[FFML] [Alice Academy][fanfic] A Clockwork Tangerine, Chapter 8

[Henry J. Cobb]

The other chapters of this fanfic can be found online at
http://www.io.com/~hcobb/anime/fanfic/clockwork.html

The translated manga can be preordered at
http://www.tokyopop.com/shop/1891/GakuenAlice/1.html

[Alice Academy][fanfic] A Clockwork Tangerine, Chapter 8
By Henry J. Cobb

The Gakuen Alice characters and situations are the creation of Higuchi
Tachibana and this parody is not intended to cause any damage to that
property.

Chapter eight: Slip the leash

The next day started with a big parade, so I slept in.

I was the first person in class that morning.  It was just a pro forma
session to count the inmates, so it fit in with my policy of doing exactly
enough to avoid notice.

Ruka came in holding his bunny, set next to me and half the girls in the
class pounced and started asking him about the last dance, but he ignored
them.

Last year the group had bothered both of us, but I guess that my
association with Mikan had marked me as off limits somehow or the Natsume
fad had worn off because I didn't have the mind altering power.  Ruka's was
only supposed to work on animals, but I guess that said something about the
type of girls he attracted.

There was one die hard case however.

"Natsume, I," Sumire stopped and looked down at my desk when I didn't turn
to her.

At that moment Mikan followed Hotaru into the classroom, "Hotaru did you
see the elephants and the clowns and, what's that?"

Hotaru looked at the crowd around Ruka, then went to her seat and took out
her notebook.

Mikan chatted with Nonoko and Anna then came over to me, "Natsume, you'll
be my partner for the Last Dance, right?"

"Hey," Sumire pushed in front of Mikan, "I was asking him first."

"Well he's my partner."

"That's got nothing to do with it."

"They don't want us there."

The two girls turned to me.

I looked directly at Mikan, "We Dangerous Ability types don't exist.
There's no place for us in a public function."

Sumire turned and took her seat.

"That's just crazy talk," Mikan paused to think of something else to say,
but took her seat as the substitute teacher cleared his throat.

Normally the class wouldn't respect his authority, but because I had been
playing along, nobody dared to take it upon themselves to be more
disruptive that I was.

He quickly called the roll, told the class about the awards ceremony that
afternoon and the ball that would be held that night and made his escape.

After lunch the students made their way to the parade grounds and I headed
out into the woods.

"Hey," Mikan tagged along, "Why aren't you going to the awards ceremony?"

"It's only for the four official types of Alices.  We don't exist."

"You keep saying that like we Dangerous Ability students are prisoners.
We're the ones who get to go out on secret missions.  It's because the
Academy trusts us more.  I got one star for my mission and I can't imagine
what you've done to earn a special star class.  The Academy must really
depend on you and you're always talking them down.  Why are you such a
grump?"

"You really want to know?  Okay, if it'll shut you up I'll let you know," I
picked up a branch and set it on fire with my Alice.  Then I smothered the
flames with my hands, brushed the ash off my palms and showed them to
Mikan, "I can't be burned, no matter how hot the flames are.  My sister had
the same Alice and I saw her badly burned corpse the day before I was
brought here.  Now tell me how great this school is."

"I, but I saw the burns on your neck when you first came to class wearing
that mask.  Did blocking your powers make you burn yourself?"

"That isn't it," I turned away.

"Now wait, that doesn't make any sense," Mikan reached for me then turned
when somebody else walked up.

"Oh there you are Mikan," It was Mr. Narumi, "I'm sorry that you've had to
wait so long for this."

"What?  This is grandpa's handwriting."

"Yes, he handed it to me a few days ago."

Mikan sat down and read the letter.

I took advantage of her distraction to wander off.  I decided to see just
how far she could track me so I headed towards the Northern Forest.

A half hour later I heard Hotaru's goose skycycle descending towards me.  I
ignored it.

"Accept Mikan's invitation," Hotaru said.

"Why should I?"

"I might drop you a hint as to her true nature if you show up."

I turned and saw a sly smile on her face, but her eyes were tracing unseen
shapes in midair.  Then she put her helmet on and flew off.

Why would she need to use her Alice when talking to me?

I headed back to the dorm.

I found Ruka talking with some squirrels on the way back and told him to
"Suit up."

"What?"

"We're going to the dance."

"Are you asking me out?"

"Don't be stupid.  Something interesting is going on."

The brown and white boy's outfit for the ball was waiting in my room.
After changing I took one glance in the mirror.  If I only had a pointed
hat I'd be a lawn gnome.

I found Hotaru brushing out Mikan's hair.

"You're almost perfect," Hotaru whispered in Mikan's ear and then without
looking up said to me, "She'll be ready in a moment."

"Natsume!  You've come to take me to the ball."

"Only if you're quiet," I nodded to Hotaru, and went to wait outside.

Mikan came out a few minutes later in a white ballerina style dress with
small yellow wings attached in back, "Like it?"

"What's with the top?"

"Huh?"

"You seemed fuller in the chest in your princess outfit.  Was it padded?"

"Why you...  Say, that means you're interested in the way I look."

"Whatever," I walked off.

Mikan ran up and put her arm through mine.

We found Yoichi staring at the wall in his room.

"Auntie Mikan!"  He ran up and she knelt down to hug him.

Apparently I was now just that guy with Mikan for almost everybody.  Suited
me, I'd been running a bit too high profile lately.

Yoichi broke out of Mikan's hug and looked up at her, "You went on a
mission and didn't tell me about it."

"Oh, I'm sorry Yo-chan.  It all started when Reo kidnapped Natsume and
me."

"Kidnapped, really?"

We walked off to the ball with Mikan in the middle holding our hands as she
told Yoichi about our excursion.

As the path passed through a dark grove, Persona spoke up from behind a
tree, "Dangerous Ability students are not permitted at public functions.
Therefore for tonight misters Hyuuga and Hijiri are Latent Ability students
while miss Sakura is a Special Ability student."

"Hi Persona!"  Yoichi waved with his free hand, but our teacher was already
gone.

In the main clearing there were strings of lights suspended between poles
around an enormous grail shaped cup.  Yuu was struggling with a long pole
with a torch held at the end to light it.

I snapped the fingers of my free hand, pointed at the cup for theatrical
effect and lit it with my power.

"Thanks Natsume," Yuu folded up the pole and put out the torch, "That dress
really suits you Mikan."

"You think so?"  Mikan released her grip on Yoichi and my hands and turned
around, "So who are you having the last dance with Yuu?"

"Well I," he held his hand behind his head and blushed.

"Auntie Mikan is dancing with Natsume!"  Yoichi grabbed our hands and
started to pull us away, "Come on, I'm hungry."

"I'll see you later Yuu," Mikan said over her shoulder.

"Ah, sure."

The buffet spread was quite impressive.  I could see why as a foreign
investor loaded three huge crabs on a plate then scurried off to a table
placed to the side that had a bunch of other foreigners and Japanese
tycoons standing around it.  Apparently there was too much Alice clutter
for Mikan to spot who the obvious center of their attention must be.

I found an empty table towards the other side.  Our moment of seclusion
didn't last as Anna and Nonoko showed up, "Oh hi Mikan, Natsume."  "And
look, it's Yo-chan."

"What's the matter you two?" Mikan asked them.

"Mr. Misaki just turned us down again."

"Why don't one of you two ask Yuu to dance?"

"He's nice and all, but I don't want to be seen leading somebody on who's
really interested in somebody else."

"There's a girl Yuu likes?"

"Clueless as always, aren't you Mikan?"

"So Anna, did you make any of this?"  I pointed to my plate with a fork.

"No, I've been too busy preparing for the ball."

"Good," I dug in.

"What a cruel thing to say!"

I ignored Mikan and continued to eat.

"Why don't we ask Mr. Misaki again?"  "Maybe he's changed his mind."  The
two girls left.

"Uh, oh!"

"What's the matter Yo-chan?"

"That's the new girl in my class.  She's weird.  She likes ghosts.  She has
a sister who's got a ghost Alice and is always bugging me about my ghosts."
Yoichi ducked under the table and scurried off.

"Yo-chan's got a girlfriend.  That's so cute."

"He didn't seem too trilled about it."

After we finished eating, Mikan scanned the crowd then zeroed in on the
table with the tycoons crowded around it, "There's Hotaru."  She got up and
I followed her.

We were halfway to Hotaru's table when Mikan stopped and her eyes seemed to
follow an invisible line leading from that table.  She turned and followed
it.

She stopped in front of a bench at the edge of the woods where Yome sat
writing in a notebook.

"Why are you using your Alice on those people?"  Mikan leaned over to look
at Yome's notebook, but he held it against his chest.

"Go ahead and tell her."

Yome looked up at me then back to Mikan, "I'm reading selected items from
the investors that Hotaru tells me to."

"Why would she do that?"  Mikan asked.

"I don't know."

"But you're reading the instructions from her mind."

"Normally I can't read Hotaru at all.  Her mind is all full of math and
inventions because of her Alice and I can't follow any of it.  But when she
concentrates on just one thing I can pick it up.  Like now she's thinking:
Mikan, buzz off."

I risked a glance at Hotaru, but she had turned away to actually talk to
one of her investors.

"Hmph!" Mikan turned away, "Isn't that just like Hotaru, to run things her
own way.  Well at least they're not Alices or anything."

Mikan stopped, crossed her hands over her mouth and blanched.  Then she ran
off.

"What happened to her?" Yome asked.

"I'll deal with it.  She's my partner."

I found Mikan a short distance off in the woods.

She stood looking out into the darkness, "What's wrong with me, Natsume?"

"Sit down," I pointed at a bench, "close your eyes and breathe for a bit."

A minute or two later she seemed to calm down a bit.

"Now, are you under the influence of any Alice?"

She concentrated for a moment, "No."

"Are we under surveillance?"

"Yes, Ms. Yamada.  Blocked."

"So, what's the problem?"

"What I said, I sounded like Sumire.  No, I was worse.  She says Alices are
special people.  The way I said it, it's like non-Alices aren't really
people at all," She looked up at me, "What's wrong with me, Natsume?"

"The Academy is winning.  You're too strong to force you to do things so
they're letting you come around to their way of seeing things on your own.
Do you like using your Alice?"

"Yes, I love it.  Ever since you opened my eyes, I've seen each Alice like
a great painting, only constantly moving and changing, like a waterfall.  I
can't see non-Alices at all, even when I look right at them.  It's like a
wall has dropped between me and ordinary people.  What's going to happen to
me?"

"You'll be the next Persona, only better.  You'll never have to threaten
your students, because you'll know them inside and out.  And when they go
out and hurt ordinary people, it won't matter to you, because non-Alices
aren't real people after all."

"I don't want that.  I shouldn't want that."

"What's the problem then?  I've done everything just the way you asked.
I've attended class and played by all the rules while you've been running
around using your Alice freely.  What do you want?"

"I don't know, but I can't go on like this."

"Then let's change things, but for now we need to play by the rules.
Blocking Ms. Yamada is very suspicious.  Don't do that anymore, just change
the subject or something when she's watching.  Come on, let's go back to
the party before they send the guards after us,"  I held out my hand and
Mikan took it.

When we got back the girls from our class were lining up at the stage.

"Mikan, over here,"  Hotaru indicated the empty spot in front of herself.

I went over and joined Ruka at the edge of the crowd.

"What happened with Mikan?"  He asked.

"Nothing."

"Next up is Mikan Sakura.  Which partner do you choose for the last dance
of the night?"

"Natsume Hyuuga."

I went up, bowed and took her hand.

A moment later Hotaru announced Ruka Nogi as her choice.  He looked around
for an escape then sighed and walked up to her.

Sumire glared at Hotaru then turned around and left the line.

Mikan looked towards Sumire, "Her Alice is growling."

I whispered in Mikan's ear, "I hope you don't believe in all the rubbish
they say about the last dance."

"What's that?"

"Good."

"Wait, tell me.  What's it all about?"

"They say that partners at the last dance will fall in love."

"What's love?  I mean I love grandpa and I love Hotaru like a sister and I
guess I love you like a brother, if I knew what that was like.  You're the
one I trust most here."

"You can't.  You should not.  You must not trust anybody here."

"Where did they get that part about falling in love?"

"I suppose it's all part of the Academy's plan, to get Alices to marry
other Alices."

"Why would they bother?"

"It's the entire point of the Academy.  Children of two Alices have
stronger Alices.  They've gotten up to monsters like you and me and still
it's not enough."

The music started up and I tried to lead Mikan, but neither of us knew much
about dancing.

Hotaru frowned then lead Ruka over and released him, "Mind if I cut in?"

"Sure," Mikan turned to her, but Hotaru took my hands.

"Oh," Mikan turned to Ruka, "I guess we're together then.  If you don't
mind?"

"N - no, that's ok."

"Don't they make a lovely couple?"  Hotaru whispered in my ear while
nodding towards Ruka and Mikan, "It's not a bomb you know."

"Oh?"

"This close to Mikan we can speak freely, but she can't hear us. It will
not destroy itself.  Its primary mission is to defend itself.  That's why
it hid for years.  Only a direct assault against Mikan's mind forced it to
reveal itself.  Its four stages are to stop, to see, to do and to be.  It
feeds off other Alices, but it scares her, so she has it sleep.  You need
to keep pushing her forwards."

"Why should I?"

"The final result will be something wonderful.  The end to all of our
pains.  Here, let me help you give her a little kick," Hotaru released my
hands to grab my head and pull me close for a kiss.

Mikan stopped with mouth agape.  Ruka took another step then turned to see
what she was looking at.

There was a human shriek of outrage that turned into an inhuman roar and
everybody stopped dancing.

Couples scrambled out of the way as a figure leapt in accelerating bounds
towards us.

It was Sumire, using her Alice, with dog ears, cat's whiskers and claws
spread.

Ruka and Mikan dropped each other's hands, pointed at Sumire and shouted
"Stop!" in unison.

Sumire landed on all fours and looked at them.  Then her animal features
faded away. She steeped up out of her crouch and punched Hotaru in the jaw.

Hotaru went down and Sumire stepped towards her.

I grabbed Sumire's left wrist and she turned towards me and swiped the
outspread fingers of her other hand across my vest, but without her Alice
claws the cloth wasn't even scratched.  I grabbed that wrist too, but she
pushed me over onto my back with her on top of me.

"It's not fair, it's not fair!" she struggled and bit me on the shoulder,
but thankfully with human teeth rather than her Alice derived fangs.

"Mikan, stop it."  I pushed Sumire away and lost my grip on her wrists.

"But she's trying to use her Alice!"

"Let her, then Ruka can calm her down."  I caught Sumire's wrists again as
she batted her hands at me and rolled over her, knocking off one of the
wings from her dress.

"Is that all I am to you, a mad dog to be brought under control?"  Sumire
stopped struggling and lay under me crying.

"That depends.  Are you going to act like one or are you ok now?"

Sumire nodded so I got off her and helped her to her feet.  Then I caught
Mikan's glance and nodded over to where Hotaru was sitting on the ground
holding her jaw.

Mr Narumi was running towards us, but the Elementary Branch Headmaster got
there first, "What happened here?"

I walked over to him, "Miss Shoda lost control of her Alice then Miss
Sakura used her Alice to put Miss Shoda into Alice shock and disobeyed my
direct order to stop.  Miss Shoda hit Miss Imai while under Alice shock."

"So this is the famous Mikan Sakura," He walked up and studied her face
then turned back to me, "Both Miss Sakura and Miss Shoda are reduced to
No-star status for seven days, starting tomorrow morning.  Also,
Mr. Narumi, you are to counsel both of your students on the proper use of
their Alices."

Mikan watched him walk away then asked me, "Who was that guy?"

"He's that nosebiter, the Elementary Branch Principal."

"I thought you were the Student Principal for the Elementary Branch?"

"He's the Elementary Branch school Principal.  It's his job.  He's not a
student."

"He creeped me out.  Where does he stand on your least favorite people
list?"

"He's number two on my I don't want to know anything at all about them list."

"Say, you called me Mikan, for the first time!"

"Sorry, but thanks to you, I was too busy fighting to come up with a clever
insult.  Next time I'll just shout Hey Stupid and everybody will know who I
mean," I turned back towards Sumire, but Mr. Narumi was already sitting
with her so I just walked away.  The dance was over anyway.

The next morning Mikan came to my table, carrying her No-star breakfast.

"Did you try to get Persona to drop your punishment?"

"No, I don't think I want to ask him for anything."

"It wouldn't matter, he's outranked."

"By that little kid?"

"You've been here for months and you still trust appearances?  Don't sit
here.  Go apologize to Hotaru."

"Huh?"

"If you weren't there last night she wouldn't have been hurt."

"I see why Sumire doesn't use her Alice."

"You don't know anything.  She used to use her Alice all the time before me
and Ruka came here.  Mostly to tune out Mr. Narumi I think."

"Why'd she stop?"

"I don't know what happened exactly.  You'll have to ask her or Ruka."

"Why are you smiling?  You know what happened, don't you?"

"I wasn't there, but the next day Ruka had scratches on his face, the
Natsume fan club had become the Natsume and Ruka fan club and she didn't
use her Alice anymore."

"Now you know that I'll have to ask him, but that I really shouldn't."

"Consider it part of your punishment.  Now go sit with Ruka or Hotaru or
even Yuu.  I don't care.  Just don't sit with me today."

As Mikan walked off I shouted over to Sumire, "Shoda!"

Sumire turned away from the fan club table and brought her tray with her
No-star breakfast to my table.

"Have a seat,"  I pushed a plate of grilled salmon towards her.

She looked down at it, "You know I love fish.  Why, after what I did last
night?"

"It wasn't your fault.  You're just a little girl caught up in a bigger
game.  Are you ok?"

"Yes," She looked down and started to pick at the fish with her chopsticks,
"Thanks for holding back.  I'm no match for you with or without Alices."

During classes the teachers told us of the subjects that would be covered
on the final exams.

At the start of lunch break Mikan ran up to Hotaru, "If you help me I'm
sure that I can get the top student award and go see my grandpa."

"Forget it."

"What?", Mikan turned to me.

"First you're stupid and second Dangerous Ability students don't get to go
home again, ever.  Go ahead and turn in blank pages on all of your exams
and see if they even think about throwing you out of here."

That shut her up and she lagged behind on the way to the dinning hall until
suddenly she ran up to me.

I turned, but she ran past and stood between me and a small grove, "You
can't take him."

Persona stepped up and addressed me, "It's international, pack for a few
days."

"Understood," I turned back towards the dorms.

"But his power hurts him.  Don't make him fight for you anymore."

"Mikan," I turned back, "bug off."

"This doesn't concern you little girl", Persona held out his right hand
towards Mikan and black dots appeared in midair.

I stepped forwards and readied my power.

Persona's power stopped.

"You tried to burn me," Mikan stepped towards him as the other students
backed away, "but it wasn't like Natsume's power.  It was more like acid
than fire.  You can burn Natsume.  You were the one who burned Natsume that
time.  You killed Natsume's sister!"

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Die!" Mikan pointed towards him.

"Shut up!" Persona looked around him and saw that he was covered with growing
black dots, "What have you done!"  The black dots grew until they merged
and covered him. his scream of pain and rage turned into a high pitched
squeal that faded away to nothing.  The black dots turned into a black mist
that blew away on the breeze, leaving just a small black crater in the
ground.

The super fast runner from our class started towards Mikan, but she turned
towards him and he tripped and rolled until he hit a tree.

His teleporter girlfriend concentrated for a moment then reopened her eyes
and ran to him.

A white fog rose and blanked everything out of sight, then suddenly
vanished.  As none of the school weather controllers operated that quickly
it must have been one of Yuu's illusions.

"Everybody stop it.  Stop it at once," Mr. Jinno shouted, "Do not feed The
Nullification!"

Hotaru grinned at this, closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Her Alice, it's hurting her", Mikan stepped towards Hotaru.

I grabbed Mikan's hand and pulled her back to face me, "You can't fight
everybody at the academy.  Let's run for it now."

She followed and we almost got to the west wall before she dropped my hand,
stopped and said, "Why are we running?  With our two Alices we can beat
anybody."

"You don't understand anything."

"Wha--"  Mikan held her hands to her head and dropped to her knees, "The
walls, they're pressing in on me."

"Say hello to the school's barrier Alice, but I bet she can't take us both
on at once," I stepped away from Mikan, built up my power and released it
all at once in a huge fireball against the wall.  The concussive blast blew
a twenty foot breach in the wall.

I picked up Mikan and stepped over the rubble.

She seemed to recover once we were across the street, "What was that?"

"The entire school layout is designed to enhance one Alice.  Normally it's
spread over the outer walls, but it can strike anywhere inside them.  I
don't know if it's the Academy's final line of defense, but it's the
biggest they've ever used against me."

We ran for a few hours and none of the other Alices showed up.  Either
Mikan blocked all of their scans or they were afraid to face her one on
one.

As we rested in an alleyway I turned to her, "How exactly did you kill
Persona?"

"All of his Alice prevention devices were Alice based so I nullified them."

"Why did you kill him?"

"He was evil.  He hurt you.  I'm sure you've killed a lot of people before
for much worse reasons."

"Before you interfered with the Reo mission I hadn't killed anybody.
People are afraid of fire so I can make them back off without hurting
them."

"Well don't be too sure you've killed anybody then."

"What?"

"Shidou's here.  Wait, that's not him.  How can that be his Alice?"  Mikan
walked up to a car and knocked on one of its darkened windows.

A lady in a rather fake looking blond wig rolled down the window, "Yes?"

"Are we related?"

"If you are Mikan Sakura then you're my daughter.  Can I hold your hand for
a moment?"

"Why?"

"Unlike you, my power to analyze Alices is limited to touch.  You've got
your father's range."

Mikan held out her hand and the lady grasped it, "Yes, it's you Mikan.
Sorry, but I can never be too sure with the tricks the Academy can pull.
Get in.  You too Natsume."

We got in and Mikan's mom turned the car away from the Academy.

"How?" I asked Mikan.

"She's got Shidou's Barrier Alice, but there's something a little fake
about it.  Under that she's got another Alice that's closely related to
mine."

"When one of Reo's men mentioned that they had you Mikan I came running,"
Her mom said, "but I only got there in time to take Shidou's Alice just
before he died."

"So do you work for Reo's group?"  I considered how I might blow the doors
of the car open without harming Mikan.

"Not anymore.  Reo got a small scratch on his face in that fight and went
mad.  He killed our boss and took over and I split.  What are you two doing
outside the Academy today?"

"Mikan killed a teacher with her Alice."

"Which one?"

"Persona," Mikan looked out the window on the suburbs of Tokyo that we were
speeding past.

"Oh," Mikan's mother seemed to slump a bit, "I swore I would be the one to
avenge your father, but you've beaten me to it."

That night we got a two bed room in a rundown hotel north of Tokyo.  I
tried to adjust the easy chair to be comfortable to sleep in, but Mikan
waved me over.

Her mother shrugged and turned the other way on her bed as Mikan snuggled
up next to me on her own.

I put an arm around Mikan and she quickly fell asleep, but I lay there
thinking about it for a while.  If Hotaru was right and Mikan's Alice did
feed on other Alices then this was just her way of adjusting to being away
from all of the other Alices at the Academy.

Let her.  It didn't seem to hurt any and if she drained away all of my
Alice then I really wouldn't mind at all.

Over the next few weeks we made our way north, changing cars often until
one morning outside of Sapporo, Mikan's mother woke us with "We're going
back."

"What?"  Mikan sat up next to me, "You're turning us in?"

"It's not that," her mother handed her a newspaper, "The Academy has taken
your twin sister hostage."

"My what, what, what?"

I looked at the newspaper and silently read the headline, "Popular
Children's Show Canceled.  Child Actress Retires to Focus on Her
Education."

-----

And so ends the narration of our boy the fried Hamlet and his little dog,
Tangerine.

Next up is an insane tweeny rock goddess with the hammerspace Alice.  As
befits a deity with the power of creationism, her life has undergone a
strange parallel evolution.

-- 
Henry J. Cobb
http://www.io.com/~hcobb/