Firestarter

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Firestarter by Cookie Pixie

Chapter One: Stirring the Embers
Chapter Two: Look Before you Leap
Chapter Three: Memory
Chapter Four: Spellcaster
Chapter Five: Firestarter
Chapter Six: Book of Revelations
Chapter Seven: Restart
Chapter Eight: Water and Fire
Chapter Nine: Firestorm
Epilogue: The Nightmare's Ending
The Flame Tips of Treason A sort of alternate, uneditted ending that I really didn't like.

First: This story is an AU. It's slightly crossed-over with Witch Hunter Robin.
Second: You might want to read Ashes to Ashes as a sort of prequel, but it's not necessary.

Chapter One: Stirring the Embers

Another day in the life of Yomiko Readman, substitute teacher and special agent of the British Library, began in a crowded apartment building in the book district of Jinbouchou. A pile of books on what passed for a bed shifted as our favourite bibliomaniac stirred, awakening to a bright morning sun. The woman slowly pulled herself out of the pile, adjusted her glasses and got out of bed.

At age twenty-two Yomiko resembled any other Japanese woman. Aside from the blue eyes and thick glasses, nothing made Yomiko stand out. She was dressed in a white blouse and black skirt, with a red tie and brown vest. Her long black hair was thick and needed brushing, which Yomiko tackled immediately. After washing up and eating a light breakfast, Yomiko donned a plain beige coat and, armed with some paper and a suitcase, was off for another day of shopping.

It was only noon when Yomiko left the tenth bookstore of the day. Yomiko was disappointed; her favourite bookstore had lacked any new books and Yomiko had been forced to buy an ordinary novel or two to console herself at each shop. maybe she should just call it a day - she had to finish two she had purchased yesterday anyway.

Yomiko looked up and cringed. Instinctively she ducked into a doorway, a cue card springing into her fingers, and held her breath as two men in black trenchcoats passed. Her past dealings with STN-J had been ugly and Yomiko didn't care to meet them again. They hadn't bothered her ever since she had returned to Japan, but recently they had been reappearing a lot; Yomiko now made it a habit to carry some paper on her all the time, just in case.

They didn't seem to be interested in her, however. Partly curious and partly concerned, Yomiko followed them at a distance. For about five minutes they walked up and down the busy streets of the book district.

"She doesn't seem to notice...wait," Yomiko heard one man say into his earpiece. "She's making a move - she's running!"

Light exploded from across the street. People screamed and fled, but the two men and Yomiko fought their way to the centre of the commotion.

It was a fire. It burned a dull orange as it slowly consumed a newspaper stand. Yomiko stared in horror before following the men, who were chasing someone with their guns drawn.

"No," Yomiko muttered. She didn't know who it was, but she had to repay the favour from so many years ago. The agent took off at a run, paper streaming out of her suitcase to follow her.

The street opened onto a large intersection. Normally it would be busy, filled with pedestrians, but gunshots had scared away a large portion of the people. Even now people were still fleeing the scene.

Yomiko took in the victim, who was standing in the centre of the intersection. She wore a loose grey T-shirt, jeans and running shoes. The girl appeared to be in her teens, but two thin black braids and a terrified expression on her face made her look younger.

Before the men could fire, a ribbon of paper shot up one man's leg to drag him to his knees. The second man turned and, seeing another tentacle race towards him, fired on it. Yomiko gasped as, with each green-splattered shot, her paper arm disintegrated; five shots later the Paper Master was unable to control it, allowing the soaked paper to stick lifelessly to the ground.

Sensing weakness, the men fired on Yomiko, but she dodged in a flurry of paper. When they stopped firing The Paper retaliated, sending a rain of razor-edged pages at her assailants. As though the bubble of protection existed, several pieces stopped and drifted to the ground, released from the Paper Master's control. However, even more of them broke through the invisible shield, slicing up the men.

Yomiko averted her gaze at the bloody sight, which barely saved her life; a bullet cut her cheek as she turned. Yomiko fell sideways, waving her arm. Paper from the bodies swirled and rushed up the legs of a third man Yomiko hadn't seen before, rooting him to the ground.

Yomiko ran to the girl. She didn't know what the STN-J used to weaken her powers; The Paper knew that her trap wouldn't hold for long. What mattered was getting this girl out of danger!

Chapter Two: Look Before You Leap

Two days later Yomiko was standing in front of Joker's desk in the British Library. Joker was rubbing his face, clearly agitated. Yomiko had just created and brought a new problem to him; with the rest of his workload leering at him Joker couldn't afford to set aside more time for this.

"Do you realize how much trouble you've caused?" Joker demanded irately. "It took five hours between me and Mr. Gentleman to settle STN down and even more to compensate for the two men you killed! Your Government Craft User designation barely saved you from them!"

"Joker-san, they were trying to kill her!" Yomiko argued, her voice passionate. "It was an act of self-defence!"

"Yomiko, I know you mean to do the right thing, but you cannot interfere whenever you feel like it," Joker said. He looked up at his agent. "STN is a very powerful group and trying to do what is right."

"What about me?" Yomiko demanded. "What about when Donny came for me?"

"That was a different matter altogether," Joker snapped, sitting up suddenly. "You were to be trained as the next Paper Master. As for the girl you...'rescued'," he continued, hesitating over the verb choice, "you must take her back to Tokyo at once." Joker ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure her parents are worried."

"Joker-san!" Yomiko protested. "She will be killed if she returns to Japan!"

"She certainly cannot stay here!" retorted Joker angrily. "What do you intend for us to do with her?"

"Take her in!" Yomiko yelled back. "Train her as a Special Agent. You have ones that don't use powers like me."

"No one is available to train...her." Joker paused, thinking.

"Ah, Joker-san?"

"STN-J was attempting to capture her, were they not?" It was a statement, not a question. "Then she clearly has a power worth worrying over. And since you've mastered your power..."

Yomiko was a bit slow on the uptake. "I don't see your point, Joker-san."

"My point, The Paper," Joker said patiently, "is that you must train her to be a field agent."

"M-m-ME?!" Yomiko flailed. "Teach THAT? Teach WHAT?"

"You are a teacher by profession, The Paper," Joker reminded her.

"World history!" Yomiko protested, backpedalling furiously. "Literature!"

"Yomiko, at this moment no one else is available to train her," Joker said. As an afterthought he added, "I would be able to cover your expenses."

"Expenses?"

"Anything you buy while training this girl will be paid for by us." Joker smiled at Yomiko's happy, then guilty look. "Don't feel bad. I have a feeling that this might be an education for all of us."

Yomiko pumped a fist determinedly. "I'll...I'll do my best!"

* * * * *
Hisaki Ito, age thirteen, citizen of Japan and wanted target of STN's Japanese division, sat on a bench outside Joker's office, desperately attempting a casual eavesdrop. She had been suspicious about someone following her, ever since a downtown bar somehow managed to catch fire. A small confrontation between her and three others had escalated and, well, the rest of the story wrote itself.

Yomiko Readman was a very strange lady, if not flat out insane. In a matter of hours she had put Hisaki on a private plane straight to London, no questions asked. The woman had been very polite and cheerful, but showed hesitation when explaining her actions.

And she absolutely loved books. Walking into the secret level of the British Library had rendered the woman speechless. Hisaki, on an afterthought, had been stunned as well: gigantic bookshelves simply stole her awe. It was like a whole new world existed, just for the book lovers of the planet.

Then what was she doing here, Hisaki asked herself. She stared at her palms. Were they working with the men in black coats? If they were, why had Readman-san gone through extraordinary lengths to rescue her? Hisaki's brown eyes lit up when she recalled the woman's magic. Paper magic. It must be amazing, to be able to do so much with such an ordinary thing.

The door opened and Hisaki looked up to see Readman-san. The woman looked pensive, as though something was bothering her.

"Readman-san?" Hisaki asked cautiously.

"Ah?" Yomiko's head jerked up, then settled for a smile. "Hisaki-san, please call me Yomiko. And we need to talk."

That, Hisaki had learned quite quickly, meant that whatever Yomiko or another official of the British Library said was about to be passed as law on her. Hisaki was getting annoyed at all these adults taking charge of her life, but if they didn't she would more than likely be dead.

"Not here," Yomiko continued. "I have a...house, to stay at. I'll talk when we walk there, it's a long walk." Hisaki didn't argue; it was obvious this was bothering Yomiko too much for Hisaki to try and talk around.

The two girls left the British Library and caught a bus to the edge of town. Yomiko didn't say anything during the ride, but when they got off and started to walk through a field Yomiko broke her silence.

"Hisaki-san, you can't go back to Japan for a while," Yomiko said. "The...people who were hunting for you, they will likely try to...catch you if you go back." Hisaki nodded; she had been expecting that.

"On the other hand...why were they looking for you?"

Hisaki stopped short. "I'm not telling you."

"Hisaki-san, please do not try my patience right now. That organization does not hunt people out of sheer amusement."

"Look," Hisaki said huffily, "I appreciate you saving my life and all, but I'm not going to divulge a thing about why they wanted me."

Yomiko sighed and shook her head. "I am warning you, Hisaki. Tell me why they wanted you."

"Make me."

Faster than Hisaki could blink The Paper held an index card to the side of Hisaki's throat, hovering just over a major artery.

"You know what I can do with paper," Yomiko said in a clipped voice. "You have an ability that is dangerous enough to have STN-J try and capture you. I cannot let you loose because you may only generate more problems. Either you tell me what your power is or I make sure nobody finds out."

"You wouldn't," gasped Hisaki. She stared at Yomiko. The girl had never seen Yomiko so cold before and suddenly she realized just how serious the carefree woman could be.

"I will. Now talk."

"Fire!" Hisaki babbled frantically, feeling the edge of the paper press against her skin. "They...some boys cornered me a week ago, and I was yelling at them, and suddenly I was throwing fire and I don't know how PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I don't know, it just happened, and I did it again and - "

"How do you throw fire?" Yomiko asked curiously. She lowered the card.

"Um..." Hisaki looked away, then turned and flicked her wrist. A thread of gold fire unfurled from her palm, extending outwards. After a few feet the thread broke, extinguishing the flame before it fell into the grass.

"Can you light things on fire with that?" Yomiko asked.

"Yes," Hisaki answered. She looked uneasy. "But it's stronger when I'm angry."

Yomiko held out her index card to the side. "Hit this."

Hisaki frowned, then threw out her hand again. The gold thread shot out to lash at the card. Immediately the card began to burn; with a twitch of Yomiko's fingers the fire went out, leaving behind a smouldering card.

"You'll need to practise this," Yomiko said thoughtfully. She tucked the burned card into her vest and started to walk away; Hisaki hurried to catch up. "I'll be training you in your power. When you're strong enough, the British Library will hire you as an agent and you'll be protected from STN-J."

"An agent?" Hisaki asked eagerly. "Like a secret agent from those spy movies? That's so cool! Are you one - "

"IT IS SERIOUS," Yomiko snapped, spinning on her heel suddenly. Hisaki ran straight into Yomiko's chest and was greeted by Yomiko's furious face. "Being an Agent is a serious matter. It is not fun. It is not 'cool'. And more likely than not, you will be sacrificing something. Do not treat it like a joke. Have I made myself clear?"

Hisaki swallowed. "Yes, Yomiko-sensei." Yomiko quirked an eyebrow at the title.

"Sensei?"

"Well, you're teaching me something, right?"

"I guess..." Yomiko sighed as she turned around to keep walking, Hisaki hurrying to catch up. Personal emotions kept flaring up whenever she talked to Hisaki - was she being too hard on this girl? Hisaki was reminding her of her sudden introduction to the British Library. Was she doing the right thing, trying to train someone whose abilities naturally didn't mix with her own? The agitated agent ran a hand through her hair, thinking it through.

"That's the house we'll be staying at," Yomiko said after a while. She pointed out a one-storey house off to the side of the path. It was run-down and the white paint was peeling, but the front porch looked new and the windows recently cleaned. Hisaki thought that it looked a bit old, but compared to all the apartment buildings back in Tokyo this house looked like one of those mysterious dwellings sought out in storybooks. Yomiko led Hisaki up the steps and with a piece of twisted paper unlocked and opened the door. Inside the house was furnished with wood and whitewash, with a sparse amount of furniture.

"This is your room," Yomiko said after leading Hisaki down the narrow hall and opening one of the doors at the end. A plain and serviceable bedroom, with a hardwood floor and white walls. Bed, desk, chair and dresser. The bed had a fluffy down comforter and large pillows; next to it was a nightstand with a lamp. A half-open folding door revealed an empty closet. "Tomorrow we can go shopping for anything you need. I need to restock the food, anyway.

"Ah, and ground rules." Hisaki looked up at Yomiko, curious. "You do not go into my bedroom, and you do not go downstairs."

"Why?"

"Because." The look in Yomiko's eyes was enough for Hisaki to nod in agreement.

"Good. I'll make some dinner."

Chapter Three: Memory

Yomiko sighed as she shut the door to 'her' bedroom. The idea of having a stranger sleep in it didn't seem right. Yomiko had visited this house once since the incident, and that was only to make sure it was still upright. She had hired some work on the structure and cleaned up the kitchen and sitting room, but the house had otherwise stayed untouched. Everything in 'her' room bore a faint layer of dust.

Yomiko went around the room, looking at things. The desk, with all its papers and pens, were still the same way she had left them. She knelt to clean up the scraps of paper on the floor and place them in the wastebasket. Going to the closet, Yomiko opened the door to be caught by the smell of cedar and the sight of several plain suits.

Yomiko shut the closet door and scanned the room again, now uneasy. Somehow it didn't seem right to sleep in this room. She wanted to preserve this room as much as possible, like Donny would be coming back any day now and she didn't want him to find out that she had been snooping around. Of course, the missing diary would be hard to explain...

The Paper shook her head free of that thought as she left the room. Yomiko closed the door behind her and listened. Hisaki was in the main room; by the sound of the pages and the words the book whispered Yomiko knew that it was one of the tomes she had taken from the library downstairs. Hisaki was what STN-J called a Witch, without a doubt - her power worked better with spells and gestures - but Yomiko had assigned some history for tonight with a short quiz tomorrow. Yomiko herself had already read the book and didn't need to review it.

Quietly Yomiko went downstairs. The stairs opened onto a large underground library, with thousands of whispers surrounding her. At the end were three plush armchairs and a low round table; the fireplace was cold and unlit.

Yomiko wondered if Hisaki would like books. Would it be a good idea to bring someone with fire magic down here? This place felt special to Yomiko - all those quiet and happy moments with Donny came from this room, as opposed to the hanging silence that hung over his bedroom.

Yomiko shook her head as she went back upstairs. She'd have to find a spare blanket and buy a cot tomorrow; this room would make a nice place to sleep for now.

"...Lagu: water, moon, psychic, flow, women's cycles," Hisaki recited, peering at the flashcard Yomiko held up. She rolled her eyes. "Why do I need to know this?"

"You are a Witch," Yomiko explained. She put away the cards. "Your powers are focused on these runes."

"I'm no witch," Hisaki argued.

"Yes you are. You have the genes. What do you think your fire magic is?"

"What about about you? Your power didn't need any writings."

"Runes," Yomiko automatically corrected. "I was trained by someone who had the same power as I do. Runes and spells are a more roundabout way for you to cast your spells, but they're the easiest thing to teach."

"Why not teach me your way?" Hisaki prodded.

"Fire and paper do not mix," Yomiko explained. The tone of her response told Hisaki that Yomiko was close to her irritation limit. The girl shut her mouth.

"You'll practise your fire-throwing ability today," Yomiko said when she heard no complaint from Hisaki.

"You're not teaching me any spells?" Hisaki asked.

"No. You need to work on your range and control. There's no point in teaching you a spell if you can't control it to do what you want."

Hisaki took her first good look at where they were. Yomiko had cleared a large dirt field for Hisaki to work with. The pair of them stood in the centre; a ring of twisted paper encircled them. All around the field, at varying heights and distances, were index cards. Some lay on the ground, others on metals stands or suspended from wires.

"Light what you can on fire," Yomiko instructed. "Completely burn them. Use whatever method you want, as long as you don't leave this circle." Yomiko gingerly stepped over and out of the circle.

"What happens if I do?" Hisaki tried to step out but a part of the circle lifted and caught her leg. Try as she might, Hisaki couldn't pull free.

"It's to make sure you don't cheat." Yomiko gave a bright smile when Hisaki was able to shake off her shackle by re-entering the circle; the girl glared. "Have fun, Hisaki-chan!"

"I am not your friend, you weirdo! We hardly know each other! Hey, when are you coming back? Didn't you - " Hisaki attempted to run after Yomiko but the paper circle caught and tripped the girl.

Hisaki snarled and, without thinking, focused her power and shot it at the rope. The paper caught fire, but burned without actually destroying it. It didn't take long for Hisaki to realize that her leg was still attached to the rope. Frantically she beat out the fire with her hands; when it was out Hisaki collapsed in the middle of the circle, relieved.

As a thought struck her, Hisaki looked at her hands, reddened but otherwise unharmed from fighting the flames. Was she immune to fire or just her own magic? Her fire had also been a lot stronger than what she had shown Yomiko-sensei yesterday - was it just because she was frustrated?

Hisaki sat up, cross-legged, and sought out her first target: a piece of paper no more than an arm's length away from her, lying on the ground. She pointed. Golden flame curled from her fingertip to catch on the corner of the card and slowly consume it.

At this rate it would take Hisaki forever to burn things. Angrily the girl threw out her hand at the card. This time a stream of fire shot from her fingertips, burning the card up in mere moments. Pleased with the result, Hisaki got up and turned in a slow circle, burning any card within a few feet easily. She began to feel her limits stretched when she tried for a card about ten feet away, sitting on a metal stand. No matter how worked up she got, Hisaki couldn't throw her fire far enough to even touch it.

The Japanese girl stood there and growled to herself. Yomiko-sensei had told her to use any method possible to burn what she could. But what else could Hisaki do to throw fire? She certainly couldn't lose her temper; despite the fact that she was irritated about all these cards, it just wasn't enough for Hisaki to throw a righteous temper tantrum, especially if she lost control. What had she learned recently that would help her with her craft, as Yomiko-sensei had once referred to it?

The runes. Images of each rune that she had spent last night memorizing came up into her mind. Hisaki knelt and clumsily sketched a few in the dirt, trying to remember what each one did. Finally she dredged up a few that she thought would come in handy; Hisaki erased her mistakes and began to draw.

"Tiw," Hisaki said to herself as she drew what looked like an arrow pointed upwards. "Positive energy and success. Os." A slanted 'F'. "Tests. Ken." A pointed 'C'. "Fire." Each rune was was drawn along the edge of the paper circle, next to each other. Finished, the girl stood up and dusted herself off. She didn't feel different, but each of the runes gave her a new focus.

Glaring at the card in question, Hisaki threw out her palm. A golden fireball shot out of it, incinerating the card instantly.

Hisaki was thrilled. Three little symbols and she could throw balls of fire? Within minutes the girl had burned every card in her sight and wanted more, but the only paper left was the ring Yomiko had trapped her in.

Burn, Hisaki thought. She threw out her hand, releasing another fireball. However, on contact with the paper the fireball ricocheted back at Hisaki, who instantly threw up her arms in defence. She felt burning heat as her attack hit her bare arms, then nothing.

"Ano...that was interesting."

Hisaki spun around, surprised. Yomiko was standing behind her, adjusting her glasses.

"What did you do with this paper?" Hisaki demanded, more curious than really angry. "I can't burn it!"

"I'm more surprised that you can throw fireballs like that, actually," Yomiko answered with a faint blush. "But I'm a stronger ability user than you are. Why are you so surprised?" The bibliophile's gaze drifted to the three runes that Hisaki had drawn and her lips twitched. "Ano, I see that you followed my advice."

"Yeah," Hisaki said grudgingly. "It was pretty cool." She scuffed a foot over one of the runes, as though trying to hide evidence that Yomiko was right. "Can I go now?"

"Ano, of course Hisaki-chan!"

"Okay, no." Yomiko's eyes met Hisaki's defiant face. "I may be your student, but I've known you for only a few days. We're not exactly friends, Yomiko-sensei."

Yomiko let out a breath of exasperation. "Hai, Hisaki-san." She turned to walk away.

"Hey, don't just LEAVE me here!" Yomiko turned around, the familiar smile back on her face.

"You didn't say the magic word..."

"There's WORDS for magic?!"

Had it been a Yomiko-like thing, Yomiko would've facefaulted. Instead, she had to settle for a slumping of the shoulders and another exasperated look.

"Hisaki-san, what I meant was that as your teacher, you could at least be polite to me..."

"Oh!" Hisaki looked a little embarrassed. "Er, could you please let me out, Yomiko-sensei?"

From inside her vest Yomiko drew out a piece of paper with some kanji written on it. The paper in the circle unfurled into several pieces and flew to Yomiko's hand, the one holding the first piece of paper. When Yomiko had collected it all she tucked it back into her vest. Hisaki darted forward, curious.

"Are those runes as well?"

"Just some writing," Yomiko said with a smile.

"Now are you going to teach me some spells?" begged Hisaki as the pair walked back towards the house.

"Ano, you look like you already know some spells. I don't think you need my help..."

"Yomiko-sensei, please don't joke like that. You are joking, right?" No answer from Yomiko. "Ha - JOKING, RIGHT?"

Chapter Four: Spellcaster

It took Hisaki two days to be able to summon the power that she had used earlier. The runes Hisaki had used earlier had been a crude, uncontrolled spell that better served Hisaki as a mental catalyst, as opposed to a real spell. Yomiko had politely informed Hisaki that it had been her own willpower that had brought out her potential. Furthermore, had the runes not been enclosed in Yomiko's paper circle, Hisaki may have actually stood a better chance of accidentally harming herself.

Since then, Hisaki avoided using the runes. She did, however, find it easier to use her power when she focused on one in her mind. Near the end of one day's practice Hisaki was able to summon her fireballs; yesterday Hisaki had no problems throwing fire or controlling them.

"I think you're ready to learn spells," Yomiko commented. The two of them were outside, in what was now known as Hisaki's practice arena. Hisaki had just demonstrated her ability to control her fire magic, easily lighting a candlebra with tiny drops of fire.

"Really?!" Hisaki spun around, excited. "All RIGHT! When do we get started?"

"Right now," Yomiko said. She led Hisaki back to the house.

Hisaki nearly levitated with joy. At first she had thought that this magic might be bad - well, when men with special guns tried to shoot you, you would too. But with Yomiko-sensei's encouragement Hisaki had only gotten stronger. And with these spells, who knew what she could -

Hisaki's thoughts were slammed shut by a dusty old book placed in her lap. The two had somehow managed to get into the sitting room in those brief moments and Hisaki found herself sitting in a chair, with a book on her lap.

Hisaki blinked and picked it up. It certainly looked like an old book, with a thick cover and worn pages, but she couldn't read a word of it.

"Uh, Yomiko-sensei?" Hisaki asked. She held up the book. "What does this say?"

"History of Magic," Yomiko answered in English. The older woman was sorting through a pile of texts that sat on the table between the two females. Yomiko looked at Hisaki, who mirrored her confused look. "You can't read it?"

"What language is it in?" Hisaki asked. The girl opened the book and flipped through the pages; not a stroke of Japanese anywhere. "It looks like one of those European languages." Yomiko craned her head over to see, then took back the book for a closer examination.

"English," Yomiko finally said. "Old English - what they would've spoken a couple of centuries ago." Yomiko frowned. "Can you read German?" Hisaki's head shook. "Greek? French? Latin?"

"Just Japanese," Hisaki answered quietly. Yomiko stared.

"You haven't understood anything that the Library has said to you?"

"No..." Hisaki looked down at her lap and tightened her fists. She didn't dare look up as Yomiko-sensei leaned back in her chair and adjusted her glasses. Had her teacher assumed that Hisaki had known the language, since she was in England? Hadn't she noticed that Hisaki didn't understand a word of this foreign language?

Something made the braided girl look up: it was Yomiko's cheerful smile.

"You're not...mad?"

"Why would I be mad, Hisaki-san?" Yomiko answered. She pulled at her cheek as she gave a sigh of defeat. "Ano, I guess I just assumed that you would learn the language when you were here."

"I've only been here for, what, three days now?" Hisaki pointed out.

"Ano, I know..." Yomiko let go of her cheek and adjusted her glasses. "I guess I jumped ahead of myself."

"This...isn't going to be a problem, is it?" Hisaki asked.

"Nope!" Yomiko chirped. "I was going to explain everything to you anyway. But if you can't read these books, then I can't assign you extra reading for homework."

Hisaki didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

"So, um...explain, please?" Hisaki said, a little cautiously.

"O-kay!"

The teacher opened up one of the books. Printed on the page was an illustration of a triangle drawn within a circle so the corners touched the edges.

"Triangles, in geometry, are the strongest shape," Yomiko said. "In witchcraft they're the simplest shape to base a spell on. To prepare a spell, you first have to draw a triangle. Along each of the sides you write down a rune that you want your spell to focus on. After that, enclose the triangle completely with a circle, making sure to separate each of the runes. If there's so much as a crack of space, power can bleed from the runes and give...unexpected effects."

Hisaki shuddered at the last part. From what she had read and Yomiko-sensei had hinted at, these 'unexpected' effects could probably be more unpleasant than good.

"Is it that simple?" Hisaki asked. "This all sounds easy. Draw a few shapes, write a few runes, and suddenly you've got a spell ready to go. Anyone could do this."

"Easy?" Yomiko crossed her arms and gave Hisaki the raised eyebrow. "Try it here then. Draw a spell circle on the floor. There is some chalk in the box over there."

Hisaki got up and got a piece of chalk. She looked at her teacher suspiciously. "This sounds like a trap."

"No, it sounds easy. Draw, Hisaki-san."

The girl got down on her knees and began to draw. First she sketched out a triangle, but hesitated at what runes to add. Hisaki settled for the ones representing defence, protection and gradual growth - if she was lucky, they would make a protection spell of some sort. If not...well, Hisaki figured that the 'reaction' couldn't be worse than one from a pure fire spell. Done with the runes, Hisaki closed a circle around it. Hesitantly the girl stood up and looked at Yomiko for her next instruction.

"Cast," Yomiko ordered. From the look on Yomiko-sensei's face, Hisaki didn't have a clue if Yomiko was angry, sarcastic, amused or just finding a way to make Hisaki suffer.

"What if I destroy something?" protested Hisaki.

"I have insurance. Cast."

Hisaki didn't know what to do. Finally she went with instinct: Hisaki stepped into the centre of her circle and focused on the runes.

Yr is for defence, Hisaki thought to herself. Defending from physical forces. Eolh is for protection and banishing negativity. Eh is for -

Hisaki's thoughts were cut off when she felt something rush out of her. She gasped as golden flames raced around the edge of the spell circle, the Yr and Eolh runes glowing an eerie orange. The yellow flames spiraled upwards and over Hisaki, coalescing into a tunnel of flame that pelted towards Yomiko.

"Yomiko-sensei!" Hisaki shrieked, unable to stop the spell.

From out of nowhere Yomiko grabbed a sheaf of papers and threw them back at the pillar of fire. Flames hit the paper, but didn't burn; the fire seemed to dissolve and steam away like water on contact. The paper itself was burned, but still intact. Yomiko looked at it, gave a look of sadness, then put the singed shield on the floor before looking at Hisaki.

"Still easy?" Yomiko asked tiredly.

"I...I don't understand!" Hisaki babbled. "Why did it go for you?"

Yomiko stood up and inspected the circle. The white chalk had been turned to grey ash where the fire had burned; the last rune and the triangle were still intact.

"Now what have we learned, Hisaki-san?" Yomiko asked. The expression on Yomiko's face looked faintly amused, despite the fact that Hisaki had just attempted to accidentally kill her. Hisaki sighed and rolled her eyes.

"That this isn't 'easy'," Hisaki answered. She looked down and jumped when she saw an orange flame flare along the edge of the burned circle. "What was that?"

"You have to disarm your spell circle when you're done with it," Yomiko said. "What do you think you rub out first?"

"Um...the circle?" Yomiko shook her head sadly.

"Ano, if you destroy your protection circle any aftereffects of the runes will go flying everywhere," Yomiko explained. "The same is for the triangle - it protects you from any backlash of the spell."

"Backlash?" Hisaki asked. She got down on her knees with Yomiko to examine the white triangle. This drawing could protect her from herself?

"Backlash..." Yomiko fumbled for an explanation. "Like a rubber band - if you stretch it too much, you might snap it and hurt yourself. Only with magic."

"Ugh," Hisaki commented. "So I get rid of the runes first?"

"Yes," Yomiko beamed. "Just rub them out. Then you can rub out your circle and then the triangle. Always remember to go in that order."

"Why the circle first?" Hisaki asked. With her fingers she scraped the chalk and ashes clean, then proceeded to break through her circle.

"The circle not only contains your spell," explained Yomiko as she stood up, dusting off her skirt. "You fill it with magic after you cast. It can protect you from some spells thrown at you, but it can also still throw back a backlash to hurt you." She gave a bright and cheery smile to Hisaki as she continued. "The remnants of the spells can rebound inside the circle, ano - if badly cast or extremely powerful, you could be torn to shreds by your own magic."

"Oh." That didn't sound pleasant. "You know, you look absolutely sadistic when you say that with that smile."

"Ano..." Yomiko tilted her head to the side. "It only pleases me to be teaching you what terrible effects your magic may have."

"...You are a freak, have I ever told you that?!"

Chapter Five: Firestarter

The next three weeks saw Hisaki improve strongly in her base of magic. Yomiko-sensei had made her study and memorize any trigram spell, as the triangle spells were called, she saw, whether or not it would be useful. Regularly the girl was tested on her knowledge, ordered to recite the three runes required to cast a certain spell. In addition, Yomiko-sensei assigned books of reading on the theory of the Craft; anything in Japanese was fair game. Now and then the teacher would ask for the outcome to a random situation: Hisaki was expected to explain what would happen and why.

Hisaki had been allowed to come on a mission with Yomiko once, last week, despite the teacher's insistence that she wouldn't be interested. Yomiko-sensei had been dreadfully right: the entire event took less than half an hour, where Yomiko examined and confirmed that a book was authentic. Hisaki couldn't even remember what the book was supposed to be about. The whole thing hadn't required any use of force or even witty dialogue.

And that was a 'normal' mission.

Gods, Hisaki thought to herself as she stared up at the summer sky. The sun was almost completely set, leaving a glow on the western horizon. Hisaki had taken to wearing the Library uniform, now that she was officially inducted as a Trainee Agent. The Firestarter, as her codename went, wore a white blouse, brown vest and red tie, each bearing the odd singe mark. Instead of the skirt, Hisaki preferred a pair of black slacks; large pockets held chalk, candles and other casting materials. On her feet were a pair of plain grey running shoes and socks. Hisaki's hair was still kept in braided pigtails that barely reached her waist. Around the girl's neck was a wooden image of Ken, the rune for fire and light. In a pinch, it made an excellent focus for her energy.

I thought it would be more exciting, Hisaki thought to herself. Like when Yomiko-sensei came to rescue me. But I guess that was a fluke. Well, what was I expecting from a group called the British Library? Hisaki blew her bangs off her face in exasperation. Idly she lifted a finger and traced her name in flame in the air; first in kanji, hiragana and katakana, then in the upper case, lower case and handwritten letters Yomiko-sensei had taught her. Hisaki knew a few words in English, but her pronunciation (as several Library workers had informed her) was quite poor. Yomiko-sensei was trying to teach, but in between controlling her magic and knowing how to work as an Agent, learning a second language was low on Hisaki's list of priorities.

"Hisaki-san!" Yomiko called out from the back door. Yomiko looked around; the sky was dark and it was hard for her to see. She caught a flare of light in the field and frowned - what if Hisaki-san lost control? The grass would go up in flames. Yomiko sighed. Had she been this careless with her own powers? "Hisaki-san!"

"Yes, Yomiko-sensei?" Hisaki got up and walked over to Yomiko.

"Mission," Yomiko answered tensely.

"I think - " Hisaki cut off her own refusal when she saw Yomiko's face. "What's wrong?"

"The Library was investigating a document," Yomiko answered as she walked through the house, Hisaki trailing. The woman picked up her coat and checked her paper as she continued. "The workers were ambushed and killed; a thief ran off with the document. He's armed with what someone described as a wand that can shoot fire."

"Odd," Hisaki commented, but she couldn't help having her voice perk up at the description of his powers. "Is he a Witch? Or a Special Ability User?"

"Neither," Yomiko answered. She flicked a wrist and a fan of paper appeared in her hand; satisfied, The Paper made it vanish. "Some invention someone was working on, but we think it's stolen. He doesn't seem to know how to use it properly."

"Must be good enough if he can kill people," muttered Hisaki under her breath. Yomiko looked at her student and shook her head sadly.

"So, we getting a ride or something?" Hisaki asked. She shut the door behind her and locked it securely.

Hisaki's question was answered when a helicopter landed behind her.

The Paper and the Firestarter arrived at the scene. It was a small, abandoned factory. Parts of it were scorched, but a team of firefighters stationed around the building kept anything from spreading. No one, not even the police, were willing to enter; several charred bodies were piled under a third storey window as a warning.

The two landed on the roof and made their way in. They borrowed small flashlights from the firefighters and went in, one Agent holding a few cue cards while the other flexed her free hand. They cautiously searched the top floor, room by room.

"Hisaki-san, we need to make sure he can't run back and use these rooms as a hiding place," Yomiko said.

"Huh? Oh - "

Hisaki stood at the door to a long hallway they had just searched. Hisaki took out her chalk and drew a circle around a triangle on the door, then filled in the runes. Complete, the circle glowed a dull orange.

"That's very neat," Yomiko said, examining it. The teacher held the doorknob and pushed at the door; it didn't move.

"Thanks," Hisaki answered.

This continued for about half an hour, Yomiko checking and Hisaki setting up spell circles, when a yelp was heard down the hall. It was followed by a flare of light and the smell of something burning. Instantly the two women knew what had happened: the thief, having got around them, had tried to wipe away Hisaki's trigram. Because he hadn't done it properly the spell had lashed out at him - in Hisaki's case, her spells contained a bit of fire. They raced back to the scene, finding the spell circle turned to ash and the thief running away.

"No you don't," Yomiko muttered. She threw a length of paper at the man, which extended like a tentacle and snaked around his ankle. It grabbed him and sent the man sprawling, but he didn't lose his grip on his weapon. The man quickly twisted around before either female could get to him and sent a burst of flame at the paper. Yomiko screeched and skidded to a stop before she could run into the sudden inferno but Hisaki leapt through it, trailing streams of smoke.

"Stay back," the man warned in a rough voice. The wand, made of steel with brass caps, was about as long as Hisaki's arm. One cap was open, revealing some sort of machinery and a tiny yellow flame in the centre, and it was pointed at Hisaki's chest.

"Play with fire," the Firestarter smirked, "and expect to get burned." She dropped her flashlight and opened her fists, revealing a golden fireball in each palm.

"What - "

Before he could complete his sentence the trainee Agent was on him, sending gold-coloured flames in his direction. The man backpedalled, dodging the two fireballs in the narrow hallway before running.

"The Paper!" Hisaki yelled. Caught between checking on her teacher or the thief, the Firestarter was torn.

The Paper stepped through the flames, smothering them with even more paper. Coughing, she pointed.

"Get the thief," The Paper ordered. "Don't kill him."

"But - " The Firestarter frowned at the commands - what was she, stupid? She decided that they weren't worth harassing her sensei over right now, however, and ran.

It didn't take the Firestarter long to find the man. The hall opened onto a large room, dark and empty. With a quick trigram Hisaki called on light to fill the room; her quarry was found lurking in a doorway. He ran, and Hisaki was forced to follow. She would've loved to throw fire and burn him, but Hisaki knew that her teacher didn't give idle orders. Twice the man tried to throw a fireball back at her but the Firestarter burned each one out with her own magic; Hisaki wasn't completely immune to non-magical fire and didn't want to find out how badly she would burn if she got hit.

Finally the man was trapped. They arrived at a long catwalk, suspended several metres above the floor. The door at the end of it was locked, putting Hisaki between the man and his only feasible escape route.

The man was trapped.

A smile twitched on the Firestarter's face. She threw open her hands, sending fire into the air. Old rope, hanging from pulleys attached to the ceiling, easily caught fire. The room gradually grew brighter and hotter as more rope caught fire, as though the two were standing in a sky of fire.

"Surrender to the British Library," the Firestarter ordered. Tiny flames danced along her fingertips.

"No way!" yelled the man. He tried to shoot Hisaki but she casually deflected the flame to the concrete floor below.

"Last chance," she warned. What did sensei do if a villain was uncooperative?

Hisaki found out too quickly when the man charged, swinging his flaming wand at her. The Firestarter frantically tried to dodge the weapon but it only managed to throw her off balance.

"I'll kill you before that happens!" the man roared. Hisaki felt herself rise from the floor and realized what the man was going to do: thinking that he couldn't burn her to death, he would simply send the girl plummeting to her death.

"No!" Hisaki screamed. On pure instinct she conjured fire and threw it at her attacker.

The man screamed, dropping Hisaki and his weapon as he tried to put out his burning clothes. Hisaki swiped at and grabbed the railing of the catwalk, hanging on for dear life. With her sudden weight the catwalk tilted; the man and the wand fell to the floor below.

"No!" Yomiko screamed. She entered just in time to see the thief hit the concrete floor with a sickening crunch. The man was still after that, but flames continued to devour his body. To Hisaki's surprise, the Paper attempted to put out the flames by smothering them with her own paper, but it was too much.

Afterwards, Hisaki was closely questioned by the Library about the events in the factory. They didn't seem to pleased that the man was dead. Finished, Hisaki found Yomiko sitting on a bench near the parking lot, staring at the ground.

"Yomiko-sensei?" Hisaki asked quietly. She sat down next to her teacher. "I know that you didn't want me to kill him, but..."

"It's okay, Hisaki-san. Everyone makes mistakes," Yomiko said. She tried to smile at her student, but failed.

"It wasn't a mistake," Hisaki said. "I...I actually tried to kill him. But it was out of self-defence - he was trying to kill me!" Yomiko sighed heavily.

"The Library is just hard on its Agents," Yomiko explained weakly. However, Hisaki could sense that something was wrong.

"Yomiko-sensei...why was it important to keep that man alive?" Yomiko hesitated, then explained.

"We needed to know how that man got the book, or who sold it to him. He might have also known about the wand - an interesting piece of technology. But when he died the book...it also burned with him. The objective of the mission was to get that book. We failed."

Two days later Yomiko was ordered to report to Joker. She was now standing in front of Joker's desk, looking extremely nervous.

Joker sighed and ran a hand through his hair. All that commotion, involving almost every level of security that London and Great Britain had to offer, had gone to waste. Who was going to pay for it? And on top of that the Library had gained nothing: the man was dead and the book burnt to nothing. Even the wand, which would have at least provided some technological research or a pretty penny on the black market, was damaged and inoperational, a combination of the fall and the fire.

He looked up at Yomiko. He couldn't really blame her; his memory reminded him that he had been the one to push The Paper into training the witch. If he hadn't bribed her or threatened to bring the Firestarter back to Tokyo Yomiko would have dug in her heels and protested all the way along.

Something had to be done.

"The Paper, we will be taking the Firestarter out of active service," Joker said.

Yomiko blinked. Had she heard that right? "Joker-san...why?"

"Too many mistakes were made during the last mission," Joker said. "We cannot afford to have something like that happen again." He ran a hand through his hair again. "I don't blame you, Yomiko. I really should have done something else. But her powers are destructive and she needs further training before she can be allowed to come on another mission."

Yomiko hung her head in shame. She had known that Hisaki would use her powers, given the opportunity, and those powers could work against the mission. The girl needed more control and discipline, but Yomiko had hoped that with a mission Hisaki might learn it on her own. Instead...she got this. To Yomiko this announcement made her feel like a failure.

"I hope you understand," Joker said.

"Ano, I do," Yomiko answered, lifting her head again. Joker handed her a letter.

"Please give that to the Firestarter," he said. "Also, we need you and Drake for a mission in two days; please meet in front of the Library on the afternoon."

"Ano, yes, Joker-san..."

Chapter Six: Book of Revelations

Hisaki was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. no longer did the girl wear the Library uniform: she wore an old sweater of faded navy, with bunched white cuffs at her wrist, and a pleated skirt of similar material. Why bother dressing like an Agent, she had decided, when she was 'suspended from duty'?

That was her reasoning, anyway. Yomiko had allowed her to simply sulk in her room. Training stopped; when Hisaki used her fire magic Yomiko told her not to. Hisaki barely responded when she heard the door shut, signalling the Paper's departure for her next mission.

Hisaki reached over and picked up th letter from the table. The British Library's letterhead at the top and a few lines below, typed from some impersonal machine.

"To: Hisaki Ito

Until further notice, you are hereby suspended from duty."

No signature, nothing to show that a human had written this notice. It was like her performance at the factory had been measured and graded, the data fed to a device, and the result was this piece of paper.

I wonder if they mass send these, Hisaki cynically thought to herself. Yellow flames appeared at the edges of the paper, consuming it from outside in. It didn't take long for the letter to burn up completely, scattering ashes over Hisaki's sweater. She sat up and tried to brush the ashes off, but to no avail. If it wasn't for the sudden chill that had come last night, Hisaki would've ditched the sweater immediately.

Hisaki got up and began to wander the house aimlessly. By the packing she had helped Yomiko do, mostly paper and books, Hisaki knew that Yomiko would be gone for several days. This left Hisaki opportunities to do as she pleased, but something like sneaking into London seemed pointless - what was the point if she could barely manage a few words and phrases? Without Yomiko around Hisaki could use her Craft, but she had nothing new to practise. Except...

Hisaki paused, then turned to face the door to the basement. She had never gone down there. Would Yomiko know if she looked through her books? She got awfully defensive if she found anything out of place, namely books.

Hisaki grabbed the doorknob and turned. The door opened. Hisaki paused: an invitation? Or a test? The girl steeled her resolve, pushed open the door and descended.

A library. Yomiko resided in a secret underground library. Hisaki darted over to the first shelf and scanned the titles. Everything was in a foreign language and Hisaki didn't know much about books, but Hisaki could tell that Yomiko was living in possibly one of the most valuable collections of books in the world.

Eventually Hisaki arrived at one curious collection of books Each one was neatly labelled, on the spine in Japanese characters, the journal of a Paper Master, all in numerical order. They looked fairly recent - the first journal was started after the 1800s but looked like a newer book, as though it was just a reprinted publication. The numbers listed up to 17, under the title Nikki no Kanzeyori Megami.

Interesting title, Hisaki thought to herself. She took down the book and flipped it open. It looks pretty short too. I'm sure Yomiko wouldn't mind if I read this.

"Haa..."

Yomiko sighed, slumping against the seat in the helicopter. Seated across from her was Drake, cleaning his weapons. Cases were stuffed in the extra seats, but they were mostly empty.

In a few hours Yomiko would be back in her British home. Back amongst her books, but more importantly she would be back with hisaki. This was the reason for Yomiko's sigh and slump. What was she going to do about the firewitch? With a few spells she could check on what Hisaki had been doing during her absence: Yomiko hoped that she hadn't be playing with fire.

"Thinking about your student?" Drake asked, his question sounding like a statement. Yomiko nodded. "Yomiko, mind if I tell you my honest opinion?"

"Ah, Drake-san?" Drake sighed.

"Yomiko, if your student fails, don't blame yourself. It's not that you're a bad teacher or fire and water - or paper - don't mix." Yomiko nodded, having heard that phrase often.

"Yomiko, if your student fails, it's because of her. From what I've heard about her over the past few days, Ito's trouble. Pyromaniacs never are; fire's only purpose is to destroy." Drake paused as he changed guns and started cleaning again. "She'd throw her magic around without a second thought. People like that are dangerous, period."

The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. Drake finished checking and cleaning his weapons and settled to stare out the window, watching the scenery. Yomiko was immersed in a book she had purchased during the mission.

It was sunset when a glow from the east caught Drake's attention. The soldier frowned and leaned forward, ignoring the pilot who was just as puzzled. It was coming in the direction of...

The helicopter passed over another hill before the two men could see what it was. It was Yomiko's country home, going up in flames. The entire place was engulfed in fire; by Drake's guess, the fire had been burning for a while to do so much damage so quickly. It was just a bright orange inferno that nothing discernable could be seen through.

"What...the...HELL..."

The heat became more and more oppressive as the helicopter neared it. Finally the pilot was forced to land, about 20 metres away from the fire; the heat from the flames was too much to fly towards. Drake threw open the door and jumped out to stare at the inferno.

"Lucky day," Drake said. He didn't have to ask anyone what had happened. Anyone who knew the people he worked with could easily see that Ito had lost control and burned up the house. Drake privately hoped that that witch had gone up in smoke as well, but he doubted it. Bad luck had a habit of doing the worst things possible to you.

Yomiko stirred from her book. Absorbed as she had been, she hadn't realized what was going on until Drake had opened the door, allowing more heat the wash into the aircraft.

Yomiko looked up and started screaming.

Chapter 7: Restart

Nobody dared to go near Yomiko for weeks after the incident. The fire crews had cleared out pretty fast as soon as the flames were under control - they were more afraid of the Paper Master killing them than a large hot light. Yomiko had searched for hours in the wreckage, salvaging whatever she could before she collapsed from exhaustion. Only then was the Library able to drag the woman back - if approached while digging through the remains of her home she would become a screaming, hysterical mess that not even Drake wanted to try and speak to on a good day.

About the only thing that would calm The Paper down for an extended period of time were several books to read. Joker assigned Wendy the task to supply Yomiko with books to read and food to eat while The Paper shut herself up in a tiny study within the Library. The blonde assistant was always seen pulling texts off of shelves, sneaking into the hideaway, then carting off the last load Yomiko had read and neatly stacked away for reshelving. According to Wendy, Yomiko did eat and sleep...it was just that she never saw the Paper Master actually perform said actions and didn't want to ask. Not in a tiny room filled with books, anyway.

One day an old man entered the Library. Peering around, he found Wendy carting yet another stack of books to the study and asked a few questions. Wendy brought him to Yomiko's study, where she swapped up books quickly and left.

The old man was left to look around the room. There were books everywhere, all in neat stacks on the floor and furniture. Yomiko curled in a wooden chair, a throw blanket wrapped around her lap and a book in her hands. The old man looked around, shifted a few books, then dragged up a dusty chair and sat in front of Yomiko.

"Yomiko," he said.

Yomiko's eyes slid up and she gasped. "Oji-san! [1] What are you doing here? What about your bookstore?"

"The bookstore has no life," sighed the old man in Japanese as he pulled off his cap and ran fingers through fringes of white hair. "My cat misses you."

"I'm...I'm sorry," Yomiko answered.

"Ah, no one is buying books because no one is running around, visiting each store with a liveliness us older ones dream of," the old man went on. "The store next door wants to close because it's bad business."

"Oh no!" gasped Yomiko.

"And I've been getting death threats. Your friend, Sumiregawa-san? Five phone calls last week, demanding to know where you are, and if I didn't tell her she'd do some things that no lady should ever say. She did the same with the other bookstores too, I heard! Scared for my life, I am - "

"SENSEI!" Yomiko screeched. She leapt to her feet and promptly fell over face first, her legs tangled in the blanket. She quickly wriggled out of it, like a snake shedding a skin, and skidded out the door, narrowly dodging a surprised Wendy in the process.

The old man chuckled. He slowly got up, helped the poor bewildered blonde to her feet, then let himself out of the Library.

"Joker-san, I am going to hunt Hisaki," The Paper said to Joker.

Yomiko had made a frantic phone call to Nenene after leaving her old friend. She had then spent two hours confirming that, yes, she was alive - and no, why she had seemed to disappear off of the face of the Earth for several weeks had absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. After that it had taken another hour of begging Nenene not to torture any more bookstore owners before Nenene had calmed down (although Yomiko was sure that Nenene was just teasing her, of all the things she planned to do... Sensei could be so mean sometimes!) Yomiko had demanded a meeting with Joker. Unsure if she was actually back or mentally unstable, she had been granted an audience rather quickly.

Joker stared at Yomiko impassively over his desk. "The Paper, how do you plan to do this?" he asked. "We've been trying to trace The Firestarter for weeks, but we haven't been able to find her."

"I can. I know her. I know what she wants."

"Then what does she want?" asked Joker, mild curiosity showing on his face. Yomiko took a deep breath to steady herself.

"She wants power. Kanzeyori-san's diary is missing, and she thinks that she can get power by killing others. She stole and read the books on higher magic in Donny's library and she wants to use that magic. So she wants to find more power, either in books or people."

"Quite an observation, The Paper," said Joker. "But if she wants more power, wouldn't there be a rash of killings or thefts, particularly ones involving arson?"

"That...I don't understand," Yomiko answered. She seemed to deflate as she lost her confidence. "I don't understand what she's waiting for. I think she would hide and wait, but..." She looked away. "I don't know."

"What about the house fire?" asked Joker. "How did that come about?"

"I don't know either," Yomiko said. "I thought...she might have tried a spell and lost control, but it looked like a normal fire. It had none of her Craft abilities in it."

"Hmm." It would've killed Joker to admit that the absentminded bibliomaniac had a point and her logic had gotten him more answers than the fruitless searching his team had been doing for the past few weeks. Therefore, he didn't admit it. "What do you plan to do now?"

"I think...you should all leave the Library..."

Chapter 8: Water and Fire

And what had Hisaki been doing all this time? Trying to find Yomiko. In her quest for power Hisaki needed to find Yomiko. Not for a friendly chat or anything, however � more to make sure that Yomiko didn't interfere with any future plots for power. Weeks were spent staking out bookstores and libraries, but the bibliophile wasn't spotted anywhere. Logically, this meant that Yomiko was no longer in London and had either taken a long assignment from the Library or gone home to Tokyo. Hisaki accepted these possibilities and moved on.

To gain power, she had to find a way to break into the British Library. One did not need a stroke of genius to realize that the greatest of Great Britain's books would be stored in the British Library. As it was a free exhibition, Hisaki made some trips to the Library, always disguised under a Japanese tour group. With the aid of the translating and slightly-too-helpful guide Hisaki learned a lot about the documents on display in the Library, but they were nothing she wanted.

Of course. Why would books delving the dark arts and magick be on display? If anything, they should be locked up in a vault, away from power-hungry megalomaniacs. Like myself, Hisaki smirked with an unusually childish giggle.

The Library was large, she knew that. Hisaki spent several days trying to devise a plan before deciding on the most effective course of action: burn the Library to the ground. The books Hisaki wanted would be saved, either by the workers or the vaults. It would be an easy matter to investigate the British Library as it burned and search for the vaults and contents. Failing that, Hisaki could pretend to be a Library worker and search the rescued contents afterwards. After all, it was just a uniform.

Hisaki was now a full Witch when it came to fire magic. She could withstand her own fire and non-magical fire without a thread of fabric getting singed. Her magical fire withstood most attempts to extinguish it: short of burying the entire building in earth, the only other way to extinguish her fire was for Hisaki to command it to � and the girl had no intention of doing so.

The plan had its flaws, of course. One of them was any defensive measures the British Library had; specifically, Hisaki worried about other agents. She had yet to actually fight someone who possessed powers like her and there was no way she could practise without spilling her secret.

Hisaki spent an afternoon placing some spell circles in the Library. She was strong-willed enough not to need her chalk and leave behind physical evidence of her future vandalism. Instead it took a finger to draw and a few spoken runes to build her circles. These were designed to sense supernatural forces nearby and warn Hisaki when they were near. They served a double purpose as well: three trigger words and the invisible circles would ignite.

It'll be a day to remember, Hisaki thought to herself.

Three hours before ignition time, Hisaki was inside the Library. She was attached to the tail end of another Japanese tour group that was meandering its way through the Library. Breaking away to be in the most advantageous spot when the fireworks broke out would draw attention. Besides, Hisaki could afford to wait � she refused to allow her plans to fail on account of impulsive impatience. It had happened once and it wouldn't happen again. All of her painstaking surveillance had worked up to this very moment �

Hisaki's sixth sense, the one that was sensitive to magic, flared. She tried not to sweat in fear when she felt someone powerful rush by one of her spell circles. Images of a newspaper, a pair of thick glasses and lots and lots of books passed through her mind.

Oh shit, Hisaki thought as the group ambled by Gutenberg's Bible. Yomiko's been here all along. How was she hidden? How did she know?

Hisaki had to make a quick decision. She could go on as planned and deal with Yomiko if she came up. There was a slim, possible hope that Yomiko would leave before Hisaki acted and would return too late to stop the events. On the other hand, Yomiko was extremely powerful and Hisaki didn't like the idea of fighting The Paper on her home turf.

Besides, she had burned Yomiko's books. Definitely not a happy thing.

Would she be able to wait? Hisaki decided that this was the best chance she was going to get. Maybe Yomiko had figured something out; given enough time, that woman could thwart any future attempts.

Hisaki pursed her lips and followed the group. In three hours this would all be over.

"I think�you should all leave the Library�"

The sprinklers in the ceiling suddenly activated, spraying cold water all over the office. The lights went out as circuits tripped and power went to emergency and communication devices. In moments Joker's elegant and sunny office was transformed into a prelude to something bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Biblical Flood.

Wendy burst into the room. "Joker-san!" she yelled. "The � "

"Yes, The Paper and I noticed," Joker responded gravely. His groomed hair now resembled Drake's on a particularly bad day.

Paper was flammable, an unavoidable fact: the older it was, the more easily it burned. The Library took every precaution possible to protect itself. Fire-retardant foam in the sprinklers was designed to protect rooms in danger as quickly as possible by filling the room as quickly as possible; water was used in rooms where no historical artefacts were stored, such as Joker's office. In the event that the fire was uncontrollable, power went out and the system was to activate all over the building.

However, never in the history of the British Library had the entire emergency system been needed. Hence, Wendy's reaction.

"We need to evacuate!" Wendy yelled, recovering her sense of panic.

Joker pushed aside the streaming hair in his face with one hand; the other found a remote control and pushed a button. From a monitor hanging over the corner of his desk a scene of chaos appeared.

"Joker!" a voice gasped. On screen someone's face appeared. Elias was dishevelled and covered in wet soot; a stray piece of paper was stuck to his hair, but he didn't seem to notice.

"What happened?" Joker asked. He seemed more annoyed that his hair was a mess than that the water in his room was ankle-deep and getting higher.

"Fire," answered Elias; in the background Joker could hear people screaming. "Four locations spontaneously combusted simultaneously. The sprinklers couldn't extinguish them."

"I see," said Joker. "Are there any Agents in the building?"

"Uh�" Elias ducked off-screen, presumably to get this information. In a minute he had returned. "The Paper, Drake Anderson and a former."

"Hisaki," said Yomiko.

"The former Firestarter," Joker said. "Thank you, Elias. Send me Drake, if you find him." Just before he shut off the connection a familiar American voice could be heard saying, "What does he want now?" A minute later, the owner of the voice waded into the room, looking like a particularly large and waterlogged blond rat.

"I better be getting paid for this," Drake snarled.

"Drake-san!" Yomiko yelped.

Drake stared at Yomiko for a few moments, then turned back to Joker.

"I came here to collect some money, and as soon as I get it it's soaked, along with everything I'm wearing. Then you call, and I find out one upset pyromaniac is actually inside the Library. And on top of that I find out she's here," Drake practically roared, pointing at Yomiko. "Let me guess � this is going to be a mission where I either burn to death, drown, or actually receive a pay check!"

Silence, except for the hissing of the sprinklers and sounds of rushing water.

"Would any tea make you feel better?" Wendy asked timidly.

Drake glared at the bedraggled secretary.

"I want a gun that works in this damned place."

"I'm sorry, but � "

"Joker," said a wheezy, tinny voice. Everyone took a minute to look around, then realized (at varying degrees of speed, Joker immediately and Yomiko and Wendy taking half a minute) that it was coming from the monitor hanging over Joker's desk. The voice was barely audible over the water.

"Mr. Gentleman?"

"Yes. Give him the prototypes."

"But � "

"Wendy, go get it," said Mr. Gentleman. As Wendy opened a secret compartment in the far wall, Mr. Gentleman explained. "It was a mistake allowing Hisaki to go free. At the very least, we should have kept her under our surveillance. Now it's too dangerous to let her live. As soon as STN get wind of this we're going to be in trouble that will be deeper than this water.

"These work by using compressed air and will work underwater. They're loaded with orbo bullets." Wendy handed Drake a pair of what appeared to be semi-automatics with a small gas canister installed on the barrel. Drake popped open a clip and found clear plastic bullets filled with a thick greenish fluid. He reloaded the gun as Wendy gave him a long vial on a chain, also filled with orbo.

"We have enough orbo, taken from the Japanese branch of STN, to make our own chemical copy," Mr. Gentleman went on. "It hurts Witches like Hisaki, who've developed their abilities, and negates their power. We haven't actually tested it though, so you'll need some faith."

"Just perfect," muttered Drake as he slid the chain over his neck. The vial rested on the centre of his chest. He noticed that Yomiko had a slightly ill look.

"You okay?"

"Orbo will have some negative side effects on Yomiko," Mr. Gentleman explained. "Keep your distance from her and, if you can, try not to shoot her."

"You're a Witch?" Drake asked Yomiko.

"No!" protested Yomiko.

"How're Special Ability Users and Witches different?"

"We can have that discussion after your mission," Joker said. "Right now Hisaki must be stopped, killed if possible."

"My lucky day," Drake muttered. Yomiko looked slightly pale, but nodded. "Where is she? And can you shut these damn sprinklers off?" The bit about his guns working underwater � why had Mr. Gentleman added that?

"The vaults are unusually dry," commented Mr. Gentleman. "Firewitches don't take to water very well, do they."

"I can switch off the sprinklers in a few minutes," Joker said. "The Paper will know the way to the vaults."

"Your paper holding up?" Drake asked as Yomiko led the way out. Yomiko nodded. "What about you?" Yomiko sighed.

"Ano�" Yomiko said hesitantly. "I want to talk to her."

"You heard Joker," Drake said. At this moment Yomiko needed a friend, but with all his anti-Witch equipment Drake kept back a respectful distance. "Hisaki attacked the Library and she's dangerous. She's the enemy. Besides, if she wanted to talk, she would've come to us. She had weeks to talk it out."

"But�" Drake had a point. Yomiko remembered how Hisaki was only happy when she learned something new and more powerful, or when she used her abilities successfully. In the vaults were kept the most powerful and dangerous books; a popular rumour was that the Paper got access to a set of books that unlocked all the secrets of the past Paper Masters, making him or her even stronger. Thinking of her collection of diaries, most of them missing from the fire, Yomiko thought that they weren't that far off from the truth.

The sprinklers shut off, accompanied by an audible sigh of relief from the two Agents. The water around their feet quickly drained away and the pair took a moment to wring excess water from their clothes before continuing.

"So what're we going to do when we meet her?" By �we' Drake had actually meant �Yomiko'.

"Fight her," Yomiko said. She pulled out a handful of soggy cue cards; with a squeeze of her fingers a faint mist of water sprayed out from them as she forced moisture out. "And probably kill her." She sounded a little unhappy but resigned to the fact.

Yomiko and Drake progressed through several hallways and down numerous stairs. As soon as they were underground heat � likely magical � began to evaporate moisture from their clothes; within ten minutes the two were completely dry. Even the socks and feet in Drake's boots, which made him a little more pleasant to be around.

"Hey, Paper," Drake said after a few minutes. "Look at this."

Yomiko turned around. Drake was holding up the vial. Inside, the orbo was clearly giving off a faint glow.

"It means the Craft is being worked somewhere here," Yomiko answered. Yomiko lacked any sense of magic, and even she did have some Drake's orbo would've cancelled it out.

Drake waved the vial around slowly, watching it glow and fade. "I think there's a spell somewhere," he said. The orbo got the brightest when he touch a particular point on the wall. Yomiko moved in, a piece of paper in one hand. This paper had some Japanese characters on it, and when Yomiko mumbled some words the paper seemed to glow.

Yelling "Begone!" The Paper slammed her ofuda on the wall, pinning it with two fingers. Immediately gold fire raced around the wall, revealing a glowing spell circle with runes for hiding, walls and fire written in the sides. When The Paper released the ofuda it burned up and the spell circle became interesting burn marks on the wall.

Somewhere not too far away Hisaki looked up. They're here.

Chapter 9: Firestorm

"So exactly what will these circles do?" Drake had never been one for idle banter, but between aiding an agent to kill her obviously-insane student and carrying what he was certain were toxic chemicals, he figured some knowledge would at least make him feel better. A little.

"Ano, they're used for surveillance," Yomiko explained as she disenchanted another circle. "But if Hisaki wanted to, she could also blast fire from them."

"So we're walking down a path of possible death? Lucky."

"Not exactly �lucky' � "

"Sarcasm, Paper."

Drake took point, using the orbo to search for spell circles. When he found one Yomiko cautiously stepped in and disenchanted it. It took them almost an hour to make their way down to the vaults, where they found Hisaki. The girl, dressed in a faded blouse and jeans, had her back to them, was facing one of the vault doors, and did not seem aware of their presence.

Yomiko and Drake used this to their advantage. They immediately fired a volley of missiles on the girl with their respective weapons as they rushed in. Yomiko's cards abruptly burned up halfway across the large cavern. Drake fared slightly better: his orbo bullets exploded about half a metre away from Hisaki.

The pyromaniac spun around, surprised. The circles had warned Hisaki about Yomiko's impending arrival, but she had ignored them. Instead, the younger girl had been focused on trying to get into the vault, devoting her entire attention and magical energy on it. She had thought that she could enter, steal and escape before the pair arrived, but had apparently badly miscalculated her 'superior' abilities: all that showed of her progress was a hand-sized circle on the door that glowed a dull red. Four steel doors, the vaults of the Library, were set in the cement walls, each one about six feet wide and ten feet high. The entire cavern was roughly fifteen feet in diameter, dimly lit with a string of lights leading from the hallway the agents had arrived from.

Hisaki grimaced, then raised her arms above her head. A long spear of smokeless fire appeared above her. With a yell she hurled the weapon at the two, who barely dodged it and split up after doing so. Hisaki followed up with a series of fireballs aimed at Drake. He could only raise his arms in defence, but the fireballs shattered harmlessly on an invisible barrier before him.

Drake lowered his arms, confused but pleasantly surprised. "My lucky day," he said to himself. Looking around, he noticed that the vial of orbo on his chest was glowing brightly and bubbling. Assuming that he survived this, there would have to be one thing that went on the report: "Glowing, bubbling and untested �orbo' chemical works under magical conditions, specifically when giant balls of fire are being hurled at the user. Send another idiot to do your damn field tests, Joker."

Hisaki frowned. The pyromancer didn't know why she couldn't hurt the man, but she didn't care to stop and think now. She turned on Yomiko, throwing several handfuls of fire at her. In midflight each ball split apart, forming a dozen darts of fire that flew at the Paper Master. Yomiko's response was to throw a cloud of paper darts back. When the two sets of weapons collided in midair they both vanished in tiny puffs of smoke.

Hisaki blinked in shock. Paper was just as strong as fire? Her thoughts were interrupted when Yomiko seemed to appear out of nowhere, slicing at Hisaki with a paper sword. Hisaki was just able to skip out of the way before conjuring up a sword of her own and blocking the next blow. The Paper quickly backed away, her sword showing a blackened nick where Hisaki had blocked it.

"What are you doing?" demanded Yomiko.

"What does it look like?" Hisaki retorted. "Are you dense or something?"

"Hey, only I insult The Paper and get away with it!" yelled Drake as he opened fire on Hisaki. Hisaki threw up a thick shield of fire; the bullets shattered on it, dissolving the shield.

"Um�" Yomiko took a moment to mull over Hisaki's question. In the meantime, Hisaki threw her flaming sword at Drake in retaliation, only to have it smash harmlessly over his invisible shield. Yomiko was brought out of her thoughtful meditation with a yelp when she dodged Hisaki's next magical attack, a fiery staff that attempted to spear her through the chest.

"You're trying to kill me!" Yomiko suddenly shouted. Hisaki rolled her eyes.

"Of course I am. Don't sound so surprised." As she spoke, several balls of fire formed around her, then shot at Yomiko. Hisaki kept up her attack as she advanced on her former master, who frantically batted away the balls.

"I read those diaries and found a few things out," Hisaki said calmly. "Like how Paper Masters get so powerful. Did you know that to get stronger, you have to kill your teacher?"

"That's not true!" Yomiko yelled, deflecting another shot. Drake attempted to shoot Hisaki again, but the girl dodged in a flash of fire. The bullets hit the wall near Yomiko, inches from her body, and sprayed her with orbo.

"Damn," Drake muttered. The girls were too far away from him and too close to each other to risk another shot. He also had a limited supply of ammo, which meant he couldn't afford to waste it on reckless shooting attempts.

If they were taking cuts from his overtime pay, they could at least use the money to buy ammunition. Damn pennypinchers.

"And that's why you didn't teach me anything good," continued Hisaki. She held out her hands, forming a glowing spell circle between them. A pillar of fire went up, engulfing her in its fiery embrace.

"Die!" she shouted, and the pillar exploded. A thick wall of fire travelled outwards from her like a shockwave, burning anything in its path.

When the wall hit Drake the invisible barrier went up, protecting him. The orbo glowed brighter and bubbled fiercely. Knowing what was going to happen (given the amount of luck he had used up today), Drake forced his way to the corridor he and Yomiko had come through and ran in just as his vial and bullets exploded, unable to take the magical pressure. The American hit the floor and rolled as flames rushed over him, passing quickly. Whatever did manage to catch fire on him he quickly smothered out.

"The Paper!" Drake yelled, re-entering the room. The room was blackened and smelled strongly of ash.

Hisaki stood near the opposite end of the room, laughing madly. A powerful and continuous beam of fire was aimed at Yomiko; the image of a dragon breathing fire came to Drake's mind. The Paper was barely visible through the curtain of flames that enveloped her.

"Burn, The Paper!" Hisaki laughed. "Burn!"

Somewhere in the flames there was a growl, then The Paper gradually appeared in the blaze. She had an arm raised defensively, as though she was pushing against a strong gust of wind; flames appeared to roll off of her clothes. Her eyes were narrowed in anger and her face looked determined.

The Paper suddenly lunged through the blast, spearing the stunned Hisaki through the chest with her paper sword.

The fire instantly went out as Hisaki's hands dropped to her sides. Yomiko stood in front of her former student, panting with exertion and sweating profusely. Her clothes looked a shade darker, her hair was wrinkled from heat, and she smelled faintly of something singed. The typically na�ve and curious expression that rested in her eyes was gone, replaced by a fiercer, more forbidding look.

Hisaki stared at Yomiko pleadingly. The Paper's grip on her sword tightened as the teenager attempted a breath.

"How..."

Yomiko glared and her paper sword exploded, sending bloody paper razors and pieces of flesh and bone shooting in every direction. The Paper didn't flinch as Hisaki's upper half disintegrated in a bloody shower.

Epilogue: The Nightmare's Ending

Snow drifted around in lazy spirals, creating a dull, translucent haze in the afternoon air. It was December, only a few days until Christmas, and the weather appeared to be some distant promise that the land would appear as picturesque as any holiday postcard.

Yomiko spent a lot of time recently at the burnt ruins of her old home. After the fight with Hisaki, Yomiko had spent weeks in the hospital, then in rehab. The orbo Drake had inadvertently sprayed her with had some lasting effects on the Paper Master. Most significant was her inability to use the Craft, the magic that defined Witches. Yomiko still retained her paper manipulation abilities, but things such as incantations and spell circles no longer worked for her. As an afterthought, this turned out to be a good thing: since Yomiko technically did not have the Craft, nor was able to use it, STN could no longer classify her as a Witch.

Yomiko exhaled and watched her breath dissolve from a seemingly-solid mass into the air. She felt as though some weight had been lifted off of her chest. She pulled up the collar of her coat and tucked mittened hands into her sleeves, giving the impression that she was burying herself into her thick garment. How nice it would be to curl up in front of a warm fire right now, Yomiko mused to herself, with a blanket over my lap and a good book in my hands.

Yomiko smiled at the thought, then began to walk around the snow-covered remains of her house. For a long time she hadn't wanted anything to do with fire. She would've rejected even idle thoughts like that. But there was something about this snow, as it fluttered in the cold air and crunched under her warm boots, that made her feel less hateful about fire. Maybe it was the way the snow muffled sounds and allowed Yomiko to hear her thoughts. Maybe it was the way the snow covered everything, rendering them indistinguishable and distraction-free.

Yomiko stopped, halfway through circling the remains. The fire had gutted the house completely and what hadn't burned soon collapsed under the weight of nature. With the thick six-inch layer of snow acting as some sort of blanket, Yomiko imagined that it was time's way of allowing the home to finally sleep after long years of service.

"Hey, Paper," came a distant-sounding voice. Yomiko turned to see Drake hiking up from behind her. "If you're thinking about getting any more books from there�"

"No, Drake-san," Yomiko said. She smiled. "I think it's time to let them sleep."

Drake stared blankly. "�Okay�" Yomiko, for the first time since that fight, looked peaceful. She was actually smiling, which rendered some degree of normalcy. Drake wasn't going to try to push her now, although he was willing to bet a paycheque that the woman was probably on a really powerful drug. But hearing her talk � not scream, cry or stare blankly, as she had for weeks � was pleasant.

"Ano�I think," Yomiko went on, turning back to look at the ruins, "that it's best to let go of your anger. There's no use in holding in rage. It will only pull you down."

Drake grunted. "Better to just move on." He crossed his arms over his chest, not happy with the cold.

"Ano, Drake-san, what are you doing all the way out here?" Yomiko asked, giving her occasional partner a puzzled look. Her former home wasn't exactly accessible.

"Stupid Joker gave me a mission," muttered Drake. "I'll pay you if you do it for me."

"Eh?" Yomiko blinked owlishly behind her glasses. "Why?"

"This is the fourth time in a row Joker's making me work over Christmas," Drake snarled. "For once I want to spend Christmas like a normal parent � have the kid wake me at four in the morning, drink coffee while kid opens presents, get hugs and kisses, bake cookies all day." Drake sighed. "Sometimes I think Joker needs a wife, I think he makes me work over Christmas because he does the same thing."

For a brief moment Yomiko was shocked by Drake's blunt statement. He spent Christmas on missions away from his daughter? Didn't Joker had a family to go home to? What was Drake thinking, bribing her to work over Christmas when she could be shopping in Jinbouchou, visiting Sensei or simply curling up in her own apartment, reading a book?

Yomiko looked away, back at the remains. She wouldn't be able to get a teaching during the holidays and the Library wasn't going to take her on soon, seeing how she was still deemed unstable. Drake-san really needed a break to catch with his daughter.

Yomiko suddenly smiled to herself. And aside from reading, what better way to spend the holidays doing what she loved best: hunting down a rare book, likely tucked away in a forgotten corner of the world?

"I'd love to, Drake-san!" Yomiko replied happily, turning back to face Drake.

"Really?" Drake was surprised by Yomiko's response. He was almost sure the bibliophile had books planned for the holidays. She must be desperte for money. "Th-Thanks!" He fumbled with his vest pocket, hoping to give the other agent his mission details before she could somehow chance her mind.

Yomiko blushed at the look of excitement on Drake's face, washing away any reluctance or resentment she might had had. Letting go of her own selfish wants so she could help others � wasn't this the spirit of the season? It was as thought the pure white snow had cleansed her soul, better than any fire.

"You. Are. A. Lifesaver," Drake said, emphasizing each word after filling in Yomiko things not included in the report.

"Ano, no�" Yomiko demurred with a deeper blush than before.

She couldn't change her past, but she could always make someone's future brighter.

Alternate Ending: The Flame Tips of Treason

Perhaps it was sheer coincidence, fate or just a badly-written plot that then set off the sprinklers in Joker's office, immediately raining cold water on the agent and commander. Yomiko looked startled at the sudden coldness seeping through her clothes, but Joker seemed more disturbed by something else. The instinct to protect the work scattered all over his desk from the water was overridden by the knowledge of what it meant - that there was a fire in the Library, and it was out of control.

"I think that's your cue, The Paper," Joker said as he stood up. A frown creased his face as he tapped a small remote. The computer screen that hung over the corner of Joker's desk beeped; Yomiko grabbed the screen and twisted it so she could see it as well.

"Elias, what is going on?" Joker demanded.

"Fire," the man said. His clothes looked a little charred and he was out of breath. "A girl on the public level started throwing fire at us. Someone tried to escape into the lower levels, but she followed and she's underground."

"Hisaki," Yomiko hissed.

"This is not good," Joker groaned, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"Where is she exactly?" asked Yomiko worriedly.

"She's going towards the vaults," Elias reported.

"The Paper - "

Yomiko didn't need to wait for an order. She skidded out of the drenched office, racing to intercept her former student.

What had Hisaki been doing for these past few weeks, while Yomiko was locked up with her books? Clearly someone so power-hungry, impatient and somewhat evil (come on, you had to be evil to burn Yomiko's home and books to the ground) wasn't going to sit around, twiddling her thumbs to wait for The Moment to make her appearance.

Well, Hisaki had been learning English. Remember, Hisaki didn't understand English, which became a very immediate problem to her when she fled to London. The girl was alone and couldn't communicate a thing to the uniligual English. Fortunately, she had the presence of mind to steal money along with the forbidden books that Yomiko had hidden from her. With this money she had walked into what she had guessed was a bookstore, purchased a few Japanese-English dictionaries, and started learning.

Granted, it normally takes people several months to learn a language properly. However, Hisaki was not the least bit concerned about communicating with other people. Her entire intent was to translate just enough English into Japanese so she could find the British Library and, oh yeah, read a few of the books that Yomiko had hidden from her.

After several weeks of painstaking translation, fuelled only by her desire to gain more power, Hisaki had learned several powerful spells. On top of that, she was convinced that she now knew the secret of her Craft - that to acquire more power, she had to kill her mentor. This was not entirely accurate, but as there was no one around to correct the power-blinded girl Hisaki was quite convinced that once she killed Yomiko, she would command unlimited magic.

But where was Yomiko? Hisaki spent several days wandering London's bookstores, but didn't get a glimpse of the bespectacled scatterbrain. It finally occurred to Hisaki that Yomiko might still be in hiding. Or worse, in Japan, a whole new set of problems. But if she was still in London, that wouldn't be a problem.

Now if I were a crazy book lover, where would I live?

Hisaki could've smacked herself on the head when she realized the answer. Of course - the British Library! Why didn't she think of it before? Hisaki knew how the Library looked, but London was a big city and she couldn't remember how to get there. Fortunately, tourist maps were easy to come by, and it was a simple matter of walking in the front doors, attaching herself at the back of a Japanese tour group.

Hisaki's first thought was to do some quiet snooping, pretending to be an over-interested Japanese schoolgirl who had simply lost herself from her group. However, the tour guide had changed her plans when she informed the group that the British Library was in possession of several rare literary artifacts. Sure, there was Mozart's sheet music and Shakespeare's plays, but it didn't take much imagination for Hisaki to assume that the Library that stayed hidden from the public probably had a lot more.

So, change of plans. Find the rarest book on magic and take it. She had been prodding around the medieval history section when several workers began to follow her. Hisaki realized that they might have recognized her, and the only alternative was to get rid of them as quickly as possible, which involved throwing fire at them. Probably not the quietest way to do it, but definitely the most effective.

And - surprise, surprise - alarms go off, people start screaming and all hell breaks loose.

I don't mind that, Hisaki thought to herself as she conjured a pillar of fire and sent it spinning into a bookshelf, igniting the contents into a glorious blaze of golden light. Because I'm going to be the queen of it.

Everyone in the lower levels was in complete panic. Water sprayed from the ceiling, but the magical fire was putting up a good fight - Hisaki had grown stronger since the incident and it showed in her magic. All people could do was flee. They had no weapons to fight off Hisaki. Why would they - who'd find out about and attack this secret underground base of books, of all things?

Yomiko stood still in the middle of the crowd, looking around. Workers pushed past her in a mad attempt to flee, wet from all the water coming out of the ceiling and skidding through puddles. Yomiko grabbed a book for ammunition, but the paper was too wet. Still, there wasn't much else Yomiko could use; she swiftly stuffed some wet sheets of paper into her vest and ran towards the vaults, fighting her way through the crowd with loud apologies.

Why? Yomiko asked herself. She freed herself from the main group and broke into a run, water still raining down from above. How did this happen? Where did I go wrong?

"My lucky day."

"Drake-san!" Yomiko gasped. She stumbled into the burly American's chest. "What - "

"Talk later, action now," Drake said as he caught the Japanese and set her on her feet again. He didn't look very happy. Maybe it was all the water.

"What are you doing here?" Yomiko blurted out.

"I work here." Drake pulled out a gun and loaded it. "Well, it's pure luck that I'm here and suddenly all the fire alarms go off. With your fire student loose, I can put two and two together."

Yomiko didn't hear what Drake was saying; she could only stare at Drake's weapon, which seemed to bring the reality of the situation to her. "You're..."

"Yomiko, face it," Drake said. "Someone like Hisaki can't stay locked up. She's going to get what she wants - which I assume is world domination or something like that - and is going to kill until she gets it. She's not settling for second place." A long speech from the taciturn blond.

"But she's a child!" Yomiko wailed. "An innocent!"

"Someone who did THIS is an innocent?!" roared Drake. "What did I say about 'talk later, action now'?"

"You can't kill her!" Yomiko yelled, jumping in Drake's way and holding out her arms, effectively barring futher passage down the hall they were in.

Something warm pressed into the back of Yomiko's neck. Yomiko didn't need Drake's shocked expression to tell her who it was.

"Thank you, Yomiko-sensei," Hisaki chirped from behind her former teacher. Hisaki was dressed in a dark red shirt and jeans. Unlike Yomiko and Drake, Hisaki was not soaked to the bone. A cushion of warm air surrounded the girl, causing water that fell on her shield to evaporate. The back of Yomiko's clothes was already beginning to steam and dry from the close contact. The girl had a pointed finger at Yomiko's neck; it would take only a thought to send fire and burn The Paper's head off.

"The two of you are too noisy," Hisaki commented.

"How - " Drake mouthed.

"Invisibility. I'm a Witch, what did you expect?" Hisaki asked casually. She enjoyed the position she was in. "Now, The Paper, show me where the books of magic are kept."

"Hisaki - "

"Please don't argue with me, Yomiko-sensei," Hisaki answered, mimicking Yomiko's voice. Still mimicking, she continued: "Or I might kill you anyway and destroy the rest of the Library looking for them."

"You're sadistic, you've got that?" Drake snarled.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me," Hisaki sang in English as Yomiko slowly turned around and began to walk down the hallway, Hisaki following right behind. "You stay right there, Drake-san, or I burn her." She sketched a spell circle in the air out of fire, which hovered in the air. Drake was immediately frozen into place; he had no choice but to stay where he was.

"You're changed, Hisaki-san," Yomiko murmured as they continued their walk. Hisaki's shield of air now flowed over Yomiko as well - a show of power rather than of kindness. "You're..."

"Mature?" Hisaki suggested.

"Ano, I wouldn't say that."

"Then what? You think I'm mad with power?"

Yomiko didn't answer; any response could've toasted her immediately. They turned a corner and began to descend down a stone passage. The air would've felt cooler if Hisaki hadn't kept up her shield of air.

"I have a real goal in life now, rather than retrieving all those stupid books like a little lapdog. Here Hisaki-chan, fetch girl!" Hisaki said in her imitation of Yomiko's voice again. "Good girl, here, you can have some magic!"

"It's not like that," Yomiko sighed. "You can't just take power, Hisaki-san."

"You're one to talk. I know what you did to become The Paper."

"What?"

"I read all about it," Hisaki went on. "Each Paper Master kills her teacher so she becomes even stronger. Kanzeyori-san did it, then your teacher, then you."

"Kanzeyori?..."

"Well, I'm your student. Call it a tradition when I kill you."

Any mercy Yomiko had for Hisaki vanished at that moment. Yomiko had been hoping to appeal to some humane side of Hisaki and make her realize that this was the wrong way to achieve her goals. But after hearing Hisaki speak so casually about killing Yomiko forced that last vestiges of forgiveness out of her.

Hisaki had not realized the crucial error that would develop from her show of power. By extending her shield over Yomiko she had dried off every drop of water that had been on The Paper. Including the water from the soaking pages Yomiko had hastily armed herself with. This was not immediately apparent to Hisaki, however.

What was immediately apparent was Yomiko suddenly ducking, twisting to slice a sheet of paper straight at Hisaki's chest. Hisaki jumped backwards to dodge the attack, suddenly caught off guard. Yomiko had timed her attack for this section of the hall; it was an older portion and had no sprinklers installed, so no water could interfere with her abilities.

Hisaki quickly decided that Yomiko was not leading her to the books on magic and that she had to kill the older woman now. The pyromancer let several bolts of fire fly at The Paper, who quickly constructed a giant paper fan and blew them out in midflight with a single sweep. Yomiko swung the fan again, disassembling half of the fan and sending razor-edged missiles back at Hisaki. Hisaki's fingers wove a complicated pattern in the air, tracing lines of light; the sheets of paper burst into flame and showered the floor in ashy dust.

The Firestarter immediately pounced on the offensive, running towards Yomiko and throwing balls of fire. Yomiko quickly backed away, swiping at the fireballs with her fan. When Hisaki was close enough she launched herself into a flying kick, catching The Paper square in the chest and sending her further down the hall, rolling head over heels. A javelin made of pure flame appeared in Hisaki's hands and she lunged at the the stunned woman, but Yomiko had recovered enough to roll aside and slash upwards at Hisaki. Hisaki automatically brought her weapon up to defend herself, but the paper sliced through the fire, dissolving the weapon.

The Paper now took up the offensive, slicing at Hisaki. Both hands each held a sheaf of paper that occasionally launched a missile, but as she worked her way back up the hall paper that had fallen on the floor picked up off of the floor, whirling around the Paper Master in a deadly whirlwind. Hisaki retreated frantically, flares of light appearing before her when The Paper made contact with her shield, which was getting dangerously smaller.

Blood was drawn when the shielf finally vanished and The Paper scored a hit on The Firestarter, slicing up a thin line on Hisaki's right forearm. Hisaki staggered backwards at the hit's sudden pain as Yomiko stood there, panting.

"You've been using blood spells, haven't you," Yomiko gasped between breaths.

"How do you know?" Hisaki asked, surprised. She held her arm to her chest.

"You're bleeding too much," Yomiko answered. Her stance relaxed as she watched Hisaki try, unsuccessfully, to stop the bleeding.

Blood spells were forbidden magic by all magic users. Anyone who did try serious magic with blood didn't live long enough to talk about any great benefits. Blood spells didn't come from just the user's Craft, magic or whatever you wanted to call it - it also required the user's lifeforce, in the form of blood, to strengthen it. The result was a powerful spell, but at a price.

The body became addicted to blood magic. When the user was now given a cut, even more blood would force its way out of the body. It didn't matter if there was an actual spell being cast - the body only knew that bleeding made it stronger, and if there was a way out then it was taking advantage of it.

"Just a flesh wound," Hisaki snapped. She wiped her arm again, and the bleeding seemed to stop for now. However, the girl was looking a little wary at the amount of blood she had lost from that one small cut; there was a small pool on the floor, heavily staining her worn tennis shoes.

Hisaki smirked. Well, if there was going to be blood, she might as well use it. She slowly knelt, as though she was getting weak, then suddenly drew several runes in the puddle.

Before Yomiko knew what was happening, a carpet of golden fire raced up to her. She screamed as her feet and legs began to burn in the fire.

And just as suddenly it was over. Yomiko collapsed, lamed by the unexpected assault on her and crying in pain. Hisaki also fell over, the fire and pool of blood gone.

"Not enough," Hisaki rasped. The girl was even paler, but a mad spark glowed in her eyes. "Almost had you..." Hisaki threw a fireball at Yomiko, but Yomiko easily batted it aside with her paper.

"Hisaki." Yomiko looked up to face her student. "Hisaki, I know what you're going to do."

"I'll kill you, that's what," Hisaki growled. The girl dragged herself to an upright position against the wall, trying to pull something out of her pocket. Yomiko Readman had been holding her back, worried about the consequences when she could no longer control her power - worse, when she realized what she had to do to Yomiko. Once Yomiko was dead, she could stop using blood spells to pay for her power. Then she could rest and stop listening to a body that sang for her blood.

"You're going to die if you use another blood spell," Yomiko yelled. "And your soul is going to be condemned to hell for it."

"I will be the queen of hell, then," Hisaki gasped. She finally got what she wanted - a Swiss army knife. She flicked the knife open.

"Hisaki, stop, listen to me!" Yomiko shrieked. "Even if you do kill manage to kill me, you will gain nothing! You will not get stronger, you'll only get weaker!"

"No," Hisaki mumbled. She shook her head, but only got dizzy from the motion. "You're just stalling for your life. You're lying."

"Think, Hisaki!" Yomiko screamed. "When have I ever lied to you?!"

Hisaki stared. Her scattered mind searched for a memory but found nothing.

"Please, Hisaki, stop," pleaded Yomiko. "You'll accomplish nothing."

"Yes. Yes, I will."

"What, then?" Yomiko yelled.

"This." Hisaki pointed the knife at Yomiko. "The Library. This insane, power-hungry system of Paper Masters." Her voice gained strength as she talked, buoyed by this moment of clarity. "They use you, then throw you into their own hell, their own world of private suffering. They won't even let you die." The insane girl paused, then smiled benevolently at the stunned Yomiko. "The least I can do is guarantee that you go to heaven, as repayment for everything you've done for me."

"Hisaki, no - "

"'Ashes, ashes, we all fall down,'" Hisaki sang softly under her breath, then cut open her palm.