Time and Time Again

It was the wee hours of the morning. In a large clearing a dozen or so caravan trailers were scattered in rows behind a tarp that was pegged to the ground. If one looked closer they'd see that it was actually a tent that had been pulled down. The circus workers were in good spirits this morning, as they usually were, going about their daily business to prepare for the show later in the afternoon.

Further down at the base of a little slope sat two children sitting on the grass using sticks to roast bananas over a makeshift fire made out of logs. Asuna, the one with orange hair tied up in pigtails with two bells had her head in her hand, turning the banana over impatiently. Giggling her friend, a girl with big brown eyes and long hair, nudged her playfully. She was already eating hers, her legs stretched out and waving her feet happily.

"Your banana's going to melt if you don't be careful you know," She grinned.

Frowning slightly, she pulled it out of the fire and inspected it carefully. Deeming it roasted, she sucked on it. "Blech! This tastes gross, how come yours is better than mine Konoka?"
"I told you not to put it inside the fire for so long," Konoka said, laughing.

Sticking her tongue out at her, Asuna picked up another banana and started to peel it again. "Whatever my next one is gonna taste even better than yours!"

Humming a tune, Konoka bobbed her head. She remembered a song she'd heard one oftohe grown-ups singing yesterday. She liked the grown-ups. In fact she really liked this place. Ever since Kaede had rescued her from those people who'd kidnapped her and brought her to the travelling circus, she'd called it home. It was a fun place and she was sure that the owner, a girl with bright eyes and white hair, was a magician. She was always making birds appear out of thin air or appearing from nothing which scared Konoka so much at first but now she asked her to show her some other magic. Asuna, who was the first place she'd made on the other hand, yelled at her and tried to strangle her. Konoka didn't like that much because one time, the girl had made a lot of scary monsters appear. It'd gotten so cold and she started crying because she thought the monsters were going to eat them but her twin sister had made them go away. She thought her twin was much nicer because she also showed them tricks and made them cool costumes.

Like the one she was wearing now, a dress that shimmered red, orange and yellow whenever light hit it. It reminded her of fire. She'd even gotten tiny little horns that she could take on and off anda forked tail that attached to her by magic. It was like an extra limb and moved whenever she wanted it to. She also had a really cool pitch-fork she could summon at will that the nice twin had given her. As she gazed up at the sky, squinting and trying to make out animal shapes, Asuna leapt to her feet.

"Ah-ha! Victory!" She crowed. Hand on her hip she waved the stick in Konoka's face. "Try it! I bet mine tastes better."

As Konoka was about to take a bite, they heard shouts. Pausing, Asuna turned. There, running towards them and stumbling over her feet, was a girl about their age. Her hair was tied up in the strangest way, with her ponytail on the left side and her skin was the whitest Konoka had ever seen. She was wearing a white kimono with a blue hakama and carrying a tiny boken with twin tassels tied at the hilt. She tripped over something, falling down with a cry. Konoka scrambled to her feet, bolting over to her with Asuna close behind.

"Hey, are you ok?" Konoka knelt down.

The girl pushed her aside, running into a surprised Asuna. "Let me go!"

"It's ok I'm not gonna hurt you!" Asuna cried out.

"No you don't get it, they..." Her face paled as the shouts became louder. She looked exhausted.

There were five men coming towards them.

Asuna, her face set, asked, "Do they wanna hurt you?"

The girl looked at her in confusion for a moment before nodding. She was cradling the boken to her chest like it was her life and had slumped over to the ground on her knees, curling into a ball.

"Oi you two, get away from that monster now!" One of the men shouted, advancing on them.

Konoka frowned, glancing at the girl. She was no monster. Asuna glared at them, getting that look on her face that Konoka had only seen when she was really angry.

"Come on little missy, don't make this hard," The man said.

"What'd she ever do to you?" Asuna demanded, crossing her arms.

Konoka knelt down again beside the girl, putting her hand on her back. The girl kept on shaking her head and now that she was close, Konoka could hear her whispering something.

"Just give her to me kid," The man was getting closer.

"You know, maybe we should think about this," One of the other men said uneasily.

"What's there to think about? Sayo-chan is dead because of that demon," Another one said angrily.

"It was an accident. Come on, Yorichi, you're just not thinking clearly I mean she's only a kid..." The one who'd spoken before-hand said.

"Yeah she's only a kid now but she'll be a monster when she's all grown up, just like the birds she came from. You really wanna give her that chance Takemi?"

The first man had picked up Asuna by the collar of the shirt she was wearing and passed her over to one of the others.

"Put me down!" Asuna screamed, kicking and punching.

"Asuna!" Konoka stepped forwards but the first man had blocked her.

He picked her up by the arm, shaking his head. "Sorry kid."

Before Konoka could do anything she was tossed to one of his friends who caught her.

"You put up a good fight, monster. We've been chasing you for three days, surprised you could make it this far but I guess that's just cos you're just a freak huh?"

Konoka was sure she started screaming then as the man took out something sharp and pointy from his boot. It was a knife and he swiped it down at the girl but there was the sound of something breaking and she saw half of the other knife fly through the air. Asuna had bitten on the fingers of the man who was holding her. Dropping her, he swore and raised a hand to hit her but Asuna kicked him in the shins hard and picked up some pebbles and began to throw them at his face. He cried out, covering his face with his hands. Asuna threw more at him and he crashed into the man who was holding Konoka. Konoka fell with a plop to the ground. By the time she'd stood up, Asuna was pelting handfuls of rocks at the men who started to run.

"Hey, what are you guys doing? Get back here you cowards! They're only-argh!"

Konoka charged into the remaining man's legs, latching herself around him and started to stab him with the pitch-fork. Cursing, he staggered away and Konoka hopped off him just in time before he made a run for it, limping all the way.

"Yeah and don't come back either!" Asuna shouted, trying to hit him with more rocks.

But Konoka was staring at the girl. Or...the wings that had sprouted from the girl and was wrapped around her like a feathery cacoon. She wandered over to her in a daze, awed.

Reaching out to touch one of the feathers, she felt them. They were soft, like clouds. Suddenly the wings snapped back, shrinking back into her shoulders.

"Whoa," Asuna gasped. She'd turned around, her mouth open at the sight. "Wow...that's so cool! Can you do that again?"

"Asuna, I think she's hurting," Konoka said, looking at the girl worriedly.

The girl was still shaking her head, now rocking back and forth on her heels. She had her eyes closed and she was crying.

"Oh, hey it's ok we're the good guys," Asuna announced, striding over to her and putting out her hand. When the girl didn't respond her face fell. "What's wrong? Those mean people are gone now. You don't have to worry anymore."

"It's my fault," She whispered.

"We'd better get her back to the adults. Kaede-anee-chan will know what to do," Konoka suggested.

"Right," Asuna scratched her head. "Um...hey, don't fall asleep!"

The girl had keeled over.

It took one week when Konoka and Asuna could see the girl again. She was lying in a hammock in the owner's caravan with one of the workers tending to her. Konoka was happy it wasn't any random person. It was Ako, someone who was very good at making things better. Someday she wanted to do what Ako did too. The girl was sitting up, clutching the blanket she had in her hands and looking around nervously. Across her lap she held the boken with one hand so tightly she was shaking.

"It'll be alright. You're safe here," Ako smiled at her, patting her on the arm. "I think you've got some people who want to see you."

Konoka hugged Ako before she left and then bounded over to the girl who looked at her, startled.

"Hi! I'm Konoka. How are you?" She said brightly.

"Um," She said.

"I'm Asuna," Asuna declared, running over to her. "What's your name?"

"I...I don't really have a name," The girl admitted.

"What? No way, everyone's got a name," Asuna said adamantly.

"I guess...they used to call me Setsuna so you can call me Setsuna," She looked down at her lap, twisting her fingers together.

"Setsuna...Secchan!" Konoka spelt the word out, beaming, "Nice to meet you."

Blushing, the girl gave a shy smile, "Y-yes, nice to meet you Konochan."

"You're really going to like it here," Konoka smiled at her happily.

Setsuna just nodded, fidgeting with the tassels that had been tied to her boken. Hesitantly, Konoka crawled up next to her. She wanted to comfort her. Setsuna stiffened like a statue making Konoka frown. She snuggled up to her nevertheless, resting her head on her shoulder. Seconds ticked by, minutes then finally Setsuna relaxed.

"Aw you two are so cute," Asuna laughed. "Oh hey, what's that?"

"Huh?" Konoka followed her friend's gaze. There, tied around both Setsuna and her finger, was a red string connecting them together.

"Woooow, you didn't tell me you were practicing your magic!" Asuna said. She waved her hand through the string and it went through like it wasn't even there.

Doing it a few more times, she looked disappointed as it vanished.

"That wasn't even me," Konoka said, amazed.

Sighing grumpily, Asuna fell back on the ground spread-eagled. Out of the corner of her eye Setsuna gave her another small smile and Konoka felt like she was with an angel. She would never let her go.

A.N: As always, thank you to all who reviewed and I'm glad I've avoided the cliche xD. Hope you guys enjoyed it, this one was technically the magic chapter but there's heaps more to come. One more shot then it's down to the wire in pure magic and supernatural hijinks. Normalcy? Bah, who wants that xD.

Snoozy: As much as I would like to, it wouldn't keep with the theme. And truth be told, I actually can't think of anything right now ^^;

worldismine: Glad to hear that xD

Leftie: No worries :D Like I said, I would like to finish this asap. There's another fic I'm working on atm.