AN: Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry for the late update, it's been a week, eh? Anyway, here's chapter 3. Read and don't forget to review.

Chapter 3

Nanoha stared at the unconscious half-naked lying blonde whose face was covered in smuts from the earlier explosion. They had moved the stranger to a spare room in the house and now her mother was tending to her wound, which was given by the auburn-hair beauty.

"Look how black her fingers are, Mother."

Her mother and the maids had removed the blonde's black cotton trousers and the braces but left her shirt on. Her clothes were dirty and Nanoha wondered when was the last time the blonde took a bath. Despite the fact that the blonde was wearing men clothes, she could see there was a suggestive swell of breasts under that sweat-dampened shirt. The auburn-hair girl blushed when she realized she was gazing intensely at the other girl's chest. She mentally thanked her mother for covering the blonde's lower half with a thin blanket.

"Never mind her fingers. She's a low-born blatherskite of filth."

"If she's so worthless, then why are you bothering to dress her wounds?"

"Our duty is to restore her to full health," Her mother replied. She put on a brown leather gloves with a frown on her face. "So she can hear her own neck crack when she dangles from the hangman's noose." As she was about to pull the blanket down the blonde's thighs so she could take a closer look at the injury, the woman paused as if she remembered something.

"Turn away, Nanoha, and protect the innocence of your eyes."

Nanoha reluctantly turned around. She couldn't understand why her mother was being so fretful. They were all women, and what kind of that "innocence" she was talking about? The girl humphed and walked to the dresser nearby.

"Of all the days to intrude upon our peaceful life." Momoko Takamachi let out an exasperating breath as she pulled down the blanket. She had done this before, frequently, dressing Shiro's wounds every time he came back from a hunting session. She could not comprehend why he enjoyed said activity so much. To her, it was dangerous and time-wasting.

"The ladies are coming by this afternoon for tea." Momoko said, breaking the silence.

"I'm feeling very sick all of a sudden." Nanoha sighed. She dreaded every minute she had to endure in the tea room whenever the "ladies" came over. Oh, how she hated entertaining those old garrulous women whose subjects they talked about were of proper manners and the dresses and many kinds of stupid things. She didn't understand how her mother could stand those women. Then again, her mother could be counted as one of those so-called "ladies". In her mind, a woman should be allowed to do so much more. For instance, a woman should learn how to shoot instead of tea manners. She has to know how to protect herself from who knows what's going on out there. And a woman could ride a horse whenever she wants, wherever she likes without her mother saying it's inappropriate.

"Mind yourself, Nanoha. Those ladies are models of manners and behavior." The older woman chided. "There."

Nanoha turned around to see her mother had draped a piece of cloth over the private area of the unconscious blonde. Now she can see how messy the wound was. There was three round tiny holes made by the rake and blood was dripping down on two sides of her thigh. She almost felt sorry for the blonde if her eyes hadn't wandered too high up. Nanoha could make out under that unintentionally thin cloth there was a subtle curve to the hips and a dark triangle of blond hair at the base of her toned abdomen. Her eyes roamed down two firm muscular thighs, slightly glistened with a mixture of sweat and blood. The auburn-hair girl found herself blushing for the second time that day. She didn't know why the blonde had such great effect on her. She told herself that it was because she'd never seen a woman dressed in men clothing and that she was just curious. She tried to deny the truth that the fascinating stranger had stirred something deep down inside.

The sound of broken glass downstairs broke her trance of thinking. There was some movement and someone was shouting.

"Nothing happened. A poor, misguided robin has broken a windowpane. I was merely dusting the liquor cabinet." Nanoha heard her farther said. She smiled inwardly at how silly he was, made up such lame excuse for his drinking affair.

"What a manufactured lie." Her mother sighed. She dropped a fresh white strip of bandage she was holding on the bedside table and hurried outside, heading downstairs to where the commotion was.

Nanoha waited for her mother's voice to disappear completely out of her earshot and slowly, she moved closer to the bed. She stopped for a moment then knelt at the bedside. There, she watched the sleeping blonde. Even though caked in dirt, the blonde's face was beautiful, Nanoha noted. Sculpted eyebrows slightly furrowed, long eyelashes fluttered as sweat rolled down her temples. Dry pink lips opened slightly and she seemed to mumble something incoherent. A sweat made its way to the blonde beauty's dimpled chin and slowly ran down her tanned neck.

Nanoha absent-mindedly licked her lip. She felt her face grew hot all of a sudden and the air, as well, turned humid. Sapphire eyes wandered down ample chest to a flat toned stomach and stopped again at the area where a thin cloth was draped over. Her traitorous hand reached for the hem of the cloth. She had this strange urge to see what was underneath. She needed to see.

Just when she was about to lift it up, crimson eyes flutter opened. Nanoha immediately let go of the cloth, she looked at the blonde in panic.

"You're having a dream. This isn't really happening." She whispered urgently and tried to stand up.

With lightning speed, the blonde grabbed the young woman, pulling her close so that their faces were inches apart. Nanoha was speechless for one her mouth was covered by a rough hand and two she was too stunned by the fact that she could feel the other girl's hot breath all over her face.

"I want my land." She muttered before falling back to sleep.

Nanoha stared at the girl for a moment before bolting right up as her mother made her way back to the room.

"What became of the man I married? Some other man's replaced him and goes about with his name." Momoko cried. She looked at her daughter to receive a shrug as the girl walked out of the room.

Nanoha Takamachi was beyond bored. She was now sitting in the tea room with her mother's "ladies".

"A murderous insurgent under your own roof!"

"How horrible!"

"She's as ugly as sin," Momoko said as she offered the women tea. "And the most vicious creature I've ever set eyes upon."

Nanoha rolled her eyes at her mother exaggerated display. Opposed to her mother thoughts, she found the blonde was the most intriguing thing she had ever encountered. She would go upstairs right now to watch the girl again if these old women wouldn't swarm around her like flies.

"Did you get a look at her, Nanoha?"

"A peek." The auburn-hair girl smiled bashfully. She knew all too well that she did not just have "a peek" at the sleeping beauty upstairs.

"Nanoha, what is your collar doing?" Momoko interrupted.

"It's choking me." Nanoha reached for her unbuttoned collar and whispered. Let her be damned but the stupid high-designed collar was tightening around her throat and she couldn't breathe.

"Well, do it up. Better to choke than to be vulgar." The older woman fixed the girl with a steady gaze as she was doing up her daughter's button. Nanoha was cursing inwardly at nothing in particular when she heard someone at the main door.

"I hear a sound." A woman uttered.

"Let us hope it's Yunno Srcya." Momoko commented. She moved past her daughter to stand behind the other women.

"We've come for your prisoner, Mr. Takamachi." Nanoha knew who that voice belonged to. She shrank back with a great dread in her heart. Yunno Scrya, of all people! He would never leave her be. She knew he had laid eyes on her, and of course, her father's estate, too and he would never back down if he didn't get what he had aimed for.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Takamachi. Good afternoon, ladies." Yunno smiled sweetly as he stopped at the threshold of the tea room to pass his hat to a servant and stepped inside. He was tall and had long thin blond hair, a dull color, tied back at the base of his neck. Green round glasses made he look wiser and even more mature compare to his age. He was wearing a light green suit with a yellow silk tie and Nanoha wondered how can green be that boring whenever the man appeared in one.

"Speak of the sun and we see its rays." Momoko smiled back, eyes shimmering in delight.

"Oh, my goodness, we were so frightened." The women began their non-stop rambling about how scared they were and that they needed more protection. Sapphire eyes darted to the ceiling in annoyance. Seriously, can these women shut up for a second? She began to feel her veins popping out of her temples.

"Keep calm. You're safe and protected. Go back to your sinful card playing." He said a little too seductively and Nanoha couldn't help but felt slightly disgusted. But the women were enjoying his flirty little joke and giggling like schoolgirls together. Yunno was pleased to see the ladies took in his presence well but what captured him at the moment were not them, it was a young woman with auburn hair and a slightly annoyed face.

"Hello, Nanoha." He looked at her affectionately, seductive smile still in place. He walked pass the old women gracefully and stood before her, his eyes never left hers.

"Hello Yunno." Nanoha forced a smile. One reason she didn't like being near the man was because her jaws felt terribly sore as she strained them to smile for him every time he said something that was supposed to be funny.

"My, how handsome he is." Nanoha heard a woman exclaimed. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes for Yunno was looking at her intensely.

"He's a brilliant young man. He was educated at Uminary College. He manages all my husband's business affairs." And there went her mother, praising him to high heaven. Yeah, right. She knew he was talented and smart and good-looking and was the dream man of all high-class young women. Her mother had been saying how lucky she was to have such a gentleman cared deep for and that she and her father would want nothing else than to see her as his wife someday. Nanoha shuddered as she envisioned herself being married off to Yunno Scrya. Thoughts of everyday doing the weaving stuff, smiling for him whenever he talked filled her brain. And at night- She violently shut down the chain of images her mind was creating.

"Nanoha, the ladies and I would like you to play the piano." Momoko's voice cut through her thoughts as the older woman smiled warmly at her daughter.

Sapphire eyes turned dull as she heard her mother's demand. The young woman was tempted to turn her mother down but to disobey her means no more riding in the morning and she'd be dead if she forbade her the only sanity in this house. So she complied with the request. Auburn hair shined glossily as the sunlight through the ceiling-high windows hit her sitting figure as the young woman's long slender fingers glided gracefully on the piano keyboard, playing Beethoven's famous hit: The Moonlight Sonata. All occupants of the room froze, the servants paused whatever they were doing as if they were hypnotized by the beautiful music. Suddenly, the auburn-hair beauty stopped dead. She paused for a moment as if to contemplate something then with a much faster pace, her delicate hands were on the piano again, gliding frenziedly.

"Good gracious, child." Momoko exclaimed in pure shock.

"It's band music, Mother. It's very modern. It's from America." Nanoha replied, grinning. She could feel the excitement consuming her mind, her body. Sapphire eyes glittered with joy as her fingers thumbing a little too hard on the keyboard. She felt so wild and free whenever she played this song.

Fate was broken out of her dreaming state when she heard someone playing a piano. Whoever playing this was magnificent because even though Fate had no idea which song it was, she felt her heart dancing within her chest. She looked down and found she was naked from the waist down and her right thigh was freshly bandaged. Not bothering giving a thought about the state she was in, the blonde looked about and found her cloths were hanging at the back of a chair. She hastily dressed and made her way to the door. She felt a little painful when she moved but compare to her initial state, it was way better.

As she turned the doorknob she realized that the door was locked from the outside. Fate cursed under her breath and moved about to find something that could help her escape. The young blonde looked out the window to find she was far high from the ground and with her injured leg, there was no way she could jump down. She turned back to face the room. There was nothing hard enough for her to break the door. Fate cursed again. If she couldn't get out of here, she would be dead by tomorrow for her attempt to murder a person, worse of all, a landlord.

Burgundy eyes landed on some spare bandages that weren't used and her mind clicked. The blonde grabbed the white strips of cloth and hurriedly wrapped her right hand with them. She kept on winding the cloth around her hand until it was thick enough and got back to the door. Using all her strength, Fate punched a hole through the wooden door to be left feeling a little numb in the knuckles. Fate thanked her sister silently. All those days practice punching Alicia and the bastard-of-a cousin made her fists stronger and harder.

The blonde stumbled downstairs, trying her best to keep as quiet as possible. Her plan was to escape the mansion without a trace just like the way she had entered it. There were only a few stairs left and Fate would be on the ground but she stopped dead. Burgundy turned blood-red as the blonde caught sight of her enemy. Though it was a blur memory to her, Fate could never forget the face of the bastard that burned her house, Yunno Scrya. She felt her blood boiling and the only thought within the blonde's mind right now was to kill.

As she hastily made her way down, claret collided with sapphire. In an instant, Fate swore she felt electricity ran through her body. The effect was so strong that she tripped and the next thing Fate knew, she was lying on her stomach, face flat on the ground. She suppressed the groan that threatened to escape her mouth as she saw Yunno Scrya approaching.

"Nanoha, stay back." The tall man commanded when he saw the auburn-hair girl stood up and walked to the direction of the dirty blonde. Nanoha gave him a cold glare but stopped anyway. After all, she didn't know what that blonde stranger could do. She might harm her if she got any closer.

"Careful, kid. Your life's worth little as it is." Yunno warned as he watched Fate struggled to get up.

"You're the bastard that burned my mother's house." Throwing him a death glare, the red-eye girl growled under her breath.

"I've burned many houses in the line of duty. Am I meant to remember yours?" The man chuckled. The girl almost got his pity.

Lightning hands reached out underneath Yunno and pulled hard at the rug he was standing on. Too stunned at the quick move, the blond man couldn't keep his balance and fell flat on the ground with a thud. He tried to get up immediately but Fate was faster. She jumped up and stepped on his neck with her right foot, pinning him down even more to the floor.

"Maybe you'll remember this." Fate hissed and spat on his face.

Yunno's man came in and hit the blonde rebel's still injured thigh with his gun barrel, making her cried out in agony. It hurt so much that the blonde couldn't stand anymore. She dropped to the floor and groaned out loud, hands hugging her thigh.

Yunno got up, his face turned purple as the blood rushed to his head. "Pistols, tomorrow at dawn." He wiped his face with a handkerchief and threw it at the writhing blonde on the floor. "Get her upstairs." He yelled. With other two men, they carried the blonde forcefully upstairs.

Nanoha was left pondering. In her entire life, she'd never met someone as brave and headstrong as the red-eye blonde. Petit pink lips curved into a small smile as the auburn-hair beauty gazed mischievously over the place the blonde rebel had been earlier before returning to the tea room with her mother and the women.

Fate was pacing the room, using a chair as the cane to support her weight. Ever since the servant had hit her wound, she found it difficult for her to walk. She knew she was at her dead-end. They locked her in that same room and nailed wooden bars over the outer side of the door. And to top it off, a guard, who was snoring outside, was drafted in with a gun to make sure she would not escape. Fate sighed heavily. Maybe tonight would be the last night she spent breathing. She regretted her childish action and she prayed to her mother from heaven to forgive her.

A quiet sound outside the window broke the blonde out of her miserable thoughts. Fate turned around to find a ladder was leaning on the windowsill and someone was climbing up. It was the girl with auburn hair, the daughter of the landlord.

Nanoha spared the blonde a glance before pushing the window open. She climbed in and tripped her damnable long frilly dress and landed on the floor with her butt. The girl quickly stood up and regained her composure but could not hide a blush creeping up her cheeks. She shyly stole a glance at Fate to find the blonde staring blankly right back at her.

"I'm running away." Nanoha finally broke the starring contest. She noted that whenever they met, she and the blonde always played this game. "Excuse me. There's something in here I need." She cautiously walked pass the stunned blonde and made her way to the dresser. "Perhaps you're wondering why I'm running away." Sapphire eyes still hadn't left burgundy as Nanoha reached behind the dresser and drew out a small key. She moved to the bed and knelt down, pulling out a black leather box. "Well, I'll tell you." She put the key to the keyhole and turned, the box opened. "I'm running away because I'm modern. I'm modern, and I'm going to a modern place. If I stay here, my mother will turn me into one of her stuffy old friends." The auburn-hair girl rummaged through a bunch of papers and pictures as if she was finding something to show the blonde. "No, thank you. I'm a little more interesting than that. I'm very smart, and I'm very modern. That's all you need to know about me."

Fate listened to the shorter girl's ramble half-heartedly. What the girl was saying confused her. Why would she want to run away from all this? She was the landlord's only daughter, she had a huge mansion with many servants who would serve her till she be an old lady and she had plenty of land to do God-know-what. Why would she run away from this heaven?

"Girl, here! Have a look at this." Nanoha exclaimed. She drew out a piece of paper, a yellowish flyer. "Look!"

Fate stared at the paper for a moment and slowly turned her head away. She looked down at her feet, tried her best not to feel ashamed.

"Oh…You can't read, can you? How pathetic." The auburn-hair beauty felt a great sadness swept over her heart. She felt sympathetic towards the tall blonde. Not many people in this land were well-educated like her, Nanoha realized. For once in her life, she considered herself lucky to be able to go to school.

" 'Land', it says."

"Land?" The blonde turned around and looked straight into sky-like orbs. Her face was a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

" 'Wanted: strong, healthy men and women. Every resident of the United States is entitled to 160 acres of land.'" The landlord's daughter continued to read. "They've got so much of it they give it away for free." She grinned at the blonde and stretched out the paper in front of the taller girl.

"No land is given away," Fate reached out and snatched the yellow flyer away from the shorter girl's grasp. "in any part of the world." She hissed.

"In America it is..." Nanoha threw out her chest. "and I'm going there. I'm going to have a place of my own." She said defiantly, eyes sparkling like diamonds. "And I will have horses on it, and I will raise them... and I will ride them any way I please."

"What do you need more land for? You own half of Ireland as it is!" Fate scowled at the sapphire-eye beauty. She began to feel annoyed. The girl before her was talking nonsense and plus, she was having a spasm of pain rushing through her thigh. "You took it. You people did." The blonde crumpled the paper in her palm and threw it away in anger.

"I didn't take it."

"You just live here all fancied up on rent...and broken backs."

"Girl, you said you wanted land. If that's what you want, then come with me." Nanoha walked to where the violently crumpled paper landed and unfolded it. She smoothed out the hem and put it back inside her black box. "A woman dare not travel alone yet you did." She began. "You're brave, you shoot men, you step on their necks." She turned to the blonde, eyes wide in excitement. The young woman smiled a little too kindly at the red-eye rebel. "When I saw that, I realized you could be very useful to me."

"Useful?"

"Yes! You could be my serving girl."

"Oh, I see." Came the fake-comprehensive voice after a good few minutes of silence. "I could polish your boots for you."

"They will need a polish now and then." Nanoha was taken aback by how obedient the blonde suddenly be but she chose to play along.

"And I could make you a cup of tea." The blond made an act with both her hands as if she was serving tea.

"When tea time calls for it, yes."

"I'll throw the tea in your face and I'll piss on your boots before I serve you! Get out!" Fate shouted at the other girl's face and shoved her back to the still opened window. After all the girl was a landlord's daughter, she was just like them. Fate cursed herself for ever thinking that the beauty before her was different.

"I'll pay you threepence a day."

"Get out!"

Nanoha huffed and climbed out of the window. She heard the blonde mumbling something about the duel tomorrow and how she was going to honor it. How stupid! She thought. Yunno might be boring and all but there was one thing that he could go bragging about: shooting. Yes, he'd never lost a duel in his entire life. And tomorrow, the auburn beauty was sure he would burn a hole through that naïve blonde's chest.

"Ha! You'll never win this duel with Yunno. We've all seen you handle a gun." She mocked, leaning her body against the windowsill. "Girl, I'm giving you your freedom." There was a somewhat desperation in that tone, like she was begging the blonde to change her mind. Oddly, deep down inside, she didn't want the blonde to get harm. No, she didn't want to see the blonde die tomorrow. She'd just met her and she wanted to know more about the striking stranger.

"I'm of Ireland, and I'll stay in Ireland till I die."

And now she really had enough. "That's in about five hours." The landlord's daughter shouted at the impossibly stupid blonde.

Fate said no more and slammed the window shut at the irritating beauty, earning her a startled yelp from said girl. She thought of going to lie down a bit but the images of the earlier conversation with the pretty girl and tomorrow event churned her stomach. She sat down, burgundy orbs sparkling like rubies as she looked distantly at the flickering candle, the only one in the room. Fate sighed and closed her eyes. To tell the truth, she had no idea what she would do to survive tomorrow's duel.