No, unfortunately I don't own Gakuen Alice.

The doors of the indoor field burst open and four cops, followed by two paramedics, rushed in. They didn't even seem to think about the situation before the cops were pushing Natsume off of Kenta and one of the paramedics was pulling Mikan to her feet and dragging her to the doors.

The other paramedic walked over to where Natsume was standing with a scowl on his face. "Excuse me sir, but may I please take you to the ambulance?" The paramedic laughed nervously. "We need you to tell the police everything that happened and I need to make sure you aren't injured."

Natsume shot the innocent paramedic an evil look. "I'm not injured," he said, turning around and walking over to where the soccer ball he had kicked at Kenta had rolled to a stop. "Waste your time with this guy." He jabbed his thumb in Kenta's direction, who was being dragged out of the building, looking half-dead.

"Natsume!"

Natsume looked over his shoulder and turned back around to face the person running towards him. "Ruka." He nodded at his friend, who wore a worried and shocked expression.

"Natsume! What happened? Are you okay?" The questions came one after another, Ruka taking no breath in between.

Natsume nodded again. "Just an attempted murder." He said it simply.

Ruka's mouth fell open. "Just!" He exclaimed, adding emphasis to the word. "She could have been killed! You could have been killed! What would have happened if you hadn't still been here? What would have happened if you had left at your regular time and Mikan ended up dead? This is serious!" He pushed his blonde bangs back with his palm. "I can't believe this happened."

Natsume rolled his eyes. "No one got hurt."

"She could have been killed."

"But she wasn't."

"Natsume! Stop being so stubborn! You know I'm right!"

Natsume shrugged. "Whatever." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned back around, heading for his office, the paramedic and the soccer ball forgotten. "I have things to get done."

Ruka reached forward and grabbed Natsume's arm. "Don't think so," he said, pulling his friend back and pointing him in the direction Mikan had been brought. "You're going to see her. Hotaru is with her, but I can guarantee she'll want to see you."

Natsume didn't have much choice. Before he could retort, Ruka was pushing him to the doors and the paramedic was following closely behind, a nervous look on his pale face.

Mikan was sitting at the back of the ambulance, her legs dangling down and her toes barely touching the pavement. A paramedic was examining the wound on her neck from her deranged father's fingernails, and Hotaru was beside her, talking softly, a concerned and worried look on her usually emotionless face. When the doors to the indoor field opened, both girls looked up.

Mikan's expression turned to one of joy and she hopped down from the ambulance, tearing herself away from the paramedic. Without a second thought, she jumped forward and wrapped her thin arms around Natsume's neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Natsume made a sound in his throat and removed Mikan's arms, even though he desperately wanted to let her stay in her position. "Get off of me, polka-dots," he said with a smirk when he saw Mikan's expression change.

"Hyuuga!"

Natsume shrugged. "It's not my fault you showed me your panties."

Mikan glared at him. "You were the one that barged into the change room!"

Ruka went and stood beside Hotaru, his eyes never leaving Natsume and Mikan. "They sure have an interesting way of showing their care for each other, don't they?" he said. "I mean, it's kind of depressing to watch them fight all the time."

Hotaru simply nodded as she, too, watched her best friend and Natsume. "She could have been killed."

Ruka looked down at her. She was beautifully enchanting, her pale face bathed in the cold moonlight and her eyebrows pointed slightly to her nose in lingering worry for her friend who she had failed to protect. It could be seen in her eyes that she blamed herself, and it was proved in her words.

"I should have been with her."

Ruka shivered, but not from the coolness of the night. "It wasn't your fault."

"Hyuuga! You apologize right now!" Mikan had her legs shoulder-width apart to give herself more balance, and her scowl remained.

Natsume turned around and walked back to the doors. "Hn." And then he disappeared into the building, leaving Mikan infuriated while the paramedic tried to calm her down.

Mikan sighed as she stared out the window of her apartment, at the pouring rain beyond. She watched in silent depression, trying to keep her thoughts away from what had happened the night before, away from her near-death situation and away from her knight in shining armor.

She had to go out into that rain soon, seeing as she had a soccer practice and if she missed it Natsume would make her make up for it, twice as bad. Sometimes she really just wished she could have a day to herself to sleep in until noon and stay up until three in the morning with her friends.

After five more minutes of staring out the window, she gathered her stuff and walked out of her room, down the stairs, and out onto the wet sidewalk. She hadn't bothered grabbing an umbrella. She wasn't made of sugar and could take the rain.

Mikan made it to the field early, just as she had planned. She got there a whole hour early, actually. Natsume or Ruka or both were always there way before practice started, setting up and finishing some paperwork. There was nothing wrong with a little practice before practice.

She got changed into her uniform, her eyes sharp to make sure she didn't have spying perverts watching her undress. When she was comfortably in her shorts and jersey, she moved over to the mirror, where she tied her hair back neatly before walking out of the change rooms and onto the green field.

Just as she had suspected, Natsume was there, taking the soccer balls out of the equipment room and setting them up in front of the nets. He hadn't noticed Mikan's entrance.

"Hyuuga!"

Natsume froze, probably in hidden annoyance. He stood up straight and turned to face his player, a bored look on his face. "What?" Yeah, he was definitely annoyed.

Mikan gave him a cheery smile, one that would make any normal guy's knees buckle. "Want to help me practice?" Natsume was not normal.

"Do you always have to be early?" He walked out into the field.

Mikan shrugged. "Nothing wrong with it."

They began practice, Natsume acting as defense and Mikan acting as offense. Everything was going fine, Mikan keeping the game alive with small conversations. But Mikan wouldn't be Mikan without her occasional klutzy-ness.

She took a step, but her foot landed on the ball and she stumbled, grabbing Natsume on her way. She pulled on his shirt as she fell, forcing him to fall with her. But then, quite coincidental, because of the position they were in, Natsume's lips crashed down on hers.

Mikan felt her back hit the ground, but she was barely paying attention. Natsume caught himself with his arms, holding his body above her in a pushup position. His lips were still glued to hers. His eyes were closed, while Mikan's were wide with shock. But she was enjoying it too much to push him off. She felt as though her heart was melting in pure delight.

Coaches are off limits, coaches are off limits… She smiled inwardly at the thought. Tch. Whatever. Who cares about limits?

A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry!! I know, this is taking me FOREVER to update, but I have SO much homework every night and it's all because of my dumb math teacher. I'm really sorry that this chapter isn't very long, but I have part 2 of my volleyball tournament tomorrow and have to go to bed unusually early for a weekend. That's another thing I have to mention. Because of volleyball, with practices and games that I'll be having, along with tournaments every second weekend, this is going to be really hard for me to keep up, but i'll do my absolute best! Thanks to all who take the time to read and/or review to my story! It means a lot!

xoxo

Ducky-san