Thanks for your reviews guys; they really mean a lot to me. They let me know how good or bad I'm doing. So now chapter 7!

Chapter 7-Ripped

"SHOCKING FIRST BULLET!" He headed straight for Ryuhou, who calmly used Zetsuei to block the attack and hit Kazuma. "Don't think I'm through yet!"

"I think you are!" Mimori said to him as her eyes began to water.

"Miri no!" Ryuhou said to her, this time turning to look. "Don't waste your energy on him!"

"Miri?" Kazuma repeated. "Is that some lovey dovey pet name or something?"

Ryuhou regretted calling her Miri in front of Kazuma, because now he was prancing around in a girly way saying 'Miri' in a sappy way. This angered Ryuhou and he made Zetsuei transform into its more powerful form. Kazuma took a good look at it, then at his already bruised body. After adding those two factors into his equation, he looked at Mimori and grinned. He grabbed her by the waist, then ran off into the sun that was beginning to set. Ryuhou hit the ground with his fist, then got up to wipe the dust off of his suit.

"Miri I will get him for this, I promise," he said under his breath.

"Where are you taking me?" Mimori demanded.

"I told you!" He answered. " If he wasn't gonna take you out on a date then I was!" Mimori wanted nothing more than to use her Alter on him, but Ryuhou had told her not to, so she obeyed his request.

'Ryuhou please find us soon…' Mimori thought sadly. "So why did you take me away?"

"Why do I ALWAYS take you away?" He asked a little jokingly. "It guarantees me a safe escape from him when I'm not in the mood to fight. Or rather when I have better things to do than fight, places to go and people to see!" He said, thinking a bit of the girl waiting for him at home who he hadn't seen in a while.

"You should really consider other people's feelings before simply taking them without their consent!"

Kazuma stopped and landed on the ground past the barriers of the mainland. "Then why are you with HOLY?" He glared at her in a way that Ryuhou would glare at her. "If you really think like that then why don't you practice what you preach? Do you honestly think that these people want to be taken away from their homes? Do you honestly think that they like complete strangers coming into their homes and taking away everything that they hold dear to them!" He punched the ground with his Alter, causing a small crater to form where he had hit. "That is why I fight HOLY, that is why I will never give up until I destroy every last HOLY member! ESPECIALLY RYUHOU!"

"He…" she said softly, " is the only reason I stay as HOLY, he's the only real reason I stay there…"

"But does he care about your feelings at all? No, he's a heartless moron who can't seem to deflate that stupid head of his!"

"And just how would you know!" Mimori asked, the tears forming uncontrollably in her eyes. He was getting her angry and upset, making it harder for her to keep her Alter in check.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked in a high voice as he saw the tears glistening. "Don't cry, I was just being honest!" He saw the tears getting bigger and didn't know what to do. He had never dealt her crying, and he wasn't sure how to subdue her.

Mimori turned and ran. She didn't want to release her Alter, not in front of him, especially since she had no idea how strong it would be.

"Hey, where do you think you're going? I haven't taken you to our date spot yet!" Kazuma whined.

"DATE'S OFF!" Mimori yelled behind her. Kazuma ran to catch up to her and began shouting to her.

"But you're dressed up and everything so why waste it? Why not just come with me? No one will be able to find you anyway, so you might as well at least try to enjoy your time here!"

"No!" She stopped running, finally gaining control of her Burning Tears. "Ryuhou will find me, and when he does he's gonna kick the crap out of you for doing this!"

Kazuma stopped when he caught up to her. "Do you really think that?" he asked.

"I know that…"was his answer. Kazuma shrugged and smiled, sitting down.

"Oh well, when he does come I'll be able to finish what we started!"

"Aren't you the one who ran away?" Mimori asked dully.

"No," he said in an offended voice. "I lured him out here, then we can fight on my ground, on my terms.

"Terms?" She asked, somewhat confused.

" He can't release the full power of that stupid Alter of his!"

"That's not fair! And what makes you think that he'll agree to those terms?"

"Life's not fair, get used to it," he said coldly. "And he HAS to comply, I have something he wants…"

"Which would be…?"

"You." Mimori blushed as he said this, and looked down at the ground. "He has to retrieve you, apparently you mean something to him if he was willing to transform his Alter because I said something about dating you. Now will you come with me and I promise I'll make it easy for Ryuhou to find us."

"SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITH YOU!" He and Zetsuei appeared so fast that it looked as though they appeared out of nowhere. Zetsuei hit Kazuma hard in the jaw, and Ryuhou ran to Mimori. "Are you ok? He didn't hurt you or anything?"

What was with Ryuhou? One minute he won't look at her, the next he's saving her from his rival. "It's about time you showed up," Kazuma smirked. "Before we get started, tell me…"

"If I feel like it then I will answer your question," Ryuhou spat. "Or if there's time between me fighting you and me killing you."

"Why'd you come here? Was it for the girl, or was it to fight me?"

Ryuhou got a lump in his throat. His face remained unchanged, he was good at that, but inside his stomach twisted and churned. His stomach always did that when he was asked questions like that. "I'm assigned to protect her, and I'm also assigned to capture you!" Smart answer, that way he wouldn't be failing either of their little mind games. Soon after replying to his question, Ryuhou muttered something that neither Mimori nor Kazuma could hear or understand "ENOUGH TALK LET'S FIGHT! This time you won't get away!"

"Wait!" Mimori protested Is that the only reason you came for me? Because I'm 'your assignment'?" Again his stomach churned, and his side was being poked at by an imaginary stick.

He was quiet for a long while, before finally replying. "We'll talk about this later, this is not an appropriate conversation for this time and place. Let's go Kazuma!"

"I'm ready as soon as you stop flirting with her!"

"I'm NOT flirting! COME ON!"

"Wait…" Kazuma grinned. " I have one condition and one condition only- You aren't allowed to release the full power of your Alter!"

"And why should I follow those orders?"

Mimori thought about it, and when she finally realized what Kazuma said his excuse was, he had already grabbed her and had his arm up to her neck. "Because it would be a bummer for all of us if her beautiful body was pale from death!"

"You never said anything about killing me!" Mimori shrieked. "Ryuhou should I?"

"No Mimori, I can handle this, I won't break it! Fine Kazuma, I won't use the full potential of Zetsuei!" He reverted Zetsuei into his weakest form and prepared to fight Kazuma. He, of course, got the crap beat out of him, and Kazuma held Mimori with one arm while he was doing so, so he got a front row seat

"RYUHOU!" Mimori shouted. She didn't mean to, she didn't want to, but it happened. Two tears fell from her eyes, and Kazuma burned the arm that he had placed around Mimori. The fire formed a wall between Kazuma and her and Ryuhou. She ran to Ryuhou's side, surveying the damage that Kazuma had inflicted.

Kazuma, on the other hand, was trying to figure out why and how he got burned in the first place, and why there was a wall of fire separating him from the 2 HOLY members. He watched Mimori cry some more, and with every tear that fell, the fire barrier would get bigger.

'So it's her,' Kazuma realized. 'She's an Alter User? Impossible! If she was then she would've used it on me long ago! But what if that was what Ryuhou had told her to save her energy on?'

"Ryuhou say something!" He coughed up blood and got up slowly, refusing Mimori's help.

"Just stay behind me, I can't believe you used your Alter…"

Even when he was injured he could STILL have the energy to criticize Mimori! This never ceased to amaze her, he could be on the verge of dying and would still be able to complain about her. He was impossible to figure out!

Kazuma, who was still confused, fled, trying to make sense of what had occurred. Well, that and he couldn't stand to see Mimori cry for 2 reasons: 1-he can't stand the look in her eyes, and 2-he would get burned if she did!

Ryuhou and Mimori rode on Zetsuei back to the mainland. Both of their fancy clothes were ripped, and Mimori laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked, somewhat confused at how she could laugh after that ordeal.

"I'll show you when we get home," she giggled.

'Why would we have to wait till we got home?' Ryuhou wondered. They arrived, and Ryuhou sat on the couch, exhausted on what was supposed to be a 'fun day' and then what was supposed to be 'dinner with Mimori'. Mimori went into her room and came out with a tape. After putting it into the VCR, she sat on the couch next to Ryuhou.

Mimori and Ryuhou had gotten a hold of his mother's video camera and were taping various things. They would dare each other to do a certain stunt, the videotape it.

"Hey Miri," he smiled.

"What is it Ryu?"

"Betcha can't climb to the top of Biggie!" Biggie was a nickname that they had given to the tallest and widest tree in Ryuhou's backyard. Even their dads were somewhat scared to climb Biggie. Mimori, however, knew no fear when Ryuhou was with her.

"Betcha I can!" She made sure her foot was implanted in a secure spot and began to climb. After about 8 feet of climbing, Mimori got her hair stuck, and asked Ryuhou to climb up and help her get her hair out. Ryuhou dropped the video camera, and it landed in a position where the lens was shooting straight up, making it to where it was still recording what was going on. He got her hair out of the branches, and they continued to climb the tree.

By the time they made it to the top, Ryuhou's pants were ripped in the knees, Mimori's shirt sleeves were ripped off, and Mimori had a scrape on her elbow.

"Father's going to kill me," Ryuhou said, looking down at his attire.

"Mine too, I just got this shirt…." Mimori said, a little sad. Then her face brightened. "But it was well worth it! Look!" Ryuhou looked forward to see a clear view of his entire backyard and even the top of his house. "Everything looks so refreshing!" Both of them had been sitting on one thin branch, and after a while, the branch gave out. .Mimori grabbed Ryuhou's hand and held onto one of the branches they encountered when they had been climbing up, and that one began to give away too.

"I take it back!" Ryuhou said. "Father won't have time to kill me! The force of this fall will already have done the job!" He looked down at the long drop that they were sure to encounter, then he looked up to Mimori, who's hands were slipping. Their grip on each other tightened as the branch broke and they prepared themselves for the fall. Ryuhou, however, glowed, and a strange looking creature caught both of them before they had the chance to collide with the ground.

"What is that?" Mimori asked as the creature let them safely onto the ground.

"That's my Alter, I've seen it once before," Ryuhou smiled, a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry you had to see it though…"

"Sorry? It just saved our lives! Thank you Ryuhou! And thank you- Uh….Umm…"

"Zetsuei," Ryuhou finished and Zetsuei disappeared. Ryuhou looked down at the video camera and gasped. "We have to put this back in Mom and Dad's room!" Ryuhou said. "Otherwise we'll be dead for sure!" Ryuhou and Mimori ran inside his house, turned the camera off, and returned it to the exact spot that his mother had placed it.

"Is that why you were laughing?" Ryuhou asked.

Mimori nodded. "With our clothes ripped and everything, that's just what it reminded me of! And that was the first time I met Zetsuei!" Both of their stomachs growled, and Mimori blushed.

"Wanna go to McDonalds?" Ryuhou suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Mimori smiled as they went outside to try for the 2nd time to go out and eat dinner…

sorry I know this chapter kinda sucked but I'll make the next one a good one! (Or at least I'll try to!)