Authors note:

I don't own any of the characters in this fic except for Shadow (I couldn't think of a better name at the time….) and Ember (*gets an award for the strangest names in the world*)

Well on with the fic, please no flamers.



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'So?'

'So what?'

'So, when are you going to get out of that tent and help me get breakfast?'

'When I feel like it, that's when! Can't a girl get some sleep?'

'Shadow!!! Get up now, or else I'll scream and you know how much you hate to hear me scream.' The girl stood there waiting in silence for her friend to stir, tapping he foot on the side of a tree, hoping that her friend took the hint and got out of her sleeping bag, for the girl, herself was useless at hunting on her own. 'Please Shadow, I can't do this on my own!' whined the girl, preparing to scream at Shadow, just to get her out of the tent.

'Fine, fine, fine!!! But you've seriously got to learn to hunt on your own, and that includes using magic as well as your own physical strength!' Sighed an annoyed Shadow as she slowly slid out from beneath her sleeping bag. She was hoping that her travelling companion would have got the idea to at least let her sleep in for a change, but to no avail, as her companion loved waking up to the sun. Something herself, Shadow did not enjoy, especially after staying awake for most of the night because of noisy owls and monsters.

'I can't believe I let you sleep in for an extra ten minutes! I'm so sorry I didn't wake you up sooner.'

'Listen, Ember, why don't you make yourself useful and wake up the others? I don't really mind sleeping in you know! In fact, I would really like to practice one tomorrow.'

'All you have to do is ask,' Ember sung happily as she danced to the second tent, 'but don't you think it's going to be a wonderful day!'

'Wonderful….' Replied Shadow but Ember was too far away to hear. Shadow glanced at the tent, and then looked at the surrounding area. A soft, icy, breeze danced on her face as she admired the surrounding forest, Evil Forest, as it was widely know. She had heard of rumours that once a person had entered the forest they were doomed never to return, a rumour she no longer took to heart.

Why should she believe in such a stupid rumour if Queen Garnet herself had been stranded within the prison of a forest, and yet had managed to survive to tell the tale? Of course she had the aid of a thief called Zidane, a small but very powerful black mage by the name of Vivi and of course, Steiner, the 'Captain of the Knights of Pluto'. There were other members of 'Zidane's gang' that had assisted them in their adventure but Shadow had yet to learn of them.

Shadow stood staring at the forest, unable to take in all of its weird yet beautiful appearance. The forest was no longer petrified but very much alive. She could sense a power unlike that she had felt before. She also swore to herself that she could see movement within the bent and miss shaped trees, bending in the gust of a breeze. She wrapped a finger in a dangling piece of her short honey blonde hair, twisting it and wrapping it around.

Her clothes simply consisted of black pants with side pockets, a belt to keep them up for her trousers were too big to fit snugly on her hips. She wore a white shirt underneath a black vest, which could hardly be seen because of the black, hooded cloak she was beginning to wrap and fasten around her body. Even though the sun had already arisen, the air was quite cold and not to mention that the ice-cold breeze didn't make Shadow feel any warmer. Her deep blue eyes gazed at the forest while her ears strained, listening out for any sign of trouble, and signs of her companions waking up.

She yawned and decided to lie on the moist grass, if Ember didn't hurry and wake up the other two, she would simply just go back to sleep, something she had lacked of, and was happy to catch up on, given the chance. As her tired eyes begun to close one more, her last thought was of him, the one that had given her and the rest of her clan hope. The one she and her companions were on the search for. With the hope of finding him soon she drifted off to sleep.



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Well what do you think? Please review and any suggestions on improvements will be welcomed ^_^.



*~Mikoto~*