"Hotaru, I have the perfect gift for you for Christmas!" a 10 year old Sakura Mikan said to her best friend, Imai Hotaru.
"What is it?" Hotaru Asked.
"Nuh uh. It's a surprise. I won't tell you that it's a Polaroid camera."
Hotaru's eyes sparkled for an instant but it disappeared immediately. She raised her eyebrow at Mikan and stared at her.
Mikan, realizing her mistake, widened her eyes and covered her mouth, "Oops."
"Baka," Hotaru rolled her eyes and walked away, with a smile on her face knowing that she will get a Polaroid camera, perfect for blackmailing purposes.
"Ohayou, Narumi-sensei!" the 10-year old children of Alice Academy greeted their homeroom teacher.
"Ohayou! I have a surprise for you, kids! Since it's almost Christmas, we will have Secret Santa!" Narumi announced.
The children cheered and listened for more.
"I will pass this bowl around," he showed the bowl full of strips of paper, "and you will pick one name from the bowl. If you get your own name, return it and get a new one. Got it?"
"Hai!" the children answered, excited on who they will pick and who will be their Secret Santa. Narumi passed the bowl around and the children each got a piece of paper.
"Okay, now here are the rules. Once a week, until the day before the start of your Christmas break, you will give your partner; the one you picked, a gift, as long as it does not exceed 50 rabbits. On the day that you will reveal yourself, the gift should not exceed 100 rabbits. Okay? Ja!" Narumi said then left.
The kids gathered into their own group of friends and asked each other on who they got.
"Hotaru! Who did you get?" Mikan asked.
"Anna," Hotaru replied.
"Eeehhh? Why did you get Anna? I got Natsume-kun," Mikan whispered, however, one girl heard it besides Hotaru.
"Nani?! Sakura-san! Exchange with me!" Sumire said.
"What do you mean?" asked the startled Mikan.
"Don't play innocent with me! I head you say that you got Natsume-kun! Exchange with me!" Sumire demanded.
"B-but, Narumi-sensei said to not exchange partners…" Mikan said, scared of what might happen to her if she refused.
"Oh please, y—"
"Leave her alone, Shouda-san. She doesn't want to exchange with you. Don't force her," Hotaru said, giving Sumire a glare.
Sumire sighed as a sign that she has given up and left.
Mikan looked at Hotaru with teary eyes and hugged her, "Arigatou, Hotaru."
3 WEEKS LATER…..
"I am so excited!" Mikan said to Hotaru.
"Why?" Hotaru asked.
"Because… I will finally know today who my Secret Santa is! I've been receiving such wonderful gifts for the last 3 weeks!"
They entered their classroom and Anna and Nonoko approached them.
"Mikan! I'm really curious of your Secret Santa! I wish my partner would be like yours," Anna whined.
Mikan looked at Hotaru, trying not to laugh. Hotaru loved money after all. She didn't want to spend money for someone else that's why the gifts Anna has been receiving were at a price range of 5 rabbits to 15 rabbits. Now, her gift is worth 50 rabbits. Unlike Hotaru, Mikan chose her gift carefully for Natsume. So, she bought a manga set worth 85 rabbits. She made sure it was according to Natsume's taste.
"Ohayou!" a familiar voice was heard inside the room.
"Ohayou, Narumi-sensei!" the children greeted back.
"Now, we will start revealing yourselves to your partners. We will start with Iinchou," he said, eyeing Yuu.
"Hai," Yuu stood up and approached Nonoko. Nonoko stood up and gave her gift to Yuki, and the cycle went on.
Mikan became sad and impatient because 30 minutes had already passed and she still has yet to know who her Secret Santa is. It was already Ruka's turn, giving his gift to Hotaru who stood up to give it to Anna and Anna gave her gift to Yuu.
"Oh, so the cycle ended. There are still 4 people who haven't given their gift yet nor haven't they received theirs. Now, Mikan-chan, can you start?" Narumi-sensei said.
"Hai," Mikan replied unenthusiastically, knowing she was giving her gift away before knowing who picked her. Mikan stood up and walked towards Natsume while their classmates gasped, murmuring, envious of Mikan's luck and at the same time, admiring her courage to be able to come near Natsume who was known for making any girl cry who came to him. What they didn't know was that Natsume and Mikan knew each other since they were babies and how these two has a really close relationship with each other.
When Natsume received his gift, he stood up and gave a small box to Mikan. The murmurs in the class grew louder and thinking of how lucky Mikan really was. For the first week she was given a teddy bear, the week after that she received Howalons and last week, she was given a pair of ribbons for her hair. When Mikan went back to her seat, she was smiling. She was happy that Natsume picked her name and she picked his.
"Ne Mikan-chan, let's open our gifts," Anna said.
Mikan shook her head, "Mm…I'll open it at home,"
She remembered the look Natsume gaver her, it was the 'open-that-at-home-in-your-room' look.
Anna stared at her for a second, puzzled and said, "Okay."
SAKURA HOUSE
"Otou-chan, you can use the bath now!" Mikan said to her father.
She went to her room and arranged her gifts. She saw the gift Natsume gave her, she took it and sat on her bed.
'Why would Natsume-kun give me such a small box?' She thought to herself. She started to untie the ribbon and tear the wrapper. The box was a plain white box. She opened it and was shocked of what it contained, it was a ring. Well technically, it was just a ring drawn on paper. At the back of the paper there was a message.
Wait for me.
I'll give you the true one then.
-N
Mikan didn't get the message and just ignored it.
The next day, Hotaru went to their house.
"Hotaru-chan! You're here, come on! Let's go to Natsume-kun's house to play," Mikan said.
Hotaru stared at her, "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Natsume-kun left for England early this morning,"
"What?! Why didn't he tell me?!" Mikan said, shocked by the news and tears started rolling own her cheeks.
"Maybe he was afraid that you would be like that," Hotaru told her.
Mikan cried and cried and shouted, "Natsume, you idiot!"
Hotaru knelt down and comforted her.
"Maybe that's what he meant by the letter," Mikan whispered to herself.
"What letter?" Hotaru asked, curious about what Mikan just said.
Mikan just shook her head and said, "Nothing."
7 YEARS LATER…
The students of Narumi-sensei were now high school students in Alice Academy.
"Ohayou!" Narumi-sensei entered the classroom.
"Ugh, he's still our homeroom teacher. He's been our teacher since kindergarten, good thing his gay germs haven't affected us yet," Hotaru said.
"That's mean, Hotaru. At least he's kind, unlike Jinjin," Mikan said.
"Well, we have a transfer student. Well, to be more exact, he's a returning student. Come in," Narumi-sensei announced to the class and signaled for the student at the door to come in.
The new student stepped in and the girls started giggling and whispering to each other while the boys got angry because the new guy was getting the attention of the girls. Only 6 people did not join the noise. Koko and Ruka were just grinning, knowing their old friend is back. Anna and Nonoko looked surprised, not expecting the returnee. Hotaru…well, you can't just read her mind, right? While Mikan stared him, wondering why the new guy was so familiar.
"I think some of you know him already. This is Hyuuga Natsume," Narumi-sensei introduced him to the class and looked straight at Mikan.
Mikan's eyes widened slowly, remembering him, it was her childhood friend.
"The only available seat right now is beside Mikan-chan," Narumi-sensei looked at Natsume to point out his seat. Natsume went straight towards his seat, not even sparing a glance at Mikan while Mikan just stared at him.
'He has become more…beautiful. I guess. Maybe he doesn't remember me anymore; after all, it has been 7 years. Maybe, he even has a girlfriend now,' Mikan thought as she continued to stare at him.
Unexpectedly, Natsume leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, "Like what you see, Polka?"
Mikan looked at him, surprised to hear her old nickname, "You still remember me?" she said, her eyes showing relief and joy.
Natsume smirked and he stood up as the bell rang and left. Mikan also stood up and fixed her things. As she picked up her books, a note fell. She picked it up and opened it.
Did you wait for me?
Meet me at the rooftop as soon as you read this letter.
-N
"Hotaru, I have to go somewhere," Mikan told Hotaru and ran off, rushing to the rooftop.
She pushed the door of the rooptop and there, she saw Natsume.
"You got here faster than I thought," Natsume said.
"Natsume…" Mikan said as she ran towards him and shouted, "You idiot! How could you leave like that without even telling me? I even found out about it from Hotaru!" and slammed her fists on his chest and tears spilling out of her eyes.
Natsume hugged her and said, "I'm really sorry for not telling you. Now, will you smile for me? I've missed your smile. I've been gone for 7 years, you know."
Mikan wiped her tears and looked up at him and smiled, "I waited for you."
"Good. I was worried that you didn't. After all, I left so suddenly. It was worth the money I spent," he said.
"Money? Spent on what?"
"Remember? The ring?"
"Oh…that," Mikan replied, suddenly remembering the note from 7 years ago.
Natsume nodded and brought out a blue velbet box.
Mikan looked at his hand and took the box. She opened it and there, she saw the most beautiful ring she has ever seen. It was a silver band with a sakura petal on top, small diamonds surrounding the petal making it sparkle when hit by the light.
"Thank you, Natsume," Mikan said, as she admired the ring.
"I love you, Mikan, ever since we were kids, "
Mikan looked at him with surprise, "Natsume…I love you too."
Natsume smiled, not a smirk, but a real one, "Thank goodness, I mustered up all of my courage to say that. I wouldn't know what to do if I got rejected," he said. He leaned forward and kissed her.
"THIS…is going to get me a LOT of money," a voice from behind the door of the rooftop came as she continued to take pictures of the scene.
"I think…we are going a bit too far here, Hotaru," another voice said.
"Shut up, Ruka," Hotaru said.
FIN
A/N: Oh wow. I finally posted one after…4 years? It's been so long since I posted a fanfic so forgive me for the messy format. I'm still trying to find my way. XD I finally got a breather, now I'm graduating high school. Yaaaay! Anyway, about my other stories like Love or Hate, I'm not abandoning them don't worry. I lost my notebook where I wrote all of the chapters of my multi-chaptered stories. :'( Sad. I also forgot the direction I was going after a year of hiatus so I'm planning to revamp the story. Improve my grammatical mistakes and stuff, but I still know my English is still not perfect. Haha. XDD I hope I can write a better storyline with it and end it properly. I'm really sorry that I suddenly disappeared for 3 or 4 years. TT_TT Anyway, I feel like I can write again but then here comes college…dundundunnnnnnn…so yeah. 8D Ciao!