Ah! I love metal rock concerts! Woot! Just got back from seeing a friend's band perform. They were awesome. I think they have a myspace page, so if you like rock/metal, check out MetalGrid. Anyway…This is my longest chapter so far. Hope you like it.

3/24/10: Rewritten/Edited

Disclaimer: History repeats itself. Just like the last four chapters, Gakuen Alice is still not mine.

Natsume. Natsume. Her voice, calling his name, brought him out of the black oblivion to which he'd surrendered himself to escape the pain. Mikan? Has she come for me? Come to take me with her? The pain was intense. He wanted so much to be free from it once and for all. The emotional pain was worse. The image of her limp and bleeding was branded into his mind. How dearly he wanted to see her healthy and smiling again. If he followed her voice, her sweet angelic voice, then surely he'd find the peace he was looking for. And so he did follow it.

To his surprise and confusion, the closer he got to the voice, the more intense the pain grew. Rather than sinking into painless nothingness, he seemed to be pulling himself out of the comforting blackness. Yet still, he followed it. The pain was screaming in his limbs, and his chest felt like there was a boulder set on top of it. He could barely breathe. Still, he pushed forward. Natsume. Natsume. Still she called to him. Her voice sounded so pained, choked, like she was crying. Mikan…I'm coming, Mikan. Don't cry, Mikan.

"Natsume. Please wake up. Please, Natsume."

In a last burst of energy, he pushed through another wave of pain. Her voice sounded so close now, like she was right next to him. Like if he reached out, he could touch her. And so he reached for the voice. At first, he couldn't even find his right arm in all the pain, but then slowly, bit by bit, he forced it to move: a twitch at first, and then his hand crept achingly across the bedspread. Wait…bedspread? Where was he? He turned his focus back to the most important thing. Her voice. Her beautiful, crying voice.

He nearly jumped in surprise when his fingers found soft, warm skin. Warm delight flowed from his fingertips to his heart in a way that so starkly contrasted the burning pain throughout the rest of his body.

"Natsume? Natsume, are you awake? Can you hear me?"

Her voice sounded hopeful and pleading. How he wanted to reassure her, comfort her. He fought again, this time with his eyelids, as he forced them to respond, to open and reveal the beautiful face he was now sure would be in front of him. As he forced his eyes open, harsh fluorescent light struck them, causing him to wince and close them. After a couple more attempts and a series of rapid blinking, he finally got them to stay open.

At first, everything in front of him was a blur, and he couldn't focus his mind on any one image, but as he adjusted to seeing again, that wondrous sight came into focus. Her head was only inches away from his, her soft hair falling gently around her face. A bandage was wrapped neatly around her head. Her eyes watched him, wide and concerned, and he could see tears still there. As he studied her, her facial expression changed to a radiant smile that stopped his heart before setting it beating painfully again in his chest. He reached his hand up slowly, carefully, and gently touched her face. If it was possible, her smile grew even brighter.

"Oh, Natsume! I'm so glad you're awake. I was so worried. Everyone's been really worried. They said you would probably pull through after you survived that first week, but still, they couldn't be sure. You were so hurt, so badly hurt. What were you thinking?" Though it was meant to be berating, instead it sounded like a caress. She was so glad to see those crimson eyes looking at her again.

"How?" he forced painfully out of his tight throat. It sounded choked and harsh, more of a cough than a question. Nonetheless, she heard it. As he waited for her response, it finally registered in his mind just where they were. This was the hospital. Of course.

"How are you alive? Or how am I alive?" She asked quietly, before continuing to answer both questions. "I'm alive, I guess, mostly thanks to you and Imai-senpai. They said you saved my life. If you hadn't acted so fast and did that CPR thing, they said they probably wouldn't have been able to revive me. After that, I guess it was mostly Imai-senpai's amazing healing power. I'm very lucky, I guess. Sakurano-senpai said that it's amazing that I came out of it without any permanent brain damage or memory loss."

Natsume was tempted to respond that she already had permanent brain damage, but speaking was too painful, and he was too grateful that she was alive.

"For a while, they thought I might not come out of the coma, but I was only out for two weeks. You've been out for three. They found you underneath a pile of rubble. Narumi-sensai said that you fell through the floor to the floor below or something like that. That's how you broke your arm and got that head injury."

Natsume hadn't even been aware of either injury until she mentioned them, at which point he became aware of a sling and cast on his left arm and a bandage wrapped around his head as well. The pain was too all consuming for him to identify any one type. It was of little importance; one injury was much the same as another when you were as badly damaged as he was.

This was one of those rare occasions when he was grateful for her rambling. Her voice was soothing, a balm to his heart and body, and it was a relief to learn everything without having to ask a bunch of questions.

"Imai-senpai said he wasn't going to worry about fixing your arm right away because the internal damage was more critical. Poor senpai must be so tired. He's been in and out of here constantly trying to heal us as much as possible."

She fell quiet for a moment, and her face looked pensive and concerned, before she seemed to decide on something and continued.

"A few people, mostly members of the Fuukitai, suffered some light burns. But everyone else was pretty much okay besides that. Nobody died."

Again she fell silent as Natsume digested this bit of information. Nobody died? So that scheming principal and that monster of a man had escaped somehow? Oh well. Mikan was alive. That's what mattered. Mikan continued after a moment, trying to talk on a lighter note now.

"I guess you did quite a number on the school building. Narumi-sensei said they had to hold class outside because the building is too dangerous until the repairs are finished. It's suppose to be really good weather right now though, so that's lucky. I bet it's fun having class outside."

Just like Mikan to find the bright side in everything. He wondered briefly what sort of punishment would be coming his way. It was bound to be awful. He imagined the elementary school principal was in the mood for vengeance. He wondered briefly what would happen to Mikan once they were out of the hospital, but that wasn't something he wanted to dwell on at the moment.

Mikan had been watching him quietly from where she lay beside him. He noticed her yawn and found himself yawning too. Her eyes were drifting closed, and he decided he agreed with her. They both needed more sleep. Before he drifted off, he mumbled one last thing.

"Mikan…"

"Hmm?" she replied sleepily, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to keep them open.

"Arigatou. For not leaving me…"

She understood what he meant: thank you for not dying, for not abandoning him to a painful, meaningless life without her.

"I'll be here when you wake up." She smiled gently, before her eyes drifted closed. Shortly thereafter, they were both sound asleep holding each other's hand between them.

When Natsume blinked awake again, some indefinite amount of time later, he was immediately aware of the absence of his favorite ball of sunshine. Stupid teachers must have taken her back to her room. His brows furrowed as he frowned, an act he found surprisingly painful for how minute it was. Irritated, he struggled to sit up. After his head stopped spinning, he took in his surroundings. It was a typical hospital room. He was hooked up to an I.V. and had a breathing mask covering his mouth.

First, he yanked the breathing mask off his face. As his body took in the sudden change in air quality, his lungs protested in a painful fit of spasming coughs. Once he could breathe semi-normally again, he wiped the blood he'd coughed into his hand on the sheet and turned to the next item. Concentrating, he ripped the I.V. out of his arm. Compared to the pain throughout his body, this was hardly worth noting. Finally, he turned to the business of standing up. Swinging his legs carefully over the side of the bed, he slid off to his feet. Bad plan. The mind-numbing pain that racked him was intense, and his legs buckled. If he hadn't clutched tightly to the side of the bed, he would have found himself sprawled on the floor. Clenching his teeth, he held his position. Eventually the pain subsided enough that he could let go off the bed without collapsing.

Grabbing the I.V. stand for support, he hobbled slowly, excruciatingly, to the door and opened it. Abandoning the pole there, he leaned against the wall as he continued down the hall. He approached the corner and stopped when he heard voices speaking quietly. JinJin and that gay retarded homeroom teacher were talking about something in concerned voices. He listened carefully to the conversation around the corner.

"It's very strange how unresponsive the principal is being. I had expected the Fuukitai to be rounding up every one of these kids' friends to deal out all sorts of punishment. That he hasn't retaliated at all is very disconcerting."

Jinno's voice sounded disturbed. Narumi's response was not much better.

"Yes, his lack of action makes me believe he's plotting something. I'm very concerned for both Mikan and Natsume-kun. Principal Kuonji is no fool. If he is failing to 'rein in' these children, there must be a reason for it. I only hope we can understand his scheme in time to preempt him."

Due to the pause and lack of response, Natsume assumed that JinJin had replied with a nod.

"Well, I have to go teach. Controlling these kids when they're outdoors is a nightmare. I have a hard enough time getting them to focus on math when there isn't every insect and leaf to distract them."

Narumi chuckled at Jinno's irritation. Natsume heard footsteps retreating down the hall and assumed that JinJin had made his exit. Taking a deep breath, he continued his trek around the corner. Sure enough, only Narumi was still there, leaning against the wall outside a room that Natsume could only assume was Mikan's.

Narumi looked up in surprise as he heard footsteps and labored breathing coming slowly down the hall. When he saw Natsume heaving his way towards him, his eyes widened even more, and he pushed himself off the wall to approach the child.

"Natsume-kun, you really shouldn't be out of bed. I'm surprised you can even stand. Really, you must go back."

The dark scowl Natsume shot Narumi silenced him, but he still watched the boy in concern. He wasn't foolish enough to reach out and help him. Natsume would probably fry him on the spot if he tried, and he didn't feel like upsetting the boy further by using his Pheromone Alice to subdue him. Natsume reached the door, and Narumi made one last feeble attempt to stop him.

"She's sleeping." He pointed out, hoping that Natsume would decide not to disturb her and go back to bed. No such luck.

"Your point?" Natsume replied coldly as he continued into the room. Sure enough, there she was, sleeping soundly, tucked carefully under the covers of the hospital bed. Natsume made his way carefully toward her and climbed cautiously onto the bed to join her. His entire body roared with pain by the time he lay down next to her, all of his energy completely spent. As he let himself drift back to sleep, finding her hand and clasping it once more, he heard her mumble softly.

"Na…tsu…me…" Smiling gently, he fell back into peaceful, healing slumber.

"You might as well just set the room up for both of them." Sakurano said, smiling as he joined Narumi by the door. Narumi turned from watching the two to glance at the former student council president.

"Perhaps. I suppose if we keep carrying them back to their own bed, they'll just keep getting up and going back to the other's room." Sakurano nodded in agreement.

"So, what's the news?" Narumi asked, lowering his voice in case the children were still awake. Sakurano followed suit, lowering his voice as he replied.

"Imai Hotaru is to leave at the end of next week. She has already been informed of this."

Narumi nodded sadly.

"Proof that the elementary school principal isn't being completely hands off."

Sakurano watched the sleeping pair thoughtfully for a moment, before speaking.

"In truth, this is an excellent opportunity for Imai. She'll get to greatly further her study. If it wasn't such a blatant attempt to separate the two and alienate Mikan-chan, I would be very supportive of this. As it is, I just hope they'll manage the blow."

"It's fortunate that Mikan and Natsume-kun have bonded so much. I don't know how she would make it through this without him."

Both teacher and student fell silent as they watched the oblivious sleepers, the ominous future heavy on both their minds.

Arigatou – thank you

So here's the next chapter. A little happier, ne? R&R, onegai!