A fire burning in his heart, reflected in his eyes, he turned to Yuni and said, “Yuni, we’re leaving!”

Chapter Fourteen -

Yuni, who had been idling around intently listening to Joro's explanation was growing excited as well. If it was a hidden technique, perhaps she could learn it as well.

Kiso's words were exactly what she was hoping to hear and she quickly bounced a few times to reach Kiso's side. After she reached his side she grabbed his arm, locking it with her own as she tilted her head and looked up at his face shyly saying, "Yes master Kiso!"

Kiso's face couldn't help but turn a light shade of red as he felt a soft sensation on his arm, yet her words ruined the moment. She had been teasing him about their bet for several years now but it had been a while since she last did so. He had thought that she may have finally forgot.

Shaking his head, he complained, "Yuni..you still insist on teasing me about that?"

Yuni just giggled and pulled him forward to say their goodbyes to Joro and Jihu.

Joro had already rose to his feet and when they stepped up to him together. He bowed swiftly and reminded Kiso, "You must hurry young master." Joro glanced over and his daughter who was staring blankly at Sara. He quickly called out to her, "Jihu, aren't you going to pay your respects to Kiso?"

Her fathers words startled her as she quickly bowed her little head in embarrassment. She recovered quickly however and lifted the bottom corners of her pink sundress. Curtsying she spoke with a tender soft voice, "Jihu thanks big brother Kiso from the bottom of her heart."

After thanking Kiso, Jihu turned to Sara and couldn't help but ask, "Big sister Sara, are you going with them?" Her little eyes started to redden.

Sara had been silent up until now, as she was actually torn on this point. She wanted to go with Kiso as she truly wanted to repay him for saving her life, but Blackspark village needed her now more then ever!

Kiso sensed her troubles and he suggested, "Sara, your village desperately needs you right now, after Yuni and I settle things at Thunderblack castle, we might come back this way."

Of course Kiso knew they would likely begin an entirely different journey, but he wanted to give Sara some peace of mind.

Sara's heart clenched because she wasn't stupid, she had heard what Joro said. She knew Kiso and Yuni were likely going to recover the ancient map and continue into the mountains. If she ever saw them again, it would very likely be many years later. But Yuni had strong feelings towards Kiso, it would be likely just as painful to go with them.

Sara finally just smiled and said, "Don't worry Jihu, big sister intends to stay here with you!" Shifting her glance to Kiso she added, " I was hoping you wouldn't think badly of me for wanting to stay here. Thank you for everything.." She started to choke up slightly.

Kiso nodded and pulled Yuni's arm as he started to turn towards the direction of the path leading to Thunderblack castle.

Before he could take a single step though, Joro called his name, "Kiso! I forgot to tell you! Between here and Thunderblack castle, the Ichi clan has dispatched several death squads tasked with guarding the road, be careful!"

Kiso thanked Joro one last time before leaving with Yuni.

- - - - -

The path between Blackspark village and Thunderblack castle is a roughly twenty mile long dirt road that snakes through the Byuki Grasslands. The temperature is dropping swiftly as the day is fading, bringing a chilly breeze that dances along biting at Kiso and Yuni.

Kiso looked up at the sky, sighing to himself. He was rather dissatisfied with their progress but wished to be courteous to Yuni.

He materialized a blanket from his DS ring and wrapped it around Yuni's shoulders saying, "I suppose we should stop here for the night."

Yuni's face reddened a little as she pulled the blanket tighter.

Looking around, Kiso noticed a cozy flat piece of land near the road. He walked over and materialized several more blankets from his ring, creating a large 'bed'.

Yuni was used to this sleeping arrangement as she had insisted on it over and over despite Kiso's attempts to make himself a second bed. Instead, he would lay on the edge with his back facing Yuni. After all, he was a man, how else could he calm himself to get some actual sleep.

Lowering himself to his usual position, he softly called out to Yuni, who was standing on the opposite side, "Let's get to sleep right away, if we wake up early enough, we may be able to reach Thunderblack castle the day after tomorrow." After speaking he laid his head down on an extra blanket and shut his eyes.

Yuni, face growing a level higher of red, lowered herself to the bed as well to her usual position, but didn't stop there. She slowly inched her way over to lay directly behind Kiso's back as she whispered into Kiso's ear, "Kiso, is it okay if I sleep here tonight?"

Kiso's eyes had long since shot back open, remaining wide as his own face turned a deep shade of red. He quickly turned his body over to reply to Yuni, only to see her face less then two feet from his own.

The words that started to come out were choked back.

Yuni's eyes were full of grief and worry.

Kiso immediately realized what she was thinking about and sighed inwardly before pulling his hands up, grasping onto Yuni's. He gently consoled her, "Yuni, of course it's okay. Don't worry, we'll be fine and we'll definitely avenge your parents."

Yuni never doubted Kiso's words and they greatly settled her turbulent heart. When her heart settled however, it quickly grew even more so then before as she realized what position she was in.

Kiso noticed the change and quickly started to pull away before Yuni held him back.

She whispered again saying, "Kiso, I have to tell you something..."

Kiso's heart was blazing, he knew what she was going to say. He quickly cut her off, "Yuni, you don't have to finish, I know. Let's talk about this after we take care of the Ichi clan, okay?"

Yuni's face couldn't get any more red, her face was completely visible under the bright moonlight and Kiso truly thought that she couldn't be any more beautiful. Her silky hair was shining as it reflected the moonlight, sprawling across her forehead and neckline. Her dainty emerald eyes and small pert nose complemented her thin red lips in perfect harmony.

She could hear the tone in his voice and its particular lack of rejection. Her smile shone as bright as the moon and she replied clenching her eyes into two perfect crescent moons, "Okay!"

After that Kiso didn't move to reject her again, but certainly didn't get a great night's sleep as it was particularly difficult to calm himself down. He wasn't upset though, in fact he convinced himself that it was actually worth it, as he stared at Yuni's sleeping face half the night before finally falling asleep himself.

- - - - -

The next morning, the sun started to peak over the distant hills, filling the Byuki Grasslands with a warmth absent moments before. As the sun's rays of light finally reached Kiso's face, they pierced through his eyelids alerting his conscious of the new day.

He opened his eyes and his vision, blurry for a moment, cleared quickly to see a pair of emerald eyes filled with excitement staring back at him.

Yuni quickly announced, "Kiso, good morning! I want ask you a favor okay?"

Kiso's thoughts quickly gathered and he yawned while replying, "Okay, ask."

Yuni sat up and stretched her arms above her head saying, "Today, if we encounter any of the death squads Joro talked about, could you let me try fighting them as well? I think I'll need to get some experience in order to be of assistance later, don't you?"

Kiso was well aware of Yuni's strength and chuckled, "Right, you certainly have the power, but do you have the heart to take a life? Experience is indeed necessary."

Yuni's then lips scrunched together as she pouted cutely, "I've gathered the resolve long ago!" After saying that though, her expression grew extremely serious and added, "Ever since I heard of my parent's death..."

Kiso's teasing smile faded and he nodded, standing up to stretch. The two of them fixed their clothes and Kiso reabsorbed the blankets into his ring.

Yuni shook her head and smacked her two puffy cheeks, quick to recover, she giggled remembering the conversation from the night before. She finally knew her love might not be one-sided.

She happily skipped ahead several meters then turned and called out, "Hurry up Kiso, let's run!"

- - - - -

After running at a steady pace for several miles the scenery around them started to change.

Blood stained grass lay riddled with corpses. Some were charred black and some were crushed or impaled. The corpses were not fresh, some having deteriorated to the point of becoming vague images of their former selves.

Kiso and Yuni's faces became solemn.

The slaughter actually extended this far from Thunderblack castle.

The only silver lining Kiso could convince himself of, was that clearly, the battle had not been one-sided. In fact, there were far more corpses charred black. Unfortunately, the Ichi clan has outnumbered his own ten to one for hundreds of years.

It was sheer numbers alone that boosted an otherwise weak Ichi clan, into a mid-grade clan. The could combine their powers to perform greater, more powerful techniques.

Slowing their pace, Kiso and Yuni started ascending a slight hill.

When they reached the top of the hill, five black cloaked figures came into view, cutting across the battlefield on the other side.

When those figures noticed them, they quickly altered their direction, heading straight for Kiso and Yuni.

Yuni took a deep breath and stepped forward saying, "My turn."

Yuni's multi-colored lightning was actually a result of the fusion between her lightning nature and Koho's healing nature. Her lightning contained the ability to change the charge of the lightning between positive and negative.

She could use positively charged lightning to restore cells and negative to destroy them. They only drawback to her power was that in order for her to change the nature of a foreign cell, her own spiritual pressure must be higher.

However, while she isn't quite on Kiso's level, Yuni's own talent is exceptional and she cultivated alongside Kiso nonstop for four years. How could her spiritual pressure be low?

The five black cloaked figures approached, one of them stepped forward snapping at them, "This is no place for children, what are you doing here?!"

His face now visible, the black cloaked figure that spoke to them was in fact a woman!

Kiso was inwardly grateful Yuni would be the one handling this death squad.

The woman studied Yuni, then glanced at Kiso before a surprised expression quickly turned dark.

She sent a mental message back to her squad, "Look at the boy, isn't that Kiso Black? The appearance has aged from the painting we were shown, but it must be him!"

The other four quickly studied Kiso's face and nodded, lifting their arms to gather spiritual pressure.

Yuni realized they were exposed and gathered spiritual pressure of her own. She extended two fingers on one hand, four on the other.

Those two fingers pointed at the woman, who was slowly backing towards her squad mates as Yuni cried out in a shrill screech, "For papa!"

A dazzling multi-colored lightning shot at the Ichi death squad striking them before they could release their own spiritual pressure.

They faces were dumbstruck, they never would have thought that such a young girl would be so decisive as to actually strike first, and so violently no less.

Before they could regret their lack of speed, they all felt a searing pain devouring them from the outside. Screaming in terror, their skin seemingly melted before exposing the muscle beneath, which started to quickly deteriorate as well.

It was an extremely gruesome sight to behold.

Yuni's body shuddered as she fell to her knees, looking at the five now unrecognizable corpses. Their bodies seemingly half their previous size laid lifeless.

Kiso hadn't expected Yuni's special lightning to be so terrifying as he secretly decided never to piss her off.

Noticing her shuddering figure, he sighed and stepped up behind her, lowering himself to wrap his arm around her shoulder as he pulled her into his embrace.

Her gentle sobs soaked his robe as she tucked her head into his chest.

After several minutes, she choked back her tears and lifted her face to look at Kiso's.

"I'm okay now..." She rubbed her red eyes and stood up.

Kiso watched as she walked ahead slowly, passing the corpses with a single final shudder.

Catching up, Kiso consoled her, "Yuni, the first time is the worst, it gets better.."

Yuni's head tilted and she smiled saying, "That's what I hear!"

Kiso was startled by her quick recovery, then his mouth fell open as she was giggling at what she said.

He could only shake his head and laugh as well.

They happily restarted their journey, leaving the battlefield behind them, now almost halfway to Thunderblack castle.

To Be Continued!!