Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ No Namer #2 ❯ Chapter 3

PART 1.3 FOREBODING

Nicole let her slender hand fall away from the curtain with a soft hiss of skin brushing across sheer fabric. Her fever had broken around noon, and she had steadily felt better since. She, Sai, and Rowen had been passing the time swapping stories and playing board games while they waited for Sage to come home from work. They waited. And waited. They tried to call the clinic only to find the phones were down for some reason. So, they had waited some more. Now, the sun was letting its last dying rays fade away, the brilliant colors of sunset muting to the cooler shades of midnight and violet on the horizon. Sage was never late, and he always stopped by the house before heading off to teach kendo. Surely he hadn't been absent there as well? She began to worry.

"Checkmate," Rowen yawned, knocking aside Sai's white king. "Sixteenth time in a row. Wanna have another round?"

Sai groaned and leaned back in his chair, fingers lacing behind his head.

"Yeah, like I want to have a lobotomy," he smirked. "Let's do something else. Something I can win at, maybe?"

"Sore loser," Rowen snorted before glancing over at the forlorn looking little Date. "Relax, Spooky, he'll come home. He probably got tied up in traffic or something. Or maybe he had a hot, secret date!"

Sai did what Nicole couldn't reach Rowen to do and kicked him under the table.

"You're thinking vicariously again," the brunette grinned, knowing his friend all too well. Nicole giggled appreciatively, then went back to gazing out the window. Pale green eyes turned upwards, catching sight of the enormous flower of color in the clear sky. So that was what Rowen was all in a tizzy about. She barely had time to begin to think it was sort of pretty when the wave of nausea hit her and she jerked the curtain closed, swallowing hard to keep from being sick. Rowen looked to her and frowned, rising from his chair, but she waved him off.

"I guess I'm just pushing myself a bit is all," she smiled reassuringly at him and curled into the blankets, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the lingering, burning sting in her throat. She had always been highly empathic, to a degree even Sage couldn't reach. Had that been a moment of genuine illness or a surge of energies so negative as to make her physically ill? The thought fled her mind as someone knocked at the door. Rowen, already on his feet, left to answer it. She could faintly hear voices coming from the living room. Her heart sank when she realized the new voice was not her cousin's. Yet, it was familiar…

A dusky-topped, spring loaded missile bounced in the door and all but tackled Sai from his chair, making the poor boy squawk and flail for balance. Nicole smiled. Kento, of course. The big Fuan plucked the slighter figure from his seat and hugged him until she could hear audible pops. Sai gasped and struggled, kicking uselessly at his overenthusiastic friend's legs.

"Put me down, you big ox!!" he cried. "I can't bloody well breathe!"

Kento grinned and simply opened his arms, dumping Sai awkwardly on his rear. He sat there a moment, rubbing his ribs, then looked up and laughed. "I'm glad to see you too, but you've got to find a less violent way to greet people!" Kento rubbed the back of his head and chuckled, then blinked when he saw Nicole.

"Spooky! I didn't see you there for a minute," he stammered slightly. Nicole tried not to giggle. He could be so cute, but she didn't want to offend him by laughing at his genuine efforts. "How am I feeling? I mean, how are you feeling?" he blushed slightly at the blunder, quietly cursing himself. Nicole just smiled at him and motioned a pale hand towards the flowers, now on her bedstand and carefully vased and watered.

"Thank you," she beamed. "That was very thoughtful of you, and I love the colors."

"Geh hee!" was more or less the sound he made, still rubbing the back of his head and grinning like an idiot. "You're welcome, I…"

"Your arm!" Nicole cried softly and reached for his bandaged forearm, gently bringing it where she could see it. Kento swallowed and let her.

"It's nothing," he said quietly. "A stray cat or something bit me last night."

"'Or something?'" Nicole gave him a concerned, disapproving look. "Especially if you don't even know what it was, you should go to a doctor immediately! It may have had rabies or something. Promise me you'll go, or have Sage look at it when he comes home, okay?" Well, who could say no to that? Kento nodded and gently took his arm back.

"It would seem we have nearly a full house this evening," came a soft voice from the doorway.

"Sage!" Nicole cried and tossed the covers off, bolting to her cousin to throw her arms around him in relief. The blonde man blinked and hugged her gently, setting his palm to her forehead.

"Your fever is gone," he commented, smiling. Nicole looked up at him and frowned slightly. His ambiguously colored eyes seemed to be more grey than blue or green at the moment, and at this proximity, she could sense he had been terribly drained.

"What?" he blinked.

"We've been trying to reach you for hours. What happened? Why didn't you come home?" she asked softly, those pale emeralds searching his face…perhaps deeper. Sage sighed deeply and led her back towards bed, stepping around the upset chess board Kento had dumped in his greeting.

"I've had quite the day, sweet one," he murmured, tucking her back in before turning to the others, arms crossing habitually. "I think something is going on….something that may require our attention."

"No kidding," Rowen rolled his eyes heavenward and flopped into a chair, legs straight out and crossed at the ankles. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed yet…"

"Noticed what?" Sage asked. Kento sat up and took notice as well.

"Geh," Rowen scratched his head and leaned back. "I can't really put my finger on it, but something is definitely happening."

"How typically vague of you," Sage replied wearily with an uncharacteristically bitter tone.

"Craaaa-aaanky," Rowen gave him a cool, sidelong glance before continuing. Sage looked away, guilty. Tired or no, he should speak kindly to his friends. "What's your problem, anyway?"

"The clinic was….swamped, to say the least," Sage admitted, one hand to his temple tiredly. "There seems to have been a bizarre number of injuries and accidents, and quite a few deaths as a result. They don't seem to have any common link…just…a very large number of apparently freak accidents. They all seemed to have happened some time in the night or early morning, however."

Rowen and Sai exchanged glances.

"Sage," Sai spoke up softly. "Our armor spheres have been acting strangely." He cast his eyes from Kento to Sage and back again. "What about you two?"

Kento blinked and reached into his pocket to retrieve his. He didn't carry it with him on a regular basis, not since things had calmed down, anyway. His fingers nonetheless contacted the cool, smooth surface of the orb. They were always wherever they were needed, it would seem. He drew it out into the open, holding it in his palm. Sage had done the same. Both were pulsing with a slow, steady blush of light, Kento's flooding his fingers with rich orange while Sage's flashed cool veridian. Sage held his a long moment before closing pale fingers over the sphere.

"It's just too much of a coincidence," he sighed, closing his eyes and leaning heavily against the wall. "We are being called back to arms once more. Perhaps the Dynasty is reawakening…perhaps something else is going on. But this is a definite sign."

"I'm pretty sure that freaky star amoeba thing," Sai began, but stopped at an absolutely deadly glare from Rowen. "Excuse me, supernova that has appeared is somehow connected."

"I'm starting to think that it may not be a nova at all," Rowen confessed, scratching his head. "I dunno about you guys, but I get a really creepy feeling whenever I look at it, and I like that kind of stuff."

Nicole looked up with a blink.

"Then it wasn't just me?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Do you sense something?" Sage asked, pushing off from the wall and coming to sit on the edge of the bed. Spooky nodded, tucking a stray lock of red hair behind her ear.

"Strongly, Sage," she sighed and hugged herself, shivering slightly. "So strongly it makes me ill to even look at it."

Kento watched Nicole, and he found his hand had closed so tightly about his orb that his palm ached.

"So can't we do something about the damn thing?" he demanded.

"If you can reach out trillions of miles into space and somehow manage to pummel an enormous cloud of gas and heat, be my guest," Rowen laughed. "If it really is a nova, or anything like it, there's no possible way we could get rid of it."

"I refuse to believe we're helpless!" Kento snarled, both hands curling into fists. "If something bad is really happening, we should be able to do something about it! And if we can't do anything about it, then why would our orbs be blinking like that, huh? Why would they bother?"

"It could just be that they react to evil," Sai suggested. "Maybe they aren't really trying to indicate that we should be using them."
"Perhaps," Sage replied, stroking back Nicole's hair before standing. "At any rate, this is something we definitely need to think on. I'm guessing that when I go in to the clinic tomorrow, there will be a whole new slew of patients…and more death. Until we know more, the most that I, for one, can do, is to try and help those who fall victim." With that, he disappeared, headed for a badly needed hot shower and even more importantly, bed.

"Oh jeez!" Kento cried suddenly, making everyone jump. "What time is it?!"

"Er…creeping up on nine, I think," Sai replied, glancing at his watch. "H-hey! Where are you going?"

"I have a promise to keep!" he called back as he rushed out the door. Sai gave Rowen a puzzled look. Hashiba just shrugged, spreading his thin hands.

"I'm going to see what information I can scare up," he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Sai, you see if you can't get ahold of Ryo. Tell him to get his butt over here as soon as possible."

Sai nodded and turned to Nicole with a kind smile.

"Get well soon, okay?" he told her. "We'll be back tomorrow morning, and tomorrow night, I'll cook for you and the guys!"

"Kento and Rowen will like that, won't you, Rowen?" Nicole giggled. Ro rubbed the back of his head and flashed her a wide grin.

"Take care, Nicole," he tugged Sai towards the door. "See you tomorrow!"

Nicole smiled and nestled under the covers as they left. She lay in silence for a long moment, listening to the distant sound of water running somewhere. It was a soothing kind of sound, one that reminded her that she wouldn't be alone in the house tonight. Slowly, that steady, muted rushing sound would lull her into troubled dreams.