Disclaimer: All Characters from Gakuen Alice belong to Tachibana Higuchi.

A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated this in ages! I really don't have any excuse I just had a really bad writers block, so I'm sorry!

Chapter Three

"How long have you been… y'know, a ghost?" Mikan asked, placing herself carefully on the edge of the bed

"Polkadots, you have one question and you choose a stupid one like that?" Natsume scoffed, examining the range of books set out of the floor before him, "Does it really matter how long I've been like this?"

"Yes, it does matter! And I don't just get one question!" She narrowed her eyes at the boy sat on the floor a few inches away from her feet, "I get one for each book I got you, so I get nine. Okay?"

Turning his attention away from the hardbacks, Natsume stared at her for a few seconds, searching her amber eyes, before he shrugged, the action meaning he wouldn't complain and would comply with her wishes.

"It's been around…" He paused, a frown taking over his features, "Almost forty years… I think."

"If you were my age and it's been forty years then… you should be like 57…" Mikan gasped loudly, earning a glare from Natsume, "I'm living with an old man!"

A cold hand shot out and gripped her ankle tightly, "Shut up, idiot. I'm not an old man."

Mikan made noises of agreement as she attempted to pry his fingers away from her ankle, which he still had a death grip on, as he flicked through a random book with his other hand.

"Natsume, that hurts! Let go!" He instantly freed her, his body shimmering into a slight transparent state before becoming solid again.

"Sorry, I…" Natsume turned his face away from her, his hands now clutching the knees of his trousers, "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Mikan blinked at his sudden mood change, then smiled widely and lifted her leg up to his face, "It's alright, and I'm fine, see?"

His eyes flicked to her ankle, then her face, before he disappeared and Mikan watched in awe as one of the books began to lift up from the floor, before the air around her became colder and the book stopped to float beside her.

"That is so cool Natsume! I've never seen you pick anything up while you've been invisible!" Mikan waved her hand around the book, her eyebrows rising slightly when they didn't connect with anything, "I can't feel you at all! You are here right, Natsume?"

A cold pressure wrapped around her wrist, pushing her hand back towards herself as Natsume reappeared right beside her, his shoulder brushing against hers and his fingers lightly pressing against her wrist.

"That was another question, you've had two now." Ignoring Mikan's complaints, he placed the book softly on her lap, his fingers brushing slightly against her leg and leaving a trail of coldness on her skin, "I'm assuming you bought this for yourself."

"Oh, erm…" Glancing down at the book on her knee, she saw that it was the book about ghosts she had purchased for herself, "Yeah! I just wanted to see a few things…"

She flipped through a few pages, hyper aware of Natsume's head directly beside her own as he kept his eyes trained on the book pages. She stopped on a page that talked about the aura around spirits and she frowned as she read through some of the script, most of the 'facts' not applying to Natsume at all.

"This book is stupid, Polkadots." Natsume commented, leaning in closer, "I don't have a ghostly aura, and I'm not that cold."

"You don't have a ghostly aura, I would probably mistake you for a normal person right now," Mikan feels him turn to face her, his face so close his breath runs across her cheek, sending shivers down her spine, "You are cold though, really cold."

"Oh… That's why you always wear a lot of layers," He moves himself away from her, rubbing the back of his head, "You must be really cold, I won't come as near you any more…"

The thought of Natsume going back to his distant ways worried her, he had been so open and comfortable with her for the past hour and she didn't want that to change.

"No, it's fine! I'm used to it!" She moved to grip his shoulder, and he flinched awkwardly at her touch, "Don't go."

"I was just going to move to the other end of the bed, stupid." He eyed the hand on his shoulder, and she quickly pulled it away, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink, "Don't be so dramatic."

"Shut up." Giving the book her attention again, she turned to the next page, "Can you float?"

"No."

"Can you walk through walls then?"

"I can't leave this room, you already know that."

"Why?" She looked up from the page, training her gaze on Natsume, "Why can't you leave this room?"

"I don't… I don't know." His eyes met hers, before he stood up and looked away, "I just can't leave, it's like there's a wall blocking my way."

"Do you… Do you know how you died?" He answered with a curt nod, and she decided not to push the question, "Then, do you know why you're still here? Why you haven't moved on?"

"It's where I'm meant to be, I can't move on." He's facing away from her, his head angled downwards and his fists clenched at his sides, "I don't deserve to."

"What do you mean?" Mikan frowned, standing up and taking a step towards him, "I don't understand."

"I don't want to tell you," He disappeared for a minute, before reappearing facing her, a pained look on his face, "I don't want you to know what I did, Mikan."

"But-"

"-I don't want to answer any more questions, just leave me alone for a while." Natsume vanished from sight, and Mikan stared at the spot he had just been in.

That night, as Mikan attempted to sleep, she felt the bed behind her dip and something cold press against her back. Glancing behind her she was met with Natsume's back, his head cradled on his arm and his legs curled up on top of the bed sheets.

"Thank you." He murmured, so quiet she barely heard it, "For the books, I mean."

"No problem," She smiled softly, watching sleepily as he disappeared from view, but the cold pressure didn't leave.

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