Okay so I realized that I forgot my disclaimer last time so I'll start it now; I do not own Gakuen Alice. I do not wish to own it either, as I like to read stories written by others and I absolutely suck at drawing. And so, without further ado, Chapter two, ladies and gentlemen.

Chapter 2

Mikan glanced around, looking for someone that might be able to help her. Seeing no one, she pulled Natsume up and put his arm around her neck so she could support him as she brought him to her house.

Entering the front door, Mikan said hello to the picture of her parents. "So much has happened since you've been gone…I wonder what will come of this."

Setting him down, Mikan pulled off her jacket and boots before the snow on them melted and soaked her before doing the same for Natsume. Then, feeling how cold his hands were, she pulled out a few blankets and wrapped one around him while she half carried him to a spare bedroom and covered him with the rest of them after setting him down on a bed. After lighting and stoking the fireplace in his room (A/N: it's a two sided fireplace that opens up into her room on the other side too), She went to the kitchen and set a kettle of water to boil for some nice, herbal tea and began to make some stew. After finishing with this, she pulled out a tray and put a bowl of stew on it with an upside down plate on top to preserve heat and put a mug for the tea on it upside down before carrying it to Natsume's room and setting it on the bedside table. She returned to the kitchen to get some stew for herself, setting it down beside Natsume's food before making one last trip to bring in the now finished tea and a mug for herself.

I wonder who Natsume is, she wondered, and why he would go outside in such a condition. She stared at him as she pondered, and noticed a pained expression upon his face. Setting down her tea, Mikan walked over and felt Natsume's forehead. A fever! She realized. She went to the kitchen and got a bowl of cool water and a small towel. Returning to the bedroom, she dipped the towel in the water and wrung it out before carefully setting it on Natsume's forehead. Immediately the pain on his face began to subside. Relieved, she continued to drink her tea as she observed his face. He had silky, raven colored hair and facial structure that, on a girl, she would have called beautiful. Somehow, however, she didn't think that Natsume would appreciate being called "beautiful." She continued to stare at him until he stirred.

"Are you alright? You had me pretty scared." She said.

"Where…where am I?" He asked, not bothering to answer her question. She looked at his now opened eyes. What beautiful crimson eyes, she thought. (A/N: there's the beautiful thing again!)

"You're in my house. Don't worry-it's no bother to have you here. I live alone. It's nice to have someone to take care of for once…" She replied comfortingly. "You can stay here as long as you'd like. I only have a couple questions-why were you outside in such a condition, what exactly is your condition, and why would your family let you out of your house like that?"

He turned away. "My family had nothing to do with my being there. I don't live with them… I live in…a hospital. I won't bother you with the specifics of my condition. Just be content with the knowledge that I'm sick." He didn't want her to think he was dying. He'd have been content with dying a week ago. He had been so unhappy…but now, now that she was there, he no longer wished to die-he would no longer allow himself to die. If he did, it could hurt her. "And what about you? You said that you live here alone, but as I understand it, you're just a high schooler."

"I live alone because my parents are dead," she said quietly, "They died when I was little. I was raised by my Grandpa-or, at least, I called him my Grandpa. Really he was just a kind old man that found me and my mother dying in the snow after my father died. My mother died soon after that, but, even though my parents left me a much more than adequate amount of money to live in leisure, Grandpa lived only off his retirement pension, and only lived here in my family's house so that I could grow up where my family had lived. But then Grandpa died a few years ago. So I've been living by myself. I heard that I have an Uncle somewhere, but I don't want to bother him…" She trailed off.

Natsume felt guilty for having been so vague when she opened up so much. "I'm sorry, but I actually lied about going to Alice High School. I haven't been able to attend public school for a while now. But I have been able to attend the private schooling that the hospital sponsors for those of us who are…more permanent residents. But there's actually someone I know, the son of the hospital director, who comes and hangs out with me a lot, who does attend your school."

"Who is that-wait, I think I know him. Ruka Nogi?"

"Yep." Natsume felt downtrodden somehow by the fact that she knew Ruka. "He's my best friend."

"So are you always…you know…exploding into coughing fits and passing out?"

"Not very often. In fact, that was the first time that it's happened in months, though it also just took away my chances of being able to go back and having a chance at convincing people that I'm healthy enough to go back to a normal life."

"Oh," She said softly. "Well, do you have a family that you would go and live with if you got out?"

"Well, my dad is actually travelling around the country painting pictures of all types of things. Or, rather, that's what he says. My mom died when I was a kid and that really shook him, and when we found out that I have a milder form of the same disease, he pretty much ran away from home to escape his problems. He hasn't even come back to visit since I was hospitalized. He sends back money from the paintings he sells, of course, because he has to pay for my medical bills and send my little sister money, since she's living alone." He said some of this with apprehension, but trusted that Mikan wouldn't divulge his secrets to anyone.

"Wait-you have a little sister who's living alone? She should come live here! I have plenty of room. Heck, this house is practically a freaking mansion for Heaven's sake! And that would mean less stress on your dad and-and maybe he would come back to visit." Mikan suggested.

"Well," Natsume began hesitatingly, "She would probably really enjoy living with another girl. And you're only a couple years older than her, so she would be even more excited. She goes to a different school than you, but… Well, she's been having problems there. There're a couple girls who are pretty jealous of her and have been pretty cruel. If you meet her though, don't tell her I said that. She's got quite the temper…" Mikan began to giggle. "What?" Natsume said exasperatedly.

"You seem so much happier when you're talking about your sister. The two of you must be pretty close, huh?" She said, still giggling.

Natsume was surprised. Most people couldn't really tell what he was feeling, but she had read him correctly after knowing him for only a few hours. Or maybe…or maybe it wasn't just a few hours.

"Mikan." He spoke so seriously than she stopped giggling right away. "Did you… Did you happen to spend some time at the hospital a few years ago?" He asked.

"Well… Actually, yeah. I got in an accident and broke a couple bones and had some internal bleeding, so I had to stay in the hospital for a couple months… I think-" She paused. "I think…that the stress of that happening to me might have been what triggered Grandpa's health to deteriorate so quickly. But why do you ask?"

"Because…I think I might have met you while you were there." He hesitated at letting it slip that he had been in the hospital already a few years ago. Thankfully she didn't realize what he had just revealed.

"I'm sorry, but I can't remember anything from when I was in the hospital those two months." Natsume's heart plummeted. She didn't remember. "I had a weird bout of amnesia right after I left. I couldn't even remember my accident. I was still on crutches until I got used to walking again, but I didn't know that. I just woke up sitting on a bench on the side of the road in early spring, rubbing my sore leg with one hand and holding my crutches up with the other. I had no idea where I was, why I was there, or why I had crutches, because the last thing I had remembered was that I was buying Christmas gifts for my friends on a snowy day. I had started to take the bus to school until my leg was better, and the bus stop was out of the way from my usual path, so I just freaked out. I almost got run over when I got up without using my crutches and fell into the street…"

"Wow." Natsume replied, stunned. He had never met anyone who had had amnesia before, let alone someone who had forgotten months because of it. But because of that… He couldn't tell her. But at least he knew why she hadn't come back to visit like she said she would. But why didn't she notice his number in her phone… In the silence he stared at her. She had beautiful brown hair and hazel eyes. He imagined that she probably had to fend off the boys at school.

"Luckily I got onto the sidewalk fast enough to spare myself the pains of another broken bone, but that car sure didn't spare my phone. It was crushed." She continued. Well, that answered that question. "Enough of that though," She said in a more cheerful tone. "How about we call your sister to come over to talk about moving in with me."

"No!" Natsume exclaimed. "I mean-she's probably one of the people looking for me right now. I don't want to return to the hospital just yet. The reason I ran away in the first place was because I was tired of waiting in there to get to leave."

"Hmm… Hey, you said that you have a more mild form of the disease your mother had?" Natsume nodded. "Well then, was she in the hospital as a teenager?" Mikan inquired.

"No," He replied, "The milder form of the disease affects you only as an adolescent; if you survive to adulthood, you survive it for good. It's gets bad much more quickly than the full version of it does, but it doesn't often get bad past a certain point… For my mother, it started out when she was much younger and got worse and worse as she got older. She didn't have to stay in the hospital that long, but that's because it continued to get worse and… Yeah."

"Oh." Mikan said, and was otherwise speechless. I'm glad that you have the milder form though, she thought, because that way, even though you have to spend your teen years in a hospital, you have a chance at getting better.

"Aoi?" Natsume suddenly exclaimed, looking out the window behind Mikan.. Mikan looked up. "Aoi!" He said again, louder this time.

"Is that your sisters name, Natsume?" Mikan asked.

"Yes. And she's here." Natsume replied.

So yeah, a couple characters are already killed off, but at least I'm not planning on killing anyone off. Or am I? Mwahaha! Just kidding! I'll give you fair warning if I ever decide to kill someone off. At least, if it's not my character. I reserve my right, however, to kill of my own characters as I wish. :) I'll do my best to get another chapter written for tomorrow. Please review! I want to know how I can improve my writing skills!