Old Names and New Faces

by OrigamiArrows

After magic is discovered in Alice's world of science and war, things go terribly wrong when someone uses it. She is separated from her younger brother and needs to find him quickly before their time runs out. But when she goes to the one woman that can help her, Alice finds she'll have to deal with the last thing she wanted; traveling companions.

2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is the updated version of Ch.2 as of 4/26/19.

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The crowd churned around us as we made our way towards downtown. Every elbow that brushed against mine or side step a person made around me made my muscles tense. I half expected someone to look at me and do a double take, to stare in alarm or amazement. But no one did. None of them knew me.

But I activated the System to start scanning for Adrian's face in the crowd. On the very slime chance he was here, I wanted to know. I added my brother's face to the scan as well. The creature, Mokona, said he wouldn't be here, but it wouldn't hurt to be sure.

The buildings had an array of bright paper advertisements, flashing signs and stretched far above us. It vaguely reminded me of my world, but without the hovercraft and hologram advertisements.

"This sure is a busy place!" Fai said as he looked around.

"People all over the place!" Mokona said.

Fai turned to Syaoran. "Syaoran-kun, have you ever seen this kind of thing?"

Syaoran was staring up and around in awe. "No. Never."

Fai looked over his shoulder at Kurogane. "Kuro-tan, how about you?"

"No. And why do you have to call me by weirder and weirder names?" Kurogane snapped.

Fai laughed and slowed his walk to fall back next to me.

"What about you Alice-san?" he asked.

"Yes," I said warily, "I lived in a similar city."

"Wow," he said. "So this is pretty normal for you?"

I glanced around the crowd. "For the most part." The huge city and flood of people was normal for Elpedite. What was different was I usually wasn't part of it.

Two school girls passed by, staring and giggling at Mokona. Kurogane smirked. "It's you they're laughing at."

"Mokona has many girlfriends!" Mokona blushed.

Kurogane's smirk vanished. "They aren't girlfriends."

"Come in, come in!" a vendor cried, interrupting Mokona and Kurogane. Fai and Syaoran wandered over to the stall, which looked like it was selling fruit. Kurogane and I followed them over, but turned my back to the stand once I'd gotten there. Leaving my back to the crowd wasn't something I wanted to do. I had no idea what the crime rate in the city was like, or what other surprises it might have.

"Come in gentlemen. You wanna buy an apple from me?" the vendor asked, seeing he had Syaoran and Fai's attention. He held out a red fruit to Syaoran, who stared at it in confusion.

"That . . . is an apple?" he asked.

The vendor gave him a puzzled look. "If it isn't, I have no idea what is."

Fai looked at the fruit and asked Syaoran. "So it didn't look like that on your world?"

Syaoran shook his head. "The shape is the same, but in my world the color is a pale yellow."

Kurogane stepped over to look at the fruit. "Isn't that called a pear?"

Syaoran shook his head again. "No. A pear is redder and has leaves coming out of the top."

"No," Fai said, "that's a raki seed isn't it?"

I listened to the exchanged from the back, vaguely paying attention. I kept my gaze on the crowd and realizing my shoulders were hunched, relaxed them.

Eventually the vendor lost his patience and frowned. "Do you want it or not?"

The three fell into silence and stared the the man.

Mokona cried. "Want it!"

Moments later Syaoran passed out the five apples he'd bought and we came to a stop on a small bridge. I leaned against the stone wall that served as the bridge's guardrail as I ate my apple. Despite the others confusion, it seemed normal to me.

"These apples are pretty good, huh?" Fai asked.

"Yes," Syaoran said as he took a bite.

Fai turned and leaned against the short wall. "But it really is true the four of us come from completely different cultures." He blinked. "Come to think of it, I never asked . . . how did you get to the shop of the Dimension Witch, Syaoran-kun?"

"There's a high priest in my land. He sent me." Priest was another word I didn't recognize. It sounded like a title though.

"That's impressive," Fai said. "It's hard enough to send one person across dimensions, but he sent two." Fai grinned at Kurogane. "How about you, Kuro-rin?"

Kurogane glared at the cement. "The princess of my country sent me away by force." I glanced at him for a second before looking away. If he'd been exiled, there must have been a reason for it. Had he committed a crime? If so, what had he done?

Fai poked his arm. "You did something bad and she did it to scold you!"

Mokona started poking Kurogane as well, like it was a game.

"Will you all shut up!" he snapped. "What about you. Who sent you?" He hadn't answered the question. I decided to keep a closer eye on him.

Fai pointed to himself. "Me? No one. I sent myself."

Kurogane started. "Then you didn't have to ask the woman for anything. You could have done this yourself!"

"Not even close. Were I to muster all of my magical abilities, just getting myself from one dimension to the next would take everything I can do." His smile faded as his gaze became distant. "The one who sent Syaoran-kun and the one who sent you, Kuro-chin," Kurogane's glare intensified, "are people with a lot of magic power. I'll bet it took all they had. I imagine anyone has the power to send someone to another world only once. It would take going to a lot of worlds to be able to collect all of Sakura-chan's feathers. And I think the only one who can send someone to many worlds is the Dimension Witch."

And another word I didn't understand. Given the context, that was probably the woman who'd given us Mokona, but I wasn't positive. I was hoping I could figure these things out given time and context, but I was starting to loose track of what I didn't know. "The lady from the courtyard, Yuuko," I asked. "She's the Dimension Witch you're talking about, right?"

"Yes, that right," Fai nodded.

"Could you tell me what a wizard and priest are?" I asked.

Fai tilted his head. "You don't know? Well a wizard and priest are both magic users, with a few fine details different between them. How did you find Yuuko, if you didn't know about that?"

How had I known? I thought back through the events leading up to landing in Yuuko's world. I got to the point where I got up from being thrown, and found myself standing on a strange street, and then . . . I was running to Yuuko's shop. For a just a moment, I realized there was a gap there, that the line of events was broken. Then like the memory of a dream, it slipped away.

I frowned. What was I thinking about? Hadn't Fai asked me a question? "What did you ask?"

His smile faltered. "I asked . . . " He said something, but the crowd around us must have been too loud for me to catch it.

"What are we talking about?" I fought to keep a growing head ache from reaching my expression.

Fai's smile disappeared for a moment and surprised replaced it. But his smile was back just as quickly. "We were talking about your world. You said magic didn't exist there."

"Oh." I nodded, my frown and headache disappearing. "Right."

"Hey what's—" Kurogane glared at me, but Fai elbowed him in the side.

"Best not to ask her again Kuro-puu!" Fai said.

Kurogane glared, but didn't say anything else as Fai returned his attention to me. "Alice-san, if you don't mind me asking I have a question?"

Syaoran, Kurogane and Mokona stared at me in confusion. A world without magic must be a strange concept for them. I still didn't understand what magic was. "What is it?" I asked.

Fai nodded. "I was going to ask about your eyes. When you first saw us, there was blue light flickering across them, and a few times now as we've been walking in the crowd. I assumed it was magic, but now that you've said your world doesn't have any . . . "

"So I wasn't the only one who saw it," Kurogane said.

"Huh?" Syaoran asked, looking between me and the other two.

So they'd seen The System, or the part of it in my eyes, anyway. My instinctive reaction was to deny it, but two of them had seen it, and it wasn't like I'd be able to hide the displays in my irises in the future. And I didn't want to tell them I wouldn't answer. It would lead to anger or distrust, which would lead to conflict in the group I'd be stuck with for an indeterminate amount of time. The best thing to do was to tell them enough to answer the question, but skip over some of the details.

"The light you saw in my eyes was a part of a device from my world. It's a collection of machines that have been surgically implanted in my body to advance different things. In my eyes you see my display lenses. They can display information on whatever I'm focusing on and sharpen my vision." It could also display the predicted trajectory of oncoming projectiles.

I looked at Syaoran and ran a basic scan of his face, The System highlighted the planes and angles of it. His eyes widened, as from his point of view, blue lights flashed in my vision. "It's not just the lenses though. I also have advanced hearing, healing, reaction time, and strength. All of it has been surgically implanted, and I could run down the specifics, but most of it would probably go over your heads. To summarize it I have a system of wires and other, very small, pieces of machinery in my body. All of this runs off of sunlight absorbed through my skin— solar power. As a whole it's called the Advanced Limb Interface Control Engine, but I call it the 'System' for short. It can perform other, more specific tasks, but those are the basics."

I crossed my arms when I was finished and waited quietly to see how they would react. They all seemed to need a minute to absorb the information.

Syaoran was the first to react. "That's amazing! Is that common where you come from?"

"No."

"Super powers!" Mokona giggled.

Kurogane narrowed his eyes. "You have metal in your skin? How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen," I said.

"Why do you have all that?"

"I won't answer that," knowing I needed to be blunt about it. "There are other questions I won't answer. But I won't lie to you."

Kurogane didn't look satisfied, but I had my own questions, and I wanted them answered. "Fai, I have a few questions on magic. If you got yourself to Yuuko's shop, you must be familiar with it. Would you be able to answer them for me?"

Fai leaned back against the stone wall. "Okay, but magic is rather complex. I might not be able to answer some of your questions."

I nodded. "That's fair. What is magic?"

Fai laughed, not unkindly. "Sorry, Alice-san, but magic is hard to simplify. If you watch closely, you'll probably start understanding soon, but there are many different kinds of magic, used for many different things. You might just have to wait and see."

"All right . . . " I sighed, "Next question then: would I be able to use magic?" I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to, but it would probably be useful if I could.

Fai put a hand over his mouth thoughtfully. "Hmm . . . probably not. From what you said about your world not having magic I'd say you wouldn't react well with it."

"Okay." I nodded. "Last question: how can I defend against magic?" This was the most important question.

Kurogane snorted. "Well, if you can't use magic then you should get the hell out of the way if it's aimed at you."

Fai shrugged. "Can't argue with that."

I nodded. "All right."

I saw a flicker of movement over Fai's shoulder and leaned over the wall to get a better view.

A group of uniformed people stood on a roof across the street. They all wore goggles pulled down over their eyes and grey scarves that waved in the wind. Fai, Kurogane and Syaoran turned to see what I'd been looking at. Some of the people near us stopped walking and pointed up at the men on the roof top.

As more people spotted the group, the crowd began muttering restlessly and the murmurs rose into a distressed hum. I grimaced and shifted my weight to the front of my feet. Most of the crowd around us began to run away from the building the group was standing on, but there were several people moving against the flow. They all wore matching denim jumpsuits, caps and aggravated expressions.

Seeing the opposing 'teams,' as I guessed they were, I realized that this was probably some kind of gang war.

The men on the ground drew together, facing the building, and one of them yelled up to the gang on the roof. "This neighborhood is our's, Shougo! Get out of here before we kick your asses!"

One of the men on the roof was taller than the others, had a long ponytail and an arrogant stance. He silently turned his hand into a thumbs down gesture and smirked at the group on the street.

I put my hand on the hilt of my sword and readied myself to move. In the corner of my vision, Kurogane tensed. Syaoran just seemed confused, and Fai . . .

"They're cool!" he said, putting a hand up to shield his eyes.

I heard Syaoran hiss in a breath and looked over to see he had a hand on his chest, and was staring at it in concern. But I was distracted as all the men, with the exception of ponytail man, leapt off the roof and down to the street. As soon as their feet hit the pavement, both sides set their feet and extended their arms.

I was expecting guns or maybe explosives or guns. I wasn't expecting the multitude of creatures that appeared on each man's arm. They ranged from amphibious to mammalian and wore a wide array of colors. One resembled a lizard with bright blue scales and orange feathers trailing down it's back and into a tail that curled around it's welder's arm. Another was a tiny, furry ball with a huge eye for it's face and spindly, bat-like wings. As soon as the creatures appeared they began firing beams of energy at the opposing gang. Luckily, our group was far enough away from the fight that we didn't have to be too concerned.

I relaxed, and so had the crowd apparently. They had stopped running and were all yelling at the gang members.

"So that's a kudan?" Kurogane asked as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Fai laughed. "I think I've figured out why no one was surprised by Mokona."

I stared at the judah. They looked like animals I'd never seen before, which was strange, but I could understand it. If this was an entirely different world, then the animals here would have evolved differently. But these thing had appeared from nowhere, and some of them hovered in the air without the assistance of wings, and I couldn't figure out how.

As we watched, the comabtants shots started going wide, shooting over the enemy and hitting the buildings behind. Glass and metal rained down onto the street sending the watching crowds running.

One of the kudan broke away from the chaos below and leapt towards the man on the roof. The man smirked and raised a hand to his chest. Water crashed into being, radiating from the man's heart and swirling up and around him. The water spiraled against gravity and flowed up into the air. The wind from it pulled at the man's hair and scarf but his expression remained confident. The waves coalesced to form an enormous kudan above him. It looked like a stingray and was made entirely of water with a long tail sweeping out behind it.

The kudan whipped its tail at the assailant, causing a tsunami to roar into being around the man and overwhelm the approaching kudan. But the tsunami didn't stop there. It poured off the rooftop and onto the street full of retreating people. We we're far enough away that the water didn't reach us on the bridge. The crowd across the street that had been trying to flee, however, were not as lucky. They were knocked off of their feet by the rushing water, which swept past them and slammed into the building behind them. The force of the impact knocked loose a sign that had been bolted to the building.

Two boys who had been knocked off their feet lay directly below it as it rattled and broke away from its holding. Syaoran shot past me, sprinting toward them.

"Watch out!" he yelled. One of the boys tried to help the other to his feet, but there wasn't any time. The sign was in free fall now and would crush them in moments.

Syaoran got to the boys and threw himself over them, trying to shield them from the impact. I was sure Syaoran was dead, along with the boys, but a second before the sign would have made impact, fire exploded into being above and around Syaoran. It burned the sign into ash almost instantly, but didn't touch Syaoran or the boys.

"What?" I breathed. Where had the fire come from? How had it been hot enough to burn the sign, but not the boys?

The fire turned the remaining water in the street into steam, making the air foggy around Syaoran and the children. The System sharpened my vision, letting me see through the clearing mist. Syaoran got to his feet, and I thought for a moment that he was on fire. There was a creature that I assumed must be a kudan standing next to him. It looked like a flaming wolf with a single gold horn curving from its forehead and stood almost as tall as Syaoran, and despite it being made of fire, it didn't burn him.

"You seem to have a special kudan, don't you?" said the man on the roof. His stingray kudan drifted closer to him. "A kudan that can wield fire." The man gestured up to the giant stingray. "Mine works water. This will be interesting!"

The man's kudan opened its mouth and a jet of water shot directly at Syaoran and the boys. Syaoran stood firm and opened his arms wide, shielding them. Before the water could touch them, fire once again roared into life around them. The jet of water met the wall of flame and hissed as it was boiled off onto steam.

The man on the roof crossed his arms. "I'm Shougo Asagi. You?" His tone was casual, like he hadn't almost killed Syaoran and the boys, twice.

Syaoran glared up at him. "Syaoran."

Shougo nodded. "I like your style."

One of the men from Shougo's group waved an arm. "Shougo, the cops!"

I turned to see men and women in blue uniforms pushing their way through the crowd, towards the gang members.

The man on the roof sighed. "And it was just getting good." He threw a fist into the air. "Come on, ya bastards! Let's get outta here!"

The men in the street whooped and hollered as they leapt onto roof tops and ran into alleys, disappearing into the city as the police sprinted after them.

"Next time we meet, we'll have some real fun!" Shougo yelled over his shoulder before running after his men.

Seeing that the danger had passed, Kurogane, Fai and I walked over to join Syaoran and the two boys he'd saved. I warily eyed the flaming wolf that still stood by Syaoran, but it quickly curled into a small ball of fire and vanished into his chest. Syaoran looked baffled and cautiously put a hand on the spot his flaming companion had vanished into. "It . . . vanished."

"That was amazing!" Fai said. "Syaoran-kun, did that come from you?"

Kurogane crossed his arms. "That's a kudan, huh?"

Syaoran still had a hand on his chest but was regaining his composure. "I'm not sure, but my heart got very hot."

I kicked at the ash at our feet. That sign had been more then wood, maybe metal and plastics, and now it was ash. How hot had that fire been? Magic didn't make any sense.

One of the boys Syaoran had rescued got to his feet. I looked them over. The boy that had stood up had black hair, a plain but friendly face, and wore a black uniform. His friend looked similar to him—they could have been siblings—but he wore a robe and an odd hat. They were probably twelve years old, maybe thirteen. They looked a but pale, and the first boy had a small bump an his head, but otherwise seemed fine.

I blinked at the second boy, who met my gaze and glanced away nervously. The System amplified my sense of hearing, but I couldn't hear this kids heartbeat, of breathing.

"Are you all right?" Syaoran asked the boy in the uniform.

The boy nodded and wiped a tear from his face, offering a shaky smile.

Syaoran looked at the other boy. "And you, you're okay, too?"

The boy in the robe bowed and vanished. Syaoran and Kurogane started at the boy's sudden disappearance. "He disappeared!" Syaoran blurted, staring at the remaining boy.

I ran a hand through my hair. This magic thing was getting old.

"Oh!" Fai said and smacked his fist into his hand. "That kid was a kudan."

Kurogane grimaced. "It looks like they can be anything."

Fai looked around. "Now where can our 'almost kudan' have gotten off to?"

Fai was right: Mokona was absent from our group. I set the System to scan for Mokona's characteristics as I craned my neck to look around. Losing Mokona, the one creature that could find feathers, would be a major setback.

"Mokona!" Syaoran cried, his head whipping around.

Kurogane glanced around. "Ahhh!" he growled and scratched the back of his head. "It probably got stepped on."

"Look~" Fai pointed of towards a group of girls. "The truth is quite different."

"Mokona is popular with the ladies!" Mokona cried as the group of girls cooed and fawned over him.

Fai and Syaoran politely rescued Mokona from his admirers, much to the girls' dismay. They pouted and waved goodbye to Mokona as he returned to his perch on Syaoran's head.

"Mokona, where were you?" Fai asked.

"On top of Kurogane. But then Mokona fell off," he explained, hopping up and down. "But just earlier Mokona went just like this!" Mokona's eyes went wide, their signal for a nearby feather.

"You mean that Sakura's feather is somewhere nearby?" Syaoran asked.

"It was, but Mokona doesn't feel it anymore."

"Who had it?" I asked. I wanted to keep moving, and finding the feather was already taking longer than I'd hoped.

Mokona shook their head. "Don't know."

"I see," Syaoran said, his shoulders sagging.

Fai crossed his arms. "Even if we limit it to the people who were here, it'll still be a long search. There were lots of people."

"Still, we now know that someone close by has it. That's progress," Syaoran said, then looked to Mokona. "If you sense anything more, let us know."

Mokona pushed up onto his toes and thumped a paw to his chest. "Yes! Mokona will go all out!"

Fai grinned and poked Kurogane. "But if Kuro-chi never dropped Mokona, this wouldn't have happened."

Kurogane pushed his arm away. "What makes this my fault? And will you stop calling me those names?"

"We should look for the gang members or police,"I said. The others turned to look at me, Syaoran especially attentive. "We know they were here for a short time, then vanished. It could have been someone in the crowd, but we don't have any way to differentiate them from the rest of the populace. Might as well follow the lead we can."

Syaoran nodded. "Good plan. But how will we find them?"

"Keep looking around, and keep an eye out for gang tags or uniforms."

The kid Syaoran had saved was still hanging around, eyeing his rescuer nervously from the edge of our group. He glanced at me and we locked eyes for a moment. "What do you want, kid?" I asked.

The boy started and his face reddened slightly. "I just wanted to thank him," the boy bowed to Syaoran, "properly. My name is Masayoshi Saito."

Syaoran waved his arms in protest. "No, we really didn't do anything..."

Masayoshi stuttered. "But . . ."

"Mokona wants lunch!" Mokona cried, "Something really good!"

"Okay!" Masayoshi beamed.

No one had argued with Mokona, so I kept quiet and followed everyone and Masayoshi to the restaurant, watching for signs of gang activity on our way there. He took us to what I assumed was a mall. The walkway was lined with vibrant shops with colorful clothes and spinning toys on display. Pillars lined the center of the walkway and rose up to support the curved ceiling two stories above.

The shop Masayoshi led us to had warmer, more muted colors than most of the others. Instead of panes of glass in the front, it had wooden and paper screens. Inside smoke clouded the air, making the upper half of the restaurant hazy. We all sat at a dark wooden table that had a grill running down the center. There was . . . something sizzling on it.

"What is . . ." Syaoran started. It seemed no one knew what it was.

"Um," Masayoshi said as he fidgeted. "Y'see okonomiyaki is my favorite dish, so..."

Fai pointed to the grilling food. "Okonomiyaki? Is that what this is called?"

Kurogane was staring intensely at his food, leaning over it to get a more direct view. I glanced away from our table every so often and to the crowd passing by the restaurant. Our table was several feet away from the paper screens that served at the restaurant's windows. Since it was dimmer in here than out in the mall, we could see out without difficulty, but anyone on the other side would have a harder time seeing in.

"Okonomiyaki is a staple of the diet in the Hanshin Republic," Masayoshi said. "If you don't know, then that must mean you come from outside the country?"

"Outside? You could say that," Fai said. The boy looked curious, but Fai smoothly changed the topic. "Do those people always run roughshod around this district?"

Masayoshi frowned and looked down at his hands. "That was a fight for dominance. They form into teams and fight to see whose kudan is the strongest."

Fai nodded. "And the strongest claims the rights to the territory?"

Syaoran frowned and his brow furrowed as he stared down at his food. "But think of the lives they put in danger when they fight in such a public place."

Fai nodded. "That's true, huh?"

Masayoshi perked up. "There . . . there are bad teams, but there are good teams too! They patrol their territory making sure no bad kids cause trouble. And if bad people are around, they take care of the problem."

"Like a local militia." Syaoran said.

It seemed like Masayoshi was a bit star struck. From what I'd seen of the fight, both teams had wrecked havoc on the property and people around them. Comparatively, it didn't matter if they beat up the occasional purse snatcher.

"What about those two teams before?" Fai asked.

Masayoshi lit up. "The ones in caps were the bad ones! But the ones in goggles aren't like them at all! When they battle other teams, some of the surrounding buildings get damaged, so the adults are afraid of them, but they wouldn't do anything else that's bad! They're really cool!" Masayoshi stood up in excitement. "Especially their leader, Shougo-san! They say his kudan is a special level. It's so big and strong, everyone wishes they had a kudan just like it."

Masayoshi paused, and his face reddened as he dropped back into his seat. I guessed he hadn't noticed how loud he'd been talking. "I... I'm sorry," he mumbled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Masayoshi, you realize that man would have killed you if Syaoran hadn't jumped in?"

"B-but Shougo didn't mean to. He's really nice and cool most of the time," Masayoshi said.

I sighed and returned to watching the crowd. I didn't feel like arguing about this, and frankly I didn't care enough. I wasn't going to argue with a delusional twelve year old about his idol. I rested my chin in my hand and let the conversation continue without me.

"So you wish you had a friend like him, huh?" Fai asked.

Masayoshi nodded enthusiastically. "I sure do!" He turned to Syaoran. "But I'd also like a friend like Syaoran-kun."

"Eh?" Syaoran asked.

Masayoshi smiled. "Anybody with a special level kudan is just amazing!"

"So what is that? Special level?" Syaoran asked.

"It's an especially high level for kudan. The fourth level kudan is the lowest. And moving up there's the third level, second level, first level, and at the very top is the special level," Masayoshi explained. "Years ago, all the countries got together and banned the use of levels on kudan, but normal people still use the system."

"Then that leader's kudan must be very strong," Fai said.

"Yeah." Masayoshi nodded. "So is Syaoran-kun's. To get a strong kudan, especially a special-level kudan, you need to be a strong person yourself, or they won't stay. It's a person's heart that controls a kudan. So if a person can command a strong kudan, that's proof that the person is strong. Who wouldn't want a friend like that?" Masayoshi hesitated as his smile fell and he hung his head. "My kudan is fourth level, the very bottom."

If the basis of your kudan's strength was your determination or will power, then it didn't surprise me. Masayoshi seemed like a decent kid, but he was naive and insecure.

"Masayoshi-kun," Syaoran said, unsure how to console the boy.

Kurogane, who had been staring at his Okonomiyaki for the entire conversation, pick up a spatula and began scraping at the grilling food.

Fai looked at Syaoran. "But when did Syaoran-kun's kudan join up with him?"

Syaoran blinked. "Now that you mention it, I had an odd dream last night."

"Stop right there!" a voice boomed, startling me and everyone else at the table.

The shout caused Kurogane, who was sitting to my right, to jerk his arm up in surprise and nearly decapitate me with his spatula. I ducked and threw him a sideways glare, but Kurogane didn't see it. He was frozen with his arm high above his head, staring at the man who had shouted.

I transferred my glared to the man who had yelled. He had black hair and a stern face and wore an apron and gloves. Another man stood behind him with a much kinder expression than his friend, glasses, and blond hair. He wore an apron and a bandana on his head.

"Your Majesty!" Syaoran cried. I frowned and glanced between Syaoran and the man, who was very obviously a waiter, in confusion. "Y-your majesty, what brings you here?"

The man's expression went from annoyed, to annoyed and confused. "You got the wrong guy. 'Your Majesty' is nowhere in my name."

"What?" Syaoran asked.

The waiter ignored Syaoran and gave Kurogane a scolding look. "And mister, we do the flipping here. If you'd just leave it and wait, we'll be right here."

Kurogane unfroze and actually looked embarrassed. "Yes sir!"

It surprised me. This was the first time I'd seen him display anything approaching respect. Maybe his tough guy attitude was act to an extent? His somewhat childish behavior and this unexpected respect seemed to imply it. Or maybe he was just so unfamiliar with someone acting superior to him, he was startled into compliance.

The waiters walked away to attend to another table and our conversation resumed. "Majesty," Fai said as he turned to glance behind him at the waiters. "Was he a king in your world?"

"Yes," Syaoran said, his gaze locked on the waiters, "and the man with him was the high priest."

"Kurogane got yelled at," Mokona sang. Kurogane swatted them away.

Fai turned back to face the table. "It's just like the Dimension Witch said. 'People you've met on your world . . . They've developed under completely different conditions on other worlds."

Kurogane ignored Mokona's harassment. "You're saying that they're the same as the king and high priest of the kid's world?"

Fai tilted his head. "They're the same, but not the same. The two from Syaoran's world lived a completely different life than these two. But when it comes down to it, at the very basic level, they're the same."

I watched the waiter, frowning. What would happen if I met someone who looked like my brother? I would have to make sure he was my Nathaniel before running off with him. What about Adrian? Should I kill him to be sure and risk him not being the Adrian of my world? Actually, if I spotted the real Adrian, he would have likely already spotted me and considering how we had left off, he would probably try to kill me on sight.

What if I met another me?

I pulled myself out of my thoughts as Kurogane asked, "Basic level?"

Fai held up his hands and made a heart shape. "The very root of their lives. Their nature . . . their hearts."

"Soul," Kurogane said. "That's what you're saying right?"

Fai nodded and shortly after that, our waiters returned to serve the okonomiyaki, silencing the conversation as everyone began eating. I finished my serving in a few minutes, and glanced over to see Mokona grabbing Kurogane's Okonomiyaki.

"You little—" Kurogane growled as he grabbed the food with his chopsticks, snatching it out of a giggling Mokona's arms.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"That was great!" Mokona cried as we exited the restaurant and stepped back into the mall's walkway.

"It really was," Fai said, patting Mokona on the head.

"Good job guiding us here," Syaoran said to Masayoshi. "It really did taste good."

Across the walkway, a man leaned against one of the pillars. He was doing his best to look casual, with his arms crossed, and half facing away from us, but every few seconds he'd glance our way, and he kept shifting his weight. He was wearing a fur-lined vest, black spectacles, and a mohawk branching from his head. Not exactly subtle.

As we walked away, he left the pillar to trial behind us.

I slowed my pace, letting the others get ahead of me before stopping when I was sure they didn't notice me and the man's view was blocked by a pillar. I merged with a group of teenagers on the other side and fell back behind the man. He didn't seem to notice my absence, and kept his eyes locked on the others. So he wasn't following me.

Leaving the teens behind, I approached the man from behind. Up ahead, a hallway broke off from the main walkway, to type that lead to a restroom or a maintenance door. The others were looking around, maybe they had noticed my absence? When the man was next to the hallway, I grabbed him by the elbow and shoved him into it.

The man spun on me, arms failing as I let go and let him stumble to a stop. "What the hell?"

"Why are you following them?" I asked.

The man started, paused, and waved a hand. A red bird flew from his fingertips and into the air. I watched it fly out of the hallway and out of sight before looking back at him. "Are you going to answer me?" The bird may have been carrying a message, but there wasn't much I could do about it now, besides get information from this guy.

"That— None of your business." He scoffed before turning away from me.

As he took his first step my hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, twisting it and forcing him to turn and drop to a knee.

"Ahh! Fuck! Stop!"

"Why are you watching them?" I asked with more steel in my voice, twisting his wrist a little farther.

He arched his back, trying to relive the pressure. "We're trying to find Syaoran, all right?"

"Then I'll introduce you." I said as I let go of his wrist and grabbed his elbow, yanking him to his feet and out of the side passage.

"What?" He yelped and tried to pull away from my grip to no avail. He balled a fist.

"Don't want to cause a scene do you?" I asked as I gestured to the people milling around the mall with my free hand.

He stiffened and allowed me to steer him back to the others, who were definitely looking for me now. Fai was on his toes looking back the way we'd come while Kurogane scanned the area, looking only half interested.

"Did you see where she went?" Syaoran asked Fai.

"I'm here." I said as I walked up behind Syaoran.

He turned. "Oh! Where did you go?"

"And who's your new friend?" Fai asked, waving at our stalker.

"He was following us and I decided to find out why. He was looking for Syaoran." I said, purposely leaving the statement open to the whole group as to not identify which one of them was Syaoran.

"Why's that?" Syaoran asked, eyeing the man.

"Not sure. Thought it might me a good conversation to have over here." I said and paused as the man remained silent. "So why were you looking for him?" I tightened my grip on his arm slightly.

The man grit his teeth. "My boss wants to talk to him."

"And who'd that be?" Kurogane asked crossing his arms.

The man's jaw tightened as he glared at Kurogane, but didn't say anything.

"Hey!" A yell interrupted us. I turned to see a rotund man in a leather vest, black spectacles and a mohawk backed by a horde similarly dressed people.

"Boss!" The man I had a grip on shouted. He tried to yank his arm away and for a second I thought about stopping him, but if we had any hope of diffusing the situation, I couldn't hold this guy here. I let go and he ran to join his gang, disappearing among his peers.

"I wanna know who this Syaoran is!" The leader yelled, his eyes locking on Fai. "I hear Shougo says he likes your style."

"And what if I am?" Fai asked. Mokona was perched on his shoulder, laughing.

Syaoran stepped forward. "I'm Syaoran."

The man started and glared back our stalker, who'd appeared at his side. "A kid? Are you serious?"

"He's the guy! I'm sure of it!"

The large man spun back to face Syaoran again. "And your plan is to join Shougo's team?"

"Team?" Syaoran asked, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

The man pointed at Syaoran accusingly. "Shougo already has too many top-level people on his team! Any more will tip the balance! Even Shogo admitted that you have a really strong kudan. If you intend to join Shogo's team, I'm gonna have to stop you."

"I'm not joining," Syaoran said.

The man smirked. "Then you'll join my team!"

"I'm not joining you either."

Fai laughed. "He doesn't mince words, does he?"

"I have my own affairs, so . . ." Syaoran trailed off as the man clenched his fists and stomped his foot. It reminded me of a toddler.

"Then you're planning to start a team of your own."

Syaoran put his hands up. "No, you're not getting—"

"Well, I'm gonna take you out right now!" The large man howled and flung out his arms. A gigantic shelled creature suddenly swirled into being above the man.

"That's huge!" Fai and Mokona cried in unison, both of them grinning.

Syaoran took a step back. "I'm doing no such thing." The words were barely out of his mouth before the kudan descended and whipped an armored tail in our direction. Syaoran barely ducked in time, Kurogane easily jumped out of the way, Fai, who still had Mokona, leapt to the side, and I dropped into a roll and came up in a crouch. I glanced at the pillar we had been standing in front of. It had been completely split in two and looked on the verge of collapse. I silently got to my feet, narrowing my eyes at the gang's leader, widening my stance.

Find this feather was already taking too long. Every second we spent running around hunting for this feather was time my brother was alone. Now this joker was attacking us for no damn reason, slowing us down even more.

Fai kept his easy expression, but his eyes narrowed. "Not a good listener, is he?" He took a step forward, but an arm shot out to block him.

Kurogane lowered his arm and walked forward. "I've been pretty bored here," he said as he stopped and put a hand on his hip. "I'll take you on!"

"Kurogane's been looking forward to this!" Mokona cried from Fai's shoulder.

Fai lost his tense stance and smiled at Mokona. "The Hanshin Republic is just his style, huh?"

Kurogane spun and pointed at the two. "Shut up over there!"

"But . . . Kurogane-san! You gave your sword to Yuuko-san," Syaoran said, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

Kurogane turned away from the boy and faced the giant horseshoe crab kudan. "That sword was magic. It was special," he said, "and in my Japan, I needed it to kill monsters that lived there. But kudan aren't monsters."

I glanced between Kurogane and the gang leader, wondering if I should step in. I wanted to, if only to guarantee a faster pace, but my opponent would be a giant crab. I had no experience fighting giant monsters but it sounded like Kurogane had plenty. It would be best to let him take this fight.

The large man eyed Kurogane up and down. "So, what level is your kudan?"

Kurogane shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care. What's all the talk for? Come and get me!"

"Syaoran-kun!" Masayoshi yelled and I glanced over to see him running over to join us.

"Masayoshi-kun, do you know this guy?" Fai asked and nodded at the fat man.

Masayoshi grimaced. "It's a team that wants to control this district! They're battling Shougo's team over it!"

"Is their leader any good?" Fai asked.

Masayoshi paled as he eyed the man, his hands shaking slightly. "His kudan is first level! He may not look like much, but his kudan is one of the fastest around! And—"

"Take a look at the attack of a first-level kudan," the large man interrupted. "Eat this! Kani-Nabe Senkai!"

The crab kudan spun and whipped its tail, forcing Kurogane to leap into a back-flip to avid having his legs taken off. His hands brushed the tile of the walkway, guiding his landing. He landed in a crouch, he feet skidding back a few inches, with his back to a shop front window. The kudan's tail snapped across the window only a few inches above Kurogane's head, tearing into and sending a spray of glass shards across the floor.

Kurogane was nimble for his size, and I could see his swordsmanship in his step. His stance and movements were designed for it. He was strong, but I wasn't sure how he'd win this fight without a weapon. Standard martial arts wouldn't do much against that crabs armor. Kurogane danced away from the shop front, giving himself more space in case he needed to move.

"It sliced right through!" Syaoran gasped.

Masayoshi clenched his fists and finished what he'd been trying to say. "That kudan can sharpen parts of its body to an edge as sharp as a knife."

The kudan hurled itself at Kurogane, thrashing its tail as it bore down on him. Kurogane wisely sped down the walkway, trying to out run the giant crab. "Go! Go!" the large man screamed.

Kurogane glanced over his shoulder as the kudan's tail swiped for his legs, but passed harmlessly underneath him as he jumped just in time.

"Watch out!" Syaoran yelled and started forward.

Fai put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I think if you get involved, he'll get really mad," he said with a patient expression.

"And don't yell," I said. "I know you're trying to warn him, but you'll just distract him." Syaoran's jaw tensed.

"Kani Doraku!" the gang leader cried.

Kurogane only had time to put his arms up protectively before the kudan spun and slammed into him and the wall. Kurogane kept his arms up, but was sent flying. The attack slammed him into a wall, and buckled it. As the dust cleared and Kurogane brushed himself off, the gang members jeered at him.

"Where's your kudan? You're probably so weak, you're ashamed to bring it out," the large man yelled.

"Oh, shut up," Kurogane snapped as he leaned against a pile of rubble. He looked pretty banged up, but he was grinning, so he couldn't be too badly injured. He straightened. "You guys talk too much!"

The large man sneered and pointed to the giant kudan hovering over his shoulder. "My kudan has an even tougher shell than most first-level kudan!"

Kurogane cracked his knuckles. "But it has a weakness. If I had a sword it'd be in pieces already." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a shadow fell across Kurogane. Behind him, a blue reptilian creature easily dominated the walkway, standing at least two stories in height. It was deep blue with a slender neck and a sleek, pointed head. Looming bat-like wings extended from its back and a sweeping tail curled around the beast.

Kurogane's voice was faint, but thanks to the System I heard him. "What? You were the one that appeared in my dream."

The dragon dissolved into a mist that swirled into a point in front of Kurogane. The mist sharpened into a new form, a sword that hovered in front of Kurogane. It was different from the one Kurogane had back at the witch's shop. This one was straight like mine, not curved like his original blade. It was also bladed on both sides. Although this sword was broader than mine, almost a foot across.

Kurogane grabbed the hilt of the sword and flipped it experimentally.

"You're asking me to wield you?" he muttered and stared down the blade. He grinned. "I get it. You like a good punch-up, too."

The large man took a step back. "S-so that's your kudan? It's probably all show! Well, I've got an ultimate attack." He threw out an arm. "Kane Kui-Hodai!"

The crab kudan's spikes elongated as it darted toward Kurogane. "It doesn't matter how hard a shell is," he said. "When you pull out a knife, lobsters and crabs all have weak points in the joints." Kurogane leapt at the kudan and shouted, "Hema Ryû-Ô-Jin!"

Energy swirled around the blade of the sword as he brought it down onto the kudan. He split the creature cleanly in two and fell to the ground in a crouch as the kudan exploded above him.

"Gah!" the gang leader screamed and clutched his chest. He fell to the ground as his gang swarmed around him. The man pointed a shaky finger at Kurogane. "Th-the kid lied! He did form a team. You're a part of Syaoran's team, aren't you?"

Kurogane glared down at the man and rested his sword on his shoulder. "I'm not on anybody's team. Listen, in my life, I've only served under one person, and that's Princess Tomoyo!"

So that was the name fo his ruler, the one who'd sent him away. I'd assumed he'd be angry at the woman, but he'd just announced his loyalty to her. Why had she banished him? And why didn't he hate her for it?

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sorata and Arashi welcomed us back to their home, with Sorata's usual abundance of energy, and they started discussing Kurogane and Syaoran's kudan. I wasn't interested in the conversation so I headed up to the room Arashi had set up for me. I laid on the futon and let my mind wander until Arashi's muffled voice filtered up from the floor.

"You said that you detected the waves of Sakura's feather, but you don't know where it went?"

"Uh-uh." Mokona said.

"So if it were simply someone who had the feather and walked away, you probably could have easily tracked down where it went to. But if the one that had it could appear and disappear, the only thing that could have it is . . ." Her voice trailed off, leaving a moment of silence.

"A kudan! Is that what you mean?" Syaoran said.

That made sense. I'd seen Syaoran, Masayoshi, and Kurogane's kudan appear and disappear in an instant. If a kudan had the feather, then when they vanished they would take it with them.

After an hour of staring at the ceiling, I heard the voices in the house fall silent, so I assumed everyone had gone to bed.

I was extremely sleep deprived. My eyes felt sore and my thoughts kept bleeding together, so I decided I should actually sleep tonight. I unfastened my sword from my belt but kept it in my hand as I rolled over and closed my eyes.