Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters. They were all made by the amazing work of Tachibana Higuchi.

Note: I want to give a special shout out to Gothic-Neko-Writer and CrimsonxHazel for their reviews last chappie :)

JadedPixie - starving aspiring writer who will work for reviews... please give to the poor lmao. I have now enabled anonymous reviews...not sure how that works but decided to give it a try... just don't bash me too badly or I'll cry **pouts**

P.S.- Sorry the chapter is sooo long... it was like 12 pages before I found a good spot to cut the end off for the next chapter, so hopefully you don't fall asleep reading :p


~oOo~

Chapter 7:

Running in the direction of the light, I noticed a Girls Restroom and quickly dodged inside to catch my breath. Seriously Persona? Couldn't you have waited until the song ended at least? Such a freakin buzz kill. I brought my hand up to my lips realizing I had accidentally kissed Natsume on the lips and immediately felt my heart happily thump at the thought of it. I quickly shook my head and took a few deep breaths to regain my focus.

I scanned the bathroom looking for a window. I decided to run in here instead of straight to Persona in case anyone had been watching me. I noticed a little window on the wall by the last stall. I swiftly walked over and climbed up on top of the toilet and pushed the window open. Standing on my tippy toes and putting my hands on the frame of the window, I struggled and pushed myself up. Oh geez! With my body halfway out the window, I realized what a bad idea this might be. I looked down and saw nothing but bushes and grass to break my fall. I prayed to god I'd still be alive after this knowing I would land face first. I crossed my fingers and braced myself for impact.

I cursed to myself as I felt a stinging pain in my hands and the balls of my feet. I painfully straightened myself out and stood up, wiping off the leaves and debris from my hands and clothes only to notice my palms were slightly bleeding. Sighs... this was already turning out to be one hell of a night.

I started to walk forward and could feel pain in my legs. I looked down and realized I was somewhat limping... great! What next? I paused for a second to try to examine myself in the dark. It felt like my right knee was bleeding as well but didn't feel like rolling up my pants at the moment. I sighed again... Straighten up Little Soldier! I kept telling myself as I walked onward.


~oOo~

"Good Evening Ms. Sakura! You already look a bit roughed up and we haven't even started yet..." he stated in an evilly amused tone. "Nevertheless, I am glad you noticed the signal and hope you are ready to begin your first mission."

I quietly just nodded and tried not to pay attention to my body stinging. For some reason the bathroom escape idea worked out so well in my head...oh well...Things were always harder than they looked right?

"Nodacchi, please open the time portal for our young miss" Persona ordered as I saw Noda-sensei step out from behind a tree and nod at me. I smiled at him but he just looked at me nervously as he touched the air and a swirling black hole appeared. He received a nod from Persona and disappeared back into the darkness.

"Where exactly am I going?" I asked in a quiet but serious voice.

"You are going into the future, about 5 years from now...time and place is unknown" he said then paused, looking at me curiously. "You may run into yourself as well as other familiar faces, but it is best you go unnoticed..."

How awkward... I might see myself 5 years from now? I wonder if I'm pretty! Excitement filled my head as I tried to keep a straight face, then the question hit me...

"Why exactly am I going into the future?"

"Ms. Sakura, the special mission I have assigned to you is actually in regards to our little friend, Mr. Hyuuga. I am planning to send you through this portal along the span of 3 different occasions. I need you to observe and find out if his older self still has his alice, how powerful it is as well as how he is holding up health-wise because of it... every time you step through this portal it will become invisible so no one else can see it. It will stay open for a maximum of 2 hours and it is imperative that you return on time. Once you step back through, it will close. I expect full reports from you after each observation. You are not allowed to share any of what you see or anything else regarding this mission to any of your friends upon returning. Do you have any questions?" he inquired with an ugly smirk on his face, then added, "If you do not understand and my simple instructions are not followed, you will be punished..."

I looked up at him hesitantly and asked, "I understand your instructions sensei, but what if he is not using his alice when I visit?"

"Ms. Sakura, This is a very important assignment I have given just to you. I need to know how much he is able to use his alice before he is no longer of use to me... if he is not using his alice at the times of occurrence than it will be up to you to figure out a way to either make him use it or otherwise... anything else?"

"No Sensei.." I said as calmly as I could and shook my head. Inside I could feel anxiety shoot through my body. I knew my nerves were gonna be shot by the end of the night and could already feel a cold sweat coming down my forehead. I think I'd rather a mission more dangerous and less connected to the things I actually cared about. If I saw anything bad happen to Natsume during all this, I would never forgive myself.

"Good then. Here is a watch. Be back not a second past 10:30pm otherwise there will be severe consequences... Nodacchi sensei inserted a button on the side of the watch that will make a returning portal appear when pushed" he stated handing me a slender black digital watch with a small red button on the side of it. I took it and snapped it in place on my left wrist.

I looked at him hesitantly then to the black portal that was still swirling. "Sensei... I don't think-" I started to say as I saw his gloved hand rapidly shoot out and felt a vicious push on my back. I felt like I had just been pushed off a building and was briskly falling down into a plunging death... I held my breath as I waited for the inevitable hard impact of what was below...


~oOo~

Still feeling disoriented I tried to standup and immediately smacked my head on a hard surface.

"OUCH!" I yelped unknowingly, as I opened my eyes and saw colorful bright lights zoom around the dark room. Wherever I was, it was sure a crowded dark place. There were millions of bodies dancing in front of my face but I could not hear any music. I quickly looked up to see what had hit me and realized I was underneath a table with chairs on both sides of me... stupid me and my stupid landing places... Of course I would try to stand up underneath a table... a bit irritable I started rubbing my now pained head... as if I hadn't beaten myself up enough tonight. Geez Mikan.. really? Really? How much of a baka could I actually be, I continued to think, still rubbing my head and looking back into the crowd when I realized a wide pair of big beautiful blue eyes were staring right at me.

Oh shit! Not even here 5 minutes and I've already been spotted I thought as I quickly backed up under the table more. I saw feet coming towards me and instinctively curled up into a little ball with my knees up as blaring music suddenly filled my eardrums. Where the hell was I?

Moments later a face popped under the table and I quickly ducked my head into my lap, hoping to blend into the darkness. I felt movement crawling under the table closer to me... I felt my body begin to shake like I was about to hyperventilate or something. I instantly felt like I was about to be punched in the stomach when something touched me causing me to jump out of my skin and hit my head on the top of the table again. Damn it! I reached and started to rub my head again as I looked up into those heavenly blue eyes again... I stopped rubbing my head for a moment and realized just how familiar they looked. They were attached to a guy who was slender, but had a nice build with perfect sandy blonde hair that was parted down the middle. To make matters a bit worse he looked like he was silently laughing at me... Who in the world... the nerve of this guy.

"Mikan-chan? Is that you?" he loudly whispered over the blasting music.

"Uhhhh... no?" I tried to calmly say in reply but the idiot just started laughing at me this time out loud.

"Dear Lord," he said shaking his head, " I don't know what's going on but don't let Natsume or anyone else see you." He continued to shake his head as I just stared at him in amazement.

"Ruka! What the hell are you doing down there?" I heard a husky male voice say as I noticed another pair of shoes walking towards the table. Oh No! Could it be?

"No need to come over Natsume, I just dropped something under the table but I found it" Ruka shouted back, hinting at me not to draw attention to myself. He quickly reached over and touched my hair and cursed under his breath before crawling out from under the table. How weird... what did he do that for? I held up the piece of my hair that he had touched and examined it. It looked fine to me. I wonder if he was checking to see if I was real... I took a deep breath and crawled forward a bit from under the table to see what was going on.

"What did you drop? You look like you have just seen a freaking ghost or something" the husky voice said in a rough manner. "Heh, just my phone" Ruka tried to play off smoothly with a chuckle as he held up his phone and stepped in front of me and blocked my view. Geez! I want to see Natsume! Impulsively, I smacked one of Ruka's legs and tried to part them. I saw his body slightly jump as he took my hint and parted his feet so that I could peek out between his legs. Dang it! Where is he? I can hear him but I still can't see him. Grrr...

"I didn't see or hear you drop anything Ruka. What's wrong with you? Hey! Why are you pulling me?" he snapped angrily.

"Sorry Natsume, please just stand right there and don't move! I think I see something" he said urgently moving Natsume directly in front of him as if he knew what I wanted.

"Fine whatever Ruka." And then I finally saw a fully grown teenage Natsume...

I instantly felt my jaw drop as I started up at absolute perfection. Starting with his shoes and working my way up the length of his body (hehehe... no, not THAT length :p). He was wearing classic black and white Converse shoes, somewhat baggy black jeans that fit his butt nicely with a black and red plaid button down shirt that had the first few buttons undone. He was looking at Ruka impatiently as he ran his hand through his slightly longer than usual raven black hair. Every single piece of it fell back into its proper place as his long bangs fell across his deep crimson eyes. He looked tall! So did Ruka... or maybe it was because I was down here looking up at them? I immediately felt myself start to drool and grabbed onto Ruka's ankle in front of me and squeezed tightly from excitement.

"Hey Look!" Ruka quickly shouted diverting Natsume's attention in the other direction before he quickly made a "wiping the dirt off his shoes motion" with his feet towards me and stepped away from the table. Grrrrr! I want to see what's going on. I know, I know... I shouldn't have grabbed his ankle... but I waannnnnnnna seeee Natsumeeee! I whined to myself.

'Popping bottles on the ice, like a blizzard. When we drink we do it right, getting slizzard. Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like three 6, Now I'm feelin so fly like a G6...' Like a G6 by Far East Movement starts to blare, filling the room with more movement.

The instant the song started to play, I saw both Ruka and Natsume turn towards a set of stairs. A pair of shiny black thigh high, high heeled hooker looking boots made their way toward the boys. The owner of those scandalous boots was highly attractive, just a bit trashily dressed. From what I could see of her, she had long black hair that went down to her mid back with bright red highlights peeking out from under everytime her head moved. It was cut is gorgeous long layers with curled ends. She wore a zebra printed halter top, a black mini skirt, fishnet tights and of course her damn boots.

I tried to reposition myself so I could see her face but she was standing directly in front of Natsume, so all I could see was the back of his head. Who was this chick? I started growing impatient wondering but noticed she was actually dancing really close to him. Her hands went up in the air as her knees bent and she looked like she was trying to get low in front of him. What a skank! She practically looked like she was trying to hump him on the dance floor... Why would he let her do that?

I saw his body start to move in rhythm with hers and once he started dancing the two of them turned slightly so I had a bit of a better view. Wow! He was actually smiling at her. I sat under then table completely stunned. I had never seen him so genuinely smile or dance before... the girl returned his smile with a sexy seductive one of her own as she turned her body and continued to dance so that her butt was now rubbing against his front...

I rolled my eyes and looked around the room, trying to avoid staring at this slut who was dancing with my man... I really had the urge to run up to her and rip her damn hair out. I sighed... if he wanted her and if he looked that happy, what could I do...

"Oh Natsume... looks like your pervertedness took over and you abandoned me for her" I sighed to myself. Oh my god! I should be around here somewhere I think... Persona said I might see myself. I hurriedly scanned the room from where I was. I noticed Ruka was dancing with a chick that had a cute shoulder length black hairstyle that flipped out at her shoulders. She was wearing a blue tube top, dark denim mini skirt and matching blue stilettos. He was wearing a blue and white plaid button down top with nicely fit but not tight jeans also with Converse shoes. Wow... I liked how the boys practically matched and looked as sexy as hell and the girls... I had nothing nice to say about those girls...

Irritated, I went back to scanning the room for more people I knew when I saw a really pretty familiar looking girl with short shaggy reddish brown hair in a short hot pink tube dress and white pumps accompanied by a tall cute guy with spiky messy blueish black hair. He was wearing black slacks and a black button up. He was trailing behind the girl who was holding his hand and dragging him towards Natsume and the skank. As the guy turned my heart jumped as I saw Tsubasa's signature star tattoo on his cheek. Tsubasa-senpei! Woot! I looked more closely at the cute girl he was with and realized it was his old girlfriend Misaki. Awwww, soooo cute! They're still together after all this time. They were such a perfect couple! Misaki danced up in front of the skank and started laughing and smiling as she and Natsume sandwiched the girl in between them who was bursting out in laughter. I must admit she had a smile to die for...Tsubasa got on the other side of Misaki and called Ruka and his partner over to do the same on the other side of Natsume. Ruka's date stubbornly shook her head and crossed her arms. She sure did have a serious scowl on her face. Wait a second... I know that look of disapproval anywhere... It was the same one that clearly read "Why are you so stupid?" all these years I had known her. My jaw dropped again as I realized it was HOTARU!

Ruka stuck his tongue out at her and jokingly starting grinding up against Natsume's butt. Oh Geez! What the hell was this? Is this what teenagers did for fun? Make dirty dance trains? Oh Lord! What was Ruka doing? Was he acting up just to annoy Hotaru? I sat there observing and was expecting Natsume to threaten Ruka or set apart of him on fire or something since he was dancing so close to his butt. Any second now...still waiting... I examined Ruka from head to toe and saw no spark of flames anywhere. I looked at Natsume's adorable smiling face and realized he was too happy to be angry.

What in the world was wrong with this picture and where in the hell was I? Finally Hotaru smacked Ruka's butt hard and pulled him away from the nasty train. They all burst out into laughter as they made fun of Ruka for being whipped. Wow... Hotaru and Ruka seemed somewhat together... was I the only unhappy one in this picture? Unhappy mainly because I did not see myself in this picture?

I looked around the room to see if I could spot myself in some loner, loser table by myself. It had seemed all of my friends had abandoned me for this beautiful skank... I suddenly felt sick like I was going to throw up and I felt my eyes start to water. How could all my friends be happy without me? Was the true purpose of this mission to figure out how much better off everyone was without me here? I felt the tears rushing down my cheeks as the feelings of loneliness and pain started to fall. I was alone somewhere and none of my friends cared... how depressing...

I looked up and saw the girl wrap her arms around Natsume's neck. She playfully grabbed two fistfuls of hair and seemed to be lightly tugging on it before she running her fingers through it.

I bit my bottom lip and sniffled the tears back in. I looked down at my watch and noticed I had a about 40 minutes left. Before my time was up, I was determined to figure out who this chick was... and if I had time, I would pull her hair and take her down! I felt a violent smile forming on my lips as I sneakily crawled under the table to the next until I reached a table that was closer to them. I got into a more comfortable position and tried my best to hear what they were saying. I quickly peered up to see her twisting the hair at his nape around her fingers. Grrrrr...I'm so irritated. This was 5 years from where I am now... why was I so jealous? Things could change right? There was no law that stated once you fall in love with a person, you love them for life right? I took a deep breath and tried to think logically in my head. This was no longer the Natsume I know... maybe over these years I had lost interest in him and was off dancing with a cuter guy...

My eyes instantly teared up again as I remembered my Natsume... the one I had just left on the dance floor. I would give anything to hug him right now I thought as I clutched his jacket closer to my body, pretending he was there with me.

"Natsume... what are we going to do after we graduate?" I heard her ask.

"What do you mean babes?" he replied

"Natsume, please look at me! I'm serious. We only have 6 months left before we graduate. Have you thought about what I was talking to you about before? I want to run away with you, somewhere far away from here, away from him... get married... be happy, just the two of us, maybe have little ones... your little ones?" she said kinda whiny like. I looked up betting she was giving him some sappy looking puppy face. Sure enough... this stupid girl... I looked back down and stared at Natsume's shoes now thoroughly irritated.

"Look Babes, you know I'd love to give you everything you want and need, but I'm not in a position or good condition where I have the freedom to try and run. It's always been like this, you know that. I don't want to prevent you from doing any of the things you dream about doing in your life. Please don't let me stop you. I want you... no, I need you to be happy. Your smile alone has gotten me through so much over the years and it would be selfish of me to keep you around for useless reasons when you could be with someone better suited for you... I've told you time and time again. No matter how hard we try, this will not work..."

I looked up to see the girl pause and register something in her head. In the next second I saw her hand raise threateningly toward Natsume, as I inched out from under the table wanting to block her slap. Since her back was closest to me I tried to quickly sneak up behind her, wanting to grab her hands. Instead, Natsume's wide shocked crimson eyes caught my now guilty chocolate brown ones. His expression quickly changed into a familiar scowl and I swiftly ducted back under the table, still keeping eye contact with him...

There was my second mistake of the night. I sighed... maybe if I had a chance to talk to him tonight I would never have to come back and see all this crap again...

"Mikan.." he said softly as I heard the sound of her hand slapping across his face. I was about to emerge from the table again when I heard this mysterious girl break down into tears and clutch his shirt.

"It's okay Mikan... everything will work out for the is the only way I can protect you" he said gently pulling her closer to him and stroking her hair as he continued to look over her shoulder and stare in my direction with shock. I felt my heart fall to my stomach. I paused for a second and wondered if I should play stupid and question if it was a coincidence that this skanky girl had the same exact name I did or if I was the skanky girl... neither answer I wasn't sure I'd be happy with...

The girl dramatically pulled out of his embrace a bit to look up at his face. Their eye contact was so intense it was as if you expected to actually see little sparks between them.

"Out of all the years, we've tried to work this out and be together, I think I can count the number of times you've actually told me you loved me on one hand. Tell me right now that you love me Natsume!" she said seriously with her mascara starting to run down her face. He softly wiped away her falling tears but did not reply.

What in the world was going on now? When I finally realized I was me and the fact that I would still be in Natsume's arms in 5 years you'd be thinking I'd be a bit happier... but this scene right here was nowhere near happy. What in the world was I demanding from him? If I were her I would just be grateful to be loved by him in return... and was I really that whiny?

"Natsume...?"

"Mikan... I don't think I can do this anymore... I have loved you and will always love you and if you have any common sense you wouldn't need to hear me say it, but I will not pretend to talk to you about things I cannot promise! You should be with someone who can truly make you happy for the rest of your life..." He said calmly.

"Natsume... shhhh! You don't mean any of this! I want you and only you. I will sacrifice any dream or any want I have as long as it means being with you!" she desperately pleaded

Ya you tell him! I whispered to myself looking up hurt, angry and frustrated as I watched my future breakup. Stupid Natsume... stop trying to be all noble! Can't you see I want no one else but you? I wanted to stand up and give him a good slap myself.

"Look Mikan! I will not and refuse to let you sacrifice anything for me and will not hear another word about it from you!" he snapped as he turned his head in Ruka's direction trying to keep his poker face.

My emotions were in a full out war inside of me. I could feel myself emotionally ripping into shreds. He truly cared for this girl and it seemed he truly loved her as well... I hit the ground in frustration... I seriously wanted to find the closest sharp object and ram it through my chest because I felt my heart slowly being painfully and torturously chiseled away with a pick and hammer.

I saw Ruka look over at them questioningly. It was obvious everyone around them was oblivious to what was happening because there was so much chaos and loud music in the room. Ruka walked over to them confused and looked like he was about the pat my older self on the back when Natsume pushed her into Ruka's arms.

"There... if there's one guy I can choose to love you the way I can't it's Ruka... I should have let you two be together when we were kids. You guys would have been perfect and we could have saved ourselves a lot of shit" he continued to say with a blank expression.

"Natsume you ass! I absolutely hate you right now, because I know tomorrow you won't mean any of this!" she yelled at him. In complete anger she grabbed the necklace chain that was around her neck and threw it on the ground.

For a brief second I could see Natsume's composure break but he quickly shook it off. She saw how unaffected he was by her action. She gave him a mischievous smirk and arrogantly said, "Fine! Is this what you wanna see?" she screamed as she nodded at Hotaru apologetically, grabbed Ruka's face in both of her hands and began to kiss him deeply on the lips. There was a sharp pain in my chest that penetrated even deeper as I saw Natsume's face completely lose composure as he quickly exited the room.

I looked down in my lap as I clutched my stomach and could no longer control the tears. This wasn't happening. Nothing I saw tonight could be real. This was not what I came here for. I was running out of time and knew I couldn't nor did I want to stay here a minute longer. I tried to get up off the floor, planning on making a run for it across the club and out the door, but my hand slid. The necklace she had thrown on the ground... I grabbed it, and held it close to my chest praying it would have some type of miraculous healing effect on my heart as I glanced over to see all my friends busy comforting her. On the count of three I was gonna book it. Ready Mikan? 1...2...3! I sprinted toward the door and finally caught my first breath of fresh air all night.


~oOo~

I ran to the side of the club building, realizing I was in a part of Central Town that I had never seen before... I stood hiding against the wall in the alleyway and could feel the tears starting again as I choked back sobs. I looked down as the necklace I held in my hand and gave it a closer look. It was an elegant silver chain with a somewhat large pendant on it. The pendant was shaped in the form of a heart also made from silver. The heart was hollow but inside it seemed to be protecting some type of red stone...

I looked at it curiously... was it a birthstone? Garnet or Ruby perhaps? Those were red. I held my breath in an attempt to slow down the sobs as I continued to stare at the deep red colored stone that this beautiful silver caged heart was protecting. I held the pendant close to my heart and tried to clear my head. Seconds later, I felt a burning sensation in my hand and quickly dropped the necklace. Why? Wait... oh...OH... I get it. It wasn't a birthstone inside the caged heart. It was a rather large Alice Stone... Natsume's Alice Stone and he had given it to me... I felt like someone was ripping my chest open as I bent down to pick up the precious necklace. I grabbed onto the wall for support and just let all my tears out. I was practically crying into the wall with my back to the outside world... I so just wanted to disappear right now and pretend this was all a bad dream.

I know I needed to calm down first incase I had unexpected company waiting for me when I returned... sighs... I slowly started to count backwards from 10 to calm myself and took a deep breath after each number.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...

"1" said a voice from behind me as I felt strong secure comforting arms wrap around my waist. I let my back melt into him for support as I hugged one of his arms and cried even harder. He held me closer against him in a tighter hug, crossing his arms over my stomach as he tried to calm me down.