Wow... I think I got a pretty good response for the first chapter. Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! they were amazing.
To my many Anons: e-mails don't show up if you just type them straight up in reviews you have to put spaces and stuff but I wouldn't recommend doing that either incase some weirdo got a hold of your e-mail address. Also if you are expecting and immediate reply you can't because you're an anon. So... yeah.
People demanding me to update: DON'T. A "please update soon!" or whatever at the end of the review (or as the review for some of you) is fine though. I have a life and I'm taking classes even over the summer for school. I update as I can, okay? I appreciate the enthusiasm but saying stuff like: "update already!" or "You need to update" will not make me move any faster. I work as quickly as I can.
Props to the people who reviewed all three stories: kat10kat2 and XxAoiTsukixX. You guys are awesome!
Extra props to: XxAoiTsukixX, KidTantei, Aquamarine Lacus, Viola Cain, and shiro-kuro neko-nya for wonderfully amazing reviews
Extra-extra props to: XxAoiTsukixX for not only being awesome but submitting what I am pretty sure are two of my longest reviews for two of my remakes stories so far. Also…. You're like my sister-that's-not. Yeah… I'm pretty sure that that made no sense to anyone but me ^^
Long chapter is long. Just... yeah.
OoOoO
Chapter 1
It was a beautiful morning that day in Kyoto: the air was cool, the grass a beautiful and lush green. Various birds chirped and flitted around the sky, chattering to one another in a language that only birds understood.
It was early enough that children and parents alike were still getting ready for their day and dew still clung to the blades of grass. Teenagers were still being dragged out of bed by blaring alarm clocks and annoyed parents and the morning joggers were heading back home after a good run.
Currently a mailman was walking about, bag slung over his shoulder and on the job despite the fact that it was only seven. His job started earlier than most peoples, with him waking up at 5:00 every morning to get ready and be giving out mail by 6:30. He was heading to the twelfth house on his route now and was feeling rather accomplished, getting the feeling that he would finish early on his very first day if he kept of the pace he was going at now.
With a small grin he trotted up to the mailbox belonging to the Sakura residence.
A small giggle floated through the air from an unidentifiable origin just then and the mailman straightened in surprise, glancing around himself. The streets were empty. He blinked and pushed away the bad feeling he was beginning to develop.
Opening the mailbox, he began to search his bag for the bundle of letters and cards belonging to the house before him. Fingers wrapping around a particularly thick stack, the man smiled upon finding the Sakura Residences' postage.
Another giggle and a small rustle then. Once again the mailman couldn't figure just where the sounds were coming from. Despite himself, he started to become just a little bit nervous and hurried his motions, closing his mailbag and reaching out his hand to put the mail into the mailbox so that he could get out of here.
Rustle…
"H-hello?" he called out uncertainly.
… Rustle, rustle….
A third giggle was heard.
'Where-?'
The man was starting to become seriously freaked by now.
Something touched his shoulder.
The man jumped and spun, just barely keeping a hold on the mail in his hands.
"H-hell-llo? W-who's there?"
Yet another giggle.
The mailman began to visibly shake now.
'A ghost?'
"Finally…." A soft voice murmured from behind, right into his right ear. Cold fingers wrapped around the hand that held the mail that belonged to the Sakura's. "You're here~!"
Ever so slowly, terrified brown eyes shifted to the side to see just what it was beside him.
A young teenage girl stood there with pale creamy skin and large hazel eyes. Her honey colored hair was swept up into a messy bun and the mailman blushed. She was beautiful.
The girl gave him a sweet, close-lipped smile.
And then those cold fingers squeezed around his, sharp nails digging into his skin and here eyes darkened with malicious intent, narrowing and losing their innocent sparkle. She bared her teeth in a wicked grin, only to reveal two shining rows of pointed, shark like teeth.
"Boo!" She whispered fiercely.
The mailman shrieked in terror and ran, the letters that had once occupied his hand falling to the ground, only to be caught by a slender fingered hand before they touched the cement.
Mikan smiled sweetly, teeth returning back to normal as one of the many colorful stones on a pretty charm bracelet she had glowed a pale blue.
"Bye!" she called with a tiny wave and a sweet laugh that soon turned into what could only be described as an evil chuckle. She sneered after the poor Japanese's fading figure.
"Ah… I love scaring those guys," she murmured to the open air, glad that no one had been outside so she had been able to play her cruel trick.
It was one of Mikan's favorite things to do. Scaring the mailmen, that is. She liked to see how long it took them to get too afraid before they never came back again. Call her sadistic, but, well. She was. And at least she was only scarring people mentally and not physically.
And because they were all idiots, none of them ever realized just who it was that was the source of their fear.
It was the perfect game.
"I give that guy two more days," she said with a serene smile, unwrapping the rubber band holding together her mail and looking through it for a specific something.
'Water bill? No. Real estate add… no.' she thought to herself.
The brunet shuffled through several more letter and post cards before her eyes stopped on a plain, cream-colored envelope with no return address or any other writing except for a complex emblem with the letters GA printed in gold ink in the center of it.
'The academy sent me a letter,' she acknowledged with a small hum.
Mikan tucked the letter into one of the magazines that she was subscribed to but never actually read.
'Fashion magazines… tch. Such a waste of time and money,' the teen thought with distaste.
The last letter in the stack made Mikan glare and roll her eyes in annoyance but being who she was, Mikan had to read and keep this particular message. It was from her "best friend" after all.
Mikan put all of the other mail back into the mailbox to retrieve later, reading the front of the third piece of mail in her hands as she did so.
Hotaru Imai was the sender, the return address being from the prestigious Gakuen Alice in Tokyo; school for the gifted and talented. Or at least that's what everyone was told…
Mikan sneered, ripping the letter open to retrieve the single piece of paper inside.
Six lines were printed in Hotaru's all-too-familiar handwriting.
Mikan fought the urge to crumple the note up and set it aflame.
Instead she read the lines again.
Kami, she hated that girl…
Hotaru... what to say about that girl? In all honestly Mikan found her to be to be cold, rude, and boring. She was always hitting her with that annoying baka gun and her other inventions. Not that anyone beside herself knew that. No… the whole world thought that Mikan Sakura absolutely adored the raven haired girl as she was, after all, her self proclaimed best friend. The thing is though, that was all an act.
Every.
Single.
Last.
Bit.
Actually, Mikan hated Hotaru Imai.
But once again, that was all on the inside. On the outside Mikan was seen as hanging off of the girls side, claiming that she was the best friend in the entire world and could do no wrong. It had been that was since they had met in elementary school.
That had been years ago and six months ago exactly the arrogant twit had left to Gakuen Alice. This was the first letter from her in months, despite Mikan's weekly sending of letters to her "best friend in the whole entire world".
Mikan wanted to throttle the girl. Or rather... slowly torture her as payback for all of the years spent as a punching bag.
She wouldn't though.
Couldn't is the more accurate word, actually.
Why the act you wonder? One word: mission. It was a long term one at that, with the point of it being to hide away from the AAO and other organizations as the Academies secret weapon. After all, no one would expect and immature, childish, stupid, and loud teenager to be academies top, would they? And they most certainly wouldn't expect her to be two and a half hours away. This was the reason why she was in Kyoto.
Mikan silently pondered why they had not simply let her live within the academies boundaries in the forbidden area of the school, away from the public eye and students. It would have been much simpler that way: no act, no evil best friends, and no one would know that a girl called Mikan Sakura even existed. But with a shrug, Mikan dismissed it. The Academies decisions almost never made sense after all.
And being the agent that she was, Mikan had thus far completed her mission to perfection, never slipping out of character unless she knew that no one was around and even then sometimes not. Of course she had. Mikan was the number one. Mikan was the Academies pride and joy. The agent.
It didn't mean she liked her mission though.
'Witch,' Mikan sneered in her mind. She should have expected this from her. Hotaru always treated her as a test subject for her machines, rather than a best friend.
She rolled her eyes as she recalled how just last year she had used her "unsuspecting" best friend as a test for her newest invention: itching gas. She was dying for days after the foul smelling red smoke had been sprayed at her and had come to school, red all over and extremely uncomfortable, because of it. Of course Hotaru had no antidote, though. It was a newer product after all... Yup. That's a best friend for ya!
Stuffing her magazine and the letter from the Academy under her arm, Mikan took a deep breath and switched herself into "idiot-mode" before running to her front door, waving Hotaru's letter in the air and screaming that something from her beloved best friend had finally come.
OoOoO
"Whyyyy?" Mikan wailed, a waterfall of tears pouring from miserable hazel eyes. She was curled up in a little ball on her living room floor.
Her Ouji-chan watched her dramatic cries from the sidelines, a small, unsure smile on his face as he tried to figure out how to calm his precious granddaughter down.
Internally, Mikan was kicking herself though, annoyed as hell over her ridiculous behavior.
'Why the hell couldn't those fools have given me a persona that was intelligent or something other than the one I have now?' she snarled. 'What kind of fourteen-year-old acts like this anyway?'
"Mikan-chan… I'm sure there is a good explanation for this," her Oujii-chan began nervously, reading over the note himself with more that a little disbelief at the contents. "Hotaru is a very lazy girl, and-"
"NO!" Mikan cut him off. "This time there is no excuse! Six months, Jii-chan, six months! And all that she had to say to me was: 'Hi idiot. I'm doing well. I can't come back this summer as planned. Don't do anything too stupid while I'm gone. Or rather, don't do anything stupider than normal.
-Hotaru'!"
She looked up at him with a tear-streaked face. Her guardians' old face softened in sympathy.
"I know, Mikan-chan, I know. But…it'll all work out, okay? She'll come back sometime soon."
With a deep sigh he turned and walked out of the room, setting her letter on coffee table in the middle of the living room.
The moment the bawling teen heard the door to his room slide close, Mikan's face blanked, her tears stopped, and she began to wipe the salty tracks away.
She stood up next, brushed her clothes off, and teleported to her room.
OoOoO
Dropping onto her bed Mikan let out a deep sigh and slid the only truly important piece of postage from between the pages of the magazine, which she then loosely tossed towards a rather large pile of the things.
Sliding her thumb under the edge of the envelope, she opened it up and slid out the contents in a matter of seconds.
Crisp, white paper that Mikan was sure costed a ridiculous amount for paper of all things, met her eyes. She unfolded it to find a single paragraph written in the middle of the page in harsh black ink. She scanned the words quickly before sighing and standing up.
Glancing around for a moment she grabbed a small black backpack and the fluffy, childish sheep-shaped one that was typical of a person like "Mikan".
Closing her eyes a moment, Mikan took a deep breath before opening them again.
"Well," she murmured softly, face and tone impassive, "time to pack I suppose."
OoO
Hells Angel,
You are expected in my office tonight by midnight. I have a mission for you as well as some news regarding your current one. You will be staying at Gakuen Alice until further notice. Pack for such.
Persona
OoOoO
She scribbled down a quick note to her Ouji-chan in a messy script, explaining how she just had to go to Tokyo to go find Hotaru because she was her best friend and that she was really sorry and she loved him a ton but I have to do this, Jii-chan.
Mikan placed the note beside his head for him to find when he woke up before studying her guardian for an entire seven years, though he'd thought that he'd had Mikan since she was just a baby due to an illusion cast over him. A small, sad smile curved her lips and she placed a soft kiss on his wrinkled forehead.
'I never could make myself completely hate you. You were too kind. You were the only one who was kind.'
"I think I will actually miss you, old man," she whispered.
Mikan teleported away and the soft grass of her front lawn and the sight of an old, familiar house that she'd come to call her own were what met her sight next. Mikan adjusted the black pack on her shoulder and tightened her grip on the sheep one in her hand.
She was dressed in mission attire; all black, all form fitting. The only piece missing was her signature mask, which Mikan took out now and slid it into place.
Unseen eyes looked up to the crescent moon above her head.
The wind blew softly, and then she was gone, the only sign of her existence being the soft indentations from her standing in the grass and a bright swirl of sakura flowers.
OoOoO
She walked through the hallways with smooth motions and no sound. All was dark, the Academy having no need to light the school now that every student and teacher was at home in the dorms either asleep or soon to be. The moons rays cast pale light through the windows and cast inky shadows around her.
Mikan kept a steady pace.
If she remembered correctly (and she always did) her destination was down the hall, around the corner, and the first door to the right.
The Dangerous Abilities Class, where Persona would be, was the one with the large, dark door; western style and swinging outwards unlike the rest of the schools classrooms whose doors were ones that slid. As though the designer of the school saw it unfit to let those dangerous Alices even have a door just like everyone else. As though they wanted to make the point that they were just that different and would never quite fit in.
Not that it mattered to Mikan though. She honestly didn't care.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose just then and the teen felt another presence approaching from behind.
A moment of panic: all of her muscles tensed up in preparation for a fight just as they always did when someone new came near – the results of many years of training that had long instilled a paranoia of the unknown. She had yet to discover who it was approaching and-
Mikan relaxed.
She knew this person. It was just Natsume Hyuuga, the kitten from the night before… A crooked mockery of a smile curled pink lips.
He was close enough that if they kept the same path – and she knew he would – they would run into one another soon, his steps longer and more hurried than her own were bound to catch up with her own leisurely ones.
She stole a glance behind her, hazel eyes flashing in the moonlight, and saw a permanent scowl and dimly lit crimson eyes, for once not covered by the dark mask held loosely between his fingertips.
'It will be… entertaining to speak with him again,' she thought slowly.
The kitten chose that moment to look up then, and the moons rays struck his irises and lit them up like crimson fire.
OoOoO
He'd been heading towards the Dangerous Abilities headquarters, aka the classroom. He'd had another mission that night – just a simple one this time though – and was going to give his report and confirm whether or not he had completed his mission. Natsume had, of course, and was ready to let the bastard known as Persona hear this and then go immediately head off to sleep.
Silently stepping across the floors, he walked, pace quicker than normal in his haste to obtain much needed sleep.
And then he looked up, and he saw her; dressed just like she had been last night and moving with all the grace of a wildcat on the hunt. The sight of her mask tilted towards him and revealing just the slightest flash of her eyes let him know that she was already aware of his presence and was studying him.
"You…" He said slowly, stopping short. "Why-?"
But then the teen – Hells Angel – turned her head away and continued her trek towards what Natsume could only assume was the same place as he was headed.
Well if that was the case…
"Oi, wait up," he called after her.
He ran to catch up with her when she did not stop, reaching with his unoccupied hand to catch her shoulder.
"Why are you here?" he asked her with a frown. "I never saw you before last night and now you've shown up again?"
Hells Angel lightly caught Natsume's hand in her own and placed it back by his side.
"First of all," she said in her icy musical voice, "do not touch me. Second, is it so wrong for me to come and report to my superiors the way you do?"
Natsume's frown deepened but he obliged, if for no other reason that he had seen the power that the girl before him had displayed last night… and he held a grudging respect for it.
"Are you not going to respond?" Hells Angel asked him after he did nothing but stare at her for a while.
"…"
"Then I will continue to my destination."
"… Hn," came Natsume's simple reply to her words and when she started walking again he followed her with narrowed eyes.
This girl interested him. He'd never seen or heard of her before at school or in the DA and so her sudden appearance had been a major surprise initially. She was a mysterious person… and Natsume didn't like mysteries. So he would figure her out.
Out of curiosity to see her reaction, he powered up his Alice to light the end of her ponytail on fire.
Only just as quickly as the flames appeared, they disappeared once more, flickering out and leaving nothing but a faint trail on smoke in the air.
Natsume didn't need to see her face to know Hells Angel's eyebrows were raised in question.
He blinked.
"How did stop my fire?" he questioned coolly.
"I think that you should explain why you tried to use your Alice on me in the first place," she countered easily.
"A test."
"Tch. Fair enough," she allowed. Then, "Wind Alice."
A soft gust of wind blew Natsume's bangs away from his face then and twirled around his head and body, ruffling his uniform, before disappearing. The gentleness of the action almost made him forget the slightly annoyed tone lacing her musical voice along with her usual steel.
He smirked a little.
Apparently he annoyed her. Heh.
Not once had she stopped walking.
"Now that you are through with your test, leave me alone. I have things to do."
"So do I," Natsume agreed easily, and reached up the hand carrying his mask to his face, clicking the porcelain piece into place.
Natsume shoved his hands in his pockets and walked the rest of the way to the DA beside her.
When they both stopped, they were in front of a large wooden door, and just as Natsume reached for the doors handle, Hells Angel raised her own small hand to knock.
They shared a look.
"What's the point of knocking? He's just going to let us in anyway," Natsume drawled.
"It's polite," Hells Angel deadpanned in return. "Or are such things lost on you?"
Oh how Natsume wanted to burn this girl…
He rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see it.
"Whatever princess," he sneered at her manners. "Do what you want."
"I will, brute," she clipped and knocked three times.
A low voice immediately answered.
"Come in, Hell's Angel."
Said teen turned to the boy beside her and spoke in a light yet vaguely condescending voice.
"Later, kitten."
OoOoO
Mikan quickly shut the door behind her and stepped further into the room.
Lit only by a lamp perched on a desk covered in papers and a second one sitting atop a large bookshelf, it was difficult to see the figure behind the desk. She knew his features by heart though, and his black form didn't daunt her at all.
Taking her mask away from her face, she gave a slight bow.
"Right on time, I see," Persona began quietly. "Early even."
"Yes, sir. What did you call me here for?"
"New mission, new status," he explained in a dull voice.
Mikan waited for him to elaborate.
"You will be staying at Gakuen Alice and attending as a student until further notice. Starting tomorrow."
At his words, the secret agent of the academy felt something akin to excitement and a little bit of relief begin to build up inside her.
'Will I be able to be the normal me again?' she wondered. 'No more stupid act?'
The thought nearly made Mikan smile… or at least until Persona continued.
"You will be keeping your assigned personality as well. For the sake of keeping yourself secret."
Rare happiness = gone.
Mikan nodded jerkily in understanding.
"Good…" Persona murmured, and picked up a thick manila folder that had been sitting on his desk. He tossed it to her. "Here. You will likely have double missions now that you live at the Academy. That has all of the details for your next mission in it as well as your new living arrangements and the layout of the academy."
Hazel eyes scanned the first page in the folder. Mikan grinned sadistically at the sight of her next assignment.
'This will be fun…'
"Oh. And you're a special star," the DA's teacher added offhandedly, tossing her a small pin. "Your room key should be taped to the back. Room number 626."
He stood up then, and walked smoothly towards her.
Mikan's eyebrows rose in question and utilizing her stolen mind reading Alice she smiled ever so slightly.
She held out her arms.
"Yes, onii-sama," she said with a soft laugh. "You can have a hug."
Taking the invitation, the much taller person wrapped his arms around his pseudo sister and bent his head towards her ear, whispering, "It's good to have you back, my imouto-chan."
When they separated, the dark man flashed Mikan one of his extremely rare almost-smiles which was readily returned.
Mikan had met Persona was she was about four years old. She had yet to begin her real training, but she was at least being educated in reading, math, and the other core subjects.
And the one who was always to watch over her as she learned and lived life in general, was always a slim figure dressed in black clothing, a thin white mask covering part of his features.
The Alice of Death had thought nothing of the child at first, but after months and months of keeping watch and studying he came to find her as a subject of interest; an oddly cheerful girl with a bright smile and a dangerous set of Alice's being trained to be the Academies ace. She was smart and a quick learner and despite all of the horror and darkness surrounding her, she always maintained a cheerful disposition. Or at least she had for those first few years.
They had broken her by the time she turned seven.
But digressing from that, Persona had been drawn in by the odd child and after saving her from a dangerous fall one day (she had been climbing a tree so she could look at a birds nest) he was completely enamored with her. It was the first time he had ever come into actual contact with her before and it was also the first time after that person that someone hadn't been frightened away. She'd thanked him, actually – told him that she always thought of him like her "shadowy big brother!" since he was always watching over her.
After a choked response of "your welcome" and "is that so?" followed with Mikan's insistence that he should eat lunch with her that day, he found himself a big brother and her a little sister.
He squeezed her hand lightly once before releasing it.
"You may go now."
Mikan put her mask back on and nodded.
Opening the door and stepping out with a small nod towards Kuro Neko, Persona switched back to business mode and hardened his emotions once more.
"And Angel," Persona called. "Tomorrow morning, five o'clock sharp, training field eleven. You will be working with myself, the Kuro Neko, and a few others from now on."
Natsume stared at her in surprise at the news.
"See you tomorrow morning, kitten," she said tonelessly.
The Alice glared, and Mikan teleported away.
OoOoO
Special stars, she decided, had it good.
With a king sized canopy bed, a walk-in closet, kitchen, living room, huge bathroom, and a balcony it was basically a miniature house.
Mikan placed her folder and backpacks on her new bed before walking to her closet to inspect the contents.
It was already full with multiple things in it: uniforms, shoes, socks, jackets, mission clothes, casual clothes, hats, and underwear with stupid prints on them among a variety of other things. She frowned at a pair of polka dotted ones.
"Who wears polka dots?" she asked the empty air with disgust.
Grabbing a pair of loose shorts to sleep in as well as a button up pajama top, Mikan left the closet to go clean up in her bathroom. She tossed her mission clothes into the hamper there, laying her mask gently atop the pile of clothes along with her various Alice control devices. A silvery tattoo shimmered and darkened to an almost black color at the absence of the Alice devices: a fail-safe restrictor placed by a special Alice in case she didn't have her control devices on that also strengthened and weakened its power when needed
Standing underneath the hot spray of the shower, too lazy to wait for the tub to fill with water, she let herself relax for the first time in a while.
That she would remain at this school with her assigned personality was… disappointing, but she now had a very nice room, Persona, (and if her missions were all like the one she had just received) entertaining missions as well.
"That will be good enough for now," she whispered into the spray.
Tomorrow she would start school as Mikan Sakura; a happy, stupid teenage girl that adores her best friend. Basically, the same life as before only now she was a student at the academy she had been trained to work for and protect.
She hadn't stayed here in more than seven years and, oddly enough, despite all of the bad memories that she did have from her previous stay in this place, she couldn't wait for the next day.
Mikan sighed in content.
OoooOooO
Woohoo! This was a 5,192 word chapter. I think that you all should praise me now ;)
Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed it!
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