Ryo was becoming more and more worried. Sakura had been gone for more than four days. He was beside himself with worry. There had to be a way to find her. White Blaze had lost the trail of her scent and the rain washed away any remaining footprints.  Ryo wandered sadly to the river where she had pushed him in. He smiled wistfully as he remembered her face when he had pulled her in. Then he thought of her face when he had yelled at her.  Gosh he was such a jerk! She didn't deserve to be treated like that. She deserved so much better. He sat down with his back against the tree and thought about their argument.

(Flashback)

"If I'm going to be such a time monger then maybe we shouldn't be together!"

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"Yeah I guess I am since I'm such a hassle!"

(End flashback)

Ryo put his head in his hands. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't hear Dais approaching beside him.  He looked up as he sat next to him.

"What are you doing way out here?" Dais asked.

"Take a wild guess." Ryo said dismally.

"When are you planning on starting to look for Sakura?" Dais asked suddenly.

"What do you think I've been doing for the past few days?" Ryo asked aggravated.

"Apparently not looking for her." Dais said relaxing against the tree. "Because then you would be out there searching, not sitting here and just thinking about her."

"What do you want me to do?" Ryo yelled jumping to his feet. "White Blaze can't find her scent, the footprints are a dead end, and I have no earthly idea as to where she could possibly be! So if you have any bright ideas as to how I find her let me know!"

"Well I know that you can stop feeling sorry for yourself." Dais answered coldly. "You have been moping around the house and thinking wistfully about her. And then because you two had one stupid fight before she was captured you assume that you're never going to see her again."

Ryo stared at him stunned.

"And then when you finally get an idea as to how to find her, as soon as you hit one snag you throw up your arms and say you can't do it! You need to get over the fact that you yelled at her. Big deal! There isn't one couple who has not had a fight. So just stop obsessing and think of a way to find her!" After saying that, Dais stood up and brushed himself off. "When you finally do come to your senses, come and get me and the others at the house and then we'll help you find your girlfriend." He said as he walked off.

Ryo sat there staring at the ground thinking of what Dais had just said. 'Dais is right,' he thought. 'I've been to busy being despondent over her being gone that I haven't made much of an effort to find her. Oh Sakura, I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'm back now and I promise I won't stop at anything until I find you!' He stood up and looked at the sky. "I'll find you Sakura!" he said out loud as he noticed a familiar looking crow flying away from him. A green medallion hanging around its neck. Ryo looked at the retreating bird. His face getting a determined look, he followed the bird.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Aria was in her room venting out her frustrations. "Ryo! You arrogant jerk, how dare you replace me with…her? I won't settle for this. What does she have that I don't? I bet she was the reason you dumped me. No matter, you will soon come to your senses or die." She said with an evil laugh. There was a knock on her door that interrupted her. Throwing open the doors she glared at the men behind it.

"What!" she demanded.

"We have brought you the crystals that you need, M'Lady." One of the men said cowering as he handed her the quartz crystals. Aria held them up, inspecting them. Then counted them. "There are only nine." She yelled.

"I'm sorry, I tripped and…" another minion groveled.

"Silence! I will not tolerate failure." Aria said raising her hand. Her hand started to glow green and a beam of energy shot at the man on his knees and killed him.

All that was left was a smoldering pile of ashes.  Turning to the frightened others she hissed at them, "Get me one more!" as they hurriedly made their way out the door. Aria took the nine crystals and set them in a special box, along with others. But unlike the ones she was just given, these were filled with something. Aria smirked as she looked at the filled crystal and the strange muted cries coming from them, and spoke to the empty ones. "Soon, you will be filled, and your inhabitants will join them!" she said with a merciless laugh as she placed the crystals in the box.