Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or Gakuen Alice at all. Unfortunately. ):
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Chapter 1: Arrival
There was no wailing or screams to be heard; the baby's mouth stayed shut, showing off its plump lips that didn't move an inch. Yuka flinched, as her arm trailed to her baby's rosy cheeks and looked directly at everyone around with wandering eyes. Her baby's eyes didn't open. "Why isn't she waking up?" she mumbled quietly, watching eyes trail down to the rocky pavement.
"Do we have to repeat ourselves? Why isn't she waking up?!" Izumi yelled, much louder than his silent wife.
The rain carried on tapping its icy cold droplets against the window. A tense fusion of silence and disappointment filled the room as Izumi covered his shameful face with his sleeve. It was supposedly meant to be the happiest time of the day—the day that the married couple would remember as a memory forever; the arrival of Mikan Sakura, their beautiful daughter.
Yuka hated the harsh hits of the rain, it was too loud and couldn't help her concentrate. The rain was heavy with the grieves of humans and sorrows that people bottled inside them. Such a hard-hitting feeling, sadness was. It could control every part of you and you got to say nothing. The words that spilled out of your mouth was never was you wanted, but what your feelings wanted.
"Mr and Mrs. Yukihara, w-we have terrible news regarding your dear child Mikan here and—"
"I think we've figured that out already, Narumi! Just spit out with it!" Yuka demanded, fiercer than what people expected. Although she was a woman of no frown lines or grey hairs, she could be strict when she wished and that could be down-right scary.
Narumi's golden, tangled hair covered his face as he attempted to spit the bad news out, "Mikan—she's—her heart, it's..." Before saying the last work, the blonde took a deep, heavy breath and did his best to look away from the couple's horrified face. "It has stopped." They waited for an explanation, something more than what they thought had happened, but Narumi detested the thought of speaking further.
"How did this happen?" Yuka softly whispered, palms covering her largely-sized orbs. "Please, do tell us, Narumi! We need to know!"
"During her arrival, her heart just completely stopped...we're not sure exactly when or how it happened but we just didn't know how you'd react—" The sounds of Yuka's wailing and cries made Narumi hush in silence, along with the rest of the crowd whose tears began to stream down their faces in agony. Seeing Yuka cry was never something to happen, being the optimist she was.
The rain exceeded to a heavy thunderstorm. They all could just feel the grief churning in their stomachs, rolling around and doing somersaults. By now, Izumi felt sick and though he tried to support and comfort his sobbing wife by not crying, his tears just came pouring. Their beloved baby was not breathing, moving or beating a heartbeat and all they could do was sit there, stare at her in misery and admire her beauty.
The Yukihara family lived in a very small village located south of Japan and they lived a very cultural life. For the twenty-seven years they had been living, they had both longed for a child. A beautiful girl or a boy who'd take over Izumi's marketing business, perhaps, but the chance of their dream happening vanished after seeing their dead child in their arms, crawled in to a ball like a helpless woodlouse.
"Oh, Mikan..." Yuka muttered, tucking an auburn-brown lock of hair behind her ears and having hair droop down as her neck bent down to meet contact with the eyelids of their dead baby. "What a beautiful girl you could grown up to be. We could have all been a family." She turned a head to her husband. "I am so sorry Izumi, this is my entire fault."
Izumi dived in and wrapped his arms around his face, face wet with all his wiped away tears. "No, Yuka, don't ever say that again. This baby—our baby—is a memory and she will stay in our hearts, so please don't blame yourself."
As it was a village low in population, it was traditional that every member of the village must visit the baby after being delivered. Sure, it was a big crowd to handle, but it was thoughtful. But this had been the first time the whole crowd was in tears and with all the rain, many people were soaked and left outside as there wasn't enough room for them all to be fit.
"Mikan..."
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The thunder roared violently, lightening up the dark room as he stared against the window, eyeballing the river that normally flowed in a wave, smoothly below; today, the waves crashed against each other like a miniature tide and splashes of water crashed against the smooth-edged rocks. "Rain..." he muttered, voice deep and looking back at the thundering sky.
His whole body felt frigid against the sight.
Natsume just loved that feeling.
"Oi, Natsume! Come over here!" a hindering voice echoed around the room.
"Andou, where the hell are you?" the lost boy replied, looking over his shoulder and eyes wandering across the big, black room.
"I'm just down the hall!" In annoyance, Natsume took himself to the hall and saw the pink-haired Misaki, bags under eyes as usual. There was a crystal ball in front of her and despite being more fish-eyed than humanly pictured, you could just about make out what it was showing you. You could see very well that her concentration was focused and her eyes were directed in to the center of the crystal ball to ensure the visibility of the image.
"What is this that you brought me all the way down for?" he demanded to know, voice raised.
"Oh for goodness sake, just take a damn look and stop being impatient!" The courageous boy—no, devil, rather, pushed Natsume's head down as he squinted his eyes and saw the blurry image come to life and take form as a motion picture.
The sobbing, the cries, the disappointed looks on their faces; Natsume could see and hear it all. He carried on watching as he saw a small, human baby take place on its mother's lap, not moving. Thinking it was asleep, a small growl escaped Natsume's lips. Just the sight of it made him feel sick.
Weird creatures, humans were. Odd and too determined. Why did they try so hard after losing something precious to them? Why did they sob so hard they were nearly out of tears? Stupid, Natsume thought. Those tears would do nothing; they were meaningless. Acception was something they lacked by far, but the confused boy just stayed crouched down, head spinning with perplexity.
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Yukihara..." Natsume noticed a couple of men bowing their heads in dismay, apologizing sadly. Though by the looks of it, there was nothing that any of them had done. No crimes or killing, just the miserable mood was what brought it to such a tense moment. The brunette shook her head, telling them that they should not be apologizing for something they never did.
"Andou, what is this? I'm confused out of my mind."
"Just look at the baby, Natsume! It's not breathing—its heart stopped beating the minute it was brought to this world and it looks like the couple were just informed because they seem like a right mess, though the woman is taking it less harsh than the father. I mean, just look at the man, tears all over—"
"Shut up, I'm watching." Andou zipped his mouth and did as he was told in obedience.
Pieces of the puzzle were still missing, however: why were the citizens crying? It wasn't their baby, nor was it any part of their concern of what happened to it so why were the tears streaming like Niagara Falls? Though you could read and study books about them, a human's heart was difficult to dissect. It was complicated and fragile; sometimes you could set yourself off crying in the midst of doing something important.
But what was important, that Natsume also didn't know that wasn't in the books either, was that the best way to understand a human heart is to befriend someone with one because frankly, it's not that hard to do.
The little pests—humans, didn't separate and go home at all. They stood there in the rain, face down with misery and not wanting to look at the mother of the baby. Natsume had to admit that it was horrible sight to see a child die in the arms of their mother, but it wasn't as bad as they were dramatically acting it out to be and to be standing out in the rain for hours on end—how could they be so selfless like that?
"What will we do with the baby?" someone in the crowd piped up, raising his voice as loud as he could over the sound of the tears.
"What will we do with it?" the father repeated, looking over to his thinking wife. "Yuka, it's up to you. You brought it to this Earth, you should be able to decide and make the decision of how you want to take it out." He placed a gentle hand on hers, their levels of eye contact meeting. A small, peck of a kiss was landed on her forehead as he entitled her of the position of her baby's death.
"Well, to me, the best option is—" Before the hesitant woman was able to speak her mind, she was interrupted by a different person in the crowd with a different opinion to hers.
"Let's give her to the devils and see what they do to her!" By now, the tears amongst the crowd magically stopped and eyes and heads turned to this person. His confidence of opinion had decreased and by now, the man's face crumpled. He hid ashamed face by drooping his face down and facing the rocky ground they were standing on.
"Well isn't this just so interesting?" Natsume said, no sarcasm intended. He stood up from his crouched position and got Andou on his feet too as they both watched Misaki's eyes coming back to life and fluttering open like the wings of a butterfly. Sitting down cluelessly, Tsubasa grabbed her by her Japanese kimono and forced her to stand up.
That smirk of his—the one that he was known so well for—was visible, stretched right across his face like he was suddenly interested in something so trivial to him. Things were getting fun. He liked all the commotion they caused.
"We're going down to there, aren't we?" Andou asked, terrifiedly. Despite being years older than the man next to him, this affected the level of horror he held against Natsume by no means. Age or no age, that man was powerful and when he wanted something...he'd get it.
With one eye closed and a sentence worth a thought, they were gone and all was left was black sand that dropped to the floor but were slowly blown away by the harsh strength of the wind.
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Mochiage regretted saying what he said. He thought he was being daring, doing the right thing and voicing your own opinion is basically the same thing as doing the right thing, right? Wrong. He didn't want to be looked at with all those frowns and beady eyes that glared upon him like they could possibly kill.
His face felt hot and with all the stares he received, he felt the urge to just run away and not show his face around the village ever again.
"The devils...?" Yuka called out, unsure. She stood up and gave Mikan to Izumi for the time being, but only continued to walk forward, eyes darting to a particular thing—or creature. "The devils, you say? Is that what you call them?" Her calm yet disappointed face was no more, but replaced by a collision of horror and intensity.
"Yes, the devils. I can see why you're unsure of who they are, Mrs. Yukihara as you and Mr. Yukihara are new to this village but the main point is that you should stay away and avoid talking about them at all costs. As this village as got the seal of the devil assigned to it, they run this village; many people are afraid of migrating here. That's why the population is to such a minimum," a person from the front row explained, minimizing his sentence as much as possible.
"The devils..." Yuka repeated for the third time, eyes even more intense than before. Izumi knew that from the look in her eyes, something wasn't right, she wasn't acting so assured than she used to be. "Is that...them?"
Everyone's eyes trailed to the sky, not wanting to face the same horror that she had. They wanted for it to be a joke, what she had just said—but it wasn't. There they all stood, thousands of human-sized creatures, all standing in rows. There were thousands and compared to the villagers who backed away with fear and surrounded that empty silence with screaming, their numbers were nothing. They were all so feeble, like a deer caught in headlights.
However, their looks were nowhere near as terrifying as their leader's—jet-black, tousled hair that had strands left in his eyes and those crimson-shaded orbs that you could almost feel looking through you. He was handsome, or even beautiful, as some might say. The long-sword behind his back was covered in blood, like it hadn't been washed since the last time he had been in a fight with someone.
He was so handsome that it was scary how he turned in to the Devil King. That aura of his, cold and frightening was almost unapproachable. One gaze in his eyes and you'd be caught in a trap, because you wouldn't be able to stop looking. They were too hypnotizing to be human; even in the dark, they were able to be visible. They were so illuminating it was horrifying.
Yet, the horror in Yuka's eye calmed. Her half-open mouth shut close as she walked past the terrified crowd, and faced the king with determination.
"What do you want from us?" she sharply asked, kimono falling down to the ground.
"Are you their leader?" Natsume ignored her question, hands calmly in his pockets.
"No, I am not. But you need to answer my question."
"What do I want?" He raised a hand as the thunderstorm picked up again, wind blowing in all of their faces. Yuka stayed still, tense, but still. She could feel his movements and knew his next move.
"Izumi, get Mikan!" It was too late. Before they knew it, she had disappeared out of their sight and into the king's creamy-pale hands. "Don't you dare touch her, you piece of filth!" Out of shock, Natsume's laughter erupted and echoed around but as he finally came to a stop, sharp eyes glared back at the woman as he lowered himself out of the sky and back down to the ground. Though she was short and he was taller, that fierce look didn't escape her eyes.
"Fiesty," he said. "I hate those types of woman." There was a sudden pause as the wind blew both of their hair to the side, but with hands still in pockets, Natsume opened his mouth to say, "Still, I've got your precious little baby here and one thing you say can trigger me to steal her away. I would be able to do anything I want with her. Heck, she could be my pet for all I care." The crowd of devils released an eruption of laughter, but Natsume's face stayed in pause.
"You can't. She's dead," Yuka spat out.
"What do you take me for—a clueless dog? Of course I know that, woman!"
Yuka's eyes widened in repulsion, eyeballing the man in front of herself. Could it be? That he could actually...revive her? It wasn't possible, right?
"You can't—"
"I'm the King of the underworld, woman! Don't underestimate me!"
In disbelief, Yuka refused to believe his words. They were far too forced to be true, all too fake and artificial. She hated that, being lied to. With a raise of a hand to slap the man right across the face, he took her hand before she could even reach half way between the distance between them and shoved it back by her side. His eyes; she couldn't stop staring away.
"What do you want in return for Mikan's revival?" she asked, glowering as she curled her fists in to two tights balls, seeing the sight of that smirk.
"No!" The cries of the citizens and villagers became to a point where they were unbearable. Screams and loud sounds of yelling could be heard miles away, being so loud. "No, Mrs. Yukihara, don't do it! You'll have to owe him a debt of gratitude that you will probably never be able to pay off! Don't do it!" Even Izumi's words meant nothing to her decisions—what Yuka said, goes. Her words were final.
Is this the fate I chose for you, Mikan? Should I have to be saying sorry to you, several years from now?
"I'll decide that after I bring her to life."
Black sand appeared before Mikan and he let go of her body, allowing the sand to take care of the rest. While half of it held the baby, the rest of the half dived in to the place her heart was; at the sight of this, Yuka squirmed. Her face didn't want to see her baby in agony and her nails dug in harder against her skin, leaving a slightly pink bruise.
Of course, it was Natsume's turn to tell her that the couple's baby was not going to be hurt during the process—but what fun would that be? Watching her terrified face was one of the most fun things he had ever experienced and as much as he enjoyed watching her pain, the sand dived back out of her body and—
"Waaaaaa!"
Yuka blinked. She blinked again. Did she just hear...the siren of her own baby's wail? Before she could grab her hands and dive in for the crying Mikan, Natsume was too fast, again. She knew it was all good to be true.
"Now, what should I ask of you, I'm not so sure about right now..." Yuka groaned.
Little Mikan stretched, stopped her crying and everyone watched as her eyelids fluttered open with life. Though the thundering storm went raging for hours, it had begun to clear up; even though everyone else had not realized this out of all the commotion that had just happened, Natsume's sharp ears had. There was just something about this baby...
A stroke of a hand; that's all it took. Mikan's little hands reached up to stroke his face and she whispered the word, "Stay."
Everyone felt shocked. Not once in history had this happened and even Natsume, the Devil King, could believe it. The first several minutes of being alive and she was already able to say her first word—no one was sure whether it meant something or not, nor were they sure to be happy or unhappy about her being alive. They could have been happy for her, but Yuka Yukihara had just signed a contract with the devil, for goodness sake!
Biting his lip and feeling the blood cause a small explosion in the insides of his mouth, a sudden carnation flower sat delicately on his hand. "Do you know what a carnation flower means in China?" he asked her, watching Yuka shake her head. "But your dearest husband knows, doesn't he?" Natsume's eyes darted to Izumi's and with after a disappointed nod, he shot a frown to the Devil King, fury raging violently. "Go ahead and tell your clueless wife here, she's going to be in for one hell of a shock!"
"Izumi..." Yuka mumbled, head turned around to face her husband who was more than fifteen metres away from her.
"Yuka, it means marriage. A carnation flower represents marriage in China." Whipping her head back to the smirking devil, Yuka had the temptation to just grab that sword of his and slice every bit of his limbs off—but she couldn't. She had to stay shocked, out away in the clear sky, with nothing to be able to do but agree; if she wanted to refuse from the depths of her heart, it still wouldn't matter what she thought.
He was the Devil King, he'd do what he wanted.
"That's right, dearest father-in-law!"
Even Natsume's tribe were left speechless.
He hated humans, and with the choice of many other female devils, why did he have to choose her of all people?
With no control, Yuka's arms stayed limp by her side. She was helpless against this figure in front of her, but it was all her fault. She had been the one who agreed to the contract, so it was her fault and she should have been hating herself for it. "Al of this fails to make sense in my mind, how can you be marrying a one-day old baby?" Natsume and his crew laughed hysterically, in spite of the woman not meaning for it to be a joke.
"Oh no, I don't think you understand clearly. Let me explain, by the age of eighteen, precious Mikan here would have lived her normal life as a teenager. Do what you like, move to a different city and let her live the normal way a teenager should have, though frankly, I don't give a flying bullcrap as I'll still be able to locate you and drag your sorry asses down back here with this contract. Anyway, by her eighteenth birthday on midnight, we'll be back here, the place where you agreed to this all and I'll have full control over her for the rest of her life."
"What will you be doing to sign off the contract, then? I don't suppose you devils have been carrying a spare pen and piece of paper in your pockets."
"This carnation flower will sign it off." With it still sitting in the devil's hand, Natsume raised it higher to let everybody see and a loud noise (which mainly seemed like a cheer) came from their tribe. He finally took it back down, placed it against Mikan's stomach and whispered something which happened to be a quote from the bible; by now, the carnation flower was then no more than a tattoo on her stomach, which would gradually grow bigger as she grew older. It was a symbol of restriction and that wherever she went, Mikan was still under the control of the Devil King.
No matter how hard she tried, she just wouldn't be able to release the grasp of his chains and locks.
I'm still unsure whether I should carry this on, or start another fanfic, then write them both at the same time (although chapters take me centuries to write, it's summer so I honestly have all the time in the world right now!)
I took so many different ideas with the title to come to this one, my mind was in a blur by the time I finished writing a whole list of ideas. D: It doesn't matter to very many people, but to me, it does matter a lot, hahaha.
So anyway, to finish this off, I'd just like to say a big thank you for reading the first chapter of The Carnation Beauty and if you could, leaving me a review would be a great help!
-Coco
