Disclaimer: I don't think I'll ever own Gakuen Alice .
A/N: I reposted this fic.
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Ruka's Pet shop
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One morning…
"How did I get into this?" Ruka moaned as he walked towards his new job. "Now I remember…" he smiled bitterly as he looked at his rabbit.
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Flashback---
"Where are you going? Come back!" Ruka ordered his hopping friend.
Suddenly his rabbit came to a halt. It stopped right in front of a shop.
"A pet shop…" Ruka read looking at its colorful sign. "Do you want to go in?" he questioned his rabbit as it nodded in reply.
The rabbit hopped towards the bunny section and so Ruka followed "So this is where you wanted to go…"
The door opened and three middle school students went in.
"Hey mister do you sell frogs here?" one asked.
"Yes I do" the owner answered.
"Give us three please"
"Hold on a sec, I'll go get three cages" the man said as he opened a door with a sign that says 'Employees Only'
"Now we don't have to catch our own frogs" one said smirking.
"Why waste energy trying to catch something we're going to dissect?" another said shrugging.
Ruka overheard their conversation "D-dissect!" he then searched for the poor frogs "No--! I won't let this happen" he unlocked the cage. "Be free dear frogs! Get out of here!" Ruka said as the frogs started hopping out.
A chain reaction then occurred. The huge snake saw the loose frogs and broke free from its cage. The mice noticed the loose snake and wanted to get away from it, so they also got away. The three high school boys freaked out and one accidentally kicked open the cat's cage setting the cats free. The dogs couldn't hold back they wanted to chase the free felines, they started running and barking in their cages and they also got loose. Every single animal was set free. Thus chaos was inevitable.
Meanwhile…"Tracking down that rabbit was a great idea rabbits are a lot easier to track than humans. I'm such a genius" Sumire praised herself. "Wherever that rabbit is, Ruka is sure to be there and where Ruka is Natsume is there too. It's a double catch" she mused.
Sumire's search finally paid off (or did it?). She was now in front of the pet shop "I'm sure Ruka and Natsume are in there." Sumire whispered slowly pushing the door.
To her surprise she saw three freaked out middle school students. One panicking Ruka (who was in such a state of panic he forgot to use his Alice which would be very useful in the given situation) and a lot of out of control animals.
Sumire was just about to talk when she saw a dog chasing a cat chasing a mouse, her dog/cat instincts kicked in, and she joined the unending chase. Therefore causing more havoc.
The owner finally showed up while he was holding three small cages "Sorry I took so long the cages were too high so I had to…" he stopped when he saw that the place was totally out of control "Did I miss something?" he contemplated.
After a while when things were back in order (almost, I mean, the place still looked like a complete mess) "Whose responsible for all this?" he questioned the five suspects.
"I-I am sir" Ruka said hesitantly.
"Well, you can repay the total damage by working for me for a while, and the money you will earn should be enough to cover the repair of this shop. I have been planning on having a one month vacation. I hope you earn enough to repay me for the reconstruction of this place in one month. I'll allow you to start, at the beginning of summer vacation which would be next Monday, by then this place would be back to normal" the owner announced.
"Okay sir" Ruka said
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End of Flashback
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Ruka leisurely opened the door of the place, where he will spend half of his summer.
The shop was back to what it looked like before. Ruka greeted the animals and went towards the counter.
"Maybe this job is not as bad as I thought it was" he murmured looking at the animals in the room. He saw a note taped on the counter and read it aloud:
Mr. Nogi,
The total amount of the reconstruction was 10,000 Rb. I hope you earn enough to repay me. You may hire anyone you want as long as I won't be the one answering his or her payment. You may change the name of this shop if you want. Use any marketing strategy that you desire, from what I see you are going to need a good one. If you earn the 10,000 Rb. earlier than one month you may stop working for me.
From: Owner
"I guess I'm going to be here the whole month" Ruka said as he folded the note.After sometime a customer finally went in. A girl who was probably in elementary went over the puppies' section and started to lift one up.
"I'll take this one" she said.
"Okay let me get you a leash" Ruka smiled as he went in the storeroom. "Here you go"
"Thank you here's my payment" she said leaving the exact amount of Rb. on the counter.
Ruka suddenly made a realization as he watched the girl and her puppy walk away. "Does this mean I won't see that dog here again? I have to say good-bye to a lot of animals. This is terrible…"
After a whole day of saying good-bye to his animal friends, Ruka slowly walked towards his room. "I sold 5 animals today I had to say good-bye 5 times…" he sadly thought. "This job is… as bad as I thought it was…" he concluded.
"There must be a way out of this" Ruka considered while lying in his bed. "Maybe I should rent pets instead of selling them…" Ruka imagined "No—that wouldn't work" Ruka concluded.
"Maybe I should find replacements for all those animals, robotic animals perhaps…" Ruka thought of a person who he knew was the best in making robotic animals.
Then a certain girl with black hair and purple eyes came to his mind. "Hotaru, but…" he paused "Who knows what she would make me do, from my past experiences it would surely be something I will regret. But it's for the animals…" he sighed.
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The next morning in Hotaru's laboratory…
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"Who are you sir?" a robotic voice said.
"Ruka… Nogi Ruka." Ruka answered surprised.
"Searching… searching… Nogi Ruka, found… you may come in" the robotic guard said as he let Ruka through.
Ruka walked from corridor to corridor; finally he reached the room where Hotaru spends most of her time in creating her inventions. Ruka was about to come in when the door opened and Mikan went out.
"Oh, hello Ruka, what are you doing here?" Mikan asked
"I came for business purposes nothing more…" Ruka answered.
"Business purposes huh? Well see you later then," Mikan said turning her heel to walk her way out. He then saw a horseshoe mark on the back of Mikan's head, it made him a little nervous.
Ruka hesitantly opened the door and went in. Inside he saw Hotaru polishing the lenses of her camera, which made Ruka even more nervous.
Hotaru slowly lifted the camera. Ruka saw that she was in that "taking a picture position" that he normally sees her in, every time he's around. He expected a flash and the sound of winding film but nothing happened. It seems Hotaru was just testing the clarity of the camera's lens. Hotaru certainly has ways to scare anyone around her.
"So why are you here?" Hotaru asked breaking the silence.
"I'm here to ask you a favor"
"I don't do favors I do un-equivalent exchange…" Hotaru stated implying that she would gain more than what her client gains.
"Alright I'll pay you anything you want just make robotic animals to replace the real ones in the pet shop…"
"I'll do it if you agree to my terms" Hotaru said smirking.
'I don't like that smirk, I see it every time she blackmails me' Ruka thought "W-What terms?" he said as if afraid of the answer.
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A/N: Well, did you like it? Please review; tell me if I should continue this fanfic. I think Ruka's OOC.
I would like to thank my friend Fenina for motivating me to make a fanfic with this pair up.