Author: You know by whom it is written. You know Gakuen Alice can never be mine.
You know I have some lousy excuse for updating in forever and you know I
love you guys.

So, what are you waiting for? ( Enjoy the chapter!!! (l)(l) )

CHAPTER VI

Hotaru was eating her usual crab leg but somehow, it didn't taste the same today.

Or to be more exact, she wasn't enjoying the usual heavenly taste of the crab as her attention was fixed on her best friend who hadn't uttered a single word all day now and even thought she would never say it out loud in a million years, she was worried.

So, for the first time in her life, Hotaru decided to break the ice this time.

"You are spaced out all day. What is happening with you?" Hotaru asked.

Mikan, not being aware of Hotaru's questioning, remained staring blankly ahead of her, drowned in her own deep thoughts while absently minded killing the sushi she was supposed to eat with her chopsticks by sticking it in and out numerous times.

Hotaru blinked for a second.

Was she ignoring her?

But upon seeing the blank expression on the brunette's face, she knew Mikan was still spaced out.

She brought two fingers up in front of Mikan's eyes and snapped them together.

SNAP!

Even thought it was not loud, it did seem to bring our dear brunette back to reality.

"Huh? Did you say something, Hotaru?" Mikan asked and turned her eyes full of unanswered questions to Hotaru.

Hotaru sighed.

"I said: you have been spaced out all day now, baka."

"Of course not! I heard every word you said!" Mikan replied in defense.

Hotaru narrowed her eyes.

"Oh yeah? What exactly did I tell?"

Mikan laughed awkwardly while scratching the back of her head.

"It's pretty loud in here. What did you say?"

Hotaru raised an eyebrow.

"Stop kidding with me, Mikan. You are scratching the back of your head and that only occurs when something is bothering you but don't want me to know. Now, spill it. What happened?" Hotaru questioned, her eyes still glued on Mikan.

Feeling the penetrating gaze on her made Mikan more nervous than she already was.

Today, she had successfully been able to avoid Hyuuga and his gang and she prayed to god that the day would stay this nice.

She did not know how to act nor speak to them since everything was still very much confusing to her.

Especially with that creep Persona coming back to her every single time.

On top of that, her heart was pounding madly as if she was doing something wrong, very wrong.

Mikan sighed.

Why didn't she have the guts to march forward to where ever the hell Hyuuga was, drag him outside and demand an explanation?

"Mikan? Snap out of it! Answer me!" Hotaru demanded.

Mikan's attention went back to Hotaru and another sigh escaped her lips.

"It's nothing, Hotaru-chan. Just having those weird, bad dreams. That's all." Mikan replied.

Hotaru remained staring at Mikan for a couple of seconds, pondering if her answer satisfied her.

She did look tired but it was obvious that there was something else hiding inside her best friend but it was also obvious that she wasn't yet ready to tell her about it so, to ease the tension around them, Hotaru simply shrugged, a gesture that she did oh-so-many times when an answer is just good enough to pass.

"Anyways, have you thought about sorting out this thing between you and Ruka?" Mikan suddenly asked.

Hotaru's head shot up and her eyes automatically narrowed as soon as she heard the name of her ex but nevertheless, she remained silent.

Mikan waited for her reply but realizing it wouldn't come, she continued her questioning.

"You have got to be kidding me, Hotaru! Come on, you can't leave things like this, right?" Mikan asked while her best friend resumed eating her crab legs.

Hotaru shrugged.

"Who said I can't?" Hotaru shot back.

"Oh come on, Hotaru! You can at least talk to him." Mikan nagged.

Hotaru sighed.

"Did it ever occur to you that I may not like him anymore?" Hotaru replied, visibly annoyed.

Even thought Mikan noticed it, it did not let her stop her from nagging further.

"You not liking him? Hotaru, that's like me saying that I invented the freaking Internet!" Mikan said, her voice dripping of sarcasm.

Both the ends of Hotaru's mouth twitched and she had to restrain a smile before she glared at her annoying best friend.

"Just drop it." Hotaru managed to push out.

"Fine. Wait! No! Do you know where he is? I haven't seen him all day." Mikan asked.

Hotaru shook her head.

"You don't know? Really? Are you sure?"

Hotaru looked up and her eyes seemed to curse her..

Mikan gulped.

"Okay! Okay! Fine! I'll drop it. Jeez, can you not glare at me like that?" Mikan replied as soon as she met with Hotaru's glare.

Both best friends sat in silence from that moment on.

One eating her crab leg and the other taking small bites of her sushi.

That was, until Hotaru spoke again.

"By the way, why is Hyuuga glancing over here all the time?" Hotaru asked exactly when Mikan was drinking her strawberry milk shake and being the evil person she was, she smiled when Mikan almost choked on her shake, coughing madly.

"-cough- -cough- What?! -cough-"

Hotaru merely shrugged.

"He is glancing over here all the time, particularly looking at you."

Mikan was too much of a coward to look back and see if it was true.

What if she really met his eyes?

Then what?

"Don't go to those creeps anymore." Hotaru said in a soft voice in between her bites.

Mikan was about to say something when she noticed one of Hotaru's sneaky glances and she couldn't help but follow the destination of it.

Ruka.

"Admit it, Hotaru. You still like him." Mikan said after a moment of silence.

"No." Hotaru replied hastily.

Mikan shook her head, not accepting the denial of her best friend.

"I am not stupid, Hotaru."

"Yes, you are. You are stupid enough to think that I still like him even thought I have already made it clear that I do not like Nogi anymore." Hotaru shot back.

Her tone rose an octave and her anger was building up.

"Then why the hell are you sneaking glances at him?! Just admit it, dammit!" Mikan almost shouted.

Some people looked up but the two best friends did not realize this, too caught up in their discussion.

"Why are you bringing this topic up every single time?" Hotaru asked in a hiss.

"Because Nogi-san has not done anything wrong, Hotaru! And I know that you both more than like each other. This whole break-up between you two has been too messed up. I don't like seeing you not being happy!" Mikan yelled.

"That's because you keep on nagging me! Can't you just drop the topic for once?!" Hotaru practically shouted back.

Mikan shook her head furiously.

"Not until you admit it!"

"Shut up!" Hotaru shouted, stood up and strode away.

Mikan blinked, too surprised to utter a word or run after Hotaru.

This was the first time Hotaru had shown her emotions this openly.

"Oh, shit. What have I done?" Mikan muttered under her breath.

She had been too careless and did not realize on time that Hotaru was secretly not ready yet to get over him.

She knew people will start waging their tongues now as their fight added fuel to the fire.

"Uhm, Sakura-san?" Somebody called out.

Mikan recognized the voice.

Talking about great timing.

Mikan turned around.

"Nogi-san." She greeted him with a forced smile.

Mikan heard the bell ring.. She saw everyone glancing at Ruka and her before leaving.

Great.

They probably thought that Mikan had stolen Ruka from Hotaru with their over imaginative minds and as Mikan wanted to bid Ruka goodbye and apologize to Hotaru right away, she noticed the state he was in.

"You're not looking fine." Mikan pointed out.

Her bold statement surprised Ruka and just when she thought she made the conversation awkward, she heard him sigh in defeat and saw him taking a seat at the table Mikan and Hotaru had shared.

Ruka buried himself in his hands.

Uh. Oh.

Mikan immediately knew he needed a good talk.

Oh well,

She was going to be late anyway.

"Okay, scratch that. I'm sorry but you look like shit." Mikan said and took a seat opposite of him.

Ruka nodded in agreement.

"It feels like I haven't slept in ages." He replied.

Mikan nodded.

Silence surrounded them.

When Ruka didn't show any sign of opening his mouth ever again, Mikan shook her head and took the initiative.

"I know you love her, Ruka." Mikan began.

Ruka's head shot up.

"I do! A lot! You have to understand that I didn't mean to hurt her!" Ruka cried out.

Mikan saw the desperation in his eyes and felt sorry for him.

He had really fallen hard.

"It's not like she is the only one who thinks everything is so messed up. I don't know what's going on either!" Ruka resumed.

Mikan raised an eyebrow and looked around her.

His friends were nowhere to be seen and her mind registered that she could ask him whatever she wanted without any interruption.

"What do you mean, Ruka-pyon?" Mikan asked.

Mikan tried not to sound too eager and remained held back.

Ruka blinked at the nickname.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind me calling you like that. When I was at your house I happened to quickly glance across a painting of you and a bunny in your arms. You can call me Mikan by the way." Mikan said and grinned.

Ruka smiled in appreciation and eased up a little.

"Things must have been messed up for you, too." Ruka pointed out.

Mikan bit her lip and nodded.

"I don't want to trouble you with this, Ruka-pyon since you don't know much of it either but you have to tell me what is going on. Who you are." Mikan whispered and could not help but glance around her.

Ruka shook his head.

"I am really sorry, Mikan. This is not something for me to tell."

Mikan sighed and leaned back.

"Ruka-san, your best friend almost sucked the blood out of my body and on top of that, that weird creep Persona also tried to suck the life out of me. All I want to know is what the hell is going on. Do you really think I can happily forget about all this and continue on living the life I had before some bloodsucker, make that two, decided to almost suck the life out of me? This is not some sort of fairytale!" Mikan snapped.

She saw Ruka wince at her words and Mikan tried to regain her composure.

"I am sorry. That was rude of me. Especially when you don't know much about it either. Besides, it's obvious that you have your own problems right now." Mikan replied.

Ruka shook his head once again.

"I'm really sorry, Mikan but this whole thing with Hotaru is preventing my mind from functioning properly." Ruka answered.

Mikan nodded.

"Ruka." Mikan called out.

Ruka looked up.

"You have got to tell her the truth."

Ruka's eyes widened.

"No! That's impossible!" Ruka cried out.

"You love her right?"

"Of course! But that is the one thing I cannot do. I am not allowed to do." Ruka replied.

Mikan shook her head.

"All you can do then is try and get over her. Hotaru is a person who is either complete in or completely out. She doesn't start from the beginning and then finish half.. You have got to know this by now." Mikan answered back.

Ruka nodded and a small smile spread across his face.

He was recalling a past memory.

Mikan reached out for his hand and held it.

"Thank you." Mikan said out of sudden and smiled.

Ruka looked at her with questioning eyes.

He was confused.

"You make.. You made Hotaru happy. You may not have noticed but after she got you, she changed. She became more softer and more open minded and even thought it may not sound like a huge change, it is. We're talking about Hotaru after all." I said, clearing the state of confusion he was in by my words..

Ruka looked up at the ceiling as if he tried to hold back his tears and when he started talking, he still did not remove his gaze from the ceiling.

"You know how we met?" He asked and chuckled.

Mikan blinked, wondering what direction he was going with this conversation but shook her head nevertheless.

"She had successfully blackmailed a fan girl of mine into hiding in the males bathroom. Her mission was to take a picture of me.... I think you get what I mean." Ruka said with a visible blush on his cheeks.

He was grinning and his happiness swept over to Mikan and she burst into a fit of giggles.

"That is so Hotaru!" Mikan said in between her giggles.

Ruka nodded.

"When I got to know that she was the person behind the dirty work, I went in search of her and when I saw her... When I saw her staring at me with those beautiful lavender eyes that showed almost no emotion except the sparkle of knowing why I came, I l lost myself. I couldn't even find the reason why I was looking for her in the first place." Ruka continued.

Mikan noticed his eyes softening as he talked about Hotaru. The way he smiled as the name of his love came out of his mouth time after time. The way he sat there, recalling the memory of the first meeting between him and Hotaru.

"I love her, Mikan and even thought people don't understand my love towards Hotaru, I never once found myself thinking of someone else other than her. It's only her that can save me from the curse I am living. Only her that can explain the worth of my existence and make me feel that I deserve to live. She keeps me alive." Ruka explained.

Mikan's heart tightened as she listened to Ruka's confession.

Tears started forming in her eyes and before she knew it, they were rolling down her cheek.

"I breath only for her, Mikan. You don't know how much I would do for her to call my name or look at me just one time. My life doesn't make sense without her and if I have to experience this pain in my heart every single day, I am afraid I can't take it." Ruka said and finally, looked at Mikan.

His heart's biggest desire was laid out in his eyes for me to see while he was crying it out and the tears continued on streaming. His and mine.

"The idea of her even being with someone else other than me kills me." Ruka confessed, his head held down.

Mikan leaned back on her chair, completely taking in by Ruka's love confession.

"I wish Hotaru could hear this." Mikan whispered and her whisper echoed softly through the empty cafeteria.

That's when Mikan felt a familiar presence.

Her head shot in the direction of the exit and as soon as she saw the familiar figure, a smile broke out on her face and more tears traveled down her cheek.

Ruka noticed her gaze and followed it. His eyes immediately widened as soon as he saw Hotaru.

She was silently crying too.

It was in a split second where Mikan heard the clattering of a chair falling on the ground and seeing Ruka rush over to Hotaru and taking her into his arms.

"Please forgive me, Hotaru. Please. You're killing me." Ruka pleaded, burying his head in her neck.

Mikan saw the tears still streaming down Hotaru's cheek while she looked at Mikan, almost asking her what to do.

Mikan shook her head, rubbed the tears out of her eyes and smiled warmly at Hotaru and if that action was some sort of approval, Hotaru finally gave in to her emotions and hugged Ruka back.

"Idiot." Mikan could hear her mutter and held back a laugh full of relief and happiness.

Mikan decided to leave them in their privacy and left the cafeteria.

She did not feel like attending classes anymore so decided to go home.

In five minutes time, she grabbed her things from the locker and stood outside and as she started walking off the school territory, she thought of Hotaru and Ruka.

"They are going to be fine." Mikan murmured to herself absently minded.

"Do you like talking to yourself?" A husky voice asked out of nowhere.

Mikan froze in shock, immediately recognizing the owner of the voice.

"You really know the right timing, don't you?" Mikan said.

Her eyes searched through the empty area while her heart seemed to jump..

"I'm behind you." The voice said as an answer to her search.

As if stung by a bee, she turned around as fast as she could and almost lost her balance before she found herself looking into the crimson eyes that kept haunting her in her dreams ever since the incident.

"What do you want?" Mikan asked bitterly.

Natsume stared straight into her chocolate brown orbs, not surprised by the bitterness in her voice.

"Talk." He replied.

He said it in such a way that it sounded as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Mikan frowned.

"Talk?" She questioned.

Natsume nodded without tearing his gaze away from her.

"I want some answers." He demanded.

His demand confused Mikan even more.

"Answers?" She asked.

Natsume rolled his eyes and started walking around her.

"Do you like to repeat every word I say? Or are you really that slow?" Natsume questioned and sounded almost amused.

Mikan glared at him.

"Do you like to stalk me? Or are you really just a creep?" Mikan shot back.

Natsume chuckled but then stopped in front of Mikan, his eyes telling her not to mess with him.

"Come." He ordered, his eyes sternly fixed on hers.

"There is no chance in hell that I am coming with you, Hyuuga." Mikan snapped.

Natsume stepped closer to her, his face nearing inch by inch.

"Then I have to take you forcefully then." He whispered and smirked.

His power seemed to evaporate out of his body and dared Mikan to challenge him.

Mikan's hairs immediately stood up straight, sensing the danger in his voice.

She took a step back.

"If you even dare to touch me, I will scream." Mikan threatened.

Natsume's smirk grew wider as he took a step forward, settling on the same distance of their faces before Mikan had stepped away.

"I think you know by now that by the time anyone arrives to help you, you and I will be gone." Natsume counter attacked.

Mikan bit her lip.

He was right.

"Leave me alone." Mikan said and pushed him away as harsh as her strength allowed her.

She made a desperate run for it but her mind already registered that it was no use.

He could outrun her easily.

She felt him grab her wrist and yank it. It was a yank with no power in it but somehow, it made Mikan turn one hundred and eighty degrees around and she found herself looking in those cursed crimson eyes again.

He showed no anger but the following words that escaped his mouth silenced her completely:

"Don't you want answers?" He asked her.

Even thought it was a simple question, she had hoped in the back of her mind that he wouldn't ask her this.

"Don't you want to know about us?" Natsume continued.

Mikan gulped as Natsume stepped closer.

A hand of his found way into her hair, caressing her soft brown locks while his lips found a way to her ears.

"Don't you want to know what happened to you?" He whispered in her ear.

His voice ringed inside her ear as her mind absently minded registered his soft caress.

She felt him move and came in contact with those crimson eyes again.

It felt as if he was hypnotizing her.

She felt his hands move down to her cheek, stroking it and then caress her lips.

His face came closer and closer while the crimson eyes never stopped staring back at her until he closed them and finally found a connection with her.

Their lips.

I love love love love love love love all the (silent) readers and thank you for all the wonderful reviews.

I officially have SUMMER HOLIDAYS! AAAAAAAHHH!!! The weather is great here and I hope you guys too, will enjoy your summer holidays! (soon) Oh, I wish life had more holidays *sigh*. I am free for a couple of months (dances around) so I will be updating much mooore!

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. (personally, I loved the ending :P) and uhh,

Puh-lease leave your wonderful reviews while leaving. (Yeaa, you know the drill).

~ VN