Mikan X

A collection of stories on pairings between Mikan and random people.

Most stories will be AU—if not, I'll say. :)

Ch. 1: Mikan x Koko. 'Cause he can't help but wonder how much flour is needed to feed this particular girl.

I know this isn't the desired pair—not even close, considering that they both have someone else that they're meant to be with. But every time I read a fanfic about a close friendship between Koko and Mikan, I can't help but think about what it'd be like if they were actually together. And, to be honest, Koko is absolutely my favourite character. Enjoy! :)

It's my first time writing in present tense, added to the fact that this is my very first fanfic, so don't kill me!

What they have in common: they are both hilariously idiotic and childish, but they are very good at making others smile.

Mikan Sakura and Kokoro Yome

The boy walks into the café with his skateboard and helmet tucked under his arms. He blinks as he strolls up to the counter—the décor just blows his mind. When they first moved to this small town in the beginning of summer, his mother had told him that this place was breathtaking. He didn't believe her.

But the Cardinal Café was a complete haven, scents of freshly baked pastries included. It may be extremely girly and cute, but he can't help but smile at the obvious effort put in to make it look the way it did.

He looks through the glass case in front, which displays the largest selection of sweets he had ever seen before. Maybe he'll take a table and stay, taste testing each and every one of the mouthwatering desserts—his mother had certainly given him enough money to do so.

Yes, he thinks he will.

A waitress about sixteen years old comes to his table to give him a menu and read off specials. The boy barely looks up at her as he scans the embroidered sheets—he's only eight. Beautiful women didn't appeal to him yet.

He thought.

The door rings as it's thrown open, and a cheerful voice exclaims, "Morning, everyone!" Maybe he wouldn't have looked up if the entire shop didn't echo her greeting.

"Good morning, Mikan-chan," his red-haired waitress turns to greet her.

Her eyes are bright as she flashes a smile at the teen and says, "Hi, Misaki-senpai! Is everything okay today?"

The woman, Misaki, grins. "It's all good, Mikan-chan. Narumi sends his regards though—we're all grateful for your help with a delivery last Sunday. Couldn't have done it without you!"

"No problem!" the little girl assures.

The boy watches Mikan curiously as she skips up to the counter greet all of the other workers. Her auburn hair bounces in its pigtails, and her hazel eyes are warm and sweet, holding the innocence of a young child's. Everyone in the café seems to know her, as they smile when she passes them. She interests him, that's for sure.

"Hey," he says to his waitress, gesturing to the front of the room, "who is that girl?"

"Her?" Misaki glances back to where Mikan is chatting happily about with one patissier who had a small star tattoo under his one eye. Looking between the two kids, she grins wider, a mischievous glint coming into her features. "Oh, that's Mikan Sakura. She's a regular here, eight years old, but comes in every day. We all love her."

He doesn't notice the woman's emphasis on the one word.

"And who are you? I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"I'm new," he answers passively, still watching the girl.

Then, startling him, Misaki calls out to the front of the room, "Hey, Mikan-chan! There's a new kid here, about your age. Why don't you say hello?"

The boy's head snaps around to look at the teenager, horrified, but she just winks at him and steps back as the girl in question comes to a stop in front of his table.

"Hi!" she chirps, voice high and bright. "I'm Mikan Sakura. What's your name?"

He blushes at her straightforwardness as he stutters, "K-Kokoro Yome."

"Kokoro, hm? Can I call you Koko?" she asks him.

Dirty blond hair falls into his eyes as he looks down. "S-sure."

"Okay!" The girl smiles and brings her face down so he can look at her. "And you can call me Mikan!"

"S-sure," he says again.

Mikan giggles. "You're shy! You shouldn't be, y'know. Everyone here is really nice. We're all like a family."

Koko looks up only to find her bright face inches away from his red one. "That's n-nice."

"It is!" she agrees. "But don't worry! You can easily become a part of it, too. All you have to do is challenge someone here to an eating contest, and tada!" She throws her hands up in the air. "You're in."

Abruptly, he pushes his chair back and stands back. "I gotta go." Then he runs out the door as fast as he can while putting on his skateboarding helmet so as soon as he was out of the café, he plops his board down and skates away.

Mikan blinks as he rounds the corner the same time Misaki bursts out laughing, "My God, I love that kid!"

And then the little in girl in the pigtails smiles. "He can skateboard. That's so cool."

Which causes everyone else in the shop to join Misaki's chorus of laughter.

~MK~

Koko stands in front of the Cardinal Café and gulps. The day before, he had thoroughly embarrassed himself by running out without even buying anything, all because a girl smiled at him. Today, he slaps both of his palms against his cheeks and says to himself, "Today I'm going to talk to her. Today I'm going to talk to her and not freak out. Today is going to be different."

Then, "Who are you talking to, Koko?"

He jumps three feet in the air at the sound of her voice, and turns only to see her head slightly tilted to the side and her brown eyes as wide as ever. "N-no one," he answers quickly, then curses himself for freaking out in front of her again.

But Mikan just laughs. "It's okay, Koko. I always talk to myself, too. Mommy says that the best people are the ones who aren't afraid to be themselves, so you shouldn't be embarrassed." When he doesn't answer, she exclaims, "Come on! Let's go inside!" grabbing his hand to drag him along.

That only makes him blush even more. She was really warm.

After a bunch of 'hellos' and 'good mornings,' the two kids were seated at a table with menus and Misaki (having volunteered to be their server) taking their orders. Koko had shot her a look when she seated them, which only caused her to laugh as she retreated to the kitchen to give them time to think.

"So what are you getting, Koko?" Mikan asks, swinging her small legs underneath the tall chair.

"Not sure. I've never eaten here before," he answers truthfully. He figures that, taking her advice, if he was just himself around her, he'd feel more comfortable.

"Really?" Her eyes widen as she remembers, "Oh right! Why did you run out yesterday, Koko?"

Blushing, he admits, "I don't know."

"Oh. Was it me? Mommy says sometimes that I can make a lot of boys nervous when I talk to them." She looks up, thoughtful. "I guess I can be a little scary sometimes."

"No!" he disagrees immediately. He shakes his head. "You're not scary at all."

Mikan looks up and beams at him. "Thank you!"

The boy blushes again and looks quickly back to the menu.

"Hmmm… I think I'm gonna get a strawberry shortcake today again," she murmurs. Then she perks up and looks to Koko, saying, "Ooh! Are you going to make your challenge today? There are a lot of people you can probably beat. When I was six, I beat Tsubasa-senpai." She smiles proudly.

"Not today," Koko tells her. He doesn't feel like shoving a bunch of cakes down his stomach right now, not when the girl in front of him makes him feel extremely nauseous.

"Okay." Mikan nods. "Some other time, then. But when you do challenge people, you get to eat as many cakes as you want for free! I wish I could do it again…" She sighs dreamily.

Koko bursts out laughing, and she gives him a puzzled look. "It's nothing," he assures her, wiping the corners of his eyes for the moisture from laughing too hard. "It's just that you seem to be in love with cakes."

"I am," she confessed with a triumphant smile. The expression on her face just makes it impossible for him not to smile back to her.

At that moment, Misaki comes back to their table with a pleased look on her face, and Koko knows that she heard the entire conversation. Mikan doesn't seem to notice as the teenager announces, "So, what can I get for you?"

"The Wednesday usual, I guess," Mikan says.

Misaki nods and writes it down. "And for you, Koko?" she asks the boy.

"I'll take whatever she's having."

-MK-

Days pass and almost every day, Koko and Mikan would meet up at the Cardinal Café, eat a bunch of cakes, and talk a lot. He was starting to get really comfortable around her so that he was able to be his usual goofball self. Whenever he made her laugh, a bell would ring inside him that made him feel utterly proud.

He really liked being around her.

Likes.

He really likes being around her. Present tense.

Sometimes his mom asks him why he always insists on skateboarding there every morning, but he wouldn't say. He didn't even want his mom to go with him, because he was afraid that the woman would embarrass him.

No, he definitely didn't want that.

Not when it took forever for him to stop embarrassing himself.

So, just two weeks after the day they first met, Koko's eyes narrows as he sees Mikan come into the café with another guy.

She was laughing, but the boy beside her just looks bored and indifferent. His hair was a messy black, and his eyes were the strangest shade of crimson he had ever seen. When Mikan catches Koko's eye and starts walking toward him, the boy only trails slightly behind, glaring.

"Koko! Koko! You're here! That's great!" She sounds cheery, and obviously oblivious to the glaring contest taking place between the two boys. "I wanted to introduce you to my childhood friend, Natsume Hyuuga. Natsume, this is Kokoro Yome."

Natsume Hyuuga, huh? Koko hates the name.

"Hn," the boy in thought just grunts. "Why are you introducing me to this idiot?"

And, Koko adds, he hates this boy too.

"Natsume, don't be so mean!" Mikan pouts. "I wanted you two to be friends so we could all hang out together."

But neither boy looks at her. The glaring contest continues.

Then Koko remembers something at the word contest, and he states, "Him."

"What?" Everyone in the café stops what they're doing to look at the little scene the boys are making.

"I challenge him."

Gasp.

"You challenge Natsume?" Misaki suddenly appears out of nowhere to gape. "Out of all the people in the Cardinal family, you challenge Natsume?"

Koko nods. Natsume glares.

"Well," Misaki muses, "if Natsume agrees, then I guess—"

"I agree," he cuts in, not moving his eyes. "If that chicken doesn't want to back out, then—"

"I'm not backing out," Koko declares.

"Really?" Mikan asks. "Are you sure you want to do this, Koko?"

Only when he hears her voice does he turn to smile at her. "Really, Mikan. It's about time I joined the family, huh?"

She beams and throws her arms around him to give him an encouraging hug. "You were always a part of the family!"

Koko grins, and turns back to his opponent with a newfound confidence. "Ready, Natsume?"

The boy narrows his eyes and growls, "You're on."

Shouts and orders start to surround them as all the people, workers and customers alike, prepare for the first challenge in months. Their small town hardly received any new people, so it was exciting whenever one of these games took place. Everyone was in the spirit for some excitement.

In the background, two people were standing back, observing the scene with amusement in their features. Misaki nudges the teen beside her and says, "Which one are you rooting for, Tsubasa?"

The guy with the star tattoo under his one eye smirks, "I know which one you are."

She snorts. "Natsume's a good kid, but he's too cold for her. I think Koko's a better match."

"Nah, Koko is hilarious, but Natsume has known her longer. They're closer. I still go with that kid."

"He hates you, though," Misaki points out with one eyebrow raised.

Tsubasa shrugs. "So?"

"Is this about Kaname? I know he's new in town, but he is such a sweetheart."

"He's not right for you."

"You can't tell me who's right for me or not, Tsubasa."

"Yeah? Well, I—"

Before he can finish, Misaki whacks him on the head. It may not have looked like it was hard, but it contained enough force to send him toppling over. She shushes him and says, "Be quiet! They're on their second cake!"

When it came to that particular girl, Tsubasa knew better than to be asked twice.

-MK-

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you beat him!" Mikan squeaks with awe.

Koko grins. "It was a piece of cake." Then he clutches his stomach and looks up at her. "Speaking of cake, remind me next time to not down eleven slices at once."

Natsume was sitting in a table a few feet away from them, his face rudely discarding all the encouraging words some of the people were throwing at him. He continues to glare at Koko from behind Mikan, and he was only glad that his crush didn't notice him stick his tongue out at the boy. It was a close call—Koko won by only one piece! By the time they finished, a whole crowd had gathered to watch their match. He has to say it was really fun.

She giggles. "Mommy says that we're still growing. That's why she didn't protest when I ate sixteen in my challenge."

"Sixteen?" he gapes. "You're much more of a pig than I thought. How old were you again?"

Mikan hits him on the arm playfully as she sticks out her tongue. "Meanie."

Laughing, Koko offers, "How 'bout I buy you whatever you want here and you forgive me?"

At that, the little girl beams and Misaki comes up automatically, laughing, "Koko, you better have a bigger wallet than this entire town if you want to feed this girl."

But even as she started to list all of the pastries on the entire menu, he couldn't help but smile.

-MK-

"Hey, Koko," Mikan says to him as in the middle of her—how many cakes was it? He lost count after eight. Misaki was right about one thing—this girl can eat.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna come over to my house to play?" she suggests. "Mommy wants to meet you since I talk about you all the time, and I want you to see more of my friends. You and Natsume seem to be getting along fine, considering you challenged each other."

He almost laughed at that.

"You'll like Kitsu for sure, and Ruka is just someone everyone likes." She taps the fork on her bottom lip as she lists off some of her friends. "Inchou is friends with everyone. Permy and you might fight a bit, though, but I think you'll get along fine."

"Who has the name Permy?" Koko questions. It sounds weird to him.

But Mikan just laughs and says, "Nickname. It's what we all call her, you'll see."

"Are you sure?" he asks.

"Of course!" she exclaims. "It'll be lots of fun!"

Koko smiles at the idea of it. Now that he thought about it, they never really met anywhere other than the café. It made him happy that she was thinking about introducing him to her friends, who will soon hopefully be his, too. "Okay! Let's go!"

Mikan beams again, and again it makes him smile. "Yay!"

She pushes her chair out and jumps down, racing out the door without pause. Koko might've called for her to wait, but he knew her enough to know she'll come back once she notices he wasn't with her. Instead, he stands and goes up to Misaki. "How much was it?"

But the teen just smiles and stops him from pulling out his wallet. "It's on the house. Both for your challenge and Mikan-chan's… pigging out."

Koko shakes his head. "I can't do that."

"Yes," she argues, "you can. Order from the boss, Narumi." When she sees his doubtful look, she adds, "Don't worry about it. We're all just happy to see someone making our favourite little girl happy. Really. Think of it as a gift."

Then, surprising her, the boy smiles and says, "She's the gift."

And Mikan bursts into the room and thunders, "Koko! Come on, let's go!" and proceeds to drag the boy out of the room.

Misaki watches the two eight year olds leave and walks into the kitchen, laughing, "Hey, Tsubasa. Who're you voting for now?"

Outside, the little girl puts on Koko's helmet and steps onto his skateboard. He helps her up onto it and asks worriedly as she almost falls, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Teach me how to skateboard!" Mikan pleads, adjusting the helmet so it sat right on her head. "I've always wanted to learn. It's so cool!"

To that, he had no objection.

-MK-

He sits in the café with a half smile on his face as he waits. It hasn't changed a bit since he had first been there, eight years before, still all frilly and sweet. But he liked it. It was like a second home to him, even after meeting the strangely feminine male owner, and even when Misaki and Tsubasa went off to college, promising they'd be back.

The boy had come to appreciate it.

One of the new waitresses, a pretty girl with wavy pink hair and baby blue eyes comes up to the table to take his order. He barely looks up from his menu, even though she's sixteen like him, and even though she flutters her eyelashes flirtatiously. Everyone in their class—and even at the café—knew that Anna has a huge crush on Koko. But he never acknowledges it.

Maybe he couldn't say that beautiful women didn't appeal to him anymore, but he could say he only had eyes for one.

And she just walked through the door.

"Koko!" Mikan runs in excitedly to claim the seat beside him. "You made it!"

"Well, duh," he teases, "I'm not going to forget your birthday. It's on the New Year, after all."

"Technically, it's not my birthday yet," she reminds him. "It's only the eve. Tonight's gonna be lots of fun! We're going to meet everyone in Central Town, do a little shopping, have a little partying, go—"

"But first," he interrupts her, "we are going to, just the two of us, hang out right here. So I can give you your present."

Her brown eyes widen slightly. "You got me a present? You didn't have to do that!"

"Yeah, well you're my girlfriend, so I kinda do." Koko grins. "Besides, I wanted to."

"Aw, Koko—"

"Wait." He reaches into his pocket to pull out a small box from out of his pocket. He hands it to the girl in front of him, who sits blinking at him. "Go on. Open it."

Mikan does as she's told—really, now?—and when she does, she looks up at him and beams, tears pricking on the corners of her eyes. "Koko, I love it!"

The teenage boy's smile widens as his girlfriend leans forward to give him a deep kiss.

When they pull apart, Koko had a smug look on his face as he suggests, "Are you going to put it on?"

"Yes!" she laughs, and turns around so he can fasten the thin chain around her slim neck.

After that, they eat a bunch of sweets in the Cardinal Café, and when they leave the store, they both have big smiles plastered on their faces.

And when they do, the girl is wearing a beautiful gold necklace with a colourful gem encrusted cupcake pendant, sprinkles making the shape of the number sixteen, with these unforgettable words carved in on the back in a small, elegant script:

Sixteen years old,
Half of it together,
And more cakes than I'm able to count.
To you with me,
Hoping I'm there for your billionth
shortcake.

END

Your thoughts? :)

~Jules