Disclaimer: GA is not mine and will never be. Sorry…Neither will I own Vlad Taltosh by Steven Bruce

I'll use 'Mikan' for 'Yami' and vice versa in case you get confused. Routsa (the name only) and the mental link are Steven Brust's genius. Not mine.

Flashback

"Talk"

'Think'

"Telepathic conversation or the voice on the other side of the line in a phone call"

Chapter Sixteen – Competition days

Natsume got up a few hours later and walked to his Special Star dorm. He didn't show it, but he was eager to read the information the Air Alice had picked up for him. Sometimes having connections like that wasn't a bad thing at all and Natsume was glad he had them. He had the money, the power, and the disposition, and he knew how to make people like Hayate do his bidding.

In fact, he most often used Hayate for gathering information on campus. The Air Alice had proved useful to him time and time again, picking up hushed conversations and worried chatter. The request this time was harder, but Hayate still managed to find the carefully stored information anyway. Natsume was pleased. Maybe the Air Alice would get a small bonus this time?

Natsume closed his dormitory's door silently and sat on one of the fluffy seats littering the floor. He reached inside his pocket and took out the small piece of paper. He wanted to find out the information the paper contained as soon as possible, but he felt that he needn't rush…

A minute and a half later the piece of paper lay crumpled on the floor as Natsume gripped his hair, his eyes wide as he took in the memories the black ink had triggered. He felt as if a thousand hot needles pierced his head, skull, brain…He cried out in pain. Was overcoming an Alice always this difficult?

.*.*.*.

Mikan nibbled on a piece of toast as she sat at her coffee table. Instead of coffee, or any beverage for that matter, on the table there was a checkered board on top of which sat numerous black and white figures. Except for Mikan, there was no one else in the room, but the pieces were moving across the board lazily as if a game was being played.

The white queen moved across the board next to a black pawn which then turned white. Then the queen moved sideways and bumped off a black knight. However, the black king moved close to the white piece… and they both turned gray.

Mikan, who was watching it all serenely just a couple of seconds ago, jumped suddenly and with a wild gesture swiped the chessboard clean of pieces. They clattered to the ground and Mikan was sure she heard a couple of them crack upon impact, but she didn't care. She bent down and picked up the once black king with a murderous expression. This was a problem. Feelings were a problem. He was a problem. And problems… had to be dealt with.

Time Skip…

The hustle and bustle of the preparatory teams was in full swing and the cheerful mood was hard to put a damper on. However, there was one person who stood to the side and watched emotionlessly. Of course, that was perfectly normal since that same person has never lifted a finger to help anybody unless paid to do so, but normally, she wouldn't have even been at a place where any voluntary work was done.

People glanced at her occasionally, unnerved, as she swept her eyes across the sea of bodies. Finally coming across the thing, or rather, person, she was looking for, she stalked over to the façade of a cheery blonde girl. With her best authoritarian voice which spoke volumes by itself, she said, "We need to talk."

Talk. The kind of talk Hotaru Imai did would usually be described by receivers as Satan drilling your brain and freezing Hell's fires inside it. It would drain you both mentally and physically, and it would leave a devastating feeling of paranoia and homophobia. The usual aftermath of Imai's talk is scarring for life. And people knew, when Hotaru Imai wants a talk with you, you should either run like hell, or accept your fate and pray hard.

Therefore, upon hearing the rather forceful statement, Yami smiled and answered cheerfully, "Lead the way."

Upon finding a sufficient place for the talk, Hotaru rounded on Mikan almost immediately. "Your façade's falling apart," she stated coldly. The smile Mikan was wearing fell off her face almost immediately and she answered in the same tone, "I know. What of it?"

"It's too late to try to repair it now."

"Yes."

"Hyuuga has noticed most probably."

"Working on it."

Hotaru nodded. "AAO?"

Mikan's eyes darkened a tad, but she answered, glad for the abrupt change of topic, "On the way."

"Hana?"

"You should ask her yourself."

"Routsa?"

"Decided she prefers the perks of the forest for now."

"The debt you owe me?"

Mikan's eyes lit up with amusement, "I can't believe you still remember that." Hotaru stared at her stoically and lifted an eyebrow.

"Alright, alright." Relented Mikan and reached for her wallet, taking out a couple of rabbit bills from there and handing them to Hotaru afterwards. "Happy?"

"Content."

In turn, Hotaru snapped her fingers and a robot came hurtling at them from practically nowhere. It managed to stop before it crashed into the two girls, but something clinked wildly from its inside nonetheless. The stoic dark brunette opened the robot's chest container, pulled out a small stack of papers from inside and handed them to Mikan. Along with that, she gave her a small metal container, the thing which had been making the noise.

Mikan graciously accepted the two objects and nodded at Hotaru. Putting on her cheerful façade again, she turned and escaped the safe premises at once, leaving Hotaru to stare at her back almost sadly.

.*.*.*.

Behind the scenes something dark was brewing. The plan was going to work, even if everyone found out. This made Luna very giddy. She knew this plan was their only option at the moment, what with things becoming rushed after the death of one of their own, but she was sure in its success, so she didn't really try to make sure it's foolproof.

Maybe that was her first mistake.

R&R?