Title: The Runaways;
Fandom: Gakuen Alice;
Chapter Pairings: Natsume/Mikan;
Story Pairings: Natsume/Mikan, implied canon pairings;
Chapter Length: 1,823
Started: 22.08.2011 (oh god why. orz)
Warnings: character death, language, blood, violence;
Chapter Warnings: language;

Disclaimer: Don't own, never will;

Note: Will update this sporadically, whenever the plot bunnies decide to show up. I do love the overall concept of this story though, and I'm hoping to finish this someday.
Read this chapter carefully, because most of the information will be thrown directly in here, with no consideration to the flow of the story. Hey, I get lazy. :l

-The Runaways-

/-/Chapter 1/-/

Her codename was 'Angel,' after all, and he, the 'Black Cat.' It was ironic, then, that he would be the one with the halo, and she the one with darkness shadowing her.

Run.

That was the only thing on her mind.

Not the latest sale at American Eagle, not what she had for breakfast, not even the cute guy that she had passed earlier this morning.

Just run.

Left, right, left, right. Her soles were hitting the dirt in a rhythmic pattern, stumbling every once in a while to dodge some trees, but her feet never stopped their movement.

Then she saw it. Just a little ways ahead. It was faint, and blurry without her contacts in, but it was definitely there. A bold ribbon of red, standing out clearly against the muddy green of the forest.

She took a step forward.

Here we go now.

She turned, and looked behind her.

There was no one in sight. Not the slightest sound, either.

She couldn't sense anyone either.

What should have been a relief was quickly replaced by suspicion.

There should have been five or six people here, not counting the ones that were chasing her on the way here.

Eyes narrowed, she scanned the field. There was nothing out of the ordinary... So far.

'One... go... can't... forward...'

There.

Someone had obviously stepped within the boundaries of her magic, or her magic had expanded once again. She had been trying to keep it under control, but it was a part of her, and it had its own agenda. An agenda she despised, but had to appreciate, for she had heard snippets of their plan. Snippets which, albeit tiny, were enough to have stopped her from taking another step forward. She kicked the dry leaves in front of her instead, and took a step to the side, effectively triggering and avoiding the net they had set up there.

'... but... couldn't... damn... know... found...'

She could hear the shock in his — the voice was low, confirming her suspicions that it was a male— thoughts. She smirked.

Bingo.

She was surprised she didn't notice their location sooner. His thoughts were loud, much louder than the rest of his teams, and he was obviously not trying very hard to be inconspicuous with his anticipation. He had underestimated her, just as she had done to herself.

Too bad for them.

She pinpointed their location to a few hundred meters to her right, closer than she had expected, but certainly a lot further than an average Alice's magic could reach.

Instead of heading towards that direction, though, she vaulted over the net to the left, towards where her trainer, and their team captain, stood.

"A net? Really?" she said, rolling her eyes. "That was so cliche."

"I have to admit, that was impressive. Good work," he replied, ignoring the snub. "But not good enough."

She felt affronted at that. How dare he question her abilities, when it was obvious to the both of them she was a better Alice than most of the unit, and, quite frankly, almost on par with him.

It was his turn to sneer now, and he was obviously aware of it.

"You forgot the whole point of this activity. Capture the flag, remember? And last I checked," he said, taking a step closer and staring down at her, "you don't seem to have a flag. Now do you?"

He smirked and flicked her forehead. "'I'm the better Alice. I don't need to be trained. I'm just as good as you, if not better!'" he mocked, imitating her rant to him from earlier today. "By the way, I've already sent the others back to headquarters, so you might as well head back soon too. Too slow, Mikan. Way too slow."

She let out a growl, and looked away from him, cursing herself for letting him have gotten the better of her. This round went to him. Well, that explains where everyone else was. He was right, of course. He was always right. Right about pretty much goddamn everything. Why on earth do I have to put up with this, she whined to herself.

She, however, knew that she shouldn't have been complaining, and immediately felt badly after thinking it. She had asked for this. She was an Alice, and she would stick with it. After all, how else was she planning on surviving in society without them?

"Natsume, did you want to, oh, I don't know, take a step back?" She snapped at him, suddenly reminded of their proximity. She could hear the tremor in her own voice, and made no effort to hide it. The fact that they had both long abandoned their jackets in the heat of training didn't help any either.

"Now why would I do that?" He spoke in a quiet voice, the sudden abandonment of their telepathic link still too newfound for him to have said it any louder. He took another step forward and she felt his warm breath on her exposed skin, making it tingle. "Does this bother you?" he whispered in her ear, with the knowledge that, oh yes, it did indeed bother her. She shuddered at their closeness and felt her skin heating up.

She was the one who initiated the first tentative step back, glowering at her partner. The brightness of the setting sun behind him made it rather impossible to glare very long though. The backlight created a sort of halo around his head, and she chuckled to herself at the irony. Her codename was 'Angel,' after all, and he, the 'Black Cat.' Shouldn't she have then been the one with the halo?

She shuddered as a strong blast of cold air from the North created goosebumps on her skin. The air was a bit too cold for autumn, however, and her suspicions were confirmed when she glanced to her right and saw Hayate, Tsubasa, and Misaki walking over. Well, that explains where the wind came from.

"Misaki-sempai! Tsu-nii! Are you guys finished with your mission already?" she asked. Last she checked, they weren't supposed to be back for another day. The fact that they were back early, coupled with the fact that it was a reconnaissance mission, was most likely not good news. Recon meant that they were to stay, gather information, and relay it back as they went along. That they were back meant something big, as it was generally a pretty easy job.

They glanced over at each other for a split second, and their faces twitched before a blank expression showed up on both of their faces. "Nothing in particular, Mikan. We bumped into an Alice today, though she's a bit too young to be a recruit. Seemed to be the daughter of some low ranking Faith politician under Kuonji. We assumed she wasn't aware of her... ah... situation yet, though we might want to get her out soon, as she seems to be jinxing people around her."

She went along with the obvious bluff, trusting in her older brother, and figuring there was nothing to lose if she waited to find out. "Ah, is that why Hayate-sempai is here?" An answering nod was sent her way. Hayate was part of the recruiting division, despite the fact that his magic — wind magic — would have been more useful in another unit. Personality-wise though, he was much more of a recruiter. Tsubasa, Mikan's adoptive older brother, was also a recruiter — his rambunctious personality made possible recruits feel more comfortable, and therefore more likely to join them, although his magic — shadow magic — was more or less for the Recon unit, and it's why he worked for both.

Their syndicate was composed of several divisions. One of them was the Recruiting division. Some of the Alices in this division focused on finding and recruiting potential new members, and the other Alices were responsible for training them, and assigning them to their main division. Charisma is rather necessary in this division. This division also managed the technical side of things, and planned the meetings and trades.

Next was the Recon unit. They were responsible for gathering intel, information that would affect them, the Alices, for better or for worse. Being in this division meant that you had to be able to go unnoticed. You had to be able to gather information in a way that wouldn't tip anyone off. You couldn't be flashy and memorable.

Then there was the Espionage team. Members in this unit were few, as it was one of the most dangerous. These operations were clandestine, and only the most trustworthy members were assigned to this unit. They were sent to infiltrate the ranks of the government, and were under non-official covers, therefore what they did to keep their cover was completely to their discretion. Nothing they did could be held against them, although being a member of this team is rather gruesome. You had to be a good liar. You had to be persuasive. You had to be able to hide your emotions well.

The Operations department, the one Mikan was assigned to, was responsible for operations of all kinds. These operations — handed to them by the chief — were to be done either as clandestinely or as covertly as possible. They differed as to what you had to conceal. Clandestine Operations — the more often done of the two — were to be done with the intention of hiding the whole affair, whereas Covert Operations — CoveOps for short — were completed with the concealment of the agency in mind. Most people in this division are assigned into different units at first, as the Operations department requires experience. For this department, you needed to be able to think on your feet, expect the unexpected. This was probably the most laborious division of them all; it involves lots of running and sneaking around.

Speaking of sneaking around...

She turned around to look at Natsume, who was walking away from her. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he turned back and raised one at her.

"In case you haven't noticed, love, it's night time and we haven't eaten yet. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go get something to eat." He paused to give her a dry look. "You'd better eat something too, unless you want to starve to death, then in that case, be my guest."

She rolled her eyes at that, but proceeded to ask the three other teenagers if they wanted to come along. They eagerly agreed, as they hadn't eaten dinner either, and they headed back to their headquarters together.

This was actually supposed to be much, much, longer, around thirty five hundred words or so, but I didn't wish to keep you all waiting. You'll just have to settle with this for now. (x

Thanks for reading,

-Liv