Chapter 3~Defenceless

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"Which dress do you want to wear, honey?"

The woman with the gentle smile reached for a peach-coloured satin dress and held it against the excited little girl. "This one looks nice. What do you think, honey?"

"I want the white one over there!" the little girl said pointing to the one hanging inside the built-in wardrobe. She looked to be around six or seven.

"Oh, not that one, honey. That's for your birthday party next month. It's not even finished yet. Pick another one." The woman coaxed gently.

"Oh, please, mother? Please, please, please? I want to wear that dress tonight." The little girl begged, her eyes wide. She looked so sweet and adorable that the mother almost relented.

"That is a very special dress, honey. Don't you want to wear something special for your birthday? If you wear this peach dress tonight's dinner, I promise I'll lend you my pearl hairclip so you can match it with your dress. How does that sound? I know you love that hairclip."

The little girl looked longingly at the white dress and sighed. Then an idea struck her. What if she showed her mother something she liked? Her mother would be pleased and might let her wear the dress!

So the little girl ran upstairs to her playroom and picked a few pieces of paper lying beside her dollhouse. She had written something on the paper last night when she felt.urged to. She couldn't explain it. Whenever the urge to write came to her, she just grabbed a paper and simply released it. She had no idea what she wrote in there as it was constructed in such strange characters that she had not yet learned. But her father always loved whatever it was that she wrote. He always got excited when she showed him the papers. So she was positive that her mother would love it too.

"Mother! I have something to show you!" the girl cried, running back into the room her mother occupied.

The mother glanced at the papers in her daughter's hands and instantly, her face became wary. She'd never liked her daughter's abilities to predict the future. She hated it even more when her husband used their daughter's abilities to get ahead in his business. What kind of a man would manipulate his own daughter? She thought angrily.

"What is it, honey?" she asked as she took the papers without even looking at it.

"Go on, mother. Read it. It's about you. I was thinking about you when I wrote it."

With a sigh, the mother read the single piece of paper. She'd never seen her daughter's predictions before so she was quite surprised to find it written in the form of four-lined poetry. She scanned the single stanza and suddenly uttered a strangled cry that startled her daughter.

The daughter looked up into the pale face of her mother with puzzlement. What's wrong? Hadn't she like it? She thought nervously. Her mother looked awfully upset. No, not only upset. She looked.spooked beyond words. And scared as well. Her mother was never scared.

~*~ The Angel of Death has smiled upon her~*~

"Mother? Mother!! No, mother!" strong hands pulling her away.

~*~ It's no longer a blessing, but a curse~*~

There was the sound of explosion. A second later, a small stain appeared on her mother's dress. It was growing bigger, spreading on her mother's pure- white dress. Red, so red. Then she watched as her mother mouthed the final words to her.

~*~ She predicted her mother's death.~*~

"I love you."

And finally, she watched as the light died away in her mother eyes and she slumped on the cold floor with a soft thud.

~*~ The next day, it came true.~*~

"Mother!!!!!"

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"Neon!"

Neon jerked upright and hit her head on something. She winced in pain.

"Are you okay?"

Her face was warm and sweat was trickling down her neck. Someone was gripping her shoulders and a face was peering down at her, brown eyes filled with concern.

"Huh?"

Clapika released his hold but he was still examining her flushed face with concern. "You were thrashing about and almost caused an accident. And your head hit the windshield."

Neon realized that she was in the passenger seat of her father's car and it was parked beside a rather deserted road. Oh. She thought. It was all she could manage. The trip down memory lane had shaken her in ways she couldn't imagine.

/Mother.../

It wouldn't be the first time she'd dreamt about her mother but to have the dream a vivid reminder of the truth. No, it wasn't just a simple dream. She had remembered. Remembered the moment of her mother's death. No, murder.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Clapika asked.

"Ah...um, yeah, it was just a nightmare." She answered, embarrassed to have him witness yet another of her weak side.

Why did he always to be around when she was at her most vulnerable state? First, he'd seen her cry over her father's condition and now.this.

/And why does that bother me so much?/

Neon was shocked when Clapika suddenly reached out and pulled her towards him. His left hand was at the back of her neck and his right hand had pushed aside her bangs. He neared his face and touched her forehead with his.

"You're burning up. Maybe you're coming down with a fever." He said.

/Oh my God./

Why had her heart raced when he touched her?

And blood was rushing to her face.

Neon was scared. She didn't understand any of the feelings she was having and it didn't help either when Clapika's hand was still resting lightly on her shoulders. His eyes had such a haunted look in them. And why was he staring at her like that?

She pushed him away-none too gently-and turned her face towards the black night outside. "Take me home...*now*."

Clapika tried reaching for her again but Neon shrank away. Her face was filled with alarm.

/What in the world could've scared her so much?/ He thought, puzzled.

He turned away, restarted the engine and drove in silence all the way to Nostaroid mansion. Whatever it was that was bothering Neon, maybe a little rest would help cure her.

The black car had barely stopped in front of the front door but Neon jumped out as if she was trapped in a microwave oven. She stumbled a little, steadied herself and threw her shoes off. It made running easier. So all the way to her room, Neon ran without stopping.

She threw herself on her bed and piled lots of blankets on top of her. As if it can block out all the weird feelings she's been having. When it was too warm and suffocating, she threw the blankets off her and made to get up. She glanced around her room, trying to find an outlet to the turmoil inside her. She felt like throwing something, anything, and breaking it into a million pieces.

Screams. She heard screams.

Neon put her hands on her ears, trying to block out the sound. But it wasn't coming from outside. It was inside her head. It was her mother's scream.

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She held on her mother's arm as if it was her lifeline. Her mother looked down at her and smiled thinly. Her face looked strain and she was paler than usual. She hadn't been herself ever since she read her daughter's prediction last night.

The little girl was sad. She'd upset her mother. She knew it had something to do with last night's papers. Oh, how she wished she'd never shown them to her mother.

~*~ Your greatest fears has been confirmed, The Death paper will be read, In the night of the second moon, the Fate has affirmed, The one in white shall be dead. ~*~

The mother had burned all the white clothing the daughter owned, including the one she never got to wear. Her greatest fear...her greatest fear was losing her daughter.

~*~
In the night of the second moon, the Fate has affirmed ~*~

It was inevitable that they attended the dinner that night. The little girl's father had insisted on having his wife and daughter around. They had to show that they're really a happy family.on the outside.

The mother knew what Fate has sealed for her. Little did she know that the prediction was meant for her, not her daughter.

So when an assassin appeared, trying to kidnap her daughter, she had thrown herself bodily onto him in an attempt to stop him. Their bodyguards were nowhere to be seen. The daughter screamed, attracting the attention of the happy diners.

Three tall men in black rushed to them. The bodyguards.

They were too late.

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~@~~@~~@~

"The boss looked upset. What happened?" Senrich asked, peering out of the common room door.

Clapika looked towards the stairs leading to Neon's room and shot his friend a puzzled look. "I had no idea. She had a nightmare and suddenly, she was all jumpy and nervous."

"The nightmare upset her." Senrich stated.

Stepping inside the common room, Clapika found that Senrich were playing cards with Bashow. /Taking advantage of the boss' absence to loosen up?/ He thought, making Senrich smile sheepish smile.

"Did you guys have a nice time?" Bashow asked, motioning for Clapika to join them. Clapika shook his head and sat on a stool at a corner of the room instead.

"It's just another auction." Clapika said absently. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. For some unexplained reason, he felt strangely.disturbed. His mind was unrest and he had no idea why.

"Well, it's late." He finally said after a long silence in which Senrich and Bashow resumed their game. Clapika stood up. He took off his jacket and loosened his tie. "I'm going to bed."

"Well, you might want to check in on her." Senrich said without taking his eyes off his cards. Clapika glanced at him sharply and was only rewarded with a knowing smile.

"Well." He said, and left.

~@~~@~~@~

This was payment.

She'd let her guard down and now it's all coming in. All the things she'd tried to block out, everything that she'd kept behind the walls have come to haunt her.

/Oh, mother...will you ever forgive me?/

That's it. The walls are going back up.

Nobody's going to get as close to her as...*he*...almost did.

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Author's Ramblings:- ^_^ sorry if you think this chapter's a bit pointless! I just want to explore Neon's past.sort of trying to explain why she behaved the way she did. I know, I know, it's not exactly the most original idea in the world but, hey, I had fun doing it! Oh, btw, everything about Neon's past was just a figment of my imagination. I had no idea what her real past is, it's up to Togashi sensei! ^_^ P/S: thank you masami and Ganymade for reviewing! Oh yeah, I also want to apologise if my earlier format is a bit confusing. It's now like this:- "" : dialogue // : thoughts ~^~*~^~ : flashbacks ~@~~@~~@~ : paragraph separate