~Alice Princess (REVISED)~

SUMMARY: Betraying her blackmailers and escaping from them, Mikan Sakura flees back to Gakuen Alice. There, she is pursued, but escapes from them again. She re-enrolls into the academy under a new identity. Will she be able to survive?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gakuen Alice.

Dedicated to: diamondarrowmage!! You're a real lifesaver! (; Thanks for everything!

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NOTE: This, as the title says, is a revised version of the original. The original was only 5.2 chapters long previously. I'm hoping this new version will go down well with you guys! (;

My first chapter for the original was its best chapter then, but I'm changing much of it, with the promised 'movie effect'! The most important thing for now is that Mikan's original mission alias has been changed, to Nusumi.

Enjoy!

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Chapter One: Escaping and Returning

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In the Northern Woods of Gakuen Alice in Tokyo, Japan, it was currently the dead of the night, somewhere around midnight. If you happened to be out this very night, you might have spotted a lithe, slender figure darting in and out of the trees and foliage so fast that before you even had a chance to completely utter the sentence 'WHO WAS THAT?!' , the person has already disappeared. Sooner or later, you'll probably hear shouts coming from all sorts of directions in the forest.

'FIND HER! SHE DISAPPEARED!!' is one shout. 'WHERE DID SHE GO? IT'S SO DARK I CAN'T EVEN SEE WHAT'S IN FRONT OF ME!' is another. Probably, if you really DID venture outside tonight, you would've been so terrified you would've scuttled back to your room in seconds, thus missing the chance to see anything else. Anyway, back to the person currently being tailed by a whole lotta people in black suits:

The person currently running around in the forest is rather slim and has brunette hair. She wears a nearly white mask on her face that conceals her eyes. The mask has a rather intricate design, with some petal blossoms decorating its left side. The person is also wearing a nearly black outfit, complete with black leather gloves. What's NOT black in the outfit is a silver choker. This choker has many 'holes' all around its outer perimeter, and in every single hole, lies an… Alice stone. Some of the Alice stones currently attached to the choker are the: Ice Alice, Wind Alice, Levitation Alice, Lightning Alice, Water Alice, Instant Teleportation Alice, Barrier Alice, Earth Alice and the…Fire Alice. The Fire Alice stone, however, is the biggest, and also holds a hidden, special meaning to the choker's current wearer, thus earning it the place of honour right at the front of the choker where the wearer's neck faces front.

Anyway, the person's outfit is probably not as important as knowing the person's identity, right? Who is this female anyway and why are there so many people chasing her? Her current alias is 'Nusumi'. If you're wondering why she's called 'Nusumi', I'll briefly explain for now that it has something to do with her Alices, which are the Nullification Alice and the Stealing (SEC) Alice.

Nusumi was running for her life, away from enemies. She risked a quick look over her shoulders as she raced through the Northern Woods. There was nobody to be seen at the moment, but there were distant sounds of some people following her.

The multi-Alice user paused for a split second to regain her breath, and then continued onwards through the forest. 'Shoot...' thought Nusumi. 'I'm getting near the Elementary School Division buildings. Not a good idea.'

She stopped when the route led her to a cross path. There were 4 routes she could take. One, continue northwards and arrive at the Elementary School Division. Two, turn east to the Middle School. Three was to continue west towards the High School. Lastly and fourthly, going back south, which was the way she'd come from, and that was NOT an option.

Nusumi thought for a moment and checked her phone. The date was December 31st, and the current time was 11:23 PM. Nusumi grinned, then raced towards the east route towards the Middle School. 'Hii-sama might just have a few surprises in store for me...' thought the brunette, allowing herself the luxury of a small smirk to grace her usually emotionless face to praise herself for her brilliant idea.

After a few brief minutes of continuous, non-stop running, the soon-to-be 15 year old reached the so-called 'palace' of Gakuen Alice: Hii-sama's personal Hanazonokai garden, where she lived and also hosted parties. Tonight, there was, indeed, yet another party currently being held in the luxurious 'palace'. Nusumi hid behind a rather large stone on the outskirts of the main pavement of the 'palace'.

Lights from lanterns suddenly appeared round a corner of the 'palace' near Nusumi's hiding spot. She instantly crouched down as low as she could go, hoping that nobody would be able to find her if they had that type of Alice. Some people appeared, looking as if they all had very curvy bodies that could be quite easily discerned through the lantern lights. Nusumi was sure they were indeed all females attending the party, for this night's party, Nusumi very well knew, disallowed ALL males, and Hii-sama had even gone so far as to place a 'Males Not Allowed' Alice (A/N: OK, this Alice was my own idea) all around the perimeter of the entire garden.

Hii-sama disliked boys, Nusumi remembered. The last time she'd allowed boys to enter the garden, which was exactly 4 years ago on this very night, there had been so much trouble occurring thanks to a certain raven-haired boy, that Hii-sama had disallowed boys for whatever reason from that day onwards. Suddenly, Nusumi heard someone in the group walking in front of her speak. It was such a familiar voice that Nusumi could barely suppress a gasp.

'You know, Hotaru-chan, today is the 1st of January right? Isn't it that Baka's 15th birthday?' said a girl with long, pink hair. She, like the rest of the girls in her group, was dressed in a yukata. 'Anna-chan…' thought Nusumi, her eyes widening.

'… Yes,' answered another member of the party with short, purple hair and amethyst- coloured eyes. 'HOTARU!' thought Nusumi.

'Tonight's the Hana Princess party again. It's been like, 3 years since we started attending it, right? But only Hotaru-chan's attended it for 4 years, and only she is allowed into Hii-sama's room with the rest of the privileged ones. Plus, Hotaru-chan's Hana Princess Name is so nice: Waka Murasaki,' remarked another girl with permed hair.

'Yep. I wish Mikan No Kimi was here though,' replied a fourth girl. 'Permy and Nonoko..and what's with the mentioning of MY Princess Name?!'

There were two more girls in the party, walking at the back. One was slightly shorter than all the others, who were about the same height. 'Nobara-chan?' said the shorter girl.

The Ice Princess looked at her class partner, best friend and long-time companion, Hyuuga Aoi. 'Yes?'

Aoi looked ahead at the front of the group, where the other 4 were still talking about some 'Baka'. 'Are they talking about Mikan-chan again? I know it's her birthday today.'

Ibaragi Nobara looked grave and sad. 'Yes, Aoi, they are.' Aoi looked upset instantly. 'I wonder where Mikan-chan is now…'

Meanwhile, at the front of the group, Nonoko was talking. 'If only Mikan-chan was still here, then we could have so much fun together! And Hotaru-chan could have a companion going with her to the Hana Inner Sanctum!'

Imai Hotaru looked at her. 'Yeah. Maybe I could have had a partner.' The Ice Queen was rather emotionless as usual, but even though the night was pretty dark, Nusumi was sure she could see Hotaru's eyes forming tears.

'Hotaru, Anna, Nonoko, Sumire aka Permy, Nobara and Aoi, I'm so sorry. You're my best friends in the world, but I left you all behind.'

Just then, Nusumi's sharp ears heard the sound of someone moving very quickly towards her position. She immediately readied one hand, preparing herself to face yet another adversary.

The said adversary stepped out from behind a tree, and Nusumi gasped, as she recognized who the adversary was…

Persona.

'Why,' said Persona with a thin smile, 'welcome back, Miss Mikan Sakura.'

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Natsume Hyuuga was sitting on a branch in his favourite Sakura Tree with Ruka, Mochiage, Koko, Yuu and Kitsuneme.

It was midnight, and the gang was rapidly falling asleep. They would be snoring in their beds already if not for the fact that Hotaru had blackmailed all of them, even Yuu, to take them back to the dorms after the Hanazonokai Party was over.

Mochiage was, as usual, grumbling loudly about Hotaru's blackmailing abilities. Ruka had long given up trying to stop Hotaru from blackmailing him as well, and now he just gave in to her demands, since it was easier than arguing and chasing Imai.

Natsume's phone buzzed thrice softly. He was surprised, and took out his phone. The message on the tiny screen made him sit up at once.

'Assemble at the D.A ability classroom immediately. We have a new student. Persona.'

He frowned, and then started climbing down the Sakura Tree.

'I have to go. The idiot Persona's having a meeting. Tell that idiot Imai I'll pay her 100 YEN tomorrow for going off.'

His friends nodded, and Natsume disappeared into the shadows of the forest beyond.

Ruka shivered suddenly, and he was convinced that it wasn't the cold wind. He had a feeling that something would be different soon…

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Nobara, Sumire and the other girls (minus Hotaru) were all enjoying themselves at the party. Just then, Nobara's phone trilled gently.

Nobara fished out her phone, reading the text message quickly.

Her ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly. Hmm…

She shut her phone and put it back in her beaded clutch.

'I'm sorry, guys,' she said to Aoi and the others.

The stopped walking and glanced at her.

'Huh?' they all chorused at the same time.

'I have to go for a D.A class meeting now. Sorry,' she said apologetically.

Her friends sighed.

'It's okay,' reassured Aoi. 'Now go, okay? Before Persona-sensei gets angry.'

Nobara nodded as her other friends smiled at her.

'Okay then. See you guys another time.'

'Bye, Nobara!' shouted her friends as she turned away and began walking quickly towards the Hanazonokai Palace's front doors. There was no time to get the boys Hotaru had blackmailed to escort her; she would have to get the Hanazonokai Palace to arrange a quick teleportation trip for her.

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Natsume arrived at the D.A ability classroom at 1 AM. He felt a pang of pain across his chest as he remembered the day. Today was his Mikan's 15th birthday.

He pulled the ornately-decorated red door and stepped into the room, shoes connecting with a plush red carpet.

Breathing softly, his deep, crimson eyes swept around the room, noting the current situation.

Ibaragi was standing next to Persona and a girl clad entirely in black with an intricately-designed mask, in front of the teacher's desk.

The rest of the 78-odd members of the D.A class, including Natsume himself, all sat in their seats. In total, Natsume mentally calculated, plus the new student, their group would now have 80 students.

'Welcome,' said Persona stiffly, as he noticed his favourite student's arrival.

Natsume glared at him and sat in the farthest seat available from Persona's desk. Persona just smirked when he saw this, and turned to the two girls next to him.

The class, Natsume knew, were all softly discussing. He stared at the new student, who was obviously a girl. The girl seemed to glance at him for a moment or two before quickly re-directing her attention towards Persona.

Persona was speaking to the two of them, meanwhile. A few moments later, Persona raised his hand for silence.

Silence immediately pervaded the room.

Persona laid a hand on the new girl's shoulder, and the new girl seemed to wince for a moment before she relaxed.

Natsume looked more closely at the girl, which was not very easy since he was sitting all the way on the other side of the room.

He wondered who this girl was like.

'This is our ability class's latest student, Nusumi Hawara. Make her feel welcome. She will be graded as a Special Star, and her Alices are the Barrier Alice and the Elemental Alice. Her two Alices are the 4th type, however, so please do not ask her to show her Alices. She is 15 years old this year. Hawara, you will take the seat next to Nobara in the 2nd row, next to the window. You'll be Nobara's partner during missions and training, and your alias will be Miuchi Hogosha. Or for short, Miu.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Good. You are all dismissed, except for Miu and Nobara.'

The class nodded and they all left quickly, including Natsume, who wanted to sleep as early as possible.

Miu was left behind with Nobara and Persona.

Once the last student had left, Persona glanced around before quietly speaking to Miu and Nobara.

'Miu, the D.A class is a little different from in the past that you knew it was. When you left, you remember that the ESP was very harsh and evil, using the students of the D.A class as pawns. Now, however, everything is very different. The current principal is Narumi, and the D.A class is no longer mistreated and scorned by the other ability classes.'

Persona paused for a moment.

'You'll attend class when the year begins in high school, in class B with your friends. Or, would you rather be in a different class ...?'

'No,' said Miu immediately. 'No thanks. I'll stay in class B.'

'I see. Very well, then. You may notice that I assigned you to be Nobara's partner even though the two of you are different in ages. Nobara is in her last year of high school and she will graduate this year. I have assigned the two of you to be partners since I am certain that the two of you will work very well together.'

Nobara glanced uncomfortably at Miu.'

'Nobara.'

'Yes, Persona-sensei?'

'I think Miu knows what I have to do now. And I am sure she agrees. Do you, Miu?'

Miu nodded firmly, looking at Nobara.'

Persona took a deep breath and extended a white-gloved hand in Miu's direction.

Miu moved her hands to her face, puzzling Nobara.

'Nobara, meet Sakura Mikan.'

Miu pulled her mask off in one smooth move, and a stunned Nobara gasped as she stared at Miu's revealed face.

'Mikan-chan?!?'

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Author's Note: How was this?? It's a pretty long-awaited update, I guess! You guys probably have noticed by now that I've deleted the old chapters of the original fic (:

Did you guys like it? Love it? Tell me anything! But for flames, please make them constructive, okay?

Till the next update,

XOXO

Shaiwaru