Felt like doing a ONE SHOT, I tried to make as much in canon as I could (except Otonashi is the same age as them).
I'm British so if you're from abroad and confused about some of the terms just ask :)
Enjoy!

I picked up the ruler on the floor. I recognised it instantly, and knew who's it was, but for some reason, couldn't give it to him directly. I went to the edge of the double desk, where he and his chemistry partner, Sumire, sat. I looked at Sumire, hopefully not too obviously avoiding him, and asked if it was hers. Before she could answer, I placed it on her desk and walked away.

This isn't a typical 'girl likes boy from afar but doesn't have the confidence to confess' story. I'm mature and confident enough; in fact, I'm fourteen years as of today. Plus, I had talked with Natsume nearly every day, teasing and playing, even gaining an unfortunate nickname. But our relationship had withered.

Last year, all my form lessons had been in the same seating plan, and even when it changed around, Narumi-sensei kept putting Natsume and I as partners. Depending on whichever of us got to the form room first (usually him), when the other arrived, we would sigh, roll our eyes and, in his case especially, mutter 'Oh great, Polka dots/Hyuuga,' We made out that we couldn't stand each other, but if I were to be honest, I quite liked to have that relaxed, teasing relationship, and I even looked forward to our banter. That's what it was, a mutual banter. The thing was, I wasn't sure how serious he was with the whole 'You're so bothersome' act.

I recall one memorable moment with him last year.

Our frock-wearing, form tutor Narumi strutted into the room and used his tinkly voice to call attention. He made an announcement about volunteers wanted for the Academy's Annual Festival - Play. Only Shouda and Ruka put their hands up.

"Come on, class! Is there really no-one else? Anyone outside of the Somatic Class?" Narumi continued to plead while I tuned out.

Natsume looked at me. "Are you not volunteering?"

I gave him an incredulous look. "No. Why?"

"Thought you'd be good in it," he grunted, returning to his manga.

I know this sounds stupid, but that was the first time I ever recalled Natsume saying something nice to me outright. Let alone a compliment. An awkward silence passed between us in result. I stared at him, trying to detect any hint of sarcasm or falseness. The only hint I found was the reddishness in his cheeks when he finally looked up at me.

"Why are you looking at me?' he asked, "If I was you, I'd pay attention to what's in front of you,' he smirked, as he nodded towards my desk.

I looked down and immediately jumped out of my seat, with a yelp. My notebook and pencil case were on fire, and I could feel the heat singing the ends of my pigtails. I shook my head around (like a loon) and was about to give Natsume a piece of my mind, when I realised the whole class was looking at me. I also noticed Hotaru reaching for her Baka Deer Hoof, so I sat down as quickly as I could, and stayed quiet for the rest of the session.

Over that year we became less jokey, and friendlier, and Natsume started to smile with me more. Not smirking or simpering but properly smiling. But when the year ended, and we graduated to Middle School, the seating plan changed, and we saw less and less of each other. Our meetings soon became noticeably awkward, and our increasingly few conversations likewise. It even came to the point where we wouldn't even acknowledge each other if we passed in the halls. I guess you could say our relationship was very uncomfortable. And my 'shyness' around him developed.

We were in History, but I wasn't really listening, because I felt confident that I could rely on Nodacchi's time-travelling stories (none of what he says is in the textbook, so I'm bound to get marks for extra knowledge!). I was gazing out of the opposite window, but I felt like I was being watched. As I focused back into the room I saw Natsume looking at me with a concerned expression. It occurred to me that while I was looking out of the window, I was staring in his direction. Oh gosh, he must think I was staring at him. I felt my face flush with embarrassment (which didn't help the situation), and I suddenly became really interested in what the Sensei was saying.

All day my mind kept wandering to History, and how to explain to Natsume that I wasn't looking at him. Or better, how to avoid him. It wasn't an ideal way to spend my birthday, but no-one seemed to have remembered anyway. I sat and rested my legs on a bench, as two little children from the Elementary School rushed past with their satchels swinging, laughing at an unknown joke. An image of Natsume smiling popped into my head. I remembered when he used to smile all of the time and it had felt so amazing. I had almost forgotten what his smiles looked like now. I sighed, got to my feet and started plodding my way to Drama. There was nothing I could do about it.

In Drama, Sensei put me in a group with Hotaru, Otonashi, Kitsuneme, and...Natsume (did you see that coming? Of course you did). We were assigned to produce two sketches, reversing the roles of men and women. Kitsuneme got right down to it. "So, I reckon we could have a father's circle."

We all looked at him blankly.

"You know… like a mother's circle, where they sit around with their babies, except, you know, with fathers." he explained.

We sorted out a routine, with us putting on burly voices and cradling 'babies'. Then Otonashi suggested we be women having drinks whilst watching a football game at the pub and Natsume offered to be the bartender, so he wouldn't have to say anything, naturally. Finally, we sorted out both routines.

But then came the time to perform our group's work back to the rest of the class. Our Father's Circle sketch went well, but when it came to our Pub sketch, I ended up ruining it all.

Natsume came to serve us drinks at the bar, and right before he takes our order, with the same, straight face, he goes, "Hola." Now I have no idea why I found that funny, but I erupted. I tried to calm down but the giggles came harder, and the rest of the group started laugh, then the whole class was laughing and chatting. Sensei tried to quiet us but his voice was lost amongst ours. He gave up talking, stood on his chair (it was a swivel chair, he has impeccable balance) and shouted, "ENOUGH!"

The class went silent, with a few stifled giggles here and there. Sensei stepped down, dusted himself and stalked over to our performance area.

"Your group will stay behind after this class ends. I will not have silly disruptions in my lessons." and with a glare, he called up the next group.

After class, we were told to sit in a line, silent for 20 minutes. I sat between Otonashi and Natsume. About five minutes in, Natsume leaned slightly inwards and whispered, "Well done, Polka dots,'

I looked at him, surprised he would remember the nickname he gave all that time ago

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to go Spanish. If anything, you would have set something alight," I retorted. "By the way, you'll be pleased to know that I now have a new pencil case," I finished with a smug face.

"You remember that?"

"Yeah, of course, it was my pencil case."

A moment passed.

"Do you also remember how you got the nickname?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Natsume!" I groaned before landing a light-heart pat on his forearm. Immediately I regretted the action as I saw his gaze linger on the space I had made contact with.

"Sorry," I muttered.

He gave a small nod in reply and looked away. Great. I had managed to make things majorly awkward again.

And right then, a montage of memories hit me, the kind you get in movies. It freaked me out initially, but then I smiled myself. 'My life should so be a blockbuster,' I thought, and giggled under my breath. The barrage of thoughts bombarded my consciousness, thoughts of mine and Natsume's 'elementary years' encounters. A sad smile spread across my face as a reflex to the sudden influx of nostalgia, and, without thinking, my body turned to Natsume's and my mouth semi-whispered, "What happened between us?"

Natsume looked up at me, an alarmed expression displayed on his face. After a few seconds, he composed himself, and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about,"

I looked at him directly, slightly disappointed. We watched each other intently, waves of unspoken words passing between us. Eventually, Natsume blew out his cheeks in frustration and curtly said, "We graduated. People change. You of all people should know that."

What? "What do you mean by that? You were the one who changed!"

"Yeah. Whatever." And with that he looked away again.

I wasn't willing to let this go yet, though.

"All that time we were spending joking and teasing with each other… did you really find me that vexing?" I asked plainly, putting seriousness and firmness into my tone. I saw his eyes widen, but he didn't reply.

But that was all the response I needed.

When Sensei finally let us out, I grabbed my stuff and got out fast, without another word.

***
Later that day, I couldn't see anyone about, so I decided to retire to my room early. I opened the door of my One Star Rank room, to be greeted by all my closest friends, standing around a giant cake. I was so shocked I would have passed out right there, if Anna and Tobita hadn't taken hold of each arm and dragged me inside. Hotaru briefly explained how they decided to make my birthday celebration a surprise. Honestly, it took me a while to fully understand what was going on.

Everyone then proceeded to sing a surprisingly tuneful rendition of 'Happy Birthday'. They laughed and clapped at my 'still in shock' expression, and we each had a slice of cake.

Music played whilst we danced and chatted with each other. Someone produced a bottle and we played a quick round of spin the bottle with dares. The evening turned into night and I had the best time.

As much as I wanted to forget, throughout the evening I couldn't help but notice the absence of a certain person. I approached Ruka during a quiet part of the night and sheepishly asked, "Um, I don't want to be a downer, but do you know where Natsume is?"

Ruka immediately looked uncomfortable and he stammered a reply, "Well, he… he wasn't able to make it… because…"

"He refused to come." said Hotaru, bluntly, appearing behind me. Before I could respond, Ruka took me by the shoulders and guided me to a large stack of colourfully wrapped objects.

"Don't worry about that, Mikan. Look, see, we got you presents!"

One by one I opened all of the presents, with each one, someone calling out, "That one's from me!"

They were all really thoughtful and soon all but one present had been opened. I puzzled over it, as everyone in the room had already claimed one of the presents as being from them. "Who's…?"

They all looked as clueless as I was, then Hotaru spoke up.

"It was already in here when we arrived. Maybe it's from Naru-sensei,"

I shrugged and opened it anyway. It was a box. I carefully lifted the lid, peeled back some tissue paper and gasped.

***
I was running, running down the halls, across the courtyard. Running as fast as I could, my breath perfectly in time with my feet pounding on the ground.

I had left my party, ignoring the shouts of surprise of my friends. I arrived at his door, box in one hand, and knocked with the other. Ten seconds passed with no answer, and I knocked again. Another ten seconds, still nothing. Then an idea hit me.

Ten minutes later, and I'm scrambling my way up tree, at night, one-handed.

I shuffled along a branch I hoped could withstand at least 8 ½ stone. One hand still desperately clutched the box, as I cautiously took the other one off the branch, reached out and rapped at the window. A silhouette appeared behind the curtain, before I saw a hand reach around and slide open the window. I started to recite the speech I had thought through on the way there.

"Let me start by saying thank you for the gift. At least, I have a feeling it was you, right? Anyway, I just want to say that, for whatever I did, I'm sorry… and… I miss you!"

A grinning head popped out of the window.

"I miss you too, Mikan, I guess, although we just saw each other at your party. Is this the reason why you left? Because, sorry to disappoint, but I didn't get you that gift you're holding."

My mouth fell open.

"Kokoro! What are you doing in Natsume's room!"

"This is my room… you know, Natsume's is next door? Mikan, are you feeling alright?"

I groaned loudly.

"Never mind, Kokoroooooo..ah!"

My foothold snapped, and I tipped to one side, sliding off the branch completely. I fell to the ground with a painful thud. I let out a frustrated moan before pulling a twig from under me and struggling to my feet. I filled with dread as I tried to save the crumpled box I had landed on.

"Is everything okay, Mikan?" I looked up to see Kokoro leaning out of the window, looking down at me.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's wonderful," I grumbled, before turning around and bumping into someone's chest.

"Is this a new hobby of yours, jumping out of trees?" I heard a teasing tone that unmistakably belonged to Natsume. I glared at him.

"Ha ha, Hyuuga. And I didn't jump out of the tree, I fell." I countered, regretting my choice of words as I heard him snort at me. I pushed past him and began to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and find…" I stopped in my tracks and pivoted to face him. "Natsume!"

"Well it looks like you've found me,"

"Yes, well," I looked down and took a deep breath. "Let me start by saying thank you for the gift-"

"Mikan."

I looked up at him, questioningly.

"If you're going to repeat what you said to Kokoro just now, I heard everything…" I blushed remembering that horrible fiasco. "…But I don't know what you're apologising for."

I was at a loss for words. "What do you mean? You were the one who said I had changed! And I didn't mean to, by the way - I mean, if I was, I wasn't intentionally separating from you." He stayed silent, so I continued. "I guess I always thought you'd stopped… liking me. That is, liking my company. If you'd ever liked me to start with at all. For all I knew, you were being extremely serious with all the teasing and mocking."

"I wasn't." he replied simply. "And… I never stopped liking you. I even tried to make it obvious to you. Clearly, not obvious enough." he muttered the last few words.

I looked away from him, chewed my cheek, and then looked back at him.

"Sooo… I'm not really sure what happens now," I said nervously.

He took a moment before responding. "Well, I guess it depends if we want things to stay like it is, or like it was." He suddenly took a step forward and looked intensely into my eyes. "Bearing in mind that things might not be the way they were back then right away… Do you want to be friends…again?"

"Yes." I reacted instantly, without moving my gaze from his crimson one. Neither of us moved for a while, just stood there, holding each other's stare. He finally cracked a smile, a little smirk, and said "Well, I do too."

"Cool." Cool? Yeah, that's great, Mikan.

"It's quite late; do you want to go back to your dorm?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess."

We kept still though, looking at each other, real happiness washing through our bodies, at the new-found friendship of our old one.

"Is there gonna be any action, or can I go to sleep now?" a voice from above disturbed us. We looked up to see Kokoro leant on his windowsill, looking at us with a bored expression.

Natsume looked a bit irked for a moment, before I laid a hand on his arm, and gently called out, "Goodnight, Kokoro!"

Natsume and I walked away, side by side. We ambled around the school site, not talking, just happy to finally be back in each other's company. Some old-fashioned lanterns spread out here and there provided us with enough light. There was a slight breeze, which cooled the air to a nice chill. There were no signs of wildlife to be seen. The night was completely still. After a while, I broke the silence.

"Can I ask you something?" He looked at me in acknowledgement. "Were you really trying to make it obvious that you still liked me?" He was silent for a moment.

"Yes. I even dropped my ruler by your chemistry desk so you would return it to me!"

I giggled at this. Now that I look back, Hyuuga really wasn't the type to accidentally drop his stuff or leave belongings lying about. Would things be different already if I had just handed back his ruler to him? I thought back to the day he set my notebook and pencil case on fire.

"Why are you looking at me?" he asked, "If I was you, I'd pay attention to what's in front of you," …

How I wish I'd listened to his advice from then on. Because it was true: sometimes the things you want most in life are right in front of you. You just have to take a good look.

"Now can I ask you a question?"

"I suppose…"

"About the gift…" Ah, yes. I turned my attention to the slightly battered box in my hands that I had almost forgotten. We stopped for a moment, while I opened it and pulled out the cutest dress.

"How did you know it was from me?" he asked.

I looked at him, not believing he was actually asking me this question. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for the answer. I replied through gritted teeth.

"It's polka dot print."

There! It is finit. This was actually based on my experiences with a guy, who shall be referred to here as BB.

The ruler thing? Happened to me. BB's ruler was quite distinct to be fair, it had a magnifying glass attached!
The being nice/compliment thing? Happened to me (and I was freaked out)
The Drama lesson? Happened to me (minus the detention, because my Drama teacher is actually really cool. I just needed a believable situation where N and M could talk)
The teasing each other stuff and nickname? Happened to me. Though our nicknames were slightly ruder than Polka dots.
BB and I haven't actually become friends again, because I'm kind of (very) wimpy to say anything, but I wrote this here because we all need our fairy tale ending.

Please review, they mean a lot, I'm sure you know :)

Lisee xx