Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice belongs to Higuchi Tachibana. This story, on the other hand, belongs to me, and is inspired by and dedicated to xxtranscendence.

Hijiri Youichi's Parents

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Chapter Seven
What's a Date?

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Written by EzMouse

"There you are!" Mikan called out, the moment Natsume came into view. He glanced up to her panting figure, but he closed his eyes a second later to ignore her. "I knew I'd find you here!"

"What do you want, little girl?" he asked, uninterested.

"Why did you leave?"

"I didn't need to be there." Natsume placed his arms behind his head and leaned against the tree.

"I'd never thought I'd say this but thank you," Mikan said with a smile as she sat on the other side of the Sakura Tree. "And I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked, slightly opening his eyes.

"Thanks… for burning the video. Sorry… for getting you into trouble," she answered quietly. This earned her no response from Natsume. "Hey, are you mad?"

It took Natsume a few seconds to respond with a sigh. "No."

"Really?" Mikan sighed in relief as she neared Natsume. "That's good, then."

Natsume couldn't help it when the corner of his lips twitched upwards, but he shook this action off. "Don't get too close to me. I wouldn't want you getting your germs on me."

"Why do you act so rude all the time?" Mikan retorted, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Tou-chan!" a boy from afar shouted, interrupting the argument that was about to resurface. It was Youichi, running towards them, a worried look on his face.

"What are you doing here, You-chan?" Mikan asked, giving him a pat on the head.

"Well, well, well… What do we have here? Out on an afternoon date?" Koko asked, as he came up from behind Youichi followed by Hotaru and Ruka.

Natsume ignored that remark and rolled his eyes.

"A date? What's a date?" Mikan asked out of the blue.

All eyes turned to her.

"You don't know what a date is?" Ruka asked, suppressing a smile.

"You mean something related to the calendar?" she replied, putting a curious on her chin.

Everybody slapped their foreheads at her thick-headedness.

"You idiot," Natsume whispered, shaking his head.

"No, a date is…" Koko tried to explain. "Well, it's when a boy and a girl are out alone together."

"And? What's the big deal about that?" Mikan inquired some more.

"Err…" Koko didn't know how to say it any further, so he remained silent as he scratched the back of his head.

"Count on Mikan to not know what a date is," Hotaru commented.

Mikan crossed her arms over her chest. "Sorry for not being a genius!"

"You don't even need to be a genius to know this." Hotaru shook her head.

"It's too crowded here." Natsume stood from his seat and dusted off his shorts. "I'm going." He made a lazy wave and walked off without another word.

"Where is Daddy going?" Youichi asked, tugging on the end of Mikan's skirt.

Mikan shrugged. "Maybe back to his room? He's always running off somewhere."

Hotaru sighed and turned her heel to walk off to the other direction.

"Hotaru where are you going?" Mikan asked.

"I'm off to work," Hotaru answered, not stopping from her tracks. "I'm off to sell more copies of Hyuuga's pictures, 'The First Kiss' DVD, and pictures of Nogi wearing that Bunny outfit."

"HEY!" Ruka and Mikan shouted as they chased Hotaru who was escaping from her Scooter Duck.

"Come back here, Hotaru!" Mikan ran after her, Ruka following closely behind.

"They're at it again…" Koko sighed. He noticed that he was left standing with the little Hijiri boy and he took the opportunity to talk to him. "Hey,Youichi-kun. I have an idea; why not try asking your parents to take you out at Central Town? You know, family bonding?"

Youichi smiled at this and nodded enthusiastically at the idea.

"I'm late!" A typical morning for Mikan Sakura.

It had already been a week since Mikan and Natsume became Youichi's parents. This has been going on for about two weeks now, so most of them have already gotten used to it. Mikan woke up late again this morning, a sign that she was already back to her normal self. Whenever she gets problems, she usually wakes up early because she couldn't help but think about it. Right now, there was nothing interrupting her sleep anymore.

Mikan ran like mad, hoping that she would still make it to class. Her frantic rush made her bump into someone as she made a sharp turn around the corner. What a way to start the day. She looked up and saw Natsume Hyuuga yet again.

"Natsume! I'm sorry!" she apologized, bowing her head.

"What's the point of saying sorry when you're just going to do it again tomorrow?" Natsume didn't even take the time to argue with her at all today.

"I'm really sorry…" was all that Mikan could say.

"Besides, you're fifteen minutes early," Natsume said while looking at his watch.

"I-I am?" Natsume showed her his watch to prove that she was, indeed, fifteen minutes early. "Something must have been wrong with my alarm clock. I think it's when I knocked into it yesterday when I was panicking."

"Typical." Natsume ignored her and opened the classroom door for them both. He was surprised when Youichi came jumping on him as soon as he did so, greeting him and giving him a hug. Natsume sighed and said, "Youichi."

Mikan walked up from behind Natsume and was surprised to see Youichi too.

"You-chan?" she greeted. "Hello!"

"Mommy!" Youichi said, jumping from Natsume's arms to Mikan's.

"Mikan-chan and Natsume-kun are now coming to class together!" Nonoko giggled from her desk.

"No, I just happened to bump into him earlier. That's all!" Mikan denied.

Youichi turned to Natsume and said, "Daddy, I want to go to Central with you and Mommy."

Natsume raised a brow. "Why?"

"Family bonding!" Youichi said.

"Family bonding?" Natsume knew that even Youichi couldn't have thought of that kind of thing on his own, even if he was a genius like himself. "Who gave you a silly idea like that?"

"Koko-nii," Youichi said, directing a finger straight at Koko who was hiding behind Kitsuneme.

"Oh, he did, did he?" Natsume glared at Koko who, in return, pleaded him not to kill him.

"You don't want to, Daddy?" Youichi whispered.

Natsume hesitated and was about to make up an excuse not to go, but Mikan interrupted him when she noticed what he was about to do. She didn't want to disappoint Youichi anymore. "Sure, You-chan! Meet us outside later, okay?"

Natsume shot Mikan a look and Mikan nodded apologetically.

"Okay!" Youichi hugged the two of them before running out the door. "The teacher is here. I'll see you guys later."

Mikan sighed after this and headed to her seat, ignoring the fact that Natsume was not all too happy about this.

"I didn't know you were going to say yes to him," Hotaru said when Mikan plopped down on the seat next to her.

"Well, I didn't want to disappoint him again so I just agreed." She smiled. "Besides, it's just a trip to Central Town. What could possibly go wrong?"

TO BE CONTINUED.

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