I Love You: Chapter 12

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

While scanning his surroundings, Natsu panted softly. The fight with the elders had taken place not far from the school grounds. Everything was as he had predicted, Takashi brought half of the elders to fight with them. He smirked as he just knew what the head of elders had planned. The group already caught up with him by defeating their supposed enemies. Surprisingly, all of them could control their own demon side quite well in a just short amount of time. After a few moments the group stood in mid air in front of Takashi who was still trying to stay conscious. The ground below them was now filled with the unconscious elders. Even though it was supposed to be a war between the demons and elders, Natsu had ordered that they not kill the elders, and of course, they all obeyed his wishes.
Takashi shook his head to clear the dizziness that was slowly consuming his mind. Out of breath, he glared at the group with malice. It was a shame that he would have to carry the burden of the elders' loss against the demons for the rest of his life.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kira, the second seat of the elders, asked with pure horror on his face.

The rest of the elders stayed silent.

"This is for the best. We will not repeat history," Takashi stated nonchalantly.

Kira shook his head. "I won't take part of this, Takashi. As we all know, the demons have no fault against us."

Some of the elders behind him nodded in agreement.

"The Sakura Family was exiled because of the sin that we tried to hide from the royal families," Kira added.

"Are you siding with the demons, Kira?" Takashi glared at Kira.

The elders behind him started murmuring words to each other as they watched them argued.

"I merely state the truth. Our Great Elders have made a mistake by exiling the Sakura family. Are you going to repeat that again?" Kira countered back.

Although the incident had happened more than ahundred years ago, there were still pros and cons among the elders regarding The Forbidden Family.

"Remember this, Kira. Demons will never rule us. The prince has turned into one, and I will not allow that to happen," Takashi hissed.

"I can see that you're still trying to deny the truth, Takashi." Kira stood up from his seat. He gazed at the other elders before looking at Takashi again."I will not take part in this. They might bedemons on the outside, but they still have hearts like us."

Kira walked out of the room, and some of the elders followed him.

Takashi clenched his fist as he tried to think of a better idea. Kira had never disobeyed his command before, and he himself wouldn't admit the mistake of their Great Elders. Suddenly, the last will of his father came to his mind. Eyes widening, he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"You know, Elder-san. It's really useless to fight us," Natsu said, staring at Takashi, who was on his knees now.

"I'm not doing anything useless." Takashi coughed out more blood.

Natsu sighed mentally. "Have you forgotten the origin of your power, Elder-san?"

Natsu walked towards him, and before the blackness engulfed him, he heard the last will of his father again.

"May you lead us back to the right path, Takashi," his father breathed out before closing his eyes forever.

Ten-year-old Takashi stared at his father with dull eyes as he whispered to his father, "Why?"

Unfortunately, his father would never have the chance to give him the answer.

He looked at his mother. "Okaa-sama, I don't understand."

Tears rolled down his face. He just lost his father.

His mother hugged him. "You will understand when the time comes. Your father doesn't want you to repeat history again, Takashi."

...xXx...

Anna and Nonoko walked around the group to heal the injuries they got from their fight. They were still in their demon form, but unlike the rest of the group, both had healing abilities that could boost their natural healing.

"What will happen now?" Ruka asked out loud.

"Something good," Hotaru replied to herself rather than to him.

Natsume, who was sitting on the coach, sighed. "Just let Takashi decide on that matter."

"Natsume…" Ruka muttered. He didn't know what he could do to help his best friend from being exiled. The last thing he wanted was to repeat history in the royal families.

"I don't really understand what the elders were thinking," Yuu filled the short silence.

Natsume suddenly opened his eyes. He looked down at Mikan, who was sleeping on his lap. He caressed her face gently. "It was all about the first pact."

Anna and Nonoko's appearances went back to normal as they had successfully healed their injuries. Both of them sat down as they all listened to Natsume.

"Just like what Mitsuki told you the other day, demons are not accepted by the royal society. That was until the head of the elders Takashi Souma, made a pact with the demon. Takashi was also the name of the head of the elders when the Sakura Family was still in the part of the royal families."

Natsume paused, and asked his other self, 'Why should I retell all of your memories?'

'Because I don't feel like going out right now, and Mika's also exhausted from the fight,' Natsu replied him in a matter-of-fact tone.

'So, it was simply because Mika was not around that you don't want to show up?' Natsume snorted mentally.

'I know you're clever, Master.' Natsu pressed hard on the word of "Master" to him.

Natsume rolled his eyes in annoyance.

The group stayed silent as they waited for Natsume. They knew Natsume was communicating with his demon side considering that his six-pointed star lit up. They were all startled when Natsume suddenly growled.

Coming back to the reality, Natsume faced the group and realized that everyone was waiting for him to continue. He sighed. "It was stated in the pact that the demons will share their power with the member of elders, but in exchange, they will be accepted by the royal society. Changing something that has been a tradition was rather difficult, so they couldn't complete the pact within a year. As we all know humans are not immortal like demons. Still, the pact was completed, but after a few generations, the elders betrayed the demons."

A small smile formed on Mikan's lips, and Natsume smiled inwardly. "Not long after that, one of the Sakura Family's members had fallen in love with a demon, and the term of Forbidden Family was created. I guess you know the rest of the story."

Unknown to the group, the person who was lying on the bed was also listening to the story.

Mikan slowly opened her eyes and blinked her eyes sleepily.

Natsume immediately leaned down and kissed her cheek. He whispered into her ear, "How are you feeling, love?"

He didn't bother to look at the group who was watching him. Truth to be told, he never showed any affection in public, but somehow, he was willing to show how much he loved this girl. Still cupping her cheek, he pulled his body up and looked down at her.

Mikan placed her hand on top of his and smiled. "Still a bit tired, but I'm fine."

In truth, she didn't know why she felt so tired and found it hard to breathe.

"I think it's time for us to go back to our rooms and rest," Hotaru suggested.

Everyone looked at Natsume as if waiting for him to say yes.

Natsume raised an eyebrow at them. "What?"

"Natsume, do you think we need to guard him?" Koko asked while pointing to the person that was on the bed. It was none other than Takashi Souma.

Natsume gazed at Takashi and then said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear him, "I don't think we will need to do that."

Mikan slowly sat up and leaned against Natsume tiredly.

"Are you alright, Mikan-chan?" asked Sumire.

Mikan gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine, Sumire-chan."

Mitsuki grabbed Mikan's hands. "You look so pale, Mikan-san."

"Don't worry; I'm really fine," Mikan replied, but her voice betrayed her.

Hotaru approached her and put her hand to her forehead. "You have a fever, stupid."

Natsume turned to look at Mikan immediately. He didn't feel anything wrong with her while she was sleeping on his lap. He was wrong after he touched her forehead though. Without another word, he scooped her up bridal-style. Within seconds, the six-pointed star on his forehead appeared, and in a blink of an eye, he was gone from their sights.

...xXx...

Panic was out of question as Natsume paced around the room. He didn't know what was happening to Mikan. It had been 10 hours, and her fever had gone up instead of cooling down. Of course, he was not alone. After around three hours, the group had come to see Mikan and was dragged into panic state, too. They didn't know what was happening. Subaru Imai, Hotaru's big brother also had come and checked on Mikan. He, too, had given a negative answer that he was clueless as to what was happening to her.

'Natsu, do you know something about this?' Natsume asked mentally, but he received no answer.

After a few moments, Natsu finally replied, 'It's time.'

'What time?'

'It's time for Mikan-sama to experience the pain of the curse.'

"What?" Natsume exclaimed out loud.

The group looked at him, startled by his outburst.

Natsume was panic. "You can't be serious! What curse?"

Again, no one said a word about him talking to himself, but they started getting worried when Natsume mentioned the word of "curse."

'Calm down, Master. I'll explain everything,' Nastu replied with a sigh.

'Calm down? How can I?'

Natsume wished that the black witch was still alive so that he could kill her himself. He mentally barked, 'Explain to tell me. NOW!'

To him, it was impossible to believe that the curse was still with Mikan. It was supposed to be lifted since he had paid the price for the curse. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and grabbed the nearby table to support his body.

The boys who saw this quickly went to Natsume. Right before he collapsed, the boys caught him. Now, the panic in the room grew a hundred times as they looked worriedly between Natsume and Mikan.

"Natsume… Natsume…" Ruka called out his best friend. He felt like crying for his inability to help his only childhood friends. What's wrong?

"What's happening?" Hotaru asked in fear. Never had she felt so much fear in her life until now.

Sumire grabbed her arms as she, too, was having the same fear for Mikan.

A gasp escaped from Mitsuki's lips, and the group turned to look at her paled face. They looked at her eyes direction which was to Mikan, and their eyes widened in horror.

Hotaru felt the blood drain from her face. She quickly ran to Mikan and frantically said, "Someone, bring my brother here immediately!"

Yuu, who was the first one that recovered from the shock, ran out of the room. The girls quickly helped Hotaru as they quickly searched for first aid kit.

"Please stop it…" Hotaru pleaded softly and tears started rolling down her face. Her hands were shaking as she tried to hold herself from fainting. She had tried to bandage her head, but it seemed the red liquid wouldn't stop leaking out from Mikan's six-pointed star.

Prev Chapter 1—The Mute Girl Chapter 2—The Black Witch Chapter 3—The Prince of Japan Chapter 4—The Special Condition Chapter 5—The Decision Chapter 6—The Unexpected News Chapter 7—The Forbidden Family Chapter 8—The Ancient Memory Chapter 9—The Other One Chapter 10—The Price Chapter 11—The First Pact Chapter 12—The Pain Chapter 13—The Endless Love Next