Disclaimer: See chapter one

Chap. 10

Nonomura household...

Rei walked up the short stairs and stood at the door of the house. She had never really been here and for some weird reason she felt nervous. Nevertheless, she knocked on the door and waited. The door opened and a large woman came into view. Rei blinked and an unspoken thought entered her mind.

Mother...

The thought quickly dispersed and Rei soon forgot it at all. The woman who had opened the door blinked in slight surprise before smiling.

"Hello dear. You must be Rei." she said kindly. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Rei bowed slightly in response, "Thank you, Mrs. Nonomura. It's nice to meet you too."

Mitsuko moved aside and motioned for Rei to enter.

"Uriko will be with you in just a moment." Calling upstairs, "Uriko, your friend is here."

"Cooommmmminnngg!!!" Sounds of running footsteps could be heard and soon the brown-haired teen was rapidly descending the stairs.

"Hey Rei. Are you ready to go?"

"Sure."

Uriko was briefly stopped by her mom, who gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Uriko whispered a goodbye before moving beside Rei. "Woowhoo!! Time to go shopping! This is going to be great." she cheered as they exited the door. "I can't wait to see what we're going to wear."

Rei looked away shyly, "Thank you for paying for my things. But are you sure it's no trouble?"

"Of course." Uriko answered. "My mom and sis both gave me enough money for it so don't worry. Geez, you sound just like Shin."

Rei nodded silently and Uriko looked over at her. "How is he, anyway?"

"Shin? He's just fine. Why do you ask?"

Uriko shrugged thoughtfully, "I don't know. The look on your face perhaps?"

Rei frowned slightly, but said nothing. Uriko was about to ask another question, but decided against it. Rather, she went into cheery mode (which by normal definitions is super-hyper-overdrive-fueled-by-high-sugar-intake-mode).

"Well, let's go shopping!"

***********

The two girls walked all the way to the nearest mall and went to work. Seeing as how Rei had never actually gone shopping like this, Uriko mainly took the lead as they went into a dress shop. Uriko had seen a gorgeous dress that she thought would look good on Rei and hoped that she could find something for herself as well. As luck would have it, she did. A lovely, sleeveless white dress with straps and designs on the side of the same color. For Rei, it was a strapless sapphire dress that came with glove that reached up to the elbows. It took them some time to try them on and even longer to find the right accessories. Uriko was moving like a mosquito trying to find the right things to match up for them. In time, Rei began to get into it and pretty soon, they were all over the place. Finally, after close to three hours, the two girls were finally done and moved up to the cashier to pay for the clothes. Uriko took out the cash, but found that she was a couple of dollars short.

"Aw man. This sucks." she groaned.

Rei sighed, "I guess we don't have enough."

"Maybe this can help."

Another arm reached over and gave the cashier the remaining money left over. The two girls looked up to see...

"Nagi?" Uriko gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you." she smiled as she slung a package over her shoulder. "A girl's got to shop, right?"

Uriko nodded a thank you before blinking. "Oh, Rei. This is Nagi. Nagi, my friend Rei."

Nagi nodded, "Nice to meet you Rei."

As the three exited the shop, Rei asked. "Why are you shopping, Ms. Nagi?"

"That's just what we women do."

All three turned to the sound of the second new voice and this time, Rei blinked in surprise. "Ms. Saori. You too?"

The midnight-haired woman strode up to them, "Uriko. Rei. We meet again. Actually, I was just doing a little window-shopping." Looking over at Nagi, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Saori."

"Nagi. Nice to meet you."

Saori smiled, but her thoughts were somewhat distracted. Nagi...she feels...different...what is this? Shaking it off mentally, she turned attention back to the younger ones, "So what are you girls shopping for?"

"We're getting our dresses for the dance."

"The dance? Oh right. Shin told me about that." she answered. "So you both have dates, I see."

The two nodded shyly. Nagi noticed this and smiled.

"That would be a yes. That would explain why Kenji is so uptight now. Or at least more than usual."

"Uptight?" Uriko questioned. "What do you mean?"

Nagi turned away, still smiling. "Well it's no surprise. All guys are like that before a dance. I bet your date is the same way, Rei."

Rei thought about it. Reiji hardly seemed the type to get nervous over something like this, even if she was. Shin, perhaps...wait. Why did she think about him? He's not her date. He doesn't even have a date, so he would have no reason to be nervous. Still, he could use one. It just didn't seem right for him to go alone. A plan slowly, but surely made its way into her mind. It may sound crazy, but perhaps...

Hey, since we're all here, why don't we get something to eat?" Saori suggested suddenly, interrupting Rei's thoughts. "My treat."

Uriko smiled broadly, "Really? Sure, that sounds great!"

Rei sighed. Uriko just couldn't refuse a meal. Still, it was a long day and she was a bit hungry. "Thank you, Ms. Saori."

Saori now sighed, "Just Saori, Rei. What about you Nag..."

A sudden commotion caught their attention. On the lower level of the mall grounds, a little girl was running away from a group of three or four men. The four watched as they chased her into one of the back exits.

"What are they doing?" Uriko asked out loud.

Suddenly, Nagi dropped her package and leaped down the nearby stairs. They didn't even see her move and she seemed to glide down to the lower level and after the group.

"Wow." was all Uriko managed to say.

Nagi didn't even realize her own movements. She had only thought to check out what was happening, but she didn't expect to move so fast. But she'd dwell on that later. She soon found her way into a dark parking lot. Her eyes searched rapidly and soon found what she was looking for. The four men had the girl cornered at a closed area of the lot and were moving in.

"What's going on here?"

The four men turned to her and she could instantly see that their intentions weren't too good. Automatically, her fists arose and she set herself in stance. The first man struck out first, intending to hit her face. But Nagi swiftly ducked off to the side and shot her own fist upward, smashing the man's jaw and sending him flying. Nagi blinked in astonishment. How...?

But she didn't have time to consider it as the second and third man charged at her. Nagi hopped off to the side and lashed her foot into the gut of one. As he stumbled down, the third man managed to grab her from behind. Nagi struggled a bit before she got enough space to stretch her arm forward and then back in a painful elbow. The man yelped in pain and released her and Nagi shot her foot back, kicking him in the face. Nagi then turned her attention to the final guy, who was advancing on her slowly with a metal pipe. Nagi raised her fists again and the man swung the pipe. Nagi hopped back, but the man swung it again. Nagi ducked and gave his a sharp fist in the side. The man groaned and stumbled to the ground. Nagi lashed her foot forward to kick him, but the man caught her leg and pushed her to the ground. Nagi fell with a yelp and the man was soon standing over her. Nagi tried to rise, but the man was on top of her and holding her arms down. Nagi cried, but not because of him. Her arm was suddenly flaring with pain and it was causing her to struggle more. In response, her knee shot up, hitting the man in the groin and causing him to roll off. Nagi rolled away and grasped her arm, still in pain. Meanwhile, the thug managed to get over his own pain and he reclaimed the fallen pipe. Nagi noticed his approach, but was in too much pain from her arm. The thug raised the pipe and was about to swing when...

Shrriiiinnnggggggggg...

The pipe suddenly fell apart in two and the thug back away in surprise at the reason. A long wicked blade shimmered in the air. It was deep crimson in color. But what was shocking was that it was extending from Nagi's arm. As she arose from the floor, there were other changes in her as well. The right half of her body was covered in a somewhat altered form Most notable was her right eye, which was red with a black iris. Nagi leveled the blade up and a somewhat dark smile curved on her face.

"Come."

However, the thug decided to leave and he ran away. Nagi cocked her head in amusement before her eyes looked over to the girl they were chasing. They? It was then that she noticed that the thugs that had been knocked out had disappeared. She didn't see any of them leave or anything. They just vanished? She then noticed the blade she was holding. No...not holding. It was a part of her arm? Nagi's eyes wavering in shock before they settled back on the girl again, who was simply looking at her. The girl took a single step forward and then spoke.

"You are the one Gaia has chosen. The Spurious..."

Nagi blinked. Spurious...? But the second her eyelids re-opened, the girl was gone; vanishing into thin air. Also, the wicked blade attached to her arm was gone and the form had returned back to normal. Nagi backed away in surprise and near shock. At that moment, Uriko entered from behind and saw the young waman standing stiffly in the corner of the parking lot.

"Hey, Nagi. What happened?"

Nagi didn't answer and Uriko stood beside her to she the blank expression on her face.

"Nagi?"

Did I imagine all of this? What is going on? What's happening with me? What…am I?