I wrote this while listening to Ozzy Osbourne - Let Me Hear You Scream, if that gives you any idea what this chapter will be about...*innocent smile
AWESOME song, by the way. Prince of Darkness forever. Don't hate xD

Sorry for the kind of late update. I was at a friend's for the weekend. Only one person reviewed, but thanks to that person anyway :D
Seriously, I need opinions, people. Give me constructive crit, and I'll love you forever!
I think I'll have a tiny bit of ShunxAlice next chapter, maybe. I find it difficult to put more than one pairing in a story sometimes XD

Ace: Wait. I'm dead meat? I don't like this story!

Me: Shut up, Ace.

Ace: No.

Me: Yes.

Ace: No.

Mira: Yes.

Ace: Shutting.

Me: Sure, listen to HER. I see how it is.

Hmph.

-NEXT DAY, 2:42 PM

Ace was leaning his back to the cool brick wall behind him, his eyes closed, and wet, mint-green hair plastered to his forehead. He'd just finished training with Shun for the first time. He'd had no idea just how hard Shun's - well, their - grandfather worked him. It had been brutal, but he had actually learned a thing or two. Now, though, he was exhausted, and hot. He pulled off the grey, long-sleeved muscle shirt he wore under his Darkus brawler's jacket, so he was completely shirtless, and sighed, dropping the cloth to the ground beside him, before looking around to examine his surroundings. He was somewhere near the cafe, on the sidewalk. Not paying attention, he didn't notice the blur of black and white heading for him until he turned again and she ran right into him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. That was my f-" Narcissa stopped short, realizing that she had plowed right into Ace, her hands on his bare chest, and his on her waist to keep her from falling. She blushed horribly, forgetting how to move her legs. Ace's eyebrows furrowed slightly, he dropped his hands, seeing that she was stable, and looked her over, taking a moment to register her name in his mind. "Narcissa." He said gruffly, and glanced down at her hands, which she had yet to move. Realizing this as well, Narcissa dropped them immediately, but still couldn't bring herself move back an inch. Thankfully, Ace did not share this same problem, and stepped back a bit, a tight little smirk playing his lips. "Where's the fire?"

She just blushed again and shrugged, looking down, her purpose completely forgotten.

Rob growled under his breath, watching the two from across the street. All he had seen was Ace practically embracing his girlfriend, and her hands on his chest. He felt a bloodthirsty, envious feeling rise in his stomach as he noticed the deep blush on her normally pale face. She was looking at him...like she looked at Rob. But even more so. The deep admiration and - what was that, lust? He'd never seen such an expression on her. It burnt him to the core, and he wanted nothing more than to march right over to that twerp and tear him apart, but he stopped himself, seeing another familiar face round the corner.

Mira saw Ace and Narcissa, and the first thing she thought, was that she needed to stop something from happening between them. Ace's back faced her, but she could tell - by the way Narcissa looked at him - what said girl was thinking. Mira's sapphire eyes narrowed in a glare as she approached them, latching onto Ace's arm with one hand immediately. He turned and looked at her with confusion, obviously expecting her to ask something of him, but she just glared at Narcissa as though having a silent conversation. Narcissa feigned an innocent look and glanced across the street.

Only then did her eyes lock with those of her boyfriend's, and he looked furious. It only took her a moment to gather the reason for this, but Ace, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious.

"Mira?" His heart raced a little when her right hand dropped down a little to entwine her fingers with his. Mira was never this...touchy, especially not to him. Deciding that he enjoyed the feeling, however alien it was, he squeezed her hand gently and looked down at her curiously. She didn't respond at first, clinging onto him posessively. After a minute or so, she looked up at him sideways. "Yes?" She asked innocently. Ace blinked, unsure. He wasn't used to the closeness, and it made him nervous. He just stared at her blankly for a moment longer. "Er...something wrong?"

"No, why do you ask?" She leaned her head on his shoulder slightly. Ace was a good deal taller, which made it easy to relax against him and close her eyes.

He stiffened at first, startled, but then a shiver went down his spine as she played with his fingers, and he looked down at her with barely concealed admiration. "...I don't know...you just seem so...different."

Mira shrugged and glanced at Narcissa, who was trying to ignore her.

Rob watched all this and decided that since Mira was clearly jealous, there must be something going on that he didn't know about. Without pausing to consider the possibilities any further, he stalked right up to them. Mira took one look at Rob and grudgingly released Ace's hand, straightening up. "I should go." She muttered quickly and left without pause. Ace watched, confused, and only then noticed Rob, whom he looked over with little interest. "Yes?" He asked, his tone annoyed and not one bit intimidated by the fiery glare of the dark-haired boy.

Narcissa also took the hint and quickly slipped away into the shadows, but neither seemed to notice. She stayed close enough to watch, however, because if there was going to be violence involved, she wanted to see. Yeah, she wasn't a very considerate person.

"What were you doing with my girl?" Rob decided to just come out and say it.

"Yours? I wasn't aware it was legal to own someone anymore, on Earth." He retorted cooly, hiding his surprise. Girlfriend? Did he mean Mira?

"You know what I mean! Stop playing dumb! I saw you and her getting all close! Don't tell me that was nothing." He growled.

"Fine, I won't." Yup, surely Rob meant Mira. It was odd that those two were dating that seriously after such a short period of time, but he supposed they could have known eachother before. Still, Mira was his best friend, and he was sure that she liked him more. He'd never sensed any feelings between the two, or at least not on her side. (AN: In this story Vestals can sometimes sense emotions, and are affected by them.) "Maybe it was. I've known her for a long time, longer than you, surely."

At this, something inside of Rob snapped. Ignoring the fact that Ace and Narcissa had only met a few days earlier, he ran at Ace, swinging his fists rather blindly, though the power behind them was strong enough to make up for his poor aim. His right fist made contact with Ace's stomach before the younger boy reacted, grabbing his wrist and twisting it around, then sweeping Rob's legs swiftly. Rob let out a cry of pain as he felt a small pop in his wrist, but it didn't feel broken, so he jumped back up and kicked Ace in the stomach, or tried to. Apparently, the earlier training had payed off. Ace skillfully grabbed his ankle and pulled, then brought his fist down onto his shin as he fell, hard. Rob yelped again, clutching his leg, and glared up at Ace, who smirked confidently at him. Somewhere during this, Narcissa had left, having recieved a call from Kyle to meet her at the park.

"Give it up. You have no chance. She doesn't even have feelings for you, and I would know."

"You're lying." Rob said quickly, though there was a hint of defeat in his tone, and he himself looked doubtful now.

"I believe you just hit the stage of denial. You know what, you just keep on trying. I don't mind the competition, if there even is any." And with that, he turned and walked away.

Rob watched his newfound rival disappear around the corner as he sat, holding his leg. "You win this round, Ace. But you'll get yours soon enough." He began plotting and scheming in his mind...he wasn't about to surrender.

-10:47 PM

Ace walked swiftly back to Dan's house, where he and the others were staying for the remainder of their time on Earth. Conveniently, it was just next door to the apartment complex that Rob, Narcissa and Kyle lived in. He already had a few ideas of what to do about Rob. But for the time being, he was focused on getting inside, and going to bed...it had been a long day. After he met up with Baron and Dan, the two had dragged him to seven different amusement parks. They had only just returned.

One of the mentioned boys - he couldn't tell which, it was dark, and frankly, he didn't care - ran ahead of him and through the door, only to stop in his tracks as a large quantity of water balloons full of some sticky purple liquid dumped onto him and splashed everywhere as they exploded.

Ace raised his eyebrows, looking up with renewed interest. Dan growled and wiped the liquid off of his face with a towel, handed to him by Runo, who was giggling, as he continued in, announcing loudly that he was going to murder whoever had done it.

Baron laughed and followed him in. Ace stayed behind, looking up at the makeshift trap set above the door. It was cheaply made, with little more than a stick, a fishing net and some rope. He recognized the net, it belonged to Kyle. But he knew that Kyle had gone to see a horror film with Narcissa earlier that night. He smirked to himself as he realized who must have set it. "You want to play games, Rob?" He muttered to noone in particular. "I'll show you how the pros do it."

He then stepped around the large puddle of unidentified sticky liquid and towards his temporary bedroom, where he proceeded to make plans for the rest of the night. He knew it was childish, but it would certainly keep him busy for the rest of the break, and if this was how Rob wanted to settle things, Ace would certainly not back down from the challenge.

At around one o'clock, there was a knock at his door. "Come in," he said gruffly, quickly covering the blueprint he had been designing with one of a new style gauntlet instead, and setting it aside.

The door slowly opened and Mira walked in, looking uncomfortable. "Er...shouldn't you get some sleep?" Ace just shook his head. After a moment, she sighed and sat on the edge of his bed next to him.

"What are you doing in here that's so important?" She inquired after another uncomfortable minute passed.

"Just designing the new gauntlets." Came his simple reply. Like he would tell her that he was plotting to humiliate and ultimately crush her boyfriend. The word still bothered him, but he hid it well.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure it can wait till morning." She placed her hand lightly over his as she pried the pen from his fingers. Ace sighed and nodded, more tired than he'd thought.

Mira sighed again and reached up, pulling his head down towards her, she kissed the top of his head like a worried mother and stood again.

He watched with surprise on his expression as she muttered a 'good night' and walked out. After a few minutes, he snapped out of it and flicked his bedroom light off, deciding that even though this was obviously just a dream, he'd better get to sleep.

Hmm...I think I'll end here. :D

The war has only just begun, don't worry. Things are about to get dirty. :) I wasn't too happy about the length of this, it's a tad shorter than I pictured it, but I had to cut off a small portion and put that in the next chapter instead, or I wouldn't be able to stop for a while.

Rob: I HATE this story. First that twerp beats me up, then my trap doesn't even work? WTH? I just can't win!

Me: Shut up, Rob, nobody loves you. :D

Alice: What she means is that you'll have your moment soon.

Me: No, no, I'm pretty sure that's NOT what I meant.

Ace: *smirks

Dan: And I still don't have a pairing!

Me: Fine, I'll write something about you and Runo later.

Dan: ...actually, I prefer Mira-

Runo: WHAAAT? *chases Dan

Me: Hehe. Review pleeeeaaaase! I think this may wind up longer than I intended originally o.0