Gakuen Alice

Gakuen Alice – CORPORATE TRUTHS

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, DESTROY ALL EVIDENCE YOU TRIED.

Running. That's what 11-year-old Natsume Hyuuga was doing right now. Just running.
But this was no pleasure run. At 11 years old, he already had a "duty for the good of his people," as his teacher, Narumi, put it. He was chasing down armed men who were working with the anti-Alice organization.
He hated this "job"; he should be doing what the other Alices back at the Academy were doing. Not that he would ever find out what they do. He wasn't in school nearly often enough, he was fighting a war that wasn't even his.
"They went left." Narumi finally caught up with him. Natsume wondered why he was here; he didn't really do missions for the Academy, he taught there. But Natsume supposed everyone needed a break from the monotonous academy life, even if it was just Narumi.
Natsume was surprised. Left? The only way they could have gone left was on foot; there were too many trees that would scratch the shiny black car they were following. This was stupid. The anti-Alice men wanted to escape from them, not get caught. But Natsume headed left anyway; Narumi was the one with the GPS tracking device, not him.
Soon, the trees blocked the moon. Natsume used his fire Alice to illuminate their path.
This was easier – sort of. They didn't need to be careful in hiding their Alices; there would be no one here to see them use it.
"They're on the edge of the cliff up ahead. It wont be long before we catch them." Narumi said, consulting his GPS.
Good. Natsume was bored with the chase.

Mikan Sakura sighed. It was a long day. Thank God she had this relaxing cliff-side with a spectacular view to retreat to.
She wasn't supposed to be there; many people have fallen of the edge of the cliff and drowned in the deep clue sea below. But she was careful not to stay too close. And besides, no one was going to tell on her because no one ever really ventured that far out into the forest. Mikan doubted people even knew it existed.
She sat on the edge and sighed again, swinging her feet carelessly and playing with her wolf pendant, which she wore around her neck. She looked at her bulging backpack beside her and groaned. A ton of homework has just been given to them that day, and she still hasn't started on it. She didn't even plan on it – at least not tonight. She was a good friend; some one would surely let he copy their homework tomorrow.
She looked out into the sea. The view was so relaxing. It made her sleepy. Slowly, she began to close her eyes and sleep, still on the edge of the cliff. She was half asleep when all of a sudden -
"Oh, what a cute little girly. Come here, girly." Four or five men, all big and muscular emerged from the forest. Mikan jumped and almost fell of the cliff; she hadn't heard them coming.
"What are you doing here, girly? This is a big place and you could get lost." Mikan hated how the man talked to her like she was some dumb baby. She was NOT. She was eleven and she could go around wherever she wanted to.
"What about you?" Mikan shot back in her high voice. "Shouldn't your momma be tucking you in bed right about now? She'll get worried when you don't come home soon."
The men laughed. "What a spunky little baby. Just perfect for us."
Mikan turned red. "I am NOT A BABY! And what do you mean perfect for you?"
The men laughed some more.
"We're just joking, girly," a man said. Mikan guessed that this was the leader of the group by the way the others stopped laughing right away and made solemn faces. "What are you doing here, all alone at night? You could fall over." The other men nodded, smirking. "Or be pushed."
"Excuse me?!"
"You're excused." The men started laughing again.
"Oh, how mature," Mikan muttered. She would have said it louder, except that something was telling her that she shouldn't push these men too far.
One of the men was checking a silver device he was holding. It looked a lot like a cell phone. "They're coming."
Instantly, the laughter died down and the men looked back at the trees, clenching their fists and taking a stance. Mikan tried to sneak away, tiptoeing toward the side of the cliff, but one of the men caught her and pulled her hair, making her scream. The man covered her mouth with his meaty hand and used the other to lift her by her collar. "If you don't keep quiet, I'm going to wring your pretty little neck," he whispered in her ear. He removed his hand from her mouth.
She decided to humor him. "What are we – you, waiting for?" She whispered.
The man just grunted. Mikan took that as a You'll see.
Mikan heard footsteps getting louder and louder. One of them was a quick, light and agile set of footsteps, close to the one's of a kid's; the other was a heavy and loud set of footsteps.
Soon, she saw whose the footsteps belonged to. There was a young, crimson-eyed, black-haired boy, around her age. His companion wasn't much older, he looked about twenty-ish, blond and purple-eyed. Both males were wearing weird-looking earrings.
They stopped as soon as they saw the men holding Mikan.  
"Who is she? What are you going to do with her?" The blond one asked. To Mikan, he sounded gay.
This is my rescue party?! A boy and a pedophile?

Natsume could see the edge of the cliff. He began to run faster, pushing his legs to the limit. He could see that Narumi was doing the same.
"Get ready," Narumi instructed him as they ran. Natsume just scoffed. What else could he be doing?
They could see the men now. What idiots, running straight to a place where there was nowhere else to go. They would fight, and he would win, go back to the Academy and sleep.
At least that's what he thought before he saw that one man, Errol, was holding a brown-haired, hazel-eyed girl.
Narumi was startled. He didn't see any one else go inside the car aside from them. This girl was probably just Natsume's age; what would they want with her? "Who is she? What are you going to do with her?"
Mario, the leader of this group stepped forward and smirked. "This girl is our ticket to escaping you two idiots."
Narumi didn't understand – until Errol flung the girl off the cliff.
He and Natsume raced towards the edge. "Careful now, I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you." The men laughed as they ran away.
Narumi peered over. He couldn't see anything in the raging black sea.
"You go after those maniacs, I'll get the girl," Natsume ordered him. "Go!"
Narumi followed the men.
Natsume couldn't believe that the idiots were heartless. Ruthless, but not heartless. The girl was so young, so innocent.
He quickly took of his jacket and his shirt and dove.
When he landed in the water, the freezing temperature didn't affect him; he had the Alice of fire. This girl, however, did not, and could die of hypothermia, assuming Natsume managed to rescue her. He looked around the water holding his breath. He could see the girl's silhouette, unmoving, draped on a rock. He swam towards her, pulled her shirt, and kicked the rock, going up.
He broke the surface gasping. The girl was motionless, dead weight. He hung on to her with one hand, and swam towards the shore with the other. As soon as he reached the shore he put the girl down gently. She was breathing, but asleep. He sighed, looking around the shore. He saw a way up the cliff, steep and rocky. There was no way he could climb up there, carrying her.
As fast as he could, he climbed up the path, looking back down every so often that the girl was okay. As soon as he made it to the top, he grabbed the girl's stuff as well as his and slid back down.
"Oi!" Natsume heard Narumi shout, sliding down the path behind him. "Where's the girl?" Natsume landed on his fee and jerked his head towards the shore. The girl was starting to stir. "You just left her alone?!"
"Did I have a choice? I don't see you completing your task either." Natsume growled and ran toward the girl, Narumi at his heels. When he reached her, he flung his clothes and her bad on the sand.
"Are you okay?" Narumi kneeled down beside the girl and wiped her wet hair out of her face. "Does your back hurt?"
The girl shook her head. "I'm fine, it's just – cold." Her lips were blue and she was shivering.
Natsume handed her his jacket. The girl looked surprised and didn't accept it right away. "What about you?" she asked, eyeing his bare chest.
"I don't feel cold. I could go like this all night," Natsume said. "Take it, idiot." He threw the jacket on her lap.
"I'm not an idiot!" The girl flushed and sat up.
"Who was the one so close to the edge of the cliff in the first place? If you weren't there they wouldn't have thrown you."
"Who was the one who jumped in after me in the first place? Nobody asked you to!" She shot back. As soon as she said it, Natsume's face became amused, but she mistook it for an insulted face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she said meekly. "I'm Mikan Sakura."
"I'm Narumi, and this is Natsume. Do you know who those men were?" Narumi smiled.
"Nu-uh. I was just sitting at the edge of the cliff, then all of a sudden they appeared from the forest. I've never seen them before." Mikan nervously played with her pendant. "Do you know who they were?"
"No," Narumi replied, but the look he shot Natsume said otherwise.
"What happened to the men?" Natsume asked Narumi, ignoring the dangerous warning looks Narumi gave him.
Narumi sighed. "They were gone. They must have planned this."
"Obviously." Natsume noticed Mikan shivering. "Aren't you going to wear the jacket?" He sighed as she shook her stubborn head. All of a sudden, the air warmed considerably. Narumi raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like Natsume to help anyone using his Alice.
Mikan stood up. She made for her bag, but Narumi grabbed it and gave it to her. "This is heavy. What do you keep in here, rocks?"
She laughed. It was a pretty laugh, bubbly and unexpected. "No, homework.."
"Then why don't you go home and do it?" Natsume could tell that Narumi was trying to use his Human Pheromone Alice on her. "And when you do that, forget what you just saw. Forget that the men who tried to kill you escaped, so you won't worry about it tonight."
Mikan made a face. "No way. I hate my homework. I planned on copying my friend's tomorrow," she said defiantly.
Narumi's brow furrowed. He tried again. "Go home and do your homework."
"I know you saved me and all, but you can't tell me what to do."
Narumi and Natsume exchanged confused looks. Why wasn't Narumi's Pheromone Alice working on this girl?