Disclamer: I do not own Gakuen alice or any of its characters.

Author Note: This is a story whose idea I came up with a long time ago but never wrote. I just remembered it suddenly, so here it is.

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"Natsume, a new cafe opened near by. Will you come with me?" Sumire asked in her most sweet voice.

"Not today, I have to get home early." He replied nonchalantly.

"That's just your excuse for going to the arcade with Ruka." She pouted.

Ruka raised an eyebrow at that, but it was Natsume who answered. "Sumire, I said I have to go home early today." his tone was icy.

Sumire actually moved a bit away from him. "Ummm okay sure. We'll try out that cafe some other time." and with that she positively fled away from them.

Ruka gave a dry chuckle, then turned to Natsume. "Why do you let her act as if she is your girlfriend? You really don't care about her and we both know it." he asked his tone light.

"She annoys you?" Natsume asked.

"Well.. can you blame me? Her voice itself makes me shudder." Ruka replied, finally letting his true feelings on the matter show.

Natsume gave a low laugh. "I keep her around coz she makes sure all the other fan girls stay away. Heck, she even keeps your fans away coz she is so damned jealous. You have to admit, having her around is a small compromise by comparison."

Ruka sighed. He had suspected it would be something like this. "I guess so. Anyways, why are you going home early today?"

"My parents have now become guardians to a 10 year old. She is coming today. I need to be there." Natsume replied.

"They are adopting a kid sister for you?" Ruka asked, sounding amused.

"Not really. They are not adopting her, they'll just be her guardians. She is the daughter of a friend of theirs who just passed away. I'm told it was an accident but she saw it happen and hasn't spoken since. Poor kid, so I figured the least I could do was stay at home to welcome her."Natsume said in a quiet voice.

Ruka looked at him surprised. "Poor kid indeed. Well, I hope she feels better after moving here. Will she be coming to our school?"

"I think so. Mom seemed really happy that I am in an escalator school, so I can take care of her even though I'm in high school and she will be in elementary. Hence I probably will be babysitting even when I am here." Natsume said in a long suffering voice.

"Quit whining. You are happy at the thought aren't you?" Ruka said punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Well it will be a good excuse to get rid of Sumire." Natsume said with a chuckle. Ruka laughed at his best friend. He was the most popular boy in school and everyone thought of him as stoic and cool. Ruka was the only one around whom Natsume let his real personality come to the surface. Ruka wondered how now having to take care of a child would affect him.

Natsume was staring in surprise at the little girl who was sitting across from him. She was so.. tiny. Was I this small when I was 10? the 16 year old wondered.

"Mikan did you like your new room?" Mrs. Hyugga asked.

Mikan nodded. Natsume leaned back in his chair. The girl had not spoken a single word since she had come, which had been over two hours ago. He had been told that her voice was gone, but some how it hit him hard now that he had her in front of him.

A few more hours passed by, with her saying nothing. They had had supper, and then Mrs. Huygga tucked Mikan in for the night.

When she came out, she sighed as she sat next to Natsume. "I was going to tell her to call me Kimiko or Aunty, but I guess it really does not matter huh?"

"It's fine mom. I'm sure her voice will come back eventually, so you should tell her that anyways." Natsume answered.

"I really do hope so." She sighed again, as she got up. "I'm exhausted, so I'm heading to bed. Your dad is already asleep I'm sure, but that does not mean that you can pull an all nighter. Don't stay up too late." Then she proceeded to give him a good night kiss.

Natsume waited until her bedroom door was closed and then went straight to the computer in the study. He could have used his laptop but he preferred gaming on the bigger screen. After playing for two straight hours, he finally decided that it was time for him to go to bed as well. Just as he was about to enter his room though, he heard quiet sobbing. He peeked into the room to see the little girl curled up into a ball, crying softly. Natsume knew that he should get his mother, what did he know about kids, but somehow he could not leave this kid alone.

He quickly went and got a pad and a pencil and then knocked softly on her door. Just as he had expected the sobbing stopped immediately. The girl sat up, and waved at him to enter. He sat down on the bed next to her, and turned on the bedside lamp. She furiously wiped away her tears. Natsume smiled, she was definitely proud and brave. Good.

"Here, you never did introduce yourself to me. So lets start again, I'm Natsume. And you are?" he asked in his most gentle voice, as he handed her the pad and pencil. She took it from him and wrote her name.

"Hello, I'm Mikan Sakura. Nice to meet you." She wrote and then gave him a small smile.

Natsume smiled back. "Okay Mikan, now that we know each other, do you think we can be friends?" he asked.

She nodded. "Okay, then will you do me a favor?" he asked.

She nodded again. "I cannot sleep, so I was hoping you'll help me pass the time. How about I tell you some of the things I did with a friend of mine in school? That way you will also know what your new school will be like? I promise that all the stories I tell will be from when I was 12 or younger."

"I'm 10." she wrote on the pad.

"I know. But I used to have classes in that building till I was 12." Natsume replied.

She gave him another nod then. Natsume leaned back on the bed while Mikan curled up besides him. She looked like a cat curled under the covers. He chuckled softly, and then proceeded to tell her about every nasty prank Ruka and him had ever played in elementary school. Soon he had her laughing. By the time he was telling her about the 6th prank, she had fallen asleep. Natsume turned off the lamp, and put away the pad and pencil. He was about to get up when he realized she was holding onto him. He moved back, deciding to wait till she was asleep more soundly to leave so that he did not wake her up. He had no idea when he fell asleep.

Mrs. Hyugga went to wake up Natsume the next morning, to find him gone. She scowled, her son was not an early riser, especially on a Saturday. Not to mention the bed was made too. She turned away in disgust, knowing that she would find him in the den, either still playing games or asleep in the chair. She decided to check on Mikan before she yelled at him though.

"Wake up!" Kimiko Hyugga shook her husband awake.

"Wha?" he asked sleepily.

"You have to see this." Then she proceeded to literally drag him out of bed. She grabbed a camera on her way out the room.

Shou Hyugga stood there stunned at the sight before him. Then a broad smile lit his face. "Kimiko, it seemed we were worrying for no reason. Seems like he has it all under control."

"I agree. Natsume has made me very proud today." she said happily as she took a picture of the two sleeping kids. Then she handed the camera to her husband and went on to cover Natsume with a blanket since he was sleeping on top of the covers. Mikan was curled up besides him, holding his hand. Even though there were obvious tear marks on her face, she was smiling while she slept.

"They look so sweet." She said dreamily, as they stepped out of the room and closed it behind them.

"I know. I had no idea my son had even one sweet bone in his body." Shou chuckled. Kimiko smacked him, but he only laughed more as he went back to their room, undoubtedly heading straight back to bed.

Shaking her head at him, she went to make preparations for brunch. Today she would let the kids sleep in.

Author Note: Hello everyone. This here is the first chapter of my new story. I hope you guys liked it. Any suggestions of any sort, even ones related as to where you would like to see this story go, do let me know.

One thing though, no matter what, Mikan is not Natsume's sister. If you think that their bond is too brotherly, do lemme know right now, and I'll change the name to Tsubasa but I cannot write a story in which those two are brother and sister. They might not be in love, but making them related would kill all possibilities of it and I don't like that.

Thanks a lot for reading! DO REVIEW!