A/N: YAY UBBER HAPPINESS! I love you all for reviewing and adding me to favs and story alert and… and… and thanks a bunch.

Disclaimer: Here, take a look at my ID, is my name Higuchi Tachibana? NO! Then whatever gave you the idea that I own Gakuen Alice? Geez

Chapter 15 Goodbye Natsume!?

(Natsume's PoV)

Oh god, why did I have to stop being invisible at a time like this? Earth, please swallow me now, save me from this torment.

I'm starting to feel that my sharp sense of hearing isn't such a blessing after all, right now I'd give anything to exchange it with my sense of sight. I sink further into my seat and cover my ears trying not to hear the comments from my classmates.

"Stop that" I hear Mikan whispering "You should be proud that everyone is talking about you, not embarrassed"

She can say that because she's used to being the center of attention. I didn't even exist before today, of course I'm gonna be embarrassed to suddenly become one of the "top five most kissable lips" according to Usami and all the girls sitting around her.

How am I even supposed to concentrate on Naru's lecture like this?

Alright, just 20 more seconds and I'll be able to run out of here and back to my beloved solitude on the rooftop.

Just 11 more seconds…

10…

9…

What the!? Did I just see the damn clock go backwards!? Are you kidding me!?

COME ON RING THE DAMN BELL ALREADY!

3…

2…

1…

YES!! GOD BLESS THE MAN WHO INVENTED LUNCHBREAK!!

I quickly stand up and make my way to the door half trotting.

"And where do YOU think you're going?"

I stop dead in my tracks as I see Andou leaning against the doorframe blocking my only escape route.

"Sorry Natsume, but Mikan told me you might try to run away and said to stop you at all costs." he whispers as he places one hand on my shoulder and drags me back into the room.

I glare at Mikan who smiles sweetly in return.

Ah geez, now I'm gonna have to have lunch with them, and everyone will be watching… namely me. God damn the man who invented lunch break…

I hear some of the girls greeting him as we make our way over to my desk.

"Andou-senpai it's such an honor to have you in our classroom!"

"It's so nice to see you!"

And then a loud high-pitched, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE LUNCH WITH ME?!" coming from every single girl at the same time. What is he like their god or something?

Well I DID hear them saying something about him being in the "top five most kissable lips" list too… along with Ruka, Youichi and some guy called Sonou Kara- Kamame or something… Who's that anyway?

Anyway, I watch as he declines the girls' offers politely and finally we reach Mikan.

"Well, well… Seems I was right after all…" she says rising from her seat and picking up her bag. "Seems like lunch is on you today Tsubasa-senpai."

"Yeah, yeah, l know…"

"Aw you don't have to be such a sore loser Tsubasa-senpai. It was your idea to bet on it after all…"

When did they even have the time to make such a bet?

"Let's go, the others are probably waiting for us…" everyone starts following Mikan to the cafeteria except Imai, Luna and me. I'd forgotten she was like god at school. I gotta find out how she makes everyone obey her and then-.

Um is it just me or did the room just suddenly become colder?

I swallow hard as I feel a murderous aura from behind me. Against my better judgment I slowly turn around only to find Luna scowling at Imai apparently trying to murder her by just staring. If I didn't know by personal experience that that's impossible, I'd actually be worried…

Imai simply continues packing her bag and ignoring her. When Luna finally notices me looking at her she smiles brightly and runs up to me.

"Natsume-kun where you waiting to have lunch with me?" she says clinging to my arm. Out of nowhere a rubber flies at her and hits her square on the head.

"Head shot!" I shout enthusiastically but regret it immediately as she stomps on my foot. I mumble a 'sorry' and grin sheepishly and she just narrows her eyes at me. Man, it was just a reflex for playing too much Counter Strike; she doesn't have to be so pissed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Luna screeches as she turns to Imai.

"I think I told you to keep your hands off of him." She replies bluntly.

"He's my fiancé I can touch him anytime I want!" she points at Imai "You however psycho hag have no right to tell me to let go!"

"If you're his fiancée how come he never talked about you before? Have you even considered the fact that he doesn't want to be engaged to you?"

"What are you talking about? Of course he wants to! Natsume-kun loves me and I love him!" she turns to look at me with a pleading look in her eyes "Tell her Natsume-kun. Tell her you love me and want to spend your whole life with me." She stares directly into my eyes and looks like she's about to cry.

Oh no, I can't handle crying girls. Should I just nod and go along with her so she won't cry? But then I'll be stuck with her forever and I don't love her at all! I actually find her pretty annoying. The one I love isn't Luna, it's Mi-.

"Yeah, tell her." Imai cuts my thoughts short "Tell her how you're in love with someone else and went through a weekend of hell just to make her like you." Her lips twitch slightly upwards into a knowing smile.

I bite my bottom lip trying to think of a way to answer without taking any sides. "I…"

Both of them stare at me intently waiting for my reply, Luna's grip on my arm tightens as if she was trying to tell me that if I don't say I love her she'll kill me.

"The truth is I-."

"Oi! Natsume, Imai! Sakura told me to come and check what was taking you guys so long…" a voice calls from the door.

"RUKA!" I shout relieved as I push Luna away from me and quickly run to him not trying to mask my evident joy for finding an excuse to escape.

"Am… am I interrupting something?" he asks when he notices the murderous intent surrounding Imai and Luna as they stare at him.

"Not at all" I say as I start for the corridor.

He starts walking beside me "You coming Imai?" he asks over his shoulder.

She shrugs and follows us.

"You owe me…" he whispers to me as we make our way to the where Mikan and the others are.

"For what?"

"For saving your ass… You can thank me later." A smug grin makes its way to his face.

I stare at him in utter confusion.

"Ruka-pyon, we were waiting for you!" Mikan shouts as she waves her hand at him.

"Good morning Sakura, sorry to keep you waiting… I run into something very interesting on my way here so…" he trails off and smiles at her.

She finally notices I'm there and narrows her eyes "Don't tell me you caught him trying to run away again?"

"Why would you be surprised?" I cut in "Didn't you send him to make sure I didn't run away just now?"

She gives me one of those 'are-you-on-crack-or-something' looks "What are you talking about? This is the first time I see him today…" she tells me as we start making our way to the cafeteria.

Ruka pats my shoulder "Like I said, you owe me…" he whispers once more before he walks ahead of me to speak to Andou.

I sigh in defeat. List of people whom I owe to up till now…

Mikan

Imai

Ruka

And counting…

I wonder who'll be next.

"So did you get rid of the hag?" Mikan suddenly breaks the silence between us.

"Well… depends on what you mean by 'get rid of'"

"I mean if you told her to stay away from you…" her expression is very serious. "I didn't go through all this trouble so you'll end up with that hag." She states angrily.

"I'll do it as soon as I can but-."

"ONII-CHAN!"

I quickly spin around and see Aoi running my way. She starts gasping for air rapidly.

"Aoi, what happened?" I stare at her with a very concerned look in my face not really caring that every single person standing in the hallway at the moment is watching us.

"Dad -gasp- Luna -gasp- plotting -gasp- BIG TROUBLE!" between all the gasps I couldn't really catch what she tried to say, but the words "big trouble" at the end aren't exactly encouraging.

"Calm down catch your breath and then explain what happened." I say as I lead her to a nearby bench.

After a drinking some water that someone handed her she breathes deeply and faces me with determination. Ignoring the fact that Mikan and company are surrounding us she starts to talk.

"Dad and Luna are plotting something to get you to come back home!" she quickly spits the whole sentence in one breath.

"Yeah I know… Luna transferred to school today. Don't sweat it, there's nothing she can do that-."

"NO! That's not what I mean!" she grabs my shoulders and forces me to look at her desperate eyes. "I heard them talking last night and apparently Luna transferring into Alice Gakuen has nothing to do with dad's plan. She just did it on her own. He even tried to stop her; he didn't want her to meet you just yet. The truth is that dad talked to the school's principal last night and-."

A ding-dong sound rings all over the school and a female's voice can be heard through the speakers a second after "May I have your attention please. Will Hyuuga Natsume-kun from 2nd year class B report to the principal's office immediately? I repeat…"

I ignore the rest of the announcement as I notice everyone staring at me with wide eyes.

I just shrug. "Guess I'll have to go…"

"Onii-chan…" Aoi grabs my wrist to prevent me from walking away.

"It's okay. I'll be right back…" I look at her with a reassuring smile "Don't worry… It's probably nothing…"

Although I gotta admit I'm a little nervous myself, I make my way to the principal's office with everyone trailing behind me. As I'm about to open the door I see Luna leaning against a wall with a wicked grin on her face but I think she didn't notice me looking at her.

O- kay. NOW I am actually scared. Well no turning back now…

(Mikan's PoV)

As soon as the door shuts behind Natsume we all stick our ears to it trying to catch any of the conversation, unfortunately I can only hear the principal's voice but I can't make out the words.

Without saying anything Hotaru takes out a small radio from her backpack and turns it on. We all stare at her before she decides to finally explain.

"I installed a microphone in his clothes so we'll be able to hear…" she says as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Without wasting another second we gather around Hotaru's invention and she starts pressing some buttons and shaking it to get a better reception. I can't understand a single word they are saying… what's going on behind that door!?

"DAMN YOU OLD MAN!!" Was that just Natsume screaming from the other side of the door? And what the hell was that loud bang I just heard?

"Hotaru hurry up and get that thing working."

She looks at me with her usual poker face but I can tell she wants to say "What the hell do you think I've been trying to do all this time?" she sighs and gently slaps the side of the radio making it finally sound clear.

"I'm gonna have to ask you to calm down Hyuuga-kun" that's the principal's voice. "There is nothing I can do for you in a situation like this, this is a decision made by your father." Why does he have to sound so calm?

"Are you fucking kidding me!? How dare that old man!! I'm gonna rip him apart limb by limb and feed him to hungry wolves!!" Well that's Natsume for sure…

"I would rather you refrain from using foul language in my office Hyuuga-kun. Still, like I said before, there's nothing I can do about it and that is not going to change even if you raise your voice."

What situation is he talking about? Crap, I missed the most important part of the conversation.

"There's gotta be something you can do! You're the principal aren't you!?" He sounds really desperate. What could they possibly be talking about?

"I am truly deeply sorry Hyuuga-kun, I hate having to be the bearer of bad news, especially to an outstanding student as yourself... If it were in my hands to do something…" What does he mean BAD NEWS!?

"But… It's just not fair!"

There's a long silence after that and we all feel the tension around us fearing the worse case scenario. I find it hard to breathe… Nobody dares utter as much as a word, even the birds outside seem like they are afraid of chirping.

What did the old man do?

"Well…" I jump up as I finally hear the principal's voice from the gadget in Hotaru's hands. "It's not in my power to do anything anymore…"

"You have to do something about this! You can't just let the old man get his way! Please I'll do anything!" he sounds almost like he's pleading him to spare his life.

After another long pause the principal's sighs "I'm sorry Hyuuga-kun, this matter is already out of my hands…" he says remorsefully.

All my life I've been told a lot of things. Your whole family is dead, you're alone in the world, nobody loves you… I've been treated like yesterday's trash, being told I'm worthless, ugly, stupid, useless, better off dead, you name it. But every time something like that happened, it wasn't like I didn't actually see it coming anyway.

But at that precise moment in time, I felt like nothing in the entire world could have prepared me for what I heard next.

"I regret to tell you that as of tomorrow you are no longer a student of Alice Gakuen…"

I can literally feel my heart falling into the depths of a pitch black pit as soon as my mind processes the statement… And still now I can feel it sinking deeper and deeper...

Thinking back on it, I'm not really sure why it bothered me so much. I didn't really know the details of Why? When? Where? What? I didn't really know Natsume all that much; I mean we've only been "friends" (if you can call it that) for like three days… So why did I feel like my heart was being squeezed and pulled out of my chest?

But I swear that at the moment I couldn't think of anything straight. My mind just started spinning in circles and my body moved on its own as I abruptly stood up and barged into the principal's office.

I only regained my self control as I heard Natsume's hushed voice calling my name and then noticed all of my friends staring at me with shocked expressions and the fearsome scowls on Luna's and the principal's face; but I couldn't care less at the time, fear just flew out of the window some time ago… And I don't really want it back. At least not for now…

"EXPLAIN!" I shout to no one in particular.

"Sakura-san you are in no place to demand anything. This matter does not concern YOU. Now get out of my office before-."

"I SAID EXPLAIN!" I yell at Natsume this time, completely ignoring the principal.

"SAKURA-SAN STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS AT ONCE!"

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" I snap at the principal. Err maybe that wasn't such a good idea; at least Natsume's look of 'have you lost your mind?' says so.

"Would you mind excusing us for a moment?" Natsume gets up from his chair, grabs my arm and drags me all the way to the rooftop leaving behind a group of dumbfounded people. Maybe I shouldn't have pissed the principal off…

When we're finally alone I can finally feel the fear returning to me when Natsume's burning gaze falls upon me. I've seriously never seen him this pissed…

(Normal PoV)

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" he screams at her.

Mikan lowers her head to try to hide her face. "I- I heard your conversation with the principal and I…" she trails off.

"You what? You thought you'd help by suddenly barging in hysterically and making a scene!?"

"I was just trying to help!"

"HELP!? You don't even know what happened in there!"

"That's why I asked for an explanation!"

"More like demanded..." he shakes his head to the sides trying to calm down "Look this problem doesn't concern you at all; it's between me and the old man."

"But I couldn't help it, when I heard you were going away I…"

He turns his back to her "Look, you have already done more than enough… I can take care of myself from here on out… You don't have to-."

"BUT I WANT TO!" she cuts him off walking up to him. "Look I'm sorry I imposed myself on you like that, and I'm sorry I made a scene. But I couldn't stop myself I was just so worried you might go away…" her voice starts becoming softer until it's only a whisper.

"Why?"

"I honestly have no idea…" she places one of her hands over her chest "I don't know what came over me I just…"

"Mikan did…" he slowly turns around and faces her with a gentle smile.

"Huh?"

"I said Mikan came over you…" his gentle smile turns into a goofy grin "You careeee about meee!" he says in a singsong voice.

"Shut up…" she looks away to hide her blushing face. "Of course I do baka… You're my friend after all…"

It was Natsume's turn to blush when he saw the serious look on her face and Mikan's turn to grin goofily when she saw the look on his.

"HA! In your face! Beaten in your own game Hyuuga!"

He frowns at the use of his last name over his actual name. 'I even rather she calls me Kazume…'

"What are you angry about now?" she crosses her arms over her chest and huffs in annoyance.

"My name Sakura..." he states simply. "Aren't friends supposed to call each other by their names?" he quotes the words she used when she first called him Kazume.

Mikan stares bewildered. "Oh… Anyway what happened at the principal's office?" she completely avoids the subject.

He sighs but decides to drop the name thing for now. "That damned old man…" he clenches his fists "He talked to the principal and told him he won't pay my tuition for school, until I go back home and decide to do as he says that is."

"ARE YOU KIDDING!?" she shouts without thinking.

"I wish I was…" he admits bitterly.

"Well I can help you pay the tuition until he calms down and-."

"NO!" he "I'll figure out a way on my own. I'm not gonna accept charity from anyone..."

Mikan looks like she's about to retort something but when she sees the determination in his eyes places a hand on his shoulder and smiles.

"Then I'll support you all the way… No matter what your choice is, you can count on me for anything."

"Yeah…" he returns her smile "That's what friends are for right Mikan?"

"Yeah… that's right… friends…" she emphasizes the word more to herself than to him… "We'll figure out a way together…" she pauses to debate with herself whether or not she should say the next thing she's thinking of.

When she looks into his crimson eyes once more she bites her lower lip and makes up her mind.

"Natsume…"

He just stares at her in utter astonishment.

A/N: YAY! She did it! She called him by his real name out loud! And to think I was actually planning to finish this chapter when the principal says Natsume will be leaving school. You would have missed such a cute moment…

Will Natsume really be leaving school? What is he gonna do!? Will Kaname-senpai ever make an appearance as I said he would?

I shall answer all those questions probably in the next chapter!

Anyway I LOVE YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING! You guys are the best… I'll see you in the next chapter… I hope it's soon…

NOW IT'S TIME FOR A PREVIEW! Because you guys are so nice, you deserve that much :)

Preview:

"It's great to be back; I really missed you Mikan-chan…" he smiles sweetly at Mikan.

Mikan can only stare at him in awe thinking she might be seeing an illusion.

"I have to go greet everyone else, but I would really like to talk to you later if you want…" he places a peck on her cheek and flashes a charming smile at her before walking away.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Natsume fumes. You can practically see the smoke coming out of his ears

"Ka- Kaname-senpai…" Mikan mumbles blushing madly as she caresses the cheek he just kissed. A small smile creeps onto her face.

WAH! I just answered one of my questions… baka.

Ja ne minna-san!