Pretear – Before Himeno (Takako's time)

Chpt 03

--Cli5t1aN's Note--

I'm really glad that someone actually read my story –even if you bump into here or accidentally ran into this website- There's one thing though... I will be really really really happy if there are more reviews... Thanks.

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The evening sky was dyed yellowish-orange as the sun descended slowly into the horizon. The wind blew gently and brushed against her face. Leaves rustled and the dry leaves wrinkled on the pavement. It was near autumn. The trees had started to 'bald' and the wind had begun to blow. The air was getting colder and colder. Takako gazed into the sky, watching the sunset. It was beautiful; how amazing the clouds and the sun form such a beautiful scenery. She lay back on the grass and looked up to the sky, letting her thoughts run wild.

Suddenly, a large shadow covered her. Takako jumped and sat up. Seven guys stood behind her. She squinted her eyes and frowned. They looked familiar, she thought. Then her eyes widened. It was them! The ones that rescued her from the beach a week ago! "W-what?" she stammered. Hadn't they disappeared from her after the white-haired guy said something about the Pretear? Why did they look up for her again? Why did they actually want? What was the most important was, how did they know where she is?

Takako plucked up her courage and stood up before them. "What did you want from me? Hadn't you had enough when you 'electrified' me? What more do you want?" she demanded, not sounding as confident as she wanted to be.

She had completely misunderstood us. How was it possible to work with the Pretear if she did not trust the Leafe Knights? Hayate sighed. It would be a difficult job to talk her around. A hand rested on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly, it gave him some confidence. He looked over his shoulder and saw Sasame, again. He was smiling.

"Do you have the confidence to talk her around?" Hayate asked in a challenging tone.

Sasame's smile broadened. "Sure, watch me." Hayate watched as he approached the teenager, who was still watching them suspiciously.

Takako looked on as the white-haired man walked towards her. She took a step back, sub-consciously. "What do you want?" she repeated again.

To her surprise, he grabbed Takako by her shoulders and turned her forcefully so that she was facing the horizon. The sun had almost disappeared. "You love the sunset, right?" he asked calmly. Takako was taken aback by his question but nevertheless, nodded. "Can you imagine a day when the sun is gone and there is no warmth and light shining on the Earth? The world will soon be covered in darkness, cold and emptiness. No one will feel happy, there will be hopelessness. Can you feel the day when the world started crumbling down?" Takako shivered slightly. "Do you want to see the end of the world?" he asked in the same calm voice. She shook her head. "Do you want to see everything dead?" she shook her head again, unable to talk.

It was as if this man had put something on her that she had this strange tingling feeling. A strange effect. A feeling of magic.

"Do you want to help us?" he asked.

Takako looked up. What? What did he say? Help? Why would he need help? What did he really want? A-and the others… what did they want? Why did he mention the end of the world? How were they linked? Takako would only think of one possibility- they could control the world. Who were they?

She was off the track again. Sasame, what are you doing? Instead of leading her onto the right track and telling her that we needed her help, you went and told her something else. She was started to think off us as the destroyers. "Sasame, you are gonna settle this, do you understand?"

"Hey! Hayate, this is not fair. I did not expect her to think like that. This is not my fault!" Sasame retorted.

"Guys, we are not invisible, do you know? We can hear your shouts quite loudly, even though the girl could not hear it. Can you keep your volume down? We still need our sense of hearing." Yuki shouted back. Sasame and Hayate glared at him.

"Look, the rest of the Knights can help too." Roka suggested.

"But Sasame volunteered for the job." Hayate said unhappily.

"But he's in trouble." Roka said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "We knights should help each other." The rest of the knights agreed as Sasame nodded enthusiastically. Hayate rolled his eyes.

"Let's do something before she thinks of something else." Hayate said, giving up.

"Can you help us?" The white-haired guy repeated.

"We really need you." Said another man.

"What? I don't know what you all are talking about." Takako mumbled.

"Let's start with a basic introduction of ourselves." The white-haired guy said. Takako could not think of anything else other then agreeing. "So, I'm Sasame." Takako nodded.

"I'm Kei." A man with long hair said. "That's Roka." He pointed to a man with brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes. "Behind him is Goh." Takako looked at him. He was tall and had a friendly aura around him. Takako smiled and he smiled back. "That's Yuki." Kei said patiently. Yuki was a man with fair skin. He certainly did not look like the type that stood under the sun for a long time. "Mikio is beside Yuki." Takako nodded. "That's Hayate standing in the corner."

Takako looked at the direction and could not help but gasped. He was good looking, with long blue hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a milk-colored coat and long pants. All at once, Takako realized she was staring at him and blushed, her cheeks crimson. When she looked up, Hayate was blushing too. Takako turned away hurriedly as the rest of the Knights tried their best to snigger noiselessly, much to the annoyance of Hayate.

"So, who are you?" Takako asked, trying to change the subject.

"We? We are the Leafe Knights." Yuki said. Takako stared at him.

Leafe Knights?