A/N: Okay, I know many of you were expecting the makeover in the previous chapter, but I don't like rushing things, it doesn't feel right if it everything suddenly just happens in a flash. And if I did in fact rush everything, then the story would be over in no time. Anyway enjoy!

Disclaimer: For the millionth time I don't own Gakuen Alice… If you already get it then back off!

Chapter 5 And Seek!

(Mikan's PoV) (A/N: This is the moment when she tells Natsume to hide)

"It's the same thing Kazume; you don't have to get caught up with semantics…" I tell him as I laugh and keep on walking. After a couple of minutes I notice some kids from school, but not just any kids, it's Hotaru! And two other unimportant people I don't really know. What is she doing here?! She skipped class? WHY!?

I have to do something quick, or they'll see Natsume with us! Not only will my plan be ruined, but my reputation too! I stop abruptly in front of Tsubasa-senpai and pull him away from Natsume.

"Quickly you two, go hide over there for a while. I'll tell you when it's safe to come out…" I say as I push him and You-chan to some random store. Grabbing Tsubasa-senpai by the arm I go on walking as if I hadn't noticed them.

"Mikan?" I hear Hotaru say. "What are you doing here?" she continues in her plain voice.

"Ah! Hotaru! How strange to see you here! Shouldn't you be at school?" I say trying to divert the attention away from me.

"Don't try to turn the tables here, I asked you first…" damn I forgot she can always tell what I'm thinking…

"Hehe I came here with Tsubasa-senpai…" I giggle turning to look at him asking him to play along. When he understands my unsaid request he smirks and nods. "How about you Hotaru, why are you here?" I ask again, I really want to know, it makes me so curious.

"Party supplies-." she just answers plainly.

"Party supplies? What do you mean?" Tsubasa-senpai asks confused "There's a party and I wasn't told about it?" this time he sounds rather mad.

"No one was told about it yet…" she tells him very irritated, she really hates being interrupted when she's talking. "Mochu's parents will be out of town for the weekend, he just found out about it yesterday, so we're throwing a party at his place…"

"Parent-free party, when?" he asks.

"Tonight probably… If we get all the stuff we need…" she answers plainly.

"TONIGHT!?" If we want to bring Natsume that doesn't leave as much time for the make-over… If it is tomorrow and we hurry up we COULD make it in time… If I make up an excuse maybe… "Tonight is no good; I have dinner with my grandma. I don't wanna miss a parent-free party! Besides it's not a party if I'm not there right?" I say laughing a bit. Hotaru just sighs and slowly shakes her head. She hates it when I act like Miss. Popularity.

"It can be arranged…" she says coldly. As soon as she finishes saying that, Natsume comes out of the store; I'm the one who notices first. I glare at him as if saying "I'm gonna kill you if you don't go back in there right now…" hoping that he'll get the message and leave before someone sees him but… too late. They all turn around and look at him.

"Hey! Isn't that the Hyuuga freak?" one of them says surprised.

"Yeah, what is he doing here? I thought nerds never skipped class!" Mochu answers laughing.

Damn it why couldn't he just do what I told him for once? What am I gonna say now? He's gonna regret- huh? He's just walking away? I can feel a horrible knot in my stomach right now, what was that face he put before going? It makes me feel so weird… I feel like I want to apologize but… why? I didn't do anything wrong! Besides I can't run off to chase him! It will look really bad… They just keep talking about whatever; I'm not really listening… while I just stare at the exit, that dreadful feeling not leaving me… what's wrong with me?

Hotaru looks at me for a while; I can feel her cold eyes staring at me at any time. Then after a while You-chan leaves the store and walks out of the mall. Perfect chance, I'll just go with him.

"You-chan, wait!" I shout at him and run after him "Sorry you guys I'll be back later… There's something I wanna talk about with You-chan." I lie, Hotaru looks at me disbelievingly, she probably noticed I was lying; I don't care at this point.

When I go outside he's already gone… I walk over to car. It seems it's about to rain… I get into the car and start the engine. I don't really know where I'm headed, not that it matters either.

(Natsume's PoV) (A/N: Now yes, back to where I left off last time.)

I close my eyes and put my hands behind my head as a sort of pillow. Maybe a little nap will help to clear my head. I sigh as I hear footsteps approaching me and stopping right behind me. -Thud- something falls on my stomach, and rolls onto the floor next to me. I feel the ground around me with my hand and finally pick up a can. I slightly open my eyes to see what it is, Coke, figures…

I sit up not even turning to look at the person behind me. No need to anyway, I already know who it is…

"I know what you're gonna say, so there's no need for you to say it…" I say angrily as I open the can.

"But I want to, and you can't stop me from saying it…" -slurp- I hear from behind me. "I told you shouldn't go out, honestly you should learn to listen to what people tell you…"

"I get it already! Geez… When did you become so eloquent anyway?" I ask and drink some of the can's contents.

"I only speak when it's absolutely necessary or when I feel like it…" Youichi sits next to me with his usual emotionless face and looks forward, never looking at me.

"So which is it now? I don't really think it's absolutely necessary to speak to me, not now, not ever apparently. And I doubt you feel like talking to ME out of all people…" I answer half laughing sarcastically half serious.

"What makes you think I don't want to talk to you?" he answers without even moving a finger. Well that's a surprise…

"What, are you gonna tell me you came all the way here just because you wanted to talk to me when you can go and talk to anyone else in the world?" I retort.

"I never said that… I just asked why you thought I wouldn't want to talk with you." Now it's WITH me?

We just stay silent for a while. This kid, what is he doing here anyway? Did she send him to talk to me not wanting to come herself for fear of being seen with me?

"So?" he says after a while. "Why?"

"Well you're not a guy of many words, so for you to waste your breath and time talking to me isn't really…" Do I really need to spell it out for him? He doesn't seem to be dumb not to understand our different social standings… Noticing how he doesn't even blink I continue speaking "Anyway you just said you didn't come here to talk because you want to, so you did because it's absolutely necessary right? Did she tell you to come here?"

"No…"

"Then why did you? It can't really be that you care about me so… why?"

"I just felt like it…" and he sips his drink again "You know she's not-." He cuts himself in mid sentence when suddenly it starts to rain. He gets up and says "It's raining…" What an excellent observation Einstein. "I hate getting wet…" he walks away. Good bye to you too…

I don't really mind the rain, so I just stay there drinking my coke. I hear footsteps approaching me from behind again, and I sigh and close my eyes again.

"I thought you said you didn't like getting wet…"I get an 'Hmph' as an answer, and I can't feel the rain falling on me anymore. Wait a sec that voice just now didn't sound like a guy… I look up and see an arm holding an umbrella over my head. When I turn around I see Mikan her head slightly tilted upwards, eyes closed.

"Well… aren't you gonna take it? I'm not holding it forever…" she says in an irritated tone.

"Go away…" is the only thing I answer.

"Oh please don't give me the tough guy attitude and take the damn umbrella…" when she notices I'm not about to do what she tells me she sighs and continues "I'm trying to be nice over here, just take it, don't make things harder for me…" again she's using the trying to be nice speech…

"Yeah sure… you were trying to be nice, especially when you told me to hide from your friends; that was really nice…" I answer turning back my head not to look at her.

"Ah… that was… It's just umm…" I knew she didn't have an answer for that.

"You were embarrassed to be seen with me… I don't blame you, everyone is… Though I have to admit you really know how to hit someone where it really hurts…"

"I didn't mean to, besides Hotaru was there and if she saw you the whole plan would be ruined I didn't do it just for me!" lies… Of course she did it for herself. "Now would you take the umbrella? My arm is going numb…" She sighs again and drops the umbrella on the floor. "Fine… Do what you want…" she says and sits on the floor next to me.

"Aren't you afraid the rain might ruin your clothes or something?" girls like her worry about that kind of stuff right?

"I told you not to speak like you know everything when you really don't understand a thing, didn't I?" and she sighs again "Why do you hate me so much? Do you really think I'm just another airheaded girl?" Well she's proved to be more than once…

"Yeah well… If you really wanna hear the answer to that..." she lowers her head covering her face with her hair. What's wrong with her? Did I say something wrong? "Actually I-." I never really finished what I was about to say cause she cut me off.

"I'm sorry…"

SHE'S WHAT!? Did I just hear that right? Was it not my imagination? My eyes widen and my lips part, I want to say something but… I hadn't really planned anything to answer to that…

I have to say something… I must look really stupid just staring with my mouth open… I really never expected her to leave me speechless.

"I-." Damn I really don't know what to say…

"I'm not always like that, but I really worked hard to get to where I'm now… I don't want my reputation to be ruined. I know it's selfish and stupid but… You know what it feels like to be left out of everything, I don't want that anymore!" What does she mean with anymore?

"You mean you-?" Sakura Mikan a.k.a Miss. Popularity, she was… like… me? She starts laughing and waving her hand in front of her face.

"Never mind, forget it, I said too much…" she suddenly stops laughing and looks at her hands when she notices the sort of concerned look on my face. A tiny sad smile forms on her lips "Just don't tell anyone I ever said that… I…" she looks at me in the eyes and grabs one of my hands "I promise you won't have to deal with that sort of stuff anymore. It's not only for the sake of our deal anymore, now it's personal…" she says and stands up still holding my hand.

She helps me get up. Both of us are soaked by the rain but it doesn't really seem to matter to her. I pick up the umbrella and put it over our heads and she smiles at me, an honest beautiful smile. Well she's rather cute when she's not acting like a bitch I gotta admit it.

"What?" she asks me after a while. Crap, I must have been staring again; I have to stop doing that, it's a really bad habit. "Is there something funny about my face?" she asks confused.

I can't help but smile at the question, thankfully she didn't notice. "I was just thinking… you... maybe you're not what I thought you were…"well it is true…

"Yeah well you shouldn't judge a book by its cover…" and she smiles again, I can feel my face heating up a bit. She looks at me for a while and suddenly looks away and quickly drops my hand. I smile at her reaction, and then notice she's shivering and hugging herself to warm up. I sigh and drop the umbrella, the rain has already stopped anyway. I take off my jacket and wrap it around her shoulders. She looks at me with a puzzled look, my hands still holding the jacket around her.

"You'll catch a cold…" she smiles again and my glasses become foggy. She extends a hand and takes them away.

"Wha-! I can't see anything now! Give them back!" she starts laughing and I can't help but smile.

"Well you couldn't very well see with them anyway…" she pauses for a while and then continues "You look better like that…"

"What without the glasses?" I know it's a stupid question but I don't want to keep quiet, it makes me look stupid.

"No... I mean when you smile…" She says putting my glasses back on, seems she cleaned them cause now I can see.

"Oh… Umm…" This is the second time she leaves me speechless… How does she keep doing that? "I guess you too…" I finally say… She laughs again and turns around.

"Look! It's a rainbow!" she says pointing towards the sky "Make a wish!" does she really believe in that kind of stuff? She closes her eyes and says "I wish everything works out for the best for you…" a small gentle smile forms on her lips. The horrible knot in my stomach suddenly banishes as if it had never been there. One of my hands moves unconsciously from her shoulder (I was still holding the jacket around her after all) and is about to touch her cheek but I regain self-consciousness in the last second and make it land on her hair.

"I wish that you're able to pass math…" and then she sneezes, I smile and say "And that you don't catch a cold…" we both start laughing. And then we both suddenly realize the weird way we've been standing all this time. I quickly let go off the jacket and put a hand on the back on my head and laugh nervously.

"We must look pretty dumb right now, hehe…" she says and starts playing with her index fingers. Silence surrounds us for a while, I hate silence. So I need to break it.

"So… why did you come all the way here anyway?" Is she just bluffing so that I don't break off the deal?

"I don't really know. When you took off I just felt this knot in my stomach and came after you…" she puts one of her hands on her belly and sighs sort of relieved. "Seems it is gone now thank god…" and she smiles again. She felt guilty? Is that why she came? "Anyway we should probably head back… Ruka-pyon must be done with the clothes already… I left Tsubasa-senpai with Hotaru… I hope he's alright… And I don't really know where You-chan is…" Now that she mentions it I don't either…

"You're probably right…" we start walking towards her car when she accidentally drops the jacket on the floor. I bend over to pick it up and my hand meets hers. I quickly retreat it just a bit and turn my head to look at her, our eyes meet when and I become aware of the fact that her face is barely an inch or so away from mine.

We both just stare at each other for what seems like an hour; maybe it was more like a second… I can feel heat coming back to my cheeks as I notice the tint of red on her face. Her lips slowly part and my heart starts pounding inside my chest. I want to say something. I have to say something I can't bear the silence.

"Um…" with just that I swear she made my heart skip a beat. "Nat-."

"Oi Mikan! I saw your car so you must be around here! Mikan are you here?!" When we hear Andou's voice shouting we both stand up quickly, she picks up the jacket and looks for the source of the screams.

"Over here Tsubasa-senpai!" she shouts and waves her hand in the air when she sees Andou and Youichi looking for her. "Let's go…" she says as she grabs my arm and drags me over to them, smiling. I just sigh and let her drag me along.

"What were you doing here? You're all wet…" Andou says to Mikan. She just giggles and apologizes for suddenly disappearing. I look at Youichi who is staring back at me, an eyebrow raised, and something caught between a smirk and a smile plastered on his face...

As we're walking to the car he stays a little behind and walks along with me and in a very low voice, so low I almost didn't catch what he said, he tells me "Aren't you glad I left?" And then he goes back to walking at Mikan's and Andou's speed leaving me behind, wide eyed and probably mouth agape staring into nothingness… Note to self, stop doing that! It was that stupid face that got me into this mess in the first place!

After a while of walking like that she spins her head and looks at me from over her shoulder, and I start replaying what happened a while ago. Now that I look back on it… was she… about to… call me by my real name!? When I remember that my eyes widen even more and my jaw drops. Noticing this she starts laughing, and there it is again the weird in my stomach, but this time it's different. It's not bad, it's rather nice… It's like umm… I don't know how to explain it… It's sort of warm… like thousands of butterflies flapping at the same time…

I just decide to ignore it like I always do; maybe I'm getting a fever from standing under the rain. Yeah that's gotta be it.

A/N: Okay chapter 5 is up to there or it'll be too long. I am deeply sorry I didn't continue with the make-over, but if I did the chapter would turn out too long.

I wanna thank everyone who reviews and adds this story to their favorite or alert list… and everyone who adds me as favorite author or author alert list. I'm really glad you like my fic it makes me really happy to read your reviews.

I'll upload the next chapter as soon as I can. I hope you enjoyed this one!

To be continued…