Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Uncertainty ❯ Veiled Feelings ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I have no connection to the Ronin Warriors or the Samurai Troopers. I simply wanted to write a fanfiction about them. This is only my second attempt at a fanfiction, so bear with me. I hope you like it. Any comments can be directed to bhollan2@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Chapter 1: Veiled Feelings

Waves crashed relentlessly against the rocky outcropping along the shore. Lightning flashed across the darkening sky as rain poured from the heavens, pelting the lone figure standing on the shore. The figure stood unmoving and unseeing as the rain became more insistent, lost in his own tumultuous thoughts. Waves began to build into an everlasting crescendo as they hit the rocks, and yet the figure did not stir from his musings. A slight frown began to tug at his lips as he regarded the roiling sea in front of him. The rain felt cool against his flushed skin, and a light blue aura began to swirl around the figure as he finally registered the downpour that was currently soaking him. His auburn hair was blowing softly in the wind, caressing his upturned face. He looked out at the sea of ever rising waves and tried to shake his melancholy thoughts away. Now was not the time for such thoughts; he had his friends, his health, and possibly something more . . . The figure cast one last look at the heaving ocean before turning away to head toward his parked car. The figure slipped inside the compact car and leaned contentedly back in his seat, heedless that he was quite possibly ruining the interior. He smirked to himself. It was not the first time this had occurred. The figure put his key in the ignition and began the twenty minute drive home, towards Mia.

Cye Mouri slipped unnoticed into the mansion that he shared with his four best friends, Mia, and White Blaze. He was hoping beyond hope that he would be able to make it to his and Kento's room unnoticed, but fate seemed to have other designs in mind. He cautiously peeked into the living room and was mildly surprised to find no one there. He wondered where they could be, until he remembered that Ryo and Sage had decided to undergo the task of cleaning out Mia's basement. One of the guys, Cye wasn't sure which, had suggested that they use it as a rec. room. Thus, Halo and Wildfire were probably embroiled in a room full of boxes. They had already set up a pool table and an air hockey game in the large space that the two of them had cleared a few days ago.

Cye tiptoed toward the basement door, stopping cautiously on the landing listening for any sounds that someone was down there. He was not disappointed as Ryo's calm voice wafted up to him.

"No, Kento. The mini bar is not going to go at the bottom of the stairs. It blocks traffic, besides it works much better over here by the couch."

"Aw man, come on Ryo. I need to be close to the kitchen. Cye's cooking is just too good" he moaned.

Cye smiled appreciatively at the comment Kento had unwittingly given him as he continued to listen to the two friends bicker.

"No, Kento. Don't make me repeat myself." Ryo turned smoldering eyes onto the stockier teen. Small fires were beginning to swirl in his eyes as he contemplated smashing something over Kento's thick skull. Fortunately for Kento, however, Sage decided to interject his view of the matter.

"Ok guys, that's enough. You know what Mia said. If we fight each other over this then she won't let us use it for our rec. room. So let's compromise. Ok. Ryo, you want the bar in the left-hand corner of the room near the back, right?" At the other warrior's nod, Sage turned to Kento. "Now Kento, you want the bar back here by the steps so that it will be close to the kitchen, correct?" It was now Kento's turn to nod. "All right here's what we will do . . . " Sage's voice began describing where the bar will go, barring any further argument over the situation.

Cye missed the swordsman's idea, however, as he began to drift away from the door and head upstairs. He wondered briefly where Rowen was, for he had not heard him downstairs. 'Oh well, he's probably in his room reading or something. I'll just have to be careful' he thought to himself. Taking no chances he walked as silently as possible upstairs and passed the closed door of the swordsman and archer's room. He had almost reached his goal when he felt a prickly sensation at the base of his neck. Someone was observing his movements as he placed his hand on the doorknob. Cye whirled around to find the blue haired archer eyeing him skeptically.

"Cye, man, you're soaked. What did ya do? Stand out in the rain again?" Rowen asked his auburn haired friend teasingly. It was a known fact that Cye loved water, it was after all his element, but he hated to be cold. Rowen watched as a tremor passed through the slight warrior of Torrent who was beginning to shake uncontrollably in his wet clothes. Rowen started when he looked into the sea green eyes of his friend, for his eyes held an unnatural light. He took a step towards the water bearer, concern evident in his dark blue eyes.

Cye began to twist the doorknob in his hand in an effort to flee the scene of Rowen's scrutinizing gaze. "Rowen, I'm fine, really. I was just out at the beach and I lost track of the time. The storm caught me unaware." The last was slightly muffled since Cye felt ashamed that he had been caught out in the elements. He turned to leave Rowen in the hall, but Rowen was not about to let the matter drop.

Rowen could easily understand Cye being caught in the rain, since he often went to the beach to think. The water often had a soothing effect on Cye's soul. However, Cye typically did not stay out in the rain for very long. And if Rowen was any judge, he would have to say that Cye had been outside for quite some time. Rowen placed a restraining hand on Cye's shoulder as the older boy tried to escape.

Cye turned resignedly toward the archer. He should have known that Rowen wouldn't let it go. It was not Rowen's nature to let things go unsolved. Cye could feel the archer's worry through their mind link. "Rowen . . . Oh all right, come in. I need to talk to someone anyhow."

Rowen raised his eyebrows in question of the older boy's request but did as he was asked, and followed Cye into the darkened bedroom.

Cye fumbled for the switch and the room was instantly bathed in a soft white light coming from the center of the room. "Hold on a sec, would you Rowen? I need to get out of these wet clothes." Cye gathered up a set of dry clothes as he headed to the adjoining bathroom to change.

"Sure thing, I'll just wait here for ya."

A few minutes later Cye returned wearing a pair of loose fitting, light blue sweatpants and a white sweatshirt. He had a towel in his right-hand attempting to squeeze the wet moisture out of his auburn locks.

Rowen looked up from the Marine Biology book that he had found on Cye's desk and silently contemplated the figure standing in front of him. "Ok Cye, What's going on in that head of yours? You have been more quiet than usual and now you are spending most of your time staring out at the ocean. It's gone a little far don't ya think?" Rowen asked his friend while gesturing at Cye's wet locks and the wet clothes that Cye had just placed in the hamper. "Besides, I know you don't like to be cold and yet, you were an ice cube just a few minutes ago. So please tell me what's wrong so that I can help." Rowen pleaded with his friend to open up to him.

Cye looked over at the archer as he sat down on his bed, still drying his hair. "I have just been preoccupied. That's all. I was thinking about something and wondering if I should tell a certain someone how I feel about them." Cye finished his sentence almost too soft to hear, but Rowen did hear the words that Cye had spoken. "I was so engrossed in my swirling thoughts that the storm kinda snuck up on me. I probably did not notice it for about ten minutes or so." Cye smiled sheepishly up at his blue haired friend, who was looking a bit shell shocked at the moment. Cye shuddered again as another set of chills wrapped themselves around his body.

Rowen turned a shocked gaze onto his friend and asked in exasperation, "What was so important that you didn't use the good sense god gave you and come in out of the rain? Making you acquire a chill?" He watched as yet another tremor shook Cye's slender frame.

"Mia" came the soft reply.

"Huh," Rowen asked incredulously. Mia?? Maybe he did not hear the slight warrior correctly. "Did you say Mia?"

"Uh huh," Cye muttered despondently.

Rowen turned this thought around in his head for a full minute before a slow smile began to form. 'Cye and Mia, hmmm, this is going to be interesting.' All of the guys at one time or another had considered a relationship with the older girl but that was as far as it got. Now it looked as if Cye was getting ready to admit his feelings for the girl that they had all come to love and trust with their lives. "Hey Cye, man. That's great!!! It's about time one of us admitted our feelings to her."

Cye glanced up at Rowen to see him smiling gently, knowing that he spoke the truth. "But am I doing the right thing? I mean, you guys, well you all have feelings for her too, especially Ryo and Sage. I don't know if I should say anything; I don't want to hurt anyone and what if she likes someone else more? I don't know if I could handle that." Cye's voiced trailed off as he confessed his misgivings to Rowen. He ducked his head as his shoulders began to silently quake.

Rowen looked at the hunched figure, understanding dawning in the blue depths of his eyes. He slipped over to Cye's side and sat quietly down on the bed next to Cye. He gently pulled the unresisting figure into his lap and began to rub small circles on Cye's back with his left hand, in an effort to relax the smaller warrior. "It's all right, Cye, really. I think the guys will understand. Besides, since when have we had a problem with sharing?" Rowen asked slyly, knowing full well what Cye's reaction would be to that outlandish remark. He was not disappointed.

Cye jerked his head up and around to face Rowen's smiling face, laugh lines evident on the youth's face. "Rowen!!!!" he screeched perhaps a bit too loudly. A large blush began to stain the shy warriors' cheeks and neck as the remark sunk in. In an effort of retaliation, he reached behind his back and threw a pillow at his friend, shocked that Rowen would say something like that. Course that did not mean that it wasn't true, it was just something that had never been said aloud.

Rowen quickly ducked the pillow Cye had aimed at his head, grinning wickedly. "Hey, man, I was only kidding. Come on." Rowen started to beat a hasty retreat as Cye started to stalk the other teen across the room. Rowen turned toward the balcony doors and attempted to wrench them open when he felt Cye's hand on his wrist. He looked up to see the fire smoldering in the sea green eyes, and felt afraid.

Cye looked at his friend, letting the fire go out in his eyes but he was not through with Strata, yet. He turned back toward his bed and reached for another pillow. Still puzzling over how Strata had managed to duck his earlier pillow, Cye never noticed Rowen surreptitiously grabbing a pillow off of Hardrock's bed, until it was too late. Rowen's pillow hit Cye square in the chest as the slighter warrior turned around. "Ooh, Rowen, you are going to pay for that" threatened the warrior of trust.

Rowen, grinning like a maniac, only shrugged his shoulders at Cye's fury.

An all out pillow fight broke out amongst the two. The two teens started giggling hysterically as their pillows began connecting with one another. Neither teen gaining an upper hand, until that fateful moment when a tearing sound was heard echoing in the room. Cye looked unbelievingly at the torn pillow in his hands as the soft white feathers floated lazily onto the floor. The two combatants broke apart to survey the damage and sighed resignedly. Mia was going to kill them if she ever saw this mess. Feathers were everywhere in the room, furniture was overturned, a vase of flowers lay haphazardly on some magazines in the corner, water ruining the pages. Lucky for them, however, she was not expected back for another couple of hours. Mia was teaching a late night class at the college, and she generally brought a late dinner home with her since she knew Kento would be starved.

"We are so dead!" they both said aloud, before chuckling at each other's appearance. Rowen's shirt had come loose from his jeans, his headband was nowhere to be seen and there were white feathers sticking out at odd angles in his hair. Cye was no better off. A corner of Cye's white sweatshirt had torn slightly in the scuffle and his auburn locks were in total disarray.

"Hey Cye?"

"Yeah?"

"Since you started this fiasco, you get to clean up this mess." Rowen attempted to run for the doorway but he didn't quite make it. Cye somersaulted over his head and placed his arms out, effectively blocking Rowen's escape.

"Oh no you don't. You aren't getting out of this that easy. You played as much a part in this mess as I did, so you have to help me clean it up. Besides I am not feeling real well." Cye started to sway slightly as his equilibrium gave out. He began to fall forward but Rowen managed to catch him before he hit the floor. Cye looked up at the archer with a weak smile. "Sorry, Rowen, guess you'll have to clean up without me." With that said, Cye promptly slipped into oblivion.