It was on one of those days that Nikita made her way down to the basement of the library. She walked around dusty books and newspapers tied up with rope. She moved among the most ancient of books the library carried, and most of them, never had been read nor touched. That was why it was a find to see a clean leather cover tightly squeezed between two stacks of yellow newspapers. Nikita carefully lifted the stack of newspapers and pulled at the brown leather book. Her fingers grazed the raised letters of the title and shook her head.

~A STORY~

Nikita looked at the book and looked around. Something drew her into the book before she even opened the cover. It was almost magical when she lifted the cover and saw nothing more than the beginning of the story. Nikita stared at the first line and then looked around. She had to read this book.

Nikita sat down at the little table that she had pulled over to the French doors that led to her balcony. She had always enjoyed reading in the sun, and now that the weather had turned extremely cold, the way she could enjoy doing just that, was by moving furniture around.

~Our time now, will not be like the time in the future. Our lives now, will not be like the time for those in the future. All will be different, but love will be the same.~

Nikita looks up and shakes her head. It was slightly confusing as she read that beginning. She hoped that rest of the book would not be like that.

~There will be two that will struggle and fight on the fine line of right and wrong, day in and day out. There will be two that will struggle and fight the power and the want of love, and will in time, rejoice in it's light. There will be two, one dark, one light. One cultured, one not. One even, one unsteady. There will be two that seem to be the perfect mismatch, but yet perfect for each other in every way.

Each will think that they are right and the other is wrong, but both are an even split, half right and half wrong. There will be two that will live in conditions that some of us can only dream of, but they will eagerly wish and hope for a better life. They will be repressed, trained, tortured, hurt, celebrated, miminized, and molded, but their souls will go untouched. One will seem not to have one, only to re-find it within the other. I will call them Michael and Nikita.~

Nikita sits up and stares at the book. Her hand starts to tremble and she stands up from the book. She starts to pace as she notices the sun has gone behind a bank of clouds. She blinks her eyes and looks back down at the page that she had lifted her eyes from. She had to have read it wrong.

~I will call them Michael and Nikita.~

Nikita runs away from the book to her kitchen, but then looks back. She did not want to read on, she was filled with fear. Yet, she needed too. Nikita shook her head and turned to the sink and ran some cold water on her hands and then splashed some on her face.

Nikita turned back and let a smile form on her face. She remembered that the name Nikita for many years was a male name for many Russians. Nikita giggled at the new possibility. It detached her from the book. It was not about her now. It was about two males. Nikita returned to the book.

~I will call them Michael and Nikita. Michael male, and Nikita female.~

Nikita slams the book shut.

It had been a long and difficult mission, but Nikita could not close her eyes. It may have been from what she saw that day. It was alway difficult to sleep when you watch a room filled with twenty kids and a suicide bomber explode into pieces. It was even more difficult as the person who used to look at you and know what you felt, suddenly did not care to look anymore.

For some reason, although she was filled with fear, Nikita moved back to the book. The sun was just starting to rise and Nikita looked out to the balcony and then to the book. She had remembered the words almost by heart, as they plagued her mind for the past five days.

~I will call them Michael and Nikita. Michael male, and Nikita female.~

Nikita read and lifted her head. The book was written in the 1500's. It had no connection to herself and Michael. There was no way possible. Nikita licked her lips and turned her head back down and pulled her blonde hair back over her shoulder.

~Their knowledge of each other will not occur until many years have passed in their lives. Nikita will make her way to Michael, but not on an easy path. It will be filled with trees to climb over, and rivers to swim. Her way will be difficult but the will of Nikita will equal any man that currently lives, andwill only be matched by a few.

It will be matched by Michael, who survived the same sort of path, only arriving at the path sooner than Nikita did, and therefore arriving at more mandatory power and position. It is not by chance that they meet, and it will not be by chance that they will work together. It is planned. Destined. To be. Michael and Nikita are more than soulmates. Their relationship will transcend all words. The connection will more than psychic and emotional and physical.

Magical, maybe will describe it loosely, but not many will understand, and it will be difficult for Michael and Nikita to understand and accept it themselves.~

Nikita swallows and steps away from the book. It was eerie to her. She did not know how many times she pondered on telling Michael about the book, but always decided against doing so. Their relationship had moved from distanced, to miles in-between them. Nikita looks back at the book and knows it can not be speaking of her and Michael. If there was something between them it was circumstance, Section, and lust. Nothing more.

~Michael will be a protector by nature and will do so only for those that he feels a bond with. He will never explain is actions for doing so, and by that, place hurt onto others, including the person named Nikita. To understand Michael, it would be a challenge, that will take Nikita years and years to piece together before finding the missing piece. At the place he is, the place that controls his life and Nikita's life, the place that stops them from naturally pulling towards each other, he is not the man he is inside. The man Nikita finds in the bright room, somewhere deep underneath the trees, birds, and the sky, is not even a half of a man.~

Nikita stops and slams the book shut. She was trembling and she knew she would not stop and would not sleep on this night.

The door closed and Michael's hand immediately reached from the pad without even looking up at Nikita. He punched the numbers and then lifted his head.

Nikita did not speak. She only moved to the blinds and looked out of them. She touched her finger to one, which caused Michael to tilt his head slightly and look at her. First, he was surprised that she had even come to his office, she had been strongly pulling away from him and second, she was extremely quiet.

"Nikita." Michael says, hoping to bring her out of her thoughts. She lifted her head and turned to Michael and blinked a few times before taking a position on the chair in front of Michael.

"Is there a reason for your presence?" Michael asks, starting to become annoyed with the silence from Nikita. It was almost the same kind of silence that happened whenever she was around anymore.

"Yes." Nikita says as she runs her fingers across the edge of his desk. She looks up with her blue eyes and then back to her fingertips.

Michael folds his hands and waits. "Well?" Michael asks, as the time passes not quickly enough and too quietly.

"Do you think that people can see into the future?" Nikita asks and Michael looks at her and pushes back in his chair.

"I can tell you that I see nothing good occurring if you continue in your current attitude." Michael says and Nikita presses her lips together. Michael tilts his head as Nikita stands up.

"Nevermind, Michael." Nikita says as she exits.

There will be several others there for Michael and Nikita. Most will seem to have chosen sides, but all want what is best, in their own little world. There would be the two older men, one who points out all the good and all the bad in both Michael and Nikita, and the other more like a wise man of our days. A man who will seek to sooth the souls of Michael and Nikita. Particularly Nikita.

~It will be like stepping into a family for Nikita. She will be inside a family situation for the first time in her young life. The woman, with deep chestnut hair will be seen as bad, but actually good, as a mother would be. Then the other man, a boy, more precisely, will become like a brother to Nikita. Together they will get into trouble and share a category of food that will be called OREO.~

Nikita slams the book close and hides it underneath the telephone books and throws some dirty clothes over them. There is no way. It is not possible. She can't stop trembling.

"Michael..." Nikita says into the phone as the night scares her, and being alone seemed impossible this night.

"Give me a half hour." Michael says and hangs up.

~There will be a time, where life for Nikita will seem to be dead, and the moon will cycle seven times before the truth of her existances comes back to Michael. During that period of Nikita's stark absence, all will know and feel the pain and hurt. It would be like a dark plague had settled into the underground world that once held Nikita tight within it's walls.

It will be from flying fire that Nikita will be reborn and first haunt Michael. He will look into the fire and see the blue eyes of his Nikita. Yet, the darkness will engulf Nikita again. There will be no other thoughts on Michael's mind as he returns to his chamber in the underground world. His heart will feel like it had been stopped until he knows the truth. He knows he can not be complete without the life and breath of Nikita. So many times they had saved each others lives, that they did not notice they do so for selfish reasons, and not for the benefit of the other.~

The knock at Nikita's door brings Nikita's crying head up from the pages. She shuts the book and throws it on the bookshelf. She hurries to the door and only barely glances at the monitor to see Michael standing outside. She twists the door open and almost sprints to the living room.

Michael enters the apartment and closes the door. He looks around and then focuses on Nikita's body. It concerned him to see her this way, shaken to the core. It rarely occurred, and when it did, she never called for his help.

"Nikita." Michael says softly as he approaches her. She begins to circle the room. Not making any positive movement towards any particular object.

~I will name them Michael and Nikita. Michael male, and Nikita female~

Nikita looks at Michael and turns away. Michael pulls off his jacket and hopes that the gesture will stop her constant movement. He was not gaining information from this behavior.

~It will be from flying fire that Nikita will be reborn and first haunt Michael~

"Nikita." Michael says as he grabs her shoulders and she turns her head away from him as her body trembles. Michael lets her go and studies her actions as she wipes her face and moves away.

"Something really odd is occurring, Michael." Nikita says and Michael raises an eyebrow and continues to watch her every movement. She seemed to be staying away from the bookcase. Michael moves towards Nikita and tenderly takes her hands.

"Go take a bath Nikita and relax. I will wait." Michael says. Nikita looks at him and then shakes her head. Michael looks to the bathroom and takes her hand. He pulls some clothes out of the basket of clean clothes and carries them to the bathroom with him. Nikita looks at the tub and then to Michael.

"I don't know if this will relax me." Nikita admits and Michael moves towards the door.

"Try." Michael says. He closes the door and looks around the apartment. It had a different feeling to it than it use to. Michael moves to the table and stares down at the old leather book on the table.

It wasn't there when he entered.

Michael stared at the book and then at the bathroom door. He closed his eyes and visualized the entire five minutes that had passed since he entered Nikita's apartment. He clearly remembers this table being empty.

The book calls to him, and his curiosity had peaked as he finally heard Nikita's body slide into the warm bath. Not opening to the first page, he opened to the middle. The beginning and end were always the action filled parts. It was the middle that seemed to intruque Michael. If he liked the pages in the middle, he would like the beginning and the end.

~The word we call betrayal has not even be defined as it will be in the future. It will be more than what we call betrayal. It will become a matter of life and death. Not betraying one, might mean the other's death, but it may also hurt the person's soul, heart, and being. In a tug of war, betrayal has become more than the rope, and is more than the game itself. If one tugs to hard, the other will cease and visa versa.~

Michael looks towards the bathroom door and shudders lightly. It hit a bit too close to home. The thoughts were just on the border of his consciousness, and while reading those exact words, a cold sweat broke over Michael's body.

Michael stops and looks at the book. It was very old, he would guess in the 1500's. He did not know why Nikita would have such a book in her apartment. Was she drawn to it the same way he was? Was she trying to impress him? Was this book what was bothering her?

Michael looks back at the book and flips the book back open to where he had left off. He rereads the paragraph he read and then begins again, as his green eyes scan the pages.

~Betrayal for the two of them will mean their life and their love. On the rare and off chance of a vacation in the woods, betrayal will become the means to gather love back up. There will be no hesitation, as chains can not even hold the strong willed. The power may seem to be from brains to the one that chained her, but the power that freed the woman was from love, attachment, and goodness. The noise will be loud as she tries to make her escape. The one who chained her up was destined to meet his fate on that day.

The man will go for the only help he has available to him. Betrayal will be the only way to break her tight wall again, in order to save the one he loves. In the end, pain is threated so that they can return back to their underground world. While standing out in the trees and the animals, their return is necessary. Michael will threaten harm to Nikita. It will not be the last time.~

Michael looks to the bathroom and then to the book.

~Michael will threaten harm to Nikita. It will not be the last time.~

Michael shuts the book and places it on the bookcase. He pushes his hair back in nervousness as he shuts his eyes. It was not possible. No one knew of how Michael saved that mission. No one knew but Nikita. Michael places his hand over his mouth and shakes his head. He walks to the sink and throws some water onto his face.

"Michael, you were right.. the bath helped." Nikita says as she walks out in a pair of shorts and a tank top, with her hair wrapped up in the towel. Michael steps back from sink and nods his head at Nikita.

"That is good, Nikita. I must go." Michael says and Nikita runs to him.

"NO! You can't!" Nikita screams and Michael stares at Nikita, hoping that he can maintain his blank stare. Nikita stares into his green eyes with her blue ones.

"Nikita, whatever you are going through, you have to finish it on your own." Michael says as he again steps towards the door and Nikita steps in front of the door.

"What just happened here? Why are you upset at me, now?" Nikita asks and Michael tilts his head and looks at her blue eyes.

"I am not upset at you. There are some things that you must just complete on their own. Would you ask someone to finish reading a book for you that you half read yourself?" Michael asks and he pushes Nikita to the side and moves to the hallway. Nikita walks out to the hallway and then sees the book on the table.

"YOU READ IT! Michael! STOP!" Nikita screams as she grabs the book and runs down the hallway. "You read it. You know what it is saying inside. You know that this book is about us!" Nikita screams as she shakes the book in front of Michael.

"Where was that?" Micheal asks and Nikita slams it into his chest.

"On the middle of the table, where you left it." Nikita says.

"I didn't leave it there, Nikita." Michael says and Nikita shakes her head and starts to walk back to her apartment.

"And I guess you didn't read it either!" Nikita says as she slams the door shut. Michael looks at the book and lifts the cover up.

~Our time now, will not be like the time in the future. Our lives now, will not be like the time for those in the future. All will be different, but love will be the same. There will be two that will struggle and fight on the fine line of right and wrong, day in and day out. There will be two that will struggle and fight the power and the want of love, and will in time, rejoice in it's light.

There will be two, one dark, one light. One cultured, one not. One even, one unsteady. There will be two that seem to be the perfect mismatch, but yet perfect for each other in every way. Each will think that they are right and the other is wrong, but both are an even split, half right and half wrong. There will be two that will live in conditions that some of us can only dream of, but they will eagerly wish and hope for a better life.

They will be repressed, trained, tortured, hurt, celebrated, miminized, and molded, but their souls will go untouched. One will seem not to have one, only to refind it within the other. I will call them Michael and Nikita.~

Michael shuts the book and runs down the hallway to Nikita's apartment. "LET ME IN!" Michael calls out as a chill fills his body.

"Let me in." Michael says again, and this time sounds a note more desperate than before. Nikita leans her head against the door and lets a few tears fall.

"Tell me what you read, Michael." Nikita says softly through the door. Her hand is resting against the handle. She feels Michael trying to enter.

"I will call them Michael and Nikita. Michael male, and Nikita female." Michael says softly and Nikita turns the knob and looks at Michael.

"What else?" Nikita asks and Michael takes a deep breath and closes the door.

"I read the middle. It was about Fanning." Michael says and Nikita closes her eyes and turns away.

"It had flying fire, Michael. When you lost me." Nikita says in broken speech and Michael sets the book on the table. Nikita turns to it and looks at Michael.

"I feel like I have to finish it. But if I read the ending, I will know what happens between us." Nikita says softly and Michael steps forward and looks at the book.

"And what if it isn't good?" Nikita asks and Michael looks at Nikita and presses back some hair and kisses her forehead.

"It will be all right, my Nikita." Michael says and Nikita looks at the book and then back to Michael.

"It was written in 1500's, Michael. How do they know us? How did they know what was between us? How?" Nikita asks and Michael looks at her and shakes his head.

"I don't have the answers. I do have one. If I leave you tonight, you will read more." Michael says and Nikita bites her lip and nods her head.

"I'll read it whenever you aren't here. I need to read it. It feels like it is a part of my soul, Michael." Nikita says and Michael nods his head.

"Then we read it tonight. Together." Michael says as he walks back to the table and looks at the book and opens it. Nikita flips a few pages until it is where she had left off.