A/N: Just making sure everyone remembers, the ages for the younger Knights are up a few years. So since Mannen was 10 in the anime, but in this story, it took place when he was 13(for the sake of the story). So now it is 2 years later, so he is 15. This only applies to the three younger Knights and Mawata. Mawata was 15 at the time of the incident and she is now 17. Thank you, enjoy!

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Hayate was pacing in Leafenia by the pond. He stopped pacing for a moment, and looked into the pond. This was the place where they had imprisoned Taiji Fenrir who was also known as Takako. She and Sasame had been living happily since the evilness within her had been dispersed. They had been married right after Himeno was found to be alive. Sasame had retained his Leafe Knight abilities when they had repaired his earring.

This pond was also the reason he met Himeno. Hayate felt a pang in his chest at the thought of her. He had thought her to be the most annoying person ever when he had met her, but she had turned out to be the love of his life. His eyes clouded as he turned from the pond and he began pacing. Thinking of her right now was proving to be painful. A moment later the portal opened from the Earth and the rest of the Knights appeared. Takako chose that moment to come out of the house which they had built for her and Sasame. She walked to Sasame and hugged him, staying by his side, with an arm around him, and his arm around her.

"So what is this meeting about Hayate?" Kei asked, looking questioningly at Hayate.

"Hayate-nii, why isn't Himeno-nee here?" Shin asked. He was now 9 years old and more aware of everything that was going on than he was in the battle.

"Because we need to have a meeting about… problems that she can't help with, and we don't want her to get upset that she can't do anything about it." Hayate tried to explain to the boy. He didn't really lie, but he did need to get on with this meeting.

"Okay… we have a matter of high importance to talk about today." He started out, capturing the attention of the knights(and Takako). "Something has come to my attention… It's about Himeno."

"What's wrong with Himeno-nee?" Hajime asked, worriedly.

"I believe that… She has lost her ability to become Prêtear." Hayate said with a hint of embarrassment. For some reason it was harder to fathom when he said it aloud.

There was a moment of silence and all of the Knights began talking at once, except Mannen who stood, staring thoughtfully at the ground.

"What does this mean?"

"Hayate, what did you do…"

"What if something happens and there is no Prêtear to protect the Earth?"

"Are we going to need to find a new one?"

Finally, Hayate cut them off. "I fear we may need a new Prêtear soon… There have been signs that a new evil is approaching." Hayate said, trying to changed the subject to something other than why she could no longer prêt. He looked over at Sasame, who was staring intently anywhere that he could avoid the eyes of the Knights. "Sasame, I am pretty sure that you have been able to tell… that you can feel it."

Sasame shifted his gaze from the side of the small house to Hayate.

"Yes, I have been able to feel something, however, I have not been able to tell if it is nefarious or not."

Goh walked behind Sasame and smacked him in the head.

"You idiot!" He yelled. "Why didn't you tell anyone? You know that we need to be careful about new threats." He seethed, steam seemingly coming out of his ears.

Sasame grimaced slightly and stepped away from him. "I know that… However, I did not want to spook everyone if it was nothing." Sasame explained, using the soothing quality in his voice to ease Goh's anger. It had apparently worked, as his face had gone from purple to his normal tone.

"Okay, so what are we supposed to do about this?" Kei asked Hayate, obviously expecting an answer from him.

"Well, we are going to need to find the new Prêtear, obviously." Hayate said, somewhat irritated. It was somewhat rare to see Hayate upset since he and Himeno had realized each other's feelings and started going out.

"So we are going to start from scratch? What about Himeno-nee?" Hajime asked, obviously concerned about the fate of Himeno, who he thought of as a big sister.

"Himeno hasn't realized it yet. However, if we were to start searching for the new Prêtear without letting her know what has happened, I would not want to be around her for a while." Hayate said, grimacing. "I will tell her soon. However, we need to divide up into groups to search-"

"I know who the new Prêtear is." Mannen said, finally speaking up. All at once, every voice speaking died down and all eyes turned to him.

"You do?" Hayate asked with hard eyes. "Who?"

"It's… I think it's Mawata." He said, his eyes just as hard as Hayate's as he stared back.

"How do you know?" Kei asked.

"How do we ever know?" Mannen asked irritably. "I touched her hand and I felt the sho-"

"You were trying to hold her hand?" Goh asked incredulously. Mannen rolled his eyes.

"That's not the point Goh!" Mannen said, "But I really do think that Mawata is the next Prêtear."

Hayate gave Mannen a thoughtful look. "We'll see about that. We better get going back to Earth, before Himeno suspects anything."

"Um… Hayate, I think it is already too late for that." Sasame said apologetically, thinking of his encounter with Himeno in the hall way.

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Himeno had been wandering around the garden since the Knights had left. She let out a rather loud sigh and walked a bit with her eyes closed. When she opened them, she was at the spot where she had first met the Knights, excluding Hayate whom she had met before that.

She giggled a bit as she remembered her first meeting with Hayate. She went to sit on the bench she had just fallen off of when Sasame spoke to her from over head. She had fought her first battle in this very garden.

A moment later, the portal from Leafenia opened and the Knights came through. Hayate was the first to spot her. He motioned to the other Knights, and Takako (who had been strangely silent through the meeting) to leave them.

"What's going on Hayate?" Himeno asked, a slight hint of fear in her eyes at the sight of his grim face.

"Himeno, take my hand." Hayate said, extending his hand out to her.

Hayate, what is this all about?" Himeno asked, laughing hesitantly.

"Just take my hand."

Himeno reluctantly took his hand, anticipating the transformation. When nothing happened, she looked at Hayate, alarmed. Hayate, however, did not look surprised and even looked slightly scared. He pulled her into a hug and rested a hand on her abdomen.

"Himeno… You're pregnant." Hayate said, somewhat meekly.

Himeno's face went completely red in seconds.

"P-pregnant?" Himeno stuttered. "But…" Her face went even redder (if possible). "What will we say to my dad? And how does that keep me from being Prêtear?" She asked frantically.

"It seems that a Prêtear must be a virgin." Hayate said, his face becoming redder as well. "We hadn't known this before, because we had never had the same… er… circumstances."

"So what are you going to do about a Prêtear?" Himeno asked Hayate.

"Well, we think we already found the new one…"

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A/N: There you have it, the new chapter three! I will try to get a chapter four out soon!

Meroko