Yay, another Gakuen Alice fanfiction after a very long time.

Of course I'm making a fic about my fave pairing, Hotaru and Misaki-sensei. I know their age gap is a bit... yeah you know. But, here is a fact, my friend's mom and dad even got a greater age gap than that, which makes me believe that the gap is okay.

In the anime Hotaru was 10 and Misaki-sensei 27, so in this fic, Hotaru will be 17 and Misaki-sensei 34. Not bad right?

Just read it first guys! :D

"Misaki-sensei got number 35!" a boy said. "Who got the other 35?"

No one answered.

"It seemed your partner isn't here yet, sensei. Please wait till she comes," the boy said again to Misaki-sensei and smiled. Not long after that he went to his own partner.

Misaki wore masked in his face, since it was a masquerade. Though he hid his face behind the mask, it seemed that everybody realized who he was. Misaki sat on the empty seat not far from where he was standing earlier, behind him was a girl long raven hair. He looked at her. She looked beautiful, though part of her face was covered by the mask, it could not cover her lovely face, though she seemed to be bored.

Misaki sighed, he was bored too. He was not the type to go partying until late and drunk. Maybe this girl was like that too.

"Why aren't you go dancing with your partner?" Misaki broke the silence.

"I just don't want to," she replied and asked, "Misaki-sensei, right?"

"Yeah, how come that everyone finds out it's me," he complained. "It's a masquerade, you suppose to think of me as a stranger."

"It's easy to know it's you, since you're taller than any boys and you are our teacher, different aura, I guess," she said and chuckled. Her sweet voice ringing in his ears. "Where's your partner, sensei? I'm sure that she'll be happy to dance with you."

"She hasn't come yet, I think," he replied. "When the boys look for her, she doesn't show herself."

"I see," she nodded.

"Hey, right now, your partner is maybe waiting for you," he said. "Why don't you look for him?"

"I told you, I'm not in the mood to dance right now," she said coldly.

"I pity your partner, he must be alone and depressed right now," he told her.

"Alright, I'll dance with him," she said, from her voice he knew that she was pissed. "I'm going."

The girl rose from her seat and went to look for her partner. Misaki smiled. Well, he was doing a good deed, at least that was what he thought. Children were supposed to be enjoying party like this one, right?

Misaki was still sitting there, waiting for his partner if she ever came to him. He hoped that she wouldn't come because he hated dancing, even when he was still a student in the academy, he hated dancing.

Then, suddenly the girl who was talking to him earlier came to him, her pace was hasty. He looked around him to find any boys she was heading to. But no one sat near him.

'Why does she head towards me? Finished dancing already?" he thought.

She was standing in front of him, looking him deeply in his eyes. "You're my partner, sensei?"

"Huh?" he asked her. "What?"

"Your number, please?" she asked.

"35," he answered. "Is that yours, too?"

She showed him her number and nodded.

"So, I was talking to my own partner then," he said and chuckled. "Why don't you take a seat? You don't want to dance, right?"

She sat beside him. "Well, lucky me, you're my partner. Both of us hated this."

"So cold of you," he commented. "I don't hate this kind of party. I just hate dancing."

"I hate crowds," she said in another cold tone.

Misaki looked at her in surprise and smiled. "I'm going to change it, it's not good for kids to hate crowds."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Let's dance," he stood up and grabbed her hands, dragging her in the middle of the crowds and they began waltzing on the dance floor.

She didn't want to dance, she tried to stomp on his feet, but failed to do that. Then, she gave in and finally danced with him. She was good in dancing, which made him wondered why she hated it. He wasn't that good in dancing years ago, but he could do it quite well after so many times attending some balls in the academy.

"Why do you hate dancing?" he asked. "You're great in doing it, you know."

"I just hate it. Why do you hate it?" she asked him back.

"I can't dance," he answered. "But, lately I can do that quite well. You know how many balls that academy has just in a year."

"Just one song, okay?" she asked him.

He nodded and smiled. Then, they danced until the song was finished.

The song stopped playing and she was clinging to him with her head on his chest. The crowds around them were clapping their hands and cheering, teasing both of them.

"Who's that girl?" they whispered to each other. "She is lucky to be sensei's partner."

Then, she realized that her heart was beating rapidly and pushed him away from her. She ran through the people who were circling them, she wanted to go somewhere far from the crowds. He followed her as quick as he could. He hoped that he could catch up with her and maybe he could ask why she hated the crowds so much. She wasn't so far from him, maybe she could not run really fast wearing that gown and the high heels.

Misaki grabbed her arms.

"Let me go," she said coldly, pulling her arms from him. But, he grabbed her tightly that she could not pull it from him.

"Why do you hate the crowds so much?" he asked her.

"I just hate them," she replied. "Now, let me go, sensei!"

He let her pull her arm and looked at her deeply in her eyes. Tears? he thought.

He was watching her as she ran away from him, she fell down, tripping on a stone. Misaki headed towards her in a hurry.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Let me help you."

The girl tried to stand up with the help of his hand. "Ouch!" she exclaimed.

He sighed. "There's no choice," he muttered as he lifted her in his arms.

"Put me down!" she exclaimed. "Put me down, put me down!"

"Hey don't hit me," he glared at her. "You can't even walk."

She didn't say anything.

"I'll take you to the girls' dorm," he told her.

"No need," she said. "I don't have a room there."

He was stunned as he stopped his pace. "What do you mean?"

"You need not to be surprised. I assure you I'm a student here if you think I'm an intruder. I live not far from the Mr. Bear's house," she said. "Do you think you can carry me all the way there?"

"Yeah, I think I can. You're Imai Hotaru, right?" he asked. "The only student who is granted a private workshop. That's you, right?"

She smiled. "Well done, that's right."

"I didn't expect that it's you. You change a lot. Your behavior is a bit strange," he told her, he remembered the tears in her eyes earlier. Strange, Hotaru Imai was not a crybaby, at least that was what he knew.

"Just carry me there, will you?" she asked in a cold tone. "You said you want to take me home."

Misaki turned around and headed towards the forest. "Alright, this attitude of yours do not change," he muttered. "Commanding your teacher, like you're the boss."

TBC

Well, I guess this is the first chapter. I know about Hotaru's strange behavior, I'll tell about it later in chapter 2. I really hope that you like the start, guys.

Thanks for reading and please review if you have some times to do that. :D

See you on the next chapter!

~Pheria~