Disclaimer: I own so many things... Sadly, Gakuen Alice is not one of them. (TT)

Summary: Her foolishness almost cost her her sight. But at the interval of her being blind, she found a new friend. Five years later, she got caught up in the most difficult web to be tangled in... Especially when you had to deal with a teen celebrity.

Author's Note: Hmmm... you know, the weirdest thing about this story is that I got my inspiration for it when my mobile phone hanged on me. So yeah... it has a bit of the elements in Tachibana-sensei's "A Girl in a Bird Cage" manga, but it IS a completely different story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!! Please review afterwards!!

Love Knots

by

BlakRythem

It was exactly five minutes to eight when the house phone of the Imai residence started ringing loudly. The raven-haired girl of the household looked up from her day's homework and glanced at the telephone.

"Mom, the phone's ringing." She called her mother as she went back to answer the next problem.

"Yes, yes." Her mother said as she emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands dry on her apron and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"HELLO?! MRS. IMAI?!" Came the high pitched voice of the house's regular caller, almost deafening the woman's right ear. She smiled.

"Mikan-chan! Good evening! Did you call for Hotaru?" She asked. The raven haired girl looked up from her work and shook her head vigorously.

"YES!! I HAVE GREAT NEWS TO TELL HER!!" The caller said excitedly.

Mrs. Imai chuckled, "Okay, okay. Just a minute, dear." She said as she handed the cordless phone and gave it to her daughter.

Hotaru looked at the phone as if she would die if she touched it and then sighed and took it anyway.

"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed.

"HOTARU! HOTARU! HOTARU!! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME TODAY!!" Her best friend cried out from the other line, obviously happy.

"You grew a brain cell?" She sarcastically asked as she continued to answer her homework.

"NUH-UH!! IT'S REALLY GREAT NEWS!!"

Hotaru grunted, "What is it?"

"I won the radio contest!! I get to spend the DAY with the HYUUGA NATSUME TOMORROW!!" She squeeled in delight. At that moment, Hotaru had a picture of her brunette friend dancing around her house with the telephone in tow.

At that new information, Imai Hotaru did what she usually did when her best friend, Sakura Mikan told her something useless.

She hung up.

Sakura Mikan brushed her hair the nth time that day, making sure that it was perfect for the day's outing. She went to her dresser and picked out the best of her wardrobe.

This is so exciting! She thought as she hugged her pink blouse, a blush crept up to her cheeks.

Twelve-year old Sakura Mikan didn't usually go crazy over the same old typical celebrity... But this one actually changed all of that. When she first saw the young actor and singer's face, she thought he was the same as every celebrity.

Arrogant and fake.

But after witnessing him do a heroic deed one day, she swore that she was going to melt at the times when she looked at his smiling pictures.

Well... he only smiled a little when he was with this particular blonde actor who was about the same age as he was.

And the same age as her! And that made her happy.

She looked at the line of clothes she had hung up and wondered what she should wear.

Should she wear her usual pink blouse and her white mini skirt?

Or should she go for something wilder?

She frowned when she thought of herself looking like a total fool.

She rummaged through her dresser and smiled when she found what she was looking for. A green hooded shirt with its sleeves puffed. The shirt was a V neck and it went down to her chest, definitely something that was meant to have something inside of it, say a white sleeveless... unless you wanted to expose your own chest.

She put it on and matched it with her laced mini skirt. She tied her hair to a sided ponytail on her head with a sunflower hair tie. She admired herself on the full length mirror and smiled in satisfaction.

(Note: To see what she looks like, then please visit GA in mangafox)

"There! It's not anything showy and it's not plain either! It's just me!" She happily said before her mother's head popped into her room.

"Mikan, if you don't hurry, you'll be late for your own date." Her mother teased her, making Mikan burst in embarassment.

"Mom! It's not a date! It's just something I won through the radio!" She protested, her face beet red.

Her mother chuckled, "If you say so. You look so cute! I'm sure whoever this celebrity is will fall head-over-heels in love with you!" She cooed, making the currently embarassed pre-teen more embarassed.

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" She said as she pushed her out of her room.

She sighed as she grabbed her winning mail which she received that night. "I'm ready!" She said enthusiastically.

"Natsume, why are still hanging around here? Aren't you supposed to meet with that radio winner?" A blonde haired boy asked as he sat down on the sofa next to a raven haired boy.

He grunted, "Why do I even have to bother? Isn't all of this for show?" He asked as he flipped through the page of his manga.

His friend sighed, "You know, the girl who called seemed pretty excited and happy when she found out she won." He informed him.

"Tch. Aren't they all? They all just grovel, there's nothing new about it." He said, his boredom apparent.

The blonde sighed, "Then why did you agree to be the winner's reward?"

"I didn't agree to it, Ruka. I was forced to do it." He said matter-of-factly. He closed his manga and eyed his best friend. "If you're so interested, then why don't you go?"

"H-HUH?! M-ME? No way! I have things to do!" Ruka said, denying Natsume's generous offer.

"But you know, you don't want to make that girl feel bad for not showing up, right?" Ruka asked him after calming down.

Natsume sighed, "Whatever." He said, giving in as he walked out of the room and headed out of the studio.

"Have fun and good luck!" Ruka cried out enthusiastically.

"Bastard." Natsume breathed out.

--

Mikan skipped through the people and entered the studio, excited to meet her idol.

"Excuse me, Mikan-chan?" She turned around and came face to face with a blonde haired man with an air of... peppiness.

"Yes! I'm Sakura Mikan!" She announced.

The blonde haired man smiled, "Welcome and congratulations, Mikan-chan. I'm Natsume-kun's agent, Narumi. Now there are things you need to know before going out with Natume-kun..."

Mikan listened intently to the weird man as he briefed her about a couple or so things about the days outing.

"So this is her?"

Her head snapped up when a young boy came up to them. She gawked at him and realized that he was even more handsome to look at up close. She smiled at him.

"Ah, Natsume-kun, this is Sakura Mikan-chan, the girl who won the contest." Narumi introduced, but all the boy did was stare at her as if she were from another planet.

"Hn. Well what are we waiting for? Let's go." He ordered.

"Ehm... Don't you need the limo?" Narumi asked them.

Before Natsume could answer him, the brunette said, "No, that's fine! Walking would be much better! And it would be exercising too!!" She cheerfully said, lifting an arm up, as if she were showing him her muscle.

Narumi looked at the young actor. Natsume merely grunted and walked out of the studio first.

"H-hey! Wait!" Mikan called out and waved her goodbye to Narumi.

Narumi smiled, "Have fun you two!" This girl is very interesting. He thought as he went off to do some of his other work.

There was silence when the two set foot out of the studio, none of them said a word before...

"I'm Sakura Mikan!" The brunette introduced herself, extending a hand for him to shake.

Natsume merely looked at it. "Didn't that Narumi introduce you to me earlier?"

Mikan nodded, "He did! But it's better if you introduce yourself rather than have someone else do it for you!" She said matter-of-factly.

"So where are we going?" She asked him.

"Anywhere."

"Where are we gonna eat?"

"Anywhere."

"... Are we going to the arcade?"

"...Maybe."

"Do you want some ice cream or some corn cobs before lunch?"

"Maybe."

Mikan swore that she felt a nerve pop on her head. Patience, Sakura. Patience.

"Do you know any other word other than 'anywhere' and 'maybe'?"

"Probably."

Mikan sighed, "You're actually a difficult person to talk to." She said as she sat down on a nearby bench.

"You ask too much. It's annoying." Natsume said, somewhat bluntly.

Mikan glared at him, "Well sorry for being annoying!" At that outburst she cupped her mouth and muttered, "Sorry."

"Hn."

"So what do you like to do?" She asked him.

"Anything."

"Okay... do you want to play?" She asked, thinking about going to the arcade.

Natsume stared at her, "Do I look like a five-year old to you?"

"Of course not! I was thinking if you wanted to play video games!"

"Not really."

"So what DO you do when you take pe--"

"You're so annoying."

Mikan stopped.

"Listen. It's not like I wanted to do this stupid charade. That Narumi made me do it. So it would be better if we do what I want to do if you really want to hang out with me so badly." He coldly said, not looking at her.

Mikan stared at him, not believing what she just heard.

"Excuse me?"

Natsume sighed in frustratioin. "All you girls are the same, going crazy over celebrities without knowing who they really are, so stupid, shallow and annoying. It's sicken--"

SLAP.

The sound reverberated through the whole of the park, picking up the attention of half the people there.

Natsume's head was turned side ways and his left cheek turned red at the impact of the hard slap given to him by the brunette.

Mikan felt almost emotionless. She didn't think any of this would happen. She didn't think that she would hear that from the one she idolized most. She didn't think that she could actually be mad enough to slap a boy in public.

"I was right... All you celebrities are the same... cold, arrogant, and FAKE. There's nothing good about you at all!" She screamed at him, tears threatened to fall down her eyes that were filled with frustration and disappointment.

Natsume glared at her, "Then if you think that you were right, then why did you want to see me so badly, ahou?" He insulted her as he rubbed the spot where he was slapped.

"Because I thought you were different! But now I see that you're the worst!" She said as she ran away from him, not knowing else what to do.

He looked at her retreating form, still angry but then sighed as he tried following her.

She couldn't stop running, she shouldn't stop running.

Baka Mikan! Of course he would be like that! And all I ever did was try to make friends! I can't believe that he would be a good person! She thought as she ran faster.

Then, it all happened so fast, or maybe it didn't since her mind was blocking out every other detail that happened to her that day. All she thought about doing was run for home.

All she remembered was a loud honking and something large and cold colliding with her small body and then there was darkness.

"Mikan... Mikan... My poor baby..."

She heard a soothing voice call her, she groaned and tried to get up but felt her whole body wracking in pain.

"Mikan! Don't get up." The voice said.

"M-mom... is that you?" She called out. She felt distressed. She couldn't see, she couldn't see anything. Where was she? What happened to her?

"Ssshh... It's all right. You're in the hospital now." Her mother soothed as she caressed her auburn hair. "You got into a car accident."

"Mom... I can't see... w-why?" She sobbed.

"The doctor said that you'll be temporarily be blind for a few days. Don't worry honey, you'll be able to see soon." She said as she kissed her daughter's head.

"Sakura-san, visiting hours is over." Mikan heard the nurse tell her mother and she felt panic rise within her.

"Mom, don't leave me."

"Don't worry, honey. I'll be back first day tomorrow morning okay?" Her mother promised as she kissed her again and said goodbye.

Mikan felt hesitant. What did she get herself into? Why on earth did she enter that stupid contest? If she hadn't then she would be playing with Hotaru that moment.

She suddenly heard her door opening and closing, and footsteps coming towards her.

"Wh-who's there?" She called out, frightened. What if it was some kind of pervert or even worse... a psychopath?

No one answered.

"I-if you don't answer, I-I'm gonna call the nurse!" She threatened as she searched for the call button next to her bed with much difficulty.

A hand grabbed her roaming hand in a gentle manner.

Then an idea came to Mikan, "Y-You... you can't talk... can you?"

She felt another hand grab her already trapped hand and felt a gentle squeezed.

She smiled. "So you really can't talk! Do you stay in this hospital?"

There was a pause before she felt the person gently squeezing her hand again.

And that was a start of a new friendship.

Author's Note:

Yeah! Done! This is the prologue! lol. I know I have another story to update but that idea just came and it wouldn't let me finish my other stories. So I decided to publish this first. So, how was it? Too fast? Too touchy feely? Please send me your comments and suggestions.

I really might continue this if there are a fair number of reviews so...

Review!!

BlakRythem.