Flame of the Guardian's Soul
Chapter Fourteen
The Trouble Starts

The weekend had been a blast. Ranka could not remember the last time she had so much fun. Or any fun such as that for that matter. She had even had a chance to speak with Aira in privet and was happy to learn that she was infatuated with Larva. Of course Ranka had not told him that yet, she could tell he was infatuated with her. But with him it would be harder to tell if it was for Aira or for Miyu. Yet when she confided this to Shiina he had said, "Maybe they are soul mates? You know they are attracted to one another like magnets no matter what form or what life."

And Shiina had a point. Now if only she knew how that kind of love felt. But maybe she was just one of those girls who were not supposed to know of love. Who really was to say?

Ranka pulled on the long black skirt that Glacier had provided for her and preceded to pick out a shirt, she didn't know if she should wear the black with red roses or the black with another smart saying on it. But reading the saying on the shirt again made her giggle and she decided to wear it so she put it on and walked out of the bathroom.

"You look nice today Ranka," Shiina said to her.

She smiled, "Thank you Shiina." Looking around the room she asked, "Have the boys gone out to get their breakfast?"

"All but Larva, he's still asleep." Shiina replied and pointed to Larva sleeping on the other bed.

Ranka smiled, she couldn't help it. Larva had been acting like his old self more and more as they had spent time with Aira the last two days. And yesterday he stayed out much longer with her than the others, which reminded her, "Shiina what time did Larva come back last night?"

Shiina looked at her, "Around one, and Aira was with him. She walked with him up here and then gave him a hug goodnight. I don't think Larva expected it because it took him a few minutes to hug back. I was pretending to sleep at the time so I didn't ask him any questions or anything, but he did seem happy."

"That's good," Ranka said. "Let him sleep, I'm off to the school. I want to talk to Aira about something."

Shiina nodded, "Okay. Nagi said to tell you he's going to look around a few other parts of the city today. I think he wants to get to know it better if we are supposed to live here."

Nodding Ranka turned and vanished.

Shiina looked over at Larva who was sleeping like the dead. After a few moments he hopped off his spot on the table and over to the bed, then hopped on and looked at Larva. As he looked over his friend he saw something and blinked a few times, apparently Larva and Aira where already getting really close or elts Larva had somehow gotten a funny looking bruise on his neck. But he did see that Larva was wearing Aira's pentagram, it's so cute! Shiina thought as he smiled.

Ranka appeared in the lady's rest room in a stall that was vacant then she walked out, surprising two other girls and washed her hands so they might not say anything. After drying her hands off she walked out of the restroom and headed to the cafeteria, Aira had told her that the group meets there every morning to talk. But as Ranka got closer and closer she began to feel a shinma was near. She walked to the cafeteria and was about to walk in when she saw Aira at the Drink Machines and walked over to her.

"So just how late did you keep Max last night?" Ranka asked with a smile.

Aira looked up and smiled sheepishly, "Until about one in the morning, is that a bad thing?" She stood up and was holding a drink with the name Dr. Pepper on it. Aira and Ranka were wearing just about the same outfit too, only Aira's was a red tank top with a black mini skirt.

Ranka giggled, "No but he was still sleeping when I left."

"I envy him for that." Aira responded as she walked with Ranka into the cafeteria. "I like school and all I just don't see why it has to start at seven in the morning, teens don't operate this way."

"I agree. Everyone is so tired all the time and you can hardly focus on the first two periods of the day." Ranka said.

"No shit," Aira replied.

Ranka felt the presents of a shinma was really close. This was unsettling so she began to look around the cafeteria.

Aira said, "Hey Kim who's this? Your new boyfriend?"

Kim's voice replied, "You could say that, he's in the exchange program and staying with us."

A male voice joined the two, "I'll only be here in America a short time but I do think I will have a great deal of fun."

Wait I know that voice Ranka thought as she turned her head. Sure enough the man holding who Ranka guessed was Kim was who she thought it was. The dark curly hair, pale skin and red eyes made it true. Lemures.

"So what's your name?" Aira asked looking over Lemures.

He smiled slyly, "I am Lemures. Who might you be lovely one?"

Aira looked slightly disgusted, "My name is Aira and I'm spoken for and you can stay away from me." After that Aira walked out of the cafeteria.

However, Ranka and Lemures looked at each other with looks as if to dare the other to make the first move. What are you doing here Lemures? Ranka thought to herself. But when the bell rang, Ranka went back to the ladies restroom and quickly vanished. The others had to know.

Nagi and Sen-Jui walked into the hotel room. Nagi said, "It's a nice day outside but I think it's going to rain later."

Sen-Jui nodded, "Yeah the winds picking up."

"I hope it's not a big storm." Shiina said as he sat on the bed Larva had been sleeping on.

Ranka appeared beside Shiina.

Blinking Nagi asked, "Hey shouldn't you be at the school?"

"We have a problem," Ranka responded, "Where's Larva?"

"He's in the shower," Shiina replied, "What's wrong?"

"We've been followed."

Larva spoke from behind her, "The Western Shinma?"

"Yes," she said and turned to face him. "Lemures is at Aira's school. I'm not sure if any of the others are but he's there and has already made his way to one of her friends."

His eyes narrowed, "Well I guess it was a good idea when I told her about Lemures and Carlua last night." He went past Ranka and sat on the bed.

"You told her about them?" Nagi asked as Sen-Jui vanished to go to Gina's school.

"I did just incase they did follow us." Larva replied, "So they couldn't lead her into a trap."

"Well it worked, Lemures asked for her name and she said-and I quote-' My name is Aira and I'm spoken for and you can stay away from me' then she walked off." Ranka said as she sat in a chair.

"I told her to do that. Did he follow her?" Larva asked.

Ranka shook her head, "Not that I saw, I came here to warn everyone about him."

Ichiro spoke out, "I don't think he'd come here alone but I would like to know one thing."

"What's that?" Ranka asked as she looked at him.

"Well it's obvious that they have come here to get Larva, once again, but he came with us of his own free will. Cant they just respect that and leave him alone?" Ichiro asked.

Larva gave him an answer, "Because I'm a valuable member of the clan, also because my friends and Carlua care for me and want me with them."

"Still," Shiina started, "I agree with Ichiro. You came with us and you didn't have to. They need to stop acting selfish and just accept that you're with us."

Larva shook his head, "I can't explain it myself Shiina. But I do agree with you and Ichiro non the less."

Authors Note: That went fast, hee hee, I have no idea when the next chapter will be up so yeah, just enjoy while you can.