Since it was spring, the senshi were outside studying. Autumn looked up from helping Mina on a math problem and cocked her head to one side. No sooner had she done so than a familiar figure came running up the temple steps. The girl that stood there paused and looked back behind her, then smiled. "Atia?!"

"Autumn!" Atia jerked back in surprise, nearly stumbling back down the steps. "This is the last place I'd expect you to be," she taunted with a smile.

"Always the joker." The brunette rolled her eyes as Atia walked up to her. "And how did you get here?"

"Darien brought me." Atia winked at Serena. "You have a slow boyfriend, hon."

Just then, Darien came huffing and puffing up the steps and sent an astonished look at Atia. "I've...never...seen a person...run...so...fast!" he panted, leaning over and bracing himself to catch his breath.

Atia blushed a little and smiled. "I didn't run that fast."

"You're...not...even...winded!" Darien gasped. "It took you, what...fifteen seconds...to get up here?"

Atia shrugged meekly and smiled innocently. "I don't know?"

"Do it again." Darien straightened up and walked over to her.

"It was just odd luck," Serena pouted.

"I've never even seen Amara run that fast!" Darien protested, walking over to and kneeling beside his girlfriend. He kissed her on the forehead, and Serena hugged him. "You're good, Atia. You should try out for track."

Just then Rini burst out of the temple. "Atia!" she yelped, then raced towards the girl.

"Rini?" Atia looked behind her shoulder in surprise, then turned full around and caught the child in her arms.

Rini giggled. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Or for two weeks," Atia teased, smiling.

Raye had noticed something off about Autumn, and now that same nagging feeling was worming its way back into her head about Atia. She knew this girl from somewhere. She also knew there was something more than met the eye about her.

"Alright, let's get to work," Darien chided, clapping his hands. Atia set Rini down with a fake pout, then sat on the free side of Darien. Serena immediately grabbed his arm, but Atia paid the boy no heed as she pulled a math book of her abandoned backpack.

Amy tapped a pencil on her paper unhappily. "This new math is getting tricky."

Atia leaned over and stared at her paper. "Algebra 2? And you're a freshman?"

"Amy's the brains of the group," Lita smiled. "She's pretty advanced."

"Ah." Atia stared at it. "What is this crap?" she muttered, poking at the examples as though it were poison. "No wonder you're confused. All you really have to do is substitute x for y and make z a negative number, then make it into a two-step equation and solve."

"That's it??" Amy asked in surprise.

"That's it," Atia smiled, sitting back. "Teachers really go out of their way to explain things when it's really that simple."

"How old are you?" Amy asked, blinking in surprise. It all made sense now!

"Seventeen." Atia started writing on her paper, glancing at her textbook. "I've skipped three grades." Stunned silence greeted her answer. Autumn began to snort but turned it into a cough. Atia glanced up at her with fake accusing. "What's so funny?"

"Ne. Nothing."

Three hours' time passed in that manner, and Serena even understood what Atia told her. Surprisingly enough, everyone of them got their homework done an hour and a half before their usual time. The Inner Senshi were quick to invite the two cousins back for another session. As they made ready to leave, two familiar figures appeared on the steps.

"Amara, Michelle! Hi!" Serena jumped up and ran over to them. "It's been awhile!"

Atia, in the middle of standing up, locked eyes with Amara and froze like a deer staring at an oncoming car's headlights. Amara had a similar expression. The tall blonde tore her gaze away and made as though to step in front of Serena. "Who are you?"

Atia stood up completely. "My name is Atia Tamuchi. This is my cousin, Autumn. And you are...?"

"Amara Tenou. This is Michelle Kaiou; she's my cousin." Amara stared at her coldly. "I know you."

"I'm quite certain we've never met," Atia replied coolly, recovering from her initial shock. "Autumn and I just moved here."

"Hm." Amara sized her up with a frown. "How do you know them?"

"I go to college with Darien. I also help teach Rini's dance class."

"Amara-" Serena began in surprise, but Amara didn't listen. Michelle grabbed her elbow and jerked her back beside her. "Michelle?"

Atia blinked as though their actions didn't surprise her. Autumn stood up and glanced at her cousin uncertainly. "Maybe we have met." Amara tried to stare her in eyes but faltered. "But I can't place you or Michelle." She said Michelle in a funny way, as though it were difficult to pronounce.

"Where are you from?" Amara demanded, growing angry.

"Somewhere far from here. Gastahdylia." Autumn glanced at her sharply, but Atia ignored her and picked up her backpack.

"Amara, leave her alone!" Serena pleaded, trying to get past Michelle.

"You two aren't being very polite," Rini agreed, standing near Autumn, who put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not like they're going to kill us."

Amara's eyes hardened. "Come away from her."

"No!" Rini grabbed Autumn's wrist and refused to budge. "She's my friend, Amara!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Amara snarled.

Atia made a sound almost like a growl and shook her bangs out of her eyes. "Autumn, let's go." The brunette walked up to her, staring at the other two uncertainly. They were blocking the way out. Atia walked up to them, but Amara stood bodily in front of her.

"You're not going anywhere." Amara's fist flew up to strike the slightly taller girl.

That fast, Atia dropped her backpack and caught her wrist, gripping it so hard that Amara gasped. Quickly regaining her wits, she tried the other wrist, but Atia caught it too. The purple-haired girl suddenly brought her ankle forcefully against the backs of Amara's legs, and the blonde fell to her knees before her.

Amara stared up at her in surprise that quickly melted away. She shoved her body against Atia's legs brutally. The other girl released Amara's hands and jumped back. Autumn made no move to run but backed away, back towards the senshi.

"Amara, stop it!" Darien yelled, acting to get up.

Amara stood up and lunged at Atia in response. Atia side-stepped the onslaught easily enough and twisted away as she whirled and came at her again.

"Stop it, Amara. Don't fight me," Atia said in a low voice that only the other could hear. "I'm not the enemy."

"I hate you!" Amara shrieked suddenly and in that instant tackled her down. Atia cried out in alarm, and the earth shook unnaturally as she crashed into the ground. "I don't know why, but I hate you!"

"Then I'm quite afraid I'll have to hate you as well, Amara." She kicked the other girl over her head and scrambled to her feet. "Although it is really quite a shame." She started singing quietly, so softly the words weren't identifiable.

Amara sat where she'd been thrown. "Stop that!" she shouted, covering her ears. "Stop!"

Michelle cried out and left Serena, coming up behind Atia. Atia brought her arm around and crashed it into Michelle's collarbone, and the girl tumbled to the ground. Michelle shrieked as she heard Atia singing.

The girl stopped singing.

Amara stared at her hatefully. "I don't know what type of game you're trying to play, but I'm going to tell you now that you won't win. I don't want you around any of them. I want you gone. You and your cousin both."

"You don't always get what you want." Atia stared at Amara distantly. "We're not guaranteed tomorrow, Amara."

Amara froze. "What?"

"We're not guaranteed tomorrow."

Amara shook her head, then glared up at Atia accusingly. "Why do I know that you've said that to me before?!"

Atia shrugged. It didn't seem to bother her that Amara wasn't even a foot away from her and could've easily tackled her. "You're bleeding."

"Wha?"

Atia gestured at her knees. "You're bleeding," she said again. Amara glanced down and saw her pants knees were ripped. Her knees were bleeding and sore from being brought down on the stone steps.

"I've been worse," Amara growled, glaring back up at her. Her opponent's face held no smug, taunting, or angry tones, only concerned uncertainty. "Why are you different?" Atia cocked her head to one side, questioning her. Yet, Amara understood the foreign gesture. "Why don't you beat us up? You seem perfectly capable of doing so. Even though I struck first, you're looking at me as though I'm a friend of yours that got hurt." Her initial anger began to fade, as though she hadn't really meant what she'd said before.

Atia smiled and straightened up. "I don't know. It's not my nature to be violent."

"You could've fooled me."

Atia laughed and extended a hand down towards Amara. "Come on, you're not going to be able to get up if you stay in that position. Your knees are going to lock up."

The blonde's eyes widened in surprise. Before she could stop herself, she reached up and grabbed Atia's hand. The moment her hand gripped the other's, the area around her went black. She felt like she was falling, falling into an endless chasm. Someone jerked her hand, and the falling stopped. She heard the clamor and thundering of a Battle, a huge, tremendous fight where each warrior fought to the death with no exceptions. She hauled herself up on the cliff and stared at what should've been a figure she knew. But the figure was a mist with no identifiable shape that quickly escaped back into the fight. She found herself crashing into someone and was abruptly brought back to her senses.

*

Amara put her hand in Atia's, and Atia pulled her up. The girl staggered against her as though she had no control over her movements and didn't know what she was doing. Atia wrapped her arms around her to keep her from falling back down.

The girl in her arms gasped and looked up at her in surprise. And yet, the anger, the hate, she'd felt only moments before was gone. She suddenly knew Atia, remembered her from somewhere long ago as vaguely as a shadow.

Seeing her back to normal, Atia let her go. "Are you okay?" she asked, not unkindly.

"Y-yeah." Amara stared at her in confusion. Her knees stung and ached, and she wondered why she hadn't noticed the throbbing pain before.

Atia smiled, then offered her hand to Michelle. "It's getting late." Before she knew what she was doing, Michelle grabbed her hand. Immediately the world went black. Her body was on fire, like someone was stabbing her. There was a jerk, and the pain stopped. The noise around her was deafening, roars and crashes, screams and shouts. She couldn't see anything but a figure that she thought she knew. But the person was a fog and perfectly impossible to make out. Feeling about to fall, she steadied herself. The jerk brought her back to Earth.

*

Michelle shook her head and found herself staring into Atia's eyes. "I-I'm fine," she said to the unspoken question. Why had she ever fought this girl? She knew her from somewhere. She wasn't an enemy. And yet...

"Michelle." The teal-haired girl turned to look at Amara. "Let's go." Michelle silently followed her back down the steps of the temple, too stunned to speak.

*

Atia watched them go and sighed. Her elbow ached where it had struck the ground, and her head was pounding from the anxiety. The world spun before her eyes, and she closed them to remain standing. Seconds ticked past, and a relieving flood of cool washed over her. Her head stopped its angry pounding, and her elbow felt no differently than before. She opened her eyes and walked over to the senshi.

"Atia, I am so sorry! She usually doesn't act like that," Serena exclaimed, looking close to tears.

"It's alright, Serena, really. I'm used to fighting." Atia put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Autumn asked softly. "You hit the ground hard."

"I'm fine." Atia grinned reassuringly at her.

"Hm-nm. Don't lie to me," Autumn scolded gently, walking up to her. She was a good deal shorter, but that didn't stop her from reaching up and touching Atia's cheek. Her copper hand shone like a beacon against Atia's pale face. "Sit."

"Autumn, I feel fine!" Atia protested.

The brunette jerked her wrist in response. "You're not going to in a moment! Listen to me!" Atia's knees buckled obediently, and she sat without further complaint.

"Autumn, she said she's okay," Rini said uncertainly, the only one daring enough to.

"What she says isn't always how it is."

Atia sighed and put an elbow on the bench, drummed her fingers against it impatiently. She glared at the ground as though it were its fault that she was sitting. After a moment, her fingers stilled, and she laid her head on her arm. She ran her fingers slowly through her ponytail with her free hand. Eventually, that too stopped, and she curled her long legs closer against herself. Still saying nothing, she half-closed her eyes. Any of those movements could've been passed off as boredom, but Autumn was no fool.

One of Atia's hands rubbed her head as though it hurt, then pressed as the imaginary pain worsened. She made a face and a half-choking sound, then closed her eyes completely and did not move.

Autumn shook her head. "You're not always so lucky."