Author's Note: This is my present for Christmas, though the story is set with an after-Christmas theme. This plot had been lying around for months together when I finally decided to move my lazy butt and start working on it.
Credits and tons of thanks to: My beta, Moonlight Petal who helped me out through a _lot_ of sticky patches. And Vanilla Coated Love who is more like one of the GA author legends here on for me. I've always been inspired by her stories and now I'm really happy that my story got a nod from her before I went on to post it.
I've changed the play from Sleeping Beauty to Snow White here so as to help with better reference to Natsume's hair color.
It was after the big Christmas party's mega clean up event that all the tired Alices had gathered to celebrate the success of the party and to also ponder over the fresh vat of gossip that each student in the academy had to offer about the other. When it comes to school, of course, there are lots of students who form little groups amongst themselves and stick with that particular group. And here in Alice Academy, it didn't matter whether or not that group consisted of students of just the same academic grade level. Well, the 'star' levels in the case of Alice Academy.
Mikan's familiar group comprised of the usual batch of students from class 2-B, the Middle School seniors Misaki, Tsubasa and Kaname, the flirty high-schooler Tonoichi, Bear, Mr 'Touch-me-not' Hyuuga, and of course, the cheeky little loudmouth herself. Owing to the heavy outdoors, the group had snuck into a large abandoned storage room which was about a stone's throw from the Elementary School Division's main building. They warmed themselves by huddling around the blazing fire produced by Mr. 'Touch-me-not' Hyuuga thanks to Sakura Mikan, who had to beg him on all fours to produce just a small flame.
The middle school seniors were all huddled together in a certain corner around the fire, discussing matters of different concerns. All the elementary kids save for Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka and Natsume were busy ripping apart the packages that they had received as presents, eager to find what they contained. Just as usual, Hotaru and Ruka were in a little world of their own with the latter chasing the former all around the large room to try to talk some sense into her to give back his pictures; there should probably be no greater pleasure or present available for Ruka than for Hotaru to give back those embarrassing fan pictures of his to him. Mikan was chatting away rather animatedly seated on Tono's lap, while unknowingly being watched by Natsume from afar who was just like always, pretending to shove his nose behind a manga. A little while passed and it was almost past twilight outside when all the lively activities in the room ceased considerably. As the night grew, so did the magnitude of coldness: the group huddled to sit even closer to the fire, forming a wide circle. To pass the time, they began to talk about the past events in the Academy in which they had all partaken. Somehow, the hot topic of the entire conversation happened to be woven around Natsume and Mikan's bond.
The stories of Mikan's arrival, her first encounter with Natsume and the 2-B class, the problems she had had to face during her first few months at the Academy, how she gradually warmed up everyone's hearts including that of grouchy Hyuuga's, and her little everyday adventures that seemed to occur more than frequently, which were recounted with such enthusiasm and much teasing that it set Natsume's temper to rise flaringly with each passing minute and made him recall past events that concerned Mikan, especially after his hot kiss encounter with her atop the tree during the Christmas Ball, seemed to make him sit on the edge of his seat; it was a first for Natsume to be even bothered to such an extent over an issue all because of a puny girl.
It looked like Mikan was dwelling on the same thoughts as Natsume, as she barely uttered a word nor reacted to anything that was said, save for her blush spreading all over her face with every passing remark. And much to Natsume's testiness, she only sunk further into Tono's chest, all the embarrassment slowly creeping into her, giving a testy jab to her ever dense attitude. Her beloved Senpai was only too delighted to have his little brat cuddle up closer to him. **
Koko, who had silently been keeping a careful watch over Mikan's reactions and Natsume's thoughts, decided to alleviate the atmosphere just a little for those two but failed to do so by raising a topic which the flame caster had really wanted to avoid at all costs: "What do you guys think about last year's School Festival?"
All chatter around the room stopped altogether for what seemed to be a very long twenty seconds when finally, Sumire broke the awkward silence with her raspy voice, "Ah! The play in which Natsume-sama played the part of a cat? Good lord, I had thought that I had died and gone to heaven that day!" This comment was regretted when an expressionless Hotaru shot a 'nerve-hitting-for-only-Sumire' comment at her, "Yes, Permy. The very play in which you embarrassed yourself in front of the whole school by almost beating a boy to death just because he didn't handover his snacks that were detected by your overly sensitive Alice." That was the first time Hotaru had spoken out for a solid length of time that day and it was enough to set the room bursting into loud howls of laughter while Sumire sunk back into her seat, back to dabbing with her makeup kit.
Though that caused a momentary pause about the topic, it was instantly brought back to interest by the shadow manipulator and his girlfriend who decided to make good use of the opportunity to gang up on Ruka. "Do you remember it, Ruka-kun? You were like this close to kissing Mikan-chan that day." Misaki winked at the blonde boy while emphasizing it by holding her thumb a little less than an inch away from the index finger. Tsubasa clapped him hard on his back to bring Ruka back to the conversation as his face had turned into a shade of bright tomato red.
The poor boy could only but stammer, "Y-yes…! I th-think I r-remember it very vaguely…"
It was then Tono's turn to jump in; he set little Mikan to stand beside Natsume, who was seething with concealed rage, and went on to ruffle Ruka's hair. "It seems vague only because you didn't get to kiss her that day, my little man. It would have been very vivid if you had only gotten to do the deed, eh?"
This taunt only set Ruka into a bout of further stammering. "N-no no! I never wanted to k-kiss S-Sakura that day!" he slapped a hand to his forehead and clutched his golden locks tightly in bewilderment, not knowing how to shut them up about the topic or just divert their attention from it.
He turned to face Natsume and noticed the plain jealousy etched all over his features, which he carefully managed to hide away. Ruka knew the feelings that Natsume held for the brunette, and hence he didn't want any misconception to arise between himself and Mikan. He wanted it to be a silent gift to Natsume from his side. The flame caster caught his eye and looked away to Mikan whose face was thoroughly red and was running around the room trying to dissuade everyone from talking about the topic with a faint glimmer of tears in her eyes.
The seniors' broad grins widened when the followed Ruka's gaze to Natsume, and then Natsume's to Mikan. Finding the situation very appealing, they threw in a thought-provoking note about the wonder apple which had managed to stop Ruka kissing Mikan exactly in time. This caused everyone to start debating about the mysterious apple, how it specifically found its way onto the stage, and about who might have thrown it at the couple. And of course, it definitely managed to set Natsume into a state of utter vexation which didn't go unnoticed by Kokoroyome.
They say that the thief who's stolen the pumpkin would be the one who constantly pipes in to investigate its disappearance, thus making it sound only too obvious to point his finger at himself: Koko would know why as he'd always grin at how Natsume's ears perked up when Mikan's name was usually mentioned. So it was without a question that Natsume somehow might have had anything and everything to do with what they were all talking at that moment as he managed to catch a glimpse of what the flame caster's thoughts contained. The mind reader stood up and went on to announce that the offending apple was the work of none other than Natsume Hyuuga. When confronted by everyone in the room but Mikan, a simple "whatever" from Natsume proved Koko's statement to be right.
And that was the epic word which set off another debate as to why the great Hyuuga would go out of his way to do something such as that. Of course he wouldn't be jealous about his best friend kissing a loud mouth as part of a play now, would he? It was the common guess that Natsume had indeed ben jealous of Ruka. This statement was thoroughly pondered over until it was finally accepted as the one sensible conclusion that they could possibly arrive at.
All this while, Mikan had been pondering over something really serious while seated afar from everyone else, but not escaping Natsume's constant watch over her. His little tangerine being worked up over some unknown reason bothered the flame caster a little, which made him walk over to her side and flick her forehead hard. His action resounded a little louder than it should have and thus caused a pause in the room…again. Mikan, who by that time would have usually cursed Natsume with a string of minor curse words did nothing but stare blankly at him.
The flame caster stared deep into her innocent, childlike hazel orbs, trying to probe her thoughts. He, for once, was not aware of the attention from the crown around them. "What're you thinking, Polka?" he waited with bated breath for her reply. It was not every day that Mikan would actually ponder over something serious. While he and everyone else in the room were waiting with anticipation as to what her reply would be, Mikan posed a priceless question to him: "Ne, Natsume, you were jealous because Ruka-pyon was chosen for the lead role of the princess while you were the one with black hair like Snow White right?"
The next instant, the gang including Hotaru, dropped down faint while Mikan found the panties underneath her skirt burnt to a crisp.
** (A/N: Does anyone remember the first sentence Tono had directed to Mikan when he saw her in her changed high school form?)
Merry Christmas, everyone! Have fun :)