Well, sorry about the wait (again) I have been doing exams in school and they smell. But anyway here is chapter 6. It's a bit long, I hope you appreciate it. I like this one!

Oh, and by the way, one word in this passage makes this chapter a little M-rated, but seriously kids, you gotta know about this stuff.

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Yunsung could still feel his mother's vice-like grip, String's arms around his neck, his father's firm handshake. He strained to forget their words, however comforting:

"Knew it, typical you, can't sit still for two seconds! Still miss ya though, ya big lummox."

"Oooh...oooh... if only we had a little longer! But I'm thankful for this one day. You've got lots going on in that little head of yours. You do us proud, you're getting to be a man now."

"Well, son...see you soon."

His father's final blunt and short words still had charm and resonance with him:he wasn't really that big on feelings, as Yunsung knew too well, there would be no climbing onto his lap after a scuff on his knee. Each and every step on the cobbled road towards the town gates was a step farther away, there was that inkling in his mind, you can go back, no-one's stopping you, you would be with your family...

"Guardsman?"

"Yes, sir."The guardsman replied to Yunsung, standing up straight.

"You know Tornado?"

"Not personally, no, sir."He chuckled nervously, "As I'm sure you don't blame me."

Yunsung decided to ignore this, "Do you know where she was last seen?"

"Well, scout says that judging by the numerous...ah...empty villages he's finding, Tornado is heading northwest, sir." the guardsman said with difficulty.

"Right, thank you." Yunsung walked out of the city, trying to force his mind to focus on the problem, something his teachers always used to complain about. As always, his mind wandered, focusing instead on yet more memories of Talim. Now he dwelled on how he'd been so stupid to encourage her. It had been so obvious all along that she was incapable...

oOoOoOo

Whereas Yunsung and Talim going about together usually started as 'coincidence', Talim requested that he meet her today, so they could "do stuff". Yunsung wasn't sure if her vagueness was because she didn't want to tell him what, or...or if it was just her vagueness. Even so, Yunsung enjoyed pondering for while what this "stuff" could be on the way to the meeting place; at one of the benches sat outside the arena.

As he approached the arena, he spotted her on the bench directly in front of him in her lotus position, some yards away. He began to stride towards her, puffing out his chest a little. He was a bit closer when he saw something small and white fall on her head and bounce lightly off again. Another came after a few seconds, and another, each one landing on her head, and the third staying in her hair.

Yunsung stopped. Talim's eyes were closed and she was still a little way ahead of him, so she hadn't noticed him. He looked up.

As he'd expected, he saw two youths; one with ridiculously spiked up hair and a nose that looked recently broken, and another with black, dirty hair with a pointy chin. They were both on what appeared to be the back rows of the arena, which was made of stone and had no roof, so those in the back rows could potentially plummet to a squishy end. The first boy would wrap up a piece of paper, scrunch it up tight, grin stupidly at the other boy, and drop it onto Talim's head. Yunsung stood still for a moment, watching, deciding what to do. After the sixth ball hit Talim's head, he noticed a definitive line appear on her forehead.

"Oi!" Yunsung shouted, striding up towards Talim and staring at the two boys, whose faces slackened. Talim awoke and stood up quickly, her face anxiously looking at him.

"You think you're hard or somethin'?" He roared. The boys threw the pieces of paper at him. "Come down here and do that!" he bellowed, not blinking. Talim tugged on his shirt. She looked at him pleadingly.

"Is this why you met me here?" Yunsung asked quietly, putting his hand on her shoulder, trying to be comforting.

"Oh no, no no!" she said, shaking her head quickly, "Yunsung, please, let's just leave..."

"Wait." he stood his ground, "I want to talk to these guys, ok?"

"No! They didn't mean any harm..."

Yunsung shook his head, "They were bullying you. Something always has to be done."

"No...no they didn't hurt me or anything...they haven't even spoken to me..."

He looked up at the two boys in the stands, jeering at him, still throwing pieces of paper. "Of course they haven't talked to you or hurt you. They saw you fighting the other day. They're cowards."

"Oh, Yunsung, even so, it would be wrong to hurt them!"

"I don't think I have to hurt them." he told her gently, "They just need a talking to."

"Ohhh, I don't like the way you're saying that..."Talim said, and a steely undertone had arisen in her voice, "I think you are going to hurt them after all..."

"Well I don't like..." but he stopped himself.

"What?" she said, softly, "What is it you don't like?"

"...Nothing. Come on, we're going to talk to them."

"Me too?"

"Yes, you too!"he said exasperatedly.

He tugged her along and up into the arena, running up the stone steps to meet the two boys. Of course, they scarpered. "See, Talim!" Yunsung pointed impatiently after them as they ran around the edge of the arena "-Cowards!"He shouted after them.

"Good, they've gone away." Talim said quickly, "Let's go.". When she saw him stop and stare at the boys again, she gave his arm a yank, "Come on, Yunsung!"

He was slightly mollified as she led him away, her arm inside his own. It was very comfortable having her much thinner and softer arm inside his. She was guiding him briskly away from the trouble, when girls he'd known before always encouraged him to fight. He smiled a little to himself. This is what real girls do...

When they reached the bottom of the stone steps, Talim turned her head to look at him proudly, but gasped, looking in horror over his shoulder.

He turned and could see in the distance that there was only one boy in the opposite end of the stand- the black haired one. Yunsung could see he was bent heavily over the edge, as if grabbing hold of something...

Yunsung took off like a rocket, Talim hot on his tail and eventually taking over him. He had a few seconds to marvel at simply how fast she could run, and her strides were so simple it was as if the wind was pushing her an extra foot with each one. Before long they had climbed the steps at the end of the ring and Talim was heaving the boy with black hair from behind, to help pull. The boy with the broken nose was dangling over the edge of the stone wall, his only support the other youth's arm, his teeth gritted and his eyes wide in desperation and fear of plummeting to his death. Yunsung reached over the edge, took his arm, and lifted the boy up and over the stone wall of the arena, and back into the stands.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Talim sighed rather loudly, but not before Yunsung had pulled the spiky haired boy by his shirt so they were looking face to face. Talim yelped and latched onto Yunsung's arm once again. "No, Yunsung! No!" The boy was sweating and gasping for air, still shaken after dangling over a several metre drop.

"Don't you ever..."Yunsung said, deathly quiet, "ever do something so stupid again! Or else, I'll make sure even your own mother wouldn't recognize you..."

Talim whimpered his name behind his back.

"You're lucky..." he said derisively, pushing the boy away from him, "If she weren't here..." he pointed at Talim, who was frowning "...you're so lucky...you don't know how lucky you are..."

"Yunsung, we're going, now!"Talim thundered. Her voice sounded almost like a teacher dealing with an unruly pupil. Even so, it was the voice of that teacher everyone in school fancied.

With one last fuming stare at the two boys, Yunsung stomped down the stone steps. Talim followed slowly and quietly. As they walked across the arena, Yunsung determinedly not looking behind him, she sighed, "That's over with..."

"You," Yunsung rounded on her, "You have got to start looking out for yourself! That never would have happened there if you had sorted them out before!"

"Oh, please, Yunsung, that had nothing to do with it." she said calmly, walking on beside him and not looking, smiling slightly.

"Why did you even learn to fight if you're just going to stand there and take it??" Yunsung asked vehemently, infuriated that she was smiling at him so carelessly, when he'd only been trying to protect her.

"I just don't believe in fighting when I don't have to..."

"I mean, you could have just walked away from them,"He said indignantly, "but nooo, you just stayed there and got paper in your hair!"

She ruffled her black ponytails ruefully, and a few pieces of the paper detached themselves, "A bit of paper never did anyone any harm..."

"It does inside." Yunsung replied, now striding out of the arena, "It makes you feel weak, unprotected- don't you feel like that?"

"No. I know I'm not weak. I know I'm not unprotected."

"That's not the image you were giving."

"Are you saying I'm weak?" she asked, her voice getting ever softer.

"Yes. Yes I am."" Yunsung retorted angrily.

There was a pause, where there was only the sound of their brisk, powered footsteps. Then Talim rounded around, standing right in front of him and looking up at his face stormily. "I'm many things but I'm not weak!" she said rattlingly.

"Then show me, show me you're not weak!!!" Yunsung shouted into her face. She stared straight back into him, "I'm strong enough not to fight you. I'm not going to bring myself to that level!"

And she turned on her heel and started to walk away. Yunsung walked behind her, still determined to show her how to look after herself. He had a brainwave, "Talim! What are you doing here?"

It was such a peculiar question that she stopped, and turned her head around, as if turning her body was not worth him, "What?"

"Why are you here?" Yunsung asked, "You aren't on holiday, are you?"

"...No." Talim said slowly behind herself, "There is evil in the air." she said anonymously, "The pieces must be returned to their rightful place."

He didn't know what this meant, but he had enough material, "So you're going to fight evil, are you??"

Talim had begun walking again, and he had to jog every few seconds to keep up with her, "You're going to be rightful, and fight evil, right?"

"Yes!" she said impatiently, her strides becoming longer. Yunsung could tell however, that she didn't really want completely rid of him, or else she would be running by now. She half-wanted to listen. "Evil..." Yunsung repeated, " Evil was right there, throwing paper at you! You're the one meant to be standing up to it and dealing with it!!!"

Talim stopped.

Yunsung stopped too, staying at their distance, "Evil people out there aren't going to just throw paper at you. They're going to try and steal from you or kill you...or even rape you!" He could feel the final word penetrating through the air like a poisoned arrow. Talim bristled, her back still to him. "What are you going to do then, huh? Just sit there?"

"No. I'm obviously going to fight back."said Talim, and her voice sounded shaky.

"Yeah, but throwing paper is evil too!" said Yunsung, raising his voice a little.

Talim turned around, "It's not! It's not the same thing!" she cried.

"Attack everything at it's source!" Yunsung shouted, "That's military training. It works. Throwing paper, it grows, it manifests. If we hadn't dealt with that...those boys could have done something much worse! Think about it!"

She paused. She didn't look speechless, just defiant. She said to him, her large eyes shaking in their sockets, "Stop following me, Yunsung."

She started to walk away, and after a few seconds, broke into a run towards the inn. Yunsung didn't follow her. He would have to wait until tomorrow to see if his message had gotten through. He looked at the position in the sun in the sky, and kicked a stone in the cobbled road, frustrated. He hated it when he had nothing to do.