Hey guys! Here's chapter 21! Three questions for you! 1 Guess who's back? 2 What is the special invitation for? 3 Who's coming? You don't know the answer? Start reading and you'll find out!

Enjoy! ;)

Ashinaka High School dorms

After recovering Kuro from SCEPTER 4's HQ, I ended up spending the day with him at Ashinaka Island. Neko joined us soon after and he explained to me why the Blue King had summoned him.

"He was offering you shelter?" I asked in disbelief. "From what?"

"Ever since Neko and I got back yesterday, we've been attacked by Green Clansmen. Reisi Munakata and I agreed that it's not us that they're after. They're trying to lure out Shiro by targeting us, the only Silver Clansmen there are."

"I see. I guess your search for Shiro didn't lead anywhere."

He looked at the ground sadly and nodded. I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know where he went, but I'm sure he's out there. And he's going to come back, no matter how long it takes."

"YES HE IS!" Shouted Neko. She came closer to us and showed a small red marble to Kuro.

"Did Anna give this to you?"

"Yeah, she did! And look, I can see Shiro!"

Kuro's eyes widened and he took it from her. "You're right! Shiro! Can you hear me? Shiro!"

I couldn't see anything but that didn't surprise me. Anna told me the marbles connect people who have strong bonds together, and as much as I liked Yashiro, my connection with him was much less powerful than Neko and Kuro. I smiled happy that they could see him.

"He won't hear you." I told them. "The only way to communicate with marbles is for the other person to have another. But at least you can be sure he's alive now."

The two clansmen seemed really happy at my words and both smiled at me. "Thank you Yoru." Said Kuro. "And please thank Anna for us as well."

"I will. Won't you guys consider just staying here for a while? I'm sure Shiro will come back whenever he'll be done. And it will be here."

"That's what I told Reisi Munakata when I turned him down. Speaking of which, your clan hasn't had any trouble with the Green Clan?"

"No. But I did get this weird invitation I told you about. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we get pulled in as well."

"How can you tell?"

"Gut feeling. And it's not a good one."

"It seems unlikely. They are after us because they're trying to get the Silver King's attention. And they're attacking the blue clan because they're protecting the Gold King's tower. But I don't see why they would have a reason to attack your clan..."

"I hope you're right. Enough about annoying business. I'm so glad you two are finally back."

Neko threw herself on me and hugged and cuddled me. "We missed you too! I was happy to see Anna too! She's gotten taller since I left! And glasses-guy made pancakes for me! HOMRA's so cool! Oh, but skateboard guy didn't stop frowning and kept saying stuff like 'you shouldn't just act so freely in other people's HQ'!"

I held back a laugh thinking of Yata helplessly trying to lecture Neko. Then Kuro and I talked about my training. My 'big brother' wasn't exactly okay with me exchanging blows with the guys from my clan. But honestly they weren't hard on me. On the contrary, they were more inclined to hold back, which annoyed me. But before Yashiro went missing, I also practiced with my father's adoptive son. It was very useful. Kuro being stronger than Yata and Saru combined, it could only help. And he had the decency to not go easy on me. But the second we were out of training mode, he would make sure I had to eat, that everything was alright with the clan and everything else... a real mother-hen. But I didn't mind. It was nice having someone like that around. Plus, we always talked about my father and the more I knew, the happier I was. From what I heard, Ichigen Miwa was a gentle, caring and peaceful man. Kuro even had his voice recorder full of my father haikus (which was kind of really weird and creepy). But I'm glad he had that. Knowing what my father sounded like was more than I could ask for.

"How are things going with Mikoto Suho?" Asked Kuro.

"Same as ever. Although he goes out a lot more lately." I said. "We have tons of work too. Always running around after bounties. And I got arrested again for the eleventh time..."

"What?!"

'Oops! Shouldn't have said that.' "I-I mean that SCEPTER 4 brought me in to sign the papers for interfering, because we were after the same guy and..."

"And these careless punks let you build a criminal record?" A murderous aura suddenly surrounded him and he unsheathed half of his katana. "I clearly need to have a talk with these bastards."

"Calm down, Kuro. I get arrested because it's easier to deal with it."

My PDA suddenly rang in my pocket and I took it out. It was Yata. "Hello?"

"Taiga where are you?"

"Ashinaka, with Kuro. Do you need me for something?"

"I'm there too. Can you meet me in the court?"

"Why?"

"Just come down. I need your help with something." He urged, growling. He sounded distraught. I said bye to Kuro and Neko and headed down in the court. Ashinaka High's court is more than gigantic, and it took me a while to find Yata. I spotted him because of his red sweatshirt. I smiled when I saw him. He looked nervous about something though and was hiding something behind his back. I jumped on the ramp of the stairs and slid down.

"Yata!" I called. I jumped off and jogged towards him. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Anna asked me to bring something back to that cat strain girl." He said awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "She forgot it at the bar."

"And why do you need me?"

He showed me what he was hiding and handed it to me. It was a small paper bag with something in it. "Can you give it to her?"

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

"I just can't!"

I raised an eyebrow and looked inside the paper bag, a little curious. When I saw what was inside, I froze. I would have been shocked but this was so like Neko to forget her panties. I tried to stop myself from laughing but couldn't. Yata got even redder and looked away.

"Don't laugh!"

"You're right, you'll get arrested if you're caught with that. Not to mention you'd be labeled as a pervert." I closed it. "Don't worry, I'll take the burden off you. You can relax."

"Thanks." he mumbled relieved.

"Do you mind waiting for me? Unless you still have work." Which I really hope he didn't. First because I really wanted us to spend some time together. Second, he really needed to rest.

"S-sure! I'll just wait here."

I ran back inside the dorms and went up to go to Yashiro's apartment. I knocked only to have no one answer the door. I turned the doorknob, and saw that the door was locked. 'They must have stepped out. They can't be far.' I ran in the hallways until I ran into Kukuri, a classmate of Shiro. I asked her if she had seen them and she told me he'd received a rendezvous letter from a girl, asking him to meet at the bridge. I sighed and sent a text to Yata to tell him to meet me outside at the gates instead, before heading there myself. But when the bridge came in sight, it was not the confession scene I was hoping to see. Neko was cowering behind one of the bridges pillar, calling out for Shiro and Kuro was on his knees, his katana a couple meters from him. And standing in front of him, holding his sword at the young samurai's throat, Yukari Mishakuji was making a sad but resolute face. Suddenly my head started hurting and I shut my eyes. An image of Kuro getting his throat slit by Yukari's sword appeared in my mind. He wasn't going to spare him this time. My feet moved on their own and I started running full speed towards the two of them. At the same time, I summoned the red aura on my hand and brought it to my mouth. Once closer, I concentrated my aura in my feet and jumped five meters high. As expected, the green clansman looked up. I took a deep breath before spitting out the aura I'd swallowed and quite literally breathing fire towards the green clansman. That technique of mine was very incomplete since I'd only been working on it for the past two weeks. Of course he had no trouble dodging it but it forced him away from Kuro and I landed right in front of the young samurai.

"Back off Yukari!" I threatened, getting to a fighting stance.

"My, my! It's good to see you again, Yoruichi. Unfortunately, I have no business with you today. Would you mind stepping away from my adorable Kuro? I need to send him back to our master. King's orders."

'King's orders? Then the Green King is really after Yashiro.' I let my entire body catch fire and gave him a death glare. "Go ahead and try."

I wish I could mean that completely. But my legs were shaking. 'Calm down, Taiga. You have to think.' I ordered myself. 'Yukari is a hundred times stronger than me. Rushing in recklessly is not going to work. I don't want to, but if I use the purple aura, I may be able to break his sword. It won't be much, but at least Kuro will have an advantage with his katana.'

I took a deep breath and try to calm my shaking body, and threw a quick glance at Kuro before turning back to Yukari. I summoned Ryu's aura and the purple fog surrounded my hands and forearms. Yukari smirked.

"You look a lot more able than the first time we met. Unfortunately, you're still but an unpolished raw stone. With the proper training, you could be dazzling in no time."

Just hearing him talk was making more and more unsure of my plan. If I wanted to break his sword, I'd have to get very close to him. My chances of success were very low. I had to buy time.

"You're … highly ranked in JUNGLE aren't you?"

He made a surprised look. "I am. Why this question?"

"What is the special invitation?" I asked.

"Oh, so Nagare has already sent it to you? I thought he'd wait until we got under the Red King's skin. He must be getting quite impatient. Oh, well..."

"Tell me!" I insisted.

"That invitation means you can play the game without taking any damage."

That's exactly what Sukuna had told me. "What does a stupid video game has to do with all of this? And what do you mean by playing without taking any damage?"

"Oh dear. Seems you haven't realized what the game is yet. You'll figure that out soon enough. But for now, you should get out of my way. I'd hate to have to remove you by force." He said pointing his blade towards me. I blinked once, and the green clansman was right in front of me, his sword backwards in his hand. And before I could even think of blocking, the handle of his katana collided violently with my stomach, cutting off my breath and sending me flying back. I rolled on the ground a little and then coughed to catch my breath, holding my stomach.

"Be a good girl and stay down while I take care of things."

"YUKARI MISHAKUJI!" Shouted Kuro.

The young samurai threw himself on his former fellow clansman. Their blades collided and Kuro gave him an intense death glare.

"Do not touch her!"

"Oh, are you angry that I pushed aside such a precious memento of our master, Kuro? You should look at your face. Truly beautiful."

"Spare me your comments! You came to fight me!"

"Indeed I did!"

They engaged in combat. Following them with just my eyes was almost impossible, both were extremely fast as well as extremely elegant. But it was still obvious to me that Yukari had the upper hand. Kuro seemed exhausted while Yukari kept smiling creepily. Neko was at my side shaking me and asking if I was okay. I tried to get up, but my stomach was killing me. And even if I did get up, there was no way I could interfere. I was useless in close combat against someone as experienced as Yukari. And my fire breathing attack was not precise enough for me to hit only Yukari, that was if I could even get a lock on him. I clenched my teeth. Kuro then got knocked to the ground and Yukari raised his katana to give him the coup-de-grace. I watched, eyes wide open and petrified while Neko's face was swarmed with tears.

"SHIRRRROOOOOOO!" She cried out to the sky.

At that exact moment, something crashed onto the bridge making dust fly in every direction possible.

"You invade a man's home, and even worse you attack his family? I call that the height of arrogance, Green King, Nagare Hisui." Said a familiar voice.

I smiled out of relief. I knew this voice. It looked like the Silver King had returned. And just at the right moment. What a show off. The dust fell, and I saw Yashiro, all dressed in white and old clothes, with his usual red umbrella on his shoulders. He was staring at Yukari, or more specifically at the green parrot that had apparently appeared out of nowhere and was resting on the swordsman's shoulder. 'The King is a bird?' I thought, extremely confused.

"It's an honor to meet you Adolf K. Weissman, First and Silver King." He bowed. "I am Yukari Mishakuji. A J-Rank of the green clan JUNGLE. My apologies for our King's absence, but he will speak to you through our clansman."

"Greetings, Silver King. I am Hisui Nagare, head of JUNGLE." Said a new deep voice coming from the bird, which was kind of creepy. "It seems I have finally manage to lure you out. It confirms it now : you are no longer the bystander you used to be. That makes me quite happy.

Yukari looked at the bird with a sad smile. "So you used my Kuro as bait? You kings are so cruel."

"Affirmative. Here is my next order. Withdraw immediately."

"Huh? You don't want me to take care of it?"

"No. Withdraw. That is an order. And don't forget Sukuna."

The man sighed and sheathed his sword in a very elegant but dramatic way. He took out his PDA and called the younger clansman. "Sukuna, we're leaving. Kings orders. You've played enough." He hung up and turned to Kuro this time. "In respect to your King that selflessly came to your rescue, I'll let you live. But make it interesting for me next time. Otherwise, I'll cut you down like a dead branch."

Again, I just blinked and he was gone. Neko was the first to react and ran to her king, hugging him as hard as she could and started speaking endlessly about what's been going on and asking why he left them and how worried they'd been about him. Kuro was trying hard to keep up the very polite respectful clansman act, but I could see he was this close to crying. It was nice to see the Silver Clan reunited. I knew how Kuro and Neko had been worried about him. And he did leave without saying anything to them. So many questions needed answering. But not right now. No way in hell anything was going to ruin this moment for the three of them. I slowly stood up and walked towards the small group.

"Welcome back, Yashiro." I said.

He smiled back. "Thank you Taiga. It's good to be home."

"Crying is human Kuro." I said elbowing my 'brother'.

"I am not crying." He said stubbornly.

"Huh? So the Silver King really is back." Said a familiar, childish voice.

All of us looked up to see Sukuna, standing on top of the bridge, holding his rod. He smirked cockily. "Now the game's going to be even more interesting."

With swift moves, the boy disappeared as well. 'Wait. Yukari said he's had his fun. Which means he was fighting... but with who?' I suddenly realized and gasped.

"Yata!"

I started running back towards the school, the Silver King and his clansmen close behind me. 'Please be okay.' We soon reach the court... only to find Yata and a certain blue clansman with glasses arguing with each other about something... I let out a sigh of relief before shaking my head at them, knowing it was something stupid.

"I could have had him, if you hadn't been in the way."

"Say what?! I saved your butt back there, monkey!"

"It's called unwanted help. A concept you're probably not familiar with."

"You callin' me stupid?! Say it again I dare you!"

"Fine, stupid!"

"Yata, Saru. Take it down a notch maybe? This is a school."

They both turned to me. Both of them frowned. "Is there something on my face?"

"Yes there is." Said Saru. "Blood."

"Oh right." I was probably covered in scratches. "We ran into trouble."

"We?" Said Yata.

"Hum, excuse me boys?" The three of us turned to the Silver clan. "Could you pass on a message to your Kings for me?" Said Yashiro with a smile.

Shizume streets

Yata and I were now walking through the streets of Shizume, heading back towards the bar, both lost in thought. He was glancing at me every five seconds until he finally decided to speak. He brought his hand up and gently touched my cheek.

"You alright?"

"It's nothing, don't worry. I can't even feel it."

"It's not nothing. That guy could have killed you, you know. Why d'you have to barge in the fight like that?"

"If I hadn't he would've killed Kuro. I had to do something."

"The Black Dog can take care of himself. You shouldn't have interfered. When weaker fighters jump into a pro-fight, they're more a hindrance than anything else. Point is you shouldn't have interfered!"

I stopped and gave him an angry glare. "I saw him die, Yata! If I hadn't jumped in when I did, Yukari would have sliced his throat in front of me. I know! I saw it! And not because I wanted to."

He froze on the spot and then looked at the ground. With time, I'd figured out a little about my power. It worked as warning. It mostly worked when something really bad is about to happen. I saw it. I'm not sure I could call it clairvoyance because I could only see a few seconds ahead though. And it didn't apply to myself, but to the people around me. The ones I had strong connections with as Anna would say.

"Sorry. I forgot about your eyes." He mumbled. "I was just... worried."

"Well I could say the same to you." I said resuming our walk. "You fought Sukuna right? He's a J-rank too (whatever that means) I can't believe this kid is actually a clansman. Does anyone who play the JUNGLE game become a clansman? How does it work?"

"After you left, Mr Kusanagi did some digging around. He said that the whole thing works like a game. You start as an E-rank and only the J-rank get to meet the king. He said something about them doing missions to collect points and move up the ranks."

"Missions... IRL? Then it isn't a video game."

"No, the PDAs work as point collectors or something."

"I still don't understand the purpose of my invitation. If I'm suppose to play without taking any damage, what does that imply?"

"Misaki! Taiga!" Called out a sweet familiar voice.

We were now back in our turf, and the streets were pretty much empty. And the red clan's little princess in her gothic loli dress was running towards us.

"Yo, Anna!" Saluted Yata with a smile.

"Why are you here by yourself?" I asked.

"Mikoto is back." She made a sad face. "There's something wrong. The green clan is going after us."

"What do you mean?"

Before she could answer a bunch of three guys wearing green glowing electronic helmets appeared at the end of the street. They were all holding what looked like stuffed animals. In the shape of a green parrot. That seemed oddly familiar. One of them was holding his PDA and an electronic voice was heard.

"Mission : Get rid of HOMRA's Yatagarasu. Reward : 3000 points. Mission: get rid of Anna Kushina. Reward : 1000 points."

"What the hell..." I said.

"All right!" Said one of them. "We take them together and split the points!"

"Wait, dude. What does it say about the chick? She's got HOMRA's stigma on the ankle but I didn't see her face in the repertoire..."

"No stats on her. Doesn't matter! Let's take 'em!"

The two of them tossed three of the stuffed animals near us. And they started inflating. Yata dropped his skate and grabbed Anna and I around the waist and jumped back as the three bombs exploded almost in our faces. 'Damn! Thank heaven for Yata's short reaction time. And his instincts.'

"You sons of bitches! Who do you think you're messing with?!" His entire body caught fire, betraying the anger inside. He threw himself on the two guys. But then I heard a voice behind us.

"Hihi! Easy points. Lucky!"

Another one was behind us a couple meters away. He tossed another parrot bomb near the little girl.

"ANNA!"

My body moved on its own once more, and the next thing I knew, I was thrown blown away (quite literally) while holding the young strain in my arms by the blast. And then I heard Yata scream our names and the electronic voice spoke again.

"Mission fail. You loose the totality of your JUNGLE points for harming Special Player."

HOMRA bar

"So the Silver King is back, huh?" Said the red king, for once wide awake and sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, and he wants to hold a meeting with you and Mr Munakata tomorrow morning. OW!" I grunted when Mr Kusanagi pressed the antiseptic covered cotton on my bleeding forearm. The wound was the result of the explosion I'd shielded Anna from. It wasn't a big deal but it still hurt.

"Sorry Taiga." Said the barman, while bandaging my arm. "How's that? Not too tight."

"It's fine. Thanks Mr Kusanagi. I turned to the guys. "So everyone, got attacked by the green clan?"

"Yeah." Said Shohei. "These guys are picking a fight with us for no reason. Did you see that video they posted about Totsuka? I swear if I come across any of them, I'll burn'em till there's nothing left!"

"Easy guys." Warned Mr Kusanagi. "Let's not forget that most of them are idiots that think they're playing a stupid game. In other words, they're civilians. Those who do know what they're doing, meaning only those who execute N-rank missions or higher are real criminals. So what do you want to do Mikoto?"

All of us turned to the red king. Anna was sitting next to him and staring with a worried look. "Allying with Blue and Silver... Sounds like a pain in the ass." He looked at us and suddenly looked menacing. "But those guys are looking for a real fight with us. Let's burn them all."

"And if we want to wipe out the entire green clan..." Started Mr Kusanagi. "We're gonna need extra hands. Should I take that as a yes Mikoto?"

The way those two exchange glares sent shivers down my spine. Damn Mr Mikoto was scary. That video on Tatara Totsuka must have shook him up pretty badly. I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off about our king. Maybe because he was seriously angry but all of them were. I couldn't be because I didn't know Tatara. But I knew he'd died in Yata's arms about a year ago. I looked at the crow. He hadn't stopped looking at the video on Shohei's PDA and was clutching it like he wanted to break it. They looked ready for a fight. This was a very personal blow. Whoever he was, Hisui Nagare was a real bastard. Maybe I couldn't feel their pain or hate, but I could definitely sense their frustration. And just for that, that bastard was going to get a piece of my mind too. But the mood was awful right now. It wouldn't hurt to lighten it.

"Yashiro said to be there around 10." I said.

Mr Kusanagi chuckled and whispered to me. "You should warn him that this lazy bum will probably be there around 10:30."

I laughed at the comment. "Oh that's right! You guys, come on out with me." I told everyone.

I jumped off my seat and stepped out in the street, checking around to see if no one else was there. Everyone followed me out except Mr Mikoto who probably went back to his nap. Mr Kusanagi and Anna watched from the door frame.

"So, what's up?" Asked Rikio.

"Remember how I told you I got an idea for weird technique?"

"The one where you wanted to breath fire? How can we forget?" Said Yo. "I laughed for an hour."

"Well, jokes on you." I said. "Check this."

I once more summoned the red aura around my hand and brought it to my mouth. I 'swallowed' it and took a deep breath... before letting it all out towards the sky. A huge flame escaped my mouth on about seven meters, but it didn't last long until I ran out of breath. All the guys were staring in awe though.

"Well, shit Taiga. What should we call you now, HOMRA's dragon?" Said Kosuke.

"That was pretty nice." Commented Eric. "And unusual."

"Yeah. I thought your fighting style mostly involved jumping and kicking but that's some cool back-up technique." Said Masaomi. "And you've got range."

"Yeah, but it's not precise at all." I said. "That and I'm out of breath pretty fast. It's exhausting."

"Oh come on, you know it's not easy to be precise with our power." Said Shohei.

"What do you mean? Mr Kusanagi can make a whip! How's that not precise?"

WOOF! WOOF!

That bark got everyone's attention and we all looked to one side of the street. A huge Rottweiler was running towards me at full speed. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground with the huge dog on top of me, enthusiastically licking my face and whimpering happily. I was too stunned to react immediately. "T-Tux?!"

"Now that is one friendly dog." Commented Yo, who immediately got hit behind the head by Masaomi.

"Dumbass. She just called it by it's name."

"You know this dog, Taiga?" Asked Mr Kusanagi.

"Sorry about that! He's mine!" Shouted a familiar voice that I hadn't heard in years. I heard a wolf whistle. "Tux, come here baby!Leave her alone."

I quickly sat up to make sure I wasn't dreaming. A woman between her mid and late twenties, was petting the big Rottweiler. She had dark chocolate messy yet elegant brown hair held in a bun with bangs, blue eyes, tanned and fair skin... Her clothes were extremely stylish. Long brown coat over a purple dress, brown knee-high boots, lots of jewelry. Earrings, necklace, bracelets even a ring over her leather gloves. Well applied makeup. The total. She also had sun glasses on top of her head. She hadn't changed one bit. She stood up and looked at the boys.

"I'm really sorry about this. He gets a little excited. But he's a good boy, I promise." Her smile was so bright it could blind anyone.

"N-no trouble ma'am." Said Rikio, rubbing the back of his head and his cheeks turned red.

I stood up. "Lana?" I asked, unsure.

She turned to me with a surprised look and then her face brightened even more. "Yoru!" She ran towards me and hugged me as hard as she could. "I almost didn't recognize you there! I missed you so much!"

I didn't know what to do. What could I do? Different emotions were tearing me apart inside. Should I run? Should I be happy? Why was she even here? She let me go and looked at me, and never stopped smiling. "Pourquoi tu fais cette tete? On dirait que tu n'est pas contente de me voir." *

"Excuse me." Said Mr Kusanagi. "But who are you?"

"Oh pardon!"** She said turning to the rest of the clan. "My name is Lana Blanchet, I'm one of Yoru's best friends! And just so it doesn't get awkward later..." Her eyes suddenly had an air of pride. "I'm ARCHITECT."

Mr Kusanagi frowned and I saw him put his hand in his pocket to grab his lighter.

"Huuuuuh... what's ARCHITECT?" Asked Yata with a confused face.

"That's the name of the purple clan."

The boys let out a sound of surprise and all eyes turned to Lana again. She pulled her silk scarf away form the side of her neck to uncover the three rose stigma.

"Let's all get along, shall we?" She said, with a prideful tone.

*French : Why are you making that face? It seems like you're not happy to see me.

** French : Oh, sorry!

Hope you liked it! And I promise next chapter will be out soon because I absolutely can't wait to show you more of Lana! PLEASE REVIEW!