Author: I'm winging this as I go. Phew. I never knew that fanfiction writing was so intense. Brief lapses of inspiration, and then it's gone. Please wish me luck in continuing to update, and pray for my flailing imagination.

Oh, I got the ages down. ^_^ The entire gang is in their final year of Middle School, and they are all fifteen/fourteen.

Disclaimer: I don't own any piece of Gakuen Alice, but I don't really know WHO it belongs to. I'll get back to you on that.

Thank you so much, all of my reviews so far have energized me tons. Thank you all!


P.S. Omigosh. It's so confusing to write something one chapter, and then write another the next. I had NO idea what or who they were! The ages especially. And I zoned with school and forgot to continue this... Sorry!

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"Natsume..." What? What is that?... "Natsume..." Who is calling me?... "NATSUME!" Crimson eyes snapped open, glaring at its surroundings. Of course it was just a dream. There was no one calling Natsume Hyuuga's name. All the noise in the room was coming from the buzzing alarm clock on his side table. The Firecaster shoved aside his sheets. He placed his arm across his eyes. He really needed to calm down. Lying in his king-sized bed, the plush mattress was comfortable and still firm. The dark-haired fifteen-year-old was clad in black silk boxers. And nothing else. Yum. Those stalker fan girls would have died if they had seen him now. Natsume wasn't the heartthrob of the Academy for nothing. From various missions during his entire time there, he had gained a god-like body and devilish looks. Natsume reached over and shut off the annoying alarm clock. It blinked in red numbers the time. He was two hours late for class. But now wasn't the time to go to class. He always showed up late anyhow, he had an excuse. Missions equal excrutiating pain. Nothing happened in classes either.

Now was the time to wonder what the hell that dream about. Annoyed, Natsume groaned. The cool breeze from his open window brushed his rather warm body. His left arm draped against his hard abs. His right covered his eyes, making him see all black. He was brought back to the place where he reluctantly resided...

~Dream~ +author: I know this is going to be really crappy... Sorries..+

There was a darkness. A darkness that surrounded him. He couldn't see anything in it, as his red eyes searched for some amount of light. It was just... black. He looked down at his hand, turning it back and forth. He could make out the light scars covering his arms and fingers. Even in his sleep, he could recognize and remember the training he had to go through. He looked down at his feet, and wiggled his toes. He was suspended in seemingly dark air, and was still able to make out the sillouette of his body. He was wearing his high school uniform in the regular way he wore it. Messy and loose. "Natsume..." A cool, feminine voice called his name. He whipped his head around to search for the source. The voice called him again, this time louder. It echoed in his ears, making them ring. He winced and clutched his hands to his ears. "Who is it?!" he called. His voice was unfamiliar to him, raspy and quiet. There was the voice again. It seemed further away; it was fading along with the darkness. Natsume blinked and shaded his eyes as a bright light broke through the black.

A distinct feminine voice screamed his name. "NATSUME!!!" His eyes shot towards a figure reaching out to him from the light. He could barely make out the silouette of a girl his age with striking chocolate brown eyes. They were overflowing with tears, but oddly those warm eyes were frosty, cold, and filled with excrutiating pain. His strong legs began running towards the girl. His eyes widened, seeing her lips form his name once more. His hand extended to reach hers before the entire dream was engulfed in flames. Those brown eyes were seared into his mind.

~End of dream~

And that's where he was now. Woken up, shaken up, and burning up. But that was because of his fire alice. Natsume sat up in his bed and placed his head between his knees. His hands clutched his hair. Natsume groaned. This was just one of those dreams that he couldn't let go of. But why?

A light knocking broke him out of his thoughts. "Natsume," came his best friend Ruka Nogi's voice from outside his door. Natsume looked up at the wooden door of his Special Star room. "I'm up, Ruka," he replied, getting up from his bed. He figured the other boy was here to wake him up for classes. Just because he did missions didn't mean he could skip out of TOO many classes, Ruka had said a few times. Natsume knew, with a smirk, that Ruka just needed cover from a certain Ice Queen. The door unlocked and opened slowly. The blonde-haired blue-eyed boy peeked in and glanced at Natsume's figure.

"Morning," the Firecaster murmured. He straightened and strode over to his bathroom. Ruka opened the door further and turned around to shut it. "Morning Natsume," he said brightly, petting the bunny curled in his arms. The shower turned on, hitting the tile as it began to warm up. Natsume closed the bathroom door slightly and stripped out of his boxers. He stepped into the shower. "How was last night's mission?" Ruka called over the rushing sound of the water. He walked over to the kitchen and placed his rabbit on the table. Natsume answered across the room. "That bastard paired me up with some new girl." Ruka opened the fridge looking for food. "She didn't know her left hand from her right and kept getting in my way." Ruka paused in mid-petting of his rabbit. He heard a light noise from the bathroom. Natsume punching the wall, he supposed. 'I could have killed her,' Natsume thought to himself, his bangs shadowing his face. The drops of water hit his body, steaming up the glass.

Ruka held out a carrot to his rabbit. She hopped towards it and took it in her paws. Ruka smiled as she nibbled on the tip of the carrot. In the back of his mind, he felt an odd twinge of foreboding. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and shifted in his chair. The last time he had this gut feeling, Natsume showed up from a mission half-dead. Ruka shrugged off the thought. He picked up his bunny and stood up. Turning, he saw Natsume emerge from the bathroom wearing a towel. Ruka made his way over to Natsume's clothing drawers as the other boy walked into his giant closet. "We're getting a new student today. Hotaru," Ruka spoke his girlfriend's name with low affection, "and Tobita announced it to the class before I left." He had just come from the classroom to check up on his best friend. After years of being Natsume's friend, he started to get a feel for leaving class when he wanted. Of course, he stayed as much as he could. A certain Blackmailer made sure of that.

He heard a "Hn" response from behind the closet door. Opening a drawer with one hand, Ruka reached in and grabbed a roll of dark coloured socks. Natsume opened the closet door halfway dressed. He was about to ask Ruka for some socks when Ruka lobbed the socks at his face, grinning. The bunny bobbed up and down, animal-listically laughing. Natsume dodged the roll of socks and glowered at Ruka. He scowled, before grinning a small smile, and ducking back into the closet. Natsume picked up the roll from the ground and finished getting dressed. "Let's go, Ruka," he said, throwing on an open supposed-to-be button up black shirt over his red T-shirt and jeans. Ruka nodded and shoved the drawer closed. They both exited the room.

"If there's a newbie, there's a chance you'll have them as a partner, Natsume," Ruka advised his friend as they walked down the corridors towards their class. "Hn. Who cares...," Natsume said, shoving his hands into his pockets. His cold demeanor was back up. He was going to be seen by his friends, remember? Only to Ruka did he actually care. Ruka eyed Natsume a bit before shrugging to himself.

Walking through the dorms to the Academy wasn't that long of a trip. Ruka distracted himself with his bunny and looking out towards the grounds. The Sakura trees were just beginning to bloom. He could hear the murmerings of all the animals in the forest, and the bunny in his arms chattering to him. Something about a new person coming into the grounds and shaking up the entire animal population. Ruka already knew about a new student, so that was nothing new. He zoned her out and matched his steps to his stoic best friend's.

They reached the door to Class 2-B of the Middle School division. In their last year of Middle School, they were going to move up for three more years in High School. Joy. From within they could hear their classmates and friends noisily talking. A brief thought flashed through Natsume's head. He only had three more years till he was free. Even if the Academy didn't let him go, he would leave no matter what. And he would take his sister with him too. Reaching a hand out to the door and glancing over at Ruka, he slammed open the door. Ruka didn't even wince. He was so used to it. The students inside stopped their in ruckess and turned to all silently look at the duo.

Ruka smiled at them all as he hurried after his friend. He glanced over the group of fangirls that included Sumire Shouda, a girl with permed green hair that was absolutely in "love" with his best friend. Everyone knew it was for shits and giggles though because Sumire was dating the bald-headed Mochu for a long time now. His blue eyes caught sight of the only person he wanted to see which was Hotaru Imai. His girlfriend. Awww... Ruka walked towards his seat beside her and sat down, smiling as she DIDN'T say anything. With shoulder-length black hair and amethyst/violet eyes, Hotaru Imai was the Ice Queen of Alice Academy. Supposedly she was emotionless, but fanboys were heartbroken when they found out that she and Ruka Nogi were dating. Hotaru nodded towards her boyfriend with a small, unnoticeable smile, and continued tinkering with her latest invention.

She didn't even flinch as a slamming noise was heard across the room. Ruka turned with confused eyes towards the back, where his best friend was standing. Looking from Natsume, his eyebrows furrowed at... What...

"Oi. What do you think you're doing here?"