Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its Characters

Chapter 1: Bonding

Normal POV

Near the fountain in Central town, the two best-friends, Mikan and Hotaru decided to meet for shopping.

Hotaru was already irritable as Mikan was again late (as always ).

When Mikan arrived near the agreed place she saw Hotaru seating at the bench beside the fountain and run up to her screaming "HOTARUUUUUUUUUUU", when Hotaru heard the scream of her best friend she stood up and face the direction where the voice came from.

For a second, Mikan thought she saw Hotaru curve her lips a little up like a smile and seeing this she fastened her pace and run with full speed to her best-friend, what she didn't know is the curving of Hotaru's lips upward was her giving her a smirk and Mikan wasn't able to see Hotaru's eyes that was filled with irritation.

Mikan's POV

When I saw my best-friend Hotaru sitting in the bench beside the fountain where we agreed to meet to go shopping today at Central Town I immediately screamed her name "HOTARUUUUUUUUUUU", as I ran to her hoping she was not mad at me, which she probably is right now, knowing her she doesn't want to wait and I was already 15minutes late.

I prayed to God that Hotaru will let me out alive once I get near her.

When Hotaru heard my scream, she stood up from the bench and faced my direction.

For a second there, I thought I saw her smile so again I dashed and ran full speed to her to try to hug her, but what I missed to see was that the smile was really a smirk and her eyes were showing signs of irritation.

Still running, I saw her pull something out of her bag and before I could even react "BAKA, BAKA, BAKA" I was hit with her Baka gun and I was sent flying to the nearest sakura tree hitting my face on its trunk.

I saw Hotaru walked to me with a stoic face (her usual, we know ) and said

"You know I hate waiting and still you came late, that's what you deserve you Baka"

Now what I didn't expect is for her to offer her hand to help me stand up and once I'm up on my two feet the most shocking part is what Hotaru did, she spread her arms open and looking at me

Being dumbfounded by the action of my best-friend I stood there gaping at her, mouth wide open and head tilted to the side, and then she said

"Are you just going to stand there gaping at me or would you rather hug your best-friend?"

Once she said this, I was snapped out of my trance and quickly hug her saying "I miss you so much Hotaru!"

Then I released her from my bear hug then I drag her to the shops in Central Town.

"Ne, Hotaru?"

"Yeah, what is it you baka?" Hotaru said

"Mouu Hotaru you meanie, anyways I really want to go to this shop to buy this shirt that I really, really like, would you like to come with me tomorrow?"

"Hmmm…" Hotaru hummed as she was considering my request

"Besides… We will be going there after the lunch together with Natsume, Ruka, Aoi, Youichi, Natsume's parents, some of our friends and…. My parents" I said the last part as a whisper.

Hotaru's POV

I was thinking in considering the request of my Baka best-friend to go with her again tomorrow to buy this shirt she really liked, when I was about to object and say I don't want to go then

"Besides… We will be going there after the lunch together with Natsume, Ruka, Aoi, Youichi, Natsume's parents, some of our friends and…. My parents" Mikan said the last part where her parents will be joining the lunch was said as a whisper.

I know Mikan didn't have a good relationship with her mother as she was always being ignored and all the attention was given to her brother Youichi, even her brother noticed this so he was giving all the love he could give to her elder sister.

"OK, I'll come with you tomorrow in your lunch with everyone, and also go shopping again with you tomorrow besides my boyfriend is there so I won't miss a chance on capturing any single embarrassing moments of his" I said this with money signs in my eyes

"Yehey... thank you so much Hotaru, I really, really love you, and you're really my best-friend" Mikan said with delight ignoring the words I mentioned about my boyfriend Ruka.

Seeing her happy, I cannot help but smile. But again, after sometime I returned in looking as stoic as ever, I'm not the Ice Queen if that smile will go wider and longer than 5 seconds.

Normal POV

After a lot of shopping, as both were already tired, Hotaru and Mikan went to the café; they took the place near the window and sat there admiring the view of the Sakura trees, where the leaves and flowers are dancing with the wind.

As the waiter came near them, he flashed them a smile and took their order.

"What will you two beautiful ladies have?" the waiter asked their orders

"I will have a cappuccino and a Crab Cake" Hotaru demanded in a firm voice (does Crab Cake even exist?)

The waiter sweat-dropped at this but still wrote down Hotaru's order then he turned to Mikan and waited for her order

"I will have a strawberry cake and chocolate shake, that's all and thank you very much" Mikan gave her order and flashed the waiter her smile which made him blush and immediately left to get their order.

Once their order arrived they started eating taking their time while Mikan keep on mumbling an telling her stories, noticing that her best-fiend is spacing out she asked

"Mouu Hotaru, you aren't even listening to my stories, is there something wrong?"

Hotaru snapped out of her reverie and stared at Mikan with a serious face

"Mikan, when do you plan on telling them?"

Mikan got confused of what Hotaru was saying but after sometime realized it and made a serious but sad face

"Well Hotaru, to tell you the truth, I still haven't decided on that yet, they cannot know about my condition, specially not Natsume"

"Mikan, you are being unfair to him, sooner or later he will find out about your condition, the doctor said there is only a 50% chance for you to survive the operation, which as you might have forget is scheduled in 2 weeks time" Hotaru said in a sad tone, as she cannot bear to imagine that here best-friend will not survive the operation.

Mikan held her hand and said in a soft voice and a gentle smile

"Don't worry Hotaru, I can and will survive that operation specially for you, Youichi and Natsume, I don't want to leave you guys and you know I am strong and knowing you love and care for me is making me much stronger, I know in 2 weeks time you will be there for me, waiting outside the operating room and when I get out, I will be greeting you with the biggest smile ever and I'll say to you that everything is alright now, so no need to worry ok and there is no need to tell them, it's already making me sad that you know as it is making you sad so I don't want them to be sad about it"

Hearing those words from her best-friend Hotaru cannot help but smile a very small smile, while a tear drop rolled down her cheeks and she squeezed her hands gently

"You are very strong for a Baka, but remember I will always be there for you no matter what"

With this both of them finished their food and went home.

Mikan is already leaving with her fiancé Natsume, so when Hotaru arrived she insisted that Hotaru take one of the guest rooms in their apartment as Ruka was also staying in there with them.

When they arrived home, Mikan and Hotaru entered and they saw on the living room the other two best-friends, their boyfriends Natsume and Ruka.

Seeing both ladies enter the door, both guys stood up and kissed their cheeks welcoming them and asking regarding their day out shopping.

"So Polka, how's shopping with the Ice Queen?" Natsume asked with a smirk in his face while eyeing his girlfriend and Hotaru aka Ice Queen

"Jerk" came out Hotaru's response

"Mouu, Natsume, will you please stop with the Polka, for goodness sake how many years has it been and until now you still call me that"

"Ok I'll stop calling you Polka, so answer my question now, how was you day with the Ice Queen Ichigo-Kara?" Natsume again asked still the smirk on his face

"Egotistical jerk, oi bunny boy, if ever you turned out to be like your jerk of a best-friend I will break up with you and will literally break you!" was Hotaru's sharp reply glaring at Natsume while switching glances to Ruka

Ruka gulped and answered "Why am I being included in your argument? I was being quiet here the whole time, don't be like that Hotaru, and Natsume, please stop teasing Hotaru for me, as she is including me in her vendetta against you"

The whole time Mikan was laughing when suddenly she remembered

"Natsume no HENTAIIIII" screamed Mikan as she remembered what Natsume again called her

"Tsk, took you long enough to notice" was the quick answer of her boyfriend still with a smirk in his face

"Anyways, you pervert, my day with Hotaru was superb, we went to a lot of shops and bought a lot of dresses and tomorrow all of us will go shopping after the lunch with everyone"

"Hn" was Natsume's great reply

Then all decided to take their dinner, the four of them enjoying the dinner while Mikan again told stories and Ruka was laughing at her stories while the two stoic persons Natsume and Hotaru only had small smiles on their faces while listening to her stories.

When suddenly Mikan kept quiet and clutched her chest, Hotaru seeing these knows the reason but for the two guys they didn't know what happened

"Polka, are you alright, what's happening to you? You're suddenly too quiet? are you in pain? Where does it hurt?" Natsume asked in a very worried voice while Ruka stared at Mikan with a worried look

Trying to hide the pain Mikan said

"Really I'm OK, I just need uhmm... ahhh... some water... I'm kinda choking here so please get me some water" as she took the water from Ruka who immediately got the water once she said she needs to drink

"Gosh Polka, don't make us worried like that" Natsume sighed as they continue eating

But still Hotaru was very worried with her best-friend and she knows that its time to take her medicine

"Oi baka Neko, Mikan will be staying in my room tonight and bunny boy here will be staying in your room got that!" Hotaru said with finality in her voice

"Whatever" was Natsume's reply as he knows that the two girls have a lot of catching up to do

"But Hotaru?" was the protest of Ruka unfortunately his girlfriend glared at her indicating that he should follow so he sighed and said "Well mate, it's the two of us in your living room tonight, movies or video games?" was Ruka's final words of acceptance

"Yehey... I'm staying with Hotaru tonight" was the brunette's reply

"Baka Polka, it seems like you don't want to be beside me at all" was the sudden words of Natsume with hints of disappointment

"Mouu Natsume, it's not like that, it's just that I haven't seen Hotaru for a month and we have a lot of catching up to do, besides you know I love you and wants to be beside you all the time"

Said Mikan while hugging and kissing his boyfriend on the cheeks while a blushing Ruka and a stoic Hotaru was eyeing them as if saying to get a room

Once finished, Hotaru immediately dragged Mikan in her room and made her seat

"I know that look a while ago, where are your medicines, it's time for you to take them, your over tiring yourself and not taking your medicine today" was Hotaru's strict words

"The medicines are in that drawer, I keep them here as I know Natsume will not bother to check anything here as we barely have guests so as to avoid him finding out about my heart condition."

Hotaru took the medicine from the drawer and gave it to Mikan and immediately she took the medicines and chatted with Hotaru until they fell asleep.

Please review..

I know the story seems like the same with the others but this is my first fanfic so please bear with me. I got this story from too much reading of Gakuen Alice fanfic then one night I had this dream (the plot of my dream is on the next chapters), and poof... I wanted to publish it, so I added some of the plots... hehehe... please be nice for first timers...thanks