A/N: I'm back again! RxR and enjoy…. Also, another thing you should note is that when I write, I might write it as if Natsume and Mikan already have feelings for each other. At this point in the manga, they sort of do, but Mikan's friggin dense head can't tell and it's not until chapter 80 something that she actually has some sort of grasp on what her feelings were.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice… but I wish I did. I would make a much, much more satisfying ending to the manga, ya'feel?
Natsume was on yet another mission for Persona. He was supposed to retrieve some files from an enemy base. Getting in was no hard work, but getting out was the problem. He ran down the hallways of the base, trying to get to the secret exit that Persona had shown him on the map he'd given him. A group of five guards came forward. They were non-alice users, but they had guns. Natsume quickly made short work of them, obliterating them with fire before continuing his run. What he didn't know was that one of the men wasn't knocked out completely, and with the last of his breath he shot Natsume in the back of his leg.
Crap! Natsume gritted his teeth, feeling the pain. He turned around, anger in his eyes, and burned the man into ashes. No one. No one hurts Natsume without meeting some kind of end. This was how Persona taught him, to give back the pain that you feel from others. This was not in his Natsume's nature, but it was drilled into his brain by Persona himself.
Natsume ran once again, having to knock down guards and the occasional Alice user, in which he'd get hurt in some way, but he'd always come up victorious. Finally, he reached the exit, which was a ventilator. He removed the vent's gate and quickly crawled through the small tunnel.
By the time he got out of the tunnel, he had many bruises and cuts all over his body. The wound where he got shot was throbbing, and he winced every time he moved. He felt light-headed, and his heart felt tight and in pain.
"No one's gonna leave me alone, right Natsume?"
I don't know, Mikan. I really don't.
Natsume was in a horribly foul mood the next day, and everyone could tell. The aura around him scared off everyone, even his fangirls. Everyone, except for the gang (Koko, Nonoko, Anna, Mochu, Hotaru, Mikan, Ruka, and the devil himself. Also does Sumire count? I'm gonna be nice to her and count her as part of the 'gang'). But even the gang was careful not to annoy him, except for Mikan. Mikan, dense as ever, saw Natsume and said, "GOOD MORNING, NATSUME!" Everyone froze.
Hotaru prepared her baka gun in case she needed to save Mikan's life, Ruka carefully backed away from Natsume, Koko kept smiling, Sumire nervously smiled, Kitsuneme closed his eyes even more, Anna and Nonoko looked at Mikan worriedly, and Mochu held a desk in front of his body in case it was needed.
Cold, crimson eyes turned to regard the annoying girl in front of him. "Shut. The. Hell. Up. Annoying loud girl." He snapped, his tone so cold everyone shivered.
Mikan, oblivious as ever, pouted. "No need to be so rude!"
Natsume stood up and slammed his desk, glaring at her. Oh, no one wants to be glared by Natsume Hyuuga. Nobody. Mikan stiffened, finally taking a hint. "I, uh-" she was about to apologize but Natsume just walked out of the classroom.
"Hmph!" Mikan stuck her tongue out at the retreating figure of the raven-haired boy. She sat down, contemplating what could've gotten Natsume in such a bad mood.
"Natsume!" Mikan called, dashing up to the sakura tree, their now frequent meeting spot. "I know you're there!" Today Natsume merely ignored her and continued reading his manga, or tried to at least. He was sore all over and he had not properly treated the wound in his leg. He was pretty sure it was going to get infected, but his life in the academy was always full of pain.
When Mikan didn't get a reply from Natsume, she crawled up the sakura tree at a snail's pace,
but she got up. She sat down on the same branch that Natsume was lying down on and looked at him with her large, innocent hazel eyes.
"Ne… Natsume…something's wrong with you, isn't there?"
"Hn."
"Don't 'hn' me! That doesn't answer the question!" She glared at him. "You know that the way you're acting right now makes me worried, right!"
Natsume raised an eyebrow at her. Her, worried for him? If anything, everyone ought to be worried for her and her tiny brain. But he couldn't help but feel just a little bit of joy in his dark heart. Even so, he put on a facade on the outside and merely looked at her stoically.
"I didn't ask for you to be worried, little girl. Now stop annoying me." With that, Natsume went back to his manga.
Angrily, Mikan smacked his leg. Oh crud, that was the leg where he got shot (He wore long pants today to hide his wound).
Natsume visibly flinched, and he sucked in a deep breath. Mikan noticed this, and instantly rolled up his pant leg before he could react. The sight that greeted her almost had Mikan in tears.
"Natsume… what's this?" Before her was a bullet wound that looked poorly cleaned. Pus could be seen clinging to the sides, while the actually wound looked angry and red.
Natsume quickly rolled his pant leg back down. "Nothing for you to care about, polka. Go off and play," he said as emotionlessly as possible.
"How'd you even get the wound? Are you ok? Are there other wounds?!"
"Can you shut up and leave me alone? It's none of your business, idiot!"
A fat teardrop rolled down the girl's face, and she angrily looked at Natsume. "Can you stop that?! You always push people away when they are only trying to help you! Remember when I told you you could come to me too when you had problems? Why don't you just do that! You're obviously in pain right now, but you try to act all tough and won't get it treated. Don't you know that… that it causes worries to so many people and me when you act like this?!" Mikan drew in a tremulous breath and turned away from the boy. She was sniffling and absolutely hurt. Why, after all this time, is Natsume still such a cold jerk? She didn't understand, and she was absolutely crushed by this revelation.
"Mikan." Her ears perked. Did he just call her by her actual name. She slowly turned around, still sniffling.
"What do you want, jerk?" Mikan uttered, quietly.
"Sorry. I'm gonna go get it treated right now." With that, Natsume carefully crawled down the tree instead of jumping off like usual, and limped off towards to the nursery. Mikan was shocked. Did Natsume just say two things she'd never hear come out of his foul mouth? He apologized and said her name in the span of 10 seconds! She didn't know why, but Mikan was awfully happy now, and had stopped sniffling. Quickly, she jumped down and ran after the boy.
"Wait for me, Natsume!"
After Mikan had watched-yes, watched- the process of Natsume's wound getting treated, including all the bruises and cuts all over his body, she had finished the rest of her day feeling at ease. At lunch, she had talked amiably to all her friends and spent some time with Natsume at the sakura tree to ask if he was ok, yada yada. Of course, Natsume merely insulted her but he was back to being himself. At the end of the day, when Mikan was finally prepared to sleep, she stood on her balcony and stared at the shimmering stars.
I still remember that the Academy has sent Natsume on missions before… and his alice is also the one that's super strong but your life gets shortened every time you use it… Mikan looked worriedly at the sky. Although she was usually an idiot, if she really put her mind to it, Mikan could be quite smart. And seeing the bullet wound and the wounds all over his body, Mikan knew for sure that it was likely the Academy still sent him on missions. If there was only a way to make sure he was safe…
That's it! Mikan's head snapped up. I can just follow him on one of his missions! I don't know when he has one, but if I carefully observe, I can definitely find out! Mikan smiled to herself, and looked back up at the sky. She saw a shooting star and immediately made a wish.
I wish that he will stay safe forever, so that me and everybody else can keep giving him our smiles, and so that he can one day return them to us.
A/N: Yessss another chapter done… next chapter is when the juicy stuff finally comes
in… ;)) look forward to it but expect the next update to be in like 3 or 4 days. Sorry, I have school and stuff, and I'm gonna need to do a lot of planning for it. RxR, and see you next time!
*waves*
