Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Warrior Children ❯ Bleeding ( Chapter 16 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 16: BLEEDING

Earth-
Sh'ten-


Sh'ten held his kusari-gama, his favored weapon, in both hands and swung the sickle end easily as he eyed the mortals eagerly. How nice of them to give him a bit of sport while he was there! Perhaps he might even have to make an effort to kill one or two of them. It was tempting, but he supposed he ought to make an effort to have a peaceful sort of confrontation for the sake of his new brothers, if nothing else.

How pitiful they all looked. While the children no longer screamed in pain, they clearly felt it from their grimacing faces and the soft noises they were obviously trying to hold back. A dark haired young woman stepped forward first and Sh'ten felt a touch of disappointment. Why would the men send a woman in to fight? The modern world was sheer madness!

"You aren't laying a finger on my brother until I know who you are and what you want." She said fiercely, putting a hand to something that was obviously a weapon at her hip.

Ahhh, so that’s why they let her take the lead. She is truly a tigress. Even faced with two Ma-Sho's in full yoroi, she was brave. Well then, how about a bit of fear?

Sh'ten released the hold he had on the Fear, his favorite talent, letting it seep away from him and into the air. It was no tangible thing, not visible as Rajura’s illusions or as spectacular as Naaza’s venom, but the Fear was potent. To turn one’s courageous enemies into cowards was a quick way to end a battle. The Fear affected everyone but Sh'ten. Even Anubisu, who knew what Sh'ten was doing it, recoiled slightly.

The dark haired woman looked nervous at first, then her hands started shaking even as she stubbornly refuses to back down. Her eyes widened slightly as she fought her own irrational fear.

Sh'ten had to swallow hard. How beautiful she is with the scent of fear lingering on her! What does she imagine is going on?

"Stop." The soft voice came from the floor, the blond one with the mark of Korin blazing on his forehead. He slowly, painfully stood up. Still under the influence of Kongo's grief as well as the Fear Sh’ten liberally spread around, it was impressive that he could make himself think straight.

Oh, very, very good. Sh'ten thought. He has a strong will.

Korin went to the trembling woman's side, but still couldn't bring himself to touch her. "Don't hurt my sister."

Sister?! Sh'ten gave Anubisu a sour look. He hadn't counted on them having family and that was going to make everything more difficult. Not impossible, of course, but difficult. Should have thought about it. Why wouldn’t they have family?

"Then come with us, Korin." Sh'ten said smoothly. "I will try to stop the pain you are in. You are honored to be apart of something great, a force that will remake this world into a glorious new era." Korin, and the other boys, really were quite fortunate. How many others would have killed to be in their places? They would be kings in the new world that the Ma-Sho were intending to create. Arago would have to be destroyed first, but once the yoroi are all gathered, it shouldn't be too difficult. "Step away from your life here..."

Sh'ten got no further as the girl, still shaking with fear, moved in front of Korin. "You can't have Seiji! I just got him back!" She shouted, raising some kind of small, mechanical weapon at Sh'ten. A gun, Sh'ten thought it was called. Sh'ten didn't spend enough time in the Ningen-Sekai to understand all the weapons they've invented lately, but the small stone - or whatever it was - that shot out from the weapon bounced harmlessly off his armor.

"So, you want to play, girl?" Sh'ten asked as she shot another projectile at him, also having no effect. Sh'ten raised his kusari-gama, but before he could get rid of her, Korin, Seiji, jumped in front of his sister and pulled out the small sword that was hanging at her side. It was purely ornamental, that was pretty obvious, but the boy raised the small sword in defiance, his furious eyes clearly saying, ‘Don't even try it!’

Seiji's one eye went passed Sh'ten, however, and narrowed even more at what he saw. Sh'ten turned slightly to see the boy wearing Duo's robes watching Seiji. Heero had one of the stoniest expressions Sh'ten had ever seen, especially on a child, and he was as focused on Seiji as Seiji was on him. It wasn't a hateful look, but cold and unyeilding. There was a tense moment when the two just glare at each other. Then Seiji winced just slightly and a small trickle of blood began seeping out of his ear and rolled down the side of his face.

Rekka, with surprising speed, turned to the two mortal men and took both of their decorative swords, as Seiji had taken the young woman's, holding the swords as if he knew exactly what he was doing. He moved to stand my Seiji's side. "Who the Hell are you?" Rekka growled at Heero, for some reason thinking that Heero was a bigger threat than Sh'ten and not even acknowledging Anubisu. Sh'ten had to admit that he was feeling a bit insulted at this.

Sh'ten would have bet that Rajura would be sorry he wasn't there. This whole situation was becoming wonderfully complicated, just the sort of thing Rajura always enjoyed. Even Sh'ten was getting confused.


Ryou-


Seiji's afraid of this guy. Well, not exactly afraid, but he knew the guy with narrow, dark blue eyes was dangerous. ‘God, my head hurts! I can still see things that I shouldn't. Like the attack in the sky and falling buildings. The face of some Chinese guy wearing glasses and a fat woman crying. I want to kill someone. I don't know why, but I want to KILL!’

Seiji was trying to concentrate on one of the strangers, the one in a kimono that's too big for him and trying not to think about the haunting images coming from the other guy, the one of them who was in pain. Seiji had told Ryou earlier that the other person's name was Xiu, the one Ryou hasn't met, yet. Something terrible must be happening. The boy Seiji was staring at doesn't look armed, but Seiji was still worried. Ryou would stand beside him no matter what, even against these guys in the weird yoroi and the lethal weapons.

It was the boy with a long braid, to Ryou's surprise, who jumped in the middle of things, putting himself in a very vulnerable position right in front of Seiji's and Ryou's swords. How funny that I grabbed swords to fight with. Wouldn't it have been easier to try and use the gun that Zechs had rather than a sword? Still, the swords did feel almost, but not quite, right in Ryou's hands. Like the swords should be different.

"Ryou, don't do it!" The braided boy shouted. "Heero's my friend! Don't you remember me? It's me, Duo."

Ryou frowned. ‘He...he knows me? How can he know me? No one knows me but Seiji, his sister, and her friends.’ Ryou was sure he hadn't met Duo before, but there were still pieces of his memory that were missing and Ryou thought that maybe Duo was one of those missing pieces. Seiji asked Ryou if he remembered Duo and Seiji wouldn’t lie.

Another shot of pain struck Ryou's head and he saw a flash of a face, white waves of hair and a pale face that wore and eye patch over the left eye. Who was that? Was it his memory, or something Xiu was seeing? ‘I have to concentrate! I have to deal with this before I worry about Xiu.’

Something wet and warm started to trail down Ryou's face, running onto his mouth and down Ryou’s chin. The metallic taste of blood touched his tongue. ‘Blood?’ Ryou didn't take his eyes off the strangers, but touched his face with one hand and pulled it away to find the tips of his fingers covered with blood. ‘My nose is bleeding?’

"Please, Ryou." Duo was begging, bringing Ryou's attention back to him. Ryou almost gave in just because of the heartbroken expression in his eyes. "Don't fight us. We're your brothers. We're family and we still have to find Kay."

"I don't remember having any brothers and I don't know Kay." Ryou told him truthfully. I don't remember a lot of things, but surely I'd have remembered brothers. Seiji said my brother was Duo.

Duo only seemed to get aggravated by that. "Oh, come on! We grew up in the same orphanage, Ryou! Did you know they killed Sister Helen, and Father Maxwell?"

"Sister Helen?" Ryou did remember Sister Helen. Father Maxwell, too. Sister Helen was the one who'd met him that first day at the orphanage and Father Maxwell was in charge of the whole place. Dead? Why would they be dead? Ryou saw them just before he'd gotten adopted by... Ohhhh! ‘Why can't I remember?’ For all Ryou knew, Duo was telling the truth. "I remember growing up in the orphanage, but I don't know you."

Duo scrunched up his face and thought furiously, his hands clenching as if he wanted to fight, but didn't know who to fight. "Don't you remember when Akira was picking on me and you beat him up for me? It was the first day that you were there."

Ryou lowered the swords slightly. The memory of Akira was perfectly clear. He could still see Akira's face, red from embarrassment after Ryou had hit him. "I do remember Akira and fighting him, but I don't remember why."

"What about Sydney Dorson? She lost her mouse and you found it for her."

Again, Ryou lowered the swords a little. Sydney with her bright red braids and her large gray mouse she kept as a pet under her bed in a shoe box. When it had chewed its way out of the box, she'd cried for hours until Ryou had finally found it in the kitchen.

Then Duo seemed to get another idea. "Swords! Naaza-san taught you to use swords. He showed you to use wooden swords first and then he let you pick out your own katanas from the armory."

The fierce looking man with the bladed chain weapon and the red face mask, asked Duo, "Were you trained in some sort of weapon?"

Duo didn't look away from Ryou. "Yeah. I use a scythe." Then Duo grinned. "Even got a hot knife and burned my initials into the handle of every one I had."

"Initials?"

"Duo Maxwell. D.M."

To the armored men it seemed to mean something, but Ryou raised the sword again. He didn't remember anything familiar about swords or anyone named Naaza. Ryou's vision started to blur, and his head swam for a minute.

Duo ploughed on, not seeming to see Ryou's dizziness. "But he did! And he even let you hold his venom swords once! Please, Ryou, you have to remember! Mama Sh'ten," He pointed at the man with the chain weapon, "taught me to use my scythe and we played in the mountains and...and...we met Seiji on the mountain after that big metal thing fell out of the sky and...and we dyed Rajura-san's hair orange...and..." Duo's babbling was rapidly turning into sobs.

“It’s true.” Seiji said, softly. “I remember that day.”

Suddenly, Ryou couldn't see and the floor seemed to vanish under his feet. When his head cleared, Seiji was next to Ryou. He was still clutching his sword, but looking in nearly as bad a condition as Ryou felt. Blood was oozing out of his ears and left thin trails of red down both sides of his face.

"What's happening to us? What's wrong with Xiu?" Shin asked, but Ryou could barely hear his voice as his ears were still ringing. "Why are we bleeding?"

The other one armored man, the one who hadn't spoke before, looked at us, his eyes burning with cold fire. "The yoroi, Kongo, has claimed Xiu as its own and, in turn, increasing his psychic power. As you are all connected, this affects you all, intensifying his pain. It makes you more vulnerable to his psychic trauma and he can't yet stop himself from sharing the pain with you. When you all come into your yoroi, you will all be at the same power level, so you won't be affected like this. Later, you will learn to shield yourself from each other, if you need to. You are bleeding because your brains are hemorrhaging from the stress of trying to cope with having so much pressure all at once."

Sh'ten looked at the one who'd just spoken with disbelief in his voice. "How do you know all that?"

"Naaza just told me."

"Ah, that explains it."

"Are you saying that I'm dim?"

"I never said any such thing, Anubisu."

A slight move behind him and Ryou's mouth fell open when Yaku-chan strode into the room to stand beside the armored man, Anubisu. The man put a hand on Yaku-chan’s head, stroking him slightly and Yaku-chan allowed the touch. This was enough to amaze Ryou, at the very least. Ryou suddenly realized that he didn't remember when he met Yaku-chan. ‘I've known him for a long while, but I don't remember who gave him to me or if we just found each other.’

Yaku-chan walked to Ryou and Ryou could focused on his dark brown eyes, so comforting. "Yaku-chan, what's going on?" If only he could talk! Yaku-chan leaned in, rubbing his face against Ryou's and Ryou let himself relax against Yaku-chan's massive strength. He dropped the swords he'd been loosely holding. If Yaku-chan could trust them, then so could Ryou.

"Listen to them." Touma said and Ryou looked back at him. Touma was leaning against Shin with his blonde friend watching everything with large eyes. His friend had said very little, but Ryou got the definite impression that he was making plans behind those innocent eyes. He was a dangerous person. Now that Ryou look at his three friends, he saw that they were all bleeding. Touma from the nose, like Ryou, and Shin was bleeding from his eyes, giving the eerie impression that he was crying tears of blood. Touma continued, "He's got no reason to lie and you told us you don't remember bits of your past. Maybe this is the answer."

Seiji shook his head. "There are many reason for lying." He tried to push himself up, grimacing at the effort, and looked pointedly at the stone-faced boy he'd been staring at. "Orders, Heero?"

Heero said, "Retrieve or eliminate." His voice was firm with conviction.

"Stay with me."

Heero's eyes widened with disbelief at what Seiji had said, Ryou thought, but then narrowed again. "Why?"

Ryou wished he knew what they were talking about. He knew Seiji wanted this boy to stay. Wanted it very badly. Even if Ryou couldn't understand what's going on, the two boys seem to understand each other perfectly. Seiji's eyes softened as he looked at Heero and Ryou felt sadness from Seiji. Sadness and regret that he'd failed to do something.

"I never wanted to leave you." Ryou had rarely seen so much emotion on Seiji's face, but for Heero, Seiji was almost crying.

The pain stopped so suddenly and was replaced by a cold emptiness where the pain had been. The world went black.


Sh'ten-


All of the boys they'd come for had fainted at once. Their eyes suddenly rolled up into their heads and they fell limply. Ryou collapsed, but was caught by Byakuen and Duo ran to him to make sure the boy was all right. Suiko and Tenku fell into each other's arms. ‘I'll have to find out their names soon.’

"Touma! Shin!" The blonde cried out, alarmed. Well, now Sh’ten knew their names, even if he didn't know who belongs to which name.

I'VE GOT HIM! Rajura shouted in their minds. HE'S CUT OFF FROM THE OTHERS.

WE FIGURED THAT OUT. THE CHILDREN WERE SO SHOCKED THAT THEY FAINTED. WHERE ARE YOU ANYWAY?

DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT, WE'LL BE BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOU'D BETTER SEE IF YOU CAN BLOCK THEIR MINDS A BIT FROM EACH OTHER. MAYBE WITHOUT INTERFERENCE, THEY'LL BE ABLE TO SLEEP EASIER.

THAT'S A GOOD IDEA. Sh’ten had no idea how he was going to do it, but perhaps he could force them to sleep just a bit deeper and that would cut them apart enough. Sh’ten went to Ryou first, as he had no one but Duo guarding him and Duo trusted Sh’ten very easily. Duo moved aside for Sh’ten who saw that Ryou was pale and shaking, even in his faint.

Sh’ten leaned down and looked into Ryou's face, concentrating his power and felt the burning as his symbol, Loyalty, appeared on his forehead. There were several gasps from the mortals, but Sh’ten tried to ignore them as it really didn't matter what they thought. Anubisu would make sure none of them interfered.

The symbol for Benevolence was still shining on Ryou's forehead as it had throughout the whole ordeal, and Sh’ten leaned in to touch their foreheads together. Nothing happened.

Oh, dear.

"What are you trying to do?" The dark haired woman demanded, still hovering near the blonde, Seiji. "What's that thing on your forehead? Seiji has one, too."

"Of course he does, he's one of us." Sh’ten told her, wishing the silly woman would be silent long enough for him to get something done. Why can't I touch Ryou's mind? Maybe we have to wait until they are claimed by the yoroi. "Don't touch him," Sh’ten warned, seeing her get to close to Seiji. "Their psychic energies are too high and adding your own energy won’t help. It causes them pain to be touched by people who can't control their own minds."

"You touched him." The blonde boy pointed out from where he was kneeling near Tenku, though he was careful not to touch his friend.

"As I said before, we are the same. My touch doesn't bother him. Now, be silent." Sh’ten took Suiko's face in his hands next and tried again. Nothing. Sh’ten wanted to beat something. What was he doing wrong? When his brothers were ill or needed him, Sh’ten could just encourage their minds to rest, forcing them into a deeper than natural sleep. He couldn’t even feel the minds of the children.

"What did you do, exactly?" The auburn haired man asked, curiously, as he watched over Sh’ten’s shoulder. Sh’ten frowned at him, but the man showed no fear. Irritation, yes, but not fear and that bothered Sh’ten. "I would like to know what's going on."

Anubisu sneered, "You're only mortal, what makes you think you deserve any answers?" He was as irritated as Sh’ten was and trying not to show it. This had always worked in the past, why not now? They are like the Ma-Sho that it should work. The bleeding was getting worse for all of them, their shaking was slowing as they got paler, however.

Sh’ten had to admit, he had no idea what he was doing wrong. They’d never tried this on anyone but themselves. They’d just assumed that it would work with the new ones.

RAJURA, WHAT DID YOU DO TO XIU TO SEAL OFF HIS MIND FROM THE OTHERS? I CAN'T AFFECT THE CHILDREN HERE AT ALL. Sh’ten asked his far away oldest brother. Though he hated asking for help, Sh’ten knew that Rajura had a talent for things that involve the workings of the mind. There was no one more talented.

I REALLY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, JUST SHOWED HIM HOW TO BETTER SHIELD HIMSELF FROM THE OTHERS. I COULDN'T TOUCH HIM, EITHER. I DON'T KNOW WHY WE CAN'T FEEL EACH OTHER, I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Then, Sh’ten heard Naaza's voice in his head, though Naaza was speaking more to Rajura. Naaza, not many people would think, was the most patient of all the Ma-Sho. He was very willing to wait for years just to get something done. He could also be very sensible, the serpent in him showing it's nature. He'd once told Sh’ten that snakes are very logical and single-minded in their pursuits. He also tended to look for the simplest solutions.

WHEN HAVE WE EVER UNDERSTOOD ANYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED TO US? Naaza said in that soft, slightly hissing voice Sh’ten had grown to love. JUST ACCEPT WHAT WE ARE GIVEN AND BE GRATEFUL IF WE CAN SAVE THEM. DON'T QUESTION WHAT WE ARE. YOU WON'T FIND AN ANSWER.

Though Sh’ten loved his Za-chan to the depths of his soul, he had to say that he found Naaza’s attitude odd. How could he not look for answers? Sh’ten knew there was more to life than what one saw. If there was a mystery, he wanted to solve it. There must be someone or something that knows why we have this power and what they are. ‘We were certainly not human, so what are we?’

PERHAPS WE SHOULD KILL THEIR FAMILIES TO STOP THEM QUESTIONING. WE DON'T KNOW IF THEY ARE DANGEROUS. Anubisu suggested, not wanting to get to deep into the philosophical argument he knew that could explode between Naaza and Sh’ten. He, like his brothers, has no great love for humans and the deaths of four more wouldn't really bother any of them if the humans intended to stand between them and their new family.

Naaza advised, DON'T DO IT, TEN-CHAN. HOW WOULD YOU HAVE REACTED IF I HAD KILLED YOUR DAUGHTER TO BRING YOU TO THE YOUJA-KAI THAT MUCH SOONER? TO SEVER ALL TIES TO THE NINGEN SEKAI IS NOT ALL THAT IMPORTANT, WE HAVE TIME TO WAIT.

That made Sh’ten pause and he remembered the flame haired girl he’d left behind long ago.

THEY WILL COME TO US SOONER OR LATER, WE ONLY HAVE TO WAIT. Naaza continued.

Well, that was true. In a few short years they would start to realize that they'd stopped aging. In a couple of decades, their families would be gone. When they were alone, save for each other, they would realize that they belonged with the Ma-Sho. ‘We belong together, after all. It's natural for us to seek each other out.’

Sh’ten remembered watching his daughter, sweet Kadiri, grow up while he still looked like a new father. She grew older, until people who saw them thought Sh’ten was Kadiri’s brother and later he was mistaken for her son. Sh’ten watched his daughter marry and have a son of her own. He watched his grandson grow up and have a child of his own. Sh’ten cried at his daughter's burial, but not just for her. She was old and withered with age. Yet Sh’ten was the same as he had been at nineteen. With her children and grandchildren all around him, Sh’ten felt utterly alone.

It was at Kadiri's funeral that Sh’ten had met Naaza. Naaza with his bright green hair and serpent eyes who seemed disgusted with the people around him. The caste mark on his forehead showing him to be from far off India, but the faint cast of green to his skin proved that he was not quite human. Naaza was waiting for Sh’ten and told him that he was not alone. There were others like him and they were waiting for him. Naaza had told Sh’ten, after the burial, of tales of the glorious Youja-Kai. Stories of power and unimaginable battles. But, best of all, he’d told Sh’ten that no one ever aged. Sh’ten wouldn't have to lose anyone to age again. Together forever.

If Naaza had murdered Sh’ten’s daughter just to get him to go to the Youja-Kai a few years sooner, Sh’ten would never have gone with them. Perhaps he was right about patience with the mortals. They didn’t want to anger their new brothers unnecessarily, after all.

"I am Oni Ma-Sho Sh'ten Doji." Sh’ten told the people watching him. "You're friends are in pain because of something that happened to the last of their number. We can save them and we will. The only question is whether you will try to stop us or not." Sh’ten started walking toward Seiji.

"We have doctors to help them." The masked man told Sh’ten.

"Doctors who will not be able to touch them without causing them harm. Doctors who can not explain this." Sh’ten knelt and pointed to the symbol of courtesy of Seiji's forehead. "Or this." He gestured to - but didn't touch - the yoroi orb around Seiji's neck that was also glowing, bright green. None of the humans had an answer for that.

Without waiting for an answer, Sh’ten bent and touched his forehead to Seiji's and, surprisingly, found a crumbling wall. It must have been broken down when Xiu's mind surged through them all. It had been a clumsy wall, but effective enough to hold out the minds of his brothers. As Rajura has told him to Sh’ten tried to show Seiji how to build a shield, rather than force him to do it, and it worked much better. It seemed that none of them liked being made to do anything. Without the confusion of added minds, Korin could focus on healing himself.

If only the yoroi could tell Sh’ten how to get all our lost memory back.

Hmmm. Now that's another interesting question. It seems that Duo was the only one of them who remembered anything of their lives together. No, not quite. Byakuen, also, remembered all of them and seems to want to get them together.

If Arago took their memories after sending Ryou, Duo, and Kay to this world, who took Ryou's memory?

Did Kay, wherever she was, remember anything?

So many questions and not one answer in sight.

Finally, Sh’ten got all of the boys resting properly and then it was time to decide what to do next. They were far too weak to be taken home to the Youja-Kai - Arago would surely take advantage of their vulnerable states. Then, there was the question of what, exactly, to tell the children once they did wake up.

HONESTY IS EASIEST AND BEST. Anubisu said in our minds. He was a very simple person and not much for getting things complicated by lies.

BITE YOUR TONGUE, BOY! Rajura shouted back, offended.

I'M SERIOUS. Anubisu responded.

SO AM I.

COME ON, WE'LL HAVE TO TELL THEM IN THE END, WHY BOTHER LYING NOW?

WHAT IF THEIR FAMILIES FIND OUT? Rajura asked.

Sh’ten answered, ASK ME IF I CARE. DUO ALREADY KNOWS EVERYTHING FROM WHAT HE'S TOLD ME ON OUR WAY OVER HERE AND HEERO SEEMS TO KNOW QUITE A BIT, ALSO.

Rajura sounded irritated. I ALL READY TOLD XIU I'D KILL HIS FAMILY IF HE TOLD THEM ABOUT US. ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE A LIAR OUT OF ME?

DO I HAVE TO BOTHER ANSWERING THAT? I DON'T CARE IF THEIR FAMILIES FIND OUT, WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO, ATTACK THE YOUJA KAI? DO YOU THINK THEY CAN DEFEND AGAISNT US WHEN WE DO ATTACK?

Anubisu interrupted, SO, ARE WE AGREED THAT WE TELL THEM EVERYTHING?

ONLY TO THE BOYS. Naaza compromised. WE DON'T TELL ANYTHING TO THE MORTALS, THE CHILDREN CAN DO THAT LATER, IF THEY WANT TO. THEY MIGHT NOT WANT THEIR FAMILIES TO FIND OUT THEY AREN'T EXACTLY HUMAN. He had intimate knowledge of that kind feeling.

AGREED. Sh’ten said. It was a plan, at least. What were they going to do with the children until they were strong enough to face Arago safely, though?

AGREED. Anubisu said quickly, happy to have a decision, finally.

Rajura was silent.

IS SOMETHING WRONG? Sh’ten asked.

I THOUGHT WE'D BE CONNECTED TO THEM LIKE WE ARE TO EACH OTHER. ARE WE REALLY THAT DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER?

WE MUST BE. THEY ARE STILL LIKE US, THOUGH, THEY ARE YOROI BEARERS.

BUT, WE CAN'T EVEN FEEL BASIC EMOTIONS FROM THEM, LET ALONE MIND SPEAK. I CAN'T FEEL THE SLIGHTEST THING FROM XIU, NOT EVEN WHEN THE YOROI TOOK HIM, OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT HE WAS THERE. WE CAN TELL WHERE THEY ARE, BUT NOTHING ELSE. LOOK AT THEM.

They all took a look in their minds at their psychic beings. It was like being separated by a glass wall. They could see - but not feel - the healthy, strong Xiu, Kongo, glowing bright as a pumpkin, among the weaker colors of red, green, and two shades of blue. They were fireflies compared to Xiu's brilliant light and he would have burned them out if the Ma-Sho hadn't been able to shield them.

WHO KNOWS? PERHAPS, AS NAAZA SAID, WE JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT WHAT WE ARE AND NOT QUESTION IT. WE MAY NEVER KNOW THE ANSWERS. Anubisu said.

Sh’ten just couldn’t accept it! ‘We have to know what we are. We must be more than just warriors and instruments for the yoroi! One day, I will find out!’

"We will guard the children until they wake up." Anubisu told the mortals bluntly. "You have no choice in this matter, so do not argue. We would prefer to take them to their homes for certain safety reasons, but if you cause us trouble, we will take them elsewhere and you will not be able to stop us."

The dark haired girl glared, as did the blonde boy.

"What makes you think we don't have a choice?" The red auburn haired man asked. "Swords are no match for guns when attacking at a distance." He pulled aside his dress coat to reveal a small gun, belted to his hip, though he didn't draw his weapon.

Sh’ten opened his mouth to answer, but Anubisu said, OH, LET ME DO IT, PLEASE.

WHATEVER YOU WANT, 'NUBIE.

Anubisu raised his no-datchi high and shouted, "Koku Rou Ken Ankoku Cho Uhigiri!" (Black Lightening Cut or, more literally, Black Wolf Sword Leaping Darkness.)

From the sword, streaks of black lightening arched out, shattering the ceiling, letting the starlight in. The masked man put his arms protectively around the man who'd threatened the Ma-Sho with that gun thing and the dark haired woman leaned over her brother to protect him from the falling roof. With bits of the ceiling still falling, Anubisu concentrated and Sh’ten knew what that meant. Sudden gusts of freezing cold wind blew through the room and in seconds it was snowing inside, ice hung from furniture and they were all shaking uncontrollably. After the little display, and it was undeniably a "little" display, Anubisu lowered his no-datchi and let the cold ease off.

"Do you still believe your weapon can match mine?" Anubisu asked the mortal arrogantly.

The auburn haired mortal's eyes narrowed, clearly unhappy with the situation, but he seemed to be a calm thinker and was trying to figure out the best course of action before he did or said anything hasty. He was certainly not afraid, just cautious. He dusted a light covering of snow off his sleeve.

"Very well, you clearly have us at a disadvantage. Don't you think it would be a little rash to kidnap people, right in the middle of an army base?"

Sh’ten rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the thought. "Don't make me kill you, ningen. It would all be too much fun. They need someone to take care of them. You are not able to, so we will."

The blonde boy asked. "Why are they so different all of a sudden? There was nothing wrong with them yesterday." He asked in a deceptively innocent voice. If this boy had yoroi, oh what an opponent he would be! Such fierce emotion in his eyes and the violence Sh’ten knew was hiding under the surface was lovely.

"There's nothing wrong with them now!" Anubisu said defensively. "I'm sure you wouldn't understand. It's not really your business, anyway. What is your relationship to these boys?"

The blonde said, "Touma's my brother." He looked down briefly at the blue haired boy before saying in a very firm tone, "He and Shin are coming home with me."

Sh’ten almost smiled. There was a very dominant person hiding under those soft blue eyes and the gentle voice.

"Excellent." Sh’ten thought he surprised the blonde with that. "I will accompany you and guard them until they wake. When I have a chance to speak with them about what is happening, then I will leave you home most willingly."

"You only want to talk to them?"

"Yes."

The blonde was honestly worried and Sh’ten had to think that it was nice for Touma to have such loving family. The blonde finally nodded. "You will be watched, while in my home, but I don't see that I have any choice. You seem to be the only ones who understand what's going on with them. I am Quatre Rababer Winner." He introduced himself formally and tried to smile. "I'm sorry we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, but Touma is very special and I don't want to see him hurt."

Well, that's nice. Unfortunately, Sh’ten rather thought Touma would look better if he were in a little bit of pain. Still, he thought everyone looks better with pain of some kind.

"Seiji's my brother." The girl said, her look almost as hard as Quatre's was. "He and Ryou are staying with me."

Anubisu grunted, sheathing his no-datchi across his shoulders. "I'll go with them, then. "Call me, Anubisu, girl."

She raised one elegant eyebrow and said stiffly, "Call me, Noin, boy."

Their eyes met and Sh’ten raised an eyebrow. It would be an interesting night for them.


Continued...