A/N: Once again, thank you so much to the Guest! I really appreciate you reviewing on my stories! It gets me more motivated to write and ahhh thank you so much! Now! Let's go to the chapter!

The eyes of Isshiki was currently burning with despise as he continued to stare at the unknown figure before him. The figure didn't speak back to him, they only pulled their hood downer to hide their face. "I wouldn't want to hurt anyone." Despite his words being such, it was contrary to the flame that went past the person only some inches away. It caused fire on some part of their clothes, but they quickly patted the spot that was burning to remove the fire. "But sometimes it's a must."

The person sighed loudly, preparing another icicle with only the movements of their hands. "Miss Kinokuni is not looking for visitors as of the moment." A female? "So I would prefer if you kindly get out of this place before more people come in, Isshiki Satoshi."

Quickly, the icicle flew at his direction. If he were a normal user of the fire with no title, he would have preferred dodging it- but he wasn't. He was their leader. That is what made it worse for his opponent. He only placed his hand in front of the sharp icicle and allowed his element to do the rest.

The icicle only melted as soon as it reached contact. He didn't even give it a chance to hit him, he didn't even get a single injury. "I cannot leave just yet until some of my questions get answered." He glared. "Or until I get to see your leader. Whatever comes first."

His sharp gaze probably made the female uneasy because she winced after seeing him. Her main ability was to create sharp icicles that could pierce through anything- but the fact that it could melt even before that could happen… It was a bad sign. She knew that she couldn't defeat the leader, but she had to stay on her ground.

"Should I repeat what I just said?" Luckily they were present in her area, so she had more than just icicles to control. "I have told you- she is not looking for visitors at the moment." She reminded. "And even if you're the leader of the fire element, I wouldn't tell you anything." Her voice became quiet and she began bolting to the male.

He took note of her movement, and he knew what she was about to was against Nene a couple of times in the tournaments- so he knew the capabilities of their element.

He shifted his position, and his feet were currently crossed. At times like this, Nene would have been aiming for any part of his body so she could freeze a body part. He knew that it wouldn't take long to do that if they were in an area like this.

He focused all his energy on his left foot, and as soon as he spun around- wild flames started to appear on his leg and he caught his opponent perfectly on her stomach- and this sent her flying to the opposite direction.

She rolled on the snow and she felt the sharp pain on her stomach. It was a solid hit. She couldn't move her body for some seconds, but she forced herself to get up. She wasn't going to give up. He whole coat was off so her face was more visible, and Isshiki took note of the details of her face.

"Kaburagi Shouko?"

She was someone who he never faced before, but he knew her quite well. She heard some comments about her from Kaoru, who considered her as one of his closer friends from the ice element. He also heard some things from Kuga, saying that the ice she wielded could pierce through anything, and it ranged from rocks to bones.

"Correct. But why would you care?" As she continued to talk, he suddenly felt some pain on his legs. "You shouldn't be looking at me, you should be looking below you." She coughed, and she spat some blood at the pure white snow.

He saw it. He saw the little ice shards that were below him, and he believed that those shards were also caused by the clash they had some seconds ago. The ice she had broke by the sheer impact of his kick, but that was probably her plan.

If that were Nene, she would have been able to…

God, he should stop thinking of her- because his opponent was entirely a different person.

He soon allowed heat to engulf his entire body for the moment to melt the tiny shards that have entered his body. It quickly melted to the heat, but if he wasn't that fast to react- then maybe he wouldn't be able to use his legs for a long while.

"You aren't holding back." He stated. She wouldn't hesitate to pierce through his bones. "If I didn't think quickly, you could have made me unable to walk."

"It was a rather dirty tactic, but do I have a choice? I'm against a leader." She stated, holding her stomach area in pain. "To answer your question- there is now way I will hold back against anyone." She could already tell that the area she was currently holding was bruising, but she couldn't fall down in pain now. "Especially if it's for Miss Kinokuni."

Isshiki watched the female and observed that she was currently clutching her stomach in pain. "We should stop fighting, if this went on further-"

"As if I'll allow that to happen. I'm willing to sacrifice everything for my element. Even my own life."

Isshiki changed his stance after hearing that from her. He has never killed anyone, and he wouldn't want her to be the first. "I wouldn't kill you."

"Quite sad. I would kill you if needed. Right now? The situation calls for it." She taunted. "Are you too scared to be called murderer?"

There was nothing but the cold weather and silence that surrounded the two and the expression of Isshiki darkened.

"I'm not scared of being called that. But our elements are currently allies, I would prefer not to kill anyone in the alliance." He answered her question, with a tone of deceit. "But if we weren't in one, I wouldn't have hesitated." He threatened her.

Shouko shook her head. "Scary." She mocked him as she prepared a spear made out of icicles with her free hand. "But not enough to scare me."

She was not going to stop, huh?

He sighed and allowed heat to erupt on his hand. Was she not going to learn her lesson? He could melt it once again, and it wasn't even that hard of a task. "I wasn't planning to scare you. I only wanted to state the truth."

Isshiki jolted first at her, wanting to make the final move that would be strong enough to knock the girl unconscious, while the female in front on him tried to match his speed so she could make the first move and piece the ice on a body part she knew he couldn't counter.

They've clashed- but there was something that didn't feel right… Wait, they didn't even touch each other. What happened?

They felt pain around their body and once they opened their eyes to see what hit them, they only clashed to a solid ice wall. This caused both of them to drop because the hard hit they took, and it was even worse that it was a surprise.

"Both of you are getting called to the palazzo."

They turned around to spot the large figure who they assumed stopped their clash.

"She said she didn't want anyone to go inside-"

"She'd rather meet people to see a fight in our area, Shouko." He went nearer to the female and started carrying her. He was able to observe that she gained much more damage compared to the male who fought her. "Isshiki Satoshi, I believe you can still walk."

Isshiki stood up, still feeling the pain around his body after the clash. "I can." He was used to getting up despite all the injuries he gained… he learned it the hard way when he was younger, after all. His father would have been disappointed if he couldn't.

"Just follow me." He was blunt, but the wall immediately shattered to pieces as soon as he walked away. He probably did it by command. Isshiki soon followed, being sure to keep some distance just in case.

"I've never seen you before."

"You don't need to see me. I usually stay inside to make sure to tame an animal."

"An animal?"

"Shigemichi, you don't need to call her an animal…" Shouko lifted up her arm to smack him on the head. "She's… just high maintenance…" She mumbled and the leader that was present only began listening to their conversation. "Oh god! What's separating her from Miss Kinokuni?! If you're here then-"

"Nothing is."

The female quickly went out of the grip, ignoring all the injuries she currently had. "Then we should hurry back!" Without warning, she jolted to the palazzo.

Animal? High maintenance?

Isshiki had no idea who or what they were talking about, but it wasn't a surprise since Nene never talked to him about her people yet… It was usually just him talking to her about his to at least try to converse with her.

"What's this all about?" He began asking the bulkier man about this and he didn't bother to look back at him.

"You'll see."

Isshiki stood behind Shigemichi as they walked inside the palazzo- his mere existence inside the building was able to get the attention of everyone inside the place. He or Shigemichi stated no words for a long while until they reached a certain room.

"You may go inside."

Isshiki was thinking whether he should push the door open to see what was inside or he should tell him to go inside first. Someone of their element wanted to kill him a moment ago, should he really trust them?

Isshiki smiled at the male in front of him. "I would go in if you go inside first." Even if he wanted to trust him, he thought it was best to be cautious after that experience. Without any form of declining his words, Shigemichi opened the door and Isshiki entered after he did.

There she was.

The person he hasn't seen in a week- the Ice Element Leader, Nene Kinokuni. She was currently all bloody and filled with injuries, she wasn't even wearing her glasses or the cloth that surrounded her head and neck.

His eyes widened and even before he could go near, Shigemichi stopped him- even telling him it wasn't a good idea to do so. He watched as the person he cared about panted heavily and raised her two arms towards a figure who was turned all her surroundings to ice, and even her whole body was becoming one of it.

The ice with her had some spots of red, and he knew from that the red color on the ice came from Nene. He wanted to stop what was going on, but he was being held back.

"Listen to me… Calm down."

"Why is she allowing this to happen?" Isshiki questioned Shigemichi and he only closed his eyes.

"She cares for her people too much. She'd rather deal with her in a peaceful manner. If you want to ask why she wasn't able to meet you… This was the reason." Shigemichi explained, already knowing the reason behind why he came over.

Nene controlled some snow particles to surround her injuries, and it slowly began to melt to her skin. Some of her injuries got hidden by the snow, and it prevented blood loss. The female in front of her backed away and began trembling beside the nearest wall.

"I wouldn't ever hurt you."

"How can… I trust you?"

"That girl our leader is with, she's out of control."