Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Past Meets Future ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 7 )

Rating: T

Pairings: Future selves: RyoxMia, CyexCelena, KentoxKahlan, RowenxLee, and SagexSaphrita. Past Selves: CyexCelena and RyoxMia. Kids: None yet.

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING SO STOP BOTHERING ME!

SSSSSSSSS scene change

italics telepathy

“yap yap yap” talk

`yap yap yap' thoughts

 

Past

Meets

Future

Chapter 5

 

Reika awoke from a dream of blood and weapons with a gasp. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to remember how she'd gotten there. She remembered the fight with Shin against all those soldiers, Aunt Kalhan telling her that the children were safe, and then a voice commanding her to sleep. Reika realized that she'd been tossing in her sleep; her sheets were tangled around her legs and lower body. They were soaked with sweat and …tears? She brushed her hand against her cheek and realized that she had been crying. Reika buried her face in them, taking in deep breaths. That dream. She had to open her eyes again; she could see it playing out again against her closed eyelids. It was Sonya's dream again; the one she'd seen and banished, giving the infant some rest.

`I wish I could do the same for myself' Reika thought.

But why would she be having that dream? It didn't make sense, and where would Sonya have seen or heard something to give her nightmares like that? Unless…unless it wasn't a dream! Reika sat up straight in shock. They didn't know what Sonya's `talent' was. What if the baby was clairvoyant? What if she could see or predict the future?

“I've got to tell the guys” she murmured to herself.

Reika was pretty sure that she'd find them all in Seiji's room, since it was the cleanest out of all of them. Slipping out of bed, she realized she was still wearing the clothes she had been in inside the nursery, and they were in pretty bad shape. So she shucked them off and slipped into a clean nightshirt, tugging a robe on over it and belting it at her waist. Fortunately, the guys' rooms were all adjacent to one another, and were just down the hall from hers. It was fairly easy to slip out of her room and into the hall without being spotted. About halfway there she heard footsteps coming toward her. She franticly looked for a place to hide. Then someone grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with their hand and pulled her into a doorway. “Shhh, be quiet” said the person. Reika quieted and saw a guard pass by the doorway, without seeing them.

`I guess the attack on the nursery was enough to put everyone back on their toes' she thought. Reika found that a hand was still covering her mouth, she bit down on it, hard.

“Oww, what did you do that for?!” the person said, trying to keep their voice low, “is that what I get for keeping you from getting caught?”

Reika turned and saw that the person she had bitten was Shin.

“Oh, sorry I didn't know it was you, you startled be by grabbing me like that” Reika told him.

“Well I'm sorry but I didn't have time to say anything, they've put up a lot more guards since what happened in the nursery” Shin said in exasperation, “are you heading down to Seiji's room?”

Reika nodded, “Yes I am, but we have to be careful”

“I think we can go now no ones coming” Shin said, and with Reika behind him they ran as quietly as they could the rest of the way.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

When they drew up to Seiji's room, they pressed their ears against the smooth wood, sure enough; they could make out nine separate voices.

“But why wouldn't Sage and Cye help your dad's heal Rei and Shin?” Touma was saying, “I don't understand, it would have been a lot easier on your old man”

“Sage told me it was because the Dynasty could have sensed two identical armors, that would have been a dead give away that they're here and we can't afford that, the past Ronins are out ace in the hole” Seiji explained patiently.

“I guess that makes sense” Caran agreed.

“What I want to know is how those trash cans got into the nursery!” Shu raged, sounding like he wanted to plant his fist in someone's face, “Tannin, Kira, Graham, and Sonya would have been killed if Reika and Shin hadn't been there!”

“Hmmm” Sali's voice came, “why do you suppose they were, after all Reika was called up to take care of Sonya's nightmare, and Shin did go with her but isn't that a little too coincidental?”

“We wanted to talk to you about that.” Reika said quietly, opening the door, stepping in with Shin behind her, she shut the door with a quiet click behind them.

“Rei, Shin?” Ryudo blinked.

“You should be resting.” Sakura chided them.

“We're fine, I had this nightmare, and it must have woken Shin up when I yelled.” she confessed.

“Aren't you a little old to come running to us after nightmares?” Shu joked.

Reika chuckled a little and took a seat on the floor, in front of the couch while Shin sat behind her. Reika leaned back into it and closed her eyes for a second. “Maybe so but I thought there was something about this one that you should know.”

“Oh really, and why's that?” Leeanna asked questioningly.

Reika opened her eyes again and surveyed them, wondering how they'd take her theory. Shu had a good point; she was kind of old to let nightmares scare her into looking to them for comfort. But Reika had been doing that since Shin, Sali, and her brother Ryudo had accepted her as their friend. They'd always helped her laugh away those childish dreams, but this one was anything but, and if her notion was correct, then everyone needed to know. “When I was taking care of Sonya, I saw the dream she was having, it was terrible, full of blood and those soldier things” Reika paused for a second to shudder, “I banished the thing, but then, just now, I had the same dream, and I was thinking that maybe it's something more than a dream.”

“You mean Sonya could have clairvoyance?” Nadeshiko asked surprised.

“She can't have clairvoyance because mother and father would have noticed!” Sali exclaimed, not noticing that Sakura and Shin exchanged a glance.

“So am I, well sort of.” Sakura said. The others stared at her.

“I can see the future and predict it, but I can't see the future through dreams or anything like that.”

“Well at least you're the only one in the room who can do that.” Shu said relived.

“She's not the only one.” Shin said quietly. The others stared at him.

“Shin you don't mean you're…” Sali's voice trailed off. Shin nodded in answer.

“You're clairvoyant!!!” Seiji exclaimed. Shu practically fell off the couch onto his face at this news.

“Yes I am.” Shin said quietly.

“But why didn't you tell us?” Ryudo asked.

“Look, we had enough going on without you worrying about me just because I have clairvoyance” Shin said his voice calm.

“But is it the same as Sonya's clairvoyance?” Sali asked, quite surprised at the news as anyone else, she just didn't slam her face into the floor.

“No, according to what dad told me, he thinks Sonya may have the form of clairvoyance like his grandfather had” Shin explained, “it affected him more when he was a baby and when he was about fifteen the clairvoyance disappeared, when I'm like my father, I have clairvoyance for life.”

“And it won't do any good telling them about Sonya” Caran reminded them, “they've been locked up in the den plotting for hours now.”

“Plotting?” Reika giggled.

“What else would you call it?”

“All of the Ronins are leaving for the Dynasty tomorrow.” Leeanna mused, “I think they're getting Aunt Kayura to open some sort of portal, but she and the Warlords are staying here in case those creeps try something while our dads are away”

“Wow you eavesdropping skills are improving.” Touma chuckled.

“I wasn't eavesdropping,” Leeanna said indignantly, “it's just common sense.”

“Common sense huh?” Nadeshiko bit back a laugh.

“We should be ready too” Ryudo mused, “just in case, after all, there's only so much one of those armors can do, it's easy to be overwhelmed.”

“Don't we know” Reika said sardonically, exchanging a glance with Shin. The others all grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry, guys” Touma began, “we…”

“Ah, don't worry about it, it's no big deal.”

“We'd better stick together until this is over” Ryudo sounded serious, “and if you have anymore dreams, tell us Rei.”

“I guess I'd better make myself comfortable then,” she replied, “it's going to be a loooooongg night.”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

The `den' was a scene of mass chaos. Everyone who had been in on the planning session was sprawled somewhere in the room; some in chairs, others with their heads sown on the table, and a few on the floor. The Ancient's Staff had been leaning against the wall, once again whole after Reika had returned the wing emblem to Kayura. Basically, after all the hours of trying to put together a plan, the best either set of Ronins and the Warlords could come up with wasn't much. Kayura would get them into the Dynasty (how, she wouldn't say) and they'd all have to improvise from there. “That's it?” Kitari had exclaimed, “that's our plan, that's the best we can do, that's ridiculous!”

“We don't know what to expect when we get there” Ryo reminded her, “they could throw anything at us, the best we can do is try to expect everything.”

“Whoa, since when are you the one to actually think about a battle?” Rowen had gasped.

But that was the best they could do. The truly sad thing was that it had taken them four hours to come up with it. Now they were all feeling the aftershock of too much talking and too little sleep. Nothing short of an earthquake would have woken them up. And those earthquakes' names were Tannin and Kira. “Come ON!” Kira squealed, shaking her father's shoulder energetically, “you gotta get up it's today!” Closely following the children were four people. One they recognized as Iyaria or Iya as she was normally called. The other woman had a sort of amazoness look to her and she had black hair with dark blue streaks in it and soft brown eyes. One of the men had silver hair with light-blue streaks, he wore flowing light-blue robes that looked like they were made of water, and he had green eyes. The other man had black hair with white streaks, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt, with white pants and shoes, and he had dark brown eyes. “Ugh, what's today?” Kento mumbled, awakened by her voice.

“Today we leave, and take care of those creeps.” Sage reminded him, he was always up with the sun, even when it was blocked by grayish clouds.

“We should probably wake the children” Iyaria smiled, helping Celena (the elder one) to her feet, “I'm sure they'll want to see this.”

“You're right they probably will.” she agreed.

Unseen by everyone else, Mia, Kayura, both Rowens and both Cyes exchanged a glance and a smirk. They'd been holding their own little conferences, and they thought they had a solution to the problem with the missing amulets. “Small problem there.” the silver haired man commented, scanning the room with a raised eyebrow, it looked as if a miniature hurricane had attacked, “Neither Reika nor Shin are in their rooms, I checked, their gone.”

“You don't think there was another attack, do you?” Cye gasped.

“They're probably already awake Icoro” Kayura said to the man, “they're both early risers, they're more than likely just pacing around the grounds.”

“That's not safe, not with that outside.” Ryo made a face.

“I'm sure they're fine” Mia said, “we'd better go get the children unless you want to have to explain to them why you left without saying goodbye.”

“We're going, we're going” the older Sage chuckled, he'd had learned over the years not to mess with Mia.

“If I know them, they'll probably all be camping out in one of their rooms” the black haired man, obviously White Blaze's future self, mused.

“Seiji's” everyone else chorused.

“Why's that?” Rowen wanted to know.

“Because everything else is a hazard zone” his counterpart chuckled.

Kayura grabbed the Staff of the Ancients from its position against the wall. The Staff was the key to getting the Ronins to the Dynasty's stronghold in the clouds.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

Fortunately, the rooms and the den were fairly close together. It seemed that part of the castle was officially roped off into living quarters for those who actually lived there, as opposed to the visiting emissaries. “Aw, now that's cute!” Kento snickered at the scene behind the door to Seiji's room. All eleven teens were curled up on various pieces of the furniture. On one of the couches were Shin and Shu. The latter was hanging over one of the arms of the sofa, snoring, but not as loud as his father was prone to. Shin had been sleeping in a ball with his knees drawn up to his chest, face hidden in his arms, but had woken up to the sound of the door opening. Touma, Ryudo, Caran, and Sali were spread out on the floor. Seiji was on the love seat, in a sitting up position, his chin to his chest, while Reika was wrapped up in a blanket her head in his lap. Leeanna, Sakura, and Nadeshiko were sprawled out on the L-shaped couch opposite the couch that Shin and Shu were on. “Well, at least we know where they got to” Mia said.

“Wakey, wakey!” Kira giggled running in and bouncing up and down on her brother's stomach.

“Oof!” there was a rush of breath as the air was forcibly pushed from Touma's lungs.

“Kira, back off” Ryudo grumbled, getting up from the floor.

Still giggling, the little girl clambered off her brother and over to Shu, who she proceeded to shake awake. “Ugh, tarantula? What tarantula?” he mumbled, before sitting up straight. He blinked groggily at the stifled chuckles he heard.

“Wha-? What did I say?”

Shin looked at his friend and smiled, “Remember the spider incident?” he asked.

“I told you it wasn't me!” Shu waved his hands frantically.

“Right” came Leeanna's voice, since Kira had proceeded to wake her and the others, and was having a little trouble getting Sali to wake up.

“Come on Sali wake up!” Kira said. Sali grumbled and just rolled over. Shin shook his head and walked over to his sister and prodded her with his foot.

“Ugh, five more minutes” Sali grumbled.

Shin sighed, “Saliana get up this minute!” he said loudly.

Sali sat straight up, “What, what did I do now?” she said looking around.

“Hmmm, so her real name is Saliana, it had a pleasant ring to it” Celena thought to herself. Then she saw her brother standing next to her.

Sali growled and stood up, “Shin how many times do I have to tell you not to call me by my real name unless I'm in trouble!” she shouted.

“Well, you were going to be in trouble if you didn't get up right away, does that count?” Shin said calmly. Sali looked like she wanted to strangle something.

“Come on you guys quit fighting and let's go” Anubis said entering the room, “we need to get moving before that break in the clouds is covered, we're banking this whole thing on that rift”

“Coming!!” they all exclaimed, shooting out the door.

Reika, and Shin were still wearing their nightshirts and robes, and the others were rubbing sleep from their eyes. “Told you they'd want to see you off.” Iya said smugly.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

The group made their way out into the courtyard. Sonya and Graham were the only one's missing. Orion was there though, walking along side White Blaze (the past one). All the tigers had mysteriously disappeared the night before. Reika, Tannin, and Kira were all rode on Orion, while Kitari, Willa, and Lark were perched on White Blaze who didn't seem to mind at all. They walked until they stood under that one beam of watered down sunlight, which lanced down from a break in the grayish clouds. “Kayura?” Naaza turned to the blue haired woman. She nodded grimly and tightened her grip on the Staff.

“We should get into out sub-armor at least.” Ryo (the younger one) reminded the others, donning his own. They all nodded and in a flash, Rowen, Cye, Kento, and Sage (the ones from the past) stood ready as well.

“You guys coming?” Rowen turned to their doubles. They exchanged a glance and then shook their heads.

“No, as much as I hate to say it, we're needed here” Sage sighed, shaking his head.

“Aww, come on, we need the help” Kento begged.

“You will have it” Cye nodded, “but first…” he turned and beckoned to Shin and Sali. The children looked confused but stepped forward; the other children did so too.

“What is it father?” Shu asked his dad. The elder Kento grinned at his son.

“Even though we haven't outlived out usefulness as Ronin Warriors we're needed here, and you guys can be of a lot more help to them then us”

Seiji gasped, “You can't mean…?”

Sage merely nodded and, as one, the ten older Ronins began to glow. The outlines of their armors appeared around them, and the mixed colors of ruby, sapphire, emerald, turquoise, topaz, gold, granite, lapis lazuli, amethyst, and rose grew so bright that everyone had to shield their eyes.

“ARMOR OF WILDFIRE, DAO JIN!”

“ARMOR OF STRATA, DAO INOCHI!”

“ARMOR OF HALO, DAO CHI!”

“ARMOR OF TORRENT, DAO SHIN!”

“ARMOR OF HARDROCK, DAO GI!”

“ARMOR OF STARS, DAO KIN!”

“ARMOR OF DARKNESS, DAO NACHI!”

“ARMOR OF JEWELS, DAO SHI!”

“ARMOR OF ALTER, DAO CHIN!”

“ARMOR OF LOVE, DAO JI!”

A startled cry broke the air as everyone attempted to rub the purple spots out of their vision. Caran gasped in shock at his cousins and their friends. “My GOD! Y-you're!” he couldn't even say it, and everyone else was far too stunned to finish his sentence for him. Ryudo, Reika, Touma, Leeanna, Seiji, Sakura, Shin, Sali, Shu, and Nadeshiko were sprawled on the cobblestones, each of them holding their heads dazedly. Seiji blinked rapidly to clear away the fog that seemed to be filling his head and then looked down at himself. “HOLY!!” he shouted, leaping to his feet. For instead of the simple green tunic he'd been wearing, he instead was clad in the emerald and white sub-armor of the Halo armor! “Oh my…” Shin said in a small voice holding his armored hands out in front of his face, staring in shock at them.

“But dad!” Touma stared in shock at his father, “without the armor won't you…”

“Age?” Rowen suggested mildly. At his son's sudden nod he just chuckled.

“We've been alive for hundreds of years and did you forget that we're immortal because of the armors so even though we don't posses them we still have immortality, we're not going anywhere”

Cye nodded in agreement.

“So, I guess we're going with you then?” Shu asked Ryo and the others.

“It appears that way” the past Sage nodded. Reika looked from herself and the others to the past Ronins seeing only one difference between the all of them.

“Wait a minute, what about the amulets?” she asked Kayura.

“You'll have the chance to use them” Kayura said in an amused tone. She, Mia, both Rowens and both Cyes smirked a little.

“Why?” the elder Kento asked suspiciously, “what do you mean, what are you guys hiding?”

“We were discussing Rowen's theory on why the amulets disappeared in the first place” Mia began to explain, “we think we may have an idea as to why that is” she gestured for Rowen to continue.

The warrior of Strata just shrugged, “Well, I thought it might have to do with her touching the wrong one”

“That doesn't make any sense” Kento muttered.

Rowen rolled his eyes “The point is…”

“I was wondering if there was one” Kento grumbled. Sage reached over and whacked him upside the head, effectively shutting him up.

“Well, you know how the armors and the amulets are connected” Rowen said.

Celena nodded, “That's right, each armor has its own amulet, which can be used, if the armors can't because they have the same powers” she explained.

“Exactly” Rowen nodded, “Reika, do you remember which one of the amulets you touched?”

“Yes it was the…oh my” Reika's voice trailed off.

“You touched the Wildfire amulet right” Rowen asked. Reika nodded in answer.

“This still doesn't make sense” Kento stated.

“Okay, we know that Reika touched the Wildfire amulet, now look at what armor she's wearing and what armor is on her brother” Rowen said. The others looked at Reika and Ryudo, Reika was wearing the armor of Stars, and Ryudo was wearing the armor of Wildfire.

“Oh I see what you mean” Celena said, “Reika touched the Wildfire amulet thinking that she was to inherit the Wildfire armor when she was originally going to inherit the Stars armor, so the amulets disappeared because the Wildfire didn't recognize her as its next bearer so the amulets hid themselves until the real bearer came, am I right?”

Rowen nodded, “Yep, hit the nail on the head”

“So where are the amulets then?” Reika asked curiously.

As if in answer they all felt a sudden surge of power from behind them. Celena gasped as she saw Cye (the younger one) start to glow. The ten-pointed star amulet lifted itself from around Cye's neck and floated above his head. The others watched as each of the jewels one on each point started to glow as well. Then a beam of turquoise light shot out and hit Shin square in the chest. Shin cried out as the beam of power entered inside him. Before Sali could run over and help her brother, nine more beams of light shot out from the amulet hitting the rest of the children. “What's going on?” Caran asked as his own amulet shown with light.

“Cye's amulet is the a ten-pointed star for a reason whenever one or a majority of the amulets go missing the ten-point star can find them using the jewels that are on its points” Celena explained trying to keep her voice calm as she watched what was happening. She could feel Cye weakening, since their powers coincided with each other, she knew he couldn't keep this up for long.

“Hey look!” Caran exclaimed pointing at the children. Celena and the others looked up, and they saw something emerging from the children. Each now had on a glowing necklace; each one was on a fine chain and had different pendants hanging from them. The glow then died away revealing the now found amulets of the future. Reika shook her head to clear the fog that was in her head, and then looked down at herself, finding the amulet of the Stars armor around her neck. She then looked around and saw that the others were wearing one of the missing amulets as well. Reika laughed, “I knew it!” she said hugging her brother, “I knew they weren't gone!”

“That's right, it seems the amulets took refuge inside the bodies of their next bearer so they would be protected from the Dynasty” Kayura explained.

“AHHHHH!!” Caran's scream grabbed everyone's attention and they whirled around.

Right where Cye had been was now a column of blue flames. The flames flickered and died, revealing a familiar figure. Cye was still there, but he had collapsed to his knees once the amulet had replaced itself around his neck. “OH MY GOD CYE!!” Kento shouted, running over to his friend. Kento knelt beside his friend.

“Cye are you alright?” he asked concerned. Kento was surprised when his friend didn't answer him; he moved his hand in front of his friend's face.

“Hello, earth to Cye” he said.

“What's wrong, why won't he answer?” Celena asked.

“Because he can't hear you” said Cye's counterpart. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Rowen asked.

“He's almost blind and deaf” was the reply. The past Ronins gasped.

“Is that why he didn't answer me?” Kento asked.

He nodded, “It's only temporarily though, I can't be certain when his sight and hearing will return”

The others let out a sigh of relief at least he would be okay. White Blaze walked over to Ryo and nuzzled his master's hand with his cold nose, effectively getting the boy's attention, even through the sub-armor. “Huh? Blaze?” Ryo blinked at the tiger. Those brown eyes seemed to be telling him that he'd better hurry, with every passing second; their chances of entering the Dynasty grew slimmer and slimmer. “Kayura, we'd better go” he said, turning to the former Demon Priestess.

“Then let's not waste any more time then” Kento said, putting Cye on his back to carry him.

“Wait, what about Orion?” Shu spoke up, “we all know the stories, the tiger carries the Soul Swords of Ferver”

“We think” Seiji reminded him, “we don't know if White Blaze has passed on the swords though”

Reika knelt down and looked straight into her tiger friend's eyes. “Listen to me Orion” she said seriously, the two pairs of blue eyes locked on, an unspoken understanding passing between them, “you have to stay here, Ryudo can manage without you for awhile, if he has to use the armor of Inferno, I'm sure the swords of Wildfire can handle the power surge just this once”

The blue-eyed tiger growled in concern, he obviously didn't like it. Kira ran up and wrapped her arms around the tiger's leg. “Please Orion, who's gonna keep us safe if you go?” she begged. The tiger reluctantly looked back and forth between his mistress and the little girl glued to his foreleg. He reluctantly sank to the ground; Kira snuggled up to his side. The look he gave Reika said as plain as anything I'll do it, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna like it! “Good boy” Reika patted his head, “just stay here, I'll see you soon”

“Ready?” Kayura asked.

At Reika's nod, Kayura raised the staff and studied the winged globe intensely. “So, what exactly is your plan?” Anubis raised an eyebrow, “you never really specified that fact”

Kayura grinned at him, “I'm going to do exactly what my ancestor, the Ancient, did when getting the Ronins to Talpa's stronghold in the first place”

“NO!” Ryo gasped, “He died doing that!”

Kayura chuckled a little, “You forget, that at this point, I am much older and much more experienced in the ways of the Staff than the Ancient was when he sacrificed himself for you” she reminded him.

Both Ryo and Kayura's husband Shiten visibly relaxed. She brought the butt of the Staff down to crash on the pavement. A pillar of intense blue light, a shade brighter than Reika's eyes, sprang up from the ground itself, piercing the clouds at the break through which weak sunlight still filtered. Spirals of silver intersected the pillar at regular intervals. It was similar in every way to the one the Ancient had created. A resounding BOOM crashed down through the clouds. Forks of black lightning licked down to crash into the pillar. Kayura screamed and fell to her knees, still gripping the Staff's smooth metal. The bridge she'd created began to flicker and fade… “No they don't!” Rajura said grimly, he covered the hand Kayura had on the Staff with one of his own, adding the power of his armor to hers. Following his example, the other three Warlords each placed a hand on the Staff. Their kanjis began to glow on their foreheads, and the silver rings circling the pillar flickered from black, to orange-red, to purple, to pinkish, whirling through the normal sparkling azure. “GO NOW!!” Shiten gasped, “This isn't easy, we can't hold the gateway open forever!”

“But Aunt Kayura!” Touma hesitated a moment, obviously concerned about her.

“I'll be fine, just come back safely, all of you” she gasped. Touma nodded, then turned back to the other Ronins.

“Wait a second!” Rowen crossed to his son and tugged off his sweatband. He handed it to Touma, who looked a little stunned.

“It won't keep your hair out of your face but it might bring you luck” he smiled.

“Ready Touma?” Seiji asked, at his nod the group of sixteen teens, and a tiger, turned as one and stepped into the glowing blue, `bridge'. Caran, Anubis, and Katrina watched them go, feeling the cold grips of anxiety in their guts. They would wait behind for them, even thought they had armors themselves, to return safely to the future without any injuries, mental or physical. Tears threatened to spill out of Caran's eyes, he bit his lip at he watched his cousins disappear into the brilliant blue light. “Come back safely to us guys” he whispered. He felt someone tugging on his jeans. He looked down and saw Tannin, a sincere look in his wide blue eyes. “They'll be okay” he said confidently, “Reika, my brother, and the others can take on anything”. Caran knelt down and hugged Tannin close. The little boy hugged him back, obviously just as worried, but trying to be brave about it. “I'm sure they will be” he whispered fiercely into his ear, “they always are”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

Reika stifled a shriek of alarm as she and her friends rose slowly off the ground and into the air. “Oh man oh man oh man” she muttered over and over.

“What's wrong Rei?” Ryudo had an evil grin on his face, “this isn't the first time you've levitated”

“I know that, but having Touma float us around in the air is much different from this!”

“Huh?” Ryo frowned.

“That's Touma's talent” Seiji explained, watching nervously as the distance between his feet and the ground steadily increased, “levitation without the Armor of Strata”

“Uh, don't we have more important things to worry about?” Shin pointed out.

“Good point” Rowen muttered.

“Last stop, top floor, Women's shoes, household appliances” Kento chuckled as they reached the lip of the cloud.

“You do realize that the only reason I haven't hit you for that terrible joke is because you're out of range, don't you?” Celena frowned at him.

“What do you think I'm doing all the way over here?” her friend grinned.

“You two are impossible” Mia sighed.

“Head's up guys!” Touma called. They'd floated a good five feet above cloud level, and were now just hovering in mid air.

“This is our stop then, I guess” Leeanna said.

It really wasn't that difficult to exit the glowing pillar; all one had to do was to step out of it. The problem was getting over to the edge. Using motions almost like swimming, the sub-armored teens floated over to the side of the blue light and pushed their way through. “Yah!” Shu yelped as he plunked down those last five feet.

“Hmm, that's strange” Sakura commented. She glanced curiously at her feet, sunk up to the ankles in the strange `ground'. “I thought we'd fall right through the clouds”

“They aren't clouds Sakura” Ryo said grimly, “real clouds wash away filth; these clouds bring it with them”

“I had no idea you were so adamant about this” Nadeshiko said quietly.

“We're just tired of cleaning up after the rest of the mortal world” Rowen sighed, “the only reason the Dynasty can get through is because people carry evil and hatred in their hearts, they bring this down upon themselves”

“Yeah, and we take out the trash” Sage added, a slightly-less-than-thrilled look in his eyes, “I don't know how our counterparts could put up with it for three hundred years”

“Practice” Sali grinned, breaking the depressing mood that had settled on them, “that and sniping at each other, I think it keeps them sane”

“Some things never change” Celena shook her head.

“Besides, things don't grow on clouds” Shu pointed out.

They all looked around, realizing that he had a point. All around them were old, knarled oak trees, their limbs warped and twisted with age and eons spent defying the elements. Perhaps at some other time, they were lush and filled with greenery, but now, it seemed as though winter had descended upon this part of the cloud-scape. Skeletal branches reached imploringly towards the sky, as if begging to be freed from the evil surrounding them. Brittle, dry leaves littered the cloud ground, crunching with every step they took, and in sub-armor, the Ronins were capable of walking in total silence. “Come on, while we're sitting here chatting, the Dynasty could be slaughtering thousands of innocents” Ryudo reminded them.

“Oi, I'll bet that leadership quality runs in the family” Reika raised an eyebrow at her brother, who was already heading towards the castle ahead. He turned around and winked at her.

“It's in my job description”

“Yeah” Ryo grinned, “it comes with the armor”

From this distance, the Dynasty stronghold looked like one of those little toy lego castles kids' play with. If they made Japanese-style lego castles. “It's so far away” Sali said, “how will we get there in time?”

“You won't get there at all” a ghostly voice hissed. Violent wind whipped up around the teens, snatching up the leaves with it. A brutal whirlwind raged around them the edges of the leaves feeling razor sharp, digging into skin and slicing into their faces, the only exposed flesh. They threw their hands up in helpless attempts to ward off the dangerous foliage, batting away at the leaves as they whistled through the air. “What the heck?” Ryo shouted, his voice barely audible above the wind's high keening. He squinted against the onslaught, eyes tearing over. White Blaze growled menacingly in the general direction of the castle. As suddenly as the winds sprang up, they died. The silence they left in their wake was ear-ringing. In the absence of all sound, the chill in the atmosphere was noticeable. “You Ronins are persistent” that voice hissed, and it did not sound amused.

“That voice!” Touma gasped, “it's…”

“The thing we saw in that vision Rajura showed us!!” Ryo gasped.

“SHOW yourself demon!” Shu shouted to the gray sky, “we know you're here!”

“Are you sure you want me to do that?” now it sounded vaguely mocking, “it was that very same wish which eventually killed Torrent”

“For you information he wasn't killed, you compost heap!” Reika shouted.

“So come out and fight us!” Rowen yelled, “unless you're afraid”

A miniature whirlwind developed about twenty feet off to the group's left. Everyone whirled to face it, awaiting the demon's appearance. Those dead leaves were gathered at the center of the funnel, obscuring a figure inside. The winds stilled and the leaves fell back once again to the `ground'. The cloaked horror Rajura had showed them through his illusion stood there, that scythe gripped in a fleshless hand. The differences were that it was missing a left eye, even as the right one flickered with balefire. A horrible wound was still slashed across its neck; the lips of the gash were faintly tinged with green. “ARMOR UP!!” Ryo cried. A brief moment later, after the flashes of light, rolls of silk, and sakura petals had vanished, seventeen armored figures defiantly faced the demon. “So little Torrent” it taunted, a jibe directed unmistakably at Shin, “I see you discovered my little trick” It heaved a mock sigh, bones scraping together in nauseatingly. Celena glanced momentarily in Shin's direction. To her surprise, there was neither rage, not grief on his face, which had her slightly worried. Either emotion would have been preferable to lack thereof, his face was expressionless as a sheet of marble, and about as cold. The voice dropped to glacier chill, “Even with the amulets, you're still a thorn in our sides, fetching the Ronins from the past was something I should have anticipated”

“You'll find this particular thorn extremely had to remove!” Shin growled, apparently coming out of his stupor, “I killed you once, I can do it again!”

“How is it still alive anyway?” Sali wondered, frowning a little. A horrible wheezing laughter came from that rotting jaw, “I can only be killed by a mystical weapon”

“But the Sword of Halo is a mystical weapon” Sage protested.

“My destruction can only be brought about by a mystical weapon in the hands of its true wielder”, it seemed to take great pleasure in informing them of that fact.

“The Staff of Torrent should be able to rectify that mistake” Shin said calmly.

“You wish to try again, little boy?”

He glared at him, “Sure thing, and there's nothing little about me”

“Shin, you can't…” Seiji started to say.

He was silenced as Touma laid a hand on his arm and shook his head, he seemed to be saying, he's got to do this on his own. “So then” the skeleton cocked his head to one side, “you and me, to the death, no help from your little friends, have we…a deal?” A short nod from Shin signaled the beginning of the final battle between them. The demon raised his hand bearing his scythe and made a sweeping motion. A glowing circle appeared, cutting Shin and his opponent from the rest of the Ronins. “Just a little insurance” it gave a ghostly chuckle. The two enemies readied themselves, eyes locked on the other.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

“Man there's nothing we can do about this!” Shu balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth.

“That thing must be confident that he's going to win” Rowen mused, that circle will only vanish with its death or when it chooses.

“Neither of them can get out, and we can't get in” Celena summed it up pretty well.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

`What is with this thing?' Shin wondered. It's just, standing there. He wasn't about to attack first though, impatience could get him killed in this game. He wasn't about to lay down his hand until he was good and ready. Shin wasn't sure what happened next. He thought he might have blinked, but suddenly, where the thing had been, it suddenly wasn't. `Now where…?'. His eyes flickered around the cloud-scape, searching frantically for any sign of his enemy. A sudden shift in the air at his back caused his to whirl around. `BEHIND!' His mind screamed at him. He spun on his toe, and brought the staff up in time to catch the scythe, but the impact of it sent him sprawling to the ground with a small gash on his arm. His helmet rolled away, the metallic ringing noise it made as it struck the clouds echoing the clanging in his head. `I'll have to do without it' he thought resolutely. Shin was just about to jump back to his feet when he caught sight of the wickedly gleaming point of the scythe headed in a downward stroke towards her heart. With a yelp of surprise, Shin rolled out of the way and spun to his feet. Once again, the demon had inexplicably vanished. The only clue to its whereabouts was the impact of the scythe to the back of his head. As it was Shin fell forward, catching himself with his hands before he hit the ground. Before he could regain his feet, sudden blows began to rain down on him from the sky. The skeleton was hitting him again, clouting him over and over. He knew it was toying with him, pushing him over the edge until he either passed out from pain or exhaustion.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

Outside the barrier, the remaining Ronins were unable to help. “He's getting creamed!” Shu gasped, “totally slaughtered, and we can't do anything about it!” Sali dropped to her knees as she watched her brother fight. “Will you be okay?” Rowen crouched down next to her. Sali nodded holding back the tears that were welding up in her eyes, she could feel her brother's pain through the connection their armors had with each other. “Is it that bad?” Sage asked in a hushed voice watching Sali, “it he that close to losing?”

“Let's see what we can do about that” Touma fitted a golden arrow to his bow and drew it back. He let it fly; zipping straight towards the outline of the circle the two combatants dueled within. ZAP!!

“Somehow, I get this sinking feeling…” Sage gulped, eyes wide at the tiny pile of ash; all that remained of the arrow.

“Shin you're on your own” Celena murmured, “please, don't lose now”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

Shin had since regained his footing, but no matter which way he turned, he was always facing the gleaming edge of that blasted scythe. Occasionally, he was able to bring his staff up to block an attack, but all his attempts at retaliating were thwarted. `He's moving too fast, I can't see it, let alone hit it?' Shin choked back a scream of pain as the blunt end of the enemy's weapon slammed into his chest. Something his father used to say came back to his with startling clarity. If you can't see your enemy, sense your enemy. He remembered watching him and his Uncle Naaza dueling one day, and his Uncle had made a comment about things being much more challenging if one's opponent could see. He'd asked what he meant and his father had explained how Uncle Ryo had been blinded by Uncle Naaza's brother, Seckmet's venom. He'd told him that the only way to survive a battle like that was to feel out where the adversary was. It was then that he started to teach him to use his sense of hearing, since Shin could always tell if someone was behind him by the sound of their footsteps, although he couldn't have been more than five at the time. `That's it!'. Excitement flooded through him, giving him new energy, he could use his ability to hear, it was actually good for something in real battle! He straight up, and let his staff drop down, closing his eyes and gathering himself together, forcing his mind to block out the pain. He needed a calm moment to pull his mind into complete concentration; just enough to summon his strength, to let his breathing and heart beat return to normal. If only he'll leave me alone for just one second, just one…

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

“What is he doing?” Kento blinked. Shin had lowered his weapon, it almost looked as if he was giving up, acknowledging his defeat. His eyes were shut, as if his was awaiting the final impact.

“I-I don't know” Seiji shook his head, “but he can't be quitting now”

“He's not” Sali said quietly, her face had gone white from feeling her brother's pain, “just watch”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

“Giving up so soon?” the demon mocked, raising its scythe for a killing blow, “very well, I accept your surrender” the curved blade whistled downward through the air, aiming for Shin's neck. A sharp, metallic clang echoed through the air. Shin's staff had snapped up almost too quickly for the eye to follow, effectively parrying the strike, though his lids were still sealed shut over his eyes. “What the…?” a gasp of stunned surprise issued the monster's mouth.

“You should have figured it out by now” Shin panted, “we Mouri's are notoriously hard to kill; I'm not out of the game yet!”

The battle was renewed with furious frenzy. This time however, Shin was scoring on the demon a least as many times as it managed to connect with him. His eyes remained closed the entire time. At this point, Shin was using every sense available to him in the battle. His senses of touch, hearing, smell, and even taste were put into effect. Especially smell, considering the rotting stench of the demon. Last but not least was that little sixth sense which warned him of the enemy's presence. It was erratic, and very hard to control, but always seemed to appear when he forfeited his sense of sight, filling in for it. That was one of the reasons he was so successful in spars.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

“Whoo hoo, alright Shin!” Shu shouted cheering on his friend on. His comeback had surprised them all.

“He's using that sense technique he had showed us” Sage said, quiet admiration in his voice, “see his eyes are closed”

“You're right!” Rowen blinked in surprise, “he must have decided that his sight wasn't doing him much good anyway”

`Almost like that battle with Seckmet so long ago' Ryo mused, vision still locked on the two furiously dueling combatants.

“I just hope he can keep it up long enough” Sali said grimly, “I can feel his strength fading, those wounds are serious” her fingers came up reflexively to brush her arm.

“If there was only some way to break down that barrier” Mia muttered, frowning thoughtfully at the glowing red circle that marked the boundaries of the battle.

“Even it there was, he'd never forgive us for butting in” Touma said cheerfully, though how he could be so optimistic was beyond the others, “this is his fight; he's got to lay these demons to test permanently, pardon the pun”

“COME ON SHIN!” Kento shouted, “WE'VE GOT BIGGER FISH TO FRY!” he visibly flinched away from the dark glares, Celena and Sali shot him, even though he couldn't tell if Shin did or not.

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

From the inside of the circle, all sound from the outside was inaudible. In-fact, everything beyond the perimeter was practically non-existent. He couldn't see any of his friends, it was as if he had been blocked off from them, which was frightening, in a way. But he had other things to be frightened about. His arms were slowly wearing out. By all rights, the demon should have been showing signs of fatigue as well, but it seemed to be drawing its strength from some otherworldly source. His injuries were taxing on his reserves of energy, and each of his blows was weaker than the last. `But I can't lose!' he thought desperately, dodging another strike that would have split his skull like a melon, the absence of his helmet was quite a handicap. `If I fail now, it could hurt the others, possibly even kill them, and then who would free all those captured people? Who would avenge my father? There's no way I'm letting it win!' Something deep inside of him snapped, much as it had when he'd finally realized that he still had possession of one of the amulets. This was the thing that had nearly destroyed his life, had almost wrecked the lives of his uncles, had caused such great concern among his friends, and had caused his friend Reika to go back in time and rip the Ronins away from their world. A flood of fiery rage ignited his veins. The Staff of Torrent went up in a column of light-blue flames, until it appeared he was holding a weapon that was forged from water. Shin brought the staff down in an overhead arc designed to take out the demon's head. It brought up its scythe to block the staff. For a moment, they stood there, in a deadlock, he was pushing downward, and the thing was attempting to push him off. “You can't win little boy” foul breath blasted into his face.

“Watch me if you can, and brush your teeth while your at it” he choked out around the barrage of stench. In the end, its superior strength would have won out, had Shin not jumped off and turned away, only to spin back low, his fiery staff licking out to slash at its unprotected legs. He jerked upward at the last second, slicing cleanly through the demon's left wrist. As it stared in shock at the stump, jaw hanging open, Shin stopped to catch his breath. “That” he said, ignoring the lancing pain in his arm as his spoke, “is for my uncles, and all the pain you caused them!”. He dashed back in, not giving his opponent any time to recover. It just barely brought its own weapon up to block his strike, handicapped as it was. And still, his eyes were closed. He threw himself against the bag of bones, tangling his staff and the scythe in the rotting leather cloak it wore, setting it aflame with his staff. He scraped one of the claws against ribcage, cutting away what little flesh was left on those bones. He distinctly heard the hiss of pain it breathed into his ear. Shin pulled away as quickly as possible, not willing to be in such close contact with such an overpowering stench for to long. “That was for my friends, for making them worry about me so much” he muttered before spinning away in a blur of fluid movement. The tide had turned; he was the cat and his enemy the mouse. But such rage can only be sustained for a short time before burning out. At least, that is the case with most people, but he was like his father once you get him angry it doesn't go away for awhile, and there was a lot of pent-up hatred sizzling in the air. One would have to be deaf, blind, and dumb not to realize that. “You will not triumph so easily boy” it clacked. The scythe swung in a slash that would have gouged the stomach plate had Shin not jumped away. `Ooh, that was close' he thought. The hair on the back of his neck stood up at such a close shave. While it was recovering from that swing, and totally open, his sliced across its right eye, totally blinding it, and leaving it clutching at its now-flaming face. “That was for my father, and I hope it hurt like hell” he hissed, rage building to a breaking point. While the demon howled in anguish, skeletal hands covering its now sightless eyes, he lunged in, and with a quick stabbing motion, drove his staff home into the dark heart hidden behind a few flaps of decaying skin. “And that, “he felt the blue flames grow to engulf both himself and the grim reaper, “is for me, you heartless, soulless, bastard!”

 

SSSSSSSSS

 

“Dear god” Celena whispered, watching in horror as the Torrent staff went up in flames, “what is going on?”

“I couldn't tell you” Ryo stared, totally caught up in the fight, “because I don't know either”

They went quiet for a moment; the only sound was the harsh rasping of Sali's breathing. The cloaked skeleton was slowly being beaten into pulp.

“He-he's playing with the crazy thing!” Shu stammered.

“Thank you mister obvious” Rowen muttered under his breath.

The silence descended once more, this time shocked and stunned as shin calmly tore the thing limb from limb, first avulsing its left hand, followed by most of the skin on the ribs, and the right eye. For a brief moment, everything stood stock-still as he plunged the tip of the staff deep into the monstrosity's heart. Then the world went up in flames. Everything inside the boundaries went up into a blazing inferno, as if several nuclear bombs had gone off inside a confined area. “HIT THE DIRT!!” Sage cried, throwing himself to the ground and dragging Celena, who was nearest to him, down at well. The others followed suit and covered their heads with their hands as a wave after wave of boiling hot water and cold water rolled over them.

“Ouch” Touma muttered, his skin felt hot and cold at the same time.

“Ditto” Celena moaned.

“What happened?” Ryo asked groggily, trying to push himself up. The blast had been particularly damaging to himself and Ryudo, as their armors were fire-based.

“It's over!” Leeanna jumped to her feet, “the battles over, Shin won!”

“Yeah, if he wasn't fried” Rowen reminded her.

“No, he's okay” Sali's voice came, “look”

Slowly the remaining Ronins regained their feet, and turned to look in the direction of the circle had been in. Everything inside it was charred and burned to ash. The few withered trees that had been inside were now smoking blacking stumps. And standing off to the right side of the ring of destruction, was Shin, calmly cleaning his staff with the remains of the monster's cloak. “Demon's blood” he spat as they drew closer to him, “it corrodes like acid” He held up the staff's tip, inspecting it with a critical eye, then stuck the end of it in the ground.

“Shin, what happened?” Touma asked, “what was with your staff?”. Shin turned mild eyes on him, and smiled.

“I don't know, I think it was a physical representation of the rage inside me” he placed his hand on his arm, running his finger over where the cut was in the metal of his armor.

Shu let out an incredulous whistle and used his toe to prod the small pile of ashes and charred bone that was all that remained of the thing. “Man Shin, you sure pulled a job on this guy” he commented.

“I'd say he pulled one on me” he said ruefully, trying to ignore the lancing pain in his arm. Seiji reached over and took Shin's arm in his hands. He gently turned him to the side to get a better look at it. “How bad is it?” he asked.. Seiji swallowed hard. In reality, it was one of the worst injuries he'd ever seen. It looked as if his arm had caved in, and it was a terrible bluish-black color, tinged with yellow, not pretty. Shin must have seen the look of horror flicker across his face, for he turned wide eyes on him. “It's disfiguring, isn't it?” he inquired in a hushed tone.

“Not if I have anything to say about it” he replied grimly.

Shin winced away from his cool armored hand. Seiji held Shin's face with one of his hands while the other was on his arm, and forced him to look into his eyes. Shin felt himself falling into a trance-like state, and realized he was trying to hypnotize him, so Seiji could use his healing powers without his interference. There was an audible pop as his arm went back to its normal form. His eyes went wide at the noise, even though it didn't hurt, but it was definitely a strange sensation feeling his bones knit back together. “Creepy” Sali remarked, pulling her hand away from where it had been on her arm, “defiantly creepy”

Shin pushed Seiji away from him, thwarting his attempts to finish healing him, “Save your strength buddy, I'll live, the rest of the injuries aren't too bad, just some bumps and bruises”

“I think this is yours” Celena smiled, passing him his helmet, which was miraculously unaffected by the water and flames.

“Thank you” he slipped it back over his head, confining his hair.

“So now what?” Sakura asked, skirting the pile of ash with a look of disgust on her face, “I mean, we don't know what we're up against, Shin just fried one enemy we actually know about, and it had to be working for somebody” leave it to Sakura to point out the practical side of their dangers, “so do we head to the palace now, or what?”

“We have no choice” Nadeshiko said firmly, “we've started this, and now we'll see it though to the end.”

Every head nodded in agreement. Looks of determination spread over sixteen faces as they steeled themselves for the dangers ahead. As they turned to begin the long trek to the distant palace, Shin paused and turned back, his eyes sweeping the charred battlefield. “Rest now father” he murmured, feeling the hot, dry air ruffle the wisps of hair that had escaped his helmet, “we'll take care of this, and then things will be back to normal again.”

 

TBC…

 

Author's Note: Yay! I'm back. Sorry about the wait but I got a copy of chapter 5-10 from a friend of mine who helped write the story with me. I forgot to give credit to her and now she's mad at me. So I will give her credit right here and now: Thank You Hime For Helping Write The Story! *waves with chibi eyes with tears in them* (she the one who typed the story [I've never been good at that]) Well read and review please it helps me work. Ja ne for now.