Summary: Another assassin is on the loose that keeps on guarding and intervening the AAO's plans with regards to a certain Black Cat. Natsume never seen who it is but lately he found his missions getting a lot easier and a lot alice free kind of missions. Meanwhile, a certain idiot keeps on coming to school earlier and compose, little by little the gang is getting suspicious, especially a certain fire caster. Could it be related?! Who Knows?!

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own GA, although I hope so, but then I don't! (but i do own some other characters here which is not in othe fan fic or the manga.)


CHAPTER 2

Hotaru was walking along the three-star dormitory hallways which was on the third floor together with the attic for no star alices. She had been wandering around the Academy searching for her idiotic best friend but she never saw her. She even visited the SA class but nobody knew where she could be.

This morning, she saw awful looking fresh bruises above her socks and knowing her, things must have gotten pretty nasty last night and she could bet her entire bank account that those bruises were not the only one discoloring her as of the moment. She wouldn't be surprise if she would find cuts and scrapes on her back and arms as well.

'Where did that idiot go to?' Hotaru asked herself not bothering to look for her at the cafeteria. By the way Natsume looked at her the entire time, to the point that the fire caster didn't skipped the homo's class, could make Mikan got the message that Natsume had his eyes fixed on her as of the moment, and only an idiot would go near him in 20ft radius, unfortunately Mikan was far from being an idiot now.

Hotaru's face hardened. Turning at the end of the hall, nearing MIkan's three-star bedroom, she found herself recalling the things that had occurred almost a year and three months ago.

FLASHBACK

It's already approaching midnight and due to a rush work that was imposed to her by one of her patrons, Hotaru Imai, the genius with technical alice found herself walking around the Northern Woods where her new and bigger laboratory lies.

She just got out of her laboratory, riding her duck scooter, Hotaru navigated towards the direction of the east side entrance of the Northern Woods. It might be a lot easier if she would just go and take the middle route but it would be time consuming since it was a lot further from their dormitories and her body was crying out for her to lay down and sleep although her eyes screams money from the way the 'money signs' reflected on her eyes just by thinking that she would be paid ten times of the original value of the merchandise because of this rush work.

A cold breeze of the night blew gently, making the tree branches move involuntarily. The northern woods were off limits to most of the students but since she was a 'special' student, she got to have her laboratory inside this forest where the DA class was usually residing. Who wouldn't have a 'special treatment' if you're banking a whole lot of money for the entire Academy anyways?

Taking her leisurely ride to the side and picking up a faster phase, Hotaru found herself near the clearing towards the Alice Academy's usual grounds when suddenly a shaking, unstable figure caught her eyes.

The figure was leaning against an oak tree and by the way he was leaning it seems to her that he was terribly in need for help. Even the distance between them, Hotaru could evidently assume that the figure in front of her was rapidly loosing it.

'He's going to fall.' She thought making her duck scooter faster.

She was about to reach the figure when a hooded man appeared in front of the smaller one. She hastily halted her scooter. She observed quietly when the hooded figure towered the still staggering form of the shorter figure making the latter look shorter and more fragile than before.

From her spot she could comprehend that the shorter figure was definitely not a man, by the way the shorter figure was whining and screaming lightly out of pain, a girls voice echoes to the whole forest but what struck her was that it sound too familiar to her.

'Where did I hear that voice?' She thought.

She watched as the hooded man inflicted another torture to the girl. Although her inner self was wincing with every whip the man's giving the girl, her outer features remains still and stoic. She's not the Ice Queen for nothing.

"Enough!" A thunder like voice shout out of nowhere stopping the whip on time making it lingered on air giving her time and suitable view to make her realize that the whip's made out of ice.

'Damn, that must hurt a lot!' Hotaru thought.

The hooded figure polished his posture right before the almost fainting girl when suddenly a suppressing aura stood behind her.

"Damn.' She thought.

"Hope you're enjoying the show Ms. Imai!" An already familiar voice lingers on the air carrying his statement towards the two figures ahead of them. She saw how the taller figure relaxes making her think that the bastard was enjoying this turn of events.

On the other hand, the girl, in her opinion, seemed to tense up upon hearing her name.

'Who is she?' HOtaru thought before hearing Persona's voice again.

"I assume you had seen enough, Ms. Imai." Persona said before walking towards the two figures ahead of them. "Even though I know you had permission to go through these woods, I believe my precious little kitty here doesn't appreciate your presence so much."

"Why should I care about that?" She asked.

"Oh…" Persona looked at her with an amused look before gesturing for her to follow him. "I'm sure you do care, Ms. Imai."

Hotaru rode her scooter again and followed Persona slowly. Every second they got to be near the two figures, HOtaru realized that the tall man was actually wearing a pure black mask while the girl was wearing the Academy's uniform and by the looks of it, they were on the same department.

Hotaru wished she could at least look at the face of the new Academy's kitten, by the looks of it, she's still undergoing training making her think that Natsume doesn't know her yet.

She was already close to them, suitable to see her face clearly but when she was about to take a good look the tall figure blocked her line of sight before smirking at her.

"I don't think the kitty will appreciate it if you saw her." The tall figure that she just then realized to be about her age, told her while guiding her away making sure she would not see anything about the girl. " And I do believe that it is for your own safety and peace of mind if you don't recognize her at all."

They had relatively taken a good distance that would make it impossible for her to see who the girl was, when suddenly as if an answered prayer, the wind blew passed them carrying a couple of sentences coming from Persona and the girl.

"Don't you think it will be interesting if she recognized you?" it was definitely Persona. "She would make the collection of your beneficiaries a lot more interesting…"

Hotaru was about to abandon listening, feeling disgusted by the way Persona was blackmailing the girl when the next voice made her heart stops beating.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on her or I promise I will burn every single molecule of this Academy to crisp that even your fucking bones would never ever be recognizable at all."

Hotaru turned to look at her escort and a wide stretch grin was evidently placed on his face making her eyes wide open. That grin made it clear to her that it was indeed who she thinks it was.

'Mikan…' was all her mind could come up.

End of this Chappy


A/N: I am looking forward for your REVIEWS... NO serious FLAMES, although I accept spelling corrections, especially with regards to the characters' name and alice. SUGGESTIONS are HIGHLY welcome!