The Price of Laughter
AN: Gasp… I am actually attempting to write a Gakuen Alice fanfiction. What has the world come to?
Let me know if either of them are out of character.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. All characters belong to Ms. Tachibana Higuchi.
The first time he laughed in Alice Academy, he surprised himself. His abdomen went in, a snort of breath escaped his mouth, and before he could control himself, his shoulders were shaking.
The sensation of his mouth stretching across his face was a little foreign. His cheeks immediately began to complain, and he let the smile drop after a few minutes. But it didn't escape Luca's attention. Nothing ever did.
He reached out a hand to help his best friend into the branches of the tree. Luca scrambled up, his legs swinging as he adjusted himself on the branch. For a few minutes, they stared ahead together, enveloped in a comfortable silence.
Then Luca spoke. "This laughter… I can thank Sakura for this laughter."
It was not a question, and therefore did not require an answer. Natsume remained silent.
Luca sighed. There was a time, he remembered, when Natsume laughing was not all that uncommon. He rubbed his hand across his face as he recalled the three of them, together, laughing.
Natsume rubbed one finger across the rough bark, almost thoughtfully.
"I will protect Sakura," Luca added, stilling his swinging legs. "So that Natsume's smile will never fade again."
One corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. How like Luca, to be so astute.
It was strange, Natsume mused, how that irritating brown-haired girl had forcefully pushed her way into his life and changed it so dramatically.
There was a price to this new life, though. Both of them knew it. In exchange for the ability to laugh again, Natsume knew what he had to do.
It wasn't hard. He'd made the decision to protect Mikan Sakura a long time ago.
AN: Tweaking of situation in chapter 71.
Well, at least I can say I tried!
282 words.