Kailor: As always, I own nothing but the idea. This is the first chapter of a story I'm hoping to make my next "Sword and the Needle"...except better. Maybe...I hope...Anyways, reviews appreciated!

Naruto: And as always, there's no food to be found in this house.

Kailor: I've been working :( No time to shop.

Nuriko: Or clean. Which is why we exist.

Rikku: Wait...I thought we were co-author thingies. We're actually maids?

Kailor: ...slaves, to be more exact :D OH and keep in mind people, this is different and the same as the original story line. Just accept what I say as the facts of the story and DEAL WITH IT. :D Thank you. Review review review.

"Setsuna?"

She turned her wheelchair slowly, lifting her head as best she could. Her white hair blew across her face as a breeze rolled through and she squinted between the strands of it to find the source of the voice. "Yes? Who's there?"

The graveyard was as silent as ever. Her young attendant from the nursing home was dozing in the car just as she usually was when she brought Setsuna here. There were no mourners today. Nobody crossed the vibrantly green grass to place artificial flowers on a grave or to simply stare at the tombstones like Setsuna did. The wind crawled between the stones and plaques, whistling a song she knew very well after all these years. Her oxygen tank whined softly behind her. The little monitor on her chair beeped steadily as it transmitted her vital signs to the matching black box at her attendant's hip. Nothing else made a sound or moved. This was, after all, a graveyard.

Assuming she was hearing things, she turned back to the row of tombstones before her.

"Setsuna."

This time she knew she wasn't hearing things. She pressed the button beside her finger, once again turning her chair.

Standing a few graves down was a young woman. Something about the way she had her brown hair tied up in two buns sparked a memory in Setsuna's mind, but she couldn't quite grasp it. Very few memories were easily available to her these days. "That's me. Who're you?" she asked.

The woman stepped closer and held her fist out.

Setsuna leaned her head away, wary.

Finger by finger, the stranger opened her hand to reveal a small pile of blue powder in her palm. "Let's see it this can remind you." She blew the powder into Setsuna's face.

Setsuna jerked back as best she could, clutching the arms of her chair to keep from falling face first to the graveyard grass. She tasted the powder's salty tang on her tongue and it burned in her nose and eyes. Coughing and retching, she attempted to rid herself of the foreign substance. Then the taste and the sting were gone. She closed her eyes and memories began to rush past her eyelids like a movie reel of her life.

She saw her old teacher and Eishun Konoe... Negi and Asuna and all of class 3-A... the festivals at Mahora... and Konoka. Mostly Konoka. When they were little, then at school, then in their later years.

She saw the day she could have told Konoka the truth about her feelings and once again she saw herself turn back into the rain and run away... Konoka never married... Setsuna never married... They were partners, but they never made the permanent pactio... And Setsuna spent every day wishing she'd said those few words that night in the rain...

She saw Asuna and Negi's falling out... how they never spoke again... Negi went back to England... Asuna and Ayaka stopped talking... Asuna left for China... Konoka cried nearly everyday and Setsuna could never find the words to comfort her... Ayaka married an abusive man and eventually admitted it was because his insults reminded her of Asuna and she'd take the beatings for those few moments remembering the redhead...

She saw every one of those people die all over again, saw Eva leaving for America, saw herself being admitted to the home... her attendant fussed over the sword she refused to let be thrown away... the graveyard... only a few of a once stronger-than-steel group buried together... her... all alone and aged beyond recognition. She saw for the first time just how deeply the wrinkles had set into her face, how far the muscles had fallen, how faded her eyes had become...

But now her eyes were clear and her memory kept running fleeting visions past them as she peered up at the woman before her. "Chao." Her voice suddenly sounded raspy and hoarse to her own ears. She'd never really paid attention to it before. After 107 years you stopped paying attention to pretty much everything.

Chao Lingshen smiled, the same smile she'd worn the few years Setsuna knew her. "There we go. Age seems to have taken its toll on your memory."

"Why are you here?"

Chao glanced to the side. "Same reason as you. Paying my respects."

Setsuna followed her gaze to the line of tombstones. "You're about thirty years late, Chao. Haruna was the last to go then."

"Ha," Chao barked. "I figured she'd outlive the rest of them. She was a fighter through and through. Yet, here you sit. Outlived everybody except Eva." Her smile widened. "Aren't you proud of yourself for hanging on so long?"

Setsuna scoffed. "It's only because I'm half-demon. Otherwise I'd be just as dead as the others. I wish I were."

"You shouldn't," Chao said.

"Why's that?"

"Because if you were I wouldn't be here offering you the deal I'm about to offer."

Setsuna looked back at her old classmate, her eyes narrowing. "What deal?"

Chao reached into her jacket and pulled out a pocket watch hanging from a long chain. It dangled between them, turning slowly in the breeze. Setsuna's heart monitor began to beep a little faster.

"Is that a-"

"Cassiopeia, yes. However, this one is a little different. It's the only one I will ever make with the special capabilities I've given it."

"Special capabilities?" Setsuna watched the watch swing back and forth, suddenly thinking she might be getting hypnotized.

As if reading her mind, Chao grabbed the watch and coiled the chain around it. "Very special. You've used these before. What did they do?"

"Brought us back in time."

"Right, but how did you look when you got there?"

"The same as when we left...what're you getting at?"

Chao grinned again. "This one de-ages you back to that time instead of just bringing you there and it can go back years, not hours." She seemed to see the confused look on Setsuna's face because she bent until they were eye level. "Setsuna, if I set this to take you back to when you were three years old, it would. And when you got there you would be three years old and you would take the place of the three year old you that was there. It gives you the chance to relive your life. With this, you can change your history."

Setsuna looked again at the little watch sitting in Chao's hand. Her heart monitor sped up once again. She could go back? Relive her life? Change her history? See her friends again?

Wait...

"What's the catch?" she said, looking Chao in the eyes.

Chao's grin grew wider. "No catch really. Just a condition."

"I call that a catch."

"You were always so cynical." Chao laughed and placed the watch in Setsuna's hand. "I have a favor to ask. When you get back there..." Her voice dropped off and Setsuna leaned closer to hear her words. "When you get back there...let Asakura take more pictures of everyone. There are only a few left in existence. I miss seeing your faces sometimes and I only have one. When we meet again, can you make sure I get some?"

"Will we meet again? I mean, if I'm going back to change history...we may never meet again."

"We'll meet again. I promise. Just get me those pictures, okay?" Chao straightened up and turned, weaving her way back through the tombstones to wherever she had come from. "Oh, and one more condition. It can only be used once. I've already set the date and time. You just have to hit the top button. Keep in mind, some things will be hard to change and some things may seem impossible, but don't give up."

"Chao!"

The young woman stopped.

"Why're you giving me this?"

Chao stood still for a moment, her jacket blowing in the wind. Then she looked back at the old woman perched in her wheelchair. "You were always one of my favorite classmates. Things didn't go well with our class and you saw it all. You remember it all now. You can change it. I just want everyone to have a second chance at being happy."

"Then why don't you go back?"

"I'm not from your time, remember?" Chao smiled again, but this time it didn't reach her eyes. "And I only have so much of this time left anyways."

"What do you-"

"Don't forget my pictures, Setsuna." Chao turned her back on the aged swordsman and began walking again. "I'll be waiting. Oh, dammit. I keep forgetting things." Without stopping, she glanced back and grinned once more. "Happy birthday, Setsuna."

A car door slammed and Setsuna saw her attendant making her way through the graveyard. She was eyeing Chao suspiciously and hurrying to Setsuna's side. "Ms. Sakurazaki? What is that you have? Give it here. You know you shouldn't take things from strangers. Ms. Sakurazaki?"

She was going to take the watch away. Setsuna glanced at Chao's retreating figure and the advancing attendant. The woman's hand was outstretched and she was motioning for Setsuna to hand it over. Instead, Setsuna popped it open. Her heart monitor began to beep so fast it sounded like one continuous sound. There was a roaring in her ears and the graveyard suddenly seemed so loud.

"Ms. Sakurazaki! Give that here, please!"

The inside throbbed with a glowing blue light and the four hands were fixed on a certain time and date. She pressed the button on top and magic surged through her body for the first time in decades. The blue light leapt from the watch and swallowed her up, blocking out the attendant and the graveyard. The last thing she saw was Chao. The young woman held up a hand, not bothering to turn back around. Then the world was blue...

Then white...

Then black...

"Happy birthday, Setsuna."