Disclamer: I don't own GA. :)

Published. Updated. Edited. 4-21-09. 3-17-10. 5-25-10.

Denseness

by: Sweet Temptress

You think you know me but I'm changing all the time.

Cause if I wanna be sweet, if I wanna be wild, if I wanna cry like a child,.

I guess that just who I am.

Riddle #436: You know me , I'm one of the densest people in the world. With tangerines, I am associated. With oranges, I might as well be. With black cats, I am close. With robots, I am cloned. And with the New Year, I get old. Who am I?

I smiled inwardly as I looked at him.

His ashen black hair was covering his blush again. Or at least, he was trying to cover it.

I looked at him, innocently. He returned my gaze with eyes that shined with, if I'm not mistaken, worry. I could sense his jealousy as well. I wanted laugh so bad but I couldn't. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

"Why Mikan? Why?" His face was as stoic as ever. But the unmistakable concern was paraded in his crimson orbs.

"I-I- I'm sorry, Natsume. I couldn't sto-' I stopped. I could sense tears in my throat. I smiled knowingly but inwardly. I'm about to cry—the perfect touch innocence.

"Don't explain it anymore... Just... Just… stay away from any guy." I caught you in my trap, you're jealous, I almost wanted to scream in glee. But I couldn't. The act must go on.

And so, I cried. They weren't fake tears exactly. I wasn't crying because I was sorry. I was crying because he really did care.

And he's proving it to me right now, again. All I could do was cry before him. He wiped my tear with one thumb, the other hand on my chin.

He looks into my eyes with words I cannot simply read. He was not showing his true emotions, he was denying it. I know it. He was denying his feelings for me.

At that very moment, I knew he was debating with himself thinking what he should do, or say next.

"N-natsume," I smiled while tears still ran down my face. "I promise..." And with that he patted me on the head. His eyes were telling me he was smiling, inwardly as well.

He walked away.

I was missing my chance again. I immediately called out to him.

"Why, Natsume? Why are you doing this?" Oooh, I'm a genius! He stopped at his tracks but he didn't turn back.

"You still don't understand, do you?" Oh, what is with this guy and not giving me a direct answer?

"What? What don't I understand?" I asked almost desperately.

Even though I know some things, this is one of the moments that I just can't really understand him.

He just sighed and walked away. Leaving me another "clue" on what he really feels about me.

And so there I was waiting for him to finally be out of my sight.

I laughed. Hard. He looks so cute when he does that! But then again, he never shows his true emotions with me.

First thing he acts all mighty and superior. Next thing he acts all big brother sort of thing. I sighed. When will he ever tell me what I am to him?

You may be wondering what I'm talking about here.

I'm Mikan Sakura, ehem, soon to be Hyuuga. Cough. But let's leave it at that first.

I'm 16 years old with auburn hair and big chocolate eyes. I'm cute but I prefer beautiful more. I'm not as vain as Natsume though. Tch. He's worse than I am. And you know how arrogant he is. You know how he makes excuses like, 'I'm not vain, I'm just fully aware of what God has given me.' I know, I know. He's worse, right?

And so back to me. I'm smart though people think I'm dense. I just act dense because it's fun! Not that I'm mean or anything, it's JUST a hobby of mine. And yes, I'm in love with dear Natsume, but it's no obsession. I actually know what he means when he says stay away from –insert "that-guy's name here-.

Since I'm all friendly, I have many friends most of which are girls, of course, 'cause dearest Natsume wants me away from all the other guys as much as possible. The only guy friend I have is him and Ruka.

So now here I am standing. I remember all of the times when I act like the densest girl in the world. It actually had a good outcome. You can see people who are just purely poker face be embarrassed. And that's when it gets all fun. They start to stutter words. Like Ruka—the blue-eyed god—whom ladies worship at his feet—likes me. (But that was waaaay too long ago.) He started his confession with an indirect confession. But since I'm all dense and pretended not to know what in the world he was talking about, he ended up saying the three words I wanted to hear ... 'I like you'. Back then, I already liked Natsume so I rejected him and told him I already liked someone else.

And guess what? Natsume actually heard the whole thing and smirked at himself like as if knowing the fact that I like him. Idiotic, arrogant, egoistic jerk! But still, I love him and I don't know why.

So there. I act dense and all. And oooh, speaking of which. I remembered something.

"So, Mikan, do you already have a boyfriend?" Ruu asked me. I smiled at myself not really aware of the answer to his question; Since my over-protective hell of a "friend" goes all 'she's-my-girl-so-back-off' when a guy actually approaches me. So after giving it a thought, I decided upon my answer.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend. But I do know of a guy who'd get mad if he heard me say that." I laughed at my own silly answer. Ruu laughed as well.

"Yeah, I know that guy too."

"Then why ask?" I smiled.

"Oh, I was just curious what that guy's relationship to you is." He was smirking now.

"He's a friend. That's for sure."

"If you only knew, if you only knew." Oh, I so want to wipe that smirk off his face!

"If I only knew what?" I asked. You can't deny it too; it was intriguing me to the bones!

"Oh, nothing,' That smirk would DIE, if that grew even more. " Just us guys and our, shall we say, ways?" He said with his smirk growing wider. Finally smiling that innocent smile of his that's clearly not innocent at all, he ran his hands through his hair. Ah-nnoying.

"Right." I said almost laughing. Good thing he already left.

Wow, do they actually think I'm as dense as I act? Seriously, do they even know how smart I am, and not only mentally? I have a perfect A plus in my card, tests, projects, quizzes and what? They underestimate me with this 'us guys and our ways' thing? Oh puh-lease, I'm a girl, we ALL know what that means. And they call themselves my friends.

But then again, acting all dense is the best way, in my opinion, to let a guy tell you how he really feels.

Ha! Now tell me, how smart am I? I know, I know. I'm a genius!

Now you know why I'm dense.

RIDDLE #456 ANSWER: That's me, Mikan!

== End ==

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