Only 3 of her friends know the truth and we all know who those 3 are. You've got a lover, a best-friend, and someone who's like a brother to you that you left behind. At least she left with something to be inspired by and hope for the best. Humor/Romance/Crime. R&R OOC OCs NxM RxH YxOC AU

Still working on this. It's going to start out...I guess "Normal"'s the word. Kind of.

Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice and it's original characters do not belong to me. They belong to Higuchi Tachibana.

OCs are mine

Natsume

The guys were out at a bachelor party and spending it out at some strip club, celebrating -and feeling sorry- Koko's wedding with Sumire the following day. Of course, girls wouldn't stop harassing Natsume seeing as he was just at the bar taking a couple shots and, of course, he chose to ignore them.

"Aww~ Come on baby~ Don't ignore us like that. Especially me~~!" An electric-black haired, busty chick whined, pressing her breasts against Natsume's back. She was wearing black vinyl booty shorts with dark red, thigh-high boots and a white top with a really low cut, showing her cleavage and the shirt stopped just beneath her breasts.

"Come on~ Someone as hot as you can't possibly be here just for a drink and not a good fuck~ Or if you don't know which one to choose between us, you can have us both~" Another woman, clearly dyed honey brown hair (A/N: You know, like FOBs. No offence.), was clinging on to his left arm, rubbing her large breasts against him, too. She was wearing the exact same thing as the other woman, but the colours were inverted.

Natsume got rid of many other women that harassed him within 2 minutes. These 2 have been here for nearly 10. "Hey~~" The 2 girls whined in the most annoying, high-pitched voices that you'd just wanna go deaf. Natsume felt his patience slipping away and fast. "Stop ignoring us~" The electric-black haired one pouted.

Ruka

Over near the stage in the seats beyond the dance floor, Ruka, Koko, and Kitsu were watching the show when Ruka looked away for a second to check on Natsume and saw a new set of girls hitting on him. Yes, Ruka felt bad for him, but he at least to chuckle at his uncomfortable state. "Guys, look at Natsume right now." Ruka told the 'twins' with a very amused grin on his face. The 2 did as they were told and couldn't help but laugh a little. "Again." They said in unison.

"I'm going to go over to him. I'll be back. Going to get a drink, too." Koko informed them as he stood up and began to cut through the huge dance floor that was between the bar where Natsume was at and the stage where they were.

"Don't get killed." Ruka warned.

Natsume

"Holy shit." He growled inwardly. He was about to insult them and tell them to fuck off before some guy, who saw the frustration and annoyance on Natsume's face from afar, came over to the seat next to him and spoke to the women, "C'mon ladies. This man doesn't want anything to do with you. How about both of you come with me?" And to top it off, he smiled at them. They immediately changed their minds and switched men within a heartbeat. The guy stood up and walked away, not before saying, "You're welcome."

"Hn." Natsume grunted his 'thanks'. He didn't pay attention to that guy's features, but thought he was better looking than him. He didn't really care, he was just happy that those stupid sluts were gone.

"Natsume." Koko walked over to the raven-haired man from the dance floor and placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn't bother to look at him. He knew who it was. "I see why you didn't want those..." He was determining which word to use in this case. "Those sluts, but you really need to get laid. If it's the same reason as always; it's been 5 years."

"And your point is?" Natsume asked gruffly before turning his head slightly and looked at the engaged man deadly. Natsume always hated it when someone, other than Ruka and Hotaru, would bring up this topic and tell him it's been whatever-years-have-passed. In this case, 5 years.

Koko knew that look and just sighed knowing if he continued to bug him about it, he'll soon be a dead man rather than a married man. "I advise you to do something with your life." Koko sighed again before ordering some baileys caramel with ice before heading back to the the stage. Funny thing is, everyone except Ruka and Natsume has a high tolerance to alcohol.

"Leave me alone! I have a girlfriend!" Natsume heard someone, that sounded a lot like his best-friend, wail on the dance floor. Curious to who it was, Natsume turned around in his seat, chugging down his second shot of pure vodka. He loved the burn down his throat and on his tongue. He was rather amused to see that Ruka was literally running away from some barbie doll girls. "I wouldn't be surprised if Imai had cameras on him or any of us."

"Nogi-sama~!" One of the girls yelled in a high pitched voice, all their boobs bounced as they ran after their errr Prince. They attracted quite a lot of unwanted attention.

"Go away-" Ruka then noticed Natsume was looking his way, watching with a very amused smirk. Ruka got an idea. "Natsume! Help!" He began running Natsume's way and saw his crimson eyes gradually widen when the group of girls that was chasing after him grew slightly bigger. If Ruka were to stop aburptly, they would die from the stampede of girls. Now they really did not want that.

"Keep the fuck away from us you bunch of plastics." Natsume growled at the girls before they got any closer, adding anger in his frightening -but beautiful- crimson red eyes. The girls whimpered and quickly strutted away frightened. "Not exactly like I planned. It'll do." Ruka thought and sighed with relief, sitting down next to Natsume.

"I didn't want you to insult them even though it was true."

"They wouldn't have left otherwise."

"The 5th year is here. Do you think she's going to come through with her word and find us? Namely you." Ruka wondered, remembering the day when they heard that Mikan died committing suicide and they were just 16. It really left Hotaru, Natsume, and himself heartbroken the most. More so for Natsume because he heard suicide and not a natural death. Hell, he would've committed suicide himself if they didn't find her will the same minute they found her body.

"If I can't find her, what makes you, me, or Imai think she'll be able to find us? Especially me" Natsume asked gruffly. It was a rhetorical question, Ruka knew but answered anyway.

"She knows you just as well as I do so I don't think it'd be hard for her. We have no idea where she could be because she's really unpredictable and we've tried our hardest. Remember the hounds? They couldn't find her either." Ruka slapped himself mentally for bringing up the hounds because that was when Natsume really lost hope. Thankfully, Mikan was sending letters to them somehow with no senders address. They knew it was her, she even signed it with a freaking fingerprint! Which meant that she was within city's range from them. No senders address, she would have to deliver it herself.

"What if I left tonight? Where do you think I'll go?" Natsume challenged with a smirk at the blonde animal lover. "If not the Sakura tree, the rocky cliff where Mikan and I had our first dinner date under the bright moonlight."

Ruka contemplated the possibilities then finalized. "If not the Sakura tree, the rocky cliff where you and Mikan had your first dinner date under the bright moonlight." Ruka answered without hesitation. Natsume was shocked that he got it word for word, and looked the other way to avoid seeing Ruka's smile of victory. "I told you Natsume."

"That's just you and her."

"You wanna bet?"

"And your blackmailing girlfriend because she was spying on us."

"There we go. So how long are you planning on staying here?" Ruka ordered a shot of pure vodka, too. This is his first one for the whole 2 hours they've been here.

"I'll be leaving in a bit. If I don't, I might end up drunk and be taking one of those plastic dolls home." Natsume pointed behind him with his thumb, gesturing to a slim, busty woman nearly ass naked, dancing on the pole. Ruka shivered a little. He really can't imagine Natsume with anybody except Mikan. No one can really.

"I see your point there. I'm proud that you're staying loyal." Ruka smiled before chugging his shot of vodka. He scowled for a second at the smell and burn. He didn't like it much but after a second it's not that bad.

Natsume stood up to leave but not before 2 people interrupted him. "Leaving?" Ruka and Tsubasa who just arrived asked.

"Damn. He better not give me another lecture for leaving because I'm thinking about her. Scratch that; I always do. Thinking about her to the point where I feel vulnerable is what I meant and that rarely happens." Natsume thought. He was feeling pretty weak. It's like going to the places that were nostalgic to him refills his need of energy. (A/N: Sounds stupid but it was either this or use that stupid line from freaking Twilight. Y'know. The one where Edward is all like 'You're my brand of heroin'. yeah, that crap. No offence to you Twilight lovers.)

"Tch, Mage." Natsume scoffed and began to walk towards the door where Tsubasa just walked in from. Everyone who was attending Koko's bachelor party knew Tsubasa was late because he had to take care of Misaki and his' 5 year old son, Hikaru who was born just before Mikan died. "Don't tell me..." Tsubasa began to think. He didn't bother to finish his own thought before talking to Natsume.

"Yo, little brat." Natsume knew what he was going to say, but stopped walking anyway. Even with the thumping music, he could still hear Tsubasa loud and clear. "Move on. If Mikan saw you like this, I don't think she'd be happy one bit. Also, don't even think about turning back into a fucking pyromaniac again." Tsubasa added, emphasizing the word 'Pyromaniac' with disgust.

Ruka and Natsume's ceased their breathing momentarily. That was a first in a long time to have that mentioned. They have forgotten that Natsume had gone pyro for 3 days years ago. You'd be amazed with what Natsume could do at the age of 8. Yeah, that was when it started and shortly ended after meeting a special someone. Natsume smiled to himself, remembering that night clearly.

13 years ago

"Life's stupid. Pointless. You just live and then die. That's it." A young Natsume thought as he watched his 3rd creation of flames in 3 nights. "Copper (II) Sulfate." Natsume admired the green flames before him in the park parking lot under a tree branch that was used as a canopy.

Not far off, a little girl was about to cross the street from the park over to her new house when she noticed a flickering light coming from under a long branch that stretched out from the trunk of a tree. She got really curious because it was a really pretty colour. She walked over cautiously to the flickering light and found a boy probably her age with his back facing her and also staring at the green flames. He was oblivious to the fact he wasn't alone.

"Sugoi (Amazing.)!" She admired with a big cheery smile and in the process surprised Natsume. "That's so pretty! I've never seen fire like that before!"

Natsume felt his heart beating so fast and called himself a big idiot. "She's so...pretty. And the first one who isn't afraid aside of Ruka. Not a fangirl either." He thought, staring at the girl before him. Her happy smile and shining, hazel-brown eyes caught most of his attention.

The girl then remembered she wasn't alone and then looked at Natsume more in awe at the sight of his eyes. Crimson red.

"Your eyes..." She trailed off. Natsume's breath hitched, thinking this girl didn't like them. He wanted this girl to like him and accept him badly. He knew why and didn't enjoy it. "They're really pretty and cool, too!" She grinned, he sighed in relief. "Oh how rude of me! I'm Mikan! You are...?" Of course, acting her age, she didn't know about some weird obsessions and big words let alone know he was a pyromaniac for the passed couple of days.

Natsume stayed silent, wondering if he should act cold to her like everybody else, or if he should be nice to her like Ruka. Not completely, but enough to make this girl stay around. He chose the latter. "Natsume." His eyes then travelled to her skirt that lifted slightly from the brief breeze. He smirked and muttered, "Polka dots."

"What did you say?" Mikan didn't hear him because she was too busy staring in awe at the flames.

"How bothersome. Love at first sight exists." Natsume sighed inwardly but kept a smile. The first time he smiled to anyone -with the exception of his remaining family and Ruka- since his mother died. What he was grateful of the most right now, she wasn't afraid of him. Anybody who saw this would run away in a heartbeat because, well, it was fire. Sure, his flames were unique and beautiful because of the chemical substances he snatches from here and there, but if you knew him with his cruel, cold exterior along with those eyes of his, you'd be scared.

Natsume had an idea. "Hey Polka dots, what's your favourite colour?" "Oh no! I wasn't supposed to say that! Too late now. Damage is done."

"Pink!" "Polka dots? Where'd he get that from? Oh well."

Natsume smiled again and began to prepare the lithium chloride he was planning to ignite the next night. But instead, light it up tonight and make the last of his pyromania tonight. "Move back a bit." He ordered before lighting up the substance with a barbecue lighter. She obeyed and then saw the pinkish orange flames.

"There you go."

"Thank you." Mikan cheered and smiled her brightest smile ever at him before jumping to hug him. "I may get in trouble for staying out long, but this is worth it!" Mikan thought happily. Happier when she felt Natsume hug her back.

Natsume smiled again and kept it there when she hugged him.

Mikan looked back at him and saw the small smile on his face. "You should keep smiling. You look cuter." She giggled before asking, "So do you live around here?"

"In that white one over there." Natsume pointed over to his house, next to a house that had a sold sign. His face fell back to his usual expressionless face. Better than a frown he keeps at school.

"Cool! I live right next to you!" Mikan jumped excitedly, then screamed when both fires went out.

"She's scared of the dark. This favours me." Natsume smirked. "Here." He grabbed her trembling hand and began to walk out from under the branch. "It's getting late so I'll take you home." He thought it was kind of stupid seeing as it was less than a 2 minute walk, but he got to hold her hand.

"Thank you. I'm scared of total darkness. That branch wasn't helping." Mikan pouted whilst in voluntarily tightening the grasp on her hand that Natsume was holding.

"I can tell." He smirked at her. They then crossed the street and were now in front of her door.

"Hey Natsume-kun, where's your room?" He pointed to the window that was facing her house. Again, she jumped excitedly and cheered, "My room's right across of yours!"

The door opened, revealing Mikan's grandpa and her 12 year-old cousin Tsubasa who was walking down the stairs. Tsubasa, being overprotective of his little cousin, glared at the unknown boy holding Mikan's hand. Natsume noticed this and chose to be smug and smirked at him. This went all unnoticed to Mikan. "Uhh, hi. Who are you?" Mikan's grandpa asked, eyeing their linked hands as well.

"He's my new friend, Natsume." Mikan smiled brightly at her grandpa. "He lives right next to us! Isn't that cool?"

"Uh, yes Mikan. Sure is. I'm happy you made a new friend. Kobanwa Natsume-kun." He smiled and Natsume bowed in return. "He's probably Kaoru's son."

"Well goodnight Natsume-kun." Mikan kissed his cheek before happily skipping inside and up the stairs, leaving her cousin, grandpa, and Natsume shocked.

Natsume was actually blushing and took a couple seconds to fully recover and walk away from her two older relatives that just gaped at him. "Goodnight to you, too Polka." He muttered, jumping over the fence that separated their houses and walked into his own.

He exhaled from staying out later than expected and feeling a little more tired when he flopped onto his bed. He was about to grab his house phone to call Ruka who was just on the other side of his house until he heard Mikan yell through her room window. Thankfully for her, Natsume's window was already open and knew he could hear her scream "Natsume no hentai!" "She finally got it." He chuckled and looked out the window just to be hit by a small bouncy ball. "Didn't know she had good aim." It was her turn to laugh and waved at him. He smirked and waved back before lying back down on his bed as did she.

Before he went back to sleep, he dialled Ruka's number as planned. "Hey Natsume." Ruka answered. On his side, he was smiling because he knew what Natsume was going to talk about. Something called windows and made sure someone didn't die. "What's up?" He asked before drinking his water.

"Hey Ruka. I'm officially not a pyro anymore." Natsume said monotonously. Not long after he heard the spray of water. He laughed a little, figuring Ruka was drinking and didn't expect him to say that.

"I thought you met that new girl that just moved in." Ruka coughed, wiping away the water with a dish cloth.

"That's exactly why. I thought you were watching."

"Like I can see beyond a solid."

"Use your brain, Ruka."

Present

"Yo, Hyuuga, you're spacing out." Tsubasa snapped his fingers multiple times in front of the said man's face, bringing him back to reality. "Huh? What?" Natsume looked around his surroundings and instead of standing under the doorway like how he remembered, he was standing back at the bar with Tsubasa and Ruka. Now how did that happen?

Ruka sighed, then smiled. He knows what happened that time 13 years ago. Knew more when Mikan and Natsume explained it to him. At different tiems of course.

"You were thinking about how you 2 met, weren't you?" Ruka asked. Natsume just nodded and then headed for the door again. This time, no one stopped him. He got into his silver Acura RSX (A/N: So many people pick mustangs and all that and I thought it was too...flashy. This makes the story more real.) and started to drive off to the rocky cliff. The sakura tree would be where he goes in the day.

Tsubasa

Back in the strip club, Tsubasa was wondering how those 2 met. He never really knew how they met exactly. Curious, he asked Ruka, "How was him being a pyro refer to how they met. Mikan only mentioned to me it was cute."

"She's your cousin but she didn't tell you? She even told Hotaru and I." Ruka snickered that all this time he never knew because no one told him. Okay, a lot of people still don't but Tsubasa is blood related to her and all. Tsubasa rolled his eyes and waited for Ruka to continue.

"Yeah they met at the park. You know Natsume used to be a pyro but that was only 3 days. I consider pretty short. Anyways, he only stopped because he met Mikan. She saw a weird light and we know just how inapplicable 'Curiosity killed the cat' is to her so she walked over to check it out and saw green flames. Long story short, love at first sight for the both of them. Especially after he lit up lithium chloride and showed her pink flames which we know is her favourite." Ruka explained, remembering how easy things were when they were kids.

"I guess that's why she asked me how that was possible to have coloured flames." Tsubasa thought aloud absentmindedly, then smiled. "I guess him being a pyro all those years ago wasn't too bad. It brought them together." He added. Now he felt a tinge of guilt for disliking Natsume about having pyromania.

"Agreed." Ruka grunted as he stood up from his seat. "Let's go back to Kitsu and Koko. They're over there by the stage."

"Alright."

Natsume

"What the hell?"

I thought of this since my other story, Rollercoaster, isn't so stable like I would love it to be since I didn't plan that one out. Hope you like this story though. Still working on this. It'll take me awhile to update...yeah. I'm pretty lame so don't expect this to be good XD

Note: The OCs from Rollercoaster and here are the same. Some relationships are different though (For example: Mikan and Tsubasa are cousins.). Pairings are the same, too.

-Shiro0529