Change: Chapter Two

[chilly07]

Now here is the second chapter of CHANGE. Have fun reading it! XD



-:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:-

◦◦ C◦ H◦ A◦ N◦ G◦ E◦◦
Chapter Two
By: xll KUROI TSUBASA llx

-:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:--:-

DISCLAIMER: Again, I, Kuroi Tsubasa, do not own Gakuen Alice for Tachibana Higuchi already holds that ownership.

-:--:--:--:--:-

After getting finally getting bored of what he was doing, Natsume left the shooting booth and approached Ruka and the others. However, he stopped walking when the stall owner suddenly called out to him.

“Excuse me young man but what am I going to do with all of these?” the owner asked while gesturing towards the huge pile of stuffed animals that the boy had won.

Without even turning back, the lad simply answered a nonchalant “Do whatever you want.” and continued walking.

Upon hearing that, one fan girl boldly asked if she could get one stuffed toy for herself and when the stall owner gave an unenthusiastic yes, the fight over Natsume’s supposed prizes ensued.

“Here.” Natsume said as he thrust the stuffed cat - the only stuffed animal that he kept with him, onto Mikan’s arms while they were walking towards the other booths.

“Eh? Why are you giving this to me?”

When Natsume chose to act as if he didn’t even hear her, Mikan got pissed off. Oh how she wanted to just smack the arrogant jerk in the face. Just when she was about to go after the said boy in order to act on her thoughts, someone grabbed her by the shoulders. She immediately turned towards the source of her distraction and saw Yuu offering her a sympathizing smile.

“Mikan-chan, you shouldn’t let Hyuuga-san upset you this much. After all, I think that he was only embarrassed to carry that stuffed animal with him. I believe it’s hurting his pride” the bespectacled boy explained while chuckling a bit.

“Really? How did you know that?” Mikan asked with interest, her annoyance already gone.

“A-ano… You see Mikan-chan, I ano… sort of feel the same.” Yuu answered uneasily causing the brunette to frown a little.

“Gomen ne Yuu. I didn’t know that. Ano… Shall I carry that teddy bear of yours instead?”

Her companion shook his head before answering “Unlike Hyuuga-san, my ego can handle this kind of embarrassment. It’s not a big deal for me so don’t be upset Mikan-chan. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Are you sure?”

Yuu simply nodded with a reassuring smile. Mikan was about to ask something once again when their forgotten companion, Hotaru, suddenly appeared beside them, riding her giraffe-styled vehicle.

“You can put those things here.” The raven haired lass said while pointing to the vacant space at the rear end of her vehicle where her own penguin stuffed toy was kept. The two did what they were told and just before she zoomed out of the place once again, Hotaru told them in her deadpan voice that she was going to charge 50 rabbits per stuffed toy.

“Hotaru, you’re so evil!” the brunette childishly exclaimed as her money-centric friend disappeared in the crowd.

-:--:--:--:-

After Hotaru came back, the three of them sought to find their other two companions who had gone ahead of them. After a while, they finally spotted them in the pie throwing booth.

“That’s so cool! I wanna try out that booth too.” Mikan suddenly shrieked in a rather piercing tone which gained annoyed glances and slightly painful eardrums from those around her.

As luck would have it, the moment Mikan cried out in excitement was also the same moment that Natsume was about to take his turn in the booth. Thus, the latter became pissed when his concentration was ruined by the childish girl. It also didn’t help that the bat-like shriek that the girl let out gave him a minor headache. And so, instead of landing on the supposed target, the pie hit the face of the said girl.

While bits of cream slowly dripped on the Mikan’s face, nobody dared utter a single word for they knew that hell would soon follow. It wasn’t a secret to anybody that although Mikan Sakura was usually forgiving and kind-hearted, she wouldn’t simply pass off such kind of an act - especially if it was done by her so-called partner, Natsume Hyuuga. As she slowly wiped of bits of cream and fruit from her face and neck, everyone watched her anxiously, readying themselves for a sudden outburst from the young girl. But much to their surprise, the first words that came out of her mouth were spoken calmly, without the slightest trace of irritation marring her voice.

“Does anybody know where the nearest faucet is?”

People simply stared at Mikan in disbelief for they have never seen her display such self-control before. Eventually, Yuu got over his initial shock quicker than the others and offered to lead her to the faucet.

When Mikan was done wiping herself clean, Yuu nervously asked if she was truly alright.

“Oh I’m fine! You just worry too much, Yuu.” she said in a voice that sounded genuinely cheerful, causing the mustard-haired lad to believe her instantly. But what he didn’t know was that the girl’s cheerful words were the exact opposite of what she was really feeling. Deep in her mind, she was imagining ways of torturing her jerk-faced partner while laboriously instructing herself to keep calm and take deep breaths.

-:--:--:--:-

With the two gone, Hotaru, Ruka, and Natsume were left to converse among themselves.

“That was so mature of you, Hyuuga.” Hotaru said sarcastically, finally breaking the silence.

Natsume just let out a snort before murmuring a “Mind your own fucking business, Imai”

Upon hearing that, the usually stoic inventor glared him. And Natsume, being a prideful man, thought of this as a challenge and happily glared back.

“You know that if you want to show your affection, there are more intelligent ways of doing so. But then again, I always thought of you as the type who doesn’t know them.”

A nerve was struck.

“Affection? Where did you get that stupid idea of yours?”

Deadly auras permeated from the two, causing their other companion to sweat profusely. Fortunately, before the two could start killing each other, a chirpy voice interrupted them.

“We’re back!”

“Ah. Welcome back. Are you okay now, Sakura-san?” Ruka quickly interjected, still feeling slightly jumpy after seeing that face off between his two raven-haired companions.

Mikan, in turn, replied with a smile and a gleeful nod before turning to chatting with Hotaru and Ruka.

Unbeknownst to her, crimson orbs have been watching her as well.

-:--:--:--:-

Their next stop was the fishing booth (the one wherein you can catch fish with the use of a piece of thin glass). Here, Mikan pathetically failed in all her attempts whereas Ruka immediately caught something in his first trial (probably the effect of his Alice). As soon as the stall owner handed him the plastic bag with the fish in it, he immediately went over to the sulking brunette and gave it to her, saying that it was another one of his presents. Upon hearing that, the formerly sulky girl turned cheerful once again and beamed at him while expressing her gratitude for his great kindness. The blond boy could do nothing but utter a shy “You’re welcome” with a red face.

They continued exploring more stalls and booths until it was ten thirty. At that time, the five headed towards the park located at the heart of Central Town for a dance was supposed to be held there. However, just before they entered the park, Natsume decided to part with them.

“Where are you going?” Ruka asked worriedly after asking the others to go on since he still has to talk to Natsume.

“You worry too much. Just go back to the others. I’ll be fine.” Natsume answered nonchalantly without even looking at his friend.

“But Natsume…”

“You’ll see me later.”

Those were his last words before he disappeared in the throng of people, leaving Ruka no other choice but to follow the others to the park.

-:--:--:--:-

“So you weren’t able to convince him to come, huh.”

The boy shook his head.

“So where did he run off to this time?” the brunette beside him asked, concern evident in her voice.

“He went to those trees nearby. I suppose that he wanted some time for himself.” Ruka replied in an equally concerned tone while Usagi pointed a sign with the word ‘Natsume’ towards the direction of the slightly wooded area.

Mikan sighed before uttering an almost inaudible “That loner.” in an upset tone. Nevertheless, Ruka heard those two words and looked at her sadly. Mikan Sakura really does have a big heart. Despite all the stupid/mean things that Natsume has done to her that day, she still forgave him felt great worry for him. She has always been like that - a pure hearted person and he admired her for that.

Determined to put that cheerful smile back at the brunette’s face, Ruka bravely asked her out for a dance. As expected, the girl beamed at him before saying an enthusiastic “Sure, Ruka-pyon.”

With that, the two made their way to the dance area and started to dance like everyone else. In order to keep the mind of the girl occupied and prevent her of thinking of gloomy thoughts once again, Ruka engaged her in light and slightly humorous conversation. Laughter could be heard from the two occasionally as they continued to dance. Once they finally finished dancing, Mikan smiled that radiant smile of her once again.

“Thanks for he dance, Ruka-pyon. And thank you so much for cheering me up.”

“You’re welcome Sakura-san but it’s nothing really. After all, what are… friends for anyway?” Ruka replied suddenly feeling a pang of sadness wash over him as well after the realization that they were friends and that that’s all they can ever be.

‘Yes, she only looks at me as a friend, nothing more. And we can really never be more since that would be betrayal to Natsume.’ were the words that echoed in his mind.

Mikan, who was now back to her optimistic self was oblivious to the emotional turmoil that the boy in front of her was currently experiencing and because of that, she only continued with her rant.

“Really, Ruka-pyon. You just don’t give yourself enough credit. You’ve really done a lot for me today. You made me extremely happy with all the kindness and careful attention that you’ve showered me today. And if you would really think about it, it’s not just today. You’ve always taken care of me during my whole stay in the academy and I’m so thankful for that. No words can express my gratitude to you and to all our friends.’

With that, Mikan encased the blond boy in a hug which greatly surprised him. But before he could even hug back, the brunette had already let go.

“Thank you so much, Ruka-pyon.” were her last words before waving and leaving the male completely whipped.

After dancing with Ruka, Mikan danced with Hotaru and Yuu. She had just finished her dance with their class representative when she spotted her other classmates who wished her a happy birthday. They all chatted for a while before she caught sight of her two sempais closest to her - Tsubasa and Misaki. They were waving at her and within a span of 3 seconds, the two were already by her side, along with her other sempais from Special Ability Class.

“So how’s our favorite kouhai on her birthday?” Tsubasa asked with a grin as Mikan wrapped her arms around him.

With that, energetic chatting ensued once again and dancing soon followed. Mikan danced with some of her classmates and sempais. After everything, her classmates and sempais handed her their presents.

“Thank you so much minna-san.” That was all she could say before bursting into tears of joy. People then began to comfort her, telling her that she should know better than cry on her birthday. Eventually, everyone had to bid their farewell and she walked towards Hotaru and Yuu who both had excused themselves a moment ago and sat at one of the tables of an outdoor café nearby.

“Hey, why aren’t the two of you dancing? Wait, where’s Ruka?”

“I told him to get us some noodles. He’ll be back soon” Hotaru deadpanned as she sipped on her cup of cappuccino.

Mikan gave the raven-haired girl a quizzical look, urging her to explain further but when the girl refused to elaborated, she turned to Yuu instead.

“Well, you see Mikan-chan, he ah… well Hotaru-chan blackmailed him again.”

His answer was met with a sigh and a shaking head.

“Oh Hotaru, you never give the poor guy a break. What did you tell him this time?”

“It’s a secret that I won’t divulge to idiots.”

-:--:--:--:-

Mikan, upon seeing her sempais, who she wasn’t able to see for able to see for such a long time, was excitedly chatting with them as well as with her other classmates.

“So this is how one-sided love feels like, huh…” Ruka murmured to himself as he stared at the brunette.

“Sakura-san…No, Mikan. I really wish that someday I could express these feelings of mine to you. I wish that I would gain the courage in the future to tell you how I really feel. But then again, doing so would be selfish. It would be an act of betrayal to Natsume for he too harbors the same feelings towards you.” He finished those words with a sigh and continued to stare at the auburn-haired girl a little while longer, before running his hand through his hair and turning around. Just as he did so, his grief was immediately turned into utter shock for Hotaru was merely a few inches away from him.

“You creeped me out, Imai-san.”

The stoic inventor just stared at him with her expressionless eyes.

“Do you need anything?”

His query was answered by his own voice.

“So this is how one-sided love feels like, huh…”

A horrified expression dawned on the boy’s features.

“Give that to me.”

“Why should I? This is perfect blackmail material.”

Ruka glared at the girl who in turn continued to stare at him blankly.

“Noodles.”

The boy’s murderous expression instantly melted into that of pure confusion. “Huh? Noodles?” he managed to ask before something was thrown at him. Upon inspecting the object, his eyes instantly widened.

“Give me noodles in exchange for that. Lots of them.” Hotaru deadpanned before turning and leaving the boy in shock.

-:--:--:--:-

Mikan sighed once again, knowing that it was impossible to obtain any additional information from her best friend, before standing up.

“Mikan-chan, are you going somewhere?”

“Ah… I’ll be walking around the park. I’ll be back later.” the girl answered while twirling a few strands of her auburn hair albeit a bit distractedly.

“She’s still a bad liar. That mannerism of hers has always been a dead giveaway.” Hotaru muttered before sipping on her cup of cappuccino once again.

-:--:--:--:-

“Why do I even bother to think about him?” Mikan silently chastised herself as she paved her way through several trees. Just as Hotaru suspected, the girl didn’t leave them in order to walk around the park. Instead, she was working her way through the trees in order to find a certain crimson-eyed male.

Despite her seemingly irritated façade towards the male, Mikan couldn’t deny to herself that she was indeed worried about him. He is her friend after all. Even though he never failed to infuriate her, she knows that deep inside, he’s a good kid. She knew that because she has been one of the recipients of his kindness. He had helped her during her most desperate moments. And it wasn’t only her. Every single classmate of theirs was important to him. Everything he’s doing - all those inhumane missions - are for them. Although he denies this every single time, she knows that he truly cares for them and would choose to die before allowing any of them to get hurt. That is the reason why even though Natsume had been nothing but a complete arse to her all day, she couldn’t help but reach out to the lonesome boy. And so, she continued to walk in search for him.

-:--:--:--:-

Back at the park…

To say that Hotaru was irritated was an understatement.

The freaky and agitation-inducing seaweed head who call himself her sempai was persistently and oh-so-exasperatingly pleading her to dance with him.

As if. There’s no chance that she’d willingly choose to dance with someone like him. There’s no chance in hell.

“Please Hotaru-san. Just one dance. I promise that you won’t regret it. In fact, I believe that you’ll rather find yourself enjoying the moment. I am a skilled dancer after all. You might even beg me for another dance.”

Upon hearing those words, all of Hotaru’s remaining self-restraint was immediately thrown out of the window. Even Yuu’s nervous warnings couldn’t stop her now. She came to a sudden halt and in an instant, her so-called sempai became a wall decoration after receiving a lot of hits from her baka gun. If it weren’t for Yuu restraining her, the conceited freak would have been dead by now.

Oh yes, Hotaru Imai is truly scary.

-:--:--:--:-

“Kyaa! I’m lost! Oh no. I’m never gonna find my way out. Nobody’s gonna find me. I’ll be stuck here forever and eventually die from eating poisoned berries.” Mikan said in a panicked voice while starting to hyperventilate.

She had been walking around the trees for a considerable amount of time before she finally realized that she was lost. When she did, she also started to realize that her surroundings had become eerie, causing her to go into her current state of panic.

“I shouldn’t have come here. That stupid Natsume; making me worry-” she continued but was cut off when something touched her shoulder.

“KYAA!!” she screamed before pouncing on her would-be attacker.

“Damn it. Get a grip of yourself, you idiot.”

After hearing that voice, recognition instantly dawned on her.

“Na-Natsume?”

“Who else? Damn. You scratch like a cat. My body will su-”

Now it was Natsume’s turn to be interrupted for the brunette for she tackled him once again but this time it was in the form of a tight hug.

“Y-you… You scared me.” she said as she buried her head on his torso. Natsume on the other hand looked at her with a dumbfounded expression before stiffly hugging her back. They stayed like that for a few moments before Mikan pushed herself away.

“Sorry about that.” she apologized, feeling heat creep up to her cheeks.

Natsume merely grunted before walking away.

“Hey wait up! Don’t leave me alone.” the brunette wailed as she followed him through the darkness.

“I can’t believe that you’re still stupid enough to get yourself lost.”

“I did not!”

Natsume merely gave her a disbelieving expression.

“Okay fine! I did. You happy now?”

Before Natsume could reply, they came to a clearing.

“Sugoi… This place is absolutely wonderful.” Mikan breathed while gazing wide-eyed at the landscape in front of her. Indeed, the view was wonderful. The moon and the numerous stars in the sky were illuminated in the pond at the center of the clearing. A few animals could also be spotted and were either drinking water from the pond or simply moving about in the area. Lastly, there was also an abundant growth of wildflowers in the area. Truly, the area was spectacular.

“Hey, why is it that you’ve never told us about this place before?” Mikan asked as she took her eyes off from animals and turned towards her male companion.

Her query was only answered by a soft grunt. Nevertheless, the brunette wasn’t put off. After showing her this magnificent view, the least she could do was try to be patient and stop her self from lashing out at him. After all, she knew that Natsume highly valued his privacy. Showing her this private spot of his could be considered a privilege that only rare people could enjoy so she simply sat beside him under one of the many trees surrounding the pond and they sat there in silence.

-:--:--:--:-

After that particular episode with the stuck-up Shouda-sempai, Hotaru’s temper had taken its turn to the worst. No one was allowed to cross the 2-meter radius that she had marked around herself save for Yuu. And if anybody dared to cross the border, he/she will have to face the wrath of Hotaru Imai’s infamous baka gun. And so, in order to ease the situation and make her forget about their recent encounter with the ‘conceited seaweed-headed freak’ (as Hotaru likes to call him), Yuu decided to engage her in some casual talk.

“Uh… Mikan-chan’s been gone for a while, hasn’t she?”

At the mention of her best friend’s name, Hotaru’s eyes softened considerably.

“I do hope that she hasn’t gotten herself into trouble. Oh no… What if she got lost? What if-”

However, Yuu’s incessant rambling was cut short when the genius inventor finally spoke.

“Don’t worry. That idiot is in capable hands.”

Yuu gave her a perplexed expression and was about to ask her to elaborate on what she said when someone suddenly turned up in front of them

“N-Nogi-san? What happened to you?” Yuu asked, suddenly feeling worried upon seeing the blond teenager’s disheveled appearance. He was panting real hard and his hair was a mess. The haori that he had been wearing earlier that day was now gone and his kimono was also in disarray and had now exposed bits of skin from his right shoulder.

“I - just - got - away - from - them...” Ruka replied while taking deep breaths after each word he uttered. Then, his rabbit flashed a sign which stated ‘Rabid fan girls - dance’

“Where are our noodles?” Hotaru asked monotonously, ignoring the boy’s fatigue and unkempt looks.

Ruka turned towards her and was about to open his mouth when he heard shrill voices. Horror immediately flashed in his normally calm orbs and without hesitancy, ran away from their table.

“Ruka sure is popular with the girls. And it seems that because Natsume isn’t around, his troubles with them has doubled. I guess we won’t be getting any noodles from him tonight.” Yuu stated with a slight chuckle when a bunch of fan girls stampeded in front of them

Hotaru remained hushed as she looked towards the direction Ruka together with his fan girls ran off to.

-:--:--:--:-

“I used to spend New Year’s Eve with my grandpa.” Mikan suddenly said out of the blue, thus breaking the silence that had formed around them. Upon hearing this, Natsume gave the girl a sideway glance and when he did, his eyes widened immediately at the sight of tears flowing in the girl cheek.

“I really do miss him. I wish that I could visit him. If… If only I had done my best last year then I… I could have visited him but that’s no longer possible. He’s… He’s gone now and there’s no chance that he could return. It’s now impossible…” The last statement of hers was spoken in a mere whisper before she finally broke out in sobs and buried her face in her palms. As she did so, all Natsume did was stare at her. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Mikan spoke up again.

“I’m so sorry for breaking down on you like that.” Mikan apologized as she let out a dry laugh.

“I’m sure that your grandfather is watching over you right now and I’m also betting that the old man wouldn’t want to see you crying so wipe those dumb tears of yours from your ugly face. They make you look uglier.” Natsume said as he stood up and made his way towards the water’s edge. As he did so, Mikan stared at his back before smiling and wiping off the tears with her handkerchief. She then stood up and followed him, still with that brilliant smile plastered on her face.

“Natsume thank you so-” Mikan began to thank him but was interrupted when the boy suddenly thrust something on her hands before walking away once again.

“Eh? What’s this?” Mikan asked as she gave the boy a quick questioning look before returning her attention to the parcel that the said boy had given her. Upon inspection, she saw that it was a small red velvet box with a gold satin ribbon. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that it was a present but in all these years that she had stayed in the academy, the aloof boy had never given her a present so why would he start giving her one? Thinking that it was some kind of prank, she untied the ribbon with much apprehension before hesitantly opening the lid of the box. When she finally saw what was inside of it, a surprised gasp escaped her lips and her eyes widened yet again and darted to and fro between the box and the boy who had given it.

“Na-Natsume… I-I…” the auburn haired girl stammered as her eyes locked the content of the box - the ruby-encrusted locket that she had seen earlier and before even realizing it, she had run towards the boy and engulfed him in another one of her bone-crushing hugs.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Natsume.” She said with a muffled while still clinging to his back. As soon as she had said those words, fireworks started to light the sky. Then, she let go and turned to face him before giving him a light peck on the cheeks and walking away, leaving him to become the second boy that she had left stunned for that day.

-:--:--:--:-

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

Finally, I’ve finished revising this chapter. I know that I promised in my profile that I’d update in two day’s time at most but unfortunately, I wasn’t. I didn’t expect that the second chapter would take me longer to update. But I guess it doesn’t matter that much. After all, there doesn’t seem to be any reader of this story so nobody had to wait.

Anyway, as promised, I did my best to stick to the plot of the previous version of this story however I have added certain portion and have deleted the last part of the previous version. But if you want, I could still include it. Just PM me or state it in your review and I shall consider it. I am satisfied with this new ending though. In fact, I prefer this over the other one.

Oh, and by the way, before I revise the first chapter of “Baffled”, I’ll first post a one-shot. I suddenly had an epiphany the other day and I thought that it would be fun to write that one-shot before concentrating on my longer story. I do hope that you’ll read that new fic. I guess that I’ll be done with it in more or less a week’s time. I won’t promise a sooner release of that story since I don’t want you to wait again. Well then, ja ne.

-:-Kuroi Tsubasa-:-