Hey guys sorry for not updating for so long. I've just been really busy that's all (and when I mean really busy, I mean REALLY busy...) I'm thankful that there are still people out there who are anticipating for the update of this story. Thank you so much.

Guess what? I will be adding a companion guide at the end of this story so that some things can be explained further in detail :D

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this story! A review at the end would be very much appreciated!

Yoshi2112

Yoshi didn't even have time to notice what had happened. Everything just happened too quickly. Blood splattered on the ground. Takuya fell on a heap on the ground right in front of her eyes. Tiger, who was originally behind her, fell to a heap on the ground. All the other members of Scarlet Scorpions staggered, and fell. The stranger pointed his dragon headed katana at the blood covered Takuya…

A loud bang followed by a piercing scream echoed in the alleyway.

"STOP!!"

Tale 2 Intertwined Fates…

"Yûka-chan!" a voice called from the inside of Takahashi flower shop, one of the renown flower shops on the busy streets of the market, near Shirasagi castle. "Yûka-chan, go and fetch medicine for Ojii-san!"

"I'm going, I'm going, I'M GOING, okay?! Stop yelling!" The young woman at the counter shouted back upstairs, feeling annoyed at her elder sister's commands. "I'm sorry, I must go. I will be back very soon," She apologized and handed over the wrapped flowers to her startled customer. Then she placed a sign on the counter, informing the customers of the short period of unavailability. She hastily tied her medium length black hair into a messy bun as she sat down to find her geta in the crowded doorway. 'Who has ever heard of not wearing geta in a shop? I doubt anyone has that rule, well, except here, at Takahashi Flowers…Why does Onee-san think I'll mess the place up? After all, I'm the one that's doing all the cleaning here…' she thought irritably as she threw another pair of geta behind her into the shop. "Ah, here it is!" she exclaimed to herself as she pulled out her own pair out of the mountain of mess. "I'm going! I'll be back in a sec!" she screamed back into the shop, making the customers stare in surprise. After apologizing and bowing, she bolted out of the shop to head to the pharmacy to pick up her grandfather's prescription medicine. 'Why can't you do it yourself? Onee-san?'

'Onee-san is so bossy,' she thought as she dashed past many others, and trying her best to avoid knocking someone over. 'After Okaa-san and Otô-san passed away… and especially after Ojii-san started getting sick… I am not meant to be underemployed like this! I am a trained martial artist and cartographer! Not some monkey running around following eccentric orders!' she thought, raising a fist in determination. "I demand for proper treatment!" she suddenly cried in the middle of the crowd, making many others stare in surprise. She smiled in embarrassment as she continued swerving past many passers by. Her brown eyes narrowed as she spotted a familiar contest held at the intersection of the main market road, directly in front of a Sakura. She suddenly felt sorry for the forever blooming tree; its blossoms were tangled with random lanterns and posters, the tree branches were used as a hanger for numerous martial contraptions. She shook her head in disgust as she spotted that the tree had became a place of exploitation. 'My most important place with my most important person has been exploited…' Her brown eyes narrowed further as she heard a familiar voice coming from the middle of the crowd. She made her way to the middle, forcibly squeezing her way past many others.

"The greatest martial contest is about to commence," the voice cried. "Everyone, come and watch the legendary fighters of justice in this life threatening contest!"

"What a load of rubbish," she spoke out loud as soon as she was in the front line. Gasps were heard from everywhere around her. The young man in the middle had his back to her, and she could easily tell that he was twitching. His hands gripped tightly around his weapon, his hands were shaking, and tendons were popping out.

"What did you say?" he started turning around, very slowly. "What did you say?"

"I said: 'What a load of rubbish.' And I'm not afraid to say it again," answered Yûka coolly. "You're calling yourself 'legendary fighters of justice'. 'Notorious and crummy' would be more suited." People snickered at her comment. "Don't you agree, Tiger? Or should I say, Shizuka-kun?"

"You!" the man spluttered as he spun around immediately, many of his friends avoided his weapon from hitting them. "You!"

"Yes, me. Yes, me," said Yûka, sounding sarcastic. "I hope you're not trying to flirt with the ladies here with your showing off, Shizuka-kun." She smirked as she saw him twitch uncomfortably at his given name, but he quickly recovered from his moment of agitation.

"For your information," he started, "we, the Scarlet Scorpions are on a mission today."

"Is that what you call yourself these days, this gang of Takuya-kun's?"

"Maybe this would show you who you're dealing with," all of the gang turned around, showing off the printed picture on their black yukata and jinbei.

"'Red Scorpions'," muttered Yûka. "Is that all you can come up with?" The gang members turned around and stared at the black haired woman. Although she was getting on their nerves, the gang members were smart enough to know that attacking the young woman would cause an unnecessary disturbance. Further more, attacking woman weren't allowed on the streets of Shirasagi…

"Just because you're a woman doesn't mean that we have to be nice to you, weakling." spat Tiger. The gang members stared at one another. Some nodded knowingly while others were clearly surprised. It was a while known fact that Tiger, or Shizuka, had a crush on the woman for a period of time. Under his tough exterior, Tiger had a soft side that he had never shown to anyone, not even to his siblings. However, Tiger was devastated when he gathered up his confidence to confide the woman about it, only to be rejected in the most heartbreaking manner. Although some knew Tiger still had some feelings for the woman, he continuously covered them up with his taunts, never to reveal how hurt he had been…

"Take that back," Yûka's eyes narrowed into silts, making some people in the crowd shrink in fear. Tiger stood his ground, staring back at the woman with his weapon in his hand.

"Never," was all he whispered. Everyone gasped in horror as Tiger knelt down onto ground with his arms twisted painfully behind him, his weapon dropping to the ground. Yûka Takahashi stood victoriously above the man with a piece of robe in her hands that were wound painfully around the man's arms and a foot on his back. She tightened the knot in her hands, making the whole crowd gasp in horror once again.

"And what was it you said again?" she asked quietly. "In the meantime, tell me what you're all doing here, you guys have been out here for weeks…" she turned to face the rest of the gang.

"W-we're on Taichou's orders!"

"What are his orders? Tell me or-" A loud whistle came from the distance, interrupting Yûka's threat. "What's going on?" she questioned as the gang members abandoned their weapons and started to run towards the sound of the whistle. "Hey! Where are you guys going?"

"Yoshi-chan's been located! Hurry! Taichou needs our support!" she heard one of the gang tell another as they ran past her and her hostage. Her eyes instantly widened in horror as she dropped the rope, allowing Tiger to wriggle out of the tight knot. Tiger gave her a mysterious look that she wasn't able to interpret before running after his fellow comrades.

'Yoshi-chan! Yoshi-chan's doing grocery shopping for Hamasaki-san today…' she thought as she started running after the men. 'She's most likely to walk her usual shortcut… Yoshi-chan, please be safe! I won't let them do anything to you…' she turned at a dark corner and hid herself in the shadows. 'I will never allow anyone to hurt my most important person… I will most definitely kill them… if they try to…'

Yûka started getting more and more impatient as she waited and waited for the arrival of the Scarlet Scorpion. She already had planned the majority of her attack in her mind; she visualised throwing punches, kicks, and smashing their noses up into their brains.

'It's been a bit long… Normally, Yoshi-chan would have been home at this time… I wonder when they're going to get here… Unless…' Yûka gasped and scrambled out of her hiding place and started to run towards another alleyway, skidding on the gravel and gripping onto the walls with her fingers to stop herself from tripping. 'That means… Yoshi-chan went in another direction! They must have cornered her!' Yûka thought angrily as she closed her eyes and placed her hands to her temples. 'The next closest alleyway to the intersection of where Yoshi-chan could be cornered is about 10 minutes from here…if I run at this speed…' she visualised the markets in her mind, dimensions were labelled on the streets of her imaginary map. 'The closest way to get there… is to…do it that way…' She opened her eyes once again and jumped up towards the nearest wall and bounced onto the roof top with ease. Then she started running across the roofs, occasionally jumping onto other buildings and avoiding obstacles in her way.

'Yûka-nee-sama!' she remembered how Yoshi would call her when they were small, making her smile as she jumped from roof to roof. 'Yûka-nee-sama, you're my best friend! Yûka-nee-sama and I will always be best friends! Forever and always!'

"You're the first person that accepted me for who I am, and always respected me…" murmured Yûka, she closed her eyes and felt the wind blow past her face. "So I will always protect you, until that day…"

'Yûka-chan!' she could remember how Yoshi would smile and always hold out her hand to grab hold of her own. 'Yûka-chan…' She imagined Yoshi smile. Her smile was dazzling, and it always seemed to put everyone into a trance. Although Yoshi was younger than her by two years, Yûka always treated her with utmost respect, to be frank, everyone did. The pair were the best of friends for over 10 years…

"There you are," Yûka sighed as she landed on the rim of the roof as she spotted Yoshi, who was standing with her back facing her. When Yûka leaned forward to see what had happened, her brows knitted together in confusion as she recognised several events that had happened at the scene: People, or to be precise, the gang members of Takuya, which she could identify easily from their red scorpion symbols on their clothing, were lying lifelessly on the ground, facing downwards. Blood splattered across the gravel ground…

'Who on earth is that person?' she thought as she watched the man raise a beautiful katana, which was shaped as a silver dragon. Her heart skipped a beat. 'It's him!' she thought. 'The one that…is destined to…' He pointed it dangerously at the unconscious Takuya, and growled, "Are you alright?" Yûka nearly fell off the rooftop in surprise when she heard what he had said.

"…" No reply came from the medic. Yûka held her breath as she watched the man sigh and place his sword back into its scabbard, which was strapped on his waist. She watched as Yoshi knelt down and inspected Takuya's and the other gang member's wounds. 'He's just as he's rumoured to be… hopefully it can be changed…'

"That wasn't necessary," Yûka shuddered at the coldness of Yoshi's normally sweet voice. "You didn't have to hurt them this way."

"Would you rather to choose to be abused instead?" Yûka's eyes narrowed at the comment. "I could do the honours…"

"You wouldn't dare…" Yoshi started to move backwards, but her back hit the walls, trapping her completely. 'He's even worse than what she told me…such a power hungry yôkai…' Yûka thought. She just couldn't stand it anymore…

A loud bang followed by a piercing scream echoed in the alleyway.

"STOP!!"

To be continued…

Please Review!

Ah! One more thing, I am having trouble choosing the protagonist for my next story. I've decided it's going to be either Kamui or Subaru, our favorite pair of Vampire twins in Tsubasa! Please help me decide by voting in the poll in my profile, it will make a very big difference. Thank you very much:D!

Last Updated: 01/11/2009