Chapter 8 (Part 5): Time Paradox
"Who are you two?" The young Natsume asked coldly.
"You two do look familiar. Are you students from the senior division?" The young Mikan questioned curiously while smiling.
"Don't be stupid polka-dots, these two aren't wearing these stupid festival outfits that we have on. They don't have the academy attire on either, so they must be outsiders, but my question is how were they able to get into this academy? Only alices are allowed here. So talk, who are you two and how did you get in here?" The young Natsume asked boldly. Mikan and Natsume looked at each other in worry, they simply didn't know how to respond.
"Uh my name is Azumi and this is my boyfriend, Yukihira," Mikan nervously said on the spot. "We just thought it would be nice to take a stroll through Gakuen Alice during the Alice Festival," Mikan nervously said.
"That doesn't answer my question, how did you two get into this academy, only alices are allowed here so the guards should not have let you in." The young boy said as Mikan and Natsume began to sweat and chattering their teeth.
"We're graduates of the academy and just decided to visit it. Natsume replied.
"Wow academy alumni!" The young Mikan said in awe, but the young Natsume didn't seem to buy their story.
"Hmph, if you really are alumni then show me your alices," The young Natsume stated coldly.
"Yeah I want to see your alices too!" The young Mikan squealed.
"Baka!" The young Natsume replied to the young Mikan.
"Nasty fox!" The young Mikan shouted back.
"Super Baka," The young Natsume stroke back.
"Quick, we better run away while they're distracted before we mess with this time period anymore!" Natsume stated.
"Yeah, good point," Mikan replied as the two joined hands and started running away but were stopped by a wall of flames.
"Hey, where do you think you're going!" The young Natsume said after activating his fire alice nearly lighting Mikan's skirt on fire, luckily Natsume was able to pat off the small flames.
"Damn, was I really this cruel back then?" Natsume asked himself.
"Natsume stop it! You may hurt them!" The young Mikan said while trying to nullify her classmate's alice.
"Shut up ugly, for all we know, these two may be spies from an anti-alice organization. They could be dangerous!" The ten year old boy angrily responded.
"Natsume stop, I don't think they mean any harm!" The young girl said as she put herself in front of the older Mikan and Natsume while spreading her arms and facing the 10 year old boy.
"Get out of the way dummy!" The young Natsume said extending the palm of his hand to face the young girl and the couple behind her. He lit off another fire ball and attacked the couple,
"I need to teach this brat a lesson," The older one said as he lost his temper and fought back using his alice as well. A battle of fire ensued.
"No way. You have the fire alice as well." The young Natsume was surprised.
"Wait! You promised me that you wouldn't use it unnecessarily!" The older Mikan yelled. The 16 year old Natsume ignored her, he had to stop that "brat" and knock some sense into him.
"Hmph," Came the prompt reply from his older self. And another blow of fire punch almost landed on the young Natsume's cheek. Wait..almost?
"Stay away from him." His alice was nullified by a younger version of his beloved," Leave him alone," She warned him.
"Stay out of this Mikan. This is your your good!" He warned the little girl.
"Ho-how do you know my name?" She was surprised. He took advantage of her distraction and attacked the younger Natsume with a punch.
"Stop it already! Please….Natsume." His fiance was worried
"SHUT UP!" Yelled both the Natsume at the same time.
"Please…stop it…both of you..." The older Mikan was kneeling down on the floor as she cried out sobbing loudly. He stopped his flame and walked up to her and embraced her in his arms cradled her and calmed her down.
"Sorry," he whispered. The two young students stared at them.
Realization dawned on the 10 year old boy. That lady called that man "Natsume," he has the fire alice, and he has the exact same blood red eyes and raven hair as he did…
That lady was lying, he wasn't Yukihara'. That man he was fighting was..That means he's...
"No way…This can't be true. You're...you're me," the young Natsume said in disbelief.
"I am smart. Gotta give myself some credit." His older self smirked.
"What really? That's you?" The younger Mikan was confused. "How?"
"Time travel I assume," Her 'friend' replied.
"More like time mishap," His older version corrected him.
"Noda?" The younger Natsume asked.
"Something like that," The 16 year old Natsume replied.
"Who's that with you then?" His younger version asked. "Azumi? Don't tell me I am actually dating someone in future."
"More like engaged. And her name's not Azumi." The older Natsume smirked again. "I thought I was smart. You recognized yourself, don't tell me you can't recognize her." The 16 year old said.
"I can't believe someone would agree to marry an idiot like you!" The younger Mikan cried in astonishment.
"Tch." They both smirked much to Mikans' dismay.
"If you don't believe our words then take a look at this," the older Natsume said as he flipped up his girlfriend's skirt revealing strawberries.
"Ichigo chara?" The younger one said in disbelief. "Still? At 17?"
"NATSUME YOU PERVERT….HOW DARE YOU DO THAT IN FRONT OF YOUNG KIDS…...YOU….." His fiance was practically punching him.
"What happened to you Polka?" The younger version of her fiance asked while her own younger self looked like she just saw a ghost.
"Puberty," Older Natsume helped his younger self. The kid walked up to her to examine her closely, he couldn't believe at who he was looking at.
"Hey big Mikan, come closer," he stated to his older girlfriend. She bent down so that she could reach his height level. And the fearless ten year old placed his hands on her chest, groping her breasts . "So you do grow mountains after all. I almost thought that they were fake implants. But I was wrong."
"NATSUME! YOU BIG PERVERT! IT'S RUDE TO TOUCH A LADY'S CHEST," She smacked him hard this time.
"Hands off my fiance," His older version warned him. Mikan couldn't believe he was jealous of himself. Ironic. It seemed, that the two Natsume's and the older Mikan were having a fun time, but the younger Mikan on the other hand wasn't feeling very comfortable about this whole sneak peek of her future. Who could blame her? Not everyone would be as carefree as Natsume to suddenly see at the age of 10 what your destiny is and who you will be marrying. The young girl started to sweat and her heart beat started to increase. The older Natsume noticed this and tried to take action.
"Mikan calm down," The 16 year old young man stated but was unfortunately unable to calm down the young girl.
"It-it's too much to take in! I can't end up with Natsume he's such a jerk! I-I can't take it! WHAAAAAAA!" The young Mikan said as she began to cry and run away.
"Great!" The younger Natsume said sarcastically.
"Mikan!" The older Natsume said while extending his arm in her direction as he was about to pursue her but suddenly began to collapse which attracted both the younger Natsume's and the older Mikan's attention.
"NATSUME!" The 17 year old girl screamed in agony as her fiancé began to fall off his feet right in front of her. Mikan dashed by his side leaned out her arms to catch him as he was falling on his back, but the kuro neko phased through her arms and disappeared with his body leaving behind nothing but particles of light. Mikan looked torn and broken, her boyfriend just vanished from thin air and she didn't understand how or why. "Oh no! No, no, no, no, no! Natsume please come back! Please!" Mikan screamed as she fell to the ground and started crying.
"That was….weird. What the hell just happened?" The younger Natsume asked.
"He's gone, he's really gone!" Mikan said while looking at the palms of her hands in disbelief of what just happened.
"I don't believe this there's no way that I could grow up to become that bone head nor would I ever come to be engaged with you polka-dots." The young Natsume said in annoyance which angered Mikan even further.
"You don't believe me? Well I can prove how close I am to you because I know everything about you! I know that you and your sister Aoi were raised from a single parent, Mr. Hyuuga, while constantly trying to run from the academy by moving to different cities. I know that you took the blame for Aoi-chan after she burned down your village. I know that Ruka-pyon joined you when you decided to come to Gakuen Alice alone in order to emotionally support you as your friend. I know that you've been doing secret missions for the academy in the dangerous abilities class to protect your younger sister Aoi-chan. I know that you have the fourth alice shape which you inherited from your mother, Kaoru Hyuuga, but you desperately decide to use in order to protect your family and friends. And...and…." Mikan said as she could barely believe the intense and passionate tone of language and words that she was using. The young Natsume looked stun as he came to understand that this woman was in fact the real deal and that she really did love him and he couldn't resist the fact that she had feelings for her too. "And…and Natsume Hyuuga, I love you, from now until forever…..." The 17 year old said as she embraced the young boy in her arms and showered his face with multiple kisses.
"This is too fast for me as well, I don't blame the younger you from running off now," The young Natsume said as he placed his hand on his forehead due to a headache that was beginning to arise.
"I just want my Natsume back!" Mikan said as she began to cry again.
"Why are you two even here in the first place? Don't you idiots understand the danger of time paradoxes?" The 10 year old asked.
"Time paradox? That's what my Natsume warned may happen if we come in contact with our younger selves. But…..what exactly is a time paradox?" Mikan asked desperately. The young Natsume facepalmed his forehead as he was amazed by how he can end up falling in love with such an idiot.
"A time paradox is the erasing of certain events that may occur when traveling in time," Natsume stated but Mikan had a blank expression on her face and the young boy facepalmed himself. "Let me put it in a scenario that even your tiny brain will be able to understand. For example, say if I gave you money to buy a box of holowans tonight then the next day you travel back in time with your box of holowans and then manage to tick me off and decide not to give you money to buy the holawans. With no money to buy the holowans, your box would pop out of existence because you never obtain the money to buy the box of holowans in the first place. I have no idea why my older self popped out of existence though, unless….." Natsume said as his eyes began to widen. "Does something happen to me in the near future?" The boy said with a worried expression on his face. Mikan sadly looked away and was speechless, she didn't want to risk corrupting this time period more than she already did. "I die from my alice shape don't I?" The young Natsume said looking depressed but oddly wasn't surprised. "No need to play dumb, I can already see by your expression what my fate is," The little Natsume said while sadly looking at the ground.
"Natsume you won't die!" Mikan shouted which caught Natsume's attention. "I don't want to tell you how or when but you won't die from your alice Natsume. Please just trust me, I won't let that happen! I swear that on my life Natsume!" Mikan said as she held onto the boy's hands close to her heart. Natsume could feel her heart pounding.
"M-Mikan," Was all he was able to say. He was confused, why was his heart pacing at the same rate? It was as if, two hearts were in sync. But why? "Find that little polka. I think convincing her about accepting me, will bring back your natsume." The young boy stated.
"Huh, how will the little me change anything?" Mikan asked bewildered causing a sweat drop to appear on the back of Natsume's head.
"You said that you wouldn't let me die from my alice right? Well if that's true then the reason why your boyfriend faded from existence is because by you two shocking the younger Mikan with your appearance, this caused her to not want anything to do with me as she probably doesn't feel mentally prepared. Because of this, you were never able to save me from my alice so my future self just popped out of existence. You need to comfort her and let her know all the great things that you love about the 16 year old Natsume Hyuuga. It would probably be better if you went alone to find and speak with her as my appearance would probably just upset that airhead." Natsume couldn't believe he was saying those words, but he had to, it was his future at stake here. He didn't wanna just vanish from the future because of a silly idiot.
"Alright Natsume, I'll go find her and trust me, I'll be able to make her see the kind and generous person you really are," Mikan said as she hugged the 10 year old boy, oddly enough, Natsume didn't fight her hug and actually enjoyed it somewhat. "Well I'm off, I'll be back soon," Mikan said she ran into the darkness of the forest area chasing after her younger self.
Our 17 year old brunette ran as fast as she could into the heart of the forest where she saw her younger self run a few moments ago. Mikan quickly followed but after a few minutes of searching she became confused and slightly lost. She wasn't anywhere near to finding her younger self and every second that passed was another second closer to another time vortex sucking her up without her precious Natsume. "Think Mikan, think, where would I have gone in a time like this at the age of 10?" Mikan thought and then something hit her. "I got it! I'd always go to my Hotaru whenever I was feeling down!" Mikan thought as she began to head towards the dance floor where she saw her younger self dancing with Hotaru. She was about to run to greet her younger self but didn't want to risk making a big scene which in turn would undoubtedly make this time paradox incident even worse. "Think Mikan, what can I do to gain my 10 year old counterpart's attention?" Mikan thought as she crouched down to hide behind a pair of bushes and noticed a small rock near the palm of her hand.
"So Mikan, what's on your mind? You seem kinda down," Hotaru stated.
"Oh it's nothing," Mikan replied lying in an attempt to not suck Hotaru into her drama but Hotaru was able to read her like a book.
"Come on Mikan, I can tell that something is in your mind in that empty skull of yours," Hotaru stated while smirking slightly.
"Oh Hotaru I can't hide anything from you, the truth is I think I just met my-ow!" Mikan said as she felt a rock hit the back of her head.
"Grrrrr! It's probably that nasty fox being a jerk to me again!" Mikan thought. "I'll be right back Hotaru," Mikan said as she walked into the forest area where she believed that the rock that was thrown to her head came from. Although while expecting to see Natsume, she instead ran into her older self.
"Ahhhh! It's you again!" The young girl screamed.
"Shhhhhh! Call down Mikan! I don't mean any harm!" The 17 year old Mikan shouted in desperation.
"I just want to be left alone, please. It's too much to take in, I don't know if I want to end up with Natsume!" The young Mikan shouted as her face began to turn red and her eyes began to become swollen. The older Mikan then grabbed her younger self by the waist and embraced her in a tight hug.
"Mikan, please just listen to me. I know that right now Natsume can seem mean, rebellious and overall cruel but believe me. Behind that bad attitude, he really does love you, more than you will ever know. You are his light piercing through the darkness of this academy. He may not admit it now but he means the world to you and will be will be willing to do anything for you Mikan! He's even willing to give his own life for you Mikan!" The 17 year old girl said trying her best to knock some sense into her younger self.
"Natsume, he really thinks that way about me?" The younger Mikan wondered.
"I..I..I still can't believe I actually date Natsume…..I…." The younger Mikan was still coping with fact that the boy she fights with 24/7 is her fiance in future.
"Hey, don't think too much about it, okay? Things will happen at their natural course of events. Give yourselves some time. I am sure you guys will come to realize your true feelings," Her older version said as she patted her head. "Did you read Ji-chan's letter?" She asked her to calm her down. Her younger version nodded.
"Good." The 17 year old replied.
"Um, older me, is it ok if I call you 'Mikan-oneesan'?" The 10 year old girl asked.
"Hahaha, sure Mikan," The 17 year old replied while giggling.
"Hey, Mikan-oneesan, do I get to see him again? Ji-chan I mean..." She asked her future self.
"Yes. Don't worry you have a long happy life ahead of you with everyone you love and cherish." The older Mikan replied.
"Everyone including Natsume?" The 10 year old enquired.
"Yes, especially Natsume." Said the 17 year old.
"Tell me Mikan-neesan. Does he...really….?" Questioned the younger Mikan.
"Yes, my dear. Don't worry about it. Natsume really loves me….us….He's scared to show it right now but when the time comes he will come to your side. And when that happens I want you to take him in your arms, give him your warmth, your love. Okay?" The older Mikan stated while smiling.
"When will that happen? Because he always pushes me away...he says I shouldn't enter into his dark world." The younger Mikan said while crossing her arms and pouting.
"Oh right I remember he did say that to me at the Last Dance…" The older Mikan laughed at the old memories. "Natsume is a stubborn kid right now, he's reckless. He says that because he wants to protect you. He really does loves you though, even right now." The 17 year old Mikan said while patting the younger Mikan's head.
"Really? But he didn't even accept my invitation to dance." The young Mikan said while pouting again.
"Trust me Mikan, he does like you even now and secretly he's happy to know that you two get together in future. I think he started crushing on you since that time you saved him from Reo." The 17 year old said while winking.
"Did he tell you that?" The little Mikan asked.
"No, but I know it. He mumbles about it sometimes in his sleep." The big Mikan said trying not to laugh.
"You-you guys….sleep together!?" The young Mikan was red like tomato.
"Yeah, but not in a pervy way." The older Mikan assured her younger self.
"You know, he makes you angry not because he doesn't like you, he does that because to him you look cute when you're angry. Well that's what he told me anyway." Mikan said while giggling and blushing slightly.
"He really said that?!" The 10 year old girl asked excitedly.
"Yup and get this, he has a real thing for your hair and especially loves it when you put it down, he told me it looks prettier that way which is why I have my hair down right now," Mikan stated while blushing again slightly.
"Wow so he really likes my hair?" The young Mikan said while playing with one of her pigtails.
"Yeah Mikan. As you get older, you'll realize that boys tend to do really silly things such as name calling or skirt flipping when they simply don't know how to respond to a girl who they think is really pretty," Mikan stated while winking and giggling.
"Wow, so Natsume really thinks I'm pretty huh? Hmmmmmmm," The little Mikan said as she closed her eyes and placed her hands over her chest.
"So Mikan, are you willing to give Natsume another chance?" The 17 year old Mikan asked.
"Yes, I-I do want to get to know Natsume better," The younger Mikan said while blushing.
Her older version assured her and calmed her. "Hey Mikan promise me you won't let him overuse his alice okay?" The older Mikan said as she bent down and held out her pinky finger inviting her younger self to a pinky promise.
Her younger version was more than ready to fulfill that promise because she didn't want him to die as well, so she exdended her pinky and accepted her older counterpart's promise by crossing her pinky with the older Mikan's pinky. She was glad that he wasn't dead in future. She mentally prayed and thanked god for that. Both the girls hugged each other like sisters.
The 17 year old Mikan then grabbed the 10 year old Mikan by her hand and the two of them ran through the forest to reunite with their kuro neko.
A/N: It looks like the younger Mikan is willing to give her brash rival a chance to get to really know each other and possibly have a future together, but will this alone be enough to save the future Natsume? Stay tuned next time for the conclusion of chapter 8.
This chapter was written by all three authors: Sonic-Keyblade007, edwardelric108, and Neverlookback756.