DISCLAIMER GA is not mine, and neither is Death Note.

Ashy-note Found this on my laptop, figured I'd upload it. Sorry if I haven't been updating but I'm having too much fun. :D

Courtship for Pride
Prose Vanity

-/-

One
Prides Alike

Her fists came slamming down the mahogany table; he flinched, imagining the pain she'd be in after that horrible punch, but she barely flicked an eyelash.

"What do you mean I'm gone from the school publication?" she said, her eyes narrowing. He gulped down several breaths, his breath fogging up his glasses, making it impossible to see the fuming 16-year-old. He wiped sweat from his upper lip and fought to get the words out.

"Mi—Mikan-san," he began, wondering how on earth he was going to make it understood with an irrational teenage girl completely controlled by hormones and such other body functions that render her incorrigibly stubborn as a mule. "You have to understand, it was done on Jinno-sensei's orders."

"Iinchou!" she screamed, tugging at the ends of her long brunette hair. He guzzled, looking around asking for help. "You know I need this! You know I do! My scholarship depends on everything about this publication!"

She was pleading.

This was not going to be fair to him, now.

"Mikan-chan, there's nothing I could do," he tried to explain futilely. "You broke school rules. You punched a student in the face! No matter what I can't let you back into the organization. It's the teachers' orders."

She scoffed, crossing her hands. She glared through her amber orbs at the poor guy while struggling to keep her emotions in check. "Yuu Tobita," she started, "if punching Natsume Hyuuga in the face is a crime, then what about pulling down a poor girl's skirt? What about throwing her stuff in the trash bin every chance he got? Don't tell me those are permitted inside this school."

"Mikan—"

She tsked. "Oh, wait, I forgot," she cut through him, rubbing the bridge of her bone-straight nose, "this school is run by those insufferable freaks, so they can do anything they want, can't they? Right. Of course they can do anything and everything they want."

"Mikan, don't do this, don't play with my feelings for you," pleaded Yuu. "We're great friends, best friends even, but even you could understand my situation. You know I can't do anything about it."

"Oh, Iinchou. Just…shut up and stop, okay? I might shower you with nasty curses and I don't really want to do that."

With a sour note of finality she left the room, taking good care to slam the door shut behind her, chocolate hair waving madly at him from behind her tall frame.

Yuu brushed his brow with his sleeve and breathed out. Mikan had so much raging hormones inside of her it was sometimes hard to keep up with her mood but lately these neurotic tendencies seemed to grow increasingly pronounced.

He knew the reason behind that, of course. After all, no one can induce such a reaction from her calm, collected self, other than her male counterpart and forever-arch-nemesis.

He was trying hard to cope up with the situation when suddenly a voice from behind him said, "Thanks, Tobita-san. That helps."

Yuu rolled his eyes at the blonde boy now approaching him fast from the windows of the publication office. He eyed the boy with so much disapproval so unlikely to be caught of him, but he can't help it; why did this boy have to give in to Hyuuga's every wish and want?

He turned to face away from the boy, pretending to look for something in his file cabinet when in truth he was really only keeping his temper in check, lest he lashes out at one of the principal students of the academy, rich or not rich. "Ruka, why do you do even put up with this? Seriously, it wasn't worth her rant, was it?"

The boy stepped out of the shadows and he looked at Yuu apologetically. "You know why, Yuu. I can't help it, he's just like that. Besides, I can tell this will be one of the greatest stories ever told inside this academy. Trust me. He always has his reasons."

He smiled an angelic smile and left.

"Whatever. Greatest story my ass," Yuu mumbled, a headache threatening to burgeon in his already-preoccupied temple. It was uncommon for him to curse but times like these called for desperate measures, because this six-year spat thing? It was getting ridiculous and seriously out of hand.

Honestly he never thought it would be so hard to be the middle ground of Mikan Sakura and Natsume Hyuuga until two days ago. But that was because he never even really thought things would come as far as dismissal orders.

He knew all about the Hyuuga-Sakura back story, of course, with Mikan being one of his best friends and him being the editor-in-chief of the school's weekly publication. He knew all the juicy stuff, so to speak, and so he knew how they had been for the past six years. Thing is, at sixteen you'd think they've all grown up, but that just wasn't the case. The two were still as immature as ever, so unconditionally tenacious (for want of a better word) and unreasonable.

They acted like a bunch of ten-year-old kids fighting over crayons and whatnot.

Frankly speaking it was getting tiring and annoying already, having to put up with their quarrels (or war would have to sound better). There had been a fat good lot of them already enough to fill the school yearbook. The committee was even going so far as to calling it the Hyuuga-Sakura timeline.

Oh, and when it's lots, it definitely meant thousands.

Things popped into Yuu's head, excerpts from those thousands of scenes.

Like the time he took of her underwear and flipped it in the air over the canteen crowds… He really didn't pull it off her, like the rumors say he did, he actually took it from her room right after she left for class, and then made the most of what he got. Yuu also knew it was payback for Mikan's little article days before that incident which talked about Natsume and his show of being non-interested in girls and the possibility that he was gay. Of course, if it had been him on the receiving end of that sort of insult he'd get mad, too, so it wasn't really surprising that the entire academy was waiting with bated breath for the great Hyuugan comeback, but none of them were expecting him to take it as far as humiliating her in front of the students by showing off her polka-dotted panty.

Even Ruka thought it was too much, but that's Natsume for you.

There was this one other incident when Hyuuga purposefully made her scream murder when he had proclaimed in the school cafeteria that she was flat chested, again in payback for another one of Mikan's escapades that involved a heavily-damaged Ferrari fresh from England.

Or the part where Mikan tore up Natsume's limited-edition Naruto Collector's Edition manga.

Or the time he slammed the classroom door on her face, causing her to yelp in pain as her body collided with the hard oaken strip of wood.

Or the ball scene when he "accidentally" poured caramel all over her pure white dress.

There was so much more where these stories came from, and to him, it was really getting too much.

It had even become such a habit that the student population watched its episodes like they would a soap opera or a hit TV series. Every week there was something new, something much more amusing than the last. They placed bets on the possible outcomes, squawked at every news flash about Sakura doing this to Hyuuga and vice-versa, and even tried asking the publication to have a column solely dedicated to this pair (which he aggressively refuted) just to stay updated.

They found it fun. He, Yuu Tobita, found it stupid and pointless.

It might sound impossible, but it really is happening, and it has been like it since day one of third grade. Now in their last year of high school, nothing much has changed. Except maybe sometimes it even felt like it was some sort of cat-fight, and the lengths to which these two would go for revenge was just more mind-bending and astonishing than ever before.

There was nothing they wouldn't do for each other.

And that wasn't romantically speaking.

Lately, however, there had been one circumstance which even he deemed to be indeed under the belt low, even for the Hyuuga-Sakura tandem: Mikan punched Natsume for no reason at all.

Admittedly it might be considered a getting-even sort of thing after Natsume's remark of her being a low creature having to live off of an admittedly minuscule allowance, but punching him for no reason at all weeks after the incident seemed unreasonable indeed, especially after Natsume declared to let her live in peace already.

Natsume, of course, didn't take to that too lightly. And being the son of the main patrons of the school, the higher-ups were his lapdogs and were following him around, listening to his beck and call, so when he asked them to knock Mikan off the school publication, the only thing sustaining her education, they did.

It was unfair, of course he knew that, but the system was just so fucking screwed up.

It was like Mikan had said—they practically run the school so they get to do whatever they want.

It never really dawned upon Yuu, but now he knew just how much their influence was.

He left the office completely blacked out.

"Natsume, this is just wrong."

He only shrugged on the sofa while his best friend watched him silently from the window. It was a glorious day outside, but he was currently out of the mood, with his best friend continually nagging him about yesterday's dismissal of his greatest archenemy.

His actions were justified. At least in his opinion he was. "Nothing's wrong with it. She got what she deserved, punching me in the face just like that, when she had no reason to."

Ruka squinted at him. "Technically she has every reason, seeing as you insulted her and degraded her in every way possible," he retorted."Natsume, you called her an impoverished dog and a poor, low creature who has to live off of an allowance equal to your haircut tip. That was harsh, even if it was me I'd slap the soul out of you."

Natsume shot him a dark glare which he shook off quite easily, being so used to this rascal treatment after having to live with it for almost thirteen years.

His answer was icy. "I called her exactly what she was and I told her the truth, only without the sweetie-pie treatment she's so used to having. Is it so wrong to wake her up to the reality of her position in this society?"

"That's completely off! There are other ways of getting revenge on her, she just punched you, for crying out loud! You could have simply blocked her examination permit or asked Jinno to make her do chores. Anything else, just not this."

The Hyuuga's back stiffened. "Could you possibly be feeling sorry for that hovel of a woman?"

"No, Natsume. I'm being reasonable. Unlike you, being so stubborn and immature."

Silence followed words.

He tried one last time.

"Hotaru isn't going to like this, you know," he tried to threaten Natsume. It was his trump card, his ace, his final act, because after all, only she can control this arrogant, bratty best friend of his.

She was Hotaru Imai, Hyuuga's even more sadistic cousin, who was the best friend of Mikan Sakura herself.

The Hyuuga only threw off the comment with another sharp glare at Ruka, who tried hard not to blanch. It seemed his final act didn't quite work its magic the way it used to.

"To the dumps with that woman, having a best friend like that idiot," Natsume said nonchalantly, flipping the pages of his Death Note manga.

It was so hard to make him see sense, Ruka mused. Then he sighed, wondering why he even bothered changing his mind when he knew just what Natsume was when it came to that Sakura.

Still, he had to make him understand the wrongs of his action. Trying for the umpteenth time to talk some sagacity back to his best friend's head, he spoke again only to be interrupted.

"I have had enough of this childish attitude."

The door squealed and in came a furious-looking girl roughly their age. The air seemed awfully disturbed with her presence that even Natsume had stopped reading and listened.

Ruka had to hand it to her, she always had perfect timing. Trust Imai to know when to act.

He stole a glance at the beautiful lady framed by the doorway. He had to gulp as he looked at her; the look in her violet eyes was deadly, and it wasn't an understatement at all.

"Hyuuga," she muttered, passing by Ruka after acknowledging him with a nod, "what have you done this time?"

The boy on the sofa merely looked at her before snapping his eyes back to the manga he was so engrossed in reading. Her eyes narrowed.

"Ahou. Look at me you, intolerable brat."

Closing his eyes in sheer annoyance, Natsume threw down the manga to his lap and addressed her with a monotonous voice equally colds as hers. "What do you want now, you spoiled Nazi?"

Her eyes flashed violence. "You take back what you had ordered them to do about Mikan. Now."

"Fat chance. Not gonna happen." He returned to his manga.

"It will happen, Hyuuga, but things would be easier if you just agreed now. It would be for your own good, you insufferable half-assed mule."

He glared, but a smirk grazed his lips nonetheless. "Make me, Imai."

She crossed her arms and stop walking. She was now directly in front of him, holding a gun in her hand which was pointed directly at the Hyuuga. "I would have done that already, Hyuuga. I would have, if only I wasn't too damn soft for my own good and I didn't give in to her wishes of leaving you alone about this issue."

That seemed to hit a point in him, and with a small glint of victory in her eyes Ruka watched as Natsume stilled and refocused his eyes on the page he was reading.

He tried to, at least, because in the end he removed his eyes from the scene of Light's triumph over L and scrutinized Hotaru.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me," she bit back, anger emanating from her very core even though her face remained as uncaring as ever, the victorious look gone in an instant. "She told me to leave you alone."

That seemed to confuse him a bit. "Why would she say that?" He asked her.

"Does it look like I care, dobe? You're getting on my nerves now, you dolt. That is completely off the point. I want you to cancel the order of dismissal. And you will do it. Now."

The tone in her voice was so authoritative it took all of Natsume's guts to even reply a strict "no" to it.

Because honestly speaking it took him by surprise that Mikan Sakura had given up on this one part of their fight. Being the prideful being that she was, she would never let up with this, but now…she was suddenly giving up?

Just like that?

And the answered came to him: she wanted an easy way out. After all, if she just left and gave up, it would inevitably make him the bad guy, having forced her to leave the school.

Which means she wins with giving up.

His face twisted into a scowl. He was definitely not letting up just like that. He would definitely make things harder for her. If she thought it would all be this easy well she was gravely mistaken.

So he agreed. "Fine. Consider it done—on one condition."

Hotaru squinted at him, the gun not wavering nonetheless. "What is it?"

His handsome face broke into a rare, impish smile. "That she let me court her."

Hotaru's face relaxed, but the vigilance never left her eyes. Lowering her gun she turned hotly on her heels and headed for the door, giving the proposition some thought. With one hand on the door knob, she looked back at the gloating boy on the couch. "Fine. Now get those useless guards of yours to stop her car before she runs out of this place entirely." And then she walked out.

Ruka didn't get what Natsume just did. "Natsume?"

"Relax, Ruka," there was a strange glint in his crimson eyes—a sparkle of mischief brewing just underneath his shock of jet-black hair. "I know what I'm doing."

He, however, didn't. "Court her? Wouldn't you just ask her to be your girlfriend in an instant?"

He shook his black head, the devilish smile never leaving his eyes albeit his face was rearranged to its usual cold demeanor. "That would be far too easy to do and even easier to refute; she could say no in an instant and everything goes to ashes. No, I'm going to make this hard on her. It would be a lot more interesting if she slowly fell for me, instead."

The blonde still looked confused. "And why would that be the case, exactly?"

Natsume smirked. "Because it'd be the greatest blow to her pride if she fell for her sworn enemy. And once that happens, I win."

Disbelief carved its way to Ruka's face. It was surely one thing to hurt each other, but it seems this was turning more and more into a battle of wit as well as a battle of pride.

Still, everything in Natsume's plan reeked of dangerous.

He couldn't help but laugh at the endless possibilities he saw in his best friend's idea.

"That sounds like a double-edged sword, Natsume. Careful with your plan."

"And why would that be?"

"Well, take it like this: what if it happens the other way around and you fall for her instead? Then you lose at your own game. That wouldn't be a nice thing."

"Right. Like that would happen."

"Oh, I don't know." Ruka had a strange knowing look in his eyes, too. "Anything's possible."

"There are exceptions to every rule. Or adage, for this matter. The whole point of the game is to make her fall for me and get her to accept a defeat, rather than just giving up now."

"Right. Fine. You do that."

Ruka was already on his way to the door when Natsume spoke again.

"Ruka, there is no chance I'll fall for her."

Somehow, he didn't believe his best friend when he said that.

Maybe he told Yuu the right thing. Maybe this indeed was bound to be the greatest story ever told in the history of Sakura and Hyuuga, after all.

Little did he know how right he was.

~PV.