A/N: My dearest, darlingest, loyal readers - I am soo unbelievably sorry that I haven't updated this in a while. It’s been a harsh, long few weeks at school, and I have had absolutely NO TIME for doing what I like best - writing! So, unfortunately, this is my first (and probably will be my last) update for a while, seeing as I have so much work this week and next week, and then I'm into musical performances for a weekend, by which time I will be WAAAY too tired to do any of the writing that I usually would do. So, dudes and dudettes, I am so sorry.

But anyway, to make it up for you, I'm gonna get into the action, seeing as I've neglected you for so long (and you all know how much I love you!!!)

Okay, so here we go! Here's my next chapter! Enjoy!!!!

Much love-age (the whole -age this is going around my class atm. We're Year 11/10th Grade, we're 15/16 and yes. We're sad. )

xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx

Chapter Two - Meetings

Hiro looked around himself in amazement. He had never seen so many people like him in his life. And, although he had been scared after first entering, he was happy to be here, among people who really understood him. People who really could believe in him. People just like him. Arduino was obviously interested too, and he and his father were talking in long streams of Italian that Hiro could not understand for the life of him. But he didn't care. All that mattered was that he was here, enjoying himself and among people who truly had the ability to understand who he was.

There were stalls selling various objects, training gear, even objects for oversouls. Hiro saw a few batons that caught his eye, but looking down at the silver stick in his hand, he decided that he was best suited to the one that he had. He looked up at Gaku who smiled. He was obviously happy to see so many guardian ghosts. Not paying attention to anything around him, Hiro suddenly stopped and walked into Arduino's back. Wondering what had happened, Hiro strained himself to look up and over his best friend's shoulder. However, to no avail. He could see nothing as Ricardo was standing directly in front of him.

He smiled as he looked down at the two boys, the most genuine smile that they had ever seen from the man. They exchanged looks, wondering what he had planned for them, but they were unable to work out what pain they were about to be subjected to. However, there was no falseness in his smile, something that was quite unusual for him. "Boys, I think that its time that I let you go." They exchanged looks once more. "I have been training you both, together, for six months now, correct?" They nodded. "Arduino, you and Taihou are getting stronger by the day, and there is nothing I can do to speed up this process." He then looked over at Hiro, and his smile grew larger. "And as for you, Hiro and Gakuchou, I don't know how or why, but your Tsuyosa is soon going to surpass even mine, and there will be no more need for me to train you. Instead, it will be I who would need the training."

"Its time that you went off and found your own teams, allies, and people that you can fight with and against. In preparation for... let’s say, an interesting upcoming event." he said. And with that, Ricardo shoved them into the crowd, and they lost sight of the brown hair and strong shoulders.

Looking at each other, the two quickly moved themselves into an alleyway which was by the side of them. Glad that it had been there, they looked at each other, blue meeting brown, and they were confused. "What do we do now?" they both asked simultaneously, having no idea of what to do and when to do it. It was silent between them, as they tried to work out what they were supposed to do now. They had never been to the Shamanic District before, and had no idea where young people, such as themselves, were meant to go to meet others like them. It was all alien to them. They would have been lost forever, had Hiro not thought about sending one of their ghosts into the air to look around and see what they should be doing.

The boys watched, adrenaline high as Tai and Gaku floated upwards and into the air, both of them looking around. They watched as Gaku pointed at something up ahead, nudging Tai who had just come out of a brief trance. Coming down, Gaku reported that there was a sign for Young Shaman, which, in his opinion, they should follow for their own safety, and hopefully they would find people who would be able to help them in this 'upcoming event' that nobody had any clue about. Well, the boys didn't anyway. Sighing, and realising that this was probably their best bet; the boys followed their ghosts up into the air and towards the dome at the centre of the district.

---

"This has got to be the most boring day in the history of this district! No parties, nothing to do, nowhere to go..."

"Calm down! We'll find something to do... eventually..."

The blue and golden dome that lay at the centre of the district opened up an entire new world, somewhere completely different from the rest of the district. This was the place where the teenagers and children spent their time being with each other, letting loose, chilling out and being with who they wanted to and doing what they did best – socialising! There was always something to do here… although today was a different story.

Sebastian Jacobs was one of these teenagers complaining about the lack of entertainment. Aged fourteen, he was rather… unorthodox for a fourteen year old. His blond hair had been darkened with black streaks underneath, giving a general look of rebellion, rocking out and just being who he wanted to be. His eyes were piercing blue, like ice, and when he looked at you, you could almost feel the anger and coldness in his glare and the anger that had taken over his life. They were expressive, those eyes, however much he didn’t want to admit it.

His clothes were the darkest colours that they could be without being black. His dark jeans were complimented by dark converses and a baggy hooded top that could be anything from two to four sizes too big for him. His arms were covered in bracelets, and his blonde/black hair was almost falling into his eyes, and fell down to his shoulders. He was often called ‘emo’ in the streets, and nobody could understand that he wore dark colours and wore bracelets due to his power. The bracelets on his arms were nothing usual. They were black with patterns of silver, and if you looked closely enough, you could see the figure of millions and millions of birds all over his arms. These were the bracelets that enabled him to fly.

Sebastian was an American Shaman of flight. And this was a rare gift to have.

Next to him was another boy sitting down as he paced before him. Kai Applin, also fourteen, was almost the exact opposite of Sebastian. While Sebastian was a lot more rebellious and would rather do his own thing a million times over rather than obeying the words of people around him, Kai was somebody who you could trust to listen to you and do the job well. He was strong in his own way, and when his friends were insulted, or when somebody he loved was hurt, his true strength showed.

He was dressed very simply, a white t-shirt underneath a checked, blue, green and white shirt, with baggy jeans and converses. His hair was dark brown and short, the front spiked up with the back left to lie, making him look like he had just gotten out of bed seconds before. His eyes were almost golden in the light, complimenting his hair and the rest of his demeanour in a strange manner. His eyes were almost the identical colour of the keys that were around a loop on his jeans, something that he kept close to him at all times.

He was an English Shaman. And was a shaman who was interested in freedom, helping people, and setting them free. His oversoul was in the keys that forever were around his waist, and were the keys that had set him free long ago.

Hearing a shout from nearby, the two boys instantly stood side-by-side. They may have been very different, but they were able to work together in situations of trouble, which this, potentially, could be. They could be attacked at any moment. Instantly, they began their oversouls without a word and waited with baited breath, for the person to come forth.

When this person, or in this case, these people, did so, they instantly stepped back, not wanting to intimidate somebody who they could possibly make friends with! Seeing the figures of Hiro and Arduino crash through the doors, their oversouls dying as they landed, certainly freaked them out a little. Confused, Kai began to approach the two other people who had just entered the room.

Hiro looked up to see the figure of another boy staring down at him. “Uh… hi,” he said, rather nervously. It was often this way for Hiro. He had never been able to form more than a few words in front of people that he didn’t know very well, if at all.

“Hi.” Replied Kai. He was certainly a lot more friendly and easy to talk to. “That was some entrance you made back there.” Offering a hand, he pulled Hiro and then Arduino to their feet, watching them as they brushed themselves off. “Its nice to meet you fellow Shaman. I’m Kai Applin and this,” he gestured to a small spirit beside him, that appeared to be a winged sprite or fairy of some kind, “is my guardian ghost, Kagi.”

Arduino piped up after seeing the small spirit beside the person that they had just met. “Is that…”

“A freedom sprite? That would be it! Kagi has helped me out of many different situations to do with freedom. Rallies… detention…” Kai smiled. “Anyway, strangers, who are you and who are your guardian ghosts?”

Hiro decided to speak up, conquer his fear of speaking to new people. “My name is Toshiro Tachikawa, but I prefer Hiro. My guardian ghost is the ever-watchful Gakuchou, usually just shortened to Gaku. And this one over here is Arduino. He’s Italian and really… never shuts up. His guardian ghost is Tai.”

At that moment, Gaku appeared from, seemingly out of nowhere and spoke up. “Hey! How come you never talk about me properly? Like tell my story, explain how I died, and why I am working for a jerk like you!!” Hiro simply gave him a stern look and his anger, which had obviously been false, changed into a smile. “Ahh, I’m just kidding. It’s nice to meet you!” said the spirit, smiling.

Arduino smiled before speaking in a whisper. “So… Kai, who’s the guy behind you who hasn’t said a word?”

“You know, I can hear you?” he said, before walking forward and sweeping his blond hair out of his eyes and smiling genuinely at the new people before him. He held out a hand, the one that didn’t hold the oversoul with Hato inside. “My name’s Sebastian. I’m an American Shaman of flight and this is Hato,” a whit dove flew out of the bracelets that were on his wrists and the spiritual white wings behind him disappeared. “My guardian ghost. Maybe you’ve heard of me. Does the name White Wings ring a bell?”

“As in the youngest Shaman EVER to attempt to fight in a tournament?”

“That would be me.” He smiled as he said it. “Hato’s done good for me.”

Settling down, the four boys began the long and laborious process of getting to know each other. They had plenty to talk about, and it turned out that they actually went to the same school, with Sebastian and Kai about to start going there. They were getting to be quite close before they were interrupted by the appearance of a fifth person.

Into the room walked a girl, her hair long and flowing down her black, blacker than the night sky. Her clothes were black too, black shorts that came down to her knees, black trainers that were probably meant to be for skateboarding, a black t-shirt and a black hooded top around her waist. Across her chest was a strap attached to a cylinder that lay on her back and was filled with arrows that gleamed in the blue light. Attached to the cylinder was a bow, also black, just like the arrows.

Turning towards her, the four boys regarded her as she walked towards them and sat down in front of them. Her eyes were black too, giving her an outward appearance of being evil. Looking into those eyes, Sebastian began to shrink back into the shadows, but Kai stopped him, speaking out first. “What do you want, ‘Black Arrow’?”

Arduino and Hiro exchanged looks. There was obviously some kind of Shamanic rivalry here.

The girl looked over at them, before speaking. Her voice was melodic and heavily accented, but she was clearly understandable. “I would like to make an apology.” She said, looking particularly at Sebastian. “’White wings’, I have done you wrong. And I shouldn’t have done, I know that I shouldn’t, but there was nothing more for me to do. Because of this, I have been in hiding for the last two years, too afraid to use my powers for the good that I once did around the world. I was too afraid to become ‘The Black Arrow’ again.” she looked down, before looking up and looking at Kai. “Kai, I am sorry for wronging your closest friend, and I hope that I can be forgiven by you. And these two people you have found and given enough time to call friends. I…”

She stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Sebastian standing above her. “Welcome back to the gang Kiara.”

END

A/N: Well, this chapter took me five days to write, and I was writing around coursework deadlines, the beginnings of my Drama GCSE and more, so clearly its amazing that I was able to write this!

And I’m sorry if Kiara’s introduction seemed rushed, but I had to get her down so that I wouldn’t forget the introduction of her character. Because

hers could be considered really important for the running of this story. Anyway….

Thank you so much for reading, please leave me a review (something I like… love), and I hope to see you very soon with my next chapter!!

Love-age to the extreme!!

xXx X-Roosterrelli-X xXx