Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits basket, it would still be making more books, and if I owned Gakuen Alice, there would be a heck a lot more NatsumeXMikan moments! :D unfortunately, I don't own either.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Mikan's POVWe had decided to eat outside, since me and natsume had broke the Sohma's table coming in. As we ate lunch with them, I could tell the Sohmas were interesting people. I could already tell that Tohru and me were going to be great friends. The guys she was living with are Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki.
Shigure's very funny and kind -- he reminds me a bit of Narumi-sensei. Yuki is quiet and soft-spoken, but he seemed like a nice person. Kyo, on the other hand, reminded me of Natsume, except Kyo was louder and expressed his anger in a way more vocal and violent way. And he swore a lot. Also, Kyo, along with Tohru and Yuki, are all in highschool. Shigure is sort of their guardian.
So, as you can probably figure out, I got along with everyone(with the possible exception of Kyo). Natsume, however, instantly closed up. He only said something when someone asked him a question directly, and even then it was only a one-syllable word or a rude/sarcastic comment. Other than that, I was pretty comfortable here with the Sohmas.
I was still worried about how to get back home, though. How did we even get here?! The Sakura tree obviously had something to do with it, but still, that doesn't explain much. Who ever heard of a Sakura tree being a portal?
I had already told the Sohmas about where Natsume and me came from. I also told them about our powers, which started an interesting conversation . . .
"Oh really? Powers? What are these powers you have?" Shigure asked me interestedly when I had told him about our powers.
"Uh, well, I have nullification -- I can nullify other people's powers. Natsume can control fire." I explained, glancing over at stoic Natsume.
Shigure looked absolutely delighted. "Can you show us?" he asked eagerly.
Natsume snorted. "My pleasure."
I realized what he was about to do a second too late. "Wait -- Natsume --!" I began, but I couldn't stop him in time.
He set Kyo's orange hair on fire.
"AUGH!! MY HAIR!!! IT'S ON FIRE!!! THAT FREAK!!!" he screamed, dancing around and trying to pat the fire out.
Natsume smirked and leaned back, like he was relaxing to watch a show.
Tohru stood up and ran into the house. She came out a moment later with a bucket of water. She poured it over Kyo;s head. Shigure and Yuki were watching with mouths agape.
When Kyo had finally finished rubbing his hair and cursing he turned to face Natsume.
"YOU GOT SOME NERVE, PUNK!!!" he yelled, literally fuming with anger. Natsume just snorted.
Kyo looked like he was going to blow a gasket.
"Natsume. . ." I murmured. This wasn't going to end good. Natsume obviously wouldn't restrain from burning Kyo to a crisp. In fact, I think he's actually looking for a chance to do so. . .
And I can't let that happen! We just met these people! I was about to say something else to Natsume to try to stop him from causing another fight when a sudden voice startled me.
"Stop this."
I started and turned to see who the owner of the cold, unfamiliar voice was. A tall, pale skinned man with jet-black hair stood in the door way. Only one of his piercing silver-blue eyes showed--the other was covered by a piece of his black hair. Something about this man made me shiver.
"Hatori!" Shigure exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise seeing you here!"
So they know this man . . . I thought wonderingly.
"What is going on here?" Hatori-san asked coldly.
"Er - H-hatori-san-this is Mikan-chan, and this is Natsume-san." Tohru said, bowing in respect and motioning to Natsume and me as she said our names. Hatori-san looked over Natsume and me emotionlessly.
I gazed up at him and grinned. "Ooooh you have such cool hair, Hatori-san!" I exclaimed, getting over the cold feeling I had when I first saw him.
Hatori-san gave me a weird look and then turned to Shigure-san. "Akito-san wants to see you, Shigure," he said coldly. "Now."
Shigure-san laughed and nodded. "Okay, okay. Always so serious and in such a rush, you two are . . ." he chuckled as he got up. "Excuse me, Mikan-chan and Natsume-san, but I must leave you for a while. I will be back shortly," he said with a smile and a bow.
I waved and grinned at him as he left with cold Hatori-san.
"So it's just us. Great." I heard Yuki mutter. I turned around to look at him and saw why he was stressed at this -- Natsume and Kyo were having another fight of theirs. They were glaring at each other nonstop. Tohru and me just sweat-dropped.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Yuki spoke up again. "I guess we should address the, er, problem at hand, if you know what I mean . . ." he muttered, looking at Natsume and me and sighing.
It took me a moment to realize what he meant, but when I did I nodded, but strangely it was reluctant. He was talking about how Natsume and me are supposed to get back home.
"Oh, yeah. Let's see . . .you know how we got here already – somehow through the Sakura tree. Maybe if we tried sitting under a Sakura tree around here – maybe that's the key." I suggested.
Yuki nodded. "It's worth a shot."
So, Yuki led us to a Sakura tree that happened to be hanging over the Sohma's house.
"Look at that! Right where the last branch hangs over the ceiling – that's where we dropped in! So it must have something to do with Sakura trees!" I exclaimed excitedly, running over to the base of the tall Sakura tree.
Yuki nodded. "It's looking like it. You probably should try sitting under the tree the same way you did when you were teleported here," he said.
"Okay. Come on Natsume, sit over there . . .wait, were you on the right side or the left side?" I wondered aloud, studying the tree.
Natsume brushed past me, and I heard him sigh. He sat down on the right side of the tree. I walked over to the other side – I hoped he remembered which sides we had been sitting on. But, hey, I didn't even know if it mattered.
So I sat down, and waited. And waited. And waited.
And nothing happened.
Yuki put his hand to his face and rubbed it wearily. Kyo grunted. "This is pointless," he muttered.
For once, I agreed with Kyo. "Yeah, it probably is. Well, it was worth a try . . ." I murmured, sighing. "What should we do now?"
"Well, there's no way I'm staying out here all night waiting for something to happen that probably never will." Natsume growled, getting up.
"Well, I-I could show you two the Sohma house . . ." Tohru suggested with a small smile.
I returned the smile. "That'd be awesome! We'll figure this out – but for now, let's forget about it." I said cheerfully and walked over to Tohru.
I heard Yuki sigh, and Kyo groaned loudly. "Whaaaat?! I have to deal with this idiot for the rest of the day?! Maybe even more?!" he complained angrily, glaring daggers at Natsume.
Natsume returned the loathesome glare. "You better shut your mouth, Orangey, or I'll do it for you," he growled menacingly.
Kyo growled and began fuming again. "What did you just call me, punk?!"
Natsume ignored him and walked towards the Sohma house.
"Answer me, idiot! Or I'll beat you to a pulp!"
I heard Natsume mutter, "Yeah. I'm so scared."
"WHY YOU LITTLE--!!! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT THIS TIME!!!"
And so began just one of the many, many fights of today.
~.*.~
"Wow, I'm beat! How do you deal with Kyo everyday? I'm worn after just one day of listening to him explode every five seconds!" I exclaimed, flopping down on the makeshift bed next to Tohru's.
"Oh, no. . . He's not this bad usually. Kyo does fight with Yuki a lot, but they're getting used to eachother a little more these days." Tohru replied with a smile.
"So Kyo and Yuki fight a lot then?"
"Yeah. They've always been . . .enemies, sort of, " she replied, and I thought I heard something else in her voice, but it was insignificant so I shrugged it off.
"Huh. That's interesting. Well, I can kind of see why, though – they have personalities that are bound to clash." I noted.
I heard Tohru sigh. "Yeah, I know that. . . but I always have this hope that I can change that one day. I think that they could really get along – they both admire each other deep inside, but they'd never admit that to one another, of course. But that's one of the real reasons they hate each other so much – they're jealous of the other's qualities . . . but they don't see their own." Tohru said thoughtfully, and there was sorrow in her voice as well.
I was impressed – she sure pays attention to details. And she really takes them into consideration, too.
"Well, anyway, we should probably be getting to bed now – it's late." Tohru said. "And I know you're tired from dealing with fighting boys," she added with a grin.
I grinned back and nodded. "That's for sure. Thanks for letting me sleep in your room – I wouldn't want to sleep in the same room with a grumpy Natsume." I laughed.
"Of course!" Tohru replied, laughing with me.
We both settled down after that. I sighed as I closed my eyes. Just as I drifted to sleep, the scent of Sakura blossoms crept up my nose . . .
~.*.~
Tohru's POVI groaned – something didn't feel right about my bed. I shifted – but it still didn't feel right . . . it was too hard. Also, my limbs felt sore. I wondered if I had fell off the side of the bed in the middle of the night. That had to be it.
Then I remembered Mikan-chan – what I if I fell on top of her?! My eyelids flew open and I looked around me. What I saw was definitely not what I expected, though.
I was under a tall, full-blossomed Sakura tree. Mikan-chan was next to me, tossing and turning. It was just turning daylight, so I could see buildings around me. There were so many buldings – they all looked like school dorms. Where was I?!
"Tohru?" Mikan-chan murmured. "Where . . . are we?"
"Oh! Mikan-chan! You're awake!" I exclaimed, looking down at her.
Mikan-chan looked around her, slowly absorbing the sudden change in atmosphere. Suddenly comprehension appeared in her expressive brown eyes. "Whaaaaat?! We're – this is – this is Alice Academy! How did we get here?!" she exclaimed.
I gasped. "Oh! This is your school?!" I exclaimed, looking around me with new understanding.
"Yeah – but how the heck did we get here?!" Mikan-chan asked me.
"I-I don't know!" I replied, just as stunned as she was.
"Wait . . . there was a Sakura tree just outside of your room, wasn't there? And we left the window open, too!" she said excitedly. "We must've teleported here over night through the Sakura tree!" she continued, her eyes lighting up at the discovery.
"That must be it! But how do we get back? Do we just stay here?" I asked.
"No, I don't think we should do that . . . I think I should tell everyone that I'm back, first. You can meet my friends! And we'll tell the teachers too. They'll figure something out," she said confidently.
"O-okay." I replied, a little uncertain about what her friends would be like or what they would think of me.
Mikan-chan stood up and held out her hand to me. "Come on! We've got no time to waste," she said eagerly.
I took her hand and followed her. I looked around me, amazed at the immense size of the Academy. Mikan-chan really wasn't kidding when she had said it was enormous!
"So, let's go to my room first. It's pretty early so no one will be awake . . . I think," she said. "You might fit in some of my clothes . . . but I don't think so. I'll see if I can get Misaki-senpai to let you borrow some of hers – she's in middle school, but you're pretty small, so you'll probably fit in her clothes," Mikan-chan continued. I just nodded, even though I had no idea who Misaki-senpai was.
We had finally reached Mikan-chan's room – after winding through the corridors of the dorm building. Heck, even the dorms were huge! I wondered absently how many people were in this school – I knew the number would be grand as well.
"Okay, so lets see . . . I'm going to change into my uniform really quick, and then I'll see if I can find something big on me that might fit you . . . if not, then we'll have to wait until I see Misaki-senpai." Mikan-chan said. I could tell she was confident here and also in her friends' and senpai's support.
Mikan-chan changed into her uniform – I commented for the second time that it was extremely cute on her – and gave me a black skirt and a plain pink T-shirt. "This is all I could find – it's gonna be a little small on you, but it'll do until we see Misaki-senpai," she said with a smile.
I put on the clothes, which turned out to be okay for the moment. They were tight but not so that they were extremely uncomfortable.
"Okay. So it should be around time for breakfast now – I hear people coming out of their rooms. Let's go now while the crowd is big – I don't think you'll stand out too much," Mikan-chan said as she handed me the hair brush. I nodded and quickly ran the brush through my hair a few times, and we left Mikan-chan's room.
Thankfully, Mikan-chan had been right, and I didn't stand out. For the first time I was glad I was shorter than the average high school girl.
We made it all the way to the cafeteria. Not surprisingly, it was huge like everything else. I was surprised Mikan-chan was able to find her friends in the crowd.
"Hotaru! Nonoko! Anna!" she called, waving and grinning.
"Mikan-chan!!" two girls squealed. One had long black hair and the other had curly pink hair. "Where have you been?!" they squeaked, running up to Mikan-chan and hugging her. "Everyone was looking for you all of yesterday!"
Mikan-chan grinned. "Sorry, guys. I'll . . . explain later," she said, looking away.
Suddenly a loud exploding sound came and something whacked Mikan-chan in the head. I yelped with shock and turned to see where it came from. A raven-haired girl with cold violet eyes was holding a "gun" of sorts, and was glaring coldly at the body of Mikan-chan.
"Baka! Where were you? Everyone was worried and spent the rest of the day looking for you," the raven-haired girl scolded. Mikan-chan got up uneasily. "S-sorry Hotaru . . ." she muttered, rubbing her head.
Hotaru turned to me. "Who's this? I don't recognize her."
Mikan-chan smiled and replied, "This is Tohru-san! I'll explain how I met her later, but she might be here for a day or so – it depends. Anyway, Tohru, this is Hotaru!" she added brightly, motioning towards the raven-haired girl. "And this is Nonoko-chan, and Anna-chan," she continued, motioning first to the black-haired girl and then the pink-haired girl. They bowed and smiled at me shyly.
"Nice to meet you all!" I replied, bowing in return and smiling back.
Mikan-chan grinned brightly. She obviously was happy to show me her friends.
Just as we found a table to sit at, a blonde haired boy walked up to Mikan-chan. "Sakura!" he exclaimed. "So you're back! Is Natsume back with you?" he asked.
Mikan-chan stopped mid-bite, looking frozen. "Oh boy . . ." she muttered.
"What?" the blonde haired boy asked, confused.
Mikan-chan ignored him and turned to me. "Natsume's still back at your place!" she whispered urgently, looking pale.
I realized what she was trying to say. Natsume, Kyo, and Yuki -- all in the same building together, alone. It would be a nonstop fight all day! And since Shigure had been at Akito-san's place for the night, he wasn't there to make peace . . . and Yuki would probably like to see Kyo be burned a little. Oh no! This was a disaster!
I gasped and bit my lip. "What do we do?" I whispered back, trying to make my voice too low for Mikan-chan's friends to hear.
"I don't know – I'm still not sure how the Sakura Portal thing works yet," she replied quietly. "And there's a chance that this is all coincidence that we happen to teleport just as we're under a Sakura tree or nearby one. Well, I'll tell Hotaru what happened after breakfast. She's really smart, so she might be able to figure something out." Mikan-chan continued.
I nodded and sighed. "I hope so."
A/N Hehe sorry about it ending so suddenly, but I decided that was the best place to end it. :P I hope you enjoyed it! I'll try to update soon again. The next chapter's going to be so excitttinnnggg!!! I can't wait! :D Anyway, please review and fave if you liked. :] Thanks!
Next Chapter Preview!
"You've got the count of three to get your freaking hand off me before I burn you to a crisp."