Jacklyn: …Hey.

Mikan: (Looks at Jacklyn) What's wrong?

Jacklyn: Looks like I just found something interesting there. (Points to a direction)

Mikan: (Looks at the direction where Jacklyn points) What's-Natsume! (Waves her hand to Natsume)

Natsume: (Looks at Mikan in annoyance) What?

Mikan: Look! (Points to the direction where Jacklyn just pointed)

Natsume followed the brunette's index finger to a direction. And they surely found something interesting there.

Natsume: (Smirks) Great.

Jacklyn: What are you waiting for? Let's go. (Walks to a certain direction)

Natsume: (Glares at Jacklyn) Since when she became the leader here?

Mikan: Since illutia created her…?

Natsume: Tch. I'll make sure that I'll make the freaky author pay back.

Mikan: You're so mean to her…

Natsume: (Raises an eyebrow at Mikan) You have calmed down now?

Mikan: (Tilts her head in confusion) What?

Natsume: Don't you want to hit that freaky author's head too?

Mikan: So?

Natsume: (Rolls his eyes and walks away) Whatever.

Mikan: Hey! Natsume! Wait! (Chases Natsume)

-x-

Small Pieces of You

-x-

9th Piece: In Central Town

"Jacklyn-chan!! Let's go to Central Town!!" a brunette suddenly beamed at the sleepy black-haired girl that was still lying on her bed.

Yes, it's Saturday and the clock showed 6.30 am in the morning.

Jacklyn was still in her cushiony bed and dreamed peacefully until someone suddenly barged into her room and awoke her with cheery smile and a little loud cheery voice.

That 'someone' named Mikan.

"Mikan? You're early today," Jacklyn mumbled as she rubbed her half-closed eyes. "What's with the Central Town? Don't we have any class today?"

"Yes, but only until 9 am. After that, we have free time!" Mikan chirped happily. "So, do you want to come with us to Central Town?"

"What is Central Town anyway?" Jacklyn asked as she got off from her bed.

"It's a small town inside this Alice Academy. They're selling many things there. You can say…it's more like a mall town!!" Mikan explained as she sat on Jacklyn's bed.

Jacklyn looked at her. "Okay, then when will we go?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"How about after the class? But we have to ask Natsume too. We can't go without our partner," Mikan said as she put her index finger on her chin.

"I doubt if he wants to go with us," Jacklyn said as she went into the bathroom.

"Then we just have to chase and persuade him! I always do that and it works!" the brunette said a little loudly, hoping Jacklyn could hear it.

'I won't guarantee about that, Mikan,' Jacklyn thought as she put the toothpaste onto the toothbrush. "Okay! But I still doubt it!" Jacklyn replied before she started to brush her teeth.

Ten minutes afterwards, Jacklyn went out from her bathroom in her uniform.

She grabbed her bag and sketchbook from the study desk. "Let's go or we'll be late," she told the brunette as she went to the door. Mikan followed her from behind.

After they were out of her room, Jacklyn locked it and inserted her room key to her pocket then they walked to their classroom together.

It's still early in the morning, so it's okay for them to walk.

Unknown to them, there were two girls standing far behind them.

They had eavesdropped Mikan and Jacklyn's conversation before when they accidentally passed by her room.

"That Sakura asked her to Central Town. Should we report this to Houji-sama?" a girl asked.

"Of course! She's still pissed off with that Jacklyn girl and she must have some plans to make the girl pay back," the other said with a sly smile.

"Yeah, and seeing that she's so close to Sakura, maybe we can use her to threat that arrogant girl," the first girl added.

And the two girls went off to report what they had just heard to their leader.

-x-

Mikan and Jacklyn arrived at the class early.

A few students in the class were quite surprised when they saw the usually-late-brunette arrived early than usual. Yuu was the first person that approached the two girls.

"Morning, Sakura-san, Jacklyn-san," he greeted them as he smiled.

"Morning, Iinchou!!" Mikan greeted him happily.

"Good morning, Tobita," Jacklyn greeted him too, smiling.

"Sakura-san, you're early today," Yuu said to Mikan.

"I'm excited because today I'll take Jacklyn to Central Town!" she told him enthusiastically.

Yuu chuckled softly. "You're really excited when it comes to Central Town."

Mikan looked around classroom and found a glimpse of someone that she had been searching for. Her eyes were shining brightly at the figure.

"HOOOTAAARUUU!!" she yelled as she ran to her best friend.

At first, Jacklyn just smiled when she saw the brunette running to her best friend like a lost child that found her mother.

But she was a little shocked when she saw Hotaru take out her Baka Gun and shoot Mikan until she flew back to the door and bumped into Jacklyn.

At that time, Jacklyn thought that she would fall on the cold floor.

But no.

Instead, she felt her back leaning on something that not hard, but also not soft either.

In her curiosity, she looked up and found an irritated face that was owned by one of two hottest boys at the Junior High School, Natsume Hyuuga.

They froze in that position for a while. All students were also silent when they saw the three of them at the door.

Actually, there were four of them. Ruka stood beside the crimson-eyed boy at that time.

At this scene, Sumire's jaw dropped.

"Are you going to stay like this or what?" Natsume broke the silence. He sounded very pissed off.

Jacklyn bent her eyebrows. 'What's wrong with him?' she thought, irritated at his tone. "It's not like that I want to bump into you either," she retorted as she helped Mikan straighten herself.

After she straightened herself, she looked at Natsume and said, "Anyway, thanks."

"Whatever," was his answer as he walked to his seat with Ruka without looking at her. Ruka smiled at the two girls and followed Natsume.

The seaweed-haired girl, Sumire Shouda, which was the president of Natsume-Ruka fans club walked to the two girls' direction.

…More like stomped to their direction.

She emitted a dangerous aura around her as she approached them. In the next second, she stopped in front of the black-haired girl, Jacklyn.

"You're doing it intentionally, aren't you?!" she scowled at the black-haired girl.

Jacklyn arched an eyebrow. "Why must I?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Because you know that Natsume-kun will get here at that time, so you bumped into him!" Sumire accused.

Jacklyn rolled her eyes. "I just prevented Mikan from falling to the floor and you're accusing me that I did that to attract that cocky boy's attention? You're ridiculous," she said as she walked passing the green-haired girl.

But before she could walk further, Sumire caught her arm.

Jacklyn stopped on her way and shifted her gaze from her left arm that had been held to Sumire, the suspect that held her arm. "Now, what?" she asked, pissed off.

"You won't get away with that excuse," the seaweed-haired girl said dangerously. Jacklyn glared at her, taking no hint that the girl threatened her.

"Let go of me. The class will start soon," Jacklyn said nonchalantly.

"Not until you admit that you bumped into my Natsume-kun intentionally!" Sumire insisted.

"I've told you. It's an accident. Why are you so insisting?" Jacklyn asked irritatingly as she tried to release her left arm from Sumire's grasp.

"Um, Permy…It's really an accident," Mikan finally said.

"Shut up, Sakura! I just want to show her what will happen if she's messing with the president of Natsume-Ruka fans club!" Sumire scolded.

And this action caused her…

"NO!! MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!!" she shouted as her grasp on Jacklyn loosened.

Jacklyn was wondering at what just happened.

And there, she saw a fire appear in Sumire's green locks. Jacklyn kept on staring at the poor seaweed-haired girl who was running out from the class.

Jacklyn knew the suspect and glanced at Natsume who sat on the back of the class with manga covering his face. 'Why didn't he do it in the first place?' she thought, a half curious while a half again was irritated.

"Because Shouda has scolded Sakura," a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

Jacklyn was startled by the sudden voice near her ear then she turned to see who it was. "Koko?" she called his name. "When did you stand behind me?"

"Just now," he said, smiling his goofy smile.

"About what you said just now, is that true?" Jacklyn asked.

"Yes, it is," he replied simply.

"What are you saying about, Koko?" the brunette interrupted their conversation.

"Ah, it's about why Sumire's hair got burnt. It's because-MY HAIR!!" the mind reader suddenly shouted because his hair got a small fire on it at that time.

"It's because of your hair?" She was confused.

Jacklyn quickly grabbed Koko's arm and ran out from the class.

Luckily, the corridor was empty. No one was there at that time.

Jacklyn took out her pen and quickly drew a glass of water. She touched it and a glass of water appeared in her right hand. She quickly poured it on Koko's head and the fire finally extinguished.

"Thank you," he muttered as he sighed, relieved.

"No problem," she replied. "Does he always do that?" she asked as she inserted her pen into her pocket.

"If you annoy him and hurt Sakura," he replied as he touched his wet hair.

Realizing that the mind reader's hair was wet, Jacklyn took out her pen from her pocket again and drew a towel.

She touched it and handed the towel to the wet-haired mind reader. "Here. Use this." She smiled at him.

"Thanks," he said as he took the towel and started to dry his hair. "Let's go back to the class."

Jacklyn nodded and went back to the class with Koko.

When the two of them went into the class again, all students wondered where Koko got that towel from but decided not to ask.

Jacklyn, ignoring the attentions, just proceeded her way to her seat, which was in front of Mikan's.

"Your doing?" the brunette asked when Jacklyn had arrived in front of her.

Jacklyn knew what she meant. The brunette's question was referred at the towel on Koko's head.

"You think?" Jacklyn gave a 'peace' sign as she smiled.

"Yes, it is." Mikan grinned.

The animal prince, Ruka, was confused at what they were talking about, while Natsume just glanced at the brunette from his manga.

The door suddenly opened again and it revealed a wet green-haired girl and Narumi who was standing behind her.

Sumire walked to her seat as she sent a glare to Jacklyn, who looked away to the other direction.

Narumi then walked to the front of the class and said, "Good morning, class! Let's start our lesson today!"

And the class went on.

-x-

"Jacklyn-chan, have you seen him?" Mikan asked as she peeked into an empty classroom.

"Nope. I haven't seen him anywhere," Jacklyn replied as she gazed around the corridor.

The class had been over now and they were about to go to Central Town when they realized that they didn't catch any glimpse of a certain raven-haired boy.

"Have you told him that we'll go to Central Town today?" Jacklyn asked the brunette who was busy looking for a clue of him.

"No, I haven't. I was too attracted to your and Sumire's arguments then forgot about this plan," Mikan said, a little sad.

"Do you know where he always goes?" Jacklyn asked as she looked at Mikan.

The brunette thought for a while and then she clasped her hands together.

"Sakura tree!!" were the last words she said before she dragged Jacklyn to a certain Sakura Tree.

-x-

A raven-haired boy was lying on a branch of the Sakura Tree when suddenly he heard a familiar voice called him.

"NATSUME!!"

"Tch. Polka-dots," he grunted behind his manga that was covering his face.

"Natsume! Let's go to Central Town!" Mikan said from under the branch.

"I'm not going," he said, still with manga on his face.

"But I want to go! I can't go without my partners!" she whined.

"You can go with that sketchbook girl," he told her lazily.

"But you're my partner too!" she insisted. "Come on, Natsume! Please!"

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"Natsume!"

"No."

While the brunette tried to persuade and the raven-haired boy kept on refusing, Jacklyn just stood there in silence. She decided not to get involved in their quarrel because she thought that her involvement would just worsen the situation.

"Onii-chan!"

Upon hearing the voice, Jacklyn and Mikan looked at the source of it.

Natsume lifted his manga from his face and looked at the little gray-haired boy that ran to their direction.

Seeing the little boy, an idea directly popped on Mikan's head. "You-chan! Do you want to go to Central Town?" she asked the little boy.

Youichi was silent for a while at the question, but then he nodded. The brunette gave out a wide smile at the silence answer.

She turned back her gaze to a certain someone on the branch. "Natsume! You-chan is also going! Come on!" she persuaded the raven-haired boy again.

Natsume just rolled his eyes. "No," he stated.

"Onii-chan, let's go to Central Town," Youichi suddenly asked him.

The fire caster looked at the little boy for a few seconds then sighed. "Fine," he said as he jumped off from the tree and walked away with Youichi following him.

"Let's go, Jacklyn-chan," Mikan said as she grabbed Jacklyn's wrist and ran to the direction where Natsume walked with Youichi.

-x-

Jacklyn was sitting in the bus now.

She, Mikan, Youichi, and Natsume sat at the back seat in the bus.

She sat near the window. Mikan sat beside her. Youichi sat between Mikan and Natsume. Natsume sat near the window on the other side.

Sometimes, the wind blew so hard, causing a few strands of Jacklyn's black hair to cover her own face.

At that time, when Jacklyn tugged that few strands of hair back to its place, her dark-brown eyes always caught Youichi staring at her for a second before he looked away.

'Is he suspicious at me?' Jacklyn couldn't help but think of that possibility while acting like nothing was wrong. 'I hope not.'

Finally, the bus arrived at the Central Town.

Mikan came out first, followed by Jacklyn, Youichi then Natsume.

"We're here!!" Mikan chirped happily as she stretched her arms.

"That's why I don't want to go here with you. You're too noisy," the raven-haired boy said as he walked away, followed by Youichi.

"Natsume! Wait!" the brunette chased him.

Jacklyn then followed her. "Mikan, where will we go?" she asked as she caught up with the brunette.

"How about we go to my favorite shop? There's a very delicious candy that you must try," Mikan said as she looked at Jacklyn.

"Okay," the black-haired girl agreed, smiling.

"The shop is there! Come on!" Mikan said as she took Jacklyn's hand and ran to a shop with a long queue. "It's quite popular, so we have to wait for a while," she added. "Why don't you wait there?" she pointed a bench near a tree there.

Jacklyn nodded as she watched the brunette take out a few papers that looked like some money; only, it had a different design.

"Is that a new design of our money?" she asked, curious.

Mikan looked at her with a smile on her face. "Nope. These are rabbits. This is what we use in this Alice Academy, not Yen," she explained. "We will get some every month, depending on our star's rank."

"Oh…"

"Now, you wait there. I'll be right back," she said before she left the black-haired girl there.

Jacklyn then went to a bench near a tree and sat on it.

While waiting for Mikan, she gazed around her circumstance. She then caught a glimpse of a familiar person.

A little surprised, she closed her eyes and opened it again.

That person that she thought she just saw before was gone.

'Maybe I just have a hallucination,' she thought as she rubbed her eyes.

"Jacklyn-chan, you're here too?" a voice said behind her, making her turn her head to the direction of it.

It's Anna and Nonoko.

"Anna? Nonoko? You're here too?" she said, a little surprised.

"Not only us. There are Yuu and Koko too," Nonoko said. "But Koko suddenly got a headache, so he went back to the academy."

"And Yuu is still checking the store for something," Anna added while pointing to a book-store.

"If you're here, where's Mikan-chan?" Nonoko asked.

"Ah, she's there," Jacklyn replied as she pointed to the candy shop where Mikan queued.

"You just came here with Mikan-chan?" Anna asked with curiosity engulfing her.

"No," Jacklyn smiled, "Natsume and Youichi are here too."

Anna and Nonoko blinked at her answer. "Where are they?" Nonoko wondered.

Jacklyn looked around and didn't see any sign of Natsume and Youichi there. "Let's say…they have their own business here," she concluded.

"Jacklyn-chan! I finally got it!!" a brunette shouted as she ran to the three girl's direction. "Ah there are Anna and Nonoko too! Hello, Anna! Hello, Nonoko!"

"Hello, Mikan-chan!" the two aforementioned said in unison.

"Do you want to join us eating this Howalon?" Mikan offered.

"Thank you, Mikan-chan. But it's okay, just eat it with Jacklyn-chan," Nonoko said. "She hasn't tried it."

"Okay then," Mikan said as she smiled.

The four girls chit-chatted happily, until the Howalon box was empty. Mikan went to find a trashcan to throw away the empty Howalon box. She left the three girls chatting in a quite long time.

They started to get worried.

"Mikan-chan hasn't come back since twenty minutes ago," Anna started.

"I wonder if she's lost…" Nonoko was worried.

"Then I'll search for her. You two can go back first," Jacklyn said as she stood up and ran away.

"See you later then!" the two said in unison, but Jacklyn was too far to hear it.

After ran for ten minutes, Jacklyn was a little lost. She stopped for a while and looked around.

'Where is she?' she thought in panic.

Then her dark-brown colored eyes caught a familiar figure that she had caught before in the Central Town too. The figure walked to a direction with two other girls.

Jacklyn quickly hid and opened her sketchbook.

She drew a hairpin and a mask that covered her face completely then she touched it. She wore the mask and clipped her long bangs up then went out from her hideout and made sure that she didn't recognize the wrong person.

'It's her, Marika Houji. My eyes didn't fool me before,' she thought as she recalled the moment when she caught a glimpse of her while waiting for Mikan.

Jacklyn looked around and found some people wore masks. Even though she wondered what occasion had been held there, she wondered more about what the girls were talking about.

Her feeling told her that those girls had something to do with Mikan.

She stopped a few meters from them and hid again.

She drew a tapper and an earphone to eavesdrop those girls' conversation. She touched it and threw the tapper near them while she put the earphone in her ears. Jacklyn could hear their voice from the earphone.

"Where did you hide her?"

"There's an empty warehouse at the outskirts of this town. We took her there."

"Have you found that Jacklyn girl?"

"No, I haven't. I'll keep on searching for her."

"Great. Now, you search for her again and you take me to the warehouse."

"I understand, Houji-sama. I'll go then."

"Hmph. Now let's see what you can do if we hold Sakura, Jacklyn-san…"

"May we go now, Houji-sama?"

"Yes. Take me there."

Jacklyn's eyes widened when she heard about the girl that they were talking about.

She had a bad feeling. And she knew that it was right.

Mikan was caught by them.

She decided to follow the two girls, which were Marika and her member. She must help the brunette.

Jacklyn followed them from behind.

After she followed them for a quite long time, they arrived at an empty warehouse. Nobody was there or even passing by there.

Jacklyn hid again and drew two weapons. She touched one of them and a gun-shaped thing appeared in her hand. She was ready to sneak into the warehouse now.

She sneaked in quietly and hid between piles of boxes that were put in there. She peeked a little and saw a familiar brunette lying helplessly on the cold floor, surrounding by some fan girls.

'Now, let's see what you get when you're messing with me and my friends,' she thought as she aimed her gun to their direction and…

GRAB!

Three girls were tied in one by a rope that come out from nowhere.

"Hey! What's this?!"

"Where did it come from?"

There's a ruckus in there after the girls suddenly tied by a rope. Jacklyn aimed her weapon to the other and…

GRAB! GRAB! GRAB!

More of them got tied. She aimed it to the other again and was about to shoot when…

"THERE'S A GIRL BEHIND THE BOX IN FRONT OF YOU!!"

Jacklyn looked at the voice and saw the girl that was commanded by Marika to search for her standing at the front door.

Her attention was averted to that girl when suddenly a pile of box fell down to her direction. She managed to dodge it in time and saw a few girls standing behind the boxes. Marika then moved forward. They were staring at each other for sometime when Marika finally spotted something on the mask girl's left arm.

A sketchbook.

She sneered. "So…you come for the rescue, huh?" she said in her coquettish tone.

Jacklyn was silent.

"Let's see if you can get out of here unharmed," Marika said as her members stood beside her, ready to launch an attack.

--To be continued--

illutia mist: … (What a tragic fate…)

Jacklyn: Hey.

illutia mist: (Wide-eyed) (Ouch! NOT THEM!)

Jacklyn: (Smirks) Surprise? Wonder how you got frozen here.

illutia mist: (Darn it! It's good that it's just Jacklyn here!)

Natsume: I've told you! Whatever!

Mikan: Nah! That's not what you've said before!

illutia mist: (…Disaster…)

Natsume: (Looks at illutia then smirks) Being frozen, freaky author?

Hotaru: (Appears from nowhere) She froze by herself.

Mikan: Hotaru?!

Hotaru: I just said no contract that we ever signed and she froze.

Jacklyn: Good. Don't melt the ice. This is her punishment.

illutia mist: (Veins pop on her head) (WHAT THE HELL?!)

Natsume: Tch. Who wants to melt that anyway?

illutia mist: (Breaks the ice) ALL OF YOU ARE MEAN!!

Mikan: (Shock) Whoa! She broke the ice!

illutia mist: I'LL TORTURE YOU LATER!! (Runs away)

Jacklyn: (Annoyed) Darn it! We should have done something before!

Natsume: You're the one who told me not to melt the ice.

Jacklyn: (Glares at Natsume) And you're the one that said 'who wants to melt that anyway?'

Natsume glared back at her and the glaring contest finally began.

Mikan: …Uh…guys…

And the brunette was being ignored by them.

Mikan: …

Hotaru: Useless. You better do 'your routine job' because that freaky author has escaped once again. (Walks away)

Mikan: Oh right! (Smiles) Thank you for reading, good readers! Please review! (Murmurs in annoyance) Even though that author of this story left her responsible to me and ran away…

Natsume: And whose fault is it then?

Jacklyn: You, cocky boy!

Natsume: (Growls) I'll burn you…

Jacklyn: Nu-uh! I'll smack that head of yours!

Mikan: (Looks at the two and sighs) And left me with these won't-ever-cooperate two.