Ohayo minna-san! I'm back with another update! 'Secrets' was just recently updated so i am unabashedly promoting my stories... head on over there and Review! ;)

And I posted a new story (replacing 'Time After Time'), the title is 'Philophobia', I hope you check it out and leave some reviews for me, ne? ;)

xoxo Lexi1989


Previously:

She ran towards the teen who was knocked out cold from the impact. And then moments later she could feel the mist closing in around them. The wind whipped her hair in all directions. She held on tightly to Natsume who was lying on the ground. There was a loud whirring in her ears and she was beginning to feel suffocated. The next thing she knew, something hit her, and then her vision slowly faded into darkness.


CHAPTER 5: Strange Forest Yokais

Mikan awoke with an aching back, gasping loudly for air as if she had been drowning in the ocean and just reached the surface. She sat up, realizing that the pain on her back that was making her wince was that of her wings being crushed under her weight. Her hair was disheveled and she blinked in the darkness, trying to make sense of where she was. She could barely see, with clouds covering the moon and stars in the sky.

She suddenly remembered what happened and began to feel around her, looking for Natsume.

"Natsume?" She whispered in the darkness, afraid of finding anything else other than him.

She stood on wobbly legs, and held on to the trunks of the trees surrounding her for support. Taking a few steps until she felt that she could walk slowly, she stumbled on a tree root and tumbled back on the ground. It was a good thing something soft cushioned her fall. She felt surprised after hearing a familiar voice groan beneath her.

"Natsume!" she whispered in relief as the teenage boy sat up rubbing his stomach where Mikan had landed.

"Geez ugly, what are you trying to do? Squish me to death?" He said irritably.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you in the dark and I was trying to find you."

"What happened?"

"You got knocked out cold in the mist and fell a few feet from the air, I got knocked out too. I don't know where we are. We don't seem to be in the clearing or the grove." Natsume looked around and realized she was right. They needed to find Hotaru fast.

A snapping of a twig diverted their attention behind them. There were two people standing behind them.

"Oh thank goodness. Can you help us? We're lost!" Mikan exclaimed walking towards the two people before she was roughly pulled back by the arm by Natsume.

"Didn't your grandfather teach you not to talk to strangers?" He was annoyed she could be so gullible to trust people in the middle of the forest.

"Now, now, no need to get all pissy my dear handsome boy…" As if by magic, the clouds parted and gave way for the moon and stars to shine their light down towards the forest. The person whose voice belonged to was a tall, long haired, lanky guy. But the guy also looked like a girl, with long orange hair, pretty blue eyes and a girly voice.

He was wearing a black turtleneck shirt under a black jacket made of deerskin and trousers made of the same cloth. He had an eerie smile on his lipstick clad lips which scared Mikan who hid behind Natsume. The other person, was also a guy, had dark hair and a face half covered with a mask made of bandage that reached down to his neck. His uncovered eye was grey colored and he looked bored. He was wearing a similar outfit although his was of a lighter shade than his orange haired companion.

"Who are you?" Natsume stood in front of Mikan shielding her from the two.

"For you my dear, I can be anyone you want.." Said the first guy, giving Natsume a flirty wink earning a dangerous glare in return.

"Who are you?" The firecaster repeated in an angrier tone summoning a flame in his hand.

"Alright, alright, no need to get all mad at me cutie…" The orange haired guy put up two hands as if in surrender while his companion stared at Natsume oddly, ignoring the threat of the flame on his hand.

"Names, now or else, I will burn you two…" Natsume didn't know if his powers could really burn them, but they didn't need to know that.

"My name is Rui Amane, and this.." He gestured to his companion. "…is Hajime Yakumo."

"What are you doing in the middle of the forest?" Mikan couldn't help but ask from behind Natsume whose eyebrow twitched.

"We should be asking you that, dear little fairie girl… " The girly guy twirled in place with his hands outstretched making both Natsume and Mikan take a few steps back as he approached them.

"The forest is our home… and we are the Yokai in the Alician forest. You are not where you are supposed to be…" Rui tittered on tiptoe closely towards the two teenagers.

"Yo-Yo—Yo-kai?" Mikan cowered behind Natsume as Rui came closer and closer to them.

"What do you want from us?" Natsume asked as they continued to walk backwards, trying to get away from Rui who now had a menacing look in his eyes.

"Hmmmm…" Rui stopped dead in his tracks and had his finger near his mouth, and a thoughtful expression on his face as if in deep thought. He stood frozen like that, until he seemed to have gotten an idea wherein his face lit up.

"I just want to have fun with you." Rui said with a straight face, looking more girly than manly which despite his brave façade, was making Natsume a bit apprehensive. He'd heard many tales of people disappearing from the forest, all due to the residing Yokai that would enchant and lure the townspeople from the different kingdoms that travelled outside the roads.

Rui approached him, summoning a thick mist from his hands which creeped out towards Mikan and Natsume who were backed up against a tree.

Natsume, who, at this time had yet to perfect the use of his powers, tried to aim fireballs at Rui but the latter was much too fast for him and was able to dodge the fireballs easily.

"Tsk tsk.." He said wagging a finger at Natsume. "Be a good boy and come with us."

All of a sudden, a wall of insects rose up in the space between Mikan and Natsume and crawled all over Mikan, creating a dome that covered her against the tree, making it hard for Natsume to get to her. It was the work of Hajime who had the power to manipulate insects in the forest.

"MIKAN!" Natsume screamed as he tried to pry off the insects much to no avail.

The distraction made it easier for Rui to wrap his mist around Natsume, binding his hands together at his side, and the teenage fairie fell on the ground, struggling to get loose. Rui walked over gingerly to him, and grasped his chin with his dainty little fingers. He brought Natsume's face close to his, and laughed as Natsume's eyes flamed with anger.

"Let her go." He hissed at his captor.

"Now, now, you don't need to burden yourself with such an ugly little girl. You'll make a nice companion for our little Yokai princess." Rui planted a small kiss on the side of Natsume's cheek which made him feel weak.

"I put a sweet little curse on you my dear lovely boy. Don't worry. I won't kill you… but I can't say the same for your little fairie friend over there." Natsume stopped struggling knowing there wasn't anything he could do. He winced as he heard Mikan scream for help, still trapped underneath the dome of insects. He could feel the curse in his body weakening him. He couldn't summon his powers and he felt useless that he couldn't do anything to save Mikan and himself from the powers of the forest Yokai.

He was about to abandon all hope when he felt the hold of the mist around him loosening. He turned towards Mikan and found the wall of insects had tumbled to the ground with the insects scattering in all directions. He slowly stood and made his way towards the crying fairie who was on her knees. He unconsciously wrapped his hands around her, trying to soothe her.

"Shhhhh..It's alright. I'm here." He ran his hands on her silky hair which, despite the ordeal, still faintly smelled like strawberries. When he looked up he saw a young boy holding a stick shaped like a wishbone a few yards away.

The little boy was wearing peasant's clothes, much like what can be seen in the towns of the different surrounding kingdoms. The boy was standing over the knocked out bodies of the two Yokais and had a smirk on his face. He looked to be about three years old with grey-brown hair and grey eyes. Natsume sensed he was also a Yokai, as a boy of three would not be able to survive in this dangerous forest alone much more knock two full adult sized Yokai and knock them out cold. He went on the defensive, placing Mikan once again behind him and summoning a small flame in his hand in case this boy decided to attack. He could still feel the curse that Rui placed on his body but it was weaker now that Rui was unconscious. When the boy did nothing but look at them, he put out the flame and walked towards the boy.

"What's your name?" He asked as he knelt on the ground to come face to face with the boy. Mikan followed suit but stayed behind him, a little frazzled but seemingly enchanted with the cute little boy in front of them.

"Me, Youichi." The boy said calmly.

"Are you a Yokai too?" Mikan eyes widened as the boy nodded in the affirmative. Natsume made her step back, away from the boy, afraid that he might be tricking them. He was determined to protect Mikan at all costs. He was surprised to have Mikan side step him and walk towards the boy.

"You, Fairie?" The boy named Youichi asked as his eyes travelled back and forth from Mikan to Natsume, particularly staring at their wings. They both nodded.

"You're not going to hurt us, are you?" The boy once again stood silent but shook his head.

"Can you show us the way back to the oak grove?" The boy looked up thoughtfully at Mikan and shook his head as Natsume sighed in exasperation.

"Can't you talk?" He said a bit harshly much to Mikan's chagrin.

"Natsume!" She swatted his shoulder with her hand. "You don't talk to a small, defenseless, innocent child like that!"

She approached Youichi with a small smile and attempted to hold his hand when Youichi suddenly slapped her hand with the small wishbone shaped stick he was holding.

"OW!" She pulled back her hand and frowned at the young boy.

"What did you do that for?" The boy shrugged and turned away from her.

"He's a defenseless child alright…" Natsume muttered as Mikan rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him.

"Should we follow him?" Mikan looked at the small figure walking away from them.

"Why? He already said he can't take us back to the grove. We're lost. We might as well find our own way."

"Well, it's better than staying with those guys. And plus, he's a kid, he might get hurt if these two wake up." She pointed to the two out cold Yokais on the ground.

"Whatever." He responded.

They took a few steps towards the cluster of trees that Youichi walked towards and found the young boy standing beyond the trees and looking in their direction, as if he was waiting for them. Once they had caught up, he nodded and then turned once again to walk away, maintaining his distance, but checking back once in awhile to make sure the two were still following him. A half hour had passed and they began to wonder where the little boy was taking them.

"You-chan?" Mikan called out to the young boy who stopped and looked at her in acknowledgement. His face crinkled at the nickname she gave him.

"Where exactly are we going?" The young boy pointed in the same direction they were walking towards which was deeper into the forest.

Another half hour passed and Natsume was beginning to get quite pissed off at being led to the middle of nowhere in the forest. The trees were all condensed so there was nothing he could see but trees for miles on end.

"Are we there yet?" He asked from time to time but the little boy leading them paid no heed and continued walking.

It wasn't until they reached the base of a big mountain that Natsume and Mikan realized where the boy was taking them. They'd reached the enchanted Alice Mountain in the middle of the forest. Most history and folklore books described this mountain as the home of the powerful Alician Forest Yokais. Youichi stopped near a formation of rocks at the base of the mountain and tapped on it with his stick.

A small opening appeared on the face of the mountain and the boy stopped at the entrance and stared at them as if waiting for them to follow. When they stood their ground, the little boy huffed, as if annoyed and walked back towards them, standing outside the entrance. He began to poke Natsume with his stick. At first Natsume tried to ignore it, but soon, after so many pokes he grew irritated and reached out to grab the boy's arm to stop him from all the poking.

Just as his hands were about to reach Youichi's arm, a young woman emerged from the entrance at the side of the mountain.

"DO NOT TOUCH HIM!" She said in an authoritative tone.

Youichi turned towards the voice and a smile lit up his face. He ran towards the young woman and she knelt down to envelope him into a tight hug.

"Onee-chan!"

END OF CHAPTER 5


You may remember Rui (Curse Alice) and Hajime (Insect Pheromone Alice) from the manga. And of course little Youichi .. XD

He is small but he ain't defenseless, that's for sure!

And who do you think 'onee-chan' is? Care to guess?

Those who get the right answer will have the next chapter dedicated to them ;)


Derp1Derp2 – Rui and Hajime happened. lol.. the mist is part of Rui's curse power and as for what Natsume wanted to tell her, that's a secret for now. ;)

Anilissa – Well Yokai are spirits too, at least that's what Wikipedia and Google told me. hahaha They can be malevolent, or playful or even good. We now know that Rui and Hajime are the bad kind.. and Mikan hasn't had proper training with her power much less know what it is (they haven't figured it out yet) so she doesn't know how to use it for now. She's still starting to discover it and trying to master the art of flying :D

newroz – i am all good and better now ;) and well, Rui's cursing mist/power is what happened and since Mikan doesn't know what her powers are she wasn't able to use them to defend herself and Natsume.

Drinkmetomadness - I'm glad you liked it. This is actually my first attempt at a fantasy/supernatural story as you can see from my previous ones.. i tend to lean more on the modern AU fics. XD


STORY CYCLE UPDATE

Starting Over Again - The Scam - Philophobia - Secrets - Fairie Tales

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Ja Ne!

xoxo Lexi1989