"Hey, welcome back," Yen said, waving. She narrowed her eyes at us. "Uh, why are you holding Hikaru like that?"

I let go of Hikaru's arms. "It's his arm I held, not his hand. No need to get jealous," I said as I took a seat.

Yen grumbled. "Who said I was jealous?"

I glanced at a blushing Hikaru and chuckled. Oh, sweet revenge.

Yen studied Hikaru closely. "Anyway, you seem better, Hika. But if you start to feel bad again then tell us and I'll finish the final match."

Hikaru grumbled. "What's with you two doubting me?"

"You can't blame them," Ayawamat called out. "Personally, I think they should've put my brother and me for this event rather than that weak-ass prince and you. Perhaps Stella to replace that weakling out there right now."

I snapped my fingers to draw their attention. "Shut it, don't talk as if Lei losing this is a sure thing. That boy... he has to win this," I muttered.

"True," Hikaru said. "We have to trust Lei will end this."

Ayawamat crossed his arms and scoffed. "Trust that weakling? Come on!"

I glared at him. To believe that Lei actually got angry at me because I had attacked this guy.

I turned my attention to the battle that was about to commence.

Lei stood in front of a woman with dark purple hair and cat like eyes. The woman was dressed in all black, and wore fang shaped earrings.

"Don't tell me she's a vampire?" Yen said.

I gulped as I recalled the vampire we had met at the caverns.

"Hahaha, I sure hope not," I said.

"Begin!" the announcer yelled.

Lei wasted no time, chanting, "Ventum Avem!" Wind raced across the arena, blowing the dust from the now marble only arena. The wind coalesced into the form of a verdant wind bird.

The women's eyes widened. She appeared behind him. Black claws dug into his back. Lei dashed forward. He seemed shaken by her speed.

"Fulgur Draco!" he yelled. A lightning dragon zapped down from the sky and went through the barrier and straight down towards his opponent.

The Kyuu Seishinian dodged, watching as the dragon created a massive crater in the center of the arena. "You're like Eien said."

He leered at her. "That guy told everyone about us? He must find us entertaining."

She forms a scythe out of the shadows in her hands. "He confirmed that to us after his battle with Zelde. Nyima while not as entertaining as Zelde was still interesting in her own way.

She slashed the wind bird that Lei had made using just her claws. Shadows spread all around. "Media Autem Nocte Sectis!" she chanted. The shadows sliced the air repeatedly. Tendrils emerged from the slashes and formed a black sphere around him.

"What's going on?" Yen asked.

I closed my eyes. "Kěyǐ tòuguò hēi'àn kàn de yǎnjīng," I murmered while making multiple hand signs. I opened my eyes and saw through the darkness.

Lei had formed scythes of wind. The scythes sliced everything that we could no longer see him in the sheer darkness.

Though scythes of darkness came at him, leaving deep gashes in his legs, causing him to fall to the ground.

"What's going on?" Adela asked as she walked over to us.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I hate to say it, but this but, Hikaru, guess you're-"

"Ventus de Caelum," a voice ranged. The blades shattered into the air. Lei raised his head and punched the woman in the gut. She dropped her scythe from the shock as he shadow dome dissolved.

The arena soon became covered by an emerald light radiating from Lei who was raising to the heavens. In his hands were his strange-looking butterfly swords. Strangely, a green spiral filled one of the holes as if it were solid wind.

Adela chuckled. "Seems like Lei got a power up."

I tilted my head. That boy only continued to surprise.

The Kyuuseishinian woman stood up. A smile covered her face. She picked up her scythe. "Tenebris Draco!" She swiped the air with her scythe. From where she slashed the air emerged a shadowy darkness. The dragon shaped spell opened it's jaws and devoured Lei without warning.

"What in the world?" Hikaru said.

"Dark spells are eerie," I muttered to myself. They aren't anything like my light spells.

The darkness subsided. Lei's emerald light had vanished completely.

"Damn, I didn't expect her to use a neutralizing spell so fast and efficiently like that," I muttered.

"So that's why his aura vanished, her dragon neutralized it," Yen said.

Nahimana chuckled. "Indeed. Lei is in some serious trouble."

The woman pointed her scythe at his neck. "Give up, Lei Lan"

Lei chuckled. He raised himself back up using wind. "Like I ever will!" he yelled, releasing a powerful gust of wind. The woman's grip on her scythe began to slip as she was being pushed toward the edge of the arena.

Lei covered his blades in green aura, making them look a pair of swords. "Wind Fang!" he yelled before vanishing.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Gah..." the woman said. Blood dripped down her legs. He chuckled and pushed Lei using the pole of her scythe before he could land another hit. "Not bad, kid."

Lei narrowed his eyes. "Who are you calling kid?" The two moved in the air and moved far too fast for me to keep up with.

"Incredible," Kun said, mouth wide. "I can barely keep up with them."

"Hya!" the woman's scream echoed. A shock-wave reverberated throughout the arena as dust covered the place.

"No, Lei!" Yen yelled.

"He'll be fine, I know he will," Yuzuki said. She was the most focused out of all of us on his match.

"Ventus Draco...Maxima!" Lei yelled from within the cloud of dust. The dust was blown away completely. The green aura around Lei's swords vanished and concentrated together to form the shape of a verdant dragon.

The woman's eyes widened as the serpentine dragon grabbed a hold of her with one of its four fingered claws and slammed her out of the arena.

"Gat is out of the arena! The winner by default is Lei Lan!" the announcer yelled.

"H-he did it!" Yen said. She turned to Hikaru and hugged him. "Lei did it!"

Lei chuckled and fell to his knees. He closed one eye and grimaced. Blood was rolling down his mouth. Suddenly Lei's wind dragon broke apart and took the shape of blades.

"Lei!" Zelde yelled out. She and Wanikiya raced out of the hall under us. "You can't stabilize it!"

The wind around Lei spun wildly as if uncontrolled. Blades slashed the marble around it into soft sand. The air crackled with sheer power. He put his arms around himself. He closed his eyes. He breathed heavily as if the air was being sucked out of his lungs.

"What's going on?" Wanikiya asked as Zelde and he arrived at the barrier.

He turned toward the announcer who was flying above the barrier on top of a broom stick. "Please let us in!" He allowed him in.

"Lei, get a hold of yourself!"

Lei threw his head back and gave Wanikiya a pleading look.

"Lei, what were you thinking, using a Maxima spell?" Zelde yelled.

"Now isn't the time to scold him," Wanikiya said as he shielded his eyes. He held out a hand toward Lei. "Glacis Draco!" He tried to grab Lei with his dragon but the wind easily destroyed it, sending cold wind everywhere.

Yuzuki, Yen, Kun, and I got up and made our way over.

"Lei!" Zelde yelled.

"Amazing," Gat said as she stood up. "He's so young, yet has so much potential. Sadly his body can't contain it all."

She rushed at Lei but the wind threw her straight into the barrier.

"Stop, Lei!" I yelled as Yuzuki, his siblings, and I arrived at the scene.

Adela appeared next to the barrier. She jumped back in pain. "It won't let me in."

"That's because you're not of Kyuu Seishin or Wahkan," the announcer said. "The barrier is still the same one used for the match. As such members from other teams can't intervene."

She punched the barrier. "Let me in! I got to help Lei!"

"You can't, those on his team know best how to stop him."

"Can't you stop him yourself? You're supposed to be an elite mage!"

His face turned red. "I don't know how to cast or undo Maxima spells. It was a surprise to see two try to use them, and one of them very successfully so in doing so."

Adela turned to look at Lei. Her eyes were filled with distress.

I tapped her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll stop him!"

"Stop it Lei, regain control," Wanikiya repeated.

"I...can't... " Lei yelled. He opened his mouth as if he were yelling but no sound came out.

Zelde took another step toward him. She was being careful not to prove the winds which appeared to have a life of their own.

"I don't know if I can stop it in the condition I'm in now but here goes. Ignis Draco Maxima!" she chanted. Her now familiar golden dragon spell emerged from her palms. The dragon's ruby flames clashed with the emerald wind. An inferno of flames were sent everywhere.

I stepped forward and shielded a shocked Zelde and Wanikiya from the flames. "No use, you two leave this to us!" I yelled.

Gat laughed as she dodged the flames toward toward her. "Such chaos, it's so beautiful."

Zelde and Wanikiya gave her worried stares. "Can you slash it? The winds?" they asked.

The woman smirked. "Of course. Media Autem Nocte Sectis!" The scythe spell from before covered the now dying wind. The wind repelled the dark blades. Shattered shadow blades impaled the barrier, causing it to shatter in some places.

Adela took the opportunity to run inside.

Yen and Kun linked hands. "Wind Blade!" the yelled in unison. The vortex was sliced in half, allowing Adela the chance to run in and grab Lei out of the dying wind vortex.

"You're safe now." She walked over to us. Lei was as pale as a corpse.

"Is my brother alive?" Yen asked. She touched her brother's forehead. "He feels...so cold. I can barely sense my brother's energy."

Yuzuki stepped back. "No, don't say it..."

"No!" Kun yelled. "Lei has to be alright!"

"He is," I said. I looked at Zelde and Adela for reassurance.

"That's correct," Adela said as tears rolled down her face.

"However his prana was almost completely depleted by his Maxima spell," Zelde said. It'll take a while for him to replenish his energy."

I smiled and touched his forehead. "I guess I could share some of mine with him." A blue aura ensnared my hand and his head.

"Allow me too," Adela said as she continued to carry Lei in her arms.

Yuzuki, Kun and Yen did the same too.

"Lei!" a violet haired woman yelled. It was Lei's mom. Following behind her were Shandian and Feng. Seeing Feng reminded me of a certain young man I had once met as a kid. A young man who nearly died just like Lei, but in his case he was protecting another.

Harmonica kneeled down and patted her son's head. "I told you not to push yourself. We shouldn't have let you do this..."

Fang placed a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, dear. He'll be alright."

"Lei okay?" Serein asked as he ran over along with his big brother and mother.

Come to think about it, I might've met Ocarina before... at those same Kyuu Seishinian games...

Adela nodded and smiled. "Yeah, he is!"

Yuzuki and the rest of us let out sighs of relief.

"Thanks for taking care of my Lei for us, girls. I hope it's not too much to ask but can you continue to watch over him?"

Yuzuki chuckled. "You know me, I'm used to taking care of him by now."

I averted my gaze. "I guess I can take care of him too."

"Certainly," Adela said, smiling. "I still owe him for saving me."

"You seem close to Lei since we first met. How did you meet him?" Raul asked, tilting his head at her.

"Well, he's a relative. We share the same great-grandfather," she said. "My mother was the cousin of Lady Harmonica, Sir Euphonium, as well as your mother. We met when his mom was visiting mine."

"Oh, so you're our second cousin? Is your mother here too?" Raul asked, looking around.

"Raul..." Ocarina whispered as she stared at Adela.

Adela's face had turned pale. She lowered her head. "My...my mom's sister and her family are taking care of me. You see I'm an orphan."

Serein hugged Adela's right leg. "You're not. You got us!" He smiled brightly at her. "We're your family!"

She smiled and patted the curious five-year-old's head. "That's right. I got all of you, including Lei!"

"Speaking of your aunt, where is she? Been awhile since I'd seen her," Ocarina said. She scanned the arena.

"Adela," someone said. The voice belonged to Grace. Following the woman closely behind was another woman, or so I thought, holding the hand of Celeste while carrying a purplish black haired baby boy.

Celeste was dressed in what looked like ceremonial robes as they were made with gold fabric and adorned with jades at the ends.

Celeste looked straight at Serein. The boy smiled back at her.

"Hi," Serein extending a hand out to her. "I'm Serein. I'm fay years old. What's your namou?"

"It's Five," his older brother corrected him.

"That's what I seed," he said.

"You said fay, which means fairy, and now instead of 'said' you said 'seed'."

Serein pouted his cheeks. "Whatever." He looked back at Celeste with curiosity. "Have we met before?

The girl pouted and didn't respond.

"Come on, Celeste," Adela said, nudging her. "Say hi to Serein. It's been several months since you first met. You can't blame him for not remembering you."

"So your namou is Celeste," he said with a giggle. He stepped forward and shook her hand. "Nice to meet ya!"

Celeste looked up at him and smiled back.

"Is Lei alright?" Iah said as he came down. Following Iah were the same kids that were with him when when we trained the Hou kids.

"He'll be fine," I said. I stared at Serein, Azure, and Celeste and smiled. "You three have eyes that resemble jewels."

Adela look at the three kids as well and smiled. "Yeah, they do."

I got the sensation that these three were meant to meet like this. The ones with the sapphire, emerald, and ruby eyes. Only one who was missing was the diamond amongst them.

"Is he alright?" Stella said as she warped behind me along Sirius and Astra.

Astra who was being carried by her father stared at me with her almond shaped golden eyes, they were like golden diamonds. She turned her gaze toward the unconscious Lei and began to quiver.

I patted Astra's head. "Don't worry, little one, he'll be fine."

"Astra!" Serein yelled, grinning as he turned around.

Celeste pouted as Serein seemed to ignore her.

"I think I detect a little love triangle," Iah cooed.

Sirius gasped and stepped back. "What? Astra is too young for that!"

Iah chuckled. "What an overprotective brother you are!"

"Brother? She's my kid."

"What? She's your kid?" Iah asked, eyes wide.

Stella chuckled. "Sirius, put Astra down. Let her introduce herself."

Sirius grumbled. In some ways, he reminded me of my own dad. And it wasn't only the overprotective father part. Just like the guy who brought my friend's medicine, he gave off the same aura. If I were a kid I was sure I would confused him for my own dad.

He looked down at Astra who seemed to be curious about Serein and the others. He sighed. "Okay," he said, putting her down.

Astra wobbled as she walked towards Serein and the others. "I'm Astra!" She closed her eyes and held out a hand to them. Serein shook her hand despite already knowing her. She opened her eyes and looked directly into his sapphire blue eyes. "So pretty."

"You pretty too," Serein said, grinning.

"This kid and his grammar," Raul said, rolling his eyes.

"She pretty, just like me eyes," Serein said, giggling.

How adorable!

"Hitting on girls at age five, you're going to grow up to be quite the player," Iah said, grinning.

I glared at Iah. "Don't say weird things to kids! I don't want them picking up your habits!"

Iah chuckled. "You sound like a mom. Though, I wouldn't mind you using that line in the future," he said, winking.

I turned away, embarrassed. I smiled as Iah's own cousin walked over to Astra. He seemed mesmerized by her yellow eyes.

I stared at Iah's golden eyes. "Is something wrong?" he said.

"Nothing," I said.

He laughed. "You weren't just about to use Serein's line on me, were you?"

"Why would I?"

He tilted his head. "Well you got pretty sapphire eyes yourself and I have golden eyes so I thought..."

"While Wahkan has advanced to the next round, we'll be having the fifth match between Kyuu Seishin and Wahkan as a friendly battle," the announcer said.

"See you later," I said.

Iah pouted.

"So who is participating in this match now?" Ocarina asked.

"I am," Hikaru said. He quickly looked at her and his nephews. "Where did my brother go?"

"I saw him talking to an old friend of ours from high school," the nameless woman holding the baby said. She was very beautiful that it was hard to believe the truth.

"Who you?" Serein said, tilting his head at her.

"I'm Celeste's father," she said. She smiled at us.

I glanced over at Adela. "What did she say?"

"He's telling the truth. While he may appear more beautiful than Adela and you, he is a guy."

I suddenly felt a bit insulted. "Why are you dressed like a woman? Uh, not like you need to tell me."

"It's a custom," he said.

"Oh right, I forgot about that," I said, chuckling.

"Though he doesn't need it," Grace said. "Not any more at least. The men of our Xian clan only need to dress like a woman from the age of ten until they're eighteen or married."

"I've heard about it," Iah said. He turned to look at Lei. "Isn't Lei also of the Xian? He is of that age, so why isn't he dressed like that?"

"He is a Xian," Harmonica said, putting a wet towel over her son's head. "However, my brother was the last one required to dress as a woman. Since Lei, Shandian, Serein, and Raul are only 1/8th Xian they don't need to participate in the custom."

"The friendly match is about to begin," Azure said. I gasped when looking straight at his eyes. Something about them reminded me of someone... but I wasn't sure as to who it was.

I shook my head and looked up to see Hikaru and a white cloaked woman make their way over.

  We all backed away from the edge of the now restored battlefield to watch up close the closing match between our country and Kyuu Seishin.  

"In the meantime, I'm going to go take Lei to the infirmary if you don't mind," Adela said.

"Not at all," Yuzuki said. "I'll come with you."

"You aren't going to watch your brother's match?" I asked.

Yuzuki bit her lip and looked back at Lei. "I'll watch it on tv. Plus, it's a friendly match. Hika will be alright, no matter the outcome."

I guess she had a point, but still. That would mean that neither of his siblings were around to watch his match...

"Hey, am I too late?" Eri yelled as he ran over.

Yuzuki smiled at her older brother. "Watch over our little bro, Eri. Tell him I'm cheering him on from the infirmary."

Eri chuckled and crossed his arms. "I doubt I need to tell him that. He knows that no matter where you are, he can count on you to cheer for him."

She giggled. "Same with you, big bro!"

I smiled. Seems that they're closer than I thought.

"You're not going with them?" Iah asked, turning over to look at me as Adela and Yuzuki walked away.

"Why? Lei is fine with those two as his caretakers," I said, sighing.

The crown prince of Mina chuckled. "Lei sure is lucky, though. Having two beauties to look after him."

"Yeah... he is..." I lowered my head. I wanted to go with them, but at the same time I didn't. I didn't want to come off as one of Lei's fan girls like those two did.

"Ouch!" I yelled. I rubbed my forehead and glared at Iah.

He smiled. "Hey, don't daydream while the match is about to start."

I smiled and stepped on his left foot.

"Hey, no need to be violent! We aren't the ones fighting!" he cried.

I grinned and let go of his foot. So much for him being a cool guy.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter :3. What did you think of Lei's match? How do you think Hikaru will do in his?**