Chapter Five
~~~~~~~~With Mikan ~~~~~~~~
Mikan can feel someone staring at her. Ever since she met the four boys, she just can't help but feel that they're staring at her, waiting for her to stuff up or something. But why would they want her to? She leaned towards Hotaru.
"I feel like they're looking at me." She whispered softly.
"I noticed. Bunny boy keeps asking me questions." Hotaru murmured.
"What kind of questions?"
"I'll show you." She inclined her head towards the direction of Ruka who was coming back down the aisle after having a talk with a girl called Anna. He stopped in front of both of them.
"Hello, Hotaru!" a friendly smile was plastered onto his face, "Lovely weather we're having, right?"
Mikan looked out the window. Grey storm clouds were forming and a light splatter of rain was staring to hit the building going through the open window and spattering on the floor near her feet.
"It's raining." she stated, looking back at Ruka. She turned to Hotaru who was still looking outside the window.
She had a small smile on her lips as she watched the rain start to fall harder. Mikan was caught by surprise. She wasn't the only one. A faint blush had begun to form on Ruka's cheeks. "I love the rain." Mikan looked back at Hotaru who was looking outside with a dreamy look.
Everyone stopped to stare at Hotaru. This was, after all, a once in a life time opportunity. Seeing Hotaru smile in public? Alert the press! Call the media! It only lasted for a few seconds though. Soon her eyes unglazed as she seemed to remember where she was.
"What were we talking about again?" Her mask was back in place and straight forward attitude was back.
"Uh, n-nothing. I-I'm going to g-go now. B-bye" He quickly stumbled away, out of the classroom, ignoring a green haired teacher with a frog and a stick who just entered the room.
The froggie teacher scanned the room until his gaze rested on Mikan. Then the three new boys and then back to Mikan.
"How many new students do we have? I was only informed of one at that was Mikan." His voice has deep, angry and irritated.
"Jinno sensei! We have five new students! Mikan, Natsume, Ruka, Yuu and Koko!" a voice from the front called.
"I only see three boys." He glared at the speaker.
"Ruka went to the toilet." Natsume's voice rang lazily in the air, "He's been holding it in all day."
"Stand up! And who, exactly, are you?"
"Natsume." He said standing up.
"Natsume, who?"
He was silent for a little bit, as if hesitating whether or not to tell us. "Natsume Hyuuga." (A/N He didn't say his last name before in case you're wondering)
There were startled gasps and sharp intakes of breath. Murmuring began. Almost as loud as it was this morning when Mikan refused to tell them what her alice was. She saw Hotaru's eyes widen briefly.
Jinno went on regardless of the chaos around the class and as he opened his mouth to speak the entire class fell silent again. "Natsume Hyuuga! Come to the front of the class!"
The whole class heard Natsume's sigh as he started to walk to the front. What surprised Mikna is that he took the long way and walked past her. She could feel the rain splattering at her feet travel down lower and felt the wind start to go calm. Oh no. She raised her hand to hold her hood in place right as a sudden burst of wind forced it to sway, drenching Natsume who was walking by.
She couldn't help it. She burst into laughter and before long the entire class was laughing except Hotaru who was eyeing Natsume warily.
"And let that be a lesson to you all!" Jinno said his eyes full of mirth. "Karma will attack those, no matter of their social standing."
Social standing? No wonder the name Hyuuga seemed so familiar! I that stupid, lying, manipulative bastard! She felt rage consume her whole body. What she didn't know was that soon everyone could feel her dark aura emitted in rays across the room. She stood up and Hotaru stood up with her. Mikan felt the entire class's gaze on them as they walked out the door, ignoring the angry protests from Jinno.
"Hotaru, I'm going back to my room. I can't stand being in the same room as the son of that bastard. No wonder they kept staring at us and asking questions."
~~~~~~~~With Ruka ~~~~~~~~
Ruka stared at his flushed face in the mirror. I must be going crazy. I must have imagined it. Hotaru's smiling face entered his mind causing him to get even redder. This is not the time to be thinking about something as trivial as love. He was about to open the door when a muffled voice came to him.
"Hotaru, I'm going back to my room. I can't stand being in the same room as the son of that bastard. No wonder they kept staring at us and asking questions." That sounded like Mikan's… and she's with Hotaru!
Wait, does this mean that she knows who Natsume is? How did that happen? But is she the princess? Ruka slowly opened the door as a white and red piece of fabric fluttered down the hall. He followed them secretly, ignoring the fact that he was already lost and stealthily made sure that he wasn't seen. He followed them inside the girls dorm, only pausing a few times as other students walked by, not noticing the bewildered glances they gave him. They stopped outside a room and said something to each other before going different ways. Mikan went into the room they were standing in front of and Hotaru went into the room beside it to the right. Ruka walked past slowly, making note of the two rooms. 305 and 307. He quickly exited the building. Now, how to get back to class…
~~~~~~~~With Tsubasa~~~~~~~~
I was moved down from a three star into a two star! Arg! I hate Rui! As soon as we got out of the dorm he asked me for a kiss! And he's a guy! And I'm a guy! So I said no and he got all angry at me and said he needed to punish me, so what does he do? He places a punishment mark on me! Now I can't even use what's left of my alice! And guess what? It only goes away if he wishes it to go back. Even if he dies it will stay there! Here's another thing! He put the punishment mark on my face! Right where everyone can see it! And it's in the shape of a star! How gay is that?! Worst of all, after he gave me that mark, he left me. And then it started to rain. I'm cold, I'm wet, I'm tiered and I'm hungry. I sighed and crossed my arms behind my head, feeling the grass beneath me shift in the breeze. Could this day get any worse?!
Apparently it could. Some stupid girl wasn't looking where she was going and tripped over me.
"Oomph!" Tsubasa gasped as the breath was knocked out of him. A body was awkwardly sprawled on top of him. "Hey watch where you're going!"
"Urg… Ow." The voice muttered. He felt the weight lift off him as his breath caught in his throat at the sight before him.
She had pink hair and darker eyes. She wore the counterpart to his uniform and was currently clutching at her wrist. Her dark eyes caught his and for a moment they just sat there, sprawled on the grass. Tsubasa, half sitting up and her sitting awkwardly on her left ankle, her other leg tangled with his.
"What the hell do you think that you're doing?! You can't just lie on the grass and expect people to notice you! I don't look at my feet when I walk! Why aren't you in class anyway?" Her loud voice spoiled the moment.
"I'm new here! I got lost because some stupid guy called Rui decided to ditch me! What about you?! Why aren't you in class?" he fired back.
"Tsubasa Andō?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah. And you are?" he huffed.
"Misaki Harada. The teacher sent me to find you. That's why I'm not in class." She glared at him.
"The teacher expected you to find me? You know how huge this school is right?" he asked disbelieving.
"That's where my Alice comes into play." She smirked.
"Oh, yeah? And what would that be?"
"Doppelganger Alice. Allows me to make to imitate myself." She elaborated.
"Uh huh. Well we'd better get to class." Tsubasa stood up, stretching his arms.
Tsubasa glanced at Misaki. She was struggling to stand up with her wrist and her ankle gave way. He leapt out and caught her before she could hit the ground.
"Whoa, there. I don't think that you can walk with that ankle." he said as he steadied her.
"I wonder whose fault that might me." She hissed back.
He gave a long suffering sigh before leaning down and twisting, "Get on my back."
"What?" She asked, caught off guard.
"Did the fall also burst your eardrum? I said, get on my back." he repeated.
"Excuse you! I know I heard you! Why?"
"Because you obviously can't walk to the classroom by yourself."
"You don't know the way to the room."
"That's why you'll be leading me."
"You have a wet patch on your butt."
He fought off a blush. "It was raining you know. Now are you going to get on or what?"
She grudging got on his back and Tsubasa was startled by how light she was. "Which way to class?"
"That way." She said pointing to the left.
And so they began their trek to the classroom. After half an hour had past, Tsubasa started to frown.
"Which way now?" He asked.
"Left." Tsubasa sighed and knelt down and felt her get off. He turned to look at her. "We're lost, aren't we?"
~~~~~~~~With Natsume ~~~~~~~~
It was after school hours that the four of them gathered in Natsume's room again, seeing as it was the biggest. He waited impatiently for Tsubasa. Trust that guy to forget about meeting already. Not that I cared whether that guy was here yet. We had found one possible person. She fitted all the criteria: name that was a fruit (Mikan), had a best friend whose name started with 'H' (Hotaru). All that's left is to check her eyes. They book said that all the heirs of the Yukihara lineage have gold flecked brown eyes. We also had her room number which would be a great help if she was in fact the princess.
Natsume glanced at his watch again. Where the hell was that shadow freak? But more importantly, what was he meant to do about Mikan? As Natsume was brooding what he heard next ignited an idea within him.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we got the princess to fall in love with Natsume?" Koko asked chortling.
"Yeah! As if that would happen! She'd have to be under a spell or an Alice to fall for Natsume. They're enemies. Why would you try to get to know your enemy? And more importantly, how would we make sure she eats or drinks it? Besides, Natsume would never do something so stupid. He doesn't fall in love. He's Natsume." Ruka chuckled and so did everybody else.
It was so stupid, it might just work!
"Actually, that's not a bad idea Koko." Everybody stopped to stare at him before bursting out laughing again.
"Oh, Natsume!" Koko laughed, "For a moment there I actually thought that you were serious."
Natsume raised an eyebrow.
"You're not serious are you?" Koko paled, "It was my idea. My ideas always tend to fail and backfire."
"But your pranks don't." he replied.
"Yeah, but those were pranks! Purely for the enjoyment of whoever was there with me! Sometimes for revenge." He stressed out the word pranks.
"This is revenge against my father."
"Y-yeah, but-!" He spluttered.
Ruka put a hand on Natsume's shoulder, "I think that Yuu and I can both confidently say that you are being an idiot. There is no telling how long the potion would last, how it affects her and her decision."
Yuu spoke up, "And if she find out what you did your dead!"
Natsume crossed my arms and grumbled. Stupid people. Like they could think of a better idea.
"How about by tomorrow when we meet again after school, we all share one way of gaining Mikan's trust. If she's the princess then that would be a really good idea." Yuu said.
"And Hotaru's!" They all turned to look at Ruka who looked as shocked as they did. "I-I mean that since their best friends that we became friends with her we have a better opportunity of becoming friends with Mikan."
Natsume noticed a slight blush on Ruka's cheek. He nodded and saw his best friend's relieved expression. This will be very interesting.
~~~~~~~~With Mikan ~~~~~~~~
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Ugh! Hotaru I think I'm getting a cold!" Mikan said in a nasal voice.
"Well don't give it to me! Achoo!" Hotaru sneezed. "Never mind. Too late."
