As of 5/4/12, this story has been declared dead. Adoption is up, please PM me. Also, please note that this version is a combined one of a rewritten chapter 1 and the original chapter 2.

"Flames..." Sakura circled around, stunned. The world around her was engulfed in fire the color of a blazing sunset. She moved from her spot, and turned around to meet face to face with a glinting sword, wielded by a girl shorter than herself, bearing hair and eyes the color of the flames around her.

"Who are-"

Her alarm sounded off the start of a new day, just like any other prophetic dream.

Brushing past the aisle of blooming sakura trees, Sakura Kinomoto raced down the street on her skates to get to school. She had barely been able to wake up in time, had

"Good morning, Sakura, " greeted Tomoyo as the brunette entered the door. Chiharu, Naoko, and Rika also gave their greetings, and Sakura replied reflexively. As if out of nowhere though, Yamazaki popped up and began his daily 'trivia.' While everyone realized that they were lies, it was an expected stand up routine in the classroom.

"Hey, did you know? The reason why erasers can erase is because-"

"Yes, yes, we all know what you're about to spout more lies, Yamazaki," Chiharu groaned as everybody else giggled, for some things never changed. The teacher then came in, and the school day began, starting with math.

Lunch passed by uneventfully, with Sakura and everyone talking about the new teachers and classes; small talk that wouldn't be brought up ever again. The only thing that was on Sakura's mind was endlessly recalling the strange dream of a world in crimson flames.

Sakura left school immediately after it ended, because there wasn't any cheerleading in middle school. However, she remembered that she lacked a few groceries, and went into town to get some fresh vegetables. A package of pudding was also on the list for Kero, but that was without question. She turned into town and greeted the grocery store owner, and went down her shopping list. The short haired brunette appeared out of the store a while later with a bundle of produce, as well as snacks.

'I also need to get some extra pencils. I'll need to stop by Twin Bells,' Sakura thought, turning back around to finish her errands.

And then, the world turned red.

"Really, there's been signs of Crimson Denizens around here again? Jeez. They really don't know their place," Margery commented as she skimmed the summarized reports from Outlaw. "Oi, was there anything else about it?"

"That was the only information -de arimasu," replied the Manipulator of Objects from the kitchen, cleaning up after another recipe she got from Chigusa. As usual, an pungent burnt smell emanated from the room next door, signifying another failure. At the very least, Shana and Wilhelmina were the only people who lived here, so it wasn't much of a bother.

"And here I thought that it'd be too peaceful lately." Margery said out loud. "Guess not."

"Hoe..." Sakura let slip from her mouth and dropped her groceries. The people on the street had stopped moving, as if the Time card had activated. She shook a tree branch and watched leaves fall, noticing that she could still affect her surroundings.

'This is most definitely not normal...' she told herself, and drew out her star baton. As she neared the end of the road, a formerly indistinct aura grew stronger and stronger.

'Shield, form a impenetrable barrier,' Sakura mentally conjured, and turned around the curve. She felt the protective layer wrap around her, but it was unable to block the jarring scene in front of her.

A gruesome jelly-like monster was on the street, clinging onto a middle-aged woman. Within the blink of an eye, the person burst into blue flames, and the creature fell onto the ground. Then, the jelly gurgled and began to move closer to the end of the street, aiming for the next victim. No signs of the person remained.

'What... what is this thing?' Sakura drew out the Sword card and neared the beast. As she got closer, it started to screech like an angered vulture. Raising the blade, Sakura sliced it into two, and it burst into olive colored flames. However, the fire quickly extinguished itself, and two of the creatures returned.

Since it only made matters worse, Sakura changed tactics, and withdrew Windy and Watery, hoping that the fire that the creature seemed to made out of would die out.

"Create a hurricane of wind and water and quell the fire, Windy! Watery!" The cards immediately responded to their master's call, and melded together to surround the monsters. It screamed once again, and before it exploded in the storm, Sakura could hear it moan:

"Must... collect Hougu... M-master... help..."

The torrent made by the cards then ended, and Windy, Watery, as well as Shield returned into Sakura's palm. She felt the presence of the jelly-monster disappear, and finally vanish completely when the world turned back to its normal color. The townspeople began to move again, but the person who turned into flames never did return to the street. In fact, to Sakura's horror, she couldn't feel the woman's presence at all.

It was as if... she had never existed in the first place.

"Did you feel that, Shana?" Yuji Sakai asked a certain girl who happened to be munching on melon bread.

Shana swallowed, and retorted, "You mean that slight disturbance just now? That was probably a Rinne being destroyed. They always have a distinct signature."

"But doesn't mean that there's another Flame Haze not too far away? That clearly was not Carmel-san or Margery-san's signature."

"Flames Hazes often cross paths. We will merely state our presence and any self-preserving Flame Haze would respect our ground." Alastor provided. Yuji nodded in understanding, but still wondered who it could be. For it was a fact that Misaki City was a harbinger of trouble, and it had been far too long since the last conflict.

"Sa-ku-raaaa-" A loud voice rattled her ear as Sakura turned to face Chiharu. "Jeez, you've been out of it all week, is something up?"

Sakura shook her head. "Its nothing, Chiharu-chan. I was just thinking about something."

"Like when Li-san is coming over for Golden Week? Don't think I can't tell, you two have definitely going on."

"Well... I wouldn't deny it but isn't that exaggerating it a little?" Tomoyo and Rika laughed, and the four of them began to converse their plans for spring break. Yet, even with all of the cheerful conversation, Sakura couldn't calm herself, as if her premonition was to soon come true.

But that didn't deny the fact that she couldn't wait for break to arrive any faster.

It was April 10th, a week from the incident. Sakura, still thinking about the fight, stayed quiet that whole week. Playing as a cheerful character as usual, on the inside she felt utterly confused and dazed. She spent her days searching for any hints on what that blob could have been, but even consulting Eriol didn't help much. His answers were far too general. She hadn't even been able to figure out what the blob meant by "master."

However, there was one thing she was sure about, and that was the master would probably target somewhere in Tomoeda again. By the end of the week, she defeated another creature with a similar presence.

'Everything seemed to pass by in a blur,' she thought to herself. Currently, she was walking home with Tomoyo, who wanted to discuss about her strange dreams, and what she could film about next time. Despite the heavy content of a impending danger, they were able to chat lightheartedly and eventually said their goodbyes, parting ways.

When Sakura reached Penguin Park, a wave of power shook her. She realized that a presence similar to the two previous entities she felt. Once again, the red hue appeared and time froze.

"So, you are a Mystes, yet were able to defeat my Rinne? Interesting." A childish voice came from behind her. Cautiously, Sakura twisted her head around to face the speaker. In front of her was a young girl, about the same age as Sakura herself, standing on a…lamppost? She wore casual clothes: pair of jeans, a graphic tee with a sleeveless jacket, and a barrette sported on the top of her brown hair. Despite looking harmless enough, it was fairly easy to judge that the girl was not normal because one, she could move in this red space, and two; girls don't typically stand on lampposts. Unless they had some unusual ability.

Acting as little threatening as possible, Sakura inquired, "Who are you? I don't think we've met." She hoped she didn't have to battle, but the chances of that seemed pretty slim. The young girl simply twirled her hair and looked at it, replying:

"I am the Persona of Amusement. I don't have an exact name, but people call me Elemis. I like to make things as interesting as they can possibly be." She then darted her eyes at Sakura, and continued, "but you're in the way. After all, I can't do that without Power of Existence."

Now Sakura was confused. What was 'Power of Existence'? And what about 'Rinne', and…Mystes was it? "Anyhow," the girl interrupted Sakura's train of thought, "I need to get rid of you here and now in order for me to play my little game." Slowly, the childish face turned malicious, with her mouth curving slightly at the ends. "That's why I'm here, am I not?"

Staring at the young girl who made a ominous statement, Sakura released her baton out of key form, ready to combat.

"Ehe, so you want to fight? That sounds fun, because I'll win for sure!"

"Hoe?" Sakura didn't follow. It was silent for the next few seconds.

"I said: I'm going to fight now!" More silence of stupidity ensued. Finally, the Seeker of Amusement shouted in annoyance, "Fine! I don't care anymore! You Mystes are all so simple minded!" As she emitted the last few words, Sakura realized that there were several doll shaped fireballs chasing her.

"Hoeeeeeee! I didn't know that we were actually fighting!" Sakura ran down the alley crying, not sure on what to do. As usual, she summoned:

"Jump!"

"Eh? So you can move around like that? That's pretty cool!" the Seeker of Amusement squealed in delight. "Ja, I'm not going easy on you either!" Conjuring up another volley of attacks, this time it rained down fiery bouncy balls that Sakura could barely evade.

'Rain! That's it!' Calling her cards once again, she shouted "Rain!" who then brought down an onslaught of torrential downpour on the girl.

Now soaking wet, the girl really began to realize how weak yet annoying her opponent really was. So, she decided to call upon her Hougu, Ragilis, which was an unlimited set of explosives that looked like marbles. Though considerably worthless, that was the main (only) source of defense and offence that the Seeker of Amusement wielded other than her flame manipulating skills.

"Take that! Hei!" The Persona, or rather, Elemis, then started a continuous barrage of explosions upon Sakura, who realized she had to call another card if she did not want to get injured. So as defense she called up Shield and could finally play offensive, which her first idea was to let Arrow take its turn. Skillfully, the arrows weaved though the chaos and targeted right onto Elemis, causing her to screech in pain. Sakura, being more of the pacifist type, halted her attack, only to realize that it was a foolish move. Because after that:

"Hah! Think you can beat me? Too bad!" The Seeker of Amusement countered, and this time created a cheerleader baton was formed from flames and she mimicked Sakura's baton twirling skills. At the same point, she stopped the falling bouncy balls from their assault. Sakura, not wanting to be beaten, started to rehearse every routine she recalled from two years ago, only to have the strange girl Elemis mimic her. This cheerleading competition lasted for a few minutes until the card mistress, as always, bonked her head with it.

"Is that all you got? You're quite pathetic then!" the Seeker jeered. Finally, Sakura had enough wit to actually realize that by doing this she was getting nowhere and she needed to take action. Deciding it would be effective, she discreetly used Mirror to replicate herself, and Mirror did so by repeating whatever Elemis did. With the strange girl now confused, Sakura prepared to attack. Summoning Sword, she shifted behind the Seeker and was raised her weapon. That is, until the flaming baton punched into Sakura's stomach.

After being wounded, Sakura plummeted to the ground, and while so lost any control over her body. The girl Elemis watched Sakura's descent and laughed, blowing a raspberry. Thankfully, she was able to mutter "Fly," who saved her, as a bird, from the otherwise fatal fall. It was then that she realized that by the time she made it safely to the ground, another girl had already defeated Elemis by slicing her with a katana, who then disappeared. This girl, however, had a completely different aura.

Even her just standing there gave a majestic and powerful sense of order. Just like in her dream, crimson flames surrounded the mysterious girl. Her hair was ablaze, and It looked like her eyes were more like orbs of flame rather than what they really were. This is the girl that Sakura would come to know as Shana, the Flame Haired Blazing Eyed Hunter. The Flame Haze of the Guze Lord Alastor, Shakugan no Enpatsu Uchite.