Last chapter!
Ruka's POV
Well, today's finally the day. Sakura's birthday… Come to think of it, Natsume never told me what he'd give her..and I already passed on the message Hotaru said to Natsume. I wonder what it meant…(Oh, Ruka, you don't know anything!) Sometimes I regret not listening to Narumi when he teaches... Who cares, anymore? Mikan's going to hold a party later at 10. I think she's a bit too old for parties, but she is Mikan.

I looked at the clock. It was still 8:30. I sighed. Well, the early bird gets the worm. I took a bath and changed.

It was still only 9:00. If I go there now, there probably won't be many people there yet… I decided to turn on my laptop and saw that Natsume is online. I decided to IM him.

Hey Natsume

Ruka.

You haven't told me what you'll give Sakura yet.

And why should I tell you?

…

See? You have no reason to know.

Is it Howalon?

No.

A bracelet?

NO. Stop asking.

But I'm curious!

Are you going to confess later?

Don't change the subject!

I'll answer your question if you answer mine.

Um…I'm thinking of it..

You should confess

What? HEY, what about MY question?

Hyuuga Natsume is offline.

Ugh… He tricked me! Stupid Natsume. I'm gonna get him later. Oh. It's finally 9:30. I guess I should go there now. I picked up my cellphone and saw that I had two messages. One from Natsume and…Hotaru..? I read Natsume's first.

Ruka, I am NEVER gonna tell you what I'll give her. You'll just have to find out for yourself.

I sighed. Natsume just loves torturing me. Then I read Hotaru's.

Nogi, if you're late, I won't let you in. Be on time.

Why do a lot of people like to torture me? I went to the venue, thinking of what it will look like. It'll probably be pink. When I neared the place, Hotaru was there with her arms crossed.

"I said be on time. Not be early."

I sweatdropped, "By the way, why are you here?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Why? Am I not allowed here? Is it illegal for me to stand outside? Am I supposed to be somewhere else?"

I said, "N-Not really..Just…Nevermind."

I went inside while Hotaru stayed there. I was surprised when I saw the place. I expected pink tables and a big pink cake and princesses and Howalons. After all, it was Sakura. But instead, I saw different colors like magenta, blue, white, gold, red and…purple. Okay. Hotaru probably organized this. Oh, but there are Howalons too. But not a mountain.

I saw Sakura talking to Sumire, Anna and Nonoko. Natsume arrived a minute later and we sat on one of the tables until Sakura told us that we were supposed to sit on her according-to-her humongous table. So we did. Natsume was surprisingly quiet today. And I noticed he was carrying a bag…He doesn't usually wear a bag when the things inside are not important. So, it must be Sakura's gift.

At exactly 10:00, Hotaru went in. I realized that the seat beside me was empty…That's probably where she's supposed to sit… I blushed. She went to the small platform and held the mic.

"Welcome, everyone, to Mikan's 16th birthday. Today is indeed a very special day for..all of us. Believe it or not, Mikan has grown from being a clumsy, brainless girl to a clumsy, brainless well… woman. So I thank all of you for coming. Here's a speech from Naru."

Everyone clapped their hands as she made her way to our table. Narumi-sensei went up the platform and began his speech, but I was too bored to listen.

Hotaru said to no one in particular, "I'm hungry…"

I laughed nervously

Mikan said, "Hotaru-chaaaan! Thank you for that wonderful speech earlier!"

Hotaru ignored her.

~Time Skip~

At about 6:00pm, only a few people were left. Hotaru approached me.

"I need to talk to you."

Mikan's POV

Oh my gosh! Hotaru already began her plan! I need to confess too…What should I say to Natsume? I need to talk to him? NO! That would be imitating Hotaru! I don't like imitating people even if Hotaru is amazing and also my role model. But…What should I say! I don't know what to do! I've never confessed before! I can't believe this! But if I don't confess, then Hotaru will make me kiss Natsume! Wait—I could confess then…BUT! It's too soon! I'm panicking! And it's my birthday! Panicking on your birthday is not good! It's a bad omen! They say if you panic on your birthday, you'll die at twenty years old! I don't wanna die at twenty years old!

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!—Wait… No panicking…No panicking… Breathe in! Breath out! Inhale! Exhale!
…

..

….

…

UWAAHH! I CAN'T DO THIS! I'm blushing so much! I can't talk to him…I wish a blizzard would come. Then I'll have an excuse for NOT confessing! Oh, I'm so smart! But… Hotaru is smarter than me,..She'll probably see through it… Oh, never mind! I need to do this!

I approached Natsume and sighed, "N-Natsume…Can I talk to you? At the Sakura Tree? Now?"

Hotaru's POV

Ruka and I walked outside the party venue. I'm feeling very uncomfortable right now. Ruka keeps looking at me, curious and waiting to what I have to say. I didn't realy plan this through. This isn't like me at all. I stopped walking. Ruka did, too.

I started, "Ruka...You don't...like Mikan anymore, right?"

Ruka shook his head, "No. I've gotten over her two years ago.."

"So...do you like someone else?"

He smiled and looked at the sky, "Yes. I do. She's really amazing...She's the one who made me realize that life isn't always fair. And she also taught me a lot of things. I really like her...no. I love her."

I looked at him. He looked really serious about... about 'her'. Somehow I don't feel like confessing anymore. I suddenly felt scared...But.. I have to do it.. Not only because 1)this was my idea 2) WHo knows what Mikan'll make me do?... I want to confess, because I want to know if Ruka has the same feelings for me. Sure, yesterday I heard Hyuuga telling Ruka to confess to me, but I don't believe it's true.

I'm Ruka's blackmailer. I am merciless, heartless...Those are the reasons why Ruka liking me isn't possible...

But I'm going to confess no matter what.

"Ruka"

"Hm?"

I looked down. I don't want to see his face once I say it.

"Ruka, I-I... I love you!"

I closed my eyes. I was scared... I was scared of what he would say... I was scared of the rejection..But it never came. Instead, Ruka lifted my chi up and kissed me.

"I love you too, Hotaru.."

Meanwhile (Mikan's POV)

"U-Um.."Stop stuttering!, "S-So Natsume...how...are you..?"

I mentally slapped myself. STUPID! Why am I embarassing myself in front of my one and only true love?

Natsume raised an eyebrow.

"S-Sorry!" I said,"That's not what I meant..."

WAH! I need to confess! Or else Hotaru'll make me kiss him-Wait. That's not such a ba idea-NOOOO! I should NOT be thinking of that! What should I do! I'm not thinking straight! I can't think straight! I want...to eat Howalon! Howalon makes me happy. I be if I ate Howalon right ow, I'd be filled with courage!

"Hey...Strawberries."

I glared at Natsume. He's such an annoying pervert!

I crossed my arms, "You could at least be nice to me, because it's my birthday!"

"Happy Birthday then." He said, simply.

Wait. Did I hear that right? He said Happy Birthday? To me?

I said, "umm...Thanks...What were you going to say earlier?"

He hesitated at first, but decided to talk, "Here."

He handed me...a present. A present? A present! Oh my gosh, Natsume gave me a present! THE GREAT NATSUME HYUUGA WHO I'D BEEN IN LOVE FOR FOUR YEARS HAD GIVEN ME A PRESENT! AND I AM GAPING LIKE AN IDIOT IN FRONT OF HIM! I SHOULD STOP USING ALL CAPS BECAUE IT IS BAD NETIQUETTE!BUT I'M TOO HAPPY!-Wait. What if it contains a bomb or something? OH MY GOSH! I'm too young to die!

"I need to go now. Bye." he said as he left.

I stared at his retreating figure, and while processing all the information(Mikan is VERY slow), I opened the present. It had a letter inside.

Hey Mikan..

Happy Birthday. I just couldn't tell you this in person, so I decided that I'll just write it down...I'm
such a coward, aren't I? The truth is...

I love you

It looked like it was written in a rush. I bet he wrote this five minutes before he went here...I felt the tears trickle from my face as I ran after him. I didn't care about the other things inside the box, because he was really far away.I ran as fast as I could and when I reached him, I hugged hi as hard as I could.

I said, "N-Natsume! You ruined it!'

"What!"

"I.. made a perfectly good plan to confess! And you just ruined it! I was all ready! But you just had to confess first, didn't you!" I said, crying.

He turned around an hugged me back, "You're such a baka.I bet you didn't look further in the box."

"Um..."

"You didn't, did you?"

"...No..."

"Nevermind that...This...is the real gift."

He put something around my neck...a necklace! Oh my gosh, it' made of gold! And it has a little fire pendant...So cute! But...

"Natsume!" I said, "This must be really expensive! I don't need it..."

"I'm a special star, remember? Besides, it's worth it." he said, smiling.

Natsume looks so handsome when he's smiling...

"Th-Thank you so much, Natsume!" I smiled at him, "I'll treasure it forever and ever!"

This is definitely the best birthday ever.

Here's chapter two everyone. Oh, and did I mention that the full story is already at Fanfiction.net? Same story title, same name.
Nastume's POV

Mikan's birthday is tomorrow and I can't think of anything to give-Not that I would would care if she likes my present or not...Why don't I aske Imai?-NO! bad idea. I'll just ask Ruka to ask Imai...

"No!" Ruka said, "I will NOT ask Hotaru what is best to give Mikan on her birthday!"

I raised my eyebrow and asked, "And why is that?"

"Well.." He said, "I don't want her to think that i still like Mikan."

I said, "If you'd confess, then all our problems would be solved, you know?"

"No." He said, "i will not confess. Why don't you confess to Sakura-san?"

I said, "I do not like Polka."

"Oh yeah? Why do you keep calling her names? Why are you panicking of what to give her on her birthday?"

"i am not-"

"Why are you asking me to ask Hotaru what Sakura-san likes?"

"FIne." I admitted, "I like her-a little bit. Now, shut up before anyone hears you and that cursed person'll die."

He smirked. My attitude must be wearing off on him...or was it Imai's?

I said, "About the gift..."

"You should ask Sakura-san"

"Hell no! I'd never do that! Any more brilliant suggestions?"

"You have to. If you don't want to end up giving her something she doesn't want."

I smirked, "i already know what she wants."

Hotaru's POV

I strolled around the campus. Mikan's birthday is tomorrow and today's a Saturday. Usually, I'd be in my lab
working on an invention, but today, I didn't feel like it. I already made a gift for Mikan. I know she's gonna break it in about 3-4 days, so I gave her a scrapbook. You can't possibly break a scrapbook, right?

I saw Ruka talking to Hyuuga. I decided to eavesdrop.

"Then" Ruka said, "Why are you asking me what she wants if you already know?"

Hyuuga smirked and I knew that he knew I was here.

"I just wanted to help you..."

"What?" Ruka asked, confused.

Hyuuga said, leaving:

"Confess to...Imai."

WHat..? Ruka...confess to...me? So...Ruka...likes me? I walked quickly to my room and debated with myself what I'm supposed to do...I like Ruka...I do..but what if it wasn't true? What if Hyuuga was just teasing him? Right. Like that would happen. Still, maybe it wasn't true...There's a part of me, the part that helped me meet Mikan, that contained hope. The other part of me said 'Why would Ruka like you? It can't be true. You blackmail him everyday. WHy would he like you?'. That part was the one who helped me earn the title 'Ice Queen". Still, there was another little part of me that said 'Wait.'

Someone suddenly knocked at my door. I threatened fate that if it was Ruka, I'm never going to confess.
Fortunately, fate listened to me. It was Mikan.

She looked confused, "H-Hotaru...do you think I should confess?"

I invited her in and said, "To whom." I already know who, but I just wanted to hear it from her.

"Hotaru..." She said, "you already know."

"Say it."

Na-Natsume..." she said, blushing.

"Good."

"Wait!" she said, "Help me!"

I sat down," fine. But you don't really need help."

SHe asked, "What?"

Wow. That girl is naive. But I can't help her.

I said, "I can't help you in this Mikan."

"WHat? Why?"

"I" I said, "haven't even confessed yet. You should go ask Anna."

"But..." Mikan said, "I thought you know everything!" That girl doesn't really know much.

I smiled, "No one knows everything, Mikan."

"Hmph." she said, "Then, let's make a deal!"

"What kind of deal?"

SHe smiled, "Why don't...we both confess tomorrow?"

She added, "And if one of us doesn't confess, then the other one will give her a dare. Just to be sure!"

I smirked, "Nice plan. Oh, and if you don't confess I'll make you kiss Hyuuga."

"E-Eh?"

I stood up and said, "I need to go somewhere."

Now that I'm sure that Mikan will confess, I need to talk to Hyuuga...or Ruka. The latter seems better, I saw
Ruka at the barn. Typical. He was talking to animals. I don't understand how that's possible, but it's not really my problem. I approached him.

"Hotaru." he said, "What are you doing here?"

I said, "You are a messenger."

He asked, "What? What are you talking ab-Oh, no. I will not pass on a message to Nastume."

I took out my BAKA gun and directed it at his face. He sweated...

I repeated, "You are a messenger."

"O-O-Okay..W-Please put that g-gun down..." he said.

I put it down at my side and said, "Tell him to be ready tomorrow."

"What?" He looked at me, confusingly.

I said, walking away, "Just tell him. You're just a messenger."

My first post here! This is a NatsumeXMikan fanfic--Gakuen Alice
Summary: Mikan's birthday is coming! What will Natsume give her? NxM slight RxH
Natsume's POV
Why is everyone expecting me to give a stupid gift to that idiot on her stupir birthday? What do they expect me to give her? Flowers? Howalon? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not that kind of guy. Her stupid birthday is on January one, two days from now. How can you expect me to get her a present in such a short time?

Here I am, pretending to read my manga. I have read this one (and every other manga I own) over twenty times already. That's one of the reasons why I'll go to Central Town later, NOT for that Baka's present, as everyone claims.

There she is, as idiotic and stupid as ever. She attempted to give Imai a(-nother) bear hug, but as always, Imai shot her with her ever-so-present Baka gun. Mikan cried. Hmm...Mikan and Imai fighting..nothing unusual here. Yuu helped her. Yuu and Anna have been dating, so I don't really get why he still helps Mikan. Anna doesn't seem to care. She thinks Yuu does that out of kindness.

Mikan approached me (and Ruka who happens to be sitting beside me)
"Good morning, Natsume! Good morning, Ruka-pyon!" She shouted

Ruka smiled, "Godo morning, Sakura-san." I don't believe that Ruka has gotten over Mikan yet, but whatever.

I simply said, without looking up, "Hn."

She put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out at me. I sometimes wonder if she's 16 or 10. She's such a kid.

She shouted, "Natsume! You're such a meanie!"

I said, "Quiet. I'm reading here." then I paused for effect, "strawberries."

Her face became red and started shouting things like ,"PERVERT!" and "MEANIE!"

Only I was too busy to even listen to her. Then the gay sensei suddenly appeared. He was wearing a frilly maid outfit colored...pink. I can never get used to a guy in a dress..

Mikan's POV

Narumi-sensei entered the room with some kind of ballet move(forgive me for not knowing ballet) and announced that the Christmas Party a few days ago was wonderful! He also said that there's gonna be a New Year's Party! Yay~! I'm so excited! I wonder if there'll be Howalon there..

After school, everyone agreed to go to Central Town. You know, Anna-chan and Yuu-kun are already together! It was so romantic how Yuu confessed to her! It was at Valentine's day last year. Meaning, they've been together for eleven months. Hotaru says it's supposed to be 10, because it isn't January 14 yet. But I'm too happy for them to listen to Hotaru! I'm not very dense anymore, so I know that Hotaru likes RUka...or was it the other way around? Oh, well. They look cute together, too! Oh, also Koko and Permy too. They like each other very much, i know. Well, if you doubt my density-disapperance, ask Nonoko-chan, she's the who told me who likes-I mean, she's the one who first realized that I'm not dense anymore! She did NOT tell me who everyone likes for me to pretend that I'm not dense anymore...

WAHH! Don't look at me like that! Alright, I'm still dense and Nonoko-chan only told me who everyone likes,,,I JUST DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO THINK THAT I'M STILL DENSE! I hate being dense!

Hotaru once said (Hotaru's words of wisdom!), "You should accept who you are since you can't change it. Instead of screaming and complaining to everyone, you should find a way to work on your attitude."

What does she mean by that? That I have a bad attitude? Well, she should say that to Natsume. Natsume needs to change his attitude. He's mean, perverted, mean, ...perverted... WAH! I can't think of anything anymore!

I don't really care anymore. He'll always be like that...The one I fell in love with...but I know he'll never ever like me, because I am a stupid, idiotid, dense, little girl. Well, that's what he says. Maybe...just maybe, when I get older..I might be a bit more mature and he may... fall in love with me... No. That'll never happen.

I don't care if he's mean. I don't care if he's perverted.. I don't care if he might break my heart. I don't care if he doesn't love me. I want him to be happy. If being with him means him being sad all the time, I'd rather he'd go to the one he loves and find his true happiness...even if it's not with me.