A/N: EDIT EDIT! Maybe I wasn't terribly clear. Maybe the word "trial" confused you, but when the part where Sheena and Kuchinawa are talking by the river bank? That whole scene is a flash back. Just to clarify. Sheena would be nine/ten years old, and Kuchinawa thirteen or fourteen. END EDIT Yes. It took me a while to update because I needed to get the story down. Otherwise, I would have updated sooner but we'd be ten chapters in and there would be no story. So here you go. Hope you didn't expect it.

"Come on, Zelos!" Sheena said. "He's not that heavy!"

Zelos had Kuchinawa draped over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes- of course, he had been somewhat dressed before the actual picking up. "Urf! Why don't you try lugging him around, see what you have to say then!"

Sheena waited just outside the hotel doors, nervously looking around her. People were beginning to stare- and why shouldn't they? It probably looked like they were just abducting some poor, innocent half-naked man. Innocent! Sheena flushed angrily, glaring at the unconcious shinobi and thinking she could stand to pummel him a few more hundred times or so. Well. He was getting what he deserved.

She turned and stomped her way to the city gates, not bothering to wait for Zelos anymore. They were going to Mizuho.

Cling, clang, clang!

The two shinobi's broke apart, leaping back a yard and then running on silent cat feet, circling each other before lunging again, hands moving faster than eyes could follow. The dying sun was still hot enough to bother them, glinting off of the nearby river and blinding them. Sweat trickled down their faces, making their grips on their daggers loose. One hand reached up to wipe the sweat away before it could get into his eyes, and that was his doom.

Shhf. Tunk.

A dagger went flying into the air and the shinobi fell to the ground, his brother on top of him with his dagger pressed to his throat.

"Enough! Enough!"

They both looked up to see a young girl, younger than both of them, standing with her hands on her hips. "Stop fighting! You've been at it all day!" Glaring at the victor, who was still on top, she said, "Get off of your brother, Orochi. Stop being mean."

"Of course, Little One," he said smoothly, ruffling up the hair of the younger shinobi and standing up. "I'll be waiting at home, Kuchinawa. Make sure you're there in time for dinner."

Kuchinawa was silent, watching his brother walk away, his upper body raised as if he had half a mind to follow him. Then he flopped back down onto his back, breathing slowly and watching the sun be swallowed by the horizon. One hand lifted up, beckoning the small girl towards him. Blinking, she hurried over to see what he wanted. When she got close enough, he shot out one leg and tripped her up.

He began to laugh.

"Urrgh! Fine!" Sheena said, getting up on her knees and glaring down at him. "I guess that's what I get for helping you!"

"Who said I needed help?" He lifted himself up, resting on one elbow.

"You were one second away from having another 'shaving accident'," Sheena said, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him down again. "Although at this rate, you'd actually nick yourself cause your hands are too tired to lift a razor. You practice all day long, every day."

Kuchinawa shifted his head from side to side, making a face. "Not every day," he said. "Getting jealous, Chief-In-Waiting? You would be able to see me more often if you trained too, you know."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Huh." Sheena let him go and sat back on her heels, listening to the small stream chuckle.

Kuchinawa sighed, getting off of his back and sitting next to her. "Feeling nervous cause the trial with Volt is in two days?"

"Feeling like a sore loser cause you're always getting your butt kicked by Orochi?" Sheena snapped.

"Heh. If I was aiming to win, it would be Orochi in the dirt every day." Kuchinawa smiled nastily and collapsed onto the ground again, kicking his boots off. "Just because he's older doesn't make him a better fighter. I'd kill him if we were fighting for real."

"You're so violent," Sheena complained, trying to sound like she didn't care. But secretly, she was scared when he had said that. She didn't like it when Kuchinawa talked that way, so she tried to change the subject. "That's why I don't want to train with you. You'd hit me and I'd get ugly hands." She lifted up one of his hands in both of hers, holding it up to the moonlight. She could see the nicks and scars from countless bouts with Orochi and feel the calluses from years spent doing manual labor. "Are all teenagers violent like you?"

"I don't know," Kuchinawa said, honestly. "You tell me when you become a teenager."

"That won't be for three years," Sheena said, dropping his hand unceremoniously onto his chest. She got up, dusting her kimono off and hoping she hadn't gotten mud on her bottom.

Kuchinawa watched her, smiling again. "Three years isn't that long," he said. She shrugged, and left him there on the riverbank.

"Sheena."

Sheena's eyes snapped open and Zelos was there waiting for her, like he was most mornings. He'd taken a habit of waking up earlier than the disciplined ninja, just to be able to wake her up like this. Only this time she was at her own house, in her own village. She got up quickly, glancing around the room and then calming down a bit when she saw that one of her village elders was there as well. None of her villagers would take it well if she was alone in her room with a foreign man like Zelos. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes.

"Yes?"

"They're ready to see you now." The elder bowed low and left.

"OK." She got up, shooing the swordsman out of her house so she could change. When she got outside he carelessly draped an arm around her shoulder. She quickly slapped it away. "Zelos," she hissed. "You can't do that sort of thing here. People might get ideas."

"Ideas like, we're secretly having a torrid affair?"

"Exactly."

"I like those ideas."

"I have a reputation to maintain, unlike you. So keep your hands to yourself." She paused. "And stop having ideas of torrid affairs between us, cause it'll only dissapoint you when you realize I'm out of your reach."

"A man can dream, you know!"

"Fine. Dream all you like." She sped up. "I've got to see what Kuchinawa's punishment is." When she reached her grandfather's house, leaving Zelos to do whatever he please, she stepped inside to find Kuchinawa kneeling before the elders of her tribe. He was fully dressed now, but maskless. His face was masked well enough, though- he betrayed no emotion except calm self-confidence. He looked up when he saw her enter the room, a nasty smile spreading across his face. She flushed at first, thinking that he might say something about the conditions in which she caught him, but no.

"And here she is. Though she single-handedly decimated our tribe, she is the one who inherits the title of Cheif while I am left to rot. What is my crime?" he looked to the elders again. "For seeking just revenge against my parents murderers."

"You will stay silent!" one of the elders barked. "You had your chance when you challenged her to single combat. You chose not to kill her then."

"A choice I regret," Kuchinawa couldn't help but add. Then he was silent. He looked to the floor and for the rest of the trial gave no indication that he was aware of his surroundings at all.

The elder glared at him for a moment before sighing. "Sheena Fujibayashi," he said to her. Nervously, she knelt down before them, trying to stay as far away from Kuchinawa as was possible under the circumstances. "Yes?" she said, mentally going through her training.

Calm. Clear your head. An angry mind clouds your vision. A scared soul makes you doubt.

"We have summoned you here because of this man," another elder spoke, his high nasal voice making her (irrationally) to slap him upside the head. Uh oh. She was spending too much time with Zelos. "He seeks to quarrel with you over a debate that has long been decided, going so far as to try and take your life. We come here to decide his fate, which is now to be directly linked to yours." He elder beckoned, and a young serving boy gave him a box.

"Kuchinawa!" he said. "We have discussed the delicate nature of your crime and have decided to spare your life. Instead-" the elder opened the box and pulled out a heavy golden bracer, slapping it around Kuchinawa's wrist. It shrunk to fit him snugly, the emeralds and rubies on it glinting innocently in the sunlight streaming through the window.

"You will serve Sheena Fujibayashi as her slave until your death, or until she sees fit to release you."

Kuchinawa looked own at the floor. He said nothing.

"That is all." The elder stood up, and that was the end of the trial.