Chapter 14: Pain

The sweet bright sun shined into the salty water of Mikan's favorite beach. She finally had the chance to visit the beach with her dear friend, Hotaru, who had recently fully recovered. The two girls were happily playing together in the shallow waters of the beach dressed in their bathing suits. After all, who ever said there was an age limit to fun? They begin an innocent splash war. Subaru and Noda could be seen grilling burgers in the distance. Ruka, at the moment, was playing in the sand trying to build a sand lion. His Alice didn't cover fake animals, though, because it just looked like a sandy blob. The five friends seemed to be enjoying their day at the beach without a care in the world.

"Man, am I getting hungry!" Mikan exclaimed as she placed her hand on her growling belly.

"I think the food is finally ready!" Hotaru called out as she grabbed Mikan's hand and ran to where her brother was grilling juicy tender slabs of ground beef along with the time-travelling professor. "Two burgers please! I bet they're so good, Nii-chan is a great cook." Hotaru said with a heart warming smile on her face.

"Well well well, someone sure does have an appetite today." Subaru said while patting Hotaru's head which caused her to blush.

"You're embarrassing me!" Hotaru squealed as her brother handed her burgers for the two friends. Hotaru and Mikan then found a spot to sit on the ground at the beach. "Ahh! They're so good!" Hotaru squealed as she took a deep bite into the burger that her brother worked so hard to make. They ate happily together, when Mikan finally spoke.

"Hey Hotaru, um do you understand how guys operate?" Mikan asked. "Say if you had a boyfriend who wanted to well, you know, make love, but you pushed him away and said you weren't ready for it." Mikan said while her cheeks turned red. "Would you blame him if his sex drive became so great that he went to another girl for sex?" Mikan asked while wrapping her head between her folded legs in shame.

"Huh? Hm, well guys guys at our age can often be unstable." Hotaru stated. This caused Mikan to feel discouraged by the thought that her Natsume may have turned to another girl to fulfill his desire for sex. "Why do you ask Mikan?" Hotaru wondered concerned about her friend.

"Oh! Uh, well, no reason," Mikan replied as her face turned red.

"Come on Mikan, I know when something is on your mind," Hotaru said while playfully poking her brunette friend's cheek.

"Well...it's just that I caught my boyfriend about a have sex with another girl. It made me feel terrible and broken. It was as if I wasn't enough for him so he decided to toss me away like trash and move on to another girl." Mikan said as she felt her throat begin to become rough and sore due to her loss of faith in her fiancé. When did she start to doubt Natsume this much?

"Oh, that does sound bad Mikan. I'm sure if I ever had a boyfriend who cheated on me then I would feel terrible too," Hotaru stated as she took another bite out of the hamburger her brother made.

"I'm beginning to think that maybe this whole thing is all my fault. I pushed him away and said that I wouldn't feel comfortable having sex until we rescued you Hotaru," Mikan said as she landed a shy glance on her dark haired friend.

Ruka couldn't help but notice his two friends talking about something. He knew it was something important as both the girls had a depressed look on their face so he headed over to speak to his two friends as quickly as he could.

"Hey you two, why the long faces?" Ruka asked sympathy.

"Wha-uh n-nothing!" Mikan said as her face became red at the thought of Mikan mentioning her problems in her sex life to Ruka.

"Hey Ruka, you're technically a boy right?" He threw Hotaru a look. "If you had a girlfriend who refused to have sex with you, would you move on to hit on another girl." Hotaru said with a smile on her face.

"It's not that I refused to sleep with him, exactly. More like postponed." Mikan squealed as she put her hand over her mouth in shock by the fact that she just admitted in front of Ruka that she was having trouble in her sex life. Ruka began to blush at the thought of Mikan having sex trouble with her boyfriend. He cleared his throat.

"Well, I suppose if I had a girlfriend who was not ready to sleep with me, I would wait for her and respect her feelings. Mikan, personally I believe that if your boyfriend isn't willing to respect your feelings then you should just let him go." Ruka said. Mikan's heart began to break. She knew that she loved her boyfriend more than anything in the world and would be willing to give her life for him. She couldn't just let her go because of one misunderstanding could she? "Oh, by the way Mikan, who is your boyfriend if you don't mind me asking?" Ruka questioned.

"Huh, what are you talking about Ruka? You know my boyfriend is Natsume." Mikan said with slight annoyance voice. Ruka and Hotaru looked at each other before cracking up.

"What are you talking about Mikan? Everyone knows that Natsume is dating that Scarlet girl," Hotaru said while taking her last bite of her hamburger. Mikan's eyes widened and her heart stopped.

"He is not!" Mikan screamed with an intense rage. The thought of Natsume with another woman was unbearable.

"Sakura, what are you talking about? Natsume has had the hots for Scarlet since he was 10, you know that," Ruka stated.

"No! He said that he would love me forever! We exchanged Alice stones! We were going to get married!" Mikan screamed at the the top of her lungs. Mikan was clearly heartbroken and she couldn't comprehend what was going on and why no one could acknowledge the idea of her going out with Mikan.

"What is that flat chest glabbering about?" Called a nearby woman's voice. Mikan heard a masculine sigh.

"Probably just another of her delusions of her and I dating again." Bewildered, Mikan turned around and to her surprise she saw her Natsume hand-in-hand with a pregnant Scarlet.

"Ehhhhh!?" Was all Mikan could spit out as she felt her heart beat increase and blood rush to her face as she felt incredibly hurt and betrayed when no one was there to help or support her. "Natsume...why?" Mikan croaked as she began to cry.

"Look, Sakura, our time together is over. I know we had some fun, but you just have to accept that I'm in love with Scarlet now. It's easier and more comfortable to express myself with her," Natsume said as she put her hands on Scarlet's waist.

"Basically honey, Natsume can have a more fun time with me than a scared goody-two shoes like you." Scarlet said as she cupped Natsume's cheek and planted a kiss on his lips.

"No!" Mikan screamed as the smooth beach sand that she was sitting on turned into quick sand slowly engulfing her. Mikan's knees downward were already buried in the sand. "Natsume, why? What did I do wrong? I-I don't want to lose you! Please, I won't be scared anymore. I'll be willing to do the things that you want! Please give me another chance!" Mikan screamed as more and more tears began to fall from her eyes while the quicksand that she was sinking in reached her waist level.

"Sounds to me like you simply don't know your place baka, " Hotaru said as her body transformed into Scarlet.

"You don't deserve to be by Natsume's side. Natsume deserves a selfless girl who won't put her own person feelings before the man she's going to spend the rest of her life with," Ruka stated as he transformed into Scarlet as well. The sky became dark and the quick sand came to the level of Mikan's chin. There wasn't anything our heroic brunette could do. She was forced to watch her fiancé who once sworn to protect her with his life, with Scarlet, the woman who threatened to kill her and her friends. But why, Mikan thought? Was it true that she was to blame? That she herself pushed her fiancé away by refusing to make love to him? Did she hurt him and break their trust? Whatever the reason, it no longer mattered as the quick sand completely engulfed Mikan's head, stripping her of the access to breath. With all of Mikan's hope lost, she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.

Mikan rose up from her dream, gasping for air and covered in sticky sweat.

"Was it all just a dream?" Mikan asked herself. Mikan felt as pale as the white paint on the walls. Her arms and legs were constrained to what appeared to be a giant body-sized steal robotic ring. Contrary to the bright colored paint, the room that she was in was very dark. She had to strain to see what was in front of her. Oh that's right, she thought. She was captured by Scarlet. Memories rushed over the past events, and her heart became heavy. "Oh, Natsume," she said to herself. She continued to remember her nightmare and the little incident that he caught him about to commit with Scarlet. "Natsume, please don't give up on me. I love you." Hot salty drops formed in the corners of her eyes, then dripped down her cheeks. Suddenly, her tears were brought to a halt as Mikan's ears perked to loud footsteps that approached in her direction. Mikan began to feel scared but remembered that she needed to stay strong for Natsume's sake.

Two figures came into Mikan's vision. One was the same black haired boy with glasses who gave Mikan and her friends trouble the other day. She remembered his name as Kenji. The other mysterious figure was a man who appeared to be a man in his mid-forties with a scar on his left cheek. He was wearing silver gloves on his hands which appeared to be control devices.

"Greetings Ms. Sakura," the scarred man said, slowly lowering his head. "My name is Zagi and I am the leader of AAO or previously known as simply, 'Z'. I've welcomed you here so that I may use your stealing alice to rid this world of alices forever."

"Stealing alice? You're crazy, I don't have that alice anymore. I don't have any alices anymore, they all ran out," Mikan said while turning her head and giving Zagi a cold stare.

"Don't try to hide it my dear. I'm quite aware that your mother has sealed a hidden portion of her stealing alice within you in the case that you would ever need it as an adult. Which means..."

The dark man dropped his control devices. Kenji froze, but didn't interfere and only turned away. "...all I have to do is put your body in a stressed and dangerous position to shock your mind thus causing your alice to become unsealed." Zagi evilly said while Mikan nervously took a big gulp as she knew what would happen next would not go very well. Zagi raised his right hand and pointed it towards Mikan. Mikan felt an intense pain surging throughout her body. The feeling of electric waves surged through her muscles and nerves, and she couldn't help but yell out in agony. Kenji closed his eyes and continued to look away. His bottom lip quivering at the sound of her scream, feeling ashamed that he wasn't doing anything to help her. He couldn't open his eyes. The sight of her in so much pain would make him do something rash. But he continued to tell himself that it was all for the better as when Mikan's alice is unsealed, they will be able to use her alice to bring peace to this world.

"So are you willing to submit yet Mikan Sakura?" the boss wickedly yelled. Mikan's surging pain began to worsen as the moments went on. Blood dripped from her lips, and mixed with uncontrolled tears. She panted through her screams.

If only she had her nullification alice. She'd be able to control this. She wouldn't have to go through this. Staying strong was so hard when the strength was being forced out of her. Mikan could barely think as her pain began to increase. The only person to save her now probably didn't even know she was gone. Still she yelled out like he could hear her. "Natsume!" The pain had builded up to the brim, her screams echoing off the walls and through the room. Kenji peaked an eye opened as a gasp escaped his lips. He look in horror as he realized he couldn't let this go on much longer otherwise Mikan's life may really be put in jeopardy.

"Ah ha! So do you give up yet Ms. Sakura?" The wicked boss said as he stopped using his alice and lowered it. Mikan gasped and her head leaned to the ground. Her lungs filled with air and she couldn't do anything but breath, her body still shaking.

Mikan thought to herself that despite the intense pain that she suffered, she couldn't give Zagi what he wanted. Kenji's eyes lowered in pity.

"Well Sakura, have we reached a compromise yet? Simply unseal your stealing alice and you'll never have to feel the horror of my pain-injecting alice again," Zagi cruelly said as he extended his hand to Mikan inviting the restrained girl to an agreement.

"Please Mikan, just compromise with the boss. I don't know if I can stand seeing you tortured like this." Kenji thought to himself.

"No!" Mikan firmly told the boss. Zagi and Kenji thought they misheard her but Mikan did in fact to their surprise reject the boss's offer to avoid further agony. "I will never let you use my alice for your evil needs. You're just going to have to kill me!" Mikan said as she decided that she'd rather be dead than to see her alice be used to put her loved one's in jeopardy.

"So be it, bitch!" The ruthless man said he held placed the palm of his hand on Mikan's forehead. Mikan closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

"The Imai siblings have been safely rescued and I know now that with me gone the AAO will no longer have any reason to hunt down my friends. So I have no regrets." Mikan thought to herself as Zagi was about to activate his alice at maximum power but was stopped by Kenji grabbing his arm and pulling it away from Mikan.

"NO!" Kenji screamed as Mikan looked to the dark haired boy in shock of his actions.

"What's the meaning of this Kenji?!" The boss growled at his henchmen's sudden actions. Kenji brought his body to the floor and kneeled with his hands and knees on the ground in an attempt to beg the boss to hear his proposal.

"Master, I beg of you, please reconsider such harsh actions upon Ms. Sakura. Killing her would not benefit our plan at all. Maybe she just needs to be reasoned with?" Kenji begged with all his heart.

"Hmph fine. It makes no difference to me. I'll leave this rodent with you tonight Kenji. Hopefully you can reach her in some way that I can't." Zagi growled as he put on his control devices, dusted off his clothes and walked away.

"Arigato Gozaimasu." Kenji said. Mikan looked to the boy in awe. Her body has been beat to a pulp but her life was at least spared by this boy with glasses and she was admittedly grateful for this. Kenji then turned around, smiled, and placed his hand on Mikan's forehead.

"EEEEEEEP! Maybe I thought too soon!" Mikan thought to herself as she prepared to feel more pain surging through her body but was surprised as she wasn't feeling anything. "Kenji?" Mikan croaked but was ignored as Kenji was busy concentrating his alice onto Mikan's mind.

"Now, let me read the book of Mikan Sakura." Kenji said. When he laid eyes on her smile, he couldn't help but smile back and allowed himself to be infatuated.

A/N: Well I hoped you guys liked this chapter. Feel free to leave in the comments what you guys think will happen to Kenji and Mikan in the next chapter. ^^

This chapter was written by Sonic-Keyblade 007 and was edited by edwardelric108 and Neverlookback756