Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Twilight Sky ❯ Yoroi ( Chapter 10 )

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

Twilight Sky 10
Yoroi



Ryo-


The voice was talking again and it wasn't letting Ryo ignore it.

'You have to go find Seiji!'

'Leave me alone.' Ryo answered, reaching down to pet the black dog. He was just starting to feel like he was getting his head together. Cleaning up his granma's gave stone had done something to Ryo deep inside to make him feel stronger and didn't want the voice to remind him that he wasn't normal. After all, the voice of the fire wasn't to be trusted.

But... 'Why should I find him? He just went to visit Touma and Shin.' Ryo asked, just a little worried. The fire's voice had never been concerned about someone else before. It hadn't even cared about Ryo's granma.

'Because he's going to be very sad, very soon. Keep an eye on Xiu, too. They'll both need you.'

Ryo thought about what the voice was telling him for a minute, but did nothing. He looked at Xiu out of the corner of his eye. 'He looks all right to me.' But even as he said this, Xiu frowned and put a hand to his forehead.

'The Titanic looked sea worthy.'

'You're very irritating, you know that?'

'And you're the most stupid boy I could have been paired with. We don't have time to waste. We need you and your four friends sane. It's almost time. Look,' The voice sounded more frustrated that Ryo had ever heard it before and that, more than anything, worried Ryo. 'Just ask Xiu who's talking to him.'

'What?'

'You heard me! Ask him!'

It was against his better judgment and Ryo knew Xiu would think he was losing his mind, but... "Xiu,"

"Yeah?" Xiu, still rubbing his forehead.

"Ummm," Ryo felt himself turn bright red with embarrassment, sure that Xiu was going to think he was nuts. "Are you hearing a voice?"

Instead of the wide eyed look of confusion he was expecting, Ryo saw Xiu stop walking very suddenly and look at him seriously. "It...it's saying that I should go home. It says that something bad's going to happen at home. How did you know, Ryo?"

Ryo swallowed a hard lump in his throat. This...this couldn't be real. "There's a voice in my head, too. It's my fire's voice." Ryo felt like the weight of the world were lifted off his shoulders, just knowing that Xiu was hearing the same thing he was hearing, too. "It says I have to find
Seiji."

Xiu licked his lips, showing how worried he was. "Maybe we should do what the voices are saying."




Seiji-




Seiji heard the voice in his head at the same moment that Shin gasped and jumped up off his bed.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Shin cried, holding both hands to the sides of his head. He bolted from the room at desperate run. Thinking that it was more important to see what was wrong with his friend than listen to himself, Seiji started off after Shin.

"Are you coming, Touma?" Seiji looked over his shoulder to find Touma looking strangely pale and trembling. "Touma?"

Touma shook his head and stood up, pushing his way passed Seiji. "I'm fine. Let's go see where Shin ran off to."

With misgivings, Seiji followed Touma out. He knew there was something wrong, but he also knew that Touma could be very stubborn about talking. 'I'll just ask Shin to have a word with him. Touma always talks to Shin.'

They found Shin frantically ransacking the upstairs bathroom medicine cabinet. Kitchen cupboards. "Where is it? I know she kept some of it! Where? Where? Where?" After the third 'Where?' Shin switched to English and Seiji couldn't understand a word he was saying. When he obviously didn't find what he was looking for in the cabinet above the bathroom sink, Shin fell to his knees and nearly ripped open the cabinet doors, throwing rolls of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and other various things over his shoulders.

"What's he looking for?" Seiji quietly asked Touma. He was more than a little concerned for Shin. Although he'd seen Shin go a little nuts every now and again, he hadn't seen it this bad.

Touma shrugged, looking mystified. "I don't know." Touma walked closer and bent down so he could speak quietly to Shin. Again, Touma was speaking English so Seiji was in the dark about what was going on and he rather wished he had paid closer attention to his English lessons.

Shin's eyes were desperate and terrified. When Touma said something gently, putting a hand on Shin's shoulder, Shin turned on him, almost violently, and started shouting something at Touma. Shin grabbed Touma's shoulders and shook him, as if to make him understand the urgency of whatever was going on.

'He's scared.' The voice in Seiji's head told him. 'Aren't you?'

'Scared of what?' Seiji asked, keeping himself discreetly in the background. Whatever was wrong with Shin was obviously a delicate matter and Touma was the far better choice to deal with anything that concerned Shin.

'Shin is like you. Like you and Touma and Ryo and Xiu.'

Seiji frowned, watching Touma trying to calm Shin. The voice had just named all his friends and Seiji was disturbed by the fact that he was taking the voice so seriously. "What do you mean?'

'What do you think I mean?'

'I'm not in the mood for riddles.'

'Liar. You love riddles. Besides, this isn't a hard puzzle to solve. Shin is afraid of the same thing you are. Touma's afraid, too, but he's got other things on his mind right now.'

Just at that moment, Shin pushed Touma away from him long enough to jump to his feet and bolt out of the bathroom. There was a crashing of footsteps as Shin ran downstairs. Touma didn't spare a word for Seiji as he, too, ran downstairs. As calmly as he could, Seiji walked downstairs, trying to think out a solution for this problem. First off, he had to figure out what the problem was, since no one wanted to tell him.

'I've all ready told you the problem. He's scared.' The voice told Seiji.

'That doesn't help much. Tell me what he's scared of.'

'Why should I do that? You'll figure it all out in a few minutes, anyway.' The voice paused and Seiji had the strange feeling that it was looking somewhere else for a moment. When it came back, the voice was...different. Seiji couldn't quite describe it, but the voice sounded tense.

'You're not alone, Seiji. Remember that.'

'What are you talking about this time?'

'Just remember. It's almost time.' Then it was gone.

Seiji walked into the Mouri kitchen to find Shin's mum looking on worriedly while Shin was emptying the cabinets onto the floor. Both she and Touma were trying to get Shin to stop his mad search, at least that's what Seiji thought they were doing from their tone and gestures, but it wasn't doing any good.

'Don't let Shin fall asleep.' The voice in Seiji's head warned. 'We'll need him.'

Seiji watched Shin's desperate search for whatever it was. 'Who are you?' It was a question he was deathly afraid to ask, but he knew he had to have an answer.

'I'm you. You are me. We were destined to be together. You can call me Korin.'



Touma-



Shin looked like was going to give himself a heart attack and Touma couldn't blame him. He'd known about Shin's passed for quite a while, though Shin had tried to keep it a secret.

"Where is it, mum?!" Shin demanded when he rushed into the kitchen to find his mum sweeping the floor. "My pills, where are they?" Without waiting for her answer, Shin dashed to the first cabinet he came to began pulling food out, dumping it on the floor.

"What are you doing?!" Shin's mum asked, shocked at his behavior. "Shin? Liam, what's wrong?" She'd dropped her broom with a clatter and went to Shin, reaching out to put her hands on his arm. Shin moved away before she could touch him and he hadn't even seemed to notice that she was near him.

"I need them, mum." Shin said as he went to another cabinet and then another. "I'm hearing the voice again!"

Touma thought back to what Shin had told him once, the reason his mum had been forced to earn a living working in a grocery store when his dad had left them a small fortune from his fishing business.


Flashback-


Touma liked Shin because Shin liked Touma. It was odd reasoning, but it worked for Touma. Touma was a very logical young man and, for him, everything had a reason. He had worked hard at solving the mystery that was Shin for ages when they'd first met. Shin couldn't speak a word of Japanese back then and had come into the classroom with a cheery smile on his face. For some reason, Shin had taken a liking to the outcast Touma at first sight. It was a relationship no one could account for, since, at that time, neither could speak the other's language. They just smiled back and forth a lot, ate lunch together, and walked together. Soon enough, they started to learn each other's languages and a real friendship began.

Touma had never had many friends and he blamed it, not only on his screwy home life, but because he was smart. It wasn't that he was some kind of genius or something. Touma had to work for his grades. He studied almost every spare moment he had and never let things go to the last minute like some kids. A psychologist would say that Touma was using school and grades to fill his life, to distract him from his wreck of a family life. Actually, Touma just liked studying. To him, it was fun.

Shin, unlike anyone else Touma had ever met, didn't hold that love of learning against him. For that, Touma loved Shin like a brother.

The day Shin told him the secret, they were sitting on the bank of a river, both laying down in the sun on a warm Sunday afternoon. "I hear a voice, Touma." Shin had said that out of the blue, just after pointing out a cloud that was shaped like a bunny.

Touma thought he hadn't heard it right, at first. After all, his English wasn't perfect so it was possible that he'd misheard. The mere fact that Shin had spoken in English told Touma that Shin wanted to keep this private, probably another reason why Shin had said they should just goof off by the river, a place where no one was likely to be around. "What?"

"You heard me." Shin plucked a long strand of grass and stuck it in his mouth, chewing on it idly as if what he was saying wasn't all that important. "I've been hearing a voice for a couple of years."

Touma turned to look at Shin, but Shin was still looking up at the bunny shaped cloud. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I had to see a therapist for a while. Mum was worried when she found me talking to myself."

"Shin, are you all right?"

"Sure, I'm fine. I just wanted you to know. It all happened after dad died, so the therapist thinks it effected my mind." Shin finally turned and smiled at Touma. "I just wanted someone to know and you're my best friend, so I know I can trust you. It's hard keeping something like that a secret and I know most people would think I'm crazy if I told them. You don't have to worry, though. I started taking medication for a while and I haven't heard the voice for the longest time."

"Are you still taking the medication?"

"No." Shin sounded rather proud of that. "I don't need them any more."

End Flashback-


Apparently, that wasn't entirely the case. When Shin didn't find what he was looking for in the kitchen, despite his mum and Touma trying to get him to calm down, Shin muttered something about looking in the hall closet and started to run out of the kitchen. On his way out, he knocked against his mum's purse which had been sitting on the table. It fell on the floor and, along with money, make up, and a little pen, out rolled a small, bright orange pill bottle. Shin dove for the bottle as if his life depended on it. Before anyone could say anything, he was wrestling the cap off as quickly as he could.

Shin's mum's face fell tragically when she realized what he was doing. "Oh, baby, no." She put her hands to her mouth and didn't try to stop Shin when he popped a couple of pills in his mouth. "Not again. Please, God, not again." Tears filled her eyes.

Shin said nothing, but his body visibly relaxed as soon as he swallowed the pills and Touma sat down next to him, putting an arm around Shin. 'My problems may be pretty bad,' Touma thought as Shin relaxed against him. 'But I think Shin's got it worse than me. At least I'm not hearing voices.'

'How ironic that you'd say that.'

Touma eyes shot open at the unfamiliar voice. 'Oh dear. This can't be good.'

'Nonsense. Now, stop fooling around, something very important is about to happen.' The voice was brisk and commanding. 'Suiko should have taken it easier on our friend, but it has always been a little to unthinking. When Shin wakes up, you should be with him. He'll need a bit of support to get through this. Suiko spoke to him long ago, when he was a child. Shin wasn't mature enough to deal with it, back then, and it looks like he still thinks he's going crazy. I'm sure he'll come to terms with Suiko in time.'

Touma looked down at the orange pill bottle in Shin's hand and wondered how many he should take.

'Don't even think about it!' The voice told him. 'I'll not have you lost in a drug induced fantasy! We have an important destiny to full fill. By the way, I'm not 'the voice'. You can call me Tenku. Wake him up, we have to find the others. They need us. It's almost time.'

Beside him, Shin's weight seemed to grow heavier as his eyes drifted closed. "Shin." Touma shook Shin gently. "Shin, wake up."

Shin muttered to himself, but fought waking up. "Go 'way." He whispered.

Touma didn't give up. "You have to wake up, Shin. We have to go find Ryo and Xiu."


Shin-




Shin was lost in a hazy, familiar world of shadows. It was a world he'd gotten used to long ago and one he thought he'd never have to see again. As a child, Shin had spent days at a time just drifting along in the multicolored clouds of star dust and the empty void. The voice Shin recognized as Suiko was muted now, thankfully, but those small white pills. At least, that's how it started.

After a few blissful moments of this silence and solitude, Shin heard the voice again and he felt his guts turn to mush with fear. He hadn't thought Suiko could talk to him with the drugs.

'Drugs aren't strong enough to separate us, Shin. Stop this foolishness and wake up.' The voice was hard and almost angry sounding. 'I've waited for you long enough.'

"Go 'way." Shin whimpered, trying to find some way to get away from the voice of Suiko. But even as Shin looked for a way to escape, Suiko was suddenly more than a voice. Before Shin materialized a suit of pale blue armor, looking like something out of a history book and holding an evil looking yari (trident). "Stay away."

Suiko came closer, though it didn't walk or even move at all. It just sort of floated closer until it was right in front of Shin. 'No. We belong to each other, Shin. I will not and can not stay away. You must wake up. It's almost time.'

"Almost time for what?" Shin asked, in a small voice. He didn't like being afraid, but this was an enemy he had no idea how to fight.

'Wake up. The others need you.' The form of Suiko vanished, to be replaced with images of Shin's friends. He saw Touma trying to wake him up and Seiji looking on wordlessly, like he always did. He saw Ryo and Xiu walking down the street with a large black dog...no...it wasn't a dog, but a wolf. 'I am not a disease, Shin. They are like us and have each been hearing voices. Ask them and they will tell you. We are Suiko and I will help you to cleanse your body of the chemicals you've put into it.' Suiko reappeared and reached out its hands to Shin.

Shin saw that under the face mask there was no face, just emptiness and he tried to get away from the thing. Again, it was a useless effort and Suiko easily took Shin by the arms. The moment it touched him, Shin felt a wonderful calmness overtake him. He stopped struggling and just let himself be held. It was like water running though his veins instead of blood. Clear, clean water to wash away any impurities. Shin smiled, letting his eyes close.

Another, more welcome voice began calling, softly at first and then louder. "Shin. Wake up. Come on, we have to go." And Shin began to slowly ease back to reality.


Xiu-



They arrived at the Phoenix Rising to find the door open. Xiu stopped and stared at the door for a moment. 'That's not right. Papa always locks the door when the restaurant's closed. What's going on.'

The voice Xiu had been hearing since he and Ryo had left the graveyard, a solid, sensible sounding voice, spoke to him again. 'Be strong. You're the strongest, you have to stay strong for the others.'

Xiu didn't answer the voice, but he did call out as he pushed the door open. "Mama! Papa!"

There was no answer and the darkness of the restaurant made him instantly suspicious that something was wrong. It was eerily quiet and, even though Xiu knew his mama and papa might have gone out for a little while, the kids should have been safely at home. They were old enough to be trusted to look after each other, after all. "Where is everyone?!" Again, there was no answer.

"Xiu?" Ryo was feeling along the wall for a light switch and it was only then that Xiu realized why it was so dark inside. Someone had closed all the shutters.

Without thinking, Xiu started walking towards the light switch. He'd lived in this place his entire life so he didn't need to see where he was going to know where everything was. Well...normally. Halfway to the light switch Xiu tripped over something large and nearly fell. "What the..." He continued to the light switch, but what he saw when he turned it on made him wish he hadn't.

"L-Lai?" That was her yellow dress, the one she always wanted to wear, no matter how many patches their mama had to put it in. Xiu wasn't thinking as he knelt by her and slowly turned her over only to find the front of her sunny yellow dress was covered in blood that was drying to a dark color. Her eyes were wide open, but with the sightlessness of death and her mouth had fallen open. 'Oh, gods, she's all ready stiff. Rigamortis.' That thought made Xiu want to throw up while he held her, but he grimly swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. He wouldn't throw up all over his sister.

Wrapping one hand around her all ready stiff fingers. "Who...who...?" Xiu looked up from Lai. 'Someone killed her.' He might not be the smartest guy in the world, but even he knew a knife wound when he saw one. 'They cut her throat.' He couldn't, and didn't even try to stop, the tears that rolled down his face.

Ryo was leaning over a woman's body and Xiu began to register that his sister wasn't the only corpse in the room. There was a woman's body but the thing that caught Xiu's attention was the wheelchair. Seiji's mom. Xiu wanted to help, to do something, but Ryo looked up with a grim look and just shook his head. It was to late. Xiu looked back down at his baby sister and wondered how his family was going to survive this when he heard a strange, "Urrk!"

He looked up to see that a man had grabbed Ryo, putting one arm tightly around Ryo's throat. His other hand was at Ryo's belly. For a moment, Xiu didn't know what had happened, but then he saw a growing stain of red around the man's hand on Ryo's shirt. The man held a knife that was buried in Ryo's stomach.

Behind Ryo, Xiu could see the fallen body of the large black dog Ryo had taken such a liking to. This madman must have killed the dog before it could make so much as a sound to warn Ryo.

Ryo didn't say a word as he looked down at the knife in his stomach and then back up at the man. "D-d-dad?" He whispered as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. His dark skin turned dreadfully pale as Xiu watched and he knew he was watching his friend die. Very slowly, Xiu set his sister's body back on the floor and tensed, readying himself to rush the man.

The man leaned in a little, making it look like he was hugging Ryo. "My Ryo-chan. Have you been a good boy while I was gone? I missed you." He planted a kiss on Ryo's cheek. "Missed you so much. Daddy's come back to stay, this time. Where's your mommy, Ryo? I want to see your mommy again."

Ryo gasped and opened his mouth, but if he was going to speak, it came out at a weak gurgle. His eyes were starting to roll into his head and Xiu could tell he was trying to stay conscious.

The voice in Xiu's head told him, 'Wait. Just another minute. It's not your place to save him.'

Xiu didn't bother to answer, leaping to his feet and charging. There was no way he was going to wait for anything! This was obviously the maniac who'd killed Seiji's mom and Xiu's little sister. He wasn't about to let Ryo die, too, even if the guy really was Ryo's dad. He was to slow, unfortunately, and the man turned on him with a snarl.

"One more step, kid, and I'll make sure Ryo dies in the most painful way possible." He made a show of twisting the knife in Ryo's stomach. "A stomach wound is very painful, but it can be repaired. Or he can die right now."

Xiu froze. He didn't dare go any further, but he also didn't have any idea what he could do. Ryo's legs were starting to buckle and he wobbled and he leaned forward, onto the knife when he was unable to hold himself up anymore. "Let him go!" Xiu demanded, feeling more helpless now that he had ever felt before.

"No." The man said simply. "He's my son. He belongs to me." The man continued on like this, babbling about how his son was his property and he could do anything he pleased with his property. What he didn't see was in the doorway that was now behind him, Seiji, Touma, and Shin walk in.

Xiu saw Seiji's eyes go to his mother's body, then Lai's and then the man whose back was to him. Shin was leaning on Touma and looking very sleepy, but he was aware of what was going on. Seiji started to shake and Xiu wished more than anything that he could have spared Seiji the pain of seeing his mom like this.

'Don't feel badly.' The voice told Xiu. 'This was necessary. He needed a shock to get him moving. The woman doesn't matter.'

'Doesn't matter?' Xiu said angrily. 'That woman is...was his mother!'

'The only reason she was needed was to give birth to Seiji. She is now unnecessary. Seiji doesn't need her anymore.'

The cold statement of fact was so wrong in Xiu's mind he couldn't even comprehend it.

Seiji was shaking and he raised a hand to his chest, clutching his heart as if it hurt. 'A heart attack?' Xiu thought, worried that he'd lose the love of his life along with everyone else. Everyone knew Seiji had a weak heart and a shock like this would be just the thing to be the death of him.

Instead of keeling over, as Xiu had expected him to, Seiji's eyes opened wide and he threw his head back. Every part of him tensed, going dreadfully rigid. He wasn't the only one, though. Shin had pulled away from Touma and now they were both standing, with their heads thrown back and a hand clutched to their hearts. As one, they transformed into something unbelievable. There was no flash of light or crash of thunder, but suits of armor that looked old and yet very modern at the same time, appeared on the three boys. Each one was a different color and they just...appeared. Xiu had no other way to describe the magical appearance of the armor.

Each boy wore a helmet with evil looking horns and held wicked weapons. Seiji's weapon, a no-datchi (Long sword), was almost seven feet long and he held it with a gauntleted fist. Once again, Seiji looked at the two bodies on the floor and then at the man who was slowly killing Ryo. Then he met Xiu's eyes and Xiu shivered. He'd never seen Seiji look so heartless before and he admitted to himself that it frightened him.

'Get Ryo away from him.' The voice in Xiu's head told him. 'This will be messy.'

'He'll kill Ryo if I do anything.' Xiu protested.

'He'll kill Ryo if you do nothing. Trust me.'

Xiu didn't know how he did it, but he was sure the voice had something to do with it. There was a solid feeling deep in Xiu's chest. It felt like it was directly over his heart and Xiu put his hand to his chest, just like he'd seen Seiji, Touma, and Shin just do. Xiu started to breathe harder when the feeling of expanding began. It started feeling like there was a balloon just over his heart that was being blown up, but it didn't hurt.

The voice Xiu now knew as Kongo reassured him, 'You're just changing a little. Stay still and don't panic. Yes, that's right. Keep your hand there, you'll have to catch it. Wait...wait...' Even as it spoke, Xiu felt like the balloon in his chest was coming closer to his skin, pulling away from his heart. When it, the balloon thing, emerged from his chest, Xiu caught it in his hand just like Kongo told him to. It was a marble that floated out of his chest, not a balloon, and it was quite small.

'Yes!' Kongo shouted triumphantly. 'Now we've got power! Busso Kongo!' That was all it took for Xiu's life to forever change. When Kongo spoke, Xiu found himself surrounded in orange armor, similar to what his three friends wore, and where he had been holding the marble, he now held a long, heavy tetsubo. It was made of iron and looked like it could smash a person into pudding with one blow. 'You're angry.' Kongo told Xiu. 'Use it. Look what he did to your sister. Look what he did to your lover's mother. Use your anger!'

It wasn't hard. Xiu wanted to kill this man, but he knew he had to get Ryo away from him first.

The man, Ryo's father, supposedly, stared at Xiu, disbelieving.

With one mighty blow, Xiu swung his tetsubo and hit the floor. The blow shattered a large hole in the floor, sending splinters of wood into the air and distracting the man long enough for Xiu to lunge forward and grab pull Ryo away from the man to safety.

The stranger stumbled backwards, shielding his face from the flying wood, before standing up straight and fixing his insane glare on Xiu. "This is all your fault. You took my other son away from me, too. I won't let you have them, thief!"

Seiji, who had been standing behind the man the whole time, raised his no-datchi and, with one easy, clean sweep of the blade, separated the man's head from his neck. The head landed before the man's body hit the floor and bounced twice before settling only a few feet from Xiu.

'Don't waste time!' Kongo told Xiu. 'Get out of here! People are coming and you can't be found like this.'

Xiu picked up Ryo and, with Seiji, Touma, and Shin, ran out of his home. He had no idea where they were going to go.



Anubis-


The pain was almost unbearable. He'd been taken unawares and that hadn't happened for so many years. He could do nothing but lay there and watch while Ryo was attacked. Then, his eyes began to shut as his mind closed down, unable to deal with the pain. He thought...he almost thought he saw yoroi, armors similar to the ones he and his brothers bore. But that just couldn't be possible. It just couldn't be...



Rajura-


When all the action had ended, Rajura appeared in the restaurant and went straight to Anubis' wolf body. This had all happened just as he'd foreseen and he wasn't at all happy about it. If he was right about this, then...everything else he'd seen was likely to come to pass, also. Silently, Rajura picked up Anubis and cradled him close to his chest.

Anubis whined pitifully in his pain when he was moved, 'Hurts.' Anubis muttered in Rajura's mind. His mind opened slightly, showing Rajura what had happened and how he'd been attacked.

Rajura held Anubis close and put his chin on Anubis' head, giving him an awkward sort of hug. "Shhh, it'll be all right. Time to go home, brother. I'm afraid this can't go on much longer. I won't let you be hurt anymore."





To be continued...