When We Were Young

'I can't believe she hasn't found me yet.' A dark-haired teen thought idly, as he watched clouds lazily float by, occasionally blotting out the early afternoon sun through his half-lidded eyes.

Sitting up wearily, he looked around the small oval-shaped meadow, where he was doing nothing but lying in the shade of a huge tree. He'd really found the perfect place to lie back and do nothing, or as is the cause sometimes, to hide from people.

'Not that he was hiding exactly,' he reminded himself, lying back down, 'he just didn't feel like being found by Ruka or by her.'

She who seemed to be his curse, who followed him around and annoyed him....yet strangely not as much as he made her think.

'After all,' Natsume thought, 'she's been doing so since we were ten ans Naru decided that we would be partners.' This thought was quickly followed by a shake of his head, he couldn't believe the Naru would do such a thing! They couldn't stand each other then, but now that they were in High School, things were kind of confusing----

"Natsume!!" A Feminine voice called from beyond the seemily protective line of trees encasing the meadow.

"Oi! Natsume!" The female voice called again, sounding considerably closer to the edge of the trees.

'Damn,' Natsume thought, 'she found me.' He sat up, staring at the spot where he could now hear her walking towards him, ignoring the way the sound of her voice made his heart beat speed up.

"Why do you always disappear?" The girl demanded, as she stomped angrily over to where he lay, and when she stopped right in front of him she leaned over him with her hands on her hips.

Natsume glared up at her, but was unable to stop how his eyes trailed up and across her body. "You think you would learn, kitten print," He said calmly, even thought his heart was still beating erratically.

Sputtering angrily and blushing, she drew her arm back to hit him and as her foot slide back, sliding dangerously on the dewy grass, causing her to fall and land awkardly on her hands and knees....in between Natsume's legs.

Blushing darkly Mikan lifted up her head to find her face two inches away from Natsume's, who was backing into the tree with a strangely vacant expression.

"....I'm....Sorry!!" She blurted scuttling away frantically, to sit opposite him using one hand to keep her skirt down.

For a moment Natsume's expression didn't change, but then he "Hmpfed" and looked away.

"Anyways....Getting back to the point! You're making Ruka worried sick! He says you're shutting hi, out! What's wrong with you?" Mikan asked, momentarily forgetting the ackward moment that just past between them, she reached out and put her hand on his. Her eyes large and very worried.

"Nothing!" Natsume snapped, as she retracted his hand, as if her touch burned him.

Mikan said nothing for a moment, as she looked at her hand, and then she stood up, "Fine, I'll tell him what you said."

Natsume watched with something akin to horror in the very depths of his eyes, so deep it almost wasn't visible. "Mikan..." he breathed.

Mikan froze, but she reigned in her rampaging emotions, "Well, I'm just gonna go, cause I know where I'm not wanted."

"...Well, that's different, I expected you to try to hit me again." Natsume said all calm, cool and collected, while internally his heart was screaming at him to get her back to him.

"Times change Natsume." Mikan said, looking at him over her shoulder with a warm smile.

Natsume felt his heart give a little squeeze as she smiled at him, it made him want to smile back, where as his logical badass self was telling him to resist the urge solider!

Mikan stared at Natsume with a small confused smile on her face, "Are you sick? Your face looks weird."

"Why are you still here?" Natsume asked blandly.

"I don't know, you made a funy face. I liked it!" Mikan exclaimed smiling widely.

Natsume stared at her for a moment before he chuckled. "You're an idiot."

Mikan stared at him with an open mouth, "I'll just go find Hotaru! She understands me!!"

"That's because you're so simplistic." Natsume said, trying in vain to avert his attention from her mouth.

Mikan glared at him before turning quickly and walking away.

Natsume sighed before muttering to himself, " Why are you so complicated?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mikan had just gotten to the sidewalk, more annoyed with Natsume than anything now, she was so used to him being a douche, but for some reason he was being more of one today.

"Mikan-chan!" A deep voice called out to her.

"Ruka-pyon!" Mikan said, smiling as she turned to see him running towards her with a small stack of papers.

"Have you seen Natsume? I have to give these papers to him." Ruka said, as he got to where she was standing, a light blush on his face.

"Him? I just got done seeing him, the jerk-face!" Mikan said, with an annoyed expression.

"Good! Then you know where he is. Can you take these to him please?" Ruka asked, holding the papers out to Mikan.

"What? I just walked all the way back here! Why can't you do it? You're his best friend." Mikan said desperately, not wanting to re experience the awkwardness between them.

"But I've got to attend to Piyo!" Ruka said distractedly.

"...Well that Chicken is fond of you...Ok! I''ll do it! For you." Mikan said with a grin, holding her arms out for the papers.

"Great! Thanks!" Ruka said, blushing slightly as he handed her the papers.

With a laugh, she turned and walked back into the forest.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Natsume sat with his back against the trunk of the tree, reading Naruto in he weekly Shonen Jump thinking, 'Like that could ever happen.'

"Natsume!"

Said person stiffened, his heart rate going up again.

"Natsume! I know you're there!" Mikan called, coming into the little meadow.

"Didn't you just leave? Miss me that much?" Natsume smirked at her.

"As if! I ran into Ruka and he wanted me to deliver these to you." Mikan said, raising the papers.

"Papers? Bring them here." Natsume said, moving over a little indicating that she should come sit down.

"Um....Set them down next to you?" Mikan asked.

Natsume sighed, "You really are an idiot."

"You know what! I'm just going to put these papers down and leave!" Mikan said angrily.

"Get me a pen while you're gone, cause you always seem to come back. Why don't you just admit you're in love with me?" Natsume asked calmly, looking up at her over his Jump, while internally his inner self, was torn between screaming and anticipating a response.

"Excuse me! You've tormented me from the day we first met! And you have the nerve to ask if I love you?!" She exclaimed shocked and offended, with her face just inches away from his.

Natsume stared at her, taken aback and before he could make sense of the situation, he automatically leaned forward and felt his lips brush hers.

Mikan stared at him with wide eyes, "What did you just do?"

"I don't know, did it feel something like this?" Natsume shrugged, before he moved forward, making his lips brush hers again.

Once the pressure of his mouth was off hers, Mikan fell backwards her hands flying up to cover her mouth, "You stole it!!"

He leaned over her, "Stole what?"

"My...first...kiss...." Mikan said blushing.

"You mean like this?" He asked as he kissed her again.

"Stop it!!" She yelled shoving him.

"You're in High School, how can that have been you're first kiss?" Natsume asked blankly, were as his mind was reminding him that that was his first kiss. He was pleased that he had taken her first kiss, even though that meant she had taken his....

Mikan stared at Natsume indignantly, "What if I was saving it for someone special?!"

"Were you? Who were you saving it for?" Natsume asked, his eyebrow raised.

It was then that Mikan seem to realize what she had just told him, "I wasn't saving it! I just meant what if I had been!"

Natsume looked at her skeptically, "Clearly you were saving it, and otherwise you wouldn't be freaking out. Or maybe you were saving it for me, but didn't think it would ever happen."

Mikan blushed darkly, but instead of some sort of shouted reply like Natsume expected, she quickly dropped her gaze, looking at the ground.

Natsume looked at her confused, 'Why didn't she yell at me? What did I say that provoked this reaction?'

He watched as her light brown hair, which fell gently waving around her shoulders, moved slightly as a gentle breeze swept through the meadow. Her bangs cast the right side of her face in shadows, so he couldn't accurately decipher her expression. He was also unable to make her look at him, as she preferred to look at the ground.

He took this opportunity to properly look at her up close, because although she had accused him of being distant with Ruka, she was also being distant with him.

'I wonder if she's aware of how beautiful she is?' The thought rose unexpectedly into Natsume's mind. He quickly shoved it back down, but instead of disappearing it seemed to take root and grow....

It was a good question though, part of him pointed out. It didn't really seem possible to be oblivious to how she looked or to the looks she attracted, 'But it is Mikan.' He reminded himself.

After several weeks of avoiding him, Natsume had gotten really annoyed and 'accidently' found her. But before he could go up and talk to her, he had been automatically aware of the looks other guys were giving her as she walked by....not that he could necessarily blame them.

She was a close to perfect as anyone would ever get, in Natsume's opinion. True, there might be girls with bigger boobs, but Mikan's were just right for her frame, not too big and definitely not too small. She had a nice narrow waist that flared subtly into hips that were also just right for her frame.

Quickly realizing that he had been staring for too long, Natsume's eyes snapped back to Mikan's face, only to find that she was still looking at the ground.

Frowning Natsume reached out and gently grabbed her chin, ignoring her flinch when he touched her, and made her look at him.

Mikan met his gaze for a moment before dropping her eyes to look at the ground again, blushing.

"Ok, I have no idea what I did, so you're going to have to tell me." Natsume said calmly, tilting her head so she was looking at him again.

This time Mikan locked eyes with him, before shaking her head. Her eyes defiant, but suddenly they grew soft and tears started slowly sliding down her cheeks.

Stunned, Natsume released her chin, quickly cupping her face gently between her hands; he leaned forward and pressed his forehead onto hers. Using his thumbs to wipe away her tears, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Upon hearing his tone, all kind and caring, completely not Natsume like at all, her eyes grew defiant again. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Natsume stared at her, stunned. "What makes you think that?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you might do nice things, but the Natsume I know is not this nice. The only problem is I can't figure out what you would gain from this....Except the joy of seeing my face, I guess..."

"You think I'm messing with you?" He asked incredulously.

"Of course! This kind of thing only happens in my dreams." Mikan replied without hesitation, before staring wide eyed at Natsume and slapping her hands over her mouth....again....

"So you dream about me....Interesting....You know that you're going to have to tell me about them now right? I guess this means you were saving your first kiss for me then?" Natsume asked smirking, loving how by the end of his question she was blushing darkly again, but also pleased that she dreamt about him.

"I-I didn't mean that! No one would ever dream about you! If they did it would be a nightmare!" Mikan stuttered, trying to pull her head back, but Natsume's hands kept in firmly in place.

"Where they would wake up screaming? Do you ever wake up screaming my name?" Natsume smirked, moving so that she was saying it right in her ear, he could feel her shiver.

Natsume could feel Mikan shaking, and because he couldn't figure out why, he leaned back to see her face. But before he could actually register her expression, he felt more than saw her smack him.

Mikan stood up and stormed out of the little meadow shaking with rage, muttering darkly to herself the whole time.

It took Natsume a moment to realize what happened, before he too got up and followed Mikan into the forest. 'Just because you got to leave angrily last time doesn't mean I'm gonna let you get away from me again.'

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"That Natsume! How dare he! He should be the one to admit he's in love with me! Not the other way around!" Mikan muttered to herself as she wandered the forest, not paying any attention to where she was going. "Why did I tell him I dream about him?!"

Mikan had to quickly stifle a scream as a pair of arms were wrapped around her waist and a tall body was lightly pressed into her back.

"...Maybe because some part of you wanted me to know about it." Natsume replied, "You need to learn to not talk to yourself, or at least not out loud." As he was finishing his sentence Natsume spun Mikan around, so she was facing him and then he pinned her to a nearby tree.

Mikan wasn't sure which of three emotions were winning, her relief that it was Natsume's arms wrapped around her, or her annoyance that it was Natsume, or her sheer joy that Natsume had his arms around her....not that she would ever tell anyone...except maybe Hotaru.

"I'm not exactly happy with you." Natsume said as he nuzzled her neck and one hand unbuttoned just enough of her uniform to just barely show a hint of her bra.

Mikan was a little too....distracted to come up with a witty response, but she did manage to say, "I didn't....realize you.....were ever happy....with me."

Natsume smile a little again Mikan's neck before he chuckled, loving the way her breath hitched.

'I can't believe this is happening!' Mikan thought, half-waiting for herself to wake up, but the other half hoped this was really happening. She felt a jolt of something go through her as Natsume's mouth started traveling from her throat, going a little lower each time...."Natsume...." She panted, breathless for some reason she didn't quite understand.

Natsume didn't make a sound, he did not want to break this moment, without thinking he nibbled a little on her collar bone and was surprised to feel her squirm.

Mikan whimpered, 'It felt so good!' What is was she wasn't sure, but she knew she liked it. "Natsume....I love you...." She whispered, to caught up in the moment to realize what she said.

Natsume stiffened for just a moment before he raised his head and looked into Mikan's half-lidded eyes. "Is that so? Do you know what you just told me?" Natsume asked, his voice unintentionally deeper than normal.

Mikan had to think through the haze clouding her mind, so it took her a minute to realize what she had said....She gasped in horror, "I told you....But you're not making fun of me....Does that mean....?" Mikan practically mouthed the last part, her brain so shocked she couldn't speak.

"It means that you belond to me." Natsume said, kissing her forehead, before heading down to her collar bone and kissing and biting it until there was an angry-looking red mark.

'Did he just give me a hickey?!' Mikan thought, not entirely sure what she felt besides happy. Giggling Mikan leaned towards Natsume, putting her arms around his neck and pulling him closer, so she could speak right in his ear. "You realize that makes you mine right?"