A plot bunny ambushed me. Anyway, this story takes place when Mikan gets out of the cab that drove her to the Alice Academy.

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Living Dead
Chapter One
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Mikan opened her eyes but shut them immediately at the blinding sunlight. She was sprawled on her back on a grassy riverbank, the shallow waters beside it as pale as the blue sky looking down on them.

She sat up, surveying the area with narrowed eyes as she got used to the brightness. There was a bridge over the river, and busy townsfolk dressed in traditional Japanese clothing were crossing it, some pulling carts laden with goods and others riding bicycles strapped with deliveries. Not just the people but the town, as well, was reminiscent of the olden Japanese days. The roofs of the houses and the rustic shop houses screamed volumes of the timeframe they were stuck in. Men were dressed in gi and hakama while ladies went around in kimono and geta. Children played on the streets wearing pastel-coloured yukata.

Mikan looked down at herself, half-expecting herself to be clad in a yukata like the other children, but was surprised to find that she was still wearing her modern clothing. Pink flats covered her toes and she was clad in her favourite white skirt and the sleeveless green top her best friend Hotaru had given her for her birthday last winter. Strapped to her back was a small backpack made to look like a woolly lamb.

Had she fallen into some sort of time-warping black hole? Where was she, exactly? There was no bus stop, taxi stand or train station in her peripheral vision. Had she fallen from the sky?

Hundreds of dizzying thoughts swam through the brunette's head, yet she remained eerily calm. She wasn't quite sure why, but she felt panicking was useless. She felt no urgency, no need, to contact her grandfather or the friendly police even though she was clearly lost. Somehow, she felt like she had all the time in the world. She could take her own sweet time to figure out her situation. Therefore, emotions like worry or panic were useless.

"Hello, what are you doing there? Have you just arrived?"

Mikan faced the direction the voice came from. There stood a young man with nearly shoulder-length blond hair. He was wearing a simple olive green yukata with fish patterns. Mikan felt attracted to him somehow.

"Excuse me, sir," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse from disuse. "Where is this place?"

Narumi looked at her with pity in his eyes. "So you haven't realised it," he said kindly. "It's alright – I wasn't quite sure where I was either when I first came here." He beamed good-naturedly. "I've been here for a couple of hours at most, I think. But then again, I'm not sure. It's impossible to tell time here." He laughed, but it sounded hollow.

Mikan's eyebrows knit together in confusion. Narumi stopped laughing and knelt down to face her eye-level. Her face reminded him of a dear friend of his. He held out a hand for her to take. "My name is Narumi. I used to be a teacher. Now, come with me and I'll take you to someone who will be able to explain everything that's going on."

Mikan looked at his pale hand apprehensively. "Come on, trust me." His eyes crinkled merrily as he smiled at her once more. "We'll be together for a while."

Mikan slipped her hand into his, and they walked down the busy street together. "My name is Mikan!" She grinned beatifically up at Narumi. "Since you used to be a teacher, is it okay if I called you Narumi-sensei?"

The blond nodded, his soft, wispy locks bouncing as he did so. "Then is it okay if I call you Mikan-chan?"

The little girl laughed her approval, squeezing the older man's hand tighter. They entered a ramen restaurant together, and tramped up the stairs that led to the owner's residence above the store. They stopped in front of a cream-coloured sliding door.

"Reiko-san!" Narumi called. "I've got a new arrival!"

There was the sound of feet scraping tatami mats before the paper door slid open, revealing a young woman with short black hair.

"But she's so young!" she exclaimed upon looking at Mikan. The brunette thought she saw something like pity flash in the lady's eyes, but it disappeared so quickly she decided that she had simply imagined it. "Come in, little one. I'll prepare a yukata for you."

Mikan clutched the fabric of Narumi's yukata as she looked up at the man. He smiled gently, his lavender eyes kind and rheumy. "Go on," he said, pushing her lightly into the room.

Reiko caught the girl before she fell, and the door was slid shut. Narumi leaned against the paper material, letting his bangs shadow his eyes. He sighed, thinking about Mikan. He wondered how a girl so young had died so soon.

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Misaki was running a lot today. First, he had to run out of class to his greenhouse when his alarm system went off, signalling that an intruder had broken in. Upon inspection, he saw that a few of his whip beans had gone missing, no doubt the handiwork of that diabolical Narumi. How many times had he told him to stay out of his precious beans?

So he ran to the staffroom to confront the blond, but he wasn't there. Then, he heard that the elementary school delinquent Natsume Hyuuga had escaped from campus yet again. Since Narumi was his homeroom teacher and therefore responsible for him, he deduced that the blond was probably patrolling the Academy walls, waiting for a chance to capture the misfit. So, once more, he ran.

While he was running to the guardhouse, he spotted a boy in the trees, wearing a black cat mask over his face. It was Natsume. Misaki changed direction, running to where the boy was. However, halfway during his beeline, an explosion occurred – no doubt caused by Natsume's Fire Alice.

The force of the blast sent the teacher flying, landing crudely on his back as flames and black smoke billowed into the air. Misaki coughed, expelling the noxious fumes that had forced their way into his lungs. Bleary-eyed, he went slack-jawed at the extent of damage one boy had made.

There was a gaping hole in the Academy's reinforced, three-metre thick wall and the trees and plants nearby were set aflame. He couldn't see what was beyond the hole as thick, grey swirling smoke surrounded the area. However, he vaguely made out Natsume's outline as he leapt down from his perch on the tree and dashed into the smoke – to freedom.

Misaki knew he had to go after the rogue student, but he was more worried about the safety of the pedestrians – there was a huge, busy street outside the Academy walls, after all. So he ran to his initial destination, the guardhouse, to inform the officers on duty of what had just occurred. After instructing them to call an ambulance, the police and a fire truck, he ran to the staff building of the Academy to inform the head of discipline, Jinno, and the three headmasters.

After that, Misaki was instructed to assist the police that were inspecting the crime scene. A young policeman – probably a rookie, Misaki thought smugly – reported to him.

"Five injured in total, sir," he reported, his voice wavering slightly. "And two dead."

Misaki had a foreboding feeling at the boy's words. "Who are the deceased?" he demanded briskly, striding over to the crew of medics at the same time.

The rookie jogged to keep up with Misaki. "A young man and a little girl, sir."

"Was the girl wearing a school uniform?" His eyes roved over the injured people lying on the ground, being treated by people dressed in white. Where was Narumi? He refused to look at the two lumps being carried into the ambulance by stretchers – the bodies were completely covered in white sheets.

"No, sir. She was a civilian, I believe. The man died instantly, as he took on the full force of the blast. The girl was crushed by a block of concrete from the wall. She was still alive when the fire fighters rescued her, but died about fifteen minutes later."

"I see. Where are her parents?" Misaki couldn't find a single strand of blond hair in the writhing mass of people beneath him.

"Apparently she came alone," the rookie read from the clipboard he was carrying. "She had just alighted from a cab when the explosion took place. We're questioning the driver now as we speak, so we may be able to identify her body and inform her family."

Identify the body. Misaki was pale – there was no mirror for him to look at himself, but he could feel the colour seeping out his tanned face. He licked his dry lips – a nervous habit he thought he had rid himself of. Still refusing to look at the deceased bodies, he scanned the crowd of people that had gathered around the scene. Narumi wasn't there either.

He felt a tap on his back and he spun around wildly, expecting Narumi to be standing there with a big grin and a peace sign. He was disappointed once again, however, when it was just the chief medic.

"Are you a teacher at the Academy?" Kurosaki – the medic – asked gruffly.

"Yes," Misaki croaked.

"We found this ID on one of the dead bodies." He handed Misaki a plastic case with a picture of a blond man in it. Misaki felt his heart stop.

Misaki wasn't thinking anymore – his mind had gone into a hazy blank as his hands trembled, dropping Narumi's Alice Academy identification card. He turned and ran towards the medics carrying the dead bodies, ignoring the rookie and medic's yells of stop.

He collided heavily with the innocent paramedics, who dropped the bodies as they rolled onto the floor, sheets gone. The crowd gasped and yelled at the sight. The smaller of the two bodies – a young girl no older than ten years old, with long, brown hair in pigtails – lay face down on the concrete sidewalk. Blood gushed from her head and her back had an indent, showing that she was crushed. The other body was that of a man in his twenties – he lay next to the little girl, but his face was turned towards the sky. His eyes – a brilliant shade of purple – were blank and staring. His face and torso were heavily bloodied.

"NARUMI!" Misaki yelled, preparing to leap onto the carcass to shake its shoulders, as though to snap it out of a trance. Two policemen rushed over to restrain the berserk teacher, who struggled valiantly against his muscular captors. "Oi, Narumi! Wake up, you bastard! You're going to be late for your class! Oi, Narumi! What kind of teacher are you!"

Misaki went slack all of a sudden, and the policemen loosened their grips slightly. His neck didn't seem to be able to support his head anymore. Small droplets of water stained the ground beneath the three men, and the policemen wondered if the teacher was crying. However, when the skies began pouring all of a sudden – there had been no warning in the form of grey clouds – they thought they had been mistaken. They couldn't tell the difference between tears and rain, but it didn't matter. Misaki's face was wet all the same.

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Natsume collapsed in a dark alleyway somewhere in the city of Tokyo. His thick, onyx hair was matted with sweat and his black cat mask was askew. His eyes were livid and his pupils were dilating. He panted heavily, letting the heat of his sweat sink in. The frantic pounding of his heart yelled hysterically in his ears, doing little to calm him.

He had always wanted to escape from the Academy, but this was the first time he had actually pulled it off. He had never expected to succeed – oh, he was one with little faith in himself. But now that he had… Well, now that he was free from the Academy walls and out in the open, what now? What could he do? Where could he stay the night? What was he going to do for money? He couldn't keep running forever without food – damn, he shouldn't have skipped lunch to pull escape attempt #22 off.

Natsume struggled to his feet – his legs were aching and his muscles and lungs were burning. He had to run, now. Persona – the detestable man in charge of the Academy's dark operative group, of which Natsume was a member of, though not by choice – was coming to get him.

Oh wait, he was here already.

"Going somewhere, Natsume-kun?" Persona's silky voice cut the air, laced with venomous amusement. Natsume tensed, refusing to look up at the fire escape ladder Persona was perched on.

The mask-clad man leapt gracefully from the ladder, landing sure-footed in front of the escapee. "Do you have any idea what the extent of your damage has caused?" His voice was devoid of amusement now – it was cold and hard. Bitter, even.

For once, the fiery-tempered Natsume was lacking the gall to glare at the entity of hatred in front of him.

"Boy, you must be punished."

With a frustrated roar, Natsume pushed past Persona and tried to run into the open street – he was only ten, and surely some people would feel sympathy for the boy and help him escape from the older man, who must have looked like a bully. However, before he could get away, Persona sent a swift kick to his gut, knocking Natsume against the grimy alley wall. The boy doubled over in pain, and Persona kicked him relentlessly, over and over again. Natsume screamed in agony, but his desolate cries only seemed to fuel the man's determination to expel the boy's appendix out of his mouth.

When the kicking stopped, Natsume was near unconsciousness. He thought the pain was over for now, but he was wrong. Persona's hands went to his leg, and he pulled. The scream he evoked from the boy was enough to rival a hog's sent to the slaughter.

Moments later, Natsume lay motionless in the shadows of the filthy alleyway. He was too drained to even writhe in pain.

Persona's fluid voice pierced the terse air once more. "Next time you disobey the Academy, I will not just break your leg. I will tear it from your body." He turned on his heel, his footsteps echoing in the narrow alleyway, which had bore witness to the inhumane punishment. "Now, come. A car should have arrived to take us back to the Academy."

Natsume didn't move. He couldn't.

Persona's hand hovered above the door handle of the car that was parked outside the alleyway. He hesitated for a moment, then he turned around and walked back into the alleyway. He stared at the prone body before kneeling and scooping the boy into his arms.

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Mikan was silent as she absorbed the information Reiko and Narumi had just given her. She was dead, as was Narumi, and Reiko, and the rest of the townsfolk. They were in a village called Sayona, one of many in which the deceased inhabited in the afterlife. Here, the spirits created jobs and schools to pass the time – the eternity they had together.

Narumi calmly sipped the tea Reiko had prepared for him. In Sayona, the people felt no hunger or thirst, but liked to indulge in beverages and food to relive the days when they were still alive. He hadn't been dead for very long when Mikan arrived, but when he had arrived and Reiko found and explained to him his current situation, he wasn't very surprised. He had a colleague back at the Academy he used to work at who was a psychic, and she had once told him of a place like this. Reiko was astonished at how easily he conceded to his state of lifelessness. Now the two adults were waiting for a reaction from the little girl sitting in front of them.

Mikan smoothed out her pink yukata and flashed her two thousand watt smile at the pair. "It's okay – I think I get it. That would explain that crushing feeling I got here," she pointed to her chest, "before I blacked out. I don't remember anything after that, and when I woke up here, I was wondering why the pain was gone."

"Mikan-chan…" Narumi reached for her hand and cradled it in his. "Do you… Do you remember how you died?"

Mikan laughed hoarsely. "Not really. I'm kind of glad that I don't, or I'd be really depressed, I think. What about Narumi-sensei?"

Reiko sighed. "Narumi doesn't remember how he died, either."

"Reiko-san, do you?" Mikan blushed cutely. "That is, if you don't mind telling me." She hiccupped at the end of her sentence.

Reiko folded her arms, tucking her hands into the folds of her black and white kimono. "I don't really remember either," she said honestly. "Not many do, I think. Some remember slowly dying from diseases, while the rest who do remember how they died claim they were murdered. Those aren't happy souls – most of them are vengeful, trying to escape from the Sayona to the Living World to kill those that killed them. It's sad, really."

"Is that so," Mikan said softly, hiccupping again.

"Oh, Mikan-chan." Reiko held her arms open. "It's okay to cry. Come here."

With a wail, the brunette sailed into the older woman's arms, burying her face into the black fabric. Reiko rubbed the little girl's back, humming a lullaby her mother had taught her when she was still alive, and running her other hand soothingly through the loose locks of hazel hair.

Narumi smiled and got up to leave. "If you ladies would please excuse me…"

It seemed like hours until Mikan finally stopped crying, but you could never tell how much time had gone by in a place as eternal and timeless as Sayona. The only indication of what time it could be was the sunset – its orange hues reflected in the river facing the ramen shop. The golden light seeped into Reiko's room, softly illuminating Mikan's sleepy face as the older woman tucked her into a futon.

She opened the sliding door and stepped out, quietly sliding it back in place. Narumi was leaning on the wall opposite her, arms crossed.

"Is she alright?" he asked.

"Mm," Reiko answered absent-mindedly. "About that thing you were asking me earlier, Narumi…"

"Is it possible?"

"Going down to the Living World to stalk a student of yours? Yes. Maybe." She turned away from him and sighed exasperatedly. "You'll have to ask the Council yourself – only they can grant you permission to do that. I'll take you to Town Hall tomorrow, and I'll bring Mikan along."

"Mikan-chan? Is it safe for her? I thought the Council could obliterate-"

"Before she fell asleep," Reiko cut tersely, "she told me something. She said her parents had died before she could memorise their faces. She believes they're here somewhere, and she wants to find them."

Narumi raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't everybody?"

A small smile crept onto Reiko's face. "You know, Narumi, when people die they might not always end up in the same place. I didn't originally land in Sayona, you know. I wanted to find my parents so badly, I went to the Council."

"Did they help you find them?" he asked softly.

"I wouldn't be here in this ramen shop otherwise." She laughed. Narumi waited patiently for her laughter to die down. "Tell me again about this boy."

Reiko had lied when she told Mikan that Narumi didn't remember how he died – it was a personal issue and he had requested that she told no one.

Narumi's expression turned dark. "I told you about Alices already, didn't I? Anyway, that boy – Natsume Hyuuga – has the Alice of fire. He's a valuable asset to the Academy. I don't blame him for my death, but I fear for the boy. No doubt the Academy will punish him for what he did – it'll get into the papers, the news… Rumours will spread and the Academy's reputation will be ruined. The companies funding that institute might pull out, and there will be uprisings…" He shuddered. "Natsume's punishment – he will either die from the pain from the punishments, or he will kill himself to escape the pain."

Reiko frowned. "Either way, it's not pretty."

"That boy has so many more years ahead of him," Narumi said gravely. "I tried to get him to see the light – to show him that he could still achieve happiness within the Academy walls, but I failed. I can't fail again. As his teacher, it's my obligation."

"How noble." Reiko clapped softly as she smirked. She turned away from him and stepped back into the room where Mikan slept. She drew the curtains to block out the sunset's glaring light. "We'll see how tomorrow goes."

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To be continued…

Mikan's parents - I forgot in which episode this was mentioned, but when Mikan was younger, she asked her grandfather where they were. He told her they had passed on - became stars in the sky that watched over her.

Sayona - I don't think there's a direct translation for this, but 'sayo' means born at night and 'na' is something similar to field. If you extend 'Sayona', you get 'Sayonara' - haha, get it? Okay, never mind.