The ocean of blood crept forward. Sumire stood her ground, refusing to
let the suggestion of fear enter her thoughts. She was strong, she was
tough, she was Arcana.

Then she heard it. It wasn't a voice or a thought, but a memory she
hadn't heard before. It seeped into her mind with forceless effectiveness,
walking through her protective barriers as though they had no substance.
Then the words filled every corner of her soul,

"We were best friends. You left me to die once but it wasn't enough for
you. So you came back to finish the job."

"No!" Sumire cried.

The blood began to rush forward in a tidal wave. Arisa's Blood.
Sumire's heart plunged with fear as she turned to run. In her rush she
slipped and tried to scramble to her feet but the blood was all around her,
making her slip as her hands grasped air. Her body became soaked with
blood, and still it rose till only her head remained above water,
desperately gasping for air. Then she tasted the blood in her mouth, she
tried to close it but the blood gushed in, filling her lungs with the sticky
substance. Her screams were garbled as the blood covered her eyes, all
she could see was red everywhere, she desperately struggled but knew
there was no escape.

Sumire woke with a scream. Her head swung back and forth madly,
searching for the blood. With a sigh she rolled her eyes, how could she
have gotten so distressed about a simple dream. She wasn't guilty about
Arisa. Arisa was weak, she was strong, it was as simple as that. She was
Arcana, it was her job, her right, her very duty to kill. She could not
afford human weaknesses.

It was still dark outside but Sumire got up anyway. She did not want to
sleep anymore.

***

Hotaru hugged her pillow closer and murmured "Keisuke". She knew
she was beginning to wake but was desperately trying to cling to her
dream, it was a good one.
With reluctant resignation she lazily opened one eye and glanced at her
clock. "Oh No! I'm going to be SO late! Hotaru announced, leaping out
of bed and throwing on her school fuku, shoes and socks at an amazing
rate.

After beating the record for the shortest time spent by a female in the
bathroom in the morning, Hotaru raced downstairs and proceeded to
zoom to the door. She saw her mother standing in front of it at the last
minute and screeched to a stop half a centimetre away from her.

"Hotaru sweetie" her mother sang pointing at the wall clock behind her.
Hotaru looked at it in disbelief. According to the clock she was in fact
early. "How can that be?" She asked herself, confused until the
realisation hit her.

"Mother! Have you been setting my alarm clock back again?" She asked
accusingly

"Yes dear. You know it's the only way to get you to school on time.
Now calm down and eat your breakfast"

Hotaru slumped down at the table, kicking herself for not remembering
her mother's habit. She could have been dreaming about Keisuke right
now! Ah well, at least she wouldn't be late for school.

***

Natsu raised an eyebrow at Hotaru who skipped up beside her. "You're
on time... Your mum set your clock back again?"

"Yep" Hotaru answered cheerfully as they walked through the school
gates, enjoying the change from her late-to-school climb over the gates.

"So, what did you get up to yesterday?" Natsu asked. "I tried to call you
about helping you with your chemistry but your mum said you left in the
morning with some guy. Something you're not telling me?"

"Oh that was just Tetsuya. He took Hanako and me to a theme park."

"Tetsuya likes theme parks?" Natsu interrupted. "Who would have
thought."

"Yeah but it gets weirder!" Hotaru continued. "Hanako went missing,
but then we found her. She was being held captive by this weird girl with
blades for hands. And then Sumire turned up and...

"Komatane" Sumire's cold, authoritative voice piped in. Hotaru swung
around, an unconsciously guilty look on her face though she hadn't been
saying anything bad.

Sumire gave Natsu a look of contempt before disregarding her as her
attention focussed again on Hotaru. "I'm looking after you today. I
thought tonight I could begin your kendo training."

"I dunno." Hotaru replied. "Natsu and I usually go shopping Mondays
after school." Hotaru saw Sumire's disapproving look and continued
rapidly "You see Mondays are always so stressful after the weekend and
it helps to take a break and do something fun, you should try it, you're
looking awfully tired and..."

"You're weak Komatane. With that attitude you'll never be a good
Arcana. I'll meet you at the kendo room at 4pm. And don't be late." And
with that Sumire turned and marched off.

Natsu pulled a face behind her back and said, "You don't have to go
Hotaru. She doesn't tell you what to do." Hotaru looked worried and
replied "I'd better go anyway. and it was my idea for her to teach me
kendo. It's quite nice of her really.

"I don't know" Natsu said, a concerned look on her face. "I don't think
nice is in her vocabulary"

***

Sagara pulled into his spot in the police station car park. He glanced at
his clock and found he was early so he lay back and rested his eyes He
was dead tired from an exhausting few days. His wife was getting worse
and he had used all his ill-gotten money on treatment, plus Iwakura
Industries' stock was dropping again. A sigh escaped his lips. He was a
good man, an honest man, but some things in life were more important
than honesty.

He reached towards his gun as his passenger door opened, but relaxed
slightly when he saw it was his `niece'. She climbed in and flashed him a
sweet smile, but her eyes held his with fierce intensity.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Sagara asked, trying to hide his
nervousness behind his position of authority.

Maki traced her finger innocently along the car dashboard and
angelically answered "School doesn't start for another 20 mins"

Sagara felt the awkward silence and wished he could fill it by scolding
this rude girl, but he knew his wife would pay for it if he did.

"You need my help again don't you?" Maki finally interrupted the
silence.

Honesty be damned, thought Sagara and he answered weakly "Yes. My
wife."

"I know" Maki replied, a manipulative tone entering her voice. "But we
have a little deal first don't we."

"What is it you want?" Sagara asked defensively.

"It's something we both want really. I just think you might be persuaded
to try a little harder. That man that went missing from hospital, I want
him found. Do that, and your luck may change for the better." And with
that Maki opened her door and climbed out, but before walking off she
flipped something shiny at Sagara. It landed in his lap and he picked it
up to examine it more closely. Dammit, he thought, feeling mocked, it
was only a 5 yen coin.

***

Miyuki sat at the small wooden table, shuffling tarot cards. She could
feel something was in the air, but couldn't quite see what. A reading was
definitely in order.

Drawing the first card, the blind girl felt in her mind that it was The
Fool. "So Joker will return to our midst" she muttered coldly. Miyuki
removed the second card from the deck and placed it next to The Fool. It
was The Moon and symbolised that things were not what they seem.
"Interesting" Miyuki murmured, but another card still called out to her.
She drew the insistent card and immediately felt it was the Ace of
Swords. "Sumire, are you having trouble finding your way in such dim
light?"

"What'cha doin' Miyuki?" Hanako's voice rang cheerfully.

Miyuki had been so involved in reading the cards that she had not
noticed the young girl's entrance, but now she gave Hanako her full
attention and immediately knew that despite her cheery front, something
was wrong. She could detect glimmers of black and red in her aura.

"I'm just doing a reading. Is everything ok Hanako?" Miyuki asked,
concerned.

"Sure, everything's fine. Why wouldn't things be fine? I'm happy aren't
I?" Hanako replied, confirming Miyuki's suspicions with her babbling.

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself" Miyuki said softly
as she got out of her seat and walked over to Hanako. She placed her
hands on Hanako's shoulders and a violent vision of the previous day
flashed in vibrant colours through Miyuki's mind. She saw Hanako's
kidnapping and felt her fear. Through Hanako's eyes she watched
Arisa's bloody death and her own body shuddered with the force of the
vision and feelings she was being subjected to.

Miyuki broke away, heaving for breath. "Hanako" She exclaimed, "why
didn't you tell me about yesterday? You must be terrified!"

"You think I'm just some little kid don't you" Hanako said in disgust.
"I've lived in the streets of Tokyo, I've seen hundreds of deaths. I don't
need *your* help. You're not much older than me and anyway, I can
look after myself." She protested, storming out of the room.

Miyuki sighed, knowing that sometime Hanako would have to stop
lying. To herself and to everyone else.

***

Hotaru gave a sigh of relieve as the school bell rang, signalling the end
of this torturous maths session, and in good time too, her head was
beginning to spin.

She walked cheerfully to her locker and packed her bag. She considered
conveniently forgetting to pack her maths homework, before
remembering that she was on her last warning about not doing
homework, so she reluctantly tossed it in with the rest of the bags
contents.

Upon searching the mass of heads in the bustling corridor, Hotaru
quickly spotted Natsu's blonde hair among the sea of black hair. She
pushed through to find Natsu talking with a girl from their year. She
wasn't in any of Hotaru's classes though, she was in the top classes with
Natsu.

"Hi Hotaru" Natsu said, finally looking up. "Since you're learning kendo
tonight, Kyoko's going shopping with me instead."

Hotaru smiled weakly. "Cool, well. I'd better be going then... off to
kendo..." Then smile fell from her face as she stormed away in the
opposite direction, barely noticing the goodbyes from the girls behind
her. Was she going to lose Natsu's friendship because of this stupid
Arcana thing? Natsu had said she'd stick by her, but maybe she had
changed her mind.

***

Moping, Hotaru walked to the kendo room, her head down in thoughts of
losing her best friend. She arrived and starting unenthusiastically
slogging her way towards the door. As she pulled the heavy door open,
she looked up to meet Sumire's stern face, and her heart sunk further.
She looked at her watch - 4:09pm.

"You're late!" Sumire scolded. "I'm very disappointed Hotaru. I ask for
one thing and you can't even manage that. You'll never be a good
Arcana at this rate, despite *my* best efforts.

"Sorry Sumire" Hotaru said sincerely. "I'll try harder next time."

"We'll see." Sumire shot back, her eyes telling of disbelief. "Now pick
up a shinai. This is your weapon, you must show it respect at all times, is
that clear?"

"Yes Sumire-san" Hotaru chimed.

Over the course of the next hour Sumire proceeded to train Hotaru in
kendo, beginning with Chudan-no-kamae, the basic ready position, and
finishing with Nito-no-kamae, and Hotaru's very clumsy attempts at
using both a long and a short shinai at once.

"Now Hotaru, you know enough moves to fight against me" Sumire said,
a strange look in her eyes that gave Hotaru a chill.

"You know Sumire, I'm getting really tired, I'm not used to all this
exercise. Maybe I should take a break now and we can pick this up some
other time" Hotaru suggested, though the truth was she didn't want to
pick this up again ever, Sumire scared her when she was fighting.

"You want to stop huh?" Sumire said, a patronisingly mocking tone in
her voice. "What if this were a real battle Hotaru? Would you just tell the
enemy you were getting tired and wanted a rain check? You're weak
Hotaru! And I'm going to make a warrior of you!"

With that Sumire charged forward, shinai in hand, screaming "Hajime"
to command the start of a match. She lunged forward and thrust the
bamboo sword at Hotaru who weakly dodged out of the way, leaping to
the side with a yelp as the shinai grazed her side.

"Sumire stop it! You're hurting me!!" Hotaru pleaded, eyes like a
terrified puppy.

"You're WEAK!!!" Sumire screamed. "We cannot afford a weak
Arcana!" Her eyes flashed with an angry passion as she swiped at
Hotaru's legs, who jumped vertically to avoid the rampant shinai.

"Sumire" Hotaru cried desperately. "This isn't you!"

"Oh poor Hotaru, it is I and I'm stronger than ever!" Sumire exclaimed
with a strong conviction. Her Shinai came crashing down and was met
weakly by Hotaru's, which cracked under the pressure, becoming
useless. Hotaru fell to the ground under the pressure but rolled to the side
before Sumire's shinai came crashing down on the floor where she had
been lying. Hotaru stared at the spot, eyes glazed that she had been right
there a second before. That would have hurt.

"B..But we're friends!" Hotaru said sincerely

"I have no friends" Sumire spat bitterly.

Hotaru gazed up at Sumire, pleading with her eyes to stop this rampage,
but Sumire was preparing for Tsuki, a thrust to the throat.

Hotaru saw the shinai come down in slow motion, then saw the intercept
by another shinai, but it wasn't hers... so who was it?

Taken by surprise, Sumire's shinai was thrown across the room by the
hero shinai. Hotaru's eyes slid up the blade, the hand and the arm of her
saviour and was greeted by Joker's face.

"Joker?" She gasped, then leaped to her feet defensively.

"Yes it is I my little firefly" He answered, flashing her a big joker grin
before swinging round to face an astonished Sumire. "So we meet again
swordmaster. What irony that this time it is *you* that *I* am saving the
firefly from."

"You are mistaken Joker" Sumire said cooly, all sense of depravity was
gone from her eyes. "I was simply teaching Hotaru the fine art of kendo,
she was never in any danger."

"Whatever" Joker said shrugging. "But I find it strange that she does not
even wear a do, or any protective gear for that matter."

"Our methods of practise are not your concern Joker, but now that you
have interrupted our session, I believe it is your turn to die." Sumire 
said,
eyes narrowing as her bokken appeared in her hand.

Joker made a motion and Sumire stopped in her tracks, almost, Hotaru
thought, as though she were frozen... Wait... "You've opened one of
those time things haven't you!" Hotaru accused Joker.

"How very clever you are firefly. But don't worry, I only want to talk."
Joker ended with a non-malicious, but unavoidable creepy laugh.

Hotaru shivered. "...Ok, we'll talk. But first I have a question. What's
with the firefly thing?"

Joker smiled. "It's a name we Arcana give The Magician. You see, The
Magician is a very powerful card, it glows brightly like a firefly and
enchants watchers. I too have been enchanted myself, little firefly.
Unfortunately, like the firefly, The Magician has a very short lifespan. All 
too soon its little life is... snuffed out as they say." He grinned broadly 
at
Hotaru's widened eyes.

"But the Arcana are good people, they're my friends, they wouldn't let
me die!" Hotaru protested.

"They're not malicious people who want you to die" Joker confirmed.
"Except maybe that one" he gestured with his head towards Sumire.
"But between you and me, she has a bit of a screw loose. The other
Arcana however, simply understand that you have a purpose. To regain
your magic and use it to benefit their cause. They do not care that you
will reach a point when invoking the magic will mean your own death."

Hotaru grew weary, Joker's words rang too true and it scared her. But he
was evil, she couldn't believe a word he said.

"I know you don't trust me after that trying to kill you thing, but you see
I never really wanted you dead, I just didn't want your memories to
return. Once they do you are locked into your life as an Arcana, as The
Magician. Believe it or not, I do not want to watch as your magic burns
you from the inside out. My attempts were simply to scare you into
giving up life as an Arcana, you are too young and pretty to die such a
wasteful death."

"You lie!" Hotaru said venomously, but her true conviction was not as
strong as her poisoned words.

"Maybe you should talk to Keisuke about this" Joker replied calmly.
"You may get a surprise."

"Maybe I will" Hotaru challenged. Her eyes remained suspicious, but
they flicked nervously at Sumire's frozen form. In truth Hotaru knew she
feared the end of this conversation, as it meant returning to Sumire's
wrath.

"There's another way" Joker said, reading her eyes. "If we work together
we can move the bubble with us, but everyone within the bubble must
will it so."

Hotaru didn't trust Joker but Sumire scared her more right now.
"Alright" She agreed.

Joker took Hotaru's hand and she reluctantly let him. "Walk forward
with me then and concentrate on moving the bubble with us."

They took a few steps forward, so did the bubble.

"Wow, it's working!" Hotaru squealed in delight.

"I told you that you were a powerful Arcana, now will you let me walk
you home?" Joker asked.

Hotaru considered it, then nodded. Even Joker's company had to be
better than being alone right now.

***

Sumire lifted her bokken and paused. "Damn it" she muttered. Joker and
Hotaru had disappeared. She thought about what to do for few seconds,
then started practising kendo on her own. If Hotaru wanted to get herself
in trouble, she could get herself out of it.

***

Joker dropped Hotaru outside her house as promised, releasing the
bubble as he did. He watched her run inside her house and walked away,
hiding his exhaustion for as long as he could before falling to the ground.

He hadn't been healing for long enough and the use of magic for that
long had made him so tired, but luckily Hotaru hadn't noticed the
sweatdrops from his forehead, or hadn't mentioned it if she did. He
crawled into an alleyway intent on lying down until he was feeling
better. He had to remain conscious though. Had to fight his drooping
eyelids and the tumbling feeling in his head. With that thought running
through his mind, he drifted into unconsciousness.

A figure walked towards him, staring at him with piercing red eyes that
dug into his soul. "Harlequin" Joker gasped.

"Yes foolish Joker, you have allowed me to rein again, so lie back. I
have work to do." Harlequin sneered. His cloak billowed out in the wind,
enshrouding him with mystery.

"You will not harm her!" Joker said forcefully as he tried to rise, but he
discovered he was immobile, he could do nothing but lie on the floor and
wait to heal.

"Goodbye Joker, sleep sweetly" Harlequin said softly before walking
off, his footsteps clanking on the pavement as smoke rose around him. In
a second he was gone.

Joker cursed, then continued healing himself. Only in his own health
would he vanquish Harlequin.

Another figure walked towards Joker. He could not tell who it was. He
could not talk or fight. Only accept what was to be.

***

"Where could that guy be?" Sagara asked himself frustrated. He had his
photo up everywhere but there was no word.

"You know I wish we could find him too" Nakamura said, "but I think
you're putting too much work into this Sagara. You need to take a break,
you're not looking too well."

The phone rang on Nakamura's desk. He flung down the tarot cards he
had been unconsciously playing with to reach for it. The nine of cups
slid out of the pack.

"Moshi moshi" Nakamura said into the phone. "Uh huh... yes... thank
you for the information, we'll send someone around straight away."

Hanging up the phone Nakamura gave Sagara a big grin. Looks like our
man's turned up at the local hospital.


Sagara leaped up. "I'll think I'll take this one myself."

***

***Authors Notes***

I hope you enjoyed this Arcana part. This is only my second improfanfic
part, I almost gave up after my Darkstar attempt and I know I'm not the
most wonderful of writers but I've tried my best and I had fun writing
this part, which to me is what really matters. I look forward to any
comments or criticism.

Thanks and good luck to the next writer, Spork Prophet who inspired the
firefly meaning. Also thanks to my wonderful boyfriend Chris who read
most of Arcana just so he could give me ideas, I just may have addicted
him in the process : )
Unfortunately I didn't have time for a prereader, otherwise this would
probably have been better.

I know that Joker got a little burnt in a previous part, but he seems to be
able to heal himself (this was mentioned in a conversation between Maki
and someone) so that is why he was well enough to come to Hotaru's
rescue, but tired very easily.

The 5 yen coin is not really worth anything, but it is considered a good
luck sign.

Sorry if someone who knows more about kendo than me finds a mistake
in something I wrote, all I know of it is what I read off a web page.

I'm also sorry this was a little late, but as most people who have written
for improfanfic know, real life sometimes gets in the way of deadlines.

Thanks for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it : )

... No, I don't know when to stop writing....

Laura
Kittygod@hotmail.com