Kailor: Oh my, the reviews are piling up for this story! Thanks to all of you, so much! Review this chappie too, please!

Naruto: -answers his phone- Hello, Epicenter of the Universe, God speaking.

Nuriko and Kailor: PAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG.

Naruto: SHUT UP!

Rikku: Heh heh...epicenter. Funny word.

"Happy birthday, Setsuna."

That voice...she hadn't heard that voice in many years. She opened her eyes.

Above her was the bottom of a top bunk. The wooden cross bars looked so familiar, yet so foreign. The cream colored mattress on the other side of them pressed downwards, puffing down between the bars in a regular pattern all the way to the foot of the bed. She reached up a shaking hand to touch them-

But her hand wasn't shaking. Was that her hand? No, her hands always shook. And this hand was so smooth and steady, devoid of liver spots and arthritis riddled fingers. The only flaw in this hand was the small, white scar in the soft folds between the thumb and forefinger. The scar of a swordsman...

She sat up, amazed at how easily her muscles obeyed and-muscles!

"You're going to miss the train if you don't hurry up," that voice said again.

Setsuna blinked at the dark-haired woman-no, girl- stepping out of the bathroom. She smiled at Setsuna, pulling on her burgundy blazer. Mana Tatsumiya...

The last time Setsuna had seen Mana they'd been in their forties, fighting a demon together in Russia. She'd heard later on, when Mana died at the age of 78, that she had taken all the money she'd earned over her long life and gave it to a bunch of orphanages and charities around Japan. She'd never pictured Mana as the charitable type.

But then again, maybe Mana wanted it that way.

"Morning, Mana." Was that her voice? Just minutes before it had sounded so rough and dry. No, not minutes before...in the far far off future...

"Morning, Setsuna." Mana wandered into the kitchen to grab a bite of breakfast. "You going to get up soon or are you planning on spending your birthday in bed?"

"I'm getting up," Setsuna said. She glanced around for her wheelchair before mentally slapping herself. She hadn't needed the wheelchair until she was 93 and her legs had been broken while fighting a rogue mage in Africa... How old was she now? "Hey, Mana? How old am I today?"

"Sixteen." Mana called from the kitchen. "You okay, Setsuna? Early onset of Alzheimer's?"

Sixteen...She was a teenager again... "No, just making sure you remembered. Thanks." She took a deep breath and stood. The floor suddenly seemed so far away. Despite knowing she was only five foot, she felt very tall at that moment. She took a few steps, trying not to start crying at how easily she could move. A few more steps and she closed herself in the bathroom, locking the door.

The girl in the mirror blinked back at her, eyes wide and jaw slack. Was that her?

She reached up and ran her hands through her black hair, thrilled by how soft it felt. She was all soft. Her hair, her skin, her hands... There were no wrinkles. No gaps in her teeth. No rough patches. No bald spots on her head. No hair on her legs.

She met her own black eyes in the mirror and laughed, touching her face. She pinched her cheeks and stretched them out, watching them spring right back to where they were. Her hands trailed down her neck to her chest. Holy shit, she had perky breasts again!

Her legs and stomach felt hard and strong and her back-her wings.

When she was 56 she'd gone back to her tribe, head held high to show them that despite their abandonment, she had accepted her white wings and was not ashamed of them. It took half her life to build up the courage and pride to do that.

It turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Angered by her non-repentant attitude, the elders had her captured. She fought hard, but their sheer numbers overpowered her and she'd been chained up in the center of the tribe's village while the elders cut off her wings and her people cheered around them. Luckily, she had passed out around the second cutting and she barely remembered the incident. Konoka and Kaede showed up and saved her, but they were too late to save her wings. The healer did her best to seal them up, but she couldn't regrow them.

Setsuna rushed to pull off her pajama top, breaking buttons in her hurry. Finally she managed to claw the last bit of fabric from her torso and her wings exploded from her back, knocking her and Mana's toothbrushes off the counter and breaking the towel rack off the wall. White feathers floated down around her and she could no longer hold back the tears.

She sank to the floor, her wings wrapped tightly around herself as she cried and pressed her face against the soft down on their insides.

"Setsuna? Are you okay in there?" Mana's voice vibrated through the door and Setsuna cleared her throat, trying to keep her sobs out of her reply.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'll be out in a second."

She had her wings back. She had her muscles back. She was sixteen again.

A few minutes later she grudgingly pulled her wings back into her body and washed the evidence of tears from her face. She replaced the toothbrushes on the counter, tried and failed to fix the towel rack, then pulled her pajama top back on.

Mana was tying her shoes when Setsuna stepped out of the bathroom. "You know you're going to miss the train right?" Her eyes skittered over the missing buttons on Setsuna's shirt, but she didn't comment.

"That's fine," Setsuna said, moving to the closet to get her uniform. "I'm running to school today."

"All the way to the high school? It's a bit farther than the middle school, you know."

That's right. She'd turned sixteen in her first year of high school. She looked over the blazers and ties hanging on her side of the closet, confused. Then she remembered the high school had switched to the same kind of uniforms as the middle school when she was still in 3-A. That meant she was now in 4-A, at the high school. Sixteen...

She hurried into the familiar uniform, not bothering to straighten her tie or button up her blazer. Mana was walking out the door when Setsuna grabbed her sword and raced after her. They trotted together to the bottom floor of the dormitory and Setsuna waved as she shot out the side door and down the street.

She hadn't run in years. Wind lashed at her face and hair, whipping it about. She'd forgotten to put it up like she used to. The way her legs pumped steadily and quickly without a jump or failure sent chills up her spine. Her pulse pounded in her throat. There was no beeping at her hip. It was her own muscles carrying her down the street, not two wheels and a motor. It burned to breathe deeply, but she gasped in puff after puff of sweet morning air. The grin on her face threatened to split her cheeks open, but she couldn't help it.

Buildings and people flew by, just a blur out of the corners of her eyes. People exclaimed as she barreled past them. The concrete beat a jungle rhythym against the soles of her shoes. She bolted across streets so fast that oncoming cars didn't even have time to hit their brakes before she was gone.

She slowed down when she reached the junior high and glanced around, trying to remember which way the high school was. None of the students bustling past her looked like high school students.

She moved over to an alley between the main building and one of the gyms. A drain pipe ran down the side of it and she grabbed hold, hoisting herself up it in little spurts. By the time she reached the top she was panting hard, but it just felt so good to climb and sprint again. She flipped up onto the rooftop and scoured the surrounding buildings.

"Ah, there you are," she spotted the high school's red roof. Getting a running start, she launched herself off of the roof and landed neatly on the roof court of the gymnasium next door. She gulped in a few deep breaths and threw herself over the edge. The trees surrounding the back of the building loomed up at her quickly and she aimed for an outstretched branch below. It bent as she hit it, but she ricocheted off of it and onto the next one before it could break. The forest zoomed by and she let out a laugh that echoed up through the leaves behind her.

The last stragglers were crowding through the doors of the high school when she arrived, clutching her ribs. It hurt like crazy, but she loved it.

She jogged into the building, her memory painting a quick sketch of where everything was. She mounted the stairs three at a time and power-walked down to their classroom. The little sign hanging by the door read, "4-A" and she grinned, proud of herself for remembering where it was.

The door was just opening when she reached it.

"Setsuna! There you are. We were just wondering where you were!" Negi's bright red hair stuck out the open doorway and his beaming smile matched her own. "We can't start the party without you!"

Party? Oh, right! 4-A had thrown her a party for her birthday that year. Negi pulled her into the room and she realized how odd it was that he was once again shorter than her. Not for long though.

"Happy birthday, Setsuna!" Confetti leapt about her, flipping through the air as the class yelled in chorus. She looked from smiling face to smiling face, amazed at how young everyone looked.

Ayaka and Asuna were standing together by Negi's desk, where food and drink had been set up. Ayaka was rolling her eyes as Asuna said something about the chips being good for her. When Asuna reached out and lightly punched Ayaka in the arm, Setsuna felt tears spring to her eyes.

She hadn't seen the two of them together in decades. But now, here they were: talking, grinning, and insulting each other. Using her blazer sleeve, she quickly wiped the offending moisture from her cheeks.

"Why're you crying, Setsuna?"

Time stopped.

The confetti seemed to freeze in air, the people cheering around her faded into white noise, and she spun to find Konoka standing beside her, grinning. She was so young, so beautiful. The last time she'd seen those deep, brown eyes they'd been closing for the last time. That gorgeous hip length hair had been shorn short and that smile had trembled with age.

"Konoka."

The young healer reached up and straightened Setsuna's tie, patting it once it was perfect. "Happy birthday, Setsuna."