CCS does not belong to me. To Elizabeth.
Our Fierce Battle
"Who?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Kanari pushed away a strand of golden hair. "Her name is Eliza, and she's in my math class."
"Why didn't you sense anything earlier?" Nakita shifted and took a drink of water. They were sitting at lunch, discussing the fact that Kanari had sensed something new.
"Wow, the last Jewel." Snowy said. "What is this, the, er, Indigo Jewel?"
"Yeah." Doughboy said, and bit into his pizza hungrily. "The last one."
"We still don't have all of them." Liz pointed out. "And even if we did, we don't know how to make it form one."
"How does Eriol know all this stuff?" Kanari asked. She looked at Nakita for an answer, but Nakita was staring halfway across the lunchroom, to where Vash and Kelli were sitting. "Er, Nakita? Earth to Nakita."
"I'd give you a penny for your thoughts." Doughboy dug out a penny. "Here." Nakita snapped out of her thoughts and took the penny, looking confused.
"There must be an instruction book somewhere." Snowy said. "Ooh, we just need to get to the Fifth Dimension!"
"There isn't a door!" Rene pointed out.
"Maybe its in the Fourth Dimension." I pointed it out. "I mean, it makes a great deal of sense: The door from the second leads to the third and then to the fourth and the fourth leads to the fifth." Doughboy looked very doubtful. "I was only a suggestion." I said, sipping my milk. Doughboy crumpled up his napkin and tossed it towards the waste bin across the room. He missed and it bounced off the rim. Doughboy ran after it to pick it up. Snowy, who was also watching, shook her head in disapproval.
"He's going to get a detention for it someday." She said, and returned to her eating.
"Maybe." Rene said. "But let's focus. Only one more Jewel to go. I can't believe that Eriol is actually doing pretty well, considering the fact he's all by himself."
"Bad guys always find ways to do their evil deeds." Snowy sighed and drank her orange juice. Doughboy returned to his seat.
"So, is Kanari sure about this one?" I asked. Kanari nodded. I looked back at the others. "Well, why not?"
"Can I actually believe this?" Doughboy blinked and opened his eyes wide. "Yuki is actually volunteering to do some Jewel capturing work?" I laughed, and nodded.
"Yup." I said. "We've got to get this over with. Any ideas? The park is kind of getting old."
"For real." Nakita said. "All of our captures have been there, or at Rene's house." Rene nodded.
"Also, I've finished going through all of the costumes." Rene said, grinning. "Do you think you could all come over Tuesday to see them?"
"Nope." Kanari sighed. "Sorry, but that's tomorrow, and I've promised Brittany I'd spend the evening helping her with her homework."
"Good o' Kanari always keeps her promises." Nakita look her gaze off Vash and looked at Kanari. "Is Brittany really your sister, Kanari? Her name was posted on the Honor Roll as Brittany Bice."
"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Kanari giggled. "I'm an exchange student from Norway, and living with the Bice's."
"Cool." Snowy said. "With Brittany and William Thomas, eh? How's his head?"
"Who, William?" Kanari asked. Snowy nodded. "Pretty well. He's fully recovered, but still has minor headaches. I can't believe that old lady hit him."
"Well, he should look both ways before crossing the street first." I said.
"Yeah." Rene giggled. "I have to admit, it was kind of funny, now that you think of it. At the time it was horrifying." We all nodded in agreement, except Nakita, who had looked back at Vash.
"Kanari, did you say you were from Norway?" Nakita asked. Kanari nodded. "No way, my grandmother lives there. I visit her every summer."
"I don't believe I know her." Kanari said. "I certainly know your last name is Bowman, and I don't know any Mrs. Bowman."
"She's on my mother's side." Nakita said. "Her name is Gliverd."
"Gliverd." Doughboy repeated. "What an odd name." Snowy shrugged. The bell that marked the end of lunch period cut our conversation short.
"I don't know." Kanari said. "There might have been a Mrs. Gliverd living near us, but it's a very slim chance, don't you agree?" She smiled giggled as she got up and followed the rest of us to the trash bin.
"So, how about Wednesday?" Rene asked, dumping her plate into the nearest can.
"I can't." I said. "E-Team."
"Thursday?"
"Uh, piano lesson."
"Yuki!"
"Well, I do. I'm a very busy person."
"Well, what about Friday?" I shrugged.
"Sounds good to me." Kanari and Nakita nodded. Snowy shrugged, and Doughboy said, "Cool." Liz said, "Okay."
"Well, now that that's over with, could anyone tell us what we can do about, yuh, um." Doughboy put a finger on his many chins and looked up at the ceiling. "Er, Eliza, whatever his name was."
"Um, Eliza is a GIRL." Liz said. "She sits beside me in Greek Mythology class." We all stared.
"You take Greek Mythology?" Snowy asked, and her eyebrows rose. We were heading back to the classroom.
"Yeah." Liz said. "That's my Friday elective." We all exchanged looks and shrugged.
"What?" Eliza shirked back further towards the wall in the ally. "What Jewel?"
"Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about." The guy said. "C'mon, hand it over." His aide tugged at his arm.
"Maybe she really doesn't know." She said.
"I don't play with these things." He said, brushing back a piece of pale blond hair. His sister waited impatiently.
"Why don't you just try it then?" She asked. "I mean, we can certainly modify her memory. I've seen the fat kid do it to William Bice the Third."
"You try it." He said. "I don't like spells."
"Okay." She stepped in front of her. Eliza flattened herself against the wall and huddled in a ball. "Don't worry little girl." The evil girl tucked away a strand of long blue hair. "This will only hurt for a second. Okay. Master Mind Forward the Jewel!" With her arms in position, the Jewel shot out. Eliza whimpered, but stood up easily. She had not fainted. As the boy and girl team examined their first Jewel capture, Eliza decided to make a run for it. She sped down the ally towards the school.
"Oh, I knew I shouldn't never taken this way." She said, running fast. But the girl took out something and said, "Memorization." The last thing Eliza remembered was darkness.
When she woke up, all she remembered was know she had decided to go this way. Picking up her books and supplies, Eliza quickly ran home. She remembered none of it. Watching her from the roof of a nearby building, the boy congratulated his sister.
"Great job Sis." He said. "You totally rock when it comes to malignant magic."
"I wouldn't call it that." She said, walking to the edge of the roof and jumping down. Her brother landed next to her. "It's just magic. Some think of it as malignant, and others benign. I guess you can't classify magic."
"Suppose." The boy looked at her straight in the eye with his light blue eyes. "Just suppose they've already sensed something, and the next day it's gone."
"Doesn't matter." The girl said, holding her gaze, which was focused upon the deep blue eyes of herself, reflected by her brother. "They'll just think Eriol got her and try to question her." The boy looked at the Jewel.
"Our first Jewel, the Indigo Jewel." He said. "What a treat." The girl nodded.
"Mother would've been proud."
"Ahh, Nakita!" Kanari skidded through the mobs of people in the hallway. Nakita, wait for me!" Her voice rose in a crescendo as she ran to keep up. She fell into the rhythm of Nakita's footsteps.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Kanari asked, waiting sideways, tripping over her own feet, trying to keep up. "Nakita?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong, nothing at all." Nakita replied cheerfully, at least this was as cheerful as possible. She wiped away her tears and sniffed. "I see you have news by your expression. What's up?" Kanari sighed.
"I know this is probably the absolute last thing on your mind at the moment." Kanari paused. "But you see, someone has gotten the Indigo Jewel!"
"WHAT?" Nakita stopped sniffing.
"Yeah." Kanari said. "Today, I tried as hard as I could, but could sense NOTHING coming from her. Listen, Eriol has gotten to her."
"Then we've absolutely got to see how much we can get out of her." Nakita said. She scoffed. "And you said I wouldn't care. Huh. Okay, emergency meeting after school."
"But it's Thursday, and Yuki has a piano lesson." Kanari argued.
"Not directly after school." Nakita said. "I've known her ever since elementary school, since the day she started piano. I should know." Kanari agreed and they ran as fast as they could down the hall.
I was at my locker, putting my books away, and trying to cram the last of my winter jacket into my locker. "Hey!" I shouted down the hall, waving at Kanari and Nakita, frantically running my way.
"Wait up!" Nakita called, and skidded to a stop beside me. Okay. So I stopped shoving my locker shut, and the jacket fell out.
"Need some help with that?" Kanari asked, picking my jacket off the floor. She folded it up, crushed the air out of it, and then stuffed into a cubbyhole in my locker. "Presto." I slapped my forehead and groaned. "Don't worry." Kanari said, shrugging. "We all have those kind of days." I tried to straighten out my hair.
"Sorry." I said. "Don't we have ensemble practice today?" Nakita slapped her head.
"Oh, I totally forgot!" She said. "But don't worry, I'll be there in five minutes. I've got to call my mom. Why don't you explain things, Kanari?" Nakita shouted down the hall as she ran as fast as she could (backwards) towards the office pay phone.
"And after the practice I have piano." I said. "Kanari, I told my mom you were giving me a ride, but actually I'm going to fly over there, so just pretend for me, all right?" Kanari nodded.
"Listen, the Indigo Jewel I sensed yesterday has disappeared. Kanari said ("WHAT?" "Yeah.") "It's out of Eliza. We've got to question her." I looked down the deserted hall.
"She's probably already home now, but oh well, we can do that tomorrow." I said. "UGH, I'm so busy today!" Kanari smiled.
"Don't forget we have to meet at Rene's house tomorrow." She said. Nakita joined us as we walked to the band room.
Our ensemble was a flute, clarinet, and oboe trio.
"Kanari, remember to suck your reed!" The band director called as he walked out the door. Kanari glared at him, and popped the oboe reed into her mouth. We laughed.
"I'm going to start at measure seventeen." Nakita said. She put her flute up to her mouth and began to play.
"I've always liked the flute." I said to Kanari. "It's, like, so high, and hard to play, but it's pretty."
"Yeah." Kanari played into her oboe, a very high pitch. I sat down next to Nakita. The pitch hurt my ears more than it hurt Nakita.
Us three began to play in unison.
**
Vash ran around the building furiously, looking for his orchestra teacher. He played the cello, and had left his music on the stand at the end of class. It was a little late, but he had a test on it tomorrow! Vash dashed into the band room, and stopped abruptly.
The three jewel girls, as Kelli called them, were practicing their ensemble. At the moment Vash had barged in, Nakita and Kanari had the melody, and Yuki was scribbling something on her sheet music. Kanari soon stopped and all eyes were on Nakita. Those long lashes that seemed to be a vast cloud of feathers lay above the gleaming brown pearl, and while she was playing and looking at her music gave her a contented look, as if she didn't have a single care in the whole world except playing her music. Vash sighed.
Suddenly, Nakita stopped and looked up. She turned to Yuki and Kanari. "So?" She asked. "I know I missed an E flat, but otherwise I think I did pretty well."
"Yeah." Kanari said. Yuki stretched. "It was good."
"More, faster air." The band director said, hurrying to and fro in the band room. "Remember Nakita, don't rush!"
"Yes sir." Nakita said, and searched for a pencil to mark her mistakes. Yuki handed her a pencil.
"Vash?" The teacher asked. "How may I help you?"
"I'm looking for the orchestra director." Vash said, squirming to the fact that all three girls had finally noticed him and were all pointing.
"Ms. Sherry has gone home." The teacher said. "Can I help you otherwise?"
"I left my-" Vash was cut off.
"Sheet music?" The teacher handed a piece of paper to Vash. "I thought it might belong to you. "Stop losing things Vash, or you may lose yourself." Yuki and Kanari snickered.
"I think I already have." Vash mumbled. He sighed again and started to walk out the door. Nakita leaned out of her chair to watch him.
"Bye Vash." She said, softly, but loud enough for Vash to hear. Vash smiled, and turned around. "Bye Nakita." He said, and saluted her. She giggled and he marched out of the room.
Yuki and Kanari exchanged looks.
"I've got to go to my piano lesson." Yuki said, jumping up and down (though not necessary excitement from going to her piano lesson). "Listen real quick, we've got to meet soon. I have a feeling that there's more than one bad guy in this." With that, I rushed out the door, and flew towards my teacher's house.
"What does she mean?" Nakita asked. "Of course we know there's more than one, including Colton and Ariel."
"I don't think she meant that, exactly." Kanari said. "She means that there's more than Eriol, Ariel, and Colton." Nakita frowned. "I think we should trust her." Kanari gave Nakita a sad look. "After all, she is an Angel of Liberty."
"So, I went and ordered another batch." Rene said, cutting open another big box with a razor knife. We were all at Rene's house again, gathered around a big box, while Rene cut it open.
"But Rene, we haven't even used the ones you gave us just a little while ago." Liz complained in a nice way, or at least, tried to be nice.
"I know, but you should carry them everywhere now." Rene said, reaching into the box, and trying very hard to hold out her balance. She was very short, and didn't want to risk another fall into the box, as last time. She pulled out something that looked like a cat's costume. "I think you would appreciate this the most, Yuki. It's 100% rubber."
"Pink?" Doughboy asked, eyebrows raised in a laughing manner.
"It's not pink, Doughboy, it's cyber-rose." Rene said, and pulled out some more material. "Snowy (Snowy covered her eyes), I got you a jester costume. Well (Rene reached farther into the box, and accidentally tilted the box over, causing the items to fall out) two, actually." She threw a green jester costume and a light blue one. "Oh, no, wait, the blue one is Nakita's." Snowy gave it to Nakita thankfully.
"Hey, it's pretty." Nakita said. "Thank you Rene! It looks just like a skating outfit."
"You skate, right?" Doughboy asked, as Rene handed him a tall black hat. Nakita nodded. "Rene's what's this for?"
"Your hat." Rene said. "You won't use it often, because it'll probably fall off in the middle of a battle, but I thought it looked cute." Doughboy sighed. Rene handed Nakita a blue dress that matched with Kanari's yellow dress, the one Rene had given her last time. Rene handed Liz some shiny red shoes. "They match your costume, Liz."
"Didn't you get anything for yourself?" I asked. "C'mon, Rene, you really don't have to do this."
"It gives me pleasure." Rene said. "And besides, I want to be accepted as, well, one of you guys." Doughboy took off his hat.
"Rene." I said. "You don't have to do all this just to be part of this. You know what you know, and we can't and wouldn't change that. Why else don't you think Doughboy hasn't modified your memory by now? You're part of our team, and not because of your costumes, all right?"
"I guess." Rene looked down. "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Nakita said. "It's supposed to be your welcome, because we're thanking you for all these." She elbowed Doughboy softly.
"Yeah." Doughboy said. "Thank you Rene." Rene smiled. She pulled the last item out of the box.
"It's a dress, an Alice in Wonderland dress, with matching blue shoes." Rene said. "I've already ordered a batch of shoes for you all, and it's too late to do anything about that, it arrives in three days, but I promise I won't get anymore."
"You keep it." Liz said, meaning the costume.
"Yeah." Kanari added. "It'll be your video taping costume." Rene's face broke up in a huge smile.
"Thanks." She said. Nakita gave her a look. "I mean, you're welcome."
"So, that's that." I said to Kanari over the phone.
"I can't believe you talked to her. And she said nothing?"
"I tried to lead the subject as close as I could without actually revealing it. If she knew anything, she would have chosen to tell me. I did talk to her for half an hour, you know. And I know Eliza fairly well, ever since fourth grade."
"So, you think that." Kanari trailed off.
"Yeah." I said. "Whoever it is this time memorized her too."
Well, same for this one, review before going on please.
Our Fierce Battle
"Who?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Kanari pushed away a strand of golden hair. "Her name is Eliza, and she's in my math class."
"Why didn't you sense anything earlier?" Nakita shifted and took a drink of water. They were sitting at lunch, discussing the fact that Kanari had sensed something new.
"Wow, the last Jewel." Snowy said. "What is this, the, er, Indigo Jewel?"
"Yeah." Doughboy said, and bit into his pizza hungrily. "The last one."
"We still don't have all of them." Liz pointed out. "And even if we did, we don't know how to make it form one."
"How does Eriol know all this stuff?" Kanari asked. She looked at Nakita for an answer, but Nakita was staring halfway across the lunchroom, to where Vash and Kelli were sitting. "Er, Nakita? Earth to Nakita."
"I'd give you a penny for your thoughts." Doughboy dug out a penny. "Here." Nakita snapped out of her thoughts and took the penny, looking confused.
"There must be an instruction book somewhere." Snowy said. "Ooh, we just need to get to the Fifth Dimension!"
"There isn't a door!" Rene pointed out.
"Maybe its in the Fourth Dimension." I pointed it out. "I mean, it makes a great deal of sense: The door from the second leads to the third and then to the fourth and the fourth leads to the fifth." Doughboy looked very doubtful. "I was only a suggestion." I said, sipping my milk. Doughboy crumpled up his napkin and tossed it towards the waste bin across the room. He missed and it bounced off the rim. Doughboy ran after it to pick it up. Snowy, who was also watching, shook her head in disapproval.
"He's going to get a detention for it someday." She said, and returned to her eating.
"Maybe." Rene said. "But let's focus. Only one more Jewel to go. I can't believe that Eriol is actually doing pretty well, considering the fact he's all by himself."
"Bad guys always find ways to do their evil deeds." Snowy sighed and drank her orange juice. Doughboy returned to his seat.
"So, is Kanari sure about this one?" I asked. Kanari nodded. I looked back at the others. "Well, why not?"
"Can I actually believe this?" Doughboy blinked and opened his eyes wide. "Yuki is actually volunteering to do some Jewel capturing work?" I laughed, and nodded.
"Yup." I said. "We've got to get this over with. Any ideas? The park is kind of getting old."
"For real." Nakita said. "All of our captures have been there, or at Rene's house." Rene nodded.
"Also, I've finished going through all of the costumes." Rene said, grinning. "Do you think you could all come over Tuesday to see them?"
"Nope." Kanari sighed. "Sorry, but that's tomorrow, and I've promised Brittany I'd spend the evening helping her with her homework."
"Good o' Kanari always keeps her promises." Nakita look her gaze off Vash and looked at Kanari. "Is Brittany really your sister, Kanari? Her name was posted on the Honor Roll as Brittany Bice."
"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Kanari giggled. "I'm an exchange student from Norway, and living with the Bice's."
"Cool." Snowy said. "With Brittany and William Thomas, eh? How's his head?"
"Who, William?" Kanari asked. Snowy nodded. "Pretty well. He's fully recovered, but still has minor headaches. I can't believe that old lady hit him."
"Well, he should look both ways before crossing the street first." I said.
"Yeah." Rene giggled. "I have to admit, it was kind of funny, now that you think of it. At the time it was horrifying." We all nodded in agreement, except Nakita, who had looked back at Vash.
"Kanari, did you say you were from Norway?" Nakita asked. Kanari nodded. "No way, my grandmother lives there. I visit her every summer."
"I don't believe I know her." Kanari said. "I certainly know your last name is Bowman, and I don't know any Mrs. Bowman."
"She's on my mother's side." Nakita said. "Her name is Gliverd."
"Gliverd." Doughboy repeated. "What an odd name." Snowy shrugged. The bell that marked the end of lunch period cut our conversation short.
"I don't know." Kanari said. "There might have been a Mrs. Gliverd living near us, but it's a very slim chance, don't you agree?" She smiled giggled as she got up and followed the rest of us to the trash bin.
"So, how about Wednesday?" Rene asked, dumping her plate into the nearest can.
"I can't." I said. "E-Team."
"Thursday?"
"Uh, piano lesson."
"Yuki!"
"Well, I do. I'm a very busy person."
"Well, what about Friday?" I shrugged.
"Sounds good to me." Kanari and Nakita nodded. Snowy shrugged, and Doughboy said, "Cool." Liz said, "Okay."
"Well, now that that's over with, could anyone tell us what we can do about, yuh, um." Doughboy put a finger on his many chins and looked up at the ceiling. "Er, Eliza, whatever his name was."
"Um, Eliza is a GIRL." Liz said. "She sits beside me in Greek Mythology class." We all stared.
"You take Greek Mythology?" Snowy asked, and her eyebrows rose. We were heading back to the classroom.
"Yeah." Liz said. "That's my Friday elective." We all exchanged looks and shrugged.
"What?" Eliza shirked back further towards the wall in the ally. "What Jewel?"
"Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about." The guy said. "C'mon, hand it over." His aide tugged at his arm.
"Maybe she really doesn't know." She said.
"I don't play with these things." He said, brushing back a piece of pale blond hair. His sister waited impatiently.
"Why don't you just try it then?" She asked. "I mean, we can certainly modify her memory. I've seen the fat kid do it to William Bice the Third."
"You try it." He said. "I don't like spells."
"Okay." She stepped in front of her. Eliza flattened herself against the wall and huddled in a ball. "Don't worry little girl." The evil girl tucked away a strand of long blue hair. "This will only hurt for a second. Okay. Master Mind Forward the Jewel!" With her arms in position, the Jewel shot out. Eliza whimpered, but stood up easily. She had not fainted. As the boy and girl team examined their first Jewel capture, Eliza decided to make a run for it. She sped down the ally towards the school.
"Oh, I knew I shouldn't never taken this way." She said, running fast. But the girl took out something and said, "Memorization." The last thing Eliza remembered was darkness.
When she woke up, all she remembered was know she had decided to go this way. Picking up her books and supplies, Eliza quickly ran home. She remembered none of it. Watching her from the roof of a nearby building, the boy congratulated his sister.
"Great job Sis." He said. "You totally rock when it comes to malignant magic."
"I wouldn't call it that." She said, walking to the edge of the roof and jumping down. Her brother landed next to her. "It's just magic. Some think of it as malignant, and others benign. I guess you can't classify magic."
"Suppose." The boy looked at her straight in the eye with his light blue eyes. "Just suppose they've already sensed something, and the next day it's gone."
"Doesn't matter." The girl said, holding her gaze, which was focused upon the deep blue eyes of herself, reflected by her brother. "They'll just think Eriol got her and try to question her." The boy looked at the Jewel.
"Our first Jewel, the Indigo Jewel." He said. "What a treat." The girl nodded.
"Mother would've been proud."
"Ahh, Nakita!" Kanari skidded through the mobs of people in the hallway. Nakita, wait for me!" Her voice rose in a crescendo as she ran to keep up. She fell into the rhythm of Nakita's footsteps.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Kanari asked, waiting sideways, tripping over her own feet, trying to keep up. "Nakita?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong, nothing at all." Nakita replied cheerfully, at least this was as cheerful as possible. She wiped away her tears and sniffed. "I see you have news by your expression. What's up?" Kanari sighed.
"I know this is probably the absolute last thing on your mind at the moment." Kanari paused. "But you see, someone has gotten the Indigo Jewel!"
"WHAT?" Nakita stopped sniffing.
"Yeah." Kanari said. "Today, I tried as hard as I could, but could sense NOTHING coming from her. Listen, Eriol has gotten to her."
"Then we've absolutely got to see how much we can get out of her." Nakita said. She scoffed. "And you said I wouldn't care. Huh. Okay, emergency meeting after school."
"But it's Thursday, and Yuki has a piano lesson." Kanari argued.
"Not directly after school." Nakita said. "I've known her ever since elementary school, since the day she started piano. I should know." Kanari agreed and they ran as fast as they could down the hall.
I was at my locker, putting my books away, and trying to cram the last of my winter jacket into my locker. "Hey!" I shouted down the hall, waving at Kanari and Nakita, frantically running my way.
"Wait up!" Nakita called, and skidded to a stop beside me. Okay. So I stopped shoving my locker shut, and the jacket fell out.
"Need some help with that?" Kanari asked, picking my jacket off the floor. She folded it up, crushed the air out of it, and then stuffed into a cubbyhole in my locker. "Presto." I slapped my forehead and groaned. "Don't worry." Kanari said, shrugging. "We all have those kind of days." I tried to straighten out my hair.
"Sorry." I said. "Don't we have ensemble practice today?" Nakita slapped her head.
"Oh, I totally forgot!" She said. "But don't worry, I'll be there in five minutes. I've got to call my mom. Why don't you explain things, Kanari?" Nakita shouted down the hall as she ran as fast as she could (backwards) towards the office pay phone.
"And after the practice I have piano." I said. "Kanari, I told my mom you were giving me a ride, but actually I'm going to fly over there, so just pretend for me, all right?" Kanari nodded.
"Listen, the Indigo Jewel I sensed yesterday has disappeared. Kanari said ("WHAT?" "Yeah.") "It's out of Eliza. We've got to question her." I looked down the deserted hall.
"She's probably already home now, but oh well, we can do that tomorrow." I said. "UGH, I'm so busy today!" Kanari smiled.
"Don't forget we have to meet at Rene's house tomorrow." She said. Nakita joined us as we walked to the band room.
Our ensemble was a flute, clarinet, and oboe trio.
"Kanari, remember to suck your reed!" The band director called as he walked out the door. Kanari glared at him, and popped the oboe reed into her mouth. We laughed.
"I'm going to start at measure seventeen." Nakita said. She put her flute up to her mouth and began to play.
"I've always liked the flute." I said to Kanari. "It's, like, so high, and hard to play, but it's pretty."
"Yeah." Kanari played into her oboe, a very high pitch. I sat down next to Nakita. The pitch hurt my ears more than it hurt Nakita.
Us three began to play in unison.
**
Vash ran around the building furiously, looking for his orchestra teacher. He played the cello, and had left his music on the stand at the end of class. It was a little late, but he had a test on it tomorrow! Vash dashed into the band room, and stopped abruptly.
The three jewel girls, as Kelli called them, were practicing their ensemble. At the moment Vash had barged in, Nakita and Kanari had the melody, and Yuki was scribbling something on her sheet music. Kanari soon stopped and all eyes were on Nakita. Those long lashes that seemed to be a vast cloud of feathers lay above the gleaming brown pearl, and while she was playing and looking at her music gave her a contented look, as if she didn't have a single care in the whole world except playing her music. Vash sighed.
Suddenly, Nakita stopped and looked up. She turned to Yuki and Kanari. "So?" She asked. "I know I missed an E flat, but otherwise I think I did pretty well."
"Yeah." Kanari said. Yuki stretched. "It was good."
"More, faster air." The band director said, hurrying to and fro in the band room. "Remember Nakita, don't rush!"
"Yes sir." Nakita said, and searched for a pencil to mark her mistakes. Yuki handed her a pencil.
"Vash?" The teacher asked. "How may I help you?"
"I'm looking for the orchestra director." Vash said, squirming to the fact that all three girls had finally noticed him and were all pointing.
"Ms. Sherry has gone home." The teacher said. "Can I help you otherwise?"
"I left my-" Vash was cut off.
"Sheet music?" The teacher handed a piece of paper to Vash. "I thought it might belong to you. "Stop losing things Vash, or you may lose yourself." Yuki and Kanari snickered.
"I think I already have." Vash mumbled. He sighed again and started to walk out the door. Nakita leaned out of her chair to watch him.
"Bye Vash." She said, softly, but loud enough for Vash to hear. Vash smiled, and turned around. "Bye Nakita." He said, and saluted her. She giggled and he marched out of the room.
Yuki and Kanari exchanged looks.
"I've got to go to my piano lesson." Yuki said, jumping up and down (though not necessary excitement from going to her piano lesson). "Listen real quick, we've got to meet soon. I have a feeling that there's more than one bad guy in this." With that, I rushed out the door, and flew towards my teacher's house.
"What does she mean?" Nakita asked. "Of course we know there's more than one, including Colton and Ariel."
"I don't think she meant that, exactly." Kanari said. "She means that there's more than Eriol, Ariel, and Colton." Nakita frowned. "I think we should trust her." Kanari gave Nakita a sad look. "After all, she is an Angel of Liberty."
"So, I went and ordered another batch." Rene said, cutting open another big box with a razor knife. We were all at Rene's house again, gathered around a big box, while Rene cut it open.
"But Rene, we haven't even used the ones you gave us just a little while ago." Liz complained in a nice way, or at least, tried to be nice.
"I know, but you should carry them everywhere now." Rene said, reaching into the box, and trying very hard to hold out her balance. She was very short, and didn't want to risk another fall into the box, as last time. She pulled out something that looked like a cat's costume. "I think you would appreciate this the most, Yuki. It's 100% rubber."
"Pink?" Doughboy asked, eyebrows raised in a laughing manner.
"It's not pink, Doughboy, it's cyber-rose." Rene said, and pulled out some more material. "Snowy (Snowy covered her eyes), I got you a jester costume. Well (Rene reached farther into the box, and accidentally tilted the box over, causing the items to fall out) two, actually." She threw a green jester costume and a light blue one. "Oh, no, wait, the blue one is Nakita's." Snowy gave it to Nakita thankfully.
"Hey, it's pretty." Nakita said. "Thank you Rene! It looks just like a skating outfit."
"You skate, right?" Doughboy asked, as Rene handed him a tall black hat. Nakita nodded. "Rene's what's this for?"
"Your hat." Rene said. "You won't use it often, because it'll probably fall off in the middle of a battle, but I thought it looked cute." Doughboy sighed. Rene handed Nakita a blue dress that matched with Kanari's yellow dress, the one Rene had given her last time. Rene handed Liz some shiny red shoes. "They match your costume, Liz."
"Didn't you get anything for yourself?" I asked. "C'mon, Rene, you really don't have to do this."
"It gives me pleasure." Rene said. "And besides, I want to be accepted as, well, one of you guys." Doughboy took off his hat.
"Rene." I said. "You don't have to do all this just to be part of this. You know what you know, and we can't and wouldn't change that. Why else don't you think Doughboy hasn't modified your memory by now? You're part of our team, and not because of your costumes, all right?"
"I guess." Rene looked down. "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Nakita said. "It's supposed to be your welcome, because we're thanking you for all these." She elbowed Doughboy softly.
"Yeah." Doughboy said. "Thank you Rene." Rene smiled. She pulled the last item out of the box.
"It's a dress, an Alice in Wonderland dress, with matching blue shoes." Rene said. "I've already ordered a batch of shoes for you all, and it's too late to do anything about that, it arrives in three days, but I promise I won't get anymore."
"You keep it." Liz said, meaning the costume.
"Yeah." Kanari added. "It'll be your video taping costume." Rene's face broke up in a huge smile.
"Thanks." She said. Nakita gave her a look. "I mean, you're welcome."
"So, that's that." I said to Kanari over the phone.
"I can't believe you talked to her. And she said nothing?"
"I tried to lead the subject as close as I could without actually revealing it. If she knew anything, she would have chosen to tell me. I did talk to her for half an hour, you know. And I know Eliza fairly well, ever since fourth grade."
"So, you think that." Kanari trailed off.
"Yeah." I said. "Whoever it is this time memorized her too."
Well, same for this one, review before going on please.
