Ah I'm so glad I made it before Christmas Day, and right on Christmas Eve! So happy I could make it. Hope you enjoy!
Everything was white. The white walls of the hospital, the white uniforms of doctors and nurses, even the clothes of the patients were white.
It didn't matter.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Mikan was already too shaken to care about anything anymore. She forced her legs to keep moving along with the gurney as it sped towards the operation room. Even the sheets on Koko were white.
All sorts of machines were already hooked onto Koko, and he was breathing hard, sweat forming on his forehead. His ragged breathing came in deep, quick puffs, fogging up the oxygen mask.
Their gang were forced to stay put when Koko entered the operation room, the red light turning on, signaling the start of an operation.
"Oh my god..." Sumire was already trembling, her eyes wide open and she could barely stand up straight.
Mochu and Kitsu were quiet, too quiet for the two troublemakers, as they sat on the hospital chairs.
"Mikan," Anna and Nono called gently, tears welling up in both of their eyes. "He'll be ok." The said girl merely nodded, trying to control her own tears.
Curse that Tsukaite no Kōri. Curse him to hell. But Mikan couldn't fight off the empty, dark feeling that was slowly eating her up. She couldn't fight off the feeling that she was the one at fault.
Tsukaite no Kōri was targeting her, only her, and if she didn't call Koko's name in the last few seconds, he wouldn't have jumped in front of her. It was all her fault.
A broken cry passed her lips, and she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. Oh god, it was all her fault. It wasn't Tsukaite no Kōri's, but hers.
Narumi-sensei arrived ten minutes after Koko was pushed into the operation room. He glanced around at the students, wanting to know what happened, but made no attempt to ask.
No one said a word as the atmosphere became heavier and heavier as the time passed. The clock that hung on the wall was ticking loudly, every second becoming a loud tick.
10 minutes...20...30...an hour...
Almost two hours later, the red light finally flickered off and the doors of the operation room opened.
The doctor was first to come out.
The gang quickly crowded around the doctor, bombarding him with questions.
"Alright, alright. Settle down." The doctor commanded and everyone fell into an anxious silence.
"Kokoroyomi-san has lost a lot of blood. His chest has been penetrated, though none of his organs have been damaged—which is very lucky. He has three broken ribs and his brain lacks of oxygen and blood, causing a mild coma." All color drained from Mikan's face after hearing these words.
"S-So, will he ever wake up?" Mikan asked shakily, her hands trembling like crazy. The doctor stared at her for a heartbeat before setting a hand gently on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. As I said, he has a mild coma, so he should wake up soon. But I'm not sure when he'll wake up." The doctor gave an apologetic smile before sauntering away, leaving the gang frozen.
Narumi clapped his hands twice to get everyone's attention. "Alright. It's getting a little late, everyone should go to the cafeteria for dinner now." Everyone nodded slowly, before making their way out the hospital in a zombie trance.
"Sensei, I want to stay a little longer." Mikan murmured, her eyes hallow and red. Narumi gave her a soft pat on the head before reminding her to get back before the curfew.
Entering Koko's hospital room silently, she sat down on the chair next to his bed and watched his peaceful face. He didn't have a smile on anymore, making him look much older than she remembered him.
Somehow, he resembled Natsume when he just came back from missions.
She gently brushed away the bangs that covered his face, and noted that he was much more handsome than he was when they were only 6, laughing and talking like the best friends they were.
Mikan let out a soft smile as she gently caressed his hair. Like the best friends they were.
She wasn't sure exactly when it happened, but when she met him again in front of the classroom of Gakuen Alice, she was sure about one thing.
Mikan Sakura had fallen in love with Kokoroyomi.
"This is troublesome." Hayate murmured as he plopped down on the ground, letting a loud groan escape. Binoculars and empty chip bags lay scattered on the floor of an abandoned dorm room.
"Shut up would you?" Rui hissed and threw an empty soda can at him.
"It's not like she would hear us." Hayate mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his sore head.
"So? How are we going to finish the job if she won't leave?" Hajime asked coldly, his slim fingers tapping impatiently.
"Dunno." Hayate replied simply, rolling on the floor.
"We'll just have to wai—seriously, Hayate! Stop fooling around!" Rui shouted angrily, dragging the said boy up by his shirt collar.
"Poor Yomi-san..." Nobara whispered as she stared out the glass, her ice blue eyes trained on the male lying in his hospital bed.
Rui scoffed humorously.
"Poor Yomi-san? What about us? We were called all the way back here even though we've graduated from the stinking academy already, just to do this stupid job." He folded his arms across his chest unhappily.
"Well, apparently the new DA students are too pathetic to do this job." Hayate butted in helpfully only to get whacked by Rui.
"Hey! It's not my fault we had to come here! I was doing really well with my new job at a video game center—"
"Guys." Hajime interrupted and pointed at the hospital room. A nurse was talking to Mikan and a few minutes later they both left, closing the door tightly behind them.
"That's our cue." He announced before grabbing his bag and heading out the door, the others following close behind.
Their small group waited outside for a few minutes, waiting for the security of the hospital to loosen.
Just as the sun was setting, they sneaked in, using all their knowledge from their past years of training to stay hidden. The staffs were nowhere in sight, so it was easy to get to his room.
No communication was needed as the old DA class worked together. Hayate and Rui stood at the doorway and windows, making sure no one saw them while Hajime and Nobara went to Koko.
Hajime gave Nobara a slight nod before handing over his bag of alice stones, stolen from their past missions.
She gently took out the healing alice stone and pressed it against Koko's fresh wound, and the stone submerged into his body. The wound knitted itself up, not even a scar was left of it.
Koko's eyes fluttered open, confusion flashed through them for a second, not really knowing where he was. But when his eyes fell upon the old DA group, a smile broke out on his face.
"You guys did pretty well." He grinned as he climbed off the bed, stretching. Rui turned around from the door for a second, his blue eyes trained on the dirty blonde.
"Course we did well. We're especially trained for missions like these, well, any mission at that." He snorted a little before turning back to the doorway, poking his head out to look around.
"Ah, if only Nobara-senpai was still in the academy." Koko winked before taking her hand and giving it a light peck. Hayate rolled his eyes at the action.
"Really, is that how you get popular? I mean, I do that too and no girl seems to swoon over me." He huffed grumpily and Koko gave a light laugh.
"You also need good looks." He stated before running out the door, the others following as they stifled a laugh. Hayate frowned at the comment.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" He called, fighting to keep his voice low but the others ignored him completely.
"The guy who pretended to be me this afternoon was pretty good. Thank god my cover wasn't blown." Koko stated lightheartedly as he ran out the door, his speed faster than the DA class could even believe.
"He's in drama. Best actor in his grade actually." Rui answered just as they ran out the front doors of the hospital. "The metamorphosis alice stone worked out pretty well."
Koko nodded as they took cover in the Northern Forest.
"I've had enough fooling around," He laughed. "Tomorrow, we'll have some fun with Mikan Sakura." Nobara seemed uneasy at this, but made no comment. The others grinned mischievously.
"It's game time."
So...What do you think? Interesting enough? Please take the time and drop a review as my Christmas present! It'll mean a lot to me.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)
R&R Please!