Today was the last day of Hana Venus Zaki's training. After this day she would become an explorer. She was very excited; she could finally get out of this place. After all she'd been here for four years. The only reason she had to train was because her age. She was a 14 year old Zodiac with orange-ish blond hair and a big ego. Her master, Haruka , didn't really care what she did. The two seemed like mother and daughter. Hana was okay with it; her mother had died while giving birth to her and her father went missing shortly after.

"Sensei I'm going to see what everyone else is up to." Hana informed her teacher.

"Okay. Don't die." Haruka began to close her eyes.

Hana walked into the field where the gladiators trained. There she spotted Ryuu and Aoimi

with their masters still. Hana went over to them and took a seat on a bench. Aoimi's teacher, Brac, glanced at Hana.

"What do you want pipsqueak?" He asked Hana.

"Pipsqueak? That's new." Hana remarked,"Why are you still making those two train?"

"The Yggdrasil labyrinth is full of surprises." Ryuu's teacher, Rai, spoke up.

"Don't they deserve a break?" Hana asked in a spurious way.

"When that Ryuu of yours toughens up."Brac joked.

"We know that's never going to happen…"Rai laughed dryly.

"Hey!"Ryuu exclaimed.

"I think a break day would be a great idea!"Aoimi yelled.

"Fine." Rai gestured for them to leave. Hana winked at Rai before she left with Aoimi and Ryuu.

"Nice job Hana. We would've been stuck with them if you didn't come…"Ryuu muttered

"I can't believe your masters are so strict…" Hana cringed.

"Yeah. Your master treats you like family. I wish my master did that. You know, since I don't have any I know of…"

This was true for Ryuu. His mother and father were explorers, and on one sad day they only thing the Guard Corps found pertaining to his parents was his father's red scarf. Ryuu didn't know what he lost until he was put up for adoption. Now since he knows his parents are dead; he wears the scarf 24/7. Hana met Ryuu a long time ago,but not because their parents. It was because Ryuu was bullied and Hana stood up for him.

Now the two could only be separated one person, Hana's cousin,Hanasaku. Hana and Hanasaku were like sisters. Both of their mothers died during child birth, they were both Zodiacs,and they were both taken in by Hana's older nieces. Lazasia, the younger one, and Hanasaki, the older one. Everyone could tell Ryuu and Hanasaku were jealous of the attention the other got from Hana. Lucky for Ryuu, Hanasaku was still packing her bags and didn't come with Hana.

"Should we bring Luna with us?" Aoimi paused and pointed to the brunette ninja.

"She never trains… Why should I cut her any slack?" Hana crossed her arms.

"I can hear." Luna appeared behind Hana."Just for your information, I didn't train here. I trained with my grandmother."

Hana rolled her eyes. Aoimi giggled and elbowed Ryuu.

"Cat fight." she whispered to him.

The four walked down to the ballroom, where the Sovereigns trained. Princess Meru and her teacher, Magnum, were in the center. They were practicing some sort of dance. Meru looked over at them and smiled at Ryuu. Hana and Aoimi turned to see his reaction,but it was not what they had wanted. There was no difference in his facial expression or body language. It was a shame that Ryuu didn't notice Meru's undying love for him.

"Ryuu!" Meru raced over to them and embraced Ryuu.

"Can you stop…? You're hugging me too hard…" Ryuu tried to push Meru off. Luna gave Ryuu a disapproving stare.

"Weakened by the tomboy princess." Luna shook her head.

"Ha. More like weirded out." Hana replied.

"I don't understand why. For God's sake, It's been four years." Aoimi joined in.

Magnum waltzed over with some sort of grin on his elegant face.

"Wow! Rai and Brac let you free from imprisonment!?"

"Yeah."Ryuu and Aoimi spoke in unison.

Magnum gave Meru an awkward look. Then he made some retarded face that screamed "go with your boyfriend because I'm lazy and want to talk to Haruka." Meru quickly understood this for some reason.

"Where are you headed Hana?" Meru questioned.

"Nowhere in particular… I'll take recommendations though."

"We're just trying to get everyone a day off." Aoimi added.

"Cool! I'm in!"

The group walked out of the ballroom.

"Where to next?" Aoimi flipped her green hair as she spoke.

"Ryuu seems kinda lonely. So, we'll get Keiko." Hana said proudly.

"Isn't he out in the woods?"Ryuu whined.

"Yes, Ryuu he is. Grow some balls."Hana furrowed her brow.

"Seriously Ryuu, even the princess can take these woods." Luna went in the woods.

"That's only because I hunt!"Meru tried to stick up for Ryuu.

"Nice excuse."Hana followed Luna into the dense woods.

"Those two can be real jerks sometimes."Meru began to slouch.

Ryuu shrugged and went in with Meru and Aoimi.

The trees were abundant and annoying inside the woods. You had to squeeze between the foliage and hold your breath because everything was too close together. Hana was so petite she could fit through the trees no sweat. For everyone else this wasn't simple.

"Keiko! Where are you?! I kinda don't want to die of suffocation!" Hana screeched.

The Wildling jumped down from a near tree, "What do you need?"

"You heard me." Hana crossed her arms.

"How come he gets a day off even though he doesn't train?" Luna frowned.

"Because you get one." Hana stuck out her tongue.

"You two done now?" Keiko stood there, disinterested."Hana you're slacking off again?"

"C'mon it's the last day, Keiko."

"Whatever,I don't care."

These words were Keiko's motto. He always needed to point out that he never cared ,and usually he didn't. He said it to anything, even if it didn't make sense. It always ticked everyone off. It wasn't even funny…Other than that, Keiko was peaceful and had a lot of sarcasm.

The group forced their way through to the other end of the forest. There they found Bare.

Bare , the blond- haired Buccaneer girl,smiled.

"I knew you would come and save us from training. So, I got the other half for you." Bare pointed to the others.

Tanaku, Niku, Yoshiko, Dove and Tsukiro stood there. The group of teenagers was a big group for Hana to take care of. However, their teachers had put them together knowing that this group would be easier for Hana to manage. And that this group would be the strongest group to ever train at the small facility. They were meant to work together, they, however, didn't know that.

Tanaku was the willful Arbalist that never kept her mouth closed. Everyone just called her the second Hana. Niku was the blonde, sensitive and wimpy farmer. Although he acted like Ryuu they were not friends; in fact Niku was afraid of him. Yoshiko was the orange haired farmer that was caring and had a thing for complimentary colors. Dove was a black haired monk. She was a pervert no matter how you looked at her. Her shady antics usually got everyone into trouble. And Tsukiro was her intelligent monk cousin. He also had black hair and he wore glasses over his golden eyes.

"You know… We should go over to the cliff before we leave." Hana made up her mind.

"Okay."


The floor was porcelain here. There was blood all over it… A green woman was laughing. Ryuu was holding Hana. The green woman was Pandora. What did she want with them? Why Hana? Hana was dead and Aoimi was too. This wasn't making sense… Hanasaku was green. There were more people with Hana's group… No… This isn't what she wanted…

"Sensei…?"

"Haruka!"

Haruka-Sensei woke up to see Magnum and Hanasaku in her face.

"What?" She rubbed her eyes.

"You were mumbling things and wouldn't wake up." Magnum stared at Haruka, "Did you have a vision?"

Haruka nodded,"It sucks being the Oracle of Stars…" She stared at Hanasaku ,"What do you want?"

Hanasaku held up a suitcase,"I'm done packing. Do you know where Hana is?"

Haruka shrugged,"Check the cliff, that was her mother's favorite place."

Hanasaku gave the two instructors a good look over before she left. She was pretty sure they were married. She slowly closed the door behind her.

"The vision had Pandora in it." Haruka stated.

"So…?"

"She killed Hana, or I think so…"

"Why would she do that? She's the strongest Dark Hunter in the world! What business would she have in Armoroad?"

"I don't know. It might have just been a dream. Okay. I won't worry about it…" a grim expression came over her face,"But I don't want to lose another…"

"Haruka. We won't"

"I don't want to take my chances!"

Magnum opened the door Hanasaku left from,"Hanasaku! Wait!"

Hanasaku froze.

"Tell everyone to meet at the port; our ship's coming soon…" Magnum smiled at her.

"Okay." She walked off.

"Oh, man. I think it'd be too hard to leave this place without thinking about it." Hana placed her hands on the lone tree on the cliff.

"I remember when this part of the cliff fell off, and we almost died." Niku didn't look happy about that memory.

"Hey. Everyone." Hanasaku almost exclaimed,"It's time to go to the port."

"Bye mom…"Hana whispered as she got up.

Everyone was going to miss this place, and how peaceful it was there. No one could predict what was going to happen in Armoroad, but I guess that was the fun part…

So this is my first chapter. Please excuse any grammar mistakes or whatever. And don't be afraid to review. Just do it, don't let your thoughts be thoughts! I want to hear what you ship, what you think, what you think is wrong and so on and so forth. There is a lot more to come with this series. :)