Not fated?
Chapter 12: Reveal day
Disclaimer: I do not own Alice Academy/Gakuen Alice and I never will.
Note/Warning: Rated for safety. Expect OOCs and bad English. I'm assuming you know all the char. Natsume, Mikan and the gang are same age.
Sum: Natsume Hyuga and Mikan Sakura meet for the first time as normal people but are they really normal people? Nope! One is a vampire and the other is a vampire hunter, seemingly not fated to be together. And why does the vampire hunter hate vampires so much?
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENTS~! I'm grateful for all of your comments and don't worry, I'll never find any too bothersome or annoying, etc. (^^) Hope you like this chap as well~ =D
Previously
"Hurry up. I'll be at the usual place." Natsume informed as he left the room.
"Hai~"
With that said, Mikan followed Natsume. They had a silent walk through the corridors, making their way to their favourite tree and earning a few surprised and jealous faces along the way.
"I'll tell her alone." Natsume suddenly said, ignoring the vein-popping looks of others.
Mikan was wide-eyed for a while but soon she spoke. "Then I'll just wait somewhere nearby."
Mikan knew it would be best if Natsume talked to her first. After all, they'll also be telling her about how Mikan was the vampire who bit him. No one knows how the cute flame caster would react. In the worst case scenario, Aoi would hate Mikan to the extent of revealing her to everyone, especially the DA class and Mikan and Natsume could never be together since Natsume would have to choose a side.
Both Natsume and Mikan silently agreed on that arrangement and proceeded without speaking another word. After all, there's nothing left to be said or discussed. All that's left is to hope for the best and watch Aoi's reaction.
-+!+-
"Onii-san~!" A familiar voice called out as a petite female happily ran while waving her hands at her beloved older brother.
Natsume slightly turned his head.
"Why did you need to see me?" Aoi asked happily as she squatted next to him.
"Sit down first."
"?" Aoi looked slightly surprised. It was her first time seeing her brother so worried. With raised brows, she sat down, curious but nervous to hear what he had to say that was apparently so urgent. She definitely didn't like the atmosphere.
"Aoi..." Natsume called, making her even more anxious since he wasn't calling her 'Buriko', which he usually did.
Taking a deep breath, Natsume prepared himself to spill the beans straightforwardly. The innocent Aoi got more and more worried and scared as each second passed.
He continued. "I got turned into a vampire." He said, looking away from her.
"He said it..." Mikan thought as she quietly watched them. "Aoi's frozen stiff." She added with a frown.
Kuro Neko, who was sitting beside her, tried comforting the brunette. He rubbed his head against her arm. Mikan gave a soft smile, petting the little cat on the head before turning back to watch the siblings. She stared intently as Aoi's crimson eyes widened with shock and sadness.
"W-What do you mean, onii-san?" Mikan heard her murmured. "You can't be a vampire, it's daytime and you're perfectly fine..."
She noted the sad smile and fearful frown on the younger girl's face. Aoi seemed to be on the verge of insanity. However, Natsume still did not look at her, not even once. Mikan supposed it was because he could not bear to see her disappointed and sad face.
"I was actually a rare hybrid that could easily change between my vampire and human forms but I willingly chose to become a full vampire. The one who turned me was very strong so now I have the power to easily change to my human form."
"You were willing...? Why?"
The confused expression on her face had diminished, along with her fear and unhappiness, but they were still there.
"There are some benefits to becoming a full-fledged vampire which remaining as a hybrid don't have." He explained, referring to how he could not look at Mikan when he was a hybrid. "Like how I can now change to my human form without any of the restrictions of a normal vampire and how I have full control over my transformations."
No one spoke for a while, granting Aoi some time to absorb all of the shocking news.
"I feel guilty... I'm so sorry, Aoi... I didn't mean to..." Mikan was filled with regret as she watched the siblings.
"So you're not hunting them anymore?" Aoi asked, her face hidden behind her bangs although she had an emotionless voice that was also somewhat eerie.
"...No." Natsume answered with an apologetic tone.
Natsume felt as if he owed her a huge debt but was unable to repay it. That is, unless he could ignore his feelings for Mikan and 'dispose' of her in order to return back to normal.
Another moment of silence. Both Natsume and Mikan closed their eyes, hoping for a heart-relieving response from Aoi.
-+!+-
"So this is what Alice Academy looks like from the inside." Misaki commented as her head turned to every direction to inspect her future school.
"Yep! It's huge so stick close. I got lost once when I first got here and boy, it wasn't pretty." Tsubasa sweatdropped as he remembered his past.
"Why? What happened?" The pink-haired alice asked curiously, finally taking her eyes off her surroundings.
"Well, let's just say I was extremely unlucky that day. I wondered off during the tour by the teachers and got lost within minutes. I liked exploring so I wasn't that worried but when it was time to go home, I had to search the whole campus for the entrance. And guess what?"
"What? What?"
"I went around every building... EXCEPT for the main building which is near the entrance."
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Misaki burst out laughing without hesitation.
Sweatdrop "And let me tell you, it took me hours to run through every floor and every building. By the time I got home, I was half dead." Tsubasa sighed at his own pitiful memory.
He then turned to Misaki with disbelief written all over his face. The lady wasn't saving him face at all! She was practically laughing her head off.
"You don't have to laugh that much." He sweatdropped again.
Misaki was holding her stomach by then. "I'm sorry... Chuckles That's just so..." She winced as she felt a sharp pain on her stomach from immense laughter but still continued laughing. "funny..."
"ANYWAY...!" The shadow manipulator shouted to distract her from laughing at his hilarious yet pitiful story. "Let's get on with the tour. I'll take you to the Special Abilities class next."
Misaki's laughter slowly died down although there were a few light bursts of laughter in between her sentences. "Oh. Giggles That's the ability class that I'll be assigned to, right? Giggles"
"Yeah. I know the moderating teacher of that class, since I was once in it, and I can guarantee everyone will welcome you with open arms. They're a VERY friendly class."
"I can't wait to meet them!" Misaki announced as she ceased laughing and excitedly dragged Tsubasa through the hallways to head for the Special Abilities classroom although she had no idea where it was.
Meanwhile
"Phew..."
Natsume and Mikan shot their eyes wide open at the sound of a soft but relieved sigh. Kuro Neko tilted his head as all of them had surprised eyes. Natsume turned to the younger flame-caster.
Smile "I thought you would NEVER quit hunting vampires. Giggles Who knew it would take turning you into a vampire to stop you?" Aoi asked rhetorically, poking Natsume's cheek. "So, who's the vampire? Can I meet him? I wanna thank him." She cheerfully asked, closing in on Natsume's face with eagerness.
Natsume was obviously shocked to the point of being speechless. He had wished for a good outcome but this was incredible. It was far more than what he asked for and he was thankful for it.
"She's fine with it?" Hazel eyes widened. Mikan was pleasantly surprised.
"You're completely fine with it?" Natsume asked stoically although his eyebrows were still slightly lifted.
"Yep! I don't care what you are as long as you are still you. Of course, I love it even more since you no longer hunt vampires." Aoi then flashed a bright smile at him.
Natsume suddenly pulled Aoi into a hug. "Thank you, Aoi."
Aoi looked a little surprised at first but quickly hugged him back. "Giggles You didn't have to worry about me that much. You're still my onii-san no matter what."
Once they broke the short-lived hug, Aoi repeated her question. "Can I meet the vampire?" She asked hopefully.
Mikan took that as the signal for her to reveal herself.
Thud Mikan jumped down from the sakura tree where she had been stealthily hiding.
Aoi flinched in surprise as she saw the brunette land beside her and Natsume while Kuro Neko happily landed on Natsume's head.
"Mikan-nee? Were you up in the tree this whole time?" Aoi asked quizzically. "I thought she didn't know how to climb trees."
"Yep! I was there the whole time." Mikan replied with a smile plastered on her face.
Aoi, on the other hand, was in panic. "Oh no! That means onee-san knows that onii-san is a vampire! What if she can't accept him?"
Giggles Mikan found Aoi to be so cute.
"The vampire who bit me..." Natsume's eyes were closed. He was completely void of the anxious feelings he had earlier. "...is her." He confessed, lazily opening his eyes to watch Aoi's reaction.
"EH?"
Mikan beamed as she waved at Aoi.
"Onee-san is a vampire?" She inquired while pointing a stiff finger at Mikan.
"Yep~!"
"You're the strong vampire who changed onii-san?"
"Yep~!"
"Since you're able to change a human into a vampire... You're a pureblood vampire?"
"Yep~!" Was Mikan's cheerful reply... again.
Aoi froze for a while but Natsume and Mikan could easily sense that it wasn't a bad sign. She just needed some more time to take in this piece of news.
"Thank you, Mikan-nee~!" Aoi shouted as she hugged the surprised brunette. "You made onii-san FINALLY stop hunting vampires. I've always known you were special, onee-san~!" Aoi loosened her grip to look at Mikan face-to-face. "You're amazing, onee-san!"
Giggles "Thanks, Aoi~!" Mikan hugged the extremely cheerful girl back.
Natsume stood up, a rare small smile could be seen on his face. Everything was perfectly fine now. No more secrets, no more obstacles and best of all, no more worries.
"Natsume! You're smiling?" Mikan exclaimed, making the raven-haired female turn to look at her onii-san.
"He's smiling! He's really, really smiling!" Aoi shouted.
As if checking to see if they were telling the truth, Kuro Neko bent over to look at Natsume's face. Sure enough, he was smiling. It was just a little smile but still a smile.
"Of course." He simply replied, ruffling up the younger girl's hair. "Now there's nothing that might stop me from going out with your 'onee-san' over here." As if proving it to her, Natsume gently lifted Mikan's chin and gave her a peck on the lips.
As he withdrew from her face, he still had that pure smile which did not have even a pinch of a smirk on it even though he usually had an amused smirk after kissing her.
Although she did not notice his new resultant facial expression from after kissing her, Mikan was still surprised and blushing a little, a vast improvement from before when she would usually turn into a tomato.
"You're already going out?" Aoi asked excitedly, to which the reply was a nod from Mikan. "That's great! I knew you were special." She repeated, smiling brightly at both of them.
"Nyaa~" Kuro Neko agreed.
For a few moments, all of them had smiles firmly stuck on them, absolutely refusing to let go.
Technical Types Classroom
Mikan, Natsume, Aoi and their favourite black cat had just arrived at the classroom to drop Aoi off. They, or more like Mikan, also needed to inform Hotaru of the very eventful morning activities.
As Aoi happily skipped into class with a huge smile, everyone inside were noticeably awkward and fearful. Aoi didn't seem to notice and proceeded to the kitchen where it was slightly livelier. Mikan and Natsume obviously noticed it. As their eyes scanned the room, they saw most of the students do their work in silence while a few considerate and brave ones risked their lives to signal to them to keep quiet. Of course, Mikan didn't understand their hand gestures.
Seeing that her best friend was the only one without a tensed atmosphere, she happily closed in and tried to greet her. "Ho-"
BANG!
The moment her mouth opened, she was cut off by an aching pain on her forehead that sent her falling backwards onto Natsume, who easily prevented her, and himself, from falling onto the concrete floor.
"Shut up." Was the cold, annoyed response from the attacker. "I've had enough of you people's rowdiness." She temporarily ceased operations to stare at Mikan nonchalantly though her eyes were filled with threat. "Disrupt my work one more time and I will personally kill you."
Hotaru had always hated it when she was disturbed while working although she usually shows some restraint, especially now that she's surrounded by the weaker beings, that is, her human classmates. However, she had already tolerated way past her limit with the occasional disturbances in the form of visitors to her class and her own class' incessant and, in her opinion, useless ramblings.
"I've already warned the others and I don't want to repeat myself for the third time." She snapped, turning to eye her fellow inventors, who hastily nodded in reply to express their clear understanding.
Her passion for her work and inventions was the only thing that could overrule her logic, although not completely. Hence, Hotaru had slightly released her vampiric aura to prove her point and further implant it into everyone's brains. Fortunately, it was such an insignificant amount that vampire hunters and vampires alike would not be able to sense it, although the deadliness was more than obvious.
"But-" Mikan protested, only to be cut off again.
BANG!
She was shot, this time, by a different version of the baka gun that fired two shots instead of one and sent her flying back to Natsume, who was slightly pushed back by the force. He refrained from saying anything, knowing that this was considered common communication between the two friends and the fact that he loved the way Mikan fell backwards onto him gave him more than enough reason to quietly watch.
"Be grateful, this was made just for you... The baka cannon." Hotaru said. "Upgraded and improved to shoot once with double the effect." She rubbed her hand on her shiny, black invention as she stared at it nonchalantly. Her voice, though, was filled with pride.
As Mikan was trying to balance herself, Hotaru spoke in her usual, completely stoic way. "I've heard everything from Misaki-nee already. She was here just a while ago."
"Yeah..." Everyone thought. "That pink-haired girl and that guy triggered Imai-san's scary side." They grimaced, waterfalls of tears streaming down their faces as they recalled the painful experience of being witnesses to Hotaru's dangerous personality when the serious inventor was disturbed.
Flashback
"Hota~ru!" Misaki shouted as she called out to her younger housemate.
As the raven-haired girl turned towards the familiar voice, not a single sign of emotion was visible, save for a vein popping on her head.
"Misaki-nee... I've just submitted your enrollment papers. Everything's been finalized and confirmed. You can start on Monday."
"Great! Thanks, Hotaru! Hey, mind if I check out your class?" Misaki rhetorically asked, already going around the gigantic so-called classroom that was filled with surprised faces.
"Hey! That smells good!" Misaki complimented, as she entered the kitchen. She bent down and stared into an oven that was baking a huge pie. "Looks great! You're really talented." She said, standing straight and putting a hand on Anna's shoulders with a huge smile.
"T-Thanks..." Anna shyly replied.
"Who is she?" The other chefs and soon-to-be chefs wondered, sweatdropping. They were oblivious to Misaki and Hotaru's short conversation earlier on.
Misaki strolled to another corner of the room where the art room was. As Misaki continued her excitedly loud inspection of the area, Tsubasa, who had brought her there, was busy dodging, or at least trying to dodge Hotaru's gunshots. Unfortunately, Misaki's enthusiasm and excitement wasn't doing a favour for Hotaru's work, or Tsubasa's physical health.
With Hotaru disturbed, annoyed and regrettably unable to fully take it out on her active housemate since the latter was completely used to combat and, especially, Hotaru's assaults, all Tsubasa could do as the culprit was to be Hotaru's punching bag. Of course, he didn't like the idea nor succeed in avoiding it.
Hotaru's Ability classmates, who were as rowdy as twenty lions during a feeding frenzy involving only one prey, weren't doing themselves any good when they started noisy discussions about Misaki.
"Wow, she's something, ain't she?" A guy commented, watching Misaki.
To him and the others, it was amazing how Hotaru was shooting both Tsubasa and Misaki.
Firstly, Hotaru was known to be respectful to those older than her. Seeing her attack them was a shock to everyone. Truth is, for Misaki's case, since they were practically family, with an extremely close yet weird relationship, Hotaru treats Misaki the same as she treats Mikan although with more respect and tolerance. For Tsubasa's case, however, after hearing what Mikan had to say about Tsubasa, Hotaru concluded that he was another idiotic type; hence, she had the right and reason to pummel him.
Secondly, Misaki was avoiding the assaults without even looking. It was as if she dodged them by chance, visiting every corner of the gigantic room without a care for the shots aimed at her and coincidentally having the shots miss her by a few inches each time. Once again, Tsubasa was unlucky, unable to dodge any of the shots.
"Yeah, that girl's totally oblivious to Imai-san's attacks. Either that or she is amazingly skilled, avoiding the shots like that." A female spectator replied.
"But that guy's totally useless." Another guy commented, sweatdropping as he watched Tsubasa being easily overpowered and defeated.
Of course, Hotaru knew of Misaki's ability and stopped her attacks against her after a few shots. She ceased the attacks on the older male as well, although only after several more shots. Amethyst eyes gleamed as it eyed the shamelessly boisterous people of the Technical Types, revealing malevolence against the soon-to-be punished humans.
Suddenly, everyone except for the two housemates tensed when they felt a murderous aura. The intensity was extremely high and was on par with the school's infamous flame-caster's own that everyone flinched, thinking that Natsume had arrived. As they slowly turned to the direction of the source, expecting to see glaring, red eyes, they started sweating in worry, wondering what had happened to Natsume that could revive his old, murderous self. Natsume had softened ever since Mikan appeared and the resurrection of the past Natsume meant something horrible had happened and apparently, Mikan was absent from the scene.
To everyone's horror, the aura was from their most talented classmate. They froze when she let out an even more murderous aura, successfully scaring the hell out of them. As the pupil of the Technical Types turned her baka gun's attention from Tsubasa to them, they struggled to remain silent. As a warning shot, or more like shots, Hotaru fired at all the guys in class. Fortunately, the girls were spared, for now.
Kachak
Everyone looked afraid enough to faint when Hotaru seemed to be reload her baka gun for another round of shooting. Fortunately, Hotaru was distracted at the last moment.
"I'll be going now, Hotaru." Misaki announced as she proceeded to the door, breaking the silence. "Nice meeting you guys." She waved at the petrified students.
There was no response to Misaki's words. Everyone quietly watched as the up-beat female left, dragging a practically crippled Tsubasa out the door. Once they were out of sight, Hotaru glared at her stiff classmates. "If you know what's good for you, you'd better keep quiet." She threatened before keeping her weapon and stoically continued with her work as if nothing had happened.
End of flashback
"Imai-san's sca~ry." Everyone complained, crying waterfalls once more.
Rubbing her head, Mikan regained her balance and nodded in acknowledgement, sweatdropping with worry as Hotaru's amethyst eyes gleamed.
"Ahehheheh..." Mikan nervously laughed before she bolted out of the cannon's way with Natsume being pulled behind her.
-+!+-
"Well, everything's settled." Mikan smiled. "So let's go help out with the preparations. I mean, we're already here, aren't we?" She had Kuro Neko in her arms and was stroking him gently.
"Nice try, Polka-dots." Natsume nonchalantly replied. "You owe me a date."
"Can't we postpone it?" She asked, slightly pouting. "We're already here and earlier, you said you didn't even know where to go. And I really want to help out. Onegai~"
The black cat turned his body to face Natsume and pleaded to him with her. His eyes were relentless, releasing every ounce of cuteness it could ever possess. Sure, he preferred them to go on a date rather than help out in school but Mikan was always his number one. She was his first and foremost priority.
After seconds of skeptically staring at them, Natsume gave in. "Fine."
Mikan immediately perked up, smiling from ear to ear.
"However..." He continued. "You'll have to do whatever I say on our date." He smirked.
"Uh..." She hesitated, sweating in worry. With Natsume, who knows what he might make her do. However, her desire to help with the festival preparations overpowered her fear of Natsume's 'wrath'.
Sigh "Okay, fine." Mikan pouted once more.
So sorry, tried to extend this chap as promised but it'll be weird cause it'll be like joining 2 chaps into 1... Will definitely try to post next chap ASAP. ^^