That new girl is odd, Natsume thought. Immediately after she showed up, he had gotten the weirdest feeling that he just couldn't quite pinpoint. Being one of the stronger Alices of the Dangerous Class, he had learned to read another person and was able to pick out at least their physical weaknesses. The way a person held themself or how they walk tells enough about how the person was raised or any past psychological injuries they may have endured. But with that Yukihira, he couldn't see anything. Everything about her was under her personal lock and key. Even her emotions seemed to be a barrier to protect herself. He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear Ruka coming behind him.

"Oi! Natsume! Wait up!" Ruka called down the hallway. The boy snapped out of his train of thought and waited for the other.

"What, Ruka?"

Ruka hesitated, unsure how to proceed.

"Umm…"

"Spit it out."

Ruka took a deep breath.

"Are you going to class to see Yukihira-san?" he asked, forehead creased with worry. Natsume nodded for a second and then shook his head no. Ruka smiled ruefully.

"So which is it? Yes or no?"

"…"

Ruka waited patiently, knowing if he stood there, Natsume would answer eventually.

"It's a yes… There's something about that girl that gets me on my nerves. It's been bothering me since this morning," Natsume explained. "For one thing, that girl seems to be a little too close to some people to be called new. Take Imai for example." Ruka's eyes widened.

"I noticed that too," he said, amazed. "So you think they knew each other before?" he asked incredulously. Natsume nodded. He had seen the relationship between the two girls that morning. He had seen it but not believed it. Not believed it until he had seen the way that Imai reacted when that brat was introducing herself to the class.

"Yeah. I think this is gonna be interesting," he said, allowing himself a small smirk.

"Oh you think?" Ruka retorted sarcastically. "I think it's gotten interesting already."

The boys began to walk away to their Ability Classes. Meanwhile in the classroom, Mikan had just gotten comfortable in the back row seat when the door slid open. She glanced up, and momentarily froze. Persona stepped through the door and surveyed the room, closing the door behind him, dark eyes glinting dangerously underneath his half-mask.

"Persona," she greeted. He paused in front of her. Meeting his gaze head on was more difficult than she thought. His stare was unnerving. After all, no one remembered her except a few people, including Hotaru and her uncle. He shouldn't remember her at all and yet he was gazing at her with his piercing eyes. He had kept his half-mask all throughout his years even though she distinctly remembered a time he had not worn his mask. She knew what he hid behind it. Her hands itched to help the poor man, relieve him of his pain, but no. She had to keep herself as detached as possible.

"Are you the new girl? Yukihira Miki?" he muttered. Mikan stood up with her hands in her pockets, her hazel eyes already emotionless and cold.

Before she could answer, a loud *BANG* ricocheted through the classroom. The loud sound caused all the students in the classroom to look up. Even the students who ignored everything that went on in the class flicked their eyes at the door. After all, no one just barges into the Dangerous Ability classroom unless they have a death wish. Honestly, no one would even dare to knock. They would only shake outside the door until Persona, the teacher (more like supervisor) for the class escorted them in. Natsume entered behind Persona and was greeted with a surprising sight. The new girl was staring at Persona in a showdown. She's got guts, Persona thought. He broke the contact and barely nodded, showing his approval.

"It's Mikan," she gritted her teeth but Persona hadn't heard.

"Hyuuga, with me. Yukihira, you too," he ordered. "Everyone else, don't do anything stupid or I will kill you." The students left in the room ignored him and went back to whatever they had been doing before. Persona led the pair into a dark room. Flicking on the light, he strode over to a table laden with Alice controllers of all shapes and types of jewelry and masks.

"So, Persona," Natsume started, "why did you call this brat along with me?" Persona smiled thinly and gestured to the room and the table behind him. Natsume looked around more closely and noticed a TV screen and a couple sofas with plush pillows carelessly strewn all over the place.

"Natsume-kun, you will watch Yukihira as she undertakes her first mission. Alone," Persona said without a hint of pity. Mikan didn't react to the statement because she had already known, thanks to her uncle, that the school board would want to know how strong she was and whether she would be treated specially or just thrown aside like a used tissue.

Mikan scanned the table laid with accessories. She put her hair up in a high ponytail, tying the chest-length hair in a bun with an elastic band on her arm. Natsume stared at the gleaming amount of jewelry on her person, mouth slightly gaping.

How many controllers does she have?! There are so many of them on her, he thought.

Mikan noticed Natsume staring, and allowed herself a small smirk, unseen to the still-gaping boy. She unclasped the necklace, bracelet and bangle and placed them in the empty metal case made for jewelry lying on the tabletop. Then she proceeded to take off her earrings, two in both ears. To the normal person's eye, the jewelry would've looked harmless but in truth they were Alice controllers, to limit the power of the person wearing it. It was common among the Dangerous Class to have at most 3 controllers but no one in the class had ever heard of anyone wearing 8 pieces at a time. Their Alice would have to be immensely powerful and destructive. And yet, the new girl, a seemingly normal student of the Dangerous Ability Class, had the potential for that amount of power.

"Hey, take a picture if you want to stare some more." Natsume shook out of his daze. He narrowed his eyes at the back of the amused girl.

How powerful is she that she needs 8 controllers on her daily? he wondered.

Mikan sensed the fire-caster's gaze burning on her back. She chuckled to herself as she let her hand skim over the many controllers. Selecting a pair of scarlet wing-shaped studs and a pair of black crescent-moon studs, she pushed them into the holes in her ears, then proceeded to clasp a thin (but durable) chain necklace with a skull hanging at the end around her neck. She kept the dragon ring on her pinky and lastly, she fastened a sleek, black, vertical half-mask shaped like a wolf. 7 controllers was enough for this mission.

Satisfied, she turned around to see Persona fastening a note on a silver rose, the flower of protection. Mikan snorted. How ironic this was, that she was going to destroy someone's life after giving that person a flower of protection with a note fastened to it. Natsume, still marveling over the novelty of the situation, had sat down on the plush couch and surprisingly was on his phone, ordering pizza and coke.

Typical, she thought. Even if he is surprised, he would try to hide it so he wouldn't seem weak. Out loud she said, "Alright. Where's the first mission?" Persona handed her an earpiece. She screwed it into her ear, enough to stay in even when fighting.

"The school board is testing you. I am the one who usually picks which student is fit for which mission but this time, they picked this mission for you," Persona murmured. He pushed a button on the side of the TV and an image of a map flickered to life. There was a caption at the top left corner of the screen. Mikan's eyes widened slightly and then closed. Natsume, on the other hand, couldn't take it. His anger bubbled over.

"Why?" he furiously said. "Why the Hijiri family? They're close to the Academy, aren't they?" Persona didn't give any sign that he heard him. He merely pushed a key into the Portal door and the doors opened, shining with a flickering light. Mikan shook her head once, and stepped towards the door, her feet heavy with dread.

"She isn't going to kill the Hijiri family."

Both the teenagers' heads jerked up at that sentence. "There are other people in the house. The guests are the ones guilty of slaving children with Alices and working them to death. According to the sources, they are a part of a new cult that believe that Alice children are cursed and must be enslaved as workers. Their next target is the child, Youichi Hijiri but they need an extra night to get the child to come to them. That's why Yukihira-kun is going to kill them tonight." Natsume visibly relaxed, as did Mikan. Slightly confused as to how Natsume knew the Hijiri family, Mikan glanced at the boy. Persona grasped her shoulders and steered her towards the Portal.

"Off you go, now," he said, pushing her towards the door. Mikan tumbled headfirst into the swirling energy.

"Make sure to kill them all."

Mikan landed on a concrete slab and immediately used the Levitation Alice to help her fly on top of the wall. As she softly stepped onto the edge, no alarms blared, so she catapulted herself from the wall to the soft, springy grass below. Mikan landed in a beautiful garden, its beauty accented by the soft petals of the cherry blossoms floating to the ground. Mikan ran and jumped, activating the Transparency Alice, which allowed her to pass through the window. She knew that everything she did could be seen on the monitor. She had to work efficiently. Landing quietly on the carpeted hallway, she put on her mask.

"Time to work." Mikan whipped out the knife hidden on her wrist.

After she heard Persona say that, she had to take extra care to eliminate all the people from the cult and even eliminate the targets' families. In the end, the boy's family was already killed, due to the fact that the cult destroyed their target's family in order to get the child easily. Youichi Hijiri turned out to be a young silver-haired boy, with mint-green eyes and a plump baby face. He was only 5 and he had done nothing and also knew nothing of his family's murder. Mikan had slipped the kid a pill in his sleep that would send him into a sleep deeper than before for a time until they reached her house. Surprisingly, when she showed his face to the camera filming her, Persona hadn't said anything about her taking him to an orphanage. Instead, he had insisted that she take care of him, because it was her mission, after all.

"Youichi Hijiri is to be under your care from now on." was all he said. She had heard a relieved sigh (probably from that sissy of a fire-caster) from the earpiece when he said that. Come to think of it, she had seen a little similarity to the crimson-eyed boy. Those glares, the way that they both held themselves and even how they talked was almost the same. It was uncanny. Of course the kid was younger by about 11 years so he was still on the innocent side of Natsume.

Upon arriving back into her dorm, she had to let the boy sleep on her bed. He hadn't known that his parents were gone. All the little kid knew was that he was now to live in the Academy and never see his family again. Mikan dreaded the day he finds out his parents are dead. If he ever finds out… Knowing the school board, they'll keep anything that might hinder the trust this kid has for the Academy under lock and key, she thought.

She looked out the window at the late night moon illuminating the room. The stars twinkled, the night breeze relieving the bit of heat left over from summer.

"Ungg..." She shifted her attention to the child lying on the bed.

"Are you awake?" The boy, blinking his glowing green eyes, bolted up in fright at the sudden sound of her voice. He immediately surrounded himself in a dark aura. Mikan's eyes widened a fraction. She put her hands up and hugged the young boy. The aura swirled around the two of them.

"It's okay," she murmured. "Everything is fine, You-chan. You're safe." Absorbing the aura was no small feat, but she had to do it to protect him. She gritted her teeth silently and tried not to move as the pain racked through her body. He froze, feeling his aura disappear, then went limp in her arms. After a while, she felt him move.

"They're gone, aren't they?" he whimpered. Tears began to flow down his cheeks when Mikan didn't answer. He knew what that meant. She hugged him tighter to her body. He clung to her, his little body trembling. She stroked his back, comforting the boy as best she could. A far-off slam jolted the both of them.

"Mikan!" The yell rang through the almost-vacant dormitory. She cringed.

"Stay here," she cautioned Youichi and leaped off her bed. It was a good thing the other Special stars were out on missions. Mikan's footsteps thundered through the hallway.

"What, Tsubasa-nii?" Mikan shifted on her feet nervously in front of the furious teenager. He glowered at the brunette.

"Why didn't you introduce me as your brother?" he asked. Mikan sighed. She knew it would result to this outburst.

"Bro, I thought that you didn't like having a little sister that can whoop your butt," Mikan pointed out. Tsubasa assumed the Thinker's pose and nodded his head a couple times.

"That does make sense. But still, I was pretty hurt. I thought 'Why doesn't she want to have me as her older brother?" he said. Mikan looked up at him sadly, memories flashing in her mind. Realizing what he had just said, Tsubasa decided to drop the matter.

"By the way, when did you get home?" he asked.

"Around 4. The mission was pretty easy," she said. Tsubasa grinned and proudly patted her back. He knew that she would own that snot-nosed bastard of a flame-user. She was a special case when it came to Alices. A small cry came from her bedroom. Mikan stiffened and suddenly darted back down the hall. Tsubasa, confused, followed her. Mikan immediately picked Youichi up in her arms and rocked him back and forth.

"Shh, shh," Mikan crooned. "It's okay." The sobs that wracked his body simmered down to small sniffles and a few drops rolling down her shoulder. Tsubasa curiously glanced at the child.

"Who's he?" he asked. Mikan glanced at the boy in her arms. She shook her head, making sure the movement didn't wake the now-sleeping child. Tsubasa sighed, and shook his head.

"Alright. I won't ask until tomorrow. For now, let him sleep with you. He seems to like you better than he would me anyways." He opened the door to her room and tucked both of them in.

"Goodnight, Nii-chan," she whispered.

"Goodnight, squirt."

As soon as her brother left, she gently laid Youichi back on the bed and tucked him in, making sure the thick comforter wasn't choking him. She sighed and stretched out, glancing at the clock.

2:34 am. I should probably go to sleep too. She curled up on the bed next to the little boy, making sure not to jostle him. Sleep normally didn't come easily to her, but strangely, she was able to fall asleep in a matter of minutes.

…

Mikan cracked her eyes open just as the first rays of sun poked out from behind the mountains. She tensed, bracing herself for a siren that was now nonexistent, and the deafening sound of guns, also nonexistent. She sighed and slipped out from under the covers. Pushing her feet into her fuzzy slippers, Mikan padded across to the bathroom. She turned on the cold water and splashed her face.

"Old habits really die hard, don't they," she whispered, water dripping from the ends of her eyelashes and nose. Mikan took a soft towel from the linen closet and patted her face. She walked back into her bedroom, smiling slightly from the still-sleeping child in her bed. Flashes of memory flickered through her mind.

…

"Mikan!" A 14-year-old Tsubasa whispered harshly. "Wake up! We have to be up in 3 minutes. The alarm is gonna ring and then if we don't get out in time, you know that the guards will be on us in a flash." A 12-year-old Mikan bolted from the sad rags of a blanket. She checked if the holster attached to her chest was still there. Tsubasa grabbed her hand and opened the metal door, cement walls scraping the hinges with a squeal. Their eyes adjusted quickly to the change in light. Immediately, Mikan's hand went to the knife and gun strapped to the holster. Drawing the gun, she cocked it at the targets set up outside their cell. Closing her eyes, she aimed and fired her bullets. Satisfaction flooded into her, seeing all the bullets meet their targets. However, there was no time to enjoy that burst of emotion because as she was reloading her gun, the machine-guard had caught up to them.

"Run, Nii-chan!" Mikan screamed at Tsubasa. The machine behind him loomed up and cast a shadow over the two. He stepped on the shadow, activating his Alice, and effectively stopped it from advancing.

"Go!" he yelled. "I can't move if I'm holding this thing back too!" Mikan shook her head vigorously, tears shining in her eyes.

"I'm not leaving you, Nii-chan!" she yelled back, the roar of the machine almost drowning both their voices out. Mikan latched herself onto Tsubasa's arm.

"You have to! They haven't discovered your Alice yet, so you're more valuable to them!" Tsubasa pushed Mikan away from him and towards the safety of the doctors in white suits at the end of the pathway.

"NO!"

...

A sneeze drew her out of Memory Lane. Youichi had woken up and was leaning against the headboard, still half-asleep. He opened his eyes slightly, and he rubbed them. Mikan smiled gently, a little tinged with sadness.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "I'll be here to protect you."

\\\\

Chapter 3~~

So now we got a glimpse of her skills as well as her past.

Things are gonna get more interesting so stick around for it!

Feel free to review and let me know if I can make it better!

Thank you,

G