To my reviewers and readers: Sorry for updating so late, I was trying very hard to come up with a good chapter that would make the readers feel like this story is a continuation of the manga.

So, this chapter has no Natsume x Mikan moment like Chapter 2, but I hope you would like this too. ^_^

Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice is created by Higuchi Tachibana.

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CHAPTER THREE: MY STEALING ALICE

Mikan felt hot sunshine coming through the window to her face. She opened her eyes and squinted from the sunlight. Judging from the position of the sun, it was already noon or an hour before. She yawned and stretched her body on the bed, and after a while, she was able to open her eyes completely.

She sat up on her bed and yawned again. She put down her feet to the floor and looked for her slippers. She felt completely light-headed. She staggered as she walked towards the bathroom. When she stopped by the sink to wash her face, she looked at herself from the mirror. Then Mikan gasped.

There were dark circles on her eyes. She looked 10 times uglier. Mikan sweat dropped at the thought, but immediately ignored her face. She washed her face and brushed her teeth. As she did so, she thought that one whole night of crying made her eyes look like some zombie's, and despite that, the heavy weight crushing her heart still hasn't been lifted. Would she look like this until the fifth day when she has to make the decision? She sighed. The decision to be made was too big for her. She wasn't ready.

When she finished taking a bath, and was changing clothes, her stomach growled. Mikan sweat dropped again. She was really hungry now, it was lunch time and she also skipped breakfast for oversleeping. She decided to go down to the dormitory's mess hall to eat.

Mikan yawned again as she walked over to the door. When she put her hand over the doorknob to twist it, she suddenly felt some pang of…fear? Panic…or something like that. It was like her instincts were screaming at her not to go out of the room. Mikan froze. She felt utterly confused.

Mikan gulped and took in a deep breath. She rested her right ear on the door and concentrated to listen… if there was someone or something on the other side of the door. To her surprise, she could hear muffled male voices. Her eyes widened. Male voices…in the girls' wing!? That was a weird thing, but she didn't dismiss it for some wandering boys (well, like she did yesterday when she got to the boy's wing without knowing.) She couldn't just dismiss it as some simple thing because deep in her heart, she felt afraid. Mikan couldn't guess who were there but she knew it definitely meant danger. A danger directed to her. She didn't know why but she felt it.

She quietly backed away from the door. As if teasing her, her stomach growled again. She tried hard to dismiss her hunger and think what could be happening outside.. why there were male voices out there. Then her stupid stomach growled louder. Feeling helpless, she curled into a ball in her bed. After a few minutes, she remembered something. She shuffled through her bag and looked for some snacks. To her relief, she found some soda crackers. That could fill her stomach for the while. As she was eating silently, she worked her way through her window to see if there was some chance to get out of the room. Natsume would just jump out of the window, so….

The thought of Natsume made her freeze. The thought of him made her suddenly want to run to his room and seek his comfort. She was definitely in a pinch right now. And usually, when she was in a pinch, Natsume would come for her and save her.

Mikan felt tears stung her eyes. "Natsume…"

She peeked on her window to find some way out. She wanted to be with Natsume, where she felt safe. But when she looked out from her window, the scene she saw made her gasp.

There were tens of Fuukitai men outside the dormitory. Five or more were looking up at her window from time to time. Then that means…she was being guarded and the men outside her door were from the Fuukitai too. But they weren't barging in. Maybe the dorm manager refused to give keys to her room. But…maybe it was just a couple of minutes for her before they go destroying her door to access her room. She shivered in fear. There was no way out for her. She'd get captured and…

"Mikan…" a soft whisper from her back startled her.

Mikan nearly screamed but the owner of the voice immediately cupped her mouth. And to Mikan's surprise, there was her mother, Yuka. With her soft facial features, she looked at her like telling her that she was safe now.

"Y-Yu….M-mother." Mikan stammered and tears of relief flowed from her eyes.

Yuka nodded and smiled. Then, she dragged her towards the bathroom and locked the door. Yuka made her sit on the side of the tub, while she kneeled in front of her.

"Mikan… Listen. The elementary school principal ordered a mass look-out for you over the whole academy. He knew that you would just be somewhere in the campis, and he hasn't considered yet that you could leave the academy. Mikan, do you understand? He is desperate to have you and your alice on for his own wants, that's why he's willing to do anything to capture you. As for now, a large number of the Fuukitai are guarding the dorms and the elementary branch. Some are in the Central Town, and others are scattered all over the place. It's very very dangerous for you to stay at the academy now, Mikan."

Mikan felt tears flowing from her eyes. She was realizing the danger she was in, and the danger she was causing to her friends and the students of the academy.

"M-my friends…and classmates…"

Yuka caressed her back. "Narumi and the other teachers are watching out for them, Mikan. They will protect them as much as they can. That's why, you don't have to worry. If you leave the academy, then the danger towards your friends would be gone too."

Mikan sobbed even more. She seeked for her mother's embrace and cried hard. This is the truth. She's causing danger to everyone as long as she stayed in the academy. She shouldn't be selfish and do what she wants. She couldn't stay in this academy with her friends anymore… with Natsume. She choked on her tears as she thought of him. She understood why Natsume didn't want to tell her that he wants her to stay. Because he knew himself that it would be dangerous. He kept silent and restrained his feelings just to keep her safe.

"Mikan…I'm sorry. Because they found out you were my daughter and you had the same alice as mine, you're being hunted down. I'm sorry… for everything." Yuka whispered as she continued to caress Mikan's back.

Mikan looked up at her mother's eyes. She wiped her tears from her eyes and forced to smile. Why would she be selfish about her feelings for Natsume when leaving the academy meant she and her mother would have time to catch up for all the things that was lost for the past 10 years? Without her dad, it was just her and Yuka. Why should she take the chance away between them to be together…which was supposed to happen in the first place as mother and daughter?

"Mom… there's nothing to apologize for. I understand everything, I understand what you went through. I understand you underwent so many painful things, yet you continued on, strong and willfull. The things that happened inside the academy, with them finding out about my stealing alice, it's not your fault. So don't…apologize…Mom."

Yuka embraced her tight and cried. Both of them cried as they held each other.

Then they heard a loud bang from outside. Startled, they ran towards the shower area of the room and covered it with the shower curtain. Yuka looked more serious.

"Listen Mikan, we have to get out of here. We'll use my teleportation alice. But to be sure that you wont get blocked by some barrier alice that the Fuukitai's with alices might have set up somewhere around the dorm, we need to have the teleportation alice within you, not just drag you along when I teleport."

Mikan looked confused. "But I…"

"Yes, we don't know if you have it, but for the meantime, I'm going to insert the teleportation alice stone in your body. There wouldn't be problems about compatibility so it would be easy." Yuka stopped to catch her breath for a while then continued. "Now, what I need you to do is steal the teleportation alice from me, so I can insert it to you."

Mikan's eyes widened. "B-but…"

Yuka hushed her and smiled. "You can do it, Mikan. Believe in yourself. And don't worry, my teleportation alice wouldn't disappear if you took a part of it. It's my first alice."

Mikan stared at her mother's reassuring face. She looked at her hands. They were trembling. This would be the first time she would be using her stealing alice consciously. Mikan took in a deep breath.

"O-okay, I guess…"

Yuka smiled and kneeled in front of Mikan. Mikan then went closer to her mother and concentrated on getting her teleportation alice. As Mikan raised her right hand and placed it a small distance from her mother's chest, she closed her eyes and concentrated again and again on unleashing her stealing alice. Then suddenly, warmth enveloped Mikan's chest. She could feel it…her alice. As the warmth travelled together with the blood pumping from her heart, the warmth flowed swiftly towards her right hand. She didn't dare to open her eyes, fearing she would lose the sensation and fail at using her alice. But she felt a warm hand hold her left hand which was lying on her lap. She tried hard not to break concentration.

Yuka whispered to Mikan. "Don't be afraid. Open your eyes, look at how beautiful and wonderful alices can be."

Hearing her mother's reassuring words, Mikan breathed in air and then slowly….slowly opened her eyes. Dawning before her eyes was a faint glow of her hand… and the medium-sized alice stone coming out from Yuka's chest. It was a pale green stone… just like the one Sakurano-san gave her which teleported her with Natsume, Hotaru and Ruka from the Hanahime Den to the office of the High School Principal, which was just a few days ago.

Mikan was astounded. She couldn't believe that she was able to actually use her alice consciously, and not just by the force of her emotions. She looked up and she met the smiling gaze of her mother. Identical hazel orbs expressed the same overwhelming emotions… like they understood their kinship through having the same kind of rare alice.

Their serene moment ended with a number of shouts coming from the bedroom. Mikan's concentration faltered as she heard the men's voices so she accidentally let go of the now-fully-emerged teleportation alice stone. Yuka, as trained her reflexes were, quickly catched the alice stone and pulled Mikan up from their squatting position.

"We're going out of this place now." Yuka said as she softly rested Mikan's body towards the wall.

Mikan gasped as she felt another gush of warmth inside her body. As she quickly took a glance down, she saw that her mother was slowly inserting the alice stone into her body from her stomach. There wasn't any pain, all that was there was warmth. As she felt the warmth gushing into her system and making its way through her heart, she saw from the shower curtain that the one of the Fuukitai entered the bathroom. As thin as the curtain was, the man immediately saw them.

"They're here!!" he shouted as he quickly prepared himself for a lunge at them.

Mikan, getting caught up with panic and fear froze there. As if the lunge of the man was taking ages, she felt her whole body enveloped in an unexplicable tinge of lightness…like you're being flown away. And when she looked at Yuka beside her, she saw her teleporting away. And as was she.

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Review please!! ^_^ And suggestions if you have.