[Disclaimer: [oh you know the drill. :P] Gakuen Alice and all related characters belong to the awesome Higuchi Tachibana-sama. :) ]

Chapter Four:

Mikan jumped from the balcony of the room. She wore shorts that revealed much of her legs and a black shirt that emphasized more of her figured. She wore a body bag that slung across her upper torso and a scarf to hide parts of her face. A black coat that reached her knees hid the clothes she was wearing. A weapon was concealed on her upper thighs.

As she jumped, she landed safely and quietly on the ground. In one blink of an eye, she was already jumping through the trees. She was on her way to the northern woods.

In the middle of the forest awaits Mikan's visitor.

"Chinmoku-san." A voice said.

"Yes." Mikan replied.

"They need your services."

"I know."

"Before that, don't you want a warm up, Chin-mo-ku-san?" the voice taunted, and the owner of the voice appeared. She had light brown hair. She wore tight jeans and black shoes. Her top was a red shirt topped by a black camisole.

Mikan jumped as the woman lunged for her. She had a sword in her hand. They continuously fought for a long time. The woman was striking, and Mikan was evading. Finally, Mikan found her concealed pocket on her upper thigh and took out a weapon of her own. It looked merely like a fat stick but it extended through Mikan's alice and it was revealed to be a sword. The two of them were fighting with fierce speed that the naked eye could not catch up to their movements.

Sparks flew everywhere. Mikan twirled in the air, jumping from tree to tree landing on her arms as she does a flip to avoid a nasty fall. The process goes over and over until the woman finally puts it to a halt. Amazingly, throughout all the rigorous fighting, only ten minutes have passed. Their ten-minute warm-up was equivalent to 5 hours of regular exercise.

"Very good, chinmoku-san. Not the single bit rusty, congratulations. Now all you have to do is to survive your mission."

Mikan nodded. Surprisingly and shockingly, after all that fighting, she wasn't the least bit tired at all. She wasn't even gasping for breath.

"Today, there is a shipment of goods from our team. We have sufficient evidence and a reliable source that the Anti-Alice Organization will hijack those shipments. We, as mere subordinates do not care what is inside them, neither should we know, for that matter." The woman said as she dusted herself nonchalantly.

"Yes, understood," Mikan said with a stern face.

"Right. So, your mission is to stop those AAO idiots. If you are unable to intimidate them by force, kill them. Is that clear?"

Mikan cleared her throat, "Yes."

"You may go." She said. Without any hesitation, Mikan left. With that, she left the gates of the academy undetected.

A few meters beyond the gates, a car was waiting for her. It was a black Mercedes limousine.

"Too flashy, again." Mikan thought as she climbed in. As the car started, she looked languidly through the car's window. She pressed her weight on the window's base and waited for some time until the car froze to a halt. The driver said nothing, but Mikan knew her ride was over.

She jumped out the car and closed the door. As soon as she got out, she swiftly disappeared from the car's view. Mikan pulled the scarf to cover her mouth. She found the shipment. It was being loaded from a ship to a truck. Nothing suspicious was happening. Even the workers did not seem all that suspicious. They looked like normal loaders. Mikan decided to follow the truck and wait until the AAO decides to hijack it.

The truck's engine started. Mikan jumped to a sprint. She jumped from the trees that looked over to the highway. A few moments later, two cars suddenly skidded in front of the truck. The truck abruptly stopped. The tires screeched. Then the men in the cars rained bullets on the truck. They intentionally missed the driver and his companion. They were merely intimidating them. But they did not move.

Mikan had her cue. She jumped from the tree to the middle of the truck and the two cars. She looked at them with an intense expression.

"Who are you?" One of the men answered.

Mikan did not answer. She reached into her bag, slowly. But as she does, someone took a hold of her hand and forcing it to her back.

The man whispered into her ear, "drop it, Chinmoku. I knew you were coming."

Mikan's expression was hidden through her scarf. She said nothing. A gun was pointed at her.

"Take the goods." The man ordered.

The other men in black ran towards the back of the truck.

"Now, Chinmoku-san, don't move," he said, "you don't want to—"

He was cut off as Mikan elbowed his gut. A crack was heard—she might have broken his ribs. She took his gun and aimed it at him. The man lay motionless on the road. Blood was dripping from his lips.

"You know me by name, but you don't know me at all." Mikan whispered.

The men did not hear their conversation, or what had happened. They were busy hauling the goods.

"If you knew me at all, you would know that a gun and a pack of amateurs like you couldn't stop me." Mikan said. She picked up his collar and pulled his face near hers. His face had fear written all over it.

Mikan whispered in his ear, "sleep."

The man lost consciousness as Mikan laid him to the floor again. She appeared suddenly behind the men who were hauling the goods.

One by one, Mikan kicked them, threw a punch at them and their blood was all on the road. One tried to point a gun at her. But before he could even reach the trigger, Mikan kicked his hand with force and the gun was out of reach. Mikan took hold of his hand and executed a hand chop behind the man's neck. The man lost consciousness and she tossed him on the road.

Mikan returned all the stolen goods back to the truck. She locked the door. Afterwards, she gave three taps to the heap of metal and the truck roared back to life.

She then made her way back to the academy. The streetlights that met her were dim. But she could see clearly the woman waiting for her beyond the gates.

"Well done. Mission accomplished." She said as she handed Mikan a bottle of pills, "we will inform you of what your next mission will be, " she said and disappeared into the night.

Mikan swiftly made it to her room. She changed her clothes and slumped back to bed. In a few moments, she was asleep. In a few hours, morning dawned.

Mikan woke up a few minutes after noon. She took a bath and cleaned herself up. She then went to Central Town to grab a bite to eat.

At around four pm, she met up with Kyousuke and Atsushi.

"Oh, hi guys!" Mikan said as she waved after them, "so, I wanted us to grab a bite to eat. I want you to tell me all about your day."

They walked and found their way into a coffee shop. They each ordered their drinks and sat down.

Unbeknownst to them, two boys coincidentally were walking across the shop—one crimson haired and one blonde.

"So, what's up?" Mikan asked.

"Our day was pretty much alright." Kyousuke said.

"But it could have been better." Atsushi continued.

"Really, how?" Mikan asked.

"If you were there the whole day." Kyouske answered.

Atsushi agreed and nodded, "why don't you consider taking our class? You can be a special classmate, Mikan-sa, er, I mean, Mikan-chan."

"Aw, but I can't Atsushi-kun."

"Aren't you lonely?" Kyousuke asked.

"Of course I am, but you know how it is."

"Have you been sleeping well, Mikan-chan?" Atsushi asked.

"Er, I think so, why?"

"You look tired."

"I'm worried. Are you doing something we're not aware of?" Kyosuke asked

"We don't want to see you get hurt."

Mikan was silenced. She stood up and gave the two boys a hug, "guys, I'm alright, really. No need to worry."

She said and spun around. As she did. She slipped two pills on the two boys' drinks. One on Atsushi's drink, one on Kyosuke's drink. The two boys did not notice. But the crimson-eyed boy outside did. He had a sharp and was aware of Mikan's awkward actions since coming back. But still, even though Natsume knew it was an act, he still felt a pang of jealousy. Ruka sensed Natsume knew something, but kept quiet. He, too, felt a pang of jealousy.

Mikan, Kyosuke and Atsushi ended their day as they parted before their dorm's building. They said their goodnights, and they all went back to bed.

Even as Natsume slept, he was bothered by what Mikan had done in the coffee shop. He was curious on what the pills were and why Mikan slipped them in their drinks.

Mikan was tired as she got back to bed. It wasn't that she was physically tired, it was her alice that is slowly losing power. She needed to regain it. She had a lot of problems encircling her mind.

What were those pills for? Why did she do it secretly? Why did the woman give it to Mikan? Moreover, who was she? What is this mysterious woman's relationship with Mikan?

[A/N: I want to personally thank MusicAnimeGal for correcting me. I changed the conversation already, but thanks anyway. I just got confused in the dialog. ]