Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice—although I dream of it. Sometimes.
Author's Note: Mikan and Natsume moments in this chapter! Hope you'll enjoy this. (: Oh, and since this was actually an original story(but I decided that Gakuen Alice best fit the bill), I'm drawing a manga series for this story. When I've uploaded it on DEVIANTart, I'll let you know and post the link up on my profile. Just FYI.
Don't Trust Me
Chapter Three: Countdown to her first kiss
"So you're saying Tsubasa Andou told you you're an important person to him, and kissed you on the cheek to prove it?" Hotaru said dubiously, scooping out a small portion of crab brains from a small cup that she was holding in her left hand. Mikan wanted to wring her best friend's neck in exasperation. Why is she so cynical?
Then again, Mikan couldn't deny that she had exaggerated one or two things every now and then, so maybe it wasn't Hotaru's fault that she was so doubtful over what she'd told her.
She furrowed her brows, "Okay, so maybe the kiss wasn't really related to what he'd said, and he also didn't come right out and say, 'Mikan, you're a very important person to me.' But still, he sort of implied it! And what's more, he winked at me! Winked, Hotaru, winked!" Mikan swooned, clasping her hands together, looking as if she'd just met her Prince Charming who'd swept her off her feet.
And that probably was the case with her. And that wink was the biggest indirect confession of his love for m—"Anyone could wink, for all sorts of reasons." And this sentence that was uttered by Hotaru shattered the brown-haired girl's dreams in an instant. With a snort, the former returned her attention to her food.
Stomping her foot, Mikan said irritatedly, "Thanks a bunch for dashing my hopes."
"You're welcome. What are best friends for?" Hotaru answered placidly. It was all clear to her now, who the guy Mikan was so looking forward to meeting at the party. Tsubasa Andou. The teenager wasn't half-bad, and Hotaru probably wouldn't mind if Mikan and Tsubasa started going out. He seemed decent, at the very least.
"Anyway, Hotaru! You still haven't told me who your first kiss is! We've been best friends for so long! How could you ever keep this kind of secret from me?" Mikan nagged childishly, grabbing Hotaru's arm.
"You didn't tell me who you were crushing on," She pointed out, rather unnecessarily, Mikan thought. "I think that saves me from having to tell you about my encounter."
The auburn haired girl pouted. "But I told you in the end!" She whined. "Hotaru, you've always been magnanimous, right? I'm sure you won't hold that against me!" Hotaru snorted.
"If I'm magnanimous, you'll be Katy Perry."
:-:-:-:
"Natsume!" Kitsuneme laughed in a particularly girly manner, his face all flushed (probably from all the drinking, the said boy noted) as he ran towards his good friend, throwing his arms around him in a tight hug. "I missed you!" He nuzzled Natsume's arm, and the latter stared down at his sandy-brown haired friend, slight amusement showing on his face.
Pounding of footsteps could be heard as Koko dashed out from the dance floor, looking mortified as he saw the two locked in a seemingly passionate embrace. "Hey," Natsume nodded to Koko as he approached them, looking extremely cautious. "He's drunk, I assume."
Koko couldn't help but chuckle a little as he pulled Kitsuneme away from Natsume. "Yeah, you bet he is. Yuu and I just couldn't stop him from drinking all that beer to impress this girl he met earlier, and you know how he just goes around hugging random people regardless of their gender when he gets really drunk."
Together, they hauled an unconscious Kitsuneme onto a chair near the tables and Koko plopped down on a nearby seat, looking exhausted. "So, Nat, did you manage to catch any girls around this place?" He grinned, "I see you've been talking to quite a few hot chicks out here." Natsume cast a dark look at a pair of girls at a table only a few feet away from theirs. One of them had honey-brown hair, and she was the one who both intrigued and annoyed him at the same time.
"Yeah, it's amazing how fast I can have them eating out of my hands." Natsume shook his head. All except for that one girl who seemed more interested in food as compared to boys. "I saw you with that green-haired girl on the dance floor earlier," he said lazily, putting his hands behind his head as Natsume leaned back in his seat.
"She was actually pretty easy to get along with. Too bad that all the better girls are almost always already taken." Koko shrugged nonchalantly, but his face brightened up a bit when he turned to look at Natsume. "But I got her number. Maybe I'll ask her out when she breaks up with her boyfriend."
He couldn't help but snort. "What makes you think they'll break up anytime soon?" After all, Ruka had been together with Karin for two years, and the relationship was still as stable as ever. He had to give his blonde best friend points for that—he didn't think that he himself would ever be able to maintain a serious relationship. Things just got boring after a week or so, at least, with every girl he'd dated so far. He couldn't help how he felt, could he?
"Well, it's not like you've ever made an effort to really know any of them before, right?" Koko intoned, as if replying to Natsume's thoughts. Natsume blinked.
He'd always thought it was weird how Koko could reply to questions that were floating around in his head, or comment on his opinions that he hadn't said aloud. Is he a mind reader? Not bothering to answer the blonde, he merely relaxed and watched his surroundings as the time went by slowly.
:-:-:-:
"Hey, girls." Sumire greeted her best friends as she slid down onto the chair next to Hotaru. "How's it going?" The feel of Koko's gentle and warm hands still lingered on her palms, and she was doing her best to get rid of it.
"Hey Permy," Mikan cheered, looking slightly drunk with her red cheeks. Hotaru nodded her head in acknowledgement.
How the hell did I end up obsessing over some guy I just met when we merely danced for the short duration of two songs? She cringed at her thoughts and stared down at her mobile phone, which now consisted of a new contact—one whose name was Kokoro Yome.
Hotaru's voice broke her train of thoughts and she snapped her head up, "Huh? Sorry, Hotaru. I didn't catch what you were saying."
"I said, did you find that Kokoro Yome—the guy who was dancing with you earlier—more attractive than Akio Kawajima?" There was a tinge of impatience and annoyance in her tone, no doubt incurred by Sumire's slow uptake.
The latter stared at Hotaru, partly out of horror and partly out of shock. "H-how did you know his name? And how did you know I was thinking about him?" The last sentence was blurted out and Sumire clamped her hands to her mouth, looking mortified.
Hotaru rolled her eyes as Mikan giggled. "I know everything. You know that." Slight arrogance was etched into Hotaru's face, but it was normal.
"So, you liked him, eh?" Mikan teased, propping her elbows up on the table. "Are you planning to ditch Akio-san to go out with Yome-san?" Sumire was horrified by her lack of tactlessness.
Clearing her throat, she sat upright in her seat and said indignantly, "I am most certainly not going to dump my boyfriend of one year just to go out with some dude I barely know!"
"You've danced with him for at least eight minutes," Hotaru pointed out.
Mikan chimed in, "And it's so obvious you're utterly smitten by him." Little did Mikan know, 'smitten' was an understatement. 'Obsessed' would have been a better word. Not that she needed to know, Sumire reflected grimly.
"How is eight minutes supposed to be long enough for me to know him? And I am not smitten with him! I have Akio, for goodness's sake!" Sumire cried exasperatedly. Then she slouched from her upright position and her head flopped onto the table. Mikan frowned at her question, and then gave Hotaru an I-have-absolutely-no-idea-how-to-answer-that look.
Hotaru merely scooped up a large portion of crab brains with her spoon, and shrugged. "He's Kokoro Yome. That's his style. You don't ask me that. You ask him." As Sumire laid her head down onto the icy-cool table surface and listened to Mikan yakking about random things to Hotaru, she vaguely wondered how Hotaru even knew Koko. I suppose she does know everything, but this is just too scary. It was true that within the space of eight minutes, Koko had found out about her favourite movies, colour, hobbies, etcetera, etcetera. And she had also learnt many things about him.
Shocking, really. It wasn't as if she opened her heart up to every single stranger she'd ever met. Maybe he really did have a way to wheedle information out of people.
A vibration from her black bag informed Sumire she'd just received a text message. Fishing her mobile phone out, she saw, with a lurch in her stomach, that Koko had just sent her a message.
One new text message
Sender: Kokoro Yome
She opened the text.
From: Kokoro Yome
Message: Hey Permy. :D How's the party? You having fun? Ps. I'm sitting at the table next to yours.
Sumire's eyes twitched at the usage of the nickname 'Permy', and glanced over to affirm that he was indeed sitting at the table to her right. Koko raised his left hand and waved, and she scowled at him. When the hell did I ever tell him he could call me Permy?
To: Kokoro Yome
Message: When did I ever permit you to call me 'Permy'? It's fine. Hey, how did you get to know Hotaru?
She clicked the 'send' button. She barely had to wait for more than one minute when his reply came.
From: Kokoro Yome
Message: Aw, admit it. You like it when I call you Permy. It gives us a sense of friendship. You mean Hotaru Imai? The Ice Queen of Alice Academy? Don't know her personally. But she sounds scary, from all the rumors I've heard. Why?
Sumire stared incredulously at her mobile phone screen. He didn't know Hotaru? Then how did Hotaru know him? "Uh, Hotaru?" She prompted, preparing herself to ask a question she thought she already knew what Hotaru's answer would be to anyway, and the said girl lifted her head up from her plateful of pizzas, with a skillfully plucked eyebrow arched.
"Yeah?"
"How did you know Kokoro Yome?"
Hotaru paused, and looked Sumire directly in the eye before smirking. "I have my ways." Sumire couldn't stop herself from shuddering at the evil look in her purple-eyed friend.
:-:-:-:
Mikan felt very disturbed. From the moment he'd sat down at the table next to theirs with his two friends and exchanged a few words with his sandy-blonde haired friend (whom Hotaru had told her was the Kokoro Yome that Sumire was smitten with), he'd been staring at her non-stop. To say that she was freaked out was the understatement of the century. She was more like psychologically traumatized and scarred for life. Natsume Hyuuga. The boy who had tried to flirt with her unsuccessfully and left when he decided it wasn't worth spending his evening trying to wriggle her name out of her. He was leaning back in his seat and eyeing her with undisguised interest.
Ew. I am not a piece of delicious and tantalizing meat. I wish he'd stop looking at me like that. Mikan gagged as she glanced at him. Natsume smirked when she looked his way, and gave her a small wave. Okay, so he was hot. And the shirt he was currently wearing was just showing off his well-built body, and making her salivating. WAIT A MINUTE. REWIND. Did she just admit to herself that he was making her salivating? Horrorstruck, she pinched her skin mercilessly and howled when it was evident that she was not dreaming. Hotaru shot her an amused look.
"Mikan, are you interested in Natsume Hyuuga? You've been staring at him for at least five minutes now." Mikan gawked openly at her best friend.
"Hotaru! How do you even know his name? Are you an all-knowing alien from outer space?" Mikan wailed, grabbing Hotaru by her shoulders and shaking her.
Annoyed, the latter slapped her hands away and shot her head with her infamous Baka gun. "Stop all that drooling over me." Hotaru snapped, "Natsume Hyuuga is practically famous in Alice Academy for being a player. Heck, Sumire knows him." The green-haired girl raised her head to look at Hotaru, her eyes twinkling.
"Did you just mention Natsume Hyuuga?" Mikan could've sworn she saw that spot of drool coming from Sumire's mouth. "He is so fit."
Hotaru, at this point, lifted both her hands so that her palms were facing up in the ceiling, and gave a sigh, as if Mikan was just so unaware of so many things, "See?"
Mikan did not. "Hotaru! You shouldn't be so unsupportive of your best friend!" She wailed, clutching at the said girl's arm, "He tried to hit on me earlier!" Had Sumire been here, she was sure that she would have screamed the house down at this revelation. But the girl was already well on her way to the restroom and out of earshot.
"What did he say to you?" Mikan was startled by the tone of curiosity in Hotaru's voice.
:-:-:-:
"Uh, he demanded for my name, class and mobile phone number. I refused because he was a stranger—I mean, Hotaru, I've been given dozens of talk since little to never give any of my personal information to a total stranger and here he was, demanding for the most important ones of them all!—and he stalked off." Hotaru refrained from pointing out that a school mate of the same age was barely considered 'a total stranger'. But this was Mikan she was talking to here, so she decided to cut her some slack, and instead nodded her head in what she hoped was in an approving manner.
"You were right not to give him your personal information," she started, although they weren't for the right reasons. The main reason is because he would probably steal your heart and smash it under his foot. Instantly, Mikan's eyes sparkled in happiness at her best friend's approval.
"Oh, Hotaru!" She exclaimed, diving into her best friend and almost making them collapse onto the floor as she hugged Hotaru tightly in her arms. "I love you!" Her declaration of love was not missed by several passers-by, and they stared at the two weirdly, but hesitated to say anything because of Hotaru's piercing glare that could kill anyone.
"Mikan, you idiot." She grumbled, and stood up to dust herself.
"But you love me anyway." The cheek was not missed and Hotaru knew it to be true. So she cracked a smile at the statement.
:-:-:-:
The golden rule in their gang was to never, ever snatch one of your mate's girl. It had happened before, back when they were a group of eight instead of seven (the current gang consisted of Natsume, Ruka, Koko, Kitsuneme, Mochu, Yuu and Hayate), and they had a friend called Akira Tonouchi, a renowned womanizer who stole girls who were already attached from their boyfriends. The gang never really minded, seeing as he never stole any one of theirs, but all that changed when Koko started dating this girl who had a really impressive figure and one of the prettiest faces that Yuu had ever seen. Her name was Yamabuki Mai.
Koko had really fallen in love with her, and he didn't even mind when the others started to tease him about being utterly whipped. But all those fond memories came to a quick end when Tono just stole her right out from under Koko's nose, and was caught making out with her in an empty classroom one day. Koko was broken and spent more than a year wallowing in his own misery, and even Natsume had tried to cheer him up. Tono was beaten up in an alley just outside Central Town and reduced to a bloody lump on the ground. He transferred out the next day and nobody ever saw him again.
Stealing your buddy's girlfriend was just low and everyone viewed it the same way. So that was why Yuu found himself surprised when he spotted both Ruka and Natsume showing way too much interest in the same girl when he was relaxing in a spot at the corner of the room. If both of them ended up falling for the same girl, there was no doubt that chaos would ensue.
"Hey." A familiar voice nudged Yuu out of his reverie and he looked up to see Mochu offering him a can of beer.
"Thanks, Mochu." He grinned at his bald-headed friend and accepted the can. As he opened it and took a long swig, Mochu leaned back on the same wall Yuu was relaxing against. "You tired or something?" Yuu asked. Mochu was a huge party animal and it was rare to see him just sitting back and watch people party the place down.
"Nah. Have I ever?" Mochu grinned. "It's just that the lights are making me dizzy." Suddenly, he squinted his eyes and bent down to observe the crowd, "Hey, is it me or are people stripping on the dance floor?"
Yuu followed his gaze, and nearly choked on his beer to see a nearly naked girl with double Ds grinding her body along to the music with her also almost naked male partner.
"Holy shit, dude."
:-:-:-:
Karin had gotten utterly wasted within the space of thirty minutes, and Ruka Nogi had a hard time tugging her away from the drinks. "I want to drink some more, Ruu!" She slurred, with her cheeks red and her green eyes squinted as she looked at him. "You…look hot tonight." She muttered, and Ruka felt his cheeks turn pink when she slid her leg up his. Hormones were a troublesome thing, and he didn't particularly want to end up having sex with her in front of everyone.
Quickly, he carried her up from the floor with her knees and back resting against his hands—bridal-style and excused himself politely from the party. Wakako was most understanding when she saw a drunken Karin in his arms, and opened the door for him. Ruka carried his girlfriend all the way down the corridors of the dormitory, taking special care to avoid the field of vision of all the security guards who were patrolling the area that night.
Finally, when they reached her room, he fished out the duplicated key Karin had given him on their first anniversary, and unlocked the door. He carefully laid her down on her double-star bed and filled her water jug, placing it on her nightstand in case she woke up in the middle of the night, all dehydrated. "I'm going off now, Karin," He said to the unconscious girl, who murmured something incoherent.
But as he turned around to leave the room, she suddenly said aloud, "Ruka!" The said boy bent over his head to look at her, and Karin sat up from her bed, pulled him down and pressed her lips to his. They kissed for nearly fifteen seconds and she broke off, gasping for air. Then she smiled at him sweetly before falling back onto her quilt. "That was my goodnight kiss. Bye, Ruu-chan." And she fell asleep. Ruka straightened up, and tucked her in before stepping out of her doorway. Girls.
By the time he returned to the party, it was twelve-thirty and the music was even louder than before. "Oi, Ruka!" Koko waved to him, and beckoned for him to go over to sit with him and Natsume. Ruka rose an eyebrow at the sleeping Kitsuneme as he strode over to the table.
"Hey." Natsume nodded at him. "How did you get Sakayuki off your back?"
Ruka frowned at the way Natsume made it sound like Karin was harassing him, and shrugged. "She got drunk, so I brought her back to her room. Found anyone you're particularly interested in yet?"
Natsume smirked a little. "Maybe." But his glance at a table gave him away, and as Ruka turned his head to see who his best friend was looking at, his heart sank. Mikan Sakura. She was definitely capable of capturing Natsume's attention, what with her looks and attitude. "You're interested in Mikan Sakura?" He blurted out, albeit too loudly, and as Natsume rose his eyebrows, Mikan at the other table gawped at the trio.
:-:-:-:
Mikan's jaw dropped, and she turned to Hotaru, a shocked expression on her face. "H-Hotaru, did you hear that?" She exclaimed, holding her head in her hands and grimaced when Natsume shot her an amused smirk and a wave. "Ruka-pyon just said Hyuuga's interested in me!"
Hotaru paused. "How do you know Nogi?"
The brown-haired girl grinned, not noticing the slight surprise in Hotaru's expression, "I fell down earlier, remember? Ruka-pyon was the one who helped me to this table!" She cheered, and proceeded to call out, "RUKA-PYOOOOON!"
Ruka whipped his head around, and the brunette waved excitedly at him. He sent her a strained smile and waved back. Mikan turned back to Hotaru, and whined, "I still can't believe he's friends with Natsume Hyuuga!"
:-:-:-:
"So apparently you know her, and judging by the tone of your voice, you sound like you're pretty into her." Natsume almost sounded accusing.
"I'm not!" Ruka protested, turning red, "I already have Karin! I won't fall for Sakura!" But the second he said the sentence, he immediately regretted it. But he faced Natsume defiantly, and the latter merely shrugged.
"If you say so. Since you aren't interested in her, introduce me. Because I am." Ruka swallowed at the dangerous smirk on his best friend's face.
The hard lump in his throat refused to go away and his mouth felt dry as he said, "Fine." But as he and Natsume strolled over to the table, he wondered why there was such a hot, bubbling sensation at the pit of his stomach if he didn't really care. Shit. How did things ever turn out this way?
:-:-:-:
"Hey, Sakura-san." Ruka greeted Mikan nervously, and as his eyes fell on Hotaru, they widened. Looking at her closely, he said slowly, "Hey…"
Hotaru merely shot him a blank stare. "I don't know you." She said bluntly. On catching Mikan's disbelieving look (she had mentioned Nogi's surname after all), she corrected, "I don't know you personally." And she immediately dropped back down onto her seat to resume her activities on her PDA. Ruka furrowed his eyebrows. Hotaru…
"Hi Ruka-pyon." Mikan said cheerily, "Where's Karin-chan?" But the instant she saw Natsume, her face fell. "Oh," she said stiffly, "it's you."
Ruka looked at her in surprise, "You know Natsume?"
"He asked for my mobile phone number and class when I didn't even know him, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan complained, "How could someone as nice as you have someone like him as your friend?"
Natsume cleared his throat. "Best friend, actually." Ruka glanced at him. So he IS interested in her. Natsume normally wouldn't have to bother with asking girls for their numbers—they would just give it to him voluntarily.
"Natsume is actually here to make up for his rudeness, actually," The blonde explained. Natsume shot him an incredulous look, and the former stared back with a follow-my-lead-because-I'm-helping-you look.
Natsume rolled his eyes, then stepped out from behind Ruka, bowing to Mikan before extending a hand. "Would you care for a dance with me, milady? I apologise for my inappropriate behaviour from earlier."
:-:-:-:
Mikan's eyes widened at the sudden change in his demeanor. What's with this…?
"She's not dancing with you." A sharp voice snapped, and she looked back to see an annoyed Hotaru, a vein pulsing in her temple. A clear sign that she was pissed, Mikan noted. "I'm not letting you have the chance to hurt Mikan." Hotaru…?
His look was almost dismissive. "I won't hurt her."
"Bullshit." Hotaru spat, her amethyst eyes turning darker by every second. "Biggest playboy in Alice Academy. Hooked up with almost more than half the girls in school. 15 years old. Natsume Hyuuga. If you want me to believe you won't hurt her, you'll have to castrate yourself first."
Fire could practically be seen in Natsume's eyes. "Imai, just because we—"
But Ruka stepped forward, and gently nudged Hotaru's arm, "Come on, Hotaru. It's just one dance. No strings attached." Hotaru snatched her arm away.
"Don't touch me. And it's Imai-san to you."
Mikan almost froze in shock. Ruka knows Hotaru? But Hotaru knows Ruka too… But didn't Hotaru just say she didn't know Ruka? I don't get this. She opened her mouth to start, "Hota-"
"Fine." Hotaru cut across her sentence, "One dance. But that's all." Her eyes locked onto Mikan's, and she nodded. But as she brushed past them, Mikan could've sworn she heard Hotaru whisper in her ear.
"Be careful, Mikan."
"Okay," Mikan decided, "Since Hotaru gave me her approval, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just have one dance with you." She grasped his outstretched hand, and blinked as a rush of adrenaline coursed through her body. Whoa. Upon seeing her hesitation, Natsume whisked her off to the dance floor.
:-:-:-:
Ruka watched the two move towards the dance floor hand-in-hand, and told himself firmly, It doesn't matter how you feel. You have Karin, and Natsume is interested in Mikan. Period. You cannot fall for your best friend's love interest. Impossible. He repeated the sentence in his head for a few more times until he felt more at peace, and headed back to where Koko was trying to pry Kitsuneme off him.
Mikan's an impossible target. All I have to do is to remember that.
:-:-:-:
As much as she hated to admit it, Natsume was a good dancer. He hadn't even tried to touch her inappropriately even once, and his every movement was done smoothly. Mikan was beginning to enjoy herself.
"You know, you're a pretty good dancer." She complimented him as they moved in sync to the music.
His smirk was addicting. She wanted to keep seeing it. "You're not too bad yourself. Was that blue-haired guy your boyfriend?"
Mikan couldn't help but sigh wistfully. "I wish. But I'm not even sure if he views me as anything more than a friend."
Natsume looked like he couldn't find any words to continue to conversation, so he kept up with the silence as they continued to dancing. Suddenly, Mikan found herself falling towards Natsume as a hard impact hit her back. The girl who'd crashed into her because she tripped yelled out, "Oops! Sorry!" But Mikan had already fallen to the ground with Natsume under her.
The next thing she knew, Mikan found her lips locked to Natsume's.
To be continued…
Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait! But I hope this at least made up for it. See? I wasn't slacking- not really. Oh yeah, my exams are finally over! Which means I can focus more on stories and drawing manga now! Woo hoo! :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Constructive criticisms are welcome. I love all of your reviews.
A big thank you to my reviewers for chapter 2 (I'll be replying here to those I didn't manage to reply using the 'review reply' button):
SakuraPetals13 – Thanks :D I think he's cute too. Natsume FOREVER.
Amethyst Mae – Well, your wait is over. Welcome to Chapter 3 of Don't Trust Me.
beavermeadowsbev – Thanks, I couldn't wait for it either.
Karin-Kazune
Annyxoxo – Thanks for the review!
fire-flyzzz – Aw, thanks, Heng! :D I kind of liked Chapter 3. (:
Ruby Romance
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natsu''ruka
One Heartbeat
acrianz
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