Hi people! This idea suddenly popped into my mind and I couldn't resist putting it on paper – I mean computer … Whatever. Enough of my pointless ranting. On with the STORY!
One more thing. I wish SnowMirage a.k.a. my senpai good luck in the upcoming examinations! I'm sure you'll pass every single subject you take with flying colours.
SUMMARYThe Last Dance is coming, and Mikan is nervous! She decides not to attend it…but will something change her mind? Or rather…will SOMEONE do it?
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. I only own this crappy plot. Got that? Good.
CHAPTER 1
"Ohayo mina san! I trust you all know that the Last Dance is approaching…" Narumi sensei trailed off, looking meaningfully at his students, especially at a certain brunette who was currently drawing absent-mindedly on a page of her Math book. Ooh, Jinno sensei will be after her if she does not erase those scribbles when she hands the book in…
"…So you know what to do right?" he winked. Unfortunately Mikan had yet to rise from her stupor and continued doodling. Natsume looked over her shoulder and snorted. She had drawn countless circles, with her name inscribed in the middle of the mess.
Her pencil traced the words 'Last Dance' in fancy script, lazily stretching the end of the 'e' to encircle the words. A dreamy smile played on her lips as she stared at the words. The memory of the previous Last Dance stayed fresh in her mind, as though it had just occurred yesterday. Time does fly by…
Flashback…Fourteen-year-old Mikan walked nervously up to the crowd of milling students, her chocolate brown eyes darting frantically here and there to catch a glimpse of a familiar face and a friendly grin. Even Sumire's snide comments are welcome to her at the moment.
"Hotaru…Ruka-pyon…Koko…" she whimpered, biting her fingernails. The taste of nail polish in her mouth did nothing to ease her discomfort. Eurgh! The bitter taste in her mouth…Mikan spat it out in disgust, searching for water to cleanse her mouth. She spied a tap standing forlornly under a tree and hurried towards it, trying her best NOT to swallow. The thought of having nail polish going down her trachea and into her system was bad. Very bad.
FRUSH!
A jet of water gushed out of the tap, drenching her thin dress and soaked the legs beneath. She did not care for the moment. Getting rid of the annoying taste in her mouth was her main priority at the moment. Cupping her hands, she collected water in them and proceeded to gurgle. She repeated this several times until she was sure her mouth was completely clean. The taste that once lingered in her mouth was now gone. Mikan sighed in relief.
"Hey Mikan-chan," Yuu's gentle voice came from behind. Mikan jumped and turned to face her classmate. Over the course of three years Iincho had grown a great deal taller and now stood a few inches above Mikan's brown head. His features became fine and chiseled, leading to several admirers, although nowhere as near to the amount Natsume and Ruka have.
"Yuu," she greeted, looking ruefully down at her spoilt party dress. "Why are you here?"
"You looked lonely standing there alone so I came to meet you but you ran away before I managed to catch up." His voice held a hint of concern in it. "Anything wrong?"
"Iie. Ikuyo, let's go back to the party, ne?"
Right on cue, a slow music played in the background. Boys proffered their hands to their partners, who blushed and took them. The boy would then lead his partner away from the food and dance.
Yuu smiled. "Hai. Come on. Do you have a partner yet?"
"…Iie," Mikan said sadly, her gaze trained on the ground. Deep inside, she knew she wanted a certain flame caster whose ruby red eyes flared with a life of its own whenever he activated his alice. Cold though he was, he intrigued Mikan in his own way. The cheerful attitude she kept up whenever he was around was merely a façade to mask her true feelings for him. Sure, she acted naïve and oblivious to the feedbacks she received from the boy be it good or bad, but that did not mean she was dumb. "Anata?"
"Gomen Mikan, but I, uh, already have a partner," he replied nervously, biting his lip. Mikan giggled when she saw her friend's face turn various shades of red.
"And who is the lucky girl?"
"I…uh, it is…"
"Spill it!"
"Oh fine. My partner is Sumire. I couldn't find anyone else…"
"Nani? Sumire? She actually agreed?" Mikan fired the questions incredulously, her eyes widening when Yuu confirmed it. Sumire might have a nice side to her after all… "Good for you Iincho!"
"Arigato. But what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll just sit down alone."
"Why don't you find a partner?"
"No one will want to dance with a baka like me," she murmured morosely. Yuu had a mysterious smile on his face as he spied someone coming towards them.
"I don't think you need to worry about that, Mikan-chan…"
"H-Huh?"
"Look in front of you."
A ruffled-looking Nogi Ruka was trying his best to nudge his way among dozens of screaming fangirls, looking very out of place with his disheveled blonde hair plastering itself on his face. He wore a white shirt with a blue bow beneath the collar. Black pants partly obscured the brown leather shoes he was wearing.
"Hey Mikan," he gasped. "Wait for a while okay?"
"Hai," she answered in confusion. What was going on? He would not…would he?
"Ruka-san, please dance with me!" one girl cooed, hooking her arm around his seductively. The look of disgust and terror on Ruka's face was priceless. He looked as if he was about to vomit anytime. Shaking her off, he headed grumpily in the general direction of Mikan and Yuu. His features softened somewhat at the sight of her, his frown becoming a blush.
"Um…Mikan," he said nervously, wringing his hands. Mikan awaited his speech patiently.
"What is it Ruka-pyon?"
"Will you…will youbemypartnerfortonight?" he blurted. He was getting more worked up by the minute. 'Help me', he mouthed at her. One glance over his shoulder told Mikan all she needed to know. She nodded and smiled reassuringly at him.
"What do you say?" she asked innocently, raising her voice on purpose. Ruka groaned and smacked his head. Must he repeat it? Oh well…anything to shake them off…now that Natsume was not here to shoo them away…desperate times call for desperate measures.
"Will you be my partner for tonight?" he asked breathlessly. Please do…Hotaru will kill me if you do not.
Mikan grinned. "Sure Ruka-pyon!" she said loudly. Behind him the fangirls admitted defeat and drifted off dejectedly, hot in pursuit of yet another hot guy, namely Hyuuga Natsume, who was invisible at the moment. Ruka sighed in relief.
"I wonder what they see in that dreary and drab Sakura anyway," one girl murmured distastefully. Ruka and Mikan never heard her muffled scream nor saw the sheet of blazing flames that rose directly in front of the girl, burning her hair. Natsume muttered something incoherent under his breath and stole one last glance at the laughing brunette before turning away, leaving his two best friends alone.
"Wanna dance?" Ruka asked sweetly, offering his arm to Mikan. She blushed and nodded.
"But what about Hotaru?"
"She, uh, she is somewhere! That's it, somewhere!" Ruka exclaimed. Mikan did not appear convinced but accepted his rather unreasonable explanation anyway.
"Ikuyo."
"H-Hai Mikan." With that he led her to the dance floor. The band struck a slow song just then. Girls placed one hand on their partners' shoulder, with the latter's wrapped around their waists. Some girls giggled and went as far as leaning their heads on their partners' chests, causing the boys to blush furiously. It was rather comical to watch, if truth be told.
"Shall we dance?"
"…Uh, Ruka-pyon?" Mikan stuttered nervously.
"Yes?"
"I don't know how to."
"How to what?"
"To dance, of course."
Ruka stared at her incredulously. "What about the previous dances you had?" Mikan looked down, her fringe covering her face.
"I never really danced, if you would care to recall. Last year, the party was spoilt because someone set the fireworks off before it was time and caused a shower of sparks. The year before that it was cancelled due to heavy rain. Remember?"
"Oh yeah…but what about your first year with Hotaru?"
"That's…different. We're both girls."
Ruka guffawed, causing Mikan to look up in surprise.
"Nani?"
"So that's the problem, is it? Because I'm not Hotaru?"
"N-No…"
"Give it a try, Mikan. It is never too late to learn," Ruka said reassuringly, taking her hand and placing it on his shoulder. Mikan couldn't help blushing as she felt her hand make contact with a firm shoulder. He then placed one arm tentatively on her waist, causing her to blush even more.
"Now just do what the rest of them do."
"H-Hai…"
She started to go with the flow, moving along with the slow rhythm of the song. Ruka smiled softly and moved along with her, matching her every move. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Hotaru near the food, her face hidden behind a video recorder. He sweatdropped and started to go after her. A warning glare from Hotaru stopped him and he continued waltzing with Mikan, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the inventing genius.
Mikan closed her eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips. The soothing song was beginning to have its effect on her. It made her feel at peace, not to mention slightly drowsy. Everything went as normal until she missed her footing and started to fall.
"Oops," she whispered, her eyelids snapping open, revealing her startled brown orbs. Ruka realized a tad too late to catch her in his arms. His arms swiped at empty air as Mikan knocked him over as well.
"Oof!" she grunted. Ow…hey! Why was the ground soft and felt like fabric? Her eyes widened as they locked with grayish coloured eyes. Ruka's eyes. She screamed and scrambled off him.
RRIP.
Her dress tore where the thin fabric was pinned under the boy, revealing her legs from ankle up, stopping only centimeters away from her waist. It gave the onlookers a good view of her well-toned thighs. Mikan blushed furiously and tried pull the hem of her dress from under Ruka, succeeding only in ripping her dress further.
"Huh, what a bad dancer," someone said rudely.
"Yeah, why dance if she doesn't know how to?"
"Useless…"
"I'm lucky she's not my partner…"
"How embarrassing!"
Tears sprung up in chocolate brown eyes, swimming about and clouding her vision. Mikan gave a choked sob before giving up and running away. The piece of silk that was pinned under Ruka was now tightly held in his hands.
"Hey, Mikan! Wait!" he yelled. Mikan did not acknowledge him and ran faster. Biting comments accompanied her all the way. He sighed and was about to chase her when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Let her calm down," Hotaru said as she munched on a sandwich. "Give her time."
"But -"
The girl aimed her baka gun at him. "But?"
Ruka gulped. "Nothing Hotaru." She nodded curtly and took another bite out of her sandwich.
"You want one?"
"How could you continue eating as if nothing had happened? She's your friend for goodness sake!" Hotaru did not answer and stuffed a muffin down his mouth, stopping his rant.
"Eat."
"Mmprgh," he muttered, his mouth full of blueberry muffin. Mikan…
End of Flashback…Mikan gripped her pencil hard, making a black mark appear on her book. The memory stung, and she had no desire to repeat it again. To feeling of being humiliated in front of the entire Academy was embarrassing to say the least.
No, I don't want it happening it again…once was enough. But how? She racked her brain for a suitable solution. Nothing surfaced, not even after minutes of deep thinking. Maybe I should skip the Last Dance this year. It will save me the humiliation.
She was so immersed in her thoughts that she never realized Jinno sensei had entered the classroom. Striding towards the teacher's desk, he demanded coldly for the Math homework he gave them the day before.
There was a flash of red as someone snatched her Math book from under her nose. An unpleasant ripping sound was heard, tearing up the uncomfortable silence like a bullet. Mikan turned around in horror to see a page of her Math book in Natsume's fist.
"Why you -" she said in fury and tried to grab her book from him. He shrugged and threw the book at her head, knocking her off her seat. The page he ripped was tightly held in his hand. A moment later, his fist erupted into flames, burning the paper into a crisp but leaving his fist unharmed. That was no surprise. He was the fire handler after all.
"NATSUME…!" she shrieked from her awkward position on the floor.
"Sakura, get back to your seat before I punish you," Jinno sensei said coldly.
"But -"
"One more work from you and you have to finish the whole Math book in a week."
That silenced her successfully. Mikan sent Natsume a death glare as she crept back into her seat. As usual, he had his head immersed in a manga, ignoring her. She growled and looked at her book.
Uh-oh.
Where is the page with her Math answers!
"Natsume…" she growled. Natsume spared her a bored look before returning his full attention to his book.
"What is it?"
Furious, she showed him her book. "My book!"
"…"
Mikan sighed in exasperation and thrust her arm into the air. "Um, Jinno sensei? Could I have some extra time to redo my work?" she piped. No luck. The teacher's mouth curled into a smile as he shook his head.
"As promised, finish the whole Math book."
"HOE!"
"Hai. Hand it to me by next week."
"Natsume…this is all your fault!" This is the last straw! I am NOT going to the Last Dance! Though what a pathetic reason not to do so…
',',
How was it? I guess it was bad...
Please review! Flames...will be accepted. IF the reason(s) you sent me one is/are reasonable. Otherwise...into the rubbish bin it goes .