Chapter 2: Unceremonious Attack

Author: XxArtemisxX

Editor: lady sovereign

A/N: So, yay, I'm back with a new chapter. I hope that you'll like it. This chapter explains a bit about what sprites and tricksters are. You'll get to know more as the story unfolds. Enjoy.

Sakura: Wait a minute, Artemis-chan, what about the disclaimer?

Me: Oh, yeah. Okay, who should do it? Syaoran?

Syaoran: Er…okay…

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Rei: Syaoran-kun?

Syaoran: Uh, yes?

Rei: Disclaimer?

Syaoran: Oh, I'm sorry. Here it is. Disclaimer: XxArtemisxX-chan and lady sovereign-chan do not own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle or any of its character. They do, however have a few OCs in this fanfiction.

Me: Thanks, Syaoran. I'd now like to thank all you guys who review my last chapter.

Nims-chan: Most of your theory on trickster and sprites is correct. I can't believe you got all that just from the prologue and the first chapter.

I'll start revealing parts about Yuki and the tricksters after her from this chapter onwards.

Don't worry Fai will show up soon…

Ms. Irony: Oh, I'm not revealing whether or not that's Fai in the prologue or not. You'll have to figure that part yourself. Muahahahaha *Cough! Cough!*

You know, I wanted to update much sooner but my Internet won't be back until March 2011. Yeah, that's right. I'm in hell. No facebook, no mangafox, no downloading songs, and I haven't checked my mail since July! I would have killed myself but then I don't think that dead people get to eat, surf the net or eat (did I say 'eat' twice? Oh well…) and that won't do. I also won't be able to get back those novels that I lent Rei.

…Yeah, I should stop talking now, I think.

Anyway, thanks a bunch for your reviews and I'm really happy to know that you think that I'm a good writer. ^_^

Nevvy: Well, good news. Some of your questions are going to be answered in this chapter, like, what are tricksters and sprites. So enjoy! ^_^

Yuki's POV

Sprites. We are creatures of nature. Her children; her guardians.

We are in a way, part of humans as well. Our origin is a bit of a mystery. There are a few who have suggested that our kind might have evolved from humans. It is highly probable but the theory hasn't been proved yet.

Humans do have the potential to evolve. The first recoded and evolution was witnessed in Celes (a country very near to the North Pole) in the late 1400s. That was when they first started appearing. The tricksters.

That is what humans evolve into.

So why has the theory that humans might have evolved into sprites, been disregarded completely?

Besides the fact that we sprites look exactly like humans, except for the pointed ears (one of the few things about us that match the elfin folklore that the humans have conjured up since they found out that they had nothing better to do), research over the years has confirmed that our genetic makeup is very similar to that of humans and tricksters. Our magic is also at same as that what a trickster possesses.

As such, our magic can be linked with that of a trickster. This boosts both of our magic, makes us better, faster, stronger.

When they first appeared, tricksters didn't have a specific name for themselves. They were still called humans, although they could now access the hidden magic that they couldn't harness back when they were human.

Back at the beginning, only a few people were aware of tricksters. Most people were still oblivious and they took advantage of that. These evolved humans based most of their magic on deceit and tricks to get what they wanted.

That's what ensued the name 'trickster'.

It was mostly about money at that time.

It was not always the trickster's fault. There were a few humans who had come to know if the power of the tricksters and used them. And it was not just the drug lords and gangsters to take advantage of this new found power. Corporate leaders, politicians and even the police began recruiting them.

Sprites were a little difficult to find and capture. Our kind kept a low profile knowing what would happen if they ever got caught. But when word got out that they could make themselves stronger by linking their magic with sprites.

They began to hunt our kind down and tried to tie the two magic together. But they didn't know how and things began to calm for a while…

But then they came. They called themselves Chaos. A group of tricksters and sprites who had managed to escape the research facility where the first experiments on tricksters and sprites were conducted

A few years back, a couple of tricksters joined forces and began collecting sprites. They called themselves Chaos. The government, in turn, formed Shield, an organization that took in sprites and trickster alike who didn't want to join up with Chaos.

All around the world, un-bonded sprites like us were taken to live in different locations. A few, who were in severe danger, were paired up with Shield's tricksters but some were caught.

I've been running for as long as I can remember, for as long as I have lived. I don't want to run anymore, but there seems to be no other option left. It's either run or get caught and the latter doesn't sound all that appetizing.

It was morning. Around eight or so. There was a light drizzle that had been about it since the previous night.

A red Volkswagen skimmed down the wet road. Behind the wheel was a large burly man with long brown hair swept up in a small pony tail. A pair of dark rimmed glasses was perched up on his nose behind which were two brown orbs the same color as his hair.

Right beside him on the passenger seat sat a boy who looked like the teenage version of the man. Same hair, same eyes down to the pony tail and the glasses. The only thing that was different was their height. Also, the kid didn't share his father's build.

The car speeded up the almost empty road and took a right turn. The man narrowed his eyes as a tall figure stepped out into the road a few metres away. It was just a kid, around seventeen or eighteen. He had messy blonde hair and really pale skin. Even from that distance, the man could make out the kid's eyes: blue. The kid stopped right in the middle and turned to face the speeding car.

The man sucked in a mouthful of air, astonished that the kid was making a suicidal attempt right there in front of him! He proceeded to lift his foot off the gas and slam on the breaks before he ran over the kid, but his body didn't seem to obey. In fact, he pressed on the gas even harder.

"What the hell, Dad! We're going to run over that guy. Stop the car!" His son said, panicked.

"Shut up, Kyle! I'm trying to!"

"Well you're not doing a good job. Hit the breaks—Aaaaaahhhhhhh!"

The car was just a few inches from the boy, seconds before the impact. The kid in the car, Kyle tried to lift his arms to shield his face while his father tried on the breaks again. But neither of them could move and it most definitely wasn't fear that had them frozen. It was something else. A different force that they had no control over.

The two in the car watched as the corners of the kid's lips crept up into a smile. A second later a figure dropped into the ground in front of him. It was a girl, no older than the boy. She had long, jet back hair and deep scarlet eyes but she was half the height of the blonde. She was dressed entirely in black.

Slowly she lifted a hand in front of her as though she could stop the car with just that. A split second later, the car stopped while she raised both her hand over her like she was trying to lift the car over her head and sure enough, even though she wasn't touching the vehicle, it lifted itself off the ground, flew over her, in line with her hands and crashed over to the other side. All of which happened in just a second or two.

The sound of glass shattering echoed though the otherwise silent air. The girl strode over to the up-side-down car. She lifted her hand again and balled it up in a fist. Immediately the driver's seat's door scrunched up into a ball, as if made of paper and smashed down a few feet away with just a flicker of the girl's hand.

Another movement and the man inside the car was pulled up and hoisted in mid air. His hair had come loose and his glasses were broken. Thick red liquid trickled down his face from a wound in his forehead.

The blonde kid stepped forward and locked eyes with the man.

"Where is she?" he asked in a sharp voice.

"Who?" the man rasped.

"That sprite you had with you."

"S-She left. I don't know where she is."

The teen narrowed his eyes. He turned to the girl and nodded before turning to walk away. The girl flicked her hand sideways and the man slammed on to the sidewalk and blacked out. She proceeded to follow the blonde teen but stopped suddenly. Slowly, she turned back towards the car. Inside laid the kid, Kyle. The girl tilted her head to the side and just stood there watching him as he struggled to get out of the car.

The blonde stopped when he realized that the girl wasn't following him. He turned around. "What's wrong, Eve?"

Eve took a few seconds before replying, "That boy… he's a trickster."

The blonde seemed surprised "Are you sure?" he asked taking a few steps forward.

Eve nodded.

"Well, I guess that we'd better bring him along then."

Yuki's POV

It was raining again. Although it was just a mild drizzle, I wasn't too happy. Something about the rain brought me down. I walked to school with Sakura and her brother, Touya who wasn't all that thrilled with the weather as well. But Sakura seemed to be enjoying herself. In the few little hours that I had come to know her, I had noticed that Sakura was the kind of girl who tended to be cheerful at all possible moments. Touya was quite the opposite though. He didn't share his sister's optimism.

This also meant that they fought quite a lot, something that was very amusing to watch. I was beginning to like this family. I could only hope that I wouldn't have to leave any them anytime soon.

Touya left with a friend as soon as we entered the school gates. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Sakura sight dreamily at the sight of Touya's friend, Yukido.

"Isn't he a bit too told for you?" I whispered.

"I know." Sakura said, still staring at Yukido as he waved at us and left, "but he's just so…" she trailed off and sighed again.

I couldn't help but smile a bit.

The bell rang just then and Sakura and I squealed at the same time. We dashed for our classes as fast as we could, apologizing to the people be bumped on our way.

Unfortunately, Sakura and I were in different homerooms. She wished me luck and walked off in the opposite direction while I made my way to my approaching doom.

I always hated first days. It was important to act just normal in such a day. Just perfectly normal. If you even showed the slight possibility of being anything but 'normal' the only thing that you'll receive for the rest of the year is cold stares and whispered conversations about how much of a freak you are. Of course I had no desire whatsoever to be popular. I just wanted to be invisible.

I took two deep breaths before stepping in. the teacher hadn't come yet so the class was in a mild state of chaos. I scanned the room for an empty seat. Thankfully there was a lone seat in the corner. I walked over and settled down. No one paid me the least attention and I preferred it that way. The 'invisible' plan was working. Not that it was all that hard to do.

Well, that was only in the case of humans. But Tricksters were a different matter. Somehow they always managed to find me. No matter how hard I tried, I could never be invisible to them. And just like the rest of them, he found me soon enough.

I didn't even realize that I was walking into a trap until it was too late. But then, it wasn't such a big surprise. It was part of who he was, what he was capable of. Why do you thing we call his kind tricksters?

But even so, he was pretty exceptional with deceits. Flawless, you could say. Perfect.

And callous…

A/N: So, that's the end of chapter 2. I'm done with chapter 3 and if I get more reviews, hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. By the way, Yuki's going to meet Fai in the next chapter, so I'll need a nice amount of reviews for this chapter before posting it.

Rei: No, wait. We might not be able to update because of our Boards. It something like the SATs although more time- consuming *sighs*. Hopefully, they'll end in March...