Hey guys! I'm sorry for not updating for a month! I had exams which just recently ended and had to spend the entire month revising. So I hope that this long chapter makes up for it. Enjoy!

Chapter 21

The first stroke of midnight sounded through the night and jolted Mikan out of Natsume's arms. They had been sitting on the roof for 2 hours, recollecting memories and filling each other in for the lost time. Mikan had told Natsume about her suspicion about Luna and why she had to take up the role of Shadowfox. She also told him about the various adventures that she had and how she got the wound at the side of her body. Natsume held her by the waist protectively upon hearing that Persona was the one who inflicted her wound and near-death experience. He told her that he had his suspicions about the activities in Nula after she died and have deployed spies there.

Brushing a loose strand of hair away from Mikan's face Natsume just stared at her face.

"What are you staring at? Don't tell me I have a pimple on my forehead…" Mikan started fretting.

Grabbing her arm, Natsume replied, "Stop fretting, there's nothing on your face. I just can't believe that you would be here, in front of me, talking to me, lying in my arms. I can't believe that you would be this beautiful, after all, you weren't exactly the prettiest girls when you were 11. Are you sure you're not lying to me?"

"I'm not Natsume. If you want, you can take back your alice stone." Mikan was about to tug it free from her neck when Natsume stopped her and told her to keep it.

"How's Aoi? I heard that she was the one who started the fire 6 years ago cause her alice went out of control."

"She's… She's lost her alice. She used it all up that night. But Hotaru and I are searching for a solution to that. Apparently Hotaru found something about getting people's alice back."

"I'll help in any way I can, besides, I long to see her. We should be getting back, your mother would want to find the winner who found her son." Jabbing him in the sides, Mikan bounced up and waited for him to stand.

Entwining his fingers around hers, Natsume led Mikan out from the roof and to the ballroom.

"Reo, we need to speed up the process of our plan. When will it be ready?" Demanded Luna.

"Soon Hime. When do you want me to activate our plan?" Reo asked.

"The next test, it's in 2 days time right?"

"Yes Hime."

"Good… Mikan, you'll regret ever meeting Natsume." Smirked Luna.

The double doors to the ballroom swung open and Natsume proudly walked in with Mikan. Not only did every start to stare, but the ballroom went completely silent. Upon seeing her son with Mika, the queen stood on the podium and congratulated them.

"Congratulations to Mika Suni from Julop. Since you have found my son, you will have a special advantage in the next selection test. There are 2 more test remaining and you can choose to use this advantage during one of these test. Now let me explain the next stage in this selection."

There were murmurs heard throughout the ballroom.

"Your next test will be in 2 days time. Now since the future queen must not only be properly trained in social etiquette, she has to be able to connect with the people. For your next test, you will each be assigned to a group of 6 children. These children are from the kingdom and every year, the royal family of Firenze will give them a sort of treat. This year, it'll be up to you to treat them. How you do it is up to you, but the judges for this test is not me, nor Natsume. It will be the children themselves. They will each be given 3 stars and at the end of the day, they will place the appropriate number of stars into a box with your name on it. Those who have 14 stars and above will move on to the next stage. Tomorrow you will meet the respective group of children to get to know them better. Till then, enjoy the ball and good luck." Finishing her speech and instructions, Natsume nodded to the orchestra, who started playing a quick waltz. Offering out his hand, he asked Mikan to dance.

"Seriously Natusme, you dance?"

"Of course, come on."

Placing his hand on her waist and taking her left hand, he slowly began to lead her around the dance floor. Not only did they receive stares of daggers, some princesses attempted to trip Mikan but Natsume always caught her and lead her. She was happy, elated, over the moon that Natsume had finally realized that she was alive. She finally felt at ease because he knew who she was, she could finally be himself. But somewhere deep down in her heart, she also knew that she had placed Natsume in a great danger by revealing herself, especially in the presence of Luna. She had a bad premonition about the coming test. Pushing aside those fears, Mikan just wanted to enjoy tonight in the company of Natsume, and nothing could stop her.

Mikan rolled out of bed the next morning and the first thing that greeted her was the orange rose which Natsume had given her before retiring for the night. Picking it up in her hands, she smelled the fragrant aroma and sighed. It had been a long time since anyone had given her any flowers. Finding a small vase, she placed the rose in it and left it at her bedside table. Apparently she had been making a fair amount of noise as her door suddenly flew open and in came Tsubasa-senpai, Misaki-senpai, Narumi-sensei and strolling irritated along, Misaki-sensei.

"HOW WAS THE BALL MIKAN?" Screamed Narumi-sensei as he attacked her immediately with a bear hug.

"It was…" Mikan was immediately cut off by Misaki-senpai's excited questions.

"Did you tell him who you are? Was he flabbergasted by you beauty? Did you find him? Did you and him do anything?..."

"Did you kick him in the butt and told him that he was prat who needed to better his attitude towards seniors like me?" Tsuabsa-senpai added.

"I saw…" Again Mikan was cut off by the drawling of Misaki-sensei.

"Did you take care of your wound and not run around? Unlike Misaki-senpai, I'm sure you have more common sense not to exert any pressure on the wound…" He glared at Misaki-senpai who waved her hand in front of her faced and laughed nervously.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!" Mikan shouted, obviously annoyed. The 4 of them stared with wide eyes at her and immediately stopped talking. "Sit down and I'll tell you everything." And they each brought a chair and sat around her. Mikan walked over to her bed and sat down, smoothening her silk night gown she related the night's events to them. With occasional 'oohs..' and 'ahhs…', they did not interrupt her as they listened intently to her story. Even Misaki-sensei who did not seem one bit interested, stopped fiddling with his shirt and listened to her.

At the end of her story and the instructions for the next test, Misaki-senpai got up and gave Mikan a warm hug. "We just wanted to tell you that we're all so proud of you. Whatever your decision we'll stand by you. So just do your best in the test ok? Now about the children… what do you have in mind?"

Mikan shrugged and looked at them, hoping that they had some sort of idea, but she knew that they would not have one till she knew each of the children. Getting up to wash up, the men left and Misaki-senpai helped her get dressed.

"Misaki, how's your wound?" Mikan asked.

"It's fine. It opened once when I was cleaning the rooms and I got one heck of a lecture from Misaki-sensei, saying how he's wasting his precious resource of medicine on me and how he has to get more." Making a funny face, Mikan laughed.

"I'm sure you know that he's worried about you as much as he's worried about me. Misaki-sensei and Narumi-sensei have been like fathers to us since we were young."

"Yeah I know, but Misaki-sensei is so naggy at times! And Narumi-sensei and his singing, gosh, he drives you up the wall doesn't he?"

Mikan just smiled and after her hair had been braided and tied with a white ribbon, she thanked Misaki-senpai and left to meet the children. Closing her room door behind her, she saw Luna doing the exact thing and walked faster to avoid any sort of conversation with her. But as soon as she turned her back towards her, Luna's voice reached her.

"Suni-hime, I trust you had a wonderful night."

Sighing, Mikan turned around and faced her. "Why I did Koizumi-hime. I trust yours went well as well."

"It did."

After a long pause, Mikan looked around and ensured that no one was around before saying, "Cut to the chase Luna, enough with the pleasantries. What do you want?"

"Me? Why, that's such a thoughtful question you have there. I wonder why you didn't ask me that earlier." Acting all innocent, but suddenly her faced became dark. "I want Natsume. I want his kingdom. I want his love. I want you out of the way. Guessing that incident 6 years ago didn't guarantee your death, but this time there will be no more failures."

"Luna, Luna, Luna, it's not so easy to be rid of me. For you see, I'm like your shadow. I know your every move and intention. Where you go, so will I."

"Are you sure you want to be so confident Mikan? Your friends' life hang by a thread and that thread can be easily cut because I hold the scissors. But since I'm compassionate, would you want to trade your life for the life of your friends, especially Natsume whom you hold so dear to you heart? What'd you think, 1 for the price of 4. I will not spare Aoi as well, though she is of no threat to me. I just like seeing you suffer." Luna enjoyed seeing Mikan's face contort in horror and she just laughed in her face. "You have 3 days to think of an answer Mikan. In the meantime, I'll show you how cruel I can be. You'll know that you can never run from me, because like you said, you are my shadow." Very amused that she had finally caught Mikan off gurad, Luna walked down the stairs towards the gardens where they were supposed to meet the children.

"OOOHHH! If I ever get my hands around that neck of hers, I'll be sure to make her suffer. You know… she's just trying to get to you, trying to make you sweat and break down so that she'll have her way. I know, but who could think that she'd be this irritating! Block her out honey, you got a test to complete."

Not only was fighting with Luna that was draining her everyday, but fighting with her conscious was worst.

"This will be the group of children you're working with Suni-hime." The servant directed her to the group of children, ages 4 to 12. In a group, there were 6 children equally mixed of girls and boys.

Upon seeing Mikan approach them, they each bowed to acknowledge her presence. Bring them to a quieter part of the gardens, she made them sit in a circle around her but they merely gapped at her.

"Suni-hime! Princesses don't sit on the ground!" They exclaimed.

"Why not?" Mikan looked around and saw that the other contestants had made their group of children sit on chairs and on straw mats, not on the ground. "Aish, it's all right."

"But you'll dirty your dress!" still refusing to sit on the ground.

"It's all right, I'm sure you all would be more comfortable on the ground right? Come come, sit. Let's get to know one another better!" Mikan smiled and patted the ground next to her.

The youngest girl and boy both rushed to sit next to Mikan and the group started laughing as they stared at each other in frustration. As soon as they have all seated, Mikan began an introduction.

"My name is Mika Suni and I'm the princess of Julop."

"Where's that?" Asked the 4 year old girl.

"Well, it's a place far from here."

"So you travelled here by boat?" Asked the 4 year old boy.

"Not exactly, carriage. It was driven by one of my teachers." Mikan replied, thinking back at the atrocious driving she had to endure on the way to Firenze due to Narumi-sensei's impeccable sense of direction. Smiling to herself she continued, "I'm 17 years old and am the only child in my family. Now it's your turn. Which way shall we start the introductions?"

"THIS WAY!" shouted both the 4 year olds.

"You should let ladies go first!" Exclaimed the girl.

"Who said you were a girl, you're ugly." Exclaimed the boy in response.

"You're even uglier then!"

"Ok.. stop fighting. Scissors, paper, stone. Whoever wins will go first and we'lll continue in that direction."

Glaring at each other, they underwent the ritual of scissors, paper, stone and the 4 year old girl won. Sticking out her tongue towards the boy she began her introduction.

"My name is Kira, I'm 4 years old and I'm the youngest child." The introductions then moved on to an older girl around 10 years old.

"My name is Kora and I'm the elder sister of Kira. I'm 10 years old."

Next was a boy around Kora's age. "My name is Lin, 10 years old and the small boy beside you is my younger brother…"

"Don't introduce me! I want to introduce myself onii-san!" Shouted the 4 year old boy.

"Ok ok. Excuse him Suni-hime, he has close to no manners. Both of us are neighbours to Kira and Kora, along with Nani and Hena," indicating to the other two children who have not had the chance to introduce themselves.

Nani was a 12 year old boy and Hena was his twin sister. Looking almost exactly alike, their only difference was their hair length and eye colours. Nani had blue eyes while Hena had green eyes. Bowing their heads, Nani introduced them both.

"I'm Nani and this is my twin sister Hena. I'm the older twin by 20 seconds. We're 12 this year and are please to meet you."

Finally coming to the 4 year old boy, he bounced in excitement as he could finally introduce himself. "My name is Len, I'm 4 years old and I think that Kira is annoying."

"HEYYY! I'm not!" Kira rebutted.

The whole grouped laughed at the antics that the two children brought to the group and Lin explained that they've been fighting since they were born. Mikan then decided to share more about her life.

"The two of you," indicating to Len and Kira, "remind me of myself and Hyuuga-sama. We were also always fightning."

"YOU KNEW HYUUGA-SAMA AS A SMALL BOY?" All of them exclaimed together.

"Shh, don't need to shout. Yes I knew him as a small boy. He was my good friend."

"So you're like the girl in the rumors!" Hena exclaimed.

"What rumors Hena?"

"There were rumors a few years ago that Hyuuga-sama liked this girl and his family had planned for them to be married. Knowing Hyuuga-sama, he never really liked girls and must have had a few female friends. However that girl died in an accident and he was heartbroken, swearing never to like anyone again. But there were rumors that the girl did not die and was still alive. Till today, no one knew if she did survive or not."

Mikan was extremely tickled to hear about herself, somehow these children had touched her heart and she wanted very much to share the secret of her being alive to them. But she knew that that would also put them in danger and decided to keep her secret to herself. Deciding to change the topic, she asked the group what they wanted to do for this year's treat. A suggestion of fishing and baking were immediately shouted out. Thinking about it, she formed a plan and the children.

"All right, how about this, I see you all here early tomorrow at 7am. We'll go down to the river and do some fishing! I'll prepare some glass bowls for you to keep your fishes in them. Then after lunch I'll teach you all to make something. For a little incentive for those who don't want to fish, the one with the most colourful fish and the one with the most fishes will get a special treat which I will bake personally for you. So bring your nets and yourselves tomorrow! Be fresh and be prepared for a day of fun!"

The children were extremely excited and started discussing on how they would be catching the most fishes and how they would attract the most colourful fish. Breaking away from the chatter, Kira went up to Mikan and tugged at her sleeves.

"Mikan-oneesan, will you come to the festival tomorrow?"

"What festival Kira?"

"The royal family treats the children every year as a reward for the hard work our parents have put in for a bountiful harvest. So tomorrow is called the Harvest festival. Will you come?"

"I'm not sure if I can Kira, I'm not allowed out of the palace."

Overhearing the conversation Kira and Mikan were having, the others decided to swarm around them and beg Mikan to come for the festival.

"It'll be fun! There'll be dancing, a lot of great food, colourful clothes, fireworks, many games…" Kora explained.

Not wanting to make a promise Mikan could not keep, she tried to turn them down, but the wide eye, pleading looks got to her and she eventually agreed that she would attend if she could get permission to go out of the palace, or risk sneaking out. Overjoyed, the children held hands and bounced around her. They all gave her a final hug before leaving the palace to return to their families, all chattering about the exciting activities tomorrow.

Now Mikan had to search for a special recipe that would be easy for the children to follow and another two more intricate recipes that would serve as treats. Also, she had to find a way to ask for permission out of the palace. Somehow, as the day drew to an end, Mikan had a bad feeling in her stomach, almost as if something bad was going to happen tomorrow.

Still in the library at 11pm and alone at that, searching and copying down easy recipes for the 8 children, she turned to look out of the window at the moon.

"Glass bowls? Check. Recipes? Check. Small trinkets for the children? Check. Natsume? HUH?Oh, not check." Letting out a sigh she realized that she was so busy running around that she did not have time to see Natsume or did Natsume come and see her. Which disappointed her a bit, cause she thought she was really important to him.

"Argh Mikan! Stop being childish. He's busy, learning to take over the kingdom, obviously he can't be with you 24/7. And I'm sure he wants to see me just that he can't." Sighing again, Mikan turned her head back to the books and saw an orange rose on the table in front of her with a glass of milk and a small plate of cookies, all in a small tray. Getting up from her seat to get a better look at the things on the table, she picked up a note and read it.

"I hope you'd enjoy this after a long day of planning and running around to get things done for tomorrow. I'm sorry for not being able to see you today, was caught up with ooka-san and her planning for the next test. I hope you understand. Enjoy the food, and don't stuff your face like you did when we were 11.

P.S: Turn around to your desk.

Love, Natsume."

Mikan immediately twirled around and saw Natsume sitting in her place grinning at her. Picking up the tray from the table she was at, she brought the items to the table with her things. Natsume stacked the books neatly and made space for the tray. After Mikan had settled down, Natsume took her hand and gently stroked it. Giggling like a small girl as Natsume grinned at her, the both of them ate supper while talking about the Harvest festival.

"One of the children told me about the Harvest festival. I think it's one of the greatest things the ruling party can do for their people. This way, the people know that they're being cared for."

"Yeah… it was an idea that Aoi came up with one day and we looked into logistics and it was a annual thing."

"So what do they wear? Since my group wants me to attend it tomorrow night."

"You sure you're allowed out?" Asked Natsume as he chewed on a cookie while getting up.

"That's what I'm not sure. I was planning to ask your mother tomorrow. Wait where are you going?" Mikan said in a worried tone.

"I'm getting a book to show you what the villagers wear. I can't describe it. Give me 10 seconds, I'm sure the book is around here somewhere."

"Ok. 10…"

"Jeez Mikan, it's figuratively!"

"8… you wasted a second."

"All right, count slowly."

"7… if you lose, you'll have to do something."

Natsume immediately started running, looking for a book he read that day about the costumes that people in his kingdom wore to festivals as he wanted to revamp a few outfits. Running past shelves and looking frantically, while hearing Mikan countdown was added to the stress he was already feeling. Finally, he found it and sprinted back.

"3…"

"3 more shelves!"

"2…"

"Ah 1 more shelf!"

"1…"

"DAMN IT SAKURA! I SAID TO COUNT DOWN SLOWLY!"

"0!"

Natsume crashed back into his seat with Mikan happily swinging her legs.

"You lost." Chirped Mikan.

Rolling his eyes, he turned to the page where the costumes of the villagers were shown. Flipping to the section where it showed the outfit of the female and male for the Harvest festival, he pushed the book in front of Mikan and tried to catch his breath.

Looking at the outfits, Mikan kept in mind to get a long skirt which was black and had many maroon strips running horizontal to the width. Then she had to get a brown sleeveless top and an orange scarf for her head. Closing the book and looking at the clock at the side of the wall, she noted that it was a quarter to midnight and having to wake up early, she got up and packed her things. Natsume, still catching his breath, sat down and rolled up the parchments while Mikan returned the books.

"What's my punishment for not making it back in time?" Natsume asked in a resign tone.

"Walking me back to my room."

"What? That's all? I was expecting me to jump down from some building and surviving. Sure!" Happy that his punishment was so easy. Carrying Mikan's parchments, ink pot and quill, he held Mikan's hand all the way to her room.

Reaching the room, he kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night Mikan. Sleep well."

"I will. Don't tire yourself out Natsume."

"That should be my line. And good luck for tomorrow. I'm sure the children will have a blast."

"Natsume… what if something bad happens tomorrow?" Mikan asked, feeling the bad feeling in her stomach again.

"It won't, you're thinking too much. If it does, don't worry. I'll be there to protect you. I promise. Besides I'm always with you, in the alice stone." Pointing to the alice stone on Mikan's neck.

"Maybe I am. Good night Natsume."

Waiting till the door closed before leaving, Natsume understood why Mikan asked if something bad would happen, because Ruka has been informing him of things happening in the palace and, he had this churning feeling in his stomach.

Hope you've enjoyed! Remember to R&R! :D