"Alright! Ready to go?" I called, spinning to face my family. They stared like I was some crazed, murderous psycopath, which I probably was. "Come on! Show some spirit, guys!" I raised both of my arms in a cheery way, grinning excitedly. Kip, being easily excited, leapt into the air and flapped his raven wings. Howling to the sky he circled us for a minute before landing. "Let's do this! Come on! Ya cowards or wiccans? Let's go team!" He howled.
"Kip-kun's right! Let's go!" Sirius said, struggling onto Kip's back, sitting between the wolf's neck and wings. "Alright!" Sapphire shrieked, swinging onto the wolf right behind her brother. Itachi and I watched as Kip launched into the air, raven wings opening with a snap. "Come on, Itachi! Let's have a race!" I said, watching the grin spread across her face. "You, against me and them?" She pointed to the winged wolf circling above. I nodded, and began to chant,"Drake, Draco, Drago, Dragon. RAPID WING!"
My shirt started to tear as wings shot outward in a flurry of feathers blacker than a crow flying through the darkest night. I looked challengingly at Itachi, who, for the first time, was wearing her wiccan outfit. Itachi wore a ferret-based outfit. Her hat had a fake ferret curled around it, and her cloak puffed like a spooked ferret's tail. Her knee-length dress was made to resemble a beige ferret, it even looked as if it were furry. She, like myself, was bare foot. The outfit matched the curly mop of golden hair that hung past her butt. I liked her hair much better than my own wildly flowing, tangled mess of gold hair.
"I will so beat you! Fe-fe-ferr-ferret! RAPID WING!" Her wings were the same golden color as her beautiful hair. I felt a grin creep across my face as I spoke,"Three, two...ONE!" Shouting the last word I shot into the sky. I heard a booming sound as Itachi chased after me and a swoosh as Kip picked up speed. Flying was always a favorite activity of mine. Feeling the wind whip through my hair and ruffling my feathers as I soared through the open sky, unchallenged for the most part.
The land whizzed past below me, the colors of the world blurring together below. The feeling it gave me was, well, almost undescribable. The best way to put it would be the feeling of everlasting freedom. Freedom from the worry and fear of the world below. "WOOHOO!" My voice rang across the miles of sky, sinking to the world below me. Now I could see Death City, swiftly approaching and I felt the sudden urge to keep moving. Past Death City, past countless cities, past forests and lakes and deserts; through rain and sun, sleet and snow; high above the clouds to the stars beyond.
I did just that. I passed Death City and soared through the clouds, climbing ever higher, dipping and diving among the white fluff. Realizing what happened, I circled back, maintaining my high altitude. Kip and Itachi hovered above Shibusen, watching me as I returned. Time for some real fun, I thought. Maka and Soul were standing just outside with their friends and they made easy targets. Hehehe...
Climbing to a height that would surely kill me if I were normal, I closed my eyes and let instinct take over. Opening my eyes, I felt extremely refreshed and aware of everything around me. The winds whipping around me so fast it was like standing in a hurricane, the sound of the rushing winds, the biting cold of the air around me, the crisp scent of the air, the taste of the water in the atmosphere, the stares of those on the ground, gazing in wonder at my form.
Folding my wings to my body, I leaned to the side so I fell head first. My hair was thrown about wildly as my 165 degree dive caused me to gain the speed of a flaming meteor, hurling to the Earth. Faster and faster, I approached the ground. I'm sure I was nothing more than a blur to those people below. The ground was close and Maka's friends just realized I was coming straight at them. My wings snapped open as I soared upward, narrowly missing their heads.
Throwing myself into a spin, I climbed higher. Leveling myself so I would fly straight, I circled the towers of the school. Letting out a loud whoop of joy, I perched on one of the towers as Kip and Itachi did the same. Nodding to each of them I leapt back into the sky, flanked by them. They continued circling the towers as I gained altitude, pulling my wings closer as I spun to gain speed. Diving past Maka and her friends again. This time, instead of circling the towers again, I flew around them once and landed infront of them.
"Hey! Your that witch!" Black*Star shouted, pointing at me. I swatted his hand aside."That's not nice, dude. Don't point." Itachi and Kip landed next to me as the young wiccans dismounted. Maka smiled at me, which her friends failed to notice. "I guess somethings wrong with you, I came to explain my situation to Lord Death. Oh, and also,"I turned to Kidd," I'm really sorry for hurting you. I just couldn't stand being called a witch, anymore. I'm not a witch so please don't refer to me as such. So, again I'm really, really sorry for hurting you, Stripes."
"Stripes?" Tsubaki said as she looked at me. I nodded, grinning widely, while Liz and Patty stared at me like I was mad. I probably was, seeing as I just waltzed up to the one place with the most meisters I knew of, but I guess my nickname wouldn't fit if I wasn't slightly mad.
Kidd tilted his head and stared at me, which started to creep me out. "Uh...What exactly is he doing?" I questioned Maka."I don't know, but it probably has something to do with symmetry..."She replied. While I was trying to figure out what Kidd was doing Itachi snuck up behind me and pulled my hat over my head. "Ya dropped this, sis!" After fixing my hat, I turned to face my sister. I moved closer to her, speaking slowly,"Itachi, what have I said about touching my hat?" She grinned evilly and grabbed the brim of my hat."If I remember, it was don't touch the hat..."
"That's right. Do you know what happens if you touch it?" Itachi shook her head violently. I tackled Itachi to the ground and pinned her down. She swung her arm around and punched me in the face, but I wasn't phased. Grabbing her shirt, I stood and pulled her with me. Itachi started laughing so hard she could barely stand. I tightened my grip on her shirt, bringing her face to mine. "Itachi. You know better than to touch the hat." I hissed as she laughed harder, knocking the hat off my head. "ITACHI!" I shrieked. I lifted my hysterical sister off the ground and threw her towards the school, laughing when she collided with a wall.
"Okay, okay...Tsuki your here to see Lord Death not to throw your sister into a wall." Maka said, standing in front of me. "Oh, right. Thanks for the reminder, Maka-chan!" I exclaimed excitedly, pulling Itachi to her feet and running to Maka. "Lead the way!" Maka nodded and motioned for us to follow her. Black*Star stood in front of us, blocking the way. "Maka, why are you helping this...this witch? Why should you help her anyway?"
"Because she's nice! She brought me back here after I fought her! And she's not a witch, she's a wiccan! There is a difference. She just wants to clear her name so her family can stop worrying!" Maka said, pushing past Black*Star. We followed obediently as Maka and Soul led us through the seemingly endless hallways of the school. Along the way I got bored and started humming my favorite song, "Too Bad" by Nickleback. It seemed fitting, since that was and sort of is our lives at the moment.
Maka shot me a glance, but I shrugged, refusing to stop humming. When I had fininshed humming the first song I sung the next one softly.
"He wears his heart saftey-pinned to his back;
His backpack is all that he knows;
Shot down by strangerswhose glances can criple,
The heart and devor the soul."
Maka elbowed me in the ribs and I hissed at her. Itachi leaned in and said," Try to act normal infront of Lord Death, Ms. Maddness." I turned bright red when she said that, since I had completely forgotten what was going on. I looked around, but the room held nothing of interest, even if there were red things. God, how'd I miss that? Oh well, no use worrying about it now. The other thing I noticed was the mirror, and I instantly started backing away from it. I hated my reflection, I really hated it. It's not that I'm not pretty, it's just, my reflection looks different than I do and I can see my own soul when I look in mirrors. Water is fine, I look normal in water, but mirrors, totally different.
What? You expect to look normal in mirrors, too? Mirrors are man-made, unlike most ponds and lakes, A voice said in my mind. I looked over my shoulder and all around to see who was talking. Then my gaze fell on the mirror and I saw my reflection. Only it wasn't mine. A girl, who looked just like me stood there, dressed in a knee-length black dress slit up the sides, and lacey black gloves. She had black wings like I had when I used rapid wing, a black, serpentine, razor-tipped tail, flaming gold hair, and she was surrounded by swirling red mist. "Itachi? Uh..." I nudged my sister. "We've been through this it's your reflection." She muttered. "That's not me! Can't you see her? She wears all black! And she's got flaming hair, black wings, a black tail, and she's surrounded by red mist!" I said, shaking her and putting my face an inch from hers before throwing back.
"Your scared of your reflection? That's not cool." Soul said. "Shut up! I'm not scared of her! She's just...just creepy! She's always there too! But only in mirrors!" I shrieked. Maka came over and tried to calm me. "Tsuki, You realize that your talking about your reflection, right?" I shook my head so hard I started to get dizzy,"But I never see her in water, I just see me. The way I look now, I see in water, but not in mirrors." I could feel everyone's eyes on me, and it made me nervous, so I forced myself to calm down. Well, NOW your calm. You know that what you see is you. I am you, and you are me, we are one and the same. I am your soul, and I am Insaniy, The mirror girl's voice echoed. "...My...soul...wha-?" I muttered under my breath.
"Hello, hello, hello!" I heard some one say. Well, lookie here...little Ryuu is meeting Lord Death. You know, he's probably gonna kill you...,The mirror girl cackled. I tugged on Maka's sleeve nervously."Maka-chan? C-can I please leave? Please?" I whispered. She shook her head and whispered back,"Your the one who wanted to come and clear your name." I sighed. "Lord Death? This is Tsuki, she's a wiccan who was mistaken for a witch." I stared at the ground and said,"H-hello,sir. I'm wiccan Tsuki, and this is wiccan Itachi and our sucessors, Sirius and Sapphire. Oh, and Kip is the wolf..." I could tell that Lord Death was waiting for me to continue. "Uh...I'm also really sorry for hurting everyone that's come after me, but they attacked me first, so technically I didn't do anything wrong...right?"
"Well, your half right. Although you fought to defend yourself, your still a witch and the students were just doing their jobs." Shinigami said. I sighed, shaking my head,"I'm not a witch, I'm a wiccan. There's a big difference, so stop calling me a witch unless you want me to lose all self-control and possibly kill some one." Itachi shook her head and the mirror-girl muttered something about me being wrong. "What would that difference be?" Shinigami asked, making me jump. I had forgotten he was even there. "Huh? Oh, well, wiccan magic is based entirely off nature and the eight natural elements. Wiccans also have spirit animals and we have to defend our animal brethren, since we also live along side all animals. Witches, on the other hand, have animals based entirely off their type of magic. They don't know what natural magic is or anything about the ways of nature."
"So, basically, your saying that your a wiccan because your magic is based on one of these natural elements and because you have a spirit animal." Shinigami said, simplifying my explanation," But what exactly are these natural elements and spirit animals? How do you know which animal is your spirit animal?" Maka looked like she wanted to know as well. " The eight natural elements are water, earth, fire, wind, electricity, ice, shadow, and light. Some say that thunder is an element. That's not true, but there is a nineth element that is over looked. Insanity is an element, it gives one astonishing power. And your wrong, my magic is based on all the elements, all of us have magic based on every element. As for spirit animals they're animals that have traits similar to a particular person. As for knowing the animal...you don't know, the animal knows and it will guide you if it choses to." I explained. "Alrighty then. That wolf...is he one of those spirit animals?"
Sirius spoke up," Yep! Kip-kun is my guardian spirit. He's also my brother!" The little blonde boy was stroking the jet black wolf, frosty blue eyes never leaving Shinigami. "Because Kip is a wolf Sirius dresses as a wolf." I said, noting his black clothes covered in silvery-gray wolf prints, the collar embroidered with large white moons, and the silver wrist band with a large, ruby red jewel in the shape of a wolf's paw. "Well, if you dress to symbolize your animal then your a dragon and your sister is a ferret. What about the girl?" He pointed at Sapphire, questioningly. "I'm a thunder bird!" The brunette exclaimed. Sapphire wore an eagle feather hat and a short cape made from hawk feathers. Her shirt had the Native American symbol for the thunder bird on it.
"Thunder bird?" Maka looked at me, her confusion obvious. I shrugged,"Only Sapphire knows where they are, just like only I know where the last of my animals are. And we won't tell." "So there really are dragons?" Maka looked like she'd been slapped in the face. I guess she was one of those people who grew up hearing that dragons aren't real or some other nonsense. " Alright, alright. We're getting off track here. You said Insanity is an element that gives you astonishing powers. What would these powers be?" Shinigami asked. I could sense that he wanted to know, pretty badly too. This may decide whether I can live or not, better think my answer through. "Well, I don't know EVERY one, but I know Telepathy, telekinises, and teleportaion are definately some abilities. They say the other ones are only discovered as you develope, so I don't know them."
"It seems safe to allow you to live, but if you do anything that may prove you a threat, we'll be sure that we dispose of you." Shinigami told me, although I'm sure he was also talking to the others. We all nodded and headed for the exit, when Maka shouted,"Wait!" I stopped dead in my tracks, which caught Itachi off guard. She walked right into me and we both fell to the ground. Pushing Itachi off me, I sat up." Itachi, you idiot. I thought I told you that your a ferret, not a duckling." The look of pure confusion that crossed her face made me burst out laughing. I laughed so hard I didn't even hear what Maka had just said. After a few minutes I had calmed down and pulled myself to my feet.
"S-sorry Maka-chan, what was that?" Tilting my head I looked at her. "Well," Maka began," what I said was that your gonna start classes here at Shibusen. After all Itachi is a weapon and your her partner." "What? N-no! I-I can't. I know everyone will hate me because of my magic." I complained. The look on Itachi's face told me that she would be no help. This was her dream come true. "You starting tomarrow." Maka said flatly. I sighed, tomarrow was going to be the worst day ever.
