A/N: Hmph. I've been feeling really depressed lately. But the inspiration keeps coming anyway. I hate myself! I love writing because it's the only way to release some emotions.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Gakuen Alice/Alice Academy. It is owned by the great manga-ka Higuchi Tachibana.

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Mismatch, Chapter Ten

Natsume stepped out of the window as well and the two boys helped Hotaru get on the chick. She was still feeling strange after everything that had just happened.

"So where exactly does Narumi want us to go?" Natsume asked them both.

"Um, I really don't know." Ruka answered tentatively, and they both turned to face Hotaru.

She sighed. "And why would you expect me to know where? I don't even know what's happening."

"You could at least have a clue to what we're supposed to do now. Narumi said you would."

"Tell us what happened, Imai-san. Please." Ruka said. He then bent down and started talking to the giant chick to take them somewhere away from the Academy.

Hotaru gave up and told them about everything that had happened when she was with Mikan. When she had finished, she mentioned to them, "But I had no idea why I wanted Mikan to take off the necklace so badly. It was like…I had a premonition about it."

Ruka was thoughtfully looking out at the distance. "So now, I guess Narumi wants us to go rescue Mikan-san."

"I guess." Hotaru said.

"Natsume, what do you think?" Ruka asked him

Natsume had not yet spoken until now. "Imai-san, did the symbol on the necklace look like a letter? Or a rune? If it was…" he broke off in low muttering to himself.

"Come to think of it, it did. It looked a bit like a letter H. But it was hard to tell because it was really complicated-looking." Hotaru answered uncertainly. "Why?"

"It's strangely familiar to me, like I've seen it before. But why, though?" Natsume said, puzzled.

"Everything about this is so mystifying. In the first place, how are we supposed to find Mikan?" Hotaru thought worriedly.

"What?" the other two looked at her.

"Oh. Did I say that out loud?" Hotaru said. "I just think that we should have at least something we can use to look for her. Natsume, where have you seen that symbol before?"

"I saw it once, when I was young. Sometime before, my neighbors and I were wandering around, exploring, then we reached a house with no one inside. It was really old, I remember. Then we went inside and poked around, and I saw a symbol there, something like the one you described. It's odd, but I've never forgotten it."

Ruka stared at Natsume. He had never heard him tell someone else besides him about what it had been like when he was younger, back in the days before he entered Alice Academy. It was a mark of how much Natsume was worried about Mikan. Or was it something else?

"Do you have a pen?" Hotaru took out a pen and some paper out of her pocket.

"Yeah, I do. Why?" Natsume asked.

"Draw what you can remember of the symbol you saw. I'll draw it too, and we'll see whether the drawings match. Ruka, you make sure that no one can hear us." Hotaru handed him a piece of paper, and they started drawing busily. Ruka tried to get the chick to walk less loudly and more carefully so that no one could hear them, and also so that Hotaru's and Natsume's hands wouldn't shake too much.

After a few minutes, in which Ruka got the chick to move quietly (it was defying reason, but he did) the other two completed their drawings. They silently looked at one another and nodded, and they held up their papers in such a way so that Ruka would also be able to see it.

There was a moment of silence. Their drawings were more or less the same, considering that it had been several years since Natsume had last seen the strange sign.

"Now that we know that you two saw the same thing, what do we do now?" Ruka asked quietly.

"I think we should go to the place where you saw this." Hotaru said to Natsume. "Probably there'll be some clue to what this is and hopefully where Mikan is."

"She's right. But how are we going to get there without being noticed? We're riding on a giant chick, if you've forgotten." Natsume said sarcastically.

"I think you've forgotten we've got Alices, and we're perfectly free to use them. At least, in mine and Ruka's case." Hotaru said blandly.

Without further delay, she took out some strange objects from her pocket and started to invent. Ruka, in the meantime, needed to tell the chick where to go.

"Natsume, could you tell me where we're supposed to go?"

"Alright."

Ruka knew how painful this was for Natsume. He was returning to his old home and rescuing someone who was very important to him. He admired Natsume for being strong.

"Okay, so where do we go now?"

"Head to the other side of this river."

"I've finished." Hotaru interrupted suddenly. "Invention number 088, the Invisible Cloak. Not only does it keep us from being seen, it is also soundproof, ensuring that no one will hear that huge chick stomping around all over the place."

Ruka looked affronted at this last remark. "Imai-san! You'll hurt the chick's feelings!"

"That doesn't matter right now." Hotaru said emotionlessly. "Tell it to hurry up before it's too late for us…and for Mikan."

As she expected, it got Ruka to start moving. Meanwhile, Hotaru used her new invention to disguise the chick.

"This is it." Natsume suddenly said.

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A/N: Finally done. Hope more reviews come next time. Thanks to natsumeluvr and glenda23. If people stop reviewing I'm going to delete this story.

akaiihana