About half an hour later, Sora knocked on the door to Akiko's house. Ayako answered, and hid her mouth behind her hand as she giggled. "Yes?"

Sora rolled his eyes, and cleared his throat. "Hello, Ayako-san. Your daughter cordially requested my presence here this evening."

Ayako raised an eyebrow, and bowed stiffly. "I see. Did she specify where, more specifically?"

A loud laugh made them both turn, as Akiko walked up, dressed in a T-shirt and men's jeans as usual. "I did, actually." She adopted the air of a college professor. "To be absolutely precise, I requested the boy's presence in my arms, all night long."

Sora chuckled, and embraced her. "There you are. How was your first week back?"

Akiko shrugged. "The same as always. Boring. I'm honestly looking forward to college next year; at least then I can make sure the classes challenge me."

Sora laughed. "Yeah, and maybe you'll end up at Taio University, just like me. That would be neat, eh?"

Akiko smiled. "That would be pretty cool. And I'd be better placed to steal you away from Shizuka-san, too." She took his hand and led him up to her bedroom. "Come on, you… let's see what we can find to do."

Sora resisted slightly as she pulled him through the door to her room. "Help! Ayako-san, do something! You know she's going to try something again!"

Ayako burst into giggles. "Are you sure you're not confusing her with Shizuka-san, Sora-kun?"

Sora blinked. "Huh… good point." He slipped his hand out of Akiko's grip and chased her through the door.

Akiko nodded, and closed it behind her. She sighed, and locked it. "All right… I know what you were really asking back there."

Sora nodded. "They're at it again? I would have figured, between me and Mamori-san, that they'd have…"

Akiko shook her head. "They would, except that Tamaki-sensei just can't be everywhere at once. And there are plenty of places where students can do all sorts of things without being caught." She grit her teeth.

Sora laid a hand on her shoulder. "Something wrong, Akiko? You can tell me."

Akiko sighed. "Kenji… he and some of his friends caught me in the clubhouse, when I was going to get my regular clothes."

Sora nodded. "Before you started changing, though, right?"

Akiko nodded. "Yeah. I got lucky, I guess. A few seconds later, and they might have seen me with nothing on." She tensed. "Before I could do anything, they caught my arms and legs, and…"

She trailed off, and Sora's eyes widened. "What? Even Kenji wouldn't dare to… you know…"

Akiko shook her head. "No. If he'd tried to do that, I probably would have broken free and kicked him through the wall."

Sora chuckled softly. "You probably could have, too."

The corners of Akiko's mouth twitched. "If he'd hadn't fled the minute his friends let go of me, I probably would have." She leaned against him. "He… he grabbed my breasts. Really hard."

Sora's eyes widened, and he hugged Akiko gently to his chest. "I see…" He grit his teeth. "Sorry… I wish I'd been there. I could have stopped him."

Akiko nodded. "Tamaki-sensei walked in after a minute or two, and she chased them off." She let out a brief giggle. "She's scary when she's mad, giant belly and all."

Sora chuckled softly, and sat down on the bed. "But… does it still hurt?"

Akiko paused. "What do you mean?" She sat down beside him.

Sora's eyes were sad. "He had at least a minute to grab and squeeze them. It must have been pretty painful."

Akiko blinked back a tear. "Yeah… and in all honesty, I was terrified. That's why I didn't chase Kenji down and knock out all of his teeth- I was in total shock."

Sora nodded. "So, I'm asking you whether there's something I can do to make you feel better."

Akiko moved back a short way. "Well…" She blushed, and looked fixedly at Sora's feet. "You know… it does still hurt… and…"

Sora laughed. "What's this, now? This is a side of you I haven't seen before."

Akiko giggled, and put one finger to her lip. "I can be cute if I want to, Sora," she said, blushing still. "I just don't like to do it very often."

Sora grinned. "Well… are you asking me to touch your breasts?"

Akiko nodded. "Yes. I mean… it hurt when Kenji grabbed them, but… maybe if someone who loves me…" Her blush deepened. "If someone who loves me touched me, maybe I'd be able to forget about the pain." She took his hand. "Please?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Akiko, I'm a boy, remember?" He nodded, and broke into a wide smile as Akiko pressed his hand against her. "And more to the point, I'm in love with you. If it'll make you feel better, I'll do anything. It's the same for you, right?"

Akiko giggled. 'Yeah… you've got a point there." She laid back on the bed and pulled Sora down to lay beside her. "That really does feel better."

Sora nodded. "Put it where you like. Even under the shirt, if you want."

Akiko turned to face him. Sora… you'd really do that for me? She sighed. "No… I don't think I could do that. And I don't think you'd be comfortable with that, anyway."

Sora blinked. "Who cares about my comfort? It's you we're talking about here."

Akiko smiled. "I'm fine." She pressed his other hand against her. "This is enough. Even with the cloth in between, it feels wonderful." Sora turned, and she pressed her forehead against his. "Let's just stay like this for a while, okay?"

They were still like that when Ayako came up a few minutes later. She caught sight of where Sora's hands were and burst into a torrent of giggles. "My, my… getting brave, are we, Sora-kun?"

Sora laughed, and withdrew his hands with obvious reluctance. "What's up, Ayako-san?"

Ayako smiled. "Dinner's ready. But what were you two up to?"

Sora shugged. "Akiko was a little sore there, so…"

Ayako blinked. "Sore? What were you two up to?"

Akiko sighed. "It wasn't Sora… it was Kenji. He grabbed me, and he was… really rough about it."

Ayako's eyes widened. "Does someone know?"

Akiko nodded. "Tamaki-sensei's taking care of it."

Ayako sighed. "Good… I can't believe some of the things these boys have been doing. Are you sure you don't want to try a different school?"

Akiko nodded firmly. "I'm not going anywhere." She laid a hand on Sora's cheek. "Not anywhere," she repeated, firmly.

Sora sat up, and Akiko followed him. "Okay… well, let's eat, then!" he said.

Ayako smiled. "I'll set out a plate for you two." She turned and headed downstairs.

Akiko gently turned Sora's head to face hers and kissed him. "Thank you. That felt really, really wonderful."

Sora grinned, and gave her a quick squeeze, making her squeak slightly. "Of course. I liked it, too." His eyes glinted. "By the way… did you grow an inch or two? You feel a little bigger than you were the morning after our date."

Akiko blushed furiously and smacked him hard over the head. "Hey! Don't say stuff like that!" She sighed. "Geez, I really hope not. I'm enough of a walking target for the boys already."

Sora smiled. "It's okay. I was just joking anyway."

Akiko rolled her eyes and whacked him again. "Say… speaking of dates… You're going to Tamaki-sensei's wedding on Sunday, right?"

Sora blinked. "Of course, I am. She invited me weeks ago." He grinned. "She's going to look really cute, walking up the aisle with Tsubaki-chan in her belly."

Akiko laughed at the image. "Yeah… that'll be fun to watch. So… afterwards…" She gulped. "Would you… go on another date with me?"

Sora blinked. "Yeah! That would be great!" He hugged her. "I'd love to go on a date with you again, Akiko."

Akiko smiled broadly. "Good…" She giggled softly. "Now, let's get downstairs, before Mom's dinner gets cold!" She slipped out of his grip and ran down, with Sora in close pursuit.

Sora and Akiko both slept late the following morning, and Haruko quickly made his way through the Chaos Gate to Lumina Cloth, just in time to catch the beginning of the third match for the Holy Palace.

"Why didn't we ever go for this place?" Henako, sitting by his side, seemed determined to make conversation, even as the announcer's usual ranting boomed throughout the Arena.

Haruko shrugged. "Many reasons. We would have had to give up the Demon Emperor's throne to participate in the tournament, for starters, and I wasn't about to give it up so easily after all we went through to obtain it. And I always felt my place was at the Demon Palace, like my sempai."

Henako nodded. "You mean old man Antares, right?"

Haruko grinned. "Yeah. And then, there's the most simple reason." He laughed. "I don't think we could have beaten Sirius-dono and his team, not in a million years." He leaned on the rail excitedly. "Oh, it's starting!"

The match proceeded fairly quickly. Henako got more and more excited as Haseo's team made quick work of the enemy wingmen, leaving only Nala, an ancient-looking man in metal armor and a green tabard who served as leader of Moon Tree's Fourth Unit.

Haruko watched the battle carefully. "Huh… looks like there's some tension between Alkaid and Atoli, eh?"

Henako giggled. "I bet they're each secretly trying to win Haseo for their own, to have and hold and stroke that kitty-cat hair of his all day long!" She sighed dreamily. "I can understand their wishes, though. If he was my type, I'd be pursuing him to the ends of the earth."

Haruko blinked. "Um… wow. I think you just actually hit the truth dead-on with one of your wild predictions. I mean, I don't know about Atoli, but Alkaid's definitely after him. She confessed to me yesterday."

Henako giggled again. "Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, right? The Law of Averages demands it, with big, bold letters and mountains of mathematical formulas!"

Haruko rolled his eyes. "And there she goes again." He looked down. "Well, it looks like things are wrapping up." A flash of light shone out, and Haseo flew across the arena and knocked Nala flying with a Whirlwind attack. Haruko nodded. "And that's it." He looked carefully as Haseo sheathed his twin blades. "Huh… it looks like he's using the Lit Honeysuckle that Alkaid helped him get. That's pretty cool."

Henako blinked. "Honeysuckle…" she said, suddenly serious.

Haruko laughed. "She didn't know what it meant, when she gave it to him." He produced his own pair. "She knew when she gave it to me, though."

Henako beamed. "Aw… that was really sweet of her." She nodded. "Well, should we go down and congratulate them?"

Haruko nodded. "Right. I'll go and meet them." He whirled and warped out.

A few minutes later, Haseo, Alkaid, and Atoli were all clustered around Haruko, chatting happily. "So, great work today!" Haruko said.

Atoli smiled, but Alkaid pulled a face. "Right…"

Haruko sighed. "You saw it too, huh?"

Alkaid nodded. "Of course. Nala's a captain at Moon Tree with a reputation for being a tough fighter. There's no way we could have beaten him that easily."

Atoli blinked. "But… we could have gotten lucky, right?"

Haseo shook his head. "No. And what really doesn't make sense is the fact that he helped me out before the second match, against Hiiragi's team. He gave me the exact set of armor and customization parts that I needed to counter his nastiest spells. But why?"

Haruko frowned. "It's not like anyone in Moon Tree to throw a match, or give someone an advantage over one of their own. Then again, Nala-jiisan has always been a really strange character."

Atoli shrugged. "Well… maybe he just really wanted us to win?"

Alkaid shook her head. "But why? Because of Sirius?"

Haruko rubbed his temple. "That wouldn't make sense. Moon Tree doesn't know about, or have anything to do with, AIDA."

Haseo shook his head. "Actually… we went to them for help during the server incident a few weeks ago. And Sakaki knew about it long before we told them about it." Switching to private chat, he added, "He even knew about G.U. How could he know about that?"

Haruko grit his teeth. "Who knows? We've worked with Moon Tree before, but we never directly involved them in anything to do with AIDA. But Sakaki-san knows a lot of things that he shouldn't know about."

Haseo sighed. "I don't trust the guy."

Haruko laughed bitterly. "That makes two of us." He left Whisper Mode and turned to Alkaid. "So… you guys definitely fought well out there."

Alkaid groaned. "Yeah, but I wanted to show you our skills against a real opponent!"

Haruko grinned. "Wait until the next match. I checked the standings; you guys are up against Bordeaux's crew again."

Haseo grunted. "Not them."

Haruko raised a finger. "Hey, don't underestimate them." He grinned. "I seem to recall that last time, you only won because you used Skeith on them."

Alkaid nodded. "Yeah… but this time it's just us against them. Right?"

Haseo grinned. "Right."

Atoli smiled. "Of course! The match is on Wednesday, Oniichan, so don't miss it, okay?"

Haruko laughed. "Of course not. Four days from now… I'll be there!"

Atoli nodded. "Okay!"

Haruko grinned. "All right… I'm going to go spend time with Akiko, so I'll see you all later!"

Haseo laughed. "Okay. I promise you'll have a good show at the finals!"

Alkaid pumped her fist. "You've got it! Later, Shuu-chan!"

Atoli giggled. "See you later, Oniichan!"

Haruko waved, and spinning on his heel he logged out.

Author's Notes: Ah... things are finally going to start heating up soon... and, of course, my magnum opus of being evil to my poor characters will soon commence... Keep in mind, I'd finished both Rebirth and Redemption when I started work on these first three parts, so I knew what was coming the whole time.

And, on a more chapter-related note, I do love the little scene between Sora and Akiko here, even if it is fairly on the adult side of things. I love the idea that Sora can actually touch a girl's chest without lustful thoughts in mind; he's innocent like that, and it makes for a really fun character. And Henako is wild as always... and quite fun to use, considering that technically Bandai created her (she's an NPC in the games.) I really hope I get a chance for Sora to encounter her in the real world- I've got such a scene in mind already, but I'm not sure how it'll pan out. Anyway, I know the detail's kinda sparse on this match, but it'll get much better in the remaining fight scenes... including one that I think will surprise everyone. -big grin-