You Will Always Be Inside My Heart
(nikz135) 13th Doll Knight

NOTES: content is NOT EDITED. only a/n has obviously been changed.(w/c is deleted)
© Gakuen Alice is rightfully owned by Higuchi Tachibana.

-

It was night time. The brunette couldn't sleep and so she decided for a stroll outside. She walked towards the Sakura Tree and sat down as she leaned her back on the trunk and hugged her knees. Her gaze focused at the bright, shining moon and the twinkling stars above her.

"I wish he could be here… right now… with me" she spoke as she started to yawn. All she had been thinking of was a certain raven haired guy just about her age. And of course, that's Natsume. She had fallen for him and she realized it. She wonders if he ever had fallen for her. She was about to get a shut-eye under the tree when she heard someone collapse on the ground. She immediately stood up and looked around.

"Who could that be? Maybe it's… it's…" she paused when she saw a figure under a nearby tree. The figure was lying down and it had blood all over it. She wanted to scream. But no words got out of her mouth. She was terribly scared and wanted to runaway. But it seems that her feet was glued to the floor. Then, she heard the figure moan. She snapped out of her scared self and stared at the figure. Something was telling her to come near it. And so she did but regretted every step she took. As she got closer, her eyes widened in shock as tears began to fall. It was Natsume, lying on the ground lifelessly. She knelt beside him and hugged him.

"Natsume… what kind of mission have you been through?" she softly spoke mainly to herself knowing that Natsume was a little unconscious. She tightened the hug and cried louder. When all of a sudden, she heard him speak.

"Mi… kan…" he said and reached his bloody hand to touch her soft cheek. He wiped her tears and caressed her smooth, pale face. Mikan loosened the hug a bit until his head was on her arm. She stared deeply at his crimson eyes and he too, did the same.

"Natsume! Why did you have to go to that stupid mission?!" she yelled at him with concern.

"Baka… I wanted… to save… you… and our… friends…" he said, getting weaker by every word.

"Why Natsume?! Don't you know we are worried about you every time you go on missions?! And especially this! This is the worst one! We have to get you to the hospital. Quick!"

Before Natsume could reply and before Mikan could carry him, a gunshot was heard from out of nowhere. He growled in pain for he was the one who was shot.

"Natsume!" Mikan cried as her tears once again fell from her face. She held his hand ever so tightly and felt the coldness of his bloody hand.

"Mikan… " he whispered as his hand slowly slipped from her grasp. His eyelids started closing as he was beginning to get unconscious.

"Natsume!" Mikan cried the hardest. "Why'd you have to leave me all of a sudden?!"

"I… would never leave you… I… I… love you… Mikan... You will always... be inside...my heart... now and... forever..." and with that, his hand fell on the ground with his eyes closed.

Mikan hugged him and sobbed. "I… I love you too Natsume-kun… I love you so much… You will forever be inside my heart...".

- - -

Hotaru, who heard the gunshot, immediately woke up from her slumber.

"Something's wrong…" she muttered with a worried tone as she felt this uneasy feeling that something dreadful happened. She got up from bed and rode her duck to the direction where the noise occurred. From afar, she could hear a crying sound and obviously, she knew who that was. She followed it and along the way she met Ruka who also heard the shot.

"So, you heard it?" she asked.

"Yes!" Ruka replied. His voice sounded like he was panicking. "…and that crying sound is…"

"Mikan's"

"Yes! We have to get there now! I'm guessing she's at the Sakura Tree!"

Ruka ran to their destination while Hotaru rode the duck and followed him from behind.

'what could have happened?' Hotaru uncomfortably thought.

When they got there, Ruka instantly searched the place.

"Mikan!" he yelled. He had only one person in his mind right now. It was the brunette. He thought she was the only one involved in this terrible situation. He ran towards the east when he caught sight of a figure under a tree.

"Mikan!" he called out, getting near it.

But when he got closer, tears began to fall from his eyes as he witnessed the worst sight he had ever seen in his entire life. It was his best friend, Natsume, lying dead in the arms of Mikan. She held him in a tight embrace not even noticing Ruka's presence.

"Mikan… Natsume…" he spoke as he knelt beside them. Upon recognizing Ruka's company, she turned to him with Natsume still in her arms.

"Ruka, Natsume… he's… he's…" she sobbed yet again, not finishing her sentence.

Hotaru, on the other hand, was still searching. Oblivious that Ruka had already found Mikan. But nonetheless, she had confidence in herself that she's going to find her soon although she felt more nervous with every minute she spent. Just then, when she was riding her duck towards every direction her tracker (invention of hers) pointed, the cries got louder and louder as she got nearer and closer. She had the same expression Ruka had earlier when she saw the horrible scene right before her. She hopped off from her duck and ran towards the three. She knelt in front of Natsume and checked his pulse. Sadly, it had no respond. She sobbed a little as she spoke.

"We should better tell the others about this…"

"Hotaru!" Mikan reached her right hand to touch her best friend. Hotaru surprisingly caught it and held it tight.

"Mikan…" she said.

"Oh Hotaru… Let's tell the… others… now…" she said in between sobs and sniffs.

"Yes Mikan" Ruka said and stood up walking towards the teachers' dormitory leaving the two girls and his best friend alone.

"What… What do I do now? I lost him… I… I love him so much" Mikan cried.

"Don't worry… The teachers and the others will be here in a second… Everything will be fine Mikan…" Hotaru assured her trying her best to stop her best friend from crying that hard.

In a few minutes, the teachers who were running and following Ruka arrived.

"What happened here?" Narumi asked. He then saw Natsume. He directly called for the other teachers to call an ambulance. The ambulance reached the place from out of nowhere. No one was really in shock on how the vehicle got here so fast, they had their thoughts fully focused at the lifeless form of the fire caster. Natsume was immediately carried into the ambulance as it rushed to the academy's hospital.

Only Mikan, Hotaru, Ruka and Narumi were on board with Natsume.

"Mikan…" Narumi called her attention. "What happened?"

She started explaining everything between sobs and sniffs. And when she finished, they reached the hospital.

The nurse had waited at the hospital's door with tears in her eyes. Narumi saw her through the ambulance's glass window.

They got out as the nurse walked towards them, head bent.

"Natsume… he's… he's…" the nurse softly spoke. "dead". It seems she had the alice of prediction. Narumi bent his head as he mentally slapped himself. This is the worst most painful day for him. And not only him but the crying brunette beside him and the others. It was truly the most painful day in the whole academy. Nothing would ever be the same without the famous kuro neko. How would the principal react when they hear this? And how would their friends deal with it? The Natsume fan clubs, Persona and even the higher teachers. How would they all agree to this? Most especially, the brunette. What will tomorrow be without him? Will it be just a dream? Sadly, this isn't a dream nor is it a nightmare... because this is reality... and reality is where this dreadful incident occured.

- - -

Two days passed after Natsume's funeral and Mikan wasn't really herself during the days. She never wore that cheery smile anymore. She only used that fake smile which seem to fool some. But for her friends who knew her too well, would be noticing this. They have often advised her to just forget about it all. But why would she?

Classes has ended and the sad Mikan walked towards the Sakura Tree. Hotaru followed her and decided to talk to her.

"Mikan…"

Mikan turned and faced her best friend. "Yeah?" she forced a fake smile.

"That's not your smile…"

The brunette tilted her head to the other direction.

"You know, it's really hard for you if you stay like this forever… Natsume is up there looking down at you. How would he react if he sees you like this?" Hotaru told her and sat beside her. "The old idiot Mikan is better than you…"

Mikan faced her and showed her a smile.

"That's better" her stoic best friend commented.

"Hotaru, I really do miss him…"

"Me too and all of our friends miss him"

Mikan felt her tears flowing freely down her soft cheeks as she recalled what had happened during the day he died.

"Don't cry now… The least you could do is move on…" Hotaru said and hugged her.

"Your right… I shouldn't be like this…" Mikan sniffed and wiped her tears.

"I'll be going now… I hope you understood what I said…" Hotaru broke the hug and left Mikan at the Sakura Tree. "See you later"

Once in a while
You are in my mind
I think about the days that we had
And i dream that these would all come back to me...

Mikan waved good bye at her best friend and continued to sit there. She leaned her back at the tree as she shifted her gaze towards the happy and cheerful people who passed by her in a distance. She used to be like that... but with Natsume. But now he's gone. So what's it gonna be like for her?

If only you knew every moment in time
Nothing goes on in my heart
Just like your memories
How I want here to be with you
Once more...

She felt hot tears fall down her cheeks again as she remembered Natsume when he spoke his last words. She bowed her head as not to show her tears to whoever may see her. She stayed like that for a while.

You will always gonna be the one
And you should know
How I wish I could have never let you go
Come into my life again
Oh, don't say no
You will always gonna be the one in my life
So true, I believe i can never find
Somebody like you
my first love

She then recalled the happy times she had with him. She smiled inwardly as it played in her mind. Then, an image of Natsume appeared, smiling. She smiled too as she remembered the moment. "Promise me Mikan, always smile..." was what Natsume said a few days back before he died.

you will always be inside my heart
you will always have your own place
I hope that I have a place in your heart too
now and forever you are still the one
it's still a sad song
until I can sing a new song

Wiping a tear that rolled down her cheek, she stood up with a faint smile. She slightly nodded her head as she weakly smiled. "I love you Natsume... I promise..." she whispered to the wind as it caressed her face. "Ne Natsume, Promise me something too... Please wait for me". She stood up with a smile as she left the spot and walked to the direction her best friend previously went.

The old idiotic Mikan was back with that cheery cute smile on her face. She walked up to where Hotaru and her friends were in the cafeteria. She smiled widely at them as if nothing had happened. Her friends returned a shocking smile to her.

"Gomen ne for my attitude a few days back..." Mikan said as she sat beside Hotaru.

"Don't worry Mikan-chan" Anna smiled.

"Yeah Mikan-chan. Don't worry" Yuu assured her.

"Thanks guys. By the way, what was that you're talking about during HomeRoom?" Mikan questioned.

"Ah, ano... it's for the project... Anyways, Mr. Narumi called you earlier... and you didn't reply so he told us to tell you that he wants to see you after lunch..." Nonoko sheeplishly smiled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Okay thanks... what about now? hmm... maybe it's okay... See you guys later!" she told them as she skipped merrily towards the door.

The gang waved at her and gave each other questioning and shocked looks. Of course, except Hotaru.

"I'm glad Mikan-chan is happy now..." Anna sighed in a happy mood.

"Yeah... I did kinda miss the old Mikan a few days back" Nonoko giggled.

Hotaru only smiled at their statements as she watched her best friend to the door. "I'm glad you're back Mikan..." she thought.