Stir of Shadows
by Queen of Sarab
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Chapter Two

Kurai looked at herself carefully in the window on the outside of Ronin Manor, then after a moment of thought, reached down and tore off part of the hem of her dress, leaning the torn section hanging down. Ruffling her hair a little, she looked at herself one last time and then knocked.

"Yes..." Sai opened the door, trailing off as he saw her.

Putting on a look of distress, Kurai began to cry."Please help me," she sobbed hopelessly, falling against Sai’s chest.

"Um...all right. Come in." Looking startled, Sai led Kurai through the door and into the kitchen.

"...And when I got out of my car to help them, they jumped in and...and...and they took it," Kurai choked back a sob."I just didn't know what to do!"

Risking a quick look to gauge the boys(and Mia)'s expressions, Kurai broke into fresh tears.

"Don't worry about anything," Sage said, wrapping an comforting arm around her shoulders. "You can rest here for awhile, and then call someone to come get you."

"I...I don't have anyone to call..."

"No family or friends?" Ryo asked in surprise.

Kurai shook her head sadly.

"Then you'll stay here as long as you need to," added Ryo firmly. "You can borrow some of Mia's clothes until we can get you new ones."

Kurai gave a weak smile. "Oh, you are all too kind. How can I ever repay you?"

"No need," Ryo smiled. "Mia, take her up to one of the guest rooms, will you?"

"Can I talk to all of you in the hall first?" Mia asked through clenched teeth.

"I'll stay with...um..." Sage thought for a moment."What'd you say your name was?"

"It's Kurai," the raven-haired girl smiled sweetly. "And I would LOVE for you to stay with me."

As Sage flushed with pride, the other 4 Ronins and Mia went out into the hall. Yulie followed them out, but was promptly sent upstairs by Mia.

After she had sent off Yulie, Mia turned to Ryo. "Ryo," she started. "I KNOW you're just trying to act all nice and leaderish or whatever, but you just offered some girl we don't even know room and board in MY house, MY clothes, and practically passed me off as a maid- WITHOUT asking me first!"

Ryo looked startled. "Sorry, Mia, I just figured, you know, you'd want to be nice to her- she's been through alot."

"Wow, her car got stolen," Mia scowled. "If we tried to help everyone who's car got stolen we'd have QUITE a full house."

"This really isn't like you, Mia," Sai chirped. "I mean, aren't we SUPPOSED to help people?"

Mia sighed. "There's just something I don't like about her..."

"Me neith'a," Rowen agreed. "Plus, she was one of the people in my dream last
night- and trust me, NOT in a good way."

"And did you notice her name?" Mia went on. "'Kurai'? Doesn't that mean 'darkness'?"

"So? She’s got black hair!” Ryo laughed. “I’d say that’s pretty dark.You two are being way too paranoid. I mean, she's only about our age. Really, how bad could one teenage girl be?"

Author's note- dumdumdummmm...(drumroll, please). Ok, again, please e-mail me at [email protected] that's all for now...