Disclaimed.

Fate

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A one-shot by Ridley Silverlake for the Troller Skates account.

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"Now I'm leaving it all to the gods...it's all fate."

"You've got to take chances, Mikan," Hotaru told her best friend as they moved from one exhibit in the museum, to another.

A few months ago, Mikan ended a relationship with a guy who cheated on her. And, apparently, he wasn't the first to do so. She was just that unlucky to have about fifteen guys cheat on her for the past four years, and she was tired of relationships; she wanted to be happy on her own for now, but her best friend obviously thought she needed a man in her life. Hotaru wasn't completely wrong, though. Mikan was clumsy, slightly bipolar, carefree, and dense; she needed someone who could look after her.

"I told you," Mikan walked over to a painting, bending down a little and looking up to see the details against the light, "I'll look for a guy when I'm ready."

"Tell me," Natsume looked questioningly at his blue-eyed friend, "what is it I have that drags all these girls away?"

"Well," Ruka fiddled with his an if rootbeer," it could be the fact that you pick up random girls at clubs, buy them a drink, and then hook up with them for just one night. Or it could be your sleeping with them, telling them you'd call back so they won't feel bad, and then throwing their numbers away. Or it could be your act of ignoring everything a girl says when you're on a date-"

"You can stop now," Natsume glared at his best friend, piercing his red eyes into his blue ones, signaling that he's gotten his point and didn't want Ruka to make him feel worse and embarrass him any further.

"You get it then?" Ruka raised an eyebrow.

"No," he replied flatly. A lot of guys did that nowadays and he didn't understand why girls couldn't just go with it and have fun like they did.

"You've been saying that for the past eight months, you need to go and find a guy," Hotaru took a quick look at a painting of a Korean artist before looking at her twenty-five year old, pigtailed friend. "Look at that, you've even started wearing pigtails again. Are you even listening?" she asked as she spotted Mikan fiddling with a bubble-blower—distracted as always.

"Yes, I am," Mikan smiled at the giant bubbles, "I'm just more amused by these bubbles compared to your little lecture. I'm sorry."

"Natsume, not all girls want to just hook up for one night. If they like you, they'd expect you to call back in the morning or the day after. Then you'd go on dates and have dinner more than once. And if you tried that out maybe you'd find someone who'll love you and appreciate the things you do for her," Ruka said, hoping his dark-haired friend listened to, or even understood, everything he'd just told him.

"That's a little dragging, don't you think? Taking everything slow, tch," Natsume mocked Ruka's opinion, "Where's the fun in that?"

"That's the problem with you," Ruka scratched his head. "It's not always supposed to be fun and games, Natsume."

Hotaru rolled her eyes.

"This is all just a game for you, isn't it?" she took the huge bubble blower from Mikan and held her by the shoulders to make sure she wouldn't get distracted again.

"Game or not, I'm not ready," Mikan slid away from Hotaru's grip, "I need to have some time alone, figure out what I really want, and then maybe I'll see if I still want to have anything serious with anyone. The gods will set it for me, whatever I choose to do and whoever I choose to be with will all be fate. But maybe that'll come later."

"Or sooner," Hotaru took Mikan's hand. "I'm leaving for another country in a few months. You need someone to look after you, and that someone has to go through me first."

"It's definitely not a game," Natsume said seriously, "but it has to be fun. What's the point if it isn't?"

Ruka shook his head. Natsume had no idea what girls really wanted and he had no idea how to make a girl happy—maybe he did, but he could never be serious about it.

"How about this…" Ruka folded his arms and stood in front of his best friend who sat on the ledge of a fountain across a glass building, "You don't approach a girl for the next two weeks. Just watch them from a distance and observe what they're doing. It shouldn't be that hard."

"What's the point in that?" Natsume hesitated. No hooking up for two weeks. No hitting on girls for two weeks. Not even talking to them.

"Just so you can see what a girl likes to do. And you could also pay attention to couples. See what guys do for girls to make them happy." Ruka explained. Hopefully, this would get Natsume to actually settle down with a girl for more than two days.

"Fine," Mikan gave in. "I'll do it for you."

Hotaru mentally leaped in joy, but tried her best to keep a straight face, as she didn't want to reveal such an embarrassing side of herself in public.

"Let's go out tonight and I'll wait for a guy at the bar to ask for my number," Mikan continued, "then well see how it all works out."

"No," Hotaru uttered quickly. "That's the reason why you keep ending up with the crazies," Hotaru moved a finger around in a spiral manner in the air beside her temples, "you always wait to be approached... in a bar, even. You should take a leap and be the first to speak. Approach a guy you think is cute and then work your magic so he can ask you out."

Mikan was reluctant about her best friend's plan, but knew it would be impossible for Hotaru to not get her way, so she slowly nodded her head. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Fine," Natsume sighed. He couldn't say no to a request from his best friend, so he decided he'd just go with it, until a thought entered his mind, "but what if a girl approaches me first?"

"That's alright, I guess," Ruka nodded, "at least it's different from your usual strategy."

"Good," Natsume smirked as he saw a couple of girls walking their way.

"So maybe you can start now," Hotaru said as they walked out the museum's glass door, her voice getting a little darker.

"What? No. I'll do it tonight," Mikan shook her head and waved her hands, gesturing to her friend that she wasn't ready.

"No, you're doing it now, you have to."

"Okay," Mikan sighed and dropped her shoulders. She took a look around and spotted two boys by the fountain.

While walking towards them, she noticed the dark haired guy smirking, which made her a little uncomfortable. Then she looked at the blonde and felt that he was the better choice. For some unknown reason, however, she turned to the dark haired man with tantalizing ruby eyes instead, and spoke to him the moment she reached them. "Hi, I couldn't help but notice your iPod. I like the case. You like Coldplay, too, huh?"

She mentally just smashed her head through a wall, not believing what she'd just said. Complimenting a man's iPod case definitely wasn't going to get her a proper date.

Natsume chuckled. Did a girl just approach him to ask about his iPod's casing?

"Yeah, I do," Natsume replied coolly. "Thanks."

She was cute but he wasn't allowed to hit on her. All he could think if doing now, other than asking her out, was laugh at her ridiculous statement.

"Um," the girl spoke, "well, I was wondering..."

"Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?" Natsume blurted out. He had no idea why he just said that, he couldn't even tell what was so appealing about the girl in the first place.

Ruka's head shot up and turned to look at Natsume.

Natsume looked at Ruka who was giving him a WTF look, and shrugged.

"Deal's off. This one's different," he whispered to Ruka with a smile.

Did she just get a guy to ask her out just by asking about his iPod's case? She waved the thoughts away for now and decided to focus on what was happening rather than why it was happening.

"Uhh... Mikan," she stuttered, "my name's Mikan Sakura." Her delayed introduction seemed have confused the two guys. So she spoke once more, "I never got to introduce myself before you asked me out."

The boy chuckled and looked at her, "Well then, Mikan," he stood up from the fountain's ledge, "how does dinner at eight sound to you?"

"Sounds great," Mikan smiled her goofy, yet charming smile.

The girl was too easy. She introduced herself and she accepted a date so soon. She had a goofy smile and she wore her hair in pigtails, but it was surprisingly cute. Natsume didn't know why but he actually wanted to get to know this girl. What was weird was that he didn't want to do it because of that talk he had with Ruka, but he was attracted to her. And it wasn't just for one night out.

"Great," he answered. He took a small card from his pocket and handed it to the girl. "Natsume. Here's my number."

Ruka's jaw dropped. He obviously didn't know how he was supposed to react to his friend's actions, but he sat there and continued watching anyway.

"Just text me... or call me," Natsume uttered softly. He was confident, yes, but he hadn't done this whole dating thing in years, and he had no idea if he was doing it right. "When you do I'll get your number and let you know the plans for tonight... I guess."

"Alright," Mikan smiled at him. That goofy, stupid—yet cute—smile that was probably the one that caught him in the first place.

"Uhh...great," Natsume said as the girl turned away and left with her friend. Ruka sat there watching him. He just stood there and watched her walk away, not taking his eyes off the back of her head until they turned to a corner.

Ruka stood up and looked at Natsume. He put his face a little closer to his and said, "Natsume... you're blushing."

"No offense, that was a little lame," Hotaru said frankly, "but you got him to ask you out. He didn't seem like that type of guy."

"Well, I did what you told me," Mikan skipped happily, "I took a leap and I was the first to speak." She smiled, holding her head high with her arms swinging freely beside her.

"Now I'm leaving it all to the gods... it's all fate."

End

Author's Notes: This was meant to be a drabble, but due to all this boredom, it is now a whole oneshot. :P I hope you liked it. Reviews? :D

Ridley Silverlake