Disclaimer: I own only Hana, Daichi and Akatsuki. I do not own Gakuen Alice.
Note: I still suck at grammar
A/N: Someone told me to have Natsume find out who Mikan was. Well, I'm sorry, but not now. Though, I will tell you that he will find out when…. He will find out soon… quite soon. Just not in the chapter. 8)
For the rest of the day, Mikan and Natsume tried to avoid crossing paths with each other. Mikan stayed in her room while Natsume stayed at the Sakura tree. Pretty much, they both stayed in one place for as long as they could.
Night came, and Natsume decided to head back to his room. Heaving a sigh, he jumped down from the Sakura tree and headed back to his room as he planned. Meanwhile, Mikan had just finished off some homework that had been given within the week. Leaning back on the chair, she stretched and started to relax. She closed her eyes for a few minutes and focused on the sounds she heard outside of her room.
Her eyes suddenly snapped open. She heard footsteps and she was sure they belonged to none other than Natsume Hyuuga. She turned to the mini clock on the side of her study table. Well, it would be expected. Teachers were going to patrol the school to check if any students were around. It was already nine o'clock anyways.
Realizing what time it was, Mikan quickly stood up and ran for the shower after putting her things away. She had been so focused on her work that she didn't realise that she didn't have a shower yet because after she walked out of the cafeteria, she straight away started on her work. By all means, she was still in her running attire.
Ten minutes later, Mikan came out of the bathroom in her light blue pyjamas with white fluffy-looking clouds on them with her hair tied up in her usual ponytail. She then headed into her kitchen and poured herself a glass of water and walked over to her couch and turned on her television and watched whatever was on.
Natsume had just arrived to his room and shut the door. He took off his coat and threw it onto his bed as he passed it. He went to collect new clothes, from his closet, and headed for the shower. As he stepped into the bathroom, he heard the water running next door, making him suddenly feel weird. He hadn't talked nor seen her all day. Heaving a sigh, he stripped out of his clothes and took a quick shower.
In less than six minutes, he came out shirtless and black pyjama pants, his hair still wet. He suddenly felt his stomach rumble. 'Damn, I didn't eat dinner…' he thought as he headed out to his balcony. He walked over to the railings and placed his hands on it and looked up at the night sky. He then walked to the coffee table, pulled out a chair and took a seat, then continued to stare up at the sparkling sky.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. Suddenly, he heard a door slide open, causing his eyes to snap open. He automatically looked over to Mikan's balcony, to see Mikan in light blue pyjamas with clouds on them. He stayed silent, not daring to move a muscle until she turned his way.
Mikan walked over to the balcony railings and stared up at the sky, admiring how beautiful it could be at such a dark time. Though, it was also thanks to the moon, as well as the stars that made sky seem… not dark, empty, blank and detached to the rest of the world. It took her a while to realise that there was someone on the balcony next to her. She almost jumped when she saw Natsume staring at her as he stood up from his seat.
Mikan faced away from him as she saw him make his way to the right side of his balcony, so he could be right beside her balcony. He leaned against it, his body facing his room and his arms crossed across his chest. Both stayed silent, not daring to utter a word. Though, time went on and both of them started to feel uncomfortable. Mikan slowly turned around and was about to take a step to go back to her room when she heard Natsume speak.
"I..." he started off, "You...I don't know what to say. But, how long are we going to... be like…this?" he asked her, staring at the back of her head, in hope that she would turn around to face him.
Mikan looked over her shoulder and answered, "I don't know. It all depends on you" she then turned around fully and looked into Natsume's eyes.
"Do you still think that I'm not ready to help the people I care about?"
Natsume's eyes slightly harden by her question. "I don't mean that you're weak. I just..." he trailed off, unable to finish off his sentence. He wasn't like himself. Usually, if he were in such a conversation, he would have let it be and walked off. Why was he so determined to fix things between him and Mikan all of a sudden?
His thoughts were pushed aside when he saw Mikan smile. He gave her a questioning look, though, his eyes widened when he saw Mikan turn away and head to her room. He was about to stop her when he saw her suddenly turn around and gesture him to follow her before disappearing into her room.
Natsume smirked and jumped over to Mikan's balcony and walked into her room, sliding the balcony door shut as he entered. When he walked into her room, he heard sounds coming from the kitchen. Slowly, he walked over to the kitchen to see Mikan collecting some ingredients to make food. He walked closer to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame and decided to watch her as she moved around and started cooking.
"Why are you cooking at such a time?" he asked, confused. Dinner was meant to be hours ago. Surely, this girl wouldn't be so hungry to eat again.
"Well, I didn't eat dinner before, since I was doing busy doing homework and all. And you being you, I doubt you've eaten, either, right?" she asked. Natsume merrily smirked in reply. Mikan smirked back at him and turned back to her cooking.
Minutes later, Mikan came out with two bowls with food filled to the top. Natsume stared wide-eyed at the two bowls in Mikan's hands as he followed her over to the dinner room with the chopsticks in his hand, in which Mikan had given to him to hold whilst she brought out the food.
"Wow, do you eat that much?" he asked her., gesturing towards the food. Mikan merrily shrugged as she placed the food on the table. She then turned around and took a pair of chopsticks from him and sat down while Natsume stayed standing up, still in daze.
Mikan stared up at Natsume for a while before poking him in the stomach and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to eat or not?" she questioned him. Natsume quickly sat down with a nod. Mikan smiled and started eating, not bothering with any formalities. Natsume grinned and started eating himself.
'Wow…this is good' he thought as he took the first bite.
Mikan and Natsume ate and would tease each other every now and again until they both finished eating. Mikan took Natsume's bowl and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, followed by Natsume. She headed towards the kitchen and dumped the bowls and the chopsticks into the sink and started to unbutton her pyjama shirt. Seeing this, Natsume slightly blushed.
Mikan started to unbutton her shirt when she remembered her tattoos. 'I wonder…' she thought. She shrugged to herself and proceeded to take off her shirt, revealing a white tank top underneath. She quickly threw it aside and started to wash the dishes. In the corner of her eye, she saw Natsume eyeing her. Well, more specifically, her tattoos.
"When did you get those tattoos?" he asked curiously as he stepped closer towards Mikan. Mikan continued to clean the bowls silently. Natsume walked over to Mikan and stood behind her. It took all of Mikan's self-control not to go crazy and blush like mad.
Natsume leaned over, his chest touching Mikan's back and took the bowls out of Mikan's soapy hands and turned her around. He then placed both his hands on the edge of the counter, trapping her.
"So, answers" he said. Mikan sighed and leaned against the counter and answered, "I got them today, after I left the cafeteria."
"And, why?" Natsume continued to question her. Mikan raised an eyebrow.
"Don't start again, Natsume. Take the advice- Don't start again" spoke Mikan as she shoved Natsume's arms away and started to rinse the bowls before leaving them to dry. She then made her way out of the room and looked at the clock. It was fifteen to ten already. Mikan then made her way towards the living room to collect a book before heading towards her bed and plopped herself on it, not minding whatever Natsume was doing. Her eyes slightly widened when she saw Natsume lie down on the bed.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a calm voice, trying to focus on the book in her hands.
"I want to sleep" replied Natsume nonchalantly. His face was then met by a pillow which was thrown by Mikan. He threw the pillow aside and glared at Mikan only to see her already glaring at him.
"Sleep if you want. But there is no way in heckies are you going to sleep on my bed! ESPECIALLY HALF NAKED!" exclaimed Mikan as she climbed over Natsume to go to the other side of the bed to pull him off it.
"If you want to sleep here" she grunted, as she pulled Natsume off the bed and started to drag him over to the living room, "you can sleep on the couch!" she continued as she pushed him down onto the couch. She was about walk away when Natsume grabbed her arm and pulled her down on top him, making her let out a small scream.
"WHAT THE HECK, PERVERT!" she yelled as she punched his chest, making him grunt in pain.
'Damn, the girl's strong' thought Natsume as he playfully pulled her down closer to his chest and hugged her, causing her to scream…again. She was about to yell at him again when he whispered something she couldn't hear.
"What was that, Natsume?" she asked, leaning in closer to him (despite the fact that she was close enough to him as she was), trying to hear him better.
"Just…stay like this… just this one time…please.' murmured Natsume as he started to drift off to sleep. Mikan unconsciously smiled. She slowly and carefully moved her body around so she was in a more comfortable position before she relaxed and let herself slowly fall drift to sleep.
"Goodnight, Pervert" she muttered to him just as she fell asleep. Unfortunately for her, she didn't hear Natsume reply.
"Good night…Mikan" he whispered sleepily as he turned over and moved closer to his chest.
Morning came and Natsume started to wake up. He suddenly remembered that he had a mission and quickly jumped off the couch, though he realised that Mikan was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is that girl?" he asked himself, looking around the room. Then as if on cue, Mikan entered the room, still in her attire from last night, with two plates of pancakes.
"Well, you're finally up. It's 8:30 already. Good thing it's a Saturday, though. Or else we would have been late for school. Anyway, here, eat up" she told him as she handed him one of two plates full of pancakes, along with a fork for him to eat with. Both of them ate in silence. When both of them finished, Natsume stood up and went to wash the dishes after he told her to go change. Mikan smiled and did as she was told…after she stared at Natsume.
Quickly getting up, she went to get her clothes and ran into the bathroom to refresh herself.
When she came out she saw Natsume in her lounge room on the couch, all dressed and refreshed and reading a book. 'How in the heck did he get changed so fast?' she wondered to herself.
"How did you…?" she asked him.
"Magic powers" he replied sarcastically as he went to put the book away, back in it's place.
Mikan couldn't help but roll her eyes as she went over to the couch herself and plopped herself on it before asking curiously, "So, how was your sleep last night?"
Natsume stared at her blankly and replied a simple, "it was alright." Mikan raised an eyebrow and grinned. She then checked her watch to see it was already nine a.m.
"So, what do you have planned today?" she asked Natsume. Now, Natsume raised an eyebrow at her.
"Why? Want to ask me on a date, do you?" Natsume teased her. Mikan pouted.
"No, I was just wondering, that's all. So, do you?" she said. Before Mikan could reply, both felt another presence in the room. Natsume turned towards the balcony and headed towards it. Mikan followed suit. Both stopped in their tracks when they saw who the presence belonged to.
"Persona" Mikan heard Natsume hiss through his teeth.
"Hello, kittens. I'm just wondering what on earth you two are doing together?" asked Persona. Mikan felt chills running down her spine when her older brother asked upon why they were together.
"Anyways, Kuro Neko, you have a mission today, as I told you yesterday. You are to meet at the usual meeting place at noon. Don't be late, or else you shall be punished for such an act" announced Persona. And with that, he vanished out of their sight.
Mikan and Natsume stood in silence even after Persona left.
"Well…" spoke Mikan awkwardly, "what now? You've got just under three hours till noon. What are you going to do now?" she asked. Natsume continued to stay silent for a few minuted before finally answering with an "I don't know", making Mikan want to shoot him.
"Come on, let's go" she said as she grabbed Natsume's arm and dragged him out the door.
"Oi, stop dragging me, Polka Dots" demanded Natsume. Mikan stopped walking and let go of Natsume's hand. She then walked behind him and started to push him. Natsume rolled his eyes. 'Geez, this girl…' he thought to himself.
A few minutes later, they arrived in front of the Northern Forest. Natsume gave her a questioning look as asked her, "What the hell are we doing here?" he asked her. Mikan smirked at him as she stepped in front of him and replied, "Find and catch me" as she vanished into the Northern Forest.
Natsume let out a string of curses and muttered, "Stupid Polka" under his breath before going into the Northern Forest after her.
Sumire, along with the rest of the group were taking a walk around the school grounds since there was nothing to do.
"Oi, isn't that Natsume and Mikan? What are they doing?" asked Anna, pointing towards Natsume, who was being pushed by Mikan. The group turned towards the direction Anna was pointing towards to just see Mikan and Natsume disappear around the corner.
"What do you think they're doing?" repeated Anna curiously as she proceeded to walk again. The rest of the group stayed silent until Sumire broke it.
"Maybe they're going to spend some quality time together" she said. Anna and Nonoko smiled.
"Yeah, they both make a cute couple" commented Nonoko. Sumire and Anna agreed. All heads turned towards Hotaru when they heard something click.
"What's wrong, Imai-san?" asked Ruka, trying taking a step closer to Hotaru only to be stopped by her Baka Gun.
"Don't come any closer to me" she said, facing him. She then turned to face the rest of the group whilst lowering her Baka Gun as Ruka took a few steps away from her.
"It would be better If Hyuuga stayed away from her every now and again" spoke Hotaru. She then continued, "Same goes for the rest of you. It'll be better not to know certain things. I was told by Mikan a couple of days after I met her when we were younger. I didn't consider taking the advice. I'm glad I didn't. But, it only benefitted me. Not for Mikan. She was deeply hurt when she had to tell me about herself" Hotaru then turned away from the group and proceeded walking.
"Wait…HOTARU!" Koko called out. Hotaru slowly turned her head around and looked over her shoulder and waited for Koko to continue speaking.
"Um, yeah, Hotaru… Why is it that we don't know much about Mikan-chan? What's her Alice?" he asked her. Hotaru turned her head back to how it was and continued to walk, followed by the rest of the group
"I am not the one to tell you. Ask me anything about anyone else. Just not about Mikan. As unfair as it may seem, it's fairer for you to not know than her. By all means, you're lucky to not know, while it's killing Mikan inside. I'm going back to my lab to finish off my inventions now" was all that was said before Hotaru departed herself from the group and headed towards her lab.
"Wait! Imai-san!" called out Ruka, running towards Hotaru. "I'll come, too" he said. Hotaru stared at him for a long moment before proceeding walk. Ruka smiled, hearing no objects quickly jogged to catch up with her.
The rest of the group stayed back and watched Hotaru and Ruka's retreating figures until they disappeared.
"Come to think of it, not only Mikan and Natsume, but also Hotaru and Ruka would make a cute couple as well" Anna commented. Nonoko agreed, smiling.
"Come on, how about we go out to the park or something?" Koko recommended. Everyone agreed and started to make their way towards the park that was about a ten minute walk away from where they were. Before they entered the park, Koko spoke.
"I want a game of tag. Mochu's in" was all he said before running away, followed by everyone else, leaving Mochu behind to prcess what just happened before finally chasing after his friends.
Natsume leaned forward onto his knees and breathed heavily. He'd been searching the forest for the girl for just over an hour and a half and still no luck on catching her.
"Damn, the girl is good" he muttered under his breath as he looked around him.
"Where the hell are you, Little Girl?" he called out, his patience thinning.
"Come on, Pervert! Use your other senses, too! Not only your sight!" Mikan called out from somewhere in the forest. Hearing her voice, Natsume turned around, trying to search for her.
From where she was watching, Mikan couldn't help but giggle. He had been trying to catch her for over an hour and a half already and he was still clueless upon how to find her. She smiled when she saw Natsume stand up straight and close his eyes.
'Finally, he knows how to do the job' she thought, her smile growing wider.
Natsume closed his eyes and focused on the things around him. He heard something move behind him and immediately, he leaped towards the tree nearest to him and started to jump to random trees until he thought that he lost Mikan. He then closed his eyes again and waited for the same thing to happen. He heard something move on his right and immediately made his way towards the area until he spotted Mikan.
Before he could take another leap closer to Mikan, she turned her head around and smirked at him and said, "Good job, Jerk. Step one: How to find out where I am- complete. Step two: How you catch me. Well then, let's see how you'll catch me" and with that, she jumped down onto the ground and waited for Natsume to follow her suit before running away from him.
Natsume jumped up onto a tree branch and leaped his way from tree to tree, trying to catch up to the fast girl. He started to gain up on her when he stopped and started to think. Mikan slowed down when she realized that Natsume was no longer chasing her, Mikan smiled again.
"He's a good student" she murmured as she stopped running herself, turned around and waited for Natsume to make a move.
Mikan stood still with her eyes closed and patiently waited for Natsume for do whatever it was he was planning to do. When she didn't hear Natsume do anything, she opened her eyes and was about to call out Natsume's name when she felt Natsume's presence behind her. Quickly turning around, she saw Natsume advance towards her, making her smirk before running towards him. She graciously flipped over him and looked back to see him also turn around. Mikan smirked straight at him, making him pop a vein.
"Don't push it, Polka Dots" he called out from the distance. Mikan let out an innocent smile and replied.
"What could you possibly mean? Because, well, I mean, it's been almost two hours since we started and you're nowhere near catching me" she shouted at him. Natsume popped another vein upon hearing what she said.
"No need to rub it in, Polka" he muttered under his breath as he jumped onto a tree and worked his way closer to Mikan. From where he was, he watched Mikan make her way towards a tree and lean against it. He then made his way towards the tree by jumping from tree to tree until he was right on top of her. He was about to jump down when he stopped and thought for a moment.
'Patience' he thought, 'that's what she's aiming for.' Natsume then waited for about another six minutes or so before jumping down next to Mikan and grabbed onto her wrist, preventing her from running away.
Mikan turned her head to the right when she heard Natsume land next to her. She stared at Natsume, who had an arrogant smirk on his face.
"Wipe that smirk off your face" she demanded.
"And why?" Natsume cockily asked her. Before replying, Mikan held up her hand, mutely asking Natsume to let her go, which he did immediately before shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Because, now you've got extra running to do" she said in a bored tone. "Start warming up" she instructed, as she started to warm up herself. Natsume obeyed and started to do his own warm ups. Seeing this, Mikan grinned.
"Wow, you know how to listen" she commented.
"Shut up" grunted Natsume. Mikan shook her head and smiled. After ten minutes, she stood up and told Natsume to get ready.
"Alrightio, let's start. Just follow me" announced Mikan. She turned around and took a few steps forward. She then stopped and looked over her shoulder and added, "Oh, yeah. And try to keep up" with a smirk on her face before running off, not bothering to wait for Natsume.
"I swear… that girl's going to get it later" Natsume muttered as he ran after her.
Mikan was leaning against a tree as she watched in amusement as Natsume trying to catch his breath. Natsume seeing this didn't appreciate how Mikan was looking at him.
"You're…en…joy…ing…this…aren't…ya?" he spoke slowly, taking breaths in between whilst glaring at her. Mikan innocently smiled at him.
"Well, I've got to hand it to you. You were able to keep up" she admitted, going into a thinking position. She checked her watch and then walked towards Natsume and slapped his back.
"Come on, it's time for your mission, no? It's about ten minutes to three. I'll be taking my leave now. See you later." Mikan was about to walk away when she stopped mid pace and quickly asked, "Wait, when are you going to come back from your mission?"
"I should be back in two or three days" Natsume replied. Mikan smiled and nodded.
"Alright then, be safe" she spoke with a bright smiled before jogging off as Hana and Daichi appeared.
"Yo" called out Daichi as he and Hana approached Natsume, who's only reply was a grunt.
Mikan quickly made her way towards her room at full speed and quickly changed into dark blue jeans with black, long sleeved shirt that was able to cover her tattoo on the lower back of her neck tucked into her jeans, which were held up by a tan coloured belt. She then quickly grabbed her 'Black patent leather Glint boots' and her mask and quickly headed out to the Northern forest after taking her tablet, making it just in time as Persona made his way towards Natsume, Hana and Daichi.
"Alright Sakura, come on. We don't have all day" spoke Persona. Mikan grinned. At the moment she was on a tree branch, watching everyone from the tree branch.
Mikan gracefully jumped down and landed without a sound. "Alright then, let us get on with it" said Mikan.
Persona leaned against a tree and started to speak. "Your mission is to collect information from the AAO for the academy so that we are aware if AAO are ever to plan any future surprise attacks on us. They have tight security. People who will not hesitate to attack and kill and by all means, I hand you over weapons. Kuro Neko and Ken- guns, Rose- daggers, and Sakura- Metal rod" he said as he handed all of them their weapons.
"Now, Sakura, that metal rod, as surprising and hard to believe as it is, it is the most dangerous weapon of all. Once you hold it a certain way in a certain situation, a blade will come out. The metal rod is small. Press a button and it will be as long as you are tall. Now, back to the mission. You get a week, but I expect you to finish in, at most, five days. Now, go. Mission starts no" announced Persona.
Daichi, Hana, Mikan and Natsume all leaped onto separate trees and made their way out of the school to the AAO. All of them stayed silent as they started to travel together until Hana broke the silence.
"Well, there will be killers that will have to avoid. Thing is, how do we tell who's the trained killer or not? I mean, I bet they're trained well. And when I mean 'well' I mean 'WELL'."
Mikan glanced at Hana and replied, "I have no idea. But everyone looks like a killer to me"
All heads turned towards her direction. Mikan merrily shrugged and added, "Its job requirement." Daichi grinned in her direction.
"Oh, come on. Do I look like a killer to you?" he asked her teasingly. Mikan turned towards his directing briefly and answered sarcastically, "Yes, you kill my patience."
Daichi smirked for a brief moment before it disappeared as they approached the AAO.
"Well, that was quick" muttered Daichi.
All of them sneaked in without a sound, careful not to do anything that will catch attention. A soon as they made it in, Mikan quickly voiced out a plan.
"Alright, we split into two groups. One takes north and east, other takes south and west. Take in every detail possible, even ones that are probably useless. I want every little piece of detail there is on this damn son of a bitch place, got that?" she told them seriously. All nodded.
"Alright, Ken and Kuro Neko, you take North and East. Rose and I will South and West." And with that, they parted ways to do their jobs.
For two days, the four worked their brains out, collecting every detail they could find from the security cameras to times when guards change shifts to even what the guards are given to eat. Tomorrow was going to be the day that they were going to collect the information- their true mission.
Natsume had arrived back from his mission that day and chucked his mask aside on the couch. He went into his bedroom to see a figure lying on his bed.
'When the hell did Polka Dots get in here?' he wondered as he walked closer to the bed. He then heaved a sigh and went to take a shower.
Five minutes later, he came out all refreshed, clean and sleepy. He wondered where the hell he was going to sleep since Mikan was sleeping on his bed, and there was no way he was going to sleep on the couch. He stood there for about ten minutes until he thought, 'ah, hell with it. It's her fault for sleeping on my bed'.
He carefully lay down on his bed, making sure he didn't move too much to wake her and covered himself with the blanket. He was about to drift off when he felt a body press beside him. He looked down to see Mikan snuggled against his chest. Seeing this, he smirked.
'Little Girl's going to wake up to regret sleeping here tonight' as he pulled her closer to his chest before finally drifting off to sleep.
A/N: CHAPTER 18~ I hope you enjoyed it.
I planned on finishing this a week ago, but I lost track of time. Sorry. I'm not too sure about how I'll work out the next chapter. But… I won't make Natsume find out anything about Mikan…just yet, anyways. Though, it won't be too long until Natsume finds out.
Want to know when Natsume will find out about Mikan being Sakura? I'll tell you… if you review me. I'll PM you. Anything you want to know? Ask me and I'll reply. But, I won't tell you anything if I think it will ruin the whole story.
REVIEWS, please. Tell me what you think (: