Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me.

Prince Not-So-Charming

Sometimes, love is found in the most unexpected places.

I get my test paper from Jinno, my math teacher, and immediately turn it over to look at my results. As usual, it's above ninety percent, but somehow, my heart drops.

Ninety-two percent, the percentage that I have gotten from this week's math quiz, simply isn't up to my standards. I'm doing as well as I always do, yes, but it's not enough.

From my past experience, ninety-two percent won't get me a pat on the back and an encouraging "You've done well, Mikan" from my parents.

And that is all I ever work for, so what's the use of this stupid test paper?

Tears gather in my eyes as I slump back down in my seat. People around me are looking curiously at me. They're pointing at me and whispering among themselves, and I can't help but think resentfully that these people know nothing about me.

I don't even like to study, I think to myself as tears fall uselessly down my cheeks and just serve the purpose of making me feel like an idiot. I need a hug.

I want to see Natsume.

The thought comes unbidden into my head and successfully stops my tears as I sit up in shock. How can I be so brazen? I can't see Natsume Hyuuga! Not after I've been spending so much effort in avoiding him for the past week.

I haven't seen Natsume or talked to him since the candy fiasco last week. For some reason, finding out that Natsume Hyuuga is just a harmless teenage boy scares me more than knowing that he's a druggie. He's pretty much perfect now, and if I see more of him I'll just fall in deeper into the bottomless hole that is the charm of Natsume Hyuuga. I'm deathly afraid that I won't be able to pick myself up again after that, so I'll rather not see him.

Even though I've been missing him like crazy, as irrational as it seems. Who misses a boy whom she has barely known for three weeks?

Well, apparently I do.

I feel so very ashamed of myself – in more ways than one – as I crumple my test paper huffily, my thoughts instantly invaded by the one boy I so desperately wish to forget.

"Hello, Mikan-chan."

I snap my head around at the sound of the voice, feeling oddly paranoid even though I can tell it's a girl's voice. It is a girl, Aoi Hyuuga to be precise. She's walking up to me, looking curious and just a little bit amused. I briefly wonder if even a stranger can tell that I'm this close to going off my rocker.

"Hi," I say, shuffling my feet awkwardly as she comes to stand in front of me. "I haven't congratulated you yet. Congratulations, for... you know, you and Ruka."

Aoi smiles sweetly at me and I cringe. She, unfortunately, looks like a smaller, more feminine carbon copy of Natsume, so I can't help but think back to the smile that Natsume gave me last week.

Their smiles are similar too, except that Aoi's is genuinely friendly and sweet, while Natsume's smile is set to kill. Well, he certainly killed my heart, and my brain on the way, considering how the only thing I can think about is him.

I grimace. I think I must be sick.

I suddenly realize that I must have been making tons of weird, inappropriate expressions in front of Aoi, and my cheeks colour as I straighten my back and plaster a smile onto my face. "I'm sorry, uh, I was just thinking about some things."

"Do the 'things' you're talking about have something to do with my brother, by any chance?"

I flush redder, if that's even possible. "N-no!"

Aoi disregards my violent rejection of her notion and continues to speak. "I'm really sorry," Her eyes are sincere as she apologizes, "I know that my brother has given you and Ruka-kun a lot of trouble regarding my relationship with Ruka-kun. He's not a bad guy, honestly, just a tad bit overprotective, that's all."

"If threatening to murder your boyfriend is your standard for 'a tad bit overprotective'," I mutter under my breath. It's supposed to be mocking and sarcastic, but I can't help the smile that spreads across my face in a second when I remember just how adorable he is.

Aoi smiles knowingly as she eyes my smile, and I immediately erase it as I fake a cough.

"My brother has been asking after you," Aoi says slowly, gauging my reaction.

I hope my elation doesn't show on my face too much, but I've never been a good actress, and Aoi apparently registers that fact as she grins at me.

"He's promised to give me and Ruka-kun some time to try out our relationship, with the added protocol that if Ruka-kun ever lets me down, he'll be allowed to castrate him," Aoi laughs a loud, boisterous laugh, "And, we'll like to have you over for dinner tonight."

My heart starts breakdancing at the thought of seeing Natsume again. It will probably help to lift my rotten spirits, but at the same time I don't want to see him, because then all my previous work will be for nothing.

I sigh, hating myself for being such a wimp. I fiddle around with my skirt nervously, not daring to meet Aoi's expectant gaze. "I'll hate to let you down," I start, "but I -"

"So I'll see you there at seven tonight!" Aoi quips as she stuffs a piece of paper into the pocket of my school jacket. I gape in disbelief.

"Wait, I -"

"That's our address," Aoi ignores me as she continues with her instruction, "My mom will be cooking your share, and she'll be very very disappointed if you don't come." She pouts a little, folding her hands on her lap. "It'll be a big help to us if you come, Mikan-chan," Aoi turns to shout as she's leaving. I'm utterly still in shock with my mouth wide open, as distasteful as it is.

"Natsume has been sulking for one whole week because you won't see or talk to him. Please do us a favour and come, or we'll have to continue seeing my sullen brother skulking around the house snapping at anyone who touches his candy." Aoi smiles wryly at me from the school gates. "I hate to make my brother seem like a kid, but I think you know how he is."

Then she's skipping away, all sunshine and rainbows, while I feel as if she's just given me a huge Christmas present.

Natsume's been sulking because I've been ignoring him? As ridiculous as 'Natsume' and 'sulking' in the same sentence seems, I can't help but feel more lighthearted for the rest of the day.

I'm not intending to go to dinner at the Hyuuga's, although Aoi asked me really nicely, and I already feel guilty for letting her mother down. I tug my quilt up and over my face, wrapping myself snugly in it even though it's a pretty hot summer day.

I think my brain wants me to get sick so I won't be lying when I call to say that I can't make it to the dinner because I'm sick.

A knock sounds on my bedroom door, and I get up quickly. My mother pokes her head into the small opening. "Your father and I would like to talk to you."

Then the door shuts, and she's gone. I feel a pang in my chest, scolding myself for unwittingly expecting more from her. Of course not. My mother has always been cold, always been so formal. She's never called me with an endearment for even once in my whole life.

To them, I am nothing but a big disappointment. Perhaps they don't think I deserve their love, but I do know that the only thing I really want is their love. Even if I can only have it for a day. Even if it's just a sentence, just a word.

My guilt eats at me as I make my way down the stairs. After having received the cold treatment from them for so many years, I can't help but start thinking that maybe I do deserve it. After what I did, maybe I really do deserve this...

I sit down on the sofa in the living room, my body stiff and unmoving as I register the solemn atmosphere here. I twiddle my thumbs and try not to wince under the intense scrutiny of my parents.

When someone finally decides to speak, it's my father, and trepidation starts to fill me as his booming voice echoes through the room. "It has come under our attention, that you have been hanging around with a hoodlum."

My blood freezes, and my body does too. I immediately get what they're trying to talk to me about. It's Natsume. Natsume, whom I haven't seen for a whole week. Suddenly, I feel very indignant, and a small bout of anger starts to rise within me as I fist the fabric of my skirt in my hands.

"Meeting... undesirable people isn't good for you," My mother continues bluntly, "It might affect your future prospects. Moreover -"

"Natsume isn't 'undesirable people'," I say, and the room falls into an uncomfortable silence.

Okay, okay, I shouted. I stood up and screamed at my parents for the first time ever in my life, and it feels liberating. I feel like I should have done this sooner.

"He's kind, he cares for his sister, he'll do anything to protect her, and he's addicted to the type of candy that only kids eat," I'm breathing deeply, my whole body shaking.

I haven't had an outburst anytime in all my sixteen years, but there is no hint of concern or worry over my uncharacteristic action on my parent's faces. My father looks disapproving, but my mother looks unperturbed.

I'm crying hysterically before I realize it. I cry because I know I'm unloved. I cry because I know I'll never be loved, and I cry because I know there's nothing that I can do about it.

"I work so hard," I choke out, "I get the best results. I enter the best clubs. All these, all these just so you'll give me a smile, a word of encouragement, anything to make me feel like we really are family. But all I feel like is shit. Are you punishing me? For losing Loki all those years ago... Do you hate me for losing him?" I step around the long coffee table to stand in front of my parents, hot tears blurring my vision. I know it isn't just the coffee table that's standing in our way.

It's my brother, Loki. It's years and years of not communicating with each other. It's my parents' inability to cope with their loss.

And it's something that might never be overcome.

"I was a kid," I sob pathetically, and my mother starts to look the slightest bit disturbed, "I loved Loki. I would never have lost him on purpose. I was a five year-old who went out playing with her little brother, and ended up losing him. I was a five year-old wracked by remorse, guilt, and loss. I was feeling what any five year-old shouldn't have to feel. And I get that you hate me for losing your precious son. But don't you get it?" I wipe my tears away, even though they won't stop coming, and I look straight into my parents' eyes. "I love Loki every bit as much as you do. I'm just as pained as the both of you are. I'm just as haunted. Why can't you love me? Am I not worthy of your love simply because I made that mistake?"

My parents' faces are hard, cold and unrelenting even as I sob my heart out in front of them, and the clock strikes seven just as I open my mouth to continue my tirade.

I think the chiming of the clock woke me up, because I realize that it's useless to say anything more. I turn to leave, not even bothering to take my keys with me when I slam the front door shut.

I turn up at the Hyuugas' doorstep with frizzy hair and swollen, red eyes.

I might hesitate before I knock on the door if I'm who I normally am, but right now I can care less, so I just rap on the door twice, and wait for it to open.

When the door opens after what seems like a millenium, bright crimson eyes meet mine, and before I register what I'm doing I'm launching myself into Natsume's arms, sobbing brokenly.

I think three weeks ago Natsume might push me away and threaten to murder me, but right now he just looks bewildered as his hands hover awkwardly around me, not quite touching me, but not pulling away as well.

He manages to pull me onto my feet after I've finished making a spectacle of myself on his doorstep, and guides me into the house as I continue to cry and cling tightly onto him.

Natsume tries and fails to dislodge me from himself, and his mother and sister come rushing over, looking concerned for me and amused too, at Natsume's expense.

He growls something that I can't hear clearly in my frazzled state, and Aoi rushes off, only to come back immediately with a glass of warm water, which Natsume hands over to me.

After I've gotten water into my parched mouth, I suddenly come to my senses and realize what I've been doing.

I ran all the way to Natsume's house just to molest him. Oh, God.

I jump away from Natsume, who looks even more confused now. "Dinner?" His mother asks cheerily, as she leads me away from the living room into the spacious dining room. I follow her wordlessly. Or rather, I can no longer find my mouth, because I'm pretty sure it's been drowned by my embarrassment.

I will whack myself upside down the head if I'm not in the house of the boy I'm pretty sure I am, at the very least, in like with.

Natsume's mother sets the table swiftly while Aoi helps her. Natsume simply stands around with nothing to do. He's staring at me, and I can feel his eyes burning hot marks into my skin. I know I'm going to have to explain things sooner or later, but I really wish that it's later.

We sit down for dinner, and thankfully, Natsume's family doesn't try to ask me anything, and instead fawns over me during the duration of dinner, managing to stuff me so much that I don't think I'll see pie the same way ever again.

Natsume sits with me after dinner, still looking adorably confused. I have enough reason to believe that he wasn't informed about my dinner invitation, because when he thinks I'm not looking, he shoots a few scathing glares at Aoi, who merely takes it in her stride and smiles cheekily at him.

Aoi and Mrs Hyuuga clear up the rest of the dishes and promptly disappear into the kitchen. I don't know what to say to Natsume, so I go over to the brown leather sofa in the living room and sink down into it, averting my red eyes from his gaze.

He doesn't have any intention to just let me off, though. "What's wrong with you?" he asks as he comes to stand in front of me.

That's the question that I don't want to hear the most. I'll much rather he ask me why I'm here, in his house. I'll much rather he ask me why I've been avoiding him for the past week.

I'll rather admit to his face that I like him, for God's sake, rather than risk another bout of crying and wailing about my parents.

But the bomb has been dropped, and already I feel like crying as I sit stiffly. "Nothing's wrong." I try to sound insouciant, failing miserably when my voice cracks.

"Bullshit," he says, his eyes full of disbelief as he sits down next to me and turns me to face him. "Tell me what's wrong, Mikan," he prods.

I try to stop the horses stampeding in my stomach when I hear him say my name in a way that even my parents have never done before. It's full of genuine concern. It makes me feel like I truly do mean a thing to him.

I stare at him for a while, my bottom lip quivering until I finally can't stand the warmth spreading in my chest anymore.

Natsume doesn't even look fazed when I start bawling like a baby, clinging onto his arm like it's the only thing that can possibly keep me afloat. And in a way, it is.

"Everything's wrong," I wail as I hug his arm to my chest tightly, "Everything's wrong. I lost my brother. I lost my parents' love. I lost my family. I have nothing. Nothing!" I tell him everything, all the things in my life that have gone wrong, and how it's all my fault.

My heart thuds painfully in my chest as I wait for him to say the words that people have always said to me. It's not your fault, Mikan, they say. It'll fade with time, they say. Your parents do love you.

But they don't, and I've had enough of listening to all these blatant lies, when I know that it is my fault for losing Loki. When it is the truth when I say my parents don't love me.

"Don't be an idiot," Natsume says flatly.

I lift my head to look at him, hardly believing what I just heard. "...What?"

"You lost your brother. It's your fault. Your parents are angry, upset, what else do you expect from them?" Natsume continues with a completely straight face as he peels my hands from his arm and stands up.

I'm utterly still in shock as I stare at him, droplets of tears still hanging off my eyelashes. He's saying what I've always thought. He's saying the truth that the others never had the guts to say.

So why do I feel so betrayed?

"You deserve it. It's only just punishment for you losing your brother, isn't it? You'll just have to live with it and stop complaining," Natsume's eyes are like ice shards as he stares at me in a way that makes me feel as if he can see into the depths of my soul.

He shrugs. "It's your mistake, you pay for it."

Natsume's voicing out all my thoughts. I'm not supposed to be getting angry, but violent anger bubbles within me as I stand up, balling my hands into fists at my side.

I'm not supposed to be angry. What he says is absolutely right -

A painful, cracking sound echoes through the living room. It's so loud that momentarily, I'm stunned into silence, wondering why Aoi and Mrs Hyuuga aren't rushing into the living room.

Natsume raises a hand to his red cheek – the one I just slapped – and stares at me, his eyes hard like steel.

"Why?" he asks scathingly, "You don't think you deserve it?"

I'm shaking all over as I struggle to take deep breaths. I don't know what I'm doing, what I'm saying, but the words just spill out of me. "I don't deserve this!" I yell, "I was too young to know better. It was my fault, but I don't deserve losing all their love just because of this!" I hit Natsume a few times on the chest to reinforce my statement.

Natsume's eyes soften, and he whispers, "Atta girl."

I think I must be losing it, because I don't understand what's happening at all. Natsume tugs at me lightly, pulling me into an embrace. I feel warm and protected, and more relaxed than I have ever been before. "What are you doing?" I ask, my voice muffled against his chest.

Natsume smiles at me as he pulls away to hold me at arms' length, the same dazzling smile that I first saw a week ago. A week later, it still holds the same power over me, because I feel my legs turning into jelly.

"You've done well." He's so enigmatic that I can't figure out what he's talking about, then my mind reminds me that we're not exactly on friendly terms right now, since I just slapped him a moment ago.

I push him away roughly, cursing myself for my lack of willpower when it comes to him. "What do you mean?" I demand, standing up straight so that I won't look so tiny next to his towering figure.

Natsume pulls me back and I stumble on my feet as I tumble back into his chest again. I hiss a string of expletives that I don't really mean at all as he sits back onto the sofa, pulling me along with him.

"How do you feel?" he asks quietly.

I pause for a moment, not understanding the question, but it quickly comes to me. How do I feel? Right now, tucked snugly into his arms, I feel happy. Contented.

It feels like a huge stone has been taken away from its place in my chest. I feel liberated, like I've finally been set free – from the guilt that has been binding me for all these years.

Then it hits me. Natsume made me say the things that have been buried in my heart for so long, the words I thought I didn't have the right to say. My parents aren't the only ones who have been condemning me for my mistake. I have been hating myself too.

But now, I feel like I can finally forgive myself for the mistake that I made when I was young.

Natsume chuckles a little at my shell-shocked expression, then lowers his head to my ear.

"You have to forgive yourself first if you want others to forgive you," he whispers, and my heart does a little somersault, both because of his close proximity, and the realization that his words give me.

All I know is that I'll never be able to avoid him anymore. How can I, when he makes my heart beat so painfully? When he gave me the freedom I've never been able to grant myself? When he makes me feel so important, so loved...

I've been scared, so scared, that by liking him I'll be pushing myself into another impasse. That once again, I'll be in the situation where he doesn't feel the same way that I feel about him.

I was afraid that we'll be just like me and my parents, but now I know that I was being stupid.

Natsume is different, and I'm sure of that as he mutters something into my ear that I'm not really hearing. I think he's saying that I'm stupid, but I don't really care.

I press my lips to his cheek, mouthing a small thank you as he splutters a little but tries to cover it up.

I've always wanted a Prince Charming to appear and sweep me off my feet, to give me a fairytale ending and get me out of my misery, but even though Natsume's not as charming as I'll like him to be, even though he's surprisingly childish and stubborn, he's also kind, caring, and willing to show me that I'm wrong when I am.

And that's enough to convince me.

He may not be Prince Charming, but I just know, that Natsume is the prince that I'm looking for.

A/N: Don't you guys feel like it's not very completed? I feel that way, and I'm confused because I don't really know what I should do about it? Do you think this is good the way it is, or should I extend it to a three-shot? Give Mikan a happier ending by not making her parents such asses, perhaps? Haha. *scratches head*

I'm not really pleased with this, haha but thank you for all the reviews you guys left for chapter one! I appreciate it a lot.