Chapter 17

Jenna sighed contently as she stirred to the feel of warm, comforting arms around her. Looking up, she saw Ryo's still sleeping face. * He's so angelic when he's sleeping. * She thought as she gently traced the outline of his cheek and jawbone with her index finger.

Snuggling close to him again as a cold wind blew through the cave that they were in, she closed her eyes.

But little did she know, her touch had awoken Ryo, but he did not mind. Once his vision cleared, he looked down to see, what he thought was, a sleeping Jenna. Remembering what had happened not to long ago, he smiled.

"My Jensea.." He whispered and kissed her hair.

Jenna smiled and whispered back, "My Rekka..."

Ryo gasped. "God, did I wake you, Jenna?"

She shook her head no and snuggled closer to him. "Been up for a few minutes.. Sleep well?"

He nodded and kissed her hair again. "Perfectly fine. what about you?"

Jenna smiled, loving the feel of his soft kisses. "Couldn't have been better."

Ryo looked at his watch and felt like kicking himself for how long that he had slept. It was almost dusk. "Well.. Looks like we won't get too much searching done tonight. It's 4:30."

Jenna looked up at him. "You're joking!"

Ryo shook his head no. "See?" He showed her his watch and Jenna jumped up, but got dizzy. Ryo caught her before she could fall and held her tightly, making sure she was okay.

"Easy there love. don't move so fast." Jenna smiled up at him, thankful that he had caught her.

"Thanks.. But still. we should search for them as long as we can." Ryo sighed and kissed her forehead.

"But here in the Dynasty."

"Danger? HA! I laugh in the face of danger! Hahahahaha!" He chuckled dryly at the old movie line and then she got serious. "I know how dangerous it is Ryo." She smiled and hugged him. "We'll be fine. I don have previous experience with Zoisite, don't forget. She WAS one of my old archenemies when Beryl attacked."

Ryo nodded to her and sighed. Lifting her chin to look in her eyes, he whispered, "You are such a dare-devil. always ready to face evil and danger."

Jenna smiled angelically and looked into his eyes, searching them with wonder and amazment. "Well you gotta be in this business."

Leaning down some, being that she was a little shorter then he was, Ryo kissed her. They both closed their eyes and Jenna moved her arms from around his waist to around his neck, never once letting her hands move off of his body. Ryo, in turn, pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss.

Once they broke apart from each other, lips still barely touching, he caressed her cheek and smoothed his hand over her hair. "You should let your hair down more often.. It looks so pretty."

Jenna blushed slightly, both from the feel of his lips brushing against hers as he whispered, and from his comment. "Well.. While we're walking, I'll take it down."

But Ryo had other plans. "No. let me." He pulled the hair band out and slid it in her pocket. Smiling, he slowly undid the braid as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Gotta love your sense of wit." Jenna smiled and sighed as his hands softly pulled the falling down her back free. When he was done, he smoothed his hand through it again to make sure noting was trapped in her knee long tresses.

"And I gotta love you no matter what." He then swooped her off her feet and walked out of the cave. Giggling, she pulled his sweatshirt tighter around her.

"You are so silly." She said, lieing her head under his chin. Ryo sighed contently as she snuggled under his chin, her hair rubbing against his skin softly.

"You're so amazing.." Swinging her around so that she was on his back, he looped his arms around her legs that hung at his sides.

"Woah!" Jenna grabbed onto his neck, slightly stunned from his quick movement.

"Scare you?" He said apologetically. Jenna shook her head no once she had gotten over the shock.

"You just caught me off guard is all." Smiling, she rested her head beside his.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. No harm done." She closed her eyes again.

"Why don't you go back to sleep?" Ryo offered, walking into the woods again. Jenna opened one eye.

"Are you nuts? I just slept the whole day away. no way I can sleep. Too much energy to get rid of." Then something hit her mind: a bad vibe. A battle bad vibe. "Crud. And it looks like I am gonna be able to get rid of it. Battle at 12 o'clock."

Ryo looked at her stunned. "Where?"

"South of here. three miles." She said, trying to pick up on more vibes. "But we'll never make it there in time."

"Yes we will." Ryo then lifted one hand to his mouth, placed his pinky finger and thumb to his lips, and let out a shrill whistle.

Jenna covered her ears and then looked at him. "And what will that do?"

Suddenly, she heard the huff and puff of loud breathing and large paws running from behind them. Turning slightly, she saw a large white and black stripped animal running towards them. Gasping, she exclaimed, "White Blaze!"

The tiger came to a halt in front of his master and Ryo pet his head. "Hey boy.. trouble's on the loose and we got some tin cans that need taking out. Can you help us?"

The tiger purred in agreement, but seemed to be glaring at Jenna. Jenna glared right back, showing the tiger that she was not gonna take any of his stuff. White Blaze snorted and then Ryo scolded him. "Blaze."

The tiger huffed as if to say that he wasn't doing anything, that he just had a problem with a girl taking his master and best friend from him.

"Oh lay off Ryo." Jenna said as he sat her down onto the tiger's back and got on in front of her. She tapped his arm playfully. "White Blaze and I just need sometime to get to know each other again."

"Again?" Ryo asked as the tiger took off, running as fast as the wind. Jenna locked her arms around him.

"Yeah. we used to be the best of friends before my planet fell, remember? He just needs to remember who I am." Smiling Ryo nodded to her.

"Maybe you're right. but then again, Blaze is more hard headed then Kento and I combined."

Jenna laughed as they raced through the woods. Then the vibes got stronger. "We're almost there.."

Ryo nodded to her again. "Better power up as soon a we can."

Then Jenna whispered, "White Blaze. Stop here."

As much as he did not want to, the tiger did so. Growling at them as they got off and joined hands, Ryo shot his pet a warning look. Jenna then tapped his arm and pointed to the scene in front of them. There was Anubis and Kento trapped by Sekhmet. Ryo growled himself. "That over body odored snake."

Jenna then whispered to him. "Armor up and then we attack."

Ryo nodded and silently got on all of Wildfire as Jenna called her planet powers. "Easier for me to move in for something like this."

Ryo nodded. "On three.. White Blaze, back us up."

The tiger growled again, getting into a jump stance as Jenna began to count. "1.... 2.... 3!"

They then jumped onto the battle scene, calling their attacks.