Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters. All credits go to the creator, Tachibana Higuchi.

Ruka was panting by the time he caught up with Natsume. "Honestly Natsume," Ruka said "You walk way too fast for your own good".

Natsume smirked at that comment. "Or maybe, Ruka, you just walk way too slow" But seeing that Ruka was still panting, he sighed and sat down on the pavement.

"Hey Natsume," Ruka said, while sitting down next to Natsume, "What'd you think of the new girl?"

"She's flat" Natsume said

Ruka chuckled at his answer. "I didn't mean about her looks. I meant about her personality. Doesn't she remind you of someone?"

Natsume could tell that Ruka was up to something, but only grunted a "Hn." For a response.

But Ruka kept on pressing on, "Aren't you curious to know her name?" he asked. Seeing that Natsume said nothing in reply, Ruka said "Mikan Sakura".

Natsume's POV

"Mikan Sakura?" I said. "Why is she going here?" I asked angrily.

"Calm down Natsume," Ruka said, "It seems like she doesn't remember you. Which is a good thing. Hell, you didn't even recognize her"

I gave him a look. "Why would I remember her? It's been four years, she doesn't even look the same" I said.

I saw that Ruka roll his eyes and said, "Of course she wouldn't look the same, years have passed" And then he became silent. I thought he was done talking momentarily until Ruka added softly, "But then again, I'm sure you haven't forgotten her and that night even though years have passed"

"You're right, I haven't forgotten" I murmured.

-x

Mikan's POV

"Hotaruuu, why is there such a long line?" I said exasperated.

"Well, if you didn't take your sweet time looking for your purse, we would've gotten here sooner" she said dryly.

I giggled at her response, which only got her to glare at me.

It took 40 minutes to get seated. Well, we would've been seated sooner, but Hotaru was so picky on what table we sat at.

The waitress came by with our menus, and left to give us a few minutes to read over it.

"What would you ladies like to have today?" she asked when she came back

"I'll have an iced tea and a club sandwich" I said, handing my menu over

She nodded, "And you?" glancing over to Hotaru

"Water and a crab sandwich"

The waitress raised her eyebrow at the crab sandwich part, but then nodded and walked away.

"So," Hotaru started. "How are your parents?"

I didn't expect her to ask me that. "They're fine" I said.

She nodded. "Hey Hotaru," I added.

"What"

"Why did you warn me about Hyuuga?" I questioned.

She raised her eyebrow at me, and said "Are you defying my orders" she said coldly

I gulped. A scary Hotaru, is something everyone would want to avoid. "Of course not Hotaru," I said while laughing nervously. "I was just curious".

She looked at me and said, "There are just things you shouldn't question. He can hurt you, Mikan. And if I can do anything about it, I will. So I'm telling you try to stay away from him."

I slowly nodded, processing this information. I wondered how he can hurt me though, wasn't he just some perverted, arrogant bastard? My thoughts were disrupted when the waitress came back with our food.

"A club sandwich and iced tea" she said. "Thank you" I said smiling. Food can always make me feel better.

"And a crab sandwich and a coffee" she said, placing the food in front of Hotaru.

"Coffee?" I heard Hotaru say. "I didn't order coffee. I ordered water."

The waitress kept on apologizing for her mix up, and Hotaru just sat there. It was evident that Hotaru was getting annoyed since she snapped and said, "Just get me my damn water, lady"

The waitress' eyes popped open, and I chuckled at how Hotaru handled this.

-x

When we finished eating, it was already 5 PM. So we decided to go back to the school. We were talking about old things until I heard a voice call out to me.

"Mikan!"

I turned around. "Hey Ruka!" I said warmly. I saw Natsume come towards us at the corner of my eye.

"Oi, Polka dots" I heard him say. "Still trying to trouble my friend here?" he said while smirking.

I glared at him. "I was just saying hi to him. It's hard to believe that you guys are best friends"

I heard Hotaru clear her throat.

"Hey Imai" Ruka said. Hotaru just nodded for her response.

"Come on, Mikan" she mused, "Let's go." I saw her subtly nod towards Natsume.

I saw what she trying to do. "Okay!" I said. "Bye Ruka!" I said while giving him a small wave.

I was about to turn around to go to Hotaru, when I felt something hold my arm back.

"What, no bye for me?" Natsume said.

"Let go of me! You don't deserve a bye from me" I huffed.

He slowly released his grip on me, but not before smirking and said, "That's what you're saying now, but sooner or later you're going to want me to hold you"

I snorted, "That's such bullshit. I would never want you to hold me. Now if you don't mind, Hotaru is waiting for me" I said, skipping back to Hotaru.

We both walked back to our room in silence. And when we got there I decided to break the silence. "I'm pooped" I claimed.

"Then sleep, baka" Hotaru said.

"It's only 6 now though, and I haven't even showered, or unpacked my stuff" I wailed.

She sighed as if she was dealing with a kid. "Then shower and unpack your stuff. Then sleep" she said.

That made sense to me, so off I went. When I finished showering, it was 7. I looked around the room and saw that Hotaru wasn't there, so I figured she was in her own bathroom. I decided to start unpacking.

I think unpacking was a lot more tedious than packing. It took me much longer that I thought it would to unpack. The last thing that I took out was the empty picture frame. I decided to put it in my desk drawer, along with the piece of paper that Hiriko gave me.

By the time I finished, it was already 9:53 PM. Strangely though, Hotaru still wasn't in the room. Suddenly, I heard a knock outside my door. I didn't think it would be anyone important, so all I wore was just my bathrobe since I didn't change into my PJ's yet.

Much to my surprise and annoyance, outside the door was Natsume.

He raised his eyebrows at the sight of me. "Well," he drawled "That looks comfy. Might be more comfy if you took it off though" he smirked.

"You stupid pervert. Wipe that smirk off your face" I snapped. "Why are you even here"

His face suddenly got serious, so did his tone as he said, "I came here because I need to talk to you, Mikan"

I frowned upon hearing this, and I was about to say something but was cut off by Hotaru's voice. To my surprise, she had been out all along. "Hyuuga. She doesn't need to talk to you" she said coldly.

I saw that Natsume had a flash of annoyance in his eyes as he faced her. "Well, are you going to tell her what I need to tell her then?" he demanded. "I'm pretty sure you didn't tell her anything either way."

I saw Hotaru take a sudden intake of air, as she started to keep her gaze steady on Natsume. "What is he talking about, Hotaru?" I asked. She didn't even look at me when she said, "Nothing Mikan, go inside. I'll talk to you later. I have to talk to Hyuuga first"

Natsume slowly nodded upon hearing this. "Let's go, Imai." He said.

"What's going on here?" I demanded. "Why does it seem like you guys are keeping secrets from me?"

"Don't worry, Mikan. I'll explain to you later. Go to sleep for now" said Hotaru before she started walking away with Natsume walking behind her.

Seeing I had no choice but to listen to her, I went inside the room. I laid down on my bed, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

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