Chapter 3

Disclaimer: One day, I found a cat on the sidewalk. I stare at it stupidly. Then I got an evil idea…

Me: God, if this cat blinks in 1 minute, then I own Gakuen Alice.

So me and the cat stare at each other…

After 30 seconds, it still hasn't blinked.

A whole minute passes. The cat just stared at me, not batting an eyelash.

Now, if you've ever been in a staring contest, you'll know how hard it is to not blink for 1 minute.

Me (frustrated): Why won't you let me own Gakuen Alice! Why God, why! I then stomp off to school. So, ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you that I don't own Gakuen Alice and never will.

A/N: ... Don't really have anything to say, but please read and enjoy!

Before the Gakuen Alice freshmen was a paradise, complete with crystal blue lakes and pristine white sand. It was filled with lots of young people, but not crowded.

"Kyaa!" A lot of the girls squealed. Everybody was awestruck by the awesome-ness of this place. (I know awesome-ness is a weird word, but I couldn't resist! XD)

Everyone swished around to tower over Narumi with a let-us-go-and-rampage-this-place-now-or-you-will-be-punished look. N-sensei cowered and turned to Misaki for help. M-sensei, however, was also cowering. "Ahem… we will… umm…." The students leaned in, "Go now! See ya! Bye!" M-sensei then turned and ran away.

That was all the inspiration the teenagers needed. "WOO!" all of them ran for the beach.

"Let's go Natsume!" Mikan cheered and half-dragged an unwilling Natsume to a big beach umbrella. It was right by a palm tree, so the shade extends quite a bit. "Hmm… this seems like a good spot. What do you think Natsume?"

"Hn. It's good enough." Mikan pouted and he smirked. "Let's get the stupid towels set down now."

Mikan cheered up immediately. "Yeah!" She started going through her bag, while Natsume just sat there with his legs crossed.

She found her towel and spread it out on the soft sand. Once she finished, she looked up at him, about to speak, and stared. He caught her gaze. "What?"

She just grinned and started going through her bag. "Wait a sec. I got just what you need…" He cocked an eyebrow. "THERE!" Mikan pulled out another beach towel. It was a solid black.

She tossed it to him. Natsume caught it with no problem. "What's this Polka?"

MIkan only grinned. "That's for you Natsume!" He only stared, causing Mikan's grin to widen. "You see, I just knew you wouldn't bring a towel, saying you don't need one. That's why I brought one for you. It's very uncomfortable sitting on hot sand."

"Actually, you didn't need to do that." Mikan whirled around to the voice. It belonged to Hotaru, with Ruka right behind her.

"Hota-"

"If you don't mind, we'll be sharing this space with you." Hotaru didn't wait for an answer and started setting up her space.

Mikan gave one anyway. "Course we don't mind. Right Natsume?" The raven-haired boy didn't do anything, so Mikan took it as a yes. She smiled at Ruka and Hotaru.

Hotaru completely ignored this and continued setting up. "Anyway, like I was saying, I brought beach chairs so you don't need those towels."

"Really?" Mikan looked around with sparkling eyes. "Where are they?"

"Idiot. They're right here." Hotaru took out of her bag 2 little boxes. She put both of them down and pressed some buttons on a remote control. The boxes shook and burst open. They unfolded into 2 beach chairs and with a thud, settled on the sand.

Hotaru smirked, "Complete success." Mikan gaped with sparkly eyes. Ruka's jaw dropped and his eyes took on a horrified expression. Natsume just looked disgusted and horrified.

"Wow!" Mikan cheered and jumped onto a chair. It was really wide and could seat two people comfortably. She giggled.

Hotaru ignored her best friend and spread out a towel onto the other chair. The boys didn't know what to do and just stared at Imai, waiting for instructions. She noticed their stares and said in a bored voice, "Oh and I only have two so you'll have to share. Besides, those chairs were made for 2 people each." The two boys were still. Hotaru sighed as if she was teaching stupid children. "This means that since I don't want to be miserable, Hyuuga is with Mikan." She glared at Natsume with the so-get-over-there-stupid look.

Natsume sighed and turned to Mikan. She had spread her towel, instead of on the sand, on the chair. She is now lounging peacefully with her eyes closed. He plopped himself beside her on the beach chair.

Her eyes fluttered open lazily. "Oh. It's you Natsume." Suddenly, her eyelids flew open, revealing wide sparkling eyes. "NATSUME!" she turned to him, grinning like a chesire cat. "Let's go swimming!"

He didn't know why, but a pang of fear followed that phrase. Natusme shuddered, but replied "Fine Polka, let's go."

"Waaiii!" Mikan cheered and she immediately tore her top of.

Natsume turned red and immediately hid his face with his hand. "Geez woman! Have some self-respect!"

Mikan only humphed and and took off her shorts as well. Natsume stared, entranced.

"What are you looking at Natsume?" He started. Mikan was in front of him, her face just millimetres away.

He quickly recovered and put his poker face back on. "Nothing, Mikan. Let's go before I change my mind." he said in a gruff voice.

Mikan beamed. "Yeah! Let's go." She turned to Hotaru and asked hopefully, "Wanna come too Hotaru-chan?"

Hotaru just smirked and said, "Have fun with Hyuuga Mikan. Don't get caught by the big bad wolves lurking around the area." Mikan's expression turned to disbelief and fear. Hotaru continued lightly, "No worries though. I'm sure Hyuuga will come through and protect you. Good night now." She then leaned back and pulled a hat over her face, an obvious dismissal.

Mikan, frozen with fear by the "big, bad, wolves", is dragged away by Natsume.

After 10.4 seconds, not like Nat-chan was counting or anything, Mikan unfroze and turned to him with wide eyes. "Natsume! I didn't know there are wolves around here! Holy crap! What if I get eaten, or-"

"There aren't any wolves around here stupid. Besides, no fucking wolf will come near if I'm here, so don't worry so much-"

Natsume suddenly noticed the whispers and squeals around them. He lifted his eyes from Mikan and scanned the area. Sure enough, there are fan-girls and boys everywhere. In fact, almost everybody on the beach within the ages of 13-20 is checking Mikan and him out.

Natsume sighed. "I take back what I said about there not being dirty wolves around here." Mikan's fearful expression came back.

Natsume ignored this best he could (not very well at all) and looked more carefully at the crowd. He noticed something odd. Most people looking at them had a disappointed frown on their face.

Realization hit him. They are frowning because they think me and Mikan are in a relationship and they can't hit on us!

Hmm…interesting. He smirked. "Polka, there's no need to worry. I have a way to keep them off of you…..and me."

"Really?"

"Yes, really" he rolled his eyes.

Her eyes were shining. "What is it Natsume? Tell me!"

"Pretend that we're dating."

She froze and he watched her carefully. Slowly, she unfroze and put a finger to her chin, in deep thought. After some thinking, she actually seemed fine with the idea. This confused him.

"Hm. I thought you would be running around screaming like a mad-woman by now. What magic spell has finally gotten you to calm down?"

"Ne, Natsume…" he waited, tapping his foot unpatiently. She slowly began again, "People say we act like a couple right?" he thought back to those occasions and nodded. "Then…doesn't that mean we should just act like…umm…we always have?"

He thought about that for a bit.

She's right, he thought, we do act like a couple. This fact pleased him a lot, not that he was going to admit it, but still.

"Hn. I guess you're right." He paused, "Just don't be surprised though if I touch you somewhere you're not used to. It's part of the couple thing." She nodded furiously and he smirked, satisfied.

"So we won't be having any problems with wolves right?" Natsume rolled his eyes but nodded anyway. Mikan grinned. "What are we waithing for? Let's go!" She took his hand and dragged him along to the ocean.

Natsume's POV

As Mikan dragged me to the water, I glared at every staring boy I passed. I swear! They're probably undressing her with their eyes. Ughh!

I wanted to say, "Back off assholes. She's mine!", but that wasn't particularly true. As much as it annoys me, I know I'll have to confess to her before we can officially date. I shudder.

I've never had to confess to a girl before. A dense one too. She'll probably need to hear the exact words "I love you" before she'll get it through that thick head of hers. Urgh…

There is suddenly coolness around my legs. I look down. We're in the ocean already? That sure was fast… We continued walking deeper in.

"Hey Natsume!" I look around.

Splash!

I wipe the salty water off my face, spitting some of the disgusting stuff out. Some freaking person had decided to splash water at me! That bastard!

I look up, glaring at the damn person who I'm about to kill. I'm greeted with the grinning face of a brunette beauty.

All my anger disappeared, just like that. God, I'm letting this girl mess with my head waay too much…

Oh my god! Natsume's expression is priceless! Haha… Who knew he could be so annoyed at a few drops of water! Haha.. Mikan Sakura, the culprit, went on laughing.

He glared at her with a weary expression that just failed to show anger. "Stop laughing right now or I swear I'll burn all your undergarments once we get back."

That only made her laugh harder. Mikan clutched her stomach, laughing like a lunatic. Eventually, her knees gave out and she splashed into the ocean, still giggling underwater. Natsume, watching all this with a tired expression, gave a sigh before he plucked the drowning and giggling girl out of the water.

Almost everyone, including the Alice students, was staring now.

The sight was hilarious. Mikan coughed up water, still laughing and flailing about and Natsume, who held her by one arm, completely drenched, with an expression that seemed to get more annoyed by the second.

Eventually, Mikan stopped laughing. She looked at Natsume, and started once more.

His face was drenched, his hair glued to his face. He had closed his eyes and they were twitching uncontrollably. One look at that put Mikan in hysterics again.

This continued for quite a long time. Finally, Natsume burst, shouting "Will you shut it woman!" and dropped her into the water.

Mikan's survival instincts reacted and she stopped laughing. Her head popped out of the ocean and she gasped for air.

She gaped at Natsume, who had a satisfied smirk on his lips. "You DARE!"

"Yes woman, I do." He grinned at her, something you don't see everyday.

Her expression turned evil. Her eyes narrowed and she gave an evil smirk, a perfect little devil. "Well then, I guess you'll get to see what happens to the people who dare."

She pounced, cat-woman style, onto a surprised Natsume, sending both of them underwater.

They wrestled. Natsume had grabbed onto Mikan's wrists. She struggled and tried to gain an advantage on him by locking his legs. This started a fierce kicking battle. Eventually, his grip slackened (because he was paying attention to the kick battle and not hurting her too much) and she wriggled free. She kicked and sent herself whirling behind Natsume. She reached out her arms, as if to hug him from behind, and put a startled Natsume in a headlock. He caught her hands and flipped her over him with ease. Then, he locked her hands behind her, holding her captive.

Mikan was now facing Natsume, their faces centimetres away, and with her completely defenceless. They both stopped, startled by the unexpected situation.

His crimson eyes bore into her amber ones. Suddenly, he was nearing towards her.

Natsume only paused for a bit to gauge her reaction. It was surprised. No, more like shocked. But there was no disgust or horror in it. He smiled to himself and leaned foreward.

He kissed her. It was gentle, just a simple peck really. They were both out of air by then and the kiss only lasted a few seconds. Even so, it left Mikan dizzy and breathless.

They're heads surfaced and they both gasped for air.

"Mikan…" Natsume leaned in, lips to her ear, and said "You win."

Mikan was utterly confused by this. He just kissed her and the only thing he's worried about is who won their little wrestling match? She frowned. Did that mean it didn't really mean much to him?

He, leaning back, caught her frown. He smirked. "Wanna know why?"

She thought for a bit. She didn't really want to know, but she couldn't think of anything else normal enough to say right now… She nodded.

Natsume, smirk still glued on his face, leaned in again and whispered "Because I love you."

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again. He forced them underwater, away from prying eyes…

Another place…

"Hey! Hotaru, Ruka, have you seen Natsume-sama?"

"No, but he's probably with Mikan."

"People on this beach are talking about this hot couple who sounds exactly like them. What did Mikan do to seduce my precious prince?"

"They're probably pretending to be a couple for fan-base reasons."

"ARR! I'll get her once she gets back."

"I doubt she'll come back."

"WHAT!"

"Those two will probably elope together."

"Ahh! Emergency! Send out a search party someone!"

Runs Away.

"Umm... Why did you tell her that Imai?"

"I guess you'll never know."

Natsume's POV

"Natsume?"

"Hmm?"

"Won't they be…umm…looking for us now?"

She sounded nervous. That can't be a good sign. I leaned back, off of her, and searched her face. It's pink, probably from embarrassment.

I sighed. Might as well save her from her humiliation. I shouldn't have done that before she answered. But, what do they say again? Something like greater later than never. Doesn't matter. Either way, I should stop now.

"Yeah, they probably will. We should get back now. It's almost time to go."

She nodded gratefully and followed me back to the beach…

2 hour later, on the bus ride home…

Mikan had fallen asleep again and, once again, fallen onto Natsume's shoulder. He was looking away, trying not to think about it, when she spoke.

"Natsume." She whispered his name, making sure no one else could hear. His head snapped around to face her. Her eyes were still closed, pretending to be sleeping. "Turn back around and pretend you hear nothing. Please."

He did so grudgingly. "What is it." he mumbled.

"Lean down." He leaned back a bit, head still turned away from her.

He heard her gulp and wondered what the hell was she gonna tell him. "I…" she was still pretending to be asleep. "I love you." she mumbled that last line, making it hard for even him, who was millimetres away, to hear.

Natsume's eyes widened. Everything seemed frozen in time for the two.

Finally, he mumbled back, "Well, at least we're certain you have great taste."

She froze, then started giggling uncontrollably and hid her face in his shoulder. He cracked a small smile. Yup, they were gonna be just fine.

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long! So sorry! I know I said I would update a week before this, and I did start it a week before, but I got so busy! Sorry again. I'll never do it again!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story! Please drop a review too. Thx for reading my crappy work! XD