Ryo woke up with the sunshine, from the two glass doors that led to a balcony behind him, spilling across him like a warm yellow blanket. He yawned and stretched when he smelled something like pancakes. He smiled to himself.
Sai must be cooking breakfast he thought.
He tumbled out of bed and walked over to his dresser. Opening a drawer, he pulled out a red t-shirt and put it on. Ryo the changed out of his sleeping pants into some jeans and went downstairs.
"Hey Sai, are you making pancakes?" he called into the kitchen.
A face that was definitely not Sai�s peeked out from the kitchen.
"Do I look like Sai to you?" Kara glared at him.
Ryo was surprised.
"Um...no," he said meekly.
Kara smiled.
"Good. The rest of the guys are in the dining room."
"Okay," Ryo said and went through the hallway then through the door way that led to the front room and then finally through the doorway that entered into the dining room.
Sure enough, there was Sai, Kento, Rowin, Sage, and Mia. Uli was at his house because his parents said he couldn�t sleep over.
"Ohayo, sleepyhead," Sai said when he saw Ryo.
"Ohayo," Ryo replied as he sat down.
Rowin was, of course, reading. Kento had an impatient look on his face.
"Kara! When are those pancakes gonna be ready? I�m starving!" Kento yelled.
Kara appeared at the window between the dining room and the kitchen. She smiled at Kento.
"In a sec, Kento, they�re almost done," she said and then disappeared.
"So, why aren�t you cooking Sai?" Ryo asked his friend.
"Well, Kara said she wanted to thank us for letting her stay here and offered to cook," Sai replied.
"Voila!" Kara said and reemerged at the window.
She had a frying pan in one hand and a plate in the other.
"Gee, I wonder who wants the first one?" she said in a sarcastic voice but was smiling.
"Oo, oo, me, me, me! I do!" Kento yelled in a voice loud enough to be heard within a three mile radius.
"That�s what I thought," Kara said.
She flipped the pancake out of the frying pan towards the table. As it went flipping through the air, she threw the plate like a Frisbee. The plate skidded across the table and came to a halt right in front of Kento at the exact time the pancake landed on it. Everyone except Kara�s jaw dropped. Kara had a smirk on her face. Kento was the first to recover.
"Sugoi!" he cried, drenching the pancake in butter and syrup before beginning to devour it.
"How....how did you do that?" Rowin asked still stunned.
Kara shrugged.
"Just something I picked up. So, who wants the next one?"
Sage raised his hand. Starting with Sage, Kara repeated the same trick until everyone had a pancake including an empty seat. She disappeared into the kitchen and then reappeared in the dining room entrance. Walking over to the empty seat, she sat down and began eating.
Soon everyone had eaten their fill (for Kento, that was twelve pancakes) and began complimenting Kara on her cooking skills. She shrugged and said modestly," It�s something that you have to know when you�re alone all the time."
"It must be lonely living in the mountains by yourself," Mia said.
"Well, I used to live with my grandfather but he...he died a little while ago," Kara answered, casting her eyes downward.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room. After a while Mia said, "I�m sorry. I know what it�s like."
"It�s all right. You didn�t know," Kara replied.
"Kara, I�m sorry about your grandfather, but we still need to know who those soldiers were that were chasing you," Ryo said.
Kara slammed her fist on the table and leapt up.
"None of your damn business!" she said angrily, her eyes flashing.
"Well, we�re making it our business," Sage said, also standing up.
"We need to know, Kara," Sai said.
"Too bad, so sad," she said in a cold voice.
Just as it looked like things couldn�t get worse, the phone rang. Mia walked over and picked it up.
"Moshi moshi.....um, yes, there is," she said and walked over to Kara.
"It�s a Mrs. Sakkaro. She asked for you," Mia said and handed her the phone.
Kara raised an eyebrow and took it.
"Hello....oh, hi..what?...calm down, Mrs. Sakkaro tell me what happened."
There was a pause and then Kara looked extremely alarmed.
" No, I haven�t...since when?....last night?.....actually I might.....yeah I�ll go see....of course...all right....ja ne," Kara said and gave the phone back to Mia.
"Kuso," she muttered under her breath.
"Domo arigatou for everything. Something�s come up and now I really do have to go," Kara said and walked out of the dining room, through the front room, and into the hallway that led to the front door.
She grabbed her coat and put it on. She was about to open the door when Mia caught her arm.
"What�s wrong?" she asked.
Kara sighed and said," Aiko�s been missing since last night. There�s been no word from her. I�m the only one that has any idea of where she might be and that�s why I have to go."
She opened the door. Lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and the sky was a murky gray.
"Oh no, she�s in even more danger if she went to where I think she is in this weather," Kara turned to Mia," Ja ne."
Then, she ran off. Mia noticed something blue fall out of her pocket. She picked it up. It was a blue bag.
"Kara!" Mia called after her but she was too far away to hear her.
Mia went back inside and put the bag on the kitchen counter. She looked out the window at the darkening sky and whispered, "Good luck."
It was later that night. Rain was pouring down outside and the sky sounded like it was on the verge of falling down according to the thunderclaps. Lightning lit up the sky every other minute making it brighter than Christmas lights on a Christmas tree. Ryo and the others were gathered in the front room, pondering over who could have been chasing Kara.
"Do you really think it�s Talpa, Sai?" Rowin asked. Sai shrugged.
"Well, that�s what the soldiers looked like but I could be wrong."
"What if it isn�t Talpa? Who could it be then?" Sage wondered.
"It doesn�t matter. We�ll squash them just like we did with Talpa," Kento said defiantly.
"Just chill, Kento. If you remember correctly, it wasn�t a piece of cake defeating Talpa," Ryo said.
But Kento�s mind was somewhere else.
Hmm, cake, he thought and began to drool like Homer Simpson. Giving Kento an odd look, Sai said," Yeah, it definitely wasn�t easy. And what if this enemy is stronger than Talpa?"
"If that�s the case, we all know we�ve improved but have we improved enough to defeat this evil? Because if we haven�t...." Rowin said.
"The whole world is doomed," Sage finished.
"Maybe Kara has to fight it," Ryo said thoughtfully and turned to Sai," You did say she was fighting those soldiers off well, didn�t you?"
Sai thought for a moment before replying," Yes she didn�t fight without skill, I�ll tell you that much."
"Didn�t you find it odd that it seemed like White Blaze and Kara knew each other?" Rowin said suddenly.
"Yeah, it did look like they knew each other," Ryo said and looked at White Blaze who was stretched out on the floor.
"Do you know her, White Blaze?" he asked his tiger.
White Blaze gave him a blank look, yawned, and went back to sleep.
"Thank you for all your help, White Blaze," Ryo said sarcastically.
Mia thought back to the conversation between Kara and Aiko.
"Ara!" she cried out suddenly.
"What�s wrong, Mia?" Sai asked.
"When Aiko came here to talk to Kara, she said that a man in a blue and white robe with a triangular shaped hat told her she could find Kara here. Who does that sound like to you?" she asked them.
"The Ancient One!" Sage exclaimed.
"Or Anubis," Rowin added.
"Aiko also said that he told her to tell Kara to be careful for it is near. Kara looked very worried after Aiko said that," Mia continued.
"So it sounds like there is a danger coming and Kara knows about it. It also sounds like she�s working with either Anubis or the Ancient One," Rowin concluded.
"But they�re both dead!" Kento said, refreshed after making a quick trip to the kitchen.
He was munching on some potato chips.
"Their bodies may be dead but certainly not their spirits," Sage said.
They were thinking about these interesting findings when they heard someone knocking at the door. Mia got up and opened it. There was Kara looking like a drowned rat. Her hair was mussed up but still managed to be in a braid. She had her jacket in her hands, almost cradling it. Kara was soaked to the bone.
"Kara?" Mia asked and let her in.
"Where�s my blue bag?" Kara asked.
"First, we want some questions answered," Ryo said.
Kara glared at him "Not now, Ryo."
"Mia, could you get me my blue bag. Do you know where it is? I really need it. It�s a life or death situation," Kara asked and Mia could see the desperation in her eyes.
"Sure," Mia replied and dashed off.
Kara walked into the front room and saw Sai and Sage lounging out on the couch.
"Move," she ordered in a cold voice.
They got up. Carefully, Kara laid her jacket on the couch. It fell open and there lay Aiko, unconscious and deathly pale.
"Here it is," Mia said and handed the bag to Kara.
She gasped when she saw Aiko.
"Mia, boil some water, now," Kara commanded.
Wordlessly, Mia went back into the kitchen ad did what she was told.
"Let�s see here," Kara said and began taking bottles out of the pouch.
She placed several on the coffee table and picked a few out which she set aside from the others. Mia came back in the room with a pot of boiling water and set it on the floor next to Kara.
"I need a cup," Kara said.
Mia went back into the kitchen. Kara grabbed the bottles she had selected and began pouring some of their contents into the pot. Mia came back into the room and handed her the cup. Kara dipped it in the pot and lifted Aiko�s head up.
"Come on, Aiko, drink this."
Some of the brew dribbled down Aiko�s chin but most of it got into her mouth. After a few moments, Aiko sputtered and began coughing. She opened her eyes.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"Are you okay? You had me worried there for a second," Kara asked.
"Yeah, I�m fine," she noticed Ryo," Hey, it�s Uli�s nanny!"
There was quite a few snickers after her comment. Ryo looked very uncomfortable.
"I�m not a nanny,� he said.
"Well, I�m glad to see you�re back to your old self," Kara said to Aiko," I�m going to call your parents and let them know you�re all right."
Kara got up and walked over to the phone. She dialed a number and began talking to Aiko�s parents. Meanwhile, Aiko got up and sidled over to Rowin.
"What�s your name?" she asked.
"Hashiba Rowin," he answered.
Aiko leaned against him and sighed, "What a beautiful name."
"Uh...heh...heh...um...thanks," Rowin said with his hand behind his head.
His face was turning a shade of tomato red. Luckily for him, Kara came back into the room.
"Aiko, I called your parents and Mia?" she turned to the older girl.
"Hm?" Mia asked.
"Would it possibly all right for me and Aiko to stay the night? Aiko�s parents can�t drive in this storm and I can�t get home in it either," Kara said.
"Sure. No problem, "Mia said.
"Thanks," Kara said and then Aiko yawned.
"Come on Aiko, I�ll show you to your room," Mia said and led Aiko upstairs.
"Deja vu," Kara muttered.
Then, she noticed the Ronin Warriors were staring at her.
"What is it now?" she said in an exasperating voice.
"Like I said before, we need a few questions answered," Ryo said.
Kara sighed.
"I already told you all that I�m gonna tell you," she said.
"So, you do know more than you�re letting on," Rowin said.
Kara rolled her eyes.
"No duh, and I�ll tell you the rest later so oyasumi nasai, boys," she said as she grabbed her blue bag and went upstairs to bed.
No one said anything for awhile. Then Rowin broke the silence.
"Well, it�s been an interesting day."
"Yes, it has," Ryo agreed.
Another little Japanese lesson:
Sugoi = cool
Ohayo = Good morning
Ja ne = a slang way of saying goodbye
Moshi moshi = hello (when talking on the phone)
Ara = Oh my! (or any other expression of surprise)