Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, but I do own the plot.
Author's Note: All girls and boys are 16. My first HotaruxRuka one-shot! Please enjoy!
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"Mmhh ..." a groan escaped from a guy's thin mouth when he turned his body around 180 degrees. He was trying to go into his deepest world of dream, hiding himself from the sunrays, which were penetrating through the spaces of his window. Trying to repeat again his dream which he thought was the most beautiful dream that he could ever have in his life.
He's dreaming of a beautiful amethyst-eyed girl who smiled sweetly at him.
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He rubbed his cerulean eyes which were still hiding behind his beautiful eyelids. Half conscious, he pulled back his blanket to cover his whole body from the sunrays and a strange voice that was disturbing his beautiful dream.
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He furrowed his blond eyebrows. If that strange voice came again, then he surely would reach the limit of his patience.
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Now, his patience was gone. "What the heck was that sound?" he exclaimed as he rose from his bed and turned towards the source of a strange voice who had been fucking disturbing his sleep. Those two beautiful blue eyes widened in shock and almost went out of place when he saw a hanging figure appeared from a transparent window of his.
"I-I-Imai!"
Love Letter Changes Everything
by Yuuto Tamano
"Here. Come here. Just has been captured this morning. Photos of Ruka Nogi's drooling can you get just only by 1000 rabbits!"
Only with a flat line that came out from the mouth of a short raven-haired and amethyst-eyed girl could make all girls in the whole Central Town were coming and surrounding her. Shouts and the sounds of footsteps which could be heard clearer and clearer in her ears made her formed a sly smirk.
"Fufufu, I'm surely gonna be rich."
A few seconds later, she was surrounded by lots of girls which in each of their eyes could you see a slight emotion of lust. Typical young girls these days. But for the girl who's infamous with the nickname of "Ice Queen", their desires were money for her, and the more desires coming to her, then the more money she would get.
"Imai! Imai!" A voice sounded so familiar to her called her. "Give me back those embarrassing photos right now!"
Hotaru Imai just smirked at Ruka Nogi—an unlucky guy who was a victim of the violence of her passion for money—he seemed to run towards her with a frowning eyebrows and a mad face. "These photographs are my money." she responded flatly, holding up her favorite camera and took some photos of Ruka who was wincing before she finally ran away.
"Arrggh! Imai, come back here! You can't run away from me, again!" he shouted, also pursuing wherever Hotaru's legs would take its owner go.
That was the daily activity belonged to the second place of most popular couple in the entire Alice Academy's universe, wherein the first place still achieved by our favorite couple, Natsume and Mikan. That event wasn't only happened once or twice, but hundred times. Hotaru would never cease to take some photos of Ruka in various poses then sold it, and Ruka also would never tired of chasing Hotaru who was always running away.
Are they dating? If you uttered that question directly to both of them, Hotaru would punch you with her newest version of Baka-Gun, while Ruka would call his favorite giant chick named Piyo to step on you without mercy. Even if you asked the same question to their best friends—Natsume and Mikan—Mikan would laugh and say that you were the most ridiculous person she had ever met, while Natsume would turn his back on you and got out of here.
The answer is, of course, they are NOT dating.
But you would be able to see a fact which was very, very surprising. Maybe you wouldn't believe it, that's natural, but this time, believe it. That fact told us that Ruka had a special feeling towards Hotaru. That feeling, of course, was more than a feeling towards friend. But of course he hid that fact inside a sealed box placed in his heart. No one knew about that fact, except himself, you, me, and God.
That's why he would never ever confess his true feelings to the girl he wanted. Such a thing would never happen; except in his dreams, which you could see the example of it in the opening part of this story. He thought Hotaru would be laughing at his feeling, and he didn't want that happened. This cat-and-mouse relationship was more than enough to make him happy.
That was pathetic, wasn't it? Hotaru seemed like an antagonist in this story. Perhaps she simply didn't have a special feeling towards her source of money, or so he thought. Until one day, an unexpectedly event happened in their life and changed it.
As usual, Hotaru had just sold Ruka's embarrassing photos to some of their classmates. She kept smirking at a lot of money in her hands until a honey brown-haired girl in braids came to her with a flushed face.
"I-I hope Imai-san doesn't mind to give this letter to Nogi-kun. Instead, I-I will buy all of Nogi-kun's photos you have if you do!" she stammered, handing her a letter wrapped in a pink envelope with a symbol of 'love' in the middle of it.
The girl's request sounded like a command in her ears. She was about to leave the poor girl if she didn't hear her last words. "All of them?"
"Y-Yes! All of them!"
Suddenly, in her amethyst eyes were symbols of yen. "All of them are 100,000 rabbits. It's a pleasure for me to do business with you." She exclaimed excitedly. Then she took the letter and the money from the girl's hand. The girl then left with a face as excited as hers.
"Typical girl these days." she mumbled before she went to her class, counting the money she earned and whistling.
"Ehh? Ruka-pyon got a love letter?" cried Mikan Sakura, Hotaru's best friend, with a high tone that made Hotaru and Natsume spontaneously closed their ears.
"Noisy, polka-dots! You make my ears almost bleeding." Natsume scoffed angrily at his girlfriend whom he thought was so childish and loud. Mikan just stuck her tongue out cutely in return.
Ruka just nodded with his blushing face looking at the love letter he held in his hand. Sakura shouldn't have shouted like that, he thought. Right now, the four of them were gathering in his three-star room. Hotaru was the first one who visited Ruka in his room after school, but suddenly Mikan and Natsume joined them both.
"Then, please open that letter, Ruka-pyon! I'm soo curious about the content!" Mikan asked excitedly, which met with a glare from Natsume for being too noisy.
Ruka nodded again. He turned his face briefly to Hotaru before he opened it and read the content of that love letter.
.
To: Nogi Ruka-kun from class 2-A, Alice Academy High School division.
How are you? Ah, I shouldn't have asked such a thing because we all know that you'll be fine. Firstly I am so sorry to Imai-san because I chose to ask her to give this letter to you than gave it to you directly by myself. I didn't have much courage for it. Writing this letter made me embarrassed as hell. I'm such a coward, don't you think?
I just want to tell you. Actually I like you since I first bought your charming photos from Imai-san. I like you who never tired of chasing after Imai-san to anywhere. I'm always watching you from afar because I'm really in love with you. Ah, I feel so embarrassed!
So, Nogi-kun, will you go on a date with me? I will wait for you tomorrow after school in front of Howalon store in Central Town. If you come tomorrow, that means I assume Nogi-kun is willing to be my boyfriend.
Sincerely,
Haruka Mitsuru.
P.S: I will use a red ribbon for you to recognize me.
.
"Woah, so romantic! I wished Natsume would make such a romantic letter like that for me!" the first comment came out from Mikan's mouth a few seconds after Ruka finished reading the letter.
"Shut up!" Natsume responded as he gave his girlfriend his infamous glare.
With a flushed face, Ruka glanced at Hotaru, as if curious about the Ice Queen's reaction towards the letter he received. However, much to his disappointment, not a word coming out from her and neither was the change of Hotaru's emotionless face.
"Just have a try, Ruka-pyon! From the very first you've always wanted to have a girlfriend, haven't you?" Mikan pleaded excitedly. The girl even held his hands and attacked him with her cutely puppy eyes which were making Ruka felt desperate.
"If so the fan-girls aren't going to chase you anymore," added Natsume who was making him felt like he was on the edge of a cliff. "Then quickly remove your hands from Polka's hands."
"Aww, Natsume! Are you jealous?"
"Shut up."
Desperately, for the third time, the animal-pheromone alice owner turned to Hotaru. A smirk formed on the face of hers.
"It won't hurt to try."
Ruka Nogi, in which his Alice Academy Senior High uniform was a bit tousled and his blond hair was a little messy, ran towards the most popular store in Central Town, Howalon store, a few seconds after he stepped his legs off the bus. His bright blue eyes turned soft when he saw a girl wearing the same uniform with the differences were the girl wore skirt than pants and also her hair braided into two. The girl wore a red ribbon on her head to be recognized by him.
Ruka stopped for a while to straighten his uniform and hair.
"Nogi-kun ..." muttered the girl without much believes, also with a blushing face. "I couldn't believe that you will really come!"
Ruka scratched his head which was hardly itchy, "Hahaha, yeah, me too."
After that, they both then walked in unison and joined a queue to buy two packs of Howalons. After done buying, they continued their date. They went to a store which was selling some alice stuffs, then to pet shop, next to flower shop, after that helped a grandmother carrying groceries, exchanging their Howalons to each other, and other things a couple would normally do. Their date was filled with laughter. Even Ruka had a time to buy his date a bud of a red rose.
"So far, nothing is wrong." said a raven-haired girl with pig binoculars attached in her hand.
A brunette-haired girl in pigtails pouted beside her. "Mou, Hotaru, if you are that worried then you shouldn't let Ruka dated that girl in the first place!" she said, "And what is that strange thing in your hands?"
Hotaru Imai, the girl who held the binoculars, turned to her best friend. "Invention number xx, this thing has a way of working similar to the electron microscope." she answered dryly, "And I don't feel worried."
"Then why are you stalking Ruka-pyon?"
"I don't stalk. I'm following him. I just want to take his photos when he is dating. It will sell well."
Mikan pouted again, "Mou, Natsume, please help me to convince Hotaru that she is worried about Ruka-pyon will be taken by another girl!"
The Black Cat just rolled his crimson eyes. "Why should I? This has nothing to do with me."
"Then why are you following us?" the Ice Queen asked dryly.
"Some ugly Polka-dots dragged me here by force."
A useless debate then went on between the most popular couple in the whole Alice Academy, while Hotaru just rolled her eyes and turned back to the blonde. She took a deep breath, feeling disturbed by the feeling that suddenly piercing her chest. The longer she watched Ruka, the greater the pain she felt. What's wrong with me? She asked silently. She sighed once again and made her paces to get closer to them, followed by Natsume and Mikan who were still debating.
"And why are we climbing a tree, Hotaru?" complained the nullification alice owner with a high tone.
"Shut up." Hotaru and Natsume shouted in unison. Now the three of them were in a branch of a tree placed in the back of a couch where Ruka and her date were sitting together. With her favorite camera, Hotaru took some photos of a smiling and blushing Ruka.
"Do you think you'll be completely satisfied with this, Hotaru?" Mikan asked.
"Of course I do" She answered simply. Pointing her camera lens to Ruka, she narrowed her eyes. For some reason, she felt annoyed with the unusual facial expressions which were shown by Ruka today. He never showed such expressions in front of me, she yelled in her mind. Then, her amethyst eyes suddenly widened.
"Oh my God," cried Mikan suddenly. "They are almost kissin—HOTARU!"
The Ice Queen closed her eyes when she slipped and was about to fall from the branches where she climbed. Is this the end for me?
Ruka Nogi looked happy. Dating with a girl he had just met, Mitsuru, was not a bad thing. In fact, his dating was indeed fun. For the first time in his life he showed his flushed face and his laughing in front of a girl, and this was the first time in his life he gave a rose to a girl.
Everything was perfect, or so he thought. Dating like this was what he truly wanted. But somehow there was something stabbing his heart. The girl in front him wasn't the same girl who had always been in his dreams, wasn't the same girl with the girl who sold his embarrassing photos everyday. Dating with Mitsuru was fun, but chasing after Hotaru was much happier than this.
Therefore, his cerulean eyes widened when he saw Mitsuru's eyes closed and her lips were coming closer to his. He closed his eyes heavily, how much he knew what would happen next.
"HOTARU!"
That shout he coincidentally heard made his entire instincts rising, waking up from its sleep since he started dating. He spontaneously turned his face towards the source of that shout. Both of his eyes grew wider to see what was happening in front of him.
"Imai!"
Ruka quickly stepped towards Hotaru who almost fell onto the ground. He immediately leaped and held his arms up, ready to catch the girl's body. He closed his eyes tightly. Yet strangely, he didn't feel the slightest burden or anything that struck his hands.
He tried to open his eyelids, trying to see what really happened above him.
"Oops." he saw Hotaru was hanging on her 'floating swan'. "Just a little clumsy."
"Forgive me, Mitsuru-san!" he cried, bowing in front of the braided girl. Ruka felt guilty because he left her when they were almost kissing. But indeed he wasn't able to, if it wasn't with Hotaru. He bowed once again.
Mitsuru just smiled, "Don't be like that. You're not in fault"
"I'm really sorry, so sorry. I can't be your boyfriend, because..." his face blushed at once. "...because there is another girl whom I love!"
Mitsuru nodded her face, "I know. Nogi-kun loves Imai-san, right?"
Ruka's face was now completely as red as a tomato, "H-How did you know?"
The girl just smiled cheerfully, "I could see it from your reaction!" she laughed for a moment. "It looks like we are not destined to be together. I understand... I'll give up about you... This date was really wonderful! I'll never forget it... Thank you!"
"You okay?"
She smiled again. "Come on, don't worry about me! You should better worry about Imai-san there. Gotta go! See ya!"
While Mitsuru was waving her hand and walked away, Hotaru came out from behind, followed by Natsume and Mikan who had been giggling all the time. How he wished he could hide his blushing face in a place that couldn't be reached by them.
"I-Imai! You heard?"
Hotaru just grinned, "Accidentally heard."
The both of them just lost in silence. Only giggles from Mikan could be heard by them. Ruka lowered his blushing face, feeling embarrassed, while Hotaru still didn't show any expressions on her face. The silence was broken when Hotaru turned her back, which was now facing Ruka.
"Hey, Nogi."
"Yeah?"
"I wanna be your girlfriend, only if you let me to continue taking and selling your embarrassing photos."
Suddenly, Ruka's eyes widened in shock.
The End.
Author's Note: REVIEW Please! Your reviews will make my day.
(Revised by Yuuto Tamano. 2010/09/17)