Ch 1
Angel
Ryo Sanada bounce-passed the basketball over to the light brown haired teen. Cye caught the ball and drove towards the basket. He stopped when Rowen Hashiba put himself between Cye and the basket.
"Oh�go away!" Cye commanded playfully as he shot the basketball from where he was. The ball went in without even hitting the rim or the backboard.
"Yeah! That�s game!" Ryo shouted, running over to Cye. "Great shot, Cye!"
Rowen laughed. "Actually, that was a really good shot."
Kento Rei Faun walked up beside Rowen. "Good game you two."
The four boys walked over to a fifth boy and a young woman sitting on the back porch.
"That was a pretty intense game! Good job!" Sage Date complimented as the four boys sat down on the porch.
"One thing though�" Mia Koji began. "Kento, I know you�re a physical player, but let�s keep that to the battlefield." Ryo giggled quietly at this statement. Kento had commited, at the very least, eight fouls during their game.
Kento was well built and looked very rough and tough. He had soft dark blue eyes, and ash-blue hair. He sported a white tank top, and a blue pair of gym shorts.
Cye was slender, yet built, and had a certain innocence about him. He had calm, collected sea green eyes, and light brown hair. He wore a white t-shirt and blue gym shorts.
Sage was well built, but was thin, and seemed to have a calming air about him. He had blonde hair, and a lock of it covered his right lavender eye completely. He wore a pale green shirt and a dark green jacket over top.
Rowen was built, like the others, and was also somewhat slender. He had dark blue eyes, and electric blue hair. He was dressed in a dark blue t-shirt, and blue gym shorts.
Ryo had strong arms, and legs built for running. He had unruly, ebony, shoulder-length hair, and piercing tiger blue eyes. He was dressed in a red tank top, and black gym shorts.
Mia was slender and had a good figure. She had leafy green eyes, and waist-length auburn hair. She wore a spaghetti strap red shirt with a jean jacket over it, and jean shorts.
Mia brought out water bottles and sat down in a chair next to Ryo. No sooner had she sat down, than Ryo spoke.
"Hey. Do you guys sense that?" He asked looking out into the forest that took up most of the land in Mia�s property.
"Sense what, Ryo?" Cye looked up to the older boy.
"I sense something out in the forest somewhere." He answered calmly.
"How?" Kento looked at the boy strangely.
"Yeah. It�s been almost a year since Talpa�s defeat, so how could you be sensing anything?" Rowen reasoned.
"Don�t ask me! I�m just listening to the little poke in the back of my brain." Ryo defended.
"But�there�s nothing left to sense except the warlords. Hey! Maybe it�s them!" Cye guessed.
"No." Ryo simply rejected the suggestion.
"Why not?" Cye wondered. "It could be them."
"I have to agree with Ryo on this one." Sage piped up.
"Why?" Kento eyed the American teen oddly.
"I�m sensing it too. And there�s only one. The warlords travel in numbers. Not just one." Sage answered.
"Hey! Wait!" Mia intercepted.
"What?" the five Ronin Warriors looked at the auburn-haired woman.
"Remember those dreams you guys had a while back? The ones that you said you saw the Ancient and heard him talking?" she continued.
"Yeah?"
"What was it that you told me that he said? Um�that�oh yeah! That a new evil would arise and new help will arrive in the form of an �imperfect angel�. Who will know all and see through unseeing eyes all about this new threat." Mia reminded the boys.
"Oh yeah! I remember that dream!" Kento cried.
"How could you forget?" Rowen scoffed. "Those dreams were the whole reason that we stayed with Mia."
"Duh." Ryo rolled his eyes.
A pause, and then Kento broke it. "Well, let�s not just sit here and discuss what it might be, and go find out!!"
"K. Let�s go." As soon as Rowen said this, the five were gone.
Nope. Nothin�. Ryo, you?
Not a thing. Ryo thought back. How �bout you, Sage?
Nah. I haven�t been able to find anything. Answered an exasperated Sage. This is rediculous! We�ve been searching around this place for thirty minutes and haven�t found anything! Even when we KNOW the general location of the thing we�re looking for!!
Calm down, Sage. We�ll find it sooner or later. Anyway, have you found anything, Kento? Ryo soothed. Kento? Kento? KENTO!! Will you answer me?
Guys. I think I found what we�re lookin� for. Kento�s mind voice finally answered. Follow my energy. It�s, I mean she�s, over here.
Soon, the other four found their ways over to the Ronin of strength.
"Woah! When the Ancient said an angel, he wasn�t kidding!" Sage said in awe.
In the center of the clearing, in a shaft of light, lay an angel. She was gracefully slender and wore a white, silky, fitting dress that shined brightly in the light surrounding her. She had blonde hair that looked like it reached down to the small of her back. It was kinda hard to tell when she was lying down. Pure white wings, probably about four to five feet in length each, streached from behind her back.
"Is this what the ancient calls an �imperfect angel�? She looks perfect to me." Sage smiled.
"Oh, Sage, shut up! She�s an angel! Way out of your league I�m afraid, buddy." Cye scolded. Sage scowled at the bearer of Torrent�s comment.
While the two argued, Ryo was approaching the girl. He slowly knelt beside her, and grabbed her shoulders. Ever so gently, he shook her back and forth.
Cye and Sage stopped arguing as soon as a moan came from the angel as she woke up. She opened her clear, light blue eyes and stared at Ryo.
"Huh?" she groaned.
"Are you alright, miss?" Ryo asked, concerned.
"Uh-huh. I�m OK. Um�maybe you can help me, sir. I�m looking for a young man named Ryo Sanada. Do you know where I might find someone named Ryo?" She asked, standing up. When she stood up, her bangs fell down to cover half of her face, completely concealing one of her eyes.
"Yeah! He�s me! I�m Ryo."Ryo exclaimed excitedly.
"Oh! I was sent to help you defeat the evil that is growing. Nice to meet you!" she cried, looking at him. To Ryo, it seemed as if she wasn�t looking at him, but through him or past him.
"These are my friends. The other Ronins." Ryo gestured to the four boys standing behind him."
The girl�s head made no movement to look at the other four, just kept staring straight ahead. Not taking complete notice of this, the Ronins continued on their introductions.
"I�m Kento Rei Faun. You can call me Kento." The Chinese boy gave a slight bow.
"I�m Rowen Hashiba. My friends call me Rowen or Ro."
"I�m Cye Mouri. Go ahead and call me Cye."
"And I�m Date Seji." Sage bowed as he said this. "But, please don�t call me that. Call me Sage."
"OK." As the boys said their introductions, the girl looked at each of them. But the fact that she seemed to look past them or through them made them curious, but they thought it rude to comment on the way she gave her attention.
"There�s one more person for you to meet. She�s back at the house. C�mon. We�ll introduce you." Ryo took her, gently, by the arm, and led her back towards the house.
Mia greeted them as soon as they got there. "Hi! Nice to meet you! I�m Mia Koji. These guys were told of your coming about a month ago. It�s good to finally meet you miss�um�" Mia stopped, realizing that she didn�t know the girl�s name.
"Karen. My name is Karen." The girl bowed slightly. Once she looked back at the auburn �haired woman, Mia too noticed Karen�s habit of looking through the person instead of at them.
Mia silently gasped when she got a good look at her light blue clear eyes. "Uh� listen, Karen, may I talk to the boys in private?" Mia pushed Kento forward a bit, causing the other four to be moved toward the back door.
* * *
"So, this is the Angel Ronin?" Mia asked, looking out the window at the pale girl sitting on the large swing. "She�s nice."
"So, what�s up, Mia?" Ryo demanded. "Why are you pulling us in here all of a sudden?"
"Just�um�how do I put this? Uh, do you notice anything out of the ordinary with her?" Mia asked, turning to face the boys once more.
"Um� besides the fact that she�s an angel, no."Sage put emphesis on her race.
"No�if she were just an ordinary girl, what would be different about her? What would separate her from you?" Mia rephrased her question.
"Uh� she�s a girl?" Rowen guessed stupidly.
Mia growled in frustration but couldn�t put in anything else before Cye piped up. "Well, I did notice that when she looked at all of us, she didn�t look right at us. She seemed as if she was looking past us or through us or something."
"Yes." Mia sighed.
"So she�s got an odd way of giving you her attention. So what?" Ryo cocked his head.
"Ryo! You still don�t get it, do you?" Mia cried, throwing her hands in the air.
"I guess not. No." Ryo stated calmly.
"Didn�t you notice that she has no pupils?" Mia explained, softening her tone.
"She doesn�t?" Kento looked around Mia, at Karen�s back.
"I still don�t get it." Ryo scratched the back of his head.
"Ryo�Karen is blind."