3rd persons POV
Akako watches as Natsume walks away, her heart warming at his words. A voice directs her eyes towards her sister who is running towards her.
When Mikan finds Akako, she feels hopeless as recalls what Iinchō has told her, saddened by his words.
:::
"It's about Natsume... there's something that I wanted to tell you!" At those words, the class representative had Mikan's full attention.
No matter how awful or mean Natsume is to Mikan, she still cares for him. They've become friends, and Mikan has suspected that one day he would be her brother in law.
"At first I thought it was because of the soul exchange. That it was because his body wasn't used to having a different soul... I though that I was so tired because of that. But then I switched to Shouda-San's body and I don't feel the pain or the feeling of being drained at all."
Mikan processes the words.
"And even before this, I knew that Hyūga-San had been in and out of the hospital for a while now... to think that Hyūga-Kun has been enduring the torture of this sickness.. and after I thought of that.... I remembered. Many have said that Akako-Chan's condition is much worse than that of Natsume-kun." Yuu frowns at this.
If he thought that Natsume felt awful, he couldn't imagine how Akako-Chan felt in her body.
"Eh?! Mikan-Chan!" The boy exclaims as Mikan runs away. The three friends watch as the brunette runs away, desperate to find Natsume or her little sister.
Akako was Mikan's little sister. For Mikan, it was tough learning that Akako was sick because of her Alices... but to learn that she's gotten worse.. Akako's condition is worse than Natsume's. Everyone has always known that. And when Mikan watched Tobita speak of the pain, he looked in pain even remembering it. The suffering that those two go through.. and yet they protect everyone around them... Mikan wanted to protect them. She wanted to keep them safe instead of the other way around!
:::
"Ah! Mikan-nee!" Akako smiles as her sister runs towards her. As soon as Mikan is close enough, she envelopes her little sister in a hug.
Warmed and worried by the sudden action, Akako returns the embrace. Mikan buries her face in her sister's shoulder as she grips her tightly, now very much worrying her sister.
"Onee-Chan.. has something happened? What's wrong?" Akako hugs her sister tighter in an attempt to comfort Mikan from the unknown issue that's bothering her.
The older girl pauses for a moment but doesn't move away. Finally, after a moment of silence, Mikan speaks.
"Ne, Akako-Chan.... I'll always be here. No matter what happens or is what to come.. I'll stay by your side."
Her words melt Akako, the younger girl looking at her sister in adoration. "Nee-Chan..."
Mikan now leans away. She grabs Akako's hands in hers and brings them close to her face, not being able to look at Akako. She speaks into her sisters hands, almost pleading and praying.
"You, you will do the same. Right? You won't leave me? We'll be together forever..?"
Akako tears up, wishing and hoping alongside her sister that they will never be separated. She smiles her biggest smile and nods with so much strength and energy. "Hai! I will be with Mikan-nee for forever!"
Both girls smile at each other through their tears, but their attention goes to the bushes when there's a rustling. They wipe their eyes wile making their way over there and are surprised to see their teacher.
"Narumi-Sensei!" Mikan exclaims as they watch their teacher lean against a tree. "What are you doing in a place like that?" She questions, making Akako nod in agreement.
"Hai! I don't think Bear would hide in bushes. He's beating up others in Hotaru's body anyways!" Akako smiles but it disappears when Narumi slides to the ground.
"Narumi-Sensei!" The girls shout and hop the fence that is separating them. They run to the mans aid, surprising him since he didn't notice them.
"Ah.. Mikan-Chan and Aka-!" Narumi begins to speak but falls to the ground.
"Are you okay? Are you tired? Should we go call someone?!" Mikan blasts him with questions, only to be grabbed by the wrist.
"Calm down, Mikan-Chan..." Narumi shakes off the girls worries.
"Demo, Sensei! You don't loo-!" He raises a hand to silence Akako.
"I should be fine if I rest a bit. Don't make a big fuss about it..." Narumi pants.
Although he tells them not to worry, Akako goes towards his head and places it on her lap as his eyes close. Seeing them begin to droop, the twins panic.
"Sensei!"
"Naru-Sensei!"
Mikan stares at her teacher in worry, seeing as he won't awake from his slumber. "Ah! I should go call someone, but he has a grip on my hand!"
Akako tried to lift the mans head, but seeing as he's dead limp at the moment, even budging him was a struggle.
"Ugh!" Akako grunts as she does her best to move the blonde's head off of her lap. She pushes it away while moving her legs, but makes sure to keep her hands under his head to cushion it from the ground.
"Wouldn't it be easier to escape his grasp if you remove the glove from his hand?"
Their heads snap towards the voice, their pigtails slapping them in the face from the sudden movement.
"Ah! Jinji- I mean Jinno-Sensei!" Mikan sputters as she stares at the strict teacher.
He gives her a small glare, "Can't you even say someone's name right?"
His gaze then moves towards Narumi, who is laying unconscious between the girls. He stares at the annoying blonde in question, since his state is so out of character. "Narumi-Sensei? That's odd.... his condition is weird." Jinno bends down to assist Mikan who is still trapped by Narumi's hand.
He moves Mikan's hand while simultaneously removing the glove from Narumi's hand. Once it was fully off, the three who were there freeze at the sight.
Black bruises covered Narumi's whole hand. Decorating and hiding his once beautifully flawless white skin.
Jinno and Akako stare at the hand in horror as it takes Mikan a moment to realize what was covering her teacher. Finally, it clicks in her mind.
Persona...
Jinno reaches forward and yanks Narumi's sleeve up to reveal more and more black marks. He opens Narumi's shirt for them to see the marks reaching the area of his chest in which his heart is located.
"Jinno-Sensei!" Akako exclaims as she reaches forward, placing her fingers on her teachers neck. "Narumi-Sensei doesn't have a pulse!" Tears prickle the girl's eyes.
Jinno frowns and hands his phone to Mikan, "Sakura, call the medic on my phone. Quickly!" He calls out as he goes to try to aid Narumi.
He, however gets more frustrated when he sees the brunette not moving. "Sakur-!" he attempts to call out, but is cut off.
"Akako-Chan..." Mikan mumbles. He turns his head to where Mikan is looking and sees Akako holding Narumi's arm in her hands.
Stealing the Alice.
After a moment, Narumi's eyes open and he panics when he sees Akako using the stealing Alice.
"Stop that, Akako-Chan!" Narumi yanks his hand away from the blonde girl, but she just reaches for him again.
Tears are still forming in her eyes as she desperately reaches for his arm, trying with all of her might to relieve her teacher of his pain and suffering. She claws outward in an attempt to latch onto Narumi. She succeeds and grabs on to him as though he were her life source, but he does something that shocks everyone present.
A loud and sharp noise is heard before anyone can register it. Akako stumbles away, dropping the rock that was forming in her hand. Her cheek tingles, making her reach up to touch it. Mikan stares in shock, watching as Akako stands dazed for a moment. Heat begins to radiate from the blondes cheek and it becomes slightly tender.
Without missing another beat, Akako throws herself in one last attempt to capture Narumi; this time Mikan joins her. They trap Narumi's arms to his sides as they lock arms with one another, practically immobilizing him.
"Girls! Sto-!"
"As If I would stop, Naru-Baka!" Akako shouts, tears and sweat trailing down her face.
Narumi stands there in shock as Mikan looks up at him, a fire in her eyes as tears well up in her brown orbs.
"You can hit either of us or yell at us... but.. I- no... We won't allow Narumi-Sensei to just disappear from our lives!" Mikan shouts, surprising the male.
In a flash, Narumi is reminded of her words. "Naru, please... protect the children.."
He sees the faces of all of his students in his head. All of their smiles and laughs... he will miss out on more if he does die. His death would cause those smiles to fade as tears wash them away.
Something swishes and hits Narumi on the head, causing him to fall down to the ground. Akako and Mikan look at Jinno in shock, seeing as he hit Narumi in the back of the head to render him defenseless.
"Hurry up, you two! Take the Alice away before he gets up!" He shouts, causing the twins to move once more. They both cover Narumi's arm with their hands. Four hands, working with much determination to steal the Alice that has made home in Narumi's body.
Soon, two more rocks form in each girl's hand, smaller than the one that Akako had earlier. Tears begin to fall down their face as they lean against their teacher. The tension and severity of the situation finally taking a toll on them. Their hearts broke at even the thought of Narumi-Sensei not being in their lives anymore.
Jinno walked away, saying that he wouldn't speak of this moment; and he leaves the three to their time. Both girls soon fall unconscious from the tiring work of stealing the Alice.
Although one is far more affected than the other. Even though their minds were distracted from her condition, that doesn't mean that Akako's body gave her a break. Rain begins to fall, causing Narumi to stare up into the sky in thought.
One more season to go... and it will have been a year since Mikan came to the academy.
Narumi looks down and fear strikes him when he sees blood trailing from Akako's nose. Just a drop, but enough to tell him that she had gotten worse.
He knew that no one else could learn of Akako and Mikan's stealing Alice... and Akako couldn't take the Alice from herself. Although she did that with Persona's Alice a long time ago, she did that unconsciously. She doesn't know how she did it.
And he wouldn't risk Mikan taking the Alice... so there was nothing that he could do to take the Alices away from Akako. How would he even go about telling Akako the heart breaking news? She would surely feel awful if she learned that she stole Alices from others. Especially since she knows that Alices are a part of who they are. And finding out that the Alices that she had come to love don't belong to her? If he were to tell her, that would be him purposefully shattering her heart into a million pieces. But if he didn't do anything.... Akako could possibly not live to thirteen, maybe even twelve.
Narumi hoists the two girls on to his shoulders before heading to the elementary dorms. He goes and places Mikan in her bed before taking a secret back pathway to take Akako to the hospital. After a few hours, Narumi is forced to leave as Akako rests.
These thoughts burden Narumi, as they have everyone else that knows of the situation after the Hanahime den.
Slowly... with each passing second that those two Alices reside within Akako, they reject her body chemistry. Destroying her body from the inside. Because she was not born with those Alices, they were never really ever compatible with her. But.. somehow.... she managed to fight them this long. Akako managed to survive longer than she should have, but everyone else is scared. Akako is playing a game with life without knowing. And they don't know how much longer the chess match will last until life traps Akako.
Uttering the words....
Checkmate.
Guys!!!!!!!! I'm akdhaldhsldhskajdkdhakdhfkshdjdhdkdhskfhskahdkdhakdhdkshdkdhslshekdjwlshdkxhdksjdhdksuskhdksiwjdhuskwheudhs.
That's how I feel^.
I'm crying!
My Akako.... I don't know how much longer she is going to last. I really don't. This story is writing itself. I'm so scared for my baby, I don't know what will come to me next, but I'm sure to cry!