After training with Yuko for another hour with no results, Tetsuya finally decided to take that shower he'd mentioned taking.

He sighed as he stared at the dry metallic shower head as he laid his hands on the knobs on each side. He slowly turned them, making sure to turn the cold one further than the other. Water soon struck his golden brown skin, cooling down each and every inch of it as his somewhat long hair stuck to his skin.

He asked himself what he could be missing? Why had he been unable to use every angel tool he'd come across. Takuya and Teresa managed to get theirs at a young age, as did Serrano. Even his ma had one, though he had never seen her use it, he knew she could use it. What was it that made him different from them?

Was it that his heart was too impure to utilize one? His older brother, had once told him that those with overly impure hearts were unable to use them. While those with tools but whose hearts had lost their purity ended up with demonic tools.

What dark thoughts do I have? I never have given them much thought. Perhaps it's my lack of knowledge on spiritual matters that's the issue. I'll need to talk to Takuya to figure out for sure; if anyone can help me, it's him. For now, I should enjoy this free time. I do have tests to study toward.

The young man closed his golden eyes and lowered his head, allowing the cold water to drown out his anxieties.

***

"Here's a pair of clothes," Serrano said as he held out a pile of clothes to his cousin. Tetsu smiled warmly and took the clothes from him.

"Thanks. Showed the princess the way back?" he asked as he opened the curtain fully.

The blue-haired young man turned away as Tetsuya walked out.

"Yes," he responded. "She said that she's heading toward the northern province for a special event. However, she did say that she will return in a few days to check up on you. As for Kuroshi, he left someone here to help us activate Agnes."

"You mean Yuko?" Tetsuya asked as he dried his long dark chocolate hair.

"Yes. She's a mysterious one. I am not sure what she is, but she appears to be a robot."

"Robot? So not that different from you, eh?" Tetsuya asked, grinning.

Serrano scoffed. "Me? I am no way like her! Plus, if I am then talk about the pot calling the kettle black! You can be rather absentminded at times as if you were a robot," A gasp escaped his lips. He raised his hands toward his chin and glanced down at the green floor. "Could it be..."

"What? What's wrong?"

Serrano shook his head and grabbed the door handle. "Nothing."

Nothing? That look in his eyes was really for nothing? Could it be that he figured something out but doesn't wish to tell me?

And what does he mean I'm absentminded? Hmm, perhaps I do get too absorbed with my thoughts at times but that doesn't make me... Ahh, why am I taking his joke so seriously? Hmm... maybe he was somewhat right...

Tetsuya sighed and changed into the clothes Serrano had brought him which consisted of worn-black jeans and a plain white shirt.

He picked up his torn clothes from a pile near the shower and headed on his way. He would have to ask his sister to fix them when he returned home.

Waiting for him, in the hallway with the multiple colorful doors, were Serrano and the strange girl Kuroshi had made him fight against.

She remained still, her eyes looking at nothing in particular, simply staring for the sake of it.

"Let's go get some rest," Tetsuya said, walking past his cousin and the girl.

"Mister is not going to give it another try today?" Yuko asked.

Tetsu glanced at his gold and silver bracelet. And softly chanted 'Agnes', not nothing appeared.

He took a deep breath.

"I want to, but what I should probably study for my upcoming midterm in Industrial Revolution II."

Serrano sighed and followed after him. "Right, forgot we have that tomorrow. We should invite Ximena to study with us."

Tetsuya turned. His lips were curled up in a wide grin. "You're using that as an excuse to see her, aren't you?"

The silver eyed young man averted his gaze from his cousin. "No. It's just that she's a really great teacher, unlike a certain someone who happens to dream of being one."

"Hey! I can teach! Maybe not history, that's Takuya's forte, but if it's literature then I can help you get an A+," Tetsu said with a chuckle.

"Ohh, really?" Serrano asked, grinning. "That's swell. I got a literature exam coming up soon too."

Tetsuya pumped his fists into the air. "You'll see that I can be a great teacher!"

"Literature?" the girl walking behind them said. She gave the boys a blank stare.

"Yeah, you know, works with enduring legacies."

She gave him a confused, yet otherwise empty stare. "Enduring legacies?"

The brunette scratched his head. Letting out a light chuckle, he said, "It seems that I got myself another student."

Serrano shot him a skeptical look. "Not sure if lumping me in with her is wise."

Tetsuya smiled and shrugged. "Who knows, maybe she will turn out more poetic than you. Which shouldn't be too hard of a task."

Serrano rolled his eyes as they came upon a flight of stairs. "Ha, ha, very funny."

Tetsuya smiled at Yuko as the three of them began descending the stairs. "Think you'll enjoy them."

"Those snooze-fest books?" Serrano asked, tilting his head. "Don't believe she will. Plus they are too complicated for a twelve year old."

"Yuko is sixteen," the girl said quietly as she turned her head away.

"What?" the two boys asked. Tetsu looked the girl up and down. Nothing about her screamed sixteen year old at all. She was far shorter than Rosa who was around her age.

She looked up ahead and continued to walk. "Yuko said she's Sixteen, not twelve."

"Seems you might've struck a nerve," Tetsuya whispered into Serrano's ear.

Serrano looked at Yuko's blank eyes and expressionless face. "Really think so? She neither looks, nor sounds mad."

Tetsuya scoffed. "Do you know anything about girls? Come on, this is called 'calm anger'. Teresa and mother use it from time to time."

The silver-eyed young man scoffed back and rolled his eyes. "Should I really be hearing this from a guy with no girlfriend?"

"And should I be hearing this from a guy too cowardly to confess to the girl he likes?" Tetsu raised an eyebrow and grinned as the blue haired youth remained silent. "Ha, thought so!"

Serrano sped up his pace and faded from view, but not before saying, "You know, there are times when you can be really annoying?"

Tetsu watched as his cousin went ahead of them.

Seems I made him mad...

"Mister?" Yuko said, not turning her head back to look at Tetsu.

"Hmm?"

"What's anger?"

Tetsuya frowned. Never had he met anyone who didn't have an understanding of anger, especially not one living in the kingdom of Kuroriku. After all, that emotion had a profound role in the nation's lore.

"You really have no idea what anger is?"

She moved her head left and right. "No. Yuko doesn't. Is it something bad?"

Tetsuya crossed his arms over his chest and walked down until he was walking next to her. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? How did a sixteen-year-old girl end up here?"

Yuko came to a stop. An eerie silence lingered between the two. Tetsuya waited for her to move her lips, but instead the girl continued down the steps.

The brunette turned away and let out a sigh. He probably shouldn't have asked that.

When he arrived at the ground floor he spotted his cousin waiting for him. He stood by the glass doors; his gaze on the sky. Hues of red, orange, and even some purple had started to replace the cerulean which Tetsu and Rosa had seen during their meeting.

"Time passes by quickly, huh?" Tetsuya asked, appearing behind his cousin.

Serrano nodded as his eyes reflected the warm colors of the sky. "Yeah. To think that we're about to graduate college in a few weeks. I can still recall the day we first met, we weren't even halfway done with elementary."

Tetsuya stretched his arms into the air. "Yeah, we were only a bunch of second grade brats clashing with sticks back then. Now we're trading fists and clashing metal against metal."

"Mostly fists, and a few shadows. Oh and rocks!" Serrano added, snickering.

***

[Fourteen Years Ago]

"Hya!" Serrano yelled at the top of his lungs. He raised the stick in his hands into the air and rushed at the golden-eyed kid in front of him with everything he had.

Tetsuya gracefully blocked using his own stick. "Come on Serrano. You got to hit faster and with more power. Papa left you Aventine, so you must become worthy of it."

"I'm trying," Serrano said, panting as he glanced at his cousin who didn't even seem to have broken a sweat. "How are you so strong, Tetsu?"

Tetsu put a hand on his hips and swung the stick over his shoulders. He grinned. "How you ask? I'm the son of Takeshi Kuroriku! I might not be the heir of Aventine, but I do carry papa's will. Mama said he was a powerful guy and the first person from this village to have become one of the Seven-Hill Knights, said to be the most talented in all the land!"

Serrano grinned as he stared at the earring in his right ear. "Really? So that means I'm one of those talented people in Kuroriku since I inherited it?"

The brown haired child narrowed his eyes and swung his stick forward, nearly hitting his cousin in the head. "I am not willing to acknowledge you as one just yet. You are far too green behind the ears!"

"Is that really the saying?" Serrano asked, wiping the sweat away from his forehead.

Tetsuya's face flushed. He averted his golden eyes. "I think so... " He turned around and puffed his cheeks. "Hmph, who cares? What matters is that you're too much of a noob!"

Serrano tightened the grip around his stick. A spark had returned to his silver eyes. "Noob?"

Tetsuya nodded. "Yes." He spun around and grinned. "Now, come at me with all you've got, cousin!"

Serrano smiled back. "Alright, ya asked for it!"

The future Agnes Knight grinned and blocked the attack once more. "Try harder!"

Aventine's knight let out a roar, pushing him back. "I won't give up!"

"Nor will I!"

***

['Present']

"To think that the tables are turned now," Serrano said, giving his cousin a smug grin.

Tetsuya narrowed his eyes. "That's only because I haven't been able to use an angel tool. As soon as I've mastered Agnes, I'll show you which one of us is truly the strongest!"

The blue haired youth slid his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans and reclined his head back a little. "I am looking forward to that day. I could use the challenge."

The Agnes Knight scoffed. "You've grown conceited!"

Serrano scoffed back. "Not really. I know the limits to my abilities. Plus I mean it when I say that I can use a challenge. The only people in this country who I know who are stronger than me are those belonging to uncle's generation of Seven-Hills, the crown princess, and his majesty." His eyes shifted toward what was in front of him. "I have even thought of leaving the country to search for strong opponents who are willing to engage in a friendly battle. Who knows, I might just discover people with hidden talents along the way. Others like Kohri, Rosa, and me."

Tetsu grinned. "You're that starved for a challenge, huh? Fine, I'll work hard to make up the lost ground. Once I have, let's have an epic battle!"

The blue-haired young man nodded in amusement. "I wouldn't have it any other way." The smile on his face faded. "Sadly you're what you once called me all those years back. What was that word you use? You used it to refer to yourself during Kuroshi's test... Oh, right, you're a noob!"

Tetsuya glared at his cousin who was grinning. "Don't call me that!"

"Hey, you used it in your analogy, not me."

He crossed his arms and averted his gaze. "Still..."

"Honestly, you two sound like children." The two boys stopped by King Orlin's statue and turned toward their right. Making her way toward them was Ximena.

"Xime," Serrano said, gulping.

Ximena waved. "Nice to see that you're free. I wished to speak to you earlier. Want to have a group study for tomorrow's exam?"

The knight's silver eyes twinkled. "Sure, I would love to!"

Tetsu snickered. "You sure answered within a heartbeat, Serra."

Serrano elbowed Tetsu in the gut but he didn't seem to be bothered at all, chuckling at his reaction.

Ximena turned to look at Yuko. "Who is this? A friend of Rosa's?"

"Sort of," Tetsu said, ruffling Yuko's light brown hair. "This little girl is Yuko. Though it turns out that she isn't all that little. Though I'm not sure if she's joking either."

The verdant haired girl tilted her head. "Hmm?"

"Never mind that," Serrano said, smiling. He was practically jumping with joy. "Where should we study?"

"You can study at my place," a voice called out. All of them turned toward the statue of King Orlin. Emerging from behind it was Eita who was snacking on some popcorn.

"Yours?" Serrano asked.

Eita smiled. "Yeah. I have plenty of room, especially since I lack a roommate."

"That's awfully nice of you," Ximena said, returning a smile.

Eita's face reddened. "Anything for you."

Ximena put her hands on her hips. "You're doing this for me, huh?"

"Yeah."

"We should go someplace else," Serrano said, walking on ahead.

Ximena nodded and turned away from Eita.

"Don't get me wrong," Eita shouted, running after them. He lowered his head and averted his gaze. "This is to apologize for my earlier behavior."

"Earlier?" Serrano said, glancing back. He eyed Ximena. "What happened?"

Ximena's lips curved up into a small grin. "Is that so?"

Eita nodded. "After thinking about it, I realized that I shouldn't have acted that way. Please forgive me for my actions!"

The verdant-haired girl walked over to him. He glanced up. Her slight smile had become a full grin.

"I forgive you. Like I said before, you're a nice kid. I do hope that you genuinely realized that grabbing a person's arm tightly and telling them to like you isn't the right thing to do. In fact, that'll do the opposite."

Eita nodded. "Yeah, I know that now..."

Serrano dashed over and got in between the two of them. He lifted Eita up by the collar of his shirt. "You did what?"

Eita let out a whimper as he looked into Serrano's usually calm eyes. They had become like a pair of silver tempests. "I... I let myself be taken by my emotions."

Serrano tightened his hold. "You think that's an excuse?"

"Hey, let him go! He realized what he did was wrong," Tetsuya said, taking a step forward. He had never seen Serrano like this before.

"Yeah," Ximena said, grabbing Serrano's arm. "Let go of him. He already apologized."

Serrano sighed and tossed the freshman into the asphalt. "Eita, you better promise that you learned your lesson. Ever try something like that on Ximena or any other girl and I won't let you off so easily, got it?"

Eita nodded as tears swelled in his eyes.

Ximena looked at the blue-haired senior in horror. "Why did you do that?"

"I hate guys who hurt women, especially those who do so despite claims to loving them. One who loves doesn't hurt that person."

Eita stayed down. His blue eyes were directed at the ground. "Sorry, Xi. I..."

Ximena spun around and smiled. "I already accepted your apology." She shot Serrano a glare. "If anyone should apologize, it's Serrano."

Serrano glanced down at his hands, they were trembling with rage. He stayed like that for awhile before finally looking back at Eita. "Perhaps I did go too far."

"That's not an apology," Ximena said, narrowing her eyes.

He bit his lip. "S...sorry."

"That doesn't sound very honest, you know!" Ximena said.

Eita pushed himself up from the ground. "It's fine. I can understand his feelings. I probably would've reacted the same way if I were him. So, about that group study?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Serrano said.

"We'll go," Ximena said, grinning.

"Me too," Tetsu said.

Serrano took deep breath.

"Fine, I'll go, but only to make sure you don't try anything funny," Serrano said, eyeing Eita with suspicion.

"Thank you for the invite, kid," Tetsuya said, patting Eita's shoulder.

Eita grumbled. "Don't call me kid, I'm eighteen!" His eyes flickered over to Yuko. "Say, who's the kid?"

"Yuko," the girl responded for herself this time.

"Yuko, huh? Interesting name." Eita grinned. "I'm Eita Kuroichi."

"Kuroichi?" Yuko said, showing hints of surprise in her face.

"You heard of us? Not surprised to be honest, we are a big deal over in the west and capital."

Yuko's earth-like eyes glanced at Tetsuya's bracelet and then looked forward. She didn't respond.

"What a strange girl," Eita said, tilting his head at her.

Tetsuya chuckled. "Yeah. Been meeting several of them today."

"Let's get going," Serrano said, waving at them. He pointed up at the flaming sky.

***

Eita escorted all of them to a tall building made up of almost all white marble. The only exception being the wall of the lobby facing the entrance. The doors themselves were glass with a door frame made up of black iron pillars with some golden supporting an arch of the same material. Clouds of umber iron with some golden leaf covered edges emanated out of the iron pillars.

Tetsuya and Ximena looked up in awe.

"This place is for real?" Ximena asked, mouth agape.

Tetsuya nodded. "Yeah, it looks like one of those high class hotels they show in the movies and television."

Eita glanced back. They had walked a considerable distance from the center of campus to one of the seven hills making up the boundary of the institution. "This is Aventine Dorm."

"Aventine?" Tetsuya said, looking over at his cousin.

"The seven outer buildings are named after the seven hill weapons," Serrano said in a matter of fact tone. He touched his earring and smiled. "Kind of nice to have a place named after my weapon."

"This dorm was actually built in honor of the previous owner," Eita said as he opened the door for the four of them.

"Previous owner?" Ximena said, gasping. "Then that would be..." Her gaze landed on Tetsuya.

Tetsuya lowered his golden eyes toward the arch-patterned, pale-as-bone pavement. Dad...

Eita tilted his head at them. "What's going on? Something bothering you? Don't tell me you folks know the former owner?"

Does he not know how Serrano got Aventine? No, I guess not. Makes sense that Serrano will try to keep that underwraps. The seven tools the group wield are powerful and are to go only to the hands of the talented. If it got out that a tool was received from a family member, it would cause suspicion of that person's true talents. Though the seven tools are the ones who ultimately choose their owners, just like the majority of angel tools.

Tetsuya walked into the dorm and stared at his bracelet. It shimmered softly in the dying sunlight pouring in from outside.

And just like them, it will reject you if it deems you unworthy.

"Tetsu," Serrano said, glancing back at his cousin. "You okay? If you're tired, lay down and get some rest."

"I got some refreshments and snacks at the dorm if you're feeling famished," Eita said, looking back at his upperclassman.

Tetsu smiled. "Thanks for the offer, I'll take you up on that one."

Serrano lowered his head. "You know, Eiichi and you might be siblings, but you're very different at the end of the day."

Eita fidgeted. "Yeah. Dad says that a lot too. I guess I took more after my old man than my brother who is more like Mother."

Serrano glanced up and smiled. "True, you are more like Eiji."

"Eiji?" Tetsuya asked, halting. "Isn't he one of the older Seven Hills?"

Eita grinned as they walked over to one of the elevators to the right of a semi-circle of coffee-colored sofas arranged around a red-oak table.

"Yeah! He's my old man. He can be a bit of a goofball, but he's a great fighter. I'll say he's the strongest of the Seven Hills, if it weren't for my mom of course. Now, that woman is plain scary..."

Serrano crossed his arms and furrowed his brows together. "Though there is that seventh one we've yet to meet."

Ximena tilted her head at him. "I thought you knew them all."

The blue-head rubbed his chin as Eita pressed a button on the panel. "I have met nearly all of them. The only one I haven't met is the wielder of Palantine."

"True, we've yet to even see her face," Eita said as they entered the elevator.

"How do you know it's a she if you've never seen her?" Ximena asked as she was the last one in.

"Because the ratio is the same as it was during my predecessor's time," Serrano said. "Three males to four females."

"I see," Tetsuya said.

Kind of would love to meet this seventh knight. Wonder if she's as strong as Father was. Well, she might be stronger if she's kept up with her training.

"The seventh hill," Yuko said, staring at the green linoleum floor.

"You've heard of them, but not literature? You really are an odd one," Tetsuya said, snickering.

Yuko looked up and gave him an empty look, causing Tetsu to step away.

There's that stare again. It's as if she has no soul... That isn't it, right? Her lacking a soul would mean she's an undead or a demon contractor. Or even a demon herself.

"Something the matter, mister?" Yuko asked, maintaining her poker face while doing so.

Tetsuya looked away. "No, not at all."

Yuko turned away and stepped out as soon as the elevator door opened.

Did I upset her again?

"Teach Yuko this literature thing," she said, keeping her back to him.

Tetsuya smiled. Maybe she isn't so emotionless after all. He ran up to her and patted her head. "You got it!" He stopped as he felt his hand press against what felt like fur, yet there was nothing there.

Yuko grumbled and stepped forward. Her face was red. There even seemed to be a shine in her eyes where there hadn't been one. "Yuko doesn't like that..." she whispered.

"Huh?" Tetsuya said, staring at his hand. "Uh, sorry."

Yeah, definitely not a robot.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :). What do you think about Yuko now that you've seen more of her?**