I Still Don't Have The Reason

Disclaimer I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE

Summary: Mikan learns to be stronger which leaves Natsume dumbfounded, but who else is attracted to this change in her?

Normal POV

Somewhere outside Alice Academy… "Get ready boys, we will start the attack when the signal is given." said a man wearing a dark overall suit with the print of AAO at the right arm. Just then, the leader pressed a receiver nearer to his ear to better hear the commands at the other line.

"Ok! Move out! And bring down the Academy!" at that command hundreds of AAO soldiers rushed to the gates and walls of Alice Academy. Out of all that ran towards the academy gate, a handful was left standing at the sidelines. "Do we have confirmation about our orders sir?" one man asked. "Hold your positions men, Reo has not yet confirmed the name of our target" replied the one of the men in black suits which was obviously the leader of the squad. This squad made up of specially trained alices was the pride of the AAO and was always given the most important and dangerous missions. They are highly skilled both in hand to hand combat and the optimum use and control of their alices.

"Men, the order have been confirmed. We are to capture alive Natsume Hyuuga aka Kuro Neko and……. Mikan Sakura, a nullifier. Seems that Reo has found some interest in her and deems that she could be very useful to AAO". With that order heard, the 20 men of the squad silently made their way inside Alice Academy.

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Earlier that day…

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!! I'm gonna be late!!!! Damn that alarm clock! Why didn't it ring?!" said a 15 year old girl with long honey colored locks that reaches down to her waist and brown eyes that were tearing up because of the thought of Jinno-sensei striking her with lightning and giving her detention again for being late. When Mikan was 13 she was awarded a three-star because of her high academic marks and better control of her alice. Although she could now use her alice at will, she never used it for her benefit, against others, and especially against teachers and thus the reason why she was still afraid of the wrath of a certain teacher with a frog on his shoulder.

Mikan hurriedly took a shower and did her other morning rituals before she changed into her uniform that consisted of a white buttoned blouse, blue skirt, black blazer/jacket, and brown boots.

Yes. Mikan was already in Middle School. It was 5 years since she first stepped inside Alice Academy, with only the desire to find her best friend. Never had she imagined that she was a bearer of a power that was called an Alice.

Five years she has lived her life in the academy, years that she spent studying, making friends, having fun, and falling in love. Those years were not only spent with smiles and happy faces. Mikan also had her share of tears trying to fit in, dread that her friends might be taken away or get hurt, and the longing she felt for her grandfather. But as an incredibly optimistic person, she held her head high and kept her heartwarming smile as she believed that at the end everything will be alright. She was thankful nonetheless that she is where she is now. Mikan has considered the Academy as her second home and that everyone as family. Little that she knows is that Fate has something far more different for her than the future she expected she would be living.

Mikan then tied her hair into two pigtails on each side of her head. As she went to leave her room, she glanced around it one last time to see if she forgot something.

Her room had two-toned walls. The lower half was painted an old rose color and the upper half was of light yellow separated by a gold colored moulding that goes all around the room. She had a light pink fluffy carpet that tickles her feet whenever she walks barefeet in her room. Her room had a receiving area with lavender couches and bean bags which she and her friends used whenever they came by to hang out. Well, what else could you say to a three-star bedroom? It was perfect. But what Mikan appreciated the most was not the queen sized bed with canopy, not her bathroom with a bathtub, dresser and walk-in closet, but it was her balcony that overlooks the Northern Forest and gives a spectacular view of the sunset. It had two comfortable lounge chairs and a small coffee table, whose most common visitor was a raven haired boy with crimson eyes that would often jump down from the branches of the sakura trees surrounding the balcony. This is where she offers him tea at cold nights, and where she greets him 'welcome home' every time he comes back after a mission. The balcony is also the place where he sees her cry whenever she had problems or whenever she missed her Jii-san.

After looking back at her room, Mikan decided that she had everything that she needed. She turned her back and locked the door to her room.

Mikan was running along the Middle School building corridors and shouting "Ohayo!" to acquaintances she sees along the way. She had a lot of friends now, and have a lot of admirers from the middle school and high school division. Girls that were envious of the attention she gets from the boys in the academy can't even resist the charms of our dear sweet little Mikan and ended up being her friends as well.

Natsume's POV

'That Baka. Why does she always come late to class?' Natsume thought. ' She gets me worried when she's not here on time, not only that, Ruka stares at me when we get to our seats and notices that the seat infront of me is still empty, Imai gives me death glares as if I'm the cause for her lateness.'

I glare back at them and cross my arms infront of me and put my legs up on the desk. What do they I am anyway? The Baka's schoolbus???

"Alright already!" Natsume growled. With that, Natsume stood up and walked out the door.

After a few seconds, a loud thud was heard and voices were coming from the corridor. "Mikan's here." Everyone whispered to themselves and sweatdropped

Normal POV

Mikan was about to turn the corner for her classroom when she bumped into something or rather someone hard. "Ahhhh! Ouch! That hurt." said Mikan while rubbing her butt.

She was about to get up when she heard a familiar voice. "Tch. Don't you ever watch where you're going sunshine?". She snapped her head up to look at the owner of the voice she knew so well. "If you hadn't blocked the way then I wouldn't have bumped into you Natsume!" she said as she was dusting her skirt as she got up. Then something registered in her mind, "What did you call me?".

"Nothing sunshine, you better get going if you don't want Jinno to catch you late again." Natsume said while smirking.

"Whaaaaaaat???? Sunshine?! Natsume you pevert!!" Mikan ran after him but he was already inside the classroom.

As Mikan entered the classroom, Jinno noticed her arrival and scolded her for being late. She got 30 minutes of detention after class because of her tardiness.

She took her seat which was at the second to the last row of chairs beside the center aisle. Seating beside her was Koko, behind her sat Natsume and beside him was Ruka. Hotaru sat at the other side of the room. Of whom Mikan pouted to, to get a little sympathy from her bestfriend, but all she got was a flash of Hotaru's famous Baka Gun and Hotaru mouthing the word "Baka". Mikan then turned her head towards the blackboard where Jinno was writing the current lesson. She sighed and rested her chin on her palm and blew on her bangs that were getting in her eyes.

The lesson was a breeze. Mikan didn't have any difficulty in her subjects now. She was one of the top students in the class since she was 13.

She was staring out the window waiting for the next teacher to arrive, when she felt a slight pull on her hair. She carefully turned her head to her side and was shocked to see Natsume twirling the ends of her hair in his fingers while busy reading his manga. She was about to bite his head off for touching her hair without permission, but all she managed to do was to smile and redirected her gaze back to the front of the room allowing more length of her hair to fall into Natsume's fingers.

Natsume's POV

'Tch. The Baka got detention again. Serves her right for coming late.' Natsume thought for himself.

The lesson was dragging on while Jinno-sensei discussed about our new topic in math. As if I need to pay attention, I already knew ages ago what Jinno is discussing just right now. I could read my manga in peace then.

But as I was looking down at my manga, something honey-colored whisked in front of me. I followed with my eyes the origin of the shiny hair dancing infront of me. It was one of Mikan's pigtails being blown by the breeze coming from the windows. I put down my manga and reached out to grab the ends of her hair. As soon as her hair touched my fingers, I realized how smooth and silky her hair was. I immediately regretted the times I burned her hair when we were younger. I started playing with it, watching it slip across and twirl around my fingers. I never thought that touching her hair could make me feel so at peace. It's like nothing else around me mattered. It was just me, her, and the heavenly feeling of her soft hair on my fingers. Bliss. That was what it made me feel.

While I was contemplating on my new found happiness, Mikan started to shift her body to the front. Slowly, her hair started slipping away from my fingers. I was not gonna let it go just yet, so I closed my hand and held on to the ends of her pigtail. I guess she felt the resistance her hair was giving and she turned her head looking at her back. At that moment I picked up my manga with my other hand and held it to my face but still not letting go of her hair. I saw her eyes widen in shock and I was already thinking of a good answer when she overreacts and asks me what I'm doing, but as I was waiting for her scream, not a sound came from her. I peeked above my manga and saw her looking at her hair in my hand, she started to turn her head back to the front when I saw her smile. She then leaned back which made more of her hair fall in my hand. I stared at my hand. I stared at the honey-colored hair that fell gracefully into my fingers, but then I felt someone staring at…. me. I looked at my left and saw Ruka laughing softly. I just stared back at him trying to hide my blush and hiding my embarrassment when suddenly….

Mikan's POV

'Hmmmm…. Today's kind of boring, I hope Narumi-sensei has something fun for us to do' Mikan said to herself.

I was about to lean on my desk when I felt a slight pull on my hair. What I saw shocked the daylights out of me. Natsume was playing with my hair! What the devil? Has he gone mad or has he gone gay? What made him interested in hair anyway? I was about to voice out my thoughts when I saw the calmness in his face and a hint of peace in his eyes. What I saw made me feel somehow happy inside. I decided to leave him to what he's doing eventhough it was with my hair. I eased back on my chair and after a few seconds….

BOOOM!

To be continued…