Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Insanity's Requiem ❯ Hijacking that which isn't yours ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Ok, what can I say? I don't own em, end of story.

Beginning note: Well, here comes chapter 9…its nine now, right? Anyways, it's all good. Hope you like it, and while you enjoy, I shall move all these stupid rocks that are in the way of my garden. Grrr…: P

Insanity's Requiem

Chapter 9: Hijacking what isn't yours

Two weeks passed since the burning of the school's gym. Having been blamed on some sort of bombing attempt, they kept school out as they tried to make sure that the rest of the school was safe, resulting in a longer vacation then anyone had thought they would get. Most of the students cheered for their unusually good luck, but six teenagers weren't.

The battle weighed heavily on their minds, and Lethias hadn't made a move at all during that time. It seemed like a game of cat and mouse, with no one sure of what roles they had to play. Day after day, as they passed, Ryo and the others thought about the way they would handle an attack as they expected one at anytime.

Mia fought to keep the seriousness from getting too thick, and finally suggested a way to end the tension with a training session. It would keep their skills sharp, and wouldn't get to be too rough as long as it was outside, anyways. The boys eagerly agreed, dragging a confused Lena out with them.

Playing the spectator, Lena silently watched the moves they executed as Kento drew her to the side and began to attempt to teach her a few of them. Nodding to him, she started to mimic as he and the others corrected or encouraged her at turns as mistakes and successes were made.

This became repetitive over the two weeks and more. Each of the guy's skill returned sharp as ever with Lena becoming better at what she was learning, most likely a result from working at it all day, each day. However, no matter how much they tried, questions in their mind still rang through. When will Lethias appear again? How would they defeat him?

Lena still questioned her sanity, trying to find the balance ground that the spirits needed to be on with her so that they didn't drive her insane, which she figured she probably already was.

“Careful Ro! I don't want to be impaled!” Cye cried, dodging another of Rowen's arrows as he closed in on the space between him and Strata's bearer.

“Sorry buddy! Gotta play rough!” Rowen grinned slightly, twisting to avoid the thrust from the yari Cye aimed at him. Cye just snorted as he slinked to the side, renewing the vigor of the attack as Rowen blocked yet again.

Ryo grimaced as Sage swung the no-datchi into his kantanas, exhaustion beginning to creep into his mind from the prolonged practice. Sage panted, a sweat pouring down his brow as he silently attacked as fiercely as a dragon, but modified for attacking a friend before him. “Come on, Sage! That can't be all there is!”

Sage grinned a bit, swinging a thrust at him again, “What? Getting tired?

Ryo just rolled his eyes as he landed after his dodging jump, readying himself for round two.

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To your left!

Lena gasped, dodging as best as she could as Kento's punch sliced through the air. She frowned a bit as she backed up, watching him grin in approval as he began to attack again.

On your right!

`Shut up, darn you! I'm trying to concentrate!'

Down below!

“I see it! I need to learn to spot it for myself without help! Knock it off!”

Don't let him hit you!

“I won't!” Lena growled a bit, distracted by the voices that the spirits were throwing into her mind. It was beginning to drive her nuts, and it didn't help matters that she was a beginner at this game. Suddenly, she found herself gasping for air, the wind knocked out of her as a searing pain hit her in the stomach. Doubling over, she barely heard Kento's concerned voice.

“Lena, you alright? Hey!” Kento asked stepping forward as she fought not to drop to the ground in pain. Damn it hurt though.

Biting her lip, she nodded, fighting the tears that had sprung in her eyes. Kento cursed to himself. Yea, it was his turn to train her and help her learn, but she had been getting better so quickly now that he had gotten careless and forgotten that she was still a beginner. Damn! He was such an idiot! “Come on, let's get you inside and have Mia or Sage look at that. God, I'm sorry.”

Lena looked up, shaking her head, her breath coming back to her for the moment, “I'm fine. It wasn't your fault…I got distracted. You guys tell me not too…but I did anyways.”

Kento just glared at her. His eyes went out of focus, telling her that he was using the link. She cursed to herself, wishing that she could have just whipped that look off his face and gotten him to just continue training. This was all so that she knew how to defend herself, wasn't it? In fights, you didn't get second chances.

`Sage? Can I get some help here?” Kento's voice came along the line, clear for all the others to hear. Each of them stopped at the waver in their friend's voice.

Ryo's eyes narrowed as he thought about it, `Damn it, Kento. What did you do?'

`I didn't do anything! Well…I did…but…well…Lena and I were training.'

`Ok, what's new, hardhead? Come on, it was your turn to teach her and help her along.' Rowen said, grumbling slightly as he glanced about, gratefully accepting a glass of water from Cye. Each of the Ronins looked at each other with a sigh as they waited for the rest. Sage was already making his way over to where Kento and Lena had been training.

`I punched her a good one in the gut…' Kento's voice almost sounded frightful.

`You what?!” Chorused the others as if on cue at the same time.

`Oh my, I'm on my way Kento. Be more careful! You knew she was a beginner! You don't go all out on someone you are trying to teach, until you know they are ready for it!' Sage grumbled, getting to the clearing that the two were in, seeing that Lena was sitting on the ground, glaring up at a rather nervous looking Kento. From there he could already see that Lena was fine, if not annoyed at getting babied.

`I know! I know!' Kento looked up rather guiltily, shrugging at him, his orange shirt shifting with him. Sage shook his head, dislodging his armor in favor of the undergear. None of them trained in the armor against Lena, they wanted her to learn, not get pummeled.

Sage sighed, kneeling down next to Lena with a small grin on his face, “Here. Let me take a look.”

Lena jumped, looking over at him with a sheepish grin. He blinked slightly, “What, did I say something wrong? I was just going to take a look at the bruise…”

She shook her head, “No. It isn't you. I'm just getting a full throttle argument in my head right now, and I'm wondering if it's me or those blasted…spirits.”

“An argument?” Kento asked, looking down at her, pulling from his guilt long enough to find out what she meant.

“They were what had distracted me,” Lena rolled her eyes, gingerly bringing her hands up to her head to try to block the voices from talking in her mind.

We told you that you would get hurt.

Let us help. We really aren't all that bad, are we?

You are a stupid moron, she told you to leave her alone…

I was. You were the one who decided to yell at her. Anyways, you really should just back off…

Want to take this out over with the tree spites? I'm sure that we could get Lena to officiate for us…

She can't see us yet. How would it be fair?

I don't care about that…you just have to stop arguing with me! I know what I'm talking about…I've been in the wind for a long time now.

And I am of the earth, what of it?

“Would you all just shut up?!” Lena cried, leaning forward, covering her ears as if to stop the voices from becoming more powerful. It was really giving her a migraine.

“What we do?” Kento looked perplexed as Lena jumped, realizing that they were still there, followed by a wince of pain when she jolted the bruised part of her chest. This just wasn't her day.

“Not you…them!” She pointed to her head, feeling like an absolute moron. She wanted to take that hurt look off Sage's face. More then anything, she truly wanted to.

Sage nodded in understanding, leaning forward to begin healing the spot that was injured with a wry grin. He knew what it was that was going on, at least from a vague standpoint. When he was done, he patted her shoulder, receiving a grateful smile that he returned. He gave her a hand up just as she turned to reassure Kento, who was ready to swear off his desert tonight in repentance.

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After Lena had been fixed up, Kento went to train with the others and Lena made sure to practice a bit on her own. Kento had gotten over it rather quickly, Cye having given him a couple of cookies and who knows how many sodas. They beat each other senselessly as Lena took off with Mia, willingly to help out with getting the food and other such supplies that she deemed necessary for all of them to have.

During this time Kayura decided to visit. Now she sat before them, giving them the debriefing of what she knew, “I do know from Cale that Lethias is almost ready to make his move again. An evil spirit was sent from his realm to this one, surprising since he can't do that with many due to the sheer lack of them. Anyways, apparently he's possessed someone or something. That type of energy isn't just a fool around kinda thing, you know?”

Sage nodded at that, “True. But what could he gain from that. Each of us are pretty good at being able to figure those things out.”

“Exactly what has me puzzled. I also found out from Mia's research, which she has given me; that the other item needed for the spirits to truly be able to act is a flute. No one is quite sure what it does, but it's almost like a bamboo flute, really.” Kayura comments, smiling slightly as Kento crossed his eyes at the thought of a flute.

“Well, if that's the case…who would he try to possess? Since the flute is out of our hands right now,” Cye spoke up, lounging in a chair across from Ryo.

“Someone easy to do so…filled with malice, hate…so on. I mean, it's easiest when the person has a jealousy of some kind, catch the drift?” She asked.

“Yea, I think we do. The only thing is, who would he try to do that to? We know his primary goal right now…it's obvious, and of course the dark power is rising, we can feel that in the air itself,” Rowen said, nodding as he used his mind to rapidly figure it out.

The room fell silent, “That's what we are trying to figure out. Sehkmet is going nuts from not being able to solve this part of the puzzle yet, and he's mainly looking for that damn flute.”

Rowen's head was bowed as his mind began to rapidly switch about. The words easiest, jealousy and malice filled his head as he tried to piece together the puzzle. Sage leaned over with a tap on his shoulder, trying to see why the young man had suddenly fell silent when Rowen's head shot up, his eyes wide, “Sage, remember that first day Lena went to school? The clashes she had?”

The boys nodded at that, then stopped. Each one came to the same conclusion.

“Damn! Guys! We gotta move!” Ryo cried, leaping up, instantly in his undergear as they all took off too Kento's van.

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“Mia…have you ever thought that maybe you didn't have to circle back and forth in the grocery store to get what you need?” Lena groaned, walking behind the older woman, man handling two large brown sacks. Mia just smiled over her shoulder with a shrug, “I can't help it. I need to get the best stuff, and it's hard when you doubt yourself on it.”

Lena sighed, “You really, really shouldn't. It's a pain!”

Mia just laughed as they opened the jeep's trunk. The grocery store had been rather empty of people that day. The parking lot had few cars and it amazed the girls as they put the groceries away. It was kind of nice, but it sent a bit of a chill down their spines at the same time. It was, after all, a Monday afternoon.

“It's kinda creepy, isn't it?” Mia asked, glancing about as she smiled back at Lena, who was currently fixing her pony tail.

“Yea, it is,” Lena nodded as she closed the trunk, “I wonder why i-“

Lena's question was interrupted by a scream of terror. Widening her eyes, she looked over at Mia at the same time as Mia looked back at her. Together they frowned, taking off in the direction of the scream.

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Three black demons stood before the terrified girl who trembled in fright. Her bright blue eyes shone with her fear as her petite complexion was held in taut fear. The scales upon the creature's bodies glistened as they focused their red eyes upon their pray. She screamed again as one of them lunged, only to be knocked aside by someone who pulled a flying kick against the thing, “You ok?!”

The girl opened her eyes as her mouth dropped in shock, “Lena?! What are you doing here?”

“We heard the scream and came to see what it was. You alright, Minako?” Lena asked, looking over her shoulder at the girl as she held the stance that Sage had taught her to use. Mia stayed back out of the way; ready to act with a weapon if she had to.

Watch out! There is something evil here!

Lena shook her head, frowning at the creatures before her. “I know that…Those demons are before us, aren't they? Help me figure out how to beat these things down without the guys!”

We don't mean the demons…there is something more subtle here. Be careful…

Lena nodded at that as she slammed one of the creatures back with a thrust of her foot. Whipping around, she held her balance in another simple move as she pounded her fist into the creature's stomach. Her breathing became shallow as sweat beaded upon her forehead. She wasn't battle hardened, only well versed in self defense. The battle was wearing hard on her, and she prayed that she would be able to find her way out of this alright with Mia and Minako, as much as she disliked her.

A claw slammed her back as she fought to defend, thrown back against the ground. Another came towards her head as she winced, shutting her eyes desperately as she felt a familiar stirring. The jewel around her neck began to glow as the barrier erected itself once more about them in a shimmering purple color.

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“Why the rush, Ro?” Kento yelled, running as fast as the others.

“Because, if I'm right…the girls will already be with the person who has been possessed!” Rowen cried as they heard a scream pierce the air about them. Sage led the way as they jumped up on top of the building, watching Lena swing a kick at one of the demons.

“Hey…looks like the lessons are helping,” Kento grinned at Cye. Cye just rolled his eyes as they turned their attention. Seeing Lena get slammed back to the ground, Rowen reacted immediately, and as the creatures surged, he fired an arrow into the midst of the monsters, causing them to back off. Immediately, five armored guys jumped into the fray, beating back the creatures.

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Lena opened her eyes as she stood up, standing between the girl and the monsters as they slammed forward once more against her barrier. She wavered, and then held as she grimaced, “What do you want? Are you here for Lethias?!”

Minako's eyes widened at the sound of that name, and then returned to normal as the monsters growled at the barrier more ferocious then ever. Lena screamed out as they battered again, her own mind beginning to feel the strain of holding something like this up so long. The monsters came back once more when an arrow caused them to step back. Suddenly, five colorful armors appeared on the scene, fighting back the demons.

Lena smiled in relief as she dropped the barrier…or…the spirits did. EH…who was counting?

The demons were fought back as a familiar presence made it known to them. Looking to the side, on top of the building stood Lethias, grinning. Kento reacted immediately, slamming up in front of the others, “Now you show your face? See that? We beat your forces back!”

Lethias just laughed and shook his head as Lena looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. What was he going on about? Lethias shook his head, “You have underestimated me, young Hardrock. And for that, I will walk away with the victory! Now then, exact your revenge my dear! Do what I have asked, and you will have what you desire!”

Watch out!! The evil...it's rising!!

“What?!” Ryo shouted as Mia screamed, being shoved aside by Minako. No one had time to react as the young girl connected a pipe with the back of the girl's head, causing her to collapse. Minako grinned as the boys tried to react, but Lethias got there first. Standing before the Ronins, he picked Lena up over his shoulder and grinned maliciously, “Check mate, Ronin Rats.”

He gave a snide wink as he then disappeared, taking his unconscious captive as the others stood in shock.

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Author's note: Finally got this chapter finished, and was able to put it and chapter 8 up on ffnet. Don't know why, but I was unable to log on during that time. Very strange…Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, because it was the bridge in-between the last parts and the true part of the story…or so I'm leading myself to believe. Anyways, here goes what I hope works! Thanks for reading and please, let me know what you think!

Hikaru

Reviews: Thanks so much for them! I'm surprised you found the chapter 8 on mediaminer.org, but go you guys!

Inda: Not sure about special attacks yet, but I'm thinking about it. If you have suggestions, send them my way! Lol

Meira Evanstar: Thanks for the review. And believe me, the reviews you guys arte giving me warms my heart and makes me want to update as fast as I can. Ffnet really put a hitch in that, but I'm sure it was just a strange glitch! Lol Hope you liked this chapter as well!

Preview:

“How could I have been so stupid?!”

~8~

“What's that weird music?”

~8~

“You have to calm down!”