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Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen alice

Chapter 2

Mikan woke up in a luxurious bed. It took her a moment to realize where she was. As soon as she remembered, she turned to check on Kia, who was sleeping peacefully. She smiled at her angelic face. Kia was 4 and half years old, had raven hair but other than that, she was an exact replica of Mikan. Only other difference being that she was still an innocent child who believed that there was something good in everyone. She still had her innocence while Mikan had learnt not to give her trust to anyone, the hard way.

Pushing her depressing thoughts aside, Mikan jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. She washed and then put on fresh clothes, which were in her rucksack and then went out to get breakfast from the fridge, which Hyugga had mentioned to her last night.

She was not expecting company, as it was still quite early. It still amazed her how even a little sleep could completely rejuvenate her now, while before she used to oversleep all the time.

"Times change." She muttered to herself as she walked into the living room.

She was surprised to find both Natsume and Ruka there, eating sandwiches and chatting. Well actually, Ruka was talking, and Natsume was listening.

He stopped speaking as soon as he noticed Mikan, and smiled at her.

"Good morning" Mikan said smiling back.

"Good Morning to you too."

"Hn"

She picked up a carton of juice and a sandwich and turned to go back to her room when Natsume stopped her.

"You can eat here."

"Yeah I know, but what if Kia wakes up while I am here?"

He did not try to stop her a second time.

Kia woke up around half an hour later. Her fever had gone down considerably, which pleased Mikan a lot.

"Sis?"

"Yeah, Kia, I am right here. Don't worry okay. Let me get you some breakfast sweetie. I will be back in a jiffy. I'll tell you everything then."

Kia nodded. While her sister got breakfast, she went to he bathroom to freshen up. Although she had an air of innocence about her, it was only her sister in whom she trusted completely.

Mikan's POV

Natsume and Ruka were still talking when I went out to get Kia's breakfast.

"Kia is awake. She is much better now. Thank you." I said to Natsume who just shrugged.

As I was leaving he said, "We need to talk as soon as possible."

"Of course." I had been expecting that.

I went in and as Kia ate, I put finishing touches to my plan, and gave her a few instructions.

"You promise Kia?"

"Yep."

"Good girl, now go to sleep."

I tucked her in for a nap and went outside to face my savior.

I knew it was going to be tough. I just didn't know how tough.

I entered the living room again, to find that two more guys had joined Ruka and Natsume. One with light brown hair while the other was blonde.They introduced themselves as Kokoroyomi and Yuu Tobita. I guess I'll have to tell my story to 4 guys instead of 2.

This just keeps getting better and better.

"As I already told you, my name is Mikan Hanabishi. My parents died in an accident sometime back. I can manage very well myself but my aunt insisted that we move in with her, in the country. All our stuff was moved there yesterday and she was supposed to pick us but did not turn up. I kept on waiting but at the same time Kia's fever was going up. So I did all the things that I was supposed to do when she came, and decided to go the hospital. I had my cell phone, although I was not able to get through to her, I was sure she'd call me whenever she got to the house. I met those thugs on the way. I would have taught them a good lesson, if Kia had not been ill. So your help could not have come at a better moment."

"What is the name of your aunt?" Natsume asked.

"Tusuza Hanabishi, she's my father's sister." I explained.

I was expecting the start of a more thorough interrogation but then he did something completely unexpected. He picked up his cell, made a call and said " Tusuza Hanabishi, get me everything."

This guy was amazing.

Then he looked straight at me and said calmly " I'll find your aunt and until your sister gets better you will stay here. She can take you when Kia is well."

I don't believe him, how dare he order me around. But before I could say anything, he got up and walked out with his friends.

Guess I'll just have to swallow my pride for now.

After lunch, I got to meet the rest of Natsume's gang. I had met all the guys in the morning, except Tsubasa. In the girls there was Hotaru, Ruka's girlfriend, Anna with Yuu, Nonoko with Koko and Misaki, Tsubasa's girl.

They were all nice and we got on pretty well considering just how different our backgrounds were, but then again we were not that different.

It seemed so long since I was able to relax like this, and hang out with people my own age. Well not exactly. Only Anna and Nonoko were 17 like me, everyone else was 18.

The guys spent the time playing in the arcade; Koko and Ruka are crazy video gamers while Natsume, Yuu and Tsubasa played pool. I had Kia on my lap and was listening to the chatting of the girls, while playing with her. It felt so nice, to just sit and relax.

Although at first I had thought that these rich girls would be fake and complete snobs, now I know better. They are sweet, gentle and accepting. They held no prejudices for me, although I was so far apart from them. It was amazing to see them treating me as an equal.

Then Anna gave me an odd look.

"Mikan if you only had basic things with you then you wont be having many clothes right now? Right?"

"Umm yeah. But I can mange easily."

But she did not listen after the yeah. All the girls except Hotaru, who was working on her Laptop, started chattering excitedly.

Suddenly Misaki jumped up and shouted at the guys, "We're going shopping. Mikan and Kia need some new clothes."

There were different sounds from the guys all meaning the same thing, DO WHAT YOU WANT, BUT DO NOT DISTURB US!!

All the girls stepped out and dragged me along. Kia was in Hotaru's arms now.

I was apprehensive about this. What if someone recognized me? What will I do then? But I could not refuse without a satisfactory reason, else it was all over, and the sanctuary I wanted to last a few days would be gone as quickly as it had come.

All I could do was pray that my cover did not get blown.

Normal POV

They went to the best malls in town. Mikan was unfazed, but Kia was impressed. They bought a lot of clothes out of which a large number was for Mikan. No one gave any thought to her protests about the bills they were paying for her.

"It's fun to shop for someone." Nonoko told her.

Mikan gave up when she realized that there was nothing at all she could about this. It was 3 hours later that they got back to Hyugga mansion. The girls showed the guys the shopping and then Mikan and Kia were shooed into their room to wear their new dresses for dinner. It seemed no one was listening to Mikan's objections, when Kia said softly, "No use sis, they care, unlike them."

That silenced Mikan as she gazed at Kia, then nodded and went in to change.

Unknown to her Natsume had closely observed the whole scene.