SCION: It's time once again for another glorious chapter of Tres Fatales!

ADRENALINE: And time once again for you to leave us review!

SCION: Or at least read and enjoy it.

ADRENALINE: But reviews are really nice too.

SCION: Aside from that (*elbows Adrenaline*), in this chapter you'll see the first anime crossover! Don't worry if you're not familiar with it; the story should still make sense.

ADRENALINE: Though let us know in a review if it doesn't.

SCION: Completely ignoring Adrenaline's comments for the moment, you'll also notice in this chapter that we've skewed a couple of timelines just a little bit to fit our needs. Sorry if this bugs you! But, hey, all of our characters are messing around with time; why can't we? :D

ADRENALINE: Enjoy the chapter! And review!

SCION: *sigh*


Across the Expanses of Time
Tres Fatales
Chapter 3: The First Clue

Today Sakura did not go to the Slytherin table at breakfast. Aside from the fact that the Slytherins would make endless rude comments about her loss of the game yesterday, she was too deep in thought to want to talk to anyone. Of course, the Gryffindors hadn't exactly been terribly polite about her performance either -- as a matter of fact, the team captain had bawled her out, and she'd gone to bed amidst a forest of barbed looks and icy comments -- nor was their presence at the breakfast table much more conducive to thought than that of the Slytherins would be. Maybe it was just Scorpius she was avoiding. First off, he'd told her not to get too excited about this and to keep her head in the game, and that was exactly what she hadn't done. Even he, her best friend, would be justified in teasing her about losing when he'd specifically warned her not to get distracted. Secondly, she needed to get things straight in her head before she talked to him again. His theory...

Surprisingly, she hadn't been up all night thinking about it. After having been nearly sleepless the night before and a quidditch game, she'd dropped off rather quickly. Which was why she was pondering it now. In time, in time, in time, she kept repeating pointlessly to herself. It couldn't mean that the people she needed to find were really in different eras, could it? How could that be? She knew time travel was possible, but from what little she'd read it was extremely rare, and usually only spanned a matter of hours or days at the most. How could her siblings have gotten themselves lost in far-flung parts of history? And if they were, how on earth was she supposed to get to them? Worse, what if Scorpius was misinterpreting, and in accepting his theory she was heading down the wrong track entirely?

Her next move should probably be to go back to the library and research time travel. If she found no record of anyone having traveled more than a short distance through time, she would have to try different avenues first. She should probably read through the prophecy a few more times, too, and see what else she could infer from the wording. And, really, it couldn't hurt to discuss it with Scorpius some more... he'd had one good idea; he might have others -- and he was her best friend, after all. Why did she seem to feel reluctant to let him in on any more of this than she had to, though?

As she reached for her pumpkin juice to finish it off before leaving the great hall, the post arrived in a fluttering flurry. Her own bird, a scops-owl named Hatahata, dropped a letter onto her plate and took his place on the perch in front of her to await some manner of reward. A glance at the envelope told her it was from her best friend in Japan, and she pulled it off her plate and out of her eggs before beginning to offer bits of bacon to Hatahata with one hand and herself the last of her pumpkin juice with the other. When her own was satisfied and her juice gone, she snatched up the letter and got to her feet.

Spinning in the direction of the library, she let out a little gasp as she found Scorpius standing just behind her -- almost nose-to-nose with her now that she'd turned. She really should have divined his presence from the frigid atmosphere and unfriendly comments from her housemates at the table, but she'd been too wrapped up in her thoughts. He'd even been returning some of the jabs and she hadn't heard. He hadn't sat down, though. The Gryffindors sometimes tolerated Scorpius' presence, knowing he was Sakura's friend, but after he'd won the last quidditch game of the season against them was definitely not one of those times.

Stepping back hastily, Scorpius raised a brow at her obviously-distracted state. "I wonder what you're thinking about," he commented. Glancing in the direction she was evidently headed he added, "Library?"

She nodded. Throwing a somewhat sheepish wave at the others -- most of whom looked away in exasperation -- she made her way up the long row between the tables, Scorpius just ahead of her.

Once they had reached the corridor, Scorpius was able to fall back and walk at her side. Engaged as she was in reflection on a subject that she was sure would keep her mind fully occupied for quite some time to come, she still had some attention to spare for bracing herself against his inevitable teasing. The longer they walked in silence, the more certain she became that he was planning on saying something really awful to her. Finally she couldn't stand it any longer. "Just say it, all right?!"

His tone was amused as he obeyed. "Maybe if you can find your two family members, they can join you on the quidditch team. With three seekers, you might have a better chance at beating me."

In response to this carefully-crafted remark, Sakura slapped her forehead in some vexation -- completely forgetting the envelope she was holding in her hand and managing to poke herself in the eye in the process. "Ow!" she muttered.

"What's that?" Scorpius wondered.

"Oh, it's from a friend in Japan. I've told you about her. I should probably at least look at it..." She stopped walking, moving closer to the wall to remove herself from the flow of corridor traffic, as she opened the letter. She didn't have the patience for idle talk at this point, but intended to skim the letter anyway, just to make sure it didn't contain any momentous news. Her friend knew about Hogwarts and the magical world, though she was technically a Muggle. Really, she could hardly be called such when she had contact with all sorts of magical creatures and -- and --

Sakura let out the second inadvertent gasp of the day as she remembered. How could she have forgotten??

"Bad news?" Scorpius wondered, misinterpreting her reaction. He stepped to her side and looked over her shoulder, but wrinkled his nose at the handwritten kanji and kana covering the page.

The letter was short, and Sakura felt an almost violently excited and nervous energy bubbling up in her as she read it. Again, how could she have forgotten? In a tense, quiet tone she translated aloud for Scorpius. Then they stood still, staring at each other in astonishment and anticipation, for several long, silent moments.

Sakura--

I'll have a longer letter on the way with all the details and all the usual news as soon as I've finished writing it, but I'm sending this one right away because I think this is important: recently we met a girl here (Sengoku here), a miko named Kitai, who looks just like you when you're not doing crazy things to your face. Her voice sounds just like yours too, she's the same height and build (as far as I can tell), and she seems to have some strange powers too -- though not the same ones you do. I know you've always been curious about your family and where you came from; this might be a clue! If you come back for the summer, you should definitely come down the well with me and meet her.

--Kagome