"It's not a dream stupid. This is reality."

It was early morning. The sun was up in the sky shining down on a house with a beautiful red rose garden. A girl with brunette hair was running through the roses with a smile on her face.

"Mommy! Mommy!" the girl with brunette hair cried. Her eyes were crimson red and her smile was as beautiful as a flower blooming in the spring. She was five-years-old, wearing a little light pink dress with dark pink frills. On her head, she wore a straw hat that shaded her face.

A woman with brunette hair turned around and smiled at the girl. She walked over to her and patted her in the head. "What is it Misaki?" she asked as she looked at her child with her kind eyes that sparked with beautiful colors of hazel.

"Look!" Misaki said with a big smile. "A rose! It looks as beautiful as you are Mommy!" Misaki pointed to a red rose growing in a garden.

Misaki's mother made a smile just like hers. They looked very alike, with only their eyes that looked different. Misaki's mother had hazel eyes while she had crimson red ones.

"Thank you Misaki," the mother said. "But let's not pick it alright? Or the flower will die."

Misaki's eyes began to water. "Mommy… If the flower dies, will you die too?"

The mother laughed. "No Misaki, of course not."

"Mom, do you know where my basketball is?" a voice asked behind the mother. The mother turned around to see her son. He had raven hair and hazel eyes. He wore a white t-shirt and a black sports jacket with black shorts. He was nine-years-old.

"I'm not sure," the mother replied. "Did you ask Dad?"

The boy shook his head. "Should I go ask?"

A man behind the boy had a basketball in his hand. He twirled it on his finger and bounced it on the boy's head. "Found it," he said with a smirk.

The boy turned around quickly. "Dad!" he exclaimed with a bright smile. "Now can we play basketball?"

The boy's father's crimson red eyes twinkled as the sun shined on his face and his raven hair blew in the wind. "Sure Youichi," he said as he turned to the mother. "But today is Sunday right? Your auntie and uncle are coming over today so we have to say home."

The mother, nodded. "Of course! We did promise Aoi and Ruka that we would meet them today right?"

Youichi, the son, began to bounce his basketball with a smile on his face. He used one hand to throw it into the basket in the garden. Then he ran up to his mother and grinned. "Does that mean I'll be able to beat up Tsubasa again?"

His mother sweatdropped. "Um… I don't know about that Youichi… You two should really stop competing or one day both of you will get hurt."

"He's my cousin!" Youichi protested. "There's no way we would get hurt!"

The father walked over to Youichi and patted him on the head. "Go ahead," he said. "Beat that cousin of yours up!"

"Hey!" the mother cried angrily. She crossed her arms together and gave her husband a hard glare. "You shouldn't teach your children to do such things-"

"Such things?" the father asked in a teasing way. "Didn't you and I use to fight all the time too, Polka Dots?" he asked, emphasizing the words Polka Dots.

The mother's veins began to show on her forehead. Her eyes began to stare daggers at her husband in anger. "Natsume… You promised not to ever call me that ever again in our wedding!" Her hand began to form flames in anger.

"Oh really?" Natsume teased as he took flames by twisting his hand. Fire erupted from him. "I don't remember doing that at all, Polka Dots!"

"I have a name and it's Mikan Hyuuga!" the mother snapped as she prepared to throw her flames at Natsume. Natsume lowered his flames after hearing her proclaim her name and blushed red.

"Wait!" Misaki cried as she threw herself on top of her mother. She quickly used her nullification alice to nullify her mother's alice. Mikan's alice disappeared and flames blew away from both Mikan and Natsume.

"Is this a fight?" Youichi asked excitingly as he dropped his basketball. "Bring it on!" he shouted as he erupted fire from his hand also.

"Stop it!" Misaki cried. Then a doorbell rang. She immediately jumped in surprise. "We have to answer the door!"

Youichi lowered his flames as made a smirk just like his father's. "Alright," he said. "Last one to greet Auntie Aoi and Uncle Ruka is a rotten egg!" Then he ran into the house. Misaki followed him with a smile on her face.

"Wait!" she cried in laughter.

Mikan and Natsume stood there, watching their children run around the house, trying to get the door first. The laughter from their children made both of them smile. Then Natsume cleared his throat and put his arm around his wife, Mikan.

"So," he said, "what's your name again?"

Mikan blushed red and averted her eyes from him. "Don't you already know?" she mumbled.

"Tell me," Natsume whispered into Mikan's ear. "I need you to remind me."

Mikan rolled her eyes to cover up how embarrassed she was. She tried to talk in a cold voice but it was more stuttered instead. "Mi… Mikan Hyuuga, stupid."

"Mommy! Daddy!" Misaki cried. "It's Auntie Aoi, Uncle Ruka, and Tsubasa!"

When Natsume and Mikan reached their doorstep, they could see Ruka, Aoi, and a blond boy with bright blue eyes standing there, waiting for them. When the blond boy caught sight of Youichi, he grinned and fire erupted from his hand.

"Eat this Youichi!" the blond boy yelled as he threw the fire directly at Youichi.

Youichi immediately dodged by rolling on the floor and kicked himself back up. "Too slow Tsubasa!" he yelled back with a smirk. Then he charged his fire and prepared to throw it at Tsubasa.

"Stop it you two!" Misaki yelled. A light began to flash from her. When the light subsided, both of the flames on Youichi's and Tsubasa's hands disappeared.

Tsubasa pouted. "Misaki! We were just about to-"

"No fighting!" Misaki shouted.

Ruka smiled and patted Misaki on the head. "Thank you Misaki! You are always our peace maker around here!"

"Anyway, let's order lunch!" Mikan said with a smile. She kneeled down and looked into Tsubasa's eyes. "So, what do you want for lunch?"

"Ramen!" Tsubasa exclaimed loudly.

"Okay, I'll order," Aoi said as she headed toward the telephone on a desk.

Tsubasa, Misaki, and Youichi sat on some chairs around the dinner table as Mikan, Ruka, and Natsume followed.

Tsubasa began to play with his glittering blond hair. "Hey Dad?" he asked.

"What is it?" Ruka replied.

"How did I get my name?" Tsubasa asked as he laid his head on the table. "I mean, why is my name Tsubasa and not something else?"

"You don't like your name Tsubasa?" Ruka asked in worry.

"No, I love it. I'm just curious about how I got my name," Tsubasa answered.

Ruka made a small laugh and patted his son on the head. "Well," he started, "I used to have an upperclassman… His name was Tsubasa Andoh."

"Tsubasa?" Misaki asked as she twirled her brunette hair. "What did he look like?"

Ruka looked up at the ceiling. "Well-"

"He was an idiot," Natsume interrupted.

"Natsume!" Mikan exclaimed. "Tsubasa-senpai was not an idiot!" Then Mikan turned to the children. "Tsubasa-senpai was an amazing guy. He had jet black hair and navy blue eyes. He also had the shadow alice-"

"Shadow freak…" Natsume interrupted again.

"Natsume! Don't talk about Tsubasa-senpai like that!" Mikan shouted.

The children began to laugh loudly. Seeing Mikan and Natsume fight like that was funny to them. "So," Youichi said, "where is he now?"

Ruka, Natsume and Mikan went silent. None of them said a word. Finally. Mikan stopped the silence. "When I was sixteen I used to be attacked by demons frequently… and Tsubasa-senpai saved my life… However, while doing so he-"

"They don't need to know that now," Natsume interrupted. "They are too young to know."

"It's fine," Ruka said. "They are old enough to know." Then he looked at his son, Tsubasa. "You were named after Tsubasa Andoh; however, he passed away saving your aunt, Mikan's life."

Tsubasa's mouth opened wide. He was speechless. He was ten-years-old, yet he never even knew how he was named after all these years. "Wait," he said, "Why was Aunt Mikan being attacked by demons?"

"That is something that you are really too young to know," Mikan said. "It's a long story anyway."

Natsume and Ruka nodded in agreement.

"What about me?" Misaki asked. "How did I get my name?"

"Misaki Harada… I remember talking to her back then…" Mikan said in deep thought. "She…" Mikan made a big smile. "She saved all of our lives! She saved me from death which allowed me to save your uncle and father!"

"She was Tsubasa's lover too," Natsume added.

Misaki grinned. "So I was named after a cool person too! I want to meet her! Where is she? We should arrange a day!"

Ruka made a sullen face and patted his niece's head. "I'm sorry…" he said softly. "She… Misaki-senpai was murdered in a mission I was told to do with Natsume and… I couldn't save her. She-"

"It's not your fault!" Mikan exclaimed. "I saw Misaki-senpai that time and she looked very happy with Tsubasa-senpai! She was smiling the whole time and…" Mikan averted her eyes from her children and her friends. "And… Tsubasa-senpai was next to her, smiling too. So… don't be sad about it anymore."

Aoi had finished calling the ramen shop and sat down with the rest of the others. She stretched her arms and yawned. "So what were you guys talking about Mikan?"

"Oh, we were just telling Misaki and Tsubasa about how they got their names," Mikan replied.

Suddenly, they heard a doorbell ring. It was the ramen service. Ruka and Natsume got off their seats as they grabbed their wallets.

"We'll pay," Natsume said. "You guys just stay put."

- Mikan's and Natsume's House - 9:30 p.m.-

"Go to sleep Misaki, Youichi! Now!" Mikan said as she pushed them gently to a bedroom. The bedroom had two beds, a pink one and a blue one. One of them belonged to Misaki and the other belonged to Youichi.

Ruka, Aoi, and Tsubasa had left their house half an hour ago because it was almost Tsubasa's bedtime also. After Mikan made sure her children were in bed, she closed the door to the bedroom and walked to the living room, where Natsume was watching a television show.

Mikan sat next to Natsume on the couch and leaned on his shoulder. "Natsume, thank you…"

"For what?" Natsume asked in confusion.

"For everything!" Mikan exclaimed as she gave her husband a quick hug.

Natsume grinned and messed up his wife's hair.

"Hey!" Mikan protested as she patted her hair back down. "What was that for? I was thanking you!"

Natsume averted his eyes away from her and covered his blush with an arm. "That's my way of thanking you for… everything."

Mikan laughed and flicked Natsume in the forehead. "You idiot-"

Suddenly, Mikan felt a tug on her nightgown. She looked down to see her son Youichi, tugging on her shirt. "Mom…" he said with a frown. "Um… I…"

Natsume took Youichi and put him on his lap. "What is it Youichi? Bad dream?"

"No…" Youichi replied in an unsettled voice. "I just couldn't sleep."

Mikan put her hand over her son's forehead. "You don't seem sick," she said after a couple seconds.

"I'm not Mom," Youichi said. "I was just too curious to sleep…"

"Curious about what?" Mikan asked.

Youichi shrugged. "Well… We were talking about names at lunch and when I heard about who Misaki and Tsubasa were named after… I really wanted to know who I was named after too but…"

"But?" Natsume asked.

"I… I had a feeling that the person I was named after passed away also so I didn't want to remind you of bad memories-"

Mikan interrupted Youichi by messing up his hair. "You wouldn't be bringing bad memories…" Then she made a small chuckle. "Youichi… you are just like him!"

"Him?"

"Youichi Sakura, well rather Youichi Hijiri!" Mikan said happily. "He was my brother. He always worried about others, even about trivial matters, just like you Youichi."

Natsume grumbled. He was a bit jealous whenever his wife talked about her brother, not that he hated Youichi, just a little jealous. After all, Youichi wasn't related to Mikan in the first place.

"Hijiri-san sounds amazing!" Youichi exclaimed excitingly. "Tell me more about him!"

Mikan looked up at the ceiling. "Youichi-nii was an amazing person. Probably the second best guy next to your father! He had gray hair and gray-ish green eyes. He was extremely smart too! I was always being compared to him as a child-" Then Mikan's smile turned into a frown. Remembering her adoptive parents comparing her to her brother never made her content. Those times she was always compared to Youichi Hijiri weren't exactly the best memory she had.

"You don't have to give up..."

Thanks to her brother, she could be the type of person she was today. Without him, she would have probably already given up on all chances of being successful. She may have even cast suicide on herself with her brother's care for her. Mikan made a slight smile as she looked at her son's hazel eyes. They weren't a gray green color like her brother's but they were the same as his worried eyes.

"Mom?" her son asked. "Are you alright?"

Mikan smiled softly, so soft that she almost started to cry. Again her son was worrying about her, just had her brother always did whenever her adoptive parents abused her. Her heart dropped remembering that time she saw her brother disappear into glitter. She could still remember the glitter flying to the sky and spreading like the stars at a countryside's night sky.

"I'll bring you there... to the countryside to see a sky full of stars..."

Even at the end of her brother's life, he still remembered his promise to her. That made her want to cry. She wanted to cry so much but she held it in. She didn't want her son worrying about her.

"I'm fine Youichi," Mikan said as she combed her son's hair with her bare hands. "Anyway, one day my brother and I were attacked my demons… At that time, I didn't know I had an alice. So he risked his life to protect me and got severely injured."

"Did… Did Hijiri-san survive, Mom?" Youichi asked.

Mikan hesitated. She knew that time her brother did survive; however, remembering the time that he was put in the hospital reminded her of that time her adoptive parents locked her up in that dark room.

Sensing Mikan wasn't feeling comfortable, Natsume answered, "Yes, he did. He survived… However, he passed away eventually because of a curse."

"What curse?" Youichi asked.

Natsume patted his son's head. "You're too young to know," he said, looking at his troubled wife's face. "Now go to sleep, it's way past your bedtime."

"Hai!" Youichi exclaimed. He jumped off his father's lap and ran to his bedroom and shut the door. Then he quickly re-opened the door and waved his hand. "Goodnight Mom! Goodnight Dad!"

"Goodnight Youichi," Mikan answered with a smile as Youichi closed his bedroom door.

"Talking about the past reminds me," Natsume said as he scratched his chin. Then he smirked. "I heard when I collapsed at that time after Persona and Luna, you were so worried that you didn't eat or sleep for over forty-five hours."

Mikan face glowed as red as a ripe tomato. "Wh-What?! Wh-Who told you tha-that!"

"Fujioka," Natsume stated. He smiled, remembering that time he saw Mikan sleeping on that bench, waiting for him. Memories began to sweep through him. Then he closed his eyes.

"Why are you closing your eyes?" Mikan asked.

Natsume slowly opened his eyes and put his arm around Mikan. "Be quiet," he said. "I'm reminiscing about that time."

-Eighteen years ago…- the Human World - Fujioka Hospital -

Natsume gradually opened his eyes. He had a want to close his eyes again when he heard voices shouting, "He woke up! Hurry! Get the doctors!" He looked around to see nurses, Ruka, and Aoi, but no Mikan.

Where is Mikan? he wondered. Then he felt a shiver go down his spine. Perhaps Mikan could care less about him and left him alone. He hoped that wasn't the case.

As he tried to sit up, nurses ran to him, trying to help him. Doing this burned his heart area burn. He wondered why his heart was burning. He looked down at his chest. There, he could see a scar run down his heart area. Did he just receive heart surgery? "How? I'm… I'm alive…" Natsume said with wide eyes. His voice sounded surprisingly weak. He croaked as he tried to speak. "I… Where's… Mikan? Mikan…"

Ruka slowly walked up to Natsume and touched his shoulder. "Natsume… You… How? You only had a thirteen-percent of surviving…" Then Ruka's eyes began to water as he made a joyful smile and laugh. "Miracles… really do happen…"

"Natsume-nii!" Aoi shouted as she hugged her brother tightly. "Natsume-nii, Natsume-nii… Thank goodness… You… You are alive!"

Natsume held onto his sister's arm tightly. "Where… is Mikan?"

"Natsume!" shouted a voice that belonged to Youichi Fujioka. He began to do a few check-ups on his rival and sighed in relief after a few minutes of checking. "Thank goodness… You're in perfect condition. Mikan would be relieved."

"Where is she?" Natsume asked. After resting for a bit, his voice began to sound stronger again.

Youichi made a small smile and pointed to a wheelchair. "To be honest, I recommend for you to rest, but perhaps just this once I'll let it slide."

Natsume nodded as the nurses and Youichi helped him into the wheelchair. Once Natsume had sat down on the wheelchair, Youichi pushed him to the direction of the surgery rooms.

Natsume gulped. He hoped that Mikan wasn't taking a surgery or anything. Did something happen after he collapsed?

"Relax," Youichi said as if he were reading Natsume's thoughts. "Mikan is only sleeping in front of the room you got your surgery. She was really worried so she waited over there, but she accidently fell asleep due to exhaustion."

"Exhaustion?" Natsume asked in confusion. Was Mikan too tired because she used her alice too much?

"After you collapsed, she couldn't sleep for more than forty-five hours. She didn't even eat. I guess she was just that worried about you. Whenever I passed your hospital room, I could see her holding your hand tightly with a face without emotions so I couldn't tell what in the world she was thinking," Youichi explained.

Natsume's eyes widened. Mikan? Was Mikan really that worried about her? His face flushed red. His heart began to pump faster, then he realized something. Now, whenever his heartbeat increased, it didn't hurt for him and he didn't even take his pills yet.

"Ah, there she is," Youichi suddenly said, pointing to a bench with a sleeping girl with brunette hair sitting there. Youichi pushed Natsume next to Mikan and waved to him. "I'll leave you alone for now. I'll be back in a couple minutes. I have a patient to treat."

Then Youichi left the area with Natsume and Mikan the only ones in the room. There was no noise except for the beeping of heart monitors and rushing of the surgeons.

Natsume stared at the sleeping girl and made a small smile. Looking at her pale face and red eyelids made him smile. Did Mikan really cry that much for him? He felt a bit guilty for being happy about Mikan crying for him but he couldn't help it. It let him know that the girl he cherished cared a lot about him too.

Natsume reached his arm and combed Mikan's messy hair lightly. Her hair felt like silk slipping through his fingers, almost as smooth as water. Then Mikan's face twitched as she yawned. Her eyes gradually opened to meet Natsume's eyes, staring back at hers.

Mikan's eyes widened. "Nat… Natsume… Is that really you? Or… am I hallucinating?"

Natsume smirked and flicked Mikan's forehead with his fingertips.

"Ouch!" Mikan yelped loudly. "It hurts idiot!" she yelled as she glared at Natsume. Then her eyes widened as her face began to soften. "It hurts so… it's…"

"It's not a dream stupid," Natsume said with a smile. "This is reality."

Mikan's eyes began to water. Tears of happiness fell from her eyes to her chin, landing on the floor beneath them. "Natsume is alive?" she asked.

"Yes Polka Dots," Natsume said as he rolled his eyes. He touched the bottom part of Mikan's eye and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "How many times do I have to tell you that-"

Mikan interrupted Natsume by hugging him tightly. "You… You idiot! I thought that you were really going to die! Stupid! Idiot! I… I was so worried…" Mikan cried as her tears landed on Natsume's clothes.

"Hey," Natsume said as he wrapped his arms around Mikan as well, "it's not very nice of you to greet someone who was about to die by calling him stupid and an idiot."

Mikan loosen the hug and looked at ground with an abashed facial expression. "Well… ah… Natsume…" Tears of joy began to fall faster and faster. "I'm sorry… It's just that I was so worried and now I'm just so happy that you are alive…"

Natsume hugged Mikan again, so tight that she almost could not breathe. "Natsume?" Mikan asked with a confused expression.

"It's nothing…" Natsume said in a quiet voice. "Just allow me to stay like this for a bit longer…" He didn't want to let Mikan see him cry. He wasn't crying because he was sad. He was crying because he was so happy that he could spend his life with Mikan as a normal person, not a person with a heart disease.

Mikan's face blushed a little as she wrapped her arms around Natsume. "Okay…" she said softly as tears poured out of her eyes also. She knew that she wasn't the only one crying. Natsume was also. She could feel his warm tears soaking her shirt as she cried also.

"Hey," Mikan and Natsume said in sync.

"Ah, you can go first," Natsume said as he hugged Mikan tighter.

"No it's fine, you can go-"

"Just say it first, then I'll tell you mine," Natsume said.

Mikan took a deep breath. She opened her wet and blurry eyes and let the tears drop on Natsume's shoulders. She wanted to tell him how she was feeling towards him now. She had to tell him before she could ever get a chance to lose him again. She definitely didn't want to risk not being able to tell Natsume her feelings.

"Natsume…" Mikan said in a nervous tone.

"What?" Natsume asked.

Mikan took a deep breath and held onto Natsume tightly. "I… I love you," Mikan said. "I love you more than anyone in this world…" Then she remembered that there was more than one world in this universe. "Um… I mean rather… this universe…"

Natsume's eyes widened. Then he closed his eyes and made a soft smile. "Me too, Mikan…" he said as he undid the hug. "I've always loved you too…" he whispered into her ear.

"So what did you have to tell me?" Mikan asked.

He kissed her on the forehead and stared into her dazzling hazel eyes as he made a bright smile. "I already told you stupid."

Now Natsume did not have to die early. He could live a new life with Mikan. He could live his life to the fullest and his old heart disease couldn't stop him.

Finally, he was truly content.

And nothing could stop this happiness now.

- End of the Human World -

Hello! This is the end of my first fanfic, The Human World, based on Gakuen Alice! The first thing I would like to say is thank you! Thank you for those who followed or favorited this story! I would also like to thank the guests who read this story too! All of you were a great support!

I knew this story wasn't very popular, but even so I continued thanks to all your supportive reviews! Thank you very much once again!

I'm sorry, I'm kind of rambling on with all these thank yous but I can't help it! Well, if I keep continuing, I'll probably fill up over a page of thanks so I'm going to stop here…

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

~ Metallic Snow