Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice. This plot is owned by Vione and its adopted by me.

Dedicated to: Yuna-senpai ;)

A Quiet World

Original Author: Vione

Adopted by: jazziscool

Chapters One and Two were written by Vione. Chapter Three and onwards are written by me.

You are my sunshine,

My only sunshine.

You make me happy,

When skies are gray.

You'll never know dear,

How much I love you.

So please don't take my sunshine away.

-You Are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis

Chapter One

Grade One

"Rise and shine, sweetheart!" Yuka opened the curtain and rays of sunshine poured into the room. Mikan grudgingly opened her eyes; she hated to be woken up.

Yuka sighed, looking at the pouting face of her daughter. Both mother and daughter were exactly alike, with their chestnut hair and hazel cinnamon eyes. Mikan inherited both her mother's thoughtfulness and her father's carefree attitude.

"Mommy, I don't wanna wake up," Mikan whined. Yuka shook her head. She could still remember how much of a hassle it was when Mikan was still around two years old; Mikan would throw a fit if she was woken up. Luckily, Mikan had grown out of her fits as she grew older, but that didn't change the fact that she hated being waken up.

"No, honey. Get dressed now or you'll be late for school," Yuka told her daughter. "I'll see you downstairs in ten minutes, fully dressed." Yuka gave Mikan a sideway glance before getting out of Mikan's room.

Mikan slipped out of her bed begrudgingly and changed out of her bear-motif pajamas into the outfit she and Yuka had lain out the previous night. Mikan loved dressing herself up, she even dreamt of designing her own clothes someday. She dressed herself in a yellow t-shirt with a sunflower print on it and frilly white skirt. She took her bear-shaped backpack and rushed downstairs.

"Good morning to you, mommy, daddy!" she yelled cheerfully, seeing her parents situated around the dining table.

"Morning, darling. Wow, you look beautiful today, ready to knock the one-graders down to their feet?" Yukihira, Mikan's father, joked. He had brown grayish hair and a pair of dark chocolate eyes.

"Daddy, I do not hit people! That's very unladylike," Mikan huffed, putting her hands on her hips. Yukihira laughed, he could still remember the trouble Mikan got herself into on the first day of preschool; she made a kid cry because the kid tried to steal her cookies. He expected as much from her, she was his beloved daughter after all.

"Now, now, sweetie, eat your breakfast now or you'll be late on your first day of school. Come on, it's your favorite chocolate chips pancake," Yuka said, laughing at her daughter's antics.

"Yay! I love you, mommy!" Mikan squealed, taking her seat beside her mother and began munching on her pancakes.

Yuka and Yukihira looked at each other, love and adoration written in their eyes. For both of them, Mikan was the greatest blessing to their life. Their adorable little girl was everything to them, especially since Yuka almost lost Mikan during her pregnancy.

"Mommy! I'm done, let's go to school," Mikan said excitedly, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Are you excited to make new friends?" Yukihira asked. Mikan nodded enthusiastically. She couldn't wait to meet new people, and she couldn't wait to see Hotaru, her best friend.

Mikan conversed with her father for a few minutes while Yuka loaded the dishwasher. Yuka hated to leave the house in a messy state, talk about OCD. She took her car key from the kitchen counter and said, "Say goodbye to your daddy first."

"Bye, daddy! I love you," Mikan said, kissing him on the cheek. Yuka bade her husband goodbye as well before they proceeded into the car.

Once Mikan was safely seated in the car, Yuka drove towards Alice Elementary School. Mikan played with her cute teddy bear backpack while Yuka focused on the road, trying not to crash into anything. Yuka was a very bad driver, but she refused to acknowledge the fact. She knew she wouldn't crash into anything if she drove in a reasonable speed, so Yukihira had no other choice but let her drive Mikan to school.

Yuka stole a quick glance at Mikan, she was worried about her daughter, considering the trouble Mikan got herself into on the first day of preschool. She knew her daughter wasn't one for violence, but she was still worried. She decided that it was time to take drastic measure.

"Sweetie, I want you to make me a promise," Yuka started as they arrived to Alice Elementary School.

"What is it, mommy?" Mikan asked, her doe brown eyes wide.

"Wait," Yuka grumbled as she concentrated on parking the car without hitting anything. After five minutes, she managed to park the car without any scratch. She smiled proudly at herself. She averted her concentration back to Mikan, sighing when she was greeted with the innocent expression on her daughter's face. How was she going to tell her daughter?

"I want you to promise me not to get into trouble. No fighting at all, do you understand? If I find you in trouble today, I will not let you eat candy for one whole month," she said.

Mikan's eyes widened in shock. Candy was like her life, she wouldn't be able to go through a month without candies. She couldn't really understand why her mother wanted her to make such promise as well, what kind of trouble could she possibly got herself into? "I promise, mom," she said solemnly.

Yuka beamed at her daughter. She hated to threaten her daughter, but she had no other choice if she wanted Mikan to stay out of trouble. Besides, it wasn't like she threatened to spank her daughter, she was only disciplining her. "Good. Let's go, I'm sure Hotaru's excited to see you as well."

Mikan beamed upon the mention of Hotaru's name. She missed Hotaru so much, she couldn't wait to tell Hotaru all about her summer vacation. She loved her best friend to bits, although her best friend had a funny way of showing the same affection.

Yuka unbuckled Mikan's seatbelt and together they marched towards Mikan's classroom, where Hotaru and her mother were waiting in front of the classroom.

"Hotaru!" Mikan squealed and hugged her. Imai Hotaru didn't like to be hugged by anybody, but she couldn't possibly say so in front of her mother, so she just let Mikan hug her. Of course, Mikan knew this and used it to her advantage. Hotaru had definitely rubbed off on her. Yuka and Hotaru's mother exchanged pleasantries while Mikan talked Hotaru's ears off about how much she missed her.

"Mikan," Yuka said slowly. Mikan looked up at her mother. "Remember, no trouble or no candy for one whole month. Now you two go inside and make new friends."

"Okay!" Mikan said cheerfully. Hotaru shook her head on her best friend's enthusiasm. She couldn't understand how someone could be so cheerful on the first day of school.

Mikan took Hotaru's hand and dragged her into the classroom full of kids. Mikan looked around the classroom: there were students playing with each other and some students who were too shy to approach other students. However, she spotted a brown haired boy being bullied by a curly haired girl. She wanted to help the boy, but then she remembered the promise she made to her mother.

Hotaru looked at her best friend, somehow knowing what's going on in her mind. She dragged her to the desk at the back of the class as an attempt to distract her from whatever she was thinking in her head.

The teacher, a blonde man with green eyes, came into the room and clapped his hands, trying to get the class' attention. "Hello, my sweet children! I am Narumi, you homeroom teacher. It's good to see you kids so healthy, now I'll mark your attendances. Raise your hand when I call your name."

He called the students' name on by one, until the class was interrupted by someone opening the door. A beautiful black haired woman stood with her son in front of her. The boy had dark raven hair and crimson eyes just like his mother. Mikan stared in amazement, never had she seen a crimson colored eye before.

The beautiful woman nodded at Narumi as the kid went to sit at the back of the classroom, right beside the window. He took out a book from his backpack and buried his nose in it. The woman whispered something to Narumi as Mikan watched with curious eyes.

"Sakura Mikan." Narumi resumed his previous action after the woman left the classroom.

"Here!" Mikan said, raising her hand. Narumi continued to call the students' names one by one. However, there was one odd thing that Mikan noticed: he didn't call the kid's name.

***

When it was finally lunch time, Mikan sat with Hotaru and her new friends. Mikan had successfully made several new friends due to her cheerful nature. People couldn't help but like her at first sight. Mikan took out her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and began munching on it, looking at her peers. She then noticed the raven haired kid whose name she hadn't managed to find out yet sitting alone in his seat, not even eating.

"Hey, shouldn't we ask him to eat with us?" Mikan asked her friends.

"He's deaf, Mikan." Sumire, her new friend, the curly haired girl, wrinkled her nose in distaste when she looked at Natsume.

"Deaf? He can't talk?" Mikan asked in wonder. Hotaru wanted to roll her eyes at her best friend's stupidity.

"That's mute. Deaf means he can't hear," Koko, the boy who was previously bullied by Sumire, answered. Hotaru glared at Koko for taking her role on explaining things to Mikan.

"What? That means he can't hear us if we call him?" Mikan asked in shock and dared a glance his direction. He looked engrossed in his book, but Mikan wondered if the poor boy was lonely. She pitied him as well; she couldn't imagine how it felt like, not being able to hear anything. "How did you know? Narumi-sensei didn't even tell us his name."

"My mom knows his mom, his name is Natsume, Hyuuga Natsume." Sumire smirked, enjoying the attention she got from her friends.

Mikan continued to look at Natsume, wondering if she should befriend him. She wanted to, but she didn't know how to communicate with him. Should she write it down on a piece of paper? Natsume suddenly looked up from his book and noticed Mikan looking at him. He gave her a sharp glare, causing her to look the other way.

She could feel her heart beating so fast. He looked so scary, so angry, but he looked very sad as well. Right at that moment, she made a promise to herself that she would befriend him, no matter what the consequences would be.

***

Class dragged on, yet Mikan still couldn't talk to Natsume at all. When it was finally time to go home, Mikan saw that Natsume's desk was already empty. She hunched her shoulder, sad that she couldn't befriend him on the first day. Hotaru had left also, saying that her mother told her to hurry up. Mikan couldn't believe that she had nobody to talk to while she waited for her mother to pick her up.

However, when Mikan came out of the classroom, she found Natsume glaring at three third-graders. The third-graders were making fun of Natsume, cackling maniacally. Mikan felt her blood boil seeing them making fun of Natsume. Her mother's words rang in her head, but she shrugged it off.

Mikan pushed one of the third-graders to the floor and glared at the other two. "Stop it! You're so mean!" she shouted.

"What, little girl? You're defending the deaf-mute over here?" one of the guys sneered. His words did it. Mikan punched the guy in his face. The guy staggered backwards, clutching his nose and began crying. Mikan looked proud of her accomplishment and turned around to look at Natsume. She could feel tears building up inside of her when she saw the angered look on his face.

"I–I'm sorry," Mikan mumbled, even though she knew Natsume couldn't hear her. She was wrong about the last part; Natsume could read lips.

"What is all the –" Narumi looked shocked. "Five of you, come with me," he said sternly.

Mikan knew she was going to be in trouble, but all she could think was how much Natsume hated her. Narumi led them into the principal office and Mikan began crying immediately. Natsume looked away all the time while Narumi explained to the parents of the wounded child. Natsume didn't even notice crying, he was busy thinking if going to a public school was the right thing.

He felt someone pat him on the shoulder. It was Kaoru, his mother. She gave him a stern glare and with sign language, told him to apologize and thank Mikan.

Meanwhile, Yuka was very displeased with Mikan's behavior. She knew Mikan did it only to help Natsume, but a promise is still a promise. "Young lady, you do know that you are in big trouble, right?" Yuka asked her daughter sternly. Mikan was still crying, unable to stop her flow of tears.

"B-But, mommy," she hiccupped. She tried to reason with her mother, but then Natsume's angry face came back to her mind. She couldn't stop crying whenever she thought of his face; she wasn't used to being hated by people.

Natsume tapped her on her shoulder and made a motion with his hands, but Mikan didn't understand sign language, so she just stared at him wide-eyed.

"He says: sorry and thank you," Kaoru translated for Mikan. Kaoru smiled at her son; at least he apologized, even though he obviously didn't want to. He made another motion of his hands and Kaoru scoffed. He was telling Mikan that he didn't need her help at all.

"Well, I'm sorry for all the trouble. Thanks for helping my little boy here, Mikan," Kaoru said with a smile. "And Yuka, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I'm sorry we met under such circumstances, but your daughter is definitely an angel."

Kaoru and Natsume left the office then. Yuka sorted things out with the principal regarding Mikan's punishment. In the end, Mikan wasn't punished by the school at all, due to Yuka's great reasoning. She thanked the principal and went out of the room.

"I know it's not really your fault, but a promise is still a promise," Yuka said half-heartedly. She didn't want to punish Mikan for this, but she was afraid that Mikan couldn't be disciplined if she didn't train her from now. But she won't forbid her from candy for a year; she wasn't that cruel.

"Mommy," Mikan began, "I know you're mad at me. You can forbid me from eating candies for a year, I don't mind."

Yuka was shocked at her daughter's word. Mikan loved candies more than anything in the world, so why the sudden change of heart. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

Mikan shook her head. "Mommy, I want to learn sign language!"

Author's note: Yay! First chapter is done! I'm kinda nervous about writting this fic because I've never actually written one before. And I might mess this one up. Oh well. :3

I didn't make much changes to this chapter.

The song, 'You Are My Sunshine', was stuck in my head while I edited this chapter. I couldn't get it out of my head. But hey--it does foreshadow. XD

I would love if any mistakes are pointed out!!! They're my favorite kind of reviews. Constructive criticism is even more than welcomed!

If you leave a review, an elf will drop by and give you a cookie! You know you want one~ ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!