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The sun shined brightly that morning, and the foggy mist had begun to fade. Celia and Master were making their way down the mountain path around the light vegetation that the area had to offer. They were traveling to town that day to make a run around for Master’s monthly supply of goods for the upcoming labor.

"I must thank you again for coming, Miss Celia." Master told Celia, "Though I look strong and proud, my late years cause me to require a bit of help with my travels of business. I would ask Stephanie to assist me, but with Koichi’s return I must leave the two alone so they may train together and grow stronger without my guidance."

Celia nodded and said, "Yeah, I think Koichi’s strong enough as it is, though. He landed a pretty fatal hit on one of the corrupt Guardians we faced back in my kingdom during the invasion. But I’m sure he wants to be able to do more."

"Mankind always wants more." Master said, "They want as much as they can before their time expires."

"Well I like him the way he is now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want him to grow up and become stronger." Celia said.

"Koichi is changing as we speak. To you he will seem the same, but deep within his heart and sense of duty is changing." Master told Celia.

Koichi slowly walked outside the house and into an open area where Stephanie waited for him. He dragged the wooden sword on the ground behind him, and his head sagged down from his morning exhaustion. He was not quite awake yet, but he was still able to fight in any condition. As he stopped in front of Stephanie in the large, quiet practice fields he raised the sword up and held it with both hands. He raised his head to look over his opponent, eyes glimmering from the shallow sun.

"I’m ready when you are!" Stephanie called out to Koichi from the far other side, "The winner gets first picks over all beds, seats, foods, and what have we!"

"Must not fight with or for hatred..." Koichi mumbled to himself quietly. He looked up at her as he positioned his feet and said, "So you have been studying under Master for how long? I trust you know the basic special techniques like the Volt Gash, Repeated Strike, and the Z-Slash." He was given a nod, and he looked back and thought, "I hope Master’s right about this."

Stephanie positioned her feet and sword in a proper stance and watched Koichi for a move. Koichi reached into his modern day pant pocket and withdrew a coin. He held it up in front of him at Stephanie.

"Heads or tails?" Koichi asked, "Who will start with the first move?"

"What? What’s that mean?" Stephanie asked Koichi, "That’s so lame! Heads."

Koichi nodded and tossed the coin steadily up towards Stephanie and pulled back to hold his sword properly.

"Heads..." Koichi started, inching a leg out, "...Up!"

He swung his wooden sword at the coin and hit it straight towards Stephanie. The thin and tiny object was sent off at a blinding speed with the sunlight reflecting off it. Stephanie could not focus on the projectile and was hit between the eyes, and her senses were blackened out for a moment. Within that moment Koichi ran up to her and hit her once along the side of her chest, and Stephanie fell down and doubled over with a cry of pain. Koichi jumped back a few steps and repositioned himself with his sword.

"I’ve been kind of weak lately, too." Celia told Master.

"One such young and pure should not be sick and weak." Master said.

"I know. It’s kind of strange, because just the other day I was doing fine." Celia said, "Then I’ve been feeling this strange pulsating drain inside me that’s been slowing me down a lot the more I travel."

The two passed over a small bridge that was built over a flowing stream near the bottom of the mountain path. They could see the city standing in front of them a slight ways ahead. The city over the grassy hills was made out of wood, straw, and stone, and Celia was not used to seeing towns like this with all the time she spent inside a castle and in the modern parts of the world. It was of fair size and had people going in and out of the market place trading their goods for other essentials.

"And since you are a Guardian yourself should mean you should be on your feet and healthy like grass in the summer’s shine." Master assumed, "And the fact that you are a healer is even more strange."

"Well don’t take my word for it." Celia said, "If I had stayed with Joel and Ryan I might know more about what’s going on right now."

Master nodded at her, and they moved on. The two entered into the town, and Master made no delay in doing his business around the market for his month’s supply. He filled his various bags with enchanted cold milk that stayed fresh and cold for months, slabs of cooking meat, various vegetables from around the globe, and bread.

In the medieval areas of the world magic users were everywhere and were used for almost everything even outside times of war. In this case they were using them to keep food fresh for long periods of time in order to save the townspeople money in case they left the food to waste.

"Oww! That was a dirty trick, damn you!" Stephanie cried, wiping a tear from her eye as she stood back on her feet.

"You expect different on the real battle field?" Koichi asked, "It’s time to grow up and get serious, woman!"

"Oh fine!" Stephanie grumbled, stomping her foot at the ground.

She ran back up to him and swung her wooden sword, and Koichi caught it with his own wooden sword. Small specks of wood flew off each sword as the two sent attacks at each other one by one. Stephanie was able to stay in pace with Koichi’s dodges, blocks, and counter attacks as the two danced among the arena with their practice swords. Stephanie found an opening during the fight at Koichi’s feet, and she made a quick jump and roll behind him and swung the stick at his backside. As Koichi saw her movement he jumped back and flipped behind her and swung his sword at Stephanie, only stopping in front of her face. Stephanie looked back and saw the wooden sword of Koichi’s within inches of her face, and she scattered back and stood up into position again.

"That didn’t work as well as I had hoped." She thought, "I guess it’s going to come down to this then." She looked up at Koichi again and yelled, "Alright, it’s time for the Volt Gah..."

She cut herself off when she noticed Koichi was no where in her view.

"Volt Gash!" she heard Koichi’s voice coming from directly above.

She looked up and saw Koichi falling down from high above her with his leg extended out long. He had taken the blind opportunity to perform the technique with a high jump. His body looked as if it were enveloped by electricity. His foot met Stephanie’s face straight on, and she waved her arms up and down trying to get his foot off of her. Koichi jumped up again from her face and continued the technique on Stephanie three more times, but as the third attack came down, Stephanie swerved a bit to the side. Koichi’s leg landed inside Stephanie’s robe between her breasts, and they both fell down onto the ground.

They both yelled in disgust and surprise. As Koichi quickly moved his leg out from Stephanie’s robe, Stephanie grabbed Koichi by the arm and threw him into a near by tree. She stood up and adjusted her robe correctly. When Koichi’s head met the tree it cracked at the base of the trunk and fell over. Stars had filled his eyes in a big daze as he lay next to the broken tree. Stephanie’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment, and she ran up to Koichi and started to beat him over the head with her practice sword until it broke in half. She then kicked Koichi in the face, sending him skidding back on the ground several feet.

Koichi stood up and rubbed his face, then spit at the ground. He looked down and noticed he had dropped his sword at some point while being hit on by Stephanie. Koichi was not ready to give up, so he rubbed his hands together and kneeled down to pick up the tree that had fallen behind him. He took a deep breath and lifted his arms up in an attempt to lift the huge object, and Stephanie watched her opponent curiously as Koichi raised the tree above him. Koichi began twirling the tree above his head around in circles and up and down.

"Oh put your dick down. Stop playing with it." Stephanie called out after yawning.

Koichi stopped spinning the tree around and brought it down to his side under his arms. He gave his opponent a sly grin, and he swung the giant object from one side to the other towards Stephanie. Stephanie was able to overcome the attack and dodged it swiftly with a leap over to the side. Koichi made another swing, but he missed again. He lifted it up and turned it around and slammed it into the ground. The whole area rumbled and sounded off as if there were an earthquake going on, and the tree shattered into many pieces between the two fighters in an attempt to catch Stephanie in the middle off guard. In the middle of the dust and confusion, Koichi made a run for his wooden practice sword. When he retrieved it from the ground he leaped back several times and jumped up to the top of another tree.

"Well thank you for coming with me, Miss Celia." Master thanked Celia with a slight bow, "I would wish I could do something for you."

"Oh, nothing at all!" Celia exclaimed with a smile and waving of her hand, "I like the exercise, and it helped me put another town on my map for future reference."

Master stopped for a moment and began thinking things over. He glanced to the side and noticed a beauty shop open.

"There is one thing I’m sure we could do." Master said, "Come."

He waved his hand at Celia and took her in the direction of the shop.

The cloud of dust cleared from the battlefield. Koichi gazed down and found Stephanie still standing around trying to find him. He whistled and waved at her from up in the tree, and Stephanie grabbed one of the long sticks that had come off the tree as a replacement for her broken practice sword as she noticed Koichi.

"I won’t loose to you, Koichi!" Stephanie called out.

"And I you, Stephanie." Koichi responded, "Now let’s keep this up."

Stephanie raised her free arm up and called out, "Okay! Valley Crusher attack!"

She threw her fist at the ground and caused a shock wave to fly through the earth in Koichi’s direction. The ground began to break and tear open, and when the wave hit the tree Koichi was standing on top of it began to wobble and sink. Koichi jumped off from the tree and dropped down to the ground towards Stephanie, drawing his sword back.

"Z-Slash!" Koichi called out, slashing the air three times.

Waves of energy emitted from Koichi’s weapon, and they hit the ground in a z form, leaving three black marks behind. Stephanie jumped back as each wave hit the ground below her, and she began charging at Koichi as he landed. Koichi saw her approaching quickly and began charging at her with an attack of his own.

"Buster Break!" Koichi called out, charging with his side preparing to ram her.

"Crimson Upper!" Stephanie called out, getting ready to hit Koichi with a fierce upper cut.

Both attacks landed but they negated each other. They both leaped shortly back from each other, then Koichi attacked Stephanie with his wooden sword. Stephanie deflected the attack with her stick and quickly brought it back to hit Koichi with along the side, but Koichi was able to swing his body back to dodge the weapon again. He spun around and lowered himself into a foot sweep along the ground, but Stephanie jumped over Koichi’s foot and kicked him in the face as he came back around. Koichi bounced back and flipped back to his feet. Stephanie ran up to Koichi and grabbed him from behind before Koichi could recover from his own movements, but before she could do anything else, Koichi grabbed her arms, bent over, and tossed her off.

Koichi made a quick move and grabbed Stephanie’s arm before she flew off too far, then pulled her back and made an attempt to kick her in the gut. He missed hitting Stephanie and she landed on close on him on her feet in what would have appeared to be a hug. Stephanie’s face was close to Koichi’s, and he could hear and feel her breathing. She opened her eyes and they gazed at one another for a moment before she could realize what she was in. Stephanie shook her head, snapped back away from Koichi, and pushed him away. They once again starred at each other, but this time they were breathing rapidly from the action that was taking place.

Koichi repositioned himself in his fighting stance, but at the same time he was looking over himself and Stephanie thinking, "What was that feeling. I’ve never heard a woman so up close and tight like that before. Could it be my love for fighting?"

Stephanie wobbled on her feet a moment after she had pushed Koichi away and thought, "That was too embarrassing for an accident. That jerk." She looked to the side and thought, "But still, I have never been so close to a man my age before like that. Curses... I’m supposed to have no feelings! I am a warrior!"

They both looked sharply at the other, and they both became alert when they saw the other doing the same. They both held their weapons back in a similar style and charged at the other at the same time.

"And now for..." Koichi said.

"...the ultimate attack." Stephanie also said.

"Crimson..." Koichi called out.

"...Cutter!" Stephanie called out.

Their weapons were surrounded by a fiery aura, and they threw a great wave of fire at each other as they slashed through the air with their weapons. The attacks hit, but instead of canceling each other out they went through and hit their designated targets. Koichi and Stephanie both had surprised and astonished looks on their faces as they each preformed the same attack, and both were knocked to the ground with burn marks across their bodies as the attacks hit.

Stephanie began to get up, but she could only cough a few times and fall back down. Koichi lifted his feet up and got on his knees and grunted. He shook his head and stood up, holding a hand over his left shoulder. The remainder of the tree that had been smashed as well as the wooden swords were charred and completely destroyed by the Crimson Cutter attack. Koichi stood next to Stephanie and kneeled down, lending his arm to her.

"A good fight." Koichi told her, "We should go inside and wash up, and maybe find something to eat before we train some more."

Stephanie looked up at Koichi and for a moment the open forest scenery with the sun shining down over him made him appear to be a prince coming to ease her pain. But she soon realized it was just Koichi as hit her fist back on the ground, looking away. Koichi lifted her up and carried her back to Master’s house on his shoulder. He placed her down next to the stream of water that flowed near the house and began washing her arms in the water to cool the burns. Stephanie was still too weak to move most of her body on her own.

"Stop touching me, you." Stephanie said.

"And this is why Celia came along." Koichi told her, "So we wouldn’t be stuck here cleaning our wounds for so long so we could still be training."

"Well don’t get any funny ideas." Stephanie told Koichi.

Koichi sprinkled water of her arms some more and gently rubbed them.

"Gah... that hurts too much." Stephanie grumbled. She looked up at Koichi a moment and asked, "Hey, why weren’t you completely knocked out by the attack as well?"

"I did not think I could have withstood the Crimson Cutter attack, myself." Koichi told her, "But it appears I can take in more damage from fire based attacks since I started traveling with Joel, the fire demon. It does pain me still, though. I will soon need to wash myself to aid these burns." Koichi looked away for a moment and thought, "Or was it just that? Maybe I am just of a higher level than she is? Or perhaps there is another force that took place in it." He put Stephanie’s arms down and told her, "You’ll have to wash your own body for those burns."

Koichi sat back next to Stephanie. He filled a bucket with water and poured it over himself and began tending to his own burns. Stephanie looked him over as Koichi washed himself, and she nudged over a bit closer to Koichi. She lifted her weak arm up and brought her hand under Koichi’s chin, and she tilted Koichi’s head towards her. Koichi stopped for a moment, wondering what Stephanie was doing with his head. Out of no where Stephanie inched up to Koichi and kissed him sweetly on the lips. They stood there for several moments like that before Stephanie let go and sat back. They gazed at each other silently after those moments, then looked away to their fronts.

"That was... umm..." Koichi muttered.

"Nothing. Um, it was nothing." Stephanie said. She looked away at the stream of water and softly said, "Something... I just felt... like trying."

Koichi turned his head slightly towards Stephanie again, catching her in the corner of his eye as she looked away from him.

"Something inside says I wanted it, too?" Koichi thought.

"I wonder if he sees anything in that green girl." Stephanie thought.

"I wonder what the princess will say if she finds out about her royal guard doing this." Koichi thought.

Koichi began imagining Celia pointing and laughing at him over and over again.

In the background Koichi noticed two figures approaching. He stood up on his feet and walked foreword to catch a better glimpse of the people coming. Stephanie managed to stand up and stood next to Koichi to see who was approaching. One of the two was Master, but neither Koichi nor Stephanie could figure out who the second person was. It was a female figure in a long white gown with short green hair. As the two came closer to the house, Koichi was able to make out the figure as Celia. She was given a hair cut and a more fashionable look for the area while they were visiting the town below.

"Hail, Master." Koichi and Stephanie greeted Master.

"Greetings, children." Master greeted them, "The elements of nature need not tell me what you two have been doing. Well done for this morning."

"Hey Koichi!" Celia said, jumping about in the dress, "Look at what Master did for me!"

Koichi nodded at Celia and said, "Yes, Master is an honorable man, and now you look suitable to be the princess that you are."

He bowed to her with nobility. Stephanie looked at Celia, then at Koichi, and she kneeled down with him.

"Oh come on, now." Celia giggled, motioning them both to stand up. She looked at them both closely, "Oh my! Here. Healing!"

Celia put her hands over both of them and the burns on both Stephanie’s and Koichi’s bodies were removed. They felt restored and rejuvenated from combat.

"Thank you, princess." Koichi said, bowing his head slightly.

"Yes, thank you." Stephanie thanked Celia.

Master looked the two over thoroughly, then slapped them both over the heads.

"I told you both not ever to use the Crimson Cutter attack on another human being!" Master yelled at them.

They both shuddered in complete fear at Master’s words.

"S,sorry Master..." Koichi stuttered. He gathered his confidence together and said, "I used it, but I could not handle its greatness and burned both of us." He swallowed, "I was too desperate to win."

Stephanie looked at Koichi in shock and blurted out, "Wait, but..."

"There’s nothing about it." Master said, "Son Koichi, for the remainder of your stay you will do all the cleaning and laundry chores in my house as punishment. This will include washing dishes, sweeping the floors, washing, drying, and putting away clothes, and making rooms. Before you go train anymore I want these done every day."

Koichi dropped his shoulders down a bit and sighed, saying, "Yes Master, I understand."

Stephanie inched out away from the others and made her way back into the house.

Celia watched Stephanie leave, then looked at Koichi and said, "Poor Koichi. He didn’t come here for this."

Master turned away and began walking towards his house, saying, "My teachings must not hold ground for very long. Some times there just needs to be obedience lessons to keep them in place."

When Master had left the area, Koichi dropped down on his back and lay with his limbs spread out. He starred up into the sky and relaxed himself, going into a deep train of thoughts. Celia sat down beside him and patted his shoulder.

"What was that all about?" Celia asked.

"We were having a match while you were away. It just came down to the point where we both used the Crimson Cutter attack." Koichi told her.

"So you both did it? What’s wrong with this attack anyway?" Celia asked.

"The Crimson Cutter... An attack that surrounds your weapon with a wild fire to attack with. It is normally too lethal to use on another human, because it is so strong that it will destroy them nearly instantly. Our ultimate attack." Koichi told her, "But for some reason we both survived, and I don’t know why. I did not want to have her take blame on it either for another some reason."

"But why?" Celia asked again. She smiled, giggled, and said, "You know what, I bet there’s a crush somewhere in this stubborn boy, heheh!"

Koichi lay there silent.

"Shut up." Koichi said suddenly.

Celia gasped at Koichi.

"Shut up. I don’t like being made fun of, Celia." Koichi told her, "I hate her."

Celia sat there for a moment, looking at him with questions in her eyes. She stood up and turned away.

"Is this the first time he’s ever called me by my name?" Celia thought, "Koichi’s always been loyal to me like a guard, but maybe it’s good that he’s starting to think of me differently and for himself."

"Just go inside. I’ll be in shortly to start cleaning." Koichi said.

Celia nodded and slowly walked away, closing the door behind her. From inside the house through another window Stephanie was watching Koichi by himself. She was inside her own room and had just finished redressing in a clean suit. Stephanie looked through the room and at the door where she nailed Koichi for the night. She held her hand to her heart, feeling it pumping with an unnatural feel.

"Damn that Master. He made this happen." Stephanie thought, "If that Koichi hadn’t come into my life..."

She looked back out and noticed Koichi was gone. She heard the front door closing from her room. Koichi had come in after his quiet rest alone and began sweeping the floor with a broom from the utility closet. Stephanie left her room and glanced at Koichi again. She passed him up and stepped into the cleaning room and began washing the dishes for Koichi.

Koichi stopped what he was doing, leaned back and saw Stephanie doing his work and snapped, "What are you doing?"

"I’m bored. Get back to work." Stephanie snapped back.

He grunted and began sweeping the rest of the house. It took an hour to sweep all the dust and trash out of the house and into bags to take away later. When Koichi had finished putting the dirt and trash into bags he put them all onto a cart and left down the mountain path to a place to the trash yard. While he was away, Stephanie took the opportunity to wash and hang up the dirty clothes to dry as well as put the inside rooms in order and make the beds. When Koichi returned from his long walk alone with the empty cart he saw what work had been done around the house while he was away. He knew Stephanie had done it for him, so he put the cart away and entered the house quietly. Koichi joined Celia, Master, and Stephanie in the living room in the center ring as they ate their dinners. He sat down without any complaints next to Stephanie and ate his meal, then stood up and walked outside.

Koichi looked over the now darkened sky and watched the stars and let out a deep sigh. He suddenly heard footsteps coming from the roof above, and he stepped out a few steps and looked up. Stephanie had set herself down on the roof to do the same as Koichi, but she did not seem to notice him. Instead of trying to get her attention, Koichi just waved her off and sat back down under the roof and watched the sky on his own.

"Kiss me again." Stephanie suddenly said, breaking the silence.

Koichi looked up in surprise.

"Before I come down and kiss you myself." Stephanie said.

Koichi stood up and stepped back out from under the roof, and Stephanie leaped down to the ground. She put Koichi’s arms around her waist, then put her own around Koichi’s shoulders. They gazed into each other’s eyes again and could feel each other’s breath colliding.

"Stephanie... umm." Koichi muttered.

"Assassin, you murdered my selfishness." Stephanie whispered.

It was then that they locked into each other in kisses. They laid back over each other on the ground near the stream of water as they did earlier in the day, sliding their clothes off slowly. Their bodies touched together and heated up, the blunt markings of the Crimson cutter attacks on both of them glowing. Koichi’s hands flowed through Stephanie’s long hair as Stephanie did to Koichi’s under the cool water of the stream. The night moved on over the two lovers, and inside Celia and Master were still conversing together over daily events.

"You really got them working like a team now." Celia said, "Even though you really put the hammer on Koichi they both got this house clean and sparkling in a flash."

Master nodded at her and said, "Yes. They are of the same age and have much of the same character traits. It was a fail-safe plan, and they may one day benefit from each other over it. They may not realize it, but on the same day Son Koichi left into the world Stephanie also arrived. Back then I had found her wandering my way along the same road Koichi takes up and down this mountain, so they must have met once long ago in their life."

"What a passion!" Celia exclaimed.

"Indeed, Miss Celia." Master said, "Now let us hope they do not have children yet at their age."

Celia’s face lit up and said, "That would be bad, wouldn’t it?"

"They have much to learn still, and I have much to teach them." Master told her, "It is not always the art of fighting that one needs to survive. I must also teach them properly in the other areas of true education.

From that day on Koichi and Stephanie worked together very well. They trained together, teaching each other new tricks and strategies. They still had their childish arguments over who got to do what, but it was more along the lines of who should be more courteous. Master also taught them more, and Koichi, Stephanie, and even Celia learned lessons of writing, science, history, and mathematics.

Back in Choajoi Ryan and Joel were doing some learning and discovering of their own. They had gathered up enough information to properly find The Suit’s base in the city, and the two were going over the plans and ideas for their project late that night. It was four days after Joel and Ryan had parted ways with Celia and Koichi.

"Alright." Ryan began, rolling out a map of the city, "I’ve located all the possible entrances of the base." He pointed at the red circles on the map, "According to what we’ve heard on the street the entrance keeps changing, and whenever it changes there’s an earthquake in the city. Now it’s possible that they have some form of a security check or a camera at every entrance so they can close off an open entrance that a guy outside their gang is approaching. But they must have at least one passage open at all time in case they’re mostly snooped around."

Joel looked over the eleven red circles on the map and asked, "So if there’s two of us and eleven of the entrances, how do we get in?"

"That’s simple, my friend." Ryan grinned, "We recruit a little help."

"Help? No one would want to help with this, though." Joel said.

Ryan eyed a barrel far off to their side, and Joel looked around to try finding what Ryan was looking at. Ryan squinted his eyes and the barrel burst open. Lynn was hiding in the barrel listening into the conversation going on between Joel and Ryan. Ryan lifted his hand up and waved it to him, and Lynn began floating up towards the two. Joel looked astonished and slapped himself in the face.

"Well, well, I knew my spy-er senses were tingling." Ryan said. He then thought, "I’m going to have to write that one down."

Lynn began struggling from the grasp Ryan had over here and cried, "Hey, let me go! I had a feeling you guys were some of those demons just by looking at you!"

"Wow!" Joel exclaimed, "Ryan, do you know this girl? Does she need something?"

"Yeah, man. She’s Lynn from this restaurant. She’s a waitress and an entertainment presentation." Ryan told Joel, "She’s going to help us get in."

"Wait, no!" Lynn cried, "I don’t want to help! You guys are monsters!"

Ryan brought Lynn closer to him and said, "Now, now, Lynn. That’s not an appropriate method to thank the ‘monster’ that saved your life from that bullet coming your way the other day."

"What? You mean the guy who shot himself?" Lynn asked

"Yeah, that was me. I heard what was going to happen, so I waited and deflected it back." Ryan told her, "But hey, if you don’t want to help, suit yourself."

He snapped his fingers and Lynn dropped to the floor. Lynn started crawling back away from Joel and Ryan, then fell down a flight of stairs. Joel watched her tumble down with a curious look on his face, then cringed when he heard the final crash. He turned back to Ryan and grinned with him, and they both laughed at the moment.

"Alright Joel, how about it." Ryan said, "We start this tomorrow our own way."

Joel agreed with the idea and said, "I can’t wait to finally get out of this city. It’s really giving me the creeps."

They left the meeting room and returned to their friends’ apartment where they stayed for the night. The time when Choajoi would be freed from The Suits would soon be upon the city’s inhabitants.

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