Hi there fellow GA fans! Most of you must have been aware that GA has ended. For good. Well my friends and I thought that the end was more like a beginning of a new adventure in itself, so we've decided to write a post manga story. A fresh new adventure featuring the same old gang.

This story is written by co-ordinate efforts of: edwardelric108, Sonic-Keyblade007, NeverLookBack756.

Warning: Contains spoilers from last three chapters of manga. Story starts off immediately from chapter 180.

Finding Hotaru

Chapter 1: Renewed feelings

It was a tiring day. Especially for Mikan. Finally getting answers to her much needed questions. Her quest for answers ended that day. So did her desire to visit the beach with all her friends. It was one of her wishes since she was 12. She had penned it down in her diary, along with other stuff as well. Meeting all her old friends, sensei, sempai was gave her inexplicable joy. And Nobara, Rei and their little baby boy was the icing on the cake for her. Everyone was there except for two. Except for the girl she loved so much. She sighed as she lay in her bed.

"Hotaru" A tear slipped her eye as she spoke her name. " You big baka! " She tried to smile as she knew her best friend would want that.

It was quarter past one at night. She was supposed to sleep three hours ago. After dinner, Noda sensei told ( no warned) her and the two boys to hit the bed early, as they had a long journey starting early next morning. The others had gone back to the Academy that night itself, leaving Mikan behind with Noda sensei, Natsume and Ruka pyon. She wanted to visit the Academy, but later decided that it would be best to go back to the Academy together with Hotaru, like she did the first time. It would be more apt. So she made up her mind that finding Hotaru was her top priority. She would do everything else later. She did want to walk through those huge gates of Academy once again, but holding Hotaru's hand in hers.

There she lay motionless on her bed, with her back facing upwards. There was just too much to process in her small head. Too much information was hammered into her pea sized brain last evening. Frankly she was still fitting the puzzle pieces in the right order.

She was too self absorbed in her musings that she failed to notice her bedroom door slide open. A pair of huge arms groped her from behind. Locking her between the bed and his warm body. The heat radiating from his body and his alice was warming her up. She knew very well whose arms they were, yet she pushed them away.

"Natsume! What are you doing here?" She said while sitting straight up on her bed. She made sure that her voice was soft enough. She didn't want to wake Ji chan .

"I had a feeling you were crying alone so I came over." He mimicked his old lines. He locked her in his arms again. The boy clearly needed her. Well can't blame the poor kid, he's a freaking hormonal teenager. But the perverseness is just an excuse, who wouldn't want to cuddle their girlfriend (make that fiance) after a separation of 4 years. Forget cuddling, Natsume's mind was racing into wildness ever since he laid eyes on his 16 year old fiance after 4 years. Natsume alone knows how he spent those 4 longyears in Academy without his Mikan. 4 long years of not listening to her cacophony very morning. 4 long years of not flipping her skirt to check her pattern of the day. 4 long years of not sitting under the shade of Sakura tree with her. 4 long years of not going to central town with her to eat fluff puff. 4 long years of not sitting and dozing beside her during lessons. Only Natsume know how he survived through those 4 years.

"Don't worry I am fine. I was just thinking about...Hotaru..."

And here was the girl he longed for, pinned for in those 4 years; locked in his embrace and yet she was thinking of her best friend and not him. He was getting jealous. Very jealous. Agreed that her best friend was the reason he was cuddling her that moment, still he was annoyed at the fact that she was giving all her attention to Hotaru not him. Damn Imai.

"You know you haven't even kissed me once. We've met after 4 years you know." He said nonchalantly as he pulled her face closer to his. Mikan reddened in an instant. He pressed his lips onto hers. Ah! That feeling. He missed it for the past 4 years. Infact the memory of that feeling helped him leave through those years. Mikan seemed to enjoy it to, she expected it to be rough and wild, but it was warm, soft. Yes, it was wanting, but it was still soft. Natsume was a damn good kisser.

"God, I missed this." He smirked while caressing her hair. Mikan was simply too mesmerized to say anything. He captured her lips again. She yelped in surprise, he took advantage and slide his tongue in. Mikan's eyes widened at his move, yet Natsume continued to deepen the kiss. Both were breathing heavily. Satisfied from devouring her mouth, he started trailing open mouthed kisses around her jaw line all the way down her neck. He nibbled onto her sensitive skin on her nape. Mikan moaned. He loved it. He wanted to hear it again. So he bit her harder this time, making sure to leave a mark. Mikan groaned, " Na-Natsu...me... pleas-... Ah!" He sucked hard onto her collar bone and continued kissing and sucking downwards. He got rid of the obstacle in his path, by undoing the first two button of her shirt, revealing her valley and her polka dotted bra. He smirked, even her bra was polka dotted. This was the first time he'd seen her bra, she didn't wear one when they were 10. He nuzzled his head in there and kissed every inch of skin he found. This was pleasure. Something he was denied for the past 4 years. Before going further down her button line, he looked at her face, to scan her expression. She was crying. His heart broke.

She did mostly cry when they kissed. But those were tears of joy, tears of happiness of finally meeting. But he could clearly see that she was crying right now because she was hurt, she was scared. He was foolish. Idiot. Pervert. He should have known better, he just met last evening (notwithstanding that they already knew each other but for Mikan those memories were gone at that time). This was all so huge for her. He should have know that this would be too sudden for her, yet he couldn't control himself. Jealous and desperation fueled him. He wanted to make up for all the lost time of 4 years in just one night, without considering her feelings. How selfish of him! He mentally cursed himself.

He wiped off her tears. Hugged her carefully so as not to scar her again. " Gomennasai" He whisperred in her ear, " I hurt you. Please forgive me. I was being selfish." He had come to calm her down from her crying and he ended up making her cry even more. He cradled her to calm her down. Finally when she stopped sobbing he faced her again and button up her shirt for her.

"No Natsume, I am sorry. I love you, very much. I waited for you even though I didn't know who you were. And now that I've regained those memories and I've got you back, still I can't... I just...I am sorry Natsume. It's not that I don't trust you. I mean we're 17 and in love, it's only natural for us to do things, but somehow I just can't...I am just sc-"

"Scared, right?" Natsume was glad that she didn't hate him for what he did 5 minutes ago.

She nodded in agreement. "I know you'll never hurt me. I trust you, but... this is all new to me. It's too sudden jump in our relationship ." She was right. The last time those two were alone together they were just kissing. Simply kissing. Kissing sounded so pure to him right now.

"Besides whenever I am with you, I just can't help but think of Hotaru, you know. I feel guilty every time I kiss you, touch you. Because the person who made it possible is not here with us, she's out there trapped. And we're here enjoying? It just doesn't feel right."

Mikan was being unreasonable. She expected him to wait until they found Hotaru and only then recommence their relationship. But Natsume understood how she felt, in a way he too felt that way as far as Hotaru was concerned. Even though finding Hotaru would probably take days, months, years...he would wait till that time. Because he loved Mikan and respected her feelings.

"I understand that you're not ready for it." He caressed her hair again. "I'll wait Mikan." He smiled his billion dollar smile. He kissed her forehead. " Let's take things slowly, okay?" She was glad he understood her. That was the best part in their relationship, they both understood each other perfectly and completely. She hugged him tigghtly.

"I better get going." He said. "Stay." She said tugging onto his pajamas. "I might end up doing perverted things you know." He joked. She elbowed him in stomach and pulled him beside her to lie down on the bed. She snuggled close to him, resting her head on his right shoulder as his left arm found her waist. They lay there motionless enjoying each other's warmth until Mikan broke the silence.

"Say something." She prompted him. She knew he was a man of few words but she wanted to hear his voice all night long.

"What?"

"Anything. Everything. " She wanted him to tell her about those 4 years he spent without her.

"It was pretty boring if you ask me."

"Why?"

"Because you weren't there with me." She blushed on hearing that.

"But you still had Ruka pyon, right?"

"But I can't kiss Ruka pyon, like this right?" He said before planting a kiss on her lips. She giggled at the thought of Natsume kissing Ruka. Yaoi alert!

"I think you two would make a cute couple. You'd be the seme, for sure."

"Shut up." He was little annoyed, " What kind of girl teases her fiance of being gay."

"Tell me more, please Natsume. Details please." Mikan changed the topic fearing his anger.

"You want detail, huh? Well there wasn't a single second in the last four years when I didn't think of you. I missed you so much you now. And when that Naru bastard told me that you were sent back to your village with your memories erased, it was far worse than being dead. Trust me, I felt that dying was easier than leaving you behind. And I spent most of the last few years in fear."

"Fear?"

"Yes, I was scared that you'd have found someone by now. I wouldn't blame you if you had, because well you had no memories of me. You've grown into a beautiful young lady naturally guys in your class would drool over you, ask you out and you might have liked one too." Mikan could see the anger in his voice. He looked as if he'd burn those guys he talked about. Tears were slowly building up in her eyes as she realized the ordeal hes been through for 4 long years, all because of her.

Natsume himself had imagined a grown version of Mikan, and had very unholy dreams about her. Dreams that left him sleepless for nights together. He feared that she might have had done those things already. But there she was laying beside him, fully clothed, unwilling to do it even with him. That somehow calmed him down.

"Ruka had a hard time convincing me that I wouldn't burn the guy who'd be dating you. Luckly there wasn't any such 'boyfriend' I feared. " Tears slide down her face. She had caused him way too much pain.

"Natsume, I am sorry...I...Because of me you had to suffer so much...I can't even imagine what pain you must have gone through...you must be mentally tired...I am sorry...so sorry...I wish I could share that pain..." She started crying again.

Hey, stop crying, okay?" He wiped off her tears again,

"I know it doesn't help much but I had dreams about you, Hotaru...Ruka pyon, the Academy...I didn't recognize any of you but I knew you were special to me... And I knew deep down that I had a person I loved very much and that he loved me too...So I decided a long time ago that I'd wait for him...wait for you..."

"Thank you Mikan for...waiting..." He really was glad she waited for him, even though the oly assurance of their love she had were her dreams, she still believed in their love. He was glad that she refused all those confessions and patiently waited for him. So now he'd wait for her to get ready for 'it' too.

" We are together now, right? None of that matters now. " He added.

"...yeah...we'll be together forever now...I promise I'll leave you behind Natsume...but you too promise that you'd never die on me again."

"I won't. I promise." He kissed her eyelids while assuring her.

"Then stop using it." She ordered.

"What?"

"You know what. Your alice. " She pointed out.

"Mikan, I can't promise you on that." She frowned at his stubbornness.

"But you'll di-"

"I won't okay. We are working on a cure. Ruka and I. We're close to finding it. It'll take time but I think that would be a miraculous breakthrough in history of alice. We'd be able to help lots of children with life shortening shape."

"Really? That's great." She was overjoyed. " Then stop using it until you find it."

"I'll use it whenever you need it. I won't hesitate in using my alice for your sake. "

"But promise you won't waste it and use it unnecessarily. I am sure you can atleast do that."

"Yes." He assured her, "Now gimme a kiss."

"You're being very greed tonight Natsume." she teased. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him softly. Their lips moved in a perfect sync. Gasping for air the two parted. "You should go to sleep, we hardly have 3 hours left before we leave for the journey, take rest."

"Good night." She said. " hmm." Came the infamous answer. She pecked him on his lips and closed her eyes. Despite the fiasco an hour, this still was the best night in Natsume's 16 years life. He kissed her bangs and dozed off beside her.

It was little beyond five in early morning when Ruka rose up."Natsume?" Ruka woke up to find the mattress beside him empty. He knew well where his best friend was. He thought it would be best to bring him back to the room before the old man discovered those two together, probably naked. He didn't admit it to his best friend, but he still loved her. His heart just couldn't forget her laughter. He tried dating a girl in his middle school, but he couldn't even get himself to kiss her and they broke up in a week. Clearly dating another girl wasn't helping him forget her. So he decided it was best to observe from afar, rather than hurt other girls or hurt the two people he loves so much. He always looked from afar, even last evening when Mikan finally recognized Natsume after he inserted the alice stone in her and those two had a touchy reunion, he looked at them with a bitter sweet look. He was happy for them at the same time he was jealous of his best friend, and he felt guilty about it too. Can a person feel those three things at the same time? Apparently Ruka did. He wondered if someone other than him felt that too sometimes.

He knocked onto her door." Natsume?" No reply. " Sakura san?" Silence met him again. He didn't want to open the door, fearing that he might walk into an embarrassing situation. He wouldn't want a naked Sakura screaming on top of her voice, that would utterly ruin the purpose of his coming there. So he knocked again, more like banged loud and clear.

"Come in" he heard his best friend. Assuming that his friends were soberly dressed by the time he walked in.

"I thought it would be wise to walk you two, we wouldn't want to give Ji-chan an attack." Ruka said.

"Yeah" Natsume agreed. He kissed Mikan gently on the cheek and walked out of the room. Mikan was too sleepy to comprehend what was going on.

"Ohio, How can I help you?" A lady with short purple hair greeted the tall man dressed neatly in a coat with gloves on his hands and res haired tied in a braid.

"I am Shuichi Sakurano. " He bowed and greeted his best friend's mother.

"Oh! My Sakurano san." It wasn't her fault that she didn't recognize him, the last time she saw his picture was when he was in middle school, with shoulder length hair and he was wearing the school uniform, standing proudly beside her son receiving their special star. Mr. Narumi was generous enough to send her the photo of her son getting the highest honor in his school, because Subaru had stopped writing to her a long time ago. And there he was, standing in front of her all tall, grown, and masculine with braided hair.

She remember receiving a call from the Academy four years ago, explaining the aftermath of the Alice war and how her kids were trapped in space time. She silently wept the whole time, blamed herself for sending off her kids to that wretched academy. And there wasn't a single night she didn't spent weeping in the last four years. Despite her husband's efforts to calm her down she still never got over it. Mother's heart. She knew something huge was about to happen because Sakurano was standing there on her doorstep. She had no contact from the Academy after that phone call, rather she avoided it. Except for the anonymous letter she once received, it was an apology letter asking her forgiveness for what happened to her kids, she suspected that it was from the Hyuuga kid, who was responsible for the mess. She never wrote back, because she kinda hated him, after all he was the root of it. Over the years she learned to forgive him, she knew that he'd do the same for her daughter too. She learned that the time her children spent in the Academy, they formed a strong bond with the fellow Alice and their bond was so strong that they'd do anything for their 'Family'. So she figured over time that if it was her daughter who died in the war, that Hyuuga boy would sacrifice himself to bring her back too. Because they were all a family. She prayed that wherever her children were they'd be safe. And that they had each other, whereever they were.

And now that someone from the Academy was here she knew something was to change. She welcomed him in.

"We're setting off today." He declared. She looked confused, so he further explained, " We, are going to find them."

She waited four years to hear this. Tears uncontrollably flowed out. Tears of hope. Tears of joy. Tears of relief.

"th-thank...y..you.." She managed to articulate between her sobs. Sakurano hugged the lady and calmed her down.

"I am sorry it took so late, but I promise you Imai san the next time I set foot in this house I'll bring your son and daughter with me. I promise you." He patted her head. For a moment, she felt as though it was Subaru who was holding her.

" Please forgive us for the trouble we've caused you for the last four years. On behalf of the Academy I apologize." He bowed again.

"Thank you...I forgive you..." She said wiping off her tears, " At first I hated the Academy, it destroyed my family. Tore me apart from my kids, but over the four years I learned to dig out the good things that has happened due to it. My kids developed this strong bond while staying there, Hotaru and Subaru never had the sibling like bond before, but from what I've heard their relationship was strengthened in Academy. And I am glad that they have friends like you. Thank you, son. God bless you."

Sakurano took her leave and headed out, to be greeted by the first golden rays of the rising sun, marking the start of a whole new adventure.

A/N: A trial basis, review please. Will be reuploaded after editing.