Hey!
Heres the second chapter :D
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice
Chapter 2:
I wandered through the forest gripping my pouch as tight as I could—I was not going to lose the only memento I had of my Jii-chan. It had been two days since I had left the Sakura Kingdom and I have been wandering the forest looking for some sort of safe house to stay at. I had a limited amount of food that the medicine pouch had held—I am down to about 2 more days of food and water left. After I run out of food, I'm most lucky to die of starvation.
I'm already too weak to run. If it weren't for only eating as much as I could survive off of I would have been done for about tomorrow morning.
The birds started to sing in the background, it was like they were mocking me. They had plenty to eat, and they were safe up the tree with their family.
I started humming the lullaby my dad would sing to me – I walked along the trail at a steady pace making sure to keep the grip on my pouch tight.
"Hold my hand, and take me there… doo de doo, doo…" I started whistling to the tune, and kept myself cheery as I ignored the cold sweat that was breaking out on my back.
"Keep me company, doo de doo, doo… I take this road towards you… doo de doo, doo" I kicked the rock in my path, and found myself in a giant clearing.
I sighed and laid down in the grass letting the sun soak into my skin. My muscles were so sore from walking all day and night I needed to sleep, or else I wouldn't even need to run out of food – because I would just fall off a cliff from being to tired to notice.
I pulled myself into a little cave tucked away in the trees and found myself fast asleep.
I awoke to the sound of showering rain.
Rain… great just what I need right now, when I don't even have anything to change into to keep myself dry. Or an Alice to keep myself warm, dry, or even just put a barrier around me.
"Even the sky seems to be mocking my luck," I sighed.
I opened up my pouch and pulled out my bento. I stuffed the food down my throat not caring if this resulted in me getting sick afterwards. As I ate I took in the rest of my surroundings—I hadn't looked around as much because I had been to tired.
I moved towards the mouth of the cave and peered out into the haze. It looked like in front of me their was still lots of forest, then to the left of that was the way I had came – because of the big rock sitting in the middle of the trail. Then to the right there looked to be some sort of pond. Looks like after the rain let up I would be heading straight through the forest ahead of me.
I pulled myself up and stretched, walking to the back of the cave. I stood there a moment unsure of what to do.
My pouch lay crinkled up on the make shift table I had made.
I remembered what Jii-chan and the Royal Doctors had said about my Alice's not coming until I really needed it the most. Well I really could use the help right about now, no harm in trying right?
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to do something magical.
"Um, I could really use some help right about now…" I tried calling out. I waited. And waited… nothing happened.
I let out a frustrated cry and hit my fist against the stone wall. "Owwww!" I cried. I hit the wall much harder then I had meant to. I think I broke my finger.
I reached into my pouch and grabbed the medicine bag. I took out the scissors, a splint, and a bandage.
"First I need to put the splint on my finger…" I focused on getting the splint onto my finger without touching it the wrong way. I let out a whimper when it finally set into place. "Next is the bandage," I cut the length I needed to make it wrap snug around my hand. I set the scissors down and started to wrap my hand, when I finally had finished I tied the ends into a knot and packed everything back into the pouch.
Something shinny caught my eye. I peered into the pouch and noticed it was the Alice Stones, very carefully I reached inside grabbing each individual stone out to inspect, there was 3 different stones. I set them down onto the ground and inspected them—they were all about the size of my palm I realized right away. The Alice User must have been very powerful to be able to produce them these sizes.
The first one was a bright shade of orange, when I held it in my hand it glowed and became very hot—so hot that I could feel it burn my skin. I set it down again amongst the rest.
"Okay, that was weird. I've never heard of Alice Stones heating up before" I picked up the Alice Stone again and waited for it to glow or become hot. It never happened.
"What the heck!" I growled. I picked up the next stone— it was a light pink. This time when I picked it up with my opposite hand it cooled down and it froze my fingers, it even cooled the pain of my finger and numbed it. This time when I set it down and picked it up again it started to intensify in how cold it got.
I think I was starting to discover something really amazing. I picked up the third stone—this one was a brilliant shade of blue. I held it in my hand and waited to see what this one would do. Just when I thought nothing would happen I felt a weird wet sensation against my skin under the stone. I waited to see if anything else would happen if I held the stone in my hand longer. When nothing changed I set the Alice Stones back inside the pouch and tied it shut.
"Well then, even if I don't have some kind of Alice inside me yet, it looks like I have some weird Stone reaction system in my hand" I muttered sarcastically.
I sighed.
I checked outside again and saw that the rain had slowed down to just spitting. I pulled myself up off the ground noticing that my light pink kimono had been completely destroyed it was covered in dirt, and there was a giant rip up my left leg from when I fell in the bushes.
Walking out of the cave I made a run for it across the clearing into the trees on the opposite side. I kept running until I was far inside the forest again.
*Natsume's POV
I woke to the sound of the jail cell rattling.
Groaning I pulled myself up off the stone floor and peered into the dark hallway. I pulled a hand through my raven locks—I needed to wash really badly, I swear I was going to burn these people for kidnapping me when I got out of here.
Ruka groaned. I looked over at my best friend as he attempted to jump off of the top bunk. His blonde hair coming down just above his sapphire orbs. His gaze landed on me sitting on the floor.
"Are you alright, Natsume?" He asked me his forehead creasing in worry. He walked over to me and peered at into my face.
"Hn"
He sighed and pulled himself down to the floor beside me. He stared ahead at the cell in front of us – so far only we were in the ones inside this dungeon. My crimson orbs flashed in the dark, if it wasn't for this stupid barrier they had around us, I would've burned this place down easily and escaped.
The Koizumi's had caught us when we were leaving from the Hyuuga Kingdom, my mom had asked me to make sure Ruka had got home safety back to Nogi Kingdom. Her and Dad had been busy tending to the Castle needs and ordering new dresses for the Royal Dinner that was suppose to be happening next week, we would be hosting the engagement party for Ruka and his fiancee. They were going to have the Princesses and their families from the Sakura and Imai Kingdoms come over.
But the Koizumi's have had their eyes on getting Ruka and I, seeing as how we would be the perfect hostages to have in their hands. So, when we left the Kingdom gates they quickly gagged us and held us in place. I think one of them had an Alice of speech and barrier. They left us completely defenseless, and I hated being defenseless.
The sound of approaching footsteps made us quite down. We hid back along the wall inside the shadows.
"Grab her, and throw her into the cell in front of the Princes. Make sure you don't stop your Alice until you have the cell locked shut" The voice of a Koizumi soldier ordered.
The soldier came into view with a girl about our age. She had amethyst orbs that were hidden by her raven hair.
Her gaze rested on us and her stoic expression turned shocked for just a second then she quickly hid it again.
The soldier threw her into the cell across from us and released the Alice they were using on her.
She spat at him through the bars and gave him a glare worthy of competing against my own. "You little brat, your going to stay locked in there even longer then necessary for that!" he shouted wiping the spit off his face.
"You're going to be lucky if I change my mind about turning you into a puppet to clean my inventions" she said coldly.
The man snorted and turned to walk away. After he was gone, Ruka and I walked towards the entrance of our cell.
"Oi, what you here for?" I asked.
She glared at me. I glared back.
"What's it to you, Hyuuga" she replied her voice hinted with sarcasm, "the great Hyuuga is trapped behind a cell door unable to use his famous fire Alice"
Ruka had gone completely still beside me. I looked over at him—his face was completely blank and his orbs were locked on the girl inside the cell.
"How do you know me?" I asked my voice cold.
She snorted. "How could I not. I'm brilliant," she glanced over at Ruka, her gaze lingered their for awhile longer then necessary.
Ruka took a sharp inhale of breath. "Hotaru…" he whispered barely audible.
"What?" I turned asking him.
"My name is Hotaru," her speaking again made me turn to look at her "I'm the princess of the Imai Kingdom, engaged to the prince of Nogi Kingdom"
My face remained completely unemotional as I watched the conversation between Hotaru and Ruka.
She was the one Ruka had been engaged to. I looked over and studied the girl again.
"How did you get caught?" Ruka asked his voice full with disbelief.
She snorted. "I was caught awhile ago, just I kept escaping when ever the stupid guards gave me the chance. I've been trying to get back to the Sakura Kingdom to see Mikan, today was the anniversary of her parents death"
Mikan I've heard that name before. Wait… I jumped up and grasped the cell bars.
"You've been able to get out of here?" I asked completely shocked. "And more then once, how?" I narrowed my eyes.
Her gaze went to me again. "These people are so full of themselves they think a barrier is going to stop me. I have the Alice of Invention, I can easily use my inventions to get out of here" As she was speaking she took out a glove with a hoof from behind her back.
Where'd she get that? I thought.
"Invisible backpack, invention #01939" she answered my question, "I have a bunch of things in here that could easily get us all out of here"
She took out a small sticker and placed it on her arm.
"What's that?" Ruka asked.
"Anti-barrier stickers, makes Alice's that mean harm to you absolutely useless," She tossed two towards us "Put those on your arms"
We did as we were told.
I called for my fire, and was surprised when my hand lit up.
I smirked. "Hmph"
Ruka smiled his dazzling smile at his fiancee. "Amazing as usual I see"
She gave him a small smile and stood up. She opened her lock and stepped out into the hall.
"Too easy," she muttered. She snapped on a bracelet and disappeared from view.
Ruka and I stood up. I raised my eyebrows as she reappeared directly in front of us.
"Invisible cloak?" We asked the girl.
She smirked and handed us our own bracelets.
Mine had a flame in the center of a scarlet stone. Then Ruka's stone was a brilliant blue to match his eyes.
I whistled a low "Fancy,"
"Press the stone to turn on the cloak," we did as she said and we disappeared into thin air "We'll leave this place as soon as possible, I overheard the guards talking and it seems that last night the Koizumi's had invaded the Sakura Kingdom"
We ran down the darkly lit corridor making our way to the stairs. I had lit a flame to light our path.
"They also said that Mikan had escaped the event and has disappeared into the forest" her amethyst orbs flashed with anger, "we need to get out here and find her. A baka like her can only last for so long"
We had escaped the Koizumi Kingdom – which was surprisingly easy, just as Imai had predicted—In about 15 minutes.
Before we left the Kingdom, she gave us a sticker to keep our stamina up while we were on the run—which actually helped a lot with running nonstop. Imai was smart I'd give her that, but I would never tell her that out loud or she would never let me live it down.
We had stolen a whole supply of food before we left and put it on Imai's flying Car, the car followed behind us at a steady pace. We ran for the forest that was just a short distance away.
Hn, this is too easy, I thought.
"How do we know were heading in the right direction?" Ruka asked.
"I put a tracking sticker on Mikan the last time we saw each other. She is really prone to getting in trouble and hurting herself" She replied emotionless, "So knowing where she was at all times helped"
She pulled out her small portable laptop and started pressing a few buttons. "She's about 300 miles away—and she's heading north, if we go at a pace of 100 miles a day we should be able to reach where she is estimated to be at in about 3 days. So that would be… 3 miles per hour"
Ruka paled.
"You're sure about this Imai," I questioned raising one eyebrow. "We don't want to be heading in the wrong direction"
She made a tch noise in the back of her throat. "Don't question me Hyuuga, let's go. Were already behind schedule"
The Sun had just rose about an hour ago and we were already up and running again.
We've been running for two days now and I was exhausted, I didn't show it on my face though—I didn't need Ruka to be worried about me. He should just be keeping an eye on Imai—she's been over exerting herself.
My muscles in my legs are killing me and I feel like crap. The stamina stickers ran out of juice yesterday, and we've been relying on just our natural state. But on a good note with the stamina stickers we were able to make a lot more ground so we were very close to finding this girl. There was about 20 miles between us now.
Ruka and Imai were whispering back and fourth to each other. I didn't need to be besides them to know they were probably discussing plans and what to do when we found her best friend.
"Natsume!"
I looked over at Ruka – he was now jogging beside me.
"Hn"
He rolled his eyes. "You really need a better vocabulary"
I glared at him and he let out a small chuckle. "I'm kidding man. How you holding up?"
"Fine," I grunted.
He sighed. "What about you?" I gave him a questioning stare.
"I'm fine. But I'm worried about Hotaru, she says she's fine but I don't trust it." He gave a worried glance over his shoulder at Imai—she had slowed down her pace to configure some more instructions on her flying car.
I smirked. "She'll be fine, were almost there anyway"
"What do you think we'll do when we find Sakura?"
"Go into hiding until we find out how to end this war, and its safe to go back home" I answered. I really wasn't sure to be honest but it was the best answer I could give him.
He ran beside me in silence for a little while.
"Hey," he muttered.
"Hn?"
"Do you think we'll be able to survive out here"
I glanced over at him. "Did you forget your Alice"
Ruka has the Alice of Animal Pheromone—he is trusted by animals and can understand them. He's embarrassed by it, but he's also an animal lover. Only a couple of people know about it—Imai, his parents, and me.
Being out in the forest Ruka has had a few animals following him and even offer him some food.
"No," He replied.
We ran in silence for a moment again.
"Thanks Natsume"
"Hn"
We stopped outside a small creek to wash up. I was deadly in need of a shower so I didn't complain—I was glad when Imai had given us each a bottle of soap to use. She had thought of basically everything we would need for this journey—she had even brought extra clothes and towels.
I pulled on the new clothes and walked back over to where Imai was setting up the place for a fire to dry our old clothes. I snapped my fingers and lit up the pile of sticks.
I sat down in front of the flames and dried my messing raven locks.
"Hyuuga," I looked up at Imai. "Here" She through an apple at me. I caught it before it hit me in the face.
"What's this?"
"An apple" she replied coldly.
I glared at her. "I know that" I replied with the same tone of coldness in my voice.
"Eat it" She rolled her eyes, "we still need to run about 5 more miles, and we don't need you passing out from exhaustion"
So she could tell I was exhausted, I'd need to watch myself in front of her. Looks like she's smarter then she appears to be.
I bit into the apple as Ruka came back from washing up, his hair still dripping wet. He plopped down next to me in bending towards the flames. His blonde hair appeared golden from the light given off.
I laid down against the ground giving myself time to power nap before we got up and ran again.
*Flash Back *
"Natsume! Go tell your sister its time for dinner"
I set my book back on the shelf. "Sure mom" I called back.
I ran upstairs to my sister's room and knocked on the door. "Aoi! Mom says its time for dinner. You have to come down now"
When no one answered I opened up the door and walked into the room. "Aoi?" I called. When she didn't answer me I walked further into the room and felt a cool breeze against my side. I turned my head and saw the door to her terrace open. I walked outside and saw her sitting on the bench holding a small bird in her hands. Her crimson orbs were closed as she held the bird close to her face.
Smirking, I leaned down and whispered in her ear "What don't know how to answer when somebody calls your name now?"
She jumped off the bench.
"Onii-chan!" She put the bird she was holding in her hands up in front of my face. "Look what I found. It was sitting on the rail, I think Karin-chan hurt her wing"
"You named the bird Karin-chan. How can you be so sure it's a girl?" I asked her.
"I just know"
I looked at the bird, I think she was right about it hurting its wing. It was held close to its body.
"Can I see?" She placed the bird in my hands and I lightly lifted the wing up with my finger.
"Do you think we could get Ruka to look at her after dinner?" she asked.
"Yea, he'd know what to do," I set the bird back down on her open palm. "Put it back in the box and we'll go get Ruka after dinner"
"Okay!" She smiled and ran back into her room.
* End of Flash back *
"Natsume!" Ruka shook my shoulder, "Natsume, get up man we have to get going"
Groaning I pulled myself up off the ground and stretched. It was already starting to get dark out, I snapped my fingers again and extinguished the burning fire.
We gathered up all the supplies again and packed them back onto the floating car.
"Let's go," I said.
Imai told us to keep heading straight, and then we broke off into a jog. We were right on top of the spot she should be at and Imai kept checking her radar.
"Is something wrong Hotaru?" Ruka asked. His Sapphire orbs locked with her amethyst.
"I'm not sure," She replied frowning. "She was walking a couple 100 meters in front of us. But I keep losing the signal" Her forehead creased.
"She was straight in front of us right? We should be able to find her in a couple minutes. Let's start running again" Ruka said.
We pushed through the bushes and ran past a couple trees, with Imai leading the way.
"It was right up he—" She froze.
"What?" I asked stopping just behind her.
"Mikan!" She yelled. She broke off into a sprint.
"Hotaru! Imai!" we yelled—We ran off after her.
She was crouched in front of a young girl lying on the ground. Her face was covered in scratches and dirt. Her long chestnut hair was in a tangled mess around her but you could tell she was extremely beautiful.
"Mikan!" Imai called, slightly shaking her.
Ruka grabbed a bottle of water and cleaned off her face. I crouched beside Imai and studied the still girl, she looked familiar somehow, but I couldn't place it.
"Mikan, open your eyes" Imai begged. The girl's eyes squeezed tight and she let out a moan.
Imai gasped. "Ruka hand me that water," Ruka gave her the half-empty bottle. "Mikan, come on," she poured some of the water into her mouth.
The girl coughed and groaned again, "…hmm," she muttered.
She squeezed her eyes tight "Hotaru… Am I dead?"
Baka Baka Baka!
Ruka and I gaped at Imai. I stood up, backing away from the awaking girl.
"Baka! Open your eyes, I don't want to keep sitting in this dirt"
I watched as the young brunette opened her eyes. I froze in place—she had the most beautiful hazel orbs I have ever seen. They widened as they rested on Imai. They stared at each other for a while.
"Hotaru…" Her voice was like a bunch of angels singing, it echoed around me.
"Dummy, you never change. What did you do now?"
Her eyes filled with tears and she pulled Hotaru into a hug. They stayed like that for awhile with her crying and Imai holding her.
"Jii-chan, and everyone, they were all taken when the Koizumi came" She sniffled.
Imai sighed. "I know,"she stood up.
When the brunette tried to stand her legs buckled, I surprised myself by catching her before she fell.
Her eyes widened as she looked at me, "Thank you," A light blush spread over her cheeks.
"Hn," I looked down, something I shouldn't have done. Her kimono had started to come unwrapped, "no problem, polka dots"
She gave me a confused look as I set her back on her feet.
"Polka dots…?" she frowned.
3…
2…
1…
"PERVERT!" She screamed.
I smirked.
"You—you, perverted jerk!" she took a step towards me and fell face down in the dirt.
"It's your fault for showing me" I shrugged. A chuckle escaped my from my lips.
She spit the dirt out of her mouth and glared at me.
Ruka stared at me in shock, while Imai just shook her head.
Polka sat down holding her ankle. "I think I twisted it when I fell…"
I picked her up bridal style and she let out a squeak.
"Hey, put me down!"
"So you can keep falling on your face? Don't think so Polka"
She gave me a weak glare. "My name isn't Polka its Mikan, M-I-K-A-N. I don't even know who you are! Wait, who are you?" she asked. She turned around looking at Ruka, then Imai. Her face filled with confusion.
Imai sighed and tugged the floating boat along after me.
Ruka followed soon after her.
"We'll explain later. Right now we need to find a place to set up camp for the next little while," Imai said.
Polka frowned.
"Let's get going then, we need to find a suitable place"
Second chapter done!
Remember to Review ;)
And thanks to CrimsonCutie13 for being my first review!