Seconds.
Minutes.
Hours.
Days.
Weeks.
Months.
Years.
Time is of the essence. With time, the people surrounding them were able to witness the blossoming of two particular people.
The sky was perfectly clear this morning with the perfect shade of blue painted against it. The fledglings were flapping their wings, hesitantly, but with conviction that today would be their day to fly with their flock up in the sky.
It was a normal day for a certain brunette as she hustled out of her room frantically to meet up with a particular raven haired boy.
She scrambled down the stairs with her school bag in tow while managing to button up her blouse. As a tradition, Yukihara Sakura stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her daughter.
"Morning Mom!," the brunette said enthusiastically.
Yukihara placed her arms on her hips, "Maybe you should start waking up earlier so that you don't have to cause a ruckus in your room every morning." She reprimanded.
The brunette merely grinned, unaffected by the typical scolding, "I know, I know."
She walked into the kitchen expecting to see the raven haired boy sitting at her seat on the dinner table.
"He came by this morning," Yukihara explained, "He came by and told me to give you this." She gave the brunette a piece of ripped paper with the words "King and Queen" written in the messy, yet legible scrawling that she was all too familiar with.
The brunette simply smiled, "I'll see you after school mom." She leaned forward to kiss her cheek, another tradition of theirs.
Yukihara smiled in return as she watched her beautiful, sixteen year old daughter walking out of the house. She didn't know what "King and Queen" meant, but it was obvious that it meant something special to her daughter.
Everyone was walking the opposite direction of her, but the brunette ignored the confused looks of the by passers. After all, she had a place to be, a person to meet.
"King and Queen" was just a nickname for a park that two children created years ago. But to her, it was a promise.
"I'm going to rule this world one day as King!" the raven boy exclaimed.
"I'll rule beside you as Queen!" the brunette said.
She arrived at the park and scanned her surroundings for a particular person.
It wasn't that hard, to be honest. He was sitting on a bench and his dark attire stuck out easily in an area where only light colors were at.
She was about to open her mouth to shout out for him but closed it promptly. With a devious smile, she tiptoed to his location. As she got closer, she noticed that he was sleeping. His long, dark eyelashes, which could make any girl jealous, were resting peacefully. He was breathing softly and evenly.
She stood in front of expectantly, waiting for him to sense her presence and wake up but he never did. Frowning slightly, she did the next best thing. Taking a big breath of air, she leaned down close to his ear and shouted, "WAKE UP!"
She chortled as he jerked awake, his eyes widening quickly. He looked up and saw who was standing in front of him with a smug look.
His face soured as she settled next to him on the bench, "Why are you here?"
She simply smiled at him, "You looked lonely and it's not fun being lonely."
Once he heard her say that, he smiled and his anger on being awaken rudely quickly dissipated. After all, that phrase was what started their friendships ten years ago.
Ten years ago.
"We have a new addition to our class today, children!" Ms. Komoto exclaimed, as she gestured to the little girl with brown pigtails with a strawberry backpack in front of her.
The whole class looked at her with large, expectant eyes.
"Go on," Ms. Komoto urged, "Introduce yourself to the class."
The little girl took a deep breath and shouted, "Hello! My name is Mikan Sakura, and I would like to be all of your friends!" she half bowed.
She stood back up and looked at the class nervously.
Suddenly someone scraped their chair back and stood up.
"Hi Mikan! I'm Anna; I hope that we can become good friends." She smiled.
Mikan squealed happily, as the whole class, minus one person swarmed around her throwing their names towards her.
It was now playtime as Mikan played with the other children. In just an hour, she had gotten along fine with her classmates, which indicated her ability to socialize easily.
They were playing in a circle while exchanging toys with each other.
"I want that barbie!"
"Play doll house with me!"
" EW COOTIES!"
Mikan looked around the classroom and saw a boy playing quietly by himself outside of the circle.
Curious, she asked Anna, "Why isn't he playing with us?"
She shrugged, "He never wants to play with us, I'm not sure why."
Mikan pursed her lips and stood up. "Where are you going, Mikan?"
"To be friends with him."
Mikan walked confidently over to where the raven haired boy was sitting.
She stood over him expectantly, waiting for him to notice her presence.
But he still didn't look up towards her, "Hi! My name is Mikan and I hope we can become friends." She said excitedly.
No reply. The boy only continued playing with his robot without paying attention to her.
"What's your name?" Mikan asked, unaffected by the silent treatment.
"What are you playing with?"
"Why don't you like playing with the other people?"
"Why-"
The boy cut her off as he finally faced her with a scowl, "You talk too much."
She had a frown of her own as she defended herself, "You never answered me!"
The boy turned back to his robot, "They're too loud. I don't like loud people." He said, hoping to drive the girl away.
Mikan suddenly walked away, leaving the boy somewhat flustered.
He didn't expect her to stop talking so soon, not that he was complaining though.
Couple minutes later, a shadow loomed over him. When he looked up, he saw the same girl but this time with a bunch of toys her little arms could get a hold of. She threw all of the toys on the floor and sat down next to him without a word.
She started to play with her toys in silence next to the boy.
Her actions were alarming to the boy. She wasn't talking loudly, she wasn't bombarding him with questions, and she wasn't even talking to him!
"Why are you here?" the boy asked as curiosity finally got a hold of him.
The girl looked at him with large, sparkly hazel eyes. "You looked lonely, and it's not fun being lonely." She said simply, and redirected her attention back to her toys.
The boy watched as she played with her dolls from the side. Silence was nice, but it was nice that somebody was next to him. He realized that she wasn't so bad when she wasn't talking so much.
"Natsume." He muttered.
"Hm?" She looked at him, "What did you say?"
"Natsume." He repeated, "That's my name."
Mikan beamed, "Nice to meet you Natsume, I hope we can become friends."
Her hope became a reality because as the years went by they became closer friends, best friends actually. When they found out that their parents were friends, it was no surprise that they would become even closer.
Natsume understood her weaknesses and Mikan likewise.
Along with their weaknesses, they discovered their strong points. They helped each other become a better person.
They were such polar opposites, but maybe that's how they managed to keep a decade long friendship alive.
She was the loud and sociable one.
He was the quiet and distant one.
Complete opposites but they complimented each other perfectly.
They were the dynamic duo, as people called them.
Mikan swung her legs beneath the bench, "Do you plan on coming to school today?" she asked.
He looked at her lazily, "I don't know, do you?"
She gave him one of her signature smiles that could blow anyone off of their feet, "Not really… but we shouldn't skip any more days. There are so many tests to take recently." She pouted.
From a tender young age, they were both precocious children. They were always the top two in their class, except for the day of their entrance exam to Alice Academy.
He knew that Mikan was always invincible; she never let anything stop her from getting what she wants. The day of the entrance exams was a hectic one.
Natsume strode in confidently into their classroom knowing that this test was going to be a breeze for him. He looked around for Mikan and looked at his watch.
8:50 AM.
Ten minutes before the exam starts. He knew that Mikan always had trouble with time, but she was never late. She was just never early, never late; she always arrived right on the dot.
Natsume took his seat, and was impatient to get this thing over with. The minutes were going by, but he didn't let it faze him. But when it noticed it was 8:59, he began to worry.
9 AM.
The test proctor rubbed his hands together, "Okay students. We will begin the test now-"
"There's still one more person." Natsume interrupted.
The proctor frowned, "The test waits for no one," he said, as the door flung open showing a flustered Mikan.
"Sorry for being late." Mikan rasped softly.
Natsume frowned, something was wrong with her. Her voice isn't as loud as it usually is.
"Just take a seat. We were just about to start."
Natsume waved his arm up, "There's a seat here."
Mikan smiled at him, "Thanks for saving me a seat." She whispered quietly as she got situated.
He said nothing in reply, only nodding back towards her. From close up, Natsume could tell her that her eyes weren't as bright as usual and her cheeks were a deep shade of red.
"Are you okay?" Natsume whispered.
"No talking, young man. The test has been issued. Any talking during the test will only revoke your score." The proctor reprimanded as he walked by their aisle.
Stupid proctor.
Mikan nodded slightly and mouthed, "I'm okay."
She began working on her test. Math was the first section. It was a good thing that she and Natsume decided to go over math the longest last night in their preparation for the test this morning.
First question.
If f(x)= -8x+15, what is the value of x if f(x) 0 ?
Mikan took a deep breath but her chest felt heavy as she began coughing.
She tried her best to answer the question but nothing was going through her mind. She knew that she knew how to solve it. Something like this was easy for her. She coughed even more, feeling phlegm in her throat as she made a disgusted face.
Natsume looked at her worriedly; she was still on the first question after 15 minutes. "You sure you okay?" he mouthed.
"Never better." She mouthed back.
Screw this question, she thought.
She went onto the next one.
What is the equation of the line through the points (2,8) and (-4,-1)
Mikan rubbed her temples.
This is a terrible time to blank out, Mikan. Focus! She told herself.
Natsume noticed her breathing became heavier and that she started to sweat a little bit.
Then it all came to him: the flustered cheeks, the coughing, heavy breathing, and the sweating. Mikan was sick but she still came in her state.
He nudged his elbow, "You're sick." He mouthed.
She looked at him with a blank expression and shrugged and continued staring at her test.
Time was passing and soon, the hour and a half that they were allowed for the test was coming close.
"5 more minutes." The proctor called out.
Natsume didn't need another 5 minutes; he finished with plenty of time to spare. He spent his remaining time watching Mikan struggle her way through the test. When the 5 minute mark was called out, she just dropped her pencil and laid her head on the table, closing her eyes. He peered over her shoulder and saw that she did a half-assed job on it. A monkey could have done better. She didn't even bother writing her name.
Natsume knew how much she wanted to get into Alice Academy, but he knew that she couldn't do anything about her sickness. So he did the next best thing.
"Alright, time's up. Pass up your papers."
Quickly erasing his name and replacing it with hers, he passed it up. He then pulled Mikan's paper under her arm and quickly wrote in his name before passing it up.
"You guys are free to go now." The proctor said before leaving the room.
Natsume touched her forehead lightly and pulled back immediately. It was scorching hot. Was this how she was during the whole test?
Everyone scuffled out of the room, leaving the two of them behind.
"Mikan, it's time to go."
She still didn't open her eyes, "Let me sleep for a while." She answered back muffled.
When Mikan woke up, she was in her room with a damp towel on her forehead.
She looked around; the first thing she noticed was Natsume's dark raven hair beside her. The clock on her wall blinking in red LEDs showed that it was 10 PM.
10 PM? She thought.
She didn't remember going back home, all she remembered was feeling terrible during the test…
THE TEST!
She quietly whimpered to herself, "I probably did a terrible job… I'm not going to get into Alice Academy now."
Natsume stirred awake once he heard her quiet voice, "You're awake now?" he asked groggily.
She nodded.
"You should stop eating so much, it was hard work carrying you home, piggy." He added with a smirk.
"Why'd you carry me home…?" She asked confusedly.
"You blacked out right after the test."
"Oh."
"So I took you home," he continued, "I was hoping your mom was going to be here so she could take care of you, but she's working late tonight, which is why I'm still here." He added.
She tried sitting up to look at him, only to be forced to lie back down again.
"Just make things easier for yourself and continue lying down." He commanded, taking the damp towel off her forehead and replaced it with a new, freshly damp one.
"Natsume," she whispered.
"What."
"The test. I did horrible on the test."
"I know."
"I won't be able to get into Alice Academy. And you helped me prepare for it so much." She said sadly.
"Don't worry, everything will work out for you." He reassured her.
"How?" she mumbled, already feeling the urge to go back to sleep.
"Don't worry, just worry about getting better."
Mikan already drifted off into her slumber, "It scares me when you're not feeling well." He added quietly.
The next week, all of the test takers returned to the room to receive their scores, and to know whether or not they were accepted into Alice Academy.
The students crowded over the bulletin board that had the score report.
Mikan knew it was futile to go and look at the board, knowing that she scored dead last.
"Of course, she would get top marks."
"Mikan's so smart."
"It's really surprising to not see Natsume's name on the top though."
"I know! He's like, dead last."
Mikan's ears pricked when she heard what the people were saying. When the students cleared away from the board, she approached it cautiously.
"…Top marks…?" she asked aloud, "That's impossible."
She continued looking at the bottom of the page, trying to find her name, until a finger pointed to number one.
"You really are a genius, getting a near perfect score when you were so sick." Natsume smiled.
She stared at what Natsume was pointing at.
Mikan Sakura 98/100
"This is impossible!" She spluttered, "There's got to be a mistake, I could not have gotten this score that day."
"But you did."
She stared at Natsume. Something was fishy about him.
"If I'm number one, where are you ranked?"
He shrugged indifferently, "Somewhere."
She narrowed her eyes at him before looking for his name. She went down the whole list, only to find his name at the very bottom, dead last.
Natsume Hyuuga 5/100
"YOU! YOU SWITCHED OUR-" Mikan shouted.
Natsume clamped his hand over her mouth, "Shh."
She removed his hand, "Why'd you do that, Natsume?" she frowned, "Your parents are going to be so upset once they find out."
"You wanted to get in to Alice Academy more than I did."
"But we were supposed to go together! That was our plan!" she said exasperatedly.
"Don't worry, we are." Natsume calmly replied.
She raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?" she asked, "You're being awfully calm about this."
"My parents already know my score, so they demanded that I was to be allowed to take a retake."
"And they allowed you too?" Mikan gasped.
Alice Academy was a strict school with even stricter policies. They never allow excuses.
"Are you forgetting who my parents are?" he said smugly, "Money makes the world go round."
His parents are one of the majorly successful business tycoons in Tokyo, just like how Mikan's parents were.
At that moment, a man came up to the bulletin board and posted up a new score board.
Updated Score sheet:
Natsume Hyuuga 100/100
Mikan Sakura 98/100
She shook her head and laughed lightly, "You're unbelievable…"
Now here they are, already in their 3rd year at Alice Academy, and they're still the top rankers in their class.
"If you're worried about missing tests, why don't you go to class then and leave me here to sleep?" he sarcastically said.
"But if I leave you here, it's going to worry me even more that you aren't taking your tests." She wailed, "Stop being so lazy."
After all these years, she was still the loud person he knew. But her heart still remained pure, always caring for her loved ones more than herself.
He stood up and handed out his arm to her, "Come on, let's go to school since you want to go so badly."
She giggled and took his hand as he helped her up.
"I don't understand why you always try to act so tough around me, Natsume. I mean, you always go with what I say in the end." She smiled.
His face soured, "Only because if I don't you'll start complaining and whining like a brat."
She laughed as they started walking towards Alice Academy, "I only act like that because it's fun to see your reactions."
He rolled his eyes, "I hate you."
"You love me." She said in a sing-song tone.
"I know." He said simply.
She smiled to herself as they continued walking to the Academy. As soon as it was in their sight, she tugged on his arm and started running.
"Why are you running?!" Natsume exclaimed as he ran beside her, "It's not like we're going to be late or anything."
She didn't respond and only released her hold on him once they reached the gate.
"Look! Our friends are already there, and they're waiting for us." She beamed.
"Guys!" she waved frantically.
Anna, Hotaru, Ruka, Koko, Nonoko, and Tsubasa all looked and saw a very happy Mikan and a very bitter Natsume trailing her.
Once the two of them reached the circle, immediate chatter ensued.
"Did you wake up late again, Mikan?" Hotaru asked.
"Of course." She said easily, while laughing.
Natsume flicked her head, "That's not something to be proud of, dummy."
She pouted as the rest of their friends started laughing.
Ah, the dynamic duo indeed.
A/N: I know that I'm working on the Blood right now, but I couldn't sleep until 5 AM this morning and I came up with like a new story plot... I'm not even sure if it's going to work out but yeah LOL
Thank you for reading and reviews are appreciated
Also, I do not own Gakuen Alice and its credits solely belong to Tachibana Higuchi.
-M