RE-EDITED

Author's Note: Hello everyone :D

This is the second fanfiction story I attempt to write, so I chose to go with Gakuen Alice. I have seen the anime and I've kept up with the manga. I guess I can say I've been a fan for years. So I thought I'd give it a shot.

I do NOT own or have anything to do with the making of Gakuen Alice. I'm just a fan like everyone else.

This story won't be following the main plot of Gakuen Alice. So there won't be no alices. Other than that, the characters are older in this story, so I'm going to try and give them a close personality to the one in the manga, so there will most likely be out-of-characterness. I'll try my best.

-For sure I'm a huge fan of Natsume Hyuuga, so I'll be mostly writing in his point of view. I'll be including Mikan's POV as well. I think I'll be balancing between the both of them.

-Oh and, just a heads up. I have a pretty "creative" vocabulary. Meaning... I swear a lot. and it means I'll be making the characters swear too. So that's why it's rated T. If you think its really getting out of hand; let me know. I'll try to tone it down. It's all on you if wish to continue reading.

I won't keep you any longer so I hope you enjoy and I'd love to make new fans.

Enjoy :D

Prologue-

My life story so far has been anything but perfect- far from it. My life has actually had me going from one hell-hole to the next, and that's all because of all the shitty families I've been passed on to. Ever since I was four or so, I've been adopted by desperate parents.

Always feeding me the whole 'you're the missing piece to our puzzle' crap.

...Yeah right- it never lasted. I was always taken back to the orphanage by the end of the first week or somewhere around it.

WHY?

Well I guess my eyes are at fault for that, since it wasn't normal for someone to have red eyes. Yeah, I have a fucked up genetic disorder that gave me red eyes and because of this, I was always returned to the same old place after they noticed my eyes weren't changing. The preaching families of the holy whatever spirit had even deemed me to be of some satanic origin JUST because of my eyes… my eyes.

It really wasn't very 'nice' hearing all of that as a little kid.

But even so, the orphanage would always tell me that the right family was bound to show up. Excuse after excuse and hearing the same thing over and over didn't help either. The same excuses weren't really getting me anywhere and seeing how I grew older between the other kids there? -I knew it was all a waste of time.

You see... the older you get, the chances of getting adopted grow slimmer; especially in my case. The headmaster of the orphanage would even get restless every time I got returned. He was just as sick of it as I was. I didn't know why he even kept trying? We both knew I wasn't going anywhere, but even so… he went out of his way to run some tests on me with a few Optometrists, doctors, specialist, whatever of the kind. In the end, we got nothing out of it. Mostly all of them accused me of being of some weird case of albinism because of the pigment of my eyes, but that wasn't even the beginning. Calling me albino wouldn't really fit the rest of my profile since my hair was naturally Jet black, my skin wasn't as pale as a ghost, and I had no vision problems at all.

I was just a regular kid with a different set of eyes. What was so damn wrong about it?

Why couldn't they make the exception?

...I've always wanted to ask that to the random psychos who would return me.

After so many fucked up cases, I figured it a lost cause since I was going back either way. It wasn't worth trying to convince these people about trying to like me, so instead of them returning me for being 'unique', I promised myself to give them a REAL reason to send me back.

Thus, starting the never ending spree of EVER finding a permanent home.

I had a rough childhood and had done some pretty fucked up things I would never forget, but year after year I made sure to get sent back with a real reason. It was the same routine- I didn't care.

So by the time I was fourteen, I wasn't really at the orphanage for in need of a family. More like I was working there, since I was still a minor and I needed a place to stay.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until Youichi was brought to the orphanage. The kid was four years old when he lost his parents. Nobody in his family claimed him, so he ended up here. Normal looking kid, shaggy silver-blond hair, pale skin, and steel blue eyes.

I simply thought it wouldn't be long before he got adopted, but there was only one thing that was quite off.

He was a mute. Meaning the kid couldn't talk. I didn't know if he could talk before, so I ended up assuming he lost his voice when his parents died.

He was a good kid, but for some reason he was having a difficult time getting adopted. And the other kids in the orphanage treated him like he was invisible. Nobody approached him.

Even though Youichi's case wasn't as bad as mine, it was a big enough flaw to keep the kid without a chance of finding a new family and making friends.

I had the same issue, I was never close to any of the other kids, and that was because none of them lasted as long. I mean, I was the freakin' oldest kid in the place.

In the end, I started talking to Youichi even though I knew he couldn't talk. He was the only one actually. Since we both knew neither of us was going anywhere, I decided to take him in like the little brother I never had.

I looked after him for the time he was at the orphanage. I lost track of time, so before I knew it, a whole year went by.

Exactly on the day of my 'supposed to be' fifteenth birthday, I received notice that someone wanted to adopt me.

It was completely random. I mean, why would someone want to adopt me after so long? –who the hell knew... that type of thing.

I decided to turn it down so I wouldn't leave Youichi on his own, but the headmaster had other plans. He saw it as my last resort, so as a result he ignored my reply and had the guy pick me up that same day.

Turned out the guy wasn't married or anything like all the rest. As odd as I found it to be, the guy wasn't even that old to be looking for children. I was past caring; I still stuck to my decision and turned him down.

Within a few hours, the three of us were already arguing. The headmaster was yelling at me for not wanting to go. I was yelling at the random guy sitting across from me, since he wasn't going to let me stay, and he was yelling at the headmaster to force me.

So in the end, both Youichi and I ended up leaving the orphanage that day.

That day was the first and last day we ever met our so-called guardian.

Persona.

That's the name he gave us to refer to him as.

Even though I was fifteen at the time, he didn't look after us like he had agreed. Instead, he would set us up in shitty ass places and abandoned us there. Left us to fend for ourselves. Every end of the month he would send a letter with his name, telling us what was to become of us for the next month.

If I thought finding a family was a pain in the ass, trying to find a place I can call home was even more impossible.

I didn't want Youichi to grow up with a horrible childhood like I did. I tried making the most of it by finding any part-time job, since Persona would only provide us with enough money for the rent. So as for food and other necessities, I had to find a way to come up with the money.

That wasn't the only hard part either. For the past year, Persona has made us move six times already.

This time he sent a note telling us, we better get used to this place since it'll be permanent till my graduation.

Once I graduate from high school, I'll be able to work full-time and help Youichi with a more comfortable life.

I'm sixteen now, and I only have two more years to go. And as long as my eyes don't get exposed, we should be able to live a somewhat normal life in this town.

Well then... let's see how the rest of my story turns out.

Natsume's POV

"Alright Youichi, you got to get up now." I groggily wiped the corner of my eyes with the back of my hands while crossing the small hallway towards his room. "You don't want to be late do you? -because if you're late then I'll be late too…" I leaned my head up against his door and knocked twice.

As soon as I heard his bed sheets moving and the sound of his footsteps walking around, I knew he was up.

For a six year old, he was pretty independent. I figured after everything we've been through, it's gotten the kid pretty independent. These past two years have been some experience for him.

I walked back to my room and tried to take care of my morning routine while Youichi finished getting ready.

I changed into a black V-neck shirt and black skinny-fit jeans after my shower. I returned back to my room and retrieved my black converse along with heading for the only tall dresser in my room. Pulling the top drawer open, I took out one of the many cases I had for contact lenses. They were all the same color so it didn't matter which I grabbed. I just had a bunch of spares just in case I ever lost any of them.

On my way to the bathroom, I stopped and noticed Youichi's door still closed. "Hey, are you alright in there?" I called out. Man... This kid better be ready.

I had no choice but to quickly kick my shoes on and set my contacts. I used the bathroom mirror to help me with my contacts and closed the kit immediately after. Pushing that aside, I grabbed my toothbrush and hastily brushed my teeth. "I'll help you out in a bit."

Finally done, I put everything I used back in its place and headed back to my room one last time. I quickly grabbed my 'supposed to be' reading glasses and put them on before strapping on my backpack.

I was finally able to check on Youichi but by the time I began heading toward his room, I heard movement coming from the other side of the apartment. I walk out of the hallway to see Youichi trying to pour the gallon of milk into a cereal bowl.

His arms were obviously shaking from the weight so I quickly rushed over to help. "Wait- here let me help you with the rest." I slowly took the milk away from him, and poured the necessary amount. I noticed he had set up a bowl for me next to him so I went ahead and poured the milk into the other bowl too.

He quickly handed me a spoon and climbed up on his chair as I sat down as well. We both sat there silently eating our breakfast. It was a quiet morning. No sirens, no neighbors fighting, it was simply… quiet.

It felt like a good first start. Different was more like it. In reality I could only hope this one wouldn't be like all the rest.

I just had to settle first and find my way around; get a job and mold that schedule with Youichi's and mine.

I didn't realize I had spaced out long enough to have Youichi pulling the side of my shirt letting me know I was taking too long.

I looked down at my wrist watch. "Shit!" I quickly grabbed the bowls and drop them off in the sink before grabbing the keys off the counter. "Get your stuff." I called out as I took out his lunch pale, and made him his light lunch snack.

I made sure to hand him his lunch before leading us out of the apartment and locking the door after us. I double checked the lock just in case and quickly pulled Youichi along the rest of the dark corridors in this building.

By the time Youichi and I had walked the four blocks to his school, I had thirty minutes to get to my school. Now I had to travel the other ten blocks towards my school.

The closer I got to my school, the more the town was shaping up. The buildings didn't look as bad. By that I mean, the boarded up windows, graffiti, and the worn out paint was becoming less common. The trees and landscapes were getting greener by the block, and the air didn't seem as heavy.

We seriously lived in the shitty side of town. It's no surprise though. Persona has had us move into places I'd have to stay awake full nights to make sure nothing happened to us. Compared to that, this was actually a step up.

By the time I reached the school gates, the first warning bell had already rung. I wasn't on time, but I wasn't exactly late either.

I won't complain about the school though, it was far out the most decent school I had attended so far. The school was a modern building; a white and blue campus made up of four stories. There were side buildings to it too, which I presumed were either the gym or pool area. It had well-kept landscaping and two wide parking lots on either side of the school.

I noticed there were only a few students outside of the main building.

I quietly made my way around them as I reached the front of the building. Without looking around or trying to meet the curious stares, I walked into the somewhat empty hallways of this 'so-called' new school of mine in search of the main office.

Mikan's POV

"Why am I always late on Mondays?" I kicked the door to my car shut and clicked the alarm as I tried rushing away. I swung the pink strap of my backpack over my shoulder and crossed my cheerleading strap over my other shoulder.

Thank God, I stuck with wearing jeans and a pair of sneakers or else I wouldn't have been able to make a run for it. I ran inside the school building just in time to hear the final bell ring.

I quickly slid to a stop in the middle of the lobby and broke into a run for the stairs.

I knew I couldn't get into THAT much trouble if I was only a few seconds late.

After reaching the second floor, I slowed down my running since my class wasn't that far anymore and I didn't want to look like a tired breathing dragon.

I took a few deep breaths and composed myself as I get ready for the worst. I let myself into the classroom to surprisingly notice the teacher wasn't here yet. The whole class was still in a talking mood.

Wow, did I luck out or what? It was hardly ever moment when this teacher started late. Usually my situation of being late involved getting scolded and written up.

"Mikan, over here!" I heard a cute bubbly voice calling me further into the room.

My smile instantly grew as I made my way to the group. "Hi Anna, Hi guys, sorry I'm late." I walked over and dropped my bags on my desk.

"No surprise. You're always late."

I glance over to the desk next to me. "I'm not always late Imai." I paused to choose my words carefully. "I'm simply not a morning person, and Mondays happen to be my worst days." I shrugged. "You know that." I purposely reached over and ruffled her short black hair since she didn't even bother looking at me.

"Well hey- at least you're ready for cheer practice this time." Nonoko changed the subject as she noticed my cheer bag.

"Oh -I know right?" I fully smiled as I flipped my side ponytail over my shoulder.

I looked past Nonoko and Anna to see if a certain blond was already here, but I didn't spot him.

He must be running late too.

"Oh Mikan, before I forget to ask you. Do you have anything planned after practice?" This time it was Anna who got my attention.

"No, why?"

"Well me and Nonoko made appointments to our favorite hair salon to retouch our hair since my pink is starting to fade, and Nonoko's tips need a trim."

I couldn't help but smile. Oh I know where this was going. "No Anna, for the millionth time, I don't want to cut my hair." I crossed my arms.

I noticed Nonoko step up. "Come on Mikan, you've had this weird mullet hairdo going on since we can all remember." She spun around trying to prove her point. "Like seriously, your hair is just past your waist."

"Nonoko?-" I raise my hands up in defense. "No offense but I like my hair the way it is." I pulled the hair-tie off my ponytail and let my light brown hair fall down. I pushed my sideswept bangs with my fingers and flipped the back of my hair over my shoulder. "There, see it looks short again."

"No Mikan, that's not what we mean." Anna whimpered. "The front half of your hair is okay because its shaped like a bombhead hairstyle. It's just the mullet part on the back that-"

I huffed and turned away. "I'm not cutting it, and that's final!"

"Alright fine, but at least go with us after practice." Nonoko said calling it quits.

I nodded and turned to the door since I just heard it open.

The class quietly started taking their seats since it was the teacher that walked in.

What caught everyone one off guard was the student that walked in right after him.

"Hey that must be the new student the teachers were talking about in the lounge." Sumire whispered loud enough for me and my friends to hear.

New student? -really? It's already two months into this school year? It's rare for a new student to show up this far into the semester.

It's not like any of the girls were complaining either, they were practically grinning about him. The whispers and smiles said it all.

I had to admit, he sure didn't look like most of the boys here in this school. He had a weird presence to him. He was decently tall, short-yet-long black hair, and dressed in all black. I couldn't really see his facial structures because of the way his messy hair clung to his face. His head was slightly tipped down too so it didn't help with trying to get a better view of him. In reality it almost seemed like he was trying to hide..

"Well then Natsume Hyuuga, welcome to Alta Alram High School. Find an empty seat for the day, and I'll see how I can come up with a plan for you to get you caught up with the rest of the class."

We all watched silently as this Hyuuga guy walked down the classroom. It wasn't till he walked past me that I noticed he was indeed wearing glasses. The black squared-frame of his glasses was well hidden beneath his black hair.

I saw him began to pull his backpack strap off his shoulder as he got to the seat behind me.

I instantly sat up straight and watched as he took the seat behind me.

He was taking Ruka's seat? What?

I continued watching over my shoulder as I finally got a better look at him.

I almost couldn't stop myself from gawking- like seriously… I thought this guy had something to hide since he was trying really hard to conceal his face. I really didn't expect him to a creamy fair complexion. The way he had been looking down really showed off his long eye lashes and his eyebrows were nicely shaped to match his eye pattern. His chin and jaw were nice too… I mean even his lips had a nice tint to them. This guy seriously had no reason to hide!

I curiously continued watching him, waiting to see if his eyes would look up, but instead I watched as he opened up his backpack and took out a thin black notebook and pen.

I was about to give up on all the curiosity when all of a sudden I saw him push his bangs to the side and glance straight at me. I blamed it on the fact that he caught me staring that my heart had decided to skip a few beats.

"Mikan...?" Imai whispered trying to get my attention with a swift elbow to my side. "You're rude, you know that?" I winced from Imai's tone of voice.

"I'm sorry, I..." I was just caught off guard from how blue his eyes were.

Curiosity got the best of me since I didn't even notice Ruka walk in and take a seat at the very back of the room.

I really cursed at my stupid curiosity. I mean I must have looked like a weirdo staring down the new guy! Stupid Mikan! Stupid! Stupid! I swear if I could slam my head on my desk, I would!

I only hoped Ruka didn't see me...

I quickly composed myself, and caught Ruka's attention by waving a small way under my table.

Ruka waved back at me while he pushed his blond hair back with his other hand. I could only take his action as good sign. If anything, I prayed he didn't notice me checking out the new guy.

I breathed out a quick sigh of relief and focused on taking my class materials out.

It wasn't like this was going to happen again. It was only this morning class I had to keep myself focused.

It was just for one class…

Up until lunch, so far I didn't have any other classes with the new guy.

Like, I did wonder if he even noticed me staring at him. It sure didn't seem like it though.

And I also wondered who he was going to sit with during lunch time. I mean, he was new to this school and even I wouldn't want to be sitting alone… I thought it would be tough being in his shoes.

I somewhat had the feeling to invite him to-

"Mikan!" I looked behind me to see Anna and Nonoko running in my direction. "Did you remember to buy the crab meat salad Imai asked you for yesterday? -Remember you lost the bet, and you had to bring it to her today?" Nonoko actually made it sound as if I had committed a crime.

Holy crap! "No! I forgot!" Dammit, I knew it was pointless betting against Imai, but I always ended up caught up in the moment. "Nonoko, Anna? Is it alright if you two cover for me while I drive down to the closest store to buy one?" I pouted hoping they'd say yes.

I watched Nonoko and Anna exchange looks before nodding at the same time. "Okay go, just give me your stuff and I'll hold it for you until you get back." Anna reached for my bag straps and pulled them off my shoulders. "Hurry back. We'll cover for you."

I mouth out a thank you and took off running towards the school's entrance. I tried remembering which store was actually the closest as I retrieved my keys out of my pocket. I was nearing the school entrance when all of a sudden I heard my name being called out.

"Mikan, hey- where are you going in such a rush?"

I smiled as I recognized the voice. "Hi Ruka, I'm just going out real quick to get something from the store."

"You forgot to buy Imai's crab meat didn't you?" I heard him chuckle.

"Shut up, I know!" I huffed since I was in a hurry.

"Do you want me to come with?" He took a step away from his jock friends.

"Sorry." I winced. "As much as I wish that. It'll seriously slow me down. I don't want Imai to find out I forgot."

I saw him nod understandingly. "Well you better hurry if you don't want that to happen."

I pointed at him and winked. "Right. I'll see ya in P.E kay." I called out as I ran out the doors.

I pressed the unlock button to my car as I reached its side and quickly got inside. I didn't even bother strapping on the seatbelt as I shifted the car in reverse and exited the parking slot. I had backed out unaware of my surroundings and ended up suddenly hitting something with the back of my car.

The fact that my car made a horrible sound alarmed me to jerk the car to a stop.

My senses continued to spike as I hurriedly got out and checked to see if there was a car behind me.

I knew for sure I had hit something so I cautiously approached the very end of my car.

Never in my life did I expect this…

I caught my gasp with my hands as I saw a person lying down not so far from my car.

Oh my God, I hit someone!

The panic that struck me caused me to hurry over to the faced down body on the ground, "Hey!" I slid on my knees to a stop, "Say something! Are you okay?!" My hands shook as I reached to touch his shoulders.

A painful grunt startled me backwards instead as I began seeing him move. He slowly shifted himself up to his hands and knees while hissing out his pain.

I got to the point that I was on the verge of crying because of what I had done. I was too afraid to even touch him now. I even felt more useless because I couldn't help the situation either.

I suddenly flinched as I saw him spit out blood. The sight didn't help me in the least bit. It completely froze me in place as he continued moving on his own.

His hair shifted off his forehead to reveal that his glasses were missing, so I quickly began glancing around while he steadied his breathing.

He had such a pain-filled expression I didn't dare break his concentration.

The tears began to pool in my eyes as I looked for his glasses around me. It wasn't until I reached behind me that my fingertips came into contact with his frames.

I brought up the back of my hand to wipe a stray tear stream down my right cheek. "I am so sorry..." I held his glasses in my hand, "Hyuuga right?" My voice came out shaky.

He reached to clutch onto his left side and sat up on his knees. "I'm late." His voice sounded low from behind clenched teeth as he attempted to stand.

"No wait- you're hurt! We have to get you to the nurse." I tightened my grip on his glasses.

I gasped a second time as he managed to stand up and pick up his backpack by the strap before watching him run out the school gate.

I couldn't believe it! What in the- "Hey!" He was in no condition to run!

I stood up from the shock.

I- what's he late to?... I wondered. I held onto his glasses and worriedly pondered back into my car.

Even so, It was still a huge relief to see him suddenly get up and run like that.

My hands continued to clutch at his glasses as the shaking was slowly subsiding from my arms.

I waited to ease my state of being instead of driving out instantly. I quietly sat in my car while I inspected his glasses for any damage. As odd as I found it to be… I held the glasses out and strangely tried them on. I squinted my eyes thinking they might have been of high prescription but… "Huh?" I blinked a few times to actually realize there wasn't much of a difference.

These glasses? They were... They're fake?

Natsume's POV

As much as my side was killing me and my bottom lip was throbbing from the pain, I had to pick up Youichi from school before my lunch break was over.

I didn't realize I didn't have my glasses until I was a block away from Youichi's school. Fuck, now thinking about it, I was in trouble with this random chick. I was too much in a hurry to care about what had just happened. And now I had to get them back.

As I approached the corner to where Youichi's school was, I slowed down my walking and wiped the corner of my bottom lip to make sure there wasn't any blood on it. I tried to compose myself as much as possible so I took a few deep breaths and relaxed my expression to mask the pain.

After all of that just happened I had no doubt I was going to be late. I really didn't want to find Youichi sitting by himself on the front step of his school.

I quietly walked over and caught his attention, "I'm sorry I took so long." I extend my right hand to him.

Instead of him taking my hand, he formed two circles with his hands and brought them up to his eyes.

Glasses…shit...he wanted to know about my glasses.

I grabbed one of his hands and got him to stand up instead. I tugged him along before trying to come up with a good excuse.

I didn't tell him the truth about getting hit by a car. I simply told him I left them at school by accident and that I'd be getting them back after school.

"Alright Youichi..." I pulled his hand to make him stop and I knelt down to meet his eye level. "I'm going to let you stay in the apartment for now while I get out of school. I want you to lock the door and not answer it no matter who it is, alright. I have my key, so you don't have to worry if it's me."

I saw him nod once letting me know he understood. What I didn't expect was for him to suddenly reach up and poke my lower lip where I was sporting my fresh wound. "It's nothing serious." I stood up avoiding the topic. "Let's get you home."

I knew it wasn't right to leave a six year old by himself but I didn't have much of a choice since I didn't have a daycare to drop him off at. I had barely gotten us settled into the apartment, and I was yet to find a job. Let alone school getting in the way. Our attendance was critical. It was a way for the orphanage and child services to keep track of us, so there was no messing with that.

After dropping off Youichi in the apartment, I made sure he had everything he would need while I was gone. Once done, I locked the door using my key and double checked again to make sure it was securely locked.

I only had one more class anyways, so it should take longer than two hours.

Mikan's POV

"Here you go Hotaru; I brought you the salad I promised." I slid it to her across the table since I sat on the other end.

I knew I didn't sound as cheerful as my usual self, but the incident from earlier was still nagging me bad.

"Hey, is something wrong?" I looked up noticing it was Ruka asking me as he took the empty seat next to me.

I forced a smile and shook my head. "Nope it's-" I paused to swallow the lump in my throat that always formed every time someone asked me that question. "It's nothing." I quickly averted my eyes to my lunch tray and tried avoiding his blue eyes.

"Well whatever it is- make sure you eat something. You got here pretty late and lunch is about to be over." He worriedly pushed my tray closer to me, "You want me to get you anything else?"

I faintly smiled at his concern. I obviously felt horrible now. The last thing I wanted was to make him worry. "I'll be fine Ruka, I'm okay with what I got for lunch. I promise I'll hurry eating 'kay?"

As much as I tried to distract myself by picking at my food, I still couldn't ignore Imai's glances from the other end of the table.

She knew something was up... I wasn't doing a good job fooling anyone.

It wasn't long before the lunch bell rang and me, Nonoko, and Anna began heading towards the ladies locker room to get ready for gym class.

"Uhmm Mikan?" Anna's voice caught my attention.

"Yeah?" I responded as I got to my locker and started undoing the combination.

"I don't think you noticed, but Hotaru didn't eat the salad you brought her."

I pulled my locker open. "Why didn't she eat it? I bought it at a really pricy place. It's not right for her to just push it aside?" I focused my attention on my cheer bag since I needed to take out my gym clothes.

"Oh don't get me wrong- she didn't throw the salad away, it's just that you took so long, she ended up eating something else."

I see... "Did she at least take it with her so she can eat it later?"

"Yup, I saw her take it with her." Nonoko answered my question instead.

I sighed... "That's a relief." It seriously sucked owing something to someone; especially if that someone was as scary as Imai. Hotaru was no joke, like my experience with her has had its ups and downs so I could say we've been through some good and bad things.

I continued spacing out while we changed out of our school clothes and into our red and white gym clothes. Anna and Nonoko had been chatting away about something this whole time, but I wasn't paying any attention to them until we were exiting the locker rooms.

"Don't you think it's starting to get cold now that October is over?" I listened to Anna and Nonoko's conversation from behind them as we headed for the gym's double doors.

Nonoko was the first one to pull one of the doors open revealing the school's main basketball court. Most of the students were already sitting up on the bleachers waiting for the coaches to show up. I tied my hair into two loose ponytails as I followed Anna and Nonoko up the bleachers towards our usual spot.

Once the P.E teachers showed up, they started with the attendance just like every day.

"Alright those of you who are in a sport's team… out on the baseball field. Cheerleaders... out on the football field. As for everyone else... follow the cheerleaders since you guys will be out on the track." One of the coaches called out getting the students on a move on.

"No way-" I heard Anna whimper next to me. "I was hoping we'd be allowed to practice here inside the gym." She pouted crossing her arms.

"It's not like we can do anything about it Anna, our cheer coach isn't here today either." Nonoko added as she stood up. "Looks like Misaki is going to have to lead everything again."

"Ladies? Get a move on!" One of the coaches yelled out to us since we were one of the few students still on the bleachers.

"Come on Anna." I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me so we wouldn't get in anymore trouble.

We picked up our pace and followed the rest of the class towards the track. By the time we got to the center, Misaki along with the rest of the cheerleaders were already starting to warm-up by doing the usual stretches.

I think if we would have been any later, Misaki would have said something to us. Thankfully I saw her smile and point us to our positions.

Anna giggled out of nowhere. "Someone seems to be in a good mood." She whispered laud enough to Nonoko and half of the squad to hear. The squad including myself couldn't help giggle over her reaction.

I looked over my shoulder to see Misaki's expression and it was completely obvious. She was blushing. I couldn't help but smile because of how pink she was getting.

I turned around before she could see that I was in the brink of cracking a huge smile.

"Oooh~ look at who we got here?" Everyone looked at Sumire since she caught everyone attention next. "What?- Don't look at me!" She pointed over to the stadium entrance instead.

Curious to see who it was, I looked over towards the direction Sumire was pointing.

The person was still far away to be able to tell, but it was obvious the person was a guy since he was wearing the guys red knee-length gym shorts. I also noticed this person was wearing a solid black shirt when it was actually supposed to be white.

Odd... it was actually mandatory to wear the plain white shirt…

I continued with my stretches while my attention was focused on the person approaching the track.

I didn't know whether I kept looking because of curiosity... or because I already had an idea on whom this person might be.

By the time the coach started all the other students on the track, Hyuuga was barely stepping onto the track.

I couldn't really focus on what the gym coach began talking to him about because Misaki was starting to set us up to begin practice. All that I got out of it was seeing Hyuuga take a seat next near a track wall while everyone else continued running their laps.

"Mikan? -focus!" Misaki's voice startled me almost making me lose my balance. "Everyone- back from the top."

The girls gave me a confused glance before returning to their positions. It even made me feel awkward.

I shook off some of the frustration and tried to focus myself.

I definitely wasn't like this day so far. It felt like I was having such an off day to be honest.

I didn't want to admit it but I knew the source… and it was this new guy! The whole thing about hitting him with my car was really rattling my head.

I breathed out a deep breath and steadied myself just before the routine started once again. I cheerfully called out cheer as we all synchronized accordingly.

Little by little the track got emptier and emptier as the students finished up their four laps. The track eventually got empty as all the students returned to the black top area. It wasn't until I caught a glance at the gym teacher over by the starting line that caught my attention once again.

Hyuuga was stepping up to the line.

I completely froze as I realized the coach was making him run.

The coach was making him take the evaluation!

"Mikan?!" Misaki's voice sounded even angrier than the first time.

Dammit not again! "I'm sorry Misaki... I-"

"Save it Mikan, it's seriously obvious your mind is somewhere else." Misaki huffed placing her hands on her hips. "Go sit down-"

I quickly stepped forward. "No Misaki please -I promise I won't-" Before I even got the chance to explain myself, Misaki raised her hand stopping me in mid-sentence.

"Go sit down Mikan! Once you're more focused, I'll let you come back okay?"

No use fighting the team captain. "Okay..." I nodded before walking away towards the stadium bleachers. I didn't dare look back to see the faces the girls were making because of my behavior.

Well I guess I had no other choice but to sit around for the next few minutes...

I quietly mulled over the fact that I got kicked out of practice because of this guy. I really couldn't understand what was going through my head. Like I knew I was concerned over his injuries, but this was beyond my expectation.

I crossed the track and climbed up a few of the metal bleachers before sitting down.

This definitely sucked… I kicked my feet around and played around with my loose hair strands before glancing up to watch the field.

The girls looked completely okay without me being there interrupting them. Misaki even appeared more relaxed now…

The coach caught my attention next as he fixed his stop watch and counted Hyuuga off to a start. It made me nervous seeing Hyuuga take the starting position.

I could only hope his wounds wouldn't get in the way.

I tentatively watched as Hyuuga took off running into a full on sprint.

"How in the...world?" I practically stood up from the shock.

Like I knew for a fact he was injured yet... he made his running seem like nothing was wrong?

He was fast- really fast; like something I've never seen before.

I checked to see what kind of expression the coach had, and to no surprise, he was just as shocked as I was.

By the end of the fourth lap, I noticed the coach raise one of his hands signaling Hyuuga over. I assumed this was the part where the coach offered him the possibility to join some sport teams.

I couldn't hear anything, so I stood over by the railing to see if I could at least get a hint of what they were talking about.

To no avail, I couldn't hear much. All I got out of it was Hyuuga shaking his head saying no to something.

Maybe that was it? -maybe he wouldn't have to complete the rest of the evaluation...

"Mikan?" Misaki's voice sang my name out. "Ready to practice now?"

YAY! Finally! "Yes!" I smiled.

Natsume's POV

Dammit, the left side of my chest felt like it was on fire! I knew I wasn't doing much to hide it- fuck... it wasn't easy keeping a straight face right now. Not only that, but the coach had been rambling in front of me for the past -whatever minutes and it's not fuckin' helping.

It wasn't until I leaned down to support my weight by placing my hands on my knees that gave him the heads up that I wasn't doing so well.

"You alright son?" I felt him place his hand on my shoulder.

The fuck did it look like? He seriously couldn't tell? I shook my head and walked past him without saying anything.

I held onto my side as I walked over to the field bench. Without caring that the cheerleaders were practicing a few feet away, I lifted my shirt to check if my left side was beginning to show any signs of bruising. No surprise to it—there was a line of purple bruises starting to line up from the side of my ribs to my hip.

It wasn't bleeding or anything, so I considered that a good sign at least. Well besides the fact that the pain was getting worse…

I got too caught up with the concern I didn't notice a few whistles from the nearby girls had been directed at me.

I had to look up and realize these girls were pointing and waving in my direction.

"What the-" I couldn't help give them a weirded out expression. Their attention was the least of my worries; it pissed me off more or so like it.

I clenched my fists on the hem of my shirt and roughly pulled my shirt down.

I remained seated while I waited for some chance that the pain might subside a little. I needed it to in order to continue this starting limit evaluation or whatever.

I glanced over my shoulder to see if the coach was still nearby, but he was actually busy talking to someone. He was talking to this person about me apparently because I watched as he pointed at me seconds later. They continued talking a few seconds more before they turned and headed in my direction.

As he got closer, the more he flipped through his clipboard. "Natsume Hyuuga?" He called me out.

I got up from the bench and walked around it to meet them halfway. "Yeah..."

"I'ma have this girl take you to the nurse's office to get you checked out alright?" He tipped his head in the girl's direction making me look to see who it was.

Yeah... just my luck… It was the very same chick that had hit me with her car earlier. And by the look on her face, she knew it too. It's as if she was trying to stare me down for some reason.

"Is there a problem?" The coach's voice caught our attention.

She immediately shook her head, "Nope, none what's so ever." She made a somewhat forced smile on her lips. "I'll take him right away."

Whatever, might as well go with it. At least it got me out of the evaluation.

I followed her a few steps behind towards the stadium exit. She was walking at a much faster pace than me, so I was slowly starting to fall behind since I couldn't move as fast- actually, I think I was getting slower.

I breathed out a deep breath and held onto my side to walk faster. Once I reached the end of the hallway, I turned into another hall to see her standing by near a door.

"You could have asked me to wait for you ya know?" She walked up to me.

I let out a sigh and walked past her. Wasn't that what she was doing just now?

I turned the handle to the office and pulled the door open. I walked in expecting to hear the door close behind me, but heard it creak open again.

"Is the nurse in?" I heard the girl behind me ask as she walked to the center of the room.

I glanced around and I noticed there wasn't anyone else in the waiting room.

"This is ridiculous. How can there not be anyone here?" I watched her cross her arms and walk past the right doorway. "Did everyone finish playing sick for the day? -Geez."

She returned back to the waiting room at the same time I carefully sat down on one of the many empty chairs. I sighed closing my eyes and leaned back all the way trying to keep my back straight.

"Uhmm... you don't talk much do you?" Her voice made me peek my right eye open to see her take the seat next to me.

Instead of answering, I purposely stood up and walked over to where the nurse's desk.

What- she expected me to make decent conversation after everything? The only reason why I was here in the first place was because of-

"It's my fault." I was surprised on how her tone of voice completely changed. I looked over my shoulder and noticed her sitting up straight with her head down making her hair cover her eyes.

"If I would've checked when I was backing out, you wouldn't hate me because of this." She sniffed while using the back of her hand to rub away the corner of her eyes.

...Hate? -Really? Is that what she thought? I tried not to laugh and waited to hear what else she had to say.

This girl was definitely on the dramatic side, but then again what chick isn't now a day?

"I mean come on- I must have made your first day at this school horrible! -And...and..." Her voice got to the point that it was shaky to the verge of crying. The whimpering she was making while trying to hold back her crying was only making me want to laugh even more.

Maybe I should have answered her question earlier, that way I wouldn't have to be hearing all this.

Alright, Alright... something to make her stop crying. I looked around the room for something that might help.

This should do. I spotted a jar full of different colored lollipops over by one of the medicine cabinets. I took out what seemed like a strawberry flavored one and walked over to her. Without trying to make my side hurt, I knelt down slowly in front of her to see if she was looking down. Getting a good look, I noticed she had her eyes pressed shut, and for some reason her nose was a rose pink. I think it was because she was holding back from crying, her eyelashes did have tear drops stuck on them.

I opened my mouth about to say something, but at the same time the front door opened taking my attention instead.

"I'm sorry did you two wait long?"

I'm guessing this lady was the nurse to this place. She didn't seem like it though; she seemed more like a college student.

"Or maybe I should have taken my time?" She commented before walking toward her desk.

Wait- I looked at the figure in front of me, and I noticed her shocked expression from seeing me kneeling in front of her.

...Yeah I guess this would look awkward. I slowly stood up while placing the candy on the chair's armrest.

At the same time the nurse walked back to us. "Mikan, did you fall again? What did you hurt now-"

"Oh uhmm no, it's not me this time." She whipped the corners of her eyes. "He got... injured, so I was told to bring him here."

For some reason the nurse circled around me once. "Well then, I need you to sign in and meet me in the next room." She handed me a clipboard. "Mikan, you look worried. Would you like to stay and wait?"

"I really shouldn't Ms. Serina. Misaki is leading the squad again today, and being gone this long already is bad enough. I should get going."

"If it helps, I can write you a note so Misaki knows where you were at?" The nurse insisted.

"Oh no its fine, really." I heard the crunching of the candy wrapper as she grabbed onto the armrests of the chair.

I handed the clipboard back to the nurse while I watched the other girl stand up with a confused look on her face.

"Well then Mr. Hyuuga, follow me into the next room so we can get you checked out." The nurse hugged the clipboard in her arms and walked away into the next room over.

I turned to leave without saying anything, but the chick next to me stopped me mid-turn. "Wait-" I looked back at her to notice her clutching the lollipop in both her hands. "Uhmmm... I-"

"Tomorrow." I finally talked. Her eyes widened in surprise. "I want my glasses back."

She nodded her head speechless and tried to hide her expression instead.

Without saying anything more, I turned to leave for the next room.

Now then, let's see what my real damage is…

Mikan's POV

"Mikan, can't you just eat the damn thing? You've been fiddling with it since we got here!" Nonoko shouted since the blow dryer that was being used on her hair was really loud.

I didn't say anything and continued to twirl the lollipop in my hands while I waited for Anna and Nonoko at the hair salon.

This- he was planning on giving me this because I started crying. He wanted to cheer me up! How could I eat this? Call me weird but I was seriously considering keeping it instead.

I smiled thinking more into it.

"Look at her." Anna's voice called out to Nonoko. "She's smiling at a simple candy." Anna giggled.

Nonoko Smiled. "I think it's the thought behind it that's got her looking like this."

"You think so? Then that means someone must have given it to her..." Anna clued in.

"Oh I know!" Both Anna and Nonoko chime at the same time.

"Mikan?" Anna's voice caught my attention.

I had totally zoned out on everything they were talking about, "Yeah?"

"Ruka gave you that didn't he?"

Huh? No wait. "What-"

"No wonder you're holding it like that." Anna winked at me from the mirror in front of her.

They think Ruka gave this to me?

"So a lollipop can have so much meaning to you because he gave it to you?" Nonoko asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

I looked down at the candy in my hands making me smile yet again. "Crazy right?"

"Why don't you tell him how you feel already?" Anna also jumped into the questioning.

"Tell who how I feel?" I looked up confused. Wait, "What?" Did I seriously ask that?

I looked at the confused stares both Anna and Nonoko were directing towards me.

"You gotta be kidding me." Nonoko was first to speak.

"Mikan, Ruka didn't give you that, did he?" Anna's face went from confused to sad.

Me on the other hand, I seriously didn't know what to say. I'm confused enough as it is for questioning myself for something so small.

I...I... "Guys, how much is it for highlights in this place?" I quickly stood up and avoided the question. "I'm gonna go check up front."

I could feel their eyes following my every step.

"Hi how can I help you?" The lady behind the desk smiled at me.

I returned the smile. "I guess I'll be getting highlights in all of this." I pulled my hair to the front and show her my length.

What a way to avoid a topic.

Sorry hair...

Author's Note:

Long chapter I know. I kinda got used to writing really long chapters because of my other story.

I REALLY REALLY want to hear on what your thoughts are on this. I know the characters are off, but drop me some hints to help me get them closer to their actual personas.

-oh and mistakes too. Please correct me if you see anything wrong ^ ^

Please Review and I hope to update soon.