Here is the next chapter! This is my first fight scene so let me know what you guys think. It needs improvement and I would like your help to make it better, so if you guys can give me some pointers, I would appreciate it!

I had some readers comment on how my story resembles another work called "Honey X Honey Drops." I had my friend who read the series tell me about it and I saw that you guys were right, but the similarities were unintentional! I only chose the earring because Natsume already has some and nothing else is the same. Thanks to the people who let me know, so I could make things clear!

Enjoy!

Andrei stared me down from the other side of the field, trying to intimidate me, but I wasn't going to back down. We were immersed in our staring contest for so long that it made Sumire tap her foot impatiently.

"Are we going to start anytime soon?" she called out. As if that was his que, the ground beneath my feet started to crumble. I leapt forward, uttering a quick spell to make my body lighter, and landed ten feet away. I turned around and saw a gaping hole where I was a second ago. Andrei was built like a fighter, but he was also a powerful spell caster, I realized.

I turned back and just barley managed to avoid a punch in the face as Andrei teleported in front of me. I jumped back a few feet, close to the edge of the hole. I was already getting overwhelmed. Taking a deep breath to center myself, I faced the charging silver Russian and at the last second leaped up, coming back down on his back, effectively knocking him in to the hole.

A large thud was heard as my feet touched the ground. I didn't pause to take a look; instead I ran as fast and far as I can, right before an explosion shook the ground, sending me to my knees. I stood up quickly and whirled around, catching the fist that was flying towards me, and using momentum, brought Andrei's heavy body to the ground.

I backed away to a safe distance, watching carefully as he got up. There were some scratches in his face and a part of his jacket was torn, but no big damage was evident. I could see the anger burning in his eyes and I braced myself for another blast, like the one he just created. Instead he charged at me again.

I got ready to get out of the way, but I noticed too late that my feet wouldn't move; it was intertwined in magically grown grass. The air was knocked out of my lungs as Andrei made contact with my body; I heard a sickening snap as he pushed me to the ground. White searing pain bloomed in my ribs as he lifted himself off of me.

"I think were done here," he called out to his master while turning his back to me. That was his mistake.

Ignoring the pain, I got up quickly, grabbed the back of his jacket, and threw his to the ground. "We are not done," I whispered and launched myself at him. I encased my fist with hard ice and heard a satisfactory crunch as I hit blow on his nose. I look of surprise crossed his face, but pain soon took over.

He got up and threw me, but I landed nimbly. Fueled with pain and adrenaline, I got close to him and dropped my weight to the ground with my leg stuck out performing a sweep kick, making him collide with the ground again. This time, in place of getting up, Andrei disappeared with a faint pop. I stood strait, preparing myself, and a type of natural instincts washed over me. I lifted my foot back, twisting my body around, and let my heel clip Andrei's jaw as he appeared behind me.

The ease of which I preformed my back kick made me feel like I did this before, but I couldn't dwell on it because Andrei countered with a kick of his own, that caught me on the side with the broken rib, making me cry out.

I teleported myself a good distance away, trying to come up with a plan and at the same time watch out for any of his. I checked out my opponent and although it doesn't look like much damage has been done, he looked like he was ready to pass out from the massive blood loss from his nose. I knew I needed at least one more decent punch, but I had no way of sneaking up on him.

"Go Mikan!" I heard a cheer from my right. I chanced a quick peek and saw my friends, Anna, Nonoko, and Hotaru, in the crowd surrounding our square. It just made me notice how big the crowd got; even the Jinno twins were watching the match. Seeing the Jinnos sparked an idea, I smirked and started chanting the spell.

"Here piggy, piggy," I called softly, "come and play." I saw Andrei jump as fifteen of my summoned pigs surrounded him, running around him playfully. I took that break in his concentration to teleport myself in front of him. Enclosing my hand in ice once again, I drove my fist in his gut, making him gasp and stumble back.

To finish off, I summoned water, and making a circular motion with my fingers, trapped Andrei in a waterspout. The crowd laughed as they saw the big man spinning in circles, trapped in the current of the water, and I could hear Sumire screeching in the distance.

After I slowly sent the pigs back from wherever they came from, I called off the water and Andrei fell in front of me, soaked and unconscious.

A cheer went up from the surrounding people as I feel to my knees. The healers came with a stretcher for me and Andrei. I winced as they hoisted me up and put me on one, but I quickly put on a smile when my friends surrounded me.

"Are you ok Mikan?" Nonoko and Anna asked me at the same time.

"I'm fine," I laughed, "its nothing serious." The girls looked like they wanted to contradict me, but Natsume walked over and saved me from the fussing from the girls.

"Nice fight." He gave me a quick smile that sent a weird sensation through my body and in my chest. "Didn't think you had that in you." He patted my head, showing a rare form of affection.

"Even the Jinnos are impressed." Hotaru pointed a finger and I saw the twins smiling in my direction.

I sighed. "Guess I better thank them later," I said, "They did help me win the fight." Everyone laughed as they remembered the running pigs, even Natsume gave a little chuckle.

"I'll be watching Koko and Yuu's fight," Natsume said as the doctors started to carry me away. "Don't worry; you don't have to fight anymore today."

"We'll take good care of Mikan!" Anna called after Natsume's retreating figure.

XXX

"Why are you always so reckless?" were the first words out of the healers mouth as I arrived at the on-campus hospital. I got ready to protest, but he quickly popped an instant pain reliever sheet in my mouth, making me close my lips as the sheet melted, taking away the headache and the aches that I was beginning to develop.

I stared at the light spring green walls of his room, enjoying the grape flavor that the medicine left behind, as he examined my injuries. I let out a gasp of pain when he touched my abdominal and he let out a sigh and stood up.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

He clicked his tongue and grabbed a clipboard hanging from his door. "You have a collection of scratches and bruises, a bump on your head, and a broken rib," he told me and used a flashlight to check my eyes. "It doesn't look like you have a concussion, which is good for me because then I'll have less work to do."

I rolled my eyes. "Sometimes you are just like Hotaru," I said.

He sighed and gave me a tired smile. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? I am the older brother; she should be more like me." I waved his comment away.

"You look really tired and stressed today," I observed, "more than usual."

"That's because the amount of kids coming in here for injuries is more than usual." I recalled the amount of patients that I passed by on the way to this room. It was a lot.

"I'm not going to fix everything," he said, "just the rib bone and I'll lower the swelling on the head. Other than that it going to have to heal naturally."

I nodded my head and closed my eyes as he placed his hands over the spot over the broken bone. I felt a coldness and then warmth flourished under the skin as Subaru used his Alice to make the bone whole again.

Hotaru's brother had a two Alices, which was rare. He had the ability to heal any wounds dealt on the body, but he also had the power to give pain to a person. Those two combined made him respected yet feared in the magical community.

Just when he finished healing my head, the door opened and a frazzled looking nurse stuck her head in and announced that Subaru was needed in the Emergency Room.

"Looks like break time's over," he said. He got up slowly as if he gained fifty years.

"Thanks Dr. Imai!" I chirped and gave him a mock salute. "I'll come back when I get hurt again." He just shook his head and left the room.

I met Anna and Nonoko at the waiting room. "Feeling better?" Anna asked me.

"Yea got the best doctor to fix me up." I grinned.

"You mean Hotaru's brother? Lucky!" Nonoko squealed. Apparently, doctors with glasses were in.

"Where's Hotaru?" I asked.

"Oh she went back to the festival to take some pictures," Anna replied. With nowhere else to go, I decided to head back as well. The festival was skill in full swing, fight were everywhere and the cheering of the crowd got louder as the intensity of the fights increased.

I stopped at Yuu and Koko's arena and saw that despite his scrawny body, Yuu was a tough opponent. His Alice is illusions, which made it hard for the other team to land a hit on him, if all they could see was whatever Yuu presented to them.

I was laughing along with the spectators at the Aeterno's battle against a fabricated yeti, when Yuu suddenly ended the illusion. Before, the other man could realize what was going on, Yuu muttered some words, and the man fell, paralyzed, with his hands still in yeti combat mode.

I clapped and cheered, running up to Koko to congratulate them, but Natsume beat me to it. I ran into his back and Ruka caught both of us as we tipped forward. "Good job guys!" I exclaimed as soon as I was back on my feet.

"Looks like someone feels better," muttered Natsume. I stuck my tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes at my childishness.

"Congrats on your win as well," Yuu commented. I gave him a high five as a response.

A teacher came up and began leading Koko and Yuu to the next battle area. "Thanks for the support guys," Koko called back as he was whisked away in the crowd. That left me, Natsume, and Ruka alone.

"I'm going to watch them again," Natsume announced. "You do whatever you want to do," he told me. I smiled, glad that I wasn't obligated to follow him around all the time.

"I think I'll go eat," I said, noticing the buffet set up across the field.

Ruka followed my gaze. "Yea, I'll go too," he said. Natsume nodded. "Let's go Mikan." I waved to Natsume, who didn't wave back, and walked behind Ruka.

Soon, we were sitting at one of the benches with our plates full of food. I watched Ruka feed his rabbit carrots from his plate and I wondered how this gentle animal lover became best friends with the rough fire caster. "How did you and Natsume meet?" I asked, curiosity winning over me.

Ruka looked startled at the question and then smiled fondly, like he was remembering a good memory. "I met him during second grade," he said. "Before that I lived in France and attended the Alice Academy there."

"So you are French?" I asked amazed.

Ruka laughed. "Only half; my mother is French, my father is Japanese." He popped a Swedish meatball into his mouth. "Anyway, the first couple week of school was horrible."

"Why?"

"Girls," he replied, shuddering. "They would never leave me alone. They chased me on the playground, made me wear dresses; they would even steal things from me." Suddenly, I felt shame for the female population.

"Natsume found me one day in the forest crying. The girls found a photo of my mom in my backpack and they wouldn't give it back." He looked up and gave me a smile. "I was a mommy's boy back then," he said sheepishly "so not being able to see my mother was hard and that picture was the only thing that helped."

I nodded my head in understanding, even thought I never had a mother to miss. "I would always see Natsume alone and he would always refuse to communicate with others, I thought he was mean and didn't like to play with others, but that day instead of walking away like I thought he would, he sat down next to me. Once he found out what happened, he went straight to the girls and demanded the photo back. He did get it back, but at the expense of girls crying over their burnt hair." That sounded exactly like what Natsume would do. "He said for payment he wanted a new manga, I readily bought it of course, and since then we've been together."

I never thought that there would be a heartwarming story involving Natsume, but there it was. I ate my onigiri slowly thinking about how misjudged Natsume is. "He's a really good person you know," Ruka said staring at me. "He might seem mean and insensitive, but once he lets you, he'll protect you loyally."

"Thanks for sharing with me Ruka," I said.

"No problem," he stuttered, a faint blush decorating his cheeks. "It's just no one ever see's the real Natsume, and I thought you deserved to know, before you make a misconception."

I bit in to the sourness of the pickled plum and chewed on it slowly. "You're a really good friend too," I said. Ruka gave me a flustered smile.

Koko, Yuu, and Natsume came up to us thirty minutes later to report the loss of their battle. Mochu joined us later as we got up to make our way over to the center to watch the crowning of the winners. It was Rui Amane and Hayate Matsudaira, they didn't look like much, but apparently they were powerful enough to have reached first place.

I went back to my room tired and aching. I went over the events of the day in my head as I lay down on my bed after the shower. Today was the first time I got recognition from the great Natsume Hyuuga and I went to sleep feeling like a true Aeterna.

I worked hard for this one, so I would really like some reviews!