A/N: ^^ I promise I'll start with the real story when they are older when they are bigger maybe in the next chapter or the one after.
*~*
Raye sat in bed, gently massaging her wrist that was now in layers of bindings. She rocked to and fro under the red cotton blanket, staring absently out into nothing, waiting for Aiko to come back. It had been 6 hours now and she was getting worried.
Just as she thought this, the door opened and the black ninja slid in and closed the door gently behind. The ninja uncovered its face, and as Raye knew, was Aiko, with a red, and terribly sweating face. She was breathing as if she ran a mile and was unable to speak.
Raye jumped out of bed and went to her.
"Aiko? Did you get to him?" she asked. Aiko looked up with red, slightly mad eyes.
"Yes," Aiko replied in a low, angry whisper, "I did. He really wasn't happy to see me, and nor I him." Raye smiled faintly.
"Did he say anything?" she asked eagerly, shaking Aiko, "C'mon!"
"He sent you a note." Aiko replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Raye, who snatched it out of her hands and quickly unfolded it to read.
"Oh sure," Aiko was mumbling sarcastically now, "Don't ask how I am and just about your boyfriend. That's real friendly."
"How are you Aiko?" Raye asked absent-mindedly with her eyes still on the letter.
"I'm almost fine, I'm really tired." Aiko replied and slumped onto the bed, "And as I said, he wasn't too happy to see me, that bastard."
"Aiko," Raye whispered excitedly, apparently unaware of what Aiko had just said, "He wants me to meet him! Saturday at midnight!" She turned to Aiko, who was now giving her a hateful glare.
"I have to go!" Raye continued.
"I know," Aiko replied and sighed deeply, "But…"
"You don't have to come, Akiko will cover me," Raye assured Aiko and patted her back, "I've told her and she seems okay…"
"Okay…you go ahead and try to get something, or someone you can't have." Aiko stated quietly, "You know that Raye, no matter how much you're in love with him, you can't be with him. Have you forgotten which Clan you are an heir of?" Raye frowned and put on a small pout.
"That doesn't matter," she whispered darkly, "This is what I want Aiko, and I'll give up my life if I have to!"
Aiko stared at her with disbelief. What the hell is she saying? Is this really Raye? No, someone must've put a love spell on her. Dear god, I kill whoever did this…
"Raye, we're only 12," she said slowly and kneeled down on the floor, "This isn't going to matter to anyone."
"So you're not going to help me?" Raye asked fearfully.
Aiko grimaced sadly at her. She stared piteously at Raye for a while, wondering vaguely how long this was going to last. Then she noticed Raye's left wrist.
"Raye?" she started reaching out for her wrists and gently lifting it up, "What happened to your hand?"
"Nothing, Sayaka broke my wrist," Raye replied shrugging as if this happened everyday, "Now, don't change the subject, are you going to help me or not?"
"Your parent really need to fire that psychotic nurse before she goes breaking your neck." Aiko commented softly, ignoring Raye's order. She paused and messaged Raye's wrist gently as if it was a baby pup. "I'll help you Raye, to get him. His name is Wufei Chang."
"Thanks."
"That's only because I really pity you…if you're father finds out, you're already dead and it ain't my fault."
*~*
At 12 midnight of Saturday, Akiko dropped Raye of the Central Park.
"Call me when you want to come home 'kay?" Akiko said sweetly from within the car. Raye nodded eagerly.
"Good luck child," Akiko wished and drove away.
The light breeze that blew nipped the air with a bitter cold. The park was deadly calm and quiet except for the rustling of leaves and her echoing footsteps. Raye was in the center of the park, where there was a beautiful lake with many exotic wildlife and songs of birds. But that was in the morning, now, the lake was a placid, black mirror that reflected the brilliant yellow moon above and nothing stirred. She pulled her red fleece coat closer together.
A lone figure stood on a small harbor by the lake under the pale yellow light of the harbor lamp; it's eyes shining in the moonlight as it waited for Raye to arrive. She, excited and eager, ran to the harbor and skidded to a stop just about a foot from the figure.
"Wufei," she whispered, "You wanted to talk to me?"
"Raye, is it?" he asked quietly. His voice wasn't cold as it was before but it was soft and warming. Raye nodded.
"Your cousin came," he continued in a serious tone, "I'm surprised you went through all that trouble…"
It was that kind of statement that demanded an answer, the kind that asked a question with literally asking it. Raye bit her lower lip and mentally rummaged around in her brain about what to answer. Strangely, she had forgotten why she had been so psyched on seeing him, and besides, he was the enemy.
"I really don't know," she admitted, "But I just wanted to see you."
Pitiful answer, Wufei thought, stupid, yet amusing. Heh…I was actually expecting something else from an onna like her…
"That's it?" he blurted out without his mind's consent.
"What'd you mean?" Raye asked, eyeing him strangely in the faint light.
"Never mind," he answered and paused. He was looking at her even though all she could see was her vague outline in the dark but he wanted to see her. "Come closer Raye, into the light."
Raye did as he told and stepped more closely to him, into the little light there was. Now he could see her clearly. Her bangs were pulled back from the wind when she was running and her cheeks and nose were rosy from the chilly air. Lovely.
"I usually don't do this," he told her, "I shouldn't be here."
"Then why are you here?" she asked.
"I don't know." He quickly answered truthfully. Raye quirked her eyebrows at him and smiled amusingly.
"Nor do I." She said, "I shouldn't be here either."
"Then why are you here?" he asked. He lifted his eyebrows upward in a witty, knowing sort of way.
Raye grinned and stared at him with faint amazement. "You're mocking me aren't you?" she asked. He shook his head.
"No, why would I mock you?" he asked, his voice contained a slight note of amusement.
"Right…" she muttered sarcastically, "Just because it's dark doesn't mean I don't see that face of yours…" He didn't answer but merely shrugged. Raye shook her head in disbelief.
"Wufei…" she began playfully and giggled, "C'mon, lets go into the rose gardens, sometimes there are fireflies out!" She seized his hands and started running along the path that led to the gardens. He didn't stop her but went along with her and even tightened his hold on her hands. He had no reason to stop her. Secretly, he enjoyed the wind blowing in his face and his bangs starting become loose. It was a wonderful sensation, something he had not felt in a long time, even when he was training and running like at his home.
She stopped at the entrance of the garden that was marked by two red rosebushes of either side of the path. And she was right; the fireflies were out and were glowing happily in the bushes. The looked like yellow twinkling lights, it was a very breathtaking and beautiful sight. Raye gasped delightfully and looked up at Wufei, who was gazing the fireflies as if he has never seen anything more spectacular.
"Beautiful," she whispered. Slowly, they both walked into the garden, hands still unintentionally and instinctively holding on to each other. A line of firefly flew past them, giving off a golden glow. Raye attempted to catch a firefly with her free hand but only succeeded in scaring them away. More desperately, she let go of Wufei's hands and with both hands, jumped to catch a firefly. But eventually she failed and stumbled onto the grass on her knees. Wufei shook his head and with professional like skill, he walked over to a glowing bush nearby and gently collected a few of the fireflies in his palms. He turned back to Raye, crouched down by her and slowly opened up his palms to let her see the fireflies in his hands.
"Wow." Raye said softly, "How did you learn to do that?" She looked up at Wufei, whose face was incredibly close to hers. She could hear and feel his warm breath tickling on her face.
A very mesmerizing moment that was. Somehow, he was so taken by her laughing, lovely face. A strange passionate feeling was blossoming in his chest; his heart was pounding fiercely, pressured by this alien feeling.
Raye was gazing into his eyes, becoming uncomfortable by the second yet she couldn't avert her eyes. The fireflies in Wufei hands, unknown to them, had fluttered away to freedom and back to its bushes.
Wufei leaned closer that their noses touched. Then slowly, their lips touched. Raye let her mouth open a little, nervously accepting the kiss he was offering.
An indescribable sensation passed through the both of them. Their tongues gently glided and caressed each other; their mouth gently embraced each other but slowly, like a toddler learning to walk. Raye broke away from the kiss and breathed in heavily.
"What was that for?" she breathed. He shrugged.
"You're acting so unlike you." Raye said with a giggle. She touched his cheeks.
"Is that a bad thing?" he asked seriously (Though you would expect guys to be playful in a time like this.).
"Nope, I don't think so." Raye slouched down on the ground, ignoring the tickling grass in her hair. "Lay down Wufei, the grass smells wonderful." He laid down next to her, though quite hesitantly at first.
"Look at the stars," she commanded in a passionate voice.
He did, though with a skeptical sigh. People can be this passionate about big balls of gas…
"Do you see that really bright star?" she asked pointing at star, slightly bigger then the rest and it glowed an ember color and not yellow or white like the others.
"Yes." Wufei answered flatly, "Why?"
"That's Mars," she informed him, "I want to visit it someday…"
"You want to be an astronaut?"
"Yep, I want to go out in space and walk on the planets." She turned to him with a clever grin on her face. In a low whisper she continued, "Grandpa told me of an old legend about the planetary princesses and the all-powerful Kingdom of the Moon, ruled by a beautiful silver-haired Queen."
"Well, as you can see," Wufei said as he turned his head towards the moon above, "We're this close and I see no kingdom."
"It was destroyed thousands of years," she told him sadly, "Sometimes, I have dreams about that legend…weird isn't it?"
"You're too immersed in these unimportant things."
"I don't fell its unimportant," she said persistently, "But you can say what you think."
No answer. Just a long, silent pause right after. The fireflies zoomed around them, dancing their secret dance of fire in the shining moonlight.
"Wufei," Raye whispered and sat up, looking into the midnight, star spangled sky.
"Yes?" he asked sitting up also.
"I like you a lot, you're different…" She said all of a sudden making Wufei raise his eyebrows questionably at her. She faced him and stared long into his cold, glaring eyes.
Raye continued in a miserable whisper, "But I seem to have forgotten my name and my clan..." Wufei suddenly snapped out of his romantic, stunned mood he had been in for the last 30 minutes and back to the reality of life, and he suddenly remember who he was and who she was. He was now speechless and stunned, at himself.
Why didn't I have remembered before, Wufei thought angrily to himself, Before I went out a poured out my soul to an enemy…Damn, I must be weak…this onna is weakening me…I must stop this…
Planning on setting this straight, he turned to her to confront her but couldn't. Something was stopping him. He couldn't give her away now; he couldn't throw her out of his life just like that. No, but he must. Nonetheless, every time he decided and forced himself, he found out that he couldn't. His heart and that affection, the same affection that made him even kiss her in the first place stopped him. He was secretly fighting amongst himself; a war between his heart and duty was raging inside him. Raye's absent, dreamy stare out into the night sky with the light of the pale moon reflecting her flawless, rosy skin and her soft, black hair flowering down to her shoulders causing her to look irresistibly lovely didn't help either.
Then he noticed there were tears in her eyes. Pearly tears reflecting the moonlight.
Bleeding heart of a girl, they have weak hearts.
"Don't cry," he commanded, his order came out sounding cold and harsh. "Its weak to cry." Raye breathed in a shuddering breath.
"Then I must be weak," she said, "For I cried many time before…"
He ignored this. In his clan, they were trained, taught, even the females, not to shed a tear too often or at all. She was weak, yes, that was it, but she was weak. She openly admitted it, she had stood up to him, defied all her orders, made him melt under her beauty and charm. This made and proved that she was strong, maybe more then him, but definitely more then any other girls he had met in his lifetime. Strangely, he had a bit of pride of her being strong. Yes, she's strong…for a girl…, he thought amusingly. There was a pleased, faint smile on his face that he had but unknowingly.
"Why are you smiling?" Raye asked bitterly. He snapped out of his daze and looked at Raye who was staring dangerously at him.
"You smile at wrong times Chang," she went on bitterly, keeping the glare on her red, puffy eyed face.
"…."
"Right," with the same bitter tone she said. She stood up solemnly, "Lets go now, its getting cold." She waited him to stand up, and when he did, she gently grabbed his hands and kissed it.
"I want to go home," she whispered.
**
Wufei escorted back Raye back to her home, where he watched her sneak in back to her room by climbing up a small balcony from a Sakura tree. She said a passionate goodnight and disappeared into her room.
Wufei left after a minute or so, savoring tonight's unusual activity in the park. He couldn't think of anything pessimistic now, just happy thoughts and love thoughts about her. The dark beauty that will always hold an important place in his heart and arouse his love, affection he had never shown to anyone else.
*~*
Days went by, weeks. Yet their love grew stronger and their neglecting of their bloodline grew also. Wufei was even daring enough to visit her at night at her home. Aiko became officially worried but was ever so delight to see Raye so devoted and in love with him. No matter how much Aiko despised Wufei, she had a soft heart for Raye. Though she did complain that Raye seemed to have more patience with him then she does with her. But the complaint came and went and she herself grew quite fond of Wufei, a little. Then her worries went and she forgot about warning Raye. Akiko knew the day would come when they both are separated but she let Raye love him and take delight in this very rare loving devotion at this age. But she guiltily knew, somehow, that she might regret this.
And she did.
**
"I believe it's hopeless to tell her now…" Aiko whispered to Akiko on a Friday evening. They were in a small, coffee odor café waiting for Raye to come back from her visit to the DVD store nearby.
"Well…" Akiko began uncertainly. She stared into her black coffee nervously. She didn't want to answer, or more precisely, didn't know what to answer.
Then, to her luck, there was a sudden uprising around them. Many people around them started leaving their tables and running down the street, shouting, cursing and making inappropriate, excited noise.
"What the hell…" Akiko grabbed a wrist of a nearby man and steered him to face her.
"Tell me, what's happening!" she demanded. The man looked frustrated at her and groaned impatiently.
He replied, "There's a fight between down the streets. Some girls from the two clans!" He shook Akiko's hands off and ran down the street like the rest.
"Oh shit!" Aiko swore loudly and scrambled off of her chair, "Its Raye!"
"But Raye couldn't pick any fights…" Akiko said thoughtfully.
"Its no time to think," Aiko spat, "C'mon!" She seized Akiko's hands and ran the direction where everyone was going.
**
"You're insane…" Raye muttered as she leaned against the wall to catch her breath.
"You dare come and humiliate me when you were not even invited!" Jin shrieked and charged at Raye for the 10th time with the katana. Raye dodged as it crashed into the wall and scrambled to the opposite wall of the mad Chinese girl. She turned to her, breathing madly.
"Look," Raye managed to whisper through her short breaths, "I don't want to fight you…and besides, we're not allowed to…"
It was no use compromising with Jin now. With her katana ready at hand again, she stormed at Raye, who was defenseless and trapped against the wall. Raye dropped to the ground and evaded more vicious strikes from the katana. Each time the attacks missed, the more Jin seemed to be anger and attacked with more ferocity and speed.
Raye was extremely exhausted, trying to ignore the ear pounding screams of the onlookers; she slowly stood up and faced Jin, with her face red and radiating with anger. But she was too tired to evade the attacks quickly enough. When Jin attacked her again, she jumped to her left to escape it but the blade met with her arm and made a large slash across it. She cried out painfully and grasped her arm. She looked up and gasped. Jin was coming at her again with her Katana raised above her head. It was then Raye knew that Jin was serious when she said that she was going to kill her.
"Don't touch her!!" a voice shrieked from the corner of her ears. Raye turned her head and saw Aiko running towards them. In less then an instant she came between Raye and the charging blade. Jin didn't attempt to stop. The sword flew at Aiko's eyes and the tip of the blade gashed open both the eyes. She shrieked of terrible agony and desperately covered her eyes with her hands, unsuccessfully trying to stop the blood from spurting out. She suddenly dropped the ground and stared cried out anguishing pain.
Silence fell onto the crowd. But there was sound of running feet from up the street, everyone, apparently except Aiko, looked up and saw a boy running towards them. Raye and Jin noticed him to be Wufei.
He halted just before them and stared wide-eyed at his cousin Jin, Raye crouching down by Aiko, and of course, Aiko with her blood streaked face. He had his own katana in his hands.
"Jin," he snarled, "Leave." Jin grasped her bloodstained katana and nodded obediently. She ran up the street and away from them. Wufei turned to Raye, who was glaring with suffering hatred at him.
More people arrived from Raye's family who took in the first thing they saw: A crying Aiko, a mad Raye and the enemy, Wufei, with his katana, standing in front of them. Unluckily, Mitsuko, Aiko's older sister was the first one to arrive. She quickly conceived that Wufei had attacked her sister and, she became utterly angry. She called for a sword from her maid behind her. The maid brought her a large, silver gleaming katana that had just been sharpened.
Raye, slowly figuring out what she was going to do, suddenly ran up to Mitsuko to stop her, but she was too late.
"You son of a bitch!" Mitsuko shrieked and charged at Wufei. There was a sudden clash of metal blades as Wufei brought up his katana to fend Mitsuko's attack. With a great amount of strength, he pushed her back and made a sudden run. Of course, she followed.
"Mitsu no!" Raye pleaded. But it was no use; the two disappeared behind the alley of the building. Raye turned to Mitsuko's maid, who looked dimly stunned and held another katana in her hands. As if reading Raye's mind, she presented the sword to her with an amused grin on her face.
Raye, having no time to ask any question, snatched it out of her hands and ran after Wufei and Mitsu.
"Oh dear…" Akiko whispered.
**
A/N: If I continued, it would have 10 more pages on Microsoft word because this chapter was a little over 9 pages. ^^ I got a bit carried away.