Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Twilight Sky ❯ Wyrm ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Twilight Sky
Chapter 12: Wyrm


Rajura-



Thanks to his second sight, Rajura could see it all. He watched Sh'ten gleefully lead away the souls condemned to punishment for their crimes in life. Normally, Sh'ten didn't involve himself in things like this, but this was a special occasion. He didn't often have reason to want revenge, but today Sh'ten was reveling in his sadistic nature.

Rajura decided to leave Sh'ten to his fun, not being a great lover of pain, himself.

After watching them leave the area, Rajura went to find what he was looking for. Vision. Always vision to interrupt his life and Rajura hated them. He hated seeing just bits and pieces of what was destined to happen and be unable to stop any of it. He hated knowing what pain his loved ones were going to go through and knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Peering though the thick trees, Rajura was able to see the five boys gathered around a now dead fire, all of them brooding over what was to become of them. In the center of them all was that boy Anubis was so infatuated with, Ryo. He was the only one who was yet to acquire his yoroi, though Rajura had no doubt the boy would. 'I saw him in Red yoroi, in the visions.' Rajura thought, remembering not only visions he'd had since Anubis had met Ryo, but also vision had that plagued him for centuries. On and off for years upon years, Rajura had seen these five boys. He'd known they were coming and he knew they were going to do battle.

Still, Rajura couldn't bring himself to feel any ill will towards the boys who may end up causing the death of him or his brothers. 'They're just like us, really. They can't change their fate any more than the rest of us can.' Rajura felt pity, strangely enough, at the path fate was going to force his rivals were about to walk. It was nothing to envy. He wondered if there was anyone who would be able to teach the children and tell them what to expect in the way of changes in their lives. Was there anyone to tell them that they would never reach their adulthood? Anyone who would help them through the time when they would watch their families grow old and die without them?

'I had to learn it all on my own.' The Gen Ma-Sho thought. 'Just like they will. I can't get involved, Arago would personally kill me. Perhaps there is something else I can do...'

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft purr and Rajura turned to find the massive white tiger standing just behind him.

"What do you want?" Rajura asked the tiger, quite calmly.

The tiger sat down on its haunches and just looked at Rajura.

"Come along." Rajura said, impatiently. "I haven't got all night and I do have a few questions of my own for you. Return to your true form so we may speak properly, wyrm."

The tiger turned his head to the side, as if thinking about this request before replying, "Very well, Gen Ma-Sho." The words were of no surprise to Rajura. He'd known for a long time that wyrms could speak the human languages perfectly well.

Without any glitz or fanfare, the mighty tiger transformed easily into the true form of the wyrm. It was creature, neither male nor female, naked save for the glimmering of translucent scales that adorned it's body. It was completely hairless and looked rather like a humanoid lizard with claws on its hands and feet and large, alien eyes. It was delicate, also, fairly like with a thin body and lacking all the strength of its tiger body.

"You would speak with me, Gen?" It looked at Rajura with cold eyes, impossible to read. Its face was far different from a humans, lacking nose and visible ears and having no lips on its mouth. This was what Sh'ten had seen at the funeral when he'd come to take a look at the boy who'd captured Anubis' attention so thoroughly.

"I would know why you're guarding the boy. My brother has seen you with him." It was a fair question, as wyrms normally didn't associate with humans for any reason.

"The boy wields my sword." The wyrm said easily. "I search for the twin katana and Ryo keeps mine safe for me. Besides," It gave a rather gruesome smile, showing its rows of dagger-like teeth, I have grown fond of the child over time. Now I find he is a bearer of the ancient demon yoroi I find him all the more intriguing. He needs my protection if he is to survive."

"I see." Rajura did see, probably better than the wyrm thought. A wrym didn't give its friendship lightly and even if Ryo was doing it a favor by guarding some sword, it had clearly developed attachment to the boy, making the boy and his team all the more dangerous.

"Do you?" The wyrm's dreadful smile widened. "Perhaps more knowledge would benefit you and your three loved ones."

That immediately got Rajura's full attention, the fact that this creature knew about his brothers.

"You see, I have known for a long time about you and the three generals of the demon emperor. Long ago, I befriended a lonely child on the golden sands of Egypt as he tended a flock of goats. He was a sickly child and had gotten used to being alone. To this day, I care deeply for that child and I wish him to be happy."

Rajura was getting a bad feeling about this. There was only one person he knew who'd grown up in Egypt.

"Your younger brother, Anubis who was once Kujuurou." The wyrms pronouncement was said almost with triumphantly, as if it thought it had scored some victory. In a way, it had.

Rajura felt a stab of irritation that this creature had obviously been around Anubis for years upon years and he'd never known it. "Wait a moment." Rajura said, a thought coming to mind. "The only creature who's known Anubis for that long is Lightfoot, his wolf."

The wyrm laughed, a hissing sort of sound. "If I am able to take the form of one creature, why should I not take the form of two?"

And so, Rajura finally understood what the ageless wolf was. He had wondered about it from occasion to occasion. "Why were Sh'ten and I able to tell what you were when you took the form of a tiger and not as Lightfoot?"

Again, the wyrm laughed. "Because, o arrogant one, I chose for you to see me when I was the tiger, Byakuen. You are clever and wise, but even you do not see everything, Gen. I have my own reason for what I do."

"You wanted to protect Ryo and Anubis and you think they'll be happy together." Rajura deducted. "You've grown fond of them and you don't want them to be lonely."

"Very good." The wyrm nodded in approval at Rajura's conclusion. "You are very close to being right. But then why should I have let you see me? I could have let Ryo and Anubis come together on their own."

Rajura thought on this for a moment, but could see no reason.

"We will soon be at war, Gen." The wyrm said seriously. "I will fight to guard Ryo, but I will not have Anubis hurt. This is a warning." It bared its teeth warningly. "Do not permit this war to go on any longer than necessary. I should be most displeased if either of my children were to be injured or made unhappy because you desire power or glory and think to get them by winning this war."

"No danger. I don't especially want any kind of power." Rajura told the wyrm, though, naturally, it wasn't entirely honest. He did want power, but not at any cost. He wouldn't endanger Anubis for the sake of something Arago wanted.

The wyrm nodded. "Excellent. I am pleased. My Anubis has been injured and I will return to him shortly, after I have seen that Ryo is taken care of and properly protected."

"There's another question." Rajura said, abruptly. "I was wonder why Ryo hasn't gotten his yoroi yet, since the other boys have?"

"The yoroi is woken by a sever trauma. My little Ryo has suffered so many trauma since a very young age that he has gotten used to it. He has nothing to compare his life to but trauma. His yoroi, Rekka, yearns to wake, but it will take something...truly devastating to wake him." Even the wyrm, an inhuman creature who could probably only barely understand human emotion, sounded grieved to know that something so horrible would happen to Ryo.

It said nothing more before shifting back into a tiger's body and bounding away, into the clearing where Ryo smiled happily and ran to hug his friend.

"Interesting." Rajura muttered as he turned and began to walk away from the clearing. He would have to decide what he was going to do, if anything, about this new information.

"Ah, there you are." Rajura stopped walking when he heard the voice. It was an unfamiliar voice and, as he looked around, Rajura could see no one. "I've been waiting."

"And who might you be?" Out of force of habit, Rajura reached under his kimono and put his fingers of a few small shuriken's he kept for emergencies. Life had taught him to always be prepared and the voice he'd heard gave him a definite feeling of malice.

From behind one of the many large trees stepped a small boy, no more than eight, dressed in very ordinary short pants and a t-shirt. His hair was short and brown and, all in all, there was nothing out of the ordinary about him. Except that he was in a forest, hundreds of miles from anywhere in the middle of the night talking to a perfect stranger. That was a bit odd.

"I believe you are known to my darling Kuj." The boy said with a sweet smile. He bent down and examined the leaves of the forest floor. "I want him."

Kuj? Rajura had no idea what the child was talking about. "Go home to your mother, child." Rajura said dismissing the child with a wave of his hand. He had no time to waste on children.

Strangely, the boy began to laugh. He laughed long and hard before leaping to his feet again. "Child? I've lived more than double your lifetime, demon lackey." The child's tone turned from pleasant to scornful in just a moment. "I have seen the rise and fall of countless civilization while you've been locked away, frozen in time. I was witness to your master's fist attempt to conquer this world and I watched when the old monk battled your master in the last hours of his time in this world."

Without warning, a vision hit.

This child, arrogant and willful, was riding the back of a black and white tiger. He was in the midst of battles against the Ma-Sho and at his side was almost always a young woman with long, brown hair. It was not just any battle, but the great war Rajura had been expecting. For all these years they'd waited and now he finally had a vision of the war that would decide their fates.

There were five young warriors, all dressed in the mystical yoroi, the armor of the elementals and they fought against the Ma-Sho. It would be a long, difficult battle and Rajura was not given a vision of how it would end, only that this child before him would play a vital role.

When it had ended, the boy was glaring at Rajura suspiciously. "What did you see in your vision, demon?" He demanded to know. "I was told that you are gifted with sight of the future, what did you see?"

"I saw nothing." Rajura lied, before turning his back and walking away. He didn't know what this boy was, but he was certainly no human. Saying that he'd seen Arago's last attempt to overpower the Ningen Sekai would imply that the child was more than a thousand years old, far older than Rajura who had considered himself the oldest creature on the planet. 'It's sort of comforting to know I'm not as old as I once thought.' But if this boy wasn't human, then what was he?

A hand on iron grabbed Rajura's wrist and he stopped dead in his tracks, surprised by the strength in the boy's hand. "I will have answers, Ma-Sho!" The child snarled. "You once took my Kujuurou away and I have been without him long enough. The only son of my darling daughter belongs to me!"

Alarms went off in Rajura's mind. Kujuurou. That was Anubis' former name, the one he'd been born with. So, was this Abraham? The person Anubis had spoken of as a soft of grandfather? Without showing any pain that he was in, Rajura turned his head to look at the child, more carefully this time. There was no sign of anything odd about the child, no fangs or blood red eyes to indicate a vampire. But he was amazingly strong and he had admitted to being far older than he looked. Yes, for now, Rajura would accept this child as Anubis' grandsire, Abraham.

"I know of no Kujuurou." Rajura insisted. "Take your hands off me, boy, or we will do battle. I have no desire to hurt a child, but..."

The boy laughed again. "Child? I have all ready said that I am double your age. And if it's battle you want, it's battle you will get!" It was a simple twist of his wrist and Abraham threw Rajura nearly ten feet before Rajura hit a tree.

Rajura grunted at the impact of his stomach against the tree trunk, but he had not been training for years for nothing. Rajura landed on his feet and didn't bother to reach for his orb, choosing instead to use his own hands against this threat. Abraham had proved himself more of a danger than Rajura had first thought, yet he clearly wasn't to die yet. 'I saw him in the vision, so he must survive this fight with me. But I didn't see myself in the vision. Perhaps I'll die here.'



A short while ago-
Ryo-



When Ryo finally woke up properly, he felt like the runt in a litter of kittens. All of his friends were surrounding him and all were sound asleep. Seiji was laying next to Ryo and had an arm draped over Ryo's chest while his head was leaning on Ryo's shoulder. On Ryo's other side was Shin, cuddled up closely with his arm not only over Ryo, but also stretched over and touching Seiji's waist. Touma's long legs were laying across Shin, Ryo, and Xiu's legs and, Ryo noticed, Touma was holding Shin's hand in his sleep. Xiu's stomach was across the top of Ryo's head as Xiu seemed to be laying horizontally at Seiji, Shin, and Ryo's heads, so they were all touching. All in all, it was cozy and felt strangely natural.

'How did we get out here?' Ryo asked himself as he looked up at the lightening sky. They were in a forest, but it wasn't one that Ryo was familiar with. At least not one that he recognized laying on his back and nearly drowning under friends. Ryo's thoughts drifted back to what little he remembered happening. The attack, Dr. Date and little Lai being killed, his big black dog getting hurt.

Ryo twitched slightly and Seiji rolled closer to him, making Ryo feel even more like he was drowning. Normally, Ryo didn't like being touched. He would go to long lengths to avoid touching, but this felt different. It felt so right. Ryo sighed and wanted to close his mind to all the awful memories that wouldn't leave him alone. Not just yesterday, but his whole life. It seemed to be a never-ending parade of horrible memories. Everything went from bad to worse and then kept going down hill.

Except now.

Now there was warmth and safety. Ryo closed his eyes and let himself indulge in the peace of being completely at ease. Finally, away from strangers and the noise of the city, Ryo could feel himself relaxing. There was no one out here who would hurt him. No one to keep staring at him and no one who would touch him if he didn't want them to. The smell of the pine trees was intoxicating, stirring childhood memories of running through the forest completely free.

'I never want this to end.' Ryo thought. 'Can I stay here forever? Just forever, please. That's all I'm asking. I'm so tired of pain and death and sadness. Just give me forever like this,' Ryo opened his eyes and looked around again at the people who really cared about him. 'Forever, just like this.'

'But,' the thought came at Ryo unbidden. 'If I stay here forever, I can't seen Anubis again.' Ryo's peaceful moment came to a crashing stop when he thought of the dangerous, sexy vampire.

Yes, he was getting more used to that word. Vampire. Anubis drank blood and he'd drunk Ryo's blood. He was dangerous, probably deadly. He was unnatural and had a strange fixation with Ryo. Ryo shuddered when he thought of Anubis looking at him with those large, blue eyes. He was hairy, too. Ryo couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a guy with so much hair, all over his muscular chest and his arms.

'I wonder where he is?' Ryo remembered that Seiji had said some white haired guy in weird armor had taken Anubis away that day. 'What if that guy had hurt Anubis? What if Anubis can't come back?'

"How are you feeling?" Seiji had woken up and was looking at Ryo with sad eyes. Seiji hadn't changed the way he was laying and didn't make any attempt to move away from Ryo. "We were worried about you."

"Fine. I think." Ryo answered, careful not to wake the others. "Where are we?"

Seiji shrugged. "We're not sure."

"Oh."

And so they just lay like that, looking at each other for a long time. It was weird, to be so close to someone and not be afraid of them. Ryo didn't think he'd ever been so close to anyone and not been afraid of them. Even when Seiji shifted slightly and his cheek touched Ryo's, Ryo didn't so much as flinch.

"Not that I'm complaining, Seiji." Ryo said, liking the warmth from Seiji's body. "But, why are we are sleeping together?" Ryo blushed even saying something like that. All right, so they weren't 'doing' anything, it still sounded odd.

"The fire went out and we didn't have any way to light it again. Touma's lighter died." Seiji explained. "I didn't want you to get cold in your condition, so I lay down next to you. Shin wanted to help, too. It just sort of happened." Seiji didn't make any attempt to move away now that Ryo was awake. "Things have changed, Ryo." Seiji said. "I'm not sure what's happening, but we've all changed. You're going to change, too, we think."

Ryo just stared at Seiji. Seiji never lied, Ryo knew that. So...what did this mean? "How? How did you change?"

Seiji gave Ryo a smile that wasn't entirely happy, but neither was it sad. "Armors and weapons and a whole new perspective. I can see things now, Ryo. I can see things and hear things that I never thought was possible. Look up."

Ryo and Seiji both turned their heads so they were looking up at the treetops.

"Can you see it, Ryo? I can. I can see the life of the trees. It's like an aura that they show in manga, kind of a cloud surrounding it. It surrounds everything that's alive. I can see it around everything. Even at night, I can see clouds of light from bugs and bats and animals that scurry around in the dark." Seiji tightened his arm around Ryo. "It's like everything I ever knew has changed."

Ryo looked and tried to see what Seiji was seeing, but they just looked like trees to him. There was nothing different about them.

"I can see the stars." Touma voice spoke, only just loud enough for them to hear. "So clear and bright, I could almost touch them. I can see them dancing, it's a slow dance, but they are so beautiful." Touma reached upwards and in a voice that sounded close to desperate. "Almost. If only my arms were just a little bit longer, I could touch them."

"I can feel the water." Shin whispered. "There's a river under us and a lake not to far away. I fee like I'm being pulled toward them both and it's so hard to fight it."

"The earth is just as alive as anything else." Xiu was the last one to speak. "You've heard the voice too, haven't you?" He asked. "We've all had a voice talking to us, telling us to do things. We can't hear them anymore. I suppose you'll lose your voice once you change, too. I suppose you'll have some kind of fire power. Earth, air, wind, and spirit are all ready taken." He paused. "Speaking of voices, Ryo, you lost your stutter. Congrats."



Touma-



Touma woke almost the same moment that Seiji had and listened to the conversation between Seiji and Ryo. 'How can Ryo understand when he hasn't gone through this?' Touma knew it was unusual for him to want to touch people like this, even though he just had his legs strewn across Shin, Ryo, and Seiji, it wasn't like him. Normally, he never wanted to touch anyone but Shin. Still, this felt right.

"We should get up." Touma said at last. As comfortable as he was, the day wasn't getting any younger and they had things to do. "I don't know how long it'll take us to get back home and we've all got responsibilities to take care of."

Ryo groaned when everyone around him started to move, pushing themselves up.

Xiu moaned, rubbing his sore back. "I think I slept on a raccoon, I'm dying here."

Ryo smiled when he sat up and Touma watched him carefully just to make sure was completely healed. He'd looked so awful last night, but now Ryo seemed like his old self. In fact, he looked healthier than ever. "Sleeping on the ground is more comfortable." Ryo said. "I like it out here. It's kind of like where I used to live with mom and...Yaku-chan!" Ryo cried out happily. Everyone turned to where Ryo was looking and saw the large white tiger calmly walking out of the forest. Ryo jumped to his feet and ran to his tiger friend, throwing his arms around Byakuen. "I'm so glad to find you!"

Byakuen licked Ryo's face and rubbed his large head against Ryo, showing how pleased he was to find Ryo again, too.

Seiji was frowning.

"Problem?" Touma whispered, sliding over to sit next to Seiji. With any luck they were far enough away that Ryo wouldn't be able to hear them.

"We have some kind of magic that made us run very far, very fast, right?" Seiji said, keeping his eyes on Ryo and the tiger.

"Yes." Touma answered. "So?"

"So, how did the tiger get here so soon? How did he find us? He wasn't with us when all that stuff happened, only Ryo's dog was. I think he's more than just a tiger."

Byakuen looked over at them suddenly, as if he heard what was being said and let out a loud, content purr.

"I think he's listening to us." Shin whispered, somewhat nervously.

"So," Ryo, who hadn't heard any of their conversation, came walking back to them with Byakuen at his side. "Where are we going? What responsibilities?"

"My trial for one." Touma told him. 'It's odd,' Touma thought as he listened to Ryo. 'It's like he doesn't even notice his stutter is gone.' I wonder what happened.' He said, out loud, "I've got the trial today." It was something he didn't even want to think about, but if he never went back, Touma would always wonder what had happened to his dad. Besides, he didn't want to be caught and sent to jail for skipping out on his trial, especially after Shin's mum and okasan went to so much trouble to keep him out of jail.

Jail? Touma frowned, thinking. There was something important about jail that he'd forgotten. Something had happened there. What was it? Something about a man with pink hair...Joji! Touma's eyes widened at the memory. Joji was dead and so was his friend, Yoko. It wasn't that he'd forgotten they'd died, but Touma had been meaning to tell Ryo about the deaths of his friends. They had meant so much to Ryo and Touma was sure that Ryo would be all broken up. Maybe it would be best to wait until they got back to the city when things calmed down.

At the mention of going back to the city, Ryo's face fell and he looked away from them.

"Ryo?" Shin asked, picking up on Ryo's change of moods and apparently guessing the cause. He, like the rest of them, must have felt worried that Ryo would decide to stay in the forest. After all, Ryo could easily survive here, he really didn't need anyone else. Why would he want to come back to the city that had caused him so much pain? "You coming with us, yes?"

They all knew how much Ryo missed his forest home. It was obvious that Ryo hated living in the city and Touma felt guilty for even wanting Ryo to go back with them. "Ryo," He walked over to Ryo and put one hand on Ryo's arm. "You don't have to come back, if you don't want to." To be honest, Touma had the impression that if Ryo wanted to lose himself in the forest, there was no human alive who would be able to find him.

After a long silence, Ryo shook his head and smiled at Touma. "I promised I'd come to your trial, Touma. I never break my word. Besides," He looked at Seiji. "I think my friends might need me now." The memory of Seiji's murdered mother and the way he'd had to kill his own father were still fresh in all their memories.

After all, Seiji had murdered his father to save Ryo. 'I don't believe Seiji would have killed to avenge anyone, not even his mom. Seiji's just not vengeful like that. To save the life of someone he cares about, yes, he would kill.'

"Are you up to moving around a lot, Ryo?" Seiji asked. "I managed to heal everything, but we should probably take you to a hospital just to make sure."

"I think so." Ryo lifted up the bottom of his shirt to see where he'd been stabbed, but he saw nothing but a faint pink scar.

"I think it'll be gone soon." Seiji sounded as confused as Ryo must have felt. "When we...um...found ourselves out here it was still all open and bloody." Seiji swallowed hard, obviously not liking what he was remembering, but he went on bravely. "We started a fire for you, to keep the shock from setting in, and then you started healing very quickly." Giving a rueful laugh, Seiji glanced away. "I guess giving you baths for healing was completely the wrong way to go, huh?"

And Ryo felt something grow stronger inside of him. He wanted to be stronger. 'Seiji needs me.' Ryo gulped and this sudden responsibility he felt. 'I can't be weak anymore. I have to take care of him.'

"I'm so sorry, Ryo." Seiji said, sniffling as the stress finally got to him. "I killed your dad, Ryo." He gave a shocked laugh. "I can't believe it. Do you realize, we're brothers." He looked up into Ryo's dark face and Ryo looked back at Seiji's unusually pale face. "You'd never know it to look at us, I guess."

But Ryo couldn't bring himself to be all that upset at his dad's death. 'Now I know why he was gone so often. I wonder if mom knew dad had another family?' Ryo's dad had never been there for him, really, and Ryo had only a very few memories of the man. Most of those memories weren't very happy ones, either. It wasn't that he was glad his dad was dead, he just didn't feel badly.




To be continued...