Chapter Three

***************With Natsume**************

They were going along the well-worn dirt and rock road when Tsubasa gave a sharp shout.
"Hey Natsume! What's the blue thing glittering in the distance? Is it a water hole? We could let our horses have a drink and rest there.

Natsume considered his idea before nudging his horse to go a little bit faster. The others took that as their cue and they raced to the water hole. They stopped short a few meters away from the 'water hole'. It turned out actually be two male figures encased entirely in ice. Natsume and everyone else got off their horses to examine the figures.

"Natsume, there's something wrong with these figures. I can't quite put my finger on it but I can tell that Usagi can feel it as well." Ruka asked a concerned hitch to his usual tone.

"There's no water," Yuu said softly, "I mean it's the middle of the day but there's no water dripping off the ice."

Natsume furrowed his eyes before lighting a small fire next to one of the figures. Almost immediately, the ice broke up into jagged pieces and flew away from the figures straight towards us. The Prince quickly drew up a massive wall of fire as the spears of ice pierced it. A low moan of pain resounded throughout the air as well as a small shriek. He cautiously put down the flames enough to see the two once frozen figures now very much alive. One had an arrow through his right thigh and the other had a small scratch on his right wrist. The one with the arrow through his thigh noticed us first.

"Who the fudge are you guys? Where's the red and white archer?"

"Excuse me, who?" Yuu asked confused.

"The one who froze my friend with her arrow and shot the other one through my thigh."

"We know not who you speak of. We are travellers from a far off country." Koko said in his most Shakespearean voice.

Both of the lads glared at him as he held up his hands in surrender sign. Natsume rolled his eyes.

"I'm Natsume. The stupid one over there is Koko. The boy holding the bunny is Ruka and the one with the glasses is Yuu. Oh, and that's Tsubasa." He said as an afterthought and pretended not to notice Tsubasa's glare.

"I'm Mochu and the other one's Kitsu. We attend Gakuen Alice." The boy with the arrow in his thigh said.

"Aren't you in pain?" Tsubasa asked quizzically.

"Huh? Oh. Ow! God the pain Do any of you guys have bandages or a healing alice?" Mochu shouted.

"What's a healing alice?" Ruka asked confused.

"God, have you guys been living under a rock?" Kitsu said speaking for the first time. His eyes narrowed, "Wait a moment. Natsume… Isn't that the name of the prince?"

Natsume could feel his palms start to sweat. He considered his options. A: I could tell them I was named after the prince and pretend to be the son of some wealthy merchant but that could cause some problems as I have no silk or cotton with me. Or maybe…

"Yes. I am Prince Natsume Hyuuga of the Hyuuga kingdom. But," He said quickly noticing how pale their faces turned, "That does not mean that I agree with my father's ways. I've come in search of the lost Yukihara princess. Do you know where she might be?"

"Isn't she already dead? Didn't your father kill her?' Kitsu said, if looks could kill, Natsume would have already of been dead from the power of Kitsu's glare.

"Dude!" Mochu punched Kitsu's shoulder, ignoring the fresh wave of pain that shot through his leg. "Haven't you heard the rumours? They say that Mikan Yukihara's raising an army to overthrow the king!"

Mikan? Of course! Tangerine! Not apple! Stupid Kurosawa. That must mean that the note really was from her!

Kitsu crossed his arms over his chest, "You shouldn't believe everything Sumire tells you. Half of it is false like when she said that a prince and his companions would attend our school. I get that you used to have a crush on her but seriously, what are the chances that she would be right?"

"Duuuuuude! You didn't have to announce to the whole world that I liked Sumire! What if these guys are going to attend Gakuen Alice! What happens when they see who Sumire is and then they'll make fun of me for life!" Mochu shouted picturing an evil Natsume blackmailing him into doing whatever he wanted.

Natsume's head snapped up. Did Mochu just say Gakuen Alice? Wasn't that the place the princess wrote about? He opened his mouth but Kitsu interrupted him.

"Mochu get serious. The prince wouldn't blackmail you. If anyone it would be Hotaru. Besides, they aren't going to enrol at Gakuen Alice right?" he turned to us.

"Actually, we are." Natsume said as Kitsu's mouth dropped open and Mochu started bawling. "Would you mind showing us the way?"

Kitsu looked at him suspiciously, "If you were planning to enrol, why don't you know the way?"

Ruka stepped forward holding a note in his hand. He handed it to Kitsu and watched as his eyes scanned it.

"Who wrote this?" He asked eventually, not looking up.

"We have reason to believe that the princess did." Ruka replied.

"Mochu! How many people in this school do you know whose name starts with H?" Kitsu asked eyes still focused on the paper.

"Uh… Hotaru Imai, Youichi Hijiri, Hoshio Hoshino, Misaki Harada, Hayate Matsudaira, Hayami, Hajime Yakumo and Hīmemiya. I think that's all..." he scratched the back of his head.

"Who's Hotaru?" Ruka asked.

"She's cold and cunning. She has the nickname as 'the Ice Queen'." He let out an involuntary shudder, "Chances of Mikan-sama being friends with her a very low." Kitsu frowned and absentmindedly rubbed his wrist before wincing and letting out a hiss.

"Well, let's get back to GA. Subara can treat us there." He turned to look at us, "You coming or not?" He turned but crumpled as soon as he put some pressure onto his bad thigh.

Rolling his eyes, Tsubasa scooped Mochu in to his arms and putting him on top of his horse.

"Lead the way, o' might one."

"Ne, Kitsu, would you like to ride with me?" Yuu asked politely.

Kitsu nodded and with that, we began our journey to 'Gakuen Alice.'

~~~~~~~~With Mikan~~~~~~~~

The town was very bright. That was the first thing she noticed as she rode into town on Hinata. Flashing neon lights were everywhere and people were talking into small black rocks. She couldn't help but be thankful that her hood was drawn and no one could see her because of all the weird and incredulous stares.

"Mamma! Look! It's a pony! The girl's riding a pony! Can I ride it to school?"

"No honey, wouldn't you prefer riding the car?"

"Is there a circus in town?"

"I wonder where she came from…"

Mikan felt her face turn pink and started to feel really hot. I want to take of my cloak but letting everyone see what I looked like underneath makes me want to cringe. Instead she leaned over towards a lady with blonde hair and purple eyes.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I can find Hotaru Imai?"

"Huh? Imai-san? Oh. I can take you there if you want." She recoiled in shock as she realised that the woman was a man.

'Eh, oh thank you!" She gasped and pulled Hinata alongside her, err him.

"May I ask what business you have with my pupil?"

"Pardon? Did you just say student?" she asked surprised.

"Yes. I'm a teacher at Gakuen Alice, Narumi-sensei. Hotaru-chan's my student."

"Oh, right. Well, I'm good friends with Hotaru. I haven't seen her since the beginning of last year and … something happened to me so I need to see her right away!'

Narumi chuckled, "You're a little too young to be getting into debts aren't you?"

Mikan blinked, "Debts? Why would I get a debt from Hotaru?"

"She's one of the most willing people I've met to hand out money, but for a price," He glanced at me, "Isn't that what you need from her? Money?"

She shrugged not totally sure, "Maybe. Depends."

Narumi gave her a curious glance, "Well, we're here."

Mikan looked up and saw Hotaru's place. She rang the bell and waited.

"Who dares come?" Hotaru's voice came through a speaker somewhere and Mikan faced the camera in front of the gate. "Mikan? Why are you here … withHim?"

"Hotaru-chan! I'm so offended!" Narumi squealed.

"Never mind. I'm coming down. And Mikan, stay away from Him."

Mikan looked up at Narumi with imploring eyes, silently asking what their relationship was.

Narumi stared at her for a moment before engulfing her in a hug.

"You're so cute, Mikan-chan!"

"Oi! I thought I told you to stay away from Mikan! Mikan. Inside. Now. Take a bath. Get rid of Narumi's pathogens. You can go." Mikan looked over Narumi's shoulder to see Hotaru glaring at Narumi.

"Hotaru! That's not very nice! Can we at least invite him in for some tea?" Mikan argued.

She looked at her and sighed, "Fine, but only because you asked me. I'm not doing this for you, Narumi. Try to get that through that thick skull of yours."

Her glare intensified at Narumi who was doing a weird happy dance singing 'Hotaru invited me! Hotaru invited me!'

Mikan blew gently on her hot cup of tea. They were currently sitting in Hotaru's living room. Narumi and Hotaru were ignoring each other and so Narumi decided to focus his attention on Mikan.

"So Mikan-chan, what's your relationship with Hot-Imai-cha-san?" He asked nervously trying hard to ignore the multiple death glares coming from Hotaru.

"She's my best friend. What else?" she took a small sip and looked at Hotaru who gave a small nod.

"Interesting. Imai-san never mentioned anything about you. In fact I'm sort of glad. I didn't know that Imai-san had any friends at all. After all, she is the Ice Queen."

"That's beside the point. Mikan, why are you here?" Hotaru asked, straight to the point.

"Grandpa's gone missing and since you were the only one I knew from outside I thought it best if I came straight to you." Mikan replied.

"Missing? For how long?" Hotaru frowned

"A few weeks. Maybe a month. I can't really tell. One day just seems to blur into another. But I know that he's been away from way too long."

"Dammit. I'll send for someone to investigate right away. For now you can stay here.'

"Where else could I go? Can I go to school as well?" Mikan asked trying to seem indifferent about it because she could almost already hear her saying no.

"Hmm. Yes. I think that would be best."

Mikan almost dropped her teacup but quickly retained her posture, "Of course it is."

Hotaru gestured for the maid, "Take Mikan to the quest room closest to mine and help her unpack her things."

"Yes Hotaru-sama."

She quickly ushered Mikan out of the room and up a few flights of stairs.

"I'm sorry for making you walk Mikan-sama, but the elevator is currently out of use."

"Don't worry about it. It's fine."

~~~~Down Stairs with Hotaru~~~~~

Narumi stood up and stretched his arms. "Well, I guess I should be going now."

Hotaru nodded, "Before you do I'd like to discuss something with you without Mikan hearing."

"Ooh! A secret! I love secrets!"

"You are aware of the homicide of the Yukihara's, no?"

"Oh course!"

"In that case this should be a lot easier but I'm pretty sure you already know who Mikan Sakura really is."

He nodded gravely, "I see. How are you sure?"

"Subaru was the one to find her. He took her away and gave her to the furthest farmer he could find. The farmer took her in and in return, Subaru gave him money to feed and clothe her. He posed as her grandfather. So for now, for him to go missing...' Hotaru narrowed her eyes, "Someone is coming for her. The only reason for her to attend school is because it will prepare her. It'll give her time to delve and discover her powers. I only want the best for her and for the future of this kingdom."

Narumi nodded thoughtfully, "Does she know who her parents are?"

She shook her head, "But I give you my consent to tell only only your most trusted staff about this."

He nodded again.

"Now get out of my house! You can take the couch with you! It's got gay-man germs all over it!"

"Mou! So mean, Hotaru! But it is a good couch..."