Hey Everyone! I finally updated: YES!

First of all, I'm really sorry. Even though I promised early update to everyone, I encountered some problems along the way. I unexpectedly had writer's block so I found it hard to write. T_T I'm really really sorry!

But see, it's long. So I hope you forgive me and enjoy. :)

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

Chaos All Over Again

Mikan remembered her nightmare very well and was sure it went pretty well like this:

She was scanning a Teens magazine when she saw that face, the face of the jerk she despises the most and what she couldn't believe is that her friends are insisting that an Imperial Family exists in Japan. Like what the heck? That can't be true right? But no it had to be.

As if that wasn't enough, in her nightmare, she almost died in a car crash in courtesy of the so-called prince and what's more was that he chose her to be his wife. And no, the nightmare just had to get worse. She met this weird giddy Empress who's so into matching her up with her son then suddenly does this weird drama exit and she was stuck with the jerk prince.

Her rotten fate just had to be emphasized when she met these nice cousins of the jerk prince. And right when she worries about how to eat, she has to be fed with spicy food of all things. Then that was the part where it gets all warped up. She remembered that the toilet in her private bathroom was broken and she really had to go to the bathroom. Talk about bad lucks in nightmares.

So she searched for a working CR, which she luckily found but then suddenly she saw herself in the prince's room, being pinned against the door. What's more is that she remembers that they almost shared a kiss and that she was somewhat regretful that they didn't in the end. And the last thing that she remembers was that…

"MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY! NASTUME-NII AND MIKAN-NEE DIIIIIID IT ALREEAAAAAADYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Sigh…so much for hoping it was all a nasty nightmare…

Back to reality…

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

"MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY! NASTUME-NII AND MIKAN-NEE DIIIIIID IT ALREEAAAAAADYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

"Huh? What? FIRE? Omph-!" What a way to wake up, a pillow in your mouth and an unidentifiable scream as an alarm clock. She might as well get used to it considering she'll be wasting some of her life in the Palace.

"Shut up, idiot" Natsume glared between bed hair and droopy crimson eyes. For someone who just woke up, he sure looks sexy, Mikan thought then mentally slapped her self. Only, he has such a rotten personality, she amended.

"Heyy!"

"O-onii-chan…y-you…" Aoi stuttered, pointing a shaky finger at them.

"What now?" he asked grumpily.

Mikan looked around her, noticing that something seems to be off. But what? Then it hit her! She was beside Natsume. Literally beside Natsume and goodness knows what position they were in before they were graciously interrupted. The humongous pillow that Mikan counted on for her innocence now lay flatly on the floor, obviously neglected.

"Oh my god," Mikan clutched her pillow.

"What?"

"OH MY GOD NATSUME, WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO ME, YOU STUPID PERVERT! GIVE IT BACK! I SAID GIVE IT BACK! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID PRINCE!" The brunette yelled between fits of hysterics as she crazily hit the raven-haired royalty with her pillow.

"Give what back, you crazy dummy? Ow, would you please stop?"

"My…my…" Mikan blushed uncontrollably.

"Onii-chan, I think she wants to say her virginity" Aoi suggested nonchalantly.

"OHMYEFFINGAWD, you said it!"

"Calm down idiot. Sleeping with a guy, and I mean literally just sleeping with a guy doesn't mean you'll get pregnant, even a grade-schooler knows that. Rather, I'm impressed you even know that couples have to do that to have a baby"

"…" Mikan's eye twitched. "Y-you Pervert!"

"So…" Aoi started nervously, tracing random lines through her toe. "Does that mean you did nothing?"

Natsume chuckled. "Who said I wanted to do anything with this idiot?"

"Hey, what does that mean?" the brunette protested.

"What, you wanna do it after all?" Natsume asked teasingly, the brunette had to blush.

"T-then…uh-oh" Aoi muttered nervously.

"Uh-oh?" Mikan echoed.

"Hey, what's happening here?" Tsubasa asked lazily in his pajamas, bed hair and all but he seemed to snap out of his daze as he processed what he saw: Natsume, Mikan, one bed, together. "Whoa, that was fast."

"What was fast?—" Mikan tried to ask but then…

"Aoi-chan, what's the matter— oh…" Ruka blushed beet red upon seeing what seemed to be the problem.

"Wait," Mikan tried to stop, "It's not what you think! Natsume, you tell them!"

"Tell them what?"

"Oh my" a familiar voice popped out of nowhere. There by the door was the empress in a robe, staring in astonishment and the scene lying before his eyes, sparkles glinting and all. "Oh my, I'll finally become a grandmother!"

"You know aunt, for someone as narcissistic as you, you sure seem excited about getting old" Tsubasa said.

Kaoru glared at her nephew. "You were saying, Tsubasa?"

"N-nothing"

"Anyway, ! Prepare the Royal Crib and we'll go shopping for my grandchild's things! We're finally having an heir. Ohohoho! Oh, I have to inform your father about this, Natsume. Mikan-chan, good job!" she enthusiastically flashed her okay thumb.

"You got this all wrong…" Mikan pleaded, rather than said as Natsume sighed.

"What's the catch?" she heard a cold voice said, too familiar. A jet black-haired girl with purple orbs stared stoically at the royal couple on the bed then smirked evilly, flashing her camera. "Oh, now I know why a certain idiot failed to whine about being a princess last night. What a relief" Sarcasm dripping from every words.

"H-Hotaru? Wh-what…why…how…what the heck are you doing here?"

"Oh, so Mikan-chan didn't know?" Ruka asked.

"Didn't know what? Am I supposed to have a clue here?"

"She's my sister" Tsubasa grinned as he hugged his supposedly 'sister'.

"…" Long Silence… "Seriously?"

"You don't see the resemblance? A lot of people said we look alike~"

"He's lying" Aoi muttered.

"Definitely lying" Ruka confirmed.

"Nope" Mikan deadpanned.

"Our hair! Look, they're the same black color" he said proudly.

"He seriously has a sister-complex" Mikan noted under her breath.

"Hey, wassup guys…I heard a loud screaming and I went here as fast as possible…oh… Is it just me or did something happen here that's not supposed to happen yet…?" Misaki asked eyes glued on Natsume and Mikan.

"Misaki-chan! I'm finally going to have a grandchild! Isn't that good? I wonder what name would suit him/her best? What do you think, Misaki-chan? I knew that they were the perfect couple since the beginning. Oh, they just can't wait to get their hands on each other, isn't that sweet?" Kaoru gushed.

"Ehhhhh?"

"Oh, about that…" Aoi started, red color tainting her cheeks. "Haha…it was a false alarm. Nothing happened." She grinned.

"…."

"WHAT? NO BABY? NO GRANDCHILD? NOTHING?" Kaoru shrieked.

"Really?" Tsubasa asked, a bit disappointed.

"No mating?"

"Ruka, we're not animals"

"Oh, right"

"Absolutely nothing? You sure?"

"Nothing I can sell to the PRESS?"

"OH GUYS DROP IT! NOTHING!" Mikan screamed impatiently. This baby stuff sure is embarrassing her. Is the life in Palace really like a roller coaster ride? One moment you're throwing up, the next you feel like you left your stomach somewhere? Well at least when riding a real roller coaster you don't get your tummy suspected to be invaded by a fetus.

"THAT'S IT!" The Empress said angrily. "NO BREAKFAST FOR ALL OF YOU UNTIL I GET MY GRANDCHILD!" and with that, she left the room.

"…"

"Natsume, I'll book you a five-star hotel right this instant just make that baby pop out of somewhere Mikan's tummy" Tsubasa said.

"And it was time for mating season…" Ruka muttered.

"I need hot issues, Hyuga. Go get that fetus, I'm hungry"

"Onii-chan! I was really hungry! I want a niece!" Aoi complained.

Seriously?

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

"Honey, you have to do something about your son!" Kaoru entered the Emperor's private study, fuming as she settled on the chair across her husband who was busy scribbling on his files. "Mou! And I thought we'll finally have a cute little toddler 'toddling' along the palace" she whined.

Ioran just smiled at his wife. At this rate, he's sure he'll have to listen to his wife's complaints until next week. Maybe she'll even scream in her dreams and he'd end up sleepless for the whole week unless his son gets his mom a grandchild soon. If only the videotapes presented to him at that time had warnings like: WARNING: This woman tends to talk a lot. And I really mean A LOT. Don't say I didn't warn you. But no, all was there to stare at was her wondrous beauty which luckily didn't fade out. Yet.

But of course he won't say that out loud – not unless he wants his death wish to be granted.

"Ne, are you even listening to me? Mou!" she pouted cutely. But of course, there's also that side of her too – the side he loves the most.

The Emperor smiled as he set his paperwork aside. "Of course, Ka-chan. What do you want me to do?" he asked generously.

She sighed. "Anything to bring Nattie and Mikan-chan closer… I don't know Ioran, sometimes I get the feeling I brought up that child too coldly. Look at him now, he's so stuck up and boring!" Kaoru complained.

"Now, now, don't worry about it too much, Ka-chan. I'm sure those two will find their way to each other soon enough, just like how we did. Although it's partly your fault for dressing him up as a girl when he was younger."

"Heyy! He was so cute! Everyone thought he was a girl" Kaoru laughed. "Ah, but of course he had to grow up and people had to know that he's a guy, that's when things started to get boring. And those old men in the parliament kept on insisting we make an heir already; they should've seen their faces when I told them Nattie's a guy"

"You know that your son will murder you if he hears you calling him Nattie again, right?"

"…"

"A-anyway, make sure that I'll have a grandchild soon! Or else," Kaoru shot her husband a threatening look then smiled. "Oh well, I guess I'll be having tea with the Prime Minister's wife now. Toodles, xoxo, love ya, TC, baii!" and off she goes again.

"She does realize that you only use those in text messages right…?" the Emperor said to no one then sighed, adding match-make Natsume and Mikan-chan in his flooded to-do list.

Ah, the things he does for love.

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

Mikan muttered random curses as she threw the frilly scraps of clothing from her nightmare closet. After everything that happened, she expected her wardrobe to be the least of her problems in which she was proven wrong. Very wrong indeed.

How could she forget that her luggages magically disappeared last night leaving her to wear those lacy PJs? And to think that she spent the night sleeping with…him.

Oh that horrible experience.

And now her mother-in-law wants a grandchild. Great, just great, she thought. And to think that she wanted to marry at 26 with a simple man in a small cottage near the beach with two kids and four dogs. When did her life go so wrong? Thanks to her mom now she's marrying a not-so-simple man at the age of 16 in a grand palace with an expected heir to the throne with no pets at all.

The brunette sighed, gave up torturing what's supposed to be her clothes and plucked a random dress out of all the racks of frills and laces. It looked surprisingly good on her, she thought. The green layers of the dress went well with her chocolate tresses that for a moment Mikan actually though she was cute. That was her cue to slap herself; physically.

Mikan + Dress = cute? There must be something seriously wrong with that.

Knock Knock

"Ah, really…" Mikan sighed. "I thought I already told them that I can dress up myself?" she muttered as she rushed for the door. Her ladies-in-waiting insisted on dolling her up themselves moments ago as if she couldn't do it herself.

"I told you, Chiaki-san, I can do it—" Mikan stared at the person in front of her.

"Since when did I change my name to Chiaki, idiot." Hotaru gazed at her icily then entered the room without further ado. Mikan swallowed hard. So she must really be mad at her for not making a phone call huh? Well it's not her fault that her stomach wanted to pop and that imaginary ghosts were chasing her that she wasn't able to scream her lungs out over the phone last night.

Besides, it's not as if the reason why she wasn't able to call her is the fact that she spent the night with the idiot prince. Of course not! Why is she even thinking of it? Mikan shook her head a couple of times.

"…Mikan-chan?" The brunette stared at Misaki-san, the same pink-haired girl from before. Who was she again…? Oh, that's right, Mikan remembered, she's the lucky girlfriend of Tsubasa. How come she gets to get the kind prince while she gets the demon prince?

"Idiot, won't you let them in?" a cold voice said behind her.

"O-oh! That's right…please go in!" Mikan said rather too enthusiastically.

"M-me too?" a small voice said from behind Misaki where the brunette saw a mini female version of Natsume staring innocently back at her.

Whoa, wait what? Natsume and innocent? Are those two words even possible to exist in one sentence together? Well she just thought of it didn't she? Besides, Aoi-chan and Natsume are completely different although she cannot deny that the former baloney was in fact the fault of the little adorable brat. Well, what can she say? Mikan was totally smitten by the cute little princess.

"Hmm? Yep, of course you too. Come on in,"

"…"

"Whoa. Is it just me or did you wardrobe suddenly explode?" Mikan, flustered started picking up the scraps of clothing scattered on the floor while digging her brain for possible logical explanations for her raiding of her wardrobe and so far, she got nothing.

"I…um…well…" Mikan muttered under her breath, "Sorry for the mess, I was looking for my clothes. They're sort of missing…"

"Missing? You look great in your dress"

"Yeah, she looks better than a honking pig now"

"Really?"

"Yeah, now you look like a peacock"

"Hey, that's a first for you Hotaru! I never heard you compliment me before, oh I'm so proud of you" Mikan feigned tears.

"Just so you know, peacocks are male"

"Did you just call me gay? Anyway," The brunette felt her cheeks flare. "T-thanks for the compliment…Oh! But it's not my dress; I have no idea whose it is. My closet's now bursting with laces ad frills. And I don't wear laces and frills." she collapsed on her couch as she complained.

"Ah, that's not the point here Mikan-chan!" Misaki blushed happily, purposely nearing Mikan. "So…it's safe to tell me now, how was it?"

The brunette stared at her, oblivious of whatever she was yakking about. "How was what?"

"Onee-chan, I think Misa-nee is talking about …" Aoi blushed, the same color as her eyes then covered her delicate face with both her hands, "Oh no, I shouldn't poke my nose into adult's business…"

"Aoi-chan…what are you talking about?"

"Your night with Hyuga, idiot. How was it?" she heard her best friend say, her purple orbs sparkling in amusement although not even a muscle in her face moved a bit. "A boy and a girl in one comfortable bed, you can't tell me that absolutely nothing happened. Your brain might be empty," the black-haired girl traced a finger from Mikan's head to her chest, "But your heart might not be."

Mikan felt her heart contract painfully, a sensation almost close to nervousness. "W-what…" her mouth twitched. She was about to deny when a memory projected itself in her brain: Natsume pinning her against the door and them almost kissing.

Well, almost…but never kissed. That must account for nothing right? Besides, that circumstance didn't happen on a bed. Therefore, the brunette thought, she can guiltlessly proclaim that absolutely nothing tainted her purity. If God only knows that she'd rather attend a convent and be single forever than to stay here in that Palace being tortured endlessly.

"What are you talking about, Hotaru? Nothing happened" Mikan laughed forcefully as she slapped her best buddy's arm friendly "Absolutely nothing. I promise," she grinned.

"Huh. Let's pretend I'm dumb and I believe you"

"Ehhh, well that's boring, not even a kiss?" Misaki asked incredulously.

"CERTAINLY NOT A KISS!" a sweat trickled down her cheek. Well it sure is hot here…

Hotaru narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Something's off with you…you're hiding something"

"I-'m not!"

"You were hugging"

"WHAT?"

"A while ago, when I saw you. You were cuddling each other, all lovey-dovey and stuff" Aoi stated as a matter-of-factly as dread made its way through Mikan's pit. So that was their poses before they woke up, no wonder she felt suffocated.

"No! That's nothing!"

"I'd love to hear all about that 'other stuff' they did Aoi-chan, tell me all about it" Hotaru smirked.

"Me too! Me too!"

"N-no! That's nothing, really!" Mikan screamed desperately.

"Fine, whatever. Just make sure you solve that breakfast problem you made. I lived for 16 years in the Palace and never was I deprived of breakfast, dummy. My parents didn't raise me to starve."

The brunette was about to retort when a loud knock interrupted her. There by the door stood the old butler, a white cloth hung by his right arm, bowing 90 degrees to the royalties.

"Mikan-chan-sama, the Emperor wishes to speak with you"

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

The first thing that the brunette remarked about the Emperor was that he was normal; He was perfectly normal – which was almost relief for Mikan seeing as how normal human beings seem so endangered in her life. Actually, she half-expected him to be as eccentric as his wife or even as rude and jerk-ish as Natsume, in fact she expected him to be a couple more things but he just turned out to be as ordinary as toasted bread in a toaster.

But then again she has no idea how Emperors should be seeing as how two days ago she thought they only exist in flimsy fairytale books. Natsume's dad has the same raven-hair however, in his case, streaks of silver were randomly distributed through his scalp and instead of crimson eyes, his were onyx black in color.

Mikan held the cup firmly; savoring the aroma of the newly brewed Earl Grey tea then finally took a sip. Ioran Hyuga smiled at her kindly, lines of wrinkles making their way.

"How do you find the tea, Mikan-san?" he asked not unkindly.

The brunette smiled at him nervously. Despite his ordinary appearance, there still seems to be the air of royalty and high-class upbringing around him which makes everything just plain awkward.

"O-oh, it was delicious" Besides, she's pretty sure that she was not called by the head of the state just to discuss about tea. Which drags her back to the main point: why the heck was she called by the Emperor?

She took another good sip.

"Anyway, I heard about what happened last night" the older man said too casually that Mikan almost spit the hot tea extract in her mouth but held it in and instead choked herself. "Oh my, do you need some water?" the Emperor offered in concern.

"Cough! N—cough – No, I'm a—cough—alright, your majesty. Cough - Don't worry" she waved a hand as she covered her mouth, thanking heavens she remembered to bring a handkerchief. "A-anyway, whatever you heard – it was absolutely NOT TRUE"

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, Mikan-san" he smiled. Does he ever not smile?, the brunette asked herself.

"No, really absolutely no – wait, you are?"

"Which brings us to the main point!" he exclaimed brightly, "Since as you said, you did absolutely nothing and we can't expect a baby to suddenly show itself in your womb, well that is unless you are the next Virgin Mary then we will need to take the next measures to make sure a next heir would be produced."

Mikan blinked in astonishment. "Sir, I'd just like to remind you, I'm only sixteen and Natsume's only seventeen. Pre-marital sex is a very immoral thing to commit in."

"I'm well aware of that, Mikan-san. About the pre-marital sex, I believe you are already engaged to each other so you won't encounter any problems about that matter whatsoever" he flashed a smile.

"B-but! Sir, don't you believe in Love?" Mikan knows she's being cheesy now and it's making her gag actually but who cares? She's willing to throw corny punch lines as long as she saves her purity and it's half-true anyway. Her parents married because of love as well as her grandparents and her grandparents' parents and their parents and the parents of their parents and the – okay, so much for elaborating but you get the point right? No? Okay, nevermind.

"Which brings us to the main point! – again"

"No, no, no and no! Sir, you don't understand! I don't want to do anything –well except maybe stab him to death – with someone I don't love!" Mikan retorted with respect, forgetting the cooling tea on her hand.

"You'd stab a person you don't know?"

"What? No sir. Besides, how can you just choose a random person such as me to be the next Empress? Surely, there are more deserving people out there, and, what if! Just what if I turned out to be a gold-digger, surely you won't want that"

"No, of course not. But didn't I tell you? You will just stay here temporarily for 30 days to see if you are fit to be the wife of the Emperor and if you aren't well, even though it's quite troublesome and hopefully no such thing would occur, we'd have to let Natsume choose another girl" The emperor calmly replied.

"W-what if we don't turn out to be compatible? I mean, at the rate I and Natsume are going now, sooner or later one of us would flay the other and make gut soup with his/her innards"

Ioran winced at the reply. "Which brings us to the main point for this meeting - and I would appreciate it if you don't interrupt me this time. Seeing as how you and Natsume have such relationship which really, isn't bad at all; in fact, better than nothing at all, I and Ka-chan decided that you should transfer to Royal Sakura Academy" the older man smiled hopefully – which doesn't make any sense at all.

How does transferring to a new school affect her relationship with Natsume?

"Oh my – oh my gosh"

No way, NO WAY AM I TRANSFERRING TO NATSUME'S SCHOOL!

~(*o*)~(*o*)~(*o*)~

Sooo…how was it? ):

I thought it was pretty boring but..maybe not. Please review, I'd gladly know what you think about it! I'll appreciate it, really. ):

Did you like it? I hope you did but please tell me if you didn't so that I can do something about it. ^^ Okay?

REVIEW! PLEASE~? REVIEW~

Love you all!