Chapter 14: Neighbors

Author's note: I deleted the original chapter 14 from the FF site, for a good reason, I didn't like it. Here is its replacement.

…

"Come on Zeno, let's play" Zatch said playfully, while tugging on Zeno's hand.

Zatch and Zeno were outside, it was around 3pm, and Xavier had given Zatch and Zeno a "recess" from training.

Zeno instinctively yanked his hand out of his brother's grip. Zeno then started to walk away, "I don't want to play" Zeno stated. He started to walk towards the house, where Xavier was…resting.

"No, please, please, please" Zatch begged, as he ran to cut Zeno's path.

"This recess thing Xavier created is retarded. What could I possibly gain from playing?" Zeno questioned, as he started pushing Zatch backwards, into the direction of the house.

"Huh? We get to have fun, we can play explorer. Come on Zeno, please!" Zatch responded, now dragging across the ground, while holding onto Zeno's feet.

"Let go!" Zeno yelled, as it felt he was now trudging through mud, but it was only Zatch restricting his movements.

"Why do you always like training? It gets boring after a while" Zatch asked, while still holding onto Zeno's feet.

Zeno tried shaking his legs hard enough, that Zatch would let go, but it didn't work. "It's because…" Zeno stopped for a second. (It's all I'm used to doing…) Zeno thought as he looked down at his brother. "I want to become stronger" Zeno stated, as he grabbed Zatch's hands, forced Zatch to let him go.

"See you're already the strongest person I know, so let's go play" Zatch asked again, while still holding onto his brother's hands, hoping to hear a "yes".

Zeno back away a few feet from his brother. "You only think that, because you don't know many strong people" Zeno responded. "You should be training with me, you only know two spells" Zeno responded, now trying to get Zatch to train even more today.

"Is that the only way we can spend time together?" Zatch asked in a near depressed mood.

"Yes" Zeno replied, then walked back into the house, with Zatch trudging his feet along behind his brother, in defeat.

Inside the house, the first room, was the dining room, where Xavier was at the table drinking something, Zeno didn't know what.

"What do you two want?" Xavier asked, as he still kept on drinking his mystery drink, which looked dark green, and steam was coming off the top of it.

"I want to skip recess, and start training" Zeno told his instructor.

"No" Xavier responded, with almost no hesitation behind his answer.

"What? Why not?" Zeno asked in a slightly angered tone

"Well I want to enjoy this recess myself. So go play…that's an order" Xavier explained, while still drinking his mystery tea.

Zeno growled at that statement, "Damn it" Zeno mumbled as he glanced at Zatch, already knowing what Zatch's response would be.

Zatch's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, as he grabbed his brother by his right arm, and tugged on it. "See, now let's go play explorer" Zatch insisted.

(But I don't want to!) Zeno wanted to yell out loud. Zeno then imagined himself shooting out a very small Zakeru that would hit his instructor's cup, and spilling the hot tea into his lap…which would surely end recess time. Zeno then snapped out of his daydream, to find himself already outside, and following Zatch into the nearby woods, which surrounded their home. (How the heck?!) Zeno thought to himself, as he was now confused to how he let himself fall into this situation.

Zatch went by a dead tree, and broke off a small, almost straight branch. Zatch then handed the stick to Zeno.

"What's this for?" Zeno asked. (If I'm going to be forced to play…then I may as well know what's going on…for I don't make a fool of myself) Zeno thought.

"It's your tool, for getting through this huge forest" Zatch explained.

Zeno looked in front of him, the forest was dense, but they could simply walk around the bushes and trees, etc. There was even a small trail they could use.

"Couldn't I use Zakeru, to clear a better path?" Zeno asked, as it felt like more work to hit every leaf stick, bush, etc.

"Where's the fun in that?" Zatch responded. Zatch then purposely left the trail, and went trudging through the weeds, and bushes, while crouching down, almost as to hid himself.

(He's practically playing in the dirt) Zeno thought, as he didn't see the appeal in getting his white cloak dirty.

A couple birds were seen flying out of the bushes, whenever Zatch got too close. The birds were pretty small, and they looked like blue jays.

"Look at all the pretty birds!" Zatch yelled, when he was able to see about 10 of them flying away from him. "Let's see who can find more birds" Zatch stated, as he started a bird hunt.

(I rather not) Zeno thought as he followed behind Zatch.

"I found 4 more" Zatch pointed out, as he climbed next to a tree, only to see them fly away from him again.

(I feel like I'm babysitting) Zeno sighed, as he crossed his arms, and leaned next to a tree.

Zatch repeated the process, of getting next to the birds, and trying to count every individual one, before he got to close and they flew away, he did this for roughly 5 minutes.

"Zeno I counted up to 20!" Zatch yelled out as he climbed down the tree.

"So?" Zeno responded, as he was still in the same spot.

"How many did you count?" Zatch asked.

"None, this game is stupid" Zeno stated, as he actually had his eyes closed, for he wouldn't even partake in the bird watching.

"So…that just means I'm winning" Zatch responded with a smile.

"What?" Zeno said, as he then glared at Zatch.

"I'm winning, it's 20 to 0" Zatch stated, as he then continued to search for more birds.

(I'm losing? I won't lose to Zatch in any sort of competition) Zeno thought as he raised his hand in the air. "Zakeru" Zeno yelled out, as he unleashed a medium size lightning bolt into the air, which made a large booming noise.

"Huh?" Zatch was surprised to hear a large booming sound come from behind him, which caused him to jump and look at Zeno.

The sound was loud enough to shake the forest, and more than one hundred birds had flown away in freight.

Zeno focused his attention on the flock of birds running away at his power.

"Zeno why did you do that?!" Zatch yelled at his brother, as it did surprise him too.

"…" Zeno didn't respond, as he was silently counting to himself.

"Zeno?"

"I count 126 birds" Zeno stated, then pointed at Zatch. "Beat that" Zeno said, with a victorious grin.

"Unu, no fair Zeno, you cheated!" Zatch whined, and wanted to pout, but didn't. Instead, for some reason, Zatch let out a smile. "Well, at least you're playing with me now" Zatch said, as he went and grabbed Zeno by the arm. "Come on let's play some more" Zatch requested.

(Damn it…there's no point in winning, if the loser doesn't care…If he lost) Zeno thought.

…

"What should we play next?" Zatch asked, as they got into an open grass field.

"How about we just take a nap…" Zeno suggested as he sat down on the grass. (We have around 2 hours left…why is this recess so long?) Zeno wondered.

"But I'm not tired…You don't look tired either Zeno" Zatch responded, as he went to grab his brother's hand, to lift him to his feet.

Zeno stood up before Zatch could even get close. "You'll just keep bothering me, unless I play with you...Won't you" Zeno growled.

Zatch poked Zeno's chest, then ran away from the silver haired boy, as fast as he could.

(What the?) Zeno thought, as he was wondering why Zatch had just randomly poked him, and then ran away, as if his life depended on it.

"Tag, you're it" Zatch yelled out, as he was already 100 feet away from his brother.

Zeno just stood there, not knowing what to do. With an utter look of confusion, "What the heck are you talking about?" Zeno asked.

"Unu, you're it…You have to catch me. Then I'll be 'it', so I'll have to tag you back" Zatch tried explaining, while yelling it out, since he was pretty far away from his brother.

"So that's 'Tag', huh" Zeno sighed, then started to slowly walk towards Zatch.

Zatch of course increased the distance between him and Zeno, even more.

(Such an easy game) Zeno thought, as he made a mad dash towards Zatch. Within just a split second, the large amount of distance Zatch gained was quickly lost, as Zeno was only mere inches away from being able to tag him.

"AHH!" Zatch yelled as he stopped his slow pace of running, and started running as fast as he could.

Zeno was about to tag his brother, until he stopped, and slowed his pace down, to meet his brother's speed.

(If I finish the game too quickly, Zatch will just find another game to play…Maybe I should just make him run till he drops…then he'll want to take a nap.) Zeno thought, as he ran just a few feet behind Zatch.

Zatch let out a loud yell, as he tried to increase his speed even further. Sweat was already running down the boy's face, as he knew Zeno was right behind him.

(He's trying really hard…to get away) Zeno thought, as he started to laugh a little. Around 30 minutes past, with Zatch running at top speed the entire time, he even tried running through the forest, jumping over logs, running through bushes, anything to try and gain distance between him and Zeno…of course it didn't work.

"You….won't…catch me!" Zatch yelled out, as a red blush was showing in his cheeks, and his breathing started becoming very heavy.

For some reason, seeing Zatch struggle so hard to get away, yet knowing he could end the chase at any time he chose, made it very entertaining. Zeno even laughed at the moments when Zatch would dive into a hollow log, and believe he was safe, just to find that Zeno simply walked on top of the log, and waited on the other side for him. Even now, the chase was becoming so long, that Zeno couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm going…get you, Zatch" Zeno said between laughter. Zeno tried suppressing his laughter, since he found out that if he laughed too hard, that it actually became harder to run fast. If Zeno laughed too much, he found that Zatch could gain some ground…of course Zeno could catch up very soon after.

Finally the twins ran out of the woods again, to find themselves next to a large beach, with a brown sandy shoreline.

"Zatch where are we?" Zeno asked, as it finally dawned on him, that he lost track of where he was going. Zeno stopped for a moment, to observe where he was. "Uhh…." Zeno mumbled, as he was actually lost. (Shit, how could I lose which direction I went in? I was so focused on keeping up with Zatch…that I got lost!) Zeno thought as he wanted to retrace his steps. "Zatch come on, we got to go" Zeno stated, then looked back at Zatch, to see that he had stripped off his clothes, and dived into the water, and he was already about 30 feet out.

"I bet I can swim faster than you Zeno" Zatch yelled out, as he waved his hand in the air.

"Why did you get naked?!" Zeno retorted. (Idiot still thinks we're playing tag) Zeno thought as he let out a sigh. "Get out of the water" Zeno ordered.

"If I do, I'll get tagged" Zatch stated.

"The game is over, get back here" Zeno said in a demanding voice.

"So I win?" Zatch asked.

"What? No I won" Zeno retorted, not wanting to admit defeat to his younger brother.

"But you never tagged me" Zatch said in a teasing manner.

"Then get your naked self out of the water for I can end this!" Zeno shouted out.

"I don't want to" Zatch responded, as he gained a little bit more distance from the shore.

"Damn it" Zeno growled as he turned around, and was about to walk away…but even though it was a game, Zeno still refused to let Zatch beat him in anything.

Moments later Zeno took off nearly all of his clothes, except for his boxers.

"I'm going to finish this stupid game" Zeno stated as he dove into the water, and started to swim after his brother.

"Ah!" Zatch yelled, as he was surprised that Zeno had given chase. Zatch quickly turned away from the shoreline, as he swam away from his brother.

Soon enough though, Zeno found out that he couldn't keep up with his brother in this pursuit. This chase didn't last nearly as long, as the one in the woods. Since Zeno didn't find it amusing that he was losing horribly to his younger brother.

"You can't catch me" Zatch said and giggled, as he kept a solid distance of 50 feet between him and his brother.

(Shit…I can't even believe I still remember how to swim) Zeno thought in dismay, as he knew he was far too slow in the water to keep up with Zatch. With that in mind, Zeno swam back to the beach, in defeat.

"Wait! Zeno are you done playing?" Zatch asked, as he started to swim towards Zeno.

"I guess…there's something you are better than me at" Zeno responded, as he finally reached the beach, and laid down on the sand.

Zatch was out of the water, soon after Zeno. "You want to play a different game?" Zatch asked, as he put on Zeno's white cloak. He only did that out of convenience, because it was close to him.

Zeno in response jumped up, and ran at Zatch, "Take off my clothes!" Zeno shouted.

"Ah!" Zatch yelled and started to run away from his brother. "I thought you were done playing!"

"I'm not playing you fool! Give me back my clothes!" Zeno yelled, as he quickly tackled Zatch to the ground, about 5 seconds later after the chase even started. Unfortunately Zeno had tackled Zatch down a small hill.

Both Zatch and Zeno tumbled about 5 feet, until they hit somebody near the end of the hill.

"Watch were you're going!" the person shouted out.

Zeno took this moment, to snatch back his own clothes from his brother, as Zatch laid on the ground in a slight daze.

After striping his brother naked, Zeno finally got a chance to look at the person they had accidently crashed into.

This person was already standing up on her feet. The child was around the age of 5 or 6, as she was only slightly taller than Zeno. She had aqua blue hair, with two long ponytails extending upwards into the air, which was tied off by golden tiara bands on the top, and a pink ribbon that kept the hairstyle together at the bottom. Plus another gold tiara that was placed on her head, like some princess or royalty. She had pretty blue eyes, she had the complexion of a Caucasian child, and for some reason her cheeks were turning bright red. She was wearing a 3 color tone dress that went down to her shins; it also had a giant pink heart that covered most of her chest. Lastly she had a gold wristband on her left arm, and was wearing pink shoes.

(Her energy is quite weak…) Zeno thought, as that was the only thing on his mind…if he had to fight her or not. Zeno nonchalantly got back up and put his mantle back on.

"Ouch…Zeno, you didn't have to tackle me." Zatch cried, as he got up and noticed that there was someone he didn't know, still staring at him.

"No tag backs" Zeno responded with a small grin, and then glared back at the unknown child who was starting to weird him out a little.

"Wha…what are you doing on my beach?" the child asked, in a stuttering voice, as she couldn't help but keep staring at Zatch. The

Zeno growled a bit, "Mind your own business" Zeno replied, as he started to walk away, and towards where Zatch last put his clothes. "Come on Zatch, we're leaving" Zeno demanded.

"Unu, coming Zeno" Zatch said, then turned his back towards the child.

"Yo…You're just going to leave… without apologizing for crashing into me?" The child asked, while still not being able to talk without stuttering her words first.

"Opps, sorry for hurting you, umm..." Zatch said, as he turned around and looked at her, with a confused look.

"Who are you?"

"Ah…Ah!" the girl tried to speak her name but couldn't. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. (Penny! Penny! Damn it just say my name) Penny thought as she tried, but failed horribly, as whatever she said came out in gibberish.

Suddenly Zatch's boxers and mantle was thrown at him by Zeno. "I said we're leaving" Zeno stated, as he started to walk away from his brother again.

Zatch quickly put his clothes back on, and then looked at the girl. "Goodbye" Zatch said, as he quickly ran after his brother.

(Is this what they call love at first sight?) Penny thought, as she soon became devastated that she couldn't interact with the child, or even tell him her name. The twin boys were soon out of her sight.

…

"Can't we play any longer Zeno?" Zatch whined, as he was trudging along behind his brother.

"Why? I beat you in every game" Zeno stated, then stopped in the middle of the woods to get try and figure out which direction he should go.

"Yeah, but this is the first time played together, and both of us had fun" Zatch said with an earnest smile.

(It…Is true? I had fun playing kid games…) Zeno thought to himself, then turned away from Zatch. "It was a waste of my time, plus this 'recess' is over. We're going home" Zeno stated, then stretched out his mantle, and had it wrap around both him and Zatch.

"What are you doing?"

Penny was also confused to what the pale skinned child was doing…mostly because she wanted to keep following them.

Soon that question was answered as Zeno teleported himself back to the house, where Xavier's energy could still be felt inside the house.

"NO!" Penny cried out, as her beloved completely vanished from sight.

…

"Xavier, we're back home" Zeno announced as he and Zatch came walking back in through the front door.

Xavier's face perked up a bit, (Did he just call me by name?) Xavier thought, as this was the first time it happened. "Umm…did something happen, Zeno?" Xavier asked, only to have Zatch jump into his lap, and Zatch started talking about his small adventure with Zeno.

Zeno didn't answer the question given to him, and since it was now around 5pm. So the boy decided to go to his room, and read a book and wait until dinner was done.

…

Authors Note: This actually turned out a lot different than planned…dang, this is like my third idea for chapter 14…Yes I'm still alive and kicking.