*** Selena ***

Selena giggled and watched Chachamaru flinch, yet again, before tapping the robot's ear lightly, once more.

The robot responded by flinching, of course, for about the twentieth time that day. She had been tapping Chachamaru's ear for the past five minutes or so . . .

She wasn't really sure.

Grinning, She tapped the robot's ear, again, watching her flinch. Correction, twenty-first.

Hearing a boy's yelp, she looked up curiously. Negi slid on his back and across the ground quickly, stopping in front of Chachamaru. Eva stood a few good seven feet away, inspecting her nails as if she were bored. "Is that really all you got, boy?"

Negi made a sound between a growl and a whimper before standing to his feet and dusting himself off. "No."

The young girl's head snapped up quickly, and her blue eyes narrowed in what was clearly anger. Selena knew the anger wasn't pointed towards her, but she still cringed, sinking down slightly as if she could hide behind Chachamaru's hair.

Evangeline twitched her index finger in Negi's direction, and the boy instantly flew back to the ground, as if he were nothing but a mere puppet.

Selena's eyes grew as wide in amazement. How did Evangeline do that?!

Negi groaned, his muscles twitching slightly as if he were trying to climb to his feet, but couldn't. Evangeline sneered at him disgustedly. "No, what?"

"M- Master!" Negi cried quickly. "No, Master!"

"Fine, that will do." With a huff, Evangeline turned to Chachamaru. "Chachamaru, make some tea."

Nodding, Chachamaru picked Selena off of her shoulders, setting her onto the ground, with a slightly relieved expression. "Hai, Master Evangeline. Selena-chan, please stay here."

Nodding, Selena signed -

Hai, Chachamaru-san.

Chachamaru's mouth twitched upward slightly, as she turned and walked away. Selena watched her leave, feeling a small urge to follow her, but she didn't. Instead, she turned back to Negi and Eva's training lesson.

"Now." Evangeline yawned, stretching her arms over her head. "On with the lesson."

Negi hesitated, glancing over at Selena worriedly. "But, what about Selena, Master?"

Negi turned his worried gaze back towards Evangeline, giving a slight squeak of shock and fear. Evangeline was now standing nose-to-nose with him, ginning evilly. "Too slow, boy, too slow."

She pushed his shoulder lightly, and he flew backwards, screaming fearfully.

Selena's eyes widened in horror as he slammed into a tree. Evangeline merely snorted, turning away. "And don't worry about the brat. She should be too young to remember any of this anyway."

Negi slid to the ground promptly, wincing in pain as he peeked one eye open at Evangeline. "Yes, Master . . ."

Climbing to his feet, he shook his head slightly, as if he could clear away all the thoughts in his head. Negi took a leaping step forward, determination sparkling in his light brown eyes. He raised his staff, and Eva sighed.

Curious, Selena turned her gaze to the blonde girl. Evangeline muttered something under her breath, and the ground next to her iced over.

Selena tilted her head to the left, watching the ice curiously. The ice on the ground appeared . . . just like magic . . .

Selena suddenly felt a startling, yet comforting and familiar sparking sensation upon the ends of her fingers. The sensation was like lightning, but not quite as power . . . more like . . . the sparks of a starting fire.

Tilting her head, again, to the right, Selena stared over at Evangeline curiously.

'She's . . . She's a Vampire . . .' Selena thought, confused. 'But . . . That's not all . . . She's also a . . . a . . . a mage – a magic user. She's in love with someone . . . but who?'

Negi then shot past Evangeline, who dodged, and he slipped upon the ice that had appeared earlier. 'He's also a mage . . . He's had a hard life . . . and maybe an even harder future. He's searched for something his entire life, but has only found it once before.'

Selena didn't know how she knew all of these, she just . . . knew.

This happened from time to time – rarely, but it happened. That's how she had know she could trust Setsuna . . .

When it happened, she always learned random, yet important, facts about people. She never told any one about this – except one person.

Her Mother.

She told her mother everything . . . of course, not verbally. That would be impossible.

Her hand instinctively flew down to her jacket pocket, where she kept her pen and family picture.

The pen belonged to her father . . . when she had found it, well . . .

Selena flinched, not wanting to remember anything. The most she would . . . could think about, is picking up the pen as it rolled towards her, covered in blood as a crimson puddle grew rapidly at her feet . . .

But even that much was enough to give her horrible nightmares.

Shivering, she quickly withdrew her hand from her pocket.

She didn't need any nightmares.

Shaking her head, she continued to watch the match between Eva and Negi. Negi, once again, was picking himself off the ground as Evangeline laughed happily. "Try again, boy!"

Selena wasn't sure what Negi did next, for her attention was caught by something else.

Evangeline hid a hand behind her back, as she muttered something too low for Selena or Negi to hear.

'A spell.' Selena answered her unsound question.

Curiously, Selena watched as the air behind Evangeline filled with sparkles. They glinted and, well, sparkled in the sunlight that filtered through the dense foliage from above.

Slowly, the sparkles settled onto the ground, but she could still see a few glinting in the air. Well, being a child of seven years of age, and a naturally curious girl . . .

She decided to try and catch them.

Giggling happily, she stumbled towards the sparkled-filled air quickly. No one seemed to notice her, and she grinned.

Mirthfully, she jumped at one of the sparkles, trying to catch it by clapping her hands together around it. It pulled just out of her reach, drifting off to the right a little. Of course, she chased after it merrily.

Reaching out to grasp it, it drifted upward quickly. Grinning, she watched it, before her attention was snagged by another sparkle drifting left. Quickly, she grabbed after it, frowning as it, too, pulled away from her grasp.

Why were the sparkles pulling away from her hold?

Shrugging, she smiled and continued to chase after the sparkle, but . . .

After about the third step, the ground seemed to disappear from under her feet and the world seemingly turned upside-down.

Squeaking in surprise, she covered her eyes fearfully. Something yanked on her ankle roughly as she came to a sudden stop. Her heart thudded quickly in her chest as she peeked between her fingers.

She was a good ten feet in the air . . . upside-down.

Her white hair swayed gently as she did, too. Looking up quickly, she noticed that her ankle had somehow been caught by a visible . . . yet invisible string . . . that sparkled every time it moved into the sunlight.

So much for catching the sparkles, for they seemed to have caught her.

All of a sudden, she felt a hidden object drop out from the collar of her shirt. Of course, it caught by itself chain around her neck, but that wasn't what she was worried about.

There, dangling by the chain, swung a silver cross – well, sorta. It was silver, yes, but partially of it was dyed a faint crimson color, as if someone has decided to leave part of it in some paint for a long period of time.

Squeaking in fear, she quickly snatched the cross into her hand, to hide it from her own and the others view. No matter how much she hated this cross, she knew she would always love it . . .

"Ow . . ." Selena heard someone groan, and she looked up – well, down.

Negi was sprawled on the ground, his eyes closed in pain. He had a bruise on his cheek the size of a baseball. "Eva . . ." He murmured. "That really, really hurt."

Eva snorted, rolling her eyes impatiently. "Get your ass up, or there will be more where that came from, boy."

Negi sighed, peeking one eye open. "But I don't –"

Both his eyes widened as he sat up in surprise. "Selen–"

"Selena-chan?" Chachamaru called out, walking out of Evangeline's cabin. "Where are you?"

Selena sighed in relief. Her head was starting to spin from all the blood it was getting.

"Master, Chachamaru-san! I think I found her . . . but how did she get all the way up there . . .?"

Chachamaru and Eva both looked up at Selena curiously. Evangeline smile. "Oops. My bad. Chachamaru, catch her when she falls."

"Wait, what?! Master!" Negi exclaimed, quickly getting to his feet. "What are you about to do?"

Evangeline shrugged, walking away from him causally. "Get her down."

The vampire waved a hand in her direction, turning away so Selena couldn't see her face.

Instantly, Selena felt herself drop towards the ground suddenly.

Selena squealed in fright right as Chachamaru caught her in her arms quickly.

Giving an apologetic smile, she turned her gaze away from the robot shyly. "Selena-chan, I asked you to stay where you were." Chachamaru scolded gently, setting the mute girl down. Shrugging, Selena avoided her gaze as she signed quickly –

I saw a bunch of sparkles, so I chased them, trying to catch them all. But, they ended up catching me . . .

Both Evangeline and Negi turned their gaze to Chachamaru, their eyes lit with confusion. Apparently they didn't understand her.

"She recently saw Evangeline cast a spell, and got caught in it." Chachamaru explained, making them both 'oh' in understanding.

Sighing, Selena realized she still held the cross in her hand. Immediately, she stuffed it back under the collar of her shirt.

She didn't want anyone to see it, even herself.

"What I don't get," Evangeline muttered, peering over at Selena suspiciously, "is how she activated that particular spell, or even saw it. I set it up so only people with magical or demonic energy can activate it. It was really weak, compared to what I really can do."

Negi looked over at her as well. "Well, I don't see how she could have any demonic or magical energy. I can't feel any demonic blood stirring restlessly, and she hasn't set anything on fire or blown me away with any sneezes – for an example. I'm not sure how much she even knows."

All three of them continued to stare at her, and she shifted uncomfortably. Why were they staring at her like this? And, what were they talking about, anyway?

Demonic blood? Magical energy? Yeah, she now knew that magic is very real, but demons aren't, right?

'But, if vampires are real, then demons are possible as well . . .' she supposed. 'I guess it's not such a small world, like others think.'

"I have an idea." Evangeline said suddenly. "Selena, come here, and give me your hand."

Hai, Evangeline-sama.

Selena signed quickly, stepping forward. Hesitantly, she allowed the vampire to take her hand into her own gently. Her blueish, purplish eyes shined with some kind of emotion Selena couldn't guess. "This may sting a little."

"Master . . .?" Negi trailed off, looking confused. "What are you –"

He was cut off by Selena's sudden squeak of surprise and pain.

Evangeline had bitten her finger!

She snatched her hand back, not noticing the look of surprise on Evangeline's face as she did. Inspecting her finger, the only sign of injury was a little blood smeared on it. Not very noticeable.

"You, my friend," Evangeline said lowly, drawing Selena's attention with her astonished tone of voice. "Have both."

*** Konoka ***

Setsuna groaned again, causing Konoka to pause in case the swordsman was going to be sick – yet again.

Do you know how they serve snacks on an airplane, sometimes? Well . . . Konoka had insisted Setsuna eat something, and, well . . .

Um, let's just say this: food poisoning.

"Gomen . . ." Konoka apologized for the seventeenth time that day. She had one of the swordsman's arms around her neck, supporting Setsuna's weight with her own strength. There were two . . . well, three . . . reasons for this. One, the swordsman's stomachache was nauseating her such a point, where it was hard to walk without doubling-over. Two, She couldn't walk five feet without getting dizzy and falling on her butt. (Well, maybe she wasn't that dizzy . . . )Three, Konoka just like being close to the swordsman.

Her swordsman.

"Again," Setsuna muttered. "It's not your fault. I'm the one who ate it."

"Yes it is." Konoka mumbled miserably. "I told you to eat."

Turning her gaze away, Konoka played with the sleeve of Setsuna's jacket sadly. "I hate seeing you like this. I feel useless, not being able to do anything for you . . . I hate it when you're sick or in pain, Se-chan . . ."

Setsuna laughed softly. "That makes two of us, then;I don't exactly enjoy being like this, Konoka . . ."

Konoka pouted. "Aww! Se-chan doesn't like me holding her?"

"Th- That's not what I meant!" Setsuna stammered quickly, her face flushing red. "Of course I like it when you hold me! Ah, I mean, um . . . damn it."

Konoka smirked at the swordsman's expected reaction, but then frowned. "What did I tell you about cursing?"

"It is to be done daily?"

"No."

"It's very bad for my already diminishing health?"

"Funny, but no."

"My charmingly good looks always allow me to get away with doing it?"

"Setsuna."

"To not to?"

"Very good, now stop talking."

Setsuna gave her a confused glance. "Why?"

"It's your punishment for cursing. You aren't allowed to talk to me for five minutes." Konoka replied, restraining a grin from the expression on Setsuna's face. She looked partially horrified and partially shocked. "But -"

"Shush."

"Konoka!"

"No, be quiet."

"You can't be-"

"Setsuna, shush up."

"Serious!"

"Shhhhh!"

Sighing in frustration, the swordsman gave up. "Fine."

Sticking her tongue out at Setsuna playfully, she grinned. "Sounds like your stomach is feeling better."

The swordsman paused for a moment, her eyes widening in realization. Slipping a few steps away from her, Setsuna shrugged. "Gomen, Ms. Konoka – I didn't really notice. I'll give you some space, then."

"Don't be ridicules." Konoka giggled. Wrapping her arms around the swordsman, Konoka pulled Setsuna into a hug. Burying her face in the girl's jacket, Konoka smiled happily. "I can't think straight without my Se-chan right next to me."

After a few seconds, Konoka felt Setsuna hug her back. "Yeah, me too."

~~~ Hello People! See, I'm NOT Dead. Tell me if you enjoyed! If you have any ideas, just PM me! I'll think it over, and if I like it, then I might use it! Well, Bye! ~~~

~Angel981