My Candy: Chapter 6

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

Blood flowed down her right arm as Sumire tried to think a way to deal with the golden-haired girl before her, namely Mikan. She had activated her Alice to defend herself and tried to attack her, but she had no chance against her. Basically, she was the one who was injured. Regret started filling her mind for not running away when the chance was given. However, she knew that no matter how fast she ran, she would have been caught either way.
Knowing what she was thinking, Mikan coldly told her, "Regret won't help you at all."

While holding her right arm, she slowly stood up. "I regret nothing."

Mikan smirked. "Is that so? If you say so, I'm happy. If you give up, it won't be fun any more."

Chills ran down her spine as Sumire gulped fearfully. She really treats me as her prey.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled the scents around her. Once she opened her eyes, she spoke, "Enough playing. I will have you now."

In the blink of an eye, Mikan already stood in front of Sumire. Sumire gasped when she felt herself being pinned roughly against one of the trees around them. The next thing she knew was that Mikan grabbed her throat, choking her. Before she could fight to get free, she felt herself fall to the ground painfully. Losing too much blood, she passed out right away.

Using his Wind Alice, Akira was able to arrive before the others. He had successfully prevented her from killing the girl. After catching both of her hands, he pinned her down to the ground.

"Return to your place now," he said demandingly to the girl below him.

She bared her fangs and hissed, "I will not until I have her!"

"Please…" he pleaded softly.

Her golden eyes flashed brown, and he sighed mentally. He knew she would only stop after she drank the blood of her prey. It sounded creepy, but the incident three years ago was stopped after she finally drank the blood of her prey. The girl almost lost her life at that time, but he came in time to take the place of the poor girl.

"Take my blood then go back to your place," he bargained.

She grinned. "Fine with me. I like your blood."

"Brace yourself," she told him as her fangs lengthened.

Akira freed her hands and bared his neck to her.

The rest finally caught up with Akira and Mikan. Rin quickly ran to Sumire and was relieved because she was still alive.

Ruka looked at golden-haired girl in horror.

Natsume's eyes widened in disbelief, and he felt his heart stop beating.

Mikan held Akira by his waist before sinking her fangs to his neck. He winced slightly as she started drinking his blood. After a few seconds the red colour outlining her eyes slowly receded, and her slitted golden eyes changed back to perfect round eyes. She pulled her fangs from his neck gently and licked the wounds to close the small puncture. Tears started welling in her eyes, and she hugged him while crying. Akira sighed in relief and hugged her back while whispering calming words into her ears.

Natsume balled his fists tightly. Obviously, he was jealous of this Akira for hugging his Mikan, but he knew that he couldn't do anything for her. In fact, he had never expected this outcome. He looked away as he couldn't bear to look at the girl he loved being hugged by another male.

In the end, Mikan fell asleep in Akira's arms. Narumi-sensei appeared before them as he panted breathlessly. Obviously, he had run to look for them.

"How's Mikan-chan?" Narumi-sensei asked after he approached them.

With a smile, Akira replied, "She's fine now, Narumi-sensei."

"Good thing that you arrived in time, Akira-kun," Narumi-sensei said as he sighed in relief.

Natsume clenched his fists tighter. To his dismay, this Akira was very well known by everyone except for him.

...xXx...

Everyone looked at Narumi-sensei as he joined them. "Everything has been handled."

He looked at Mikan sadly. "No one will remember about this incident."

Mikan was currently asleep in bed while Akira was sitting in a chair next to her.

"Do you need something, Akira-kun?" Narumi-sensei asked.

Akira nodded. "I'd like to speak with—"

"Me, I guess."

Narumi-sensei turned around, and his eyes widened. "Principal-san!"

Shiro Yamazaki, the head principal of Gakuen Alice, waved a hand dismissively in reply.

Natsume, who was inside the room, looked at Shiro curiously. He had never met the head principal before and only heard about him from rumours.

Narumi-sensei bowed at him before moving to the side.

Shiro approached Mikan, and Akira smiled. "It's been a while, Shiro."

"Three years can't be counted as a while, Akira," Shiro replied and turned to look at Rin, who bowed at him. "Shiro-sama."

Shiro nodded in reply and turned to look at Mikan, who was sleeping soundlessly. He reached out and caressed her face gently.

Unnoticed by them, our fire caster was fuming at the moment about how anyone, no, how any male could touch his Mikan! He felt as though he wanted to break something. A sigh from Akira broke his raging mind back to reality.

"I believe you haven't told her yet," Akira said.

Shiro smiled and withdrew his hand.

Everyone was confused as they didn't know what Akira was talking about.

Shiro turned his attention to Akira. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Mikan," Akira stated obviously.

Shiro closed his eyes for a moment. "Mikan should make her own decision, Akira."

"You know how to lock her, don't you?" Akira countered, almost harshly.

"I do, but in the end, it is she who is going to decide."

Akira sighed. "Care to explain?"

"She needs to find a mate, Akira," Shiro said calmly, and silence filled the room.

"Well, that is the easiest way," Shiro continued and looked down at Mikan.

"How many ways are there?" Natsume spoke for the first time and startled the others.

"Only two ways," Shiro replied after staring at Natsume. After a moment he continued, "The other way is by blood."

Shiro turned to Akira. "Akira, she returned to her place again because of your blood, or more precisely, she likes your blood."

Akira thought for a while before answering, "Are you trying to tell me that I have to feed her my blood frequently?"

Ruka cringed at the thought. He couldn't think about his friend drinking human blood frequently. Well, today was already too much to him: finding out that the golden-haired girl was actually Mikan and witnessing her almost killed a girl.

"Blood is something that can calm her and put her to sleep for a few years," Shiro explained shortly.

Before Akira could open his mouth, Hotaru supplied, "You mean even by blood, she will not be permanently locked in her place?"

Shiro nodded in reply.

"How many years would it hold her?" Akira inquired.

"Depends on the amount you're going to give her. If she willingly drinks your blood for 6 months, it can hold her other self for 5 years," Shiro replied.

Nasty. That was what they thought at the moment.

After a moment of silence, Hotaru asked, "What about mating? Should it have to be with a cat, too?"

"Not an ordinary cat. It has to be someone like her, someone who has another form as a cat," Shiro said while looking at her in the eye.

"That's impossible! Mikan has her cat form from the effect of the explosion." Hotaru exclaimed in disbelief. She was frustrated with the situation to say the least.

"No," Akira replied shortly.

Everyone except for Shiro turned to look at him.

"What do you mean by 'no'?" Hotaru asked slightly impatiently.

"Believe it or not, there's someone who has another form as a cat in this room, Hotaru," Akira replied while staring at Shiro.

Everyone except for Akira gasped in shock, and they looked at Shiro in disbelief. They didn't know their head principal was like Mikan, and they were speechless.

Shiro shook his head. "Did you realise that you just told them my secret without my permission, Akira?"

Akira rolled his eyes mentally. "It was too easy to figure it out considering your outstanding white hair and your golden eyes."

"Indeed. I should correct you though. My hair is silver, not white. To be precise, I'm a silver cat," Shiro said.

At this moment, Ruka's head was spinning in confusion. He had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, and what was this "cat form" about?

"What are you trying to say?" Natsume said, almost in fury. Really, he was not stupid. From the condition given, Shiro was trying to say that in order to save Mikan, she must mate with him. Even though he didn't know how the mating would be done, but he still didn't like the idea. He didn't like it one bit at all.

"As I have said, Hyuuga-san, Mikan will be the one to decide," Shiro said calmly.

Akira furrowed his eyebrows. "Tell me more about this mating."

Shiro began, "It is not the same mating like how humans become husband and wife."

Everyone noticed how Shiro gaze at Mikan longingly. "Just like the second way, it involves drinking blood. The only difference is we need to drink each other's blood. In other words, my animalistic self will assure hers to stay calm since I'll be the one to protect her from any harm. A bond will be created between us, and I will know if Mikan is in danger or not. Likewise, she will know about me, too. Every ten years after the mating, we will re-new the bond by drinking each other's blood again."

The room was silent until Akira spoke, "What if—"

"No. It won't happen as whether you like it or not, we are not the same, Akira," Shiro interrupted.

"Both of us are no longer normal humans. When we share a bond, she will live as long as I live," Shiro completed his explanation.

Natsume clenched his fists and closed his eyes. Once he opened it again, he asked, "Is there really no other way to seal her?"

Shiro looked thoughtful for a minute and smiled. "You know, I've thought about it for some time, Hyuuga-san."

Everyone looked between Natsume and Shiro.

"You love her, am I right?"

Dead silence.

Everyone looked at Natsume as they waited for his answer.

Natsume disappointed them when he asked back, "Is that really a matter to you?"

Shiro shrugged. "I'm just guessing that you will do anything for Mikan as long as she's safe."

After a moment of silence, Shiro smiled. "Since you're not denying it, I'll take that as a 'yes.' You do love her."

"Mikan?" Hotaru said suddenly, and everyone turned to look at Mikan, who slowly opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" Mikan blinked her eyes to get rid the sleepiness.

Akira chuckled. "Your room."

Mikan quickly turned to look at Akira, and tears started forming in her eyes again.

Akira pulled her into his arms. "Please don't cry, Mikan. I'm alright."

Tears started falling down her face as she hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry, Akira. I'm so sorry…"

Akira tried to calm her down. As she stopped crying, she faced him with a smile. "I missed you so much."

When those words slipped from her lips, Natsume felt as though he wanted to kill Akira. He absolutely hated him now, really hated him.

"I missed you, too," Akira replied with a smile. "I figured out that you might have been in trouble when I got the dream, so I came here."

"Of course, I'm not alone," Akira added and turned to Rin.

Mikan followed his eyes and smiled. "Rin-chan! How are you?"

Rin gave her a small bow and smiled. "I'm fine, Mikan-sama. I'm glad that you're alright."

"I've made everyone worry about me," Mikan said when she saw Shiro and Narumi-sensei in the room, too.

Feeling annoyed, Natsume walked away from his spot and towards the door. Mikan, who finally saw him, called out to him. He stopped walking but didn't turn around to face her.

"I want to introduce you to my family," she said.

Slowly, he turned around and mentally noted, Family?

Mikan motioned her hand to Natsume and told Rin, "Rin, this is my friend, Natsume."

Rin gave a small bow and greeted him with a small smile. "Pleased to meet you, Natsume-sama."

Natsume raised an eyebrow for her strange greeting with "-sama" and earned a giggle from Mikan. "She's always like that, Natsume. She's my messenger in the family."

Mikan turned her head to Akira and smiled. "Akira, this is Natsume."

She turned to look at Natsume when Akira held out a hand, and Natsume reluctantly shook it.

Natsume stared at Akira in shock and surprise after Mikan told him, "Natsume, meet my twin brother, Akira."

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