Love Hurts 5 Ways (OUTDATED STORY) Chapter 27: From Deception to Auras Part 2, a Fushigi Yuugi + Ouran High School Host Club Crossover fanfic

ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.

All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D

-Aloe

PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.

Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!

~*Part 2*~

Genrou's 3rd POV

Aki's body collapsed, Genrou was able to keep her from completely falling to the ground using the hand that was forcibly bound to hers. All day she had been acting weird, going from one emotion to the other—talking about things that made no sense whatsoever. And now she passed out on him.

Great.

He knew that the girl was a bit odd, but everything that she displayed that day was almost enough to convince him that she was completely wrong in the head somehow. Well, that's what he wanted to think, but he knew that wasn't true. Ever since Chichiri had bound them together, he had been able to read her inner emotions clearly. The girl may put up a tough and constant exterior, but there was so much more to her than that—things that made him quite curious about. When he met her on the other side of the portal, he suspected that something was off since that peculiar ring around her seemed to have disappeared altogether. He didn't know what it was, why it was there, or even if she knew that he knew about it from the moment they met, but what he did know was that its disappearance affected her in a dramatic way. Perhaps that was why she was acting so looney.

No, that couldn't have been it. She was acting weird even before they went in the maze.

God dammit! Why do girls have to be so damn complicated?

Gently bringing her to the ground, Genrou quickly observed her sleeping features—her fair skin, the lightness of her body, her sleek, dark brown hair that almost fell to her shoulders—she was much less of a headache in this state. He didn't have to listen to her smart mouth, her attitude, and her incredibly hard and annoying sarcasm. But even he had to admit that she was making things more interesting for him. Never did he think that on his journey to find the cure for his leader, he'd pick up some chick who could totally turn the tide of things with whatever she did.

He still hated women—they were still irritating in more ways than one, but Aki annoyed him in a different way—a way that he could actually tolerate.

Shaking his head, he attempted to clear all rogue thoughts out of his mind. There's no time to get side tracked here!

"What do you think happened to her?" Chichiri asked as he sat on the ground next to her. "I hope it's nothing serious, ya know?" Putting his hand under her long bangs, he felt her forehead for a temperature.

"Beats me. I kinda figured that the universe got sick of 'er crazy and decided to take her out." Part of him wished that she was awake to hear that. Sometimes there was nothing better than arguing with someone who could not only deal with it, but dish it out. She made arguments so entertaining that they were almost sport-like. Chichiri just didn't seem like the type of guy who would bother with squabbles like that.

Wake up Aki! You can't leave me with this non-argumentative weirdo!

A sharp pain impacted the back of Genrou's skull. "Dammit! What the hell?" Looking to his side, he realized that the monk had whacked him hard with his staff.

"That comment wasn't very nice, ya know?" What sucked was that he couldn't even tend to his wound since he was holding the girl with one hand while his other was connected to hers because of a spell. With every fiber in his being, he prevented tears from forming in his eyes. If Aki happened to wake up at that moment, she'd definitely never let him live it down should just one tear escape. "She doesn't have a fever…But this could be serious, ya know?"

"I doubt it. She probably just had some sort a meltdown er somethin'," Genrou told him. "She'll wake up again in a few minutes." Which is still too long—we need her to wake up now!

The monk's atmosphere turned into mystery. "So…do I have to point it out, or do you want to do it?"

"Point what out?" Genrou looked up at him.

"Are you telling me that you don't see those lines of light on her?"

"So you can see them too!" The bandit laughed nervously. "I was kinda worried that that portal made me high er somethin' causin' me to see things." In all seriousness though, the other thing that immediately caught his eye other than her ring going missing was the appearance of the bright, light-grey glowing jagged and branched lines completely painted onto her skin. They were all over her body—on her face, her neck, her exposed stomach, her legs…no doubt in other places as well. If he were to trace the lines with his finger, he would probably find that they were all connected to each other. It was definitely an interesting sight, the energy emitting from the mysterious lines put up a field of confusion around the woman's two companions.

"You think we should be concerned with everything that's going on?" Chichiri broke Genrou out of his train of thought. "I mean, after that performance, her passing out, and now these lines…what if she needs our help? I don't like seeing her so distraught, ya know?"

Processing his words, Genrou looked back down at her with concern. "Well, if she needs it, we'll be here—simple as that." Seeing the understanding look the monk was giving him, he looked away, face slightly flushed. "Look, we need ta focus on wakin' 'er up. Jus' sittin' here won't do anyone any good—"

Movement could be felt coming from her. She was waking up.

Aki's POV

Fluttering my eyelids, the world was starting to come back into focus. What happened to me? The familiar and pleasant face of my past looked down at me as I lay in his lap. "Hikaru?" Was everything that happened just a bad dream? Could it have been possible that I was still in the Hitachiin's mansion—or even in the club room?

Closing his eyes, Hikaru groaned. "Why do you keep calling me that? Don't tell me that you actually forgot my name."

"Aki…" My eyes shifted over to Chichiri, who's face held a mask of concern. "This is Genrou, ya know? Do you not see that?"

My brain refused to accept what he was saying, all I wanted to do was stare at him, take in the sight that I had been missing for so long. But as moments went by, the weight of everything came rushing back at me—the realization from before reopening the wound on my heart (as if it were completely healed).

Sitting up, I couldn't help but feel slightly—scratch that—really depressed. The dark ring was supposed to be gone and yet…I still felt horrible. I may have been free of my tiny binding, but I was still trapped in a world of self-misery. Some things just couldn't be repaired—especially if the damage was so deep that it just couldn't be repaired.

As my eyes trailed to the side, I was able to put my attention onto something else for once—and boy was this a big "something else". "What the hell are these lines that are on me?" Observing what I could, I found grey-glowing lines trailing all over my body—like veins of some sort. Yeah, that's what they looked like: veins. They were all over the surface of my skin—well, more like etched into my skin, seeming as if they were distributing the flow of energy that was so determined to escape before. The color of the veins was the exact same color of my base Wind energy, so I figured that these veins were somehow a part of me—I was just never aware of them. Or perhaps, they had never revealed themselves before…

Continuing to gawk at the fascinating phenomenon, my trance was broken with Chichiri's voice. "Now Aki, can you please explain—"

"Wait a second…" I interrupted as my focus came back into the more pressing situation. "What the heck is going on around here? Why does Genrou look like Hikaru?"

"Don't know, do you plan on fainting again?" The smugness of "Hikaru's" voice compelled me to shoot him a look of distaste. Unfortunately, seeing his smirking face made me lose my sudden spark of irascibility, causing me to look away with a heated face.

During this time, Chichiri managed to some thinking to make sense of the madness. "Well, I'm not quite sure about who this 'Hikaru' person is, but I suspect that this is one of the trials, ya know?"

"A-A trial?"

He nodded. "Yup. Remember when I said that the maze would make the people who enter it go through various trials to make sure they're worthy? Well, I think that this is the first of them, ya know?" Letting out a deep exhale, I hung my head down to my chest. Great, just great…three people here, and the maze messes with me. I scoffed. Am I really that surprised? I've been the universes' cruel plaything for so long that I should learn to expect these things by now… "Since you're seeing Genrou as someone else, I suspect that you must learn to decipher the illusion from reality in order to pass the test, ya know?"

"I understand that...but…" I couldn't help but take a look at Genrou—er…Hikaru…umm…Genrou? Whatever. He looked like him, yet I knew it wasn't him. How was I supposed to get over someone if the universe keeps shoving these things in my face? It hurt to see Hikaru, yet it made me really happy—like, beyond happy.

If Hikaru were actually here, he'd probably be clinging to be right about now. In all actuality, I hated being clung to, but I grew so accustomed to the particular way that he and Kaoru held onto me that it created a sense of belonging that I had longed for all my life. Those two always wanted me around—even going so far as to betray me to do it (even now I knew that their methods were flawed, but extremely sweet). Those two had become my closest friends only near the end of my stay there. If only I had realized their kindness more quickly, as well as accepted their friendship, I could have enjoyed their company for a longer period of time. And now, I would never get the chance…

The universe was so damn cruel…

"Say, Aki," Genrou spoke to me through Hikaru's voice, inducing the pain even more. "Who is this Hikaru guy anyway?" Averting my eyes from him, I refused to give an answer.

"I was wondering about that as well, ya know? What kind of sentimental value do you have with this guy?"

I didn't have to reply to them—this was my business anyway. It had absolutely nothing to do with them…they probably didn't really care. If it weren't for the natural curiosity of humans they wouldn't even have been asking.

"Was this guy related to you or something? Or maybe he was your boyfriend?"

Bringing in my knees to my chest, I buried my head in my free arm. I had already accepted the fact that I'd never see him again... or anyone else from those worlds…so why do I have to endure more of this?

"Or maybe he was your—"

"Genrou!" Chichiri ordered. "I don't think we should be probing her anymore. It's making her uncomfortable, ya know—"

"He was someone important to me," Keeping my voice muffled only as loud as needed for them to hear, I continued to avoid their gazes. Fist forming on my free hand, I told them, "But I can never see him again, so there's no point in talking about him…" For a few moments, silence coursed through our small group, the other two trying to find the right words to say and me hoping that the conversation would just end.

"…Is he dead?" Genrou's question was a bit unexpected, only because I figured he would persist with the relationship status questions.

"No…" Lifting my head up, I gazed at the artificial night sky—completely filled with a sense of melancholy. "Well…probably not. But regardless, I can never see him again…He might as well be dead to me…"

"Aki…"

"Look," Facing him, I did my very best to ignore the familiarity of his features. "There's no point talking about it since it won't bring me any closer to him. So just drop it." I didn't mean to sound like a bitch and pretend as if everything I had been through with Hikaru, Kaoru, and the rest of the Host Club was nothing to me. Even though it took me a while to get used to and accept things around there, I grew to love that place as if it were my home. But when you get down to it, it's because I had such precious memories with them that makes the pain even worse. Before I gave Genrou an opening to talk, I shifted my head to face Chichiri. "I am so done with this…Tell me how to make it go away—I can't stand it anymore."

He frowned in a sympathetic way. "I'm sorry Aki, but since this is your test, neither Genrou nor I have the ability to interfere. After all, this illusion is in your mind—your eyes, ya know?"

Damn it all! It was bad enough that Genrou had Kajou's features to begin with, and now he looked exactly like yet another person who the universe felt should be taken away from me. If or when I actually get out of this first trial, who's to say that the maze won't throw yet another painful memory in my face? Would I be able to endure it all? It was sad to think that I'd rather be taking on about fifty Shadow Maidens than deal with the kind of emotional agony that cuts deeper than any wound ever could.

As I was lost in thought, "Hikaru" stood up and yanked on my arm violently, forcing me to stand up as well. "You heard Chichiri," he said with a commanding voice, "you're the only one who can make this go away, so I suggest you do something before the both of us get even more pissed off."

Transforming my face into a scowl, I asked in a rather irritated tone, "And how do you suggest we do that?"

"Get over the fact that I look like this guy and try to see me."

"Get over it? Get over it?" I was yelling by this point, angry at how obtuse he was being. "How the hell do you think this whole thing works? I can't simply get over it 'cause—'cause it hurts! You can't just tell someone to get over it you insensitive jerk!" Still feeling uncomfortable with his appearance, I looked down and away, slightly turning my head, so that I wouldn't have to contribute to this illusionary deception.

Raising up his free arm, he cupped my cheek in his hand, pushing inward so that I had no choice but to look him in the eye. Even with the notions, his dominating tone didn't waiver. "It doesn't matter how much you yell and complain—this won't go away until you face it head on." On an impulse, my face instantly went warm as my body stopped tensing up—observing the traits of his that I was so used to put me into a certain peace with myself that made it difficult to argue back. "Hikaru" must have noticed the dreamy look on my face because he shouted, "Stop looking at me like that!"

The uproar kicked me out of the trance, reminding me that this guy wasn't who he looked like, and even if he were, I would have pounded him for giving me orders like that. Moving my head in such a way to where his hand couldn't grasp onto my face anymore, I persisted on keeping a strict, minimal amount of eye contact. "Don't touch me like that. You have no idea what it's like, so don't pretend as if you think that you do and that you have all of the answers!"

This time he grabbed onto my shoulder, and brought me in closer so that I would have no choice but to see most of his features—even the golden eyes seemed to pierce through my peripheral vision enough to make me uneasy. I tried to struggle out of it, but he had a firm grip. "Look, I don't want to be going through any of this either—I want to just find that stupid plant and get on with my life. But since your dirty tricks caused us to be connected like this, I have no choice but to endure this crap with you. So just get over your trauma and look at me."

"Let go of me!" I strained—eyes closed tightly, Wind acting up all around us causing our hair to start flying all around. Through it all, I could tell that "Hikaru" was about to lose it, whereas my own power didn't seem to faze me at all. "You have no right to be telling me what to do—"

"Just shut up and look at me you damn witch!"

Eyes opening in an instant, the hated title went ringing through my ears and down into my being…breaking the very last straw. Concentrating, I directed the already surrounding Wind into my area, completely encircling my body like a mini tornado. Seeing the surprised expression on his face, I didn't hesitate in targeting the elemental force his way. Just as I released, I could hear Chichiri in the background yelling, "That's not a very good idea, ya know?" But it was too late, the moment I let him have it was the exact moment I realized that Chichiri warned me for a reason—it wasn't so that I wouldn't hurt Genrou, no, it was so that I wouldn't go flying away with him due to the fact that we were connected—a little tidbit that I had forgotten. So as the gust struck him, he was violently pushed backwards, along with little ol' me who failed to remember the important detail of magical bonding. Instantly losing my focus, Wind immediately ceased, allowing us the freedom from its grasp…

And straight into a huge puddle of mud.

You have got to be kidding me. The wet and slimy substance was beginning to seep into my clothes and touch my skin, making me shudder slightly. Who in the universe honestly thinks this is funny? It's not fair! The urge to just start hitting the ground with my fists and feet in a repeated motion, similar to what little kids do whenever they're throwing a temper tantrum, was so strong. It didn't take long before Wind started up again, signaling that the controlled hold on my powers was crumbling due to all the emotional stress I had gone through in that one day.

"Aki, you have to calm down before you blow this whole forest away, ya know?" Chichiri came running up to the two of us. We must have looked ridiculous just lying there, the brown, mucky color dominating all others on our bodies. It looked like someone had literally shot mud canons at us, hitting the target every single time. There was so much mud all over us that if I were to somehow come down with serious amnesia at that moment, then I would have probably been convinced that the mud was my skin. I had never been so dirty in all my life, and there was no way in hell that I'd make it a habit because some moron induced me to use my powers against him/against me. When the monk reached us, he panted for only a split second before giving an amused smile. "Oh! You two look like you're having fun! Reverting back to your childhood days can be refreshing, ya know—"

"Don't even play Chichiri!" I sat up on my knees and pointed at him accusingly. "You should have said something before I went and did that!"

Taking a step back as a precaution, a drop of sweat could be seen rolling down the side of his face. "I thought you knew, ya know?"

Grinding my teeth, my body was starting to become stiff as the mud dried in some places. "Of course I didn't know! If I did, I wouldn't have done it! Now I'm a mess!"

"Hikaru" grunted, leaning his head on one of his palms. "Leave it to a woman to get all bent out of shape because of a little bit of wet dirt. Don't be such a girl."

Turning my attention back to him, I extended my arm out and grabbed his collar. "Of course I'm 'bent out of shape', I'm soaked and dirty—all because you couldn't keep your mouth shut about calling me a witch!"

Surprisingly, I could see a smile forming on his lips. Does he honestly think that this is funny? "Sheesh, if I knew you were gonna be that sensitive about it—"

"You did know I was gonna be sensitive about it! And wipe that stupid smirk off of your face, this isn't funny!"

"Actually," He chuckled a bit through a mud-covered face, "it kind of is." A full-out hearty laughter erupted from him as he pointed at me. "You should see how you look right now! You look like some kind of puny mud monster or something!" Who's he calling puny?

Seeing how much of a kick he was getting out of this only made me angrier. Realizing that I didn't quite have the power to prevent or heal idiocy, I ceased holding onto his collar and pushed him away. Growling, I changed my mind about my previous notion and resumed threatening him by grabbing his shirt again, this time getting in his face. When it came to making me considerably dirty, I didn't care if he looked like Hikaru—hell I probably would have knocked Hikaru's block off too for getting me this kind of filthy. "Do you see my clothes? This outfit was a gift! The mud is already setting in, and if I don't clean it soon, then these stains might become permanent!"

I could tell that he was about to say some snide comment about how women worry about their clothes too much when Chichiri interfered. "I'm sure it would be best if we just found a place for your two to wash up, ya know?" Taking out his kasa hat once again (and out of nowhere I might add), he said, "Be back in a few!"

"Wait, where are you—" Just as I was asking, the monk wore the hat on his head, only to have the hat completely fall to the floor, Chichiri's body seemingly vanishing inside of it. At this point, so many questions could have been asked considering "Hikaru" and I were just sitting there, staring at the hat without its monk, eyes bulging out almost as if we just received word that a three-year old took out a heavy-weight champ. It just didn't make any sense.

But instead of asking me to explain what just happened, "Hikaru" looked over at me with an irritated face saying, "Great. Now even more of our time is wasted because you can't control your temper."

Gasping in disbelief, I told him, "Excuse me? It's your fault for an attempt at sexual harassment you jerk."

He seemed taken aback with that statement. "Sexual harassment? I wasn't doing anything near those standards!"

"Putting your hands on my person in any kind of intimate way without the other parties consent could be considered sexual harassment." Realizing that his actions before did unintentionally fall into that category, his face reddened a bit. "Moron."

"Tch. As if I would with you anyway."

"As if you could." For the remainder of the time Chichiri was away, "Hikaru" and I sat there giving each other the evil glare without any words being exchanged between us. Just because I was getting used to him looking like my ex didn't necessarily mean that I was okay with it—quite the opposite really. All I really wanted was for this whole thing to be over. By this point, I was pretty sure that any friendship that could have formed between Genrou and I was pretty much down the drain. I wouldn't have been surprised if he just got up and ran the moment Chichiri unbound us. Oh well. It wouldn't matter in the long run especially if I ended up leaving this world.

It didn't take very long for Chichiri to reappear from under his hat—crawling out as if what he was doing was perfectly normal. "There's a hot spring not too far from here, ya know? You two can just go wash up over there!" Clapping his hands, he said, "We should just all go take a bath, ya know?"

Giving him a blank face, I shuffled through his words. "We should…all…take a…bath?" The light bulb finally came on. "What? You want us to do what?"

His eyebrow cocked up. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Have you forgotten that Genrou and I are bound together? If we go into a hot spring, then we'll have no choice but to be right next to each other!" Not to mention that he looks exactly like someone I have feelings for—that, plus the fact that my hormones would pretty much explode would be a good enough reason to not go through with this. "Bottom line is," I crossed my arms in an "X" shape, "I won't do it."

"It's bad enough that you connected me with a woman, there's no way in hell that I would bathe with her!" During that whole sentence, "Hikaru's" face was extremely red. I wouldn't have been surprised if mine was doing the same. The whole idea was ridiculous, didn't Chichiri understand the concept that I was still innocent? Of course I wouldn't do anything with Genrou even when given the opportunity…but that's beside the point. Seeing Kyo transform back into a human from being a cat was bad enough (well, it was good in that he's super-hot, but bad that my innocent eyes saw that without warning. Luckily, I have the ability to block out things in my head that shouldn't be there), being right next to a guy while washing up—both of us, for the most part, exposed, was out of the question.

"Do you prefer to be with a man than women in a bath? Because I don't judge, ya know?"

"Hikaru" instantly blew his top at the monk's assumption. "I am not gay!" Even as I persisted on keeping my serious, disappointed expression, it was hard to refrain from laughing. Chichiri thought the exact same thing that I did when I first met Genrou. Could you really blame us? The dude almost always bagged on my gender and never his own. Suspicious much? Totally. In all realness though, I knew he wasn't—as much as I knew about him seemed to confirm that—but he made messing with him that much more fun.

That's right…

The more I thought about it, the more my brain came into light about how Genrou and Hikaru were dissimilar. I had separate adventure and experiences with both—feeling various emotions, learning different things, knowing completely that the two of them played different roles in my life. Sure, at the moment Genrou looked like Hikaru, but I knew in my heart that he wasn't. This whole illusion was a complete pain to me, but in a way it was an insult to Genrou. It was completely unfair to him that I was seeing someone else whenever I looked into his eyes. That was why he wanted me to just look at him and not the trick. But of course it was much more complicated than that…I just hated that the illusion was getting to me so much. These emotions of mine recently seemed to be aimed at Hikaru and not Genrou. Come on Aki…all you have to do is separate the deception from reality…

If only it were that simple.

But returning to the issue at hand: bathing with a man was still bathing with a man and that was out of the question.

"Hey Aki," Chichiri turned to me, "You have elemental powers, right?" No, I have cotton candy powers. "Why don't you just create some kind of wall between the two of you in the hot spring so that you two can't see each other, ya know?" I grimaced. That did make a lot of sense, that would take away the immediate danger of losing my innocence. But still…I didn't like it and the thought that he was right next to me without either of us having clothes on. To add to the uncomfortable-ness, he and I would still be holding hands along with the fact that he still looked like Hikaru. Damn it all.

The mud all over my body was hardening and it was beginning to feel really dry in places that I'd rather not mention.

Dear Universe,

What kind of f#&ing humor do you have? This is so f%&#ing messed up! Why the f%& are you making me do this? You did this on purpose you vast piece of shit! I can't believe this! Because of that damn mud, and that f&%$ing bond, I was backed into a stupid corner—forcing me to get into that damn hot spring…with Genrou. And what was the big idea with making him look like Hikaru? That's f&$ed up! I'm not even going to mention how the both of us managed to get our clothes off. That's a secret that I will take to the grave with me. I did what Chichiri said and made a wall using Earth between the two of us, but because of the physical bond, he and I were forced to sit near the edge in order for our connected arms to stay comfortable. But this whole f&%#ing situation is uncomfortable! I didn't understand why that damn monk couldn't just unbind us for this. I'm beginning to think that seeing auras isn't all that important. You've done some messed up things before: beating me up, sending me to different worlds without my consent, falling through the roof of a strangers house, making me wear one of the worse school uniforms ever—but this was really low…making me sit in a f#%$ing hot spring without clothes on next to a man! I loathe you so f&%ing much you f#$&ing bastard!

Love Always, with a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE amount of sarcasm,

Aki

P.S Did I mention that you suck? 'Cause you do.

Ever since we stepped into the hot spring, Genrou and I hadn't said a word too each other—which was completely understandable considering the situation. Chichiri was sitting on some branch in a nearby tree. He promised that he wouldn't look at me and I trusted him—the guy didn't really seem like the type to be a peeping tom. This, of course, was the complete opposite of Miroku. Sango and I had to violently train the guy to not sneak a sinful peak at us. Even after all that he only got slightly better. If it weren't for Inuyasha pulling him away from us, the monk may have died due to me and Sango's lack of patience. Believe me, he was a good friend of mine and very focused for the most part, but when it came to being a lecher, he was "#1"!

Manipulating Water, I used my free hand to form an off-sphere of the hot spring water about five feet above us that contained our dirty clothes. Without an actual washing machine, this was the second best thing. To be honest, it wasn't until after we got in that I realized that I could have used a combined power of Earth and Water in order to get all of that mud off of me. I was so upset and distracted that my brain didn't formulate that rational plan fast enough. Now I was stuck in one of the most awkward positions in my life.

At least I was finally starting to become clean after all of that.

A distasteful frown formed on my lips as the energy flowed from my hand to the water. This is so awkward doing this with my left hand. Jeez Aki, you had to go and grab him with your right hand—your good hand. There are just so many things about this that I hate so damn much.

As I swirled the our clothes plus the water around, I put in a bit more concentration to attempt at extracting the tougher mud from the fabrics to remove the stains. This whole thing proved difficult with just one hand—my untrained left hand. With any of the spells or manipulation of the elements that I perform, my hands are very crucial. The path they draw out, the specific flow and pattern they create directs my magic and the elements to perform whatever task I needed them to do. Sure, in some cases I used my feet and stomp on the ground to make something come up or form, but more often than not, it would be for using Earth. The only time I didn't really need any limbs was for using Wind. But since that element came naturally to me, it didn't surprise me very much that I was able to use it by barely batting an eye lash.

"Hey!" After such a long silence, Genrou in Hikaru's voice finally decided to call out a complaint. "You're cleaning it all wrong! Be careful before you mess it up!" Gritting my teeth, I tried my very best to not form a fist with my free hand, thus ruining my concentration. How dare he order me around! Ungrateful chump. The moment he took off his clothes, they reverted from Hikaru's clothes back into Genrou's trench-coat as well as the rest of his get-up. This only proved that the illusion was exclusive to his person—that and the fact that the illusion better go away soon before I completely lost it. He persisted on getting on my nerves. "I thought women were supposed to be good at these kinds of things?"

And that was when the metaphorical stick in my mind completely snapped in two. "Oh, I'm sorry! Would you rather me hand them back to you so that you can wash them with your only free hand? Or maybe you would like to use your Water powers to get them clean since you so obviously have them. Oh wait…you don't! So let me handle this however the hell I want you damn bastard! I don't have to be washing your f%&#ing clothes, wasting my f&%$ing time. If you're not going to be grateful, then take them back, or shut the hell up!"

I guessed that my sudden outburst sent Genrou into shock considering he didn't retort or say anything response. Normally, I wouldn't curse so much, but I was just so close to losing my mind from the insanity of everything that was happening. It was either I expressed my chaotic emotions through words or with a huge fireball, burning everything in my path. I figured that the first option was less destructive.

"Umm…Aki?" Chichiri's voice could be heard from behind, curiosity mixed with concern could be discerned from his tone. "Don't worry, I'm not looking, ya know? I just wanted to know if you were upset…"

I found myself growling from the rhetorical question. "Of course I'm upset! I'm traveling around with someone who doesn't give a damn about me—someone who naturally looks like my dead sister, and now he looks like me ex-boyfriend whom I will never see again. To top it all off, I have to be connected to him so that I can learn some stupid technique. And to make things worse, I'm in a hot springs with him. Nothing is going right!" My negative emotions were all over the place. The silver veins on my body containing my energy seemed to glow a bit more as the energy rushed through. A forceful wind stared to rustle the tree tops, probably making it hard for Chichiri to keep his balance. The water began to form small waves and whirlpools as Wind influenced it further. All of the training meant for the control of my emotional power using was steadily going down the drain as my mentality momentarily slipped. The inside of my mind was completely in disorder and all I could think about was how messed up things were for me. Why was it that even though the dark ring was gone, I felt as if my life was cursed to never know peace and happiness? Something always seemed to go wrong in every aspect of my life. Did the universe really hate me that much—enough to toy with me and bring me misery? Was it because I did something wrong in my life? That had to be why…I was being punished for something…

I hadn't realized it, but a steady stream of warm tears was trailing down my cheeks, and had been for a while. My cheeks felt sensitive and puffy as the salty liquid dripped into the hot spring below. Eyes stinging, I closed them to allow even more tears to come rushing out.

The short gasps from me crying started to become more apparent because Genrou spoke up. "Are—are you crying?" It didn't sound like he was angry or annoyed anymore, but more of confusion and sympathy.

Quickly remembering how I was in the presence of other people, I wiped away the tears with the back of my free hand, causing me to accidentally let the clothes fall into the hot spring. "No. Why would I be?...I'm not some kind of crybaby." After that, we just sat there without exchanging anymore words between the two of us. Using my energy, I put my free hand on the ground in back of me. With my power over Earth, I sent a torrent of energy flowing towards a nearby tree. In no time, a branch smoothly extended far out towards the hot spring and into the water. It lifted our clothes up and out, only to retract back to the tree whence it came. I did this so that our clothes had a place to dry since they were finally clean and I didn't feel like working on them anymore.

The awkward silence persisted on until Chichiri decided to start up a conversation. "Hey Genrou, I was wondering who you wanted the flower for, ya know?" His question made it obvious that he was trying to change the subject for the sake of peace being kept.

After a few seconds, Genrou (with Hikaru's voice) asked, "Huh?—What?" It sounded as if his head were somewhere else and wasn't exactly trying to focus on Chichiri.

"I was curious about who you wanted to heal, ya know?" Even though I was still pretty upset regarding previous topics, the monk had asked a question that I had been wondering myself.

"Oh, that. Well," he contemplated for a few seconds on whether to tell us, "it's for the Mt. Reikaku bandit leader—our leader—Hakurou. He came down with some sort of serious illness before some time ago and announced me the new leader. I refused to accept that some damn illness would do him in, so I left to find a cure."

"It's very admirable what you're doing," Chichiri told him, "but shouldn't you have stayed just in case? I mean, if you're the new leader, wouldn't it have been good for you to stand by if the worse did happen?"

"Nah. Hakurou's tough. He won't let this thing take him out so easily. All he needs to do is stay alive until I get back—he still has plenty of life left in him to keep leading the bandits for many years to come." The confidence in his voice lead us on to believe that he was no longer focusing on the negativity of the conversation between the two of us. So that's why he's going through all this. He must really respect this Hakurou guy a lot. "Don't get me wrong—I look forwards to taking over. But it's not the right time just yet." Huh. And I thought that he was doing all this for a girl…I didn't know why I automatically assumed that he was doing this for some girlfriend of his—which wouldn't have made much sense anyway since he claims that he hates women. But upon hearing that he was willing to go through all of these situations so that he could save the life of his leader was…commendable—he must have been a really loyal and devoted friend.

Who would have thought?

Still though, I said nothing to the guy or contributed in their conversation.

Until of course, it was directed at me. "Aki, I was wondering what this Host Club you mentioned before was. It seemed interesting, ya know?"

Bringing my head back up, I slightly turned my head in the direction of the monk's voice. "You want to know…about the Host Club?"

"Yeah!" He exclaimed cheerily. It wasn't often that someone wanted to know anything about my past. The only person I ever really told anything to was Hikaru—and even then I was hesitant to say some things. But I suppose telling them about this wouldn't be too much harm.

"Let me see…how to explain those guys…" Putting my finger under my chin, my eyes trailed up as I thought about what would be the best way to describe such a colorful bunch in just a few sentences. "To put it quite simply…The Host Club was a group of rich, spoiled, narcissist weirdoes with way too much time on their hands who get a kick out of being twisted and odd while at the same time swooning every female within a twenty mile radius."

"Wow…seems like the kind of people that wouldn't keep you bored, ya know?"

"You don't know the half of it." Taking in a deep breath, I furthered my explanation. "Try spending every day with a child-looking, insane martial-arts prodigy seventeen-year-old who for a fact knows he's cute yet acts innocent and has an unhealthy obsession with sweets and pastries, a tall, silent guy who pretty much babysits the first guy even though they're the same age and who also has short bursts of expression to get his point across in times when you least expect it, a conniving, glasses-wearing know-it-all who gets up in everyone's business just for a profit, a happy-go-lucky guy with a short attention-span as well as quite the ego who is an idiot that is completely ignorant to the lower to middle class life outside of his mansion, a cross-dressing girl who lacks motivation to do most things and, while she is smart, is pretty oblivious when it comes to matters of the heart, and a pair of mischievous twins who are pretty much willing to do anything for the sake of finding themselves some amusing entertainment as well as putting on this ridiculous twincest act to please customers." After taking a split second to breathe, I continued. "Yup, not even a block of wood would get bored with those guys around." Ha…I made a pun—unintentional of course.

"I—I didn't even think a group like that existed, ya know? I suppose a dull moment didn't even exist with them, did it?"

Scoffing, I told him, "Please. 'Dull' wasn't even in their vocabulary."

"And you knew all of them really well? I mean, you did say that you spent every day with them, ya know?"

"Of course I knew them well…I was a Host too."

"Really?" He seemed surprised. "From the things you told us about them, it doesn't exactly seem like something you'd do, ya know?"

"Yeah…well…" While closing my eyes, I sighed and scratched my cheek sheepishly. "I was sort of…forced to be in it." That whole blackmail thing wasn't exactly my proudest moment. "But after a while, they sort of grew on me. Yup…" Looking up to the sky, a wave of melancholy struck me. "They definitely were an interesting bunch…"

"You call them interesting?" Genrou decided to add himself to our discussion. "They sound more like a group of psychopath's to me."

Feeling both annoyed and offended, I retorted, "Let me just inform you that in my eyes, you look exactly like one of those 'psychopaths'."

"You—you mean that your boyfriend was part of the Host Club?" He must have knew I was nodding since he asked, "Which one of those whack personalities was he?"

"He was…one of the twins that I mentioned…Hikaru…"

"What?" A tone of disbelief riddled on his tone. "The way you described them, those twins sounded like a couple of creeps!"

"…I used to think that…but…" It wasn't until I recalled all of those memories that I found myself smiling a little. They were a bunch of weirdoes, and at times seemed indeed like creeps, but they were my friends—the first real group that I felt I was a part of—the first real group to truly accept me as one of them. Sure, there was the small group I had with Inuyasha, as well as my friendship with the Sohma's, but those bonds didn't seem as legitimate as the ones I had with the Host Club—especially my previously unorthodox relationship with the twins. "…I suppose you don't come to appreciate things—or people—until you either lose them or find that you're about to lose them…" Then it seems like all the effort you even put into the friendship was for nothing…

Life is so unfair.

And with that pleasant statement, the three of us plummeted back into that awkward silence that we had all become so accustomed to.

After all of our clothes had dried, "Hikaru" and I got dressed (once again, don't ask me how we managed that without seeing anything 'cause that is also something that I'm going to take to the grave with me). With everything that had been exchanged between us in the hot spring, I found it difficult to even look at Genrou—not only was the illusion still there, but I had exhibited a sign of weakness, even if it was for only a few moments. The negative emotions that had violently whirled in my being compelled me to just break down and reveal so much of myself—how unstable I really was…then I had the nerve…the audacity to cry with others around. When I was a kid, I made sure never to show anyone how afraid and lonely I really was. I had to deal with vast isolation due to the dark ring along with cruel comments and bullying. Maintaining a strong outside character showed people that I could take care of myself and that I didn't care about what they thought or did. They came to fear me thinking that I had no emotions—that I could just go around hurting people without feeling. Their fear kept them away, and kept me safe.

But I hated that so much. I thought that starting a new life in America with a bunch of people who didn't know me would really make a difference—giving me the chance to start over with people and show that I was actually more than just a emotionless robot. No matter what I did though, I was never able to be one of them—the happy groups of people who confide in one another and share each other's feelings. I was just a monster who brought misery wherever I went. Somewhere along the way, someone in school asked if we thought whether people where born evil, or if they were born pure and grew evil due to negative influences in the world. Considering my circumstance with the dark ring, I couldn't really say since its abilities consisted of bringing out the negative intentions in people's hearts. Before being around me, they all seemed so happy and carefree…so for all I knew, people were indeed born pure, it was just negative catalysts—like myself—that sent them diving into sin and dread.

Ever since beginning my journey, though, things were different…in a refreshing way. My outside character, in many cases, wasn't needed as much. Expressing myself using means such as spells, sarcasm, and various reactions seemed to begin to release me from the curse of the dark ring…of only by a little bit. For reasons that I still couldn't understand, this journey had allowed me a small taste of emotional freedom. There was something there that allowed me to be who I was and not completely shut everything out. It was like…being myself was actually okay. In my heart I continued to fool myself in thinking that this time of momentary relaxation would last, but I knew more than anyone that things that made you happy never lasted forever.

But my thirst for happiness was so intense that I'd persist with the sad illusion. And besides, was there really any harm in opening up just a little? As long as I knew the pain would come along eventually, then it wouldn't hurt so bad once it did.

That was true strength…

…Right?

The three of us continued on in trying to navigate through the mysterious maze without a word being exchanged between us. Out of the blue, there was an empathy wave coming from "Hikaru".

Guilt.

You could imagine how uncomfortable a feeling like this would be—well it was even more so when you were feeling it from someone else. And it especially didn't help that we were still holding hands…his firm, warm hand that ensured a true sense of security. Whenever I closed my eyes, I realized how different his hand felt than Hikaru's. Ugh. His guilt was just adding the guilt I was having about mixing him up with my ex-boyfriend and cursing him out earlier.

This specific emotion certainly wasn't needed.

Stopping in my tracks caused him to stop as well. The lack of the faint sounds of following footsteps had Chichiri halting in confusion and taking a glance back at us.

"What's wrong Aki?" He asked.

"Yeah, you're holding us up by stopping like that—"

"Just say what you want to say," I interrupted .

"What?" "Hikaru" gave a puzzled look.

"Look, I know how you're feeling…and I know you know I do, so don't act as if you don't know what I'm talking about. Just come right out and say it!" I demanded.

With an expression of obvious uneasiness, he crossed his arms and tried to look away. "Fine." Letting out a heavy sigh, he spoke. "Back there…at the hot spring…the things I said…well, I'm…I'm…" Figuring out for a few moments about what he wanted to say resulted in an exaggerated groan. "I can't stand it! Why do women have to make such big deals out of such little things? And to add to it…the way they have to be so emotional about stuff…and you're just—"

"I'm what?" Fist clenching in my free hand, my voice roared out. "You are so impossible! In a time like this, you resort back to that crap about how women are 'so emotional' and how they 'make such big deals' out of stuff. Well, I'm not like most women! You're lucky that I even bother to show any emotions at all. Expressing them is already uncomfortable enough for me without a guy like you coming around to shoot me down—" Out of the corner of his golden eye, he inspected me—the same eyes as Hikaru's…same face…same everything. While clenching my fists even harder lead me to ferociously start pounding my head due to all of the bottled up frustration of it all. With every hit, I repeated, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!..."

"Hey! What are you doing?" He shouted out.

Chichiri extended his hand out in concern. "Aki you must stop this, ya know?"

Ignoring both of their commands, I persisted, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" The harsh impacts were quickly drawing the warm, red liquid to come trailing down the middle of my face, staining my knuckles in the process.

Forcefully grabbing my wrist, "Hikaru" prevented me from mutilating myself any further. "Stop it! You're hurting yourself and drawing blood! You can't keep doing that!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Using as much strength as I could, I snatched my arm away. Body shaking from buried frustration, the energy on my silver veins began flowing vigorously once again.

"Aki, you have to calm down. You can get through this, ya know?"

"Argh! I'm so sick of this!" Concentrating my energy into my hand, a fierce sphere of heated flame formed, instantly lighting up the surrounding area in a tint of red. "Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hand!"

"Wha—What are you doing?" Chichiri shakily asked.

"Fireball!" Releasing the attack onto some nearby bushes and trees, they instantly combusted into a vicious festival of flames, leaving nothing in that area to escape the wrath of the fire. The three of us just stood there marveling at the dancing combination of heated colors red, orange, and yellow. In a way, the flames calmed me down a bit.

"What the hell was the point of that?" "Hikaru" asked.

Showing him a rather relaxed look of indifference, I told him, "Tension release... I feel slightly better now."

Then, out of nowhere, a giant snake with dark green, rough-looking scales came rushing through the thick leafy walls of the maze, completely throwing us off guard. What the hell? With a swing of its spikey tail, Chichiri was separated from Genrou and me as we jumped out of the way.

"Where did this thing come from?"

When its tail whipped back around, I thought quickly on my feet. "Seoshi!" The yellow-tinted dome appeared around us just in time as the tail crashed into it, keeping us momentarily safe. "I'd bet anything that this snake is a special present from this twisted maze." Suddenly, the serpent hissed, bearing its sharp, and most likely venomous fangs. Head-butting the dome, it probably had the high hopes of actually being able to penetrate it.

Good luck with that.

From the side, a ball of light-blue energy came flying past, impacting the creature from the side, causing a small explosion. As it inspected where the attack came from, even more were shot out similarly to a machine gun. Chichiri was trying to get the monster off of our backs so that we could successfully evade its attacks. But this thing was looking a lot more annoyed than distracted. My focus was so fixated on that sight that I didn't noticed the ground shaking under us inside of the Seoshi. Just as the head of yet another snake peaked through, "Hikaru" pushed me out of the way, completely breaking my concentration on the spell. Two snakes?

That was when the unthinkable happened—they completely vanished.

"Hikaru" and I frantically looked around for the enemy. "Where did they go?"

"Behind you!" Chichiri yelled. We quickly turned around and saw absolutely nothing there. It wasn't until something huge brutally swatted us that we realized that the enemy was still there. The two of us went flying straight into the trunk of a sturdy tree. Before impact, I shifted so that "Hikaru" was in front of me, allowing the full force of the attack to be directed at me only. The moment my body hit the tree, a violent surge of pain drove through my body, temporarily feeling as if every bone in my body had been broken.

"Aki!" When my body finally decided to peel off the trunk, I painfully fell to the ground on my stomach before "Hikaru" had a chance to catch me. Teeth gritting, I tried my best to stifle the intense aching of my body, finding it difficult to support myself and sit up. Putting his hands on my shoulder, he tried to help me off of the ground. "Why the hell did you do that? A hit like that could have killed you, you idiot!"

"I—I wouldn't have died so easily…" Talking proved difficult through the intense pain I was experiencing.

While supporting my body, he added, "You're a woman, your body is more fragile and can break more easily." I shot him a dirty glare. "Don't give me that look. It's true whether or not you want to accept it. Look at yourself—you can't even keep yourself up! You shouldn't be so damn reckless!"

Scoffing at him, I said, "You're concern warms my heart, but I'll be fine."

"But…"

"Listen Genrou, we kind of have an issue right now, so I'd appreciate it if you focused on the task at hand." He looked kind of hurt when I said that, but I really couldn't focus on that at the moment. How did that snake do that? Is it fast or…

"You guys, look out!" Chichiri's voice warned again.

"Where?"

"It's right next to you—" The monk raised up his staff to defend himself from something that we couldn't see, his back arching back slightly from the weight of whatever it was.

But his words rang in my ears, allowing me to recall his warning. So with a sudden rush of adrenaline, I grabbed "Hikaru" and rolled to the side far enough to see a rather lengthy crater form in the ground beside us…in the shape of a snake's tail. Wait a second…the snakes mysteriously vanished, and yet we're still being attacked by things that seem like they aren't even there. That's when the epiphany hit me.

"Don't tell me that these things are invisible!" I shouted out loud.

"Are you kidding me?" "Hikaru" yelled as he observed the surrounding area. Then his head snapped back at me. "And what did I just say about making reckless maneuvers like that?"

"Save it!" I demanded. "Hey Chichiri! How are you able to tell us where they are?"

Forming a barrier with his staff, the snake he was facing off against was repelled for only a few seconds. The monk then fired some more of the blue energy sphere's from before, pushing the beast back long enough for him to jump onto the branch of a nearby tree. "They may be able to cloak themselves physically, but no living thing can mask their auras, ya know? They are as clear as day to me." Well I'll be damned. "It's trying to hit you guys again!" Taking my companion once more, we rolled and maneuvered more and more as multiple tail smashed came raining down in a lethal path. Each time we moved, by body cried out in pain from the impact on the tree. But if it weren't for Chichiri's direction, I'd have a lot more to worry about than superficial bodily injuries. I couldn't even really cast spells or manipulate the elements properly with just my untrained left hand. That and the fact that we were being constantly attack prevented me from going on the offense. To make matters worse, my emotions were still kind of all over the place—like a chaotic and untied ball of string—so doing anything too complicated at that moment would probably have done more harm than good.

"Dammit Aki! Cut it out already!" With every evasion, I continued to take the worst of it so that "Hikaru" wouldn't get hurt.

Suddenly, the tree that Chichiri was in completely shattered. But luckily, Chichiri instantly teleported to the ground a few yards away from it before it was destroyed. "We need to be careful, three more of them just showed up!"

"Three more? You mean there are five invisible snakes that we have to deal with?" I didn't exactly know why, but that statement of mine came off to me as something that that vampire on Sesame Street would say. How are we going to do this when only one of us can see their auras? Every time Chichiri dodged, he shot out another attack, but it didn't seem to be having much of an affect.

"I don't understand! They aren't even flinching from my attacks, ya know?"

"Are you sure?"

As he backed up, he accidentally tripped on some exposed root of a tree, causing him to fall backwards. Before he could even stand up and recover, he extended his staff out, rings jingling from the motion, summoning an electrical barrier between him and the serpent. "Yes, I am fairly certain, ya know?" With all the magic he was dishing out—and it looked like some wicked and strong badass stuff—you'd expect creatures like these to be defeated in no time. But if what he was saying was true, then we had a bigger problem on our hands than just the fact that they were invisible. "Not to alarm you two or anything, but if we don't come up with something soon, the ending of this battle won't be very favorable, ya know?" He gasped. "There are three of them surrounding you!"

"Crap!" Scanning all around, it frustrated me that I couldn't see anything at all. But they were there.

"The first one is attacking on your right!"

"Hikaru" stood in a fighting position and told the invisible foe, "Finally, now I get a chance at you—"

"Out of the way!" Without hesitation, I pushed him as best as I could to get a clear "view" of the monster. Going on blind faith, I summoned Wind to my free hand. Bringing my arm back, I shot it out yelling, "Tornado Fist!" Luckily, I felt my fist hit something, which probably sent it back quite a bit. It probably didn't go as far as I wanted considering my current energy dilemma mixed with the fact that I was using my left hand.

"The other two are rushing at you at your left. Their fangs are bared so be careful!"

Sending my power to my feet, a blast of Wind shot from beneath my shoe, sending us flying into a small clearing behind a thick group of bushes. The very apparent crash from behind signified that the two that had just attacked had missed their target.

"Look, you stupid girl—I had enough of you protecting me every goddamn time!" When we were supposed to be focused on our invisible adversaries, "Hikaru" here decided to stop and "chat". "Not only are you insulting my duty as a man, but you're going to end up killing yourself! If you just let me protect you instead, we could avoid all of this suffering you're putting yourself through!"

Growling, I told him, "I can't do that."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I have to keep you safe Hika—" My eyes widened with what I was about to say. I almost called him Hikaru. Was that why I was so fixated on protecting him? He's not Hikaru…For a split second, the illusion faltered, allowing me to see Genrou's apprehensive expression, not Hikaru's. But then the trick was reinforced, putting my ex-boyfriend's face into view. Feeling distraught, I look to the ground to sort through my thoughts.

He was about to say something when some of the leaves in the bushes rustled. Not taking a chance on it, "Hikaru"—no, Genrou brought me close and started running as fast as he could. And just like my past experiences with him, this guy proved to be wicked fast—like superhuman speed worthy. In just a swift blow of wind through my hair, we were in a different spot around the battle area. Looking over to the spot we were just at, I discovered that the bushes were parted irregularly—almost as if something tore through it in an effort to get to some prey.

Genrou just saved our lives.

Showing me a confident smile with teeth and all, he told me, "See? I'm perfectly capable of being the protector on this team." This whole time I had been thinking of Genrou as Hikaru…this whole time I thought that I was protecting my ex-boyfriend, not the companion that I just recently met. They were two separate people and I had been allowing this maze to mess with my brain and tell me otherwise. Thanks to that stupid trial, I had been on such an undesirable emotional rollercoaster that things were becoming real screwed up—I was failing miserably.

But I was finally starting to see the light. Genrou and Hikaru were completely different people for so many different reasons, and no illusion would ever change that. Hikaru was a pretty strong-willed guy, but he wasn't a legitimate fighter skilled in defense and offense like Genrou was. The way they looked, the way they laughed, the way they acted, the feelings I had around them…their auras were so obviously on completely different wavelengths.

Their auras…

Taking a look at the battle area, I saw how Chichiri was starting to struggle with his opponents, he wouldn't have been able to keep it up much longer all by himself, especially since he was up against five seemingly immortal enemies. Hang in there Chichiri. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be there to help. I felt guilty abandoning him, even if it was only for a short time. If I didn't succeed in what I needed to do, then we were all doomed.

'No problem Aki. I'll do the best I can, ya know?' Chichiri's telepathic message came through to me loud and clear, making feel slightly less guilty about putting such a huge burden on him.

Closing my eyes, I focused my thoughts together. The moment I opened them, I let out a confident, "Okay."

Genrou cocked his eyebrow. "Hey. What're you—"

"Seoshi." Once again, the dome covered us in its protective essence. My plan consisted of not allowing those snakes to disturb us. I knew that he would start asking a bunch of questions, I so I moved fast. Positioning myself in front of him, I put my free hand on his shoulder, using my force to push him down to the ground, landing me directly on top of him.

His face started to turn a bright red as he noticed our position. "What are you doing?"

It was only natural that my face was flushed as well because ordinarily, I would never make such a bold move. "This isn't what you think it is—I promise you. But I do need you to trust me, okay?"

The color in his face didn't waiver. "We don't have time for whatever you're going to do Aki. Chichiri—"

"I already know about him. I'm doing this so that we can help him…as well as get out alive. So can you just be quiet? I…I need this…" Swinging my leg around for a better positioning, I slowly closed my eyes. If I just got a feel for his flow of energy—his as Genrou and not Hikaru—then I could break this illusion once and for all! With my free hand, I felt around his face, his chest, discerning the differences between the illusion and reality. The whole structure of his face was different that Hikaru's and their hair felt dissimilar—somehow, Genrou's was smoother and of course the parts were in different places altogether. I had kissed Hikaru, I've felt him in an embrace…there was no question that these two were different…

Speaking of which, I couldn't rule out what I had with Genrou either. The whole time I was on him, feeling him, the mysterious spark coursed through our bodies in the similarly pleasant way it had before. This spark was both natural and special somehow, unique in that I only felt it with him. When one thinks about being electrocuted, struck by lightning, or just shocked, they'd think excruciating pain and discomfort. But it was the complete opposite in this case. Every part of my being would tingle with joy and excitement, and actually feel as if I was waking up from some sort of bad dream and into one worth having. In all truthfulness, the sensation was difficult to explain. I couldn't say why this phenomenon happened and I didn't know what it meant, but the fact of the matter was that it was there, and I needed to accept and perhaps embrace it.

As I concentrated more, something began to manifest in the darkness. A border in the shape of Genrou, not Hikaru, was forming and it was connected to mine. When it came through even clearer, the border illuminated even more, this time in more of a distinct and brilliant golden color, its rays flaring from all around almost resembling the sun. Was this the combined aura that Chichiri mentioned? Was this the Aura Bond that I was meant to see? The fusion of our rays completely surrounded us in such a way that they almost seemed to be one.

Keeping my eyes closed, I brought my head up towards the direction of the battle. Through the darkness of the insides of my eyelids, I made out the auras of the five snakes and Chichiri. The serpents each had an eerie red border shaping them out, and Chichiri's aura was a soft-blue color. His so obviously stood out among the evil ones threatening him.

De-summoning the Seoshi, I yelled out, "Chichiri! Either duck or get out of the way!" With that, he nodded and instantly teleported to some place that I didn't have the time to focus on. Seeing that he was out of the way, the snakes now knew our positioning, so they came slithering our way. Knowing that I didn't have a whole bunch of time, I slid off of Genrou and concentrated my energy into a spell. "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright. East winds that blow, have you as their source into my hands. Ignite all their force!" Five arrows made up of a bright orange energy manifested in the air in front of me, giving off waves of heat. Pointing to the quickly approaching serpents, I completed the spell, "Flare Arrow!" They instantly shot off like heat-seeking missiles locked onto their target, showing no mercy when they struck. Just as the attack hit spot-on, the monsters were immediately disintegrated.

Just as I let out a deep sigh of relief, Chichiri teleported right next to us, his blue aura shining rather brightly the moment he materialized. "How did you do that so effortlessly?"

Standing up on shaky knees, I shrugged. "Good question. I actually though that it would take a bit more than that to take them down. But get this: I can see auras now! I have to close my eyes in order to do it, but all in all, the skill has been learned." Just as the adrenaline was dying down, the excruciating aching from all of the "human shielding" I had performed earlier came rushing back, making standing prove to be rather difficult. When it seemed as if I'd fall to the ground, Chichiri took my free arm and wrapped it over his shoulders so that I could support myself on him. I nodded him my thanks to him. "It's quite amazing, really. Everything that has life seems to be giving off different colorful auras—almost as if they were a night sky full of stars…stars that were of every color on the spectrum." Even as I spoke, the throbbing from my head was becoming more apparent due to the self-mutilation I had inflicted on myself not too long before. I could feel the blood drying on my face.

He nodded. "I'm happy that you can see them now, ya know? It's a bit odd that you need to close your eyes in order to do that, but it's still good nonetheless, ya know?"

"Well ain't all this just nice and dandy?"

And speaking of auras…

Feeling a tug on my arm, I turned to face my bonded companion. Knowing that it was inevitable, I slowly opened my eyes to discover how things were in normal sight. I was happy to find that I was looking into the amber eyes of my flame-headed cohort. Stifling my urge to leap for joy, I kept my cool stature. "Hey, what's up?"

His face showed exhausted annoyance. "Please tell me that all that crap we just went through resulted in that damn illusion goin' away."

I chuckled. "Yeah, it's all gone. You look like yourself again in my eyes."

"Well that's a huge relief." You're telling me.

Chichiri spoke up with a matter-of-fact voice as the two of us "reacquainted". "Everything that had happened, including the snakes, was probably all a part of this trial of yours Aki. You had to learn how to overcome the obstacle of not being able to see auras, and getting past the overwhelming emotional influence of the illusion ya know? Since this was for your learning experience, you had to be the one to defeat the serpents, no one else could do it—explaining why the snakes were able to turn invisible in the first place ya know? It would also explain why you were the only one who could defeat them."

Groaning, I asked a rhetorical question, "How would the maze possibly know what I needed?" As if I don't know.

He held up a finger in an explaining notion. "Considering the maze was formulated by the universe, it just knows, ya know?" If what Chichiri was saying was true, then it was almost guaranteed that the remainder of my time in this maze was not going to be a pleasant one. Yeah, it was sort of good to know that the universe was in a sense trying to help out—I just wished it wouldn't do it in such unconventional ways.

As I mildly lamented on my future, Genrou held up our hands to the monk. "Okay, she learned her technique, so can ya get this damn spell offa us?"

"Oh yeah!" Chichiri laughed. "I almost forgot ya know?"

"I know ya almost forgot that's why I reminded'ja!"

"I now unbind you two." With the snap of his fingers, our hands glowed for a split second before dimming back to its original lighting. I sort of expected him to immediately let go and jump around like an idiot shouting how much he hated being bound to me for so long. It wasn't like I was going to blame the guy—I knew the experience wasn't all the pleasant for either of us. Instead, he just stands there staring at our still held hands. Part of me thought that Chichiri didn't really unbind us…that is, until I let go myself and found that spell was indeed broken, yet he was still holding onto me.

Shifting uncomfortably in my spot, I told him, "You can let go ya know…"

Upon hearing my voice, he instantaneously threw my hand away, recoiling into a position with his arms crossed as he looked away. "Finally! You have no idea how much torture it was bein' connected to a woman fer so damn long. Havin' my body back to myself is like drinkin' a fresh bottle of sake—a huge relief and a good time." Him saying that sort of made me want to smack the guy upside the head in the most violent way possible, but I just ended up laughing instead.

He gave me a peculiar look. "What're ya laughin' fer?"

It felt pretty good to be hearing his voice again—even if it was bashing on women. Something told me that he didn't exactly mean what he said anyway. When I finally stopped laughing, I wipe away the joyful tears that were beginning to form. "I guess some things never change. Just know that the next time you make a negative comment towards my gender, I'll chop or smack you." I winked at him. "Push too hard and you'll end up charred like our snake friends." Just like he said how much of a relief it was, I was beginning to feel that way as well. Any and all stress or anxiety I was feeling had dimmed down considerably.

Seeing an old friend is a blessing, not a curse.

The mysterious male voice appeared in my head once more—speaking with a soothing and secure tone that made me feel warm and safe. He was right after all—I should have thought more of the good things about Hikaru rather than the things I regretted and was depressed about. If Dark's words had stuck to me better, then I wouldn't have tortured myself so much during this whole experience. The unfortunate thing is that it isn't always easy to remember the positive things in life…but for the sake of finding my happily ever after, I had to try my best. The conflicting forces inside of me (Light and Darkness) definitely made things more difficult. And if I ever ended up losing myself again, which was a pretty safe bet considering my unstable tendencies, I just hoped that I'd have someone there to put me back into perspective. This person was, after all, the one I was looking for on this journey, right?

Just make sure you have room in your heart for new bonds—don't be afraid of new experiences and precious memories. For this is a sign of growth. And you are growing Akimoto, a little bit every day. Every step out of the darkness is one step closer to light.

Just then, I began to feel a sense of awkwardness coming from Genrou. Before I asked why he was feeling so uncomfortable, memories of the past few hours replayed in my head—holding hands, taking a bath with him, lying on top of him and feeling him…I immediately stopped supporting myself on Chichiri. Putting both hands on my cheeks, my face probably heated up at least ten more degrees with the sheer embarrassment of it all. I turned around to hide my face from the both of them, my mouth gaping open in disbelief. OMFG! I can't believe that I did all that! My body just refused to cool down so I took off my jacket and threw it to the ground in high hopes that I'd calm down. Even in my tube top, the world felt like a typical day in Death Valley. Why is this happening?

Chichiri's head poked by at my side as he said, "You're completely red, ya know? Even more red than before. Are you feeling alright?"

Quickly turning back to face them, I tried to play it cool. "Of course I am!" Clearing my throat, I put my hands on my hips still aware that my face was still flushed. "I am just going to set the record straight—we will NEVER speak of this day ever again. It never happened, understand?"

"I'm game," Genrou agreed—his face also tinted a slight red color. "This day has never happened."

"Aww…" Chichiri complained in a childish manner. "But it was so exciting and eventful, ya know?"

Giving him such a glare that made my eyes light up like a torch, I demanded in a harsh voice, "Chichiri!" Spurting fire from my mouth, I must have been quite the sight.

Shrinking down in comedic fear, he said, "Okay , okay! I agree as well!"

As I smirked in triumph, I caught Genrou rubbing the back of his head sheepishly—like he had something on his mind. Before I had a chance to ask what was up, he spoke in a low voice. "I'm sorry…" My eyes widened in surprise. He's…apologizing? The blush on his face was real apparent. "I'm sorry fer bein' such a jerk this whole time—it wasn't fair to you. I said some things that I didn't exactly mean. It's just that…travelin' around lookin' fer that cure kinda put me on a clock, and I kept thinkin' that I was runnin' outta time. It made it kinda hard to just stop an' enjoy stuff like I normally do. I jus' didn't wanna be distracted from my mission." He chuckled. "Truth is, you were an' still are kind of a distraction." I narrowed my eyes at him right before he added, "But as far as distractions go, you aren't all that bad. You and Chichiri are actually entertainin' company to have around." I found myself smiling a bit and looking away with a slight blush—pretending as if his words weren't affecting me in any way. Never did I think that he'd be so sincere about anything.

"Genrou…I—"

"We should just be friends already." What? "And not just that, instead of ya doin' somethin' stupid and reckless when you fight, we should just be partners in battle—ya know…fight together as equals…I guess…Watchin' each other's backs."

"Yup! You two definitely do better when you work together, ya know?" Chichiri chimed in with a wide smile. "Plus he was right in saying that things have been a lot of fun! There's never a dull moment with the three of us, is there?"

When the two of them look at me, I purposely make my faint smile go away, maintaining the hands on my hips as I looked away. "You two do know that things you're saying is sort of in violation of the 'forgetting everything' agreement we just had, right?"

"Oh come on!" Genrou walked up to me and put his fingers on the side of my lips, manually stretching them into a smile. "Lighten' up! You're gonna permanently be a wet blanket if ya go around actin' so damn nonchalant all the time." He gave a toothy smile that showed off his fangs.

Slapping his hand away I attempted at keeping my tough exterior. But knowing fully well that the atmosphere between the three of us had changed for the better, I gave a deep, seemingly exasperated sigh. Looking at them out of the corner of my eye, I gave a sideways smile. "Alright then, we can start over. I accept your friendship." Closing my eyes, I opened one of them back up and looked Genrou right in the eye, widening my smile to add to my next witty remark. "So now the 'over-emotional' woman is friends with the no-good bandit. Who woulda thought?"

-Aloe

Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!