Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ On History ❯ One-Shot

By the time Mia gave up on translating her grandfather's research, late night had turned into way-too-early morning. She stretched, hearing her spine pop in several places as the computer shut down. Turning lights off as she went, Mia headed to the kitchen for a snack-maybe chocolate milk to help her sleep. Passing a window, Mia was surprised to see someone laying in the grass outside. Having a hunch as to who it was, she went outside.

Approaching quietly, Mia was almost surprised when he didn't leap into a defensive stance. Getting soft, maybe? She sat down next to him, ignoring the idea. "Why aren't you inside, Dais?" The white-haired Warlord looked at Mia, apparently noticing her for the first time.

"Why aren't you?" he replied.

"Because I wanted to see why you aren't." Mia smiled, knowing she'd not be confused so easily. "So?"

"I was thinking about what life used to be like, I guess. Before I went one-eyed."

"What about it? Did you leave family behind when you joined Talpa?"

Dais shook his head, which was a bit difficult since he still lay on the ground. "As far as I know, I had no family. Certainly never had kids or anything to worry about."

"Was that regret I just detected?" Silence. "Why did you join Talpa, Dais? What did you have to gain?" Dais didn't answer for so long that Mia was ready to retract her question when he spoke again.

"I was different from everybody. Before I got my armor, I was an orphan with white hair, plenty of intelligence, and no one to call 'friend'. They didn't even give me the tiniest hint of real respect, so when Talpa offered to make me one of his generals, I readily accepted. If I couldn't earn their respect, I'd earn their fear. I forgot my original intentions, of course, when Talpa took my eye, establishing control. And that's all that's important. Happy now?"

Mia blinked at the sudden bitterness directed at her.

"More than I was, I guess. You need to let it go, Dais, because-in case you've forgotten-everyone who did you wrong is long dead. Worry instead about adapting to the modern world. Heck, if you're good, I'll even teach you French."

"I sense a 'but' coming," Dais said when Mia's pause lasted longer than necessary.

"Even now, you won't get much respect. There's a lot more people in the world, in Japan, who have more important things to worry about than whether they've dissed some guy with white hair. Just keep it in your head that you're important to their being here and living a normal life. If Grandfather hadn't kept telling me I'd do great things in my life, I might not have been around to help the guys."

"Didn't you have any friends?"

"Oh, sure I had friends. The TV and my books. In school they avoided me like the plague, so that was all I had to do when my homework was done. But you get the picture, I'm sure, so let's go inside-I need sleep and so do you."

Dais hesitated only a moment before following Mia into the house. Maybe he would follow her advice. After all, he really wanted to learn French.