Why hello there, my fellow readers!

Have a special while I work on the fifth chapter.

Enjoy!

I do not own anything.

-IIXII-

Just when he was about to take off his red jacket, his scroll, which was on the table, started to vibrate.

Raising an eyebrow, Ragna rose from his couch and, moving around Saya who was busy drawing a picture of herself along with her two older brothers on the floor, walked over to the table. He picked up his scroll, answered the call, and held it up closely to his ear.

Which he soon regretted doing.

"Raggy Boy!"

It was Terumi, and he was practically assaulting his ear.

Wincing, Ragna closed an eye and kept his scroll device away from his ear, only to bring it close once more when his ear was done recovering itself.

"Dude, the hell is your problem!? And quit being so damn loud or I'll hang up!" Ragna said as his eyes, which were filled with annoyance, narrowed ever so slightly. "I'm not planning on going deaf at this day and age, now spill it. What do you want?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyway! I need you to do me a solid and buy me something at the grocery store! Y'know, the one where I usually go to in order to buy all my stuff? It's important!" Terumi said. He sounded a bit...stressed out and frantic, for some reason. "There's a bargain sale going on today, so you don't have to worry about spending too much!"

"Huh?" Ragna furrowed his brows. "And why am I going? Do it yourself, jackass. You got a pair of legs with a pair of balls hanging in between them don't you?"

"I can't because I'm at work! For hell's sake I'll pay you back, so quit bitching!" Terumi growled. "I just need you to buy me eggs, salmon, strawberries, apples, chocolate bars, and-" The sound of what seemed to be someone slamming their fist down onto a table interrupted, cutting him off. "What? Ice cream? Are you out of your mind!? You can't have ice cream for-"Another slam. "Okay, y'know what? Fine! Go and have ice cream for dinner. See if I care!"

Ragna stared at his scroll with a dumbfounded expression. Since when did he get another job? He then set it right next to his ear again and slowly called out, "Hello?"

"Add ice cream to the list, Raggy," Terumi answered, his voice sounding tired. "And also anything else that you can find that's healthy. Just..." A small pause. "...hurry up and get the hell over here. They're driving me nuts, and I'll go insane if they won't stop complaining about dinner."

"Who are you talking about?" Ragna found himself asking as he, after patting Saya on the head and smiling down at her, went to the door. Not lying or anything, but curiosity was starting to get the better of him. Ragna stopped and took a second to stare at Blood-Scythe, and in the end decided to take it with him just in case.

"Not important," Terumi muttered, and Ragna had no other choice but to leave it at that. The tone in his voice left no room for more questions. "Anyway, I want to tell you a thing or two about the grocery store where you'll be heading. Oh, and you better be out the door while we're talking or else I'm going to lose my shit."

With a sigh, Ragna opened the door and stepped outside of his apartment room. "Done that." He sent Saya one last smile, which she gladly returned, right before shutting the door. "Now what is it?"

"Just wanna tell you to watch out for the other customers. The store's having a bargain sale, after all," Terumi explained, sounding a bit like an expert. "They tend to take...extreme measures in order to get what they want, so be careful. Oh, and don't let them damage my goods. It may sound easy, but don't be fooled. Always remember to keep your guard up."

"Hey!" Ragna shouted, surprising the people around him as he walked his way towards his destination. Not like he gave a damn anyway. "Just what in the hell am I getting myself into!? You're making it sound like a battle's gonna happen! What's the deal here!?"

"The deal?" Terumi chuckled, and Ragna could tell that the asshole was secretly taking joy in listening to him shouting out his voice to the heavens like a man giving birth to rocks. The asshole. "Well, let's just say...that there are a lot of possibilities. A large number of things can happen once you enter the store, so I wish you luck."

And just like that, Terumi ended the call.

Ragna glared at his scroll. Not wanting to lose his cool and break the device by accident, he kept it away and took deep breaths.

Only for him to start cursing moments after.

"Damn that asshole. Why can't he just be specific for once?" Ragna kicked a small pebble out of the way as he walked, grumbling more and more nonsense under his breath. The people around him received the message quite clearly and made sure to stay out of his way, lest they'd get beaten to a pulp.

Good thing right now the grocery store was just across the street, or else he would've had a hard time resisting the urge to break something in order to release some steam from his system.

So after a few seconds of walking as well as grumbling out curses to his heart's content, Ragna finally found himself standing right in front of the store's entrance. He stepped inside like it's nobody's business and took a look around. So far, nothing was out of the ordinary.

And despite having a bargain sale, the store was...unusually quiet. It's like he was the only one there.

Weird.

"I'm guessing that the store's not really popular with the people around here. But still, the hell was Terumi on about?" Ragna had a sinking suspicion that Terumi was playing around with his mind, like he always did. The bastard. Cursing aside though, he still had a job to do. "Well, there's no use standing around like an idiot. Better start now before I start regretting all this," Ragna told himself.

Grabbing one of the store's shopping baskets, Ragna then went to the section where the fruits were located at. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, however, when he got a good look at the prices.

"Holy Hades! The fruits here are cheap as hell! It's no wonder why Terumi always ends up murdering his wallet every weekend!" Ragna exclaimed. He allowed his eyes to roam over the price tags of each fruit, his eyes widening more and more by the second. "Damn. If I'd known about this place sooner I would've been a regular customer." He smiled. "Man, where do I even start? And I should probably get a thing or two for Saya while I'm here. Heh."

"See what you like, Brother?"

Ragna drew Blood-Scythe in an instant and jumped to the side, just in time to see an ice blade crashing itself into the spot where he once stood. With a low growl, he turned to where it came from, and what met his eyes soon made his blood boil.

"Jin!"

There he stood, all comfortable in that NOL uniform he so greatly despised. The only thing missing was his weapon, but Ragna knew that it was with him. Somewhere.

Jin Kisaragi. His younger brother.

"Mind telling me what you're doing here?" Ragna spat. He tightened his grip around Blood-Scythe. Knowing Jin, the bastard probably had something hidden up his sleeve.

"Deary me, is it not obvious?" Jin asked in a teasing manner. A glare was sent his way, and in return he chuckled. "I'm shopping. The store's having a bargain sale, after all." He lifted up the basket he was carrying for Ragna to see, proving his point. "I would love to settle things with you, dear Brother, but I am afraid now is not the best time. As you can see, I am unarmed, so please lower that blade of yours."

"If that's the case, then why bother attacking me in the first place?" Ragna growled.

"I just wanted to see if your skills have rusted," Jin answered. "Now please, lower your blade. We are all civilised people here, are we not?"

Ragna narrowed his eyes, hesitant, but in the end he decided to lower Blood-Scythe. He had no intention of keeping his weapon away, however. There was actually no telling what Jin might do to him the moment he would start lowering his guard.

"What are you after?" Ragna asked.

"Ah, small talk. I see." Jin smirked at the annoyed look on his brother's face. "Well to answer your question, nothing much. I just want those strawberries over there."

Strawberries? Ragna looked to where he had been standing just mere moments ago, and only then did he realise that he had been standing in the way of all the strawberries. How come I didn't see that? And wait a minute, did he just say...all of them?

"Apparently," Jin started walking over towards his goal. "you were in the way, so-"

"Jin, I honestly don't know about you, but I'm afraid I can't let that happen," Ragna interrupted. He casually went back to his previous spot, once again standing in the way of the strawberries. "These strawberries are mine, so I think it's best for you to back off."

Jin froze, his eyes narrowed, then the entire store went cold. The smirk on his face was long gone.

"Are you challenging me?"

Ragna glared at him. "You wanna go at it?"

Jin dropped his shopping basket and called forth his blade, Yukianesa. "I didn't want to do this, Brother. Just remember that you forced me to."

"Cut the crap, Jin. I can tell that you were itching for a fight from the very beginning, so now's your chance." Ragna didn't know why, but he suddenly found himself grinning. It probably had something to do with them fighting over something so simple, like the strawberries for example. Huh. Did he feel...excited? He couldn't be, could he? Was fighting over something so simple that exciting?

The words of a certain jackass crossed Ragna's mind, which soon made him give out an amused chuckle.

"So this is one of the 'possibilities', huh." Ragna entered a fighting stance as he eyed Jin, who seemed to be doing the same as ice started to slowly materialize all around him. He was preparing for an attack, no doubt. "In that case, all I have to do is beat this one up!"

Just then, an explosion went off, which came from one of the nearby sections containing countless of the store's items. Seconds later a person wielding a long red katana with black and bleached blond hair came running out of the smoke, passing by an undeterred Jin all the while carrying a shopping basket filled with multiple items. He was grinning cockily for some reason.

Too bad he was blasted aside by a wave of lightning, courtesy of some guy with gray hair who was also wielding a katana.

The two teenagers were having their own fight, from the looks of it.

Ragna, who was now grinning from ear to ear at the sight of others battling around him, pointed Blood-Scythe at his younger brother and called out, "Come at me, Jin!"

-IIXII-

New characters!

Yu Narukami - 17

Hyde Kido - 17

The hype for BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is real. Monty Oum would be crying a river of joy right about now. May the talented man rest in peace.

Anyway, thanks for reading and be sure to leave a review!

This is CPL, over and out.