Disclaimer: I will only say this in this once, but I do NOT own any of the series or characters in this story. They belong to their respective owners. I only own the OCs, spells, weapons, cities, and any other thing of my own creation.

VOID OF SCARLET FIRE

A Cross-Over Fan Fiction by: Shiro

Original Story: Fire in the Void

CHAPTER 1: THE DAY IT ALL BEGAN

December 30, 2005

Unknown Location, 11:30PM

"Darvera, give me a status report!" A man with a deep voice commanded.

"We have begun collecting the Power of Existence you have requested sir, it's currently at 3%." Darvera replied with a salute. The scientist was a thin, lanky man with pasty white skin. His white hair made him looks as though he was a ghost. Every inch of his body was white, save the pitch black pools that were his eyes.

"Excellent, and how long until we have the required amount for the activation of spell?" the deep voiced man asked again.

"We should have enough power within the next two to six months sir. We need to handle the operation with care, or they will notice." Darvera replied once more. The man Darvera was talking to was sitting upon a throne-like chair in front of a rather intricate looking desk. His glinting yellow eyes were the only thing you could see of him in the dimly lit room.

"Very well, seeing as how we can't allow them to notice us, we can manage with that restriction." The man said, understanding the situation. He placed his hand the way a certain someone would, his elbows on the table, tenting his fingers in front of his mouth, though it was hard to tell due to the lighting. He had rectangular rimmed glasses that just barely reflected the small amount of light in the room from the glow of his yellow eyes. His figure was rather muscular and commanded respect. He held an aura of bitterness, despite being as cool as a cucumber. He had expected this slight set back, seeing as how they were very difficult about these sorts of things. "What of the gateways?"

"The gates and their respective beacons have been set up. They are currently only set up in various parts of Japan, as that's where we are currently extracting Power of Existence from." Darvera told his boss. "The test gate in Misaki City is just about ready; all it needs is a little more fine tuning. It should be ready in about an hour or so." he explained.

"Excellent. Now, have the other scientists finish tuning the gate in Misaki so we can test the gate connection to Tristain. Once that is done, have them begin working on the rest of the gates. You are dismissed."

"Yes sir!" Darvera saluted before marching off to inform the scientists that were responsible for tuning the gateways and beacons to begin their job. Once Darvera had left, the man chuckled to himself.

"The plan is working out nicely..." he mutters to himself with a bone chilling grin behind is tented hands. "Soon, the Flame Haze will be trapped in that other dimension... wondering in the kingdom of Tristain for all eternity. And then... no one will stop my master plan!" He finishes saying breaking out into an evil laugh. Little did he know that his plan wouldn't go as...well... planned...

Misaki City, 11:54PM

It was almost midnights in Misaki City, and despite the time, somewhere in the more suburban area of the city were two teens, one male, one female, sitting on the roof of an average middle-class house. Of course, no one could see the two of them, due to the area being sealed off by something that one could only describe as a 'magical barrier'. Though comparing the fiery looking dome surrounding the building to a magic barrier was only half correct, as it didn't offer a whole lot of protection to those inside. It was more a barrier to keep normal everyday people out of the area. Usually, the blazing dome was only employed when the world inside was being displaced, and was used as a way to control the phenomenon inside and keep it from affecting the surrounding area. As for tonight, however, it was being used for a completely different purpose. It was being used as a way to train without being disturbed.

"I'm impressed." said the voice coming from the pendant that hung from the girl's neck. The girl was wearing an outfit that consisted of a red sweater that looked a little big on her and of a black pleated skirt, red and black thigh socks, and simple black running shoes. Her long hair looked as though it was molten lava running down the side of a volcano as it cascaded down her back. Her eyes were a fiery red as well. Her figure wasn't that of a really mature girl, but it was petite and cute in stature. She wasn't as 'developed" as other girls her age, but it didn't really bother her. "You're skills are definitely improving." The voice commented.

"Alastor's right, you've improved a great deal since you started." The girl said, smiling. The girl was happy that the boy had been improving ever since he'd asked her to train him. She was proud of him, in more ways than one. Until he had stepped into her life on that fateful day, she just continued on her path as a lone warrior, protecting the balance of the world. Indeed, the life of a Flame Haze was a lonely one. When she had first met him, she found him strange. He had been told that he was long dead, and was fated to eventually disappear.

Yet, instead of reacting as any other person who shared this fate would, he was determined to prove that he wasn't just a Torch, but still the person he has always been. He had offered his own existence, his own life, just to save one of his fellow students from a fate similar to his. His determination and selflessness was what had inevitably made her fall in love with the boy. When she had discovered that he wouldn't disappear, thanks to treasure tool inside of him, the Reiji Maigo, she had felt a sense of relief. He was the first person in a long time to see her as something more than just a Flame Haze. Something other than the Flaming-Hair-Blazing-Eyed-Hunter, who was nothing a tool of destruction. He saw her as a girl, as a person, a person with feelings. That is what made her not want to lose him. It had made her love for the boy grow stronger with each passing day.

"Thanks." The boy said, smiling back at the girl. He was glad that the training was paying off. When he had started, he had been a bumbling buffoon, tripping over his own feat trying to dodge the wrath of that long wooden stick she used as a mock blade during their training. Now, he was able to hold his own rather well against the girl, and had recently acquired the ability to channel his Power of Existence into a flame. The flame was silver, as a result of the 'Silver' that lived inside the Reiji Maigo. He remembered that incident like it was yesterday. Then again, it was only a week ago the event had taken place.

He had remembered that he received letters from the girl beside him and one Kazumi Yoshida, telling him to meet one of them at the Christmas tree downtown, but after the whole 'Statue of Pride' incident, he had passed out from exhaustion the minute the minute he had let himself relax. He felt bad as a result, seeing as how both of them poured they're hearts into those letters, and he couldn't properly tell them how he felt due to the lack of strength. They both forgave him, but Kazumi told him that he would have to choose one of them eventually. He knew he would have to. In fact, in his heart, he had already chosen.

"I know my decision will break her heart, but I'll have to tell her eventually." He thought to himself. The smile on his face slowly turned into a small frown. He didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but it was too late to tell his heart that. He already decided who he loved, and it was too late to change that. He just wished there was a way to break it to her without hurting her too much. He noticed the girl beside him had noticed the frown. He smiled, trying to show her that nothing was bothering him, but he knew that she'd see right through it.

"Yuji..." the girl had thought to herself. Looking at the boy, you wouldn't see anything special. He was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt that was a little loose, some navy blue jeans, white socks and some black and white shoes. He had the typical build of a boy his age, and his eyes were a pale blue. His hair was a few shades lighter then chocolate brown, and was somewhat messy. He wasn't all that special in terms of appearance. He had started to develop visible muscles from all the training they had done together, but he still looked like an average teenage boy. If she focused, she could see the flame inside of him burning dimly, as he was a Mystes. It looked as though it would burn out any second. She lowered the Seal, and the two of them continued to sit there. As the Seal disappeared, her hair shifted from the fiery look it had to a smooth black, as if it was lava cooling into rock. "Whenever I'm near him, I feel so... warm..." she thought.

After the whole 'Statue of Pride' incident, she had become more increasingly anxious. She still had no idea whether Yuji had chosen her or Kazumi. Her heart ached every time she pictured him with Kazumi. She silently prayed that Yuji would choose her.

"Maybe I should just ask him?" she questioned in her mind. She found that the more she loved him, the more painful the heartache. She wanted to be rid of the pain in her heart. "But what if he says he loves Kazumi?" The question had often come up when she considered asking him. She had wanted to be more forward with the boy, but was scared of rejection. She turned her gave from him and looked down at herself. She had never really been one to care about how she looked, but when she compared her appearance to that of Kazumi''s or Margery's, she felt like she was slightly inferior. Margery was a grown woman though, so it was less of an issue. Kazumi, on the other hand, was her age. Kazumi had the advantage of being cute and innocent, on top of having a more developed figure then her own. Not to mention, Kazumi was a normal human, something she could never be. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't a Flame Haze and he wasn't a Mystes..." she thought with a sigh.

"Something seems to be bothering her." Yuji thought as he noticed her sigh. He figured that it had something to do with the letters. This made him feel a little worse. He wanted to help her with what was bothering her, but didn't know how. He was often considered dense in the matters of the heart, and in times like this, he totally agreed with that statement. He decided that maybe he should go inside and find a snack without waking his parents. He had told his mother that they were going to see a movie, and would then walk around town for a little bit before returning the girl home. He had also mentioned he'd be a little late getting back, and his mother just nodded, not questioning him.

In reality, the girl was staying in Yuji's room while her 'guardian', was out of town. Wilhelmina was taking care of some business at the Outlaw branch in Tokyo, and wouldn't be back for a week. Why a week for a trip to Tokyo? Well, Wilhelmina typically walks everywhere, so it was understandable. Yuji couldn't help but feel a little nervous, seeing as how when she had stayed in his room for the first time, he had accidentally seen her naked, and she had beaten him into unconsciousness. He hoped that there wouldn't be any problems tonight. This was the first night in a while she and him had shared a room, and he didn't want to wake up with a stiff neck from sleeping on the floor due to a misunderstanding. The girl had a fiery temper, which was cute in its own way. Well, in his opinion it was. He rose to his feet and walked over to the area where the balcony connected to his room was situated before looking back at the girl who looked lost in thought.

"Shana, I'm going to go grab a snack, you want anything?" He asked the girl, snapping her out of her trance. He chuckled a little when her figure went rigid out of surprise. He noticed that she heard him chuckle, resulting in her blushing a little. The blush on her face made her look really cute.

"Do you even have to ask?" She responded with fake annoyance. In truth, she was grateful for the gesture, and silently hoped that he would see through the facade of annoyance. She heard him chuckle again, as if telling her "I know you're just embarrassed." She then heard a small thud, signifying that he was no longer on the roof as was probably already inside, seeing as how he opened the door to the balcony earlier. Once she was sure he was gone, she released the breath that she didn't know she was holding. She could now think to herself for a few minutes without interruption. That is, unless Alastor had wanted to talk to her. She looked at the pendant, which was being quiet, as if Alastor knew that she wanted to not be disturbed while she was thinking. She really appreciated that he could read the mood right now. She sighed and returned to her thoughts.

She recalled the events from one week ago. That battle to not only protect the balance of the world, but to save Yuji from disappearing. The thought of losing him scared her. She didn't want to lose him to anyone. But that wasn't for her to decide. It all depended on his choice between Kazumi and herself. Never the less, she gave her all in an attempt to get the Reiji Maigo back, so Yuji wouldn't disappear.

"Yuji..." She whispered to herself. She was grateful that he had entered her life. He changed her outlook on life. She was no longer just a Flame Haze. She felt more like a human then when she was a human, and it was all because of Yuji stepping into her life. She knew it sounded really stupid, but she believed that it was fate that brought the two of them together. Never the less, she wanted nothing more to stay by his side for the rest of time. She wanted to support his every decision, for better or worse.

Yet, she knew that if that decision threatened the balance, she would have to go against it, as it was her duty as a Flame Haze to protect the balance from whatever threatens it. Even if that threat to the balance was Yuji. Then again, if it was Yuji who threatened the balance, she would strike him down herself, and would probably either end her own life or become an emotionless husk. Her heart ached at the thought of having to slay the boy she loves. She shook her head to get the image out of her mind.

Her mind then drifted to when she used Tenpa Jyousei to save the balance from collapsing at the hands of an agonizing Hecate. She remembered that she had told Yuji that she was in love with him, but to her dismay, he didn't hear her. She had thought she was going to die, and yet her feeling couldn't reach him for some reason. She's really glad that she didn't die, as it would allow her another chance to tell Yuji how she feels. She just hoped that she would be able to tell him and not get rejected. She had no idea what she would do if Yuji had rejected her feelings for another. All she knew was that the thought made her heart ache, and she was scared of that happening.

"Thank the gods he's still alive..." she whispered to herself. She was so glad he was alive, that he wasn't going to disappear yet. "Hopefully... he never does..." she whispered with a tiny bit of hope in her voice.

From inside the pendent around her neck, Alastor listened to Shana whisper. He knew how she felt about the young Mystes. At first, he didn't approve of it, as it would interfere with her duty as a Flame Haze. After a while, it became apparent that if Yuji were to disappear or die, Shana would probably not be too far behind him. He realized that her feelings for the boy were stronger than her desire to protect the balance, and decided it would be best to let her live her life the way she chooses. He would understand any decision she made involving the boy, even if it threatened the balance. He could do little to stop her after all.

He remembered back to when Wilhelmina had once again stepped into Shana's life, and how she disapproved of the friendship between Yuji and Shana. She was a duty bound warrior, and didn't tolerate her disciple from straying away from her duty to be with a boy. It looked as though she had warmed up to the idea, but Alastor felt that she was only doing this for Shana's sake. He was glad that the Manipulator of Objects was accepting it, even if it was against her wishes.

Inside the house, Yuji had grabbed two small bags of chips, seeing as how Shana probably wouldn't share with him, and two cans of pop. He also got some melon bread for Shana. He knew the girl had a sweet tooth, and she always looked so cute when she ate anything sweet. She had an adorable smile on her face, and looked as though all her troubles had left her, until she finished whatever it was that she was indulging herself in. Seeing as how melon bread was her favorite snack, he figured her smile would be even brighter then when she got anything else.

"I hope this cheers her up." he says to himself quietly, as he was trying not to wake his parents. He loved seeing Shana's smile. Hell, he liked seeing Shana period. From day one, he admired the girl. She was brave, strong, smart, and able to hold her own in just about any situation. Everything he wanted to be and more. Before he knew it, he had fallen in love with the young Flame Haze. When he had faced losing her due to the temporary loss of the Reiji Maigo to the Statue of Pride, he with everything he had to get it back. He didn't want to die without telling the girl how he felt. He knew that if he didn't pass out that day, he would've went to her and told her that he loved her. But right now, he lacked the courage. He knew that she felt something towards him, but wasn't sure if it was love or something else.

He, like Shana, had thought that as lame as it sounded, that they were brought together by fate. Her entering his life was the greatest thing that had ever happened to the young Mystes. Sure, there had been several bumps on the path of their friendship, but they always stood tall over them at the end of the day, for better or worse. He had shouted Shana's name when asked who he wanted to protect the most. The Flame Haze meant everything to him, and he didn't care if she didn't feel the same. All he wanted, all he needed, was their time together. No matter how short, Yuji wanted to stand by the girl's side through anything that came their way. But what stopped him from telling Shana how he felt?

"Yoshida..." he whispered to himself. Yes, one Kazumi Yoshida was the only thing that kept him from telling the girl he loved with all of his heart how he felt. He remembered back when Kazumi had found out he was a Mystes, but told him she loved him, and would continue to do so, even if he wasn't technically human anymore. It had been a kind thing to say, and at the time, he didn't know of his love for the girl who was presently still sitting on his roof, and was happy that Kazumi had told him that.

However, once he realized his heart already belonged to somebody else, he felt really bad for her. She had opened up and told him that she loved him regardless of what he was, and he had to silently reject those feelings to follow his heart. He really wanted to tell her. He wanted nothing more than to rid the burden of telling Kazumi that his heart was beating for another, but the thought of her being heartbroken and left in tears had bothered him. It almost scared him. He didn't even know if Shana reciprocated his feelings, which added to the problem. What if he rejected Kazumi for Shana, only for Shana to reject him? The thought of Shana rejecting him mad his heart ache.

After a moment, he realized Shana was probably waiting for him on the roof, and that he should probably hurry. He shook his head, as if he was trying to make the sad thought of Shana rejecting him and breaking Kazumi's heart from his mind. He quickly, but quietly made his way back up to his room. He was careful not to make the bags of chips and the pack of melon bread he was carrying from making any noise. The last thing he wanted was to explain to his parents that he had been craving a midnight snack. He was lucky that there was no school tomorrow, as it would be extremely hard to explain why he was up so late to begin with, never mind the 'midnight snack'.

Once he got back to his room, he felt the cold breeze from the winter air come rushing in, courtesy of his open balcony door. He shivered and hugged himself in an attempt to warm himself up. He figured he should probably get Shana inside as soon as possible, so he can shut the doors and curl up under the covers. It was times like this that he was grateful for the small portable heater he bought about a year ago. The room could get extremely cold in the winter, due to the climate change in recent years. He walked out onto the balcony and looked up to the roof.

"Shana, you still up there?" he asked, shivering slightly while doing so. He prayed that she would come down from the roof and come inside so he didn't have to stand outside in the frigid air any longer.

"Yeah..." Shana replied as she was brought out of her train of thought. She didn't even bother to try and sound annoyed.

"Well, it's getting pretty cold out, how about we step inside?" Yuji asked from the balcony. He cursed himself for grabbing the pop. For a moment, he wished he had thought of making hot chocolate. Then again, if he had made it, it'd probably wake his parents. He shivered again, hoping that Shana would reply soon. He had felt his fingers growing numb. It was strange how he had never noticed the cold earlier.

"Must have been because she was beside me..." he thought. Whenever Shana was beside him, he felt a strange warmth. Warmth that he figured was a result of his feelings for the young girl.

"Alright." Shana said as she rose to her feet. She walked over to the area above where the balcony was positioned, before giving a small leap to get down from the roof. By the time she had realized that Yuji was still on the balcony, and was in her landing trajectory, she was already on top of him as he fell to the balcony floor with a thud. The way they had landed had Shana in an awkward position on top of Yuji, their noses touching slightly. Embarrassed, Shana got to her feet as quickly as she could before offering a hand to Yuji. They both blushed furiously as she helped him to his feet. Once that whole ordeal was over, they headed inside and Yuji quickly shut the balcony door. He locked it before he went to turn on the portable heater.

Once the heater had heater had been turned on, Shana realized how cold she had been. She hadn't noticed when Yuji was there, for obvious reasons. In fact, she was so lost in thought afterwards that she didn't notice the temperature dropping. She sighed as the heater warmed up the air of the room. The two of them still had a faint blush still on their cheeks. Whether that was from the cold or from the embarrassing situation before was uncertain. They had both silently pushed the remaining blush off to the cold, as if trying not to look stupid in front of each other.

Deciding to break the somewhat awkwardness that was present, Yuji picked up one of the bags of chips and the melon bread. Yuji smiled, trying to ease the tension that the awkwardness had brought. He held them out to her, offering them to her.

"Here" was all the boy said. Shana looked at the snacks presented to her for a second, before happily took them from the boy. Her gaze was then brought to the boy's face, showing him the small smile present on her face.

"Thanks" she said quietly before opening the melon bread's packaging. Once it was open enough for the small bun to stick out, her smile widened before she sank her teeth into the sweet and crunchy crust of her treat. Yuji watched her with a smile.

"She looks so cute like this..." He thought, glad that the girl was enjoying her favorite snack. "Well, cuter then usual..." He corrected himself. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find her cute, even when not snacking on something sweet. It's just that sweet things brought that cuteness out more. Seeing her bright smile while she ate one of her sugary snacks was something he treasured. Well, that and every other time she smiled.

When he had first seen her smile, when not eating something sugary and sweet, he couldn't help but think it was the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. With her long, silky black hair, her flawless skin framing her figure, seeing her smile made her look like nothing short of an angel. The term angel had served her well. Heck, she could even dawn angelic wings. They may have been wings of fire, but they looked like angel wings to him.

Several minutes passed as Yuji watched Shana eat her melon bread, before she finished it with a satisfied sigh, before she began working on the chips. Yuji decided that he would also crack open his bag of chips. He felt relaxed for the first time in a while, despite having a week of nothing out of the ordinary happening. It was moments like these that made him wish he had the guts to tell Shana how he felt about her. Never the less, he enjoyed times like these, as it was just the two of them alone together. Moments like this made both of them feel the warmth brought about by their feelings towards one another, despite the fact neither of them knew how the other felt.

It wasn't long before they had finished their chips. They both downed the pop rather quickly, and luckily, neither of them burped, which would have ruined the mood. A few minutes later, Yuji yawned and stretched. A yawn from the Flame Haze followed soon after, signifying that they were both ready to go to bed. As Yuji got up to set up a futon for Shana to sleep on, he felt a light tug on his sleeve. He turned to Shana. The tired and extremely cute expression on her face made his heart skip a beat.

"Shana?" Yuji asked in a confused voice that was laced with hints of drowsiness. He wondered why the girl had stopped him from getting the futon.

"Don't bother getting the futon. We can share your bed." She said with a small yawn. She was tired, and didn't really care if they slept together. She was still cold, despite sitting with the heater on. Sharing a bed with Yuji was something that had only happened once. But that was when she didn't have feeling for him, and there had been a misunderstanding on her part. While it didn't bother her before, she now felt really bad about hurting him without letting the boy get out his full explanation. It didn't help that he was a little freaked out by the situation, and was fumbling, trying to make a solid sounding explanation. She wanted to make it up to him. So in a way, sharing a bed with him was killing two birds with one stone.

"W-what?" Yuji stuttered in response. All of the drowsiness in his body was gone and was replaced by nervousness. He remembered the last time the two of them shared a bed, and the result wasn't pretty. He was lucky she used the blunt end of her sword as to not kill him, but never the less, it hurt a lot. He remembered feeling those pains for the majority of that day. It was not pleasant. The thought of sharing a bed with him at the risk of something like that happening again was horrifying. Still, the thought of sharing a bed made him blush. He had obviously wanted to, but was scared of the possible consequences he may face later.

"I said we can share the bed..." she said, stopping for a second to yawn again before she continued. "If you're worried about what happened..." she paused to yawn again. "Then don't be." she finished, crawling under the covers. She didn't bother to change, let alone use the cleansing flame. She was too tired. She poked her head out from the covers, removed Alastor's pendant, and hung it on the bedpost. She then turned her attention to Yuji. "Hurry up before I change my mind." She said in a tired, yet annoyed voice.

Yuji gulped hard before slowly climbing under the covers with Shana. The whole situation made him blush like a cherry tomato. This was the last thing he'd ever expect to happen. She had offered to share a bed with him. Technically, it was his bed, but he was too tired to care.

Before he knew it, he was about to fall asleep. He failed to notice the blush on Shana's face as he drifted off. Once he was asleep, Shana smiled as she too was allured by the sandman into the world of her dreams. The two of them, while sleeping, moved closer to each other, and wrapped their arms around each other, neither of them waking the whole time. Alastor, watched the whole scene unfold. He couldn't help but chuckle at how they were more honest with their feeling when they were sleeping then when they were awake.

"Yuji..." he heard Shana whisper happily in her sleep. "...I...love...you... so... much..." she mumbled with a small smile visible on her lips. She was content. Too bad for the sleeping couple that this peacefulness was not going to last.

Unknown Location, 1:42AM

"Sir, the gateway in Misaki City, Japan, is tuned and ready for testing." Darvera reported with a salute. While he couldn't see his boss's face, he could tell that he was pleased.

"Good. Now, establish the connection to Tristain and activate the beacon." the man told his subordinate. He was pleased at how well his plan was coming together already. This test was key to making sure it would go off without a hitch.

"Yes Sir!" Darvera responded, saluting his commander before heading out to start the world connection process. He heard his boss laughing from behind the door, clearly pleased with the progress they had made. Now all that was needed was a simple test to see if the Flame Haze would fall for their trap...

Tristain Academy of Magic, 9:21PM

It was almost 9:30PM in the kingdom of Tristain. At the Tristain Academy of Magic, the teachers were preparing for bed, and the students were doing whatever was left of their homework. Of course, this didn't mean that everybody was in their rooms. Outside, near the west wall of the student 'dormitories', was a boy, relaxing in a cauldron like abject filled with water. It had been positioned over a small fire, heating the water to just the right temperature.

The boy sighed peacefully, enjoying both the warmth of his makeshift hot tub, but the cool breeze that came with the night. Outside of the cauldron, about a meter from the base of the fire sat the small pile of clothes he wore. The clothes consisted of a white shirt, a black pair of jeans, and a blue and white zip-up hoodie. The clothes looked surprisingly off when surrounded by the medieval style walls of the academy. This should come as no surprise, as the boy was not from this world. No, he was from Japan, of the 'normal' world. The world that he had no idea was far from normal.

"It's been how long since I arrived here?" The boy asked himself aloud. He remembered when he had first arrived here. He couldn't understand a word of the language the people spoke. He had been scared and confused. On top of that, there was this cute girl with bubblegum-pink hair, and she looked kinda pissed off for some reason. It had shocked him when she had reluctantly lowered herself to his height, as he had been sitting on the ground, as he was trying to get as far as he could from her, and kissed him. Right on the lips no less. This girl, who he had never met in his life, had taken his first kiss. It had been brief, but through his shock, he had thought he tasted something that reminded him of raspberries. It had been a sweet taste, and he knew afterwards that he'd never forget that taste.

After the kiss had ended, he babbled on like an idiot for a minute before feeling an intense burning sensation run through his whole body. The last thing he saw was some strange of writing form on the back of his hand, before he passed out from the intense pain. That had been the beginning of his stay in this world as the familiar of the pink haired girl. He had to be at least glad that due to the girl's inability to preform standard magic that he was able to understand this world's language. He'd be far worse off in this world if he had no idea what his 'master' or anybody else was saying.

The boy tried to figure out how long he'd been since he had last seen world, but couldn't due to the amount of time that had passed since he first arrived. He figured it had been at least a year and a half since he met his young 'master'. Throughout that entire time, he had experienced a whole lot of things. All the misadventures he and the girl had gone on had been a blast. Though it wasn't all fun and games, as he's experienced a lot, and he emphasized the words a lot, of the worst pain he had ever experienced. And yet, all that pain was worth it for all of the things he got to experience in this strange world.

He had experienced seeing a grown woman naked. Hell, on one occasion, he actually got to feel a girl's naked breasts pressed against his chest. It had given him a sense of euphoria through the immense shock of it happening so suddenly. On top of that, it was the princess of the country! Sure, it was all a part of a grand scheme to catch an assassin... or something on those lines. He realized he had never been filled in on all of the details, but had not cared at the time.

He had his fair share of kisses too. He had kissed and been kissed by Henrietta, the princess, on multiple occasions. They had a different taste and feel to them. The taste was that of this world's version of French Vanilla. But it wasn't the taste that he thought of when he remembered those kisses. They had, overtime, become more lustful. The princess had lusted for him, and made it known every time they had kissed, save the first time, which was brought on by a misunderstanding.

But Henrietta wasn't the only one he had kissed. He had kissed the girl with the pink hair on multiple occasions. In fact, he had often been the one to initiate them. That is, until they became more of a mutual desire between the two of them. Yes, over time, the boy had fallen in love with the pink haired girl. Sure, she could be extremely cruel and often whipped him, literally, for no reason. Or at least a reason he didn't understand. But when she smiled, she was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

It's funny, he had always prided himself for being a breast lover, and yet the girl was almost as flat as a board. Overtime, he had found that despite the lack of big breasts, he still loved the girl. He had realized that the size of one's breasts didn't really matter. Of course, he couldn't help but look sometimes, as he was a teenager with raging hormones. Sadly, the girl just found his ogling at other girl's breasts irritating, and often punished him for it. It was a strange thing that he hadn't become a masochist after all of the pain he's felt. At times, he wondered if the girl was a sadist, but he never really tried giving it much thought. He felt that he would be wasting his time investing thought in something that didn't really matter a whole lot in the end. Even if she had turned out to be a sadist, he'd still love her.

He sighed again. The fire was still burning rather nicely, and the warm water felt good against his skin. He had been out here for about 10 minutes, but decided that he'd stay a little longer and enjoy looking at the clear, starry night sky. While the fact that there were two moons in the sky still weirded him out, the stars still felt like they did back home. One of the advantages to living in this world was that there were no tall buildings obscuring the beauty of the stars. He had remembered that tomorrow was Void Day, and that students wouldn't have classes for the day. His mind drifted to how he would spend that day with his 'master'. However, it wasn't long before he heard a person speak, snapping him out of his train of thought. He turned to face the person who had spoken.

"Mister Saito? Are you using you're country's bath again?" A girl who was dressed like a maid asked. She had black hair and pale blue eyes, kinda like him. Then again, she was a decedent of a man who had come from Japan to this world long before he had. She was a peasant girl, so she couldn't use magic.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I last used it, so I thought 'hey, why not?'" He told her. It had been about a month since he had last used it, as he was allowed to use the student bath, and there was that whole 'Saving Tabitha' thing on top of that. He had been feeling a little nostalgic, and had decided to fill the old makeshift tub once again. Sure, setting it up was a bit of a chore, but hey, it was well worth it in the end. He was saddened by the fact that it'd be winter in Tristain soon, and that he wouldn't be able to do this until spring rolled around. It was then that he noticed the girl fidgeting. She looked kinda nervous for some reason. "Siesta, you look kind of nervous. Is something wrong?" He asked with genuine concern.

"W-well... I was... umm... w-wondering... umm..." she fumbled. Siesta was blushing madly and Saito swore he could hear her swallow hard. He was about to say something when she started speaking again. "I was wondering if... umm... I could... umm... join you...?" She said, still nervously fumbling with her words. Upon hearing her response, Saito quickly held his nose to prevent a nose bleed. Siesta had wanted to join him in his hot tub. At this point, he knew how he would answer. He just hoped that he wouldn't regret it later.

"S-sure... g-go ahead..." he told her, sounding almost as nervous as her. While it wasn't the first time they were both in the tub, he had certainly hoped that it wouldn't happen again. If the pink haired girl found out... he didn't even want to think of what would happen. He silently prayed that she would never find out about this.

"Stupid, why in hell's name did you say that! Don't you love Louise!" his conscience asked him angrily. "What if she found out about this! Don't you remember how she feels about you!" his conscience continued to question. He began to feel really guilty. While she may have not actually told him how she feels about him, he knew how she really felt. He knew that deep down Louise loved him just as much as he loved her. Even though she denied it when in others company, he had seen enough behind the scenes to know the truth. He had even told her how he felt about her when they had visited her family's manor. He had told her that he loved her, and yet here he was, going behind her back.

"Aww man, what the heck am I going to do? If Louise catches wind of this, she may never forgive me!" he thought sadly. Now he was even madder at himself. Why did he say yes? It was at this moment that his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone making contact with the water. He felt a small ripple. He gulped and turned around slowly. His eyes were about to pop out his skull. There, in front of him, was a very naked Siesta, her naked body only slightly shielded by the water. Never the less, her noticeable cleavage was ever present, making Saito's hormones start to kick into overdrive. "Oh yeah, that's why I said yes..." he thought in bliss. He knew it was wrong to think this, but he didn't really care, seeing as it was taking a lot of effort to keep himself composed enough to not freak out Siesta. The noble part of his brain prayed that Louise wouldn't find him like this.

Meanwhile, Louise was finishing up some of her remaining homework. While she may have been unable to put any spell she learned into practice, she was excellent with the theory work. And due to her lack of skill in normal magic, she normally got a lot of homework to keep her marks up. It had been like this for a while, but as of recently, the extra work was worth it to some extent. While she may have not been able to use any standard magic, she was one of few who could use the legendary Void magic. This was something she was extremely proud of, as it had set her above everybody who thought they were looking down on her. It made her feel more important than them. Too bad she couldn't tell anybody. That was the one downside to being a Void mage.

She continued to work, humming peacefully. Today had been a good day. Saito hadn't done anything perverted, which made her happy. She didn't like punishing Saito. She always felt really bad afterwards. Once, she had heard him talking to himself, saying that she had never bothered to hear what he had to say, and punished him unjustly. Ever since she heard that, she had felt even worse about the whole thing. While she originally only did it to make him learn his place, the purpose for it had changed over the course of time they spent together. Before she knew it, she was in love with him. She remembered when she had first realized this. It had been when he had saved her from the man that she was once engaged to, Wardes.

It was later that those feelings had really begun to take root, and it was then that her heart started screaming for Saito. She then realized that at some point, she started punishing him not because he did something wrong, but because she was jealous. She hated it when he looked at other girls. It made her want to rip whoever it was in two. She even felt like that towards her best friend, Henrietta! She wanted Saito for herself, and she'd be damned if someone else wanted him. He was her familiar, so he was rightfully hers!

Well, that's not entirely true. She only used that as an excuse to get other girls away from him. In reality, she knew that it was Saito who would choose he had wanted to be with in the end. Much to her joy, it looked like he had chosen her. This was hard to believe, since he often acted like a dog, being perverted. She knew that he was a boy, and that he was dealing with rabid hormones, but it still bothered her none the less. She had wished that he would only look her. Only give her his absolute attention. Only give her that perverted gaze. She knew that it was weird to want to get looked at with a pervert's eyes, but if it was him, she didn't mind.

Soon, she was finished her homework. She stretched in a tired fashion, and yawned. After closing her book, and putting her pen back into the ink well, she decided to go look for Saito. She glanced over to his former bed, and had noticed Derflinger resting against the wall. She walked over to the sword, figuring he would know where Saito was.

"Sword, where is Saito?" she asked the talking blade. The sword popped out of his sheath slightly, as so he could reply to her question.

"I believe he said something about using that makeshift bath of his. Said it was out of nostalgia or something." the sword told her. "Is there a certain reason you're looking for him, girl?" he questioned. Louise knew that it was in Derflinger's nature to mess with both Saito and her, so she didn't let the question really get to her.

"It's just about time for bed, and I'm not locking the door unless he's here. I'd rather not be faced with him waking me up just to open the door." she replied, with a slight amount of annoyance in her voice. "So, I figured I'd go get him and the sorry dog back up here. He is my familiar, after all. It'd be wrong for him and me not to sleep in the same room." she added, trying to make herself sound like she didn't really want to, but felt obligated to.

"Yeah, in the same bed..." she heard the sword mutter under his 'breath'. She turned away in an attempt to look pissed off by his comment. But in truth, she just turned away because she didn't want the sword poking fun at the fact that she was blushing. She marched over to the door and opened it quickly. She walked out into the halls, and as she shut the door, she made one last comment.

"Shut up you oversized talking butter knife!" she yelled as she slammed the door. She hoped that she hadn't woken anybody who was sleeping up. Sadly, she heard the sounds of groaning in annoyance and saying things that the wall made hard to hear as she walked down the hall to the stairs.

It didn't take long to be down on ground level. She quickly opened the door to the court yard. Once outside, she headed in the direction of where she remembered Saito having set up the old cooking pot to bathe. As she was about to round the corner, she heard what sounded like Saito and Siesta talking. She pressed herself against the wall and glanced slightly passed the corner. Sure enough, it was Saito and Siesta. Saito was bathing, and Siesta looked nervous. She couldn't make out whatever they were saying, but Siesta must have said something that aroused Saito's inner pervert, as he was clenching his nose, to prevent a nosebleed.

What happened next really shocked her. Saito had turned away, looking as though he did it subconsciously, as Siesta stripped naked! Her heart felt like it had be stabbed by a knife. There was the boy she loved, bathing with another girl. She felt every intention to walk over there and rip both of them to shreds. Siesta had seduced her familiar again, and Saito had just given her more heartache. She wanted to tear the two of them a new one. Strangely, she didn't do just that. Instead, she felt tears well up in her eyes. She turned away from the scene, tears welling in her eyes as she broke into a run. She wanted to back to her room, crawl into her bed, and cry her eyes out. Only one thought flowing through her mind.

"I lost... Saito doesn't love me after all!" she screamed inside her head. The words hurt, and they continued to bounce around in her head. She felt as though her heart snapped in two, and it stung. It really stung badly. She then tripped and landed face first in the grass. She couldn't hold in her tears as she stood back up, and cried the rest of the way back to her room.

At this time, Saito had decided that he had to get out. He was starting to feel drowsy, and wanted to nothing more than to curl up beside his 'master' and fall asleep under the warm blankets.

"Siesta, I'm going to get out now. I'm getting kind of tired." He told her. She nodded, not needing to be told twice, as she turned to offer him some privacy as he got out of the water. She had waited for him to give her the heads up that it was okay for her to get out and get dressed. He offered her the same privacy, turning away until she was decent. He then proceeded to empty the water and put out the remaining fire. Once he had taken care of that, he moved the giant pot back to its location of storage before turning to Siesta. "Alright, I'm heading inside."

"Alright, good night Mister Saito... we should do this again sometime." Siesta said, bowing slightly before turning to leave. It was then that Saito grabbed her hand and kept her from leaving. She blushed fiercely at this. She turned to face him, her mind buzzing. Could this have been the day she was waiting for? Was Saito going to confess to her? "M-mister... S-Saito... is this...?"

"Siesta... I'm afraid we can't do that ever again." Saito told her, getting straight to the point. He didn't want to hurt the poor girl's feelings, but he couldn't continue doing things like that. It would hurt Louise, and in term, hurt him too, both physically and emotionally. He saw that Siesta looked shocked at what he said. He sighed. "Look, Siesta, I like you, I really do... it's just that... my heart belongs to Louise... and-" He was silenced by a kiss. His first instinct was to return it, but he didn't, as it wouldn't be right to do so. He pulled away quickly. Siesta looked really hurt by this. "Siesta, please, don't make this harder than it needs to be..."

"Why?" he heard her whisper. "Why? What's so special about her?" she asked in a more audible voice. Saito noticed that she was trembling. He didn't know if it was out of sadness or anger... but he couldn't help but feel bad for the young maid. But he decided if there was ever a time for him to be honest with her, and to some extent, himself, it was now. It was then he noticed that she was crying.

"Siesta..." he started. He wanted to comfort the girl, he really did. But he had to do this. He had to tell her the truth, even if it meant that she would never want to see him again. He took a deep breath before continuing. "... I told that I really like you, but only as a friend. I can't really explain how or why I fell in love with Louise... well… I could list off a lot of reasons, actually. It's just... I'd rather not hurt you even more." he told her in a sympathetic tone.

"But she'll make you miserable! The way she punishes you when you have done no wrong! She treats you like garbage! Like a dog! I hate seeing you suffer because of that girl! You'll never be happy with her!" Siesta yelled in between sobs. She had a certain level of venom in her voice, most likely brought out by how Louise treats him. He was about to say something, but was interrupted. "She can never be the woman you're looking for! She show's little interest in making you happy! She doesn't even have your preference in breast size! Yet you still love her… why!"

"I was trying too-" Saito tried to say before he was interrupted by her once again.

"I don't understand how you could love such a stupid, talentless, flat chested, self-centered, thoughtless bitch!" Siesta screamed before sobbing uncontrollably. As she had said that, white hot rage started to bubble inside of him. The way she had talked about Louise was uncalled for. If he wasn't held back by the fact that a real man never intentionally hurts a woman outside of a battlefield, he would have probably punched her in the face. Instead, however, he decided he'd just tell her off.

"Oh, and who the hell gave you the right to talk about Louise like that!" Saito snapped at her. The look on her face showed him that she was shocked by what he had said, but he didn't care. "You have no god damned right to talk about the girl I love like that! Even if she treats me like a dog, I know that she cares about me!" Siesta started to cry even more. Saito started to feel bad for lashing out at her, but the next few words out of his mouth had slipped out before he could stop them. "She may not be perfect, but at least she doesn't have to rely on flaunting her breasts, or lack of breasts, to get my attention." Siesta was hurt by those words. It had been like a knife had been plunged into her heart. The next sentence was what twisted the knife deeper into her heart. "I will never love you, Siesta. Never." those words were laced with a cold, sickeningly painful venom. He hadn't intended for those words to come out like that. Too late now though.

Siesta looked as though she saw her world crumble around her, leaving nothing but a barren wasteland in its wake. The tears poured from her eyes as the light that was once in them had left them. She couldn't believe Saito was so cruel. She only wanted what was best for him. She loved him. Yet what he had just told her shook her to the core.

"B-but Saito... I-" she tried to say before she was interrupted by a voice laced with venom.

"Just leave." Those two words were the final nail in the coffin. Whatever hope Siesta had left was shattered in that instant. After that, she turned and raced off, crying. She looked as though she may trip over her own feet, but Saito didn't care. He only glanced in the direction she had fled before he began heading back up to Louise's room. He was tired, and ashamed. He had snapped at a dear friend, probably destroying their friendship. He didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings, but she had really hit a nerve calling Louise those things. He regretted what he ended up saying, but knew that nothing he did would repair what he had just destroyed.

It wasn't long before he was outside of Louise's room. As he was about to open the door, he heard what sounded like... crying... coming from inside the room. Was Louise crying? He didn't really have time to think about it, as before he knew what he was doing, he was already inside the room, shutting the door. He had walked over to the bed, where he saw Louise, still dressed in her school uniform, crying into a pillow. He sat down on the bed, and placed his hand onto her trembling shoulder.

"Louise..? What's wrong?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. All he got as a response was a small sentence.

"Go away." Louise's muffled voice told him. Her face never once left the pillow as she had said it, but Saito heard it clearly enough to know what she had said. He frowned at this response, and attempted to pull the pillow away, only for her to turn to face him, tugging on the pillow. "GO AWAY!" She screamed in a voice mixed with rage and sadness. She continued to tug on the pillow, trying to get it free from Saito's grip. She didn't want him seeing her like this.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Saito snapped back. He had sounded angry, but in reality, he was really concerned. Louise played that off as just him trying to look like he cared about her, when he only had eyes for that cow of a maid. The thought of him going back to that maid made her feel even worse.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed. Clearly, fighting over this pillow wasn't getting anywhere, so Saito let go of it. However, before Louise could re assume the position she had been in when he had entered the room, he pulled her into a strong embrace. He held onto her for dear life, and he would be damned if he'd let go. "LET GO!" Louise screamed angrily. But he felt that the rage in her voice was only covering up her sorrow. He tightened the hug a little. Louise struggled a little while longer, before giving up. She then started crying against him, and started soaking the area of the sweater her face was positioned. Saito used one of his arms to rub her back in a gentle way, as a way to help her relax.

"Now... tell me what's wrong, Louise. Why are you crying?" he asked softly. The concern in his voice was obvious to Louise. It had sounded like completely genuine concern to her, which caused her to ease up on her crying.

"I...I went... l-looking for you..." she started between sobs. She sounded winded, most likely due to her crying for a solid fifteen minutes before Saito had entered the room. Her voice was so small, but she never the less continued. "T-the sword... told me where I... might find you..." at this point, Saito started to piece it together in his head. "... And I saw you... with that... maid... bathing together... and I... I felt so... so..." she then burst into tears again. Saito just continued to hug her. Louise had felt really out of character to him. If she had really saw Siesta and him bathing together, then why didn't she come over to punish him for it? He was about to ask, but she beat him to the punch. "... I wanted to come... over and... punish you... but I didn't... I figured... that you and her... you and her were-" she told him before he had cut her off.

"Louise, me and Siesta aren't like that. You should know better than anyone that I love you, and not her." Saito told her reassuringly. Oh, how she wanted to believe him. But she couldn't bring herself to do so. "I understand if you don't believe me... but..." he paused to let out a small sigh before continuing. "After the whole thing, I told her we couldn't ever do it again, due to my feelings for you. She and I had a fight after that, and I don't think we are going to be talking to each other for quite some time. I know that sounds hard to believe, but it's the truth."

"H-how do I-I know t-that you're not l-lying." Louise asked him. He sounded like he was telling the truth, but she wanted to be sure. She didn't want to think it was the truth, only for this to happen all over again, she couldn't take it a second time. She heard Saito chuckle a little, as if he was anticipating her question.

"I figured you'd ask that." he said, chuckling again. "I can't really give you any sort of proof. So I hope that my word is enough, but if you really want proof, you could go look for Siesta and ask her about it." he told her. He inwardly hoped that she wouldn't actually go and find Siesta, as he figured Siesta would attack her and risk being put behind bars to get back at her. "You know what they say...'Hell Hath No Fury Like a Women Scorned.' Or something like that." he thought to himself. He was sure that Siesta, right now, could be classified as 'a women scorned', and would take out her anger on Louise. It was odd for him to picture Siesta being so violent, but then again, life is just full of surprises. After all, he was in a foreign world right now, wasn't he? He's living proof of that statement.

Louise nodded, as if telling him that she believed him. He then let go of her, ending the embrace. He then heard the pink haired girl yawn. He yawned not to long after. They were both tired. So without speaking, they slid under the covers, Louise not worried about changing, as tomorrow was Void Day. It wasn't long before the two of them were asleep.

Derflinger had watched the whole thing, and would have laughed if he wasn't worried about waking them. He watched them start to cuddle under the covers. His partner looked peaceful, as did his 'master'. He was about to go to sleep himself, when he heard a faint whisper escape the girl's mouth.

"Saito... I love you... don't ever... leave me..." She mumbled in her sleep. Saito had then brought himself closer to her. Derflinger knew that the boy didn't hear her, but never the less found the scene cute in its own way. He chuckled quietly before sliding back into his sheath for the night. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be long before they were awakened from their peaceful slumber...

Unknown Location, 3:36AM

"Darvera, gateway connection to Tristain has been set for the Misaki City gateway." one of Darvera's underlings reported. While there was not really any command structure in the science division of this operation, all of the scientists looked to Darvera as they're boss. He was the one who reported directly to the figure they have come to know solely as 'The Boss'. On top of that, the man was nothing short of a genius, despite his lanky and completely pale figure.

"Excellent. Now… have there been any complications in setting up other gateways?" Darvera asks his underling. He thought that if 'The Boss' had heard news of other gateways prepped and ready, he'd be pleased with the level of progress they have achieved.

"Well, there is one that is just about ready on Tokyo's Academy Island, but for some reason the power output on the thing is really funky. It occasionally emits a bit of energy, that if left alone-" the scientist stated before being cut off by Darvera.

"It will attract the attention of that Flame Haze Organization that is stationed nearby." Darvera finished with a bit of a smirk. He brought his hand to his chin. A thoughtful look appeared on the features of his pale face. He was thinking about a way to use the glitch in the power output to their advantage. "Well, this could pose a bit of a problem... has the connection already been established on that one?" he asked his subordinate.

"Not quite yet, but it could be shortly, as it would only take a few minutes to calibrate it." the scientist said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling he knew what Darvera was planning.

"Then establish the connection to that gateway. There's no doubt in my mind that the Flame Haze won't be able to leave the strange energy flow unattended. We'll launch it with the Misaki gate and test how the Flame Haze will react to the difference. It could help form a better beacon." Darvera said, smirking. If this worked out, they could have a better way of dealing with pesky Flame Haze, and collect Power of Existence a hell of a lot easier. Not to mention, it would gain him much praise from their leader. His underling nodded his approval of the idea.

"Alright, we'll let you know when we have established the connection." the scientist replied, before he began the connection protocol for the gateway. Darvera nodded and walked to the break room to something to drink. Nothing was going to stop them. At least, that's what Darvera thought. Little did he know that this little change in plans would present them with a problem they hadn't even thought of. Something that was barely involved with the Flame Haze. Something that Tokyo had more of than anywhere else on the planet. Butei...

Academy Island, 2:38AM

It was rather late at night in Tokyo. Despite that, a lot of people were awake. Since Tokyo is one of the most populated cities in Japan, it was obvious that some of them were still awake. Most of the people still awake were people who were either out with friends or working late. While the majority of the people who were still awake were adults, there were a respectable amount of them that were teenagers. The majority of them were studying, playing some online game, or out doing something they deemed fun. Sadly, this wasn't the case for one boy on Academy Island.

The boy was tired… very tired. He had just got home from a case, and was about ready to pass out from exhaustion. It involved a terrorist group threatening to kill some CEO of some company if they weren't paid the proper ransom. They were a bitch find, as they had led him and his team on a wild goose chase. It ended with several confrontations at gunpoint, and it was hell. He had been lucky. Hysteria Mode had activated at some point during the battle, which helped greatly in the end. If it had not activated, he'd probably have left with a lot more than just a few bruises and sore muscles. He should have expected something like this from an A-Rank case.

It was times like this that he wished that he had transferred out of Butei High. He had the transfer documents filled out, and all he need do was give them to the school and he would be on his way. In fact, he would have about a year back, when he thought his brother had died. However, as fate would have it, he would not be able to leave this life behind so easily. On the first day of his second year, he had been a victim of the Butei Killer, and met one of the sole reasons why he stayed here. It was a girl his age, who often wore her pinkish hair in long twintails. She had swooped in on a parachute and saved him from the bomb on his bike. Shortly after, he had saved her from a barrage of bullets. Afterwards, he had hoped he wouldn't see her again, but alas, it was not meant to be.

The girl, for some reason, had been curious enough to look up his student files. Upon learning that he had achieved S-Rank on his entrance exam, a feat few had accomplished, she had demanded he be her 'slave'. Of course, he would later learn that the word 'slave' really meant 'partner'. She wanted him to transfer to the assault department, the most dangerous department in the school, and be part of her team. He had agreed to do one mission with her before he filed for his transfer. And yet, here he was, still here. He had completed that case a long time ago, and yet, he felt obligated to stay for some reason.

He yawned as he removed his two gun holsters, setting them on the table. They were soon joined by his other equipment, including two knives and some ammo clips. He then took the opportunity to change out of his uniform, and into something more comfortable. He wanted nothing more than to be able to sleep. He was grateful as hell that the following day was New Year's Eve, and that he wouldn't have any Butei assignments for a few days. He was only a student Butei after all. He felt kind of bad for the professional Butei, as they would have to remain on duty through the holiday. Ah well, at least it wasn't him, right? He was just about to crawl into his bed, when he had heard his cell phone rumble against the table. Who would be calling at this hour? He picked it up, pressed the 'Talk' button, and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he said tiredly. Whoever it was calling was keeping him from sleeping. He knew he could have checked the call display to see who it was, but was too tired to care. The next thing he knew, he heard a young girl yelling into the phone.

"Kinji, let me in!" the girl on the other end yelled angrily. The voice sounded rather tired, but it was still noticeably angry. "The door is locked, and I've been knocking for ten minutes! Let me in or I'll shoot a hole through you!" she threatened. It was obvious who it was from the minute she yelled into the phone, but that last sentence had affirmed who it was. It was the girl who had saved him from the bike bomb just under over a year ago. Now she was his roommate, which he had hated at first. Now, however, he had grown rather fond of the girl. No, he was more than fond of her.

As hard as it was for him to believe, amidst the chaos of his life, romance had bloomed. Yes, Kinji had developed feelings for the girl. How, he didn't even know. All he knew was at some point she had a greater influence on the activation of Hysteria Mode than any other girl. It was kind of hard to believe, since the girl wasn't as developed as the other girls around him. He had to thank Riko, who, in a way, helped him figure out he was attracted to the girl. It wasn't too long afterwards that he realized he loved her. Of course, because of his feelings for the girl, he faced a good number of problems.

The biggest obstacle was of course, his friend Shirayuki. The young miko was a friend of his for a long time, and as a result, she had developed feeling for him. Now, this may not seem like a problem to other, since they viewed Shirayuki as 'that shy cute girl that hung around Kinji'. But Kinji knew all too well that girl, due to her upbringing, was quite possessive of him. He was the one who showed her the most kindness in her life, and wasn't willing to let somebody else claim him as theirs. So he couldn't try to form a relationship with any girl without the risk of her trying to run them through with her sword. That or one of the various traps she had made. While this was a problem, he didn't know what he was more worried about. Breaking the miko's heart would be a problem, but so would her possessive nature getting in the way of a relationship.

Then there was the issue of his relationship with Riko. She was the pink haired girl's rival, due to their families' history. All thanks to their ancestors. He remembered when Riko was working with I-U, and was ordered by Vlad to kill the girl, in order to leave the shadow of her great-grandfather's failure to defeat Holmes. Thankfully, she had reclaimed her family's honor by defeating Vlad, rather than kill the girl, who was a descendant of Holmes. Ever since then, they had been on more friendly terms. Proof of this was the formation of Team Baskerville, the team that Kinji himself was the sole male member of.

The problem with that was simple. He knew that Riko had felt 'something' towards him. He didn't quite know what, but he knew it was 'something' He figured that if he made his move and tried to form a relationship with her rival, something bad would happen. That or she would insist that she could be his 'mistress' or something on those lines. Riko has always had a bit of a dirty mind, and that added to the problem.

And then there was Reki. She held him at the mercy of her rifle not too long ago. She wanted him to be her 'husband', which scared him slightly given the method of proposal. While Reki was cute, she barely showed emotion. She was always quiet and reserved, even when in battle, as it helped her take her shot easier. It was when this lack of visible emotion, combined with her feeling for him that worried him. The expressionless look she had on her face when she had held him at gunpoint scared him. The lack of expression made her look dead serious, and that she would really shoot him if he declined or tried to move.

She was an amazing shot, and he even doubted Hysteria Mode when he thought of trying to dodge a bullet shot by the girl. She stated that if the target was within 2051m of her, she would hit it no matter what. The fact that he was almost point blank would mean that she would not miss... period! He was glad that he had found a way out of that problem, but was worried what she would do if she caught wind of him dating another girl. He feared for both his and that girl's safety. Great, he had two girls who would potentially kill his date. That was just peachy.

It was that moment he was brought back to reality by the girl on the other end of the call. She was once again yelling into the phone, this time sounding even angrier. He had felt a bit of sweat begin to form on his brow. He had better let the girl in soon, unless he wished to be breathing through his a hole in his neck.

"Kinji, you bastard, open the door right n-" the girl yelled before she was interrupted by sound of the door being opened. The sound made her jump, as she had not been expecting it. She felt her face heat up out of embarrassment, and gave him an annoyed look. "Finally, its cold out here you idiot!" she snapped at him, in an attempt to pass of her blush to her being cold. He just shrugged it off. She just walked angrily into the dorm, leaving Kinji to shut the door. Sometimes she wondered how she put up with him at times.

"So, why did it take you so long to get back, Aria?" Kinji questioned the girl, tiredly. He had stopped questioning why she had to stay with him a while back. She had somehow got permission from the school to be his roommate. He had no idea why the school allowed it, but he figured it was because she was a model student, being Rank-S and all. Never the less, he had grown to enjoy her company, and in turn, his feeling for her grew stronger. He couldn't help but be glad that it was her and not Shirayuki, Riko or Reki living with him. That would be really chaotic. At least with Aria, it was respectably calm.

"I ran into the small store down the street for some peach buns. I told you I was going to be a few minutes." Aria told him crossly. She felt that as a result of her working really hard that night that she deserved some kind of reward, even if she had to pay for it herself. On top of that, she was rather hungry after finishing today's case. It was late, so the only place open was that small store, as it was open 24 hours a day.

She figured that Kinji didn't want to make anything to eat, and decided it'd be best to buy some peach buns. She wasn't in the store all that long, but never the less, the majority of the time heading back to their dorm eating three of the peach buns she had purchased. She bought six of them, and intended to eat them all. But after the third one, she had decided that she would save them for later. It wasn't all that healthy to eat too much before sleeping. At least, that's what she read in some magazine a while back.

"You did? Sorry, must have zoned out. I'm extremely tired thanks to that A-Ranked case you signed us up for." he told her with a yawn. He wanted to end the conversation quickly, so he could go to bed. He felt like he deserved some form of sleep after running around all of Tokyo looking for some terrorists. Aria frowned at him. She was clearly upset by the fact he hadn't heard her and had locked the door because he was tired. He sighed, hoping Aria wouldn't make a huge deal out of this.

"Whatever." Aria stated with a shrug. She was tired, and wanted to sleep. Like Kinji, that day's event's left her tired. Not as tired as he was, but tired all the same. She went to her closet, and grabbed something to sleep in. She then walked to the bathroom, so she could change without running the risk of Kinji peaking.

Once in the bathroom, Aria removed her gun holsters, and set all of her extra ammo clips beside them on the floor. She then removed her uniform, followed by her katanas. She set the swords against the wall. Then proceeded to put on the clothes she had taken from her closet.

When she was done, she put her uniform in the laundry bin, to be washed tomorrow. She was somewhat glad that tomorrow was a day off for students. She really needed the time to recover from that day's case. While she didn't show it openly, her body ached from the fight with the terrorists. The Majority of them had gone down easily enough, but due to the fact that they had been running around the whole day looking for them, Team Baskerville was tired, and had been a tad sloppier than usual. In fact, she hadn't been looking, and if it hadn't been for Kinji, who had rushed in and saved her, she would be breathing through a hole in her neck right now. It was a miracle that he came out unscathed; as she had thought he might have been hit when he had got her out of the bullets path.

She smiled at the memory of his heroic deed. A new memory to add to all of the ones of they had shared. She remembered when they had first met, back at the beginning of their second year. It still amazed her too this day that he had shot down the barrel of an enemy gun. She remembered how one minute he was slightly panicked about the situation they were both in, and the next, he was suave and full of confidence. He had treated her like a princess, as if he was but a humble knight. The thought brought a shiver down her spine. She remembered how he was able to disarm her so easily, as if he wasn't even trying.

When they met for the second time for that day, it was like he was a completely different person. Gone was the suave knight and in his place was a cynical boy who wanted nothing more than to leave being a Butei altogether. She couldn't understand the change, so she did some research on him. She found that while he was an E-Rank officially, he had been graded as an S-Rank during the entrance exams. According to the file, he had done the task given for the exam in a matter of minutes, defeating teachers with military training. It was then that she knew that he was going to be her partner. A Watson to her Sherlock Holmes, all the more ironic, since she herself was a descendent of said detective.

At first he had rejected the idea; he soon agreed to help her for one case, no matter how large or small it was. It was rather ironic that it was Butei Killer case, of which he was almost a victim of. It was during this case that he had stolen her first kiss, and her feelings for him began to grow. After the case, he had left her, and she would have had to head back to Europe if it weren't for his change of heart. It was at that moment that they became partners. She remembered being so saddened and afraid of the thought of him leaving her that day. It was when he had changed his mind that she realized that she had fallen in love with the boy.

Since then, she has ended her hate filled rivalry with Riko in favor of a friendlier one. She was glad that they could let go of their families' history and be friends. She was even happier that Riko had decided to testify in her mother's defense, lowering her sentence greatly. She had also stopped Durandal, whom was a girl named Jeanne D'Arc. She had also testified in her mother's defense, and the two of them have become friends. Shirayuki and Reki were also added to that list of friends, and as a result, Team Baskerville was founded.

She smiled, knowing that when she had made an effort to recruit Kinji, she had found friendships in the most unlikely places. She had never really had a true friend before, and it was all thanks to Kinji that she now had some to speak of. This only justified her feelings for him even more.

Recently, the thought of confessing her feelings to him had crossed her mind. Of course, she faced the fear of losing those friends that she had made. She knew that all of her friends, including Reki surprisingly, had feeling for Kinji too. She figured that if she even thought of doing it, the other girls would try to kill her or something.

"Why does this have to be so complicated... Argh!" she yelled in her head. All she wanted to do was confess to the boy and get it over with. "Of course, there is also the fact that I don't want to be rejected." she thought with a frown. What if Kinji didn't love her back? The thought of rejection stung. She knew that was all up to Kinji to decide who he loved, and if it wasn't her, then it wasn't meant to be. She had wanted to believe it was fate that brought them together. She had never been a strong believer in fate, but ever since Kinji had entered her life, those views had changed slightly.

She knew that Kinji didn't really care for girls, for some reason involving middle school. He had told her that back then; girls took advantage of him, and left him bitter towards all members of the opposite sex. She was glad that his circle of friends, who were coincidentally all girls, had convinced him that not all girls were going to take advantage of him. She had hoped that this change in his life would allow for the possibility of romance to form between the two of them. Of course, she didn't want to get her hopes up in case he had feelings for another. Then again, just because she didn't want to doesn't mean that she didn't.

Aria looked at herself in the mirror. Her appearance gave the impression she was younger then she actually was. While, in hindsight, that seemed like a good thing for later in life, right now, she hated it. She had the appearance of a Junior High Student, if she was lucky enough to be seen as one. It was all because of her great-grandfather that she was like this. Kinji had told her that when he had shot her almost 4 years ago, she had been infused with energy from a Hidan bullet. The Scarlet Ammo offered her a longer life span, at the price of her body's growth. She was very childlike in appearance due to the time she was shot, which angered her greatly.

Sure, it had given her the strawberry colored hair and her camellia colored eyes, but it had hindered her growth as a woman. She wanted nothing more than too expel that Hidan energy so she gain back a bit of pride lost to said Hidan energy. Well, she'd want to keep her hair and eye color as it is, as it was a pleasant side effect of the Hidan energy, which affected her hair and eye color pigments. She was rather proud of how her hair and eyes looked now. It had given her a sense of 'uniqueness', and she liked that. Before, she had been flax blond with blue eyes, which wasn't all that special. She greatly preferred her current hair color over her old one. She wondered what Kinji had thought of it, but didn't bother to ask. It would be far too embarrassing!

Aria let out a yawn, and decided that now would be a perfect time to go to bed. It was rather late, and she wanted to have enough energy to make it through tomorrow's New Year's Eve festival without passing out from exhaustion. She picked up her discarded weapons and extra ammo, and made her way out of the bathroom. The halls were dark, meaning that Kinji had most likely turned off the lights so he could sleep. Luckily, she was able to make it back to the bedroom without too much of a hassle, as she had memorized the layout of the dorm.

Once in the bedroom, she set her stuff down on the desk near her bed, and made her way under the covers. She had noticed that Kinji was already asleep, and smiled. He deserved the rest. He, like her, had a long day, and could really use the shut eye. She then crawled underneath her covers and closed her eyes.

Not even a minute later, she noticed something was off with her bed making it seem less comfortable. She opened her eyes, and looked for the source of the discomfort. Finding nothing, she had closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again. Everything was fine for a few minutes, until the feeling of discomfort had returned. Perhaps something was in her bed. She got up and turned the lights on to investigate.

"Aria... why the hell did you turn the light on?" Kinji groaned sleepily. He was extremely tired, and having been asleep for a little under fifteen minutes, Aria had better have a good reason for this. He squinted, as the room was very bright to his exhausted eyes. He noticed that Aria's covers were thrown off her bed.

"I can't sleep." she told him. She looked pissed off and tired. She was clearly mad that her attempts at sleep had resulted in failure. He could sympathize with her right about now... since she had disturbed his rest.

"Oh?" Kinji said questioningly, half confused half tired. "Maybe you're still tense from the mission… you know? Your body must still be trying to get the adrenaline out of its system." Kinji reasoned. It seemed more than likely. He was used to it, since he had to deal with his Hysteria Mode quite often, and it was like a fountain of adrenaline and testosterone. It didn't really affect his sleep anymore either, and even if it did, he was too tired at the moment to care.

"I guess you have a point..." she mumbled in defeat. She accepted the fact that her nerves were messing with her. It bothered her a bit, but at least she figured out why she had trouble falling asleep. She blushed in embarrassment, and was about to crawl into bed, when she heard the sound of rain. She hoped it wouldn't be anything more than rain; she didn't want to hear thunder. Sadly, luck wasn't on her side, and just as she had gotten comfortable, the sky rumbled with thunder. She let out a yelp.

Kinji, who had just started to ease back into sleep, had heard the cry of fear escape Aria's mouth. He had heard the thunder, so he knew exactly why she made the noise. He also knew that unless he did something, he'd be awake all night, listening to her cry out in fear. He wanted sleep, and he wanted it bad. So, without even thinking, he got up, picked up his pillow, and walked over to Aria's bed. He plopped the pillow beside her and slid himself under the covers. He then hugged her, assuring her that it was alright. This got her attention.

"W-What are you-" she was cut off by a loud rumble from the sky, and squeaked in terror. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, as if he was the only thing that could protect her from the thunder and lightning she had hated so much.

"Clearly, I am comforting you so we can both sleep tonight. It's been a long day, and I really don't care if you wallop me in the morning. I just want to sleep, and if I have to this to do it, then so be it." Kinji stated tiredly. He yawned, and tightened his grip on her a little. He knew that he risked activating Hysteria Mode doing this, but he didn't really care.

"O-okay... fine... just don't... leave..." Aria said in a faint and weak willed voice. She was terrified of the storm outside, and was extremely embarrassed due to their closeness. She knew that she would probably forget this in the morning, but didn't want to face this storm alone. She wanted sleep just as badly as he wanted to. "Thanks..." she said with a faint voice laced with fear and embarrassment.

"Yeah, whatever... just try to calm down and go to bed, alright?" Kinji said as he shut his eyes. His breathing slowed a bit, as if to show he was relaxed. He was lucky that he wasn't in Hysteria Mode right now, as he thought 'something' would happen if he was. And he had a pretty good idea on what that 'something' was. He relaxed even more when he had heard Aria's slowed breathing next to him. He was glad that she had been able to fall asleep so quickly. He fell asleep within seconds.

The two of them were soon cuddling, and looked like a loving couple. The night hadn't been one of romance, but never the less, they looked so peaceful together. As if nothing could separate them. It was then that you could hear Aria mumble something in her sleep.

"I... love you... Kinji... thank you... for being... here..." she said as she smiled and cuddled closer. She was asleep, but if one were to walk in on this, they'd think otherwise. Still, the two of them looked rather peaceful at that time. It was a shame that in a matter of two hours, they wouldn't be happy anymore...

Author's Note

And there you have it folks, the first chapter of my re working of "Fire in the Void"... "Void of Scarlet Fire"... I have been really meaning to do this for a while and after two weeks of working on this, I am happy to say that it is ready...

Now, just to clarify, my knowledge of Aria the Scarlet Ammo is limited, as I have only read up a few things, and seen the anime. But never the less, I wanted to include it. Whatever I put in the Aria section here was just things I had pieced together with the limited knowledge at my disposal.

I've been working on this ONE CHAPTER for 2 weeks... as I wanted it to be a long, yet better written intro to the previous version. So if it looks as though the Shana section is more thought out, it's due to the fact Season 3 is underway at the time of this chapter's creation, so I've got Shana on the brain more so than normal.

The reason behind this revision is that I hated the direction of the original, and I'd like to think that my writing has improved. On top of that, now I have an actual reason for some of the stuff to happen, I made a triple cross-over, and I am planning to do something really interesting later involving a LOT of random small cross-overs in this series. I may not update a lot, but still, this story is a high priority for me... as is the re-working of "Caught in the Cat's Cradle" and a brand new project I'm sort of working on with a friend... a Digimon project... and an Evangelion thing that I have been neglecting... oh, and a Yugioh GX thing too!

Oh, right. A quick side note now before I forget. Time in Tristain-Earth flows different than it does on Japan-Earth... by about two months... and the times of day are different by a few hours. I'm just too lazy to put in the date... that and I'm not sure how many days are in a week on Tristain-Earth. Just thought I'd make that clear here rather than down the road, as to keep myself from looking like an idiot... oh, and there is a reference to a certain anime in there somewhere, see if you can find it... hell, the 'Boss' is a walking reference himself... but from where?

Well, after like 3 months of sitting on my computer… I finally got around to editing this thing while Ember to Inferno Chapter 1 was being beta-read… so yeah… this won't be updated as often as EtI, but the chapters will be long if that makes up for anything… anyway, see you all next chapter. Peace.

Preview: Our heroes are awakened and the beginning of this cross-dimension story will begin. Yuji, Kinji, Shana and Aria arrive in the mystical Kingdom of Tristain... And our evil Mastermind begins to put his plan into action... FOR REAL! So, Next Time in "Void of Scarlet Fire": Chapter Two – Early Morning Dimension Hopping... Stay tuned!

Shiro