Hexed Chapter 1, a gakuen alice fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

Beep

A hand slams against the digital alarm clock followed by a low groan. A young girl buries her face in her covers and tucks her arm under the pillow while a black cat with midnight blue eyes stretches next to her and yawns widely. The cat blinks at the pile of brown hair sprawled over the pillow it slept on. Following the trail to a young girl's sleeping face, the feline rolls towards the owner to lick her face.

The girl with the long brown hair laughs and strokes the cat's head affectionately as she hears a voice in her head,

Its 6 o'clock, you're going to be late.

Mikan sighs and gets up stiffly, stretching her muscles as she makes her way to the kitchen. The kitchen was a tiny space with a single shelf and two small mahogany cabinets atop it; Mikan takes out a large bowl from one and grabs a carton of milk from the tiny fridge at the corner of the shelf.

She makes her cereal slowly while planning the day ahead of her. Sitting down to eat, she hears the same voice in her head again,

Pass the milk please.

Mikan looks down to see her black cat pointing at its empty bowl with a paw.

"Ack! Sorry Nobara," the brunette pours milk into the red bowl and grabs the cat nip from the kitchen drawer, emptying its contents in a separate bowl and placing it next to the black cat.

"What's happening?" a male voice asks curiously.

"The same thing," responds a deep husky voice.

"She's eating breakfast with the cat?" the voice asks again.

"This is so stupid," comes the reply, the boy watching from the window jumps down to the tree branch where another boy waits, "such a waste of time," he says sitting on the thick branch.

The other boy sighs, "well we can't go back without her," he leans back on the tree.

"She seems so normal; I still think we have the wrong girl."

The boy with deep blue eyes shakes his head lightly, "It's her, we've confirmed twice now," he gazes towards the window where a figure shuffles, mostly likely the girl changing her clothes. Heat travels up to Ruka's cheeks at that thought.

A moment later the front door to the small cottage house opens and Mikan comes running out clad in a plain white long sleeved shirt and jean shorts with a leather bag on one shoulder, her cat leaping behind, Mikan locks the door and makes a run for what Ruka assumes must be the Bakery she works at.

The boy next to Ruka sighs as he jumps down from the tree getting ready to tail the far too happy teen girl he's been following for a week. Ruka jumps after him, landing quietly on his heels, "if it gets too bad, I'll just possess the cat," he tells his companion.

~;~

The kitchen was where Mikan could truly breathe, nothing comforted her as much as the smell of freshly baked bread or an extra layer of butter cream on a cooled vanilla cake. The bakery's kitchen was her safe haven, where for just a moment while her hands knead dough and her brain works double time trying to think up the next one hundred orders she has to complete, Mikan can forget all of her life's worries.

Here, where the thick buttery fumes of the oven dominates her olfactory sense, she can forget that unlike other 16 year old kids it isn't school she wakes up to go to every morning or that unlike many kids her age it'll be an empty home she'll come back to.

It wasn't that Mikan was ungrateful; she knew she was luckier than most people were in her circumstances; she had a roof over head, a job that paid well and assured that she never went hungry. Most of all, she had a constant companion who followed her wherever she went.

Still, she couldn't help that raw desire that slept deep within her, one that she nursed on long winter nights after waking from a nightmare with no hand to hold and no voice to reassure her. She wished for a human connection, someone she could call family and love unconditionally. Some days the desire burned so hard Mikan felt physical pain from it, it led her to wonder if it was possible to die from loneliness.

The wide eyed girl shakes her head to dispel her depressing thoughts, it wasn't like her to mull over the tragedies in her life, she was someone who finds the bright side to every situation, and that included her unorganized and haphazard life.

Mikan looks down at the birthday cake she was meant to be decorating, she had done a fine job with the butter cream roses on the side and her candy mold of a castle in the middle had turned out quite well. She smiles at her creation looking it over for any mistakes she might have made while daydreaming, then moves to pack the cake in a big white paper box. It was when she was starting to tie the ribbon over the box that she froze for a moment. Blinking to clear her mind she unwraps the box and looks at the writing. There, in purple frosting where an elegant Happy Birthday message was supposed to be, lay some sort of gibberish scrawl. Mikan recognizes her own handwriting but for the life of her she can't remember writing that. She peers closely to read the words,

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu

Tiny quivers run down Mikan's arms. This was the fourth time now that she wrote these words unconsciously. The first time it happened she thought it was a simple mistake, the second time she ignored it too, but the incident only repeated itself, twice more now. She didn't know why but she knew these words, she didn't know how, or from where, but she felt it deep in her that these words were important to her, etched as deeply as her existence.

What's wrong?

Nobara's voice in her head brings Mikan back from her reverie. Mikan smiles at her, "nothing," she replies and encloses the cake in the box, spooked by the incident and not keen on sharing it with anyone. She looks at the clock; there might be just enough time to bake another cake without having to stay overtime.

To distract her, Mikan hums and busies her mind with chores as she works on a new cake, her polka dotted uniform apron catching the wind from the open window and billowing around her. Nobara watches her quietly and hands ingredients upon Mikan's requests but otherwise stays out of the wide-eyed girl's way and occupies herself by licking butter cream icing out of empty bowls.

If there was something Mikan had perfected, it was the art of distraction. She had started it young when no one could answer her questions about her parents, and then worked on it when every friend she tried to make would walk out of her life, but she had perfected the art two years ago when she lost her grandfather, the only living relative she had. Life hadn't exactly been easy for her and she still feared what was in store for her.

Still, she smiled through her hardships with the hope that if she worked hard enough she would find her happiness someday.

At sun down, Mikan finally finishes the cakes she was assigned along with the breakfast bread for the following morning. Walking to the locker room with Nobara trailing behind her, Mikan pulls the polka dotted bandana from her head, and looks around the locker room to make sure she's alone before stripping out of her uniform which consisted of a short sleeved white mini dress and red polka-dotted apron that matched the bandana she wore. After pulling on her plain shirt and shorts from this morning, Mikan walks out into the cool night air and inhales deeply. Tokyo had entered the last few weeks of summer and Mikan could almost taste the spice of autumn in the wind.

As she's undoing her braid, the feeling that she was being watched suddenly overcomes Mikan and she turns around sharply, scanning the area around her. At 8pm in the evening the city was bustling with activity, its night life only starting now. Mikan shakes her head lightly as a group of girls in what looked like clubbing attire pass by, she was being paranoid. Perhaps the weird incident from this afternoon had made a bigger impact on her than she initially thought.

She swiftly makes her way back home, the cake she messed up on in one hand and the other undoing the rest of her long braid.

And from the surrounding trees, hidden deep within the foliage, a deep set of crimson eyes narrow as they watch the young girl walk away, her long brown hair dancing behind her.

Mikan lets out a deep sigh as her body falls on her grandfather's rocking chair, "I'm so tired," pulling her knees in to her, she morphs into a ball as she rocks the chair back and forth with her body.

Good work today, Nobara says in her head and leaps on to the kitchen counter, opening the white box with the ruined cake inside. Mikan looks over at her, watching as the cat takes out the vanilla cake and freezes.

Mikan's eyebrows furrow together, "What's wrong?" she asks her worriedly.

Nobara looks up at her with wide blue eyes.

What is this? She asks pointing to the cake.

Mikan follows the cat's black paw and smiles, running a hand to the back of her head nervously, "Oh I was daydreaming and messed up on that," she tries to say casually trying not to show how much the words affect her for reasons unknown.

Nobara looks deep into the girl's eyes and something in her gaze makes Mikan feel very young. There was ancient wisdom in those feline eyes, and the young girl couldn't help but wonder what secrets lay behind those midnight blue hues.

Mikan looks away first and grabs a knife to cut the cake, she feels Nobara's eyes on her as she cuts her a piece, "I don't know what it is, it happened a few times before. I think it might something in my subconscious."

Like a repressed memory? Nobara licks the cream off the cake but watches Mikan through her peripheral vision.

"Maybe…but I have no idea what I would be repressing," Mikan says, taking a bite of the cake; the light vanilla whip cream went well with the pineapple chunks she layered into the cake.

Neither of them says anything on the cake subject again and Mikan finishes the rest of her dessert in a daze. After cleaning up, she makes her way to the small bedroom at the corner of the house. Mikan quickly changes into an oversized T shirt and exhausted from the day, falls on her bed, blowing out the candle stick next to her alarm by the bed.

Usually she was too tired from the long day and fell asleep right when she reached her bed, but today her mind was occupied and she lay in bed thinking over the strange occurrences of the day. She didn't like the idea that her mind had repressed something and that she was subconsciously adhering to it.

"Nobara, you awake?"

The black cat resting near Mikan's tired form drew close and nuzzled her head on Mikan's cheek with a light meow.

Mikan smiled into Nobara's fur, hugging the cat as she fell into bizarre dreams of cauldrons with green substance leaking out and broom sticks flying in the sky and the same foreign language writing the same sentence across her dream: Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

~;~

Mikan sighs against the cold metal of her locker, resting her forehead on it as she waits for her head to stop spinning. She woke up this morning with a raging migraine and it was getting worse as the morning drew on. The young baker quickly puts on her uniform, setting her hair into a high ponytail atop her head, ignoring the bandana today. She closes the locker door and hears a deep masculine voice call her, "Mikan!"

She turns to see a middle aged man dressed in a long white dress coat. He was smiling at her, his short blonde hair covered with a bandana identical to the one she just put away.

"Come on, there's something I have to show you," Takeru says cheerily steering her towards the kitchen. Mikan follows him past her work station and a few others to where his was located. Takeru was the head baker in charge of the dinner gourmet, Mikan held a certain fondness for the jolly man who had helped her get hired, "You look like you're in a good mood," she smiles despite her headache as the smell of gingerbread cookies settles around her.

"Yeah, that's because…" He drawls as they reach his work station and he moves away from Mikan to elaborately gesture at a large pit of fire with a giant cooking stove over it, "I finally got that 64 inch cooking pot to make my fresh whipped cream in!" Mikan laughs and joins in his excitement commenting about how his large cooking pot completes the whole kitchen until a flash of searing pain across her forehead numbs her limbs and she falls to her knees, her head in her hands.

She hears Takeru's voice from above but her vision blurs and when she looks back at his kitchen, the large cooking pot transforms into a cauldron and the room falls back as the same five words repeats themselves,

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

Mikan screams against the loud voice in her head and falls unconscious on to the cold hard kitchen floor.

"What's wrong?" The man asks patting the little girl's head, her brown locks flying as she looks up at him with large hazel eyes. They're in a meadow sitting on lush green grass as flowers of all colors grow around them with the sweet smell of oak and honey wafting in the field.

Golden sunshine spills on the man's identical hazel eyes as he takes the little girl in.

She looks down at their clasped hands, furrowing her eyebrows as she tries to remember what exactly is wrong, "I don't know," she tries to remember what was bothering her, "but it was really sad."

The man smiles at her, and leans down to kiss her forehead gently. The girl grins happily up at him, the bright sun blinding her from looking the man in the eye.

The wind carries a familiar feminine voice coated in forgotten memories. She looks around for the voice as it calls to her, "Mikan, come have lunch, sweetheart."

The man stands up and Mikan follows, clasping her tiny hand in his large palm. They walk hand in hand towards the voice when suddenly something grabs Mikan's ankle and she falls. The man continues walking as the little girl wails after him, "wait!" she tries to break hold of the vines wrapped around her leg. She blinks back tears as the green snakelike plants continue wrapping her leg, imprisoning her in place.

She looks back at the retreating figure of the man and cries "Wait! Please!" Her eyes blur from tears as the figure and voice fade away from her vision, taking the colorful meadow with them.

Mikan wakes up to the smell of bitter medicine and fresh herbs. As she opens her eyes to scan the empty space around her, something prickles her body. She feels a bristling sense of loss. But for what? What had she been dreaming of?

In the aftermath of her welled up emotions the cold assurance of being alone settles in her core, making her shiver in the warm room. Mikan draws her body in to the covers, trying to roll into a ball and keep herself from falling apart.

Are you awake?

At Nobara's voice, Mikan looks up to see a black cat leap on to her lap. Relief washes over Mikan as she hugs Nobara to her. That's right. I have Nobara.

She caresses her black cat's head, "How long have I been sleeping?" she asks in a voice thick from sleep.

A few hours, Takeru brought you to his house when you fainted. Why didn't you tell me you were sick? Nobara accuses.

"Sorry, I didn't think it was serious." Mikan blinks a few times as her eyes adjust to the mid day sun, she looks around the room, getting up from her bed and scanning the area. There was a large window a few steps away from her with a wooden book shelf next to it in the corner of the wall; on her left she spies a dusty vanity and a small coffee table with a wooden chair.

Mikan rubs her eyes, feeling moisture on her hands. She blinks rapidly to clear her eyes, she had been crying in her sleep. She sighs; bizarre happenings seem to be the tale of her life currently.

Takeru had brought Mikan to his lodge, understanding her circumstances he didn't take her to a hospital, thankfully. She sees a note from him by the bed that tells her he's at the bakery and that she asked the manager to let her take the day off so she can rest.

But thanks to her fainting incident, she had been given more than enough rest, and taking a whole day off wasn't something she could currently afford. Mikan puts the note back on the table and walks to the front door, locking it from the inside; she makes her way back to the bakery while redoing her loosened pony tail with Nobara walking next to her.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance I caused," Mikan bends at the waist, bowing 90 degrees.

The young man with a balding head regards her in an uninterested manner, "Takeru already informed us you're taking a day off. You can go home."

Mikan closes her eyes and continues to bow, "No, I'm sorry, please let me do my lunch shift at least."

The man dismisses her with a wave, "Ok, but I'll be taking a cut from today's pay."

"Thank you very much," she continues to bow until he walks away then lets out a relived breath and makes her way to the counter to receive the waiting customers.

~;~

"A French Baguette please," an old woman crouched low in front of the counter tells Mikan.

"Of course," the bright eyed girl smiles as she writes down the order, "it'll just be a moment," she says handing the paper to Nobara to stick on the check spindle for the kitchen staff.

Mikan's headache had come back three folds more painful. The brown haired takes a shaky breath to steady her, holding her head lightly by one hand. It hadn't been a whole hour since the pain was gone that it come right back with a vengeance, catching her off guard. She didn't know what was causing it, she had ample amount of sleep and she had just eaten lunch. Mikan held on to the counter and waited for the room to stop spinning. Just a few more hours, she tells herself, and then I'll go home.

She looks up to receive the next customer and locks eyes with a young man. Her headache momentarily forgotten Mikan stares at the beautiful stranger. He looked to be no older than her, and calling him beautiful would probably offend any other boy, but the only word Mikan could think to justify this boy's perfect features was beautiful.

Realizing she was gawking, Mikan blinks to break eye contact. Clearing her throat and ignoring the blush that was blooming on her face, she asks the stranger, "What can I get for you?" as pleasantly as she can.

The boy in turn didn't seem to notice her reaction to him, most probably someone already used to this type of behavior from females. But despite his disinterested face the boy leans forward on the counter, in a scandalizing manner, he says in a husky gruff voice that sends shivers down Mikan's spine, "A red velvet cupcake and a dinner date."

Somewhere on the roof of the bakery, the boy's companion, another young man with burning sapphire eyes slaps his forehead at his best friend's terrible ruse of charming a girl.

The blushing brunette gapes. She doesn't think she heard right. "I-I'll get you that cupcake," she says writing it down.

"Great. And I'll come by at 7." He says coolly and makes his way to the cashier to pick up his order and pay.

Mikan stares after him, dumbfounded. What just happened?

"Mikan," she turns towards the voice, a girl with chocolate brown eyes comes around to the counter, "It's time to change shifts," she informs her.

Mikan blinks, "Oh right, thanks." She grabs her apron from the hanger and walks toward the kitchen. A few steps away she looks back at the cashier to catch a last glimpse of the bizarre stranger, but when she looks around he's nowhere to be seen. Weird, she could've sworn the line at the cashier was pretty long.

~;~

"I'll pick you up at 7." Ruka mimicks in his gruffest voice, "Are you serious, Natsume?"

"What? You were also getting annoyed lurking in corners and waiting for her to cast a spell." Natsume answers unabashedly, taking a bite of his cupcake.

"I said I would possess the cat, not for you to go woo the girl. How is taking her on a date going to solve anything anyway?" Ruka looks at the single cupcake in Natsume's hand, "Hey. Where's mine?"

"You didn't ask for one," he answers munching on the last few bites, "And I'm setting up a trap for her so she uses her powers, obviously." Natsume gives him a quelling look; did he really think he was going to take the girl to dinner?

"And what if it doesn't work and she still doesn't use her powers?"

"Well then you'll swoop in and save her, and I'll go back to the academy and tell them she's useless." Natsume explained slowly.

Ruka rolls his eyes at this evidently stupid plan that was bound to go wrong until something occurred to him, "wait, why do I have to save her?"

"Because, I already asked her to dinner."

A/N: Hi guys! Soooo I've kind of been on this thing where I've been reading and watching about witches and magic a lot. But then my fixation kind of boiled over and I ran out of ways to nurse my obsession so I thought, hey, why not make this more productive and write about it instead? So here I am and I'm super excited to be writing this. I have a lot of ideas for this fanfic (considering all the source materials I've gone through, LOL) but let me know what you guys think? The first chapter is always the hardest to write (I suck so much at character introductions and introducing a plot) so I'm mostly just glad its over.