Chapter Four
"I can't believe we are drinking with them..." mumbled the dagger girl.
"Don't worry about it," said the katana girl, "Lighten up."

A hand stretched out towards them.

"My name is Khoa," greeted Khoa as he stretched out his hand and smiled.

The two girls glared at him a bit, but the girl with the katana took his hand.

"My name is Leita, and this is my sister Kagome," said the katana girl. The dagger girl just glared at Khoa, Khoa understood because he stole a kiss from her. "Eh heh... this is awkward..." muttered Khoa.

Khoa led Kagome and Leita back to Kio and Sign.

"Wow your an elf arn't you?" said Leita looking at Sign's ears.
"Not actually... I'm a..," said Sign but Khoa dived and shut her mouth.
"Ehehe yeah, but she was raised by humans!" said Khoa nervously.

"They must not know what we are!" growled Khoa quietly to Sign.
"Why not!?" responded Sign.
"Because... were different..." said Khoa.
Sign frowned at Khoa, but she got the message.

"And your a...." said Kio looking at Leita.
"I'm human of course," said Leita, "And my sister is neko-folk"
"Neko-folk?" repeated Khoa.
"Kitty-folk... people with feline features and traits" explained Sign. "Don't worry about Khoa, he doesn't know japanese"

Khoa looked at Kagome's figure, and noticed the tail and the ears, but soon a fist slammed against face.

"WHY THE HELL YOU PUNCH ME!?" growled Khoa angrily at Leita.
"You were looking at my sister naughtly!" growled Leita back.
"I wasn't looking at.... ARG!" growled Khoa, he decided to end the argument their. "I'm so misunderstood... first girly-man then pervert... what a day"

Night soon came and a fire roared in the center, with everyone sitting around it. After a couple of drinks, Kio, Sign and Leita were getting a little loud.

"Hey hey look at this..." whispered Sign to Kio and Leita.

She drew a penis with beer on the ground. The 3 of them roared in laughter. "HOLY SHIT ITS A DICK!" laughed Leita out loud.

"Oh yeah? Well look at this.." muttered Kio. He drew a butt on the ground.
"OH MY GAWD ITS AN ASS!" yelled Sign.

The three of them began to laugh even louder.

An hour later, Kio, Sign and Leita laid passed out on the ground, but Khoa and Kagome still sat, and drinking, and Kagome finally spoke.

"So, you make out with teh people you fight?" she asked Khoa bitterly.
"Wha? Tha was just that-that one time..." replied Khoa.
"You think if you robbed an easy kiss I would sleep wit ya?" said Kagome bitterly, her voice sounding more angry.
"Wha?! I woulda got killed if I didn't!" yelled Khoa at her.
"WELL YA COULDA THOUGHT OF ANOTHER WAY TA STOP ME!" she yelled back.
"WELL IM SOOOO SORRY IF I DIDN'T WANTA BASH YOUR FACE INTO THE TREE!!!" yelled Khoa.
"BASHING MY FACE INTO THE TREE WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST FINE THANK YOU!" she yelled back.

Khoa slammed his hand on the ground, and the two of them glared at each other for a moment, pure hatred between them, but Khoa let go.

"I'm sorry... it...it was wrong of me..."said Khoa softly.

"It an't fair... why doz these thinks happen.. it an't fair... i finally meet a strong girl I like... an' I screw it up..." muttered Khoa to himself. "I'm... going foh a walk..."

Khoa got up, and took several steps, and passed out.

Chapter Three
So you're the one that assigned the mission?" asked Khoa he stared in awe. Dryad nodded, "Children Of Grey, I request you take my mission, if you are successful you will be rewarded" said Dryad.

"So... ish she like special?" asked Sign.

"She is the converter of Earth Mana" said Khoa, "You do know about mana right?"
"Nope," said Sign
"Urg, how the hell do you cast your spells.." growled Khoa, "Anyways....

Mana, is the life force of this world. Without it, plants won't grow, and living things die. It flows through every living being, but the source of Mana is in the center of the world, and it branches out. There are 4 converter beings. They convert the mana into the 4 main elements that the world uses, because neutral mana is useless. Ifreet of Fire, Seraphrim of Wind, Undine of Water, and Dryad of Earth, they convert the mana from the core into a power we all use, even in spells. Even more phenominal, is this the fact everyone is born with an affinity."

"Affinity?" repeated Sign.
"Yes, everyone has an affinity," said Khoa glaring at her blank face. "Or an element. Everyones affinity determines their strengths, weaknesses, and spells they can use. But not all of it is perfect, for example, you Sign has a water affinity, which means you have strong magical skills, but you are supposed to have weak physical skills, but you don't instead you have poor speed,"

"Water affinity? SHE SHOT A FLAMING PIKE AT ME!" growled Leita loudly.

"Just because she has water affinity, doesn't mean she can't cast fire spells, it just means her fire spells would be weaker then someone with a fire affinity." explained Khoa.

"Well fire pike is the only fire spell I know, and since you guys lived in a forest. I assumed you were earth-type, so you know fire beats earth kinda thing," said Sign grinning and scratching her head.

"What? I thought you didn't know about mana?" growled Khoa bitterly.
"I did, but you didn't ask," said Sign
"I did ask, but you... arrggg forget it..." sighed Khoa slumping down.

"Stay here for the night," said Dryad, "I will have an explanation ready by then," She turned and left.

"SIGN-CHAN!" howled a voice

He noticed a quick figure dove and collided with Sign, with tremendous impact. Khoa turned around and saw Kio giving Sign a glomp, but Sign as on the ground, in a crater, and was unconcious.

"Gomenasai! Wake up Sign," pleaded Kio

--Moments Later--

Kio, Khoa, and Sign sat in circle.

"Ahh seeing you guys go off, reminds me of my adventuring days!" said Kio as he smiled. "But I'm an old fart now..."
"You're 19," said Sign looking at him.
"But in wolf years!" called Kio. "I am... 19, wow I am pretty damn young, how about I tag along with you guys? I brought booze"

Khoa noticed his tail, it was a bit shaggy. "You have a wolf-tail..."
"Wolf, dog, we are cousins," said Kio shrugging.

Kio began taking out 6 cases of beer, and 4 bottles of wine.
"Whoa Kio how did you fit all of that in your tiny ruck sack?" asked Khoa.
"Its a secret" said Kio grinning.

Khoa turned and noticed the 2 girls him and Sign were just fighting. He sighed and stood up and walked to them. "Better making friends then enemies..."

Chapter Two
Khoa and Sign entered the forest; they walked side by side and glanced
around. Nothing but trees and some wildlife but nothing threatening.

They continued to walk, it felt like several hours. They reached a
large circular clearing, and were sunlight actually touched the ground.

"You will not walk any further," spoke a voice.
"Your trip ends now," said another.

Khoa and Sign looked around in confusion, suddenly a swirl of leaves
came and spun around in the center of the clearing and 2 girls appeared. One had golden orange hair, and was tied into 2 buns with, while the other had short hair that spread outwards and had cat ears protruding from the top of her head.

"As guardians of this forest," said the one with orange hair.
"We shall not let you pass," said the other.

Both of them had a large cloak over them, they removed the cloak, and the one with orange hair had a katana, while the other had two daggers.

"Heh, so what if we do?" asked Sign in a confident manner.
"We will terminate you…" said the one with the daggers.
"Interesting, aren’t you sure it won’t be the other way around?"responded Sign grinning.
"Khoa?" asked Sign as she looked at him.
"I’m only fighting if it’s the only way," said Khoa calmly. "But I guess it’s the only way,"
Khoa took out a hair clip, and put clipped all his bangs to the left
side. "Heh getting serious Khoa-tan?" said Sign as she went into her ready position. "Naturally," said Khoa as he took out his rapier.

"Hope you two girls are ready for the afterlife," said the one with the katana.
"I’m a guy!" yelled Khoa bitterly.
"Well you are wearing a big tunic," said Sign, "Remember think girly-man"
"Gah! Whatever lets get this over with!" growled Khoa bitterly.

Khoa charged forward, with Sign at the rear. They split and Khoa went
after the girl with the daggers. He thrusted several times, and the girl parried his strikes. The girl lunged forward and slashed with her blades, but Khoa stepped back and dodged with ease.

Sign unsheathed her sword and jumped and lunged at her opponent. The
girl with the katana jumped back as Sign’s sword hit ground cause a small crater. The girl lunged forward and Sign jumped backwards. Suddenly 3 cuts appeared on Sign’s face. "Eh?" said Sign in confusion as she felt the blood. "She didn’t even unsheathe or katana yet" "Heh, its my Swallow Edge technique," said the girl, "I gain speed and power from the act of unsheathing, by the time you get close enough, I would have cut you down 3 times." Sign’s eyes narrowed and she glared at her. She jumped further away gaining more distance between her. "Hell Pike!" growled Sign as she put 2 fingers on her forehead and began to chant an incantation. "Oh shit a spell," growled the girl and she ran forward but it was too late. Sign launched a large spear made of flames at her target. The katana girl barely dodged it as she jumped to the left and it burnt her back a little.

Khoa and his opponent exchanged blows, but neither one of them hit each other yet. Khoa and the dagger girl charged and clashed again. They were in a lock, Khoa’s rapier held the girl’s left dagger, while his left hand held her right hand.

"Not bad for a girly-man…" panted the dagger girl.
"Not bad for hotty…" panted Khoa.

The girl closed he eyes, and began muttering very quickly. "Release!" she yelled and a root came tearing out of the ground. Khoa’s eyes widened in surprise as he jumped back, as the root skinned his leg and tore his pants and clothes. "Pretty smart," grunted Khoa as he held is leg, small amounts of blood dripped from his new wound. "Danse Rapide " yelled Khoa as he moved and began to do a spin like dance. Many lightning fast strikes came at the dagger girl, but her cat-like senses allowed her to dodge with ease. The dagger girl leaned back and the rapier passed over her, she kicked Khoa in the stomach, after kick his rapier out of his hands. Khoa flew back and slid against the ground. He stood up again, with his opponent grinning at him.

Sign landed on the ground and smirked at the wound she inflicted on the
katana girl. "That was hot," said Sign, as she prepared another spell, she muttered the incantation, but didn’t cast it. Then the katana girl smirked as well, "Heh, I can fight at a distance too," she said as she unsheathed her katana. She did a mighty swing, and a flurry of leaves came at Sign and hit her. Sign grunted from the blow as several cuts appeared on her arms and legs. She swung many times sending a barrage of leaves. Sign braced for impact, and she took even more damage. Sign then ran forward at a full speed. "Baka," said the katana girl as she went into Shallow Edge Technique, and prepared to cut Sign down. Suddenly Sign had a burst of speed leaving a trail of fire behind her. "Nani?" growled the katana girl in surprise, she tightened her grip on her katana, and unsheathed.

Khoa scanned the around, he was weaponless. "Still gonna talk big without your poking stick?" said the dagger girl smirking. Khoa glared at her for a moment, he closed his eyes, then opened them again grinning. The dagger girl looked at him angrily, and was wondering why he was so confident when he had the disadvantage. "Lets see you smile now!" growled the dagger girl as she charged at Khoa. Khoa ran at her as well, the dagger girl struck with her left dagger, but Khoa grabbed her wrist, she swung with her right dagger, but Khoa grabbed her other wrist as well. Khoa then pushed her and shoved her against a tree, and held her legs down with his legs. "Are you sure you will not let us pass, I don’t want to cause an injury to such a fine lady," said Khoa kindly. The dagger girl blushed heavily as she noticed Khoa’s face got close. "I-I-ITS NOT OVER YET!" yelled the dagger girl, she began to mutter an incantation. "Not so fast!" growled Khoa as he leaned forward and kissed her, stopping her spell. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she loosened her grip slightly on her daggers. Khoa then broke the kiss and knocked one dagger away, took one dagger and held it against her. "Now will you let us pass?" asked Khoa. "Wait….I wasn’t…" said the dagger girl half dazed.

"Eh?" said the katana girl in surprise. She sheathed her sword, but then Sign was so close her right arm hit Sign’s waist. "How did you?"

Sign immediately punched the katana girl in the face and she flew near the dagger girl who Khoa is holding in submission. Sign looked down and pointed her sword at her.

"Fine kill us then," said the katana girl.
"You have won, we die without regrets," said the dagger girl, her face was a rather red.

"I’m glad," said Khoa, he put down the dagger, threw it aside, and walked over and picked up his rapier. Sign sheathed her sword, and walked over to Khoa.

"Like what Khoa-tan says, we are fighters not murders, we only kill if our lives are in danger" said Sign, as she took out some cloth and
cleaned her arms and legs. She handed it to Khoa, and he cleaned his
leg. They turned and headed on their way.

"Khoa! you little perv, I saw you kiss her," sneered Sign as she grinned mischievously. "So this whole time all you wanted was some booty"
"Shut up! It was life or death!" growled Khoa defensively, his face
began to redden.
"How does she taste like?" asked Sign. "Did you use your tongue?"
"Sign shut up," responded Khoa.
"Oh come on Khoa-tan! You must admit she was hot," said Sign, "Heck a kiss in a middle of a battle is also hot"
"I’m not listening!" said Khoa as he began to walk faster.

"Hold on! It’s not over until one of us falls!" growled the katana girl. Sign and Khoa turned around. "We will fight this to the end!" growled the dagger girl, she wiped her lips, and picked up her daggers.

Khoa’s eyes narrowed he gritted his teeth with anger; Sign looked at him and frowned. "His memory of her still wrenches his heart," thought Sign.

"Now now, that’s enough," said a serene voice, it echoed through the forest.

A small bud popped between the two teams, and it quickly grew into a humongous flower. In the center was a beautiful woman, she wore an emerald green flower gown, and had 2 flowers on her head.

"Mother! Allow us to purge this forest from outsiders!" growled the katana girl.

"Enough children, I have been expecting them" said the woman, "Come, you two are wounded, rest easy now they have passed the test,"

"Test?" said Khoa and Sign in confusion. The 2 girls jumped beside their mother and sat down. "Welcome Khoa, and Sign, I am Dryad of the Earth,"

Khoa’s eyes widened, "She's one of the 4 elements," said Khoa in awe.

"Is this lady special or something?" asked Sign as she scratched her head.

(Ugh.....I can't feel my fingers.)

Chapter One
"Sign you bastard!"
"Nya ha ha ha ha!"
"Share dammit! I paid for the damn food!"

A girl with purple hair that spiked downwards and ran around the Dancing Momo Tavern with a sushi tray in her hands, her long black scarf whipped in the air hitting her friend in the face. A guy with blue hair, that wore rectangular glasses, chased the girl. The taven was fortunately empty.

"Sign, asked for it," growled the guy with blue hair.
"Uh-oh Khoa-tan is angwy!" teased Sign.

A gust of wind came blew Sign off her feet, the tray of sushi twirled into the air, and sushi scattered in many directions. Khoa's and Sign's eyes narrowed, as in silence they challenged each other.

Khoa dashed to the left, while Sign dashed to the right. Khoa withdrew is rapier and pierced 5 pieces of Sushi, while Sign dove and knocked over a cup of water. She focused and suddenly, the water that she knocked over began to move on its own, and became a solid plate of ice. She used it and caught 3 pieces.

Khoa smirked at Sign and began to eat while she glared bitterly. A guy popped from behind the counter, he wore an open red karate gi, with matching red pants. The guy was really muscular and had a 6 pack.

"Showing off your sexy body Kio-kun?" sneered Sign.
"If it wasn't for you too, my t-shirt beneath wouldn't have gotten dirty!" growled Kio. "But you must admit, my body is pretty se..."
"Whats with the wierd hat?" asked Khoa pointing to Kio's hat.

Kio wore a cap that had a hamster -like face on it. When Kio grinned, it grinned as well.

Khoa's eyes widened, "WOW a magic cap that copies your facial expressions!" said Khoa in surprise.

"Uh... yeah magic cap...," said Kio muttering alittle. He looked to the left and saw Sign rummaging through the wine.
"GAH SIGN GET OUT OF THERE!?" growled Kio as he dived after her.

After a bit of a ruckus behind the counter, Sign popped up, and so did Kio. Both of them held a bottle of wine in their hands, and their faces were rather red.

"Lezz PAAHHHHTAYY!" howled Sign as she and Kio dived at Khoa and began in strip him.

"Oh shit? my head..." grumbled Khoa as sunlight pierced his eyes. He slowly opened them, and got up. He stretched and yawned, "My head hurts, and it an?t from the alcohol"

Khoa looked around the room and saw Sign half naked reading the newspaper, she was sitting on a chair with her legs crossed. All she was wearing was her black scarf and a long t-shirt that passed her waist. "Oh for chris-sakes Sign put some panties on!" said Khoa rolling his eyes. Sign stood up and examined the mirror, "Khoa-tan am I getting fat?" asked Sign. "Pfft, we do enough running around, should have nicely sculpted body by now" said Khoa as he stood up and did a little stretch. He looked down and his eyes widened.

"WTF, WHY THE HELL I AM WEARING A BRA?" yelled Khoa angrily.
"Well you were pretty damn drunk, yeah remember the time when Kio thought it would be funny to stick a wine bottle up your...." started Sign, but she stopped as she noticed Khoa's forehead was twitching.

Khoa and Sign changed into their normal attire; Khoa wore his usual white tunic, with a black light mail over it, with a black cloak strapped on his shoulders. He placed his rectangular glasses back on his face, and put on his belt with his rapier. Sign wore a black sweater, with only 1 sleeve; the right sleeve was cut off. She also wore black traveling pants, and she wore medium plate armor. She strapped on her broadsword, and was off.

"Morning Kio," said Khoa as he waved.
"Morning Kio-kun!" said Sign as she tromped over to him and gave him a light glomp.
"Where you guys going?" asked Kio, as he cleaned a cup.
"Off to another mission," said Khoa. "We need the money,"
"Cause we are?," said Sign dramatically as she struck a pose. "The Neo Hunters!"

Sign was the only one who struck a pose; Kio and Khoa looked at her in confusion. "C?mon Khoa, you gotta pose too," said Sign as she frowned at him, standing normally again, "We are a team!"
"Ummm?no," said Khoa and walked out of Kio?s tavern, the Dancing Momo.
"Later Kio!" said Sign as she walked out and followed Khoa.
"I don?t want to be called the Neo Hunters," said Khoa as Sign caught up to them.
"Fine how about the Ass Kickers?"
"No."
"Fine the Getbackers?"
"Wanna get sued?"
"Oh Khoa-tan your no fun...."

After half an hour of walking.

"Okay the Super Ass Kicking Bounty, 100% Success rating Hunters?" said Sign.
"That?s what we do, but no." said Khoa.
"Fine you think of a name then you smarty poopy-pants!" said Sign angrily.
"Oh look we are here!" said Khoa as he entered the Hunter?s Guild.
"Don?t ignore me Khoa-tan!" said Sign she walked in after him.

They entered the Hunter?s Guild, and walked up to the clerk. The clerk
was chewing her gum widely with her mouth open; she looked up and saw Khoa and Sign. "Hello madam, how can I help you?" she said sluggishly. Khoa?s left eye twitched, "Uh yeah we would like to request a hunter job." "Okay madam," said the clerk and handed Khoa a clipboard.

Khoa looked down the list, according to hunter rank, and checked to see
if there are any jobs available. Chew chew chew chew chew chew chew. Sign glared at the lady bitterly, her loud and obnoxious chewing on the gum was seriously bothering her. Khoa looked down on the list; Sign looked at him as if he was gifted, since he wasn?t reacting at all to the chewing.

?Shoot, Sign are you willing to do any low-pay jobs?? ask Khoa as he turned around.
Sign shrugged, ?Meh,?
Suddenly, in green ink, a new mission was magically scribbled on the paper. "What the...?" said Khoa as it posted another mission. His eyes stopped. "HOLY SH..." The job paid in 100,000 gold, "SIGN! Look! A D-Rank mission for 100,000," said Khoa pulling Sign by he scarf.
"Great googly-moogly!" said Sign in surprise.
"We will take this mission!" said the both of them.

They left the guild. "Does my voice sound that feminine?" asked Khoa concerned, "Cause I swear that clerk could not tell I was a guy,"
"Think of yourself as a girly-man" said Sign grinning.
"Thanks, I appreciate your support" said Khoa sarcastically.
"Well at least you?re my girly-man," said Sign glomping Khoa lightly.
"Okay get of me, I don?t want people think we know each other," said Khoa.

"Mush! Mush!" yelled Sign
"You are really heavy you know?" panted Khoa,
"Quiet plebian! Onward ho!"
"I?m no Mosh-Mosh"
"Quiet Khoa-tan, besides I?m helping you build them strong muscles~!"

The reached a huge vast forest. Khoa put Sign down, and dropped to his knees. "Geez...Sign? what the hell do you eat?"
"Everything!" responded Sign as she grinned, "Wai~ Khoa-tan that was fun! Let?s do it again,"
"Screw you," said Khoa as he took out his map, "Odd the mission card says we meet at a forest but theres no forest on the map but theres a forest here."
"Do you feel that?" said Sign as she closed her eyes.
Khoa felt a huge surge of Mana deep within the forest. It felt magnetic, he wanted to go investigate.
"Shall we go?" asked Sign adding a fake british accent.
"Indeed we shall," said Khoa adding a fake french accent.
"Ladies first" said Sign

The 2 adventures bravely entered the forest were no-one as gone before.