...huh. It sure took me a long time to type this. Or something. Teehee. (5,000 words in four years? talk about slow coming.) Unedited, inform me of any mistakes.

Disclaimer: characters and setting do not belong to me.

Unlikely Friends

Chapter 3

Ruka and Natsume had arrived at the meeting place first and Ruka was attempting to keep a conversation going with his friend to pass the time. "So," Ruka said, "Hotaru's…..nice. Or—No, sorry. That's a lie. What do you see in her exactly?"

Natsume just turned and stared at Ruka for a long moment before promptly pretending he hadn't asked anything in the first place.

"Ok, then," Ruka decided he needed to change the subject, "The girls sure are taking their time, huh?"

"It's probably Mikan that's running late," Natsume glanced at Ruka, "Hotaru's probably already ready and waiting on her, too."

Natsume pulled his hands out of the pockets of his dark jeans to cross his arms over his chest instead. Ruka had shown up at his room earlier, insisting they both "dress to impress" and proceeding to rummage through his closet for something "the perfect cross between casual and classy." Good lord, his best friend was a girl. Natsume winced as he couldn't help but glance over at Ruka's red plaid trousers and then his pink polo shirt. He tried not to judge. He really did. Natsume could only be glad for small miracles as Ruka hadn't dressed him in his clothing. That didn't mean he wasn't still itching to unbutton the black button up Ruka had forced him into a few more buttons. He couldn't see why Ruka wouldn't let him. He had a shirt underneath.

As Natsume was debating exactly how much of Ruka's feminine charm had rubbed off on him to make him since that morning, a certain brunet in pigtails bounced into view. Mikan was rushing in the two boys' direction with every intent to leap into Ruka's arms. Ruka caught her and spun her around in a perfect impression on every dramatic reuniting scene in a chick flick ever. On no, their clothes even matched. Had that been premeditated?

Natsume looked past the couple spewing hearts and spotted Hotaru approaching at a vaguely reluctant pace. He did a double take when he glanced down and realized the dress she was wearing somehow managed to make her boobs look twice as big as they actually were. He wondered vaguely weather she had used her alice to get the effect. For good measure, Natsume dragged her eyes along the rest of her figure. She was in a blue babydoll that that was shot enough to be a shirt and thank God for the jeans she had underneath. Hotaru had clearly gotten the "dress to impress" memo and succeeded. Now if only Ruka could drag his eyes away from Mikan long enough to notice.

Deciding Hotaru was looking too nice to go completely unnoticed and unappreciated, Natsume gave her a peck on the cheek and said, "You look nice."

Hotaru didn't reply, but almost looked like she was smiling when she took Natsume's hand. He figured that was a good enough response for him. They turned toward the couple beside them and Hotaru cleared her throat loudly, "Can we get going? I want to get this over with." She batted one of the hearts pouring out of Mikan and Ruka when in came too close to her and wrinkled her nose. Natsume felt her pain.

"Ah. Right," Mikan and Ruka went pink at the ears and separated. Mikan took Ruka's hand and the four friends started walking.

An hour of window shopping later and Mikan had been gifted with a number of new accessories compliments of Ruka. Hotaru and Natsume followed behind their two enthusiastic friends with a distinct lack of interest. Natsume scanned the crowds for something to do and Hotaru fiddled with some contraption or other. Natsume debated asking what it was a couple of times, but abandoned the thought when he realized she wouldn't tell him anyway.

Eventually, Mikan got hungry and they could finally abandon the shopping in favor of lunch. They decided on a little café at the end of the road. Mikan, Ruka, Natsume and Hotaru sat down to a pleasant lunch and lite conversation. The food was good and Ruka and Mikan were having fun doing what couples do best: sharing food and whispering sweet nothings, completely oblivious to the uncomfortable atmosphere surrounding their companions as they ate. Towards the end of the meal, Hotaru simply stood and left, only pausing long enough to mumble something into Natsume's ear. The couple continued flirting.

When Mikan, and by extension Ruka, finally noticed Hotaru had disappeared, she asked, "Where'd Hotaru go?"

"Bathroom," Natsume replied without missing a beat. Never mind that she'd been gone for at least the last ten minutes.

Another five minutes passed and Mikan grew worried, "I wonder if something's wrong?"

"I'll go see if she's okay," Natsume jumped in. He tried not to look too much like he was running away from them as he left.

Natsume headed down the street toward the public restrooms, not sure where else he could look for his date. Just his luck, Natsume arrived in time to see Hotaru exiting said bathroom. She was drying her hands with a handkerchief, hair surprisingly wet. Strands stuck to her face and he noticed it had been completely striped of the makeup she had had on earlier. Natsume glanced down and noticed that blotchy dark brown stains covered the front of her dress—stains that couldn't have been made by anything other than chocolate frosting.

"Hotaru," Natsume called out to catch her attention. He smirked, "Still think it's so easy to dodge cake?"

Hotaru turned to him with an almost bewildered look on her face. "Never again will I doubt your dodging skills," she said and looked down at her dress, "You were right. I saw it coming but I just couldn't avoid it. It has to be some sort of alice"

They shared a look. This was their first clue to who was doing all of this.

The two teens took a seat on a nearby bench, not in any hurry to return to their friends and all the flirting. They stayed quiet for a long while after that, relieved by the easy silence. The date had worn on them both more than they realized.

"So," Natsume finally said, "Want to head back to the cafe?"

Hotaru's expression showed exactly how much she disliked the idea. Natsume couldn't agree more. The two loved their best friends, but watching them obliviously in love with each other was painful on many different levels. Neither Natsume not Hotaru would admit it, but they hated seeing the two look so happy together. Jealously was an ugly thing.

"I have to admit," Hotaru said in an odd attempt to lighten the mood, "I don't know that I would have enjoyed myself no matter who I had been with. Having you around was probably the least horrible thing that happened."

Natsume gave a chuckle, "Yeah, not my ideal date plan. Not romantic at all. Well. At least for us."

After another moment of silence, Natsume stood and slid off his button up. He handed it to Hotaru. She took it warily.

"What's this for," she asked.

"To cover up those stains," Natsume replied and gave a devious smile, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm suing you as an excuse to get out of the rest of the date." And get out of that stupid shirt. Not that he'd tell her that.

"How?" Hotaru asked while she slipped on the short over her dress.

"Isn't it obvious?" Natsume grabbed Hotaru's hand and lead her back to the café where Mikan and Ruka were waiting.

"Hotaru! What happened?" Mikan asked, running up to her friend.

Before Hotaru could reply, Natsume cut in, "She had a bit of an accident and needs to change. We don't want to ruin your date, so we're just going to leave."

"Accident? What kind of accident?" Ruka asked from where he still sat at the table.

Natsume turned to Hotaru expectantly, followed by Mikan and Ruka. She shot them all an embarrassed glare and turned away. It was obvious she had no intention of admitting to being hit in the face by chocolate cake.

While Mikan tried to get Hotaru to talk to her, Natsume took the chance to mouth "girl problems" to Ruka. He gave a startled "oh" and his cheeks flared red. Without a word, but one very understanding look, Ruka managed to pull Mikan away from Hotaru and convince her to let them leave in peace.

"Well," Ruka started, then stopped. He pinched his lips together then said, "Well, I guess we'll see you later then."

"Yeah," Natsume said and paid his and Hotaru's part of the bill. Hotaru was cheap like that. The two left.

Once Natsume and Hotaru were out of sight, Mikan sat back down and pouted, "I don't think there really was an accident."

"No," Ruka replies quietly, "Probably not."

"They really didn't need to go through all that trouble to find an excuse to leave. If they wanted to be alone, they could have just said so."

"Yeah, well, what do you expect from those two? Ruka said, "They'd never admit to something like that."

"I guess you're right."

"Plus, um," Ruka mumbled, "I think Hotaru just got her period."

"What'd you say?"

"No, nothing. Never mind. You were probably right."

-TBC-

Aaaaaand so it continues two years later. I don't know how I feel about my irregular update schedule. Lol, what schedule? All my initial fans have probably already given up on my and this fandom altogether. Don't even remember me, probably. Well. I will say this to whoever is reading now: stay given up. Don't expect anything from me. The chances of the next chapter happening any time soon, much less at all, are slim to none. Sorry.