Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice.
A/N: Hi! Please try reading my other story, The Master and His Maid and leave a review! Thanks so much~ R&R and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry for the errors though.
A Change of Heart
Chapter Seven: An Unexpected Visit
"When you're a kid, they tell you that it's what's on the inside that counts. Looks don't matter. But that's not true. Guys like Phoebus in The Hunchback, or Dorian, or the old Kyle Kingsbury- they can be scumbags to women and still get away with it because they're good-looking. Being ugly is a kind of prisoner." –Beastly by Alex Flinn
-;-
"Hey," Natsume started as he sat down next to Koko who was resting after a fun pool fight.
"Oh, how's it goin', man?" Koko said, who looked like he was pulled away from a deep thought.
"Am I disturbing you because you looked like you were thinking about something," Natsume responded, squinting his eyes a bit at his best friend.
"I was just thinking," Koko started so seriously that it got Natsume on edge, "would I eat a cheeseburger or a pizza?" he finished and laughed at Natsume's tensed expression. Natsume laughed with him.
"You got me there!" Natsume replied, punching Koko playfully on the shoulder and Koko made his 'I'm the man' expression.
"It's good to have you back," Natsume said sincerely, he raised his fist and Koko hit it with his own as he smiled and replied, "Yeah."
"So, when are you planning on telling her?" Natsume asked.
"I don't know. I don't even think I can," Koko said worriedly. Their conversation was interrupted by a shriek coming from the left wing of the building.
"Aaahh!" It was an annoying voice that Natsume would know anywhere. While everyone was frozen on their spot, he bolted for the door.
-;-
"Hyuuga, how dare you!" Mikan exclaimed angrily as she continued to hit the guy with a bathroom dipper.
"Whoa, wait a sec! Hey—ow—that—ouch—hurts!" the guy moved backwards as he yelped in pain.
"You deserve to be hurt, you foul, unreliable, dishonest perv—ah!"
The guy hit his leg on the couch placed in the middle of the room causing him to fall backwards. Mikan abruptly followed. She fell on top of him and he groaned in pain as more weight crashed down his body.
Their eyes met as they heard nothing but each other's racing heartbeats.
"Mikan!" Natsume barged into the room; beads of sweat framed his worried face. He breathed heavily as he caught in the sight that was in front of him. "What are you—" he wanted to ask but was cut off by Mikan who hastily got off the guy with an equally confused face such as Natsume's.
"If you're Hyuuga," she said, pointing at Natsume, "then who the hell are you? Are you some kind of clone or something?" she said harshly, now addressing the guy who was sitting up on the couch.
"Actually, we're both Hyuugas," the boy on the couch replied casually.
"And unfortunately, he isn't a clone," Natsume continued as he shut the door behind him.
"But even if I were, I still think I'd be better than the original," the boy countered as he raised a full brow at Natsume's direction. Mikan can't help notice how painfully alike these two are. Even their attitudes are the same: both egoistic and rude.
"Okay, before you start biting off each other's heads, can someone please explain to me why there are two Hyuugas? Because I can barely live with one already," Mikan intervened and the two Hyuugas turned to look at her.
"You are so stupid," Natsume told Mikan. Mikan gave him a 'huh'? face and Natsume rubbed his aching temple.
"Hey, don't pick on a girl, brother. I mean, c'mon! Who would even think that we're twins? That's just ridiculous," the other Hyuuga replied sarcastically.
"Yeah, considering that we're the spitting image of each other. Which is annoying, by the way," Natsume bantered. His brother rolled his eyes at him.
"Oh. So, you guys are twins!" Mikan said a little too enthusiastically.
"I can't believe it took you so long to figure it out! I never met anyone as stupid as you in my entire life!" Natsume's brother said so excitedly that the insult passed as a compliment.
"You never told me you had a twin!" Mikan rounded on Natsume.
"I didn't think it was important," Natsume replied back, looking down.
"Ouch," the guy on the couch faked a cry.
"Which reminds me, what are you doing here, Natsuko?" Natsume turned to face his brother who was smiling at him widely.
"Mom told me to give you this," Natsuko replied as he pulled out a white envelope from his side pocket. Natsume stiffened at the news but immediately regained his composure and walked towards his brother.
Natsume reached out but Natsuko put it out of his reach.
"Of course, the travel from there to here was a bit…exhausting," Natsuko said with a knowing smile. Natsume understood this and heaved out a sigh as he took out his wallet and gave his brother five bucks.
"Make it ten," his brother ordered to which Natsume complied.
Natsuko happily handed the letter to Natsume and placed the money inside his pockets.
"It was nice doing business with you," Natsuko said in a desperate attempt to imitate an elderly business man. Mikan found this funny and she giggled a little. Natsuko heard this and winked at her playfully.
"Well, best be off," Natsuko said, stretching his muscular arms high up in the air and releasing a tired yawn, "phew, that trip was more exhausting than I thought. Well, until we meet again, mofos."
He stood up and walked coolly towards the door but before he went out, he said, "Oh, and Natsu, tell your girlfriend she has a nice ass," before sending another wink at Mikan followed by the loud closing of the oak wood doors.
"I can't believe you have a twin!" Mikan said, beaming.
"I can't believe you met him wearing nothing but a towel," Natsume grimaced as he turned to leave.
"Hey, wait—" Mikan called out but was stopped when Natsume turned back and pulled her into a kiss.
Mikan's eyes were wide at first but as the seconds passed by, she slowly closed them as she let herself succumb to Natsume's undeniable lips. Her mind went blank; she didn't know what she was doing anymore. Natsume put a hand on her cheek to keep her in place and another hand on her back, pulling her closer.
Natsume pulled away after a minute and let his forehead touch Mikan's. He looked deep within her caramel-colored orbs and whispered, "No one can touch that fine ass except for your boyfriend, do you hear me?"
Mikan fought back a blush, "excuse me, but I don't have a boyfriend."
"Yes, you do. You agreed earlier, didn't you?" Natsume disagreed, "Idiot."
"I'm not an idiot and that's just pretend, in case you've forgotten," Mikan bit back.
"Not for long," Natsume grinned mischievously as he turned his back on Mikan and walked to the door. "There's some extra clothes in the wardrobe, ask the maids if you need help. Dinner will be served after half an hour," he reminded before exiting, leaving a flustered Mikan inside the room.
"Why do I let him do that?" she asked herself before rummaging around for clothes.
-;-
Dinner was grand at the Hyuuga mansion; Mikan and her friends sat on a long table covered with a white cloth made of satin, on top of the table were gold plates and utensils, candles, and flowers. Many were awed by the food served to them; it looked like something that only a five-star restaurant could serve. Mikan can't believe how rich Natsume Hyuuga is. She looked at him from across the table; he was fiddling with his new iPhone5. Mikan rolled her eyes; she wasn't envious of his wealth, she was already accustomed to not having things like that but it pissed her off how much rich people are so wasteful with their money. Just think about how many kids could eat with that money spent on a single smartphone.
Of course being poor wasn't exactly what Mikan wanted. It wasn't her fault that her father died early because of a terminal disease and left them with a pile of debts to cover. It also wasn't her fault that her mother was crippled after that accident at the corner of Baker Street. But Mikan was the only one her mother depended on so she had to work hard. She studied hard and managed to get a full scholarship from Alice Academy; the school for the wealthy and powerful families, the school for people like Natsume Hyuuga. At first, she was against the idea; she claimed that she was "allergic to hypocritical suck-ups and money-obsessed cry-babies" but she eventually agreed, thinking that the worse thing they could do to her was maybe copy her geometry homework without permission.
At first, Mikan felt uncomfortable dealing with the rich and wealthy. They were always staring at her; checking out her not branded clothes, her secondhand backpack, cheap notebooks and pens. They knew she didn't belong with them. After the first semester though, they stopped staring and maybe got used to Mikan being there but it didn't mean that she was safe from their judgmental eyes. A few scornful looks would pass her way once or twice a week but Mikan didn't seem to mind.
It was Hotaru Imai that helped Mikan the most. Although she rarely even talked to her in class, it still comforted Mikan to have someone that she could trust by her side. You see, Mikan and Hotaru have known each other even before high school. They were childhood friends; both living in the same neighborhood when they were five. But they got separated for a few years when Hotaru moved away to study at a different school which was Alice Academy. Mikan was devastated but Hotaru promised that they'll see each other again.
And they did.
"How was dinner?" Natsume asked with an arrogant smirk while they walked towards the guest room where Mikan was staying in for the night. Mikan initially refused to stay in for the night and claimed that her mother would be worried but Mr. I-am-rich-and-powerful-bow-down-to-me told her to stop yapping since he already called her mother. Mikan was forced to sleep there for the night.
"Lavish," Mikan answered plainly, "the food was great, thanks."
"You know I was kind of hoping for a more positive response," Natsume stopped in front of a door with a golden knob and said, "Here's your key. Don't lose it, we ran out of duplicates."
"Maybe if you didn't get your hopes up, you won't get hurt," Mikan replied, "Right, thanks." She reached out for the key and opened her door. "Night, Hyuuga," she muttered before closing the door but it was stopped by Natsume's shoe.
"Hyuuga, what the—"
"What, no good night kiss?" Natsume teased as Mikan reopened the door with a hand on her hip.
"Let me think about it, hmm—no," Mikan said insolently, shutting the door with more force. Natsume yelped in pain.
"My foot! That shit hurt, woman!" Natsume continued to curse in pain as he looked down at his throbbing foot.
"If you just moved your bloody foot then maybe I wouldn't have squeezed it between the door and its frame!" Mikan snapped back.
Natsume only groaned in reply which worried Mikan. How much force did she really put into shutting that damn door that Natsume Hyuuga wasn't able to snap back at her?
Natsume leaned on the wall beside Mikan's door.
"Can you still walk?" Mikan asked, her temper slowly abating.
"Hopefully," Natsume replied, "man, for one so thin, you really have strong arms. I think I would have to undergo surgery if ever it was your fist that hit my face."
"Maybe I'd consider doing that next time," Mikan said, tempted by the idea, "just to shut you up and wipe that fat ass grin on your face."
"That would break a lot of hearts, sunshine," Natsume mocked, "would you really be that cruel to those girls who would surely miss this face?"
Mikan made a disgusted face, "Please. I see nothing desirable with that."
"Look who's talking," Natsume said, crossing his arms. The pain from his foot was long gone, "have you ever tried looking at yourself in the mirror? I don't think so because goodness knows that even your reflection's scared to see you."
Mikan opened her mouth and closed it again, absolutely insulted, "Oh really? If I didn't know better, it's you who haven't seen yourself in front of a mirror because you can't stand looking at yourself for a second without puking. Or at least that's what I feel whenever I see you."
Natsume raised an amused brow, "Just so you know, this is the face that girls everywhere would drop head over heels for. This is the face of the man in every girl's dreams. This is the face of the guy that got his locker clogged up with so many love confessions which he each rejected every single day."
"Don't be so proud of your looks, Hyuuga. Looks fade away," Mikan said, "and right now, you already have too little to spare."
Natsume chuckled, "You're unbelievable, seriously."
"Oh, did the truth bite your sorry ass? Not my fault, I'm not the one with an ego the size of an overgrown hippo," Mikan replied impishly.
"Sassy," Natsume said, "Just the way I like it."
"I always knew I had the talent for insulting people, especially creepy, self-righteous brats like you," Mikan bantered, "but lucky you, I'm doing this for free."
"How the hell did I become creepy?" Natsume asked.
"You knew my sizes when I haven't told you anything aside from my name and the fact that I despise you," she replied, gesturing at the clothes she was wearing. She wore a cute orange shirt with a bear printed on it and brown shorts. Natsume looked at her from top to bottom; taking in her appearance.
"It's not difficult to guess your sizes, you know. You could just grab anything from the kids' section and it would fit you perfectly," Natsume jeered. Mikan rolled her eyes at this.
"Ha-ha. If you were a clown, you'd get kicked out of the circus because your jokes are lame. It's even lamer than Twilight which we all know is the epitome of lame," Mikan said in reply.
"Shouldn't girls love that film?" Natsume asked.
"Stop generalizing women, Hyuuga," Mikan warned, "It won't do you any good." She remembered when he mentioned about how girls were supposed to love the color pink.
"You know, I always wonder why you keep calling me 'Hyuuga' instead of my given name. Only Imai does that," Natsume said, shifting the conversation to his taste buds.
"You know, I also wonder why you keep talking to me when it's clear that we both hate each other," Mikan responded, not answering the question.
"No, we don't," Natsume replied, side-tracked, "I know you like me. Deep inside that small chest of yours, I know you do."
"Do you want me to kick you in the balls, Hyuuga? Because that would really make my night," Mikan snapped, already raising her foot. Natsume backed away before anything wrong could happen.
"No thanks, I've had enough already," Natsume said, looking at his foot.
"Let that big ass foot be a reminder that if you mess with me again, my fist will meet your horrid face," Mikan said boldly.
"I can't believe you're talking to me like that after letting me kiss you earlier," Natsume replied and he knew he made her uncomfortable and he liked it. He liked making girls feel vulnerable in front of him.
But Mikan quickly responded with "Your face is making me drowsy. Good night and I hope the bed bugs bite every inch of your skin." She shut the door in front of Natsume's face.
Typical, Natsume thought, she's still as stubborn as ever. But he smiled at the thought that he was making progress. He knew that she was already getting uncomfortable with him and maybe after some more days, she'll let her guard down for him to enter. Eventually, he'll win the deal and
Mikan Sakura will be his.
Just like every single woman in the school.
