Disclaimer: No, I do not own Burst Angel or any of it's characters....though, frankly, I'd love to own Jo. ^-^

Chapter 1: An Angel...?

Celeste walked down the crowded hallways of her new school, her head down, eyes on her feet as she made her way quickly toward her next class. She hated moving to another country so much, but with her parents' jobs, it was a must. She sighed and entered the classroom, bumping into a boy she had never seen before as he exited, which wasn't weird, considering she had never seen any of these students before.

"Oh, sorry," the boy said, smiling down at her. She smiled back, murmured an 'It's okay', and walked to the back of the classroom. He seemed friendly enough, and maybe if she was a normal girl she would have attempted a conversation with him, but she had learned that it was best not to make friends. She would be gone in two months anyway, if they stayed that long. She set her books down and leaned her head on her hand.

Why did her parents even make her go to school? She would continue the family business when she turned eighteen anyway, and that was less than a year away. She had been taught everything she needed to know, though her training was a little lagging. She sighed again for the thousandth time that day and began tapping her foot, waiting for the last class to be over.

Free at last, Celeste thought to herself as she made her way down the street. Another pointless day at school. Now she could go home, pop in her favorite cd, and sit down and write. That was something she loved doing, writing. Though her mom always told her it was a useless talent, considering it would never be needed for her line of work anyway. A moment later, her cell phone rang. She pulled it out and flipped it open. Speak of the devil.

"Hello?"

"Celeste, honey, are you on your way home?" came a familiar, light feminine voice from the other end.

"Yes, Mom," Celeste replied.

"Oh, good. Will you stop by the store and pick up some things?"

"A store or the store?"

"The store, sweetie."

"But, Mom," she groaned, "I don't know where anything is in this city! We just moved here, remember?"

"Celeste, part of your training is tracking. You'll find it." Celeste listened as the phone went dead, then closed it and stuffed it back in her purse. Like hell she would. That was her worst ability: tracking. She just sucked at it. She glanced around at all the stores, not recognizing any of them. Why did they have to leave the U.S. anyway? She always wanted to visit Japan, but not suddenly transfer there. This sucked.

Celeste turned down a street and gazed up at a destroyed building. She stared at it, shocked. It was like something out of a movie. It was huge, or had been at least. A little bit of black smoke still coiled around the remains. It wasn't blown up that long ago, maybe a few days, just before she and her family had gotten here. She walked up to the building and wiped away some of the dust from a charred sign: RAPT HQ. She had never heard of it, but of course, she had no clue what went on here in Tokyo. Her dad always said that she should always keep track of the world news, but she never did. Another fault in her training.

As Celeste stared at the remains of the building, she wondered if this had something to do with the reason why they had to move here. Her parents never told her the assignments they got. They were confidential until she was of age. Something big must have just went down, though, because this was definitely not something you could miss. She filed the name of the building away in her memory, deciding to look it up later, then turned and continued down the street.

After a few minutes Celeste glanced around, then groaned. It was official. She was lost. She couldn't ask anyone for directions, her mother had said it was a sign of weakness, and somehow, she'd know that her daughter had asked. She sighed and looked around at her surroundings. She was on a bridge now, over a small, shallow river of water. She leaned on the wooden railing and looked down at her reflection. Her brown hair that she had put up into a messy bun earlier that day was now falling. Her blue eyes looked lost and her pale skin was tinted blue against the water. She groaned again and rested her chin on her arms. What was she doing here? She wasn't meant to lead this life. She felt as if something was missing, and she wanted something, anything to happen.

At that moment Celeste caught a glance of something under the bridge in the water. A hand, maybe? Was someone down there? God, she hoped it wasn't a dead body. Or worse: a hand without a body attached. She grimaced at the thought. Being grossed out by dismembered body parts; another weakness. All these weaknesses kept pointing themselves out to her, as if telling her she wasn't worth all this effort. She shook off the thought and focused on the one strength that forced it's way to the front of her mind; curiosity. Everyone says that curiosity killed the cat, her mom said that the cat had nine lives, and curiosity only consumed one of them. In other words, her curiosity was a good thing.

She glanced around and made sure no one was paying attention to her before she placed a hand on the railing and pushed herself over it easily, landing softly in the water on her feet. The icy water only reached her calves, but it still made her body shiver none the less. She walked slowly under the bridge, now seeing the silhouette of the body. Good, it wasn't dismembered, as far as she could tell. She knelt down beside it as her eyes adjusted to the shadows and was shocked to find a girl, about her age, wounded. She was leaning against the bank, her head out of the water, the rest of her body submerged. Celeste thought about how cold that would be, and wondered how long the girl had been here. She reached her and out and pressed two of her fingers against the girl's neck. As she felt for a pulse, she studied the girl's features. Silver hair, only it was natural, stuck wet to her face and fell to her bare shoulders. She had never seen hair color like that, it almost shimmered from the few rays of sun that could reach it. Her clothing was ripped, burned, and shredded and wounds decorated this visible parts of her body. Celeste wondered if the girl had been caught in the explosion of that RAPT building, though how she got way over her she didn't know. Despite all the imperfections, the girl somehow managed to look like an angel.

Celeste shook her head, clearing the thoughts that would consume her if she wasn't careful, and was relieved when she felt the slow, but steady pulse beneath her fingertips. For a moment Celeste debated on whether or not she should take her to the hospital, but something inside told her that that would be a bad idea. She couldn't just leave her here, though. She glanced down the river. She could carry her, she wasn't much bigger than Celeste herself. Where would she take her? Home? Could she hide this from her parents? She knew she could. It'd be easy what with them gone all the time. She nodded to herself, making her decision as she grabbed the girl's arms and lifted her on to her back, then made her way toward her house. That is, if she could even find it.

It's a miracle, Celeste thought to herself as she entered her house. She was in luck, too. Her parents weren't home. She made her way past all of the unpacked boxes, she doubted they'd ever be unpacked, and up the stairs to her room. She laid the girl down on her bed and ran back to the kitchen, grabbing a towel and wetting it. She then grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink. Well, she called it a first aid kit, it was more like a hospital in a box. Before returning to her room, she noticed a note on the counter.

Celeste,

You took to long so your dad and I figured you got lost. Don't worry about the things, we will get them. We will be home late, so order take-out. I left the money on the fridge. Remember to study. Love you.

Mom

Celeste scoffed as she made her way up the stairs again. Study. She knew what her mom meant about studying, and it wasn't for school. She hated studying, but yet she wanted to hurry and join the family business? Her own thoughts confused her, but that was all swept away when she laid eyes on the girl again.

Her expression peaceful, the girl shivered slightly in her sleep. She was sleeping now, and not passed out. That was a good thing, a small improvement. Celeste set the things down and carefully removed the girl's wet clothing. She then blushed slightly as she glanced down at the girl's body. Why was she blushing? It's not like she'd never seen a naked girl before, hell, she was a girl. But something about seeing this... Again, something that confused her. She ignored her thoughts and went to work cleaning the wounds before dressing them. She made her way to the girl's face and wiped the blood from her lip with the wet towel. Celeste didn't believe in angels, but she was willing to bet that this was as close as one could get. Yes, the girl did have an angelic sense about her.

Celeste shook her head as she realized she'd been staring. She finished cleaning the girl and then covered her up with her thick comforter, tucking her into the bed. She could deal with this. She'd help this girl get better, and found out who she was, because to Celeste, she was intriguing.