Okay, so yeah yeah yeah, I know, I dropped off the frickin' face of the earth for like SIX MONTHS! Stupid school and overly hard classes and too much homework . . . *sigh* Sorry, I know you don't want to hear my excuses. Point is, I totally have the time to write now, so I'll try to get you guys plenty of chapters.

Thank you to all my repliers and even you readers who didn't reply. It made my day when I checked the story traffic a couple days after posing this and saw I got 39 hits in one day. I love you all so much and because I owe you, I'll try to get you a chapter every couple of days for the summer. I'm also working on some new stuff, so please read that stuff to when I get it up.

Okay, enough of my blah blah blahing, I don't own Bakugan and all its stuff, please enjoy this chapter!

"Is this the place sir?" a rough voice grunted. The tall young man, obviously the leader, turned to him and nodded. The sun was setting over Aliskia, but the city was far from quiet. Mothers were preparing dinner, children were running and laughing before bed, workers, tired from their day, were lining up at their favorite inns for an evening of drinking, and none was more popular than Harvest's Eye.

On a tall building across the street from Harvest's Eye, ten cloaked figures stood on the roof, barely visible in the last glimpse of sunlight. In the front stood a tall boy with long black hair tied back. His long bangs fell in front of his pale brown eyes, sharp with cleverness and dark like his heart.

"Harvest's Eye brings in a huge revenue each night, and with the king's ball just days away, even more traveler's are staying at this inn," he explained to his crew. "It's the perfect way to make ourselves known before the ball." The group nodded to their leader.

"Shun," a woman said, stepping forward. "What do we do now?" Shun smiled inwardly. The woman, Sora, was an old friend of his, but he couldn't acknowledge that in front of the others.

"We go back to the base and begin preparing weapons. Pick carefully. Too much metal will way us down," Shun ordered. The others nodded again and turned around, running to the other side of the roof. Gracefully, each one leapt across the alleyway and landed on the next roof. The top of the city was their chosen path. They continued to the next roof then the next. anyone who saw them only caught a glimpse, loosing them almost instantly again into the shadows.

Shun watched them go, but remained a while, something he had learned from his mother. Always separate yourself as the leader, she had told him. He sighed, his heart hurting at the thought of her. Shun had been a thief since he was young, one of the youngest members of the crew. His mother had been the leader, a master thief. When she died suddenly several years ago, he knew he had to take over. He wasn't in the thieving for the money, but to carry on her legacy.

Shun knew he had to follow them eventually. He took one last glance at the inn. Something suddenly caught his eye. A beautiful girl was going inside. Her hair was lovely, long and red, her face was soft and gentle, she seemed to glow like a beautiful soul. He wanted to go down there, meet her, introduce himself. He had the instant sensation that he had met her before, as if even though he knew they had never met, they were old friends.

Shun shook these thoughts from his head. No, he had a job to due, and responsibility to his mother. Trying to get his mind back on task, Shun turned swiftly, running quickly to the next roof and disappearing from sight.

*Whooshy Background Noise* Point of View Change: Runo!

(I bet you all thought it would be Alice . . .)

"Waitress!" a large mustached and sweaty man called. A girl shoving her way through the crowd of drunken men turned around, seething with anger. "What?!" she shouted.

"I ordered a glass of whiskey almost an hour ago! What is taking so long?" he demanded.

"Well," the girl started in a fake polite voice. "If you hadn't noticed . . . THERE ARE A MILLION CUSTOMERS IN HERE!!!!!" she screamed. "You're just going to have to wait your turn!!!!!"

"Runo!" a familiar voice said. Her dad pushed his way towards them, stepping in front of her. "I'm sorry sir," he told the customer. "I promise we'll get you that whiskey as soon as possible, on the house." He took Runo by the arm and lead her back into the kitchen where her mother and the other hired cooks were busy at work.

"Runo, you have to be polite to the customers!" her dad reminded her. Runo crossed her arms and scowled.

"Okay, he was rude first!" Runo tried to explain. "He-"

"I don't care Runo," her dad stopped her. "Just get back to work and try not to drive away anymore customers, alright?"

Letting out a loud, "Hmph!" Runo went to grab the next tray of food. Her blue hair was braided behind her, falling down her back. Her bangs covered her frustrated green eyes. She wore a white apron over a brown dress. Runo hated dressing so plain, but when she was a waitress, she would rather where this than something nicer than could get food all over it.

Trying to make her way once again through the rowdy crowd, Runo pressed passed loud men, trying to make it to whatever table this food even was supposed to go to. "Excuse me!" she shouted, trying to back her way through. A beefy shoulder shoved into her suddenly. wheeling back, Runo gasped as she started to fall, afraid she would spill the food everywhere. She shut her eyes tight, bracing for impact.

Runo never hit the ground. A strong arm wrapped around her, catching her before she fell. Opening her eyes, Runo found herself starring into the face of a grinning Dan, her in one arm and her food tray on his other hand.

"Hi Runo," he said casually, pulling her back to her feet. Feeling proud of his rescue, Dan smiled from ear to ear, brushing the mat of brown hair on his head out of his red eyes. He was dressed simple, being a farm boy. The only thing out of place was the sword hanging from his belt, not something normally used by a farmer.

"Hi Dan" Runo said in a flat voice. On the inside, she was happy to see him, but she'd never give him the satisfaction of knowing that. She sat the food tray down on the proper table and began moving back to the kitchen, grabbing Dan's arm and pulling him with her.

"Where are we going?" Dan asked as she dragged him along. Runo marched inside the kitchen and came back out with a white apron.

"Tonight, you're a waitress," Runo ordered, throwing it at him.

"What?!" Dan shouted.

Runo picked up a tray and handed another one to Dan. "That one goes to that table in the corner," Runo said, pointing.

"Okay, but you owe me big time for this, Runo," Dan said. "And a 'Thank you for catching me' would be nice."

Runo turned to him, glaring at him. "Thank you," Runo said, as if it was painful. She didn't truly mind, but they could never just be nice to each other.

Point of View Change: Now Alice!

Alice looked up suddenly as she entered the inn, Harvest's Eye. Her eyes scanned the roof off the building across the street. She had the strangest feeling someone had been watching her, but she didn't see anyone. Alice tried brushing it off, going inside. She had put Ebony in the inn's stable and had brought her small pack with her.

Alice was immediately hit by a wall of sound from constant drunken yells. The air was thick with the stench of booze, sweat, and delicious cooking. She winced a little, hating how loud it was. She tried pushing her way around the room, trying to find some help.

"Do you need a room?" someone asked behind her. Alice turned around to see a girl with green eyes and long blue hair. She felt a jolt inside of her. Instantly, she connected with this girl. Runo something said in her brain, or heart. Alice felt as if she could hug this girl, like they were long lost sisters. Alice could only ask herself one thing.

Could Runo feel it too?

"Here," Runo said, pushing Alice a door in the back of the main dining room. "Just go upstairs. I'll come bring you some food or something in a minute. Just go inside the closest open room, okay?" Runo held the door open for her, revealing a staircase, herding Alice through. Alice opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but Runo just pushed her along, closing the door behind her.

As she walked away, Runo stopped suddenly. She looked back at the door, thinking of the beautiful red head she had just encountered. Runo sifted through her memories, trying to remember if she knew this girl, she felt so familiar.

"Runo!" she heard Dan shout in distress. A group of men had crowded around him, shouting and looking angry, cracking their knuckles and slamming their fists in their palms. Sighing, Runo went to break up the fight, pushing the thoughts of this girl far from her mind.

Wow that felt long. Seriously, with all the writing and drawing and stuff I do, I could get voted most likely to get carpal tunnel in the year book next year.

In the next chapter: Romance, drama, and a very sexy Dan vs. Shun sword fight! *Fan Girls Squeal* I'll try to get that up as soon as possible. Please reply!