Himeno: Kokoroyomi-kun made his appearance in the last chapter!

Kokoroyomi: And I'm glad. Too bad, I can't read people's mind here.

Himeno: Sorry for not putting an Alices here.

Aoi: That's okay Himeno-chan. The story is good anyway.

Mikan: Himeno-chan, it's nice that Aoi-chan gets a new brother.

Himeno: Yeah… Kokoroyomi will play an important role in the story.

Kokoroyomi: I will? I hope it's not too much work. Hehe…

Himeno: Don't worry… You'll like it.

Mikan: Okay, let's start reading, minna-san.

Aoi: Himeno-chan doesn't own Gakuen Alice, okay?

Natsume the Jerk

Episode 7: It Started with a Kiss

"I'll race to the corner, Aoi-chan!" Kokoroyomi adjusted his bag pack. "Ready?" He looked at his raven-haired friend.

Aoi made a face. "No," she said, laughing. "I'm not good in running. I'll just lose." She never joined any sports club in school, since nobody wanted her around. She was the typical outcast—a nobody.

"You won't know unless you try. Come on, Aoi-chan," Kokoroyomi pleaded, eyeing the distance to the next corner of the street. "Please?"

Aoi hesitated, then nodded and shifted her own bag against her shoulders. "Oh, okay! Ready," she said.

"Go!" shouted Kokoroyomi, and the two of them were off, racing along the sidewalk. Kokoroyomi's usual smile was present in his face.

"Wait for me, onii-chan!" wailed little Aoi, getting left behind, but Kokoroyomi still ran.

Kokoroyomi outdistanced his so-called little sister quickly, even though he almost dropped his bag, past the small shops and cafes of the neighborhood. Laughing, he stopped as he reached the corner and turned around. His heart seemed to skip a beat, but he didn't look tired at all. He saw Aoi coming to a stop. She was panting hard. "That was fun!" he stated.

Aoi looked up at him and giggled. "Yeah… I have to agree." She had never raced with anyone before. She had never joined any track and field competition nor has she ever placed race with a playmate before. Racing with her new brother was something new for her.

"Aoi-chan!" a female voice called the young girl in a cheerful voice.

That voice was as familiar as the neighborhood around her. It was the voice of her idol. She spun around and saw her idol, Mikan Sakura, approaching her in her in-line skates. Walking right beside the brunette was Ruka.

"Hello, you two!" Aoi greeted them with a fruitful smile.

Mikan and Ruka stared at Aoi's face, surprised at what they saw. There were some bruises on Aoi's face. "What happened to you?" Mikan asked anxiously. Her voice was frail.

"What?"

"Don't act dumb, Aoi," Ruka said, getting a little serious. "Someone bullied you again, huh?"

Mikan quickly hugged Aoi and nestled her chin on her shoulder. "Aoi-chan… This bullying has to stop. You don't deserve to be treated like…like…"

"Dirt?" Kokoroyomi continued for her.

Mikan and Ruka glanced up at the guy. Kokoroyomi was wearing his usual goofy grin on his face. Mikan released the young Hyuuga and faced the guy. "And who are you?"

Kokoroyomi slightly raised his hand and said, "The name's Kokoroyomi." He then bowed his head to show respect. "And it's an honor to meet you, Mikan Sakura-san." Of course, he knew who Mikan was, since she was so popular. He listened to her music as well, but he's not actually an addict fan. However, he adored Mikan's voice greatly.

"Mikan-chan, Ru-chan, he's my new friend…" Aoi answered truthfully.

"A friend?" Ruka found it hard to believe that Aoi has a new friend, and judging from Kokoroyomi's uniform, he could clearly see that he was from Alice Academy as well.

"He saved me from a bully and made me feel better," Aoi said, looking kindly at Kokoroyomi. "He's not like the others." She glanced back at Mikan and then at Ruka.

"Is that so?" Mikan immediately grabbed Kokoroyomi's hand and shook it. "Thanks so much for helping Aoi-chan!"

Kokoroyomi chuckled. "Hehe… It was nothing really…"

"Any friend of Aoi-chan is a friend of mine!" Mikan said cheerfully. "This is great. How about let's go get ice cream? I'll treat you guys."

"Are you sure, Sakura?" Ruka said, bothered at the fact that a girl will treat him—and not just any girl too.

Mikan nodded her head vigorously. Then without further ado, she grabbed everyone's hands and dragged them towards the ice cream parlor. They lingered there for about an hour and a half, talking about the usual and funny stuff and eating ice cream while they were at it. Ruka, Mikan, and Aoi found Kokoroyomi to be such an amusing character. He possessed a great sense of humor and he can always crack up a joke. Everyone was having fun with Kokoroyomi.

After dinner, Mikan decided to take a walk along the park wearing a pink sweater, yellow lose mini-skirt and laced white boots. It was a beautiful night and the stars were dazzling up in the sky. The park was awfully quiet and she had expected some couples to be dating there. For some reason, it was empty. Well, maybe because there was school tomorrow and most couples are still students. She need not have to disguise herself since it was night time, and she was sure that there were no fans in the park.

"Damn you!"

"Take this!"

"AHHH!!!"

Mikan suddenly heard voices of boys and it seemed like they were fighting. She went into the bushes and followed the sound. She walked towards the center of the park and saw a group of boys fighting one guy. Much to her surprise, the boys were fighting Natsume. He's outmatched. Will he be all right? She could see Natsume evading the attacks well, and he managed to land some kicks and punches on some boys. For a jerk, he was a pretty good fighter, Mikan mused as she stayed still behind the bushes.

One guy took out his knife and tried to stab Natsume, but Natsume was quick and he simply grabbed the guy's hand. "You're too slow, stupid." Natsume twisted the guy's arm and knee-kicked him on the stomach. As two other guys tried charged at him, he threw the guy he was still holding towards them.

"He's really good," Mikan said, clapping her hands silently.

Five of the boys were knocked out and only one remained. Natsume was on his guard as usual, and the guy was holding a steel pipe in his hand. As the guy raised the pipe, preparing to attack Natsume, he was suddenly knocked out and fell to the ground.

Natsume's eyes grew wide in surprise at the sight of Mikan Sakura. She was holding a wooden club in her hand, probably a weapon she took from one of the unconscious guys. She used the said weapon to hit the guy. "You skipped school for the whole day and here I find you fighting with these stupid guys. Honestly, you're a real trouble-maker, Natsume. What did you do them? Did you provoke them?"

"They were the ones who invited me to a fight," Natsume grumbled, stuffing one hand inside his pocket. "And it's none of your business if I skip school."

"You get good grades, but you're still stupid!" Mikan uttered, planting her fists on her waist. "You're nothing but a bully who likes picking fights with anybody. And, oh, did you know? Aoi-chan was bullied again. She has bruises all over her body."

"So?" Natsume shrugged and turned around. "Whatever happens to her is none of my concern. She's just an idiot anyway."

Mikan popped a vein and smacked his head with her fist. "You're such a jerk, Natsume!"

Surprised at her sudden action, he narrowed his gaze at her and grabbed her wrist. "You're really testing my patience, polka-dots. Do you want to experience hell?"

"Hmph… You're the devil himself," Mikan exclaimed as she threw the club away. She suddenly remembered the kiss they shared and shivered."Arg! I'm still sore about my first kiss…"

"What's the big deal? It was just a kiss."

Mikan raised an elegant brow at him. "Just a kiss?" She puffed her cheeks and showed him a fist. "It was my first kiss, idiot. First kisses are important to girls!"

"Well, I'm not a girl, so there…" Natsume said in a bored tone.

She stomped her foot on the ground and grabbed Natsume's shirt. "You're so insensitive!"

"And you're so lousy." He tried shoving her away, but her grip was too tight and she wouldn't budge. He demanded her to let go of him, and Mikan just shook her head. She won't let go until he apologizes to her. However, Natsume had high pride in his system and saying sorry to a girl would forever scar him. So, he did what he could think of at the moment and that was to kiss her.

Mikan's eyes were as wide as saucers, as she was appalled by his sudden action. She couldn't believe that Natsume would do such an insensitive thing to her. Not only did he take her first kiss, he also took the second one. She strongly pushed him away and panted.

As he saw her trembling, he only smirked at her. "What's the matter? You're shaking…" he said in an icy voice.

"I'm angry, Natsume," Mikan said firmly, clenching her fists. "You made me so mad that I'm shaking."

"So, you're really mad now?" Natsume shrugged. "Well, who cares?"

With that, Mikan finally snapped and slapped Natsume strongly. "You're the first guy to ever treat me this way. Do you even care?" She caressed her own hand and stared down at her own feet.

"No, I don't…" Natsume replied. He would normally put up a fight after getting hit, but for some reason he didn't feel like fighting with the brunette. Her slap somehow made him realize something—something about how stupid he has been acting all this time. He acted like he didn't care, but he was starting to feel different seeing Mikan so shocked and aggrieved.

"Natsume, you're really an idiot!" Mikan shouted, tears coming out of her eyes. "But even so… I don't know why but… I hate seeing you acting like this. I know you have issues and I wanna help you, not only for Aoi-chan's sake but also for yours."

"Don't go picking your nose into my business if you know what's good for you."

"I know what's good for me!" Mikan raised her voice this time. "And I want you to become a better person—someone that Aoi-chan will be proud of."

"Why do you care so much for that idiot anyway?"

"She's my friend! Aoi-chan is always getting picked on in school, yet you're doing nothing. As her friend, I will try to do everything I can to help her."

"You're wasting your time."

"It's useless to talk to you, Natsume," Mikan said and spun around her heels, "so, good night." After that, she walked off in a hurry and left Natsume behind.

Though he may not look like he cared, Natsume was actually affected by what Mikan said and it had him thinking of a lot of things. When he got home, he immediately went to bed, trying to sleep.

In spite of his efforts to go to sleep, Mikan was continually on Natsume's mind. The one thing that didn't seem absurd to him was kissing her. He wasn't really thinking straight when he decided to kiss her the second time. The kiss, for him, was rather satisfying and her taste was fairly sweet. He touched his lips and stared blankly at the ceiling, daydreaming about her, recalling the time he first met her and the times they argued with one another.

His mind was interrupted by the sudden beeping sound of the clock, telling him that it was midnight already. At first he tried to sleep. Maybe he needed to fix himself a glass of warm milk to help him get sleepy.

He walked out of his room and passed through the hallways quietly. He stopped when he saw Aoi's bedroom door slightly opened. He peeked in only to see his younger sister sleeping soundly in bed. Despite the lack of light, Natsume could clearly see the band-aids on her face and neck. He sneaked inside and went nearer to the bed.

"Onii-chan…" Aoi mumbled in her sleep as she giggled.

Natsume's eyes widened. Is she dreaming about me?

"Onii-chan, you're the best…"

He couldn't help feeling more down. No matter how mean Natsume treated her, Aoi still loved him with her whole heart. On the other hand, Natsume was as cold-hearted as the Ice Queen herself. What he felt for Aoi was undeniably daunting. Sighing, he left the room and slowly closed the door.

Unknown to Natsume, Aoi was actually dreaming of her new brother, Kokoroyomi, and she seemed to be having a good time with him in her dreams.

"Statistics is the science of conducting studies to collect, organizes, summarize, analyze, and draw conclusions from data. Descriptive Statistics consist of the collection, organization, summarization, and presentation of date. Data are values that the variables can assume." Jinno-sensei was explaining the basic definitions of Statistical Math as he was pacing back and forth in front of class, carrying a statistic book with him.

It was a fine sunny morning. The students were quietly listening to the teacher. Natsume wasn't even reading his manga or taking a nap. He was actually being attentive for once, though he wasn't taking any notes unlike the others.

He glanced at the empty seat beside him and leaned his cheek on his hand. Mikan was excused from class because she had work, and it somehow bothered Natsume.

"Do you miss her, Natsume?" Ruka asked, looking at him.

"No, I don't," Natsume said defensively. "I don't care about that girl anyway."

Ruka sensed something different in Natsume's tone and his eyes don't seem to possess the usual coldness. "How do you know for sure?" he asked, keeping his voice low so Jinno wouldn't hear.

"Just shut up, dummy," Natsume said, folding his arms over his chest. "She's just a lousy girl."

"She's not lousy," Ruka disagreed. "Please, Natsume, don't insult her." And the way he said it was with full of care. He then went back to taking down notes.

Natsume shrugged. "I'll insult her if I want too…" As soon as he muttered those words, a blackboard eraser hit his head. The chalk dust spread out and his hair got covered in white.

Jinno-sensei stood in front, anger written all over his face. "No talking in my class, Hyuuga," he strictly said. "Detention for you after school."

"But—" Ruka began, attempting to rise from his seat. He was to blame for getting Natsume to talk in class, so he should be the one given the detention.

"Detention…Great…Now I'll get to see more of your ugliness later," Natsume said before Ruka could speak up to defend him.

Dreadfully insulted, Jinno swore to surely torment Natsume for the rest of his school year. He believed that a delinquent like Natsume shouldn't be in Alice Academy in the first place. "I guess being in detention isn't enough for you, Hyuuga," Jinno said, his face darkening. "As punishment for your behavior, you'll have to clean the girls comfort room after school."

Sumire gasped out loud and abruptly stood up. "No, sensei!" she said. "You can't let Natsume-kun do that. That's disgusting. It's the janitor's work to clean." She had to defend him. It was part of her job as Fan Club president.

"Sensei, that punishment is too much," Ruka added.

Jinno folded his arms. "It's not too much for Hyuuga," he said, shooting glares at Natsume.

Natsume still had some patience left in him. He had to stay calm to show the teacher that he wasn't affected. "Tch…All right…Whatever…" Making a mental note, he was going to murder Jinno-sensei someday. If he wasn't the teacher, he would've punched him by now.

"Natsume-kun, please don't do this anymore," Sumire said, standing behind Natsume, as he was scrubbing the floors of the girl's comfort room. She and the fan girls wanted to help Natsume with the cleaning, but some of them were too disgusted to do it. "Don't listen to Jinno-sensei. Come on, Natsume, let's go home together."

"Yeah, let's go home," Usumu said.

Natsume stopped scrubbing and stood up to face them. "Leave me alone, hags," he coldly said. "You're delaying my work here."

Sumire took a step forward and clasped her hands together. She was trying to look all sweet and kind to him. "Natsume-kun, we'll get some other guy to do this job," she said in a flirty voice. "So please stop…"

He had just about enough of them. He kicked the bucket, spilling all its contents, and threw the rag towards the floor. "I said leave me alone, hags. What part of it don't you understand?" He shot them one mean death glare, sending chills down to their spines.

"Wha…Whatever you say, Natsume-kun," Sumire said, swallowing hard. "L-Let's go, girls…"

"Take care, Natsume-kun," one fan girl said, waving goodbye at him. Another girl looked pitiful and bowed her head at Natsume before walking off.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Natsume-kun," Usumu said in a low tone.

After all the girls left, Natsume went back to work. Thanks to his dim-witted attitude a while ago, he made his job a lot harder. He had to scrub the floors again. He groaned in frustration as he started. The job was seriously giving him back pains. He wasn't used to doing chores. Heck, he doesn't even do anything at home but to sleep, eat and read mangas. His younger sister does all the house chores.

Jinno-sensei paid him a visit five minutes later. He was irritated to see Natsume doing a good job in cleaning. He was still sore about Natsume's insults, so he decided to give him more hard work. Once Natsume was done with the bathroom, Jinno told him to mop the hallways of the middle school building. He was expecting some retaliation, but Natsume didn't utter a word and just went on to mopping. Smirking sinisterly, he said, "You know, Hyuuga, you're fit to be a measly janitor." Then he walked away.

"Tch…Stupid teacher…" he grumbled. He took a break after cleaning for 3 minutes and leaned against the wall. As he looked outside, he could see that it was getting dark. How long was the teacher planning on punishing him? It really sucked to clean.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps heading towards his direction. He swiftly turned his head at the sound and saw a brunette girl holding a mop and a bucket of water with her.

"What are you doing here, polka-dots?" he questioned the popular idol, raising one brow, taking notice that she was wearing pink blouse, white blazer, and blue pleated mini-skirt.

"When I called Aoi-chan a while ago, she told me that you were still in school and that she was worried. You're still here because of Jinno-sensei, right?" She beamed Natsume a first-class smile. "Let me help you get things done, Natsume."

He wasn't really expecting any help. His persistent fan girls only kept insisting him to go home and they didn't want to offer their help. But Mikan actually went all the way to school to check up on him and help him. He felt a little happy about this, but he didn't show any emotions as he stared at her.

"I'll go ahead and do this side, okay?" she said, placing the bucket down. She dipped the mop into the water and squeezed the water out. After that, she started mopping the hallways.

She doesn't seem to be mad at him anymore, he thought silently as he observed her. Her slap and her words of concern still lingered in his head. He then realized that Mikan wasn't the type to hold grudges or to stay mad at anybody for a long time.

With Mikan's help, he managed to finish mopping the hallways on all floors of the middle school building fast. He was grateful for Mikan's help, though he wasn't about to say thank to her. "I never expected an idol to be able to do this kind of work. I thought you were a spoiled brat living a charmed life."

Mikan puffed up her cheeks. "Spoiled brat, huh?" She then heaved a sigh and turned to him. "But it's true that I live a charmed life. Even so, I love doing chores."

"You're weird. Don't you have maids to do that for you?"

"Yeah, I do. But I also help out sometimes."

"You're really weird."

"What's so weird about an idol doing chores?!" Mikan raised her voice as she said that.

Natsume looked at her with a bored expression. "I just like calling you weird, white cotton panties girl." He arrogantly smirked at her.

Mikan felt like she was hit by a truck. She stood there, frozen for a while, as Natsume's words came at her again. White cotton panties girl… A volcano erupted on her head, as she glared at Natsume. "You're such a big stupid pervert!!!" She began hitting Natsume, but her punches weren't enough to hurt him. "HENTAI! HENTAI! BAKA HENTAI! HOW DID YOU KNOW?! DID YOU SEE IT?!"

Natsume evaded the last punch she gave and tilted her chin up. He locked his gaze on her hazel eyes and said, "You're really a careless, girl. You were running around while mopping and you're skirt happened to flip up." As soon as he saw Mikan's face paled, he backed away from her.

"I'm going to get you for this, HENTAI!" She grabbed the mop and charged towards Natsume.

He started running away, still retaining his calm and stoic face. But on the inside, he was actually enjoying his time with her.

"Come back here!" she uttered out loud, picking up more speed. Mikan was an excellent runner and she could easily outrun anybody. She happened to catch up to Natsume and tried hitting him, but the raven-haired boy simply dodged the attacks. Natsume was good, but she wasn't planning on giving up. Without thinking, she jumped forward and tackled him to the floor.

"Hey, get off of me, polka-dots," Natsume said, struggling to stand up. "You're pretty heavy."

"I won't get off and my name's not polka-dots, pervert!" Mikan uttered, drawing her face near his ear. "And never call a girl heavy!!!"

Natsume felt like his brain was rocking because her shout. She really has a high-pitch voice. Well, no surprises there because Mikan was a talented singer. "Get off of me," he muttered one more time before he rolled her over. Now he was on top of her.

"What are you planning to do?" Mikan asked, biting her lips.

"You're really annoying, you know that."

"And you're ten times more annoying!"

As they continue to bicker like children, they failed to realize their awkward position. It was not until the arrival of a certain teacher that made them stop. "What do you think you're doing to her, Hyuuga?" The teacher's voice was deep and stern. Jinno-sensei tapped his stick on his hand as he glared at the raven-haired boy.

Without getting off of Mikan, Natsume looked up at the teacher.

"Umm…" Mikan was fidgeting with her finger. "Sensei, it's not what you think."

"Oh, really? Then why were you screaming 'pervert' a while ago?" Jinno-sensei said. "Hyuuga, get off of Sakura this instant."

Natsume was really getting impatient with the teacher. But he was still in perfect control of himself. He pulled himself away from Mikan, stood up, and regained his usual composure. He didn't even bother helping Mikan up.

Of course, Mikan pouted yet she didn't say anything. She quietly got back to her feet and faced the teacher.

"Hyuuga, you're an utter disgrace to this school," Jinno-sensei started. "I know you're a delinquent, but I never thought you were a molester too. And of all girls to molest, it had to be Mikan Sakura."

Well, Mikan did consider Natsume as the number 1 pervert in her life, but he wasn't a molester. "Sensei, Natsume and I were just playing. I just happened to trip, due to my clumsiness, and pulled him down as well."

"Don't try to defend him, Sakura," Jinno-sensei retorted. "I know him better than you do. He's nothing but a stinking piece of trash to this Academy."

Natsume didn't flinch nor defend himself from the teacher. He just stayed emotionless as if he didn't care. But the words of the teacher kind of stung his heart a bit.

"SENSEI!" Mikan boomed, clenching her hands. "I can't believe you would say such things to a student. Natsume may act badly, but he's not trash! He doesn't deserve to be insulted!"

"Don't use that tone of voice with me, young lady."

"You know nothing about Natsume. You don't understand him."

Natsume looked at her and saw a painful expression on her face. The girl was really defending him like a true friend.

"Sakura!"

"I'm not going to listen to you, sensei. What you said about him really made me angry!" Mikan grabbed Natsume's wrist. "Sensei, teachers are supposed to understand their students and not to treat them like dirt. Let's go, Natsume." She quickly ran off, pulling Natsume along with her.

They stopped once they've reached the entrance. Mikan, without letting go of Natsume's hand, stood beside the lockers trembling. Natsume silently observed her, waiting for her to speak up. He won't admit it but he was really happy for what she did for him.

"Natsume…" She slowly looked up at him, her eyes so solemn yet attractive, as she entwined her hands with his. "I understand why a lot of people hate you… Those guys back in the cafeteria, Jinno-sensei, those people who bully Aoi-chan… Still, they've no right to… What I mean is…" She was having a hard time trying to find the right words to say to him.

"It's my fault why I'm hated," he answered dispassionately, "and I'm used to it."

"You're not a robot, Natsume," Mikan said, her voice stuttering. "You have feelings like me. I know you're always getting hurt. How could you put up with—?"

"I told you I don't care."

"Natsume!"

"Just leave me alone."

"NO!" Mikan suddenly hugged him and buried her face in his chest. Natsume was really surprised at this that he couldn't react for five seconds. "Natsume, I don't want to leave you alone. I know we've started on the wrong foot, but we can still get along. I want to be your friend, Natsume. I want to help you if you'll just let me."

Natsume stayed silent and thought about what she said. After all he had done to her; Mikan was still kind to him. He returned her hug and after a while, he gently pushed her away to face her. "You'll regret being friends with me…You'll only get in trouble." His face was stoic as ever, but there was a hint of concern in his voice.

"I…I…" She shook her head. "I won't regret it. I want to be friends with you, Natsume. I'm serious."

He heaved a sigh. Mikan was a stubborn girl. She was too tough for him to handle, he admitted in his mind. "Fine then…Do what you want."

Mikan's lips curved into a bright smile. "Thanks, Natsume!" She hugged him again.

And this time, Natsume smiled a little bit. He never met a girl like her before with such a stubborn yet friendly nature. She said she wanted to help him be a better person. Natsume thought it was time for him to change, but he wasn't sure how. But he was assured that Mikan may help him.

Mikan: Uwaahhh… Natsume and I are getting along…

Natsume: I can't believe it. Hey, stupid author, what's the big idea?

Himeno: Oh, come on, Natsume… I know you really like hugging her there.

Natsume: And what makes you say that, idiot?"

Himeno: Hehe… Knowing you, I'm sure.

Mikan: So, what's going to happen in the next chapter?

Aoi: Am I going to have more moments with my new brother?

Himeno: Yeah… And love will start blooming between the two…

Aoi: Really? I'm so excited for Mikan-chan and Onii-chan!

Mikan: Love?

Natsume: Tch…

Himeno: And oh, there will be more fan girl trouble in the next chapter.

Mikan: Please review and no flaming. Himeno-chan doesn't want flames.