A tall, silver-haired, pale-skinned girl looked around the train station. She frowned, and spoke to a nearby conductor in a clear, lilting, bell-like voice.

"Where is Seiyo Junior High?" she asked, her accent flawless despite her foreign looks.

The conductor pointed, and she left. Strangely, no one seemed to remember her after that, though she was so noticeable.

Chapter One: Hajimaru

(Hajimaru means "to start" in Japanese.)

Guardians' Teahouse, Seiyo Junior High

All five Guardians slumped their fancy chairs, defeated.

"It's been a whole year since the Embryo was last seen." Nagihiko, the only one who still had even a shred of drive, tried to work everyone up.

"We can find it! It'll turn up soon, after all. We've been elected the middle school Guardians, after all. Finding the Embryo will be nothing next to that!" Tadase, ever the moderator, albeit a useless one, tried to pitch in. Needless to say, he didn't succeed at all, and kept throwing glances at Kukkai, the Ace, who was fast asleep, his beanie hat over his face.

"I can't believe the middle school compound even has a Guardian system." Rima mumbled.

Sighing, Nagihiko picked up his papers and left, and everyone followed suit. Another failed Guardian meeting to find the Embryo, which had yet to appear.

Amu drifted into class, in a somewhat dreamlike state. She was glad that Ikuto's stepfather had been disposed of, but… Gozen, the mastermind, was still at large. And so, Ikuto was still bound somewhat, as well as Utau. Could they truly be freed without the Embryo's help? But, Tadase needed the Embryo as well… And all the Guardians had wishes How many wishes could the Embryo grant? And what was her wish? Her thoughts were interrupted as Nikaidou-sensei came in.

"Please welcome our new student! This is Shirozora Mitsuki-chan! She's a… well, her family moved to England and now she's back." Nikaidou seemed hesitant for a second, but the hesitation disappeared in an instant.

Quite predictably, rumors began to fly around the new student in an instant.

"I heard she used to be a model in England!"

"She has a boyfriend who's a famous actor!"

"She's won tons of beauty pageants! Imagine!"

Amu sighed and went to the new student. "Good Morning. I'm Hinamori Amu, I'm one of the Guardians. Please ask me if you need to know everything."

For some reason, the girl recoiled when she heard the word "Guardian." "Hah! A guardian indeed! Well, don't think you're so high-and-mighty, miss. You fools – you're contaminating this world with your selfishness." the beautiful girl scowled at Amu.

At those words, Amu's fragile "outside-character" mask slipped. "Well, don't think you're so great just because you have looks! We do a lot for this school!" More than you could ever know! We purify all those broken dreams! "Don't ever say we don't do anything!"

The new girl – Mitsuki – was unimpressed. "Hmph. You stray from your original purpose, you selfishly think that your wishes should all be granted."

For a moment, Amu's mind went blank with surprise. Did she know? Did she know everything, about the Embryo, about how she had wanted those wishes to come true so badly?

Then, the bell rang.

The Park

The sky was black, completely devoid of light. The pale girl looked up at the full moon, her namesake, as she waited. A single leaf fell from a tree behind her. Immediately, she seemed to disappear from the spot as she moved too fast for human eyes to follow, and spotted the black silhouette of a person on the tree.

"As fast as ever, I see." A silky whisper snaked through the air.

"Who are you?" Mitsuki demanded, but her words were ignored.

Instantly after, bolts of glittering purple struck the very spot she had moved to, and she weaved through the danger. A bright light flashed through the air, and a few eggs, formerly black and almost invisible, seemed to suddenly have been rinsed and became a light pink color, then rose to disappear into the air. The remaining eggs, still black and with an X on them, hovered to surround her.

Mitsuki tensed for the final strike. It never came. At that particular moment, Tadase, with the rest of the Guardians in his wake, came by. Whoever was creating the chaos had disappeared, and the X eggs surrounded Mitsuki.

"You…" Amu's eyes stared at her as she tried to process this scene. It all made sense to her now. Her blatant hatred of the Guardians, her knowledge of the Embryo… She was causing the X's on the eggs.

Mitsuki turned around and stared back, cold, unrelenting, the sharp edge of her personality crawling into her gaze. She knew what it looked like to them. She didn't care.

And then, with all five Guardians – Amu, Rima, Nagihiko, Kukkai and Tadase – staring, shock on their faces, she disappeared in a blur.