Author's Note: I honestly can't thank you guys enough for all the nice reviews! /tries to insert a heart symbol but fails 'cos FFN ==

Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice.

Head Over Heels

Chapter 21: Shatter

"Damn it, no." Natsume blew out an exasperated breath, frustration etched all over his chiseled face. "What do you want, woman?"

Disappointment flooded Mikan like a tidal wave. She gnawed on her lower lip so hard it felt like she was doing the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge. Why? she puzzled. Why would he put aside his ego and apologize, yet refuse to admit that he lied to her right from the very start? It just didn't make sense.

"No?" Mikan echoed. Suddenly, she felt tired beyond words. Tired of going along with his lie, tired of pretending everything was fine. Tired of loving Natsume Hyuuga. She wanted to rant at him, to his stupid ugly face. Okay, his impossibly good-looking face, but that thought really didn't help matters at all.
"Turn on the lights," Mikan ordered, feeling stupid all over again. How had a romantic apology turned into a full-scale war?

"Jesus," Natsume muttered, but he must have pressed a button on a remote control because the lights slowly flickered back on.

Mikan blinked at the light that suddenly flooded her vision. It took her a few moments to see Natsume, who looked as frustrated as she had expected. Yet, he looked so amazing in his suit, with a grey tie loosely looped around his neck, that she found it a little difficult to remember what she was about to say. But as her gaze traveled down to his... crotch area, the painful truth stabbed her all over again.

"Tell me. Are you really infertile?" Mikan spit out, feeling dumb just for saying it out loud. How in the world did she even fall for such a ridiculous lie in the first place? How gullible could she be?
Natsume blinked, bewildered. The first thought that shot through his mind was "what the hell is she going on about now? Infertile? Me?" Then he remembered.

"Oh God." He raked a hand through his hair. "That. I forgot about it. But... how..."

"How do I know?" Mikan clenched her fists. "Your awesome manager Narumi accidentally let it slip. So, it looks like you had a lot of fun toying with me." Then another detail in his sentence struck her. "Forgot? You 'forgot' that you lied to me?"

Natsume cursed the stupid blonde manager under his breath. "Yeah, I mean... Ugh. I'm a busy man, you know that. I can't possibly remember-"

"Remember every lie you make?" Mikan completed his sentence with a short, humorless laugh. He winced, and she knew that she had hit home. She knew that right then, she could not trust Natsume Hyuuga. Ever. How could she, when the man doled out lies like air stewardesses gave out peanuts, when he even forgot such a major lie that was the source of their relationship? No. Enough was enough.

"You're right. You're a huge superstar. And what am I again, Natsume?" Mikan looked up at him through damp lashes. "I'm nobody to you. I'm just an 'acquaintance', right?"

Natsume flinched, recalling what he had said to her at the charity event. "Look, sweetheart I didn't mean to say that."

"Don't," Mikan glared at him furiously. "Call me that. I'm not one of your groupies."

She headed towards the door, but a part of her still cared for him, and she hated it. Hated that she still cared. She wanted to hurt him, the way he had hurt her, but she couldn't. Turns out Mikan Sakura is a still a goody-two-shoes, huh? She thought bitterly."You know what? Speaking of groupies, I'll have you know again that your good friend Luna Koizumi is a lying, two-faced idiot. And so are you, for trusting her. I'm just advising you, as a former acquaintance, to open your eyes and see her for who she is, before you get hurt."

"I know," Natsume blurted out, surprising Mikan. She had thought he would defend her to his last breath. She tried to deny it, but that made her heart leap a little. "I know what she did to you, okay? I saw... the itching powder."

Mikan shook her head. "You don't know the half of it. Look, just leave it. I'm tired. I want to go home." She held a hand to her suddenly throbbing head and pushed open the door.

"I won't leave it," the raven-haired model called out. "I won't give up. And... I'm sorry. For everything." He added quietly.

Natsume knew it was time to get to the truth. It was time to confront Luna. All the way home, he gripped the steering wheel so tightly in frustration that his knuckles turned white. He had thought that he would have swept Mikan off her feet, made her laugh and call him a dork and accept his apology. Instead, it backfired so badly he winced just from thinking of Mikan's livid, teary chocolate-brown eyes. He had honestly forgotten about that whole infertile lie. It felt so stupid to even think of right now. How could he even have come up with that ridiculous fib? It was like he got so caught up in just being by Mikan's side that he forgot how they even got to that point.

Yet, he was dreading the confrontation with Luna that was about to come. He knew it was his fault that she got knocked down. Sure, the doctor had said it was nothing too major, but still. And she was his friend. A very dear friend. The problem was, she didn't seem to think of him as just a friend.

Natsume parked his car, taking about three tries because he could barely focus. He entered the house and went straight to Luna's room. She wasn't there. Then, he heard a loud crash from the kitchen and hurried there, only to see Luna bending over in her wheelchair to pick up a metal bowl.

"Oh, Natsume!" she exclaimed. "You're back. I was just making some dinner. You like sandwiches, right?"

"You... you shouldn't be doing this. You're injured," Natsume said, slightly flustered. He hadn't expected her to make dinner for him. Her being nice to him would only make it harder for him to confront her.

"It's just sandwiches," Luna laughed. "I can handle it. Anything for you." She added, with a suggestive glint in her eye that made Natsume shift from one foot to another uncomfortably.

"Um, look, Luna. I just... have a few questions for you."

"Fire away!" She wheeled herself over to the fridge and stuck her head in it.

It felt a little weird talking to her while she had her head in her refrigerator, but Natsume thought it might make it easier if he didn't have to look at her face.

"Ah... where's the turkey?" Luna murmured to herself.

"Did you... sabotage Mikan on purpose at the Prada show?" Natsume asked in a rush. There. It was out in the open.

There was a pause. Luna froze momentarily, but soon recovered. "I can't seem to find the turkey. Did you put it in the vegetable crisper again? You're always such a klutz when it comes to things like this, Natsume."

"I asked you a question."

"Or is it in the freezer?" Luna blundered on as if he hadn't spoken.

"Luna!" Natsume shouted. "Don't you bloody dare ignore me."

Luna closed the door of the fridge calmly, an avocado in her hand, and turned around to look at him. "I didn't answer it because it's such a ridiculous question."

"Ridiculous? You're the one who did it."

"What did I do?" Luna asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes and staring at Natsume straight in the eye. "Tell me. What did I allegedly do? What made you shout at me, when I didn't even do anything wrong?"

"You put itching powder in her shoes and cut her dress," Natsume fired back.

Luna laughed, a high-pitched, sickeningly sweet sound. "Why would I do that? Do you think I have nothing better to do than to mess around with a little girl like that? What, did she tell you I did it? Who knows, maybe she did it herself and framed me. To get you mad at me."

He couldn't believe how she looked so calm and sounded so matter-of-fact when she was lying through her teeth. It made him almost tremble from the anger and annoyance he felt. Was this how Mikan felt when I lied to her again and again? He suddenly realized. He clenched his hands so tightly he felt his nails digging into his skin, but he was unsure whether his bubbling fury was directed towards Luna or himself.

"She's not as manipulative as you are," Natsume spit out, his brows lowered into a deep frown. "Admit it. You got her into trouble on purpose."

The smile dropped off Luna's face, and a look so cold and emotionless he almost could not recognize her. "So what if I did? She took away what was mine. What is mine. She took you away from me."

"I'm not yours, Luna. I don't belong to anyone." Natsume took two steps towards her, and tilted his face down to hers. He looked at her ice-cold blue eyes and tried to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. What had happened to Luna Koizumi, the cool friend he could depend on without feeling like a weakling? "I'm Natsume Hyuuga, and I'm not anyone's object. So, did you push yourself off the wheelchair and blame it on Mikan?"

"Would you believe me if I said no?" Luna said quietly, the cold look in her eyes replaced by one filled with hurt. "And you're mine. You're mine. I saved you. Both when you were little and now. You're mine."

"You creep me out, you know that?" Natsume drew his face back, a disgusted look on his face. "I thought you were my true friend. Turns out I was wrong."

"She isn't as angel-like as you seem to think she is," Luna smirked. "Just wait and see. What you did to her... she will never forgive you."

"She's a kind person, unlike you," Natsume retorted, sounding more confident than he really felt. "She'll eventually forgive me, and we'll have a good laugh over it. While you will be cast off to the side, like the pathetic manipulative liar that you are."

Luna just smiled that infuriating smile, as though she hadn't a care in the world. "We'll see about that, shall we?"

With that, she dropped the avocado onto the tabletop, and wheeled herself gracefully to the door that separated the kitchen and living room.

Natsume watched her, inhaling and exhaling slowly to try and control the urge to throw something at the back of her blonde head. "I want you to get out of my house. I can't stand having a two-faced bitch like you in my house." There. He had called her a bitch to her face, which was what she was. No matter how kind she had been to him in the past, the truth was that she had changed. She had changed into a scary person that he no longer wanted to have any association with.

"Oh?" Luna replied. "You won't dare to, because you know what? I saved your life. You're indebted to me."

"And, by the way, that's what makes us such a good pair. We're both liars." She blew him a kiss, and let out a laugh that would have sounded melodious if Natsume did not know her.

She pushed herself back to her room, and once she was safely inside, with the soundproof door behind her, she let out an ear-piercing scream. In a temper, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find— an alarm clock with an intricate design— and hurled it at the wall with another blood-curdling yell. It fell to the floor with a satisfying crash, sending slivers of glass and metal flying everywhere.

"Do you think I'll let you win so easily, Mikan Sakura? Never. Not in a million years. Oh, so he's siding with you?" Luna picked up another ornament, this time a crystal vase. She turned it around in her French-manicured hand, smiling at the light reflected off the vase. "I'll just break the trust he has for you." With that, she let the vase roll off her hand and drop to the floor, into a million pieces.

Watching Korean dramas really give me inspiration on how to make villains more annoying HAHAHA. Not proof-read because I'm going to IKEA for the hotdog lol.