Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice. Higuchi Tachibana has all the rights!
This chapter is extremely long, sorry! I hope you will still enjoy it though. Please review and tell me what you think! It'll make my day! and it will motivate me to write faster hehe
Natsume's POV
Isn't this that idiot's bike? What is doing here? A bag of fruits had spilled out and it looked like the bike was abruptly pushed off to the side.
I observed the park and saw some guys getting into a car. I looked a little closer and saw a girl with two pigtails slumped in a lifeless heap being dragged into the car. Don't tell me that's her… That stupid, reckless airhead. Getting caught so easily, does she really work for JIA?
I grabbed her bike and waited until the car took off. I trailed closely behind it, straying from the road and taking shortcuts.
I stood at the doorway, tossing an apple up and down over and over again.
"Where's that idiot girl?" I asked monotonously. One of the men pulled her up by her hair. She shrieked in pain.
"Do you want your little friend back?" he said with a dry smile, "Then, come and-"
"I don't remember saying that I wanted her back," I smirked, "I don't care what you do with her. But I'm hungry and I saw all the food she bought."
The men looked at me strangely. "You don't care?" one of them asked.
"Suit yourself," I shrugged emotionlessly, "But without her, I'm not getting dinner, and that's going to be a problem."
"Nat. Su. me…" I could hear her clenching her teeth and boiling with anger. "Untie me!"
All of the guys holding clubs charged. I jumped, grabbing the top of the doorway, and then swung myself out, kicking two of the men. I grabbed the club that had fallen out of his hands. Five more of the men holding clubs were circled around me. I charged in the direction of that idiot girl, whacking three of the men in the process. One of them managed to hit my arm twice and then one slash on my back. Tch. Damn these morons.
"Natsume! Behind you!" she screamed. I turned around and quickly blocked it with my forearm. He was going to hit my head with this. I turned around again so that he was right over my shoulder, and threw him down.
"This is so annoying," I muttered.
"Now untie me!" she shrieked. I sighed and calmly walked over. Everyone was gathered around the leader sitting on the couch, observing me.
"Why is he holding a girl?" I asked.
"He kidnapped her," she mumbled, "I have to get her back." I untied the ropes that were secured around her feet and her hands.
She stood up and walked over to the leader. I noticed a gash of dried blood on her leg and her arm. He was chuckling as if he was amused. Boldly, she grabbed the girl by the waist from the man and untied her.
"Hn. Do you really think that we would let you leave? You persistent brats." he snarled. All of his men were circled around us.
"The police are outside right now. So, I think the answer to that is yes." I snickered sarcastically.
The whole incident was wrapped up smoothly. The police took care of everything after that. The little girl was returned to her parents. It turned out that the yakuza were adding on excessive interest to their debt without any notice.
"Arigato!" the little girl squeaked, "Arigato, onee-chan, onii-chan!"
The idiot smiled saying, "Matanee! Bye bye!" She's so annoying. I hate that annoying smile of hers. Is it possible for someone to be this annoying?
"Natsume," she cleared her throat, "A-Arigato for—"
"I wasn't trying to save you. Don't get any ideas. I'm just hungry, that's all."
She bit her lip. "You wasted all my apples! You owe me at least 10 apples!"
"What happened to you? Did you fall?" I pointed to her injured arm and leg.
"N-No! I didn't fall. Well, not on accident. They yanked me off my bike. But whatever, let's go home."
Mikan's POV
I can't tell what he's thinking. Him and his stupid face that displays no emotion whatsoever! That whole time we were dealing with the yakuza, he kept his calm and cool façade.
I walked back with my bike to the apartment with him.
"What do you want for dinner tonight?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"I don't care. Anything's fine."
"You should just eat at my place, so I don't have to bring another bowl over."
Natsume sat on the couch, flipping through the channels and finally decided upon an anime show. I cooked up some carrots and tofu and made onigiri. I arranged it neatly onto two plates and brought it over to the couch. I plopped down next to him and set his plate on the coffee table in front of us. As he reached forward to grab it, I noticed him slightly flinching.
"Natsume! Are you injured?"
"What? It's nothing, don't worry about it." He shrugged.
I grabbed his arm and he winced in pain. "You are!" I said, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not a big deal. I'm fine."
I took a bite into one of the onigiri and set my plate down. I grabbed some herbal balm and a bandage from one of the cabinets.
"Take your shirt off," I commanded.
"Why? I think you're the pervert here." He smirked.
"D-Don't get the wrong idea! I was just going to take a look at your shoulder. You got hit there pretty hard, didn't you? And your forearm too…"
"No," he bluntly refused. I forcefully lifted his shirt up to take a look at his shoulder, but I met with a surprise when I saw all the scars and wounds on his back.
"Natsume…" I said hesitantly, "Ne, what happened?" I reached out, hands hovering gently over the scars on his back.
"I told you, it's nothing." Nothing? This can't possibly be nothing. I looked at a long slash along his upper back and several scars and wounds on his lower back.
"You want me to take my shirt off, right? Fine, here." His upper body was completely exposed. My cheeks were starting to turn red and I quickly saw the huge purple bruise swelling on his left shoulder. I looked away as I rubbed some herbal balm onto it.
"Gomene, Natsume," I said, starting to wrap his shoulder up in a bandage. He was athletically built—muscular, but not the bulky type. As I wrapped his arm, I could feel his muscular biceps.
"You idiot," he sneered, "Why are you apologizing?"
"I don't know what kind of a past you've had, and I understand that you don't want to share it. But at least tell me now when you get injured or something. If I didn't get caught, I could've gotten out of that mess myself, but because I did, you had to help. And so you got hurt because I was simply too weak and—"
"BA-KA. Stop fussing over nothing. It's not your fault."
I finished wrapping his shoulder. "P-Put your shirt back on," I mumbled, "And we're supposed to be partners! So, tell me when something like this happens. Please."
"Okay, I got it. Stop fussing about it now, you ugly baby walrus."
"No, ugly!" I picked up my plate and began to eat again.
"Pig," he smirked. Just then, the TV screen notified us of an incoming call from Narumi-sensei.
"Narumi-sensei!" I yelled at the screen. He was smiling, until he saw Natsume.
"Mikan, what is Natsume doing in your apartment? And why didn't you answer earlier?"
"Ehehe… we got held up," I giggled nervously, "And we're eating dinner together." I showed him my plate full of food and took another big bite into an onigiri.
"This idiot here acted without thinking and got into some trouble with the yakuza. I tried to keep a low profile, but this idiot here…" he said grimly.
"Mikan! Daijoubu? Are you hurt? What happened?"
"I'm fine! But, Natsume… because of me, Natsume hurt his—"
"Damare. You're so nosy. But Naru, shouldn't you tell her what she's really here for?" Natsume interrupted.
"What do you mean, Natsume?" Narumi-sensei asked.
"Don't play dumb. I know we're not here to protect some documents. That doesn't make sense."
"Of course, Natsume," Narumi-sensei sighed, "You've caught on as easy as that."
"What am I really here for? What are you talking about?"
"Mikan, listen to me. Gomene, but I lied to you. It was for your own safety and it was for the best. There are no documents hidden in the school, however the headmaster is in possession of some very important documents. There are three of them, and if they aren't handled properly, we could be in huge trouble. We do not trust him, but we cannot cause any disturbances. The real reason why I sent you so early was because some of his henchmen were suspicious of you. They think your parents passed something on to you. This was for your safety. At the same time, I want you to now keep an eye on the headmaster and retrieve those documents. He is a very dangerous and powerful man, so please be careful. Gomen, Mikan. I couldn't afford to tell you and put you in anymore danger until someone came to help you. Gomen."
I was speechless. These past years… my mission was a lie.
"Narumi-sensei…" I said, "I… I understand. Really, I do. But you know, I hate when people lie more than anything."
"Mikan, gomen. But now that Natsume is your partner, I want you to infiltrate the upcoming ball and banquet. To do so, both of you must be one of the top five students in your exams which are four days from now. Good luck. Mikan, please try to understand me. I'm very sorry." The screen closed off.
"Ba-ka," Natsume said, "You are really naïve. This is why someone like you doesn't belong in this type of stuff."
"Natsume… I really thought I could trust Narumi-sensei. I know he did it for my sake, but what I believed these past two years—it was all a lie. Whatever."
Natsume grabbed a bandaid from the first aid box and grabbed my arm. "There's a huge cut on your arm," he said, "and your leg too."
"Arigato, Natsume." I smiled at him, "Sorry about today."
"Tch. Baka, I already told you to forget it, didn't I? And your food is getting cold."
He's right. I quickly finished my onigiris and the carrots and tofu. I took his plate and mine and set it in the dishwasher.
"Natsume, do you like strawberry cake?"
"You really are a pig, inside and out."
I scowled. "Urusai, ugly!" I brought over two slices of cake back to the couch and gave him one.
"Uwai! It's my favorite cake!" It took me less than a minute to finish it.
"Glutton," he smirked, finishing up his slice, "Thanks for the meal. You heard what Naru said. We have to score in the top five in order to go to that ball, which means a baka like you will have to study every minute of every day to have a small chance of getting a good score."
Natsume's POV
This is not a good way to start my morning. I woke up to the pounding on my door and the yelling of a very annoying girl.
I flung the door open. "Shut up, you're so loud!" I said. I examined her—there were huge bags under her eyes and one of her pigtails was higher than the other. She was in blue bunny-printed pajamas.
"B-Baka! Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" she yelled, embarrassed, turning away. Tch. She always gets embarrassed over stuff like this. What a kid. "A-Anyways, that's beside the point. I stayed up all night studying like you suggested," she heaved, "I don't understand any of this! Onegai, please help me!" She clasped her hands together and bowed.
She actually stayed up all night to study?
"What do you need help with?" I asked sullenly.
"I don't get this. Or this. Or this. I don't get any of this!" She looked like death, with her bloodshot eyes and dark eye bags. "And the test is on Tuesday! That's three days!"
The last thing I needed on my Saturday morning was a very annoying girl asking for help on schoolwork. I sighed and motioned for her to come in.
I sat against the wall and nodded for her to sit down.
She plopped down in front of me and spread her textbook and worksheets out on the ground. Her eyes were averted toward the ground, "P-Put on a shirt, hentai! A-And how is your arm feeling?"
"Do you want help or not?" I asked, glancing at the textbook on the ground, "This is all math."
"I know," she sulked, "Math is my worst subject."
"Do you even have a best subject?"
"Urusai!" she scowled, "I'm too tired to put up with your rude insults."
I picked up one of the worksheets and looked at the first problem. "This is so simple," I said, "What don't you get about this?" I explained the problem to her, only to see her even more confused.
"Ba-ka! You just add the first row with the second row because it will make this middle number right here become 0! It's not rocket science!"
Just then, my cell phone rang. Who is calling me at this hour? I reached for it and unplugged it from the charger. I read the caller ID—Ruka.