No, unfortunately I don't own Gakuen Alice. You know the drill.

Mikan skipped happily to the beach, wearing the outfit that Hotaru had given her again and having all of her gym clothes in the plastic bag in her hand, swinging by her legs. She was looking forward to something…

She pranced down the stairs and landed softly in the sand, and then she ran the rest of the way to their usual meeting place. The sand got under her bare feet, hurting her toes where the straps of her flip flops rested, but she could care less. With a giant leap, she did a two foot stop in front of Natsume, her long hair falling over her shoulders, her fingers interlocking behind her, the goofy smile still on her face.

Even Natsume had to admit she looked cute.

Ruka hadn't arrived yet.

"What?" Natsume said emotionlessly, staring down at her.

"You're engaged!" she said mockingly.

He stared at her a moment longer, and then he turned around and crouched down in front of his black duffel bag. "You don't come here to mock me, you come here to train."

Mikan crouched down beside him, her hands on her knees. "But you're getting engaged to Luna! She's the world's best, hottest model!" She frowned. "But I heard she's really cocky and mean."

"It's an arranged marriage," he stated irritably. "I didn't ask for it."

The smirk returned. "Oh, so you don't like her?"

"Not one bit."

"Nice."

"Not really."

She stood up. "Why don't you tell her?"

"Why would I do that?"

Now she was confused. "Because you don't like her."

"So? Like my dad would let me out of it. He doesn't believe in falling in love. Neither do I."

Mikan looked offended. "How can you not believe in something like that?" she gasped. "It's a…a…sin not to! Love is the strongest bond you could ever have with someone. It's like a double friendship, with someone you care about so much that you're not afraid to tell them anything."

He stood up and stared down at her again, blankly. "Are you going to break out in song or dance?"

She laughed. "No. I'm simply saying that you should give it a chance."

Natsume's attention was grabbed by something over her shoulder, and she turned around, the smile still in place. "Hi, Ruka!" she greeted cheerfully. "Why are you late this beautiful day?"

Ruka was smiling, though he was looking down at a cell phone in his hand. When he heard her voice, he snapped it shut and held it out to her. "Here you go, Mikan," he said lightly. "I thought it would be useful for you to have this. I already programmed mine and Natsume's number into it, in case of emergencies."

Mikan stared at in shock before taking it. "Thank you," she said, smiling again.

"No problem," he said, walking over to Natsume's side. "I thought it might be a good idea with that serial killer on the loose."

The color drained from her face. "Excuse me?"

Natsume snorted. "You haven't heard? Police have linked eight murders of young women to one person, and they haven't caught him."

Pale, she glared at them. "Thanks for that."

Natsume forced her to keep running, even after almost an hour. She was breathing heavily. She felt dizzy and sick. She was mentally cursing him. And, of course, she was wondering what she had gotten herself into.

But she was always wondering that.

"I would last a whole lot longer if we didn't do this on the beach!" she groaned in frustration as she stumbled for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Why can't we run on the street like normal people?"

"Just think of how much better you'll do on sturdy ground. It'll be a breeze for you," he said dryly.

"Still!" She stumbled again, almost falling flat on her face. "Do you honestly want to be all sweaty for Luna when you get home? I mean, aren't you old enough to do…adult things with her?" She couldn't find a more innocent way to put it.

Natsume stopped abruptly and swung around to face her, a movement so fast and graceful that she found herself running into him, stumbling back, and falling on her butt. He made her feel so shallow.

"I don't like her," he said in disgust. "What makes you think I would touch her?"

Mikan glared at him. "Okay, okay, calm down." She pushed herself back to her feet and dusted off her spandex shorts. "Honestly, though, if you hate her that much, you should get out of the marriage."

He returned the glare. "My dad won't let me, if you were listening."

She frowned. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"You're an adult. Your dad has no control over you anymore." She scratched her arm and then looked up at him, smiling. "Get a girlfriend that you actually love, and then marry her instead. Ignore your dad's rules." She smiled one last time before starting to run again.

Natsume rolled his eyes and started after her. It wasn't until they were nearing the halfway point of their jog that they ran into trouble. They were getting up onto the sidewalk so that they could get to another set of stairs to turn around, a sidewalk that was right beside a street.

Mikan was running on the very edge of the street, right next to the curb, for some reason that even she wasn't quite sure of, and Natsume was on the sidewalk.

It happened fast. One minute there was a screech of wheels on pavement, and then Mikan was stopping and staring in terror at the silver Porsche tearing towards her, and then Natsume's hand was on her arm and she was in his arms, on the sidewalk, away from harm's way.

And then Natsume was muttering something under his breath and running over to the driver's side of the car that was now stopped in front of them.

Mikan, her hand over her heart and her eyes still unnaturally wide, wobbled unsteadily over to the low bars that acted as a fence and grasped them for support, her back facing the car and Natsume.

She could hear them clearly, though.

"What do you think you're doing?" Natsume shouted. "You could have killed her!"

"Good!" a female voice shouted back.

Mikan cringed.

"You shouldn't be spending time with her anyway!" the voice continued. "You should be with me! We should be getting our pictures taken together with the press. I shouldn't be seeing you and her all over the front page of magazines and newspapers!" It must have been Luna.

"She's my athlete!"

Mikan put her hand to her forehead, only to find that she was unusually hot. She frowned to herself, thinking around the building headache. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember having anything to drink since the morning before, which would mean she had gone at least twenty-four hours with no liquid in her body.

She cursed to herself. Dehydration and exercise was not a good combination.

"I don't care! You should be spending more time with me!"

That was the least thing she remembered before feeling faint and eventually losing her footing and colliding with the pavement.

Natsume looked over in her direction. "Shit," he muttered, turning his back on Luna and jogging over to where Mikan lay on the hot ground. He put his hand on her forehead before pulling his cell phone out of its case and dialing Ruka's number. "Ruka, go buy lots of water." Without waiting for a reply, he slammed the phone shut and stuffed it back into its case, and then he scooped up Mikan's limp body.

He carried her down the stairs and ran with her towards the ocean water. As soon as he could feel the water soaking through his shoes, he dropped to his knees and set her gently down in the cold liquid that he body was currently lacking. He dipped his hand in it and put it to her forehead.

Ruka was there in minutes, two oversized bottles of water in his hands, a concerned look on his face. It proved to be good that he had installed trackers on Natsume and Mikan's phones.

Natsume took one of the bottles and forced Mikan's mouth open. He poured some of the refreshing beverage into her mouth and waited.

Mikan's eyes flickered open and she swallowed the water, and Natsume gave her the bottle, which she took gladly. She chugged at least half and then took a deep breath, looking up at the faces of her trainers.

Natsume was sitting in the water beside her, his arm supporting her back. He once again wore a blank look, while Ruka stood over them, still worried, with an unopened bottle of water in his right hand.

She sighed. "Sorry."

Natsume narrowed his eyes. "Why the hell are you dehydrated?" he snapped. "You should know better."

She glared back up at him. "Yeah, coming from the rich superstar," she spat. "Unlike you, me and my mom can't exactly afford great water."

Ruka pushed his hair off of his forehead and released a sigh. "We'll pay your mom this after noon when we bring you back home. It was part of the contract anyway."

Mikan handed the water bottle back to Natsume and rested her head against her knees. "I feel sick," she muttered. "I don't want to run all the way back." She looked up at her trainers, her eyes pleading. "Can we walk back."

"Of course!" Ruka exclaimed. "We're not going to make you run back."

Mikan looked accusingly at Natsume. "He would."

"Natsume!"

Natsume ignored the voice, but Mikan's eyes traveled curiously in its direction, instantly regretting it when she saw Luna stomping, or rather, stumbling, in her three inch heels through the sand towards them. As she looked away, her eyes skipped across a lone figure standing against metal bars that acted like a fence, where she remembered standing.

It looked like a man, dressed in a casual jeans and a T-shirt, despite the heat, with a red ball cap covering his head.

Natsume followed her nervous gaze. "Ignore him," he instructed. "Some pervert either watching you or Luna."

Mikan cowered against him, both because of the dangerous aura she was getting from the approaching Luna as well as the creepy feeling she was getting from the man with the hat.

He rolled his eyes. "Get up. We can't sit here all day."

"Natsume!" Luna was fuming when she stopped beside Ruka, safely out of the water.

Natsume, still ignoring her, slipped his arms beneath Mikan's legs and picked her up, his other arm still behind her back. Both of them had streams of water dripping from their shirts, and each step Natsume took felt as though he were walking in puddles.

"Put her down!" Luna shouted.

Instead of listening, Natsume walked right by her, only stopping briefly to say, "Make me."

Mikan mumbled to herself irritably. Of course, after they had told her about some crazy serial killer, Natsume had requested her, through text message, that she was to meet them at the beach. Well, technically it wasn't at the beach, but overlooking the beach. Whatever it was, she knew where she was going.

But she was suspicious.

She flipped her phone open with a sigh as she strode out of the shack she shared with her mother, who was not currently home, trying to recall how to get to the text messages. This device was new to her, and she hadn't quite gotten the hang of it; it had taken her more than a minute to reply to the text she had received with the word 'Okay'.

When she finally got to the message, she frowned for what seemed like the hundredth time since receiving it.

Natsume's exact words in the message were 'Can you please meet me at the park by the beach, the one across the street from the downtown library?'

Now, how unlike Natsume was it to be polite, to her of all people?

Silly Mikan…

Natsume cursed to himself as he went through the options on his phone. He looked up to see where he had ended up, only to realize that it was dark enough.

He glanced at the time on the little screen, and it read almost eleven o'clock in the evening. He stopped in his tracks, turned on his heel, and headed back in the direction he had come from.

Oh yes, it was dark enough.

Definitely dark enough for a murder.

Mikan stopped, her breath hitching in her throat. Oh, why did she want to take the shortcut? Why did she think that the quicker she got to Natsume the safer she would be? Well, it was true, but walking through back alleys at the hour it currently was could not have been good.

There was a man lounging against the brick wall that belonged to the back of the library. She was out of sight from everyone, but if Natsume was at the park, which was just around the corner, her scream would do her good.

Too bad she was too scared to get anything out of her mouth.

So, I guess this is goodbye, hey? Her thoughts were frantic but coherent. I'm going to die here, and no one's going to miss me. Well, mom will, and maybe Hotaru.

"I've been watching you, Mikan Sakura." The man's voice was deep and dangerous sounding. "Natsume Hyuuga's athlete, a prize indeed."

Frozen in fear, she found her thoughts wandering. All of this drama made her feel a lot like she was the main character of some kind of book. I mean, in the books, all the bad things happen to the main characters, right?

"What so good about that?" she managed to choke out.

"You're fit, you're famous, and I can get a high ransom for you," the man replied, pushing himself off of the wall and taking a step towards her. "Natsume wouldn't give up such a prized possession without a fight." He began a slow walk towards her, and soon his arm was reached out and his fingers were coiling around her neck.

She could see his muscles flexing in the dim light coming from some distant street light.

She couldn't tell if she was breathing.

The fingers on her throat tightened.

Mikan reached up and tried to pry them off.

"I think this might be easier if you're unconscious." And then she was flying across the alley, to the place where he had been standing when she first saw him.

"Hands off." The voice was soothing, stern, familiar, and the last thing she heard before her head made contact with the brick wall behind her.

The pounding in her head was her wakeup call, a pain that was so severe that it frightened her. Not to mention her back was sore, her neck was stiff, and she was horrible hungry. She wished she could go back to sleep.

Groaning, her eyes flickered open. Her hand instantly went to her head. It was dark, with only a few dots of light, which she soon figured out was the night sky.

Frowning, she started to sit up.

"Don't move." The voice was commanding, but impossible not to recognize.

"Natsume?" she muttered, ignoring the order and sitting up all the way, wincing at the throbbing in her head. "What happened?" She only remembered up to getting thrown into a wall, not a pleasant memory.

"Do you ever listen?"

She looked around. They were in the park that she knew she was supposed to meet him at, and she was lying on a bench, Natsume sitting on the little space by her feet. He had his arms crossed over his chest, a blank look on his face as he stared straight ahead, watching the moonlight and starlight dancing on the rippling water.

Her head pounding, she closed her eyes, her hand on the back of the bench to hold her up. "What happened?" she managed to say. "I feel like I just got hit by a train."

"That man Ruka and I were talking about earlier, that serial killer, was the man you ran into. He threw you into a wall, and then I clobbered him and tied him to a dumpster." His eyes did not move.

"Well, I definitely wasn't expecting that," she mumbled, flinging her legs over the side of the bench and leaning back, her eyes glued to Natsume's angelic features. "Are you okay?"

He turned to her, his eyes meeting hers in a stare. He looked like he had so much to say, but, without any sign of changing his mind about anything, he looked away, saying, "I'm fine." He waited a moment longer, and then stood up. "But you're not. I should probably take you to the hospital." He was standing over her.

Her eyes followed every movement, wide with curiosity. "I'm fine," she assured him. "Just a headache."

He reached out and his hand made contact with the back of her head. He felt around a bit, the same look on his face, and then prodded at the spot where it hurt the most. She winced, and he noticed.

"You need x-rays."

"I disagree," she persisted stubbornly.

"Too bad."

"I'm not going."

"Do you want to risk dying because of blood clots in your brain?"

"I'll take my chances."

He pulled his hands away and held them up in the dim light. "You're bleeding."

She pursed her lips. "It'll stop."

"That's what you think."

"It is." Before he could reply, she continued. "What are the chances that that guy would know I was going to be here?"

"Because he was the one that invited you," Natsume replied with a shrug. "I left my phone at a Café a few blocks away and when I went back to get it, the cashier said some man turned it in. I went through my outbox, and the bastard wasn't smart enough to delete what he had sent. He was the one that told you to meet here."

She frowned. "I hate cell phones."

"Why didn't you call when you first saw him?"

"I was scared." She shrugged and stood up. They were barely inches apart; she had to look up at him. "I wouldn't have had time anyway. He would have killed me before that."

"Probably."

Mikan stared unwillingly into the looming darkness. Natsume had given her a day off to rest her head, and she did. She slept for well over 12 hours, and now that it was night again, she didn't know what to do.

Her mom was working.

Hotaru had texted her shocking news that ruined her entire night.

Apparently, Tsubasa's flight had been cancelled due to some storm wherever he was landing. He was staying at the same hotel that Hotaru was at, though he wasn't aware of it. He wasn't leaving until the next day.

She felt her eyes watering. She hated it. She hated having a guy constantly chasing after her when it was clear that she didn't hold the same feelings for him. And not to mention, keeping such a big secret from Hotaru was not helping, nor was the thought of how she had just about been killed.

She needed to talk to someone.

Her mom wouldn't let her keep a secret from Hotaru.

Ruka was too nice and would only listen.

Talking to Hotaru would make no sense.

Tsubasa? Not a chance.

There was only one person she could think of now.

Natsume. Natsume Hyuuga.

She pulled out her cell phone, the tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, leaving trails of saltwater. Slowly, she began to type a message to Natsume.

Can you meet me at the park?

Closing her phone, she continued to stare out into the nothingness around her. She wondered what Natsume had done with the criminal. As if he needed the reward that was offered for catching him.

Ten minutes passed before she got a reply.

Why?

Because I need to talk to you.

Whatever.

So she got up and headed out towards the park, having her phone in her hand at all times in case she needed to call 911. She managed to make it safely to the park.

She sat restlessly on the bench she had woken up on the night before, and after a few minutes, she headed over to the huge, climbable tree. Without thinking much of it, she stuffed her phone into her pocket and began to climb.

She didn't climb high, for she knew that falling would be deadly.

Sitting there in silence, unnoticed, allowed her to dose off.

It wasn't until she felt the hand on her arm did she awaken, her heart in her throat.

"Don't panic." The voice was too familiar not to recognize.

She sighed in relief. "Natsume," she breathed.

"Who did you expect?" Natsume replied. He was standing on a branch beneath the one she was sitting on, and his arms were hanging over the one she was sitting on.

She turned slightly to face him. "I don't know. A rapist?"

"You're riding pretty good. I think you're safe."

"Well I feel a whole lot better with you here," she admitted with a shrug. "Not going to lie."

He rolled his eyes. "What did you want to talk about?" He shuffled over, out of her way, almost as if he knew she was going to fall.

She sighed. "I'm having troubles motivating myself."

He raised an eyebrow. "Motivating yourself? For what?"

She looked down at her hands, which were folded on her lap. Then she looked up at him guiltily from under her eyelashes. "To keep living."

He stared at her for a minute. "Are you kidding?"

She shook her head. "Not even a little. Sorry for dragging you into this. It's weird, but you're the only person I wanted to talk to. I was just-" Her voice was cut off when she suddenly lost her balance. She swung her arms in attempt to regain herself, but it didn't work. She slid off the branch, ready for her death, but was surprised to find herself falling on something a lot closer to the tree than she expected, and something that made a hollow sound when she landed.

Groaning, she opened her eyes and sat up.

She was on the hood of a shiny black Dodge Viper. It was Natsume's car. The headlights were on, which was why it had suddenly gotten lighter when he arrived.

Breathing out another sigh, she flopped back, her back somewhat inclined by the windshield.

Natsume dropped down beside her, landing surprisingly gracefully for someone with a build like his. He sat down next to her. "You're lucky you're so unfit that you don't dent my car."

She snorted. "I wouldn't be paying for it."

"Exactly." He rolled over so that he was on his side. "Now what were you saying?"

She shook her head. "Never mind."

"So you called me out here for no reason?"

"I guess so." She shrugged. "Except I have no medical knowledge at all, and I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing that I have a huge lump on my head."

He sat up and reached over her, poking at the sore spot on her head. "Neither. Looks like you're going to live." He laid back down, staring at the sky. "You're the most trouble any of our athletes has caused us. You should be guilty."

"I am, don't worry."

"You're back to training tomorrow. We're going to do one five kilometer run and then we're going to practice some high jump." He turned back onto his side. "If you hit your head and start gushing out blood again, don't expect me to save you."

She was shifting her position when her hand hit his elbow, which had been supporting him. He managed to catch himself with his hand on the other side of her, the side farthest from her, meaning that he was looming over top of her.

"This is sort of a compromising position," Mikan stated.

He stared down at her, making no move to change their setup. For what seemed like ages, they just stared each other down on the hood of his car.

"You're making it very hard to believe I wanted to die about five minutes ago."

"Do you still want to die?" he asked.

"Yes."

He shifted so that he was more comfortable, almost in a pushup position over her. With the arm that was closest to him, he reached up and brushed his fingers along her jawbone. "Now?"

She shuddered. "A little."

He leaned down closer to her, until his lips were just centimeters from her ear. "Why would you think such a thing?" he asked seductively.

"You wouldn't understand."

His hand traveled down her arm, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. "I might."

"I doubt it." Her heart was racing.

He moved his mouth to corner of hers. "Now?"

"Not so much."

Finally, his lips covered hers in a blood boiling kiss that sent shivers down her spine and set off explosions in the pit of her stomach.

She had just broken the first rule.

A/N: Okay. I really have no excuse for this extremely long update. The only days i have an excuse for are last Friday, since that was my track meet, and the Thursday before, because i was on an overnight field trip at a hostel (totally awesome!) except i missed the fishing and the fire building on Friday because i went home early to go to my track meet. Then on June 2 it was my birthday, and i had to go to my older sister's band concert for two hours, which meant i didn't get to eat until 9:30 qt night. Now i have serious boy troubles. If you want to know, just ask, I'll be happy to tell you.

Now, I finally updated, and i hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit. I don't know when i'll be able to update again, because it's the end of the year and that means exams. I'm hoping to exepmt science, but still. hehe. My first priority is to finally update A Memorable Trip. I've started writing it, which is big, seeing as i haven't even bothered lately.

Instead of boring you to death with my rambling, I'm going to let you go and review :P

Thanks so much to the people who are already reviewing. I LOVE YOU ALL!!

xoxo
Ducky-san