Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not, and will never belong to me. Boohoo. :(

Chapter One

London, 1890

I slowly wheel my wheelchair through the bustling crowd as I head towards the bakery that my family owns. I ignore the stares, being handicapped causes me to attract a lot of attention, and the fact that I own a contraption that no one in this era does is of no help.

I reach the bakery without much difficulty, I'm used to having to ferry myself to different places. My parents may love me, my siblings may coddle me far too often, but they are all too caught up in the business to have the extra time to take me to all the places I want to go.

Sometimes I feel guilty. Simply because I am born with this illness, I get to escape everything that everyone else finds impossible to escape. I don't have to work, and everyone gives me unconditional love because they feel that they have to do so.

They don't have to. I dislike being coddled, and I especially hate when everyone seems to think that I am still a child. Being eighteen years old, I am hardly a child anymore. If I were a normal girl, I would be married by now, perhaps not to nobility, but at least a decent man with a decent job.

I push the door open, and the bell attached to it jingles, sounding wondrous to my ears. The sound of the bells always remind me of the fact that I'm returning home to my family.

"Mikan, dear, where did you run off to again?" My mother's face is kind and unassuming and she takes hold of my wheelchair and pushes me behind the counter full of pastries. I smile at her as widely as I can manage to. I have to do so, or she might think that I am unhappy because of my situation. I am not. I am loved, and that's more than I could ever ask for.

Especially now, when I have an actual chance to get better, to walk again. I feel happier than I have ever been before.

"I was at the theatre, Mother, the play today was fantastic!" My mother smiles patiently at me as she waits for me to tell her about my day. It's our daily routine, I tell her about my day, and she, in turn, will tell me about hers. I bite my lip nervously and continue, "But it is not merely that, Mother. Hotaru came for a visit today. I met her out in the streets."

Hotaru is my friend. It might seem unbelievable, but I swear that I'm not lying when I say that she comes from the future. Hotaru lives in a world that's extremely different from mine. It's the year 2080 where she lives, and Hotaru is a really amazing girl. She cusses a lot, which is extremely unladylike, in my opinion, but she's really smart. She makes things out of nothing, and she has this 'machine' she calls the time travel machine. She uses it to come to our time and study our culture. In reality, Hotaru is a scientist.

I first met Hotaru in the most uncanny of ways, her machine landed right in the middle of our garden, and at that time I was the only one home. I was really shocked at first, but I warmed up to her really quickly. Hotaru might seem unfeeling and cold, but I am certain that she has a soft spot for me, she doesn't flog me nearly as often as she does Tsubasa, my brother.

"What did Hotaru bring for you this time, then?" My mother asks with genuine interest. Hotaru always brings interesting things for me from the future, and my family is rather taken with the presents she brings me. It's actually pretty unbelievable, how much humans can improve within the span of a few centuries.

I suck my cheeks in, hardly able to contain my own excitement and hope. "She said that she might be able to find a cure for me. She wants me to go back with her." I watch my mother's face carefully as it displays a range of emotions, from surprise to worry to that hopeful expression that I'm sure I have on my face right now.

"Is that right? She might be able to cure you? By going back with her, you mean..."

"To the future, Mother. May I go?" I interlock my fingers and start playing with them anxiously as I wait for an answer. There always might be the chance that my mother would not allow me to go, for even I could hardly believe that a cure for my illness could exist. I have seen more doctors than my family is able to afford, but none of them have been able to aid me in anything.

My mother watches me for a long while before her expression clears. "I will worry for you, sweetheart, all of us will. But if it means that you will be able to live the life that you have always wanted to live, then I give you the permission to go, and my blessings as well. God knows you have suffered enough, child. I will try anything if only for you to regain your health."

I feel my eyes fill with tears as I regard my mother. I love her so much, I do. She has been nothing but loving towards me. "Thank you," I say fervently as I clasp her hands in mine, "I'll come back healthy, I promise."

I am a little fidgety when I finally board Hotaru's time machine, partly because she has never allowed me anywhere near it before, and partly because I cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that I am going to the future. I, Mikan Sakura. I don't think I'll fit in the future very well.

I look at Hotaru as she works with some controls, preparing for our take-off. She's wearing that expression that isn't really an expression at all, so I'm unable to fathom what she is thinking. It's hard to even guess an inkling of what Hotaru thinks or feels, so I often wonder how her boyfriend comprehends her. Sometimes I pity him, but then again sometimes I am fiercely jealous of him for having such a genius for a girlfriend. Hotaru says his name is Ruka Nogi, and I cannot wait to meet him.

I think about a lot of things as Hotaru prepares, but I do know that all I am doing is running away. I am afraid, gravely afraid. I'm scared that I might not be able to return alive, that all this hope is for nothing. I haven't felt so hopeful before in my entire eighteen years of life, and I'm afraid of getting hurt – of getting let down by my own hopes and dreams.

"Ow," I whine as Hotaru flicks her finger on my forehead. I know it's going to bruise. Everything that Hotaru does, she does with deadly precision and strength, and I doubt that this is going to be different.

"Don't think so much, idiot," Hotaru mutters flatly, "your brain can't take that much thinking."

I scowl before I realize that it's awfully unladylike to do so.

Then I smile, because I know that Hotaru does care for me, even if she likes to show it through abusing me.

The experience of time travelling is hardly pleasant at all. It makes me wonder how Hotaru endures it. When we finally set off, the machine lurches forward so violently that my head would have hit the roof if Hotaru had not strapped me down to my seat securely before.

The machine spins and turns, lurches and jerks, and all I feel like doing is emptying my stomach on floor, but I refrain from doing so because I know I won't survive Hotaru's wrath.

When we finally arrive I find that I can't feel my arms and legs at all. I never was able to feel my legs, but even my arms have gone numb from the unpleasant experience, and my head is still spinning, even though we're not moving anymore.

Hotaru lifts the latch of the machine and purses her lips at me before stepping out, as if not pleased at my incompetence. Hotaru herself doesn't seem very affected by the time travelling.

I wheel myself out slowly, and then the magnificence that is the year 2080 hits me in the gut so strongly I almost move backward.

It is a beautiful place, and everything is white. It almost looks too clean because of the lack of colours, and there doesn't seem to be many trees in this place. There are many artificial ones, but I don't spot any real ones at all.

"Hurry up, idiot," Hotaru calls from some distance in front of me. "Hyuuga's not going to be too happy to be kept waiting. We're already late."

"Sorry," I mumble as I hurry to catch up with her footsteps, all the while still admiring the scenery – or lack of – in this place. It looks majestic, despite the lack of nature.

Hotaru leads me into a pure white building which looks exactly the same as all the other buildings in this world, and I follow, starting to feel uneasy.

All of a sudden, I feel apprehensive about what this trip could mean for me. It's a matter of life and death, I know. I've been running away from the possibility of me actually dying for so long now, and coming here with Hotaru means that I have to face up to that fact. I'm so scared that I don't think I can smile like I normally do.

But I have to. I won't have people sympathizing and worrying for me simply because I cannot control my emotions.

Inside the building, everything is smooth and shiny, and a large group of people is in wait of us. I start to feel the urgency and move faster, coming to a stop beside Hotaru as she talks to the leader of the group, a white-haired, balding man of around sixty. He turns and smiles at me kindly after shooting Hotaru a dirty look, "Welcome, dear, we have been waiting for you." I smile at him, and he gestures at a tall figure behind him. "He will be in charge of your case. There's no need to worry, dear, he's the best of the best, requested by Miss Imai here herself. You'll be in good hands."

I briefly wonder why he's trying so hard to reassure me, but then I look towards the figure – right into eyes the colour of blood. My mouth falls open a little. I've never seen eyes of that colour before.

And he doesn't look very pleased to see me. In fact, I've never seen anyone who looks as disagreeable as he does. He looks as if he would like to butcher me and cook me for dinner. I shiver a little at his strong, commanding, and utterly cold presence.

Then I remember my manners and smile brightly at him, picking up the ends of my skirt and bowing my head even though I know I can't curtsy. Not in this state.

He scowls at me as I say, "It is an honour to meet you, sir."

The old man elbows the red-eyed man and answers for him, "This is Natsume Hyuuga, dear. He graduated from our most prestigious science academy at the age of twenty, he's nothing short of a genius, if not incredibly ill-mannered and bad tempered..." he adds under his breath.

Natsume Hyuuga sends the man a look that could actually possibly kill.

He looks at me again and I feel weirdly flustered. He's really pretty, with pale skin and tousled raven hair. He might even be prettier than some of the women I have seen.

I manage another smile, and his scowl comes back on his face. "Don't smile if you don't mean it. I hate hypocrites." His voice is deep and gravelly, what the women in my time would consider as incredibly sexual and appealing, but what gets me are his words.

My smile falters and then drops off my face altogether. "I'm not -"

He snorts. "Are you going to deny it? You're positively quaking. You're scared to death. You're so fucking scared that you're going to die. Those fake, hypocritical smiles that you plaster on your face only serve to make the people who know you more worried. Simply because you wish to hide from your problems, you're selfishly adding on to other people's problems."

I just know my mouth is open now, I can't seem to find my tongue. It's as if everything is frozen in time. Only it isn't, because he continues to talk, every single word that comes out of his mouth like a knife that stabs me hard in the chest.

His eyes hold mine unwaveringly and he adds, "You're nothing but a little brat who acts to run away from her problems, aren't you?"

My lips are dry and my throat is tight. I want to scream at him. I want to forget all the etiquette lessons that I have received since young. I just want to grab his collar and call him all the dirty words that I have heard my brother saying. But I can't.

Because I know he's right.

A/N: I completely changed the format of this story, huh? Anyway, Timeless is back! For all of you who are interested. I read some historical novels and tried my very best to make Mikan more realistic this time, and I have the outline of how I want this story to go now, so here's the first chapter for all of you! :)