Chapter 4: {Revealed Secrets ~ Part 1}

["Do it," a deep voice said. "But-!" a young Ayano squeaked. The man cut her off, "Do I look like I care? Do it." With a sword in hand, shaking, Ayano looked at the freightened girl chained in front of her. She knew what she had to do and that if she didn't, she would be cruelly punished. She slowly lifted the sword above her head. With all her might she swung the sword forward and screamed. The sword hit the rusty chains holding the girl, breaking them. The chained girl ran off with fear in her eyes as Ayano looked at the man, shivering, no longer with fear but with hatred. The man looked at her with disgust. "Interesting… You still choose to defy me? The others have already submitted to me, why won't you? I wonder…" He trailed off. "You," he snapped at his underling, "put her on the wall. She's still rebelling. No matter. I'll break you soon enough, my dear." He snickered as he walked away.]

Ayano woke up abruptly. ("That man… why does he seem familiar? That WAS just a dream… right?") Ayano thought. She then heard a soft tapping on her window. ("What the? …") She walked over to her window and opened her curtains and saw Kazuma hovering outside her window. "H-h-how are you doing that?!" Ayano screamed, shocked. ("Ah. I forgot she doesn't remember me, so then she's never seen my powers before…") Kazuma thought. He discreetly stood on her window sill. "Come outside. We have somewhere to go." He said then jumped to the ground. ("I'm sure I saw him hovering a second ago… could my eyes have been playing tricks on me? …")

Ayano went outside and met up with Kazuma. "So… where are we going." Ayano asked. Kazuma didn't answer but turned around and started walking. Ayano was a little mad that he didn't answer her but she followed him anyway. Kazuma walked to the main buildings training dojo. "Do you remember this place?" he asked her. "Yeah. I trained for years here." Ayano said, puzzled at his question. "Do you remember going through the competition to gain inheritance of Enraiha?" "Enraiha? The family sword? I thought the competition was years away…" Ayano trailed off. (" So she doesn't remember going through the competition… that's odd.") Kazuma thought then turned around and walked towards the forest behind the property. "Hey. Father said we can't go back there…" Kazuma again said nothing but continued to walk. "Kazuma!" Ayano tried to get his attention but he kept walking.

As they walked further into the woods, Ayano began to recognize the trees and the path they were walking. "Wait… have I been here before? It seems so familiar…" Ayano trailed off. Kazuma glanced back at her. As they continued walking, Ayano saw a clearing ahead. They walked through the clearing and Ayano's eyes widened. She saw a beautiful field of camellia flowers of red, pink, and white that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. "This is so beautiful…" she said in awe. Kazuma smiled softly, "Isn't it? You know, you're the one who found this field." "Huh? I did?" she asked, puzzled. "You did. You took me here to cheer me up after I got into a fight with my dad." Ayano looked at him with a surprised look. "What? But… we just met…" ["Come with me," said Ayano. "But I don't want to." an upset Kazu said in reply. "Just come on! I promise you'll feel better. We better hurry before father catches us!" Kazu stopped resisting and ran with her into the clearing in the woods. The young Kazuma opened his eyes wide in awe. "It's… beautiful… Isn't it?" said Ayano. "Anytime I was sad or angry with my dad, I would come here to calm down. When I'm-"] "-here I feel free" said Kazuma. Ayano stared at him. Kazuma turned toward her, staring at her face. All of a sudden, her memories of her years with Ren and Kazuma came back to her. "You…" she tried to say something but couldn't get the words out. She suddenly felt hot and embarrassed. ("That's right… I love this man…") Thinking this, Ayano blushed a tomato red color. Kazuma chuckled, then grabbed a lock of her hair and kissed it. "Remember me now?" Ayano was about to yell at him when Kazuma said, "Let's get back to the house." He let go of her hair then started walking back.

When they got back to the house they saw Ren talking to James. "Ah. There they are. We've been looking for you guys," said Ren, "What were you doing back there anyway?" Ayano grew a bit red, "We weren't-" "We were just catching up," interrupted Kazuma. James looked at Ayano in surprise. "You remember them now?" "Yea. And I'm glad I do." James and Aoi looked at each other with confusion. "Well, it's a good thing you remember." Aoi said, then his face turned a bit grim. "Ayano... we need to ask you something..." he trailed off, not sure what to say. James spoke up "Ayano, have you been having anymore strange dreams?" Ayano looked at him a bit suprised. "Well... now that you mention it... I had this dream this morning where I was holding a sword... and there was a chained girl in front of me..." James and Aoi glanced at each other. "Ayano." Aoi said "I'm sure you've realized it by now, but that wasn't a dream... That was preperation for a tornament... one we were all forced to take place in or die..." "wait... WE?" "We have a lot to tell you..." James said, a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice "You may want to sit down for this, Ayano..."

(Thanks so much for reading Chapter four! Oh! Any suggestions on a name for a giant creature? [HINT HINT, it will have something to do with future chapters.] PLEASE review. I have many people reading, yet only about 3 have given reviews. Your reviews make the future chapters better so please please review and suggest things I could do for future chapters. ~MoonGoddessLunaDLC)