The two girl's stared at a each other for a moment. Wind blew between them as the leaves followed the current tossing and turning, dancing majestically in mid-air. The pressure building, Toshi looked between the two of them.

"This rivalry between the two of them was brewing for a long time, ever since the first time they faced off against one another at the schoolhouse. Jun an Ono, had humiliated Naomi in front of everyone, making her pass out during a scuffle. That coupled with the fact that Naomi grew up looking down on Ono clansmen. I cannot allow this to happen, not here, not now!" Toshi thought.

He stood in between the two girls, who looked through him and into each others eyes the pressure reaching it's boiling point.

Birds chirped in the evening sky, the wind blew pleasantly across the treetops. A single leaf floated down past the eyes of Kiriei and her team as they caught a passing glimpse from on high, the leaf continued to flutter in the wind being blown far to the side past the eyes of Daigo and his teammates as they also gazed like vultures from the tops of the trees. The leaf began to fall, and fall, til it was between the faces of Jun and Naomi and as it gently touched the ground next to Toshi's feet. The clang of the steel kunai could be heard, off in the distance. The two girls slammed there kunai into one of the knives Toshi held in each hand. A look of surprised gripped the face of each girl, a solemn expression lay across the face of Toshi.

"Put aside your feelings! This isn't the time nor place for them! You wanna tear each other apart then do it once this is over!" Toshi roared as he pushed the girl's away from him.

A look of awe on their faces the girl's were unsure of what to think about what had just happened. They looked to Toshi who ignored there glances, then they looked to one another.

Before the girl's could feel ashamed about there actions Toshi started saying "Lets go we have more ground we have to make up before we reach the center of the forest."

Disappointed by the outcome team Daigo set off in the direction of the center of the forest. They were one of the few teams that knew without a doubt where it was, it wasn't because they were from Banju it was the fact that mirigan eyes are unaffected by illusions. Even the ones put forth by a mystic forest. While Daigo and his team got closer and closer to the center of the forest the temperature began to plummet as it got darker. More so the tree began to form ice on their branches, where once there were leaves, snow now lay.

The three of them stopped, Asuka crossed her arms in an attempt to warm herself saying "Daigo what the hell is going here just a moment ago it was hot now it's freezing and there is snow everywhere?" Looking from Asuka to Jin while standing on the branch of the tree they stopped on, Daigo spoke "Were close to center of the forest. That being said supposedly, whatever magic binds this place affects the center differently than it does the rest of sector five."

Jin raised an eyebrow saying "Obviously, since were in a winter wonderland right now."

Asuka begins to pull out a scroll from her bag and unravel it.

"Don't, were not gonna be sitting here for much longer anyway. Two, we don't want to overheat by putting on winter gear. Also, the point in me mentioning the magic of the center of this sector is to say that this winter were experiencing could change at any moment to a different kind of climate, at least that's my understanding from what I remember being told."

It was apparent that what Daigo had said was processing in there minds until Jin finally said "Who, uhh told you this, by the way?" he probed.

Daigo crossed his arms in thought for a moment on Jin's question. Asuka shivered as a breeze came through, until Daigo's eyebrows shot up in remembrance.

"It was my Dad, crazy how I almost forgot that." Daigo said with a snap of his fingers.

Another breeze set in as Jin and Asuka simply stared at Daigo blankly. Daigo looked toward his teammates to see there backs turned to him and asking themselves how he became team leader.

Author's Note: Hope you all are enjoying this story of mine, if you do please comment and follow have a great day/night.