Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any other the characters used in this fanfiction. As of yet.
Like A Cage
Chapter One – Humming Bird
I grunted in irritation, pulling my current manga off my face to see why my normally deafeningly loud class has exploded into a louder then life cheer.
Standing in front of the class was a new girl. She had soft-looking auburn hair then bounced around her face, and chocolatey brown eyes that looked almost good enough to eat. She was standing with her knees bent inward, her toes pointed inward, and clutching the hem of her skirt with blush that spread across her face like the great railroad racing over America(and, she was wearing socks that went up to her mid thigh. At first, I found it strange, but I dismissed this, she looked good in them anyway... wait, what?). She bowed deeply to the class, "M-my name is Mikan S-Sakura! P-Please take care of me!" she stuttered, earning another cheer from the class. I stared at the top of her head, waiting for her to look up again.
When she did, we immediately made eye contact. Instead of flinching at my intense gaze, though, she frowned. The least to say, I was confused. There was no one who didn't flinch at my icy glare.
She made her way to the back of the class room, to sit next to me because it was the only seat open. She shyly sat down in her seat and immediately inched as far away as she could, staring out the slightly open window. I grunted softly to myself, rolling my eyes at how childishly she was behaving, and dropped my manga over my face again.
=Mikan's Point of View=
I entered the classroom and was greeted almost instantly by loud wolf whistles and giggles. A blush crept across my face as Mr. Narumi, my now adoptive father and homeroom teacher, introduced me to the class. Another round of much louder cheering. I got nervous.
I almost folded over like a lawn chair as I bowed deeply to the class, stuttering to them, "M-my name is Mikan S-Sakura! P-Please take care of me!" again, there was another cheer, making my face even more flushed. I stayed folded over for a moment longer, waiting for the heat in my face to die down.
When I finally straightened up, the first thing I saw was a pair of crimson eyes glaring intensely at me. It wasn't a mean glare. It was more questioning. Mr. Narumi... I mean, my new father, had warned me about this kid and how similar he looked to that man. Though, even though the two had similar hair and similar facial structure, their eyes were totally different. Though this boy's, Narumi called him... Natsume I believe, were cold, they were true. That man's eyes were a sickeningly sweet, bright green, and they had always hid away an evil that Mom hadn't seen...
And to answer the boy's questioning looked, I just frowned at him. The look of confusion that flickered in his eyes for a moment made me smile for a split second, but no one, not even the boy, saw it.
I swallowed a lump in my throat as I made my way toward the back of the class to sit by this Natsume boy, since it was the only seat open. I knew he wasn't at all like that man, but I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. But, I had to be mature had swallow my nerves.
The first thing I did when I sat down was slide as far as I could away from him. Real mature, Mikan. Real mature.
For the rest of the morning, I was sat there, staring out the window up at the sky. This school, it was like a bird, trapped in a bird cage. Though that tiny bird had no freedom, it was safe from the cat that stalked it from the outside. And that little bird couldn't be released until it was strong enough to be set free and could fight off that cat by itself. I frowned at the likeness of the two situations, comparing myself to that tiny bird.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when something landed on my desk in front of me, making a soft thunk sound. I looked down at the hand hand that was laying on my desk. "Mikan, its lunch time." a familiar voice told me. I looked up and almost burst into tears.
"Hotaru! Where'd you come from?"
"I've been going to this school for the past three years, Mikan." Hotaru reminded me, in her usual monotone voice. "But why are you here? Did the government finally find out your mother was trying to hide you?"
I frowned and glanced around, they were alone since everyone else was at lunch. I let a tear slide down my face, "Not exactly." I whispered.
We were walking down the deserted hallway toward the lunch area of the high school when I finished telling Hotaru what had happened between my stepfather and I. Hotaru's face grew darker and scarier with every word I said.
"Where's that bastard now?" Hotaru questioned as we neared the double doors.
"Probably over seas. I was told that alices in other countries are trying to track him down." I murmured quietly, touching my tender arm softly.
Hotaru patted my shoulder reassuringly before we entered the loud, bustling cafeteria. Hotaru and I sat down with a whole bunch of other girls from our class, Hotaru having gotten a tray full of food. I had no appetite, but I took the strawberries that Hotaru offered me, claiming she didn't have the taste buds for sweet things. But she probably just realized that I hadn't eaten for longer then a day.
I nibbled shyly on one of the strawberries, it wasn't much, but I guess I had to eat something.
"So, Mikan." a sweet voice said in front of me, I looked up. A girl with long, dark blue hair smiled at me, "Why have you transferred into Alice Academy so late? Most students with alices are found in their elementary years or even as middle school kids."
I blinked at her, "I'd rather not say." I whispered, looking away from her.
"What's you're alice?" a snotty, permed-haired girl asked. Again, I blinked.
"Nullification."
Everyone around me stared, expect Hotaru, who knew about my back story already.
"What about your star ranking?" asked the same permed-head.
"I was told I was a special star, what ever that is." I told her. Again, everyone stared, and even began to whisper around me before the seaweed head burst out in a fit.
"HOW COULD YOU BE A SPECIAL STAR?" she screamed, pointing at me with an accusing finger, "YOU ONLY JUST STARTED SCHOOL!"
I flinched slightly at her outburst, mentally sinking into a protective shell. My face became expressionless, much like Hotaru's beside me. "So what if I am? I don't know much about this school, or the way it works, so please, tell me what's so special about being a special star." I replied calmly.
Her mouth fell open, and she gaped at me for a moment before falling into her seat once again.
"Are all special stars this cool?" another girl asked in awe. I stared blankly at her. She noticed my look and smiled slightly, "You know, Natsume, the boy who sits next to you in class. Yeah, he's a special star too. He's cool, but I think he kinda thinks he's better then everyone else..."
"Which is true!" Seaweed-head snapped, stuffing her face with a fork full of pasta.
The girl with pink hair rolled her eyes.
I finished that one strawberry I had been nibbling on and pushed the bowl of them away. No matter how much I liked strawberries, I couldn't eat anymore... Maybe just one more, or two. I grabbed two at the last second before getting to my feet. "I think I'm going to go explore." I announced quietly and was gone from the table before anyone could answer. I never noticed Hotaru looking around at my retreating back with a hint of concern in her expressionless eyes.
I walked down the empty hallway and somehow made it out into a court yard that had a single cherry blossom tree standing proudly in the middle of it. I walked toward to and slowly sat down against its trunk, closing my eyes as I rest my head against it.
I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again, I was been shaken by Mr. Nar- my dad. He was staring at me with concerned eyes. I met his stare for a moment before looking past him at the sky. The sun was sinking toward the horizon. Mentally slapping myself, I let him pull me to my feet.
"Are you alright, Mikan?" Narumi asked, looking me up and down. I felt just slightly uncomfortable at his gaze analyzing every inch of my body, as if afraid he'd notice how skinny I was becoming.
"Yeah, I guess I was just tired..." I murmured, looking down at my feet. I had left one of the strawberries uneaten. Where had it gone? I shook the thought away, an animal must have come by and taken it. "I should get to the dorms."
"I'll excuse you for the half day you missed." Narumi said as he led me out of the courtyard and to the door that was connected to the slightly warn pathway that led to the high school dorms. "Go and get some real rest."
I nodded and began the long journey to the dorms. I was walking without subconsciously knowing it. There wasn't any real thought rushing through my head, other then pointing out interesting colors in the stone below my feet, or noticing how one of the cobblestones were slightly more crooked then the others. I was about half way there when I was heard two voices speaking not far away.
"So this Mikan girl, what do you think of her so far?" one voice said. His voice was something of a tenor, gentle, and the man sounded as he if was attractive enough to make any woman melt into his arms at a single word. I crept forward a bit, peaking around the corner of the path to spot to male high school students. Well, I could only see one from where I was standing, but I knew there had to be at least two there.
"I think she's an even more trouble maker then I am. Skipping part of class on her first day." a scruffy, deep voice answered in a growl, "Why do you care anyway?"
The blonde, tenor voiced boy shrugged, "I think she's kinda cute. And who knows, maybe she had to go to the administration office for the second half of the day."
The other voice snorted. "She's definitely not cute."
I saw the visible boy roll his eyes. "You're just pissed 'cause she's a special star too. You're not the only one now."
The other boy didn't retort back.
"So its true!"
"No, I just don't like her. Something doesn't feel right about her..."
"Like what?" the blond said, leaning forward in interest.
"Its like she's keeping a secret away from the rest of us. How do you expect to trust someone like that?" I rolled my eyes at the boy's lame logic.
"She just transferred today, she probably just needs more time to adjust."
I frowned, becoming tired of eavesdropping so I stepped around the corner, acting as if I hadn't heard a thing and began my walk toward the dorms again. The blond instantly shut up when he saw me. The other boy turned around to see what the blond was staring at.
It was Natsume.
I barely made eye contact with him before looking away, shading away my face with my hair. I hurried down the path faster, not looking back around at them.
I lay on my back, in my overly sized bed that could easily fit two, possibly three, more people. I was staring up at my ceiling, thoughts lingering with the crimson eyed boy. So... he really was a special star also. And he's either jealous of me or he doesn't trust me. Or both, actually.
I closed my eyes and turned on my side.
Oh, I really wanted a hug right now. I used to love hugs, giving or receiving. I'd hug anyone and everyone. The old elderly neighbor, a bum off the street, a completely random stranger in a business suit. I used to always receive strong, warm hugs before both my parents past away. Especially my father. His embrace always made me feel so safe, it made me believe that nothing would ever happen to me. When he died, my whole world had shattered.
I frowned at my thoughts and quickly began thinking of something else. My thoughts drifted back to Natsume. I wondered what he was doing right now. Probably sleeping...
I almost slapped myself.
Why was I thinking about him of all people? Because he was another one of those special star things? Or 'cause he looked similar to that man?
I buried my face in my pillow and fell into a restless sleep.
You may or may not have noticed that this is a shared account with my crack pot friends. *rolls eyes* They may or may not end up posting their uh... special stories up here that involve Shizaya(Izaya x Shizou from Durarara!) yoai... You can choose to ignore them, or read their mind-blowing stories if you want. They're normally nothing but crack though. :3
Anyway, I've already finished chapter two, but I think I'll wait before posting it. xD;
Anywho, I hope you like this, and prepare for a little bit of angst next chapter~
Angsty love, HO~!
Oh, and I wanted to apologize if I messed up anything in this chapter. I wrote it while I was still getting back into the Gakuen Alice manga(I was forced to stop reading it because it wasn't on onemanga or mangafox and when I started reading it I didn't have any money.). So, I hope I did better in the next chapter then this one. :'3
~ Liz
