Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice isn't mine.

In the Margins

Share each day with me, each night, each morning...
Say you love me...
Love me - that's all I ask of you.
Anywhere you go let me go too...
Love me - that's all I ask of you.
Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime...
Say the word and I will follow you...
Share each day with me, each night, each morning...

-Phantom of the Opera's 'All I Ask'

Chapter Six: Nat-Chan

Over the course of the last few days, Mikan had decided there was most likely nothing worse than being resident janitor at a theater. Narumi merely laughed when she complained about her predicament and ordered her to chase the barf bins. And the worst? Luna used every chance she could get to make Mikan's life absolutely miserable.

"Oh, I dropped my cell down the toilet! Mikan, would you be a dear and fish that out for me?" Evil grin.

"Mikan!" Practically sings, "There's mold. In my dressing room, under the couch. Please remove it immediately."

"The sink drain is clogged again, Mikan!" Simpering.

Mikan repeatedly cursed the strawberry blond to the deepest pits of hell as she embarked on her newest assignment: ridding the ceiling directly above the stage of spiders and spider webs. It was just like Luna to discover Mikan's fear of heights and then force her to do something like this. Narumi called it being a team player. Mikan surmised her experience as torture. Don't look down, don't look down! she chanted over and over to herself in a mantra.

"Little girl!" A distinctly masculine voice called up to her; Mikan wavered on her precarious perch at the top of the ladder.

Don't look down, don't look down...."Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Gah, it's Natsume. He won't stop bothering me until I do what he wants.

"Yes?" Mikan asked, shading her eyes from the brightness of the stage lights; there was no way they were frying her eyes again. Oh god...she started to feel slightly sick and wavered slightly on her perch.

Natsume stood with his hands on his hips, red eyes glinting dangerously. "You're in my way. I'm supposed to be practicing there." He pointed to a piece of tape directly under the ladder.

"And...?" Mikan willed herself to remain calm. She could handle the height, no biggie. She couldn't be any more than eight feet off the ground. Eight long, painful feet...

"Move." He stated quietly, albeit forcefully.

"Why should I?" Mikan flung a feather duster about above her head, she honestly had no idea how Luna expected her to rid the entire ceiling of all spider webs.

Natsume smirked and rested his hand on one of the ladder's legs. "My hand could slip, you know," He shook the ladder a bit to further cement his point. Mikan blanched, holding on for dear life. Give in to Natsume, or death. Natsume or death, Natsume or-

"Okay, give me a second!" Mikan muttered before slowly shimmying down. Natsume didn't take his hand off of the ladder and instead, when she was a mere five rungs from the ground, shook the latter deftly, intent on throwing her off.

Mikan clung to the ladder but unfortunately for her, Natsume was strong enough rock the ladder back and forth. With a yelp, she fell to the side, and face planted into something extremely hard and...warm? She pushed herself up on her forearms, shook the hair from her eyes, and turned bright red as she realized she was splayed out on top of Natsume, legs tangled in his.

"Owww..." he muttered, rubbing his head, which had knocked against the floor. Mikan turned at least seven different shades of red when she felt his chest rumble underneath her as he groaned. She rolled off of him, ribs throbbing, and lay panting at his side.

"'Ow' is right," she moaned, clutching her side.

"Damn, woman, you weigh more than a pile of bricks. What are you eating?" Natsume turned on his side and scowled at her.

"So now I've been elevated to woman, not little girl?" Mikan smiled.

"No little girl I know weighs that much..." Natsume growled childishly. Mikan merely grinned back in return; it was just like old times. They constantly argued and rarely agreed. The reason they had remained so close over the years when they were young still remained a mystery to Mikan.

Natsume remained on his side, staring at Mikan, who looked up at the ceiling with a small smile on her lips. She hadn't changed at all; she looked just like the little girl he had befriended at the young age of two. As innocent as always.

Mikan turned to Natsume, wondering why he hadn't yet rolled away from her and stood up. She jerked back a bit when she found him staring at her, deep in thought. A light blush dusted his pale features when he realized she had caught him staring.

"Ugly." He spat, rolling over so his back was to her.

"Loser!" She poked him in the back, finger lightly trailing down his spine a bit. He wasn't quite as bony as she'd always thought, a bit more muscular.

"Stupid." He kicked back, catching her in the upper thigh.

"Ow! I mean, um, idiot!" She retaliated, aiming a painful kick at his lower back. Nastume growled and turned to face

"You better take that back if you know what's good for you!" He sounded so serious, Mikan just had to laugh. "You brought this on yourself," he grinned before lunging. Mikan held her hands forward defensively, attempting to fend him off. He chuckled and began tickling her mercilessly, avoiding multiple attempted elbow jabs.

"You...you..." Mikan wheezed, fighting back weakly.

"Will you give up and admit defeat?" Natsume smirked down at the girl beneath him. Her face turned to a rather fetching shade bright red as she gasped for air.

"O...kay..." She giggled weakly.

At this point in time, two unfortunate things occurred simultaneously: Natsume realized that he was practically lying on top of Mikan and rolled off - she missed his warmth - and Luna Koizumi walked in on their little bonding episode. "What," she enunciated each syllable infuriatingly slowly, as if she couldn't believe what she saw, "are you doing to Natsume, Mikan?" Her voice shook slightly as Nastume stood.

"I think that the question," Mikan dissolved into giggles, "is what Natsume was going to me! He was practically suffocating me! And raping...So attempted strangulation and rape. I could practically get him arrested for this!"

Luna turned as pale as a sheet before putting a small hand on Natsume's shoulder, "It's not true, right honey? She's...she's lying, right?"

"What are you, my mother?" The crimson eyed teen shook off her hand in disgust and reached a hand down to Mikan. She reached up and grasped it and both froze, Luna forgotten. Their hands matched up perfectly. His hand wasn't large enough to completely envelop hers, but still big enough to fit comfortingly with her smaller one. Like lost pieces of a puzzle reunited, their hands fit together.

Luna interrupted their warm fuzzies, "Natsume-kun?" The aforementioned teen pulled Mikan up and released her hand reluctantly. "Koizumi, I thought I told you. You aren't my mother. I don't give a damn what you think, so leave us alone!" She huffed angrily, gave him one last look, and then flounced off in the general direction of her dressing room.

"Well that was funny," Mikan chuckled, turning to Natsume.

"You shouldn't let Koizumi order you around like that," he frowned down at her worriedly.

"Don't worry, Nat-chan, I can take care of myself. When she gets to her dressing room, all the mold I scraped off along with the stuff from her drain and a gift from all of those barf bins I had to chase down will be waiting for her in her bed!" Mikan declared proudly. Wait, Nat-chan? Isn't that what I used to call him when we were little? Weird...it just came out.

Natsume caught the reference to their childhood and blanched. He had forgotten his anger over her leaving. I need to watch myself, soon she'll be brainwashing me, as well as everyone else at school. He schooled his face into a frown, and glared stonily at Mikan. It was hard, though, she looked so happy, hair mussed, face red, eyes shining. No! he berated himself, I'm angry with her.

Mikan noted the change in his demeanor confusedly. He had been having just as much fun as her minutes ago, his eyes had been smiling, and his face wasn't as pale as usual. What happened?

"Mikan, I need to practice. The ladder's still in my way," Natsume grunted.

"...huh?"

"Get the freaking ladder out of my way, Mikan."

"Okay, okay," The girl dragged the ladder to stage left, frowning. The piece of equipment wasn't light by any stretch of the imagination, Natsume should have helped her!

Natsume moved to the duck tape 'x' and began reciting his lines, not looking back at Mikan. She sighed and left the stage, heading off to find Anna for some advice, thoroughly confused. What happened? We were having so much fun! I thought we were bonding...

As soon as the brunette let the Drama building's double doors swing shut behind her, Nastume stopped reciting his lines, a bit peeved with himself. He'd just let Mikan see him having fun, this wasn't supposed to happen. She needed to atone for what she had done, he couldn't be her friend. The small voice in the back of his head argued, Why can't you just let her in?

She doesn't know what her leaving did to me.

And she won't ever if you don't tell her.

It's not fair.

Life isn't fair.

It should be.

That's childish, and you know it. You enjoyed spending time with her; she's just as fun as she used to be. Keep in mind that once you make a decision, there's no going back. She means more to you than you realize now; don't let her slip through your fingers.

Natsume sighed and buried his head in his hands. He just hoped he didn't lose his mind before he lost the girl...

TBC

Author's Note: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Poor Natsume, he's so clueless when it comes to relationships…

So, review and tell me how this chapter went, you know you want to! (That green button's just so enticingly um...green!)

~SL~