A/N:Have fun reading this chapter. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice etc…

Chapter 20 Disappear

(Normal PoV)

He was not nervous. Not that he had a reason to be either. He was just… restless, fidgety. Okay maybe he was the least bit worried if you could even call it that.

The ticking of his wristwatch, the only company in the unbearable silence, reminded him vaguely of that time at Mikan's. He briefly considered the idea of throwing it to the floor and stomping on it but thought better of it after realizing he did not want her antics to rub off on him. Not that that would stop him from tapping his finger with every single tick.

It was three hundred and thirty-five ticks later, he counted (though he wasn't sure how much time that was, not that he cared), that the silence was finally replaced by a telltale click followed by a long screech and a very soft clank. At least she was not angry, she had not slammed the classroom door shut. That was a good sign, or so he hoped.

Natsume turned around as soon as silence settled back in the empty corridors and examined the motionless Mikan in front of him. He wanted to speak but his body was not heeding his command, so he kept waiting for her to say something first.

She did not flinch under his gaze or probably did not notice it. She just kept staring stupidly at the icky green wall in front of her; her eyes slightly wider than usual and her lips separated by an inch. She stared at it as if the meaning of life were written on that cabbage-colored wall and would disappear if she dared to look away. He found it extremely amusing that hisantics were rubbing off on her.

"So…" he finally managed to blurt out with much effort.

Mikan perked up surprised that there was someone else there with her. When she recognized the intruder as Natsume she smiled and it was as if she was suddenly set into motion. She started running up to him excitedly and proceeded to tackle him to the ground forcing him to land rather painfully on his back (not that he would ever admit it hurt in the slightest.)

"Seventy-two, in your face Jin-Jin!" she shouted proudly showing him the paper scribbled with multiple formulas and a big red seventy-two on the top left corner.

"Just seventy-two? After all I had to go through you should have gotten a hundred." He teased smirking.

"Shut up!" she said smacking him on the head "I had to go through it all too! I deserve a reward for my hard work."

"You passed, isn't that reward enough?"

"No."

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment "I suppose…" he added tucking a strand of stray hair behind her ear "…that could be arranged." He slowly inched his face forward.

"Well if it isn't everyone's favorite lovebirds!" someone called from behind them. "I believe there's a rule for 'improper behavior inside the school premises'"

In a heartbeat both Natsume and Mikan were standing up and facing Tsubasa.

"But what do I know…" he chuckled as he walked up to them.

"It's not- we weren't- It's not what you think." Mikan explained trying to look convincing and failing miserably at it.

"Oh really? I thought that you'd accidentally tripped and fell over him and were just trying to stand up… But if it's not that then…" he glanced sideways at Natsume with a small smirk playing at his lips. "It's always the quiet ones." He commented casually.

"TSUBASA!" A girl's shriek echoed through the empty hallways "I TOLD YOU TO FETCH THE MATERIALS FOR THE SCHOOL FESTIVAL FROM THE STOREROOM NOT TO GOOF AROUND!" Misaki slapped her classmate over the head.

At that instant Tsubasa didn't know if he should be more scared of the girl trying to bite his head off or the boy attempting to burn a hole through his skull.

"Oh, hey Mikan-chan." She smiled at the younger girl. "I'm taking this one." She added pointing at Tsubasa.

Mikan shrugged "Go ahead."

"Let's go!" she pinched his ear and dragged him down the hall like a three year-old.

"Misaki let go of my ear! I'm gonna kill you! Let the fu- OUCH! Damn it, stop pulling! I'm an adult and I demand to be treated like one!"

"You will be when you stop being an irresponsible brat."

"You are the one being a brat! Now let the fu- OU! I said stop pulling!"

"That's no way of talking in front of a lady."

"LADY MY A-OUCH! DAMN YOU MISAKI YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" The screams died out after that.

"Scary girl…" Natsume observed as they started down the corridor.

"That was nothing." Mikan giggled.

"Nothing compared to you."

"What's that supposed to-?" she looked at his astonished face puzzled, following his distant gaze to a couple of freshman kids walking their way. She found nothing particularly interesting about them, just two normal kids chatting and laughing and- "Oh"

Natsume stared dumbfounded at them. Aoi and Youichi didn't seem to have noticed them yet and continued walking and talking. But that was just it! Since when did Youichi speak so lively? (In Natsume's opinion lively when referring to Youichi meant moving his mouth and uttering more than one syllable)

More importantly, since when did Aoi talk to Youichi, (quote) "Mr. I'm-too-good-to-talk-to-you" (end of quote)?

"Yeah, 'Oh' is quite right." he mumbled.

"Ah Onii-chan, Mikan-chan!" Aoi finally noticed their presence and approached them.

"You-chan, Aoi-chan?" Mikan tried to sound as unsurprised by this strange situation as possible.

"We were on our way to lunch. Youichi-kun said there was a nice place on the rooftop where nobody goes…" if somebody had been paying attention to Natsume at that moment they would have noticed the slight twitch on his right eye.

"D- Did he now?" Mikan tried to fill the uncomfortable silence as she caught a glimpse of the stare down match taking place between the two boys and suddenly felt the need to run away. So did Aoi.

"We- well, we better get going." The younger girl said smiling nervously. "We'll see you later Onii-chan, Mikan-chan."

Youichi nodded at Mikan acknowledging her existence and walked slowly past Natsume. "Later Onii-chan(*)" He whispered smirking.

"It's always the quiet ones…" Tsubasa's words replayed in his head as he finally caught the full meaning of that simple word the brat had said.

"Wait Aoi! Youichi you little pervert kid! Come back here!" he called running after the duo leaving a shocked Mikan behind.

'What was that about?' she thought confused.

"Well if it isn't the little thief." An all too familiar voice interrupted her musing.

"Well if it isn't the psychotic hag." Mikan retorted without turning around to look at Luna. "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing much, just popped by to say hello. Why should I have ulterior motives to talk to the woman who is trying to steal my fiancée?"

"Whatever you say…" she shrugged and started walking off.

"Actually you are coming with me."

"As if"

"It was not a question."

Mikan could not really tell what happened after that, but before she could even blink she was shoved into a small dark room. The sound of a door locking behind her was the last thing she heard before something hit the back of her head and she passed out.

When she came to, she didn't know when, where or what the hell was going on. The only thing that was pretty clear was that her head hurt, a lot. She considered screaming and panicking but found herself too tired to do so. The only thing she was glad of was that it was dark, which was not technically good, but certainly helped with the headache.

As she started slowly accustoming herself to the environment she realized some very important things. First, she was not tied or bound by any means, which was a pretty good sign that she wasn't being held captive, probably.

The second thing she noticed was the thin line of daylight (or so she guessed) that filtered into the room from behind a thick curtain allowing her to make out the shape of most of the stuff in the room.

She was inside some sort of office. She could see an immense bookshelf opposite of the window and a desk with a rather striking spinning armchair behind it right in front of her. She felt around with her hands and figured that she was lying on what she could only suppose was a long soft couch, and a very comfortable one at that.

She mentally ran through all the information in her mind and tried to figure why this place seemed so familiar. She had been here before, she just knew it, but when?

'Maybe it's just my imagination' she sat up 'because this looks just like the office of the bad guy in a very clichéd action movie.' Chuckling she attempted to stand up 'The only thing missing is the fireplace behind the desk…'

She slowly made her way to the armchair careful not to bump into anything. Placing a hand on the desk to steady herself she reached the chair and sat down. Already a little more relaxed she whirled around a couple of times only noticed the huge fireplace the second time around.

She smiled a little humored "And suddenly the lights turned on and the bad guy burst in…" she muttered as if narrating the movie to the small human shaped carvings framing fireplace.

As if on cue the lights flickered on forcing her to shut her eyes. The door burst open and she heard footsteps coming her way. When she finally opened her eyes she focused her sight on the intruder.

"Great, speak of the devil…" she said staring straight into Satoshi's crimson eyes. 'So different from Natsume's…'

"I see you are awake."

"Oh no, I'm asleep. I'm a sleepwalker…" she replied trying to sound as calm as possible. 'He is like a dog, he can smell fear.'

"Smug are we?"

"At least I am."

"Your false confidence will do you no good here."

"Likewise"

Satoshi glared at her, Sakura Mikan, 'Yukihira's daughter' he reminded himself, was quite a character. She had Izumi's guts and Yuuka's resolve. Under different circumstances she would have made a strong ally, but Sakura Co. already belonged to him. As soon as Masao died that girl would be out on the streets. She was useless to him; there was nothing he could possibly gain from her.

The Koizumi Group however was unattainable, that fat bastard Shinichiro, Luna's father, was not about to hand over even one miserable stock, he knew very well he was one of Satoshi's last competitors in many markets, not counting Imai, but even attempting to start a conversation with that man was an impossible mission.

Marrying Natsume to the only heir to his empire was a chance fallen from heaven (or hell some might argue) he could not have asked for a better chance to rid himself of that stupid cockroach.

"I have allowed this foolish game of yours to extend for far too long."

Mikan kept her mouth shut analyzing his every movement.

"You see, so far I have been sending you friendly warnings. But should you choose to continue being a nuisance to me you will leave me no choice but to do something you will regret."

His face showed nothing but malice and an 'I'm-not-fucking-around' aura seemed to surround him. No, this man meant serious business. His expression gave away that he was not the much ado about nothing type. Mikan couldn't help but notice rather grimly that he had used the words "somethingyouwill regret"

"This will be the last warning." He said "What is it going to be girl?"

She couldn't find it in her to answer. Partly because of the fear this man somehow managed to inflict on her, but also she did not know what she should say. Maybe if she kept silent long enough everything would sort out by itself.

"What, no answer? No witty comeback? No begging for forgiveness?" he looked at her mildly amused "A very Yuuka-like reaction." He smirked as she suddenly looked up at the mere mention of that name. It seemed she knew something about her parents then. He could use that to his convenience.

"You- that name."

"What, Yuuka?" he seemed to be striking a chord every time he said it. "An old classmate of mine, Azumi Yuuka" The name rolled out of his mouth like one who spits back a canape into a napkin at a very fancy party trying to hide the look of repulsion. Mikan did not see his face though as she jolted up from the chair. She stared at the mahogany desk but it held no answers for her.

He knew her, he knew her mother. She did not know whether she should be happy or scared anymore, Satoshi however was ecstatic as a new plot easily formed in his head. He liked to consider this ability of his a gift.

"By the look on your face I suppose you know her. Although I do not know how, she's been locked up in an asylum for the past-."

"NO!" Mikan suddenly shouted "That's impossible! Azumi Yuuka is…" she hesitated for a moment "my mother is dead. She committed suicide fifteen years ago."

"Mother?" he asked faking surprise "You are Yukihira's daughter?" he purposefully widened his eyes and made an O with his mouth trying to imitate a fish as much as he could.

"Yukihira?" the name seemed so familiar to her. It felt like a distant dream.

'Perfect' he thought 'Just perfect.' She didn't know about her father he could say whatever he wanted.

"You don't know your own father's name?"

"Fa- father?" she looked up at him with expecting eyes.

"Yukihira Izumi… he was Yuuka's fiancé's second cousin. At that time we all studied at Alice Gakuen but they disappeared one day and no one heard from them again." He didn't have to include the parts were he intervened.

Mikan felt something was odd about this. Why was he telling her this? Was any of it true? Could she trust this man's word when he had never said anything but lies? Her mind was spinning at a hundred miles per hour but she wanted to believe those words to be true. Her heart wanted them to be true.

"It was rumored that Yuuka was pregnant with Izumi's child. It seems the head of the Sakura family told her she had to marry his son before that baby was born and they would take him in as their own."

"Sakura, as in-?"

"Sakura Masao, the eldest son and heir to the family." He looked at her astonished face as she realized whom he was talking about. "But I guess she decided not to and eloped with Izumi."

"What happened to them then?"

He noticed the strange suspicious glint in her eyes, saying anymore would be too risky. "How should I know? I think he died in a car accident and she tried to kill herself after that but ended up in a mental institution."

"She's… alive?" It couldn't be, she couldn't be, Jii-chan had said she was…

"Your mom Yuuka she told me to tell you that she didn't mean to-."Now that she thought about it he never said she wasn't. Maybe at that time he had wanted to say she was alive, that she had to look for her. Maybe she was alive! She could meet her mom! She had wished to see her, to hear her voice even if it were for a millisecond, even though she knew it was impossible.

"I can find her for you" was all he had to say for her doubts and suspicions to banish.

He could find her! Her heart felt like it would burst of joy.

How many times had she dreamed of her mother kissing her forehead and murmuring a soft goodbye? How many times had she chased after that retreating figure knowing perfectly well that she would never reach it? And now she could extend her arm and almost feel the warmth radiating of her body.

"Of course, there's a price" he added as if it were a minor detail.

But she didn't care about the price; she would gladly give up her own life to see her mother at least once.

"Disappear from Natsume's life forever."

Her bliss went flying right out the window, or would have, had the window been open.

A/N: I already have the end of this story half written so I want to take it slow so I can make everything add up in the end. Hope you liked this one.

(*) When Youichi says "Later Onii-chan" in case it was confusing, it is as if he were calling him older brother, or rather brother-in-law... hence Natsume's reaction, or overreaction.