W.I.T.C.H. A SLICE OF LIFE

Chapter 1: A Japanese Tea Ceremony

Will glanced around, seeing that she was the first to arrive at the park. Up ahead in front of a cherry blossom tree, a plain picnic blanket was spread out, its four-sided rims were weighed down by seven Japanese seating pillows. Two of them were occupied by the twins, Kimi Watsuki, the Guardian of Light, and her older twin brother, Kyochi, the Guardian of Darkness.

The siblings were dressed beautifully in their respective kimonos, Kimi's was white with elaborate embroideries while Kyochi's is a simple black, but you can still see the shimmering black threads used in its on embroideries, signifying elegance in simplicity. Will noticed that Kimi's hair was coifed in an elegant bun, held together by a simple headpiece that once belonged to her late mother. Will glanced down at her regular casual-looking outfit, a pink sweater over a white shirt with a brown mini skirt. She felt so underdressed compared to the Watsuki twins.

Kyochi was absorbed in his conversation with his sister as they finished setting the tea cups. Noticing her presence, Kimi nodded at Will's direction and her brother graciously waved to her. His adorable smile definitely puts Will at ease as she greeted them and took a seat.

"Hi, guys!" Will chirped. "Wow, I feel so underdressed. I didn't think it was really going to be a fancy tea party."

Kimi rolled her eyes. "We mentioned that this would be a Japanese tea ceremony, if I may recall."

Kyochi waved it off. "Do not worry, Will-san. You and your friends are my guests and should wear what you find comfortable."

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks again for inviting me and my friends to your tea party, Kyochi," Will smiled. "That is just so sweet of you!" It was sweet of him. Why can't all boys be like him all the time? Even her Matt?

Kyochi nodded respectfully. "My pleasure, Will-san. After all, I wanted to show you my gratitude for helping us back on Lusteria."

Will nodded, remember all of their crazy adventures on the twins' home planet. For months, Kyochi was captured by the corrupted Celestial Warriors to cut off Kandrakar's link to the Prince of Darkness, giving themselves no obstacles to conquer the entire world. The Darkness overbalanced the Light, weakening all good magic including the Guardians. Will and her friends journeyed to Lusteria to solve the problem and there, they met Kimi. Together with Orube and the Jade Dragon, they constantly traveled to the five Elemental Kingdoms of Lusteria to battle each of the five Celestial Warriors, earning new transformations and saving the kingdoms. Needless to say, things were going well until they discover who was the real culprit manipulating the Celestial Warriors and Kyochi against the Guardians. Luckily, they saved Kyochi and he in returned joined them to save the universe.

"It's so nice to have all seven Guardians together—" Kyochi continued.

Kimi scoffed. "But don't you think you're going overboard with all of this formality, Nii-san? I highly doubt Will and her friends can even sit through this for five seconds!"

Will shot her an annoyed glare. Even though Kimi had become friendlier than when they first met, at times she can still be overbearing.

"Hey, cut the attitude, Kimi!" said Will, wanting to remind her that they all have been through thick and thin as well as hell in the past few weeks. Why would Kimi think that they can't handle a little tea party?

"May I need to remind you that we've been in tougher situation that this tea party?"

Kimi sighed, trying her best not to roll her eyes, an Earth habit she has been developing since she started dating Koji Kishimoto. "There's a big difference between saving the universe and sitting through a long and tedious and traditional tea ceremony, Will."

"Well, then…" Will wanted to retort, but couldn't come up with anything. Glancing at Kyochi, she asked, "Um, Kyochi, exactly how long do these traditional Japanese tea ceremony of yours last?"

"Four hours," Kyochi replied simply.

Will's mouth gapped open and her eyes bulged into a set of large circles.

"WHAT?! FOUR HOURS?!"

Kyochi smiled sheepishly while Kimi seemed vexed as usual. Will decided to laugh it off so that Kimi doesn't get the last laugh…sneer…whatever!

"I mean, only four hours?! Ha! That's awesome! Who doesn't wanna party for four hours or more, right?!" Will knows that Kimi isn't convinced, so Will glanced around and felt relieved to finally see her friends coming. "Hey, look! Irma and the others are here! C'mon! Let's get this tea party started!"

We'll show her, Will thought. C'mon, we've been through a lot of crap on Lusteria, not to mention all of those battles with our previous enemies like Phobos and Nerissa. Of course we can handle a little tea party for four hours, no sweat!

5 SECONDS LATER

Needless to say, things didn't go so well as the other girls were trying their best to impress Kyochi. As they vied for his attention, on account that he's the only male Guardian they've ever seen, they started to talk over one another.

"Did you make these odangoes by yourself, Kyochi? Wow, I'll bet they'll taste really—" Cornelia complemented, taking a bite of the little balls of sweets on a stick.

"Hey, Kyochi! Check this out! Neat isn't it? It's a—" Irma interrupted, using her magic to shape her tea into something amazing, but then she felt an itch. Losing focus, Irma accidentally let the tea drop on Cornelia's head, soaking her.

Cornelia shrieked. "AAAH! IRMA!"

"Oops," Irma replied guiltily.

Hay Lin, on the other hand, was trying to impress Kyochi by using her magic over air to shape the steam coming out of her tea into the form of a phoenix.

"Look, Kyochi," she giggled, as she is reminded of the Celestial Warrior of Fire, "It's a fire bird, just like Zhu Que!"

Kyochi glanced around, his tea untouched and getting cold. Noticing this, Taranee smiled, hoping to catch his attention. "Don't strain yourself, Kyochi," Taranee grabbed his cup and used her fire magic to reheat it. "I can reheat this tea for you with my fire magic. You just sit back and enjoy!"

Will wanted to slap her palm to her face, totally embarrassed by her friends' childish behavior. Noted, Kyochi was kinda cute looking, but this is just embarrassing.

Kyochi was getting uncomfortable, not because of all the attentions he was getting, but more like confusion. Everyone was strict and rigid back where he came from. But here, these girls were acting like immature fledglings. He was hoping that this tea ceremony would allow him to finally catch up on getting to know the Guardian from Earth due to his months of absence, but instead he's seeing for himself how teenagers on Earth act and it was alien to him. While he appreciated their keenest to impress him with their elemental magic, their rambunctious behavior caught him slightly off guard.

Glancing at his sister, Kyochi is surprised at how calm she was in the midst of this chaos of girls chattering. "Are they always this…active?" he asked her.

Ignoring him, Kimi continued to sip her herbal green tea in silence.

Kyochi sighed. Perhaps he should have taken Kimi's advice on going to this so-called amusement park instead. "Fine, we'll go with your idea next time."

"Hmph!" Kimi replied, sipping her tea again. You're all idiots! she thought as she watched with a slight amusement as Cornelia started to chase Irma around their picnic area.

"I have a bad feeling that this is gonna be a very long four-hour tea party…" Will said.

Author's note: Apologies, at the time of writing this chapter, I was in the midst of writing Part III of Chapter 8 of my "Dreams of Lusteria" story. Unfortunately, my laptop "died" and I lost everything. So while you're waiting for me to update that story, I've decided to write "A Slice of Life". It's an idea I had for months but never got around to it until now. It's going to be a bunch of miniature chapters that either took place before, during, or after "Dreams of Lusteria". So as you've guessed, the first chapter takes place after.

You kinda have to read DoL in order to know who these new characters are. They're kinda of a slice of life type of stories, so most of them are just humorous scenes that played around in my heads. Some are just that, while others will be "deleted" scenes that I want to add into "Dreams of Lusteria" but never did due to story flow. So now you can read them here!

Do not worry, I will be continuing "Dreams of Lusteria". I just need to re-write the beginning part that I've lost. It will take a while longer, but in the meantime, do enjoy these mini short stories in "A Slice of Life".