A brunette stood in front of a familiar sakura tree, seeming to absorb the soft moonlight as it fell upon her ever pale skin. Her eyes were closed, but her hands moved around as if in a familiar ritual. She pinned her hair up into a bun and shifted her weight to grab a silver-purple mask at her feet. Still not opening her eyes, she put the mask on slowly, letting it rest on her face. The mask was intricately decorated with beads and snowflakes. It was the image of beauty. It drew a line to match perfectly with her pale skin, starting from her forehead and ending right before the tip of her nose. With slits cut into it for her eyes, she opened her eyes again. An unfriendly ice blue greeted whoever was unlucky enough to look into those eyes. Surprisingly, they seemed to be dead inside. Her mouth set in a determined line and her eyes blazing with anger, she shot up from the ground where she stood to dodge a bullet and to head to her destination-that night's mission. Gracefully sliding and slipping through the slick forest, she seemed to spar with an invisible opponent. Icicles came out from nowhere, almost striking her forehead, but she backflipped just in time to avoid the almost fatal hit. Before backflipping, she seemed to touch her opponent slightly, and her hand seemed to glow a light yellow for a moment. However, her serenity lasted only for a few seconds at most. Rage etched onto all of her features, she threw all her power in the form of death into the man's face. He crumpled down to the forest's mossy floor, dead. Seemingly tired, the brunette's eyes were now a soft hazel brown again. "All done," a voice like wind chimes sighed. She picked up the man easily and loped with a steady pace back to the academy grounds.

"Silver Tiger, is your mission completed?" a cold voice came from a dark corner of the seemingly empty room. "Yes," she whispered, eyes still brown. "Good, now go and get some rest," the man with the white mask said, his eyes softening a bit. "Okay," was her cool reply as she disappeared. 'Mikan, couldn't you forget?' the man thought as he too disappeared. The tired Mikan collapsed on her special star bed. Of course, on the outside it appeared to be a 1 star room, considering how no one was supposed to know that she was now working for the academy-willingly, seeing how much damage the AAO did to the academy and it's students. As she closed her eyes for a deep sleep, unwanted images flickered in the back of her subconsciousness. As her brow furrowed in an attempt to sleep, a dream began making its way into her brain.

Dream..

The raven-haired boy was smiling at her, a gentle smile only meant for the two of them on top of the sakura tree. It flashed to another scene of her life. It was one of grief and sadness, when one of their close friends had died against the AAO. Poor Koko. She would miss the mind-reader. At least she had something to remember him by; something she had taken from him without his noticing-or his permission. She lifted her hand to gaze at it, remembering the way he had fainted after she had copied his alice. She smiled sadly at the memory, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. A comforting hand patted her shoulder, and as she turned around, she caught sight of familiar red eyes before she collapsed on his chest, sobbing. Another, a happy memory. All of them gathered around a round table with a cake with 18 candles on them, stating that it was someone's birthday. She watched and smiled as Hotaru looked happy in her own way as everyone reluctantly forked over envelopes full of money as a birthday present. She was crying in joy. Then there was the memory that the deepest parts of her brain refused to accept; even thought her subconciousness already knew the truth of it all. She seemed detached from her own body as she watched the dreaded scene from far, far above. She watched as her own self crawled toward the mounds of tattered bodies and the person in front of the small hills. Natsume… He had glared at her with cold, dark eyes. Then, as she watched, he lifted a hand and shot flames… "Natsume…" was the only thing that could escape from her lips as she fainted into the darkness and comfortable arms. What she had missed though, was when he turned, kicking a body, but crying in the process. He bit his lip as a tear slipped down his cheek. Then he walked away.