Dedicated to: Readers of Limited Edition. Thank you so much for the positive feedback! (Actually, I was kind of nervous if people will criticize it. I'm actually not good with these.)
Disclaimer: Tachibana-sama, this series is yours, right? With all due respect, can I have Koko-kun's alice please? (I don't own anything! Except this two-shot.)
WARNING! I think Natsume is OOC here so please forgive me!

ALL IN ONE FREAKING DAY
written by: peps-chan

'-'

The only thing predictable about life,

is it's unpredictability.

- From the movie "Ratatouille"

'-'

It's not everyday I get absolutely unlucky. In fact, I am always an optimistic person who didn't believe in these kind of things. But this day was way different. I considered this my worst day ever!

Would you like me to elaborate? Well, it all started this morning. My alarm clock didn't ring and I woke up late. I frantically readied myself to go to school. True, I'm late a couple of times but not this late! I woke up 8 o'clock am yet class will start in thirty minutes. Great, how time flies. Maybe I should beg Hotaru to give me a louder alarm clock. (But it'll cost me my whole one-star allowance. Sheesh, I have no money to buy howalons!)

I ran and ran towards our classroom and I sure am busted. That's because our first period is Math today so Jinno-sensei will be teaching us this morning. I quietly opened the door and shivered. How the hell can I enter the class without anybody noticing? Knowing Jinno-sensei, he'll probably humiliate me in front of the class and I suspect Permy and the others to tease me. I sighed. It's best to face the consequences.

I quietly entered the room, hoping I would come to my seat unnoticed but then again, it was just the start of my mishap. And that was when Jinno-sensei called my name. "Sakura!"

I froze at my spot as I tried to stand up from crawling. I stuttered, "J-Jinno-sensei?"

He just glared at me and fumed, "You're late!"

I tried to reason out. I never wanted any trouble and I never wanted to be in trouble! "U-Um, I woke up late this morning a-and my alarm clock broke and—"

He pointed his wand at me as his thunder alice came sparking at its end. He furrowed his eyebrows and seethed at me, cutting my "convincing" explanation. "Excuses, excuses, those are the things students use to escape from punishment! And let me tell you something, it's not going to work!"

I shivered as he continued to give me a murderous glare. Just then I heard someone opening the door. Jinno-sensei diverted his glare to the one who entered. "Hyuuga! How many time do I have to tell you that this isn't your house! This is a school!"

My gaze went straight to Natsume. He's still indifferent as usual as he kept quiet. He completely ignored the math teacher as he approached to his seat then gave me a glare. Oh why the hell did he look at me like that? I didn't do anything for Pete's sake! I decided to confront him at lunch. But I jumped as Jinno-sensei's lightning almost hit Natsume while he was walking towards his seat. Good thing it only missed him by mere inches or else. Natsume glared at Jinno-sensei as the teacher told me, "Hyuuga, detention after class! You too, Sakura. Both of you should do something about that tardiness of yours. Now both of you, get back to your seats and pay attention!"

That incident brought shivers down my spine. I watched Natsume from the corner of my eye as he muttered some words I couldn't comprehend which I figured to be death threats for Jinno-sensei. We both sat down as the math teacher continued glaring at my class and lectured about decimals. Oh boy, now I'm stuck with him all afternoon! Now my luck couldn't be worse can it? But I noticed him weary as he entered the classroom. Sure, he didn't look like that a while ago but as soon as I heard his ragged breathing, I figured he shouldn't have attended this class in the first place.

I quickly disregarded the thought of Natsume being ill and focused on Jinno-sensei's lectures. Little did I know that Natsume have been looking at me this whole time.

'-'-'-'

"Mikan-chan, detention is not that bad. Jinno-sensei is just strict because he wanted to discipline us students, I think." Iinchou tried to comfort me as I whimpered like a puppy on my table. Anna-chan and Nonoko-chan also tried to reassure me that detention is not as bad as I think it is. I planned to be a goody-two shoes for the rest of my life and I ruined it! "Ne Iinchou, Anna-chan, Nonoko-chan, you haven't even experienced Jinno-sensei's true wrath! I'm scared!"

"Sakura, you don't need to be scared. Natsume is going to be with you anyway." Ruka-pyon also tried to reassure me as he continued to pat his rabbit's head. I pouted at the blonde. "That doesn't make me feel better at all, Ruka-pyon. You made it even worse!"

Then I felt my hair heating up and two seconds later, I shrieked. My hair was on fire! "H-Hot, hot, hot! KYAA!" I unknowingly used my nullification alice as the fire subsided. I glared at the culprit, Hyuuga Natsume. "Natsume! Now look what you did to my hair!"

He didn't say anything as he sat next to me and flop down on his table. My cheeks puffed as I tried to force him to apologize. "Natsume! Apologize to me now!" I continued on blabbering and failed miserably. Gosh, he's impossible! As I pouted, Permy and the other members of her fan club stared dreamily at the crimson-eyed boy beside me. She squealed, "KYAA! Natsume-kun is so handsome even if he's sleeping! Oi, Sakura, move over there beside Imai so that I could stare at Natsume-kun's handsome features. Maybe we could even change places. This is going to be heaven for me!"

I raised an eyebrow at Permy. "We're not allowed to change seats until Narumi-sensei says so, Permy."

She glared at me as her cat whiskers appeared on her face. "Narumi-sensei's not here so I make the rules as the president of the Natsume-Ruka fan club. Move, NOW!"

"Shut up, Permy." Natsume's exquisite yet threatening voice interrupted Permy. She stood there dreamily while quickly agreeing. "Whatever you say, Natsume-kun!" Then she hopped merrily towards her fellow fan club members. I also stood up to check up on Hotaru leaving Natsume in his deep sleep. I greeted my best friend cheerfully, "Hi, Hotaru!"

Hotaru merely ignored me while fiddling with her new invention. I decided to let out my frustrations to her. "Hotaru, I'm scared of Jinno-sensei! I don't even get in trouble during my younger years!"

"That's what you get for staying up late last night. I even prepared an alarm clock for you. And by the way, you owe me 25 rabbits for breaking my alarm clock." She said indifferently, not looking at me at all. My amber eyes widened. "T-Twenty five rabbits? That's more than half of my one star allowance!" I whined.

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

Just as I thought, she hit me with her famous Baka gun. I winced at the pain on my head as I complained to my best friend, "Hotaru! Why did you hit me? I didn't do anything to you!"

Now she gaped at me with her emotionless eyes. "You're too noisy that I couldn't stop fixing my invention. You better go back to your seat because Misaki-sensei is already here." She said as-a-matter-of-factly.

I only frowned as I went to my seat beside Natsume. And yes, he's still sleeping. Talk about tardy like me.

'-'-'-'

The whole day passed by rather quickly for me since I didn't pay much attention to class today except with Narumi-sensei. He had an activity for us that I was excited about so this wasn't a very boring day for me. And now it comes to this one word after class: DETENTION. I got frustrated as I walked in the detention classroom with Jinno-sensei watching us closely. Natsume, on the other hand, went on reading his manga. I guess he couldn't skip detention like other classes.

Thirty minutes have passed and Jinno-sensei is still keep a close eye on us and now Natsume slept flopped on his table. I was getting uneasy with the atmosphere and I really wanted to rest now. Another thirty minutes have passed until Jinno-sensei finally ended the detention. He stood up and gave us a glare. "Sakura, I hope you learned your lesson and tell Hyuuga to at least pay attention for a few minutes. Or else you'll be receiving more than detention. Do you understand that, Sakura?."

I shivered but I managed to conceal my nervousness from him but the stuttering is still there. I couldn't help it. "I-I understand, Jinno-sensei." Then he left. I thought I heard a click from the door. But I guess it's just my imagination. I shrugged it off and went to Natsume who is still sleeping as of now.

"Hey Natsume. We can finally go back to our rooms. Wake up so you can sleep there." I tried to wake him up but I failed. Hyuuga Natsume isn't someone who will fall in a very deep sleep as far as I know. That is until I noticed that he was sweating in cold sweat. I started to worry as I put my hand on his forehead. He is very hot, and by hot I meant he's having a high fever. In this time, the infirmary is already closed and it started to get dark. I tried to wake him up again. "Natsume, wake up! I need to take you to your room!"

His eyes fluttered open revealing his dull crimson eyes. Now it is clear why he slept all day. He had a raging fever. I looked at him with concern evident in my eyes. "Natsume, please wake up. I'm not strong enough to carry you back to your room when you're currently sleeping."

"I-I'm fine, polka. So don't worry about me." He tried to stand up but he didn't have the strength to do so. That's why he fell down and I caught him. But he was heavy. I tried to let him sit down but as always, Natsume is still as stubborn as ever. He said in a faint voice, "I-I can take care of myself. Like I said, there's no need to worry about me."

Ugh! He's making it even harder than it already is! I tried to stop him from standing up but he threatened to burn me. Now that wasn't very nice. I quickly retorted to him not to move because he still doesn't have the strength to even stand up without falling two seconds later. I approached the door and tried to open it but to my dismay, I can't open the freaking door. Oh my gosh, does this mean we're… we're…

…locked in the same room?

So that was why I heard a click a while ago when Jinno-sensei left the room. Now I'm stuck here with him!

I'm panicking right now! What the hell? Who did this to us? I guess I shouldn't have mentioned this day as one of my worse days ever in the Academy. Sheesh, and most of all, I'm locked with Mr. Stingy here. Well, I got stuck with him in the haunted house, and he got injured because of me, I know! I remember it clearly! But this is a different case. I'm actually stuck with an ill Hyuuga Natsume. At least I can be a little relieved because this way, he won't be able to continuously threaten me.

He's sick. I have to get him to his room. But there's no choice but to stay in the room and wait for someone to unlock the door. But I'm quite worried about Natsume. What if his fever got worse. I figured I should do something about it. So good thing we're stuck in the Somatic classroom. At least there are some towels here that I could use and there's a faucet just at the corner. I had all that I need just to lessen the fever.

"Natsume, stay here okay? Don't try to stand up. I have to at least lessen your fever." I said then I took a towel and went to the faucet. I asked numerous questions in my mind. I know that Natsume rarely gets sick, much less a fever and yet here he was, like a little boy wanting to be cared by his mother. I was surprised that I got to see him this… vulnerable.

I quickly went to his side and put the towel on his forehead. Then I wiped his arms and legs with the spare towel that I wet earlier. His face was red from the fever and I think he's in deep sleep now. I continued to do the process for the next ten minutes then I checked his temperature by feeling his forehead with my hand. He wasn't as warm as before and I think his fever lessened. I sighed in relief.

I wanted to check if there are some keys hidden in the drawers around the room. Maybe we could get out of here. But as I stood up, I felt Natsume grab my hand and told me, in a soft voice that only I could hear, "Stay with me for now."

"But I have to at least find a way out. We don't have to wait all night to get out of here." I reasoned. This isn't the time for stupid jokes and I'm clearly not in the mood. I tried to break away from his grasp but he was too strong. I tried to reason out again. "Please let go of me, Natsume."

"Just this once, stay with me." He said with a tone that clearly surprised me. It was rare for Natsume to talk like that. I've always known him to be arrogant, cold and a pervert. I've always heard him threatening somebody in his way with a tone that might bring shivers down to your spine. And yet, this moment, he spoke to me of a tone that made him look like he was pleading me to stay with him. It's as if he didn't want me to leave his side.

I had no choice but to give in. I sat down beside him and sighed. I noticed that he hadn't let go of my hand. I suppose he was sick so I allowed him. I looked at the clock and I saw that it's almost midnight. I think Takahashi might be looking for us. So I tried to wait for someone to open the door. I couldn't leave his side because he still hadn't let go of my hand. My eyes are tempted to close to slumber but I tried to stay awake. While Natsume here, went to sleep.

I suddenly felt his head on my shoulder. My eyes widened. I felt his hair tickling my neck and it was driving me insane!

Now that we were in this position, I couldn't help but survey his features. His raven bangs artistically framed his handsome face. My free hand made its way to brush his bangs covering his closed eyes, his crimson eyes blocked from my sight by his eyelids. His eyelashes were long which made him even more attractive to my sight. To me, he looked like a little boy, much like Youichi-kun. He looked so peaceful sleeping like that. I couldn't help but smile a bit. I didn't expect to see this side of him today, or ever. I think I understand him now. Under the mask of his cold facade lies a little boy who only wanted to be happy and be free. Being asleep as he was, he still didn't let go of my hand. I had to admit that feeling his touch soothed me. I felt a light feeling in my chest as I felt his hand holding mine.

I guess observing him was enough to make me yawn. I can't wait for someone to arrive and unlock the door. Because of my drowsiness, my head fell on his head as I closed my eyes to the world of dreams.

'-'-'-'

I finally woke up at 7 in the morning. I noticed that it's still a little bit too early to be in class. And I also noticed that I'm still in the Somatic classroom.

I remember getting locked up in this room for the whole night, and I took care of Natsume, then I remembered his pleading tone, then I fell asleep. That's that. The rest are plain void. I couldn't point out what happened after that. I guess I was in a deep sleep that time.

Speaking of Hyuuga Natsume, where the hell is he? Is he already gone? Did he already go to his room without telling me? Questions quickly flooded in my mind. He was beside me last night, sleeping with his head on my shoulder. He was sick but I got rid of his fever somehow. Where is he anyway? Don't I get a proper thank you for being the one to take care of him when he's ill?

I also noticed a blanket covering my body. Where did this come from? There wasn't one last night. I suddenly felt my back aching. At least now I know that sleeping while sitting does cause back pain. Ouch. My legs are sore too. I think I need to rest today. After all, I slept while sitting down on the floor with a weight on my shoulder. That's just about sums up everything why my body is sore today.

I suddenly noticed a piece of paper pasted on the blanket and it came from none other than the devil himself, Hyuuga Natsume. That jerk! Why didn't he wake me up? I wanted to sleep in a bed too you know! He should've at least showed me some gratitude! Putting my frustrations aside, I read his note.

Polka,

I told you I didn't need to be taken care of.

You're a persistent one indeed.

Just mind your own business.

-H.N.

What the hell? That damn insolent, arrogant pervert! Why the hell did he write this when it's early in the morning? Did he want to provoke me? Ugh! I suppose my new day is part two of my worst day ever! Thanks to that jerk! Now he just ruined my day. For Pete's sake, it's too early in the morning to be the arrogant jerk as he was! One thank you should be fine!

Well, I noticed that there's more to the note.

P.S. Thank you for last night. Being stuck wasn't very cool, I know. I kept cursing Andou and Harada for locking that door.

Well, see you around, Strawberries...

S-Strawberries? I'm wearing the underwear of that design today. So that means he saw my underwear? THAT PERVERT! I should clearly teach him a lesson or two! He should respect the privacy of other people. I planned to confront him today. Sheesh, of all things, he had to bring out those silly nicknames about my underwear. Seriously, Natsume, get a life!

He saw who were the ones who locked the door? Is Tsubasa-senpai and Misaki-senpai trying to set us up? I plan to confront them today. THAT was not very nice.

But even though I considered this my worst day ever, I could say that it was at least 7.99 percent okay for me. Since I saw a different side of Natsume, so maybe if I get to know him, I could help him in any way I can, like with Hotaru and the others. That's what friends are for, right? And maybe I could get him to smile often! He always carries a poker face and intimidates people, even me. I gulped at the thought.

That damn pervert! He couldn't just get a new manga and read! Peeking is not nice you know!

But last night was one of the most memorable experiences for me because I was one of the few persons who saw Natsume's true nature. I'm very happy that now, I'm confident that I'm capable of taking him out of the darkness he's in right now.

Most of all, I didn't expect these events to all happen in one freaking day, a day that will definitely be a valuable memoir of my life in the Academy.

-End of Part I-

If you don't know Takahashi, he was a robot in the manga. You could search Wikipedia if you want to know more.

I don't have much to say really. I planned to publish this last Christmas after the publication of AMOLE but I got sidetracked with school. So please bear with me. Heehee, I know this is not in my pending stories list. This was already written last two months ago but I had to edit some scenes here. Well, I think it turned out alright. I'm actually planning to write the scene after Mikan fell asleep. Well, this is through Mikan's perspective so obviously she didn't know what happened after she fell asleep. So I'm making this a two-shot. Although it might took me long to update the second one. Well, stay tuned okay? I'll try to update it soon! I already have ideas in my head.

Questions, comments, violent reactions, constructive criticism? Please read and review! I would love to know what you think! Thank you so much!

peps-chan^^