I just watched He's beautiful/You're beautiful, the Korean drama. One of the best series I've ever watched. Shin Woo deserves someone to be with, at least. Why not me instead? Haha. Thumbs up Shin Woo!

I thank those who reviewed with all my heart. You truly make me happy. Thank you!

Her Favorite Boy

By Y. M. H.O

Chapter 3: Today

Natsume quietly strolled around the mall, looking for his mom and sister. 'It's been five hours already and they're not yet done shopping?' he thought frustratingly. Well it's girls' night out after all, and he clearly wasn't part of the plan. Well, maybe, as a bag carrier.

He has looked inside various stores, Prada, Gucci, the stores where his mom and sister usually went but they weren't there. It was almost ten in the evening when he heard his stomach rumble. Paying heed to his hunger, he quickly went to a stand to buy hotdog and drinks.

"Here's your change sir." The vendor politely said. He received it and turned around with the hotdog and coke on his hands when—

Thump.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry mister!" Natsume looked up from his stained shirt and prepared his coldest glare when his eyes met a girl. A pretty girl indeed, she looked so innocent, so fragile that Natsume wanted to reach his hand out and stroke her soft, long hair. Her eyes were so big, and though in some other cases he would have thought of it weird, her huge eyes complimented her face, and hour glass-like body. He stared and stared and stared…

"Mister, are you alright? I said I'm sorry, aren't you going to say anything?" The girl asked him, a little annoyed now. He smirked and leaned close while the girl flinched at his actions.

"Perhaps," he breathed at her face, earning some stares from the other people. The girl stared apprehensively at him.

"Perhaps, what?" she asked softly. He leaned more closely, and she shivered from the closeness of their bodies.

"Perhaps, you deserve this." He whispered and before she even comprehended his words, he splashed the remaining coke from his cup towards the girl's dress. There were gasps but he strolled away, looking for a bin to throw his distorted hotdog, while smiling so wide. He laughed silently, remembering the girl's expression.

"Onii-chan?" he hastily threw the distorted hotdog and faced his little sister, side by side with their mother, smiling broadly. He grinned in return.

"Oi. How was your shopping? I looked for you everywhere." He whined and his only family just laughed.

"Well, it's girl's night out. Are you a girl, Onii-chan? Just tell us, we'll still accept you." Aoi mocked him but he just got their bags.

"Tch. Not in a billion years. Let's go, I'm starving." He declared and walked ahead, leaving his mother and sister dumbfounded by his good mood.

"Tell me her name or I'll crush your face." Natsume threatened as the boy he held by his collar trembled. He was close to crying and it took him a great deal of effort not to. He cleared his throat to signal that he was going to answer.

"The girl's name? The silver-haired?" he asked though he knew the answer. Natsume gritted his teeth in anticipation.

"Yeah."

"Ibaragi Nobara."

He slowly let go of the boy's collar with his face expressionless. The scared stranger hurried away, afraid that he would catch him again and question him, and if he doesn't know the answer he'll really crush his face.

When the boy's footsteps faltered, Natsume's face broke into a smile.

After a minute, he was still smiling.

After a couple of minutes, he was still smiling.

Finally getting back to his senses, he headed to the parking lot and went home.

Natsume paced across his sister's room, with his eyebrows joined. It was such a confusing thing, girls. Well it was his first time to ask a girl out because usually it was the other way around, and he usually declined. But Natsume Hyuuga continued to pace around the room, worried, and it was very unusual for Aoi. Her brother wasn't listening to her questions that she had to stop in front of him to make him notice. He spoke first when she was about to open her mouth.

"Hey, what do you know about girls?" he asked. Natsume looked so confused, so worried that Aoi herself was confused. She stared for awhile.

"Why onii-chan, what's up?" she replied, more confused now. Then it clicked in her forehead.

"What? Say something you know." Natsume said, a bit irritated with her huge grin, from ear to ear. She slowly lifted her arm and patted him on the back.

"Aww. My brother likes someone now, thank goodness, finally!" She said that a little too loud that after a few seconds, the door to her room banged open and their mother was there panting with a huge grin like his sister's. She rushed over and hugged him so tight he found it hard to breathe normally.

"Really? Really, really, really?" she excitedly asked like a child expecting candy. He shook his head but Aoi slapped his back.

"Yes mom. He's asking me about girls, maybe he likes someone." Aoi replied for his brother who glared ruthlessly at her. Kaoru shook her head, and for a moment he actually thought his mother was siding with him.

"Aoi honey, he doesn't like someone." She said firmly. Natsume breathed a sigh of relief when-

"Aoi he doesn't like someone, he loves someone!" they squealed together. They were actually in their own worlds and Natsume tip-toed quietly towards the door to escape but in a moment he was caught, and being his supportive mother and sister, they forced the story out of him.

"Back to Earth Natsume! Yoo-hoo!" a voice shouted at his ears but he was still too caught up with his daydreaming.

"Yee-haw! Nat-su-me! Hey man!" someone shouted again but he wasn't getting out, his fantasies and the shock of yesterday's events were still embedded in his mind.

"Natsume. Hey, hi NOBARA!"

Natsume jolted back to reality as the name was called. He looked at every direction, afraid that he might spot the silver head but he looked for her anyway. He scanned every possible person until his eyes met a crestfallen girl, Mikan. She carefully sipped her coffee, and regarded him with a worried expression.

"What?" Natsume asked, a bit disappointed that he wasn't able to see the girl. Mikan frowned.

"You have fallen for her, right? I can tell, pretty boy, you have fallen for her." She said and it was his turn to frown. He's confused, what can he say? Finding a girl not attracted to him at first sight was a hard task, but on the other hand, Mikan's an exception. She was a best friend to him, nothing more, and nothing less.

"I don't know." Was his only reply. Mikan propped her head in her arm.

"You don't know? What kind of answer is that? After what you've seen yesterday, do you still like her?" she asked, curiosity present in her eyes.

"I said I don't know." He answered again, earning a sigh from Mikan. His great brain just shut down and all the possible answers he could think of was I don't know. I don't know. And more I don't know.

She abruptly stood up and forcefully took his arm, attracting some stares from the other people inside the coffee shop.

"Hey, what in the world are you planning?" He asked when Mikan dragged him out of the coffee shop and to who knows where.

"We're going to find another girl for you, pretty boy. Not Nobara, I think I couldn't stand a minute with her. To think we were friends, yikes." She said, not looking at him.

"Hey, I don't need a girl. Second, don't call me pretty boy, it's disgusting." She just shrugged and ran, dragging him with her, her hands held onto his tightly, not letting go.

At last, they reached a fancy looking place.

"It's an amusement park, pretty boy. This is where most girls go, usually with their boyfriends." Mikan informed him, looking around, and doing what we may call, girl-hunting. Natsume looked around too, and they stood there, looking around.

Then a cheerful voice jerked them out of their reverie, and they were propelled forward by a cheerful and colorful clown.

"Good day to you. I'm Wow the Clown. Would you like to try our rides and booths, for your amusement? After all, this is an amusement park." He told them with a cheery voice. They looked around, hoping the rides were safe and nodded. Wow the Clown led them to a ticket booth where a lady in a fancy dress waited patiently for customers to arrive. She spotted them and immediately waved.

"Oh! What a good pair we have here!" she exclaimed and Mikan had to wonder how she knew that she is a girl. With the plain shirt, straight-cut pants and hair cut like a boy's, most of the time; people thought she was a boy. She looked at the woman confusingly but the latter just smiled in return.

"I was a dressmaker once, girl. And by your looks-" She scanned Mikan from head to toe, "you clearly are a woman… Is he your boyfriend?" The woman smiled teasingly and Mikan gagged as Natsume flinched.

"This boy? My boyfriend? You've got to be kidding me alright. Nothing's going on between us." She answered in a disgusted tone and Natsume nodded. The woman just shrugged and sat back at her chair again.

"I thought, just for a while… Well, never mind. What do you want to avail? Ride-all-you-can? Or just a single ticket? Oh, I'll give you this pamphlet; it'll help you a lot. Ok what do you want again? Sorry I'm being talkative here, I just love to talk you know, oh I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Hilda." She talked so fast that they barely heard it. Mikan squinted at the pamphlet she gave her.

"Umm, Hilda, do you have horror houses here?" she asked the woman interestingly and she smiled slyly.

"Yes. But our horror houses here are like no other; people go in there and go out with ashen faces. I myself haven't gotten inside yet, and I am not so eager to. The best here is the booth "The Mummy". You'll have fun there… I'm not so sure." Hilda quickly added.

"Two ride-all-you-can tickets please." Mikan said and handed the money while Natsume just stood nearby, waiting for her to be finished.

"Thank you. We hope you have a good time." Hilda smiled and bowed at her, she smiled back. Mikan turned and faced him.

"Let's go to The Mummy. You might find different kinds of girls there, one who might not be so scared of horror houses. This mission is on."

.

.

.

Two pale people went out of the exit door first. She grabbed the handle for support while he sat on the floor shakily.

"Going in there is definitely not a good idea." Mikan mumbled and wiped her sweaty hands on her pants. Natsume just sat there, unmoving. There was silence; none of them spoke, when-

"I told you to buy beer!Where is it?" A masculine voice quite a distance away exclaimed and Natsume and Mikan stiffened.

"I don't have money to buy one, father. I'm so sorry!" a girl's voice answered back, clearly quivering with fear. Both of them listened intently, muscles tensed.

"I don't care, give me one!" the male voice replied and before the girl could reply-

SLAP!

As quick as lightning, both Mikan and Natsume were in front of them, glaring at the man who just hit a girl about their age. Shock was evident in her eyes but her father regarded them coolly, obviously drunk.

"Here to give me beer?" He asked hopefully. Mikan's eyes were full of disgust that it took a lot of effort to speak to him and not kick him on his butt. She stepped closer to him as Natsume protectively stood in front of the girl who was sitting on the ground surprised.

"I'll give you this and you'll let her be, deal?" She snarled, fishing a thousand yen bill from her wallet. The man glowed with pleasure and stepped forward eagerly.

"Deeal!" he said and quickly snatched the bill from her hand; he looked back at his daughter and smirked.

"She's all yours now." He happily skipped away, waving the money in the air like he won the lottery. When he was quite far away, she turned her attention to the girl sitting on the ground, petrified.

Natsume relaxed and moved out of her way. The girl with amethyst eyes stood up, walked towards Mikan and with one quick stride she was face to face with her. It helped Mikan's self-esteem that she was at least three inches taller.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt somewhere?" Mikan asked anxiously but the girl looked at her with a poker face that was quite off.

SLAP

"Do you know what you did? You practically bought me from my father!" She exclaimed and beat Mikan's chest repeatedly; she was too shocked to reply. She burst into tears and slid to the ground. Natsume looked terrified. Mikan looked petrified.

The girl continued to sob quietly and they seemed to get to their senses. Mikan bent to her level and looked at her face shining with tears.

"I apologize. We don't mean it that way." She explained in a sincere voice that the girl looked up.

"You apologize? You're going to rape me anyway!" she said and a few more tears slid down her delicate face.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Natsume and Mikan burst in laughter as she said those words, while the girl looked scared and confused at the same time.

"Rape you? We're never going to do that. What ever gave you that idea?" Mikan snorted and Natsume cracked a smile. Meanwhile, the girl looked confused as ever.

With a sigh, Mikan got hold of her hand and placed it on her chest. The girl blushed then her eyes widened.

"You're a girl?" Mikan nodded, the same time as another person saw what she was doing… and seemed to get the wrong idea.

"Hotaru? What are you doing to her!" a male voice shouted and before Mikan, Natsume and the girl could turn their heads-

DUMPH

Mikan's eyesight turned black, but she was able to see… blonde hair.

I seem to love punching people on this story. Haha. Sorry I wasn't able to update sooner, and for those who expect Mikan and Natsume getting together, you just might have to wait a little longer. I don't plan to fast forward what happened to them. But rest assured, there will be.

Thank you to:

animaeluvinggirl22 – first to review, yay! Thanks for your supportive reviews.

Crimson-Midnight-Moon- Thank you!

PassionInWriting- Umm, I'll try to =)

Kuroichibineko- I appreciate your criticisms. Maybe you won't understand the story now, but hey, it's just chapter 2, relax. But I'll try to write it in the most understandable way I can, thank you.

Blueberryxn- Yeah, I just got that crazy idea. I don't know why. Thank you!

Miki Panda-chii- thanks!

12star98na- Haha, me too!

Bane Flower- Thanks for the compliment! (um, in my perspective) You made my day too, don't worry.

For all those anonymous reviews, although I don't write you in here, thank you so much! What you did truly means a lot to me.

Review?

Y. M. H.O