[Some time later- Kyuu Seishin Grand Hotel Room 112]

When I awoke I found that Serrano was gone. So was Nori. The two must have gone off to look for his parents or shopping.

Though there was a pair of clothes for me with a note saying the shower was finally working. Serra must've been the one who left them, even though the note was written by Nori by the looks of the chicken scratch. That cousin of mine, he could be rather confusing. So was Rosa...

I yawned and stretched my arms into the air.

"Time to start yet another day," I said, jumping out of bed. I took a quick shower, even though I wanted to take a longer one. I put on my underwear and a pair of black jeans and grabbed my shirt from the bed. However, before I could put on my shirt, the door suddenly opened. In came my father.

"Hey kiddo, ready to start the new day?" he asked.

"You know, you can knock," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Ha, now that's something I expected to hear from your sister, not you."

"Oh, if you entered in on Tere then she would have kicked you. Hmm, I know maybe you should try that? To see if I'm wrong or not," I said, grinning.

Kuroshi, still wasn't used to calling him by his real name and less so 'dad', laughed. "Well, I brought you your new teammate." He turned around but there was no one behind him. He glanced out at the hall. "It seems that she ran off." He turned around and smiled. "Uh, seems that I did something stupid."

Her?

I gasped. "Hey, wait. Is this person Ro..."

Kuroshi turned around. "I'm going to go find her. I can't lose her. If I do then her father will have my head," he said before running off.

I stared at the red shirt in my hands.

So, it is her...

***

Upon arriving at the lobby I saw Kuroshi by the southeast corner where Rosalba and Setsuko were the other night. He stood up from his seat and smiled. "You're here! I found your newest member! She did have to go get changed once I told her where we're going."

"Where exactly in Wynaga are we off to?" I asked, tilting my head.

"You'll see!"

Ugh, this guy is irritating...

"Here, I had them bring you breakfast," Kuroshi said, waving his hand at the food in the table. It was a pair of eggs with a side of milk-rice porridge.

Did he guess my favorite breakfast dish? Or did someone tell him? No, it's likely all just coincidence. Right? Though considering Ma seemed to know who he was...

I sat down in the other open seat and devoured the food. It tasted so good after having gone an entire day without eating nothing except for a serving of octopus balls.

"Master!" Yuko yelled, running across the lobby. She wore a thick brown coat which I figured was give to her by Setsuko as it seemed rather high class.

"Wait up!" yelled someone. Donning black pants and a white fur coat was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever laid eyes on.

"Hello again, Tetsuya," the girl said, trying her best to look cheerful as she made her way toward us. It was who I thought it was... Rosa.

My blood suddenly started to boil. Though it wasn't directed at her, but at my father. The man surely knew about what they accused me of doing.

"I'm sorry," she said, her head lowered.

I stood up from my seat. "That's it? You surely must have realized that it wasn't me! Don't you think I deserve more than a simple 'sorry'?"

Both of us gasped. I hadn't expect to lash out at her like that... nor did I think of it. Perhaps I was more exasperated with everything than I had thought.

"I should have believed you from the start." She closed her eyes. "I jumped to conclusions because you were by my side the morning after. But having seen how Kohri and my sister trust you, I can't help but think that perhaps you weren't the one. Not to mention, the way that you risked your life to save your cousin who mistrusted you wasn't something one would expect of someone with such vile tendencies."

I still felt a pang of anger in me. "Is that it?" I asked, averting my gaze.

"I'm sorry, Tetsu!" she cried out. "I... I've been doubting your love. I... I keep hearing that fox's voice in my head. His words, they won't leave me alone."

"Fox?"

She must mean Satoru.

I scoffed. "So you trusted that weasel's words more than mine?" I snapped. I... was done holding back. I had held back for her sake, but it hadn't helped at all. Not her. Not me.

She looked up at me with her watery hazel eyes. "I did, I'll admit that! Even though my instinct told me you hadn't done so! I just couldn't trust it, not after having trusted Roa and Etsuo's friendship only to have it blow up on me! The same with Reno and Suzuki. I thought that they had begun changing their ways!"

Even after hearing that, I still didn't want to forgive her for not trusting me. Yet... she had suffered too. A lot more than I probably had. I walked over to the crying princess and held out my hand to her. I closed my eyes and recalled what my mother once told me. Words which I was surprised to have forgotten.

"Our ancestor, Hanketsu wasn't always the rageful one. Before falling he was the angel of patience. A patience that included bearing suffering and forgiving those who are sinners."

Though I said those words, I didn't ever imagine saying them to someone like Osamu or my own father. Rosalba was far easier to forgive, after all, she was the first girl I ever loved.

"Trying to clean your image by acting all high and mighty?" I turned and saw Eiichi. Following in after him was Hyosetsu.

"I thought that you had left with your female friend," Rosa said, looking uneasy.

"I came back to fetch her a coat. This morning is rather chilly," Eiichi said. He and Hyosetsu stared me down with eyes oozing doubt . The spear knight narrowed his radiant blue eyes. "I still don't trust you." He glanced at Yuko and Rosalba. "I hope that you two will be fine."

Rosalba eyed Eiichi and Hyosetsu with nervous eyes. It was possible that one of them was the one. At the same time it could also have been Hideo who did it.

"Worry not," Kohri said as he entered through the front door.

Where did he go at this time of day?

"Tetsu is a good person. Even if he weren't the girls can protect themselves. And even if they somehow can't they got me," Kohri said, staring his brother down.

"You're too trusting," Hyosetsu said, shaking his head at his younger brother. He glared at him. "You should grow up and see the world for what it truly is. It isn't what you wish it to be."

Kohri put his hands on his hips. "I know full well how it is. Perhaps more so than you ever will."

"Oh?"

"Stop arguing you two," I said. I glanced over at Eiichi and smiled smugly. "I am the shield. I protect, nothing else. It is you, the other knights who are tasked with attacking. So how about you do your job and I'll do mine? Eh?"

Hyosetsu smiled. "Correct. That's why the king gave you barely any attack capabilities."

"Not true," Kuroshi said coolly. "The lack of attack capabilities was due to the weapon being asleep. Tetsu will awaken it one day. But first, we must restore it. Once we do then the five of you shall meet and finally decide on a leader among you."

Hyosetsu scoffed. "I'll be that leader. I wasn't born to be a follower!"

"Yet you got no throne," Eiichi snapped as he eyed Kohri. "Your little brother over there is the heir. So much for a leader."

Ice encased Eiichi from foot to neck. The ice slowly inched up his neck. Hyosetsu's icy eyes were colder than usual. Deathly cold. "Got a death wish?"

Eiichi shattered the ice around him with pillars of light and raised his spear toward the ceiling of the hotel's lobby. "Oh, it's on now!"

Kuroshi stepped in between the two. "Honestly, what were Eiko and Miyuki thinking when they picked you two? Stop or I'll snap your necks myself!"

Hyosetsu and Eiichi glared at him.

I grinned. "Seem they won't back down, Pa. Best to deal with them."

Rosa and the others except for Yuko gasped.

"Pa?" Rosalba asked.

"This man is your father? I thought it was Takeshi," Hyosetsu said, arms crossed.

I nodded. "Yeah, much to my dismay."

Eiichi chuckled. "Seems his mom was a tramp."

Kuroshi pressed his wand against his neck. "Do not call Anis that. For your information, I am her one and only husband."

"Then you're stating that you're Takeshi?" Hyosetsu exclaimed.

The man turned around, his eyes sad. An authentic reaction from a rather fake man. Though I doubted that even those sad eyes were real.

I snickered. If only I had been joking. The man abandoned us. He captured and enslaved people and most likely used countless lives to create the weapons that we bared. Someone like him couldn't possible feel regret.

"Tell me, how do you know about the shield's capabilities?" Eiichi questioned.

"Uh, did you forget that I'm the one who made the weapons with some help from Hyosetsu's late father?" A dark smile spread across his face. "You know, if you wish for me to help you upgrade your weapons then grovel before my son."

"As if!" Hyosetsu yelled, the coldness in his eyes remaining. "I rather die than grovel before another. I'm not my brother!"

I sighed.

All of the male knights were starting to get on my nerves.

"Oh but you serve the king, don't you?" Kuroshi questioned, grinning smugly.

Hyosetsu shook his head. "The only one that I serve is myself. I only accepted this task to show my mother that she made a mistake in choosing Kohri as heir over me."

Right, he said that when we met. But now that Kohri was on my team again, could he really stand out? Kohri was going to save the world too after all.

Kohri rolled his eyes. "Spoiled as always."

"Guys," I said, looking around at the crowd that had gathered around us.

Kuroshi snickered. "Looks like we drew quiet the attention."

"Let's go! I want to strengthen and rebuild my shield as soon as I can! Who knows what is going on back home!" I said.

"We'll, I'm going to go get a coat and head back to the games," Eiichi said. "Setsuko and Hideo will be staying here too. Not sure as to what Hyosetsu here is going to do."

"I'm going with the princess and Kuroshi," the ice prince responded. "I want to see every one of the known realms with my own eyes. Plus, I'll show my brother just how better I am."

Kohri chuckled. "Uh huh. It isn't that you're worried about your little bro?"

A sword's tip pointed against his neck. "Listen here, I don't care what happens to you. If you die or get lost then the throne will be mine."

"You truly do bare Aquarina's sin of pride," Kuroshi said, shaking his head.

Hyosetsu crossed his arms. "There is nothing wrong with being proud. Those who aren't can't be because they know that they're inferior. Those who are on top and know it shouldn't be fearful of showing it."

I sighed again. At this rate when were we going to leave?

"Hey, you said that Hideo was going to stay here. Where is he? I didn't see him since he ran off," I said, trying to change the subject.

"He ran off after denying having checked out Koukyuu, not that I blame him for doing the latter. The Kasai no Ki princess is a total babe," Eiichi said as he drew her finger in the air. "If you know what I mean."

"And this one is lustful," my dad said as he pointed at Eiichi with the orb he had formed in his left hand.

Rosalba jumped upon hearing that word.

Hyosetsu walked over to Rosalba's and grabbed her hand.

"You alright?" he asked. The coldness in his eyes had quickly dissolved.

Sweat started to drip down her face. "Uh..."

"Hey, let her go," I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "Don't you see, she's uncomfortable with you holding her hand."

"Think the one she's uncomfortable with is you being so close to her!"

"Guys..." Rosa said, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Ready or not, dragon realm, here we come!" Kuroshi yelled, cutting her off.

A brilliant light overwhelmed us and we no longer in the hotel. Eiichi was now nowhere to be seen, thankfully. Though my teeth did suddenly feel like chattering from the freezing air all around us.

"Are we back home?" Kohri asked, glancing at the icy winter land. It truly did resemble Kuroyuki no San's lands.

"I don't think so," Hyosetsu said, moving around in circles to get a complete view of our surroundings.

"You're right, elder duke. This is the realm of dragons. This is the Ryuusia Region, specifically the far eastern portion of it" Father said, fixing the hood of his cloak. He summoned several coats. "Put these on."

I snatched two and quickly put one on. I turned toward the shivering Yuko. "Hey, want another coat?"

Yuko coughed erratically. "So cold." She leaned her head against me. A sense of dread coursed through my body. "Never has Yuko been this cold."

"Hey, don't fall asleep right now," I said, putting the coat over her. "Are you listening?" The ominous sensation wouldn't leave me, no matter how much I sought to deny its hold. The eerie silence around us only made it worse. "Hey, Yuko!"

"What's wrong with her?" Rosalba asked as she turned around. "She didn't suddenly get hypothermia, did she?"

"How? We've barely arrived!" I cried out as I held Yuko in my arms.

"It must be her illness," Kuroshi said, kneeling down. "There's a village not too far from here. We can rest there."

"Can't you teleport her back home?" I asked.

He sighed. "I've already used up a lot of energy to bring us here. I won't be able to return for awhile if I do so. Non of you know your way around."

"I could probably figure something out," Kohri said, staring at the snow.

The man in black smiled slightly. "And maybe you could, but how long would that take?"

Kohri bit his lip.

The man sighed. "And to be honest, I kind of doubt whether I have enough juice to return her to Xeleria."

I picked up Yuko bridal style. "Then we'll have to hurry up and take her to that village."

"Ma-Master," Yuko said, caressing my face.

"I won't let you die on me," I whispered into her ear. I had promised as much, and it was one that I planned on fulfilling until my dying breath.

Yuko's smiled. "Yuko's guardian angel..." Her hand slumped back down, but I caught it and held it against my face.

I smiled, trying to hold back the tears. "That's right. I'm your guardian angel! I'm not going to allow you to die! So hold on! We'll get you aid soon! Just... hold on! Okay?"

Yuko nodded weakly. "O...kay."

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Decided to update double today as these past two chapters have been on the short side (though this chapter was actually longer, I decided to cut it as I felt it was better to end the chapter here.) Think Yuko will be alright?**