Michiru: (setting out tray of rice balls for the party)"Nice job Fairy Mi, just in time for game night!"

Fairy Mi:(covered in rice) -- "I hate you…"

Miciru: "I know, but you can only blame yourself, after all you're the one who ate all the rice balls in the first place."

Fairy Mi: "…whatever, enjoy your party!" (storms off and starts typing up chapter 4)

Michiru: (shrugs and goes off to make more snacks for party)

Chapter 4 Shalem's Past Revealed

Ben walked up to Shalem's door and knocked lightly "Can I come in?" Shalem hastily wiped the tears from her eyes "Sure…"

Ben slowly pushed open the door and crossed the room and sat in the chair of Shalem's desk. Shalem looked over at him "So, whatda want?" Ben closed his eyes and opened them again "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, it just spilt out…I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, can you forgive me?"

Shalem smiled, happy for the apology, especially since apologies from Ben were rare "Yeah, I understand. I deserved yelling at, I disobeyed orders and got injured pretty badly because of it. I'll remember that next time." She hugged him and he sat surprised for a moment before hugging her back "So whadya say we go get some dinner, then I have something I wanna talk to you about."

Shalem nodded, wondering what he had planned but not daring to ask, last time she had asked he told her to forget and she lost the privilege of finding out what he had to show her. Ben laughed at the puzzled look on her face and stood up, turning to leave the room.

He glanced over his shoulder to look at her "Are you coming or not?" "Oh, yep!"she hopped out of bed and followed as he walked outside and into town"Oi, wait up!" "Well then hurry up!" she raced ahead of him "Can we go to that place I like so much? What was it called again?"

"You've been going to the same place for three years and you don't even know its name?" she shrugged "I don't pay attention to the name s'long as it has good food, I could care less!" He laughed and jogged to catch up to her "Yeah, we can go and it's called The Kiketsune Inn for future reference"

Shalem smiled "Kay, I got it." The pair stopped at a run down building and walked in to the hearty "Welcome!"s and "Hey!"s of the regulars and plopped down at the bar. The bartender came out of the back room and smiled at them "What can I get you two?" Shalem looked over at Ben who nodded and said "Two of the house specials please!"

The bartender nodded and called to the chef "Oi, Ryan I need two bowls of our specialty!" Ryan nodded "Got it, it'll be ready in a few minutes" The bartender turned back to Ben "You're not drinking tonight Master Cordeta?"

"No, not tonight there's a meeting later on and I told you , you don't have to address me like that, you can just call me Ben" " I know, but it feels better using your official title, after all you are the town hero" Shalem snorted" More like the town trouble maker. "Ben turned to her "You have no room to talk missy, you cause more trouble than I do."

Shalem laughed "So?" Ben rolled his eyes and propped his elbow on the table and resting his head on his paw as Ryan came out and set two bowls of steaming crab ragoon in front of Ben and Shalem along with some sweet and sour sauce "Eat up, oh and tonight it's on the house" he turned and walked back into the kitchens before Ben could object.

The bartender laughed "I'm surprised, you should be use to this by now Ben. You know as well as I do that at least twice a month he covers your bill." "Yeah, but why Tina? I've never figured that out" Tina shrugged "Guess he feels like he owes you for saving his kid that one time…" Ben shrugged himself and looked over at Shalem who had already eaten her bowl of crab ragoon and was staring at Ben's enviously.

Ben ate a few and then nudged the bowl in front of her "Here, you eat the rest I'm not hungry." Shalem blinked at him, thinking to herself "This is unusual, Ben loves crab ragoon and would usually fight me over it when I looked at his bowl like that. I wonder what's bugging him…" Ben looked over at her "Are you going to eat it or not?"

Shalem nodded and snatched up the bowl as Ben rolled his eyes again "Actually Tina I think I will have a drink. A glass of that peach wine and can you throw in a slice of your Kailua cake to go?" Tina nodded and went to the back to get his order as Shalem finished off the crab ragoon" "Thanks Ben, that was delicious!" Ben nodded and dug out his wallet, taking out the money for his order as Tina came back with a styrofoam cup and a paper bag, setting it on the bar.

"Here you go, that'll be fre-" Ben shook his head "I'll pay for it, I get too many free things from here" he set the money on the counter, picked up the cup and bag and walked off out of the inn, calling over his shoulder" "Oi, Shalem let's go!" Shalem slide out of her chair and looked back at Tina who looked a little confused herself.

"Master Cordeta sure is in a foul mood, I wonder what's bugging him..." Shalem shrugged, trying no to look guilty and ran off to follow Ben who was waiting impatiently outside. "Sorry Ben. So where are we going now?" Ben hesitated and thought to himself, "Is she ready to hear the truth about her past? I guess now's a good as time as any, 'cause if our enemies are as powerful as I think they are I might not get another chance to tell her…"

Shalem poked him to bring him out of his thoughts "Well?" Ben sighed "C'mon, follow me."

He walked off heading towards the woods and Shalem followed thinking "The woods? I wonder if we are going to those ruins we use to train at…and what is he in such a bad mood about? I know he usually is grumpy but this isn't like him…"she hurried after him and they stayed silent for the entire trip ,which took about two hours until, just as Shalem had thought they reached those familiar ruins.

Ben looked around and sat down on a piece of the once stair case and gestured for Shalem to join him. She hopped over and plopped herself down on the ground next to him, silent as she noticed the serious look on his face. Ben sat for a moment before speaking "I told you earlier I had something to tell you…it's very important so listen up."

Shalem nodded and watched him attentively as he cleared his throat and began to speak again "Where to start…hmmmm…you see these ruins?" he indicated the ruins around them and she nodded"Yeah, they're of some old castle that was destroyed eleven years ago right? "

Ben nodded "Yes, that's correct but now you need to know the truth about them." Shalem looked puzzled and looked around"These musty old ruins? What have they got to do with anything?" "A lot actually, they play a major role in your past."

Shalem's eyes widened "My past? But you said that the people who lived here before it was destroyed were royalty and everyone in the ruins were killed. How does this have anything to do with me?" "Well, not everyone died that day, one person happened to be out of the castle that day…that person…was you."

Shalem shook her head in disbelief "No way, are you serious?" Ben nodded and Shalem knew he wasn't joking around. "I hadn't told you before because I didn't think you were ready to hear it. I wanted to tell you before we went on the mission…it might be my last chance to let you know, if our opponents are as powerful as I think they are."

Shalem sat silently, thoughts racing as Ben continued "Your identity was hidden and few people know it, for your protection. So that the people who destroyed this place wouldn't come back to finish what they had started…I'm sorry I kept it from you but I didn't want to see you get hurt or killed because of that and I didn't want the whole village to find out and make life awkward for you."

Shalem nodded, still shocked "I understand…thanks for telling me now. Just... one thing." "Yeah?" "If it was eleven years ago you would've been just a kid right? How did you know all of this?"

Ben laughed a little "My grandfather…he witnessed the whole thing and the day he met you he knew who you were but he only told me. A few of the other villagers know but my grandfather made them swear to keep quiet about it and gave me the job of telling you when I felt that you were ready."

Shalem looked back towards town and shook her head "Well, that does explain a lot…" Ben smiled faintly and looked back towards the town also "You remember that whip I trained you to use?" Shalem looked over at him "Yes, what about it?"

Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out a coiled up whip and handed it to her. "A late birthday present. This belonged to your family and is now yours. Use it well and remember everything I taught you." Shalem took the whip and uncoiled it, looking at the crest on the handle it was a single symbol with a gryphon in the back ground. "Wow Ben…this is the best thing anyone has ever given to me." She hugged him before walking off, back towards town.

Ben sat a few moments, before taking a different path, towards the village council hall. He looked down at his watch and swore under his breath "Damn, I'm late…again. Grandpa's not gonna pleased, this makes the third time this week. I hope he's in a good mood today." He raced off towards town as a pair of brown eyes faded into the shadows and a dark figure climbed silently onto a hover board and rode off and out of sight.

End Chapter 4.

Michiru:(too busy playing video games with his friends to notice that the chapter has ended)

Fairy Mi:(sighs) "Guess I have to pick up the slack…(turns to readers) Thanks for following the story, if you have made it this far. We hope that you have enjoyed it, however I am sorry to say that the fifth chapter is still in progress and will need some time before it is ready to be put up. Please leave reviews and be patient as we work on the next chapter, you will be rewarded with Tina's famous bar food(which is amazingly good for being bar food) and of course cookies!"

Tina:(nods and bows)"Thank you Fairy Mi that was sweet of you to say." (tosses her a piece of toffee)

Fairy Mi:(chibi fan girl heart eyes and scream) "TOFFEE!!!!!" (snatches it and flies off with it giggling)

Tina: o.o…..(inches a few steps out of the room and breaks off into a run) "You people are CRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY!!!!" (runs away screaming)

Michiru:(looks around, shrugs and goes back to playing video games.)