Back to the Future
Chapter 4
By
Lily of Trust
The bright sunlight lanced through the window to
shine rudely right into Sai’s eyes. He grumbled, but opened them reluctantly.
For a moment, he wasn’t too sure where he was, it certainly wasn’t the
room he shared with Kento back at Mia’s manor.
That little voice in the back of his head reminded
him that he and the others were in the future, that Reika had brought them.
He remembered the vision he’d seen the night before. He remembered Kayura
showing them the room they were currently sleeping in, and apologizing
for the fact that they had to share one, since most of the other rooms
were full with refugees. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen any, but then
again, they were probably too scared by what had happened to the city to
come out very often.
The room was roughly about the size of Reika’s and
he only knew that because Mia had described it to them. She herself was
across the hall.
They’d all crashed in the sitting room portion of
the suit. White Blaze was curled up in front of the door that led off to
the bedroom, even though no one was using it. Kento was sprawled on the
floor, snoring uproariously. Sai was surprised the others were still asleep,
he was used to it, but the fact that the guys were still out cold was something
of a miracle. Rowen was curled up on the other end of the couch Sai was
on. He’d lost count of the number of times Rowen had kicked him during
the night. The archer was not a sound sleeper. Sage was lying on his back
on the love seat, arm thrown over his face, snoring softly. Ryo was on
the other couch, sleeping on his side, left arm dangling over the edge.
Sai looked over at Ryo, still trying to reassure himself that his friend
was still in one piece, that vision had been so real.
To his surprise, he met a pair of laughing blue
eyes.
"It’s weird, isn’t it?" Ryo asked quietly. "Waking
up here, I mean."
Sai nodded. "Yeah, for a minute there, I couldn’t
remember where I was."
"Should we wake the others?" Ryo still sounded a
little sleepy.
"I’m already up." Sage’s groggy voice came from
somewhere under his elbow. "You should be worrying about Rowen, not me."
Sai sat up and prodded Kento’s snoring form with
his foot. The noise cut off mid-snore, and a strangled sound came from
the floor.
"Wha-?" Kento asked, his voice sounding muddled.
"Welcome back to the world of the living." Sage
grinned. Kento glared at him through sleep filled eyes.
"Hah!" He snorted, sitting up and rubbing at his
eyes. "You should save that comment for Rowen, if we can get him up, that
is."
"Hmm." Ryo frowned thoughtfully, stood up, and walked
over behind the couch Rowen and Sai had crashed on. He promptly pushed
Rowen off the couch, a loud thump sounding as he landed. But Rowen just
grumbled a little, and rolled back over.
"Oh no you don’t!" Sage said, snatching a pillow
off the seat behind him and whacking his friend with it.
Taking their cue from him, Ryo, Sai and Kento picked
up their own pillows and soon Rowen was curled into a fetal position, arms
over his head to try and ward off the blows.
"Uhhh, go ‘way." He mumbled.
Whap! "Nope, not til you get up." Sai grinned.
Whack! "Move it blue boy!" Sage smacked his best
fried relentlessly.
Poof! Kento hit Rowen so hard his pillow exploded,
a cloud of feathers blossoming out of the rent in the cloth.
Smack! Blowing a feather out of his face, Ryo brought his pillow down
on Rowen’s head.
"Get up!" He insisted. Rowen just curled up even
tighter.
"Get up or I’ll go get Kayura to do it for you!"
Sage threatened.
"You wouldn’t!" A gasp came from under the pillow
Rowen held protectively over his head.
"Watch me." Sage sounded dangerous. Rowen started
to uncurl from the ball. White Blaze put his paws over his ears.
At that moment, the door opened and a young woman
none of them recognized entered. She stopped in her tracks for a moment
and blinked at them all in surprise, obviously not expecting to see four
of the Ronins ganging up on another, or maybe she was just appalled by
the mess they’d made with the feathers and pillows.
"Uhh," She apparently wasn’t too sure of what do
to.
"Can I help you with anything?" Sai asked politely.
The woman apparently gathered her scattered wits
together and straightened up.
"Reika, Shu, Seiji, Touma and Shin sent me to wake
you, it’s rather late in the day. They’re out in the ring." She explained.
"Oh, well, just give us a second." Kento grinned.
The girl shrugged and left, and the Ronins went back to bashing Rowen with
pillows.
As they made their way out to the training arena,
that single ray of sun over the castle seemed dimmer. It became apparent
that they were running out of time. White Blaze rumbled worriedly, he seemed
very on edge.
"Come on ‘Blaze." Ryo called him. "We should be
safe in the palace."
"I hope so anyway." Sage grumbled ominously.
It was dark and cool inside the training ring. The
scent of sweat and sawdust filled the air, dust motes dancing in the faint
light. Leaning casually on the guardrail were Reika, Shu and Shin. Dueling
it out in the center of the ring were Touma and Seiji. Each of them was
holding a staff identical to the ones Shin and Seiji had been using the
day before.
"Hey, what’s up?" Kento greeted the three teens,
taking a place on the rail as well; a move imitated by the other four.
White Blaze dropped down to the floor, a cloud of dust billowing up, suddenly
displaced.
"We’re just seeing how well those two hold up under
unfamiliar weaponry." Shin told them.
Shu rolled his eyes. "What he means is, we’ve put
those two up against each other because neither of their primary weapons
are staffs/spears."
"It’s sort of like training just in case Touma finds
himself in a situation he can’t use his bow in, or if Seiji loses his sword."
Reika chuckled. She was getting a kick out of this. Neither boy was an
expert with a staff, but at least they were proficient enough to hold their
own, especially against each other.
The spar ended when Seiji got in a hit to Touma’s
rib cage. The blue haired teen crashed to the ground, the wind knocked
out of him.
"I think I won this one." Seiji said, bending over
to help Touma to his feet.
"I think you’re right, I’ll admit to defeat this
time, but just you wait…" The other boy threatened.
"I’ll believe that when I see it." Shu shouted from
the side.
"No one asked you!" Touma hollered back.
"Oh come on guys." Reika sighed and motioned for
them to come over to the rail. "Cut it out now, okay? The last thing we
need is to be at each other’s throats."
"We’re just kidding Rei." Shu reminded her.
She sighed a little. "Guess I’m just kinda edgy."
"It’s okay," Shin squeezed her shoulder. "Trust
me, you’re not the only one."
White Blaze rumbled in agreement, causing everyone
to chuckle in amusement. Ryo ruffled the tiger’s ears affectionately.
"You too boy?"
"Hey Reika, why don’t you do a ‘shadow spar’ for
us?" Shu suggested, grinning mischievously.
Reika blushed deep red. "I dunno Shu, I’m not really
all that good at it…"
"Oh come on Raven." Touma urged. "Stop being so
modest, go out and do one."
"What’s a shadow spar?" Sai frowned.
"It’s a type of exercise," Seiji explained. "But
it’s really difficult to learn and even more difficult to do successfully,
Reika just so happens to be an expert at that sort of thing."
Her blush deepened. "I’m really not that good."
"Well then, just go out there and show us." Sage
said logically.
Reika sighed and vaulted the rail easily. She crossed
over to a rack of weapons on the far wall and grabbed a pair of twin katanas,
slinging them into place over her shoulders. She took a place in the center
of the ring and drew the swords from their sheaths. She held them in front
of herself, in an offensive position. She took a deep breath, and upon
letting it out, slowly closed her eyes.
What followed could only be described as a duel
with an opponent they couldn’t see. Her swords whirled so quickly they
were like flashing steel extensions of her arms. They went up into block
and thrust positions against the unseen enemy. The moves sped up a little
at a time, becoming more and more intricate. Her motions became so quick;
she almost appeared to be dueling with her own shadow, hence the term ‘shadow
spar’.
"Wow." Ryo blinked. The others were just as amazed.
She was at least as good as Ryo himself, her movements smooth and precise.
Touma leaned over and murmured something into Shin’s
ear. A devilish grin split each boy’s face, and Shin nodded. He climbed
over the rail as well, a spear in his hand.
He crept up upon Reika, and jumped into the fray.
Ryo wasn’t sure if she’d sensed him coming, had been expecting him, or
if Shin just knew the order to her moves, and had planned his entrance
accordingly.
The two of them whirled into a frenzied battle,
each with their weapons of choice. The Ronins gasped when they realized
that Shin had his eyes closed as well, and Reika’s remained shut. The clanging
of steel-on-steel filled everyone’s ears.
Shin tried a low sweep, intending to take Reika
out at the ankles. She somehow knew it was coming, and took a leap into
the air, somersaulting over his head to land behind him. She spun around
and slashed at his back, but he’d already turned and stepped out of range.
He brought the spear down in an arch which quite possibly could have split
her in two. Reika brought her katanas up, catching the spear-point in the
cross. For a moment, their faces were quite close together and Reika chuckled
under her breath.
"You’ve improved." She grinned.
Shin smiled back, though neither could see it. "And
you must have practiced since we last tried this."
"Not really." She spun away, just out of reach,
her hair fanning out around her.
From the viewpoint of everyone else, the intricate
steps and slashes seemed like a dance. The blocks, thrusts and parries
all part of some graceful choreography. Spinning out, dashing back in.
Unfortunately, they were too well matched; neither was gaining any ground
at all.
"C’mon Shin, get outta there!" Shu hollered. "It’s
a tie, all right?"
"Coming!" Reika’s opponent opened his eyes and stepped
back, "It’s a draw, Rei!"
His only response was a nod. Shin retreated to the
rail and Reika wound down her shadow spar. The same movements she used
when working through it the first time were repeated, only this time she
went from fast to slow. She ended in the same position she began in, swords
crossed in front of her, in an offensive position.
She opened her eyes and smiled tiredly, slipping
the blades back into their sheaths.
Reika crossed back over to the others, accepting
the canteen Shin passed her. She squirted some into her mouth and then
poured a portion over her head, washing away the sweat.
She tossed it back to Shin who promptly emptied
the thing.
"How did you do that?" Rowen asked. "Who taught
you?"
Reika shrugged. "All of you actually, I guess three
thousand years gives you plenty of time to come up with new techniques."
"I guess." Ryo agreed faintly.
"Hmm," Kento narrowed his eyes at Reika and Shin.
"How did you each know where the other was? I don’t get it." He turned
to the other three. "Are these two just friends or what?"
Reika looked at Shin and both of them exploded into
laughter. Seiji, Touma and Shu shook their heads in exasperation.
"What? What did I say?" Kento looked bewildered.
As if in answer, Reika extended her right hand,
palm up. Shin did the same, only with his left. Ryo, Rowen, Sage and Sai
leaned forward over Kento’s shoulder to get a better look. On each palm
was a strange, silvery mark, almost like a symbol, or a glyph.
"What does it say?" Rowen frowned. He assumed it
must be a new type of written language or else he would have been able
to understand what the symbols meant.
"They mean ‘soul sibling’." Shin explained. "We
did that a long time ago…"
Flashback
A four-year-old Reika sat in the shadows of the
stables gloomily watching Seiji, Shu, Touma and Alera kicking a ball around.
She was feeling very lonely; her father and most of her uncles were away
on business, and she didn’t have anyone to play with. She wasn’t very close
to any of the boys; they thought that since she was a girl, she couldn’t
do anything, and the only reason they let Alera play was because Seiji
was her brother.
She sighed and watched as the ball was tossed back
and forth between the other four children. She knew they couldn’t see her.
Uncle Cale had taught her how to hide in shadows, so no one could see her
if she didn’t want to be seen, and she didn’t.
So that was why she was so surprised when Shin sat
down next to her.
"Whatcha doin?" He asked her, never looking at her,
but staring at the other playing kids.
"Just watching." She sighed.
"Why not go play with them?" He asked simply.
Reika leaned her cheek into her fist. "Because they
didn’t invite me, and I don’t want to ask."
"Why not?"
"Because I know they don’t like me too much."
"Why not?" He repeated.
"Because I’m a girl." She replied moodily. That
was the story of her life. She could never do anything because she was
a girl.
"But they’re letting Lera play, aren’t they?" Shin
sounded confused.
"That’s just ‘cuz she’s Seiji’s little sister."
She said enviously. "She doesn’t know how lucky she is to have a brother."
"How does that make her lucky?" Shin was certainly
full of questions today.
"Since she’s got a brother, she’ll never have to
be all by herself, I don’t have a brother, or a sister, and Daddy’s always
away, so I’m always by myself."
"So am I, ya know." Shin said quietly. Reika blinked
at him in surprise, she’d never thought anyone else would be in her place.
"Yeah, but you’ve got the guys to play with, Alera
doesn’t like me too much, so she won’t play with me." She lowered her chin
into her hand. "I wish I had a brother too."
"I’ll be your brother." Shin sounded a little more
cheerful.
"Y-you will?" She could barely believe her ears.
"Yeah sure. My Dad’s away a lot too, and I don’t
have any brothers or sisters either, so you can be my little sister."
"I’d love to!" Reika exclaimed, hugging her new
‘brother’ tight. He hugged her back, but then her depression returned.
"But you’re not really my brother. We’re not r-related."
She said sadly, struggling with the word.
"We can be!" He grinned. Even at ages four and five,
the kids were allowed to carry small, but sharp, daggers. It was part of
training them to be responsible warriors. Shin pulled his out of its sheath
at his belt and, using the sharp tip, cut a symbol into his palm. He held
out his hand for Reika’s.
She didn’t even think about it, She wanted a brother
so much, she extended her hand, palm up, so he could scratch the word onto
her as well. The dagger was so sharp she didn’t even feel any pain at all.
"Let it bleed for a sec, and we can’t let Uncle
Sage heal it up, or else we won’t have scar, that’s kinda the point." Shin
smiled shyly.
Reika nodded and looked down at her bleeding hand,
making out the phrase written on it. Soul Sibling.
"So now we’re really brother and sister?" She asked
hopefully.
"Yep." He brought his hand up and she pressed her
palm to his. Their mingled blood ran down and dripped between them.
Then Shin started to talk, and it was very formal,
almost like the words weren’t coming from him.
"I promise to guard and keep you safe, because now
you’re my sister, and teammate too. Fire and Water can mix."
Reika understood. "I promise to guard and keep you safe, because you’re
my brother and sometimes even boys need help."
The two new siblings grinned at each other, and
brought their fingers down to intertwine.
They both felt a sudden surge of power and there
was a bright flash of light, originating from their hands. It spilled between
their fingers and they both shielded their eyes with their free arms. The
light went from intense ruby to light, turquoise blue. It faded and the
two children looked at each other in surprise and alarm.
"D-did you do that?" Reika asked Shin.
He swallowed hard. "I thought you did." He managed
to answer.
They stared at each other for a moment. An unspoken
agreement passed between the two of them not to tell anyone about the light,
maybe about the blood bond, but not the light.
Reika glanced at her palm and gasped. "Look!" She
waved her hand at him and he caught her wrist and peered at it. The cut
had already scarred over; only the scar tissue was a strange silvery color,
flashing the light around. He looked at his own palm and saw an identical
mark.
"So, what now?" Reika asked Shin.
He smiled gently at her. "Now we go play." He said
jerking his head back at the game of ball. Alera was standing off to the
side, a look of disgust on her face as she watched the three boys wrestle
on the ground over some imagined argument.
"But won’t they kick me out?" She sounded a little
unsure.
"Nope." Shin shook his head. "They can’t, you’re
my little sister now, remember?"
"So ever since then, we’ve almost been able to tell
what the other’s thinking." Shin explained. "Which is sort of how we could
tell what moves the other was about to make."
"Which is why we usually pair those two up for shadow
spars." Seiji said wryly.
I wonder, Rowen thought, So Reika’s related by blood
to Kento, and now to Sai through that exchange, if that is the reason she
can't use the armor, we're in trouble.
"You should have seen the look on Mom’s face when
she saw those marks." Touma shook his head at the memory.
"She freaked out, we got chewed out for cutting
ourselves." Shin sighed. "She thought we might have severed some tendons
in our hands or something."
"What puzzled her was how it had scarred over so
quickly." Reika said.
"So you see," Touma said, smiling a little at Kento,
"These two are just best friends, that’s pretty much it."
"Funny," Rowen murmured, "I would have thought that
Shin and Shu would have been the best of friends, considering Sai and Kento,
that is."
Shu came up between Reika and Shin and threw an
arm over each of their shoulders. "We are the terrible trio!" He grinned
evilly. "Reika and I get into trouble, and Shin gets us out!"
Shin rolled his eyes. "Isn’t that the truth!" He
said sardonically. "Oh the stories I could tell."
Among the snickers following that comment, the pounding
of paws could be heard. Tannin and Kina came screeching in on Orion’s back.
"Reika!" Tannin cried, slipping off.
She fixed him with a glare. "Where’s Graham?" She
asked, her voice dangerous. "I thought I told you that he was allowed on
Orion too."
"He didn’t want to come this time!" Kina insisted,
"Honest!"
"Okay, I believe you. What did you want?"
Tannin looked up at her, breathless. "You’ve got
a visitor!" He gasped.
"Huh? Who?" She asked blankly.
"I don’t know, Mom told me to find you and tell
you that there’s someone to see you." He clambered back up onto Orion.
"So come on already, all of you."
Since not everyone could climb onto the backs of
the two available tigers, the group of ten teens and two children walked
at the pace of the slowest there.
"Hmm." Sage looked thoughtful the whole while, like
something was bothering him.
"What’s wrong?" Rowen asked him.
"I was just wondering something, about Alera." That
got everyone’s attention.
"What about her?" Seiji asked.
"I was wondering, no offense or anything, how she
turned out to be such a, well, a brat, and the rest of you didn’t. I can’t
come up with an answer to that, and I’d like to keep it from happening."
Touma chuckled. "It’s because she had a different,
uh, nanny."
"Huh?" Sai frowned. "That doesn’t make sense."
"It’s because the rest of us were raised to be warriors."
Shin explained. "We were brought up to defend ourselves. She wasn’t."
"Yeah, our parents were away an awful lot." Shu
agreed. "She had a different baby-sitter than the rest of us, we had a
weapon’s instructor, and she had a normal nanny."
"Unfortunately, that nanny spoiled her rotten."
Seiji said, somewhat sourly. He didn’t like to talk about his sister’s
bad attitude.
"So why does she seem to despise Reika so much?"
Ryo was curious.
Reika chuckled. "Because Orion chose me instead
of her."
"Uh, I think that deserves an explanation." Kento
prompted.
"It’s a pretty long story, and has very little to
do with anything else, but Shin’ll make it short." Shu offered.
"Me?! Why me?!" Shin frowned. "Since when did I
become the official story teller here, huh?"
"Oh just tell them and get it over with." Reika
snapped, exasperated. "And make it quick, we’re getting closer to the palace,
and if there’s anyone there to meet with, then you’d better explain before
we get there."
"Oh all right." Shin sounded angry. "It’s because
of Orion." He began, everyone slowed down their pace a little to hear the
story. Maybe if they understood why Alera was such a snob, they could avoid
pushing the buttons that set her off.
"You see, about every two years or so, we’d get
a visitor, a white tigress. For as long as I can remember she’d been White
Blaze’s mate."
"Yeah, those two practically took tigers off the
endangered species list." Shu snickered, but he quieted down after Shin
shot him a frosty glare.
"Who’s telling this story, me or you?"
"Uh, you."
"Then shut up." Shin resumed the story. "So every
two years, she’d come to have her kittens here. She’d stay for a few months
‘til they got big enough to take care of themselves, and then she’d take
them with her and leave. But one year, White Blaze ‘told’ us that whatever
cubs she had would be staying with us."
"But how did you know?" Rowen raised an eyebrow.
"That’s easily answered." Ryo chuckled. "I’ll bet
Blaze told me, and I told everyone else."
"Hit the nail on the head." Seiji nodded.
"So Alera, who by this time was already a spoiled
brat," Shin continued, shooting an apologetic glance at Seiji, "Insisted
on having one of the cubs for her own."
"But when the time came for them to be born, there
was a small problem." Touma interrupted.
"Geez, why don’t you guys just tell this story?!"
Shin exploded.
"Okay, we’re quiet."
"The kittens had been turned around the wrong way
inside the tigress, and they were in danger of being strangled by the umbilical
cord." He went on. "No one was skinny enough to reach in and fix the problem,
except for one of us kids. Shu, Touma Seiji and myself were outside at
the time and didn’t even know this was happening. But Alera was already
there, since she’d been expecting to get one anyway, and Reika was there
since she got along really well with the tigress.
"So someone had to untangle the kittens. Alera refused
to reach in and do it, but Reika volunteered, and pretty soon the poor
little thing was out and alive." Shin finished.
"Yeah, but Orion was the only one, tigers usually
don’t have many more than four cubs, but one is uncommon." Seiji reminded
him.
"And Orion wouldn’t go to Alera." Reika ended the
story. "He wanted to be with me, so she’s hated me since then."
"What happened to the tigress?" Ryo asked, concerned
for the poor creature. After all, the Dynasty didn’t have any qualms about
killing innocent animals; Sage had found that out first hand.
"We don’t know." Shin shrugged. "She disappeared
shortly before the Dynasty made its move, so we’re not sure if she’s still
alive."
By this time they’d come up to the palace.
"Mama said to wait in the family room." Kina told
them. The two little tiger riding children led them into a nice-sized room,
the walls lined with bookshelves and a fireplace in one corner. Comfortable
looking overstuffed chairs were scattered here and there around the room.
"Tannin, there’s nobody here." Touma frowned at
his little brother.
"Mom just told us to get you here, and that this
person was gonna show up."
At that moment, the doors to the room were thrown
open and a small, dusky furred fox raced in. The only strange thing about
the animal was the fact that it had more than your usual amount of tails,
five in fact. It ran across the room, making a beeline for Reika. Halfway
there, the fox’s outline began to blur and change. Everyone was forced
to look away as his or her eyes began to tear over from the effort of trying
to focus on the thing.
Then, where there had been a fox, there was now
a short, slim girl, dashing towards Reika. Her hair was straight and chin
length, and the same color as the fox’s fur. She had dark skin, dusky colored
as well, and twinkling black eyes. She was dressed entirely in black leather,
and was festooned with so many daggers she was practically a walking armory.
This wasn’t too strange, except for the fact that she also had five tails,
protruding from her clothing.
"Reika!" She cried, throwing her arms around the
girl. "It’s about time you got back!"
Reika just chuckled and hugged the girl back. "It’s
not like I planned to be away that long."
The girl stepped back and glared at her. "I should
seriously hurt you for making me wait as long as I have." She said icily.
"Uh, Reika?" Kento asked.
"Oh," The girl blinked and stepped to the side,
waving her hand at the fox/girl. "Guys, this is Kitai." She introduced
her friend.
Kitai smiled a vulpine grin. "You would be the Ronins
Reika was sent to find, right?"
"Uh, right." Sai nodded.
"Well, I’m Kitai, like she said, and in case you
can’t tell, I’m a kitsune, you know, a shape-shifting fox spirit." To their
amazement, her outline began to blur again, and she was a fox once more.
Then she became a normal girl again, minus the tails, and then a humanoid
fox, as in a huge fox, walking on its back paws and wearing the same clothes
Kitai had been a moment before. She blurred back into the form of the girl
with the foxtails and grinned again.
"Kitai has made it her life’s pursuit to ruin our
lives." Seiji said gloomily.
The girl winked at the others and patted Seiji’s
cheek consolingly. "Only yours, buddy, only yours."
He growled at her. "And why’s that?"
She shrugged. "Oh, I dunno blondie, maybe it’s because
you bug me."
His eyes flashed. "How many times have I told you
not to call me that?"
She giggled. "Four thousand, five hundred eighty
seven, well, eighty eight now."
"I can’t win." Seiji moaned.
"Ignore them." Touma said dryly. "They really like
each other a lot." He ignored the looks of death the two sent him.
"Kitai’s also our chief, uh, espionage specialist."
Shin told them.
The kitsune giggled and smiled at him. "You are
such an innocent, Shin, why don’t you just call me a spy and get it over
with?" He blushed a little and was saved by Reika.
"So, what’s the news then? Why did you want to talk
to me?"
Kitai looked uncomfortable. "Well, Rei, it’s got
to do with what I saw on my latest venture out into the city. I think you’d
better take a seat, all of you." She turned to Tannin and Kina. "You’d
better leave." The twins blinked and nodded, slipping from the room and
taking Orion with them.
Struck by the severity in her tone, everyone sank
into a chair. Kitai crossed over to the cheerily burning fireplace and
leaned against it. She suddenly looked very tired, tired and sad.
"I’m sure that you must have seen one of those terrible
massacres on your way in Rei." She said.
"Massacres?" Shu frowned. "What do you mean?"
"When we arrived in the city, we saw them." Kento
nodded.
"They’re like huge piles of slaughtered people."
Sai said in a quiet voice. "Their throats were cut, there’s blood all over
the ground."
The four boys went very pale. Reika swallowed hard.
"Yes Kit, we saw them, what about it?" Her voice
was shaky, like she didn’t want to know the answer.
Kitai took a deep breath. "My patrol and I stumbled
across one of them, one in the process of being built."
The sound gasps filled the silence a she paused
for breath.
"You see, we discovered that, like most Dynasty
demons, this one draws its power from human suffering. But unlike most
of those demons, it takes it sustenance from death energy, death suffering."
"Death energy?" Rowen frowned.
"Yes, you see, we’ve discovered that human life
contains a great deal of energy, and it is violently released by death.
The more painful, violent, and drawn out the killing, the more energy is
released."
"So you’re saying that the people the Dynasty captured
are being slaughtered as a power source?!" Sage demanded, outraged.
"That’s exactly what I’m saying." Kitai said solemnly.
"One of my men was captured by the soldiers. I saw what cruelties they
are capable of." She squeezed her eyes shut against the painful memory.
"Poor Jaren, I couldn’t even end his misery."
Reika stood and laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder.
"When this is over, everyone who perished will be given the respect they
deserve."
Kitai wiped her eyes. "I guess that’s the best we
can do for them now."
"Have you told our parents of this Kit?" Seiji asked.
She nodded. "Of course I did. They suggested that
you might like to know, but that you shouldn’t do anything rash about it."
"Yes, rushing off into things never got anybody
anywhere." A soft voice came from the door.
They all turned to see the owner of the voice, a
tall, slim girl. She entered the room and closed the door behind her. She
had long, wavy hair that fell to her waist. In color, it was a pale green,
and wound through with vines, leaves and wildflowers. She wore a thigh
length dress, which also appeared to be made of interwoven vines and leaves.
Emerald green eyes smiled gently at all of them.
"This is Willa, guys." Reika introduced the girl.
"She’s one of Kitai’s team members, and a good friend of mine."
"Willa hmm?" Kento murmured. "If I may ask, why
are you green?"
Sai elbowed Kento in the side, appalled at his rudeness.
"KENTO!!" He hissed. "Please forgive him, he’s got a big mouth."
She giggled slightly. "That’s all right, I’m used
to it."
"Willa’s a tree nymph." Reika explained. "A tree
spirit, as opposed to the dryads, the water spirits."
"Yeah, she lives in a willow tree down by the lake,
that’s why we call her Willa." Kitai said. "Her real name’s too hard for
us to pronounce."
"What’s going on Willa, you never come into the
castle." Touma crossed his arms over his chest, puzzled at her unusual
behavior.
"It’s not safe outside any longer." She said in
that hushed voice. "As much as I dislike being unable to go to my tree,
I must stay here for a short while." She turned to Reika. "Rei, you’re
needed in the nursery, Sonya’s having nightmares again."
Reika sighed and got to her feet. "I’ll take care
of it and be right back." She said, and left the room.
"Does Sonya get these nightmares often?" Sai asked.
Willa sounded serious. "Yes, the poor thing, often
the only way she can get to sleep at night is to have Reika put a soothing
image into her mind."
Kitai made a face. "Yeah, the little kid’s been
the source of so many sleepless nights it’s not even funny."
Rowen, the strategist of the group, turned to Kitai.
"You said the Dynasty is killing all these people, how long do you think
it will take them to slaughter everyone they’ve captured?"
Kitai looked thoughtful. "Well, they get more energy
if they torture the person first, and that takes time, but at the rate
they were going, and considering that they’ve already caught three fourths
of the city’s population, probably only about another week."
"Damn." Ryo cursed softly. "That’s not much time,
is it?"
"My father did say that you were all leaving to
attack tomorrow." Seiji reminded them.
"How much energy do you think they’ve gathered from
all those deaths?" Shin asked quietly.
Everyone looked at him, they’d forgotten about that
part.
"I dunno." Kitai mused. "A lot though, Jaren’s death
alone gave them a ton of energy." Her face saddened. "I saw the amount
displaced. It was terrible, but maybe his death gave off a large amount
of power because he was a kitsune, I just don’t know."
She looked up in surprise as Seiji covered her hand
with his. "We’ll get revenge for him, don’t worry about it."
"Don’t let revenge cloud your thinking." Willa cautioned
them.
Sage turned to look at Rowen, who was deep in thought.
"All right Ro, you’ve been really quiet lately, I want to know what’s going
on inside that blue head of yours."
Rowen blinked at him and opened his mouth to answer,
when a scream split the air around them.
"AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!" It was Reika’s voice, a
scream of both pain and terror.
"REIKA!!" Everyone shouted, bolting up out of their
seats and out the door.
Reika had entered the nursery and made her way over
to Sonya’s crib. Tannin and Kina had obviously retreated to the room as
well after Kitai had banished them from the ‘meeting’, and were coloring
something over against the right wall, beneath a table. Graham sat in one
corner playing with a brightly colored ball. Orion was lounging near the
toddler, pushing the ball back whenever it rolled out of the little boy’s
reach. The nanny was nowhere in sight.
"Hey little sis." She greeted the cranky infant.
"Having another nightmare? Let me take a look." She reached down and brushed
her fingers gently across the baby’s forehead.
A terrible image filled her mind. She saw red skies,
rivers of blood and Dynasty soldiers rampaging across the land, pillaging
and burning as they went, killing so many people the oceans ran crimson
with blood. She saw briefly the broken and shattered bodies of her and
her friends and family. A baby’s cry split the still air, mixing in with
the roar of soldiers and the screams of innocents.
Reika snatched her hand back with a gasp. Where
had that come from? How could Sonya be seeing those things? It was just
terrible. Tannin and Kina shot her strange looks while Graham played, oblivious
off in his corner.
"Ssshhh." She murmured comfortingly, still touching
the baby’s forehead. She began to project soothing images of forests and
animals, those always seemed to work before, and they did now as well.
A sudden growl from behind her caused Reika to spin
around, surprised. Why would Orion be growling? Had Graham been pulling
his whiskers again?
She stifled a scream as the door exploded inward
off its hinges in a shower of splinters. As the dust cleared, the outline
of a Dynasty soldier could be seen, silhouetted in the doorframe.
It growled menacingly and advanced upon her, waving
a spear threateningly.
"The children." It hissed, and she was reminded
of the thing that had killed her father. Reika could just make out the
forms of many others behind it. For a moment, she froze in fear, then her
mind snapped back into working order.
"Orion, watch the littles!" She shouted. Orion crashed
backwards, tipping the crib over and herding Tannin Kina and Graham underneath
it to be with Sonya.
Reika looked around herself desperately. Damn, this
was a nursery! There were no sharp implements; that was the point. She
grabbed up a large, arm-length splinter from the door and waved it before
her.
"You’ll have to go through me to get to them!" She
glared at it, eyes flashing dangerously.
To her surprise, the thing only nodded. Then it moved with blinding
speed and stabbed the spearhead right into her side. That was when she
screamed.
Through a pain-filled-haze, Reika managed to bring
the shard of wood up to keep the thing from splitting her head wide open
like a ripe melon. Unfortunately, her makeshift ‘weapon’ shattered.
No help for it, I’m going to have to get one
of those weapons from this thing. So she deliberately reached out and
wrenched the spear from its metallic grasp.
All right! Now I can do some damage!
Then the things rushed into the room and she realized
just how many of them there were. There had to have been over two-dozen.
I’m screwed.
Ryo, Sage, Sai, Rowen, Kento, Shu, Seiji, Shin,
Touma, Kitai and Willa and White Blaze ran into the other Ronins, their
spouses, the Dark Warlords, and Lady Kayura halfway to the nursery.
"You heard it too?" Cale panted. Everyone nodded,
breathing too hard to answer, there were so many stairs in this place!
"Th-the nursery!" Touma managed to gasp out. The
much-enlarged group continued up the stairs to the nursery tower at mock
five.
Unfortunately, there were too many of them to fit
through the door, and the fact that those in the front were too shocked
by the sight to move, well, that didn’t help much.
Ryo, Touma and Kitai had been in the lead, and they
screeched to a halt.
Reika was standing, knock-kneed, amid a roomful
of smoking slag and discarded weaponry. She was leaning forward, held up
only by her grip on a spear she’d obviously ripped from one of the soldiers.
Her body was in shreds, bleeding from a few dozen places at least, and
her clothes were held up only by a few strategic strands. Her hair had
fallen over her face, obscuring the left side, even that fall of ebony
was matted and sticky with blood.
She looked up at the crowd in the doorway as if
expecting more soldiers. Her blank eyes flickered a little in recognition.
"R-Ryo?" She asked, her voice slurred over in exhaustion.
"I-uhhh." Her grip slipped and she fell over to land with a sickening crunch
in the metal shards.
"REIKA!" Touma shouldered past Ryo and a stunned
Kitai to kneel beside the girl. She was out cold, eyes rolled back in her
head.
"Move over!" Someone shouted from the back of the
crowd. Both Sage’s and Kayura made their way through. She waved the staff
and the smoking armors disappeared. Ryo noted absently that the older Sage
was already in the full Halo armor. He knelt beside Reika and began to
glow.
"The Babies!" Christa shrieked. "Where’s my baby!"
White Blaze slipped through the legs of the gathered
people and over to the upturned crib. He nosed at it and heard a questioning
rumble from beneath it. Orion burst from under the cage-like crib, hackles
raised, teeth bared. The four little children were huddled behind him,
sobbing. Kina had her face buried in her brother’s chest. Tannin was trying
to keep a brave look on his face, while clutching his sister to him, his
other arm protectively around Graham’s shoulders. The three-year-old was
holding Sonya against him, shielding the little child from any harm.
A collective sigh of relief went up from the mothers. Tannin, realizing
that he and his friends were safe now, loosened his death-grip on the other
children and leapt straight into his mother’s arms, drawing Kina after
him.
"I was so worried." Kayura sobbed, shocking the
Ronins. Kayura, sobbing?
Graham solemnly handed Sonya to his Aunt and then
ran to his mother and started to cry.
Tannin suddenly pulled his face out of his mother’s
arms and stared at her in horror.
"Reika, what happened?" He demanded, sounding much
older, for some reason, "Is she okay?"
All eyes turned back to where Sage was leaning over
the girl’s still form. The green glow intensified to eye-watering brightness.
All of Reika’s wounds began to glow bright green, sealing together with
a small burst of light. The terrible gash in her side stitched together,
and the blood stopped running. The skin was smooth and scar-less underneath
the rent in her clothes. She groaned softly and frowned, trying to pull
away from the elder Kento, who was pinning her to the floor by her arms.
Virtue flared to life on her forehead, and she calmed down, accepting the
healing.
Shin bit his lip and lowered himself to the floor,
holding his head between his hands.
"Shin?" Shu asked his friend in concern.
"I-it hurts." He moaned.
Shu squeezed his friend’s shoulder, biting his own
lip to keep from asking him if he needed help. He knew the bond between
Reika and Shin allowed them to feel the other’s pain.
"Is he okay?" Rowen asked.
"It’s the link between those two, when one of them
gets hurt the other can tell, and feels it."
A rasping coughing noise came from Reika’s direction.
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at the crowd of people looming
over her.
"Wha-?" She breathed. "Wh-Where’d they all go?"
"You defeated them Rei." Willa said gently. "They
were piles of junk when we got here."
"And T-tan and K-ki--."
At least everyone understood what she was trying
to say. "They’re fine, see?" Evey leaned over, still holding Graham to
her. Orion padded up to the girl and licked dried blood off her face. The
cuts were healed but she had lost a lot of blood.
"Everyone’s all right." Shin told her, holding her
hand between his. "Me included, man that hurt!" Reika managed a weak grin.
"Enough all of you." Kitai intervened. "Can’t you
see that she’s in terrible shape?" She sounded very angry.
"Yes, go to sleep Rei." Willa laid a cool hand on
Reika’s fevered brow, and she felt her eyes grow heavy.
Sleep. A voice whispered into her mind, and Reika had to listen
to it.
Ryo watched as her whole body went limp, again.
He looked around the room, it was literally trashed. The walls were cut
up terribly, picture frames were slashed, the crib had been shattered and
the door was practically non-existent. The floor was littered with the
remains of furniture and other things that were now unrecognizable. It
was no wonder Reika was in such bad shape. How she’d been able to keep
those things away from the little kids was beyond him.
"Will she be okay?" Tannin sounded like he was about
to cry, in fact tears were pouring down his face.
"She’ll be just fine, she’s just going to sleep
for a while." Kitai said comfortingly. "Rei just has to sleep so her body
can recuperate.
"R-recuperate?" Tannin stammered.
"Get better." Touma said, hugging his little brother.
"Oh."
"We should get her back to her room, and then get
this mess cleaned up." Dais said quietly.
"I’ll take her back." Ryo volunteered. Several surprised
looks were shot his way. "Oh come on, just tell me where her room is."
Someone cleared his/her throat in the doorway. All
heads rotated to see Mia, a shocked look on her face.
"What happened here?" She gasped.
"Apparently the castle wasn’t as safe as we thought."
The elder Sai said, getting to his feet.
Mia’s hands flew up to her mouth as she caught sight
of the damage and Reika’s sleeping form.
Ryo made his way over to Reika and gently picked
her up. "Mia, would you mind telling me where her room is?" He asked.
Mia blinked, but nodded. No one stood in the way
as the two left the nursery.
"What do you think that was all about?" Kayura mused.
"I wish I knew." Her husband replied. "I think maybe
he’s beginning to see her as his daughter, perhaps."
"It will only complicate things if he does." The
elder Sage shook his head.
"And you think that how?" Kitai raised an eyebrow.
"Look, I’ve known Ryo for a long time. He gets really
confused over his emotions. You all know I’m right."
"Could it honestly hurt for Reika to have a family
again?" Shin asked quietly.
"You’re right, it is about the same size as our
room." Ryo murmured as Mia opened the door to Reika’s room.
"Her bedroom’s through here." Mia gestured through
the door. Being careful not to jar Reika awake (though he wasn’t sure if
that was possible, she had been put to sleep through magical means) he
set her gently down on her bed.
Mia came up beside him and pulled the covers up
over Reika’s shoulders. She sat beside the girl and smoothed some of the
hair off her brow.
"I can’t believe she caused all that damage by herself."
She murmured.
Ryo shrugged and sat next to her. "I’d like to know
how those creeps got into the palace, I thought it was safe here."
Mia just shrugged. "I’m not sure, but one thing’s
certain, no one is going to be getting much sleep tonight."
He nodded at the truth in her statement and stayed
seated as she stood and walked back over to the door. He was about to follow,
when he felt a hand grab his wrist. Blinking in surprise, Ryo turned back
to see it was Reika, though she was still out cold.
"Don’t leave me." She muttered in her sleep. "Please
Father, I don’t want to be alone anymore."
Mia and Ryo exchanged surprised glances and Ryo
tried to pry her hands off his wrist. It wasn’t much good though, she was
a little too strong. The only way to get her to let go would be if she
did it herself. So he stopped trying to break that grip and decided
to make her let go.
"It’s okay Rei." He whispered into her ear. "I’m
not going anywhere, I’ll be here when you wake up, all right?"
It actually worked! Her hand went limp and she rolled
over, sighing in contentment, a small smile on her face.
"Hmm." Mia mused quietly. "I guess she thought that
you were-"
"Don’t say it!" Ryo held up a hand. "Just don’t!"
Mia shrugged and they both left the room. There
was a lot of cleaning up to be done, as well as some questions to be asked.
My, the plot's been getting awfully dark lately.
I'll have to see if I can do anything about that...Anyway, I promise that
by the next chapter, they'll actually start the battle. It's been
a long time coming, I know, and thank you for sticking with me as long
as you have. I appreciate it. I need feedback though, so please
e-mail me at [email protected]
. Haven't I been saying that a lot lately?
Literature
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