Chapter six now!

I also want to thank Kamichamaluvr for helping think of the raven as Hotaru!

I never mention their ages, right? I'm sorry! They're 17, and in the High-School division…

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the songs here

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Winter. Soft, light snow had already started falling, covering the academy in a light blanket of white.

It was only a day away from the Winter Festival, and all the festival preparations were set. The stage for the music, the stands and shops, colorful banners and signs…everything.

"Man…I really don't want to do this…" Mikan sighed. She and the whole musical entertainment group sat in Mikan's room. Natsume and Ruka on her sofa, and Mikan and Hotaru on her bed.

"We all don't," Ruka stated, looking around her room. Her room was the biggest of all the rooms for the students in the academy. A bathroom, and mini-kitchen, a king-sized bed, and a lot of other things I won't bother to describe.

"At least we have masks to hide our faces," Hotaru commented.

"I don't really want anyone to know it's me singing this either," Mikan agreed.

"Because of your ugly face?" Natsume said from behind a manga book.

"…"

Mikan could feel her veins popping. She'd rather not use her Alice here, it was her room. Where the hell would she sleep and all that stuff if she destroyed it trying to destroy Natsume?

"No," Mikan managed to say through gritted teeth.

"I quit singing three years ago." She whispered so quietly that her voice was barely heard.

Natsume and Ruka looked up at her in surprise. Apparently, they had good hearing.

"Quit?" Natsume said to her, raising an eyebrow.

Mikan glared at him.

"Nothing. I'm leaving. Hotaru, lock up when you guys are done." She threw a key attached onto a string or something, and left her room.

"What did she mean by quit?" Ruka asked her.

Hotaru looked at him, then the door, and back to him.

"Her voice. When she was little, she used to sing for the village. Some professionals even asked her if she wanted to go pro, but she refused to leave the village. But since I left her to come to the academy when she was five, I don't really know much about it."

She paused, stared at the ceiling, and looked back at the two boys.

"I remember doing some research on her when she was 15. She moved to America and she started singing for some company, and became really popular there. Then, because of her throat and her blood problem, she quit…but that's all I know. I think it's actually someone who caused her to quit. Mikan doesn't give up so easily…"

Meanwhile, Mikan…

She sat on a branch of the Sakura tree. She loved singing, yet she hated it. When she was little, she had copied some people's Alices without knowing. And…she had hurt some people with her singing because she had unknowingly used a voice pheromone.

"…"

She took out a small packet. Inside contained some pills to help her with the blood problem.

"Hey," She heard a voice.

"What do you want?" Mikan said, putting the packet away.

Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru came in view from below the tree.

"…"

"Let's get to class," Hotaru said. Mikan jumped down from the tree and followed the rest of them back to the academy. She stopped, watched them walk, turned her head and looked at the sakura tree. She looked back at Natsume…

And something in her heart stirred.

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The stage was sort of like a mountain. It had taller and shorter platforms where they could stand on. It was an interesting setup.

Yes, today was the dreaded day. Well…for Mikan and the rest of the group, anyways.

Where was the group anyways?

Backstage, of course, putting on their costumes.

Hotaru, Natsume and Ruka were already dressed, as Mikan was in the dressing room engaged in a serious battle with hers.

"Damn it!" She cursed. "I hate this freakin' costume!"

"Just hurry up, hag," Natsume said, spinning his cat ears around.

"Shut up, bastard," Came her reply as she opened the curtain.

Description?

"Beautiful," Hotaru said.

How true.

Her hair was down as usual, but she put some silver streaks in her hair to match the rest of the outfit.

She looked stunning. With the silver tube top, the matching skirt, the gloves and the ears, tail and her mask.

She looked…like a fox.

Natsume blushed, as he mentally slapped himself. What the hell?! What the hell was wrong with him?!?!

Mikan smirked.

"Animals, huh..?" She said, as she sat down next to Natsume.

"The headmaster is just plain crazy."

She slipped on some white platform shoes.

"We're about to go on soon." Hotaru said emotionlessly as usual.

She walked to the stage (the curtains are closed) and took their positions.

Mikan sat down on the lower platform with her legs crossed. Natsume jumped on another platform a little higher and kneeled down, sort of like how a knight would bow to a king. Hotaru sat on yet another higher platform, and she sat so people could only see her side. Ruka sat on the highest platform, standing up and facing the crowd. Each found a microphone next to them.

"Ready?" Mikan asked.

The curtain opened.

"KONNICHIWA, MINNA-SAN!" She screamed into the microphone.

" ARE YOU READY?!"

"YEAH!!!" The crowd screamed back. How many people were there? Millions, probably.

Mikan and Hotaru went first. Although she would be singing the majority of it, Hotaru still sand some parts. They jumped up into a standing position and started.

"I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

Can't you see that you're smothering me
Holding too tightly afraid to lose control
Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
And every second I waste is more than I can take

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

And I know
I may end up failing too
But I know
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
I'm tired of being what you want me to be
I've become so numb I can't feel you there
I'm tired of being what you want me to be"

Mikan smiled. She hadn't sung anything in a long time. She crowd cheered for and Hotaru, as she returned to her sitting position. She looked at Natsume. She sounded pretty good; he did have to give her that. She smirked as he and Ruka stood up. Like the Mikan and Hotaru duo, Natsume would sing the majority, though Ruka would still be singing.

The crowd cheered for them as the music began playing and he began singing.

"(It starts with)
One thing / I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on / but didn't even know
Wasted it all just to
Watch you go
I kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart
What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
One thing / I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
To remind myself how
I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so (far)
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me
In the end
You kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart
What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter…"

"NATSUME-KUN!!!"

"RUKA-KUN!!!"

"YOU'RE SO HOOOTT!!"

The fan girls screamed. Natsume rolled his eyes. He hated fan girls.

"This will be the last song of the day, Minna-san!" Mikan said into the microphone. She glared at Natsume as he smirked…again.

The music started playing as Mikan gave one last glare at Natsume.

"I complicated our lives
By falling in love with him
I complicated our lives
Now I'm losing my only friend
I don't know why, I had to try
Living my life on the other side
Now I'm so confused
I don't know what to do

He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me...
I started blurring the lines
Because I didn't care
I started crossing the line
Cause you were never there
No where to turn,
No one to help,
It's almost like I don't even know myself
Now I have to choose
I don't know what to do
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, she loves me

He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me...
No where to turn,
No one to help,
It's almost like I don't even know myself
Now I have to choose
I don't know what to do
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
He loves me, He loves me not
She loves me, She loves me not
Loves me not..."

They finished together.

The crowd was in stunned silence. Not in a bad way, the song and the way it was sung was beautiful.

The group waited for a bit, and the curtains closed.

The crowd broke out in cheers.

"We did pretty well," Mikan said weakly.

"Considering that we never even practiced with you," Natsume smirked.

Doki-doki

Mikan held her hand to her chest as the rest of the group started going backstage.

Damn it…what was this feeling every time she looked at him?!?!

And that's a wrap! Woow, kind of a long chapter, wasn't it? Meh…I'm not really sure, I don't think this one was all that interesting…but whatever. Review?