Sorry ,sorry, sorry, sorry, I know I took ages to update, *kneels and begs for forgiveness*

I know I have no excuse, especially seeing as I'm on holidays!!!!

Oh, and everyone seems to want to know happened to Yui, well that'll be answered in this chapter.

Hmmm, I get the feeling I forgot something...Did everyone have a merry Christmas and a happy new year? I hope you all did!

Disclaimer: Lets do a bit of math!

Higuchi Tachibana=owner of Gakuen Alice

Me ≠ Higuchi Tachibana

Therefore:

Me ≠ owner of Gakuen Alice

I will dedicate this chapter to all of the people who reviewed the last chapter, thank you very much for making my day(s) ^.^

JeZrA-Amutolover110

aniAngelxx – Nup, Yui's not being targeted by the academy, but Kuonji's orders were to kill all witnesses, which meant Yui. The rest of your questions should be answered in this chapter ^.^

Yuri no Kimi

TheBlackSwallow

moonacre99

sonwfur

Lady Clark-Weasley of Books

Jackyanimefreak

Lost and Forgotten

Chapter 7

Run and Hide

(I couldn't think of any other title)

"Kuonji-sama, using the experimental amplification stone failed to yield results."

"None at all?"

"None, it appears that her alice was being suppressed, or countered by something. Evidently the stone had no effect, perhaps it is a faulty one. There is only one other explanation, but it's doubtful."

"Well go on."

"Something or someone could have nullified it."

Kuonji smiled remembering that incident. At the time he had panicked upon confirming that what she had said was true, but then he realized there was a loophole in her story. His head snapped up as he heard a knock on the door.

"Enter."

"Kuonji-sama, in regard to the mission assigned."

"Report."

"My men failed to capture the subject."

"What do you mean the mission failed?!" Kuonji banged his fist against the desk. "Did I not tell you that I would not accept failure?!"

"W-wait, Kuonji-sama! I found out something that might interest you!"

"...Speak, this had better not disappoint me."

Natsume watched her sleeping face, noting every slight flutter in her eyelids. His heart stopped every time her breathing hitched, fists clenching tighter every minute she failed to get better. He controlled the temperature surrounding her by using his Alice, but he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Although warming the air used up a minimal amount of his energy, most of his energy was already exhausted trying to soften the impact of the tidal waves.

He looked up, noting that it was already late afternoon; the trees were casting long shadows on the clearing. He needed to get Mikan to a more sheltered place before it got dark. Not only were the spring nights cold, but these particular woods were infamous due to its popularity with bears. Even though he had Ruka's Alice stone, he wasn't sure how many uses he would get out of the honey coloured stone, no bigger than a pea.

Natsume was just about to pick up Mikan when he realized just how exhausted he was. Carrying Mikan to a safer place could use up all of his energy, leaving nothing to warm her up. He sighed and flopped back down to the ground; there was nothing that could be done for now.

Mikan was still showing no signs of improvement. Her fever still hadn't dropped, strands of hair stuck to her forehead, slick with sweat. Occasionally she would give off a whimper, as if whatever dreams she was having were unpleasant.

Natsume hesitated, before brushing the hair from her face. His hand froze and his eyes narrowed as he sensed something approaching. A twig snapped, the sound coming from the right. With the twitch of his finger, Natsume conjured a sphere of fire in his palm, ready to face whatever was coming.

"Hyuuga, put that out before you do something you'll regret." Natsume froze as the silver haired man revealed himself.

"You, what are you doing here?!" The fire slowly went out and Natsume put his hand to his mouth, suppressing a cough. Shiki's eyes travelled from the coughing Natsume to the unconscious Mikan.

"So they found her. Is she alright?" Shiki knelt down beside her and inspected her condition.

"She has a fever." Natsume's fingers twitched as Shiki Lay a hand on her forehead.

"So she does." Shiki thought for a moment before continuing. "It looks like you're having some trouble." Natsume immediately opened his mouth to deny it but broke into a coughing fit.

Shiki just shook his head and grabbed both Natsume and Mikan's arms before activating his teleportation Alice. They found themselves in a small living room, modest, yet neatly kept.

"Where are we?" Natsume looked around.

"Don't worry, this is a safe place." Shiki looked around before calling out, "Megumi, Sanae, I'm back!" Natsume narrowed his eyes as a middle aged woman entered the room, dish and towel in hands. She had dark hair, beginning to show grey, and soft brown eyes.

"Shiki! I was starting to get worried! Sanae's out, but he'll be back soon." Megumi then spotted the two children, one kneeling, the other unconscious. "Oh, you found them!"

"Yeah, but they're in bad shape. Mikan has a fever and Natsume's exhausted."

Megumi was immediately next to Mikan, checking her temperature and listening to her breathing. "Shiki, get her to the spare room, and you," she turned to Natsume, "get some rest on the couch." Natsume just glared, stood and pointedly picked up Mikan. The woman sighed.

"You're a stubborn one, aren't you," When she got no response from Natsume she rolled her eyes and pointed to a door down the hallway, "It's there, don't jostle her."

"Hn." Natsume slowly carried Mikan to the room and carefully laid her down on the bed before collapsing on a nearby chair. When Megumi returned with a tub of hot water, she found she boy asleep.

"You mother would've been proud of you." She softly said, gently brushing a strand of hair from his face. "Shiki, what happened to them?" She looked towards the figure in the doorway.

"I believe they were attacked by a strong water Alice."

"That's harsh, fighting fire with water. It's a wonder they're still alive. Were there any casualties?"

"Don't know, if there were, the water would've carried the bodies off, it could take weeks to find out." Shiki's frowned, "But for a non-Alice, being there at the time would have meant certain death."

The silence was broken by a whimper from Mikan, bringing them back to the present. As Megumi soaked and wrung out a towel, she looked back to Shiki, "Shiki, what'll happen now?"

"We just need to keep them hidden until I can free Yuka and we defeat Kuonji."

"But that might take years." Megumi gave the towel in her hands a vicious wring before gently resting it on Mikan's forehead.

"You and Sanae managed to hide for over a decade, didn't you?"

"Yes, but, this is different. Kuonji's gonna have half the fucking world looking for her!"

"That's a bit of an overstatement. And plus, I doubt he'd want to draw attention to her." Shiki reasoned

"...I guess, and it's not as if we have any other choice." The woman sighed and bowed her head, defeated. "If we want them to seem normal they'll have to attand the local school. Hopefully you'll be able to defeat Kuonji soon, or else this will get dangerous, for them and us."

"I know."

So that's that! Short, I know, but I don't think there's much of a point in dragging out a chapter!

And to all the people who have suggested ways I can improve my chapters, I plan on editing this whole story once I've finished, so don't think I'm ignoring it! Please keep on suggesting ways that I can improve, so that I'll get better and better at writing :D