Hi again! Here's the next chapter! Thanks for reading! I officially have more chapters than Card Captor Sakura!

Chapter 15- A Gift

They all turned around to find one of the guests speaking. He had a grin on his face and he held his hand in front of his eyes. "Lightning Shower!" He laughed softly. Objects dissipated as lightning fell from the ceiling. All of the other guests were now screaming while Mimori's father instructed them to go into a safer room.

"Mimori let's go!" He said. "Ryuhou can handle this!"

"But Father!" she protested. "I can't just leave him!" She took a step towards the Alter User and prepared to battle. Ryuhou put a hand on her shoulder.

"Mimori don't."

"But-"

"Is this really how you want your father to find out?" She got out of her fighting stance and looked away, shaking her head. "Go with him, I can do this on my own."

She reluctantly ran up the stairs to the 2nd floor and watched from above, holding tightly on the rail. "Are you sure that you want to stay?" her father asked. She nodded. "Then I'm staying with you."

"You should probably find a place to hide as well, I'll be fine here."

"No, I'm going to stay and protect my daughter."

'But…. It's going to be me protecting you.' She thought as she looked at the glass ceiling.

"Zetsuei!" More objects disappeared as his Alter power appeared. "Go!" He extended his arm towards the Alter User. Zetsuei sent out his extensions to attack, but lightning fell once more from the ceiling, one striking Ryuhou, and a few concentrated bolts striking Zetsuei.

"Ryuhou!" Her grip around the rail tightened. "Zetsuei!" 'I have to help them!' She started to run down the stairs, but her father grabbed her arm.

"Mimori it's too dangerous!" He stated. "You have to stay here!" With her father holding her arm, she had no choice but to stay. She watched in pain as Ryuhou and Zetsuei were getting weaker. But they weren't going down without a fight.

'This is nothing!' Ryuhou told himself as he used his sleeve to wipe the blood off of his lips. 'Just one swift blow!' He prepared himself and Zetsuei. After dodging a few more attacks, he finally saw an opportunity. "Zetsuei!" Zetsuei flew quickly towards the Alter. However, lightning reigned down and formed a wall, which also shocked Zetsuei. "Just who are you and what do you want!" Ryuhou demanded.

"I am Masuto, and it's really quite simple what I want." He pointed to the second floor. "Her."

"Why do you want her?" Zetsuei transformed into his 2nd form.

Masuto laughed and waved his index finger. "Now now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" This annoyed Ryuhou greatly.

Meanwhile, in the Lost Ground, Kazuma and Kimishima were laying on the ground relaxing.

"Man! I haven't felt this good in… I don't know how long!" Kazuma grinned. "I had to deal with that stupid Ryuhou, and then those stupid guys who attacked us, then Kanami had me stay home to recover… It's about time I got a break!"

"Yah, well you'll be on a break for a while, Masuto has everything covered," Kimishima said.

"Masuto?" Kazuma repeated, now looking at Kimishima for answers.

"Oh yah, he showed up while Kanami was tending to your wounds… Said something about getting some princess from the mainland."

Something inside Kazuma sparked. "…..A princess….?"

"Yah, he said he had been informed that there was supposed to be a big royal party and that lots of nobility was gonna be there. He left yesterday for the mainland."

'A princess…. No, it couldn't be!' Kazuma thought. He got up quickly. "Kimishima! Where's your jeep?"

Ryuhou breathed in. Everything inside him wanted to puke; his entire body was tingling, and he couldn't move very much anymore. Most of his senses were gone, and his reflexes were horrible as well. However, despite all that, he somehow focused his vision on Masuto.

"MOTTO!" Mimori screamed. Mr. Kiryu looked at her strangely, but after she said this, Ryuhou had Zetsuei attack. Masuto chuckled softly and easily evaded Ryuhou's attack. He carelessly sent another lightning bolt into Ryuhou's body.

"Khaaa!" Ryuhou winced in pain. He had blood filling in his throat and mouth. This wasn't new to Ryuhou, though. His head was splitting, his heart was hurting, and he was fighting the urge to pass out. 'I... don't have anything left… But I have to keep my promise to Miri!' He got an angry look on his face. "I will protect her, nomatter what! I won't let you touch her!"

Mimori was taken aback. Maybe it was the fact that he was fighting so hard, maybe it was the way that he said it; either way, her heart was throbbing. She turned her back to her father and let some tears flow down her cheek. She caught them with her hands and, making sure Mr. Kiryu wasn't paying attention, looked at the battle.

"This is it! It's been fun!" Masuto laughed viley as his eyes widened maniacally. He threw his arm down and one very powerful lightning bolt came hurling down at Ryuhou. Suddenly, a wall of fire stopped the bolt. "What the-?"

Ryuhou looked up to Mimori, who smirked, giving him a small thumbs up. Masuto was infuriated, his eyes widened after each attempt, and he would only get angrier as each attempt would fail. "WHAT IS THIS?"

"Something wrong?" Ryuhou asked smugly.

"I'm so close, I'm not going to let this stop me!" Looking as desperate as ever, Masuto's lightning bolts were no longer focused on one spot. He no longer cared where he hit; he figured that one of them would have to hit Zetsuei or Ryuhou. That was when Ryuhou heard it.

"AAHHHH!" Mimori had her head held towards the ceiling, eyebrows furrowed in pain as she hugged herself and fell to her knees. 'Is this what's been hitting Ryuhou continuously? And Zetsuei?' She thought to herself. The fire barrier that she had set up for Ryuhou was disappearing. Ryuhou fell onto the ground.

"Mimori!" Her father bent down. "Are you alright? We have to get you out of here!"

"No," Mimori protested, even though her voice was barely audible. She reached up with one hand and grabbed the rail. Using it for support, she shakily stood up. "I'm going to stay… by his side…" She said.

"C'mere, Princess…" He began to walk towards the staircase. Ryuhou weakly grabbed his ankle with both hands. Masuto looked down on him as if looking at an ant.

"Zetsuei… now!" Masuto motioned his hand downwards and Ryuhou was once again struck. Despite that, Ryuhou's grip actually tightened. "ZETSUEI!" He screamed with everything he had. Zetsuei advanced to Masuto and hit his stomach so hard that the force from it pushed Masuto into the wall near the staircase. Ryuhou grinned. "Heh…Baka…." However, Masuto stood up soon after recovering and, with one last bolt, Ryuhou's body shut down, and he passed out. 'Miri… I'm sorry…'

Masuto grinned and turned his attention from the fallen Ryuhou to the frightened Mimori. As he made his way up the stairs, Mr. Kiryu stood in front of his daughter with his arms outstretched. "What do you want with her?"

Masuto had made his way up the stairs and now glared at Mr. Kiryu. "If I wouldn't tell him, what makes you think I'd tell someone so weak as yourself!" He backhanded Mimori's father with electricity flying throughout his hand. The force not only sent Mr. Kiryu into the wall, but it successfully knocked him out. "Nowhere to run now."

'What do I do? I can't use Burning Tears, I don't have any energy left!' Mimori looked afraid. Masuto went to grab her hand, but she wasn't going to allow that. "Don't touch me!" She slapped his hand, and then she noticed that his hand sizzled.

"What is this?" Masuto asked himself aloud. His hand had burn marks where Mimori had slapped him. "You wench!"

"Back off!" She pushed him, and his clothes had holes where Mimori's hands had touched them. Mimori, too, looked at her hands. 'Why is it doing this? What's going on?'

"Look- PRINCESS," Masuto said angrily, grabbing her shoulders. He sent electrical jolts through her body, and her knees gave out. "You're COMING with ME!" He looked down and gulped nervously. 'Just gotta avoid those hands…"Mimori's eyes were glazed over, but her thoughts were still coherent.

'Touch his face…" She told herself. 'You've gotta touch his face…' Slowly, almost as if they weren't moving at all, her hands made their way up to his face, but he grabbed her wrists. She fell to her knees, only being held up by her wrists.

He sent another shock through her system, and her head slowly looked up at his. "Don't take me for a fool!" she stared at him blankly. He put her over his shoulder and began walking to the door. Someone on the other side of him, however, opened before he could.

"RYUHOU!" A blue haired girl shrieked. "ETERNAL DEVOTE!" Without a second thought, the girl put her hand through Masuto's stomach. The girl started breathing harder and lost her balance for a moment.

"MINORI!" A man with pink sunglasses averted his eyes to the motionless girl over Masuto's shoulders. The man ran and hit Masuto. Both he and Mimori fell and slid across the floor.

"Cougar! Watch what you're doing!" The girl said from Ryuhou's side. "Mimori fell too!"

"Sorry Scheris!" He scratched the back of his head.

"Don't apologize to ME!" Scheris yelled as she lifted Ryuhou to move him away from battle.

'Minori… sorry…' He looked to her. Her eyes were open, but he wasn't sure what she was looking at. In a strange way, she reminded him of how Ryuhou always used to look. He ran and picked her up. After moving her from battle, he instructed Scheris to stay with the two of them while he handled the Alter. "Heh, you must be pretty strong to have beaten Ryuhou!" Cougar smirked as he stretched. "This will be fun." After cracking his neck, his legs transformed. "Shocking first bullet!" He went down for the kick, but Masuto avoided it. 'He's doing very well, especially after Scheris used Eternal Devote on him!' After using his second bullet, Masuto still wasn't very damaged. Instead of trying to kick him, Cougar used his speed, but Masuto already had his Lightning Shower out. Although Cougar got 3 or 4 good hits in, Masuto used the time when Cougar was hitting him to gather one super powered jolt to shock. Cougar's glasses fell off and he fell to his knees.

"You know, you distractions are really getting on my nerves. Just why are you here anyway?"

Cougar smirked. "One of the guests called about a Native Alter, and we hurried over. Who would miss a chance to catch someone like you?"

"You will never catch me!" Masuto had had enough, he sent one bolt after another into Cougar, until he was worse off than Mimori. He, like Ryuhou, passed out. Masuto was breathing hard, but that didn't stop him. He turned around and looked at Scheris with maniacal eyes. "You're turn." He laughed. Scheris shook her head slowly, and grabbed both Ryuhou and Mimori. She kept backing up until she tripped over her own feet and dropped both of them. She was on her hands and feet and still continued to back up until she was against the wall, leaving Mimori and Ryuhou a few feet in front of her. He stepped over Ryuhou and Mimori and was ready to attack Scheris. That is, until someone grabbed his ankles. He stopped and looked down to see Mimori's blank eyes and her hands burning through his pants to his ankles. "You never learn, do you?" He picked her up by the arm and threw her to the ground. "If only I wasn't instructed to keep you alive," He whispered.

"MIMORI!" Scheris shrieked hysterically. Masuto turned around to find that Scheris was charging towards him, and that he couldn't move out of the way. She rammed into him, and he fell to the ground. She ran to Mimori and picked her up. 'I've got to get you out of here!' Lightning came down just where Scheris was about to step, so she stopped a second before it his and avoided it. She turned around to look at Masuto. "Stay back!" she yelled, trying to sound tough. "Stay away from us!" Again he moved his hand down, and a bolt charged through Scheris. She lost her balance and fell, along with Mimori.

Just as he was about to finish Scheris, the glass ceiling broke above them. "SHOCKING FIRST BULLET!" Masuto narrowed his eyes. He barely dodged it. "So you're Masuto?"

"And you are?"

"Name's Kazuma, don't forget it!" He looked over to Scheris and Cougar. 'Onii-san…' Kimishima opened the door and ran in. "take these two back to HOLY!"

"Wha?" Kimishima asked, completely shocked. "Help them? Why?"

"Just do it!" Kazuma spat.

"But… I can't leave Ryuhou!" Scheris protested. "And Mimori!"

"Let me worry about that! Get Cougar and leave! NOW!" Scheris reluctantly agreed, and Kimishima helped her get Cougar into the jeep.

"See ya at Kanami's!" Kimishima sighed and took off for HOLY.

"That man, that's Kimishima, right?" Masuto asked. Kazuma grunted.

"Who cares?"

"He is from the Lost Ground; does that mean you are too?"

"WHO CARES?" Kazuma was getting angry.

"Then why are we fighting? We are brothers! Why not work together?"

"I've got one brother, and you've already beaten him! You're really starting to tick me off!" He ran to Masuto and prepared to hit him when he was struck. His eyes widened. "So this is what you can do… good, but it won't stop me!"

"You seem pretty confident!" he laughed. "But as you can see, your odds aren't looking too good. I've already taken out everyone else. Except that one." He pointed to Mimori. "But even though she isn't knocked out, she can't do much."

Kazuma looked at the fallen Ryuhou, got angry, then looked at Mimori and got even angrier. "NOW I'M REALLY TICKED!" He hit Masuto with everything he had, maybe more. Masuto was knocked back and wiped the blood off of his lips.

"What do you care about them?"

"I could care less if it was anyone else. But it's not. It's him and her."

"But these are your enemies as well."

"No, HE is my enemy! Mine and ONLY mine! And she…. I owe her a lot. No one is going to be taking her anywhere! She's the only one in HOLY who doesn't deserve this!" He hit Masuto once again, and now he and Masuto were on the ground, Kazuma ceaselessly hitting Masuto without any mercy. Masuto sent the lightning bolts down, but Kazuma only laughed. "See, I'm not like others, you can shock me all you want, I REFUSE to be beaten!" He used his second bullet, and, unlike with Cougar's second one, this one hit its mark. Mimori had crawled her way to the fallen Masuto and grabbed his hands.

"GAHHHHH!" Masuto couldn't use his Lightning Shower anymore, and Kazuma knew it.

"ANNIHILATING LAST BULLET!" Masuto passed out. Between the burning, Ryuhou's, and Kazuma's attack, he had nothing left. Kazuma bent down to where he could see Mimori's face better. "He really got you, huh? It's okay now, you can rest." As if in recognition of his remark, she nodded smally and allowed her eyes to close. He picked her up and moved the shattered glass from the ceiling with his feet. He placed her in the middle of the room. He walked to Ryuhou and placed him in the middle of the room as well. He laid them down to where Mimori was laying on her back with her legs closer to the left side of the room while Ryuhou was next to her, on his back with his legs closer to the right side of the room. Their heads, however, were turned to where they were facing each other. It was like a mirror, with him on one side and her on the other.

Kazuma then walked up the stairs to the sleeping Mr. Kiryu and placed him on the floor, lying on his back so he'd be more comfortable. He picked up Masuto and left…

Later, HOLY's doorbell rang, and one of the HOLY members answered it. He opened the door to find no one, but when he looked down, saw an unknown Alter with a note that said 'A Gift'. The HOLY member looked confused, and dragged the sleeping man in as he headed to get the Commander…