Setsuna sighed sadly as she walked the old, worn stone path through the Mahora school grounds. Her footsteps echoed emptily through the icy night air – step after step after step. A cold wind blew right through the light, cotton jacket she wore, but she managed to somehow ignore it. Instead, Setsuna allowed her thoughts wander their way to the conversation she had just a little earlier with a certain Konoe Heiress . . .
"Oh, I'll be just fine! Honestly, Setsuna . . ." Konoka sighed, twirling a strand of chocolate-colored hair around one finger absentmindedly. "It's sweet of you, but there's no need to worry about me . . ."
"Ms. Konoka . . ." Setsuna trailed off, looking away sadly. "I'm your protector – I'm supposed to worry about you."
"Oh, it's just one night – lighten up a bit will you? You'll have me back by morning! Dad's having me go to another marriage meeting, but he's a bit skeptical about me bringing you this time." Konoka responded, sighing. "The other guy didn't take it too well when you picked a fight with his protector. I'll only be a couple miles away – not a couple of countries."
Dropping down to one knee, Setsuna realized there was no point in arguing with the heiress. Bowing her head in defeat – as well as respect – she replied. "As . . . as you wish, Ms. Konoka. I will await your safe return."
Setsuna heard the girl sigh again as she continued to study the floor . . . which actually looked pretty soft for cheap carpet. 'Do "cheap" and "carpet" even work together?' The swordsman wondered, her mind drifting off subject for a brief second.
Suddenly, she was pulled up from the carpeted floor and into an abrupt bear-hug. "Seriously, stop being so uptight." Konoka mumbled, tightening her grip. "You're starting to make me worry about you now!"
Setsuna felt her face redden in embarrassment as she awkwardly hugged Konoka back. "H- Hai, Ms. Konoka! O- Of course . . ." She stammered, trailing off. "Whatever you say."
The heiress giggled, pulling away. "You're so cute Se-chan! And so easily flustered . . ."
Smirking, she tapped the swordsman on the nose teasingly. "I'm starting to think Se-chan has a crush on me."
Silence.
Setsuna's eyes widened as a wild blush spread over her face quickly. The swordsman shook her head and waving her arms in front of her frantically as she rambled unintelligibly. Raising an eyebrow, Konoka frowned. "I was only kidding . . ."
Setsuna shivered as another winter wind blew right through her jacket again. She really needed to find something much warmer to wear during these colder months.
She continued walking as her feet carrying her one place but her mind another. The only sound to be heard was the echo of her footsteps throughout the dark woods.
Not that she cared very much.
But, she was starting to feel more and lonelier with each step taken.
'Why leave me like this, Ms. Konoka?' She thought unhappily, sighing. 'Now I have no one to talk to . . . to cheer me up . . . to protect.'
Feeling a sudden jerk on her right foot, Setsuna gave a squeak of surprise as she fallen face-first into the path. It happened so abruptly, she had no time to react to it to catch herself.
Plus, not paying to your surroundings can also tend to make your reflects slower.
Groaning in pain, the swordsman had managed to roll herself onto her back. She then pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her head with one hand. Looking for what had caused her trip, she immediately spotted her left foot trapped under a random tree root creeping over the path.
Typical. She could defeat at least thirty different demons to try and protect Konoka but trips over a . . . tree root the one day the heiress isn't with her.
Setsuna laughed, shaking her head at her thoughtlessness as she went to push herself back up. But, a sharp pain caused her to immediately fall back down onto the ground.
The swordsman softly touched her ankle, wincing as she did so. Well . . . it wasn't broken – she could tell that much. "You just had to go and sprain your ankle, didn't you?" She muttered angrily at herself. Sighing, the swordsman shook her head. 'No use getting mad . . .'
Unsure what to do now, Setsuna chewed on her bottom lip nervously.
'Well, I could always try and call Asuna, but . . . I left my phone in the dorm. Huh, not a very smart move . . . I could use my sword as a walking stick, but . . . that's also at the dorm. Damn, I didn't think at all tonight, did I? Ah, I wonder if –'
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as a voice cut through the silent night air like a knife.
"Well, this is a shame, isn't it?" someone chuckled. From the tone of the voice, she assumed it was male. Snapping her gaze from one direction to another, the swordsman tried to locate where the voice had sounded from.
"That won't do any good. You'll only succeed in stressing yourself out. We, wouldn't want that, now, would we?" He asked, his voice echoing. "Where are you?" Setsuna demanded. "Show yourself, now!"
"As you wish, Milady." The man replied, stepping out into the dim moonlight.
In what little light she received, Setsuna studied him
He had a faint beard . . . well . . . it was too little hair to be called a beard in her opinion. So, it seemed more like he was a bit 'scruffy'. He wore a blood-red, button-up shirt that seemed a bit too long for him, even if he seemed to be at least five foot ten. He also wore a pair of blue jeans that looked just the right size on him, and with what looked to be black boots. A black, leather coat hung just past his knees - looking a few sizes too big for him. And, black, leather gloves kept his hands from getting frost-bite in the freezing, winter air.
His eyes were a soft blue, and his hair was cut short and a light, sandy-ish blonde. Everything about this man was charming yet very unnerving in a way. The one thing that pushed Setsuna the most was the simple item he wore- a black half-mask. It was decorated with small, silver stars and a lightly detailed, silver dragon that weaved its way from over the nose to above his right eye.
"Just who are you?" She frowned, staring up at him warily. The man took a couple steps towards her, replying, "I am, milady, The Black Knight."
"The Black Knight . . .?" She mumbled, feeling more than a little confused. "What kind of name is that?"
"Well then," He frowned, his blue eyes flashing furiously for half a second. "What kind of name is Setsuna?"
She opened her mouth to remark something back, but stopped. 'H- How does he . . . Know my name? I can't be that popular, can I?'
His frown quickly turned into a grin as he chuckled in amusement from her baffled expression. "Yes, I know your name . . . I also know the friend you so dearly fancy – Konoka I believe it is."
"I- I don't f- fancy her!" Setsuna stammered, blushing furiously. "I- I am just a lowly s- servant . . . n- nothing special to her . . ."
His smile never faltered as he shook his head. Turning around with a soft 'flutter' from his coat, his voice dropped from a light, amused one to and icy, low one. "You will be mine, Sakurazaki. And, I say this now. Leave her alone or watch her suffer. It's your choice."
With that, he melted into the darkness before him – leaving her there, speechless.
Realization hit her. Someone had just threatened the well-being of her dearest friend. Shit.
Well, she couldn't just sit here all night.
Gingerly prodding her ankle again, she couldn't help but wince. But . . . she would live. Grabbing hold of the nearest tree trunk, Setsuna managed to push herself up with her right leg. Maybe she could hop home.
The idea itself made a small huff of laughter escape her. That would look more than just ridiculous. And, little by little, she hopped down the path – holding onto the tree trunks of course.
However, after a few minutes, she was mildly surprised when she finally noticed a few voices up ahead.
"It's a beautiful night, Master." Chachamaru's polite voice seemingly sighed, echoing slightly.
A snort of amusement was heard, and Evangeline replied quite sarcastically, "If you count only being able to see leaves and branches above us, then I suppose it is."
The robot gave no response, except for a small sigh.
A few moments of silence passed, and this time the swordsman heard Eva sigh. "Setsuna, why are you hugging the tree? I swear, if you've been drinking again –"
"I haven't been drinking." She hissed, glaring into the darkness. "And, that was one night! And you're the one who gave me the bottle!"
The vampire finally came into view, and Setsuna scowled at the girl's smirk. "I'm guessing you need help?" The vampire's grin broadened – causing the swordsman to sigh.
The Next Day ***
Tapping her pen against the table thoughtfully, Setsuna read over the question thoughtfully one more. She was no math whiz, so solving just one question could take more than five minutes for her. Sadly, she was only halfway through her homework sheet.
If only Konoka were here . . . the girl was amazingly quick and accurate at algebra! Sighing, she shut her text-book.
She could finish the rest later . . .
Setting her pen down onto the table with a soft 'tap', she reached for the glass of lemonade she had set on the table earlier.
"I wonder where Ms. Konoka had gone to today . . ." She mused aloud, taking a sip. "She said she would be back, but I didn't see her at school . . ."
She had done her best not to limp into the classroom, but it was rather hard not to. But, no one had asked her about it. So, it seemed that she wasn't too badly hurt.
Suddenly, her door slammed open, causing her to give a small jump of surprise as she spilled all of her beverage down the front of her. Her sigh of frustration immediately turned into a squeak of shock as someone suddenly hugged her.
"I'm sorry, Setsuna!" Konoka exclaimed, sounding as if she had run all the way up there. "I would have been back sooner, but dad insisted we stay the night! And the traffic wasn't too pleasant . . . Oh, it was so boring without you, Se-chan . . ."
"Ms. Konoka!" the swordsman grinned, a mixture of shame from squealing like a child and happiness from seeing her friend basically made up what she was mainly feeling.
Frowning, the heiress gingerly tugged on Setsuna's shirt. "Why are you all wet?"
"Ah, well, I kind of spilt my drink all over myself when you walked in." She responded with a blush. "You kind of startled me."
"Gomen . . ." The other girl apologized, looking away. "I guess I should have knocked first."
"That would have been nice." She agreed.
A day later
A twelve year old Setsuna bounded through a beautiful sunflower field, laughing happily the whole way.
"Se-chan! W- Wait up, please!" Someone called out.
She turned around to see Konoka running towards her with big grin spread over her face. "Of course, Kono-chan! I'd never leave you behind!" Setsuna stated truthfully.
"Isn't just beautiful here?" the young heiress asked, finally catching up. Glancing around along with Konoka her gaze lazily followed a fluttering butterfly.
Setsuna nodded happily in response. "It's sunny, it's pretty, and there are lots of flowers for us to pick! It's wonderful!"
The other girl laughed. "Well of course! Don't you remember? I told you about this place a few days ago!"
Setsuna nodded, her grin never faltering. "How could I ever forget?"
Konoka tapped Setsuna on the nose, stating, "I bet you can't catch me!"
With that, she took off running. Setsuna laughed, chasing after her friend. "I'll catch you! You'll see!"
*** (hi!)
Setsuna blinked open her eyes sleepily, dully noting the pillow she was hugging against her. Sighing, she pushed herself up into a sitting position as she ran her fingers through her raven black hair.
After a very boring afternoon of sorta-kinda limping around her dorm and finishing up homework, she had decided to take a little nap (She had let her hair down before going to sleep.).
Konoka was shopping with Asuna, and she had politely declined to join the heiress. For one thing, she really didn't want the girl to notice the small limp she had; two, she didn't exactly enjoy shopping to the extent other girls would. Yes, it was a bit weird, but . . . she wasn't exactly normal, now was she?
"It's such a shame the dream had to end . . ." She sighed. "It was turning out to be pretty good . . . I wonder if I ever caught Kono-chan . . ."
She frowned. She hadn't called her friend 'Kono-chan' in years . . .
"Interesting," a voice chuckled, drawing her attention to a pair of blue eyes.
Giving a small yelp, she quickly scrambled back.
He chuckled, reaching out as if to touch her hair. However, he paused when she flinched back from him. Frowning, the man took a step back.
"W- What do you want?" She stammered, still a little shocked. "And, how did you get in?!"
"The front door," He yawned, showing a pair of fangs much like Eva's. "You left it unlocked.
Smirking, he shook his head. "You're pretty trusting of everyone to keep it unlocked." His grin widened. "Or were you waiting for someone?"
Blushing slightly, she threw the nearest thing she had at him – her pillow.
He dodged it easily, raising an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a 'no'. But, I've just come to remind you. Don't forget what I said."
He glanced at her one last time (narrowly dodging another one of her pillows), before disappearing into a flurry of snowflakes.
~~~~~~~ And, the end of Revised chapter one! XD lol I hoped you liked it! Please review!~~~~~~~ Angel981
