"Well, I would first like to apologize for apparently waking you up too early," Julian murmured as Rua finished his yawning. "Regardless, I'd like to introduce you to two special guests invited by the man who held this tournament," Julian continued before holding his hand out to the right, causing everyone but Rua and I to quickly turn towards where he was gesturing to. As James said, it would be Sherry and Kaze.
"Hey! Kaze," Rua called out happily as the duo made their way towards Julian. Instead of getting us several glares like we usually got when Rua was loud during these meetings, we actual got surprised glances.
"Kaze...? You mean the Kokoro kid," a man next to us asked.
"Oh yeah! He's got real mean skills," Rua smiled, causing the man to smirk slightly.
"Humph... If Kokoro is in this tournament, then things will be really interesting," the man murmured.
"As I'm sure most of you know, this is Kaze Kokoro and Sherry LeBlanc. Due to the disappearance of one participant-," Julian started when the man next to us stepped forward.
"Hey! Forget reasons! Let's get this round started! I wanna duel Kokoro," he shouted, in which several other shouted out their agreements.
"Calm yourselves, or you won't even get the chance," James said as he stepped out of the far corner of the crowd.
"Its alright. I see the reason for their excitement. I'll keep things short," Julian murmured before clearing his throat. "For this round, we now have an even number, as most have you noticed. This is for a tag round," Julian continued.
"In simple terms, you pick someone you want to partner with so that you can help protect them through this round," James said.
"And what if we don't want a weight dragging us down," another man from the crowd asked.
"Then we could just as easily kick you out if you don't want to follow the rules," James smiled a little too calmly.
"So, I would suggest picking partners now before you get stuck with a real weight," Julian said before he walked off, causing a stir to rise in the crowd. There was no confusion on who I wanted as a partner though, and it was clear that I wasn't the only one.
"Kaze! Be my partner! Please please pleeease," Rei shouted as she jumped out from her hiding place in the crowd, quickly hugging Kaze.
"You sure heal fast," Sherry murmured.
"It was amazing! They had this medicine that made me all better in an instant! It even helped Kaze get better too," Rei smiled and increased the strength of her hug. Luckily for Kaze, he's been hugged much harder by Sherry, so judging by his face, he didn't feel that much pain. Just embarrassment.
"Better or not, Kaze is going to be my partner," Sherry said.
"No way! Not after you guys keep fighting! Kaze is gonna be Ruka's partner," Rua shouted.
"R-Rua," I asked as he stepped forward and joined in on the argument.
"Hey. Knock it off," James muttered as he reluctantly made his way over towards us.
"They're trying to steal my partner," Rei shouted.
"I... I never said-," Kaze started.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Kaze and Rei were already partners, so just let it go," James sighed, leaving the rest of us silent for a few seconds.
"Yay! That means we're going to be together again! All alone too," Rei cheered.
"Who are you to tell us who we partner with," Sherry asked.
"The son of the man who made this tournament," James said, causing Sherry to reluctantly go silent. "Speaking of partners, it seems like everyone else has partners besides you three. Who are you going to pick," James asked.
"Well, I think I'm-," I started, clearly thinking Rua and I would be partners again. Apparently I was wrong, as Rua stepped towards James.
"You and me are going to be partners," Rua said, startling everyone.
"B-but Rua-," I started once more, but Rua turned towards me.
"You have questions for Sherry, don't you...? This will be your chance. You'll be alone," Rua whispered.
"Fine. Then I'd go and tell Julian your partner so we can keep track. Let's get going," James said and started walking off, in which Rua quickly ran after.
"Well, good luck you-," Kaze started but Rei quickly clasped his hand in hers and darted towards Jullian, causing Sherry to twitch. She prepared to go after her, but she suddenly remembered that we were partners now.
"Are you ready or what," Sherry asked.
"Uh, yeah. Let's go sign up," I said.
"This round is stupid," Sherry grumbled, breaking the awkward silence that had formed during our walk through the forest.
"Uh... its actually kind of nice... No duels, and just a simple walk. Its kind of calming," I said.
"Why wouldn't we just go to the next round then? This is a waste of my time, not to mention Kaze's. We have better things we should be doing," Sherry said.
"Speaking of which," I trailed off, causing Sherry to turn towards me. "We... we promised we'd talk about what happened, didn't we...? Since we're alone... no one will hear, and," I trailed off once more.
"Well, I've changed my mind. What went on between Kaze and I is none of your concern," Sherry said before turning away once more.
"But Sherry-," I started.
"I said its none of your concern," Sherry snapped, causing me to go quiet and creating another awkward silence.
"Is... is it wrong for me to worry about someone I care about," I asked softly, but Sherry didn't reply for quite some time.
"You'd be best to ask Kaze himself if you're that worried. I actually blacked out several times while we were here," Sherry muttered.
"But Kaze won't tell me anything if its anything bad," I insisted.
"Well, if Kaze won't tell you, then neither will I," Sherry said.
"Sherry, please! I won't tell anyone else, I swear," I said, doing my best to remain strong and not sound like I was begging.
"Really? You wouldn't tell Rei the identity of her attacker," Sherry asked, causing my eyes to widen.
"Y-you do know-," I started.
"Of course. Why do you think Kaze was calm during the situation? We both know that woman all to well," Sherry muttered. "Seeing as if you ask Kaze, he'd probably tell you about her anyway, if you tried hard enough, I'll tell you about her," Sherry continued.
"Thank-," I started.
"And I'll only tell you about her! You can't tell Rei about her, nor that we know about her! If the woman comes back, you can't act like you know her either. I'll also only tell you what Kaze would. As I said, what went on between us is none of your business," Sherry said.
"Thank you," I finished, although I still would have liked a bit more than what I was getting out of her. Regardless, I would have to take what I'd get.
"Well, the first time we met her was a few days ago..."
Reviews:
Johan07 and The Wild Fang : To start off, as I said in the re-edited last chapter, I would like to thank you for pointing out that I was smart enough to forget my grammar rules. So, that's redone and should be better. Secondly, I take it as you guys both have the same character in mind. Since I lost my Tag Force 3, because I'm clumsy like that, I wouldn't be able to use all of the tag forces to get this character. Is there an article or something about her somewhere? If not, I'll just put it out there that she's a new character, as we need antagonists in this story.