EXODUS

Chapter Sixteen: Lost and Found

Misha Sakurai fought to catch his breath and was both insulted and grateful when Natsume stopped three branches in front of him, even when he didn't have the decency to pretend he was out of breath.

He was slightly ashamed because he knew the sole reason Natsume stopped when he did was because he was waiting for him.

He wiped a hand at the sweat sliding down his throat, his light brown eyes peeked out of his mess of black hair at the figure that seemed to be meld into the darkness and suppressed a shiver of both tension and awe.

Natsume, himself however, was pondering on the lights that used to give him only dread, but was now a welcoming sight.

"Why do you think Persona abandoned us at the middle of our mission?"

Natsume narrowed his eyes but didn't look at the boy who questioned him, he was still young, ten years old if you want to be precise; still much too reckless and brash to ever go for any high risk missions but today Natsume got the short straw. Besides, it was only a recon mission anyway.

Between missions, guard duty and investigating the breach, the dangerous ability was stretched a little thin.

It came to the point that Persona also joined them for the mission but he bailed on them an hour into the mission.

Natsume's brain itched to find out what was important enough for risking Persona's wrath but voicing the curiosity will only encourage the boy. Something that he refused to do.

"Never you mind, Sakurai, That's none of your business."

Misha hunched his shoulders and thumbed his mask up, his sweet countenance made even sweeter by the pout that puckered his lips. Since he was still young enough to be cute, damn if he didn't use it.

It was a lost cause, since Natsume didn't even look at him.

"But aren't you curious?"

He was, naturally, but it was better for the rookie to learn not to poke his nose in anyone's business as soon as possible. He was already obnoxious enough that no senior of any rank wanted to take him, though some had mulled over the option of taking him out.

There was no other choice really; he lied through his teeth. "No."

"You're lying aren't you?" The question throbbed with false bravado, at the very least, Natsume thought, the kid had some sense to actually feel scared when he accused his of lying, unfortunately he didn't have the self restraint to stop before he said it.

A burst of cold breeze brushed over Natsume's damp skin but it wasn't that which made his skin crawl.

Blood was in the air.

He held up a hand, stopping the younger operatives chatter as he lifted off his mask and sniff the air.

A second later both of them crouched low in defense when they sensed some close but relaxed when they saw a familiar blur.

Leo landed in a silent crouch at the tree branch in front of them.

"You know better than to surprise us that way." Natsume chided the russet haired teenager.

Misha unconsciously shrank shoulders at the tone in Natsume's voice but Leo merely huffed as he catch his breath. The urgent look in his eyes caught their attention.

"Another breach?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah, but that's not the problem."

Misha saw Leo glanced at him and glared at his senior officer. "You can talk in front of me. I won't blab."

Natsume made an impatient noise. "How far did they penetrate?"

"Not far. They stayed in the woods. But that's not the problem."

"You caught them?"

"No. They've escaped."

"How did that happen?" Misha shut his mouth when two steely glances skewered him in place.

"How many hostiles?"

Leo's green eyes flickered again to Misha. "We formed a search party at the southern forest, discreetly of course. With all the trouble you're in, you don't need to add up to it."

Misha could almost see the tension rising off of Natsume.

"Search party? For what?"

"A student was out walking." He stared meaningfully at Natsume, he seemed very unwilling to divulge the name of the student for some reason.

"Who?" The whispery tone in Natsume's voice sent shivers down Misha's spine.

"I thought they got it wrong so I checked in with her friends. She's not in her room."

"Who?"

Leo's handsome face twisted with nerves. "You know who."

Misha had never saw anyone moved that fast.

"Dammit." Leo cursed low in his throat, but snapped an order. "Get to headquarters, debrief. If you whisper anything about this to anyone..."

"I can help."

"I said.."

"I heard what you said and I can keep a secret. You need help."

Leo squinted in the dark to find Natsume's silhouette but found another. "Fine. Stay close."

Misha flashed a grin. "Sweet."

Leo rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath. When they've finally reached their destination, Natsume was crouching low over the wet earth, mud clinging to his trousers and shoes." Her tracks changed here. " He paused and touched his fingers to the imprint of Mikan's shoes, struggling to not panic, struggling to believe that she was okay. "This is where she ran."

Nobara entered from the tree lines at his left, her pretty face anxious. "I found tracks on the trees behind us."

"I found signs of occupation three trees down." Leo took a deep breath, the ticking seconds only made him even more tense. He didn't like that the hostiles got so close to the dorms, he also didn't like the million questions that fought in his mind. "There were at least four of them."

"That coincides with what Ima's team told us."

Natsume tilted his head towards Nobara and the others; there were three other dangerous abilities either than Misha, Nobara and Leo; Quin, Kai and Makoto. Natsume was surprised but not worried when he saw them here, he worked with the three boys often and knew that they were as discreet as they were good.

"Ima's team passed here on the way back from a mission, they noticed something was wrong and went to investigate.." Kai answered the question in Natsume's eyes; his back straight , his blue black eyes straight as if he was reporting to his superior, which of course, he was.

"How did they escape?"

Quin shuffled his feet but when Natsume's crimson eyes moved to him, he straightened. "Ima's was a team of three, Hyuuga. They fought them as well as they could, giving...Sakura Mikan a head start but they came back from a three day mission. They were wounded, tired..."

"Where are they now?"

Makoto combed his fingers trough his black hair, shivering in the cold. "Infirmary"

"She said anything else?"

"There were actually six intruders but only four were active. They were fast, coordinated, controlled." A shaft of moonlight fell upon Quin, his pale, pale skin was even more unnatural in the dark.

Leo rubbed his nose, Natsume was way too controlled, way to calm about all this. He didn't like it. "She helped, Hyuuga. She fought, she got her licks in."

Natsume traced a long gash on a tree beside him. "She would." He said under his breath. "Damn, baka."

Natsume led the way to their training grounds, following her tracks, imagining her movements.

"She shouldn't have been so obvious." Misha scrutinized the shafts of broken bushes to his right as he passed them. "A blind man can follow her."

Leo, slapped the side of the younger boy's head with the flat of his hand. "They were smart and strong enough to fight off Ima's team. Do you really think she had a chance of hiding from them, you idiot? Being subtle would've only slowed her down."

Misha shrugged, in truth, he was surprised that she went as far as this without being caught; she was fast, agile, strong.

His brown eyes watched as Natsume cleared over the bushes, they reached a clearing in the forest where the earth was distubred by several footprints.

Again, Natsume crouched low. "She was cornered here, fought to get away." Natsume pictured the fight in his mind, trying to separate himself from his heart. "She fell here, crawled away." He touched the spot where Mikan fell, his mind supplying him with the images of Mikan's anxious face as she fought the intruders away.

"She was scared, tired." Nobara stood beside Natsume. "But she kept fighting."

A clear imprint of a large shoe stood in front of Mikan's hand prints. "She was cut off here, pulled to her knees."

"That's probably when Ima's team caught up and fought them. They held the hostiles off, giving Sakura time to run." Leo spread his gaze around the rings of trees. "It was fifteen minutes into the fight that she ran."

"It was raining, she ran blind. The rain fell heavily by that time. She could be anywhere." Misha tossed in his two cents.

The tense silence was broken by Natsume. "No, she's still here."

"Natsume, we've searched everywhere." Leo winced when Nobara elbowed him but pressed on."Maybe we should wait for morning and ask for help-"

"No need."

"But-"

"I said no need."

Nobara bit her lip. "Natsume..."

"She's still here."

Quin was cold and hungry, stung by the careless way Natsume waved away their help without so much as a thank you. "How do you know?"

"Because that's what I told her to do."

Quin sneered and ignored the incessant dig of Makoto's elbow on his side. "And she always do what you tell her to do?"

Natsume stopped, a small smile on his lips. "Not really."

"So-"

Leo grasped Quin's collar and jerked him back. "Shut up and let the man work."

Natsume lifted an eyebrow towards the russet haired boy who shrugged. "You have a plan."

It wasn't a question.

Natsume flexed his shoulders and reached inside himself and not a second longer; fire danced and slicked the earth from where he stood. Dangerously beautiful, it covered the ground like a fiery carpet.

The dangerous abilities flinched when the fire flared closer but the fire didn't touch them, when Natsume moved, they followed him, confused by what he was doing, but then they saw it.

Here and there, his fire disappeared in empty spots that strangely looked like foot prints.

"She never could control her Alice that good." He mumbled.

Awed and curious, they followed Natsume fast progressed towards the forest, following the empty spots. He stopped in front of a short, fat dead tree that was tangled and smothered by vines. Misha thought that it looked extraordinarily like an angry dwarf.

When the fire covered the tree, it broke into tiny sparks that glowed in the dark like fiery stars.

"She can't possibly hide there, the tree is way too small-" Kai broke off when Natsume pulled off the vines so he could squeeze in the hollow trunk.

Natsume's breath hitched in his throat for there in the hollow trunk, in a hold dug in the ground was Mikan, curled into a ball, drench and dirty.

Natsume took a second to blink, just to make sure it was really her and not a figment of his imagination.

Nobara froze the hampering vine and then all of them broke them easily enough. "Mikan-chan." Nobara called out to her, but it was Natsume's warm hands that made her amber eyes opened into slits.

Something inside Natsume broke when a wide and sincere smile broke across her dirty and exhausted face. He reached his trembling hands and saw that hers were equally dirty; her palms were cut up, the nails broken and chipped, the skin on her arms, bloodied and torn.

He fought to breath when he saw the deep cut on her right shoulder, the strands of honey gilded hair cut haphazardly at their ends. It showed how close they got to her.

The need to hold her, feel her clawed up his throat so he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her out.

He held her longer than necessary but raised his head when she murmured something across the skin of his neck. "What?"

"You came." Her voice was raspy, harsh and so soft. "I waited and you came. Just like you said." She sighed softly and tucked her head at the crook of his shoulder.

Nobara let out a relieved breath. "She's unconscious, we should get her to the hospital."

"No."

"Natsume."

Leo's hand touched Nobara's shoulder, silencing her. "If we bring her to the hospital, All of our discretion will be useless."

Natsume hitched her up in his arms where she lied quietly, her face, calm and content. "I'll take her to our dorm. Everything we need is probably already prepared."

Kai wrinkled his brow. "How do you know?"

Natsume gathered her close against his chest, giving his warmth to her, he took a moment to feel her weight on his arms, feel the slide if her wet hair against his skin, her warm breath on his neck, for themoment he brushed away the questions and suspicions and concentrated on feeling her.

"The same way that I know that she was still here."

A wry smile was on Natsume's lips when a second before Nobara can, the door to his room opened and familiar faces filled the opening.

Hotaru jerked her head towards the bathroom. "Carry her to the bathroom. We have to warm her up."

The dangerous ability blinked as they watched Anna and Nonoko followed Hotaru's lead, bringing along a tray of hot tea and stacks of towels. Ruka was preparing the bed, while Yuu gathered up a huge first aid kit and put it on the table that Monchu moved closer to the bedside with sweep of his hand. Sumire was filling up heater bottles and thick blankets.

Leo blinked when a dirty rag appeared at his face and followed the hand that offered it. Kitsuneme blinked his slanted eyes. "You're wet."

The older boy glanced at the dirty and smelly rag, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "No, thanks."

Koko chuckled. "Not for you. The floor. You dripping on the floor."

Leo blinked, looked down and fought the urge to squirm, suddenly feeling out of place in the warm, friendly yet anxious atmosphere. He sent a sharp glance towards the four younger boys behind him when they snickered.

"Thanks." He took the dirty rag from Koko, and like the good leader that he was, delegated. "Here, Misha. Don't miss anything."

The smug smile on Misha's face disappeared as quickly as it appeared.