Luckily, no one was around to see us leave (apart from my Mom). Raiden held my right hand and Hikki held my left. Next they both raised their free hands up. I immediately knew what they were about to do. In a flash of light, we disappeared right before my Mom's eyes. She just stood there, gaping with her mouth wide open. She blinked a few times before muttering. 

"That is a fast method."

In the blink of an eye, we arrived back at the shrine. Raiden and Hikki let go of my hands and I gracefully hopped down off of the warp pad. I looked back at them with a joyful smile.

"That never ceases to amaze me!" I expressed.

"Well you better get used to it! You're gonna be dealing with a lot of this kinda stuff from now on Foxy girl!" Hikki chirped as he jumped down too. 

Then all at once, we heard a piercing eagle cry. "LOOK WHO'S BACK!" 

We turned to see Souta flying toward us in his eagle form.

"Hey Souta." Raiden greeted. "Have you been waiting there long?" He asked as Souta transformed back in front of us.

"Everyone was eagerly waiting for you guys to return." He pointed with his thumb back to the others, who instantly followed in after him. "We wanted to see if you would be bringing the little fox home and I see she's already here." He grinned at me.

"Hey guys." I smiled shyly and waved.

"Hello Sakura. Nice to see again." Aimi greeted kindly.

"Great to have you back here." Kuro added with a smile.

"Ah! I see our sweet little vixen has returned to us!" Asahi exclaimed happily "What joy!"

"Everyone was excited to see you again." Souta explained.

"You were?" I inquired.

"Can you really blame us?" Kira spoke. "We have a brand new friend and a brand new guardian! This is quite a big thing for us!" She smiled positively.

"Yes this is a rare phenomenon. It's unnatural for there to be another guardian, when the twelve have already been chosen. So it is natural for us to be intrigued." Enyo stated.

"Raiden, does this mean she's actually gonna join us?" Misa asked curiously.

"Yes." Raiden confirmed. "Starting today, Sakura will learn to become a Celestial Guardian!"

Everyone cheered as if they were welcoming a celebrity. I've never had anyone give me such warm welcome before. They all started approaching me warmly.

"Glad to have you on board kid!" Matsuo said patting my head.

"Yay! I just love making new friends!" Chiyu cheered while embracing me in a big bear hug. It was quite tight, but I was still grateful.

"Glad to be here. But I can't breathe!" I struggled a little.

She suddenly let me go. "Oh sorry. Forgive me, I'm a bit of a hugger." She apologised with a small giggle.

"You know that this calls for? CELEBRATION!!!" Asahi hailed in a singsong voice. As said that, he raised his arms and some sort of sparkly green mist came out of his hands. Within it, the mist formed pictures of roses and confetti. It was beautiful, but it disappeared when I tried to touched it .

"Wow! What was that?!" I questioned with wonder.

"That Little Vixen, is my mist magic. I can use it to create anything I see in my mind. Isn't it magnificent!?" He chorused.

"Not as magnificent as these muscles!" Matsuo pushed him aside and started juggling a few large and heavy objects. Any ordinary human would struggled to even lift them. But to Matsuo, it was like they were light as styrofoam.

"This is how a real man shows his power!" He yelled confidently, as he continued to juggle them.

'Incredible! I knew he was strong, but I didn't know he was that strong! ' Matsuo's power appeared to be super strength! He was strong as a bull...LITERALLY!

"That's nothing! Check this out!" Souta created whirlwinds that lifted the heavy stuff out of Matsuo's arms and even lifted Matsuo up along with them! He yelped in surprise. Souta made them spin in the air and then put them back down again. Matsuo was not too impressed by it though. 

"HEY! DON'T GO USING PEOPLE AS PROPS BIRD BRAIN!" He snapped at him with an irritated glare.

"Easy Muscle Man, we're all just trying to have some fun here!" The eagle chucked while putting his hands up in defence.

 "That's fantastic!" I laughed with amazement. 

Misa then approached me curiously. "Hey Cherry Blossom, do you wanna see something really pretty?" She smirked.

My eyes twinkled with excitement. "Yeah!" I clasped my hands together, like a little child begging for candy. Misa then looked over to Aimi. 

"Aimi?....." She prompted.

The white haired lady gave a knowing smile and came over to stand next to Misa. The two young women gracefully lifted their arms up and out of Aimi's arms flew a flurry of pure white snowflakes. Alongside her, Misa grew some magic vines that sprouted pretty, multicoloured flowers. They fluttered down in the air like butterfly wings. The snowflakes and petals intertwined with each other, creating a snowflake-flower shower.  I awed as I held out my hands to catch them in my palms. It WAS pretty! So Aimi could control ice and snow and Misa could produce plants and flowers!

"WOW SO BEAUTIFUL!!!" I applauded. Just as the flurry stopped, Hikki zipped in front of me.

"I know you're  already aware of my speed, but check this Foxy Girl!" He announced eagerly.

Hikki then started to show off by running up the walls and running around in a circle. He was going so fast that I couldn't even see him and since he was so fast, he was able to stay on the wall without falling off. He was just blurred into a bright yellow ring of light. It was making me dizzy just watching him. But suddenly, without warning, Raiden made a loud clash with his lightning and thunder abilities. 

"Alright that's enough!" He bellowed.

This caused Hikki to jump and loose his footing. He slipped of the wall and fell to the floor with a loud thump. "WOAH.....OOF!!!"

"Hikki are you alright?!" I ran to over him, to check if he was okay.

He bounced back up, as if it was no big deal. "Oh yeah I'm fine! A little fall isn't enough to hurt me!" He gave me a thumbs up and a cheeky grin, much to my surprise. 'Little fall?' I begged to differ. But as long as he was alright, then there was really no need to me to worry.

I was completely starstruck. Every single one of these people truly were amazing! Seeing all their incredible magic skills and traits. Now I felt like I was in an actual fairy tale.

"You guys are awesome! So am I really gonna start training with you and gain magic abilities too?!" I asked excitedly.

"Well for now....It's best if we start off little by little." Raiden responded firmly. "What's important is not to rush these things and gradually build up step by step. We have been training for years. We came to this place when we were much younger than you. Since your just starting now, we will carefully train you the best we can, in the short amount of time we have." I nodded in understanding.

"Wait Sakura, how old are you?" Hikki asked me. 

"Fifteen." I answered.

Hikki's eyes lit up. "So am I! You hear that guys? I'm not the youngest anymore!" He cheered while dashing around like race car. 'He is exactly like a little kid. How adorable.' I giggled mentally. Then a thought hit me.

"Erm....it's not bad that I arrived now is it?" I asked cautiously. "I mean, I don't want to disrupt anything. Of waste any of your time."

"You won't be. You'll become an essential part of the team in time. I know it." Raiden spoke gently. I liked how he had faith in me.

"I really hope so. I want to do my best to help you guys." I responded.

"Don't worry, we will work it out together." He guaranteed. "For now let's discuss more over some food. Matsuo?"  He turned to face the muscular bull.

"Sure! I'll cook up something special!" Matsuo gave a thumbs up and went off to the kitchen to prepare the food. 'Matsuo can cook?'

"Wait till you try Matsuo's food! It is the best!" Hikki told me.

"Really?! Great! I am a little hungry." I admitted.

"And I've just had a sudden surge of inspiration!" Asahi sang.

Next thing I knew, Asahi was sitting down at a piano (where it came from, I had no idea). From the moment he started to play, I was astonished. The way his fingers glided across the keys so professionally, he was on a whole other level! The melody that came from it was mesmerising. But what was even more mesmerising was the voice came from his mouth. He had the voice of an angel and his pitch was perfect. It was similar to those idols who had spent years strengthening their vocal chords to become famous singers. Just listening to a few words would be enough to sway any woman. It was like a prince's serenade. I couldn't remember the song word for word, since I was so entranced by the music. But he was clearing singing a song about welcoming 'me'. I felt almost embarrassed but overall I loved it.

"Wow! Asahi can really sing! And he can play too!" I praised.

"Yeah you gotta hand it to snake boy. He's got a real knack for music" Souta commented.

"He is pretty good." Kuro added with approval.

"His voice is like a river of velvet when he sings" Aimi said.

"Yeah it's the kind of voice that would attract the ladies. I must admit, even I can't help but feel mesmerised by it." Kira sighed

"If he wasn't a Celestial Guardian, he'd probably be a famous musician by now." Chiyu commented.

"If you ask me, he's just being a show off." Yuto sighed, as Asahi finished playing. That was when Asahi snapped a glare at him.

"Hey! Don't you don't you go criticising my musical passion Wolfie! You're just jealous of my natural talent!" He argued.

"At least I'm not trying to gain constant attention from everyone." He droned.

"Of course you don't. You never want to." Asahi pointed out with annoyance

"HEY GUYS! FOODS READY!" Matsuo's voice boomed from down the hall.

"That was quick." I admitted.

"Oh yeah. Matsuo's a real pro when it comes to cooking!" He grabbed my hand.

"Come on! Let's go eat!" He encouraged as he starting pulling me towards the dining hall. The others all followed in tow.