“Aahhaaa...come on, seriously. I’ll admit, I trust Mr. Sat...I mean Klein, but his little partner? I mean, are you just going to blindly trust someone like that?”

The argument had been going on for about an hour. Kai and Kokona had finally made it to Mai Hinata’s house for Himari’s birthday, although with everything that had happened, they’d forgotten the frame. Kai just gave the picture to her as it was. The argument, of course, was over Makoto. He didn’t understand why she seemed to bother Kokona so much. After all, they seemed to be a lot alike, but then again, maybe that was exactly the problem. 

“She said less than two words to you, so what was it, just her very presence that pissed you off?”

Kokona clenched her fist. At that moment she could have just tied him up or burned him with a snap of her fingers. Or maybe not doing any of that would actually scare Kai a little bit more. 

“Cassandra was in their ranks for at least a year before she was found out to be a traitor!” Kokona argued, clearly trying to make a point.

“Ha! So the whole reason you’re upset is because your brother was tricked?”

“Uuugghhgaa...” Kokona clenched her eyes shut. He thought for a split second he saw a tear in the corner of her eye, then she shoved past him and ran out of the house. Kai sighed, looking up to see Himari glaring at him with her arms crossed. 

“Really, I’m the bad guy? Uuuughhhnn,” he groaned as he moved to the couch with Himari sitting down next to him.

“You shouldn’t have said it. Maybe she’s wrong, and maybe she’s being petty, but it doesn’t matter in the end. That stuff about her brother and Cassandra—that was low.” Himari’s voice was stern, probably more so than it had ever been before, which made her words seem extremely important. 

“I didn’t mean to upset her, I just didn’t understand why she was going after Makoto. I’ll admit, she had the attitude of a poisonous snake, and a mouth to boot, but still...”

Himari crossed her arms and cast her gaze downward, closing her eyes. “I didn’t say you were wrong.”

“Huh?” 

Himari opened her eyes and looked at him. “From what you told me about Mr. Sa... Klein’s story, Akio trusted Cassandra completely before the betrayal. She just doesn’t want you to fall into the same trap. I don’t know if this Makoto person is anything like her—if Klein trusts her then probably not. Still, you shouldn’t just brush off her feelings like that.” 

Kai sighed as he pushed himself off the couch. “You’re right, I’ll go apologize.” 

Himari nodded. “I knew you’d see the light, but how are you going to apologize if you can’t find her?” 

“I actually have a pretty good idea of where she might be,” Kai said as he turned and left through the front door.

It was true, he hadn’t meant to upset her, and of course, Himari in all her infinite wisdom made him see the error of his ways. 

The air was surprisingly cool for the middle of spring, but the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, which was nice. He smiled as he stepped onto the lawn and looked up to see a pair of feet dangling off one of the highest branches of one of the tallest trees in the yard. Her back was turned toward him. He gave a small nod as he grabbed the lowest branch and pulled himself up, bouncing his foot off the trunk to propel himself. Sure, he could have used his parkour training to just jump the tree, but in this case he thought that a more careful approach was warranted. He soon noticed that he was just a branch below her. 

“If you’re going to hang there, at least say something. Don’t be a creeper. Or are you trying to get a peek up my skirt?” Kokona asked as she leaned back. 

“Err...ahh...no...I... Hey, wait a second! How did you know I was here?” he asked as he pushed himself up the rest of the way. 

“At least get over to where I can see you.” 

He sighed as he climbed up another branch, then to the branch right across from her. He gripped it, pulling himself up and letting his feet hang over as he looked at her. 

“Anyway...I’m sorry about what I said, it was out of line.” 

Kokona shrugged. “Whatever.” 

He sighed as he swung his feet a little. 

“Hey, how did you know I would be up here?” Kokona asked quietly. 

“Easy. Earth was the first element you ever mastered, wasn’t it? You always use it when you mess with me.” 

She nodded with a sort of melancholy smile on her face. “Yeah, Akio worked with me day after day until I finally mastered it. He was going to help me master them all...before he broke his promise.”

He nodded slowly. “It’s not just that, though. You like it up here, don’t you? In trees, I mean.”

Her melancholy smile faded. “Yeah, whenever I was upset, that’s what I’d do—escape into the yard and climb the biggest tree I could find. Finally I settled on one and used it. Turns out my brother did the same thing when he was my age, in that same tree actually.” 

Kai smiled. “Great minds think alike, I guess.” 

Kokona started to smile, too, but suddenly it faded again and she glanced downward. 

“I know it wasn’t fair, to judge Makoto like that. But still...”

Kai shook his head. “No, I was wrong—for all we know, she could just be a plant. Klein could have fallen right into her clutches.” 

Kokona rubbed her chin softly in thought. “Actually, after thinking about it for a while, I don’t think Klein would be that stupid. I mean, he seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of us the entire time. I don’t know, it just seems like there’s even more going on here, you know?”

Suddenly, as if on cue, Himari appeared below them. “Hey Kai, someone’s here and they’re pretty adamant about talking to you.” 

Kokona nodded. “You better go.” She smiled as Kai jumped off the branch and landed on the third one down, leaping to every third branch until finally he reached the bottom and landed on his feet. Himari led him back into the house where Makoto was waiting, arms crossed. 

“Figures you’d run off just when someone needs to talk to you,” she said in a mocking tone. 

“What are you doing here?” Kai asked in a rather frustrated tone of his own. “Don’t you realize all the drama that’s been caused?” 

Makoto put her hands on her hips and smirked, getting right in his face. “Ohh, hmm...well I need to talk to you, so either we talk here, or...I could drag you to a quiet restaurant. I know your little partner isn’t really fond of me. I wonder how that would make her feel?”

He hadn’t noticed it before but, Makoto was actually about as tall as he was. Unlike Kokona, she didn’t have to stand on her toes to get in his face.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kai responded in a rather bored tone. “You’re combative, not stupid.”

Makoto got out of his face and sighed. “You know, I can handle myself—I’m the one who subdued her after all.” At that moment, he wanted to tackle her into the wall. She was the one? Sure, Klein meant no harm, but the fact still pissed him off. 

Makoto heaved yet another sigh that broke him out of his thoughts. It was like all the fun she was having was just ripped away from her. “Anyway, like I said, I have something to tell you. Klein told you almost everything, but there’s one part of the story he didn’t quite tell you. First of all, the pact wasn’t made by Vlad, not exactly anyway. There was one other, one person who was even more powerful than he was. He was known as the Leviathan, and he, like Vlad, has a living relative. Before you panic, the Leviathan was not an enemy; he was Vlad’s best friend, and head of the Silver Fang guard. But there’s a different consequence at stake. In the end, the Leviathan sacrificed himself to try to save his best friend, and as you know, in circumstances like this, history tends to repeat...”

Kai’s patience was wearing thin. “Okay, but why are you trying to tell me this with such urgency?”

Makoto stomped her foot like a child trying to get a point across to a parent. “We found the Leviathan’s line too, Kai!” There was a brief pause that felt like decades. “It’s Himari...”