Updated at last! I had a few roadblocks writing this, but I hit it out in the end, and I'm hoping to keep this good and fast-paced, because we've still got a lot of ground to cover.

Welcome to the pre-honeymoon honeymoon period of N/M :D All is shiny and new.

Enjoy

"Conditions?" Natsume asked worriedly, as he backed away from his new girlfriend and stood up straight to roll a kink out of his neck from kissing her at funny angles. "What kind of conditions?"

Mikan smiled in an unnerving way.

"One," she began boldly. "If you ever call me a slut or anything like that it's over. I put up with that shit from other people, but if I'm going to go out with you then I don't want to hear it." She said it sternly; demanding respect. It seemed to be a reasonable enough condition, and Natsume accepted it without any objections.

"Two: I never want to see you with your glasses on."

He frowned. "What?"

"If I see them, I will break them," she stated calmly; a smile playing on her lips.

"You'll.... Why?" he asked in confusion.

"Because you don't need them!" she snapped. "It's stupid to wear glasses you don't need."

"It's stupid to assume someone is a dork because they wear glasses," he retorted, "but they do it anyway."

"Likewise!" she spat back. "Isn't that the same as assuming a girl is a slut because she wears a short skirt?" He paused, an obstacle thrown up in his way; she just so happened to be right about that habit of his, and he had condition one to think of now.

He glanced down at her, and as if to prove his point she had her legs crossed under a skirt that was no less short than anything else she'd ever worn. He recalled making dubious comments about 'sluts' and 'skirts' in this very room, and suddenly wondered how had he managed to end up going out with this girl.

"Well..." he said slowly, as if he was thinking of a response, when really he was wondering how he'd managed to strand himself so uncomfortably.

"Three," she interrupted, "you don't tell anyone about us." That one hit him hard, and he shot her an unhappy look.

"After everything you said about not–!" he hissed, but she interrupted again and didn't let him speak.

"Stop right there!" she yelled, standing up to get on a more even level with him. "This isn't because I'm embarrassed or anything, it's your fault."

His fault?

"Thanks to your history, just about all of my friends hate you," she said icily, and he could tell, looking at her, that some part of her actually hated him too. "So I want to be sure this thing might actually work before we start talking about it." If he was honest with himself, he was a little put out by her doubt about the possibility of a relationship between them lasting long enough to be worth telling people about.

"Oh, nice," he muttered sarcastically, and her hand brushed against his.

"Look, I'm not saying I don't think it could work..." she murmured, and with a flick of his wrist he turned his palm upwards and cradled her hand in it; his longest fingers just grazing the softest part of her underarm. Her breath hitched and he knew she was thinking about the way everything just seemed to feel so charged between them, no matter what the situation was.

"Don't act like you don't feel it too," he said in a low tone. "I know you do." He stepped in until his face was level with hers, angling his mouth towards her ear.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." she said shakily, and then bolted her eyes shut as she felt his lips graze her skin.

"Liar." He did no more than whisper it, and even that was too much. She put a hand on his chest and pushed him away; too much too fast. She had that feeling of losing control around him; she'd denied it before, but he did kind of sweep her away.

"Well, I've got to work," she rushed awkwardly. "So really I need to go soon..."

"Didn't you think this would take long?" he suggested curtly, and she gave him a closed-off look.

"Not really... but-I-guess-kinda," she mumbled, and then found her exit blocked as he leant out and put an arm in front of her.

"Where are you going?" he inquired sinisterly as he held her back.

"Work," she replied sourly. "I've really got to go, seriously... Natsume, it takes ages to get there and..."

"I meant," he interrupted dryly, "where are you going without saying goodbye?" She didn't have time to coordinate and offer up a reasonable response, because before Mikan had time to say 'uh, what?' he had her jaw in one hand and was firmly directing her mouth toward, and hastily onto, his.

"That's not saying goodbye!" she accused, once her mouth had been released for her own use again, and he raised his eyebrows to sardonically say 'is it not?'

"How far are you going?" he asked.

"Uh? I... a long way," she answered as she walked out the door, and to her surprise he followed her – leaving the Library empty.

"How long?" he insisted.

"Are you going to do that thing where you answer questions with more questions?" she sighed, and he ran a few paces to keep up with her, cupping his hand around her arm as he drew level with her.

"Are you going to let me take you to work?" he asked insistantly, but she stopped suddenly and pushed his hand away.

"I don't need you to take me anywhere," she said coldly. "I can get there fine by myself." She didn't like this idea he seemed to have that she was some kind of helpless girl who couldn't do anything for herself – she was not that sort of person.

"Oh," he replied, slightly confused. "Well, I only meant to spend time with you." He glanced at her. "I've got a time limit, right? To convince you I'm worth it."

"You don't sound worried," she remarked scathingly, responding to his assured, cocky air in spite of the fact that they were on the verge of a row... again.

"Oh, I'm not," he smirked; his fingers returning to her forearm subtly. "I want to get it done with as soon as possible." He sounded wholly and totally confidant in himself, and Mikan wondered why she always attracted egotistical types.

"Smug prick," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" he inquired with amusement.

"Smug. Prick," she said carefully, and without much fuss reached up to his face to remove the glasses lingering there, throwing them into a nearby bin.

"Hey!" he growled. "Those aren't cheap, you know?"

"Then maybe you should spend your money on something you actually need," she suggested dryly, and they moved into a furious conversation about his glasses, why he pretended to be a 'dork', how much of a dork he really was, and other significant character flaws he quite obviously possessed while they walked to the station.

She had to take a train half-way across the city, but Natsume merely saw this as an opportunity, and insisted on going with her – not, as she made clear, because she needed an escort, but because it gave them a good hour of time together. Not the best situation for a date, but he saw to it that a good fifty percent of the time wasn't spent talking. Although, he almost enjoyed conversation as much as the making out section. Mikan was delightfully good fun to antagonise, and she played along with all the point-winning games they'd engaged in from day one. Almost as fun was pretty good in his books.

He was sure he had things laid out now... it wouldn't take too long, and he'd be able to fuck her at last. He couldn't wait for that moment; he didn't think he would have to wait too long, there was still her history to consider, the first condition aside.

He would make good on his sworn revenge from all that time ago, and he'd have her in the palm of his hand – where, he might add, she obviously belonged. Eventually he assumed he would lose interest and break up with her, but for a while his attention was held, and this would be a good model for his future relationships. This (or she), of course, was not going to be a permanent fixture in his life.

"Well, thanks for riding a boring train with me, have a fun time riding back 'cause this is my stop now and you'll be all alone. Bye!" she sniggered, interrupting his cycle of thoughts; leaping up as the train stopped and leaning over, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before racing onto the platform; schoolbag and her odango-tied hair trailing behind her.

Natsusme realized now that the downside to keeping her company on the train was it meant he had none going back home himself. His parents would probably be wondering why he was late anyway.

After she went off-shift Mikan decided to go with a few friends from there for a drink in a nearby bar; she had to turn down a few guys who asked for her number in the process, and when one of the girls who knew her a little asked why she'd rejected them, as it wasn't normal for her, she had to bring back the long-archived phrase 'I'm seeing someone'.

She hadn't said that since Tsubasa, and he'd left for university almost a year ago – since he'd been such a 'perfect' boyfriend she hadn't really been out with anyone else because she knew they would only seem like a worse version of him.

Tsubasa had been the perfect boyfriend on paper – sporty, attractive, older, funny and completely into her, and they'd had a lot of good athletic sex over the year-and-a-half course of their relationship.

But... as there had to be a but, there were still a few issues between them. Most of them involving Mikan and a certain teacher and a notable lack of clothes between them, but also some involving his shadowy Alice, which he never really explained to her. She used to find odd things in his house from time to time: slips of paper with '1000 pressups' or' 50 squats' written on, and wads of money he could never explain where they came from.

In reality he was probably involved in a gang, but he always kept Mikan firmly away from that side of his life, and it had slowly driven them apart; they stopped talking, because the wrong thing could cause him to shut down completely, and they spent less time together as more shady sorts started to hang around his house reeking of smoke and thinner.

On the surface he didn't change, and he was still the picture-perfect partner to everyone at school and when they went on dates, but she felt alienated from this new part of his life, and eventually she turned to Narumi for advice.

Which didn't really end very successfully, considering where it landed them.

In bed, of course. His Alice had a habit of doing that to the two of them.

She never told Tsubasa, but she suspected he knew she'd slept with someone else, and it became an unsaid agreement that when school ended so too would their relationship. It wasn't sad really, just a slow death from a culmination of a number of problems.

Natsume, however, was different. He wasn't going to be an imitation of Tsubasa, that was for sure.

She didn't know what he was going to be.

But at least it wouldn't be dull.

Mikan watched the clock; History probably couldn't be any more boring than this.

Five minutes – she couldn't wait. Twenty minutes left of the lesson but she still couldn't wait any longer.

Her hand went up.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Can I be excused from class?" she asked urgently; at first the teacher didn't want to relent, but when she implied that it was for a counselling-related appointment to do with her Alice he let her go. However, she didn't go anywhere near the Dangerous branch, and instead crept along the school corridors until she reached an empty private-study room, of which the Academy had a few.

Only this one wouldn't be empty for long.

She put her bag on the floor and sat down at one of the desks, and slowly let her head fall down in her arms as she took a gratifying rest from concentrating.

"Sleepy?" a voice inquired as the door squeaked open, and she didn't bother looking up; she knew who it was.

"Bored," she replied drably, listening to his footsteps across the floor – ending just behind her.

"You're early."

"So're you," she replied, and then felt his fingers on the back of her shoulders, kneading and massaging, more for something to do than anything else, but still a surprisingly intimate gesture considering how long they'd been a 'couple' - less than a week.

"Coincidence," he said offhandedly, and then suddenly crawled forward over the chair just as she turned around to look at him, forcing her to back up onto the desk and slide out of his way as he advanced. Hands planted on either side of her, Natsume offered one of his most predatory, 'I want you' looks as he eyed Mikan up and down; sprawled out below him on the desk.

"Hello to you too," she snickered, sliding herself back as he tried to lurch forward, and she pushed the tip of her shoe into his stomach to stop him lowering himself down on top of her. "You're in a good mood." Read horny mood.

He slid a hand underneath her, palming her upper back and lifting her upper body off the table, unhesitatingly crushing his mouth over hers.

One of Mikan's hands threaded through the back of his hair, and her fingers gradually trailed down the back of his neck as they kissed, ending up tucked just under his collar against the hot skin of his neck.

He shifted his weight and let a leg settle between hers, and Mikan reminded herself that if he had his way they would've done just about everything there was to do by now, and although some part of her secretly wanted him to get his way, she knew not to let herself get swept away too fast; she knew what he did to girls he laid too quickly.

She extricated herself from him and sat on the edge of the desk, swinging her legs and stretching out her body, contently twisting and flexing all the places his hands had coasted by so studiously.

"It's a bit weird, meeting in secret like this," she remarked, while she heard creaks that suggested he'd got off the desk and into one of the chairs – his feet propped up lazily on the table.

"Your conditions," he reminded her casually; he'd had his fix of her now, and got pretty far with it as well, so he was now more-or-less content to pass the time in other ways. It wasn't like they could have sex on the desk or anything anyway – this was a classroom, what were they in a piece of fanfiction or something?

"I know, I just meant it's like forbidden love or something," she replied cheerfully.

"You'd know about that sort of thing," he commented quietly, and she whipped her head around to stare at him – yes, she probably would know about that sort of thing, but on the other hand, he was making some dodgy and possibly condition-violating suggestions.

"I'm not criticising," he muttered, "I was just saying." He paused, and true enough, there wasn't really an accusatory tone to his voice; more like a slightly curious one. "I was just saying you'd know about forbidden love and shit... I mean, it's normal when you're going out with someone to talk about things, right? Things about yourself, or... your past," he suggested, and Mikan's face warmed up as she realized he was kind of right.

"Well..." she murmured awkwardly. "I'll... I guess... I'll tell you things about my past if you tell me some too."

"Oh, an exchange?" he said.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Should I go first, then? I asked the first question."

Mikan was quiet for a moment as Natsume's question brewed, and then hopefully said, "Pass?" However, one look told her that was not acceptable.

"Fine..." she sighed. "You want to know about Narumi, right?" Natsume noticed immediately that 'Narumi' was just that – his name with no -sensei attached.

"Why not?" He shrugged; actually wanting to know a hell of a lot more than he let on.

"Well... yes, the rumours are true; there's a lot of stuff with his Alice that happens, and I do know about that whole 'forbidden love' or whatever. But," she stipulated. "But, we've never... been like this on grounds." Natsume looked at her curiously.

"It was always outside of school," she explained, "he's an important person to me, since my dad's gone. I've been at his place more than once." Another reference to her absent father – Natsume knew what question he wanted to ask next. After he found out more about her fucking her teacher in his own home, of course.

"My turn!" she said brightly, and Natsume half-heartedly tried to argue that it wasn't a long enough answer, but she insisted he should be thankful for what he got and carried on herself.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked – surprisingly mediocre considering the things she could ask him.

"Yes," he replied. "A sister, younger." Mikan looked shocked.

"Really?" she said. "You seem like an only child type."

"Why?"

"I don't know, because you always act like you think you deserve everything you want; spoilt, basically," she teased, and he got up from his chair to slide in next to her on the desk and hook his arm around her waist.

"I do get everything I want," he suggested proudly, and she sighed.

"Exactly what I mean," she said. "What's her name?"

"Eh? Hey! You can't ask two questions in a row!" he griped.

"You already asked yours!" she claimed. "You said 'why?', that's a question, isn't it?" Natsume was quiet for a second.

"You cheateeer!" he yelled, and pulled her back by her waist while securing his other hand on her shoulders to push her down, pinning her to the desk and springing one knee over her to sit on top of her hips and cement her in place; his hands holding her arms to the table and preventing her from fighting back.

"I'm not a cheater!" she insisted, trying to ignore exactly how erotic their position was, and especially the way it excited a shameless part of her. "You asked a question, and I answered it! It's totally–!"

She never got the chance to finish that sentence, because he'd already commandeered her mouth and lips from her, and was putting them to some other passionate use.

It wasn't like he hadn't noticed their position too. Please, what did she take him for?

All said, it was a pretty good use anyway.

Finished! At last! :P
This will be the only full chapter in this stage of the relationship - as you've probably gathered I'm not going to pace it all out, more like dash furiously through the whole thing so my mind doesn't get away from me :D

If you liked it, or even disliked it, please leave a review!