My name is Sakura. I'm girl who had just turned fifteen years old. I have long orange hair and bright pink eyes. I live with my mother in a small house, in a small town, in Japan outside of Tokyo. There's nothing much to say about my life really. I go to a normal school, I do normal everyday stuff. I have a pretty normal life, apart from one thing. I have a special, secret ability. 

One day when I was young, I discovered a strange mark on my arm and I didn't know what it was. It was basically a line of dots. It resembled a constellation, like what I had seen in books. Then on that very same day, I was just happily playing about when without warning, I ended up transforming into a fox. When my mother saw this, she was completely shocked. 

But then I discovered that I could transform back-and-forth at will. At first my mother was worried and wanted to tell someone about it. But she decided not to in the end, because she didn't want to risk anything happening to me. Besides, my abilities didn't seem to be a threat or harmful in any way. So she made me promise to keep them a secret, which of course I did. I didn't know why I had these abilities, but I knew they had to be there for a reason. I hoped that one day I would find out. 

They have also been really handy for me. For example, when bullies would chase me, I would transform to hide from them. But I also had to be careful, because sometimes my powers would react on instinct. There was one incident that only happened once or twice, I unexpectedly produced tiny flames. But it didn't happen again for a while.

My mother always does a lot for me. She loves and supports me whenever I need it. I just wish there was more that I could do for her. All my life, I have wanted to help people, even when I felt like I couldn't do anything. 

The kids in my class would often make fun of me, to the point where I would get upset and want to cry. I didn't have many friends, I just didn't really seem to fit in. I don't know why, maybe I was just too shy or I felt too different from the others. I didn't want to tell my mom too much about it, because I didn't want to worry her any further. If she were to get sad I would get sad too and vice versa. So I did my best not to let that stuff get to me, even though it was truly difficult and frustrating.

Whenever something was bothering me, I would always try and think about something else to distract myself from it. Something that would entice me. One thing that would captivate me the most, were these legends that I heard many times. They were always about these fantastical beings, that were gifted with amazing powers. They say they were given to them by the stars themselves. They were known as the 'Celestial Guardians'.

At night when I was younger, my mother would tell me stories about the constellations in the sky and the mysterious Celestial Guardians. I was so fascinated, I asked if they were real and if they were still out there. She replied: 

"Maybe who knows? If you believe in your heart that they are real, then they are." 

I often wondered if maybe my powers had anything to do with the Celestial Guardians. I believed that the mark on my arm resembled the constellation of a fox and that it appeared to be called 'Vulpecula' but I didn't think too much about it. Though little did I know that one day, I would be in for the biggest surprise of my life.

It all started, when I had just come out of dance class. You see, I like to go to a dance class after school, I especially love to ribbon dance. My mother says that I am really good at it, though I wasn't that convinced. But it was a real passion of mine. I loved to do it, it just made me feel happy and at peace. Plus, It helped me forget about my daily problems. 

When I started to walk home, it had already turned dark. But I didn't live too far away, so it didn't really bother me. As I was walking through the street, I saw that quite a few people were out and about aswell. As they walked past me, I wondered if they ever had any problems or secrets to deal with. I was sure everybody had something secret about them. Though they probably weren't as big as mine.

I was continuing to mind my own business, when all of a sudden, the street lamps started to blackout. I stopped and looked around and so did some of the other people. It wasn't just the street lights either, the nearby building lights were going out too!

Next came a giant rumbling sound and the area started to shake violently. "Wh...What's going on?!" I blurted out.

Was this an earthquake? People then started to panic and ran away. It was hard to see in the dark, but thanks to my special abilities, I was able to see quite clearly. I wasn't quite sure what to do, but I thought it would be best to run away like everyone else. 

But just then, I heard a child's cry. I turned and saw a little boy (around three to four years old) crying out for his mother, whom he was trying to find. 

Suddenly, he fell over in the middle of the road, my eyes widened as I saw a car coming straight towards him! My instincts immediately kicked in. I quickly ran out, picked him up and sprinted away before the vehicle could hit us. Luckily I was close by and fast enough to save him. I checked him over to see if he was okay, thankfully he was. He clung to me tightly.

At that moment, I saw the mother coming towards us, crying his name out in relief. I quickly handed him over to her. The little boy cried as his mother hugged him tightly. She quickly thanked me, before running off with him.

But before I could do the same, I suddenly got caught in the middle of a large crowd. I tried to work my way out of it, but the impact of the rushing people got me to caught up amongst them. There was no room for me to move. If I were able to turn into a fox, I could easily evade the other people. But there was no way I could do that, I couldn't have anyone finding out my secret. I ended up getting pushed and shoved back through the distressed mob, before I fell hard flat on the ground. Once the crowd around me had cleared, that's when I saw it....

A monstrous looking creature towered over me! It was black as night, with red glowing eyes and razor sharp teeth. I froze in fear and horror. Was this for real? Was I seeing things? It looked like something out of a nightmare. I couldn't move, my body had frozen stiff. The creature snarled ferociously and raised it monstrous hand to strike me. 

I screamed in terror, but before it could hit me......I heard a roar as loud as thunder from above. 

The creature paused and looked up, I did the same. From what I saw, it looked like a lion standing on top of a nearby building. At once, it leapt at the creature and tackled it ferociously. As soon as I regained my composure, I scrambled to my feet and ran for cover. I got far enough so that I was out of harms way, but I wanted to see what would happen. So I hid carefully behind an abandoned truck and peeked out to observe the spectacle.

The lion then jumped off the monster and dodged a few of its attacks, before something amazing happened. In a puff of red smoke, the lion had transformed into a human man. Well, almost human. He appeared to have lion ears and a tail while in human form. But that wasn't the only thing that was captivating about him. He was strikingly handsome for a start. He wore what looked like golden armour, with a sparkling red cape as well, as a red eye mask. His hair was also a nice crimson colour. In his hands, he held a sword in his right and a shield in his left. From the way he glared back at the creature, I could tell he wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He was the personification of bravery. I just couldn't believe my eyes.

Who was he? What is he some kind of magic warrior? He looked like a hero out of a storybook. Then a thought suddenly struck me. Is it? Could this possibly be...... A Celestial Guardian?!

He lifted the sword and shouted out. "You dare threaten these innocent people?! For that you must pay the price! And return to the realm of darkness from which you emerged!" He then charged forward and leapt directly at the monster. I gasped as I continued watching from afar.

"CRIMSON THUNDER!" He yelled as a flash of red lighting engulfed his entire body and sword. "LION CLAW LIGHTNING SLASH!". 

His sword instantly sliced through the monster, like a knife through paper. The creature's entire body was enveloped in red lightning. It jolted and screeched in pain, before it disappeared into thin air. The darkness evaporated with it and the lights of the town slowly came back on. I stared in awe and slowly stepped out.

He stood there tall and proud, he was incredible! He looked so majestic, like storybook prince who had just slain a ferocious dragon. He then turned and started to walk away. Without thinking, I called to him and reached out my hand. "Wait!" 

He stopped as his body tensed up. He turned around and looked at me. The look in his amber coloured eyes was intense, but it was also warm. Exactly like a lion eyes. My mind suddenly went blank, but I knew I had to say something to him. 

"Thank you." I breathed. That was the first thing that came to mind.

He just gave a small nod in return.

As he was about to turn back around, I quickly blurted out. "A..Are you.... A celestial guardian?!" 

He didn't respond. He just quickly gave me a tiny smile, before jumping up onto a roof. Without giving me a chance to react, there was a blinding flash of light and he disappeared right before my eyes. I just stood there speechless, trying to process everything that just happened. 

Then I suddenly realised that I had to get home! It was late and my mother would be super worried about me! Not wanting to waste a second more, I sprinted off home.