A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for clicking A New Dawn. First, a little background for you: I wrote this story in three days, starting on 12/17/07. It was a Christmas gift for my best friend, and I finally remembered to put it up.
I hope you enjoy it!
Fox was walking home from eating dinner at her favorite restaurant. She smiled to herself as she walked home in the dark, her stomach's growling quieted with a big meal. She was a girl with medium length red hair, and she wore a simple outfit of dark blue capris, a blue top, and a bow slung over her shoulder. She had peculiar scars on her face; two small lines from her cheeks back to her ears. It made her look like she had faint whiskers; this was how she got her name: Fox. She didn't know what her real name was, and she didn't want to. She liked having the name Fox.
She shifted her yew bow a little bit because it was digging into her shoulder. She wore it like a backpack, with the string as a strap and the wood on her back. Also on her back was a quiver that was slung diagonally across her back. It contained about 20 arrows, each with a small mark on them. The small mark was a blue heart, a slightly swirled one; this mark could be found just below the black crow feathers at the end of each arrow.
Fox smiled at the sky; even though she was 16 and shouldn't be out this late at night in Japan, she was highly confident that she would be fine. The only thing that would bother her at all today could be the Heartless.
The Heartless were mean little creatures that were pretty much self-explanatory: Heartless beings that attacked people to steal their hearts. Fox had been fighting them for a while, a secret avenger of the small town she lived in: Hokkaido. It was a small town that didn't have much, but it was quaint. Some buildings were cracked and broken down, but they were all used. Hokkaido wasn't that big of a city, but was saturated with Heartless. The townsfolk didn't know how to get rid of them; only Fox did. Besides, Fox kept it a secret that she could defeat them. She didn't want it getting out to everyone so they would come flock to her and ask for protection.
Right now, she was just known as the thief of the town and the Fox. She had never stolen anything; it was always the Heartless that took and killed and thieved. She didn't have the best luck and was usually caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Fox was okay with that, however. As long as they didn't know she was keeping them safe secretly, they could think whatever they wanted.
She saw something move in the shadows near the small house to her right. Her eyes darted over to the area and she stopped walking. She felt her heart start to beat quickly, like it always did when she felt a fight coming on. Most would call it fear, but Fox loved the feeling; the adrenaline rush that made you move fast as lightning, your quickened senses, your quick burst of power.
She scanned the darkness, trying to see if she could spot anything. She took her bow off her shoulder with one hand and grabbed an arrow with her other hand. She nocked it quickly and pointed the tip towards the movement, string drawn and ready to fire.
"Come on, Heartless. I'm ready for you," she breathed. She loved hunting the Heartless; it gave her something to look forward to at night. She usually slept during the day, because that's what the Heartless did. "To catch the enemy, you must be like the enemy" was Fox's philosophy.
She squinted her eyes and slowly padded silently to the building. She spun around quickly and put her back against the wall, trying to make herself unnoticeable. She looked around again, this time, the moon shining down between the alleyways to lighten the darkness a bit.
Then, she saw it. It was a small Shadow, with two antennae on top of its head and two glowing yellow eyes. Clenching and unclenching its spindly little hands, it was staring straight at her; probably delighted at having found a fresh heart to devour.
Little did it know that the heart belonged to Fox.
Fox smiled a grim smile at it. "There you are." She said, and pointed her bow at it. It snarled quietly, and rushed at her. She was quick, though, and loosed her arrow at it. It hit its mark, right in the center of its chest. It fell backward and screeched, a terrible high-pitched screech, clawing at the arrow protruding from its tiny chest. It writhed in pain, and Fox watched it with hate. Heartless were disgusting creatures that had no pity for people. None at all.
Then, it vanished in a small puff of smoke, leaving the arrow behind to clink slightly upon the stone ground as it fell.
Quick as lightning, Fox nocked another arrow and looked around hastily; shadows usually hunt in packs. She jumped to the used arrow and stood above it, scanning around for another Shadow. She looked quickly and carefully, looking in every direction.
Not down that alleyway… not there… not by the trash cans, she thought to herself, scanning quickly. She looked around one last time as a slight breeze picked up, blowing her hair around her face. She looked around, and decided that that was the only one. She slowly let down her guard and let her heart rate return to normal. She put away the nocked arrow that she had out, and then she bent down and picked up her used arrow, examining it slightly. The feathers weren't too bent, but the small heart had turned a deep red color.
Fox put her arm through the bow and held it on her shoulder again. With used arrow in hand, she ran out of the alley and down the street. She ran past the closed market vendors' stalls, the shops, and stores; the restaurants, a few people, and animals. She got out of he city and turned to her right, running up a small trail up a mountain. She ran for a bit more, tiring. She walked then, and caught her breath while she climbed the small trail.
Eventually she got to a little level area with some bushes and a few trees. She weaved her way through the trees and then came out at a little clearing, surrounded by trees on every side. There was a tiny, clear, freshwater creek that ran through the middle, and it had an island of land in the center. On the small island was a shack; it was Fox's home.
She really loved her home; it wasn't too big and wasn't too small. She hopped over the crude bridge (made of logs found in the woods) and walked up to it. She walked inside, smiling at it, and let her bow slide off her arm to land on her bed. She took her quiver off of her back and laid it next to the bow.
Fox grabbed a small bowl off a shelf, and then walked back outside, breathing in the nice mountain air. She could see the moon clearly in the small clearing. She bent down and let some clear water run into the bowl. She waited until it was full, and then put it to her lips and drank down the whole thing. "Ah!" she said happily, licking her lips. The water was cool and clear, and perfectly refreshing.
She sat back on the grass and took her socks and shoes off so she could put her feet in the water. Good thing it was the beginning of summertime, because the creek got really cold in the fall and winter months. She put her hands back, and then something dug into her hand.
Fox turned her head and lifted her hand; it was the arrow. "Oh!" she said, and just about hopped out of the water. She ran inside her shack quickly, and put the used arrow in a special box underneath her bed. Then, she grabbed a stick, a dagger, three feathers, and a stone. She also grabbed a long leather string from her wall, and then walked back outside.
She sat Indian-style and put all of her supplies down in front of her.
She kept her used arrows to make new ones later; each arrow could hold one Heartless, unless it was a strong one. It would need a few arrows to bring it down, then.
Once the heart turned red and the Heartless disappeared, it was trapped in the arrow for a little while until someone let it out by plucking the head and feathers off. Once that happened, then the Heartless would come out and the arrow would turn into just a regular arrow.
Fox picked up the stick and started taking off the bark with her dagger, and making it arrow-sized. Once it was a good size, she grabbed the stone and started shaping it into an arrow, the dagger making loud noises upon the rock. She thought about the Heartless she killed earlier while she worked.
Getting rid of the Heartless was the easy part; making new arrows was the hard part. Fox figured she had about 20 arrows in her quiver, so she didn't have to make any more soon. It was a tedious process, and not too safe. For Fox, however, she knew how to do it and could make one in about 10 minutes if she was lucky.
A small rabbit came out from the woods to find out what the commotion was. It scampered over to the edge of the creek on its side, and looked over at Fox on the other side of the creek. "Hey there, little fellow," murmured Fox, smiling at it. She had always lived alone, and was all right with that. The townsfolk pretty much hated her, but animals seemed to make up for the lost friendliness. They always visited Fox and she fed them sometimes.
The rabbit stood up on its hind legs and twitched his nose at Fox. How d'you do? Fox envisioned it saying. She smiled at it, and answered her own thought, "I'm fine, thanks. Just making a Fire Arrow."
A Fire Arrow, huh? Well I'll be. What is that, pray tell? His nose twitched again. Fox turned the arrowhead over and scraped at it some more. "Its what I call my arrows that I use against the Heartless. They are hard to make, but I can do it. Only takes a bit of work and a bit of will."
The rabbit sat down and hopped to the right, standing up again. Oh? Sounds wonderful, really. Now, I am off to find some grub. The rabbit scampered off as Fox grabbed the leather string. "Be careful, little rabbit. Watch out for Heartless."
She looked at her arrowhead; good thing her dagger was sharp, because that would have taken much longer to shape. She skillfully tied it to the top, and then tied three feathers to the bottom, each placed the same distance apart.
She looked at the arrow and smiled; it had turned out really well. She gathered her supplies and then stood up.
Fox walked into her shack and hopped up on her bed, pushing her quiver of Fire Arrows and her bow over to the side after putting her new arrow under the bed and her supplies away. She leaned against the wall and looked out her open door. The creek was flowing and babbling slightly, and the moon shining brightly to light the ground; it was so beautiful. Fox loved Hokkaido; it was such a beautiful little place, even if the people weren't that nice. She sighed and stood up, stretching. "Well, gotta get back to the Heartless." She picked up her quiver and slung it across her back as before. She put her bow on her shoulder to carry it as usual, and then walked out of her shack.
After pushing her hair behind her ears, she set off towards the city again. She hopped over the makeshift bridge and took off through the woods. She stopped at the exit to the trail, and looked around. It was so peaceful. Fox could see the whole city, and the plains, mountains, and forests in back of it. She jumped and slid down the slightly steep trail, making dirt and pebbles slide down with her. She slid to the bottom and jumped and walked a few paces, stopping and looking around; the only thing she heard was a few stray pebbles falling down after her to land quietly at her feet.
She nodded and headed off into the city. Only a few lights were on in the tightly packed city. That was the only flaw that she found with the town other than the people; it was too closely packed.
She padded off down the alleyways, sticking to the darkness. "To catch the enemy, you must be like the enemy," she breathed, and walked quietly and hid behind the nearest objects she could hide behind. She heard a small noise and crouched low to the ground behind a box. She removed her bow from her arm and got an arrow nocked and ready all in one movement and stood still.
There was the noise again. It sounded like something small shuffling around; probably a Heartless. Fox felt her heart rate speed up again, and she smiled. She slowly peeked over the top of the box, and then found what was making the noise: it was a Heartless Soldier. They were not that much fun, the Soldiers. They had hard metal crooked hats on their heads and big hands with claws on them. They could run fast and were quite powerful, compared to Shadows.
Luckily, this one had its back turned to Fox, who slowly raised the tip of the arrow to point straight at it's back. She closed one eye and sighted down the arrow, aiming just between the shoulder blades.
Then, she let the arrow loose. It whistled quietly through the night air to end up burrowing itself into the Heartless.
It shook violently and fell forward, being surprised by the attack. Quickly, Fox grabbed another Fire Arrow and nocked it, loosing it as soon as she had the string pulled back enough. It landed slightly left and below the first arrow.
The Heartless fell over and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Fox nodded grimly and then stood up quickly and stood with her back to the wall.
She glanced around, making sure none were near. She quickly did a small summersault and landed on her feet next to her arrows. She scooped them up, and hopped up quickly, running back to her hiding spot.
She glanced around once more, and then looked at the arrows; one had the red heart and the other had a blue heart still. She put the blue hearted one back in her quiver, and then put the used one in a little groove on the top of her bow. It fit snugly, and stayed in place.
This was another way that she could use to get rid of the used arrows. Fox didn't like using it, because once the new arrow was fired with the used one in the bow, it transported the Heartless to another area instead of killing it. However, it did make both of the Fire Arrows like new; it was a quick but dirty way to get more in a pinch.
Fox nocked another arrow, and fired it quickly, spotting a shadow that was lurking in the darkness. Immediately it disappeared, leaving two clean arrows (the one she had in her bow, and the one she just nocked) where it had been standing not a moment earlier. She stalked out from her hiding place and snatched up the arrows. Fox really did not like using that method, but she had to when she had to. She looked around at her surroundings: there were two alleyways she could go down. The one she just came from, so she went down the new alleyway carefully, staying hidden in the dark but stepping in the lighter areas when possible. This alleyway was much darker, but she went down it anyways.
One can never be too careful with shadows.
Fox silently walked down the alleyway and stopped at the next intersection. She walked into it slowly, not seeing any Heartless.
Suddenly, there were two Shadows in front of her. She reached up and pulled two arrows from her quiver, nocking them and loosing them quickly. They both bit the targets, and the two Shadows screeched and slowly faded away, leaving two used Fire Arrows in their place.
She put her foot out to go to the arrows, when a shadow jumped off the roof and landed at the two arrows. Quick as lightening, it picked up the arrows and took off down a crowded alleyway full of boxes.
"Hey!" yelled Fox, nocking an arrow and hopping up onto a box. If it got away with the arrow, it could change a human into a Heartless by stabbing them with it.
She hopped from that one to another, and then from there to the roof. She spotted the shadow that was fleeing deeper into the town, and Fox ran after it as fast as she could, her shoes clacking on the shingles of the roofs.
At the end of the roof, she jumped down, landing just in back of the Heartless. It jumped and went flying. Fox loosed her arrow at it, and missed. It jumped up and scampered down the alleyway as fast as it could.
"Damn," Fox muttered, and ran; scooping up the arrow as fast as possible. She got to the end of the alley and nocked her arrow quickly, looking around for the shadow.
Suddenly, she found it. It was running towards someone on the ground, arrow poised and ready to stab. Fox aimed quickly and quietly at the Heartless just as it reached the body and held the arrow high to pierce the person.
Then, it fell forward, screeching; an arrow was protruding from its chest. With its strength quickly fleeting, it tried to stab the person but couldn't even manage to lift the arrow. It shot a look at the human who had killed it, and then died in a poof of smoke.
Fox ran to it as fast as she could, glanced at the person, then turned to leave.
She froze in her tracks and then turned back around slowly.
The person was a boy, probably the same age as Fox. He was unconscious, and barely breathing. Fox dropped to her knees and looked at him closer; he was the most beautiful person she had ever seen in her entire life. He was so striking, and Fox had never felt like this before. Her heart felt like it would jump out of her chest.
She shook her head, trying to clear herself of the feeling. "If this is love, then why do I feel like this? I don't even know him," she growled.
She looked at him some more; he was wearing a simple black vest with a white jacket over it. It had checkerboard stripes running from the top of his shoulder, across his chest, and to the other shoulder. He had white pants that were black at the top; the white was slightly dirtied from being on the ground. His hair was as blond as the sun and sticking out at crazy angles, and he had a checkerboard wristband to match his jacket. He also wore black sneakers, and two black and white rings on his left hand.
Fox couldn't get over the feeling. She didn't understand it, but she kind of liked it. She wanted to talk to this boy and get to know him better.
She glanced around; now was definitely not the time to exchange pleasantries; she could sense Heartless crawling around them in the dark, hungry for two clean hearts.
Fox put her bow on her arm, and lifted pushed the boy up into a sitting position. She grunted and breathed hard, but eventually got him up onto her back. She shifted him a bit, and held onto his arm so she wouldn't drop him. She panted and took of as fast as she could with this new burden on her back to her shack.
She got to the edge of the city, and climbed up the trail to her shack; almost dropping the boy a few times in the process.
She got to the clearing, and took a small break, breathing heavily and wiping off her forehead. He wasn't that heavy; its just that after fighting the Heartless she just defeated, she was kind of tired.
Once her breathing slowed a bit, she continued on to her shack. The boy's head was on her shoulder, and she could feel his slight breathing on her neck.
She went over the bridge and into her shack, gently putting the boy down onto the bed. She put her blanket over him, and then brushed his hair out of his eyes, slightly twirling it around her fingers. His hair had a beautiful texture, and was really soft.
She took her hand back quickly, and said, "No, what am I doing?" she whispered into the air.
She sighed and sunk into the chair right in back of her and looked at the boy.
With the moonlight shining in through the doorway and onto his bright blond hair, he looked like an angel.
How did he get here? He certainly didn't look like the townsfolk; He was too pale and beautiful for that. Was he with the Heartless? No, he couldn't have been with them because that one Shadow tried to stab him with her Fire Arrows.
Well then… who was he?
Fox pondered whom he could be when her thoughts drifted off to the Heartless. The boy didn't know how close to death he had come earlier, what with the Heartless that had taken her arrows.
Fox jumped up quickly, and gasped. "My Fire Arrows!" she ran out of the shack, remembering that she has left them where she found the boy after the Heartless dropped the two.
She ran down the trail and through the city as fast as she could; if another Heartless picked up the arrows, then she would be in trouble. She rounded the alleyway that she had been in and nocked an arrow quickly, just in case. She looked around the empty area, and ran over to where she had found the boy. Luckily, both of the red-hearted arrows were still there. She sighed with relief and picked them up. She straightened up, two arrows in hand, when she saw something glint on the ground; it was a small necklace. It had what looked like a ninja shuriken as the pendant on a chain with a broken link.
Fox decided that it was the boy's and picked it up, pocketing it. Looking up at the sky, she decided that she still had time to hunt the Heartless before sunrise. She got her bow ready, and walked down the alleyways carefully, looking for more Heartless.