A/N: ok, so i managed to fit in one chapter before i left, but i'm leaving tomorrow. the next time you see me should be . . . errr . . . in about a week and a half or so. see ya later

hurrah! i'm so happy with all of the favorites and alerts i've gotten. when i first started this story, i was afraid no one liked it. now i at least know that there's SOMEONE occasionally glancing at it. still, i wouldn't mind a few reviews. the way people are so silent scares me. (shivers)

oh, and just so you guys aren't like "what the freak?" i just want to say that, supposedly, most people in japan leave their doors unlocked. i read it out of this japanese book. so, instead of knocking on the door, visitors will sometimes just walk right in and say "Gomen kudasai" which means "Excuse me" or "May I come in." you'll see what I mean in a second. it was a nit-picky thing, but it was bugging me. just wanted to make sure you knew.

and this has got to be the longest author's note i've ever written. sigh

Disclaimer: I'd love to spend time chatting about the animes I don't own and why, but my mom's calling me to start packing now. ; )

The Next Generation

Chapter 9

The New Kid

Ren got up, wincing. Her left arm was scraped up. Both her hands had shallow cuts. She didn't feel them though. Ren only cared about where Daichii had gone. Why'd he push me like that? Wait, is he in serious trouble? Did he run into someone's house for help? Her eyes grew twice their size. I have to find him! The girl ran up to the front door of the house Ren thought Daichii had gone into and flung open the door. She gasped out, "Excuse me! . . . My friend . . . must help!"

The shocked head of a young boy popped out from the hallway. "Who are you?" he asked curiously.

"Daichii's . . . in trouble! . . . Where--?"

"Trouble?" the boy exclaimed, hurrying over to her. For seemingly no reason, he took her hands in his. "What's going on?"

The boy was a little taller than Ren. He was around her age, but she didn't recognize him for some reason. Pushing that thought aside, she continued breathless, "My friend . . . something's wrong! . . . Is he . . . here?"

"Nobody but you came inside."

A thought struck Ren. "Might be . . . outside."

The boy nodded and called to someone in the other room. "Uncle! Check the backyard. I think someone's hurt."

"Who's at the door?"

"I'll take care of her. Just go!" the boy shouted.

"I don't know . . . what happened! . . . he couldn't breathe . . . turned red . . . like he was struggling," Ren explained in a rush, feeling her vision swim.

"Shhh. It's alright," the boy whispered soothingly. "We'll find him." He let go of her hands and discovered small blood stains on his palms. "What happened to you two?" he asked as he examined her hands. "Ah. That's alright. You don't have to explain if you don't want to. Here. Follow me. The cuts aren't deep, but it'd be better to clean them up."

The boy took her to the bathroom. He rummaged through the mirror cabinet before glancing at Ren. "Feel free to sit on the sink. I don't mind." Ren obeyed wordlessly as she waited for him to find the first aid kit. While he began dabbing iodine on her cuts, he said, "My name's Ronin."

"Ren." She was starting to take deep breaths to calm down.

"Me and my uncle just moved here a few days ago." Ronin smiled softly at Ren. "I guess we have great timing, huh?"

Ren didn't answer. Instead she stared out of the bathroom window.

"Don't worry. He'll be okay. How old are you?"

"13 . . . almost . . . 14," she muttered distractedly.

"Really? Maybe I'll see you at school." Ronin casually reached for two bandaids in the kit.

Daichii was suddenly knocked out of her mind. Ren gazed down at Ronin. He had shaggy auburn hair and long bangs. His eyes were a dark brown. Ronin wore baggy dark green shorts and a black tanktop. The boy probably could've passed as the cool, mysterious type that really intimitated Ren . . . if it wasn't for his friendly grin that reminded her of someone. A flush creeped across Ren's cheeks. Yes, the boy was far from intimitating. He was actually kind of--

Ren shook her head and jumped down from the sink. "Thank you," she said, bowing.

"No problem, Ren," Ronin chuckled.

The two teens looked up when Ronin's uncle appeared. "I'm sorry, little lady," the short, slightly balding man explained. "I couldn't find anyone. Are you sure your friend came over here?"

Ren's worries washed over her again. She nodded silently, looking away. Ronin and his uncle exchanged glances before the boy offered, "Why don't you call his house? Maybe he went back there when he couldn't find you?"

"But . . . he was . . ." Ren trailed off in concern. She clenched her hands into fists, and immediately regretted it because of the pain from her cuts. "Right," she replied in defeat. "Phone . . . please."

"I'll go make some tea. You look like you could use some." Ronin's uncle gazed at the still shaken girl sympathetically before disappearing into the kitchen.

Ronin guided her to the main room. Ren spotted the phone right away. Her finger was in mid-dial when she heard the boy exclaim, "What the--?!?"

Ren lowered the phone from her ear. Ronin looked pale, as if he had seen a ghost outside the front windows. Then his face began to harden, his eyes lighting with a strange emotion Ren couldn't indentify. "Ronin?"

Her small voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Ronin shook his head and walked away from the window. "N-never mind. I thought I saw something." But Ren could see the way his eyes kept darting back to the glass pane. She walked over and peered outside. The streets were deserted, empty of anything except a couple of squirrels playing around her bike.

"My . . . bike!" Ren said, rushing outside to move it so no bratty little kid would think of stealing it. "Ronin . . . can I . . . ?"

"Sure. Bring it around the backyard," his voice called from inside.

Ren nodded and walked it over there. That's when it occurred to her how nice Ronin and his family was being. After all, she was a complete stranger who had burst into their house. They could have kicked her out the minute they saw her. She glanced at her colorful bandaids. Another blush found its way to her face as she pulled her hands close.

"No. I'm afraid he's not -- Oh wait! I think I see him coming up the road!" Riku exclaimed into the telephone. She hurried out the front door and raised her voice. "DAICHII! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!"

The weary looking teen lifted his head and sighed when he saw his mom drawing the attention of the whole neighborhood. I so don't need this right now. "Yes, Mom?" Daichii asked, jogging up to her. Without warning, he was seized by his mother's frenzied grabbing and groping. "WAHH!"

"Daichii! Daichii!! Are you alright? Ren said you went into some kind of fit or something! How are you feeling?! Were you cursed by some kind of artwork? Is some magic affecting you?!?!"

"Mom, I'm fine!" Daichii complained irritably, breaking free from her grasp. "Do you have to do this in front of the whole world?!"

Riku glanced at the neighboring houses and dragged her son inside. "So what happened?"

"Dark wanted to transform in front of Ren, but I wouldn't let him, so things got a little . . ." the boy's eyes darkened.

"That's a relief. Ren made it sound like you had died or something."

"Ren!" Daichii gasped, remembering what happened. Daichii snatched the phone away from his mother and said, "Hello?"

" . . . Daichii?" came the small voice on the other line.

"Ren! Oh man! I'm so sorry I left you. You see . . . something happened, and--" Daichii struggled to find an explanation.

"Don't!" Ren suddenly exclaimed, sounding stronger than she normally did. "Don't ever . . . scare me! . . . Ever again!"

Her sharp command startled Daichii. He was rendered into a helpless silence for a while. With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair and began, "I know, Ren. It won't happen again. I just panicked, okay? I promise I won't leave you alone again."

"Alone? . . . Daichii--" The boy could almost picture his friend shaking her head in the pause that followed. "I . . . Daichii, I . . . was worried. You looked like . . ."

Ren trailed off. Daichii felt his heart flutter, but he knew Ren was starting to feel awkward on the phone. "How about we finish this conversation at school?" he asked softly.

"Y-yeah," Ren agreed quietly.

"Bye, Ren. And thanks. Thanks for worrying about me."

Daichii hung up the phone and allowed himself to smile a little.

See? It wasn't all that bad, Dark interrupted.

Daichii's smile vanished, replaced by a scowl. Yeah right. You could have ruined everything! Daichii spat, but Dark knew he shouldn't take the boy seriously. He could hear the thoughts racing and leaping through Daichii's head.

"Morning, Ren!"

Ren raised her head from her quick sketching and saw Daichii. "Hi."

"What you got there?" he asked, bending down closer to her desk.

"Just . . . practicing," Ren explained modestly while holding up her pocket sized sketchbook. Since her sunny painting had been finished over the weekend, she had been doodling a new idea for her next project. Well, maybe doodling doesn't really give her picture justice.

"Wow. This is amazing," Daichii complemented as he took it. "It looks like a mobile, am I right?"

Ren nodded cheerfully.

"So, have you made anything else recently?"

"Yeah . . . I--"

"Class," their homeroom teacher interrupted. Daichii set down Ren's sketchbook and looked up. "We have a new student today. I want you all to make sure that Takahashi Ronin feels welcome here."

"Ronin!" Ren gasped quietly.

Daichii glanced down at her. "What? You know him? Is he a relative?" he muttered so only his friend could hear.

"No . . . he's--"

A boy with shaggy hair walked in. His dark, clever eyes swept over the classroom, studying everyone curiously. For no real reason, Daichii felt himself sink and slowly drown in apprehension. It might have been because those cunning eyes lingered on Ren and Daichii the longest.

The class got up to welcome Takahashi one by one. Ren took time standing up from her seat. Daichii scanned her up and down. Am I imagining things-- Daichii thought through narrowed eyes --or is Ren acting really shy all of a sudden? Wait a second! Is she starting to turn pink?!!

Daichii watched in confusion as Takahashi and Ren made eye contact. Takahashi broke away from the rest of the class and made a beeline straight for her. "Hey, Ren. How are you're hands doing?"

Ren held up her hands, now free from the bandaids. "Fine."

"That's good."

"Uh, sorry for butting in," Daichii replied awkwardly, waving his hands, "but, have you two met before?"

"Ronin . . . helped me . . . when you disappeared, " Ren explained, not meeting his eyes.

Daichii felt like he had just been slapped. Inside, he did an anime styled fall back. When I left Ren alone, she hung out with a stranger's family?!?! His apprehension immediately switched to guilt. Hang on! She called him Ronin! And he called her Ren!! They're good friends? Just like that?

"Well nice seeing you, Takahashi. I'm a friend of Ren's," Daichii introduced, holding out a hand.

"Where you the friend Ren was talking so much about? The one who nearly passed out before pushing her down?" Takahashi had asked nice enough, but there was a certain glint in his eyes that Daichii didn't like.

No one moved in the awkward pause that followed. Daichii's hand flopped back to his side. He was starting to get a little pissed. "Something just happened. I felt dizzy and like I couldn't breathe."

"Well, it has be really hot lately. Is the weather always like this?" Takahashi asked, pointedly turning away from Daichii and asking Ren instead. "This uniform doesn't really help either."

Ren shook her head. "No . . . normally is . . . cooler . . . in the fall."

Hello? Do I no longer exist? Daichii thought sullenly as Takahashi continued the conversation with Ren . . . and without him.

Homeroom ended. While Takahashi was grabbing his bookbag, the class president, Sato Hatori, walked up to him. "Takahashi, would you like me to show you around? Give you the grand tour?"

"Sure. I'd like that," Takahashi said, but he wasn't looking at the class president. Sato followed his gaze until he spotted Ren.

"Ohhh. Already checking out the girls, huh? I'll have to admit. There aren't many that look like Mara, but she's not very social. Take my advice. Forget about her. She only ever talks to that Niwa kid anyway. You'll probably never get the time of day from her."

"You'd be surprised," Takahashi replied slyly. His eyes switched over to Daichii. "Niwa, huh?" he mumbled to himself.

PREVIEW

"I don't think the temperatures have ever been this high. Normally, the cool winds would be driving you crazy this late in the fall."

"Aww! You're worried about me? That's just so sweet."

"Maybe it's just a little competition. Boys can get so competitive. Like it really matters."

"It . . . really is hot . . . isn't it?"

"See you at the finish . . . Well, if school isn't already over by then."

THE HEAT BETWEEN TWO RIVALS