Disclaimer I don't own it so don't sue

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Chapter 13 The Orphan

*~* In the library *~*

"What are we here for?" Heero asked the braided angel.

"To find a book." Duo replied, grinning. The two boys were in the castle's massive library. The room was humungous, and it was filled with shelves and shelves of dust, heavy books, and old, faded parchments.

"A book?" Heero asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes, a book," Duo replied. "I don't remember what it's called though."

"Figures," Heero muttered under his breath, but Duo caught the intended insult.

"Very funny," he said sarcastically. "I think it had something to do with the darkness..."

"Maybe I can help you," said a small voice from in the shadows of the room.

"Who are you?" Heero demanded.

"Mew!" both boys jumped as a small kitten, about the size of a fist, jumped at them. It was gray and fuzzy, and it looked like it loved to play. It's green eyes had a hint of kitty mischief in them. "Mey!" it said again.

"Cute little bugger," Duo muttered as he reached down to pet the kitten, "but I don't think it was the voice that we heard."

"No, that was me," the voice supplied, as its owner stepped out of the darkness of the room. It was a girl, around the boys' age. Her blond hair fell to her elbows, and her eyes were a sea green colour, with a sparkle of silver hidden in their depths.

"Who are you?" Heero demanded in an expressionless voice.

"I have no name, but the king titled me Zahra." She replied, a hint off sadness in her voice.

"Why don't you have a name?" Duo, being curious, asked.

"I know no mother or father." Zahra replied. "I'm an orphan."

Duo nodded, feeling sympathy for the girl. He knew what it was like to have no family. It wasn't a warm feeling.

"You said you could help us?" Heero growled. Duo glared at him. He could be so uncaring at times.

Zahra blushed slightly. "I am the king's librarian. He is the only family I know, as he took me in from the streets. I can find you a book, if you like. And obviously you are looking for a book, as you're in the library. That, or you're completely lost."

Duo smiled kindly. "I would appreciate that very much. We're looking for something along the lines of dark mages. A list of sorts, of the ones we found, and the ones that were returned to a colour. But, more importantly, we're looking for a list of dark mages that were not returned to colour."

Heero turned his attention from the cat to Duo at the utterance of these last words. "I thought they were all brought back," he said.

"I had thought so too, until now." Duo replied. He involved himself in a slight conversation with the stoic mage, as Zahra went to look for the books.

While Heero was talking with Duo, his wolf instincts were starting to kick in. He kept looking at the kitten, which was licking its paws carefully. Duo noticed Heero's absentmindedness, and he decided it was nothing.

Duo had no idea how very wrong he was.

When Zahra was returning with the books, she dropped the pile in surprise as Heero changed into a wolf mid-jump, as he pounced on the unsuspecting kitten.

"No!" she cried.

Heero was about to land on the tiny creature when he felt himself not to be falling anymore. Rather, he was rising, away from his prey. He returned to his human form, and glared at Duo, who had obviously lifted him to prevent any harm that might have come to Zahra's pet. Duo ignored the glare easily, as it was *slightly* ineffective coming from someone who was completely helpless not to mention suspended in midair.

Duo picked up the kitten gently, and turned to Zahra, after grinning at his floating friend. "I'm sorry for Heero's behaviour," he apologized.

Zahra, though startled, managed a small smile of surprise, mostly. She had known that the two had powers, but she had never been taught of mages. She had been taught nothing, now that she thought of it. She had taught herself to read, as it was the only way to survive in the village. You had to know your way around, and things weren't easy if you didn't know the letters and symbols used by the people. She quickly cleared her mind of thoughts, as she bent down to pick up the pile of books she had dropped. She reached out for the closest one, but found it lifted into the air as she drew closer to it.

"Allow me," Duo said kindly. "My friend is the reason you dropped them. Let me help you." The books then staked themselves neatly, and Duo helped Zahra up, and handed her the tiny kitten. "What's it's name?" he asked.

"His name is Kearney," Zahra replied. "It means warrior, oddly enough." She laughed slightly as the tiny animal mewed loudly. "I have to go and fetch some food for his dinner," she said, as she headed to the back of the library. "I hope those books are helpful."

Heero grunted in midair.

"Oh yeah." Duo muttered as he lowered his friend. "Sorry, but I couldn't let you eat it, it was too cute," he said sheepishly.

"Hn," Heero replied, as he was lowered to the ground.

Duo was already attacking the pile of books as the animal mage joined him. "Dark mages that did not return?" Heero asked. "What did you mean by that?"

"I meant that I think Aria is part dark mage, and she might be working underneath someone. I don't know what to think, but I know that there is a darkness inside of her." Duo turned the pages carefully of a particularly old book. "Just look for some list of sorts." He told his friend, "and promise me you won't mention this to anyone else."

"Hn," was Heero's reply. He didn't know what Duo was up to, but he suspected the angel had a reason. He didn't want to get the braided boy upset, so he too picked up a book and started leafing through its many pages.

*~*

"Checkmate." Wufei declared. He sighed as well. He'd beaten the baby dragon twice in the past ten minutes, even though his mind had been elsewhere.

"Croik!"

"No, I don't want to play again."

"Croik!"

"No."

"Croik!"

Wufei sighed again. "One more game, but then I have to get ready for diner."

"Croik!" The dragon expressed her happiness by flapping her wings, efficiently knocking over a few chess pieces. Wufei raised one eyebrow, then picked up the upset stone pieces and replaced them in their respective starting positions.

"You go fist." He mumbled.

The chess set was old, and obviously used. Aria's full name was carved at the bottom of the wooden board, and the pieces were easily 3 inches tall. The pawns, slightly shorter, were only 2 inches, but they were the same thickness. Nataku nudged her middle pawn two spaces forward with a happy 'Croik!' and the game continued from there.

Wufei was about to declare 'checkmate' (a full three minutes later) when a moan escaped Aria's lips as she stirred slightly.

The weather mage headed over to the bed cautiously, Nataku beside him. The dragon flew over to the bed and landed beside Aria.

Her green eyes opened slowly, and she tried to sit up.

"Lie down." Wufei commanded. "You're too tired to sit up anyway."

Aria scowled at him, realizing where she was. "Hey Nataku," she said in a tired voice.

"Croik!"

"Hm. I don't know why we put up with him either." Aria muttered to the creature as she lay down in the soft cushions.

Wufei glared at her. "It's for your own good." He went over to the chessboard, and moved his queen. He declared "checkmate" and left the room.

Aria sighed. "Why does he always have to be so grumpy?" She thought, before she fell back to sleep.

Nataku yawned widely, but denied herself the pleasure of sleep for the moment, as she too could see the darkness in Aria's eyes, and the weakness of her present state.

Wufei grumbled to himself as he made his way back to his room. "Stupid onna" and "Injustice" were only a few of his mutterings.

He entered his room and shut his window. The winds were whispering, and he didn't want to listen.

Wufei paced the room a few times. He had seen the tiredness, if not exhaustion, in Aria's eyes, even in the short time she'd been awake. What was it that Duo and the others weren't telling him? Heero obviously knew something, and Quatre had been able to sense it as well, whatever 'it' was. He wasn't sure if Trowa knew, but it was very probable.

"Why am I always left out of important things?" he sighed as he flopped down onto the bed, lost in deep thought.

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there, that chapter was a little longer. Um, did any of that make sense? If it didn't, I think it's going to be explained a little more in the next chapter. What do you think of Zahra? Please let me know what you think! It encourages me to write more, I swear!

Aria