SWORDS AND FANGS

Chapter One: A Very Important Mission

By: Demosthenes

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to Mankind."

~John F. Kennedy

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Magic Knights Rayearth; please don't sue me. Anyway! I have only seen the first four episodes of the first series and well; I love this show. My fanfic is an Alternate Universe fanfic, so it won't be affected by that fact since I did some research on the characters. It's about a Vampire prince named Ferio, and a great Vampire Slayer named Fuu who has two friends by the names of Hikaru and Umi… hehe! Please R and R since this is my first Rayearth fic.  (This chapter has been edited.  10/20/03)

Author's Note: Well, I've come along way now, and I'm going back and adding some detail to the original chapters, which according to me, were written in the stone age! I have seen more than four Rayearth episodes by now, have several mangas, and have visited many sites! (I even went dressed up as Hikaru for Halloween and A-kon.) I'll have a note saying that the chapter has been updated (like this one) for you all to know. But if you don't have the time or the commitment to reread it, it's ok. There's not much of a change in plot. Only detail.

The Vampires and the Humans had been at war for as long as Fuu could recollect. Peace between them had proven elusive, nay, impossible.  The situation had given birth to the vampire slayer, which had become necessary in order safeguard the survival of the human race.  The turmoil was one that had given many a young child nightmares.  And yet, here she was, right in the middle of it.  A vampire slayer's life was not easy.  No one had said it would be.  And yet, sometimes she found herself wondering why fate had given her this path. Fuu's gloved fingers ran gently through her caramel hair as she peered out of the silver framed window, her eyes watching the glittering stars painted in the night sky. The view was simply breathtaking, but the calamities of the world restrained people from enjoying the true beauty of nature. "Staring out to space again Fuu?" her comrade Umi inquired as she walked up behind her. She put a hand down on the windowsill and accompanied Fuu at watching diamonds glitter in a canopy of ebony.

"Oh, Umi you shocked me," Fuu smiled warmly, eyes sparkling in the starlight.

"The night sky really is gorgeous," Umi commented touching the glass that reflected the speckled collage.  The two friends watched the twinkling stars, mulling about the how ephemeral life seemed.  The moment of contemplation was shattered; however, by Hikaru's arrival.

"Hi everyone!" Hikaru greeted them cheerfully as she walked  into the room. Excitement was plastered across her face, and she seemed to float over to them. Her ruby eyes were glowing as she clapped her hands together and looked about the room. It had been the base of the three slayers since they had first received their training.  Hikaru could never grasp how the years had flowed by so quickly.  Slayer philosophy called for their warriors to be trained young, but that time had escaped them before they even realized it.  The room held many memories, but it was a physically pleasant as well. It was quite a cozy place with baby blue walls and three silver framed beds in the corner farthest from the window. Dangling from the door was a myriad of ornamental garlic; Umi would plead on a daily basis for them to get rid of the garlic because it clashed with the fashion of the room. Carefully hidden in the closet were all their weapons, waiting anxiously for the heat of battle.

"Well Hikaru," Umi asked in her usual nonchalant tone, "do we have another mission or what?" She shouldn't have even asked; however, because the look of alertness on Hikaru's face divulged the answer.

"Actually," Hikaru answered pausing for slight drama, "we've been assigned a very important mission; in fact the most important of all." She stopped once more to plan out how to explicate the situation to her fellow slayers. The mission. The thought of it sent shivers cavorting up and down her spine.

"Really?" Fuu's interest had clearly been caught, "Please continue." She straightened out her beryl outfit and mentally started to prepare herself for whatever Hikaru might say.

"Well! Don't keep it all to yourself!" Umi shouted in a voice decked with impatience, "tell us!" Hikaru would keep them standing on the edge of the cliff of suspense if someone didn't force her to push them off.

Hikaru started to speak, choosing her words carefully, "The war on Vampires has been a long lasting battle. Causing more casualties on our side than theirs. Headquarters want us to find and kill the Vampire prince so that we can end all Vampire threat to humanity." The task only sounded simple in words, but in action it would be nearly impossible.

Fuu blinked and then clenched her jaw.  She hadn't expected this at all.  This was a job for older slayers.  It was true that they had surpassed their peers long ago, but it still shocked her that the headquarters would put in place an operation of this caliber.

"We've been ordered to kill great mass murdering vampires before, but how in the world will we be able to kill the prince?" Umi asked dumbfounded. She began to also wonder why a task of such magnitude would be handed over to them, elite as they were.

"Come on Umi, we're the legendary Vampire Slayers, we can do anything!" Hikaru answered optimistically.  She was clearly ignoring Fuu and Umi's body language.

"Maybe you're right," Umi commented, "but where will we find him?" She couldn't see how sending only three slayers would get anything accomplished.

"Well," Hikaru said, "I've been given a map on a possible location and some instructions. Headquarters has been tracking vampire activity and have pinpointed an area where the base is most likely located." With those words, she took out the map she had been given.  As they huddled around it, Fuu felt a pang of worry shoot through her spine.  Something in her gut told her it would be different this time.  Fate was planning away, and her lack of control paralyzed her with fear.

* * *

Prince Ferio sat at his throne with hands crossed over his chest, rather disheartened about the situation of his people with the humans. The vampires couldn't help that their appetite was appeased only by human blood, and none of them ever intentionally killed humans unless it was in self-defense.

"Prince Ferio," a voice encumbered by authority addressed him. Ferio looked down from his throne to see his close companion, Clef, standing before him with robes flowing across the black marble floor. Clef's piercing blue eyes reflected much anxiety.

"What's wrong?" Ferio asked catching the hint of worry in Clef's eyes. He sat up more erect; preparing to soak in anything Clef might have to say. The prince's forest green hair was currently disheveled since he had awoken only an hour or so ago and since then done nothing but worry. His hands gripped the black arm rests even tighter, the ornate carvings digging into the palms of his hands.

"Nothing," Clef answered as if he didn't know what Ferio was talking about; he found himself regretting coming to the prince in the first place. Ferio was already plagued by the many afflictions that came from the war against humans.

"Did the humans get another one of our kind?" Ferio interrogated, determined to find out what was going on. He knew in his heart though, that even if it were true, Clef might not tell him. He thought himself well prepared as prince to accept anything since it fell along with the duties, but Clef always had this fatherly motivation when it came to protecting him.

"No sir," Clef replied truthfully, there was no use worrying the prince over rumors that the humans were sending their greatest warriors to assassinate him.

"All right Clef," Ferio replied, deciding to let Clef think that he wasn't the least bit suspicious. It was obvious that if he wanted answers he would have to go find them himself.

* * *

"So to get to the Vampire Empire," Fuu stated while pointing at the map, "we'll have to cross these mountains first and then make our way to the castle where the Vampire Prince resides."

"That seems to be the only way," Umi commented in exhaustion. The mountains seemed like quite a large impediment and would probably take longer to cross than it would to get the job done if everything went as planned.

"Well! What are we waiting for?" Hikaru chimed in with her energetic "let's go" attitude, "Let's get ready!"

The three girls opened their closet and pulled out a secret compartment containing all their equipment. Each put on their slaying armor and grabbed their weapon of choice. Both Hikaru and Umi wielded beautifully carved wooden swords perfectly crafted for slaying vampires, and Fuu was the master of an archery set with wooden arrows enhanced so that they could penetrate anything that stood in her way. The three girls, now fully armed in an array of blue, red, and green as well as prepared to face their vampire enemies, set off to begin their adventure.

Well, here's what I have so far. There's going to be much more adventure in the future, so please R and R and if there's enough demand I'll post the next chapter!