I don't own Gakuen Alice… hm… and I don't wish I do… or else… I'd end up ruining it…
I Think I
"And action," Hotaru said, and then they started acting once more.
---
"Mikan," Ruka said.
"W-What is it Ruka?" she asked. Natsume watched in amazement as Mikan finally coughed the words out of her mouth.
'I wonder what'll happen later…' he thought. 'This should be interesting.'
"Y-you see Mikan… I… I… I've fallen…" Ruka closed his eyes and clenched his fist.
'Wow, Ruka's such a good actor,' Mikan thought, 'He makes me believe it's real.'
'You don't know the half of it, Mikan,' Hotaru thought as if she had just read Mikan's thoughts from the looks of her face and just gave her a reply.
"I… I love you Mikan!" he blurted out. 'This is it,' he thought. They were all eager for her decision. ' "Mikan's not much of an actress," ' he remembers Hotaru telling him, ' "Much less, a liar, so her decision is most probably what she really feels.'
"Ruka," she said.
'Finally, Polka-dots talks,' Natsume thought.
'Finally, she's acting,' sighs Hotaru, though still unmoved.
"I… I don't know what to say…" Mikan continued.
'She's an idiot,' thought Natsume, taking back his earlier statement. Hotaru sighed again, 'Too good to be true.' She was about to put down her camera and hit Mikan with the Baka Gun, but Mikan continued her acting.
"Ruka… I… I-uh… I think I—HEY!" she complained, rubbing her cranium. An acorn just fell on her. 'And when I finally got the hang of it!' she thought disappointingly.
Hotaru and Ruka sighed. Natsume glared at her. She was in trouble. BIG trouble.
"Hotaru, I'm sorry!" she said after immediately seeing their reactions. "It's not my fault this time! You see, this acorn fell and—"
"Mikan, we already had and agreement—"
"—but it's not my fault—"
"This is stupid," Natsume spat. "I'm leaving." He went away from the tree he was leaning on and motioned to leave.
"Natsume, wait!" Mikan called after him, but too late. He jumped to the nearest tree branch and disappeared out of sight. "Natsume…" Mikan whispered. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She clenched her fist, gritted her teeth, and when she closed her eyes, her tears watered the ground.
"Mikan," Hotaru said softly, reaching out to her best friend.
"Why does he always do this to me?" she asked with much resentment.
"Mikan, you have to understand Natsume," Ruka told her sympathetically. "He's really like that, but I'm sure he didn't mean to." He sighed, closed his eyes and thought, 'What exactly are you doing now, Natsume? I can't understand you this time…' "He just probably got bored and wanted to go. You know him, he never tells things straight. He's just misunderstood, that's all," he finished, trying hard to smile.
"That's no reason to leave!" she said, wiping her tears with her sleeve. "But I guess, I'm just too much of an idiot and he got fed up with me," she continued, forcing a smile but bowing her head.
"Mikan, it's not your fault," Hotaru told her, this time with the slightest hint of concern.
"It is," she said, her smile having been turned into a frown. "If only I tried harder… maybe he wouldn't walk out on us… maybe he wouldn't walk out on us… if only I was taking it seriously, maybe we would have been don hours ago… because of me, all of us would fail on this project… then our final grades will be affected… and all of it would be my fault…"
"Mikan…" Ruka whispered. He held out his hand to give Mikan a pat on the shoulder, but before he could, Mikan ran away, crying once more.
"I HATE HIM!"
"Mikan…" Natsume muttered under his breath. He was standing on the tree branch, watching everything that was happening.
'I think I did it too much,' he thought, feeling completely guilty.
'Duh,' said the voice in his head.
'I shouldn't have walked out.'
'Darn right you shouldn't have. It was after all YOUR FAULT,' replied the voice in his head.
'You should be thankful I couldn't burn you.'
'No. I even hate that I AM you.'
He jumped from tree to tree, following Mikan wherever she was going. Once or twice, she looked behind her whenever she heard a twig snapped, looking if somebody was following her, and then she started walking again to clear her thoughts. She sat down, leaning against a nearby tree when she got tired, her knees near her chest keeping herself warm against the cold, windy night, while her stalker watched from afar.
'Why did he affect me so much this time?' she thought.
'And my heart, why was it pounding so much when I was staring at him?'
'And what did I feel when I was looking at his eyes?'
'I thought they were warm…'
'it's like a feeling that I've never felt before…'
'Wait! Why am I thinking of him!'
'You hate him, remember, Mikan!'
"Uhmm… Mikan?"
"Oh, Ruka!" Shocked, she stood up and apologized to him immediately. "Hey, I'm sorry I ran away earlier. I didn't mean to…"
"It's alright," he replied. "So, are you okay now?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, smiling slightly, thankful that he was there to comfort her.
"That's good…" He pocketed his hands, his rabbit wasn't with him this time, but Mikan didn't seem to notice. 'Come on! You can do it!' he thought.
'Hotaru even thinks you can! —Wait. Did I just think of her again? Stop it!'
"The night sky looks good," he blurted out.
"Yeah," Mikan replied, looking up, though not being herself as much, and tried to smiled admiringly at the stars.
"Uh, Mikan?" he said, taking his gaze from the sky to the brunette.
"Yeah?" she asked looking back at the blond boy, who was now turning redder and redder by the second.
"I… uh… I have something to tell you…" he said, looking away.
'What's happening down there?' Natsume thought, still watching from above and growing impatient.
'What's Ruka saying?'
'Why is he turning red all of a sudden?'
'Is he going to… No way!'
Natsume's eyes widened with shock as he tried hard not to think what he had just thought. Meanwhile…
"What is it Ruka? Mikan asked, leaning a little bit to get a clearer view of his face.
"Well… I… you… Mikan… you see… I…" he said, trying hard to compose himself.
"Hm?"
"Mikan, I… I… I like—… I love you Mikan!" he finished, still looking away.
'What! This isn't true, is it? He must be acting. Yeah! He's just practicing!'
"Wow, you're really good at this Ruka," she said, smiling nervously.
"No Mikan! I'm… I'm telling the truth!" he told her, looking straight into her eyes. "I'm not acting anymore. I'm telling the truth, Mikan!"
"Ruka…" she started. "Ruka… I…"
'What's happening down there?' Natsume thought. He was now eager to know. He was already losing his composed self.
'What's taking them so long?'
'What's happening?'
'Why aren't they moving?'
'What's going on?'
'WHAT THE—"
madoka: hahaha! Cliffhanger! Don't complain please! onegai! onegai! onegai! I know it's a cliffhanger! Don't rub it in please-oh-please-oh-please! I really intended that… Don't worry, next chapter up tonight, if not tonight, tomorrow, or if not, tomorrow night. Hehehe… for the meantime, guess what's happening… I'm stuck again… hahaha! Accepting any ideas! Hm… (I thought I just said it was and INTENDED cliffhanger) it is! I just need the ending… next chapter's not the ending yet…
mikan: you're talking to yourself again…
madoka-san: m-mikan!
mikan: you look like you saw a ghost!
madoka-san: you… you scared me! (hides the laptop)
mikan: hey, what are you hiding behind you?
madoka: n-nothing! It's a secret!
mikan: oh come on! You can tell me!
madoka: do I have to define secret?
Mikan: sighs fine… never mind… just stop talking to yourself for a while. You must be going nuts!
madoka: laughs nervously he-he… where's Hotaru?
mikan: I don't know… probably with ruka.
madoka: great! I need to talk to them! (grabs laptop and leaves mikan)
mikan: don't leave me here!
madoka: oh yeah... i need help in vocabulary too! help me please! thank you so much if you could or if you tried! thank you!