I'm so sorry! I put up the wrong story last weekend! I feel so stupid! This is what I get for being in a rush and posting things when I am working on a different story as well. What the hey! Sigh, I'm so sorry for the wait and I apologize if I have enraged anyone out there. Sorry. :(
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Gakuen Alice! Boo.
Selfless
~Chapter 4~
As Mikan showed up, Natsume gulped. Those roller blades covering her lacy white knee high socks, lace trimmed and ribbon tied pink mini skirt and corset covering a white, balloon sleeved button-up made him stare at her, Mikan's figure really coming out. He just couldn't take his eyes off of her.
"Polka dots…?" Natsume muttered.
Mikan looked at him wide eyed before processing the fact that he had called her by her underwear print once again. "D-don't call me that, Natsume!"
The old couple smiled to each other mischievously. "Oh, so you know each other?"
Mikan turned her attention to her bosses and gave them an awkward smile. "Ah, y-yeah. We go to school together."
Natsume got out of his stupor and grinned, making his way to the still shorter Mikan. "In fact," he started, wrapping an arm around Mikan's waist, "we are in most of our classes together."
"Oh, that's good!" Mrs. Miyazaki cooed, clapping her hands together. "At least you know someone here, Hyuuga!"
"Mikan is our youngest worker," Mr. Miyazaki said. "Only 14 and wanting a job? She must really want to help out her parents, don't you Mikan?"
Mikan's cheeks painted a light shade of pink as she looked away and pushed Natsume's arms away from her.
"Y-yeah. They do so much already. I want to help too."
"So sweet," Mrs. Miyazaki chuckled.
"Well, Hyuuga is working here as of yesterday and we hope that you two will work splendidly together." Mr. Miyazaki said.
"I think that'd be pretty easy," Mikan said, smiling over at Natsume.
Natsume gave a small smile back, causing Mikan's heart to flutter. But in an instant, that smile was a smirk. Slipping both of his arms around Mikan's waist as he settled his chin on top of her head, Natsume pressed Mikan's back against his chest, "I think we'll get along perfectly."
As the Miyazaki couple cooed over the two (Mikan trying her best to get out of Natsume's arms and failing epically), a family straggled into the diner letting the workers know that the 'after movie rush' was just starting to take place.
"Alright, everyone," Mr. Miyazaki called, "Let's get started. We have a long night ahead of us!"
There were cheers erupting from everywhere as the family was seated.
"Please take this one, Mikan," Mrs. Miyazaki said.
Sighing in relief, Mikan got away from Natsume as she grabbed her pen and pad and skated away towards the table where the family was placed. And just before he headed into the kitchen, he chanced one last glance as the girl of his dreams glided across the floor.
Natsume and Mikan stared at each other, beet red. It was the end of their shifts, and they were in the workers' locker room. Mikan had gotten off about five minutes earlier than him, so he hadn't really noticed that she was in there until it was too late. Mikan had been changing. Her shirt was on, but, unfortunately, her skirt wasn't. And the image of Mikan's milky thighs burned itself into Natsume's memories.
"S-stupid! Don't look!" Mikan finally yelled, trying to cover herself up.
Natsume scoffed and tried to make it look as if he wasn't as red as she was as he turned his head away. "Why in the world would I look at a little girl?"
"I'm not a little girl!" Mikan growled as she slipped her school's skirt on. "I'm just a year younger! If I'm a little girl, then you're a little boy!"
"Heh, you wish."
Mikan slammed her locker shut as she grabbed all of her stuff and shoved Natsume in the shoulder as she headed out of the locker room. Oops, he'd enraged her.
Quickly, Natsume went to his locker and quickly changed into his school things himself, grabbing all of his belongings before running out of there himself. He waved good-bye to the old couple and ran out into the streets, trying to see if he could find Mikan before she went home.
"Oi, Polka!" Natsume called as he ran down the streets toward said girl.
Mikan spun around and glared at Natsume. "Don't call me that!"
Raising his hands up in 'defeat', Natsume looked down at the infuriated girl with a smirk. "Then what else can I call you?"
"Mikan. Duh, it's my name you freaking perverted dip-wad!" Mikan growled, clenching her fists.
Natsume pretended to think a little before smirking again and pulling Mikan into an embrace. He lowered his lips to her ear and relished in the feeling of Mikan shivering from his actions. It just boosted his ego. "But I want to call you something that only I can."
Mikan succeeded in pushing Natsume away. Looking to the side, she crossed her arms; "And I don't want you to call me by my current underwear print. But we're both not getting what we want, now are we?"
Natsume chuckled as he watched Mikan begin to walk away from him. She was so beautiful when she was seething in rage. Natsume jogged up behind Mikan and wrapped his arms around her waist, making sure to keep the two walking the way Mikan was headed, sure that she'd be able to maneuver whenever necessary.
"N-Natsume-"
"Just lead the way. I'll walk you home," he cut her off, nuzzling her hair.
Mikan gasped, her steps faltering before she gained her normality and continued on. "Don't do anything to me," she muttered, turning along with Natsume, to the right.
The walk together was quiet. But the silence was comfortable. Natsume found that Mikan lived practically the whole town away from him. At this, he was fairly disappointed. But, at least he was finding out where she lived.
Happily, Natsume tightened his grip around Mikan's waist, forcing the two of them to stop. Luckily, they were in front of Mikan's house.
"N-Natsume, we're here! Now let go!" Mikan started struggling in Natsume's grip.
This only made him hold onto her tighter, burying his face into the crook of her neck.
Mikan froze. "U-uh…"
"Who's your little friend, Mikan?" the two heard a feminine voice ask.
The two quickly turned their heads toward an open doorway, a figure standing in the light streaming out.
Natsume smirked when Mikan turned red and fought her way out of Natsume's embrace. And this time, Natsume let her.
Turning on his heel, Natsume lifted his hand and started walking away from Mikan and, supposedly, her mother.
"See ya later… Polka dots."
He smirked when he heard Mikan yell insults from the place she was standing. And when he heard her sigh and give up on yelling, he listened as her light footsteps made their way to the open door.
"You have a lot of time to tell me everything about who that is and what happened," Natsume heard the woman in the doorway say. "And don't leave anything out!"
He chuckled as he heard Mikan groan. "Mom!"
"If you tell, I won't let your father know…" the woman, Mikan's mother, bribed.
It was silent before Mikan sighed. "Deal."
And the door closed behind the two, leaving Natsume chuckling to himself as he made his way through the evening darkened streets.
"I'm worried," Mikan sighed as she and Hotaru, another close friend of hers, were waving around signs on the corner of the intersection, advertising a carwash their school was doing to raise money for the music department. "Natsume hasn't shown up in forever! It's been three weeks! And that's the longest he's ever been out this year!"
Mikan twirled the sign in her hand and yelled out a little chant that the advertising team had made up earlier.
Hotaru was Mikan's best 'girl' friend. She was always there to listen to Mikan's problems and Mikan knew that she could talk to Hotaru about anything. With Hotaru, she could talk about anything: girl problems, thoughts on boys, all sorts of stuff; especially the stuff that Koko would find awkward since he's of the opposite gender.
"Don't worry. Hyuuga's a big boy. He can take care of himself." Hotaru finally said, sitting down in the middle of the sidewalk.
Mikan sighed. "I know. But, I can't help it! It's just… automatic."
Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you have a thing for Hyuuga."
Mikan turned red and looked away from Hotaru, raising the sign in front of her face.
Hotaru's expression became more suspicious. "Do you?"
Mikan sighed and sat down, crossing her legs as she placed the sign in her lap. "I don't know. Being with him… I always feel safe and… warm. Even though he always teases me and annoys the crap out of me, I always feel so cold and lonely without him. It's so… weird."
"Hm," Hotaru hummed, looking out at the busy streets.
The two sat there in a comfortable silence, watching the others wave signs around and collect donations from the school. And after a few minutes, Hotaru sighed. She stood up and looked down at the confused face Mikan was giving her. Offering a small smile, Hotaru reached out to Mikan.
"Get up. Maybe if we put out all into helping out, you will feel a little better."
Mikan smiled at Hotaru. Taking said girl's hand, the two went back to work, yelling, laughing, waving and smiling with each other, making sure that there were people coming to the carwash.
"I'm going over there," Mikan told Hotaru as said girl was switching to washing cars as another person took over her spot.
"Alright. Don't hurt yourself." Hotaru said, giving Mikan a serious look.
"Sheesh, have a little faith, Hota!"
"Don't call me that."
Mikan giggled as she waited for the alright to cross the street. And once the light turned to the 'walk' sign, she jogged across, waving her sign and giving her little chant to all those who would look and listen. When she got to the post, she slipped off her flip flops and lay them in the grass, deciding to run up down the side walk to wave her sign.
A few minutes later, a car gave a honk, the driver rolling down the window. "Hey, kid, where's the car wash?" A man asked.
"It's straight ahead in the first parking lot to your right; the one for the library." Mikan replied, stepping up to the side of the car. "It's only one dollar and we do windows, body, and tires. So what do you say, sir?"
"Haha! Sounds great!" He replied, handing Mikan five dollars. Mikan took it gratefully and slipped it into her pocket along with other donations that she had gotten. "I'll head over there now."
"Thank you sir! Your patronage is appreciated!" Mikan called as the light turned green and he drove off along with the other car.
It happened to Mikan quite a few times; probably every 3 minutes. And donations came every time there was a pause in which the light was red for the area she was at. Mikan found herself explaining, running, and talking to passer-by-ers a lot. And soon enough, she was panting and trying to catch her breath. (A/N: this actually happened. It was pretty fun too! XD) A few times, the pizza hut man that was always on the corner came up to her and taught her how to attract more attention, showing her a little dance that people like to watch. They laughed and danced together until the pizza hut man had to go back to the site of the car wash to retrieve his already washed car. She waved and called good-bye to him, laughing all the time.
And for another ten minutes, Mikan collected, chanted, and advertised on the strip of sidewalk.
"Polka dots, what are you doing?"
Going wide eyed, Mikan twirled around, looking into the face of the person who she had worried about for a while now. "Natsume!"
She didn't even comment on how annoyed she was that he had called her that name again. She just dropped her sign, ran up to him, and tackled him with a hug, burying her face into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Natsume, I was so worried! Where have you been?" She asked, her voice muffled by his clothing.
Natsume sighed as he rubbed Mikan's back, resting his chin on top of her pony-tailed head. "Sorry. I got sick. And then I had to work. I got sick again after that. I didn't mean to…"
Natsume trailed off as he felt Mikan's arms tighten around him. "You should have told me," she said, sounding as if she were about to cry. "I was so worried. I didn't know if something happened to you, or… Next time, tell me so that I don't worry myself to death; so that I know you're alright?"
Natsume smiled a bit as he pulled Mikan closer to him. "Alright."
Mikan pulled her head away from his chest, looking up at him with teary eyes. Raising her hand and pointing out her pinky finger, she said, "Pinky promise?"
Natsume chuckled, but copied her actions none-the-less. "Pinky promise," he said, connecting their pinkies and shaking them.
"Good," Mikan smiled.
"Mikan! We need you at the washing station!" A voice called from across the street.
The two turned towards the voice, seeing that it was one of the adults supervising the children.
"Okay, I'll be right there!" Mikan said.
"Go bring your friend too!" The lady called, turning to go back into the parking lot.
The two of them let go of each other. Mikan blushed red as she slipped her flip-flops back on and picked up her sign and Natsume just watched, trying to keep the embarrassment out of his expression.
"Alright, let's go!" Mikan said. And with that, she pulled him off so that they could both help with the car wash.
Mikan giggled, trying to wring out her absolutely dripping shirt. Water was streaming out of her hair and short shorts, her shirt clinging closely to her skin. And Natsume could only stare. He mentally thanked all the people who had dumped that gigantic bucket of water on her, because now, he was greeted with the sight of a sexy looking Mikan. But he wasn't exactly thrilled when there were other guys staring at her. Or when he was drenched in water and swarmed by girls as well. No, that wasn't very good.
But it was definitely worth it when Mikan was standing in front of him like that.
"Natsume, you're soaked!" Mikan laughed.
He grinned. "Well so are you."
Mikan giggled as she waved to her friends. Grabbing Natsume's hand, she led him down the sidewalk towards her home. "Come one. We'll get you into something nice and warm when he get to my house. It'd be awful if you got sick again."
Natsume hid a smile and followed Mikan, wrapping an arm around her waist instead of just holding her hand. He talked over Mikan's complaints, "Alright. Lead the way."
Mikan sighed, muttering, "Geez, you perv."
Natsume chuckled beneath his breath as they walked. And in no time, they were in front of Mikan's house once again. Mikan led him up the walkway, opening up the door and yelling, "I'm home!" for all of her family to hear.
"Welcome home, Mikan!" Mikan's mother said, coming out of the kitchen. "Your father just… who's this?"
Natsume just smirked and waved, not planning to move his arms away from Mikan as a light of remembrance sparked in her eyes.
"You must be Natsume!" she said, coming into the doorway to take in both teens' appearance. "Oh, the two of you are soaking wet! Come, come, let's get you dried off!"
Mikan and Natsume made their way into the living room as Mikan's mom went to get the two some towels. Mikan shoved Natsume away from her just as her mother came into the room again with a stack of towels and some dry clothes for Natsume.
"I'm Mikan's mother!" She introduced herself as she handed Mikan and Natsume their towels to dry off. "But you can call me Yuka."
"Thank you, and it's nice to meet you, Yuka," Natsume replied, doing his best to dry himself off with wet clothes on.
Yuka handed Natsume the dry clothes. "Here. You can change into this."
Natsume nodded and went into the bathroom which Yuka had pointed out. "Thanks."
When Natsume came out, dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt, he saw that Mikan was also dry and dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt. He sat next to her on the couch and thanked her when she handed him a plastic bag for his wet clothes.
"Do you think your parents would be fine with you staying for dinner?" Mikan asked.
"…Parents…?" Natsume swore he was forgetting something; something important. "Oh, shit! I gotta go!"
Natsume stood up from the couch and headed towards the door, Mikan trailing behind him.
"You're coming to school on Monday, right?" Mikan asked, standing in the doorway as Natsume started down the porch.
He stopped before he reached the steps and turned to look at Mikan's hopeful face. He walked the small space towards her as she looked up at him, confusion now making itself clear on her face. Leaning down, he cupped Mikan's right cheek and pressed his left cheek to hers. Putting his lips next to her ear, he whispered, "Of course. Anything for you… Stripes."
He felt Mikan's cheeks go warm beneath his hands and cheek before pulling away. And then, he saw the light in Mikan's eyes when she finally gets what he has been saying.
"H-how did you even-? That's… it's not right!" He laughed as Mikan continued to stutter out her confused thoughts. He turned and walked down the walk, slinging the plastic bag over his shoulder.
"Jerk!" He heard Mikan yell when he was turning the corner. He stopped and looked towards Mikan. When his back was turned, she had made her way to the edge of the walkway and was on the side walk in front of her house.
From this angle, only half of his face was visible to her. And that was all it took for Mikan's heart to beat as if she were in a cross country race. She stood there for a second, waiting for something to happen. And after a few minutes, a smirk appeared on his face. Mikan's cheeks got red as he turned and walked away, disappearing behind the corner.
Mikan straggled into her house, leaning onto the front door once it was closed. Her mother came out and raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "What happened to your boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend, Mom!" Mikan blushed, standing up straight and running up the stairs and to her room.
"Don't you want dinner, Mikan?" she heard her mother call up the stairs.
"No! I'm not hungry," she answered, closing the door.
Mikan flopped down onto her bed, her cheeks burning a deep red. Closing her eyes, she listened to the sound of her father's car's engine turning up into the drive way, the sound lulling her to sleep.
~Chapter 4 End~
Thank you all for the reviews and for those who have added me to your story alerts and/or favorites! Those people are…
Mizuki Shin- me too. He hasn't been in this whole year. T . T
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XxpuffpuffxX- Yup. I'm pretty sure it'll become a word soon, what with LOL becoming one. XD
snowwingz
RedRubyS.C
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Thank you all for adding me and/or reviewing! I love you all! Now, since my thank you list is over, how about all of you review? Please? Yeah? I'd be really happy! I'd update on Friday instead of on Saturday like I plan to! Pretty please?
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