Who's The Real One?

Christmas has come and gone with in the past few days. Now it's almost time for the year to end. We were all still in Kyoto, staying in Konoka's home. Things hadn't really changed much, except Asuna was talking to me more now than before. Angel seems like there's something bothering her, Negi's trying to figure out a plan, and KonoSetsu over there, never stopped being so lovey-dovey.

I was outside in the backyard with Negi doing some basic sparring. He'd gotten stronger since the last time we'd trained together, but now that I have full control of my powers there's a chance I could be stronger.

He lunged out at me from the wall guarding the estate, using it as some starter. He pulled his fist back while bending his knees up. What is he going to try? Then before I could move, he managed to grab at my shoulders while balancing himself atop of me. "W-What the?" He then leaned back while talking me back with him. He landed on his feet while I tried to land on all fours. When I did, I heard my wrists pop from the fall.

"Caught you didn't I?" I shook my head while laughing a bit. I pushed myself off the ground while spinning my body clockwise. I tripped him while kicking him up into the air a bit. He flipped himself around while landing on his feet. I pulled myself up while getting back in my stance.

We both just stared at each other until smiles broke out on our faces. Until finally we started laughing from how serious we'd actually gotten. "Ha-ha, looks like we're evenly matched, Negi."

He relaxed himself while nodding his head. He walked over to me while still chuckling a bit. He was wearing his Chinese fighting outfit he'd gotten form Ku Fei. I on the other hand was wearing a white haori shirt, red hakama pants, and some slip on black shoes. My hair was brought up into a high ponytail while it was still able to reach mid-way of my back while bangs were covering my forehead.

"Well, you do know I was still holding back on you, right?" I laughed while standing up straight. .

"Sure, Sensei."

"Hey you guys done?" I turned to see Konoka standing there wearing her clothes from her card. Today was the day Konoka was going to start some combat training. Setsuna was right behind her wearing her usual school uniform. I'd told her she'd needed to kick back and watch the training as it goes.

Setsuna seemed as if she was completely against everything that was going on, well she was, but Konoka actually agreed to this. She seemed quite pumped for everything that was about happen.

I stood by Negi while looking over to Konoka. "Are you ready to begin Konoka?"

She nodded her head while popping some of her knuckles. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Negi chuckled a bit to himself," What would you like to do today? Magic or hand to hand combat?"

She looked from Negi and I trying to decide which one she's wanted to do. Though her eyes stopped on me. "Hand to hand combat!"

I felt the sweat drop while I laughed nervously. "A-All right Konoka. We'll start with a basic exercise."

Negi walked off next to Setsuna, leaving Konoka and I staring each other off. She started stretching while asking me a question, "What basic exercise is that?"

"Catch me if you can," her head went to the side out of confusion," I run. You try and catch me."

"He-he, sounds easy enough, though can I use some spells?"

I nodded my head while feeling a smirk come up on my face. "Yeah, use anything you'd use in a fight. Not like you're going to catch me anyway."

"Oh really? How about a wager?"

"Bring it on Konoka-san."

"If I catch you, you'll have to start calling me Kono-chan like you did when we were younger and also hang out with me for a whole day of catching up."

I felt the shivers go up my spine while feeling a bit of regret. I should have never mentioned the memory! I didn't think it'd make her say something like that!

"Okay, game…starts…now!" I ran straight towards Konoka only to send myself flying right above her towards the roof. Once I got my footing right, I could tell someone was coming after me. Though when I looked back down only to see Konoka float up on a broomstick.

"Here we go!" She flew towards me while I ran my way down. I could feel her right behind me. I could even hear her chanting something under her breath.

"Tenet…lucis." As I kept running something came by both of my sides. I looked only to see these light strips come right at me. I jumped into the air while making a 180 turn trying not to get hurt by those things. That's when those things bumped into each other.

Once I landed on my feet and kept running, but I turned to start running backwards to look at Konoka. "Nice tr-ah!" Though I didn't notice that one of the strips had gotten right in front of me. I tripped off the roof towards the koi pond.

I put my feet out first only to make this huge splash. I looked down to see all of the fish spooked. "Sorry about that guys," I whispered.

"Watch it!" I looked up only to see Konoka coming straight for me. I ducked which sent her to fly right over me. I jumped out of the pond towards the ground, but once I reached it I heard Konoka chanting something else.

"Lux Clones!" I turned around to see Konoka in some sort of pain. That was until something came out of her. It was another her, but a pure white version. Once it was out of her she made her way towards the ground. Though that wasn't the end of it. One more came out of that one, and then another, and another. Until there were ten of them just staring at me.

"Not…good." Before I knew it, they'd all launched out at me. I dodged all of them while other I had to either kick or punch away. Though there was no use against all of them. Eventually they all started to pile atop of me.

There was nothing else I could do. I didn't want to hurt them, but the anger was swelling in me. I looked towards my hands to see the darkness already growing. I knew my ears and tail were out while my eyes probably turned to a red bloody color. Then it busted out of me. "Gah!"

The darkness swelled around me only to send all of the Konokas flying away from me. Though when they hit the ground, they vanished.

The darkness came back into me while I fell to my knees. I knew my eyes were back to their golden color. Though my energy was drained. "D-Damn…that was too close."

That's when I felt someone grab my shoulder. I turned a bit to see it was Konoka. "Gotcha." I tried to laugh, but I couldn't do much but give a weak smile. I fell back from feeling so useless. "Sammy?"

Konoka put my head on her lap. "Are you okay," she asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah…just used up to much energy."

"I can fix that." She placed both her hands by my head. Then the energy started flowing in. It felt nice. To actually be helped, I knew I couldn't be healed anymore, but the fact that I could still get energy is a good thing to know. "W-What the…"

I looked towards Konoka to see she seemed a little confused. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head while pulling her hands away. "N-Nothing, I'm going to go and plan out our day together." I sat up while Konoka ran towards her room. A worried Setsuna right behind her, she seemed like something was bothering her as well.

I got up while making my way towards Negi. He seemed impressed by Konoka's actions. "She seems to be stronger than we thought, huh?"

"Yeah, but did you see her expression?"

"What do you think it was?"

"I have no idea, but I think she felt something in me that she wasn't suppose to."

"You're probably right," both Negi and I turned to see Setsuna leaned up against the edge of the door.

"I thought you went after Konoka."

"I did, but she locked herself in the room saying she needed to make plans for your date."

I shook my head while seeming a bit confused. "It's not a date, she just wants to catch u-," she stopped my words.

"It's a date!"

Setsuna sounded pissed off along with something else. "Are you…jealous?"

"Ha…hahaha!" That's when she started to laugh hysterically. Before I knew it she ran towards me only to pull me up by the collar of my shirt. "You know what? Yes. I am."

"W-Why? I'm not trying to steal Konoka away from you."

"But I can feel it, she feels something for you! Why do you think she ran away? Because she felt the darkness you had? No. Her heart, it was telling her something about you."

I grabbed at her wrist trying to break free, but I didn't want to use my power. "No, she doesn't feel that way at all."

"Of course she does! Just like every other person you meet! They think you're a nice girl, then it makes want to get to know you, then they start liking you, but then you let in some people than others in which causes them to fall in love."

I could feel myself start to shake. "That's not…true!"

Though before I could say anymore, a sudden burst came out of the house. That's when someone came flying out only to hit his or her back on the tree. I though it could have been Asuna, but it was someone more shocking then expected.

"O-Ow, you kick me out of the house because of one little kiss?" It was another me. She rubbed the back of her head. She turned only to see us. "Setsu! I see your part of the plan worked."

"You!" I looked back to the whole in the house to see Setsuna, the real one, standing there looking like she was ready to kill. "How dare you!"

I turned back to the fake, I twisted her wrist already feeling the anger come up. "You were messing with me this whole time, why?"

"Ha. I wasn't lying. That was what she was feeling; we feel everything you guys feel. We are your counterparts after all." I shook my head while twisting it even more.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because, we came out of you two." She swung her arm around only to hit me square in the face. After that everything went blurry. I knew I hit the ground, but I could feel someone next to me.

I opened my eyes to see the other my laid out grunting in pain. "Dang it," she started, "Setsu had to go and punch you in the face." When she opened her eyes she seemed surprised to see me there.

I sat up while she did the same thing. It felt like a mirror was in front of me, but I knew I was myself. I knew this reflection was an actual person. I heard others grunting in which I turned to see both Setsunas slowly getting up themselves.

They both stared at each other until they turned towards us. I spoke up, but so did the other me, "Setsu?" We both turned to look at each other. "Don't act like you're not the copy!" Though before I knew it the other me got up and got into a fighting stance.

"Screw this! I know which one of you tried to lie to me!" She launched herself out at one of the Setsunas. Though when I got up, the other Setsuna that was left pushed me back down, she seemed like she was ready to slit my throat.

"It's just you and me, let's end this!"

"Fine with me!" I kicked her off while feeling the darkness comes out once again. I knew in my right hand was overwhelmed around my arm along with my nails turning into claws.

I noticed she was pulling out her dagger. There was something bothering me, but I didn't let me stop it. I launched out at her while she did the same. We went at each other's throats while punches and kicks were being dodged every second.

It wasn't until three minutes into it that we both grabbed at each other's shoulders and fell on to the ground. I pushed away from her while feeling the power in my hand get stronger and eager to hit something. I noticed her was ready to pierce me with that dagger.

I ran towards her while she did the same. Then before we knew it, I'd dug my claws into her side while her dagger made it's way into my right upper leg.

"Setchan! Sammy!" We both turned to see Konoka with tears ready to pour out of her eyes. Then that's when we both noticed that our reactions were the same.

"Setsu?"

"Sam?"

I felt the guilt build up in me. "Damn…they really got us." I fell back with made me pull my claws out of her while the dagger was still deep in me.

Setsuna fell back too as she put pressure on her wound. Konoka ran towards her already trying to heal her. "Setchan, be calm. I'll heal you real quick."

I looked down towards the dagger while grabbing at it. Then I pulled it out quick only for it to hurt worse than I thought, "Ah!" I looked down to see darkness strips wrap around it only for it to vanish into me within seconds. My wound was healed. "I…really am immortal now…"

"Sammy-kun!" I turned to see Negi getting to worried over me. I snapped myself out of my depressed state while patting him on the head.

"I'm fine Negi."

"Sammy!" The door slammed open only to see Asuna run out while Angel stood there a little ticked off. Asuna grabbed me by my shoulders while pulling me into a hug. "You're okay, I thought Angel already got to you."

I felt a little confused after she said that. Well that was until Angel came up to me, I could already feel the dark aura from her. "A-Ange-ah?"

She slapped my right across the face. I placed my hand to my now stinging cheek while looking at Angel. She had pink and puffy cheeks while some tears were visible in her eyes. "How could you say that to me?"

Negi came up next to me trying to calm her down. "A-Angel-san, Sammy-kun has been here this whole time. You must have seen the clone." I nodded my head while trying to hide behind Negi.

She looked around to see Setsuna being healed and the whole in the wall leading to Konoka's room. She slowly realized what happened and started to turn beat red. That's when she started to bow and apologize. "I-I-I-I'm so sorry!"

I scratched the back of my head while looking at her with a weak smile. I shook my head while having my hand reaching out to her, but she didn't stop moving so it was just there in the air, "It'll be all right. Whatever that other me did, I'm sure she felt that slap. They feel everything the original ones feel."

"O-Oh…well I'm going back to my room to hide my shame." Off she went to her room while still having that huge blush already covering her whole body. I looked to my left side towards Asuna.

"Mind telling me what happened?"

"I don't know honestly, all I heard was that she really wanted to hurt you. Like…well...kill you."

I nodded my head slowly while turning over towards Setsuna. She got up while making her way over to the three of us with a worried Konoka holding her arm making sure her balance was all right.

"I think things have gotten more complicated than we thought," I said while handing Setsuna her dagger back. She gladly took it while placing it back to her waist.

"Yes, it seems like it. Konoka isn't safe anywhere. These clones are too much like us that there's no way to tell them apart."

Negi nodded while placing his hand to his chin, "Setsuna's right, you two almost killed each other thinking you were both fakes. I'm going to go look for a barrier spell." Negi walked off while mumbling to himself.

I looked over to Konoka, "What exactly did my clone do to you?"

Konoka got a light blush on her cheeks while giggling a bit. "She kissed me. After saying that she should have been the one protecting me instead of Setchan."

I knew the shivers went down my spine while I slowly looked over to Setsuna. She seemed unfazed by it. That was until she spoke up, "She said that a weakling like me isn't suited to protect her. That you're…immortal and I could die any second." Konoka grabbed Setsuna's hand trying to calm her down.

"Setsuna…" She looked at me while having this look that said my life has no meaning. I should know, I've seen that on a bunch of people, even myself. "I would never say that. I know that through no matter anything, you'd protect Konoka. Even in death."

She cracked a smile while slowly starting to laugh. I noticed that even Asuna and Konoka started to giggle. I felt the sweat drop down my neck while the confusion kicked in. "W-What's so funny?"

Setsuna stop laughing for a bit while placing her hand on my shoulder, "Ha-ha…whew…it's funny how the childish little Sammy that's a crybaby can actually be very deep sometimes."

I felt the blush come back on my face while a little bit of anger came up. "H-H-Hey!"

They kept laughing while I crossed my arms and puffed out my cheeks. It wasn't long before they started to hug me and apologize, I didn't budge, but eventually I did and even started to laugh. Though things kept running through my mind.

Those clones are going to be more trouble than I thought. I looked over to a smiling Konoka who came in for a hug; I let her while hugging back. I need to make sure Konoka can be able to with stand anything that happens. I noticed Setsuna was still laughing along with Asuna keeping the joke alive. Even if it means she'll probably have to fight one of our clones, that also means she can't hold back. No matter how they act, she'll have to be able to fight those things with our faces. I wonder…will she be able to fight with that person having the face of the one she loves? Will any of us?

Will Konoka be able to go through the training as time passes and the Association getting closer to her? Is Sammy going to with stand her new powers and be able to face the fact that she can't die? Is what the fake Setsuna really true, in which mean the real Setsuna is actually jealous? What happened with fake Sammy and Angel? Find out next time on the next Let's Start Again!

WH: Hey there, everyone! Sorry it's been a while.

Lucky: I've been trying to get Boss to work, I swear.

WH: Forgive me, I've been ill for this past time, but now I'm back and ready to work.

Sammy: Nice to see.

WH: Now I have to go, got lots more stuff to catch up with since I've been gone.

Konoka: Make sure to read, review, and answer the polls. You can even ask some questions, you never know, they'll probably get answered. (Winks) This is Konoka signing off.