A/N: Hey guys! Hitomi here I noticed a dwindling number of Gakuen Alice fanfictions, and so I decided that I would write one. Gakuen Alice was one of the first mangas I ever read, and it holds a dear place in my heart, and I hope that you all enjoy it as well. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

Natsume was no stranger to rain. It was constantly there, comforting him silently while he would stare down at the people walking outside, oblivious to anything but themselves. Natsume squinted his eyes at them, frustration pooling in his gut as he thought about their ignorance. This summer felt different from the previous ones to him, and he assumed that it would feel like this forever. Ever since that case, he could never go back to normal. He took a long, deserved drag of his cigarette, smoke drifting around him as he exhaled. Natsume wasn't a smoker. Well, at least, not until recently.

He heard the clumping of heavy boots heading towards him and unwillingly crushed his cigarette in the ash tray near him. He prepared himself for the annoying lecture he knew was coming his way. Sighing, he heard the door swing open as his boss stormed in.

"Hyuuga, what did I tell you about smoking inside?"

"Not to."

"So then why don't you explain what exactly you're doing?"

"It's raining again today." He responded nonchalantly. Persona sighed. Walking closer to Natsume, his boots echoing throughout the break room.

"Hyuuga, you're my best detective. I can't accept you sitting here all day being melancholic like a teenage girl." Natsume frowned disapprovingly.

"Persona, don't compare me to a girl." He responded whilst getting up from the window, stretching from side to side. "What do you need from me?"

Persona grinned slightly, looking amused. This was a red flag, but Natsume ignored it and waited for him to speak up. "We have a new team member coming today. An intern from Tokyo University."

Natsume was slightly confused. "And how am I related to this?" His question resulted in Persona's grin doubling in size.

"She's your new partner." Natsume froze. Partner? He didn't need a new partner. And a girl? He didn't want to have to be responsible for some little girl out on the field, or in general. He was perfectly fine on his own.

"Persona, we've talked about this. I told you I don't need, or want-"

"Hyuuga. Don't fight me on this decision. She's good, smart. She'll be useful." Even though he said this, Persona seemed to be hiding something. Natsume glared.

"If she does one thing wrong- I swear to God, Persona- if she gets in my way, she's gone. Or I'll raise hell in headquarters." Natsume didn't do empty threats. If this girl was a nuisance, he wouldn't hold back.

Persona sighed. "Alright calm down, no need to throw a tantrum. Just come to me if something serious happens, though I doubt it will." Persona waved him off. Natsume grunted, unhappy with his response but unable to do anything.

"Come on grumpy, she's going to be here soon, and she seems most excited to meet you, of all people." Natsume reluctantly followed along, glancing out the window one last time before shutting the door. As they walked down the hallway, the sound of people talking grew louder and louder the closer they got to the main room. Natsume's head started to hurt the moment he heard the shrill voice of Luna Koizumi, the secretary, telling another detective about whatever she did last night. Natsume could only hope to God that whoever this new girl was, she wasn't someone like Luna.

Natsume and Persona stopped at Natsume's desk, both ignoring the greetings given by their coworkers. Natsume sat down in his chair, reaching his arms behind is back casually before looking Persona over.

"You really think some university kid is good enough to be my partner, especially as an intern?" Natsume knew that Persona would never let someone so young, so inexperienced, on the team so easily. There had to be something special.

"Yes, and she'll benefit you more so than any other detective or officer. Here's her information, if you're curious." Natsume eyed the file that Persona dropped in front of him before walking away, not sure if he wanted to open it or not. After a few minutes of staring at it, he decided that he was just a little interested in knowing about this kid that Persona seems to like.

He grabbed the file and opened it slowly, first greeted by the face of a girl. The girl. His new partner. Mikan Sakura, is her name. As much as he hated to admit it, she was pretty. Very pretty. Not that he would ever tell her, or anyone for that matter. She wasn't smiling in the picture, but her brown eyes seemed to be sparkling with drive and passion. Wait. When did Natsume ever describe someone's eyes as 'sparkling'? Shutting the folder quickly and tossing it to the other end of his desk, he quickly tried to convince himself it was just a trick of the light. He decided that knowing her name and what she looked like was enough for him.

He began skimming over the files of cases that he was currently working on, sighing as he realized that he would now have to work on these alongside someone else. Long gone were his days of peaceful solving.

After around twenty minutes passed before he heard Persona's loud footsteps once more, yet this time they were accompanied by smaller, more delicate clicks. Natsume had a feeling it was none other than Mikan Sakura who was with him. Glancing at his reflection on his computer screen and messing his hair up a bit before he was satisfied, Natsume closed the case he was looking at and turned around. Heads turned as Persona walked in with his new partner, confused as to who exactly this girl was. Natsume doubted that Persona cared to tell anyone other than himself that someone was joining them. Granted, this girl didn't really look like the type to join their crime unit. Standing next to Persona at around 5'2", she was petite and delicate looking. Her hair was a light brown that reached her waist, and she wore a big yet nervous smile on her face. She looked far too innocent to be here in Natsume's mind. He doubted she would last more than two or three cases with him.

Persona cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention before gesturing to the girl next to him. "Everyone, I would like to introduce you to our new intern, Mikan Sakura. She is graduating from Tokyo University soon, and this is her trial period during which headquarters will be deciding whether or not she will be staying with us. Whatever is the case, I would like you to all give her a warm welcome and to help her along for her first week in understanding how everything works here. Oh, and she's also Natsume's new partner." It was silent for a bit as everyone turned to look at Natsume, trying to gauge his reaction to the news they were never expecting to hear. Natsume stared back at them, not really sure what he was supposed to do about it.

"Hello! I am Mikan Sakura. I am 22 years old. I hope we will all get along during my time here. Um, nice to meet you!" The girl finally spoke, and Natsume decided that her voice was airy and reminded him of bells. She sounded just as pretty as she looked. She looked around the room expectantly for a little while before a few people began greeting her after getting over their initial shock. Natsume had yet to reveal and introduce himself to her, but he oddly felt a bit insecure. If Persona had told him earlier, maybe he would've dressed a bit nicer than his usual attire. He would've shaved too; his scruff was a little dirty looking. Not that he wanted to impress her or anything, of course, he just thought first impressions were important.

While he was thinking to himself, he failed to notice that Persona and the girl had slowly been making their way towards him. Looking up, he realized that the girl was shyly looking at him while holding out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Hyuuga-san. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to work alongside you and learn from you!" She chirped out with a smile on her face, though it fell from her face when Natsume answered.

"Hn."

Discouraged slightly, she slowly lowered her hand before laughing quietly at herself. Persona just glared at Natsume and patted her back to reassure her.

"Now, Sakura-san, don't mind this brat here. He's just moody this morning for who knows what. Can you believe he's a grown 24-year-old man?" Natsume just glared back at Persona as he snickered, his new partner blushing slightly while trying to hide her giggles.

"At least I'm not a man in my thirties who still goes by some dumb nickname from high school." Natsume knew he fucked up the moment after he said that, especially after he saw Persona's face morph into anger.

"Natsume. Don't make me give you desk work to do instead of cases. Imai-san will hear about this." And with that Persona walked away, leaving Natsume and his partner alone. Shit. Hotaru Imai, the head of his division who works up at headquarters, was already unhappy with him. Massaging his head in an effort to stop his oncoming headache, he heard a small voice next to him.

"Hyuuga-san? Do you need some medicine?" She asked, holding out two little pills and some water to him. He had forgotten she was watching him for a second. Clearing his throat, he nodded and took the items from her.

"Thanks. You can sit at the desk next to me. Today we'll just look through these cases and enter their details into the system before deciding what order to work on them." She happily nodded, quickly darting around his chair to grab the desk to his right. Natsume divided the stack into halves and set one pile on her desk before turning around and beginning to work. Sakura hummed happily while working diligently, and Natsume was grateful to not have to do all of the paper work by himself.

Maybe having a partner wouldn't be so bad.

A/N: That's the end of the first chapter! Thanks for reading everyone I'm planning on updating this story anywhere between 1~2 weeks at a time, so if you're interested please follow! Also, please review and let me know what you liked and what I can improve on. I appreciate you taking the time to read this story, and I hope you all have a great day! - Hitomi