Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.
WARNING: This fic is mindless fluff(?), it should not be taken too seriously, as it was not written under serious circumstances. Hahaha.
Cinderella and the... Cat
The moon hung high over a vast, deep blue sky, millions of tiny stars twinkling in the background. It was a beautiful night, the perfect opening for a dreamy fairytale…
Except that this was no fairytale. At least, not for Mikan Sakura, who had just started her daily lament about just how awful her life was.
She hugged her knees as she leaned against the slightly crooked wooden wall of the attic, shivering at the small bouts of night breeze that blew through the uncovered gaps in the wood. Pouting at her plain grey dress that had been patched over and over again, she turned to stare forlornly at the two exquisite, shimmering ball gowns that hung on the wall opposite from her.
Mikan stood, dusting off her dress – or trying to, but it was so dirty that there really was no point anyway – and reaching for the dresses that she had dreamt about owning so many times before, on the nights when she hadn't been too tired to even dream.
Oh, can life not just be a teensy weensy bit fairer to her? Mikan bit her lip wistfully as she stared at the beautiful, elegant details on the gowns – her two stepsisters' ball gowns, specially made for the Royal Ball which was to be held in –
"MIIIIIIIIKAAAAAAAN! Get your lazy ass over here right NOW!" Mikan winced as the broken attic trembled a little from the force of that one, terrible screech, and she had to all but force herself away from her dream dresses and make her way downstairs, into what she knew just had to be more unreasonable demands by her step-family.
And it was so unfair for her stepsister to be calling her a lazy ass too, she thought to herself derisively, carefully jumping over the missing steps in the staircase. Unless she had contracted amnesia or some other disease, Mikan was pretty sure that she was the one who did most, if not all of the work around the house.
All her stepsisters did were lie around and lie that they were the ones who did all the chores. And being the pig-headed, dunce of a woman that her stepmother was, said stepmother believed the stories readily – much to Mikan's helpless chagrin.
Mikan came to a stop in front of her two stepsisters, both of whom were currently lounging – with their legs wide open – on the family couch.
The eldest, with her beautiful flowing green locks and equally captivating emerald eyes, was the acclaimed beauty of the village, the one males clamoured after, drooling distastefully as they clung to the ruffled hems of her expensive skirts. Mikan grinded her teeth as she watched Sumire snort unattractively at her, propping her leg up against another in an extremely unladylike fashion.
Oh, if only those uncouth villagers could see their princess now!
Sumire paid no heed to the shivering Mikan before her, continuing to file her nails while occasionally letting out an ill-mannered snort. Her sister, on the other hand, was not half as kind to the poor girl.
"The floor is not swept, peasant." The boar of a girl hissed, pointing an accusing finger at Mikan. "You've been slacking off again! In that stupid, rundown attic!"
Mikan didn't even blink. "If I'm a peasant, you are too," she countered flatly, raising an eyebrow at Luna, who had once been immensely beautiful as well, but was now no more than a shadow of her former self. Perhaps even calling her a shadow was insulting the former her, for the Luna of now was hideous.
While she had previously been the proud owner of glowing blonde hair and impeccable looks, an unfortunate run-in with a black witch who hated her guts had now left her with hair which at most could be called a dusty blonde, while her face was littered with big and small zits. To complete her monstrous look, her dainty nose had swelled up to at least twice its original size.
In other words, Luna looked like a female ogre, and was given hell because of it. Mikan was in fact pretty sure that the story about her former suitor running into a well and drowning to his death just to get away from her had a grain of truth in it. As such, Luna had grown to be bitter. Bitter of her sister's popularity with the men in the village, yet unable to contest her because of her own inferiority, she took out her unhappiness on the only person in the village whom she could abuse without any backlash, and that person was Mikan.
"Shut up, you ugly girl," Luna snapped, although why she thought she had the right to call Mikan ugly was completely beyond her stepsister, "You're just jealous because you won't get to go to the ball. When I come back with the Prince for my husband –"
It was Sumire who interrupted her with a delicate sniff. "Oh, you can't seriously still be dreaming that pipe-dream, Luna."
"Well when it comes true all of you will just have to shut up, won't you?"
"You sure feel good about yourself, as useless as it might be. Do you really believe that the Prince will even look at you? He will only have eyes for beautiful, charismatic girls like me," Sumire retorted, only to scream in horror the next second when she realized that she had accidentally shaved off half of her eyebrow. Luna guffawed in laughter, her germ-filled spit flying unceremoniously around the room.
Mikan would tell the both of them to go to hell if she weren't so affected by what Luna had said earlier. She would like to tell herself that she didn't care about the Royal Ball, but then it would be a lie. She was a girl, and as much as she didn't give two hoots about the rumoured handsome Prince who was scouting for a wife, she did want to experience a fancy ball just for once in her life, dressed up in all her finery.
She didn't realize that she had voiced that thought out loud until her stepsiblings snarled at her unanimously, "Well that's too bad, because you're not going, not when you don't have a gown."
Sudden courage – or maybe it was anger? – filled Mikan and she riposted, "I could strangle you right now, Luna, and not even your own mother would care."
True.
Mikan almost stumbled on her own two feet when she heard the timbre of the unknown voice float into her head. God, she didn't need 'batshit crazy' to add to the long list of insults that her stepsisters liked to throw at her.
"Y-you can try," Luna stammered while Sumire snickered at her, obviously also aware of their mother's disdain towards her less perfect offspring.
Hmm. Not a bad idea.
Mikan's eyes caught a flash of red, and she struggled to calm her frayed nerves as she found the owner of those piercing red eyes lounging lazily on the last step of the staircase, its black tail swishing slowly behind it.
A cat. Did that cat just talk to her? In her mind?
"Are you ignoring me, Sakura?" Luna bellowed.
Yes, came the cat's reply to her question barely a second later. Mikan blinked once, twice, then pressed her fingers to her temples, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Sakura!"
Running away from the unknown? So like you humans to do so.
No, no, no, this was some mistake – "SAKURA! Don't test my patience!" – and it simply had to be. Cats didn't talk. Cats were not capable of telepathy. This was just a cruel joke played on her by someone. If she just went closer to the window beside the staircase, she'd probably find a trickster from the village huddled up beside the rose bed.
Red in the face from being completely ignored, Luna stomped her feet – leaving two large holes in the carpet – and stalked off, while Sumire clucked her tongue in disdain.
Her two stepsisters completely blown off to the back of her mind, Mikan took careful steps towards the unknown being staring right at her –
- and ran her hand across its head, patting it.
I don't like humans touching me.
Pat. Pat, pat, pat. Patpatpatpatpatpat.
I said I don't –
"Wow. You're real. You… communicate."
"Stop touching me, woman. I'm not here because I want to be. I was sent here for a purpose and I've been watching you moaning like a loser in that attic of yours – "
"Hey! Watch your words, you stupid cat! And you can talk! Why didn't you talk properly just now?"
The cat raised a paw and pointed it, claws and all, at Sumire, who was now frozen still in shock. The next second, she had taken off, screaming like a banshee into the dark night.
"That," the cat said as it looked at her smugly, "is why."
After much struggling and attempted scratching by the rude cat, Mikan finally managed to relocate it back to the attic, where the creepy thing had apparently been spying on her for the past few weeks. Just the thought about it was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
"Don't look at me like I'm a creepy stalker. Your real stalker sent me. From what she says she's been watching you since the day you took your first breath." The cat turned its tiny head to lick at a small abrasion it had gotten from their little brawl earlier.
"What? My… stalker?" Mikan glanced furtively towards the open window and door, wondering what the chances of her getting out of this alive were if she threw the cat out of the window, or ran out of the door as fast as her two wobbly legs could carry her.
"Don't even think about it," the cat warned, and she could have sworn it was raising an eyebrow at her.
Mikan huffed a little as she settled down on the floor across from her tiny adversary. Mind-reading cats were really of no help at all.
"You think so?" The cat smirked.
"Stop invading my privacy!" Mikan cried as she threw her hands up in the air dramatically. "And stop being so haughty!" she added as the cat barely spared her a glance before lying down on its stomach comfortably.
"Stop overreacting, peasant girl. I call her a stalker as she is, but apparently you humans like to give her the fancy-ass name of" – it winced a little as it paused – "fairy godmother."
"This is it, isn't it?" Mikan breathed, scooting closer to the cat. "I've read about this before, I know I have. I'm Cinderella, aren't I?"
"Don't even try to mention that blasted fairytale," the cat sneered at her, its whiskers curling upwards in irritation. "So I was given orders to get you to the ball. That's the only thing in common you have with that stupid tale."
"Yes!" Mikan cheered to herself, pumping her fist up in the air. Finally, after holding belief that something good would definitely happen to her someday, it had. In the form of a pompous cat, but no matter. She was going to the ball!
"Besides," the cat continued self-importantly, as Mikan blatantly ignored it in her intense joy, "Cinderella had a fairy godmother who actually bothered to get her ass out of bed to do her job, while your fairy godmother is actually no more than a little witch – a lazy one at that – who sent her magic cat to do her own fucking job."
Mikan smiled at it, her eyes crinkling into a smile too. It disconcerted the cat more than a little bit. Now, jumping frogs its master needed for her potions it could handle, but jumpy girls were completely out of its league. It felt a cursed headache coming again as he stared at her blinding smile, so it looked away. "Besides," it coughed a little to cover up its discomfort, "My powers are not so half-assed that they actually go away at midnight. Nor do I need mice from you. Much less a fucking pumpkin."
Mikan's brows came together in disapproval of the feline's rather colourful language, but in her current mood she could forgive anything, so she got over it soon enough. Getting closer to it, she asked affably, "What's your name? Are you a male or female?"
The cat snorted. "You couldn't tell from my voice? The name's Natsume and I'm many things, but a girl is definitely not one of them."
"Oh," Mikan waved his attitude away half-heartedly. "Hi Natsume! I'm Mikan."
"I know that."
"Right, but an introduction is still in order!"
"No it's not, not when we've barely enough time to get you out of your rags for the ball. Do you actually want to go to such a stupid thing?"
"It would be a nice memory."
"I doubt that, but air-headed girls usually have a warped sense of what's nice and what's not."
"Hey! That's not nice," she chided, her hands on her hips.
"I know," he looked at her blandly. "I'm not supposed to be."
Mikan huffed, and Natsume let out a long-suffering sigh. "Come on," he motioned for her to move, "we'll have to make use of whatever time we have left."
Mikan shot him a dirty look before tripping over her own two feet trying to get out of the door.
When she had completely disappeared from view, Natsume turned his penetrating gaze towards the two dresses hanging on the hook hammered into the wall.
He made his way towards the dresses leisurely, and as he moved, light, white wisps of smoke started to gather around him, getting thicker and thicker until it eventually enveloped the whole cat from view.
When the smoke dissipated, what stood within it was not a cat, but a young boy who looked barely eighteen, with midnight black hair and eyes as red as blood.
"Cinderella, huh?" he mused to himself, the corners of his pale lips lifting just the slightest as he pressed a finger to one dress, then another.
The light wisp of magic power that passed between his fingertip and the dresses could easily be overlooked, but it was definitely there.
So was the self-satisfied smirk that rested upon the boy's lips as he went off in search of his very troublesome ward.
As rude and proud as the cat Natsume had been, Mikan was sincerely grateful that he had taken all the time to come and help her get to the ball. Finally, she would be able to see more of the world that she had never come into contact with after her father had died. She could meet more people and learn new things.
And best of all, for tonight she wouldn't be the "freeloading" stepsister. She could be a girl, and enjoy herself for once.
It was thanks to the cat that she had such an opportunity, so Mikan reminded herself for the umpteenth time that she had to be patient with her savior. Yes, as intolerable as he might be, she had to tolerate him. After all, it would only be for one night. Mikan smiled to herself as she bent down to pick a rose from the rows of roses in the garden, the roses that she had painstakingly planted and maintained herself. They had always been her pride and joy, and she decided that she was going to put one in her hair when she went to the ball that night, for what better way to celebrate her momentary freedom, than with the very things that kept her happy in her dreary and mundane life of slavery?
Maybe she would give the cat one stalk of rose as a gift, Mikan thought to herself, her hand hovering hesitantly over a particularly beautiful rose. It was the colour of his eyes, she thought, mesmerized, and she was pretty sure that the red would look even more gorgeous against his ebony fur.
"Save it," the familiar low voice growled, "I don't appreciate flowers in my hair, thanks."
Mikan stopped herself from feeling invaded – he read her mind again! – and turned to look at the cat. Or what she thought was going to be the cat, since the only things she saw in the place where the cat should be were polished leather shoes.
Her instinctive reaction was to panic, and she hastily took a few steps backward before glancing warily at the intruder.
What she saw took her breath away. Standing before her was quite possibly the prettiest boy she had ever seen in her eighteen years of life. His black hair hung all over his eyes messily; the worst yet best looking case of constant bed hair that she had ever come across. His figure was lean, yet the tight cut of his suit held promises of strong muscles underneath the surface. She didn't think anyone could give off a more Princely aura than this boy did, no, not even the Prince himself.
His features seemed to be carved out from a statue itself, but what caught her breath were his eyes. Red, like the rose she had placed in her hair. Like the eyes of… "Natsume?"
"What is that thing doing in your hair?" he asked, crinkling his nose distastefully. "I can assure you it will most definitely clash with the colour of the dress I brought along."
He waited for her response not so patiently, tapping his foot on the gravel path that cut through the garden. All Mikan could do was gape.
A few minutes passed, three bouts of wind blew through, six crows crowed, and a vein started ticking in Natsume's left cheek before she finally regained her senses.
"…Oh." Was all that she could manage to squeeze out.
"What, did you really think I was a fucking cat?"
"Yes."
Natsume narrowed his eyes at her before snapping his fingers irritably. A bright glow filled the garden, and Mikan was forced to tear her eyes away from his face. The glow disappeared, and an orange ball gown lay draped over Natsume's right arm. From what Mikan could see of it, though, it was gorgeous.
"Is that for me?" She pulled it off of his arm and held it up high so that she could look at it closely. And boy, did she like what she saw. "It's really pretty. Thank you, Natsume."
He exhaled sharply; as if he didn't find it a surprise at all that Mikan liked it. He did find it a surprise, however, when the girl leaned forward brazenly, her eyes shining with tears of gratitude, and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Before he could hide his spluttering to show her that she didn't affect him at all, Mikan had already skipped off into her room to try on her dress, leaving a very confused – and slightly pissed off – boy (cat) standing by her rose garden.
"You said you didn't need any mice or pumpkins! You said you were stronger than that!" Mikan griped as she hung onto the wavering tree branch, her eyes closed tightly as she reached out blindly for the evasive frog that had escaped all the way to the river, and was now perched mockingly on a small stone in the middle of several fierce currents.
Natsume merely shrugged, standing at the riverbank with absolutely no intention to help the brunette. "I don't need mice or pumpkins. I need a fuc –"
"Ok! Ok! I'll get you the frog, so stop cursing!" Mikan squealed a little when she got a little too close to the river surface. "But the least you could do was tell me that before I changed into my gown!"
"You were the one who ran off like an eager puppy –"
"Well thanks for bothering to stop me, dumb cat!" she wailed, "Now I'm going to go to the ball dripping wet…"
"You haven't got even a drop of water on you," he deadpanned.
"I will soon!" The girl insisted, and to her horror, she knew she was right. The tree branch let out a sickening crack before completely coming off, and before she could even say her last goodbyes to the infuriating cat she was already tumbling into the incoming current.
The flowing water hit her hard, but Mikan couldn't even register how much it hurt. She had never been taught to swim when she was young, for her father had left her early. Moreover, she didn't think that anyone who could swim could survive in these vicious currents anyway.
She couldn't breathe and it felt awful, so she closed her hurting eyes and tried not to think about it. It still hurt her lungs just as much.
She could curse that damn cat and drag him into the afterlife with her, but Mikan decided that she wasn't that evil yet, and besides, it wasn't really his fault that the branch had snapped under her weight. If only she had known that going to the ball would be this much trouble, then she never would have bothered wishing.
Her consciousness was just starting to fade away when a small ball of light appeared in the water. It was red, flaming red.
Just like his eyes, was Mikan's last thought before her eyes rolled back into her head, the ball of light grew and covered her whole.
The next thing she knew, she was spluttering and choking like she had never done before. Mikan opened her eyes and saw red.
Especially more now that she could see the frog that was sitting in a ball of light. Captured, by the same boy who was smirking down at her condescendingly.
"You're an idiot!" She couldn't help herself from saying.
Natsume raised an eyebrow. "I was the one who saved you."
"That doesn't absolve you of being an idiot. You waited eons to save me, and you caught that frog!"
"I did. So what?"
Mikan spluttered at his audacity to play it off like it was nothing. So what? So what? She'd show him what, benefactor or not.
"You could have caught him earlier, if it was so easy for you to get your hands on that slimy thing!"
Natsume didn't speak for a while, almost looking uncomfortable with what he was going to say. "And who told you it was easy?" he muttered to himself after a long pause, and that was when Mikan realized what was so wrong with the scene.
Natsume was dripping wet, from head to toe. But why would he need to be? He could simply have used his magic to retrieve the frog, like he did with her. There was absolutely no need for him to have to come into contact with the water itself.
Unless… Mikan stared at the ball of light encasing the frog, berating herself silently for not having noticed earlier. The magic was a very light blue, unlike the fiery red that had surrounded her earlier.
"That's not yours," she pointed out. "The magic's not yours."
"Of course not," Natsume snapped, "My magic doesn't work on ingredients."
Mikan blinked at him while he looked anywhere but at her. She felt herself starting to shake with mirth, and Natsume growled in annoyance.
"Why doesn't it? Why doesn't your holy power work on a weak little frog?" She asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"The old hag won't let me. It's not my problem. It's the damned hag. She wanted to make my life harder, make me work harder, so she cast this fucking spell –"
"The witch? My fairy godmother?"
Natsume gave her a terse nod before continuing, "She gives me these small bits of her power to contain the ingredients. But I can't control her magic, so I have to catch the bloody things first."
Mikan didn't know why, but looking at Natsume dripping wet and scowling, she actually felt rather content and happy.
"What are you smiling at?" he hissed, and she reached out to ruffle his wet hair.
He shook her off easily enough, a stream of curses coming out of his mouth.
"Thank you," she said sincerely – as he stalked off with the poor frog crushed half to death in his fist – and maybe with too much fondness that she should allow.
When they finally arrived at the Royal Palace, it was already way past sunset, and Mikan was also way past her limit for how long she was willing to stay inside the mouth of a giant frog.
That's right. A giant frog! Although she had never really expected Natsume to conjure up an extraordinarily exotic carriage to bring her to the ball, she never once expected him to simply blow up the frog, either. And after all the trouble she had went to trying to catch the damn thing, she was just regretful that she hadn't decided to just walk to the ball instead.
The inside of the gigantic frog's mouth had been slobber-free – for some reason – and was generally well furnished, but the idea of being in a frog's mouth simply made Mikan feel like retching up the little bit of dinner she had had earlier.
Still, the moment she stepped out of that horrendous place, the beautiful castle had all of her attention. In lieu of the Royal Ball that was being held that night, beautiful banners and ribbons of the finest silk and cloth had been hung all over the palace, making it a magnificent sight for all to behold. The normally plain white castle was now decorated with a mixture of blues, pinks and purples, and the lighted torches only served to increase the beauty of the infrastructure.
Excitement bubbling up from inside of her, Mikan beckoned for Natsume, who hung around the frog with a bland expression on his face. "Come on, Natsume. We're here!"
"Come what? You're going alone." Natsume shooed her with his hands as he added, "I'm not interested in house parties."
Mikan didn't know what this feeling was. Disappointment? But why? "But… but it's the Royal Ball."
"And that has to do with me what?"
Mikan pouted, feeling oddly crushed that her newfound friend would not be accompanying her into the palace. It felt as if the ball wouldn't be as much fun without a certain cranky witch's assistant there with her, bursting her bubble whenever possible.
"Will I see you later?" she asked meekly, suddenly having second thoughts about the ball.
She thought Natsume was going to be snarky again, but he only sighed and shook his head in exasperation. "I'll be here with the frog when it's time for you to go home."
"Pinky promise?"
"I don't do fucking pinky promises."
"I'll see you later then!"
"Unfortunately, yes."
The smile that stretched across Mikan's face was the widest that it had been in a long time, and she thought to herself that Fate treated her rather well.
Mikan was fascinated with the people, the fashion, and the atmosphere that the Grand Ballroom held. Everything was so new, everything she was seeing for the first time.
She knew that it would be tons more fun if the black cat was here for her to banter with, but she supposed she should settle with what she had and not wish for too much. What she didn't know was that while she pranced about the ballroom elatedly, a lithe black cat followed her every move, his eyes perpetually narrowed, for she looked extremely stupid to his eyes.
Who would be wowed by glazed donuts? This woman was a country bumpkin through and through, and just watching her gave Natsume the feeling that she didn't belong in this place. No, she definitely didn't belong where deceit and treachery thrived. He had half a mind to drag her out of the ball immediately whenever he caught some old perverts leering at her, but he always managed to talk himself out of it. Do not interfere with her wishes, had been his orders from his master, and he'd be damned before he broke his orders just because she was being an idiot.
Mikan weaved through the dozens of couples whom were dancing slowly on the dance floor, only to find herself bumping into a hard, muscled chest. She looked up, right into the bright blue eyes of the Royal Prince – Nogi Ruka.
Everyone in the kingdom knew of him. He was the perfect man, the perfect husband, and the gentlest male the kingdom had ever seen. When he wasn't entertaining guests with his perfect manners or making females swoon with his perfect looks, he spent his afternoons relaxing with his animal friends, all of whom adored him.
The prince smiled his perfect smile at her, and Mikan felt a blush staining her cheek. "May I have the honour of a dance with you, my lady?" He asked, and Mikan only managed to nod shyly before he pulled her into the myriad of dancers on the dance floor.
Everything was going as planned, yet as the lone cat watched Mikan – that stupid peasant girl – smile up at the perfect Prince who was destined to fall in love with her, an unbridled frustration gripped him till the point where he was willing to pull all his fur out just to get a sense of what the hell was wrong with him.
Mikan was appalled. Her mouth had dropped open in the most unladylike manner nearly five minutes ago, and she still hadn't closed it as she watched Prince Ruka strut off to the refreshment table in all of his princely glory to get her a drink.
She swore that she could see a halo of light above the man. He was an angel. There was no other way to explain how on earth he could be so perfect, well mannered and good looking and just… just… angelic.
Any girl who disliked him deserved to have her head cut off for it.
Mikan deserved to have her head cut off for being so, so bored around him.
She couldn't help it, though. She'd tried all the ways to rile him up, make him banter with her so that she could enjoy a conversation with him, but goodness – the boy never got angry. It seemed as if he didn't have enough passion for anything, didn't want to put emotion into anything.
"You have really nice eyes, Your Highness."
"Thank you."
"Your tie is pink."
"Yes, it is."
"Don't you think pink is a little effeminate?"
"It may be, but my head housemaid picked it out for me, and I wear it to honour her effort." Cue blinding smile.
By that point Mikan wanted to tear out either his head or her own head. Anything to get out of this mundane situation.
Then, a stray thought hit her. She wondered if he would be able to hear her. Would telepathy work if he was too far away?
Maybe it won't if it's telepathy. But it's not bloody telepathy.
The rough voice entered her head barely a second later, and even though Mikan should have been feeling upset at his rotten attitude, she could care less at that moment.
"Natsume!" She hadn't noticed that she'd said his name out loud until Ruka cocked his head at her, puzzled.
"Mikan-san? Who's Natsume?"
Idiot, the voice in her head mocked.
Mikan bit her lip. "Uh, it's my mantra. I say it when I'm happy!" She winced at her own words, knowing what a far stretch it seemed from the truth.
If Prince Ruka knew of her lie, he made no show of his knowledge. Instead, he nodded graciously. "I see."
The cat was not as kind. Mantra? What kind of bullshit is that?
Shut up, stupid cat, Mikan made sure to say in her own head this time.
She heard something like a brief growl, and then the presence in her head disappeared completely. Ruka was still looking at her expectantly, but Mikan was too pissed off about the fact that Natsume had abandoned her – again! – to entertain him.
"I'm sorry, Prince," she said apologetically as she started to back away, not noticing the enamored look he had as he looked at her, "but I really need to go to the washroom."
Nogi Ruka had barely uttered a word before she was off, instinctively heading towards the darkest corner of the ballroom.
Natsume mewled irritably when Mikan plopped herself on the wine barrel, smiling at him from where she sat. He curled his tail around his body and turned the other way, unwilling to even spare the girl a glance.
Mikan clucked her tongue. "What a temper. And I didn't even do anything too bad anyway."
There was no response this time, so Mikan merely sighed and picked up the snarling cat whole, dropping him into her lap. The threatening hiss the cat gave out might have been enough to scare other people away, but Mikan merely thought about how fun it was, and how easy it was to rile him up.
Natsume dragged his claw across her covered thigh viciously, not drawing blood but causing enough pain to make her yelp. She glared right into his heated crimson eyes. There was a tense silence for a while, before she burst out into laughter.
Hysterical laughter.
"This is so much better," Mikan wheezed in between her bouts of laughter. "So much better than that upright prince."
Natsume's furry ear twitched. "The hag meant for him to be your husband." He narrowed his cat eyes at her, "And everything should be going well if you haven't sabotaged it with your uncouth ways."
"Uncouth? Me? You're the one spouting curse words left and right!"
He huffed and turned away from her again, yet his furry body settled into a more comfortable position on her lap.
"And what do you mean husband?" she gasped dramatically. "I can't live with him forever! I can't live with him even for a minute. He's too nice."
"And that's a problem?"
"Well it feels like our married life would be really really boring. I'm not sure that he has a personality at all."
He stared at her for a while before turning away nonchalantly. "I'm sure a brat or two will help you with that situation."
Mikan scoffed, scandalized at his suggestion. She picked him up, dangling him in front of her face while he tried and failed to scratch her face.
"Can't we leave now?" She pleaded, tugging at one of his paws while she held him up with one hand.
That sounds like a good idea, he thought to himself, but then he remembered why he was there with her. "No," he said moodily. "I was given orders to allow Fate to play out. Act in your well-being."
Mikan's face dropped. "But I don't want to stay anymore," she whined.
Natsume eyed her forlorn look. "Too bad, it's your fate."
"Pleaseeee," she rubbed her cheek against his and he started spluttering, his tiny paws waving helplessly in the air as she molested him.
"I could shift now," he warned, wincing as Mikan's hair poked his eye, "and you'll regret this."
"I'll be miserable with him, I just know it," she implored, holding both of his paws in her hands and lifting him so that he stood on his two hind legs. She giggled a little. "You should stay as a cat, Natsume, you're sinfully adorable like this."
He could snap at her, but Natsume decided that he was in a good mood and would allow that idiotic smile to remain on her equally idiotic face for a while longer.
I'll be miserable with him, I just know it.
What did she know? The bastard was perfect, the old hag Gwen had picked him out herself for her precious little goddaughter.
I'll be miserable – wait, what?
You are to act in her well-being, Natsume. No interfering otherwise.
Mikan thought she had gone crazy – or maybe he had – when the black cat's lips split into a grin, sharp canines and all.
"You hate him," the cat said almost gleefully.
"Well, not exactly hate, but we don't click –"
"He'll make your life awful," The self-absorbed feline plowed on, disregarding Mikan.
"Exponentially," she agreed with a small smile of her own.
Natsume leapt gracefully off her lap, smoke enveloping him for moments before he towered above her in human form. "Ok, let's go."
Mikan stared at his face in wonder, swinging her legs against the wine barrel. "Really? You won't get into trouble?"
When he turned to face her Natsume's lips were curved into a conspiratorial smirk. She really shouldn't have felt attracted, yet Mikan couldn't help the small tug at her heart that she felt.
"When the hag asks," he said lowly, "you'll vouch that I was acting for the sake of your well-being."
She nodded cooperatively, but Mikan knew that at that moment, when he was looking at her like that, she would probably have agreed to anything he asked of her.
They were halfway across the crowded ballroom when trouble presented itself in the form of Mikan's two extremely insufferable stepsisters.
When she noticed that they were heading over towards her and Natsume with murderous looks upon their faces – although Luna didn't need to try to look murderous – she almost felt sick.
"Oh no," Mikan breathed as she tugged on the cuff of Natsume's suit. He turned, his face now in full view, and Mikan could swear on her life that she saw hearts jump out of her stepsisters' eyes. An image of Natsume, Sumire and Luna surfaced in her mind, and she suppressed the bile that quickly rose up her throat.
Reaction from Natsume was swift. "Don't think disgusting things, peasant girl."
She wished he wouldn't use his invasive mind-reading powers so often.
"No can do."
Sumire was the one who reached them first, her entourage of one she-ogre following close behind. While she had looked like she would have liked very much to strangle Mikan in front of everybody present, she now put on her most coquettish – or slutty in Mikan's terms – expression, not-so-subtlely leaning close to Natsume, showing off her cleavage with the low-cut gown she was wearing.
Mikan wanted to spit on her.
Natsume held her back, looking completely unaffected. This, she thought, would definitely be the only time she appreciated how he was a blunt, rude beast.
"Beast?" Natsume echoed under his breath derisively.
"I am Sumire, and this is my sister Luna," Sumire said breathlessly. "Our stepsister here must have brought you a lot of trouble. It's alright," She reached for Mikan, smiling, "I'll take charge of her now."
Luna was silent, choosing to shoot daggers at Mikan with her eyes.
"She's my ward," Natsume replied in a monotone, "None of your concern."
Sumire looked taken aback for a moment, even horrified, and then promptly threw away all of her dignity and the act that she had been putting on. She screeched at Mikan, "How? How? How did you snag both the Prince and this stallion in just one night?"
Mikan was sure she wasn't the only one who had winced at "stallion". She looked to her left, and for the first time saw Natsume having an expression that made it seem like he had had a huge blow delivered to his gut.
"You weren't even supposed to be at the ball in the first place," Luna added helpfully. "Mother will hear about this!"
"Well she can hear about it all she wants, because I'm not going back to that hell-hole for her to have a chance to torture me again."
Sumire snorted. "You have nowhere else to go, wench," she hissed, then her eyes widened. She looked from Mikan to a still quite pale Natsume. "No. You'd keep her?"
Natsume gathered enough composure to shoot back, "As I said, she's my ward. And I'll suggest that you leave this place quickly if you don't want to embarrass yourselves. It's going to be midnight soon."
Mikan's stepsisters looked like goldfishes as they opened and closed their mouths at Natsume. She couldn't blame them. She herself had no idea what Natsume was warning them about.
The first chime of midnight sounded through the large hall, and Natsume bent down, his lips quirked upwards just the tiniest bit. "I think you'll like this, peasant girl."
Mikan remained oblivious until her stepsisters' screams filled the air when their formerly beautiful dresses were reduced to nothing but revealing scraps of cloth.
She did enjoy the sight of Sumire and Luna screaming, crying and swearing on vengeance, but she didn't really understand anything until she spotted Natsume looking rather pleased with himself.
She was in a frog's mouth. Again.
But then again, she had never felt so free since she had been born.
To think that a very sullen cat could be the cause of that…
Mikan laughed a little to herself when she remembered how the moment they had stepped out of her house with what little belongings she had, a blue light had appeared. Judging from the colour of the magic Natsume had used to trap the frog earlier, it wasn't hard to guess just who had finally decided to come check on the proceedings.
The light took one look at Natsume and Mikan. "You interfered."
Natsume shrugged. "Don't be so uptight, hag, she hated him. He would have made her miserable."
There was silence, and then…
"YOU STUPID CAT! HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU THAT FATE ISN'T TO BE INTERFERED WITH?"
"Well your fate is load of bullshit," Natsume replied calmly, refusing to join in the shouting fest.
"You – You –" the light blubbered before roaring in anger and heading straight for Natsume. Mikan couldn't see anything for a while, but when she finally could, Natsume was a cat again.
"Hag," he growled, "Quit shifting me on your own whim!"
"Quit acting on your own whim!" the light growled right back, and Mikan found herself smiling. They were acting like a parent and her kid, she thought.
This was what she had always wanted herself. This irrefutable kinship.
The light turned to leave. "You can stay a cat until you admit that you were wrong!"
"Turn me back," Natsume protested dangerously, crackles of magic power emitting from his black fur.
"I will," the light assured, "when you return to the lair. However," A crackle of energy reached from the light to Natsume, then to Mikan, "if you are right about my fate being a load of bullshit, then you'll turn back yourself just fine."
It had been almost an hour since they'd started travelling in the frog, headed for the witch's lair, and Natsume was still a cat. Aside from being chagrined that his movements as a feline were rather limited, Natsume was also pissed that there was a possibility that he would not be able to prove the witch wrong –
Which led to the sullen black heap of fur curled up in a corner of the cavern of the frog's mouth, angry sparks occasionally appearing around him.
He started snarling, kicking and scratching the moment she picked him up, but Mikan ignored his feeble attempts at trying to get free, instead opting to piss him off further by holding him close, cooing, "Aw, poor, harmless kitty."
"Leggo," he growled, although the sound was muffled as he was being rubbed against her cheek again. "Or I'll make you."
Mikan raised an eyebrow at the spitting cat dubiously. "Oh I'm sure you will," she murmured indulgingly.
She jumped when a tiny pink tongue darted out of Natsume's mouth, licking up her cheek slowly. His eyes were smug, as if he thought his actions would have some sort of adverse effect on her.
Well, aside from pink cheeks at the thought of a very human him doing that to her, Mikan was fine and dandy.
Natsume realized that his plan had obviously backfired when Mikan ruffled the fur on his head, crying dramatically, "Oh, poor thing, clamouring for some love."
He was just about ready to scratch her – oh yes he would, it wasn't just some fucking empty threat! – when Mikan smiled the sweetest smile he had ever seen from her yet, and planted a big wet one on his nose.
Natsume lost all his speech functions for a while, and before he realized it he was human again. Mikan was forced to drop him because he was now too heavy for her to lift, but he managed to keep himself upright just fine by pressing a palm onto the dry tongue of the frog, which was also the floor of their "carriage".
He still couldn't talk, and Natsume guessed it was because Mikan's lips, which had earlier been pressed against his cat nose, were now rather firmly attached to his own lips.
He blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.
Her big brown eyes were staring straight into his, and then the softness was gone, followed by a high-pitched squeak.
"I uh – I… "Mikan stammered, wringing her hands and looking as helpless as a puppy.
In a pathetic attempt to alleviate the atmosphere and regain the tattered remains of his manliness, Natsume resorted to threatening her. Except his voice came out more hoarse than he would have liked, and he couldn't help but think that he hadn't imagined that knowing glint in her eyes.
He was saying that she would have to work for the rest of her lifetime to pay for her molestation of him. The threats were completely useless and stupid, Mikan thought to herself, smiling a little at how serious he looked when he said it.
As Natsume shifted back to a cat in a fit and returned to his gloomy corner all curled up, Mikan couldn't help but think that he was plain adorable.
And she would take a snarling, pompous cat over a kind, perfect prince any day.
A/N: Yes. I am still alive. Yes. I will be updating. My mind has just been very much blocked lately. I can't really think, and I was hoping that writing a nonsense fic like this would help me, and it did! A teensy weeny bit... but I'll be back soon! This is for all of you, tell me what you think, although I have to repeat that this fic was written during a writer' block and is not meant to be taken too seriously, haha.