Limitations Chapter 4, a gakuen alice fanfic

Author's notes: It's been a year since I last updated this story. I guess 2011 didn't provide me loads of inspiration. Maybe 2012 will. Don't worry, I already have the next chapter. =) Happy New Years!

L I M I T A T I O N S

Acrianz

"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."

-Richard Bach

Chapter Four

"Hey beautiful." Mikan felt warm arms hug her from behind. She smiled before answering, "Hey yourself. You got off early? " Koko buried his nose into her hair, tickling her a bit. "Hmm, yeah."

Mikan turned around and gave him a proper hug. He smelled nice – citrus and a bit of aftershave. He must have taken a shower first. Mikan knew he hated smelling like the hospital. She felt his warm lips on her forehead. "This feels nice. I miss cuddling up with you."

She shut her eyes. Why'd he have to be so sweet? Guilt was settling at her stomach and it felt heavy. No, she told herself. She was starting to move on from her mistakes. She made the right decision.

"Yeah. Me, too."

Koko let her go. He held her hands and started rubbing circles on them using his thumbs. This always comforted Mikan and she felt herself relaxing. "So what are you up to?" the doctor asked.

That's when Mikan's eyes widened. She couldn't believe she almost forgot to tell him. "Oh! You will not believe this!" She beamed at him, her happiness radiating from her. He couldn't help but to grin. "What is it?"

"One of the spectators during the fashion show last week loved my dresses. It just so happen that she's the owner of a certain baby magazine. She told me that she would love to feature my works on her mag for free. But they have to be baby outfits. Do you think I can do that? I mean, it's such a big opportunity but I've never really tried making baby outfits before."

"I know you can. You're talented, Miks. Of course you can do it. I'm so proud of you." He gave her a sweet kiss. Mikan smiled against his lips. "Thanks, Koko." This guy absolutely knew how to make her feel better. He'd always made her feel so sure and confident. It was one of the things that made her agree to be his girlfriend.

And one of the things why she knew she made the right choice.

:-:-:

She kept her word. It's been a week since their last encounter. Since then, Mikan always made excuses to avoid being alone with him. It annoyed him to no end, but he couldn't talk to her properly. Not when everyone seemed to be watching.

Natsume was busy glaring at his door when his phone rang. Reluctantly, he answered it. "Nii-san!" Oh great. It was Aoi. She never called unless she wanted something.

"What do you want this time?" Well, beating around the bush wasn't really him. He heard a chuckle on the other line. "You know me well, nii-san. Well Youichi and I were planning to go to France to for our wedding photo shoot you know. So I was wondering if I can leave Hana with you."

He knew it wouldn't be good. He sighed before answering, "Aoi. You know I have work. How can I possibly look after her?"

"Oh please! You can leave for a year and you'll still have your salary! This is the right time for you to use all of your leave credits! Please, pretty please, nii-san. We'll take our baby with us if we can, but then she won't be taken care of properly."

His eye twitched. "And what makes you think that I can? Haven't you heard? I'm the heartless jerk around here."

His sister scoffed. He pictured her rolling her eyes. "I'm your sister. Of course I know those are just rumors. I know for a fact that you're such a loving uncle who will take care of my baby girl when we're away."

"As much I love my niece, as you put it, I am not a baby sitter."

"Who said anything about a baby sitter?" Natsume wanted to glare at her.

"Please, nii-san! Or else. ."

Oh no. He didn't like where this was going. Whenever she used that voice, Natsume knew she had some sort of a back up plan. "Or else what?"

"Or else I'm gonna have to tell your friends about the time you used to pee your pants. Oh, is that yes I hear? Thank you, nii-san! I'll bring Hana over tomorrow! Bye!" And the line went dead.

Damn. He didn't even agree to it. Why did she have to get pregnant during college anyway? True he loved his 3 year old niece but he could only do so much for babies.

He sighed. He guessed he was going to have to suck it up. He was stuck with Hana for two weeks or so.

:-:-:

"Mikan, you are aware that you only have two days before the photo shoot and you still have four outfits to go, right?" Hotaru asked her before sipping her French vanilla. She visited the brunette to make sure she was working instead of watching the grass grow.

She watched as Mikan cut the blue cloth. Her friend stopped for a while and sighed. "I know, Hotaru. Don't worry, I'll finish them."

Hotaru shrugged. She knew Mikan would. She always finished her works on time. No matter how much she procrastinated, Hotaru had to give her some credit. She knew the brunette worked best when she's under time pressure. Mikan was weird.

She wanted to interrogate Mikan about a certain crimson –eyed guy, but she knew it would just distract her. Hotaru noticed how weird Mikan acted since the dinner that they had. Natsume acted even weirder. She knew something must have happened between the two.

It was sickening to watch, those two. She couldn't believe nobody else could notice the way they act around each other. Natsume acted as if Mikan was something so precious yet so light that it could be carried around by the wind. He acted as though he always wanted to grab Mikan to make sure she wouldn't go anywhere.

On the other hand, Mikan tried her best to avoid the said guy. She was willing to let herself be carried away by the wind just so Natsume wouldn't get to her. It was like a game of Cat and Mouse. It may not be that obvious to other people since the doctor was good at hiding her emotions. But Hotaru was a detective in her past life.

She had to find out what was going on. TechY was looking forward to working again with Mikan in the future. She couldn't do her work properly if she had something to distract her. Hotaru would find out, whether they like it or not.

:-:-:

Mikan just might give up making clothes for adults and stick with baby outfits if they were this cute. There were 7 toddlers in the set, all wearing the outfits that she made. They were so adorable it was almost a crime. She approached the baby blond who was struggling with her sleeve.

"What's the problem?" she asked. The girl looked about 4 years old. She looked up at Mikan with her big blue eyes and shyly pointed to her shoulder. "Hurts."

Mikan fumbled with her sleeve until she was sure it was okay. "There. Does it still hurt?" The girl shook her head. "Good. You look really pretty by the way. " The girl smiled at her. Mikan smiled back.

A couple of minutes later, one of the crew approached her with panic-stricken face. Mikan asked what's wrong. The lady took a deep breath before answering , "We have a problem, Miss Sakura. The kid who was supposed to wear the main dresses can't make it. She's running a high fever."

:-:-:

"And Youichi will drop off her things later. He just had something to do in his office," Aoi told him. They met up at a café near the hospital. Natsume just had to file his leave of absence. He also refused to take any clients at the moment. Since he wasn't a family doctor, it wasn't much of a problem.

He would never tell Aoi but he was actually glad to have an excuse to leave that stinking hospital.

"Are there any allergies I have to know about?" He asked. He eyed his niece who was peacefully eating her caramel pudding.

"Nope. She's healthy. I may have given birth to her while I was still very young, but we still take care of her, you know. And she's potty trained, don't you worry. I know you've been dying to ask that."

Natsume opened his mouth to say something but Aoi cut him off. "She doesn't like it when she wakes up alone. Chocolate pancakes are her favourite breakfast. She hates peas. Yes, she likes bedtime stories. Her favourites are Disney princesses."

Natsume winced. He didn't know if he could do it. Sure he may have spent some nights at Aoi's house but they were there to take care of Hana.

"I think this is a bad idea after all." He sighed.

His sister just rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please. You're a doctor, you can do it. And she adores you anyway so it should be easy. No way, Nii-san. There's no way you're getting away from this."

:-:-:

Mikan and Kim – the lady crew – went out to look for a possible substitute. They postponed the shoot for an hour. The kids were getting hungry anyway, so it was a good time for snacks. So far it was no good. There weren't any kids around who had the same size as Lora.

She sighed. She thought everything would turn out fine today. Why did Lora have to get sick today? Not that Mikan blamed her. It just sucked big time.

"Miss Sakura! I think she'll do!" Kim said, her eyes excited. Mikan followed her gaze. She saw a little girl, about 3 or 4 years old, feeding the pigeons. Mikan smiled. Yes, that girl was perfect.

They walked towards her. The girl was startled, but thankfully she didn't run away. "Hello there. My name's Mikan. What's yours?"

The girl smiled. "Hana!"

"That's such a beautiful name. How old are you, Hana?" Three little fingers went up in the air. Suddenly, Hana was being lifted off from the ground. Mikan looked up and saw a woman, a curious expression on her face.

She was probably only a year younger than Mikan. She looked an awfully lot like. . Mikan shook her head. There were many people with raven hair and crimson eyes. Right?

"Hi, I'm Mikan. Is she your daughter?"

"Yes. I'm Aoi, this is Hana. May we help you?"

"Yes, actually. You see, we're in need of a baby model. The other couldn't make it. Hana seems like her size so I wondering if she could model the clothes instead? Please."

"What's it for?"

"For a magazine. They're featuring my designs. I'd really appreciate it if you agree." Mikan pleaded.

Aoi seemed to think about it. She asked a few more questions, but when she found out that it was for the Mage magazine, she became excited. "Oh my, really? I love the Mage! Why didn't you say so sooner? Let's wait for a little while for my brother, okay? He's the one taking care of Hana right now since I'm leaving for France tomorrow."

Mikan agreed.

They didn't have to wait long. Soon, Mikan heard footsteps behind her. And she went cold after hearing his voice. "Aoi, who are you talking to?"

Reluctantly, the brunette turned around. It's been two weeks since they last saw each other. Natsume's eyes widened.

"Nii-san! This is - "

"Mikan," he finished for her.

"Wait a minute," Aoi muttered, "You know each other?"

They both nodded. Before Natsume could say anything, Mikan faced Aoi and told her, "I assume you know Koko? I'm his girlfriend."

Reviewing is not mandatory but it makes the author happy. :)