Hey hey people! Welcome back to Cirque du Alice! Here's to hoping you guys enjoy chapter 2 of this fanficiton!
Also, thank you to the following readers who reviewed! Since it's on my phone that I'm checking my email and can't respond to reviews- I'll respond to them here: Hope you guys don't mind!
JeZ-Amutolover110- Hahaha, as much as I do like Natsume and Mikan together- I'm really tempted to make it Tsubasa/Mikan, because it virtually doesn't exist almost. ;; I think it needs more ficage. If it's not Natsu/Mikan- there'll at least be hinting at it? ):D
Jazziscool: I know, right? D: It's why I'm so tempted. I think I will make it Tsubasa/Mikan.
Moonacre99: Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it~ :D
Arisu09: Thanks! Here I am, updating it, and pretty quick if I do say so myself! *grin*
Anywhizzy- let's get this party started!
DISCLAIMER: I own not the Gakuen Alice- if I did, I'd throw Tsubasa in there more often!
Chapter 2: Complications
"This is No. Fair." I muttered off hand while Tsubasa laughed whole heartedly at my pouting. "Absolutely no fair! Is this how it's always been?!"
"Stop screaming. You're hurting my ears." Came the simple, spiteful reply from the ever so "social" Natsume Hyuuga. I scowled at him as Tsubasa let out another round of laughter. Ruka let out a slow, exasperated sigh.
"You really enjoy my misery, don't you?" I jut out my lower lip, again pouting.
This time, Tsubasa didn't laugh at my expression. He smiled and pat my head. "Nah. Your comical expressions are adorable and it makes me want to laugh, but it's not enjoying your misery. Don't you like my company?" I jumped back slightly and nodded vehemently. How easy it was for him to turn my words against me… sly dog. "Anyway, yeah, the academy's been doing it like this for as long as I can remember. You can't tour with prospective friends- only prospective partners on stage." His lips curved upwards as he gave me a cheeky grin. "Think of it like we're all prospective friends!"
My pout slowly melted into a smile. "Friends with you loud mouthed idiots? Tch. As if." Natsume drawled. Mood killer extraordinaire.
I snapped my head in his direction, shooting a glare. "As if I want to be friends with such a damn grump…"
"This here is the stage!" Narumi turned around, motioning his hands apart for emphasis as the four of us students stopped abruptly.
My eyes went wide at the sight of it. It was state of the art with all the equipment- rope, lyras, trapezes, large metal wheels and other apparatuses- amazing light fixtures… the area was huge, but what rivaled it's size was the actual seating for audience members. I marveled at it and thought about just exactly how many people could be seated here. I managed to tug at Tsubasa's shirt. "Hey, hey… you're the only one who's been here longer than us, right…? Have you…ever performed up here?"
Tsubasa gave me a pained smile- which caused me to flinch. He was always playful, but this time, it seemed as if I touched something sensitive. "No. I have never gone up on stage. But it's okay!"
"No it's not." Narumi interjected. "You were always trying your hardest when first accepted as a student here… but once she was accepted into an act and had that one accident, you've never seemed to want to take this seriously! Instead you were always making trouble for your-"
"That's ENOUGH." Tsubasa cut him off. "I haven't done that…so stop assuming, Naru."
Ruka and Natsume exchanged curious looks with each other- then looked at me, expecting that I knew the answer. I shook my head, and remembered last night, which could possibly be the reason.
Yesterday: Settling in after dinner with Tsubasa and Hotaru
"Your friend was an interesting girl. Kind of intimidating. And that's your best friend?" Tsubasa chuckled as he opened the door to our room and sauntered in. "You two are so different. I guess you bring out the qualities in each other that other people can't see, eh?"
I smiled brightly, skipping into our room as well. I jumped on the couch in the living quarters. "Yeah, you could say that!" The two of us let out laughs. I looked around the room and laid my eyes back onto the picture from earlier. The red-pink haired child. "What about your friends?"
"Ah, I have one really close friend in the managers department. He has a weak body, so they made sure he stopped performing. He had no desire to leave this school, so he joined the team of people learning for managing positions." Tsubasa grinned. "His name is Kaname. I'll introduce you some day. He's a real looker and quite the prince charming, so careful, you might fall for him!" He warned, shaking his finger.
I burst out into giggles- stopping slowly and looking back at the picture. There was just something about it that made me look back to it. I pointed to the girl. "What about her, Tsubasa?"
Tsubasa turned around slowly. From the side of his face, I could see his lips turn into a frown, and then be forcibly tugged back upwards into a smile. "That's Misaki. She was like a mother figure to me. But she had to…" hesitation… "Leave this school."
I felt this was something I shouldn't touch. I just nodded. "I see…" There was a long moment of awkward silence. "Well, I should start unpacking, so I'll be heading to my room now."
His head bobbed quickly and he looked at me. There was something wrong- I could tell by his sapphire eyes. "I'll just crash. It was a long day, greeting the newbies. So I'll catch you in the morning Mimi!" He smiled…completely stressed that.
I smiled at that, hoping he'd feel better from whatever internal conflict he were having. "See you then!"
Back to the Present
"There was a reason I paired you with Mikan. There's a reason everyone's partnered and grouped together with their appointed mates." Narumi motioned while walking us back to our dormitory. "All of you boys will find out why I chose Mikan soon."
Now all the boys were looking at me. "She couldn't possibly be that good, Naru." Natsume simply said, interrupting the tense atmosphere there just was.
"Of course not right now, Hyuuga." Narumi turned back, a smirk on his face. "But you can expect her to soar above the rest. And I expect you all to teach her well. You are all set for the trapeze practice room in the morning."
Whoa, whoa hold on a moment. Did Narumi just say…
"Excuse me Mr. Anjo… but teach?" Ruka stepped up and questioned. Good, he did it before I snapped and wailed at Narumi for such a decision. I was hoping it was slip of the tongue.
"One, how many times have I told you to call me Narumi, Ruka? And two, yes. She'll be treated differently from the rest of the students. You boys will train her, unless there's a routine she'll learn. Then I'll personally teach her the routine, although training for it will be handled by you three. Do I make myself clear?" Narumi demanded, turning around while he took this step to face us.
"Why the hell should I do that? You think I'm going to listen to you Naru?" Natsume questioned with the most irate expression I had ever seen.
Narumi simply chuckled at Natsume. Natsume narrowed his eyes as he looked at the handsome blond before him. "You can do whatever you want, Natsume. But the next performance is pretty close to that day, don't you think? And time's running out. I hope to have Mikan trained to be the female lead… and I wonder who I'd appoint as the male…"
Natsume grit his teeth and started storming away. "I don't know what you're up to, but that's just low." He pushed by Narumi and slowly, his retreating figure began disappearing into the dark.
I blinked, still looking at the direction Natsume took off in. Ruka hesitated, but then ran after his best friend. When I looked up, I realized we were at the dorms now. "Don't worry about Hyuuga. He has quite the chip on his shoulder right now, so he'll be a bit… prickly." Narumi mentioned, smile instead of smirk on his face.
I nodded, not questioning. There's something fishy about these guys…
Next Morning, During Trapeze "Class"
"…So, Ruka and I will show you how it's done- and you and Natsume will reenact it." Tsubasa finished explaining how it would go.
I let out an exasperated sigh and nodded. "Yes Tsubasa… Why is it like that anyway?"
Ruka laid a hand on my shoulder and offered me a smile. "It's because Tsubasa and Natsume have more training on the trapeze than us two- so he's putting one more experienced person with one less experienced. But you don't have to worry about your lesson being hindered because of it. I've trained quite a bit on the trapeze, so I'm not bad if I do say so myself."
I let out a small laugh, smiling at Ruka. "I see now!"
"Don't worry, I want to work with you as little as you want to work with me." Natsume muttered. I grumbled darkly, getting next to the set up to watch Tsubasa show me the basics. Ruka was to sit down a little while, until catching would come into play. "It's not like I really have a choice…"
That last part he said… it sound strangely like desperation. I looked away from Tsubasa for a moment. "What do you…"
"Now it's your turn up there!" Tsubasa motioned me from the net. He climbed up with me, and placed me in the right positions, letting me know how it worked. As he droned on with explanations on what muscles I should use, I nodded. "Now, remember. Show me what you've got."
I sucked in a breath of air and with that, I jumped back and took off into the air. It was amazing! It felt as if I were flying. After a few falls of just getting kicked off, I learned how to do the knee hang.
After I returned from the fifth knee hang, Tsubasa was grinning. "This was the part I was waiting for. Now we get to teach you how to get caught!" he nodded at Ruka, who nod in return and the two took up to the trapeze. I saw how Ruka had to wait for Tsubasa to swing once and hit the peak of that swing, going into the Knee hanging position and then took off. First swing, he took the knee hang position. Next swing, their hands clapped and Tsubasa caught Ruka. Ruka swung high and flipped onto the platform Tsubasa started with. Tsubasa spun around on the trapeze and faced Ruka's bar, jumping off and catching it, dismounting on Ruka's side. "Don't worry yourself with that quite yet. For now, Natsume will just catch you until you're ready to do all of that."
I nodded and climbed up the ladder, Natsume climbing on the other side. I squinted to get a better look at him, and it seemed as if he were sighing.
If not breathing heavily. I shook off the thought and held onto my bar tightly as Natsume took off, reaching the point of his swing, I took off myself. I fixed myself onto knee hang and stretched out my hands. Natsume and my hands clapped together. I looked up at him as he held onto my hands. His crimson eyes seemed somewhat glazed and a drop of sweat trickled down his forehead and onto mine.
He just started… so why did he seem tired already?
We reached the peak of his swing and he pulled me upward and let go. I spun in the air and then came crashing down on the net. "Okay, try that again. Mikan, better idea. Try to catch the trapeze you just swung on. " Tsubasa ordered from the ground.
I nodded and climbed back up. We repeated the beginning steps. I was on knee hang position, holding my hands out to Natsume. Our hands clapped together and I took my feet off of my bar.
It felt like it all happened in slow motion. Natsume winced and grit his teeth. He was in pain. Slowly, his legs unraveled from the trapeze bar and we began descending towards the net. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away, making sure we'd bounce side by side. If we crashed landed on each other, it was sure to be painful. Our bodies hit the net and bounced up before we settled down against. It.
"Natsume… what the hell happened? You're usually perfect on the trapeze…" Tsubasa questioned as he observed the raven haired lad dismounting the net.
"Nothing. I'm heading back to my room. I can't work right now. I'm… not concentrating today." Natsume said as he dismissed himself.
Ruka offered a wry smile. "Sorry Ms. Sakura. We'll offer a better training next time…" With that, Ruka ran as fast as he could to catch up with Natsume.
"Hey shorty, we can continue practice if you want." Tsubasa mentioned as he grabbed a bottle of water and dumped it on his head.
I thought for a moment. It's not that Natsume wasn't concentrating… there was something else there… "Not right now, Tsubasa. I want to find something out." Before Tsubasa could respond, I ran in a frenzy to catch up to the two boys.
Seemed that they were heading to the dorms. While Ruka waited for the elevators, I bolted up the stairs as quickly as possible and found a place to hide. Natsume was sitting on the floor outside of his and Ruka's room, doubled over and gripping his shoulder, letting out hisses of pain.
"Natsume!" Ruka finally managed to catch the other boy and walked up to him slowly. "I thought you said that time you had that fall that you were okay… you lied, didn't you?"
"Yeah." Natsume answered simply. "I had to continue practicing for this… I have to get this role…"
"How bad is it?" Ruka questioned. Natsume remained quiet. "I asked you a question… Now please answer me, Natsume. How bad is it?"
Natsume hesitated. "Shoulder keeps dislocating because I keep straining it. But I can pop it back in, so I'm alright. I take painkillers so I can perform without feeling a thing. I can keep going until next month. I just need to get on that stage once, Ruka."
Ruka looked disappointed in Natsume. "What happens if you perform like that?"
Natsume looked away now. "There's a chance I may never be able to perform again because of permanent damage. But…I'm willing. I just have to this… just once."
Ruka let out a long sigh, his cerulean eyes growing weary with every passing moment. "Does Naru know?"
"No, he doesn't. Don't tell him. Please… I can't lose this opportunity Ruka. You know how important…" Natsume was pleading. He was definitely not the type to.
"Yes… yes I do. As much as I disapprove of this, I know I can't stop you Natsume. Just please, don't do anything too risky…" Ruka pat his friend in the non-ailing shoulder.
Natsume smirked. "Sure." With that, Natsume stood up and opened the door to his room. "I'm going to take a nap. Rest off the pain of shoving this stupid thing back into place."
"Alright… I'm off to catch lunch. See you later, Natsume." Ruka waved Natsume off as Natsume nodded and closed the door.
As quietly as I could, I sneaked away from my spot and tried to make a break for it. But of course, luck is something I never had. "Ms. Sakura?!" I heard Ruka's voice call out. I stopped in my tracks.
Damn. I slowly turned around, forcing a smile. "Fancy meeting you…"
Before I could finish, Ruka slammed his hands on the wall, trapping me in between his arms. He drew his face close to mine, examining me- his blue orbs meeting my own brown ones. "Just exactly how much did you hear?" Ruka questioned me, giving me a look.
Busted…
There is something most definitely up with these three guys.
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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'll cut off the chapter there! I'm not a jerk, I swear. *grins*
*coughs and changes to narrator-like voice*
What is Tsubasa avoiding?! Just what exactly did Mikan find out?! Why is Natsume doing this to himself?! You'll find out in the next installment of "Cirque du Alice"!
Hahaha, I'll see you all in chapter three hopefully! Hope you're all enjoying! Lemme know what you thought about it! What you like or don't like and the sort. Maybe what you hope to see. I like to hear others thoughts and opinions! *grin*
Till next time!
-ThePaintedSkies -Sama
