Concentrate, Meiling, concentrate…

Meiling stared in front of her, concentrating with all her might. "Just a little more…" she mumbled to herself.

And slowly the teacup in front of her rose into the air. "Yes!" she cried, her grip on her ofuda loosening.

"Excuse me…"

Meiling jumped. "WAH!" And then the teacup fell unto the floor. Meiling turned to the voice. "Can't you see I'm practicing here?" She kept quiet when she saw Ren.

"Well, I'm sorry," said Ren, walking up to her. "But it would've been more interesting if you could've lifted that thing a little higher than a centimeter."

"I'm still trying you know!" Meiling cried.

"Whatever…"

"WHAT!" Rude brat!

"Anyway, I was hoping you could help me."

"Eh?"

OoO

"Why did you want me to bring you here?" asked Meiling, looking at her surroundings. "And of all places…" The abandoned park?

"Thanks for your help, Meiling. You can go home now," said Ren. He brandished his Basontou.

"Go… home?" went Meiling. "You expect me to go home after coming all the way here? Who do you think I am?"

"It's not safe."

"And why is it not safe?"

"Tao Ren…" went an unknown voice.

"What was that?" gasped Meiling.

"Damn it, go home!" cursed Ren.

Meiling felt her stubbornness rise. "No!"

"What?" Ren's eyes widened.

"No!"

Then the mysterious voice appeared. It was the same man Meiling and Sakura saw by the café. But this time dressed like a boxer. "I'm glad you came," he said.

"Togira, right?" said Ren. "Your letter was pretty impressive."

"Wasn't it? Since it almost killed you."

Meiling took a step back. This place is dangerous… but why can't I run away?

Ren looked at Meiling. "You… hide somewhere," he whispered.

Meiling nodded and ran to hid by the bushes.

"You brought a friend? Well… only the better. A good witness to see your defeat." Togira grinned.

"You? Defeat me? Hah. Only in your dreams. Bason!"

"Hai!" Bason then appeared behind Ren.

"Nar!" cried Togira, and a man with rippling muscles appeared behind him.

"Bason in Basontou! Oversoul!" cried Ren. Bason then entered the Basontou and it became an even bigger weapon.

"Is this… the power of a Shaman?" mumbled Meiling to herself. Amazing…

"Nar in boxing gloves! Oversoul!" The spirit Nar then entered Togira's boxing gloves. "Prepare yourself, Tao Ren."

What happened next, Meiling wasn't sure. Their movements were too fast. One minute, Ren looked like he had the upper hand. The next Togira had pinned Ren to the ground.

"GOLDEN CHUUKEN ZANMAI!" Ren cried and the attack made Togira extremely wounded.

"SPECIAL PUNCH!" Togira cried and punched Ren right on the stomach.

"Ren!" Meiling cried, but neither Ren nor Togira could hear her.

"Buchama…" went Bason as Ren began to spit blood.

"Ah… I underestimated him. But never mind… I see his weakness." Ren then stood up. "You're good, Togira!"

"You're not so bad yourself!" Togira replied. He looked at his wounds all over his blooded body.

Then Meiling noticed a movement. "What the—?" Then she saw it. A man, also using and ofuda, was chanting.

This spell… I recognize it… Meiling searched for where he was aiming. And saw Ren. That man's cheating!

Meiling took out her ofuda and began to chant as well, aiming at the unknown man. "Come forth, Thunder!" But her Thunder was still weak, it only surprised the unknown man. "Who are you and what are you doing?"

"Stay out of this," the man hissed.

Meiling brandished another Ofuda. I don't know if I can do this but I can't let him hurt Ren… And she began to chant.

Slowly, vapour began to rise from the ground. "Go, water spell!"

Water gushed out of the ground and the man was hit instantly. "I did it!" cried Meiling.

The man stumbled to the ground. Then looked at Meiling… "I see…"

"Eh?" went Meiling.

But the man disappeared. So Meiling ran to see how Ren was doing.

"SPECIAL PUNCH!" cried Togira.

But Ren was ready. He ran towards Togira, ducked his punch and hit him square in the chest. Togira spat out blood.

"That's enough, Togira," said Ren. "Anymore and you'll die from loss of blood."

"Damn it!" cursed Togira, and slumped to the ground in defeat.

Ren then looked for Meiling. Quickly she came out of her hiding place. "You're hurt," said Meiling.

"That's nothing." Ren then saw Meiling still holding on to her Ofuda. "Were you fighting?"

"There was a man back there. He was aiming a spell at you using an Ofuda, so…"

Ren narrowed his eyes. "You defeated him?"

"Yeah."

Before Ren could retort, the pain in his stomach suddenly doubled. Ren stumbled to the ground and began to cough out blood.

"Ren!" cried Meiling as she ran next to him. "We have to get back."

The blood in Ren's mouth made him unable to say a thing.

OoO

"There," said Meiling as she tightened the bandage around Ren's stomach from behind.

"Watch it," cried Ren.

"Ah, I'm sorry," apologized Meiling. "I'm surprised though no one is at home. Not even Wei. Could they be out searching for us?"

"I don't know." Ren touched his stomach for a while. Then sighed.

"You are powerful, aren't you?" said Meiling.

Ren looked down. "To you, I suppose I am. But that doesn't make me the strongest. I still… have a lot to learn."

"That man sent you a letter… did it really try to kill you?"

"Hmph, pathetic attempt to scare me. The letter was tied to a magic arrow that will hunt you down until it hits you. I broke it in half before it could even touch me."

"Being a shaman must be tough…"

"And dangerous. Why didn't you leave when I asked you to?"

"Well, I don't know."

"You could've been killed. You're lucky Togira is only interested in me. You're also lucky to have defeated that man you saw when you're so weak."

"I am not that weak, okay!"

"Yes, you are! Next time I don't want you anywhere near me when I go for another fight!"

Meiling moved away from him. "You weren't here to see me, right? You're here to just have your fights with other Shamans!"

"I didn't say—"

"Well if that's what you think of me then don't even think of starting an engagement with me! Just go find another girl who's strong and not weak like me! Or better yet, go find a girl who's a Shaman, that'll make your life less complicated!" With that Meiling ran out of the room.

"Hey!" cried Ren. Bason then began to chase after her. "Bason?"

"Leave her to me, Buchama. I know a lot about these things."

OoO

Meiling was running and running. She's not sure how far she is from the house and she doesn't care. All she cares is getting as far away from Ren.

Stupid, stupid girl! Why are you crying? You don't love Ren. You hate him! He keeps calling you weak, he talks back to you and he hates your guts. So why the hell are you crying?

"My lady!" Bason cried.

But Meiling kept running. Just get away…

"My lady! Please wait! My—!"

"Stop calling me that!" Meiling cried as she turned to face Bason. "I am not your lady!"

"Yes, you are. You are Buchama's future bride."

"No, I'm not! Your 'Buchama' hates me so there's no way he could love me and want me as his bride!"

"Is that what you think? Actually it's quite different."

For some reason, Meiling's anger lessened. She looked at Bason. "What?"

"There's a lot about Buchama you still have to learn. He came from a tough past. Although he never told it to even his friends, he still struggles about what he had done in the past. There were some things he did that cannot be forgiven so easily, so he lets out his frustration through battling."

"Is that why he prefers battling over me?"

"No. He likes you a lot better. It's just that when it comes to sentimental stuff, Buchama has no idea about it."

And then all of a sudden it made Meiling think about Ren's eyes. Strong and intimidating. Or something else?

"You will give Buchama a chance?"

Meiling looked at Bason. "Do you think it'll be worth it?"

Amazingly enough, the spirit Bason carried Meiling and floated all the way back. "Yes, my lady, it'll be worth it."