Here we go with a new chapter! I'll be short this time, so, no thanks! But I'm not being rude, I'll just put them in the end…yeah…anyway, hope you like it…not…

CHAPTER 4

Conflicts

TK let go a sigh as he slowly ate his breakfast. The slower the better. Mina couldn't help but sighing, too. She just couldn't stand watching TK like that. He looked…sick. No, it was even worse. He was dying from the inside. And she knew why.

Actually, there are a lot of reasons. Where should I start?

First one, TK had just spent the most boring three months of his entire life. Christmas had passed a long time ago, and a new year had begun. New hopes, new dreams, everybody looked at the new year with excitement and desire for adventuring. But he had nothing. Absolutely nothing. Since the Academy attack, TK had fallen in a state of slow decadence, which was quite noticeable for the Digi-Destined. All the families spent Christmas together, by themselves, so the Digi-Destined didn't have a chance to be together during the holidays. TK and Mina just watched the snow fall, silently and sadly. Mina also noticed how TK spent more and more time in the Dark World, alone with his thoughts. He was now used to walking through the rubber and ruins of the Academy, taking his time to give the fallen soldiers a decent burial. On the other side, the Sorcerer Hunters which had died by his hands were immediately incinerated with one good Magna Inferno spell. After he had finished with the burials, he just walked around the ruins for hours, looking for something that hadn't been destroyed by the flames: books, records, weaponry, anything.

TK was now seventeen years old, but he acted like an old man, who is tired of his life. Hope had long ago disappeared from his heart. A chance of getting Kari back was now nothing but a very weak dream, a fantasy of his subconscious, which tormented him during the rainy nights. Words from his mouth were a miracle, a prize only allowed to Mina in few occasions, and to Izzy, who somehow ended up spending more and more time in the sorcerer's house. There were rumors of a possible breakup between Izzy and Mimi, but none of them would say a word.

Actually, Izzy had stayed at TK and Mina's house last night. TK slowly looked up when the guest's door opened, revealing a yawning Izzy, with a bad hair day. When the blonde man saw the source of the disturbing noise, he went back to his breakfast. Bacon and eggs. Something monotone, just like his life. Izzy looked at Mina, muttered a hello, and then sat next to his friend. Just like the female sorceress, Izzy couldn't stand watching his friend like that. Izzy looked at the outside world. It was a sunny morning, the calm before the storm. He wondered about the strange way the weather had been working for the last months. It just hadn't stopped raining since the last year. But it was a calm, soft rain, with gently drops that people barely felt when they fell. It was almost as if the world understood TK's feelings.

"So…" Izzy said, in another attempt of making a conversation. "…what are your plans for today, Takeru?" The room was silent for a minute, before TK finally answered.

"Dunno." TK went back to his breakfast. Izzy tried his next strategy.

"Hmm…I'm going out. Wanna come?" Again, silence filled the room with its cold expression.

"What for?" TK finally replied.

"Well, you're not doing anything here, are you?"

TK was defeated. He had nothing to reply to that sentence. After all, it was true. But he still didn't want to go outside. What if he found…her?

What are the possibilities? He finally concluded.

"Alright. I'll go with you."

Mina and Izzy looked at each other with newfound hope. Mina was more than surprised, but Izzy just replied her with a wink.

"Alright, let's go!" Izzy said cheerfully as he finished his breakfast and made his way to the door.

"Hmm, Izzy." TK said softly.

"What?"

"People usually take a shower before going out." That's when Izzy remembered he hadn't taken a bath since the day before.

"Oh, yeah, that! Sure, I'll be ready in a sec." But before Izzy walked inside the guests' room, he made one last question.

"Hmm…Takeru?"

"Yeah?"

"Care if I get some friends to come with us?"

"Actually, I do. Why?"

"Nothing!" and he dashed inside the room, closing the door behind him. Takeru sighed and looked at Mina, who just shrugged, as puzzled as him.

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Takeru and Koushiro walked together through the busy streets of Odaiba. TK couldn't still believe how Izzy had actually convinced him to go out. What if someone recognized him? But the redhead didn't seem to care. They had spent most of the morning in the park, playing with the "friends" Izzy had mentioned, who turned out to be no one else but Patamon and Tentomon.

"Patamon."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"Because?"

"I haven't been in touch with you since the last year. I have ignored you, and I feel deeply sorry."

"No problem, TK. I know you didn't mind. After all, you're having kind of a heart problem."

"Oh, really? Since when my love life is the latest gossip in the Digital World?"

"Well…"

But Patamon knew when to shut up. After lunch, the two Digimon bid their farewells and returned to the Digiworld, and the two humans walked together to the Inoue's Store, as Izzy needed some groceries. Much to their please, Yolei was in charge that day. When TK realized they were going to spend more time than the expected in that place, he slowly walked to the other side, and wasted his time examining the shelves and the products. On the other side, Yolei and Izzy had their conversation.

"How is he?"

"I can't tell. Sometimes he looks relaxed, sometimes he's depressed, sometimes he's just mad. He's losing control of himself, Yolei, and I don't know what to do."

"There's nothing we can do, Izzy. It's up to him."

"Yeah, but he's only gotten worse, especially when Kari…"

"Yes, but…after all, we don't know the reasons she had to stop being friends with Takeru. Maybe it's his fault, after all."

"I don't think so, Yolei. You've seen him. He loves her. Very deeply. I don't think he could do anything that could harm her."

For a moment, both of them reorganized their thoughts, until Izzy made a new question.

"And…what about the guy? You've seen him, right?"

"Yes, and that's the worst thing. He's very, very nice."

"Really? Well, it looks like TK got the worst part, in the end." Yolei just nodded after hearing Izzy's remark. She had met Ryo Asamiya two months before, on December. And she had gotten a very good impression of Hikari's new boyfriend.

"Yes, and you know what's the ironic part?"

"What?"

"Valentine's Day is just around the corner, Izzy."

Izzy would had laughed if the occasion had allowed it, but TK and Kari's problems, combined with problems of his own made his release a soft sigh. He barely heard Yolei's next sentence, but when he heard it, his whole body froze.

"Oh, Good Afternoon, Kari, Ryo. What can I do for you?"

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At the same time Yolei and Izzy had their conversation; Takeru remembered a certain event of the morning that had just ended. Probably because it had been the saddest moment of the whole morning, and he had a thing for sad moments lately.

Takeru and Koushiro sat down under the shade of a cherry tree. Its pink flowers had already left, and the naked body offered a slim refuge for the two young men. Patamon and Tentomon left them to play in the deepest parts of the park, where nobody else could find them. While wondering about the reason the strange weather had suddenly disappeared that day, Takeru looked at his friend for a moment, and realized he wanted to say something, but the words didn't seem to come out. His eyes had a look of sadness, as if the thoughts invading his mind were the most horrible scenes. His hands tried to look for something to do, as the tension of doing absolutely nothing was killing them. For a moment, TK thought his friend had completely lost his mind, as he seemed to be typing in an invisible laptop. But Takeru felt sorry for him when he realized what Izzy wanted to tell him.

"So, it's true." TK concluded.

"Oh, what?" Izzy said loudly, interrupted from his deep thinking and his inner struggle.

"About your breakup with Mimi. It's true."

TK barely heard his friend's sigh; and he waited for Izzy to say the next phrase.

"How…how did you know?"

"Tai told me about the rumor. I realized the rumor was true just a minute ago."

Once again, the two of them remained silent, but the feeling they shared made a strong impact within them. Finally, Izzy looked at his friend and managed a smile.

"Look at us, TK. Look at what love has made to us."

TK just looked at the sky and ignored his friend's sentence. Love had become nothing but an illusion to him, something he had believed in a long time ago.

"You should tell the others before Mimi does."

"I don't think I'll be able to do that. Mimi will say it sooner or later, probably sooner. After all, she had had boyfriends before me, and she'll have boyfriends after me. I was just one of them. On the other side, how long will it take me to find love again? Who knows, because I don't."

A flashback of a conversation he had with Mimi a few days before New Year's Eve made Takeru say his next sentence.

"You're wrong, Koushiro. You weren't just one of them. You meant a lot to her, and you still do, just not in the way you did before. You're still friends, but when you two were a couple you shared very special moments. You were a very special boyfriend, and I'm sure you know what I mean."

Seconds later, Izzy's eyes widened, and he looked at Takeru with his jaw wide opened.

"How…how did you…!?"

"She told me. And I'm disappointed that you didn't tell me first, After all, I thought we were best friends."

Izzy just looked down.

"You looked so sad and gloomy those days. Besides, I never thought I had to share the details of my love life with you." TK just showed him a slight smile; and they remained silent until Koushiro make a rhetorical question.

"But…why do I have this impression?"

"What?" TK wondered.

"I feel like…like if we hadn't done it the right way."

"What?"

"The whole breakup thing. One day we just knew the flame was gone, and we stopped seeing each other. Maybe if we had discussed it more…deeply, or if we hadn't done so easily, so hastily, I wouldn't feel this…weird."

"Then you should see her one last time. Case Closed."

They remained silent for several minutes, until the two Digimon reappeared, announcing it was time for lunch. As the two humans followed the two Digimon out of the park, TK looked at his friend again, and he could manage a smile when he realized that Izzy was deeply thinking about Takeru's last sentence.

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"I wonder if I should do the same…"

TK thought about his own love problem and considered the same option. "But…talking to her? I don't think…after all, she already found a replacement…"

And as an add-on to his already-horrible luck, Yolei's loud voice reached his ears, sending an alarming message.

"Oh, Good Afternoon, Kari, Ryo. What can I do for you?"

For an instant, his body froze in fear. What to do? What to say? The possibilities all merged, confusing his mind and terrifying his soul. He wanted to see her, he wanted to talk with her…he wanted HER. But he wasn't ready to face a possible argument, and he didn't want to look at the face of her boyfriend. He remembered Ryo Asamiya. He had seen the guy at Matt and Tai's party. And he remembered the cold glance that suddenly changed to an arrogant smile. He had heard the others talking about him, and he thanked God that he seemed to be a good boyfriend, but he hated Ryo Asamiya. He hated him for having what he had desired the most for years. He hated him, because he wanted to be him. He would give everything, just to switch places with him.

"Light Vision"

TK slowly walked near the counter as the spell did its work. When he was sure that he was completely invisible, he made an approach. He looked at everyone's faces, and noticed the variety of expressions the group offered. Izzy looked worried, and he was obviously looking for him. TK smiled when he realized how much his friend worried about him, but at the same time he was mad at him. "What does he think, that I'll go berserk in front of them of what!?" Yolei was more interested in making a sale that in the possible situation his presence offered. "If those two ask for condoms of birth-control pills, then I'll go berserk…not before…"  Ryo seemed happy and relaxed, and a smile crossed his face. Kari was very close to him, grabbing his right arm, and showed everybody her white teeth with a wide grin. That day she was wearing light clothes. Very light clothes, at least according to her usual standards. Not everyday you see Kari Kamiya with a white tank top and a dark blue miniskirt. It hurt him to realize that she was doing it to please her boyfriend. But he also had to admit that she had a very nice body. He immediately realized that Kari was seventeen years old. She was a woman, something that he feared to admit, because he still had the urge to protect her, like he had promised to that little eight-year-old girl. But now, that feeling was fading away, not only because she didn't need to be protected anymore, but because he had lost her. Silently, he listened to the conversation between the four people.

"How can I help you?" Yolei said with her best saleswoman voice.

"Ah, no, it's nothing, Yolei. I was just wondering if you and Ken are going to the Valentine's Day party." Kari said happily.

"Well, of course! I'll probably have to drag him along but he'll do anything for his sweetheart!" Yolei said loudly, proud of her "joke". Immediately, Kari hugged her boyfriend, obviously dying to say something.

"Well, we can make it a double date! I'm going with my Ryo, too!" She said cheerfully. TK noticed Kari's emphasis on the word "my", but he forced himself to continue listening.

"And what about you, Koushiro? Are you going, too?" Ryo said with his low-pitched voice. TK also noticed Izzy's pain when he heard the question and how he swallowed before answering.

"I…I don't know yet…" he said, only to be patted on the back by Yolei.

"Of course he will! Mimi wouldn't miss a party like that!" Izzy just sighed. TK saw how Kari hugged her boyfriend even tighter, and how Ryo replied by placing his left arm around her waist, and lifting her chin with his right hand.

"We're going to have lots of fun that night, huh?" Ryo said softly as he inched closer to his girlfriend. Kai closed her eyes and waited for the upcoming kiss. TK's heart cried in pain when he realized what was about to happen, and the couple joined their lips together, all of his hope shattered in small pieces that made his heart suffer and cry. His mind tried to avoid the scene in front of him, moving to a place where pain didn't exist, in a very, very deep state of consciousness. But it wasn't enough. It was never enough. Anger, pain, sadness, hatred, jealously; the feelings that made his heart follow the trails of darkness, which possessed him more and more very day. His light was now gone, and the conclusion his heart and his mind came to made his body tremble.

"I…I wish…I wish I had never met you, Hikari Kamiya…"

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Kari couldn't help but gasp when she realized there was a fifth person in the store. She had kissed her boyfriend. Good. It had been an awesome kiss. Excellent. But things went wrong when she opened her eyes. Yolei was looking at them with obvious jealously, wishing that Ken would do the same the next time she met him. However, Izzy didn't seem to be happy with the scene. He was shaking his head, as if she were doing something horrible. And there were those eyes.

Sky blue eyes. Dead. Or at least that's how they looked like. Dead. Much to her surprise, the TK she knew, the TK she had loved was long gone. Now there only remained a cold, dark being, unable to feel happiness, or love. A person who didn't care about anything, about anyone. If she didn't know him, she would have thought he was evil. But then, she realized that she didn't know anything about that person. She hadn't seen him since the year before, when she still avoided him. Soon after that, she met Ryo, and became his girlfriend. And she had chosen Ryo because he wasn't overprotective. He just made her feel pleased. But she couldn't help but compare the two of them, and she knew TK had given her something Ryo would never give her, she just didn't know exactly what was it. But that "thing", whatever it was, was gone. The person in front of her in that moment wasn't Takeru Takaishi. And she hated herself for that.

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"Um, Takeru…" Yolei said shyly. Takeru's head moved to face the woman behind the counter, but when their eyes met, Yolei froze, as a new feeling went through her spine. Fear. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of Takeru Takaishi. Just because of his eyes. When Koushiro realized the danger ahead, he made his move.

"We're leaving, TK." Izzy tried his best, but it was impossible not to be frightened by those eyes. For a second, he feared TK's answer, but his words only surprised him.

"Weren't you going to buy something?" a cold, lifeless voice, very different from the voice TK used to have, replied.

"Ah, um…yeah! Sure…it should take just a minute…"

When Izzy hurried to pick some random products, an awkward silence invaded the store, and a cold wind from the exterior made Kari tremble. In the old times, TK would offer her his jacket, or he would warm her himself. That day, he just watched how Ryo hugged her, comforting her with his warmth. But jealously had disappeared moments ago. Now, he felt absolutely nothing. And he knew that Hikari Kamiya meant nothing to him.

And then, the thunder came. Loud and powerful, it crashed with the ground of the street nearby, and its sound filled the small store. While Yolei and Ryo looked in shock at the lightning-thunder combination, which proved the closeness of the threat, Kari released a loud gasp and buried herself on her boyfriend's chest. And another came. And another one next. It was a thunder rain. At the same time the people outside ran to find shelter, TK made his way to the exit. Yolei tried to say something, but the words never came out. TK looked at her with his cold, blue eyes and said a final sentence.

"I'm going home. Tell Izzy I got bored. Bye."

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Light filled the big room for a couple of seconds. When it was gone, there was an extra person in the room. The person looked at the room with big detail before doing anything. He had been there several times before, but he had never been there without permission. The curtains let a dim light to pass inside the place, as the sun was about to rise. However, the man didn't have time to enjoy the dawn. He walked next to the bed, and admired the sleeping beauty.

Slowly and carefully, he leaned close to the young woman sleeping on the bed. For a second, he wanted to wake her up, but the impulse faded away just as fast as it had come. He admired her gorgeous figure for the last time, and then began to write a letter. Only an hour later, when the girl woke up and noticed the soft touch of the envelope next to her right cheek, she realized there had been someone inside the room. And only when she read the letter, and when she cried for the one she had loved and stopped loving, she realized she had become a woman.

Dear Mimi,

                You may find strange the fact that I got in your room without permission and while you were asleep, but I hope you understand how much I wanted to see you for the last time. I know you wonder what I mean, as we'll see each other again, probably. But I don't think I'll be able to see you with the same eyes ever again.

                I offer you my most sincere apologies. I really wanted to be what you desired in a partner, in a boyfriend. However, the connection we thought we had was just a mere illusion. I thank God for you, my first love, yet I know you'll do a lot better without me. I just hope our friendship will never die like this. I had enough pain gathering strength to write this letter, but I needed to do it. I needed to know I was doing the right thing.

                I must admit you have given me the best months of my life, while it lasted, of course. I'll always remember how much I learned about love, friendship and care, and I'm sure I'll never meet someone as sincere and valuable as you, my dear friend. We shared a lot of things together, and the experiences we lived will remain forever in my heart. I hope I remain in your memory the same way you live in mine.

                I guess this is it. Everything that had to be done is done. I laugh when I think that none of your other boyfriends had or will behave like this. But I wanted you to know how much you meant to me, and I needed you to realize that you'll never change in my mind…to me; you will always be eternally prodigious.

                Love,

                                                                                                                             Koushiro Izumi

P.D. Will you come to the Valentine's Day Party? I'm sure the others would love it…

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Mina slowly sat on the couch, hoping that his partner wouldn't reject her. But TK didn't move a muscle. He had been sitting there for almost two hours, without saying a word. Mina was already very worried, and the worst thing was that she knew what the problem was, yet she couldn't do anything to solve it.

I know I promised myself not to show my feelings for you, but…I care too much for you to bear watching you suffer like this…

TK didn't react when Mina slowly leaned closer to him. His meditation kept him away; in a place the problems of the real world didn't bother him. But rejecting his own problems, and not facing them with patience and faith lead him closer to the realm of darkness.

He already has the power…when his heart gets black with corruption, I'll have lost him…

"You know what the worst thing is, Mina?"

Mina startled for a second, looking for the source of the voice. When she realized it was from the only person in the room besides her, she sighed. However, it took her several seconds to understand Takeru's intentions.

"No, I don't know…what is it?"

Suddenly, her eyes met two cerulean marks of death. Just after a deep search, she could find a glimpse of the warm look he used to have. Then she knew she was losing him, and the pain she felt was unbearable. She wanted to scream, to force him to go back with her; she wanted him to know she would give away the world if he returned to her. But she knew there was only one person who could make him return, and that meant he was lost.

When Mina heard about Kari's boyfriend for the first time, feelings of all type filled her: surprise, curiosity, joy, sadness, desperation, anger, frustration. She couldn't believe Kari had replaced Takeru so easily. How can anyone replace MY Takeru!?, She had thought. But on the other side, she saw it as the opportunity she had been waiting for. She had made her best to hide her feelings for TK Takaishi, but it had been really tough and painful. Now that Kari had…well…dumped him, there's was no need for that. Maybe she had a chance, after all. But it didn't take her long to realize that such chance was slim, practically impossible. How TK degraded and let himself fall in his own grieve was the signal of his own incompletion. And for the first time Mina understood what he meant when he said that his feelings for Hikari Kamiya were beyond love. She was a part of him. He needed her, and now that he didn't have her, he was dying, or worse, he was losing control of himself.

"And what if darkness possesses him completely? What will we do then?"

She knew that there were two possibilities. Either he would fall miserably into a spiral of self-destruction until he killed himself, or he would sell his soul to darkness in a desperate attempt to destroy everything. And neither of the possibilities attracted her.

"I don't want him to die, and…if he goes berserk…not even God…or the Nova Dragon…will be able to save us…"

Mina looked again at the person who used to be her best friend. She realized he had remained silent, as if he were waiting for her to stop thinking to finally speak. And when she looked at him, he finally answered.

"Valentine's Day is just around the corner…"

In another occasion, she would have giggled at Takeru's remark, but the truth behind that sentence was a big weight for her. She knew she needed to find the love she hadn't found in seven hundred years, and she knew TK needed love to return from the path of darkness. The bad thing was that TK wasn't willing to receive her love, even if she had tons of it, just for him. But she couldn't help it. She carefully cuddled close to TK's body, and embraced him tightly. She sighed in relief when he placed his left arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She leaned her head on his left shoulder, and he smelled the sweet scent of her hair. Maybe, just maybe, that would enough for both of them. Just for that day, she would get the love she deserved. Just for that day, he wouldn't make a step closer to the dark side.

"Then maybe…you could be my Valentine, Takeru…"

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Ryo Asamiya smiled as he enjoyed the vastness of the dark world. The lack of sound and color were something he was already used to, probably because it made him remember himself. He also remembered the first time he had gone to that place, the first time he had seen the Master. The Master had said he was needed to make a group of elite warriors, to wipe out the scum of the three worlds. And Ryo thanked the Master for giving him such an opportunity.

He thought he had everything he needed to succeed in life. He was intelligent AND good-looking. Maybe he didn't come from a wealthy family, but that could be solved after he finished his studies and become a successful businessman. Yet still, he was rejected: by his schoolmates, by his sports mates, by his own family. He was the black sheep everywhere. And he still didn't know why. And when the Master showed him the reason, it still took him time to understand it.

"I was an ignorant…until the Master saved me…and I found the light…"

The Master explained him that he was born to be evil, to follow the path of darkness, and that the others rejected him because unconsciously they knew that, too. The Master also said that his eyes showed how evil he could be. His eyes said everything. It didn't took him long to decide he would follow the Master, who took him to the Dark Ocean and trained him to become an assassin, the best one there could be: A Sorcerer Hunter.

The Master thought him how to lurk in the shadows, waiting for the best moment to attack. As he always had the disadvantage against magic users, he had learned how to be fast and silent. The enemy could never find out who was the invisible enemy. He learned about weapons, tons of them, but he always received training in martial arts. Everyone at the HQ knew he was talented, but they accepted him as a cold-blooded, merciless hunter when he finished his first assignment.

Disposing of his parents was the easiest, yet more exciting experience of his life. No one would ever know who did it. It had been a clean, swift, and extremely precise operation. The perfect crime. He actually preferred watching how his victims groaned in pain and cried for mercy while he showed them which object would he use to open their bodies and drain their blood out of them. But it had been his perfectly designed plots and operations what made him become the Master's favorite.

Ryo walked inside the base and made his way to the main room, where the Master was probably waiting for him. But pleasant memories of murder and chaos distracted his mind. He had begged the Master to let him join the main force that destroyed the Academy. He had been trained since he was eleven just to destroy them. But the Master had said there were bigger plans for him, and now he thanked his Master for it, after he heard how the whole army had been wiped out by someone who seemed to be the strongest sorcerer in the world.

"The Stronger Sorcerer…"

The mere thought made his body shake with excitement. The Ultimate Sorcerer, the Ultimate Prey. It would be an honor to be the one who killed him, and, of course, the Master would be extremely pleased. That's why he had immediately accepted when the Master proposed him to be the one in charge of getting rid of Takeru Takaishi. Alone in his room, he had made dozens of different plans, different ways of destroying him, but the plan the Master had created was definitely beyond any of them. It was perfect. It would destroy him completely, yet leave him strong enough to be still a formidable opponent. He would toy with that sorcerer, and when that Takaishi couldn't take it anymore…

*SSSSSSSSSWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

Ryo slashed his dagger in the air, just like he would slash TK Takaishi's limbs pretty soon. It would be the bloodiest, yet the best work, and then, the Master would be ready to complete the plan.

He slowly opened the door that leaded to the main room, where his Master's throne resided. Where the Master was waiting for him. A slight grin crossed his face when he opened the door and watched the scene before him. Much to his surprise (and pleasure); the Master wasn't sitting on the throne. Standing in front of Ryo, proudly, the figure approached close to him and guided him to the king size bed.

"Master, I'm not worthy…"

"Stop it with the formalities. After all, you're my favorite. Now shut up and please me…"

As their lips joined together in a long, passionate kiss, Ryo focused his memories on the plan he was about to execute. The details and the possible outcome made him feel even more excited. And of course, the woman he was kissing noticed it immediately.

"So, you think you're ready?"

"Of course I'm ready, milady…" he said while he made his way to her neck, and his hands tried to dispose of her clothing.

"Are you doing things like I told you?"

"Yes…everything is just as planned…"

"Then…on Valentine's Day…" the woman said when Ryo finally removed her clothing, and she started to do the same with his. The kisses became even more passionate, as the excitement and desire of what was about to come was overwhelming. She moaned in pleasure when he kissed her neck, her breasts and when he played with his tongue. And when they finally fell on the bed, and gave away to a night of wild sex, the Master said the final words.

"…on Valentine's Day…you'll dispose of Hikari Kamiya…"

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End of chapter 4…

Finally! First, I want to apologize for taking SO long in posting this chapter. I got this huge case of writer's block because I didn't know what to put between chapter 3 ("Fighting at the Academy!") and chapter 5 (when TONS of things happen…). Also, I lost my Internet connection for practically a month, so I couldn't do absolutely anything…and when I got the Internet back, guess what…the computer wouldn't work! So, after changing the main board, I'm back…

Next, I have to say that the next chapters are probably the ones which define the flow of the story, so I'll have to work pretty hard on them. They must express my intentions about the characters completely, especially TK. I must say that the next chapter will be EXTREMELY anti-Takari. I'll put it like this: after posting that chapter, I'll proceed to build a barricade to protect myself from the hordes of Takari fans that will try to hunt me down. But don't lose hope, because I'm also a Takari fan, and Takari will always win (even if I've grown quite fond of the TK/Mina relationship while writing this fics). The next chapter will include: Taiora, Kenyako, hints of Koumi and Mimato, and an unexpected TK/Mina plot twist! Anyway, before I say too much, I may remind you of that little "review" button over there so go ahead and push it!

Daneel Rush (daneel_ff@hotmail.com)