All they have to do is get married, but that's hard for two people who are very different and hate each other, but still, they like each other all the same. And when Reo, a mysterious wizard turns up, starts to threaten Mikan, can only Natsume help her?

Me: Sadly this nis disclaimed... I will be in my grave before they give me Gakuen Alice and some of their ultimately cool plushies...

Note: Oh, Mikan does not turn into a swan in this... I think she turns into a deer... Ehehehe... Nah, but, if you want me to make her a swan in this just tell me so in your reviews, okay?

IF you review haha's.

Two
Learn to Dance

That day Mikan slept soundly until 12:00pm, because her feet hurt and she had fallen ill. She just really wanted to avoid Natsume, because he was going to taunt her about being weak. Mikan hated his taunts. They were so silly and childish.

She rolled in her bed and sighed. he knew her mother would terribly scold her, like she even cared. She was always scolded. Just another 2 weeks, she thought. Then Natsume would be gone. She smiled at that thought, hugging her pillow...

Downstairs, Natsume's mother had come to visit and she was speaking with Yuka as they sat in the lounge, all smiles as they chatted away. Ruka had also tagged along to see his best friend, and they were outside, playing archery.

"You know, Mikan can be kinda cute sometimes." Ruka explained, letting his arrow fly as Natsume glared at him, and Ruka started to laugh nervously,

"Erm... As cute as a blood-thirsty lion, I meant." he added quickly, and Natsume sent his own arrow flying with a flame lit at the end of it. Natsume and Mikan went back to hationg each other after he had helped her from the woods and showed her his wonderful side. He shook his head, his burning arrow hit the board, a perfect bulls eye.

"So... You still hate her after all these years?" Ruka asked him as he stared at his blonde friend, who grinned and started to sweat. He knew Natsume would burn him if he didn't stop jabbering soon. He didn't want to be scarred now, did he.

"She's annoying, ugly and has no taste at all. Plus, she is greedy and fat." Natsume lied to Ruka, about the fat part. Now even Ruka knew that Mikan wasn't fat. Natsume was just being harsh, was all. He was always like that to everyone.

"You know, she was flirting with the castle guards, again. She is so slutty when she wants to be." Natsume said as Ruka stared at him, and sighed. Was that a hint of jealousy, he thought? Natsume's voice had sounded so bitter and he looked angry at what he had said. It was his fault, after all. Not the bit about Mikan flirting, but about saying it. He should have kept his mouth shut.

"Well, let her. If you don't like her then she can do all she wants. You said that before, Natsume." Ruka explained, quietly as Natsume sighed, and threw his bow down. Ruka was right.

But why did Natsume suddenly get this hatred flaring up whenever Mikan started to flirt with others? Why did he hate her being with other guys? He thought he detested the little brunette brat with bad underwear!

He was about to walk away, when he heard a voice calling out to Ruka, and he looked up, the same time as Ruka did, and they both saw Mikan on her balcony, dressed in a nice pink gown as she waved towards Ruka, her pigtails styled with pink and white ribbons made of silk. A far as Natsume knew, Mikan had left her shoes off. Her feet had currently been bandaged.

"Ruka-pyon! How is the rabbit you brought up!? And the horses, and the tigers!" Mikan cried out, referring to Natsume's pets, except the rabbit, which was rightfully Ruka's as he had saved it, and Ruka smiled, staring up to her.

Over the years Ruka and Mikan had gained a special friendship, and Ruka gained a slight crush on her. He stopped being a rebellious boy towards the princess and didn't pick on her when Natsume did. He helped her and was kind towards her. Mikan said he was one of her best and most loyal companions, and friend.

"They're fine, Mikan! Don't worry about them so much. How are your poor feet?" Ruka asked as Mikan smiled, then glared over at Natsume, who glared back. She gave Ruka a reassuring smile that dazzled him and made the sun lose his job. Natsume looked disgusted when she smiled, and turned his head away.

"They are okay, Ruka!" she samiled, and Natsume then harshly turned, and pointed to her.

"You're so stupid! And your pigtails look so babyish!" he snapped as Mikan glared at him. She never noticed he had changed the subject. Natsume had been slowly getting jealous as she payed more attention to Ruka than him. Mikan folded her arms across her chest.

"Shut up! Your face looks stupid, Natsume!" she yelled, and walked back into her room, he thought she had gone to cry, but, she came back holding a pink shoe with a small heel, and she threw it at him then huffed and went into her room as it hit him square on the head, perfect aim. He growled, that would leave a bruise, he said to himself. He picked up the dainty shoe.

Her feet were that small, he thought? He grumbled and tossed it over his shoulder carelessly, then stomped off towards the woods. He was going to shoot the birds, to ease his mind. He picked up a bow and 50 arrows, and went to the woods. Ruka decided to hold back and go to the stables to care fro Mikan's horses. He knew Natsume wasn't a happy bunny...

Mikan sat in her room, sitting at her window seat, her knee's to her chin as she looked outside and sighed. She stared down at her feet, which were cut but not bleeding. Mikan shook her head, and turned back to the window, then, her mother walked in, and closed the door behind her.

"Mikan, darling... I have some news for you." her mother said, walking towards Mikan as her daughter looked up, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Natsume died?" she asked, breathless. Her mother scowled, her daughter was so bloodthirsty. Cute, but evil, she thought. How could Mikan even dare to think like that about her future husband? Yuka shook her head.

"No, no, NO! It's better news, something you have to agree with. Promise?" her mother asked, sitting on Mikan's four poster bed as Mikan rolled her eyes, and looked out of the window, her hair falling in her face as she had let her pigtails unravel.

"I won't make any promises, mother." she said, and Yuka shook her head, then went over to Mikan's wardrobe and smiled, opening the double doors and walking into it, staring at all the beautiful gowns and shoes. She sighed, then turned back to Mikan.

"You know your birthday? I have prepared a dance for you, and... Natsume Hyuuga, your fiancé, will be attending. And Mikan, I expect you to have the first, and the last, dance with him." Yuka explained, and Mikan's haead snapped up, her mouth open as she stared at her mother. How could she!?

"WHAT!? You mean he's coming back after the summer! On January 1st to my birthday!? MOTHER HOW COULD YOU!?" Mikan yelled as her mother stared at her and sighed. She had thought her daughter and the prince had forgotten their differences and started to finally like each other.

"Oh, Mikan... I thought you and Natsume had put your differences aside and finally agreed to marry. I thought you two had got over this silly fued you seem to have. Why you have it, I don't know. Natsume is a perfectly wonderful and charming boy, if you had just given him the chance to get to know you, you two would be blissfully in love, now." Yuka sighed, and Mikan stood up, ignoring the pain that seared in her poor feet.

"You thought!!? Mom... You never think! All you do is act, act, ACT!!! You don't consider my feelings. For once, just listen to me! I don't like him, we will always hate each other! He doesn't want to know me! He hates my guts! He told me so himself! And how would you even know about love!? You just stayed with father because of ME!" Mikan yelled, running out as she cried and her mother watched her run as she sighed.

She thought about what Mikan had said, maybe she never even considered her daughters feelings, maybe she just wanted a king to rule Alice, because she had been left to rule the Alice kingdom all alone when her husband died. She sat on Mikan's bed, as Mikan sat in one of the 30 bathrooms in the palace, and cried...

"And turn, then go back to each other... Good." said the Hyuuga queen as Mikan practiced her dancing with Ruka, who was the same height as her. Mikan sighed. She would soon have to practice this dance with Natsume,. It was the opening dance, and then the last dance was just a slow one where the guy had his arm around her waist. Mikan dreaded that dance. But he had to have his arm around her in the first dance, too.

"Can we stop, now?" Mikan asked, whining for about the hundredth time in 40 minutes. Her mother sighed and told the piano player to stop, and Mikan smiled, walking off. Natsume had taken to his room because he hated dancing, and he knew Mikan couldn't dance for gold.

How had the two gotten into this? Mikan never remembered to agreeing, she remembered running off and crying her eyes out, but she never said to her mother she would agree to dance with Natsume. And Natsume never agreed to the same with his mother, either.

It seemed their parents yet again decided to think about themselves and not their children and how they would feel. Mikan didn't even want a dance for her birthday. She detested dancing alot. So did Natsume, that's a passion they both shared, they detested it so much. They could barely stand the stupid thing their parents forced them into.

It was almost as bad as getting married to each other. Mikan walked back to her room, after grabbing two or three cookies, and she sat in her room, her feet curled under her long gown as she watched the purpley pink sky turn darker. She sighed.

Did she have to dance with him? She meant Natsume. Mikan sighed, she was so useless at dancing and Ruka was so talented. She stepped on his feet constantly, yet he never complained. She wished she was marrying Ruka, but she didn't even love him. Mikan put her chin in her hand, and half closed her eyes, still holding half a cookie. She wanted to sleep, but wasn't tired. She wanted to forget everything, to wish that she wasn't marrying the arrogant and conceited Natsume Hyuuga.

But did she even have the free choice? No, not at all. It was never her choice, it was always her mothers choice. Mikan dropped her cookie onto the floor, she didn't notice, and she watched the sun set and hide behind the purple mountains of Alice that were tipped with ice and snow. She stood up, passing the cookie, and walking to her bed. She decided to rest. She was going to have to be forced into dancing again, tomorrow.

Mikan fell asleep, still fully dressed, not bothering to go under her covers, and Natsume passed her room on his way to get something to eat. Her door was open, and he saw her sleeping so peacefully, plus, her hair was down, he noticed, and he couldn't help but think she looked sweet, almost like an angel, when she slept soundly. And he realized he never got a headache when she was asleep...

The next day, Mikan had to put her smallest heels on, get out another gown and have a long bath before she went to practice dancing, this time, with Natsume. It was, of course, for her birthday. She grimaced at the thought of dancing with him. She sighed as she got ready, her hair still fairly wet as she dressed herself and made her hair look nice with a beret and some pretty hair bands.

She then walked out of the room. Her feet were a little better, although she was limping, slightly. Halfway across the landing, Mikan and Natsume came face to face. Mikan quickly turned and walked down the stairs as fast as she could, without slipping. Natsume watched the girl, and shook his head, leaving down the second flight of stairs as Mikan watched him from the corner of her eye, and then she sighed.

Another day of dancing, she thought. But this time, with him, the devil of the world. The fire demon. She scrunched up her tiny nose, cutely, and pouted. She stood beside a suit of armour as maids and servants passed her. Natsume had obviously gone off to find a sanctuary. One she wouldn't find, she thought.

"Most likely up a tree like a cat..." she mumbled, walking off in the direction of the kitchens to sneak some food away from the maids and the cooks. Then Mikan went outside to sit by the fountain, eating bread and honey as she watched birds fly over her. She didn't notice that Natsume was on the other side of the fountain, reading a book he had randomly picked from the royal library. Mikan ate as he read.

He knew she was there. He heard her loud feet stomping towards the fountain. Whoever said princesses were graceful should have been shot, because this princess was not the least bit graceful.

She was as graceful as an elephant in ballet slippers with a BB gun, he thought to himself. He flipped a page of the book he was reading, and held his breath so that Mikan wouldn't notice him. If she did, she would start world war III with him.

He kept silent as she munched her snack and then sighed a heavy sigh, then stood up, folding her arms and staring up at the sun.

"What will I do?
Why does it have to be this way?
I don't want to marry him, but I have to...
He is arrogant, pushy and mean.
I wish I had never seen,
his face, why does it have to be this way?"

"He kicks and taunts, it's been like this,
For so long.
I wish it could stop, and he would go... away..."

Mikan sighed sadly, she didn't know Natsume had heard her singing, it seemed to comfert her to sing, and it made his heart lurch when he heard her singing. Mikan put her finger tips in the water of the fountain. She closed her eyes and smiled. Then, a cat from over the hedge meowed suddenly, and Mikan gasped, jumping and falling head first into the fountain as Natsume heard the splash, and realized his clumsy bride-to-be had fallen in.

He would normally have run towards her and laughed, but he stayed silent as Mikan thrashed around in the water, crying and wailing her heart out. Soon he got bored, and walked off with the book in his hands, towards the woods. He still heard her crying as maids went to calm her down. The idiot, he thought. He came into the dark woods, and saw the birds he had killed the other day. He walked past them, ignoring their limp bodies.

He didn't know Ruka had followed him, and was upset that he had killed innocent animals. Ruka loved animals. He then ran back to the stables, too upset to follow Natsume any longer. Natsume knew he had been there, and shook his head.

He walked on until he came to a lake and sat there, staring into it's watery depths, looking at his handsome reflection.

A shadow suddenly cast over him. He thought it was Mikan, and was ready to tell her to go away angrily, when he turned and came face to face with a black cloaked and hooded man who seemed to be grinning behind his hood. Natsume couldn't see his face.

"W-Who the heck are you?" he asked, quietly as the man loomed over him, then clamped a hand to Natsume's shoulder, tightly. Natsume glared at the man and tried to get his hand off of him. He was too strong. He wondered who he was and what he wanted with him.

"You shouldn't kill birdies, princey... You might make a mistake one day and target the wrong one." he said darkly, and Ntasume stared at him, confused with what he had said, and he knew the man was smirking.

"W-What do you mean?" he asked, but the man finally let go of him, and walked off, disappearing into the woods as Natsume shuddered, then realized he needed to get to the ballroom and endure hours of Mikan stepping on his feet, trying to learn to dance...

After 2 weeks of pain and dancing, Natsume was finally leaving and Mikan was happy he was going. She had to watch his carriage leave, but wouldn't wave ike her mother insisted she did. Mikan just stood there, sulking. Once the carriage was out of sight, though, she jumped in the air and yelled her delight, as her disapproved mother tutted at Mikan's happiness. She sighed, and went back into the palace as Mikan ran around the long, wide garden, screaming her lungs off.

Even Natsume could hear her from his carriage, he could hear her through his ear plugs. He had them for whenever he came, because she always screamed her delight when he left her castle...

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Hope this chapter was enjoyable! I might make this more like the Swan Princess, YAY! That's if you don't mind, okay? You send me your reviews or something, telling me if you want her to be a swan in it thanks to Reo. If no, you tell me so. If yes, tell me. I will count them and the most decides weather she will be a swan, or not.

Thanks for reading!

Love Kelly!

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