Hey guys! Here's a simple one-shot story because I've been gone for like…ever and I've been into the whole one-shot stories (: aha. Hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: You guys know the drill (;

Makeup Artist

"Hotaruuuuuuu! Why won't you let me do your makeup? Just ONCE! And then I promise I won't bother you about it again!" Mikan pouted. They were sitting next to each other in class since they still had a few minutes before class started.

Hotaru gave a short glare at her best friend. "One, I don't like makeup. Two, I have no one to impress. Three, you have plenty of other people you can play dress-up with. And four, you don't wear makeup either! If you have no one to put makeup on at the moment, then put it on yourself." She scoffed. Mikan puffed her cheeks and pouted at her friend.

"That's because tiny-tits over here knows that no matter how much makeup she puts on herself, she can't hide her ugliness." A tall, lean young boy smirked as he walked pass the two. Mikan blushed, then came to her senses and was about to explode of anger until she was cut off.

"Natsume, you really shouldn't talk like that… Mikan, I think you're really pretty." Ruka butted in. Natsume just scoffed at him.

"How cheesy." Ruka and Natsume proceeded to walk to their seats away from the two.

"Mikan you are SO obvious." Hotaru said in a monotonous tone. Mikan pouted and attempted to glare at her best friend.

"You don't have to point out the obvious, then."

"If you like Natsume, why don't you use your magic and actually try to impress him?"

"Because we're FRIENDS, Hotaru! Me, you, Ruka, and Natsume. There's no way. Plus, you heard him…"

The bell rang for class to start and everybody dashed to their seats before the teacher came in. Hotaru gave Mikan a look but she decided to ignore it. It was History class – the one Mikan hated the most, by the way – and she was on the verge of falling asleep until someone tapped her on the shoulder. She quickly turned her head to see who it was, and spotted just another of her classmates handing a note to her. She usually got notes from people who needed a makeover, either because they wanted to learn how they should apply makeup for themselves, or because they were going to be doing something special. And no, not that kind of special. The confessing type of special. Seeing that the one who handed her the note was a guy, she threw a questioning look at him. It was then that the guy pointed at a girl about 3 seats away. Mikan made eye contact with the girl, and nodded her head. She opened the note to see where and when they would meet, and it said on the rooftop right after class. Short notice, but Mikan was always prepared for this kind of stuff. All her makeup necessities were stuffed carefully in the back of her locker. Mikan spent the rest of her time in her most hated class formulating what she was going to do for the girl. Before she knew it, the bell had rung, and it was time for action. She gave a look at Hotaru, who immediately knew what was going on, and gave an exasperated sigh. She was going to have to spend the break with the two infamous idiots: Ruka and Natsume. Despite their seemingly hateful relationship the four actually had a pretty strong friendship.

Quickly grabbing her makeup kit, Mikan dashed up the stairs to the rooftop. The girl was already standing by the railing, looking down towards the campus. As soon as she heard the door open, she whipped around and beamed.

"Hey Mikan!" She smiled. Mikan couldn't help but smile back.

"So, what's the occasion? Confession, daily makeup, anything?" Mikan asked. She was looking at the girl to get a better look at her features and what she could do with them. She had long brown hair, big green eyes, a round face, silky milk skin, and small lips.

"Well…it's kind of both. I don't usually wear makeup, but there's this guy I really like, and I want to start wearing makeup to try and impress him…" She said shyly. Mikan could notice the blush on her cheeks as she was looking towards the ground.

'How cute.' Mikan thought. Truthfully, any girl is perfectly fine without makeup, but just a little touch here and there to enhance the features the girls already have is even better. "Well, I think you're pretty already, so just a little bit of makeup will do, and it's especially nice because daily makeup shouldn't be heavy anyway. First off, I will be teaching you the 7 makeup secrets every girl should know." Mikan grinned at the shocked expression of the girl in front of her.

"There's secrets to applying makeup?" She questioned.

"Of course! And these secrets will guide you in applying your makeup. I can give you a look, but it's your choice whether you want to tweak anything, or create a whole new look yourself. Anyways, here it is:

NUMBER ONE!" Mikan made a number one with her finger. "81% of guys notice a girl's eyes first." She grinned. "And you, my friend, are blessed with big, luscious green eyes. The first step, is enhancing those beauties." Mikan opened her giant makeup kit and took out her liquid eyeliner.

"Now, you're skin is really smooth and even, so you won't be needing any foundation or anything…I mean, unless you want any." Mikan gave her a look and she replied with her head shaking a 'no'. "Good. That makes this much more simpler. So here I have a liquid eyeliner. The thing about liquid eyeliner, is that you can wear it all day and you won't have to worry about it smearing or anything. Also, it's very bold so you wont see it fading or blending in with your eyelashes or something. Now what you want to do with you eyes, since they are very big, is to outline your eyes as closely as possible, keeping the shape. Then once you get towards the outer end of your eye, this is totally optional by the way, you can wing it out a little bit for a fun but not too drastic look. It's hard to apply liquid eyeliner at first, but with a little bit of practice, you will get it down like a pro." Mikan finished doing the eyeliner for the girl, and then handed her the liquidy magic to her. "You can keep this to use for yourself. It's also waterproof, so you can swim with it, or – if you get in times of trouble – your tears won't mess it up." They laughed. Mikan also took out her eyelash curler and mascara. "Curling your lashes opens your eyes more and makes it look bigger. This waterproof mascara will also add some more drama." Mikan raised her hand to make a two before shouting-

"NUMBER TWO! Guys love the flushed cheeks." Mikan grinned and the girl blushed. "I noticed you don't really have a problem with this, but you might want to add blush, you might not. Now since you don't have foundation on, your natural blush will show through, but if you want that flash of color at all times, you can add a very slight blush." Mikan grabbed her blush kit with three different shades of pink, took her blush brush, and mixed the three together. She tapped off the excess, and lightly added blush to the girl's cheek bones.

"NUMBER THREE!" She shouted, holding up a three with her fingers. "Guys like the natural lipstick. The bold red is sexy sometimes, but guys prefer the natural color – something they know won't rub all over their lips or cheeks….or wherever you're kissing him." With this, the girl's face turned a lovely tomato red. "I prefer to just add lip gloss as the daily lip makeup, but when adding some color, you want to first apply the lipstick evenly, then blotch it by placing a tissue or napkin between your lips to get off that extra lipstick that would've ended up all over his face." Mikan took out her small lip gloss and applied it to the girl's lips. "And that's all that will be added to your face for today" Mikan laughed. She handed the girl all the products she used at that time.

"But that's not the full 7 secrets?" The girl asked, confused.

"Right. I will be giving you tips, but I won't be adding anything more to your lovely face." Mikan smiled. She held out the number four.

"NUMBER FOUR! Guys prefer more dark eyeliner and shadows smudged in to make your eyes look bigger. I used black eyeliner on you because of this, and eye-shadow is not really used unless you have a special occasion. Maybe you can use it if you want for your confession, but I personally like the look without it." Mikan smiled. The girl gave it some thought before nodding her head.

"I'll think about it when the time comes." She smiled and then giggled a little bit. "I want to see my finished look and find out what he thinks about it first." She blushed. Mikan smiled again.

"NUMBER FIVE!" She grinned and held her hand out to show a five. "NO. FAKE. ANYTHING. No matter how much you think it makes you look good, the truth is, guys don't like the look of fake eyelashes, nails, etc. It's almost like…it's too much drama in the face." She laughed. The other girl ended up laughing along with her. So much laughing!

"Yeah, I don't really like that stuff anyways." The girl replied.

"Good. NUMBER SIX! Not a lot of anything. Now you're daily makeup will be very light, so you might not have to worry about this, but just in case you feel like adding a bit more for a special occasion, keep in mind that you don't want to pack on anything." The girl nodded in understanding. Mikan let out an exasperated sigh.

"And last but not least, number seven. Guys don't notice the small mistakes in your makeup. They're not experts. They don't apply makeup on themselves. Who cares if you eyeliner is not line by line, thickness by thickness, perfect. He's not going to notice. So don't worry about your makeup looking off because you've just started and you're not used to it yet. You don't have to be picture perfect right out of the magazines." Mikan smiled at the girl, gave her the small portable mirror and let her have a look. The girl's eyes got big and she gasped.

"Is this really me?" She questioned. Mikan just smiled.

"You remember everything?" Mikan laughed. The girl giggled a little bit and then nodded.

"I think so."

Mikan gave one last smile. "Good luck."

The girl got her bag and headed back down where the rest of the world was to join her friends and flirt with her beloved. Mikan gave out a tired sigh, happy it was finally over, and packed up her stuff. She looked at the time and class was about to start again, so she quickly ran back down, got her stuff, and ran to class, sitting down just as the bell rang. Her and Hotaru sat next to each other in this class, and Hotaru gave an amused expression. Fifteen minutes into the class, Hotaru gave Mikan another note. Mikan was about to throw a fit, but then Hotaru shook her head 'no'. Mikan was not that popular in the school, and only a few people knew about her makeup talent. So she usually only does one makeup session a day, sometimes not even. Mikan gave Hotaru a questioning look, and opened the note.

It's a good thing you're not popular yet, huh?

Mikan could tell it was Hotaru's handwriting. She smiled at herself. Her friend knew her so well. Even though she loved doing makeup for others, when they knew absolutely nothing about it, it took a lot of energy to teach the whole thing in a short session. She scribbled on the note and handed it back.

Just wait until I'm professional. Then I just paint on their faces and I don't have to explain anything (:

Hotaru rolled her eyes and scribbled back.

What a lazy ass.

-Next Day, Mikan's POV-

Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume and I were all sitting at lunch outside by the Sakura tree. All of a sudden, the most loved person by no one in the world decided to show up.

"Heeeey Natsume! You're as hot as ever~ " Luna came and glomped herself onto Natsume. I gave a death glare to the nasty woman but she pretended I wasn't even there. "Oh. Hi you guys." Hotaru and I rolled our eyes. What. A bitch.

"Hi Luna! Nice of you to join us for lunch!" Oh my gosh! Ruka, why!

"Ruka, why do you have to be so nice! Luna, I think you should get your fat ass off of my friend and go eat with your invisible friends somewhere else." Mikan replied. Luna still paid no mind to the little brunette.

"Why thank you Ruka. You are sooooo nice." I gave another attempted glare that was futile. But then I caught the fat bi- *cough uhm… girl, freeze on the spot. At first, I thought my incredibly forceful death glares finally paralyzed the stupid woman, until I caught Hotaru right next to me giving a pretty dang good death glare at Luna. In fact, it even froze me on the spot. Something….something fishy is going on here…

"U-uhm, well, I think I left something in the classroom and it's really important…so I'm going to go get it. See ya! Bye, love!" Luna up and left, saying her stupid final goodbye to MY Natsume. Well…you know.

Before I could even register, school was already over and it was time to go home. I spent the whole rest of the day trying to figure out what happened with Hotaru, and I finally came to the conclusion that my best friend, in fact, actually likes Ruka-pyon! I smirked to myself. She was soooo going to get it. Especially since we walk home.

"Ho. Ta. Ru!" I skipped over to my best friend. Once we were out of the school and well on our way home, I popped the question. "You like Ruka-pyon." Okay, maybe it wasn't a question. Oh well.

"What the hell are you talking about, stupid." She said in her usual monotonous tone. As cold as she may be, I could still see the warm blush creeping on her ice cold cheeks.

"OH MY GOSH! Hotaruuuu! You should tell me these things! Okay. It's makeover time. I don't care what you say, it's going to happen." I insisted. I didn't give you an out. She was going to get a makeover, even if it meant I had to secretly come over to her house in the middle of the night and put it on while she was sleeping.

"NO!" She yelled. It surprised me a little bit, but I could tell she was just embarrassed. Ohh, she was so cute right now. My cold little Hotaru was finally breaking the ice! Good job Ruka-pyon!

"I'm not going to listen to what you say, you know. And you should know this better than anyone else." I said. She tried to give me one of her evil glares, but in this situation, it just wouldn't work. I grinned.

"If you put makeup on me, then you have to put makeup on yourself."

"YES! I knew it. Okay, tomorrow- WAIT WHAT?" I stopped myself. I had to put makeup on? Haha. No way. I snorted. "Yeah, right Hotaru." She stopped walking and gave me a I-don't-have-a-choice-and-neither-do-you-or-else-I'll-kill-you look. I gave a big sigh. "FINE."

The next morning I arrived early at Hotaru's house so we could put on makeup. I was tired but the cold morning air during the walk to her house woke me up. We decided on the light look- just eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss, and used some eye shadow on our eyebrows because they were almost non-existent… But just a little bit, not much of a difference.

We walked through campus because we were a little bit early and didn't feel like sitting in class. I could tell Hotaru was nervous even though her face didn't show anything. I was too. I mean, how would Natsume react? I was tensing up. Soon, we decided to go and sit in class, and when we got there, almost everybody was there. In the corner was the two little devils Natsume and Ruka. I almost wanted to turn back and just leave the classroom, but Hotaru made sure I didn't. We sat down in the corner with the two and we could tell they were both surprised. Ruka was staring at Hotaru, and Natsume…I think he was staring at me. I hope. But when I tried to make eye contact, he immediately looked away, and from then on he wouldn't look at me. What was going on? Neither decided to make a comment about it. How disappointing. I at least expected Natsume to make fun of me, and had a little bit of hope that he would show some sign that he liked it. My disappointed self sulkily sat in my seat when the bell rang. Class passed by rather slowly and when the bell rang for break, I told them I had to go to the bathroom.

I walked in having no intentions of actually going to the restroom. I just looked in the mirror. I really did have no confidence when applying makeup to myself. That's why I never wore any. I checked to make sure there was nothing odd that made me look silly. Maybe we applied it so slightly that they couldn't even tell. But I was sure that they noticed it and were surprised…but they just didn't talk about it. I sighed. This was not what I was expecting. After what I thought seemed like enough time to go to the bathroom, I walked back to the classroom. On my way back, I saw Hotaru and Ruka in a corner where nobody was around. I got excited and decided to eavesdrop. It was my best friend for god's sake! I have rights! After a few seconds and not hearing anything, I knew they were too far for me to hear. But I could tell what happened by the way Ruka blushed really hard, closing his eyes and saying something, Hotaru totally losing face and blushing too, then nodding yes, I knew they were officially an item now. I relaxed a little knowing that the two idiot guys in fact did notice, and produced good results. I smiled inwardly, continuing my walk to the classroom. I didn't want to stick around to see what followed with those two.

"Did you see Mikan this morning?" I heard one of the guys in the class saying to another. I stopped at the door, deciding not to open and enter the classroom yet. I know, it's bad. But I can't help it! Natsumeeee, please say something. I guess I should start with 'please be in the classroom'.

"Yeah, she looked pretty hot, didn't she?"

"She should wear makeup more often."

"Yeah, she's actually pretty cute with it, huh?"

After hearing their conversation and no Natsume, I decided he also left the classroom and is doing who knows what. I started to open the door-

"No," A familiar voice said. I froze on the spot. …no? "I don't like it. I hate makeup. I don't know why she would put it on."

…Do I have the wrong person? I must have….right? I…I thought he would like it! Ruka liked Hotaru's! I guess…I really can't put makeup on myself. Natsume doesn't like makeup…I must look like a fool. That's why he didn't want to look at me. He must think I'm fake. Or I don't like the way I look, or maybe he thinks I'm a whore. I didn't put a lot! Why!

I finally summed up the courage to open the door. All eyes turned on me, but I looked straight ahead and walked to my seat. Natsume sat in the corner, I know because all four of us always sat in the corner until the bell rang. But I didn't feel like facing him right now. And probably not ever. I feel like an idiot…

The rest of the day felt like a hundred years. When the final bell rang to go home, I rushed to get out and started for home. I didn't bother to say bye, I just wanted to take all this crap off of my face and cry myself to sleep. All because I was so caught up with myself and saw Hotaru and Ruka have a happy ending I thought so could I. I guess I was wrong. I probably ruined our friendship all because I won't be strong enough to face him with the same face. His words will repeat in my mind. God I feel so helpless. I hope Hotaru and Ruka at least are enjoying each other's company walking each other home. At least they worked out. When I finally got home I felt so pitiful I couldn't even get myself to walk in the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. My eyeliner and mascara were waterproof so I could cry all I wanted to.

The next morning I still felt awful, and I hadn't talked to Hotaru. I got to class extremely early and sat in my desk. I looked at the clock, looked down at my desk, and before I knew it, fell right asleep.

I stirred when I heard the sound of the door opening. I snapped awake and saw the girl that I did makeup on a couple days ago.

"Hey!" She said.

"Hi!" I smiled back at her. "How'd it go?" I asked her.

"Oh my gosh! He totally noticed immediately, and during one of the breaks I took him out to the hallway and we both ended up confessing!" She squealed. I gave her a smile. She gave me a look. "Is something wrong? Oh! By the way, yesterday, I noticed you wore makeup! You were sooo pretty! You should wear it more often! Why aren't you wearing it today?"

Oh. I love how this conversation turned out. I gave her a sad smile. "The guy I like didn't like it." I tried my best to not tear up, but I'm sure she could notice my eyes getting glossy.

"What? But you looked amazing! Wait…was it Natsume?" She asked. I nodded, not trusting my voice. It felt awful to get rejected before even confessing. I felt like I got called ugly, but for real this time. "But it looked like he really liked the look!" I laughed.

"I thought so too…" She gave a confused look, but before she could continue people starting filling in the classroom.

"Well, sorry to hear that Mikan. Thanks for helping me." She gave a nod and headed towards her friends. When Hotaru walked in, I gave her a look of I-don't-really-feel-like-talking-right-now and she immediately understood. I'm sorry Hotaru! I know… But I'll probably end up spilling later today. Just…not right now. When Natsume and Ruka walked in, Ruka started walking towards us with Natsume tailing behind, but Hotaru shot a glare, and Ruka and co. walked away confused. I sighed. This was just great.

Once lunch finally came up, I grabbed my lunch real quick and left the classroom. There were two places the group could possibly eat. In the classroom, or by the Sakura tree. So I decided to head up to the rooftop to eat by myself, get some cool air, and just let it all go. I sat and opened up my lunch, and just stared at it. My eyes felt heavy, and I knew unconsciousness was just calling out to me. Oh well. Who cares if I skip a few classes today? Maybe I'll even be lucky enough to wake up before lunch ends. Just as I was about to doze, I heard the rooftop door open and shut, and a final click before I heard footsteps. I shot up, ready to fend off whatever perv decided to lock us on the roof alone. I froze when I saw it was Natsume.

"How'd you-"

"Hotaru." He cut me off. I just stayed silent, looking down. "Why are you avoiding us?" He questioned, walking closer.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know, I've been odd and I apologize, but I'm over it now, so let's go back already." I got up, ready to leave.

"No, I want you to explai-" I cut him off by quickly grabbing the key he was loosely holding, dashed to the door, unlocked it and left. So much for over it and let's go back. I totally just avoided him again. I was running down the stairs until a firm grip pulled me back.

"Look, I don't know what happened, but you need to explain."

I looked him in the eyes, and immediately lost face. Tears formed and I forced myself to not sniffle and burst out crying.

"I'm sorry! I just…I really like you and I decided to put on makeup to impress you but I overheard you saying you didn't like it and I got all shook up by myself and couldn't sum up enough strength to face you guys…" I closed my eyes and looked away. Now just let me go, I'm not ready yet!

Suddenly I was yanked towards him and was pulled into a kiss. I opened my eyes in shock and we just stood there for a few seconds, just registering the lip contact.

"Mikan…I've liked you for so long. When you came yesterday with makeup on I was so surprised. You…you were beautiful. But other guys were looking at you. I didn't like it. If they didn't notice just how beautiful you were without makeup on, I'd rather have you not wear it and have you to myself. But I didn't want to risk anything. I figured if I could just have you as a friend everything would be okay. But if you like me…" He trailed off. I laughed. A few moments went by…

"I love you." We said at the same time, laughed a little bit, and then we kissed again, and it grew into a passionate one until we finally pulled away, out of breath.

Rule Number Eight: Remember that it's not the end of the world if makeup just doesn't turn out to be your happy ending. Guys also love the all naturale look, and in the end, what really matters is what's on the inside, no matter how cheesy that may sound. But as we all know, cheese makes you smile (:

LOLOL. I hope you guys got that last sentence XD so cheeeeeesy! Haha! Excuse my disappearance you guys. I just got resurrected from the dead. Uhm yeah. This is really long and probably is more for girls to read but you know. Aha. I think the beginning is kind of slow and stuff but believe me when I say I spent the whole freaking day on this! Haha! Please, please, please, please, PLEASE review! Much appreciated! And heads up, I will probably be coming out with stories from different Anime/Manga so all you Author Alert people be watching out! It might not be Gakuen Alice fanfics. Of course I will still publish Gakuen Alice fanfics, but I'll just be adding in some others. Hopefully you guys will have seen/read them and if not you should definitely check it out!

Anyways, thanks for reading this long oneshot, and please…

!REVIEW!