It was the next day and Kara and Aiko were sitting at the dining room table talking to Mia.
“So, what do you like, Aiko?” Mia asked.
“Rowin,” she said dreamily.
“Um, I meant for breakfast,” Mia said.
“Oh. Cereal’s fine,” Aiko replied.
Mia poured a bowl of cereal and placed it in front of Aiko who ate it hungrily. The doorbell rang. Aiko quickly forgot the cereal, ran to the front door, and threw it open.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Aiko cried.
“Aiko!” her parents cried.
They hugged and kissed their little girl. Mrs. Sakkaro started crying into her handkerchief. Then she saw Kara.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said, giving her a hug.
Kara was a little stunned but recovered quickly and hugged her back.
“Think nothing of it,” she said.
“Are you sure you won’t reconsider the job?” Mr. Sakkaro asked.
Kara smiled but shook her head sadly.
“Sorry, I can’t.”
Kara kneeled down and gave Aiko a hug.
“Ja ne, Kara,” she said.
“Ja ne, Aiko,” Kara replied.
Aiko and her parents left. They were almost out of sight when Aiko waved one last forlorn wave goodbye. Kara waved back.
Mia had been thinking.
We need information that only Kara has. The guys were being too hostile. They’d never get the information they needed that way. Maybe if I’m nice and asked Kara to stay for awhile, maybe she would tell. After all, she had said she would tell, just later.
“Kara? Would you like to stay here for a few days?” Mia asked.
“Huh? Why are you asking?” Kara asked.
“Well, I just thought that since you’ve stayed here for a few days already, I was just thinking you might want to stay a little longer, until you get your strength back that is,” Mia added hastily.
Kara narrowed her eyes and stared at Mia.
“You’re lying. That’s not the reason. You know I have my strength back already. You just want the information I have,” Kara said and smiled,” But that’s okay. I accept your offer.”
Mia was astonished that Kara had known all along.
“Also, I have one more condition. There are a few things I need from where I live up in the mountains. I promise to come back but I need a few things,” Kara added.
“How long will that take?” Mia asked.
“Only a couple of hours,” Kara replied.
“Maybe some of the guys should go with you,” Mia mused.
“Oh no, really , that’s all right,” Kara said hastily.
“Too bad, so sad. We’re going with you. Isn’t that right, Kara?” Ryo said from behind her.
Kara whirled around.
“You are seriously asking for a butt kicking mister,” she said, thoroughly annoyed.
Ryo laughed and said,” Yeah, like you could give me one.”
Faster than anyone could blink, Kara’s hand was about to karate chop Ryo’s face. It stopped millimeters from his face.
“Next time, my hand flies free, “ she growled.
Now it was Ryo’s turn to be stunned. Kara stepped past him and grabbed her jacket.
“Well, are you guys coming?” she asked and not waiting for an answer, she walked out the door.
The Ronin Warriors looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her. Mia stayed behind. Soon, they caught up with her. She was walking through the wooded area on the side of Mia’s house.
“So, where are we going?” Sai asked.
Kara pointed to the mountain that loomed on the horizon.
“There,” she said.
“So, do you live in a shack or something?” Kento asked.
“A cave to be exact,” she answered.
“A cave?!” the others cried in bewilderment.
Kara merely nodded.
“It’s okay once you get use to it. I’ve lived there most of my life so I don’t know much else,” Kara said and then fell silent.
They hiked for some time more as the terrain rockier. Ryo noticed that Kara had no trouble adjusting to the changing scenery. After about an hour of climbing the mountain, they finally reached a ledge.
“Here we are,” Kara announced and walked in.
There was a large room at the front of the cave which Kara walked through into another room. The Ronin Warriors followed her. This room had a large fireplace. Kara grabbed the saddlebag that was leaning against the wall and put the bottles that were sitting on a shelf. Then, she went out of the room, past the opening of the cave, and into another room. This room was plain with two cots and a desk. Kara walked over to it and carefully picked up a large, old-looking book and put it in her bag. She glanced around the room to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything and spotted something glinting on the pillow of one of the two cots. Kara walked over and kneeled down. Ever so carefully, she picked it up and held it gently in her hands. Ryo came behind her and looked over her shoulder.
“Whoa, that’s beautiful,” he said in awe.
“My grandfather made it,” Kara replied, not taking her eyes off the object in her hands.
It was a beautiful glass tiger. The tiger was curled up and sleeping. It was obvious the maker had spent a lot of time and effort on it. Every detail was made for perfection from the individual stripes to the minute strands of fur carved into the glass.
“He was going to teach me how to but...” her voice trailed off.
Kara grabbed the blanket off the cot and wrapped it around the glass tiger and gently placed it in her bag. She turned to Ryo and said,” We can go now.”
Ryo nodded and gave the others the order to move out.
"Did he die of old age?" Ryo asked Kara.
" No, he died for a...noble cause," Kara answered, a grim look on her face.
"You mean something like Save the Whales?" Sai asked.
Kento snorted and rolled his eyes. The others gave him incredulous looks. Kara frowned.
"No, something even nobler," was all she said.
They hiked on for some time in silence. Then, a large stomach growl filled the air causing some birds to take flight from nests in the trees.
"Wasn't me!" Kara exclaimed.
All the heads turned to Kento.
"Oh, of course, everyone assumes it's me," Kento said.
"Well, it was wasn't it?" Sai said teasingly.
"Yeah, so what if it was? I get hungry after hiking for two hours," Kento said indignantly.
Everyone but Kento snickered. Soon, the house was in sight.
"FOOD!" Kento yelled at the top of his lungs and raced towards the house. The group smiled at each other and sadly shook their heads. They ran after him. Suddenly, Kara stopped, scanning her eyes over the mountain. Ryo noticed she wasn’t with them anymore and turned back.
"What's wrong, Kara?" he asked.
She kept her eyes on the mountain.
"Nothing," then she turned to him," Come on. Let's make sure Kento hasn't consumed any of the furniture on his warpath for food."
They walked towards the house. Kara gave one doubtful glance back, shrugged, and went inside.
Suddenly, a dark figure emerged from the shadows. It watched Kara's retreating figure.
"I found you," it said.
And then it laughed.
"That was a real good dinner, Sai," Kara said.
"Thank you," he replied.
It was later that day and they had just finished eating dinner (obviously). Uli had dropped by and was going to stay the night. Uli yawned.
"Sleepy, Uli?" Mia asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to bed. Oyasumi nasai, everyone," he said.
"Oyasumi nasai," they replied.
Uli trudged upstairs to his guest room, where he stayed almost every night of the week.
Everyone else was gathered in the front room watching TV. Well actually, Rowin was reading a book, Kento was munching down on snacks (even though he had just eaten dinner) and Kara was working at the desk in the room.
“What are you working on, Kara?” Sage asked.
Kara looked up from the book that she had brought from the cave.
“Just translating some stuff ,” she said and then went back to writing in her notebook that she had gotten out of her bag.
Rowin looked up from his book.
“Translating?”
Kara looked at him.
“Yeah, I’m translating what’s in this book,” she gestured to the old book, “into English and writing it in this notebook.”
“What language is it written in?” Kento asked.
“Well, the language doesn’t have a name because I’m really not sure who spoke it or wrote it,” Kara answered.
“Then, how do you know the language?” Ryo asked.
“My grandfather taught it to me,” she replied.
“Now are there any more questions?” Kara prompted.
They shook their heads. Rowin stood up, never taking his eyes off the book.
“ ‘Night everyone,” he said and still not looking up from his book, he went upstairs.
“I agree with Rowin,” Sage said and followed his room mate.
Sai stifled a yawn, said goodnight, and followed their suit. Kento poured the rest of the potato chips into his mouth and followed Sai to the room they shared. Mia bid Kara and Ryo good night before going to her room. Ryo yawned, stretched his arms, and turned the TV off.
“Well, I think I’ll turn in too. What about you?” Ryo asked.
“I’m gonna finish this page first,” Kara replied.
“Okay. Oyasumi nasai,” Ryo said before going to his room.
“Oyasumi,” Kara replied and went back to work.
She was almost done when she heard a voice say, “Working on your spells witch?”
Kara looked up from her book and at a face that she prayed she would never see again. A gasp of horror and surprise escaped from her lips. The face smiled.
“So, you do remember me. I’m touched.”
Kara pushed the chair away from the desk and attempted to stand up but in her fear, her legs got caught and the chair and Kara fell on their backs to the ground. Quickly, Kara back rolled off the chair and stood facing the cause of her terror.
“You’re...you’re dead!” she said in a whisper, hoping that the words were true.
“Ah, but as you can plainly see, I am not. No thanks to you,” his voice going from mocking to menacing at the last part.
Kara suddenly felt very afraid. She was unarmed. She also felt a strong change in her opponent since she had last faced him. He was stronger. Much stronger.
“You can’t be alive, you just can’t! Not even you could have the power to come back from the dead, Sagri,” Kara said.
“Are you so sure? I believe you have that power and so does a friend of yours,” Sagri said.
Kara racked her brain and tried to think of who this “friend” could be. Her eyes grew wide as she remembered someone.
“No, not him. He’s dead too!” she cried.
“I’m afraid he isn’t and neither is one of his best soldiers, besides me. I believe you know him very well also. I see my soldiers didn’t do a very good job of killing you and getting the amulet. Now, you wouldn’t by any chance have the Jewel of Life also?” he asked.
“Even if I did, I would never give it to you. And if you want my amulet, then you can pry it. From my dead fingers,” Kara stated, closing her fingers around the amulet she wore protectively.
“Well, if you insist,” Sagri said and lunged at her.
Kara easily dodged out of the way. Her twin jitte were in her bag. If she could only get to them, then she could fight him.
Sagri kept coming on, lunging at her with his no-datchi. Kara kept dodging his attacks with ease but she knew she couldn’t keep it up for long. She had to get to her twin jitte!
“Are you afraid to fight me?” Sagri sneered.
“You wish,” Kara said, leaping out of the way.
Those idiots upstairs must be sound sleepers. Good thing though, Kara thought.
She couldn’t imagine how they could be sleeping with all this noise. Finally, Kara managed to get to the front door. She figured that if she stayed longer and tried to get her twin jitte, someone might wake up and come downstairs to see what all the commotion was. Knowing Sagri, he would attack them immediately.
"I will kill you, witch, the same way you killed me!" Sagri declared.
"Only if you can catch me," Kara challenged, opened the door and ran outside.
She had no idea where she was going or how she was going to fight Sagri without her twin jitte. Kara headed to the forest area, which she had hiked through earlier, and began jumping from tree to tree in a desperate attempt to outrun Sagri. Kara took a quick look back to see where Sagri was. She couldn’t find him anywhere.
That is so not good, she thought.
All of a sudden, she heard a sound from behind her. She whirled around to face Sagri. He slashed her across her belly with his no-datchi. Kara saw it coming and dodged it but not in enough time to get completely out of the way. She let out a cry of pain as the sharp metal cut into her abdomen.
“Revenge is so sweet, don’t you agree?” Sagri laughed evilly.
Kara was still stunned from the cut across her stomach so that she wasn’t ready when Sagri made a sweep with his no-datchi across her leg, causing the leg of her jeans to rip at the knee. She quickly kicked the piece of denim off her leg because it would only slow her down. Now blood was dripping from her stomach and her knee.
I need the guys’ help. I can’t defeat him alone, especially without my twin jitte, Kara thought.
She dodged another one of Sagri’s attacks and tried to get back to the house but Sagri blocked her way. Kara looked around for something to defend herself with, anything that she could get her hands on. She spied a decent sized piece of wood and grabbed it. Even though Sagri kept cutting it shorter and shorter with his no-datchi, it was something that kept the glistening blade away from her skin. Finally, Kara managed to turn the battle towards the house. She guessed that the balcony that was straight above her head had to be a bedroom, hopefully in use of one of the boys. Kara needed their help now more than ever. She was growing weak from the loss of blood.
“Here goes nothing,” she muttered.
Whacking Sagri upside the head with the piece of wood, she jumped up. She saw that she was going to crash through the glass doors and she braced herself for the impact.
CRASH!!!
Ryo was awakened by the sound of something large shattering one of the glass doors behind him. He sat up and found that Kara was sitting on the bed next to him.
“Nani kuso? Kara?”
She quickly jumped off the bed and ran to the door that led to the hallway.
“Hey, Ryo, this is your wake-up call. You’d better put on your armor, like, um, NOW!” she cried and ran out of the room.
“ KARA! I WILL KILL YOU!” Sagri roared as he leapt through the broken glass door.
Ryo could only stare, dumbfounded, as Sagri ran after Kara.
As soon as Kara ran out of Ryo’s room, she knocked on the door of the room straight across from Ryo’s and the one at the end of the hallway, in the middle of both doors. She then took off down the hallway.
“What is---“ Kento asked sleepily as he opened the door across from Ryo’s room. He was stopped short by a no-datchi nearly slicing off his ear.
“Damn, missed her,” said the creature that was holding the sword.
He took off down the hallway. Ryo opened his bedroom door, still in shock.
“Ryo, what the hell is going on?” Kento demanded, not sleepy at all anymore.
“I don’t know but we better armor up,” he said.
Kento and the others, who had appeared from their bedrooms, nodded in agreement.
“Armor of WILDFIRE!”
“Armor of HARDROCK!”
“Armor of STRATA!”
“Armor of HALO!”
“Armor of TORRENT!”
While the Ronin Warriors were transforming, Kara had run down the hallway onto the balcony that overlooked the dining room. She slipped and fell flat on her face.
“Well, ain’t this a pity. Little witch doesn’t even put up a fight. Oh well,” Sagri said and was going to spear Kara but she rolled out of the way and stood up.
Her back was pressed against the balcony railing and she was trapped. Sagri struck out again with his no-datchi but only cut the balcony railing for Kara had rolled out of the way but was once again up against the balcony railing. Sagri slashed and slashed and slashed, but he kept missing. He slashed once again and missed again except that he had cut the balcony so that a piece would fall off. Unfortunately, Kara was leaning against this piece.
“AAAH!” she screamed as she flipped and fell with a large thud flat on her back on the dining room table.
“Ugh,” she groaned, “ Yah!”
Kara rolled out the way as Sagri jumped from the balcony, his no-datchi in perfect position to make Kara have a big hole in her stomach.
“You still have some spunk, witch. I like that,” Sagri said.
“Hey, buddy, why don’t you pick on someone who can fight back?” Ryo yelled as he and the others jumped from the balcony between Kara and Sagri.
Kara used this opportunity to run into the front room, grab her twin jitte, and run back into the dining room.
“Foolish boys. I could defeat you all of you with one hand tied behind my back,” he saw Kara return from the other room,” But you are not the ones I want. Come here Kara, my sweet, give me what I want.”
“Not in your life,” she retorted,” which is gonna be short.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Sagri said.
By this time, Mia and Uli had awakened and were standing on what was left of the balcony. They knew not to interfere and were wisely keeping their mouths shut. Sagri saw then and grinned evilly. Kara knew that smile and the knot in her stomach tightened.
“Mia! Uli! Run NOW!” she yelled a warning.
But it came too late. Sagri leapt up from what was left of the dining room table up to the balcony. Mia and Uli backed away from him in fear. Sagri grabbed Uli and before anyone could do anything, he crashed through a window and ran into the night.
“SAGRI! YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!” Kara screamed in rage and jumped through the window after him.
The Ronin Warriors followed close behind. Kara ran after Sagri, a sixth sense telling her which way to go since he had not left a trail.
“Yoo hoo! Looking for me, Kara?” Sagri yelled from a high tree branch.
“Ryo! Kara! Help me!” Uli screamed and tried to wriggle out of Sagri’s grasp.
“Let him go! This is between us!” Kara exclaimed.
“Give me what I want,” he held Uli up by his hair and put his no-datchi to the boy’s throat, “or else.”
“Fine, if you want it so much you can have it!” Kara yelled as she ripped her necklace off and threw it at Sagri.
In his greed to get the necklace, Sagri dropped Uli and rushed forward to catch the falling amulet. Kara moved quickly and caught Uli before he hit the ground. She turned back to the Ronin Warriors and yelled,
“Now, Ryo!”
“FLARE UP NOW!” Ryo performed his Armor of Wildfire attack.
It scored a direct hit on Sagri, who was just about to catch the amulet. Kara put Uli down and grabbed her twin jitte from their holders on her waist. Sagri emerged, unscathed, from the smoke created by Ryo’s attack.
“ DOUBLE DAGGER STING!” Kara yelled, making a large circle with her arms starting from her legs to over her head and then coming down together at her chest, her arms sticking straight out.
A light beam of purple energy shot out from her daggers straight at Sagri. It caught him in the chest and went straight through his heart. He crumpled to the ground and then his body turned to ashes that were blown away by the wind. Kara, breathing hard, smiled. Then, she groaned and fell to her knee (the one that wasn’t injured) clutching her stomach.
“Kara, are you all right?” Uli asked, kneeling beside her.
“Well, not really,” Kara said.
She removed her arm from her stomach and Ryo saw it was drenched in blood.
“Ew, gross,” Uli said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
“Thanks, Uli, I feel loved,” Kara said sarcastically.
By this time, Mia had come outside.
“Oh my God, Kara! Do you want me to call 911?” she asked.
“No, that’s all right. I’ll be okay, I just need some of my herbs,” Kara said, standing with some difficulty.
Rowin and Ryo helped Kara into the house and assisted her as she sat down on the couch. Mia got her bag and handed it to her.
“Do you need anything else?” Mia asked.
“A towel would be nice,” Kara said and took out a bottle.
She opened it and a pungent smell filled the room. Mia handed her a towel while holding her nose.
“Thanks,” Kara smiled and took it.
She poured the liquid in the bottle on the towel and pressed it to her wound. Kara winced as the liquid made contact with her skin and gave her a stinging sensation. After she had finished doing the same with her knee, she looked the Ronin Warriors straight in the eye.
“I’m guessing you’re wondering who the hell that was?” she asked.
“Damn straight,” Ryo replied.
Kara sighed.
“Well, it’s kinda a long story.”
“We’re in no hurry,” Sage said.
Kara bit her lip.
“I don’t know exactly how to say this without it being a bombshell but here goes nothing.”
She took a deep breath.
“Ryo, you do know that before White Blaze became your pet, he was the Ancient One’s right?”
“Yeah, but how do you know about the Ancient One?”
“I’m getting to that. Anyway, I guess you kinda noticed that White Blaze and I know each other.”
They nodded.
“Well, that’s because...I grew up with White Blaze. And,” she paused, “I know about the Ancient One because....he was my grandfather.”
Gasps of shock came from around the room.
“He died for a nobler cause than Save the Whales, huh, Sai?” Kara joked.
Sai nodded, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment.
“That’s how I know all about the Ronin Warriors. Ryo of Wildfire, Rowin of Strata, Sage of Halo, Sai of Torrent, and Kento of Hardrock,” Kara continued, looking at each of them in turn.
“So that’s why you didn’t look surprised when you saw me in my armor at the beach,” Sai said.
“And that’s also why you told me to armor up,” Ryo added.
Kara nodded.
“But that still doesn’t explain who that freaky-looking guy was,” Kento interrupted.
“All right, story time, boys and girls,” Kara said.
“A few years ago, when I was about ten, my grandfather felt that a dark presence come out from the Netherworld, but when it escaped, it had gone back in time about two thousand years. My grandfather, being the Ancient One, could’ve easily gone back in time to fight the evil but he was very ill with a disease. You see, when he fought Talpa that first time about a thousand years ago, somehow a bit of Talpa’s evil seeped into his soul. He rid himself of the evil but sometimes the symptoms would come back and leave him very weak.”
“ I was living with him at this time because my parents had died when I was six and Ojiisan took me in when they died. He had started teaching me how to fight, among other things, when I was about four so I had only about six years of training with my twin jitte.”
At this point, Kara pulled out her daggers.
“If you notice, they are very similar to Lady Kayura’s.”
The Ronin Warriors looked and saw they looked exactly like Kayura’s except the handle was silver instead of bronze and the tassels were purple instead of red.
“They even turn into swords, just like Kayura’s,” Kara demonstrated for them.
“ I received these when I began my training with Ojiisan. Kayura and I were both part of the Ancient Clan so we all lived in the same village. Even though she was a few years my senior, we were best friends. My grandfather gave her twin jitte too.”
Kara put the swords away.
“Now, Kayura is in the place of my grandfather with the Shakujo. So, I guess you could say that she’s not the last of the Ancient Clan, but she was taken by Talpa’s soldiers when I was six. They invaded the village and left no one alive except Kayura, Ojiisan, and me. They would’ve taken me too except my amulet protected me. I guess they took Kayura because they felt that she was a threat to the Dynasty. I also don’t understand how they found the village. We were hidden very well.”
“Anyway, I kinda got sidetracked. Where was I?”
“Your grandfather was sick and there was some evil presence in the past,” Rowin reminded her.
“Oh right. Okay, my grandfather was sick so I went in his place. Sagri, the freaky-looking guy as you so intelligently put it, Kento, was the evil and I fought him and killed him. But somehow he came back to life and that’s why he was after me.”
“He was also after this wasn’t he, Kara?” Uli asked, handing her the amulet.
“Yes, he was but for what reason I have no idea. Thanks, Uli, ”she said taking it from him.
“So, you were lying to us when you said you didn’t know Talpa,” Ryo said.
“Yes. I’m sorry about that but I couldn’t let you know who I really was until I knew you were the real Ronin Warriors. I recognized your names and guessed that you were them. I’m sure glad you are.”
“I knew it,” Sage said.
“Aiko said that she saw what looked like the Ancient One and he was warning you about something. Do you think Sagri was the one he was warning you about?” Mia asked, finally entering the conversation.
“Yes I do. You see, even though he’s in the spirit world, my grandfather can sometimes communicate with me. Don’t ask me how because I don’t know. He must’ve appeared to Aiko for some reason, probably because he didn’t want you guys to know who I really was yet,” Kara replied.
“About what you said earlier, about the amulet protecting you from Talpa’s soldiers. What do you mean by that?” Sai asked.
“Well, they were about to grab me when a strange purple light emitted from the amulet and surrounded me, forming a force field of some kind. I don’t remember much after that except Ojiisan coming and taking me to the cave,” Kara said.
“Kara, you lost a lot of blood. Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” Mia asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I just need some rest. Well, that’s the end of my story, boys, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed,” Kara said as she stood and went to her room.
Sagri’s reappearance had reawakened many bad memories that Kara wished she could forget. Her sleep was haunted by nightmares of the past. As she was tossing and turning in her bed, there was a sudden flash of light in her room and the Ancient One appeared. He walked quietly over to Kara’s twisting form that was running away from monsters that existed only in her mind and stroked her hair gently. Her fits stopped and her breathing became slow and regular.
“I will guide you all I can, granddaughter,” he said and there was another flash of light before he disappeared.
Yet another Japanese lesson:
Ojiisan = Grandfather
Twin jitte = Two daggers
Ryo has two katanas which are swords.
Sage has a no-datchi, which is a battle sword, just like Sagri. (or Sephiroth :)
Rowin has a hankyu which is a crossbow.
Sai has a yari which is a trident thingy.
Kento has a naginata, which is a staff that transforms into a three-piece numchuck thing. (Think Michaelangelo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, which probably none of you remember or wish you could forget.)
The Shakujo is the Ancient’s staff.
Yes! I finally got to the first real battle! WOOHOO!! And yes there is going to be another battle (or a chase scene, I’m not sure yet) in the next chapter.