Witness Protection Program #2
Witness Protection Program
Written by: Fiery Von Bielefield
Fandom: Gakuen Alice
Pairing: Natsume-Mikan
Rating: T
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Chapter 2: The Welcome Party
She was sitting behind her desk in her office, waiting for him to come. There was new information about the crime that she knew he would be interested in.
It had been an hour since she called him, but he hasn’t come. Hotaru tapped her fingers on the table’s surface impatiently. Damn that Andou, why isn’t he here yet, she hissed angrily in her thought.
Suddenly, her phone rang. She pressed the button and her assistant’s voice was heard, loud and clear, “He’s here, Imai-san.”
“Send him in,” she replied as she ended the call. Sitting back on her chair, she pulled out a pad of paper from under her desk. There was a knock on her door before the door was opened, revealing a young woman in business suit and a raven haired man with a star under his left eye. The man stepped inside while the woman only nodded before she retreated, not forget to close the door behind her.
“What do you have for me?” Tsubasa asked as he sat down on the couch. Hotaru stood up from her desk. Slowly approaching him, she handed him the papers she had earlier.
“I’ve got some new information about the murder at the train station two weeks ago,” she said.
“The mysterious crime that even you had a hard time to find evidences?” Tsubasa asked when he opened the file. He flipped some pages, scanning it lazily. All of a sudden, a picture of a man with stoic face and dull brown hair caught his eyes. His jaw clenched in anger. “Him…” he muttered.
“Yes, it’s him again, the famous assassin with the code name Fox,” Hotaru stated, somehow she had heard his low mumble.
“He was the culprit?” Tsubasa asked.
“We don’t have enough evidences against him, so I can’t say that at the moment. However, I’m sure he is involved,” Hotaru nonchalantly replied.
“I’ll go back to the crime scene and investigate. I’ll definitely find evidence,” he stated as he looked at the picture of the man with disgusted eyes, his fingers clutched into his palm tightly.
“No, you won’t,” the raven haired lass firmly said. “That’s not why I called you back here,” she added as Tsubasa looked at her furiously. Sighing, Hotaru flipped some more pages of the file until she found what she was looking for. Tsubasa looked down, but his face soon turned from furious to confused. What he was seeing was a blurred image of a figure in black clothing. He could figure out that it was a man, but Tsubasa couldn’t see his face clearly because of something that looked like a mask on the man’s face.
Narrowing his eyes, Tsubasa questioned, “Who is this?”
“Four years ago, this man was really famous in America and Europe. It was rumored that he has never failed his missions. Whenever he set his eyes on his victims, they wouldn’t be able to escape, and there would be no trace, no evidence,” Hotaru told him. “All the polices and detectives in both America and Europe failed to catch him. Nobody has ever seen his face and his real identity remains unknown, so people named him Black Cat after the cat mask he always wore on his mission,” she explained.
“I know Black Cat. I heard of him from a thief I caught in America,” Tsubasa recalled, “but didn’t him disappear four years ago?”
“Yes. For some unknown reasons, he disappeared. However, he’s back. An agent of ours contacted me when he was spying Fox. He said that he saw Fox with a suspicious guy in a dark alley. He was able to send me a picture of them; however, we lost track of him. And when we finally found him, that agent had been killed.”
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“The last place they have been seen was in Alice Town. I need you to trace Fox down,” Hotaru commanded when she stood up.
“You mean that dangerous man is close to Mikan?” Tsubasa immediately stood up as well.
“And maybe that Black Cat is, too,” came the amethyst eyed girl’s reply.
********
Mikan woke up again at three o’clock in the afternoon. Gosh, never in her life had she slept that much, but it was worth it. Rubbing her eyes to get out of sleepiness, she stood up and walked towards the kitchen. She pulled a can of milk out of the refrigerator while yawning. Without any hesitation, she drank all the content of the can and started looking for something to eat. She hasn’t eaten lunch, and she was so hungry that she could eat a whole cow.
After satisfying her growling stomach and taking a bath afterwards, she checked the clock again, it was four thirty. The welcome party would begin at eight, and Mikan remembered that she didn’t have anything in mind on what to wear. As soon as she started panicking while standing in front of her wardrobe not knowing what to do, the bell rang. She strode up to the door and opened it. She was surprised to see that the people at the door were none other than Anna and Nonoko.
“Hey Mikan-chan, since we live pretty close, we decided to check your place out. You don’t mind, right?” Anna asked when she saw the confused Mikan. Her hands and Nonoko’s hands were occupied with loads of bags with different sizes.
“Of course you guys are welcome all the time. And good time, I need your help,” Mikan smiled; she opened the door wider and both of them stepped inside.
“Wow, what a cute place you have here, Mikan-chan,” Nonoko commented as she darted her eyes around the living room, then she zoomed off to inspect the cactuses on the windowsill. Anna was wandering around, admiring Mikan’s house decoration. Mikan just only smiled at their reaction. After a few minute, Nonoko turned to Mikan and asked, “What did you need our help with, Mikan-chan?”
“Ah, I was just wondering could you two help me look for something to wear to the party. It’s kind of late to go shopping,” she replied with a sheepish smile.
“Well, isn’t that great? We have the right thing you need, Ms Tsukiyomi,” Anna said in her playful tone. She put the bags she was holding on the coffee table and began pulling the things inside out. Soon, the table was filled with lipsticks, mascaras, blushes, perfumes etc.
“Now, let us see you wardrobe, dear Mikan,” Nonoko commanded in the same playful tone as her twin while grabbing Mikan’s arm and dragging her towards the bedroom. Mikan only laughed and followed her lead with Anna tagged along.
“Oohh, Mikan! Where did you get such cute dresses and skirts? Where were you when I needed a gown for last year prom? I ended up wearing Aunt Yumi’s old bridesmaid outfit. Not that it was bad though.” Anna screamed. As soon as Mikan slid the wardrobe door open, Nonoko and Anna both squealed in delight, although they were amazed by totally different subjects.
“Well, I told my mom that I need something to wear on a date and she just dragged me to the department store. After that, she made me try all the dresses she could reach. And she ended up buying all the ones that fit my body since she couldn’t decide which of them was the best. Little did she know, I was just planning to go to the park with my best friend,” Mikan answered. The other two laughed at her explanation.
“I see you’ve got quite an incredible collection of jeans and sneakers, sister,” Nonoko remarked before she gave Mikan a high-five. “Now those are what I bought for myself,” Mikan proudly announce, gesturing her hand at the rack that her jeans were hung on.
“Yeah, but you’re not dressing in those jeans to the party. A cute dress is what I’m talking about,” Anna trailed around the dresses, analyzing them. Mikan and Nonoko only stood there waiting while she pulled some dresses out, only to put them back again. When her fingers found a white dress that was left behind in the corner of the wardrobe, she pulled it out and couldn’t help a smile on her face. This was it, she happily thought. She turned around to the waiting Mikan and Nonoko to show them the dress. “I say this one is what you’ll be wearing tonight, Mikan-chan”
It was a simple sleeveless dress. The upper part was white while the lower part was black. On the left side of the waistline was a polka doted bow. Anna also fished out a pair of matching pumps, half black, half white. “Perfect,” Nonoko agreed, she couldn’t help being amazed by her cousin’s skill in the choosing clothes department.
After Mikan had changed into her suggested dress, the two girls were eager to put make-up on her. Mikan found herself be pushed on the revolving chair when the cousins tried different style of make-up on her. After about an hour and a half, to Mikan’s relief, they were done.
“There, you look great, Mikan-chan” Anna claimed and Nonoko nodded in agreement. She handed Mikan a mirror. Mikan’s jaw dropped when she looked at her reflection. Her hair was tied up into a half updo, and Anna had curled the end of her partially down hairand let it rest on her shoulder, which made her look more mature yet purely innocent. The two didn’t put too much make-up on her face, just enough to enhance her nature beauty. Not only did she look presentable, she looked pretty. To the third party’s point of view, saying that she was pretty was an understatement, she was gorgeous.
“I, I don’t know what to say. Thanks, you two. Thank you very much,” she mumbled as she hugged Anna and Nonoko to show her full gratitude.
“It’s no big deal, Mikan-chan. I always want to practice my styling skill, and now I have you as my model. No, I have to thank you,” Anna grinned, “Say, Mikan-chan, let me pick out your clothes for the next party, okay?”
“Of course,” Mikan replied wholeheartedly.
“Oh my god, it’s six forty-five already? Anna, we have to go back home to prepare ourselves, too,” Nonoko exclaimed when she looked at the clock, “We’ll see you at the party then. Bye, Mikan-chan” Then the two of them headed to the door to go home.
After Anna and Nonoko had gone, Mikan went to the living room and watched TV since she had nothing else to do.
It was an hour of boredom to Mikan until it was time to get to the party. Putting her jacket on, she stepped out into the cool breezy night. She checked again on her lock; then, she started strolling up to the campus.
**********
When Mikan arrived at the school hall, the place was already packed with loads of people dancing, talking and drinking. The music was so loud that she could feel her ears bleeding any second now. Upon crushing herself through the sea of people to look for her friends, she was pushed, dragged and hauled. At the moment that she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, someone walked pass her and accidentally pushed her, which made Mikan unbalanced and tripped.
“Oi, watch out.”
She couldn’t watch the floor coming closer to her face at top speed, so she closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. However, the pain and the cold floor she was sure that was waiting for her didn’t come. Curious, she opened her eyes and was surprise that she had stopped in mid air. Realizing that she couldn’t possess any kind of super power, Mikan looked down, only to find that strong hands were holding her waist, preventing her from kissing the oh-so-tempting floor.
“Oi, can you stand up already, my hands are getting numb?” a masculine voice said, and Mikan got up on her feet, blushing furiously. She felt that this was like one of the scenes in those cheesy girly movies her mother liked to watch, you know, the scenes which the male character would save the female character from falling in a promising position, and then they ended up with a kiss fully on the lips. She didn’t really expect the kiss, though, because she didn’t even know who saved her. Nevertheless, it was any girl’s nature to be romantic, wasn’t it?
Mikan looked up with a smile on her face, intended to thank her savior, only to be greeted by a pair of tantalizing crimson eyes. The guy standing in front of her was around twenty. He was wearing a black shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. Gosh, is this guy obsessed with black, Mikan rumbled in her thoughts. She tried to study his figure closely. Black Guy had jet black hair, a straight nose, thin lips and pale, flawless skin. He was raking his fingers in his raven hair, making it messier than it already was while keeping his eyes on her. She felt uneasy, thinking that he was probably observing her as well.
“Not only are you as heavy as a pig, you have an idiotic smile as well,” Black Guy smirked as his eyes scanned her lazily. Mikan, being the kind of girl that never let an insult about her go, felt herself boil up with anger.
“Why you…” she was about to snap back at him, but a familiar voice interrupted her.
“Natsume… and Mikan?”
Both of them turned their head in the direction of the voice and saw Ruka walk to them. Behind him were three more guys, one with dirty blond hair, another one with small fox eyes and the last one with glasses. All of them had amused expressions on their faces.
“Hey, Ruka” Mikan looked at Black Guy in surprise, he knew Ruka-senpai? She cast him a questioning look but the guy didn’t look back at her, he was just stood there, waiting for his friends to come.
“Hey, Natsume, it’s strange to see you come, but it’s good anyway,” Ruka replied and patted his friend’s back. “I see that you’ve met Mikan” he gestured the still speechless girl beside Natsume.
“Mikan?” Natsume stared at the girl mentioned, and she returned his glare with the same amount of intensity. Ruka, seeing the temperature rise between the two, decided to cool things off, “She’s a freshman in my department and my partner, Mikan Tsukiyomi. Mikan, this is my best friend, Natsume Hyuuga”
Mikan was stunned when she heard him. Was he joking? Who could have thought that the charming, friendly, funny, cute Ruka-senpai was best friend with this cocky, cold, emotionless, obsessed with black guy, this… Natsume Hyuuga? Still, Mikan didn’t forget her politeness. She held out her hand, waiting for him to shake it and said, “Mikan Tsukiyomi, nice to meet you”
Natsume, on the other hand, looked at her hand with indescribable expression on his face. He just shrugged and said “Natsume Hyuuga”, leaving Mikan’s waiting hand, which made she felt extremely embarrassed when she pulled it back.
“Ah, he’s a little unsociable,” Ruka punched his friend’s arm as he smiled with Mikan in an apologetic way. She just smiled back at him, but she couldn’t help pouting when she saw Natsume glared at her. “And these guys here are Kokoroyomi, we usually call him Koko, Kitsuneme and Yuu Tobita. They’re all juniors. Koko and Kitsuneme are in the Technology Department while Yuu is in the Economy Department.”
Mikan smiled when the three guys were introduced to her. All of them were nice and they seemed really friendly, in contrast to the Black Guy Natsume Hyuuga, who just leaned on the bar in a lazy way and listened to what everybody else was talking about.
“Nice to meet you all,” Mikan said. She managed to catch a glimpse of someone familiar, and she called out, trying her best to overpower the noises in the party area, “Anna! Nonoko!”
Fortunately, the girls heard her. They turned to Mikan’s direction with relief evidence on their faces, and when the two saw who she was with, they squealed with excitement. Not wasting any second, both of them proceeded to Mikan in incredible speed.
“Guys, this is my friends. Nonoko, freshman in Technology, and Anna, newbie of Economy,” Mikan introduced and she wasn’t surprise when Koko, Kitsuneme and Yuu greeted them like they’ve known each other. They were in the same Department after all. Ruka smiled with the two girls which made them blush lightly, but Natsume just nodded, he gave off the impression that no one should dare touch him or talk to him unless they wanted to be send to hell immediately.
The group soon found a vacant table and they all took a seat. They were talking lively when the DJ came on stage and slid a new disk in the stereo. The dance floor has soon become the area occupied by the most amount of young men and women, dancing along the beat.
“Come on, let’s dance,” Koko excitedly shouted, and all of them headed for the dance floor, except for Natsume, he just sat firmly on his seat, eyes gazing at the colorful ceiling. Mikan soon found herself dance with Anna and Nonoko by her sides and Ruka in front of her. They were laughing and shouting in excitement while dancing their hearts out. She was really enjoying it. Mikan was swaying as her eyes darted around the room and rested on the table her group sat earlier. She felt a tug in her chest. Natsume was sitting there, all alone. He was looking at the ceiling while stretching his legs under the table. He had the look of a bored guy that didn’t care about the other people dancing wildly and having fun. Deep in her heart, Mikan didn’t know why, but the minute that she saw him, she felt that he was lonely. After shouting to Ruka that she was tired and needed some air for she knew he couldn’t hear her mumble in the sea of noise, Mikan left the dance floor. Ruka had kindly asked her if she wanted him to accompany her, but Mikan refused, insisted that he should stay with their friends.
She walked towards the table. When she passed a waitress, she grabbed a glass of juice on the tray the waitress was holding; then, she sat down beside Natsume. He seemed to not recognize her present.
“Don’t you want to dance?” she said, breaking the silence between them. Natsume looked at her. He was surprise to see her there, sitting next to him instead of dancing with her friends. And what made him surprise more was that he didn’t sense her coming, hence his glare.
“Not interested,” he simply replied, shifting his eyes back to the ceiling. He didn’t understand why, but he felt a familiar present from her. For some reason, he couldn’t concentrate on the ceiling and his previous thoughts anymore. Sighing, he secretly observed the girl beside him while keeping his eyes away, not letting her notice his gaze on her. He remembered their earlier encounter, and chuckled in his mind. Come to think about it, the girl was quite pretty. She was wearing a sleeveless black-and-white dress with matching pumps. Her hair was half tied, half let down, the kind of style girls like to use when they wanted to look innocent and cute, and it was a little curly at the end, resulting in waves on her shoulder. She had light and simple make-up on her, which improved his impression on her a little bit; he didn’t like girls with heavy make-up, it made him feel that they were fakes. Although he did say that she was as heavy as a pig, when he grabbed her waist to prevent her from falling back then, he didn’t feel heavy at all. The girl was in good shape.
Keeping his thoughts wandering, he didn’t notice that she was looking at him, as if waiting for a further explanation on his previous statement. Putting his opinions on her aside, he shrugged and asked, “What about you, weren’t you dancing with them?”
“I was, but I felt tired and I needed some air,” she responded and looked at her cup of juice, which she hadn’t even sipped. Silence engulfed them once again. Mikan couldn’t think of anything else to talk about while Natsume was deep in his thoughts.
“Thank you,” he was jerked back again. He gave her a confused look, “For what?”
“For saving me back then. I figured out that I haven’t thanked you,” her smile made he feel a tug on his chest but he decided to ignore it.
“You don’t need to,” came his reply.
“You seem lonely,” she didn’t mean to say out loud her thought, but she was also out of talking topic.
“…”
He didn’t answer. An answer could be a confirmation in this way or another. However, the girl seemed that she wasn’t waiting an answer from him, either. She was in the middle of her own school of thoughts.
“I guess people who have the same problem feel comfortable around with each other, eh?” she said and smiled with him, but he could feel something behind her smile, it was sadness. Her statement made him surprise and he felt concern, more concern than he though he should be. He found himself leaning closer, curious and at the same time afraid to hear her reasons. Nevertheless, he didn’t have a chance to ask her furthermore on what she meant because his friends were walking towards them, chatting and laughing.
“Hey, Natsume, why didn’t you join us? It was wickedly fun, mate,” Kitsuneme excitedly patted Natsume’s back while the latter just grunt in reply.
“Mikan, are you alright? Ruka-senpai told us that you said you were tired” Nonoko and Anna asked as soon as they reached Mikan.
“I’m okay, girls, just need a little rest” she assured them with her usual smile.
“Yeah, we’re kind of tired, too. Wanna go home?” Anna asked. When the other two girls nodded in agreement, she turned to the guys and told them that they were heading home.
“Let us drive you home, Ruka’s car is big enough for all of us. Besides, it’s not safe going home alone at this hour,” Yuu stated, and the guys agreed. So, they went outside and all got in the car when Ruka turned up at the entrance. As soon as she walked inside her house and carefully locked the door and checked it twice like Anna had seriously told her to, Mikan strode in her bedroom. She changed into her night gown as fast as she could and slumped on her bed. She was too tired that she fell almost immediately into the deepest slumber she’s ever had.
--to be continued--