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Reika stared at the house she heard that Takeru was staying at and then at the scroll Yuko had given her to give the owner of the house which just so happened to be Takeru's residence too. Truth to be told, she would rather be anywhere in the forest than here. But orders was orders…or so she was told yesterday.

"The queen had sent these while the both of you were out." Yuko told them when they came back from their little excursion to the Kaidou palace, showing them the two scrolls that she received from the messenger.

"Did she say anything else?" Mia asked as she took one of them.

"Yes." Yuko nodded. "We have to give these to King Jin of the Kaidou Empire and Prince Ban of Aradia. I heard that the latter has been staying here in Wecasta for the past five years so that will be easy."

"Why are we supposed to give them these?" Reika took the other one and looked at it curiously.

"The queen is inviting them to visit her next week so she wants to talk to the both of them." Yuko shrugged.

"But wouldn't that be dangerous for her? I mean, the king might be bringing his soldiers to capture her. And since the queen of Wecasta is suspecting me to be part of Bandit, or whatever it is, wouldn't she do the same for this Ban?" Mia frowned worriedly.

"I think that's her intention. To stir up more trouble between Wecasta and the Kaidou Empire." Yuko sighed.

"But why would she do that?" Reika cocked her head.

"It's complicated." Mia and Yuko said at the same time.

Reika only looked more confuse at that and Yuko sighed again. "Long story short, if she takes down both sides, then no one can stop her from reviving Lambary."

"Is it too late to say that I changed my mind and would like to go back to the forest?" Reika hesitantly asked.

"Yes." Mia nodded.

Reika whined and banged her head on the window. "Humans are scarier than animals."

"We heard that Reika." Yuko deadpanned. "Anyway, Mia's scroll will need to be delivered to King Jin while yours will need to be delivered to Prince Ban. I heard that he's staying in a house next to the palace so you will have to go there."

"Wait, me?" Reika pointed at herself incredulously. "But why can't you?"

"Because orders are orders." Yuko shrugged. "Come on now, how hard can it be?"

Now Reika wished that she never allowed Yuko to convince her to leave the forest in the first place. It was not until she came here that she remembered that Takeru was staying here too. "Oh boy. What am I going to do now?"

Inside the house, Ami, Kazu and Arata were watching Reika curiously from the window as she paced around and fidgeted in frustration.

"I wonder what is she doing out there." Kazu said shook his head and glanced at Arata who shrugged.

"She's wearing a similar outfit to the princess of Lambary based on Haruki's description. But I don't have the impression that she's actually a threat."

"Looks can be deceiving you know." Hikaru said quietly as he joined them at the window.

"We won't know anything if we just stay here." Ami pointed out. "Someone should go out and see what she wants."

"But who would be foolish enough to do that?" Kazu ran a hand through his dreadlocks. "I mean, if she is the princess' companion, then wouldn't it mean that she's also a good fighter too?"

"But if we don't go out and see what she wants, she's going to be there all day." Arata pointed out.

"I'll go." Hikaru volunteered.

"You sure?" Arata raised an eyebrow.

"The sooner we get over with this, the sooner she'll leave." Hikaru shrugged and went out. Reika stopped pacing when she saw him and froze unable to think of what to say.

"Who are you and what do you want with us?" Hikaru asked, folding his arms.

"I…um…oh forget it!" Reika snapped and turned to leave. "I just can't do it!"

"Do what?" Hikaru narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Animals are easier to communicate with than humans." Reika lamented under her breath as she got ready to run when someone called her name and she froze.

"It really is you Reika." Takeru said as he jogged over.

"You know her?" Hikaru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup." He nodded and turned to her. "So what brings you here?"

"I…" Reika's eyes darted around and finally, she threw her hands up in frustration. "I give up. Here." She thrusted the scroll to Hikaru. "I was told to give this to the owner of the house. Give it to him for me. Goodbye!" With that, she took off running.

"Wait!" Takeru tried to catch up with her but she was already long gone.

"What was that all about?" Arata wondered as he and the others stepped out.

"I don't know but she gave me this." Hikaru said, holding up the scroll.

"Well, Ban would probably be back by tonight, so we'll wait for him to come back to have a look at it." Kazu shrugged.

"Takeru, how did you know her?" Ami asked him curiously.

"Well, remember the time I went hiking in the woods? I met her then. She's actually a nomad in the forest and barely leaves the forest." He explained.

"Then what is she doing here and what is her relationship with the princess?" Arata frowned.

"I don't know." Takeru shook his head. "I only know that she has a teacher who taught her to survive in the forest who wanted to bring her back to her country. It could be that she is the one who is related to the princess."

"Then do you know where we can find her?"

"At the inn east of town."

Arata cocked his head at him and then at the scroll. "I'm going over to the inn to find out what this is all about. Hikaru, you coming?"

Hikaru nodded and followed his friend to the inn. Meanwhile, Ami was giving Takeru a suspicious look. "Takeru, what exactly happened in the forest that day?"

Takeru froze and sweat poured out of his brow. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, if she was connected to the princess, then why is she living in the forest?" Ami said and got eye level with him and gave him her infamous suspicious glare. "Well? I'm waiting."

'Oh dear.' Kazu thought with a sweatdrop as he snuck back into the house, ignoring Takeru's pleading glances. 'Ami is very fierce now that she's pregnant. I wish you all the best Takeru.'

"We're here." Arata and Hikaru stopped when they came to the inn. "Do you think that they'll still be here?"

"I don't know but there's only one way to find out." Hikaru said and went inside with Arata following behind him. They went over to the counter and the innkeeper raised an eyebrow at them.

"I was beginning to wonder if you guys would ever show up." He remarked.

"Where are the foreign ladies staying at?" Arata asked him.

"Third floor, last door on the left." The innkeeper told them.

"Thanks." Arata nodded and went up to the said room. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The door cracked open and Yuko peaked out, frowning when she saw them. "What do you want?"

"I would like to know the meaning behind this scroll and the recent visit of the princess of Lambary who created an uproar at the palace." Arata said in an even voice as he held up the scroll.

Yuko narrowed her eyes. 'Wasn't Reika supposed to give it to Prince Ban? Why is it in his hands?'

As though knowing what she was thinking, Arata said, "Ban is my brother and he's not around right now."

"Then give it to him when he comes back." Yuko said dismissively.

"Not unless you tell us what are your intentions for all the mayhem you caused." Arata said pointedly.

"I don't have anything to say about it." Yuko said stiffly. "I'm only following the orders of my queen. Good day." With that, she slammed the door shut at their face.

"What do you think we should do now?" Hikaru asked his red haired friend as they walked out of the inn.

"I don't know. Maybe we should just wait for Ban to come back." Arata sighed.

Yuko sighed in relief as she watched them walked off from the window but frowned. 'Reika hasn't come back yet despite already delivering the scroll. Don't tell me she ran back into the forest.' She thought crossly and grabbed her sword to go find her.

'Finally.' Takeru thought as he entered the forest. 'I thought that Ami would never let me go. She's very scary nowadays now that she's pregnant.' He shivered.

"Takeru!"

Takeru lifted his head and saw Reika jump down from a tree in front of him, startling him a little. He also noticed that she was wearing her cloak again instead of the dress. "Reika? What are you doing here?"

"I can't stand it anymore." She whined. "I don't want to go back with Master Yuko. I want to stay here."

Takeru sweatdropped at that. "Is it that easy for you to change your mind?"

"Yes." Reika nodded. "When she first tried to convince me to leave, I forgot how scary it was talking to humans compare to animals."

"But…you saved me from the bear…and you chatted with me…"

Reika sighed and sat down on a falling log. "I don't really know what's gotten into me when I saved you. Ok, I do try to make sure that Mama Bear doesn't kill anyone but you were the first person who fainted after encountering her so I had to bring you back to my hut. But before you woke up, I had no idea of what I am supposed to say to you. When you did, the words just poured out of my mouth without me really knowing about what I was saying."

Takeru gave her a sympathetic smile and sat down beside her. "I see what you mean. There was this girl that I like very much but I didn't know what to say to her whenever I tried to tell her how much she means to me. But by the time I thought of the words that I wanted to tell her, she died. I wish that I did as you did. Just let the words come out by themselves instead of hesitating."

Reika lifted her head at him with a kind smile. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Well, it's ok." Takeru shrugged. "I'm slowly getting over it."

Reika grinned and stood up. "Then why don't we hang out in the forest and forget about our troubles? Since you were kind enough to show me around town, let me return the favor by showing you around the forest so that you won't get lost again."

Takeru grinned and nodded. "Sure, I'd love that."