Normal

3 month had passed and it was finally time for the brunette to come to class. She had grown accustomed to the raven-haired lad and usually spent her Sundays with the latter. She also had grown to become fond of Ruka. She had taken in the habit to call the blond Ruka-pyon which was an endearment she called him when she first saw him holding a cute, fluffy bunny. Mikan was also able to train her other alices, gaining new ones, and had learned to master her Female Pheromone alice. She had learned how to turn it down a notch but females still couldn't help staring at her despite that she was a female herself. She also constantly saw more and more of Kaito since he had started to tag-along Youichi everytime he found out he was going to hang out with the brunette.

Mikan was currently in her dorm room, in her mini library, reading a few books. Well, if you call reading aimlessly staring at a page.

It was 5:30 in the morning and she was as ready as she could ever have been an hour and a half early. She was in what you would call in a state of nervousness. She had woken up 3 in the morning due to another bump in the night which was, or should I say whom, Natsume. He had come back from another mission and the brunette had treated to his wounds again. Except, this time, they hadn't fallen asleep romantically together. They had argued which led to Mikan leaving the lad in her living room as she stormed off into her bed room and had gotten ready and then went to her library. Their silent fight had gone on for 2 hours and a half now and silence was killing her. It was killing the lad in the other room as well.

"Stop doing this." The crimson-eyed lad said as he sat up making the brunette drop the damp towel she was wiping his wounds with.

The said brunette ignored him and continued to treat his wounds.

"Oi. Stop it. Stop doing this everytime."

"…."

"Hey! Are you deaf or something? I said stop it." The lad stood up and shoved the brunette to the ground.

"Stop this, stop it! You're only being more of a burden by doing so." With that, all her restraints snapped.

"Fine then," the brunette stood up and threw her towel to his face. "good luck getting out of here." The fire caster immediately regretted what he said when he realized that he couldn't get out in this condition. He was too weak to walk and could barely hold his self up. He plopped back onto the couch as he watched the brunette stomp towards her bedroom.

'I just don't want to drag you into any more of this madness.' He thought silently as he treated his wounds his self.

This had happened before. Except, they made up silently the next day when she found Natsume by the Sakura Tree bleeding silently. The brunette hated this, this strangling silence.

The lad in the other room hated it more. He felt guilty for snapping at her, for shoving her down. He knew he shouldn't have shoved her, but he just couldn't bear dragging her into the darkness with him. He knew she was going to anyway but he wanted to lengthen the light for her. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know she had already drowned in the darkness and was in there deep.

"You have to get dressed soon you know." The brunette muttered from the library. With this, the lad in the other room whipped his head up only to see the brunette exit the mini library and leaned onto the door frame.

"You like seeing me in a state of helplessness, don't you." Natsume remarked as he glared at her, knowing fully well that he couldn't get out of here now without help.

"I could call Ruka but then he would wonder why you're here in my room, shirtless." Mikan smirked before throwing him some clothes. "I'll help you to the bathroom and in the tub. Just call me when you're done so I can throw you a towel and help you out of the tub. As much I don't want to see you naked, I have no choice." And as if making her point, she shuddered when she tried to visualize the image.

The lad grunted as he was helped in standing up by the brunette. The brunette helped him into the tub and helped him strip off his clothes.

"Call when you have to get out."

"Is this just an excuse for you to see me naked, Polka?" Natsume smirked as he soaked in the tub.

"Oh, as much as I want to cuddle in there with you, I have other stuff to do." She replied, sarcasm practically dripping from her words. With a smirk, she left the dorm room and prepared her stuff for her first day in class.

Mikan

I had to help Natsume to the classroom too. Luckily, no one saw us. As I placed him down on his chair, I told him that I'll go find Ruka and tell him that he's going to have to help him.

I walked to the teacher's lounge after I found Ruka. I entered and found Narumi sitting on one of the couches talking animatedly to Kiseki and Niko, the two bodyguards who were with me a few months ago. Kiseki noticed me upon my entrance and nodded in my direction.

"Ah, Mikan-cha- er, Kana-chan!" The teacher exclaimed as he jumped up from the couch and began prancing around. I think I just vomited in my mouth. "You're here! Let me bring you to the classroom!"

We were now outside the classroom where I left Natsume earlier. I swallowed the lump in my throat and waited outside the door for my cue.

"So class, we have a new student today! Please come in now!" I entered the room with a stoic face, devoid of any emotion. Natsume was in the back, sleeping. Ruka seated to the right of him who just gave me a small smile. That blue-haired waitress was there too. Was it Nanako? Or Nonoko? I saw her in the row in the middle who just gave a frantic wave at me. She was seated next to a pink-haired girl.

"Yo. Kana Yukihira, 15, Female Pheromone Alice, Special Star." I didn't bother mentioning my ability type because they would question me.

All eyes were on me, except for Natsume and another girl who was busy with… an invention? Because of my female pheromone alice, the girls were looking at me with hearts in their eyes. I cringed. So were the boys. I sighed.

"Sensei! I'll be her partner!"

"No, I want to be her partner!"

An argument struck out between the students, girls and boys alike. I just sweatdropped at the scene. Did my alice have that much of an effect on the females?

"Sadly, she's already partnered up." I heard the boys groan and the females sob. I felt like a boy!

"Ne, Sensei, if she's already partnered up, who's her partner?" The pink-haired girl asked.

"Natsume-kun!" Naru-gay exclaimed like it was the best thing in the world. As if.

Then, suddenly, this girl with green curls stood up.

"Eeeeeeh? She doesn't deserve to be with my Natsume-kun!" she screeched, obviously unaffected by my alice. The girls who were under the effect of my alice glared daggers at her. I smirked.

"You can have him for all I care, Permy." She stared at me in horror because of the name I called her.

"Don't call me that!" she yelled. My ears were about to explode from all the shrilling.

"Shut up." A husky voice said from the back. All heads turned to see that the infamous little Kuro Neko had woken up from his sleep and was glaring daggers at everyone except for me and Ruka.

"But sensei, isn't she supposed to be given the freedom to pick a partner? " A guy with dirty blonde hair asked. He had a cheeky grin on his face. He had the mind-reading alice too.

"Uh, I guess so." Narumi replied sheepishly. "Then would you like to change partners, then, Kana-chan?"

"Sensei, I offer to be her partner!" the guy from before exclaimed as he stood up. Well, he wasn't as moody as Hyuuga and is probably more fun. Maybe…

"Whatev-" Before I was able to complete my sentence, a hand grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the back of the room.

"You're my partner and that's that. Sit down, idiot." He commanded. Ugh, this guy is infuriating!

"W-well, Mi-er, Kana-chan, I guess Natsume-kun doesn't like the idea of changing partners. I trust you two have met, hmm? Well, discuss it with Natsume-kun then." With that, the blond gay skipped out of the room as I proceeded to sit next to Natsume on his left. He gave me a glare and went back to sleep.

Seriously, this guy wasn't giving me much of a choice! Tch, arrogant bastard. Whatever.

It was a free day, Ruka told me when I asked who our next teacher was. Seeing that I wasn't needed here, I stood up and exited the room, only to be followed by Natsume whom was followed by Ruka and us followed by fangirls and fanboys, so bringing along the whole class. I groaned. This was going to be a loooooong day.

Normal

The 3 ran around, trying to avoid their crowd of fans, using their own advances. Mikan had jumped from tree to tree, hiding from their sight. She couldn't use her other alices in public. Ruka had called on his animals and used them as a getaway. Natsume, well he decided to just follow the brunette.

"Are they gone yet?" Mikan asked in a hoarse whisper as she sat on the tree branch.

"Think so." The crimson-eyed lad replied with a grunt as he across from her. They were both tired from running and hiding . "What was that about?"

"What was what about?" the brunette replied in a low voice.

"That thing in the classroom. Did you seriously think of switching me for Koko?" He was mad. He had already gotten used to the brunette and wasn't planning on switching her for some other partner. Besides, the brunette wasn't that annoying and had helped him even though he insisted he was a burden.

"Yes. You're a pain in the neck, moody and an arrogant bastard. Besides, I'm still mad at you. I would gladly switch your for the likes of that guy a while ago, Koko was it?" The brunette shrugged and refused to look at the crimson-eyed lad because if she did, she would become lost in his eyes and forget about everything.

Natsume was annoyed. Even more so when she refused to look at him. He huffed a sigh of frustration and raked his fingers through his hair. Man, this girl was stubborn.

"Look at me." The brunette just crossed her arms and stubbornly kept her gaze to the branch they sat on.

"I said look at me." Again, his demand was ignored. "Look at me, dammit!" He grabbed her cheek and forced her to look at him.

Her eyes were a mix of fear, confusion and anger. They were also starting to brim with tears. Natsume brought down his hand immediately. He was shocked at his actions and didn't mean to hurt or scare her.

"I-I'm sorry." He apologized as he placed the hand that held her a while ago on the trunk and the other to swipe at the tears that fell to her cheeks. He gazed at her and couldn't think of anything else to say, guilt piling up inside him as each tear fell.

"N-no. It's stupid of me to cry." She clumsily replied shakily. She laid her forehead on his shoulder and sighed.

Natsume closed his eyes and held her in an embrace as she dried her tears on his uniform. He didn't care if she soiled his uniform. He cared more about the girl in his arms. He just realized it now but she was sort of special to him now. He didn't know why but he liked holding her, talking to her and it just tore him up inside if she cried and it certainly broke him if he was the cause.

He brought his hand to her chin and lifted up her head to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, really." He repeated and gave her a peck on her forehead. This shocked him more than it shocked her.

"T-thanks." Mikan replied as she blushed profusely. Suddenly, they both heard footsteps coming their way which caused them to separate. They both watched as a dirty-blonde walked near the tree and looked up.

"Yo, Natsume-kun. Yukihira-saaaaaaan." The blonde grinned cheekily.

"Shut up, Koko. You'll give us away."

"But Natsume-kun, you gave yourself away. I could hear your thoughts from miles away. Besides, there is no one near this place. I can't hear any other thoughts apart from yours. Which reminds me, Kana-chan," The brunette flinched at the use of her fake name. "why can't I read your thoughts? It's like you're blocking me, your thoughts sound like white noise."

"Oh, I have a nullification alice stone. I use it in class." She pretended to search through my pockets as she materialized an orange alice stone. The said brunette jumped down from the tree and presented to him the stone.

"Where'd you get it?" He inquired suspiciously as he looked at the stone.

"None of your business." Mikan replied as she stuffed the stone back into her pocket.

'I'll give this to you later. The mind reader could read your mind but right now I'm altering his thoughts on your thoughts. This'll ensure that no one but me will be able to read your mind.' The brunette said telepathically to the crimson-eyed lad who just gave a subtle nod.

"Well, bye bye Kana-chan. Natsume-kun. You can continue what you were doing a while ago." The accused blushed and suddenly found the ground interesting. The dirty blonde smirked at both of them before finally leaving.

"Sooo, what now?" The brunette asked, lifting her head up from the ground.

Mikan

"Let's head back to the dorms. Besides, its Friday today meaning we're going to watch movies. Yours or mine?" He asked as I beamed him a smile meaning his. I didn't smile much but it was mostly Natsume who saw and caused my smiles. He nodded back and turned his back from me and walked towards the dorms.

"Hey! Don't leave me, you idiot!" I exclaimed in a manner which was out of character from my usual façade.

"Then run faster then, Polka!" He yelled back with a laugh which was also uncharacteristically like him. This caused a few stares from students and some onlookers to giggle. Annoying people. Don't they have their own lives?

I stopped to take a breather and plopped down on the grass. I noticed Natsume stopped too and was heading towards me. He stooped down to my level and whispered in my ear, "You better hurry up and get out of here because I see a group of rabid fangirls generating from over there." He pointed over to a group of girls who were giggling and giving glances towards us. I gulped and started to run towards the dorms again.

I sucked in my breath and ran towards the trees so I could use my teleportation alice to teleport to Natsume's dorm. I just hoped he was following behind me.

I managed to get away and hide in the cover of the trees. Natsume followed me there. I grabbed his shoulder and we both teleported to his room.

Normal

"Do you have any spare clothes I could change into? I'm sweaty and I don't think it's safe for me to go out. Who knows, they might be patrolling outside my dorm or something." The brunette said as she lounged on the red couch and propped up her feet on the coffee table.

"Sure. I've got a shirt I grew out of and probably some boxers that'll fit you." Natsume replied as he wiped off sweat from his brow and walked towards his room.

The crimson-eyed lad searched his closet for boxers as he held the small shirt in his free hand. Well, it was small for him. It would still be a bit too big for her but it was the smallest he had.

He walked out of his bedroom to find no one in the living room.

"Oi! Polka! Where are you?" Natsume yelled as he placed the clothes on the couch. Then he heard the shower and assumed that she was in the shower so he decided to sit on the couch and wait for her to finish.

When he heard the shower stop, he abruptly stood up. "Which bathroom are you in?"

"The one in the empty room." Natsume went to the empty room which he assumed was supposed to be for personal use.

"I'll leave the clothes by the door, then." The crimson-eyed lad said as he placed the set of clothed he had picked out. Just then, he had noticed that there was some green thing stuck to the floor. And out of curiosity, he picked at it like a child, hoping to get it off. Suddenly, the door opened revealing Mikan wearing only a towel around her body and seeing that Natsume was in the way, she tripped. Natsume was pinned down and the brunette was awkwardly straddling him. This caused both to blush profusely.

Natsume, though, wasn't doing anything about it and was busy checking the female out. His eyes started from her hair, down to her lips, neck, collarbone and then to every single curve. Suddenly realizing what he was doing, his eyes darted back up to her lips. This caused him to lick his own.

Mikan was busy doing a bit of checking out herself. Her eyes roamed from his eyes, cheekbones, the cute little earrings he had, his neck, his chest and his obviously lean stomach. Her eyes darted back up to his eyes and she realized that he was checking her out too. This made her redden even more.

Natsume

Fuck, what am I doing? I'm being a pervert!

My eyes continued to stare at her luscious lips. I wonder what those would taste like. Time to find out. I smirked to myself.

I propped myself up with my elbows and met her lips. She wasn't returning it which made me frown in the kiss. But a few seconds after, she responded which then caused me to smile.

I brought my tongue over her lips and licked at them. This reciprocated a gasp from her to which I used to my advantage. I ventured into the caverns of her mouth and licked every single part, not missing anything. Afterwards, we started a tongue war which of course I won. We both parted for air.

"W-what did we just do?" She asked softly. I just gave another smirk.

"This." And then I gave her a small peck on the lips. Still shocked, she stiffly got off me, grabbed her clothes and scurried into the bathroom. I ran a hand through my hair. What the hell did I just do? I kissed her, twice. And I started both.

Damn, I was an idiot. She would start to avoid me and if she won't, she would pretend it didn't happen. It was either I would let her avoid me like the plague or confront her about it. Both seemed like horrible choices. Wait, why was I brooding about this anyway? Not like I cared about her.

Oh, why lie to myself? I was more of an idiot for denying the development of feelings I had for her. I walked out of the extra room and went to my bedroom to plop down on my bed.

Damn, I was in love with the bitch.

Mikan

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. What was that? What the fuck was that? No, no, no. That shouldn't have happened. That wasn't supposed to happen. Agh. FUUUUUUCK.

I shook my head wildly before slumping to the ground. I shook my head again before grabbing the shirt he gave me and slipped it onto my torso. Then I grabbed the boxers and slipped them on still sitting on the floor. When I was finished changing, I brought my knees to my chest and buried my head in my knees. What was going on?

No, that would have to wait. I have my first mission tonight, I have to stay focused.

Natsume

I jerked my head up when I heard the sound of a thud coming from the corridor. Mikan had already gone 4 hours ago, we didn't even get to watch movies, and I still hadn't fallen asleep.

I stood up from my bed and walked outside to the hallway. My eyes widened in realization when I saw Mikan's figure slumped on the ground, her own blood pooling around her. I grabbed her by the waist tenderly, careful not to touch any of her wounds, not caring if she was getting blood onto my clothes.

I laid her on the couch and walked briskly toward the bathroom were I kept my first aid kit.

I kneeled next to her, first aid kit in hand, and took off her shirt. I would have blushed if it weren't for the blood that was coming out from her side. I first applied some pressure to it using her shirt which was also soaking up the blood. Once she stopped bleeding, I cleaned her wound, carefully, taking notice of how she involuntarily winced while unconscious. I started to bandage her when her eyes opened.

"N-Natsume?" I decided to ignore her and continue bandaging her side. "What a-are you doing?" She asked softly, clearly, she was still weak.

"I'm bandaging you, obviously." I didn't deliberately make that sound too harsh.

"I-I know that, but why?"

"I'm paying you back." Liar.

"Oh." Was it just me, or, did she sound disappointed?

"Why didn't you tell me you had a mission?" I asked gruffly when I finished bandaging her.

"I-I didn't want to bu-burden you with m-my missions." I clenched my fists.

"We're partners. In school AND missions. " I replied as I banged my fist on the coffee table. "What happens if one day you don't come back from a mission? What if you had bled to death outside? What then?"

"Then why don't you let me do the same for you?" She sat up and stared me down but then I realized she had started to wince. I gently held her shoulders and place her back down.

"I can't burden you with my troubles. I don't want to drown you into the darkness." I turned my back to her.

I could feel her shuffle behind me and I heard her feet touch the floor. I was about to tell her off for standing when she put her hands around my waist and whispered, "You can't drown a person who's already sunk."

With that, I turned again to face her and hugged her back.

"We've got to stop doing this." I muttered into her hair.

"Doing what?" She asked as she broke from our embrace and plopped back onto the couch, wincing as she did so.

"This. Doing something mushy one moment and then forgetting that it happened, the next." I bit the insides of my cheek as I watched her contemplate my words.

"Natsu-" I didn't let her finish as I slammed my lips onto hers. I wanted to taste her mouth, to feel her lips moving against mine.

I could feel her hands curl around my neck as she responded to my kiss. I placed my hands delicately around her waist, avoiding her wounds. It all felt so right, like our bodies fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

As I kissed her, I was waiting, for a sign, a push, a slap, something! To know if she really wanted this or not. I guess the gods heard me because she pushed me away the next moment, grabbed her blood-stained shirt and stomped out of my room.

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. I guess I would have to put up with the cold shoulder act tomorrow, then.