Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews!

This story may contradict the guide itself a little as I had written the guide as a one-shot. I'm sorry for that.

This chapter is dedicated to Agus-chan (Blissful Delight), DreamingReverie, SeraphMia and shainingu etowa-ru. Your reviews inspired me to turn this into a story!

Mikan flipped through the instructions given in the Natsume Hyuuga: User's Guide with a frown on her usually smiling face. She couldn't understand what all this was about. As she looked at the huge gift wrapped box in front of her, puzzled, she noticed a note stuck in the bow on top.

"Greetings Mikan-chan"

She turned it over, more confused than ever and saw a signature in a flowing, flowery writing.

"N-A-R-U-M-I", she read, as she slowly deciphered the curly cursive writing, "Narumi"

Her mind flashed back to the eccentric blonde man she'd met in the local park the previous evening. Their conversation had been short and she certainly couldn't remember his saying anything that hinted at his intention to send her a present the next evening.

Mikan was out for her daily evening walk in the park. She waved at the man selling howalons and he grinned and walked towards his favorite customer. Mikan loved the sweet, fluffy candy and bought some everyday, despite sternly but fruitlessly reminding herself that she wanted to lose weight and eating candy wasn't exactly the best way to do it. The man smiled indulgently as he watched her longing for howalon fight with her desire to grow slimmer. Finally, with a resigned sigh, she bought the howalon. She walked on, telling herself that she definitely wouldn't buy any the next day. One of her old school friends, Misaki, was sitting on a bench, watching her one year old son play with the other toddlers. She waved when she saw Mikan and Mikan smiled back at her, heading towards the playground. It was her favorite part of the park. Mikan loved watching the little boys and girls play in the park and more often than not ended up joining in their games. They chatted for a while and as the sun set, Mikan got up to head home.

So far, so boring, so normal.

It was while she was taking her usual route back that Mikan noticed that a section of the park which had been shut down for renovation had been re-opened. The renovation had been due to take place almost 10 years ago but the City Council didn't want to spend any part of their budget on upgrading a run down old park that didn't really add to their income anyway. Curious, she decided to take a look at the place. Since she'd only moved into the area about 2 years ago, she had never been to that section of the park. As she went deeper into the garden, Mikan thought that it was beautiful, in a sad, lonely way. She noticed a wishing well and went up to it. Naively believing that it would really make her dreams come true, she tossed a coin in and said "I wish we stay together forever" while thinking about Ruka, her childhood crush and first love, whom she was currently dating.

"Hello there!"

The sudden appearance of a man behind her made her jump and she screamed "What the….."

"I'm Narumi" said the man pleasantly. He was tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Mikan Sakura"

"Wishing for love?"

"I guess so"

"You guess so?" he asked, one eyebrow quirking upwards.

"I already have a boyfriend. I'm just hoping that our relationship lasts"

"So you're looking for love! Fantastic!" exclaimed Narumi, clapping his hands together.

"Er…sorry?" said Mikan, confused. She couldn't think of what in hell she'd said that was making this man look so ecstatic.

"What's your favorite color?" he asked, whipping out a pen and notebook.

"Huh? Crimson, I guess"

"Brilliant. What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"Well I like reading romantic mangas"

"Mangas. Marvelous. Your favorite song?"

"Wait a sec, why are you asking me all these personal questions? You're just a random stranger!"

"Please answer properly, Miss Sakura" he said reprovingly, sounding almost like a teacher, "Now, your favorite food?"

"Burgers…no, wait, hang on, you still haven't answered my question!"

"Hmm… Burgers, tricky, very tricky"

"I'm getting out of here"

As Mikan walked away, Narumi cried "No! Please wait Mikan! Just a few more questions!"

As she disappeared from sight, he looked at his notepad thoughtfully and sighed "Oh well, it'll have to do"

Mikan stared at the note, unsure of what to do. She should probably return the gift to the post office. But still, it was such a big gift. What could possibly be inside? Surely just taking a quick peek couldn't hurt? She'd just cut it open carefully, take a look, seal it back up and deliver it.

As Mikan ran to the kitchen to get scissors to cut the bow open with, speculations ran through her mind. It could be a mountain of howalon or a huge talking potato or maybe it was…..

Ah! There it was! She raced back to her door, carrying the biggest scissor she could find. She cut through the ribbon eagerly.

BOOM!

The whole box exploded the second it was opened. Mikan was thrown backwards, inside her house. Coughing and rubbing the smoke from her eyes, she stared in disbelief at the wreckage of her living room. The sofa was upturned, the television screen had a crack in it, all her wall hangings had fallen off and worst of all, the kitchen had been affected and the refrigerator's cord broken. Her precious food!

She stormed out of her house, planning to confront that horrible Narumi immediately and giving him a piece of her mind.

She stopped short when she caught sight of her present. The force of the explosion had sent it flying backwards onto the road. The tar was melting near the box and fire seemed to be consuming the cardboard down. As the box burnt away, a boy was revealed.

He was about her age, maybe a year or two older. His hair was black and very messy, his features resembled those of a supermodel and his body toned but it was three totally different things about him that caught Mikan's attention. His eyes were crimson. He was reading a manga. And he was just finishing off a burger. How in….

"Natsume Hyuuga" he said, without looking up from his manga.

Hope you liked it! I'm still not sure where to place Hotaru in all this. The rest of the characters are pretty much set in my mind. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear them!

Love,

Liz