Author's Note: This story was written by me and my best friend during her birthday party when we were reading the newest chapters of Gakuen Alice.

It was a dark and gloomy Sunday, which was strange because it was spring. Of course, this can only mean one thing. SPRING CLEANING.

All students were required to help out, participating in the tiring ordeal of keeping their classrooms clean without getting distracted. Narumi-sensei was there, seemingly helping the students keep on track, but his outfit was doing the exact opposite.

Natsume was cleaning, if you called standing around half-heartedly swinging a duster around in the recesses of a cabinet cleaning. The cabinet was as dusty as it was when he had begun, since all he had actually cleaned was a small corner on the middle shelf.

His attempts at cleaning attracted the attention of Mikan, who walked over to him with a curiously angry expression and stance.

"Natsume!"

He didn't even have to look up to know it was Mikan speaking. But, something in her tone suggested that she would not leave without an answer. Natsume slowly lifted his head up to face her and said with an annoyed expression, "What?"

Her mouth tightened into a straight line as she shot back, "You've been cleaning that same spot for the last two hours. Why don't you actually try to do something?"

"I don't have to listen to you." Natsume's expression was even more annoyed than usual. He was not in the mood to trifle with Mikan today. He glared at her with venomous eyes, willing her to leave him alone.

A few feet away, Ruka shifted his eyes in Natsume's direction. Uh-oh. Natsume looked even more scarier than usual, and Mikan was there, most probably the cause of his increased irritation. Ruka knew that Natsume had been in a bad mood all day, and just wanted to be left alone. He had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. Something bad.

With the best intentions, Ruka slid over to the dusty cabinet and said cautiously, "What's up, you guys? At least look like you're cleaning. Narumi-sensei is looking this way."

Mikan smiled at Ruka's presence, but then her scowl returned when she looked back at Natsume. "Well, what if Narumi-sensei punishes the whole class just because you're slacking off?"

"What's it to you?" Natsume smirked, and inched his face closer to hers. To his great surprise, instead of pushing him away, Mikan leaned even closer, her eyes squinting at his face. Natsume was startled, but of course he wouldn't show it on his face. Determined not to shrink away, he continued staring back at her.

Mikan raised her hand up, a slight smile on her face. Natsume was shocked yet again and wondered what she was doing. Was she about to…?

Ruka was staring at them, with a hot, fiery blush across his face, unable to tear his eyes away. Suddenly, a hand clapped onto his shoulder, causing him to jump.

He slowly turned his head around, and saw the face of the young genius inventor, Hotaru, next to his. He shivered and blushed again as she raised her lips to his ear. "Are you all right with this type of development?" she whispered in his ear.

Ruka stammered quietly back, "Wh-wh-what development?", determined not to show his true colors, as Hotaru would definitely find some way to use it to blackmail him.

"That one, right there." Hotaru bluntly pointed to Natsume and Mikan.

Trying to turn the attention away from himself, Ruka replied to Hotaru with a question of his own. "B-bu-but what do you think of this?"

Hotaru held up a camera, a glint in her eye. "Business opportunity." Of course.

Turning their attention back to Natsume and Mikan, they saw Mikan begin to trace her own eyebrows, seeming to measure them. Then, she held up her hand to Natsume's eyebrow.

At her touch, something snapped inside Natsume. He quickly shoved her away from him and tried to regain his composure. "What the heck are you doing to my eyebrows?"

Mikan began smiling slyly, pointing at Natsume's eyebrows. Ruka realized what she had just now noticed, and behind Natsume's back, began gesturing wildly. Don't say it! Don't say it! He thought fervently, hoping she would understand.

But Mikan did not see him. She was too busy staring at Natsume's eyebrows. "You know, Natsume," she said brightly. "You have really short eyebrows! I noticed just now!"

Ruka fell down in defeat. She had said it. The dreaded words.

Hotaru was slightly grinning, and walked to Mikan's side to survey Natsume's eyebrows for herself.

"Wow." she said in genuine surprise. "You're right. He really does have short eyebrows."

Natsume was frozen in shock. What? Since when did he have short eyebrows? His eyebrows were just the same as everyone else's. Weren't they?

Hotaru searched in her skirt pocket for something, and produced a black, pencil like thing. She slapped this item into Natsume's hands.

"Since you're now a freak of nature," she said emotionlessly, "I'll give this to you for free. I'm not always that generous, so use this gift to its full potential and get some normal eyebrows."

"Children! Are you cleaning, like you are supposed to be?" Narumi-sensei smiled. Ruka immediately grabbed a stray cloth on the floor, got back up, and feverishly began scrubbing the cabinet, not wanting to be subjected to Narumi's pheromones. Hotaru whipped out one of her cleaning inventions, pushed Ruka away from the cabinet, and turned her invention on. It was finished cleaning what Natsume had been trying to clean for two hours in fifteen seconds flat.

Narumi-sensei sauntered over just after Hotaru put away her invention and inspected the children's work. "Very nice." he complimented. "Keep up the good work!" Then, he left to supervise another group of people.

"Come on, Hotaru. Those people look like they need our help." Mikan hooked her arm through Hotaru's arm and led her away, leaving Natsume staring at the eyebrow pencil in his hands.