Vamps and Ronins

Chapter Twelve: What if?

Written by: Tiasha

~

I know I can't hold the hate inside my mind

'Cause what consumes your thoughts controls your life

So I'll just ask a question

What if?

What if your words could be judged like a crime?

Creed, "What If?"

~

The shadows crawled along the walls and ceiling in mass numbers, twisting and clumping together to form frightful images. As a child she had feared them immensely but now, at eighteen and after everything that had happened, she no longer did. Now she viewed them with distaste and contempt as she sat down with her new mug of hot cocoa. She gently placed Ryo's head back in her lap and sipped the hot liquid from her mug, allowing its warmth to soothe her inside. The young bearer of Wildfire had fallen asleep hours ago while watching television with her and Robyn had not the heart to wake him now. Besides, it would morning soon enough.

The darkness was having a calming effect on her too, giving her a sense of peace, relaxation and courage. That fact disturbed her. She feared that she was slowly becoming a part of the darkness, slowly losing control of herself, slowly losing her own self. She did not want that to happen, she did not want to be controlled by the darkness nor be a part of it. And yet, now she was. The Dark Emperor was part of her.

But was there a possibility of changing the energy, of changing everything so that the darkness was not evil?

The clock chimed once and Robyn sighed. It was one o'clock in the morning and she was still wide-awake, fearing the slumber that awaited her. She was afraid that her dreams would be dark and haunting, like she was. She was evil now, wasn't she?

Click-clack. Click-clack. Tap, tap, tap, clack, clack. The sounds of nails on the floor were suddenly hushed as Shadow padded onto the carpet of the den. The large canine whined and approached her, flopping down at her feet.

"Kitten," the she-wolf spoke softly, "What troubles you?"

Shadow had taken to calling her 'Kitten' and Robyn had no quarrel with it. When Shadow used the name, it was always in a compassionate, motherly tone, and Robyn appreciated it. While Cye's mother would be the first woman she would seek comfort from, this situation was something Robyn could not really explain without telling the whole story and she had no desire to do that. Mariko occasionally acted like a motherly figure, but Robyn did not have that sense of confidence with the ronin of Phoenix as she did with Cye's mother. Shadow on the other hand…

"Am I evil?" Robyn whispered softly to the only mother figure available. She watched as the she-wolf jerked her head back in surprise before snorting and shaking her head. The action was quite adorable when done by an animal and Robyn giggled softly, aware of the sleeping ronin in her lap.

"Hardly! Kitten, do not believe that just because you carry a seed of evil means that you are too. You are far from it! That is why you are able to survive carrying it," the black wolf explained, nudging Robyn's foot in the process.

Robyn sighed and ran her hand through Ryo's raven locks, the mere movement being comforting. He was safe, as was all of them, and that was all that mattered. Or at least should have been all that mattered, so why was she still worried?

"Robyn, you cannot consider yourself evil for if you do they win."

"Then why do I feel so……so……"

"Out of place?"

Robyn nodded and took another sip of her cocoa, still playing with Ryo's hair. She loved his hair, well, more like was fascinated with it. Its texture and natural wave combined with the thickness…she just found it fun to play with.

"Kitten, did you know that your aura looks different than before? Before it was grey and tattered…now it's a soothing off-white. This power that is now at your dispense does what you want it to do. When you use it…its energy becomes very similar to the armors."

"But it just feels so evil!"

"As will most things; there has to be balance. You are a perfect example of that balance."

"What do you mean?"

"You're pure of heart but contain a void of darkness. They balance and create a neutral energy."

Robyn nodded her head slowly, staring at the shadows on the wall. So what Shadow was implying was that she was not evil, but not good either so that she was a balance. Odd that she would be a balance and not Rowen since his zodiac sign was Libra; but how could he have any type of darkness in him? How could any of them? Robyn frowned suddenly and stared harder at the shadows on the wall. Had she just seen a pair of eyes in those shadows? She blinked and looked again but saw nothing.

Must be the fatigue, she thought to herself, finishing off her cocoa.

"What do you see, child?" Shadow asked softly.

Robyn shrugged, "Nothing, just my imagination, that's all."

"Are you so sure? Look again."

Robyn gave the she-wolf an odd look before looking at the shadows again. Nothing. Shaking her head, she heard Shadow sigh in disappointment.

"Look harder Kitten. Allow your imagination to drift."

"Why? What are you trying to have me do?"

"You'll see…if you look hard and allow your imagination to run."

Robyn blinked and stared back at the shadows, watching as they twisted and churned together, forming a humanoid clump and then dispersing again. She stared harder, straining to see what it was Shadow wanted her to. A pair of storm grey eyes stared back at her suddenly and Robyn gasped, jumping slightly. Thankfully, Ryo did not wake.

A beautiful woman phased through the wall of shadows and came to stand before her. Her eyes were a stormy grey and her hair reminded Robyn of rays of moonlight, which went cascading past broad shoulders and well-toned arms to end at the knees. The pale garment that wrapped around the woman in a toga fashion contrasted the dark skin of the woman greatly, giving a sense of one seeing the moon against the dark night of the sky.

'Mother…' the woman whispered across Robyn's mind and Robyn silenced her startled cry by clasping a hand over her mouth. Why had this…creature just called her mother?

It's my imagination, nothing else! Robyn insisted.

'You are the Mother Empress, are you not?' the woman again whispered across her mind. Robyn could only nod slowly. What was going on?

"What are you?" Robyn whispered to the woman. The woman bowed in respect before smiling. Her smile was even beautiful!

'I am the bringer of dreams, my Empress. I bring dreams to mortals who sleep though they do not know. They have given me many names, though most call me the Sandman. The she-wolf and Ronin of Phoenixrefer to me as Yume.'

"Shadow can see you?"

"Well of course, kitten! Why do you think I insisted you look harder?" Shadow said lightly.

Robyn shook her in disbelief at the black she-wolf, "Why didn't you just tell me in the first place?"

"Would you have bothered if I told you that you could now see things that no other mortals can?"

'My Empress, I fear the worst for one of your mortal friends,' the bringer of dreams, Yume, whispered softly as she hanged her head in failure.

"What do you mean?" Robyn asked quickly, fear creeping into her voice as she stared into those storm-grey eyes of Yume. Those eyes held such sorrow, sympathy, and pity that a lump formed in the back of Robyn's throat.

'I have not been able to give him dreams for some time now. He is trapped in a continuous nightmare again and I have been blocked out of his mind so that I cannot free him.'

Again? Robyn thought to herself. The only person she could think of who had been ensnared in a continuous nightmare was Sage. But Sage seemed to be having no trouble sleeping at all this time around. Either that or he was doing a damn good job of hiding it, which was probably the case since he kept himself closed off from most people anyway. Still, she felt better if she were to ask this Yume who was suffering.

"Who is trapped?"

'The one of light, my Empress. I have tried several times this week to break through the barrier that confines him, but I'm afraid that whoever is helping the Feeder is stronger than I. Not by much mind you, for I can still influence his day-dreams but just enough to where his night-dreams are beyond my reach.'

"Sage…" Robyn whispered, shaking her head in sympathy. So he had been hiding his sleeping problems again.

'My Empress, I must continue to bring dreams to mortals. If I may have leave?'

Robyn blinked in surprise but nodded her head nonetheless. Yume needed permission to leave? Permission from her??? That was a new one on Robyn; she could barely remember a time when she had authority over any one else, if ever!

The young bringer of dreams bowed and then vanished into thin air, leaving Robyn with a sleeping Ryo and an amused she-wolf. Robyn continued to play with Ryo's locks and stared at Shadow as the she-wolf chuckled. The wolf met her gaze and a slight chill ran up Robyn's spine as she realized the reason Shadow was laughing.

"I thought Halo seemed a bit bed-haggled," the she-wolf commented, yawning in the process. Robyn cocked her head to the side before turning to stare back at the wall. Why had he hid it? The last time he had hidden the sleeping problem, bad things had occurred and everything just seemed to get worse!

"What can I do to help him? I don't want this to happen ALL over again!" Robyn whispered fiercely. If it was the same type of creature, she would have gone and kept it at bay in the same manner she had before. But she had no earthly idea what this thing that was keeping him captive was. Her heart sank as Shadow whined in regret.

"I'm sorry, Kitten. I have no notion as to how to free Halo from his ongoing nightmare," the she-wolf explained, standing and stretching in the process. Shadow licked Robyn's free hand in assurance before padding back out to the sunroom, leaving Robyn alone with her thoughts.

She sighed, clenching her eyes shut. How was she supposed to help Sage then?

Heaving another tired sigh, Robyn lifted Ryo's head and escaped the confinements of the couch, placing a light-weight blanket over her friend's sleeping form. He stirred slightly and stretched, staring at her owlishly as she smiled at him. She ruffled his hair and said good-night, grinning as he went back to sleep.

Nice that Mia had finally bought a new couch because now Robyn did not have to feel bad about leaving Ryo to sleep on it.

As she turned to go upstairs, she paused, catching a glimpse of herself in the window. Her reflection had not changed but now she stood with more confidence and regality.

"Hey, ya thinking about me?" a familiar voice teased and Robyn moved her gaze from her reflection-self to the reflection of Rowen that stood slightly behind her. She frowned and promptly grabbed a pillow, thwacking him on the head with it.

"In your dreams Rowen!" she hissed at him, trying to hit the blue-haired youth again.

"Already happened, so I'm now just waitin' on reality."

She glared at him, "Funny, real funny."

He gave her a lazy, arrogant grin as he moved into the kitchen. Robyn followed, arms crossed and watched as he grabbed a glass from a cabinet. An idea popped into her head and she smiled impishly. Rowen had been very kind to not throw any innuendo comments at her lately, which was probably why he and Cody were going at it most of the time, but Robyn would have appreciated him waiting just a little bit longer. So, she would give him a taste of his own medicine…and Yume should be able to help her too.

"Well, I would hope that your dreams of me are clean enough to talk about around little children," came her not so witty remark. Jeez, was she so tired that she couldn't even come up with something remotely witty?

Rowen smirked and spoke in a poor imitation of a Scotsman, "Let's just say that we'd better cover the youngin's ears when talkin' about those dreams."

She glared at him as he filled his glass with water from the tap. Perfect, she thought to herself as she began to formulate her little scheme. The tap water would make a perfect cover when he woke in the morning. And who said she wasn't quick-minded anyway?

"Uh, I wouldn't drink that if I were you," she began and was pleased when he raised an eyebrow at her. "You never know what kind of chemicals and stuff could be in the tap water."

"Right…" he said, not convinced at all. She tried to smile as seductively as she could without laughing at the look on Rowen's face. It was a mix of surprise, wariness, curiosity and disbelief.

"Fine, just don't say I didn't warn you Blue Boy. I'm going to bed now, so good night. And I hope that your dreams aren't naughtier than normal." And with that, she sauntered out of the kitchen, past the den and up the stairs to her room, trying so hard not to burst into laughter. The floored look on his face would be worth any revenge he'd evoke on her when he found out she had been behind any dreams he would have tonight.

In the safety of her room, Robyn allowed her soft laughter to fill the room as she did a little victory dance around the open space of the bedroom. Oh she could not wait to see his face in the morning! But now she had to figure out how to summon Yume and ask her to do a favor…

'Empress,' Yume's voice whispered across her mind and Robyn jumped. She turned to see Yume half in and half out of her bedroom wall, like a ghost. Yume stared at her calmly with her storm-grey eyes.

"How-" Robyn began but cut herself off as Rowen passed by her open door. He muttered good-night as he passed, not even bothering to poke his head in or make some other innuendo comment towards her.

'You wish for my assistance?' Yume continued, not the least worried about the bearer of Strata hearing her. Could any one else hear Yume when she spoke besides Robyn, Shadow and possibly Mariko?

"Did you hear the conversation he and I had?" Robyn asked softly.

Yume nodded, smiling and Robyn thought she saw a small spark of childish glee in those grey eyes. Was it possible that not all creatures that hid in the darkness were unkind and evil? Were there more like Yume, kind and compassionate? Robyn smiled as she began to see things in a different light…everything had some sort of balance.

'How terribly do you wish to torment your companion?'

"How naughty and how real can you create dreams?"

Yume smiled, 'Well enough, my Empress, well enough. Why take your friend Kami for example, but I believe I have a notion of what you wish. I do create the dreams of mortals after all and have been for centuries.'

Robyn's eyes grew wide with realization; how did anyone dream dreams without Yume? But if Yume brought dreams, did that include the nightmares as well?

'Empress?' Yume's voice was laced with worry and Robyn presently forgot her little scheme as she looked to Yume for an answer Shadow had not been able to give.

"How do I help Sage?" she asked and Yume's eyes took on a sympathetic sheen.

'If I knew, my Empress, he would have been free long ago when it first occurred. But my power is almost nothing when compared to the Mother Empress.'

"But-Yume!" Robyn whispered fiercely as the bringer of dreams melded with wall and disappeared. Clenching her fists, Robyn frowned at the fact she still could do nothing to help her friend.

Her shoulders drooped as she glanced at the clock before pulling back the covers and falling into the bed.

~*~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*

Mariko stifled a yawn as she trudged out of the bathroom now fully dressed in a pair of black leggings, a red tank top and a baggy black knit over-shirt. Her younger twin claimed it made her look somewhat Goth but to Mariko it was comfy and maneuverable. Unlike the tight pants and top Cody tended to wear, but Mariko had been trained to fight in almost any situation, even with restrictive clothing.

The bearer of Phoenix ran a tired hand through her forest green hair as she entered the den and kitchen area, seeing that Wildfire was now up and moving and off the couch. He had been dead to the world when she awoke early that morning, no thanks to Torrent who had apologized upon seeing that his cooking had woken her up.

She stifled another yawn and looked at the occupants sitting at the table, eating breakfast. Cye was fully dressed as was Kento and Sage, while Ryo was no doubt getting himself ready. Robyn and Strata had yet to awaken and Mariko had no doubt in her mind that Cody would not be joining them anytime soon. Miss Koji, Mariko noted, was primped and ready for the day, looking no worse for wear.

Lucky stiff, she thought to herself as she made a mug of hot cocoa for herself. She herself had been a fright when she first woke. Thank Anubis's soul that she had pulled a compact from her sister's bag before emerging from the sunroom; she had no doubt that she would have startled Torrent into dropping a pan or something.

"Morning!" Robyn called as she came into the kitchen, still clothed in her sleepwear, which was an oversized shirt and pajama shorts. Mariko greeted her and was about to take a sip from her mug when a hand came and snatched it out of hers. She blinked and stared at her empty hand for a second before looking at Robyn's sneaky little smile. A few chuckles came from the table as Robyn continued to smile and Mariko continued blink rapidly with a blank look on her face. Finally, the bearer of Phoenix threw Robyn a sour look.

"Yeah sure, take advantage of the one who won't fight back first thing in the morning," she grumbled at the young redhead. Robyn took on an apologetic look, offering the mug back to its rightful owner.

Mariko shrugged and opened the fridge to grab a soda, saying "Go ahead and keep it." She then leaned against the counter and popped the top on her soda, noting the odd looks.

"I need caffeine in the morning. It doesn't matter where it comes from, as long as I get it. Soda usually works best anyways," she explained as Robyn made a plate and joined the others at the table.

"Fine but shouldn't you eat?" Mia questioned and Mariko laughed lightly.

"Eat? You will find that neither my sister nor I eat breakfast. Cody just plain doesn't eat much, the abazureon'na (bitch). I am usually too busy; if anything, I grab a Nutri-Grain as I'm running off to class."

"Do you two always call each other names?" asked Ryo as he appeared, dressed and ready to eat.

Mariko gave him a startled look, "Well, yes, but we never really mean it."

"What could possibly keep you from eating in the morning?" Mia questioned further.

"Let's see, getting up and moving, getting dressed, getting everyone else up and moving, making Matt breakfast, then making our lunches and making sure Matt doesn't run late for school. I'm the mommy of our little group," Mariko replied, making little hand gestures here and there.

"Wow, kinda like Cye with me and Sage with Rowen," Robyn commented, eating her pancakes and bacon. Cye gave his red-haired companion a slightly unappreciative look, as did Sage from where sat eating his own breakfast. She mentally shrugged both looks off.

Mariko shrugged her shoulders, "Sure, why not? I mean I do juggle college, a job, and a fifteen year-old."

Silence reigned for a moment before Mia broke it by saying, "So how did everyone sleep last night?"

The majority replied with a 'fine thank you' but Mariko noted how Halo had been a bit hesitant in answering. He had obviously not done anything about the source of his sleeping problem…or was working on it. She sighed and looked at the young redhead who was soon going to be the center of chaos and mayhem in a few days. Robyn did not deserve this, not now with Graduation coming up. Graduation was supposed to be a happy occasion…

Let her have these next few days of peace, Mariko reasoned with herself. She needs time to get used to things before battle…

"So, when's Cody going to get up?" Kento asked, curiously looking out at the sunroom. He had recently finished his own breakfast and was very tempted to take Cody's share since it was now known that the bearer of Gaea was most likely not going to eat.

"Two, three, maybe as late as four," Mariko said with a shrug. The looks of surprise made her smile. "But," she drawled, finishing off her soda, "She expressed an interest in going to the mall since she and I have yet to go."

"How do you get her up early in the morning if she sleeps so late?"

"Well, depends on Shadow really. On days that we have class, Shadow takes it upon herself to get Cody up, usually by drooling. Pleasant wake-up call, no? But when all else fails…there is the bucket of ice water!"

Sage chuckled and smiled a knowing smile. "That certainly sounds familiar," he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Robyn gave him an odd look, "Huh?"

"How did you think I got Rowen up for school in the morning?"

"You dump a bucket off water on him?!"

"No, I pour a glass of water in his mouth."

Robyn threw Sage a confused look, "Isn't his mouth closed?"

"No, he snores…barely."

Robyn laughed at the new information she had gained on her intelligent, yet sometimes annoying friend. He snored???

There was a startling shout from upstairs and everyone's gaze turned to the direction of the stairs with the majority wearing confused looks. Robyn merely laughed, smiling triumphantly as she continued to eat her breakfast. Cye looked at her with a confused, yet suspicious look, as did everyone else.

"Robyn," Cye began, "what did you do to Rowen?"

"Who said I did anything to Blue-Boy?" Robyn asked innocently.

"Where the Hell did that dream come from?!" came Rowen's voice.

"You didn't!" Mariko sputtered as she stared at Robyn in shock. Robyn merely smiled at the bearer of Phoenix. Robyn had not doubted that Mariko would figure it out right away but she still wanted to see how this little prank played out.

Cody stumbled into the kitchen, dressed in a much similar fashion as Robyn, and stared at everyone for a moment. She rubbed her eyes and smothered a yawn before counting the number of occupants in the room.

She frowned; "One of you's is missing," she mumbled, almost as if to herself. "Who woke me up? I really don't appreciate it…"

Mariko chuckled, "I'm surprised you even dragged yourself out of bed, imoto."

Cody stuck her tongue out and then promptly smothered another yawn. "What time is it?" she asked drowsily, moving to lay her head on her elder sister's shoulder.

"A little after nine, why?" Mia answered politely. To everyone's surprise, the bearer of Gaea squawked at the statement and proceeded to whimper into Mariko's shoulder.

"Oh give it a rest! You're not getting any sympathy from me," Mariko quipped as she shrugged her sister's head off of her shoulder.

It was about this time when a certain blue-haired youth entered the room, apprehensively watching Robyn from the corner of his eye. He grabbed himself a plate and began placing pancakes on it, before moving to sit at the table with everyone else.

"Thanks a lot Strata! You woke me up!" Cody said grumpily as the youth took the seat farthest from Robyn. Rowen ignored her and Robyn who was now looking innocently at him.

"So Rowen, how did you sleep last night?" Robyn questioned, still maintaining her innocent look. The youth's fork paused half way to its destination, and Rowen glared at her, his cheeks becoming slightly flushed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he responded calmly, despite the now apparent blush on his face. Robyn stared at Rowen in a considering manner until Rowen broke eye contact and resumed eating his breakfast.

"So you didn't have any weird dreams? Cause I could have sworn that by the way you're watching me, that something is up," probed Robyn.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes.."

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"Not!"

"I am too so just drop it!"

"What are you two talking about? Mariko obviously knows because she just left the room laughing," Ryo questioned, gaining the two arguing youths' attention. Everyone caught a glimpse of Mariko as she turned the corner to the foyer. The remaining eyes then turned to Rowen and Robyn as the former continued to glare at the latter redhead.

"Well?" Kento pressed. Shadow's nails could be heard clattering against the linoleum as the large animal entered, stretching her massive jaw in a yawn. A delicate whine resulted from this and she then licked her muzzle, focusing her eyes on the bearer of Hardrock.

"You really do not wish to know. Besides, dreams are to be private. If one wishes to share it then he or she may, but no one should be forced to," the large canine stated, snatching a newly found pancake that Cody had so graciously thrown on the floor for her. Rowen angrily denied having any dreams the previous night and, angrily, finished his breakfast. Shadow ignored his denial as she gobbled the pancake rather quickly and then looked at Robyn.

"And Kitten," she began in a scolding tone, "ordering Yume to do such a thing on a whim, so to speak, is not very mature nor responsible. I would hope that you would refrain from such actions in the future. She has a purpose and it is not to serve up any sort of dream you wish her to. Is that understood?"

Throughout Shadow's scolding, Robyn had ever so slowly slouched down in her chair in silent shame. She had never expected Shadow to reprimand her like that and in front of everyone else. So much for the hope of Shadow being a 'non-scolding' mother figure.

"Yes ma'am," she muttered as Shadow came up next to her. Robyn's mood, however, quickly changed from shameful to annoyance as she yelled at Shadow for stealing her slices of bacon off her plate.

"Those were mine!" she protested as she shoved the she-wolf's head, or tried to at least, away from the remains of her breakfast. "Go find-stop! Go find your own! Hey! Shadow!"

The she-wolf shook her head and promptly turned to Cody, expectantly looking from her to the floor and back again.

Cody rolled her eyes; "Oh, so now you've decided to act like your species and not talk. Fine, here," she said in a near sarcastic tone and threw another pancake to the floor, which was immediately pounced on.

Robyn turned her attention back to Rowen who seemed to still be in a grumpy mood. She gave him a sympathetic look, saying in a patronizing tone "I'm sorry, Rowen. I promise I won't let you drink the tap water before going to bed ever again."

Without saying a word, and with amazing self-control on his part, Rowen stood, left his empty plate on the table and headed out of the kitchen. Rowen did speak, however, when Kento asked where he was going and he explained that he was going to go get dressed.

"Oh, you might want to consider a cold shower too!" Robyn threw over shoulder as she ate the last of her breakfast. Unbeknownst to her, Rowen had grabbed a pillow and chucked at her in small fit of anger. Kento, who had gotten up to put his dirty dishes into the sink only moments before, was now moving to grab the pillow before it beamed his red-haired friend in the back of the head.

"Robyn, you may want to duck," was all Sage had calmly said before Robyn's chaired clattered to the floor and the pillow flew back in Rowen's direction, falling harmlessly not two feet away from him.

Silence filled the entire room and all eyes were on Robyn's surprised face. She stared at her open hand, then at the pillow, and finally drifted her gaze up at Rowen. He was as surprised as she was and she saw worry lining his surprise as well. She couldn't blame him, but she was thankful that there wasn't any fear there, just sincere concern. But she well knew that this was just going to be something else to add to that damned list of 'Things the Guys Need To Worry About."

"Robyn, how did you do that?" Ryo asked softly as the young redhead lowered her outstretched arm. With surprising speed, she had stood and turned to face the oncoming pillow, knocking her chair down in the process, and had thrown her arm towards the pillow that had been coming at her. The pillow had then went propelling back in Rowen's direction, landing harmlessly in front of him.

"I-I don't know," she whispered back just as quietly. Oh how she wished that stupid list would disappear and the guys not worry about anything else; better yet, she wished everything would just go back to normal. She glanced at Shadow, whom had whined in sympathy from where the large she-wolf had seated herself on the floor next to Cody.

"Don't worry about it too much, Ojou-san. It happened to me nearly everyday. It's just a self-defense mechanism," Mariko's calm voice filtered into the room.

Rowen turned to look at Mariko who had seemed to come stand behind him, but stumbled backwards when he saw that the bearer of Phoenix wasn't standing but floating. Without her armor, let alone sub-armor. Rowen had to be in full battle armor in order to copy what the young woman was doing right now.

"What the-" he began but she promptly cut him off.

"My armor has some neat little quirks and this is one of them. I can float, or fly, without my sub-armor. Cody can travel through the earth's crust without her sub-armor."

"Yeah, but I prefer my sub-armor when I do that. It hurts like a bitch if I don't! And the bruises last for weeks too," Cody complained, crossing her armors and leaning against a countertop.

"You said this also happened to you? When? What happened?" Robyn questioned, looking at Mariko in confusion. Since when had Mariko gone what she was going through now? How could she possibly understand what she was going through? She did not have the guys risking their lives for her again and again…That Robyn acknowledged as the most painful part of everything. The risking their lives for her again and again…

Mariko had become extremely solemn as she gently placed both her feet on the kitchen floor with a torn but guarded expression on her face. She stared at the floor for a time, as if weighing her options before looking up at everyone and taking a deep breath.

"That is a tale that only you will be told to in private," the eldest twin said softly, focusing her ice blue gaze on Robyn. "But believe me when I say that it will become easier and nearly natural."

Robyn nodded her head slowly in slight understanding. To talk about something even remotely similar to what she had gone through would be hard for anyone. Robyn still had not mentioned anything about that ritual, or whatever it was Dragon had done, to the guys. She didn't want too. That would only be added to that damned list…and list was long enough.

"Hey, you know it's supposed to be a really nice day. How about you all just go and do something to take your minds off of everything?" suggested Cody when she found she could no longer stand the silence. "Oh and Walking Translator, weren't you about to go do something? Like a cold shower?"

Rowen rolled his eyes at Cody before throwing a glare at her. Well, Cody had obviously put the pieces together rather quickly. "That's none of your business now is it Witch Doctor?" he asked in a slightly snobbish manner.

Cody shrugged her shoulders but looked at Shadow with a start as the large wolf shot up suddenly, skidded across the linoleum to the sunroom and backyard. Blinking several times, she calmly disregarded the sudden change in Shadow's urgency. "Well, I guess she really had to go," she joked, looking at Robyn's curious expression.

"No imoto-san, it's something else," Mariko stated, narrowing her eyes. "There's something out there…but I'm not sure just yet." Cody paused and looked out the window narrowing her eyes in concentration as a mud brown aura surrounded her.

Tension filled the room as everyone waited to find out if another battle would be needed so soon after the last one. Mariko finally sighed in exasperation and looked at her younger sister, who in turn gave her a bright smile. The younger twin's brown aura had faded away, a clear indication that whatever had thrown her into caution had passed.

"It's nothing; we're safe. But I swear Cody-chan! If Shadow kills another kirin, your pet or not I'm gonna smack that mutt!" Mariko announced quite agitatedly.

"What's a kirin?" Robyn asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Ancient Chinese creature that had the head of a lion, body of a deer and-I think that was it," Kento explained, putting his arms behind his head, seeming the least bit worried. "I'm a bit rusty on those stories so I'm not really sure, but I think they were used as messengers, weren't they? And they're harmless too."

Mariko nodded approvingly. "Very good Hardrock. Perhaps your head isn't as hard as your armor," she teased, smiling at the crooked grin on Kento's face.

"Ya know, I could make a comparison between you and your armor, but I'd probably get smacked for it, so I won't. Besides, what's a kirin doing here anyway? I thought they were just mythical creatures?"

Mariko looked at him in disbelief, "After everything that has happened so far and the fact that you all of mystical armors, you still don't believe that not everything is just a myth?"

Both Robyn and Sage had taken their dishes to the sink when Shadow returned, sliding into an unsuspecting Robyn on the linoleum when the she-wolf realized a bit too late that she could not stop nor slow down. Luckily, Robyn had deposited her dishes already and had nothing breakable in her hands but with the speed at which Shadow had been traveling added to the she-wolf's size, Robyn was most definitely thrown off balance. So the young redhead now found herself falling backwards into Sage with her arms pin-wheeling in a futile attempt to regain her balance.

Robyn crashed into Sage but fortunately the bearer of Halo had already deposited his plates in the sink and had seen her loss of balance and inevitable fall coming. Sage grabbed her as she crashed into him, her body pressed against his for a moment before she steadied herself and apologized. He stared at her in faint surprise as he noticed her cheeks turning a slight pink in color and tried to recall a time she had ever blushed. None came to mind. Was she embarrassed from the fall she couldn't have prevented? It would not have been the first time she had tripped and one them had caught her, but she had never displayed this kind of reaction then as she did now. Before, she had just laughed it off.

Was it because she believed she had offended him this time? Sage quickly threw that idea out. She had done or mentioned things that she knew would offend him slightly. So what was it? He smiled slightly as she turned on Shadow and covered her embarrassment with anger…not that any of the others would know the difference or had there even been a difference.

Sage left kitchen quickly and quietly, not wanting become center attention or to have the incident brought up again in his presence. So he moved to the den where he could still hear what was going on and what was being discussed without having any questions directed at him. Out of sight, out of mind. Too bad the image of Robyn's blush wouldn't leave his mind at the moment. Sighing soundlessly, Sage decided that Robyn was, for a lack of better words, cute when she blushed…

"Jeez! Watch where you're going!" Robyn admonished the large black wolf.

Shadow folded her ears down in apology before moving to stand behind Mariko. Mariko raised an eyebrow at the unusual behavior Shadow was displaying. Shadow always took refuge behind Cody before her. Perhaps the message the kirin had delivered had been directed towards herself and Shadow just felt like receiving sympathy for her miscalculations? Who knew? Shadow could be as unpredictable as fate.

"All right, what's up canine? What did our spy, the Raven have to say to us this time? Or did you lose the kirin that Karasu sent?" Mariko questioned while at the same time gently insulting the animal.

"Well, actually Mariko-san, you should find this quite interesting. Karasu has said that there will not be any attempt to recapture Robyn for at least another week! Apparently, it will take Dragon that long to recover from the attack last night. You all can basically go and have fun for a few days before we really need to get serious and come up with a plan," the she-wolf announced. "Now if you all will excuse me, I am going to go relax myself."

And with that, the Shadow trotted out of the kitchen and house to do her own thing.

Robyn watched Shadow leave before turning to look at the guys. "So what do you all want to do now?" She was willing to do anything to get their minds off of what was going on. Anything to keep them from worrying about her.

Most of them shrugged and Rowen went back upstairs to get ready for the day. Mariko said she had no preference while Cody muttered something about time difference and Rowen with his stupid dream for waking her up. Cody promptly disappeared into the sunroom.

Robyn smiled; she was beginning to like being around the twins and Shadow. It was a nice change from being surround by guys all the time and no real outlet for feminine frustration and she definitely would need some female support later, especially if Mariko had gone through something very similar to her. So taking a deep breath, Robyn moved to go upstairs and get herself ready for the day too. After all, Shadow had just said that nothing would happen for the next few days and that knowledge was certainly uplifting for her.

But she paused halfway up the stairs as a sudden thought occurred to her. What if Karasu was lying? Or worse yet, what if Dragon wasn't telling Karasu everything and it turned out that Dragon still had one card up his sleeve that the young Chinese man did not know about?