It had been three weeks since Kenta had joined the group and gave Taaru his plot of land to be the wild man he was until the tournament started. Kenta had a smile on his face walking to his home with his dinner in a bag and opened the door, he took of his shoes and began to head to the living room where a girl was sitting on the couch.

"Huh?" he said confused seeing her, she turned to look at him and slowly stood up, revealing she was in a school uniform. She had long black hair and blue eyes with a sweet look in them.

"Kenta, it's been too long." she said looking at him with a sweet smile on her face. His mind was racing, trying to place the voice and face for a few moments until it popped into his head.

"Miyuki Abe?" he said shocked to see her and a smile grew on his face, remembering their childhood and how much they had until she moved to Kyoto with her family at the start of high school. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in town for a class trip and I wanted to see my old friend." she said smiling and they remained silent for a few moments until she took a look at his bag. "Would you like some help with that?"

"O-oh, sure." he said smiling nervously and headed to the kitchen with Miyuki following close behind him, looking around for a few moments in the living room before joining him.

Taaru sat on a tree trunk, looking around the area, scanning for signs of movement. Then threw a rock down to a bush that was moving lightly and scared a rabbit out of it. Taaru threw a few more to lead it down a path until it reach under a short bush.

"Got ya." he said smiling as he hopped from his perch and landed near the bush, taking out a snared rabbit and began to head towards his camp while someone watched him from the mountain smiling.

Kenta smiled over his shoulder, looking at Miyuki as she was chopping up the potato and humming happily while he was working on the chicken. He felt so good in his heart, finally out from under his father's thumb for the first time of his life and was having fun with a girl he was friends with for years.

"So, are you up to anything these days?" he asked her while checking the chicken in the pan in front of him and looked at her to make sure he could hear the answer.

"Going to school for business and thinking of taking part in my family's tech company." she said looking back at him with a sweet smile on her face and he felt warm in his heart while he looked at her as she asked, "what about you?"

"Oh, I'm starting my own accounting form in the next few weeks." he said smiling, turning back to his pan and flipping the food to make sure it was cooked right when she finished her chopping, dumping them into the boiling water while cleaning the knife.

"Ouch." she yelled out and placed her finger in her mouth as Kenta turned to her.

"You okay?" he asked turning down the chicken and walked over to her, looking at her finger, seeing a tiny cut on it. "One moment, i have a first aid kit." he said heading out of the room and leaving her alone for a few moments, with Kenta returning to her with the stuff.

"You don't really have to do this." she said as she sat on the chair and he used rubbing alcohol to keep it clean before wrapping it around her cut. "Sorry to trouble you." she said looking at her finger and then at him, smiling.

"It's no trouble." he told her giving smile of his own, enjoying the moment they were having before he went back to the chicken to ensure it was not burnt.

Taaru was back in his camp, roasting the rabbit he had caught earlier and was relaxing near the fire as he stoked the fire. He smiled, enjoying himself in the woods while memories of the past began to fill his mind from his youth. He was enjoying it so much that the noise of rustling coming from a bush near him.

"Well, what do we have here?" said a voice, drawing Taaru's attention from the fire and he shot up to look at the voice's location. There was a man about his age, standing there in a white t-shirt and shoots, hands on hips while Taaru could scan his body to see he was well fit with his muscular built, black hair, and his piercing .

"What are you doing here?" he said looking at the guy and glared at him as the guy walked towards him, suddenly Taaru felt something dark wash over him and he jumped back while quickly getting in his fighting stance looking at the individual.

"Oh, well i see." he said stopping in his tracks and looking at him closely, cocking his head and looking at Taaru with a smile on his face. Then he was right in front of Taaru with his arm swinging upwards towards his face as the guy said, "You can sense a predator when it's near." Taaru leaned back to avoid the hook, which cut a few of his hair when he pulled his arm back to counter attack. But when the green eyed man was about to hit his attacker, he fazed through him and was thrown off balance. Confused, Taaru looked around to see where the man went, but he was no where to be found and sweat began to run down his face looking closely for any sign of danger.

"Where'd he go?" Taaru asked himself getting back in his fighting stance and continue to look around, trying to keep his blindside from being taken.

"Oh, are you scared?" the guy's voice rang into his ears as he was suddenly kicked in the side, making Taaru winced in pain as he was sent a few feet, then rolling onto the ground while groaning out loud.

Coming to a stop, Taaru got to his feet and looked up only to have a punch land square in his face. This forced him into the ground with a loud thud and his attacker looked down at him with his fist still pressing on his face. Taaru was not moving and the guy let out an annoyed sigh saying, "I guess I overestimated y-" He was suddenly cut off with Taaru's legs wrapping around his waist and his arms reached out to put him into a guillotine chock hold. He freaked out and forced himself free before the green eyed fighter could get his hands on locked, stepping back, with Taaru kicking up and giving him a serious look, making him flinch a little...
But then, the stranger started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Taaru asked charging at him and throwing a punch, but it fazed through him again and the guy was now on a tree near them.

"I've decided to let you continue in the Kengan Tournament." he said smiling looking down at him and saw the look in Taaru's face as he continued, "I hope we can fight in the true stage, the name's Yaju." He then began to flee through the trees, leaving Taaru there, the green eyes man watched Yaju leave through the trees. Taaru held his chest, and noticing his ribs hurt, he headed back to the fire where his rabbit was almost finished.

"D-damn it, this hurts." he said holding his side and looking up to the sky, seeing the sun set over the mountains and he slowly looked down to his ribs. "I need to finish my training." he said shaking his head and begun to eat his meal, focusing on getting better before the Tournament.

"And then he grabbed my dad's collar and was about to pound him until I spoke up." Kenta said smiling as they were seated for dinner and he looked at Miyuki, who was next to him and smiling, listening to his story on how his dad met Taaru.

"I can only imagine what he was thinking." she said giggling sipping on her water and looked at him with a smile on her face, making him smile back and look at his food.

"You know, I really enjoyed myself tonight." he said smiling, looking at her while she smiled back to him, placing her hand on his and held it close as they stared into each others eyes.

"Me too, I wonder why we didn't do this before." she said smiling at him and they held hands tightly for a few moments before they slowly began to move towards each other getting close to a kiss, when her phone suddenly went off. "Sorry" she said checking her phone and then looking at him with sad look in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" he asked her worried, looking at her and watched her look up from her phone.

"I'm sorry, i have to go." she said getting up and heading to the door, leaving Kenta in a state of confusion, just sitting there, watching her get to the door.

"H-hey." he called out to her when she opened the door and he stood up, standing by the area looking at her as she stared back at him. "W-want to d-do this again sometime?" She looked at him for a few moments and smiled, taking out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Call me." she told Kenta and then gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek before heading out of the door, leaving him in a state of shock while he held his cheek and smiled wide from feeling her lips touch his skin. He watched her walk down the path and a driver opened the door of a car for Miyuki as she turned to look at Kenta, waving bye to him and got in. Kenta waved back at her as the driver closed the door and bowed to him before getting back into the car, driving off, leaving Kenta watching them head off. While Miyuki was in the car, a figure was seated next to her, watching her look out of the window.

"Did it work?" they asked her and she looked at them before taking out her phone, messing with it for a few moments and then showed them footage of Kenta in his kitchen cleaning the dishes as he hummed happily. "Very good, you did well." they said patting her back while she looked at them with a sad look on her face.

"Yeah, thank you." she said looking away and staring out the window while the figure put their hand on her thigh, rubbing it as they drove of through the streets.

TBC