It's still one Week late but here it come, The eighth Chapter of A Garden under the Moon,Yes , Here we are, The tournament start!

But first the usual reviews answers:

Rainy-Round , Caexah and guest : Thank you, I appreciate the support

Morli: Why cut it here ... Because I can^^. And it didn't fit in the preceding chapter. Chapter 8 and 9 are Saki's match, 10 are Hajime and Jun, and maybe a part of Touka. 11 is Touka and Koromo's entrance 12 and maybe 13 the End of the Team tournament . Then you have from 1 to 3 Chapter for the individual and the 2nd Arc is finished ( the first on was 1-7)

And yes , I still cn't get it on a once a month basis, I take a little more time due to my studies.

EXpertUS : Thank you for the review , I corected most of the eroro but don't hesitate to signal if you see some others.

Now onto the chapter

A disclaimer: I don't own Saki, I will always owe her.

A Garden under the Moon 8

Like Petals in the Wind

"Finally the day of the Final has come, be it sorrow or happiness, tears will flow today as only one of the teams will be able to continue toward the National. What type of battle will we see today? Whatever happen the match will now start," the voice of the commentator echoed in the building.

As she got up towards the main room Mihoko couldn't help but feel suspicious. Even after reading the records non-stop, she couldn't claim she knew her opponents enough to assure a victory.

She was vanguard and as such her role was to ready the field for her team, doubt shouldn't even be present in her heart but still here it was. She still couldn't help but think it was her fault that they had lost last year to Ryuumonbuchi.

This year she was sure they were ready, but Ryuumonbuchi had made a change in their roster and taken in a first year. And it was this unknown that would be facing her. Jun; she knew she could take on easily enough, but that girl was an unknown. What's more in her lone game she seemed like an ordinary defensive player. That, more than anything, was what troubled her. Why would someone like Ryuumonbuchi Touka had replaced such a good point gatherer like Jun for a Defensive player?

Most schools placed their aces in first. But due to Koromo's nature, Ryuumonbuchi had to place her in last, as an anchor. Were they counting on that girl to cushion their fall? That would mean her defensive play would be on par with an ace's power.

But that wasn't her lone problem, she also had to make do with that crazy fast first year from Kiyosumi. Where did that school was on the map she didn't know, but each of their players had shown great potential and they were backed up by the middle school champion. High school level was something else all together but you couldn't be too cautious around teams like that, out of nowhere.

Lastly there was Tsuruga. Also an unknown. One who had beaten last year's 3rd finisher fair and square without once losing their advantage. Here she was more worried for her team-mate as their strength seemed to concentrate in the last two players. Even so she couldn't her guard down.

As she entered the room for what might be her last time as a high school player, Mihoko looked toward the seat. She had arrived second. Tsuraga's player was already here.

"Good luck," Mihoko said as she took one of the three remaining tiles indicating which she would have.' North '

"Hm? A Good day to you too," The slightly pale girl said. Was she stressed? Of course she must be. Mihoko still remembered her first final two years ago.

Mihoko sat in front of the girl. Now they were waiting for the two first year . They didn't have to wait for long as the two girls soon passed the doors. First it was the girl from Ryuumonbuchi. Short brown hair, red eyes that sent chills down her spine even so the girl was bearing a joyful smile, the girl was a true mystery to her open eye.

Then entered the second, a girl even shorter than Kana who like her seemed to bear cat-like features. The girl ran to the table with a bag in her hand and passed Ryuumonbuchi's vanguard.

The moment she did, cold sweat ran down Mihoko's back, for less than a second she felt a sense of dread. When she looked back the little girl from Kiyosumi, she had fallen down, spilling the content of her bag on the ground.

"Wha! My Tacos. And it was my only one" the girl said as she stared at her former meal with tears in her eyes.

"You shouldn't have run," The girl from Ryuumonbuchi said, giving a hand toward the still grounded girl. The short one turned to her as if spooked. It was clear she had felt something as she passed the other girl. But she wasn't sure what.

"Hmmm," She reluctantly accepted the hand and got up, before quickly joining her at the table and seating to the East sit without even looking at the (effectively east) tile she had turned.

Seeing the girl brooding as the maintenance staff cleaned the now unrecognizable food Mihoko had an idea. "If you're hungry I can give you that," Mihoko said as she got her spare bento box out of her bag.

As she opened it the girl's eyes sparked. 'Hehe, look like she really was hungry,' Mihoko thought as the cat-like girl ate with enthusiasm.

"We will begin shortly, please get ready." The judge said as the last girl had already joined her and sat without Mihoko noticing. As she heard the shamble of the tiles inside the table Mihoko was sure that the most dangerous was this one.

...

"Will we even need to play?" Jun asked back in Ryuumonbuchi private room. They had seen the little midget's reaction to Saki. There was no one there able to rival her.

"Jun, don't be like that. You know that I asked her to stay on the defensive. I even bound her shoes and her feet," Touka said scandalized as if her friend would doubt her.

"Sorry Jun, look like you can't sleep yet," Hajime said as she crossed her arm behind her back.

"Yeah I know, you said the same thing yesterday, and yet remember what happened?" Jun said sarcastically.

"Well, she wasn't the one to finish the match before I could even play." Touka tried to defend her latest family member.

"Right, I did. Touka, I really like the kid but you must admit that when it comes to mahjong she has even more screws loose than Koromo on a full moon. You had to ask her to lose on purpose yesterday. And she got a +/-0 second place." Jun deadpanned

"Too strong," Tomoki noted as she was typing on her computer.

"Exactly. And I believed that was why you put her in Vanguard. Why hold her back?" Jun asked one more.

"Touka thinks it's too early for that. She wants it to be a big effect for the National." Hajime answered in the place of her mistress.

"Exactly. She is far too bright to truly shine in this little region." She opened her arm like she wanted to take in the whole world. "And I want to be able to show off a little before too," Touka admitted, letting her arms fall delicately to the sofa she was sharing.

"Still that obsession with Nodochi, right?" It wasn't a question. And Touka knew that.

"Eh! We all should take the glory where we can. Once the National starts it will mainly be the young one's show," Touka looked down on her laps where Koromo was sleeping. Unusually she had decided to stay inside the room to see Saki playing. But as soon as Saki had gotten out she had fallen asleep.

"I hope not. We still are good for something," Jun said as she too look tenderly toward the older, yet more childish girl. "And you can be as scary as them when you want."

"I would prefer not to." Touka reminded her.

"Me either" Hajime mumbled. None of them really liked to see Touka in that state apart from her cousin. Even Saki found herself feeling guilty each time she induced the reaction. However they had agreed that it could be a necessary evil.

"Well, with those two I don't think you'll need to use that today at least" Jun laid backward, looking back to the TV. It was featuring Saki's hand and as usual they didn't know what to make of it. "Looks like she really was holding back at least."

...

Yuuki was on a roll. Her hand were not as high as they usually would, Topping with one mangan tsumo on her very first hand followed by a meager 2 han ron on the Tsuruga girl and another tsumo but it was still great.

She couldn't ask more for a taco though. At first she had been disheartened to lose her Tacos but the eerie girl was right she shouldn't have run. Buchou had told her to be cautious around her and the Kazekoshi's ace but apart from not being able to strike them directly she hadn't felt any danger since the start. Maybe she was just that good.

Now on the ninth turn of the East 1's Third repeat, her hand was finally forming. Tako-san was no Tacos after all. But with this one she would definitively ran away. 3 Way wait closed Dot Honitsu with a double east, and one of those wait gave her an Iitsu. Counting the Dora she had at least a haneman on her hand. But she wanted more.

"Richii" She called full of confidence, throwing the two of bamboo that could have been useful but didn't in the end.

"Pon," The girl from Ryuumonbuchi called, taking her tile and changing the draw order. It was the first time the girl had made a move. 'There goes my Iipatsu' She thought as the girl discarded a useless tile.

The girl from Kazekoshi took a little time to make her choice before discarding the same tile. ' Playing it safe I suppose.'

Yuuki picked up the next tile. She couldn't believe it. 'Tough luck I guess,' In her hand was the last 2 Bamboo 'But that's more buchou stick'

She discarded it without an afterthought.

"Ron," The Ryuumonbuchi girl said in a shy voice. "Sha 2 Dora 5200 with round bonus , 6100"

"Nyo.. Hai," Yuuki slumped down, giving the point away. On one hand she had taken back all the point she had taken away from her and then some. Nodo-chan was right. She tended to let her feeling get the better of her. She could have avoided that.

Even so, she was still first and the East round was still underway, she wouldn't let that stop her. It always happened back in the club so it's normal if it happened here.

As Yuuki pondered, the Second East began.

It was a normal hand for her standard during East's rounds. (14 Red5 Dot , 458 Bamboo, 246 Character, Two hatsu, Pei, Ton) But if she wanted to do something she would probably have to call. There was no way she could call another richii in this match without her full taco power.

First she discarded the one Dot when a 6 Bamboo came. Then was the a 3 Dot, making her discard the Ton.

On that same turn, two other ton fell on the table before the nice looking girl from Kazekoshi dropped a Haku which was called by the girl from Tsuruga, passing her turn.

"Pon"

Yuuki gritted her teeth, she hated when people started to call, even if that one made sense. Worse was it didn't stop there as the after the next turn which she picked and discard a 9 dot this one was also called by Tsuruga.

"Pon."

Yuuki feared that it would continue but two turns passed without anyone moving and she was able to add a 7 Bamboo, making her discard the 2 character. She still had the hope of getting a sanshoku, and wanted to conserve the Pei as an almost safe tile. The eerie girl had just discarded one and no one yet was looking like they had a tenpai.

"Pon" once more the one who called was Tsuruga. She seemed like the calm type usually, But with the point she had lost and the fact she was dealer Yuuki guessed she was tempting her chance.

The problem was that this girl was almost as expressionless as Nodo-chan. Yuuki was not that good at reading the game yet so she had to take it that she could be tenpai now.

However, Yuuki smiled when she saw the tile Kazekoshi had discarded. "It's my turn now, Chi." Yuuki said as she took the 6 Dot, Discarding the Pei she knew was safe.

Just after Tsuruga discarded the Hatsu she had just draw. " Pon" Yuuki said energetically discarding the 3 Dot. If she wanted to make it safe she too had to take a risk, Yuuki remembered. And the Wind was still with her.

Three turn latter she was done. "Tsumo, Hatsu, Sanshoku, Dora dora Mangan. 2000/4000 D'jey!" She shouted with happiness as she took the Red 5 Character on the table.

"..Ha..Hai," The girl from Tsuruga said with the frown as she gave up her Point.

"Hai," The two other followed.

If she could have seen the screens, Yuuki would have seen that her three other winning tiles where in her opponents hands as well as the other 4, 7 and 8 bamboo. and none would have left their place.

...

'That little one is lucky,' Mihoko thought as she took her tile for the following Third East hand. 'And she know how to play. From what I've seen so far she could have made it in the top 15 at our school.

Nevertheless, I'm Kazekoshi's Captain, and I believe it's time I do something ' She put her last tile in place. 5 Hand had passed and she did nothing but maybe gauge the field while she let the two first year of the game take the lead.

[Kiyosumi 121 600 ,Ryuumonbuchi 103 600, Kazekoshi 96 500 , Tsuruga 78 300.]

She still didn't know fully what her opponent where able to do but it was about time she react a little more or she would fail her role. Still she had a bad felling from the new girl from Ryuumonbuchi. Something wasn't right about her. And she didn't mean about the chain on her feet, she had already saw with both Kuniiro Hajime and Amae Koromo that this school seemed to have a fetish for that.

As the hand passed Mihoko's certainty about it wavered. To subtly hold at bay the energetic girl from Kiyosumi, Mihoko had to lower her hand a little so that she didn't deal in that crazy fast hand, but even so it was her turn as a dealer she couldn't pick up anything from Ryuumonbuchi. She knew the girl was a defensive player, but to let go of her first dealer turn so quickly was just unnatural.

Not that it really bothered her in the end as she managed to finish her hand on a 6400 direct hit on Kiyosumi by Honitsu, Chun after calling out a 2 Dot from Ryuumonbuchi.

And all of that on the 5 she could have gone for a concealed Honitsu with the possibility of San-ankou, or maybe Chinitsu if she had waited. It was after all the style that their coach preferred. To not hesitate for going hard. But the opportunity arose and she felt she had to follow or she would regret it.

Next came her turn as a dealer, and she wouldn't let it pass. Her draws where good too, giving her numerous possibility. However it would have been hard to get any limit hand so she settled for a fast MenPin Tsumo. She had hoped for an Ura-Dora but none came.

Even so she was at least getting in her rhythm. She knew how to hide in the flow but those two first years had it weaved around their fingers, until now that is.

Now it was her dealership repeat and she wouldn't let it pass, not with such good-looking draws.

Five turn into the hand she was already iishanten for a San-ankou, with a double-ton and three of the dora. With that she could cause an upset. But she was not the only one. Even so she could not say exactly what they where waiting on she could read her opponents discards.

And the story they told were not good for her. Each of them had good sign of having as much luck as her.

"Richii" the girl from Tsuruga declared when her turn came as she discarded yet another Character. It was a risky move but she had no choice Mihoko agreed.

"Chi" The girl from Kiyosumi called, taking the 7 Character she had it to her 89 . 'As I thought, either it's a Honitsu or, more Likely a (Jun)Chanta(nyao), maybe both.'

In fact Mihoko could see that there was no possibility that she was going for an Sanshoku from the discard, as for the Iitsu, she had three of the 3 Character and the fourth one had already been discarded By Tsuruga.

But with the fourth Dora now in localized the girl was going for a 3 han hand and she had to get her tile now. Mihoko thought as she drew.

And she got it, the lacking 2 dot making her hand , three Ton, 333, 888 Character, 123 red5 Dot once she had discarded the 6 Dot she was hanging onto. Yet , not wanting to be trapped in the condition the game was in she didn't call for richii, she didn't need to.

"Kan" she heard the girl left call softly as a hand swiftly took the six from her discard. Looking at the quartet Mihoko thought about what she could have over looked. Ryuumonbuchi had only discarded central tiles from the start, why would she call a Kan from it now, after a Character's terminal Chi.

'She couldn't be going for a Rinshan ... right?' For some reason Mihoko couldn't help but fear she would. Even so, from her call it would mean she had waited for exactly that.

To her great solace, No Rinshan came and she was able to draw anew. Still a little paranoid, she feared what tile she had but it was a totally safe Sha which she discarded without any fear.

However she still couldn't get why that girl who clearly knew the game would have made a kan here. The only reason she could find was if she wanted to change the flow, like her predecessor did. But it still didn't gave any sense to the hand she had.

" Tsumo" The same voice came again while Mihoko had been lost in thought. The blonde turned her head and understood what she had forgotten.

" Sanchoku Douku, 2 Dora, Mangan." The brown-hair girl declared her hand while Mihoko admonished herself. How could she forget the Douku. It's a classic when misleading people. "4100/ 2100."

Then she saw the winning tile, the second red 5 Dot. Suddenly Mihoko started to think. 'That's My winning tile. Without that kan I would've won with that. .. And If she had call a Pon she would have been forced to discard tha... No! She wouldn't have even drawn the first 5 Dot.' Mihoko shivered as her open eye passed from hers to Miyanaga's hand. The shock was almost enough for her to open her second eyes.

That Girl was to be feared, at least at the same level as Ryuumonbuchi Touka. As she gave her point away she could see the two others hadn't understood yet.

...

And unknown to either of them, Miyanaga Saki smiled for the first time in this game.

As they entered the second half of the Hanchan, Mutsuki looked at the score.

[Kiyosumi 111 100 ,Ryuumonbuchi 109 900, Kazekoshi 104 800 , Tsuruga 74 200.]

Was it really only the first hanchan?

She already felt as tired after a full afternoon passed with her clubmates. Not that she didn't like them, But they were such colorful person compared to her that they left her empty at the end of the day.

Yet, they had managed to get to the final. Something she had honestly never envisaged. She had just gotten along with the flow, dragged by the Yumi's eager spirit.

She had managed to get them some points in their two preceding matches. But here she felt as if the level was ten time higher. If she looked at it with a critic eyes it was a standard game with qualified players, and she just hadn't a lot of luck until now. She hadn't even made any real error until now from a strategic point of view. Nevertheless she was being plown down.

Had it been a standard individual match she would already be under Zero. She was not the ace of here team, far from it. After all they only had five members and had to fight to get that fifth. But she still believed herself to be good and took pride in that. So how could she lose so easily?

No she wouldn't, she thought as the hand was under way. She couldn't believe she had even thought of stepping down. Even if she could not take first place she would not become a handicap to her team. Yumi-sempai and the other had worked to hard for that. She had even taken a good part of the night to gave them a survey of their opponent. If she wanted to be on those cards one day she had to get better, and it had to start here.

And now that she though about it, she remembered something Yumi had said about the little girl from Kiyosumi. When South came, she was more prone to mistakes and never won any high hand. Well at least it was what she had managed to gather from those two match yesterday as that school was full of unknown apart from their Vice-captain.

But here that was not the problem. Now was the time to use what she had learned about targeting one specific opponent. From her discards she could see the girl was still trying even through her weakness. But seeing it was already the 9th turn she would most likely fold if she did not reach tenpai soon.

At least it was what Mutsuki would do. But it was a tournament, and the girl was to proud to let her 1st place go so easily, which it would if Ryumonbuchi had a Tenpai at the end. And that was more than likely as the girl at until now showed a flawless defense, rivaling that of Kazekoshi's Captain.

As for that one she would also get in tenpai if she did not win that hand. She couldn't remember any time in the record Yumi had given her when that one had not gotten into tenpai when the game reach its end. And if it happened it was because she had drawn her opponents wining tile. That one was still holding back, that Mutsuki was sure of.

But for now the three of them were in a defensive position, and even if she had to save point so that Kaori wouldn't loose them with a beginner mistake, she really did not have anything to lose with the gap she already was in.

"Ch..

"Pon," Ryumonbuchi called out of Kiyosumi's 3 as Mutsuki was about to do the same for her 45 dot meld Which would have put her in tenpai. ' shiii... It would have bean cheap but I really need to get that hand.' She even asked herself if she was mocking her when she discarded the Five Red Bamboo which would have been really useful for her.

Then, when Kazekoshi called on that same discard, Mutsuki almost bitted her lips. "Pon"

However, when her turn came again she had completely changed her opinion. She had gotten the last 6 Dot, giving her the higher waits she could expect as her hand was now like this.( 456 456 Dot, Three Nan, 46777 Bamboo ), Without any Dora to her name she had to choose between a 3 way wait and two isolated one.

"Richii" she called. Discarding her chosen tile. It was probably a bad choice to call richii on that wait. And if she lost she would excuse herself to her team. But this was not a normal game, and she had to make bold choice if she wanted to win.

The next discard from Ryuumonbuchi was the one she would have won one if she had made the other choice and she could almost heard the crow outside calling her out on her bad choice.

Kazekoshi's choice of discard was the same and even she started to call herself stupid. Yet she didn't get to lay on it for long as Kiyosumi's vanguard proved that the South game really wasn't her thing, discarding her draw.

"Ron, Richi, Iipatsu, Double-Nan, Iipeiko, Ura.. Nachi." She said as she extend her arm. "8000"

Mutsuki heard the little girl muttered something as she gave her the point. She was still last, but Now she wasn't Yakitori, which was good for her self-confidence. Now if she could continue on her dealer turn this would be perfect.

...

"Rahhhhh! What is she doing? She wasn't supposed to get first. Not that I complain but it's too early!" Ryumonbuchi Touka shouted in their room.

"Well it wasn't her fault. That girl From Kiyosumi did make a dumb mistake" Hajime said as she tried to reassure her friend.

"Yep, she was going alright until now, but that..." Jun followed, a little disappointed by the shrimp's performance, even if she didn't know her at all.

"This is Saki we are talking about. Even when she don't do anything, she is messing with our hand." Touka pouted as she sat back on her sofa, having left Koromo on Tomoki's lap.

"Well... yes. It's when she won't do anything that she is the scariest," Jun acknowledged

"That's also a good thing, Look, she is rarely that active with us without whipping the floor." Hajime noted.

"I know. She is protecting us well. But she might destroy my Big reveal if she go out like that," Touka muttered loudly.

"Koromo is sleeping." Tomoki noted, prompting everyone to look at the angelic face they knew could be quite scary.

"... I guess it"s all good then." Jun said, relaxing back.

"She does have those chain still on," Hajime sighed, touching her own wrist.

Touka looked at the both of them before going back to Koromo and them to the TV, where she could see the current game. Once more it didn't look like Saki was going for the win, even if she could. In fact her game looked like when she had first saw her play , apart that she was smiling.

"Well I guess that as long as she liked it. And it's not like we can really do anything," Touka said as she took back Koromo on her lap, letting Tomoki reopen her notebook.

...

" Tsumo, 300/500" The soft voice of Saki echoed in the hall, announcing the End of the First Hanchan.

She had done like Touka had asked. It had been a little hard at first, adjusting to the pressure as well as getting to know those player who were at least good enough to not completely get crushed against her 6-year-old self.

And with the limitation she had put on herself she had almost slipped up. If she had been let go unchained she would have sunk Tsuruga to Zero she knew. But the other two were fun to play. The little girl from Kiyosumi, she felt that she could probably make a friend out of her in other circumstances, and she was sure that with a little training and focus she could give as good of a match as Touka. Maybe next year.

As for Kazekoshi's captain Saki could feel she was still holding back some, and if she had her world to say she would force her to show it as long as it wasn't harmful for her. But the blonde girl didn't seem to have the same condition Touka had. and if push came to shove she would just break her bonds.

But for now she Had five minutes to wait. She could go back in the waiting room but didn't feel like it. Too much risk on getting lost when she got back here, and Koromo was still asleep. She had already gotten to the toilet before playing so she just had to wait. The only thing to do was remain seated here. Good thing she had taken a book for that.

As she got it from her dress' pocket she looked at the score.

[Kiyosumi 99 500, Ryuumonbuchi 105 400, Kazekoshi 118 400 , Tsuruga 76 700.]

The level was there yet she could feel it, The national would be plenty of fun. As long as she didn't forget herself.

That was what she was really afraid of, forgetting herself and show the ones she had started to call friends that side of her they already knew. She knew they wouldn't chase her away, Koromo wouldn't let them. But each time she let herself go she could then see the fright in their eyes and she started to doubt.

For most of all, she didn't want to lose her new makeshift family

...

Until next time

Thank you for reading.

Thank to nightsentinel for the Beta

Please review. They really do help boost my mood, even the critic.

Fragment of Ring