Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice.
Claimer: This fan fiction and the OCs are mine.

This story follows only the anime, and takes place after its timeline – roughly a year after Mikan's arrival. The interpretation of Narumi presented in this fic is my own, and has been drawn up based entirely on the anime. I don't read the manga, so please overlook any inconsistencies with it that will undoubtedly turn up.

Luna Ishihara is an original character I made up. She's different from and has no connection whatsoever to the Luna in the manga.

Mischief Equals Mayhem

When Narumi was tasked to look after a senior high school student, he never realized how tough it would be.
Well, until she kissed him.

Lesson One

An Explosive Beginning

"Did you oversleep again?"

Narumi regarded his friend good-naturedly, an easy smile gracing his lips. "Good morning, Misaki. Did you undersleep again?"

Misaki could only shake his head at his best friend's flippant attitude. It was a fine Tuesday morning, and Narumi was late – as usual. "The administrators have been asking for you since this morning."

"It's still morning, Misaki," Narumi pointed out, taking his place behind his desk. "What did they want?" he continued, dismissing Misaki's irritated scowl from across the room.

"You're assigned to look after a certain Luna Ishihara," Misaki said, walking over to his desk so he could give Narumi an envelope. "Here."

"Luna Ishihara?" he repeated, in a tone that was more clueless than Misaki would have wanted. With a curious quirk of his eyebrows he opened the file, noting that it was sealed: definitely for him only.

Inside, along with undoubtedly important documents, was a photograph of Luna Ishihara, smiling like she was guilty of mankind's deadliest sin. Her long hair was black; her spirited eyes an impossibly brilliant shade of gray. With a playful incline of her head, the young woman gave the impression of well-founded arrogance; like there was something wicked known only to her.

Narumi cracked a smile, unable to help but wonder what exactly that something could be. "So what has Luna Ishihara done to catch the Academy's fancy?" he asked.

Misaki looked at him thoughtfully. "Luna Ishihara arrived here a couple of weeks ago, preceded by her troublemaking schemes in the previous schools she had attended," he started. "The Academy hadn't taken all of it seriously, and had never intended to watch her closely – until on her first day, when she blew something up during Chemistry class."

Narumi thought this over for a few moments. "It could have been an accident."

"It happened again the next day."

"Oh." Narumi glanced over to the documents on his desk, browsing through the information about Luna. "She's twenty…two?" he asked, slightly puzzled. It was rarely, if not never, that the Academy admitted alices as students once they were past the age eighteen.

"Her alice has just been discovered a few months ago. It would seem to be one of those sorts that cannot be easily discerned, even by the wielder herself." Misaki crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at him. "You sound so clueless, Narumi. Haven't they informed you of this before?"

Narumi smiled, remembering quite clearly how he had been told of Luna Ishihara even before her arrival in the Academy. That had been many months ago, and he had almost forgotten – until now. "I've forgotten about this until now, Misaki."

At this the plant manipulator almost rolled his eyes. "Tell me again why they chose to assign this to you in the first place."

Narumi only laughed. "Oh, I wonder."

۞۞۞

"What took you so long?"

The eleven-year-old Mikan Sakura grinned sheepishly at her best friend. "I, uh, ran into an accident," she said, placing her tray on the table before taking her seat.

Hotaru Imai turned back to her food, muttering klutz under her breath.

"I can hear you, you know," Mikan pouted, frowning at her best friend. Unsurprisingly, Hotaru just ignored her, and the brunette instead let gaze stray to the student she had bumped into just a while ago.

The young woman was seated at the far end of the lunchroom, looking deep in thought. Her long hair was swept up in a high ponytail, accentuating the chocolate-colored high school uniform she was wearing. Unlike most of the other students, she was alone in the table she occupied, although she didn't seem too concerned by this.

"Luna Ishihara," Mikan muttered, recalling what the student had introduced herself as. I've heard of that name before, she thought, so keenly looking at Luna that she had to blink when she noticed the other alice staring back. Luna was smiling as she shifted her gaze to the rest of the lunchroom, her long bangs obscuring her gray eyes from view.

"Stop smiling like an idiot."

Hotaru's sharp tone made Mikan freeze, as it did the smile that had fallen on her face. "Oh, come on, Hotaru! I was just being friendly!"

"I can see that."

The brunette huffed, finally recalling how Luna Ishihara had mixed incompatible chemicals in the lab on her first day in the Academy. The explosion had worried most of the school, although not Luna, who had claimed it to be an accident.

Of course when it happened again the next day, everyone knew it had definitely not been an accident.

"I can't believe I almost believed what they were saying about her," Mikan grumbled, mostly to her ice cream. Luna had graciously replaced the dessert when they crashed into each other earlier, even when Mikan knew it was her fault entirely. "She's very different from who they say she is!"

Mikan plopped a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, only to pause when she saw their homeroom teacher from across the hall. "Narumi-sensei!"

۞۞۞

"Welcome to Alice Academy."

Luna Ishihara stared outside the windows, drumming her fingers on the table as the greeting from two weeks ago resounded in her thoughts. Far ahead, she could see the endless stretch that was Alice Academy, bordered on all sides by the Northern Forest.

It was at this moment that the double doors to the lunchroom burst open, making her turn to assess the setting before her. The place was in an uproar once more, crowded and loud like the day she arrived. It was exactly twelve o'clock in the afternoon; the time when it was most busy. Groups of students entered laughing amongst themselves, seeming all too glad for the respite from schoolwork.

Luna had to pause, reminding herself where she was, and who she was with. Everyone inside the room was an alice – a human being like all others, and yet with an extraordinary ability that made them so different from the rest of the world.

"And I'm one of them," she whispered, a vague feeling of amusement and cynicism washing over her. Alices were without equal – it was a fact that she knew for herself. And yet in the midst of all these alices around her, the feeling of being ordinary and unexceptional refused to leave her, reminding her that this was Alice Academy, and everyone else was an alice like herself.

She was still very young when she first heard of the school, having grown up with a friend who turned out to be an alice himself. It hadn't concerned her at all, or at least as much as it should have had. She was a non-alice, and she did not have a place in the world of alices: not then, and she had figured, not ever.

It was two months ago that all of this drastically changed for her. It had been during summer vacation when she found out that she, too, was an alice, and that she belonged to a special place in the world that was meant only for individuals who possessed the ability that she did.

She had been stunned – incredulous, even – to know that she could be an alice. She came from a family of non-alices, and when she traced her ancestry she found out that alice very rarely manifested itself in her lineage. Her discovery had left her thoughtful, contemplating the ability she had only been acquainted with, and wondered what implications this could have in her life.

Unlike her, Alice Academy had been swift in its procedures when reports of her alice reached it. The school hadn't even been deterred by the fact that she already finished college and recently took over the management of her family's business. She was an alice, before anything else, and they required that she attended the Academy to master her own ability – whether she liked it or not.

Luna took a sip of her drink, remembering how furious her relatives and the board of directors had been when she told them of her urgent departure.

"And what, pray tell, is the reason for this sudden resolution?" one of them bravely asked, looking very furious despite the restraint in his voice. Like everyone else in the room, he didn't know of alice or Alice Academy, or that the person he was speaking to was an alice herself.

She smiled at him, the same smug smile she had always given to practically everyone around her. She leaned back against her swivel chair – the precious little throne everyone was killing each other over. "I'm going to find myself."

Luna smirked at the memory, remembering how she had blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Find myself, huh? she thought, shaking her head when she remembered how the rest of that meeting turned out. Oh, but she was sure she had made enemies of the business directors who had chosen to walk out on her at the time.

"That's the most ridiculous thing we've ever heard!" they had said.

She had only laughed; because of course it was ridiculous. "After all," she murmured, propping her chin up in her hand as she turned her bored gaze outside the windows, "how exactly do you find something that was never lost?"

۞۞۞

"Hello, Mikan," Narumi greeted, returning his student's enthusiastic smile. "Early lunch?"

"Our teacher didn't come to class, so we thought we'd have lunch instead," Mikan said. "Are you here for lunch, too, Narumi-sensei?"

"Ah, no. I need to speak with a student, for my special assignment. I was told she'd be here." As he spoke he raised his eyes to the rest of the room, searching for the student whose pranks had caught the fancy of the Academy.

It didn't take long before he saw the young woman he was looking for. Luna Ishihara was seated at the far end of the room, her casual manner and calm contrasting almost everything that he knew about her thus far. "There she is."

Mikan blinked, following his gaze. "Luna Ishihara…?"

Narumi nodded, keeping his violet eyes on his new student. "It seems Luna Ishihara needs my help."

۞۞۞

The voice was light, courteous, and friendly; and even without looking up Luna decided she rather liked how it sounded her name. She raised her head, her stare that had been so fixed on the wall clock now on the man who stood beside the table she occupied.

She paused, surprised to be staring up at someone who looked only a few years older than she was. He was lean, and very tall, smiling like there was nothing in the world that could upset him.

"Luna Ishihara?" he repeated. His long, golden hair fell on his shoulders, his long bangs almost obscuring his gorgeous pair of violets from view. Under his left eye was a beauty mark, accented by the sparkle of the gilt earring on his left ear.

He was a teacher, without doubt, and yet he was a perfect contradiction to his peers. He's beautiful, she mused, and fought the urge to shake her head at her own thoughts.

She got up to her feet, noting that she stood only a little above his shoulders; he was much taller than she was. "That would be me," she said, and felt a smile fall on her face even without her bidding.

Oh.

"We finally meet," he said, his smile seemingly widening by the second. "I'm Narumi-sensei, and I'll be responsible for you from today on."

She felt her smile twist into a contemptuous smirk. "I see another one has given up."

Narumi flashed a lopsided grin, making her blink. Damn, but the bastard was too beautiful for her own good. "Not at all, Luna. I'm simply taking over starting today."

She furrowed her eyebrows, partly because of being called 'Luna' by this teacher she hardly even knew, and partly because what he said confused her. Did he mean that the Academy especially asked him to look after her? "Is that so," she said, unimpressed.

Without waiting for his response, she turned her attention to the student beside him. Narumi's calm and friendliness was starting to be irritating, and she did not like it when she realized how casually he had barged into her quiet afternoon. "I see you have company," she said instead, smiling at the particular brunette with him. "Mikan Sakura."

The girl flashed a small, shy smile. "Hello again, Luna. I heard Narumi-sensei was going to talk to you, so I tagged along to apologize again."

"That's all right," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "So you're a student of Narumi-sensei?"

Mikan nodded. "Uh-huh. I belong to Class B," she said, gesturing to the table where she was seated, "together with that girl there, my best friend Hotaru Imai. Narumi-sensei is our adviser."

"Indeed?" She shot a playful glance at Narumi before leaning over to Mikan, her most innocent expression on her face. "So how is Narumi-sensei as a teacher, Mikan?"

The young girl looked slightly confused by the question, but she still beamed with pride. "Narumi-sensei is the greatest!" she started. "He's nice; he's kind; and he's always there to help everyone out! He's always cheerful and smiling, and you can definitely depend on him when you need help! He's very patient with us, and I think we're so lucky to have him as our class adviser!" She nodded, as if to emphasize her words. "I don't really understand why he'll be responsible for you from today on, but I'm sure he'll do great at it!"

Narumi was quick to place a hand on Mikan's shoulder before the student could continue. "Now, now, Mikan," he shushed, looking mildly embarrassed.

Luna narrowed her eyes, inwardly scoffing at what she heard. With a slight frown she turned away, only for her gaze to fall on the wall clock above the double doors to the lunchroom.

"Oh no."

۞۞۞

Narumi raised his eyes to where Luna was, pausing when he saw the shadow of concern in her face. "Is something the matter?" he asked. Luna's gaze was on the clock, as if urging time to stop.

"I – I think I lost track," she muttered, sounding confused and almost panicked.

"Lost track? Of the time?" Mikan asked, glancing at the clock before fixing her puzzled eyes at Luna.

For a few moment the young woman was wordless, as if going through an internal argument with herself. It was only until that her eyes met his that she bit her lip, apparently having chosen to speak out. "I was making a countdown," she started. "It was for the explosives I set up around the lunchroom."

Narumi could have sworn he stopped breathing for a second. "Explosives?" he repeated, unsure if he heard right.

"You what?" Mikan exclaimed in surprise. "Explosives? Around the lunchroom? But that - that will destroy the whole place! All of us – " she faltered "we'll die! Why did you even plant explosives in the first place?"

"I – I only mean to frighten the teacher looking after me. I planned to warn everyone at least five minutes before the explosives set off, so no one would get hurt," she said. "I didn't – I didn't think I get distracted from my countdown."

"Why couldn't you have scared the teacher off another way?" Mikan demanded, her shrill voice starting to earn curious glances from around them. "Not with explosives! Don't you have a stopwatch or something?"

"N-No. I've pulled this off many times before – " she fidgeted at this remark, careful not to look at him " – and I've never really lost track of my countdown until now."

Narumi was quiet, his mind already racing for a solution. "Don't you have a device to keep them from setting off?" he asked, assessing the situation as he spoke. His let his eyes wander around the lunchroom, trying to find alices who could help them out. There was always the teleportation alice, or perhaps an alice of time to freeze the moment for them…?

"I had one, but I didn't bring it with me," she said. "I didn't think I'd have the need for it." She bit her lip, as though it choked her to admit her carelessness.

"How many minutes do we have left?" he continued, making a quick calculation in his mind. He needed at least five two-star teleportation alices to send everyone in the building off to a safer place –

"Three minutes, at most," Luna said. "That's not much time, but we have to get everyone out of here in those three minutes."

Narumi stared hard at her, noting the play of unreadable emotions in her eyes. Finally, he nodded , a conflicting thought suddenly striking him with such clarity that he couldn't return the faintest of smiles on her lips. "A-All right," he agreed, unable to ignore the feeling that something was amiss here. He looked over to the rest of the students inside the room, just then realizing that all their lives depended on him and his decision in the next three minutes. "Let's do it."

He turned on his heel, appraising the situation one last time. It was too late when he realized that the high school student had an entirely different idea of how to use their three remaining minutes. Before he could stop her, Luna had already helped Mikan up onto a table, the younger girl calling on everyone to listen up.

"Everyone!" Mikan shouted, and Narumi could only gape in stunned silence as she continued, everyone's surprised eyes on her and the infamous troublemaker beside her. "There are explosives all around this lunchroom, and they will go off in less than three minutes! Please get out of here – now!"

…to be continued…

Because Narumi deserves his happy ending, too. :)

Hilaire
04.07.06