A/N: Welcome

This will be a relatively short fic, I'm aiming for about three chapters, maybe four. It is mostly written and I only need to decide on the final scenes so it will definitely be completed.
I have not much else to say, so on with the fic!

Connected

Chapter 1: Acceptance

"Hello? Yes. What?! No…are you sure? Okay, then. Thank you for letting me know,"

Sakura looked to her father as he sighed and ran a hand through his hear, dropping the phone back onto the receiver.
"Father, what's wrong?" Sakura asked with concern.

"Sakura," he began slowly, "Your grandfather's very ill,"

"Jii-chan? Is he going to be alright?" Sakura asked with worry.

Her father shook his head again, "He's in hospital. Apparently he's very weak and very sick. He doesn't have much longer to live. Maybe a month?" Sakura's face paled and her eyes grew wide.

She leapt up from her seat, "What?! But I've never even gotten to meet Jii chan! He can't die yet! We have to…"

"Sakura, calm down,"

Sakura took a deep breath. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had always pictured her grandfather as a strict, but healthy old man, refined and strong as an ox. Then something occurred to her, "Why did the hospital call us?"

"We are apparently next of kin, since your mother's sister and her husband passed away,"

Jii chan was her mother's father but because of Nadeshiko's marriage to Fujitaka (Sakura's father), Jii chan had severed ties with her. She had only recently found out about Jii chan and had been sending him letters and flowers on Valentines day as well as his birthday. Jii chan, however had two daughters; Nadeshiko and Yuka. The sisters had never been very close, but Sakura knew that Yuka had a daughter; her cousin.

"But…but…what about my cousin, Mikan?"

"That's part of what's making him sick. Apparently your cousin has disappeared. A nurse from the hospital called to tell me that his heart is breaking down,"

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, "Mikan disappeared? Was she kidnapped? Why haven't we heard of this?!"

"Sakura, honey, you need to breathe. According to the nurse, your grandfather has been muttering nothing but, 'Gakuen Alice stole my granddaughter, give her back!' for the past week,"

"I knew it! Mikan loved Jii chan! She wouldn't just leave him! And even if she went to a new school, I'm sure she would do everything she could to at least write him a letter," Sakura remembered the letters Jii chan had sent her, which included pictures of him with his beloved grand-daughter and stories about their fun times. He often described her as a happy, fun loving girl and Sakura had a framed picture of the two of them on her night stand, next to a picture of her mother. She had been happy for them and wished that she could visit and meet them both, but it was starting to look like an impossible dream.

"That's what I thought. But apparently the school is very restrictive and won't let her write. Sakura, your grandfather might not see Mikan before he dies,"

Sakura could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, then she sniffled, "Something's not right," Sakura said, furrowing her brow, "I'm going to go get Mikan. I'm not going to let poor Jii chan die without seeing his beloved granddaughter!"

"Sakura…" her father saw that she was more than determined to go. He sighed, "Okay. Just be careful, alright?"

"Thanks, Dad! I'll have Mikan back before you know it!"

Sakura stood before two large wrought iron gates. She looked to they boy next to her with determination on her face.

"So this is the place, Eriol kun?" she asked.

"Yup," the boy nodded.

"Oh, this is going to be so cool! A jailbreak! I've got your outfit all prepared, Sakura chan!" a girl with long violet hair squealed, a camcorder glued to her eye.

"Tomoyo, really? This isn't the right place for that," A boy with shaggy brown hair admonished.

"Nonsense, Li! Every place is the right place to make my Sakura chan cute!" She said lightly.

"Sorry, Tomoyo chan, but I'm going to have to agree with my cute little descendent. We're supposed to fit in," Eriol said. Li growled something about 'not being your 'cute' descendent, dammit!'.

Sakura stood watching her friends bantering and arguing about outfits. She smiled; it was just like old times.

"You guys," she said, "Thanks for coming. I know this must be a huge burden to you but…"

"Oh, Sakura, I'd never let you do this alone! Think of all the great footage I'd be missing out on!" Tomoyo giggled.

"Do not worry, Sakura chan, I've been wanting to visit this place for a while. It wasn't much trouble," Eriol smiled.

"I'm not letting you break into a high-tech government research facility alone, idiot; screw the Elders," Li rolled his eyes, but he gave her a soft smile. Syaoran had returned to Hong Kong the Summer before, but once he heard about Sakura's plan to break into Gakuen Alice, he was on the next plane back to Japan.

Sakura beamed at her friends, "So how are we going to do this?"

"Can't we just go in and ask to speak to Sakura's cousin?" Tomoyo asked.

Eriol shook his head, "I've heard about this school and I've done some research. Apparently, it is incredibly sensitive about security. It won't let anyone who doesn't demonstrate some sort of magical ability in and won't let anyone out,"

"Is it really that bad?" Tomoyo asked, pausing her video for the moment, "I mean, it looks like your average, very wealthy school," she said.

"Gakuen Alice is a government institution that kidnaps children and forces them to use their powers against their will for the sake of money and personal gain despite the detrimental health effect to the users, often dragging children as young as five years old away from their families. I think this place is pretty horrible," Eriol said nonchalantly, "But, you know. Whatever," He shrugged.

Tomoyo gave him a whack on the head, "No need to be sarcastic," she frowned.

"How does it keep people in?" Sakura asked.

Li walked up to the boundary, "You can feel a faint pulsing of magic from the walls," he said, "There must be some kind of barrier,"

"And those look like some pretty advanced grids," Tomoyo pointed at the small boxes and wires that buzzed with live electricity.

"How do we get in, then?" Sakura asked.

"Guess we'll have to show them some magic," Li shrugged.

"But remember not to overdo it, my cute little descendent. We don't want them becoming too suspicious of us before we can break Sakura's cousin out," Eriol warned.

"I don't have magic," Tomoyo reminded them.

"That's okay Tomoyo chan," Sakura said pulling out her stack of Star Cards, "I'll lend you some Cards," Sakura shuffled through the deck until she found the ones she was looking for.

"The Song, The Voice and The Silent," she summoned, "For our time here in Gakuen Alice, I would like you to obey Tomoyo Daidouji, Release and Dispel!" The three spirits floated from the cards and surrounded their new master. The Voice took the form of a small hair clip, The Song changed into a pendant and The Silent morphed into a chain for the pendant.

"Ooh, how cute!" Tomoyo squealed as she looked over her new accessories.

"So how do we get admitted into the academy?" Sakura asked.

"We need to get noticed. Apparently, the staff have some sort of device or person that can sense magic when it flares up. They then dispatch someone to kidnap the child and whisk them away to their school," Eriol supplied.

"Why didn't they notice our magic when we were card capturing? We sure weren't all that discrete," Syaoran argued.

"The magic they use isn't the same type. I guess they don't have trackers for our sorcery,"

"Then how do we get noticed?" Tomoyo asked.

"We could blow a hole in their wall," Li suggested, pulling out his sword and readying an ofuda.

"Syaoran!" Sakura admonished, snatching away the ofuda.

"Very funny," Eriol rolled his eyes, "And that brings up another point. You can't use ofuda. The magic they use is more of an innate ability, rather than a spiritual one. Can you summon magic without chants or your sword?" Eriol asked.

"I'll make do," Li shrugged.

"So how are we…" Sakura was cut off by the large gates in front of them opening. She jumped back a bit and was surprised to see a young, highly effeminate man stepping out.

The man also looked surprised to see a group of kids standing in front of his school. He gave them a curious look over, then; "Hello, children, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Uhh…" Sakura looked to Eriol. He shrugged and indicated that it was Sakura's call, "Uhh…we would like to enrol in your school,"

"Is that so?" the man asked, "I'm sorry, I don't think it's the right place for you kids, unless you have an Alice?"

"What's an 'Alice'?" Tomoyo asked.

"It's a special gift," the man said.

"We're pretty special kids," Eriol said with his creepiest, all-knowing, Clow Reed voice. Sakura and Tomoyo stifled a giggle and Li rolled his eyes at Eriol's antics.

"Really, now?" the man said, looking at Eriol with a touch of suspicion, "Perhaps you should come inside," the man said.

Tomoyo followed instantly, a dazed look in her eye as she complied to the man's request. Sakura, Eriol and Syaoran looked to each other. They felt an odd wave of magic flow over them, it was light and they brushed it away easily.

The Shield, protect Tomoyo from the influence of that man's magic, release and dispel, Sakura whispered softly.

Tomoyo's eyes cleared instantly and she looked around. The man didn't seem to notice, though, since Eriol and Syaoran made sure to keep her behind them and out of the man's line of sight.

I think we'd better be more careful from now on, Eriol sent the telepathic thought to Li and Sakura, who nodded.

The blonde man led the four of them into an opulent room and sat them on a couch. He fetched them a pot of tea and poured them each a cup. After they had exchanged light pleasantries, the man introduced himself formally,

"Well, I'm Narumi Anjo. It's not everyday we meet kids who claim to have Alices," he said in a friendly manner, "Would you like to show me your talents?" he asked. He looked to Eriol who sat closest to him on his left.

"Of course. My name is Eriol Hiirigazawa," He gestured to the teapot and made it levitate in the air. He spun it around, making the tea fall out of the spout. He levitated the tea, split it into five portions and refilled each cup. Narumi looked impressed.

"That's some very precise control you have. It's amazing for a boy so young to have such complete control of his Alice,"

Way to not show off, Li thought to him telepathically. Eriol motioned to Li's teacup, causing it to tip. Li shifted slightly, the tea missing him by a fraction.

"Oh, looks like my control isn't that good," he said with a smile.

"Stupid, little…" Li muttered to himself.

Narumi watched in amusement, "What about you young lady," he turned to Tomoyo who sat next to Eriol, "What Alice…" he continued to mouth words, but he was surprised to find that nothing came out.

"My name is Tomoyo Daidouji. I can mimic and steal people's voices," Tomoyo said in Narumi's voice. Sakura jumped at how odd it was for a man's voice to come from her delicate, lady-like friend's mouth.

"That's creepy, Daidouji chan," Eriol said with a bit of a chuckle.

Tomoyo shuddered as well, "You can have your voice back, it doesn't really suit me," she said with a smile.

"Wow," was the first thing Narumi said with his voice returned. He then turned to Sakura, who sat next to Tomoyo.

"Uh…I'm Sakura Kinomoto and I can…" Sakura sat, mentally sifting through her Star cards, "Oh, I can make food!" Sakura closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, The Sweet, she whispered. She opened her hands and revealed a small cupcake.

Narumi examined her cupcake and took a bite, "That's delicious," he said with a smile, "We have a girl with a Cooking Alice, but not one with this sort of Creation Alice," He said to her, then turned to Syaoran, "Lucky last?"

Syaoran snorted, not introducing himself. Lightning, Release! He said in his mind. He pointed his outstretched hand towards the window opposite him and blew it out of its frame. The explosion was humungous, causing Narumi to jump a foot in the air and the metal frame to crackle with sparks.

"That was hardly necessary," Eriol noted.

Li shrugged, "I'm not going to be upstaged by you,"

Narumi took a moment to settle his heart, "I think you're definitely a dangerous type," he said.

"What does that mean?" Li asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"There are five types of Alices; Latent, which would be Eriol kun, Technical, which would be Sakura chan, since that's what our other Cooking Alice is under, Somatic, which would be Tomoyo chan, Special type, which I don't think any of you are and Dangerous, which would be you…"

Li looked at him unflinchingly, refusing to co-operate.

Sakura sighed, "He's Syaoran Li,"

"Syaoran kun. Definite Dangerous type," Narumi nodded to himself, "Now you guys have joined at an interesting time. It's the Cultural festival tomorrow. I'll show you guys to your normal class, but then you'll be split up into your Alice classes, okay?" He led the four of them to class B. He opened the door to find the class in disarray.

"Where's the teacher?" Narumi asked, looking around as if seeing a bunch of kids rampaging wildly around a classroom was quite normal.

"Chased him away," one of the students responded, "He was being annoying,"

Narumi sighed. He looked around the classroom, then furrowed his brow, "Has Special Abilities left?"

A boy with glasses and three stars pinned to his uniform walked up to Narumi, "Yes, Narumi san, Special Abilities have already started their preparations,"

Narumi looked confused, "But preparation begin in the afternoon," he said.

"Sorry, Narumi san. Tsubassa senpai came storming in saying that they needed more time because they had an amazing idea planned," The boy looked genuinely apologetic.

"Oh well, never mind. Thanks for telling me, Yu," Narumi turned to the four standing behind him, "These are your new classmates," he said, "I hope you'll all get along well," he pushed the four into the classroom, "I'll be back, but for now, why don't you guys get acquainted," he turned on his heel and waved goodbye.

Sakura and her friends looked around. The chaos had stopped for the moment as each of the students examined her and her friends.

"You guys should introduce yourselves," Yu suggested, "I'm your class representative, Yu Tobita," He said and gestured to the first boy,

"Hello, I'm Eriol Hiiragizawa. I've recently moved here from England. I hope we get along well" Eriol said. Many of the girls swooned at his foreign accent and gentlemanly smile. He then looked to Tomoyo, who was still carrying her video camera. She lowered it for the moment, though,

"Good morning, I'm Tomoyo Daidouji. I love to take videos of my cute little Sakura chan and I enjoy sewing," she said with a sweet smile. Most of the boys looked to Tomoyo with infatuation since, with her long dark hair and radiant pale skin, she was a definite beauty, "Your turn, Sakura chan," she said, then began filming her friend's introduction.

"Eh, Tomoyo chan, don't film me!" she said nervously, "Uhh…I'm Sakura Kinomoto. Uh…I like athletics and hanging out with friends," she said, fidgeting slightly with her hands and feet. She looked to Li, who was, again, last. Li looked to her.

"What?" he asked Sakura.

"Introduce yourself, Syaoran," she nudged him.

He looked to the class, "This is stupid," he said and turned back to Sakura. Tomoyo giggled, Eriol smirked and Sakura sighed. They should have expected as much from anti-social Li Syaoran. Unfortunately for him, though, nearly all the girls looked at him with love-struck stares, giggling and laughing to themselves.

"What are your Alices?" a voice from the back asked. The chattering stopped when the voice rang out over the room. Sakura looked and saw a boy with raven black hair and red eyes staring at them.

"What's your Alice?" Li shot back.

"Syaoran," Sakura admonished, "Don't be rude,"

"He started it. It's polite to introduce yourself first," Li said.

The boy smirked. He raised his hand, created a ball of fire, then threw it towards the four of them.

"Wah!" Sakura yelped as Li pulled her out of the way. He saw a murderous red and turned to the boy.

"You bastard! You could have hurt her!" he yelled. Lightning…

"Syaoran! I'm fine," Sakura said, stepping in front of him, "Don't do anything you'll regret," she said, giving him a meaningful look, "If you accidentally kill him, do you know how bad that would be?"

Natsume bristled at that comment, "I doubt he could lay a scratch on me, stupid girl," He challenged.

"Natsume…" his blonde friend begged him quietly.

"Don't call Sakura stupid, you arrogant little…"

"I'm not arrogant. I just know that you can't…"

"I'll show you what I…" The room was now filled with Natsume and Li's voices, shouting across the room at each other. Tomoyo sighed.

"Quiet!" She said. She used The Voice to steal their voices, "Now when you two are ready to be civil, I'll return your voices," she said. Both boys sent her twin glares.

"Hey, you can't steal Natsume san's voice!" a girl with a horrible perm raged.

"Yeah, give back Natsume san's voice," another boy growled, levitating Tomoyo with his Alice.

"Now, now. Tomoyo chan was just calming the situation, I don't think that's fair," Eriol interrupted and floated Tomoyo back down to the ground, easily overpowering the boy's Alice.

"Hey, what's happening?" The boy asked, confused as to why his Alice wasn't working. He tried to lift Tomoyo again, but this time, Eriol bound his limbs to his body. He tried to struggle, but Eriol just made his magic stronger, until the boy could barely twitch.

"Don't try to float my friend again, and I'll consider releasing you," Eriol warned. The class looked in awe as Mochiage couldn't move an inch.

By now the students were in chaos. Many were yelling and cursing, some threatening the new students and some just making a general ruckus.

"This is so confusing," Sakura moaned.

"Sorry, Sakura chan. Can I use the cards again?" She asked.

"Of course, Tomoyo chan," she said. Tomoyo thanked her. She used the Silent to muffle all the sounds until there was nothing left.

"Okay," Tomoyo said in a soft voice, which was now crystal clear in the noiseless room, "I think we all got off on the wrong foot,"

Many students tried to protest, but found the Silent was stopping them, "So let's begin again," she said with a smile, "I'm Tomoyo Daidouji and my Alice, as I guess you can tell, is Sound,"

She turned to Eriol, "I'm Eriol and my Alice is Telekinesis,"

Tomoyo looked at him, then at the boy who was still being held motionless. Eriol followed her gaze and suddenly remembered that he was binding someone, "Oh, right. Are you going to stop trying to levitate my friends?" Eriol asked the boy. He took his struggling nod as a 'yes', "Good," he said and released his power.

"Sakura chan?" Eriol prompted.

"Oh, I'm Sakura and my Alice is making Sweets. As an apology for all of this, please enjoy," Sakura swept her hand in a graceful arc and made cakes, lollies and chocolates appear on every desk. The class was amazed; they'd never seen that kind of Alice before.

When it came to Li's turn, and it looked like he wasn't going to say anything, Tomoyo sent him a death glare that sent shivers down everyone's spine. She returned his voice and motioned for him to speak.

"I'm Syaoran Li. My Alice is Lightning. Happy?" he asked Tomoyo, who gave him a sweet smile.

Just as Li was finishing his introduction, the door swung open. Narumi walked in and was surprised to find the class completely silent for once, "What's happening?" he asked.

"Nothing," Tomoyo said lightly, releasing the Silent. The class was seething in anger.

"Right…okay. It's time for you guys to break into your Alice groups. The teachers are eager for you to get started," Narumi said, "I'll assign you guys partners for your first few days," Narumi said to the foursome, "Okay. How about we do it by Alice types, Sakura chan can go with Hotaru chan, Eriol kun can go with Mochiage kun, Tomoyo chan with Ruka kun and Li kun with Natsume kun," He looked to the four boys; Eriol and Mochiage, Natsume and Li. He saw Mochiage glaring at Eriol with hatred and some fear, while Eriol smiled back nonchalantly. He wondered what was wrong with Mochiage, since although he was usually a defiant hell raiser, he wasn't as bad as Natsume. He looked to the other two boys and saw them practically spitting flames at each other; the hatred was almost palpable.

"I don't want you two killing each other," He warned them, "Natsume, you're going to have to take Li kun to Persona for an earring,"

Li looked confused while Natsume, and the rest of the class, paled. They looked to Li with a newfound sympathy, which he ignored tersely.

If they put an earring on me, I'll rip their heads off, Li said, telepathically, to Sakura and Eriol.

Syaoran, this is serious. Those earrings are used to temper an Alice. It shouldn't affect your sorcery, but don't put up too much of a fight, or they'll get suspicious, Eriol cautioned.

I'll get it off you later, Syaoran kun, Sakura said.

"Li kun, would you follow Natsume kun to the Dangerous abilities class?" Narumi asked, lacing his voice with his Alice.

"Urgh, whatever," Li shrugged.

A tense silence followed the two boys as Natsume led Li to the Dangerous Abilities classroom. Natsume looked to the newcomer and, had to admit, he was looking forward to watching Persona put an earring on the annoying guy. It was horrible of him to think that way, but he couldn't help it; the boy grated on his nerves.

The boy was slightly taller than himself with a mop of dark brown hair. He had his hands in his pocket and looked completely bored with what was happening. He looked around the hallway curiously, though, as if searching for a way out already.

"There is none," Natsume said.

"Excuse me?" the boy asked.

"There's no way to get out of here," Natsume clarified.

The boy looked like he would protest, but bit his tongue, "You've tried?" he asked.

Natsume shrugged.

"What's with the earring?" the boy asked, gesturing to the red jewel on Natsume's ear.

"You'll find out soon enough. I recommend you don't let them get it on you; it never comes off," Natsume wasn't entirely sure why he said this. Partially pity; did he feel sorry for the new guy who had no idea what he was getting himself into? No. It was probably because he was bored and he wanted to see the new guy put up a fight against Persona.

"I'll get it off later," the boy said. Natsume chalked it up to ignorance and knocked on the door of the DA class.

A man dressed completely in black, wearing rings on each finger opened the door, "Natsume, how odd of you to visit," he said, though his voice was icy and anything but welcoming, "And who is this?"

"New student. Narumi says to put an earring on him," Natsume said, avoiding eye contact.

"Come in, then and meet your classmates," the man said with a sly grin.

Li followed Natsume down the hallway. When they got to the door of the DA class and a tall man opened the door, Li got a chill down his spine. He could feel powerful magic from this man. He was surprised to see the raven haired boy so frightened. Frightened and full of barely constrained hatred.

The man led them in and Li looked around. He looked around and saw there were quite a few people of varying ages.

"What is your name?" the man in the mask asked him.

Li glared at him, "None of your business," he said.

"That won't do," the man said with a cold smile. Li glared at him, daring him to do his worst.

End of Chapter 1

Next chapter, Li and Natsume get sent on a mission for Persona. Get excited to watch the duo in action!

Please let me know what you think of this chapter! I hope you like it! If you have any further suggestions, things you'd like to see happen, corrections or general questions, please leave a review and I will attempt to answer them!

Please check out my profile for a list of possible fics and let me know if you'd like me to publish any of them, I love chatting with people so feel free to PM me!

:D Laughing on the Inside :D