Greetings, earthlings! I haven't updated in a while and that's heavily due to school starting the past week. They've messed up our timetables to the worst and most off-putting degree possible so the entire grade is grumbly. However, it didn't take long to settle in and soon I'm back on track with my writing. Not that I didn't just write 75% of this just now.

The other two reasons are: this evil long term project everyone is made to do and ... STARDUST WINK! Wow, I was recommended that manga and dang, it's real good. Love triangles entertain me to no end. However, after chapter 10 I had to read summaries because they stopped being published in scanlations and now, after chapter 19... I don't know where to find summaries for the next 5 chapters...

I have been terribly slacking off with ffn. I keep getting story alerts and never feel motivated to read them (but I've written them down to get back to later on). Hopefully, I can decrease that list over the busy weekend.

So without further ado, the long awaited reunion of...

Chapter 14: Legitimate Reunions: The Accusation

There was a very, very odd aura draping over Class D. Peculiar and off-putting, Sumire thought, just like the person who caused it. There was a mixture of many things; anticipation was dominant, she guessed. They were, after all, waiting for someone's arrival. Excitement may have been mixed in. Unease, too. At least, she could say that for herself. It had been well over two years since they'd last seen the person.

Even though she shared the feelings, the forest green haired girl was a slightly – well, a little more than that – annoyed that such a big deal had been made about that girl's return. She was nobody important anyway. In fact, in Sumire's every opinion, she was just a clumsy troublemaker who threw everything she involved herself with into confusion.

Infuriating. She was infuriating. However, her friends' words rang in her ears. Come now, Permy, you were good friends with Mikan whether you liked it or not. Against her will – and to her dismay – she began to remember more times than she would have admitted when Mikan had been there for her; supporting her as a friend.

A tangle of dark curls flew about her as she shook her head furiously. They didn't get along. She shouldn't be thinking that. Not now; especially, not now. Gritting her teeth, she crossed her arms and stared at the floor. More of last week's conversation returned to her. I bet you're just as excited as everyone else.

"I'm not," she said, not knowing that it was out loud. Her head shot upwards as she realised to see a handful of people staring at her in confusion. She glared hard at them and soon regained her privacy. Well... maybe, she gulped as she realised what she was about to think. If people knew that, her cover would be blown for good. Cautiously sneaking a glance around, as if someone would hear her thoughts she admitted in defeat, Well, at least out loud, I won't admit my – extremely limited – excitement...

That took a lot off Sumire's shoulders. It felt better, more at ease. She was ready for Mikan now... and any unwanted complimentary extras. Without such bothersome thoughts on her mind, she was now easily able to continue her busybody morning in her usual, bossy fashion.

And somewhere, on the other side of the classroom, a sandy haired boy who appeared to be asleep started to chuckle...

Lilac eyes swept the classroom in boredom. It seemed that everyone knew of Mikan's arrival today. Her old friends were in a buzz, while others were expectant and newer kids were curious. The only people who seemed indifferent were Koko, herself and a few people who had fallen asleep. Ruka seemed as excited as everyone else even though he had already seen her. Psh, so easily influenced by the crowd.

Natsume, to any other untrained eye, seemed as bored as ever and lazing in his favourite position with a manga over his eyes. However, he was tense, his movements were stiff and unnatural, his brow was furrowed and he gulped a little more than a normal person would – if at all. The way Ruka kept stealing anxious glances at his best friend told Hotaru that she wasn't the only one who had noticed.

Sighing and concluding that that sort of behaviour from Natsume was inevitable, she prepared her books. Class was starting in about a minute. As she shuffled her papers and took out the appropriate books she couldn't help but allow a small train of thought. With all the commotion caused by her most treasured friend, Hotaru couldn't help but feel happy for her best friend for receiving such a warm reception. Not that she would ever say that out loud.

The door finally opened and a dashing young man walked in. Girls swooned and Hotaru rolled her eyes. Haruo was a total idiot with negligence problems. However, he had some benefits. Hotaru enforced her opinion by taking out a camera and snapping an unnoticed photo. It was profitable to be in his home room class. Plus, it was easy to blackmail him to letting her off class like last week.

"Morning class," he greeted plainly. "Before we start, we have a new student joining us. Well, some of you might recognise her from a few years back when she used to attend the academy." The class began to mutter amongst themselves. "Yeah, so for those of you who don't know, here she is..."

The door opened and in walked none other than Mikan Sakura. The reaction from the class was softer than one would have expected because the main feeling was disbelief and silent, awed observation. Even Natsume had somehow been infected by the atmosphere in the classroom. He found himself tense and drumming his fingers nervously.

Why? He couldn't fathom. He'd already seen her, spoken to her, kissed her. But it felt like everything was happening all over again. But there she was. True, it didn't feel anything different. Not that Natsume's heart didn't leap each time he saw her, but nothing out of the ordinary. She looked nervous, but excited and overall cute. Natsume lips pulled up slightly at the corners.

"Hi, everyone," she said with reasonable confidence. "My name is Mikan Sakura. Nullification, Insertion and Stealing Alice. Pleased to meet you. I used to go to this school about three years ago in Elementary Class B. So for those I do know, it's nice to see you all again." She smiled warmly and made a small wave.

The class burst out into hushed mumblings. Some of her old friends waved. Natsume investigated everyone's reaction. The bunch of people who didn't previously know her seemed to be interested. He noticed the intimidation from the stealing Alice and while others remained wary, some had rightly judged her to be a good person nonetheless. Her cheery attitude may have helped more than a little bit.

However, Natsume's eye twitched for the other possible reason. He had just realised how Mikan would've seemed from a strangers viewpoint. She was pretty. To Natsume she was gorgeous but perhaps it was just him. It better just be me, he thought sourly. Although his hopes proved doubtful as he caught a few implicating stares at her. This did not do good for the room temperature.

Absorbing her image fundamentally, Natsume examined her. She was sporting a new hairstyle today. It was half up and tied in a cute little ponytail on the side. The allowed the rest of her long, soft, auburn curls to fall gracefully down her back and sides. Her hair had grown significantly longer and was down to about her navel.

True, it was Natsume's suggestion to change hairstyles in the first place but now he came to regret it as he didn't think as far as other people seeing it and liking it also. Not only that, her features had matured commendably too. She was now an attractive young lady and this simply made the fire caster's possessiveness rage in anger.

Trying and failing to ignore a handful of lustful looks at the girl, Natsume took a deep breath before he could accidentally set the desk on fire. He received a supporting nudge from his best friend next to him as Ruka could clearly see the boy's agitation. It seemed to say, Don't get ahead of yourself.

Upon glancing at his best friend, Natsume caught Ruka giving him a serious, warning look. Understanding the nature of that face, Natsume was brought back to reality. Ruka had just reminded him that he wasn't supposed to have rejoined Mikan yet and thus doing something stupid right now would not only make him look like a fool, but raise questions. Natsume was never supposed to have admittedly liked her in the first place.

Ruka knew that Natsume was irked by having to pretend to not like her at all, especially when he had finally come to terms with his feelings. But something greater was on the line and Natsume would just have to work his way through it. He knew that his friend could be possessive but he'd never seen him so bad before.

Ruka still didn't know what happened between him and Mikan but he could probably take a good guess. Natsume was a determined boy and surely he would've conveyed his feelings as soon as he got the chance. There was no doubt in Ruka's mind that Mikan would've gotten the message. And Ruka had more than a hunch that it was mutual.

The blonde stifled a chuckle as he glanced up at Natsume. He was interrupted from his amused thoughts however when he saw him glaring hard at something. More specifically, someone. Ruka could be sure that the intense death sentencing stare couldn't be good so he followed his gaze to none other than the class teacher himself.

Even Ruka cringed at the sight. Haruo was actually staring at Mikan. No, he was checking her out. At that thought, Ruka had to swallow puke. Haruo was handsome and stuff, sure. He'd receive dozens of confessions from infatuated students but he hardly paid attention to them. However, he knew of his power and he took every advantage of it. To think, he'd set his eyes on Mikan.

Ruka was bothered, very much. But that was most likely the last straw for Natsume. Ruka smelled smoke. Setting aside his disturbed thoughts and remembering in alarm what Hotaru had trusted him to do, he frantically searched around. It wasn't long before he saw the paper between him and Natsume singe at the edges. It wasn't necessarily on fire but it was smoking a lot and seemed to be corroding into ash at the sides and eating the paper away.

Ruka elbowed Natsume hard and thankfully broke his glare from Haruo. Then the blonde hurriedly began finding a way to subtly (well, as much as he could) tame the crumbling paper.

Natsume was in a murderous state.

His fists were trembling and if he had long nails, they'd probably have pierced his own skin by now. However, had it not been for Ruka, Haruo would probably have been reduced to a smouldering pile of ashes. No matter how pleasant that sounded to Natsume, it couldn't have been good for the overall situation.

Perhaps, catching a hint that he was being sent telepathic death threats, Haruo continued on with the introduction. After seemingly having waited for the class to calm down, he said in his husky voice, "So, I know, Mikan, you've been here before but perhaps middle school would be confusing. Do not hesitate to ask me about anything. But for the mean time, would anybody like to volunteer as her partner?"

Alarm bells rang in Natsume's head. This was a chance for the other guys from earlier. Natsume sorely wished that a girl would be picked but he could already sense some ready hands from hungry boys about to go up. He couldn't let that happen. Why couldn't they just pick him again like before. They, or rather, Haruo wouldn't do that now. Should he? Should he raise his hand? Would that jeopardise anything?

Natsume knew that his hesitation wasn't going to help but really had to think this through. Praying for a miracle and receiving none so soon, he was about to lift his hands from behind the chair when someone said, "I'll do it."

Tracing the sound back to its source Natsume let out a shaky breath. Maybe miracles do happen after all.

"Yome," Haruo said in a slightly surprised, slightly indifferent manner. Perhaps the whole class felt the same. Natsume at least, could breathe easy. "Well, since you were so quick. Why not? Mikan-chan, do you have any problems with that?"

Mikan's eyes sparkled and a wide grin crossed her features as she recognised the familiar face. "Koko!" she exclaimed with glee. "Of course!" Koko let out a chuckle and returned a signature goofy grin.

"Good, that's settled, take a seat next to Yome." Mikan happily bounced towards him and smiled brightly as she took a seat. She sat up and looked expectantly back at the teacher.

"Well, that's really all I needed to do, so um, you guys can do whatever now," he stated, rubbing his hands together and briefly exhaling. "If you need me I'll be in the staff room." And with that, he trailed out the door and was gone.

Mikan was still staring at the door about three minutes after he had left. "Huh?"

Koko chuckled in amusement and explained, "That's Haruo-sensei for you, he does not give a damn. But it's cool, because we can do whatever we want during home room. By the way, welcome back!"

The girl's eyes twitched a bit as she replied, "I-is that so? Okay... and thanks! I missed you all." Koko made a peace sign. "But," Mikan continued to ponder out loud, "if I can do whatever, that means..." She looked around to pinpoint her friends but was surprised to already see a huddle heading towards her.

"Mikan-chan!" exclaimed Nonoko. Anna was waving rapidly next to her.

"Alas, the troublemaker is back," cried Sumire dramatically but smiled and greeted her nonetheless. "It's a wonder you didn't get yourself killed without our supervision!"

"Nonoko, Anna, Permy!" Mikan called with enthusiasm. "It's amazing to see you all again! I missed all of you so much!"

"My goodness, Mikan. So much has happened while you were gone. We have tons to talk about. You've grown up so much, heh, so cute!" Anna noted while pinching Mikan's cheeks.

Permy scoffed, "Don't get her full of herself so early on, geez. Besides you'll have enough time with her until we graduate. Provided, of course, that she doesn't mysteriously go missing again, ahem."

"Aw, guys, I'm really, really sorry about that! I really didn't -"

"Don't mind Permy, it's okay. She's just hiding her excitement with cruel words again. In fact, she really missed you. Right, Koko?" Nonoko pitched in. Koko nodded in a matter-of-fact way. Sumire scowled but blushed.

But before Sumire could deny it, Tobita, Hotaru, Ruka and Natsume were there. "Mikan-san," greeted Ruka familiarly. Hotaru shrugged and muttered that she saw her yesterday when she arrived while Yuu gave a friendly smile. Natsume looked a bit awkward, but Mikan caught a flash of green in his mouth. So Hotaru doesn't trust him after all...

"Everyone!" Mikan cried happily. She saw Natsume's eyes widen and no doubt the candy had kicked in. Mikan had some this morning too, thank goodness for that. "Inchou, you're still Inchou right? I think Hotaru mentioned that in one of her postcards. She's actually done a good job keeping me up to date." That was the excuse, when in actual fact, Hotaru had told her nothing and she found everything out from last week, mostly thanks to Nonoko.

"Ruka-pyon! How's Usagi and Piyo? Gosh, I haven't seen you in a while." She could tell that Ruka was impressed by her acting, but all credit went to Hotaru as always.

After a bried exchange with Ruka, finally, she came to Natsume. With only a fraction of a second's hesitation, she greeted in equal cheeriness, "Natsume!"

He stared at her with a bored and otherwise unreadable expression before uttering one thing. "...Polkadots."

Mikan was visibly seen twitching in many corners of the face before exploding, "What is this, you nasty fox? We've seen each other for less than five minutes and you're already ticking me off. Have you no respect? A-and it just had to be the same name, didn't it? When will you ever get tired of calling me that?"

"When you stop showing your underwear," he replied simply. He seemed so amused at this situation and how wonderfully controlled it was.

"Isn't three years wihtout it enough, you pervert?" Mikan was now no longer acting.

"Three years? So you plan on showing me again...?" A huge smirk was now plastered onto his handsome face.

"N-no! Ugh. Same as always... nasty fox," grumbled the girl.

"As are you."

"Hmph," she turned back to the class. Good show, was probably what Ruka and Hotaru (and most likely Koko, too) were thinking. But the only person who was acting was Natsume. Well, probably not. Either way, they'd somehow pulled it off. Nobody would possibly have thought that they'd met for the past week now. Nor that they had somehow grown closer in that time.

"As expected from Natsume-sama! He'd never stoop down to low-level mischief makers like that little girl. I mean, he should stick to appropriate choices like me," she boasted boldly.

Natsume turned a cold glare to her, "What was that? If it were my real opinion on the line right now, in the current state, I'd take her over you any day."

...

Did he just...? Mikan was shocked speechless. Not just that he had praised her a bit nor that he had just slammed Permy but that he said it out loud... to everyone!

She wasn't the only one. Nonoko and Anna were, after the initial shock, now gossiping and giggling to themselves. Inchou seemed confused. Ruka's mouth was in a perfect 'O' shape as he was obviously shocked and probably concerned. Hotaru's eyes were narrowed, examining the situation and predicting how it would play out. She didn't seem to be doing anything so she was probably waiting to see more.

"Cut," Koko stated. "You got cut!" He had an astonished grin on his face. This was probably the best entertainment he'd received for a week.

"Na...tsu...me," Mikan said. He'd been showering her with random praise that caught her off guard a lot, but this was new. So yes, she was actually surprised anyway.

He then turned to her with the same bored expression and saving the day, he announced perfectly, "Don't take it personally."

Hotaru thought that giving Natsume the candy was a great idea. She was, after all, a genius. It was able to help him collect himself to the point where he controlled it all, and knew the game. He knew what he had to do and he added his own motives into it. Not that it would have been Hotaru's pick for a turn of events, but it was highly effective. No doubt could come from that. She was satisfied.

Besides, she caught the whole thing on tape.

Anyway, she knew the lover boy's plans and it seemed to fit well for him too. The possessive fool wants the world to know that she's his property and he'd have to build up the approach. Or else it'd be suspicious. It was fine by Hotaru (both the Mikan being his property and his methods... because she is a great friend). Mentally, she compared him to a territorial animal. Very similar...

It was now almost break and students were preparing to leave. A handful of students stood before them, jamming the doorway and she waited. Ruka was behind her and Natsume trailed behind him. They were passing Mikan and Koko – who were seated near the door – when Hotaru heard a snippet of conversation.

"That was so great, Koko! I think I'm going to enjoy middle school."

"Hah, yeah. It's loads fun."

"So, you said you had something to talk about?"

"Yeah, about that... I think we have a lot to talk about, Ichigo-chan."

Cliffy! Okay, maybe I'm getting a little too into cliffhangers right now, but I'll... well, nothing. This was a longish chapter so, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Everyone was looking forward to a reunion and it really puts on the pressure. I just hope you guys are at the very least, satisfied. Also, REVIEW your responses. I need the feedback guys ^ ^. Keep me motivated to write or else this story may end ahead of its time because I need to do this above schoolwork. Also, I'm just about five reviews off of hitting a hundred so, I'll need your help for that. Thanks in advance.