Well, there is a bit of tragedy here…. I hope you people will like it….

Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice does not belong to me……

As soon as Natsume and Ruka reached the living room, they immediately saw Hotaru and Ji-chan, both injured. Natsume and Ruka ran up to check on them.

"What happened here? Where's Mikan?" Natsume asked as he cannot find Mikan.

"We were attacked by some masked men and they injured Ji-chan and caught Mikan away with them." Hotaru explained.

Natsume was shocked at the news, "Ruka, you go get Imai's nii-chan for help. I'll go after them myself. Be careful." He then said and left them.

Ruka wanted to go after Natsume, but he realized that Hotaru is also injured and immediately go to her house to get his brother. When her brother arrived, he checked on both their injuries.

"My sister's injury is not that bad, but Ji-chan's injury is very serious. I don't think I can manage it." He then said as he tried to heal Ji-chan.

"I wondered how's Natsume is doing. Has he caught up with those people?" Ruka then said.

Hotaru then walked up behind him, "I'm sure they will be alrite." And he nodded.

At Mikan's side…

Mikan is still shocked by the incident. All she can remember is that she is talking with her Ji-chan and Hotaru. Slowly, she began to regain her memory.

(Flashback)

"Now, Ruka and Natsume has gone to have their guy's talk, how about we have some girls talk, Hotaru?" Mikan suggested.

"I don't want." Hotaru rejected as she ate the snack.

"Demo…" Mikan started, but was interrupted by her Ji-chan.

"How about this; you girls tell mi about your school and your life there." Ji-chan suggested.

Mikan and Hotaru looked at each other for a while. They do not know how to start about on that topic and how to explain the meaning of "Alice" to him as well.

"Well, Ji-chan… our school is a very special school. Although it is like normal schools, but our school gave us allowance due to our rankings." Mikan started. "Also, I had made a lot of friends in the school. Everyone is nice to me." She then added.

Hotaru then helped her, "School life is very exciting there as well."

They then continue chatting for some time until they ran out of tea and snacks. Mikan, being ordered by Hotaru, went to make some more tea and snacks. As she is making the snacks, she saw a shadow pass by.

"Who's there?" Mikan asked as she opened the window.

However, there is no one there and, so, she thought she saw wrongly. She quickly prepared all the things and, before she takes it out, she hears thing breaking in the living room. She rushed out to see what's happening and saw around 7 to 10 masked men fighting with Hotaru and her Ji-chan. She went up to help them, but was of no help.

One of them uses his Alice power and knocks her Ji-chan unconscious by sending him flying to the nearest wall.

"Ji-chan!" Mikan and Hotaru shouted together, but receive no response.

The masked guys then took this chance and grab Mikan away.

(End of Flashback)

"Let me go! I want to go back to Ji-chan." Mikan struggled to escape.

The masked guys who carried her shouted, "Shut up! Whatever you want to do to escape is useless." And he threw her down on the ground.

Suddenly, there is flame surrounding them and they immediately panicked.

"What's going on here? Why is there honou here?" one of them said.

Their leader, however, did not panicked and shouted, "Stop panicking. One of you looked closely at her and don't let her escape. The rest put out the Honou quickly."

As for Mikan, she knew the honou and looked around the surroundings. She then saw Natsume, who is not far away from her. She then bit the man's hand and ran towards Natsume.

"Natsume!" Mikan shouted as she reached his side.

Natsume then told her, "Stay beside me and don't leave me. I'll protect you."

After saying that, Natsume then prepared to fight with the masked men. As he was fighting with them, the leader of the masked guys then said something to his men and he ran away. After some times, the leader is the only one left standing and Natsume thought that he has won.

"I guess that's the end." He then said.

The masked man laughed, "Not quite, Ouji-sama."

As soon as he finished his sentence, their surrounding is once more filled with more masked man. Natsume continued fighting, but there are too many people and it is quite hard to handle for him himself. All of a sudden, Ruka's parents appear in front of them.

"Daijoubu desu ka, Natsume-kun, Mikan-chan?" Ruka's mother asked.

Natsume was shocked by their appearance, "Mikan seems not to be alrite." He then said.

"Natsume-kun, you stayed here with Mikan." Ruka's father said as he fought with the masked men.

The masked men could not win them and retreated. However, as they were going back to the village, Mikan is still under terror that she does not want to let go of Natsume. In the end, Natsume has no choice but to carry her. As they were walking back to the village, Natsume was wondering why Ruka's parents came for help.

"Uncle, Auntie, why are you two there to help us just now?" Natsume asked.

They looked at each other for a while, "Well, we sense something is not right and came over for a look." Ruka's father answered.

"But… how did you two know?" Natsume asked again.

"Well, that's a secret that you will have to find out." Ruka's mother said, winking.

Ruka's father looked at Mikan, asking, "How's Mikan?"

Natsume looked down at her, "Still shivering from fear. But she will be alrite. I think she is very worried about her Ji-chan now. We better hurry back." He said and they agreed.

When they reached the village, Natsume was surprised to see no one around.

"Where's everybody?" Natsume asked as they walked to Mikan's house.

As soon as they reached Mikan's house, they were very shocked to see almost everyone from the village has gathered there.

Natsume then asked, "What's going on here?"

One of the villagers saw them and shouted into the house, "Mikan's back! Ji-chan, your precious granddaughter is back."

Another villager then said, "Natsume-kun, bring Mikan-chan in quickly. Her Ji-chan is dying soon."

Hearing the news, Mikan immediately struggled to get down and she quickly ran in to the house, with Natsume following behind her. Hotaru and Ruka, together with Hotaru's nii-chan is accompanying Ji-chan. When they saw Mikan and Natsume, they quickly left a place for them.

"Ji-chan, can you heard mi? I'm Mikan." Mikan said, tears spilling out.

Ji-chan opened his eyes forcefully and looked at Natsume and Mikan.

"Okaeri, Natsume-kun, Mikan-chan." He said softly. "Mikan, I think my time is almost up for me already… I can't see you growing up anymore… You have to be more careful and stop putting yourself in danger." He then said, holding Mikan's hand. "Natsume-kun… Please take care of my granddaughter… for me…. Please take over my place of… protecting her." He then said to Natsume, holding his hand.

"I…I will, Ji-chan." Natsume said. 'I'll protect her will all of my power.' He then mentally said.

He then smiled, "One last thing, Mikan-chan, Natsume-kun, can you both smiled for me? Ruka-kun and Hotaru-chan too; I wish to see you kodomos sending me off with a smile, but not your tears."

Hotaru and Ruka immediately forced out a smile, but Mikan still crying.

"Don't let your Ji-chan worried about you before his death. This is his last wish, so do it for him." Natsume whispered.

Mikan nodded and tried off her tears. She then forcefully smiled with Natsume. Seeing their smiles, Ji-chan also smiled and closed his eyes, letting go of Mikan and Natsume's hand. He died peacefully as he knows someone will be taking care of his precious granddaughter.