Soujirou stands in the throne room with Sudou both gripping their swords as the sounds of bodies falling lifelessly to the ground echoed just beyond the doors.

  “Sire, you must evacuate the palace,” Sudou says with urgency.

  “Nonsense,” Soujirou replies. “What kind of leader would I be if I abandoned my people?”

  “But my lord-,” he turns to the door as it was broken down and figures dressed similar to Vicious yet clad in outfits with white rather than black and gold bands around their waists. He moves defensively in front of Soujirou, motionless as the two people who broke down the door parted and an older man dressed in heavy gold and white robes walked toward them, the cloth draped around his shoulders holding the different symbols that seemed to resemble the shrines stitched into the fabric and his sleeves showing the sign of the Temple.

  “Grand Master,” Soujirou says, stunned at the sight of him and the Temple elite warriors he was surrounded by. “What are you doing here? The New Reform they’re-,”

  “We meet again, Young Emperor,” he interrupts in an eerily calm tone. “My, have you grown to be quite the noble man. Far different from your father...” His gaze shifts slowly to Sudou at the emperor’s side. “And Sudou? Working for him now are you?” Valo smiles with a slight nod. “It seems this is where all those who oppose the teachings come. Including a certain young woman.”

  Soujirou’s expression hardens at a sudden realization. “So you’re behind this.”

  Valo looks back at Soujirou his unsettling calm expression locked on him. “She was supposed to come to the Temple wasn’t she? But she was taken in by your forces.”

  “Forces you had taken advantage of. You were not in need of anything from my defenses.” Soujirou says angrily. “You only wanted to weaken the security of my home. You put the New Reform up to this, didn’t you?”

  “And it took you this long to finally realize it? That girl is our only focus, and it would do you well to give her to us... Otherwise your palace will fall,” Valo says just as steadily as ever.

  “It is not her wish to follow in the footsteps of those before her. I vowed to honor that request and will never let you lay a finger on her, so long as I am living,” Soujirou replies.

  Valo sighs hopelessly. “Have it your way,” he nods as if giving an order to the two men near him, signaling them to attack Soujirou and Sudou.

  Soujirou and Sudou separate and each attack the two Temple warriors defending themselves.

  Valo watches them, looking impatient and takes a sharp throwing dagger hidden inside the selves of his robes, hitting Sudou directly in the chest.

  Sudou freezes in pain and shock, slowly looking down at the dagger lodged in his chest.

  “Sudou!” Soujirou shouts, seeing Sudou fall to his knees, his momentary distraction catching him off guard long enough to be disarmed and held back by the two Temple elite warriors.

  Sudou attempts to reach for the dagger but loses consciousness, falling completely to the floor, blood surrounding his body as the life faded from him quickly.

  Valo sighs silently and turns his gaze toward Soujirou. “Now, I’ll ask you again Young Emperor. Where is the goddess?”

  Soujirou glares at Valo with distain and resentment while still in the Temple warrior’s grasp. “She will never go to the Temple.”

  “Not of her own will. But, under the right circumstances she may come to her senses. Just as she would have if she stayed with you. That’s what you were hoping for too, wasn’t it? A shame the lineage ends here.”

  Soujirou pushes away from the warriors and grabs his sword throwing it at Valo, frustrated as he saw Valo doge it with ease.

  Valo glares at Soujirou as he watched the warriors wrestle him to the floor, only to turn around as another young warrior hurried in.

  “Grand Master! She’s been spotted leaving with the Yaban leader Keiji,” The warrior yells seriously.

  Valo smiles a little and turns to Soujirou. “Well now, it wasn’t that hard was it?”

  “If Noroc loses her, it will be the end of us,” Soujirou says seriously.

  Valo glares at Soujirou a little. “There’s no proof. Only the word of a man desperate to claim her for his own ascent to peace. He will succumb to us as well. Everyone pays their dues eventually.” He looks at the warriors holding Soujirou. “Kill him,” he says coldly.

  Soujirou closes his eyes lightly, unafraid of his fate.

  ?

  Kaori place her hands near her chest and falls to her knees in front of Tai, both still in her room on board the ship.

  Tai looks down at her, kneeling down to her level nearly instantly as he noticed she was in pain. “Kaori?”

  She moves her hand from her chest seeing blood dripping through her fingers, feeling as if she were impaled. “It hurts...” She whispers with difficulty, her hands trembling in despair that she didn’t recognize as her own.

  He looks at her hand not seeing anything other than the pained look in her eyes. “Keiji.” He stays silent as he heard Breeze’s voice speaking softly in return.

  “Come to the deck now. Both of you,” Breeze’s voice says in worry.

  Kaori blinks for a long moment and looks back down at her hand once more, no longer seeing any sign of an injury and only feeling remnants of a dull pain.

  He grabs Kaori’s hand firmly and helps her stand. “Let’s go.” He leads her down the halls and to the outer deck where Vicious and Shomei were waiting along with Breeze and Keiji. “Why is he here?” he asks hatefully as he laid eyes on Vicious.

  Shomei steps in front of Vicious and speaks firmly. “I asked Keiji after Kaori had left. I had a feeling she would return here and, as a friend, I want to be here for her.”

  Tai glares at Shomei suspiciously before turning to Breeze once she spoke.

  “We have other things to worry about now guys.” Breeze points down to now only disheveled and destroyed remnants of Lotus City. “It all happened so fast... As soon as we got into the ship the attack started.”

  Kaori goes to stand at the edge of the deck, watching as smoke filled the area and listening carefully a loud announcement coming from the tallest building in the city that barely had it’s echo reach the skies.

  Valo shouts loudly, his voice resonating throughout the area. “To all who remain! Listen to my voice! Soujirou has fallen under the hands of the Yaban in an attempt to capture the Empress, our Goddess, for their own gains once more!”

  Kaori shakes her head in horror and disbelief, her eyes widened with shock. “No...”

  “We, the loyal followers of the Temple, have driven them from your city as best as we could, but unfortunately we were unable to save our dear goddess! We believe the main culprit to be none other than Yaban Taiichiro to force her into relinquishing his punishment. If this so happens we will lose our last hope of saving this world! He must be captured and all of the Yaban must be held to justice! Please! Citizens of Lotus City join our cause in hunting down these people and spread the word throughout Noroc! For they \have betrayed their promise to the Emperor and Empress out right and are the reason our world is falling. We must preserve what we have! We must avenge the royal family name!!” Valo yells, the crowd below screaming in unison.

  Keiji’s eyes narrow, his jaw tightening in anger as he heard faint cheers from below emanate loudly.

  Breeze looks at Keiji worriedly. “What are we going to do?” She whispers worriedly.

  Kaori drops to her knees and clenches her fists in front of her tightly as she looked down, tears falling down her face uncontrollably.

  Tai looks over at Keiji with emptiness in his eyes before kneeling down to Kaori’s level almost as if he wanted to comfort her, but restraining himself from doing so.

  “He’s dead. Because of me... Why would this happen? Why are they blaming the Yaban?” Kaori says with a broken voice.

  “I have my suspicions,” Keiji says seriously, the tone of his voice sounding strange and unfamiliar. “Before his fall he told us he received word that the New Reform was behind the pending attacks. There is something happening below us that can no longer be ignored, especially if Valo is currently at the palace and most of the royal guard are near the temple.” He turns a cold and accusing glare at Vicious.

  Vicious looks down and shakes his head. “I don’t know anything, I swear,” he mutters, just as confused with the turn of events as everyone else.

  Breeze turns and looks at Keiji worriedly. “We’re being set up again.” She looks at Kaori sympathetically as Keiji only offered a nod in response to her statement.

  Kaori covers her eyes with the bottom of her palms in an attempts to take control of her tears. “It’s all my fault. Soujirou’s only fault was caring for me so much he died for me while I gave him nothing in return. I should have loved him... That’s the least I could have done for him,” Kaori says regretfully.

  Tai looks at Kaori blankly and slowly reaches out to touch her but stops, falling backward as the ship jerked and Kaori fell over on top of him unintentionally.

  Breeze regains her stability and runs to the edge at the railing, looking down to see the reason for the sudden jolt. “They’re trying to bring us down!!”

  “Get to the control room and fly this thing as high as it can go and head south.” Keiji orders quickly.

  “Right!” Breeze hurries back inside the ship to do as told.

  Keiji looks at Vicious and Shomei. “Both of you are targets now, and possibly high value ones, considering you know the location of our people. The only way you are now able to leave my ship is under my order or through death is that clear?”

  “I’ll be here to help you,” Shomei looks at Vicious seriously, waiting for his answer.

  Vicious clenches his fists at his side angrily. “I...”

  “Vicious!” Shomei yells seriously.

  Vicious shakes his head. “I’m here to keep Kaori safe no matter what.”

  “Both of you head to the control room with Breeze,” Keiji says with urgency.

  Shomei nods compliantly and hurries inside, pulling Vicious with her with force.

  Keiji turns and looks at Tai who was sitting up as Kaori moved away cautiously. “Tai.”

  “Yeah, yeah, protect the girl,” Tai replies offhandedly.

  “At all costs,” Keiji says gravely. “Her life must be heavily guarded.”

  “Got it,” he says standing alongside of Kaori.

  “Take her to the safe room. When we’ve reached safety I will give you the clear.”

  “Understood.” He looks at Kaori. “Let’s go.” He reaches to take her hand but quickly withdraws himself as he saw her pick up her heavy robes and run toward the entrance back into the ship.

  “She’s precious to us Tai,” Keiji says with worry in his eyes.

  Tai nods understandably and hurries after Kaori quickly, catching up to her down the hall from the safe room just as the ship jerked hard once more.

  Kaori falls to the side against the wall, letting go of her robes as she placed her hands against the hard wood for balance.

  He hurries over to her about to open the door until the ship pushed forward hard, causing Kaori to fall backwards onto him and he fell back on the floor, holding onto her for safety. “You alright?”

  She pushes away quickly and nods. “I’m fine.”

  He looks up at her as he watched her get up and hurry into the room, him doing the same as quickly as possible, shutting the door behind them.

  She grips her hands together in front of her as she paced the room lightly, her saddened expression fixed downward. “Soujirou. I’m so sorry... If I knew you were going to die I would have... I should have stayed with you instead...” She stops as she felt tears form in her eyes once more and slowly fall down her face. “I should have stayed,” she says in a broken voice.

  He turns from the door and looks at Kaori blankly.

  “I should have stayed with him. He would have been spared...”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “At the cost of you forced into following something you don’t believe in?”

  “Noroc has lost one of its most powerful leaders, and it’s all my fault.”

  “He was told the New Reform was going to attack. That’s why he called Keiji and asked him to take you away from there. Do you think he would have let you stay if you wanted?”

  “Then what am I supposed to do?” She asks desperately, her voice raising in frustration and pain. “If you know the answer please tell me,” she looks at Tai, the tears flowing down her cheeks and falling to the floor. “Everything is so much bigger than I am... There’s no way I can defeat so much hate so easily just by relying on myself. I should have just gone straight back to the Temple at all costs, so long as it kept him safe.”

  “Stop blaming yourself.” He steps toward her cautious of her emotions. “You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.” He looks down at her and reaches to touch her face, stopping and clenching his fist once Kaori turned away slightly in subtle rejection of his touch. “You have to remember that we are all here to protect you and we all sacrifice willingly.”

  “How can you say that and still want nothing in return?” She asks in a near whisper.

  “Faith,” he says quietly.

  She looks up at him sadly, as if she wanted to embrace him but refrains from doing so with difficulty, causing her to feel pain in her heart.

  He looks at her for a moment, a thought crossing his mind that seemed to cause him to gently take her hand in his.

  “No... I’ll be fine,” she says as she pulled away from him seriously.

  “Right...” He replies in a quiet tone and sighs a little. “Soujirou knew you would never feel the same about him,” he says after a heavy moment of silence.

  She stares at Tai, her expression showing the desperation in her eyes. “You... You know how he felt? You really... I mean did you...”

  He crosses his arms and turns his away from her and toward the floor. “When you left I kept an eye on Vicious and Shomei. And when you left them I made sure to monitor Soujirou,” he says quietly.

  “Why would you do that? Even after I what I put everyone through?”

  “I intended to fully support you in ending the suffering of Noroc no matter what way you decided to do so,” he mumbles, finding it difficult to tell her outright.

  “You know everything that went through his mind then,” she steps toward him earnestly. “Please tell me,” she asks desperately.

  He sighs a little and nods once. “Fine. But don’t ever ask me for something like this again,” he retorts firmly, almost as if he were attempting to hide his emotions behind his intent.

  “I won’t,” she says shaking her head, looking at Tai intensely.

  “He... He knew you would never love him. He often tried to reassure himself that someday, through some act, that he could do something to make you possibly fall in love with him. Deep down he thought this would prove to you that no matter what he’ll always be there to protect you, and you would change your mind.” He looks over at Kaori, his eyes seeming to show a slight conflict of emotions as he spoke. “He truly did want you to be happy, to have a family with you... He wanted to give you everything and anything he possibly could even if it meant he had to make personal sacrifices.”

  Tears fall down her face slowly as she heard Tai speak in a deep, steady tone her emotions so thoroughly overwhelming that her expression had no discernable read.

  “You meant a lot to him, but he understood you mean more to the world and until the very end he regretted nothing. He... Loved you deeply until his last breath.”

  She holds her arms tightly against her. “How can I be the most pure being on the earth if I caused a man to sacrifice everything for me and gave him nothing in return?”

  “You gave him hope,” he replies with no emotion in his tone. “It’s all he wanted.”

  She covers her face, hiding her tears. “All I’m good for is hurting people. How could I be good for anything here? I can’t do anything right.” She feels a heavy hand lay on her head and looks up lightly in tears.

  He looks at her with a sense of concern in his eyes behind his usual hard expression.

  She stares at him as he removed his hand from her, her eyes confused.

  “You can only move forward from here.”

  “I’ll only ruin it... I don’t make the world better.”

  “Then I’ll help you clean up the mess you make.”

  She smiles, though in doing so, coming across sadder than she intended it to. “You really make it impossible to be mad at you for too long.”

  “I just haven’t done the wrong thing yet,” he replies in a nearly reassuring tone.

  She stares at him, her smile becomes softer for a moment as if she wanted to say something. “Thank you...”

  ?

  Keiji sighs looking relieved as the ship finally stabilized. “Good work Breeze.”

  Breeze exhales lightly and leans forward on the control panel. “No problem...” she says with weary casualness.

  Shomei looks own as she held her arms at the elbows. “So what now?” She asks.

  Keiji turns his thoughtful gaze toward the window. “The Temple will have personnel on the ground at all times more so than before.”

  “It was bad enough we have Aduro and his followers on our ass, but now the Temple too?” Breeze says shaking her head lightly. “Can this get any worse?” She adds with a slight groan.

  “The Temple really couldn’t have done such a thing,” Vicious says doubtfully.

  “And you think our people could?” Breeze asks, casting an offended glare at Vicious immediately.

  Vicious looks down a little. “I’m not saying that, but... The Temple is a place of peace.”

  Breeze glares at Vicious as she turned and faced him directly, frustration lighting up in her eyes. “A place of peace doesn’t force the Ruler of the Gods to follow in their misguided beliefs. A place of peace doesn’t exile an entire people because of the actions of one. A place of peace doesn’t use Gods as disposable beings just because their place isn’t truly on earth!” She says loudly, catching both Shomei and Keiji’s attention. “A place of peace doesn’t hurt people Vicious,” she says in a brokenhearted tone. “They’re supposed to bring people together with or without the presence of a deity. But they don’t and they haven’t for hundreds of years already, and you know it. You can’t blindly follow them anymore, not when they’ve shown you the lengths they’d go to just to bring Kaori to the Temple.”

  Shomei looks at Vicious noticing his conflicted expression, then back at Keiji. “So what’s next then?”

  Keiji sighs a little. “We have to find the last Souls. That is our main priority.”

  “How many are left?” Shomei asks, the door to the control room opening as Tai walked in with Kaori behind him, receiving an answer from him before anyone else could say a word.

  “Four” Tai says simply. “Guardian Souls are based on elements; she has fire, ice, and lightening. The remaining are wind, earth, water, and-” He stops suddenly and looks at Keiji.

  Keiji nods lightly. “Light...”

  Shomei raises an eyebrow. “And you know where they all remain?” She asks skeptically.

  Tai walks to the control panel and starts touching the holographic map; his eyes fully concentrated.

  Keiji looks at Kaori with slight pity in his eyes, but still the feeling of seriousness in his expression he was unable to hide. “Feeling okay?”

  Kaori nods hesitantly. “I will eventually,” she replies in a reluctant tone.

  “We’ll all be here for you if you need anything,” Keiji replies with sympathy in his voice.

  Kaori looks down sadly. “Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”

  Tai turns and looks at the others. “Up on the map. It won’t stay long so make sure you remember it because I won’t tell you again. These are the last known places they should be.”

  Breeze goes closer to the map, studying it carefully. “The Faults... Aero? Bumi and...” Her eyes widen and turns to look at Tai. “The sacred ruins... Tai.” She shakes her head as she said his name. “We can’t go there.”

  “Then we can’t finish this then can we?” Tai says carelessly.

  “Sacred ruins?” Kaori asks curiously.

  Shomei looks toward Kaori. “It’s said to hold the last memories of all those killed during the first war. It hasn’t been touched since a deity had died there. Rumor was she had gone mad there and killed herself.”

  “Why would she do that,” Kaori asks worriedly.

  “Gods hear what we can’t,” Tai answers with a sigh, then turns and looks at Keiji. “Can you make the journey?”

  “As long as you’re willing to come along,” Keiji says with a small smile.

  “No choice in the matter,” Tai answers then looks at Breeze. “Your pick.”

  “Aero and Bumi are both under Temple territory. The Faults should be good as a first visit.” Breeze looks at Keiji worriedly. “What do you think?”

  Keiji looks out of the window thoughtfully. “I think you have the right idea, but while we are gone we’ll need to keep the ship above the clouds, finish what needs to be done and hurry back.”

  “Right,” Breeze replies.

  “Tai, what will you need to get through the caverns?” Keiji asks sternly.

  “The girl and either you or Breeze, your choice,” Tai replies with a shrug.

  “I’ll need to be out to keep communication with the ship. I won’t get a signal from inside,” Breeze says informatively.

  “There’s the answer,” Keiji says toward Tai.

  Tai looks at Kaori plainly. “Will you be ready? It’s going to get harder from here on out.”

  “I can handle it...” Kaori mumbles softly.

  Tai stares at her, almost knowing otherwise. “Good.”

  Keiji turns and looks at Shomei and Vicious. “Shomei, Vicious... Breeze will need help securing the entrance.”

  “Right,” Shomei agrees.

  “Sure...” Vicious replies dully.

  Breeze nods with accomplishment. “Course set for the Faults. We should be there in a few hours.”

  “Very well. It would do everyone good to prepare now,” Keiji says looking at everyone.

  Kaori nods in response. “Excuse me then.” She bows lightly to dismiss herself, her voice still weak just before she had left the room.

  Breeze turns and looks at the door frowning lightly as she turned to Keiji. “Do you think there’s anything we can do to make her feel better?”

  “It will pass on its own. She’s stronger than that,” Keiji says regretfully.

  Shomei sighs softly. “It must be devastating... Losing your husband shortly after your wedding day.”

  Tai stares at the door as the others spoke behind him, his expression lost in thought.

  Breeze frowns sadly while speaking in a tone that reflected her expression. “I can’t begin to imagine how she feels. I just wish I could make her smile, you know? Take the pain from her. She doesn’t deserve to feel this way.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Tai mumbles lowly.

  “Huh?” Breeze watches Tai leave the room with wide eyes.

  Keiji smiles a little. “I’m sure Kaori will find solace soon.”

  ?

  Tai walks down the halls, stopping at Kaori’s room. He takes a deep breath softly and knocks on the door.

  “Who is it?” Kaori answers in a muffled tone from behind the door.

  “I-... It’s me.” He waits in silence for a few moments before Kaori opened the door, noticing her robes were loose in some parts and her expression flustered and out of breath. “What are you doing?”

  “I wanted to change. I can’t get this off though.”

  He rolls his eyes lightly, pushing her into the room as the door closed behind them, and forces her to turn around. “You have to start from the back idiot,” he says irritably as he moved the outer portion of her robes and pulled on a sash that was hidden underneath a few layers of the gold silk.

  She feels him pulling the cloth around her gently and looks down. “What is he doing? This is so awkward.” She feels her face become flushed, then shakes her head lightly to distract herself, trying to regain her composure. “D- do you have experience with this?” She closes her eyes tightly looking embarrassed. “What a stupid question!!”

  “I worked at the castle for close to a hundred years listening to the damn maids complain about how to wear robes properly.”

  “I see...”

  He pulls on a piece of fabric that loosened the first layer of clothing around Kaori’s waist before moving his hands steadily to the next.

  “Did you want something from me?”

  “What makes you think I did?”

  “You didn’t come to my room for this did you?”

  He stops for a moment before putting most of his focus on untying the ribbons around Kaori. “I didn’t.”

  “Then what was it?”

  “You wanted me to be honest with you right?”

  “Yes...”

  “Then before you get mad, you should know that the waters from the fountain in Twilight woods forces anyone who drinks it to tell the truth.”

  She steps away from Tai lightly, feeling her outer layers of the robes start to loosen and turns to look at him. “What?”

  “You drank from the water right? It made you tell me the truth...”

  She blushes brightly and looks away. “You-... You’re so horrible...”

  “Wouldn’t have changed anything, would it?”

  She gently twists the fabric of her robes as she looked down. “It’s just... I shouldn’t have asked you not to leave.”

  “You wanted me to go or what?”

  “I... I just didn’t want to be the reason you stayed behind.”

  He looks at her with a hard to read expression before speaking softly. “Turn around, there’s a few more to untie.”

  She does as told, motionless as she felt Tai move the silk around her.

  “You know...” He stares down at Kaori’s robes distantly as he began to speak. “You’re not the first who was made to drink from the fountain,” he mumbles calmly.

  “Huh?”

  “After what had happened, after our loss in the homelands back then... Someone I... Someone I trusted came with me. We ran into the woods looking for cover and we found the fountain. Before that night I had never heard of it.”

  “How did you find out?” She asks hesitantly.

  “He told me the same thing I told you. If I drank from there I would know God’s truth. Instead I told him everything that happened without hesitating, even though I wanted to keep it from him.” He pulls out a white silk sash from under Kaori’s robes lightly, causing the heaviest golden layer of silk to fall to the floor and the various colorfully decorated layers remaining securely on Kaori’s body. “I thought that even though I trusted him, he would hate me for what I did. He would turn on me like the rest of our people... But he didn’t. He could only smile and tell me he would help me on my quest to find forgiveness. It never once crossed his mind that I intentionally put our people at risk. He never hated me... He still treated me like an equal.”

  She feels the next few layers of her robes fall until she stood in the final pure white layer that wrapped loosely around her body. She turns slowly, looking over at Tai with concern. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Maybe you’ve earned the right to know,” he says with a shrug.

  She looks down slowly, moving the white layer of clothing tightly around her as she blushed a little. “Could you... Not look at me right now?” She asks nervously.

  He rolls his eyes and turns away from her, hearing her move around the room. “You’ll lose a lot of people, Kaori...” He says quietly. “And you’ll have no control over it. Just remember that no one will sacrifice unwillingly.”

  She finishes putting on her clothes and looks down at her mid-thigh length, black tight pants, then adjusts her kimono top that had one sleeve longer than the other and hung down to her side. “I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.”

  He turns around as he hear her tone, noticing her change of clothes and stares at her blankly.

  She looks down uneasily. “Maybe I should ask Breeze if she has something else to wear.”

  “It looks fine,” he says shaking his head slightly.

  She looks down at the ring on her finger for a moment and nods to herself. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better.”

  “It’s not for you,” he says plainly. “They’re worried about you.”

  “I know. I’ll try harder.”

  “See that you do.” He looks down at the robes on the floor thoughtfully, about to speak but is interrupted as Breeze had knocked on the door as she entered the room with them.

  “Hey, Kaori, I wanted to see if you needed help with your cloth-,” Breeze stops suddenly as she noticed the two already in the room and Kaori’s robes on the floor. “Oh ho...” She looks at Tai sneakily. “Did I interrupt?”

  “You’re disgusting,” he says hatefully as he rolled his eyes.

  Kaori blushes nervously. “Uh... N- no, he just helped me. That’s all.”

  Breeze giggles a little. “Right, right,” she says with a nod. “How do you like the outfit?” She asks Kaori brightly.

  “It’s nice. Thank you,” Kaori replies politely.

  “What do you think Tai?” Breeze asks slyly.

  He shrugs with disinterest. “Does it really matter what I think?” He asks carelessly.

  She grins and returns her gaze back to Kaori. “Do you think you’ll need anything before we go?”

  Kaori shakers her a little. “No I don’t think so.”

  Breeze looks at Tai. “You got everything?”

  He nods once in response.

  “I’m glad you both came back,” Breeze says quietly with a smile as she looked down a little. “It was really lonely without the both of you here.” She looks at both of them eagerly. “Don’t leave us again, okay?”

  Kaori nods hesitantly and smiles weakly. “I won’t...”

  “Whatever.” Tai adds flatly.

  “We should arrive shortly. I’ll meet you at the drop off point,” Breeze waves a little and hurries out.

  Kaori turns to Tai after Breeze had left. “You left too?”

  “I might have.”

  “I suppose you had your own reasons then,” she says calmly.