A/N: Prepare yourselves, this is a big chapter. ^_^
Chapter 5 : First encounter.
The gang checked out of the Hotel at late evening and started journey to meet Hotaru. Something was however bothering Ruka, Paradox had said : "The old watch factory in the 5th Prefecture. If my memory's right, then the three of you will be there by 09:35:46 PM. See you kids " He had said three of them. But there were five of them, so why did he say three? Could he have made a mistake? No. He's paradox, he never makes mistake. Then, why?
"Look at that little hooker with that blonde and raven haired hunk. I swear if I had the chance to do them in the bed..." Scarlet stared at the boys hungrily, licking her lips, and watched them get into Noda's car.
"Scarlet the boss said…" Kenji shyly started but was then interrupted by Scarlet's annoyance.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Mikan Sakura is our first priority because the boss needs her to avenge the AAO," Scarlet responded boredly. The words were rehearsed, almost as if she had heard them a thousand times before. "But still it wouldn't hurt to have a little fun, would it?" Scarlet finished with a wink.
Scarlet's pervy response to Kenji seemed to go in one ear and out the other as he was deep in thought. He gazed upon what appeared to be a giggling Mikan teasing and annoying Natsume, through a pair of binoculars. Wow that girl looks so innocent and beautiful. It's hard to believe that she could really be the key to making this world a better place, Kenji thought. He reminded himself of what the boss told him a few weeks ago.
"Kenji, you are the best person to understand the pain that alices bring, right? Lets put an end to this suffering, my boy. It can be done only by bringing down the Academy," the boss said as he came closer to sympathetically place his hand on Kenji's cheek. "And to do that, we'll have to get that girl." The words spewed out of the boss' mouth as he held out Mikan's photo to Kenji.
"Kenji, I'm counting on you and Scarlet to carry out what I cannot is a job I can only entrust to the two of you. I need you and Scarlet to search this country, find Mikan Sakura, and bring her to me. I need her to bring an end to that evil academy, and rid the world of alices so that no child ever has to feel our pain." The boss gave Kenji a desperate 'you're our only hope' look.
"Yes sir, I'll do whatever you say, master. Anything to help you complete your goal of making this world a better place," Kenji obeyed while bowing to his parental figure.
"That's right, I have to put my faith in the boss. He knows best," Kenji murmured to himself as he snapped back to reality. In that instant, he was ready to make his move with Scarlet.
"Aw, come on Natsume! Let's get some ice cream!" Mikan said as she tugged onto her fiance's arm. Natsume sighed. "Besides, we can't go with an empty stomach."
"Mikan, we're not getting ice cream. You can't possibly have an empty stomach, you just had three stacks of pancakes. My gosh woman, how much can your palate handle?"
"Say that again, I dare you," Mikan growled, causing Ruka, Noda, Sakurano, and even Natsume to shake in their boots.
"Oh damn."Natsume thought. "Mikan's still on her period." With that in mind, Natsume couldn't find much harm in treating her to some ice cream. He turned and put his arm around his fiancé to comfort her to make her happy (and to avoid a beating).
"Hey," Natsume started, slightly softness he added to his voice felt foreign to his lips. "You want ice cream, we'll get you ice cream." Natsume added the smile she loved, and he knew her anger had subsided.
"Yeah! I get to eat ice cream. I get to eat ice cream." Mikan cheered to herself, though Natsume couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed as he knew that was one more thing that he would have to pay for today.
A slight dull buzzing sound from Sakurano's cell phone seemed to break Natsume's concentration. Sakurano picked up to answer, and to his surprise it was the HSP. He didn't say much over the phone, but it was something about an important investigation. Whatever it was, it must've been important. He wouldn't have been pulled away from his mission otherwise.
"It looks like the HSP has some urgent business with me. I really hate to run, but orders are orders. Sorry everyone," Sakurano announced. "Natsume?" he called the fire caster to a corner.
"Listen, I want you to be careful." His tone was dead serious, "It seems that there's a stir in the AAO again. Those men back at Mikan's village worked for the AAO. I am going to further investigate this on HSP's orders. You take care of Mikan, okay?"
"Always do," he said overconfidently. Sakurano knew well his response, but still wanted to warn him.
He shoved his phone back into his pocket and gave the group a last once over. As he began to leave the group, he felt a hand on his back.
"Give Subaru my sincerest regards. No matter what happens: stick to the plan. And go to Paradox. reach the Time dimension as soon as possible. Got it?" And he took off. Even though Sakurano knew that the HSP had his reasons, he couldn't help but feel guilty that he probably wouldn't be able to help his best friend. He knew that if Mikan got called for the investigation, she wouldn't leave the work to someone else, but find Hotaru and then move onto other matters.
"Well I hope all goes well with the HSP," Noda said as he and the gang watched Sakurano walk away.
Natsume couldn't help but wonder. Paradox said that only three would be meeting him. With Sakurano gone, there were four left. Who would be next? He gripped on Mikan's hand and prayed it wasn't her.
"Great! One less idiot to deal with," Scarlet commented as she saw Sakurano walk away from the target. "Maybe he chickened out!"
"I don't think so Scarlet," Kenji said logically. "I think they might have a good reason for this."
"Ice Cream!" Mikan shouted as she continued to tug Natsume's arm.
"Dammit, I was hoping she forgot about that." Natsume thought as he rolled his eyes.
"Do we absolutely have to get ice cream now? Weren't we going to meet that smartass, Paradox, at the old factory?" Natsume suggested in an attempt to change the subject.
"Natsume why don't you treat her to some ice cream? I'll come along too and then afterwards we'll head to the old factory to meet Paradox. Getting a little ice cream shouldn't take that long." Ruka said tagging along with his best friend and his fiancé. Natsume shot a glare in the blonde's direction, then let out a sigh.
"Alright then," Natsume surrendered, and the three of them made their departure. Noda with no appetite for ice cream decided to relax in the parlour lounge and wait for the teenagers come back.
With the three teenagers out in the open, Scarlet and Kenji, who had been following the car for a while now, readied to make their move.
"What's a girl like her doing running around with guys like that? They're flawless!" Scarlet commented.
"Scarlet!" Kenji pleaded in an attempt to keep the hormone driven girl focused.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, keep my eyes on the brunette girl," Scarlet moved her eyes to the laughing teenager. "We're going to need bait. If these guys were able to take down the Boss's dime-a-dozen henchmen at the beach, then we better not underestimate them," She warned. She took a deep breath and transformed her body into a replica of Natsume. "Come on Kenji, we'll kidnap their teacher and then use him as bait for the hooker. I'm going to go inside, stay out here and prepare your stun-gun," Scarlet instructed. She dusted off her clothes and entered the hotel lobby room where Noda was sitting down in.
"Natsume-kun? What are you doing back here so quickly? did something happen?" Noda questioned worriedly.
"Yes sensei, Mikan Sakura is in trouble please I need your help sensei!" Scarlet shouted in fear. Her voice was that of Natsume's, but Noda couldn't help but think that something was off. Mikan Sakura? Since when did they refer to Mikan in her full name? He knew Natsume would never just abandon Mikan, much less ask someone else for help. There wasn't time to ask questions, so he quickly ran out the door. As soon as he stepped out into the open, he was met with a shock to his neck as Kenji pulled the trigger on his stun gun. Noda dropped to the floor, passed out.
"Sorry sensei, but your capture will lead to the creation of a better and more peaceful world," Kenji said to himself as he place the deadly weapon back into his backpack.
"Well done Kenji. Now let's tie him up and teleport him back to the AAO," Scarlet suggested.
Scarlet and Kenji then tied up Noda and summoned their teleportation henchmen to teleport the poor teacher back to their base. Scarlet took a picture of the professor before he was teleported to make sure that they have proof their capture. When it was time to persuade Mikan to go the base, Scarlet would show her the picture. Judging by information they'd already gathered, the picture should be enough to convince Mikan.
"Alright Kenji, we have our bait now we just need to use it to get brunette and her two hotties to compromise with us," Scarlet said as she crossed her hands and began to think of the naughty thing she could do with Ruka and Natsume.
"Scarlet, I still feel a bit uneasy about this. Even if we have their professor as bait, I still doubt that they will be so willing to compromise with us that easy. Especially the raven haired boy. If we get into a fight, it'll still be three against two. And its the Kuro Neko we are dealing with afterall." Kenji stated.
"You underestimate me kid. You never saw me work as a Dangerous Ability agent in middle school." Scarlet said as she put on blood red lipstick on her lips."I'll deal with two of them, the blondie and the brunette." Kenji nodded in agreement. "I can't wait to see the look on that slut's face when I get to have fun with her boyfriends." Scarlet said as she walked towards her target.
"Are you sure you don't want one Natsume?" Mikan asked worried because her fiancé was missing out on a frozen treat.
"No, I'm fine Mikan. Yes, that will be two vanilla cones." Natsume handed over 500 yen in exchange for the ice cream.
"Thank you, sir! Please do come again!" the young man behind the counter said with a smile.
"What an idiot." Natsume thought to himself while rolling his eyes.
"Are you sure you didn't mind paying for us Natsume?" Ruka asked concerned about the financial status of his best friend.
"Don't worry about it. I'm a special star, remember? Just eat your ice cream," Natsume assured. He flashed a smirk in Ruka's direction. "You too Mikan," Natsume added, wrapping his arm around his fiancé.
Mikan smiled and began licking her ice cream cone to prevent the white sticky vanilla from melting on her fingers.
"Hey Natsume," Mikan said in the hopes of getting her fiancé's attention.
"What is it Mika-?" Natsume asked to his surprise as he was met a vanilla ice cream cone attacking his nose.
"Hee hee hee, you have ice cream on your nose Natsume." Mikan stated while giggling.
"Have you lost your mind Mikan? Why did you do that?" Natsume said beginning to lose his temper.
"Come on Natsume have some ice cream with me. We can share this ice cream cone." Mikan suggested.
"Why would I want to eat something that has your slobber all over it?" Natsume said desperately trying to hide the fact that he really would like to share an ice cream cone with his fiancé.
"Come on you mean fox, I know you want to." Mikan persuaded, slightly shoving the ice cream cone in her fiancé's face. Natsume sighed.
"Fine, but I'm only doing this to make sure my money doesn't go to waste." Natsume said as he began to lick the ice cream.
"Hee hee hee. I win." Mikan whispered as she licked the cone along with Natsume.
As Mikan and Natsume continued to eat their vanilla cone together, Ruka watched from the side just staring at the couple. Who could blame him? Mikan and Natsume did look perfect together licking their ice cream without a care in the world, but Ruka couldn't help but feel a terrible sting of jealousy in his heart.
Why couldn't that be me? Why can't I be sharing an ice cream cone with Mikan right now? Ruka thought as he quickly snapped himself back to reality.
"W-what am I thinking? I should be happy for Natsume and Mikan, not jealous, right?" Ruka said quietly to himself as he caught himself in his own jealousy. He forced other thoughts in his head to take his mind off of it.
Mikan and Natsume were enjoying their indirect kisses through their vanilla cone but were interrupted by a nearby explosion. Natsume's mind raced to Sakurano's warning. He became automatically mentally alert.
"What was that?" Mikan screamed as she hugged Natsume's arm in fear of the recent explosion.
"I don't know," Natsume said as he began to scan the area.
"Natsume!" Ruka said as he began to run towards his two best friends. "I don't who or what made those explosions but I think it would be best for us to find Noda-sensei and get out of here," Ruka stated.
"Hmm," Natsume replied. The three of them were about to leave the area but were unfortunately met with another explosion.
"Not so fast you three!" Said a shadowy figure seen in the distance of the explosion. As the smoke cleared, our heroes were presented with a thirteen year old boy who had fiery determination in his eyes.
"Who are you?" Natsume demanded.
"Ruka Nogi, Natsume Hyuuga, and Mikan Sakura. So we finally meet face to face. I've heard a lot about you three from my boss. My name is Kenji and I've come to claim Mikan Sakura. Her capture will lead to the creation of a far more beautiful and peaceful world," Kenji stated. Though Kenji couldn't help but blush slightly when taking a look at Mikan.
'Wow she's even more beautiful up close.' Kenji thought to himself while trying his best to concentrate on his mission. Natsume almost laughed.
"Look kid, I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not handing Mikan over for anything." Natsume stepped in front of Mikan and glared at the young boy with fire in his eyes.
"Yeah I thought you might say that," Kenji said as he brought out a picture of Noda and tied up with his cell phone.
"Sensei!" Mikan screamed.
"That's right Mikan, we have your sensei. Don't worry, he's in perfectly fine condition for now, but that may all change depending on how the three of you behave," Kenji coldly said.
"Do you really take us as fools?" Natsume snapped back, "That picture could be morphed."
"You really are a smart ass, Kura Neko." Kenji mocked him, "But I can show you your precious sensei being held captive." He held out a small camera-like device in his right hand which projected an image of Noda sensei tied up on a wall at god knows what place. "That's live image you're seeing by the way thanks to this advance holographic technology the organization that I'm a part of has produced. I guarantee that."
With not many options to choose, Mikan was about to walk towards Kenji and accept defeat but was stopped by Natsume pulling onto her arm.
"Natsume," Mikan pleaded as she looked towards her fiancé with tears in her eyes.
"Ruka, take Mikan to safety," Natsume said as he began to charge towards Kenji.
"Very predictable of you Kuro Neko." Kenji thought as he dodged punch from Natsume and quickly placed his hand on Natsume's forehead.
"Come on Mikan we have to go, now!" Ruka commanded as he grabbed Mikan's arm and began to run off with her.
"But Ruka, what about Natsume? If he begins to fight then he may start using his alice. And I...I don't want to see Natsume on the brink of death again! I can't Ruka-pyon. I don't know what I'd do," Mikan said as she began to cry. They had barely made a few metres from the ice cream parlour.
"Listen Mikan, Natsume can take care of himself. He'd rather put himself in harms way than to see you get hurt. You mean the world to him! Can you imagine what would be going through his mind if we were to just hand you over to them without a fight? We would feel like stupid, helpless cowards if we were to hand over the woman..." Ruka paused. He almost said we, but caught it before the words left his lips. "...Natsume loves without even trying to defend you." He grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. "Come on. Lets go to the factory. Natsume will meet us at factory, after he deals with that kid."
"Ruka..." was all Mikan was able to sputter out. They turned, then froze. They stared, bewildered to see Natsume in front of them.
"Natsume?" Mikan and Ruka both said in union.
"Oh hey guys, what's up?" Natsume said as he approached Mikan and Ruka.
"We thought that you were fighting that odd boy?" Ruka said.
"Oh yeah, the kid was a complete pushover. I beat him to a pulp within a few seconds and he told me the location of Noda. He's in a beat down parking lot located to the west of Tokyo. Ruka, why don't you head back to our hotel and check the four of us in for another night since it seems like it's getting pretty late. I'll take Mikan to Noda and we'll meet back with you," Natsume suggested.
"Uh, well okay. If you say so Natsume," Ruka replied trusting that his best friend knows what he's doing.
"Eeep!" Mikan squealed as Natsume slid one hand on her rear and another hand on her cheek.
"Are you ready to go sweetie pie?" Natsume said as he leaned in to kiss her but was met with a surprise punch to the face so hard that it caused him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Ruka could be seen in the distance shocked and confused.
"Ow, what did you do that for Mikan?" Natsume asked with a bloody nose.
"My tiny brain may not be capable of earning me the student of the year award at Gakuen Alice, but my heart is beyond capable of telling me that you are not who you claim to be. You're not my Natsume! Natsume would never talk to me in the polite manner you have, " Mikan boldly stated while angrily staring at the Natsume imposter.
"Hmph, so that's it huh?" The imposter Natsume said in a woman's voice as his body began to transform. "To think, I thought you were a pretty fast girl having two hot guys by your side, but it turns out that you're just as slow as a nun who is too sensitive to even have a young man put his hand on your ass." The imposter Natsume said as he transformed into Scarlet. Mikan flinched. Slow? For a split second, she wondered if that's really what she was. Ruka brought her back to reality.
"What the? Who are you? " Ruka asked ashamed that he failed to tell the difference between his best friend and an imposter.
"Oh sweetie, don't you know it's impolite to ask a woman for her information without introducing yourself first?" Scarlet said with a flirty wink. Ruka and -especially- Mikan began to feel annoyed. "Hehe, my name is Scarlet and I'm a member of that same AAO that that other boy, Kenji, who you saw a few moments ago. To be honest, Kenji just played as a decoy to separate you two from the Kuro Neko. You two should be wishing that Kenji was assigned to deal with you two today." Scarlet said as she stripped off her jacket she was wearing to reach underneath her shirt to bring out a pair of guns that were hiding in her bra. "Because I'm a far greater threat than Kenji could ever be." Scarlet said while licking one of her rifles, causing Mikan and Ruka to swallow fearfully.
"I see so, you have the fourth alice shape Natsume." Kenji said.
"Hmph, mind reading alice, huh?" Natsume suggested with a smirk on his face, while dodging a kick from Kenji.
"It doesn't take mind reading to know your alice shape, you know. It's evident from your coughing." Kenji said as he blew another punch to the Kuro Neko. "My alice allows me to do memory scanning, projecting, altering, editing, erasing and almost anything with human memory," Kenji said while dodging another kick from Natsume.
Memory manipulation alice? The only other person that has that alice is... Natsume thoughts trailed off. He was suddenly greeted with a kick to the stomach, bringing back his focus to the fight.
"Guh!" Natsume screamed as he fell to the floor aching in pain.
"Listen Hyuuga-san, I really would prefer not to fight. All I would like you to do is to surrender Ms. Sakura to us. Don't you understand Natsume? Alices only bring pain to this world. Humans fear us and will never treat us equally if we have to bear these curses. You of all people should understand this. You've experienced fear and rejection first hand due to all those kids fearing you during your childhood, remember?" Kenji explained as he extended his hand in an attempt to forge a peaceful handshake with with Natsume. "Please join us Natsume and allow us to use Mikan to create a peaceful world. Ms. Sakura is the key and she will be known as a hero for creating a more peaceful world." Kenji said in the hopes of gaining a compromise from Natsume but instead was met with a swipe to his hand.
"Mikan has lost her alice and will be of no use to your 'boss'," Natsume said as he began to stand up. Kenji was clearly intimidated by this. How could Natsume still stand up? "Besides, you're too naive for your own good, kid. Even if Mikan had her alice, your boss wouldn't use her alices to make a 'peaceful' world. He only wants the power for himself."
Natsume activated his fire alice and threw multiple fire bursts at Kenji to give him an idea of who he's dealing with. Kenji dodged all of Natsume's attacks and reached into his backpack.
"You will never have Mikan!" Natsume screamed.
"I wanted to avoid violence but it seems that I'll have to take Mikan by force," Kenji said as he pulled out what appeared to be the grip of a sword...without the blade. "Now begins Kenji vs. Natsume, round 2," Kenji announced, standing in samurai stance.
Mikan and Ruka were frozen in fear, there wasn't much that they could do. Natsume was busy fighting Kenji, and Mikan and Ruka were staring death in the face, one in each of Scarlet's hands.
"What are we going to do Ruka?" Mikan whispered to her blond friend.
"Don't worry Mikan, I have a plan," Ruka whispered back to Mikan.
"Checkmate," Scarlet said as she began to approach Mikan and Ruka. Scarlet kept the gun in her right hand pointed at Ruka and the other she stuck it in her belt. She glared at Mikan with a 'Don't try anything, you're still my hostage' look.
"So cutie, are you ready to relinquish your little girlfriend yet?" Scarlet said while rubbing Ruka's chest and licking his neck. Mikan looked astonished and Ruka didn't know whether or not if he should feel scared for his life as he has a gun pointed to his head or excited that he has a girl who seems to have the hots for him.
'Stay focused, Ruka, for Mikan's sake. Come on pheromone alice work...work!" Ruka thought to himself as he tried as hard as he could to concentrate on making birds in the sky attack Scarlet with his alice. Unfortunately, this was pretty difficult to concentrate with the 'distraction'.
Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate! Ruka chanted mentally. He managed to reach out to a couple of squirrels and asked them to attack Scarlet.
"Ew! What are these vermin doing on me?!" Scarlet shouted as she desperately tried to knock the squirrels off her. Ruka then took this as an opportunity to escape from Scarlet's hold over him and Mikan by tackling her to the ground and knocking her gun out of her hand.
"Ruka, you're brilliant!" Mikan said as she leaped for joy.
"Mikan quick take both of Scarlet's guns and run. Run as fast as you can. Don't look back!"
"Oh, gotcha." Mikan said as she understood Ruka's plan perfectly. Mikan grabbed the rifle that was on the ground. Instead of running away she pointed the gun at Scarlet, "Let him go! "
Scarlet almost laughed at Mikan's nervous stance of holding the gun. Clearly she was novice at such things.
"Stay away from my boys." Mikan sternly said while sticking her tongue causing, Ruka to blush slightly.
"Sakura, I told you to run!" He reminded her. "Go!"
"I can't leave you alone." Mikan replied.
"As much as he loved to hear those words." Ruka said, "Listen, it's for your own safety. I'll never be able to forgive myself if something happens to you, so please go! For Natsume's sake! Run!" He lunged for Scarlet and pushed her onto the ground, him on top of her, pressing her against ground firmly. Immobilising her temporarily. "GO!"
Against her wishes a teary eyed Mikan ran as fast as she could away from the battlefield. Ruka breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well hotshot, I guess being captured by you isn't all bad as at least I'll be able to have some fun." Scarlet said as she pushed up her legs to reach Ruka's waist and crossed her legs constraining his movements along with hers. The attacker became the victim once again. But he was glad Mikan was safe.
"You made me lose my target. But if I want to get hold of that bitch I'll have to take care of you first, else you'll want to play knight in shining armour again, won't you? She said as she trailed his face in a lustful manner with her fingers.
'Dear lord, someone please help me." Ruka said as a sweat drop appeared on the back of his head.
'I shouldn't have left them there alone. I hope he's okay.' Mikan thought to herself as she stopped to rest for a while, she had been running for 20 minutes at her fastest possible speed, she might have most likely broken her record. Horrible flashbacks images of the ESP's henchmen who used guns to scare and hurt her classmates during the war at Gakuen Alice four years ago clouded her mind. The memory of Natsume's dead body stuck her. Panicked seized her. She didn't want to see that lifeless face of Natsume again. Tears flowed out unstoppably.
'Please don't do anything stupid Natsume!'
Maybe if she was with him four years ago, supporting him; he would have had a different fate.
She couldn't just let him fend for himself again, she gathered herself. She had to go and help him, inspite of his refusal. She made up her mind, tightened her grip onto the weapon and started running again.
"What the hell?" Natsume said as he realized that none of his attacks were hitting Kenji, in fact if Natsume didn't know better, he'd say they were reflecting off of Kenji. He was better than Natsume anticipated.
"Stop this senseless fight Natsume! Don't you realize yet that it's pointless to fight against me? You're just going to end up hurting yourself again and repeat what happened during your fight against the ESP." Kenji stated
"Shut up!" Natsume shouted as he sent more fire bursts towards his opponent which quickly drained him of his stamina.
"Don't you see yet? For every burst of flames you send at me you take off at least 3 days of your life. You don't have to become a scapegoat to protect Mikan, Natsume. I'm not here to kill you, I want to help you. Haven't you ever wondered how great and peaceful your life would be without your alice?" Kenji asked Natsume who appeared to be out of breath.
"I..." Natsume couldn't manage any other words and was overcome with shattering coughs. He fell to the ground and began to cough up blood. "Oh no, not again." Natsume thought to himself.
"Natsume, you wasted all of your energy today by stubbornly throwing fireballs that had no effect on me. No doubt you probably knocked off at the very least 2 months of your life. 2 months that you could have spent peacefully with . Please Natsume, no more. No more fighting, can't you see that I'm trying to help you live a regular happy life with Mikan, isn't that what you two have wanted all along?" Kenji asked while placing his hand on Natsume's shoulder.
"Stay away from me. You don't know me!" Natsume seethed. He stood up with all his strength and punched Kenji hard on the jaw knocking him down. Kenji's jaw almost dislocated from the attack. Blood trailed down from the corner of his mouth and his chin started to swell up.
"You actually think your so called boss desires 'peace'?" Natsume kicked the kid in stomach, "So damn naive," He kicked again. Kenji blocked the kick and managed to stand up. He felt weak, blood began to run from his nose, and dizziness was taking over.
'Oh! Shit! Not now...Everything was going perfectly...why did it have to happen now! Damn !' Kenji mentally cursed his condition.
Natsume didn't know what was happening to his young enemy but he took control of the situation and showered punches on him one after another. He knew it wasn't wise to use his alice now, he might himself loose unconsciousness. Kenji couldn't take it anymore, he dropped onto his knees. Natsume was going to land a blow on his head, but controlled himself.
"Stay away from Mikan." he said with a death glare at the kid. Scarlet had underestimated the Kuro Neko. He is really something. He collapsed on the ground, he could hear the sounds of light footsteps which were growing louder.
"Natsume!" He heard a feminine voice call.
"Mikan? What the hell are you doing here? I told you to run away, you idiot!" he scolded her. She flung herself onto him,carelessly throwing the gun on the ground. She secured him tightly in her embrace, as if she was the one protecting him from Kenji. "Natsume...Natsume...Oh Natsume..." She cried out his name as tears slid down her face, she tightened her grip on him further. Natsume could sense the concern in her voice. He knew why she was here. To make sure he was alive.
"I told you I wouldn't die on you right? Trust me for once." He soothed her by gently patting her back.
Kenji was trying his best to reach out for the gun lying a few feet away from him. He stretched his hand as much as he could. 'Just a little more'' He motivated himself. 'Mikan Sakura...so beautiful yet...so utterly stupid to throw away a loaded gun on the ground when the attackers knocked out. Can such a combination exist?'
"Don't even think about it." Natsume said as he picked up the gun. He grabbed Kenji's hair and raised his head to make an eye contact with the kid, "Who do you work for? Huh? What's your boss called?" Kenji refused to reply to any of the questions. Natsume punched him "Answer me." Natsume demanded in a voice that made Mikan shiver.
"Zagi. He's the new leader of AAO."
'Sakurano's warning is right. They really are back in action. Gotta be extra careful now.' Natsume mentally admitted to himself.
"Z for Zero and Z for Zagi." Natsume smirked as he heard the name of the person, "Listen carefully kid. Tell Zagi that his evil goal will never come true, because he'll never have Mikan."
"You still don't understand Hyuuga. It's not evil. It's for a good cause. He'll save the world with this plan. Free it from the Academy's domination. We'll all be free...you don't understand!" Kenji told him.
"That's the bullshit he's using to cover up for his sins, eh?" Natsume smirked again. He punched Kenji again and hurled him further away on ground in anger.
"Natsume, leave him be. Let's help Ruka. Come on." Mikan stopped him from kicking Kenji again feeling slight sympathy for the boy. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards Ruka.
With his remaining strength Kenji lifted his arm and slowly pinched his shirt's collar and whispered, "Codename:Alpha 1-5-9." Kenji's body then began to glow and become transparent.
"We'll meet again. Mikan Sakura. We'll meet again." Kenji said as his body completely disappeared.
"Who gave you this gun?" Natsume asked her, waving the gun in front of her face.
"Ruka pyon. For my safety, you know."
"That idiot should know that a clumsy girl like you can never handle a gun." Natsume sighed.
"Hey! Ruka pyon was just trying to protect me." Mikan protested, "I think I did a pretty good job at handling it. Ji-chan would freak out if he saw me with it."
"We should hurry to Ruka." Natsume quickened his pace, worried about his best friend. There was something off about that Scarlet woman, he didn't like it.
Meanwhile Scarlet was tackled by Ruka to the ground with her legs crossed on his back while still trying to put the moves on Ruka. "You know Ruka I can make you become a real man today." Scarlet said skimpily.
"Find a happy place, find a happy place, find a happy place." Ruka repeated to himself as his body began to become numb as Scarlet puckered her lips and began to lean towards Ruka. With every millimeter that she came closer to Ruka, his heart began to pump harder and harder. "Please, don't let this villain steal my first kiss. I was hoping to have it with...her." Ruka thought.
"Abort mission. Base to Scarlet. Abort mission." "Damn! " She cursed. " Teleporting you in 3...2..1."
Scarlet's body began to glow, become transparent, and then disappeared."Urgh, that was weird, but I'm not complaining. My lips are saved." Ruka said with a sigh of relief.
"Ruka-pyon!" Mikan screamed as she and Natsume came running to his aid.
"Mikan, Natsume, thank goodness you two are alright." Ruka said in relief that his two best friends were safe from harm. "So what happened to you guys?" Ruka asked.
"Well I had quite an interesting fight with that Kenji kid. That bastard's a complete airhead. Too trusting for his own good, " Natsume stated.
"Maybe someone messed with his brain or something." Mikan naively said.
"Says the girl with no brain in your head to begin with." Natsume said Mikan yelled at him, as expected. But it was his this foxy attitude that attracted her to him. She fell in love with that Natsume.
It was almost nightfall when the trio had finished eating and dressing up the scratches and bruises. Natsume knew that he had to carefully plan their next moves. The AAO would strike back and he needed to keep Mikan safe.
"We need to go save Noda sensei first!" Mikan sounded worried.
"But Mikan, we have no idea where he is or how to get there. We're better off heading to the old watch factory in the 5th Prefecture as planned." Ruka said. "Besides, he predicted that us three would be meeting him around 9:35pm right?"
"Can we trust him?" Natsume knew that statement was paranoid, but right now it was important to know who their friends and enemies were. And Paradox was kinda in midway. He was mysterious. "How do we know that he's not from AAO? He might be working for them too. If he knows so much, why didn't he warn us about our encounter with Kenji and Scarlet today? Maybe he's with them and that's why he didn't warn us. And really, if he would have told us then we could have stopped Noda from being kidnapped in the first place. Then I would not have had to use my alice and cut off 2 mon-" Natsume growled as he caught himself. He froze and shut his mouth tightening his lips together in a line.
"What was that Natsume?" Mikan said with a worried look on her face. He didn't reply, not wanting Mikan to know about his shortened his life.
"Noda-sensei trusted him for a reason." Ruka protested, "We should trust him too."
"Natsume?" Mikan asked for his decision.
"Paradox it is." He just hoped he was wrong about Paradox working for AAO, or else he'd be leading his friends right into the rat's trap.
"Okay it's 7:30pm. So If we leave now we should arrive there in about 20 minutes. I'm sure you'll be happy to be able to prove Parodox wrong at something Natsume." Ruka said hoping to cheer his friend up. Natsume sighed in defeat.
"I would like to prove that smart ass wrong, but sadly you've forgotten that with Noda captured we no longer have access to his car which means we'll have to walk their which may take us about 2 hours. So we probably will end up meeting him around 9:30pm as he predicted." Natsume decided with determination. "Come on let's see this Paradork guy anyway. If he's right about our arrival time then he must know something about our future that may help us take down Kenji's AAO." Natsume said with a steady head.
"We really have to walk till 5th Avenue...Ugrh! My feet are already killing me," Mikan grumbled.
Natsume kneeled down and invited Mikan.
"Hop on."
She gladly climbed onto him, arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist. Planting a kiss on his cheek, she exclaimed. "Yay! Piggy back ride! Haven't had one in years. Ji-chan used to give me those when I was a kid, but he has back problems now."
"Keep quiet for a while now, okay?" Natsume said irritated, he was worried about his alice.
'That Paradox guy might be some use to me.' He had a question in his mind for the smartypants.
A/N: We hope you have enjoyed this chapter, it was quite a big one! This chapter was written by Sonic-Keyblade007 and edited by edwardelric108 and Neverlookback756. If you liked this chapter or have any comments and suggestions, leave us a review! Also please let us know what you think of our OCs in the comments section, thank you. ^_^