A/N: Wow, it's been a while. It's mostly my fault, too. -sweatdrop- I've been a horrible, horrible procrastinator, as poor Suzaku's found out. Sorry, everyone.

This whole chapter was written by Suzaku alone, actually. I don't think there's anything that I wrote in it. So kudos goes to him and him alone, okay? -smiles-

The reviewers. . . .

Allexandra Radcliffe: -coughs- You thought a month was bad? Heh. And I think I started to read your fic, but I kinda forgot about it. Better go take a look, then!

Lunaris Celestius: I'm not quite sure if I should be welcoming you back, or you, us. -sweatdrops- Hope things have been going well for you in the meantime!

Semaj Paradox: It did? Crap. Talk to Suzaku about that—he was the one who wrote it. You have Karst as a freeloader? All I can say is, from my experience with her sister, good luck!

Menardi: And what's that supposed to mean?!

Vyctori: Heh heh . . . heh? –biiiig sweatdrop-

Yoshimi Takahashi: All right, what do you want from me? Kidding, but wow, that's a lot of praise! Thanks! –blushes-

BishouDuo: Four languages—that's great! It's a good thing you said waiting patiently, because, well . . . –checks previous update- it's been a bit since this was updated. –nervous laugh-

Viktor Mayrin: Well, considering they seemed to be just generic villains until then, I can see why. Most Satty and Menny fans didn't like them until then, either. Though I of course had to be different!

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Thanks a lot, everyone, for reviewing! It was muchly appreciated.

Once again, I'm sorry about the long, long wait you've had. Hopefully, I'll do better next time. But without further ado (great phrase, that), here's Suzaku's chapter!

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Ryou woke early.

He always woke early, just as the sun was beginning to rise. Unless he was completely exhausted the night before from training, fighting, traveling--whatever it was--he would be up as dawn was breaking. The young man didn't know why it always happened that way. It just did

The same couldn't be said of his traveling companions. Especially one in particular. Sometimes she would rise about the same time he did, and other times . . . not. As he sat up and surveyed the clearing in which they had camped for tonight, he saw this was one of those not-times.

Across from the ashes of the small fire the travelers had built last night, what appeared to be a large bundle of cloth lay rather still. The only sign that it was something other than that was a faint rise and fall indicative of breathing. Somewhere in there lay Karst, as she continued to sleep.

Ryou smiled faintly. They had been traveling a couple of days now, after Ryou had revived Saturos and Menardi with his Tensuiga. And over those few days, he had noticed that the others looked at him differently. Agatio was in a near constant state of awe, while Jenna and Sheba sometimes gave him stunned looks. Felix said few words about it, yet when he looked at the white-haired boy, his eyes said, "Thank you." Piers was amazed that such skill could be used, while Kraden constantly asked him questions about the sword's metal, origin and such. Despite his great patience, he eventually began to have thoughts on sealing the scholar's mouth shut.

As for Karst…

He had begun to feel a tad bit differently towards his best friend, and how every time she'd talk to him, a warm glow would fill him. Every time he thought back to that kiss, he blushed like mad. But then again, maybe it was something else. After all, they seemed to understand each other, and…. Wait. Why was his hand reaching toward her?

The white-haired Adept found himself crouching right next to Karst, right by where her head emerged from her blanket. She had her face buried in the cloth, leaving only her mop of hair visible. His fingers were scant inches away from touching these short cherry locks. He blinked, face burning a bright red. What was he doing?

In an instant, he had snatched his hand back, an apology already forming on his lips. He stopped, though, once he realized that she was still asleep. The blush was still hot on his cheeks, now compounded with the foolishness he felt. He groaned softly, put a hand to his forehead.

"...I must still be tired," Ryou muttered to himself.

At this point, the Mars Adept mumbled something unintelligible, and rolled over. Ryou's ears pricked slightly; he was naturally curious what she was saying. That, however, was very quickly forgotten as her face came into view. A faint smile was on her lips.

She is pretty, Ryou's mind thought.

And his hand was reaching out again, this time to touch her cheek. Unaware of what he was doing, he gently touched the silken red skin of Karsts' cheek. Ryou was swiftly brought back to earth by the thought of what she'd do if she saw him doing this, never mind her loving-but-absurdly-overprotective-older sister Menardi.

The boy leapt backward, bowed, and blurted out, "Excuse me, Karst! Forgive my rudeness!" heedless of the fact that she still hadn't woken up. He then turned around and headed off toward the nearby stream to wash his face and regain his senses with a couple splashes of cold water.

Behind him, Karst raised her head, blinked muzzily at the form of Ryou's retreating figure, then went back to sleep, blissfully ignorant of this whole affair.

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"Ryou, is something wrong?" Karst stared at him, a look on concern evident in her scarlet eyes.

"Hm?"

"You've been acting strange this morning, ever since I woke up. And your face is turning red again. Are you sick?"

Ryou suddenly found a hand touching his cheek. He froze.

"You're a little warm. See, you're sweating! We'd better take a rest."

His mouth open and closed soundlessly, until the Proxian finally took her hand away--eliciting a sigh of relief, but also faintly of disappointment--and gently but firmly steered him toward a large fallen log by the side of the road. "Sit," she commanded. He did so.

She sat down right next to him and dug around in her pack before extracting a Vial. "Here, have some."

Ryou accepted and took a sip of the curative drink. His mouth was remarkably dry.

"Thank you, Karst," he said, glancing toward her.

She smiled. He had to look away before his face flushed yet again.

The two of them sat in relaxed silence, watching the leaves of the trees lining the road flutter lightly. The sun shone, birds chirped. The air was pleasantly warm.

"It is a perfect day," murmured Ryou softly.

"Yes, it is." Were the log high enough off the ground that her feet could dangle in the air, Karst would have been swinging her legs idly.

"Ah. Where were we going again?"

Karst turned to him, looking slightly peeved. "Toward Contigo, of course!"

"Right," answered Ryou. He fell silent, looking downward. "But...I thought Contigo was to the east. I believe we have been traveling west."

". . . What?" the Mars Adept growled. Her good mood was leaving her fast.

"I mean, we have been heading away from the sun this morning. Well, now we are going toward it, as it is now afternoon. So that means--"

"Why didn't you point this out earlier?" interrupted Karst, suddenly. The peeved look returned, but stronger. She sprang up and loomed over Ryou, who instinctively leaned back.

She isn't nearly as cute this way, Ryou thought. Well, actually . . . maybe she is. In a different manner. Kind of scary, though.

"Because I . . . was following . . . you . . . and. . . ." he stopped and hung his head, knowing he was a dead man either way. "I don't know."

The girl let out a heartfelt groan.

"Argh. Why didn't I realize it myself?" she muttered darkly. "Get up. We have a lot of distance to make up."

With nary a further word, she reached for her pack, spun on her heel, and marched back down the way they had come. Ryou stared at her retreating figure, then jumped up and hurried after.

"Wait, Karst!"

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"We're lost."

Ryou nodded.

"We should have passed the others by now, but I haven't seen any sign of them."

Ryou nodded.

"But we did follow the same road. We had to have."

Ryou nodded.

"Stop just nodding and say something!"

Ryou nodded. So Karst whapped him.

"Ow! Karst! Why did you do that?"

The Mars Adept grumbled in frustration.

"Because you're not helping! We have to find our way again . . . this forest is too thick." Her eyes scanned the region. None of this looked familiar.

"Perhaps we missed a turn somewhere farther back?" Ryou suggested, still rubbing his head where Karst had hit him.

"I'm telling you, we're still following the same way we came!" she snapped, spinning to face him.

He shrank away slightly from the outburst, feeling her glare start to burn into him.

"You need not yell, Karst," he said, scowling a bit.

She stared at him, then softened. "I'm sorry, Ryou. I shouldn't have done that. . . . I'm not used to being lost." She sighed.

Ryou smiled back at her.

"It's all right," he answered. "I understand."

Karst then blushed. He wondered why, until he looked down at his hand. It had developed a mind of its own again, and had reached out to take hers in a gentle grip. Now he blushed, and let go, stepping away.

"Ah. Um. I suppose we should . . . try to get our bearings," he quickly said.

Karst nodded.

"We need to see our way farther from this point, somehow. Mayhap we can find the others."

Karst nodded.

"I can . . . I can go climb a tree and take a look, perhaps?"

Karst nodded. Then she realized what she was doing, and finally spoke. "I'll climb with you. Uh, let's go up that tree." And she was off toward a large oak, dropping her pack on the ground before starting upward.

"Wa . . . wait for me!"

The ascent was quick, as both of them were rather agile. They soon found themselves near the top of the tree, and looked around, straining their eyes for familiar landmarks. It was quite tall, and they could see for miles, it seemed.

"I can't see them. . . ."

"I can't either. But . . . wait, is that Felix?"

"Where, Karst?"

"Over here. Let me show y--Ryou!"

"Wah--"

As Karst turned, she had accidentally elbowed him, knocking him badly off balance. Ryou windmilled slightly to regain his balance; she almost managed to grab his hand, but just barely missed. He fell off the branch.

"Ryou!"

Karst looked much panicked, the white-haired boy decided as he pitched off the tree. Much more than was warranted. But then, she'd never seen him use this technique quite yet.

That is to say, after the second it took him to reorient himself, Ryou held his hand down to the earth and used his Sepukken attack. A long blast of wind collided with the earth, leaving a small crater, and slowed his fall, allowing him to somersault onto the grass. Instead of plummeting like a rock, as the young Proxian apparently had expected, he drifted down gently, almost like a feather.

"Ryou?"

He could only imagine her wide-eyed look as she stared down after him, as the leaves blocked his view of above. As he landed, he kicked himself away from the lower branches that grew out from the tree. Eventually, he touched down on the ground, where he looked up.

Karst was already scrambling back down the side of the tree.

"I'msosorryareyouokay? Ryou!" She leapt down from the lowest branch, panting not out of exertion but rather from relieved fear, and was by his side in a moment.

"I'm fine, Karst. Really." He managed to smile at her.

Karst was not so easily calmed, though.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't want to hurt you!"

"But you didn't hurt me! I'm all right--please, stop, you need not--umf!" Thud.

The young man was presently interrupted in mid-handwaving-reassurance by a sudden tackling hug. Karst threw her arms around Ryou's midsection, and hence threw him to the ground on his back, where he landed with a light bump of his head. "Ow. Karst, now you are hurting me."

She didn't seem to hear him at first, instead simply burying her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry!" she continued to say, somewhat muffled.

She's overreacting, thought Ryou. His arms instinctively wrapped back around her, and he tried to pat her comfortingly. Hmm. This was kind of nice.

Karst finally lifted her head up, looking straight at Ryou. Their eyes met, and time froze for just a few moments.

Blink. Blink.

"Are you okay, Ryou?" she said.

He started to nod, then said, "Yes."

Another moment passed, then both laughed nervously at the same time.

Instead of a sudden springing away from each other--or rather, Karst jumping off of Ryou and him then scrambling away--they slowly picked themselves up off the ground. Both were blushing badly, neither exactly sure why. In silence, they brushed the dust off and reassembled their gear.

"So," said Ryou, finally, "you saw Felix earlier?"

"Yeah, I think so," Karst answered, in a softer tone than normal.

"Let's go, then."

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"Ryou?"

"Yes?"

"How much farther do you think it is to the stream?"

Silence. Then, Ryou answered, "I don't know. I didn't get a chance to see the stream back there."

". . . Oh yeah. Um . . . then, maybe we should climb a tree and look around?" A faint note of embarrassment could be detected in her voice.

Both stopped, looked at each other. Ryou nodded. "Why not?"

They found a tall oak, and carefully made their way up, Ryou first out of modesty. Soon, they were in the canopy of the forest.

"There it is," Karst pointed.

Ryou sighted down her arm from behind her, leaning against a leafy branch to steady himself. After a few seconds of peering through the greenery, he said, "Ah, yes. I can see it. Hmm . . . once we get there and follow it, it should lead us to the ship."

"Sounds great." She turned her head to speak to him over her shoulder.

"Can we rest first, though? We've been walking a while."

Ryou nodded once, then began the descent. When he had almost reached the bottom, about the jump down to the ground, he glanced up, and found Karst moving out onto a large branch just above. "What are you doing?"

"I like it up here. I think it'd be nice to take a break right in this tree." She settled herself down on the branch, then beckoned. "Come on. I promise I won't knock you off again."

She grinned, and Ryou smiled back at her, after a moment. "All right."

It was not difficult for him to clamber back up and settle down, to her right. They were close enough that their hips almost brushed against each other. The branch was quite wide, so there was little worry about falling by accident. Not too much, at least.

Now, Karst swung her legs freely, while humming a soft tune. Ryou relaxed, and looked out into the forest. He could actually see a bit of the stream from here.

"How much longer until sundown?" he asked, after a while.

"We've got several hours, I think. Plenty of time. It's summer, after all."

"Mmm."

A breeze suddenly gusted through, bringing with it a few stray leaves . . . and some dust.

"Ow!"

"Ryou? Are you all right? What is it?"

"Something got in my eye," he said, clapping his hand over his face. "Ow. . . ."

Karst reached out, taking his shoulder so as to steady him. "Here, let me see."

She lifted his hand away, revealing a slightly reddened eye.

The Proxian reached up and brushed the tear away, and peered into it. "Hmm . . . I think your tear washed it away. You'll be fine."

"Thanks, Karst."

Now she realized how close she was to him. Karst could see her own face reflected in Ryou's large, liquid brown eyes. It was only with great presence of mind that she prevented herself from jerking away suddenly, because that might have unbalanced one or both enough for a spill out of the tree.

"Ah...um..." In fact, she wasn't moving away at all. And neither was he. They simply . . . sat there.

Another gust of wind flowed through, momentarily breaking the spell. Ryou quickly (but carefully) formed a bit of his Psynergy in front of both of them to create a shield. When the wind passed, he did not remove it, but simply moved it upright, above the two of them.

They simply looked out over the forest, not speaking.

It was awkward, yet not awkward. The slightly tense air was in a way expectant and exciting. One waited for the other to speak, but was bursting to say something first. In the end, as such situations tend to go, they urged to each other at the same time.

"Ryou. . . ."

"Karst. . . ."

And both stopped, of course. Then laughed, easing that tension just a bit. Ryou's left hand, the free one, reached for Karst's right, clasping it. She entwined her fingers in his and squeezed gently. Each was blushing furiously at this point, but neither seemed to care, or even notice much.

"Have you ever. . . ."

"Ever . . . ?"

Ryou couldn't work up the courage to ask it out loud, but the Proxian somehow caught on.

"No . . . the boys back in Prox always thought...always thought that my sister and I were tomboys. And I guess, before now, I never really thought about. . . ." She shrugged, and smiled weakly.

He nodded, fell silent, before responding. "And I . . . well, you know that I have kept myself apart from many people for the majority of my life." He chuckled softly.

Words ceased once more, and they just looked into each other's eyes, smiling.

"Do you want to kiss me?"

". . . What?" The bluntness of the question nearly had Ryou fall out of the tree.

Karst shifted on the branch nervously. She looked about as surprised as he was at her own question. "Um . . . do you want to kiss me?"

Ryou stared at her. Her sparkling ruby eyes were wide open, inquisitive and uncertain. But they also held a sparkle of expectation. She unconsciously licked her lips, and he reflexively did the same. While continuing to study her face and this possibility before him, he found himself suddenly unable to speak. So he decided not to, and instead, slowly leaned toward her. She did likewise, tilting her head slightly as he neared.

Their lips met, hesitantly. She felt soft, moist and as warm as a raging fire. They drew apart for a moment, as if slightly stunned by this tingling touch and then moved forward again to press more firmly against each other. Ryou closed his eyes, as he felt the warmth spread from the kiss throughout the rest of his body. Her hand tightened around his, and he squeezed back in response. Karst's heart hammered, her blood pounded, and yet, a part of her was at such wonderful peace.

The wind picked up once again, buffeting the tree slightly. With reluctance, they finally pulled away from each other, blinking slowly.

Before he could even open his mouth to say anything, though, Karst leaned against Ryou, nestling her head on his shoulder. He let go of her hand, wrapped his arm around her waist, and drew her against himself, resting his cheek against the top of her head. She smelled of cinnamon and strawberries and flame and passion; she felt like a silken cloud that had drifted into his embrace.

They stayed like this for a while longer. Minutes? Hours? Seconds? Whatever. Ryou couldn't tell, nor cared. How foolish of him to have wanted to say something earlier; this was all that was necessary.

A brush against the base of his neck. She had slowly moved her arm up and across his back, and her fingers faintly tickled him there.

"Ryou?" she murmured.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to kiss me again?"

Ryou laughed softly. "I do, but. . . ."

"It would kinda ruin the first one to do it again so soon?"

"Yes," he laughed.

Karst just nodded.

"We really should get going, though."

"Mmm. . . ."

"I know. I don't want to move either."

And more silence. Only heartbeats, soft breathing, the rustling wind . . . and the growling of Menardi and Felix as they each handed over twenty gold pieces to Saturos and Jenna.

"Told you Ryou would make the first move," Jenna smirked as the two Mars Adepts flashed victorious grins.

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Menardi: -bashing Vyctori about- How dare you go for five months without updating?! People are going to think I've gone soft!

Vyctori: -trying to flee and failing miserably- I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I've been busy and procrastinate-y and bad and I won't do it again and I'm about to pass out from lack of air! –gasps in breath-

Menardi: Well, just to prove I haven't gone soft, I'm going to be extra vigilant in making sure you lot review. So do it. Now.

Vyctori: -limping away quietly- Helllllp. . . .