Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice

My Last Love Story by Hotaru Imai

Chapter Four: Acknowledging You

In case you have forgotten, I am currently sitting beside the lake petting a little white bunny that was nibbling on the carrot that used to be my snack.

Bunnies were so pure; its white fur cleanses even the most tormented of souls.

The nature of the bunny was to live the remainder of their days out and look out for the young. If only humans were like that. If only we could learn from these creatures.

I was lost in my own thoughts while with it. It calmed me down and it let me relax. I slipped away from all the pressure: the expectations.

It was like the world did not matter anymore. All those problems seem to wash away. I pulled off a small smile as I repeatedly stroked the bunny, its fur tickling my fingertips.

That was when I heard a panicked voice.

"USAGI-CHAN!"

That was the one word I heard.

Back then, I had frowned a little bit; annoyed at being intruded on while finally at peace.

"USAGI-CHAN!"

There it was again: closer this time.

I stood up from my position holding the bunny in my arms.

There was an emerging figure in the distance.

My breathing stopped for a moment. The man that I had been avoiding the whole day was there.

His blonde hair was messed up. His face was in a panic. His voice was croaky from all the shouting.

Looking down into my arms, I finally realised it.

This was his bunny. Oh, how stupid was I?

Of course it was someone's bunny. This was a school afterall. That was when Ruka noticed me. Well, not specifically me.

But it was the little bundle of fur in my arms.

His eyes lit up.

Oh god, those eyes. They seemed to pull me in.

He ran towards me, stopping only just in time.

"You found Usagi-chan."

I looked down to the bunny and thought my wordless goodbye before saying, "I guess so."

Before I could make a fool of myself, I lifted my arms so that they were level with his chest.

Taking this as a sign, he had already put out his arms in welcome for the animal.

"Thank you so much Hotaru-chan. I was so worried I had lost the little guy."

I mentally wanted to knock some sense into the guy's head. He was in high school. He was a teenager. Heck, he was a guy.

In no way was a normal guy supposed to thank a girl like me. No guy would say 'thank you' in the first place. Certainly, no guy would be that worried to have lost a pet rabbit.

But once again, my mouth did not comply with my brain and instead I uttered out another reply.

"It must be special to you."

He smiled. I could have sworn he was surrounded by a radiant aura then. It seemed to light up my gloomy mood.

"It's been with me for a very long time."

I nodded in acknowledgement of his answer. Now was when I felt awkward.

That same feeling tingled inside me. I did not know if it was a good thing or a bad one.

All I could tell that was that as soon as I was in his presence, my whole body would tingle all over. I would have that uncontainable urge to gain his attention.

I would just wish time would stop.

I had thought to myself that I was probably letting the stress get to me.

I urged myself to believe that these were just side effects of all the pressure my body had to go through.

Not once did I think that it was a sign.

But in truth, it was.

It was the sign that this was the man destined to intertwine his fate with mine.

I could not think of anything as I stood there in front of him.

The wind blew against me and my hair started flipping about wildly.

Inwardly frowning, I tried to flatten the crazy strands and keep them in place. I failed of course.

How I hate hair. But I hated baldness even more and so I had to resort to cutting my hair as short as possible.

Of course, I cut my own hair. My family did not have enough money to support ourselves so why should we waste money on such trivial things such as haircuts?

"Do you want to go inside? The wind is bothering you isn't it?"

He smiled at me in that gentle way of his. That was when I noticed his accent. He had an underlying foreign accent that I found quite alluring.

He was not one of the other boys; that was for sure.

"Yeah. I guess it is."

We walked side-by-side towards the school building and came to a decision of sitting on an old bench on an abandoned patio of the arts building.

An awkward silence passed by once again and I had the thought of walking off.

"You like being alone don't you Hotaru-chan?"

Well, there goes my chance of leaving.

"Yeah."

I knew myself that I was not cut out to talking to males. They brought out the worst side of me. But then, Natsume was an exception.

He was even worst than me.

"You're also one to not talk much." He chuckled at me.

I looked to my side to face him. He was also looking at me.

"It is not one of my specialties."

"Life was not supposed to be easy."

I frowned in confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It just seemed to me that you go through life as if it was something to be hated."

I blinked multiple times. We had only met each other and known each other for less than twelve hours and yet he cared that much for me.

He also realised something Mikan and the others did not pin point over the years.

"I don't need your sympathy."

That was my astounding reply. I mentally slap myself as I write this; why was I so cold back then? Oh, right, that.

"I do not pity you Hotaru-chan. I just feel that as your friend I should be here to support you."

His answer took me aback. This man had a heart that I did not possess.

He did not know me yet he cared. He knew I was cold yet he was warm to me.

Back then, I made a decision: I would start to learn to have a heart.

And this man was going to teach me.

"Do you want to hear my story then?"

His face softened.

"Go ahead Hotaru-chan. We have all the time in the world."

That past self of mine was so naïve. She had thought that that was the beginning of a happy ending.

She had thought fate was finally smiling down on her to bring such a person into her life. But not once did she imagine that this was the beginning of the end for her love.

Late at night, I would always lay awake, replaying what had happened on that fateful day: even after all those years, it still haunts me.

I am now sitting here crying as I write this. I still cannot pardon myself for what I had done.

I was the reason Ruka Nogi died.

And I will never forgive myself for it.

My Last Love Story – End.

Author's Note: Thank you to those who DID review, you made my day. And now onto the review replies (:

Sitting in the Silence: Well, of course Kate-chan, where else did he get all those to die for abs k333 Rabbits are adorable aren't they? But of course, Ruka is adorable-ler (if that is even a word) Hahas.

JustSomeone (Anonymous): Thanks for reviewing my story! In this story, I do try to make them stay in character, but then I think Hotaru will start becoming more out of character as the story goes on, hope you don't mind! This story was started on a spur, but I now think the Theban Play Antigone will inspire the rest of the plot. Hope you keep reading!

Lunarpelt of Waterclan: And once again you made me laugh; you are such an awesome reviewer xD And aww, thank you for the compliment, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Listen2music4ever: Why hello there, welcome to My Last Love Story dear reviewer ;D (I did not intend to creep you out at all…hehehe) Don't run away now, you've got the rest of the story to read right? Hope you liked this chapter (:

Chapter Dedication: to Sitting in the Silence, JustSomeone (Anonymous), Lunarpelt of Waterclan and Listen2music4ever! Thanks for reviewing!

Now it is time for me to rave on again. Yay. Number one is that I can tell you guys that in the next chapter, Hotaru's past will be revealed, and I hope you guys won't think it is stupid cause I seriously could not think of anything else

Number two is that I have a contribution to May Madness and it is The Songs of Our Love. All those Rukaru lovers out there, the first chapter is a Ruka x Hotaru pairing. And for all those who don't have anything to read, try it please (:

P.s: this is my last update before examination starts. So please bear with me. ! The next one will probably be around the 15th June. I'm so sorry for the delay! Forgive me k33

Please leave a review,

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