Disclaimer: Ok you know how it goes. I don't own this and that and yadah yadah yadah. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I kinda have a thing for Folken so don't be mean. I seem to end up liking all the quiet mysterious people. Like Yue and Folken. So yeah don't sue me all you'll get is fleas. Literally.

Ch.5 Race by: Little_Firefly

"C'mon Van!!! I'm not going that fast. You should be able to catch me."

Small Lady was taunting Van as she flew towards the castle. He was lagging behind, but just by a bit. If she hadn't gotten an extra head start they would be neck and neck right now. Van had thought that since Small Lady was wearing such a billowy dress that she would be slower than him, but he was sadly mistaken. In fact, the dress seemed very streamlined, almost as if it was meant for flying.

"Well if you hadn't cheated and gotten a head start this would be so much different. I could beat you any day in a fair race."

Van spent another burst of energy and managed to catch up to the hem of her dress. Figuring to slow the girl down, he grabbed onto the hem and pulled. Small Lady noticed this and began spiraling in an attempt to shake him off. It failed and Van used Small Lady to propel himself forward by yanking on the dress.

"Hey!!!!! That's cheating!!! You shouldn't rip a lady's dress just to win a stupid race!!!!"

Van was unaware that he had actually ripped the dress and turned around to apologize. When he turned around all he saw was a white blur that flew past him and yelled back that he was a slowpoke.

"Well if you weren't cheating then you wouldn't have any room to call me a slowpoke!!"

"Stick in the mud!!!!"

"Conniving child!!! You can't be more than 10 years old and already you have yourself in a heap of trouble."

"Well I'm older than 10 and I don't see how I'm going to get in trouble if...."

"What is it?"

"Look!"

Small Lady abruptly stopped flying forward and stared up at the sky. Van followed her stare and looked up at the Mystic Moon. He was about to comment on it when he noticed something strange. The Mystic Moon was covered in what looked like gray smoke. This worried him and he decided that it would be a good idea to tell Folken.

"Let's get back to the castle. I need to tell Folken about this."

They both flew towards the castle with perplexed looks on their faces and their minds were so full of ideas and suspicions that neither of them noticed that they were holding hands.

Folken made sure Usagi was safely back in bed before retracting his own wings and pulling his shirt back up. He did this just in time because Van and Rini burst through the door seconds later.

"Folken! There's something wrong with the Mystic Moon!"

Folken gave his brother a strange look and then focused his eyes on Rini. She was shaking and kept mumbling something about 'senshi'. He knew this wasn't one of Van's tricks and proceeded to leave the castle with the other two. On the way down Folken pondered Usagi's actions and what she had done when that crescent appeared on her forehead.

When they went outside all heads turned to the sky. The Mystic Moon was covered in what looked like gray clouds all over. Folken was unsure as to what could cause something like that and feared that the others were in danger.

"Rini, I want you to go inside and stay by your mother." Folken said all of this without even looking at her. She began to protest but stopped when Van looked at her. His face was stern but his eyes were pleading with her. Rini thought she saw something else there as she turned to go inside.

Once she was safely within the castle walls Folken threw his cloak on the ground and started to pull his shirt off.

"What are we doing brother?"

"I'm going to fly up and see if I can get a better look at it. We may not be able to see everything from the ground."

Van quickly tore off his red shirt and unfolded his bright white wings. Sword resting on his hip, Van looked almost ready for a battle. Folken left his shirt around his waist in his normal fashion and unfolded his own wings. Van, of course, was not expecting gray wings, but black ones. The sight alarmed him and prompted aggressive action. Folken heard Van's sword being unsheathed and turned around to face his younger brother.

"Van, what are you doing?" Van had his sword pointed directly at the base of Folken's now exposed throat.

"You are not my brother. Where is he?" Van's eyes were cold and his voice was menacing.

"What are you talking about?!?!"

Van roughly grabbed one of Folken's wings and shoved in his face. The shocked look on Folken's face immediately told Van that something was wrong. Folken gingerly touched one of the feathers and marveled at the change in color. 'So this is what Usagi did to me...'

Heh heh.. Now it's gonna start getting good. Soon the villain will be revealed and some interesting plot stuff will develop. You know how a story goes. Please review. Input is always welcome. And no flames yet. You can flame me after you know the couples. :P