Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, so there.
Author's Notes: I'm back! XP The past few weeks were spent preparing for this activity we had and because of the storm before, it had to be postponed so the practicing for the dance and the making of the costumes were delayed for quite some time. And the teachers bombarded us with projects to be submitted all at the same time and after that was our periodicals, so I've been really busy. In short, it was hell week for me, one whole week of exams! And after that was our book fair. Whee! Book fair! Plus, I had trouble putting into words the things I want to happen so… XP Thanks a bunch for those who reviewed! I promise to love you for the rest of my life! Anyway here's the third chapter, hope you like it.
Chapter 3: Oh Dear Sweet Koko
It's been weeks since that guitar lesson and the second one Natsume promised to the three girls? Never happened. Maybe he forgot? Or maybe he did it on purpose? Who knows, all Mikan knows is that after that lesson Natsume didn't talk to her again. Okay so maybe she's exaggerating a bit but that's what Mikan's feeling. Natsume's not really ignoring her, it's more like they went back to how things were before the guitar lesson. Natsume talks to her when she blurts out comments that isn't supposed to reach their teacher's ears or when he needs something from her and vice versa. With these little things, Mikan survives the weeks that followed the lesson.
Once again, it was Friday and Mikan was very grateful for the coming weekend. She loved school and going to it but this year the teachers were just a tad bit too hard on them. Classes resumed 2 months ago but she felt as if she spent 3 quarters already! She desperately wanted it to be summer soon but she didn't want to miss the opportunities of being close to Natsume. Who would anyway?
The class has been given another seatwork because their teacher was missing again. As usual, nobody was doing the seatwork for they too were excited about the coming weekend. Everybody went to their own little cliques and guess what? Our very own Mikan has her own little group too. She finally got over the fact that Hotaru was not with her. She is now quite close with her seatmates and that made her happy. It actually surprised her a bit that they have so much in common but they weren't close before.
Nonoko and Anna are now her constant companions inside the classroom, not her seatmates because they have their own groups. Sometimes Kokoroyomi joined them but not that often, he always complained about the fact that they were all girls and he was the only boy there. He was scared that people might think that he's gay. Besides, he was only there because of Mikan. This time though, Mikan was alone. Natsume and Ruka were somewhere because of Student Council duties, Nonoko was finishing a couple of homeworks due for next week so that she wouldn't have any to do during the weekend, Anna was out with one of their teachers taking a special exam because she was absent the other day and Kokoroyomi is...
Nowhere to be found.
This got Mikan worried. A frown formed upon her face, and instead of distorting her beautiful features, it only made her look cuter. Kokoroyomi never goes out of the classroom unless he's called by a teacher or if he needs to go to the bathroom and Kokoroyomi just went to the bathroom ten minutes ago! And before you say anything, or even think anything, Mikan keeps a record of those who goes out and at what time they come back in, she's the elected secretary of the class you know. Mikan sat straighter and twisted her body so that she could see the whole room from her position in her chair. She raised a finger and began counting her classmates, a habit she got from observing random things.
"Let's see here. One, two, three… now where in the world can Koko be?" she thought. "Come on Koko, show up. I'm alone right now, I need to talk to somebody! Koko!" She was halfway through counting the class when suddenly a pair of hands that smelled faintly of chocolate chip cookies covered her eyes, making her give a small squeak of surprise. A couple of her classmates turned towards the noise but soon returned their focus back on whatever they were doing.
"Guess who Mikan?" a male voice whispered in her ear.
After recognizing the smell of chocolate chip cookies, she thought that it was Kokoroyomi who covered her eyes. But then the voice was different, she was sure it wasn't Koko's. Mikan then proceeded to remove the hands from her eyes. The guy didn't protest and as noted by Mikan, was actually expecting it. "Who is this guy anyway?" she thought. After completely taking the hands off of her face, she turned around but only to be met by a scary-looking face.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mikan shut her eyes and screamed as loud as she could. She didn't care that she was still in the classroom, didn't care that at any moment a teacher could come barging in the room, didn't care that Kokoroyomi was missing, didn't care that Natsume and Ruka just entered the room because all she wanted was for her classmates to notice, help her and take her as far away as possible from this demonic-looking creature... Woah, wait what! Just before Mikan closed her eyes, she saw something black and blonde enter the room from the corner of her eye, she didn't pay much attention to it since she was busy with this… this creature in front of her. But after screaming, she finally noticed that the scary-looking creature was shaking and she was sure she heard a chuckle from it. That was when she noticed brown hair sticking out from behind the scary-looking face, she then grabbed a handful of the hair and pulled hard. A loud "Ow!" was heard. The class then started howling with pent up laughter. Even Natsume and Ruka who just got in tried oh so very hard to keep themselves from laughing.
"KOKOOOO!" Mikan yelled. A dark blush has already formed on her cheeks from embarrassment. She usually didn't mind being embarrassed like that and she actually found situations like that funny most of the time. But this time was different because Natsume was there when she screamed her lungs out and he was also there when Kokoroyomi and the others were laughing at her silently. Her classmates laughing at her she can take, but to laugh at her when Natsume's around! How could they!
"Oh Koko—" Mikan said in a sugary-sweet voice accompanied by a sugary-sweet smile. Just that look and tone made Kokoroyomi realize that he was in big trouble. Big BIG trouble. He definitely knows better than to stay at the receiving end of Mikan's anger.
"Uh oh" he said.
"Uh oh is right dear dear Koko. You better start running 'cause when I catch you, YOU'RE GONNA BE DEAD MEAT!" Mikan exclaimed. This only fueled the class' amusement so they started laughing again. And when Mikan started counting, they only laughed harder. They laughed so hard that some of them were banging their fists on their desks, some of them already fell of their chairs, too busy laughing to go back up, they stayed on the floor laughing their heads off.
Kokoroyomi need not be told. He started running before the first number barely made it out of Mikan's mouth. He knew it was stupid, to go running around the classroom where Mikan can, no scratch that, will catch up with him eventually. He didn't get far, there were too many of his classmates rolling on the floor laughing blocking his way. He kept stumbling over them and each time he fell, he cursed at Yuu for giving him such a stupid prank to pull. And to Mikan of all people! Didn't he know that—
"eight, nine, ten! Time's up sweet Koko! PREPARE TO DIE!" and with a warcry, Mikan started running after him.
"AAAAHHHH! Get away from me! You're PMSing aren't you! Darn it! I hate women's bloody time of the month!" Kokoroyomi shouted over Mikan's warcry.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY! COME BACK HERE!" Mikan retorted.
"God stop it with the capslocky mode! You're going to blow everyone's eardrums!"
They went around the room a couple of times. Mikan sometimes got close to Kokoroyomi but then he'd change his direction with such amazing agility that Mikan would sometimes trip or bump into the chairs giving Kokoroyomi enough of a head start. After a couple more laps around the room, Kokoroyomi got tired of running in the room and did the only logical thing he could think of at that time… he ran outside. He went past Natsume and Ruka, the both of them still at the door watching the events unfold with amusement sparkling in their eyes. The class was still busy laughing with tears in their eyes. He didn't particularly care that he'd get detention if a teacher was to catch him running in the halls, he just wanted to stay out of harm's, no sorry, Mikan's way and let her blow off some steam then he'll talk to her about the prank.
Mikan however wasn't thinking clearly at that time. Her mind was set, and it was after Koko. She forgot about the class, about Natsume, about everything! It was as if everything vanished and it was only her and Kokoroyomi. Sometimes when she'd bump into the chairs or trip over her classmates on the floor, she'd return to Earth but then when she spots Koko, well, she'll be up and running again as if she didn't even fall down. When Kokoroyomi dashed out the door, of course she went after him. After getting out of the room, she'd find him whimpering somewhere and she'd punch the living daylights out of him. Well, that was the plan. Mikan barely step a foot out of the door before two pairs of surprisingly strong hands grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back in. To say that she was shocked would've been an understatement. She was so focused on killing Koko that she forgot about the others.
"What the!" she said. Mikan turned to around to see Natsume and Ruka holding her by the waist, stopping her from going outside. And stopping her from getting Koko!
"Hey! What's the big idea! I was just about to catch him!" she said. Ruka, at this point, already took his hands off of Mikan. But Natsume still has his hands on her, and Mikan just noticed that little fact, blushed a light rose.
Natsume grunted. "Look here Sakura, it won't do you any good chasing after him. So what if you catch him? We all know that you're too soft-hearted to cause bodily harm to him. You'll probably just yell at him for being an idiot, then he'll promise not to do it again and you'll forgive him. So what good will it do if you run after him now? There's a 90 chance that you'll just end up in detention with Mr. Jinno, you wouldn't want your Grandpa to worry about you now would you?"
The class, still not over their laughing fit, didn't hear what Natsume said. But Ruka did, and most importantly, Mikan.
"What the? Are you okay Natsume? God I don't even know what I should be feeling right now! I don't know if I should be angry at him for stopping me to get Koko, I don't know if I should be offended for calling me 'too soft-hearted', and I don't even know if I should be feeling happy that he just stopped me from getting into trouble, talked to me, and he's hands are still on my waist! God his hands are soft, I thought they'll be kind of rough and calloused because of his guitar-playing, but boy am I wrong!" she thought.
Confused, Mikan just stood there and stared at Natsume. Natsume stared right back at her. Ruka was watching this from the sidelines, arms crossed over his chest and a small smirk forming in his lips.
"Uhmm… I guess you're right, sorry about that. And thanks." Mikan said. Natsume just grunted, again. He removed his hands from her waist and Mikan almost blurt out a "No", but she stopped herself in time by biting on her lower lip, hard.
"Come on Ruka, we still have to visit the principal's office." Natsume said after a moment of silence.
"Right." Ruka replied and the both of them turned for the door. Mikan watched as they turned the knob and stepped out of the classroom. Since their room was located near the stairs, it was easily accessible, just round the corner and you're there. Before Natsume rounded the corner, he turned back and said,
"Well, are you coming or not Sakura?"
Startled, Mikan answered with "Huh?"
Natsume sighed. "I said, are you coming or not? Don't you need to find Kokoroyomi?"
"What? I thought you just said that it'll be useless anyway and—" Mikan didn't get to finish her sentence because at that moment, Natsume grabbed her hand and pulled her out. Dumbfounded, she just followed him wherever he was headed.
"You talk too much Sakura, did you know that?"
Notes: How was it? Was it okay? Was it horrible? Do you want to tell me how much it sucked? I know it sucked and there are people who actually read this fic! To not be able to update for nearly a month and still can't give you guys anything decent, tsktsk. To those of you, who are disappointed with this chapter, please tell me why! I'd really love to know. Just review please! And remember, flames are indeed accepted. XD
And just to let you know, it really happened to me. The scaring-Mikan-with-the-scary-looking-mask, happened to me when I was in grade school. Gosh, they scared the hell out of me. XP But the warcry, the running around the room didn't happen. Those were just made up to make Mikan seem over-sensitive. But now that I think about it, it really isn't that funny of an incident, it just seems funny to me at that time because I was actually in it. But anyways, even though I know that it's not that good and it's not even funny, review please?
