~My Alices, My Pain~
Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice
SUMMARY: In the past, something terrible happened to Mikan that caused her to mysteriously 'disappear' from the world for six years. She turns up in Tokyo eventually, but what will happen to her now?
NOTE:OOC Alert. Pairings are : NxM, RxH, and others..
CHAPTER ONEIt was rather late at night, and there was a brunette wearing a dirty white school blouse, with three golden stars on the collar lapel. A dirty black tie about half the length of the white blouse was also around the girl's collar. Finally, there was a dirty red-and-white checkered school skirt that the girl was wearing. The skirt's pocket seemed to be fully stuffed with some things. She also wore a pair of tight black shorts underneath the skirt.
In this brunette's hand, she gripped a tiny electronic device in her right hand tightly, and in her other hand was…a dagger, dripping with blood. Blood. She also wore neither socks nor shoes, and was barefoot. As a result, her feet were dirty and bloodied.
This girl's name was Sakura Mikan, and she was shivering. She was terribly cold, tired and most of all, hungry. She felt tears running down her already-sodden-by-the-heavy-rain cheeks. The one thing however, that would cause people to gasp upon seeing her, would be the hands and legs of Mikan's, all covered with blood.
I want to just be a normal person…why can't I be one?
The brunette was hiding from the fury of the current weather under a tiny piece of unfolded cardboard she had found lying in the corner of the alley she was currently in. The cardboard provided little comfort to the brunette, who watched droplets of rain falling from the sky and splashing into a puddle of water on the ground. The wind was blowing in a terrific gale while lightning flashed ever so often across the dark sky, and Mikan shivered even more.
For Mikan, she wasn't shivering with just cold; there was also fear and sadness. Her whole life since leaving the school, Mikan had barely had any chance to be happy. It was all because she had Alices, though she didn't hate them. Her Nullification and Stealing (SEC) Alices, not to mention the Teleportation Alice she'd discovered she'd inherited from her mother Azumi Yuka quite a few years ago.
All because of my Alices…
That's why I have this sort of life…
This sort of…miserable life…
She was already eighteen years old now, and here she was, not in Gakuen Alice, where she belonged, as she herself was an Alice, but currently in an alley in one of Tokyo's back streets. Why was she here in the first place? Why was she here, when she could have been in the school she loved so much, where all her friends and family were, the only other place where she'd been able to experience a sense of truly belonging, other than the monastery her adopted Ojii-san had brought her up in?
Ojii-san…
A huge bolt of lightning arced the sky, and the sound of it hitting somewhere on earth resounded in the surrounding area with a terrible crackle. Mikan gasped, and tried to shut her eyes tightly as a certain memory of her past re-surfaced in her mind, filling it with gory images.
No…please…not again… begged the brunette in her mind, her body rocking back and forth as she tried to stop shivering under the piece of cardboard which was the only thing protecting the crown of her head from getting wet.
A hateful young man from her past threatening her with many horrible things, then grabbing her collar roughly by the hand…
Ojii-san pleading to them to spare Mikan's life…
Rain…thunder…a grave, though not her own…
Mikan's eyes flew open, and the brunette let out a resounding, horrifying scream, and the piece of cardboard tumbled from her bloodied hands, landing on the sodden ground.
'NOOOOOO!' cried the brunette, as scenes of the past started running through her mind, while the rain pelted down heavily, and more lightning flashed overhead.
The Past, Six Years Ago, Gakuen Alice
'There's a fire in the Northern Forest!' shouted Misaki-sensei, rushing into Class B in the Elementary School Division at what seemed to be the speed of light. The school's fire alarm was ringing loudly, meanwhile.
'WHAT?!' gaped Narumi-sensei. His eyes scanned the classroom hurriedly, thinking of a certain fire caster. 'Natsume-kun! Did you start that fire?!' The sensei demanded to know.
'Of course not!' said an annoyed Hyuuga Natsume. 'If it was me, I'd be there, not here in your classroom, as I have been, for the past ten boring minutes!'
Narumi groaned. 'Who caused the fire then?' Natsume rolled his eyes now. 'How would I know?'
Misaki-sensei said, 'We'd better go and stop the fire from spreading, before it's too late! If anyone has a Water Alice, please help us!'
'We don't have any Water Alices in this class, sensei,' said Yuu uncomfortably. 'Oh,' said Misaki and he turned to go, but before he could leave, someone blocked him.
Mikan.
'Sensei,' she said breathlessly, 'please let me help! My Nullification Alice can definitely help here!' Misaki-sensei looked horrified, the class erupted into shouts of 'No, Mikan-chan, you can't go!' while Natsume Hyuuga had grabbed Mikan by the arm in a split-second and was attempting to drag her as far away from the door as possible. Also, Hotaru Imai had pulled her Baka Gun out and fired several shots at her best friend before stomping over, dragging her boyfriend Ruka Nogi with her to helpNatsume stop Mikan from trying to help Misaki-sensei. (A/N: IRONY!)
'Hey, Natsume!' shouted an irritated twelve-year-old brunette. 'I want to help!'
'NO!' hissed her boyfriend. 'WHY?' screamed back Mikan.
'No, because I say so! Now stop trying to go back towards the door!' yelled her frustrated boyfriend. Hotaru and Ruka reached the two of them and Hotaru pulled out one of her inventions. 'Ruka, Hyuuga, hold her!' she shouted.
The two boys did so, and then Mikan started to protest even louder. 'What the-' she began, before Hotaru pulled out a blue-coloured ball thingy and stuffed it in her collar. The blue ball expanded immediately, and it became so huge Mikan fell out of Natsume's arms, crashing onto the floor with a loud 'Thump!' and a scream of pain.
'This is a Baka-Defense-Shield, Invention No. 8647,' explained Hotaru emotionlessly, as she proceeded to make sure Mikan was now completely inside the huge blue ball. 'This will stop Mikan from going any further than 30 metres away from me,' she said next, before dumping the now-stuck-in-a-blue-coloured-shield Mikan in Natsume's arms.
Natsume collapsed onto the floor, glaring at Hotaru, who ignored him and pulled Ruka off towards Misaki-sensei. Hotaru handed Misaki several water balloons.
'This isn't a normal balloon, it is full of water, but no matter how many times you throw it at fire, the balloon will just release a little bit of water and extinguish a huge flame in seconds. It will come back to you after each use,' Hotaru explained, and then she passed Narumi a plain fire extinguisher. Narumi looked confused. 'Uh…'
'Misaki's not as gay as you, so he gets the cool stuff. Now go stop the fire!' she shouted, and pushed both senseis out of the door, before proceeding to lock it shut with a key. Outside, the two senseis crashed into the opposite wall, before glaring at the classroom door, thinking of insults towards the Ice Queen. Looking at each other, they got up, decided to hurry up and Narumi followed Misaki as fast as he could run towards the Northern Forest.
Meanwhile inside the classroom, the class was laughing at Hotaru's meanness towards Narumi. Hotaru shrugged and put the key to the classroom door inside her skirt pocket, before rolling the ball Mikan was in towards a corner of the classroom.
'Hey! That hurts, Hotaru!' screamed the brunette, her body rolling over and over each time the ball went through a revolution. Hotaru glared at her before rolling the ball one final revolution. It came to a rest against a wall.
Natsume and Ruka came up. 'The class is trying to see the fire out of the windows,' commented Ruka, sitting down on the floor with Natsume. 'Hn,' replied Natsume. End of their conversation.
Hotaru simply stared at them, and then went over to the windows with some camera equipment. 'Hey, Hotaru! Don't leave me here!' wailed Mikan, trying to get out of the balloon, and failing miserably.
'Shut up, Polka Dots,' said Natsume. 'I don't want to lock you in either, but you're too reckless, so Imai was forced to do so. So stop thinking about trying to help and stay in the ball!'
Mikan sighed. She was thinking about how her Nullification Alice could surely cancel out a lot of the flames, if a Fire Alice caused them. 'I can't sit here and do nothing, even if I know Hotaru and Natsume want me to stay here for my own safety! What if the fire burnt many things! Hey, wait a minute…the Northern Forest. ISN'T MR. BEAR STAYING IN THERE!? NOOO!!! I CAN'T LET MR. BEAR GET HURT! Please, please, I don't care how, just let me get out of this ball!' thought the brunette in panic. 'Hey, wait, what's going on!' thought the brunette furiously as she felt herself suddenly shaking.
Suddenly, from the outside of the translucent ball, Natsume and Ruka, who had been watching Mikan on guard in case she attempted to escape, saw a large light flashing throughout the ball.
'Hey!' shouted Ruka. The bright light threw shadows across the classroom, which had been rather dark because Sumire had turned off most of the lights, insisting that this would help the class see the fires outside more clearly.
Hotaru, who had been videoing the fires through her video camera, saw the shadows the bright light suddenly threw across the room. In fact, the whole class did, including Fukutan, who'd been left in charge of the classroom. The light was so bright the whole classroom lit up for a second, becoming as bright as if all of the lights had originally been turned on.
Hotaru and everybody else stared at the ball Mikan was in, and Hotaru realized something bad might just have happened. Her eyes widened and she dashed towards her invention. The Ice Queen pounded on the sides of the ball. 'Oi, Mikan! Are you okay in there? What happened?'
There was no response. Hotaru tried again, 'MIKAN!' There was no response. 'THAT'S IT!' shouted the Ice Queen, her patience running out. Ruka and Natsume's eyes widened and they raced to join the rest of the class, who were all shivering in fear of what Hotaru was going to do next. Hotaru pulled out her Baka Gun for the second time since the fires in the school started, and shot at the blue ball. It exploded into a billion pieces.
Everyone in class coughed, the dust from the mini-explosion covering the area while hundreds of pieces of blue-shield-ball bits rained down on them. Hotaru pulled out a umbrella when this happened and was perfectly fine, while everyone else got covered in dust. The class sweat dropped.
After a few moments, the dust started to clear. Hotaru lowered her umbrella and the class stepped forward cautiously. The dust completely disappeared next, but nobody was prepared for the sight of what they saw…
Nothing. There was nothing there. There was no half-dead Mikan in a heap on the floor, calling Hotaru 'meanie' or some similar name thanks to the mini-explosion. No Mikan was there at all.
The class felt goose bumps pop up their bodies, and chills ran up some spines. Hotaru gasped and went white. 'Mikan?' she called hesitantly. Natsume and Ruka looked shocked, as did the rest of the class. 'Where did Mikan go?'
Hotaru shouted, 'Find Mikan now! I think she went OUTSIDE!' The class's faces turned even paler, especially Natsume's. 'THAT BAKA!' muttered Natsume. 'Hurry up, let's go!' cried some random person in the class.
The class nodded and hurriedly Hotaru unlocked the door and everyone, including Fukutan, rushed out of the building and started searching for Mikan.
However, there was no trace of Mikan. Nobody found Mikan in the school grounds at all.
Nobody knew what had happened in the end, but was Mikan's case really closed? Nobody knew for sure either, and Mikan Sakura was officially to the world, dead.
BACK TO THE PRESENT
Mikan screwed up her face in dismay as more rain hit her face very painfully. She had no idea what had happened to the school she loved so much for the past six years, and it wasn't likely that she was going to know what had happened when she left it after all.
Not in this sort of state.
Mikan thought awhile and then cross-examined her body. Her skin was scratched so badly that that were deep gashes in nearly every cut, bruises were all over her body, her left leg was badly sprained, and her right thumb was bleeding still from her being attacked under ambush barely a few hours ago. Also, there was one final scar on her body that, Mikan knew, would never be able to be healed. Indefinitely. This particular scar was in the shape of a thunderbolt. It was zigzagged on two sides in two lines, meeting at the end of both lines. Mikan grimaced. This scar had indeed been caused by a very painful incident…
Ojii-san…
The brunette felt like cursing a little. She'd learnt many curses while she had been with them, after all, and she was certain she could use any one of them at the moment, but she hated cursing.
Them.
Them, the ones who had forced her to nearly kill her own self, both physically and mentally. Them, the ones who had destroyed her innocence, both physically, and mentally. Them, the ones who, although they gave her schooling, taught her all kinds of horrible facts about the world and its unfairness.
'Achoo!' sneezed Mikan suddenly. She clapped a hand over her delicate mouth that had blood oozing from a cut on her upper lip, gathered her feet beneath her, and took off down the alley towards the main street. While doing that, Mikan took the knife she had been carrying and shoved it inside her skirt pocket, feeling it jostle for space with the other items important to her that were inside her pocket.
Mikan groaned internally. The rain was not letting up, and the rain was falling faster than ever. She had decided that she had better move to somewhere with a better shelter than stay in the alley a moment longer. It might be a safer hiding place from them, but it would not help her much if she fell sick due to the weather.
Anywhere had to be better than the place she was now in any case, the situation she was now in, everything…Mikan hobbled slowly down the alleyway, her left leg making her move very slowly…
MEANWHILE, WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN GAKUEN ALICE WHEN MIKAN SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED:
The fire in the mean time had been extinguished thanks to the faculty of the school and Mr. Bear was found to be perfectly fine.
The fact that Mikan was missing, however, was reported to the school administration immediately. The class was interrogated on what had happened inside the classroom, and Hotaru explained that she had put a camera inside the ball to check on Mikan, but it had been broken completely when she smashed the ball, so there was no way anyone could find out what happened inside the ball at all.
For the next month, the whole school was put on alert to inform the school immediately should they see Mikan anywhere in the school grounds. However, months passed after the incident, and as there was less trace of Mikan as time passed by, the more the class and the school changed.
'I tell you, Hotaru-chan hasn't eaten for days now!' cried Anna to her best friend Nonoko one day. 'I'm really worried about her, and Natsume-san, and Ruka-san!'
Hotaru blamed herself deeply for Mikan's disappearance, saying that perhaps something had happened inside the ball causing Mikan to suddenly disappear. Natsume was very moody after the incident, and Ruka, Hotaru and Natsume withdrew from the class into their own private circle, refusing to speak much with others. The school itself was terribly shocked when they found out that their little 'angel saviour', the one who had saved the D.A class from Principal Kuonji, had mysteriously disappeared
Azumi Yuka, Mikan's mother (for those who still don't know) was very upset. Shiki and Narumi had had to comfort her countless times. Shiki, who was the Powerful Alice Ability Class advisor (A/N: The P.A class is my own invention. It replaces the original D.A class after the whole ESP incident.), had had no choice but to try and find out more about Mikan's sudden disappearance, though he yielded no results.
Eventually, after a year had passed, the school was forced to inform the Tokyo Police about the disappearance of one of their students, asking for their help. The police could do nothing however, except stay on the alert for people matching Mikan's last known description.
When another three years had passed, making it a total of four years since Mikan disappeared, the Tokyo Police decided Mikan was 'officially considered dead', and the school made a little 'grave' in honour of Mikan's memory under the infamous Sakura tree belonging to Mikan and Natsume. They also held a small 'ceremony' for Mikan.
The school still remembered Mikan, and whenever new students arrived since then, senseis made sure they knew the story, so that nothing bad would happen to the new student (like burnt hair, Baka Gun attacks and so on).
That was what happened in Gakuen Alice, but what had happened to Mikan during this time?
BACK TO THE PRESENT:
Mikan had managed to get to the main road, and she sat down on a seat at a nearby bus stop, which happened to have a shelter fixed on top of it. There was a light that was turned on in the bus stop, allowing Mikan to see her surroundings more clearly.
She was definitely in one of Tokyo's less busy suburbs, though she had no clue where exactly, as there was nary a soul in sight, even though it was only 7.30 PM.
Mikan gasped and winced in pain as her painful leg acted up again, and pain shot through her leg up to her hip, making Mikan feel worse than ever. The brunette felt her wet hair, and sighed.
Sometimes being a teenager alone and on the run was not a good thing. No, scratch that. It was never good, especially when that 'time-of-the-month' came…Mikan snorted with disgust. She wished often that females didn't have to go through the blasted puberty that kept he thinking about Nat-
Mikan's snort died away, and it was replaced by a sad smile. Natsume Hyuuga.
Natsume…I wish you were with me now…
The brunette stared at her left and right hands. The ring finger of her right hand had a simple, plain platinum band on it. Mikan smiled more brightly now and took the ring off. She looked at it for the billionth time since she'd left the school.
On the inside of the platinum ring were three figures. They had been carved into the platinum ring.
NxM was what the figures said. It was Natsume's promise ring to her. He'd given it to he on her twelfth birthday, promising that one day he would definitely marry her. She had collapsed into a fit of giggles after he whispered that for her ears only.
Mikan put the platinum ring back on and slipped off the friendship ring Hotaru had given her that was on her left index finger. She grinned, fondly remembering the times with Hotaru that she'd enjoyed so much. Hotaru had, like Natsume, given her the ring on her twelfth birthday.
She remembered the time Ruka had asked Hotaru out, it had been with her help, and she'd been filled with relief when Hotaru agreed to date Ruka. In fact, till that time, no one except Mikan had even suspected Hotaru of liking Ruka back as well.
Mikan laughed and put the friendship ring back on. She felt about inside her skirt pocket and pulled out a plastic zip lock bag containing a huge number of beautiful stones.
They were Alice stones. Mikan's entire collection of Alice stones were all in that bag, save for the biggest, a red Fire Alice Stone she wore on a chain around her neck. It had been Natsume's Alice stone, and Mikan had put it around her neck for safety.
Suddenly, Mikan felt her body being wracked with terrible coughs. She sneezed a bit and realized that the sudden temperature drop that had occurred while she was under the shelter of the bus stop had taken a toll on her body, plus all of her injuries, both recent and old. Mikan felt very ill suddenly.
'Eh…' said the brunette blearily. Just as she was trying to stop the headaches building up in her head, a bus pulled up at the bus stop. A young woman got out. She noticed Mikan at once, while the bus drove off into the night.
Mikan's body suddenly tipped forward, and Mikan crashed unconscious onto the hard pavement.
'Ah!' gasped the young woman in horror, and she immediately rushed forward to help Mikan. 'Girl? Girl? Are you okay? Wake up? Hey!?'
She got no response, and the young woman decided to call an ambulance.
AN HOUR LATER, IN TOKYO'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS HOSPITAL:
'Doctor? The new patient we've just brought in 25 minutes ago…the one in a coma…I think she's a Gakuen Alice student,' said the nurse in the doctor's office.
The doctor in the office (which was his) glanced at the nurse for a split second, then his eyes widened and he rapped out several questions. 'How do you know she's a Gakuen Alice student?'
'Well, Doctor, while I was undressing her when she first arrived, she was wearing a Gakuen Alice uniform for students that were her age. Second, in her skirt pocket I found many strange items. The nurse put on a pair of rubber surgical gloves and presented a metal tray bearing several items to the doctor.
The things on the tray were: a zip lock bag full to the bursting point with strangely colored stones, some big some small, a dagger with blood all over it, an envelope that was rather rumpled and lumpy as if there were several things inside it and finally, there was a metal chain necklace with a huge red stone hanging from it.
'The necklace was around her neck but I had to take it off because of the IV,' said the nurse. 'She also wore two rings on her fingers, but I let her keep them on.'
The doctor nodded, looking grim. 'Check her DNA. I want to know who she is.'
The nurse nodded. 'Yes, Doctor.' She left hurriedly. The doctor, whose name was Keichi Kawamura, sat down breathlessly into his desk chair. He was completely stunned.
'An Alice…eh? This person's a girl, hmm…about seventeen to eighteen, brunette…' He thought for a moment, and then pulled his Blackberry out of his pocket. There was a need to contact a certain person…
The doctor dialed a number from memory; it was not stored in his phone. He waited for the person on the other end of the line to pick up. When the other party finally did, he did not sound very happy. He was tired out, in fact.
'Hello? Shiki, is that you?' asked the doctor.
'Yes, of course it's me! What do you want now? Another of Imai Hotaru's magical healing bandages?'
The doctor grinned. 'No. I have something better to ask you about. Do you remember that girl you asked me to keep an eye out for if she ever turned up at any hospital in Tokyo? From six years ago?'
Shiki, in his office in Gakuen Alice's high school division, immediately dropped his red pen. 'What? Don't tell me...' he began.
'Yes. I got a lead. There's a patient who was admitted here about half an hour ago. It's a 17-18 year old female, and she came in wearing a Gakuen Alice uniform, according to one of my nurses. She apparently fainted in the streets an hour ago, and came in badly injured and unconscious. We've done a little operation on her, and patched her up mostly. Unfortunately, she's in a coma currently and I'm not sure what to do. She's definitely an Alice though, even if it's not the girl you're looking for.'
'How do you know that?' asked Shiki. 'Well,' replied Keichi, ' it's because we found a whole lot of Alice stones in a zip lock bag in her school skirt. And now I'm sure she is the girl you've been searching for. The Stealing Alice would certainly garner many Alice Stones, right?'
Shiki smiled. He felt as if a huge weight had been suddenly lifted off his shoulders. 'Immediately transfer this girl and all her belongings to the hospital in Gakuen Alice. There's no need for a DNA report; the high school principal's Alice will do just fine.'
Keichi nodded. 'I will tell my nurse to stop the DNA report now and make the arrangements. Goodbye, Shiki, and I hope sincerely it is her.'
'Yes, I hope for that too,' commented Shiki, before cutting the connection. The doctor smiled and pressed the intercom button connected to the hospital's front desk. He started giving rapid and detailed instructions to the front desk clerks.
In Gakuen Alice, Shiki got out of his office chair and called three people on his Sidekick. The first person was Azumi Yuka. The second was the High School Principal, Mikan's uncle Yukihira. The last once was a sensei teaching in the elementary school division, Anjo Narumi.
The message he gave them was the same: please meet me at the school hospital's front desk in half an hour.
30 MINUTES LATER, GAKUEN ALICE'S HOSPITAL:
A black limousine drew up at the drive leading to the hospital. Two adults got out. One was a tall female with blonde hair that reached her waist, while the other was also a blonde, but he was a male. Azumi Yuka and Anjo Narumi. The first, Yuka, was the current principal of the elementary school division, while Narumi was currently a high-ranking sensei in the elementary school division.
The two rushed into the hospital's lobby to see Shiki and Principal Yukihira, or Kazu, already waiting for them. Shiki hurriedly explained the situation.
'You see, today, my colleague, who's a doctor in a hospital in Tokyo, had a patient arrive by ambulance. The patient was a girl dressed in our school's high school division uniform and she is about 17 to 18 years old.'
'What does that have to do with the two if us then, Shiki?' questioned Yuka. 'We're not from the high school division like you two are.'
'No, you see, we think the girl is Sakura Mikan.' Yuka and Narumi's eyes widened. 'I've already had her transported here, and I've already informed Kazu about it before you two arrived. Let's go quickly and see the girl. She is currently in a coma, and ahs been ever since she arrived at the hospital in Tokyo.'
Shiki led the three other adults quickly down a hallway, then into an elevator that took them to the hospital's 7th floor. They walked down another two hallways, the first long, the second short, before finally coming to a stop outside a ward.
'Here,' said Shiki, gesturing to the door, which had a name on it. The name of the patient in the room on the sign stuck to the door was currently reading '? Sakura Mikan?' The adults sweat dropped and Kazu opened the door quietly, and then closed the door after they had all entered.
The sight that met their eyes was horrifying. The brunette lying in the bed was attached to several machines, and her body had many visible injuries, even though most of them were already patched up.
Just then, Narumi noticed the girl's finger on her right hand twitch. He gasped and immediately pointed out the fact to the others, who quickly called for the doctor.
Five minutes later, Imai Subaru, the current head doctor of the Alice hospital, arrived at the ward. He checked the patient's vital signs and concluded that the girl was waking up soon after hearing what the adults described happening to the patient.
Smiles broke out all over everyone's faces, including Doctor Subaru's. They started talking about Mikan and decided to compare how similar Mikan and this girl lying in the bed was. Not long after, the girl suddenly opened her eyes.
'Ah!' gasped Yuka, rushing forward in an instant. The girl saw her and gasped as well. 'No!'
' 'No!' Huh?' said a confused Narumi. The brunette sat up swiftly in bed, checking her surroundings. She stared at the four adults, and the doctor, and the nurse in her ward, then asked one simple question that everyone found extremely difficult to answer.
'What the hell am I doing here in the school?!' demanded the brunette.
Yuka blinked. 'Did you just say a…profanity?' Narumi gasped. 'No! Mikan's pure innocence! All gone!' The brunette rolled her eyes and stared at her clothes. She realized something and asked, 'Where are my clothes?'
The nurse came forward with a box. 'In here, miss.' The brunette breathed a sigh of relief.
'We need to ask you a few questions,' said Kazu, sitting down in a chair next to the bed. The girl blinked. 'OK.'
'One,' began Kazu, 'who are you?' The girl smiled.
'My name,' she said crisply,' is Sakura Mikan. I am eighteen years old.'
Yuka gasped again, lurched forward and embraced her daughter in a tight hug. 'Mikan!' she breathed. 'Sorry for worrying you all these years, okaa-san,' murmured Mikan. 'It doesn't matter, just the fact that you're here safe and sound is good enough.'
'Mikan,' said Kazu. 'Where's my hug, missy?' The principal of the high school division was very close to his only niece. The brunette grinned and gave him a big hug, then gave Shiki and Narumi hugs too.
'Man, Mikan,' commented Narumi. 'What happened to you all this while?' Mikan's happy face froze, and she looked upset. 'Well…what happened…can I just tell you another time? Right now, I have one request to make of all of you.'
'What is it, Mikan?' asked Shiki kindly. 'If it can be done, we will definitely fulfill your wish.'
'Thanks, Shiki-san. I would like only Doctor Imai-san, as little nurses as possible, and only the four of you to know that I am back.'
The adults looked at each other. 'Why?' asked Narumi finally. 'You see, I ran into a lot of…trouble while I was…away, and I cannot let my…enemies know I'm here. I wasn't even planning to come here, but I can guess what happened. The government hospital I believe I was sent to when I fell unconscious at that bus stop must have checked me and found out I have Alices so they sent me here. Right?'
The adults sweat dropped and Shiki said, 'More… or less.' Mikan nodded and looked satisfied. 'The less people that know about all this, the better.'
'Well then, we'll respect your privacy, Mikan,' said Kazu. 'Yes, Mikan,' agreed Yuka. 'If you want it this way, you'll have it this way then.'
'Thanks, okaa-san,' said Mikan gratefully. 'I'm tired; so I think I'll go to sleep now. I need to recover fully as fast as possible. Goodnight, to all of you, and thanks a million!' Mikan snuggled down under her blanket and fell asleep.
The adults, nurse and Doctor Subaru looked amused, then one by one, they quietly trooped out of the hospital ward room and closed the door behind them.
Najika-chan's Corner:
Well, now, this is my newest fanfiction. I've done my best with it and I hope you like it! I'm going to update my profile page and take down several things too! I hope you can review after reading this chapter. Arigato!
~Najika-chan