The hard look on her face was by no means any good indication. She gripped my arm firmly and led me out of the diner and around the corner into a secluded alleyway.

"What's the matter with you?" I demanded, wrenching my arm free of her grasp.

"Who is she, Ren?" Jun's glare stabbed through me, and there was no question that she had figured it out sooner than I expected, but I wasn't going to let on until she actually said it.

"Who?"

"That girl! She's one of those traitors isn't she?"

I smirked at the fact that I knew she was completely wrong. "No," I said defiantly. "She's no traitor at all."

"Oh really? She is a Shing Min, is she not?"

"Yes, and what's your point?" The smirk remained on my face, and I could tell it was angering my sister.

"What's she doing here and why is she hanging around you so much?"

"You know, Jun, I would have though you of all people would know not to judge someone until you know their full story," I remarked haughtily.

She quickly reached down and grabbed the collar of my shirt on an angered impulse. "You dare…"

"She's not like the rest of them, now release me!" I growled, my smirk turning to a glare.

Jun said nothing more, but took her hand away from me. It became apparent to me that it was going to take a lot more than a few exchanged words to make her change her mind about Sung.

"Don't you find it odd that someone who comes from a family full of those who hate shamans is all the way out here competing in the Shaman Fight?

Jun had to stop abruptly and consider what I had just said. "Yes… I suppose so. I'd never thought about that before…"

"I don't care what you think about her. I will not pass her off as a bad person or a danger."

"Hmph," Jun replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Be that as it may, I still don't trust her!"

"O-oh!" A tiny, submissive gasp came from around the corner, and I glanced past Jun's shoulder to find Sung.

My heart began to beat rapidly, and seeing the expression of shame and betrayal on her face hurt. A single tear crept down her cheek before she took off running. Impulsively, I lunged to go after her, but a hand caught my wrist and pulled me back.

"Jun!" I growled, stumbling towards her. "Now look what you've done! Let go of me!"

Yoh and the others had just emerged from the diner, their heads swivelling left and right looking for us. I slid around the corner and flew right past them in the direction that Sung had gone.

"Hey Ren, what's the hurry?" I heard Yoh ask behind me.

My damned sister… she spoiled everything we had accomplished. Sung was just beginning to be comfortable and trust us, and now this…

"Ren! Wait up!" Trey shouted. The commotion of footsteps behind me indicated that they had followed me.

I didn't care. I continued to run, my eyes scanning every alley way, turn off and side street on the way. I ended up back at the hotel we were staying at. Thinking back to the conversation we had earlier, I decided to look for Sung in the back garden.

After learning she wasn't there, I thundered up to the penthouse suite with the others close at my heels, only to be disappointed yet again. Not only was she not there, but her swords and bag were gone as well.

"Damnit!" I cursed loudly.

"Would someone please tell us what's going on?" Rio asked in confusion.

"She's heading towards the outskirts of the city. You better run fast if you want to catch her," Anna stated from the doorway of the suite.

I understood immediately and passed by her with a grateful nod. Anna was an Itako, and she often knew things no one else did.

I ran as hard as I could with Bason trailing steadily beside me, and the other boys behind me. Once the stadium was behind us, the footsteps in the dust became more distinct. I was catching up.

I had stopped at the top of a hill in the road, and I could see her running further down in the distance.

"Come on Bason!" I created my oversoul and launched myself off the peak, landing right in front of Sung. "And where do you think you're going?"

She slid to a stop to avoid hitting my blade, but she kept her face turned away and didn't say a word. The others caught up shortly after, and crowded around behind her so there was nowhere else for her to go.

"I… I'm sorry you had to hear what my sister said," I started. "I don't care what she thinks, neither do the others."

"Just… just let me go!" she hissed under her breath, still not looking at me.

"Why would I?"

"I clearly don't belong here so I'm going to be on my and not bother you anymore!"

"That's not true, Sung!" Yoh interrupted, stepping in front of her.

Suddenly the air around rushed in a violent gale, scattering the desert dust all over. I immediately noticed a high influx of spiritual power, as would be expected since Sung had materialized her oversoul in distressed rage.

"Wasn't it silly of me to think I could finally belong somewhere?" she remarked with bitterness seething in her voice.

"Stop this right now!" I demanded, forming my own oversoul. "I don't know what brought this on so suddenly, but I'll do what I have to make it right again…"

"Just forget it…" Yoh was swept to the side by one swift motion of her oversoul

This girl was almost as stubborn as me. I had been fooled right from the beginning. The social awkwardness was just a façade to hide her feelings of displacement behind, but that certainly wasn't to say she couldn't make it on her own. If I had any say in the matter from personal experience, the best way to lure a stubborn person back was to let them be stubborn.

"Fine," I concluded. "Go if you wish. I won't stop you, but I think you're making a bad choice. You're still too shut in by your past to let us in truly. If you want to leave, then go. You know where we'll be."

Without gauging the reactions of her, or the others, I turned on my heel and walked away. That decision was a difficult one to make, for part of me just wanted to fight to keep her with us. Having gone through something of the same thing myself, I knew what was in her head.

Nonetheless, I found myself back at the hotel, alone and conflicted. In my arrogance I believed she would come back before nightfall, but a smaller part of me wasn't sure at all.

"You're not going to go after her, master Ren?" Bason crooned, appearing in spirit form in front of me.

"Now is a good time to keep your words to yourself Bason…" I snapped at him.

"In all this time of serving you, master, I've never seen you this upset about something."

"I am not upset!" I shouted, my face becoming warm with color.

"…Nor have I heard you tell a lie!" Bason countered.

"Deh," I huffed, folding my arms over my chest. "I can't go after her Bason. Only she can make decisions for herself. It's just like what Yoh did for me… He left me to make my own decisions, and in the end it compelled me more to come back to them."

Bason nodded his agreement and took my warning to fall silent.

It seemed only logical that my past might bear some resemblance, but this was a different case. There were still too many things I didn't know to even guess what was going through her mind. There were too many variables…

Indeed it seemed an uncertain thing as to whether Sung would return or not. She'd made her mind up firm and clear that we were all better off without her, despite my insistent arguing. She was like me in that regard: dead set on never listening to anyone else and always thinking for herself.

But if that was really the case, would we even be in this situation at all?

The others had returned a substantial time after I did. The sound of their foot steps in the hallway and their loud, carrying voices triggered me to escape through the window before I was sighted.

I knew they would ask questions. Where was Sung? What just happened? Why did she leave?

Why did you let her go?

Even I didn't want to think about that question.

After successfully scaling the length of the building, my feet led me through the courtyard back to the same bench she and I had conversed at the first time. If I was to look back on what possessed me to go there at that time, well, I guess I could call it intuition.

Time had passed quickly, more quickly than I would have cared for. My thughts had come to a halt at the realization that it had grown dark. It seemed rather odd that no one had come looking for me.

But in fact, someone had.

Behind the tree directly in front of me there lingered a shadow, a very still shadow. I shifted my position on the bench, subtly acknowledging the shadow. After a few moments of residual stillness, my arms folded over my chest and my eyes pierced the tree trunk.

"Alright… come out. Don't just stand there like a stalker…" I called into the darkness.

The shadow stirred abruptly at the sound of my voice, as if startled by it. And then she emerged into the ray of moonlight.

"I'm sorry Ren…"

I'd come to grow quite fond of that soft vulnerable voice.

"Hn. Intuition indeed!" I smirked to myself. "I knew you would turn up eventually."

"You were right," Sung appeared surreally angelic as she edged toward me slowly. The moonlight reflecting from her blue hair cast a silver glow to her face, which glistened further from the streams of tears under her eyes.

"Yes yes, I know. I'm usually always right," I scoffed, waving my hand in the air as I stood up. "Just tell me one thing: Why did you come back?"