O Chapter 1
The massive building rang with silence. Which was unusual since it was a school. But school had long since finished and a lone figure wandered in the courtyard, around the statue of the winged angel.
Sakura Kinomoto looked at her watch for the nth time in fifteen minutes. She sighed pushing her windblown hair off her face. At seventeen Sakura was one of the most popular girls in the school. Just tall enough to be not called petite, with messy brown hair and cheerful bright green eyes, Sakura was also one of the prettiest, making her very popular with boys.
The muted murmur of distant conversation made Sakura once again turn and go to the steps, peering into the corridor to see if anyone was coming. There was, and fortunately it was exactly who she wanted to see. She crossed her arms, crossly, "You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago." The other two girls grinned at her. Tomoyo shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry Sakura. We had to practise for extra half hour." Sakura sighed. It didn't matter. She always ended up staying up to an hour later in school waiting for her two best friends to finish their after-school music practise.
Unlike Sakura in her school uniform, Tomoyo was in a blue dress. Tomoyo was one the best students in school and also excelled in music. With her dark hair and blue eyes she was also one of the prettiest and most popular girls in school, especially since unlike Sakura, Tomoyo was single. Sakura narrowed her eyes, "You two already changed," she whined, "Now I am going to look weird as the only one in uniform." A laughing voice replied, " Sorry, Sakura, but the opportunity was too good. Since it was after school, we were allowed to change and I, for one wanted to get out of this uniform as quick as possible."
This voice belonged to the third girl in the group. She was in blue jeans and black clingy sweater, melding with her raven hair. This girl was Riya Christensen. Unlike the other two, Riya was more beautiful than pretty. She was tall, slightly curvy. Unlike the pale complexion of her friends, Riya's was peaches and cream. With expressive deep blue eyes, an equally expressive mouth and elegant, careless grace in her every movement, Riya Morgaine was blessed with hypnotic beauty. Excelling in studies and music, she was not at all one of the most popular girls in the school or even in her class. Even boys preferred to view her from a distance.
When Riya had first arrived in their class, her attitude would have made her an ideal target for bullies. But there was something about her that made sure that no one messed with her. It was a big surprise when the most popular- Sakura, Tomoyo and Sakura's boyfriend and football star, Li Syaoran, befriended her immediately. And despite who her best friends were Riya never became popular. And that was something she couldn't be happier about.
The three friends were truly a perfect trio. What one lacked, the other two compensated for it. While Tomoyo and Riya excelled in studies and music, Sakura was average. Sakura and Tomoyo were extremely popular and Riya definitely wasn't. And both Riya and Sakura had magical powers.
The three friends walked down the shady pavement, Sakura carrying her skates in her hand. "Two weeks of no school!", exclaimed Sakura, "Isn't it great?" Riya smiled wickedly, "Yeah, you can spend them feeding Kero puddings, just like he made you promise." Sakura groaned, "I forgot about that. Hopefully Kero has too." Tomoyo looked at her innocently, " Isn't that like wishing the impossible, Sakura?" Sakura shot death glares as the other two unsuccessfully tried to stifle their laughter.
They stopped next to Tomoyo's front gate. From here, they went their separate ways. Sakura looked at the other two, "Hey, you want to go see a movie tomorrow?" "Yeah," replied Tomoyo, "that would be great. What about you, Riya?" "Sure," she replied absently looking at her watch, "Do you want me to bring Li?" Sakura brightened up, " Sure, if you can. Last time I knew, Li had football practise." Riya smirked, "Very well. But don't you want to conduct the proceedings in private?" As Sakura turned red, Tomoyo laughed, "Don't tease her, Riya. Wait till you fall in love!" Riya rolled her eyes, " I don't think so."
"Hey Kero," said Sakura, as she dumped her bag on the bed. Kero, who was lying on the bed, his limbs splayed, drawled, "Hey Sakura." Sakura froze, as she looked around the room, "Something is wrong," she said softly to herself. Comprehension dawned on her face as her eyes rested on Kero's prone form, "Kero, you aren't playing the video game! Why?" A pause. "Did you break the television?" she asked accusingly. Kero opened his eyes, with an indignant frown on his face, "No! I just didn't feel like it. I do have a life other than video games, you know." Sakura looked at him sceptically, "Uh huh, sure Kero." Kero was about to protest when his eyes landed on a plate, which had previously escaped his notice.
"Is that pudding?" he asked softly. "Yeah," replied Sakura, "I bought it for both…" The sentence broke off at the sight of now empty plate. "KERO! I bought it for both of us! Which is why there were two forks!" Kero lay back on the bed sated. "Sorry," he said with an unapologetic shrug, "So what are you doing tomorrow?" Sakura gave a final glare before shrugging, "We are going to see a movie." Kero immediately sat up, his eyes sparking, "Movies? That means you'll have popcorn and sweets and maybe ice cream. You have to bring some for me." Suddenly Kero narrowed his eyes triumphantly, "You have to. Remember? You promised."
Sakura smirked slowly, "Actually I said I will give you pudding in the holidays and since technically, right now it is my holiday, and you have had both of our puddings, there is no reason for me to give you any more sweets." She finished the declaration with a sweet smile. Kero resisted the urge to stamp his feet. "How is Riya?" he asked.
Sakura looked at Kero, "She seems fine." Both Kero and Yue were very protective of Riya. As an orphan, Riya had pretty much been adopted by Li's grandfather and both of Sakura's guardians had become very fond of Riya.
Kero nodded thoughtfully, all thoughts of pudding forgotten, "This is a very crucial time. Riya will be coming into her full powers in the next 10-12 months. Good thing we are all here to keep an eye out on her." Sakura nodded in agreement. Kero looked at her slyly, "So you'll be bringing me ice cream tomorrow?" Sakura smiled wickedly, "Lets see, Kero." Kero groaned. It didn't look good.
Riya flicked her lighter absently, as she sat on her bed. In a room decorated in cool, deep hues, the pristine white bed stood out. Giving company to the photographs and the prints on the wall were sets of daggers, fencing swords, a samurai sword and several other sets of weaponry placed casually around the room. And all of them looked like they were in regular use.
Li Sayoran entered the room with relief written all over his face. Riya grinned at her surrogate brother, "Mei-lin cancelled, didn't she?" Li looked at her in surprise, "How do you know? I thought she wanted me to tell everyone." "I know you," she replied simply, "Listen, you want you go for a movie tomorrow. Your girlfriend misses you and rest of wouldn't mind seeing you either." A comment like this would have usually resulted in a very effective death glare, but after living with Riya for years, Li had learnt to take such comments from her in stride. "Sure, if we go in the afternoon. My practice is in the evening."
Riya giggled suddenly. Li turned to look at her, "What?" Riya sighed dreamily, "Nothing. Just imaging your face this morning, when you lost to me" A pause. "Again"
Li looked at her indignantly, "I don't like the way you emphasised on 'again'. I don't always lose to you."
Riya snorted, "Come on, Li. You lose to me most of the time."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"NO!"
"YES!"
"50-50"
"Fine."
"50 percent of times I win, 50 percent of times you lose."
Riya looked at him balefully, "That was sad. Pathetic."
Li shrugged defensively, "Being witty is not one of my strong points."
An eyebrow arched mockingly, "Obviously."
Li pelted her with a pillow, "Shut up. I am not the one who is being trained in martial arts by vampires."
Riya waved her hand dismissively, "Excuses, excuses." She gave a bright, gleeful smile as all the pillows and cushions rose up and pelted themselves at Li.
The moon bathed the city below in its pale glow. With streetlights almost muted from here, the landscape below seemed to be composed of a surrealist mix of blue-whites and greys. As the buildings reduced gradually and gave way to the woods that surrounded the city in an arc, the shadows seemed more alive. Trees rustled quietly, secretively in an invisible breeze, which wound its way through the treetops, down the branches, to the tiny blades of grass, which paved the earth.
They knew her. She walked slowly, with a quiet self-confidence that was so rare in one so young. They might be inanimate but their intelligence was great, supreme in its own way, since they acquired it, directly from earth. Nature's sentinels. She was different from all the other young ones that made occasional foray in their territory. She might have carried the innocence of youth, their amusing yet painful naiveté. But she was dark. That was her nature. It was cloaked, but clearly evident to them. It was not the dark of evil as clearly associated by the humans, but the dark that was prevalent everywhere, that was as constant as time. Its magic surrounded her, in every pore of her body, but visible perhaps to the knowing and to discerning eyes, in some of her expressions and body language. One day, soon, she would have power, dark power, magic at her fingertips, restrained only by her willpower and whatever training she is bestowed upon. And perhaps her gradually developing maturity will be formidable enough when the time comes and she wouldn't lose the vivacity of youth and the ability to distinguish between dark and evil. While the differences are huge, power, of any nature can cloud the vision of many.
Grass didn't make a sound beneath her feet. The young new blades and the ones that had gone stiff with age didn't breathe a whisper. When one understood nature, respected it, nature made exceptions to those. She walked by us, her eyes closed, as if in appreciation of some inaudible strains of music. Not that she needed her eyes, she had come before. As always, our limbs moved, leaves closing in together to give her some privacy that she wished, had come here for. A brief smile of appreciation of our gesture and thanks graced her features. As always. She stopped her stroll at the cliff overlooking the city and sat herself on the fresh grass.
When many compared the sun and the moon, moon came of in a bad light. For others, like us they are equally wonderful and supreme in their own right. The sun gave us life, the moon guided ours. While the sun, bright and golden, gave light to the world, the moon glowed, caressing the world below. The moon could never be underestimated. There were many in the world that dreaded the full moon. Most of these had visions so clouded by the curse that they never saw the gift. The moon was formidable, loyal to people who respected her, could be undeniably cruel some to protect others, ones close to her,
He belonged to the moon or was closely associated to her. Tall, lean, face made up of deceptively delicate features and white hair that flowed with the breeze. He was totally at ease with his surroundings despite the fact that he was fully dressed in white. He was after her. That is why he had come here. It was strangely obvious.
He stood some distance from her, watching. "Its too late for you to be here."
She was still turned away form him, but there was no surprise in her laugh. "You worry too much. This is a calm and quiet city."
He crossed his arms, "That is not what I meant."
She turned around, looking at him for the first time. "I know. I couldn't sleep and I wanted to think."
He refrained from asking the question 'About what?' He knew when not to ask. She was one of the extremely few people he could even think of as his friends. Ever since they had met, they had got on surprisingly well. He was both protective and possessive of her. And she knew, but never teased him about it. It was not so surprising, since their relationship had a very faint and very strange dignity to it. But he wouldn't be surprised if she did tease him. She had a streak of unpredictability within her.
"Why are you so worried?" she asked.
"This is a very crucial time for you. I am worried."
"Do you think I won't be able to handle it alone?"
A pause. "You will."
"Why did you hesitate? Do you doubt me?"
"I do not. It is because I did not want to tell you my answer. Your independent side pushes you to be infallible and I do not want my response to push you even further."
"I appreciate the concern, but it isn't like I'm just learning to walk."
Pale blue eyes narrowed, offered no response. She smiled as she looked thoughtfully at the dotted night sky, "Do you feel it?"
"What?"
Riya tilted her head back, "The wind, Yue. It is bringing the message of change. Perhaps in our lives."
Author's Note: All reviews and constructive criticism accepted. Flames and nagging are likely to go ignored.
Also, the football mentioned above is also known as soccer by some.
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