AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, time to clear up a few points. I love getting emails from people, and not just the ones telling me I have a new review. But after the last couple chapters, I've gotten quite a few asking if I am going to put any sex into this story. The answer to that, my darlings, is NO. There will be no sex in ANY of my Pretear stories. Sorry to disappoint, but I do have very good reasons for this.

1) Sex is not a Pretear concept. Pretear is very much about true love and, to me, sex does not epitomize that type of love. Doing stupid things together (like a pillow fight over nothing at all) is love. Sex is just nature's way of continuing the species. Wow...I sound like a heinous bitch, don't I? Don't mean to, honestly!

2) I don't condone under aged sex. If you're old enough, or, better yet, married, then knock yourself out! No one here is married. So, no sex. I HINTED at it in the last story (look up said pillow fight scene, and read Sasame and Takako's part a little more closely), but that was between full grown adults who were getting married. So, until one of my knights pops the question (and breaks my heart in the process), everyone will have to content themselves with make out sessions!

3) It's very awkward writing sex scenes. I tried one...felt dirty afterward! It worked with the piece, though, so I left it in. Trust me, it's sooo much better I don't write it! It would be the worst sex scene ever written!

4) I kow I keep hinting and eluding to Hayate and Himeno having sex some time soon...but there IS a reason other than future sex for why I put those little hot spots in. Himeno is seventeen years old. Hayate is her hot as hell boyfriend. My goal with these stories was to show the characters have REAL lives outside of preting and fighting monsters. One thing I really loved about the manga and anime was that unlike other stories similar to it, the characters all had jobs, went to school, got ice cream. And it wasn't just an, "Oh, Sasame works in radio." You actually SAW him at work! So, I wanted to make the character emotions as real as possible. And, trust me, I KNOW what raging teenage hormones and a hotter than hot boyfriend will do to a seventeen year old girl! It's very confusing when you're a teenager trying to sort through all this crap. That's what I was trying to do with Himeno and Hayate's relationship, bring it a little out of the fairy taleness and into reality. Of course, there are still bad guys out there to fight, and evil queens and such...not to mention the whole preting thing. Okay, that's all. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 8: Meet The Parents

Kei heard the call for help as he and the younger knights came inside. "Mannen, take Shin and Hajime to your room," he ordered, setting Shin down.

"But I wanna help," Mannen argued.

"Just do as your told, Mannen!" He took off running down the hall, following the hasty footsteps of other knights and a couple Pretears to the source of the cry. He skidded and almost fell in the blood on the ground. "Oh, my God, Hoti!"

Sete was kneeling over Jikan, tears dripping down her cheeks. "Hoti's dead," she sniffled. "I couldn't heal him."

Jikan turned away from Kei's look, bitter tears hanging in his eyes but not falling. "We had just escorted Himeno to Hayate's room," he murmured. "I think whoever did this thought she was still with us. Hoti got hit and that was the first I knew of it. I ducked in time but...I didn't see who..."

Kei's eyes narrowed. He hadn't felt anything. Not one damn thing! What the hell was going on? "Are Himeno and Hayate alright?" he asked.

Jikan's baffled look was eloquent enough. He had no clue.

"Blaise, Feryn!" The three of them went running for Hayate's room. Kei summoned some leafe and flung it at the door, making it explode inward. "Himeno!"

"WHAT THE HELL!" Hayate was shoved off Himeno, who sat up blushing darkly. Hayate was sprawled on the floor, shirtless and just as red. And it was a little obvious what they had been doing before the door exploding.

The three knights in the doorway just stood, slack jawed and gaping. Blaise was the first to react, letting out a short, shocked laugh, covering his mouth in surprise, and then raking his fingers through his hair. "Holy bloody hell! Whoa... I, ah...WHOA!" He pressed his palms into his eyes as if to get that image out of his head.

Blushing the reddest anyone had seen her yet, Himeno stood up, fists clenched. "Just what the hell are you doing, bursting into someone's room like that?" she shouted, marching over to them angrily.

"She is going to hit us," Feryn exclaimed, backing away and out of the room quickly.

"I'm gonna do more than that! Well, one of you perverts better start explaining, and fast!"

"We...We came to check on you," Kei began. Hayate was on his feet, pulling his shirt back on and so angry he wasn't speaking a word. "See, there...there was an attack and..."

That got both their attentions. "An attack? Who?" Hayate asked quickly.

"It was on those two guards with Himeno. Jikan and Hoti. Jikan took one in the shoulder that Sete is fixing. But Hoti..." He didn't need to finish.

Himeno gasped and ran from the room, Hayate right behind her. They shoved their way to the front just as Sete was helping Jikan to his feet. There was no trace of Hoti anywhere. "Where did he...did he...?" Himeno searched around for at least a body. Maybe she could still save him...

"He already faded," Sete said dully, wiping her eyes. Kei went over and hugged her, petting her long hair back. "Hoti...he was a good friend!" She turned into his shoulder and sobbed quietly.

"Don't I know it," Jikan said, rubbing at his eyes. "He didn't even...he didn't even get a chance to scream!

Himeno went to him, arms open. She hugged him and...

Kei frowned, blinking and looking around. The shadows again! What the hell?

"HIMENO!"

Hayate's shout drew attention to her. Or, rather, where she had stood. Himeno, and Jikan, were both missing. Everyone was talking and shouting, some looking around in shock. Kei stared and stared. What...how? Why would Jikan take Himeno? He'd have no reason to unless...unless...His eyes widened as he slowly pieced it together.

"Hayate! It's been Jikan this whole time! Jikan's been the assassin! It makes perfect sense, don't you see? The shadows shifting, why we never see who it is? Jikan controls time! He's been MOVING through time to different spots. And now he has Himeno!"

Hayate's initial horror at finding Himeno gone was quickly replaced by an anger so intense that he was calling leafe without knowing it. People quickly stepped back at the faint trickles of wind swirling in the hall. Shoving his way through the crowd, he ran from the hall, Kei, Blaise and Feryn right behind. "He's cracked, he has," Blaise commented, swerving at the last second to avoid a collision with Mannen and Hajime. Shin was riding Po Po behind them, the polarpix easily keeping up with everyone.

"We're comin', too," Mannen said angrily. "Nobody takes Himeno without our permission!"

"Hayate, wait a second," Kei shouted. "Do you even have a plan?"

"The plan is, get Himeno and kill Jikan."

Feryn slammed into Kei's back when he came to a sudden hault, bowling him forward a couple steps. "Kill him? Hayate, do you know what you're saying!"

Hayate whirled around, eyes snapping with rage. All the other knights skidded to a halt, pinned in place by that feroucious look. "He has Himeno prisoner. I know exactly what I'm saying, and if you don't like it, stay here! I'm going after them, alone if necessary!"

Kei sighed, shoulders slumping. "We're all going." Maybe they could stop him from killing Jikan if they went. If they stayed, there was no doubt in any of their minds Hayate would go through with what he said.

"We're all bloody in," Blaise growled, scowling so fiercely Shin wouldn't go near him.

Hayate nodded once. "Fine. Let's go save our Pretear." They ran the rest of the way out of the palace and into the open, and when they had enough room, took off flying into the setting sun.

Himeno gasped at the sharp slap to her face, groaning when her head began to throb. Her head was so foggy...what had happened? Sh tried to move her arms. And found they were chained over her head. What? She looked up, head still spinning and found the chains attacked to the ceiling of a large room. Actually, it was a cave. She could hear bats rustling and squeaking above her. And, when she looked down...

Himeno let out a startled squeak of her own when she saw she was on a ledge out in the middle of nowhere that was just barely big enough for her to stand on. And beyond that little ledge, circling around her like a moat, was utter blackness. Even if she got her hands free, she was trapped.

"Not bad, huh? You know, I wasn't sure about this place at first, but I do think it adds to the drama of the situation, don't you?"

Himeno looked up fearfully as Jikan floated before her, smiling peacefully. "You! Why? What did I ever do to you?" She shouted, trying to force the panic back down into her stomach. She had to think, she had to get free...She couldn't let the fear beat her!

Jikan's smile grew and it shocked her that she knew it from somewhere...just where, though? "Me? You did nothing to me! It's what you did to others that brings us to this little spot. Others that meant a great deal to me...and should have meant more to you."

"Huh?" What was he talking about? "Have we met before? I don't understand! I haven't hurt anyone!"

His smile grew more calculating and he chuckled. "You still haven't figured it out, have you? Mother was right about that. She said you could be a bit oblivious."

Mother? Himeno tried to pull on the chains as he floated closer, green eyes partially closed.

"Allow me to introduce myself a little better. I'm Jikan, the Knight of Time. Son of Sasame, the Knight of Sound, and Takako the Princess of Disaster. And I'm going to kill you." He flew back a few feet and pulled a bow and arrow out of thin air, aiming for her heart.

Himeno's eyes went wide and the scream was stuck somewhere in her throat. No...this couldn't be happening! The scream broke free and one name was shouted, "HAYATE!"