Written by – Unknown Pain.

Disclaimer – Oh, just wait. Sooner or later I'll own GA. You'll see. =J

That's What Friends Are For

Dedicated to:
Tearless Sonnet
Thank you for all your help when I needed you.

-Unknown Pain-

Today was the day that Natsume and Mikan had already been a couple for five years, and Mikan was really excited about it. This morning when she came to Nastume's room, she greeted him a good morning, gave him a kiss on the cheek and asked him if he knew what day it was today. The only answer the teen got was, "Friday."

Bewildered, she asked him more questions, but she only got a few blinks. In other words: he forgot about today. She knew it for sure when he repeated her words in a confused tone when she said, "Our special day."

The auburn-haired female sighed sadly, her somber eyes turned to the wooden floor. Her mind still pictured what happened this morning. She still couldn't believe that her boyfriend forgot about today.

How could he forget anyway? Their special day? It was Mikan's most favorite, special day; the day when he asked her to be his girlfriend; the day when they shared their first kiss; the day when they were officially a couple. And her boyfriend just… bluntly forgot about it! This hurt her deeply and she fought the urge to cry.

Ruka, who sat next to her, scanned her from head to toe and wondered what happened to make her act like this. "Mikan," he started carefully, her gaze still turned to the floor. "What's wrong?" Mikan sighed again. "Nothing," she told him, almost whispering.

"You sure?"

She cleared her dry throat, licking her dry lips before she shook her head slowly. Maybe she'd feel better if she talked about it. "Well," she began her sentence slowly, turning her eyes to the blonde male. "Today Natsume and I have been a couple for five years."

Ruka smiled at her. "Hey, congratulations! That's amazing!" He patted her shoulder, before his expression turned confused. "But then why are you so sad? Don't you need to be happy about this?" Mikan nodded and smiled as a thanks that Ruka was so happy for her. But her smile disappeared soon again and her gaze turned back to the floor. "I am happy. But…" She stopped and tucked some auburn locks behind her hair.

"But…?"

"But… Natsume forgot…"

This made Ruka raise his eyebrow. "He forgot?" Mikan nodded slowly.

Ruka couldn't really believe what she said; Natsume loved Mikan a lot. He wouldn't forget about their special day while she meant the world to him, would he?

Ruka's white rabbit made cute eyes at Mikan and slowly jumped off Ruka's shoulder to her lap. Mikan was surprised but smiled as the little animal lay down. She petted him slowly and softly, giggling. Ruka smiled at the sight. "Looks like he knows that you're sad," he told her.

"He's cute."

Just when Ruka nodded his head as an answer, the door of class B opened and a crimson-eyed lad walked in, his hands in his pockets, his eyes narrowed behind his raven bangs; he was obviously in a bad mood. Many classmates stepped a step backwards to make a path so they wouldn't stand in his way. They didn't even want to know what would happen to them if they did.

Mikan saw him heading towards their direction and immediately turned her head away, her eyebrows furrowed angrily.

The dark-haired teen saw this and cursed under his breath; it looked like she hadn't forgiven him yet.

When he stood next to their seats, he looked at her. Mikan snorted. As she gave Ruka's pet back to him, she stood up and pretended like her boyfriend didn't exist when she passed him.

Natsume rolled his dark orbs and sat down, grumbling something that looked like a curse and brushed his fingers through his bangs in frustration.

He caught his best friend watching him.

"Don't ask."

"I won't," Ruka replied, his ocean-blue eyes turned to the angry auburn-haired girl who just sat down next to her childhood friend, Hotaru Imai. "I already know what happened anyway."

This made the lad sigh in frustration and he propped one of his elbows on the table, his head rested on his hand. "What did she tell you?"

"That you forgot about your anniversary." Ruka brushed his fingers through his blonde bangs. "Really, if you want to break up with her then this is the perfect way to do so."

"I don't want to break up with her, you idiot."

"Really? Then why did you forget about it?"

Natsume sighed, and with his eyebrows creased he closed his eyes. "I don't know," he grumbled with his low voice.

"Dude, you know that you're really hurting her with this? This is a really special day for her, and you just plainly forgot about it when you've already been together for five years." Ruka let out a small sigh escaping his lips. "She almost cried when she told me about what happened between you two; it hurts her that much."

"She's just sensitive."

"That is the bad mood speaking," retorted Ruka back, somewhat annoyed. "I know you never would say that. And if you did, you wouldn't mean it. Maybe she's quite sensitive, but that is a part of the reason why you fell for her."

Natsume silently groaned; he hated how his best friend knew him so well.

Natsume had his crimson orbs turned to his beloved girlfriend who was answering Hotaru's questions. Suddenly, Hotaru shot Natsume a threatening glare. When Mikan caught a glimpse of this, she quickly shook her head and with waved hands she forced herself to smile at the black-haired girl, saying something that Natsume couldn't hear.

He twitched one of his eyes. "She told her, didn't she?"

"Probably."

"God, I bet that that witch is going to stalk me now." His mood wasn't getting any better.

"Well, it is your own fault," Ruka returned, one of his eyebrow raised at his raven-haired friend. "You really screwed up big this time, Natsume."

Natsume rested his head on his table, is elbow still leaning on it, his eyes were closed behind his messy locks. He grunted back, "Thank you for the information." Natsume hated it to admit, but Ruka was right. He royally screwed up, and he felt bad about it.

How is he going to make sure that she'll forgive him?

It was silent for a while between the two males until the dark-haired teen said, "How am I gonna make up with her?" His voice was low and soft.

Ruka let out a little sigh, petting his little pet. "I don't know," he answered Natsume's question. This made Natsume curse under his breath in annoyance and frustration.

The blonde male had his eyes turned to him, and slightly frowned; he felt bad for Natsume, seeing him like this. He saw that he felt bad for what happened and that he really wanted her to forgive him.

He really could tell that Natsume loved Mikan with all his heart.

Ruka curled up the corners of his lips into a small smile. "Wait. Maybe I do know something." This gave him his full attention. "Like…?" asked Natsume as he turned his gaze to his best friend. Ruka crossed his arms. "Are you gonna make a present for her? You know, as an apology gift and at the same time a present for your anniversary."

The other male furrowed his forehead deeply at this; a sign that he didn't really like the idea. "A present…?" He never was a fan of making things, let alone giving presents to someone.

Ruka nodded his head twice, still presenting his smile. "Yeah. It's only nine o'clock in the morning, so I think we've got plenty of time to think of something and make it."

"And what have you've got in mind then?"

"Uhm… Well, something big; something amazing, I guess."

Natsume raised his raven eyebrow at him, giving his best friend an unbelieving look. "And you think that we'll get it done by today?" Ruka paused for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. He was right, he thought. There is no way that they'd get it done by today, especially if they (rather Ruka) wanted to make something huge and special for Mikan to make her forget everything that happened between her and Natsume.

Ruka always had a crush on Mikan, ever since he first saw her. But when he found out that Natsume liked her as much as he did, he started to take some steps back. Especially when he saw how Mikan showed him the light in those dark years for him, that Mikan was the only person who could make him smile, feel better; who could make him happy. Ruka didn't want to take that away from him, ever.

And when he found out that Mikan started to create love for Natsume, he knew it was over. He knew that he and Mikan would only be best friends and nothing more. And although it saddened him, it made him smile when he saw them together, smiling.

He didn't and would never want that to end, so that was the reason why he was helping him make it up to her.

His ocean-blue eyes turned to the amethyst-eyed female talking to Mikan, which she replied with some short nods, her gaze was turned to the floor. "Maybe Imai can help?"

Natsume scowled at him for thinking of such stupid idea. "You're crazy. I'm not letting her help; she might ask for money or something, and like hell am I going to ever give her money." Ruka turned to him, brushing his fingers through his bangs. "Maybe. But she's an inventor, remember? Maybe she'll come up with something."

"Dumbass."

"Oi, do you want Mikan to forgive you or what?" There was a full hint of annoyance heard in his voice. Natsume sighed deeply. Looks like I don't have any choice, he thought in annoyance before he nodded his head.

"Fine."

"No." Was the first thing they heard from the blackmailing queen as they (Ruka) asked for help.

Ruka sweat dropped, scratching the back of his head while Natsume just sighed and turned around. "See? I told you." And with that said, he turned to walk away but Ruka grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"No, wait," he said, ignoring the annoyed glare he received. He turned his gaze back to Hotaru who didn't pay any attention back. She was busy cleaning her lab up; she had to admit, it was a mess. A real mess. And although she didn't care about it at first (unlike the ones who were visiting her), the mess was bothering her a lot because she couldn't find her inventions and all the other tools that she needed to use anymore. Leaving her no choice but to just clean it up.

She didn't want to be bothered, especially because she was starting to get in a bad mood because of this. And really, with them around here to bother her now at this moment, her mood wasn't turning any better.

"Imai, come on. We really would appreciate it if you would help us, no him, to think of something for their anniversary." Ruka tried again as Hotaru tucked some locks behind her ear, continuing with cleaning.

"Give me one good reason why I should help him." She straightened her back and turned her attention towards the two males. First her amethyst eyes turned to the blonde, then to the raven-haired one and narrowed immediately. Natsume only scoffed.

"Well… Uhh.." Ruka scratched the back of his head again, trying to find the right answer. "Because he's dating your best friend?" He wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say as he saw Hotaru's look growing sterner.

"That's one of the reasons why I won't help him, you moron," she returned, her voice still calm. Though, there was a hint of annoyance and anger in it. "That perverted idiot you call your friend hurt her. And how? He forgot their anniversary." Hotaru threw him a dangerous glare. "How stupid can you be?"

Natsume didn't know how to reply to that; it was the truth after all. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled his eyes, like he didn't care what the female said to him. Ruka glanced from the corner of his eyes at his annoyed friend, and nodded his head. "I know, and you're right. But this isn't just hurting her, but Natsume's also de—"

"Like I care," Hotaru rolled her eyes, brushing her fingers through her short bangs. "I never wanted them to be a couple. But, because of the fact that he was making her happy, what I by the way completely don't understand, I accepted it." Hotaru crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I never had to accept it in the first place; you only wanted her for sex." This time, she scowled angrily at the raven-haired male who just glared back at the last word she spoke.

"And you call me perverted when you're thinking of that?" he retorted, a frown stickled on his forehead. Hotaru creased her black eyebrows. "Says the one who looked at her panties at the age of ten, and still doesn't get enough of it."

"Okay, stop it you two!" interrupted the blonde male who's cheeks had turned into a deep color of red, and wasn't planning to listen to this any longer. When they stopped bickering with each other, Ruka sighed a deep, relieved sigh and massaged his temples before he turned his gaze back to the obviously annoyed Hotaru.

He had his mouth open when their eyes met, still wanting her to help them. But it was like Hotaru could read his mind because she said quickly, "I'm not going to help; who knows what will happen to her if they get back together again." Natsume and Hotaru were glaring really sharp daggers at each other.

Ruka, on the other hand, stayed silent at this and gazed down the gray floor. He had a battle with his thoughts about what to do now; he really did want to help Natsume and he wasn't going to lose this so easily.

He bit his lip softly, his eyebrows creased in concentration, thinking of what to say to her so she would change her mind. As he remembered what Hotaru said to him, one of her sentences got stuck in his head. Blinking a little, he curled the corners of his lips up as an idea popped in.

"Imai," he started, and the said female bounced up her eyebrow. She frowned in annoyance as the male opened his mouth. She said in a low voice, "Nogi, are you deaf? I'm not going to help you two idiots." Ruka shook his head, his arms crossed before he brushed his fingers through his soft locks. "I know, but wait," She looked at him suspiciously while Natsume just shook his head, his hand placed on his forehead. This is just a damn waste of my time, is what he thought.

"Do you remember that you told us about you not liking them as a couple, but accepted it anyway because of the fact that he, Natsume, was making Mikan happy?"

"Where're you aiming at?"

"It's simple," His lips were curled up into a small smirk, showing off confidence at what he was doing. "You technically just told us that you want Mikan to be happy, and Natsume was the one who made her like that. Mikan is already hurt because of what Natsume did, but what would happen to her if they broke up?" His inner-self was jumping from excitement as he saw Hotaru's murderous scowl, and he knew he had her. "Although you're not showing it, we both know that you really care for her."

Natsume raised his eyebrow at Hotaru's expression; it looked like Ruka, for once, had her and it somewhat surprised him.

Hotaru didn't know what to say now because all of his words were true, and she hated it. She lost, he won. Against her; the one who's always blackmailing him. She sighed deeply and reached for her short locks, her eyes closed. Suddenly, she formed her small lips into a smirk and opened her eyes, turning to the blonde. "Touché, Nogi. Touché." She's going to admit now. But really, he was not going to get away with this. "Fine, I'll help you idiots. But don't think I'm doing it because of you," She narrowed her amethyst orbs at the crimson ones. "But I do it because of Mikan, got it?"

Natsume glared at her in annoyance and frustration. "Just think of something, you damn witch. I've already wasted enough time."

"Natsume, come on, stop it. Be glad that she's helping us."

"On whose side are you really on?"

"Yours! What do you think I'm doing here?"

Hotaru rolled her eyes at this and just ignored it. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Do you guys have any idea of what the present will be?" Ruka turned back to the inventor. "Not really an idea, but we want something big… something amazing."

"You're hopeless," Hotaru grunted, throwing an annoyed glare at him. She turned her back to them and walked to her desk. She opened one of its drawers. While searching through it, she asked the two males who were watching her in the meantime, "You want something… romantic?"

Natsume stayed silent, but Ruka nodded his head as a smile appeared on his lips. "Yeah, something like that."

"It needs to get done by the end of the day?"

"As soon as possible, yes."

"I'll see what I can do," Her hand appeared again from the drawer, holding a purple pencil. "But don't think that I'd do this for nothing." She closed the drawer and peered over her shoulder to the two boys.

Ruka slightly widened his eyes, sweat dropping. Natsume just twitched his eyebrow at what she said and glared at his best friend without turning his head; he knew this would happen. Ruka just smiled nervously back.

"I want money for this. Five hundred yen, to be exact." The girl was still looking at them from her shoulder. She said all this like it was the most normal thing in the whole world, while Ruka just swallowed deeply at what he heard.

He could sense Natsume's black aura growing.

"And from you, Nogi," Oh God, this is going to turn out bad. "I want from you not five hundred yen, but one thousand yen." Her voice was still calm, and her back was still turned to their direction.

Ruka's jaw almost dropped. He didn't know if it was just his imagination or if it was real. "A t-thousand yen?" Hotaru nodded simply.

"But I don't even have that much money!"

"Then find a way to get the money and give it to me at the end of the day. You too, Hyuuga."

Natsume just rolled his eyes away from her nonchalantly, still not moving his lips.

Ruka was trembling. He really didn't have that much money and he didn't have a clue where to get that amount. He couldn't help but feel a bit scared at this; he knew that if Hotaru didn't get what she wanted, she'd find her own way to get it. And who knows what that would be?

"Why me?" he yelled at her, his blonde eyebrows furrowed deeply.

"Because, I told you, you weren't getting away with what you did."

"You didn't!"

"Oh, well then I'm telling you it now."

He hung his head down with a deep sigh escaping his two lips, defeated. I'm screwed, is what the hopeless male thought.

Hotaru smirked at this. This was just too amusing for her. But then, she turned her gaze back to her desk, her expression now serious. "Anyway, leave my lab now because I'm going to get started and I don't want to get bothered by two hopeless idiots like you. I'll text you when it's done, and don't forget to bring your money with you."

It was almost six PM, and the two males still hadn't received a text message from the black-haired female. They were starting to get impatient. Ruka and Natsume were afraid that she couldn't think of something or just did something else when they left her lab.

Natsume shot Ruka a dark glare. "This is your fault," Ruka raised his eyebrow at that. "Why is it my fault? I only tried to help you."

"You're not doing a great job," Natsume told him bluntly, pressing his back further in the dark cushion of the couch. "Because of you, I lost five hundred yen." He rolled his eyes away from the other male. "This is just a waste of our time; she's not going to text us anyway." Ruka frowned, his gaze locked on him. "I lost a thousand yen because of this! And do you see me complaining?"

"Tch," is all the blonde male got as a reply. Ruka sighed, brushing his fingers through his locks. "Never mind. I know you don't mean it; this is all just the bad mood speaking. You're actually very grateful that I'm doing this for you." Natsume, although it was (secretly) true, scowled darkly at him with annoyance. "You sure about that…?" he asked with an incredible low voice.

Ruka nodded simply, grinning. "I've been your best friend, Natsume, since we were only five years old. What do you expect?"

Natsume put his foot on the couch and rested his arm on it. "Whatever." He grumbled back.

This made Ruka smile before he shook his head at his reaction. "Anyway," he started again, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think we'll get a text message from her soon."

"Who?"

"Hotaru!"

Natsume narrowed his eyes at him because he yelled at him for no reason. "And what makes you so sure?" Ruka chuckled, smiling at his best friend. "Simple: Mikan." Natsume didn't really understood what he meant. "Mikan…?"

Just then, the door of the lounge room opened and the auburn-haired female, Mikan, walked in. She presented a big smile at Ruka as he saw him, but when her gaze turned to the other male who was sitting next to the blonde her expression changed into an angry one. It looks like she still hadn't forgiven him yet.

Natsume rolled his eyes at this, grumbling something too soft for the two others to hear. He really wasn't in the mood for this now. Ruka's ocean-blue eyes shifted from the female to the dark-haired male, and felt the atmosphere changing slowly around them.

"Hey, Ruka!" she greeted happily as she walked into the room, ignoring Natsume who only got more in a bad mood because of this. Ruka cleared his throat as she came and sat next to him on the couch. "Uh, hi…" he managed to get out.

Mikan's expression changed into a questionable look. "Do you know what Hotaru is up to? I just went to her lab but her door was locked, and it looked like she was busy with something. I'm curious. Do you know something about it?"

Ruka blinked. "She's in her lab?" Mikan nodded. "Yeah, I just checked a while ago." Ruka couldn't help but feel relieved about this and presented a smile as he glanced at his best friend, who just shrugged like he didn't give a damn.

Ruka turned his light eyes back to Mikan's amber ones and shook his head. It needed to be a secret for Mikan, or else it wouldn't be a surprise. "No, I don't—" He stopped as he felt his phone vibrating in his jean pocket. Ruka blinked and grabbed his phone, only seeing that he had a text message; a text message from Hotaru.

The lad opened the text message and read what she said:

"Come to my lab WITHOUT your perverted friend.

PS: Don't forget the money."

He twitched his eye and sweat dropped nervously at the last sentence. That girl…

"Something wrong, Ruka?" asked Mikan as she noticed Ruka's expression. The said male immediately looked up with a shocked expression. "N-nothing," he replied quickly, almost jumping up from the couch. "I need to go; I need to do something important. See you guys later!" And with that said, he walked with a quick pace towards the door.

Natsume raised his eyebrow at Ruka's behavior all of a sudden, but then darkened his look as he realized something. If he was going to leave, then he and Mikan were going to be the only ones in the room. Alone. He didn't want to be alone with her, especially now.

If walked after Ruka, it would look like he didn't want to be with her and that would only hurt her more. And Natsume didn't want that; he'd already hurt her more than enough.

When he glanced at the only female, he noticed her face filled with horror and knew that she was thinking the same.

Mikan stood up and was the first one who tried to stop him. "No, wait—" But before she could finish her sentence, Ruka was already gone, leaving the two alone.

Natsume sighed deeply in frustration, raking his fingers through his messy locks. "Great…" he grumbled under his breath and glanced at Mikan who frowned at him as she sat back down, before she turned her head away from him. "Just great."

It had been a half hour since Ruka left, and the two teens were sitting at each side of the couch, not making eye contact at each other or talking to each other. They were only wondering where their blonde friend was, wishing him to come back soon and thinking how stupid, annoying and most of all how awkward this was.

Natsume's raven eyebrows creased in annoyance as he thought back to that; he was going to get him for leaving him behind with her just when things weren't okay between them, that's for sure.

Mikan wanted to break the silence, but how was she going to do that when she didn't even know what to say? Mikan bit her lip and slowly glanced at her raven-haired crush, who was lazily staring something with his chin rested on his hand. Mikan almost jumped when his piercing eyes turned to look at her from the corner of his eyes.

Mikan eyes widened and the two stared for a moment. But when Mikan's heart started to skip a bit more and started to feel nervous, she snapped back and almost yelled, "Stop staring at me!" Natsume raised his eyebrow at this, his voice calm but low, "The one who's staring is you, polka-dots," Mikan twitched her eyes when she heard his nickname for her.

"And still not cooled down I see?" He furrowed his forehead a little bit when he said that.

Mikan glared at him. "Excuse me? Of course I'm not cooled down yet! I'm still angry at you and your stupidity, Natsume." She let out a small sigh escaping her two pink lips. "I hope you know that you really hurt me, because you really did."

Natsume groaned in frustration and in annoyance, rolling his crimson eyes away. "You know, this is really frustr—" He closed his lips and scowled down his pocket as he felt his phone vibrating in it. He sighed deeply and grabbed his phone who was calling for attention right now.

He raised his dark brow when he saw that he got a text message from his friend, Ruka:

"Natsume, Hotaru's finally done with the present. Come to the woods and bring Mikan with you.

Oh, and don't tell her anything.

- Ruka."

Looks like the lad already got his answer and he was glad about it. But one thing was troubling him: how the hell was he going to bring Mikan with him to the woods? Wait, why do they have to come to it anyway? He flipped his bangs backwards and as he sighed he stood up, receiving a questionable look from his girlfriend.

He stuck one of his hands in his jean pocket while the other reached out for the female. "Come," he said, his voice low. Mikan stared down his hand and raised her auburn eyebrow. "What?"

"Come," he repeated again, somewhat annoying that he had to repeat it. Mikan blinked in confusion before she turned her amber eyes to the dark ones. "Why?" Natsume creased his eyebrows. "Will you just stop complaining and just do what I say?" This made the girl frown suspiciously at him. "What're you planning?"

"What…?"

"What're you going to do when I go with you?" Mikan narrowed her eyes. "You're planning something, aren't you?"

Natsume just looked at her, his eyebrow bounced up before he sighed in annoyance. He really had no time for this and really wasn't in the mood for this. With an annoyed grunt that escaped his throat, he grabbed the female's hand and pulled her with him, ignoring the insults, whines and glares he received.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" demanded Mikan as he dragged her through the hallway, scowling. Natsume peered over his shoulder, not answering her question; he didn't want to say anything or else it wouldn't be a present anymore, right? With that thought, he said to her, "You'll see soon enough."

Natsume had placed his hands over his ears, his forehead furrowed deeply in annoyance. "Do me a favor and just shut up," He tried to stay calm, which didn't really work when the girl whom he loved so much was complaining and yelling at him about what they were doing in the woods ever since he brought her here. Mikan glared at him before scanning everything around her. "I'll shut up after you tell me what the hell we're doing in the woods!" She turned back to him. "Tell me what you're planning!"

"You're annoying." This wasn't making her mood any better. Natsume looked around him, too. He had expected that he would meet Ruka here, but then where was he?

But what they didn't know was that somewhere, not far away from where the two teens were standing, Ruka and Hotaru were watching them from behind the bushes. Ruka looked from the two teens to the machine. "And?" he asked the black-haired female. Hotaru had her eyes on the remote control in her hands that would let the machine shoot out the fireworks. "Just a sec."

Ruka ran his fingers through his blonde locks and turned his eyes back to the couple. He couldn't help but twitch his eyes, shocked when he saw that Natsume pulled the whining Mikan with him as he walked further. Why is he walking away? This wasn't the plan at all. What to do now? "He's walking away, Imai…" Ruka informed the female quickly.

Ruka started to panic because he was afraid the plan was going to fail while the short-haired girl just stayed calm, her eyes fixed on the remote control. "I'm almost done." But Natsume only started to get more away from them.

"Hurry up, or else the plan will fail!"

Hotaru tucked some black logs behind her ear and sighed somewhat in annoyance. "Calm down, will you?" And just then, while getting a look from the blonde teen, she pressed a button.

Silence.

Ruka was staring at the machine, raising his eyebrow slowly. "Why isn't it doing something…?" Hotaru eyed the thing and shrugged. "Looks like something went wrong." She replied with a nonchalant tone, tapping her machine with her finger.

"Like?"

This time, she didn't answer his question at all; she was too busy with concentrating. Hotaru scanned her machine with her amethyst eyes, her black brows slightly creased. Ruka looked with her over her shoulder. "It isn't broken, is it?" he asked, watching her.

And again, she ignored the question. She brushed her fingers through her bangs before she gave some soft slaps on her machine and then pushed the button again. Still nothing. This actually annoyed her and she started to slap it harder; nothing at all.

Okay, this was it for her. She hated it when her machines didn't want to listen to her and it always brought her in a bad mood. With her eyes narrowed, she hit the machine with her fist really hard.

Again, silence.

But then, it started to make weird noises which were so loud that Natsume and Mikan turned around, confused at what they heard. Ruka's ocean-blue orbs widened in an instant as it started to jump up and down and he backed away with a startled expression. "What the—?" But before he could finish his sentence, the machine started to spit out colored fireballs and shot it up in the night sky.

Everyone followed the fireballs until it exploded in the air, leaving beautiful stars, circles and other kinds of decorations behind.

Natsume and Mikan stared at the fireworks-filling sky, surprised and confused at what just happened. Soon, Mikan formed her lips into a bright smile at what she was seeing. "Oh my God…" she mumbled under her breath. "This looks beautiful!" Natsume just silently stared at it.

Mikan turned to her boyfriend. "Did… you do it?" This caught Natsume's attention. "What?" His eyebrow bounced up.

"This! Is this your work?" He noticed her eyes lighting up, her smile widening. "Is this… why you brought me here?" The male stared bluntly at her, still confused at what just happened. He turned his crimson eyes back up as he saw a giant fireball fire up into the air, exploding into two pink hearts which were crossing each other.

Mikan couldn't help but blush as she saw the hearts, her hands were clasped against each other; it truly was beautiful. "Natsume..." The said male glanced down at her. Suddenly, without saying anything, the female took a step closer to him, tiptoed to his level and pressed her lips against his gently.

Immediately there was response. His hard lips worked like magic on her soft pink ones, like always. When she pressed her lips harder into his and wrapped her arms around his neck, the lad started to lose himself; his lips started to get rough and heated under her pliant flesh. Although it had only been almost a day, he just missed her lips so much.

He could feel her soft fingers touching his messy hair and nipped her bottom lip. When he heard a whimper escape her throat, it started to get difficult for Natsume. Especially because he wanted to go further but couldn't when he knew someone was watching them.

Which was true: Hotaru and Ruka were still watching them kiss under the pink light of the firework that was slowly fading away. Hotaru wrinkled her nose at what she was seeing. "Disgusting…" she growled under her breath.

Ruka scratched the back of his neck, coughing awkwardly. "Uhm…yeah. Well, at least everything is back to normal between them." The boy presented a smile when Hotaru nodded, and she extended her hand towards him, her amethyst eyes turned to the ocean-blue ones. "I still need money."

Ruka sweat dropped. "I-I told you that I didn't have the money…" He couldn't help to gulp nervously. Hotaru stared at him for a silent moment, before her eyebrows started to crease deeply and let out a deep sigh of annoyance. "Looks like I need to think of another way to get my money."

Ruka widened his eyes. "W-what?" She decided to shrug. "Nothing."

"No, what do—?"

"If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

Silence.

"What…?"

Hotaru shrugged nonchalantly. "I just felt like saying it." Ruka blinked. "Wait. I don't g—"

"Anyway, I'm going before I need to throw up because of those disgusting fools." She interrupted again, tired of this conversation. And with that said, she left.

Ruka once again blinked in confusion before he nodded his head soon after as he glanced up at the couple; he decided that they needed some alone time and followed Hotaru by nodding his head.

Meanwhile, Natsume slowly pulled away from his lovely girlfriend, sucking in a tight breath to calm himself down. Suddenly, he heard something that caught his attention and glanced to it, seeing two figures walking slowly away from behind the bushes not far away from him and Mikan. He knew immediately who they were, and tucked up a corner of his lips. Idiots.

"Natsume," called the auburn-haired female his name again and turned back to her, seeing her blushing face. Her pink lips were formed into a sweet yet excited smile. "Thank you; I knew you just acted like you forgot about our anniversary, just so you could do this."

Natsume just looked at her with his dark orbs, silent. It wasn't actually an act that he forgot about it… but should he tell her? He didn't really want to ruin this moment now…

He looked at the appreciated and excited look that she was giving him, and his lips formed a small smile itself too. Mikan immediately caught this and leaned closer to him. "You know," she started, looking into his eyes. "You look better with a smile." She giggled.

This made him frown, and his lips turned back into the usual line. "Shut up," he growled before pulling her closer to him and sealing her lips with a passionate kiss, which she didn't refuse at all.

Ah, he'd tell her later. But for now? He was going to keep his mouth closed.

One day later:

"This is just… Just…" The blonde Ruka didn't know what to say to her. Hotaru just walked in front of him, walking into her lab which was still a mess. "W-why do I have to… clean this up?" Hotaru turned around to face him, and placed her hands on her hips. "I still need to get my money, and this is the way to get it." Ruka raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"It's simple: you clean this mess up, I forget about the whole thing." She saw him frowning. "Or you want me to blackmail you to earn the money," Ruka backed away a little; because of all the things she did to him through the years, he couldn't help but find the word "blackmailing" scary.

He looked around him, noticing how huge the lab was. He turned back to her with a shocked expression. "You really want me to clean your lab up? It's huge!"

"If you just gave me the money, we wouldn't be having this kind of problem. Now, don't waste time and get started."

Grumbling something under his breath, he decided to do what he was told.

Hotaru just walked to her desk and sat down, deciding to watch how Ruka got tortured by this. When she sat down and wanted to turn to his direction, she caught a glimpse of white on her desk. When she looked more closely, she saw it was a small piece of paper. Her black brow bounced up.

She picked it up and opened it:

"Thank you."

She stared at it with her amethyst eyes for a moment. "Nogi," Ruka looked up.

"Has your perverted friend said 'thank you' yet?"

Ruka was silent for a moment before he nodded his head. "Uh, yeah. This morning he thanked me for yesterday. Why?"

Hotaru raised her other eyebrow and shook her head. "No reason." When Ruka continued with cleaning, Hotaru shook her head as she read the two words again. She crumbled the piece of paper in her hands and threw it away in the trashcan. Though, her corners of her lips were curled up.

"Idiot," she said under her breath, turning her eyes back to the blonde male. "Don't get used to it."

U.P – God, finally! This took me one and a half week to finish it and I'm tired. == But, to be honest… this was actually quite fun to write. Especially because you, Isa, challenged me to write one. :P Let's see if I got everything you wanted me to put in:

A white rabbit – Ruka's pet.
Something purple – Hotaru's pencil.
Fireworks – The present which was made for Natsume to make up with Mikan.
The sentence, "If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic." – Hotaru's sentence.

Btw, I (or Isa) don't own that sentence at all. It's from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. Hehe, I feel proud now. ; ]

Alright, enough about that. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, especially you Isa. I don't remember how I came up with the idea of Ruka and Hotaru helping Natsume making up with Mikan.. o.o My first idea was just that Natsume and Mikan would get into a fight and he'd give her that present (the fireworks), but it ended up like this. Ah well, this is even better. X3

Btw, sorry if it is too long. I couldn't stop writing… == Please review and don't flame.

Much love,
Sam.