AN: k peeps; it's my first fic, so plz review!!! This story was suggested by my Gakuen Alice otaku friend, so blame her if u dun like it. It is MxN by the way, so for those mikan haters, turn away. My friend is obsessed with this pairing, and well… I'm not much of a romance lovey mushy person, so there's gonna be no lemons. YAY. My friend won't be happy though. For those of you who wants a lemon, ahem, HENTAIs, let me know. I obviously won't write any, but my friend will.
Me: I OWN GAKUEN ALICE!
My friend: NO YOU DON'T, I DO!
Me: I DO SO!
My friend: U DO NOT!
DO SO!
DO NOT!
DO SO!
DO NOT!
Natsume lights both of us on fire
Anyways, ENJOY!
Puppetry
Chapter 1 Return
The sky was dark and gloomy, and the cold rain poured down on the lonely, empty streets of Eastside Tokyo. Everything seemed dead; the only sound that broke the silence of the night was that of pattering rain, and the only sign of life seemed to be the single black limousine driving down the deserted road. The shaking of the vehicle on the poorly paved street gradually woke up a girl who was riding inside from her restless slumber.
"Mikan-san, it seems like you finally woke up, we will be arriving there shortly" the driver said, looking at her through the review mirror. "Please be patient"
"Hai" was the only quiet reply from the girl.
She, turned her head to look out the window, and suddenly winced from the soarness in her stiff neck, she has been cramped in the car for … how long have they been driving now? She didn't know, only it felt like eternity.
As she adjusted her neck to a less straining position, she saw the familiar scenery of the streets pass by. This was the same street she took 7 years ago when she was trying to find Hotaru. She was 10 back then, a carefree cheerful girl who knew nothing of the outside world, but was always eager to find out. Her innocence might be what attracted everyone to her. But now, she was 17, and she regretted wanting to learn of the world beyond the academy walls. The outside world was dark, and full of hated truths. When she thinks about it, she'd rather be secluded and locked inside the lies of the academy. At least everything didn't seem as violent and cruel there.
She hasn't been to the academy for 6 years. After her Elementary graduation, the academy sends her away to training camp. And what horrible training it was. Now she knew the real reason as to why she was enrolled as the only trainee from the Tokyo branch of Gakuen alice: it was partially because she was gullible and easily subjected to propaganda, but the main reason was that she possessed a powerful Alice that would be beneficial to the academy. And she was stupid, not to mention gullible, enough to believe it was for own personal gain of perfecting her Alice, she had thought she could protect the ones she loved if she went. Everything was taken away from her as she started a new life outside the academy, a life without anyone to depend and rely on. The training was harsh. The teachers were ruthless. She trained together with students from other Alice Academies across the world. You could befriend as many students as you want, but you will soon realize that it will never get you anywhere in you personal, individual training. They underwent all kinds of training, in hopes of becoming perfect human beings. They were destined to be the academy's slaves for the rest of their lives. For those students who had a strong personality and rebelled, soon found themselves beaten, locked up, and starved. Mikan was one of these students. She soon learned her lesson and gradually, very slowly, learned how to seal in her emotions. After all, they were only useless and a troublesome hindrance in training. After that, everything became an endurance match; those who broke first were failures, and those who pushed through were survivors in this dangerous game. Social Darwinism: indeed, only the fittest creatures will survive. The training camp was a place without hope. It was so different from the academy that it was hard to believe it was organized by them. But she knew it didn't matter, nobody except her would know about this, nobody would believe her, everybody would be completely oblivious to what was going on.
Except Natsume…That was her only thought back then, and it still lingers in her mind. Did Natsume suffer like this too? Is that why he's so cold? Was he treated as a mere tool too? She learned what was the "dark side", what Natsume always cautiously warned her about, the hard way.
Now, having finished with training, she was back at the academy, and she felt sick, very sick. She was nervous. She was scared. She did not, at the least, want to face her friends like this. They probably wouldn't understand what she had become. She didn't merely change, she transformed into another person. What she was now was too different to be considered a change. No matter how much she tried to laugh wholeheartedly, it would come out as a dull chuckle that never shined to anybody's heart. She hated herself, hated her life. 6 years ago, everybody told her she looked best when she smiled, but now, she would satisfy no one. Her usual happy face was now replaced by a blank, stoic one, free from any emotion.
"Mikan-san, we're almost here, we'll be entering school grounds in a minute or so."
"Hai", came the same reply.
The driver felt sorry for the girl. As a person who dedicated himself to the academy, he understood what she had gone through, and what she was going through, and he pitied her.
Mikan watched as they neared the main gate, it was still as magnificent as ever. An approaching guard nodded in acknowledgement when he saw the limo and the driver inside. The big golden gates were quickly opened.
It was still early in the morning; nobody should have been awake yet. This thought relieved her. The last thing she wanted right now was to be in a crowd of people. Everything still looked the same, still looked so familiar, yet so new. In comparison, she felt dirty, tainted, even though she knew it wasn't true. Before the ride, she had taken a long shower, making sure she washed off all the dirt, grease, and such, and trying her hardest to scrub off her memories of the place. She felt so out of place.
After a few minutes of driving inside the campus, they finally pulled up in front of the registration building. Her previous life in the academy was taken away. Then she gave up her current life. Now, she had to start over a new one…again. She felt like a toy, played around until she expired, and then be thrown away.
The driver got out, walked around, and opened the door for her.
She slowly got out of the limo, her body ached badly, and she did not want to start this so called ideal life. She hated to think about the fact that her friends might not acknowledge her anymore, and she'll be in the dark again.
She sighed, whispered a small arigato to the driver, straightened her back and walked gracefully into the building.
Mikan lay in her bed, being excused from the first day of classes. She had been given her new high school uniform, keys to her dorm, a school map, schedule, allowance to start things off, and other school supplies. Another thing didn't change about the academy: yup, they were still goddamn rich. She had also been given her star-ranking prior. She was now a super star (no puns intended), it wasn't much to her surprise though. Either it was pity, pride, or appreciation; this was probably one of her 'rewards' for having completed her training, just as they wanted.
She sighed for the umpteenth time that day, sat up and looked out the window that was conveniently situated right beside her bed. Students dotted the schoolyard; it was lunch break. She could already recognize some familiar figures, but none she had been too close with.
From what she was notified and informed of, high school was divided into 3 year groups, with 3 classes of each grade whereas elementary was only divided into 2 branches: the kiddies and the babies. (Sound not too enthusiastic eh mikan? XD) This means there were way more people in high school, most of which mush have joined in junior high or something. And next year, when everybody else graduates, she would still be serving the academy.
Along with Natusme…She really hoped Natsume will still be there for her… if he still remembers her that is.
She sighed again, flopped back down onto her bed and closed her eyes.
This is going to be a long year.
Natsume, Ruka, Kokoroyomi, and the rest of their group (sorry, I dun no their names ') walked down the path to the cafeteria. Natsume, with girls clung to his arms, growled. It was that time of the year again, and all the girls were crowding around him and asking him to be their dance partner for the last dance. And now, he was trying to escape their hugs and kisses. Somehow, he had the sudden urge to light all the girls up on fire right now.
"Natsume-kun, leave that bitch Sumire, and come with me, I'm always available" A girl said seductively.
By Sumire, she meant Natsume's current girlfriend, and Natsume…well, switches girlfriends about once every week. Everybody thinks he's just being a playboy and enjoys fucking girls, since girls were all over him anyways. But you got to give him credit, he was the hottest boy in school; tall, well build body, lightly tanned skin, toned chest, he was down right sexy you could say. No wonder all the girls fell for him, well with a few exceptions anyway. But in secret, Natsume knew, deep down in his heart, that the reason was because he wants to fill the blank vacancy of his heart, the emptiness in him.
Mikan.
Ever since she left the academy, he was never whole. He wanted to find someone that can stop the pain in his heart. Sumire was hot-headed, just like Mikan; she was loud, just like Mikan; she was annoying, just like Mikan, she was talkative, just like Mikan, but…she was not Mikan. And no matter how hard he tried to forget her, he knew he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried to replace her, he knew nobody could. All his efforts were in vain. Mikan was irreplaceable. He wants to see those hazel eyes again, the same pools that he felt lost in, the ones that melted him, the ones that gave him hope, the ones that … he loved. With each passing day, each day without Mikan, a bit of his heart seemed to be eaten away. The gaping hole just seems to be getting larger and larger. He felt so unfulfilled, like his life was always incomplete, always missing the important thing, and he has a pretty good guess that missing ingredient is Mikan.
"Hey sexy, why the long face? Wanna have some fun at my place tonight? I'll give you a great time." Another girl whispered in his ear, pressed herself to him, and handed him her dorm number.
"Hey! Get off of my Natsume!" another girl shouted.
Seeing this girl's chocolate coloured eyes, she reminded him of her, but they weren't the same; these ones were cold, without any warmth. Wanting to get away from the rest of the girls, and to satisfy his hunger and craving of his growing…ahem…lower area, he agreed.
"Okay babe, I'll be there by eleven, then we can have a whooping ass hell of a time…in your bed. …Or maybe you would like to do that now?" Natsume whispered back in a lustful voice, and took the piece of paper. He gave her ass a hard squeeze before winking and walking off to meet up with his friends, knowing the girl had already melted behind him.
Just arriving at the cafeteria, a name suddenly snapped him out of his lustful trance.
"Hey, did you hear? The news about that girl? I think her name's Mikan Sakura."
Hearing this, Natsume immediately stopped walking. Mikan?
"Yeah, I heard she came back today."
"My onii-san works in the office as an assistant. I met him on my way to school this morning." A girl in the lower years said. "He looked like an idiot in bliss… heaven or something; he said something about love at first sight with that Sakura girl."
Natsume, who was listening into their conversation, wanted to burn the girl's brother alive. He just stopped himself in time before he took out his anger out on an innocent passer by.
"O yeah, that reminds me. This morning, I was in the student council meeting, and I saw this girl walk into the office. She was so pretty! Drop dead gorgeous, I would say. I'm so jealous; I swear all the boys in the building that time stopped breathing."
Mikan? Drop dead gorgeous? Natsume now had the urge to kill everybody in the building that morning."Now you mention it, my dad had a staff meeting this morning too. He said there was this new student, and she was quite the lady, well mannered and everything."
Quite the lady? Well mannered? Mikan?Without hearing anymore, Natsume ran back down the path, searching frantically for a certain person.
Imai. Something's not right.
Done! Finally! Review plz! Not quite the cliffy, but I'll try to update ASAP, if you guys are interested that is. I'm going away on a school trip tomorrow, so I won't be back till the week after. I'll try to get the next chap up the week after that.
Ja for now
T34R5ofH34V3N
