Written by – Unknown Pain.

Disclaimer – I still don't own Gakuen Alice. Santa ignored my wishes. D:

Lone Surprises

Dedicated to:
Sinfully Innocent
Thank you for being such a great and helpful friend.

-Unknown Pain-

The fifteen-year-old Natsume Hyuuga was wandering through the dorm hallways, heading towards his room. The lad was obviously tired and in a bad mood.

Today it was Christmas. Not that that was the cause of his bad mood; no, he didn't hate Christmas. In fact, he (secretly) liked it. But the cause of his bad mood was that he didn't have any presents.

Why? Well, Natsume didn't have any time to buy Christmas presents; he was too busy with his missions. Though, he wanted to buy some Christmas presents today, but the moderator of the

Dangerous Ability Class, Persona, sent him away on a mission.

He still couldn't believe that Persona had sent him to a mission, today. If he didn't do that, he still would have the time to buy Christmas presents for his friends. And now, he needs to explain to them why he doesn't have any presents to give. Which only earned him those hated worried and disappointed looks, especially from those two people he loved the most.

Natsume cursed Persona under his breath, blaming him for all this.

Suddenly, Natsume passed the lounge room. He stopped in front of it as his crimson eyes fell on the colorful Christmas decoration that was hanging above the door. He raised his raven eyebrow at the sight of a balloon hanging on the door knob. From the lounge room there was music and loud noises. This made him raise his other eyebrow. What the hell was going on in there?

"Argh! Where is he?!" Natsume suddenly heard from the lounge room. "He told me that he would come!"

"Mikan, calm down. He'll come."

"Ruka, he's half an hour late! I'm going to look for him! I'll let him know how I feel about it!" And then, not a second later, the huge door swung open and an angry brown-haired, pig-tailed girl stormed out of the room, not looking where she was going. And before the male could do something, she bumped into him, causing both of them to fall on the floor with a loud thud.

"Ow..!" the brown-haired girl grunted softly in pain and rubbed her painful spot. She had her eyes closed, but she opened them as soon as she noticed what happened. "Ah, I'm s—!" but the girl stopped as she saw that it was Natsume whom she bumped into. The crimson-eyed lad scowled darkly at her.

"Natsume?!" she yelled, her amber eyes widened, surprised to see him. "Polka-dots," he growled in return. "Get off of me," Now, he was really in a bad mood.

The brunette, Mikan Sakura, blinked, not knowing what he meant. But as soon as she noticed that she was actually lying on him, she gasped and jumped off him, feeling a slight blush crawl over her cheeks. As the raven-haired lad got up, he glared in annoyance at Mikan. "Look where you're going, Polka-dots," he told her with a grunt. Mikan's embarrassed expression disappeared, and an angry one came in the place. "Natsume, don't call me like that! My name is Mikan!"

The boy only shrugged as an answer.

Mikan sighed. "Whatever. Anyway, why are you so late?" Natsume raised his brow. "Late for what?"

"Glad you could make it," said a blond-haired boy suddenly, Ruka Nogi, to his best friend, Natsume, as he was heading towards the two. Natsume turned his crimson orbs towards the ocean-blue ones.

"Make it to what?" he asked him.

"To the Christmas party!" said Mikan who started to get annoyed at his reaction. Natsume looked at her, not knowing what she was talking about. "What the hell are you talking about, Polka-dots?" Mikan pouted angrily. "Today is the Christmas party, remember? I told you about it yesterday!"

"No, you didn't,"

"Yes, I did!"

"No, you didn't,"

"Yes, I did! I'm positive!"

"And I'm positive that you didn't tell me anything about that Christmas party."

Now, Natsume wasn't the only who was in a bad mood. "Argh, come on Natsume! I told you yesterday when I was in your room that there was a Christmas party today!" Mikan yelled, hoping that Natsume would now remember it. They may be good friends, but sometimes he really annoys her to death. "You were reading your manga, remember?"

He raised his eyebrow once again. Now that she mentioned it… the male thought.

One day ago:

"Natsume!" the brown-haired girl began, pouting at the raven-haired lad who was sitting on his brown couch, acting like she didn't exist. "Come on!" she whined once again, but Natsume had his crimson eyes locked on his manga and flipped over a page. "Natsume!" she started again, hoping that he would look up at her; she hated it when he acted like she didn't exist.

Natsume started to frown in annoyance. He just wanted her to leave him alone, to go away so that he could read his newest, yes newest manga in peace. But it didn't work with the fifteen-year-old girl around him, asking for his attention.

"NATSUME!!" this time she shouted his name and flopped beside him on the couch. Natsume narrowed his eyes at her for being so loud. "You're coming, too, right Natsume?" she asked him.

"Coming to what?" Natsume asked the amber-eyed girl in a low voice.

"To the Christmas party tomorrow that I told you about!" she answered happily, smiling. Natsume rolled his eyes away from her, turning them back to his manga and continued reading. "No," he replied dryly.

"Ah, come on!" and Mikan leaned closer to him. The raven-haired fire-caster noticed it, and glanced at her, wanting to say that she needed to shut up and that she needed to stop being so close. But as soon as he saw the famous, cute pout on the pretty face of the nullifier, he paused.

"Pleaaaseee?" she said, still pouting and leaned slightly closer to the male. Natsume, on the other hand, twitched his eyebrows at the sight. He had the urge of blushing right here, right then which made him annoyed as hell. Because damn, it was working.

Natsume cursed her cuteness loud in his thoughts.

"Weeelll?" Mikan tried again, her amber eyes locked on the crimson ones, still showing the face that Natsume hated. Natsume rolled his dark orbs away from her before he put his finger on her forehead, and pushing her head backwards so she wouldn't be so close to him anymore. "Too close," he said, and turned back to his manga.

This time, Mikan was the one who was rolling her eyes. "But you're coming, right?" she asked him again. Natsume sighed in annoyance, and said, "Yeah, yeah."

Mikan's eyes lightened up. "Really?" she beamed. And after she got two short nods from him, she cheered, "Yay, great! Thank you! Then I'll see you tomorrow, Natsume! Don't be late, okay?"

Natsume only replied with, "Hn," And with that, Mikan jumped up from the couch and walked out of his bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Natsume frowned at himself; yes, he really did forget about it. But not that he's going to tell the brunette that. Oh no. He didn't want to look stupid in front of her, or in front of his best friend, Ruka. Natsume shoved his hands in his jean pockets, and turned to her with his poker face. "I'm not going to listen to some stupid person. Who knows what is going through your mind? I need reliable sources."

Mikan almost had the urge to explode at his stupid, yet hurtful comment and shouted while pointing an angry finger at him, "You—!" She cursed him further in her thoughts.

Natsume, on the other hand, enjoyed this and clearly showed it as his thin lips turned into a smirk. "Me." He returned, his arms crossed, only making Mikan angrier than she already was. The fifteen-year-old Ruka Nogi, sweat dropped as he felt a war coming up between the two.

He sighed, scratching the back of his head; he needed to think of something fast before this would go out of control. He was used to it, though. "Okay, stop it you guys," he told the two, who turned their attention to him. "No need for bickering, you know."

Mikan scoffed. "He started it," Natsume creased his raven brows at her, but decided not to return a comment. Then, all of a sudden, the ocean-blue eyed Ruka grabbed his raven-haired friend's arm and dragged him to the lounge room where the Christmas party was being held.

Natsume blinked, before frowning deeply. "Oi, Ruka, let me go." He demanded, not wanting to take one step in the lounge room.

Ruka peered over his shoulder to look at his friend, and said, "Ah, come on Natsume. It's a Christmas party, and you're invited too," Ruka let go of his arm. "I even got you a present."

Natsume looked at him. As expected of his best friend, the lad thought. Ruka had always gotten a present for him on Christmas; he never forgot to buy one. Same went for him. But…now, it was a different story. He was the one who didn't have a present for Ruka, while he did. Natsume sighed deeply; yes, he started to feel guilty about it, and yes, he hated it. "You didn't have to," he finally said to him, his arms crossed.

Ruka smiled at what Natsume said, and then shrugged. "Nah, it's okay. The others got you a present too, come on," After Ruka pointed at the amount of presents that were lying under the big, green Christmas tree, which was beautifully decorated and standing almost in the corner of the room, he grabbed Natsume's arm once again and dragged the lad towards it. The tree was not the only thing what was beautifully decorated; the lounge room itself was as well.

The others noticed Natsume, of course, and some of them headed towards him, while calling his name; they were glad to see him here.

Natsume, who at first had his eyes on the amount of presents, turned his dark orbs to the back, finding the short blond-haired, fifteen-year-old Yuu Tobita, who fixed his glasses on his nose before showing off a smile at the fire-caster, and a fifteen-year-old, almost black-haired, bald-headed Mochiage, also known as Mochu. Mochu had his arms crossed. Walking towards the table, where all the food and drinks were standing near the Christmas tree, he raised his black eyebrow. He asked the crimson-eyed one, "Dude, what was taking so long?"

Yuu nodded his head in agreement.

Natsume shrugged nonchalantly, and ran his fingers through his messy hair. "I forgot," he simply said, and that wasn't even a lie. Mochu chuckled and cocked up his other eyebrow. "As expected of Natsume."

"Oi, Natsume!" someone, obviously a boy, called out for him. Natsume, Yuu, Mochu and Ruka turned their attention towards the fourteen-year-old Kokoro Yume, also known as Koko, who just jumped off a ladder. "Heh, take a look at that!" and with that, he pointed at a famous, green twig that was hanging in the door opening of the lounge room.

Natsume and Mochu just frowned at it. Ruka and Yuu raised their blond brows, while the long, black-haired Akira Tonouchi, also known as Tono, and the nineteen-year-old, dark blue-haired Tsubasa Andou, who both got invited by Mikan, curved their lips into a slight amused smirk.

Especially Tsubasa who glanced at the pink-haired girl who was at the same age of Tsubasa, Misaki Harada; the girl Tsubasa has a crush on.

The girls on the other hand, Sumire Shouda, Nonoko Ogasawara, Anna Umenomiya, Mikan and Misaki (except Hotaru), smiled happily at the green twig. Some of the five girls even squealed about it, "Ah, how cute! A mistletoe! So romantic!" Mikan squealed as her eyes were turned to the green mistletoe, her hands clasped against each other, and the pink-haired Anna and the dark blue haired Nonoko couldn't agree even more.

Sumire snorted and twirled a dark green lock around her finger. "Tch, what a waste of time. Only people who are special and who are meant for each other can stand under it, not you idiots."

Mikan, Anna and Nonoko, according to their expressions, were a bit offended at her comment. Then, Sumire turned her green eyes towards the raven-haired male, giving everyone a sign that she meant herself and Natsume. In a quick second her eyes turned into hearts, and squealed, "Riiiight, Natsumeee?"

Natsume just pretended like he didn't hear her, which, in return, was highly hurtful to Sumire and soon after that she started to mutter about how cold and how mean he was. Natsume heard all of it, but he ignored it and turned back towards the presents, which were lying under the big Christmas tree.

Koko noticed it and while heading towards the raven-haired boy, he grinned. "Heh, already curious about your presents, Natsume?" Natsume looked up at him. Tsubasa turned his attention towards the boys. "Well, who wouldn't be?" he said, and shifted his eyes to the presents.

"We all got you a Christmas gift, Natsume." Yuu said, slightly smiling at the fire-caster. And while Natsume looked at everyone, one by one, without saying something back, everyone nodded their heads. Except the two girls who were standing near the door way. Those two girls were the best friends, Hotaru Imai and Mikan Sakura.

The brunette pouted angrily, her hands folded in front of her chest, glaring at the raven-haired male. "I can't believe I got that damn jerk a present," she began with a low voice. "I just hope he has one for us, too."

The crow-black, neck-length haired Hotaru was standing next to her, her hands on her hips, showing off the same cold poker face as Natsume. She was mentally agreeing with Mikan. "I doubt it," she said with her low, emotionless voice. Natsume heard all this, and frowned in annoyance at them but decided not to pay any attention at them.

"Did you get us a present too?" chirped Koko, his wide grin still plastered on his face. Natsume turned back to him, staying silent.

Okay, so what did he need to say now? He could bluntly say, "Nope, I don't have presents for all you guys. But, don't blame me. I was too busy because of the missions I got these two weeks, so blame that damn bastard Persona, not me." If he'd said that, Natsume thought, he would ruin the excited atmosphere here right away.

But he could've just stayed silent and hope to find some material things, give it to them, and just pray to God that they would accept it instead of complaining and showing off disappointed and sad looks that Natsume, again, hated.

The raven-haired lad thought for a minute, and then… DING DING DING!!And the winner is… Suggestion Number Two!

Natsume shrugged. Shoving his hands into his jean pockets, he walked over to the black couch, in front of the couch where Tono, Tsubasa and Misaki were sitting, and sat down. "You'll see," he said shortly, but just enough to make some (mostly girls) already excited and curious what their gifts would be.

And they weren't the only ones, because Natsume didn't have a clue what he would give them. And that wasn't doing his mood any good. He sighed mentally; he needed to head (run, if he needed to) towards his room when he got the chance.

Suddenly, Mikan beamed, "Alright then! What are we waiting for?" Anna and Nonoko, a.k.a. "the twins", nodded their heads at the same time and beamed in unison, "It's present time!" Now you know why they are called "the twins."

When Koko heard that, he jumped towards the presents and wanted to grab one, but took a step back as he saw a present that looked like a horse, moving from behind the tree, heading towards Mikan's direction. Everyone watched it stop in front of Mikan with raised eyebrows and widened eyes, faces showing nothing else but confusion.

Surprisingly, it was the amethyst-eyed Hotaru who was controlling the horse-looking present with her remote control. Mikan stared at it with big eyes. Hotaru raised her black eyebrow. "Well?" she started, and caught Mikan's attention. "What are you waiting for? Open it."

Mikan realized it was Hotaru's present for her and nodded. With a bright smile on her face, she ripped off the paper to show to everyone that it wasn't a horse, but an orange unicorn instead. Mikan's eyes twinkled as she saw that; unicorns were her favorite (fantasy) animals.

Everyone could see it was an unicorn, except Natsume. Natsume had his raven brows furrowed as he looked at the unicorn; he didn't see a unicorn, but instead he saw an orange thing that was also ugly. "What the hell is that?" he questioned, his arms crossed. Hotaru turned to him, poker face to poker face. "It's a unicorn. What do you think it is?"

"Well, at the look of it… your face."

And through that comment Hotaru slowly began to get annoyed. "Funny," she said back, sarcastically. Mikan turned around, her amber orbs locked on the fifteen-year-old male. "Natsume, don't be so mean. And seriously you guys, stop going to each other throats. It's a holiday: Christmas! We should celebrate instead of argue with each other!"

The two, who disliked (hated) each other from the very beginning, knew that she was right. And so they both grumbled a low "whatever", their expressions still emotionless. Mikan sighed and turned back towards her crow-black haired friend. "Anyway, what's this unicorn for, Hotaru?" she asked her, happily.

"It's like my Duck Scooter. It's called the Unicorn Scooter. It can fly and can take you to places. And here," Hotaru told her, and gave her the remote control of the scooter. "Merry Christmas." That came out a little bit dry, but everyone could see in Hotaru's amethyst eyes that she really meant it.

Mikan giggled as she looked up at the orange unicorn, an excited smile stickled on her face; she really liked the present. She never had a present like this and was really happy with it. She turned back to Hotaru and embraced her best friend. Hotaru let her hug her, which doesn't happen often. "Thank you so much, Hotaru!" the girl beamed, and pushed her away gently to face her. "I really like it! I'm sure that through this, going to places will be a lot easier now!"

Then Mikan blinked, realizing that she forgot to give Hotaru her present. "Ah, your present!" she said. She walked quickly towards the Christmas tree, grabbing Hotaru's present. After Mikan stood back in front of her best friend, she handed over the present. "Here you go, Hotaru! Merry Christmas to you too!" she cheered excitedly as the girl was looking at the small, box-looking present.

Hotaru raised her eyebrow. "You're giving me a box..?" This made Mikan pout. "No!" she returned. "Open it, and you'll see what it is!"

Hotaru did as she said and saw that it was a purple camera. It had the same functions on it like her old camera; it was almost the same. Only the difference was that this one was purple while the other one was black, and it was also a bit bigger.

"I heard that you lost your old camera some weeks ago, so I thought I'd give you a new one on Christmas." Mikan giggled.

Hotaru turned her eyes from the camera towards the crimson-eyed lad, and narrowed her gaze at him; he was the one who hid her camera because of the fact that it started to drive him crazy. Ruka was very grateful of what he did, but Hotaru wasn't. Not that he cared that she wasn't happy about it, but it only amused him to see her being annoyed about her lost camera.

Hotaru turned her lips into a slight smirk when she saw the annoyed expression on Natsume's face, his eyes on the camera. He wasn't the only one who looked quite annoyed; Ruka was frowning deeply at it as well.

She had her camera back, so she could continue with blackmailing to earn money. And Ruka was always the victim of her blackmailing jobs. He sighed mentally in frustration; just when he thought it was all over, she gets a new camera on Christmas. Natsume shrugged at Hotaru's expression, still annoyed though. He had to admit, he didn't expect this would happen, and Ruka was thinking the same.

Hotaru was still smirking as she shot a short glance at the ocean-blue eyed boy. Poor Ruka, now she could finally continue earning money by selling embarrassing pictures of him.

"Thank you," she said shortly. And nobody else saw it, but Mikan did; Hotaru gave her a smile as a sign that she was very grateful for it and really liked the present Mikan gave her, which couldn't make the girl happier.

It was already eight PM and the teenagers were still busy with giving each other presents. Mochu gave Natsume a new collection of manga books and Tono gave him deodorant for men. Tono thought about himself how smart he was to buy something like that for him and hoped that Natsume liked it and would think the same… Too bad he was wrong; the raven-haired lad threw it on the ground, far away from him, because of the fact that it didn't smell like it was for men at all. Try again next time, Tono.

Maybe you'll have some more luck then.

Hotaru gave Sumire whiskers and Mikan gave her cat ears. Koko gave Sumire the same things what Hotaru and Mikan gave her, only the difference was it was from a dog. The three did it because of her Alice and Sumire wasn't really happy about it. She was a bit offended, although Mikan didn't mean it that way Koko and Hotaru meant it; she only gave her the cat ears because it looked cute and nice on her. The other two only gave it to her because it would look funny on her so they had something to laugh about.

The dark blue haired Tsubasa gave the black-haired Tono the so-called "Boob Slippers" (slippers what looked like breasts), and the sweat dropping Tono gave Tsubasa a new hat. "The one you have now is ugly, idiotic, dirty and smelly," Tono told him easily as Tsubasa was staring darkly at his new hat.

He twitched his eyebrows. "Tono, are you colorblind or something?" he asked him with a low voice. Tono raised one of his black eyebrows. "No, why?" The hat-wearing male turned to him slowly. "That thing is…pink." Tono looked at it before he nodded his head. "Yup, I know."

"Why..?"

"Because the color pink suites you better," he told him with a smile. Tsubasa scowled darkly at him. No way in hell that he's going to wear a pink hat, the lad thought. Misaki, who was sitting next to Tsubasa on the couch, laughed. "Yeah, Tono is right, Tsubasa! Pink is definitely your color!" Tono just smirked proudly at him, while the other male just glared at him, obviously not liking his present.

Then, it was Sumire's turn to give her presents: she gave Mikan Fluff Puffs, which she ate right away, Ruka a head band with "I Love Sumire!" on it, which Ruka had the urge to throw away immediately, Misaki an expensive red skinny-skirt, which she gladly loved, Anna a baking set, Nonoko a gas mask, Koko some money to buy himself some candy, Tono and Tsubasa some games and Natsume a doll of herself (hand-made of course).

"So you can hold me anytime when you're sad or lonely!" she chirped at the crimson-eyed fire-caster with eyes filled with love. The boy, on the other hand, just stared at it with no emotions at all and in some seconds he threw it in the trashcan, leaving a teary Sumire curling up in the corner.

Everyone couldn't help but sweat drop.

After a half hour, everyone was done giving each other presents. Well, almost everyone then. Natsume started to get more in a bad mood. Almost everyone gave him their presents. The only one who didn't give him her present yet was Mikan. Although he found it weird, he didn't want to ask her about it. She might've had a good reason for it. And now it was his turn to give something back. But what would it be? Natsume didn't even know it himself. He was scanning everything around him, hoping to find something that he could give.

Suddenly, his crimson orbs stopped on the dirty blond haired Koko, who was standing in front of him with a big grin plastered on his face. Natsume raised his eyebrow at him. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I want to know my present," Koko answered, happily. "Do you have one?" He creased his forehead, which was covered by his raven bangs; he should've known that he would ask that, the male thought. Natsume stayed silent for a while, hoping that an idea would pop up in his head.

"Well?" pushed Koko on, starting to get curious. Then, Natsume thought of something, "I'll give you intelligence." The fourteen-year-old male didn't know what he was talking about. "Huh? Intelligence?" Natsume nodded his head.

"How do you want—?" but before he could even finish his sentence, Natsume smacked him right on his head, hard. Koko flinched, and rubbed the sore spot. "Hey, what the hell?! THERE IS NO NEED TO SMACK MY HEAD, NATSUME!!" Natsume only smacked Koko's head to "rub off his stupidity". Everyone noticed and knew that, but Koko obviously didn't. The raven-haired male realized that and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You idiot."

The bald-headed Mochu sweat dropped. "That isn't really a present, Natsume…" he muttered, and Yuu couldn't agree more. Tsubasa nodded his head, but he shrugged soon after. "True. But, it might work... sooner or later."

The ocean-blue eyed Ruka was showcasing a questionable look; he was wondering why Natsume didn't give Koko a normal present, like he always does. To be honest, he didn't even see Natsume bring any presents with him… Could he have forgotten to bring them with him? the blond thought. And, as the time flew by and Natsume had already given "presents" to Anna, Nonoko, Tsubasa, Tono, Yuu and Misaki, everyone started to wonder the same thing.

Natsume sighed mentally. This is annoying, the male thought with a grunt.

Then, all of a sudden, the crow-black haired Hotaru Imai stood in front of the lad, her hand reached out at him, waiting. Natsume frowned at her. Now he has to deal with her. "You're ruining my sight," he said darkly. Hotaru only returned a cold face. "I want something from you,"

"Like what?"

"A present, what else?"

"And why do you think I would give you a present?" His voice only started to get lower. Hotaru crossed her arms over her chest. "Because I gave you also a present." And the two turned to the book, which was lying beside Natsume on the couch, named, "Sex: For Dummies".

He gave her an annoyed scowl. "Do you really think I would give you a present after you gave me that?" he said, pointing a small finger at the book. Hotaru raised her eyebrow cockily. "You gave me previous year a book called, 'Dating: For Dummies'. I thought you wanted something like that too, so here you go." Hotaru placed on of her hands on her hips, her thin lips twisted into a thin smirk. "I thought you would be happy with it. Now you can finally learn about foreplay and other things. You need to thank me, preferably with a present." Hotaru said, her hand still reaching out, waiting for her present.

Though, that was all a lie.

She only wanted a present from him to see if she would get the same kind of presents as the others. Hotaru had a little thought of why Natsume wouldn't give them any normal presents like he always does. Though, she just wanted to be sure first.

Natsume glowered darkly at her. She's really the Devil herself, the raven-haired one thought.

But then, the boy rolled his eyes away in annoyance and stood up. He headed towards the Christmas tree, already having an idea what her "present" would be. Everyone had their eyes on him, watching him as he grabbed a bright red Christmas ball out of the tree and headed back to the crow-black haired female. He pushed the ball in her hands, growling, "Here. Now stop complaining and go away, witch."

Hotaru stared calmly with her amethyst orbs at the bright red Christmas ball that was lying in her hands, her black eyebrow cocked up. So that's how it is, she thought silently. The others just blinked in confusion. Was Natsume joking or something? Because really, a Christmas ball isn't a present. Seriously, what was going on?

"Is this all you could find?" asked Hotaru dryly, shifting her eyes towards the crimson ones. "Be thankful that I at least got you something." He growled in return, his eyes narrowed. Without even saying something back, Hotaru walked away from him and headed towards the blond-haired Ruka, who was standing against the white wall of the room, wondering the same thing the others did. "There has to be a reason for all this," the male muttered under his breath to himself.
"There is," said Hotaru suddenly as everyone continued with what they were busy with, and she leaned against the wall next to Ruka. Ruka looked up at her, blinking. "What?"

"I said that there is a good reason for all this," Hotaru crossed her arms, watching the others surround Natsume, talking about the presents they got and how Misaki and Tono were busy telling Tsubasa that he had to put the pink hat on to see how it looks. Natsume just sat there, showing that he was annoyed because of the fact that everyone was sitting around him on the couch. "Ruka, did you see him these past weeks?" Hotaru turned to him, finding the ocean-blue eyed lad thinking.

"Yeah, I saw him," he replied, nodding his head twice. "But, that was always at night, somewhere around nine PM or something… looking always tired and messed—" he stopped, realizing what the cause was of Natsume not having any presents. "The missions," he continued with a grunt, slamming his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

Ruka started to feel guilty and stupid at the same time, angry at himself for not realizing that one fact about his best friend who he knew already for so long.

"I heard that he went to Central Town today, probably buying the Christmas presents. Though, I guess that Persona found him and dragged him to a mission," Hotaru ran her fingers through her hair. The blond male nodded. "So maybe the fact that he forgot about the whole party wasn't the only cause of being late. You think the others had noticed it already, too?" Hotaru shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."

Ruka heaved a deep sigh, straightened and headed towards the others with soon, Hotaru following him calmly. Koko looked up, and twitched his lips into a slight smirk. "Hey, what were you two doing? I hope nothing dirty." he asked mischievously. The two knew what he meant right away, and gave him a frown to shut up. Hotaru even hit him.

Then Mikan, who was sitting on Tono's lap (to Natsume's dismay of course), turned her attention to Ruka and asked, "Hey, Ruka. Did you get a present from Natsume already?"

Silence popped up right away.

Natsume paused, guilt boiling up inside of him again. The lad cursed loudly in his thoughts; he was hoping nobody would notice it because they were too busy with their own presents, but he was wrong. Now he had to give him, his best friend since ages, a stupid so-called fake present that he needed to find somewhere here. But…he couldn't have given him something random that he had found somewhere in the room, like he had done to the others. He couldn't do that, right? He couldn't do that to his best friend, whom he cared for deeply. He had to think of something else. But the question is: what?

Ruka turned his ocean-blue eyes to his raven-haired friend, seeing that Natsume was struggling with thinking of a plan quickly. Ruka creased his eyebrows for some seconds, before he turned his lips into a thin yet warm smile.

The others, who were waiting for the blond boy's answer, raised their eyebrows in confusion.

"Nope," Ruka answered finally Mikan's question, easily. Mikan blinked. "No?" Ruka shook his head as an answer.

This time, the pink-haired Misaki slightly blinked. "But then, why are you smiling?" she asked slowly. Now Natsume turned his attention towards his blond friend, his eyebrow slightly raised. Ruka turned his attention back towards his best friend. "Although he's been busy for weeks and being tired, he still is here to be with me, with us, on Christmas Day. That is the greatest present that he can give to me."

Everyone was speechless after what Ruka said. Even Natsume, who was staring at the blonde with slightly widened eyes, was speechless. Natsume didn't expect that he would say something like that, though he was glad and grateful to hear it, and the lad showed his friend not by a simple "Thank you". No. That wasn't really his thing. But with a slight, rare, unnoticeable smile; that was his way to say it. And Ruka, who knew everything about the male, nodded his head at him, a sign that it wasn't any problem.

After some more long seconds of silence of the teenagers, Mikan was the first one who broke the silence, "Ah, so sweet Ruka!" she squealed, smiling brightly at him, giving him the urge to blush. "As expected of Ruka, of course!" The amber-eyed female turned her eyes towards the owner of the crimson orbs as she noticed that he didn't say anything, and slightly furrowed her brown eyebrows.

"Hey, Natsume, are you not going to say anything to him?"

Natsume raised his eyebrow lazily at his crush. "Like?" This made the brunette a bit annoyed. "Maybe 'thank you, Ruka'?" Of course Mikan didn't know, like the others, that Natsume already said thank you to Ruka in his own way, and the crimson-eyed male was quite happy about it. Though, he started to get a little annoyed because of the fact that Mikan was minding someone else's business.

Natsume still had his eyebrow raised, his gaze on her. And then, with a loud yet low 'tch' he turned his head away from her. "Mind your own business, Polka-dots." He growled.

Mikan glared at him. "Hey, don't just turn away from me, Natsume! And I'm minding my own business, but you still could thank him, you know. He's your best friend!" Natsume rolled his crimson eyes in annoyance. Right, like he didn't know that already.

"Whatever," he said dryly, and walked away from the group, towards the long table to get him some soda. Mikan jumped off Tono's lap and walked angrily after him, trying to stop him.

The others sweat dropped while sighing. "And they are going to fight again," sighed Sumire, annoyed.

Misaki brushed her fingers through her hair and watched how Mikan grabbed Natsume's arm to stop him from walking. "I don't get why they just don't confess their feelings to each other. It's obvious that they're in love with each other, am I right?" Tono nodded his head, his eyes turned to the two fifteen-year-old teenagers who were standing near the tree. Curling his lips into a small smirk, he crossed his legs. "It's just a matter of time," Tsubasa glanced at the black-haired male; it was like he was waiting for something to happen, that he knew that something was going to happen.

Meanwhile, Natsume tucked back his arm and turned around, annoyed and his hands in his jean pockets. "What?" he asked nonchalantly, his eyes showcasing clear annoyance while Mikan's amber orbs showed anger. "Walking away from people is rude, Natsume! And I was talking to you!"

"But I wasn't talking to you," Natsume returned, turned his back to her and walked away. Mikan didn't let him; she didn't want him to walk away from her like that. She found it rude when people walk away from someone when they're talking.

While sighing in frustration, she took a step to walk after him, to stop him but didn't notice something. There was a long electricity cable on the floor from the Christmas lights that powered the Christmas tree; Natsume noticed it and stepped over it, but Mikan apparently didn't. And yes, when she wanted to take another step she tripped over the cable, and with a shriek, she bumped into Natsume. Because of that, the fire-caster fell, together with Mikan, against the Christmas tree.

The other teenagers watched in silence and horror how the tree fell, with the two, on the wooden floor. Every decoration flew out of it, breaking the silence.

Natsume rubbed the sore spot on his back, grunting angrily as he slowly stood up. He glared darkly at the amber-eyed female who was busy rubbing her forehead, and soon after she stood up as well. She noticed the dark look of the male and backed away slowly. "W-what..?"

"Moron," he stayed calm, though there was a hint of anger in his words. "What the heck is wrong with you? Look at what you've done." And he pointed a finger at the tree. Mikan widened her eyes before creasing her eyebrows. "What I've done? I didn't do anything!"

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't. You were the one who fell against the tree, not me."

"But you pushed me," he returned. Mikan crossed her arms over her chest, frowning deeply him. "I didn't push you, Natsume. I tripped over that cable and bumped into you."

"So? It is still your fault. And who trips over a stupid cable?"

"Hey! That is what they call an 'accident', Natsume!"

Tono curved his lips into another smirk, stood up and headed towards the two. "Okay, okay. You two, stop it." He told the two as he stood next to the nullifier, his expression now quite serious and hands on his hips. "It will lead you nowhere if you keep arguing like that about whose fault it is or whose fault it isn't. It's already quite obvious,"

Mikan blinked, her gaze at the tall male. "Really?" Natsume just rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance. "Duh. It's Polka-dots, it's her fault about that damn Christmas tree. Everyone saw it. So of course it's quite obvious whose fault it is." The nullifier only glared at the fire-caster. Although he had a point; Mikan was the one who tripped. She was the one who bumped into him, causing him to fall. She was the main cause of the fallen Christmas tree, and for all this mess. They knew that, and Tono knew that. But, then why did he shake his head at what Natsume just said? Was he trying to protect Mikan or something?

The dark blue haired Tsubasa narrowed his eyes at the black-haired male as he saw a mischievous glint in his dark orbs. He has something on his mind, the male thought, trying to figure out what he was going to do.

"No," Tono repeated, but now with words. "It's not only her fault, Natsume," The raven-haired teenager glared up at him, his eyes narrowed, knowing what he was going to say next, "It's your fault, too." Natsume's expression only grew darker.

The tall male backed away quickly, laughing nervously, slightly sweat dropping. "What? It's true."

"What do you mean 'it's true?" Natsume returned in a low growl. "She's the one who pushed me, so blame her, not me."

"Maybe," Tono replied with tapping his chin. "But…you were kinda asking for it, Natsume."

"I didn't push him!" Mikan yelled at Tono, but he just shrugged and crossed his arms, still having that evil glint in his eyes. "Anyway," he continued, glancing up at the clock. "It's already ten PM, and I think this Christmas party already has ended, right?" He turned around to face his friends who were all giving him questionable looks. "Right?" Tono repeated, giving them a pleading look to just agree with him.

Suddenly, Tsubasa understood what Tono was trying to do and nodded his head in agreement, standing up. "Yup!" he said as he headed towards the black-haired one. "I mean, we already gave the presents to everyone. The food's almost gone, and it's already pretty late. So, Tono is right."

Hotaru, Misaki and Natsume cocked up one of their eyebrows suspiciously.

Tono nodded his head, glad that Tsubasa understood what he was trying to do, and turned back to

the two teenagers, Natsume and Mikan. "So, while we're going back to our rooms, you're going to clean the lounge room up. I think that would be the right punishment for doing this to our Christmas tree."

Mikan and Natsume widened their eyes. While Natsume was busy glowering dangerously at the two older males, Mikan yelled, "WHAT?! But that's so unfair!" Tsubasa shrugged, ignoring the dangerous aura around Natsume. "Well, you should've thought about that before this happened." And he gave a look at the Christmas tree.

Mikan wanted to protest some more, but before she could do that the two males were already gone, dragging the others with them to the door after they pushed their presents in their hands. Soon, they started to whine about what was going on, "Hey, Tono, Tsubasa, what are you two doing?" Misaki asked as she eyed them, her pink eyebrows creased. "What's going on?"

"We'll explain later," hissed Tono, his forehead furrowed for a short moment as he pushed everyone to the hallway. As his little mission was finally accomplished, the hat-wearing Tsubasa Andou turned around to face them and gave them a smile. Waving them goodbye, he said, "Good luck! I'll see you two tomorrow!"

The two teens gave him an annoyed frown.

Then, Tsubasa curled the corners of his lips into a mischievous smirk. "And Natsume," he began, making the raven-haired lad bounce up his eyebrow. "Be gentle, will you?" This made Natsume widen his eyes, almost exploding with anger as soon as he heard what he said. He knew what Tsubasa was talking about, what he meant (unlike Mikan, who blinked at both boys) and he didn't like it. "Shut up, you son of a—!" but before he could curse him further, the door closed with a loud thud, leaving the two behind, alone in the room.

After some annoying whines and some cute pouts of Mikan, Natsume finally gave in and decided to help her clean. After a half hour, the two were done with everything and were then busy with the tree.

As the big Christmas tree stood back up again, the two started to decorate it again. They didn't speak a word to each other. That was because, 1: they didn't know what to talk about and 2: Natsume was in a bad mood because of all this, and he didn't feel like talking.

Mikan started to get sick of this uncomfortable silence and decided to break it with talking about the Christmas presents, "I hope everyone liked their presents," she started with a smile on her face.

Natsume, who remembered something that made him more annoyed, replied with a simple, "Hn" and continued with decorating.

"You know," continued Mikan. "I can't believe Tsubasa actually gave Tono Boob Slippers, and that Tono gave him a pink hat…" Mikan giggled. "But it was also quite funny, right?" she turned to Natsume, who replied again with a low, "Hn" The pig-tailed girl rolled her eyes away and heaved a sigh. "Can't you say something else than 'hn', Natsume?"

"Whatever," said the boy instead, and Mikan gave up. She wanted a normal conversation with him, but that was bringing her nowhere so she decided to shut her mouth and just continue with decorating. Then, after a long silence and the tree was almost finished, Natsume said, "Didn't you forget something?"

Mikan looked up from her work, and blinked at the raven-haired male. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"The presents,"

"The presents?"

"You gave everyone a present,"

"So..?"

"Except me." Natsume added, and turned his crimson eyes to the amber ones. Natsume didn't care that she didn't give him a present, because…well, he had to admit, he didn't really deserve it right then. But, he couldn't help but feel hurt as everyone got a present from her, while he didn't. He did forget about it, but when Mikan mentioned about the presents, it popped back in his head.

Mikan turned her eyes back to the tree and shrugged. She opened her mouth to say something, but Natsume was faster; it was like he could read her mind, "Don't tell me you forgot about it, because that would be a lie." Mikan glanced up as he continued, "I heard you say that you couldn't believe you bought me a present as well, and that you were hoping I had a present for you guys too."

"But you haven't,"

Natsume shook his head, shrugging. "Nope,"

"Why?" the girl asked him, her forehead slightly furrowed. "You always have presents on Christmas."

"I had presents," corrected the crimson-eyed male nonchalantly, one of his raven brows cocked up.

Mikan crossed her arms over her chest. "Right. A Christmas ball? Smacking someone's head to give him intelligence? Since when are those kinds of things presents?"

Natsume only shrugged. Mikan sighed again, and placed her hands on her hips. "What is the cause of you not having any presents?"

Natsume ran his fingers through his messy raven locks, before he turned his eyes back towards the tree. "Missions," he replied with a low grunt. Hearing that, Mikan wished that she had swallowed her tongue. Really, because all she managed to say was, "Oh…" She furrowed her eyebrows as guilt began to boil up inside of her. And I didn't know anything… "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't know…"

"That's because I didn't tell you anything, stupid."

Mikan wanted to ask him why he didn't say anything because maybe she could help him, but Natsume was faster, "Anyway, we weren't talking about me, we were talking about those stupid presents," he said, trying to change the topic. "So, talk."

Mikan rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh before she said, "Well, don't think I didn't want to give you a present or anything, because that isn't true." The girl scratched the back of her head, not really knowing how she should say this. "I just didn't know…how to give the present to you."

Natsume raised his eyebrow at her nonchalantly. "Why would you think that?" he asked, still in a bored tone.

"Because I…I thought you wouldn't like it."

"How do you know that for sure when you haven't even given it to me?" Mikan shrugged what seemed to be her answer, suddenly finding the wooden floor really interesting; she was embarrassed, and Natsume noticed it. A smirk appeared; he always loved to see her embarrassed, because then teasing her would be easier. But now, he was confused. What was it to make her so embarrassed? Was it the present..?

The raven-haired lad crossed his arms. "Just give me the present," he began, low. Oh God, Mikan had made him curious. The brunette scratched her cheek softly. "I don't know…" she muttered under her breath, though still loud enough for the male to hear it, and a slight blush crawled over her cheeks.

This all made the crimson-eyed male more curious. "Just do it," Great, and now he's demanding.

Mikan sighed deeply, and turned her gaze up to the boy. She noticed that she already made him curious about what his present would be. And she knew that if she didn't give him the present, he would just continue asking 'till he received the present or he would look for it himself. She sighed once again and gave up, deciding to give him her present.

"Fine…" she muttered, still that embarrassing feeling boiling up inside of her. "But… you need to promise me… that you won't laugh at it, okay?" Mikan didn't know why she felt embarrassed all of a sudden, or why she was blushing but…she just couldn't help it. Natsume just "hn"ed, which Mikan took as a "yes". Then, the pig-tailed girl walked away to get her present, while Natsume just headed towards the couch, deciding to sit down.

After some long seconds of waiting, the girl returned with a small plastic bag in her hands and walked with a slow pace towards Natsume. Natsume raised his eyebrow as Mikan stood in front of him, his crimson orbs on the plastic bag she was holding. "What's that…?"

"Here…" Mikan mumbled, and pushed the bag in the male his hands, and sat beside him on the couch. Natsume gave Mikan a short glance before he put one of his hands in the bag and took a little wrapped box that was even smaller than his hands from it. He stared at it. Okay, what was he supposed to think of this?

Mikan noticed it, and said, "You…need to open it…" Natsume raised his raven brow again, and removed the paper and opened it, finding a small golden necklace with an orange pendant on it. The boy slightly widened his eyes for one second as he remembered that he gave Mikan the same necklace one year ago on Christmas, but then with a red pendant on it.

Mikan had her amber eyes focused on the floor, silently waiting for his reaction. Natsume held the necklace up in front of his eyes before he shifted his orbs to the pig-tailed girl. "Are you proposing to me or something?" Mikan faced him as fast as she could, blushing furiously. "NO!!" she shouted, causing Natsume to smirk. "It's just that…because of the fact that you gave me one too," she showed him the necklace Natsume gave to her and continued, "I thought you wanted…one too. For…our friendship and stuff…"

"If I'm going to wear this thing too, we're going to look like we're a couple." Said Natsume bluntly, ruining the moment. Although he was frowning, deep inside of him he liked the idea of them being and being seen as a couple. Mikan couldn't help to blush even more. "B-but—"

"Ah, whatever," Natsume interrupted her quickly, calmly putting the necklace on. He held the red pendant in his hand, looking at it. "Though, next time buy something less expensive will you?" Mikan scoffed. "Says the boy who bought me the same necklace the previous year." Natsume only shrugged what seemed to be his answer, and looked around him. "So, I guess I need to give you a present too, don't I?"

Mikan blinked. "Huh? Oh, no. I mean, you don't have any presents because of the fact that you were too busy. So, no, you don't have to give me any presents." Mikan smiled, but the raven-haired lad ignored her as his eyes landed on a green twig, the mistletoe, which was hanging in the door opening, and smirked inwardly; he knew what her present would be. And, truth to be told, Natsume always wanted to give her a present like that. But…he never did it. Why? Because he never got the chance. They were never alone, and like hell he would kiss her in public.

But now he was alone with her; nobody was watching so that was his chance. And that kind of Christmas present was every girl's wish, right? See? He could be romantic.

"Too bad," Natsume said finally. "I'm going to give you one anyway." Mikan looked up at him, blinking. "Eh? But, no Natsume. I don't mind—" But she got cut off as Natsume grabbed, without a warning, her hand and dragged her towards the door opening, to stand under the green twig. Mikan didn't notice the green twig and as Natsume let her go, she tried to protest again, "Natsume, seriously! I really don't mind if you don't have any—" But before she could finish her sentence, Natsume crashed his lips against hers.

Mikan found herself soon responding to his kiss by wrapping her arms around his neck and closing her eyes. After some seconds of kissing, the lad broke the kiss, his lips curled up into a smirk as soon as he saw the red face of the pig-tailed teen. Mikan was touching her lips, staring at the male. "W-what was that for?" she managed to get out. "W-why… did you kiss me?" Natsume pointed a finger up at the mistletoe, which the two were standing under. Mikan widened her amber eyes. "Y-you…you did that on purpose!" she yelled, pointing a trembling finger at the crimson-eyed teenager. "You dragged me here on purpose!"

Natsume shrugged. "You kissed back," he pointed out calmly, and he found his lips turning into a smirk again. Mikan paused, pouting as she looked away, her cheeks burning. "S-so…?"

"And I wanted to give you a present, so here you go,"

Mikan widened her eyes, eying him back. "A-a present…?" Natsume nodded his head, raising his eyebrow. "Don't you girls call this kind of present 'romantic' or something?" Mikan blinked. "Uhh…y-yeah, but—" Natsume interrupted her again by sealing her lips with a gentle kiss. He broke their lips apart after a few seconds and left a small gap between them. "Well then," he said, his lips still turned into a smirk, his voice soft. "Merry Christmas."

Mikan stared at the male, not believing what he did. But then, her lips turned into a smile itself as her heart began to pound faster than at first, happy about what Natsume did. Still blushing, she nodded her head slowly. "Yeah…" she replied softly, her cheeks still turned into a deep red. "Merry Christmas to you, too." And with that, she wrapped her arms around his neck again and closed the small gap between them.

"Ah, so that's what you did." Hotaru said, her back leaning against the wall of the dorm hallways, not far away from the lounge room.

Tono and Tsubasa just explained everything that the two males did after putting the presents on the floor for a while so that they could talk.

"But don't you think it was mean?" started Yuu slowly, fixing his glasses on his nose. "I mean, how you two did it and such." Tono scratched the back of his head, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess so. But, I didn't see any other option. And I only did him a favor." The dark green haired Sumire silently sighed in disappointment. She actually felt quite jealous of Mikan. Though, she thought, maybe it was better that way.

Koko turned to the hat-wearing Tsubasa. "Is it also a punishment for the fact that Natsume didn't bring any presents with him?"

Tsubasa shook his head. "Nah. I mean, Ruka told us already the reason behind all that. It wouldn't be fair if we're going to let him get punished for something that isn't his fault at all." Mochu chuckled, crossing his arms. "What you call a 'punishment.'"

Misaki nodded her head. Hands on her hips, she turned towards the two males. "Seriously, guys. I think you're rather doing him a small favor with cleaning the lounge room alone with his crush."

Tono and Tsubasa scratched the back of their heads at the same time before nodding. "I know," said Tono, his arms crossed. "That's why I said I was doing him a 'favor'. Well, not only him… I guess we're also doing Mikan a favor, right?" Tono eyed the other male, who nodded his head in agreement.

"I guess so," Tsubasa answered, smirking. "Though, I guess he needs to make sure to thank us tomorrow."

Sam – Okay, first of all: I want to apologize for this long oneshot. This is actually 12 pages; I just couldn't stop writing. I deleted some parts when I re-read it and edit it but… it didn't really work. So, again, sorry.

Anyhow, because of the fact that there is nothing much to say, thank you for reading this and hope you all enjoyed it. :) I also wish all you guys a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! May Santa bring you many presents! :D

Oh also, check my profile. I've got some important news there. Not some good news actually… ah well. Just check it. ;)

Please review and let me know what you thought of this. No flaming, alright? :D Bye, bye. See you back in 2010! =DD

Much love,
Unknown Pain