A very cliché one-shot, minna-san! I apologize in advance since this one-shot makes no sense. Hahahahaha! Honestly, I don't really know why I wrote this. I also don't know why I gave such title considering it has little connection to the story. :P Sore de wa, Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice

Tug Of War

"Ne, Hotaru. What are you doing?"

The raven haired inventor stopped and glanced at her best friend before letting out a smirk and continued what she was doing.

"Rearranging pictures," the inventor replied.

Taking a seat beside her, Mikan grinned. "Oh! Can I help?"

"Sure."

Mikan was surprised. She was expecting to be shooed away but since Hotaru looked kind of happy today then it must be nothing to be suspicious about. "Okay? How do I do this?"

"By date. All of these pictures have the day they were taken written on the back," her best friend replied. "I'm going out for a bit, so just wait for me here."

"Eh?" Mikan squeaked.

"I won't be long. Besides, I'm sure you'll find something interesting there." There was nothing but a hardly noticed smirk on her face that Mikan failed to notice. She then grabbed her coat and went out of her lab, leaving Mikan who was confused.

Mikan then resumed what she was doing while muttering to herself. Some were about how she offered help and was suddenly abandoned in return and how she has such a meanie best friend.

Her mutters was stopped and her eyes widened when she came upon a picture that was enough to make her explode... in embarrassment.

The cold breeze blew the trees as the end of Christmas day approaches. It was the night of twenty fifth of December and the gang had just gone back from Central Town. Having planned to spend the last hours of Christmas together, they went back to their own rooms first to get their things and changed into their pajamas before heading to Natsume's room to have their sleep over.

Hotaru, Ruka and Yuu arrived first since their room is much closer to his because they are three stars. Sumire arrived next followed shortly by Koko and Kitsuneme who are helping each other carry their things. They were the ones who volunteered to bring the DVD's. Next was, Anna and Nonoko who brought snacks and drinks.

"We're here! Anyone still missing?" Anna and Nonoko asked when they went inside.

"Yeah. The idiot who is supposed to be the first one to arrive is late again." Hotaru replied while the twins sweat dropped at her harsh words.

Mikan became a special star after they discovered her other alices. The Stealing Alice and the Insertion Alice.

Those two alices are rare along with her Nullification Alice so she was deserving of that star. She also improved her studies thanks to Hotaru and Yuu's guidance and somehow Natsume's. Her room is just beside Natsume's room so she should have been the first one to arrive.

Few minutes later they heard a knock.

Natsume refused to stand up and get the door so Ruka did it instead. He opened the door to reveal an annoyed but apologetic Mikan. Ruka and Mikan made their way to where the others are with Ruka helping her carry her sleeping bag.

"Sorry! It's hard to remove that much make-up," she said followed by a mutter. "If I knew it was that hard, I shouldn't have let them put it on me."

When they were at central town waiting for the boys, she looked distracted that the girls asked what was bothering her, being the bad liar that she is, she slipped and ended up telling them that she's thinking of what present would be best to give Natsume who already has everything. Sumire and the twins forced her to have a makeover, saying that it was the best present she could ever give to Natsume.

But, it seems it was for nothing since when he saw her after long hours of the tormenting "makeover", he scoffed and left without saying anything.

She approached him later on and asked about his behavior but what she got was, "Don't talk to me, ugly. It's not my hobby to get acquainted with clowns." His eyes were narrowed as he said this and once again, he turned his back on her and left.

He didn't talk to her or looked at her even once. The atmosphere was piercingly awkward even the rest of the gang could feel it.

All in all, her Christmas day was a disaster. She initially planned to give him a present in return for the one she recieved from him last year but it seems that this year's Christmas would be a cold one. At least for her, that is.

Hotaru and Sumire merely glanced at her unconvinced while the others just nodded except for Natsume who didn't care at all. They were all in front of the television. waiting for the others who are setting up the movie and the snacks.

Mikan sat between Hotaru and Natsume, wanting to sit beside her best friend who is sitting beside her boyfriend. Yuu is helping Anna and Nonoko with the drinks and snacks and Sumire positioned herself on the floor.

"Grab your pillows, bears everyone! It's starting!" Koko and Kitsuneme both announced and they sat on the floor beside Sumire. Nonoko sat between Kitsuneme and and Anna with Yuu beside Anna. Natsume's television is big so they didn't have to sit too close to the it.

Mikan didn't understand why they have to grab pillows and bears. Is it a tear-jerking movie? A romance? A tragedy, perhaps? The others did and followed Koko and Kitsu's advice and grabbed their pillow apart from Mikan and the two usual people.

The movie started and that's when she finally understood why they gave such an advice. They were watching a freaking horror movie. The pillows was so they could hide their face if it's too scary and the teddy bear... for courage. Of all days, why the heck would they even watch a horror movie on Christmas?!

Mikan shrieked while the two beside her just stared at the screen blankly. She wasn't a fan of horror movies and she was sure she would have nightmares about this one. She closed her eyes and leaned closer to Hotaru.

"Don't lean on me baka. You'll stain my clothes with your tears." Hotaru harshly told her while pushing her away. Mikan pouted and turned to Natsume who is still staring blankly at the screen not at all scared by it.

"Natsume..." Mikan softly whispered while doing her best not to even glance at the screen.

Not bothering to look at her, he replied. "What?"

"C-can I sit closer to you?" She asked softly, fiddling with her fingers. "I-I'm scared." She blushed at her embarrassing confession.

She was sure Natsume would tease her about it considering he would never pass a chance to tease her and since that happened earlier that day but she was surprised when he glanced at her and then looked back at the screen replying with a simple, "Whatever."

Although surprised, Mikan quickly sat closer to him while hugging her knees and closing her eyes before he changes his mind. Not that he would. Once in a while, he felt Mikan wincing. And without thinking, he wrapped his right arm around her and she blushed because of it but still thankful for the gesture showing he cared.

She felt strangely warm in his embrace while her head is resting on his shoulder. She didn't feel as scared as before and she didn't think about the movie at all just his embrace and the safety she felt while his arm was around her. She sighed in bliss. She felt so comfortable and slowly she fell asleep in that position.

"Thank you..." She whispered unconsciously before sleep completely took over.

After a while of not feeling any reaction from Mikan, Natsume glanced down at her and found her sleeping peacefully.

All traces of being frightened gone from her face. He reached for her blanket and wrapped it around her and glanced at her face again. Looking at her peaceful face, he also felt sleep catching up to him. He leaned his head back and covered it with a manga while still keeping his arm around her.

He didn't know why but it just felt... right.

Unknown to them, two pairs of amused eyes watched their every move from the very beginning. Hotaru smiled a little and took out her camera and began taking their pictures.

No, she's not going to sell it. She's keeping it.

For future uses, of course.

Ruka chuckled as he watched Hotaru take pictures. He knew Hotaru purposely brushed away Mikan's attempt on hugging her and Hotaru knew very well that Mikan would then turn to Natsume.

"Mission accomplished?" Ruka asked Hotaru with a smile.

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna sell it?" He asked.

"No."

He understood what she meant. It was private.

He glanced at the six on the floor and he chuckled when he saw that all of them are all down and snoring. The movie was also nearing it's end. He patted Hotaru's shoulder and pointed at them. Hotaru smirked and took pictures of them all tangled with each other.

Finally, when Hotaru seems satisfied enough, she put away her camera and put out her invention that hides her completely but lets her breath. Ruka sweat dropped before setting up his own sleeping bag beside Hotaru.

He cast one last glance at his friends before he closed his eyes to sleep.

"Good night." He muttered to himself.

—;—

Mikan opened her eyes to find herself sleeping on the couch with Natsume out of sight. She looked at the floor and found Koko, Kitsuneme, Sumire, Anna and Nonoko still sleeping and entangled with each other.

She giggled.

She didn't know her friends could sleep like that. She glanced behind the couch and she found Ruka still sleeping in his sleeping bag. She wondered where Hotaru and Natsume are.

Mikan rubbed her eyes to get rid of some sleep and when she stopped Natsume walked in holding a mug.

She smiled and spoke in a sleepy voice, "Good Morning!"

Natsume looked at her and smirked. "Morning."

Mikan's jaw dropped.

Did Natsume just greeted her back and said "morning"? He never greeted her back. It was always "hn" or whenever he's in a bad mood, he would ignore her. What's with him? Does she looked so horrible that it pleases him that he have something new to tease her?

Natsume suddenly reverted back to his usual poker face and said, "Close your mouth, polka-dots. You look stupid."

Instead of getting angry and exploding like usual, she grinned confusing Natsume. "What?"

Mikan's grin didn't falter a bit. "You just greeted me."

Natsume just rolled his eyes and sat next to her on the couch and started reading his manga while drinking coffee. Mikan sat closer to him and looked at what he's reading, wondering what's so fun about it.

"Where's Hotaru?" she asked, before a big yawn.

"Don't know. First one out." Mikan replied with a hum.

The next few minutes were spent in silence.

Natsume suddenly remembered what had happened the day before. He didn't mean to be that harsh. It's just that when she suddenly showed up looking like that while all eyes were on her, he didn't know why but it just ticked him off. While they where going around Central Town and the eyes on her multiplied, his irritation gradually turned into anger.

He didn't talk to her or even tried to look at her. Every time he did, he ended up glaring at her so he avoided any eye contact with her. He wondered, did he ruin her Christmas? But then he remembered all those unwanted attention and then bam...

He decided that he doesn't care.

Few minutes later he felt something heavy on his shoulder. He looked at his left and saw Mikan dozed off again.

She's getting used to this position, he thought.

Natsume put out a picture he found on the table when he woke up and smirked at it. It was a picture of the two of them. They are embracing each other. Mikan has her head on his chest and he was resting his head on top of hers. Though, when you look at it in another way, they also look like they had a tug of war for the blanket.

He knew he should burn it but somehow... He wanted to keep it.

End

Cliché. I know. But I just had to post this since it's been stuck on my drafts for one and a half years already. This is actually intended for Holloween but since it was days after Holloween that I found it again, I just changed the setting to Christmas.

And so... Merry Christmas everyone!

-MitsukaiYuki