A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, please continue!

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1

Storm Shadow was back in his office, attempting to calm himself down with paperwork before going back home, when Snake Eyes slammed the door opened and stood in the frame, glaring at him with his fists clenched.

"She's over twenty," Tommy said. "Go away."

/* You're disgusting. */

"No, I'm not," Tommy snarled. "Which part of this are you not getting? She's an adult!"

/* That IS the part I don't get! How can she be an adult if she was a tiny baby when she was adopted 16 years ago? */

"Her parents were attacked in her presence when she was twenty. They used a spell to change her back into a baby and transport her into the future to get her away from danger and disguise her. I don't know why they felt they had to make her so hard to find that sending her into the future was necessary, and I don't know how long ago this actually happened. Presumably back when magic was a bit more commonplace."

Snake Eyes crashed into a chair.

/* That would be the dark ages, wouldn't it? */

Storm Shadow nodded.

"Most likely."

/* Swear to me you will not hurt her. */

"Again?"

/* You swore you wouldn't hurt anyone or anything for a few days this morning. Now I want your word that you will NEVER hurt her, in particular. */

Storm Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"Are you blind?" he snarled. "Of course I won't! What kind of monster do you think I am?"

/* You tried to wipe Paris off the surface of the Earth. Not to mention… */

"I really wish you'd get over that. Four cities to save a civilization isn't a bad deal."

/* Swear. */

Storm Shadow sighed heavily and hung his head.

"I swear on all I cherish that I will not hurt the woman I love and in so doing make my own life unbearable," he recited. "Happy?"

/* Not really. */

Snake Eyes pointed at his eyes and then at Storm Shadow to signify that he'd be watching, and left. Storm Shadow rolled his eyes at his back and sat back down at his desk, still needing to calm down, although the problem had changed from his being flustered over Esuma to his being furious with his sword brother.

2

To Esuma, the remaining days to the homecoming game and the dance were a happy blur. "Mr. Nakamura" and she obviously had to act normal whenever other people were around, but they still sneaked in a glance or a sign every now and then, and even when he was perfectly in character and treating her exactly like he would a normal student, the simple knowledge that it was an act transformed it into something incredibly romantic. Anything he did and say had a secret meaning, meant just for her. The fact that their love was forbidden made it an exciting adventure in which she knew they would ultimately be triumphant. Even Falpis' unexplainable daily appearances at school somehow seemed to fit right in by adding another element of mystery to her life.

Today, the day before the big game and the homecoming dance, she forced herself to concentrate on the basket balls she was shooting in her regular gym class. Tommy was going around as Mr. Nakamura, correcting stances, giving advice and shooting a few hoops himself to demonstrate. She knew, of course, that the ninja would be able to hit his target were he shooting upside down and blind folded, but he was making every shot an example, putting himself in the best position, looking straight at the basket, and throwing a perfectly graceful curve that went through the ring without so much as brushing it. She caught herself staring somewhere between his back and his legs and quickly turned her head back to the basket she was trying to get a ball into.

"Esuma? Are you okay? Why are you red?" Diane, next to her, asked.

Esuma felt her cheeks flaring even more and finally figured the only way out was to hide the truth behind another.

"Those pants just look really good on him," she stammered, forcing a giggle.

"Why thank you, Miss Yr," she heard from right behind her.

Her eyes widened and this time, she had to make an effort NOT to giggle and to look completely mortified instead. She turned around, forcing her eyes down. They landed in the worst possible spot and she hurriedly brought them back up to Tommy's face.

He was trying very hard to look stern, and she supposed that it was working on everybody else, but his eyes gave away a hidden smirk.

"If you're quite done admiring my clothes, how about trying to shoot the ball? Let me see your form."

"With all due respect, Sir," Cassey piped in from one basket over, "I don't think she was admiring your clothes."

A chorus of laughter answered that, and then died instantly from Tommy raising one hand. Esuma's face was on fire by then, not so much from Cassey's joke as because when he had said he wanted to see her form, she had automatically thought of something else entirely than her basketball shooting technique.

"That's quite enough of that," Mr. Nakamura said firmly. "Everyone, back to practicing your shots. That includes you, Miss Yr."

She got in position, forced her mind to focus on the orange ball and on the basket, and took her shot. It bounced a bit on the rim but went in.

"Not bad," Mr. Nakamura said. "I think you'll do even better if you don't get distracted. Carry on."

He turned to Diane and the class continued. Esuma stole another glance at the white form just as Diane's ball streaked past him, having bounced wildly on the rim of the basket: a streak of orange against the white clothes.

Her eyes widened briefly. The orange… it didn't belong there, it never had. Until that night, there had been no orange, no monster...

3

Years ago

She holds on to his body, screaming his name, to no avail. Her love, the most important person to her in the whole World, lies dead in her arms, lost forever.

She looks up at the one who did it and her tears redouble: their best friend, tarnished and sent to kill both of them. She doesn't believe her odds of survival are very good and at this point, she doesn't care much, but what will happen to him once he's done his job? Will whatever mad sorcerer who did this to him continue to enslave him, ripping apart his soul by sending him to commit countless atrocities? Will he release him instead to let him live with the memory of what he's done and thus torture him for the rest of his life?

She stares at the changed form: the sorcerer, perhaps to mock his taste for white clothing, has turned her friend into a white monster, breaking the pure color by just one streak of dirty orange linking his head and his heart; a symbol that both his mind and his soul are chained.

The monster that was once her friend bares its teeth in a ferocious grin and raises an arm towards her. She closes her eyes and grips her fiancé's body tighter, waiting for the blow.

Instead, a cool sensation washes over her. Her eyes pop back opened in surprise and she finds herself pulled away from her lover's body, encased in a protective bubble and unable to move. Between the monster and herself, her parents have appeared in full battle gear.

She tries to scream but no sound comes out. She watches, helplessly, as her parents and her best friend start fighting to the death.

4

The present came slowly back in focus and Diane's ball continued its course towards the middle of the gym. Esuma shook her head clear and took another shot while Diane ran after her ball. She missed the basket entirely.

Tommy caught the ball and gave it back to her with a puzzled look.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I got distracted."

He nodded and although his eyes still showed some concern, he turned his attention back to the returning Diane.

The rest of the day went without incident. After her last class, she headed straight for his office. She had resisted doing that on most days, but today, with that horrible vision still dancing in her mind, she needed to be with someone who understood her.

She found him going over some plays for the following day's game. She knocked and smiled at him through the window on his door. He smiled back and motioned her in.

"I'm sorry, am I bothering you?" she asked.

He got up for an answer and hugged her.

"What happened in the gym? Did the dream come back? Are you alright? No headache?" He touched her forehead as he said it, checking for a fever.

"Not the dream, no. A prequel to it," she answered with a nervous giggle. Her voice then lowered to barely a whisper that threatened with each word to break into sobs. "I… that monster killed my fiancé… but he was our friend, he was just being used. He was all white, with this one streak of orange, and you reminded me of him when Diane's ball went flying past you. I saw my parents kill him, and I think they did him a favor… do you really think this is real?"

"I have no idea," he said gently, caressing her cheek. "What we saw the other day was real, but I can't speak to anything else. However…" he hesitated.

"Why would I get a vision like that if it wasn't a memory coming back?" she finished for him.

She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back, pressing her close against him from her waist to the tip of her head. She held on to him for a long time, allowing herself to believe, for a few precious minutes, that as long as she was holding him, she could not possibly lose him.

5

The next day, as far as Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes were concerned, was sheer madness. The whole school was positively shaking with excitement, the basketball players and Mr. Nakamura were being treated like gods descended from above, and not a single person wore anything else than white, lavender and pink. Even the custodians, including Snake Eyes' alter-ego John Smith, had been given special uniforms, mostly white with the school's coat of arms stamped on the chest and the sleeves.

Anybody belonging to a sports team or the cheerleading squad – which had expanded to 15 members in the couple of weeks Mr. Nakamura had been there – wore their uniform all day. Esuma and the other girls were getting almost as much adoration as the players, and Storm Shadow had found himself having a bit of difficulty not reacting to all the boys staring at Esuma. He kept telling himself he couldn't actually blame them, especially when she was wearing a short pleated skirt and a bare-midriff top, but it was difficult to resist glaring at them all.

The electricity in the air was intoxicating and by the time the game started, Storm Shadow could have sworn he was coaching at the World Championship, so disproportionate did the excitement seem.

The crowd had not let up cheering, whistling and screaming throughout the whole game and if nothing else, Storm Shadow had felt his players were giving a good show: they were only ten points behind, up from 20 at half time, when the timer ran out. It was the closest thing to a victory the school had seen in years, but understandably, the crowd's initial reaction had been disappointment.

And then, Esuma had led the cheerleaders in an improvised chant, complete with the best moves they had learned, to congratulate the team on a great game. She had been magnificent: a vision in pink, white and lavender, singing a spell-binding chant with a voice as pure and beautiful as a mermaid's, dancing with the grace and fluidity of a feather fluttering in the breeze. The crowd had gone wilder than ever and the players had grinned and literally puffed up, the shame of losing rightfully replaced by the pride of having done their best.

The crowd was gone now, and Mr. Nakamura was leaning on the door of the change room. The players hardly needed the supervision: they were practically numb from the thrill of the game and the cheers, and unless you counted grinning like idiots, they weren't likely to do anything that could remotely be interpreted as troublesome.

A knock on the door startled him out of a rather pleasant day dream. He cracked opened the door to see who it was, and the Director beamed at him from the other side, gesturing him out. Storm Shadow slipped out, smiling politely, expecting congratulations on the game.

"You're one of the school's heroes, now," the Director said, smiling. "There will be a riot if you don't join the celebration, so I really must ask you to come to the dance tonight. I know, I know, bunch of teenagers with loud music, but they'll be really disappointed if you don't show. So, is there any reason you can't come?"

Storm Shadow kept an impassive face, although he was grinning inside: going to the dance meant spending more time close to Esuma. He knew she was going with one of the boys, but he couldn't care less: she'd still be there, laughing and smiling and possibly dancing – most definitely worth putting up with a party, especially considering her beauty, natural grace and agility made it easy to guess that the sight of Esuma's dancing would be a wondrous one.

"No, sir," he said. "I don't have any other pressing plans… if it'll make the kids happy, I'll stay for the dance, no problem."

The Director's smiled widened and he slapped him amiably on his shoulder.

"Wonderful! Have a great time, Asanuma!"

Storm Shadow smiled at the man's back, certain he was indeed going to enjoy the homecoming dance, blissfully unaware that the spectre of Death was hunting for him that night.

6

Storm Shadow sat with the other chaperones at a table located near the middle of the sitting area of the dance hall. Esuma was even lovelier than he had expected: she had changed into a gorgeous silky white and lavender dress that seemed to have been designed for her and her alone, and she had braided a pink ribbon into her hair to stunning effect. She was flanked by her friends Lily and Marie, who had decided to just accompany each other; by Racno, who was making himself discrete by pretending to be an ornament on her purse; and by the Goodkind boy, Matthew. She flashed him a smile when she saw him looking their way, imitated by the other three teens, and he politely smiled and waved back.

Cartwell, sitting a couple of chairs down from him, chuckled. Storm Shadow shot him a glare before he could help himself. The geography teacher gulped and leaned away a bit, but almost immediately regained his composure when Mr. Nakamura changed his expression from a death stare to a mildly annoyed glance.

"Yikes, Nakamura," Cartwell said. "If looks could kill, I wouldn't want to take you on."

"Sorry, I just have things on my mind."

"You shouldn't call your students 'things'," Mark Brown said in a mock preaching tone.

Storm Shadow carefully kept his expression neutral.

"I'm sorry to say I did not in fact mean the students. I'm afraid I'm not much of a chaperone: my mind is wandering."

"Oh, come off it," Cartwell said. "She looks gorgeous tonight and you just don't want to admit you're not downright blind."

The MC started talking then, and Storm Shadow did not get a chance to answer, which he didn't mind all that much: he couldn't really think of much of a response other than telling the other two men to lay off his girlfriend, and that was of course out of the question.

"All right people!" the MC bellowed into his mike, "I'm told we got all our amazing athletes here, and all our cheerleaders, and even our awesome new coach. Big hand, everyone!"

Everyone clapped. The players and the cheerleaders waved around with big grins, prompting Nakamura to smile and wave as well.

"And now…" the MC said, pausing for effect in a very blatant way, "we have an annual tradition here, that we hold very dear."

Most of the students started cheering, obviously familiar with said tradition. Cartwell and Brown snickered at Nakamura, who suddenly felt a bit worried.

"Athletes of any teams, cheerleaders, Mr. Nakamura; if you would all please join me here at the centre of the dance floor."

The players and the cheerleaders obediently moved to the centre of the floor and Storm Shadow, following some insisting motions from Esuma and several others, got up as well, now wondering just what he had allowed himself to get roped into.

"All riiiiighht!" The MC said. "So allow me to explain, for those of us who don't know, the fine tradition that is the Team Dance! Each of our beloved athletes, cheerleaders and their coach will draw names out of the opposite gender's hat and dance, to cement their union for the rest of the year. We have more girls than boys this year, so I'm afraid some of the boys will have to dance twice. It's going to be random draws, sorry girls, you won't get to choose even if you go second," he finished, winking at Mr. Nakamura, which generated various cat calls and hoots of laughter.

The MC presented the hat containing the boys' names to one of the female athletes. She drew two names out of it, the first one becoming her partner and the second being the next boy to get to draw. That boy drew two girls' names in the same fashion: his partner and the next girl to draw.

Most of the boys were already spoken for when Esuma's turn came, including Matthew. She discretely crossed her fingers behind her back and drew, keeping her face as neutral as she could. She smiled when she saw the name and turned to the other girls who had not drawn yet.

"Sorry guys," she said. "I got Mr. Nakamura!"

There was a chorus of disappointed "Awh!" from the girls who still had to be paired and had hoped to end up with the handsome coach and from the boys who had hoped to end up with the pretty cheerleader.

Storm Shadow graciously offered his arm to Esuma, plastering what he hoped was a purely polite smile on his face. Unnoticed by anyone else than Tommy and Esuma, Racno buzzed approvingly from Esuma's purse. Once everyone was partnered, except for the few girls whose names had not been drawn before all the boys were taken and who would have their turn next, the MC signalled the DJ and a slow song Storm Shadow recognized for being particularly popular lately started playing.

It was a strange feeling – dancing with Esuma was certainly nice, but having to dance to a romantic song while pretending to be a friendly but utterly unromantically attached teacher was tricky to say the least.

Tommy put one hand on Esuma's shoulder and held one of hers with his other one. She put her free hand a bit above his waist and to any observer, they danced as though it was an amusing formality and nothing more.

No one but the secret couple thought anything of the fact the light made Esuma's gown and Mr. Nakamura's suit shine in such a way that it looked as though their auras filled the gap between their bodies; no one but Esuma could see that Mr. Nakamura's smile was not quite his usual one but a more tender version; and no one but Tommy could see that Esuma's pupils were dilated with love, joy and happiness as she gazed at him.

Everyone, however, heard the door to the gymnasium-turned-dance-hall slam open. Those who turned to see who had made such a noisy entrance only saw a blur that dove straight for Mr. Nakamura, who was suddenly standing alone, having shoved Esuma away from himself.

Storm Shadow knew he could either get Esuma away or brace himself, but that he would not have time for both. He pushed the girl he loved away and consequently, was completely defenceless against the Soft Master's tackle. His head hit the floor first, and then the wall as the momentum from his uncle made them slide into it.

The two blows were far from soft, and Storm Shadow found his vision clouded by black stars that he knew would expand to block everything else as he lost consciousness. He struggled to stay awake, willing the darkness away.

"For the murder of my brother," the Soft Master snarled. "tonight, you die!"

Storm Shadow tried to protest, but the older man's hands closed on his throat and the words died before they passed his lips. He heard Esuma scream right before the black stars exploded and the World slipped away.