Author's Note: Hello again!! Another update from me! I would like to thank the following readers for reviewing Chapter 6: michiyo, Star Sapphirex, SamuraiLordzandGoddesses777, me
(anon), Esa MaRie, hend, simplebutspecial, anonomous, Anime-tanaka and GhiminaRuho. Anyway, hope you enjoy Chapter 6!

"Let's go somewhere together tomorrow… I mean… not in a date you know cause that's gonna be weird and people are going to gossip about you in the tabloids…I guess with Ruka and Hotaru also…okay?"

"Do what you like"

"What YOU like" Mikan corrected, pointing to Natsume.

"Thanks again" she whispered and entered the room again

"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!!?!" Natsume yelled and kicked the box of fireworks

XXX

Chapter Seven

Childish Togetherness

XXX

Mikan's POV

It was certainly inevitable that we didn't make the newspaper or tabloids after my kidnapping. Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru were featured on different tabloids and they were the main topic in the entertainment section. They were also featured in Tokyo's biggest celebrity show: Tokyo Celebrities Today. There were candid photographs of them running into the warehouse and setting the fireworks in flames. There were different titles such : Natsume…By Day a Celebrity, By Night a HERO?!?!?!?! Or Warehouse Superstars or something like that.

After breakfast, Hotaru and I went downstairs to visit Tokyo Media Industries to talk to Ruka and Natsume. We walked down the lobby and as we entered the main road, we saw unusual looking men holding cameras with pencils in their ears. They also had papers peeking out of a big black messenger bag which was also stuffed with camera film and different kinds of lenses.

"They're paparazzi" Hotaru whispered.

"How do you know?"

"It's so obvious. With their unusual way of walking, their tone in whistling, the way their eyes shift and ears twitch whenever there's somebody nearby. Face it, after that story on the My Favorite Loser stars rescuing an unidentified girl which is you – people want to dig in to the roots of the story. They might even make rumors that we are their girlfriends or something like that," Hotaru responded. "Keep watch. They may recognize us from the newspapers"

We walked hastily to Tokyo Media Industries where there were more photographers. They were sitting on benches, leaning against the wall and some were wearing bizarre clothes that had leaves on it. Hotaru told me they must be trying to camouflage themselves against the sidewalk plants. But it was so obvious that they were people since the stray dogs wouldn't mark their territory on them.

We went up to the 15th floor (Celebrity Lounge) and Natsume and Ruka were there watching TV. "…And who were these two mysterious girls with them? Girlfriends, probably? We are yet to find out" Natsume turned off the TV and kicked it.

"DO YOU SEE THIS?" he yelled, acknowledging our presence as we walked in and sat down with them. "NOW THEY'RE ALREADY GOSSIPING ABOUT US!!! AND ITS ALL YOU AND YOU'RE STUPID MIND'S FAULT!!!"

"It wasn't intentional" I said, my heart about to rip out with guilt.

"Oh believe me…you're rescue was intentional" Ruka said, giving a sly look at Natsume – making him turn away and flush intensely. What's up with him?

Hotaru looked out the window. "There are still paparazzi outside. You cannot possibly afford to go outside without them noticing you…and us of course. There were two double takes as we walked over to this building. They must've recognized us from the newspapers" she said coolly.

"We can't stay here forever. It's so boring and these paparazzi are SO stubborn" Ruka said, going to the window and seeing for himself.

"But I promised Natsume that we'd all go out together…" I protested. They gave me this certain look that made me think that I meant a 'date' I shook my head "No… it's not what you think… I meant the four of us…not just…me and Natsume" I said, my voice shaking nervously. Ruka raised his eyebrow but I just avoided their stares of disbelief.

"Hey Natsume, there's going to be a party tonight upstairs. Maybe we can just go there later" Ruka said, smiling. OMG…. RUKA'S SO CUTE WHEN HE SMILES!! I know I've said that lots of times but I'm trying to brainwash all of you to know that he's HOT!!!

"Yeah I guess so. But premieres are so damn boring" Natsume said, leaning back.

"How about you, Mikan? Do you want to go to the premiere?"

I wanted to float up to heaven and die.

"Haha. You can be my date!" He said, patting me on the back and grinning at the way my face flushed.

"But don't you think there's going to be paparazzi? There's always photographs in premieres" Hotaru objected calmly.

"I can just tell the bodyguards to kick them out" Ruka returned proudly.

XXX

Hours later, we got ready for the party. Hotaru let my hair down and put a diamond barrette on it. She says I look more mature than I look now. I unpacked a nice pink sleeveless evening gown with a black sash and Hotaru lent me a pair of heels. Hotaru wore a dark blue long-sleeve dress and dark blue wedges, she tied a blue ribbon around her hair. She looked so pretty, I wonder if I'm that pretty.

Of course, Ruka's chauffeur picked us up even though it was a few blocks away because it would look kinda stupid for two girls wearing formal clothes dirtying themselves in the street by walking and being EXPOSED to the smog and end up smelling like stray dogs.

The party hasn't begun yet so we went up to the Celebrity Lounge and stayed there for awhile. Natsume and Ruka entered a few minutes after we arrived. Natsume was wearing a suit but there was no polo or necktie inside but merely a casual t-shirt and wore a pair of black Converse rubber shoes. WOW! HE LOOKED HOT!!!! No… I'm just joking – I like exciting all of you. I giggled to myself and suddenly turned pink as I scanned him head to toe. Oh shut up, Mikan – maybe I'm not joking after all, so it's not that embarrassing to admit that somebody you don't like looks hot. Ruka was wearing a suit jacket, jeans and a casual t-shirt also. He looked hot too. I'm acting like a boy-crazy girl.

I checked my watch. It read 7:50. "Hey, isn't it time for the party, already?" I asked Natsume. He glanced at the wall clock and nodded "Let's go" he told me. "RUKA! HOTARU! THE PARTY'S GONNA START!" He shouted. There was no response.

"Hey, maybe they went upstairs to the party already" I said. Natsume took one last peek and he beckoned me to go outside. We went out and Natsume locked the door with the key. "Don't want those sneaky paparazzi fooling around with our belongings" he muttered and we both went upstairs.

"COMING!!!" Ruka said, as he and Hotaru ran out of the arcade room where they were playing a fighting game (obviously, Hotaru won since she's more skilled at handling the joystick). Ruka grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, it was numb.

"DAMN! IT'S LOCKED!!!" He cursed as he attempted to open the door again. Yup, it was still locked.

"Let me try, you are foolish at these things" Hotaru said, slowly pushing him away from the door and tried to open it. Still locked.

"Let's try to open it with a hair pin I've seen it in movies and…"

"Oh shut up. It won't work. We're stuck here… "

Alone together…

XXX

We arrived the party. IT WAS SO COOL!!! I've never really been to a celebrity party so this was one hell of an experience. Loud party music blasted through the speakers of the stereo and well-dressed people walked around carrying tiny glasses of champagne and eating shrimp cocktails. Even Persona was there!!! He was wearing a leather body-suit and a touch of pink boots (I liked the pink boots). Persona noticed our presence in the party and ran up to us, he offered me a margarita.

"I'm only fifteen" I said, shaking my head.

"I didn't know Natsume would bring his dahhhhllliiing girlfriend. Would you like a shrimp cocktail?"

"No. But where did you buy those boots?" I grinned, pointing at them. This was like talking to a sister I never had.

"Dahhling, these snooty celebrities might hear me when I tell you these designer boots. But I'm going to tell you since YOU POSSIBLY cannot afford to buy them…" Persona whispered in a British accent.

"Elle" he finished and ate a shrimp. Before I could say anything else he told Natsume how much he loved his hair today but Natsume just stomped on his pretty pink boots and Persona went crawling to the buffet table.

I talked to lots of celebrities. It was amazing, some of them held my hand saying I'm so lucky to be Natsume's girlfriend but I would shake my head and say I'm Ruka's girlfriend (even though its not true, it's just soothing to my vocal cords when I say it). And Natsume would say I'm too drunk and I'm the girlfriend of nobody.

We walked to the buffet table. There were trays of different foreign food and I just kept on getting and getting food and throwing them on my plate that people kept on staring at me and said that I should watch my figure. "I'm just fifteen" I would reply and continue chomping down food.

"Where's Ruka and Hotaru?"

XXX

"I'm hungry" Hotaru told Ruka after an hour's silence. They have been watching the Home Shopping Network for quite sometime and Hotaru was getting tired of hearing the man's enthusiastic voice telling them to buy a frying pan only for eight hundred yen.

"I think there's food in the refrigerator" Ruka said and they walked to the kitchen. There were only eggs in the refrigerator so they just had to settle for that. They got a frying pan and cracked open the eggs, the yolk simmered into the olive oil and Ruka laughed.

"What?"

"It's funny. It's like we're playing HOUSE. You know…where the girl plays the wife and the guy plays the husband" he said watching her cook.

Hotaru turned away and turned red. How come he has to be so cheesy?!?!?

XXX

Dinner was great. I kept on getting servings of juicy roast beef and gulping down delicious honey-glazed chicken. I watched dancers prance on the stage and Persona was mimicking them from his table. Gowns of other celebrities distracted me since their sequined dresses reflected upon the dim light. Natsume ate less than me and talk to other people.

A few minutes after my third serving of Bolognese pasta, a man came up to the stage and took the microphone, the dancers scuttled backstage and Persona took out pink clips from his purse and clipped his hair. He's disturbing.

"Good evening, I hope you're enjoying your evening. As we all know, this party is for the new sitcom show Dancing With Dalmatians with our very own Persona starring as the main character. As we all know, Dancing With Dalmatians is about a guy from the military who has a passion for dancing and leads a double life. So shall we play the music and pick random people from the crowd to dance?" he said in a Home-Shopping-Network host kind of voice and two spotlights started flying across the room.

Then the spotlight hit me, it blinded my eyes and I turned away and gave a pasted smile. I looked who was going to be my partner… IT WAS NATSUME. He was in the other end of the room and he blocked the light with his arm. I CANT BELIEVE IM GOING TO DANCE WITH HIM. I'm such a horrible dancer that I stepped on my dance partner's arms in gym class.

I stood up nervously as people pushed Natsume onto the dance floor and I followed him, ignoring the giggling faces.

IM GOING TO DANCE WITH…NATSUME!!!

XXX

Hotaru and Ruka sat down in front of the television watching toddler shows while eating fried egg. "How many stars are in the sky?" the silly man asked in the television. "Four!!" Ruka said, jumping from the couch.

"Ruka!! You're so immature!!" Hotaru said, getting irritated at the way Ruka was behaving.

"I'm just trying to make you smile" Ruka responded, smiling at Hotaru.

There you go again… being cheesy!!!

XXX

"So what are your favorite dances…er… Mikan?" The host asked.

"I only know one dance from gym class" I replied, I was so embarrassed! Countless celebrities stood before me and I was making a fool out of myself.

"Ok…what's that?"

"Ballroom" I said, wanting to hit my head.

"Do you know ballroom dancing, Natsume?"

"I guess" he said.

Music started playing. I wanted to die. Natsume looked around and offered his head. I blushed and I looked around, people were grinning. I took his hand we started dancing.

The music was soft and enticing. Natsume's cologne was so strong, but so…good? There must've been alcohol in my food… I was getting dizzy as I danced with Natsume… he looked good close-up. His raven-colored hair…and his eyes were fun to get lost in. I shook my head as I danced along…getting these thoughts were disturbing.

We were centimeters apart, he wasn't keeping any eye contact with me but looking down.

"What are you doing? Hey…you're kinda pink…is something wrong?" I asked.

"No!! I'm just avoiding your ugly face so my face won't shrivel up and burn" he responded, still not looking at me.

I wanted to punch him.

Then, thanks to my distraction – I stepped on his foot and I fell down, flailing my arms as I fell and he caught my by my waist and I stood up, turning as pink as possible as his hands held my waist. I wonder how stupid I look in front of the crowd.

But still, what embarrassed me the most was the fact that I practically LOVED Ruka but I feel more flustered when I get caught in Natsume's auburn eyes. I shook my head again and continued dancing…

XXX

Before I knew it, the party was over. Persona called Natsume and I – Tokyo's Best Couple which made me even more embarrassed. Natsume walked me to the lobby since I was sleepy – 2:34 am isn't a good time for a girl to stay up. I haven't caught a glimpse of Hotaru or Ruka in the crowd, but it was weird that I didn't even think of Ruka once while I was dancing with the pervert.

XXX

"YES! IT'S UNLOCKED!!!" Ruka yelled, opening the door with a spare key that he recently found under the carpet. He opened the door and he and Hotaru skipped out, they went to the twentieth floor and found the party empty. The food was wiped out (which made them entirely disappointed since all they had was fried egg and ketchup for dinner), streamers and the decorations lay on the floor while a drunk man was asleep on the floor. Soft waltz music continued playing in the stereo.

"Darn it. The party's over"

"I guess I better go back to the hotel. I don't want the idiot to be freaking out"

"Wait!!"

"What?"

"Dance!" he grinned. "Even though the party's over – it doesn't matter"

I stared at him in disbelief.

"Look, to make it less cheesy – let's put Persona's CD as the music" Ruka said, rolling his eyes and putting Persona's second album on the stereo system.

"Baby, don't you think I need you

Baby don't you think I want you

I'm Persona and I'm the guy you want

So baby come on, come on!!!"

"So what do you say?"

"Yeah. I guess so. But only because it's not cheesy"

And they danced.

XXX

Author's Note: Hope you liked Chapter Seven. If you want, PLEASE SEND ME SONG REQUESTS so I can use them in this story. Thankees!