"Hayate!" Kei called, running after him. Hayate spun around, his trenchcoat swirling around him. "We need the new Prétear," he continued, "Himeno has lost her powers as Prétear. Why won't you accept this?"
"Because accepting that means that I have to accept that we have to train a new Prétear."
"Hayate! Kei! I found her!" Mannen called, running up to the two older Leafe knights. He put his hands on his knees, gasping for air.
Hayate turned, beginning to walk away again. Kei's hand shot out, grabbing Hayate's arm, forcing him to stay. "You found the new Prétear?" he asked.
Mannen nodded. "She's 17, has long straight dark green hair, so dark it almost looks black, brown eyes, goes to this awesome high school that has no rules, and is 5'4"-ish -"
"But who is she?" Kei prodded.
"Her name is Kitsu Nakata."
"Hey look, it's that weird girl, Kitsu. The one who never talks. I hear she's a real nutcase, the kind that deserve to be locked up in mental hospitals..."
Kitsu stopped, turning towards the two girls snickering in the hallway. She blinked slowly, then quickly turned away, walking towards the exit of the building. She leaned against the outside wall, a single tear falling down her cheek as she closed her eyes.
"Are you okay?" came a voice. Kitsu quickly opened her eyes, staring at the boy. She wiped the tear off her face, and nodded.
"What happened?" he asked. Kitsu shrugged. The boy paused.
"Can you talk?" Kitsu nodded.
"Are you going to?" Kitsu shook her head 'no'.
"Well, I'm Mannen -"
Another boy suddenly appeared next to Mannen, causing Kitsu to jump slightly. "And I'm Sasame," the other boy stated.
Kitsu raised an eyebrow, looking from Sasame, to Mannen, to Sasame again. Mannen turned to Sasame.
"She won't talk," he explained, "But she says she can. I guess she just doesn't like to." Kitsu nodded to this.
"This may seem sudden," Sasame started, "But you're something called a Prétear. Mannen and I are Leafe knights, and we, as well as the Prétear, fight against demon larva to save the world." Kitsu raised an eyebrow, skeptically.
Five other boys appeared next to Sasame. Kitsu jumped again. She realized that she hadn't been breathing since the five boys appeared, so she exhaled.
"I'm Go," one stated, "Kei," said the next, "Shin!" exlaimed a young blonde, "Hajime," nodded another. The last boy, the one with long blue hair, faced away from her, his arms crossed, not saying anything. The one called Kei elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm Hayate," he said, hastily.
Kitsu nodded to them.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Go asked. Kitsu's gaze dropped to the ground.
"She doesn't like to talk," Mannen explained.
"Well, that's just perfect," Hayate sneered, spinning around, "How the hell are we supposed to train a Prétear if she won't talk?" Kitsu narrowed her eyes at him. "This is hopeless."
Kitsu pushed herself off the wall, striding towards Hayate. Her unblinking eyes remained narrow, and her left eye twitched at him. Her eyes seemed to say 'figure it out', and she right hooked him in the eye. Hayate stumbled backwards a few steps before regaining his balace. Kitsu's eyes widened, and she dropped to her knees, resting her hands in her lap, her head bowed.
"What the hell was that for?" Hayate demanded, his eye already starting to bruise. Kitsu looked up, her eyes glassy. 'I'm sorry,' her eyes said. Kitsu stood up, looking Hayate directly in the eye. Hayate's jaw tighened with anger. Her hand rose slowly, and Hayate flinched, but no attack came. She gently rested her hand over Hayate's eye, and when she removed it, the bruise was gone. Kitsu half smiled at him, them turned away, leaving the seven boys behind.
"Wait!" Mannen called. Kitsu stopped, slowly turning around. Mannen walked closer to her. "You will become Prétear, won't you?"
Kitsu smiled, nodding. Mannen smiled in return. All of the sudden, Kitsu's eyes widened, her head shooting back in pain. She pointed at the bushes.
"Demon larva," Hayate stated. All seven turned into the Leafe knight form. A hideous monster emitted from the bushes. "Beyondios!" called Shin, and vines began to make somewhat of a cage around the Leafe knights, Kitsu, and the Demon Larva.
"Give me your hand," Hayate demanded. Kitsu did so, and within seconds, Hayate was gone and Kitsu's clothes had changed.
'I am the knight of wind,' Kitsu heard inside her head, 'Concentrate on using the wind at will. Attack the demon larva.' Kitsu tried to do so, but nothing happened. The demon larva moved to attack Kitsu, and still no wind was being created at will. Just as the demon larva was about to strike Kitsu, a blue sheild eveloped her, and she heard Hayate scream inside her head.
"Where have I seen this before," Kei muttered.
The scream was what set Kitsu off. A gust of wind suddenly came, strong enough to make rain fall horizontally if it had been raining. The demon larva toppled backwards, and the wind died down. A white sword appeared in her hands, and Kitsu attacked a certain spot on the demon larva, a spot that Kitsu's gut instict told her attack... Suddenly, the demon larva disappeared.
"You did it!" Shin exclaimed. All the Leafe knights returned to their original appearances, and Hayate reappeared. Kitsu gasped at Hayate. His shirt was torn up, and blood rushed out of a large gash across his chest. Kitsu pulled up the pantleg of her baggy green jeans, reaching into her black knee-high boot. She removed a dagger, with which she cut off the bottom of her loose plain white tank top, up to five inches above her navel. She began to cut the 13-inch tube of material into thin stips, and tied them all together. Kitsu began to take off his his tan trenchcoat.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hayate demanded. Kitsu pasued, looking up at him. 'Helping you,' her eyes said. She began to cut his 'shirt', now just a torn rag, off of him with her dagger, and dipped it into the water fountain near to the school. She used the wet rag to remove the excess blood from his skin, then began to wrap his abomen with the makeshift bandages. Once the cut was dressed, she placed her hands on his chest, and a blue light surrounded her hands. After a few moments, she removed her hands, and turned to walk away. She paused, five feet away from the Leafe knights, not turning around.
"I'll be waiting. For my... training," she stated, and continued to walk away.
Go let out a low whistle. "She's really good looking."
Out of nowhere, Mannen smacked Go on the head with a frying pan. Go facefaulted. "I was just stating the obvious," he protested.
Hayate looked down at his abdomen. The bandages were slightly soaked with blood, which had begun to dry. He realized that the gash didn't hurt any more, and began to unwrap the bandages.
"It's gone," he stated. The other six Leafe knights looked over, and sure enough, the gash on his abomen was gone, not even a trace of a scar left.