Title: Black Angels
Author: Kachinka
Disclaimer: Anything in this tale that seems like a good idea, probably isn't mine.....



Prologue


"Hiii-yah!"

"Ophf!"

Another assailant went down, his shoulder hitting the rough concrete. She looked around, there were only two more figures circling her. She could smell the death in their aura, the stench of blood upon their bodies. As she glanced away to see the figures of her two friends laying helpless on the ground, one of her assailants attacked her from the opposite side. It managed to get its chilled hands around her neck, but she kicked out and kneed it in the stomach. It reeled away, hitting its comrade. Both regained their wits instantly and charged headlong towards her. She braced herself for the onslaught, but it never came. The creatures stopped in mid-attack, each turning to a different side of her and fleeing into the blackness of night.

After a few moments, the remaining figure bent to check on her friends. One was out cold due to a severe knock on the head, while the other was trying to regain her footing.

"Have they gone, Skyhawk?" she said, struggling to his feet.

"Yes, Weasel, they have," she answered. After she checked her comrade for broken bones and scrapes, they both turned to the still figure of their third.

"Well, let's collect Dakota and be on our way."

With that, the one that was called Skyhawk scooped up the limp figure and the two black sillohettes exited the cold claminess of the alleyway.


Chapter One

Relena was on her way out of the Acadamy, another day of school finished. All she could think of, however, was the enormous stack of papers that waited for her at home. There were bills to pass and contracts to sign. She sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly.

"Miss Relena!"

Relena turned, slightly rolling her eyes. Ever since she had come back from outer space, her friends hand not been able to give her a moment's peace. They seemed very uptight and jittery as of late, and no words of hers were of any comfort to them.

She saw a short girl with bouncy brown hair and sharp green eyes come bounding up to her. A question seemed to be upon her lips, so Relena gave her a patient smile.

"What can I do for you, Fiona?"

The girl flashed her own, slightly crooked smile at her and replied, "Me and the girls were just wondering if you wanted to have a girls' night out." Seeing her expression tighten, Fiona continued, "The girls and I haven't seen you around a lot, and we really need you. The group just isn't the same without you."

Relena sighed, her breath catching in her throat. She knew that this moment was inevitable, she just didn't expect it to be so hard. She led the girl away from the crowded hallway and out onto a balcony. "Fiona, I really wish I could help you guys out, but what with the position I hold in the government these days, I have no time to help you. I don't feel that I'm contributing the group anymore. I really think you guys should just start looking for a replacement."

The girl's eyes grew wide with hurt. "A replacement? But all the things we've gone through together! We know each other better than we know ourselves! We can't just replace you, you're an integral part of the team!"

Relena looked away from her pleading expression and tried to hold back the emotions that clouded her face.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about this. People depend on me, and I can't let them down."

As she walked away from the balcony, she could her her friend whisper, "We depended on you, too."

~*~*

Two girls sat in the corner of a small coffee shop. One was ordinary looking, with long blonde hair and wide blue eyes, while the other was the complete opposite. Her short cropped hair was dyed raven black, and her pale skin was accentuated by her dark lipstick and eye makeup. Both wore the marron uniforms of the Acadamy.

They looked up simultaneously as the door to the cafe opened. Fiona came running up to them, tears in her eyes.

"She's out," was the only thing she said before she started to sob uncontrolably. The blonde took her in her arms and comforted her, rubbing her back and making sympathetic sounds. The goth, however, was stunned.

"What do you mean, she's out? She can't just quit! We need her!"

"Manisha," the blonde muttered, "Now is not the time for this!"

"This is the perfect time for this, Kelly. We can't do this with only three people! We need the fourth to complete the circle!"

As Manisha growled this, Fiona looked up, her eyes suddenly devoid of any tears. "You're right," she stated blandly. "And we don't have any time to lose, or else the only thing we will lose is our lives." She stood and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "We need to go now and do this. With what happened to us last night, there is no way we can withstand another attack. Terek is getting very bold as of late."

The three girls left the coffee shop and out towards the woods that surrounded the city.

~*~*

"Maxwell! This is an injustice!"

Duo Maxwell, self-proclaimed Shinigami, looked up from his bowl of Fruit Loops with an innocent expression.

"What did I do this time, Wu?"

The Chinaman came stomping into the kitchen of the safehouse, wrapped in a long white towel and dripping wet and threw down a slightly damp bottle of shampoo.

"....that would be shampoo, if I'm not mistaken?" Duo replied after a moment's silence. He looked up to see Wufei's face contorted in an expression that he had never quite seen before. It was the color of liver...no, more like beets. And it looked like his eyeballs might pop out of their sockets at any time.

"Don't think I'm going to sit still for this, Maxwell! You are going to pay!"

He stomped back up the steps to the bathroom and slammed the door shut, muttering foreign curses the entire way.

"What did you do to him this time?" Heero asked when the storm had passed.

"Nothing much," the braided pilot replied. "Just the usual pink hair dye in the shampoo routine."

Heero rolled his eyes and went back to his fourth cup of coffee. He was just about to leave the table when his best friend chimed in. He turned to his laptop and pressed the return key to receive the mission sent by the Preventers.

Nodding to himself, he departed the kitchen and climbed the stairs to the room that Trowa was staying at, Duo tagging behind him, asking the random question about what was going on.

After a few moments, Trowa answered the knock on his door. He looked sleep deprived and on edge, as from just getting back from a mission last night.

"Yes?"

"The Preventers want you to go to Earth. They have reason to suspect that there is someone stalking Relena, and they want their best operative on this."

Trowa nodded sleepily, and said, "I'm on my way."

As he shut the door, Heero could only think on how lucky he was that he wasn't a Preventer.

~*~*

"Bless'ed Be!"

Three voices chorused in the shady forest.


End Part One