DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NEOPETS!

Chapter 5

Who's this?

After Rei fell asleep. She lost track of time and fell back on the bed. Then Rei was awakened by the movement of Hiro carrying her to the library.

"Uh Hiro, what are you doing and where are you taking me?" Rei asked.

"Great, you're awake, I'm taking you to the library Taelia said she wanted you over there for a little to talk to you about something." Hiro said putting her down for her to stand up.

"Then why didn't you just wake me up?"

"Because you looked so peaceful and happy asleep I didn't want to wake you." Hiro said.

"Oh I get it, you didn't want me to wake up and make me grumpy enough to blow you through the roof with a monster eh?" Rei said crossing her arms.

"Exactly." Hiro said grinning with laughter. They both walked their way to the library smiling at each other.

"Hey Rei?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" Hiro said stopping in front of her.

"Sure, go ahead." Rei said stopping as well.

"The love test, how does it work?"

"Well, actually I don't really know how it works. I remember one of the elders taught me how to make the silver flame but never told me how it works. I was young then, I never really thought to ask. Would you like to try?" Rei asked.

"Sure." Hiro said.

"Both hands on mine since this is me and you." Rei said.

"Like this?"

"Yeah, now one second." Rei made the silver flame appear once more and the flame slowly began to change colors one by one. Hiro was waiting for a response from Rei to see if it was indeed true love that rests in their palms but all he could do was wait until the flame went out. Almost as impatient as Hiro was being, Rei was concentrating hard on the flame's patterns to tell what the answer was. Then suddenly the doors of the library opened up before them and as startled as Rei was, the flame blew out before the last changes in color.

"Well, there you are Rei, and it's nice to see you too Hiro. I saw you too battling in the field out there, it looks like you could use more practice right Hiro?" Taelia said when she faced him.

"Yeah I guess so, but if we were able t-" Rei cut him off.

"What he means is that if we were able to kill each other than he would have won, but considering that we weren't of course, I won. But only because I am trained to do so, he is trained to kill off quickly and not waste energy. Lucky for him, I was in a good mood so I didn't kill him." Rei laughed.

"That's right I would have won!" Hiro said crossing his arms.

"So, Taelia, what did you want to talk to me about?" Rei asked as they both stepped into the library only to see a young boy about the same age as Rei and Hiro standing a few feet away from them smiling.

"Ah yes, but it would be rude to not introduce this young man right here." Taelia said putting a hand on the young boy's shoulder.

"Yes it would be, let me introduce myself. I am Burandon Heatsu, I am a warrior from Earth." He said in a voice that could sweep away any girl off her feet every time he spoke.

"A warrior from Earth, well you don't have to address so formally me and Rei were from Earth too, we just live here now." Hiro said giving out a hand for Burandon to shake, they shook hands.

"Yes, Earth was originally a place were I should have been born but my parents I guess

moved here before I was born. I don't know much about it but my parents were born here and brought to Earth then came back." Rei said with a kind smile.

"Great, it's nice to hear some people from Earth still exist." Burandon said in a still voice.

"What do you mean 'still exist'?" Rei asked.

"I mean, that Earth has fallen, no one exists any longer except for a few, I am one of them. My parents perished while Earth was flooded. A global warming if you prefer." Burandon said walking towards Rei and stopped about 2 feet away from her.

"I heard about that, they said it would have happened if people weren't careful about the environment." Hiro said.

"That's horrible, are you okay Burandon? Did anything infect you or hurt you?" Rei asked putting a hand on his hand.

"You can call me Buran." Buran held up Rei's hand to his chin. "And yes I'm fine…now that I'm here with a beautiful princess." he said as he kissed her hand like a prince proposing for marriage to a princess.

"Oh um, thank you." Rei said while blushing. Hiro was a little bit less than optimistic about Rei being kissed by a someone they just met.

"Hey buddy, we haven't introduced our selves yet have we?" Hiro said lightly pushing Buran away from Rei.

"Oh yes that's right we haven't. I'm Rei Rigotsu and this is-"

"Hiroku Kakaji, nice to meet you." Hiro said as he cut Rei off.

"But he prefers Hiro more than Hiroku." Rei said.

"And what nickname do you have princess?" Buran asked coming slightly closer but far enough so Hiro didn't get so mad.

"Oh me? No I don't have one, everyone's always called me by my first name." Rei said smiling.

"Well if it's okay with you, I think it'd be really nice for you to have a nickname. Or a nickname for me, to call you princess." Buran said putting a hand on Rei's and smiling. Rei was more blushing than smiling.

"No, there's no problem." Rei said.

"Okay then, do you mind if I still call you princess?" Buran asked.

"Oh uh no, I don't mind." Rei was blushing a lot, at one point you could almost mistake her for a cherry. Hiro on the other hand was trying to be as friendly as can be to Buran considering they only have just met. But he couldn't help but get angry that he was flirting with Rei and not the least bit shameful about it.

"So Taelia, what exactly did you want to talk to Rei about?" Hiro asked. Rei snapped out if it and set Buran's hand down.

"Oh yeah, so what did you want to talk about Taelia?" Rei said walking towards Taelia.

"I've come to ask the both of you if you would be so kind as to accompany Burandon with you, he will be a big help if you're going to train hard." Taelia said with a smile.

"Oh um, I think me and Hiro have it all under control, but maybe I guess, if he has no one else to be with." Rei said.

"Well, it's fine with me. What do you say Buran, want to kick some booty?" Hiro said holding out a hand for Buran to shake. At first Buran just stared at Hiro's hand, wondering if he should or not.

"Sure, that's what I came here for!" Buran said gladly as he shook Hiro's hand so hard it became an arm wrestling competition. Rei just laughed at the sight.

"Reilly, you guys are such boys." She said as she went down the hallway to Hiro's room. Just as she was about to open the door, Hiro came running towards her.

"No, wait! Rei don't open that door!" Hiro yelled. He came up behind and picked her up by the waist and spun her around to the opposite side.

"Hiro! What in the world are you doing!" Rei yelled.

"What am I doing? What are YOU doing!" Hiro yelled in return. Rei's unbalanced anger created a huge burgundy colored dragon that stood right behind Hiro. Hiro turned right around and drew out his sword. Rea made a fire ball in her hand but realized it would melt the area around them so she made it die out. Instead she made an iron cannon that nearly cracked the floor because it was so big. Suddenly the dragon screeched out in pain and it slowly began to disappear into red dust.

"What the heck did that?" Hiro yelled. AS the dust cleared, a figure in the shadows came forward.

"It's Buran." Rei said as Buran stepped out from the dust wielding a silver staff that was almost as tall as Rei.

" I was following your voices when the dragon appeared in front of my face." Buran said. He spun the staff around and it disappeared. He held out a hand for Rei to get up with. Rei took his hand, but Buran lifted her up and spun her around so she would fall in his arms. Rei blushed again with the same crimson color.

"Thank y-you." Rei stuttered.

"Princess, you're stuttering, are you okay?" Buran asked.

" Uh, no. I'm fine." Rei said blushing even harder than before. Hiro however, didn't do too well. He wanted to yank Buran off Rei and toss him over the mountain! But being the gentleman that he is, he didn't oblige to the thought.

"Rea, do you want to continue our fight? My legs are getting stiff from just standing around." Hiro said picking Rei up from Buran's hold.

"Sure, I could use another workout. Buran, do you want to join us?" Rea asked. Buran looked at Hiro, then back to Rei.

"Okay." Buran obliged. He had a little smirk on his face and Hiro noticed right away, but Rei wasn't even looking at him. They made their way to the fairgrounds below and Rei cleared the sky of any sign of rain.

" The rules are simple, no weapons, no powers, and no killing each other. And no holding back!" Rei yelled with another smile of encouragement to the boys that they might have a chance at winning.

"Okay." the boys said in unison. Then they all dashed out in different directions. Suddenly, Rei popped out and the boys ran out after her. Rei hoped they would do this, she jumped up in the air, catching the air currents, making them both crash into each other.

"Ha!" Rei laughed. The boys separated and started beating the tar out of each other. Soon, the boys completely forgot about Rei and just kept hitting each other. Rei stood there watching, thinking it was just another battle they were fighting.

"Why are you here!" Hiro yelled in Buran's face as he punched him in the face.

"I'm here because my home was destroyed!" Buran yelled back as he rubbed his now red cheek. Buran was hit to the ground, he got up.

"You're not fooling me, WHY ARE YOU HERE!" Hiro yelled again. He grabbed Buran's collar.

"I'm here to fight, I'm a warrior! My home is gone so I looked for a new one." Buran said, He hit Hiro in the jaw and he started to bleed. Rea couldn't take it anymore, she sprung out to them.

"Stop!" Rei screamed. "That's enough! You've done your battle, it's over." The boys immediately stopped and looked up. Rei's face was covered in tears, and her head and was down.

"Rei…" Hiro began to say.

"We're sorry Princess." Buran said.

"Uh yeah. Boys'll be boys right?" Hiro said trying to get at least a chuckle out of Rei.

"Being boys…being boys has nothing to do with it!" Rei yelled. Startled, the boys went over to Rei.

"We're really sorry, things just got a little out of hand-" Hiro was cut off.

"Out of hand! You guys were beating dear life out of each other!" Rei blew out. Rei's head jerked up, her tears running down her face. "And I know what you were fighting about." Rei paused. "You guys were fighting over me…" Both of the boys froze. They knew she was right, they had fought over her, but only in different words.

"Rei, I care so much about you-" Hiro began.

"I know you care about me, I care about you too. Buran is important to me as well." Rea's tears stopped.

"Princess, I came here for a home. I've found a home that I am welcomed in. It's true, Hiro and I both love you dearly-" Buran said.

"Love… love is when you care about someone deeply. Think of their friends and family too. To love someone, you need to accept their likes and dislikes. I dislike the two people I love deeply in my heart to fight each other for my heart!" Rei said, once again cutting off the boys' words. Rei took Buran's hand, then Hiro's and then they walked back to the library. Throughout the whole walk, everyone was silent. Not a word from any of them.

"You guys are the greatest things in my life. Please don't hurt each other. Hiro, you were first just to bring me here to this castle, now you've joined my destiny. Buran, I've only just met you an hour ago, now you've made you way into my heart and on my journey. As you can see, only 2 months we've spent here in the castle. I think it's time we go see Illusen." Rei said. She stopped but didn't look up at them.

"Illusen?" Hiro asked confused. "I thought Taelia-"

"Taelia taught me what I need to know. She taught me restraint for my powers. Alchemy, I can learn later." Rei cut him off. Buran looked at her, he could tell that she really wasn't up to the whole 'question and answer' thing. But he couldn't help but say something.

"Rei look, I'm sorry if we've caused any grief to you." He said as he put is hands on her shoulders. She didn't look up.

"But you did! You gave me nothing but grief." she looked at both of them, tears streaming down her face. "The reason I feel grief is because you two are acting the same way-" she stopped. "Never mind. Let's just get back to Taelia. I already told her about me going to Illusen." Rei turned on her heel and headed inside. The two boys followed her, glancing at each other. They knew they did something horrible, but they never expected that something even worse was just about to happen.

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What could this mean? gasps okay well read next chappie to find out, well actually, read that chappie then read the next to find out.