Summary: Natsume's mother died when he was young, only five years old. He never knew his father, only his aunt Yuka - his mother's best friend since their childhood, so Yuka raised him. When Natsume was seventeen, Yuka passed away. Her last words to him were to watch over her daughter and make sure she was okay. Natsume promised he would do so. He just never thought he'd fall in love with the girl too.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice.
Warning: Natsume is a little OOC, but this is an AU story, and he was raised completely differently from the real Natsume.
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Dying Promise : Prologue
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"Mommy?" The young, five year old boy with onyx black hair and crimson red eyes cried at his mother's hospital bed. She was a young woman, in her late twenties. She had long, dark brown hair almost black with piercing crimson eyes, much like her son. She was beautiful, yet she looked weak. She held his hand tight, almost hurting him, but he didn't care. She smiled weakly at him; he returned it with a weaker smile. "You gonna be okay, right?" He asked, using his free arm to wipe away the tear steaming down his cheeks.
His mother's eyes softened."Oh, Natsume." She said quietly, not able to speak much louder. "I love you so much. You know that, right?" Natsume nodded, biting his lip to hold back his sobs. He wanted to be strong in front of his mother. She released his hand, bringing her hand to his face. She gently cupped his cheek in her palm and smiled again at him. "Good. I want you to know that I will never stop loving you. I will never leave you either. I will always be watching over you. I promise you all of this." She lowered her hand to her side on the bed. "Yuka." She said, turning her attention to the only other person in the room.
A hand rested gently on Natsume's shoulder. He looked up at his mother's childhood best friend, Yuka Azumi. She was the opposite of his mother with short, light brown hair and hazel colored eyes. "I will take care of him, Kaoru. As if he was my own child." She assured the sickly woman.
"I know." His mother smiled. "I love you, Natsume." She said again, turning her attention back to him. She paused, taking in a deep breath. "Take care of your aunt for me while I'm gone, okay? She's going to need you as much as you're going to need her."
That night, his mother passed away in her sleep. She'd known this day was coming for a long time; being diagnosed with Leukemia about a six months before Natsume was conceived. She was lucky to make it past her pregnancy and childbirth, but to make it this far – almost a miracle.
For the next twelve years of his life, Natsume and Yuka lived happily together. She had become like his mother, and he even thought of her as one, though he never forgot his birth mother. While out on his seventeenth birthday at a local restaurant, Natsume lost a mother for the second time. It was a peaceful dinner with cake, the diner folks singing to him, and everything. That was until the restaurant doors busted open with three men in ski masks and guns. Four pedestrians were shot and killed that night; Yuka Azumi being one of them.
Natsume held Yuka in his arms, crying as he watched her die. She smiled up at him, blood dripping from her mouth. "I'm so sorry, Natsume." She had said to him. He had told her not to speak such words – that she would be fine. "I love you so much."
He responded through his tears, "Please, Yuka, save your breath. You can tell me you love me as much as you want after this is all over."
She smiled up at him. "Do me a favor, please." He only nodded. "I have a daughter." And this was news to him. Never once had Yuka mentioned a daughter. He wondered if his mother had known about Yuka's daughter. "She should be about your age now. I haven't seen her since she was one, but she lives with her father in Alice. Her name is Mikan. Please, I know this is a lot to ask, but, Natsume, watch over her for me."
And those were her last words to him before she died. With what money he had saved up from his own job, Natsume moved away from the only town he'd ever known as home. But what good was a home with your family gone?
He found Alice on the map, a town on the outskirt or Tokyo. His only question was: how was he going to find this Mikan girl with only a name and a city location?
But he wouldn't break his promise to Yuka's dying words. How could he? After all she had ever done for him, he could do this one thing for her.