Chapter One: Fatal Outing part 1

"Ne, ne, Hotaru…" a particular brunette prettily nagged at her so called 'best friend'.

"Nanda, baka"

"Can you please come with me to Central Town? Please? Pretty, pretty please? Pleeeeaaasssseeee?"

"And why should I be the one to baby sit you? Baby sitters have high wages. You'll have to pay me 100 rabbits."

"Hotaru! You know that I don't have that kind of money! And besides, you're my best friend!", cried Mikan, her golden-chocolate brown eyes shimmering with tears.

Hotaru coldly looked Mikan over, from the tops of her pigtails to the tips of her unshined shoes, then gave out a resigned sigh.

"Shikataranaywa na. sigh Alright, but you'll be my slave for a week." She answered as she continued to tinker away with one of her new inventions.

"Yay! Hotaru's going with me!"

While Mikan continued to rejoice, she failed to notice the entrance of the two most popular boys in school until the blond-haired boy gave her a soft greeting,

"Hello, Sakura-san."

"Ruka-pyon! How nice to see you!" Then she seem to become suddenly aware of the raven-haired boy standing a little bit behind Ruka.

"Nice to see you too, Natsume!"

"Well, it's NOT nice to see you polka-dots. I get sore eyes just by looking at you."

"NATSSSSSUUUUMMMMEEEEEE! You'll pay for that!"

"Hey polka-dots. Are you really that desperate for funds that you're now asking me for money?" replied a smirking Natsume.

"NOW YOU"RE REALLY MAKING ME MAD!" Mikan suddenly launched her body towards his, aiming for a kick and a punch which Natsume evaded expertly due to practice. And again, as in all the previous times, Ruka tried to restore peace by trying to play the peacemaker.

"Now, now taritomo, onegai yamete kudasai na?" he inserted in-between the volley of heated insults that his two friends were flinging at each other.

Mikan ran up to him and caught his arm, oblivious at the sudden blush that bloomed in his cheeks and said,

"Waaah! Ruka-pyon, I really can't understand why such a nice guy like you is best friends with such a bully like him!"

"Na, na, Mi—Sakura-san", he replied while blushing at his slip, "Many of us are also wondering why such a girl like you is BEST friends with a girl like Imai.", he said sweatdropping. He then happened to look at Hotaru at that instant and suddenly felt a chill spread up his spine at the look he spied on her face. He got a bad feeling about that look. A very bad feeling indeed.

"Huh? Demo Hotaru is sooo wonderful!" Mikan answered passionately, completely missing the drama that went on between Ruka and Hotaru.

----------------

Unbeknownst to them, Natsume who seemed to already be half-forgotten, turned away while hiding his face upon hearing Mikan's comment about his and Ruka's friendship.

----------------

Mikan and Ruka turned as one towards Hotaru who spoke for the first time after a long interval of silence.

"You know Nogi; I've got a feeing that I'll be rich by the time this afternoon's out", she said as she produced a thick sheaf of blackmailing pictures, all of them with Ruka as the center of attention in one embarrassing situation to another.

Now Ruka knows that the feeling he just got a few moments ago were now justified.

"I-imai! I-I just meant that each of us have our own reasons in choosing our friends!"

"Too late."

Presenting her back to them, she began to walk towards the exit of the room, while Ruka suddenly seemed to be spurred into action out of sheer desperation to try to preserve some of his dignity left. As he tried to grab for the pictures out of Hotaru's grasp, a mechanical hand appeared out of nowhere and held the pictures above Ruka's head, making it hard for him to get hold of the incriminating photos. Hotaru suddenly switched into her advertising mode as she began to speak in monotone :

"Invention #343. The Grasp Evader. It will evade and evade away from being captured until such time that the pursuer will become too exhausted to fight. Now for sale for only 150 rabbits."

While Ruka chased Hotaru around despite Hotaru's warnings about the capabilities of her product, Mikan glanced at Natsume.

"Ne Natsume, would you like to go with us to Central Town?" she asked quite forgetting that a moment a go she was quite spitting mad at him.

"Hmph. And why should I go with an idiot like you. I just might catch the stupidity virus from you".

"Natsume! That was not nice!"

By this time, Ruka and Hotaru have already returned back to form their little group. And Ruka, having heard about Mikan's request of going to Central Town from a distance, suddenly came up with an idea of his own,

"Hey Natsume, why not the two of us also hang out with them in Central Town. It might be fun. Besides, I want to visit the pet store once again, and you yourself had just been complaining yesterday that you're already running low of mangas to read. Right, Natsume?" he asked for confirmation while glancing sideways at his friend, in which the only acknowledgement he got was a grunt while Natsume looked away.

And so, this odd collection of four students boarded the bus that would take them to Central Town.

------------------------------------------------------

Translations:

Ne- Hey

Baka- idiot

Nanda- what/ what is it?

Shikataranaywa na- Oh, well, it can't be helped

Taritomo-You two/ (you pertaining to many)

Onegai yamete kudasai na- Please stop it

---------------

This is the first time that I've ever made a fanfic, so can you at least please give me some reviews? please? thaks! I'd like to know howI did this 1st time. :D

Thanks for the reviews! Hope that you'll hang around for the next chapters.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------