I don't own Gakuen Alice! Phooey!

Chapter 2: Sake, anyone?

The sun was bright, the breeze was cool and its economics class- this is the part of the day perfect for lounging on top of a tree. It so happens that this was the agenda of a certain senior.

"Your way too beauuuuuuutifuuul giiiirl. That's whyyyy it'll neeeever work, you'll have meeee suuuiciiiidal, suuuiciiiidal when you saaaay…"

"Seriously? Ok."

"What the- agh! Hyuga you jeeeeerk! Offf… Aw, aw, aw, I can't feel my butt! Why you!"

The fall, or rather push from the tree damaged his pride more than his butt. But hey, can you blame the boy for doing the request?

"If you're here for trouble, all you had to do was ask for it." He said, getting up and dusting himself free of dirt. "Let's get it on, punk!"

"Unfortunately, that's reserved for my other schedule." Natsume said, still assuming his cold and calm exterior.

"So you're here just to make fun of me?" Tsubasa asked.

"Nope, although I won't miss the day without it, making fun of you now is not part of my agenda."

Tsubasa sighed. That boy is sure weird, he thought. But he looks sincere enough.

He realized that this sort of greeting wasn't unusual for the both of them. He loosened his stance and hid his hands in his pockets.

"Then to what do I owe this unpleasant visit?" he said.

"I just wanna ask something." Natsume said, taking a few steps closer.

"Go ahead, but whatever it is your after, I sure won't take part of it." Tsubasa began picking his ear. "Well, fire away."

"What do you mean by love?" Natsume asked.

Tsubasa looked at him, confused and surprised.

"Co-come again?" he asked, hoping to make it clearer for him.

"My God, the academy's worst than I thought. They're making students deaf now. I asked- what do you mean by love." Natsume repeated.

He stared Tsubasa, hoping to get a quick and understandable answer.

The said boy took a few steps back. Then his face turned red, his cheeks suddenly puffed, and after awhile, let lose waves of laughter the universe has never heard.

"WAHAHAHAHA!!!! AHAHAHAHA! O GOD, WAHAHAHA!"

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Natsume asked, annoyed and embarrassed.

"YOU! AHAHAHA! Oh Natsume, you clown! Ahahahaha!" Tsubasa answered, and continued to roll on the grass clutching his belly.

"Man, I didn't come here for this." The annoyed fire-starter got really angry. But temper wasn't something to take the best of him. He just gave a heavy sigh, and then began to walk away, leaving the seemingly insane older still laughing his heart out.

Tsubasa, however, regained control over his own reason. He just couldn't believe that Natsume would ask such a question. But seeing his seriousness, perhaps the boy could've been more in to the deep part.

"Hey, Hyuga!" he called.

"What?" Natsume answered, still annoyed. As he turned around to face the caller, he's agile hand caught a fist-sized bottle that was heading his way.

Natsume looked at it, and then wondered.

"Sake?" he raised an eyebrow at Tsubasa. "Thanks, but I still have some people to talk to. We'll drink some other time if that's what you like."

"That's my answer to your question." Tsubasa said, before Natsume could throw back the bottle.

"Huh?"

"Natsume," Tsubasa began, "when you drink sake, you get drunk. When you're drunk, you can't take full control of you're body. When you don't have full control of your body, you tend to do things only the deepest corner of your soul could do, and you become honest, too honest."

"Where are you getting at this?" Natsume asked.

"Being in love is like getting drunk. You can't think straight, simply because you don't have to. You let your body be where your heart wants to go, you say what you really want to say, and you do what you really want to do."

"And you're telling me that's love?"

"I'm telling you that's my own meaning of love."

Natsume was quite. He was thinking, his face serious and computing.

Tsubasa watches Natsume as he processes everything. It made him smile the way he matured this past year. He's more subtle, less gloomy, and from time to time Tsubasa could even see him laugh or at least smile with Ruka and the others.

"Well?" he said, interrupting Natsume's thoughts.

"You know what, Tsubasa?" Natsume said, suddenly looking sneakily at him.

"What? Argh!"

Natsume suddenly tackled him down, and took him into an arm lock.

"I didn't believe a darn thing you said!" Natsume was kidding of course. He was just amazed of how much a big brother Tsubasa can sometimes be, even though the boy was still a big jerk for him.

"Ak, ak, yo-your choking me!" Tsubasa said. After a moment, he felt the hold loosen a bit.

"Hey, Tsubasa." Natsume said, still having the senior's name in his arms.

"What?"

"Thanks, I mean it." Natsume said, rather softly. Tsubasa still heard him, though.

"No problem, punk." Tsubasa said, with a smirk.

Alright, so love is getting drunk. Doesn't sound right, does it? Well, that's what an older guy thinks, why not?

In any case, he may be right.

Just the other month, there was a party at Yuu's dormitory. The kid just got the top star rank, and he was so happy.

There were lots of tasty food, but few invited people. He wanted to keep the fun to his classmates, and to some teachers.

But the whole place got full marks. The good thing about having an alice of illusion is you don't have to decorate. All you have to do is think about some cool scenery and there you have it, instant background.

And that's what Yuu did. He chose a sunset scene, and all the guess got a so comfy about it.

At night fall, though, everything got wild. Koko meddled with the stereo and before we knew it, some of us were dancing like crazy.

Scratch that, we were all dancing like crazy, except me of course. Even Ruka was shaking his hips with the music, matching Yuu's and Mikan's noodle dance. They were all having such fun. And yeah, Hotaru got in the groove too. She grabbed Ruka, surprise as he was and they were all it.

I just sat there, happy enough for them. I told myself this was the sort of thing I would die to protect. I was about to go sentimental and stuff when Mikan suddenly dragged me in the open space.

"C'mon Natsume, dance with me!" she said, giggling

"Shoo, girl! I don't dance!" true enough, though dancing with her wasn't so bad of an idea.

"Well, now you will! C'mon!"

As usual, I was left powerless from this idiotic personification of noise and trouble. But just to humor her, or to try it for once, I did join her in her tossing and swaying and turning.

She was holding my hand as she jumps and sways from side to side. Yeah, she looked really cute, all being childish like that.

After awhile, I found myself laughing as well. I felt sweat drop from my forehead, then I realized I was having so much fun! Having Mikan dance in my arms, tossing her in the air and gently catching her- it was so exhilarating. It was something I've never felt before- contented, unsearching, secured, and just simply happy.

Then, after realizing some of us were loosing much energy, even though none of us noticed it, Koko changed the wild, energetic music into a slow and mellow one.

We all stoped, some sat down, but I saw Mr. Narumi and that, fortune teller, forgot her name, took each other in their arms and did a slow dance. The same thing happened with Ruka and Hotaru.

When I looked at Mikan, she was smiling bashfully at me. Could she be thinking…"

"You tired?" I asked.

"Nope. You?" she said.

I simply smirked at her. I noticed she hesitated a bit, but when she was raising her hand to place it around my neck, I did the initiative of putting my arms around her waist. Her eyes sparkled, I saw, and I was glad I could make her happy like this. We stared at each other for a while, and our bodies were moving with the music.

At that time, nothing else mattered.

The world around me seemed to have vanished. Every thing was insignificant. Only me and Mikan, together, with the moon, or at least the moon Yuu made, shining on us.

I felt so happy, so indulged.

She leaned her head on my chest, and I felt my heart beating fast. But, strange, I didn't feel like I was blushing. My heart beating wasn't something out of infatuation, but out of pure bliss.

I held her close, not wanting to make her feel any pain of the world. all my mind told me that she was there, she was with me, she was in my arms, and all the world had to offer was nothing compared to this moment.

It wasn't like me to dance around like I did.

It wasn't like me not to throw pranks at her.

It wasn't like me to stay on that dance floor, with my friends and with the one I care for.

It wasn't like me to ask is she's tired.

I was drunk. Drunk like nothing else mattered, like all I could do was what my heart tells me to do.

Tsubasa, you moron.

You were right.

End of chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! I'll do the credits at later chapters!