Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE.
Author's Notes: Inspired by a manga I read. Read and enjoy. When you're at it, you can leave a review too.
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It Started with a Misunderstanding
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"Class...I'd like you to meet Natsume Hyuuga."
Mikan lifted up her head upon hearing a familiar name being mentioned in class. Her eyes stayed rooted on the door and a raven haired lad stepped in, bearing with him a don't-approach-me aura. His piercing crimson eyes as he opened them were slightly glaring, seemingly unapproachable.
"He lived here until he was six years old and then he moved to Canada to study there. He came back to our town after ten years, isn't that –"
"Enough," Natsume grumbled. "Are you planning to tell the class my life history?"
"Ah...No...I guess you wanted to tell them yourself..." Mr. Narumi said cheerfully, patting his student's back as strong as he could.
Natsume coughed a little after being hit on the back with sheer force. He glared at his teacher and mumbled, "Stupid..."
"Hey! Nat-chan! That's not the proper way to treat teachers! You got to respect them!" Mikan shouted, standing up and pointing at Natsume.
"You two knew each other?" Mr. Narumi asked, looking back and forth his two students.
"We attend the same kindergarten. And we were friends until they moved to Canada ten years ago," Mikan answered and faced Natsume, saying, "I'm so happy to see you again Nat-chan. You barely say a word before you went away last time."
"You..." Natsume hissed. He shrugged. "Who's this girl? I don't know her."
"Hey!" Mikan hollered.
"Well then...Since Mikan knew Natsume way back then, I'd let her tour around Natsume." Mr. Narumi smiled at the annoyed lad. "And you may sit beside her."
"I much prefer others to –"
"Nonsense, Natsume-kun! I'd let you two friends catch up with each other," Mr. Narumi said. He pointed at the vacant seat beside Mikan. "You can take your seat beside Mikan now."
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"Nat-chan! Let's go! We'll have lunch with my friends and I'd take you around school."
"You don't have to," he said and turned to look at her. "And don't call me Nat-chan. We're not close."
Mikan was about to pat his shoulder. But he moved back.
"Don't touch me," he jeered. "I don't let some chick touch me as they pleased."
"But Nat-chan...I'm a childhood friend," she told him, pouting a little.
"I already forgot someone like you a long time ago," he said, slamming his hands on his desk while standing up and exiting the classroom.
"Nat-chan..." Mikan murmured as she watched his retreating form.
"He's very rude..." a voice she knew so well suddenly said behind her. She turned her head and saw her best friend, Hotaru standing two feet behind.
"He's not usually like that..." Mikan told her. "And I can't leave him behind. He has no sense of direction."
She stumbled to the door and before leaving she told her best friend, "You can eat lunch without me Hotaru-chan. I'm going to find him."
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"Damn it..." Natsume cursed under his breath. "Where am I? It's her entire fault that I'm in this mess...If only she didn't..."
He smacked his head and slumped down the floor, pressing his back on the wall. He lifted one knee and placed his arm there. He was in some unknown place in the school and he didn't see anyone for the past few minutes.
"Is this area still part of the school?" he asked himself. "There's not even a soul here."
He heard his stomach grumbled. He didn't have a lunch with him and he was supposed to get it in the cafeteria. And he was supposed to find it but since he was directionally challenged, it's very difficult to arrive at the destination.
He heard the bell rang. "Great..." he muttered. "I haven't got my lunch yet."
He was beginning to lose hope. Is he going to be in the headlines tomorrow as the guy who was lost in his school on the first day? That would be embarrassing and he wouldn't be able to leave his house.
He heard hurrying footsteps running towards him. He felt a surge of hope coming back to him. He looked up and saw Mikan Sakura jogging to him.
"Nat-chan!" she shouted. "Thank goodness I found you..."
She huffed a little before bending down and offered him a hand. "Let's go Nat-chan. You might be hungry, right?"
He looked away from her and stood up by himself. He dusted his clothes and turned around to walk away. "I don't need your help."
Mikan pressed her lips together then shouted, "Natsume Hyuuga, don't be so stubborn."
She linked her arms to his and looked up to him. "Let's go Nat-chan – Nat-chan!"
He closed his eyes and fell sideward.
"What happened?" she shouted. "Nat-chan! Nat-chan!"
She stooped down and shook her friend. "Nat-chan!"
Natsume didn't respond.
She took out her cell phone and called for help.
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Natsume opened his eyes, staring at the white ceiling above him. He turned his head sideward and came face to face with Mikan's sleeping face. He inched back and ultimately fell over the edge of the bed.
Hearing the noise, Mikan woke up. She rubbed her eyes and asked, "What's happening?"
Natsume stood up straight away and went back to the bed. He mocked a cough and growled under his throat. "I told you to stay away from me, aren't I?"
"How can I leave someone who has no sense of direction alone?" Mikan retorted, now fully awake and was frowning at him. "What happened back there? Why did you faint?"
"It's none of your business." He slid back to the bed and hid under the covers. "Can you just leave me alone?"
"You're not going to tell me?" Mikan asked innocently. "Well then...I'll tell everyone what happened to you! Oh the headlines for the school news paper, 'Tough transferee Natsume Hyuuga, actually fainted?' Now that's interesting."
Natsume sat in the bed and snarled, "You're not going to do that, aren't you?"
"Try me." She smiled evilly at him.
"Since when did a polka dotted girl like you learn to blackmail people?"
"Since I've been best friends with Hotaru Imai," she confessed. She mocked laugh and said, "Imagine the surprise on the look of our classmates if I tell them that you actually fainted trying to find the cafeteria when our classroom is just five blocks away from it."
"Damn it..." Natsume cursed under his breath. "Who do you think is responsible for my girl phobia – shit! Forget I said that."
"You have girl phobia?" Mikan hollered.
Natsume put a finger between his lips and hissed, "Shut up! Don't shout it to the whole world to hear."
"S-Since when..." Mikan trailed off. "I don't know. And looked what I've done to you before you fainted. I hugged your arm."
"Ten years ago," he replied. "I sent someone a love letter before I go. I waited and waited for her to come to the meeting place. I ended up waiting even if it's raining and caught pneumonia. And I developed a girl phobia ever since. Whenever a girl touch me...I...I..."
"Fainted," Mikan supplied.
"Don't say it so casually!" he grunted. "That's why you have to leave me alone."
"Don't worry Natsume." Mikan gave him a smile. "I'd help you overcome your phobia. Leave it to me."
She patted him in the shoulder.
He was unconscious again.
"Oooopppss...I'm sorry Nat-chan."
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"Don't follow me."
"But Nat-chan, you have no sense of direction. If I leave you alone then you'd end up not coming home for a week."
"Stupid! I'm not that worse."
"Hmmm...Nat-chan..."
"What now?"
"Your house is in the right direction, not on the left...You're kind of deviating –"
"I already know that! I'm just pretending to turn left but I'm really going to turn right."
Mikan smiled and ran to his side. "Now, now, Nat-chan. Just admit that you need me."
He stepped backward, inching away from her. "Don't get even in a meter radius of me. You understand? You're so dangerous. I don't want to end up fainting in the streets."
While he was talking, he bumped into a young woman hurrying in the streets and as a result, he fainted yet again.
"Nat-chan!"
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"Mikan-chan already went home while you're busy sleeping," Tsubasa told his brother when he regained consciousness. "She is still cute as always, isn't she Natsume?"
"Shut up..." the crimson eyed boy stood up from the couch. "Damn it...I fainted thrice today, thrice."
"You don't have to repeat that."
"That girl is still a walking bomb. She's lethal to my health. I shouldn't move back in this town."
"But she's seriously looking out for you," Tsubasa said. "She even knew where our house was located."
"That's because it is the largest one in town," he snapped. "I can't believe that the cause of my girl phobia will be helping me. Does she have no shame?"
"She didn't know Natsume." Tsubasa sighed. "And...Shouldn't you be blaming yourself? You've wrote something a six year old kid couldn't read. And what's worst, you've written it in English, English. Not everyone is as intelligent as you are Natsume."
"She should have let me interpret them or someone else..."
"You wanted to interpret your love letter?" Tsubasa laughed heartily. "You're really one funny guy, Nat-chan."
"Shut up!" he shouted.
"Well..." Tsubasa smirked at his brother. "Since we're here again, I guess you still have a chance with her. Your feelings for her...in fact...it didn't waiver a bit, did it?"
"W-W-W-What –"
Tsubasa placed a hand in Natsume's hair and messed it up. "Good luck brother."
"Y-You're misunderstanding –"
Tsubasa crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes. "But first, you have to cure your girl phobia with the help of the one who caused it. Maybe it'd stop once she'd fell in love with you. You're manly pride would be restored again. And you'd have a blooming love life."
"You made me sick."
"Good luck Nat-chan."
Natsume sighed. "Could you just shut up? After all, it's none of your business. Damn it."
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