They were all gathered in front of the training grounds. Finally, it was the first day of their tournaments. The starting day of the long chain of trials that are waiting for them to overcome. Everyone looked fresh, passionate and determined. The sky was a clear crystal blue with a warm breeze passing through them. The previous day all of them were enjoying the Sky God Festival. Shu's performance with his archery went well and the rest of the day everyone spent the day feasting with the fellow civilians of the kingdom. Everyone could see the difference between Shu and Lui. Rather than fighting, both of them spent the whole day celebrating with each other and quite surprisingly they both acted like two normal human beings with each other.

Everyone was looking forward to this day, the start of their tournaments. Headmaster walked toward the boys, his eyes were emotionless and not a hint of warmth was hidden in his features. "The start of the tournaments will be marked today," He announced. His dark eyes inspecting each and everyone closely. "There would be four rounds for the games. Only eight teams would be chosen from the first round which means, more than half of the teams would be eliminated." Stifled gasps could be heard throughout the arena. All of them knew tournaments were going to be tough, but they didn't expect them to be totally brutal. " From the second two more groups would be eliminated and for the third round six pairs would be chosen. And the last two pairs standing will reach the finals which will be held in front of all of your parents, with the presence of the respective royalty from each kingdom. Also" He said, stopping right in front of the middle, "The last round is solo. You'll have to fight against your partner to become the winner. The last one standing would be the ultimate winner in the end"

Shu glanced at Lui who looked at him. "Don't think about the last" He muttered, shifting from leg to leg. "We'll get to the finals. That's our goal for now"

Shu nodded with a grateful smile. "Okay, let's do it"

Their material art teacher stepped to the front, ready to inform them about the first round. "The first round is held in the woods. Each of you would be given a different route and in the end of each route is a soldier from the Black Panther army"

Zac blinked, voicing the name again, "B-Black Panther?"

The martial arts teacher grinned, pleased by the shaken attitude of the other students. "You might've heard about them before."

Free crossed his arms with a grim expression, "The best undercover army in the world."

The teacher nodded, "Yes, if you defeat the person and reach the school ground before there are eight pairs you'll be in the second round. And of course the Black Panthers are not your only obstacle. There will be much more when you advance through the path. The natural phenomenon and wild animals are for you all to handle. Those will depend on your luck. Good luck"

The countdown began as everyone positioned themselves in front of their routes, ready to overcome whoever waiting for them at the end of the road. The Headmaster gave out the call as everyone walked into the forest, fear, passion, courage mixing inside everyone's hearts. This is the first test and the first step of many yet to come and all they wanted was to survive this and overcome the struggle to be the winner of the tournaments.

Lui and Shu walked along the small path filled with stones, rocks and various plants blocking their way. Both of them were awfully silent, listening to their surroundings, vigilant about all the dangers around them. A rustle of the trees, the creak of a broken branch was enough to make the males take a defensive position. At some point both of them wondered whether they were overdoing it. And Shu concluded they were overdoing it when Lui attacked a leaf which landed in front of them, carried away by the soft breeze. "Okay" Shu spoke, "Everything needs limits. Like what they hell are we doing again?"

Lui raised his brow, crossing his arms. "We are in the middle of a tournament dumbass"

Shu scowled, "Oh really? I thought we were chilling in the beach genius!"

Lui gave out an exasperated sigh. He didn't answer the other as he walked past him in silence looking around for any sense of danger. Shu didn't stop talking. He kept complaining about Lui giving too much attention and complained how he was overdoing it. "You have to chill Lui-" Shu was saying when the flamed haired male spun around, clamping his hand on his mouth he dragged the albino to take cover behind a gigantic rock. Shu struggled against his strong grasp, shooting a glare at the other. Lui brought a finger to his mouth, gesturing to be silent when they heard a sound of hooves hitting against the path, and the loud rustling of the trees echoed against the silent forest. Shu pushed away from Lui, and peered from the corner, curious about what might come out of it.

A loud grunt echoed through as a mighty beast came out from the bushes. It was gigantic in size with dark brown skin and two thick horns coming out from his nozzle. It's beady black eyes wandered around the forest with high vigilance. It didn't take a genius to recognize the animal, Lui thought. It was a wild boar, one of the rarest kinds for that. Obviously one of the biggest he had ever seen and for their luck it was pissed. Shu let out a surprised gasp beside him, drawing Lui's attention. "It's a wild boar" He whispered, "I've never seen one"

Lui raised his brow, it was obviously not the time to be awed by such silly things. "Don't go admiring it idiot. We have to fight it and get away"

"It's so beautiful up close" He muttered dreamily, peeking through the narrow gap between the rocks where they were hiding.

Lui sighed, "You are the first one to call a wild boar pretty. Don't go falling in love with animals now"

"I guess it's love" Shu shot back, narrowing his eyes at the other.

Lui snorted, rather loudly forgetting the danger. "The perfect match"

Shu suddenly inhaled sharply. His eyes grew wide in panic and fear. "It's coming this way"

Lui groaned standing up, "You gotta be kidding me" He muttered under his breath, charging at the mighty beast with a quick ice attack, trapping it in between a thick layer of ice. The boar grunted loudly, the sound echoing as birds flew away from the trees, scared from the sudden panic filling the area. As Lui guessed, the ice layer wasn't enough to hold it back. It struggled against the layer and broke away from it. Stumbling a few steps forward, the beast attacked, taking Lui by complete surprise. He was blown back from the force. Lui winced as he felt his back colliding with a tree, "Damn" He hissed, looking at the beast on top of him, pressing it's hard hooves against his shoulder blade. His violet eyes flew open with pain, the weight of the beast crushing him. Suddenly, the weight was lifted away from him. Lui turned his head and struggled to sit down to see Shu facing a beast. One of his hands lit up with fire, the other holding an axe. Lui narrowed his eyes, when did he get that fancy thing. Shu rounded the beast, his crimson eyes focused on it, looking for any weak spot to attack. Lui gingerly pushed himself up, his shoulder blade screaming in agony as he stretched his arm, focusing on the pain. After that, he snapped his attention back to the boar who was circling around Shu, ready to attack at any moment. The albino wasn't backing down from the fight, he was observing every tiny little detail, trying to make sense of the attacking pattern of the wild beast. Of course Lui knew, Kurenai is a genius at all sorts and that was his most powerful weapon.

Lui inches from behind, taking advantage of the distraction of the beast. Shu noticed him, but kept his mouth shut. Instantly recognizing the plan as he kept the beast occupied, launching small attacks through every opening. Lui wondered when their chemistry had become so close and understanding with each other, but sadly it was not the time for such questions because the beast grunted again, turning to Lui, sensing his presence. This time, the boy was more than ready to attack. He pressed his palm against the rough ground producing a thicker and stronger layer of ice. Trapping the beast he launched himself against it, his elbow attacking the space between his eyes. The beast grunted painfully, closing its beady eyes for a tiny second when Shu attacked, slashing with his mighty axe of Spriggan. There was a moment of hesitation in his step, wondering about killing the animal. But there was no going back. It was either them dying or killing the animal, Shu learned that they shouldn't sympathize each and every being the hard way.

Soon, they were out of the danger zone. Shu melted the thick layer of ice as the lifeless body of the beast fell into the ground. Lui winced, the adrenaline leaving his body only to be replaced with the painful burning sensation on his shoulder. Shu wiped off the blood from his axe, and pressed the ruby on it's handle. Lui watched, mesmerized, as the weapon shrunk into a ring, made with fine gold with an identical ruby on top of it. "How did you-"

Shu turned around, "My dad gave it to me" Shu answered his unasked question.

"Pretty fancy things you got up your sleeves" Lui mocked, moving his hand to his shoulder. Shu noticed the distress of the male standing in front of him. His eyebrows were knitted together, and his violet eyes flashed waves of pain. Even though Lui was trying hard to hide it from Shu, he noticed. There was something wrong with the white tyrant.

"Are you okay Lui?"

Lui gave him a bored look. "Fantastic"

"You hurt yourself, didn't you?" He asked, taking a step toward the other. Lui immediately recoiled in his step.

"Don't be a creep. Let's go, we have to get to the school ground as fast as we could"

Shu narrowed his eyes, "Don't lie to me," He said, stepping to Lui again. His eyes instantly resting upon Lui's tense shoulder. "Your shoulder" He concluded, moving his hand to touch the bruised skin. There was no much damage from the outside but from the way Lui's shoulder stiffened at his touch he concluded the damage inside was pretty bad. Probably a tissue is ripped off, he thought.

"It's fine, we have to move," Lui insisted. But there was no use to his word because Shu was not ready to back down and let him suffer through their journey. He gently pushed Lui to the ground, letting his back rest against a giant trunk of a tree. Lui just followed the albino's movement out of curiosity trying to figure out his actions. Shu crouched down in front of him and moved his clothes away a bit, exposing his wide shoulder blades. Shaped perfectly with muscles and strength. Shu felt a flash of envy, Lui was everything he could never be. "The hell are you doing?" The white tyrant asked, breaking Shu's train of thoughts. Shu ran his fingertips over the bruise, which was taking a purplish colour by now.

"We need to do something for this" He said, fussing around the belt on his waist, pulling out a white square shaped silk cloth.

Lui snorted in amusement. "What are you? A girl?"

Shu narrowed his eyes, "This certain thing is going to ease your pain. Try to be grateful idiot"

"What are you telling me to do? Worship that thing or something?"

Shu sighed, giving up on the arguing. It will only make them late, Shu thought carefully tying it over the bruise, making sure not to hurt the other in the process. As many of the medics back in Moeru said, Shu had a natural talent when it comes to medicine. He was keen about the patients and had a vast knowledge about many herbs. Many thought it was because of his illness and that was partly true. Shu never wanted to see anyone else suffer the way he does, because he knew life is hard and even harder with those defections driving your body.

Lui watched Shu wrapping the cloth around his shoulder: carefully and gracefully. That's when he realized how close they were. Shu's face was focused on his shoulder, his knee pressed against his torso lightly. Lui never had the intention to study his face up close but sitting inside the woods, with no one but the two of them, Lui found himself noticing the small almost unnoticed beauties of the other. Shu had double eyelids with long eyelashes, highlighting the crimson eyes underneath them. Lui had known, the first day he saw the boy that his crimson eyes are the most striking feature of his face. His face was pale, and the skin was smooth. Lui felt a sudden urge to touch and feel the softness, his fingertips tickled at the thought. There was a rosy colour on his cheeks embedded against the paleness of his skin, maybe out of exhaustion or the heat. His white hair, glinting in the shiny rays of the sun, was tied up into a ponytail, and the long bangs of the right side hiding the scar he saw the other day. Shu was beautiful, Lui noticed without even realizing that he had been staring for too long. It was not a striking handsomeness, rather a serene beauty. Almost an innocent and a pure beauty.

His thoughts were broken by a tiny spasm of pain on his right shoulder. Shu pushed away from him, with a one last tug at the white cloth. "Done" He said, standing up. Lui quickly averted his gaze realizing how observant and admiring he had been in the past few seconds. The amazing Lui Shirosagi can't admire a person that easily, especially if the certain person is a pure dork. Shu extended his arm, helping Lui up. Lui hesitantly took the hand and let himself be pulled up. "How're you feeling?"

"Better" He grumbled underneath his breath untangling their fingers.

Shu just nodded. The two set course toward their journey again. The albino kept glancing at Lui from the corner of his eyes making sure the other was okay. He didn't realize the exhaustion catching up with him, or the fatigue building inside his veins. He was just too focused on the other. "Quite that staring" Lui grumbled, shooting a look at the male.

Shu huffed, muttering something under his breath. They didn't face many harsh situations after that, it was mostly a silent walk, but alert. Black Panthers were known for their invincibility. They had the ability to blend into whatever the nature they are in. Shu caught an action from his peripheral vision. He turned swiftly on his heel, just to meet with the eerie stillness. He tilted his head thinking whether he had imagined it or not. He felt Lui tense beside him, his violet eyes running along the lining of the trees. They were not alone, there is someone else watching each and every action. "Come out, you coward. There's no use in hiding"

Shu didn't think that calling a soldier from the Black Panther is very wise of Lui but Lui had never been wise when it came to strategies so Shu kept his mouth shut. There was another rustle in the bushes as if someone was untangling themselves from the leaves and the branches and then a voice came from somewhere above. Shu's eyes darted around, the person was inside the bushes just a few minutes ago, but now the voice is coming from somewhere high up above. "There" Lui muttered, his eyes trained on a tree.

Shu looked up to see a man, probably in his early twenties sitting leisurely on one of the branches, looking down on them with a smirk. He was absentmindedly chewing onto a straw, his blue eyes piercing them. He spit away the straw and jumped down, landing perfectly on his soles. "Took your sweet time" He said, walking around them, inspecting the two males from heat to toe. Lui's fingertips nicked with frozen ice. The pure rush of adrenaline makes him forget the pain on his shoulder.

"Not going to waste any with you" Lui smirked, icing his hand the whole way to his forearm. And without giving the other the space to think, Lui attacked. Spikes of ice shot from his hands landing as a crystal rain on the man. He just grins at Lui and dodges them. The tiny particles of ice flew away past him, not even nicking him or hurting him the slightest.

"How rude" He sang, stepping gracefully, almost as if he's dancing. "I'm a man of courtesy" he said, grinning, charging at Lui. "Name's Natsu. Nice to meet you two" He pushed Lui back against the dirt, Shu took his chance of distraction and attacked Natsu from behind. But the male was vigilant, he caught the axe from his bare hand, not caring about the blood running down his hand from the deep cut in his palm.

"That's playing dirty," He said, tugging on the axe and swinging his other hand to grab Shu by the back of his neck. Shu moved his head at the last moment and jumped back releasing his axe. Lui attacked him. He iced the whole ground, trapping Natsu's feet. The blue eyed male smiled, shaking his head. He pressed the handle of the axe to the ice and broke the thick layer releasing him away in a nick of a second. The fight dragged along. Natsu was crazy strong and they were only losing stamina by fighting with him. Shu winced, biting back a yelp when the male grabbed his neck, slamming his against the rough patch of dirt. His axe had shrunk into his ring again. His fire was weak, the element weakly lit up his fingers only tickling the other male. Shu cursed at his weakness for the thousandth time when Lui attacked from the side, landing a successful blow to his shin making the male stumble back. He pulled Shu back to his feet and wrapped one of his arms around his waist.

"Hold on tight" He said, shooting ice at the ground making them go to a higher position where they can hide perfectly among the leaves of the trees. "Running away?" They heard Natsu saying as he looked around to spot the two of them. Lui carefully lowered them to a thick branch of a nearby tree where they were almost covered by the layer of green leaves. Shu pressed himself to the trunk, trying to find his balance. Lui groaned beside him, placing a hand on his aching shoulder, peering through the layer of leaves to get a fragment of the scenario of the other male. His mind was drawn back to both of them by Shu's shuffling. He fished something off from his pocket: a little vial consisting of a red liquid and without a doubt Lui recognized it, the familiar medicine Shu always popped into his mouth like some juice. He silently observed him gulping it down as if he's taking a shot. The red eyed male sapped his lips together wrinkling his brows pulling out a face of utter disgust at the taste. That weird face whenever he pulled off after a shot was gold for him.

"Quit staring" Shu whispered, looking through to see Natsu pacing around, alert of what might come through the forest surrounding him.

"Any ideas?" Lui asked, when it came to strategies Shu was their master mind. He watched the crimson eyes darting from left to right, calculating their position and finding all the possible ways to escape the route.

'There's only one path out of this place," Shu said, turning to Lui. "If we use our fusion technique here, it would be for our own disadvantage-" His voice was broken by Natsu who darted from tree to tree, looking for them, yelling insults to drive them out of their hiding place.

"Quick" Lui hissed, looking through the thick layer of green leaves.

"I'll be the decoy, you go and calculate the width of the path and recharge yourself to make a high ice wall trapping Natsu to this side. That's our only way"

Lui hesitated at first, but then agreed. "Fine, make sure you get to the other side on time"

"Count on me!" Shu quietly cheered, winking at him. Lui groaned as Shu turned around and jumped to the ground, landing on his feet pressing a palm against the dirt to keep his balance. Natsu turned around with a low whistle. His blue eyes fixed upon the albino.

"Where's your partner? Playing some kind of a role to be the decoy?"

Shu flinched, of course he knew, he thought. Black Panthers are outstanding spies who spied on his own kingdom during the war period, and the man standing in front of him was no less than a lieutenant. Shu identified this through his features. He was too bold to be a follower and his outrageous attacks and courageous personality suggested that he was a leader. "What is it for you? A plan is meant to be secretive if you had not known" Shu said, crossing his arms. Lui should probably be inching toward the path secretively, Shu thought. His only chance is to steal time for him doing anything he could.

Natsu clicked his tongue, his blue eyes darting around the whole forest, trying to trace at least a lock of light blue hair. Shu narrowed his eyes, "Who are you anyway?"

Natsu turned his attention back to the albino, "That's" He said, taking a step toward him with a sinister grin curling along his lips. "A secret" He tilted his head, "And saw him"

Shu blinked in confusion when he realized the words. Natsu charged towards Lui who had just landed near a bush just beside the path calculating the width to plan the massive ice wall he should build. Shu jumped into action and blocked Natsu, successfully cutting off his charge in the middle of his actions. The man stumbled back a few steps and balanced on his heel, shooting a dirty look at the red eyed male. "I'll finish you first then" He cracked his knuckles, "Be my frigging guest" He launched himself toward the albino with one arm outstretched, aiming straight for his neck.

Shu dodged to his left using his quick reflexes when a hand came from the same side. Shu was fast, but Natsu was faster at reading others' reflexes. Shu felt a hand closing on his forearm and another gripping the back of his neck with a suffocating tightness. He winced, feeling the fingers digging to his skin as a burning sensation spread through his cells. "Hurting yet? This is a martial technique I mastered from a person who came from Himalayas"

Shu narrowed his eyes, trying to keep his focus when Natsu twisted his arm and pressed it against his back, putting more pressure on his neck. Shu choked, but kept his focus. He channeled all his power to his right hand which was free from the grip and attacked. Orange mixed with red igniting the flames brighter than earlier. Natsu immediately released him and took a step back, realizing the danger of the new hot flames dancing along his fingertips. "Man" Natsu said, grinning. "Don't play with fire kid, you'll burn yourself one day" He let one of his hands fall to the sheath of his sword still hanging from his hip. "Let's play" He said, unsheathing it as the iron glinted against the rays of the sun, blinding him for a moment of time. 

Shu pressed his own ruby ring which evolved into his axe in a matter of seconds. Natsu charged at him, with his sword directed toward him. Shu dodged blocking the attack with his own axe. Natsu's stamina was incredible, Shu thought panting. Lui had to be quick or else he would be defeated. Shu looked over his shoulder seeing Lui turning back to him. Their eyes met for a second and that was it. Both of them knew the plan. Shu didn't know when they became this much closer to read each other with only eyes and he certainly did not have the time to think about that right there because Natsu almost drove the sword through his shin. He dodged at the last second but he wasn't fast enough that the smooth and sharp metal scraped his skin. "Shu now!" Lui yelled, jumping toward the path.

Shu whirled on his heel and sprinted toward the path, Natsu trailing behind him close enough. Shu stopped dead on his heel and turned around, surprising Natsu. Shu sent a burst of fire toward his direction making the other jump back for protection. Using the moment, Shu slipped through the narrow path. Lui pressed both of his palms on the ground ignoring the burning sensation on his shoulder. Soon, in front of their eyes a massive ice wall was built completely cutting off the world of the other side from theirs. They heard Natsu cursing loudly as he looked around for some opening, but the calculation was on to the spot and the whole area was covered with the mighty ice wall. Lui winced, turning back. "We have to go"

Shu looked at him. "Your hand... how's it?"

"Fine" The flame haired male grumbled, taking a step forward immediately to stumble a few steps, a dizzy feeling taking over his head.

"L-Lui" Shu stuttered, catching him by the forearm. Lui swept his hand away sharply, heaving a breath.

"I said I'm fine"

Shu narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He knew that there would be no use of telling Lui to wait and rest. Out of everyone, he knew about Lui's stubbornness the most. They heard a small crack behind them snapping their attention toward the massive ice wall. As they suspected, Natsu was striking it and in no time he would be back at their tail again. "Let's go" Lui hissed through his gritted teeth. Shu hummed, quickly following Lui along the path. Fortunately for them, they had no other problems walking along the narrow path out of the forest. Shu stole occasional glances at Lui. If he was hurting he didn't show any sign at all. He hid all the pain behind that stony expression. If it's not for the slight tremble in his hand, even Shu would've felt that Lui was completely fine.

The thickness of the trees, the loudness of the chirping of birds started to fade away gradually. The faint chatter of their friends caught their ears as the duo stepped out from the woods to be met with afternoon sunlight casting it's rays basking them with a healthy light of gold. Shu heard Lui muttering a curse under his breath looking at the seven groups standing in the school grounds, talking casually and falling silent upon their arrival. Apparently they are the eighth group, which means the last to get there. A loud whistle blew through the arena announcing the end of the first round. Their martial arts teacher cleared his throat, speaking in a low voice. "The first round ends now, the rest are eliminated."

Shu looked around. They seemed to have taken the biggest blow among all of them. Xander and Ruway barely had any scratches on them while Free also looked just fine, but Valt had a bandage wrapped around his head and he realized the slight paleness of the boy. Zac and Orochi did not have any significant injuries but they had scratches all over the body. "Whoa" Honcho stated, "You two okay?" He asked, a concerned expression lacing his features. He had a gash across his cheek and one across his forearm. Except for it, Honcho looked fine as the rest.

"If someone else ask me that again" Lui hissed, "There's gonna be a murder happening right here"

Shu narrowed his eyes, Lui was growing paler and he was sure an injured arm can't be the cause for all these pain he's experiencing at the moment. "You two took your sweet little time out there" Sisco grumbled, snorting. Gou just stayed quiet, his eyes tracing on Lui's hands. That's when Shu spotted the ice covering his fingers, sneaking through his skin.

"Lui stop that!" Shu yelped, "You'll hurt yourself"

Lui grunted, stumbling sideways. "Keep quiet for a goddamn second"

Shu bit his bottom lip, about to protest when the Headmaster walked to them. His dark eyes trailing on Lui's trembling figure. There seems to be a certain knowledge passing inside his eyes, almost as if he knew what's wrong with Lui. "Take him to the medical wing. Mitsuba knows what to do"

Lui huffed, glaring at the man but did not make any protest. He had started to give up for the pain blinding him, burning his veins. His shoulder blade was throbbing and he could feel the blood rushing through his ears. The faint dizziness gave him a feeling of nausea and Lui understood it was not the time to protest and ignore all the help. He looked at Gou when he reached the boy, guiding his hand to wrap around his shoulder aiding him to reach the hospital wing. "Not you Shu '' He heard the headmaster say. Lui looked over his shoulder to see the other standing a few paces away, looking painfully pale with sweat running down his face. Shu had reached his limit.

"I need to make sure he's okay!" The albino cried out.

Lui gave a sloppy grin. "Look at yourself from a mirror idiot. Go and rest, I'll be just fine"

Shu opened his mouth as if he's about to speak but pressed his lips again deciding against it. "O-Okay..."

"Let's go, Shu," Valt said, leading Shu to their chambers while Lui left for the hospital wing. They had only completed the first phase of the tournaments, and things were not looking good to either of them.