Disclaimer: CCS and GA does not belong to me.
Chapter 4
Planting Stars
Nighttime had fallen across the campus. The only source of light left were the lit windows of the student dorms, dotted across the brick building. One by one, the lights would dim out, until only a few remained. In one particular window, two brunette students were snuggled under their blanket.
"Thank you for letting me stay in your room, Mikan-chan," Sakura said, turning over to face Mikan.
Mikan grins. "Isn't this fun? It feels like a sleepover!" She lays on her belly and hugs her pillow. "I really wanted us all to sleepover at Hotaru's, since she has a bigger bed than me, but she said we would be disturbing her beauty sleep." She pouts. "Honestly, that Hotaru!"
Sakura shakes her head gently. "I'm just glad to have a room to sleep in. Kero-chan didn't like the hospital bed too much," she giggles.
They looked at Kero who was asleep between them, snoring lightly. Sakura and Mikan chuckled to each other.
"I'm surprised that Kero-chan is from the Kansai region like me!" Mikan said. "He talks like my Grandpa!" Mikan looks out at the window above her, the moon shining a square light on the bed, smiling bright. "You know, my Grandpa is a real big eater! But he has a weak stomach so he always he always rushes to the toilet after overeating! And he spends forever in there!"
Sakura laughs. "Kero-chan is the same! But he doesn't need to use the bathroom after stuffing himself, he goes right to sleep and won't move for hours!"
"Kero-chan can eat? That's amazing! I've never heard of a stuffed animal needing to eat before."
Sakura held her breath for a moment, catching herself from saying anything more than necessary. "Oh, um, yea! He's a stuffed animal. That likes to eat. Ah, can you tell me more about Alice Academy?"
"Of course!" Sakura let out her breath. She was glad Mikan was a little dense. "There's so much you have to know! Like for example, the Star Ranks! This school has a special way of ranking the students…" Mikan continues to explain, and Sakura eagerly soaked up the knowledge. It was an entirely different system from ordinary schools! She needed to know as much as possible about this school, not just for investigation, but also so she could lead a normal life here.
Her first day had been a wreck, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. Sure, people may have misunderstood her Alice (they thought she had a Jumping Alice), but it was better than finding out she uses magic, not an Alice. It exhausted her, however. And tonight, Mikan had excitedly insisted that she stays in her room until Sakura received her own room. She was more than grateful to Mikan's kind soul, and she enjoyed her presence a lot.
"And, that's about it regarding Alices!" Mikan said. She pulled her hands from under the covers and started to count her fingers. "Oh! I can talk about our classmates! Let's see, there's Hotaru, Anna-chan, Nonoko-chan, Permy, but she's not too bad once you get to know her, and then…"
Sakura thought back to the boy with red eyes. His entire presence was enough to fill the air with intimidation. He had classmates obey his words. Kero had gotten hurt because of him.
Sakura was afraid of him.
"That boy…" she mumbled. Mikan stopped her rambling to look at Sakura. She looked meek and hesitant. "...who is he? The one with the red eyes."
"You mean Natsume? Yea, he's a bully and he has dumb lackeys that always follow him around," Mikan scoffed. "He skips class, disobeys the teachers, and always calling me names, he's just a really unpleasant guy! But...he hates this academy, that's why he's like this, I think."
"Hates the academy?" Sakura questioned.
Mikan looked to the side, her amber eyes downcast. "He's being used by this academy. He goes on dangerous missions and comes back injured every time. Everyone calls him the school's Black Cat."
"Black...Cat?"
"But!" Mikan quickly said. "Natsume does have a nice side to him! He's really strong and can be a reliable ally and… I'm sorry for what he do to you today, Sakura-chan. I was also mistreated by him the first time, but Natsume really does care for his friends, that's why he's so cautious of strangers. To be honest, I don't know why he treated you so horribly even though you're so nice! But I'll show him that you're not a bad person at all! Even if I have to beat him up, I'll make sure he knows so he never treats you like that again!" Mikan let out a confidant huff and smile. She reassuringly holds onto Sakura's hands, making Sakura smile. Mikan really is a kind person, she thought.
"Thank you, Mikan-chan. I'll take your words for it," Sakura giggles.
They both continued to talk until they bid each other goodnight, and Mikan was instantly knocked out. Kero and her were lightly snoring in the dark; only Sakura was still wide awake. She couldn't sleep, she kept thinking about everything that happened. But what concerned for most right now was Natsume. Something about him felt cold and distant, and she could feel his strong distrust in her. Just from the moment they locked eyes.
Does he know she's not really an Alice user? Did he see through her lies?
She gripped the blanket. Lies. She has to lie to Mikan, who believes she's not a bad person. Even though she trusts her so much, her first friend at the academy. She's tricking everyone into thinking she has an Alice. It was such an awful, sinking feeling. But the only way to relieve this feeling and end all of this was to find out who brought her here in the first place. So she sits up on the bed and glances at them, peacefully sleeping.
"I'm sorry, Mikan-chan…" she mumbles quietly, so to not wake her up. She tried to nudge Kero, but he didn't budge. Smiling softly, Sakura gently climbs out of bed.
"I'll go investigate by myself."
Not bothering to change out of her pajamas, she quietly opened the windows and climbs onto the window sill. She pokes her head out and sees that the lights were out all around campus. Perfect. No one is awake to see her use magic.
She sees a nearby branch that was close enough to her. She had planned to use FLY, but releasing her wand this close to Mikan would wake her up. So she grabs the sturdy branch and swings herself to the trunk of the tree. Once she had gotten a grip, she carefully climbed down until her feet were planted onto the soft grass.
'Thank goodness I like climbing trees,' Sakura sighed in relief. From there she released her wand and called out the FLY card. With her wings flapping, she flew up and closed Mikan's window with a click. Then she took off.
The campus was huge, and the buildings were all spaced out. All the lights were out, and not a single person walking around. Under the moonlight and stars, the academy looked like a ghost town, everywhere was so dark and quiet. Especially the forest up north. That looked especially eerie.
But Sakura found peace in this. Strolling in the sky on a windless night, with only the moonlight and stars lighting her way, while the rest of the town sleeps. It was her moment alone, and hers only. A huge breather after an exhausting first day.
But she has to end it soon. She couldn't always be flying around like this, she could risk someone seeing her. She came out to do some investigation, and that is what needs to be done. She raises her altitude so she has a wider view of the campus. She pinpointed which areas looked suspicious and made a mental note to check it out with Kero.
"That building east of the main building, and that one…" From behind, something massive bolted past her, nearly knocking her off her wand. "H-Huh?!" She frantically looks around. "W-What just—" Her eyes catches a giant bald eagle charging straight at her. She gasps, and ducks immediately, the sudden force causing her to drop a couple feet in the air. The eagle zooms above her, makes a sharp U-turn to chase after her again.
Sakura, in terror, accelerates, the wings of her star wand flapping intensely. "W-Why are you chasing me?!" she cried out. The eagle chases behind her for a couple miles until it finally caught up. Her heart jumped at its sudden appearance, but she was too late to react. The eagle caught her by the neck of the shirt.
"L-Let go out of me!" She flaps her wings in effort to out fly it, but the eagle was much stronger. Her wings disappear, and uses the staff to jab at the eagle so it would let her go, but it didn't budge. She struggled the entire flight, until the eagle ungracefully dropped her onto the roof of a building, where she skidded a couple feet from where she landed.
"Ow…" she moaned, rubbing her elbow. She felt it might have gotten scraped. "What was with that bird…" Hearing footsteps approaching, Sakura opened her eyes to see two pairs of feet in front of her. She looks up, and it's two boys with black and blonde hair.
She immediately got up from her belly and fell onto her butt. Flailing around in the air and then being dropped had made her dizzy. She had a hard time thinking straight. "Wh-What…" she hides the wand behind her. She sees the blonde haired kid petting the eagle, and it sparked her irritation. "Ah, that eagle—"
"I'm sorry for calling you like this," he says to the eagle. "You can go home now." The eagle nods, flaps out its wings and then soars into the sky. Waving the bird goodbye, he turns back to Sakura, a neutral look on his face.
Sakura pulled her legs closer to her chest and scooted backwards, until she felt the barbed wires rattle. She couldn't recognize who they were, but she recognized a particularly cold voice.
"What was that," he said. Sakura could now see, as the moonlight shines onto the roof.
Hyuuga Natsume.
He was glaring at her, eyebrows furrowed in aggravation. His red eyes were almost like they were on fire, burning with distaste. Sakura felt timid under his glare, but she did her best to hide her staff. "W-What do you mean?"
"Wings came out from that staff of yours," he said, pointing at it. "This morning you used that staff to make yourself jump stupidly high."
"T-This is…" Sakura avoided his stare and looked around for help. There was no one. "Um…"
She could sense his irritation as his footsteps approached her in quiet anger. He bends down on his knees and roughly grabs a fistful of her bangs, forcing their eyes to meet. "Answer me or I'll burn your hair," he narrows his eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm…" Sakura quivers. Her whole body was breaking out in cold sweat, and she could barely let out her voice. "I'm...Ki-Kinomoto...Sakura…"
He shoves her head back into the barbed wires, its rattles echoing into the night. Sakura winced at the sudden force and shuts one of her eyes. "I didn't ask for your name," he hissed roughly.
"N-Natsume, aren't you being too rough?" the blonde boy said with concern.
"Ruka, you be quiet," Natsume barked. He pulls her face closer to him, examining her face carefully. "This girl isn't normal. Her Alice is too abnormal, she has to use an outside object to use her ability. And she has that ugly doll that could fly and talk. Now tell me who you are and what is your real Alice."
"Let...let go of me," Sakura choked out. "H-Hyuuga-kun…"
"Don't say my name like we're buddies." Another shove of her head. This time, he simultaneously reaches for her arm that held her wand. She gasps and quickly grabs onto his hand, preventing him from going any further. She looks at it in fear, which Natsume quickly noticed.
"So you do have something going on with that thing," Natsume remarked. "Hand it over."
"No!" she yelled. "This is important to me!"
She pushes his arm away and grabs his wrist that seized her hair. Natsume clenches his fist even tighter into her hair, almost ripping Sakura's hair out as she struggled. In the middle of their struggle, Sakura feel her pocket suddenly becoming lighter, and she froze. The pink cards cluttered beside Sakura's hips immediately captured Natsume's eyes. He lets go of her hair and snatches one of the cards.
Sakura gasps, but she quickly collects the rest of the cards before they were taken. Shoving them back into her pocket, she jumps up to her feet to meet with Natsume, who was examining the card. His eyes were in mild surprise until he glares back at her. The young boy holds the card up to show her the FIREY card.
"What is this?" he demanded.
Sakura bolted towards him, hands reached out to seize it. "Give it back—!"
Fwoosh! A ring of fire surrounded her like a coiled snake. The heat was intense, and it stopped Sakura dead in her tracks. She covered her nose and mouth with her elbow, trying not to inhale any of the heat.
"If you tell me what this is I'll stop my Alice," Natsume said. "Or you can use your Alice to stop my flames. Your choice."
Sakura's heart hadn't stopped panicking ever since she was dropped onto the roof. If it was possible, her heart seemed to be panicking all over again. She didn't know what to do. The flames were frightening, and Natsume's threats were leaving her no choice but to use her own cards against him. But that would mean revealing her magic to him! Was she going to do it?
Would she risk revealing it now or be burned to death?
"..."
She took out her card.
"WATERY!"
Jets of water flew out of the card. The water douse the flames in an instant, a loud hissing sound steaming from the cement floor. The vaporized air was thick enough to blind both of them, giving Sakura the chance to rescue her card. However, before Sakura could even move, the ring of fire rose up again.
She took a sharp breath and her hands flew to her mouth. WATERY had failed. How was he able to call his fire again so quickly?
"So you could use water too, huh?" came Natsume's voice from the fog. Sakura frantically searched for Natsume's figure as the air around them cleared. He stood there calmly, the FIREY card still in his hands. "You're dangerous. But you're no match for my flames. That's why…" The card in his fingers was in flames. Sakura's eyes widened as she watches the flames lick its way up until it was completely on fire. "...I'll have to burn this."
Sakura couldn't believe what was happening. Her WATERY card couldn't get rid of his flames, and she was watching one of her precious cards being burned alive. Trapped in a circle of fire, she couldn't do anything but have her knees tremble in fear. Her whole body was shaking in fear. Tears that she had been holding back had started to trickle down her cheeks. Why? Why was he doing this? What can she do in this situation? Without her Sakura Cards, Sakura was just a defenseless little girl. And that magic had just failed her. What could she do?
She ran.
She ran straight into the red flames, screaming at the top of her lungs. The flames burned the ends of her pajama, and scorched parts of her skin. It hurt, it burned, even though she was only in the fire for only a few seconds, it felt like hell. But she didn't care about any of the pain. All she could see was the surprised face of Natsume and her burning card. She had practically leaped and reached her hands out as far as she could to capture the FIREY card.
Natsume, caught off guard, reeled back in an effort to avoid her crashing into him, but Sakura was too quick. Right before they both stumbled, he caught a brief moment of her tearful face. Her tears flew in the air, shimmering from the moonlight. Her green eyes, glassy from her tears, were so desperate, so determined, to take back what he had stolen from her.
Sakura snatched the burning card out of his hands, and then they both crashed onto the floor, with Sakura skidding across the floor. The flames had disappeared, and there was only stunned silence in the air. Natsume laid on his back, panting from the impact. He gazed at the night sky in astonishment, searching for an answer.
This crazy girl had just jumped into his flames. Is she nuts?!
A choked sob broke the silence. Natsume turned from his position to see Sakura lying in a fetal position, her back rising up and down from her cries. She gazes at the card in relief, seeing it was uninjured, but her hands had been burned.
Her tears couldn't stop falling. Her words were choked. She cradles the card into her chest, and all she kept repeating was, "I'm so glad you're not hurt… I'm so glad, I'm so glad…"
Ruka quickly rushed over to Natsume. "Natsume! Are you alright?" He helped Natsume up. He had scraped his elbow when they collided, and Ruka had just helped him up by the injured elbow. He winces, but made no sound.
"D-Did you injure yourself? I'm sorry," Ruka said quickly. But Natsume didn't pay any attention to him. He looked at Sakura's sorry state until she notices his stare. She quickly gets on her feet and defensively holds her star wand in front of her. It was trembling.
"...let's go, Ruka," Natsume said. He begins to walk off, and Ruka follows after. He gives Sakura a hesitant look, before swiftly turning his head. Sakura watches them leave, but right before they opened the door that led to the stairs, she called out to them.
"Wait!" She hesitated when they actually stopped. "U-Um… I-I'm not… I'm not dangerous! And… And, my Alice… My powers come from within these cards!" She wasn't sure why she was spilling this to him, even though she was so hesitant when he threatened her earlier. Even though she was so adamant on keeping her Sakura Cards a secret, she just told everything to him.
She was scared of Natsume. He was a kid who did not hesitate to use violence. But one thing she knew, was that she was not willing to let fear stop her.
"That's why...th-that's why," she took a deep breath. "If you try to burn them again, I'll...I'll save them. And I'll fight your flames. Every time"
Natsume looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Then he opened the metal door and shrugged.
"I'd like to see you try."
And then the door closed behind them with a creak.
Sakura flopped down to the floor, exhaustion taking its toll on her. The night sky above her was still shining bright, despite all that happened tonight. She stares at it absentmindedly. Declaring war on possibly what Mikan had described as the scariest guy in school was something Sakura was not expecting to do. Getting one of her cards burned was something she never thought would frighten her so much. Everything that was happening within this academy was new, and it terrified her. How was she going to survive in this new environment?
She shook her head fiercely and looks at the uninjured FIREY card. Her burned hands holding onto the clean Sakura Card was proof that she was able to overcome one challenge. She saved her card with her own hands. And from here, she would continue to grow, get stronger, and overcome any adversaries that may come.
She holds onto her scraped elbow.
"It'll definitely be alright."
"Natsume, are you alright?" Ruka asked as they walked down the stairs. "You weren't acting like yourself back there… I mean, you went too far with Kinomoto…"
"Don't trust her too much, Ruka," Natsume replied quietly. The fabric of his uniform kept grazing his scraped elbow, and he held it gingerly. "...being around her makes me feel uneasy."
Ruka didn't say anything. He agreed with him. He didn't feel any discomfort being around Sakura, but...he knew how much potential Sakura has, with her abnormal Alice. But in the back of his mind, he wondered if Sakura really was the kind of person Natsume thought.
Both young boys headed back to their dorms in silence, the thought of Sakura lingering in their minds.
'Who are you, Kinomoto Sakura?'
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
In the deepest, and furthest building of Alice Academy's campus, only a candle is lit. A pale hand grabs the golden handle and brings it to his face, illuminating the many trinkets he donned. The silver earrings twinkled, the myriad of rings gleamed and clinked as his fingers moved; all an accompaniment to his white masquerade mask. He gets up from his seat.
In this pitch darkness, the candle almost seems to be floating towards the front of the room. Its dim light reveals the contents of the wall—photographs of several Alice Academy students. The candle moves along the wall, until it stops on a photo of a brunette student looking over her shoulder, her hair tied into two small pigtails.
His thin, purple lips smirk.
"Kinomoto Sakura…"
How I wonder...
Raising his hand, he aims a red dart at her photo and it pierces her face.
...what you are.
PHEW! Lots of action going on here! I was actaully really excited to write this chapter, because! Natsume confronts Sakura for the first time! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I know Natsume isn't THAT aggressive, he's usually more of a brat, but I wanted him to be presented as someone formidable for Sakura...he really doesn't trust her. But their relationship will improve! Until then, I'll be doing my best to maintain his character!
ALSO! Thank you to Hoppy854 for pointing out my mistake! Ahhh I can't believe it took me all these years to realize that I wrote Clow Card instead of Sakura Cards, GAH! I totally meant to write Sakura Cards, not Clow Cards! So yea I fixed it in my previous chapters! And thank you to MerciaLachesis, I'm really glad you enjoy this fic! Hehe I want Sakura to keep struggling in this new world for her, kids are quite cruel, especially when they possess Alices, huh? XD
Thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope you'll look forward to the next! As always, LEAVE A REVIEW! Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I love getting reviews from you guys, it's super encouraging for me to keep writing know that there are people who are looking to my work!