Chapter Three: The Wings of Inevitability

"Travel between worlds is more difficult than you imagine. There are a wide variety of worlds. For example…" Yûko started. "The worlds these two come from. You can tell just from their clothes, can't you? Both of them come from different worlds than yours. People you know. People you've met on your world…they've developed under completely different conditions on other worlds. You may meet different versions of the same person time after time on different worlds. And just because that person is nice to you on one world doesn't mean you will find an ally on the next. You'll find worlds where you can't communicate—where even common sense doesn't work. Scientific development, standard of living, laws…all change with the world. There are worlds full of criminals, worlds of liars, worlds locked in constant wars… And you must live through them all. It will be a journey in which you won't know where you are nor how close you are to collecting all of the fractured pieces of memory. That said…" Yûko smiled, "…are you still determined to see it through?"

"…Yes!"

Magic began to swirl around Yûko. "Sincerity and determination… No matter what a person wants to attempt, those are needed. And it seems that you are well provided with both. And so…"

A magic circle appeared underneath Mokona.

"You may go!"

Mokona grew wings instantly, making Kimihiro's eyes widened.

Jasmine looked at the black-haired boy before lightly smiling. "I'll be back!"

She waved before Mokona opened it's mouth, sending them to another world.

When they were gone, Yûko smiled as the rain stopped. "I wish…you four the best of fortune on your journey!"

Kimihiro looked down. "Yûko… Did Jasmine…"

"She knew. All she wanted was to go home, but she has another wish. One that she has given up on having granted."

"W-Why?"

"Because she was used to being alone. When you're alone, it can affect you in negative ways. You don't need to worry about her. Jasmine will come back."

Jasmine woke up to the sound of someone drying her.

Her eyes slowly opened before flinching slightly.

"Oh, you're awake!" Fai smiled. "I was worried for a second."

Jasmine looked up slightly to see Fai wearing only a white and blue jumpsuit. He must have taken his coat off…

She slowly sat up, removing her glasses to rub her eyes. "Where…?"

Fai shrugged. "We just woke up here ourselves."

"Mokona is glad you're awake!" The creature jumped to her. "How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm fine…" Jasmine still wasn't used to people asking how she was.

"Do you wanna help Mokona dry him?" Mokona gestured to Syaoran.

"Um…sure…" She grabbed a washrag before helping Mokona.

"Puu!" Mokona exclaimed. "It looks like…!"

"Sa…kura?" Jasmine heard Syaoran say.

Mokona turned away from him, still wiping Syaoran's face while crying. "…He doesn't grab Mokona!"

"Oh!" Fai picked up Mokona, placing him on his knee. "It looks like he's up."

"SAKURA!" Syaoran yelled, sitting up until he realized he was still holding her.

"We tried to dry her off. She got pretty wet in the rain." Fai told the brown-haired boy.

"Mokona dried too!" Mokona chimed in.

"Even while you slept, you wouldn't let the girl go. So you… Er…" Fai was trying to remember Syaoran's name.

"Call me Syaoran."

Fai smiled, pointing to himself. "My name is pretty long. You can just call me Fai." He turned to Kurogane, pointing at him, who was in the corner of the room. "And…Mr. Black over there. What'll we call you?"

"I am not "Mr. Black"! I am Kurogane!" He yelled.

"Kurogane, huh?"

Syaoran turned to the brunette girl. "And you?"

Jasmine looked at him in confusion before realizing that he was asking for her name.

"Jasmine… Jasmine Montalvo."

"Jasmine…" Fai repeated her name. "I don't like it."

"Huh?" All three of them looked at Fai in confusion.

"I got it! How about Jazz?"

The brunette girl stared at him for a moment before she signed. "…That's fine." She was surprised he didn't call her a weird nickname.

"Waa!" Syaoran yelled making Jasmine look up.

She looked up to see Fai have his hand around the brown-haired boy with a frown on his face.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kurogane asked.

Fai pulled a feather out. "Is this what a piece of memory looks like…for this child?"

"Eh?!" Syaoran gasped.

The feather was white with a pink heart design.

Fai smiled. "It was stuck to you. Only one, though."

Syaoran's eyes widened. "That time when all the feathers flew away!"

Fai lets go of the feather, making it land on top of Sakura.

"This…is one piece of Sakura's memories!" Syaoran exclaimed.

Her body absorbed the feather, making a little color appear on her face.

Syaoran slightly smiled. "Her body…is a little warmer."

Fai grinned. "If you hadn't had that feather, it might have been a problem."

"By coincidence, one stuck to my clothes…"

"There is no such thing as coincidence." Fai suddenly said, making their eyes widened. "That's…what the witch said, wasn't it? And so…my guess is without thinking, you grabbed it yourself." He smiled. "In order to save the girl."

Syaoran managed a small smile.

Then, Fai grinned with a shrug of his shoulders. "Of course, I'm just guessing all this!"

The three sweatdropped.

Fai looked up with his chin in his hands. "But my question is how can we find them now…new feathers."

"Mokona knows!" Mokona jumped to Syaoran's leg.

"Huh?"

"That feather gave out really big waves!" Mokona twirled around. "So when a feather is close, Mokona will feel the big waves! And Mokona will be like…"

"Gak!" Everyone besides Fai gaped when it opened it's eyes.

Mokona hit it's face. "…this!"

Fai pats Mokona's head. "Well, it looks like we have a way. If we get close, Mokona will let us know."

Kurogane was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.

Syaoran picked up Mokona. "Would you do that? Tell us when we're near a feather?"

"Leave that to me!"

Syaoran smiled. "Thank you!"

"Search or don't search. That's up to you."

Everyone looked over at Kurogane.

"It's got nothing to do with me! I'm here to get back to my own world. That's the only reason I'm here. Don't expect me to stick my neck out for you. Don't expect me to help you. I won't do it!"

Syaoran nodded. "Right. This is my mission here. I'll do my best not to cause you any trouble."

Kurogane's eyes widened before he turned to the side, blushing slightly.

Fai laughed. "Syaoran, you are so serious!"

"Well? What about you?" Kurogane asked.

"Mm?" Fai looked up at him.

"Are you going to help the brat out?"

"Hmmmm. I suppose so." Fai smiled. "My most important mission is to not return to my world. So, if it doesn't threaten my life… Sure, I'll help out. I've got nothing better to do."

"And you, kid?" Kurogane looked at Jasmine.

The brunette girl nodded. "I don't mind helping out, if that's okay."

Syaoran gently smiled to her. "Thank you."

"Yo!" The door suddenly opened to reveal a man and a woman.

The man has short, spiky black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt under a light brown long-sleeved shirt, brown pants, and white shoes.

The woman has long, violet hair and violet eyes. She was wearing a long-sleeved light purple shirt, a long black shirt, and black shoes.

"So you're all awake now!" The man grinned.

Syaoran was immediately tense while Jasmine silently stared at them with cautious eyes.

Just because she knew who they are didn't mean she could trust so easily.

"Hey! No need to get all tense! You came from Yûko, right?" The man walked up to them after taking his shoes off.

"Yûko?" Syaoran asked.

"You know, the Girl Witch. The Dimension Witch… The Far East Witch… She has a lot of names." He listed.

"Here." The woman gave Syaoran a blanket.

"Oh! Thank you!"

Jasmine puts the blanket over Sakura once Syaoran puts her down.

"Thank you, Jasmine." Syaoran smiled at her.

She couldn't help the hesitant smile that came on her face.

"I'm Sorata Arisugawa." The man introduced himself.

The woman bowed. "I'm Arashi."

"Just to let you know, she's my wife and the woman I love. I call her my "Honey"! Just make sure you've burned that into your hearts."

"Here." She gave the brunette girl a cup of tea.

Jasmine blinked before taking it. "Oh, thank you…"

She noticed that Sorata puts both of his hands on Kurogane's shoulders. "By which I mean that if you lay a finger on her, you'll die horribly."

"Why do you say that only to me?!" Kurogane yelled.

"Nori! Nori!" Sort cheered before turning to Kurogane with his thumb up. "But I wasn't kidding!"

"I won't touch her!"

"Now…" Sorata picked up Mokona. "I figured you went to the Witch Lady," he pointed to Mokona, "and got this from her to get here, right?"

"Mokona Modoki!"

Sorata looked at Mokona. "That's a long name. Is it okay if I just say Mokona?"

"Sure! Okay!"

"I heard the whole story from the man there." Sorata crossed his arms. "Anyways, ladies and gentlemen… This is your lucky day."

"Umm…" Fai scratched his head. "In what way?"

"Mokona has no idea which is the next world, right?" Sorata walked past them. "So…it's a happy chance that brought you to this world first of all. Because this…" he opened the window, "…is the Hanshin Republic!"

Hey. I'm not sure if I described Sorata and Arashi's appearances right. You can correct me if I'm wrong.

Disclaimer: I only own Jazz.