AN: Hi everyone! Here it is, chapter 2. Read and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing here.

Far and Away

Chapter 2

Everything happened in a blur to Fate. She had a very vague idea about the events of yesterday. She recalled that her mother had had a proper burial and their house was burnt down by the landlord's dogs for not paying the rental they owed. What happened next was in autopilot mode and now the blonde found herself in a pub far away from her village. She didn't know why she was here. She was sure that she got some business to take care of, something's really important and somehow it related to revenge and anger. She remembered Alicia's laughing face, the town's people making fun of her and yet she could not decipher the reason. Maybe she should stop drinking. The dark yellowish liquid was killing her mind.

Dark red eyes wandered around the room and found all its occupants laid eyes on her. Some men stole a glance at her and then to the thing on her right. Fate frowned and looked to her side, her draw dropped when she recognized "the thing" that had drawn everyone's attention. It was a training rifle, a very old and rusty one. It was so old that the upper part looked as if it was about to fall out every second.

Something clicked in Fate mind. Now she remembered, now she knew why she was so far away from home. She was going to assassinate her landlord, Shiro Takamachi. She wanted justice for what he'd done to her family, to her father and her house. How dare they burn their house, thought the blonde. How dare they burn away all those memories, memories of the happy time when her mother was still alive. Fate gritted her teeth, once she found the bastard, she would have him begging for life.

"God bless you, everyone." A jet-black hair man, clad in a fancy suit with a bright red jacket over a checked gray vest, accentuated by an amber bow, stepped inside. "Whiskey for everyone!" He took off his black silken top hat and hung it in the wall nearby.

Men cheered as they were offered a free round of drinks, the mood had been lightened a little. Not Fate. The blonde didn't think she could drink anymore, not when she was going to kill someone. She needed her mind to stay clear though she appreciated the man's generosity.

"How are you, sir, tonight?" a middle-age man asked.

"Oppressed. That's the word for me." The gentleman let out an exasperating sigh. "I live in a house that's stuffy and dull...and worse, I've a wife who forbids me to drink."

"God help you." Someone patted him on the back to show his sympathy.

If this was really the man's situation, Fate felt sorry for him. Apparently, he got the money but couldn't enjoy it. What a wife he has, the blonde pondered.

"Your good health, sir."

"Good health, Mr. Takamachi."

Fate almost dropped the glass. Surely, her ears didn't trick her in hearing things. This was Shiro Takamachi, her landlord. The kind and generous man before her was her enemy, the one she intended to punish. The tall, tanned blonde wasn't sure why suddenly Shiro Takamachi turned his attention to her. There might be two reasons. One, she was a woman who carried a rifle with her to such a place and two, because she was staring intensely at him.

"Liven up, girl." Mr. Takamachi exclaimed. "You're too young to be brooding in your ale." His face softened. To tell the truth, he was surprised to see such a young girl, probably his daughter's age, would wander around with a gun. Not that he had anything against women using guns but it was still very dangerous in this time of the day for a fine little thing like her to be in men's places.

"What places you in this small chapter of the world?"

"…"

Not receiving any responds, the man urged on. "Must be one of two things: enterprise or love." He laughed out loud.

"It isn't love. Rest assured of that." Fate growled. Did the man not know that she was about to shoot him, well later, but the result would be the same: he would be dead. The blonde tried to calm her nerves, she would not ruin her plan right now just because a soon-to-be dead man was messing with her.

"Then you're an ambitious girl!" the landlord exclaimed, his eyes widened in amusement.

"Like myself, a man of business. But I warn you…it's brought me nothing but misery. I'm lost in a fog of commerce and compromise." He sighed regretfully. There were wrinkles on his forehead when looked up close, showing the tiredness of a man who had been through many unhappy memories. "I'd trade it all away for minutes of freedom."

"Freedom is a rare thing in these parts." Fate murmured to herself. She didn't know that there was such thing called "freedom".

"It is. It is, indeed."

Fate didn't remember when she left the pub. She had stalked the landlord Takamachi til the moon was high above her head and the man didn't even know he was followed for he was too drunk to distinguish whether it was a man or a tree. In his current drunken state, Shiro considered himself lucky for still remembering his way home. They had arrived at the front gate of the Takamachi mansion.

"Oh, no. Here we are- home. I recognize these hedges by their dullness." The landlord mumbled to his horse. He continued singing as he walked through the gate to his home, completely unaware of the shadow hiding behind a stone statue.

Fate was ready, she brought the rifle at eye level and aimed at the walking man. Her finger was at the trigger, all she needed was to pull the thing but the blonde couldn't bring herself to do it. She found herself shaking terribly as her target was walking leisurely further and further away. Hold herself up, she refocused on her target but as she was about to push the trigger, her goddamn donkey decided that he would not wait for his master anymore. Abruptly, he turned his head away, accidentally dragging his blonde master by the hand.

The red-eye assassin cursed under her breath at how stupid she was. Why did she have to tie her hand to the reins? And now she was dragged like a doll on the ground a good few feet away. She untangled her hand from the reins and hurried back to the spot behind the statue to find that the man was no longer in her vision.

"This is a difficult murder." Fate said breathlessly. She decided to sneak inside the mansion and wait for her chance. As she came out of one of the giant bushes that were supposed to be a hedge, the view before her was breath-taking. A white castle-liked, three-story mansion lied imposingly ahead. A gravel path, rounded an impossibly big pond, to finally stopped at the main entrance. Never in her life had Fate seen something as beautiful and majestic as the villa before her.

That night, while lying in one of the many stalls in the barn, for the first time in her life, Fate felt envy.

She awakened to the sounds of horse heaving and someone yelling. Looking out of the small window, she could make out two figures and by the voices she assumed they were both women.

"Nanoha, I saw you galloping in the fields." The older woman called out. "Dignity, Nanoha, dignity. A lady must always be civilized, even when she rides."

"No one saw me riding, Mother." The other said.

Fate ears perked up. It was a rich melodious voice, though slightly annoyed, which reminded her of the Christmas carol she'd once heard since she was a small child.

"I saw you!" The mother screeched.

Looking at the woman face, although from a distance, the blonde could clearly see she was furious.

"Yes, Mother." The girl replied haft-heartedly.

Her back was facing the blonde so she couldn't make out the girl's features. Fate found herself admiring the other girl's figure. She had an athletic body under that long green dress, with all the right curves. Her gloved hands were small and fragile and Fate didn't think she could keep hold of the rein. She wasn't very tall to be precise, probably haft a head shorter than her, thought the blonde. Then again, Fate was thought to be the tallest woman in town, she was even taller than some men. There were times when she felt ashamed about her unusual height. Her mother had scolded her for this. Oh, how she misses her!

Sounds of foot steps brought Fate out of her reverie. She abruptly knelt down, slowly backed away from the window. Someone was at the gate, it was the girl named Nanoha.

''A lady must always be civilized.'' She mimicked her mother's voice. "She never leaves us alone, does she?" Nanoha asked her horse as she led the animal to its stall. "No. She doesn't."

Fate smiled at the girl's display of annoyance. Something about the landlord's daughter put her at peace and at the same time, intrigued her.

The blonde farmer cautiously rose to her feet. She sneaked a look at the other occupant of the room through the gaps on the stall's door and her breath was caught. Before her was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Rich, rich auburn hair cascaded over small shoulders as she sat down on a wooden box, head leaning back against a stall. Pale skin, soft to the touch, was glowing in the early morning light. Light blush accentuated her high-defined cheek bones as she was fanning herself repeatedly. Luscious pink lips was doing funny thing to Fate's stomach as the girl slightly opened her mouth. What captured Fate's soul was those brilliant azure orbs, staring at the ceiling, deep in thoughts. The blonde wondered if the young woman before her was what people referred to as an angel for she believed she was seeing one right now.

Fate Testarossa had never thought that animals would hate her, especially birds, because a pigeon above her head had just sent an alarm by flying off away. The auburn hair beauty did not miss that. She stood up abruptly and looked about. The red-eyes girl just managed to duck down in barely seconds before sharp blue eyes swept over her spot.

"Is some body there?"

Nanoha picked up a horseshoe at her feet and threw it over the stall in which she'd heard a sound earlier. The thing came flying and hit the ceiling to land right at Fate's left foot. Still, the blonde didn't move.

After a while, Fate heard foot steps walked out of the barn and breathed out a sigh of relief. She looked down at her foot and picked up the horseshoe. Is this some kind of luck, the blonde pondered.

She was inspecting the steel ring when a rake came out of no where, stabbing at the stall's door, barely missed her's head. Burgundy eyes widened in horror as she clumsily stood up and ran out of the stall. But before she could run any further, a rake was pointed at her.

"Stay right where you are." Nanoha warned. "Don't flutter an eyelid or I'll stab you. I'll stab you through."

Sapphire looked defiantly at burgundy. It was an exact ten-minute starring contest between the assassin and the landlord's daughter. Fate didn't know what to do at the moment. The auburn hair girl looked so much more gorgeous up close and she had this strange urge to run her hand through those silky locks of brown.

Finally, Nanoha was the one who ended the starring contest.

"Father!" The landlord's daughter frightened her stranger as she suddenly screamed.

Fate was startled and she did the stupid next move. The blonde ran forward and received a stab in her right thigh as the auburn beauty accidentally let loose of her rake.

"…!"

"Jesus." Fate groaned aloud. She looked at Nanoha in disbelieve. She'd never thought such a fragile girl would have stabbed her, and she stabbed her hard.

"Father, help!" Nanoha didn't forget to pull the rake out of Fate's thigh before running and screaming for her farther. "Father! I've been all but raped and slaughtered!"

"What is it? What's the fuss about?" Shiro Takamachi and his wife rushed out, their faces were that of fright and confusion.

"In the stables!"

"Mr. Shiro Takamachi."

"Y-yes?"

"I'm Fate Testarossa… of the family Testarossa that you pushed off our land." Fate limped painfully off the stables, without forgetting to carry the rusty rifle with her.

"What in the name of God are you talking about?"

"Prepare to pay for your crimes." Burgundy eyes flickered with anger as the golden blonde lifted up the rifle to her eye level and aimed at the landlord.

They heard an explosion, preceded by a gunfire. Shiro Takamachi opened his eyes to see he was still alive and found a young blonde lying unconscious on the ground a few feet away.

Apparently, the rusty gun had backfired at Fate, literally. Her face was hit by the gun's barrel and now she swore she was seeing stars.

"Quickly, find Mr. Scrya and bring him here. Go!"

In her hazy state of mind, she could make out someone was yelling and sounds of foot steps invaded her ears. The last image she saw was that of a blurry auburn-haired woman and then her vision turned dark.

AN: next chapter will be out slower than the previous ones. I'm sorry but I gotta work on my assignments in college or I'll be failing again. 'Til next time!