A/N hey everyone! UGH yes I know I am lame for not updating! I am sosososososo sorry for not updating at all last week . . . . it was a combination of business, forgetfulness and perfectionism. Also, I wasn't sure what to put on this chapter at first. :P anyway, I'll stop blabbing now. Please enjoy the chapter~!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice or Fruits Basket.

Natsume's POV
I sighed and put my hand on my face. If only I could convince myself that this was a dream . . . I thought. But I knew all too well that it was not.

Shigure, who had come back, had explained the Sohma situation to me. I wasn't too surprised about the myth being fact, since I do live in a school that has a bunch of people with super powers in it. But I was fed up with the Sohmas in general. I just wanted to go back and forget all of this. And when I want to go back to Gakuen Alice, you know that, wherever I am, it's bad.

"Sorry to bring you into all of this, Natsume-san," Shigure said, abruptly breaking my train of thought.
I looked up at him briefly and shrugged. "Hn," was my one-syllable reply.

Kagura was looking down at her hands. She had transformed back to a human not too long ago. Kyo was sitting next to her, still looking very angry. He had yelled at her for about thirty minutes straight, going on and on about how she was too reckless and stupid. Ugh. Thankfully, before Kyo could continue, Shigure had come in.

"So, I guess I'll have to go visit Akito again sometime soon . . . he needs to know that yet another person knows about the secret," Shigure said, mostly to himself. He rubbed his face with his hand wearily.

Akito? I wondered, but I didn't bother to ask – I most certainly wasn't in the mood for a conversation.
Suddenly a loud bang of a slamming door was heard. We all turned around to see the back of a girl that had short black hair. She was dragging a boy that looked about thirteen, give or take a few years. He was screaming something about don't tell anyone and to let him go.

"Ack! I'll do whatever you want – sign my name in blood, run around in circles all day, be your servant, whatever! Just don't tell anyone!"

"Is this it?" the girl just asked coldly, ignoring the boy's plea. Her back was still facing us, but I recognized the voice . . . and the hair . . . in fact, I think I knew exactly who this was.

"Ye-yes! This is it! Now won't you listen to me?! Don't tell an--!" the boy began, but he stopped when the girl hit him with something in the middle of his sentence to shut him up. Yep, it had to be. I didn't know how she could've gotten here, but somehow she did, since my suspicions were proved right as she turned around to face us.

"Natsume?" Hotaru Imai asked, vague surprise in her voice and expression.

I had no idea what to say to her. I just stared blankly at her, dumbfounded.

Imai seemed to understand and sighed. "I got here because I've been watching Mikan the whole time she was at Gakuen Alice to see if I could make sense of this. I knew there was an answer, and I think I've found it," she explained, nudging the boy with her foot in a way that was more like a kick.

That was the most I'd ever heard her say, but I certainly wasn't focusing on that fact. I wanted to know how this boy had something to do with the Portal. If he could get me back . . .

"How?" I asked simply.

"I'm not sure, since he wouldn't tell me, but I've got my theories," she replied simply. Imai's cold violet eyes grazed around a room, analyzing everything. "Isn't Mikan here?" she asked as her eyes finally finished their observation of the room.
"She went back," I replied.

Imai looked at me evenly. "And she returned with that Tono idiot, Ruka, and that other girl from this place. I watched her."

I looked at her expectantly.

"Fine. I'll explain," she said and sat down, making herself at home. "This idiot had knocked them out when I came by to check on their progress. They had been trying to guess the password to the Sakura portal. Or at least, they thought that would work, so they tried to. Anyway, I was angry at the idiot for knocking them out for no apparent reason, so I came out and kicked this guy to stop him. He turned to look at me and then suddenly he began to teleport. I stopped him somehow by shooting him with my Baka-gun, but by then Mikan and the others were gone somehow. The idiot tried to teleport again, and this time it worked, but somehow I ended up coming along with him. So I blackmailed him into bringing me here. Anyway, my conclusion is that he's the one who's been teleporting us places," Imai explained.

The boy growled. "First of all, my name is Kagetora, not idiot. Second of all, I told you I'm not the one who's been --," he began, but Imai shot him down again with her baka-gun. I found myself almost wishing that I had one of those guns to use on the constant stream of idiots I've been around lately . . .

After a moment of silence, Shigure spoke up. "If I may ask . . . who exactly are you?"

Imai turned her violet gaze to him. "I'm Imai Hotaru. I know you've met Mikan, since 'the Sohmas' were all she talked about while she was back at Gakuen Alice. I guess you could call me Mikan's friend," Imai almost smirked.

Shigure nodded. "Yes, we did meet her . . . you said that Tohru-kun is over there as there as well?"

"Was there," Imai corrected. "But yes, she was there. She's back here again somewhere, if I'm correct."

Yuki spoke now. "Shigure . . . do you know where another Sakura tree might be?" he asked.

Shigure thought for a moment, then said, "You know, there is one inside the inner Sohma property . . . near Momiji's house, I believe."

Yuki and Shigure exchanged a look and then Shigure nodded. "Then inside Sohma property is our best bet. Kyo, I think you should stay here . . ." Shigure trailed off as he thought about what to do with Imai, Kagetora, and myself.

"I don't want to leave you all alone after what just happened . . . I guess we can find a way to get you in there," he said thoughtfully.

"Wait. This guy – he has teleportation," Imai said.

"How do you know that?!" Kagetora exclaimed.

"Logic and a brain, idiot," Imai replied with a trace of a triumphant smirk on her face. Kagetora grunted and looked extremely irritated with himself.

"Let's go, then," I muttered. Imai grabbed Kagetora's arm and dragged him over to us. He frowned. "I never said I'd—," he began to protest, but Imai silenced him with a look.

"Fine. Grab my arm or something and you'll teleport with me," he instructed, reluctantly. It almost made me wonder exactly what Imai had said to him to get him to obey her so easily . . .

We all touched his arm[except for Kyo, who looked disgruntled and agitated – probably because he was left with Kagura], and Kagetora teleported us there.

~.*.~

Mikan's POV
"Oh, Ruka, I'm so sorry . . .! I just couldn't help myself . . ." I exclaimed through my laughter.
Ruka was fuming with anger, sitting on the ground and hugging his knees. He looked humiliated and frustrated beyond measure. Momiji had transformed back and was indeed looking awkward as well, but he still was good natured about it. "So . . . animal boy, eh? But then, what does that make me?" he asked with a laugh.

I grinned and gave Ruka another apologetic glance. I had already said sorry, like, five billion times, but I knew even despite that Ruka wouldn't forget this easily.

I suddenly heard a ban and voices.

"This way!"

"It had better be . . ."

I frowned. I recognized that second voice . . . so familiar, but it couldn't be . . .

A girl burst through the door and into Momiji's living room. The girl had raven black hair and cold violet eyes . . . what?! It's –

"Hotaru?!" I squealed.

There she was, standing in the doorway. I barely noticed Natsume, Shigure, Yuki, and another, unfamiliar boy standing next to her – I just couldn't believe it!

I ran over to her and was about to hug her when she shot me with her baka-gun.

"Imai? How did you get here . . .?!" Tono-senpai asked incredulously.

"Long story made short – this guy," she replied, motioning toward the unfamiliar boy.

"But how--?!" I began, but Hotaru silenced me with a glance.

"Fine. I'll explain. But I don't expect you dummies to understand any of it . . ." she muttered, but she sat down and gave us a quick over view of what had happened after we passed out and what her theory was.

I nodded, trying to take it all in. It was all so confusing . . . how could we ever truly figure it out?

"Does this mean we can go back, though? I mean, if this guy can teleport us back . . ." Tono-senpai began.

Hotaru nodded. "I don't know if my theory is entirely true, since this idiot won't tell me if it is," she began with a freezing glare at the boy. ". . . but it's definitely worth a shot."

"But –," the boy began to protest. Hotaru again silenced him with a look.

I smiled, hardly noticing the exchange between Hotaru and the boy. I was too busy thinking of the fact that I'm going home! Finally! I'm going to miss Tohru and everyone, but I really missed all my friends back at Gakuen Alice . . . it'll be nice to go back.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Tono-senpai asked, standing up.

Ruka was already at Natsume's side, talking with him in a low voice. Natsume looked really, really agitated. He sent me the death glare, and I knew that Ruka had told him exactly what happened. Oh CRAP! I am going to get it when we get back . . . I thought worriedly.
I pushed the thought aside for now and said, "Okay, let's go. But I think we should take Tohru back to her house . . ." I smiled at Tohru, and she smiled back at me.

Tono nodded. "Won't hurt anything," he said. "Are we going to teleport back?"

Kagetora growled. "I'm not teleporting you guys back! No way! I already—!"

Hotaru shot him with her baka-gun. "Idiot! You'd better do it. Or I'll tell them," she threatened. I had no idea what she was talking about, since she had told us everything – right? – but it seemed to work.

Kagetora nodded reluctantly and held his hand out. Hotaru and everyone who had come with her touched either his hand or his arm.

"Touch my arm and you'll teleport with me," he mumbled, seeing the rest of our confused expressions.

We nodded and touched his arm. I noticed Momiji was touching it too. He noticed me looking at him and smiled.

"You don't mind if I come with you to say good bye, do you?"

I grinned. "Of course not! Why ask such a question?"

Momiji grinned. The world swirled around us as we teleported back to the Sohma's house.

~.*.~

"You mean that this punk is finally leaving?! I never thought I'd see the day!!" Kyo exclaimed, jumping out of his seat.

Natsume appeared to ignore this comment, but a second later a bright flame appeared on Kyo's already orange hair,

"AHHHH!" Kyo screamed and quickly patted it out. "DARN YOU! THAT HURTS, YOU KNOW!"

I heard Yuki sigh. "Oh, I'm going to miss Kyo finally trying to attack someone else for a change . . ." he muttered.

Hearing this, Kyo swiveled around and glared at Yuki. "Don't think I've forgotten about you, dang rat!!!"

We had obviously returned to the Sohma household and told Kyo what had happened and that we were going back. Also, there was this new girl there that hadn't been there before. Her name was Kagura. She seemed pretty nice, but she was just as loud as Kyo.

Shigure sighed and looked over at me. "You'll have to visit us sometime! Be sure to bring Natsume-san, because I'm sure Kyo would love that," Shigure added sarcastically with a wink. I grinned and nodded.

"Hopefully soon!" I replied. "Thank you for letting us stay here!" I added, bowing respectfully.

Shigure smiled and returned the bow. "Of course! It was my pleasure."

I turned to Tohru and gave her a huge hug. She hugged me back and, when we pulled away, she said, "I'll miss you, Mikan-chan! I can't wait for you to come visit us again!"

I gave her a bright smile and was about to reply when Tono-senpai coughed loudly.

"Very touching, but we really should be going soon," he said, trying to hide his eagerness to go home, but failing horribly.

I sweatdropped, but I obeyed. I followed him out the door, Tohru and Momiji following me.

Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru were already outside, waiting with Kagetora.

I smiled and ran out to greet them. "We're ready!"

"Finally." I heard Natsume mutter. I glared at him but otherwise ignored him.

We gathered under the Sakura tree and looked expectantly at Kagetora.

"You guys won't listen to me! I'm not the one who can activate it! I just have the teleportion alice! It was a coincidence!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

Hotaru growled. "That's not what you told me back at Gakuen Alice. You said you wouldn't tell me the secret – but you knew it."

Kagetora frowned. "I can't tell you. I promised –," he cut himself off, obviously trying to hide the origins of this tree.

Then something happened. A wind began to blow in a swirling pattern, blowing the blossoms off the tree and around us.

"NO!" Kagetora shouted, and shoved everyone he could get his hands on out from under the tree, me included.

I yelped as I hit the ground. I looked up just in time to see Ruka, Tono-senpai, Tohru, and Kagetora disappearing in a swirl of pink Sakura blossoms.

~.*.~

"This means we're still stuck here, then," Natsume muttered, sighing.

I looked at him, realizing that he sounded and looked very tired. I felt a pang of worry spread through my chest. I always wondered and worried about Natsume . . . he was always overworking himself.

"I guess so. At least, until Kagetora comes back. Or if we, by chance, find a way to get you there ourselves," Shigure replied with a sigh.

"Crap! And I was looking forward to that punk—," Kyo began, but was cut off when Natsume stood up abruptly and grabbed Kyo by the collar.

"Listen, Orangey. I am sick and tired of your crap. You never know when to stop – haven't I burned you enough times? Unless you want more, shut your freaking mouth," he threatened, his eyes burning with fury and his voice dripping with hatred.

Natsume let go of Kyo and stormed out of the room. Kyo's mouth was open wide, and the rest of the Sohmas looked stunned. Even Hotaru looked surprised.

I frowned. Something wasn't right. Natsume can be mean and rude, but he usually doesn't threaten people like this. Thinking these thoughts, I got up and headed after him.

"Natsume!" I called as I entered the front yard. Natsume was sitting under a tree – I noticed that it wasn't the Sakura tree – staring at his feet.

I walked over to his side and sat next to him. I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all – his face was void of any emotion.

"What do you want?" he asked, still looking at his feet.

I blinked. "I . . . well, I don't want anything . . . I just . . . I wanted to know if you were alright, I guess," I stammered. I hadn't really thought much when I went after him – I just did. Like the usual.

"Idiot," Natsume muttered. "Go back inside, ugly."

I frowned – he sure knew how to get to me! "What did you just say, you fox?!" I replied angrily.

Natsume looked up at me, his eyes a cold fire. "You heard me. Go back, ugly girl!"

"Say that again and I'll--!"

"U-g-l-y. Ugly."

"Why you—! You're no better, Mr. Slanted Eyes!"

"Ugly air-head!"

"Stupid!"

"Super ugly!"

"Argh! Short eye-brows!" I found myself laughing as I said this, though. Inside, I was really glad to hear him back to his normal self, calling me names.

"Idiot. What are you laughing at now?" he growled.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Not telling."

"I think a pattern is developing here . . ." he muttered.

I realized he was right – we'd had this conversation plenty of times before. I grinned and nodded. "Yeah."

I let out a small, content sigh and looked up at the clear blue sky. It was nice just sitting here with Natsume like we did occasionally back at Gakuen Alice. It reminded me of home, and somehow, despite his nasty remarks, he always calmed me down.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. "Today's Sunday, isn't it? What's going to happen if we can't get back home tomorrow in time for school . . .?" I trailed off, frowning worriedly. I hadn't thought of this before . . . and also, if Tohru was gone as well . . . she was still in high school.

"Idiot. It's not like this would be the first time we've been missing from school. Anyway, an idiot like you shouldn't worry about things like this," Natsume muttered suddenly.

I blinked and smiled, feeling reassured. Before I could reply, however, Shigure poked his head out the door.

"Hey, you two . . . I need to have a word with you," he said cheerfully, but he avoided meeting our gaze and he looked a little awkward.

I nodded, a little uneasy, but I stood up anyway and made sure not to let it show too much. "Coming!" I replied, trying to sound cheerful and carefree.

I headed inside with Natsume following me. I looked inside to see a new table in the dining room. Yuki was taking off his sweatshirt – he must have gone out and bought a new one. That was fast. I thought.

Shigure smiled at us brightly from his seat and motioned for us to sit down. "Come, come. We have quite a bit to discuss."

I thought I heard Natsume groan a little, but he sat down, and I took a place next to him. It happened to be right next to Hotaru as well. I grinned at her, and she just glanced over at me and then looked back expectantly at Shigure. I figured she must know exactly what Shigure had to say.

Shigure smiled and folded his hands in front of him before began. "Now, this might be a little strange to you at first, so I need you two to keep open minds. This won't be permanent, but just until we find a solution to our current problem," Shigure began. He paused painstakingly for a moment, then said, "We'd like you two to enroll in Tohru's school."

It took a moment for it to sink in. When it did, I gasped. "Eeeeeeeh?! But how?! We're only in elementary, and she's in high school, and, and, and—!"

"Calm down, Mikan-chan. We've got it all figured out. Your friend here has promised to join you – she says she knows high school level problems. Also, most of the Sohmas who are young enough to be in school are there as well – we are going to invite them over and tell them our situation. The reason for all of this is because of Tohru's friends at school and her school record. We can't tell her friends the reason for her disappearance, so we . . . need you to pretend to be her. Just for a little while," he added hastily as he saw my stunned and slightly horrified expression.

How was I going to do this?! I don't know her friends, and I hardly know how she acts around her friends! I've only known her for a day and a half! And this will be at a regular high school, with high school students and high school work and high school bullies and high school everything!

My mind raced through these thoughts at a million miles per second. Before I knew it, the only coherent thought in my mind was AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!

A sharp blow to the head jolted me out of my little mental breakdown. I yelped and clutched my head, but I had snapped out of it. I didn't have to look, though, to see that Natsume was the one who had hit me.

"You okay now?" Shigure asked after a pause. I nodded, still rubbing my head.

"Alright . . . there is a little more to tell you. Actually, this is for Natsume-san," he said, turning to Natsume. "We'd like you to enroll as well. Not to replace anyone, but to help Mikan-chan," he continued.

Natsume had his poker face on. He shrugged. "Whatever," he muttered. Shigure took this as a yes and smiled.

"Well then! All that aside, I have one more thing – Imai-san here has learned of the Sohma library and has a very good idea. She says that, if we look hard enough, we might be able to find some things about the Sohma past and it might just have something about the Sakura Portal and who the original creator might be. We are going to head to the Sohma library for a while and pick up some books. I am going to leave you guys here, though. I trust that you will not destroy anything while we are gone," Shigure added with a look at Kyo, Natsume, Yuki, and me.

I nodded. "Yes, sir!"

Shigure smiled, looking like he liked the title of "sir." He stood up and bowed. "Alrighty! We shall be off now. We won't be long, so don't get into any trouble," he reminded us. He headed out the door with Hotaru following him silently.

When the door closed, there was a moment of uncomfortable silence. I felt like the tension was unusually high between Kyo and Natsume. I could guess why, though – they had obviously had some conflict between the two of them while I had been gone.

Just then Momiji came in the room. "Oh? What's this tension I feel?" he asked, looking at us with wide eyes.

I looked up and grinned at him. "Momiji-kun!" I exclaimed. "Where have you been?!"

He beamed at me and replied, "I've been upstairs, taking a small nap. And Shi-san has already told me about you going to Tohru's school," he added, seeing my excited and apprehensive expression. "Did you accept?" he asked eagerly.

I nodded. "What's it like? Is it scary? Is it hard work?" I asked eagerly, bubbling over the brim with questions.

Momiji laughed. "Whoa, slow it down there! Lemme sit down and I'll tell you a bit about it."

He told me all about high school, and who was nice and who wasn't. He also told me a bit about Tohru's friends. "They're pretty nice people, her two closest friends. They're a little unusual, if you ask me, but they're good friends to Tohru and extremely protective," he said with a small laugh.

I nodded eagerly, and was about to ask more questions, when I caught a glance of a baleful glare Natsume sent in Kyo's direction. Apparently they were having a staring – no, glaring contest. So the atmosphere hadn't gotten better, even with cheerful Momiji in the room.

Momiji and I exchanged a quick, nervous glance. Finally, to break the ice, Momiji said, "Hey, I know the rest of you must be bored by me talking, so why don't we, um, play a game! Yeah, let's play a game!"

Neither Natsume or Kyo looked slightly moved or interested by this suggestion, so I quickly agreed, followed by Yuki chiming in as well. "Yes, a game would be a good idea," he said quietly, nodding. I could tell he really didn't want another fight between the two. It must have been pretty bad here while I was gone . . . I thought, biting my lip.

I stood up with Momiji and Yuki and poked Natsume. "Come on! We'll play dodgeball or something," I said. I remembered that time when I suggested dodgeball, and Natsume had played in it. That had been such a long time ago, but I remembered it well. It was the first time I had done something other than fight with Natsume back then.

"Sure! Dodgeball sounds like a great idea," Momiji said.

"I'll see if I can find a ball around here," Yuki said, and left the room to go search. Momiji followed him.

"Coooooomeee onnnnn!!" I pleaded, pulling on Natsume's arm. "Don't be boring."

Natsume finally turned his gaze, but only to glare at me instead. "Stop that, idiot, before I burn you to a crisp."

"Remember? I can nullify it, you fox," I replied indignantly, still tugging at his arm stubbornly.

Natsume growled. Suddenly I had an idea. I let go of his arm and said, "Ooh, well I guess we'll play without you two . . . since you two are too afraid of losing to each other."

This worked perfectly. Both of their gazes snapped over to look at me. I decided to continue.

"You two just have such a big ego that you don't want to hurt it . . . so I'll just let you two stay here with your inflated but unharmed egos," I said loftily, waving my hand nonchalantly. I let out a big, dramatic sigh, and was about to march out the room when Kyo stood up. My back was facing them, so I allowed myself a grin as Kyo spoke.

"I can beat you and that dumb old rat! This is my chance!" he exclaimed. "So, arreee you too scared to face me?" he asked Natsume, his tone of voice cocky and inviting.

Natsume said nothing, but stood up. "You're on, orangey," he muttered, and walked outside.

I was grinning ear to ear – I can't believe that it had worked! It just went to show how badly they wanted to beat eachother, though.

I turned around and saw Kyo flexing his muscles. He saw me watching him and quickly dropped his arms and walked hurriedly outside after Natsume. I giggled and turned to go and find Yuki and Momiji.

A/N Hehe :D Sorry for ending it so abruptly – I was just too impatient to write any more. I had to get this thing published. X3 Well, I hoped you liked this chapter anyway. :B I definitely had fun writing it. :B Anyway, I will try try try try to get the next chapter in very soon! I know what I'm going to do for the next chapter, so hopefully I'll have an easier time writing it. Well, I'll stop blabbing now. See you all soon!(hopefully)

Preview for next Chapter!

"Wonderful. Just wonderful pairings. Were you set on this earth to torture me or what?"

"Wait . . . you like her??"

"Like you can't guess – didn't you see me just now?"