New chapter! Okay, I'm neglecting my other Natsume/Mikan WiP, I know, but I've planned out what I have to write and I will get there, I'm just taking a hiatus for a bit to get the inspiration back.

Okay, I'm going to add few things about the setting of this story to try to answer any questions you might have after the chapter ends (so you can get on with reading it now) so watch out for that.

Otherwise enjoy the chapter!

"Ahh! Mikan!" hollered Sumire, one of Mikan's friends from school, as she stormed out of the Library that day after being harassed by the creepy boy who worked there, "Mikan-chan!" Mikan whirled around to see Sumire waving to her cheerfully.

"Good morning Sumire-chan!" she called back brightly as she ran over; she would try not to let her bad mood ruin the day, so she made sure to smile as she asked, "what's up?"

"You want to come on a goukon with me after school, don't you?" she gushed persuasively, "I've organized one with some really cute boys from the school down the road: all the girls there are totally frigid, and they want to meet some fun girls like us."

When Sumire said this, she didn't literally mean that they'd go along and leap into bed with the boys – oh unless suppose they were super cute – it was just that Mikan and Sumire weren't the kind to bother wasting time playing the blushing shy flower in front of guys.

Because they knew boys liked girls who could hold more than one drink, who could talk openly about sex; girls who wouldn't leave before it got dark and who might offer them the chance of at least getting a kiss or two for a night's worth of money spent and partying. They actually thought it was pretty rude to coast on a boy's money all evening and leave without so much as a goodbye kiss, it didn't hurt anyone, did it?

So sure they occasionally engaged in enko and once in a while flirted with a man in the right kinda way to get them to buy something expensive for them, because it wasn't like either of them had much spending money. But they weren't prostitutes or anything: they had a firm rule to only sleep with boys they were properly going out with, and the rest was just fair game.

"Hm, sure, I'll go," Mikan replied after a moment's thought: she'd be no better than that weirdo if she didn't go out and have normal social interaction. A goukon would be fun.

"Neh, Sumire?" Mikan asked a few hours later, at lunch, as her friend enviously eyed other people's food (she was on a diet) and repainted her nails, "do you know anything about that kid who works in the library?" Sumire's hand jerked suddenly and she painted an ugly smear across one of her fingers, but she didn't seem to notice this as she turned to Mikan and hissed.

"Where did you hear about that!" she spat hatefully, and Mikan recoiled in surprose.

"What? Calm down," she urged, "what are you talking about? I just…uh, saw him today and wondered who shoved that stick so far up his ass." Sumire's catlike eyes narrowed as she stared intensely at Mikan as if trying to pick out a liar, and then finally her face relaxed.

"What? Oh, nothing," she laughed, and then darkly added, "Believe me, the stick doesn't come out, ever."

"What? You mean he's always like that?" Mikan gaped, only sparing a few moments to wonder why Sumire had such good authority on the subject – Sumire had good authority on all the boys in the school: Alices, sexual preferences, hobbies: everything.

"Yep," she clipped as Nonoko-chan wordlessly shifted into the seat next to her and she cattily informed her 'this seat's taken' and shooed her away.

"Hey, what was that for?" Mikan questioned; sure Nonoko could be a bit of a drag from time to time, but that didn't give Sumire an excuse to be a bitch about it.

"Duh, it's saved for him," Sumire swooned, and then looked poignantly over her shoulder and snapped it back again, "Ahh! is he looking at me?!"

"What? Who?" Mikan asked dumbly, and Sumire kicked her shin and hissed, "Nogi-kun of course! Is he looking?" Mikan looked over Sumire's shoulders for Nogi Ruka, and spotted the bleached-haired boy walking with his back to them.

"I see him, but he's not looking," she replied, and noticing Sumire's downcast face said, "Why are we going on a goukon if you're still into him?"

"Duh," she huffed, "I'm doing the old make them jealous by seeing another man trick."

Mikan laughed. "You have to actually have talked to them first." Sumire glared at her.

"That part will come once he's madly jealous over me," she explained impatiently, "and besides, I can still have fun, can't I?"

"Yes, definitely," Mikan cheered, and then glancing back in Ruka's direction noticed that he'd sat down at a table that only one other person sat at, one other person who was staring straight at her like she was his long-lost daughter or something; someone who probably shouldn't have been able to see her considering she broke his glasses only earlier that day, and by the looks of things he didn't have any spares.

"Oh god, he's there," Mikan cursed, and Sumire swept her curled hair around to stare off in the same direction, "Hyuga," Mikan snapped, "he's looking at me like I killed his dog." Sumire looked between them both curiously, and then she went horribly red and snapped her head back when Natsume shot the tiniest flicker of a glance at her.

"Did you?" she questioned as she tried to hide her horrible (and mysterious) blush, "He looks pretty pissed off. You said you were in the Library today…"

"It's a really stupid story," Mikan interrupted, a little ashamed of what had happened and missing Sumire's sudden odd behaviour.

"And?" she probed, explaining that Mikan's answer wasn't sastifactory.

"Well… I was giving back a book, right? And he was acting like a total jerk for no reason, so I called him a few names, and then he followed me started trying to get with me or something," Sumire nodded somewhat knowingly but with appropriate horror.

"For real? So what did you do?" she asked.

Mikan laughed, "I smacked him silly of course, who does he think he is?" Sumire grinned.

"You go girl!" she cheered, and then hunching over in that secretive way again said, "he's a bit…" vaguely, and as Mikan looked at her in curiosity she blushed again. Now Mikan knew Sumire, she wasn't the kind to be embarrassed by talking about someone, especially if she didn't even have a crush on them like she did on Nogi-kun. Mikan smelled a rat.

"What? Why're you so edge talking about him… what's his name Hyuga Natsume or something?"

"Ashshshsh!" Sumire hissed, "don't say it like that!" Mikan smelled a big rat.

"What then? How do you know him? What were you gonna say just now?" she quickfired questions at her and Sumire got more and more flustered.

"Look!" she finally snapped, "I was just saying he's a bit… intense is all…" She was hiding something, Mikan could tell she was, but she wouldn't be able to drag it out of her if she didn't want to tell her, so she had to drop the subject in the end.

"He's a total freak," she said nonchalantly, and in-between stuffing mouthfuls of bread into her mouth for comfort Sumire muffled "Stay away from him, Mikan." As if he had some kind of disease.

"What do you know about him?" she asked, "Seriously, tell me."

"I don't wanna talk about it," Sumire choked as she swallowed her mouthful with guilty difficulty, "just drop it, eh, Mikan?" Mikan held her gaze for a while and then eventually gave in.

"Fine, whatever." She shrugged, and looking back up she noticed both Natsume and Ruka were gone. "Good riddance," she muttered to herself, and took a sip from a bottle of juice.

Sumire took a sip from a bottle a little later, only it wasn't so much of a 'sip' as a glug, and it wasn't so much 'juice' as beer.

"Kanpaii!" she squealed delightfully as she swung off the neck of a boy who looked more scared than interested, and the 'joker' from the other group made groping motions at her butt.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Mikan cried playfully, and took a much more moderate sip from a beer herself – after all, this was the only thing she'd be able to buy herself all night, so she'd have to make it last.

Mikan's dad had died when she was a little girl, and her mom had brought through a few 'new dad's' during Mikan's childhood - not that there was anything wrong with them, she just never really felt like they actually wanted to know her so didn't make much of an effort with them. But when she turned sixteen and her Mom met a guy that not only did she really love, like she'd loved Mikan's dad - but who unfortunately lived in Hokkaido - Mikan didn't want to hold her back, even though she wanted to stay in Tokyo and finish school. So because her step-dad was quite well off they left Mikan behind in her and her mom's old apartment and paid all the bills while they moved back up North and lived in his home.

It wasn't like she was totally abandoned: she still talked to her mom on the phone a lot, and had relatives and family friends she could go to if she needed anything, but other than that she lived on her own – and had to deal with all her own food budgets. She worked part-time in a call centre, but it didn't pay much and she had to leave time out to study enough to keep her head overwater at school, so she was always a bit low on cash. Thus the occasional enko, and a half-brewed plan to work in a hostess bar when she turned eighteen.

And rationing her drinks, bringing her back to the current situation – Sumire had a small allowance from her parents but she spent a lot frivolously so they were usually both as broke as each other.

Mikan bet herself that Hyuga's parents gave him anything he wanted, and then scowled as she realized she was thinking about him again. To be fair he had practically molested her only earlier that day, but it wasn't like things like that usually got to her. She frowned and took a swig of her beer.

"What's up with that face, Mikan-chaaaan?!" Sumire yelled as she noticed Mikan's lacklustre performance tonight, usually she and Mikan were the centre of attention in any goukon, but tonight it was just her, and everyone else was either still whispering about the boys/girls or shyly paired off somewhere exchanging email addresses.

"Nothing, Sumire-chaaaaaan," Mikan echoed her back playfully with a sudden and brilliant grin, but Sumire knew all too well that she was putting it on. She slid away from the boy she was with and crammed herself in the seat next to Mikan, dropping her long legs over her lap to fit in as she leant close to her.

"What issit, Mikaaan?" she whispered, "What's botherin' you?" Mikan could tell easily enough she was a little drunk, but Sumire was still Sumire.

"I was just thinking about that stupid Hyuga kid again," she muttered eventually, and she felt Sumire fidgeting in her lap.

"What? Noo, oh nooo," she moaned as she covered her eyes with her hands, "Who told you about that? I didn't mean it I didn't…" She started to breathe a little heavier and Mikan felt she was close to finding out why Sumire was so cagey about him. "Not Hyuga Natsume, don't, stay away from him," she blurted to Mikan over-affectionately, "he's bad news, I tell you!" She changed tack again and became subdued and guilty. "I didn't mean to," she whispered to Mikan, "he was just so…"

"Didn't mean to what?" she asked in confusion, and Sumire stared at Mikan like she'd just asked where the clowns were in the state ballet.

"To do him," she clipped with a dry lump in her throat, and then dumped her head on Mikan's shoulder, "…So stupid," she hissed, and Mikan returned the boy's looks of confusion with a 'hey, nothing to do with me' shrug.

"I think Sumire-chan is ready to go home," said Mikan, much to the disappointment of the hopeful would-be's.

"Aww, don't be like that, baby, stay and party!" one boy tried, but Mikan shot him a 'not now' look as she bundled Sumire onto her side and they began to walk out of the bar. It was a school night anyway.

"We'll do this again soon, okay?" she said cheerfully, and the remaining lads nodded or cheered, all offering her their phone numbers and email addresses eagerly.

As soon as they were outside Mikan had Sumire against the wall.

"You slept with him?!" she barked, and Sumire's face was red enough for her not to need to answer.

"It was an accident!" she wailed.

"How?" She honestly couldn't see how, why, or when Sumire had broken their rule – obviously she hadn't been out with him, so she must have broken the rule.

"Well… I… just, I mean…" Sumire panicked, "he's friends with…!" she blurted, and a piece of the puzzle became clear to Mikan.

"Nogi-kun?" she snatched the words from her, "Did you do it because you thought Nogi-kun would get jealous of you?" That was low, absolutely low, and Sumire looked back at Mikan with an equal amount of horror she was holding her in.

"No! I never planned that!" she rushed, "I just thought… he's so dorky-looking, I thought it'd be easy to get close to him, and I mean, you see how he hangs out with Nogi-kun…"

"You thought you could use him to get closer to Nogi-kun?" Sumire nodded bashfully.

"But I never meant to do anything with him, I never even thought about it, I was just going to be a bit friendly… you know, fun… and use that to talk to him…you know what I mean...." Mikan knew; there was nothing wrong with befriending the friend of a guy you liked, was there? A little bit of friendly flirting never hurt anyone, and it was a good way to meet a guy you were too shy to approach straight on (not that it happened to her much).

"Well then, how did you end up sleeping with him?" she asked, exasperated. Sumire was no less red.

"I… I don't know," she mumbled, "he just… like, gets to you or something, I started talking to him coming out of the Library and…"

"Wait," interrupted Mikan, "when was this?"

"Uh, maybe last winter?" Sumire guessed, and Mikan tried to think back – surely she would've noticed something odd about Sumire if she'd been breaking the rules behind her back.

"How could you… oh!" she snapped in surprise, "When you took that week off?" Sumire nodded.

"Yeah, I had to, like, see some places about some things…" she muttered vaguely, and Mikan gleaned what she meant at once.

"You mean you went to the clinic?" she shot razorblade quick, and Sumire's red face and upset quivering was answer enough.

Mikan slapped her in the face.

"You did it bareback?!" she screamed in horror, and grabbed Sumire's shoulders and bashed her against the wall – not hard, but enough to frighten, "What were you thinking?!" Sumire's face gleamed in the streetlight and Mikan realized she was crying.

"I don't know," she wept, and then Mikan was all arms and hugs as she let Sumire cling to her and sob, "I just don't know… I wasn't thinking… he just…and it went so fast... and..."

"Don't say anymore," Mikan muttered, her anger barely in control; she knew Sumire, and she knew that if Sumire was like this then someone was going to be responsible. She was a good girl, a fun girl, a loud girl, but not a yanki or a bad daughter orfriend.

She didn't regret things she did either, if she slept with a boyfriend who'd turned out to be a bad guy, or agreed to go somewhere with a man who turned out to be a pervert only looking to take her to a Love Hotel; she might be mad, but she didn't regret it – it was her decision to do it, so she'd stand by that.

But if she was like this, then she was regretting it, and she only regretted things she hadn't thought about first. Because someone had been pushing her into it, most likely.

Either way, Hyuuga Natsume suddenly had a lot to answer for.

-END of chapter two-

The AU explained.

Armor Ultios Est is 'Love is Vengeance' in Latin, it will have significance in the story.

This story is AU with harkings to the canon. Events, themes and situations from the manga/anime will feature, but think of it as an alternate Alice Academy, but set in the real world with a few Alice-y twists to it and some differences to canon-setup (which I will explain).

It is set in an Alice Academy High-school. Alices do exist and will play a part, but it will not be exactly as shown in the manga. The High-school is not part of one giant campus (to be fair that estate wouldn't have realistically fit in central Tokyo), and the students live at home (or alone as in Mikan's case).

The High-school is a Japanese High-school, so I will try to make it as realistic to that as possible.

Natsume and Mikan did not meet age 10 and the events of the Manga did not directly happen, however some of them are transposed (e.g. Mikan sleeping in a bed with Narumi-sensei) into this story's universe.

(Small point but I feel the need to mention it) Ruka isn't a pure blond, it's (previously light but also) bleached/lightened for more realisim. Even a half wouldn't be likely to have pure blond hair, so Ruka is a bottle-blond :P

Mikan and Hotaru do have a friendship, but it is not exactly the same as shown in the manga/anime. Hotaru also is Mikan's tutor, and she is not at the same school as Mikan and Sumire.

Sumire, or 'Permy' is Mikan's friend, probably her closest friend (in school at least) and she obviously enough has harkings of her old Natsume-Ruka fanclub roots, but as you will have read not in the same way. I think that without the catalyst of Natsume Mikan and Sumire had every chance to become friends.

A Goukon is a group date, where groups of boys and girls meet up specifically to look for someone of the opposite (in this situation) sex.

Enko is a shortened term for 'Enjo Kosai' and it means 'compensated dating', i.e. young girls going out with males (usually older) and being paid for their time, either in money or goods. It does not necessarily mean prostitution, although it can go that way, but it can also be things like groups of girls going for karaoke with older men and being paid for it. Sumire and Mikan have occasionally done Enko, but they do not offer sexual acts for money.

Yanki is slang for a subculture of japanese youth that are basically like thugs and rebels with a strong gang mentality, they have bikes, sniff paint thinner and cause general havoc. None of the major characters in the story are Yanki, it was just a passing mention.

When Mikan asks if Sumire did it 'bareback' she means having unprotected sex (with Natsume). Thus seeing the clinic mean a Sexual Health clinic for STI-checks and the morning-after pill etc.

One reviewer commented on not liking Mikan's attitude/personality. Well, I hope this chapter has given Mikan a little more depth, and explains why she's quite tough and sassy. I think this respects canon because 10 year old Mikan is very outspoken and feisty, so this is how I think it would translate into this age and context. I'll focus more on Natsume next chapter I think.

The characters are in their last year of Japanese High-school, so that makes them 17/18, and preparing for University entrance exams. In response to another reviewers question they are physically the same as they are in the manga/anime, barring Natsume's glasses and to a certain extent Ruka's hair.

Sorry to rant on so much, but I think the setting of this story will make following chapters more in-context and I don't want to have to waste time in the story explaining these things.

Leave a review (please) to let me know what you think, sorry to have taken up your valuable reading-time with all that information, I'm not actually trying to give y'all Japanese culture lessons O.o