"Please young master, don't fight here." the butler accompanying him rushes in to stop the fight.

"Move out of the way." with a shove the butler is sent sprawling backwards. "I won't kill this fool, I'll just teach him a lesson. Then I'll cut off his thumb so he can no longer hold a sword again." he looks at Hector. "What are you?" he asks mockingly. "A knight should never give away his sword to a magician, no, any swordsman should never do that." he starts walking to the middle where the fountain is, I follow him.

"Don't talk about him like that." Axel says. "Rainen's a better swordsman than you are."

My cousin starts laughing, "You, you idiot. You don't understand, there's a difference between us knights and the common swordsmen." he lifts his sword up at me as if to say it's my turn. "Let's get started, I've said my piece."

I lower the point of my sword closer to the ground and turn it slightly. He's confused by my actions, "Don't worry, I won't kill you." I tap the side of the sword. "I'll just bludgeon you a bit." I say with a smile on my face, one meant to agitate him.

"We'll see about that." his mouth tightens trying to contain his anger. Instead of rushing me like a novice would, he holds himself steady, "I don't mind if you use your magic you know."

"Not needed for someone like you." I say.

"Heh, fine." he says in a mocking voice. "Watch your head."

He swings his sword, I hear the air as it whizzes towards my face, I bend back.

"At least you can dodge." he says. His hands blur. I block the sword with Hector's.

He goes on the offensive while I hang back, swatting away his every attack. The sword's blows are heavy. Every now and then an opportunity arises and I take it.

Each little over swing he takes I counter with a smack to his sides. The gleaming steel in his hands fly at my face, he's trying to kill me now.

I counter with a multiple hits to his legs and body. I want him to feel some pain. I take another chance and make a mistake, a trickle of blood slides down the side of my cheek.

I raise my leg and kick his thigh, "UGH!" he grunts as I kick the leg I constantly target. *PAT* a stinging pain rings from my left arm. The flat of his blade rammed into the side of my arm. Going back to the defensive I back away and parry his blows.

His eyes wander to my shoulder and I move my sword to defend it. *PAT* another pain spreads around the lower part of my belly, he hit me again. I was too focused on his eyes. My hands retaliate with their own motion, landing a blow on his targeted leg.

Finally succumbing to the pain he screams, "Bastard!" he recklessly swings the sword with one hand, leaving himself open with the wild attack.

My fist strikes his face, he staggers back and gets in a lower defensive position. With him in a slight daze, I move but hesitate to finish him, out of the corner of my eye, a girl with red flowing hair walks down the hallway with a maid in tow, my sister.

"ARH!" he knocks the sword away with the full force of his hit. It makes resounding ringing sounds as it bounces across the floor.

"You'll get what's coming to you for making a fool out of me." he says slightly out of breath. He readies himself for another swing.

"Stop!" Axel screams as he runs to us.

My body moves on its own and I barely dodge the attack, Axel isn't so lucky though. "ARRRH!" he coils back holding his face with his hand, the blood drips through the openings in his fingers. In impulse runs through me.

The next instant a dull pain runs through my fist, my cousin falls to the ground on all fours, his sword still in hand. I ignore him and rush to Axel's side. "Are you okay?" I ask. I gently grab onto his shoulders and pull him up with me. "How bad is it?"

"I-I don't think it's that bad. It... just hurts, a lot." he responds. He stumbles a little bit but I catch him. Hector also comes to assist.

"Here, move your hand." his hand slowly drops from covering his face. A bone chilling feeling runs down my whole body, the cut is from his cheek to the top of his nose. It's deep enough for bone to show through.

A voice comes from near the fountain. Using the sword as a support, my cousin pushes himself up. "Y-you. Don't think that you've won. I knocked your sword away, everyone knows tha-" his words are cut off by another one of my fists.

I hit him just enough so that he wouldn't fall down. I turn him around and grab his right arm, lifting my foot, I put it on his back and I push his arm a way it isn't supposed to bend. "You, hurt him and all you can think about is winning!?" I put more strength into my arm. "This is your livelihood right?" I jab at his arm. "Without this, you're nothing. A knight who can't hold a sword is useless."

His free hand weakly gropes his other arm, hoping to pull it free. "D-d-don't... please." he finally says. "You-you won." he says defeated.

I burst, "You think that this is about the match?!" I push him down with my boot. "Fine, I'll let you keep your arm, dear cousin of mine." Fountain. I look at the fountain and push down again. "But, you still need a punishment." his face inches closer to the water before finally being submerged.

His body twists and turns wildly, his arm flails around splashing up water. Bubbles float to the surface, many of them, he's wasting too much energy.

"One." I count.

"Rainen!." Hector says.

"Two."

"Rainen, stop!"

"Three."

"Rai, I'm okay, stop!" Axel says.

"F-"

"Are you going to kill him?" Hector screams. My cousin's attempts to get free are getting weaker. My body locks up and I stop counting. My foot slowly lets up and my grip loses its strength.

Four. My foot presses down again.

"Stop!" the butler comes running and pushes me away. He lifts my cousin out of the water and throws him onto the ground. One, two, three. Again he presses down on his chest, one, two, three. He repeats it several times.

*Cough Cough Cough* his body shakes violently.

I turn to look where I saw my sister. She stares wide eyed, her maid grabs her hands and leads her away. I look at my hands, they're shaking even though they didn't do anything. Hector and Joseph also stare at me. Those gazes burn, I wish they'd look away, Axel keeps his head down and holds his face.

"H-heal him." I say to Hector.

As if awoken from a trance, he stops looking at me, "Huh? Oh, sorry, here." a green light, fitting for this house, emits from his hand. Even from this far away I notice the less deep parts of the cut start to heal. The white of the bone and a lot of the rest still stays relatively the same except for the fact that the bleeding isn't as severe.

A door knob rattles in the distance, my gaze shifts to it. A skinny woman stands at the doorway, a hand covers her open mouth. "W-what happened here." she asks as she gets closer to us. Her steps are swift and she holds herself proper. Based on that and her clothing, plus the maids following her, she's a noble as well. Her slightly brownish red hair gives her away, she's related to my mom.

In that short time, the butler already had managed to awaken him with a few slaps to the face. My cousin says nothing, he simply rests his hands on his chest slowly taking in air with a cough now and then. Joseph is the first to make a move, he steps forward and bows.

"Lady Millicent, I apologize for this incident. There was a duel here and your son... fell into the fountain." the old man glances over at me.

"Joseph, I understand that you feel the need to cover for my idiot of a son but you must not lie to me." she shakes her head. "I expect more from a butler of my parents." she notices us. "Who are they? The people who got into a fight with my boy?"

"Yes." he points to me. "He is your nephew." she curiously looks at me, as if she were a doctor giving me a full body examination.

"I don't remember him. Who's child is he?" she asks.

"He is the son of Ayleth."

Her face twists in disgust, like mother like child. This is probably where he got the dislike for my sister and I, parents tend to follow what their parents believe.

"So you're her... spawn." she says with an edge in her voice. "Let me tell you, my son only lost because he went easy on you. I've always taught him to never abuse his power. Most people would understand that beating a knight isn't a normal thing to do."

Unlike her son, I can feel the hatred pouring out from her. What did she have against my mother? Are these people the reason why my sister is like that? I can't believe it, I went with my father's brother so she wouldn't have to experience something bad like this.

"We're leaving." Axel says. "Goodbye." he comes over and pushes me to the entrance with both of his hands.

"Hmph! No manners just like your sister and mother." she says.

Axel stops pushing me forward and turns, "If you have a problem with someone, don't talk about it behind their backs, a mature person would not do such a thing. Both of you cannot even accept it when you've lost fairly. And your son, just like you, is unable to properly greet anyone. I, a commoner, expect more from you... nobles."

He grabs my wrist and leads me out the door, Hector follows close behind. "Let's go Rainen." he says. I glance back at my aunt, her face is red, she starts to fan herself.

Today's a bust, I went a little out of control there. I can't let my emotions get the best of me, it's something I have to keep working on. "You're like a bit strange." my master said. "You don't get mad at the things that usually can make the average person mad, but when you do, you're like a volcano."

The only thing that I know for sure is that things are only going to get more complicated from here on. It seems like many of my mother's siblings have something against her. I've only seen one but I can feel the division running deep. Blood is thicker than water but enough water can wash it away.

"Rai?" Axel asks timidly. This is unlike him, after something serious he should be more cheerful.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? I mean, did she say anything too hurtful?" it's nice to know someone cares.

"Heheh. No problem, that was like a mosquito bite, annoying but it's not a big deal." I say.

"I see." he says before going silent. He puts his arm on my shoulder and says, "I know that you have to make up with your sister and all but I think it's best if we try tomorrow. Let's go have some fun!"

He grabs my arm again and pulls me, I see a smile on his face but I can't tell what kind it is.

-----------

Next chapter will probably focus on Ellar. I'm so fickle with these author's notes.