Softly the snow glides down to the earth and transforms the ground to a white and pure landscape. Even in the busy Tokio the tiny ice-crystals flow through the air, slowing down all processes while the people stop and watch them fall from the cloudy sky.
In the center of the large city is a special escalator school for gifted children called 'Gakuen Alice'. The pupils there have special abilities and are supposed to develop those abilities to work for the government when they reach adultery.
It's the 1st January and some students prepare a surprise for a certain brunette girl, because today is her 15th birthday. While Mikan still sleeps, her friends decorate the room of the special ability class for the party. They all bought heaps of delicious snacks and drinks. One of her friends named 'Anna' who possesses the cooking alice had baked a cake with the high of 1 meter. At this sight the others make eyes like saucers.
"Are you sure we'll be able to eat this gigantic cake? "asked Koko the mind reader.
"Sure. That won't be a problem." stated Anna confidently.
Koko wanted to answer but then decided to just stay quiet. Rule number one for a peaceful live: never argue with a girl when there's no choice of winning.
In the meantime it was already past 10 o'clock and the gang wondered why the little miss sunshine isn't already running through the school to find them, to ask if they know which day it was. (yes, Mikan still asks this question every year ^^)
… ~~~ in Mikan's 2-star room ~~~
Mikan slowly opened her eyes and got up in the same instant, because the first thought that crosses her mind was of course her birthday. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and opened the curtains in front of her window.
"Yeah it snows. I bet that's the present my father is sending me from above. Love ya daddy and thanx for the snow, I like it a lot" Mikan thought.
Then she went in the bathroom to take a long relaxing shower. She took her favorite shampoo which smells like strawberries and washed her waist long auburn hair. She brushed her teeth, dried her hair and put it into two childish lookin' pigtails.
Afterwards she stepped out of the bath and put on her kimono with the help of the
dorm robot. Mikan was nearly out of the door when she remembered that she wanted to ask the robot something.
"Happy new year robot-san. Have you by chance seen my friends around here somewhere?" Mikan asked while hopping up and down full of energy.
"No. I'm sorry Sakura-san, but I haven't seen any of them for the last 2 hours."
"Okay then I'll go searching for them. Anyway, thank you for helping me with the kimono." Mikan shouted in her usual cheerfulness already halfway through the hallway. Suddenly she bumped into something rather hard, but was pretty sure that it wasn't a wall. That turned out to be right, because walls can't speak.
"Oi little girl. Look where your runnin' next time. "
"Oh Natsume, look who's speaking. You could have paid attention, too. Ah …besides, do you know where Hotaru is?"
"Dunno. She probably hides from you."
"Meanie. How can you say that today?"
"…"
"Don't tell me you have forgotten what day today is?"
"..."
"It's my birthday you idiotic moron!!!" Mikan shouted while pouting.
"Whatever. Stop the noise, you make my ears bleed." mumbled Natsume and glared at her with full intensity.
"Oh come on. Can't you be nice to me once a year?"
"…"
"Fine, then I'll take my leave now." said Mikan, disappointment clearly visible in her big eyes with the color of melting chocolate. She turned around and was about to make the first step as a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her from moving.
"Listen. I'll say this just once…" Mikan concentrated her mind on the husky voice behind her "... Congrats to your birthday Mikan."
"What h-has…has he just said my name?!" Mikan blushed a little, but managed to hide it from Natsume.
"Speechless now, are you? Then I'll take you to Imai now before you start bubbling stupid crap again." At this Mikan stayed silent and let Natsume drag her away.
…~~~~~~~~~~special ability clase room~~~~~~~~~~
*knock* *knock*
"Hey Imai. I have the baka with me."
"What took you so long Huyga?"
"…"
"Okay obviously it's that baka's fault. Now come in already or how long do you plan to chitchat with me trough the door?!"
He couldn't see it, but Natsume was pretty sure that Imai had already a twitching vein on her forehead, so before he could get her more annoyed, he opened the door and pulled Mikan with him. The room he entered was completely dark and because he had completed his task to bring Mikan along, he let go of her hand and put his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans.
Mikan on the other hand was a little anxious because of the darkness, but it didn't last long then in the next moment the light went on and all her friends shouted:
"Happy birthday Mikan!"
Along with those shouts Anna and Nonoko ran towards her and hugged her immediately. Mikan let her look wandering through the crowd of friends and saw the faces of people she loved with all her heart. She felt like home, a comfortably warm prickle started to spread out in her whole body and she beamed the most adorable smile she could manage to her 'substitute family'. Although she was sad because she couldn't see her grandpa, she was absolutely positive about the fact that she'll have a super-great-fantastic birthday party and hopefully she'll at least receive a letter from him. The next thing she knew was that Tsubasa- and Misaki-sempai lifted her up and sang:
"For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow
For she's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny "
Mikan was so happy that she totally brightened the whole room with her smile and her laughter. As she was on her own 2 feet again Hotaru, Ruka, Yuu, Sumire, Koko, Mochiage and Kitsuneme came to her to congratulate her.
"Look Mikan, there in the corner is a table full of presents for you." stated Koko.
"And a lot of Howalon" added Sumire grinning.
From this point on they celebrated 'til nearly 11p.m. Mikan was chatting with Tsubasa about Tono-sempai who graduated already from the Academy as her uncle, the High School Principal and Narumi-sensei who was still their homeroom-teacher walked in the room.
"Hello uncle! Hello Narumi-sensei! Why are you here?" asked Mikan.
Her uncle walked towards her, stopped a step in front of her and with one hand he messed up her hair while chuckling softly.
"Of course we are here because of your birthday silly."
"Really?!" Mikan asked as her lips formed a smile.
"Yeah and we have a letter for you that arrived just 20 minutes ago." Narumi said or rather chirped.
"Wow…I knew it. I bet that's a letter from my grandpa. Oh thank you really really much for delivering it so fast to me. I'm very lucky to have such nice teachers."
She stretched her hands out and her uncle placed the letter in her palms.
She opened it without losing even a single second. But the more she red, the more her face stiffened and her eyes lost their shine. Hotaru was immediately by her side and was shocked, too as she grasped the content of the letter. It began with:
Dear Mikan,
your old Ji-chan is unfortunately in medical care in the nearest hospital. I know that the doctors try their best for me, but I heard a conversation between two nurses about my momentary state and they said that there is no hope for me to recover
So I thought in my last precious moments of life I write a letter to the only family that I have left, my above all beloved granddaughter that made the last years of my life a joy with only her bright smile.
Although I wish I could see that adorable smile once again your school prohibited that you visit me in the hospital or our little village.
So I'll at least explain some things to you in this letter. When you receive it, I'll be already dead, but don't be too sad, I'll greet your father in heaven from you and then we both watch together over you. I've already instructed a notary to sell of the house and then send you the money to your account and of course this letter.
One last thing Mi-chan, remember the promise we made as you were 8 years old?
Please do your Ji-chan one last favor and try your hardest to keep it, okay?!
I love you my sweet little darling
Your Ji-chan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs. Sakura,
As you red, this is the letter your grandfather left you behind.
He died in the hospital one week ago. According to his wish I sold his house and belongings and transferred the sum of 200.000 rabbits to your account.
For further information of his funeral please contact me and I'll be available with pleasure. My sincere condolences to the painful loss of your grandfather. He was a close friend of mine, too.
Therefore I remain in deep personal grief and the best hopes for you to live a wonderful live with the memories of your grandfather kept in your heart.
Toudou-san
While she red the letter tears had formed in her eyes and slowly flowed down her flawless face. In the instant she finished reading the last sentence her legs gave way, she slumped to the ground and her body started shaking uncontrollably.
Hotaru sank to the ground right next to Mikan and embraced her lightly.
At this sight all the other guests came and formed a circle around them. They all spoke in a complete mess, while Natsume just silently took a place on the other side of the girl he loved and intertwined his hand with hers.
Then finally they kept quiet and her uncle asked:
"Mikan, dear what's the matter?"
Like in slow motion Mikan lifted her head and as she faced the others they could only gasped for air in shock because nobody, absolutely nobody, not even her best friend Hotaru had ever seen this expression on her delicate face. She looked like she was in despair jet at the same time as if she couldn't feel anymore at all. Her whole body expressed the pain she felt. Her eyes had transformed into a dark ocean without a chance to see any sign of hope or light again. For a second Hotaru had the urge to listen to her heartbeat, just to control if there is still one.
So for Hotaru it was also obvious that the girl next to her wouldn't and couldn't answer the question, so she said in nearly a whisper:
"Her grandfather passed away a week ago. This is his farewell letter."
At first it seemed like some of her friends wanted to say something, but as they tried
no one found the right words. All what they possibly could say seemed to sound shallow and inappropriate, if it didn't tear open her wounds even more and increase her emotional pain. They were literally at a loss of words.
After 10 minutes in the same position Mikan's tears stopped flowing and she asked for a tissue. She dried her eyes and as she looked around she met crimson orbs which seemed to bring a little bit of warmth back into her body. She tried hard to speak a few words to her friends.
"I'm sorry that my party ends in such a mess. I hope you had a good time even if you had to see my ugly crying face." She laughed once, but it sounded more artificially than every plastic could ever be. She forced herself to speak further.
"So now, please don't take it to heart, but I feel like being alone some time, maybe the whole weekend."
Of course no one dared to utter a single word against that decision. They all slowly bid their good byes and good nights and went to their rooms. Only Natsume and Hotaru stayed by Mikans side.
"Oi little girl, are you really alright with this?"
"Yeah I need some time to think about some stuff and I don't want you to see me in so much pain, because I know that will cause you pain too."
Hotaru just sighted and said:
"But you know Mikan when you need us just say so. Here I'll give you this special cell phone. It has the numbers of everyone you know and when you feel like seeing someone feel free to call anytime. They all accepted this, so don't feel like you're a burden to us." with this Hotaru left Mikan and Natsume alone in the room.
Natsume pulled her in a sweet embrace and she rested her head on his chest. He leaned his head to her until his lips touched her ear, then he whispered:
"Hey polka…" he hesitated "…Mikan. Listen carefully. I won't ever let you down,okay? You can rely on me. Even when I'm on a mission, as Imai said, feel free to call me and I'll be there as soon as possible. "
As a sign that she heard him, Mikan slightly nodded her head.
"Then I take you to your room now" and with that he lifted her up bridal style with her head still rested on his chest. It took a few minutes to carry her there. He let her down on her bed and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. Then he left her alone starring at the full moon and finding it somewhat comforting.
Hello everyone. This is my first fanfic, so I'll be glad about every review.
And of course all the characters and places that I used are owned by Tachibana Higuchi. (maybe except from Tokio xD)
