Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Gakuen Alice
Title: Catch That Pigeon!
Author: KhaosChan
Length: One Shot
Dedicated To: sarahpatrick
Other Notes: This is manga based, as are all of my Gakuen Alice fanfics. It doesn't make too much of a difference, except that Natsume doesn't call Mikan "Polka Dots" anymore in the manga, he just calls her by her first name. Plus, he left her an Alice Stone by her window after she gave him hers.
Mikan sat on a bench somewhere in Alice Gakuen, watching the tree branches sway in the wind. She was thirteen years old and a first year middle school student. Even so, she hadn't changed much since fith grade. She was still a happy-go-lucky girl who always managed to see the brighter side to a situation. She still tied her her (slightly burnt) hair into pigtails and still remained clueless to others, exspecially a certain black cat's, feelings.
Mikan tugged out something from her pocket and unclasped her hand, revealing a large crimson stone attached to a gold chain. It was an Alice Stone, the mysterious one that she had recieved a few years earlier.
It was very precious to her, even though she didn't have much of an idea of who gave it to her. She was pretty sure the mysterious person had been Natsume, but it was so out of his character that Mikan almost completely disregarded the idea.
Mikan held the stone up to her face by the chain and watched it glitter in the sunlight.
So pretty... Mikan thought, a small smile forming on her face.
However, one second, the pretty stone was dangling inches from her nose, and the next it was gone.
"EHHH?!" Mikan shrieked, in panic that her her most precious object had disappeared.
A few feet away, a pigeon trotted along, proudly holding the beautiful stone in its beak.
"Pigeon-san..." Mikan began, approaching it, "Could you please return that to me?"
The pigeon just stared at her like she was stupid, afterall, it is very perposterious to think a pigeon could understand any human language. So it just hopped away, taking its prize with it.
"NOOOOOO!" Mikan schrieked, and the chase began. The pigeon, sensing danger, took flight and raced away from the sobbing brunett.
Although not as quick or agile as Natsume, she was a fairly decent runner and had an amazing amount of stamina.
At this time, a certain raven haired boy sat under a blooming Sakura tree, lazily staring at the sky. His crimson eyes became alert and focused on a screaming girl chasing some sort of bird. With in seconds, the bird whizzed by, the girl following shorting behind, screaming things such as "Give it back!" and "Slow Down!".
Bemused, Natsume pulled himself up and followed in pursuit, curious as to what had upset his precious little pig-tail sporting Mikan.
"CATCH THAT PIGEON!" Mikan wailed, causing her to recieve many odd stares from the passing students.
Natsume raised an eyebrow at Mikan's struggles. It's not everyday to see someone desprately hunting down a pigeon, you know.
The pigeon had managed to fly higher, and it landed on the roof of a building, taunting Mikan.
"COME DOWN HERE AND FACE MY LIKE A PIGEON!" Mikan screamed at it, shaking a fist. Natsume could swear it stuck its tounge out at her. But wait, what was that red thing in its mouth, Natsume couldn't help but wonder.
He watched as Mikan grabbed a ladder from a nearby shed and propped it up on the side of the structure.
Oh, she wouldn't. Natsume thought, slightly panicked. He knew her too well to know that she go to any lengths for something she wanted.
Mikan began to climb up the ladder, completely disregarding her own saftey. Now now, you do have to remember that this is Alice Gakuen, afterall. When I say, climbing up a ladder, I mean a ladder that could extend to any length needed. In this case, it was needed for a four-story building. The top of it, to be exact.
People had truly noticed Mikan's attempts by this point, as a growing crowd formed near the bottom of the ladder, pointing and staring. Natsume pushed his way to the front of the squabbling students and stared at Mikan, who was about half way up the ladder.
The pigeon looked rather amused by Mikan's frantic attempts as it pecked at the odd stone it stole from her. Now, this pigeon had picked up a few more brain cells that an average pigeon, and it knew exactly how to irk Mikan further.
Once Mikan reached the top of the building, she hopped onto the roof, pointing an accusing finger in the direction of the pigeon. She marched over to the small pigeon, towering over it, and gave it a glare you didn't think was possible from such a normally gentle face.
"You've caused me a lot of trouble, Pigeon-san." Mikan huffed at it, glowering.
The pigeon cocked its head innocently, widening its eyes.
"Don't give me that look, you and I both know what you did. Now give it back." Mikan demanded.
The pigeon gave Mikan a look that was almost like a smirk and ran between Mikan's legs in the direction of the ladder. Mikan spun around and ran after it. The pigeon took off in the direction of the Northern Forrest just as Mikan's foot, in her haste, stepped onto air and she began to fall off the side of the building
The students below let out muffled screams and and many looked away or slammed their eyes shut, as they did not want to witness Mikan go splat on the sidewalk beside them.
Natsume, who had begun to climb the ladder himself in pursuit of Mikan and her pigeon, became alarmed at the sound of his peers' screams. He immdenently looked up, and to his horror, Mikan was plummeting down towards him at an alarming speed.
Natsume grabbed ahold of her arm as she passed him, and they hung there for a moment before the ladder began to topple over from the sudden weight. Natsume stregthened his hold on Mikan's arm, pulling her up closer to him as she looked up at him in alarm.
He held her tightly they both fell from the ladder and came crashing down to the ground. In those few moments, Natsume had managed to arrange their position so that he would take most, if not all, of the damage from the fall. For once, all of those missions and the experiance that had come with them had come in handy.
Everyone stared at the two in shock, unable to move, watching them for any sign of movement as they laid there in the grass.
Mikan was clutching Natsume tightly, still waitng for Kami-sama to welcome her into heaven. She cautiously opened one eye and stared in shock at Natsume, who was dirrectly below her.
He...He saved me! Mikan thought in shock before fear suddenly flooded her mind. What if he was hurt?
"Natsume? Natsume! Wake up!" Mikan shouted, shaking him slightly, her lower lip quivering and her eyes treathening to unveil a flood of tears.
"Natsume..." She whimpered, the first of the tears falling down her cheek.
"Arffhhh..." Natsume groaned, coming to his senses.
"Natsume!" Mikan screamed happily, crushing him with a hug.
"Owww. Let me go, Mikan." Natsume muttered, agaitated. His crimson eyes met Mikan's teary chocolate ones and he blinked a few times in surprise at her expression. "You saved me!" Mikan whispered softly, staring into his eyes.
Natsume could feel his cheecks burn ever so slighty. "Where did the pigeon go?" He asked, completely ignoring what she had said and their postition.
"Oh that's right!" Mikan said, removing herself from ontop of Natsume, and pulled him with her.
"Ouch!" He hissed, giving Mikan an agiatated glare. He has fallen more than twenty feet protecting her.
Mikan glanced at him as she dragged him along, her look apologetic and her eyes brimming with determination. "I'll get that pigeon no matter what!" She vowed.
"Why?" Natsume grunted, although he allowed himself to be dragged.
Mikan turned slightly red and faced away from him. "It...It stole something very important." Mikan answered quietly, embarrassed to bring up the stone infront of Natsume.
Natsume just shrugged and focused his senses to finding the pigeon, his demenor had softened greatly after being with Mikan for over three years.
After over an hour of searching, Natsume was beginning to revert back to the impatient, rude boy he had been in the beginning.
"I'm going back to my tree, Polka Dots." Natsume grunted, his uniform full of mud from their search.
"Natsume!" Mikan wailed, following him, "You can't! And you haven't called me that horrible nickname in such a long time!"
"I don't see why I have to help you find your little stone or whatever. You won't even describe it to me." Natsume shot her one of his infamous glares and began to walk faster.
"Nattsuumee" Mikan whined, grabbing his arm.
"And for all we know, it could be far, far away by now." He grumbled, trying to shake her off.
At that moment, a suspicous looking pigeon holding a crimson stone landed on a tree branch nearby. "THERE!" Mikan screamed, pointing at it.
The pigeon eyed the girl warily, still carrying the Alice Stone. It hopped up to a higher branch and looked down, taunting her once again.
Natsume was rather irratated with the pigeon as well, as it was the cause for all of their problems. "Wait here." He growled and Mikan obeyed as he approached the tree.
The pigeon watched him as he jumped up to the first branch and then in ablink of an eye, to the second. The pigeon reacted in surprise as Natsume had already reached the branch it was situatated on. It panicked and was about to take flight, but Natsume was faster.
Trained ruthlessly by Persona, Natsume was well equiped with the knowledged of how to capture objects. He pried the stone away from the bird and chucked the poor bird in the direction of the sky. And that was the last Alice Gakuen would ever see of the trouble making pigeon.
Natsume glanced down at the object he had gone through all of the trouble of rescuing and froze. Why? Because he clearly reconized it. It was the same stone he had given to Mikan two and a half years ago, he still had her Nullification stone in his room, next to the picture of all of them and their classmates she had given to him as a birthday gift.
He jumped down from the tree, bangs covering his eyes, Mikan was holding her breath.
Was she right? Did Natsume give her that stone years ago? She stood very still as Natsume walked towards her slowly. Time seemed to have slowed as Natsume stopped a foot infront of her.
"This is the stone? The one that is precious to you?" He asked, his voice barely audible.
"Y-yeah." Mikan looked away, feeling rather awkward.
Natsume watched her for a moment before reaching forward and fastening the chain around her neck. Mikan looked up in surprise as Natsume began to walk away.
"When you use it, make sure you don't burn yourself." He called over his shoulder.
Mikan blinked. She should be careful not...burn herself?
Her eyes lit up and a smile appeared on her face. So it is his stone!
"Natsume! Wait!" She called, running after him. He turned and she took his hand, smiling.
"Thank you." She then smirked. "But don't you know what two people exchanging Alice Stones means?"
Natsume stared at her in shock for a moment before a similar smirk appeared on his face.
"Of course I do."
Oh yes, what about our pigeon friend?
It flew to a house when it pecked at the window. A brown haired, hazel eyed girl opened it and stared at the pigeon in dismay.
"Oh, Pigeon! Where were you?" Khaos asked it, bringing it inside. That poor pigeon was doomed to a life of being called by its unimaginative name and being constantly used as weapon by Khaos.
"Oh, hey there Piggie!" Sarah called to the pigeon, before she went back to making people feel guilty on youtube.
Fin