No, unfortunately I don't own Gakuen Alice.
Mikan's breath was caught in her throat as she walked alongside Natsume down the lit hallways of the hospital. The paparazzi hadn't left, but they were told that they weren't allowed inside the hospital, meaning they would be waiting to bombard the two stars with questions when they returned.
"What do you mean, I have to wait another week?" That was definitely her grandpa's voice. "I'm perfectly fine to go home! I can't leave my neighbor to do the chores. What if she gets a heart attack, too?"
Mikan walked into the room first. "She's fine," she said quietly, saving the nurse currently tending the old man from the trouble of answering. "I just saw her. She's glad she can help."
Her grandpa looked up at her curiously. "Who are you?"
The nurse bustled out.
It didn't hurt Mikan to hear those words, for it had been a long time since they had seen each other. Almost eight years, to be exact.
Mikan turned around and walked back to where Natsume stood. He was still outside the room, invisible to her grandfather. She smiled weakly at him. "Do you happen to have an elastic?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out one rubber band. "I only have one."
Natsume's facial expression didn't change. He opened his coat and pulled out one more elastic from an inside pocket. He placed it in her hand.
She smiled again and gathered the hair on one side of her head into a high ponytail, wrapping the hair band around it. She did the same with the other side, and soon she was wearing the childish pigtails she had worn for so long back when they were younger.
With a deep breath, she turned back to her grandpa.
His eyes widened in recognition. "Mikan?" He rubbed his eyes, as if he was just awakening from sleep. "Is that you, Mikan?"
Mikan felt the tears welling in her eyes, but she furiously blinked them away. She nodded. "I missed you, Jii-chan," she whispered.
Her grandpa sat up and outstretched his arms. "Come here!"
Unable to hold herself back, Mikan jumped forward, wrapping her grandpa in a heartfelt embrace, careful not to hurt his frail body. "I finally get to see you and you're in the hospital." She laughed humorlessly. "That's hardly fair."
He pulled away and scanned her. "I knew you looked familiar," he said. "You're that new singer, the one that's getting popular fast. You sing with that boy…what's his name again?" He put his finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, Natsume, that's right. I saw Hotaru, too. I'm glad you found her." He scrutinized her again. "Mikan, what are you wearing?"
Mikan laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I was kind of in a hurry and I just grabbed the first thing I saw." It was the truth. "And, Jii-chan, I'd like you to meet someone…" She glided back over to the door, where she grabbed Natsume's hand and pulled him in. "This is Natsume Hyuuga. He sings with me, as you said."
Her grandfather gave Natsume the same scrutiny, and then he smiled and nodded in approval. "You're a handsome young lad," he complimented. "Take care of her."
Natsume raised his eyebrow.
Mikan's face went red. "We're just friends!" she defended.
"Friends take care of each other." Her grandpa shrugged. "What brings you fellas out here in the first place? I thought you weren't allowed to leave that cursed academy without special permission."
She calmed down a bit when the subject changed "Um….well, Natsume has special privileges," she lied. "He's allowed to leave every once and awhile. I begged him to convince the principals to let him take me and bring me here." She thought him a fake thankful glance. "I really appreciate it, by the way."
"Whatever."
"I'm really glad you're okay, Jii-chan."
"That teacher that brought me all of your letters was a kind man," her grandpa said. "Tell him thanks for me, will you?"
Mikan felt the tears returning. "I have to go," she croaked. "It's my last year at school, so it won't be long until I can see you again." She smiled and leaned down to hug him again. "Take care of yourself." She kissed his forehead.
"I'll miss you, Mikan." He hugged her back.
A shout from down the hall stopped further conversation.
Natsume and Mikan both looked to the door.
"Time to go, Polka-dots," he said, grabbing her hand and towing her to the exit. "Looks like they found us faster than I thought they would."
"Bye, Jii-chan!"
And just like that, her grandpa disappeared.
But there were other things to worry about, things like the strikingly familiar man with his gooneys following behind. He was so familiar that Mikan could have fainted on the spot.
Natsume faced them. Why wasn't he running?
Reo pushed the nurses and doctors aside with a defined urgency, one that suggested that he thought Natsume would just turn and run. But that didn't happen. Natsume stayed put, Mikan cowering behind him.
"Ah, Natsume, it's been awhile," Reo sneered, stopping a few feet away. "Where've you been? Has Persona given up on the AAO already? Does he finally realize that he has no chance?"
"If he believed that, I wouldn't be here right now, would I?" Natsume retorted.
"I see you have the girl I've been looking for," Reo continued, dodging the question. "What do you know? Two birds with one stone once again."
"Last time the birds got back up and flew away again," Mikan muttered, peering cautiously around Natsume. Her fingers curled around his jacket. "Natsume's too good for you. You won't get him." Her hair was still up in those ridiculous pigtails.
"You don't look much different," Reo told her with a smirk.
She used once of her shaking hands to reach up and take the elastics out of her hair and cast them aside. "I'm much different," she said coldly.
"You've built confidence."
"Don't we all?"
Reo glared at her.
"Why do you want her?" Natsume snapped.
"She'll be useful to the AAO," Reo replied casually. "Her alice is rare."
"Over my dead body," Mikan mumbled.
"She's not a tool, and she's not going with you." With that, Natsume grabbed Mikan's hand and turned. He ran with her down the hallway, only stopping to open the door leading to the stairs and push her through before following close behind.
Reo was on their tail.
Mikan burst through the doors at the bottom of the stairs and looked from right to left blindly. They were in the underground parking area.
Natsume grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. "You need to run," he told her sternly. "I'll stay back and make sure you get away. Just-"
Mikan felt the panic building up and she shook her head, fighting back her tears. "No," she said. "I'm not going without you."
Natsume rolled his eyes. "You don't have a choice." He pushed her back, but she leapt back forward and wrapped her arms around him, digging her face into his firm chest.
"Please," she whispered. "Let me stay."
Natsume managed to pry her off, with great difficulty. "I'll meet you at your grandpa's house. Stay there until I get you or until you hear from Ruka." He shrugged out of his jacket. "If I'm not there by four in the morning, find somewhere else to go without me."
Mikan was torn. "But…you'll get hurt…"
"Maybe, maybe not." He handed her his jacket. "I'll call you if anything happens."
She took his jacket and slipped it on. "Okay."
"Now go!" He pushed her forward just as the door exiting the staircase burst open.
And then she was running, clueless of where she was going, only knowing that she had to get away. The night was cold on her bare legs, but she didn't dare stop. She could hear the gunshots from where Natsume was, could hear the shouts, along with the blare of the police sirens.
She tried to ignore it.
Soon, after her face and legs were numb from the chill of the night, after running through the dark and away from the noise for what seemed like ages, Mikan made it to her grandpa's house.
The lady from earlier wasn't home, so Mikan used the key from under the eave and let herself in. She slammed the door behind her, locked it, and sank to her ground, her back against the wood of the door.
Part of her wanted to sleep.
Part of her was too worried and too scared.
She decided to stay awake in the end.
She'd only been sitting for about ten minutes when her cell phone rang. Hesitantly, she pulled it out of her jean skirt pocket and glanced at the caller ID. With a surge of an unexplained emotion, she flipped it open and pressed it to her ear.
"Hotaru?" she asked desperately.
"Yes, baka, it's me." Her friend's cold voice was the same as ever. "Ruka wants to know how you and Hyuuga are doing."
Mikan sighed in relief, but then the panic returned. "Oh, Hotaru! Natsume told me to run while he stayed and fought! It's been almost half an hour already! He told me he would meet me at my Jii-chan's house. I'm worried!"
"Relax," Hotaru said. "Natsume just contacted us. He told me to call you and tell you that he was on his way. He said it was too risky to call you himself."
"Really?" She didn't bother hiding the relief. "What about you guys? Are you all okay?"
"Sumire and Anna are a bit panicked, but they're okay, otherwise." There was a ruffling sound on the other end. "Mikan, I have to go. Natsume will be there soon. Call if you need anything." And then the line went dead.
Mikan waited in silence for ten more minutes, and then there was finally a knock on the door.
"Hey, Polka-dots, open up." Natsume's voice was strained.
Mikan scrambled to her feet and tore the door open, instantly throwing herself at him.
He staggered back, and she felt his body tense.
It took her only a split second to realize that he was injured. She pulled back and studied him carefully, and she caught sight of the tear on the shoulder of his shirt and the dark liquid around it.
She gasped and pulled him inside.
"We have to go," he told her.
"Not until I dress that wound," she replied stubbornly. She pulled him to the couch and forced him to sit down. "I'll be right back." And then she turned and ran up the stairs and into the bathroom, pulling out a tensor bandage, a wet cloth, and some gauze. She dashed back down the stairs and dropped to her knees in front of Natsume. "Take your shirt off," she ordered.
He raised his eyebrows at her.
Frowning, she reached up and grabbed the hem of his shirt, tugging it up gently over his head. "Stop being difficult," she growled.
When she first laid her hand on his warm skin to examine the wound, he tensed again.
"Your hands are cold, Polka-dots."
"Sorry, but you'll have to suck it up." She began to gently scrub at the blood with the warm cloth, and then she put the gauze on and wrapped it in the tensor bandage. When she was done, she stood up with the garbage from her supplies and clapped her hands together. "All done."
He slipped his shirt back on.
"We're leaving."
Mikan rushed after him as he walked back out of the house. She didn't bother asking about what happened to the AAO members. She was kind of scared to hear the answer.
She walked all the way to the train station, but when they got back to the city, she was too tired to walk on her own. Natsume carried her on his back, like he had once before, and she drifted. And as she drifted, she dreamt.
"Wake up, idiot!"
Mikan's eyes shot open, and she saw she was on the ground against a wall, in a lit hallway that looked all too familiar. She looked up to see who had spoken to her.
Natsume was standing beside Ruka, Hotaru, Tsubasa, Koko, Sumire, Anna, and Nonoko. They were all looking down at her, worried (except for Hotaru and Natsume). There were a few other people, like Jin Jin, and Mr. Narumi. Some other students had crowded around, too.
Mikan laughed nervously, embarrassed. "I guess I had a bad dream."
Later than evening, after being checked over and told she was in good condition, Mikan was still in the dark. No one had told her anything. Nothing at all.
She was currently heading over to Natsume's room to give him a proper thank you. In the end, she really wished she hadn't bothered.
She knocked once and then opened the door without paying much attention to what she was doing. Her eyes were downcast, and when she looked up, her hands shot to her eyes and she staggered back.
"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed.
Natsume was sitting on his bed with a girl she had never seen before. Upon her entrance, they had pulled away from each other.
"Ever heard of knocking?" the girl retorted.
Mikan was too busy being over-dramatic and staggering around with her hands over her eyes like a drunken idiot to reply. "My eyes! My eyes! My innocent eyes!"
Natsume raised his eyebrow – a signature gesture.
She removed her hands from her eyes and smiled. "I'll be leaving now. I apologize for disturbing your make-out session." She slammed the door.
But what was this feeling?
You're jealous! her conscience teased.
I am not! Mikan protested.
You're in a state of denial…Okay, she could accept that much, at least.
She wasn't denying that she was in a state of denial, but she certainly was denying that she was jealous.
Because she wasn't.
At least she hoped not.
Oh, but you are, her conscience told her.
Well, that was just maddeningly unhelpful.
A/N: Haha! Two snow days in a row! It's been -47 with the wind chill for the past two days. I live out of town and my bus wasn't running so i didn't have to go to school! Yay! I'm sorry if the chapter wasn't what you were expecting. I think I'll leave it at that, since it feels like my feet and hands are going to freeze off.
Thanks to all my reviewers!
xoxo
Ducky-san
PS: I'm getting a puppy in March! I'm so excited!