Setsuna jumped to her feet, only halfway alert as the door shattered inward. Standing in the ruined Doorway was someone she had never wanted to see again. She heard Fate speak and then Konoka's yell snapped her fully awake. Setsuna immediately stood between Konoka and Fate, guarding her with her life. "Fate Averruncus, what are you doing here?" She asked with a sharp edge in her voice. Fate smiled and then simply vanished from her sight. He spoke, as he reappeared from his shukuchi. His voice came from behind her. "I merely wished to congratulate you and to steal that which you love most." His voice sent chills through Setsuna.

His movement had taken Setsuna slightly off guard. Konoka was caught in the split second it took for Setsuna to react. She swung a fist at Fate who vanished once more, this time though he had Konoka in his possession. Fate smiled and said, "It was so much fun seeing you again. I do hope you are entertained by my associate." With those words he vanished in a transfer gate spell. Setsuna yelled after him, even though she knew it was useless.

Setsuna had just managed to grab her sword before she saw who was with Fate. Tsukuyomi came at her swinging. "Hello Setsuna-sempai. So nice to see your lovely face again. I do hope I provide some fun for you." Setsuna blocked Tsukuyomi's blow and stepped back. She desperately wanted to go after Konoka but Tsukuyomi was in her way. Not only that but she also had no idea where to begin looking. She would have to fight Tsukuyomi and then start her search. Setsuna dropped back a bit, lowering the angle of her blade before swinging it up and around at Tsukuyomi. The sound of ringing metal filled the small room as the fight started. Sparks from the colliding blades shone with an odd light as the two Shinmei swordswomen exchanged blows.

Setsuna hated to do so but she saw no other way of winning. She would have to let her wings out, let her full power out if she wanted to win. She jumped back and her white wings came out, filling the room with a gust of wind as they opened. Tsukuyomi jumped back a bit at this. Setsuna immediately took advantage of the instant Tsukuyomi became off guard. She used a shundo to get up close to Tsukuyomi and kicked her hard enough to send Tsukuyomi backward through the doorframe. Setsuna immediately took off out of the hotel, running from the fight. Not because she couldn't win, but because she had something more important to do. A window at the end of the hall was open and Setsuna simply jumped out of it. Her wings let her take flight and she softly landed on the ground. Returning her wings, she immediately started to look for both Fate and Konoka. One she would rescue and the other she would try to kill. Fate had picked the wrong person to steal from. Setsuna would get Konoka back.

She wandered through the crowd of people that filled the boardwalk. Her eyes were frantically searching for any sign of either Fate or Konoka. Her eyes saw neither of them. A voice from behind her made her blood run cold. "Well, well, it seems the lover has come to rescue her mistress. Good job getting past Tsukuyomi. I am impressed that you are still so far above her in skill. It will be a shame to have to incapacitate you so easily." Fate was standing right behind her smiling evilly holding Konoka prisoner. "Se-chan run! Fate is too powerful for you!" Konoka yelled quickly before Fate silenced her with a simple punch.

Setsuna immediately went after Fate, her sword in hand. "Don't you dare harm Konoka! " Her voice rang out with anger and the intent to kill. Fate's magical barriers blocked her initial blow and as she continued her attack Fate looked at her and gave her a look that would have terrified her had she not been attacking in anger. "You foolish girl. Your attacks can't do anything to me. You are still far too weak to be fighting me. " Fate spoke with an edge to his voice. His fist seemed to materialize in Setsuna's solar plexus. She had barely seen the attack coming. Wind left her in a gust as she passed out. 'He's on a totally different level. I'm not even in the same ballpark. I'm sorry Kono-chan. I'm just not strong enough to save you but I promise I will save you. Just hold on until then.' Setsuna thought to herself as the world around her went black.

Setsuna awoke several hours later. When she woke she was in what appeared to her to be a hospital room. "Don't hurt yourself Ne-chan. Wouldn't want you to be unable to find Konoka." Said a cocky voice next to her. She rolled her head slightly to see Kotaro sitting there with a goofy smile on his face. Setsuna spoke, only realizing just how much pain she was in after she did so, "Kotaro-san what on earth are you doing here? Is anybody with you?" She winced as she sat up. "Yeah,' Kotaro said, "Chizuru and Kaede are here. Chizuru wanted to tag along. Guess she couldn't leave me by myself. You do of course remember that her and I are a couple right?"

Setsuna nodded as she scanned the room. Kaede was reading a manga novel and Chizuru was just entering the room, her arms filled with food. Chizuru spoke as she entered. "Good to see you awake Setsuna-chan. Kotaro was the one that found you. He and I were out on a date when we ran across you unconscious on the ground. We called Kaede in because we figured it would be a good idea to do so." She smiled as she gave Kotaro a hug and a kiss after putting her armload of food down on a table in the room. Kotaro smiled, he was a bit embarrassed but not as bad as he had been the first time she had kissed him in public. Setsuna spoke quietly, answering Chizuru's question. "The one who attacked me was Fate Averruncus. He has Tsukuyomi with him. He stole Konoka right in front of me. There was nothing I could do to stop him. He's simply too powerful. It made me feel like I had trained for nothing. I have never felt more weak in my life." Setsuna started to cry as she felt a myriad of emotions. She was angry at herself for losing Konoka, for failing to protect her. Worst of all she felt the horrifying loss of having the only person to ever love her stolen from her.

Chizuru put a comforting hand on Setsuna, trying to comfort her. Kaede got up and did the same. Kotaro had a sad look in his eyes. He had seen this before, he knew there was not much that could be done. He ground his teeth together in anger at Fate. It was beyond him how Fate could do something so heartless. To steal someone's love was to attack their very heart and soul. It was the worst thing Fate could have done to Setsuna. "That bastard has it coming to him when we get our hands on him. I'll help you find Konoka, Setsuna-chan. I'm sure Chizuru and Kaede will help as well. You're not alone in this at least. We'll also let you take Fate on. I know better than to stand in the way of someone who is contemplating revenge. I can hold off Tsukuyomi while you deal with Fate. Kaede will help with that. Chizuru will be out of the fight but she'll help in any way she can. We'll get Konoka back, don't worry." Kotaro said. He was in the mood for a fight and he would definitely give them one.

Still in pain, Setsuna was cleared to leave the hospital after a while. The doctor told her not to do anything to strenuous for the next couple of hours. The wind blew Setsuna's hair around as they walked out of the hospital. Searching for Konoka was top priority. Kotaro suggested the start with where Konoka had last been. Getting to the hotel took a little while but they got there with no sign of either Fate or Konoka. Kaede said that it would be hard but not impossible to track Fate from where he had last been. After having a long argument with the hotel management, they were allowed to go up to the room. The remaining splinters of the door still hung to the frame, the stone spear impaling the wall at the back of them room. Kotaro was the first to say anything. "It smells like freshly broken wood, sea salt and I think that last smell is sex. I take it you two did that while you were here." Setsuna nodded and said, "Yes, we did. We had gone down to the beach and then came here afterward. We took a shower together and then we had sex. After that was finished we fell asleep. At some point we woke up and got dressed. We had fallen asleep naked, and I guess we had been planning to go somewhere but we fell asleep again. That was when Fate blew the door apart with magic. It's all a little blurry after that."

Setsuna was retracing the event that had occurred earlier. It was a good start but as she told Kotaro and Kaede how Fate got away the both looked disappointed. Kotaro spoke, thinking things through as he did. "So he used a gate spell to get away. Probably western magic as that takes quite a bit of work to do with just talismans. Unfortunately that leaves us with nothing to go on. I could hazard a guess and say he probably did not go far. He's got a good start on us though. Luckily I know a bit about how he works. Let's start searching the nearby boardwalk and go outward through the town as we look." They all nodded their agreement. Kotaro's strategy seemed to them to be the best plan of action.

Hours of searching turned up nothing. Setsuna felt so hopeless. She couldn't find the one she loved and it was tearing her emotions apart. She felt like just breaking down and crying. It just all felt so hopeless. Fate had too far of a head start on them. Setsuna's thought circled in this destructive loop for several minutes. Kaede spoke to her, seeing how much torment this was and trying to slow Setsuna's spiral into despair. "Setsuna-dono, I know how you must feel but you cannot let your emotions get control of you. Let it all out and you will be better able to accomplish your goal." Kaede smiled and put a hand on Setsuna who just broke down crying. She let all her bottled up emotions out. All her despair, panic and sadness just came out in her tears. It was something that she had never done before all this and part of her chided her for being so soft. Kaede simply let it happen. She knew it was something that Setsuna needed to let out. 'Here I am acting the part of Sessha again. It is a rather fitting role thought Kaede thought to herself as she helped Setsuna back to her feet.

Setsuna felt much better after that for a reason she couldn't figure out. It had cleared her head of a lot of her internal panic at not being able to find Konoka. "Kotaro-san, Kaede-san, Chizuru-san, I think I know where Konoka is. Fate probably took her to outlying town and is simply waiting for us to come to him. He's probably using her as bait to lure me in. That's where we'll go." Setsuna said as she pointed in the direction of the center of town. Soon she would have to confront Fate and try to win Konoka back, Setsuna didn't know if her heart could take another loss.

(Author's note: Second chapter finished. Second out of twelve I intend this to reach to. I'll try my hardest to finish the next chapter as soon as I can. Read and enjoy.)

Shinobi of the Onyx Sands