Chapter 4 – Explanation & Pact
At this question all Mikan could do is sit in silence. If the lights were on you could see her mouth open at a loss of words.
"Well?" said an impatient Natsume "Why did you have an attack?"
"M-My alice" was all she could say.
"Does what?" Ruka asked "shorten your life span?"
"No, it just throws off my coordination and stimulation" she replied in a low voice.
Natsume took a chance and asked, "What is your alice anyway?"
"I have all the dangerous alices. Water, fire, earth, air, jinx, verbal manipulation, you name it."
The two couldn't believe what they just heard. Mikan didn't have one dangerous alice, she had all.
Flashback
'Because she can kill the entire earth's population in the blink of an eye. It doesn't even have to be hers.'
End of Flashback
'So that's what she meant' Natsume and Ruka thought.
"They cut me from the world, or at least tried." Mikan's words brought the two back to reality.
"What do you mean?" Ruka asked.
"You were the one doing the snooping. And you're telling me you don't have a single clue?" Mikan said still in a low tone. The animal lover was completely and utterly shocked. How did she know he was looking for clues?
"W-What do you mean?"
"I'm not an idiot Ruka-pyon. You were wondering why I was so strange. I don't blame you, if you have an alice or not you're still human. You're bound to get curious, so tell me what you found."
"Actually, it's what I didn't find. Hotaru kept telling us about her best friend, you seem more into friendship than Hotaru. But, you don't have a single picture. None of your friends, none of your family, or school, or you. Plus you don't have anything regarding media. No TV or computer, no writing documents either. It's as if you've been cut off."
"And that's where you hit the mark Ruka-pyon" Mikan said cutting him off. "Actually there are several reasons I don't have those things, but the one regarding the subject is that I've been cut off. I became an orphan at a young age. That's when the government took care of me but then they realized that I was too much of a threat. They wanted to hind me away from the world. And hide the world away from me. They locked me up in a house thinking that the problem was solved."
"But they were wrong" Natsume said interrupting
"Hai, I learned to control my alices during that time but then, an attack stuck." there was a long pause." Since I was in pain my alice instantly reacted and the house blew up. Firefighters managed to clean the mess up but failed to find me because I was running for it (and seriously injured). I stopped running and collapsed next thing I knew I was in a house."
There was another interruption "Wait, how old were you?" it was Ruka this time.
"Let's see" she mumbled "I was five when I became an orphan, it took a year for the government to find me, a year later they out me in the house, and it took three years for me to master my alices. That would make me 10."
"So you were ten when the heart attacks occurred" Natsume concluded
"Hai. Now like I was saying I woke up in a house."
Flashback Mikan's POV
"So you're awake" an emotionless girl said
"Where-where am I?" I asked scared and confused.
"You're in my house, I found you on the street collapsed. You owe me for that by the way. What's your name?"
I didn't know why but I felt safe when she talked. I could trust her, "I'm Mikan Sakura."
"I'm Hotaru Imai and I would like to ask you a few questions . . ."
End Flashback and POV
"I told her everything about me. My alice, my life, everything. Then she did something unexpected."
The two leaned in fascinated with the story. "She became my first and best friend" she finished "We did everything together. Entered contest, go to school, I even tested out her inventions. The time came when she had to go to the academy."
Flashback
Hotaru didn't want to leave Mikan. She didn't want her to be alone again. But she certainly didn't want Mikan back in the hands of those monsters so she did the only thing she could do.
"Go Mikan Go! Run for it!" The inventor yelled
"But Hotaru!"
"NO BUTS just go! I can't risk you getting hurt. They'll make you do missions. New I want you to run and never look back!"
The ten year old bided farewell to her best friend and did as told. She ran and never looked back.
End of Flashback
But they caught me about a week after and did as before. But they knew I mastered my alices and could easily escape, so they tried blackmail. The deal was I either stay put and live in this house or Hotaru will be in serious danger. I had no choice but to agree, they let Hotaru visit me anytime so I won't snap. I created an everyday life. I wasn't hidden from the world but I did lie dormant. That's when I my choice and decided to go to the academy. I'm too lonely here. Even if Hotaru can visit me whenever."
"That still doesn't explain your attacks." Natsume said once the story was over
"Yes it does." She corrected "I have attacks do to my alice. Most dangerous alices are full of negative energy. In order to train I had to use my alice. I basically overused them and the negative energy had a negative effect on me. Therefore my attacks. I don't know why it comes every month but it does."
"I see" Ruka said taking an understanding of it all
"Don't you ever wish you didn't have you're alice?" Natsume asked
A soft giggle was heard from Mikan's lips "Not really, my alice makes me who I am. I don't know what I'd do without it."
"Aren't you afraid about doing missions or hurting the ones you care about?"
"That's always a possibility." Mikan pondered "fear is everywhere no matter who you are or where you are. I have pretty good control of my alice but I do want to become stronger, so I can protect the ones I care about. How about you guys? Do you want to be stronger?"
"Hn"
"Yes we do"
She then heard a clicking noise
"What was that?" she asked swinging her head from left to right.
"I don't know maybe the lamp." Natsume sarcastically said.
"We cleaned the place up for you" Ruka kindly stated.
The brunette look around the room (pretending to see their hard work) and smiled. "Arigato" an idea popped in her head "let's make a pact" Mikan said still smiling.
"A pact?" the two asked confused
"Hm, a pact to get stronger and always look out for each other." She held out one hand and put the other on her heart. Natsume and Ruka did the same, eyes closed, they started the pact.
(Mikan is bold, Ruka is italic, and Natsume is underlined, and all is plain. Natsume talks a lot in the pact)
"I, Mikan Sakura"
"Ruka Nogi"
"Natsume Hyuuga"
"Swear to"
"Look out for"
"The people standing before me"
"And"
"Become"
"Strong"
"In order to protect those around me"
"If"
"I"
"Fail"
"Then may all of the hardships of the world revolve around me."
"I will see a new light"
"Start a new day"
"And a new life"
"With the help of the ones before me."
(Sorry if the pact was cheesy, that's all I can come up with.)
When the three disconnected hands something emerged from them. In their palms was a black marble with a red flame in the middle and a golden snake wrapped around the flame. The black represented Mikan's alice, the flame represented Natsume's alice, and the snake represented Ruka's alice, it was a three way alice stone. From that day on the three looked out for each other and became stronger.
And that was chapter four. The next chapter is Mikan's first day at school. How will she cope? Review and the next chapter will magically appear.