"Mikan! Mikan! Wake up!" A voice whispered frantically in her ear. It sounded so familiar, yet she could not place the voice with a face. She moaned as she attempted to open her eyes. A bright light was being blocked by a dark figure above her. The raven hair was covering the boy's face, shielding her view. Around her, a dull beeping sound was buzzing, and she could hear another voice in the direction of the window, "You baka, if you don't get up right now we're going to be caught…"

"Eh?" She heard a raspy voice answer. Opening her eyes fully, she realized she had been speaking. She gasped and sat up in the soft bed, falling back into the pillow, "Got up too fast…" She mumbled to herself. She pressed a hand to her head and glanced at the person to her left, "Nastume?" Her eyes widened, taking in the scene before her. She was lying in a clean white bed in a deserted hospital room, accompanied by two other people. Natsume was glaring at her, standing only a few feet away. The other was a mysterious masked boy, half outside the window, ushering to her. From the fading light, she could tell he had a golden hair, that fluttered gently in the summer breeze. Above her was an orb, shining a pale pink. In a second, it vanished, cascading her in darkness.

"You said she just fainted, but she'd been out for 4 days!"

"It seems she was hit harder then we thought. No worries, I'm sure she's fine."

Mikan's head was pounding, and not only from the excruciating pain. Her dream was ringing through her mind. It came to her so vividly; she had a hard time believing it was just a dream. Her eyelids fluttered slightly, causing the room to hush into silence. A cold and gentle hand gripped her hand.

"Mikan…" Hotaru's voice came like a wave of safety. Instantly, Mikan relaxed, feeling perfectly comfortable. Hotaru was worried, wasn't she? "Mikan you baka. Having everyone visit you everyday damaged my sales. Nogi's pictures aren't selling as much as they used to…"

Mikan shot up in her bed and launched herself into her best friend.

Baka baka baka

"Hotaruuuuu!! That hurt!" Mikan wailed.

"Like I said, it aims itself at idiots…" Hotaru stated calmly, "You've been out for 4 days, only someone with the brain size of a pea could do that."

"Imai…" Ruka appeared from behind Hotaru, "Your brother says we have to be easy around her." He flinched as he heard the door behind him slam. Turning around, he stared at a very flustered girl.

"Nobara-chan!" Mikan yelped, dashing to her friend, "Nobara-chan, I haven't seen you for so long!" Nobara looked up through her hair, a blush rising to her cheeks. It was Mikan, one of her only friends, she was so glad to be able to see her!

"Mikan!" She greeted shyly, inching forward. Instantly she snapped her head up to meet the gaze of a masked boy. Nastume greeted her with a nod, and then shifted his eyes to land on the cheerful Mikan before her. Even as the ice queen, she could tell from his softened eyes how much he cared for the girl.

The sight was a rare one. With Hotaru and Ruka by the bed, Mikan and Nobara standing hand in hand by the door, and Nastume sitting on the window sill with a comic book in his lap, Narumi sighed. Everyone was unusually quiet. By now, Mikan would be pestering Natsume, and Hotaru would be hitting Mikan with one of her inventions. The only reason everyone was so calm was because of the earlier events. Sumire had gone missing. No one knew where she went, and no one had opened the school gate recently. Meaning the girl had to be somewhere in the school. Mikan had tried breaking a hidden barrier in the gym, frantic, hoping it might lead to her classmate. She had been knocked back, and thrown full force into a wall. Hotaru's elder brother advised no one lose their temper on Mikan, since she was still prone to further injuries.

"Mikan…" Narumi started, pushing himself up off of the chair he had been resting in. He had been in the room for hours, waiting for his young student to awake. Over the 2 years Mikan had been around, he had grown to fully think of her as a daughter. At the time a year ago, when he proposed she leave the school with him, he thought he may be able to start a life of daughter and father with her. Yet when Yuka had showed up, the High School principal claimed that Mikan should stay with her mother. After that, Narumi decided that perhaps he had better support his students. Mikan had saved his life, and in return, he would aid her in the academy for as long as she was there.

Mikan spun around sharply, her teary eyes growing bigger at the sight of him, "Narumi-sensei!" She flung herself into his arms. He sighed happily and welcomed her warmth.

"It's good to see you awake, Mikan. I wish I could stay a little longer, but Jinno requested, actually he insisted rather forcefully, that I meet with the staff this afternoon. Rest up and don't get yourself into trouble." Narumi smiled kindly as he let her down. He paced out of the room, his smile fading.

"Sakura, about Sumire..." Ruka hesitated, "Well, we found her. She was locked up in Bear's cabin in the Northern forest." He laughed lightly. They were no longer sure of Bear and Permy's relationship.

Mikan giggled brightly, "Bear's been active again? That's great! Ever since he became depressed about Kaname-kun, I was worried about him…" Mikan's smile faltered a bit as she glanced toward Natsume.

"I was enjoying the peace lately." Natsume stated lamely, "With this baka awake…" Trailing off, he jumped from his perch, onto the ground below. He started dragging himself to his tree, his heart rate suddenly a bit faster then usual. How can an idiot such as Mikan make him happier, just by being there? It had been a year since he confessed to her, and since she showed him a possible liking back to him. His mind flashed back to her room a year ago, when Tsubasa had gone missing…

Mikan sniffed and turned her head towards the window, where a muddy Natsume sat,staring at her. She inched forward, touching him lightly.

"Natsume?" Her choked voice whispered, "You…where have you been?"Her shocked expression gazed up at him, "Everyone was worried… Those wounds!"

"Don't call anyone." Natsume mumbled, staring down at her.

"Natsume…"

"The truth is… Until I find that guy, I had no plans of seeing anyone..." Mikan, He thought over and over in his mind, "But, I had a feeling that you were crying alone, and for some reason I came here." He slid down onto the floor, and Mikan launched herself into his arms. Her tears slid down her cheeks silently, and Natsume made no move of letting her go. For a moment they sat there, glad to be together, "Don't cry." Natsume muttered.

"It's impossible for me not to cry…Because of you." Mikan sobbed. She knew Natsume would never cry, and she knew why he came there, "I'm crying in your place."

Natsume regretfully left her embrace, jumping back onto the window. Flinging himself out, he said, "I'll definitely find that guy." And ran off into the night.

Natsume had never forgotten about that night. He had been an idiot not to realize it sooner, but he loved Mikan, and like he had said, he would do whatever it took to protect her.

Back in the hospital room, Mikan was grabbing her clothes and starting to head out of the room. She was in a great mood, besides talking to Natsume, and started skipping out the door. Hotaru and Ruka started to follow her. Behind them was a loud bang and both of them fell to the floor, unconscious.

Mikan rushed back into the room, looking hectic, as she first saw her two friends lying on the cold ground, to a dark shadow behind them. Even in this much light, the person's features were unseen. Her eyes widened as someone grabbed her from behind. A heavy force thumped the back of her head, where a raw bruise had just begun the healing process from her earlier crash, 4 days before. Black spots danced around in her vision. Fighting to stay standing, she screamed and released her stealing alice. Whoever was attacking her must have been using an alice. At last, she felt a cold stone in her palm. The thumping had stopped, the people had also disappeared. She stumbled around to the bed, tripped slightly on Hotaru's hand; which was limp on the floor. Both Hotaru and Ruka were breathing shallowly.

What had just happened? It had been less then 5 minutes, and someone had just tried to knock them all out. Something weird was going on…

Mikan sat breathing heavily on the messy bed. A dark mark on the floor caught her attention. She shuffled along the bed to peer over the edge. On the floor was a sign. She wasn't really sure what it meant, but it looked like a message…

A week's time away shall decide your fate at sunset.

Mikan's brows furrowed slightly. Was the message to her? Her gaze snapped to a figure in the doorway. Narumi stood there stunned, Jinno and a few of her classmates behind them. Suddenly a thought appeared in her mind.

Where had Nobara gone?

--

A/N: BOO! Way long time no.. write… um, I just read all of the Gakuen Alice manga, and I'm so into it that writing a fanfic seemed like a perfect thing. I was reading some oneshots recently, and noted the poor writing, but good reviews. One actually bugged me enough that I dropped it. It just listed events and had no detail whatsoever.

The chapter itself is pretty plain, but that's just because it's explaining some basic info and such. To get the story going.