A/N: You know, since it's summer, I'm gonna have more time to post new chapters of my stories. So expect daily updates for a while, peeps! Although, I won't be around during the last week of June and during the first couple weeks of July. I've got a fine arts camp to go to during that time.

By the way, this chapter will be a little longer than usual, since I've got a long flashback that took me a seriously long time to write. But trust me, you'll like it.

Anyhoo, enjoy chapter 3, and read and review pretty please!

"First of all," Gingka began. "What is the TSA?"

Taki grinned. "Good question. In a sort of large nutshell, I'll explain:

"The TSA is an organization of spies that only admit pre-teens and teenagers. No adults are allowed to enter, teens only. The founder — who has been dead since 1985 — wanted to give teenagers the chance to actually get out there and see the world and be independent.

"The way it works is this: First they try to find kids that look eligible, and they watch then throughout their childhood. Some don't begin to get watched until their eleven, others begin to get watched when they're, like, six. Once that kid is old enough, they give the choice of becoming a spy in the agency to the kid. If the kid says no, then they just leave them alone. It's their choice.

"Other times you'll get a kid where they want to at first, but they resign after a while because they have second thoughts.

"The TSA also encourages recruits and agents to become friends, and expand their horizons, you know?

"Anyway, what we mostly focus on is getting a kid to believe they can do anything. Like, let's say you're someone who is rather passive and shy. You don't think you can do a lot. Then suddenly, you get recruited into this agency you didn't even know about! Of course, you're probably stoked, but you're also worried that once you complete your training and when you're out on a mission, you won't make it back alive. The training instructor would encourage you, and tell other agents to leave you alone if their picking on you, and sort of support you if you're feeling down in the dumps. And gradually, you begin to believe you can actually do something to make a difference. And the TSA does just that."

"Oh," Gingka said, and fell back in his seat. "Cool."

"Taki?" Madoka asked. "I have a question. What sort of stuff do you work on?"

"Oh, a lot of things. But only things that are on like a major scale," Taki replied.

"For example, you rob a bank? We're not interested. You vandalize? We let the police handle that.

"But let's say you want to break into Fort Knox and steal something that's immensely valuable? We're there to stop you. With the help of the soldiers at Fort Knox, of course."

"Who's going to train us?" Tsubasa asked. Taki jumped; he had been silent the entire time.

"I'm going to be one of the people training you," Taki said. "It's mostly adults who train new recruits, but the director wanted to see what would happen if agents trained new recruits. He figured, since you guys are our newest, that you guys might feel more comfortable if someone around your ages trained you."

"Who else?" Hikaru asked.

"I can't tell right now, but you'll find out," Taki assured her.

Kenta reached over and tapped Taki on the shoulder. When he turned around, he asked, "How do you and Yuki know each other?"

Yuki and Taki smiled at each other.

"Now that was years ago," Taki said. "We're from the same village, but we never really knew each other until when we were both 8 years old..."

An 8 year old Taki walked home from school, down the road that led to and away from the elementary school. She wore different clothes, a plain purple shirt, a jean skirt, and white shoes. Her hair was longer, and in a ponytail. A couple books were in her hand, and she carried a purple backpack on her shoulders.

Suddenly, Taki heard someone say, "Hey! Give it back!"

She ran back over to the school and saw some teenaged boys holding a book over the head of a boy her age that wore a collared white shirt, suspenders, and a pair of brown pants. He also had glasses, which were slipping down his nose as he tried jumping to retrieve his book.

"Come on, kid!" one of the boys jeered at him. "Come and get it! Come and get it!" He laughed at the sight of the boy, who was now close to tears.

Taki ran over and pushed the boy holding up the book. He fell flat on his face in the dirt, and the book fell out of his hands. Taki picked up the book before the other two boys could get it and start over again.

"Back off!" Taki said, in a defiant voice that was quite impressive, considering the fact that she was eight. "He never did anything to you, so why should you bully him?"

The two boys looked shocked, then one regained his cool and said, "Because, he's just a big wimp! And he was carrying a book around, thinking he was smarter than we were. That's why."

"So what? He just likes reading!" Taki retorted. "So leave him alone before I tell Mrs. Asada!"

The boys' eyes grew wide. The principal, Mrs. Asada, didn't have a lot of tolerance for troublemakers. Taki knew this since she once had gotten in trouble for tying a kid's shoelaces together.

"Fine," the other boy snapped. "But we'll be back."

They turned and walked away, but not before the leader shoved the boy into a pile of dirt. Face first. Taki heard them laugh and high-five as they walked away.

Taki walked over and helped him out of the dirt pile. His glasses had fallen off a small distance away, so she picked them up and brushed the dirt off before handing them back.

The boy put them on, and saw Taki standing there, holding his book.

"Uh..." he stuttered, and Taki wondered if he had trouble talking to other people. "T-thanks for stepping in. And, I wasn't telling them I was smarter than they were, I was just reading and they snatched it away. S-so, if you believed that, then-"

"I didn't believe it," Taki interrupted, shaking her head. The boy stopped.

"You didn't?" he asked, blinking in surprise. Taki smiled and shook her head again.

"Oh," the boy said, a little lamely, before smiling. "That's good."

Taki looked down at the book the boys had stolen, asking, "What were you reading?"

"Um... just a book on Astronomy," the boy replied. "Could I, um, have it back, please?"

"Sure."

Taki passed the book over to him and they both sat down in the schoolhouse's shadow, with their backs against the wall.

"What's your name?" Taki asked. She had been curious to know who this boy was. She recognized him from school, because while she liked to sit in or near the back, he sat in the front row. The boy, Taki also knew, got very good grades for someone their age and liked to drink up everything the teacher, Miss. Yoko, was saying.

"I-I'm Yuki," the boy said, before politely bowing to her. "Yuki Mizusawa."

"Hmm, Yuki," Taki said, thinking it over. "I like it. Isn't that a girl's name too?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so. My name's Taki. Taki Minasan."

"Aren't you the girl who tied Yoshio Naido's shoelaces together?" Yuki asked. Taki nodded, and Yuki laughed. "That was pretty funny. And, don't tell anyone I said so, but he kind of deserved it."

"I won't tell," Taki promised. "And yeah, Mrs. Asada nearly had a fit," Taki added, smiling at the memory. Of course, during that time she had been a little scared at what would happen to her but also satisfied that she had achieved what she had wanted to do to Yoshio Naido since she started going to school.

"I remember!" Yuki said. "Mrs. Asada came in after Miss. Yoko told her what happened, and she looked like she wanted to murder you four times in a row!"

"Oh yeah! Then she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the class!" Taki said. They were both laughing now.

Yuki stopped laughing and said, "You know, we heard her shouting at you in the hallway. It was pretty scary, but also pretty funny. 'I have just about had it with you! You have caused enough trouble than the amount I can tolerate, young lady! A proper girl your age should be polite and not cause more trouble than I need!'" he recited, doing a surprisingly perfect impression of Mrs. Asada. "'You are coming with me down to my office this instant!'"

They both laughed harder. When they finally stopped, Taki heard her mother calling her name.

"I have to go, Yuki," she said, standing up. Yuki stood up too.

"I should go too. My grandfather will be here any minute."

"You know," Taki said, getting an idea. "Maybe you and your grandfather could come over for dinner sometime. That would be cool!"

"It would be!" Yuki agreed.

Taki picked up her books and backpack, and waved goodbye to Yuki. She was walking away, however, when Yuki suddenly burst out, "Doyouwanttobefriends?"

Turning around, Taki asked, "What?"

Yuki's face turned a faint shade of red, but he repeated more clearly, "Do you want to be friends?" and turned away. It looked like he already knew what she was going to say: No.

Taki put her books down and walked back over to him. When Yuki looked up when she tapped him on the shoulder, Taki noticed he had dark blue eyes that looked like they would be permanently shy-looking for the rest of his life.

So instead of saying no like Yuki was probably very sure she would say, Taki grinned and said, "I'd love to."

"And that's how we began our friendship," Taki finished. Madoka and Hikaru looked very touched at the story, and Kenta just looked very happy. Meanwhile, Tsubasa turned back to looking out the window at the clouds (which was what he was doing when Kenta asked the question), while Kyoya looked like he hadn't even been listening.

"That's a really great story," Gingka commented.

"What happened to Yoshio Naido?" Kenta asked curiously.

"Yeah, what did happen to him?" Yuki asked Taki, just as curiously.

Taki furrowed her brow as she tried to remember. Then her violet eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, I remember!"

"What happened?" Kenta asked eagerly.

"He tried to get me back by tying my shoelaces together while I was busy working, but knocked over a chair and got caught by Miss. Yoko. And you won't believe this, but Mrs. Asada was walking past the door when it happened."

Yuki raised his eyebrows, but then laughed. "Oh yeah!"

He turned around and continued. "Plus, it turns out Yoshio already had a list of times he had gotten in trouble that was longer than Taki's at the time. What was his punishment, again?" Yuki asked Taki.

"I think his punishment was that he had to go around the school and apologize to everyone he picked on in his schooling history. He wasn't too keen about that, that's for sure."

Everyone laughed.

Suddenly, everyone heard a beeping noise. Taki looked up and saw that the lightbulb at the top of the car was blinking red over and over.

Tekunoroji's voice came through the speakers. "Nearing destination. Beginning descent. Autopilot disengaging in one minute."

The van suddenly dipped down, and they all could see fields and a town ahead. Taki buckled her seat belt and told the others to do so. Then she took hold of the steering wheel just as Tekunoroji said, "Auotpilot disengaged."

A/N: And there you have it. I hope that wasn't too long for you guys. I think that flashback was pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

By the way, in the first chapter, it says that Taki's around thirteen. I made a mistake about that. This story takes place a year after Metal Fury, so both Yuki and Taki are fourteen in this story. Just something I wanted to clarify.

See you guys tomorrow, cause that's when I'm posting chapter 4. And guess what? A few other OCs get introduced to the story! So if you review chapter 4 when I post it, tell me the one that you think had a good entrance.

Ciao for now! :)