Lily229

It's not a filler but there isn't like punch punch action going on. It explains how a lot happens and junk Mod wise and foreshadows a lot for the future of Lily and NL. Hope ya enjoy it

Chapter 22

Lily stood in front of three full body mirrors as two women worked quickly on the long teal gown draped over her. "Is this really necessary?" she asked holding up her arms as one of the women slipped under her to pin two pieces of cloth together. "I mean, Kagami wasn't indited like this was he?"

"Oh yes," the woman with short brown hair replied. She had pins in her mouth but didn't seem to have any idea they were there as she spoke, some of them toppled out. "Only it happened early in the morning, you didn't hear about it?"

"I have a way of being the last to know things," Lily joked. She laid a hand gently over the cris-crossing threads across her midriff. "This is really pretty but this just isn't me."

The woman with long purple hair stood up from working on the trim and ran her fingers up the back of Lily's head. "What do you think we should do about her hair?" The woman asked the other completely ignoring Lily.

"I was thinking tied up in a bun with curled tips," the brown haired woman said excitedly.

Lily sighed. "And just like the being last to know, I have a way of being ignored."

On top of the building across the street from the dress shop, three shady figures dressed in long cloaks gazed in and watched as two women attacked Lily with pins for both her dress and hair. The shortest of the three stared at the tall one in the middle. "Is this really such a good idea Sataksu-sama? Us, being here in NL that is," replied a young girls voice.
"Relax," Sakatsu smiled. "I just want to see my little girl graduate is all." And, I want to make sure nothing goes wrong. A Hacker hasn't become a Mod since Tom's time.

Verm knocked gently on the door frame before entering. "Man on the floor," he joked. The two women stopped working on Lily to sway at Verm's presence. "I didn't think it was possible to turn a troublemaker into a glamorous Moderator."

Lily flicked him off and snarled. "This isn't why I became a Mod you know. A simple announcement would be just fine with me."

"We have to go by the book, you should know that by now, Lily." Verm extended his hand to help her off of the stool she was standing on. "If it's ok with you, I'll be escorting you."

"I think I would rather have Dai, thank you very much." Verm slid his arm through Lily's and guided her to the back of the shop.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're very ungrateful?"

"Ungrateful?!" Lily jerked her arm away. "You're the one who was one of the head Admin's who were about to attack the Crimson Village!"

Verm shifted his eyes to the side. "Yes, and I'm not very proud of that. I'm only human, we do mistakes." He closed his eyes and walked past Lily. "But because of a shining spirit, I was able to see through the darkness." He stopped but kept his back to her. "I felt like I needed to thank that shining spirit, and when I saw her in danger I acted despite what might have happened to me. Heh, sorry about that. Come on, we're going to be late."

A memory appeared into Lily's mind. He protected me? Could it have been...So the arms I fell into when I jumped into the middle of the battle...was Verms? Verm protected me? She came back into reality when she felt Verm slip his arm back through hers.

"Come on, everyone's waiting." He pulled her through a curtain.

"Everyone?" She shielded her eyes when the afternoon kissed her face hard like a hot metal glove smothering her. When her vision cleared she looked around. It seemed that the whole city and then some had gathered to watch her. "Whoa," she whispered as Verm pulled her along. She walked up a steep staircase over the crowd and up to a golden platform where every Mod, S. Mod and Admin in NL was waiting for her. In the center of the golden platform was an orb with what appeared to be tiny bolts of blue lightning inside.

Lily past Daisuke as she walked up and tried to catch his eye but he looked away. It left Lily baffled as she walked past him and closer toward the small orb. Verm stepped aside from Lily and walked over to the golden thick railing. Down below the crowd hushed. Lily saw off in the distance a small, pink dot appear above the crowds head. Lily quickly recognized it to be Sakura standing upon a light post most likely.

"Good afternoon NL members, and welcome to the coronation of our latest member Lily229." Verm waited for the applause to die down before continuing. "As usual we will have the member place her hand upon the orb and then become entwined with the spirit that resides in all NL members." He once again paused for hoots and hollers from the crowd. "Now, Lily, please place your hand on the orb and prepare for the biggest honor this country has to offer. The trip between member to Mod."

Lily looked at the orb. "Entwined with a spirit? That sounds, hell, looks painful."

Kagami chuckled and patted her back. "Come on, Mods can't have any fears. It's just a little prick on the palm." He held up his hand to show her the blue circle in the center of his palm. "Rarely has anyone had problems or side effects other then a slight pinch and some dizziness afterwards. You'll be fine."

Lily took a gulp of air and took tiny steps toward the orb. She hovered her left hand above it and looked around. Everyone leaned forward, mentally egging her on to put her hand on the orb. She heard an awful scream in her head. Don't touch it! It screamed.

Lily looked around fiercely for the young woman who had screamed. "Huh?" She heard the scream again. Don't touch it! it cried.

Lily heard Shino cough and looked at Verm who was ushering her to hurry it up. She shook away the voice screaming in her head and placed her hand down. Blue sparks shot around her. She grit her teeth as pain shot up through her arm, it seemed to be centered around her wrist. She felt as if she was floating, she couldn't see. "I can't breath," she gasped laying a hand just under her breasts.

She was trapped within a vortex. Blue ribbon was wrapped tightly around her naked body, threatening to squeeze her life out of her. She leaned forward and tried to gasp for breath. She opened her eyes slightly to the darkness to see pale hands hover above her neck. "I warned you," it hissed as it grasped onto her neck and squeezed tightly.

Lily stumbled forward and felt her back hit the golden railing. Her vision was becoming blurry. She heard people call her name but she couldn't find the source. "I can't breath." Lily felt the words tumbled from her mouth. She tried to throw her hands around her throat to try and pry the girl's hands from her throat but found her arms bound to her by the blue ribbon.

Sakatsu stepped forward. "She's falling!" she cried as she and the other two began to shove their way through the crowd.

Lily leaned backwards as the last breath escaped her. She felt herself topple over the edge and fall down into the crowd.

"Lily!" cried Daisuke running toward her. He reached for her but only caught the edge of her dress which ripped in his hands. “Lily!”

Back in the darkness Lily tried to fight against the girls grip. The ribbon only held tighter as she struggled. When she felt even the slightest leeway she pushed. "Let me go!" she found her voice and screamed. A light erupted from Lily's body which pushed the ribbon away and dispersed the girls hands.

Sakatsu jumped up with the other two following close behind her. She opened her arms and caught Lily just a few yards away from the ground and continued up. Lily took in a loud gasp of air as it returned to her lungs. She felt like she was flying upwards. She felt a thud as Sakatsu landed on the railing back up on the platform.

Sakatsu's cloak had flown off in the catch. Gasps and looks of fears spread across the crowd as the other two pulled off theirs. "They're Hackers!" a few people cried. "Mods do something!"

H_I, Anto and Tenten opened their hands as Staffs materialized in their hands. Sakatsu ignored them and jumped down. She kept her eyes straight on Daisuke as she slid Lily into his hands. "Good to know where you Mods stand on loyalty to your fellow allies," she said in a very stern voice.

"We weren't expecting her to have that kind of a reaction," Verm said with a cracked smile. "Everyone's different I suppose." He cocked his head to the side as he took a step forward.

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Lily229

"We did not come here to fight," Sakatsu answered him before he could ask her. "We heard their was a new Mod and we wanted to see if she was any good." Sakatsu flashed him a playful smile right back. "It's good to know that the new lapdog is nothing more then a pup, my village can sleep in peace now." Sakatsu flashed a quick glance at Daisuke who was staring down at Lily as she came to. "Consider my debt to the young girl repaid."

Sakatsu turned and walked back to the other two. One had dark curly purple hair and was the shortest of the three. She crossed her arms and smiled. "You guys are slacking on your reflexes."

The one next to her had long wavy blonde hair. "Better step it up, you just never know what might happen."

Sakatsu nodded at the two and the three of them jumped down. The crowd parted as they landed gracefully. Then they strolled through the crowd which parted for them like the red sea. Sakatsu looked over her shoulder back at the platform. Lily, please be safe. I won't always be there to protect you for we will not see each other for a very long time now.

Sakura pushed her way through the crowd and stretched her neck to get as good of a view that she could. "Lily!" she called.

Daisuke sat Lily down on the ground and kneeled next to her. She laid a hand on her forehead and opened her eyes slowly. "Dai?"

Daisuke didn't say anything. The look on his face that Lily saw he was trying to push back tears. She went to comfort him when Shino coughed again. "Umm...Lily?"

Lily leaned against Daisuke and stood up. The crowd was silent as she pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She looked around at the faces and smiled. She held up her hand with the blue circle in the middle of her palm. "Today, I've become a Mod!" she exclaimed.

Sakura jumped up and down and clapped like crazy. Others soon followed her until the whole city was in an uproar. Lily looked over her shoulder has Verm clapped lightly into his palm. He smiled and flashed her a wink. Lily felt a blush creep up her cheeks before she turned back around and flashed everyone a peace sign. She broke out into chuckles and looked over at Verm. "Err...now what?"

She looked down at Daisuke. He slapped his palms into his eyes and pressed hard before jumping up onto his feet and slipping his hand into Lily's. "Come on," he said making sure to keep his eyes turned away from her. He pulled her down the platform. She waved goodbye to everyone before exiting.
Daisuke pulled her along the streets of NL. He led her to a steep hill with a long, stone staircase and pulled her up them. She didn't ask, she knew that he wanted to speak her about something serious. At the top of the stairs was a big plaza of cobblestone. He pulled her to the center. He laid his hands on his shoulders and faced her but kept his head down. "I'm going to show you how to transform."

"Oh...ok, Dai," Lily said a little uncertain.

"Just hold out your hand and call forth your Mod Staff. Then, with the hand that has the circle, say these words: Moderator: Lily229. Transformation."

He let go of Lily's shoulders and stepped back. Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "That's it? Doesn't that seem kind of lame?"

"Just do it."

Lily sighed and held out her hand wide open. "Mod Staff!" she called. A black staff with a small hook on the end and a blue orb on the other materialized in her open hand and she caught it as it became solid. "Whoa! Cool!" Lily coughed. "Ok, now it's time to get serious." She looked over at Daisuke. "Moderator: Lily229. Transformation?" She felt a warmth spread over her body as reality melted away from her. She feared that the transformation would end badly like it did with Rose.

She had this sudden urge to stand on her tip toes and lift her right leg up and place it against the nook in her left leg. She felt her arms lift themselves up above her head, her right arm bent at an angle rested gently against the wrist of her left arm. Rings of blue light rose up around her washing over her body. When they reached her fingertips, she pulled her arms apart and the light exploded into tiny bugs of blue lights that rained down upon her. She swung her right leg around and flicked back her ponytail over her shoulder. The light of reality returned and she found herself standing back next to Daisuke and in the cobblestone plaza.

She looked down at herself and felt around. She wore loose fitting black cargo pants, and a blank tank top that showed just a tiny line of skin between her pants and shirt lining. Her hands were painted black with cloth gloves, on her left hand a hole was perfectly cut out of the glove to show her glowing Mod Circle. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail with strands of hair falling down in a perfect crown around her face. She smiled big at Daisuke. "This is cool!"

"Shino made it so that the Mod Uniform's matched the person's personality." He brought his head up from staring at the ground and smiled at her only with his eyes closed. "You look great. How are you feeling?"

"Dai, what's wrong?" Lily walked over to him and reached for him but he pulled back.

"Nothing, why would you ask such a thing?" He said as he turned his back to her and walked over to the cobblestone wall and rested his hands against it. Lily saw him fiddling with the stone.

"Because you haven't looked me in the eye since this morning. Are you ashamed of me?" Lily gripped onto his shoulder and spun him around. She lightened her grip when she saw the pain on his face. "Dai, talk to me please."

"When I was younger, I lost someone very precious to me. I vowed that I would never let someone precious to me get hurt again. And then, back at the Crimson Village, I couldn't save you. Had it not been for Verm..." He went silent and took her hands. "When you were sleeping I promised you that I would never let you get into danger like that again, then this whole Mod thing happened. I can't protect you, Lily."

Lily smiled and squeezed his hands before releasing them. She flicked his nose with her index finger. "You're such a slacker." He looked a little taken back. His eyes followed Lily as she walked next to him and plopped herself up on the stone wall. She crossed her legs and spoke as if this whole thing was a joke. "Just because I got this new position and fancy clothing you think that you can just slack off." She eyed him through the corner of her eyes. "Dai, even though you may not be there psychically with me, as long as you promise to always be there with me no matter what happens, I'll always come home to you. So stop worrying about slacking off, you're going to set a bad example for me."

Daisuke looked away. "But today, in the coliseum and then back at the platform..."

"Even though you're a S. Mod, Dai, you're still human. It would be wrong for me to be angry with you for not jumping at the drop of a dime, I wouldn't know what to do either." Lily stared down at her black sneakers as she tapped the heels lightly against the cobblestone. "I asked you this morning to promise me that you will never leave my side. As long as you do that, knowing that you're there will give me strength."

Daisuke laced his fingers through hers on the cobblestone wall. They smiled at each other as the sun set happily behind them.

Anto came running up the stairs, huffing slightly from the run. "The dinner is being served and the guest of honor isn't around...Whoa! Is that Lily's Mod Outfit? That's hot!"

Lily jumped down from the wall and blushed. "Nah, it's simple yet functional." She looked over at Daisuke. "Dinner?"

Daisuke nodded as he began walking toward Anto. "Yeah, in honor of your Modship. I've already invited Sakura for you."

Lily looked back at the setting sun, the color was far to bright for the night sky. "Is it a new moon tonight?"

Anto and Daisuke looked at the sky. "Yeah, I think so." Anto replied. He and Daisuke turned and began walking down the stone stairs.

Lily began to follow them, she turned her head to watch the sun set over the land. "Yeah, a new moon is born tonight."

**

Back in her original form and Teal dress, Lily sat down between Verm and Shino in a giant dinning hall. Soft, symphony music played in the background. Verm leaned over and smiled. "So, did you and Daisuke have a good time?"

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Lily229

Lily snorted at him and flicked her napkin in his face before placing it gently in her lap. "He showed me how to transform that's all."

Mini leaned over the table and looked past Verm at Lily. "That was quite an..interesting...coronation earlier this evening, Lily. Leave it to you to spice up tradition." She took her wine glass and tipped it at Lily before taking a small sip.

Lily looked around. Place at the end of the very long table was Sakura. Lily noticed she looked a bit uncomfortable and out of place. Sakura and her connected eyes and Sakura flashed her a thumbs up and then a quick wave. Lily returned the gesture before looking around again, she had food placed in front of her but she wasn't hungry. Lily's eyes met Shino's and she could tell he wasn't happy about being here either. Lily leaned over and whispered to him. "Hey, who are these people?"

Shino ignored her and picked at his food with his fork. Lily was about to ask him again when she felt Verm tapping her shoulder. "These are the Admin’s from NC, BC and BL and some of the S. Mods." Verm stopped and looked around before adding. “Don’t worry, Tallion was not invited.”

Lily looked around. “Know anything about a girl named Mika?”

“I’m not surprised she isn’t here. You know, Tallion and Mika are engaged right?”

“What?!” Lily spat.

A woman wearing a red evening gown whose top looked like it might burst any second came up and shook Lily's hand. "Congratulations Lee. Welcome to our family." She flashed Lily an obviously fake smile and strolled off to go greet others.

Lily looked over at Verm in confused. "Lee?"

Verm shrugged and grabbed his wine glass. "That's Tutu, the second Admin in charge of BF." He threw his head back and downed the whole glass.

"They don't even know my name, hell half of them are to busy stuffing their damn faces to even congratulate me." Lily hissed. She looked around at the mountains of food in front of each person and how many people there were. To Lily it seemed like there were twelve dishes per person. She slid her chair back and stood. "This is disgusting. There's so much food and not enough people to eat it. I'm sure there are people starving outside.”

Verm cocked his head to the side as a waitress came up behind him and poured him more red wine. “What are you doing?”

Lily stomped over to Sakura and whispered in her ear. Sakura’s face brightened as she stood as well. Sakura bobbed over to the other side of the table and each girl took a corner of the white table cloth. “Ready Sakura?”

Sakura smiled and nodded. “On the count of three.”

The girls actions had caused some people to turn and look.

“One.” said Lily with a wicked smile.

Shino picked up his plate and wine glass. “I think I know where this is going.”

“Two.” said Sakura bouncing in her pink high heels in excitement.

H_I, Daisuke and Verm all stood, their faces frozen in confusion. “What are they doing?” asked H_I.

“Lily?” asked Daisuke leaning against the table.

“Three!” the girls exclaimed as both of them tugged hard on the table cloth pulling everything on it down the table. The two girls took off running still clentching onto the tablecloth as they bolted for the door.

Daisuke fell forward as the table cloth was yanked away from him. Some of the items on the table hit some of the petitioners sitting down and minding their own business.

Lily kicked the door to the dinning hall open. Outside the night air was cooling and the street lights littered the town like small lightning bugs. People passing by stopped and stared. Sakura and Lily ran it out until the end of the tablecloth was just outside the doors and threw it down. Lily jumped up onto a nearby bench and cupped her hands to her mouth. “Free food! We put it on Verm’s tab tonight!”

Verm picked up his empty wine glass and shook it to see if there was any drop left from the assault on their table cloth. “Wha?”

Shino casually sat down his plate and glass and began eating as if nothing had happened. The sound of his fork and knife had the patrons turning and staring. Shino looked up at them as he picked up his wine glass to take a sip. “What?” He asked with a shrug.

Members gathered as Sakura ushered them forward. “Sorry we don’t have chairs, but there’s plenty of food for everyone!”

Lily chuckled and jumped unto a street light and spun around to the bottom. “Yeah and no stupid dress code.”

Daisuke and Anto ran to the doors and stared as Lily and Sakura sat next to a group of children who had already began picking at the food. They each grabbed an item of food and began to eat and laugh with them.

Anto leaned against the doorframe and scratched his head. “She’s not normal.”

Daisuke threw his head back and let out a booming laugh. “No, she isn’t. I guess that’s what’s half the fun.”

Verm strolled past them with his empty wine glass. He shook it in front of Lily and shook it upside down. Lily patted the seat next to her and Verm sat. She reached for the wine pitcher and went to pour it when Verm stopped her. “I’m a big boy, I can do it myself, “ he said with a wink.

Lily smiled and looked back in the dinning hall. “Hey, come on. The party is out here.” Shino, Daisuke, H_I and Anto walked out to join them but the rest stayed inside, including Mini. Lily stood up and walked over to them. “What’s wrong with you people? The party’s out there.”

A few of the people stuck their noses in the air. Kagami sighed and followed Ph3 outdoors. Lily narrowed her eyes. “Why does there have to be a barrier between members and Mods anyway?”

“Because that’s just how things are,” Tutu replied.

“Well it isn’t right. In case you all forgotten, this is my dinner and I say who can come and eat and who can’t. And only people who aren’t drowning in their own shit are invited.” Lily eyed the other Mods of NL.

Tenten looked over at Mini. “Well I am pretty hungry.”

Mini sighed and followed Tenten out. “Eating on the ground? How barbaric.” She stopped when she saw Verm. “But if my Vermy Wormy is doing it then it makes it bearable.”

Lily put her hands on her hips and Sylent, SK and Shak followed out as the last of NL. “Hope you all had a lovely time here in the wondrous city of NL.” Lily smiled and waved. “Have a pleasant evening,” she finished as she jerked her body around and stomped off.

Lily strolled back outside and Kagami and H_I jumped in front of her. They spun around and microphones appeared in their hands. Daisuke popped up from between them and with big goofy smiles on their faces they pointed to her, all had microphones to their mouths. “Congrats, Lily.”

Lily took a step back as everyone giggled around her. Lily leaned forward and poked their microphones. “Where the hell do you keep getting these thing?!”

**

Zi ran a long violet fingernail slowly against the neon tank and sighed. “Look at them out there, living it up while we sit here and rot away. She just loves making our lives difficult.”

Ribbon jumped down from a perch in the ceiling and rocked back and forth on her heels. “We just have to find a weak point.”

Deccrix sat back in his rolling chair and crossed his legs. “She has a weak spot, the people she loves. The problem is going and getting those people. You two made a huge mistake tampering yesterday.”

Ribbon flashed him a wink and a smile. “They noticed us though.”

“We don’t want that!” Deccrix slammed his fists against the computer desk behind him. “If anyone figures out what we’re up to they’ll lock that girl away and out of reach. We’re on a schedule here you know!”

“Well, what if we got them to come to us,” said Zi in thought. Ribbon and Deccrix cocked their heads to the side and looked at her. Zi smiled and tapped her long fingernail against her lower lip. “Think about it. That one little pink haired girl, she’s not a Mod and she has that pet Virus. We saw it yesterday. Those bunnies are easy to come by and if we can make her think it’s her Virus...”

“Then we lead her out of NL and away from detection of anyone but Lily..” Ribbon continued.

Deccrix caught on and smiled. “Then Lily will follow her friend and we can get her.”

Ribbon frowned. “But wait, now that she’s a Mod won’t that be a problem?”

Zi shook her head. “Even with Mod Powers, she’s no match for us as long as she can’t go Black Rose.”

“And Lily won’t turn into Black Rose if anyone is around,” snickered Ribbon.
“So the girl works as both bait and a shield for us. Very nice plan, Zi.” He tapped his foot. “But wait. She’s also grown very close to that S. Mod, the one who defeated both Seal Master and One.”

“That was just a fluke is all. Seal Master was a child and One was cocky. We won’t make the same mistakes they did.” Zi snapped.

“Still, what about the S. Mod?” ask Deccrix.

Zi sat back and rubbed the neon tank. “You leave him to me.” After a moments pause her face grew stern. “Ribbon, go find a Rabbit Virus. I have other preparations to take care of.”

well there ya go, told ya it foreshadowed and as you can tell it's going to be a Sakura filled chapter next time. So all those Sakura fans out there have fun xD.

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Lily229

hey guys, wow it's been a REALLY long time since I updated this. Let me fill you in on somethings. Ok first, I don't know if this is going to continue straight through really I just had a burst of creativity. I've been writing for the past hour or so and have written 3 pages on Word. Another thing is Lily's Mod Staff has changed from before, it's now just a thin piece of black metal that can break in half and become a fan. Sorry about that but I had more ideas with it instead of what I had in the last chapter. One final thing, my computer has been acting really funny now so I don't want to lose what I've done so here is HALF of the next chapter. I will write more of it whenever I can but so not as to lose what I do have I'm posting it now. Plus where I've left off is kind of suspensful ^_^. Thanks everyone for being so patient. Oh and another problem with my computer, it's not letting my spell checker work so it might be really bad and I'm to tired to go back through and proof read it so deal with it XD

Chapter 23

Daisuke found himself standing in the bright white vortex.

This….This is where my last dream left off, he thought looking around in the white nothingness.

But it was different, before him, with her back turned to him, stood the frame of Lily. She turned slowly, tears fell gently from her eyes as her long brown hair kissed her cheeks as she turned. “Daisuke…” she hoarsly whispered.

“Lily!” Daisuke cried running for her. This time she stayed where she was and the distance seemed to melt between them. He reached out his hand for her as she did hers. The tips of their fingers touched but something else was there, a barrier between them.

“A barrier?” Daisuke whispered trying to push past it an embrace Lily. He looked at the ground trying to push past oncoming tears.“It’s so paper thin…I can feel your warmth but I can’t embrace you.”

“Help me, Daisuke. It hurts so much.”

“Huh?” Before his eyes Lily stood in a cosuming black puddle that swirled slowly up her body. Her body jolted from the pain but her fingertips never left his.

“Lily!” Daisuke threw back the covers of his bed. He looked down at the palms of his hands, they felt so warm as if her touch had been real. He grabbed his head in frustration. “Damn, what do these dreams mean?!”
He had this burning urge to see her. He jumped up from his bed and made a quick pace for her door. He knocked softly but didn’t wait for a reply before opening the door slightly. He saw her sitting up in bed, stretching. She yawned and looked over at him.

“Mornin’.”

He didn’t return the greeting, he had to get this feeling off of his chest. He walked in further and leaned on the door looking off to the side. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said to me and I realize, you’re right. I don’t give you enough support or credit. Let me make it up to you somehow.”

Lily stared at him and cocked her head to the side. “You don’t have to do that Dai…”

“I want to,” he replied quickly. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Please.”

Lily leaned back against her headboard and looked up at the ceiling for inspiration. “Well I suppose you could take me to dinner. Tonight at five…..”

“My shift is at five,” he replied quickly again. He stole a glance at her then moved his eyes back to the floor. “No, I’ll get someone else to do it, five sounds fine.”

Lily cracked her knuckles and placed them behind her head. “Sounds good, can’t wait.”

Daisuke gripped onto the door handle and quietly closed the door. He pressed his back to the closed down and ran his fingers through his damp hair. “I need a vacation.”

Lily let out a loud sigh that she had been holding in. “What am I ever going to do with that man?”

“Will you focus?” cried a booming voice from the window.

Lily jumped up in surprise and toppled over the edge of the bed. She slapped a hand on top of the bed and pulled herself up. In front of her, ontop of her windowsill sat a plump looking rabbit. “Ro..Roots?! What are you doing here and scaring the crap out of me, what’s wrong with you?!”

Roots hoped down onto the carpeted floor and growled at her. “That’s not important, what is important is those two women that were at the tournament.”

“Yeah it was pretty weird to be up on the roof like that,” Lily rocked back and forth gently on her bottom. She grabbed her feet to keep her steady as she pondered. “I know NL is pretty big but they didn’t look like regular members.”

“Lily, I got a bad feeling about them.”

Across the way Sakura was awaking. She didn’t even remember falling asleep but she noticed her party dress was still on. She rolled out of bed and began to change her clothes. “A nice hot shower would be the perfect ending to a fun night like that,” she said with a giggle. “Hmm?” She turned slowly as Roots began ramming his head slightly against the back of her leg. “What is it Roots? Are you hungry?”

Roots shook his head violently and jumped onto the window’s edge. He jumped down onto the sidewalk and stared up at Sakura as if expecting her to follow.

“Roots? What’s wrong?” She turned quickly and quickly put on clothes. She leaned out the window again to see Roots beginning to trot away. “Hey wait!” she called as she slid down the drain pipe and chased after him deep into the heart of the city.

“How can you get a bad feeling from people you just got a wiff of?” asked Lily fidling with a few trickets on her dresser.

Roots nodded. “I got a gut feeling about them. They way they looked down at you, something’s up. You had better watch your back until you get this bracelet thing figured out.”

“Yeah…” Lily held up her hand and shook it to jingle the charms. “I wish I could remove it, I tried but it just materializes back on my wrist.”

“Do you think it was the bracelet they had their eye on?”

Lily starred silently at the jingling black and white flower petal charms. “Man I hope so, if they can get it off then let them have it.”

“Lily I don’t think giving that bracelet to just anyone is a good idea, we don’t even know what it is.”

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Lily229

Sakura ducked under thick branches and looked around, she was just barely tracking behind Roots. “Roots, where are we going? I’m scared, Roots.”

Roots stopped and Sakura had to catch herself from stepping on him. “Roots?” she reached down to touch him when his body began to jiggle like a bowl of jello. His white skin erupted and swarmed around Sakura and entwined around her. Only from her nose and up was uncovered by the white rope. She struggled as tiny feet jumped down before her.

“Wow that was really easy,”said a tiny little girl. She had bright red ribbons in her blonde hair. “Hello, Sakura-chan,” she replied with a wink.

Who…Who is this? Sakura thought looking up. Someone help me! Roots! Lily!
Roots twitched forward. Lily stopped fiddling with the charms on her bracelet and looked over at the panting rabbit. “What’s wrong?”

“Something’s wrong, with Sakura.”

“Mimi? What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know, but I know something’s wrong!”

Roots lept over to the windowsill and prepared to jump. “Hey wait a second!” Cried Lily running to him. “Lets take the stairs, we’re a good 17 stories up!”

“There’s no time!” Roots cried as he lept from the building.

A urge, a want and a need erupted from Lily. As if on puppet strings, she extended out her left hand and a thin black Mod staff materialized in her hand. She too, lept from the window after Roots. She narrowed her body the best she could to pick up more speed. She extended out her hand and grasped onto the back of Root’s neck fat and pulled him inwards. “Hang on,” she whispered as Roots dug his nails into her chest.

Lily held out her Mod Staff and it snapped in half. She grabbed an end of each and held them behind her as if they were wings. She let the tips of the ends slip and what unfolded was soft blue cloth decorated in light blue swirls.

When the fans were flared, she felt the jolt of the air resistance slowing them down from their high speed as they gently glided down to the solid ground. Lily landed gently on her knees and her arms dropped to her side and lay limping on the sidewalk stilling gripping onto the ends of her fans. She looked down at them but sat their speechless.

“Lily! That was absolutly amazing!” cried Roots. “How did you know you could do that with your Mod Staff?!”

“I don’t know, it was like a natural instinct.”

Roots nodded. “It’s to be expected with the recent Mod Powers added to you. Can’t lose focus! We have to find Sakura.”

Lily snapped back into reality. “You’re right, Roots. Do you know where she’s at?”

“I have an idea, come on Lily!” he cried trotting off down the road.

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