Chapter Three

Himeno's scream preceded the intensely blinding light which shone then, filling the atmosphere with its waves, striking the creature powerless. As it dimmed, they all watched, awestruck, as the light seemed to emanate from where the baby lay.

As Hayate reached the child, the light disappeared altogether and he took her in his arms.

She had been able somehow to shield herself. There was definitely more to this child than what met the eye.

"Alright! This baby definitely kicked ass!" exclaimed Gou, taking the child from Hayate to lead her in a little victory dance.

"That was amazing," asserted Shin.

"It almost matches the white Pretear!" exclaimed Hajime.

"But that creature isn't defeated yet," said Hayate as he helped Himeno up.

"Right. Mannan, Hajime, you take the baby and go over there. Shin, we'll need you here," said Gou, trying to hand Mannen the child.

"What? No fair!" exclaimed Mannen as he folded his arms, refusing to take the child.

"This isn't time for games Mannen," Hayate said sternly, "You saw what just happened. Himeno and I are going to Pret and get this over with."

"You heard big daddy Hayate," Gou's grin returned as he carefully handed over the baby, "Now go on, shoo!"

"Let's go, Himeno," Hayate said, turning to the still shaken girl. Hearing her name seemed to snap her out of her shock, and she nodded.

"Right."

The moment her hand touched his outstretched one, a jolt of electricity seemed to surge through her body and the image of the baby lying in the open mouth of a creature flashed before her eyes. But the creature's mouth didn't remain open and the moment it chomped shut, Himeno gasped.

She pulled her hand away from Hayate immediately.

"Himeno?" He raised a brow questioningly, feeling a pang of hurt when she grabbed on to Gou.

"Let's Pret Gou!"

Gou glanced at Hayate's dejected expression before a small smile of pleasure crossed his face. Anything to play on Hayate's nerves. He offered Himeno his hand, "No problem."

~Pretear Fanfic~

What Hayate hated more than being annoyed, was having a shadow. But, of course, having a shadow only led to him being annoyed, so the former still standed.

Although he made no indication of knowing about this shadow he was very much aware by the loud footsteps and occasional mutters of, "Oh, crap!" and "Holy sausage!" At first, he wanted to bust the guy for stalking, but then decided to see how long they'd be able to keep it up. But his patience was short lived.

"Alright! Game's up bud-huh… Mannen?"

"Yeah, it's me. Now let me go!" exclaimed Mannen as he struggled out of Hayate's grasp.

Hayate crossed his arms over his chest. "What were you trying to do?"

"Nothing in particular…" Mannen said in a tone suggesting otherwise. Hayate gave him an unbelieving look. "Nothing. I swear!"

"Then go back to the house. I'm busy, I can't play."

"I know that. I'm not a kid!" Mannen frowned, crossing his own arms. "You try to keep a guy from self destructing and it's like this! Sheesh!"

Self destructing? Hayate turned to look at the younger knight, frustration and annoyance etched on his face. What the heck was this little prick talking about?

"I heard Himeno gave you the boot today when you wanted to prêt with her," Mannen explained calmly, as Hayate went from annoyed workman to gushing teen. Mannen seemed to enjoy this and so went on. "It's sad and all considering how much you have the hots for her-"

"That's it!" Hayate snapped, "Why aren't you over at the house with the others?"

A look of pleading crossed Mannen's face before he expertly covered it up with nonchalance, and gave a small shrug. "No reason."

Hayate looked doubtful.

"It's just that- I want to become an awesome workman just like you someday!"

Yeah right, thought Hayate. And he wanted to be a dancing zebra. Something was definitely up. But, it couldn't be the baby right? Himeno would ask for help. Or would she? Her last stunt had left him feeling dejected. Probably more than he should have. But then, that was the effect the clumsy tulip head had on him.

~Pretear Fanfic~

"Gou, it's your turn."

The girl lying on the large couch wasn't the cheery tulip- head Hayate knew. She resembled a half dead, dried up zombie, with huge dark circles below her eyes.

"No, I'm pretty sure I did it last time." Gou, the usually easily distinguishable grinning buffoon now easily blended with the pale coloured wall that was his support. He bended forward a little and Hayate nearly did a double take as he caught sight of the lack of and falling strands of hair as Gou attempted a smile. "I'm still young and there is no way me and that Tanaka guy are going to ever be in the same league. Ever."

And then there was the crying- or more correctly- the screeching of the clearly irritated child.

He should've taken the cue from Mannen and stayed away, because in this case, curiosity wouldn't be so kind as to just simply kill the cat. It would torture the life out of it.

Bending down to meet the upset baby, Hayate took her in his arms and begun patting and bouncing her, and immediately, the hubbub subsided.

Himeno and Gou looked up as the sounds of crying died away and was replaced by giggling. And Himeno felt a pang of something unnamable.

Why was it that Hayate seemed to be the magic charm to this child? She and Gou had spent the past two hours trying to calm and entertain this child.

It didn't go to well.

She averted her eyes just as Hayate looked at her. "You guys wore her out. She's tired."

"You mean she wore us out!" exclaimed Gou. "Put her in the prisons and I bet this country will be crime free!"

But Himeno realized Hayate was right. The little squalling brat was actually nestled against him, ready to take a nap.

"So, you're telling me that all that hideous squealing and fussing was because she wanted to sleep!" She exclaimed. It made no sense. But then again, here was Hayate acting all father- like and caring. Now that made no sense!

That's not true.

Oh great. The little voice in her head was back.

You know it's not.

Himeno shook her head furiously as if to rid herself of the plaguing conscience and Hayate watched her with a smile on his lips.

"Well, you two have things under control so see ya'!" With that, Gou dashed out, ignoring Himeno's calls of 'Get back here you double crossing…' and other colorful words which that were better not repeated.

"Hey, Himeno. Take a look at this."

Himeno peered at the sleeping child as Hayate pointed at a locket hanging around her neck. She frowned. None of them had noticed it before.

As she carefully slipped it off to observed it, six inscribed letters came into view-

A/N: Okay. So I know it's been quite a while since I've updated and I'm very, very sorry to the faithful few. I won't give you the life's hard crap because we all have problems.

The truth is that I've been on another site so I kind of forgot about this one. But maybe if I'd gotten more reviews I would have (This is not me blaming you. It's just me trying to get more reviews). Anyway, I really won't abandon this story! Really, don't worry.

So, what does Hitomi mean? Is it the girl's name? Or does it stand for something else? And what about her powers? Any one wants to make a prediction?

Please review! It means a lot and also more motivation to update sooner!