Scribble scribble

Mikan: (Looks at illutia) Ne, what are you doing?

illutia mist: Figures. I'm writing a story here. It's not like they'll finish their business in the next second. (Points at Jacklyn and Natsume that are still shouting at each other)

Hotaru: (Shakes her head) This matter won't be over if those idiots keep retorting at each other.

illutia mist: (Nods) Uh-huh. That's why I decided to continue my story while waiting for them to finish their business.

Mikan: (Rolls her eyes) Yeah. Until when?

illutia mist: (Shrugs) Until they decide to get over with it.

Hotaru: (Looks at illutia) You're such a lucky freaky author.

illutia mist: (Grins at Hotaru) I know.

Natsume: (Bends his eyebrows) You're weaker than me. Admit that!

Jacklyn: (Rolls her eyes) It's your opinion, rock-headed boy!

Mikan: (Sighs) Oh man…

-x-

Small Pieces of You

-x-

15th Piece: Breaking the Friendship

KRIIING!!

"And this is the end of our class today. For all of you who haven't turned in the assignment, I add one more page as the punishment and you must turn it in today!" Jinno said before he made his way out from the class.

After the teacher went out from the class and the situation was secured, a few students threw some protests about the punishment they got for not doing the assignment before.

While they were protesting and talking about how cruel the Math teacher was, a certain black-haired girl slammed her forehead on the desk, tired. 'Finally, Jinno's class has been over. My day went smooth so far,' she thought as she closed her eyes. She swore she still could see those Math's formulas and numbers even though her eyes were closed.

"Jacklyn-chan…"

The voice managed to make her heart stop beating for a second.

She knew the voice so well. And the owner of the voice was one of the persons that she wanted to avoid at that time. Since she arrived at the class right a second before the Math teacher came in, she didn't make any eye contact with her friends and focused her eyes to the blackboard instead.

She could do that act easily, for she used to be a taciturn type of person. It's not hard, really. The problem was only if one of them approached her, like what happened just now.

At that time, she wished that she had alice of teleportation instead of drawing. If only she had the teleportation alice, maybe she had transported herself to the other place right now.

In fact, she didn't have that kind of alice.

Jacklyn lifted her head and her dark-brown orbs met with the hazel one. "Mikan?"

The brunette stared at her in hesitation, her hands clasped lowly in front of her. "About yesterday, I understand that you don't want me to get hurt. But I can't ditch my friend just like that," she said sadly.

The black-haired girl stared at her while listening to each word that she said. The truth was she didn't want that cheery girl to be sad. She was her first friend anyway. She felt that it was so selfish of her if she kept on befriending with the brunette and dragged her into the dangerous battle with those fan girls.

Maybe she was selfish too if she stayed away from the brunette without thinking about her feeling, just so the auburn-haired girl would be safe.

But she couldn't think of another way.

A certain fire caster glanced at the two from behind the manga that covered his face. Surely he was injured, but he had gotten permission to check out from the hospital. He had arrived at the class a minute after Jacklyn reached her seat. And of course that stern-face teacher wouldn't scold him, for he knew the lad's side job for the academy.

Natsume skipped Narumi's class due to the wound, but not Jinno's class. Hell, he had done the darn assignment, you know. He didn't really care about Narumi's lesson anyway, knowing that the teacher always gave them weird assignments which he rather not did it.

He focused his eyes to the brunette, listening to their conversation.

"I can defend myself," Mikan said as she stretched her hand and held the black-haired girl's hand. "We help each other. That's what friends are for, right?"

That's what friends are for…

She knew it, but still…

Jacklyn, herself, had many secrets that no one knew. She hid the problem, her alice, and many more. She preferred to keep the entire problem to herself. It's not that she didn't like if there's anyone that wanted to help her though. She just felt unsecured if there's anyone getting involved in her problems.

Moreover, if they were her friends…

The black-haired girl kept her head down, staring at her hand that was being held by the brunette. She then released one of her hands, lifted it to the level of her head and waved it up and down at the brunette, signaling her to lower her head. The brunette caught the silent gesture and bent down her head until it was at the same level with Jacklyn's head.

"I have many secrets that can't be told. Are you fine with it?" she whispered in Mikan's ear, carefully not to let the others hear it.

The brunette curved her lips into a smile and said, "You can tell me just if you want. Friend doesn't mean you must spill out all things that you don't want to talk about."

At her wise answer, the black-haired girl should admit that she was touched by her words. She stared at the brunette for a while as a glad and happy feeling filled her heart again. She smiled back at her. 'You are right, Mikan.'

Mikan's smile widened as she saw the small smile appear on Jacklyn's face. She was glad that the girl wanted to understand her intention to help her.

"By the way, it's lunchtime now. Let's go to the cafeteria!" she chirped happily. This suggestion of hers earned a small nod from Jacklyn, who stood up and followed her after she took her bag and sketchbook.

And of course, the brunette didn't forget her other friends just like that. She looked around the class and found three persons that she usually hanged out with still on their seats. "Natsume! Ruka! Hotaru! Let's go!" she called.

Hotaru finished packing her things and approached Mikan when something suddenly bugged Jacklyn's mind. The brunette realized the changing expression on her face at that time. "Jacklyn-chan?"

Jacklyn lifted her head and smiled at her. "Um, Mikan, I remember that I have something to do. You go first to the cafeteria, okay?"

The brunette smiled back at her and said, "Okay. You'll catch up with us later, right?" Jacklyn just nodded and ran out from class.

Natsume, who had been observing the two of them since a few minutes ago, felt something weird at the girl's quick mood-recovery. "Too easy," he muttered when Mikan went to her seat, which was beside him.

She managed to hear the faint murmur from the boy but didn't quite catch what he murmured about. "What?" she asked, curious.

"Nothing," he replied as he stood up.

"Are you going to the cafeteria with us?" she asked again, a bright smile plastered on her face.

"Hn," was all the famous fire caster reply.

-x-

Jacklyn put the white feather under the Sakura tree and let out a small smile after it. She was about to catch up with Mikan and the others when her eyes caught a group of girls walking to a certain direction.

She didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling about this and her heart told her to follow them.

Obeying what her heart said, Jacklyn followed the girls from behind until they went into an empty small building in the west woods. While following them, she drew a few harmless weapons in case if they were fan girls and found her there, preparing for the battle.

She stopped at the entrance and pressed her back onto the wall. Looking around, she made sure no one saw her there like in the last battle. After she thought it was safe, she peeked inside the building carefully.

Her eyes widened.

-x-

"Mikan-chan!" Nonoko called as she approached the gang's table, which consisted of Mikan, Hotaru, Natsume, Ruka, Koko and Yuu. Mikan looked up and smile when she saw the indigo-haired girl walking to their direction.

But then, she realized something unusual.

"Nonoko, are you alone? Where's Anna?" she asked, wondering why the bearer of chemistry alice didn't come with the pink-haired girl. They were usually together.

Nonoko shrugged her shoulders as she took a seat beside the mind reader. "She is suddenly gone. Maybe bake some cakes again."

The brunette made an 'o' shape on her lips as a respond, while the stoic inventor put down her drink and commented, "How unusual."

The indigo-haired girl just shrugged her shoulders once again at the blackmailer's comment.

-x-

Jacklyn was wide-eyed as she saw a girl with wavy-pink hair was lying on the floor while having her eyes covered by a black blindfold.

"Anna!" she gasped quietly.

She shifted her gaze to the girls that were surrounding her friend and found Marika among them. The wavy-black haired girl had her arms folded in front of her chest as she stared down at Anna.

"How long is the sleep potion working?" Marika asked.

"More less an hour again, she will wake up," a girl that was standing beside her said.

"Are you sure she knows about that non-alice girl's alice?" she asked again, unsure.

"It will be more accurate if we ask that Sakura girl. But she is always with Hyuuga-san now, so we can't get near her," the girl answered her question again. "The other option is Ogasawara and Umenomiya. These girls also always hang out with the non-alice girl."

Marika eyes flared up as she said, "If we know her alice, we can make a few plans to teach her a lesson for messing around with our Natsume."

The hiding girl heard the conversation and had her eyes wide opened when she knew the reason they got Anna with them. Her anger started to rise. 'Just because they want to know my alice? And they treat her like this?! I can't forgive them!' she thought angrily as she opened her sketchbook and touched the fifty butterflies that she had drawn before.

The fifty butterflies went alive. As if they knew what to do, they flew to the fan girls and surrounded them, surprising them.

"DARN! WHAT ARE THESE BUTTERFLIES?!" their leader, Marika, shouted. The other girls squealed in panic because of the sudden butterflies' attack.

Jacklyn touched another weapon, the same rope-gun again. Not losing the chance that was given by the butterflies, she ran into the building and shot all the fan girls with her rope-gun, tying them into several groups. She quickly went to Anna when Marika recovered from those sudden attacks.

When she saw Jacklyn kneeling beside Anna, she glared at her in annoyance. "Darn you, non-alice girl! What do you think you're doing to us?!" she scowled angrily at the black-haired girl, who held Anna in her arms.

Jacklyn shot a sharp glare at Marika. "I should be the one who ask you that. I teach you a lesson for messing around with my friends," she said in a dangerous tone.

Marika smirked. "You think you have won now?" she asked mockingly. When she stood up, the rope had loosened and dropped on the floor. "Forgot my alice? Non-alice girl?"

Jacklyn raised an eyebrow and gave them her smirk. "And you forgot this?" she asked the ice alice girl, who had the triumphant smile on her face.

The forgotten butterflies flew around the fan girls' leader, surrounding her once again. Initiatively, she covered her head with her arms and shouted at one of her members. "SUZUKA! THE WIND!"

A girl with light-green hair that was tied to Marika before stood up. She then used her alice to summon the wind around Marika, blowing all of the butterflies away.

But unknown to them, the drawing alice girl used the opportunity to touch the other weapon that she had, which was a fog bomb. As the fog bomb appeared in his hand, the tiredness suddenly came over her.

'I'm exhausted already? In this critical moment? Don't be kidding!' she thought as she started to pant lightly. 'Is this because I made fifty butterflies alive all at once? I know it's too much. Darn! My energy is almost used up!'

While she whined in her thought, the butterflies had disappeared. Marika and Suzuka looked at her. A sneer graced the leader's lips. "Too bad. We have Suzuka today, non-alice girl."

Then one by one, the girls stood up. All ties had been broken. Jacklyn knew exactly that it must be Marika's work again. 'Darn it! This isn't a good situation at all!' she thought in annoyance.

Hoping for luck, she threw the fog bomb to their direction. The fog engulfed them while she quickly drew something on her sketchbook. She touched it and a kind of hairdryer-shaped thing showed up in her hand on time, right when the fog was gone because of Suzuka's alice.

Marika looked very angry. "Suzuka!" she commanded. At the cue, Suzuka used her wind alice once again and sent them to Jacklyn's and Anna's direction. As if she had anticipated this, Jacklyn aimed her hairdryer-shaped weapon at them and turned it on.

Strangely, the wind was suddenly gone and it didn't even touch the two friends.

All the girls, including Marika and Suzuka, were surprised. A smirk crept onto Jacklyn face as she lowered her weapon. "Meet Mr. Wind-sucker," she announced.

Marika frowned. "You…" she growled irritatingly. A few icicles suddenly appeared around her. Jacklyn knew what the black wavy-haired girl would do. Without thinking again, she quickly covered the unconscious girl with her body right when the icicles were being thrown to their direction. Eyes closed, she could feel the icicles scratch her body at that time.

After the icicles' attack had subsided, Jacklyn opened her eyes and lifted her body from Anna. She checked on her and saw that the girl get a few scratches too on her uncovered part. She heaved a relief sigh when she found no deep wound on the girl's body.

But she couldn't forgive what the fan girls' leader had done to her friend.

She lifted her head and cast a sharp glare at Marika.

Without any cue, a wind threw her backward, causing her back to slam onto the wall hardly before she slumped down on her knees. Her weapon and sketchbook were separated from her. She used her hands to support her, for she almost fell forward. She lifted her head and saw Anna still lying on the same spot. She was glad that the wind just hit her.

Her breath got heavier as she fixed her gaze on the fan girls that were standing five meters in front of her. Even though she had already weakened at that time, she tried not to show any fear to them.

"You're weak, non-alice girl," Marika said as she took Jacklyn's sketchbook, which was dropped in front of her. "And you dare to mess around with us. Such a fool."

She still had the persisting glare on them while trying to steady her breathing.

"You can't protect anyone, not even yourself and this pity friend of yours," Suzuka added as she glanced at the unconscious Anna.

Jacklyn held her breath for a second at her words.

"Yeah! It's just a coincidence that you could save that Sakura girl!" the other girls said in chorus.

The bearer of drawing alice shifted her gaze to the floor. 'I know…but…'

"Now, you have realized it, huh? Non-alice girl?" Marika sneered as she held Jacklyn's sketchbook with her right hand.

Jacklyn lifted her head and gazed back at the ice alice user. Her eyes widened when she saw the girl freezing the sketchbook slowly from the bottom until its top.

'No.'

Looking at her surprised expression, Marika formed a wicked grin on her face before she finally broke the frozen sketchbook into small pieces.

'No…'

The pieces of the sketchbook fell to the floor…slowly…in front of her eyes…

Shocked, Jacklyn's eyes were empty, staring at the remains of her sketchbook. The sketchbook was given by her mother and it had some precious memories in it.

And now, the pieces of her sketchbook were scattering on the floor where Marika stood.

"Aw…what's wrong, non-alice girl? Silent so suddenly?" she said in a pretending pity tone as she smirked like a child that finally had her revenge on the other child. Jacklyn froze on her spot, still staring at the pieces on the floor. "You can't help anyone, non-alice girl. Now you learned the lesson," she added. "Messing around with us and your friends will get the consequence too."

"…I have no friend," the black-haired girl said with her head bent down. "You have no one to threat me…starting from today."

"…You're too conceited," Marika said as she shot an icicle to Jacklyn's right arm. The icicle stabbed right on her upper arm and she winced a little. She could feel the hot blood drenching her uniform's sleeve. "We'll see that later," the ice alice user continued. "If we ever see you with someone, you know what will happen to them if you're still messing around with our Natsume."

Without any fear, Jacklyn lifted her head and stared at them with her coldest stare. "Try," she said coldly, having no hesitation in her voice.

At this, Marika raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You're the one who challenged us." She then looked at the other girls. "Let's get out of here. Today's lesson has been over," she said, which was obeyed by her members that went out from the building one by one in the next second.

Marika glanced at Jacklyn from the corner of her eye for the last time before she finally went out from the building with a satisfied look on her face.

When they were outside, Suzuka asked their leader, "Do you think she'll report this to the teachers and the others?"

And once again, the smirk appeared on the black wavy-haired girl's face. "No, she won't. She knew the consequence."

Jacklyn brought her left hand to the icicle that stayed still on her right arm and pulled it out. She stood up limply and approached Anna that was still lying on the floor. She knelt beside her and took the blindfold off from the cooking alice girl then checked on her condition once again. She was relieved that the girl didn't get too much harm, except for the scratches on her legs. She turned her head a little and stared at the pieces of her sketchbook on the floor.

A pang of sadness struck her heart.

But weird, there was no tear in her eyes.

She moved her hands and picked up all of the pieces then she inserted it into her bag. Glancing inside her bag for the last time, she closed it and hung it on her back.

She shifted her gaze back to Anna and carried her by piggy back, which she realized that it was a bit hard to do with her condition at that time. She breathed harder than before but kept on walking though it's limp. 'This is my fault. I must make sure that she is alright,' was her only thought that kept her standing at that time as she walked out from the building.

It's a good thing that she still remembered the way when she stalked the fan girls to the building. She was on the way to the hospital when she saw a raven-haired man with glasses passing there.

She knew him.

He was the man who had healed her hand when she went to the hospital for the first time, Subaru Imai.

"Imai-san…" she called, drawing his attention to her.

He quickly approached her when he saw the wounded girls. "What happened?" he asked, concerned.

Jacklyn knelt down as her body weakened. Subaru quickly healed her and Anna with his healing alice. But even so, she had used her energy too much on her alice and she was in the edge of her consciousness.

She had one last thing to do before she went into deep slumber.

"Please…take her…to the…hospital…" she managed to say out.

Subaru looked at Anna and carried her easily in his arms. He looked back at the black-haired girl. "What about you?" he asked worriedly, though his face was expressionless.

Jacklyn shook her head. "I still have…a business…to do…" she said while breathing heavily, "…quick…take her…" He nodded and went to the hospital immediately.

Jacklyn stared at the running figure for a while. She stood up again and went to Junior High School building with the remaining energy she still had in her body.

'I hope…I can do it well…'

-x-

Mikan and the gang were just from the cafeteria. Yuu, Koko and Nonoko were chatting about random things while they were walking. Hotaru, Ruka and Natsume just walked in silence.

The unusual one was the brunette, who usually joined talking with the others. This time, she walked in silence, joining Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru. Her mind wasn't there at that time. She was thinking about something else, or rather, someone else.

And of course, the trio saw the difference in her, but no one of them asked her about it. They waited for her to say out what was bugging her mind at that time.

'She didn't catch up with us…' she thought, upset. 'She said she will. What happened after that?'

"Jacklyn-chan?"

Nonoko's voice brought the brunette back to reality. Hearing that familiar name, she lifted her head and saw the person that she had been thinking of.

Jacklyn was leaning on the wall at the corridor before them, breathing heavily.

"Jacklyn-chan!" Mikan called as she quickly approached the exhausted girl. "What happened to you?" she asked when she found out that the girl's uniform was scratched and torn here and there, not to mention the blood stain on her right sleeve.

Jacklyn tried to catch her breath for a while then she looked at the brunette. She straightened herself as she stared at her straight in the eyes. "Don't come near me again," she managed to say without being interrupted by the pant.

The words sounded so cold and firm in Mikan's ears. She tried to read her face, but found no hesitation in it. "What's wrong?" she asked, her stare not leaving the girl's face. She thought they finally could understand each other after what she had said to the girl before they went apart at lunchtime, but there's no doubt if she would change her mind again. And just one thing that could make it happen.

Fan girls.

"Is this about them?" she asked again, but Jacklyn didn't make any sound. Mikan got impatient. "I have told you! I can defend myself and you-"

"Just don't come near me again!" Jacklyn snapped, startling the brunette.

Natsume, Hotaru, Ruka, Koko, Yuu and Nonoko that were also there heard their conversation. The situation got tenser.

Mikan bit her lower lip and locked her eyes with Jacklyn's again. "I can't…we are friends, right?" she said softly. But Jacklyn gave her a cold stare.

"Never," she said coldly.

Mikan stared at her, shocked at her words that she uttered just now. "But, the first time we met a week ago, you said-"

"A WEEK DOESN'T MEAN WE ARE FRIENDS!!" Jacklyn shouted at her and it caused her to breathe heavily again. She was getting weaker and weaker. She almost lost her consciousness. 'Not yet. Not yet. Hang on, Jacklyn!' she tried to prevent herself from falling into the unconsciousness.

She closed her eyes for a second and then looked at the brunette again, wondering what expression she had on her face at that time. And as she had guessed before, the brunette was hurt because of her words.

Looking at her hurt expression, Jacklyn also felt hurt. It's like thousands needles stabbed her heart at once. And it just made the unconsciousness start to get the best of her. She could feel her eyelids getting heavier and she just wanted to close them, drowning into the darkness. But she couldn't fall unconscious here.

Not in front of them.

'I'm sorry, Mikan…' she thought, feeling very guilty.

"I object."

The voice came from the inventor. She stood in front of the gang, still with her stoic face on. "I can't take it if you treat her like that. And I'm sure you don't mean to say it."

Jacklyn smiled inwardly, amused at the Ice Queen's sharp feeling. But she couldn't let them know. "Why are you (pant) so sure? (pant)" She smirked.

"As far as I see, you treat her as a friend this whole week, until now, you suddenly change," she explained, as if she dared her to say the truth at that time.

"You (pant) are wrong (Pant) then," the black-haired girl said as she turned away. "All of you, (pant) don't come (pant) near me again."

At this, a certain person gave a reaction. "I never came to you. You're the one who approached me," Natsume said coolly.

Jacklyn smiled, though all of them didn't know because she had her back facing them. "It's just (pant) a coincidence," she said as her vision became blurred and her heart started to ache. 'Darn it! I can't hold this any longer!' she grunted inside her head.

"Jacklyn-chan…" Mikan muttered.

The mentioned girl didn't give any response. She started to walk away while having the side of her body leaning on the wall.

But after she walked a meter far from them, the energy left her body, bringing her consciousness with it. 'Darn it…' was her last thought before her eyes shut completely and her body met the cold floor.

"JACKLYN-CHAN!!" the brunette shouted her name as she approached the unconscious girl quickly, followed by the others.

"We should get her to the hospital! Quick!" Hotaru told Yuu who nodded and directly ran to report it to the teacher.

--To be continued--

Jacklyn: WHAT THE-! YOU BURNT MY SKETCHBOOK AGAIN!

Natsume: (Rolls his eyes) Think what you think. Your sketchbook will be no use again in the future.

Jacklyn: (A vein pops on her head) WHAT?!

Natsume: You're noisy, sketchbook girl.

Jacklyn: (More veins pop on her head) I'LL KILL YOU!!

illutia mist: (Gets tense and murmurs) Geez…Where did he get the info?

Hotaru: I heard you say something just now.

illutia mist: (Laughs nervously) Ha ha? Did I say something?

Mikan: (Snatches the script from illutia's hand) Let me see.

Hotaru: I think that you better say last words now.

illutia mist: (Gulps) I think so. Thanks for reading this chapter, good readers! Please review! Oh! And I thank all of you that have been reading, reviewing, favorite and alerting this story so far!! Thanks! And I have a joint story, titled 'Rice Sack Princess'. Go to my profile for the shortcut! Take a read of it if you like! And darn, I can't get out from here because I'm still attached to the bat!

Mikan: WHAT?! YOU DESTROYED HER SKETCHBOOK??

illutia mist: (Murmurs) I'm dead…

Jacklyn: (Veins pop on her head and turns to illutia) You. Destroy. My. Sketchbook?!

illutia mist: (Looks away) Uh…

Jacklyn: …You're dead…