Author: Luchia, Coco, I have a lot of names in the internet

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, but this story is!

Genres: Angst, Fluff, a lot of Fluff and Hurt & Comfort
Rating: T, because Izumi swears (!) A lot. He's got a dirty mouth there. And adult situations (smoking, drinking alcohol, violence)

Prompt: Izumi's life before he became a teacher in Gakuen Alice.

Authors Note: It is indeed a fact that foreigners are not popular in Japan! I tried to portray Izumi as good as I could. I tried to imagine how I was as a teenager and from what others told me. It's up to us to change, but we can do so much better if there's someone who helps- Now up to the fanfiction :-)

Freedom

If there was one word to describe Yukihira Izumi then it was rebellious. His whole life, he did what he wanted to, what he thought he had to do, even if it meant making the lives of his parents considerable more difficult. When he turned 17 he joined a motorbike (motorcycle) gang, drove around, smoked, beat the hell out of some guys. Izumi probably made his own life more difficult than the one of his parents. They always treated him like a piece of shit, made him feel more at home with his gang than with them. Only interested in their own image. People told him he looked like his father. Some even said he had resemblance with his brother. But he didn't even have a brother. Izumi never had one and he has never seen photos of a brother in his parent's house. Why would they hide a son or did they abandon him, like they wanted to abandon him? If he really had a brother, what was he doing at this moment?

These thoughts only made him angrier. Either his parents or neighbours were wrong. Inventing a brother for him? Or hiding a son, because he may have been a failure? Izumi took out a cigarette, lightened it and began to smoke. This whole world was so fucked up. He hated everyone. Everyone was so wrong about everything. His anger built up inside, nowhere to be released. Except maybe on some cocky guys who dared to cross the line with him or were in his territory. Izumi had to fight with someone, anyone. It would've been quite stupid if he'd direct a punch at the wall like when he was a child. Only because some of the adults treated him like one didn't mean he was one. The people on the street were always looking at him with a face that said 'disgusting'. He would have thrown a punch at them if there weren't some children with them. As much as he hated the adults, the children couldn't do anything about them. It's not like he could chose his parents either. His blond hair made him exotic and it irritated the others. They all thought he was some punk who dyed his hair blond, but no Japanese had blue eyes. Izumi had always been different than the others. The looks and the personality. It was not like he even wanted to be like the rest of the world. If he did, then he would be dirty even pathetic. The whole world was nothing but pitiful. Instead of being themselves, they fit in the society, adjusted to the situation, too afraid people could judge them, hate them. But Izumi just didn't care anymore. If the others thought he had to fit in, he'd show them that he was a free soul. Someone without restrictions, without limits, someone with a free will who sets up his own rules.

At home, Izumi was never quite welcome. His father was always so angry. He seemed hysterical, he always yelled at him and sometimes at his mother. This old man was a failure, a loser who couldn't control himself.

One day Izumi was going crazy because of school, so he threw plates around the house in an act of rage. He had hurt his hands, his feet by just wandering on the shards. Strangely enough he didn't feel any pain. His feet were numb, so were his hands after a while. When his father came home, he had felt a lot of pain, more than from the shards. It was so very painful because at this point he could not fight back, could only look at the old man with hate evident in his eyes.

Perhaps he could find a family or love. A love who won't judge him only because of his appearance. This was his only dream to find people who loved him the way he was and who he could love. Inside him he had so much love to give but these feelings were only for someone special. He would never give his heart to some girl who he didn't love or who didn't love him.

No matter what he was determined to find this special person.

Chapter 1

"Hey man, where were you the whole time? We were waiting for you!" They were his so-called "friends". They would never be friends. Just a few problematic teenagers, hanging out, beating up some people who were cocky and maybe steal some money to have a smoke. His old man never cared anyway and his mother was often too busy with other things. Who cared about them? He surely didn't nor was anyone else. At least some people will remember him even if it is only for the trouble he caused. They all will be remembered. But who except him would know his parents after they died? They were nice people, but that was not good enough for society. They always wanted more and more and still more.

"Hey, guys what are we gonna do tonight?"

"Playing some games in an arcade or stealing some snacks from a store? I bet the shop owner will get wet from fear!" The teenager laughed loudly at something that would seem cruel to others. Not them. Not him.

"Sounds nice." Another night someone would remember his face, his voice. Even in his nightmares. Izumi had the upper hand in this game over the adults. They'd show them what was really useless. Not them. They were the only garbage in Japan. Thinking they were all that, thinking they could get away from justice. This gang was justice. They weren't doing anything bad, they just fought for equality.

"Hey, you stupid brats, you can't just take the good without paying f-" One of his gang kicked the counter hard.

"Shut up, old hag! Who cares what you're saying? You wanna get some good beating?" The elder woman retreated scared but still angry. If this continued, she won't be able to leave this store unharmed. Not like it was his hobby to hurt women or children but if she was going to get in their way, he knew his gang members would not leave it unpunished.

"You still have complaints, hag? You're so quiet now!" His gang members went out of the store, packing various alcohol bottles, cola and snacks on their way while laughing. The woman muttered something like "damn delinquents" but let them be.

There was a parking lot nearby they stopped to mix their drinks with cola.

"Did you see her face? Too bad it was only an old hag. Would have been interesting with a young girl." Izumi didn't care about their conversation. Even if it was a young girl, they wouldn't have done anything to her. It was not their style. Maybe a bit of teasing with words but these guys were too uncertain to try to molest her. The gang members were jealous because the women kept coming to Izumi if there were any bold enough to come to him.

"Tsk. The girls only like Izumi because he looks like a foreigner!"

"Idiot. Which girl likes foreigners? They're not popular. Japanese men are!" So, the conversation led to this? Whatever. Izumi looked up to the clear sky. The moon was very big and bright tonight. This is why he loved to go out by night. The fresh air. The dark only illuminated by the moon. Izumi was not exactly a romantic kind of guy (but he had his moments). It was only his way of escaping the reality.

"Earth to Izumi~" Izumi looked to his gang members.

"It's boring and we should get going. Drank too much. You're going home too? Or do you want to stay out?"

"Going to sleep", he said lazily. Going to sleep meant not at home. The worthless home where he had no place. Here in Japan were enough subways where he could sleep on a bench.

This city was boring. Now if he were to go to a big city like Tokyo… No one would deplore his strange blond hair or his blue eyes there. All people from Tokyo were fancy, blond hair were nothing. Tokyo was special, not only the people, but also the buildings.

The so-called "Alice Academy" was quite a cool school, he heard. A school for talented, intelligent children. He had seen a picture of this school once. The school was just like a little city. If only he had a talent or a bit of intelligence then he could also be… a man who could be proud of what he achieved. Izumi could change things like this. Not only scaring a few insignificant people but really change everything.

That would be nice…

TBC