Okay, not sure if this got through the first time, so I'm resending 
it.  If it did get through, gomen.
______________________________________

    Okay, still stuck on The Circle Opens, and I'm thinking of making 
this a part of the Destiny's Path series as well.  So, here's the 
revisied version.  Enjoy, and flames, small arms fire and tactical
nuclear weapons can be sent to the usual address.

   MSTings and C&C appreciated.  :-)
-------------------------------------------------------
     Knight Productions present........

      A Iczer Girl Iczelion story......

   Where Does My Heart Beat Now?- Part 1
-------------------------------------------------------

   All series are copyright their original creators and the companies 
that sponsored said series.  Absolutely no money is being made off of 
this. I'm just doing this for fun.  I'm also a college student, so I'm
perpetually broke.  :-) 

   Please don't sue me.
*****************************************************

   The dreams started as they always did.

   Nagisa Kai, also known as the Iczelion Normal Type, was flying
alongside Kawai Kawai, also known as the Silver Izcelion.  Ahead of
them was a huge tentacled monstosity, larger than they had ever fought
before.  For some reason, the Black and Gold Iczelions were not
present and it was up to Nagisa and Kawai to fend against this beast,
which was probally one of the leftover Chaos Geas.  Nagisa took the
initative and flew up to fire at the monster's face. 

   As soon as Nagisa flew up to fire at the monster's head, she could
sense that Kawai had positioned herself to keep any tentacles off of
Nagisa as she made her way up.  But in protecting her, Kawai forgot
about any tentacles that were behind her.....

   Nagisa spun around at the choked off scream.  Kawai had been stabbed
from behind by one of the tentacles, and she was falling swiftly to
the ground.  Nagisa forgot about the monster she sped down to catch the
falling Kawai and lower her the rest of the way to the ground.  

   By the time they got to the ground, Nagisa's hands were soaked with
Kawai's blood, and for some reason, the Iczelion's emergency life
support was not activiating, and she was dying.

   Kawai raised a blood covered hand to touch her friend's face.
"Nagisa....before I....die....there's....some....something....I...I.
..have t-.....to say......"

   "Shhhh, Kawai."  Nagisa said, trying to think of a way to save her
friend's life. " You can say it after I get you to a hospital."

   "No.....have to say it....now." Kawai gasped.  She motioned Nagisa
closer. "Nagisa.....I....I...lo....."

   And she died.

   Nagisa raised her head, her eyes wide and empty in shock.  Then she
screamed.

   "NOOOOOOOOOOOO...........!!!!!!"

********************************************

   "NOOOOOOOOOOOO.......!!!!!!!!"

   20 year old Nagisa Kai awoke in her bed, covered in a thin sheen of
sweat, her nightshirt sticking to her skin, the only evidence that she
did not have a pleasant night.  

   <God, why am I still having that dream?> she thought.  <And why did 
I feel like a part of me died when Kawai died?  And what was she trying
to tell me?>  She sighed.

   She swung out of bed and looked at herself in the mirror.  She had
changed a lot in the four years since she had become an Iczelion. Her
figure had filled out somewhat, and she had a growth spurt over the
four years.  She had let her hair grow a bit as well, so it came down
to just past her shoulder blades.

   She sighed.  Even with her development over the years, she still 
hadn't found anyone special.  <What's wrong with me?> she thought as 
she looked in the mirror.

   Just then, the phone in her apartment rang.

   She answered.  "Hello, Nagisa Kai speaking."

   "Nagisa?  Anything wrong?  I thought I heard you screaming."

   "Oh, hi Mamoru.  No, nothing's wrong.  I just had a bad dream. 
Nothing to worry about."

   "Okay....if you say so."

   "Really, I'm fine.  Thanks for the concern.  I'll see you after 
break."

   "Heh, if I'm still in one piece after the hot springs trip I'm going 
on with Usako and her friends."

   Nagisa laughed.  "Well, I'll see you after break, in one piece or 
not. Bye." She hung up the phone.

   She looked at the clock.  5:45 A.M.

   <No way in hell I'm going to get back to sleep after something like
that!> she thought.  She went to the small kitchen to grab some
breakfast.  Looking in the refrigerator, she made a face.

   "Last time I eat any of Mom's ham and wasabi meatloaf suprise." she
muttered, looking at the lump of....something her parents had sent her.
 

**********************************************

   Across the street......

   "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......!!!!!!!"

   21 year old Kawai Kawai awoke from her dream in a sheen of sweat. 
She looked around her empty apartment for a second before she got a 
hold of her senses.  The dream she had was, for all intents and 
purposes, an exact copy of Nagisa's dream, except in Kawai's version, 
it had been Nagisa who had gotten stabbed and subsequently died. 

   <Why am I still having this dream?> she thought in frustration. <And
why am I feeling like a part of me was ripped out when Nagisa got
stabbed?>  She then adopted a look of intense concentration.  <And
what was she trying to say to me when she died?>

   She then looked at the clock.  5:45 AM.  

   <Well, might as well get up,> she thought, <there's no way I can get
back to sleep after something like that!  Thankfully, it's Spring
Break, so I can take my time and not worry about classes!>  

   And with that, she got out of her sweat soaked bed and headed for 
the shower.  Along the way, she paused and looked in the mirror.  Like
Nagisa, the last four years had been very kind to her, giving her body
a fuller, more athletic figure.  She did keep her hair the same length,
though.  Unfortunately, like Nagisa, she did not have someone special
to share her life with.  She sighed. <There has to be someone out
there for me.> she thought.  <I just don't know what's wrong with me.>
She shook her head.  "There I go, thinking about my love life-what
there is of it-aga in."  She headed off to the shower.

   "Last time I eat anything my neighbor cooked." Kawai muttered.

***************************************************** 
   Later, in a park near the college that both Nagisa and Kawai were 
attending, Nagisa was sitting on a bench, trying to sort out the dream 
she had last night. This particular bench had become her favorite spot 
for studying, or just relaxing and watch ing life go by.   

   About four years ago, Nagisa would have not noticed anything special
about this park in general.  But four years.....and a certain red and
white trimmed robot-that could incidentally transform into her
Iczelion battle suit- had appeared, she had been shoved squarely into a
destiny she had never wanted.  But she had accepted the role she had to
play-to protect the Earth an all those living on it. 

   Suffice to say, this kinda altered her outlook on life.

   A tap on her shoulder interrupted Nagisa's reminicing.  She looked 
up to see Kawai standing by her.

   "Hi Nagisa!  What are you doing here all alone?" Kawai asked.

   "Oh, hi Kawai." Nagisa replied. "I don't know.  Just sitting.....and
remembering the last four years."

   Kawai laughed, which Nagisa thought for some reason was one of the
sweetest sounds in the world.  "Yeah, it has been a crazy four years.
But I wouldn't give it up for anything ."  She sat beside Nagisa on
the bench.  

   "Why?" Nagisa asked.  "All we've done is risk our necks fighting 
every monster that comes out of the woodwork, both here and from 
space." She sighed.  "Sometimes I still wonder why we're still 
fighting.  We finally took out Chaos after all.  There shouldn't be any 
more trouble."

   The two girls looked pensive for a second as they remembered the
toughest fight they had ever had as the Iczelions.  In the final fight
against Chaos, they were losing.  But somehow, Nagisa had found the
power to defeat Chaos.  In the process, her Ic zelion suit had aquired
a new more sleeker and powerful form.  No one could understand where
her new Iczelion Plus form had come from.  Even Nagisa's Iczel was at a
loss to explain.  But, the result was the same. Chaos was defeated.

   Kawai looked over at her green haired friend.  Of the four women who
were chosen to become the Iczelions defending Earth, she felt closest
to Nagisa, who was the same age as her .  <Maybe that has something to
do with it> Kawai thought, <considering that both Nami and Kiiro are
somewhat older and younger-in Kiiro's case-than us, it would be right
to be friends with Nagisa.  But I can't help but feel that 
there's....something else as well. Something that remains to be seen.>

   Kawai looked over at Nagisa.  "Nagisa, remember what I said to you
before you finally joined us?"  At Nagisa's nod, she continued.  "I
said that we are to protect the most important thing of all."  She then
looked around the park and pointed something out.  "See that tree?"
She then pointed to the lake, the nearby city, and finally to a young
couple making out near the water's edge.  She then turned to look at
Nagisa. "That's what we're here to protect.  This planet, and all life
on it."  

   Nagisa looked thoughtful for just a second, then smiled-a smile that
Kawai found irresistibly cute.  "I guess you're right.  If we fail,
all this could be gone." She swept a hand out to indicate the
surrounding area as a whole.  "I'm sorry for making you bash it into my
skull....*again*.  I guess I wasn't sleeping well last night."

   Concern appeared on Kawai's face.  "Oh, why?"

   Nagisa paused.  She did not want to tell Kawai about her dream just
yet, on account of that it might spook her, and for the fact that
Nagisa herself hadn't figured out what it meant, and what it said about
her feelings about Kawai.  "I don't know....maybe the AC was set too
high in my apartment."

   Kawai just nodded.  One of the effects of her friendship with Nagisa
was the ability to sometimes manage to read her friend's moods, and
she could tell one thing about her friend now.

   She was lying through her teeth.  

   But she could also tell that Nagisa wasn't ready to talk about it 
yet. Kawai could respect that, and it also gave her time to sort out 
*her* dream and the meaning behind it.

   Nagisa then looked down at her watch.  "Well, I gotta go.  Have to 
make a two mile run before I get home."  She got up from the bench and
started running.  "See you later, Kawai! "  

   Kawai leaned her head back over the bench, letting her long brown 
hair spill out over the back of it.  <What is going on with me?> she
thought.

   Unknown to her, Nagisa was having the exact same thought as she ran 
for home. 

*****************************************************

   Later on, in Nagisa's apartment, Nagisa was fiddling around with a
telescope which her parents had bought for her when she left for
college, in the hopes that she would lose interest in a pro-wrestling
career.  

   A snowball had better chances in hell than that plan working.  

   But she *was* starting to lose interest in the sport itself.  

   Still, it was fun to watch the stars.  That fun, of course, being
tempered by the knowledge that there were some beings living near
those stars who wanted to turn Earth into a ball of cinder.  Not that
the Iczelions and other groups would let them, of course.

   Right now, she was trying to find a area of space that her Iczel has
asked her to look at for the past two weeks.  <I wish it could at
least tell me why I'm looking!> she thought looking through the
telescope's eyepiece.  Right now, she was just looking at a blank area
of space, devoid of anything except for the shining stars of the Tokyo
nighttime sky, well, what stars were showing against the city lights
and smog. 

   Nagisa reached over to a plate of munchies she had left on her
nightstand.  While she leaned over, some of the gears in the
telescope's tripod came loose and the telescope tilted downwards. 
When Nagisa turned back towards the telescope, she muttered a curse at
the misaligned telescope and looked through the eyepiece to see if her
telescope needed refocusing as well due to the shift.  What she saw
nearly took her breath away.

   Kawai was sitting outside, watching the nighttime sky from the 
balcony of her apartment, which was in the building across the street 
from Nagisa's own apartment building.  She was wearing a terry bathrobe 
and looked like she had just gotten out of the shower.  To Nagisa, she 
was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

   When Kawai got up to go inside, Nagisa quietly capped the telescope
lens and put the telescope away.  She then went over to her bed and
flopped down on it.  There was only one thought running through her
addled brain.

   <Kawai.  Am I attracted to her?>

   She turned on her side and closed her eyes, then reopened them for a
second.

   "Yeah, I guess I am."

   She went to sleep with Kawai's image in her thoughts.

***************************************************** 
   Elsewhere......

   "Are you sure?"

   "I'm positive.  They defintely are attracted to each other.  The
problem is that neither one of them knows about the other's feelings."

   "Well, I won't stand for that.  Those two deserve each other.  They
just look right together for some reason."

   "I agree.  So, what are we going to do?"

   "Well, Kiiro, they're our friends.  I say we play matchmaker for
them."

   "Nice concept, Nami.  But do you have a plan?"

   "Of course."

   "That's what I was afraid of."

   "Excuse me???" 
*****************************************************
End Part 1 
***************************************************** 

   Author's Notes:

   Oh my!  My first non-Destiny's Path story!  Or is it?  <EG>  You 
never know.  <VEG>

   Okay, seriously now, a blind man living in a Tibetan monastery for 
most of his life could figure out where I'm going with this.  The fun 
part is, however, not in the destination, but in the *how * you get to 
that destination.

   Okay, thanks go out to Andrew Dyon, for the inspiration I got from
"Operation: Lightsphere", and for the MSTing for the first version.
Thanks also to Tim "Shachihoko" Miller for the criticisms he had for
me.  Domo arigato, guys!  :-)

   Bonus points for guessing the other series references I threw in to 
this revision.  :-)

   Anyways, keep watching this space for the second part, as well as 
the next part of Destiny's Path.  They will be coming out soon, barring
any interruptions from RL.

   Ja ne! 


Brian Yaple
Knight Productions
BYapes@erie.net
Yaple001@mail1.gannon.edu
BYapes@aol.com
Web Page: coming soon, I promise!
MoonieCode (0.8.1) 
SM:5+[m-] F:SInSa O:d S+?o P:a22 S|+:eBrDg:hBrD:y--:r+|+
__________________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------------
Mekton Zeta-Babylon 5-Macross-Grapejam-The Spot-BGCrisis-
Evangelion-Iczer-Iczelion-Buffy-Ranma 1/2-Sailor Moon-Tenchi Muyo!
__________________________________________________________
"No box is big enough to contain our imaginations."
Tara Hartwick (RIP)-The Spot (www.thespot.com)-June 6th, 1995

"Tuski ni kawatte, oshioki yo!": Sailor Moon

"Call me Iczelion!": Nagisa Kai-Iczelion