Disclaimer: I do not own the Gakuen Alice animé or manga. It belongs to the great Higuchi Tachibana.

Important Notice: This is an old story I wrote back in 2008. I took it down last March 2011 for it undergo revision. That, however, turned out unsuccessful due of my busy schedule and my tendency to procrastinate. There are still loads of typos here and there, but I got too tired to finish revising everything (since each chapter is more than 3000 words long), so I think I'll leave it as it is until I get the time to properly revise.

I just thought I'd post this back up for people who wanted to read it. In this revised version, Hotaru is no longer the reason why Mikan came to Alice High. I apologize in advance for the numerous errors that you spot here. :)

Fate Strings

Written by EzMouse

.

It's just another modern day fairytale. Not.

ACT I
From the Land of Far, Far Away

"Mom, I've got butterflies in my tummy!"

Mikan Sakura sat at the front seat of the car, her brown eyes staring impassively outside the car window. Her brown locks which were tied into two pigtails bounced and swayed together with the movement of the car.

"Don't worry, sweetie. Everything will be alright," her mother, Yuka, assured her as she steered her way through the busy streets of Tokyo.

It was around eight o'clock in the morning in the month of October. Tokyo was a big place—a big, big place. There were many tall buildings, vehicles, stoplights—stuff not usually found in the province. The streets were as busy as ever from every corner, even at this early in the morning. Everything was different, not only Tokyo itself, but even the way people looked and dressed.

Mikan didn't like the idea of transferring schools. In fact, she hated it. Transferring schools meant making new friends, starting a new image, and fitting in. Sounds easy? Think again. This is her first time being in a city. She had lived in the province her whole childhood and had no background knowledge about any other place other than that.

Everything was fine at first. She was more than happy to be able to get out and take a whiff at the city, but the ride wasn't as smooth as she thought it would be. Hesitation and fright washed over her the moment they got to Tokyo.

She slumped to her seat and sighed, trying to calm herself. Her mother patted her lap, noticing the change of mood, but kept her eyes fixated on the road. Mikan smiled and stared out the window again, recalling the reasons why she had gone to this trip in the first place.

It was her best friend. That was the reason why she was here. Her best friend had moved to study in a prestigious school in Tokyo and it had been six months since they last saw each other. Yes, they would send letters to each other every now and then, but as time went by, the letters she got from her best friend had been reduced from one to nothing.

She couldn't stand that sort of treatment, which resorted to having forced her mother to bring her to the same school as her best friend's.

Without a second later, the car pulled over in front of the academy gate. After much effort, Mikan finally got the nerve to step out of the car. She got a good look at the school for a while before turning to her mother to wave goodbye.

"You can do it, honey," she whispered, holding onto Mikan's hand and letting go to start the engine. She drove off, leaving Mikan standing alone, waving at the retreating car. Her eyes turned back to inspect the huge gate in front of her.

The school was huge.

Just as she was approaching it, a security guard asked her for her ID, which she showed willingly. Giving her a nod, he pushed a button from inside a small room and the gates slowly opened sideways. She bowed politely in appreciation and entered the gate. It started closing behind her and she continued to walk a long cobblestone path that ran straight and in a circle around a rather huge and extravagant fountain just in front of the academy itself.

It had taken her about ten minutes before reaching the academy doors and she immediately spotted the bulletin boards aligned just outside the building. It saved her a lot of time in looking for her room and schedule. Right next to the list of rooms was a map of the whole campus that occupied the whole of the bulletin board. She pointed a finger to the bottom of the map to where she was; the academy door and, glancing at the piece of paper in her hand, she slid her finger all the way to where her room was located.

"There we are. Class B, Room 104," she mumbled to herself as she arranged the papers in her hands.

After getting all the necessary information that she needed, she entered the double doors and was met by a long running corridor that seemed to have no end. She stepped inside as quiet as a mouse, her shoes brushing against the carpeted floor. It had been an eternity and a half, when she realized that she was lost.

Even with the necessary information she had obtained and the ginormous map displayed, she had no idea where to go. It was like the she had forgotten what the map even looked like and she felt like a mouse trapped in a maze that is the school. Everywhere she turned; it felt like she was going deeper and deeper inside the school, far away from her destination point.

Nevertheless, she kept walking. For some reasons, she turned right on every junction, thinking that she might just coincidentally find her room. As she desperately strolled through the corridors, she heard faint footsteps on the next corner. Her pace quickened as she followed the sound and found a tall blonde woman walking casually by.

"Excuse me, Ma'am!" she called out, breaking into a little trot to catch up with her.

The woman spun to her direction, surprised. "Hmm? Were you referring to me?" he said in a voice that was definitely not a woman's. That was an embarrassing mistake.

Having realized this, she bowed apologetically, hiding her face behind her bangs. "Sorry, I was in such a hurry that I thought you were a woman from afar…"

He smiled. "No problem. I get that a lot."

He didn't seem offended by the tone of his voice and Mikan didn't exactly take that as either a good or bad thing. When she got a good look at his features, they were definitely quite feminine, but his posture and body structure was of a man's, no doubt. As he slightly jerked his head to the side, a sparkle caught her eye and she realized that it was a purple earing stuck to his earlobe. A man wearing jewelry; that was uncalled for.

"The last time I checked, I was a man," he said, putting a finger to his chin. "And I'm definitely straight."

Mikan cringed at his words, feeling slightly awkward to where the conversation was going.

He grinned at the girl after noticing her change of mood. "I guess that covers all your questions about my sexuality?"

She forced a smiled as she tried to meet his eyes. "Y-Yeah."

He chuckled silently, unconvinced by her answer. He looked left and right as if trying to see if the coast was clear and he held the first button on his shirt, pulling it gently. "You can check if you want. Just a peek, though. I'm quite the shy person," he continued, winking childishly.

"No, no! I'm good. I believe you," Mikan answered waving a hand in front of her as she giggled at his little joke. He was obviously a very weird person, but by the looks of it, she felt like she can trust him.

The blonde man looked at her from head to toe as he inspected her face seriously. Out of the blue, he tapped his fist to his palm, his face lighting up. "Oh, I remember you! You're that late enrollee, right? What was your name again?" he said, rubbing his temples. "Sa…"

"Sakura. Mikan Sakura," she answered.

He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Yes, Mikan Sakura. Right!"

"How did you know?" Mikan mused.

"I was just taking care of your transfer files while I was checking some papers," he answered, showing her a stack of papers in his arm and moving them up and down like he was weighing them. "I'm Narumi Anju. I'm a teacher here," he added.

Mikan's eyes widened with shock. "You? A teacher?" she choked out.

"Yes," Narumi answered. "I'm your class adviser, actually."

"Wow," she muttered, unable to say anything else.

This was a first. Back in the province, all the teachers that Mikan had since kindergarten until now were either her grandpa's so called, chums, or some old ladies who probably lived alone with the company of their thirteen cats. Now, her teacher was this androginous looking blonde who actually had some sense of humor. Moving to Tokyo was definitely a big change.

The school bell rang not long after, and Mikan couldn't help but jump on her feet. Her inside started twisting uncomfortable knots as she immediately remembered that she still had to make it through the day without causing any trouble or acting like a complete idiot who had no idea what she was doing. Narumi took notice of this and patted her on the back for encouragement. They started walking side by side as he had offered to walk together to reach the room.

"So, why have you decided to study here, Mikan-chan?" he asked. "This is a well-known school and all and it's no surprise that you chose to be here, but according to your documents, you had come all the way from the province."

Mikan nodded and said, "I just forced my mom. I have a friend who studies here, you see. Best friend since diapers, actually. I thought that I might be able to see her if I moved here. I miss her a lot."

"Are you in the same grade?" he asked, looking quite pleased. "What's the name of this friend of yours?"

"Her name's Ho—" Before she could finish her statement, Narumi had cupped her mouth with his hand before they turned to another corner.

She did not break free when he did this, but he looked into his eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong. He placed a finger against his lips, motioning her to be quiet and his eyes travelled back to the corner. She followed his gaze and her dilated at the sight; a boy, probably her age, wearing what looks to be a cat mask. A cat mask? What on earth? He was panting rather rapidly, his back against the wall and his head raised up.

"Stay here," Mr. Narumi instructed as he removed his hand from her mouth and started sort of tip-toeing across the corridors. He glanced once more on her direction, making sure she had stayed put, and signaled her to be quiet again.

He walked rather silently until he was just a meter away from Cat Guy. When he noticed the presence of Narumi, he straightened up, a trace of the faint sound of his heavy breathing. He attempted to make an escape, when Narumi swiftly made it to his side and grabbed him by the collar. He clicked his tongue as her tightened his grip on the collar of the mysterious young lad who was struggling to break loose.

"Running away again, are we? Honestly, you should stop doing this, you little rebel," Narumi said firmly.

Curiosity piqued, Mikan peeked from the edge of the wall. "Running away?" she muttered to herself as she stared at the two.

A lot of questions rambled in her mind as she tried to get a closer view. She flinched involuntarily when she saw the boy head snap at her direction. Scrambling to her feet, she retreated back to her previous position behind the edge of the wall, disappearing out of sight. She couldn't tell if he had seen her, considering the mask was covering his entire face.

Not a second later, she heard some grunts and her head instantly snapped to their direction, sticking her head out from her hiding spot to see what the commotion was about. She didn't know what happened after that. All she remembered was that guy was charging her way then everything went black.

Before she knew it, she was sprawled on her back, her head aching. It was a good thing that there was thick carpet over the floor, or her she would feel that fall in the morning. Placing both her hands on her face, she groaned, a headache attacking her from every direction on her head. She heard a thum right next to her and, blinking her dizziness away, she saw the cat mask on the ground.

In between her line of vision with the mask, she noticed an arm planted on the ground beside her her face. Flicking to her right, she found another arm and she realized that she was caged in. She squeezed her eyes shut once more and opened them, only to find herself face-to-face with a rather good-looking young lad.

He seemed in pain as he ran his hand through his jet black hair and shook his head. He raised his eyes to meet hers and she gasped at the sight of crimson. They held each other's gazes for who knows how long, until he blinked and shot her a glare.

"What is this? Who are you?" he muttered disgustingly. She just gaped at him, apparently not even hearing what he just said.

Flick! A finger immediately made contact with Mikan's forehead, snapping her out of her train of thought. Having realized the situation, she almost hyperventilated at the closeness between her and the boy who was… on top of her.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Stop daydreaming, idiot," he scolded, nearing her face. A few strands of his hair briskly brushed her forehead, making her squeak, and she shoved him off rather violently. He landed on his bottom with both his hands on his sides. He squinted in pain, muttering, "Crap… You little—"

"What do you think you're doing?" Mikan cut him off, gripping her chest, trying to slow down her speeding heartbeat. She backed away a little when he sent her a murderous glare.

The boy gritted his teeth, obviously displeased by the statement. "What do you mean what was I trying to do? We fell. I was running and you were in the way," he said matter-of-factly.

Mikan cringed. "I-I knew that," she stuttered, her eyes glued to the ground.

There was an awkward silence between them and she felt his his stare like daggers. Her eyes remained glued to the floor, trying to avoid the chance of making eye contact and saying something completely stupid.

Just in the nick of time, Narumi came running towards them almost frantically. "Are you two okay?" he asked.

Neither of them answered and both looked away. The boy, thinking there was no sense to this, stood up, stretching, and proceeded to leave.

"Natsume-kun, I suggest you go back to class. The head—" Narumi halted, eyeing Mikan. "He wouldn't like it if he found out that you're misbehaving again." After that statement, the mysterious lad, so named Natsume, stopped from his tracks. He looked over the blonde teacher from over his shoulder again with that murderous glare that didn't seem to go away.

Narumi sheepishly smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Mikan had absolutely no idea what was going on, especially when Natsume's expression softened as he sighed in defeat. She wondered what Narumi-sensei's statement did that managed to tame him.

Natsume spun around to face them, no longer looking like he wanted to escape. His attention directed to Mikan, who was still seated on the floor. He smirked at her for a moment. "Don't be so clumsy, Polka Dots," he said, giving as much emphasis on the last two words as possible.

Her eyes shot wide open, embarrassment washing over her. That only made Natsume smirk even wider. That crossed the line.

"PERVERT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. It was so loud that Narumi had to cover her mouth.

Instead of running away, Natsume slid his hands in his pockets and walked off, opposite the direction he was about to run off to earlier. When he passed Narumi, he mumbled, "This is not over, Naru."

He continued walking until he was out of sight

"Are you alright, Mikan-chan?" Narumi asked, releasing her and helping her to stand up.

Mikan took his hand willingly and stood up, brushing her skirt and uniform clean. She still felt annoyed, but she remained calm. "I'm okay, but who was that guy? He's so freaky… and perverted! Honestly!" she went on, ranting about the reasons why she felt absolute hatred the moment she saw him. "I mean, who is he?"

"You'll find out later…" Narumi said, smiling. It was as if he was implying something when he said that, but she chose to ignore it.

As she tidied herself up and pulled her uniform back to its place, she caught sight of the cat mask on the ground and picked it up with one hand. It was much heavier than she thought it was and judging by the quality and how it was designed, it was definitely not just a simple mask. "Black cat…" she mumbled, inspecting it front and back.

The bell ran once again. Narumi snapped his fingers at once. "Mikan-chan, we missed your first class. We should hurry now."

"Yes, yes. Uh, what about this?" Mikan asked, holding the mask up.

As he was about to reach for it, he stopped, smile stretching its way across his face. "Why don't you keep it for awhile?"

Mikan tilted her head, staring at the mask then back at Narumi. "Huh? Why me?" she wondered.

"I'm not exactly Natsume-kun's favorite person, if you get what I mean," he started, making it up as he went. "And besides, don't you have some unfinished business with him? Maybe you can settle it when you decide to give that back to him."

"Well, alright," Mikan agreed without much protest. He was right, she still had to give him a piece of her mind and get back at him for humiliating her.

Narumi had a please look on his face as he nodded at her answer. He offered his hand to her and said, "Shall we?"

Grabbing his hand, she answered, "Yeah!"

Narumi clapped twice, calling the attention of the students inside the classroom. The buzzing noises started to dissolve and the students turned their attention to their teacher and the little girl next to him.

When it had finally quieted down, Narumi continued, "We have a new student today."

Mikan, who had remained frozen on her spot, took an awkward step forward and bowed her head almost exaggeratedly and flashed the class a her usual perky smile. "I'm Mikan Sakura. Pleased to meet you all!" she chirped.

The reaction of the students were the opposite of what she expected.

"A new student in the middle of the school year?"

"What's with the pigtails?"

"By the looks of it, she must be a country girl."

Followed by a rather awkward silence, the front row students began making booing noises. What's worse, they started throwing paper balls and other light school materials at her. Mikan couldn't do anything but pathetically dodge everything thrown at her.

"We don't need her here!"

This wasn't a classroom, it was a jungle filled with wild students.

"That's enough class! Mikan-chan, please take a seat at the back," Narumi said.

For some strange reason, the students stopped throwing stuff at Mikan upon their teacher's words. As Mikan made her way to her seat, all began whispering to each other and staring at her.

"What's up with those expressions on their faces?" Mikan thought, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

She sat down and sighed. But all the students were still staring at her. When Narumi-sensei started his lesson, thankfully, her other classmates stopped staring and just acted like she wasn't there.

Mikan paid no attention to Narumi's lectures. She was actually staring outside the window, watching the birds fly from tree to tree. Since she was at the back and didn't have a seatmate to tell on her, she was safe for the rest of the afternoon. This was the only time she felt so bored in class. It surprised her. She knew she was usually very attentive, even though she wasn't considered one of the brightest students in class.

She hadn't notice the time and the school bell rang seconds later. Her classmates immediately got up from their seats and ran out of the room in a humongous stampede.

"Don't forget to do your assignments, okay?" Narumi shouted to the students while waving.

Mikan approached her teacher. "Sensei, don't you think those kids are being a bit rude to you?"

"Don't worry, Mikan-chan. I'm used to them already," Narumi said with a shrug.

Mikan watched as her teacher fixed his books. "I just don't think it was right to run out of your class like that. They didn't even say goodbye!"

"I appreciate your consideration, but forget about it, Mikan-chan."

"You know, one way or another, I'm going to change the ways of this class."

"I'm sure you will." Narumi said as he patted Mikan's head. "I'm sure…"

Although Mikan tried to socialize with her new classmates, none of them paid any attention to her. Being the new girl resulted to eating lunch alone.

The room erupted with squeals and whispers. Tracing the cause of this, they found two boys came in the cafeteria; one of them, had blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. His expression was neutral, but it leaned more towards emotionless and uncaring. The other, who was more noticeable, had black hair with raven streaks and crimson eyes that pierced anything they looked at.

Now why does that description sound so familiar?

Though Mikan couldn't see who they were, the rest of the people inside the cafeteria already did. It was the only time anybody made a fuss about anything, and this day was not any different. The boys took a seat on what looked to be the popular group's table as a few more people and almost a hundred girls went closer and surrounded them.

"Okay, back it up! Back it up! Hyuuga-san and Nogi-san don't want to be crowded, you know," a boy said and the students did as they were told.

Having finally cleared off, Mikan then quickly recognized one of them.

"Hey, I know know that guy!" she muttered to himself.

"It's Natsume Hyuuga!" a girl squealed.

"So, that's his name? That perverted jerk," Mikan said as her grip tightened on the juice box she was holding that caused its contents to squirt out onto her hand. "Ew, gross."

Mikan was too distracted glaring at the said boy to explain any further. Not a moment later, however, her attention was diverted to Natsume's blonde companion. He had a rabbit resting on his lap, and he patted its head gently, his eyes growing softer as he did so.

"Hey, new girl," an annoyed voice uttered.

"Yeah?" she answered, searching the voice who called her.

She had black hair that was permed a little and olive green eyes. She went closer to Mikan with an annoyed face.

"Were you talking about Natsume-kun just now?" she asked.

"Maybe…?" Mikan answered, sweatdropping. "I think I know her. Wasn't she in the same class as I am?"

She glared at Mikan, "You like him don't you?"

Mikan blinked twice, "What are you talking about?"

"You're not a member of the fan club so you can't have touchy feelings with Natsume Hyuuga without me knowing about it!"

"Fan club? And who would have touchy feelings for an obnoxious jerk like Natsume Hyuuga?" Mikan shouted, which probably wasn't a very good idea.

Everybody in the cafeteria stared at her, including Natsume Hyuuga himself.

Uh-oh, she's in trouble now.

Two boys held Mikan's arms and dragged her outside. The moment they were far enough, they pushed her to the ground like a rag doll and snickered.

"What are you doing?" Mikan shouted, attempting to stand. Her right arm ached when she used it as a support to get back on her feet and she flopped to the ground once more.

A dark shadow covered her and she saw the figure of Natsume making his way towards her. The students gathered around him like loyal dogs, asking him what he wanted to do with the girl on the ground. This annoyed Mikan even more because they acted like she wasn't even there.

"Hey!" she called out.

All their heads snapped at her direction. The boys made a few nasty comments, but Natsume held a hand up, signaling them to be quiet. He looked at Mikan as if waiting for an answer.

"Aren't you that Black Cat guy from this morning?" she questioned.

"This morning?" He scrunched his eyebrows and stared into space with his head slightly tilted. There was discontent in his face when he looked at her again. "Just who are you, exactly?"

A nerve twitched. "What, you have amnesia? We met earlier this morning, remember?"

Natsume thought once more and his face lit up like a light bulb. "Oh, you're that polka-potted panties girl."

Stifled laughter followed after that remark, much to Mikan's embarrassment.

She clenched her fists into a ball. "Now you remember? You pervert!"

Then it became quiet as they all stared at her in shock.

When neither of them said a word, she took the opportunity to speak up again. "Maybe you're the one who manipulated our classmates to doing rude things, especially to Narumi-sensei! How could you?"

"Don't act like you know everything, transfer student!"

Mikan's head turned to the seaweed-haired girl she met earlier. The girl had a cocky expression and she looked at Mikan with disgust.

"Who are you again?" Mikan asked. "Why do you keep interfering with me?"

"I am none other than the president of the official Natsume Hyuuga fan club, Sumire Shouda," she answered, dignified. "I have every right to interfere with you, especially because you've insulted Natsume-kun."

"Ohh," Mikan mocked a laugh, slapping her forehead. "You're president of his fan club? Now I've seen everything."

Sumire didn't take that comment well. "What's that supposed to mean? You're just a newbie here, so you don't have a say in this school!"

"I wasn't—"

Splash!

"Who do you think you are, talking to Natsume-sama like that?"

One of the boys, who were gathered around Natsume earlier, had splashed a bucket full of water in Mikan's face. He abruptly threw it behind him and scoffed as she coughed, pushing away her wet bangs that were getting into her eyes. She wiped her face and groaned at her current predicament.

"Natsume-sama rules this school. He can get you expelled if he wants to, you know!"

"Mochu, shut up," Natsume interrupted, his voice serious.

Mikan was taken aback by that threat. Natsume rules the school? What does he mean by that? she wondered.

When Natsume diverted his gaze back to her, she suddenly felt her whole body freeze. His eyes were like daggers piercing all over her body. He inspected her and as much as she'd like to move, she couldn't. It was like he suddenly had control over her.

Natsume crouched in front of Mikan and stared at her for a full five seconds.

He then held her chin up and said, "You've made a big mistake getting in my way."

Mikan fearfully stared back into his crimson eyes, unable to utter a word, nor move a single part of her body.

"I'm going to make your life so miserable, you'll regret ever coming to this hell of a school," he continued. He pushed her chin slightly and stood up, dusting his pants. He wiped his wet fingers on his shirt and walked off, leaving the girl speechless.

Mikan didn't know what was happening. She felt great fear from what one of the students said. Natsume Hyuuga ruled the school, he said. Everything was too confusing and she didn't know what to do. She stared at his retreating figure and in that instant, it was like adrenaline rushed through her whole body.

"Hey wait a second!"

Natsume stopped from his tracks. He looked back at the girl from his shoulders and raised a brow.

She stood up, clutching her right arm. There was fire in her eyes with the way she stared back at his crimson orbs. Natsume was unable to speak and he faced her as she slowly limped towards him.

"I don't know who you are or what your position here is," she said, standing a meter away from him. "But let me tell you this; even if you do rule this school, I'm not afraid of you!"

Everybody stared at her in awe.

"I'm not the kind of person who you think I am. Sure, I may look like a nobody to you now, but listen to me very carefully, Mr. Natsume Hyuuga; I'm somebody who's gonna change the ways of this school you've influenced with your grubby acts and your nasty attitude! You won't be acting all high and mighty as long as I'm here to stop you from doing so," she declared with great confidence. "I'm Mikan Sakura. Remember that name!"

Gasps were heard after Mikan's long speech. Natsume snapped out of his thoughts, eyeing the girl from head to toe.

He took two steps forward and inserted his hands in his pockets. "I'd like to see you try, Ms. Mikan Sakura."

Mikan crossed her arms in front of her and leaped a step until she was just a few inches away from Natsume. She looked up to meet his face, her eyes filled with determination.

"Just watch me."

The two of the glared at each other. The tension was heating up and neither one of them blinked.

A sound of someone clearing his throat loudly had interrupted the long silence. All heads turn to Ruka Nogi who had been the cause of it.

"Huh." Natsume smirked. He snapped his fingers and walked away, followed by the rest.

"Ah, I'm coming, Natsume-kun!" Sumire said in a sweet yet annoying tone as she hurriedly followed Natsume who was heading back to the cafeteria. "You'll pay for that, transfer student!"

When Mikan was sure that Natsume and his friends had left, she exhaled and fell down to her knees. "What was I thinking?" She gave out a loud sneeze after that.

Then she saw a pair of feet walking and stopping in front of her. When she looked up, she saw... him.

"Nogi… Ruka?"

So, Natsume Hyuuga was gone, but his best friend was here. Great. Mikan hung her head, avoiding the eye contact. A soft breeze passed by and she couldn't help but shiver. She wrapped her arms across her body, her breathing quickening.

"That took a lot of guts," he said quietly as he stared at her.

Mikan, although surprised, pulled the jacket tighter around her. "I…" she murmured. "…got carried away."

"But you meant everything that you said, right?" he inquired, looking interested.

For some unknown reasons, he talked as if he was in favor of what she did. Being Natsume Hyuuga's best friend, this was the kind of reaction she least expected from him. Not knowing what else to say, Mikan shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips. When Ruka sensed that she wasn't going to say anything else, crouched next to her as he patted his white rabbit with his finger.

They remained like this for awhile, neither of them saying a word. Ruka just kept staring up the sky almost like Mikan wasn't even there. She didn't know why he was being nice to her, but she liked the company. It now seemed almost impossible that he and Natsume were actually best friends.

"Thank you," she blurted out.

Ruka looked at her nonchalantly then a scowl suddenly crossed his face. "Don't get the wrong idea," he said, yanking his jacket off of her. He hung it over his shoulder and stood up, walking away without another word.

"W-Wait!" Mikan called.

He was sauntering in an awfully fast pace and she found it hard to catch up to him in her current condition. Because of her continuous and rather clumsy scampering, she found herself going horizontal on the ground. She let out a loud yelp, lifting herself up with her arms. Her head throbbed momentarily, and she tried to shake the dizziness off.

A pair of feet approached her and when she looked up, Ruka was staring down at her. He knelt down with one knee to meet her face and fished out a handkerchief out of his pocket. Wiping her face, he said, "You're a mess. Go and change."

Blood rushed to Mikan's cheeks as he continued to wipe her face. She found herself idiotically gawking at him. Her body stiffened and she moved her mouth up and down, but no words came out. Ruka looked at her questioningly and Mikan fidgeted on her spot, no knowing how to react. With embarrassment and humiliation completely taking over her, she scrambled to her feet, reflexively snatching the handkerchief from Ruka's hand.

"S-Sorry!" she choked out against the lump in her throat. "B-Bye!"

Not bothering to look back, she kept running until she was out the door. She closed the door behind her and leaned back against it, sighing. She pushed herself from the door and sneaked her way back to the classroom, slightly glad that there were no people in sight. Grabbing her bag from her seat, she sprinted off to the washroom. Luckily, the it was just around the next corner and she didn't get lost.

"Hey," a husky voice called out. Mikan cringed at the voice, slowly turning around and hoping that it wasn't Ruka.

And it wasn't. It was worse. It was Natsume Hyuuga.

Her eyebrow twitched when she saw him. His expression was unreadable as he eyed her from top to bottom. Mikan pursed her lips, clutching her bag protectively and avoiding his stare. The only thing that she wanted to do was get out of there, but her feet refused to move. Just perfect.

She inhaled deeply and said hi, tacking on a fake smile to hide her self-consciousness. A simple greeting won't hurt, she thought, completely forgetting the fact that she just had an argument with the guy not a little over than twenty minutes ago.

Natsume did not respond to the greeting as he brushed past her. Mikan respired, realizing that she had been holding her breath the entire time. She glanced at Natsume one more time before rushing off to the washroom. As soon as she got there, she threw her bag next to the sink and faced the mirror, a horrified expression befalling her. Her face and uniform was smeared with muck, and the ribbons that held up her pigtails have been loosened that her hair drooped down to her shoulders. Shaking her head, she turned the faucet on and splashed a handful of water on her face, removing all traces of dirt.

When she paused to breathe, she reached out inside her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to dry her face off. As she wiped her face, she inhaled an unfamiliar scent of men's cologne and realized that it was Ruka's handkerchief that she used. A blush tickled her cheeks when she recalled the incident. Even though Natsume Hyuuga was the bad character in the story, she was happy to know that he, at least, had a counterpart.

Mikan sighed, frustratedly. There was no hope for her messed up uniform and she wasn't able to bring any extra clothes to change into. Fortunately enough, she had brought a jacket with her and she wore it over her uniform.

Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

Mikan headed back to the classroom. It was already around two o'clock in the afternoon and Mikan found herself skipping almost all her classes on the first day because of the unexpected turn of events. Good thing was, the first class in the afternoon just ended and the next one would be English, Narumi's class.

The class grew quiet when they saw her. Compared to this morning, they were actually a lot more tamed this time, much to Mikan's surprise. As she walked towards her seat, all eyes turned to her and she felt her stomach churn.

Just a few feet away from the back to the room, she caught sight of Natsume Hyuuga with his feet on the desk. He seemed preoccupied with manga to bother glancing up at her, even though she had been staring at him for a full minute. What's more, what bugged Mikan the most was that he was there, sitting on her desk and nobody seemed to care at all.

"I think you're in the wrong place," Mikan said without any trace of fear in her voice. "That's my seat."

Natsume, not looking away from his manga, said, "You're the one in the wrong place. This has always been my seat."

Mikan looked around and met the stares of her classmates, trying to look for confirmation. Not one of them spoke which meant that he was telling the truth. There was, however, an empty desk right next to him beside the windows, but it was occupied by a black and red backpack. Scanning the room, she found one more vacant seat, but it was next to Ruka Nogi.

She had to choose whether sit beside Ruka or Natsume. Which would be less troublesome? Definitely beside Ruka. Even though Mikan knew that she still had an awkward moment with him not too long ago, at least he didn't look like he would eat her alive. Consequently having made her decision, she turned her heel, but she stopped when she heard a loud thump behind her. Looking back, she found the backpack on the desk, now on the floor.

"Sit," Natsume ordered.

Blinking twice, Mikan looked questioningly at him, but he didn't pay attention. "I was thinking of sitting over there—"

"Sit or I'll glue you butt to the chair," Natsume drawled, a murderous look in his eyes.

"Fine already, you don't have to shout!" Mikan raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't go thinking that Natsume-kun has accepted you by agreeing for you to sit beside him. He's just too cool to care about some nobody being his seatmate," Sumire said.

"Yeah whatever, Permy! If she likes Natsume so much, then why doesn't she go sit with him? I wouldn't care at all," Mikan glared at Sumire.

"Mikan-chan, why are you blocking the door?" Narumi said from behind.

"Uh, sorry!" she answered as she got out of the way.

Mikan proceeded to her desk, staring at Natsume. He still didn't bother to look at her for even a bit. He just put his manga away and stared outside the window as his chin rested on his palm. Natsume chose that place so that he would be next to the window, his favorite spot – he barely listened to Narumi, so it was best he had something else to draw his attention to.

Mikan just gritted her teeth and sat down, moving to the very edge of the seat so that she doesn't have to be too close to him. Before anything else, Narumi started class. Mikan managed to survive the whole afternoon without having to talk to Natsume or at least catch his attention for something she did—he was busy spacing out and looking outside the window, anyway. But it can't be helped that Mikan's classmates kept looking back at the two of them with different expressions on their faces, especially Sumire who was obviously jealous that Mikan was seated next to her beloved Natsume-kun, even though she was already seated next to Ruka.

Well, you could say that Mikan's first day at Alice High was not as good as she expected it. What's more, her encounter with Ruka made her discover some feelings she has never felt before. Some not so good things that happened were, her classmates hated her the first time they saw her, she became someone's "so called" rival for her classmate's crush against her will, and she made herself an enemy she never dreamt of having… Hyuuga Natsume.

As Mikan looked outside from her window, she saw dark clouds covering the entire night sky, hiding the stars from her sight.

"I have a bad feeling that it's going to rain tomorrow…"

End of First Act

Author's Notes: I have no idea how I ended up writing so much for the first chapter of this story. Again, I'll fix the typos when I get the chance. :) Leave a review. :D