DISCLAMER: Flame of Recca, is the property of Anzai Nobuyuki. I do not own the story or any of its characters. I am just borrowing them...(you get the point.)

THANKS TO: tenshi no ai, who gave me advice, and reviewed my fanfic. I love getting advice from other ppl because I'm still a beginner at this, and it's great to actually know ppl are reading this. So thanks!!!! P.S. No, I wasn't offended by your review. I appreciate it, thanks, and yes, I do have knowledge of the manga. I own most of the volumes.

A NEW BEGINNING CHAP 5- Searching for the Puzzle - *Koganei, and Nae's Story*

Koganei Kaoru, age 14, woke up the next morning feeling really cheerful. Today was the day he would go back to school. He had missed going to school although he only attended school for a short month. He couldn't wait to see Hiroya, and Yoshikawa again. He wondered how the two of them were doing.

He walked to school with Nae who was also starting school with him. Recca, had gone with Kokuu to get his Karyuu back, and Fuuko, Mikagami, and Domon were probably searching for their madougu. He should be doing the same, but he couldn't miss school. He didn't want to. He was going to go search for it after school, hoping he will find his partner, the Kougan Anki

The bell rang signaling that homeroom was about to start. He walked into the class behind his homeroom teacher with Nae right behind him. He looked up to search for some familiar faces, and saw Yoshikawa in the seat by the window, and Hiroya in the seat, way back in the room.

"We have two new students today," the teacher said towards the class. "Koganei Kaoru, and Mizukami Nae."

All the girls screamed "Kaoru-kun!!" Happy to see Kaoru back.

Kaoru was just as happy as they were and gave them a big fanged smile that stole everyone's hearts away. Kaoru took a seat in the front, and Nae took the seat in front of Yoshikawa by the window.

Homeroom, and the first period class seemed like ages for Kaoru. He couldn't wait until break so he can talk to Yoshikawa, and Hiroya. The bell finally rang, and Koganei jumped out of his seat, and ran towards Hiroya, but was caught by his fan club.

"Kaoru-kun!! You remember me?"

A girl yelled out, and tries to give him a hug, but was pushed away by another girl. Then that girl was pushed away by another, causing a chain reaction, and a fight of who gets to talk to him first began. Thinking this was his chance to get away, he ran out of the classroom along with Hiroya, and Yoshikawa.

"Koganei-kun!! It's good to see you again!" Yoshikawa said giving him a big cute smile, "How have you been?"

"I've been good, how about you, and Hiroya, how's it going??" Koganei said giving them a fanged smile that he was so famous for.

"I've been good. Hey, who's that girl that transferred today with you?" Hiroya asked "You know her?"

"Yeah, she's Nae. I've known her for a long time. Speaking of Nae, where is she?" Koganei looked around the hallway.

Then he saw Nae walking out of the classroom full of girls who were still fighting over Kaoru that obviously wasn't there anymore. They haven't noticed that Kaoru had walked out of the classroom.

"Nae!!" Koganei yelled at the girl "Come here."

Nae turned around, and started to walk towards them. When she saw Hiroya, and Yoshikawa she gave them a cute smile, and said,

"Hi, I'm Mizukami Nae. Nice to meet you!!"

"I'm Yoshikawa Hozumi, and he's Sano Hiroya." Yoshikawa pointed at Hiroya.

Although Nae was smiling, Koganei noticed that there was something wrong. She seemed a bit lonely. Like something was missing. But as soon as she started chatting with Yoshikawa, she looked happy, and Kaoru didn't worry about it anymore.

She looked happy chatting away with Yoshikawa, while Hiroya was talking to Koganei about fighting a duel during lunch period. He still wanted to fight. The bell rang, and they entered the classroom, where the girls had finally stopped fighting when they were split up by their teacher.

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~During Lunch~

Nae, and Yoshikawa were on the roof with a couple of girls eating lunch. A short distance away, you could hear someone punching the walls, and rocks cracking. It was Hiroya, and Kaoru. Once in a while you would hear Hiroya yelling,

"Stop running away, and come!! Fight, damn it!!"

or something like...

"Arrrghhh!! Why won't you come at me?"

Hiroya really wanted to fight.

But Koganei's answer to that would be,

"I don't have a reason to fight you." With a huge fanged smile.

Which would get Hiroya even more warmed up to fight.

Nae's POV

Sounds like Kaoru's having fun. I never knew how it felt to have friends, and go to school. I can't believe I missed this all these years. I wonder what my friends are doing right now. I wonder how they are...(sigh)

**Flashback**

"Nae are you really leaving?? You know Shuu's death isn't your fault. You don't have to leave." A girl around the age of 10 asks Nae, who also looks about that age.

"Yes I do, besides I can't take anymore of the killing. I don't see how you're willing to stay here. Besides, it was my fault he died. I shouldn't have let him fight in the condition that he was in. If I had fought in that round for him, he wouldn't have died." Nae replied.

"It wasn't your fault. Don't go blaming yourself." The girl said trying to comfort her friend.

"Well, that's not the only reason. I mean, I can't work under Kurei anymore. He's turned into this heartless person. He's changed over the past few years. He use to be more human-like." Nae said sadly to her friend.

"That's why I don't work under Kurei. Well technically I do, but only because Mori-sama told me to." The other girl said. "Mori-sama is so much of a better person. I don't see what you see in Kurei. Why don't you come work with us?"

"Mika, it was Mori that transformed Kurei into the person he is right now. He raised him to be a machine, not a person. I don't see what you see in him. The team that killed Shuu, was the team Mori's men was in. Although it was part of the tournament, they shouldn't have killed him. I mean Shuu was one of Mori's adopted sons." Nae yelled, "How can you still believe in them?? Come on, come with me, we don't have to work for them. We can be free. Do you want to keep on killing people?? We could've lived a normal life if it weren't for them!!"

"Nae, we'd be dead if Mori-sama didn't adopt us. I can't believe you're leaving after he gave us a roof to live under, when we were practically dying in the street. If you want to quit the Uruha, fine!! But I can't believe you're leaving after all he did for us!! It's Kurei, you should be blaming. You can work under Mori-sama." The girl said, her lips forming a smile as she slid out her hand expecting Nae to grab it.

"What?" Nae asked back slapping the hand away. "The Ura-Uruha?? I don't think so" Then she walked away.

**End of Flashback** ~~~~~~~ Nae sighed remembering the day she left the Uruha. She sighed so loud thinking about the time when she left the Uruha. She sighed so loud that the girls who were chatting away stopped, and starred at the girl starring at the sky for a little while. Then they began to chat away again.

***********************************************************

Nae, and Koganei had been in school for a while. They were enjoying themselves although the classes were way too easy for the both of them. They wanted something more challenging, but the school didn't offer any more high-level classes.

The bell rang, and school was out for the day. Another boring day of classes, and a fun day with friends had passed. Tomorrow, they had to go to the Hokage House to meet the others. There was one slight problem. Koganei hadn't found his Kougan Anki yet. He didn't really seem to care. Nae was actually getting nervous of the fact that Koganei hadn't found his madougu yet. In fact, she was more concerned than, Koganei. It seemed like he had forgotten that tomorrow was the day to meet everyone.

All of a sudden there was someone running out of the classroom.

"Koganei-!!!!!!" Hiroya said, chasing after Koganei. They were starting their fight again.

Everyone in the class sweat dropped except for Yoshikawa who just started to laugh.

Everyone was worried, except Yoshikawa, and Nae. No one knew that Koganei was a good fighter except, Hiroya, and Yoshikawa.

"Nae-chan, let's go home." Yoshikawa said to Nae, and they both walked out of the door.

Yoshikawa turned out to be a good friend of Nae, throughout the past couple of days. They got along really well. Yoshikawa didn't give Nae evil eyes for being Koganei's good friend, unlike other girl, who would sometimes pull her into a corner, and yell at them to get away from "THEIR" Kaoru- kun. Nae would just laugh at that which made the girls even more angry.

They walked out of the school gates together, and chatted for a while. Then Nae felt the presence of someone following them.

"Yoshikawa-san, don't turn around, but I think there's someone following us." Nae said turning her voice into a whisper.

Yoshikawa slightly turned around, and took a look. Then she gasped, and turned back to Nae.

"I know that man. I don't know his name, but he had something against Hiroya, and took us as hostages. Then Hiroya came, and he beat Hiroya up along with about 10 or 15 other people. Then Kaoru-kun came, and helped us." She said speaking in a low tone.

"Do you think they want us as hostages??" Nae asked

"Maybe" Yoshikawa replied, a bit shaken.

Nae was quiet for a minute, thinking of what to do. Even if he were good at street fighting, he wouldn't be able to handle Nae. She was trained by Kurei, but she didn't want Yoshikawa to see this side of her, so she decided to run.

"Yoshikawa-san, you see that curve there?? We'll turn to the right, and then run for it until we can get rid of him." Nae said as they got closer to the curve.

When they reached the curve, they turned right, and began to run. But as if they had been waiting for them to do that, 5 other guys with nasty scars on their faces appeared from both sides, and grabbed them.

Nae kicked one of them in the stomach, and the blow knocked him out, but she was not ready for an attack from behind, and front at the same time. She was caught by back, and punched in the stomach that knocked her unconscious.

"Nae-chan!!!" Yoshikawa yelled, but she was hit in the back of the neck which turned her unconscious as well.

******************************************************************

When Nae woke up she realized that she was in an old shed. It reeked of smoke, and alcohol. The place was a dump. It had garbage lying all over the place. The only thing that looked clean around here was this long golden stick that looked like a big knife. It looked awfully familiar. Something that she had seen a long time ago. Her mind was still a bit blurry from the blow to her stomach, which was pretty hard.

Is that...the Kougan Anki? Nae thought to herself.

Indeed it was. But how did these idiots end up with it?? Nae thought to herself. She looked to her side, and saw Yoshikawa still unconscious from the blow.

One of the guys who realized she was awake, came up to her, and kicked her in the stomach.

"So, you're awake. Don't worry, Sano, and your little friend are on their way to rescue you. But they're in bad luck. There's 30 of us here against the two of them, they don't stand a chance." The guy who was following them said.

He has an ugly face. It was full of scars, and he had several chipped teeth.

So, Koganei was on his way. Nae thought to herself. He won't have any trouble with just 30 guys, and Hiroya seemed to be pretty good at fighting too. The problem would be if any of them knew how to use the Kougan Anki. If they just thought of it as a huge knife, then there would be no problem. If they knew what the Kougan Anki could do, and was able to use it as well as Koganei did, they were in trouble.

"Kaoru wouldn't lose to bunch of idiots like you." Nae spat at the guy.

The guy gave Nae another kick in the stomach, and said

"You stupid bitch. We got a great weapon. It's a great knife, and big too. It's cuts great. Want me to try it out on you?"

So, the guys thought it was just a knife. Then it would be an easy fight for Koganei.

"Hey!! Sano, and that little kid's here. Let's get him." Someone standing by the door said. He too had a bunch of nasty scars on his face.

They were all waiting by the door, then all of a sudden, the door was flung opened by Hiroya's kick. They all jumped up, and began to fight.

Hiroya's fist went into some guy's face, and knocked him unconscious, then another guy came right at him, and gave him a nice kick in the stomach that made him fall back. Koganei's drop kick hit the guy right in the head, and pierced his head into the concrete.

Someone else with a long wooden stick, and a cigarette in his mouth plunged right at Koganei, who easily dogged it, and took the cigarette out of the guys mouth.

"You know, smoking's bad for your health." He said coolly with a wink.

"You little brat!!!" The guy head straight for Koganei.

Koganei slipped into the guy's side, and stuck the cigarette into the side of his face, that burned. They guy gave out a huge scream.

Hiroya's punch came right at him, that made him fly out the door.

Guys kept coming towards them, but they had no chance against Koganei, and Hiroya.

This continued for about 10 minutes, until everyone was either on the floor trying to get away, or unconscious with more scars on their faces. All except one.

The only one left was the guy with the chipped teeth. He ran to the other side of the room, and grabbed the Kougan Anki in it's first form "KIBA".

When Kaoru saw his Kougan Anki in the hands of the other guy, his eyes widen.

"How did you get that? Where did you find it?" Koganei asked. He was so confused.

How did the Kougan Anki end up in the hands of a freak like him?? He thought to himself.

"Oh this?? Precious isn't it? I found it in the dump. What kind of idiot would get rid of this sort of things? It cuts real well you know? Maybe I'll let it kill someone. I'll start with you kid. Sano, you're..." Before he could finish, he felt a foot making it's way into his stomach.

Koganei was pissed. Very pissed. He was pissed that his partner, the Kougan Anki, the madougu that Kurei had given him, was in the hands of such an idiot, and the idiot was gonna use it to kill someone??

OVER MY DEAD BODY!! Koganei thought to himself, not willing to let the Kougan Anki kill anyone. Not anymore.

He was gonna get it back no matter how hard it was.

The guy after receiving the blow from Koganei fell backwards, letting go of the Kougan Anki. Not missing this chance Koganei grabbed the Kougan Anki, he transformed it into its second form "RYU" and threw it towards the guy.

"Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!" the guy screamed.

The chains of the Kougan Anki spun across him and the blade stopped right before it was about to pierce his stomach. At the sight of this, the guy with the chipped teeth fainted from fear. Hiroya gulped what was stuck in his throat, and Yoshikawa had woken from all the commotion, was shocked. Nae had a smile on her face, satisfied with how Koganei handled the situation.

Koganei put him down, and put his Kougan Anki back into the first form. Then he, and Hiroya went to go help Yoshikawa, and Nae.

********************************************************************

After they said good-bye to Hiroya, and Yoshikawa they began to walk home.

"Good thing you found your Kougan Anki. Remember we have to be at the Hokage House tomorrow, you know??" Nae said to Koganei, who was in a very good mood.

"Oh, it's tomorrow?? I totally forgot. Thank God I found it today. If I didn't have it with me tomorrow, they'd kill me." Koganei sweat dropped thinking what Fuuko, and Domon would do to him, if they had their madougus back, and he didn't.

He had totally forgotten that they had to be at the Hokage House tomorrow.



AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, there's Chap. 5 It was suppose to be Koganei&Nae -centered. I think there's still some mystery about this girl but I will clear that up in the upcoming chapters. Next chapter is ice-man, Mikagami's story. Hope you enjoyed!!! Don't forget to Review!!!