Disclaimer: I do not own RO.

Chapter 2 – First Challenge

Ember's eyes twinkled mischievously as she released her last remark. Knights have a high sense of pride and she knew what she said hurt. Jin's eyes narrowed and his lips formed a firm, thin line.

Indignance was present all over his face. "Are you calling me gutless?"

She smiled with satisfaction. "Maybe," Ember said simply, shrugging her shoulders and pushing him inside the tent.

Rei went back to her tent that night after the tiring section meeting. She got in the bathroom to bathe and change. As she turned the water on, she heard voices outside her tent. Recognizing it was ember and Jin, she ignored it. Suddenly, she heard a girl shout. Ember! She quickly picked out a nightgown without a thought and changed full speed. She ran out of the bathroom towards the tent flap. As she reached to open it, Jin came in stumbling and, unable to stop, knocked her over. With surprising agility he switched position with her and, instead of landing on her back, she landed on top of him. She sighed softly in relief. If he had landed on top of her, that would have been bad... for her. But before she could even get up, he flipped her over and, this time, she did land on her back but not too hard. He held her close to him and looked deeply into her eyes. His hot ragged breath against her skin made her shiver, not in disgust but in pleasure.

"Move." Rei said her voice cold as ice. Jin looked at her with his green eyes piercing. "Are you telling me that you like this?" Rei asked.

He shook his head. "No."

She motioned him to move but he didn't budge. "On second thought, maybe I do." He said.

"Do tell me, do you find this position... um... threatening?"

SHE looked at him, trying hard to keep her temper. She raised her left hand and reached out to his forehead. Slowly, she brought it down to cover his eyes. He didn't even try to move it away. She raised her right and smoothed his face, reaching for his lips with her finger, tracing it leisurely.

Rei went further down and stopped at Jin's chest. Pleasure ran in his veins where she had touched him spreading throughout inside him. Lost in pleasure, he forgot to tightly grip her in place. She pushed him aside and stood up, ridding her clothes of dirt.

"Yes, I do, I really do find it threatening on your part, don't you think?" with that, Rei left.

Jin woke up the following morning, the sun slowly rising. He stretched his tired body and looked around the tent for any sign of Rei. He found her at her desk, writing as usual.

"The bathroom is open for you to bathe," came Rei's voice.

Jin opened his mouth, hesitated and shut it up again. Then he nodded and stood up. As he did so, his blanket fell unto the floor. Jin paused for a moment thinking if it would be right to ask her yet but decided to ask later and he proceeded to the far end corner where the bathroom stood.

Rei stood up and was about to pick the fallen blanket up when a voice from the outside stopped her.

"General, I know you're busy right now, but it seems we have a slight problem and your help is greatly needed." Kora said from the outside.

"Alright Captain, I'll be there in a sec." Rei answered. She hastily left Jin's blanket on the cot and grabbed her weapon belt. She strapped it around her waist and left as Jin exited the bathroom. Jin had a towel tied to his waist. Rei resisted an impulse to stay and remove the towel from his waist.

Jin watched Rei leave the tent. He had already rehearsed his speech to her, but, (un?)fortunately, she left. Jin went back inside the bathroom to change (just in case Ember is hiding in the shadows again). Sure enough, Ember's half-hidden figure greeted him when he finally dressed and left the bathroom.

"Have you asked her yet?" Ember asked eagerly.

"No." Jin said flatly. "But the stunt you pulled last night caused me another cold shower and a lot of trouble."

Ember giggled. "I only pushed you and wouldn't you think it was 'quite' memorable?"

"Yes, you 'only' pushed me... right in the direction of your sister!" Jin said raising his voice.

Ember smiled innocently and said in a mock fuming voice, "Don't raise your voice in front of a lady, young man." She grinned and continued, "It's quite disapproving of an Argonaut to do so."

"What do you know about Argonauts? You're not even one." Jin countered.

"Lots my dear. I even found out who you really are..." Ember said making Jin's eyes widen in disbelief.

"How did you...?"

Ember smirked, "Call it Amazon instinct. So if you don't want your secret to be revealed, better be nice to me... or else."

"That's blackmail!" Jin said angrily.

"Hehehe... Anywayz, why haven't you asked he yet?"

"To my misfortune, I didn't have the time to talk to her," Jin said not looking at Ember.

"You better do it later... See ya later!" Ember said, disappearing into the shadows once again.

Ember nearly fell off the tree branch but regained her balance jus in time. She had closely watched Jin approach Rei and her sister's reaction was something unexpected.

Jin advance to Rei and touched her shoulder and that's not a good idea. Normally, she would catch the person's hand, do a back flip, turn around and then throw and person in front of her, making them land on their stomach – if you're lucky. But if you catch her on a bad mood, she'll stab you without you even noticing it...

But this time, she simply turned around and faced Jin with an irritating look, which changed at once with a "Jin!" full of cheerfulness - this made Ember nearly fall off.

Jin blinked in confusion, 'Is that a smile on her face?' he thought incredibly.

Rei mentally cursed herself, 'I am NEVER again putting my guard down even if I am too famished to even move,' and scowled.

"What?" Rei asked, irritated.

Jin ran his hand absently on his hair and avoided Rei's eyes. "I.. um...," he stammered.

Rei stomach flipped, 'No way! He's not gonna say that he..."

"Erm... I... well..." Jin groaned inwardly and mentally scolded himself, 'Get a grip Jin! It's just a simple challenge! She's only a woman!'

"Spit it out," Rei commanded, voice trembling.

"I... challenge you," Jin blurted.

"Oh, is that it?" Rei smiled, holding back a laugh.

"Finally! You got to ask her!" Ember said, jumping down the tree and landing on her feet next to Jin. "It was getting uncomfortable up there."

"Ember!" Rei warned, flushing.

"Oh sorry, did I ruin your moment?" Ember asked, smirking. "I saw your reaction. For a moment there you thought –"

"Shut up!" Rei cut her off.

Jin watched the sisters fight. Ember was grinning evilly while Rei looked stunningly furious. Wait, stunning?

"So, when are you going to fight? Winner gets life or freedom, right?" Ember asked, turning to Jin, cutting off his thoughts.

"Yeah," he replied, giving a small nod. "Tomorrow at dawn."

"Ok," Rei shrugged.

'Sheesh, this woman is so hard to intimidate.' Jin thought, watching Rei walk inside the tent for breakfast.

"Yeah, she's not easy to intimidate," Ember said, snapping Jin from his thoughts of Rei once again.

"Hmph..."

"You'll need help, brother." Ember stated, walking after Rei. Halfway in, she poked her head out and added, "Here's a helpful tip - Rei's defense are lessened when she casts."

Ember silently jumped from tree to tree until she arrived at the Amazon arena. Jin was already in the arena, sitting cross-legged and meditating. If they were at their Kingdom, the arena would've been wide and enclosed in a tall fence that serves as a shield in case of uncontrollable spells. This down though, it's an open arena but big enough for a fight. Ember situated herself on top of the tree to get a full view of the oncoming fight.

Seconds later, Rei emerged from her tent and preceded to the arena to find Jin ready and waiting for her. She might not see Ember, but she knew her pesky sister was there, watching from one of the surrounding trees or else hidden in the shadows. It was still a little dark but it showed signs of the rising sun.

Jin looked up as he heard footsteps and saw something that made his knees go weak. Rei was obviously wearing her armor but Jin never saw her in one. She wore the top of the female wizard without the coat, an assassin masks and the female assassin tights complete with the torn skirt and the bandages on her ankles and around her neck.

Ember sighed. The fight surely was short. Jin kept on trying to hit her when she casts but Rei can dodge it easily. Also, Ember noticed that Jin is very fast when it comes to changing tactics, which gave him a huge advantage. Problem was, Rei had an advantage from the beginning because Jin appeared distracted.

For Ember, the fight was a bit boring but maybe for some it was a bit grueling.

By the end of it, both fighters were completely exhausted.

Jin dodged a fireball, then another on his right. He sidestepped quick enough to avoid being directly hit. He crouched low enough and ran towards his opponent. He drew out his sword and aimed for Rei's side.

Rei sharply turned around and caught Jin by the neck by her left hand and his hand holding his Claymore with her right. She threw him down and bound him, pinning him to the ground. She brought her face mere inches from him and, still with her right on his arm, brought a dagger with her left to his neck. She moved closer, her lips brushing his and her hot breathe tickled his skin, "We played nothing but the game of love lover boy, and guess what, you lose."

A/N: Please review! Any comments, suggestions and complaints are more than welcomed.

I know the last part isn't very nice but I couldn't resist the temptation of Rei seducing Jin. This fic is rated R for a reason and that reason you will soon find out on the 4th or 5th chappie, I am not yet sure! Thank you all for reviewing!