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Chapter One
By: xll KUROI TSUBASA llx

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DISCLAIMER: Is this even necessary? Everyone knows that I don't own Gakuen Alice; Higuchi-sensei does.

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"Just where the heck has that kimono gone to?"

The girl searched her closet, determined to find what she was looking for. After several minutes, she finally got up holding an orange furisode embroidered with cherry blossoms in one hand and her golden obi in the other hand. Her former irritated expression turned into that of sheer happiness as she finally found the item she was looking for. But it didn't last long because once she turned her back, she faced with the huge pile of clothes that she had left in disarray just a moment ago.

"Eh? I've created such a big mess!" she exclaimed, eyes wide while staring at the objects that she had thrown about in her quest to find her beloved kimono.

The girl placed the objects that she was holding on her study table – the only thing in her room that wasn't littered with clothes and began to pick up the clothes that adorned her room. She picked them up one by one, folded them neatly and carefully placed the clothes back to their respective places with a huge smile on her face. After all that, she glanced at the clock by her bedside and saw that it was already quarter past three

"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" she said as she rushed towards the bathroom and began to take a shower.

As she did so, she remembered her first days in the academy- the days when she had to work hard to prove herself worthy of being an Alice, those days when she didn't even have a single star. But after 2 years... Wait wasn't it 3? Oh what the heck. The point is that she's already a three star student. After the discovery that she possesses rare Alices that could be important assets to the academy, the faculty and higher-ups deemed that it was just fitting that she should achieve a higher rank. Besides, it turned out that she really does deserve the rank when people began to notice that she really wasn't that stupid after all, just a late bloomer. Gradually, she got better in her academics to the point that even the great Jinno-sensei slightly and when I say slightly, I really do mean slightly acknowledged her tremendous progress. But aside from that, almost nothing has changed in the life of the brunette. Her supposed best friend, Hotaru, still bullied her. Even though she had gotten much better in academics, she still is the same klutzy brunette that everyone knew. There wasn't a day that she didn't trip on her own feet and you could often find her arguing with a certain raven-haired boy because he coincidentally happens to pass by whenever she trips and displays her underwear for all people to see. Moreover, she's still naïve and oblivious to everyone. Despite spending all those time with the boys who were secretly in love with her, she never figured out their true feelings towards her. See, nothing much has changed.

After taking a bath, she wiped herself dry with a pink towel, opened the door leading to her room and then put on her kimono. She stood in front of the mirror and admired herself. The kimono fitted her perfectly! She twirled around once, happily admiring herself. The kimono really suited her! It was a perfect combination for her brown hair and hazel eyes!

The girl began to comb her long silky hair. She was about to tie it into her usual pigtails when she remembered something.

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A few weeks ago, she sat under the shade of a big tree thinking deeply. But her thoughts were disturbed by a familiar voice.

"Hey ugly."

'I know that voice. And there's only one person in the academy who calls me ugly.' she thought as her confused expression turned to that of annoyance.

She turned to the direction of the origin of the voice and saw a boy with naturally messy back hair and piercing crimson eyes staring directly at her atop another tree. Just as she thought, it was HIM.

"I have a name, you know!" she said irately.

The boy didn't answer back. Instead, he simply jumped down from the tree and headed towards her.

"Were you actually thinking back then, idiot? You should be careful. Your head might explode if you think too much, especially with that brain capacity of yours..." the boy started teasing her the moment he got down from the tree.

She made a face at the boy once he finally caught up with her

"You're so mean. You still say that even though know that my grades aren't that bad anymore" she said, pouting.

The two walked together towards the school building – the middle school building to be exact. A few months had already passed since they first entered middle school. As the brunette thought about this, she began to have flashbacks of the years she spent in the academy but her thoughts were once again cut off by her companion.

"Dammit! Are you deaf?" he sounded really annoyed.

"Wha-what is it Natsume?" she asked feeling a bit confused and alarmed at the same time.

"Tch. You really are hopeless. Not only are you stupid but you're deaf too." He said casually

She was about to retort however, before she could even move her lips, her companion began to talk once again. His voice turned deep and his expression became serious. It was as if what he was going to say was really important

"You know, those pigtails don't suit you."

That does it! She thought he was going to say something nice and relevant for a change but nooo... He started insulting her again! He was always like this – so infuriating!

"Well I'm sorry if I'm that ugly to -"

But before she could finish that statement, fire had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and elicited a scream from her

Now that does it. That jerk was definitely going to pay. She whirled around to face the cause of her distress, while thinking of all the possible methods that she could use to hurt Natsume. However, what she didn't expect was that she'll get trapped from the smoldering gaze of the said offender instead.

"Just leave your hair down like this. It's much better. If not, try putting it in a ponytail." the crimson-eyed boy said before finally breaking their eye contact and turning around to walk back towards the middle school building once again.

After a few moments of silent awkwardness, the girl called for the boy's attention.

"Natsume-kun..."

The boy stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Ano... thank you... I'll try what you just said... when I get the chance." she said with a smile and slightly flushed cheeks.

"..."

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And that was what happened a few weeks ago.

'I guess I could try out what Natsume said. It wouldn't really do me any harm if I do. Besides, he seemed so sincere that time.' she thought.

So the thirteen-year-old girl combed her damp hair once again and tied it into a neat ponytail using an orange scrunchie adorned with jeweled flowers.

The girls smiled at her reflection in the mirror and twirled once again. Natsume was right. It did look good on her.

She searched for her pink handbag, wallet, and a handkerchief and before going out of her room, she glanced at her alarm clock. It was already 4 o'clock. She vaguely remembered that she had promised her two friends, Hotaru and Iincho-kun, earlier that week that she would meet them outside her room at exactly that time. Even though the festival proper would only start at five, the three friends decided to go to Central Town (the festival venue) an hour before so that they could check how the festival preparations were going on.

When she got out of the room, she immediately spotted her two companions waiting for her in the hallway.

"Hotaru-chan!" she yelled out excitedly as she ran towards her friend with jet black hair and stoic amethyst eyes and was garbed in a blue kimono decorated with lavender polka dots by the edges and a silver obi.

But before she could even get near her friend, Hotaru used the baka gun on her.

"Hey that hurts Hotaru... Why do you always do that to me? I was only trying to hug you." she complained with a pout as she tried to stand up.

"That's the reason why I use it, you idiot. It's because you don't have any self control." Hotaru said in her monotone voice.

"You're so mean."

But Hotaru didn't seem to pay any attention to what the girl was saying but instead she handed her a nicely wrapped package.

"Happy Birthday, Mikan." Hotaru said with a smile.

Upon seeing the package, Mikan became teary-eyed. Obviously, she was touched by Hotaru's gesture.

"You remembered." she said as tears started to spill onto her cheeks.

"Of course I did, stupid. Now stop crying."

Mikan then took the gift, wiped off her tears, thanked Hotaru and then turned to hug her best friend. This time, Hotaru didn't budge and even hugged back.

After Mikan released Hotaru from her tight embrace, Yuu turned to greet her and then gave his present as well. He was wearing a russet haori over his beige kimono and was beaming at Mikan as he handed her his present.

Actually, Mikan's birthday was still tomorrow – New Year's Day but her two friends always did this on the day before her birthday. But Mikan, well, being Mikan always gets surprised every time her two close friends do this even though it has already been their yearly routine.

"You look wonderful Mikan-chan. And your hair... This style suits you much better." Yuu complimented with his unusual kindness right after Mikan accepted his present

"Thank you" Mikan said, blushing. She was really flattered that her friend noticed the change she has done.

"Please wait or me for a while. I'll just leave your gifts on my drawer. I'll be back in a sec." she said as she headed back to her room.

After placing the presents that her friends gave her in her drawer, Mikan went out once again. This time, the first person she saw was Natsume, who had coincidentally passed by the front of her room just at exactly the same time she had opened the door. The two just stood there, staring at each other until a boy with blond hair and steel-blue eyes interrupted their strange trance.

"Hey. " Natsume greeted as he removed his gaze from the girl and turned towards their new companion. The other boy smiled in reply.

"Hi Ruka-pyon!" Mikan greeted the boy with her usual enthusiasm.

As the boy turned towards his jolly friend, he began to blush a bit but Mikan was oblivious to this and continued smiling. Natsume on the other hand seemed to notice this change in his friend and gave him a sideward glance.

"Hi." he greeted the girl back.

Upon noticing that Natsume and Ruka were also dressed in their kimonos and haoris instead of their school uniform, Mikan realized that the two were also going to the festival.

"So, are the two of you going to the festival as well?" she asked the two just as Hotaru and Yuu arrived on the spot.

Ruka nodded as he petted his rabbit.

"Why don't we all go there together then?" Mikan suggested.

Ruka turned to his friend, waiting for his approval. Natsume shrugged in reply and Ruka took this as a yes.

"Okay than." Ruka said, smiling.

And so, the five friends walked towards the bus stop together. Unfortunately, they came across several of Natsume and Ruka's fan girls who kept on fussing about the two boy's' appearance. Thus, they arrive later than planned since it took them a lot of time and effort to shake off the annoying fan girls.

By the time they arrived at Central Town, it was already 4:45 and the stalls were all ready and all the decorations were already put up. There were different banners and lanterns which were hung, a lot of lively music were being played and crowds of people were already lining the streets, all in their traditional Japanese attire.

"Oh this place is absolutely wonderful!" Mikan exclaimed as her eyes twinkled from excitement.

"Would you shut up you idiot. The festivals here are always the same." Natsume said in a slightly irritated tone.

Mikan glared at him for a moment but then, she stopped.

'Control yourself, Mikan. Don't let him annoy you. Don't let this perfect day be ruined by one snide comment.' she thought to herself as she tried to calm down.

"Mikan-chan, what's wrong?" Yuu asked when he noticed that Mikan was left behind, while standing still. Yuu's question seemed to arouse the interest of the others who started to turn towards the brunette as well.

"Huh?" she asked once she returned to reality. Then she noticed her friends staring at her. She could tell from their looks that they were waiting for an answer.

"Oh, it was nothing! Why don't we check out the shops?" she said as she caught up with them.

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They first checked out a stall which sold different fans. Actually, it was only Mikan who went to pick one from the wide range of designs being sold. The others were just standing there, waiting for her, although she did ask her friends' opinions. After some time, she finally chose one - a round fan which was filled with cherry blossoms. So, she gave twenty-five rabbits to the stall owner and they went on their way.

The next shops they went to were mostly chosen by either Mikan or Yuu. Hotaru chose some of the shops as well and bought mechanical parts for her inventions, food, and some things that were needed for school. Ruka also chose some of the shops. He bought pet food and other stuff his bunny wanted. Natsume on the other hand, didn't choose any store except for one- a comic book stand wherein he bought some manga for him to read.

Then, they came across a jewelry shop. Mikan checked it out and was fascinated by a beautiful white gold necklace which has a heart-shaped ruby-encrusted locket with a fire symbol engraved on it. Unfortunately, it costs 5000 rabbits and she already spent most of her savings on the other stuff she bought. She only had 700 rabbits left and she didn't want to borrow money from her companions since she remembered the warnings her grandfather gave her about borrowing money. Besides, even if her friends did lend her money, she wouldn't be able to pay them back easily. With her allowance, it will still take her months to save enough money in order to pay her loan.

Apparently, the jewelry sold in that shop were expensive since they all hold special powers which came from other people's Alices. That necklace in particular would give protection to the wearer of the locket as well as the other two people who have their pictures placed in the locket.

Mikan felt disappointed that she wasn't able to buy the necklace but she quickly got over her disappointment. However, Natsume and Hotaru seemed to notice it as they glanced towards her but they both shrugged it off since the brunette didn't seem to mind that much.

They spent most of their time browsing and buying stuff from the different shops that they were only able to eat at around 8:30 in the evening. They ate in a seafood restaurant which Hotaru had chosen.

"The food tastes great!" Mikan exclaimed as she popped some crabmeat into her mouth.

"Yeah. It's excellent. They all say that this restaurant serves the best seafood cuisine in all of Japan."

"You know, this restaurant is famous all over the country. It has a lot of branches here in Japan and they say that it's opening branches in other parts of the world." Ruka stated as he gave some shrimp to his rabbit which happily accepted and ate it. Mikan nodded her head in fascination as she listened to her friends' explanations.

Natsume and Hotaru did not join their conversation. For Natsume, it was just natural. He was always like that. He rarely talks. Hotaru on the other hand was busy eating a plateful of crabs, lobsters, oysters and shrimps. With all that she was eating, one would think that she'd be broke by now. However, that wasn't the case since everything that she was eating was free of charge. She had recently received several all-you-can-eat meal tickets for different cafés in Central Town as a reward for her hard work when several people who were amazed by her inventions invested heaps of cash in the academy. One of those meal tickets that she received was for this restaurant, and so, she took the liberty to order practically everything on the menu.

After eating, they went to the different booths prepared for the festival. The booths were stationed on the west side of Central Town. People were crowding over the different stalls. There were different games which they could try out. There was a shooting game, a pie throwing booth, a booth wherein they could try to catch some fish with the use of a thin glass, and many others. There were also some food stalls and there was even a fortune-telling booth.

As Natsume and Ruka tried out the shooting game, Hotaru and Mikan went over to a stall selling sweets to buy some cotton candy with Yuu following them.

"Two cotton candy please." Mikan said once she arrived in front of the stall.

"That would be twenty rabbits, miss." The store owner said as he handed the cotton candy to Mikan. Mikan in turn gave the owner twenty rabbits.

"Here, Hotaru. This is yours. And you don't have to pay me. It's my treat." she said as she gave the cotton candy to her friend.

Hotaru took the cotton candy from Mikan and uttered in a calm voice "It's strange for you to buy me stuff. I'm the one who usually does that."

Mikan took Hotaru's statement as flattery and said while smiling and feeling a little embarrassed "Thanks for your compliment, Hotaru."

Just then, they spotted Yuu.

"Hi Yuu! Oh, do you want some cotton candy too?"

"Oh, no thanks! I'm still full from all that seafood... But thanks for the offer anyway."

"Oh, okay then... Let's go and find Natsume and Ruka then!" Mikan said happily and then ran towards the shooting booth.

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It didn't take much effort for them to find the duo. They were apparently surrounded by their fan girls (which also include Sumire and her friend) who were cooing over them. Although it did take much effort to get through their cheering squad.

"Excuse me. Please let me pass through." Mikan repeatedly uttered as she tried to squeeze through the crowd.

Finally, after struggling hard to pass through the huge crowd of girls, she came upon Natsume and Ruka who were busy competing in the shooting game. Then she noticed the huge pile of stuffed toys they've collected from winning the game.

"Sugoi! You two are really great at this game!" Mikan commented, obviously impressed by her friends' winning streak.

Upon hearing her voice, the two missed their targets at the same time. Everyone was shocked to see that, including Hotaru and Yuu who just arrived beside Mikan, for the duo has never missed a single shot before she arrived. And so, after getting over the shock, all the fan girls. Mikan then tried to defend herself from all the accusations by saying that the whole incident can't be her fault. After all, they were already making a huge commotion even before she arrived so it was unreasonable to say that she was the sole cause of the two boys' distraction. However, no matter what she said, Natsume and Ruka's fan girls weren't soothed. Instead, they became more rabid and cursed the helpless girl even more. Fortunately, before the situation grew out of hand, Ruka came to the brunette's rescue.

"It wasn't her fault that I missed my target. I just got distracted by the…" Ruka started. Upon hearing the blond boy's voice, the fan girls immediately removed their attention from Mikan and directed it towards him.

"Ano… I got distracted by the…" he continued while eyeing his surroundings for anything that could have distracted him.

"I got distracted by… by Usagi. Yeah, he pulled my hair that time so I kinda lost my concentration" he finally said as he gave a quick apologetic look towards the bunny on his shoulder which at first looked appalled but was quickly able to forgive him after understanding his current predicament.

'That was such a dumb excuse. Moreover, I had to give the blame on Usagi. Darn it. I'm such a wimp. To think that I still have to rely on Usagi for an explanation that nobody will believe' Ruka thought as he mentally berated himself for his stupidity. However, contrary to his thoughts, everyone around him seemed to think that his explanation was acceptable except for two people who were now eyeing him with great curiosity. However, the two decided not to pose any question and chose to fix their attention on something else.

Ruka was still deep in though when his bubbly friend suddenly bounced towards him

"Huh?" Ruka said as he finally came back to his senses but he only got startled once again when he saw that Mikan's face was so close to his. His face immediately turned bright red from the sudden proximity.

"Wha-what is it?" he stuttered, feeling all flustered.

"We were just asking you if you'll still be playing because these guys here said that they want to try the shooting game." The brunette asked as she pointed towards a small group of younger boys.

"Uh... No." he replied.

"Oh. Okay then."

Those were the last words he recalled before he drifted back into his deep thoughts.

"That's it!" Ruka suddenly burst out.

"Eh? What's wrong Ruka-pyon?" Mikan asked in utter confusion after hearing the sudden exclamation coming from her friend.

"Ano… It's nothing… Ah… Ano… Ha-happy Birthday, Sa-Sakura-san." Ruka uttered while blushing once again.

Mikan turned her gaze from the boy's flushed face to big pile of stuffed animals he was holding towards her.

"For me?" Mikan asked, sounding really surprised by the boy's gesture.

Ruka nodded, still blushing with his blond bangs covering his eyes. It was obvious to everyone around the vicinity that the poor boy was extremely embarrassed but Mikan, being the naïve girl that she is, was oblivious to this. However, everyone else, especially Hotaru, Yuu and Natsume watched the development with great interest. The three were listening to their conversation intently and the latter had even stopped playing bang began to clench the toy gun that he was holding tightly. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice this strange behavior of the fire caster, not even Hotaru, the most observant of them all for they were all busy watching Ruka and Mikan. Even the fan girls were keeping themselves quiet just so that they could hear the conversation.

"But Ruka... this is too much. And I don't think that they'll even fit my room." The girl said while laughing slightly.

"You can keep one of them and give out the others if you like. It doesn't really matter." Ruka said, now averting his gaze towards the shooting booth.

"Oh okay then. If that's the case then I'll keep this stuffed bunny." she said as she took a pink stuffed rabbit from the pile, hugged it and then beamed at the blushing boy.

"And you should keep this." Mikan said as she handed Ruka the stuffed chick which looked like a small replica of the Giant Piyo.

Ruka could only nod.

And so, Mikan handed out the stuffed animals to everybody else. She each gave one stuffed animal to Hotaru, Yuu, Sumire, and Wakako, Sumire's friend. She even handed the excess to several lucky fan girls. However, Mikan took one last stuffed animal- a cat and went towards Natsume who apparently began to play the shooting game once again just after Mikan and Ruka's conversation.

"Here..." Mikan said as she handed the stuffed cat to Natsume.

Natsume stopped from playing, glanced at Mikan, then at the stuffed cat and then began to shoot his target once again.

"What's that for?" ha asked as he went back to his game.

"Just keep it okay. It's from Ruka so stop complaining."

Natsume seemed to ponder a bit before finally uttering a silent "Whatever."

And so, Mikan left the stuffed cat beside Natsume's own pile. She understood that Natsume already agreed to take the toy with him. She then went back to her other friends while hugging her own stuffed bunny.

"Thanks again, Ruka-pyon!" she exclaimed as she beamed at the boy.

Ruka once again blushed furiously. The only reply he could give her was "Uh, yeah." He was at a loss for words. He knew that if he tried to say anything more than that, he would just end up embarrassing himself in front of the girl and everybody else.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Just to clarify things, this story is set after the anime, not the manga. If I set this story after the manga, the plot would surely be different. Certain portions have been based from the manga though such as the part wherein it has been discovered that Mikan is actually a multi-Alice user.

Even after revising this chapter, I still feel utter discontent. I find that the plot of this story is utterly pointless. Certain parts in the story seem dragging and useless but I don't want to remove them because if I do, I might change the whole story and I don't want that. I want it to remain as close to the original as possible so I do wish that you people will understand and bear with me. Anyway, I doubt that people will still read this story. I have been such a neglectful author so I doubt that any of my old readers would still want to read my stories. Moreover, I am also in doubt of my writing skills although I have somewhat improved over the years.

I really doubt that anyone would read this much less review this story but I would really appreciate if at least one person would. I'll be forever grateful to that person. Nevertheless, expect that whether I receive a review or not would not affect my decision to update this story. Rest assured that this two-sot will be completed in less than a week's time.

-:-Kuroi Tsubasa-:-