Aya had somehow managed to go an entire hour without sneezing, miraculously.

Leyona was wondering how long her friend was going to go for.

The two had gotten up the mountain a half hour before hand, and mulled around with the rest of the Final Selection attendees. Aya did anyways, trying to talk with them and almost never got a response.

It was sad, really, until she and Leyona approached a silver-haired boy who's hair was cut short at his neck with green eyes. The kid was wearing a green and yellow hoari over an oversized, old looking demon slaying uniform. He looked like he was ten years old. What was he doing here? "Hello! I'm Aya. What's your name?" The boy blinked, and glanced around. He had been standing in the shadow of a wisteria tree, tucked away from the main deck. 

"Uh-uhm....my na-name's Hiari Tengen..." The boy, now named Hiari, tripped and stumbled over words, and looked like he was about to faint at any moment. Poor kid probably didn't have any friends.

"Well hello Hiari! My name's Aya. This is-"

"Leyona. Leyona Esaki. Nice to meet you." The thirteen year old cut Aya off, shooting her friend a look that said 'I can introduce myself'. Hiari smiled shakily, nodding. "Ni-nice to meet you!"

Two kids who Leyona and Aya had not noticed before suddenly spoke in unison, scaring living daylights out of Leyona and Hiari. The boy probably jumped a metre. 

Aya merely turned around, and took in the twins(that's what she guessed, anyways) Both had black hair and blue eyes, where shorter than her and Leyona by probably two feet, and where wearing matching purple kimonos, wisteria themed.

"Welcome to Final Selection. Most of you will not make it out of alive."

For a brief moment, a trickle of doubt creeped down Leyona's spine. 

For the first time since that fateful night in August, Leyona felt scared.

What-ifs circled in her head.

What if she died?

What if she failed her family?

What if she failed Kanao?

What if Aya died?

A deep breath, and Leyona tuned back into the kid's words. Something about how demons were harmed by wisteria or something.

Leyona once again tuned out after a few minutes, focusing on the rest of the people. A young man with dark red hair and blue eyes was looking around, beside him a white haired girl with red eyes. They looked interesting, especially the girl, since she looked as pale as snow, hair and all. The red eyes where kinda freaky though.

A tall, smiling black haired boy with the same green eyes as Hiari. Leyona wondered if they where related.

And then Aya sneezed.

Dead silence settled over the group of people. All of them turned to look at Aya as Leyona forced down a laugh that probably would have shattered whatever careful silence had settled around them. 

Aya's sneeze had already done that, was what Leyona now realized.

A snicker escaped Leyona's mouth as she watched the twin on the right cast a glare at Aya, then at Leyona, before continuing on. The twin on the left jumped into the conversation, albeit a bit late, but the air was less tense than before, and while Leyona still felt scared, it had loosened up a bit.

They could do this.

"Now go." At those words, all twenty people there charged into the woods. Aya and Leyona ran side by side, hands on the hilt of their swords. For some reason Hiari was behind them as well.

"Okay, so, Hiari. Quick question." Leyona asked when they had stopped for some food and water. Hiari nodded, gesturing for her to continue. "Why is a young kid like you attending Final Selection?"

The white haired boy seemed to droop a bit, curling his knees to his chest. "My-my father was the former Sound Pillar. He thought I was ready." He murmured quietly, just loud enough for Leyona to barely hear him.

"Well! Wanna tag along with us? We'll help you survive!" Aya flashed him a toothy smile, and he smiled back. "Th-thanks."

Leyona groaned. She did not want to babysit.

The first day went by quickly. Leyona half wanted time to stop and half wanted night to come faster. She both wanted to slay demons and be as far away from as possible.

The two sides of Leyona fought all day, until the slowly sinking sun marked that the day was ending, and now Japan was the demon's for the taking.

Hiari, Aya, and Leyona where standing back to back, swords drawn and ready to kill anything that moved.

"There's something coming." Hiari suddenly said in a low voice, for the first time not stuttering. Leyona nodded. "Where?"

"From-"

"ABOVE!" Aya suddenly shouted as a grey and blue skinned demon launched itself from the tree towards them. It was bald, with yellow eyes. "Heheehhehe. You all seem weak! I'll get a nice meal tonight!" A forked tongue slithered out from it's mouth.

Leyona shook herself out of whatever daze she was in. A demon. Her first demon. She'd kill it. Obviously.

A breath.

"Paper Breathing, Third Form......The End." Leyona kicked off in a sudden blaze of speed. The demon's face went from confident to stunned as he felt his head slip off. 

"You....you....you bastard! How did you do that? Tell me! Tell me now!" The head and body was slowly disintegrating as he yelled insults and asked how the hell Leyona had done it.

Meanwhile, Leyona was trying hard not to hit a tree, Aya smiled, gave her friend a thumbs up. Hiari stared in shock. He had only seen his father's breathing style up close and personal, and  seeing another's was just....amazing.

 Leyona stared at the sword in her hand. She couldn't believe it. Leyona had killed a demon.

Adrenaline rushed through her body as she looked back up at Aya and Hiari. Aya was grinned and making some weird motion with her hands, and Hiari stared at her in awe.

Pride flashed through her. 

"You can have the next one guys." Leyona said, winking at Aya as she settled beside her. "Now let's get going. I want to kill every demon on the mountain by the end of the week!"

Shattered Legacy Secret

Hiari has a twin brother named Kizu, and is the son of Uzui Tengen and Suma. He loves them dearly.

Hey, uh, quick question. I hope this doesn't bother anyone!

Does someone mind making fanart of this book? I really wanna see how you see the characters. It's just a thought and you don't have to!