Mikan X

A collection of stories on pairings between Mikan and random people.

Most stories will be AUif not, I'll say. :)

Ch. 2: Mikan x Tsubasa. 'Cause in the end it wasn't how many years older than her he was, but all the years he kept her waiting.

Tsubasa is the guy in GA that everyone thinks is cool; he's hot, a smart-ass, and can make anyone laugh. Plus, tattoos are soooo eye catching. He's not really someone you can forget, and his playful-slash-childish attitude is just so endearing. But he genuinely cares for Mikan, and if they weren't already life-paired, well… Who can say they wouldn't be good together? ;)

This is a kouhai-senpai-slash-brother-sister tale without Alices. It's sweet and cute, but…

What they have in common: they both make friends very easily, and get on people's nerves just as quick.

Disclaimer: Oops! Forgot this in the first chap, but let me just make it clear: Gakuen Alice will never be mine. Nope. It just isn't.


Mikan Sakura and Tsubasa Andou

He moved in next door when she was five.

Her mother, Yuka, being the ever-friendly woman she was, had baked a tray of cookies for the new neighbors and somehow Mikan found herself knocking on the beautiful crystal-encrusted door on that summer morning. She didn't mind it at all—she was young, and at that age there was nothing more that she wanted than to have a gazillion friends.

So when the door popped open, the first words that came out of her mouth were: "Hi! I'm Mikan Sakura and I live next door. Can we be friends?"

The boy in the doorway blinked then burst out laughing. Mikan stared back at him confusedly. He looked about seven or eight years old, with midnight blue hair and the shape of a star on his cheek, and his blue eyes were full of amusement as he looked down at her.

A woman—his mother, Kaoru (A/N: haha, I'm using Natsume's mom's name just because)—came up behind him. "Tsubasa," she scolded, "what are you doing?" Seeing Mikan, her face brightened noticeably and she leaned down. "Now who is this?"

"Mikan Sakura! I'm your neighbor," she announced proudly.

Tsubasa chuckled. "Isn't she adorable?"

The woman smiled and agreed harmoniously, "She is! I remember when you used to be like that, Tsubasa." She tsked with her finger.

He pretended to look hurt. "Are you saying I'm not as cute as she is?"

Laughing, she turned back to Mikan. "Little sweetheart, where's your mother?"

"At home. She wanted to come but she said," Mikan scrunched her face and stood up straight as she mimicked her mother's words, "'I'm not presentable, dear. You bring the cookies over and tell me how they liked it.' So here you go!" She thrust the plate at the two then turned to leave. "I'm going to tell her how nice you are! She's gonna be happy to meet you!"

And like a little bullet powered on sugar, she skipped around the yard and into her own.

Behind her, Tsubasa burst into another chortle of laughter. "She is so cute!"

Kaoru knocked him on the back of the head for laughing, but joined in and said, "I think we already established that, Tsubasa. Now help me make a pie for the girl and her mother—it's rude if we don't return the favor."

-MT-

They were best friends when she was eight.

The two of them would get together almost every day for different events, and they enjoyed it. Their parents, both loving decorating and baking and all sorts of motherly activities, had become best friends, only leading their children to do the same. They went to school together but were in different classes because of their two year age difference, yet that still wasn't enough to separate them.

Today, they were out to get some groceries.

Of course, even in their small town and extremely friendly neighborhood, their mothers still went with. But the kids were given a list of baking supplies so they could have some sort of fun scavenger hunt through the supermarket.

It was an adventure.

"The first one is sprinkles and icing," Mikan read off the list with excitement. "Mommy wrote that they should be in the same isle but… which one is that?"

Tsubasa pushed the shopping cart which she was sitting in down to the end of the store, and he smiled his catchy smile. "Guess we'll just have to go down every single one to find out, huh, Mikan?"

She beamed. "Let's go!"

As their two children took off, Yuka chuckled, "They're so enthusiastic."

Kaoru joined in, pushing a cart of her own in an actual direction. "Would you have it any other way?"

They heard a slight crash and everyone turned to stare at the two children, Tsubasa feverishly apologizing for running Mikan and the cart through a high stack of cereals, and the girl only grinning at him while banking off another idea. He threw his head back and laughed before pushing her along once again.

And even though she answered, "Maybe," they both knew that it was a positive no.

-MT-

She told him everything when she was ten.

She was lying upside down on his bed as he was typing up his English project on his computer, chatting about all the little things that happened in her day. His attention may have been initially elsewhere when she first arrived, but even as his fingers continued across the keyboard, she still had his full attention.

Occasionally, he would have to catch himself and delete her words he somehow found on the screen.

"…And Hotaru ignored me again." Mikan sighed. "I don't get why she's so mean to me, Tsubasa-senpai. I thought I was her best friend."

Tsubasa winced at the mention of the cold, purple-eyed girl. He had met her only a few, unfortunate times when he went over to Mikan's house so they could take their daily walk to the park (where he always bought ice cream for her, under the noses of their parents, of course), and he could almost say that the ten year old girl frightened him.

But he knew for certain that Hotaru Imai had a soft spot for his kouhai, that much being certain when she shot him with a watergun and threatened, "Take care of her, you jerk." She was blunt and submissive, but underneath all that scariness and brutal actions, she could've been a kind girl.

"She does care for you, Mikan," Tsubasa told her, "She's just Hotaru, y'know? Doesn't know how to say it."

Mikan brightened instantly and continued to blabber about.

After a few moments and a couple of laughs at the craziness the girl puts up with, Tsubasa asked conversationally, "So, are there any boys I need to interrogate? Any jerks I need to pound?"

He didn't know why he said it so suddenly and he bit his tongue. Why should it matter to him if she was dating? I'm her brother was the first thought that came to his mind, but for some reason, it just felt wrong.

"Like a boyfriend? No, not really," she said dismissively, much to his relief. "Although there are these knew boys in my class that are really popular with the girl's, and I'm not sure why. Ruka is really nice—he's like a perfect prince charming, but Natsume is just so mean to me."

The typing stopped. "What did he do?"

"He said I was loud and annoying."

Tsubasa almost laughed and the pattering of the keyboard resumed. "Seems like I need to meet this kid. What happened?"

She was more than happy to tell him about it.

-MT-

He started questioning when she was twelve.

During class he found himself thinking about how her math test was going that he had helped her study for the night before. When he aced his baking assessment when he was in home-ec, he silently thanked his kouhai for helping him practice for it during the weekend. And when a random girl from his science class came up to him and asked him to be his girlfriend, Tsubasa automatically said he was taken.

But he wasn't. Now he was sitting in his room which didn't feel like home when she wasn't in it, staring up at the ceiling wondering why Mikan's smiling face came to his mind when people asked him who his girlfriend was.

She couldn't be. He was practically her big brother, she was practically his little sister; they were bonded together but not in any other way.

She couldn't be.

Tsubasa had to remind himself of that fact repeatedly when she came over to celebrate the A she got on her quiz.

-MT-

Everything was different when she turned fourteen.

Mikan noticed something was wrong when grade nine came around. They still hung out all the time, helped each other when they could, and never went a day without communicating in some way (except the week she went on a school camping trip, or when his junior class travelled to Tokyo City). Their parents sent them out on shopping trips all the time without their supervision now, and once in a while, they would mesh their two groups of friends.

She felt different around him. When, she wasn't sure, but all of a sudden she started to care about little things when he was around, like how her hair looked or what she was wearing. It confused her, only new at being a teenager, so she went and spilled it to him as soon as she was aware.

It shocked Tsubasa. When he blinked at her, she instantly regretted telling him about it and apologized for bothering him. But he just laughed and said lightly, "If I didn't know any better, I think you're developing a little crush."

Relieved for reasons she didn't understand yet still unconditionally confused, Mikan asked, "Is that a bad thing?"

He could only smile, "No. It makes me happy to hear it."

After a few words returned, they both realized they were no longer siblings.

-MT-

She felt heartbreak for the first time at sixteen.

Tsubasa was preparing for graduation, and had been accepted into Alice University in Tokyo. It was an inevitable parting, had to happen sometime, but she couldn't help but tear at the revelation. He was leaving. He was leaving her, just like that, for four long years. It broke his heart to leave her here, but he knew she was in just as much pain.

On his graduating day, he found Mikan locked up in her room. She refused to come out, and after yelling "Go away!" through the door, he knew she had been crying.

He tried to talk to her, but she screamed and shouted, until finally, Yuka said gently, "I think she needs to be alone."

Even though the thought of his favourite kouhai—no, his favourite girl—not being at his graduation upset him, he had no choice but to leave her be.

After the ceremony, he went back to her house. Her mother gravely informed him that she hadn't left her room all day; hadn't eaten, drank, or said anything at all. The only thing that assured Yuka that her daughter was still in the room was the quiet sobbing coming from the other side of the door.

Since he was sure she wouldn't open the door, Tsubasa went around back and climbed the stairs of her balcony. He knocked on her window several times before she finally pushed aside the curtain. The sight of her face looking so pale and torn made his heart drop much farther than the depths of hell.

"Can I talk to you?" he mouthed through the glass.

She stared at him for three long minutes before finally unlocking the shaft.

He didn't say anything to her until they walked to the center of the park's open field. Mikan had mildly reminded him that she was only in her pajamas, but he just returned that it was late and no one was there to see it. When he laid down on the summer green grass, she automatically took the spot beside him.

Instead of getting straight to the point, he pointed up to the starry sky and said, "Isn't it beautiful? They say that the stars are supposed to be brightest tonight."

"Who's they?" she asked softly.

"The weather network."

Mikan started to laugh at his usual ridiculousness, but realized what she was doing and stopped.

"No," he disagreed, "It's okay to laugh. It's okay to smile and be happy and live your life when I'm not here; I can't take that away from you."

"Yes, you can."

Tsubasa winced at the straightforwardness of her statement. "Maybe. But I won't do that to you."

"I'll miss you, Tsubasa-senpai." She looked over at him, eyes full of sorrow. "I'll miss you every day that you're gone."

"And I'll miss you too. When I'm out there, there won't be a day I won't think of you, and there won't be a minute you're not in the back of my mind. But when I see you, I want you to be smiling, Mikan. Haven't we all told you that you look best when you're smiling?"

She laughed sadly, and he didn't have to look over to know that she had started to cry again. "Yes. You, Hotaru, and even Natsume always say that."

"So smile, Mikan," he said, hiding his irritation at the mention of her classmate that so obviously loved her. "Smile if not for you then for me; even if I'm on the other side of Japan, I'll know whether or not you're happy, and don't think for one second that I won't come back for you if I find out."

"That's not fair, Tsubasa-senpai."

He looked over, startled. "What's not fair?"

"I'll want you to come back."

Letting his head roll back so he was facing the sky again, Tsubasa bellowed out a quiet chortle. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. We'll still talk—I'll try my best to come home for holidays."

"Can't I call you?"

He hesitated. "Alice University is strict on their communication rules once we're on campus." Seeing her look, he quickly added, "But I'll still write! We may not be allowed calling, but mail is an easy-breezy and reliable way to get things back and forth."

Mikan sighed, looking up at the stars that shined brighter than she felt. "I wish you didn't have to leave so early. I wish I could go with you."

Taking her hand in his own, he said, "It's only four years, Mikan. I'll be gone for four years of University before I can get whatever job I want."

"Will it be near me?" she asked eagerly.

"Oh, but of course. It will revolve around you, follow you wherever you go."

She giggled. "Even if it doesn't, do you promise you won't forget about me? Do you promise you'll come back for me, no matter how many hot girls you meet on the way?" Her tone was teasing, but he could tell she was worried.

"I will, only if you promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

He looked at her, eyes serious. "Wait for me."

"Always."

-MT-

That was their promise.

Tsubasa had left for Tokyo that weekend, leaving a teary Mikan to try to keep a smile on her face. Hotaru saw the obvious effort and threatened to kill the boy once he got back, and all of her other friends tried their best to get her to smile again too. And though it took almost twelve months before her smile regained its brightness, everyone was relieved to see it.

One crimson-eyed more than others.

Every single time Tsubasa tried to return for the holidays for the next two years, something messed up. His train broke down, flight was cancelled, or it was much too snowy to drive. Or maybe he had some kind of extra classes. One time he did make it back, but Mikan was gone that summer with Hotaru for France. He didn't see her.

And the academy had been much stricter than he thought about communications, since it wanted to keep its reputation as the top school with the top students, and they thought that relinquishing all ties during classes was a good idea.

Mikan didn't see it that way.

She still declined loyally the million boys who had tried to ask her out on a date, though sometimes she wondered if her senpai was keeping his side of the bargain on the other side of their country. But, as positive as she was, she never once betrayed him.

In four years, he had completed his last semester at Alice University only to find that Mikan had just left to its neighboring school after her own graduation.

Two years after, Mikan returned only to find out that Tsubasa had been offered a position in a large company in America that was just too big to decline.

By then, they didn't even have the others' numbers.

And when she turned twenty-four and Natsume, whom she had learned to confide in when Tsubasa was away, asked her out, she realized that she couldn't wait forever. She realized that maybe life was keeping both of them away from each other for a reason.

So she said yes.

After a few more years of continuous work and hardly any break time, Tsubasa decided it was time to check in with his mother and his favourite girl. Kaoru had been glad to see him, but when he mentioned Mikan her face dropped immediately. The girl had moved out years back.

That was when he learned she had gotten married.

At first, he wasn't sure what he felt. First he was outraged, then betrayed that she had broken their promise. Then he was heartbroken as he realized that it meant she didn't care for him anymore, and only sadness dipped his heart.

And then he felt shame, a deep brooding shame, as he remembered how busy he had been; how little he had thought to even send a postcard saying he was still thinking about her. How, despite his assurances that they wouldn't lose contact with each other, Tsubasa had never once exchanged a word with Mikan ever since he first left. She had probably waited months—no, much more than that—for him to come for her like he said he would, but he never had.

So that she had finally lost faith after all that time together and just as much apart, well, who could blame her? They didn't talk; they didn't meet; he didn't call or come see her no matter where she was; his job took up his time, and it didn't happen near her. It wasn't Mikan who had first broken their word, it was him.

That was their promise—one he realized he was selfish to make.

END


Like or not? :)

~Jules