Opposites Attract

Chapter 5: Strawberry Print

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update, I won't go into excuses cuz I'd just be wasting space, so hope you liked this chapter as much or even more than the others! RxExR PLEASE!!!!

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At the mall entrance...

Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume, and Youichi all got off the car and walked towards the entrance.

"Well, I'll go with baka wherever she needs to go," said Natsume. " Ruka, you have to follow Hotaru. And Youichi....you can go wherever you want since you have no partner. Just make sure you call us, or meet us back here in about 2 hours. Got it?"

Everyone nodded. They wanted this to be as quick as possible, having to spend the least amount of time with these people they detested. Mikan and Natsume went to the right, Ruka and Hotaru walked to the left, and Youichi stared at them for about 5 seconds, spotted a group of his friends, and then went to hang out with them.

* m * n * m * n * m * n * m * n * m * n * m * n * m * n *

"How about we go to that store first?" suggested Natsume. Mikan looked to where he was pointing and blushed immediately.

It was Victoria's Secret.

"W-w-why would y-you want t-to go in there?" she managed to stammer out.

Why would he want to take her there? He wondered. What excuse could he give? He decided to go with his usual noncommittal answers. He shrugged.

And then, of course, he dragged her there before she could suggest another place and find a way out.

"Natsume!!!" she shrieked. He told her to shut up before they kicked them out.

The first place he took her was to the thong rack.

"What are we doing here?" she asked finally submitting to the inevitable.

"We no. I. I am picking out new underwear." he said giving her a look that she couldn't decipher.

"I had no idea you were a cross dresser." She answered, dead serious. He looked at her as if she'd gone mad. Then laughed. "What?"

"They aren't for me. They're for you." he said matter-of-factly. Some of the people in the store who knew him or had heard of who he was and recognized him looked at them in awe. They were thinking something along the lines of Wow she made Natsume Hyuuga laugh!

She barely noticed and just stared at him dumbfounded. "What?" she repeated.

"You heard," he rolled his eyes. "I don't repeat myself."

"Ok...but apparently I do. WHAT?" she said after a moments hesitation.

He rolled his eyes and just chose a pair in a specific size and showed it to her.

"Does it fit?"

"Y-yeah...how'd you know my size? And those are actually-" he cut her off, not really caring for her opinion.

"I'm good at this. I'll explain some other day, when we're stuck together again with nothing better to do. And of course. Would you really dare question my taste?"

"No, but, um...you're a guy. Y'know, I really wouldn't expect you to be any good at this."

He just threw a smirk at her and went on making his selections. Around half an hour later, they both got a text message.

Natsume's:

U kno wats goin on 2nyt. Expect u 2 b der on time. N yes, this 1 is harder than last time and it's still with ur partner.

Persona

Mikan's:

Hey lil niece! How's ur day? U hav anodr mission 2nyt, so u gtta b home early again. I get 2 choose ur outft agn! YAY! C u soon...ur fave uncle, Persona

Natsume rolled his eyes as he read it, not noticing that Mikan had started laughing. Mikan had looked at his reaction to the text and realized that his just had to be very different from her, and she noticed how far she and Persona had gone. For some reason it just made her laugh.

Natsume turned his attention back to the task at hand and looked at Mikan's lingering smile.

"What was so funny?"

"Kinda late to be asking, don't you think?"

"So? Maybe I was waiting for you to stop. Tell me." she looked stunned that he had commanded her to tell him, unlike the first time he'd asked. She shouldn't have been, she realized.

"Nah. I think I'll just let you figure it out eventually." she grinned at his short, frustrated look.

"Whatever. But you're trying these on when I finish choosing. And I get to see you in them."

Mikan stared at him like he was crazy.

But just then Natsume spotted something between the piles of lingerie that caught his eye. He reached out to grab it and grinned, his frustrations all short lived.

* r * h * r * h * r * h * r * h * r * h * r * h *

"Hey, can I at the very least know where the hell we're going?" Ruka asked as Hotaru walked briskly, her mind set on a destination that he had no idea of.

"For what? It's not like it's anywhere private or embarrassing." all it was was the store where she bought some of her supplies, for both her inventing and her spying/blackmailing, though she had inventions for that, too.

"Maybe cause I wouldn't like to be caught off-guard, or have some idea so that I know what to explore." he sighed, figuring out her answer already. It would be no again. What need was their? He thought as he rolled his eyes and wondered yet again how come he had to be stuck with her.

"Well...I don't need to tell you." he knew it! " Cause we're already here" she finished, surprising him as they stopped in front of a fashionable clothing boutique that was really popular. Judging by what everyone saw her wearing on the few weekends that she was out of her famous lab, like today, no one, especially not him, would have thought she bought her clothes here.

"C'mon, hurry up" she said with a look of glee in her eyes that took him off guard. Hotaru knew she had surprised Ruka, but he had no idea just what they were doing. Very few people knew what laid beyond the store fronts facade.

"Ok, ok. Calm the heck down. Its just a clothing store." Ruka said while trying to catch up to her. That's what you think; she thought with a smirk.

When they walked into the store the two trainees looked up eagerly hoping for a client to be able to brag about at the change of shifts. They would find out about the other part of the store if they made all the way to the end, which was kind of rare but possible. Hotaru turned to the two employees, whom she knew by name.

"Ana, Nonoko. Hi." she said as a greeting. The two girls turned around in surprise. They'd been busy dealing with one of the technical problems that always seemed to occur when they tried to secretly experiment with the new supplies for the other part of the store.

"Hi," answered Ana first, the more friendly of the two. "Haven't seen you around here in a while Hotaru. So what brings you-" she cut herself off as she noticed Ruka standing there, with a mildly stunned look in his face. He was surprised that Hotaru had known who worked here by memory, which showed how much she bought in this store.

"Don't worry about him. He's my partner. In school." Hotaru said by way of explanation. Meanwhile Ruka just looked on perplexed, for the first time looking very much like the stereotype of blond hunk equals dumb-ass.

"Hm... it's been a long time since you came with anyone." said Nonoko finally. Both her and her twin had on mildly bewildered faces framed by blue hair for Nonoko and pink hair for Ana.

"Y-you sure he's ok?" asked Ana, still not over her surprise.

"Ever been wrong?" Hotaru said matter-of-factly, which seemed to be her style. Well, at least when it wasn't being sarcastic. "Plus, I'm the client. I'm always right. Right?"

This time, Nonoko answered. "Usually, you'd be correct. But since we're talking about this....well, let's just say you're not. Remember what happened the last time someone brought someone along that was completely unrelated to it?"

Hotaru looked pained for a moment. "How could I forget?"

That made them feel really bad. No one had known the way that things really happened, except the people involved. Hotaru had never gotten over what she'd caused that night, and she had the feeling she never completely would.

But Ruka, a.k.a the blond hunk equals dumb-ass stereotype, was starting to get pissed and more than a little confused.

"you know, I'm right here. You don't have to speak as if I'm all the way over there." He finished by motioning to the far side of the store. "Besides that,you people are making no sense! Now either explain or we're leaving!"

"Fuck off, Ruka" said Hotaru lightly, but with unmistakable steel. Then she turned to address Ana and Nonoko. "and it won't happen again. Now let us in!"

They both sighed and muttered a fine. Hotaru grabbed Ruka's wrist and pulled him forward. They were led to the back of the store, where a storage closet that was off-limits was opened.

"What's in there?" said Ruka, but it was no use since they all ignored him. He decided that he might as well just give the hell up.

As Nonoko was tapping something on the wall to the right that had an opening the door to the store opened an they heard a group of girls come in. Hotaru told them not to worry, she already knew how to get in and she'd take care of him. Without another word, they both went out to see to their clients.

"Now can I know what the hell is goin' on?" he said in an exasperated tone as she just quietly but firmly shook her head.

Hotaru knocked on the wall with a weird rhythm, then she just stared at it as it slid open, Harry Potter's bank style. What the fuck!!!! He wasn't even pissed anymore, just plain curious.

They continued to walk forward until they reached another door, this time a wooden one with a lock. She just ignored the lock and reached under a potted plant that had some type of code lock. After pressing a few keys he was pretty surprised as the door slid open.

A few more feet, a flight of stairs, and a couple of steps later they were standing in front of yet another door, this one more high-tech looking. It spoke, apparently had some type of heat sensor, and asked for some code. Hotaru said it then stepped forward for an eye examination, a finger print scan, and spoke for a voice recognizer.

"Security" was all she muttered, with a slight nod of her head. Then the door's computer spoke again.

"Do you have a visitor?" its computer/robotic voice said.

"Yes."

"Who is it?"

"NP." New person, he guessed. Then Hotaru continued with a basic list describing him. "Ruka Nogi. Partner in class, might visit again. Blond, blue eyes, white skin, about 5'9''. Level: 3 star. Ability: Animals and Nature section, speaking and controlling them. Permission given?"

"Permission granted" went the computerized voice. "Please step forward and follow the procedure."

He did so and stood still, for the most part, as he was scanned from head to toe with a laser beam, then did the same things that Hotaru had.

Finally, the door opened and they went through. "No more doors?" he asked. Again a shake of her head. But he couldn't retaliate because in the next instant he was stunned speechless as they walked, as it seemed, right into a room filled with all the electronic gadgets you could ever think of. They had everything, from the first Hp's down to the newest guns and spy equipment.

"What is this place?" he whispered in awe.

"You can't tell anyone about it, that's first. This is the storehouse only very few people know of. Mainly some teachers of high ranking, the highly ranked inventors, like me, and really top students who might use this have access to. Lucky you, you get to know of it and be part of none of these categories."

"Why are we here?"

"I needed some supplies."

"Like?"
She just looked at him funny and muttered a 'you'll see, but it really s classified'. She went about the room with one of the bags, another of her inventions. It was always seemingly weightless and could store machines as big as a bazooka without a problem even though it looked like one of the stores regular bags. When she was done and he was stunned by some of the things she'd grabbed, she just said 'done' and motioned for them to leave

"Lemme just say, getting out is much less complicated than having to go in. mush less procedures." as always, she remained quiet. He would have to figure out why in those walls she always was, but when she was outside of the small off-limits storage room she spoke normally again.

"Remember, not a word to anyone."

"Ok, ok I got the point!"
"Ana....where's Nonoko?"

"lunch break." she answered in her usual, friendly manner.

"Makes sense. Well, I'm done down there so tell me the total and I'll pay as soon as I fix your problem." As usual, thought Ana, she knows whats wrong without us telling her. And of course, as usual, she can fix it before we get a chance to really get our hands dirty with it. But outwardly, all she said was 'yeah, yeah' as she shook her head and took the bag.

Ruka preferred to stay and watch what it was she was fixing and how. The girl really had a don for this.

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"NO WAY!!!!!!"

"Why not?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"No, but sometimes I think you are."

"Oh, Youichi!!!" she answered in an annoying/exasperated voice.

"what?" he answered nonchalantly.

"But....its my first time!"

"You're an 8th grader, sempai, and yet you've never kissed a guy before?"

"Nope. But you might be the one...." Woman were just to easy. Most were the same, an uncaring attitude and a few pretty words and they were all over you.

She leaned a bit and let her eyes droop. He finished the leaning for her by putting an arm around her and pushing her towards him. Heh; he thought. I've got another one.

Maybe he was biased, but after the bitch of his mother had decided to leave him at this school when he was 3 he'd learned to dislike woman.

After the whore that his first love was even though she said she loved him and he was the only one for her, he started to hate them.

And after the 'unnamed one' in his mind he completely loathed them.

He thought of the girl in the car....Mikan Sakura. What a pretty name-it meant tangerines right? That was his favorite fruit....

But by his reaction, the conquest this tim was Natsume's. And Ruka seemed to like the purple-eyed one, Hotaru. Or more like it was a love/hate relationship.

He finished the kiss and leaned back. Her face was flushed and she was beaming.

"That was....awesome. I'm glad I listened to you, Youichi. You really are great at this." apparently the kiss was better than he thought for her. As a matter of fact it was so...nothing to him that he hadn't thought of her even once while he kissed her.

"Yeah. So now what sempai? Gonna go back to your friends?" he tilted his head a bit to emphasize that that was the best choice.

"Not really." she said, not catching on to his drift. "So...you wanna go out with me?"

"hmm..." he studied her expression. Mostly the expression of a woman who was lusting.... "Nope."

"What?' offended much, miss? I don't even know your name. "you're just gonna up and reject me? Just like that?"

"Yeah."

She got up, attempted to slap him but he moved back so she missed, and left running. Hah! What a great show.

He started to walk towards where his 'friends' were at, which was the same direction she ran. He rounded the corner and backtracked 2 or 3 steps.

Girl friends were always the best consolation after a rejection. Except the first thing he heard from his corner was her laughing.

"Thank God he said no! What would I have done if he had said yes? Why the hell do guys these days believe that they're the good actors?"

"Oh, but that's kinda mean! You didn't let us go see!"

"Suck it up, next time."
"So did you kiss him?"

"Of course, who do you think you're talking to? I didn't agree to sleep with him cause he wasn't that much of a bad kisser. Plus, he actually believed te innocent girl act. What a dumbass! How can moi not have kissed anyone in her life?"

"And that is why you are the best."

He laughed inwardly, mostly because she really thought he believed it. Ah, she had quite a bit to learn to be good at this.

He got another girl from her group on her way back from the bathroom, she hadn't been there for this conversation so she didn't know shit.

"Hey sexy lady." he started to flirt with her. In a bout 10 minutes she said she wanted to present him to her friends.

When she took him to the circle they were still talking about him. But they all shut up at his appearance.

"come to beg for me now?" was the first thing his sempai asked.

He just smiled slightly as the younger girl introduced him. He got the satisfaction he hadn't gotten from her kiss and thought that it was definitely worth it when he actually spoke.

"So, just to be clear I should probably tell you that you are such a bad kisser that my kiss started to be bad. I couldn't even think about you once while we kissed. Oh, and next time you con someone you should make sure you act like what you say you are."

Her eyes widened as her face turned a bright red. He said sorry to the younger girl he had seduced, but he couldn't keep a thought about her either.

As he left he noticed that both girls were crying and arguing. Oh revenge was delicious, no matter what people said.

And of course, those that mattered would never know his true nature.

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Mikan just stared at the basket in the corner. She wanted to try them, God knew she had wanted sexy lingerie. It was just that...

He actually expected her to come out in them. He wanted to see each and everyone of his selections.

When she'd told Natsume that she would try them on, probably, but just probably, buy them, but most definitely not show them to him, he'd laughed. He said he'd seen so many girls with less than she'd be wearing and with more to show.

But still...

"Mikan! Hurry up!" he said, sounding exasperated.

"Stop hurrying me." She muttered just loud enough for him to hear her.

She tried on the first choice he'd made, a silk nightie that actually made her feel pretty comfortable with its incorporated bra and nontransparent but delicious feeling material. She felt like a goddess.

"Ok. Here's the first one." she said before coming out. He'd held his breath to see how it'd turned out. It was perfect.

She was actually very...breathtaking. But of course, he would never tell her that.

"That one's ok. Why not try some more before we make up our minds?"

She went back in and tried the next one. One by one she went trying them and showing them, and one by one he got a bit harder and nodded his approval. There was only 2 or 3 he hadn't liked the way they looked on her.

Mikan finally made it to the last set, the last one he'd picked out. She was positive that it was chosen in jest, because it seemed to ride the theme of childishness along with the polka dotted undies he'd seen that first day,

It was a beautifully hand crafted design that seemed a bit too expensive, and it felt like sin along her skin. The problem lay in the fact that it was an off-white-heading-towards-cream with a lot of childish looking strawberries print.

She came out wearing it, braced for his laughter. But instead she heard a quick intake of breath as he and a few others goggled at her. The corset outlined the contours of her body perfectly, making her seem like a more mature woman than her usual loose-but-not-too-lose uniform.

"T-Th-" Natsume cut himself off an swallowed. Thank God that no one who actually knew them was there. Only people who had heard of him and were too scared to spread any rumors. "That's a definite keeper."

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask. Do you really expect me to take most of you choices? I mean, I appreciate it and all but I don't get that much money, you know."

"And who said you were buying anything?"
"I thought that was the point. Me buying this stuff. Or was it for somebody else?"

"No, its for you. But I'm paying."

"What? No!"

"Why not?'

"Because!"

Natsume just rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag with all of his choices in it and walked to the cashier. "Change quickly so I can get that one too."

Mikan decided the wiser course was to not argue and just let him pay. She'd pay him back later, and force him to accept it. So she changed and took the strawberry print set to the front.

"You know, I thought you'd object." was what he said after an embarrassing moment in which a few people saw him pay for her and she noticed the assumption they made right of the bat.

"Yeah, whatever." she replied half heartedly.

LATER, IN THE CAR AFTER MEETING UP WITH EVERYONE:

"So, Hotaru. What did you guys go do?" Mikan asked to get rid of the disturbing silence that seemed to surround the car.

"Oh, the usual. We went to that store I always go to. Um.... I.N.G"

"Oh...cool. And you, Youichi?" he sent her an understanding glance as he answered in as much words as possible that he had hung out with a few friends.

Ruka took pity on her, trying so hard, so he asked, "What about you and Natsume? What did you do?"

Natsume answered, saving her the mortification of answering but it was basically the same reaction.

"We went to Victoria's Secret."
"WHAT!?" said three voices together as Natsume just stared and Mikan blushed.

"Um, * cough cough *, so, * gulp *... what did you buy?" asked a stammering Ruka.

"That's pretty obvious. My favorite was the starwberry print one." said Natsume matter-of-factly, just for a change.

"Nat-wha-tha-um..." Mikan stammered, then decided to just shut up.

"Wait, back up there cowboy," asked a narrow eyed Hotaru. "Did you see haer in any of them?"

"All of them."

"You perverted, old man, peeping tom, bastard!!!!" she started to scream at him. But before she could keep on Natsume interrupted her.

"Wanna see it?"
"NOOOOOO!" Mikan shouted all of a sudden.

A wicked glint lit Youichi's eyes as he answered yes with a grin.

And that's how everyone came to see the starwberry print that Natsume had bought for Mikan....and this time it was no accident.

Hey! I know that this was pretty long, but if you imahine it it happened quicker than what I wrote and it was funnier in my mind, too...oh well. Hope you liked it, promise to update faster and I promise that the next chap is bound to be more interesring!!!!