This story is set when Natsume is 6 years old, which means he hasn't met Ruka yet.

Natsume woke up only to find his dad and little sister still sleeping on the floor next to him. He lazily pulled the comforter up over his head. Daddy was snoring really loudly. Natsume bent his knees making a space between himself and the comforter.

I can't let daddy find out that I'm using it – Natsume thought as he gathered his hands in front of him.

Natsume made a small flame inside his hands, careful not to burn his comforter. The little flame lit the space up and Natsume stared into the bright red fire.

His dad had said not to use his Alice because he had the forth type of Alice, the one were every time you use your Alice you pay for it with your life. But Natsume did it anyway, sometimes, just for practice. Mommy had said to him that he should protect daddy and his little sister, so he needed to practice it.

Natsume stopped using his Alice and reached up to touch the necklace around his neck. He never took it off; his mother had given it to him. Daddy had told him that it was an Alice stone that was on the end of the chain, and he had taught him how to use it. He only needed to wish to be healed and he would be.

His dad moved, so Natsume hurried and pretended to be asleep. He squinted and saw that daddy was sitting up; he quickly closed his eyes as his dad looked over at him.

"He looks so much like his mother…" Daddy whispered. Then he reached out and caressed Natsume's cheek. Natsume opened his eyes slowly and pretended as though he had just woken up. He rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning." Daddy smiled and then went over to wake Aoi.

Aoi quickly got up and jumped around smiling. Natsume followed her with his eyes. She quickly came over to him and tugged his comforter away from him. Natsume groaned and got to his feet. He chased his sister until he caught her and the started tickling her. Soon Aoi's laughing could be heard all over the house.

"Come on you two, breakfast!" Daddy yelled from the kitchen.

Aoi hurried towards the kitchen while Natsume followed slowly behind.

Natsume slowly walked into the clearing. He had found it some months ago while they were playing hide and seek in the forest beside their house. He now used it as a place where he could practice using his Alice without daddy noticing. Him and Aoi had gone to town to shop so Natsume was home alone for a couple of hours.

Natsume took a deep breath, he was a little afraid of his Alice because he hadn't learned to control it completely yet. He could quickly burn the whole forest down if he didn't concentrate. Natsume held his hands out before him and made a flame in them with his Alice. Bit by bit he made the flame larger until it was a fireball in his hands. Then he sent it flying towards a tree and absorbed it just before it hit the tree.

Natsume did this a couple of other times until he was panting from effort. He sighed and then started to head home again, so he would be back before his dad and Aoi.

"I think we found something interesting." He said.

"An Alice user outside the Alice academy, and his Alice is strong for someone his age. This is indeed interesting. Let us contact the boss, we'll earn a lot of money for this." The other answered and fished his phone up from his pocket. He dialed the number and held the phone up to his ear.

"Hello boss. We found something interesting."

Natsume walked back to the house, as he went up the hill he saw that his dad was standing there waiting for him. Natsume panicked inside when he saw his dad standing there with his arms crossed. Natsume slowed down and reluctantly walked the last few meters.

He's going to scold me – Natsume thought.

"Where were you Natsume?" Daddy asked.

I can't let him find out, he will stop me

"I was just going for a walk." Natsume lied and smiled. Daddy stared at him trying to figure out if he was lying or not.

At last he sighed loudly and turned around. "You worried me. Come on we bought strawberries." They walked together up to the house. Natsume happily slid his hand into his dads.

Aoi sat smiling at the table and waited for them with a strawberry in each hand.

"Come on Natsume lets see who gets up there first!" Daddy said and let go of his hand. He positioned himself to run.

Natsume did the same and said, "one… two… three… Go!" Natsume made a move to run as his dad took off. Natsume stopped and smirked as he saw his dad racing himself up the hill.

Idiot.

Natsume walked slowly after his dad not listening to Aoi or his dad complaining about how he was no fun and a lot of things like that.

They sat there in the sun eating strawberries. Suddenly Aoi pulled a face as she got a bitter strawberry into her mouth. After that she refused to eat any more.

Daddy had always said that he looked and acted like his mother, but Natsume couldn't compare himself to her because he could only remember a few memories with her. One of them was when she gave him the Alice stone.

Another was when she told him to protect his little sister and dad.

FLASHBACK

He remembered his mom had had tears streaming down her cheeks when she said it. He didn't know why she cried, so he didn't know what to do. Natsume has reached up and stroked the tears off her cheeks and said 'pain pain go away' like mom had always said when he or Aoi were hurt. His mom smiled back at him and laughed, soon they were twirling around dancing until suddenly his mom had fallen to her knees coughing.

"What's wrong Mommy?" He had asked her confused, and then he ran into his dad's room. "Daddy something's wrong with Mommy."

As soon as Natsume had said that his dad had stormed out of the room into the living room and knelt beside Mommy.

"Kaoru darling, hang in there." Daddy said worried.

"Not… In front… of Natsume…" Mommy whispered between coughs. Natsume had to strain his ears to hear what she was saying.

Daddy looked at him, "Natsume can you please go check on Aoi?"

Natsume confused went to Aoi's room; she was lying in her crib in the far end of the room. She was sleeping peacefully. Natsume stayed there for a couple of minutes until the coughing stopped. Then he slowly went back into the living room. Mommy wasn't there but he came in time to see his dad throw a bloody tissue in the garbage bin.

"Mommy?" Natsume asked.

"She's sleeping a little. We have to be careful not to wake her." Daddy held his hand towards Natsume, he took it and they walked hand in hand to Aoi's room where daddy read a story for Natsume.

END OF FLASHBACK

His mother had been killed in a car-crash just weeks after that.

It was weird to be compared to his mom all the time, but it was almost as if you could see a gist of pain flash across daddy's face when Natsume reminded him a bit too much about Mommy.

There was sometimes when Natsume would catch daddy crying after mommy's death, but almost every time daddy had wiped his tears away when he saw that Natsume was looking and then just smile like nothing had happened. Sometimes Natsume had woken to the sound of his father crying secretly in the middle of the night, but he wouldn't open his eyes. He wouldn't show that he was awake because if he did he knew that daddy would just wipe his tears and smile again like nothing had happened.

That's why he would protect daddy and Aoi in place of mommy. It was something she had believed he could do. He had already been kidnapped once, the memory wasn't pleasant but somehow that had made him realize that he had to train to be able to protect them.

"Natsume?" Daddy's voice woke him from his daze, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." He said and smiled. He took another strawberry and listened to his dad and Aoi talking.