My Candy: Chapter 11

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

Words were not enough to describe her panic. Honestly, she really didn't know how to fight. How was she going to win a game where she only had the chance of losing? She gulped nervously as she tried to think of something. When the golden wolf lay on her stomach lazily, she was shocked. "W-what are you doing? A-aren't you going to fight me?"

The wolf snorted. "Silly girl, do you think you can win against me?"

She shut her mouth instantly as she did think she couldn't win against the wolf.

"The one who will fight is not you, my little girl. It will be your soul mate."

"H-how did you know about Natsume?"

"I see what you see."

She was confused now. How was Natsume going to fight her?

"Through you…" replied a black-haired wolf that suddenly appeared behind the golden wolf.

In the blink of an eye, her back was pressed against the hard ground.

Before everything went black, she heard the black wolf say, "Lend me your body for a while, little miss."

Hattori and Shiina were out of breath when they reached Mikan's room. After catching her breath, Shiina immediately rushed to Mikan, who was still unconscious, but Hattori stopped her.

Before Shiina could protest, Hattori said, "It's not her other half…"

Shiina didn't know what he meant by that until she looked at Mikan's hair that turned black instead of gold. Her eyes widened. "What the—"

Her breath caught in her throat when Mikan rose from the bed, and her eyes fluttered open to reveal red.

Everyone gasped, and before anyone could react, Mikan was in front of Natsume.

Natsume stood still as he gazed into Mikan's crimson eyes. "Who are you?"

Mikan grinned. "Are you willing to save your soul mate, young man?"

Everyone within the room was absolutely sure that Mikan was possessed by someone else. They looked at them anxiously. As to what was happening, they didn't have a clue at all.

"Who are you?" Natsume repeated calmly even though his mind was panicking.

"Your soul mate is my mate's host. I'm going to borrow this girl for a while…"

"What do you want?" His voice dripped with a hint of anger.

Mikan spared a glance at everyone in the room before looking at Natsume. "Come to me if you wish to save your soul mate, young man."

With that, Mikan disappeared in a flash.

No one uttered a word for a minute.

It was Ruka, who spoke first, "Natsume…"

Natsume looked at his best friend for a while before walking towards the balcony. "Don't follow me."

He had expected this Mikan to tell him how to save his love, but he was mistaken when she attacked him as soon as he arrived at the Northern Forest. She had successfully clawed his shoulder instead of his throat. Knowing it was not truly Mikan that attacked him, he decided to be on the defensive side. They circled each other, still maintaining eye contact. When she stopped, he, too, stopped. He barely dodged her claws when she suddenly lung at him again.

They fought for a few minutes, but it felt like hours to him. He knew he was losing since she was equipped with inhuman speed and deadly claws. Still, he refused to back down, but he refused to fight back as well. But, for the first time in his life, he truly thought he might die if he didn't do anything soon. He could barely stand when she suddenly stood before him.

"Why won't you fight back, young man?"

"I won't hurt her."

"Are you willing to die by her hand?"

"I won't die."

"Foolish human. Do you really love her that much that you will sacrifice your own life?"

While fighting with his dizziness, he answered, "Sacrifice? I'll give her my life if it's necessary."

She gazed at Natsume before closing her eyes with a smile. "My mate shouldn't have worried about her host after all."

He didn't get the chance to ask what she meant by that as the darkness engulfed his mind.

Sore. She felt as though she had been running for miles, and she was too tired at the moment to get up. However, the sound of the fluttering leaves and branches made her eyes snap open, and her encounter with the golden wolf inside her mind came flooding in (back). After the black wolf pinned her down, she didn't remember anything and lost her consciousness. Slowly, she lifted herself from the ground. She was in the Northern Forest, she was sure of it. As she looked down on her hands, her eyes dilated with horror as her nails were painted with dried blood. When she turned around, she lost her voice. Not far from her was Natsume, who was obviously unconscious. Quickly, she rushed to him. He had wounds all over his body, and she knew the wounds were caused by claws, her claws to be precise. The black wolf must have possessed her body when she was out and attacked Natsume. Tears started gathering in her eyes. Since she didn't feel any sort of pain, she had concluded that he didn't fight back.

"N-N-Natsume, please open your eyes…" She couldn't stop her tears as he didn't wake up. While hugging his lying form, she cried, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

Even though she knew she was possessed, the fact that it was her hands that had hurt him didn't change.

Suddenly, she heard him mutter, "I'm fine…"

She quickly sat up and took his hand as it was about to touch her face and pressed it on her cheek. "Natsume… I'm so sorry."

He coughed a bit and gave her a weak smile.

"Don't leave me, please…"

"I won't… Just let me sleep…" he whispered before closing his eyes again.

Suddenly, she felt her head spin before everything around her turned black.

...xXx...

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw white and knew that she was in the hospital. From the corner of her eyes, she saw another bed. As she turned to the bed, she found Natsume, who was still sleeping. Quickly, she pushed away her blanket. However, before she could get up from bed to approach Natsume, someone stopped her.

"Sick persons should stay in bed." It was Subaru, Hotaru's older brother.

"Subaru-nii-san…"

"He's fine," he said as if he had read her mind.

She sighed in relief and gazed at Natsume's sleeping form. Before she knew what was happening, she was already in Professor Shiina's arms.

"I'm so glad that you're alright, Mikan."

Mikan smiled. "Thank you, Professor Shiina."

Professor Shiina broke the hug. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired, but I'm fine."

"We have news to share with you."

She looked at the professor expectantly.

"Your other half… is no longer with you, Mikan."

It took her a few minutes to process her words. "Eh?"

...xXx...

A happy smile was on her face as her violet eyes watched the black-haired boy and his soul mate.

"Are you happy now?" said her own soul mate next to her ear.

Still smiling, she closed her eyes. "Yes."

"I did tell you that you made the right choice, right?"

She turned around to face her soul mate. "Thank you, Kazu."

He reached out to touch her cheek. "Are you ready for our next journey, Sachi?"

She answered by kissing him on the lips, and both of them disappeared from the Gakuen Alice grounds in the count of seconds.

...xXx...

While making their way to the gate of the school, Natsume murmured to Mikan, "Do you miss her?"

Startled, she looked at her boyfriend. "Eh? What are you talking about?"

He refrained himself from sighing. "Nothing."

She let out a tiny smile before hugging his arm. "I would be lying if I said no."

He walked a bit slower for her.

"I mean… she had been with me since that incident. Without her, it's kind of weird, I guess."

Professor Shiina told her that her other half was no longer with her, so she didn't have to eat her candy to prevent her transformation anymore. She became like any other normal student now. Her train of thoughts was cut short when Natsume grabbed her hand, which was on his arm.

Mikan sighed. "I still can't believe that she was willing to let me go just like that…"

"She let you go because her mate said so," he commented.

She gazed at him, confused.

"Her mate just wanted to make sure that I…" he trailed off.

"Are you saying that she was planning to let me go from the beginning…? But… why now?"

Natsume shrugged as he didn't know the answer either. As much as he wanted to know the truth, the one who could answer their questions was no longer with them. Suddenly, Mikan pulled his arm to walk faster towards the gate of the school. Their close friends were there, too, to send the two scientists off. They were leaving the academy as they had no reason to stay anymore even though they hadn't found the cure for Shiro yet. It was rather unfortunate that Shiro would be stuck in his predicament. But, Shiro had stated that he had accepted his condition and maybe it was his fate to stay in the academy as long as he is allowed with his long lifespan.

When they reached the gate, Mikan hugged the older woman tightly while smiling. "Thank you for everything, Professor Shiina."

"You're welcome, Mikan. I'm really happy for you." Shiina broke the hug and smiled before turning to Natsume. "Please take good care of Mikan, Natsume-kun."

"I can take care of myself, Professor Shiina!" Mikan flushed, embarrassed while Natsume remained unfazed and replied by nodding at the professor.

"Are you going to stay here, Akira-kun?" Shiina turned to Mikan's twin brother.

Akira shrugged. "I might. Depends on Mikan."

Mikan pouted, everyone was treating her like a child. She quickly turned to look at Shiro, who refused to be hugged by his father Hattori.

"Can't I get a hug from my son before leaving?" Hattori asked with a fake hurt face. Knowing Shiro wouldn't give him a hug, he smiled. "Take care, Shiro."

Shiro searched his father's eyes. "Thank you, Father. I will write when I have time."

Hattori smiled wider.

Both scientists went inside the limo and left the academy. Mikan and her friends made their way to the school building as they still had their classes.

"Ne, Natsume… I'm grateful that she was with me," Mikan started while walking along side with Natsume.

"Why?"

"Because without her, I wouldn't have been able to meet you," she said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"…"

"I remember."

"Remember?"

She cast a big smile to her boyfriend. "Nothing."

That was not the answer he wanted, but he didn't feel like forcing her to tell him either.

Still smiling, she looked ahead. She just remembered something that happened a long time ago.

The people around her were dying. Was she going to die, too? She wasn't sure, but the pain was sounbearable that she wished she was dead. Suddenly, she heard a voice.

"Do you want to live, little girl?"

Did she want to live? The answer was obvious. It was hurt to breath, but she managed to reply, "I want to live…"

She didn't know what happened to her afterwards. When she woke up, she met Professor Shiina for the first time. The older woman explained to her carefully what had happened. To be honest, she didn't want to believe it. She wanted to think it was just a nightmare, but whenever she looked at her claws, she knew she wasn't dreaming.

Because of her, she was still alive. Everyone believed that she survived from the explosion for being an Alice user. That theory might be wrong. Yet, she didn't have anything to prove otherwise. She entwined her fingers with Natsume's and leaned against his arm while looking at her candy, the candy she always had every hour to prevent her transformation.

Bewildered, he arched one eyebrow. "Still holding them?"

A small smile was on her face. "Yeah…"

Natsume glanced at the candy. That candy was the first thing he noticed about her unusual behaviours and her monthly sick-leave. If he didn't pursue the truth about his meeting with her that night, they wouldn't be together now. But, he was still annoyed whenever he recalled how he was forced to confess his love to Mikan by Sachi. However, it was thanks to her, too, that he and Mikan were tied together. No one would be able to break them apart.

"Without that sweet, I wouldn't be with you now," he stated suddenly.

Mikan smiled at him. "Yeah… It was all thanks to my candy."

The End

Thanks for reading.

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