Author's Note: Hello everyone, still remember me? Well, I have some little news for you: first of all, sorry if I've been away for soooo long but I had a lot of things to accomplish in my life so I really didn't have time for fanfictions. The second thing is that I checked out some of my old ff and ugh, the grammar is just so NO.
 I especially checked out "Headstrong", that I believe is my best story so far and there are so many things to fix I just don't know where to start. But the thing is that I'm going to revise it and give you a better version of the story. Same plot, better grammar, better language, better chapters.
Some of you even sent me lovely message and I read them just now, so sorry if I didn't replied to you, but I was so pleased to discover someone actually appreciated my work, so yeah…stay tuned!
And who knows, maybe I could even find the inspiration to write some new story…we'll see!
Thank you for reading this, guys. You'll have the other chapters soon!

Disclaimer: I do not own MKR or its chapters, they belong to CLAMP

There they were again. After their graduation the girls finally met up at the Tokyo Tower, ready to leave and have a well deserved holiday in Cephiro, where they could finally spend their time together with their friends and lovers.

As usually, Hikaru was late. Umi fumed and looked at the watch at her wrist
"everytime it's the same old story!"
"oh, c'mon Umi, don't be so strict with her, you'll see she will be here in a fe—" her words were cut off by Hikaru's voice
"Gomen! Gomen! I'm late, I know!" she bowed in apology, trying to catch her breath.
Fuu motherly smiled
"don't worry, we didn't wait for long, right Umi?" the Wind Knight gave the bluette a meaningful gaze, so the girl rolled her eyes
"yes, yes, no problem" she said, patting Hikaru's head "just let's go, ok?" she added then
"someone is impatient" the Fire Knight, considered
"oh really?" Fuu teased
"enough, let's just go" Umi said, holding her friends' hands.

-FLASHBACK-

Despite her usual though attitude, Umi was probably the one who suffered more. Before they made the discovery that the portal wasn't sealed, the girl was constantly haunted by regret.
Umi was beautiful, popular, brilliant, every boy wanted her and every girl wanted to be her. Every girl despite Umi heself. Being an a teen ager was already difficult without having to deal with the big secret of being part of a total different world. And feelings were already complicated without having to face that she just couldn't date a normal boy of her age because "they weren't enough". And when her dearest friends asked her what she maeant, one day she grabbed the courage with both her hands and answered "I think it's quite obvious: they aren't him" .
While the innocent Hikaru bet on Ascot, Fuu knew better.
"You should have told him while you were in time"
"I don't need someone scolding me, I already do it myself every single day, thank you very much" was the reply.
Fuu didn't take it seriously, she knew it was Umi's way to protect herself: pretending to be fine would make her feel fine, eventually.
But time passed and things didn't change. Umi slowly started to lose weight, her bitchy but bright personality became flat and gloomy. They have to do something.
"you are still the Pillar, right?" Fuu asked
"not really, I wished for Cephrian people to be the Pillar of their own world" Hikaru answered
"you mean everyone?"
"yes, everyone"
"so Ferio and Lantis too?"
"yes. And Clef and Ascot and Caldina and Lafarga and Sierra…everyone there"
Fuu's face suddenly lit up. If the Knights were allowed to come back only if someone wished for it, only because they were needed, then they still might have a chance.
"I have an idea!" she exclaimed, grabbing her phone
"Umi? Let's meet to that nice patisserie in Roppongi. No, I don't care if you don't like sweets, you'll come with me and Karu. Umi, don't force me to come to your house. Mata ne."
"""Luckily enough, Umi decided to join them
"what?" she asked, seeing her friends' happy faces
"there's still a chance we can go back" Fuu carefully started. Umi sighed and stood up
"I should have known that. Forget it. It's over. It will never ever happen again. Life goes on, just get over it" she was going to leave the patisserie, but Hikaru grabbed her arm
"Umi-chan, please. Give us one last chance. I know you wish to come back just like us...maybe even more"
"I have nothing left there. Nothing. I don't care about the possibilities we have to find a way to open the portal, ok? I'm out of this"
"You are selfish" Fuu said. Her voice was icy.
"and you are discoverying it just now?" the bluette replied, rising an eyebrow
"yes, because I thought we knew you better, but we are wrong. If you can't even find the strenght to put aside your fears and delusions to help your friends to go back to the people they love just because you are afraid to face the business you left unfinished there, then you are really one of the worse people I know. Please Umi, prove me wrong" the Wind Knight knew that going hard on the Water Knight, putting it on the friendship side, was the only way to make her reason.
"I'm sorry" Umi just whispered, grabbing her bag and going away.
"What should we do now?" Hikaru asked, Fuu sighed and sipped some hot chocolate
"we finish our cake and go to the Tower"
"are you mad?" the blond girl smiled knowingly
"I just know Umi" she replied.

Half an hour later, the girls went to the Tower. Fuu smiled when she saw her friend standing in front of the window, right in the spot where the portal used to open.
She lightly placed a hand on Umi's shoulder. The bluette didn't even bother to turn to look at her, she knew what was going on
"what if things don't go the way I wish?" she asked
"what if they do?" Umi slowly turned her head to look at her friends.
"promise me that you'll be there if anything goes wrong" Hikaru smiled
"we are by your side"
"promise?" Hikaru showed her pinkie
"yubikiri genman!" Umi smiled and entwined her finger with Hikaru's, Fuu smiled and joined her friends
"ok, let's try then"

The three girls held their hands together and closed their eyes
Please, please please let it work…
A bright flash surrounded them.
"Hey! Look up!" Caldina exclaimed, seeing a bright light suddenly appearing in the sky
Ascot held his breath
"can you sense it?"
"yes!" Ferio's voice exclaimed as the Prince run in the yard of the castle
"summon a beast, hurry!" the dancer exclaimed, but before the boy could cast the spell, Ferio was already on his griffin.

"We're gonna die!" Umi cried, as they fell from the sky "where the hell is that stupid fish?!"
"we won't die, we won't die, we won't die! Please not now that we're back!" Fuu pleaded
"Help!" Hikaru exclaimed
"Got you!" Fuu opened her eyes to find herself gazing in Ferio's green ones.
"It is you!" the Wind Knight exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck
"in flesh and bones, beauty!" the girl blushed
"hey, we're here as well, y'know!" Umi snapped.
The boy turned
"oh Ryuuzaki, welcome back! Karu-chan, it's nice to see you!"
"stop the greetings and just get us on the ground, for Selece's sake" the bluette exclaimed.
Fuu shrudded and blushed as Ferio smiled to her, passing an arma round her waist
"ok ladies, get ready to land!"

Once at the castle, much to Hikaru and Umi's disappointment, the girls discovered that Lantis and Clef were in Chizeta for a diplomatic mission and they wouldn't be back before the end of the week.
"that's unfair" Hikaru whined
"well sweetie, at least you know that the portal is still open so you can come to visit your dark knight whenever you want!" Caldina exclaimed
"ah, yeah…right…" the Fire Knight commented, her face flushing red.
"Hey Little Mermaid" Caldina then turned to Umi
"what?" she snapped, clearly deluded
"there's someone who wants to greet you!" she pushed Ascot towards the Water Knight
"Ascot!" the girl literally lunched herself in his arms
"he-hem-I-..."
"he meant hello Umi-chan I'm so happy to see you, you can't even imagine how much I missed you" the dancer said, winking.

It was a nice day, but Fuu reminded everyone that they had to be back to Tokyo "very soon because we have an important test at school tomorrow"
"Will I see you again?" Ferio seriously asked, she smiled
"of course you will"
"when?"
"when the finals are over. It will be three months on Earth"
"but it's such a long time!" the Prince pointed out
"I know...but please, wait for me" the boy sighed
"I've been waiting so long without even being sure you'd come back... I think I can handle this" he said, holding Fuu's hand and lighly kissing her fingertips.

From that moment on, life in Tokyo got easier for everyone of them. Umi came back to her old self, Fuu allowed herself to daydream some more, Hikaru didn't stop talking about she couldn't wait to meet Lantis again. They had to wait only three months.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

Crash!

Their landing wasn't as soft as they hoped. No flying fishes, no griffins, no magical beasts, only the braches of some tree in the middle of the Forest of Silence.
"ouch!" Hikaru whined, rubbing the back of her head
"this surely is unusual" Fuu commented, trying to fix her glasses
"I hope someone has a good explanation for all this!" angrily, Umi exclaimed "your stupid Prince could send one of his griffins!" Fuu rolled her eyes
"well, usually it's Clef who provides not to have us breaking our necks over crash landings" she commented
"that Master Mage! Just let me put my hands on him!"
"oh you wish!" Fuu exclaimed, before she could stop herself
"I'm going to pretend you never said it!" the Water Knight barked, trying to climb down from the top of the tree.
A loud ripping sound came from her blouse and she ended up on the ground
"oh no, this didn't just happened!" she shouted, clearly angr.
The other two burst in laughing
"on the contrary, I'm afraid it just happened!" Fuu commented, helping Hikaru to get down a branch
"there's nothing to laugh at! That was my favourite blouse and it was frigging expansive!"
Hikaru patted her friend's back
"c'mon Umi-chan, you can have all the blouses you want when we get back in Tokyo, but aren't you dying to see everyone now?" the bluette looked at the castle. It was shining in the sunlight and its edges were streching skywards.
"Let's go, I'm so going to yell at someone for what just happened!" Fuu sighed
"Holy Windam, this will lead to no good"

"Not bad your highness, but you have to do better" Lantis smirked and blocked Ferio's attack

"oh sorry if I'm not the greatest swordsman around!" Ferio replied.
The soldier took advantage of Ferio's distraction to fence and made the Prince lose the grasp on his sword. The weapon landed not too far from them
"first lesson: a good fencer never gets caught out of guard" a female voice teased the boy.
Before he could even open his mouth to reply, he found the Wind Knight in his arms
"you are back!" he happily exclaimed
"I promised I would" she whispered, blushing. The Prince quickly kissed her, then turned to the other Knights
"I'm so happy to see you all, well you all except Ryuuzaki, why didn't you stay in Tokyo?"
"ah ah ah, you're so funny for being a Prince who can't even fence!"
"oh shut up Little Mermaid, I can beat you using only my left hand"
"yeah, dream on!" the Water Knight commented
"it's a matter of fact! And by the way, is that the last fashion trend on Earth? Because your blouse is so nice really!" he teased
"oh shut up, you could have at least send us your stupid griffin!"
"my griffin is not stupid! And I didn't sense you coming, usually is our Master Mage who takes care of this stuff!"
"talking of this, I'm going to personally complain to him, you'll excuse me!"
Ferio and Fuu exchanged a quick glance
"this is not going to end well, right?"
"right" the girl confirmed.

"I hope you have a good excuse for what just happened!" the doors of his study bursted open and she made her way to his desk.
When was it the last time he saw her? Probably two years ago. She had changed a lot, she wasn't a child anymore, she was a beautiful girl now, like a flower in full bloom.
"Umi, it's long time we don't meet, I'm happy to see you again as well" he didn't even know he could pull out this sarcasm
"whatever, look!" she barked.
He used all his self control not to burst in laughing at the dust on her cheeks, the leaves in her hair and the huge scratch on her blouse. Probably the Knights didn't have a pleasing landing
"oh hum...what should I look at, excactly?"
"are you kidding me?! Look what have you done!"
"Me? May I ask you how am I supposed to be responsible of your failed battle against a tree?" he asked, taking a leaf away from her bang
"where was your stupid fish while I crashed against a tree?"
"hum, probably resting inside my staff? And please, be nice to Fyuula, it isn't its fault"
"of course it wasn't, it was your fault! Why didn't you summon it?!"
"I was working, because this is what I usually do during the day, you know? And I didn't sense you Knights coming"
"you didn't?! You always do!"
"I apologize but I was very busy" the girl fumed and grabbed the book he was reading
"busy? It's just a stupid book!"
Ok, that was enough. He was happy, very happy, to see her again, but breaking his peace complaining as a spoiled child and isulting his magic beast and his precious books was too much for their first meeting afer two years.
"my child, in case you forgot it, I'm the Master Mage and these stupid books you see" he made a wide gesture, pointing the whole library "are my work. So yes, I was busy with this book, because I have the official duty to revise it"
"I'm not a child!" the Master Mage rose an eyebrow
"yes, your behaviour totally shows it"
"when did it happen that you got such a brilliant sarcasm?" she asked, clearly annoyed
"Umi, I have a lot of work to do so please get out of my study"
"we just met after two years and you're already kicking me out of this room. So nice!"
"I put all my efforts to properly welcome you, despite your pointless accusations, but I haven't the time to catch up with your arguements right now, so please go away and come back when you feel like stopping to act like a childish, spoiled brat"
He almost could feel the air in the library getting as cold as ice, before Umi stormed away slamming the doors behind her.
Clef mentally cursed himself, it didn't go exactly as he hoped or expected, but it was Umi. And Umi was everything but predictable. He sighed and rested his back against the chair, at least he had just made the Water Knight speechless for the very first time.

Umi walked to her room and slammed the door behind her. Why the hell did she behaved like that?! It wasn't supposed to end in this way! But above all, how did Clef dare to use that arrogant tone with her?! She had decided to come back for him, after all! And how could he call her "childish" when he was the one who decided to stay chained in the body of a twelve years old kid?!
"that's ridiculous!" she exclaimed, filling the bathtub. When it was full of water, she dipped in it and closed her eyes, relaxing a bit.
The old Mage wanted a "mature" Umi? Well, just had to wait 'till dinner and she would have make him swallow back all that idiocies he blabbered.