Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.. well, maybe in my dreams… haha :D

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Starting Over

Chapter 3

For the first time, in a long time…

For the next couple of days after submitting her essay to Jinno-sensei (thankfully she reached her the deadline, although barely) Mikan Sakura tried to forget her problems for a while. So far, she was able to make friends with some people in her class including Nonoko and Anna who are also roommates, together with Hotaru she hangs out in their dorm most of the time since Anna always serve yummy food including crab dishes which Hotaru absolutely loves. During times when she's not busy she calls her ex-boyfriend Ruka and they have long chats. Mikan shares her misfortunes except the "Hyuuga incident" which is what Nonoko and Anna now call it. For some reason she feels weird sharing it with Ruka so she chooses to talk about other things with him. It was clear that they still had some feelings left for each other but the situation was already just too complicated. Everything was going a bit better for Mikan (if you exclude the harsh glares Shouda Sumire and Koizumi Luna kept giving her) classes were held off for a week because of the many activities so she hardly saw her perverted seatmate. That was her case, until the next Monday…..

Narumi enters his first class for the week and tells the students to do their long project since he had some other business to attend to. He gaily walked out of the room after leaving the class president in-charge. The class knowing they need all the time they can get in making the extremely difficult project started. Mikan half-heartedly left the company of her friends to go to her partner. "Uhm.. So how do you think we should split the workload?" Mikan asked. Natsume without looking up from the manga he was reading replied, "Make it yourself…" "Hey! That's not fair! This is both of our grades and I refuse to get bullied by someone like you!" the brunette angrily shouted which made everyone look in their direction. "Hn, so noisy I can't concentrate on my manga" Natsume said before jumping out the window. "Wha? The nerve of that guy!" Mikan thought. As she looked up she saw Anna and Nonoko approaching her desk "Can you believe the nerve of that guy?! I will not do all the work on my own! Hmp! I better go find him, he can't escape me that easily!" said a clearly pissed Mikan, and with that she rushed out the door while Anna and Nonoko simply shared a knowing smile……

Mikan's POV

Where could that guy possibly be? I've been walking for half an hour and I'm getting really tired! As she looked for a place to rest she came across a Sakura tree. Wow! I've been here for over a month now but I never noticed this Sakura tree before.. Haha I should really be more observant. The tree is big enough and it's the perfect place to get some rest. Hmmm… I just realized how tired I am. I hadn't got any rest since last week was just too hectic but sitting under this tree is surprisingly relaxing, maybe because it reminds me of home. The cool shade from the Sakura tree at grandfather's which Ruka and I used to play under when we were kids feels almost the same as this one. Thinking to myself I realized how much I missed the familiarity and warmth of home and didn't realize a tear trickle down my cheek…. Then I heard a voice " Who's there?" I looked up and saw Hyuuga staring down at me from one of the tree's branches "Oh, it's you." He said. I immediately felt anger my overcome the calmness I felt a while ago. "You! Hyuuga I have been looking all over for you! We need to start the project and I already told you I'm not doing this on my own!" I shouted angrily at him..

Natsume's POV

"You! Hyuuga I have been looking all over for you! We need to start the project and I already told you I'm not doing this on my own!" she shouts angrily at me. Hn, I thought to myself, it's been a while since a girl looked and shouted at me like that. Usually they swarm and cling themselves to me like annoying insects. So I was right, this girl's got guts. Whoa.. She looks even hotter when she's mad. I smile to myself, but then I notice something else, "Have you been crying?" I asked.

Mikan's POV

"Have you been crying?" he asked. I quickly realized that I had been crying and quickly tried to wipe my face feeling myself blushing. How embarrassing! Someone like him to see me cry. Ah! My luck is really bad! But was it my imagination or did he actually look worried? I didn't have time to think for next thing I knew he jumped down and is now standing in front of me. He looked at me from a moment, at first I thought he was going to run away again but then he got something from his pocket and looked away. I stared down and saw a handkerchief. I took it and quickly wiped away all of my tears. " Aren't you a bit too old to cry under trees?" I glared at him and almost told him the truth. " It's just…. " Then I realized he would never understand. "Ahh. Nothing, forget about it.." We were sitting on the grass now and he looked at me sideways with the same cold expression the made my stomach do a flip-flop. "People don't cry just because of nothing…" Smiling a little I sighed and said " Just feeling a bit of home sick I guess… I really miss my parents, my grandfather, my friends, and practically my whole hometown. Although I do try to be happy and not miss them so much but it's really hard not to feel lonely…" I stopped surprised at myself how easy it was to open up to him. I looked at him and saw him staring straight ahead- again with that unreadable expression! I smiled to myself at the thought. What he said next both surprised and got me thinking, " If you are human, then you will at some point- past, present, or future- miss someone. There's no avoiding it... You can feel that empty space in time with something though, like meet new people, reading, movies, games or hobby of some sort in. To sit and think of ways not to miss someone makes it harder on yourself." Ending with that he looked at me in a way that for some reason made my heart beat faster. As I was wondering why he stood up and said, "It's getting late, I'm going back now. You should go to your room too or you'll get in trouble." His face masked a cold expression but there was a something in his tone that said other wise. Before he turned to leave I found my self stopping him, "Ah! Wait!" He stopped and turned I gathered up my courage and said " Arigatou Hyuuga, (I bow) for well, everything I guess.. But! Don't think I'll let you slack off! It's too late to do the project today so meet me in the library after classes tomorrow and you'd better be there okay?"

Natsume's POV

" Arigatou Hyuuga," she said while bowing when she looked up face flushed she continued, "for well, everything I guess.. But! Don't think I'll let you slack off! It's too late to do the project today so meet me in the library after classes tomorrow and you'd better be there okay?" As she said this, for the first time she was smiling at me. The feeling when I saw that smile was new to me. It was bright and warm like…the sun. She was the first person to make me feel that way after all this time. I guess living in the dark could change you, whatever that feeling was I didn't show it. I just turned back and said " We'll see.." and walked away. As I approached my dorm building I found myself smiling a little, again- for the first time in a long time.

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Author's Notes: waaah!! Sorry for the late update!! I got writers block! But you know what I realized? Reviews are very helpful and give me inspiration to write! So please RxR even a short one is okay! Haha:D will upload soon as I can and I promise you ! I will finish this fanfic! So keep reading… !!