disclaimer: i don't own the original chrono crusade story

A/N thanks to the people who reveiwed or put me on alert. I hope this won't be too disapointing.

Chapter 1: First Meeting

New York City

4:00 p.m.

A girl of about 12 with long pale silver pink hued colored hair walked out of the building. She had just finished with her vocal lessons and decided to walk home instead of taking the limo, today was a nice day and plus, she wanted to go to the church of Magdalene to pray.

Her name was Azmaria Hendricks, daughter and possible heir to the established Hendricks hotels and casinos.

She heard a ruckus as she walked by one of the many allies of New York City and decided to take a peek at all the noise. Stumbling out from behind the dumpsters were five very drunken men maybe in their late 30s or early 40, they spotted her just as she turned around and decided it was time to leave.

"Hey! Yooou, girl! Stooop, I jus wanna taallk to you! Stooop!" one of the drunken men slurred out pointing a finger at her retreating form.

She started to run. She wasn't that stupid or naïve to stop for them, she knew what they probably wanted to do to her; she was more developed for her age but still held an innocent look.

She was close to the church now, maybe three or so more blocks, and the catholic school was even closer, maybe a block or so. Maybe she could hide there.

She ran; the Magdalene private catholic high school was coming up, maybe someone could help her get those stupid drunks off her tail.

As she was thinking this she didn't notice the blonde youth just walking out of the school gates and-

SMACK!

She ran right into the youth, stumbling quickly to her feet she grabbed the teen and pulled him along with her mumbling apologies and asking him to escort her to the church.

The poor young man didn't understand what was going on at all. Here was a girl with pale silvery-pink colored hair pulling him along and asking him to take her to the church a couple blocks away.

"Uh…miss what's going on? Why're we running?" he asked then looked back instantly realizing the situation. Oh crap, those guys must be chasing her. He thought as they approached the church, she doesn't know the new schedule. He realized as he had almost forgotten the new schedule.

"The…church has…already…closed. My name's…Joshua." He finally told between breaths, he started pulling her in a different direction. They were running down an ally.

"WHAT?! Then where're you taking me?" the horrified Azmaria asked the stranger, Joshua, who was pulling her along. He was wearing the Magdalene high school uniform under his gray hoodie she finally noticed, he had the hood pulled over his face with a baseball cap on underneath it concealing most of his face in shadows and covering his hair. She guessed he was probably blonde from his light colored eyebrows and his eyes were a brilliant blue like the sea and the sky, but she didn't have time to be swooning over this handsome guy.

"We're going to a friend's workplace, maybe they'll be able to help you while I distract those drunks." answered Joshua. They were in front of a coffee shop now. He pulled her in and asked if she had a cell phone on her. She did and pulled it out to show him.

"Good" he said relieved and took her hand tightly and pulled her through an 'employees only' door. Azmaria blushed.

He went to talk to someone across the room. Then he told her to wait and pulled the person, who she couldn't see clearly so didn't know if it was a boy or girl, through another door.

A few minuets passed he came back took off Azmaria's light coat, went back through the door and came back with his cap pulled tight to conceal his face, and took her hand as he pulled her back out the front door. He has soft hands, but hard at the same time, she noticed.

The drunks were maybe a block away, and were catching up fast, they now each had sticks raised ready to attack the guy who had just took the chick who they wanted. And wanted them, they thought in their drunken minds.

"oh crap, Joshy hurry!" the boy dragging Azmaria yelled back over his shoulder into the little shop, oddly the boy's voice seemed to have gotten higher.

Azmaria contemplated this while the boy dragged her through multiple allies, then oddly enough they were back at the church.

"You took us in a circle?" Azmaria asked quite confused.

"Wh-yeah, yeah I did. You got a cell right? Call someone to pick you up. Now!" the boy ordered

"Ok, ok." She replied quickly dialing the first person that came to mind.

"Hello?" she asked when the other person finally picked up.

"Mori, you got to help me. Come pick me up at-" She started before she was cut off by the boy next to her yelling.

"Crap.crap.CRAP.CRAP! He couldn't shake them, plan B! c'mon!" he yelled pulling her along back into an ally way. "It's plan B, tell the person to come pick you up at New York square under the big TV thingy." he said quieter so only Azmaria could hear.

"Change of plans, pick me up at New York square under the big TV. bye" she quickly hung up and looked back.

The 5 drunken men were there, not giving up on chasing them, but there was another guy who was also back there in the same apparel as Joshua. And the five drunks were fighting him. Oddest of all, he seemed to be winning.

Azmaria quickly sped up seeing the scene behind her.

They were soon at New York square under the big TV. When they saw a sleek black car pull up and park in a parking lot beside the building the TV was on.

The drivers' side opened and a teen with sunglasses and a pulled up blue hoodie, stepped out of the car.

The teen with the same clothes as Joshua's came out from the ally they'd just exited, with her coat and threw Azmaria over his shoulders then ran towards the black car while the one that had brought her here hung back and fought off some of the drunks.

The teen that had just gotten out of the car stood shocked at the scene, two boys with the same apparel were running towards him with a just as surprised Azmaria over one of their shoulders while the other hung back a little ways fending off five seemingly very drunk men. He went to meet them midway but was asked to go help the other person.

He did. He grabbed the guy, who was fighting off the drunks, around the chest and was about to haul him to the car when he was stopped short by what he felt. This 'guy' had two very distinct lumps on his chest. "WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled instantly letting go.

"C'mon!" the irritated voice of the 'guy' yelled at him as 'he' pulled them towards the car that the shocked teen had gotten out of.

The other two were already in the car when they got there, and the drunks had run off back into the ally not wanting to go through more trouble for the chick.

The owner of the car got in the drivers side as he growled out to Azmaria, "Would you mind telling me exactly what the HELL was going on out there?"

Azmaria of course explained to the very confused and irritated driver, "Well, ah…lets see. This," she said pointing to the 'boy' who he'd dragged out of the fight with the drunks, "this is Joshua and-"she didn't get to finish as the driver roared out, "Joshua? That's a fricken GIRL! What are you some kinda CROSS DRESSING freak?" he asked one hand on the wheel other hand pointing at the said 'cross dressing freak'.

"What?! You're NOT Joshua, who are you then?" asked a shocked Azmaria, she turned to look at the two 'boys' questioningly.

"Uh…I'M Joshua.THAT'S Rosette, she's my twin and sister." one said clearing up quite a bit of what was going on, he added, "she works in that shop we stopped at. I told her to take you back to the church then I would distract the drunks, shake them off and meet you there. If that plan didn't work we would meet up at New York square and figure things out." He finished, handing Azmaria's coat back to her. She blushed as his hands brushed hers.

Rosette on the other hand was glaring daggers at a now very nervous driver saying slowly and so calmly it was nerve racking, "Who's the 'cross dressing freak'?"

"Uh, uh, um yeah so these two saved me from those drunks. And…uh…that's Chrono, my cousin. I'm Azmaria, nice to meet you." She said trying to calm the tension between said cousin and Rosette.

"uh,huh" Rosette said turning away from Chrono to look at Azmaria, "So can I call you Azzy?" she asked cheerfully as Chrono thought, is this girl bi-polar or what.

"Azzy? Sure, I've never had a nick name before." Azmaria grinned ear to ear.

"Friends?" Rosette asked the very happy girl

"Of course, friends!" the silver pink haired girl said smile growing wider if that was possible.

Rosette turned back towards Chrono, "Where are we going then?" she asked waiting for an answer.

"I should probably drop you two off, where do you live?" was his answer.

At the next ally she told him to stop and pulled a very shocked and confused Joshua out into the ally behind the very poor looking apartments. As the black car drove away Joshua finally voiced his confused thoughts, "Rosette why'd you tell him to drop us off HERE? We don't even LIVE near here, we live in the opposite direction."

"You idiot, don't you think I know that. But think of how they'd act if they knew who we are. It'd be, like, awkward. All those other kids who are our 'friends' are only our friends because of dad and what they could gain from the company in the future from being the heirs 'childhood friends'. They're not real. But those kids, Azzy and Chrono, they don't know who we are and they still want to be friends. And plus they seem nice, they could turn out to be real friends."

"oh." Joshua said dumbstruck. Well of course he knew the other kids weren't really his friends but it had never occurred him that he would ever get any real friends other then Rosette. And here Rosette was saying those two could be potential real friends. Or more, he thought to himself smiling at the thought of cute girl he just saved.

They left; going half way across town was going to take a while.

…..

They'd just drop the two twins off and Chrono was too busy scolding her on how she should've been more careful and such to notice that the said twins were heading in the exact direction they'd just driven from. She didn't know what to think of this so decided to just not tell Chrono so as not to make the twins seem more suspicious, since they obviously didn't live near those poor looking apartments, and Joshua was probably trying to hide his uniform, plus they probably didn't want her to know who they were or they would've given last names. Well of course she hadn't given out hers' or Chronos' last name either.

But if Chrono heard all this he might turn around in his seat and tell her they were too suspicious and she shouldn't be friends with them. Of course they were acting a little suspicious but they were friendly and they'd also saved her, but he would still be suspicious of them, he honestly acted too much like an over protective brother sometimes, others probably thought he had a sister complex, but she knew he didn't, he just cared very much for her, ever since she was a baby and he was five, as long as could SHE remember he was always there.

When she was born she was very sickly and her parents always went out a lot, leaving her alone in the house with the maids, then one of those days Chronos' parents, her aunt and uncle, decided to leave him there to play with the baby, while they went to party with her mother and father, saying she was his new baby sister and he had to take care of her till they all got back. He took it very literally; he was serious even when he was five. He took care of her, and came back to take care of her over and over again until she was very nearly as healthy as the other babies her age. How he did this when he was so young she never really figured out but the maids and servants there told her this story, he never actually told her himself, she knew he was too modest to ever tell her that story. But whenever she brought it up he always blushed and said it was true, but that the maids exaggerated a little too much. She personally thought he was only down playing himself; all her memories of her childhood had him in them. And she looked up to him, he was her model of how an older brother should be, no, he wasn't just a model of an older brother to her he was an older brother her.

Chrono turned around and looked at the thoughtful expression on his cousins' face and wondered what she was thinking about. She had grown up so much from the sickly child she once was. The sickly child he took every moment he could to take care of and comfort ever since his parents little lie that she was his new sister, of course she was like a sister to him though. And he still took care of her as such, she wasn't sickly anymore but she was still a bit frail. He knew she didn't like to admit it, but she was, and she wanted to be strong. He wished sometimes that she could see that she was already very strong, and didn't need to over exert herself so much.

They stopped. They were at the Hendricks house, Azmarias' house. She quietly got out, then before he could leave she turned around, "Thanks," she said, "thanks for picking me up and being such a nice older brother to me."

He smiled and replied, "You know it was nothing. That's why I gave you a cell, so you could call if you got in trouble. And you also know that I would always be your brother. So there's nothing to thank me for." He finished, smiled, closed the window and drove in the direction were his house was.

Azmaria smiled; of course she knew she didn't need to thank him she just always did. He was the one that was always there helping her along when her life seemed too hard.

She walked to the door and unlocked it then went in closing the door behind her. All the while thinking about what a cute couple Chrono and Rosette would make and how cute Joshua was. She was definitely going back to the Magdalene private high school to look for them.

………………

A/N O.K. thanks for reading again and please review, I still want at least 2 reviews. That's not alot to ask, is it. Anyway hope you liked it and heres a summury/prveiw of the next chapter: what happens AFTER they meet. stay tuned to find out. lol.