Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice
*reuploaded due to some issues*

The long night was over. AAO's leader was down, and his minions were captured and put in prison. Narumi managed to call for reinforcements in time and protected the students from the AAO. Although there were injuries, it wasn't too heavy due to the emergency treatment team.

When Narumi found Mikan cradled in Natsume's arms, he immediately called for emergency treatment. Natsume's shoulders visibly relaxed, and he never let go of Mikan's hand. Narumi saw the mess in the room, and knew that a fierce battle just took place. He found Reo at the corner of the room, bleeding from his wounds as well.

He went to Reo's side, "Reo...you silly guy... Yuka didn't save you so you would turn out this way." With both hands, he gingerly lifted Reo up and carried him on his back.

At the hospital...

Her whole body felt stiff and heavy, and she could feel a stinging pain on her back. In the silent room, she could hear the slow rhythm of her heartbeat, breathing sounds, strange dripping sounds, and repetitive beeping noises. She felt cold, except for her right hand.

"Urgh..." Mikan groaned. As she tried to open her eyes, a bright white light blinded her eyes. Is this heaven..?

"You're awake?"

A warm hand gently caressed her forehead, then moved down to her cheeks.

"Am I dead?" she mumbled.

"Baka, you're in the hospital."

"You're right...Death wouldn't be this uncomfortable." she chuckled lightly.

He flicked her forehead. "Ouch!"

Thinking that he aggravated her injury, he flustered like a confused puppy.

She stuck out her tongue, "Just joking!"

"You-!"

"Seems like you are doing well eh Mikan-chan!" Narumi popped in the room, with a bouquet filled with colourful flowers. Upon seeing his face, Natsume clicked his tongue. "Hey! Not even a thanks to your saviour Natsume-kun?"

Natsume mumbled something with a sour face. Mikan knew that he said thanks but just couldn't be open with Narumi. He had a weird relationship with Narumi after all.

"Narumi-sensei! Thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful!" Mikan flashed a grin.

Narumi rubbed her head, "Anything for my little girl!"

"What?" Natsume snapped, and took his hand off her head. Seems like his jealousy of Narumi would never change.

Narumi laughed and placed the flowers in the vase beside the bed. Suddenly, the atmosphere was serious and silent.

"Mikan-chan...I don't know how to say this but...Reo's in the room beside yours."

Natsume looked away with an annoyed face. "That man should just be imprisoned already. Why bother saving him?"

"Reo and Yuka were my high school classmates, and we were very close. I believe deep down Reo still has a good side...Don't you believe it too Mikan?"

"..." Mikan kept silent. Narumi hit the nail on the head. Reo was good, until the tragedy happened. Well, it was partly her fault that things turned out like that... "Can I visit him?"

"Mikan it's dangerous!" Natsume protested.

"It's okay. Besides, I have you don't I?" she smiled at him. Who could refuse her?

Natsume and Narumi helped her to Reo's room. When she entered, Reo was sitting against the wall with a pillow in between. He looked at her as she entered, and Mikan could tell that the malice in his eyes were gone. There was a trace of her brother again.

She walked slowly towards him and sat down on a chair beside the bed.

"Are you okay?"

Reo looked at her in disbelief. "Are you really asking that to the one who tried to kill you?"

"... It was a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding? I tried to kill you Mikan! I killed Yuka! With my bare hands!" His eyes got watery, and he covered his face with his hands. "If Narumi didn't tell me...I would have never believe Taka was..."

Narumi? She turned to Narumi for an explanation.

-Flashback-

"Why did you save me?" Reo questioned, glaring at Narumi. His arms were chained to the bed, making it impossible to escape. Well even if he did, it would be difficult to leave Gakuen Alice in his present condition.

Narumi sighed and placed his hand on Reo's, "Because you are my friend."

Reo was stunned for a moment, but quickly reverted back to his cold face. "Friends? I have no friends. My last friend was murdered."

Narumi handed an envelope to Reo, prompting him to take it. "Yuka sent this to me while she was on the run. If only I had given this to you earlier, all this may not have happened..." he clenched his fist, and looked down.

Reo opened the envelope with suspicion and pulled out the contents. As he took in the documents, he couldn't believe what he was reading.

"Yuka...I...wronged you!" he unconsciously let go of the documents, which fell to the ground.

What he read was the bad deeds and evidence of Taka's plans. How Taka killed shifters like they were pests, how he killed Yuka's husband, and how he even planned to kill Reo. Now the truth had come to light. After so many years of chasing after Yuka, it was only now when he realised that he had been wrong all this while. He had killed the innocent!

"This is Yuka's letter to you." Narumi reached for his pocket and pulled out a letter.

The letter wrote:

Dear Reo,

I don't know if I am still around by the time this letter reaches your hands. I knew that if I had explained it to you face-to-face, nothing would have entered your revenge-filled head. That's why I have entrusted Narumi with my letter in hopes that it would reach you one day. I know it will. Please do not blame yourself for what has happened. It takes two hands to clap after all. I hope that you will make the right choices, for you and the people around you.

You are, and will always be my best friend forever.

Yours sincerely,

Yuka

He clenched the letter in his hands, and tears streamed down his eyes. "Yuka...I'm sorry...!"

-End of flashback-

"...I agree with mother. Please do not blame yourself, it wasn't entirely your fault." Mikan said truthfully. She wasn't trying to soothe him.

"I have tainted my hands with Yuka's blood, and the blood of many innocents. I cannot turn back now!"

Mikan rested her hands on Reo's hand and gently patted it. "Mother doesn't blame you. Besides, I'm sure she's happy living her life in heaven with father because when she went, she left with a smile on her face." Reo looked at her with eyes full of regret and despair. "The fact that you kill many cannot be changed... But it's never too late to make up for it."

"That's right Reo," Narumi placed his hand over Reo's hand as well, "we're here for you."

Reo didn't say anything, but his shoulders trembled as droplets of water fell to the blanket.

After meeting with Reo, Narumi insisted that she needed to rest, and that he would stay beside Reo. After all, they had a lot of catching up to do.

When they returned to the room, Mikan finally brought up to topic about Natsume working with the AAO. Natsume explained everything to her in detail, and it turned out that he didn't have a part to play in her mother's death.

"I feel like a huge load is lifted off my shoulder!" Mikan said energetically.

"Oi don't jump about! You haven't recovered fully!" Natsume warned her.

"Hai~ Oh yeah! Where's Iinchou and the rest?" How could even she forget for a moment? "Are they alright?"

"Yeah, in fact they will-"

"Hey Baka! How are you?" Sumire chirped while walking into the room, followed by the rest of the gang.

"Will anyone let me finish my sentence?" Natsume said with an annoyed face.

"Minna! Are you guys okay? What happened back there?"

"When Hotaru and I got there, it sure was a mess!" Ruka said.

"A mess?"

"Yeah! Sumire and the rest were taking 'care' of the AAO," Ruka looked at Sumire, "although I think Shouda was the main force."

After hearing that, Sumire blushed fifty shades of red and kept silent for a while.

Mikan sighed in relief, "Anyway I'm glad you guys are alright! I'm glad everything's over."

Everyone agreed and couldn't stop smiling after that.

"Oh yeah I want to try something with you Hotaru!"

Mikan closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts on Hotaru. She wondered if she could do the telepathy thing that she did with Natsume before.

Hotaru merely stared at her antics and smacked her head. "What are you trying to do?"

"Ow...Eh? Can't you hear my thoughts?"

Hotaru scoffed, "I'm an alice, not a psychic."

"Strange..."

She tried it with Natsume.

Natsume can you hear me?

Hn.

It worked! But why does it work with him alone?

"You see," she explained, "I seem to be able to talk to Natsume through my mind! Right Natsume?"

"Hn."

Everyone looked confused, some even said that wasn't possible. Iinchou stood silently at the corner in deep thought, and then snapped his fingers.

"I read about this telepathy thing between alices somewhere..."

"Really? Tell me about it!"

"It is said that if two alices are true mates, they will form a bond that will tie them together. They will be able to find each other no matter what, and their minds will be linked as well."

"Ehh...That's so cool!"

Everybody was awed by the new knowledge, and then Koko spoke up. "Wait...true mates...Have you guys...uhh..."

Sumire caught on fast, "You guys had sex?!"

Mikan's face turned so red and hot that she felt like it was going to explode. If there was a hole, she would want to jump into a 100m deep one.

"I..uhh..we-!"

"Wow you two need to maintain your raging hormones!"

Feeling like she couldn't handle the teasing, she turned for help.

Help me Natsume!

Natsume hung his arm around her shoulders, "Now that you guys know...Shouldn't you be giving us our private time?" he smirked confidently.

"You're right you're right! Come on guys, shall we make our exit? Let's not disturb the lovebirds!" Koko said jokingly, and urged everyone to leave. The rest of them laughed along and made their way out.

Mikan pinched Natsume's arm, "Baka! You made things worse! Now I don't have any more face..."

"But now we have our private time..." he leaned his face in and gently kissed her. The gentle kiss grew in passion and heat, and it grew stronger and deeper, and soon his tongue made its entrance. Mikan could feel the electricity shoot through her body as the kiss intensified. Finally Natsume let her mouth go as both of them needed air.

"Ahh..." she moaned when he released her. She wanted more but she was ashamed to say it. Natsume smirked and whispered something in her ear, causing her to turn into a red tomato. What he said left her anticipating, and she couldn't wait to recover faster.

Reo vanished the next day when Mikan went to visit him, and Narumi merely shrugged his shoulders, saying that Reo has gone to do what he must. Mikan sort of understood that and didn't pursue the matter.

The school started undergoing repairs, and did some renovations at the same time. A few months later, there were rumours about a new organisation called Saisei, that goes around helping alices and improving the relations between humans and alices.

There were gradual changes between the two kinds and the animosity did lessen slightly.

"Ne, Natsume?"

"Hn?"

"Who do you think created Saisei?" she questioned as she held the bouquet of flowers and headed to her mother's grave. It was her mother's anniversary today and Mikan brought Natsume along to visit her.

"Who knows?"

When they reached, Mikan noticed that there was another bouquet of flowers placed on her grave.

"I wonder who visited mother." The person didn't leave his or her name on the card, but she noticed that the person gave her white lilies. White lilies...Mother's favourite flowers. Don't tell me it's...

"Never mind, I have an idea." She smiled to herself, I'm sure he was the one who created Saisei too.

"Hey you guys done?" A blond guy waved with one hand, while another of his hand was interlocked with a certain raven-head.

"Ruka-pyon!"

"We're going to be late for the movie!"

"Yeah we're coming!" Mikan held Natsume's hand and pulled him along.

Coming to Gakuen Alice was the best thing that ever happened to her, and she didn't regret the choice she made when she first met Natsume. There were tough times but with her friends, family and lover, there was nothing that she couldn't overcome.

Authoress's Note:

We've come to the end guys... Thank you so much for your support, be it in the form of reviews, favs or follows! You guys kept me going :) There may or may not be a sequel, I'm not sure yet. But there will definitely be more stories!

I wonder how you guys feel about this story?

Please review to let me know ^^

Thanks!