My first multi-chapter! Oooh, I'm all giddy! Gakuen Alice is disclaimed all the way ;) Apart from Hatsuhara, my patchy OC, who probably won't turn up again.

A Matter of Time
by Koalas

CHAPTER 1

She put her hand up, shielding her eyes from the sun. It was a beautiful mid-afternoon, and she was certain today she would be first in line, first to enjoy the glorious texture and taste… She suddenly experienced a weird feeling, and, sensing a threatening presence, turned around. There, an object, flying through the air, was hurtling right towards her…

The girl jumped as the creature landed in her lap, a surprised yelp leaving her mouths. The bunny looked up at her, twitched its nose, and prepared to hop off again.

Ruka leapt out of his seat.

"Bunny!" he cried, as he caught his animal, before it could escape.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, he gets like this when he sees Hotaru's cannon." He apologised again, and went back to his seat, the rabbit buried in his chest.

Mikan looked up, and sure enough, Hotaru was tinkering with her invention, on her desk. Mikan shifted her gaze to the front of the room, where Narumi was smiling painfully at Hotaru.

"Oooh… I know that was an accident, Imai. I'm fine, don't worry about me!" he smiled, rubbing a sore spot on his chest. Mikan thought she heard Hotaru utter "I wasn't", but decided it didn't matter anyway.

She had been daydreaming, about the weekend to come, and how Class B planned to make a day trip to Central Town. Last time she had went, Mikan had brought three boxes of Howalons, which she had proudly saved up for with her one star allowance, and with no debts owed to Hotaru (that she knew of). She rested her head back into her hand, propped up on her elbows, and continued her dream.

"Lovely Howalons!"

"Stocks rapidly decreasing!"

"Get in and buy some quick!"

She skipped towards the Howalon stand and, to her delight, saw no long, suffering queue. She brightly made her request.

"Two boxes of your finest Howalon, please!"

The salesmen looked at each other, sharing a glance, then looked back to Mikan.

"Why would you want boxes of Howalon…" said one, " when you can have them from the air!" finished the other, and they both pointed upwards.

Mikan looked up and saw the clouds begin to separate, crumbling. The pieces began falling, and Mikan felt them gently float down. She plucked one off the top of her head, and looked quizzically at the Howalon salesmen, who largely gestured an eating motion.

"Go on, try a piece!" one said eagerly.

Mikan hesitantly placed the piece into her mouth, and instantly, rainbows burst into the sky. Angels seemed to sing in the distance, their choir voices providing beautiful harmonies. Mikan spread her arms wide, a big grin on her face, and twirled in the confectionery rain. The Howalon salesmen came from around the counter and picked Mikan up onto their shoulders. Suddenly a crowd formed, all chanting her name.

"Mikan! Howalon! Mikan! Howalon! Mikan! Mikan…"

"Mikan? Mikan… Are you alright?" She opened her eyes to see the class representative's eternally apologetic expression staring into hers.

"Hmmm?" she mumbled in reply, a faint smile still on her face.

Yuu straightened up. "Mikan, class has finished. It's time for our ability classes, now," he explained to the obviously dazed girl.

Mikan looked around and saw the room empty, apart from the ends of the class filing out of the door. She looked back at Yuu and smiled nervously.

"Hehe… Sorry Tobita… Ah! Tsubasa will wonder where I am! " She quickly gathered her stuff and rushed out of the door in a fluster, completely forgetting about the exasperated Iinchou left standing in the middle of the classroom.

O-O-O

"Do you have any 6s?" asked Misaki Harada… or maybe her doppelganger.

"Nah, go fish." answered Misaki/Misaki's doppelganger.

The first Misaki reached over the table and drew a card from the deck. At the beginning of the class, Tonouchi had announced Nodacchi's time-travel absence, so the doppelgangers (six in total) settled down around a desk, playing a non-competitive game of cards to pass the time. Tsubasa, along with Megane, was killing the minutes with a pointless game of chucking chocolate buttons into the air and catching them in their mouths. The entire room was quieter than usual, and the atmosphere itself was considerably glum. Only a slight simmer of conversation could be heard in the whole room. After a while, Tsubasa and Megane ran out of sweets, so they approached Misaki.

"Hey, Misaki! Do you have any snacks we can borrow?" he grovelled.

The real Misaki (which happened to actually be the aforementioned 'first Misaki') turned and frowned at him.

"First of all, No. Secondly, how can you 'borrow' them if you're going t- hey!" she exclaimed as Tsubasa pinched her school bag and started to search through it.

"Aha! You do have a snack," Tsubasa grinned smugly, holding up a Conference pear in one hand.

Misaki raised an eyebrow. "So you want to throw and catch a whole pear in your mouth?"

"…"

"Exactly." Misaki rolled her eyes as stalked up to Tsubasa and snatched her bag back, not before giving Tsubasa a mighty thwack upside the head.

Tsubasa and Megane retreated to the corner of the room, Tsubasa feeling a lump developing at the back of his head.

"It's so depressing in here…" Megane grumbled.

"I hear that," Tsubasa sighed in reply. "It's like there's something missing. But what?" They stood there in a melancholy silence for a few moments. And right then, the door was thrown open, and a young girl bustled in, cheeks red and puffing from running.

Tsubasa and Megane looked at each other, then simultaneously face-palmed.

"How could have I forgotten?" Tsubasa mumbled to himself, as he rushed over to Mikan. "My little kouhai!" he called out, "Are you okay?"

Mikan bowed her head to him. "Ah! Sorry Tsubasa! I was daydreaming in class and didn't realise th-" Tsubasa cut her off.

"The usual, then?" he grinned as he ruffled her hair.

Mikan smiled back at him, then at the whole room. "Good afternoon, everyone!"

The class broke into a clamour of voices, of bright replies and greetings.

Mikan started to animatedly tell an anecdote of her time in lessons, and subconsciously, the class slowly gravitated towards her, eager to hear her tale.

Amazing, Misaki thought to herself, the moment she's here, the whole room seems to brighten up…

O-O-O

The heels of the Lieutenant General's perfectly polished boots squeaked against the tiled flooring as he briskly walked towards the conference room. With a perfectly executed snap, the Lt. General halted, so the lower-ranked Colonel could stand and hold open the double doors. The occupants of the conference room stood as the respected figure entered and made way to the head of the meeting table. The Lt. General nodded, signalling them to be seated.

The walls of the conference room were lined with rich mahogany panels. In the centre of the room laid a magnificent table, plastered with maps and co-ordinations. Around the table sat the most honoured and valued members of their organization, each with their own division uniforms and respective badges. They all listened intently for the announcement the about to be made.

The Lt. General requested official reports and feedback, and as the party responded, the Colonel took her seat at the mapping table, two seats down from the Lt. General. She began to feel strange goose-bumps. She sensed something was wrong inside this room, and like instinct, her eyes shot to the large double doors of the room. They were shut, seemingly undisturbed, just as she left them. Still, she felt as though something was watching the room… Her head snapped back to attention as she heard the Lt. General address her.

The Lt. General looked at her, amused and slightly concerned. "Colonel, your report," it was repeated.

She apologised and stood to deliver her feedback. When she had finished, the only response she received was a slight nod. Taking her seat again, she sat back and quietly sighed. She silently cursed for letting herself get caught up in her thoughts. Frequenting this behaviour would eventually cost her her position, the one she had worked so hard to gain.

O-O-O

The room broke out into a round of laughter as Mikan reached the end of her story, and some of the older students cooed over her. The whole class were enjoying themselves, when Hatsuhara, a high school student with the Detecting Alice, shouted out.

"Hey, guys? I'm sensing Noda-sensei's Alice! I think he's coming in!"

The class didn't know where to look for Nodacchi's arrival, so they quietened down and kept their senses high. And sure enough, after about three seconds, holograph-like rays of Nodacchi crackled in near the resource cupboards. The teacher fell to the ground, panting heavily. The class shared gasps, as Mikan ran to his side.

"Noda-sensei? What has happened?" she cried, her voice and eyes full of concern.

Megane started to smile. "Yeah, Noda-sensei. Did you get chased by dinosaurs again?" But his smile instantly disappeared as Nodacchi looked up, a crazed, shocked expression on his face. "Noda-sensei?" he repeated.

Nodacchi stared through him, looking haunted. Then he uttered quietly, almost to himself, "No, I went to the future. The future…"

"What? What did you see?" Mikan shook him gently, slightly scared. The room was silent, and confused, waiting for his answer, and at the same time wondering whether they wanted to know.

Nodacchi was still distracted. "I saw, I saw…" he whispered brokenly. He suddenly whipped his head to face Mikan, and his eyes widened.

"Mikan… I saw Mikan…"

O-O-O

Okaaaay! So that's chapter 1, a bit of a cliffhanger, I guess... What do you think is going to happen? Leave it in a review!
How was my writing skills? Grammar, spelling etc. Are there any sentences that don't make sense? Leave it in a review!
I had no idea what I was writing, it started off humorous, then I wanted a little drama... What do you think about the genre? Leave it in a review!
You guys can guess the theme here, right? I love reviews, they make the world go round! Or at least my face to smile! Like this :D So leave one (or many)!

Lisee xx