Rekino let out a frustrated sigh. She had searched nearly the entire castle, expect the forbidden rooms, and still she had not found that thief who had stolen her film. She bit her lip, filled with worry. Thunder was right, she realized. She should have been more careful. She sighed again and spun on her heel. She was going back to the others, and apologizing to Rowen and Thunder, and to the others for her behavior.

She made it back to the room, and slowly went in with her head down. It was pretty quiet in the room now. She noticed that Thunder was gone, Ryo, Sage, and Flash were watching a movie, Shades was reading a book, and Scorpio and Rowen were playing chess. She bit her lip and could feel her heard pounding as she closed the door behind her. Immediately she caught Rowen looking toward her with a frown on his face.

Rekino lowered her head as she felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She could feel Hana’s anger, and even Josephine and Amaya’s anger, even if those two were thousands of miles away.

Ryo looked up at his sister. He didn’t feel as angry with her as everyone else probably did. Then again, Flash, Shades, and Scorpio weren’t angry at all. Flash was engaged into the movie, and egging the main character on, going, "Kick his ass!"

Rowen watched his girlfriend for several minutes. How he wanted to stand up and go to her and hug her tightly, apologizing for even helping to pull those tricks on her. But then Rekino walked over to him and got on her knees before him as she took his hands in her own. Tears were now streaming down her face as she stared him in the eyes. "I’m so sorry, Rowen. I know I shouldn’t have been so angry with you. And I shouldn’t have gotten angry with Hana and Thunder. I just saw them kissing and I couldn’t help it…"

Hana looked toward her leader, still feeling the fury. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t trust herself to speak. So she kept her mouth shut. She would talk to Rekino later when she felt less angry.

"Rekka," Rowen said softly.

"Don’t say a word," Rekino shushed him. "I know what I did was wrong. I hope you can forgive me."

Rowen bit his lip and looked at Hana, then looked down at Rekino. "Rekka, I’m not the one you should be apologizing to."

Rekino nodded. "I know." She looked at Hana and stood up, making her way toward her friend. "Hana, I know what I did was wrong. I really didn’t think you would mind me taking pictures of you guys."

Hana was silent for several moments before she spoke. "I admit I jumped too easily on you, but I felt what we were doing was private. Do you have any idea how embarrassed Thunder was?"

Rekino lowered her head and shook it.

"He was very embarrassed, Rekino. But I think he feels bad like I do for playing those tricks on you. We were just so upset about it, and he was worried someone would steal those pictures of us and post it all over the world."

Rekino’s eyes suddenly widen. "Oh shit."

Hana stared at her with one delicate eyebrow raised. "What?" Her eyes widen then. "Oh no. Rekino, please tell me you didn’t…"

"I swear I didn’t know it would happen!" Rekino protested.

"What happened?" Scorpio asked as he finally spoke up. He had been silently waiting for Rekino and Rowen to finish their conversation so the game could go on. Now everyone was staring at the two Lady Ronins.

Ryo blinked several times. "Did I miss something here?"

Shades shrugged. "Beats me."

"Rekino, what is it?" Sage asked.

Rekino took a deep breath and tried to breathe slowly so she wouldn’t lose her nerve. Finally she just forced it out. "Someone got in my room and stole the film from my Polaroid!" She immediately covered her face.

"Say what?" Now Flash’s attention was held.

Rekino repeated what she had said, and stared at the floor. She didn’t know what else to say at the moment. Flash stood up. “Well, there’s no sense in trying to feel bad now. What’s done is done. We’ll split into groups and search for the thief."

"Okay," Ryo said. "I think we should also check the city."

"I already searched the castle," Rekino said.

"I doubt the thief would stick around this place," Shades said as she began to put her shoes on.

"She’s right," Rowen said. "I can take the west wing of the city with Ryo and Sage."

"I’ll take the south with Scorpio and Shades," Flash said.

"I’ll take the east side with Hana then," Rekino said.

"Wait a minute," Hana interrupted. "Two questions. First who takes the north side, and two: what about Thunder?"

Rekino looked around. "Yeah, where is Thunder?"

"He was called by his parents," Scorpio explained.

"We should tell Thunder what’s going on as well," Flash said as she headed for the door.

"I’ll come with you!" Hana declared. And the two girls left the room.

Ryo shook his head. "How much you want to bet that Hana went with her to have another moment with Thunder?"

Rowen and Sage smirked at him, and Rekino lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Bro, you’re such a moron!"

Ryo smirked at her. "Thank you, hussy."

"Anytime, dork."

Amaya wasn’t sure how long it would be before she finally blew her temper. So much had been happening, she was certain she would go crazy any moment now. Cye’s car was completely damaged. The police were already there, along with the paramedics who were checking Kento’s neck. She frowned at her boyfriend, knowing he had whiplash. Each time a paramedic turned his head, Kento would yell and threaten them.

"Kento, take it easy," she told him gently. "They’re trying to help you."

"I know," Kento said as he gritted his teeth together. "Man, Rekino did not have to say that about us!"

"I know." Amaya said with a sigh.

Josephine headed where Cye was. He was getting a huge gash in his arm treated, while answering questions to the inquiring police officer.

"And you say you weren’t drunk?" the officer asked.

"Do I bloody look drunk?" Cye replied, annoyed.

"Young man, it’s my duty to make sure of that," the officer snapped. "You’ve done wreck-less driving, and you could have been killed or have killed someone else."

"Excuse me! I wasn’t driving like a damn maniac. I lost control of the car. You can check me for alcohol or drug usage, or you can attempt to check my car to see if I carry any of it in there," Cye said with fire in his eyes.

Josephine forced herself to stay quiet. She wanted to help Cye tell this cop off. She silently cheered him on though. ‘Yeah, you tell him, Cye!’

This guy’s a real jerk,’ Cye replied. ‘Sheesh, I’ve seen better officers handle accidents better than this way.’

"Can you prove you have insurance for your vehicle?"

"Sure I can. Just go to my car and pry the door open, open the dash, and take the papers out."

The officer cast him a glare, but he did go to the car. Cye rolled his eyes as the paramedic spoke to him. "You’ll need to get to a hospital as soon as possible and have this stitched up."

"I can take him," Josephine said.

The paramedic nodded and wrapped Cye’s right arm up from his elbow to his shoulder. Blood still seeped through, but he wrapped more around the arm, and placed Cye’s other hand over it. "Keep your hand on this, applying pressure. Your wound is pretty deep, so make sure you get it taken care of immediately."

Cye nodded and stood up. He stumbled a bit, feeling dizzy from the loss of blood. The paramedic and Josephine grabbed him and helped to support him.

The officer returned then and was ready to talk to Cye again. However Josephine guided Cye toward her car. She cast the officer a glare. "Your questions will need to wait! He’s going to the hospital."

And before the officer could say anything else, Josephine got Cye into the car and looked toward Amaya. The smaller girl looked back at her and nodded her head, and soon came along, helping Kento who was holding his neck. When all of them were in the car, Amaya got behind the driver’s wheel and the four took off, heading for the nearest hospital, leaving the officer to stand there alone.

Meanwhile Flash and Hana had requested to see Thunder on important business. When they saw him, their eyes widen, and Hana nearly fainted right there. He looked so handsome, and he truly did look like a prince now. Hana could hardly stop staring. Thunder smiled at her, and she nearly fell over.

Flash got over her shock immediately. "Thunder, something came up. We’re going into the city to check it out."

"Should I come then?" Thunder asked.

"No, stay here with your parents," Flash advised. "We’ll be back in time for the ball."

Thunder nodded his head. "The ball starts at eight tonight."

Flash checked her watch. "Good. We have about four and a half hours. We’ll be back by then. Come on, Hana."

Thunder smiled and shook his head as he watched Flash literally dragging Hana, who was still gawking at him, down the hall. When they were out of sight, he turned and headed back into the throne room again.

Soon enough the two Ronins, the two Lady Ronins, and the three Warriors were all in the city. It had been agreed that after searching their assigned areas, they would meet back at where the Berlin Wall used to stand. They split off into their groups and immediately headed off in separate directions.

Meanwhile, across the city in a small building which had Tägliche Nachrichten (Daily News) on it. The man was tall, yet overweight, with nearly a baldhead, and thick glasses on his large nose. He held a phone against his ear, his thick fingers nearly hiding the receiver. "Yes, I know. I have the film right here. It’s hard to believe it, but I got them. We’ll have the biggest cover in history, and maybe even get noticed more by the bigger companies."

He paused for a moment as the other party spoke, his brown eyes drifting down on his desk where two newly photos sat. They were photos of Prince Thunder and of some blond girl kissing on a bed. His lips curled into a huge smile, “Don’t worry sir. I’ll have the paper ready by tonight.”

The person on the other line spoke with authority, “You better!” And hung up quickly.

The man grunted and hung up the phone. He lay back in his chair and stared at the pictures again. He lips curled once again into a smirk and he heard his office door open. He turned around and saw his errand boy walk in, “I suppose you’re here for your pay?”

Yes,” The teenager replied.

The man opened a drawer in his desk and handed the young man an envelope. The teenager opened the enveloped and nodded, “I hope that satisfies you. Now, what else do you have to report?”

The young man, Eric, sat down in one of the larger chairs, “Well, those three maids seem to be here for more than a reason than helping the king.”

Frank Heinrich raised an eyebrow, “Intriguing.”

Eric nodded, “I overheard them talking about helping save Germany and then I followed them to their quarters and they were talking about some kind of planet and reviving their families.”

And they are the kings trusted adversaries, right?” Frank asked. He saw Eric nodded and continued, “Well, your pay is in the envelope. Report back to me when you have acquired more information.”

Yes sir,” The boy stood up and gave his boss a manila envelope. He then left the room.

Frank smirked and opened the package. Inside were pictures of the three maids, Missy Kejano, Wendi Yayshu, and Jessica Shenseski. Eric seemed to do his job well. He looked through all of them. He saw one of Missy holding a katana. She was wearing a hooded over coat with different symbols on her white dress. Next was Jessica. She was holding some sort of mace and she was wearing the same as Missy on her dress was a light blue color. Last was Wendi, her outfit was different. She wore a dress, but she didn’t have a hood. You could see a faint glow of wings, and in her hand was a bow.

He continued looking through the pictures and noticed that some of the pictures had been stolen. He rolled his eyes; Eric really outdid himself. The first picture was of Wendi. She was standing next to a man her age with blonde hair and blue eyes. In her arms was a little girl that resembled the man, except she had curly hair. He snorted and looked at the other one, which was of Jessica. In the picture, she was holding a baby and standing next to a man with dark brown hair and green eyes, and in his arms was a little boy. The next one was of Missy. She was standing next to what looked like…a unicorn. Frank’s eyes widened and he put the pictures away.

Mister Heinrich?” A voice called from behind the door. A young woman stepped in, “The staff wants to know when to start printing the next edition.”

Frank smirked and stood up, handing the envelope with all of the pictures, including the ones of Thunder and the young blonde, to his secretary, ”The new edition will be started on as of right now and will be delivered and in the stands before the ball.”

Yes sir!” She replied and shut the door as she left her boss’s office.

Flash, Scorpio, and Shades were looking at every person they saw on the street as they ran across the south side. People blinked at them, then shrugged, figuring perhaps they were looking for someone. How right they were. Shades had almost accused several people, but Flash had backed her off, not sure if they had the photos or not.

“Easy, Shades. The person who has the photos will either be too confident or too scared. Which means he/ she will attempt to view the photos in public, or do his/her best to hide them well from public view.”

Shades stared at Flash with an annoyed look. “How do you know?”

Flash just grinned at her. “Call it a hunch. Besides, I’ve seen it happen sometimes.”

“Okay, whatever. Let‘s just find the creep.”

The three continued on, hoping the others were having a better time in finding the thief. Scorpio had a feeling that Rekino was probably still beating herself up, for letting this happen, but there was no time for guilt trips. Hopefully they could find the one who did it, and get the pictures back before anything else happened.

They came to a crosswalk and stood there waiting for about five minutes, watching the traffic go by them. Shades was beginning to get impatient and kept on shifting from one foot to another. Scorpio just watching the crosswalk signal. He shook his head. “Gee, this is a long light.”

“It needs to hurry the hell up!” Shades grumbled.

Just as she said that, the light did change. Flash looked at Shades. “Wow, it listened to you.”

“About time.”

The three quickly crossed the street and continued on weaving through their way through the crowds. Scorpio accidentally bumped into a man and looked at him apologetically. He didn’t know German, so he was quite uncomfortable. Seeing this, the man just nodded and smiled, and moved around him, continuing on. Scorpio shook his head. “I really need to learn German,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s not an easy language,” Flash said. “When Thunder taught me it, it took me at least a month to learn how to make three complete sentences and even another four weeks to understand three more sentences spoken to me.”

They grew quiet as they went back to their job. So far they hadn’t had any luck. No one seemed suspicious to them; there were no people looking over confident or apprehensive and looking around anxiously while trying to hide something. They could only hope the others were having better luck.

Rekino and Hana were trying their best to find the thief. Rekino was burning with anger, and Hana hadn’t even spoken to her since they had parted from the others. Hana had been angry at Rekino for a little bit, but she was getting over it. There was no sense in staying angry at her. They had to find that thief. Both of them were planning on killing him/her, but they knew that killing them wasn’t really an option. What should they do then, if they caught that person? Neither of them really knew and the moment, neither really cared. They only wanted to find the thief, get the pictures back, and get back to the castle, all before Thunder found out what happened.

Hana saw a man sitting on a bench. He bore a camera around his neck and was writing on a notepad. She watched him carefully, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. She tapped Rekino’s shoulder and directed her attention to the guy. “Think he’s the one?” she whispered.

Rekino studied the guy. It was highly possible. But how could they be sure though? Without warning, the man suddenly put his pen away and tucked his notepad into his pocket, and stood up. He turned away from their direction and headed down the sidewalk. The two Lady Ronins immediately followed him.

For a while they managed to keep up with him, but when a bus pulled over to a bus stop, and let passengers off, he was lost to them in the crowd.

“Damn it!” Rekino cursed as she looked around, trying to see over and around people. There were just too many people blocking her view. “Where did he go?!”

Hana was looking around as well, but she couldn’t find him either. She looked at Rekino, and jerked her head to another side street. “Let’s go this way. Maybe we’ll be lucky.”

“I doubt it,” Rekino muttered, but the two girls crossed the street as quickly as they could and headed down the sidewalk, keeping their eyes out for the man.

Ryo sighed as he stretched his back. He and Sage had been searching nonstop for an hour now, but they had come no closer to finding who they were looking than when they had first started. Then again, it didn’t help much that neither of them spoke the German language.

Both were resting near a grocer’s store, each one keeping their eyes out. Sage leaned against a fence, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at Ryo; his face was expressionless, but there was something on his mind.

“Ryo, what do we do if we find this guy?”

Ryo stopped stretching and looked at him, his eyes staring straight ahead as he was thinking. “I guess drag him off to the German police, or guards.”

“And that would be how? Ryo, neither of us speak German.”

Ryo sighed. “I know that. Maybe we can get Blaze to help us there though. Or maybe find someone that can speak our language or English at least. Let’s go though.”

“Right.”

The two Ronins set off again, each one taking brisk steps down the street. They began to go downhill, their steps increasing more and more. Fewer people were on the streets now, and they began to notice that most were beginning to go into their houses. Some cars were pulling into the driveways. They were people getting off work.

Sage checked his watch real quick. It was nearing 6:30 p.m. They only had an hour and forty-five minutes left to find this guy. He doubted they would, with this being a strange country to him, but stranger things have happened. And he was certain if they didn’t find him, one of the others would.

The crowds on the street slowly begin to diminish after a few minutes. It was easier to walk now, and neither of them had to squeeze their way through as much as they had to. They came to a bridge and crossed over it, as fishing boats bobbed in the waters below them.

Ryo sighed. “I’m beginning to think we’ll never find this guy.”

“Don’t give up hope just yet, Ryo. We have to keep trying.”

Ryo nodded his head. Sage was right. They couldn’t give up. What if the guy was right under their noses? Even if it seemed hopeless they had to keep looking.

Josephine and Amaya paced out in the waiting room. People glanced at them, frowning, but it wasn’t because of the way they were behaving there. The two girls were obviously stressed out, and no one was there to offer them comfort.

It had been at least an hour since they had been there at Kirapathio Hospital. They knew Kento and Cye were being well cared for, but how bad were the damages? Why wouldn’t a doctor or nurse, or someone come out and tell them anything?

Amaya finally forced herself to sit down. Pacing wasn’t going to help them. Not in their condition. They needed to stay relaxed and remember that their fiancés were in good hands. She looked up at Josephine. “Jo, sit down and try to relax.”

“How can you say relax? Our boyfriends nearly get killed, and it’s all Rekino’s fault, and you say sit down and relax? I can’t relax and I won’t! Not until…”

The double doors suddenly opened up, and a doctor with graying hair immediately came over to them. “Miss Kazeno and Miss Rei Faun?” The two girls looked at him, and Amaya rose to her feet. “Your boyfriends, Cye Mouri, and Kento Rei Faun have been taken care of, and can now have visitors.. We’re going to keep them for another five hours for observation. In the meantime I would like to go over their injuries with you.”

The two girls nodded and followed him to a more private area. There he told them of the whiplash Kento had received, and how Cye’s arm was broken in two places, the two boys also had a few cracked ribs, and some severe bruises, and minor cuts.

As she listened to him, Josephine was getting angrier and angrier. What she wouldn’t do to connect with Rekino and take her rage out on her for this.