Whee! This is chapter 5 of Flower in Ice! Thanks to Cherry Tiger for your continued support. I feel loved...
dbzgtfan2004: ...This isn't a romance...
Disclaimer: If I owned Tsubasa Chronicle, then I wouldn't be writing this, would I?
This world... Earth... Mistress said to find the ones who could free her... We see one who is green, who is calm and caring. One who embodies wind. She shall be the first. Yes... The first.
-0-0-0-
Hikaru didn't show up at school today, the blond girl thought, worried. Hikaru has never missed a day of school! Something must be wrong.
Fuu sat on her bed, green eyes directed to the stars. It was late at night, but Fuu was still awake. She had finished her diary entry half-heartedly; her friends usually came first in her life. Sitting under the covers on a summer night, Fuu noticed that the room was very stuffy. She got up to open the window, but once her hand touched the latch, a flurry of leaves and broken twigs battered the panes. Surprised by this, she moved back, retreating to the safety of her bed.
"Th-that's strange..."
Suddenly, she realized how late it was. She had a big history test tomorrow! And the kyudo club also meets tomorrow, she remembered. Quickly, she flicked off the lights and dove under the covers. She would go visit Hikaru in the morning, she decided.
-0-0-0-
A woman dressed in black opened the front door of her large house. It was a benefit of her well-paying job. She was, by profession, a fortune-teller, but she was known to some as the Space-Time Witch.
Yuuko stretched in the early morning sun, eager to start the day. Watanuki would be coming over soon, and she was looking forward to eating his fine cooking. Then, she noticed the body lying on her front porch.
"Yaaaugh!"
After the inital shock, she looked closer. The young man lying there looked familiar; he must have been one of her customers. She was trying to remember which one when the body moved.
"Yaaaugh!"
-0-0-0-
"And... Time's up! Please hand in your tests."
Umi sighed. I probably failed.Math is not my friend...
She looked over at Hikaru's desk. It was painfully empty. It wasn't like her to be this way! Hikaru was seriously starting to worry her.
Suddenly, the door opened. A bedraggled Hikaru walked in and plopped down in her seat, oblivious to the stares her classmates gave her. Almost immediately, a note written on blue paper landed on her desk. Umi.
She unfolded the crumpled sheet.
What's wrong?
She quickly scribbled You know and passed it back.
The next time it came, she threw it in the trash.
-0-0-0-
Yuuko instinctively recoiled from the bloody body at her door. Then, the memory jumped into her head. This young man was Syaoran, who had visited with Sakura, Fai, and Kurogane. Just then, she spotted Watanuki coming up the street with a bottle in a nice bag.
"Watanuki-kun!" Yuuko smiled and waved. "Help me move this body inside!"
"B-body! What did you do now?"
Watanuki adjusted his glasses. In a flash, he recognized Syaoran and rushed over to see what was happening.
"Him? Why is he back here? And he's wounded." Carefully, Watanuki picked him up and brought him inside.
-0-0-0-
Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu sat outside on the grass together as usual during lunch.
"Hikaru, what's wrong? You haven't been yourself, lately." Fuu asked her.
Hikaru hesitated, and then she spilled out the whole story to her friends.
"...And look! My hair changed to dark brown today. It's red every other day. Tomorrow it'll probably be black." She laughed bitterly. "I've always known I don't belong..."
"That's not true, Hikaru."
Fuu put a comforting hand on Hikaru's shoulder. She was about to speak again when the wind picked up. Leaves swirled around the trio. The wind intensified as Umi tried to keep her hair from flying around. The air solidified around Fuu, separating her from the others.
Fuu, inside the mini-cyclone, tried to break out, but she couldn't get through the barrier. She panicked, beating her fists on the wind that trapped her. When she touched it, the wind flashed green once and began to contract. She drew to the center, trying to keep from being squished. Her glasses rattled on her nose, threatening to fly off.
Hikaru and Umi, left on the outside, were trying to get closer to Fuu. The wind forced them back, but Hikaru made slow progress toward the cyclone. Bent over, she inched forward, only to be blown away.
"Fuu!"
When the cyclone got small enough to touch her, it stopped moving in. The wind, now clouded with dust, formed a face, which smiled at Fuu.
You are the Chosen... The first, of wind...
The wind dispersed in a flash. Everything was eerily calm. Fuu knelt on the ground, with a glowing feather in her hand.
Protect...
Eheheh... If this seems boring, just bear with me. The bulk of the story is yet to come! And, again, please review!
