So I decided to do this, as a request! I got a really small idea, and I don't know what it's gonna develop into, but hopefully, it won't just die off, leaving me with nothing :)...

DISCLAIMER : I obviously don't own Gakuen Alice, or anything related to it, except this plot, because it's supposed to be FANFICTION. That's what it's called, so...

...Yeah, this is dedicated to strawberripinkicakes... :) ...and extra thanks to readers and reviewers! :D

-Halloween-

Mikan looked around.

She had been going all paranoid this week, making sure no one had tried to pranked her - it was the last week of October, which meant Halloween was coming up.

She so sure of Hotaru thinking up some evil thoughts, and maybe Natsume would come up with something spontaneous, and molest her again. Hopefully, Luca and Prez would dissuade them, if they tried at all.

Mikan was walking to her room, when she spotted familiar blonde hair.

"Ruka? What are you doing here?" She asked, as he was standing by her door.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but it seemed Hotaru, who she realized was standing behind him, was stopping him, apparently threatening him with her idiot hooves.

"If you tell her anything, I will knock you out and spread embarrassing secrets about you, which I'll find in your room." Hotaru spoke in her usual monotone.

"Hotaru! Don't be mean!" Mikan clung to her best friend. "If you tell everyone his secrets, he'll die lonely!"

Where she ended up with that conclusion, some people will always wonder.

...Although Ruka seemed to believe her, with that expression on his face. There was no way to describe it.

While Mikan was wailing about Luca's loneliness, Hotaru told him, "you're gonna die lonely anyway." Meaning, 'Mikan doesn't like you that way.'

"Hotaru! You're soo mean! Don't rub it in!" Mikan teared up.

Hotaru shot an idiot hoof, nailing Mikan in the face, like always.

"Ah - Hotaru!" Ruka started. "Wouldn't that just make her cry more?" and got a hoof ready to be shot toward him.

At that moment, Prez ran by and saw all the fuss. "Guys, what's going on? You're being so loud." Then he spotted the girl on the floor. "Mikan! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." She answered dizzyingly.

"Hotaru's threatening us!" Luca reported, hoping Hotaru wouldn't kill him.

"But that's what she always does, right?" And when Prez looked up to face Hotaru, everyone realized that she wasn't there anymore. "Where...?"

If someone had bothered to look up, to the cieling, they would have seen Hotaru's new invention : something like her sleeping bag, but it stuck to different places, dependind on the material - like wood, or metal. It was currently holding Hotaru, hiding her.

-Later-

Hotaru spoke into her recently updated, panda-like communicator. "Keep a close eye on Ruka. He really wants to tell Mikan, the good boy he is."

"Prez does, too." A familiar voice came out of her headphones.

Hotaru had expected that he would.

...Which was why she was holding an idiot hoof, once again, toward Prez, who was looking pretty teary.

"Hotaru... why are you being so mean?" He risked asking.

Hotaru looked thoughtful as she said, "...Well, don't you want to have fun?" and looked at him.

Have fun picking on Mikan? Or... Prez thought of something. "What do you mean?"

-Natsume-

"She's gonna cry, and exaggerate her sadness about you and Imai not caring." Ruka reasoned.

Natsume gave him a look - it wasn't as evil as his glares - that shut Ruka up.

No use trying to persuade Natsume.

Ruka's friend spoke into a communicator that obviously belonged to Hotaru.

-Mikan-

Having been on edge since Hotaru's threatening Ruka, Mikan was unfocused in class, and didn't notice when the bell rang.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she whirled around in a clumsy, tense, fighting stance.

"Whoa, Mikan." Prez held his hands up. "The bell rang. Thought you should know..."

The girl looked around and saw that they were the last two in the class.

"Oh! Thanks, Prez!" She rushed out with him.

"You looked like you were worried about something." He asked about it.

"Uh, well, you see, Hotaru seems to be planning something against me..." She explained. "I think it's because Halloween's coming by..."

She was quiet for a few seconds, and when Prez was about to reply, she wailed, "THEY'RE GONNA TRY AND SCARE ME TO DEATH, PREZ! NOOO!"

"Mikan, quiet down, you don't know for sure, right? Maybe you're just paranoid."

"NOOO! I KNOW FOR SURE! HOTARU THREATENED TO KILL RUKAAA!"

Kill...? Prez sweatdropped at that. "But Mikan, instead of worrying, why not try to have fun?"

She tilted her head. "What do you mean, Prez?"

"Like, instead of making sure there are no traps or pranks that are waiting to be pulled, focus on the present and just... go with the flow." He knew it sounded a little cheesy, and even stupid, but Mikan reacted in a good way.

"I UNDERSTAND! Thank you, Prez!" and then bounded off.

But even as Mikan skipped away happily, she realized that without her friends, she'd only wonder what they were doing at the moment and could only come up with Ruka being tortured by Hotaru and Natsume planning on pranking her... Which didn't help at all. The only way she'd 'go with the flow' was to do something with her friends, so maybe they could distract her. But everytime she saw Ruka, he was always with Natsume, who she really would rather not hang out with, or Hotaru being tortured. Prez was busy running around doing who knows what - probably helping others.

By the time tomorrow came, she was worried sick.

And then she realized, she should've tried to hang out with Natsume anyway. Because then, maybe he wouldn't have focused on the possible prank. She knew he'd never let anything slip about any prank secrets, and same with Hotaru, but Mikan really should've tried to distract the two.

So today, she planned on dragging them to the plaza, to look for Halloween costumes... But then it started raining. And no one would walk in the rain downtown. So she was glad that it did let up, but by then, it was seven, in the evening, and she wasn't sure they still wanted to go. She chanced it anyway, thinking it couldn't hurt.

Ruka was just walking back to his room when Mikan found him. He agreed to go to town, pretty easily, too.

Natsume was lounging in a tree. She called up to him, but he gave her a glare. Oh well. She'd get Ruka to help her drag him, and maybe Prez and Hotaru would, too.

Mikan asked Hotaru next. Her friend wanted to make her own costume, but Mikan persuaded her that she'd need more materials - even though there seemed to be lots in the room.

After finding Prez and getting him to come along, they headed for Natsume, and found out he went to hide someplace else. But with the help of Ruka's animal friends, they found him pretty quickly.

Half-dragging and encouraging - or insulting - Nastume to get his butt moving, they managed to get to the plaza.

"Natsume, what do you wanna be?" Mikan asked cheerfully.

He ignored her, which just sent her into a state of anger, making her yell at him, causing attention from other wanderers.

"Mikan, calm down. You're attracting a lot of people." Hotaru told her.

"WELL IT'S HIS FAULT! I MEAN, SOME PEOPLE WOULD WANT AN ANSWER TO THEIR QUESSTIONS!" She continued.

Prez spoke up, "don't you want a costume?" in an attempt to calm her, which didn't fail.

"Oh, yes!" Mikan smiled brightly. "What do you want to be, Prez? Hotaru?"

"I'm not telling you." Hotaru walked away.

"WAIT!" Mikan hung onto her. If she let go, Hotaru would be by herself, which would give her time to think about how to scare Mikan. So she held on tighter. Because Natsume had already wandered off somewhere, she could only hope that Ruka would keep him busy. "Hotaru, why don't you help me look for a good costume?" Mikan suggested.

"Good plan, there's a costume shop down this way." Prez pointed.

With Hotaru being pulled along by Mikan, the three walked into the store and Mikan let out, "Wow! There's all types of stuff here! And they look so real!" She shivered a little as she walked by the aisle with skeletons, ghosts, and axes.

"I was gonna be a bear, but this one looks cool, too." Prez was looking at something that resembled a ninja. Mikan imagined a cute bear version of Prez, and then a ninja. The latter looked okay, but she thought the bear fit his personality a bit more.

"I'm halfway through my costume." Hotaru said when Prez asked if she was finished making it.

"Oooh, I wanna seeee!" Mikan exclaimed.

"Too bad." Hotaru told her.

"Mikan, Hotaru hasn't told anyone what she's gonna be, so don't take it personally." The only boy in the group said.

"Okay." She said a little tearfully.

And soon, the day was over, and the kids all headed back to their rooms, getting ready for the night.

-TBC-

Okay guys, this might be a two-shot, so the next is probably the last chapter :)... Hope you liked it so far. After this day, the next is going to be Halloween, so the next chapter is right on trick-or-treat day! Haha, I only got this idea because Halloween IS coming up in reality :D FREE CANDY! Free candy to reviewers, too! :D

Wow, this might be my longest chapter yet.