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Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE

The Alice Agency

Written by Sitting in the Silence

Case #4 : Friend or Foe

"I COME IN PEACE!"he said as he stopped walking. He looked at the sharp point of the blade that was very close to his nose.

"Eh! Sempai?" Mikan asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Hah! I knew it was you!" he said as he slowly pushed the tip of the knife away, "Whoa, you're all grown up now ne, Mikan-chan?" The guy asked with a glint of happiness visible on his features. His eyes were closed and were very happy. The guy laughed cheerfully as his cheek revealed a small star, located just under his left eye.

"How are you, Mikan-chan?" He asked again as he gave her a wide and warm smile.

"I-I I'm fine, sempai." Mikan stuttered. She's face to face with her old-time crush. Andou, first name: Tsubasa. They went to the same school together – here at this very place. They're standing exactly where they used to be. Only now, they aren't wearing the uniform but they are wearing their own casual clothes.

Another déjà vu, Mikan thought.

"That's good." She heard him answer together with the wind blowing gently. Their hair moved with the wind, dancing with it in harmony.

"What are you doing here, sempai?" Mikan asked as she looked at the falling petals of the Sakura Tree.

"Nothing much, I just miss this place and came to visit it. How about you Mikan, what are you doing here?"

"It's a business thing." She answered, plainly.

Tsubasa looked at the sky, thick clouds were scattered all over the horizon and it covered the sun.

Mikan stared at him. Thinking about how much he liked him when they were young, especially when she was young. He was her only crush back then, he was her first love – she was sure of that. No man was like him, so handsome, so cheerful yet so serious. What happened to them back then? Well, they were friends. They surpassed the sempai-kouhai relationship. But then they were just friends. Mikan didn't get the chance to confess or anything. She liked him being by her side and acting as his younger sister. And now that she's here with him, she can't help but think what would've happened if she had the guts to tell him how she really felt. The memories are all coming back to her now. Maybe there are missing fragments but she remembered every moment she had with Tsubasa. She remembered all of them, or at least she thinks she does.

For a moment there, when she was scrutinizing him, she forgot one thing that she was worrying about a while ago. Realization hit her and her eyes widened.

"Natsume-kun!" she gasped out loud. This caught the attention of Tsubasa. He turned to look at her with his shock yet appealing face.

"Help me find my friend! He went out to look for something but he hasn't come back yet." She explained as she started to run back to the classroom.

"Chotto." Was all Tsubasa could say. He ran to catch up with her.

Once again, Mikan Sakura was frantic while checking all the classrooms. But this time she had company. When they reached the last classroom and found no one, they both slumped their backs to the wall opposite each other as they breathed heavily.

"Where could he be?" Mikan muttered but it was loud enough for Tsubasa to hear.

Natsume was standing on a table. He pushed it toward the back wall near the small window. But when he saw the window up close, it was really small that a person like him wouldn't fit through it.

He let out another sigh. He leaped down the table and stood as he wiped his sweaty forehead. He again saw the brown neko mask, he grabbed it, stared at it and placed it near his face, fitting it. He then removed it with a smirk visible on his face.

He's bored. Like, really bored.

But a noise caught his attention, a noise from outside, like someone removing the lock bar on the padlock hole. He cautiously positioned himself near the exit pinning his back onto the wall. As he waited patiently for the door to open, he noiselessly held his gun.

When it opened an inch he automatically pulled the door wider as he pulled out his gun from his holster. He then furiously pointed his gun to the culprit, or so he thought.

"Oh my God! Don't shoot." She said as she nearly bent down while holding her hands up in the air.

Natsume breathed deeply as he lowered his gun, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Okay. Let's hide the gun first." She said as she pushed the gun a little lower, "I am Hotami. Imai, Hotami. I am a journalist and I work at 'Tokyo Daily'. I'm here to investigate and dig a scoop about the infamous Neko Gang."

Hearing that, Natsume placed his gun back at his holster, "You're not supposed to be here. Leave now."

The girl before him flipped her long wavy dark black hair and smirked, "I just saved your ass in there. Shouldn't you at least thank me or something?"

Natsume smirked too, "Whoa, are you by any chance related to Imai Hotaru?"

"Yes. She's my cousin. You know her?" Hotami answered with her arms akimbo. Her light-sapphire eyes showed annoyance.

"Well, her articles are popular so she's quite well known." He said with another grin.

"What are you trying to imply jerk? That I'm nothing compared to her?"

"I'm not saying anything." At that, Natsume walked off.

"Jerk!" Hotami muttered under her breath. "Wait for me." She said as she followed him walk off to somewhere.

While walking, Hotami would ask something once in a while but Natsume wouldn't answer. He just kept walking and when they've finally entered the building, Natsume stopped suddenly and this cause Hotami to bump onto his back.

"Hey watc—" she said in a low voice since the place was giving her the creeps and she was cut off when she saw the reason why Natsume stopped. It was because of a guy and a girl sitting opposite each other on the floor. This made her look at him with sly eyes, and a smirk was evident on her angelic features.

Tsubasa noticed that Mikan was wearing a worried expression the whole time, "Do you want to search again?"

Mikan removed her stare at the floor and was about to nod and agree when someone called her, "Oi, baka!"

Mikan's head shot to the direction where the voice came from. She hurriedly stood up and ran, ran towards him. And when she got to him, she hugged him.

Natsume was startled, "Oi baka, get o—" but he wasn't able to finish what he's going to say because the girl whose arms are wrapped around him started crying.

"You jerk!" she started, "I was worried sick because of you!" She sobbed more after that.

Natsume didn't know what else to say, "Hey, it's ok, I'm here. Look I'm sorry." He said calmly. Comforting a girl is really tough huh?

Hotami watched the two of them and thought how Natsume could be very considerate to Mikan. She reflexively shook her head because of the sappy scene in front of her.

Mikan cried more. She honestly don't know the whole reason why she's crying in his arms right now, all that matters to her is that he was safe and nothing bad happened to him. She let go of him and apologized for being a cry baby. Natsume said it was okay and he even patted her head with a small smile visible on his face.

Tsubasa walked in to the scene and he noticed the long-haired girl who was standing beside Mikan and Natsume, "Hey, aren't you Hotami Imai?" He asked.

"Oh, yes I am." Hotami answered gleefully.

"I'm Tsubasa Andou by the way." He said as he lend out his hand for Hotami to shake, "I love your article about the shadow manipulator." He said.

"Why, thank you." She said as she grabbed his hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet a supporter."

"Hotami-chan!" Mikan squealed, "Is Hotaru still at Tokyo Daily?"

"Of course she is. She's always there." Hotami answered.

"You two know each other?" Natsume asked.

"Yes, she's Hotaru's cousin." She said, answering Natsume's question, "Hotami-chan! Let's visit Hotaru. Can we?"

Hotami smiled and nodded, "Of course Mi-chan."

The two girls started walking out of the building, their laughs echoed through the empty hallway. The two guys – Natsume and Tsubasa – were left and they stared at each other. The silence was deafening since the girls got out already.

They waited for someone to break the silence and Tsubasa did, "What are you doing here?"

"I have a task to accomplish. How about you, what are you doing here?" Natsume asked as he sent daggers of dreadful stares at Tsubasa's eyes. Making his question a lot more significant.

"I got away." Tsubasa said with a smirk, "and same as you, I have a task to accomplish."

Natsume gave him a menacing glare, "I don't want you here, Andou."

Tsubasa sneered, "Sorry brat, but it's not your call. I don't want you here either, trust me."

Tsubasa started to walk out of the building but he stopped, "By the way," he said as he gave one quick glance at Natsume, "Be careful, Hyuuga."

Tsubasa continued walking and when he got outside, Natsume mumbled one more word for the building to hear:

"Bastard."

A/N: I'm done! Yey. Summer vacation has already started and I'm telling you guys, it's really dreary here. Like, totally. Don't forget my reviews. :D

Oh, btw, there's this really cool site where Filipino GA FFN readers and writers gather, please do sign up and be one of us – amicus . lefora . com – just remove all the spaces. It's a fun site and everyone is nice.

Also, Thanks for the peeps who added this story to their Favorite/Alert list. Thankies a bunch. :D

And of course, I wouldn't forget my lovely reviewers. Thankies for taking the time to review my fic:

jazziscool, '-'chiQuiLita.-, TheBlackSwallow, dbzgtfan2004, AniME AddiCtzand'Blue Moon and Roses'
You guys are awesome!

The story is becoming clearer already. Right? It isn't? Oh come on, it is. xD I really think it is becoming clearer… :)Oh, don't forget to click that rectangular button down there, and write me something, hmm, awesome! Yeah! Thankies in advance.

-SITS

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