GA II: Ch. 7

GA II
Ch. 7:  After School Detention

"What's going on here? What was that flash?"  Sensei asked while standing between Mikan and the girl with the double bun hairstyle.  His hands were on his hips and he looked sternly down at Mikan, his back was to the other girl.  Mikan was still staring wide eyed through Sensei's legs at the girl across from her.  Neither could believe what had happened and they were staring at one another in shock.  The other girl also had an Alice stone that she wore around her neck, and she had tried to use it, but Mikan's Alice nullified it.

"Gomen nesai, I'm sorry, Sensei.  It's my fault," a familiar voice caught Mikan's attention and she looked up in surprise.

"You, Hyuuga-san?  This is your fault?"  The sensei asked in disbelief.  Natsume had pushed his way through the crowd and was standing beside Mikan.  

"Yes sir, it's my fault," Natsume repeated himself.  "It was a flash pellet.  I used it to end the confrontation," Natsume explained, regarding the flash of light that had actually been created by Mikan's Alice.

The teacher stood unmoving, unsure of how to react.  Natsume took the opportunity to help Mikan to her feet.  "V…very well, Hyuuga-san," Sensei stammered.  Mikan stared from the teacher to Natsume in awe and blinked.  It was difficult to imagine that Natsume had such a good reputation in this town that he could get away with having a flash pellet and not be questioned why.  

"Are you alright?" Natsume took advantage of the teacher's silence to ask Mikan, who nodded her response and didn't argue when one of his arms wrapped around her waist to pull her protectively against his hard chest.   The girl behind Sensei scrambled to her feet and was now standing with her arms crossed over her chest and glaring at Mikan.  

"Both of you," Sensei finally found his voice to speak.  He moved to the side so that he could address both of the girls.  "I'll give you a warning, only because Sakura-san is new here.  You both are to clean your respective classes after school today, do you understand!" he finally dealt out their punishment.  "Now everyone, get to class!" he stated, turning to shoo the crowd that had gathered away from the scene.  

The other girl was the first to disappear as she walked hurriedly down the hall with her head held high.  People parted as she walked towards them to allow for her passage, as if she were a queen.   Natsume silently guided Mikan towards her class, keeping his arm firmly around her waist.  "B..be careful of her, Natsume, she has an Alice stone," Mikan spoke quietly as they walked.  When Natsume didn't respond, Mikan looked up over her shoulder at him.  She was both surprised and a little nervous to find that he stared intensely down the hall as they walked.  His eyes burned with an old furry.  "N…natsume?" she asked, trying to draw his attention back to her, but he continued to guide her into her classroom.  Mikan blushed when she realized that everyone in the room was staring at them, including Luka.  

Natsume lead her to her desk and turned her to face him.  "We'll discuss this with everyone afterschool, until then, don't say anything.  I'll be waiting for you to finish your cleaning duty," he spoke quietly.  Only Luka, who had approached Mikan's desk, was close enough to hear as well.  

"Demo…..," Mikan started to say, but her sentence was cut off before it could even begin when he bent to kiss her in front of the entire class.  When he released her, Mikan slid weakly into her seat.  Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.  She wondered what had gotten into him, but couldn't bring herself to be mad at him.

"Keep her safe," Natsume placed his hand on Luka's shoulder and spoke in his ear before turning to leave the classroom.

During the morning classes Mikan couldn't help but to tap her pencil on her desk impatiently.  She was worried about Natsume being in the same classroom as That Girl.  She could at least protect herself with her nullification Alice.  Natsume didn't have an Alice anymore to protect himself with, and here he was being more worried about her then he was about himself.  Mikan dropped her head on her desk in frustration.  There was a loud thump that interrupted the teacher's lecture.  

"Is there a problem, Sakura-san?" sensei asked, turning from the chalkboard where he was writing a complicated math formula.  

Mikan jumped in her seat and straightened her back to look forward.  "N…no, I'm sorry…"  She stammered.

"Perhaps you already know this formula?" Sensei suggested.  Mikan stared at the problem on the board in astonishment.  In truth, she hadn't been paying attention at all.  She hadn't ever seen this formula before.   "Then why don't you come up and demonstrate your expertise on the subject matter, since it seems to be boring you to pay attention," he instructed sternly.

Mikan gulped, she didn't have the slightest idea how to solve the problem.  She glanced towards Luca's seat and caught his gaze with a silent plea for help.  He nodded in response.  After nervously standing she walked up the aisle in which Luca's desk was in.  As she was about to pass his desk, she pretended to trip and drop her notebook.  She bent quickly to pick it up.  At that same moment, Luka purposely dropped his notebook, on which she found that he had solved the problem from the board.

"Please hurry, Sakura-san, this disruption has held up my class long enough," Sensei demanded from the front of the classroom.

After picking up both notebooks, Mikan handed hers to Luka, which thankfully was the same color as his, and caught his gaze with a smile of thanks.  "You dropped this," she spoke out loud, in order to fool the class, and walked to the blackboard to solve the problem.  The teacher watched unknowing of the exchange and raised an eyebrow of surprise when she wrote the correct answer.

Mikan returned to her seat with a sigh of relief.  She still had Luca's notebook, and hoped he wouldn't mind that she used it to keep notes.  Perhaps if she actually paid attention to the lecture, she could get her mind off of the events from that morning.  She turned the page in Luca's notebook to find a note written to her.  It read; "Don't worry about Natsume.  Hotaru and Yu are with him."  Mikan looked towards Luca with a smile of relief.  His back was to her, though, so he didn't see it.  

Mikan managed to concentrate through the rest of the morning "on her subjects" until it was finally time for Gym.  She jumped up, eager to get into the crowded hall.  Natsume's class would be returning to their homeroom from gym now, and she was anxious to see with her own two eyes that he was okay.  She found him waiting outside of her classroom door with Hotaru and Yu.  The double bun hairstyle girl wasn't anywhere to be seen.  Mikan eagerly hugged Natsume and placed something in the palm of his hand that she had been working on all morning while pretending to pay attention during class.   After they separated, Mikan felt more at ease about not being able to stay by his side.  Natsume opened his hand to find an orange colored stone, one of Mikan's Alice stones.

Lunch and the afternoon classes went by uneventfully.  As agreed upon that morning, none of them spoke of the morning situation and the double bun girl stayed out of their sight.  After school, Mikan attended to the classroom under the watch of her Sensei.  Everyone else was kicked outside to wait until she was finished.  

Mikan swept the floor, cleared off the chalk board, cleaned out the erasers, and gathered the trash.  She walked to the hall where she found her sensei and the teacher from the room down the hall talking.  She didn't eavesdrop on purpose, but she happened to overhear that the double bun hairstyle girl, whose name she now learned was Ishii, Rin, had skipped her detention.  Before she could hear anything more, the teacher from down the hall spotted her and made a gesture to her Sensei that make him turn around.  Mikan held up the trash bag, "After I take this out, I am done," she told him.  He nodded and she passed them to take the garbage out.  She moved quickly and hurried back to the classroom to gather her school bag.  Now that she knew that Rin wasn't where she was suppose to be, Mikan was anxious to get outside and verify that Natsume was okay.  The teacher's were nowhere to be seen when she returned, so she hurried out the door.

At first, she didn't see anyone when she left the school.  Mikan hurried down the front walk towards the school gates.  When she got there she was grabbed suddenly from behind and pulled aside, towards the brick pillar.  Without thinking she grabbed Natsume's Alice stone and a sphere of flame surrounded her.  Her captor released her immediately and she tumbled to the opposite brick pillar of the front gate.

"Itai!"  Her captor shouted behind her, but to her dismay she recognized the voice.  She spun around quickly and raised her hand to cover a gasp.  Her captor had been Natsume!  He stared at her with a surprised expression.  "How did you learn how to do that?"

"Oh my gosh! I'm SO Sorry!"  Mikan cried and ran back to him.  She was frantically checking him over for burns.  

"I'm okay," he tried to tell her over and over, but she wouldn't listen.  Finally he gripped her shoulders and forced her to look up at his face.  "I said I'm fine," he said in a soothing voice.  Mikan stared at him with wide frightened eyes.  The last time something like this had happened was when Yoichi had purposely scared her at the Haunted House at one of the festivals at Gakuen Alice.  It wasn't long after Mikan had acquired Natsume's Alice Stone.   They learned then that his Alice could protect her when she was caught off guard.  "I'm so sorry," she apologized again, "but you scared me, a…and I was already on the defense because Ishii didn't go to her detention."

Natsume nodded, "I know, she wasn't in class this afternoon either."  

Mikan blinked in surprise and was taken back for a moment until she noticed that the rest of the group wasn't around.  "Where is everyone?"

"They were picked up and taken back to your place.  They are waiting for us there," Natsume told her while taking her hand to lead her down the street towards the bus stop.

"Wait a second," Mikan demanded.  Natsume was walking with urgency, and Mikan was still processing what he had just said.  "What do you mean that they were picked up?" she asked in confusion.  

"The Academy sent a few people to follow up on Shadow Boy's last report," Natsume replied, without slowing down.