-knocks on everybody's head- How many of you were aware that fanfiction . net added FORUMS.

-cricket chirp-

Yeah. I thought so. :P

You can access them up at the top right, near the C2 buttom. There's a button there. It says 'forums'

CLICK IT!

After you're done readin my story, of course. .

This is the first chapter of a 3/4 section ficlet.

I love Kira. She amuses me.

...this fic is odd. It really is.

Chapter One- It Has Begun

"Clef…" Kira whined. Exasperated, he looked up from his book.

"What do you want now, Kira?" He asked impatiently, glaring at the hologram. She smiled sweetly at him.

"Well… you told me anytime… I decided to come visit the Castle… to tell you in advance… so here I am… telling you in advance." Kira went off into spasms of giggles at the thunderstruck look on Clef's face.

"You're… coming… here? To… the Castle?" He repeated in a strangled voice.

"Yep!" She replied cheerfully, blinking innocently at him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Taking advantage of his silence, Kira plunged on, "I heard about the party, for this… 'Christmas', I believe, and I figured, perfect excuse! 'cause Sabriel had just told me some stuff… and I knew I had to come…"

"Sabriel?" The Mage interrupted, finally having regained his voice, "What did she say?"

"Many… different… things." Kira replied elusively. "Only some of which you need to know about." Clef's eye twitched, but he held his peace, knowing that this was the only way to prod her into continuing. "But… I figured that you should know about some things… as you are the Master Mage, so you should be able to do something…"

"Really now." He said dryly, and Kira shot him a Look. There was an awkward quiet, and Clef subsided back into his silence, and Kira's eyes flicked around the room as if looking for something.

"You do… you do have eavesdropping protective spells on this room… don't you?" She asked hesitantly, and it was his turn to give her the Clef equivalent of the Look.

"Of course." He told her scornfully, "I'm the second most powerful person in all of Cephiro, and I side as Cpehiro's Spymaster. Of course I have that kind of protective spells placed on my study!" Kira bristled.

"I was just making sure. I'm just making sure that what I'm about to tell you is not overheard! By anyone!" Clef eyed her for a few moments.

"So it's that serious." It wasn't a question, but Kira nodded anyway.

"It is most definitely that serious. Definitely." She affirmed. He slowly set the book down, and stared at her again for another long moment. He leaned forward.

"Tell me." He finally said, his voice terse.

--

"Party party party party party." Hikaru chanted happily. Fuu glanced over at Umi, who looked ready to strangle the young Fire Knight. Fuu caught her eye and gave Umi a reproving glance. The Water Knight sulkily subsided and leaned back in her chair, though not before sending Hikaru another heated glare. The Fire Knight hummed on happily, oblivious as usual. Presea laughed softly, and Umi turned in her chair.

"What's so funny?" Umi asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"You." was the prompt reply, "the three of you." Umi stuck her tongue out at the swordsmith.

"I'm glad you find us amusing." She sniffed and turned away from her, crossing her arms over her chest. Presea laughed again and shook her head.

"You are. You really are." She repeated, standing up. She gave the occupants of the room a quick perusal. Hikaru was sitting cross-legged in a chair, chanting under her breath and rhythmically tapping her fingers against the tabletop. Fuu sat quietly in her chair, her gentle eyes trained on Presea. Umi was now lounging in her chair, one leg spread out at an angle, her eyes pointedly ignoring Presea.

Something in the very very very back of Presea's mind told her that she should leave now. Not even realizing that this odd instinct was the reason that she was leaving, she shook her head once again, and turned and left the room, leaving the three Knights alone.

Not two steps out of the room, she ran smack-dab into someone who had been sprinting down the corridor. "Oof!" She staggered back, the wind knocked out of her. The other woman gasped.

"Oh my god! I'm sooo sorry!" The other woman breathed. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I mean I didn't see anyone, I swear, I'm so sorry, I really didn't see you!" She babbled. Presea blinked at the onslaught of words.

"It's fine… really, it is…" She said weakly, "I should have looked where I was going as well. I was just lost in thought. It's my fault." Presea said calmly, straightening up and smiling gently at the woman. "It's ok." The woman nodded uncertainly, then backed away, bowing repeatedly. Presea blinked again. I wonder what's wrong with that woman… she wasn't a servant, and I don't think that I've seen her before around here… and something seemed to have her overly agitated.

--

Kira slowly refocused her eyes, pulling herself back out of the spell. She glanced around, getting her bearings.

"What did he say?" Kira didn't even turn her head. She screwed up her face and stared at the wall, trying to figure out how to phrase his reaction.

"Well… he was… quiet."

"That's never a good sign." The other voice responded.

"Haha, no." Kira laughed. She could hear the soft rustling of robes as the other person stepped closer. "and he got that look in his eyes… heh. You know what I mean."

"Yes. I do." There was no emotion in the reply. Kira eyed the person out of the corner of her eye.

"I wonder…" She began, and then smirked, "It will be… very… interesting to see how this turns out."

"Interesting?" The voice suddenly turned harsh and angry and Kira felt nails dig into her flesh, and she was pulled around to come face to face with Sabriel's burning eyes. "Interesting… is not… a word… I would use… to describe this situation…" Sabriel seemed to be forcing the words out of her throat. "I… know… more of what is to come… that I have told you…" The Seer abruptly released Kira's arm. "And 'interesting' is not the word I would use." She spat, then turned around and stalked out of the chamber, leaving Kira shocked and gaping.

She had never, in all of the years that she had known Sabriel (and that had been a VERY long time), seen her that mad. Ever. Sabriel's reaction could only mean one thing- the situation was worse that they thought. And that Clef was in danger.

--

"Clef…" Umi called, poking her head into his study. He was sitting hunched over in his chair, his eyes staring blankly at the wall. When Umi called his name, he jerked upright.

"Umi?"

"Hey." She said, sidling all the way into the room. "What's wrong?" Clef looked startled.

"Nothings wrong…" He replied uneasily, and Umi treated him to a flat stare.

"I know you better than that, Clef." She said levelly, glancing around the room for another chair. She found one, and dragged it over to sit next to him.

"Nothing's wrong." Clef repeated stubbornly. There was an uncomfortable silence, in which Umi stared hard at him, and Clef avoided her eyes.

"Hikaru's very excited about the party." Umi said suddenly, and Clef was startled at the abrupt change of subject. If anything, it just made him even more wary, as Umi had odd ways of prying information out of him.

"Yes… you all are…" He agreed cautiously.

"Yes, because it's the first time that we've decided to stay in Cephiro for Christmas. You're right, we're all very excited about it." She hesitated, "Is something going to ruin the party?" Clef was riveted to the chair. He hadn't considered how this would affect the party… half of Cephiro would be at the Castle that night…

Clef's lack of response gave Umi the answer to her question. She was completely silent for a moment, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She closed her eyes, trying to regain control of herself.

"Umi…" He unconsciously reached out toward her. He knew how much the three Knights had been looking forward to this party, and really, what it represented. He had gathered from what Umi had told him about the Earth holiday, that Christmas was a time to get together with family and those that you love. Even though they had been visiting Cephiro for years now, this was the first time that they decided to spend Christmas here in Cephiro.

"No. It's all right." She said, her voice surprisingly firm. She opened her eyes. "Will you tell me, Clef? What's wrong?" He hesitated. He knew that he shouldn't tell her… but when she looked at him like that, her bright blue eyes staring pleadingly into his, he found himself wanting to tell her the truth. He remembered what Kira had said to him not a few minutes ago.

"Only some of which you need to know about. I figured you should know about some things…" He would tell her what she needed to know for the moment- and only that.

--

"Hi!" A voice squealed from behind her. Before Umi knew what was going on, a woman that she didn't know had grabbed her hand and was enthusiastically pumping it up and down.

"Um… hi?" Umi said uncertainly. The other woman beamed at her.

"Hi!" She said again, "You must be Umi! I'm Kira. I've heard a lot about you from the squirt." Umi blinked and looked at her oddly.

"The squirt?…" She repeated doubtfully. Kira smirked.

"My loving nickname for Clef." She replied cheerfully. Umi's eyes widened and she gawked at the other woman.

"You know Clef?" She asked incredulously. Kira smirked again, and Umi got the feeing that Kira smirked an awful lot.

"Hell yeah, I know him." She laughed, "Since he was actually 10, not just appearing to be." Umi goggled at the woman, blinking hard. Kira poked her.

"I'm surprised that he didn't tell you that I was coming. Actually, no I'm not." She rolled her eyes, "That's soo Clef." Umi desperately tried to gather her scattered thoughts. Who was this woman? How did she know Clef? Clef has never mentioned Kira to her before…

"Um… I don't know where he is." She said weakly, "I was actually just looking for him."

"Haha! Ok." Kira shrugged, "He's probably in his study, the baka bookworm." She grabbed Umi's hand and dragged her bodily off toward Clef's study. "Baka bookworm! Alliteration!

-

Kira poked her head into Clef's study, and the smile slowly fell off her face. Umi poked her head in as well, curious to what had caused Kira's ever-present (as far as Umi could tell) smile to disappear. It seemed like every one of Umi's friends in the Castle was crowded into Clef's study.

She spotted the other two Magic Knights right away- they were the ones hovering closest to Clef, who looked weary and almost… sad. Lantis and Ferio were standing right behind Hikaru and Fuu, Ferio looking worried and Lantis looking as stoic and bland as always. LaFarga, Caldina, and Presea stood behind them, while Ascot stood in the very back of the room. Kira stepped into the room, slowly releasing Umi's arm.

"So it has begun." She said in an odd voice, and everyone in the room turned around to stare at her.

"Who are you?" LaFarga asked harshly, his hand drifting toward his sword hilt. Kira didn't answer, just stared sadly at Clef.

"This is Kira." Clef said slowly.

"And who is she?" LaFarga repeated. Clef closed his eyes, and Umi's heart went out to him. She had never seen him look so… lost.

"She is my sister."

-cricket-

I... told you it was odd.

...don't hurt me?

...please?