Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Pitch Black ❯ Separation ( Chapter 2 )

Pitch Black

 

Chapter Two: Separation

By: Demon Priestess Saturn

 

Two years later…

 

Cye looked up and down the street as he sat in at the busy bus stop anxiously waiting for the bus to arrive. It was a warm spring evening and all Cye could think about was when the bus was going to arrive. It smelled of pollen in the air seeing how all the flowers seemed to be in bloom. It was strange seeing all these people in the city. It was not too long ago that the streets were empty and dynasty soldiers walked up and down the streets. It had been two years since the last time he had seen any of his friends. The five boys hadn't kept in contact much since their armors disappeared.

 

What was even stranger was the situation, which they last saw each other. One minute Tina-Marie had caught them and then they woke up on Mia's living room floor. Then they soon realized their armor was gone. Since that day the boys went their own separate ways. To Cye however he wasn't worried about the loss of their armors. He figured good riddance to them, but one thing still did bother him. What happened to Tina-Marie? She just disappeared. Today however was not the day to think about this. Kento would be showing up soon and Cye really wanted to see him. Cye glanced at the street as a bus pulled up to the stop. Cye stood up and looked at the bus door as it opened. Sure enough he heard Kento's strong voice as he stepped off the bus. Cye smiled and in his excitement he almost jumped on the lady in front of him.

 

“Kento!! Over here!” Cye yelled and waved his hands in the air.

“Cye!” Kento smiled his big jolly smile and grabbed his bag as he headed over to Cye.

“Hi.” Cye said as Kento gave him one of his big bear hugs.

“Whatcha doin here Cye? I thought I was supposed to walk over to your house.” Kento said as he pulled away.

“I couldn't wait so I decided to walk with you.” Cye said with a smile.

“Ah nothing wrong with that.” Kento said as he swung his bag over his shoulder. “Man it's so good to see you.”

“Yeah same here. When I heard you were coming into town I couldn't help myself.” Cye said happily.

“Yeah it's been a while since I've been back.” Kento said calmly.

“Yeah. Well since were here you want to go get something to eat?” Cye looked at Kento.

“Hell ya! I'm starved.” Kento sounded as if Cye should have known better than to ask. Cye giggled slightly.

“Okay lets take a short walk.” Cye said while starting to walk down the street.

“So how's your life been? Hear from Rowen and the others?” Kento asked.

“My life is strange. I'm still adjusting a little. It's hard when you're used to fighting all the time.” Cye replied.

“Yeah tell me about it.” Kento said.

“And the answer to the other question is the last time I spoke to Ryo was months ago, Rowen I haven't heard from since last year, Mia and Yuli I saw them in town two weeks ago, and Sage has disappeared from existence. ” Cye finished.

“Sage disappeared from existence?” Kento raised one of his big eye brows.

“As far as I've heard from Ryo, Mia , and Yuli, they haven't heard from Sage since just after his eighteenth birthday.” Cye replied.

“That was just months after that battle with Tina-Marie.” Kento pointed out.

“Yeah I know.” Cye frowned.

“I've been trying to get a hold of Rowen.” Kento looked at the ground.

“The last time I talked to Ryo he said he had seen Rowen.” Cye said calmly.

“Well at least it's good to know Rowen is still around. I haven't been able to catch Ryo at home.” Kento replied.

“Keep getting Mia on the phone?” Cye asked innocently.

“Yeah and or Yuli. I planned to see them while I was back and I'm sure I'll see Ryo. But I want to see Rowen and Sage too.” Kento said.

“Yeah dido. Well here it is.” Cye said as the two boys walked up to a restaurant.

“Food finally.” Kento drooled. As the two boys walked into the restaurant, the sweet aroma of various foods filled their noses. Cye walked up to the waiter and asked for a table for two. The waiter fiddled around for some menus before nodding and taking the two boys to a table. After Cye and Kento were seated they continued their conversation while looking over the menus.

 

“So what have you been doing for two years?” Cye asked Kento.

“Not much. Just helping out my folks with the restaurant.” Kento replied simply.

“Sounds uneventful.” Cye set down his menu and rested his chin on top of his hands.

“Yeah and that's the problem. No damn excitement.” Kento said as he also put down his menu. Kento leaned back in his seat and folded his arms behind his head.

“I think it's good that everything's calmed down.” Cye tilted his head a little to the side. Kento looked at him with a strange expression on his face.

“Your happy there's no more fighting aren't you?” Kento summarized Cye's current thought process. Cye looked back into Kento's blue eyes and said nothing to the former ronin of hardrock. “I thought you would be.” Kento muttered as he started digging through his backpack.

“What are you doing?” Cye asked out of confusion.

“I'm looking for something.” Kento smiled.

“Looking for what?” Cye asked as Kento pulled out a small box with shiny light blue wrapping on it. Kento handed the little wrapped box, with the dark blue bow on top, over to Cye.

“What's this for?” Cye looked strangely at the nicely wrapped present in front of him.

“Was it? Or was it not your birthday last week?” Kento smiled.

“You remembered?” Cye let the shocked expression seep into his face.

“You remembered? I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a complement.” Kento sat back in his seat and sneered slightly at Cye.

“Well I don't know it's been so long…” Cye looked embarrassed.

“Are you going to open it?” Kento asked. Cye looked at Kento and nodded. Looking back down at the blue wrapped box Cye carefully started to open it. As he put aside the wrapping paper he opened the black box that was underneath. Inside was a perfectly craved wooden killer whale. Cye gasped and pick it up in his hands. He examined the beautifully painted whale and then looked back at Kento.

“Thanks Kento. It's beautiful.” Cye smiled.

“Your welcome. It's supposed to be a guardian or something like that. I figured it was perfect for you seeing how you like whales.” Kento smiled back.

“It's perfect.” Cye said again as he stared at the whale.

 

………………….

 

“How many times have I told those people to leave the animals alone…” Ryo grumbled to himself as he hiked up the mountain near his and Mia's home. There had been a lot of activity on the mountain for the passed few months, which was starting to get on his nerves. As Ryo hiked up the hillside he glanced around at the various trees around him. It was beautiful on this mountain not to mention the air was fresh and clean. It had rained earlier that morning so the trees and the ground was still a little wet. It was cool up on this mountain, which Ryo happen to like over the hot temperature in the city. Ryo a while back had promised White Blaze he would let him out of the house. Well just as soon as he stopped the poachers from hurting the animals on the mountain. That was why Ryo was hiking up the mountain. Ryo hated having to lock up his tiger; but he knew it was best if the large white tiger didn't show himself on the mountainside. As Ryo slowly reached the top of the mountain he looked around for, as he would call them, the intruders.

 

“Well I see they aren't here.” Ryo thought to himself as he walked past one of the many giant trees. Walking past the large tree he suddenly heard something snap. “Shit!” Ryo said out loud as he jumped to the side to avoid getting hit by an arrow. Ryo hit the ground pretty hard he knew this because he thought he heard one of his bones crack. Not to mention a sharp pain had run up through his arm. “Ouch…” Ryo said while gritting his teeth. Ryo pushed himself slowly to his feet and almost immediately he heard two people walking up. A twig snapped next to him and he looked over to see two tall men. They wore their usual camouflage pants and had one shotgun each.

 

“Look it's that damn kid again.” One of them sounded annoyed. This one stood on the right. He was slightly shorter than the man he stood next to. He wore a black cap and had a camouflage jacket with a black shirt underneath. He brush his semi-long black hair over his shoulder and looked back into Ryo's tiger blue eyes with his dark green eyes.

“How many times have we told you kid to stay out of this area?” The other man said angrily. This one had short brown hair and look particularly mean. He had a heavier build than Ryo and was obviously the tall dumb jock. With his camouflage pants he wore a blue men's tank top.

“And I thought I told you too to stop poaching the animals.” Ryo snapped.

“Yeah you told us.” The black hair man replied.

“We just don't care.” The brown haired man said calmly. “And I thought we told you to stop harassing us?”

“I'm not going to stop harassing you until you get your asses off my mountain.” Ryo continued to glare.

“Look boy we'll do what we want to.” The brown haired man said while stepping up to him.

“Your lucky I don't turn you in and get you arrested.” Ryo sneered.

“You wouldn't dare do that boy.” The black haired man said.

“Well you are trespassing on someone's property.” Ryo replied.

“Yeah and so are you.” The brown haired guy sneered.

“How do you know?” Ryo glared at him.

“Listen boy if you don't stop harassing us we'll shoot your ass.” The black haired man said calmly.

“Yeah so get the hell out of here.” The brown haired man leveled his gun at Ryo. Ryo stared at the barrels of the large gun. Then he looked back at the brown haired guy. Ryo let his gaze wander over to the black haired man. The black haired man stared back and seemed to be ready to aim his gun in case Ryo pulled any fast moves.

“Now get your ass out of our face.” The brown haired man said with an intimidating voice. Ryo glared but thought it would be better if he went back down the mountain. Ryo turned and started to walk back down the mountain. Ryo was still glaring and muttered to himself if he had his armor he would have kicked their asses. As Ryo walked down the mountain a pain shot up through his arm.

“Oh yeah I almost forgot…” Ryo thought while gritting his teeth. “I must have broken my arm.” Ryo sneered and glanced down the mountainside. He could see a car pull up to his and Mia's mansion. Ryo stopped and observed for a moment the dark blue car and wondered who it could be. Ryo watched a person get out of the car and he thought he saw blue hair. Then he quickly realized it was Rowen. Ryo starting skipping slightly down the mountain to get back to the house. It took him an hour to get up the mountain so maybe it won't take him so long to get down…

 

………………….

 

Rowen drove down the road until he reached the secluded road which lead to Mia and Ryo's house. Rowen turned on the long stretch of road and thought to himself. Rowen was upset and felt like there was a weight on his chest. He felt like he had been bugging Ryo and Mia too much recently but at the same time he had nowhere else to go. Ryo was the only one of his friends he felt he had left. Rowen had just turned nineteen last October and for an entire year he had been trying to get an apartment. Rowen hadn't succeeded with his escape plan so he was still trapped under his father's thumb. Tears streamed down his face and he licked the blood away from the cut on his lip. Why did they have to split up two years ago? Why did Kento go back to China and why did Sage just disappear? Rowen didn't know. Earlier way it still upset him that the two people he counted on most had just disappeared from his life. As Rowen pulled into Ryo and Mia's driveway those horrible thoughts continued to haunt him in the back of his mind. Rowen stopped the car and stepped out. He stared at the beautifully painted white mansion he once used to live in. Then Rowen glanced at the mountain behind the house and remembered how he and Sage used to train on that mountain. Rowen smiled sadly and headed up to the small front porch.

 

“This brings back so many memories…” Rowen thought to himself. Everything seemed to be so calm. Rowen looked at the ground as he walked up the small staircase to the front door. He only looked up when he knocked softly on the door. Wiping the tears from his eyes he waited until Mia answered the door.

“Rowen?” Mia looked concerned as she looked at her friend. She looked like she always did with he nicely combed long red hair. She wore a yellow sundress with white lily flowers decorating the cotton. She also wore a white belt around her waist, which matched the pearl earrings in her ears. She stared back at Rowen with her green eyes and caught the sad look in Rowen's dark blue eyes.

“Hey Mia.” Rowen said in almost a whisper.

“Are you okay?” Mia asked out of concern. She had seen Rowen upset many times but not like this.

“I really sorry to bother you and Ryo so much… Can I talk to you?” Rowen looked into her green eyes.

“Rowen your no bother… Come on in.” Mia said softly and let him into the house.

“Thanks Mia.” Rowen said calmly. “Is Ryo here?”

“No… He went up the mountain to battle the never-ending battle of the poachers.” Mia smiled slightly.

“Sounds like Ryo.” Rowen smiled slightly himself as he walked into the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?” Mia asked.

“No.” Rowen replied simply.

“Then would you like something to drink?” Mia said as she dug around in the fridge for a drink for herself.

“A drink would be good.” Rowen said as he wondered into the large living room. The house no longer looked as plain as it used to. It seemed that Ryo had done some redecorating of his own. The walls had been repainted white. The furniture had been rearranged and was also made of cherry wood. Some new picture frames had been added to the walls. All of which were photo's oh him and his friends while they were still living together in the house. Rowen looked at the photos and remembered the first summer he met his friends six years ago. Rowen smiled at one picture in particular. It was a picture that was taken the winter after they had beaten Talpa. It was a picture of Ryo sleeping on the living room floor. Sage sat next to him in the picture putting various stuffed animals on the former wearer of Wildfire's head.

 

That was something Sage always did. He liked to pick on everyone while they were fast asleep. Sage used to like picking on Rowen the most; mainly because Rowen was such a deep sleeper that it would take hours before he woke up and found out. It also worked to Sage's advantage sometimes. Every once in a while Sage would put makeup on Rowen's face and by the time the ronin of strata awoke, Sage was usually long gone from the crime scene. But that was Sage. He liked to play pranks on all of them for a few occasional laughs. Mia walked into the living room a few minutes later with a tray of snacks in her hands. She glanced over at Rowen as she set the tray down on the table. Then she walked back into the kitchen to grab the drinks. When she came back into the living room she set the drinks on the coffee table. She looked at Rowen again and realized he was still looking at one of the pictures on the wall. She walked over to him and looked at the picture.

 

“Remembering the old times?” Mia asked Rowen while she smiled at the picture.

“I miss him.” Rowen replied.

“Me too.” Mia knew that Rowen was talking about Sage. But she didn't want to dwell on it for too long so she turned and walked over to the couch. She sat down on the couch and looked back at Rowen. Rowen turned around to face her and for a moment they remained silent. The quietness of the room started to bug Mia soon after so she decided to continue the conversation. “So what happened?”

“He hit me… Again.” Rowen said as he walked back over and sat down on the couch a crossed from her. It was silent again for a moment before Mia figured out what to say next. She looked at Rowen who was looking at the floor. He seemed to be avoiding her stare for some reason. He also seemed to want to say something but the words were just not coming.

“Rowen… I know you said that you wanted to find a place on your own.” Mia said finally. Rowen looked up at her with a nervous look on his face. “Well me and Ryo had a talk after the last time you came over. We both agreed that if you wanted too you could move back in her with us. In fact Ryo insisted that I present the option to you in case he wasn't here to do it himself.”

“That's actually why I was here.” Rowen said calmly. “I was looking for salvation but I guess I was too scared to ask.”

“Well I invited you so there shouldn't be a problem. Besides if you're here you can see Kento and Cye when they come over.” Mia said calmly.

“Kento…” Rowen's eyes lit up.

“Yeah he called me recently saying that he was in town visiting Cye. He said he wanted to throw Cye a secret little party for his birthday.” Mia said.

“That's great. When are they going to show up?” Rowen was feeling excited for the first time in a long time.

“I don't know. Kento is supposed to call me from Cye's house tonight.” Mia began. “It will be nice to see old friends. It might get our minds off all the bad things that have been going on with everyday life.”

“I could use a vacation.” Rowen said calmly.

“Yeah so could Ryo.” Mia laughed a little. A light thump was heard at the nearby staircase. Rowen looked over to see a large black and white tiger standing at the foot of the stairs.

“Hey White Blaze.” Rowen smiled at the cat. White Blaze stared back at Rowen and growled a little. The big white feline walked over to the window and stared out it looking as if he was stalking something.

“We've had to keep Blaze locked up because of the poachers.” Mia looked sadly at the cat.

“Yeah Ryo mentioned that.” Rowen said calmly.

“Yeah so he's cranky.” Mia said.

“I would be too if I had to be stuck in the house.” Rowen smiled.

“Well I thought maybe you would've liked to hear the good news. The bad news is we still can't find Sage. So he probably will be the only one not at this little reunion.” Mia continued the conversation.

“Man where is the boy? I'm starting to worry about him.” Rowen said while he took a drink of his soda.

“Nobody knows. The last time anyone heard from him was just after his eighteenth birthday two years ago.” Mia said calmly. “Ryo seems to think he's left Japan all together.”

“I don't think so. Sage wouldn't just up and disappear like this unless something's happened to him.” Rowen continued. Mia nodded and grabbed a potato chip off the snack tray. White Blaze stared out the window on full alert. The tiger glanced up the mountainside and let out a low growl. Rowen looked at the tiger with a confused expression on his face. Rowen glanced at Mia who shrugged.

“Maybe he just wants out.” Mia suggested but Rowen wasn't convinced. Rowen stood up and walked over to the tiger. Rowen glanced out the window and looked up at the mountainside. What Rowen saw next disturbed him; at the top of the mountain he could see large black clouds rising high into the sky. Rowen gasped and turned back to Mia. “The mountain is on fire.”

 

End Chapter Two

 

Yeah I'm confusing I know… Thanks for the reviews and those of you who just got into the story please review. I promise you all this story will be worth it rating. I'm just getting into the story. What can I say? The beginning is always the slowest part of the story. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed.

 

PS… This is how I am working the update. After The End should be posted either 06/17/04 or 06/18/04. Nightmares Are Always Deadly III should be posted on 06/18/04 or 06/19/04. So hopefully if everything goes right all the unfinished stories should be updated by the end of the week.

 

~Priestess~