"Natsume, stop this please! Why... Why are you doing this?"
The clouds, the stares, the pain was so...
"... I'm sorry. I never knew how you felt Mi-chan. And as your beloved Nee-chan please forgive me. Please... I beg of you... Forgive me."
ACUTE.
To them, the world was constantly swarming with new things.
She found everything two-faced. Including herself.
He simply thought of the Darkness. So strong it overwhelmed his being.
Memories crushed, important things forgotten, a body covered in bandages, collapsed souls left behind, friendships gained, lies told, and truths exposed. Maybe she should just concentrate on the good of the world and its many aspects... and maybe he should just continue to wallow in his self-disgrace.
"Hotaru, Mikan, do you know why the chicken crossed the railroad?" Ruka asks.
"Enlighten us please Ruka," Hotaru questions.
"Because it was trying to get to the other side!" he cracks.
Hotaru laughs and Mikan chuckles lightly.
"Awful," they say in synchronicity.
"So bad it makes me want to claw my eyes off. But then again, try cracking them when you're up for one of the speeches at class. Teachers gonna get so tired of it he's bound to dismiss that stupid rule of 'presentation,'" Hotaru adds.
Ruka nods, making a mental note. "What do you think Mikan-chan?"
Mikan nods her head, pig-tails swaying. A gust of wind from a passing train makes her skirt billow. She's wearing shorts underneath so she cares not whether it decides to lift up fully. All she cares about is getting to her dorm.
"Mikan?" he asks again, trying to get close.
She doesn't mind if right now he decides to flirt or forcefully kiss her and shove his tongue in her mouth. Doesn't mind if he wants to hop on one knee and propose like the gossip says, they're old enough. Just not here, not in this place. Not with Imai watching.
Imai wasn't her friend. Acquaintance probably but not her friend. The only reason she tolerated the black-haired girl was because she was the Treasurer for the Student Council and Ruka was the Vice President. She was more happy with Ruka than Imai. Imai made her feel... odd.
"Sakura," Imai snaps. "Nogi-san is talking to you!"
"Huh?" she finally responds back. Her blank face just enrages her companion more.
"Will you listen for once in your dull life?"
The crowd around them turns to see the commotion. In fact, it feels like the whole of Kiyota station is watching, waiting for whoever will break first and spill physical or verbal blood.
But Mikan will have nothing of that.
"I think... It's a very good idea," Mikan decides, trying to resolve the conflict seeing as Ruka's as dense as a rock. "The teacher is rather boring and with your jokes," her smile warms and breaks a heart. "You and I could probably make it more fun."
She says 'You and I' purposefully. Giving Imai the cold-shoulder was not part of the plan. Before she would just ignore the girl but then she started to stick close to them, stick close to Ruka. Mikan wasn't possessive, yes, but Ruka was off-limits becaus he was hers and not Imai's. Mikan knows Imai knows, but Imai decides to walk further in thin ice and she welcomes her.
Offhandedly, she blurts out: "Are you ready to dance girl?"
Imai smirks and takes this as a challenge. "Question is, are you ready?"
"I've always been ready."
"Than your challenge is accepted."
Their aura turns cold and wisely the pedestrians that cross them turn their heads, curious but daring to go no further between the two raging tigresses. Ruka finally notices their hostility and in an act of impatience with the two complains about his hunger.
Before Mikan could give the idea of fine dining at a local fancy restaurant Hotaru decides to say WacDonald.
"That sounds like a great idea Hotaru!" Ruka exclaims.
Hotaru turns to send a victorious grin at Mikan only to find her focused on something else.
"Why don't we go now," she whispers to Ruka.
"Huh?" he doesn't know why they whisper but he does it anyway, uncertainly. "And leave Mikan?"
"Yeah. She knows where we're going anyway. And don't you think she's tired? We should just let her rest!"
"I guess... You're right Hotaru-chan."
They leave. Hotaru grabs his hand and smiles so confidently it's vain while Ruka looks back at the brunette's blank, lost face as she tries to search for their disappearing beings in the thick of the crowd.
.
Mikan was lost. Where had the Imai girl and Ruka-pyon gone to? She had been too distracted by the man in bandages to focus on where the two had gone. Obviously the idea to ditch her was Imai's decision. Ruka was too sweet and naive to do it.
Why oh why was her attention span so small?
The man in bandages was sitting on a bench not too far from her right. His arm was messily wrapped in plaster and so was his neck- although there in that area it was bit more tidy. She hadn't meant to give him a concrete stare but her mind was... well - as people called it - blank.
"Where have you gone to Ruka-pyon?" she mused out loud.
Absentmindedly approaching the bench she plopped next to him.
His eyebrows furrow and he scoots further way from the girl.
Mikan sent him a glance before retreating back to her inner turmoil. The train to her co-ed dorm wasn't coming until another 10 minutes. She had time to kill, and he body ironically was near death from exhaustion.
An awkward air hung heavy.
"Hello." Mikan said. "Nice weather, ey?"
Two children dressed in pink run past them followed by their young, scolding, and rosy-cheeked parents. How long had it been since they both had last seen such a pretty sight?
Too long ago. Its just been too long.
The man in bandages nods. "It is... I guess..."
"Seen anything of interest?" she had never been good in small talk, let alone with a stranger.
"No." Was his curt reply.
"Waiting for something?"
He hesitated before nodding, crimson eyes piercing her straight solid gaze. "Yes... I am."
"Done anything... of interest?"
His broken hand grips the edge of the handle tightly, knuckles turning white and an odd sense of guilt washes through Mikan. She was about to ask whether or not he was alright until he interrupts her. "Yes... in fact I did."
He stands up suddenly, nearly toppling over the bench at the sudden force. "I did something... that was very..." his eyes water and her heart breaks at the sight of the pitiful, broken, fragile thing in front of her. "... very... Very interesting. So interesting I wish... I wish to forget about it. Does that seem odd?"
The bandaged man turns to her and stares with those soft crimson orbs.
Mikan laughs and nods. "I've done something interesting too. A long long time ago."
His chuckle sounds like just like hers. "Well then girl, my name is Natsume Hyuuga."
The start of her meeting with Natsume Hyuuga had sparked a sense of curiosity and danger within her. Mikan wanted to know this man more. Listen to the hidden secrets chanting the soft serene tunes and string the tendrils of his delicate heart. And most of all, she wanted to know what he had seen that was so interesting...
"My name is..."
The train suddenly flows past them, stray paper flies and she's slightly reminded of a scene in one of her shojo mangas about an unexpected thrilling meeting of a girl and a boy in a station. Cliche, she thinks. And with a man I don't know anything about. Could be a serial rapist for all the coins I have in my wallet. No, for all the times Imai shamelessly flirts with Ruka-pyon... but it is nice for a change I suppose.
Would she dare herself?
[Passengers for Miku Station please board] the speakers chant. Her train was here.
Yes she would. Maybe it would be nice to have a change to her regular schedule.
"... Mikan Sakura. Nice to meet you Natsume Hyuuga. I hope we can be great acquaintances."
My first attempt at a Gakuen Alice fanfic. I apologize if it's awful D: There's a bit too many sweet, fluffy fanfics hovering above Mikan and Natsume so I decided to darken a bit.
Based slightly off the Vocaloid songs Love is War, ACUTE, and ReACT. There's, of course, original twists in it. I'm more of a LenxMiku fan than RinxLen fan so generally I'm cross-breeding and reversing certain roles in the fic from the song... if that made any sense.
Alas, all in all please enjoy~