And Max gets a taste of what it's like to be a pre-teen...especially when it comes to one girl.

Chapter 2: Getting Older

Just then, as breakfast starts getting underway, Samurai hears a knock on the door and he walks in to answer it and as he opened the door, he looks down and sees Saori standing there, waving to Samurai aand she said, "Morning, is Max here?"

Samurai knew that this would be the cue for him to tease Max a little bit and he turned to Max and said, "Hey, Max...your girlfriend is here."

Max rolled his eyes at that tease and he walks to the Samurai to clear the air, but when he saw Saori standing there, he froze and just blushed at the fact that she's here and got quickly embarrassed that he entered with no shirt on and Saori was already staring at him very quickly and said, "Wow...you look handsome without your shirt."

Max chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his neck in a modest fashion and said, "Thanks."

"May I come in?" asked Saori.

"Sure. You can stick around for breakfast." Max replied.

Saori walks into the house and Samurai elbowed Max with a sly look on his face and said, "You got this in the bag, dude. My little tiger brother...having a girlfriend."

Max tried to disclose the fact that there's something going on between the two of them, but with Saori around, it gets kinda hard to keep it all in because he secretly knows that he has a massive crush on Saori from when he first met her and saved her from some croc bandits a few years ago. He sighed in defeat because he couldn't resist her glancing at him with those eyes of hers and it magnified her straight to his heart and he said, "I'll go get my vest."

Max walks up the steps to get his vest and Samurai walks back to the kitchen and said to Saori, "How's your brother?"

"He's fine...but he's being a pest, as usual." Saori replied.

"Just like Sage?" asked Zoey.

Saori giggled a little and replied, "No, not like that. Just this morning, we were having a fight over who gets Miyo's cocoa bread first and of course, I got it first and Akashi just pestered me over the fact that I got it first because I smelled it first."

"What did he do this time?" asked Tsunami.

"After I got the bread first, Akashi took the entire plate of bread and just gobbled it up very quickly, leaving me with the one I got first and just rubbed it in his face claiming big brothers will always win. Thank goodness for Miyo leaving me a platefull of extra ones in case Akashi smells some more." Saori replied.

"Power to the little sisters." Zoey said, smiling and giving Saori a fist bump.

Saori responded with the fist bump almost as if it's their little sister standing up for themselves initiative and she said, "So...when's Max's birthday?"

"In 7 weeks." Samurai replied.

"Wow...how old will he be?" asked Saori, smiling.

"He will be 12." Duke replied.

Saori widened her eyes after hearing that Max will be 12 in 7 weeks and she's a little bit older than him, but mostly in the same age gap as he is and she said, "12? Miyo's gonna freak out when she finds out."

"Yeah, she would. Hey, speaking of Miyo...do you think you can ask her to bake a birthday cake for Max?" asked Samurai.

"Sure thing! You may want to ask her first ahead of his birthday. She does not do last minute cake baking. Last time she tried it for Shifu's birthday, the cake fall apart right in front of him and he just freaked out...especially when he got cake smoosh all over his clothes." Saori added.

"Oh yeah...I remember that part. That was so funny seeing Shifu have a tantrum on his birthday." Samurai said, laughing.

"I've never seen Shifu have a fit like a 2 year old before." Phoenix added, snickering.

"I had thought that he was more mature like that. Must've had a Dragon Warrior immaturity syndrome effect or something." Zoey added.

Seconds later, Max came out with a black and white striped vest with a tiger's paw on the back part and a tiger's roar on the right part and when he walked downstairs, Saori took one look at Max and she couldn't contain herself and felt overwhelmed by Max's aura as he entered the room and she said, "Wow...you look so handsome, as always."

"Thanks, Saori." Max replied.

"I like you in two ways; with and without the shirt." Saori said, swishing her tail around.

Max could tell that Saori's completely infatuated with him and Max could tell that she's all over him and he whispered, "Not in front of my brothers, please."

"Hey, don't worry about us. You're almost 12 years old, man. Before long, girls will break down the doors for you." Samurai said, teasingly.

"If they do, my salamander will take care of the other girls." Saori added.

Seconds later, in comes Akashi coming into the house and caught his sister all over Max and he said, "Hey, sis. Trying to flirt?"

Saori froze and slowly turned around to see Akashi standing there with his arms folded, staring at her and she lets out an innocent giggle and said, "I'm only here for breakfast."

"Yeah, I know...and you've had your eye on the main course." Akashi pointed out.

Max looked at Akashi for a second and he said, "Hello, Akashi."

"Hey, Max. Heard you're gonna be 12 in 7 weeks. You're starting to grow up a little bit." Akashi replied.

Max smiled at this and he said, "Thanks, Akashi. I don't feel any older...at least I don't think."

Akashi chuckled at this response and he said, "Wait until you become a teenager. You'll definitely feel the effects inside of you soon."

"Would you like to join us for breakfast, Akashi?" asked Mako.

"What do you guys have?" asked Akashi.

"Whatever Samurai's making." Mako answered.

Akashi then sits down on the table while Max and Saori sit next towards each other and Saori looks at Max with a smile and said, "This is gonna be a good breakfast."

"Yeah, it will." Max replied.

Akashi and Saori make an appearance through the story! Master of Stories, hope ya like!