[ Watashi ]

[ Tomodachi ]

[ Saint Seiya ]

[ Clamp ]

[ Fanfiction ]

Ashura's golden eyes fixed on me and she asked :

"So you think a part of this Prophecy refers to me..."

She shook her head sadly.

"But how can it be ? The other is sealed away, and I will never make you free it Fiona... You know that... I would never..."

I bowed my head, ashamed to doubt her, to cause her sorrow. Kujaku gently laid a hand on my left shoulder, saying :

"We all know that Ashura. We trust you, we would trust you with our lives, but... What struck us were the words of the last part of the Prophecy, they were exactly the same as one of the phrases of the one I had had concerning you. And it cannot be a coincidence."

Yasha held Ashura close to him, looking at us steadily.

"So you mean that there is someone, or something who will bring about Chaos on this world. What you mean is we have an enemy here..."

Kujaku sighed.

"Not necessarily. This Vision was more like... The End of the World... Fate that will come about no matter what."

I smiled wearily.

"Forgive me, but I doubt that. You forget about the Dragons... The Dragons fighting in the sky..."

Dragons fighting and killing everything around them... I shuddered. Ashura bit her lower lip worriedly.

"I do not understand. I do not understand what you both Saw. If we want to have a chance at changing this, we must first know what it is about..."

I got up abruptly and began pacing about, angry and frightened. Damn it, what Ashura said was evident. We all knew that, but the Vision had been like a nightmare, there had been no clue as to what it really meant. What were those dragons, why were they fighting each other ? Why... I sighed, seeing an forgotten video tape cover lying on the sofa. Hell, I should have...

"Gods rot it !"

Impossible.

"What is going on Fiona ?"

I picked up the cover and put it on the table. Damn. Damn it. I said between clenched teeth :

"The anime we both watched before leaving for Japan. Take a look at it, will you ?"

Kujaku whispered, reading the title :

"Please Save my Earth... Volume one..."

He paused suddenly.

"Gods !"

On the cover was the drawing of a tall tower, red and white, shining in the night. Kujaku whispered wonderingly :

"This is it... This is the tower we Saw... The tower the Dragons were defending... Tokyo Tower..."

Dragon blood... Painting the tower... Suddenly, I felt tears in my eyes and whispered :

"Kotori-chan..."

Kujaku nodded :

"Yes. Now I understand why I saw her death. She will die in the cataclysm, like all the inhabitants of Tokyo... Well that at least is explained..."

He held me gently.

"And if we can somehow prevent it, then she will live Fiona... Please don't cry... Don't cry beloved..."

I managed to smile.

"Then... We know what we must do. We must go to Japan..."

Yasha shook his head.

"Have you thought that our very presence there might trigger the Fate you Saw ?"

Ashura hugged him.

"But Yasha, if we don't do something, that could bring about Fate too... I could never bear to stay here and wait... We must act, do something or try to at least... Maybe once there we will be able to understand the Prophecy..."

Yasha smiled helplessly, tenderly messing up her hair.

"Well... If you think we must go... I'll always stay at your side, you know that. I Promised you."

I coughed, embarrassed.

"Okay, we do agree on the course of events, but... Ah... I'm afraid there's a small problem : we need money in order to get there and live there..."

I put the last of my water buckets back in place and sighed. Well, that was it for today at least. I stretched like a cat and closed my eyes. Going to Japan cost far too much. Well, not the trip, but we didn't know how much time we'd have to stay there... Oh shit. I chuckled bitterly. It was likely Kujaku's Vision was about the end of humanity, and we were stuck because of money. It was ludicrous. Suddenly, one of the horses whinnied, and I heard rapid footsteps coming my way.

Pascale. I turned towards her, wondering what had brought her to the stalls at this hour. It was quite late... She stopped in front of me, her eyes shining with joy.

"Ah Fiona, I'm so glad you're still here, I wanted you to know... It's done, those people from Kadokawa have contacted me, they will agree to be my sponsors !"

I hugged her, feeling like laughing and crying at the same time.

"This is great Pascale, this is really great. I'm so glad for you..."

I fought my tears, I fought the thought that she might well die before she had a chance to get the place she deserved in the showjumping world, that every human being might well die...

"Of course, there's a small condition..."

I looked at her curiously.

"Oh ? And what is that ?

She shrugged, smiling.

"Oh, the usual : I must spend a year in Japan in one of their training centers, they want to be sure of the person they choose, and of course I will have to bring Cloud and Final..."

I laughed suddenly. Goddess, this was... An angel had to be smiling on my destiny... It was too good to be true ! I told my friend :

"Pascale, I have a great favour to ask of you : could you choose me as the groom who'll accompany you there ?"

Taken aback, she searched my face, then said :

"Well... Steve can't go, he told me so. He's getting married, and he doesn't want to leave his family behind for so long. I am actually looking for someone, and it's true I'd like to have you, I know I can trust you... But you have a job here, and there's Kujaku..."

I shook my head, smiling like a fool.

"I must go to Japan, it's important. I would have gone anyway, so I would have resigned from my job. As for Kujaku, don't worry. He's rich enough to come along, since we'll have a place to stay for free..."

The people who came to him for Seeings sure paid him enough. Pascale shrugged.

"Well, I don't understand a word of what you told me, but it's okay. You're coming with me then."

I laughed happily.

"All right !"

Something that might be hope was blossoming in my heart.

I opened the door and ran towards Kujaku, who caught me in his arms and laughed.

"Hey my lady fair, what's up ?"

I kissed him and then said, hugging him :

"We can start packing. We are going to Japan in a week. I found a way !"

I jumped down from Cloud's back and went to the first fence, still holding the reins. I sighed, looking towards the road. They weren't back yet. Shit, I knew I had to stay to take care of the horses, I had a duty to Pascale, and so they had to investigate alone, but I hated it anyway. The training center was some fifty kilometers away from Tokyo itself, and the accommodations were fantastic. Kujaku, Ashura, Yasha and I had managed to fit in one of the small flats reserved for the grooms. I chuckled, remembering the expression on Pascale's face when she had discovered we were four, not two.

I carefully counted the steps between the four small fences in sequence and smiled. There was exactly one stride between each of them, and Cloud was going to hate the exercice. I cast a last look towards the road, but it was empty. I shook my head, thinking I was stupid. The day was dawning, they would most likely not be back before the middle of the morning anyway. I turned back to the big chestnut stallion and remounted.

Damn. I shortened the reins, muttering :

"Stop that you silly fool..."

Cloud was in a splendid mood today, unfortunately for me. I sighed, wondering why he had decided to play like a colt. He was a quite a spectacle by himself, but fortunately all the people working here were familiar with unruly horses and didn't waste their time watching. I hated being the center of attention when in such a predicament. Unexpectedly, Cloud began a sequence of playful kicks, each stronger than the former one. Hell, I liked rollercoaster drives, but not on horseback. But I had no choice. So I went along with the bouncing, following each movement of Cloud's great body while trying gently to regain control.

Shit, I should never have used a simple snaffle bit. Curse this fool of a stallion for taking advantage of that. Eventually, I managed to stop him and slowly made him go backwards. Suddenly, I noticed that someone was watching me from the other side of the training field. A tall figure in a long dark raincoat. Before I could wonder who that might be, I saw a car parked nearby with a blue cross painted on it, and remembered one of the horses had had violent colics last night. I shook my head. Like every person involved with horses, I dreaded that simple word. Hell, I hoped the horse was going to be all right. I really hoped so. Reflexively, I bowed slightly to the man and kicked Cloud forward, blushing and muttering :

"You did have to play the four year old, didn't you ? Shit, I look like a fool now..."

Cloud snorted and shied away from a white fence, falsely terrfied. The godsrotted monster didn't give a damn about my dignity, that was certain.

I stopped Cloud right in front of the first fence and made him back away slowly. He snorted, but I didn't yield. I wouldn't let him rush towards the fence, he had to work correctly. He had to learn. I patted his neck gently, and then kicked him to a slow canter, turning on the right to go back at the fences.

I leaned on his neck, smiling. Good. Very good, the rythm was...

Wings flapping... Feathers... An eagle... Coming right for us. Damn, we were in the fences's sequence, there was nothing... But why wasn't Cloud reacting ? Didn't he see the great bird of prey ? Instinctively, I moved to avoid the collision and yanked on the reins. Cloud shied and reared, whinnying and I felt myself falling.

I cried out as my left ankle hit one of the fences, and rolled aside. Hell. I got up quickly, ignoring the shooting pain in my leg. Damn it. There was nothing. No eagle anywhere. No bird. Shit. Was I hallucinating ? Cloud was galloping towards the exit of the training field, there was no way I could catch him before he reached it. Swearing, I began to run in his direction when I saw someone barring the way out. Cloud turned, and came back for me. Gods. He was panicked. I had certainly hurt him, I had... Time for remorses later. First, I had to get him back before he could hurt himself. I anticipated his trying to avoid me and grabbed the left rein with a hand and his mane with the other, pulling with all my strength. By some unknown miracle his hooves didn't touch me and he eventually stopped, trembling. I stroked his neck gently, whispering :

"Hush... It's okay little one... Don't be afraid... It's okay..."

I slowly backed up to a fence, leaning on it. Shit. I was trembling too, and my ankle hurt like hell. Cloud snorted.

"Daijoubu desu ka ?"

Suddenly, I saw a man beside us, looking at me with a strange mixture of curiosity and worry. I nodded weakely.

"Hai. Daijoubu desu..."

I blushed.

"Ah... Sorry, can you speak English ?"

He chuckled.

"Of course, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed you knew Nihongo..."

My, he was handsome. There was an aura of power, of strength emanating from him. The gentle spring breeze took in his raven black hair, and I thought that this was not a man one could easily forget. He had lost his right eye, but that simply added a touch of savagery to his dark beauty. Ugh... One berated one's foolish heart for beating faster, and told oneself to focuse on purple eyes instead, which immediately brought a warm feeling to one's heart.

"Are you okay ?"

I nodded.

"Sure. Thank you for you help."

He pursed his lips.

"I'm not so sure that leg of yours is okay..."

I shrugged.

"I'm used to shocks, it's nothing."

He smiled gently.

"Do you mind if I have a look ? I am only a veterinarian, but..."

Oh well... If that could make him happy. I sat down on the fence, and suddenly noticed that the left leg of my riding pants was torn. Very gently, he freed my ankle from it. I sighed inwardly. There was an ugly wide purple stain on my skin. It was really nothing. It would hurt during a few days, and the stain would disappear in a week or so. He nodded.

"Well, it's not very beautiful, but it's not very important, as you said. Now..."

He turned towards Cloud.

"Let's have a look at that overenthusiastic stallion..."

Hell. I hadn't noticed Cloud's favouring of his right hindleg. Oh gods... The veteriniarian examined it during a few minutes, then came back to me, smiling.

"It's nothing. Bathe his leg, and use a salve..."

I smiled back, relieved.

"Of mud and apple vinegar..."

He laughed.

"I should have guessed that a professional would know that trick..."

Suddenly, he became serious, looking at me steadily.

"Tell me, how can a skilled rider like you make such a mistake ?"

I blushed. Great, he had seen everything, he had seen me yanking at the reins and... I sighed, saying :

"I don't know. Really. I thought I saw something... It was... Well it's ridiculous but I thought I saw a great bird of prey rushing towards me, like an eagle... I tried to avoid it... But of course there wasn't anything... I feel really foolish..."

He looked at me during a long time, and then smiled suddenly. His right hand reached out to me and stroked my left cheek softly. He whispered :

"You most certainly are not, my lady..."

I looked at him, paralyzed, unable to move away. Cloud snorted, breaking the spell and I gently freed myself, standing up. At the same time, the breeze carried soft pink petals towards us, and I caught a few in my right hand. I looked at them, and felt an old sadness deep in my heart. A hand rested lightly on my left shoulder.

"Is something wrong ?"

I looked at him and smiled.

"No. Not really..."

I opened my right hand and let the petals be carried away by the breeze. Impulsivlely, I added :

"The first time I saw cherry blossom petals, I was very young, and I remember asking my mother if they were tears... They appeared to me as the tears of a child... Even though it's stupid, I have never been able to stop seeing them as such. So beautiful, so fragile..."

Now why had I told this to a perfect stranger ? Shit. Where was my mind when I needed it ? Now he was certainly thinking I was mad... I felt the gentle kiss of his lips brushing my neck and whirled around, facing him.

"You..."

His left hand stroked my hair.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you. It was not my intention I assure you..."

He smiled softly.

"You are someone very special, my lady."

I shook my head, wondering how I would be able to get out of this mess. Hell, I didn't need this. I really didn't.

"I'm no lady. And certainly not your lady, forgive me, but..."

Suddenly, something beeped, interrupting me. He sighed.

"Well, I'm going to have to leave, I'm needed elsewhere..."

He bowed to me, smiling.

"My name is Sakurazuka Seishirou. I hope I shall have the pleasure and the honor of seeing you again soon..."

Out of habit, I said :

"I am Fiona Watson..."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful lady. It suits you..."

He went away and I looked at his back a long time, wondering what it was I felt. He was attractive. Yes. Seductive. That too. Handsome. Strange... I didn't feel anything even remotely resembling love, but then why had I let him kiss me like that ? I shivered. If I had had to explain, I would have said it was more for a fascination for mystery and danger than anything else. Hell. I was a fool. I went back to Cloud, yearning for the presence of Kujaku.

As I was busy putting some salve on Cloud's hindleg, one of the local grooms came to me and said :

"Have you heard ?"

I shook my head.

"No, what's up ?"

He whispered :

"The police just came. It's said they discovered the body of an important politician in the brushes near the training field..."

I looked at him.

"A murder ?"

He nodded, and I felt a shiver running down my spine.

End of Part 2.

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