A/N:Hello everyone! This is my second fanfic... Well, I've had a hard time deciding on what to rate this... but I think I'll go with T for Teen because I think that teenagers and up can handle swearing (I know I can.. jeez, there's enough at my high school...), and a rape seen or two, and murder. But if you think that it's badly rated, tell me by reviews, and I'll change it. Every time Mikan has a flashback, it could possibly be of rape. But don't worry, if you like, I'll warn you. I'm warning you. The large paragraphs written in italics have a scene of rape, child abuse, attempted rape, and murder... If you want to skip it, go right ahead. I won't mind. Any who... here's the first chapter of my version of 'Gauken Alice'.
Disclaimer:I do not own Gauken Alice. That belongs to whoever it belongs to. I also don't any of the songs that I put in the text.

Summary: She has no one to turn to. She doesn't wantanyone to turn to, as they would end up getting hurt. They always do. In her eyes, she will forever remain a thief and a killer. Take her grandfather, for example: He was terribly sick, yet she had just let his life slip through her fingers like water when she could of helped him. Ever since that happened, she has tried to isolate herself from society. Running away to a place called 'Gakuen Alice', she finds her three childhood best friends who had left her unwillingly; Ruka, Hotaru, and Natsume. Can he help her, even if his own world is shrouded with darkness?

Alice Academy
1

Homicide flashes through her mind again
No more pain, take control
If he raises his hand again
She'll find her freedom in killing him
The world will see that she's had enough

A turtle could be seen making it's way, slowly but surely, down a leaf-strewn path towards it's destination, a schoolhouse. Inside said school was thirteen-year old Sakura Mikan and several of her classmates. They were discussing the reason as to why their school was being shut down.

"They say it's because there's no money to keep it up," stated a blond-haired girl who's name was Suzuki Karen. Karen was sitting in her seat, looking rather bored, "I honestly don't care. It would be nice to have this school shut down. It looks simply atrocious; paint peeling on the walls, windows are broken, floor panels are rotted."

"Though I do agree that this school is run down, where would we receive our education?" questioned Mikan. She looked to her best friend of four years, Imai Hotaru, as if she would have the answer.

Instead, it was Karen who answered, "I would think that we would be moved to the city's school, and they would have a bus come get us, instead of making us walk."

"Ahh, that would make sense. Although I wouldn't want to go to school in the city, it's so noisy and polluted, as opposed to the clean country air..." said Mikan, "Right, Hotaru?"

"Hn..."

As their conversation came to an end, the final bell sounded, indicating that the school day was over.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow, then! Bye!" waved Karen.

"Bye Karen!" waved Mikan cheerfully, putting on a smile. As Mikan and Hotaru walked together as they did everyday, Mikan noticed a turtle with a letter in it's mouth. The turtle continued to walk, yet it was going no wheres as it was caught in a tree root. Mikan quickly extracted her silver pocket knife from her jeans pocket and swiftly walked over to the turtle, whispering to the tree, "I'm sorry, it'll only hurt a little bit," and cut the root to help the turtle. When Mikan's knife first cut into the root, she winced a little at the extreme pain in her head. No one noticed her flinch, except Hotaru. It pained Hotaru to see her friend hurt, to know that she was the cause of it because of her turtle. Yet Hotaru stood still, a stoic expression in place.

"Hurry up Dummy, you're too slow."

"Tch. Whatever." Mikan said as she watched the turtle walk and stop at her feet. She carefully picked it up, and removed the letter from it's mouth. After reading it, Mikan was silent. She turned around with a hurtful expression, "Why didn't you tell me sooner that you were leaving to go to another school in Tokyo?"

"... Because everyone would of made a big deal out of it. The car is waiting for me, so I should go. Besides, it's not like we're never going to see each other again. I'll come home on summer vacations and winter vacations, and we can send each other letter and maybe talk on the phone if it's really necessary. Tell everyone I said 'Bye' and you can keep the turtle."

"...O..okay. I'll miss you Hotaru." said Mikan as she slowly made her way towards her best friend.

What Hotaru did next surprised Mikan, she hugged her, and said, "I'll miss you too, Mikan. Always remember to smile." Then, she left, and went in the direction of a black car with two surly-looking men in black suits and sunglasses. To Mikan, it was all too familiar.

"Are you ready to go, Imai-sama?" asked one of them as he opened the back door for her.

"Yes." she replied and slid in the car. The man closed her door, and opened his own and got in the vehicle. As the door shut with a 'click' the automobile drove off into the direction of the city, along with Hotaru.

Sad, Mikan walked away with her head down, and thought, 'Another important person in my life, gone. Am I destined to be alone?' She thought this over and over again until she arrived home, where she lived with her 'Jii-chan. 'No! I mustn't think these horrendous thoughts. I have my 'Jii-chan with me!'

" 'Jii-chan! I'm home!"

"Aah! Mikan! So glad you're home! Anything exciting happen in school today," he said with a bright smile.

"No, actually. Something did happen, but it wasn't exciting in the least bit."

"What?! Did they say that they are going to close the school down?"

"No, Hotaru's transferring school's. She's already gone." she said, her eyes covering her bangs.

"Aww, sweetie, I'm sorry. Come here." he said, arms wide. Mikan gladly went in them, "I'm sure that she'll come back and visit."

That night when it was time for bed, Mikan clutched the turtle and went into a troublesome sleep.

"No! Stop it Daddy! Please, stop hurting me! Please Daddy! Stop it!" pleaded a five year-old Mikan, tears streaming down her face, begging her father who was on top of her to stop his revolting actions. Yet he did nothing, he continued to pound into her, grunting in pleasure while Mikan was crying her little eyes out and screaming for him to stop. But he never did, he just continued. When he did stop, he picked Mikan up and threw her violently across the room. Mikan landed on the floor, and she could see the dark figure that was her father looming over her. She could see him raise his foot up, ready to strike. Mikan shut her eyes, waiting for the blow. As fast as lightning, her father kicked her in the stomach and laughed as Mikan began to cough up blood. From his breast pocket in his shirt, he withdrew a silver pocket knife, squatted down, and began to slice through Mikan's skin, looking disgusted as the wounds began to heal immediately. "You stupid little girl, you should never have been born. You're nothing but a thief. If you tell anyone about this, I'll kill you." he spat in her ear. Then he walked to get his pants. Leaving a naked, shaking, crying Mikan on the ground.

Mikan woke up in a cold sweat, shuddering as she remembers those memories, 'It's all a dream, that's all behind you now, Mikan, he's gone, he can't hurt you any more.' she thought, drawing her knees up to her chest, as she leaned back against the wall, a single tear made it's way down her cheek. Mikan knew that she was in for another sleepless night.

At five o'clock the next day, Mikan stood up, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, and walked to the kitchen. After eating some breakfast, she put on her running sneakers and began to run out the door, to do fifteen laps around her block as a warm up. You'd think that Mikan would be out of breath, but she wasn't as she'd been doing this since she was eight, when she came to live with her Ojii-san, after that happened. Mikan finished her laps, then jogged into her backyard and started her training of martial arts for an hour. When she was done with that, Mikan went to take a shower, and got ready to go to school.

Mikan went to school, but her friends remarked that she was even quieter than usual. When the final bell rang, Mikan was last to leave. As she heaved herself up from the plastic chair, she could hear voices. She recognized them both. One was the principal's and the other, Hotaru's mother.

"Thank you very much, Imai-san, this donation was very generous. Now we can upgrade the school to improve it!"

"You're very welcomed Principal-san." At this time, Mikan chose to reveal herself.

"Donation?" she questioned, 'The Imai's don't have that kind of money... how'd they get it?' she thought.

"The school Hotaru is going to gives money to the students' families as a thank you for letting the children go there. Hotaru knew that the school needed money, so she decided to comply with the Academy's wishes and went to the school." said Imai Nadeshiko, Hotaru's mother.

"So you mean that Hotaru left this school so it wouldn't be torn down?" Mikan said with her bangs covering her eyes.

"Yes, she did, she cares a lot about this school, and she cares a lot about you too, Mikan," Nadeshiko said softly.

"That's nice to know. I have to go know. Good bye." Mikan said emotionlessly and bolted through the hallway.

Days passed which soon turned into weeks, and weeks soon turned into months, and months grew into a year. With the date now being the seventeenth of May, it was exactly one year since Hotaru's departure. Mikan was now a fourteen-year-old loner. After Hotaru left, she stopped talking to everybody, with the exception of her Ojii-san. But even he could see the change in her and became sad, but he was surprised that not once had she ever skipped a day of training. She treated it like a religion.

Every week for the past year, Mikan would write letters to Hotaru, hoping for a response of sorts. When Mikan walked in the door she was greeted by her Ojii-san. He looked to be very happy, "Mikan! You're home! Look what I've got for you! A letter from Hotaru!" Upon hearing this, Mikan's face visibly brightened and a smile from ear to ear could be seen on her face.

"Really?! It's been a year today sice Hotaru left! I wonder what it has to say?" said Mikan as she took the letter out of her Ojii-san's hand and hastily opened it. She could see that it had a picture of a gorilla billboard. The brunette opened the letter, it read:

Mikan,
The reason why I am not coming home this sum-
mer is because it's too hot where you are and the
Academy has air-conditioning so I'm not going to
leave bother. Same with winter vacation. It's too
cold. Don't worry, I'll call you soon. But wait, the-
re's no phone, so I won't bother.
Hotaru.
P.S The picture on the front is the view from my window..

After each line Mikan read, her smile got smaller until there was a frown on her pretty features. "She says that she's not coming home," said Mikan in a monotone voice, and emotionless expression on her face.

"My goodness, not coming to visit because it's too hot? My word, that child certainly is lazy." he said, then coughing a bit.

"I'll be in my room, 'Jii-chan, could you please call me when supper is to be made?" and walked off in the direction of her room.

Ojii-san noticed that she was hurt so he decided that he would make supper, and give it to her in her room as a treat. 'My poor Mikan, I hope she smiles more often.' he thought as he prepared the noodles.

With each passing month, Mikan became even more distant than ever, but still did not give up on her training, even though at the most she got five hours of sleep each week, but she didn't mind. She usually never slept at all some days since the age of five. Now the twenty-ninth of February, Mikan was a fifteen-year-old insomniac. Her Ojii-san recommended that she see a doctor to get a prescription, and surprisingly, she took his advice. That evening, for the first time in ten years, Sakura Mikan slept through the night.

Although Ojii-san was happy to see his granddaughter sleep, he became ill. 'It must've started the day I got that letter from Hotaru, but God, that was ten months ago,' thought Mikan as she placed a cold cloth on his forehead. He had been getting numerous of fevers as of late, and lost a considerable amount of weight. " 'Jii-chan, why won't you let me heal you?" she asked him.

"I will not let you hurt yourself, Mikan. Remember what happened when you healed that little sparrow? You coughed up blood, Mikan! I will not let you hurt youself over something as trivial as my sickness." Then he gave a long cough which left him gasping for breath.

" 'Jii-chan, please let me heal you.." Tears welled up in her olive orbs as the pain in her head grew more extreme.

"No. Go write a letter to Hotaru or something. I need to sleep." With that, he shut his eyes and rolled over on his side, his back facing his only granddaughter.

"..." Mikan got up silently and walked out her Ojii-san's room, thinking, 'I mustn't cry, crying get's you nowhere,' as she scratched away her unfallen tears.

As the weeks passed, Ojii-san's condition did not clear, in fact, if anything, it became worse. Ojii-san finally gave the 'okay' to go to the doctor to get better, but the doctor informed them that he had Tuberculosis, and that he came too late for it to be cured, an that he would have a limited time to live.

" 'Jii-chan, why aren't you getting any better?" she asked him one day out of the blue.

"Do not worry about me, I suspect that my time is almost up," he said in a raspy voice, "I know that you have been skipping school just to take care of me. You should not have done that. When I die, I want you to take the money from my savings, and go to Tokyo, find Hotaru," he stopped to have a brief coughing fit. Mikan's eye twitched as her headache's pain increased. "Go in my closet, I have a present for you."

"A present? Why would you get me a present?" asked Mikan, her eyes filled with confusion.

"For your fifteenth birthday, of course, although, I'm four months late, will you still except it?"

" 'Jii-chan! How could you say such a thing! Of course I'll except it, no matter what." she said coming back from his closet with the rather large present. When she set it on the ground, it moved a bit. Her eyes widened in shock, " 'J-Jii-chan, what is it?"

"Open it and find out," he said with a knowing smile.

When she removed the lid, she heard a 'neaw' sound and a furry orange-and-black ball, curled up and looking intently at her. "Y-you got me a tiger! Oh my gosh 'Jii-chan! I love it! Thank you so much!" She said, hugging the old man, "What should I name it? How did you get it? I thought that there aren't any tigers in Japan." Mikan picked up the tiger and hugged it.

"You're right, there aren't any tigers in Japan except in zoos. An old war buddy of mine who lives in Indonesia breeds these sumatran tigers, and when I told him that I'd like to give you one for your birthday, he was a little skeptic at first, as the species are protected because they are rare, but I assured him that you are a responsible, mature young lady and that you'll take good care of her. Her mother died giving birth to her and her siblings, you know, and she's the only one that survived. Now, what to name her, what to name her.." he trailed off, lost in thought.

Mikan thought very hard on what to call her, then, she gasped, " 'Jii-chan! I know what to call her!It's a blessing that she's here, right? Since her mother and siblings are gone... well, I've decided to name her Keiko!" she smiled, "Hello, Keiko" she purred softly, and she was surprised that Keiko opened her eyes and closed them again, but not before locking gazes with her new owner, as if to say hello.

"She's about three weeks old so you'll need to nurse her regularly with some milk and a bottle. Then when she gets to be about five months, you should teach her to hunt and -" Ojii-san went into a violent coughing fit, this time, coughing up blood, "Mikan - pant - my time - pant - is up... Take good care - pant - of Keiko... and yourself... I... love you,"

" 'Jii-chan! NO! Don't go, please, please! Don't die..." cried Mikan, tears falling on the floor as she grasped her Ojii-san's hand, "I love you too, 'Jii-chan" she whispered as his hand fell limp in hers. For the next hour, Mikan was crying over her lifeless Ojii-san's body, hugging Keiko, telling her that she should have healed 'Jii-chan, that it's her falt that he'd dead, just like it's her fault that her pregnant mother is dead, too.

"Please, don't cry, it makes me sad," said a soft voice.

"W-who said that?" questioned Mikan, sitting up and looking around the room.

"Me, the one you call Keiko," Upon hearing this, Mikan's eyes widened considerably. 'W-why can she talk to me? Is it because I am in tune with nature? Do I have more of those freakish powers? Ahh Tsu-chan, why did they take you away? You didn't burn down the village, I did,' Once again, tears rolled down the brunette's cheeks. 'Crying will get me nowhere. I must go to Tokyo for 'Jii-chan.'

"Excuse me, but who was that human who coughed red liquid?" asked Keiko in her soft voice.

"T-that wa-was my 'Jii-chan. He's in a much b-better place now, where there is no suffering. Only happiness," replied Mikan, her eyes being covered by her bangs.

"Just like my mommy and brothers and sisters. I heard humans say that she's in a better place now, just like your 'Jii-chan,"

"Mm, yeah. You know, we're more alike than you think." 'You have no family, I have no family,' finished Mikan in her head. Mikan took a deep breath, and exhaled, "Well, I guess that we should start packing, We've got to catch the train for six if we want to leave,"

"Excuse me, but where are we going?"

"To Tokyo, where we're going to live from now on," Mikan said as she set Keiko down and stood up, "Can you walk?" she asked, eyeing Keiko's wobbly steps.

"Not very well, but with practice, I think I will be able to manage." said Keiko as she walked/shook around the room.

"While I go pack, you can practice walking, okay?" said Mikan and left the room to go to her own. When she reached her closet, she took out a back pack, and put in three good tops, a pair of jeans, her running shorts, two old tops, her running sneakers, lots of undergarments, elastic bands, her toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap. She went downstairs and peered in the fridge and found a big tin of powdered milk for baby animals, and a little bottle for feeding. Mikan also found a steak and grabbed that, along with the tin and bottle, ran upstairs and places them in her pack as well. After making sure that she had her pocket knife safely in her back pocket, she zippered the back pack, and went to her nightstand where there was a charred photo album. She gingerly picked it up, and placed it against her chest, "Mom, I miss you so much. I'm sorry, it's my fault that you're gone," she said as she re-opened her pack and placed it inside, and re-closed it before heading to her now deceased Ojii-san's room with Keiko attempting to walk. She went towards a red clay pot, and flipped it upside-down, where several 2 000 yen notes fell to the ground. Mikan grabbed the notes and hastily put them in her pocket. "C'mon Keiko, time to go," she said as she lifted the black and orange furball into her arms. As Mikan made her way out the front door, she looked back and whispered, "Goodbye, 'Jii-chan," and jogged to the train station which was a good twenty minute jog. Even though her shin began to ache, she kept on jogging. If there was one thing that her bastard of a father taught her, it was endurance.

As Mikan saw the lights of the train station and slowed to a fask walk. When she opened the door, she was met by a blast of heat which she didn't notice. Hot or cold, Mikan wouldn't know the difference because she couldn't feel tempratures, it was always neutral. She was odd that way, just as she never got ill, no matter what. She could dive in artic water and wait until she dried off and never catch pneumonia. A 'freak of nature' that bastard called her more than once.

The brunette made her way up to the counter and said quietly, "One ticket to Tokyo, please."

The clerk nodded, "Date of birth, please?"

"January first, 1993," replied Mikan in that same quiet tone.

She punched in the numbers, then said, "3 400 yen, please." Mikan fished out 4 000 yen and handed it to the clerk as she handed her the train ticket, "It should arrive in ten minutes,"

"Thanks. Keep the change," said Mikan before walking outside to wait for the oncoming train. She fiddled with this, and that, and hoped to whomever that they allowed animals on the train, 'Well, that ticket person said nothing, and she did see Keiko, so I'm assuming that they do let animals on the train,' she thought as she glanced at the little ball of fur cuddled in her arms, fast asleep.

A minute later, the large electric train pulled up in the station. Mikan made sure that her back pack was on her back, and Keiko in her arms, and boarded the locomotive to sit in a comfy chair next to the window, 'Damn, I should of brought a book, this ride's gonna be nearly five hours,' Mikan scolded as she look out at the passing scenery before her.

As Mikan got off the train, it was eleven at night. And it was dark. 'Should I look for the school now, or tomorrow? ... Now is as gosd a time as any,' she decided. Mikan walked to the side of the road as yelled, "TAXI!" waking Keiko up. "Shh, go back to sleep." Three seconds later, a bright yellow cab stopped in front of her.

"Where to, sweet thang?" the cabbie said, eyes sweeping over her body.

'What a fucking pervert,' thought Mikan, 'Disgusting,' "Alice Academy, if you please," she said climbing in the back seat, setting Keiko on her lap and putting her back pack on the floor between her feet.

"So, where you from?" inquired the cabbie, looking at Mikan through the rear-view mirror.

"Not here," she replied, clearly ending the conversation.

Several minutes passed before the taxi came to a halt. "1 200 yen," he said.

Mikan fished in her pocket before handing the man 2 000 yen. She waited until he gave her the remaining 800 yen back before stepping out of the cab with her pack on her shoulder and Keiko held by one arm as the other's hand was thowing him a 100 yen coin and walking up to the gates of Alice Academy.

Her jaw dropped. It was freakin' HUGE. And when Sakura Mikan thinks it's huge, it's huge. H-U-G-E, huge. Mikan could feel someone move, and looked in the direction of said movement. It turned out to be a guard for the gate.

"What do you want?" he barked.

"I just.. I just wanted to see my friend, Imai Hotaru. She goes to this school. May I please see her?" she asked politely.

"No you can't. No one from the outside is allowed to see anyone from this school, do I make myself clear? Now get lost before I call the police!" and turned away.

'Geez, someone woke up on the wong side of the bed today. Fuck he's rude, now I'll never get to see Hotaru.' Mikan thought glumly, 'I wonder if I could blast away thouse walls... No, then the police'd take me away... Hmm, I could awlays fly up there, I suppose...' As Mikan thought of more ways to get over that damned wall, she suddenly felt two pairs of feet coming this way. When she looked up, she saw two greasy guys sniggering their ways towards her. 'Fuck' was all Mikan could think.

"Hey there little girl," said the tallest one. Mikan visibly stiffened. The bastard used to call her 'Little Girl' and she hated it. "I see you can't get into that school, so why don't you come with us. We know a school that you can go to that once you graduate from there, this academy'll be beggin' to have you in their school."

Mikan tightened her grip on Keiko and bluntly said, "No.", much to the men's dismay. They tried again. "No." she said again. 'Fuck they're idiots. Although I used to be an idiot too. Five years ago, I would of happily went with them, but now, I'm much smarter than I used to be..' She thought, reminiscing the time when she was ten.

A ten year old Mikan could be seen merrily skipping towards her house with a armful of groceries. Too bad she didn't notice the man behind her in an alley. The man pretended to fall, crying out in agony about his ankle being twisted. Mikan didn't feel any pain in her head, so she was a little suspicious, but being the caring itiot that she was, she went to help him. When she set down her bags to help him up, he tripped her. Mikan looked up to his face to see not an expression of pain, but of malice. Since Mikan was on the ground, the man took this opportunity to spring up and attack. He swiftly kicked her in the stomach, then he lifted her up and bashed her against the brick wall when Mikan suddenly became unconscious from the pain. The man threw her to the ground where she landed face first, and rolled her over. He was happy that she was wearing a skirt. He hiked it up and began to pull off her underwear. Mikan's head, which had been bleeding internally, had healed completely and she had regained conciousness to find her attacker violating her. So she kicked him. Hard. They both screamed at the pain, one in his groin, the other, in her head. Still, the man ignored his pain and charged at Mikan as she swiftly rose to her feet, dodging his punches and threw some of her own. Using quick thinking, Mikan struck the pressure point on his next and sighed in relief and his body slumped to the ground in a dead weight. Rolling him over, Mikan withdrew her pocket knife from her shoe (her skirt had no pockets) and pulled out the blade. She pressed the knife against his throat, watching as the stainless steel cut through his skin and blood bubbled to the surface. When she slit the remainder of his throat, Mikan cleaned the knife on his shirt. Tears welling up in her eyes. Even though the man was unconscious, the pain grew in Mikan's head until she screamed. She held out her left arm, and sliced her forearm, taking deep breaths as the pain dissolved from her head. "I won't let anyone hurt me again." she said as she shook her head to rid herself of the image and tears. Mikan turned around and stopped instantly, to find a figure stairing at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, "H-Hotaru... Wh-what are you doing here?"

Mikan was snapped out of her flashback by someone putting a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her in the opposite direction of the Academy where her best friend was. "Let me go. Now." she said in a deadly calm voice.

"No, and what're you -" started the short one, who was the one holding on to her shoulder, but was cut off by -

'A hippie?' thought Mikan.

"What are you two doing with this little lamb?" asked the hippie. His blond hair swayed in the gentle breeze of the wind as he batted his violet eyes.

'Little lamb? What the fuck?!' thought Mikan and the greasers.

"Back off, she's ours," stated the tall one. Mikan suddenly stepped on his foot.

"What the hell? 'Ours'? I am most certainly not yours, you fucking retard. Get away from me before I do something I might regret," She said, drawing her knife from her shorts' pocket.

He hastily put his hands up and said, "Whoa now, little missy, no need to get violent, right, Hippie?"

"Hippie? What do you me-e-e-ean? I'm a te-e-eacher-r-r here!" He said in a sing-song voice.

"A hippie like you, a teacher? Pfft, yeah right.." said short-and-stout.

The hippie walked up to the greasers, and said in a very calm, soothing voice, "Why don't you two go home now, and leave this little kitten alone, hmm?"

Mikan watched in awe as the two men heavily blushed as nodded dumbly, "Y-yes, I-I think we will go home," one of them said as he grabbed the other one's arm and hauled him down the street.

The hippy turned towards her and said, "Why don't you go home, too."

Mikan's heart began beating faster, 'What the hell? I don't know him, why the fuck am I blushing? Get a hold of yourself, Mikan. To clear her head, Mikan shook her head, her long, brown lair shaking along with it. "Now why in hell would I do that? I've come too far just to go straight back home. I heard that Alice Academy is for geniuses, so give me the entrance exam, and I'll pass it. I need to see my friend" she asked.

The hippie seemed rather astonished, and thought rather gleefully, 'I used my Alice, didn't I? Ooh! Maybe she has one too.. I'll ask,' "Ohoho! What determination you have. But I believe proper introductions are in order. My name is Narumi, I'm a teacher here. Who might you be?"

"Sakura Mikan."

"Do you know why this Academy exists, Mikan-chan?" When he saw Mikan shake her head, he continued, "It was built so that special people, not necessarily geniuses, but for people who have a natural born power, like making yourself fly, or reading peoples' minds, could come here to learn, and perfect their powers so that they may one day have a highly sucessful job. So, in other words, people with natural born gifts, or 'Alices' are sent here to learn. Do you think that you have one of these things called an Alice?"

'So that's what those things are called.. "Gifts" he called them, but that bastard always called them things for freaks..' thought Mikan as she stroked Keiko. "... Yes I do, in fact," she could see Narumi's face light up, "Ehehehe..." she laughed nervously, "I have six."

Narumi's jaw literally dropped to the ground, "What?! Six? What are they? What are they? Tell me, Tell me!" he pleaded. Mikan was reminded of a child and wondered how old he was.

"Well, I know that I can cancel out fire burning my hair... I can heal people and things, but every time someone or something within a fifty mile radius is hurt, I too feel their pain, but in my head... I can summon wind, water, fire and earth... although every time I do for some reason my side hurts... That's about it. Do you have an Alice to, Narumi-sensei?"

"Hehe, why yes, I do Mikan-chan. I'll give you a - "

BOOM!

Narumi was cut off by the brick wall behind them exploding into pieces. Mikan was thrown back by the force, cuts on her hands and knees from impact on the cement sidewalk healing instantly. A flicker of pain became apparent in her head and looked up to see Keiko under a slab of brick. Mikan rushed over to her little tiger cub and placed her hand on Keiko's head, closing her eyes and concentrating on everything good in the world. Soon, Keiko miaow-ed and began to lick her hand happily. She picked her up and jogged over to Narumi-sensei to see that his hand was covering his head. Mikan's eyes widened considerably before she scrambled beside him and asked frantically, "Oh my God! Sensei, are you okay?! What's wrong with -?" But Mikan was cut off because she could see something emerge out of the smoke. She blew in that general direction, and the smoke was swept away by the wind she created. Now that the smoke that had obscured her vision was gone, she could clearly see that a guy about her age was standing on the brick wall. With a cat mask on.

"That there's Hyuuga Natsume. He's the smartest, most dangerous student in the whole middle school section. 'Black Cat' they call him," explained Narumi. But Mikan wasn't listening. In her had, those two words were repeated over and over again, 'Hyuuga Natsume. Hyuuga Natsume. Hyuuga Natsume. Hyuuga Natsume. Tsu-chan?...' Until she was snapped out of her mind my a sudden pain in her head. She saw Natsume on the ground, his mask thrown off his face, and Narumi winding a plant-whip around his arm. She concluded that the sensei must've whipped him as he jumped down from the wall. "So the rumors were true about a possible escapee. Good thing I came here on guard. Shame about his punishment, I hope I didn't ruin his cute little face.."

But she wasn't listening. Mikan quickly ran to Natsume's side and asked franticly, "Oh my God! Are you okay? Gasp!Your cheek!" The olive eyed girl saw a fireball appear under his hand and immediately hit it, "We wouldn't want to start a fire, now. They can be dangerous. Can burn down whole towns, even if by accident," she said. A brief emotion of surprise flashed in his eyes before they glazed over. It was then that Mikan realized that Narumi had also joined them. She hadn't even felt his footsteps from the earth! How stupid to ignore her surroundings, and mentally scolded herself to being so dumb.

"Sigh, he's fighting my Alice." said Narumi dramatically.

"..." and Mikan simply hit the pressure point on Natsume's neck. He instantly fell limp in the teacher's arms, "That should keep him unconscious for about thirty minutes or so.

"Well," began Narumi, hoisting Natsume up and over his shoulder as if he were a sack of potatoes, "Guess what, Mikan-chan, you are being excepted to Alice academy! Ya-a-a-y!! Come with me and I'll go tell the higher-ups that we have a new student, 'kay?"

"Yeah, sure..." 'What a gay-ass teacher..' she thought as she made sure that her back pack was on her back, and Keiko was in her arms. They were, so she picked up the cat mask, and walked along side Narumi in silence until they reached the gates. Narumi stopped, and Mikan followed suit.

"Come in and welcome," he said, beaming, "To Alice Academy!"

'So this is the school that I'm going to go to?' thought Mikan in awe.

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