Chapter 3…

This designates a flashback.

Disclaimer:I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters. If I did Natsume and Ruka would be my adopted children. Tsubasa and I would be married. Tono would be my manservant. Hotaru would be my best friend. And Naru would be my shopping buddy. But their not because I don't own them.

Mikan POV

It was Natsume I was sure of it. Those eyes that expression, no one else in the world has them. But why did he lie to me. That baka. I don't know what kind of idiot he takes me for but if he wants to pretend he's Shiro Nakamura then I'll play. If I can play along then I will be able to stay with him. I wouldn't be able to stand losing him again, so even if I hurt just a little bit everything will be okay. Just as long as I'm with Natsume. I smile up at him determined.

"Nice to meet you Shiro," I chirp attempting to sound normal. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. I keep smiling hoping that he won't call me out. He scolds.

"Quit smiling like and idiot," I'm fine he doesn't notice anything wrong. He turns his head away again. I grit my teeth in frustration. He could at least do a better job of pretending. He's acting just like his usual self. I don't know why I liked him so much. My chest constricts and I grip his handkerchief tighter, balling it up in my fists. Natsume you idiotic jerkface! How the hell could I love someone like you? I stare at Shiro. That baka. I prepare to yell at him. A long tirade builds up. I know all the words I want to say to him but I don't know what to say. The tree starts to tremble. No, not the tree, my body. That stupid boy turns around to face me. I prepare my full out verbal slaughter… "You look ugly when you cry," I am not prepared for his sudden words. Hotaru's words, Natsume why would you…

Those are Hotaru's words. Whenever I would cry she would tell me hat and I would stop. Natsume, don't you think I would be able to tell if you use her words. She was my best friend. You're quoting her don't you think I would notice. I think of my best friend Hotaru and a plan begins forming in my head. It all started before Hotaru went to the academy. Our secret…

"Hotaru…" I cried leaning in to give Hotaru a hug. She pushed me away.

"I'm not hugging a snot filled idiot like you," Hotaru amened. I gave her a pout and she pulled out her baka gun. I shrank back in fear. "You can at least tell me what's wrong." She sighed.

"…"

"Forget I asked." Hotaru turned at started in the opposite direction.

"No wait Hotaru!" I made a lunge at her feet.

"If you want to tell me tell me already or you'll just waste my time." She kicked me off. "Time is money and I don't like wasting money."

"But it's bad," I whined. Hotaru sighed.

"Fine then tell me a story,"

"Huh… a fairytale?" my eyes grew bight.

"Close enough. I was aiming for an allegory. But you have to make your point across. That way you can tell me what's wrong without having to tell me exactly."

"You mean tell you what's wrong but not tell you," I asked not quite understanding her logic. "How would that work out?" my head hurt from thinking too hard.

"As long as you're not talking to an idiot like you," Hotaru added walking away.

"Hotaru!"

"Don't talk to me until you can tell me what's wrong,"

Hotaru. I'd be able to tell him how I feel about him, so he can know that after all these years I still loved him. That time with Hotaru it took me nearly a week to come up with a story. Even then Hotaru just shrugged it off like it didn't make sense. Then it took me another full week to come up with a proper story and by then I couldn't even remember what I was so upset about. Maybe that was Hotaru's real goal in the end. But I wondered if it could work with Natsume. He was pretty smart but would he feel the same way about me. Did he have a girlfriend? Did he still love me? Does he remember me? I sigh deeply and look up at him. His face is his usual mask of calm only his eyes betray any feelings. They swirled with dark energy. Fear, worry, anxiety, anger. They were tired from lack of sleep and tinted from nightmares. Surely I didn't cause all of this. I wanted to ask him what happened after "that day" but I remembered. He was Shiro Nakamura.

He breaks eye contact and leaps from the tree in one fluid motion landing gracefully and gingerly in the grass below. That showoff. He picks up the bag from the foot of the tree and shoulders it. No he couldn't leave now. I just saw him again. Cupping my hands around my mouth to yell down at him, I lean over on the branch and lose my seating. Damn why am I so clumsy. I hug my hands around the branch and haul myself up again. Good thing I enrolled in gymnastics. Or maybe I should have fallen and landed on him. I would have stopped him and had a reason to talk to him some more. Killing two birds with one stone. No when did I become such a pervert?

"Oi polka, nice underwear," a voice calls from below. A sudden thought hits me.

He saw my underwear. Not that he's never seen it before but this time it was my fault. He wasn't being a pervert and stealing my underwear anymore. This time it was because I was too stupid to sit on a branch properly. And I was the one having perverted thoughts. No what was this world coming to?

"Shut up you perverted neko," I yell down still embarrassed by my own thoughts.

"At least I'm not the one flashing people," I sneak a glance. That bastard's smirking at my expense. I was right this guy hasn't changed one bit. "Hey if you wanted to stop me you could have landed on me. I bet you would have liked that." No now I'm thinking on the same wavelength as the stupid foxface.

"I don't look up little girl's skirts," I stick my tongue out at him. "Dirty pervert."

"What's there to look at, polka dot panties," I notice it then. Natsume for someone so smart he could be dumb. I wasn't wearing polka dot panties. In fact they were striped. I stopped buying the polka dotted ones after leaving the academy because they reminded me of him. I was right all along. It really was him.

There is a clear and sweet chirping sound. Up a little farther in the tree sits a small bird's nest. A mother bird feeds her young ones and a father bird flies into the nest with a mouth full of worms. I look down at him and take a deep breath. Story time.

Natsume POV

"I don't look up little girl's skirts," she sticks her tongue out at me. "Dirty pervert." Huh is that what I was now.

"What's there to look at, polka dot panties," I counter. It feels natural talking to her like this poking fun and trying to out do the other. Right around now she should blush and sputter calling me foxface or baka. Just like old times.

"Birds that nest here in the sakura tree are sound so beautiful when they sing," she looks up farther up in the tree. "When I was younger my mother used to tell me a story about how they got their voices." I can't follow her train of thought. Where is she going with this? All I can see are plain brown birds.

"Baka, you give up?" she ignores my comment and continues staring up at the tree. I feel like I'm missing something vital. It's as if Mikan was seeing something completely different from what was.

"There once were two plain birds. They lived in a beautiful sakura tree with branches that spread far and wide. The flowers that blossomed in the tree had the sweetest fragrance and the leaves had an almost golden glow that shimmered in all the lights of the day. They were not as beautiful as the other birds who lived in the sakura tree. They were said to be too ugly to live in the beautiful sakura tree so they were made to stay at the tops of the tree where it was harder to find food. The plain birds fought constantly. They hated each other and couldn't stand to be around each other. Being ugly and having to share the top of the tree made the birds restless and irritated with each other. One day there was a storm. It blew the nest of the birds right out of the trees. It crashed as beat down the beautiful tree until all that was left were broken twigs and branches." Mikan pauses stroking her perch gently as if apologizing for the death of a similar mythical tree.

"All the birds had to relocate including the two plain birds. They each looked for a home as beautiful as the last. They thought they would never see each other until one day they met by chance. There was a beautiful sakura tree more beautiful than the one they once shared. By chance they met again but they did not know what to say to each other after all the times apart. They found it difficult to speak to each other normally and properly convey their feelings of love. So one of the birds flew up to the top of the tree and sang. It is said that the tune was melancholy and full of love. The melody carried the other bird to the top of the sakura tree where they shared the rest of their lives." Mikan laid her head on the tree. "Beautiful isn't it. To not see each other for so long and still be in love."

Mikan begins her slow descent down the sakura. My eyes never leave her. "I'd be romantic if things like that happened in real life." Tears sloped down her perfect checks. God this was my fault. "Oi, I guess I'm crying," she wipes away a stray tear. "Sorry you had to see that. Showing this ugly side to a total stranger. I guess I really am an idiot." She lets out a small half-hearted laugh. "But it feels better to cry it off." Another laugh. "But I'm too old to cry like this maybe I should tough it up. Anyway I make an ugly face when I cry see…" She pulls her checks and stretches them out. "Huh, you okay? Oh no don't tell me seeing me cry made you cry. I'm so sorry. Shiro?" Dammit, that stupid name! It was all because of that stupid name that I made Mikan cry. Why didn't I tell her my real name? What kind of idiot am I? Why can't I tell her I love her and stop hurting her? I wanted to become an adult to protect her. I'm grown up enough now to do so. It's just three words. Say it… Say it…

"Mikan, I love you," I say it.

That's all for chapter 3. Rate and review.