Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice! :D

Title: Crimson and Hazel

I've always been aware that I'd meet her.

It was already predicted. Like how the world has always been fated to exist, like how morning chase the night away and vice versa, like how people needed air to breathe. She was expected. No, I expected her.

Even if I'd only seen her on sketches and heard of her on predictions, even if she wasn't yet to be born, or even her parents—or her parents' parent and so on—I've expected her. I have lived for a thousand years, waited for her for billions of hours yet … those sad memories of awaiting for her arrival seemed to have diminished upon seeing her finally stepping inside the room.

And then, the warm feeling began. Like I was tied only to her; I was connected to her in every way possible … and even impossible.

Like it was only her.

Surely, I didn't like the feeling. The universe—my universe—isn't about me anymore. It's all around her. It wasn't a happy feeling … but not that bad. Everything about me centers on her. It was just about her within me.

Only her.

Ruka nudge me by the ribs as he fixed his things in order. He, too, has been waiting for that girl prophesied for him. And his universe arrived along with mine.

"She's here." He announced, breathless. If he were talking about his girl or mine, it didn't matter. My eyes are solely focused on her.

The girl with shockingly beautiful amethyst eyes darted her eyes toward the empty table before us and wordlessly walked towards it. She followed; not wanting to be left behind.

She had breast-length wavy brown hair and her eyes were muddy brown in color. Her skin was pinkish and her cheeks were flushed. I wouldn't describe her as simple.

Just her.

I continued to stare at her; silently watching her as she ducked on her bag to get her history book and ball pen. Confusion and slight suspicion played on her thin eyebrows as she searched for something she couldn't seem to find.

She still seemed distress when she turned to her friend. "Hotaru, I think I forgot my pen. Do you have an extra?"

The girl named Hotaru seemed like she probably expected it. In silence, she pulled out a pen and handed it to her.

"Er, Hotaru?"

"What now, idiot?" She said as if idiot was her name.

So, idiot sighed. "This doesn't have any ink on it." She was putting up a fight against laughter as she stared at her annoyed friend.

To my dismay, Ruka actually cracked a laugh. The two girls stared back at him in surprise—and amusement—as he retaliated. "Sorry. But that one's really funny." He lend out a pale hand. "Ruka Nogi." He introduced.

"Mikan Sakura" Mikan chimed loudly and swiftly eyed Hotaru. "This is my sister, Hotaru Imai." And then, she focused her eyes on me. Not with blunt interest like what other girls have here for me but with unexpected friendliness. "Hello."

I ignored her—a stupid reaction.

Ruka laughed as he stepped on my foot hard. "He's Natsume Hyuuga. Don't mind him. He's under the influence if PMS-ing right now."

Mikan's voice was confused. "Pre-marital Sex-ing?

Hotaru snorted at her blunt idiocy. "Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, idiot."

Ruka had ignored their bickering as he focused his attention to the Imai lady. "Hello, Imai-san. I'm Ruka Nogi. You and Sakura-san doesn't look much alike."

"I'm adopted." Hotaru says coldly and turns her back on us.

Mikan smiled apologetically at Ruka. "Sorry, she's under PMSS too."

PMSS?

Ruka voiced out my question. "What's that?"

"Post Mood Swings Syndrome." When Hotaru glared at her, she went on to the easy topic. "Say, do you have an extra pen?" I'll give it back. Immediately." She bit her lip. "Tomorrow."

"I don't have any extras but surely, my cousin, Natsume has." He snatched my bag from the floor to retrieve an extra pen but then, his shoulder slumped. "Ooops, it's red"

"No, it's totally fine." She got the pen; relieved. "I'll use any available pen. And besides, I like the red color. It's beautiful … and lively." Turning back to me; Mikan Sakura smiled. "So, can I borrow it Hyuuga-kun?"

No need to call me Hyuuga-kun. I'm better off with just Natsume. "You already have the pen."

Blood colored up her cheeks as she laughed. "I'll take that as yes then, thanks."

"No problem." I muttered as I looked away.

Ruka smirked at me in amusement.

"Oh, my god…" Shouda chuckled under her breath as soon as she saw Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai Stepped in the parking lot and stood next to a dark blue Grand Cherokee minivan. She pushed past her brother—but husband in real life—Kokoro Yome. "She was so beautiful! Both of them, by the way."

Koko leaned forward to inhale her scent as he laughed. "You're beautiful-ler"

"Shut up Yome" Shouda hissed and gazes at Mikan and Hotaru again. "They're so beautiful-especially that Imai lass. I like her eyes."

"You bet she is." Ruka says proudly, leaning casually next to his blue convertible. "She'll be mine soon."

Ignoring their squeals, I leaned by the driver's side of my red Mercedes and gazed at her. She was on the bench in front of the van while Imai was standing next to her. They were having a casual conversation when her eyes drifted over our direction.

A smile was suddenly on her face as she waved at us.

Blood crept up my nape to my ears as I straightened up my back.

Sumire snapped her slit-like eyes on me. "Woah, is your girl waving at you, Natsume?"

"Natsume's blushing" Koko lolled while playing with Sumire's green hair.

I glared at Koko but my breathing suddenly comes to a halt when she stood up and made her faltering way towards us.

She stood right in front of me; still wearing her smile. "Hello"

"What are you doing here?" I ignored Shouda and Ruka's grimaces. Koko just chuckled in casualty. "Do you need something?"

"No, I don't need something but you are." She pulled out my red pen from her backpack and waves it on my face. "You're pen's mad at me. She said she wants to see her master so I'm returning her. Here." She handed it to me.

I took it but decided to prolong the moment. "You could've returned it tomorrow."

Mika laughed. "Well, I can't wait until tomorrow. And besides, I've already seen you her so why not give it to you now? Your pen might kill me."

"She'd survive." I said, unsmiling; completely in focus of her muddy brown eyes.

She stared back at me for a few second, blinked twice before she looked away; blood was suddenly on her cheeks. "U-um … I guess that's just all I came here for. Pretty insignificant, huh?"

Stupidly, I blurted out what's on my mind. "It's not."

Her blush became even more visible so immediately she snapped her eyes over at Ruka's. "Hey Ruka." And then to the happy couple on my left. "Hello sorry for my sudden disturbance."

I did it again. "You're not."

Jumping off their Black Jeep Commander, Sumire turned to the still heavily blushing Mikan and roughly shook her hand. "Hi! So you're Sakura Mikan?! It's nice to finally see you!"

"It doesn't look and sound nice when you're shouting at her face that way. "Koko says and wink at Mikan. "Kokoro Yome, by the way. She's Sumire Shouda."

"O-oh. Hi." Another layer of blood brightened her face she almost looked like a tomato. It was fun to watch. But what's not fun to watch is Koko's winking thing awhile ago.

I'll give him reason to wink both his eyes as soon as we get home later.

As they mangled her with lively conversations, Ruka fell on step beside me as he elbowed me hard on the ribs. "What was that all about?"

I arched an eyebrow at him; confused "the what?"

"You were leaning forward to her as if you were planning to kiss her." He rolled his icy blue eyes.

I just shrugged and divert my eyes on her again. She seemed at ease now but the blush still lingered. Had I really been leaning forward her unconsciously awhile ago?

I looked away again.

"Hey Mikan!" Someone yelled from the van. He was tall and probably a lot older than us—though our age here is just a façade—with his messy hair and eyes in deep midnight blue. My eyes narrowed into slits as soon as I heard him calling her by the name, it was sort of informal—very informal.

I didn't like it even for a bit.

Mikan spun around and wave at the guy with too much enthusiasm—that, too, I didn't like. "Hey,
Tsubasa."

"Come on. We need to get home."

"In a minute." Turning back to Sumire and Koko, she smiled shyly. "That's Tsubasa, my brother. Well, I guess I need to go … or he and Hotaru will bite my head off."

"You three don't look much alike." Sumire spotted.

Mikan giggled. "Well, they're adopted. Wait till you see my youngest brother. He's adopted too and very adorable. Well, I need to go. "Shyly, she eyed Ruka and I. "Bye."

Ruka smiled genuinely. "Bye. Say hi to Hotaru for me."

"I've got it." Receiving a tight hug from Sumire, I watched her as she rushed back to her adopted family.

"How's your day little sister?" He then wrapped one arm over Hotaru's shoulder. "And you too, Hotaru?"

Mikan laughed with affection. "Great actually, English is cool."

"Tsubasa, I want to go home." Hotaru said "I'm starving."

"Oh, sure." Tsubasa unlocked the car and opened the door for his two sisters and shut them close. But before he climbed up to the driver's seat, he threw us a glare and then sped off.

"Woah, did he just glare at us?" Koko was immediately on my side.

"I didn't like the idea of him touching my Hotaru like that." Ruka says possessively and walks to his car in annoyance. We watch Ruka in warily. He seemed so mad that his cerulean blue eyes turned into a couple shades lighter. And when he touched the handle of his door, it turned into ice.

Jealousy isn't really a good emotion for elemental holder like us. Even if we had lived during the time dark magic and witchcraft reined most of the world's ancient countries and capitals and had mastered the heavy power we held, when jealousy come too much out of the hand, years and years of practice completely diminishes if it's against that kind of silly emotion.

I hadn't realized then that the steering wheel turned hot under my palms when I gazed at my reflection by the rear view, my eyes glowed a shade brighter. I loosened my grip on the wheels and tried to calm myself.

I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous, dammit!

As soon as our car entered the huge property that belonged to us, I tried my best to calm myself before parking my car allotted on the huge area for our cars. I jumped out of the car and proceeded to our three story glass-walled house with Ruka, Koko and Sumire trailing behind.

We were welcomed by the scent of burning cookies.

I proceeded to the kitchen just in time I saw mom and my sister Aoi, hurrying to the oven to remove a pan of heavily burned muffins.

Ruka was the first to react as he scrunched his nose. "Woah, Auntie, why did you murder the oven and the muffins?"

Mom dumped the pan on the sink and removed her mittens. "Hi, honey, darling." She greeted us with such affection and advances forward to kiss us on the cheek. "I was making muffins for our little dinner later but something went wrong with my time measurement. And Yuka even love muffins."

My forehead creased. "Who is Yuka?"

"My best friend, ever since the great fire in London." She smiled enthusiasm. "I met her in London with her husband, Izumi and their son. He's a good kid.

I let it drop.

"Ruka, honey, will you help me with this?"

"Sure."

"Hey, grandmother-ow!" Koko fell down face first on the ground; unable to avoid the rice cooker that mom had thrown on him. Koko and mom get along a lot … except when Koko calls her grandmother. She dislikes it extremely.

"Auntie, that hurts!" Koko complained as he stood and grab the rice cooker along with him. "Seriously, you're taking this one too far out."

Dad arrived at the scene of the crime soon. He frowned at the mess on the kitchen. Turning to mom, he kissed her forehead as his greeting. "Honey, what is the matter with our kitchen? And why is Koko nursing our broken rice cooker?"

"Auntie threw it on me." Koko mumbled; pretending to be in pain."Uncle, I should charge her for this. Physical maltreatment."

Sumire rolled her green eyes "suits you."

Dad sighed in defeat. "Okay, guys, some of our old friend will be arriving here for dinner. I want you all to be polite and well-mannered."

"Do they know…" Ruka trailed off.

I'd rolled my eyes at that. "Stupid."

"Shut up." He glared at me.

Mom nodded still. "Yeah, they know. Their biological daughter. Yeah. Be careful around her. She doesn't have full control on her abilities. I think a multi-user. But her energy kind of either extinguishes her life or extinguishes the life of those near her when she's lost control."

Sumire gasped. "Oh my God…"

"And also," Mom began again, "she's the forgetful type. Yuka says it's the effect of her being a multi-user.

"I'm going upstairs." I muttered in blunt disinterest as I excused myself. I wasn't honestly on anything trivial but only her. It was hard—very hard. It's like every single cell in my body screams out to see her. I wanted to see her. This is what's bad when you finally met someone you're tied into. It's like force is pulling you all over the place to her.

Someone rang the bell and immediately, my cells and organs tensed—as if I wanted to run to the door. I ignored the feeling and changed into casual jeans and shirt and slip into my house slippers before I lazily went downstairs.

"Yuka! Izumi!" Mom announced loudly as soon as I get downstairs; there was obvious enthusiasm on her voice as she spoke her name. "Welcome to our house! Come in."

Yuka was astoundingly beautiful. Both she and Izumi had a set of deep brown eyes and hair as light as hazel brown. Their hair was slightly wavy; Yuka's hair curled by the end of her hair. She—no, they looked very familiar.

My whole body tensed again.

Yuka's deep brown eyes studied me for the briefest of seconds before she smiled. She was so modest—too modest. "Is this Natsume-kun? Kaoru?" She eyed mom and dad. "Ioran?"

Mom nodded and pulled me roughly to her. "Yeah. This is Natsume. Natsume, darling, these are Yuka and Izumi Sakura."

My forehead creased. "Sakura?"

Izumi grinned cheekily. "Yeah my second daughter said you've finally met Mikan."

Yuka turned to mom. "Our Mikan is tied up to your Natsume."

"But she is not aware of that." Izumi laughed again. "She's all yours son. So, be careful of her, she's a walking disaster."

"Where is Mikan by the way?" Mom asked; impatient.

As they get preoccupied by conversations about Mikan, my head flew off to her. So, if Mikan is the biological daughter of Yuka and Izumi … that means she's the multi-user mom has been talking about.

My body became even tenser when the front door swing open and revealed Hotaru's poker face. She ignored me; her eyes were focused on Yuka and Izumi. "Mom, dad, Mikan got in trouble."

"What?!" My eyes narrowed as everything in me grew tenser. "What happened to Mikan?!" Before she could even respond, I was immediately by the door and saw Tsubasa with a boy barely eight years old helping out in him. "What happened to her? Is she hurt? Is Mikan harmed?"

Mikan peek through Tsubasa's protective elbow as a smile sliced on her thin lips. "Hey, Hyuuga-kun, what's up?"

I heaved out a sigh of relief upon realizing that he was still alive and immediately I rushed to her. "Are you all right? What happened to you?"

"She lost her balance"

"I'm fine seriously." Mikan stood up and I helped her. Her touch sent little shivers on every nerves I have it almost made me uncomfortable. "It's just a little blood."

"Is everything in her all right?" Yuka and mom appeared behind me; dad and Izumi remained by the door. Yuka stepped forward to check out on Mikan's wound. She looked up at her daughter; anxious. "Mikan…"

"Well, bring her in." Mom ordered anxiously too. "Come on, Natsume. Drag her in so we could heal her wounds."

I knew they were watching us but I ignored them as I carried her up to my arms and brought her inside the house. She was so tinny and miniature in size she fitted my arms easily. It was carved out only for her.

I cradled her closer but not enough to make her uncomfortable. But the magnet that is my heart pulled me closer to her. I knew it then and there.

.

.

Mikan is the only one for me.

A/N: I'm so happy! Woooh! I don't know why, but I really, really love making one shot in Natsume's POV. Enjoy reading guys! It's up to your wild imagination what will be the plot of the story! :D Once again, read, review, and then tell me what do you think, ne?!

In this world, we exist not because we are bound to do something. But because of a certain someone that is waiting for our grand arrival.

LyricsandGuitar