I do not own any of the Gakuen Alice characters mentioned in this story…For this chapter, as well as the next to come, I decided to change the way the thought of the characters look…they will now be italics…

While sleeping along side Ruka, Natsume suddenly felt a great force in his chest which was starting to prevent him from breathing normally. He could still breathe but just barely. "Argh…" he thought while grabbing his chest with one hand. He was going to use both hands, but one was in Ruka's grasp. He very slowly and gently started to pull his hand away from Ruka's. It was more troublesome than he thought it would've been since Ruka didn't want to let go of his hand.

"Natsume.." whispered Ruka while his hand tightened his hold in Natsume's. Even though he was unconscious, he didn't want to let go of Natsume. He wanted him to stay by his side like he promised he would be. There was no way he would let go of Natsume's hand any time now.

Natsume, on the other hand wanted to free his limb. He had an urge to cough but couldn't since it would most probably wake Ruka, which he didn't want to do not even if it meant to hold his breath until the urge to cough passed. He pulled at his hand again with a bit more of force but still not enough to disturb Ruka. "Damn it ruka, since when did you become so strong" thought Natsume after another futile pull. "that's it. I don't care" he continued. He was about to pull at his hand again when he decided against it. He coughed a little bit and then strengthened his hold on Ruka's hand. As if by magic, Ruka's hand lessened its hold. Ruka had felt assuring feeling when Natsume strengthened his hold and had decided to let go.

"Finally" thought Natsume while pulling his hand free at last. He then got up very slowly since his legs felt like pieces of jello. He was glad to have gone to sleep beside the wall that he was now using for support. He was really tired and his ribs were really killing him now that he was up.

"It's still dark outside" he thought while looking out the closest window "it must be around two in the morning…"he continued to walk to the door of the cabin. His light footsteps could be barely heard but one person still managed to hear them. Said person was now looking at him with a worried expression.

Tsubasa was sleeping a few feet away from Ruka so he had woken up when Natsume had first coughed. He had watch him struggle to get up with a confused look that later changed to a worried one when he watched Natsume use the wall for support. "What's wrong with him" he thought while looking at said person once again. He could not tear his eyes from the small figure.

Natsume meanwhile was still walking to the door. He was just about to pull it open when another hand got on top of his to prevent him from moving the handle. He jumped a bit out of surprise since he hadn't heard someone walking, much less right behind him. He took a glance over his shoulder, following the length of the arm to its owner. The owner, of course, was Tsubasa whom had dash from his sleeping place on the floor to the door and Natsume. A scowl formed in Natsume's face but Tsubasa payed him no mind. He had just witnessed the kid cough and had no intention of letting him out at this time of night.

"What are you doing kid?" asked Tsubasa with a forced smile. He was a bit unnerved by the glare Natsume was giving him. "Man! Can this kid glare or what….lets just hope that he doesn't start to use his fire Alice…but I can't say with those eyes"he thought.

"Nothing that concerns you Shadow" replied Natsume, still glaring at Tsubasa.

"Waking up in the middle of the night and then trying to sneak away can't be nothing" said Tsubasa with his had still holding Natsume since he had tried to turn it and pull it once again. "And I am concerned for you. I am your sempai after all" he continued. The glare was pretty intense but his concern for the kid won against his nervousness although some sweat drops could still be seen forming in his forehead.

Natsume just continued to glare at him and was about to yell something at him but the his breath caught in his throat. "…" he couldn't say anything.

Tsubasa let go of the kid's hand when he noticed that he was having trouble breathing. He took Natsume by the shoulders and shook him a little. Natsume just continue gasping and trying to get his lost breath back.

"Hey kid, are you okay!?!" asked Tsubasa while he shook Natsume once again. His only answer was another gasp.

The pressure in Natsume's chest was suddenly lifted and he was left gasping and panting. His breath was coming back in an irregular but sure pattern. He recovered his breath after a few minutes with a deep sigh.

"What just happened!?!" exclaimed Tsubasa after making sure that the kid had gotten his breath back. He was now more worried than before after witnessing the kid lost his breath for no reason at all. "Something is seriously wrong" he thought.

Natsume got his had under his shirt and took out a necklace with a small white stone embedded in it. He grabbed it between his hands with a strong grip. The small stone gave out a glow that surrounded his hands for a few minutes after disappearing. Natsume then place the necklace under his shirt once again. It didn't even look like he had a necklace.

Tsubasa just watched what the kid was doing with widen eyes. "The kid makes it look like this is normal….like this has happened before" he thought still a bit surprised and worried at what he had seen.

He was suddenly grabbed by the neck of his shirt by the kid. "I didn't even notice him move" he thought still stunned he the kid's actions.

"You didn't see anything" said Natsume with a hard voice, it also sounded a bit raspy but that was because of the coughing. He looked into Tsubasa's eyes but then closed his eyes forcefully. He let go of Tsubasa's shirt and hold his ribs. They were starting to hurt again. "Damn! I guess I was more hurt than what I thought" a small cough passed his lips "that healing stone is not doing me any better…maybe I need to find something with more power" Natsume slowly opened his eyes only to find Tsubasa staring at him with eyes even more widen than before.

"I know that something is wrong…that hurt expression proves my point" Tsubasa said while pointing at NAtsume's face which was once again glaring at him but with a little less intensity "so tell me what's wrong right now" he continued.

"…"Natsume said nothing.

"At least let me help you…that was a healing stone just now so you must have some serious wounds that are causing the coughing" said Tsubasa once again. He just wanted to help the teen but the kid sure was stubborn.

A small tear of pain escaped Natsume's eyes. His body was hurting too much that he didn't even care who was watching him. "It hurts…I can't stand my ribs" he thought with his hand still in his ribs. He then looked around to see if anyone had woken up. Fortunately for him, nobody was awake. He then looked at the concerned look on Tsubasa's face and thought of a decision "maybe I can let him treat my ribs..It's not as if I have to tell him what gave me the wounds"

"…..It appears that some of my ribs are broken, or at least bruised, Shadow" He said after a while of looking into each other's eyes.

"Broken!?!" Tsubasa said "what happened? What hurt you? Does anything else hurts?" he continued while lifting Natsume's shirt up much to the kid's discomfort. He had a little bit of trouble with looking at the wounds because of the darkness surrounding them but it appeared that Natsume noticed since he produced a small flame in his hand. His eyes widen once he took a good look at the kid's torso. It was a messed with bruised and gashes with blood all over the place.

"You're supposed to treat my wounds not making then worse. Stupid Shadow" said Natsume with a wince. Seriously that Tsubasa was just making him feel more pain.

Tsubasa noticed Natsume's wince and his lack of response to his questions. He decided to ask him again after treating the kid's wounds properly. He was about to go to work when he remembered that they were trapped in and old cabin. "Do I even have something to wrap his wound with?" he thought and then started to look around. He didn't find anything so he ripped his shirt into long pieces and then went to find some clean water. "Rain water should be just fine for cleaning his wounds" he took a pot and filled it with rain water. He then came back to Natsume, whom still had his shirt up, and started to clean the wounds. Natsume winced a couple of times again and even some hisses of pain escaped his lips. Tsubasa then finished wrapping the pieces of shirt around Natsume's torso.

"Are you finished now?" asked Natsume while Tsubasa rolled down his shirt.

"I still want to know what happened" answered Tsubasa in a stern voice "but I can wait until tomorrow. You need to rest some more" he said while looking at the tired Natsume "it is still dark"

Natsume was too tired to argue with Tsubasa so he just nodded and started to walk to his sleeping place beside Ruka. A hand on his shoulder stopped him mid step.

"You can sleep there with ribs like that" said Tsubasa while he guided the kid to the lonely sofa in the other room. He had discovered the sofa during his search for the pots.

Natsume just followed him. He was too tired from coughing and he did have to agree with the shadow guy. It was still too dark to go anywhere. He got into the sofa and moved around until he found a comfortable position for his hurt body.

Tsubasa went back to his sleeping place after making sure that the kid was sleep. "What could have happen to the kid to leave him this hurt" were his final thought after closing his eyes and falling asleep.

Meanwhile, Natsume was turning and gripping the sofa furiously. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and some other parts of his body. He was having a nightmare of his mission earlier that week. The mission that had left him this hurt. His mission to stop a cargo ship from arriving at the city's deck.

Sorry..I didn't say how he got his wounds…but don't worry I'll get there on one of the next chapters…anyway..please tell me what you think and don't forget to review..until next time ^^..