Disclaimer. All recognizable characters belong to Tachibana Higuchi.

Dedication. To all those fairytale lovers out there. Yes, that includes me.

Fairytale Syndrome

-;-

"Once in a while,

in the middle of an ordinary life,

Love gives us a fairytale."

Chapter One. It all began on the first day, of the first month, of my first birthday.

"Congratulations, Ms. Azumi," someone exclaimed.

"She's an angel, just like her mother," another cooed.

Yuka Azumi, the president to Alice productions, beamed ecstatically around at the crowd of guests as they struggled to catch a glimpse of the bundle of happiness she was cradling to her chest. A small, baby girl who looked no more than a year old, gurgled curiously up at her visitors, clapping her hands together clumsily.

"Oh, look! Her hands are so tiny!"

"I'd like a daughter like that when I get myself a child."

"Downright adorable," someone called out. "If I may ask, what is her name, Ms. Azumi?"

The mass of people momentarily turned their eyes away from the girl in order to inquiringly face the glowing mother. "Her name is Mikan Sakura." They all savored the name in silence before bursting into congratulations once again.

"Mikan Sakura, is it? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, young lady."

"Look at those dimples. She's a natural charmer like her mother, isn't she?"

"Oh, Ms. Azumi. I'm so jealous!" Someone sighed, dreamily. "You have a loving, supportive husband, a large, flourishing business, and now, an adorable little daughter too! What more -" CRASH.

There was a moment of stilled silence as an angry man in his mid-thirties slammed through the door. His eyeglasses flashed dangerously as he caught sight of the woman at the center of attention - his expression turned venomous. "Hello, Azumi," he said in a cool voice. "So nice of you to invite me to your little party." The mother's face whitened. Instantly, the guards who had been watching the hall entrance scurried in after the enraged man, stuttering their hurried apologies. They grabbed for the hostile man - "No need for that," he growled, roughly shaking them off. "I was going to leave soon anyways." - before his cold gaze turned to the baby, who began to cry in earnest.

There was a sort of manic look on his face that Yuka didn't like the look of.

"Regretting not having invited me, yet? He jeered. "Well, it's a tad bit late for regret now, Azumi. I'm going to take this short-lived happiness away from you. Mark my words - your godforsaken child will fall into a deep sleep on the eve of her 16th birthday, and she'll be unable to reawaken as cruel punishment for the mother who made the careless mistake of angering me." He grabbed a handful of his dark cloak before swishing them violently behind him. "Mikan Sakura, was it? I'll be waiting for you then." He turned to exit the room. Meanwhile, at the center of the room, Azumi Yuka's eyes glistened with thick tears as she clutched the bawling baby tightly to her chest, livid with anger.

"You will never be able to lay a finger on her, Jinno! I won't let you do that - not you, or anyone else!"

That, in a nutshell, was my life's story.

It also happened to be the reason why I ended up living in a two-roomed apartment in downtown Shibuya, Tokyo with my gay godfather, Narumi Anju.

Everything happened a few days after that horrible incident, fifteen years back. Obviously, my parents had been too afraid to keep me at their side, what with me constantly under the threat of danger. They just couldn't risk the chance of losing their one and only daughter when they had finally thought they had reached a fairytale happy ending. So this was where my godfather came in. They thought, "Hey, since Narumi has been such a helpful and supportive family-friend, why don't we trust him with our beloved daughter and get this problem out of our hands?" It hadn't exactly been in that sentence structure, but it had been the gist of it. My point was that, in a matter of few words, they had decided that I was to leave the comfort of a normal and happy family life in order to be entrusted in the care of the king of gay lords himself.

Ugh. Was I being a bit too harsh?

Well, believe it or not, Narumi had been a perfectly normal guy to live with at least up until the day he had announced his undying love for other gay men and began wearing lingerie, make-up and the likes. So, imagine the horror I went through on his "coming out" day when my friends and I had arrived at our apartment after school to find him in nothing but highly-revealing underwear, wondering what to make for dinner that night. I shudder even thinking back about it.

Truth be told, his sexual preference did not offend me and I supported his views quite enthusiastically for a while.

I think that might have been the cause to all his present blatancy.

Whenever we walked down the streets together, he shamelessly threw himself at passing men, flirting vigorously, or he shopped openly for women's lingerie at street shops while impetuously announcing they were for his own use. I was a tolerant person, but not that tolerant. Did he ever think about me as I stood there next to him, quietly enduring through the disgusted looks the passing onlookers were sending us? No, he didn't. Did he ever look at the face the salesperson gave us as he bought those revealing lingerie without a moment's pause? No, he didn't. And did he even hear about the things they all muttered behind our backs as we walked away? No, he didn't. While he may have been a completely oblivious fart to the insults that everyone was throwing in our direction, I certainly was not. And I hated that they were judging my godfather merely by his homosexuality. I hated the fact that they all stared at him as if he were some repulsive thing.

I sighed. To be perfectly honest, it was no secret that I missed the old Narumi.

At least there hadn't been so much drama to cope with when he had been secretive about his sexual orientation. Life had been bearable with Narumi, back then, in spite of the fact that he was the "king of gay lords," as I dubbed him now.

I twirled the black clover-shaped diamond attached to my necklace absentmindedly in my hands (it was the only souvenir that I was given to remember my long-forgotten blood parents) before turning the desk lamp off. There were only a few more months remaining until my 16th birthday, and it was a comforting thought to know that I would never have to be forced through this outrageous drama ever again when that time soon came.

I trudged over to my bed tiredly and pulled the blankets up to my nose.

But it also meant that I would have to leave behind fifteen years of life in this apartment along with Narumi, whom, I hated to admit, I cared deeply for despite his troublesome lifestyle. The mere thought of leaving him was starting to make me teary-eyed already. After all, he had been the one who had taken me in when no one else had volunteered.

Clenching my jaws tightly, I rolled onto my stomach and stuffed my head into the pillow.

"Wake up, you lazy birdie," Narumi sang as he knocked and walked into my room.

I moaned.

He clicked his tongue affectionately in answer. "Don't be like that, dear. You have thirty minutes left until the school gate closes." He threw the curtains to the side and latched the windows open, letting the morning breeze and bright rays of sunlight dance merrily across the room. "The saying goes, "The early bird catches the fatter worm." I'll be waiting in the kitchen with breakfast in ten minutes whenever you're ready."

I nodded blindly after him as he closed the door.

Slowly and painfully, I dragged myself out of bed with a yawn and pulled myself towards the bathroom. It had been late when I had finally been able to fall asleep the previous night - with all the depressing thoughts clouding my head - and a simple look in the mirror confirmed my unsightly state; my breath stank, my hair was a mess, and there were dark bags under my eyes. In other words, I looked like hell.

After taking a quick shower to wash off some of the zombie-like resemblance, I changed into my school uniform and walked into the kitchen, sniffing hungrily at the delicious smell wafting from the fried fish and miso soup laid out on the dinner table. It had always been me in the kitchen since I could remember, but after my godfather had given in to his feminine impulses he had immediately taken to cooking for the both of us, doing the laundry and other plentiful household chores like a dutiful "housewife." I seated myself at the table contently.

"It looks like I'm a bit early for school." It was 8:15 but school started at 8:30.

Narumi smiled, all-too-knowingly. "It doesn't hurt to be a little early at times, though." He was leaning back on the counter opposite me, sipping his morning coffee. His robes had been lazily wrapped around his inappropriately clad body with effect of making him look like his previously "normal" self again, and the sight of him made me slightly nostalgic.

"Well, how about reviewing for class while waiting then?" He shrugged as I continued to remain silent.

I choked at his suggestion. "What - like math?"

It was Narumi's turn to snort loudly into his coffee; we both knew that math was my worst subject.

After breakfast, I grabbed for my schoolbag and rushed out the door, kissing my godfather on the cheek on the way out. Smiling, he walked me to the front of the elevator and waved until the doors closed. "Have a good day at school, honey." Aw, he could be so perfectly normal and sweet at times. Feeling like the day had started off with a beat, I hummed softly to myself as I walked out of the apartment complex and in the school direction.

It was a sunny November morning and the breeze was blowing gently across my face, lifting my already good mood up. Really, what could possibly ruin -?

"Hey, watch out!"

A strong sense of irony washed over me as I turned hastily to see the cause of trouble so early in the morning. A blur of colors came crashing into me a moment later and I clenched my eyes tightly, screaming. Considering the slight pain in my head and a warm heaviness on top, I had been knocked down to the floor. I groaned painfully.

A low, husky voice cursed from above. I couldn't help but open my eyes.

There, staring back at me was a pair of the most tantalizing red eyes I had ever seen. I inwardly screamed as the boy quickly pulled himself off of me and brushed the dirt off his school uniform. I noted that they were the same school uniform as my own. I sat back up. Dark, black hair that had been messed up during the fall, but somehow still managing to make it look incredibly nice all the same, framed his handsome features while his skin, in contrast to his deep and mysterious eyes, were pale. He brushed his slender fingers through his hair absentmindedly, looking slightly disgruntled with himself, before staring down at my form wryly. At his attention, I finally became aware of the fact that the wet hair I had messily tied into a bun a while ago had come undone into my face and that my skirt had been hitched up to my thighs, almost revealing an article of clothing that I rather not thought about at that moment. My face flushed brightly in response.

Half disgusted and mortified, I stood up and pulled my skirt down promptly. "D-Did you see anything?"

The boy merely shrugged. "Sorry about the bike," he started, though he didn't really seem very sorry about it. He moved to pick up the said bicycle that had fallen on the floor next to us. "I wasn't watching where I was going." His dark eyes caught mine and I gaped openly until I caught myself staring like a fool. "W-well, watch where you're going next time." He shrugged nonchalantly once again before, in one swift movement, mounting his bike and looking me over once. "It looks like you're okay now so I'm going to go." He began to roll lazily away from me.

But not before I had heard his soft chuckles as he muttered humorously to himself, "Who wears polka-dot panties nowadays?"

…

…

So he had seen my panties, after all.

I slumped down in my seat as the bells announced the end of first period.

My mind was an explosion of thoughts. Considering the school uniform the boy had been wearing, he was definitely a student attending my school as well. I bit the inside of my cheek anxiously, because this made it virtually impossible for me to avoid him forever. How I would manage to stare him in the eye when the time came...

"What's up?"

I looked up briefly to see that my best friend, Imai Hotaru, had seated herself in the seat in front of me. I pouted and fluttered my eyelashes pathetically down at the floor again. "I was walking to school this morning when some pervert guy fell on top of me, and then saw my panties." She merely raised her brows lightly before turning her gaze to the open novel in her hand... well, so much for sympathy.

"And I had thought you were worrying about something else."

I raised an inquiring brow at this. "Like what?"

"Like that partner-project that Jinno was talking about in class today. He's already assigned and posted the partners up on the class board outside." I opened my mouth slightly in surprise. That hadn't been what I had heard in class… But that also may have partly been due to the fact that I had fallen into such a state of shock after the fiasco this morning. I sat up attentively.

"So, who's my partner?"

"Natsume Hyuuga."

Hyuuga - the name sort of ringed a bell. From rumor, he was supposed to be the new school heartthrob at our school. It was his first year in high school, just like me, but I had never had the change to take a closer look at him before. And, truth be told, I hadn't known until this moment that he had been a part of our class as well. I slumped back down in my seat once again. Taking note of the remaining 10 minutes until the next class period, I decided to catch up on some much-needed sleep. I put my head down on the table.

"Are you Mikan Sakura?" I raised my head again, halfheartedly...

... and then my jaw dropped way, way low.

I couldn't believe my eyes, there he was - the guy from the morning, the bicycle guy, the panty guy, the whatever-you-would-call-a-stupid-underwear-peeping-pervert –, "Y-y-you!" I stood up abruptly, knocking my chair down in the process. "You," I didn't know what to say. "I, this morning, you, bike...!" I choked.

It gave me a small amount of satisfaction to know that I wasn't the only one surprised in this situation.

His long, dark eyelashes fluttered open in shock as he raised a slender finger in my face. "Aren't you the polka-dot –" I quickly made to block his mouth.

Hotaru, from the side, stared at our little exchange while the novel in her hand lay forgotten. Silently, she put together the not-so-difficult puzzle together before smirking slightly in amusement. "So, this was the boy you were talking about," she stated, more than asked.

I nodded my head, furiously, in response and threw him a cold glance, in which the boy glared equally back at me and then made to push my hands away from him. I merely tightened my hold. "You know, you have some nerve coming back to me at school when you all but know the humiliation you put me through this morning. And speaking of which, my underwear, how low can you-" "Don't you think he has his reasons for doing that?" I turned to see that Hotaru had interrupted me, looking a bit bemused. I couldn't believe my ears; why was she taking his side? Wasn't she supposed to be my best friend? I spluttered angrily in her direction, enraged. "Reasons for what? For knocking me over and openly staring down at my panties or for coming up to me at school and humiliating me in front of the whole class?"

Her expressions remained bemused. "The latter."

I wasn't getting the logic there. "And what reasons could that be, Hotaru?" My voice dripped with sarcasm as I swiftly turned my gaze from my (supposedly) best friend back to the boy again. I was startled to see that his deep crimson eyes were staring daggers into me, and so, what else could I do - I gasped.

In that instance I had taken my guard off, the red-eyed boy promptly pulled my hands away from him before angrily towering over me. "Polka," he finally hissed, recovering from his initial shock and glowering down at me. His tight grip was painful on my wrists and I winced up to see that all traces of his previous politeness, if any, had gone. "Listen to me - I don't give a fuck about those stupid, polka-dotted panties you were wearing today. For all I care, you could have worn them on your damned head and not a single fuck would have been given." He scowled before continuing. "I don't like this situation anymore than you do, Polka. If it weren't for Jinno... -let's just get this partner-project over with so we can walk off on our separate paths like nothing ever happened, okay?"

So this had all been about that stupid partner-project that Jinno had assigned- wait, WHAT?

I blanched. "What project?" His livid face turned noticeably darker. "Don't "what project" me, Polka. It's obviously the one that's posted out on the class board outside." But it wasn't making any sense. What was he trying to get at?

"W-what about that project?" I looked up at him. "How does that have anything to do with this?"

Hotaru chose that moment to snicker from the side. I turned to see that she had completely abandoned her novel now and was openly listening in on our conversation, a look of sick delight playing on her face. Confused, I returned my gaze back to the boy once again. It seemed he had gotten a whole lot angrier in the short amount of time I had looked away.

I cringed, "What?"

"I don't understand you, Polka." He clenched his jaws tightly and shook his head. "You," he raised a finger and jabbed it between my eyes. "Me," he pointed the finger back at himself. "And that project." He literally shoved his finger out at the board in the school hallway. "What is there not to get, Polka?"

Oh.

Oh.

I opened my mouth, and then closed it again. Hotaru stifled a snort from the side as the irritated boy practically breathed down flames on me. I could feel my throat constricting and my lips suddenly turned dry. I was having hard time breathing. "Oh." I gulped loudly. This was going to be awkward.

"H-hi there," I smiled feebly. "Nice to meet you, Natsume Hyuuga. I'm Mikan Sakura."

In truth, I wasn't happy to meet him - not at all.

~ Nemesis of Truth

I'm re-posting this as a multi-chapter story since it was too long to be a one-shot. But also, I have to admit that I just couldn't resist editing all the grammar mistakes... I couldn't risk letting them rape your eyes out (failplz). I'm editing through the plot quite a bit as well, so I hope you'll enjoy this edited version!