DISCLAIMER: I do not own GA.

CHAPTER 4: The start of something new

It was a dark and stormy night as Natsume just laid down on his bed thinking of what happened a while ago in the court with Mikan and his team member. It was already past 11:00pm so everyone might be asleep in the Hyuuga mansion. Their mother is not around since she was on a business trip so Natsume, Mikan, Reika and the other maids are the only ones left.

"Tch. Am I becoming an overprotective type of brother to her? No way! I don't even want to be her brother on the first place. For some sort of reason, I feel like I want to be an important part in her life but I don't even know what part it would be." He thought as he heard someone knocking on the door. The door then opened revealing a very familiar brunette.

"Na-natsume? Are you still awake?" she asked in a very low voice while peeking inside the dark room.

"Hn. What are you doing here? You should be asleep by now." he replied as another thunder and lightning occurred. This made the brunette scream while he just stared at her while cocking an eyebrow. "Just as I thought. She's still scared. Tch. Baka."

"A-ano, I was wondering if I could sleep here for tonight. You see, I'm scared." She mumbled as Natsume turned on the lights. He then saw a Mikan with red and puffy eyes.

"Tch. You're already 15 and yet you're still afraid of thunder and lightning?" he said with a smirk while another sound of thunder was heard. Mikan screamed really loud and because of too much fright, she accidentally hugged Natsume – real tight. This made Natsume blush a little bit and this also made his heart skip a beat.

"What the?! Why am I feeling something weird? Geez!" he thought. "No. you have your own room so go and sleep there. Thunder and lightning will not even kill you so what on earth are you crying for?" he answered while Mikan was still hugging him.

"Pretty please with sugar lumps on top? I really don't like thunder and lightning and you know that!" Mikan pleaded.

"I said no."

"Pretty pretty pretty please with two sugar lumps and a cherry on top? I won't let go of you unless you let me sleep here in your room for tonight."

Natsume just sighed in defeat as he just agreed. "Fine. Just let go of me Polka Dots. You're starting to get too clingy!" he said as Mikan let go.

"Arigato *sob* Natsume." Mikan replied as Natsume lead her to his bed. They both lied down on the king sized bed while the rain still continued to pour down as their backs were facing each other. Every time that thunder and lightning would occur, Mikan would scream her lungs and throat out.

"Shhh. I'm already here so stop crying. There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of so just go to sleep. There's no use in crying 'coz it won't do anything to help you." he said while stroking his sister's hair. He did this since his mom told him once that this was the fastest way that could put Mikan to sleep.

After a few minutes, the rain disappeared and Mikan finally calmed down. She was still lying in the bed of Natsume but this time, they were now closer to each other.

"Ano, I just wanna say thank you." Mikan said in a low tone.

"For what?"

"For what you did a while ago. You know, if you didn't come I wouldn't know what would happen to me. Who was that guy anyway? And why were you so mad? I've never seen you that mad before."

"He's Kanata Izumi. He's a playboy so don't even think about going near him. Got that? I don't want his germs to infect you. You're already an idiot as you already are and making you worse than an idiot is something that would be harder to deal with." He said with a smirk.

"Hey! I'm not an idiot, you big meanie!"

"Oohh. The monster's back. A while ago you were crying like a little baby while begging me for you to sleep here and now you're back the usual routine of making me ears bleed all because of your screaming. Is that even a proper way to treat your brother?" he answered with another smirk.

"Whatever Natsume, I won't answer you back anymore since you helped me a lot this day." She said while yawning. "And could you please stop doing that to my hair. It makes me sleepy."

"Baka. I'm doing this stupid thing to make you fall asleep since okaa-san told me once that it's the easiest to make an idiot like you to go to bed. Aren't you even tired from all of you screaming and crying sessions a while ago?" he stated while stroking Mikan's hair.

They were now sitting on the bed while Mikan's head was leaning on Natsume's right shoulder. They kept quiet for a long time until Mikan yawned again.

"Oi, Polka Dots, you better go to sleep. Your frequent yawning irritates me." Natsume ordered as they both laid themselves on their beds but their backs were facing each other. After a few minutes, Mikan then faced Natsume's direction and then whispered something. "Thanks for allowing me to stay here tonight, Onii-chan."

Natsume's eyes were already closed and getting ready to visit dream land. But upon hearing what Mikan have said, he immediately opened his eyes and stared at her while cocking an eyebrow.

"What's with the onii-chan thing? You don't even call me that." He said.

"Nothing. As far as I can remember, I called you onii-chan only once and that was when I first came here. But you told me to call you Natsume instead. I was even scared of you back then. But now, I realized that you can be nice to people in your own little way." Mikan replied.

"But since you're a year older than I am, I guess I will start calling you onii-chan again. Since I was little I always wanted to have a big brother so I was really happy when okaa-san told me that I will soon have one. And then I met you. Is it okay with you if I call you onii-chan or Natsume-nii?" she continued.

"Call me whatever you want. Just go to sleep. It's already one in the morning and I still have morning practice tomorrow. I don't wanna be late."

"Oh. Okie dokie then, onii-chan. Oyasuminasai. Thank you again." She said as she gave Natsume a good night hug and then drifted off to sleep. It was a good thing that Mikan has her eyes closed because the hug made Natsume blush again and the fast beating of his heart was confusing him even more.

"Oyasumi, Mikan." He whispered as he turned off the light from the lamp on the bed side table and then laid down to bed again while he was thinking of what he felt a while ago when Mikan hugged him.

"Why on earth did I fell something like that when Polka hugged me? Aaaarrgghh! I guess her baka germs are already infecting me!" he thought as he drifted off to sleep as well.