Well it's been in the works for a long time now, but here's my first chaptered fanfiction for the Gakuen Alice fandom and the Natsume/Mikan pairing.

I worked really hard on this, so I hope you enjoy it.


Natsume Hyuga tapped two pills into his hand and pushed his mask up far enough to shove them into his mouth, swallowing the super-strength painkillers as he flattened his body against a crumbling brick wall.

Around the corner he could hear classmates trying to break through the secondary security system of the Alice-Organization's hideout, and he took a deep breath as he tried to ignore the pain ebbing through his body from a small knife wound in his side. He needed to be strong for this.

He listened carefully to every cry that reached his ears, constantly fearing that he would hear a particular voice: when the Academy was in conflict with Anti-Alice organizations the most unusual of Alices suddenly became useful… Alices like the nullification Alice of Mikan Sakura.

He had tried to stop her from coming on this mission, but being airhead that she was, she had to go and get involved and wouldn't take no for an answer: even when it was her own safety he had in mind. In the midst of these thoughts, one of his classmates shot up a flare and gave Natsume the signal he had been waiting for, so with one final gasp he straightened his back and ran into the open.

Their team had stuck to their orders well enough to create a small opening in the Organization's defences, which Natsume sprinted through as he drew up walls of flame to stop anyone slowing him down. As he approached the door of the derelict building he quickly burnt through it and jumped inside, unarming a guard at one end of the hall with a burst of flame and continuing to run down the corridor.

According to the map he'd been shown before the mission, the first-year students who were being held hostage would be in one of the doors on his right. However, he was forced to duck into a wrong room when gunshots started rattling up from behind him. He slid down against the doorway and panted heavily, tugging his mask away to breathe more freely and to stuff another painkiller in his mouth. Meanwhile his attacker tried to eliminate him from afar – he had obviously recognized 'the black cat' and feared what might happen if he got too close.

Natsume grimaced and got unsteadily to his knees as he moved his mask back into place, then sprang out from the doorway just as heard his attacker start to reload and melted through the chain that had been holding an old-fashioned lamp to the ceiling above his head. The wrought iron fixing fell straight on top of the man and he collapsed instantly. Using the opportunity to get away, Natsume ran down the corridor and resumed his search for the hostages.

He heard voices coming from one of the upcoming rooms, and after spotting yet another guard positioned next to a door on the right-hand wall decided he'd found his location. He leant against the wall, panting, and quickly focused on the loaded pistol in the man's hand. The thing suddenly exploded; set off by the tiny spark that had been created inside the weapon's firing mechanism.

Having momentarily distracted the guard, Natsume gave himself time to run over and throw a punch; years of practice in this art meant he was able to knock the sturdy man out with a single unsuspected hit.

After confirming that the door had only been guarded and not locked, Natsume paused for a second to catch his breath, before he burst into the room and burnt out the lights.

Yelling and the sound of loading guns quickly followed this intrusion, but Natsume was already on the floor on his elbows and knees, crawling alongside the wall as he fumbled around in the pack on his side for something that wasn't painkillers or medication. Finally closing his hand around the right object, he whipped his arm out and smashed a vial on the floor next to him, diving out of the way of the ensuing gunshots and using the sounds to scorch the guns out of the holder's hands.

The broken vial began to pour out huge billows of thick black smoke, and it was under this cover he got to his feet and ran into the middle of the room – where he had spotted the unconscious bodies of the Academy students in the second before he'd fried the lights. Lifting them up, he picked one over his shoulder and carried the other in his arms and ran towards the door, leaving several fires about the room to add to the confusion and stop the AAO realizing he was gone already.

He ignored the weight of the children's bodies as he staggered out of the room. His first priority was to get them out of this building, and that had to overcome the inconveniences of carrying them with lungfulls of smoke.

Luckily, and thanks to the work of his teammates, it was much easier getting out of the building than in, and Natsume didn't meet any more 'security' as he escaped through a side door and rushed out into the cold night air.

"You find them?" Questioned a high-school senior with a long hood covering his face the moment he set foot outside the door. Natsume nodded, and they began to hurry down the back alley, moving away from the sounds of conflict and towards a van driven by another senior.

"How many were they?" He asked in a low voice as he followed behind Natsume, watching their backs for any pursuers and waving a hand signal over to the driver, who started the engine.

"Didn't see," Natsume grunted in reply, "more than four." The boy seemed to sigh unhappily and quickly overtook Natsume, calling out to the person in the driver's cab.

"Better check them quickly, Hiki, it's not worth coming all this way for nothing." his hooded companion announced, and as the door of the van swung open a fair-haired boy stepped out.

Exhausted already and sure he was in fact bleeding from that knife-wound again, Natsume didn't need to be told twice to put the children down; then as the fighting appeared to be nearly done one or two other students came running up as he laid the fragile bodies down on the ground.

"Uh, misson accomplished?" A middle-school student inquired hopefully, only to be quickly hushed by the older students. Natsume was just about to relax when a foreboding sound interrupted him.

"Uh-oh," the senior referred to as 'Hiki' suddenly muttered, his fingertips pressed against the neck of the little girl lain on the floor, and their group turned unanimously towards him. The senior in the hood stepped forwards and stared down at his associate.

"You mean?" he whispered, and to the group's revulsion the reply was a sullen nod.

"Nothing." Hiki practically whimpered, and then winced suddenly as Natsume called up a flame above his fingertip to light up the child's face. To everyone's dread, under the new light it was easy to see the crushed and battered form of the girl, and see exactly where slowly clotting blood had trickled down the side of her face and dried in her matted hair.

Her hair had been brown (once) and tied in bunches, and the pink ties holding them up were set off against a bloody face bearing a broken cheekbone and practically crushed nose.

All at once, Natsume's blood boiled.

"Those bastards." He growled into the silence as the small flame intensified and began to drop sparks on the dirty pyjamas of the child, "those f--king bastards!" He ripped his mask off and began staggering backwards as he recalled just how heavy and cold that girl had been in his arms. How he should've noticed something like that being wrong straight away, how feckless the people inside that room were…how, how he let them live.

Well not this time.

"I'll get them!" he spat as he turned on his heels and began racing back towards the buildings, "I'll make them pay!"

Although he heard some of the others shouting 'no' and 'stop' behind him, Natsume scoured the sound out of his ears and began dragging wings of fire from his arms as he ran, while all around him things began to ignite.

No more than twenty metres down the alley he spotted someone running in the opposite direction, and before he could even attempt to identify them he had thrown a fireball though the air, too blinded by anger to think twice.

However, careless as that action may have been, he had not especially well aimed the flame, as he did still posses the sense not to try and kill the person out-right just in case they were one of their side still returning from the fight. If there was one thing they didn't need it was another dead student among their ranks.

However, curiously enough, instead of dodging the shot like he had expected, a white aura of light engulfed the fire and extinguished it before it was even close to the person.

"Natsume!" the voice he had so dreaded to hear earlier rang out, and Natsume's step faltered as he uttered a stunned "Mikan?" in return.

"You're okay!" The brunette said happily as she ran towards him, but before she was within any kind of reaching distance Natsume had taken off again, running straight past her with no more than a pat on the shoulder and thickening the flames he was intending to submerge that hideout in.

"Aie?" Mikan stuttered in confusion as Natsume bolted past her with nothing more than a hiss of 'get back to the others', "Natsume, what's wrong?" She cried, for him to only repeated the previous instruction.

While a sensible person might've done what he'd said and gone back to the meeting place to wait for him like they'd planned, Mikan Sakura had a reputation to uphold, so turning back on her tracks to follow Natsume, she started to douse the fires he was creating with her Alice and began yelling at him to stop, or at least slow down.

Natsume did stop eventually, but that was only when he reached the door that he had carried the two children through, and it was for the sole purpose of propelling a huge arm of flame through the opening.

"Natsume!" She screamed in shock, knowing that for one there were people inside there, and for two her mother worked for the Anti-Alice organization, "why are you doing that?!"

"Get out of here!" Natsume raged as he poured hate into the flames bursting out of dry air, "You don't want to see this!" By the firelight Mikan saw him grit his teeth and suppress a groan. He looked hurt, and this was definitely not doing him any good.

"Then I'll stop you instead!" She screamed over the crackle of the fire and a bolt of white-blue energy shone out of her body, cloaking and chocking his flames.

Through her determined training and a fair amount of emergency-use, Mikan's nullification Alice had become somewhat formidable force over the years, and for once Natsume could see why the Academy had allowed her on this mission.

But not for this purpose, though.

So although she initially seemed to be suffocating his Alice, he only had to growl in the back of his throat and push against her power to overcome it. She was no match for his in this atmosphere, and he quickly restored whatever she had put out with heat twice as intense.

"Don't get in my way!" He threatened as smoke began seeping out of the boarded-up windows of the building and screams of panic started coming from inside, "you don't know what they've done!"

Mikan started panicking when she heard the screams, and stared hopelessly at Natsume for a second, he was too consumed by this anger for her to stand a chance at stopping him.

(Unless…)

She ran forwards and grabbed his arm, hoping that perhaps she could shake him out of it and for god's sake save those people. But he only threw her off and intensified the fire tearing the building apart.

"Natsume!" She screamed again, tears beginning to form in her eyes from all the smoke and the screaming "Stop it please stop!"

"Not until they're dead." He countered, "Not until they pay for what they did!" Crying fully now, Mikan ran forwards again, soon sobbing so hard she could barely see.

"Natsume! They can't pay for anything if they're dead! Don't do it please stop you're killing them!" As she shook away her tears, Mikan realized she was now close enough to be able to see through the door of the building, and looking inside spotted the figure of a woman stumbling out into the end of hall. With a fresh scream she grabbed Natsume, trying desperately a second time to stop the flames from reaching that lady – whoever she might be.

Natsume span around and elbowed Mikan back, trying to get past the barrier she'd managed force up in front of those murderers in her desperation and hissing at the pain it was costing him. But just at the moment he managed to break through the blockade, she was up on her feet again, and ready with another front of attack.

(That front of attack…)

Mikan threw herself at Natsume and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders, throwing her body weight into him as she drew upon her Alice.

(But this was not the nullification Alice.)

From the moment their bodies connected Natsume felt something change, something… strange. At first it was like he was falling asleep, and he wondered how she was doing it, until he realized that it was his power draining away. As she tightened her arms around him the feeling also tightened, turning into a curious sensation that felt almost as if his insides were being slowly sucked out.

The flames weakened and began to curl in odd directions as Natsume started feeling dizzy; weakened both in body and mind, as the power of his Alice had been the one thing keeping him going, and so he was only able to make out the rest of the AAO members fleeing before everything quickly went black.

On the other side of this exchange, Mikan swore she had done something wrong and was catching fire, as she reluctantly used her Steal Alice on Natsume. It was something she hadn't ever wanted to do and a power she sometimes wished she never had, but it was the only way she could stop him before someone was seriously hurt.

The moment she started to take his Alice her skin heated up and began to tingle, and as he started to struggle, and then slump, it was as if there was a fire inside of her body that was expanding and getting hotter with every second and every ounce more of his Alice that she took.

It wasn't long after Natsume passed out that Mikan lost consciousness as well, collapsing underneath his unsteady weight and being crushed by him. She vaguely managed to pick up footsteps approaching as a boiling-hot sweat began to pour out of her body, but then everything buzzed out of comprehension.


They both woke up in the infirmary several days later. Mikan with her arm in a sling from where Natsume landed on her and a running temperature of over a hundred, and Natsume experiencing colds sweats every hour along with a case of hypothermia.

No one dared to ask them what had happened.

Among a number of other side effects, Mikan could only remembered that night as far as trying to stop Natsume burning the house down: with her last memory of grabbing him and being knocked away. Natsume correspondingly couldn't think clearly about anything that had happened before Mikan had grabbed him, and even from that the only thing he remembered clearly was that she had stolen his Alice to stop him.

Both of them had murderous headaches.


Mikan Sakura was hanging half way off her bed dunking a towel in a bucket of ice water when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!" she answered cheerfully, wringing the towel out and wrapping it around her neck as the door opened, allowing Ruka Nogi to enter the room with a worried expression on his face.

"Mikan-chan!" he said softly as he rushed over to the bed, "...how are you feeling?" Mikan smiled and shuffled back onto her bed, taking care over the arm she had in a sling in case she knocked it again and would have to scream the whole ward down… again.

"I'm fine, Ruka," she told him bravely. Although he still wore a concerned look on his face, and as he walked up to her bedside pressed the back of his hand against her flushed cheek.

"You're burning up," he murmured accusingly as she pulled away from his hand and rubbed one of the ends of the towel against her face.

"I'm okay," she repeated, "really, I am." Ruka looked like he didn't believe her and turned around to look for a nurse, but picking up on what he was trying to do Mikan shot a hand out to close over his.

"It's just a fever," she pleaded, "don't worry so much." Once more he was upset by how hot Mikan's palm felt against his skin, but eventually gave in and stepped back from the call button to sit down on a stool by the bed, keeping hold of her hand as he released an anxious breath.

After a while the sight of him looking so downcast (as if he was blaming himself personally for what had happened) became less than encouraging, and Mikan sighed and squeezed Ruka's hand.

"Is Natsume okay?" She questioned, "I don't really remember much of what happened. He isn't…?"

"He's holding on," Ruka answered unsteadily, "his body temperature has been running low, but they think he'll be alright." Chuckling quietly, as if to an inside joke, she shook Ruka's hand as if to scold him and cracked a grin.

"Of course he'll be okay, he's Natsume." Ruka fleetingly returned her smile and his doll-blue eyes lit up, like hearing her say it had some kind of magical effect on his best friend's health.

They returned to a comfortable silence again and Mikan started drifting off to sleep, however just as Ruka was about to ease his hand out of hers and slip out of the room to go back to Natsume she suddenly started up.

"Hotaru!" She squealed feebly as her teary eyes shot open and she nearly yanked Ruka straight off of his chair, "Ruka! Has she come to visit me? Hotaru? Was I asleep?" He stuttered and tried to think of a way around the question, until she whimpered and asked him again with tear-lined eyes.

"Imai-chan has been away on business…" he muttered awkwardly, flinching as he saw the hurt expression on Mikan's face.

"Oh," she said sadly, "I guess I forgot… where was it again?"

"America." He replied quickly, then after glancing at a clock on the wall stood up and eased Mikan back onto her bed, "But I let her know you were in here, Mikan-chan, so just rest and concentrate on getting better. I'll be back as soon as I hear from her." Mikan reluctantly let herself be leant back and allowed her grip on Ruka's hand to loosen.

"Okay," she sighed as he shifted his fingers free from her grip and surreptitiously wiped them dry of sweat on the bedsheet, "I suppose if you… say so, Ruka…" With that she was asleep, and Ruka quietly left the room to go and check on Natsume again.

Having the Alice of fire meant that Natsume was rarely ever cold, as he had both an instant heat supply at his fingertips and a warmer body core temperature than others. However, when he first woke up after the mission and found himself in a hospital bed, he couldn't help but notice he was shivering.

He had asked for more blankets from the nearest nurse, but they hadn't seemed to help, and even now in spite of the thermostat turned up to full, the electric heater and the four blankets wrapped around him, he still felt goosebumps on his arms and would suddenly break out into shivering fits.

"Natsume?" Ruka inquired softly as he stepped round the door, frowning at the pitiable sight of his friend wrapped up in blankets, "are you feeling any better?"

"Worse." The high-school student muffled through his blankets, "turn up the heat."

"It's already on full," Ruka informed him after consulting the thermostat, "would you like me to fetch a…" he was about to offer help when he was cut of again, only this time it was by a different person.

"Don't bother." He grunted, "how is she?" He didn't bother working around to the question as it had been him in the first place who suggested Ruka leave him alone for a while and check on Mikan.

"She has a fever, but seems to be cheerful." Ruka replied, and Natsume rolled his eyes in expectancy.

"Did she mention anything about what happened?" He demanded next, ignoring the slight awkwardness the question brought to Ruka.

"She… said…I-I… don't think she really remembers." Was the quiet reply, and with some shuffling of blankets Natsume managed to sit up and swing his legs off the bed.

Even if she couldn't remember what happened, he certainly did, and was not intending to let her go anywhere without knowing just what would happen to her if she were to dare trying anything like that again.

(And she hadn't given it back yet.)

"Wait, Natsume!" Ruka rushed forwards and caught Natsume's shoulders, pushing him back down onto the bed as he tried to stand, "what are you trying to do!"

"I need to talk to her." He muttered weakly, while his head span from the exertion of trying to stand too quickly and it send a wave of nausea to his stomach, "I need to…"

"You need to stay here, Natsume." Ruka said firmly without raising his hands from his padded shoulders: for once he was being stern even if it was only because he was concerned for his friend's health, "you can talk to Mikan-chan when you're well."

"No," Natsume hissed as he tried to force himself past Ruka, "now." He couldn't 'wait until he was well' because he knew he wouldn't be well until he got it back, and when Ruka left the room he'd already tried to use his Alice, and not being able to knew that she still had it.

Natsume tried to stand again and Ruka pushed him back down without hesitation; the very least he could do right now was at least make sure his closest friends managed to stay in their own beds. Only moments later another ice-cold sweat swept over Natsume, and he lost the sensation in his hands and feet as the nausea that had been growing in his stomach finally shot up and he gagged.

"Natsume?!" Ruka cried in surprise, sidestepping and pulling back from the edge of the bed to stop him falling, "Natsume!" the teenager slumped sideways and gagged again, a bitter and acidic taste burning the back of his throat as he could just about make out Ruka yelling desperately for a nurse.

Natsume threw up on the hospital floor just as Mikan unexpectedly went into hyperthermia, and Ruka was then suddenly torn in two by the sickened shape in his arms and the sound of urgent voices running down the corridor. This frenzy was only worsened by one of the nurses hurrying down the corridor stopping by Natsume's room to tell Ruka 'your little girl-friend's in trouble.'

"Please! Wait!" Ruka pleaded as he rolled Natsume onto his side, "He needs help!"

Natsume blinked the colours swimming across his vision away and managed to separate out Ruka's voice from all the other ones he was hearing, and then grabbing hold of his hand pushed it away and groaned, "find…Mikan…"

Squeezing Natsume's hand and realizing how dangerously cold it was, Ruka smashed a fist over the 'call for nurse' button for the fifth time and started rubbing his palms over Natsume's cold one.

"Natsume," he pleaded urgently, "can you hear me? Natsume? Natsume?!" Natsume Hyuga blacked out to the sound of a heart rate monitor flatlining and a burning sensation on one of his hands.


Luckily for all involved, Mikan and Natsume were revived without any lasting damage being effected on them; although the doctors were curious to know how both of them could be presenting such opposite conditions when they were reportedly found so close together: Paitents Hyuga with Hypothermia and Sakura with Heat Stroke.

Thankfully their survival of this close call was also some measure of good news for Ruka, who had been tormenting himself since Natsume lost consciousness and then nearly burst in on the doctors reviving Mikan in a despairing panic.

And although the two of them had slipped the noose this time, their condition did not seem to improve by much and it was decided that they should be moved to an intensive care unit, where upon the wishes of their near-constant visitor Ruka Nogi, they were placed in beds next to one another.

That night, they both slept through without waking: a first since they'd been brought to the hospital.


I put a lot of time into this as I mentioned before, so it would be really great if you could leave a review to let me know how much/how little you liked it.

It won't take 30 seconds of your time, so considering you read this far, be a love and review?