T: Darkness Ended
Sum: Takako fic, thoughts if the past and how she feels about the Knights, both past and present. Mannen, Hajime, and Shin find out more about the past.
Disclaimer: Don't own Pretear
Notes: Based on ideas in "I will Make You Hurt" Need not read to understand.

She woke up to a dark room, but then again it was night after all. After Himeno had saved her from the darkness in her heart she had again moved in with the Awayuki family, this time as a family member rather then a servant. The Leafe Knights stayed with Himeno half the time and their home in Leafeania the other half. Right now the kids, Goh, and Sasame were in the house, not that, that was what was bothering her. Then again, maybe it was. She had been having a dream about the older Knights, the ones she had killed.

Takako left her bedroom and went downstairs to the TV room Kaoru had made for the kids. She hoped to watch some TV to get her mind off of what had happened, but when she entered the room she found Mannen and the others watching TV in the dark. Seeing them she collapsed to the floor and started to cry. The kids immediately jumped up and ran to her side.

"Are you ok?" Hajime asked her.

She didn't answer him and continued to cry, Mannen managed to help her to the couch and Shin got her a box of Kleenex. Hajime also turned on a light and closed the door in hopes the older Knights wouldn't find them awake.

"I'm sorry." Takako cried out.

"For what?" Shin asked.

"Killing them. You have no idea how much you look like younger versions of them."

The three Knights paused and glanced at one another, they knew about the deaths of their previous selves, and it really didn't bother them that much, but if it was bothering Takako this much…

"Why don't you tell us about them?" Mannen asked.

Takako appeared confused.

"None of the others ever talk about the past Knights." Hajime told her.

Takako understood part of the reason, "It may be that it's just to painful for them to remember."

"Can you tell us about them then?" Shin repeating Mannen's question.

"Sure." Takako told them, maybe this would be on way to atone for part of what she did, "Let me just get a cup of tea." She told them then left to make her tea.

"You think she'll really tell us?" Hajime asked.

"We'll it's better then her telling Goh we where watching TV this late." Mannen told them.

Any further debate was cut off when Takako came back, tea in one hand, a big fluffy blanket in the other. She pulled the door closed behind her and took a set on the couch. The kids sat around her, Shin on the couch with her, under the blanket, Mannen and Hajime on pillows on the floor.

"Now where to start." She muttered glancing around the room. Her eyes fell on Shin, and after a moment she spoke again, "Maemi, should be first I guess."

"Who was that?" Hajime asked, leaning closer, they would finally hear about the past, something all of them had wanted to know about but never were really told.

"Maemi, Leafe Knight of Plants." Shin glanced at the others then fixed his young eyes on Takako. "He was 15 if I remember correctly, a little younger then Goh by only a few months, not that it really matters, I think Hayate told me when I asked him that Maemi would be turning 16 in a couple of months. He was older then Haruki, who I'll tell you about later." She glanced at the young Knights then tried to figure out where to take her story. So far none of them looked upset, and talking about them was making her remember him. "He had long blond hair, about the length of Hayate's which he wore lose. I remember one time when he and Kei were walking with me threw a park and Maemi's hair got caught on something. He panicked and Kei just suggested he cut it. Maemi of course wouldn't let him to that, and threatened to take a razor to Kei's head if Kei cut his hair. It took us about an hour to get his hair un-caught, and by then Goh had come looking for us since we had been supposed to meet him. In the end Maemi only lost a couple of hairs, Kei helped him deal with his loss, and we where a little late to dinner."

"So where Kei and Maemi friends?" Mannen asked her.

"Not really, Kei was closer to Yuki. Maemi and Haruki where really close. Both of them liked trying to 'find girlfriends' as Haruki called it. Nether of them seriously wanted a long term relationship as far as I could tell, but they liked hanging out with girls. Hayate didn't really like this habit and would have rathered they spent the time helping us."

"Haruki?" Shin asked her, he had stolen a sip of her tea and looked adorable curled up in her blanket.

"Haruki was the Knight of Water, and 15 like Maemi."

Hajime shifted again, they where getting to his past self.

"Haruki and Maemi were like you guys are today, they did everything together." Takako paused, she wondered how much to tell. "Haruki was a little more out going then Maemi, in fact it was Haruki that found out I was Pretear."

"Really?" Mannen asked, it seemed to him Haruki was almost like Goh.

"Yeah he came up to me and flirted with me, I grabbed his hand to walk past him, and that was how they found me." Takako smiled a little at the memory. "Both Maemi and Haruki would have rathered go to a movie then fight. I remember a couple of times they got upset when they had to miss a movie to fight. Maybe it wasn't the movies so much as the girls that were waiting there for them. At least that would explain why Hayate didn't like he thought of them having girlfriends."

Takako paused to take a sip of tea, only to notice it was empty. Shin looked a little guilty.

"It's ok, I can get more tea, wait right here." She told them and left.

"What do you guys think so far?" Mannen asked.

"I think it's creepy." Hajime told him.

"Why?"

"She didn't mention Freezing yet." Hajime told him.

"She's just saving the best for last."

"I think it's nice." Shin told them.

Takako came back in and left the door open ever so slightly, the kids didn't seem to notice.

"Where was I?"

"Hayate and hating girls." Mannen told her.

"Hayate didn't hate girls, he just didn't want his Knights distracted." She explained.

"Are you sure? Cause he really didn't like Himeno." Hajime told her.

"I think Hayate was just worried about hurting another Pretear." She explained, "Anyway Haruki and Maemi got yelled at several times for going out to see their girls, but in the end, when we needed them they where there. When the Knights needed them they came threw. And now Yuki, Knight of Freezing." Mannen smiled at that, him finally. "Yuki was defiantly interesting. He was by far the most out going of the 3 'lost Knights'. He also had a habit of trying to prank the younger Knights. He managed to pull a couple on Goh and Kei, but he knew better then to try Hayate or Sasame." Takako paused to try and figure out what the older Knights wouldn't mind her telling. "Yuki was the kind to flirt with girls but not want to take it any further. I don't think he meant to hurt them, he just didn't want a relationship at that time, there would always be time after the battles where over as far as he was concerned. While Haruki and Maemi where best friends, Yuki, Kei, and Goh where close, as close as you kids are today, if not closer."

Takako paused there, as if unsure about where to go in her story. She noticed Shin tried to hid a yawn, the kids really should have been in bed

"How did they die?" Mannen asked.

"It really doesn't matter, they protected the earth, that's all you need to worry about." Takako told them. "Now why don't you kids go to bed?"

Mannen sighed, but Shin began to walk toward the room and Hajime followed. Mannen followed after a second, leaving Takako alone in the room.

She stood after a moment feeling better, maybe telling the kids some info about the past had been a good idea, she just didn't want to tell them to many things.

With a glance into the room as if it held the past she headed upstairs.

closing notes:

I still claim not to post on ff.n, Fan Fiction Nowis my home now I'm testing something, that and I'm bored and to lazy to finish my other Yuki fic...