Chapter 22: Only some fairy tales end with "Happily Ever After"

It's Saturday.

Today is the last day I'm ever going to get together with Natsume like this. After that, things will be the way it all started again or maybe… the high school will be quieter in the mornings and during break times. The feeling that someone was tugging your heart strings pained me as I was thinking about the whole thing.

I'll miss Satoshi, I'll miss my designing team, the 14th floor, the building, that large office but most of all…I hate to say this but I'll miss the times when Natsume and I would go to the fashion house together.

I'm admitting it already,

Yes, I'll definitely miss him.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I was surprised to see Hotaru calling.

"Hotaru!" I greeted.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" she said. "You left almost a hundred messages and voice mail messages in my phone. You almost destroyed it!"

I sweat-dropped. "Sorry, Hotaru. But I couldn't sleep until you replied…but you still didn't answer."

"You yelled at me, idiot." She reminded.

"I know. I was a dummy for doing that to my best friend. I'm really sorry." I apologized.

"Fine then."

"Oh, are you going to the party tonight?" I asked her.

"I don't know, maybe."

"Hotaru! Come on, I need you there! Besides, Ruka's coming along and he needs someone to be with while I'm hosting with Natsume."

Hotaru quieted down for a few seconds.

"Hotaru? Are you there???" I asked.

"Alright, I'll go but only cause I can take photos of celebrities. I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of masquerade fairy-tale inspired events, you know that."

"I'm sure you'll have fun with Ruka anyway." I said.

"Whatever." She said and hung up.

I plopped down on my bed and stared at the invitation for a few minutes:

Kings and Queens,

Prince and Princesses,

We invite you to grace our fairy-tale masquerade fashion show ball

Sponsored by the Sakura- Flames joint company

Hosted by none-other than

Sakura Princess, Mikan Sakura

And

Flames Prince, Natsume Hyuuga

7:30 pm sharp at the Tokyo Plaza High End Ballroom.

"I can't believe my dad made these invitations…he's such a cheese ball. Honestly, "we in invite you to grace???" " I said to myself as I chuckled.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed in Ruka's number. "Hey Ruka." I greeted.

"Mikan." He answered.

"You're coming later, right?"

"Of course, Natsume asked me to come along to so I can't refuse."

"Oh…I see. Hotaru's coming along too. You guys should be dates." I suggested ecstatically.

"Wh-what? Dates?" he stammered.

"Yeah. Well, I'll see you later then." I said and hung up.

Ruka hung up as well and threw his cell phone on the bed. "That was Mikan." He said. Natsume was on the couch, reading a manga. "Aren't you going to let her know?"

"No." he replied flatly.

Ruka was surprised with his best friend's answer. "Why not?!"

"Because she's just going to say "Like what you said Natsume, get out of my face" ."

Ruka smacked Natsume's head for the first time. "What's your problem, Ruka?" Natsume said being irritated.

"I know you're one of the school's toughest guys, but sometimes, you can be a real coward." Ruka replied.

"And why is that?"

Ruka shook his head. "Because you can't even muster up an ounce of courage just to tell her "Mikan, I like you a lot." " he said dramatically.

Natsume didn't have anything to say. Ruka just plopped down the couch opposite to Natsume. "Do you realize that after today, she's not going to be together with you like before? Pulling you to places, making you chase after her for being troublesome and giving you an ice pop? She's permanently quitting because of YOU."

"Mikan, hair and make-up already." My mom reminded.

"Hai." I replied as I zipped up my white tubed top ball gown with lace trimmings. I tied the huge ribbon at the back and then wore a long silver necklace with the pendant of a heart. I wore my white strappy heels and went in to get my hair curled into little ringlets and get made-up with light make-up.

At around 6:45 pm, my dad's limo was there to pick us up. My mom and I hopped on and headed for Tokyo Plaza.

Stepping in the High End ballroom of Tokyo Plaza made me feel sad. I remember the time when Natsume and I were looking for this place. I was running around being thrilled and he was saying things to stop me.

"Little Miss, you're wanted back stage for sound check and some other technical stuff." A voice said as my shoulder was tapped.

I turned and saw Satoshi. I immediately jumped to hug him. "SATOSHIIIIIIIIII!!! It's been so long since I've last seen you."

"Technically, it's only been a few days." He reminded as he chuckled.

"Really?" I replied as I let go of him. "It felt like months since I'm not use to not seeing you everyday."

"It's going to feel more than months, it's going to BE forever if you quit the fashion house." He said sadly.

I didn't know what to say. I just placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

Backstage, I saw Hotaru talking with the technical committee. She looked beautiful wearing a yellow ball gown, inspired by the gown Belle wore in Beauty and the Beast.

"You loons, if you use this type of wires, the sound is going to sound like it came from a tin can later on." I heard her say.

I sweat-dropped. "Hotaru!" I greeted.

She turned around to greet me as she threw the wiring to the sound crew behind her. "Oh hey Mikan."

"You look so pretty, Hotaru!" I squealed.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be wearing a tiara?" she pointed out.

"Tiara?" I questioned.

"Satoshi told me earlier that you're going to wear a tiara. Wait… I think it's in the dressing room." She replied.

"A TIARA?! WOW!" I was thrilled. "Well, Hotaru, help me put on the tiara!" I said as I pulled her to the dressing room.

As Hotaru as fixing my hair, she suddenly asked "You're sure about quitting?"

"Of course." I replied.

"Things will be back to before, as if nothing happened. Actually, maybe even far from before, things will be totally different in school."

She finally pinned the tiara to my hair. A second later, I found myself crying. I grabbed Hotaru by the waist and hugged her. "I…I don't want things to be different. I want it to be like before…like when Natsume would get mad at me and I would yell at him. Like when I would complain and he would smack my head. When he would pull me out of the sticky situations, when I'd drag him to unknown places."

"Then why quit?" Hotaru asked.

"Because he hates me, but Hotaru…" I replied.

It took me a while to make the words come out of my mouth. "I don't hate Natsume, Hotaru. You're right, I like him a lot. I like him too much already."

When it was already 7:15 pm, a stage crew knocked on the door and called us. He told us to get ready because we need to be ready on stage for the opening of the curtain.

Hotaru stepped out of the room and I followed her. I saw Ruka back stage with Natsume. It was hard enough for me to smile at Ruka because he was beside Natsume.

"God, Mikan." Ruka gasped.

"Wh-what?" I asked nervously.

"You're gorgeous, just like a real princess." He replied.

I just smiled at him and said "Thanks."

"Alright, everyone who's not in the opening please get off the stage. Mikan and Natsume, please be familiar with the stage." The stage director instructed.

When Hotaru and Ruka left, I looked at Natsume for a few seconds without saying anything. Afterwards, I walked around, hoping to stay away from him as possible. "Ladeedadeeda" I chanted over and over again to get the tension off of me.

The fifteen minutes seemed to be longer, like an hour. As I walked around the backstage, I couldn't help but bump into Natsume every so often since he was walking around too. I ignored him and then carried on.

"Seven minutes." The stage manager reminded.

I twirled around to get the nervousness off me and then bumped into Natsume again.

"Watch it, idiot!" he said.

I got pissed. "I'm not an idiot, you moron!" I yelled back.

Ohmygod, this is just like before.

"Just…watch it. And stop twirling around." He said, cooling down.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You aren't even going to say sorry?" I asked him.

"Why would I?"

"For a million reasons, Natsume!" I began to be furious. "For bumping me right now, for yelling at me, for saying mean things to me in school the other day, for completely ignoring me!" I practically yelled.

He remained silent as I continued on blabbering. "Ugh. You make me so angry, Natsume! I'm glad that I'm leaving Sakura fashion because I don't want to be your business partner!"

"Two minutes" the stage manager reminded.

"I don't want to be near you, I don't want to see you everyday, I don't want you to bring me home at times. I don't want to remember all the times I've been with you because I honestly liked them. I liked them a lot Natsume, I liked them and I've grown to like you too."

"One minute" we were reminded again.

I clenched my fists as I tried to stop myself from crying. "It's hard enough for me to keep on bumping into you and be this close to you without feeling anything funny BECAUSE I DO FEEL SOMETHING, NATSUME. I feel that I've---"

I felt his cold hands grab my shoulders and his warm lips against my lips. I closed my eyes as his kiss made me feel like I was walking on light fluffy clouds without falling. Then, I heard a crowd applauding, the curtain was already up. I opened my eyes and the only thing my eyes could see at that moment was Natsume's face, as he said "I love you."

After I heard those words, he whispered into my ear, "I tried to hate you because I knew you loved Ruka, but I guess I just ended up falling even more in love with you."

"Oh so that's why he got so mad at me the other day." I thought to myself.

"And now we present the fashion houses' prince and princess, Prince Natsume Hyuuga and Princess Mikan Sakura!" a voice over introduced.

For the first time in the span of 7-9 days, I smiled for real. "You're an idiot you know that?" I joked.

He just smiled at me, and looking at him smile felt so much like a blessing.

"…But I still like you." I added.

I grabbed the microphone and began my spiel.

"Kings and Queens, Prince and Princesses, welcome to the fashion show ball of the Sakura- Flames joint company. I'm your princess, Mikan Sakura and this is my Prince, Flames fashion house owner, Natsume Hyuuga!"

The crowd applauded as I entwined Natsume's hand with mine.

You know what?

I think our lives are like a compilation of different books.

For me

There's Comedy,

Especially when funny things happen to me and Hotaru.

Romance,

When Ruka and I were going out and when Natsume kissed me on the cheek before.

And Mystery,

When Natsume got mad at me all of a sudden.

Then there's the Classics---fairy tales to be exact.

I think meeting Natsume at the masquerade ball was sorta like a fairytale, don't you think so?

And you know what I love most about the fairy tales?

There's always a happy ending.

"Hey Hotaru…do you… want to dance?" Ruka asked the stoic girl.

Hotaru raised an eyebrow at him. "Not in a million years."

"B-b-b-but Hotaru!!!" he sighed.

Oh don't worry, fairy tales also have a part two: ))

fin. :)

Author's note: There you have it. The last chapter of "Little Miss Mikan", everyone. I hope I did not disappoint you, readers. Thank you to those who supported this story from the first chapter until right now, chapter 22. I'm so glad a lot of you liked the flow of the story and I hope you liked the ending as well. I tried my best.

I have a new story under Gakuen Alice in the works right now. It's not ready to come out yet, but it will be published here soon. If you are interested in reading it in the future, just alert me as an author. 'Til next time dear readers!

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