This is the first fanfic that I have ever written. So if you have any comments, please feel free to give them. But no flames please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice.

One-shot. : A Very Special Birthday

It was an ordinary day for everyone, except Mikan Sakura though, it was her 11th birthday, and she wanted to celebrate it with her friends, the only problem was, none of them knew that today was her special day, so she happily changes to her uniform and went outside; she walked happily to her classroom.

"I'm so happy! Today's my birthday, I'm so happy! Today's my birthday!" she said out loud not looking where she was walking when she bumped to someone,

"Oi! How many times do I tell you to watch where you're going will ya polka dots!" grunted an arrogant boy." So today's her birthday huh?" Recently he heard her shouting that today's her birthday and that's practically the reason she bumped into him, not looking in the way because she has busy being happy as usual.

"Oh I'm so sorry Natsume-kun!" She said non-apologetically as if she didn't mean to say sorry, she didn't mean it, it was just Natsume after all, and besides that, she didn't feel sorry for him.

"And will you just stop calling me that? I told you, my name is Mikan! Not polka dots you perverted freak!" she shouted as she went to the classroom, it was their meeting place every weekend, and today was a beautiful Saturday.

"Ohayo everyone! " She happily greeted as she went inside. And as she saw Hotaru, well you know the daily routine, "HOTARU! I missed you!"

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

"There we go again…" Yuu sighs as he helped Mikan up from Hotaru's baka-gun,

"Hotaru, do you know what to…." Maybe I'll keep my birthday a secret and see if Hotaru remembers and tells our friends…" Mikan giggles to herself…

"Mikan, what are you thinking about? And what were you asking a while ago?" Hotaru asked in a way that showed that she really wasn't interested.

"Oh Nothing!" Mikan smiled that made Hotaru suspicious of what she was thinking.

Then she turned to Ruka and Natsume' "Ohayo Ruka-pyon! Ohayo Natsume-kun!"

"Ohayo Mikan-chan!" Ruka happily greeted, Natsume just ignored Mikan's greeting which made her somewhat annoyed, "O-HA-YO Natsume-kun!" she shouted at Natsume

which, made him angry, " Shut your big mouth polka dots! Geez, what an idiot!"

Mikan was angry at this but didn't want to stress herself at her birthday, so she took a deep breath, inhaled, exhaled and went to where Hotaru and Yuu were. Natsume just smirked at this thinking that she had no excuse in answering back and that's the reason she didn't.

"Why don't we go to Central Town today?" Yuu suggested.

"That's a good idea Yuu!" Mikan said cheerfully, Hotaru didn't bother responding, but in her mind she thought "That's fine to me, I wanted to go anyway"

"Ruka-pyon, do you want to go to Central Town with us?"

"Um..." blushes at Mikan, then looks at Natsume, "I'll come if Natsume would" his eyes were hopefully looking at Natsume. Natsume didn't bother looking away from his comic book.

"Ya, whatever Ruka, I'm gonna need to buy something anyway. But I'm not going to follow where that idiot's going though, she's a real problem. ya know." He said behind his comics. He has kind of deep in thought… what should I get her for her birthday, what does she like anyway?…

--- Central Town ---

Natsume was following everyone in the group when suddenly he saw a jewelry shop that had a gold locket displayed at the front. Maybe she likes that…

"Hey Ruka," Ruka looked at him and so did everyone except Mikan who was busy looking at all the cool stuff that the Alice students were selling. She continued to walk further when Yuu realized how far she already was he ran to grab her arm and pull her back to where everyone was. Natsume continued talking." I'm going to go somewhere to buy something important so don't follow me ok?"

"But--"

"No buts ok?

Ruka hesitated but gave up. "Okay."

No one followed Natsume as he went there and as soon as he got the present rapped he went to a comic stand and bought 5 comic books. Then, went to nearby tree and read his comic book.

Ruka was very worried of Natsume and decided to check on him. "Mikan-chan, I am very worried about Natsume, can I find him and check on him if he's ok?" Mikan looked at him and smiled "Oh Ruka-pyon, I'm sure he just went to some store and bought some manga and settled some place to read it, don't worry yourself too much Ruka!" Mikan said in a reassuring tone. Ruka simply blushed and then smiled warmly at her

"I guess you're right, Mikan-chan"

"Hey Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka, um, why not go to a shop to eat some snacks?" Yuu suggested to his friends. The three nodded. "After some snacks we'll go get Natsume and then go to the bus stop." Ruka said

------ Bus Stop -------

"Hey Hotaru, Yuu, What time does our bus to the dormitory come back to fetch us?" Mikan wanted to know.

"The bus that will fetch us back to the dormitory will be here in 4 p.m." Yuu informed the three

"Well it's almost 4:00 p.m." Hotaru said as she looked at a watch which she herself invented.

"Natsume did you find the thing that you needed to buy?" Ruka asked,

"What? Oh that, yeah I managed." Holding the gift in his pocket turning slightly pink. though no one noticed it due to the bright sun.

"What did you buy Natsume-kun? Can I see?" Mikan asked cheerfully as she smiled. The bus suddenly arrived; Natsume turned his back to everyone and blushed deeply as he climbed the stairs of the bus. He tried his best to say "No" in the coldest and most arrogant tone he could make. Mikan being Mikan got angry "Why not?" Natsume replied giving a smirk," Coz, you're stupid"

"That doesn't answer anything! And besides, I AM NOT STUPID!" Mikan shouted angrily as she and the others went inside the bus.

------- That Night --------

"Hotaru, did you forgot what today is?" Mikan said in a disappointed tone as sat on a chair in her best friend's room.

"Why would I forget? Mikan, you're such an idiot." She said while fixing one of her inventions on her bed.

Mikan smiled widely at her best friend's words as she ran to her to hug her.

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

"Owww!… that hurts!" She said while rubbing her head. But smiled again "I'm so happy you remembered what today is!" "I'm so happy! Hotaru remembered after all this years" Mikan thought

"What are you getting excited about? Today's Saturday, that's all, what are you getting so worked up about? You idiot."

Mikan's smile was slowly turning to tears. She forgot after all… Mikan pretended to be happy and turned her back and went out of her so called best friend's room." Good Night Hotaru", she said in almost a whisper, more tears forming in her eyes; Hotaru just stared at her whispering "Baka…" with not even one hint of concern in her eyes.

Mikan ran outside the dormitory building, too sad to go in her own lonely room, she ran to a tree and cried there, crying because her birthday was forgotten by her own best friend, crying because everyone called her an idiot, crying because her jii-chan (grandpa) wasn't there by her side, crying because she was a no-star, crying because everyone hated her, she had to let all her anger, sadness and loneliness get out. Pouring it all out with her tears, crying because she was confused about her feelings, crying because she doesn't know how she really feels about Natsume, crying because Natsume was always calling her an idiot and always calling her stupid and ugly, crying because she didn't know why sometimes his kind and caring and why most of the times she's picking on her. But wait… why was she thinking about him now, she didn't care, she wanted to let it all out, she wanted all the pain and confusion to go away…

Suddenly, footsteps where coming out of nowhere, walking closer to her, closer, closer, then it stopped, she looked up and saw a black-haired boy with cold ruby eyes,

"W-why are you h-here so late at night?" she asked in a tone that she really didn't care of what the reason was.

"I should be the one asking you that. But never mind." Natsume said as he sat down beside her on the roots of an old oak tree.

Mikan just continued crying as if she didn't care if someone was there with her, so Natsume finally asked," Why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?" Natsume said in a concerned voice that made Mikan realize that he was worried about her.

"No, I'm ok, I'm just sad that's all, you don't need to be worried about me, I'm nobody after all, just go, don't waste your time on a nobody, Natsume," she said pretending to be all right but obviously not, Natsume became more worried by her words and asked once more, "What's wrong?"

Mikan looked intently in Natsume's eyes and started to tell him everything, "You see, today's my birthday. But Hotaru forgot. And jii-chan's not here and I miss him and I am so lonely because no one here understands that today was my birthday… and now when I come to think of it, I have so many problems and I don't know what to do with them, I want all these sadness and loneliness inside me gone" she said while crying .

She continued crying, while Natsume embraced her tightly

"Calm own, I'll make them all disappear for you, I'll make all your problems go away…"

"How would you do that?" she asked as she kept crying.

Natsume cupped his hands on her pale cheeks and looked at her intently and kissed her forehead, Mikan's eyes widened at this gesture, he then let go of her still-surprised-face and placed his arms around her, he hugged her so tightly to as if to never let go. He gently whispered to her ear, "I'll protect you from your problems, I'll never let them reach you, and I'll never let them make you cry… and that's a promise…" Mikan froze at his actions and words for a second or so but soon hugged back… for the first time in her life she felt as if she was safe and well-protected.

Then, Natsume grabbed something out of his pocket, it was a small box wrapped in a pale pink wrapper and a small red ribbon, "Happy Birthday."

"How did you know?"

"I um, heard you say it this morning when we bumped into each other…" then he blushed. So did Mikan.

"Oh"

"Mikan," Mikan was surprised because of this, Natsume had never called her by her real name, it would always be idiot, stupid, little girl, polka— "Mikan," Mikan had snapped back to reality, "Mikan, I … I love you" Mikan was so shocked at this, trying to put all herself together as she finally said, " I… I love you too…"

There was silence…

Then Natsume smiled, the first smile Mikan saw, and that smile was dedicated only to her.

"Open your gift" Natsume requested.

"Okay, Natsume-kun" Mikan replied softly, as she tore up the wrapper which opened a small white box, she opened the box and there laid a beautiful gold chained necklace with a heart locket, It had two letters engraved in it. N&M. Natsume and Mikan. Natsume tiedit around her neck. Natsume smiled "It really looks good on her".

"Arigato, Natsume-kun. This means a lot to me." She said as she hugged Natsume.

Then suddenly she let go of Natsume and said "Natsume-kun! Can you please give me another birthday gift?" she said in a playful tone that made the boy curious.

Natsume looked somewhat confused at the sudden words that came out of her mouth, "Natsume kiss me, Please?"

Natsume looked at her then said "what?" as if she heard her wrong

Mikan simply smiled back, "nothing!" blushing at what she had just said to Natsume.

Mikan blushed shades of red when he suddenly placed his hands around Mikan's slim waist, his bangs covering his ruby eyes, their faces close to each other until their lips touched and they finally kissed… when they broke the kiss, one could only utter a very simple word,

"Satisfied?" bangs still covering half of his face.

After that, Mikan blushed deeply her face all red whispering the word "yes", now it was Natsume's turn to blush.

They spent the rest of the night in each others arms, sitting together on the old oak tree.

It was almost morning when Mikan sweetly said to Natsume that she had to go because she was already very sleepy and can't risk sleeping there at the tree with him because people might see them in the morning.

"Alright, sleep well."

"Goodnight Natsume, sweet dreams." She said as she went to her room.

"This is already a very sweet dream and I never want it to end" Natsume whispered to himself as he went back to his room.

As Mikan went inside her room, she saw a rectangular box on top of her bed.

She got it and saw a note on top of it saying:

Baka, you think I could forget? Happy Birthday. - Hotaru

And as she opened it there was a picture frame with her and Hotaru's picture on it, they were both smiling. She hugged her best friend's gift as tears rolled down her hazel eyes "Oh, Hotaru…"

"Arigato Hotaru, Arigato Natsume this is a very special birthday "

"I'll always love both of you"

Please read and review! Hope you enjoyed it!