Chapter 8: (THE END) Kisses and More Kisses

Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice doesn't belong to me. It is owned by the great mangaka Higuchi Tachibana.

Ruka and Nikko passed each other in the corridor.

"Hi Ruka", Nikko greeted him softly.

His turned a little pink but managed to choke out a "Hey". He then remembered that he wanted to ask her something.

"Uhh.. Nikko?"

"Yes? What is it, Ruka?"

"I wanted to ask you something important".

Nikko's eyebrows shot up in surprise and nodded for him to go on.

"When the teachers called for you the other day.. What did they say to you?", Ruka asked, almost grimly.

She looked away and was unable to answer for a few moments. She shifted her gaze back to him and answered, confirming his fears. "They wanted me to be a part of.. that group", she finally said.

Ruka's eyes widened. "You mean the same group as Nat.. Natsume?.."

"..Yeah.."

There was silence between the two of them.

"Why did they want you to join them?", Ruka swallowed hard.

Nikko hesitated. "..."

She took a deep breath and said, almost calmly, "Since my alice is 'time manipulation', they think it would be a great asset to the academy. I can erase some parts of history and plus, with my help, they can eliminate anti-Alice Academy organizations before they can even attack or plan to attack the Academy."

Neither of them moved or said a word.

Finally, Ruka spoke up, almost fearfully, "What did you say?"

"I declined."

"Really? Are you serious?", Ruka looked utterly gobsmacked and grabbed Nikko's shoulders.

"Yeah, I am", she said, smiling.

"But.. why?", he asked, looking slightly quizzical. "I thought nobody can say no to the 'people above'."

"Well, I did. I won't allow my alice to be used to kill people. Even.. people who belong to anti-alice organizations. And besides, it's too risky to use my alice. It requires great strength to control it." She paused. "That's why I've only used it once, to prove I was an alice".

Ruka gave her a small hug and said in her ear, "That's good".

Nikko just smiled, against Ruka's chest. (Ooohh.. XP)

OOO

'Hey, did you hear'?

'What?'

'Nikko-san and Natsuma-sama aren't together anymore', a girl said in a hushed voice.

'What?', exclaimed a bunch of girls, looking scandalized.

'Well, I heard', a girl said ominously, 'that Natsume-sama is with Sakura-san AND Nikko-san is with Ruka-sama!'

By this time, all of the girls in the classroom heard what they were talking about.

'WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?'

'Yeah, I am!', said the girl gleefully. 'I saw Natsume-sama and Sakura-san almost making out by the bus stop at Central Town! AND I saw Nikko-san and Ruka-sama kissing by this tree a few nights ago!'

Nobody was able to say anything. Finally, someone grumbled, 'They're so lucky. I'd kill just to be kissed by either Natsume-sama or Ruka-sama.' The other girls nodded in agreement.

'Some girls have all the luck.'

'Yeah..'

They were all silent when somebody said brightly, 'Well, since we can't kiss either of the two of them.. Let's ask Nikko-san and Sakura-san how the two boys kiss!'

'Hell, yeah! That's a great idea!'

'Maybe one of the boys kiss just like a jellyfish. Or worse, a dead jellyfish!' The other girls responded by throwing a book at her head. 'Hey, I was just joking', she complained, rubbing the back of her head.

Another girl got this really dreamy look on her face. 'I bet Ruka-sama kisses real gently. But I guarantee that his kisses are enough to make a girl swoon and drop dead at his feet!'

All of the girls grinned appreciatively.

She continued,with a faraway look in her eyes, "And I bet that Natsume-sama is a full-body kisser. His lips would be hot and fiery, just like his alice is. Plus, I bet his kisses would definitely be one-of-a-kind and the soul-searing type.'

They all squealed in delight at that.

A girl wondered out loud, 'I wonder if things got hot and heavy..'. She wiggled her eyebrows comically.

They all laughed at that.

'Come on, girls! Let's ask them!'

'YEAH!', the girls said in unison.

OOO

"Step right up and buy your own DVD copies! Step right up and BUY YOUR OWN DVD COPIES!", poor Yuu-chan was forced to yell.

A few people stopped and came for a closer look.

"What DVD is that?", a boy asked suspicously.

Hotaru answered frostily, "DVDs that show you on how Natsume and Mikan, Nikko and Ruka, got together."

A girl gasped. "Hontou desu?"

Hotaru nodded and in an instant, a crowd gathered around Hotaru's booth.

Again, Yuu-chan yelled, "Step right up and buy your own DVD copies! Only 50 rabbits each!"

The crowd went crazy and in less that 5 minutes, Hotaru was able to sell roughly 7,000 copies.

"Amazing", Yuu-chan said, shaking his head. "Amazing on how people can be so nosy. And be huge fans of Natsume and Ruka". He grinned.

Hotaru just nodded and counted all the money she earned. People are still lining up to get their own copies, would you believe?

"Hey, what's going on here?", came an eerily familiar cold voice.

The crowd backed off hastily, looking petrified.

"Hotaru, explain", he said in a very steely voice that the crowd back off again.

Hotaru met his cold eyes calmly and said, "I'm selling DVDs".

Natsume went and examined the cover of one. His eyes widened slightly and then it was gone, to be replaced by a flat expression.

He turned to her and said sarcastically, "Frankly, this doesn't surprise me."

Hotaru just nodded and said, "But you know, people thought it was a cliff-hanger. They said something was still missing". She looked at him meaningfully, as if mentally sending a message.

As if on cue, a certain brunette happened to pass by, looking for Hotaru. She spotted her and charged towards the girl.

"HOTARUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Hotaru stepped back just in time quickly and she ended up in the arms of a certain boy who occupied her thoughts 24/7. Hyuuga Natsume.

"N-N-Natsume?", she said, suddenly tongue-tied.

"There you are, idiot. I've been looking all over the academy for you."

With that, he bent down his head swiftly and kissed Mikan on the lips.

Mikan felt her heart beat like a rock concert gone wild and felt herself get dizzy with the sensation. She kissed him back, pressing him closer to her.

They didn't care that the whole academy was watching open-mouthed at them and that Hotaru looked like a proud mother hen. (Hahahahaha! Sorry XP)

After several more seconds, they broke apart. The crowd applauded loudly and catcalls and wolf whistles were heard. They both turned a million shades of red and pink combined but they were both smiling bashfully. (Okay, Mikan was the only one smiling bashfully while Natsume tried hard to look emotionless, but failing )

Ruka elbowed Nikko in the ribs and complained jokingly, "Hey! Why didn't you kiss me like that?"

Nikko mockingly glared at him, "Well, you didn't say anything at all!"

They both stared at each other in mock anger and burst into peals of laughter.

By this time, more people were applauding. Mr. Narumi, included. Even Mr. Jinno was trying hard not to smile.

"ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME!", the crowd chanted over and over again.

Mikan and Natsume were still blushing madly but Natsume reached over and pulled Mikan closer to him again.

"That kiss was for the crowd.. This one's from me", he whispered in her ear. And with that, he kissed her again.

That was even better than the first one, Mikan thought, feeling lightheaded.

And this confirmed the girls' theory of Natsume being a full-body, one-of-a-kind, soul-searing kisser.

The girls giggled at this.

All's well that ends well.

OOO

Ruka watched Natsume, looking genuinely happy (but was trying hard to hide it XD).

I'm glad you're finally happy, my best friend. No one deserves this more than you do.

I wish you luck, he thought warmly.