Chapter 13
Called Out
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King.
Author's Note: Hey there guys! Here's another one. I know I've been really slow but this is what summer laziness does to you. Not to mention my review classes. :P Well here you go
'Darkness…That was it. Nothing but darkness surrounded me. Its coldness seeping to my skin, leaving me wanting to take in huge amounts of breaths as it suffocated me. I tried to reach out to something—anything. I brought up my hand when I saw it disperse. My arm followed a suit, dispersing into nothing. I was disappearing into the very darkness I dread.'
Tai Chi woke up with a start. He looked around his surroundings to see that he was in his room. He shakily brought up his hand and exhaled his breath that he had been holding. His hand and arm were still there. They were both still intact. Tai Chi then ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes as he tried to shake away his nightmare. He looked at his clock to see that it was only five in the morning. He knew he couldn't fall asleep even if he wanted to so he proceeded to get dressed and take an early morning walk.
Tai Chi exited his room but was shocked to see that someone was already out in the hall. Yoh was there looking out of the window that was placed in the end of the hallway. Tai Chi moved towards him with curiosity and he could see Yoh twitch as he heard his approach. Yoh then quickly turned with widened eyes to see who was the person?
Yoh's shoulders relaxed as he realized that it was Tai Chi. Tai Chi couldn't help but notice Yoh's disheveled hair and his eye bags. 'It's like Yoh saw a ghost. On the other hand, Yoh does see ghosts as a normal occurrence. Doesn't his alice have something to do with spirits?' Tai Chi wondered.
It was Yoh who broke the silence first. "Up early huh?" he asked as he turned back to the window.
"Yup…" Tai Chi replied as he too looked out the window. "I had a restless night. Couldn't get back to sleep." He concluded and heard Yoh chuckle.
"Well look at that…that makes two of us." Yoh said as he grinned back at Tai Chi. "So tell me…did this restless night contain a certain nightmare?" Yoh asked as he reminisced on his own nightmare.
Tai Chi tensed up. "So you had one too huh?" Tai Chi said in mild shock and in curiosity. Yoh's hands twitched. He looked at Tai Chi and noticed how Tai Chi had a tired look on his face. Yoh studied him then exhaled his breath. He then proceeded to sit down and leaned his back onto the wall. Tai Chi strolled over and sat beside him.
"Honestly…I don't usually get bad dreams." Yoh said conversationally. 'Sometimes I think it's because I've already experienced horrible things in real life.' Yoh couldn't help thinking to himself as he remembered what happened in the past. That dream really shook him. He actually saw him again. It felt so real too. It was as if he was in his presence and he was there watching him wherever he went.
Tai Chi broke Yoh's concentration on the past. "Me neither…" Tai Chi said as he chuckled. "It's actually the first time I'm awake like this just because of a stupid dream." He said while running a hand through his hair. Tai Chi broke a smile and started lifting himself up. Yoh simply watched him with curiosity.
"Well it's useless to worry about a dream. I was going to take an early walk. You wanna join me?" Tai Chi asked Yoh. Yoh broke into a smile too and got up to stand by Yoh. "Sure! I don't mind walking while the sun rises." Yoh laughed.
Tai Chi smiled even wider. "However, we can not be caught doing this." Tai Chi said jokingly. "People are going to speculate when they see two guys walking in the sunrise." Tai Chi said as he jolted towards the stairs, leaving Yoh behind. Yoh laughed and jolted down the stairs after him.
The two went down and continued their walk. Though the two boys scanned the area for people to see if the coast was clear, there was still one person who caught the two taking their stroll. A certain flame caster eyed the two from his window. He too, was wide awake and he sat at his window sill to wait for the coming sunrise.
"There you guys are!" Chihiro said happily as she saw the advancing figures of Tai Chi and Yoh. Chihiro waved happily, not realizing that she whacked somebody on the head while doing so. She then skipped towards them with a huge smile which suddenly dropped down to a smile of confusion. Her eyebrows scrunched up as she thought of something. She then jolted up and poked Yoh's chest. "I'm supposed to remind you of something." Chihiro said as she tried to remember.
Tai Chi and Yoh looked at each other. Both of them couldn't help but feel confused with what Chihiro was saying. "And what is this something?" Yoh asked after a waiting for Chihiro to speak up, which she didn't.
Chihiro opened her mouth to say it but closed it once again. "Umm…I kinda forgot." Chihiro said as she placed a hand to her forehead. Tai Chi couldn't help but snort in amusement. Chihiro looked at Tai Chi with a raised eyebrow. "Well sorry! What do people think I am? I'm not some messenger bird that just passes information to and fro. Do I look like a bird to you?" Chihiro said as she glared and Tai Chi took a step back.
"No…actually I'm starting to think that you're part snake with the way you're glaring at me." Tai Chi said as he calmed Chihiro down. Chihiro narrowed her eyes at him and said. "So now I'm supposed to be a cold-blooded reptilian huh?" Tai Chi gulped as he flinched at Chihiro's glare. Before any of the two could say anything more, a shriek exploded near them. They turned to see that Mikan and Hitomi were glaring straight at Yoh.
"Ready to accompany your spirits, boy?" Hitomi said as she cracked her knuckles and Mikan's glare intensified. Yoh started running and a split second later Mikan and Hitomi followed after him. Tai Chi and Chihiro simply watched idly as they disappeared from view.
"Oh right…I was supposed to remind him that he was still a wanted man for Mikan and Hitomi." Chihiro said as she shook her head and laughed at her silliness. Tai Chi looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? You didn't think that that was something worth remembering. Your friend could end up getting killed." Tai Chi said as he looked at Chihiro.
Chihiro thought about it. "Maybe not…I'm sure nothing drastic will happen." Chihiro said happily as she tapped a finger to her lips. That's when she heard a branch fall in the distance and some shouts. Both Tai Chi and Chihiro's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Then again…I guess I have to check it out just in case." she said hurriedly as she took off towards the place where the sound came from.
Tai Chi shook his head and decided to walk off to the breakfast area. It was one more hour and a half till class would start so he was in no rush. After a few minutes of walking, Tai Chi heard some rustling in the bushes. He turned to see that it was Meruka. She was scanning the area and brought her hands up to cup around her mouth as a make-shift megaphone. "Chihiro! Hitomi!" Meruka shouted as she scanned the area but dropped her hands as she saw Tai Chi. Meruka's eyes widened then she quickly turned to go back through the bushes she came out of. Tai Chi quickly ran and pulled her from the bushes before she could escape from him.
"Ok…Could you be more obvious that you don't want to talk to me." Tai Chi said as he pulled her out of the bushes and fixed her to look at him. When he did, Meruka was glaring at him. Boy…was Tai Chi popular with those three girls. All he needed was to get Hitomi ticked off then he would be complete the whole set. 'Yay' Tai Chi thought as he sighed out.
"Why won't you accompany me? I can tell you for a fact that it will be just plain tiresome to stop whatever your friends are doing at the moment." Tai Chi asked Meruka who luckily didn't bother to struggle from his grip on her wrist. He did see her roll her eyes. "No thanks…Might as well get my school supplies which I should take care of because some children can't afford it. Oh what will those poor children do if they found out I wasn't using them right now?" Meruka said as she glared at Tai Chi.
"Oh…so you're going to actually do that huh?" Tai Chi said unfazed by what she said. He simply ran a hand through his hair. "I guess you leave me no choice." He said then quickly picked up Meruka over his shoulder. She screamed in protest and started hitting his back.
"LET ME DOWN!" she said as he continued carrying her. "Actually no…You know that you don't really hang out with anyone except your friends. I, actually talk to you alone only when we do the cleaning. If it wasn't for that then we wouldn't probably be talking right now." Tai Chi said as he walked towards the food area.
"Oh…wow now I'm soooooo very glad that I'm here hanging on your shoulder." Meruka said sarcastically and continued to beat his back. Tai Chi rolled his eyes. "Go ahead bring on the sarcasm. I'm just saying what I observed." He said
Meruka sighed in defeat and stopped pounding on his back. "And your point is?" Meruka said tiredly. "I'm saying that you should hang out with other people. Both Hitomi and Chihiro are okay with hanging out with us. You should try to be friendlier." Tai Chi explained to her.
"And why would you care about this?" Meruka said tiredly. Tai Chi chuckled and told her. "Don't you remember? I told you that I'm going to find out the real you. It will be easier if we can stop you from putting a wall up in front of everyone." Meruka tensed up at what he said.
Meruka smiled a small smile. "You can put me down. I promise I won't run." Meruka said softly. Tai Chi couldn't help but smile at the progress and brought her down. She still wore her tiny smile and shook her head at him. She then proceeded to punch him in the arm. "OW!" Tai Chi said as he rubbed the part she hit him. "What was that for? I thought we were ok?"
"I never said that. I just said that I wasn't going to run from you." She then turned towards the cafeteria area. "Like I said two weeks ago, just give up Tai Chi. It will be useless to try to figure me out." She said and simply started walking slowly towards the area.
Tai Chi shook his head. 'Great…back to square one.' Tai Chi thought as he watched the retreating form of Meruka. Meruka stopped though and turned to him, surprising Tai Chi in the process. "Well? Aren't you coming or what?" she said as she smiled her tiny bit of a smile. Tai Chi's eyes widened and he broke into a big smile.
'I guess not exactly back to square one.' He thought as he hurried to catch up to her.
Ruka watched as Natsume continued to rub his temples. Ruka also couldn't help but notice the dark eye bags that started to form under eyes. Natsume suddenly stopped his actions and looked up to see that Ruka was carrying a look of worry on his face.
"Honestly Ruka I'm fine." Natsume said as he reached for his fork. "I just had a restless night that's all." Natsume said and proceeded to poke his fork at his food. Before Natsume could put his food in his mouth, he was disturbed by the sound of the people entering the cafeteria.
Natsume looked up to see Mikan being restrained by Chihiro and Hitomi being restrained by Tai Chi. Away from them was Yoh who was panting really hard and Meruka who was simply observing what was happening. Eventually with a lot of dragging and struggling the group made it to the table.
"Honestly…" Tai Chi said while trying to hold down Hitomi. "How long will you hold this grudge? You wasted about 10 minutes of my morning." Ruka and Natsume looked up at the group and gave looks of question. "Well…these struggling idiots here chased Yoh around and not without doing any damage by the way. So anyway, we ended bumping into Tai Chi and Meruka. Tai Chi then helped me restrain Hitomi." Chihiro said tiredly as she still held unto Mikan.
"Sheez women…How many times do I have to say sorry?" Yoh said after catching his breath. "It wasn't that big of an offense." He said while shaking his head. "How about when it becomes the last words you say before you die? I think I can forgive you by then." Hitomi suggested.
Natsume rolled his eyes at the bickering group. He then popped his food in his mouth but he felt a weird feeling that someone was watching him. Natsume then glanced at his side to find one of them watching him. Natsume had suddenly felt that gut feeling, the one where you knew something's up.
He was being called for a mission again. News of a mission isn't something new to him but what was peculiar was how they were calling him this time. They would usually call him in the shadows. That's how they worked after all. It was a work of secrecy. They aren't supposed to expose what the dangerous ability class really is. They including him are supposed to be completely secret, non-existent. That's what the dangerous ability class must be. However, despite that fact, Natsume somehow found himself looking at one of the members of the dangerous ability class. Natsume didn't know why but Rui was right there, beside the entrance of the cafeteria, out in the open.
Natsume got ready to stand up. Surely, they wanted to talk to him as fast as possible so they decided to risk exposure. It must be some urgent mission. Natsume was on his way up from his seat when to Natsume's surprise Rui started walking towards him. Natsume froze in shock because Rui was going to tell him in front of everyone about the mission. It can't possibly be right. Something must be up.
Ruka was confused with Natsume's expression. It looked like Natsume just saw a ghost and so Ruka followed Natsume's line of vision. Ruka's eyes widened as he realized who the person was. He knew very well that he was one of the members of the dangerous ability class. If he was here, then that means he's coming for Natsume. Ruka flinched inwardly because the idea of Natsume going out for a mission again made his stomach turn. The two boys warily watched as Rui with a glint in his eyes started edging towards them.
Rui wasn't in any attempt trying to hide his presence. As he walked, his shoes clacked on the floor causing each student to glance at the cause of the sound. Whenever each student did that action though, they couldn't help but not continue to stare at him. As he passed by everyone, all the students' mixed noises disappeared as they all silently observed him. By the time he was near their isolated table, the whole cafeteria was quiet and everybody's eyes were on them. The only people who didn't notice the unwelcome visitor were the other people in Natsume's table. Mikan and the others were still minding their own business oblivious to the Rui. To Natsume's surprise though, of all the rest of the group he found that it was only Meruka who was looking at the nearing man and she too was watching his every move carefully.
"I swear I could just strangle you right now!" Mikan shouted out loud as she continued struggling. She was about to say something more when something caught her eye from her peripheral vision. She cautiously looked to her side and stopped her struggling as she finally noticed the guy who had approached them. Mikan's eyes narrowed as she recognized the man from the dangerous ability class. Her heart stalled as she realized that Natsume was about to be sent for another mission. The other three who were confused as to why Mikan stopped were finally able to notice the change of atmosphere. Tension was present throughout the whole cafeteria and the silence finally seeped in completely. Now every single eye in the whole room was trained on Rui as he stopped right beside Mikan and Chihiro.
Natsume glared at Rui and that action didn't go unnoticed by the others in his table. "What the heck are you doing here? Of all places, why do it here?" Natsume asked harshly.
Everyone except Mikan and Ruka were surprised by Natsume's reaction. They wondered how in the world Natsume even knew this person. Everybody's eyes moved back and forth between Natsume and the suspicious man.
"Don't feel so honored kid." Rui said in a voice that just sickeningly flowed. "I didn't come only for you." He said with a chuckle. "I came for the people responsible for the fire."
"We already got our punishment. Why would we need to go?" Natsume asked cautiously after his momentary shock of the news. "Not to mention. Why did they send you of all people?" Natsume said as he clenched his fist.
"I'm not the one in charge boy." Rui said darkly. "It's the principal who is calling. I'm just following orders."
"Why would the principal want us to come to him? We're doing our punishment and no one is skipping or anything." Mikan said icily at Rui. Rui looked at Mikan with critical eyes.
"Who said anything about you?" Rui said and was received with expressions of shock. "The principal just wants the three people who started the fight. That means I'm only here for Natsume and those two guys beside you." Rui said as he looked at Yoh and Tai Chi. "The principal has some urgent news for the three of you. He needs to see you now."