A/N: Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters…
Chapter 12 Decisions.
(Normal PoV)
After a short while of walking, they reach a closed door, Natsume extends his hand to turn the knob and open it but Mikan stops him. He looks at her confused.
"Before we go in, we must elaborate a battle plan…" she says.
"It's not like we're going to war or something, you know?" he answers warily, already wanting this whole 'couple-very-much-in-love' deal to be over with.
She glares at him "Indeed… This is far worse than war…" she smirks "If we're going to do this, we must to do it right… I will not tolerate half-assed acting. If that old man notices any kind of weakness he will not hesitate to crush you. Believe me …"
"He's my dad, he isn't gonna try to kill us..."
"I didn't say 'kill' I said 'crush' baka…" she tells him angrily "This 'war' is all about exhausting your enemy physically, mentally and emotionally. If we accomplish to crack the old man, we win. We gotta crush him, squash him! If not for your sake then just for mine! We will make him get down no his knees and beg for forgiveness!" she says shaking a fist in front of her head, fire burning in her eyes and an evil grin plastered on her face as she pictures Natsume's dad on his knees begging.
"Umm…" he interrupts her in the middle of her fantasy placing a hand over her fist and lowering it to her side. "It is still my dad you're talking about…"
"So?" she asks rising an eyebrow, he just sighs. "Like I said, that dinning hall is the battleground, we MUST look convincing; otherwise we'll be found out…" she explains. "And by NO means must you take seriously anything I say, but you will have to play along… This is a battle I'm not about to lose, got it?"
"That's why I said it's my dad you're talking about!" he repeats loudly, but not enough for the people on the other side of the door to hear.
"I don't care whether it's your dad or the queen of England! He stomped on MY pride and I'm gonna make him regret it." She says clenching her fists. "As soon as we go in you'll pull a chair for me and after I've sat down you'll take a seat next to me. You can't-."
"Why? It's not like-."
"BECAUSE! Can't you just do as you're told without arguing for once?" she says rather irritated.
"I've been doing what you tell me to do for two days now! One would think I can do as I please now that I'm in MY house…"
"C'mon it's the last thing I'll ever ask you to do, just play along as the nice loving boyfriend and we'll both walk out of there triumphant…" she says making puppy eyes.
"I don't know I mean, it's also my mom and sister in there and-."
"What, you're having second thoughts now of all times? You could've chickened out before, not NOW that we're standing a door away from your family!" she tells him pointing at the big white door.
"You would've made me do it anyway, no matter if I had refused two hours ago!" he says sounding a little pissed.
"Well, you may be right but-."
"MAY? There's no MAY. I am right, you always do that! You-."
"Look, just think about it as extra payment for our deal! I've figured just helping me pass math isn't enough for all I've done…" she says nodding agreeing with herself.
"Now hold on there, the deal was I just had to teach you and that was it! You can't just add new stuff to a contract just like that!" he retorts slightly rising his voice.
"Well that's the great thing about verbal deals, I didn't sign anything so I can change it as much as I like!" she says matching the volume of his voice.
"It's not fair! If you can add stuff I can too!" he rises his voice above hers.
"This whole 'couple-in-love' deal is gonna help you get rid of that Luna person, is it not? That makes us even! You get your freedom and I get my revenge!"
"Yeah, revenge on my DAD!" he snaps.
"So what? It could've been anyone else! You are gonna help me with this Kazume or I swear to god I'm going to make your life a living hell!" she yells glaring at him and poking his chest with her index finger.
-Meanwhileon the other side of the door-
"He's still my dad Minako!" Natsume's shout sounds from the hallway.
"WELL IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT HE IS AN ASS!"Mikan's retort comes instantly after.
Natsume's dad right eye twitches and the hand he's using to hold his teacup starts shaking.
Aoi closes her eyes and sighs after taking a sip from her tea. 'Baka…' she thinks.
Yukiko smiles and starts laughing a little to ease the tension. "Young kids sure are energetic in the morning…" she says pouring some tea.
"IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD TO HAVE SOMEONE CALL YOU UGLY!"Natsume shouts back.
"UGLY! AHH MOU! I'LL SHOW YOU UGLY! I'M GONNA PUNCH YOUR FACE SO HARD NOT EVEN YOUR MOM WILL RECOGNIZE YOU!" The girl's high-pitched scream comes, followed by a very loud -THUD-.
"Enough of this foolishness!" Satoshi says slamming the table with his fist.
-Back to Mikan and Natsume-
He's lying on the ground with a very fierce-looking Mikan on top of him, holding a fist in front of his face and holding his shirt collar with her free hand. His eyes shut tightly waiting for the impact.
And he waits…
And waits some more…
…
After a couple of seconds of lying there, he pries one eye open to see what's wrong and finds a wide-eyed, motionless, gaping Mikan staring to the left, her arm hanging loosely on her side.
He looks to the same direction and finds his family sitting at the long table all looking at them.
'Busted.' is the only word that comes to his mind as he stares back with his trademark lame-gawking face.
Aoi with her elbow placed on the table and her hand covering her face, shaking her head slowly to the sides.
His dad standing up, a fallen chair behind him and his fist slammed on the table, and his mom smiling sweetly and sipping tea every once in a while.
"Snap out of it." He whispers to her. Mikan still doesn't move. "Hey ugly!" he whispers again. She frowns and turns to glare at him quickly shutting her mouth as she catches a glimpse of his family staring at them, her fighting spirit vanishing completely.
Natsume smirks and they help each other stand up. After dusting her clothes she fakes a big smile and walks over the breakfast table. 'So much for a good second impression…' she thinks not daring to say a word after such an entrance. 'There goes my whole battle plan down the drain… stupid.'
Taking in her surroundings as she walks Mikan notices a big chandelier hanging from the ceiling being the only thing lighting the room. The huge windows covered by long thick curtains preventing the daylight from getting into the room. She figures that it might as well be midnight and no one would notice if it weren't for the big grandfather clock at the far left end of the room.
The table is beautifully set, a bright white tablecloth covering it and flowers as the center piece and many sorts of different foods and... 'For four people...' she notices rather annoyed, and spares a glance at Natsume who immediately understands what she wants to say.
He turns around to face one of the maids and motions her to set another chair and dishes. The maid quickly steps into the kitchen and Natsume walks over to a chair and pulls it backwards for Mikan to sit.
At first she looks at him surprised but when she remembers what she'd told him a while ago, she shrugs the warm feeling in her stomach telling herself he's just doing as he was told. She smiles courteously mouths a 'thank you' and sits down, soon followed by Natsume who sits beside her.
Truth is he wasn't acting. Even if she hadn't anything back in the hallway, he would have let her sit before him, not because he's a gentleman and would've done that for any girl, on the contrary he would've just sat down and waited for any other girl to solve the problem on her own. But his body sort of moved out of its own will. He actually forgot everything they'd talked about the minute he saw his family staring at him.
The maid comes rushing back to the room and places a cup and some other things for Natsume to eat, bows and leaves. 'So far so good…' he thinks as he looks around the table. His father already sitting down, and now glaring at Mikan, Aoi just ignoring everyone and eating her breakfast, and his mom is still smiling and drinking tea.
The atmosphere becomes tense, and Yukiko is the one to break the silence.
"So… Mi-chan, where did you and Natsu-chan meet?" she asks not meaning to cause any harm, but what she doesn't know is that such an innocent question had not been taken into account in Mikan's 'battle plan'.
Building up a little courage and unwilling to give up yet, Mikan decides this is the best opportunity to crush Hyuuga Satoshi, and probably the last one she'll get. She places her hand on top of Natsume's and smiles a little at him, making his dad growl lowly.
Resisting the urge to laugh out loud she answers. "Oh, we are classmates so we met at school last year. You can say we've been friends since then…" she says, her smile widening by the second.
'Such a good actress…' Natsume thinks.
"I never heard Natsume speak of any friends. He always complained about hating EVERYONE at school." Satoshi points out in a threatening tone, like telling her he already knows what she's up to.
"How would you know? You hardly ever talk to me at all…" Natsume quickly cuts in to prevent Mikan from falling into his trap; he knows his dad doesn't know anything, at least not for sure.
As the look on the oldest Hyuuga's face changes to one of discontent Natsume smirks and enjoys the first time he really stuck up to his father and returns Mikan's hold on his hand, making him even madder.
"I'm sorry; maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me to come after all… I'm just a bother, aren't I?" Mikan says trying to look hurt.
"You think?" Satoshi snorts.
"Anata!"(A/N: Means darling, dear...) Scolds Yukiko. "Mi-chan don't worry, it's a pleasure to finally meet Natsu-chan's girlfriend." She says trying to comfort her.
"No, Yukiko-san, I think it's best if I-." she stands up slightly.
"Mi-chan, please sit down… I don't want you to feel bothered by this childish husband of mine… You're more than welcome here." She tells her smiling. "Please have a cup of tea at least." She says pouring a cup for her.
Mikan gladly takes it and smiles 'Good, I got the mother handled, now for the daughter…' she thinks as she sips from her cup. "Aoi-chan, I'd really like to thank you for lending me these clothes, you have impeccable taste if I may say so myself…" she says turning to the little sister.
"My grandma bought those, I hate Barbie clothes…" she answers plainly not even sparing her a glance. Her father smiles proudly at her.
"Now, Aoi-chan shouldn't you be more polite to our guest?" her mother says. She just shrugs.
'So this one takes after her father…' she puts on her best smile and tries again. "You go to our school too, ne Aoi-chan? I heard from Natsu-chan that you're a freshman at Alice Gakuen…"
Natsume shudders when he hears her call him 'Natsu-chan' but when he sees his father twitching he lets it slip. 'How did she even know that? I never even told her I had a sister…' he thinks confused but doesn't say anything.
Aoi nods once.
"You must be You-chan's classmate then, correct?" she asks attempting to start a conversation.
"Who?" She says looking at her plate.
Mikan's smile wavers a little. "Hijiri Youichi, don't you know him?"
"Oh… yeah, Mr. I'm-too-good-to-talk-to-you, right?" she says stabbing a piece of cake with her fork.
"I don't think he's-."
"No wonder you're friends, I guess all of you self-centered bastards at school have to stick together right?" she asks stuffing her mouth with cake.
Mikan glares at Natsume 'Is this what he teaches his little sister?' She thinks.
"I'm really disappointed in you Onii-chan. To think you of all people would end up with a girl like her…" Aoi says looking at her brother. "Look what she's done to you; she's turned you into one of them!"
Satoshi grins but says nothing; he just sits back and enjoys the show.
'So he's gonna let the little girl do the dirty work for him!' Mikan thinks as the older Hyuuga's strategy becomes evident to her.
Natsume stares at her awestruck. He knew he'd told his sister how much he hated most of the rich bastards at Alice Gakuen but… he didn't know she was so much like him. Had they been in a different situation he would've probably been proud, but right now he felt like strangling her.
"Well, people change." He finally says.
"You didn't change. You let her change you. Miss. Popularity of all people! Even though you always said that-." Natsume quickly interrupts her sentence before she gets to say anything else.
"Look you're my little sister and I care for you a lot, but this is my life, and neither you nor anyone gets to tell me what to do with it." He emphasizes the 'anyone' while he looks at his father.
"Like she does?" Aoi points at Mikan.
Mikan gasps. 'Oh no, I knew it'd come down to this.' She curses inwardly.
Natsume freezes.
'She's right.' He thinks as he remembers all the times he's followed Mikan's orders for the past couple of days. He isn't really sure why, but there's something about her that makes people obey her, but what?
For some reason he remembers that day at the mall when he was talking to Tsubasa and Youichi.
"Honestly, why do you guys do what she tells you? Normally leaders have higher IQs than their followers, not the other way around." The words he'd told them that day echo inside his head.
'What is she some kind of undercover genius?'
He's already lost count of how many times he heard her say the words "You don't have a say in this" or "Do as you're told" in the past couple of days, and yet he can't even remember one time he did what he wanted to do.
Yukiko's seemingly eternal smile drops.
Satoshi grins triumphantly as he watches his son's face turn to one of anger. 'Leave it to a girl to crush another.' He thinks rejoicing in his certain victory. 'She's no match for a Hyuuga as I thought…'
'Game over.' Mikan tells herself as she watches the youngest and oldest Hyuuga grinning. How had it come down to this? Her plan had completely backfired. Had she underestimated the old man?
No, that wasn't it… She knew all too well who she was up against.
Had she overestimated herself then?
No! That wasn't it either… She also knew her limits.
Then what?
What was the reason for her whole plan to have gone so horribly wrong?
It was the girl she concluded.
That little brat was ruining everything. If she hadn't been there none of this would've happened. Now here she was, sitting quietly, surrounded by a very pissed Natsume, a grinning Aoi, a shocked Yukiko and an ecstatic Satoshi. A heavy silence takes over the room.
Mikan lowers her head. She was at a complete loss, she knew she could handle one Hyuuga, but two was apparently too much even for her. Revenge was completely out of the question now; she had been completely humiliated TWICE. And right now she felt like she was completely alone in a huge dark room, surrounded by thousands of horrible faces laughing at her.
It was middle school all over again; the only difference was right now she didn't have Hotaru to comfort her and tell her it was going to be alright (although she knew it wouldn't.)
No.
Right now, she was completely
Alone
That dreaded feeling of loneliness struck her for the first time in many years. That horrible knot in your stomach that you get when you know you're not wanted, that everyone would be better off without you there.
All this time, the only reason she'd been able to step up to the world and say "Back off you are in MY way" to practically anyone was because she knew for a fact that if something went wrong she could always count on her real friend's support. Because she knew she would always have someone there for her to help carry the weight on her shoulders.
But now that she had to carry it on her own, now that she had to stand on her own two feet, now that she needed the strength to step up to the world on her own, she finally realized she didn't have such strength, she'd never really had it.
She was
Weak
All this time she had just been relying on someone else. And right now, the only person she could rely on had abandoned her, because of her own mistakes. Because she wanted to prove to him that she was strong, independent, and most of all because she wanted him to respect her in a way; to prove to him she was someone that… well… she really wasn't.
He probably hated her right now she figured. He hadn't realized that she'd been manipulating him like a puppet up till now. But now that Aoi had rubbed it in his face…
'He can't be dumb enough not to notice that…'
That she'd been doing to him the exact same his father had all these years, the same thing he despised him for.
Suddenly it hit her like a ton of bricks falling on her head.
She was no different from Hyuuga Satoshi, crushing other people just for her own selfish wants. In fact she was here right now for that reason, Natsume was just a mere pawn in her plan, like everybody else in her life, pawns, all of them…
Ever since she'd become "Minako" (she chuckles bitterly for thinking that) the rest of the world stopped mattering to her, it was all about herself. And she didn't care how many suffered along the way for her to reach the top.
And honestly speaking she didn't care one bit because she had decided that she didn't.
She had convinced herself that she didn't.
But now, looking back on it she felt pretty bad.
I mean she had even sold her own best friend off to Natsume just because she needed to pass math for crying out loud!
'What kind of best friend does that?'
And now she couldn't even-.
'Oh no.' Mikan shuts her eyes tightly as a nostalgic hot feeling stings her eyes.
Tears
'I promised I wouldn't.'she scolds herself 'I won't cry anymore!' her hands slowly curl into fists.
As her feelings overwhelm her; she remembers that promise she made with Hotaru all those years ago.
-Flashback- (10 years ago)
A muddy six year-old Mikan is crying on the grass hugging tightly a torn dirty doll. Three kids standing in front of her laugh, and one of them says "That's what you and your ugly doll get for being ugly!"
Suddenly a rock flies at his head "If you know what's best for you, you'll leave that girl alone." Hotaru's says glaring at them.
The three look at her for a second and walk away muttering something like "Not worth it."
When she sees her best friend, Mikan starts crying even more. "Hotaru, Hana-chan is…" she says showing the doll to her.
"You won't solve anything by crying…" Hotaru answers taking the broken doll from Mikan's grasp. "It's alright; I'll fix her for you." She gives Mikan a tissue. "Now wipe those tears and blow your nose, you look 60 percent uglier when you cry."
Mikan stares at her friend and smiles weakly "Arigato Hotaru! You really are my best friend." She says trying to wrap her arms around the dark-haired girl.
Quickly pushing her away she says "You can't cry over such small things baka."
Mikan nods "I won't, I want to be strong like Hotaru, that's why I won't cry again. I promise!" she says whipping her tear stained face and smiles widely.
Hotaru shows a small smile and opens her arms "Come here baka…" she says and Mikan quickly runs to her and hugs her tightly.
-End of flashback-
And she hadn't cried again since that day.
But Hotaru wasn't here to comfort her now.
A stray tear falls on Mikan's fist and she clenches her teeth. Nobody even seems to notice she's crying, or maybe they do but don't really care.
How much time had it been since she got lost in her thoughts anyway? Maybe it'd just been a second, so they couldn't have noticed…
Natsume keeps replaying the past days on his head. He really should be very pissed, but for some reason he isn't. Aoi was certainly right, Mikan had been controlling every aspect of his life, but it wasn't like he couldn't "chicken out" (as she put it) anytime.
HE had decided to let her do this to him, it was HIS choice. Of course it hadn't gone exactly as planned, this couple thing wasn't part of the plan but… boy did he enjoy seeing his father so pissed off.
And having Luna out of his life forever didn't sound bad either. All in all he was pretty content, besides no matter how bitchy Mikan tried to be, he knew deep down inside she truly wasn't like that at all. Hell she was a nice girl, he had to admit it.
Speaking of which…
"If that old man notices any kind of weakness he will not hesitate to crush you. Believe me …" Mikan's words repeat inside his head.
CRAP! He was being completely played!
'Even Aoi is in this with him? What does she have against Mikan?' he thinks. That old man was playing dirty! Bringing his daughter into this!
'Well if dirty is how you wanna play I c-.' turning his head to the side he notices Mikan shaking ever so lightly, fist clenched on her lap and a…
Tear?
'Can't be…' he bows his head to cover it from his family's view and whispers lightly to her.
"Giving up already? I thought this was a battle you weren't about to lose."He smirks placing his hand on top of hers.
Her eyes widen and she blinks a couple of times trying to take in his words. She looks at him obviously confused. He winks at her and the corner of her lips curve slightly upwards. With her free hand she wipes the tears away and again puts up her best smile.
When they look up they realize that probably Natsume's family didn't notice anything because they all seemed oh so very interested in their food.
"So what's your next battle plan general?"Natsume whispers mockingly.
Mikan ponders on the possibilities for a second. "Just go on your instincts from now on, and forget about the revenge. Let's just get your dad off your back with that Luna thing…"Natsume looks at her completely astonished. "Oh and Na-." (A/N: She's always being cut off when she's gonna say his name! Well, consciously gonna say it at least :P)
Satoshi suddenly stands up and smirks at Mikan, still convinced of his utter victory. "Now then girl I think it's time for you to-."
"It's Mikan dad…" Natsume interrupts him "Sakura Mikan." He finishes smirking.
"It doesn't matter. As I was saying I think-."
"Yes it does matter…" he says also standing up "Because…" he continues, his smirk widening every second "She's my girlfriend, so you'd better start being nice to her."
Mikan smiles and suddenly feels the urge to hug him, but fights it back. 'He's just acting, he's just acting.'She repeats to herself trying to shrug off the need to wrap her arms around him.
Aoi drops her fork and gawks; this is the first time she's ever seen her brother act like this in front of her dad, it makes her somewhat proud she guesses.
His father shoots him the trademark Hyuuga Glare. "This is unacceptable Natsume, as your father it's my duty to decide what is best for you, and this girl certainly isn't."
"Her name is Mikan… and you get to decide nothing." he says returning the glare and starting an all-out staring competition.
"Natsume I'm your father and I say this girl is not good enough for you."
"How do YOU know what's good enough for me? I say Mikan is the best thing I have in this rotten world no matter what you say."
Mikan starts blushing madly 'Acting Mikan, acting!'
Natsume extends a hand to her signaling her to take it and stand up. She does and they both stand there hand in hand in front of Satoshi.
"Stop this foolishness at once Natsume, I know you don't love this girl-."
"Mikan… and I sure as hell love her. Do you have a problem with that?" he says pulling her closer to him.
"I will not tolerate your insolence anymore, you are my son and live under my roof and thus you must follow my rules-."
"Just say it; it's not a difficult name, Mi-kan." He says once again wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Natsume if you keep this up I'm afraid I'll have to-."
"What? Disown me? Kick me out of the house?" He pauses for a second thinking about his next move, his heart beating fast. "You know what?" he finally decides. "You don't have to, I'm leaving!" he shouts.
Mikan, Aoi and Yukiko gasp in perfect unison.
"That's right, you heard me, I'd rather be out of this house than listening to you another second!" he shouts.
"Nonsense! You don't have the guts to spend one week away from this house." Satoshi retorts daringly.
"Hmph... Just watch old man, when all of this is over YOU will be down on your knees begging ME to come back!" and with that he storms out of the room dragging Mikan with him.
"You are going to regret this Natsume! MARK MY WORDS!" Satoshi shouts at him before the loud -BANG- of the door slamming is heard.
They keep walking down the hallway and suddenly come to a halt when they reach the stairs. Mikan looks at Natsume and giggles.
"What's so funny?" he asks laughing a little.
"Nothing… It's just…" she pauses and smiles "You learn pretty fast young grasshopper." She laughs.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" he says staring to the left. (A/N: Did you know that if you stare to the left as you speak it means you're lying?)
"Of course you don't…" she says rolling her eyes "When all of this is over you'll be begging? Sounds oddly familiar…"
"What? It was the first thing that came to my mind… It's not like I was copying you or anything." he says nervously.
"Sure you weren't… Geez, I didn't know you were such a hopeless…" she freezes for a second "… actor." She finishes wide eyed. 'So then… back there he wasn't just…'
"Well sorry for not being a master liar like yourself… I can't act to save my own life…" he confesses looking confused as he watches Mikan's horrified expression. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
"Huh? Umm… No I just… Do you think I could maybe have my hand back?"
Natsume looks down to his hand and realizes he's been holding her hand since they left the room. He quickly drops it and blushes muttering an apology.
Mikan laughs and starts walking up the stairs. 'He wasn't just acting when he said he…' she turns around half way and flashes him a big smile. "Me too…" she tells him and continues towards his room.
'You too what?' he wonders completely confused as he follows her up the stairs…
A/N: Thanks for all the very nice reviews I got, as always I'm really happy to read what you think about my story :D I hope you'll continue reviewing like always!
To be continued…