I do not, have not, and will never own Gakuen Alice :)

I never expected myself to be in this position. Not once had I ever dreamed of going from poor and near-homeless, to the prized athlete of famous trainers Natsume Hyuuga and Ruka Nogi. I did not expect this, and maybe at a time I hadn't wanted it. I didn't care for the fame or the scandals or the drama that came with this form of success. I didn't want to be on the front page of a gossip magazine for saying the wrong thing or talking to a stranger on the street. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't want to be anywhere else. Because I was in love for the first time in my life, and that love was within my grasp. How could I just give it up?

I mustered up the brave face that had gotten me past creeps in the alleys or drunks lounging outside of bars before. I feigned nonchalance, while my heart pounded so hard in my chest that I found myself short of breath.

The man picked his way through the underbrush. I watched the gun intently, my eyes following every inch it moved.

"You know, I admire your persistence," he said, stopping a foot and a half away from me, so close that I had to crane my neck back to get a good look at him.

His face was clean shaven and angular, a face that would have looked more fitting paired with a suit, rather than the plaid flannel and cargo shorts he was wearing. His hair was carefully combed, not a single hair out of place, and his smirk was so unnerving that I felt goosebumps rising on my arms.

"Luna never told us what to expect from you," he went on. "She never told us you'd try clambering your way out of that hole. She never told us you'd use a shoe as a weapon. Poor Daiki. He's going to have a lump on the side of his head. I don't imagine he'll be too impressed."

I managed to snort. "Yeah, well, I can't say I'm too impressed with being thrown in the hole to begin with." My voice was hoarse, and with every syllable it felt like I was trying to swallow sandpaper.

He chuckled. "You can't leave, Mikan. If you get away, then that's on me. I don't get paid. In fact, the Koizumis would probably empty my band account. I can't let that happen, Mikan."

I shimmied backwards. "So you're just going to shoot me?"

"Luna said we had to keep it clean, but she also didn't expect you to get out of that hole. So I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this." He glanced at his Baume & Mercier watch. "As long as I keep you long enough for the vows to finish, then I get paid, Luna marries the guy of her dreams, and their parents form an alliance between their businesses. So, honey, you have a choice."

I scowled. "You can quit with the endearments."

He ignored me. "Either you keep me company here, and I won't throw you back in that hole, and we can just sit here and chat."

I waited for him to keep talking, but he just stared at me, expecting me to jump on the easiest way out.

"Or you can run," he went on. "And I'll have no choice but to stop you in any way that I can."

"Listen, uh…"

His lips curved. "Katsuo."

"Alright, listen, Katsuo. Luna didn't think this one through. You can just go around kidnapping people, throwing them in holes that are there for who knows what reason, and threatening them at gunpoint. It's illegal. And there is no way for this to end well for her. Because if you kill me, someone's going to find out, and even if Luna doesn't go down, they'll catch you. And if you do let me go, or if I get away, I'll talk. I'll tell people what went down here."

For half a second, his masochistic grin faltered, and then he chuckled. "Mikan, Mikan, you underestimate the power of manipulation. I'm sure you'll be let go – as long as you cooperate – but Luna will have you kept quiet. Because you have people that are close to you."

"So you're blackmailing me?"

"I suppose, yes. So what's it going to be, Mikan?"

I slowly pushed myself up, one step at a time, watching Katsuo's gun following every inch I moved, until it was level with my chest and I was standing just two feet away from him.

"I don't think you understand," I told him. "This is going to get out. Respect for the Koizumis is going to plummet, and they're not going to have a business. And then the Hyuugas are going to be angry, because they're not delivering. And the marriage will be worthless."

His grin turned to a scowl. "Luna will have thought of all this already."

"She's got blinders on, Katsuo. All she sees is Natsume. And she'll do anything she can to get him without thinking of the repercussions. I mean, seriously, there's no way this could have ended well. Throwing me in a hole? Did you dig the damn thing?"

He started to look over his shoulder, and then thought better of it and turned back to me. "It's for a telephone pole. Luna paid them to stop working around here for the day."

I wanted to gape at him. Well, there was a lot of things I wanted to do. Like curl up in a ball and cry. Or hit my head against a tree trunk and ask myself what the hell I thought I was doing.

I didn't do any of that though. Instead, I managed to laugh. "Of course she did. How did you even get me down there?"

"You'll find a bruise around your waist," he said. "We lowered you down."

I itched to check, but there wasn't any way I could check under my dress without being indecent or humiliating myself, and I wasn't in any position to break eye contact or show vulnerability.

I feigned a nonchalant sigh. "I think it's my turn to give you a much more realistic choice here."

He didn't nod or shake his head. He didn't open his mouth. He didn't even blink. But something on his face changed. Maybe it was the sun passing behind a cloud, or fatigue getting to my head, but the look he wore now was one of prey in the eyes of a hunter. Because he knew that I was right.

Without waiting for any other response, I went on. "If you let me walk away right now, then I won't tell the police. I won't tell anyone. I'll say I don't remember who took me. Luna will have her way with you, but you won't be in jail. Or, you can keep me here. You can disarm me, break my legs, shoot me…but somehow, someone will find out. And when they do, you'll go to jail for the rest of your life."

This information, information that he'd already known, cycled through his mind. I could tell he was scrambling for a reply, for a loophole that would get him out of this mess, but he wouldn't find one.

I felt my lips curve. "So, what will it be?"

Natsume stood on the altar, waiting for Luna, the Devil's daughter. Behind him, his family sat on one side of the aisle, Luna's on the other. Ruka, on his other side, continued to cast feverish glances over his shoulder, waiting for the doors of the church to burst open and for that brunette bonehead to come to the rescue.

He never expected to be in this position. He'd planned to go through with this marriage and get his father off of his back, and maybe find a way out of it when his old man died. He hadn't expected Mikan to come along, with her loud mouth and forgiving smile and naïve innocence that was equally annoying as it was endearing. He hadn't expected to train her into an athlete with so much potential. He hadn't expected to want to keep her around, to be able to hold her hand and see that smile everyday.

For God's sake, he couldn't remember the last time he'd ever had a romantic thought. And here he was wishing she'd come bursting through those doors so he could sweep her right back off her feet.

Katsuo lowered the gun. I had to consciously hold back my victorious grin. The less he thought I was gloating, the better this would turn out for me.

"I have a family, you know," he said gruffly.

"Then go home to them," I suggested. "And never associate with the Koizumi's again. They do dirty business, I swear. I mean, they're forcing a marriage. Can you imagine marrying someone just because your parents said you had to?"

A ghost of a smile touched his lips, like he was remembering something, but then it vanished and he waved the gun in my direction. "I'll give you twenty seconds to get out of my sight. If I can still see you, then one of these bullets will be in your back."

A shiver escaped up my spine. I whirled around, wishing I could thank him but taking him too seriously to want to stop. I weaved through the trees, my shoes grasped in my hands, my feet landed on sharp branches and my toes catching on the thick underbrush.

I never heard a gun shot. I got to the quiet road, filthy, beaten, bruised, exhausted, and alive. By then, I was so disoriented that I couldn't begin to guess which was I should be going.

The doubt came crawling back, dragging an exasperated whimper from my lips.

I didn't know where I was or how to get to the church. I didn't know if Natsume even wanted me to do this. This, which was breaking up a wedding, which was totally out of my character.

I took a deep breath, sweeping my hands over my face and starting in the direction my gut told me to go, which I didn't take as accurate. "You've gotten this far, Mikan," I muttered to myself. "Now's not the time to let your directionally challenged nature get in the way."

I am not the kind of girl,
Who should be rudely barging in on a while veil occasion
But you are not the kind of boy
Who should be marrying the wrong girl

I got myself to a main road, ignoring the stairs the people gave me. The minute I saw a yellow car in the distance, I stuck my hand out and waved frantically. The first taxi passed without stopping. The second was a little more merciful.

I hopped into the back seat, scrambling into the middle and shouting out the name of the church.

"Whoa, girl, whoa," the cab driver said, turned halfway around in his seat. He was a young fellow, probably only a little older than me. "You're filthy!"

I almost laughed at the way his voice sky-rocketed in pitch with the word 'filthy', but I'd glanced at the time.

"Go, go, go!" I shrieked.

"Yes, ma'am!" He slammed his foot on the gas pedal, throwing me backwards.

I scrambled to get my seatbelt in place, watching the clock with my worried spelled out on my face.

"Wait a second," the cabbie said, peering at me through the rearview mirror. "Isn't that the church where Luna Koizumi and Natsume Hyuuga are getting married?"

"Yes," I said blandly.

"You can't go to a wedding of that high of class looking like that, sister!"

I hadn't intended to judge him, but by the way he spoke like he was my girlfriend that I'd known for years, I had to go ahead and assume that he was gay. Which didn't bother me in the least; his enthusiasm had me fighting a smile.

"I don't have a choice."

"All right, let me rephrase that. I can't let you go to a wedding of that high of class, in the presence of someone as dangerously attractive as Natsume Hyuuga, looking like you just climbed out of a hole in the ground."

I shuffled forward on my seat so I was hanging over the front seat. "What's your name?"

"Masaru Tanaka, at your service." If he'd been in the physical position to do so, I felt like he might have bowed.

"Masaru, I'm going to crash that wedding because I'm in love with Natsume Hyuuga. He has seen me go from bad to worse to worst in the short time he's known me and I don't imagine he's going to be too focused on the fact that I look like I crawled out of a hole. On top of that, can you imagine how much of a slap in the face that would be to Luna?"

He stopped the cab at a red light and turned around in his seat, frowning. The moment he got a good look at me though, it morphed into a grin.

"Mikan Sakura! You're Hyuuga's and Nogi's athlete! Lucky girl, you are. Reading those magazines and hearing all about yours and Natsume's conflicts and interactions, I just knew you'd end up together."

The light turned green, so I pointed at the road. "Then drive! If I miss my chance, I'm going to be lonely for the rest of my life, I swear."

He turned in his seat and floored it again, throwing me against the seat once more. He turned up the radio, and I laughed out loud at the irony of Taylor Swift's Speak Now filling the cab.

Don't say "Yes", run away now
I'll meet you when you're out of the church at the back door
Don't wait or say a single vow
You need to hear me out
And they said, "Speak now"

Masaru turned up the music and rolled down his windows. He started singing to the lyrics, and I couldn't help but join in. It made the anxiety almost completely disappear.

Almost.

Hotaru did not often lose composure. This was no exception. As the organ started to play, she looked down at her watch with a blank expression. Mikan had always been good at showing up late.

Ruka cast another glance over his shoulder, barely acknowledging the white goddess that was Luna, strutting down the aisle with even a stride that was cocky. Behind her veil, a satisfied smirk was hidden.

Ruka's eyes locked with Hotaru's. He didn't bother to disguise the worry. When he looked back at his best friend, Hotaru was sure that she saw his shoulders sag.

Natsume stood with his back straight, his jaw clenched. Like he wished he'd done something else, instead of leaving it up to Mikan and her pigheadedness.

And, Hotaru supposed, he should have. Because this time, Mikan's usual late that she thought was on time, would be too late.

And the organ starts to play
A song that sounds like a death march.

Masaru looked up and down the street by the church, looking for an empty parking spot. Not only were the grounds flooded with press outside the doors barred by security guards, but the place was surrounded by security vehicles.

"How do you suppose you're going to get past them?" Masaru asked, tires screeching as he ripped around the corner.

I was already unbuckling my seatbelt, reading his mind. "I'll figure something out. Find somewhere to park nearby and wait for me. I don't have any money on me right now."

"I have to find out from the princess how this fairytale ends, anyway." He slammed on the brake in the middle of the side street, earning a honk from a news van behind him. I was already lunging out of the vehicle.

Maybe Ruka was holding out for a miracle. He'd seen what Mikan and Natsume had when they were together. They bickered, they argued, and they said they hated each other. But by the look on his best friend's face at that moment, that look of waiting in agony for something he wasn't sure was to happen, made all of that seem like nothing.

Mikan and Natsume, in the short time they'd known each other, had fallen in love.

The priest cleared his throat. "Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today…"

Out of the corner of his eye, Ruka noticed movement. Hotaru, looking beautiful as ever in a violet sundress with the big white flower attached to the strap, was standing up. And if he wasn't mistaken, he saw a ghost of a smirk on her thin, pale lips.

I shoved my way through the anxious crowd, waiting to see the queen emerge with her new king. But I couldn't let that happen. Under no circumstances could I let that happen.

"Move it!" I exclaimed, squeezing between a stick of a woman and her partner who was six times her size. The woman cried out in surprise, and the man started to holler after me, but stopped in mid sentence.

"Hey, get back here you-" I heard his gasp. "Hey! It's Mikan Sakura!"

A murmur rippled through the crowd. I ignored it and pressed on, but I found that the people parted for me now, until I reached the front lines where the news vans were set up. Someone tried to shove a mic at me; I shoved it right back.

The security guards were bracing themselves. No doubt they couldn't afford to violently stop me with the news cameras watching their every move, but I also knew that Luna would have made sure that I wouldn't get in.

I didn't plan on stopping for the doors. My bare feet slapped against the stone steps, and I planned to throw all of my weight – which wasn't much – between the two guards.

Before I could leap, and before the guards could put their hands on me, the two wooden doors swung open.

"She's with me," Hotaru said, so icily that the guards backed up two steps. She fixed her blank, violet stare on them for good measure, and then motioned impatiently for me to go in.

"Please," she said dryly. "Cut it a little closer, idiot."

We were in a small lobby area. The wedding was separated from us by another set of double doors.

Hotaru grabbed my arm before I could make a break for it. "You have to wait."

"For God's sake, I've been waiting long enough!"

"No," she said firmly. "There'll be a time for you to do this, and it's not yet. Just wait for the priest to stop rambling."

But I know you wish it was me,
You wish it was me,
Don't you?

She dragged me over to the closed doors and listened.

"True marriage is more than joining the bonds of marriage of two persons; it is the union of two hearts. It lives on the love you give each other and never grows old, but thrives on the joy of each new day. Marriage is love. May you always be able to talk things over, to confide in each other, to laugh with each other, to enjoy life together, and to share moments of quiet and peace, when the day is done. May you be blessed with a lifetime of happiness and a home of warmth and understanding."

I snorted, pushing my dirt-crusted hair off of my forehead with a trembling hand.

Hotaru elbowed me sharply in the ribs, annoyance flickering across her face.

"Aren't you going to ask where I've been?" I whispered, mostly in attempt to calm my jumping nerves.

"You were kidnapped. I knew that already."

"What? Hotaru, they had me in a hole!"

"That doesn't surprise me. Luna's always been an overachiever."

"Like you're one to talk."

She elbowed me again.

"If any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together in holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it."

I hear the preacher say, "Speak now or forever hold your peace,"
There's the silence, there's my last chance.

"Now." Hotaru grabbed my elbow, and without giving me a pep talk or at least giving me a chance to prepare myself, she threw open the doors and shoved me inside.

Horrified looks from everyone in the room
But I'm only looking at you.

Natsume stood on the altar. Upon my arrival, he, along with every other person in the room, turned to face me. For a fraction of a second, amusement touched his face, followed by something that looked suspiciously like concern, before going blank again.

He was the most handsome man I'd ever seen at that moment. Not according to the magazines or the tabloids or anyone else. According to me. In his trim suit with his white lapel, right down to his shiny shoes and the way his hair was artistically mussed, I melted from the inside out.

"Umm…" I started, but Luna's enraged shriek cut me off.

"You bitch! Can't you do anything you're told? You're not supposed to be here! You're ruining everything!" She turned to Natsume, frantically grabbing his hands. "Natsume, don't look at her. You have to marry me. Our parents have arranged it."

"Say something, bonehead," Hotaru whispered.

"Luna," I said, willing my voice to quit shaking. My eyes slid to my mom; she had her hand cupped over her mouth in concern and in pride as her eyes welled with tears. "You're the bitch. I know that's a terrible thing to say in a church, but there's no nicer way to put it. I can't let you marry Natsume."

"Why not?" Natsume drawled.

I looked at him steadily, hearing the challenge in his voice and knowing what he wanted me to say. What he wanted me to say in front of his parents, in front of Luna's parents.

I tilted my chin up. "Because I love you."

Natsume dropped Luna's hands.

For a moment, Luna Koizumi, named the sexiest woman alive by more than one magazine, turned into a dinosaur. At least that's what it looked like to me. Her mouth went impossibly wide as she let out a battle cry, and I swear she grew talons. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed by her ability to speed down the aisle at me so quickly in heels and such a poofy gown. She leapt on me before I even had time to react, and as onlookers stood up in a hurry to try to do something, I was lost under a pile of white fabric.

"You're such a brat!" she screamed, pawing through her dress to try and find me.

I deflected her hands before they could rip out my hair, intending only to act defensively. But the minute she dug her talons onto my shoulder, I knew that wouldn't work, so I clawed back.

"Mikan!" I heard my mom cry.

"Somebody get them apart!" the priest exclaimed.

"Let them fight," Hotaru said calmly. "It'll make good pictures."

I read a riiiiiip! and part of Luna's dress came away in my hand. I briefly wondered how much the dress - which felt like a cloud, it was so soft - had cost.

"Get off of me!" I yelled, trying to find her body amongst the dress so I could push her off.

She was panting and screaming and maybe crying, which made me feel bad, until she suddenly collapsed onto me. Her sobs tore though her body, and I could feel her tears soaking through the fabric of my dress where she rested her head in my abdomen.

I sat up, frowning. Ruka, who'd been about to pull her off of me, froze, staring at he like she'd suddenly sprouted a third arm. Hotaru stood nearby, her camera out, snapping pictures. Then she turned her camera to the altar, where the three other groomsmen stood. I didn't recognize any of them. The one on the end, however, had his hands clenched into fists and a look of agony on his face, like it was physically painful for him to see Luna like this.

"I can't do this," she sobbed. "I'm so sick of this charade."

Looking up uneasily at Natsume, who stared evenly back, I dropped my hand to her hair, no longer neatly pinned up. "What charade, Luna?"

"I'm not in love with Natsume."

The gasp that rippled through the crowd almost made me laugh, except my gasp was among them.

She sat up. Her makeup was smudged, her hair straggling around her face. She was the most human I'd ever seen her. "Maybe a little bit, but not enough to marry him. I don't hate you, Mikan Sakura. I'm not the selfish bitch you think I am." She turned on her knees, her dress pooling around her, and pointed to the man on the altar. "I'm in love with him. We've been seeing each other in secret since you came into the picture."

Luna's dad, whose name I did not know, looked equally as furious as Naoki, Natsume's dad. Both men were standing, their faces beet red, only Luna's dad was glaring daggers at the man on the altar and Naoki looked like he was going to kill me.

Ruka helped Luna to her feet. She went over to Natsume, her eyes rimmed red, and touched his face. "Thank you for helping me please my parents. And thank you for ending this thing." She looked over her shoulder at me. "You've got guts, Sakura." She brushed past her parents, grabbed the hand of the man on the altar, and kissed him.

I hopped to my feet, mind reeling. "Wait a second." I pointed an accusing finger at Natsume. "You knew she was faking?"

He nodded.

I threw my hands up in the air. "It all makes sense. Everything makes sense now. You weren't cheating on each other because you didn't actually have a relationship. Everyone just thought you did. Oh, my gosh. I can't believe this right now."

Natsume turned to his and Luna's parents. "I think it's safe to say there won't be a wedding."

Naoki was already boiling over.

"You are a disgrace of a son!"

My hands clenched into fists and I stomped over to Natsume, grabbing his hand and glaring hard at Naoki. "You're a disgrace of a father."

He tucked me against his side, bending his head to whisper through his teeth, "Don't get yourself in more trouble with him."

I wanted to argue with him, but when he dropped his arm around my shoulders, warmth spread through my body and I wound my arms around his waist because I had him. Screw rules and controlling parents and arranged marriages. At that moment, he was mine.

Baby, I didn't say my vows,
So glad you were around
When they said, "Speak now"

"I've had Aiko Sakura's banking information entirely protected," Natsume told his father, his eyes dark. "Her payments are coming directly from me. You can't threaten me, or this idiot," He squeezed my shoulders, "with that anymore. As of now, you and I are separate people. I'm not under your thumb anymore."

Naoki was trembling with rage. If I hadn't been through so much already, I might have been scared. "You will not come to me for financial support. Any support. As of now, you are my son only by law."

I expected that to get some sort of emotion from my trainer. Hell, Naoki's words even cut me. But Natsume just smirked. "Like I need financial support from you. At the rate you're going, you'll need financial support from me."

Running out of things to insult Natsume with, he pointed his finger accusingly at me. "I don't want to ever see her, ever. Or I'll have her thrown in another hole and I'll-"

Before he could finish with his threat, I gasped. "That was you? Not Luna?"

Luna, who was still on the altar with her man, staying out of the crossfire for now, turned to me in shock, and then an angry scowl transformed her tear-ravaged face. She was looking at Naoki's back.

"What did you do?" she shrieked. "You threw her in a hole? And said it was me?"

Naoki looked smug; I could see where Natsume got that look. "You two already had enough blood between you. That idiot would believe it. I hired the men under your name. The more you hated each other, the better."

Now Luna's parents had turned to face Naoki. Her father had that kind of anger that isn't noticeable on the outside, but is burning from the inside out. That was the scariest kind.

"You tried to drag Luna's name through the mud?"

Naoki snorted. "Oh, please. Her name's already been dragged through the mud."

While they bickered, people began seeping out of the church. My mom, Hotaru, Anna, and Ruka stayed. My mom and Anna pulled me away from Natsume and surveyed the minor damage done to my body, while Natsume watched me with this sort of protective anger that I could practically feel emanating off of him.

I'd hear it later about how stupid I was to let that happen, how it was going to compromise my athletic performance, yadda-yadda. Right now, that didn't matter. Not as long as he was looking at me with what I knew was his way of caring.

Hotaru went up to him and held up a mechanical device of some sort. Judging by the cord that led from the device to the flower on the strap of her dress, I guessed it was some recording concoction she'd whipped up for use in inconspicuous interviews. She'd caught Naoki's every word on tape.

I watched Natsume nod while trying to assure Anna and my mom that I was fine, just a little bruised. My mom wanted me to go to the hospital, Anna wanted me to explain – in detail – what had happened. But I was barely paying attention to either of them.

Natsume was going to turn his dad in for what he'd done to me. He was choosing me over his own blood.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't restrain myself any longer. I ran and leapt securing my arms around his neck and digging my face into his shoulder. His arms were tight around me, and I could ignore Naoki's snort of disgust.

Natsume's lips touched my ear. "You're getting my suit dirty."

I went on to place sixth in the finals of my competition. Anna placed third. Considering it was my first real competition, I was pretty proud of myself, and so was Ruka and even though Natsume didn't say it, I knew he was too.

My mom doesn't live where we used to. With me working with Natsume and Ruka, she was able to move into a nice apartment. I stayed there most nights, but sometimes she let me stay at Natsume's. Some things you just couldn't avoid.

Ruka and Hotaru are an item, even though Hotaru spends a lot of time away with work. Every time she comes home, it's really quite adorable how starry-eyed Ruka gets. And I can tell Hotaru is happy – I'm her best friend, that's my job.

Naoki is currently awaiting trial for attempted murder charges. I don't know how well that will blow over, since there's no evidence that he actually tried to kill me, but Natsume hired the best lawyer around. Which means a lot to me.

I didn't back out. I could have, very easily, told Natsume I couldn't handle the pressure of having the spotlight on me. But I would have been lying, because I found out that as long as I had Natsume to bicker with, argue with, want to throttle, occasionally kick or hit, and then at the end of the day have his arms to go into, I could handle it.

Oh, and Masaru the cabbie? He's pretty stuck on the idea of Natsume and I eventually getting married, and he'd called dibs on planning it.

A/N: That is officially the end of All Star! It has been a long and wonderful ride with you, my readers, and I'm glad to have spent it with you! I know I said in my last chapter that I'd try to finish the story a week after I posted it, but when I think back I don't know what I was thinking! Next time I write a fanfiction, I hope to write it all and then post it chapter by chapter, but I don't have any idea when the next one might be, if ever. Maybe in the summer, when I only have to work and I don't have to worry about school! I haven't replied to any personal messages or reviews, but I DO get them and i DO take into consideration what eachs says. And just because I'm not posting doesn't mean I'm absent from this site! I still read!

Lots of love,
Ducky-san

(This has not been proofread, so please excuse grammatical or spelling errors!)