Chapter 1

'Where am I?' I asked though no one was there to answer.

'A dream,' I thought.

It's this dream again. It was a daily routine. I would always dream this but every night I was wearing different clothes like it happened on different times though it was all the same happenings. It was as if I was shouting to someone, telling him not to go, to just stay, then I would start crying and blaming myself for being weak. He would tell me not to worry, that he'll come back and we would finally live normally. But as he said those words, I would feel like he's lying and then fear and worry comes rushing through my veins. I would turn to him and stop him but was too late. He's gone and I would end up on my knees, sobbing. I hate it.

But today was different. This was not my usual dream. I was there dancing in the middle of the crowd with a guy. I could hear whispers.

'The princess is dancing with her knight.'

'Do they love each other?'

'Isn't it forbidden?'

'I thought the princess was engaged.'

By those whispers, I could conclude I was a princess and I was dancing with my knight. Then, I turned my attention to the dancing figure that I thought was supposed to be me. I heard it, they were whispering to each other and no one in the crowd noticed it. Though, for me, it was very clear. Those words that he said, it was so familiar.

"Princess, I love you," the guy who I suppose is the knight said.

"I know, and you know I love you too," I answered.

"But, it is forbidden. You are engaged and I am only your knight. We can't be together"

"We can if we try. I could give up everything for you. Would you?"

"I could but your future…" he tried to continue but I(I as in the princess, remember I suppose that the princess was me) stopped him.

"My future is with you, not here in this castle, not with my parents, not with a guy I don't love, not anywhere, only with you."

"Well then, let's meet up at the usual sakura tree."

"Okay, at 9 pm."

With that the scene changed, I was there with him under the sakura tree and all around us were soldiers.

"How did they know that we are going to elope?" I asked.

"I don't know. But I'll come with them. I'll talk to your father instead. It's better this way. I'm sure he'll understand." he answered.

"But…" I tried to reason out but was cut off by a kiss.

The kiss was so fierce but at the same time gentle. It was bitter and sweet, sadness and happiness. It talked of the truth and the lie. I could feel his lips touch mine and the time seems to stop. I could feel his tongue explore my mouth. It was so…. full of different emotions that seem to contradict each other.

When we broke apart trying to catch our breath, my hazel eyes locked to his crimson orbs. At that time, I could see his love for me. He was planning something, for me not to get hurt. I knew he would try to sacrifice himself for me.

"No..." I tried to say.

He smiled. "I love you and I would do anything for you"

"But…"

"Just promise me, that even in how many lifetimes, we will meet and we will love each other forever even how many problem comes. We will be together forever. "

I could feel tears falling in my eyes now. I answered back, "I promise under this sakura tree. Pinky swear."

With that, he left and the next thing that happened was just like my usual dream. I was crying and blaming myself.

"No! "I shouted.

"NO!"

"Mikan, are you alright? Sorry but I just tried to wake you up. We're going to be late soon." Tsubasa said.

As I look at him in his eyes, tears started to fall again. I knew at that time, he was worried. It was evident in his eyes. When he saw me crying, he suddenly grabbed and hugged me. He was my bestfriend and the boy I loved. Oh, I love him. He just knows everything about me, my favorite food, color, movie, and a lot more things. He knows how to cheer me up when I cry and how to calm me down when I lost my temper.

I stopped crying for what seems like forever. He then put his hand on my head and messed up my hair.

"Hey!" I complained

"See, stop crying already and just be your usual self," he smiled the sweetest one that I've ever seen.

We both laughed.

"I'll go down now. Your mother told me your breakfast is ready and Hotaru will pick us up on 8 am. Remember our first class starts on 8:30 am and it is Homeroom class. "

"Okay"

"Well you better get ready now; it is 7:30 already."

"Yeah, alright; don't worry. WAIT! What! 7:30!Get out now... I'll change. "

"Okay, okay!"

With that he left my room and proceeded down stairs. He is my bestfriend and childhood friend together with Hotaru. We are the best of friends and what's more? We leave next to each other and go to the same school, Gakuen Alice.

Now I have less than 30 minutes to prepare. So I rushed to the bathroom, and then changed. Our uniform is just simple with a red and black checkered skirt. I did my hair and just left it loose. Tsubasa once said he liked my hair like this.

I went down stairs to eat my breakfast. I saw my father on the table reading a newspaper and my mother cooking. Tsubasa was seating on the dining table waiting for me. We always eat together. He comes in our house for breakfast and then I eat dinner in their house at night. Hotaru joins us during lunch at school and at dinner.

He was wearing our uniform except that he's not wearing skirt but pants. Oh, he looked so hot, even today. What adds to his charm is that cool star-shaped tattoo under his left eye.

Okay, so I went to the table and we started eating breakfast and finished just in time when we heard Hotaru's car stop in front our house. Tsubasa and I grabbed our lunch and bag then said goodbye to my parents. We came rushing inside Hotaru's car.

"Good thing, you're in time baka." Hotaru said.

"Eh, what does that mean Hotaru?" I answered.

I heard Tsubasa chuckle and the he said,"Hotaru meant she thought your going to sleep till noon. Good thing, I'm here to wake you up. "

They both chuckled. "Humph…Meanie…" I said while pouting.

"Okay we're here," Hotaru said as we unbuckle our seatbelts.

"Ano, Tsubasa, Hotaru can I not get out?" I asked.

"Baka" Hotaru answered.

"Don't worry, we're here." Tsubasa assured me.

I just smiled at both of them and by the time we got out of the car, I could hear shouts and screams then there were hearts on the boy's and girl's eyes. Then, it's like the whole school is around us. This is why I hate going at school in the morning. We will be surrounded by fan girls and fan boys. Additional to that, they are really scary.

If you might ask when we first transferred here, all of this already started. The three of us transferred at the same time of course. By that time, we became so popular that the whole student body loved us, both girls and boys. They called us the IMAGINARY TRIO. I don't really know where that came from but according Anna and Nonoko, one of our closest friends that students called us that because they treat us as god and goddesses.

Hotaru Imai was known as the 'ice princess'. Hotaru really is a beauty. She has a short raven hair and purple eyes. She is in the top three spot in the whole school. She's good in academics and is a really good help for the school. Her inventions lured investors to buy and give beneficiaries to the school. A lot of guys admired her cold personality but every one of them learned to back out because they might end up heartbroken. Girls don't hate her but instead love her because she's not their enemy when it comes to guys. Other girls admired her inventions.

Tsubasa, on the other hand, is called 'shadow prince'. Well, he is handsome and so hot and girls just drool over him. He is second in the school and is good in both academics and extra-curricular activities. He's good in every sport so he helps in every sport club. Boys admired his skills and for girls, his looks. They don't call him playboy because he's like my shadow. Yeah, he is my shadow. He's always there wherever I go and there are even rumors saying that we are dating. I truly wish those were true. Well, when they ask him, he would just smile and look at me which makes me blush. Oh, and yeah, he has black hair and crimson-colored eyes.

I, Mikan Sakura, have long brown hair that ended just a little lower than my shoulders and has hazel eyes. They call me 'nullifying princess'. I am the top student of the school and am good in both academics and sports. I help in all the clubs. Girls say that I am their role model. Well, I don't really get it but they always say that I'm beautiful and then asked me why I don't want to model. I don't really have interest in those stuffs. They call me nullifying princess because I don't get affected on how boys try to seduce me. Soon they learned not to confess because they believed I'm already taken by Tsubasa.

As soon as we escaped the crowd, we ran to our classroom and the sat to our respective chairs. Tsubasa is sitting beside me and Hotaru on my front. Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire came running on our seats and greeted us.

"Morning Mikan, Hotaru, Tsubasa!" they all greeted.

"Ohayo" I answered.

"Hey" Tsubasa said. Hotaru just nodded.

"How was the crowd?" Sumire asked.

"Hate it" I growled.

They all laughed.

"Well, did you know there are new students?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, and they are all boys." Tsubasa answered.

"So I guess you'll like it." Nonoko added.

Hotaru gave a confused look.

"You see, there are rumors that they are good looking." Sumire said.

"So?" I asked.

"Your crowd will decrease!" the trio said.

When they said this, Hotaru's, Tsubasa's and my eyes lit up.

"Finally!" the three of us said.

Anna, a pink-haired girl with pink eyes, Nonoko a girl with long blue hair and has blue eyes and Sumire, a green-haired girl with perms at the end and has green eyes, laughed at our reaction.

Oh, if you are wondering how we knew there are transferees, well, the six of us are student council members.

After that Mr. Narumi came in and we sat on our chairs. He was wearing a girl's outfit with frills.

"Okay class, we have transferees!" he said as he danced ballet hat made us sweat drop.

When he said those, there were murmurs. I just continued to read my history book, Tsubasa was listening to his iPod and Hotaru just keep on finishing her inventions. We don't really care about the transferees.

When there were screams of the girls and a deadly aura from the boys, I knew that they already introduced themselves. I've seen their profile because I was the student council president, even Tsubasa and Hotaru saw it. They were good-looking alright but we really don't care. We didn't even bother to take a glance to the new students on the front because we already memorized their names and pictures.

But what caught our attention was when Mr. Narumi told us to take them in a tour in the school after classes. It was bothersome but being the members of the student council, we were left with no choice. So the three of us glanced at them and nodded.

When I did, the first thing I saw were crimson eyes staring into my hazel eyes. I'm sure Tsubasa saw this and grabbed my hand. I looked at him, and we both smiled which at the same time made me blush. I wonder if at that time he became jealous. I wish. Well, after that we get back to what we were doing before.

Our attention was caught again when a certain crimson-eyed boy started talking.

"I want to sit beside that brunette."