My Candy: Chapter 3

#08: Gakuen Alice (Natsume & Mikan)
...xXx...

Golden eyes stared up at the sky. Closing her eyes, she sighed with a heavy heart. She had erased all of her friends' memories that led to their suspicions about her monthly sick leaves. Opening her eyes, she turned to look at the door behind her. Sadness filled her heart as he was the most difficult to deal with. Slowly and silently, she slipped into the room. Standing in the darkness of the room, she stared at the sleeping boy before her. The moonlight had given her the opportunity to look at his face even though she could see him clearly without the light as she was a night creature. She stepped forward from the darkness when the clouds covered the moon. Her right hand reached out to touch his forehead, but suddenly, a hand caught her wrist before she could make contact. Eyes widened as the owner of the hand opened his eyes.

As the clouds left the moon, crimson eyes stared into golden eyes.
Oh. My. God. Mikan started sweating mentally.

Natsume stared at her. "You…"

NO! He found out! she thought in panic.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Her brain paused for a second. Eh? Wait… He doesn't know who I am…

She was caught off guard by his words.

"Can I have my hand back?" she asked instead, and surprisingly, he let her wrist go. Even though his grip did not hurt her, she rubbed her wrist. She started walking away from him, but before she could do that, he grabbed her wrist again. Her silky golden hair brushed his hand as she turned around.

They stared into each other's eyes.

She sighed mentally. He demands an answer…

"Ne, Natsume, do you believe that cats can talk?"

"How d—"

"I know your name because we know each other," she countered. After giving him a small smile, she whispered, "Reveal."

In the blink of an eye, she turned into a cat, and his eyes widened in surprise and disbelief. She licked her wrist a bit before turning to look at Natsume, who was backing away from her.

"Men are such utterly inadaptable creatures, aren't they?" she muttered to herself.

This must be a dream, he convinced himself.

She closed her eyes. "Conceal."

When she turned back into a human, she approached Natsume, who was still fighting with himself.

My chance, she thought, but to her dismay, a fireball burst between them when she was a foot away from him.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" he demanded with his usual cold demeanor.

"I told you; we know each other, and about what I want… it's you…" She tapped her lips playfully. "You know what? Your Alice has no effect on me."

She waved her hands slightly, and the fireball vanished instantly.

His eyes widened. The only one who could do that is…

"I'm sorry, Natsume," she said with sad eyes. Suddenly, she appeared in front of him and placed two fingers to his forehead.

Slowly, his eyes closed, but before he fell unconscious, he weakly muttered, "Mikan…"

...xXx...

A private laboratory that was near her house exploded when she was just seven years old. She was the only survivor from the explosion. It was said that she survived because she was an Alice user, but of course, the side effects of the explosion remained. Her appearances changed, and she turned into cat every full moon. Why only during a full moon? It was still a mystery to everyone who knew her secret. She sighed as she remembered how she was put into this situation.

"You sigh too much," Hotaru said deadpanned.

Mikan looked down at the floor. Somehow, the pattern of the floor looked interesting.

It was Hotaru's turn to sigh. "You did the right thing, Mikan."

"But, I-I feel horrible for erasing their memories."

Not all of them though, she added mentally. Last night, she only sealed Natsume's memory regarding her sick leave routine and made their encounter seem like a dream. The seal would break if he tried to remember that dream though.

"This is your choice," Hotaru reminded.

"I know. I chose to stay at this branch." Mikan closed her eyes. I want to stay with him.

"Class will start soon, don't be late," Hotaru said as she walked out from Mikan's room.

"Yes, yes" Mikan replied as she stood up from her bed. After a few minutes she was ready to go. She combed her golden hair while looking at herself on the mirror. Am I that different from the real Mikan?

Putting the brush back on the night stand, she grabbed a few candies from the jar. After throwing one candy into her mouth, she stood up and watched herself change to her usual appearance: not a golden-haired girl with a pair of golden eyes but a brown-haired girl with a pair of hazel eyes. Not feeling like going to class, she made her way to the Sakura tree. She was surprised when she found Natsume there. Quietly, she sat beside him and cast him a sideway glance. He's acting strange.

While leaning against the tree trunk with closed eyes, he softly whispered, "Mikan…"

Confused, she stared at him. How does he know I'm here?

She shrugged at the thought and replied, "Yes?"

He snapped his eyes open instantly and turned to look at his side.

She blinked.

He blinked.

"Yes?" she repeated.

Since when? he thought in disbelief. He didn't realize she was next to him.

"Five minutes ago," she said as if she had read his mind.

He looked away from her.

"Something's troubling you," she stated softly. "You know you can tell me anything, Natsume."

For almost an hour, they stayed still. They were lost within their own thoughts.

He turned his eyes to her and watched her look up at the sky. His eyes landed on her lips, cheeks, nose and eyes… What he saw next made his eyes widen, the color of her eyes slowly turned gold.

As her heart thumped faster, she quickly ate her candy without being aware that her companion was watching her with great intensity.

After a few seconds his eyes grew wider when he watched her golden eyes were replaced back by the hazel. He blinked and quickly looked away.

She was brought back to reality when she heard his heart beat faster. Turning back to him, she asked, "Natsume, are you alright?"

He felt his heart stop beating for a few seconds.

Worriedly, she looked at him. "Natsume, are you alright?"

When she touched his arms, he stiffened and unconsciously exclaimed, "Don't touch me!"

Shock was clear on her face.

He froze as he surely didn't mean what he said just now.

Her face was flooded with emotions; from shock, surprise, confusion and anger. She balled her fists and stood up immediately. "You jerk! I was just worried about you! You didn't have to shout at me!"

Her body shook in anger, but he kept silent. When she was about to continue again, she realized he wouldn't pay any attention to her. So, she decided to save her breath and stomped away from him.

"I'm sorry." He closed his eyes with a sigh.

Her anger faded immediately as she stopped in her tracks. Even though she was quite far from him, she could still hear him. She sighed dejectedly and decided maybe he was not in the mood to tell her what was bothering him.

...xXx...

Natsume and Mikan didn't say a word to each other for a week now, and the class had started wondering what happened between them.

Leaning against a tree trunk, he closed his eyes. It seemed like a dream, but it felt so real. How could a girl turn into cat? He had suspicions that it was her, and it took him one week to prove it. He noticed something that their friends didn't. She always ate candy every hour. If she was late in eating her candy, she would start panicking and quickly gobble one down.

Was it that candy that held her transformation? he guessed. He shook his head in disagreement. In his dream, he also remembered…

Opening his eyes, he stood up to find his best friend Ruka.

"Ruka," he called when he saw him right after he went into the classroom.

Ruka, who was petting his rabbit, looked up and smiled at him. "Natsume."

Natsume stared at him for a few seconds.

Ruka knew his best friend wanted to talk him now. Standing up from his seat, he followed after him.

Natsume led them to the Sakura tree again. He sat down and leaned against the tree trunk.

Ruka followed suit. "Natsume, did something happen between you and Sakura-san?"

When Ruka got silence as his answer, he sighed. He knew his best friend wouldn't tell him anything about it. He stayed still as he waited for him to speak instead.

"Do you remember that she always takes a day off every month?" Natsume asked, breaking the silence.

After a few minutes Ruka turned to look at him with confused face. "Huh?"

"I won't repeat myself," Natsume said as he sighed mentally.

Ruka tried to guess what this was about. Finally, he sighed. "I don't know what you are talking about, Natsume."

Natsume stayed silent as he knew Ruka would continue.

"Though I know you are talking about Sakura-san. About her always taking a day off every month… I can't recall that, Natsume…"

Natsume's eyes widened. It can't be… so that was the reason why she came that night… to erase my memory?

No, she didn't erase his memory. It was a dream. He growled and he rubbed his temple to ease the recurring headache. Every time he tried to convince himself that it was not a dream, his head would start crying in pain. What was wrong with him?

Ruka looked at his best friend worriedly. "Natsume… are you alright?"

After sparing his best friend a glance, he left without saying anything.

While watching Natsume's back in confusion, he thought, What's happening, Natsume?

...xXx...

Natsume… Mikan thought as she put her chin on her bed. In the past few weeks, they had grown distant. Even though Natsume was usually not very outspoken, he wouldn't even try to speak to her now. He was avoiding her for sure.

I will try to approach him when homeroom is over, she decided mentally because today was another full moon. She was hoping that he would tell her what was bothering him in her cat form. Slowly, she fell asleep while waiting for the time to pass.

Natsume sighed mentally as he looked at the empty seat beside him. After a few minutes the last bell rang which told him that homeroom was over. He stood up and immediately made his way to Sakura tree. It didn't surprise him that much to find a golden-haired cat already there waiting for him. Sitting down beside the cat, he watched the falling petals around them.

"Meow…"

He blinked and turned his eyes to the cat.

"Meow…"

They stared at each other for a good minute.

He closed his eyes and looked away from the golden-haired cat.

"What are you hiding?" he muttered softly. Opened his eyes again, he gazed into the golden eyes.

"What are you hiding from me?" he asked firmly. "Why won't you tell me the truth, Mikan?"

Prev Chapter 1—The Transformation Chapter 2—The Golden Cat Chapter 3—The Truth Chapter 4—The Other Half Chapter 5—The Release Chapter 6—The Silver Cat Chapter 7—The Battle of Love Chapter 8—The Seal of Fate Chapter 9—The Curse Chapter 10—The Wolf Chapter 11—The Candy Next