I'm back after 2 weeks of procrastination vacation. I apologize for the 2 weeks delay, but it payed off because this is my longest chapter yet. Read it now!

Golden Days of Love

Chapter 5

Jenna scrambled down the hills in a quick huff. She could not have been more relieved to leave that table. She couldn't even figure out why she was paranoid about Feizhi's sudden appearance, but she did know why she was irritated.

How dare she! How dare she do that in front of me and my friends! Our friends! And he didn't even react to it, as if it were nothing! She totally flirted with him and he did nothing, said nothing; just wrote it off like it was nothing. What nerve! The both of them!

Doesn't she know what a mistake that was? Doesn't she know why I gave her such nasty looks? I know she saw them; our eyes met for less than a second, but I saw her anxiety and my own intimidation mirrored in the reflection of her eyes.

Does she even know that Isaac is with me? Maybe Isaac didn't tell her… But then why wouldn't he do that? The last time he saw her, I wasn't around and…Xian… We weren't even together at the time. So, maybe she really doesn't know…

Jenna stepped over a small, muddy depression in the ground and kept on walking through the sea of yellow-green grass. A startling thought popped into her head.

Wait a minute, Isaac had met her when I wasn't around…when we weren't together …Did he…and her…oh my Sol! They were together! They were together in Xian! And that's why she's here now. She wants him back!

A terrible image came to Jenna's mind of Isaac and Feizhi staring each other in the eyes and slowly pressing their lips together…

Jenna halted in her qualm. Her mouth was slightly agape and her eyes stared off into the distance with shocked revelation. Her heart pounded, almost painfully, against her chest as if she just ran 12 leagues without stopping. Her breath was coming short and she felt like she was about to scream…or faint…

They were together…it's the only explanation. Warm tears began to well up in her eyes, total dismay wracked her being, and she stood in the field frozen, motionless. The tears blurred her vision and threatened to overflow when another thought came to fruition.

Wait a minute; even if they were together back then, they aren't now. We are. And we love each other. That's that. Feizhi will just have to accept that. But then why didn't Isaac introduce me as his girlfriend…?

The tears remained on the verge of spilling, but didn't. Instead, Jenna blinked them away. Her analysis was incomplete; Jenna did not have enough information and would only be jumping to conclusions at this point. So, there was no need to cry over something that was merely conjured up by an over-active imagination…not yet at least. Jenna would have to talk to Isaac and hopefully quell her paranoia later on.

She started walking again. The sun shined with a slight gray tint and a breeze messed with Jenna's hair causing it to fall over her face. No hand came up to brush it aside though for she was lost in thought.

Isaac would tell her what she wanted to hear: the truth. And it wouldn't be bad at all. It couldn't be bad, it just couldn't. And then everything would be all right. Nothing would change, nothing would be disturbed, their relationship would not be disrupted and everything would be just fine…

That's what Jenna told herself anyway. She hated to think of what might happen if Isaac told her the truth and it wasn't what she hoped to hear. Like, that he and Feizhi were actually together and have been the entire time; and the relationship that Jenna and Isaac were in was a big lie; and the deep feelings that Jenna had for Isaac would go to waste; and Jenna would end up alone for the rest of her life because Isaac was the only one she truly felt comfortable with and trusted with handling her powerful and complex emotions.

She didn't know what she would do…if she lost Isaac…

Oh, why did Feizhi have to come? Why must I even feel this way? Am I just being foolish? I must be. Isaac loves me and I love him, we love each other. So, what's to worry about…?

But that was just it. There was a lot to worry about. She didn't know what it was exactly, but she knew there was something wrong; she just couldn't quite wrap her mind around it.

It's gotta be Feizhi; I'm worried about her coming here, and how she talked to Isaac and how he responded to her. He was smiling so much around her. Why? Something just seems so wrong here… They must have been together, they must have.

Her mind was going in loops now. Jenna's delusional questions were not finding answers and so her paranoia was going the only route that it could: backwards.

It's the only possible explanation. That's why I feel so weird, why this whole situation feels weird.

And now it was a situation.

This Feizhi situation…

A 'Feizhi situation'.

But, even if they were together, that doesn't mean they'll get back together…does it? I mean, Isaac and me, we're in love aren't we? Yes of course we are! Don't be silly! You love him and he loves you.

More loops, and possibly a splitting personality.

And there's nothing anyone can do to change that, not even Feizhi… Still… I do hope that they weren't together back then...

She hoped beyond hope.

And to be honest, I doubt they were…

What she doubted was that doubt. The image of Isaac and Feizhi kissing flashed through her head again… And again… And again… Over and over, that horrible vision repeated itself. Jenna couldn't control it, it just kept circling in her mind. She felt like she was about to scream again. No. She felt like she was going to explode!

And just when she really was about to scream, a hand rested gently upon her shoulder snapping her out of her thoughts and siphoning away the urge to scream. The scene immediately vanished from her mind and she quickly turned to see who was with her. There was Ivan's violet eyes looking slightly up at her expectantly.

"Hi Jenna!" he said cheerfully.

"Uh, hi Ivan. What are you doing here?"

"Heh, silly. Don't you remember? We're here to watch Isaac and Felix spar."

"We are? But we're not even at the sparring ring."

"Yes we are…" Ivan pointed behind Jenna. She followed his finger and there it was: the sparring ring. Jenna looked puzzled.

I must have been so deep in thought that I didn't even realize that I got here. …Heheh…

"You okay Jenna?" Ivan asked.

"Wha- yeah! Sure! I'm okay, great even!" Ivan gave her a suspicious look. "Hey, don't you dare read my mind."

"I don't have to, to know something's up. So…want to talk about it?" For a moment, Jenna seriously considered telling Ivan all her paranoid thoughts and how much she hated Feizhi right now. She mentally shook her head though, disagreeing with the idea.

It would be best not to tell him, I think. I don't want to freak him out; I mean there is no way he could possibly understand what's going on, how I feel. And besides, he might go tell Isaac or somebody and I don't want anyone knowing about these thoughts of mine just yet, especially Isaac. I could be wrong, and telling someone might just make a huge mess of things.

"No, that's okay. There's nothing to talk about anyway," she lied. She turned away from the short blond and went to lean on the low fence on the perimeter of the small arena. Her eyes stared lazily at the floor of the sparring ring.

They're used to be grass there, and lots of trees. However, from the lumbering and construction that had occurred at the beginning of the rebuilding, the grass was trampled and squashed until it died. According to Felix, the grass had "decided" to grow somewhere more hospitable. So, the ground was left a tiny dust bowl, with dirt that was sandy and grainy; unfit for anything to grow proper.

Then one day, Felix began whipping Isaac with a stick and Isaac picked up another stick and they just began dueling right then and there…with sticks, so it didn't last too long. After the lumbering moved onto other parts of the countryside, Felix came back, put up a fence and dubbed it the 'Sparring Ring'.

Jenna let her eyes wander from a pebble to a shaded patch of dirt to a leaf falling from a tree. Jenna watched the leaf spin and fall until it reached its inevitable destination on the barren ground.

She then stared up at the sparse trees surrounding the sparring ring rocking in the light breezes as Ivan leaned on the fence next to her. She ignored his presence not particularly in the mood for talking and socializing.

Her thoughts weren't going anywhere and she really didn't want them to. She felt totally blank and void of feeling, like an unused sheet of parchment. The only thoughts that did bubble up were of Isaac and Feizhi, but she didn't want to think of them anymore. She wanted answers yes, but to keep on dwelling on her questions and…them…would only lead to more panic attacks and get her nowhere. So, she remained spacey, finding it better to not think at all.

Of course, the more 'blank' she was, the more she couldn't ignore Ivan. Despite his small stature, Ivan's presence loomed in her mind as if he were some large entity that was foreign to her thoughts. She glanced over at the boy to see what he was up to. As she laid eyes on his dirty-blond hair, Jenna could have sworn she saw him dart his eyes away as if to hide the fact that he was ogling her.

This raised a tiny, miniscule thought in her mind that filled in the emptiness and even replaced her other nagging thoughts for a moment. But she dismissed it as nothing and went back to being blank…sort of.

She kept Ivan's head in the peripheral of her vision and watched him. Another moment went by and she saw his head turn ever so slightly. The tiny, ignored thought that had arisen, arose again and nearly sent off a thought landslide. But again, Jenna decided to ignore it, not wanting to indulge it. She didn't want to give her mind more wacky things to contemplate and jump to conclusions about.

"Ivan," Jenna suddenly said. She kept looking forward trying to appear aloof. Ivan nearly jumped at her voice. His face turned a bright shade of red and he turned away from Jenna so she wouldn't see. "Where's everyone else? I thought they were coming."

"Oh, they're coming. But they were chatting with Feizhi when I left, so they might take a moment." Jenna's previous thoughts about Feizhi erupted for a split second in her mind. She felt a sickening rush wash through her stomach with lightning speed. Anger, jealousy, frustration, all of it at once for a brief moment and then gone.

"Oh, I see. So, then they'll be here soon." It wasn't really a question.

"I should think so, yeah." And it went back to silence, save for the rustling of the trees. Another moment passed by… and another… Jenna stared upward into the sky above the sparring ring. What was blue about an hour ago when they began eating was now white-washed with a thin overcast; grayish white clouds drifted against the overcast like wet wads of cotton on more wads of cotton.

The silence was beginning to wear on Jenna. Being in such close proximity with someone -even though he was a close friend- and not talking was starting to feel rather awkward. Jenna contemplated idly walking around or even leaving, but before she could make up her mind, she heard voices come from behind her. Jenna was actually a little happy for her friends breaking that slightly awkward silence, but then she saw Feizhi amongst them, her friends, and was immediately back in her pouty, brooding mood.

Ivan turned to face them, but as he did, his eyes lingered over Jenna for a split second longer than would have been necessary. Once again, the thought arose and then was subsequently shoved away; she didn't need more to think about than she already had.

"Hey, there you guys are," Ivan said as if they had gotten lost. "We were just waiting for you guys to show up."

"Yes I'm sure you were," Sheba said. "And you were probably giving Jenna mental kissies again werntchya?" She smiled like a cat directly at Ivan and his face went red again.

"Shut-up Sheba!" he hissed. He was actually red with frustration this time and he looked ready to pounce on Sheba if she said another word. Sheba however, was not intimidated and continued to smile like an evil kitty.

"So when are they gonna show up?" Garet asked. "I wanna get this over with."

"I thought you liked watching Isaac and Felix spar?" Ivan queried.

"I do…well…no, I used to, when seeing those two go at it was exciting; none of us really knew who would beat the other. But after the 5oth time it was obvious that Felix was the better fighter; Isaac never won. So, I lost interest, and I doubt this time will be any different."

"Well I think this time will be different," Feizhi chirped up. Jenna felt her stomach jerk at the sound of her voice. Her eye twitched in rapidly growing annoyance.

"What makes you so sure?" Garet asked with skepticism lining his tone.

"I don't know, but this time will be different. You'll see." Feizhi assured. Jenna rolled her eyes at Feizhi's blind admiration for someone she barely knew; someone that Jenna did know very well. Feizhi acting like she had known Isaac her whole life was only deepening Jenna's irritation. She really just wanted smack Feizhi across the face and yell at her that Isaac was her boyfriend and that she was barking up the wrong tree.

In fact, why couldn't she just do that…? Maybe Isaac was trying to be polite and not break her heart so abruptly. Jenna could understand that; Feizhi still annoyed her to no end though.

But what if it isn't that? Jenna's mind began to seep back into panic mode. Her thoughts flitted hurriedly through all the nasty information and terrible theories that she thought up just recently. She stopped herself from spilling into a panic attack again however, before her dread became any worse. Taking a deep breath, Jenna situated herself apart from her friends and looked up at the sky to calm her senses.

The clouds drifted by, the breezes continued to blow through the tree branches; moments went by rather silently save for the Adept's idle talking. Jenna remained silent and preoccupied with keeping her emotions under control. Engaging in conversation might only open her up to start trashing Feizhi to her face and then burning her in an inferno of complete and utter annihilation.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Jenna saw Felix run from over the fields with Isaac close behind him. Both of them had they're wooden swords tucked in their belts. They were both wearing the more rugged clothing that they used for this kind of occasion. Felix came to the fence and flipped over it with graceful ease. Isaac came to the fence and merely vaulted over it with equal ability.

"It's about friggin time!" Garet complained. Isaac gave him a small grin. Jenna and the other Adepts gathered on the fence and silently watched as Isaac and Felix readied themselves for the match. As Isaac walked to the left side of the sparing ring, he spun his hands upon his wrists. His rotating hands drew the dusty dirt on the ground to them and he rubbed the dirt into his palms to give himself better grip. Felix did the same while also skimming around the ring on the dirt as a small show of his powers of the earth.

"Remember: no Psynergy," Felix warned. Isaac nodded to him in compliance.

The Venusians came to the near center of the ring and unsheathed their wooden swords. Twirling there swords in their hands they came to the center of the ring and took stances. Neither moved for what seemed like an absurd amount of time as they stared each other down gauging the other's possible first action. Jenna really wanted them to start fighting already so that she could have something to preoccupy her mind.

"Well? Should I make the first move or what?" Isaac asked. As soon as he said that Felix launched himself at Isaac, wooden sword raised over his head. Isaac parried his downward swipe and retaliated with a horizontal swing at Felix's side. Felix had recovered from the parry and blocked Isaac's attack with his sword and then swung around at Isaac's feet. Isaac hopped to the side over it and came back swinging down at Felix, who had rotated completely around and brought his sword up stopping Isaac's weapon from landing on the other's shoulder. The wooden swords clanked against each other with sharp thwacks.

Cheers erupted from their friends on the sidelines. They weren't cheering for anyone in particular, they were just cheering to urge on the fight. Of course, Jenna wasn't cheering, but rather brooding and watching silently.

The two fighters pushed off each other, but Felix stepped forward with a thrusting stab. Isaac spun out of the way and landed a resounding smack across Felix's upper back sending him sprawling to the ground. Felix was not dazed from it however; on the ground he rolled onto his back and spun his legs around to set himself into a kneeling position. Felix switched his stance up as he rose to his feet; he flipped his sword backward so that it pointed behind him, not toward Isaac. Isaac tilted his head at the strange stance. To Jenna, it looked odd and cumbersome for a sword to be held like that and yet Felix used it every time he fought with Isaac.

"Using that stance, eh?" Isaac queried. Felix's normally dead-pan expression was betrayed by a slight smirk. He then stepped to Isaac, but did nothing that Isaac expected. Felix immediately launched his body into the air rapidly barreling horizontally and brandishing his sword at an angle that Isaac couldn't see coming. Felix's weapon hit Isaac square in the chest and the wind was knocked out of him. He didn't have time to recover as Felix did a side flip and attacked again with crazy spins that Isaac always found hard to retaliate against.

Isaac did his best to block, parry and dodge, but all Isaac could really defend was his head and chest. Felix connected many hits to Isaac's arms, shoulders, hips and thighs. He eventually let up his assault to get a quick breather which allowed Isaac a brief lapse for his battered body. Isaac decided to switch his own stance to try and even the match. He alternated his own sword backward like Felix had done, but took a different stance that had his arm up by his chest with the tip of his elbow and the sword pointing directly at Felix.

Felix swung at Isaac's temple but Isaac ducked and the sword zipped over his cranium. Isaac quickly swung his right calf around into Felix's right ankle. Felix's leg flew upward -his balance severed- and his back smacked the dusty ground. Felix however, recovered with Ukemi and rolled himself back to his feet as soon as he hit the dirt. Isaac was ready though; he flung his feet and legs forward sending high-flying roundhouse kicks at Felix. Felix bent his knees to dodge one kick and twirled to the side to dodge another one.

As Isaac was about to land a roundhouse kick in Felix's face, he leaned backwards permitting Isaac's foot to just skim his nose. Isaac kept his momentum, whirling around with his leg and bending down to try tripping Felix again. Felix saw this coming and cart-wheeled backwards to avoid the blow. Felix then came back with a series of sidewinder kicks. Isaac deflected a few and then grabbed hold of Felix's leg with his armpit and the crook of his arm.

Isaac held him there staring Felix intensely in the eyes. Felix met his gaze with a stern look and tried to wrench free of Isaac's grip. The two were at a stalemate; Felix was stuck, but Isaac couldn't strike or do anything without dropping his sword or releasing Felix's leg. He could whack Felix's exposed knee, but Isaac considered that a cheap move.

Isaac decided to drop his sword and twist Felix's leg with both hands to put him in a pin-hold. Felix reacted however, by quickly following the twist and barrel-rolling in mid air forcing Isaac to release his leg. Felix ended up on the ground face down and Isaac took this chance to jump on his back and pin him by grappling one of his legs. Felix was rendered useless and unable to escape.

"Who's the winner?" Isaac exclaimed to Felix. Felix just growled in annoyance. "Who's the winner?!" Isaac repeated a little louder. Felix tried to jerk out of Isaac's hold on him; Isaac strained to pull harder on his leg. "We can do this all day Felix…who's the winner?!"

"Erg…you are!" Felix gasped with clenched teeth. Isaac released his leg and the tension in the two young men slackened. Isaac stood up and breathed heavily to restore air to his lungs.

"That was…a good match…Felix," Isaac said with a slight grin in between breaths. Felix rolled onto his back also breathing heavily.

"…Yeah," he gasped. Isaac offered his hand to help him up but Felix waved him off wanting to stay lying on the ground. Isaac shrugged and turned away to trudge back to his friends. Garet and Ivan rushed over the fence to him.

"Alright Isaac! Yeah Isaac!" Laudatory shouts came from his friends as he walked over to them.

"Holy crap dude! You won!" Garet grinned with astonishment. "I can't believe you won!"

"I can't believe you doubted me," Isaac joked.

"That was so cool," Ivan said exuberantly. "The way you both fought was crazy!"

"Well, I really just got lucky I think," Isaac trailed off showing great modesty. Isaac glanced over to Feizhi who was smiling with complete admiration for him. He beamed a quick grin to her while his friends talked around him about the fight.

Isaac looked to Jenna who was watching with perplexed emotions and had a rather wan look about her. Isaac saw this, but gave her a gentle and sincere smile that could make an demon trip on its own feet; one of those smiles that made his very person shine with joy captivating any who looked upon him. Jenna perked up taking notice to Isaac's glorious gaze and for some reason, that smile put Jenna at ease about everything. Everything would be alright. Isaac was still in love with her and there was nothing to be paranoid about.

Isaac held his stare and Jenna kept ogling his crystalline blue eyes. Even though they were no where near close proximity, she saw his twinkling eyes and face as if he were right up close to her own. Jenna didn't know how long they were looking at each other like this, but she began to go into a sort of trance and the peripherals of her vision went fuzzy. She dared not blink so as to break the wonderful staring contest. All her vision focused on was his glorious eyes.

And then all of a sudden his eyes shifted, his face flew to the side and Jenna's trance was broken. Isaac was on the ground on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Jenna was stumped as to why he would fall for no apparent reason, but then heard Felix laughing and knew exactly.

She leaped over the fence, anger building up inside her once again at the all too sudden change. Her new frustration and rage now fixed upon her brother for tripping Isaac with his Venus powers and ruining the joyful staring contest that she and Isaac were having. Felix was still on the ground laughing when Jenna threw herself on top of him, making sure to dig her knees into his gut so as to knock the wind out of him. At which Felix yelped in pain from the attack and the other Adepts winced from observing it.

"Why did you do that?!" she hissed with clenched teeth. She grabbed his shirt collar and shoved her demon-angry face up close to his. Caught between laughing and then suddenly getting the air shoved violently out of him, Felix was sputtering for air and could not really answer. This did not stop Jenna from attempting to obtain an answer though. She pressed her knees further into his abdomen forcing him to wheeze out something.

"Y-you're really heavy…" he coughed.

"What was THAT?!" Jenna shrieked and shook his head back and forth violently.

"…a-and strong…"

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Jenna repeated, this time louder and more threatening.

"Instead of worrying about why I did what I did," he gasped. "Maybe you should worry about your boyfriend." Jenna's anger came to a halt for a moment realizing that Felix had a point. She looked over her shoulder to check on Isaac and what she saw she did not like one bit.

There was Feizhi bent over Isaac on the ground and making a fuss to make sure he was alright. They got up with Feizhi taking special, yet highly unnecessary, effort to support Isaac to his feet. Isaac smiled to her genuinely in thanks at which Feizhi beamed back with a smile that truly revealed her intentions.

"I'm alright Feizhi, thanks," Isaac implored. "I'll go change and then we can get on with the tour." Isaac ran on up ahead of the now leaving group. Jenna held her stare pinpointed on the back of Feizhi head and her stupid Lavender coloured hair style. Jenna's facial muscles could not possibly be contorted and clenched hard enough to fully express the hatred she felt right then. She thought of blowing something up with a fiery explosion, but realized that would not be enough to extinguish her taut anger.

Felix was becoming impatient and so pushed Jenna off him which snapped her out of her death stare on Feizhi. He stood up brushing himself off.

"Told ya," he said with a snooty smugness and his trademark dead-pan expression. Jenna's lips twitched; she clenched her teeth, and balled her fingers into a fist. She growled furiously as she sent a mighty blow into his gut.

Jenna walked away huffing indignantly as Felix bowed forward onto his knees gasping for air once again. She did not want to be near anyone at all now. So, there was no way she was going on some stupid tour for some stupid girl that she couldn't stand to be around.

Oooh, that's gotta hurt! So, Jenna is very pissed and no one seems to really notice...except for Felix. I mean he's gotta notice now after getting the snot beaten out of him by his sister, right? Why am I even asking you? You aren't writing the story.

Anyway, don't expect the next chapter a week from now because it isn't even started and I plan to spend a lot of time on it. So, prepare for a long wait my loyal readers. And don't forget to review. Your critiques help me write better, so critique away. A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed and stuck with the story thus far. I hope you will continue to read my amateur crap in the coming future.

-TLotW