Disc: I don't own G.A.

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch but on it's own wings. Always believe in yourself.

Second Encounter : Running Away

It was loud. Mikan couldn't describe her surroundings besides from that. She was actually in a karaoke with her cleaning duty buddies, with more of their classmates. Natsume was silently watching them, but he was sitting next to Mikan; that gesture really gave her some comfort. She was feeling a bit sick because right after they cleaned up the classroom, they went straight to a fast food chain to eat and meet up with the others. It was awkward because Mikan felt like she'd gotten weird glances from the others since they clearly weren't expecting her to be there.

"Sakura-san, right?" an angelic voice in the midst of the loud echoes of singing, had interrupted Mikan's thoughts. She cautiously looked up and found a cherry pink-haired girl with bright, round eyes staring at her.

"Y-Yes?" Mikan nervously replied. Natsume's attention flew on them, and Mikan felt embarrassed with his watching over her.

"I knew it. You're the girl from the back of the class who stares at the sky," the girl stated after giving a sigh of relief. Mikan knew her. She was Anna Umenomiya who had some crazy skills in cooking and Mikan was secretly envious of her culinary skills. She really wished that she could bake different flavors of cupcakes in their Home and Economics class, just like Anna.

"How do you know that?" Mikan asked, a bit taken aback that someone was actually watching her doze off in class. Well, she was a bit guilty because she also did that to Natsume. It was not like it was her fault that the lad was too laid back in terms of classwork, and she didn't have anything to do anyway.

"Remember from the entrance exams? I was the one who tripped at the front gates and you were running, but you stopped and helped me anyway," Anna told her sheepishly. Mikan couldn't help but think of how cute this girl was. Then again, it might be another characteristic that wasn't blessed upon her and now she was more jealous of her.

"How nice," Natsume commented. Mikan would've mistaken if as being sarcastic but he had a small smile on his face, and she couldn't bring herself to fight him.

"Well, I am nice," the brunette followed up.

"Yeah, only when you're not being moody and keeping secrets," Natsume countered back. Mikan gave out a fake gasp and put her hand on her chest playfully.

"Well, don't be such a girl and listen to others' conversations!" she said.

"You two look like an old couple," Anna suddenly intercepted their childish banter and both of them looked at her with widened eyes.

"We're not!" both of them yelled out in unison.

Anna just giggled and she stood up from her seat. Mikan wondered where did she go, and she thought of how Anna was doing the same thing as Hotaru with the whole thing about leaving her behind with Natsume. A blush crept up on her face and she drank the cup of water on the table in front of her. Anna then came back with a blue-haired girl in tow, and Mikan recognized her.

"Hi! I'm Nonoko!" the girl introduced herself. She looked like the reserved-type of girl, a bit preppy but also smart. Mikan had already known these facts within more than a month of being in the same class with them. It was a bit weird when she thought about it, but she was just an observant.

"I'm Mikan," she replied back. She turned to Natsume and elbowed him. He gave out a silent growl, and Mikan just glared at him. He finally gave up and he faced the two other girls.

"Natsume. I'm sure you kind of remember that," he gave a brief introduction of himself.

"Why are you being so grouchy now? You wanted to come here, didn't you?" Mikan whispered to him, cupping her hand to his ear. The other two girls were suspiciously looking at them with grins on their faces.

"Well... I thought you wanted to go," he told her. Mikan moved back to hide her embarrassed face from him.

"Are you two going out?" Nonoko and Anna asked simultaneously.

"No...," Mikan responded slowly. She wasn't even sure if she heard them right because that was just a strange question to ask. Natsume, on the other hand, was staring at her and she didn't exactly feel comfortable with that.

At last, she rose from the leather couch and she told them, "I'm just going to the bathroom." She then went out of the karaoke room, leaving the two confused girls and a blank-faced Natsume.

Half an hour had already passed and it was already 9:30 PM, but Mikan was still outside the karaoke room. She did go to the bathroom and fixed herself up because she felt suffocated in the room. She found a bench and decided to sit there.

"Really... being alone is so much better," Mikan muttered to herself unconsciously. She pulled her black backpack in front of her and got out her sketchbook. She flipped towards a blank page and she pocketed a pencil from her bag's pocket.

Mikan closed her eyes and she felt her surroundings melt down around her until there was only the clouds and the sky around her. The water droplets that formed the clouds that made them look like puffy cotton candy, and the clear blue sky in the background were etched in her mind. It then changed into the scene in the karaoke room. The serene atmosphere that she used to have, was changed into a chaotic and crowd-filled surrounding. The latter was sketched on the paper, and Mikan wondered how could she sketch something that she wasn't familiar with.

"Did you draw that?" a voice popped out from above her and Mikan jumped in shock, dropping her sketchbook on the ground.

"You scared me!" Mikan almost shouted at Natsume who had a grin on his face. He was leaning on the wall and he bent down to pick up the fallen book. Mikan's eyes doubled its size and she attempted to grab her possession, but Natsume waved it in the air with a smug look on his face.

"Even if you're trying to help Imai with Ruka, you should have at least stay with me in that room. They were so loud," Natsume told her while rolling his eyes. Mikan pouted and gave up. She couldn't get her hands on her sketchbook, and she did feel bad for not going back in the room.

"They can still have fun without me though," she argued back. Natsume frowned at her response.

"Then, what's the reason of why did I actually come here for?" he asked her. The fellow then began turning pages of the book and stopping to stare at each one of them.

"For Ruka?" Mikan replied dumbly. She wasn't blunt enough to ask, "Didn't you come here because you wanted to give me company?"

"These are good. How come you paint and draw like this when you've never participated in any of the class projects?" Natsume asked. He completely waved off the other topic and Mikan was more than glad to do that too.

"Well, no one really asked me what do I wanna do," she said. Natsume looked at her with those mesmerizing crimson eyes, and Mikan stared back at him. Now that they were a bit closer, she realized that his eyes were just reddish-brown. It also came to her that compared to his eyes, her amber eyes were a bit boring.

"What do you wanna do?" he asked her out of nowhere that Mikan was a bit startled. She then looked away and she looked at the ceiling. There was a crack at the corner perpendicular to the wall and she thought of how they should fix that because it didn't show a good enough appearance to the guests.

"I want... to live independently," Mikan said in a soft voice. She might be showing an unusual expression that moment, but Natsume was with her. She didn't care if he would see her true personality, and she still couldn't figure out why his presence alone was enough to give her a soothing feeling.

Natsume sat next to her and he leaned his head on the wall. He then spoke, "Sometimes, hoping to grow up faster is not the same as hoping to lead a better life; it's just our way of saying that "I want to run away"."

Mikan blinked a couple of times and averted her eyes off the ceiling. She couldn't find the words to reply to those words because... they did hit the bull's eye.

"You're probably right," Mikan whispered.

That night ended with thoughts in each of their minds, and with Mikan's sketchbook in Natsume's hands.

Second semester started and it was almost winter. The chill in the air was evident with the change of uniform of the students and the leafless trees. Mikan Sakura came in with a red scarf around her neck. She blew puffs of air and smiled before she entered the school building. She was about to go to her class after changing her shoes, when Ruka Nogi put his hands on her shoulders.

"Good morning, Sakura-san!" he enthusiastically greeted her and she replied back with a quiet 'good morning'.

"Mikan-chan, good morning!" Anna and Nonoko just came in and they both greeted her.

"Good morning to you, too," Mikan said with a beam. She felt like after a month, she gained new friends and they were surprising happy to welcome her despite of her being so quiet in the class at the beginning of the year. Mikan was still a bit antisocial, but she was getting used to being around some people thanks to a certain someone who constantly nagged her with his presence.

Mikan walked to her class and she was so glad that she was able to get a sit next to the window because she wouldn't be able to stand it if she were to sit in front or in the middle of the room. She slung her backpack on her chair and she smiled when she saw the black strands of hair splayed on the desk of her neighbor.

"Good morning!" Mikan spoke loud enough for the sleeping fellow to wake up. Natsume was her neighboring classmate and he seemed to be expecting that someone was going to annoy him today; namely, Mikan.

"Do you have to yell that loud?" he asked grouchily and yawned. Mikan sat on her seat and snickered.

They continued their everyday chats until the teacher came. In the middle of the class, Mikan's eyes follow the black, leather-bound sketchbook being put down on her desk. She gave Natsume a menacing glare and flipped through her pages. There was a note stuck on it and she read it.

You basically told me your lifestyle through that journal. In short, you're a bad student.

Mikan scoffed and wrote down on the note: Well, sorry but Fukutan-sensei is timid. He never told me to stop drawing.

She threw the note to Natsume and it hit his head. She giggled, loud enough for the students nearby to look at her but not loud enough for the teacher to notice her. She saw Natsume write a reply and she wondered why a guy like him could have a fancy handwriting when hers was just average.

You really are a bad student. Is that all you do in your free time?

The brunette felt insulted but she still responded to him anyway.

Well, I cook, shop, play video games, and clean.

Natsume retorted back: Clean? Yeah, right. Cook? Are you sure?

Mikan replied: I'm so sure.

Natsume: Liar. Do me a favor and just go somewhere with me during your free time.

The lass couldn't believe her eyes because she felt like she was just being teased by Natsume. That didn't stop her blood from rushing upwards, spreading a a red tint on her cheeks. She could feel her ears heating up and she wondered why her heart was being noisy inside her. I'm probably suffering from an incurable disease, Mikan thought.

Are you asking me on a date, Sir Hyuuga? She asked albeit jokingly, but half of her was serious about it, not that she would admit that to him.

An immediate reply came and Mikan gulped before unfolding the note.

Yes.

The bell rang and Mikan jumped from her seat because of surprise. She was about to stand, but Natsume beat her to the front door and she knew that she wouldn't be able to catch up to him. However, Mikan didn't miss the conspicuous red neck that Natsume had before he left the classroom.

"Idiot, that means you like him," Hotaru said on the other line.

It was rare for Mikan to make a phone call to someone, and to Hotaru to say the least, but she was talking to her on the phone.

"That... doesn't make sense," Mikan said. She wondered if Hotaru was just being eccentric again and she was just spewing nonsense.

"Well, if your heart beats faster than usual, you blush when you're around him, and you're excited because he invited you into a date-"

"-It's not a date," Mikan interrupted Hotaru.

"Whatever. But that could only mean that you like him," she finished.

Mikan was beyond flabbergasted she froze for a few moments. Her mind was working very slow and it was just not clicking right. The sound of her falling in love with someone was not possible, even in her dreams, and to a person like Natsume... that's even more impossible. They both have that apathetic personality on the outside and they knew their true personalities, but Mikan couldn't shake off that unsettling feeling.

"Let me guess," Hotaru spoke from the other end and continued, "you're afraid that you're going to ruin your friendship."

The silent response after that had already confirmed the answer. Maybe, Hotaru is right. I'm afraid to lose Natsume who was the first to reach out to me and give me comfort and who makes me smile when I need him the most. And... I'm afraid to be left alone again. Those were Mikan's last thoughts before she bid goodbye to Hotaru.

A/N: Hi, everyone! How are you, guys? XD Thank you for reading and supporting this new story :D I greatly appreciate it because I haven't been in here for a more than a year and the first readers and first reviewers are kind of like my first fans for this generation :D I hope you guys like this chapter and some of you might think that it's going fast, or going slow, buttttttt... there's more to come and more events that are going to happen that will keep you on edge. This is just the start! Stay tune for the next chapter!

Yours truly,

CrimsonHazelEyes