hyuuga?" Mikan carefully started the conversation. She wanted to know her best friend's honest opinion.
"He seemed nice and reliable. Although I caught a hint that he's amused by your action."
"Hotaru, please. He is paid to be nice and reliable. And I hate him for coming into my life." Hotaru snorted and walked towards her car. Mikan could see Natsume was waiting for her inside her car.
"Watch out your words Mikan. You don't know what will happen." Mikan scoffed. How could her friends think like that.
"Then what do you think will happen, O wise one?" Hotaru smiled to her best friend, a smile that was only reserved to the one she cared about.
"See you tomorrow, Mikan. I'll call you." Hotaru got in to the driver seat and sped up almost immediately. Mikan sighed and walked leisurely towards her car. Without sparing a glance towards her bodyguard, she seated herself. She was searching her comfort zone. What was Hotaru thinking? She couldn't possibly think that something good will happen. That was just too impossible.
"So, you're friends think I'm hot, huh?" Mikan frowned. Her mood dropped down suddenly.
"Get lost, pervert!" Natsume smirked and chuckled lightly. Oh, he was going to enjoy his job. He sped his way to Mikan's home.
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