SYNOPSIS: "Who—who are you?" It all started with a freakish and rather awkward accident; eventually turning Ruka and Hotaru's world upside-down. Never would one envisage that they'd both manage to have this romantic affliction. Natsume and Mikan already have their story and now is Ruka and Hotaru's turn to have one. Everything was going smoothly but then, again… ANOTHER UNHERALDED ACCIDENT HAPPENED. Will their relationship finally meet its denouement the same way it all started?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice and it totally hurts feeling my heartstrings twisted into tormenting knots, knowing that I can never have the authority. Tachibana-san, you're free to spurn the drama. Please proceed.
One more thing, the intro before the actual Chapter 1 is in Ruka's POV; the rest are not. READ & REVIEW. Arigatou.
.:. Wake Up and Smell the Pheromones .:.
...
The rest of the academy knew nothing else, except maybe for the mediocre facts. I just wish I was a whit of that particular populace who are fortunate enough to get on with their usual stuff. But this is really JUST a wish, after all; a beaming ember of false hope beyond the grasp of reality.
Just as the whole place almost reached its placid perfection, the surroundings became unremarkably dark, gradually obscuring what were finely illuminated just a moment ago. The once-azure sky started pouring its cold tears, shattering the deafening silence of the breeze with its continuous 'pitter-pattering'. I admit that I was veritably spacing out until raindrops acted as wake-up calls for me.
Oh, rain. Good.
I could use some help now that tears started trickling down on my face. I'd rather get wet under the rain rather that let them, especially Natsume, see me cry. I want to be strong like him, one who could suppress the sudden surge of his emotions. But, I'm just not like him, no matter what I do.
So I guess it's probably better this way. However, I don't want to disappoint him by letting him witness my weakness. But I just can't help it.
Sitting on the dewy grass, I slowly buried my head on my knees, bit my lip and tried my best to stop myself from blubbering.
Stop it, Ruka. This is stupid.
I wanted to bang my head on a rock just to refrain the dolefulness welling up inside and threatening to free itself. I wanted to scream and wreak havoc my vocal chords, if only that could help.
What on earth's wrong with me? I'm not supposed to be this pathetic! I'm thinking way out of proportion!
But, maybe…
Maybe I love you more than ever.
No, it's not "maybe".
I do love you more than ever. That's it. I love you so much that it excruciatingly kills me, thinking that I might lose you. And I think it really is a bad idea sitting beneath the same tree on which we etched our names together: HotaRuka. I sighed intemperately.
I can't bear to lose you…
It started.
…especially the same way I realized how important you are to me.
I'm blubbering.
Because I love you, Imai.
I'm whimpering.
I'm quite sure you know that…
Can you here me? Hold on.
…but I don't think you'll remember.
Imai.
...
.:. CHAPTER ONE .:.
Hapless Start
...
"IF YOU LOVE LIFE, ANNOY SOMEBODY ELSE (OR YOU'LL REGRET HAVING BEEN BORN). I'M WORKING - HOTARU"
Mikan Sakura smiled cheekily at the sight of the sign nailed to Hotaru's door. No, she's not insane to act so cutely after reading a sign board which obviously appeared, if we translate the words written on it to Hotaru's Imai's blunt language, more like a death threat to those who are insensible of the inventor's capability to punish using her alice. Normal people would mostly feel goosebumps crawling in their skin right after skimming through the clauses "If you love life" and "or you'll regret having been born". But to every rule, there's an exception. And that exception would be Mikan.
To put it overtly, the sunny nullifying alice user is completely unaware of Hotaru's "morbid" side. It's just that stuffs like these always triggers crazy flashbacks, for instance, the time she first deemed Hotaru as her rival when she transferred in Mikan's school during third grade. This is the reason behind her currently dumb smile.
Since our personalities are rather different, I think we would be better off as a pair of two pretty girls. *
That was it. That mere confrontation was powerful and highly persuasive enough for the Sakura girl to adore Hotaru and subconsciously abandon her fruitless schemes to challenge her after thinking that the amethyst-eyed inventor stole the chimerical "spotlight" Mikan believed she had.
They became best friends from thatday forward, according to Mikan's borderline syllogism, even though Hotaru frequently denies it unless... you pay her up to admit it.
Now here's an application of Coulomb's Law. Or maybe the positive end just can't help but attach itself to the negative end who already refused all the hugging and another hugging and more hugging (we could go on like this forever) but was clandestinely happy to have a friend who, despite being bullied, maintained a positive outlook on life. Isn't that ludicrously cute?
Reaching the part where Mikan's flashbacks are officially terminated, she stared at the sign again and let out an unruffled sigh.
"My same, same old Hotaru."
After that, she naively entered without even guessing the consequences for intruding TAKE NOTE Hotaru's room.
"HOTAR—" The eager girl wasn't able to finish her effervescent remark when some kind of robotic contraption spoke and got her fossilized.
"Baka detected. Intruder eradication will be initiated in T-minus 3 seconds… 2… 1. Target locked. Prepare to shoot."
Her impulse to just run betrayed her this time when she needed it the most when a squeaky-voiced, metallic, red-eyed bunny, with a touch of a robotic accent, has just dictated the inception of her torture. She was still in a stupefied state when an armada of (what else) automatic baka guns shot her at a point-blank range in a synchronized manner, just like in a firing squad, excruciating enough but, at least, you won't die. You are just coerced to suffer and relish the pain. Piece of cake. A colossal and inexorably monstrous cake.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! PLEASE STOP! HELP! HELP! TSUBASA-SENPAI! IINCHO! NARUMI-SENSEI! NODACCHI! JINNO-SENSEI!"
Huh? Why did I just ask help from Jin-Jin? Scratch that. As if he'd help me. He'll only strike me with his lightning till I burn and till I'm reduced to ashes and dust. Or, even worse, he'll shove his frog down my throat till I croak, err… I mean till I choke to death.
"Initiate emergency shutdown. Password: 1HI4RN3."
Mikan's agony finally came to its end when Hotaru came to the rescue… again. Well, sort of, because this bizarre mechanism was her idea in the first place, you know, to teach nincompoops a valuable and unforgettable lesson that the worst mistake you could ever commit is no taking her door's sign seriously and treating it like some crappy, old wod saying: "No worries. I'm just being sarcastic. Don't mind this sign. This is just a hoax. Oh, I love visitors. Come in, come in."
"Ouch. Owwy. Ow. Ow. Ow. My head… it hurts… I'm dead," said Mikan, whose attempt to stand up remained futile.
"I can't. Feel. My arms," she added. "Help," Mikan managed to blurt out with an evident whimper.
Hotaru Imai, who was now in the mood to cut her victim some slack, helped Mikan stand up with her wobbly knees.
"Sit here, dummy. You're trying to sit on another baka gun. Do you want your butt to swell, as well?"
"Uh, no?" responded Mikan who was brain-dead at the moment. Hotaru made her seat on a medium-size trunk near the bed.
'Call yourself lucky, baka. I was actually planning to use bazookas or even knives, spears, spikes…" stated Hotaru while pulling down some kind of lever.
Mikan gulped. She was brain-dead no more.
"Or maces, sickles, axes, swords…"
For real?
The one-star female elementary student could not take it anymore. Hotaru's monologue sent shivers down her spine.
"Fortunately for you, I also rejected the idea of electrocution," the amethyst-eyed genius continued.
ELECTROCUTION? Gee, that made me feel better. I feel fortunate alright. Mikan thought to herself sarcastically.
"Setting those up would probably be time-consuming. Besides, I have tons of things to do, project requests to finish. My clients expect these inventions and I don't expect these inventions to create themselves," uttered Hotaru while resetting the entire system.
The bruised Mikan sweatdropped, aided with a couple of eye twitches, upon hearing and getting what Hotaru really meant.
Oh, you postponed the idea of using those… those things… those scary weapons because it's time-consuming and not because you cared about the absolute fact that you might have killed me in toto? Why you…?
Mikan Sakura's nose flared because of slight anger and tried to perform her signature loser-flying kick (for details, please read Chapter 1 of the Gakuen Alice manga) at Hotaru. Good thing, she suddenly remembered that: (1) she was bruised, so that most likely reduced her attack quotient, (2) she was still surrounded by automatic, I repeat, automatic baka guns, so that must have… you know the rest and (3) her signature loser-flying kick never worked on Hotaru, so that leads us back to… baka guns - Mikan's favorite enemy.
"Here. Drink this," commanded Hotaru as she handed a small florence flask-like container to Mikan.
'W-what's this?" Mikan gulped, harboring reservations about the item given to her.
Hotaru gave her a grim stare. Although, Mikan wasn't really sure if it was just her imagination or some sinister illusion or the side effect of the expired howalon she just ate an hour ago.
"Poison," said Hotaru without much hint of expression.
"WAAAAAH?" Mikan Sakura's eyes widened in shock and nervously turned her head, with a sound effect similar to a creaking door, facing the container which she was still holding in her left hand.
"P-p-p-p-p-p-pois-poison?" She was too dumbstruck that she could not bring herself to say it matter-of-factly.
"Duh. Kidding," the short-haired girl reassured.
For approximately two-and-a-half seconds, Mikan managed to heave a sigh of relief but persisted on verifying what she really held.
"Okay, then… WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?"
"Brown-colored urine," Hotaru replied.
The victim's, for the second time around, eyes widened in shock and nervously turned her head, blah blah blah… let's pretend that you get the idea.
"Hotaruuuuuuu! I'm gonna die here guessing!"
"Oh! You're still alive all along? I though you were dead already. I'm surprised."
I get it. I get it. She's bullying me again.
Mikan was about to hit her friend with the same glassware on the head. Good thing that she realized that that was a little out-of-character and that could have killed her friend. Oh, she thought that? Wow, Mikan, that's a first.
"Shut up, stupid narrator."
"Hm? Are you delirious?"
"No! And don't change the subject! What's this?"
"Hm. Just as I thought, the screws were a little loose. There, good as new," stated Hotaru Imai while repairing some part of her invention, not paying attention to the character who is ungrateful to poor narrators.
"YOU'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING!"
"Yes, I am."
"NO, YOU'RE- Wait. You replied?"
"No. I was talking to myself. Duh."
"Yes, you did."
"Did somebody say something? Hm. Must have been the wind. I better close the windows."
"You're mean."
"…"
"You're mean."
"Yes, I know. I always win."
"I said you're mean."
"Yes. The wind is irritating."
Mikan felt all her body cells undergoing cytolysis as she ran out of patience.
"AAAAHHHHHH! Unfair! Unfair! UNFAAAAAAIR!" shrieked Mikan, pulling both of her pigtails off.
"Stop yelling, you idiot. I don't want the whole academy to think that I allow lunatics to enter my room."
"The hell I care! You've been messing around with me so now I'll repay you with my primal scream therapy. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH—oof!" Hotaru silenced the tumultuous Mikan with a baka gun.
"HEY! That wasn't funny!"
"Serves you right. Who told you I was trying to be funny?"
Mikan comprehended at last that Hotaru has a point. So, she gave up. "I'm begging you... what's this?"
"Medicine."
"For what?"
"For those bruises... and for your stupidity that seem to be encumbered inside your brain cells."
"Really?"
Mikan slightly hesitated upon seeing the bubbly liquid that looks like liquefied mud. But when she removed the cork, the medicine's redolence was unfettered and titillated her sense of smell. That familiar aroma of captivating goodness made her mouth all watery. Now, tell me, who could resist a medicine that smells and tastes like... chocolate? Not even those with diabetes, I presume.
Within the blink of an eye, Mikan gulped the chocolate-flavored drug without leaving even a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy molecule of the medicine unconsumed.
"Whoa. Whoa there. Have some control. You almost devoured the container."
"Mmm. This sure is yummy. Can this medicine really cure me?"
"The bruises, yes. But your idiocy, I don't think so."
"Mmm. This is SO good. I feel... I feel... hey, wait a second. Where are my bruises?"
"Check your head. They might have wandered and accidentally went inside your brain."
"Oh. They're gone! I can feel my arms again. Cool. Thank you, thank you, thank - ACK!" exclaimed Mikan who attempted to asphyxiate Hotaru with a panda hug but was abruptly counter-attacked by another baka gun.
"Hmm. Didn't see that coming. Man, she's knocked out."
Hotaru tried to wake the unconscious Mikan who was still sprawling on the floor.
"Wake up, swirly eyes."
A low mumble escaped Mikan's mouth whilst she started opening her eyes. "Ah. My head is pounding. I may need another medicine."
"No can do. Out of stock."
"Waah? No more?" said Mikan, disappointed. "Please, please. I know there's more. Oh, come on," she pleaded while tugging Hotaru's skirt.
"Quit the tugging, will you? And puppy dog eyes don't work on me. Besides, I already told you I'm out of stock."
"Aww, bummer. Where'd you get it then?"
"Central Town. Where else? You think I stole it from Subaru-niisan?"
"Of course not. Hahaha," giggled Mikan imprudently.
Shortly after that, she realized and harked back to something she should have mentioned earlier, the sole purpose of her unwanted visit, the very reason why she imperiled herself the whole time.
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. You have to come with me right now. IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
Seeing Mikan's troubled face, Hotaru became a little concerned.
She cocked her baka gun.
This better be good. She thought.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ah! My first story! Uploaded at last! Awrighty. Don't sue me if it's bad but pls. don't hesitate to leave any comment, suggestion etc. Thankyooo! :D Watch out for the next chapter because Ruka will be there... and Natsume, too. *finally* Yey! \m/
[ Edited: 25 April 2011 ]