Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice is the property of Tachibana Higuchi.

This is an entry for the NatsumeSeries Contest, don't forget to vote! Submission started June 21st, and it ends on July 21st. Visit Vione or Romantically Loveless's profile for further details.

Into this Goodnight

"Worlds are spinning 'round,
there's no sign of slowing down.
So won't you take a breath?
Just take a breath.
People change and promises are broken,
clouds can move and skies will be wide open.
Don't forget to take a breath."

-'Take a Breath'

Natsume cursed under his breath as he sprinted down a rather dirty Tokyo alley. Damn Andou for getting knifed, damn the AAO for not sending backup, damn the Academy for being a step ahead! The black-haired teen put a hand to his side and felt blood seeping through the black fabric of his shirt. Thievery was not his specialty, missions were much simpler when he could assassinate a person and be done with it. No other casualties – usually, no politics, no boring dinner parties. This thing better be worth it…Natsume looked down ruefully at the packet in his hand, a sheaf of papers detailing personal information regarding the Academy's most accomplished spies. He smirked slightly at the cliché – dark and mysterious secret agent, priceless documents in hand – if Mikan had been here, she would have been laughing at him by now.

He looked back and grimaced, the Academy's operatives were gaining on him. Natsume stopped in his tracks, spun around, and caught Operative 1 in the chest with a roundhouse kick. The unfortunate man coughed up blood before turning to warily circle the AAO's notorious 'Black Cat.' He backed up into a defensive crouch and then flew back into a grimy wall, courtesy of Natsume's chunky black combat boot. The man slumped to the ground, unconscious. A whirlwind of blows followed as Natsume methodically took down the Academy's prized professionals one by one. He wiped the rapidly forming beads of sweat from his forehead.

The teen circled warily, making sure his assailants were all unconscious. Satisfied, he clutched his still aching side and limped home. Well, to the AAO headquarters, which as of now, constituted as a temporary place to stay. Natsume's early years at the Academy had been punctuated by forced participation in multiple criminal acts in affiliation with the corrupted Dangerous Abilities Class's teacher, Persona. At the age of fifteen, Nastume had organized a student revolt and lead his classmates straight to the AAO for refuge. He still agonized over the decision. Was it really right to lead children straight into the arms of a criminal organization? But, desperate times called for desperate measures. He had no other choice, really. Mikan reminded him of that fact almost every day.

Sliding around the last corner, Natsume stopped before the AAO building: his real mission began now. If he could sneak past Shiki, his slave driver of a captain, to deposit the package burning a hole in his pocket, he would be able to rest for the night. He maneuvered quietly around the side of the building, staying crouched beneath the windows, and sucked in a pained breath as the movement jostled his aching ribs. Natsume growled; one of the operatives had somehow gotten in a good, strong kick to his side. He stopped beneath the window of Shiki's office, hoping he was on a mission. Picking the lock, he slid through the window and cursed his luck. Shiki sat at his desk, smirking.

"Why so sneaky, Cat-chan?" Shiki crooned, leaning forward over his desk. The second he noticed the sheaf of papers in Natsume's hand, his demeanor changed drastically. "Let me see."

"Here," Nastume replied gruffly, throwing the package down on the wooden desk. He turned to leave, but stopped at Shiki's protest.

"Don't leave yet, Cat-chan, I have another mission for you." Natsume sighed, resigned to his unfortunate fate. Shiki continued, "The higher ups have reason to believe there is a traitor in our midst smuggling information about our operatives to the Academy. I believe you two are close; does 'Mikan Sakura' ring a bell?

"Mikan? You're wrong. Mikan would never." Nastume scoffed, the accusation was completely ridiculous. Mikan? She couldn't bear to even go on missions, and instead worked at the AAO's hospital. It wasn't that she was weak, rather…she knew the Academy's operatives were in the same position Natsume had been in. They had no choice, so she refused to fight them. Regardless, she didn't have a traitorous bone in her body.

Shiki merely reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a DVD marked with 12:45:00, 7/25/XX. "This afternoon, a security camera caught Mikan in front of the AAO building." With that he slid the incriminating disk into a laptop and pressed play, turning the screen to face Natsume.

Sure enough, Mikan had been caught on the tape, although Natsume wasn't quite sure what she was doing. She merely stood in front of the building, tracing a crack on the sidewalk with her toe. Shiki pressed fast forward until the time in the upper corner of the screen read '12:45:00.'

"Here," Shiki pointed at the screen as a stranger ran into Mikan, causing both to tumble to the ground. He paused the video and zoomed into a particular part of the screen, and then pressed 'play.' "See?" He pointed as the man quickly slid something into the Mikan's pocket as he pulled her back upright and began apologizing profusely.

Natsume was shocked, to say the least. "Are you sure she's the traitor?" he asked slowly.

"Her behavior is relatively incriminating," Shiki sneered, "Do you honestly think she could have been doing anything else?" Natsume remained silent as Shiki continued, "Your job is to neutralize the threat. You have until morning. Can you handle this?"

Inwardly shivering, Natsume nodded jerkily. He felt torn. The AAO did not react kindly to insubordination, and in his case, Ruka would most likely be beaten if he didn't go through with the mission. But this was Mikan. How in the world could he kill the one person who had kept him sane all of these years? As if in a trance, he turned and walked off in the general direction of Mikan's room.

"Have fun!" Shiki smiled as the door slammed shut.

Like hell I will…Nasume trudged down the hallway, stopping at the door decorated by tell-tale pink smiley faces and knocked twice. "Mikan?" He heard a thump that sounded suspiciously like someone falling out of bed, a groan, and then the sound of feet pattering across the cold wood floor. The door swung open, showing a sliver of Mikan's pale face.

"Natsume?" She asked, opening the door wider to allow him to enter. Nastume almost died on the spot; Mikan looked more like an angel than anyone had the right to. Her hair fell in soft, frizzy curls over her white nightdress, creating a halo of sorts. How could he kill something this innocent? The niggling voice in the back of his head reminded, Don't forget about Ruka; he couldn't walk for a week after last time.

"Are you alright?" Mikan ventured; his eyes were burning into the space directly above her head.

"Hn." He grunted noncommittally, flinching away from her as she reached out a small hand to touch his side.

"Natsume!" she gasped, "You're bleeding!" He didn't resist as she lead him over to sit on the chair by her bed. She rushed to her bathroom and wet a washcloth, bringing it back to him. Nastume didn't move to take it when she offered it to him, so she slowly unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off, looking at his ribs with the kind of medical detachment only she could attain while looking directly at his bare chest. Sumire would be having a fit, Hotaru snapping pictures like nobody's business, Anna covering her eyes and Nonoko blatantly staring in shock. Only Mikan…

The injured teen sighed as Mikan gently dabbed at his bloody side with the washcloth, this would be harder then he had originally thought. Maybe Shiki was mistaken? He dragged her hand away from his side and grimaced at the warmth of her skin. He dropped her wrist like it had burned him, and looked up into her now wide eyes.

"Natsume?" she asked, reaching forward again.

"Mikan, I'm going to ask you a very serious question, and you need to answer me carefully," Natsume pinned Mikan's arms to her side and stared deep into her hazel eyes as she nodded in affirmation, "Have you been leaking information to the Academy?"

"W-what?" Mikan's face paled at the thought, "N-no!"

"Liar." Natsume's grip on her upper arms tightened almost painfully. Mikan was absolutely stunned; tears began to leak out of the corners of her eyes.

"W-what do you m-mean?" Mikan began to stutter and shook in Nastume's grip. He looked up at her and blanched at the sight of her slightly splotchy face and wet eyes.

Be strong…Inwardly, he steeled himself for what was about to come, "You were caught on the security cameras, Mikan. That man slipped a package to you as he helped you up. I've seen it. Tell me the truth; I'll give you one last chance." His grip on her arms loosened, his muscles felt like rubber. He wanted to sink into the floor.

"Natsume." Mikan took a deep breath; "I wanted to surprise you-"

"Surprise?" Natsume's mouth hardened, "You wanted to surprise me with betrayal?"

"No!" Mikan broke free from his grip and waved her arms about as if she could banish the very though from the room, "I didn't betray anyone! That man wasn't an Academy operative."

"Then who was he, Mikan?" Natsume asked doubtfully, arms still limp at his sides.

"He was a go between-" Mikan began, only to be interrupted by the teen before her.

He looked back up at her, eyes hard, "How could you do this to me? You knew the higher ups would order me to kill you, didn't you?"

Mikan frowned, explanation forgotten, "You came here to kill me, Natsume?" Tears began to gather in her eyes again, "How could you? You know me! You know I wouldn't…" she trailed off helplessly.

"…" Natsume didn't answer; nothing he could have said would have made her feel better. That he didn't want to? That if he didn't, Ruka would die in her place?

"Listen to me," Mikan grabbed Nasume's corded arm and forced him to look at her, "I will never betray you." She shook him lightly to further cement the idea, "He wasn't a go between with the Academy; I bought us plane tickets to America, Natsume. We're getting out of here."

Natsume's crimson eyes widened infinitesimally before he hid the emotion, "What?"

"They're here." Mikan padded across the wood floor of her bedroom and opened the top drawer of her dresser, taking four slips of paper out. She brought them to Natsume and pressed them into his hand. "We leave tomorrow morning. You, me, Hotaru and Ruka. We're escaping; we'll have a new life!"

Natsume couldn't believe his eyes. "What about the others?"

"We'll come back for them." Mikan answered immediately.

"Where did you get the money?"

"Yuka. She's helping us, Natsume. She didn't want me to join the AAO in the first place."

"How can we trust her?"

"She's my mother, Nastume. She couldn't betray me."

"When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning." Mikan looked up at Natsume, beaming. "We're getting our lives back, Natsume."

He smiled down at her, mission forgotten, "So we are…but how? You're supposed to be dead."

"You can sleep here, Natsume and sneak us out in the morning. Ruka and Hotaru are going to meet us at the airport."

"Sure," Natsume smirked as Mikan wrapped a bandage around his side. The second she finished, he threw himself onto the bed. "You can sleep there," he pointed to the chair.

"What? No way," Mikan protested, pushing him over to make room for herself. She crawled under the covers and smiled up at Natsume, who had propped himself up against her headboard. "I never thought I'd see the day when the almighty Natsume Hyuuga would actually agree with someone."

"Hn." Natsume grunted.

Mikan closed her eyes contentedly, "Hey, Natsume," she said drowsily, "you won't leave me, right?"

"No." He replied emphatically.

"That's good," she sighed softly, "I'm glad…" Natsume ruffled her hair lightly, watching as her eyelids drifted southwards.

"You can go to sleep Mikan, I'm not going anywhere."

Mikan merely snuggled deeper into her covers, "I'm awake, it's okay." Natsume smiled at her tenacity and settled into the bed. He looked to the side and saw that his bedmate's eyes were now closed and she was breathing slowly, deeply. Asleep…

"Goodnight, Mikan." Natsume smiled tenderly at the sleeping girl beside him. She was his life, she had helped him through his past and given him the future he though he would never have. "And thank you," he whispered softly. She had given him hope, and for now, that was enough.

Someday we'll walk freely together, bewildered by this beautiful world…

.end

A/N: I hope you all liked this; I had fun writing it… Please review and tell me what you think!

~SL~