"Aria of Tears"
By Amanda Swiftgold

Mia's House, Outside Toyama, Japan

      He walked outside into the garden's sunshine, tucking strands of golden hair away from his visible eye and back where they belonged. The summer rays bathing Mia's backyard were warm on his bare shoulders, the white tank-top he wore reflecting the rest of the heat. Shading his eyes from the light, Sage glanced around the large open area searchingly, before he caught sight of something just below the dip of the hill.
      Taia sat there cross-legged, clad in Mia's purple floral sundress with a white dress shirt-like collar. Her crimson hair was pulled up in a high ponytail on her head, wavy from having been braided while wet. She was humming to herself, picking apart a thick blade of grass as she stared out toward the woods that surrounded the house. White Blaze laid on his side next to her, stretched out to receive maximum ventilation. His tail twitched lethargically from time to time as she stroked the wiry fur of his striped back.
      He regarded her for a moment, wondering what he was actually trying do here. Thanks to his sister Yayoi's merciless teasing when he was a child, he had grown afraid of girls and their unfathomable intentions toward him. Of course Taia here was obviously different, in more ways than one. He was not nervous around her for the usual reasons, but rather because he knew she was, well, a murderer. He had been arguing with himself for some time, whether as a Ronin he had any right to judge, but had only succeeded in confusing himself even more.
      "Um, hi," Sage offered as he approached, crouching down on the tiger's other side and absently scratching his head. White Blaze let out a low, deep rumbling purr, pushing his head back against the young man's hand.
      She turned to look at him, very unsurprised, smiling widely. "Hello, Sage."
      "You lazy cat," he said to the large tiger fondly before looking up at Taia. "You knew I was there?" he asked to make conversation. White Blaze stood up suddenly and shook himself, and they both momentarily flinched away from the flying fur. He bounded off towards the house, and Sage watched him go for a moment before sitting down in his place a little awkwardly. The flattened grass felt warm on the seat of his pants.
      Taia pulled at her earlobe a little. "I heard your Song before you came up."
      "Oh, that's right," he said a bit sheepishly. "Did you see where Kento and Sadako went to earlier?"
      She nodded. "Yes, they went to the lake. They didn't notice me sitting here. They were Singing to each other. I don't think I've ever heard anything like that."
      Sage frowned a little. "Singing? Oh, yeah, the aura thing. So the… Songs can… interact? Combine like… voices?" he asked her. She looked back over toward the trees, biting her lip a little but saying nothing.
      He waited for her answer, if one was going to come at all, looking at her profile. She could be pretty, almost exotic, he supposed, but she wasn't provoking that tight feeling in his groin that some girls did. However, those girls certainly knew what they were doing to him with their flirting, while he expected Taia to know as much about that as Yulie did.
      How odd he was feeling now. As Ryo had said rather tactlessly at breakfast that morning, she was 'about as deep as a wading pool', but he could sense somehow in her demeanor a kind of sadness, as if she knew what she was missing out on. It was a feeling that made him just want to protect her forever from anyone and anything who would want to take advantage of her childlike wonders and easy trust.
      Finally she spoke, "I guess they can, can't they? But I've never heard them do that before. People don't love each other in the Dynasty. Talpa wouldn't like it."
      "You wouldn't think so…" he mumbled, drawing his knees up under his chin and wrapping his arms around his legs. The grass felt nice between his toes.
      He is very pretty, she thought. If I had my own Song could it Sing with his? Her hand moved to pluck a nearby dandelion, fingers tying its stem in an absent knot. Taia sighed. "Is Rowen feeling okay today?" she inquired. "He was asleep so I couldn't ask him."
      "Oh, he misses breakfast a lot, it's just his habit," Sage assured her.
      She smiled. "I don't think he would want to eat. He was throwing up all last night."
      "What?" He started, blinking over at her. "What do you mean?"
      She stretched out her legs, wiggling her grass-stained toes in front of her before tucking her feet next to her and leaning on one arm. "He was sick, from bad food. I think he's going to be better today, though."
      He scowled. "And why didn't I know about this? I'm only his roommate…" Sage grumbled. Ha, going upstairs to study, my ass, Rowen! You're going to have to explain things to me later. What if we'd been attacked, and he was too sick to fight? Argh! Externally, however, he didn't do much more than raise an eyebrow. "Well, that's a surprise."
      For a while they were quiet, just sitting amongst nature, listening to the chirps of birds and the breeze rustling the grass and the leaves of the trees. His musical aura dipped a little in a nervous quirk, and she looked at him questioningly.
      Sage glanced over at her stare, quickly turning back to hide behind his swoop of hair. "Um, I have a question," he said hesitantly. She waited for him to ask it, patiently motionless. Clearing his throat, he said in a rush, "Why'd you kill that guy in the car?"
      She didn't move at first, then slowly raising her hands to her face. "He tried to hurt me," she said. "He put his hands on me, and I don't have to let anyone hurt me anymore."
      That would explain why Mia didn't have much of a problem with it, at least. "Oh," Sage replied in a barely audible tone, wishing he could fix the distressed expression on her face. "I'm sorry… Taia, I'm sorry for asking," he said, turning and very gently, very uncertainly putting his hand on her shoulder. Don't cry, please don't start to cry...
      "That's okay," she said, dropping her hands and grabbing for another crop of dandelions. The look passed and her normal placid expression returned. He was startled a little at how quickly she had let it roll off her back, but he didn't move his hand.
      "How did you do it?" he asked before he could stop himself.
      Taia replied emotionlessly, "I Sang at him and touched him and made him die."
      His brow furrowed, and he took his hand away from her shoulder. "Singing," he murmured. "How can you do that?"
      "I don't know… I never have known why it happens. But if I do it right…" she trailed off.
      "So…" Sage thought hard, trying to make sense of this. "You can do magic, with your voice… do you have to touch someone to make it work?"
      "No. Only for special Songs."
      Again they were silent, this time a little more awkwardly. He looked at her searchingly, wondering. What an enigma she was, so innocent-seeming but capable of such strange things. Somehow, he didn't want to see her lose that protective innocence and see how awful the world could really be, as she seemed to be doing now.
      He's not afraid of me, she thought. But maybe he should be. Although he is really a nice pretty, and not at all like that seer. I'm not afraid of Sage. Maybe he is... maybe... I don't know...
      Suddenly her voice broke through the stillness as she started to sing, and he flinched before he could stop himself. She just looked at him with a bit of sadness and confusion, her soft, rich voice clear in the air. The same voice that killed a man now wrapped around him with all the nostalgia of childhood. "Sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings… little blue pigeon, with velvet eyes; sleep to the singing, of mother-bird swinging… swinging the nest where her little one lies."
      It was a lullaby? "Taia," Sage whispered, but she looked away, gazing at the forest again.
      Her fingers toyed with the dandelions in her lap, wishing suddenly she hadn't done it, but the words came forth like water. She might as well have tried to stop a thunderstorm. "Away out yonder, I see a star… silvery star with a tinkling song… to the soft dew falling, I hear it calling, calling and tinkling the night along."
      He frowned, suppressing a yawn. It was almost as if the simple song was suddenly provoking fatigue in him, even though he hadn't been up for very long yet. Maybe I just didn't get enough rest last night. And lullabies always did do me in, at least according to my mother. But she said... so this is part of it too?
      "In through the window a moonbeam comes, little gold moonbeam with misty wings," the young-old woman sang. As he yawned again, this time out loud, she glanced over at him and sighed gently. Even when she didn't mean to do it, it happened anyway. It wouldn't feel good to quit the tune, either. "All silently creeping, it asks, 'Is he sleeping? Sleeping and dreaming, while mother sings…?'"
      Sage blinked rapidly, attempting to stay awake, hanging his head and just as quickly jerking it back up again. "Maybe you should stop now," he mumbled. But his head was growing so fuzzy in response to the lullaby… no, not because of the song, he realized, stretching out in the grass, his head falling to land in the crook of his crossed arms, leaning on her thigh. With the proof before him, it was undeniable. Not just any song was magic - no one would fall asleep if he sang it. It was her voice. This was the power they wanted from her.
      "But sleep, little pigeon," she murmured sorrowfully, brushing blonde strands from his serene slumbering face, "and fold your wings… little blue pigeon with mournful eyes. Am I not singing? - See, I am swinging - swinging the nest where my darling lies…"

Yamano residence, Toyama, Japan

      "Last time, on Samurai Spirits, Shiranui finally confessed his feelings to the Spanish goat-herder, Bernardo, as Kikyo disabled a nuclear warhead with only a tube of lipstick and a banana peel. Meanwhile, foreign exchange student Olga becomes hopelessly entrapped in her taboo relationship with mystical oni Shutendoji."
      Yulie scowled at the familiar deep voice of the narrator emanating from the TV. It was those soap operas, again. His mother never stopped watching them during the day. That meant he could pretty much do what he wanted, except watch the TV himself, or play the Famicom which was hooked up out here. Why can't she watch in her room? he whined to himself. He wasn't allowed to play in his parents' room, and he didn't feel like doing anything else.
      He sighed, leaning against the windowsill next to the potted plants. He'd tried to water them while his parents were trapped in the Dynasty, but they'd died and they'd had to get new ones. Not that he wasn't glad to get his parents back, but life was back to being boring now, and what was more, they didn't even remember being under Talpa's power at all. It seemed like forever ago that he'd had his adventure with the Ronins, even though it had only been a few days since Talpa's defeat. And he couldn't even talk about it.
      But Talpa's really gone. The guys are wrong, they got him good and he's never coming back. But... it's really boring without the Dynasty... He shook his head, trying not to think things like that. Talpa was evil, even if fighting him was exciting.
      Head resting on his fist, Yulie stared out the window at the quiet, shady street. There wasn't anyone to play with here, just a lot of adults and preoccupied teenagers. He almost wished that they still lived in Kyoto, if it weren't for the fact that he would never have met the Ronins…
      "You don't like the child's heart?" the man on the TV was saying incredulously. "It was so hard to get it!"
      "Shutendoji!" the female sobbed loudly. "How could you? A child!"
      Sighing again, loudly, he moved to turn away from the window when a sudden flash of white caught his eye. "Hey!" he cried happily, racing toward the front door and nearly sliding face-first into it due to his socks on the shiny wood floor. "Hey, White Blaze!"
      Flinging the screen door open, the dark-haired boy rushed over to the tiger, putting his arms around the large feline's neck. "What are you doing here?" he asked. The brown-eyed cat opened his mouth and gently closed it around Yulie's arm, tugging at him. "You want me to go with you?" he asked. "Cool! Hold on, I gotta ask my mom."
      He went back inside, hollering "Mom!" Finding his skateboard in the hall, he jumped onto it and rode into the living room where she sat.
      "Yulie, you don't play with the skateboard in the house," she told him, not looking away from the screen. "You're going to gouge up my floor."
      He grimaced at the mushy scene she was so intent on watching before picking up the blue board and leaning on the arm of the couch. "Mom, can I go over to Mia's?"
      She made an exasperated noise. "Dear, the baby-sitting bill is already going to be tremendous from when you got lost in the city. You don't need to be over there bothering them."
      "I'm not bothering them; they're my friends! And Mia won't be baby-sitting me, cause you're here at home!"
      The brown-haired woman shook her head at his logic, turning to look at him now that a commercial was playing. "Yulie, don't whine. I'm not going to drive you over there, now, anyway, so why don't you be good now and play in the yard?"
      He pouted. "But Mom, you don't have to drive me. White Blaze is here right now to pick me up!" He backed away from the couch, putting his skateboard back down. "So… bye!" He turned and ran to slip on his shoes, exploding out of the door.
      Mrs. Yamano stood up, reaching to stop him. "Come back here!" she called. She had been quite nervous of that tiger at first when she'd seen it, and knowing that it hung around Yulie's baby-sitter hadn't helped much. Now her son was going to ride it across town? She looked out the window, watching him quickly climb onto the striped feline back. She couldn't very well stop him now without causing a scene.
      The sounds from the television distracted her, and she looked over to see her soap starting again. "Be home before dinner!" she finally bellowed out the window, watching as he waved in acknowledgment and raced away. The woman turned back to the TV, sitting down in her spot on the couch.
      "You did it, Kikyo…" Sora breathed, staring at the now-deactivated warhead.
      The tall, buxom woman next to her nodded grimly, capping her bright red lipstick. Then she shot Sora a glance. You witch, her 'thoughts' said aloud. Just you wait. I'll get Hikage back. I'll make you pay for taking him... soon, everything will fall into place.
      Well, Yulie was going to be just fine…

      The wind in his hair, Yulie giggled, clutching onto the tiger's neck as he ran down the road. The child absolutely loved the shocked, disbelieving looks that passersby gave them, waving at them as he passed with a grin. "I bet you were bored too, huh, boy?" he asked the tiger, looking up as they bounded through Yoshio Park, sending children screaming in all directions.
      "Oh, wait," Yulie said, tugging at his head to try and get him to stop. "Sharra's house is over here! She'll believe me when she sees you, Blaze!" He angled his gaze over at the fence that barred them from the creek. "Well, you can't fit through there," he remarked. "I guess we're going to have to go around. I think I remember which one is the right house… come on," he said, swinging his legs.
      The tiger almost seemed to consider it for a moment before bounding off in the direction the boy indicated. He walked at a quick pace, but not so fast that Yulie couldn't scrutinize the houses and guess which one it was, trying to count how many they'd passed from behind. White Blaze had been bored, and a little anxious, knowing that everything was not over yet with Talpa. Yulie was a fine diversion to keep his mind off the impending fight.
      As they turned a small curve in the road, a small barefoot child in a yard gazing at the tiger in wonder, he looked at a house and decided that one was probably it. It wasn't the best neighborhood, that was for sure, and this particular dwelling certainly looked the part. It was a dirty white color, with an incredible amount of paint peeling from its surface. The screen door's mesh was torn, as well as the screens on a few of the windows, some of which were missing screens entirely. The cement of the pavement and stoop was cracked, dandelions and weeds filling the fissures.
      He frowned to himself, unconsciously running his fingers through the cat's fur. He'd thought it was kind of weird that there was nothing in the backyard, but this wasn't what he'd expected. Are they poor? he thought, kind of disturbed. He moved to slide off White Blaze's back, but suddenly stopped himself. Her brother didn't want him to be there; at least that was the impression he'd gotten when he'd been there earlier in the day. What should I do? Yulie wondered, staring over at the house.

Roarke residence, Toyama, Japan

      "Daylighter, I must wait for the sun to rise," Sharra belted out, sitting in front of a dusty mirror in her and her sister's room, holding a discarded oil filter she had salvaged in one hand. Running her index finger around the edge of the bright orange cylinder, she streaked the grease across her face, attempting to emulate the face paint the actors wore in CATS. Wrinkling her nose at the smell, she continued singing, "I want a new life, 'cause I can't give in…"
      Smearing the motor oil around even more, she finally put the filter down and wiped her hand on her shorts. "When the sun comes out," the girl sang, pulling her blonde hair up around her face like a 'mane' and examining herself critically in the mirror, "tonight will be a memory too… and a new day will start…"
      Letting her hair fall back past her shoulders again, she leaned forward on the dresser to inspect the grease on her nose, but pulled back as her hand landed on something hard. She picked up a necklace with a short gold chain, a St. Christopher medal hanging from it, twirling about in midair. Mom's necklace... Shannon must have left it out. She was always wanting to wear it, but Sean and Shannon were always telling her it was too valuable for a little kid to play with. Especially Sharra, who lost everything. Except Joyce.
      Her mother Colleen liked to sing too. They'd sing together, and her mother would tell her that she could be a good singer someday. Maybe she could even be in CATS. She could be Grizabella and her mother would come to see her and sit right there in the front row and give her flowers at curtain call. And she would get to wear pretty costumes, and dance! And everyone would cheer for her...
      Her father didn't like Colleen to sing. And now she wouldn't sing ever again.
      She lowered her head, tears dripping from her eyelashes as she sniffled. Daddy, why did you have to be bad?
      A sudden tapping at the window made her jerk about in surprise. She saw Yulie's face framed by the bed sheet that served as a curtain, tied to one side for now. Oddly enough, even though the window was fairly high up, he didn't look like he was hanging from the sill or anything. Absently tucking the medallion into her pocket, she slid off her chair and dragged it past the rolled-up futon and over to the window.
      Climbing up on it, she shoved up the glass pane and scowled at the boy in her side yard. "Stupid!" she told him forcefully. It had been a great day when she'd learned that Japanese word. "Not come here!"
      Completely ignoring her anger, he beamed at her and pointed down. "Look, Sharra!" he said cheerfully. "I told you my friend has a tiger! This is White Blaze!"
      Looking at him quizzically, she leaned out of the screenless window and downward. Two soft brown eyes and a feline face looked up at her benignly. Sharra just stared, hazel eyes wide, and then stared some more. It's a... tiger, she thought.
      "Well, what do you think? Bet you're scared, huh?"
      She huffed. "Not scared!" She pushed herself farther over the window ledge, tilting down to rather hesitantly touch the top of the tiger's furry head with her fingertips. With a sound akin to a purr, White Blaze pushed his head up against her hand. "Like a kitten, right?"
      "Aww, White Blaze," Yulie said, scowling down at the cat from his perch on his broad back. "You're supposed to be scary!" She laughed at him, and he reached up to scratch at the back of his head. "So are you stuck in your room?"
      Sharra nodded, trying to search for the right words to express that she was in trouble for going to the park that morning without permission. She wasn't used to Sean telling her to go to her room, and had pitched a fit that her brother's nerves just couldn't take. "Sean got mad, Sharra got mad, Sean got madder," she told him, making accompanying hand motions. Then, she slapped them together hard, making Yulie gasp and jump. She shrugged.
      He nodded slowly. "I guess this means you can't come play, right?"
      "Right," she sighed, leaning her head on her arms.
      "I'm going over to Mia's," Yulie said, rubbing White Blaze behind the ears. "She has a really great house, with a forest and everything. And my friends the Ro- the guys are there. They're cool too. I wish you could come, but your parents won't let you, huh?"
      She bit her lip. It sounded like fun. "No parents, Sean and Shannon… older brother and sister."
      "Oh," he said. "I almost didn't have any either." Did they not come back after the Dynasty? he was about to ask, but he realized she wouldn't remember, if that was the reason. Nobody remembered that, and he had to be very careful not to talk about it.
      As she just stood there silently, he suddenly frowned and blinked, looking at her. "What's that on your face?" he cried, wrinkling his nose.
      Sharra looked at him incredulously. "Makeup," she said succinctly. How could he not tell?
      His jaw dropped, and he couldn't think of anything much to say other than, "It smells like oil."
      She tossed her head, looking away, and moved as if to shut the window.
      "Sharra… come with me?" Even though he enjoyed being at Mia's house, now that the guys weren't fighting the Dynasty anymore, they'd started ignoring him more and more and doing their teenager things, like talking to girls and reading and stuff. They hadn't even really said goodbye when his mom had come to pick him up last night. He could show her all the cool stuff around the mansion, and then he'd actually have someone to play with.
      Turning back to gaze at him, she shook her head sadly. "Not… allowed," she said, looking over at the closed door, and then back to him and the tiger.
      "Aww," he said, pouting a little. "Well… I guess I gotta go, then. Maybe we can play later."
      Just go anyway, a little voice in her head told her. Sean and Shannon are too busy doing grownup things to even remember you're here. They won't even notice. That was the same voice that had told her she ought to go to the park when she wasn't allowed, but her subsequent punishment only made her stop and think for an extra second or two this time. "Wait," she said, and he paused, raising his eyebrows.
      Jumping off the chair, Sharra ran and grabbed up Joyce, sliding a pair of jellies onto her feet before climbing up into the window frame. Slowly, she turned to slide out of the window on her stomach, her toy under her arm, supporting herself with locked elbows as her feet swung about, looking for support. They landed on the patient tiger's back, and she quickly sat down behind Yulie, grabbing onto his waist. "Okay," she said, and he grinned.
      "Let's go, boy!" he called to the tiger, hearing her slight gasp and feeling her grip grow tighter as the cat literally leaped away from the house, running with graceful strides back out along the street. He laughed out loud, her voice after a moment joining his as they raced away toward the countryside.

Mia's House, Outside Toyama, Japan

      Rowen adjusted the weight of the thick book on his lap, reaching for another rice cake. He'd woken up feeling a bit hungry, but he knew that his stomach couldn't take anything much at the moment. Thus he sat in bed with one of the books from Mia's grandfather's extensive library, propped up with pillows and a glass of ginger ale nearby. It wasn't so bad, he decided, his hair loose from his headband and ruffling in the breeze from the open window right next to him. And it had been quite a while since he'd been able to lounge around in his pajamas all day.
      He'd been reading psychology particularly because of his decision to help Taia somehow. He had no clue if anything here would apply to her situation, but it was worth a try, and pretty interesting in and of itself, anyway. He was no psychoanalyst, but if the Dynasty was involved then perhaps her problems had to do with Talpa's evil magic, and not the normal kind of dementia. I'll have to talk to her and see, he mused, turning one of the thin pages.
      The door swung open, and Cye leaned his head into the room. "You're still in bed?" he said incredulously, glancing around the mostly bare space. Their sleeping areas still felt a little like hotel rooms, even now, and he'd be thankful to get back to his own familiar room when everything was over for sure. "I heard you liked to sleep late, but this is ridiculous."
      "Well…" he fudged, not wanting to reveal his real reason for not getting up, "I started reading and didn't want to stop."
      His friend shook his head, clucking his tongue with an impish smile. "Well, I was going to ask you if you'd seen Sage," the redheaded boy told him, "but it's not like you would know…"
      Rowen nodded at him. "Yeah, well…"
      "Sage isn't going to be happy," Cye called back over his shoulder, turning back and closing the door.
      He shrugged, going back to his reading. Having gone through a little of Freud and Mahler, he was perusing an article on psychopathology when he found something that seemed to apply. "Psychopathology in the anaclitic configurations includes anaclitic depression, or the infantile personality, and hysteria," Rowen murmured to himself. "Hmm, hmm… defenses in anaclitic psychopathology are primarily avoidant maneuvers… denial and repression." Repression... I wonder...
      After about fifteen minutes, there was a cursory knock on the door before it opened. Expecting Sage to come in and call him a lazy ass, he was pleasantly surprised to look up and see Taia there, hesitantly entering the room. "Come in," he said, waving her over. "Close the door…"
      She did so, walking over to the bed with a vague motherly smile on her face. After Sage had woken up from his sudden sleep, he seemed to act a little oddly toward her and had gone inside. Not long after, she had followed, going to check on Rowen. "You're feeling better," she stated, brushing rice cake crumbs off his sheets and tucking them up higher around him, Rowen raising his thick book up to let her. Her hair brushed against his face, that same smell of Mia's shampoo from the night before filling his nose.
      He held out his hand as she moved to take his empty glass. "No, don't go," he said. "I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind."
      "Talk to me?" she said, raising an eyebrow. He nodded and closed the book, setting it aside and flipping his covers off. Swinging his legs out of bed, he patted the edge of the mattress next to him for her to sit down. She did, slowly, looking at him with interest.
      "Yes," Rowen began, "I'd like to ask you about…" About what? I can't just ask 'Why are you crazy?' ...I mean, if she knew then she wouldn't be, right? But, then what made her like this... Annoyed at his lack of knowledge of this particular subject, he finally just settled on, "How did you get to the Dynasty in the first place?"
      She frowned down at her hands in her lap, shaking her head slowly. "I don't know. I don't remember what happened."
      "Don't remember, eh…" he mumbled, thinking. Repression, that's the key, Rowen. "Well, what is the first thing you remember then?" She sat there with her mouth open, a blank look on her face, and for a moment he wondered if he was doing something wrong, something that could hurt her more than help.
      Finally, her mouth closed, and she blinked. "Dreams," she said. "There were dreams with the old monk and the tiger White Blaze, Tao Fuki, Tao Fuki, Tao Fuki…" She began repeating this over and over, softly, to herself, like a mantra.
      "Okay," he said, not even attempting to try and understand why she was saying that, running his hands frustratedly through the deep blue of his hair. "Okay, then finding out what happened before that is probably a good start."
      "But I don't know," she whispered seriously, wringing her hands violently.
      He reached to pull them apart, rubbing her palms with his fingertips. She calmed down a little, looking up into his eyes. "Shh," he soothed, mind racing as to what to do now. "Now, just close your eyes, and try to clear your thoughts. Here," he got up, pulling up the blankets quickly, "lay down." She relaxed back against the pillow, automatically obeying what he said. She'd never really thought about the past much before, and now wondered what was going to happen.
      Looking down at her, he tapped his lips for a moment. Okay, I don't know much about meditation, but I can't just stop and get Sage now. "All right, just relax, close your eyes. Try to clear your mind of everything."
      Taia nodded as her eyelids slid closed. There was all the darkness; she hated the darkness, but if Rowen thought it would help her remember then it couldn't be bad. She tried to think back into the past, but it seemed blocked from her by a thick, white cloud. It didn't seem like a bad cloud, like Talpa's powers, although it kept her from the memories just the same.
      He was startled at how quickly it seemed to have happened, but then again, her mind was hardly normal to begin with. "Find a person," Rowen's familiar voice seemed to say through the darkness. "Think of… eyes, or hair. Find someone you haven't seen for a long time, and bring them there before you."
      Caught up in the experience, she looked around through the mist as if this was actually happening, and not just in her head. There were faint whispers, manifesting and fading back into nothing. As she 'walked' though the recesses of her mind, the voices grew louder, ever so slightly becoming clearer. Figures moved and disappeared, barely seen out of the corner of her eye.
      "I don't like this," she said to herself, stopping and turning around in place. "How do you stop doing this, Rowen?" But he hadn't heard her, for she wasn't really speaking out loud. Taia dropped to her knees, biting at her fingernails. Why can I feel magic here? I don't understand, I was just in Mia's house...
      Rowen looked down at her, worried. Her body was tense, her eyes under her closed lids moving rapidly. "Are you seeing anyone?" he said in a low tone, wishing he knew what she was perceiving. "Why don't you look for…" his thoughts flashed back to all that Freud from earlier, "…your mother?"
      Almost immediately after that statement echoed around the dark chamber of her mind, one of the faces twisting amidst the mist grew almost frighteningly clearer, sliding up to her motionless, as if someone had pushed a statue on rollers out in front of her. It stood there like marble, the carved image of a woman in old-style peasant attire, her red hair braided and tied up around her head. Taia's brown eyes grew wider as she peered over her hands at the image in shock.
      "Ohh…" she whispered, getting to her feet and hesitantly moving closer to the image, pacing around it in wide circles that became smaller and smaller. Soon she came up next to the form of her mother, standing at her side and looking at her elegant profile. The woman, suddenly a girl, reached out as if to grab hold of the sash of the tall woman's robes.
      And then the statue's neck twisted, a sudden living liquid, its head moving to turn sideways, widened unreal eyes boring straight into Taia's soul. She screamed in horror, scrambling backwards and tripping, landing hard on her shoulder. She wound herself up onto her knees, pulling at her hair as a sudden memory dropped heavily into her mind with all the force of a tidal wave. The sound of a loom filled her ears as the shuttle ran back and forth, wooden framework creaking.
      Rowen gasped as Taia's breathing grew faster and faster, as he saw her vocal cords strain to make some sudden noise, and he grew scared of the damage that he could have caused to her, rather than helping. Not knowing that it could be dangerous, he reached to shake her gently, almost commanding her to wake up.
      She heard his voice in the crazy fog, backpedaling and turning to run toward the sound, away from the fear that slice of the past held. A light grew as it cleared, and she raced to it furiously, feeling a warmth surround her as she opened her eyes. Gaining sudden control of her real, living limbs, she clutched onto the fabric of Rowen's pajamas, searching for the comfort and protection he could give her.
      "Are you okay?" he asked, but she heard it more as a rumble inside his chest as she leaned up against him, listening to the sounds of his heartbeat and his breathing mingle with the music of his aura. Her eyes were wide open as she remembered this scene now, remembered how she had been taken into the Dynasty.
      Finally he put his hands on her shoulders, gently setting her away from him. His stomach was feeling queasy again, and he burped slightly, hoping to ease the pressure in his gut. "Taia, are you okay?" he said seriously, dropping his hands, and was relieved when she nodded. "Did you remember anything?"
      She nodded again, slowly, and finally murmured, "Yes, I remember… my mother, and father, and my brother… and Cale too, when he came to take me away."
      "You recall how you came to the Dynasty?" he queried, which she confirmed with another vacant nod. Rowen felt a little proud of himself for having figured out a way to help her break through the blocks the Dynasty must have imposed on her. "How, if you don't mind my asking?"
      Taia attempted to explain what she could see now, but no words came as she simply sat there, slack-jawed. He turned a little to swing his legs back up onto the bed, behind her seated form, and lean back against the headboard. Much better. Well, dammit, she obviously can't tell me what she's remembering, so where do I go from here?
      "I'm sorry," she told him, looking over at him. "But I can't say it to you, I don't know how."
      "It's all right," he assured. "I'll think of something we can do. But this is a great start, you remembering that."
      She regarded him earnestly. "It's not a happy thought, Rowen, it's a bad memory."
      "I know," he told her rather sadly. "I wish I knew what happened so I can help you more…"
      Taia's brows knitted in thought, and then her face suddenly lit up like fireworks. "I know! Rowen, your armor!"
      "What?" he exclaimed, automatically glancing over to the dark blue orb laying benignly on the nightstand, behind his empty glass. "What can my armor do to help?"
      The woman stood and walked over to the stand, carefully picking up the ball containing the spirit of the Armor of Strata. She examined it closely before returning to sit next to him on the edge of the bed, holding up the azure orb for him to view and pointing at the kanji symbol floating within. "What does that say?"
      Reaching out to take it from her, Rowen replied, "Inochi, for Life."
      "Life," she repeated. "Well, then I will show you what I see, Rowen."
      "Now how is that going to work?" he replied incredulously, giving her a skeptical look as she turned his hand so that his armor was laying like an egg in his palm.
      She adopted a teacher look, tapping him on the nose. "Now don't frown like that. I've seen the Warlords make pictures with their armors, and they have the same kind as you do."
      Don't remind me, he thought, thinking back to when they'd found that out. His mind briefly touched on the question of what had happened to Anubis before returning to the present. "But if I summon my armor the guys will know. And besides, I still feel kind of sick." He patted his stomach lightly for emphasis.
      "I don't think you have to wear it. It's all in here, isn't it?" she told him with a sudden smile, looking into his eyes and running a finger across the polished surface of the armor orb. Oh, Rowen is pretty too. His eyes are like his hair, and he's nice like Sage is to me. "My turn to say close your eyes and think deep thoughts," she giggled.
      Shocked by her sudden mood change and the very thought of using his armor without wearing it, Rowen could only sit there for a moment, mind whirring. It does make sense, doesn't it? I don't need to wear my armor to use its powers, I just need to wear it to attack, and for protection... holy shit, why didn't I think of this?
      Repressing the urge to smack himself on the forehead - he'd given himself a bloody nose doing that once - Rowen closed his eyes and focused on his armor. Because of his bond with it, the spirit within the orb responded to his thoughts, its power moving and shaping according to his will. Experimentally he thought of a memory, telling the armor to project it before them.
      His eyes snapped open as Taia's exclamation announced his test had worked. He made a wordless noise of awe as a small boy with messy black hair standing in a driveway tripped on a stone, sending the scoop of chocolate almond ice cream atop the cone in his hand flying. As the sugary dairy product landed at his feet, the child burst into tears, his cries unheard by the two who watched the scene from the bed.
      "Who is that?" Taia blurted, staring at the image.
      "Me," Rowen said simply, unable to tear his eyes from the vision.
      She looked puzzled. "But your hair is blue, Rowen."
      He managed to look over at her slightly. "Oh, that's dye, it's not real," he told her, tugging at the chunk of hair that fell between his eyes. She nodded, still bewildered, and he shrugged. "Well, now we know it works," he announced, mentally releasing control of the memory and watching it disappear like a popped bubble. "But the question is how we can use the armor to see your memory."
      Taia reached over and placed her palm atop the orb, over his hand, curling her fingers between his and trapping the armor between their hands. "Think," she said in a half-whisper, closing her eyes. He blinked and then followed suit, attempting to direct his armor to show them the contents of her head. Someone walking in on them would have mistaken the motionless forms as being in some kind of communal prayer as they slowly achieved a mental synthesis.
      Eyes opened and they watched as a rectangular viewing frame sprang into being again, situated in the space between his bed and Sage's. As the pictures fizzled into place, her disposition changed again, a kind of depression settling across her shoulders like a thick cloak. He half-expected voices to appear along with the people, but they moved across the space like a television on mute.
      "What's going on?" he asked her, scrutinizing the redheaded woman who sat near a loom, combing a girl's hair. The girl, who was obviously Taia, was peering into a small round mirror, trying to see her new hairstyle. She appeared to be about twelve years old.
      "That's my mother," she replied with a fond smile. "She did weaving, that was her magic, like my singing. I got it from her. Her weaving could bring good luck or protection and other things. She told me one Kintami each generation could do something special. My father married into the family."
      Rowen leaned his chin in his hand. "So these weird powers, it's hereditary, huh?"
      "To the first child." A young boy of the same age as she had been entered the room, speaking to the two. For some reason he looked as if he resented both of the females sitting there. "My twin brother, Kado."
      "What were his powers?"
      She looked sad then, shaking her head. "He didn't have any, although he was born first. I got it all, and so he hated me."
      The boy's mother and sister stood up in response to his words, following him toward the door of the small house. They stepped outside, and then Taia's mother screamed voicelessly, immediately grabbing onto her daughter protectively as several Dynasty soldiers moved in behind them, barring their re-entrance into the building.
      Rowen felt his fist clench, his grip on the orb and the woman's hand growing tighter as the armored form of the Dark Warlord Cale came into view. He stood huge over the cowering forms, a man's crumpled body near his feet. "Father," she said to his unasked question, her face becoming like stone.
      Cale spoke to them in obvious taunts, gesturing at the young man, Kado, who stood a short distance away from both his family and the Dynasty force across from them. "What happened, what did your brother do?" Rowen asked.
      Taia shook her head. "I think Cale offered him power in the Dynasty, the chance to be special like me and Mother. We hadn't lived here long, because someone had warned us about the Dynasty kidnapping children with powers, and we had moved from the city. Mother and I were hiding in the loom chamber where her magic protected us, and he told us that the Dynasty was fooled and had gone away. We believed him and got caught."
      The Warlord said something, and Kado drew a sword, rushing for the two. Rowen jerked his attention back as Taia's mother shoved her out of the way, her son's sword driving through her stomach and out the other side. The auburn-haired boy's eyes widened as she fell away from him, her blood spattering his hands. The girl was sobbing, having been caught by two soldiers and restrained. In the present Taia's muscles jerked slightly, but she remained dispassionate and detached from the proceedings.
      The young girl, now an orphan, jerked her arm out of the soldier's grasp and caught its spear in her hand. Wrenching it to bear on the tall figure of the Warlord, she opened her mouth and apparently sang something. A white beam of energy spurted from the spearhead, crashing into Cale. He was forced back a step, but the smile on his face merely grew wider. Leaping forward, he lashed out at her with his armor's claws, and the image suddenly fell into blackness.
      "Whoa, what happened?" he asked, and she shrugged.
      "He hit me," she told him. "I got knocked out. When I woke up my brother was dead too, and I was being taken on a horse to the Dynasty through a gate. Cale's Song had changed and he had power in his eyes."
      Rowen scowled, letting the memory projection fall away. "Damn," he murmured. Before he could say much else, however, the door opened to reveal Sage standing there, a quizzical frown on his face at the sight of the two sitting there hand-in-hand. Rowen looked a little guiltily up at him, Taia's face breaking into a smile at the sight of the other Ronin.
      "I thought I felt some kind of armor power from up here," Sage said, raising an eyebrow. He looked over at the blood-haired woman for a moment, still feeling a little strangely about her. She'd put him to sleep oh so easily, and now she was sitting up here, doing something rather suspicious with his friend…
      "Sage," she exclaimed blissfully, suddenly pulling her hand from Rowen's and standing to walk over to him. The Ronin of Life took the opportunity of her movement to surreptitiously tuck his armor orb back onto the night table.
      Why does she seem so happy? Sage wondered, making a smile as she grabbed his hand, twirling about the room and pulling him along with her. "What is it, Taia?" he asked, looking down at her.
      She drew him into almost a kind of dance, free of any self-consciousness. "Rowen made me remember things," she informed him, laughing a little as he mindlessly followed her lead, letting her spin around beneath his outstretched arm, her sundress billowing out around her legs.
      He glared at Rowen over her head. Why is he keeping these things from me? First being sick, and now something so... dangerous as playing with her mind...
      Rowen nodded, wincing a little internally at his friend's dour gaze. "I promise I'll explain what I did," he told him soothingly.
      "And how about explaining why you kept from us that you were sick?" Sage responded, reaching out to stop Taia's constant motion. She leaned against his side, looking up at him curiously.
      "Sick?" he said, of course knowing how he'd found out.
      "Don't give me the innocent look, Rowen, please. Why are you keeping these things from us?"
      Oh, come on, I don't think I've known you long enough for you to have any right to pry into my entire life. "I'm entitled to some privacy, you know. I just... didn't want you all worried. And besides, I'm not the only one keeping things." He waved a pajama-clad arm at Taia, referring to the chaos of the day before.
      Sage crossed his arms. "And what if we were attacked while you were sick?" he continued as if Rowen hadn't said anything. "And what if you'd really hurt Taia? She… she doesn't need to remember all the shit that happened to her before. She's safe from the Dynasty now, and we don't need to hurt her anymore with that stuff." Almost as if remembering she was right there, the blonde put his arm protectively around her shoulders, even so not tearing his gaze away from Rowen.
      "You'd rather her live in ignorance than regain herself again?" he asked slowly, nearing anger, trying to understand what Sage was getting at.
      "That's not what I'm saying," he retorted hotly even though he realized it kind of was what he was saying. "I just-"
      Taia suddenly pulled away from him, shaking her head. "No, don't! Don't yell, don't fight!" She looked between the two frantically. "You're Ronins! You mustn't fight!" She turned and flung the door open wider, running away out into the hall, bare feet thudding across the floor.
      "Ah, crap, now look what you've done," Sage said, whirling about to follow her.
      Rowen sat there in bed, left in his wake, glowering. It was true that he hadn't known the other boy very well before the fight against Talpa had brought them together, even though they had gone to the same school. Sage had been swept up into the popular crowd, while Rowen's notoriety as a genius kept him out of that group. Their struggles had formed a bond between all of them, but it was times like this that he realized just how different they were…

      Sage heard Taia's feet on the steps, going down, high-ponytail hair-waves bouncing on her back as she ran. He hurried to catch up with her, suddenly having to backpedal and grab the rail to keep from slamming into her.
      Curiously he looked over her shoulder to see what had stopped her. Yulie was standing there, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Couldn't the kid stay away for one day? Apparently Mia was of the same mind as she put her hands on her hips, confronting him.
      "This is my friend Sharra, Mia," he said obliviously, beckoning. White Blaze wandered into view, bearing on his back a blonde girl with odd black streaks on her face. She clutched under one arm a strange-looking toy.
      Just what I need, another kid. I ought to set up a daycare... "Nice to meet you, Sharra," she said, knowing it wasn't really the girl's fault.
      "Nice to meet you," she said back, almost as if she was parroting the tone and inflection.
      Ryo, accompanied by Cye, walked behind Mia toward the kitchen, but both boys paused at the sight of the newcomer. "Hi there," the redhead greeted with a wave, as Ryo smiled. Sharra smiled back hesitantly, sliding off the tiger's back.
      Taia continued to stand on the steps, lost in the thought of the moment. The new aura she was adjusting to was a strange one indeed. It was loud, but not nearly as jumbled as Sekhmet's. In some ways the music had the undertone that the auras of the children in the Dynasty had, which puzzled her. The boy Yulie's Song was innocent and pure, for all that he had been exposed to the hardships of fighting the Dynasty. Normal children were innocent - what was wrong with this one? Every mothering instinct bred into her through her centuries of captivity was yearning to do something to free her from those adult cares.
      Rowen too appeared in the hallway near the stairs, clad in his tight jeans and pulling his black tee-shirt on. Smoothing his hand over the Graphic Heart logo emblazoned in English across the front, he blinked upon seeing the crowd below. "Looks like the gang's all here," he announced, raising an eyebrow as many pairs of eyes looked in his direction, including those of Taia and Sage on the stairs just below him.
      "'Cept the lovebirds," Cye said cheerfully, making little kissy noises and laughing. "Kento and Sadako went out on the lake."
      Almost at the same time, Ryo looked dazedly at Rowen and cried, "It's alive! It's alive!" Mia laughed, beaming at him although he didn't seem to really notice. Yulie giggled, glancing at Sharra to see if she found it as funny as he did. She looked a little bewildered at everybody, a weird half-smile on her face.
      "These are my friends," Yulie said, pointing to each one in turn, "Ryo, Cye, Rowen, and Sage. And she's, uh… a girl," he finished with a look at Taia. "This is Sharra, guys! She's from America but she lives here now!"
      That had certainly cleared things up, and with a smile everyone greeted the girl. Sage, not caring if they thought he was showing off, spoke to her in the English he had learned from his father growing up. She looked almost relieved that someone here would be able to fully understand her. Everyone was talking for a minute, asking questions and commenting to each other about Americans they'd met. However, soon enough everyone ran out of things to say and fell quiet.
      "Okay, okay, guys," Sage said, gently pushing Taia forward so they could get off the stairs. He didn't exactly feel like talking to his roommate at the moment, and the others' light-hearted jokes weren't rubbing off on either boy.
      The blue-haired Ronin followed behind, internally wincing at the soreness he still felt in his stomach, aggravated by his downward steps. It would be kind of tough to remember not to moan and groan, and lay on the couch and have Mia bring him some soup…
      Finally they all reached the bottom and stood around, looking at each other. "Well…" Ryo started, wondering what to say. How long were they going to be together? They all had lives to return to, but none of them just wanted to leave their new friends behind. The unofficial leader of the Ronins sighed to himself. "Ah… I wanted to ask you something, Taia…"
      The kids blinked up at the teenager, not understanding what was going on but impressed by the odd seriousness. He looked meaningfully at Yulie. "Why don't you show your friend around the mansion, kiddo?"
      Yulie nodded eagerly and hurled himself at the staircase, turning back to look at the blonde girl. "Let's go, Sharra!" he cried. "I'll show you the armors Mia has in the study!"
      "Don't touch them, Yulie!" she hollered after the children as they pounded up the stairs. He called back an affirmative as they raced down the hall.
      As soon as the kids were out of hearing range, Ryo sighed and looked at the three Ronins present before gazing across Mia and over to Taia. "I want to ask you," he began, "if Talpa is still around." He was conscious of a general tensing of limbs, of breath catching. They all wanted to know but were afraid to find out.
      The woman's eyes were blank slates as she attempted to find the information. Finally, she just shook her head. "I don't know," she told them. "Everyone had to run out of the castle when the Ronin Warriors came to fight Talpa. Then soldiers came and made us go back. I had to go back in my own little room by myself. I don't know if all the Warlords or Talpa are still alive. But I felt something was there still."
      "But why would the soldiers bring you back if he wasn't ordering them to?" Cye wondered out loud.
      "It could be someone else," Sage said with a scowl. "Someone taking advantage of Talpa's defeat to take up right where he left off."
      No one could say anything to that, each separate face housing a similar puzzled, troubled expression. It seemed that the only thought crossing their minds was the burden of the world placed on their shoulders. No one seemed able to think of anything to say, until Mia sighed and made a shooing motion with her hands. "C'mon, break it up, guys," she smiled. "You look like you're waiting for Ragnarok or something."
      "Ragnarok, what's that?" Sage asked, eyeing her.
      "Mythological reference," she said, waggling a finger at him. "It's the term for the twilight or doom of the Norse gods. They all fought each other to death and the world was reborn."
      Rowen raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh." He cleared his throat a little, running a hand through his hair.
      "Well, anyway, Mia, we're going to make lunch," Cye said, pointing to Ryo and with the other hand gesturing toward the kitchen. "What should we make? Kento took his own across the lake with Sadako, so we don't have to worry about them."
      "Me neither," Rowen put in, shaking his head, "I'm not hungry, thanks."
      Sage muttered a little vindictively, "Gee, I wonder why."
      Mia pondered for a moment. "Sandwiches would be easy enough," she told them, ignoring Sage's odd comment.
      Taia frowned at him and put a hand on his arm before reaching out to snatch the Ronin of Life's hand up in her own. "Sage, Rowen," she pleaded as they both looked at her curiously, "will you please show me how the… television works again?"
      They both couldn't help but smile as she stumbled over the word, and then the blonde boy sighed a bit. I know she doesn't need both of us, but if she wants to 'reconcile' us then I suppose I'll let her. What Rowen did doesn't seem to have harmed her, but who knows what's going on with her? "Okay," he said, "let's go. If you're sure you don't want help, that is, Cye," he said, glancing over at the resident cook.
      "I'll be fine with Ryo's help, thanks," he said with his disarming smile. "You all can do the dishes."
      "Ooh, thanks," Rowen cracked, letting the redheaded woman drag him into the living room, Sage trailing behind.
      Mia nodded at the two. "Thanks for making lunch, guys. I'm going to go check on the kids."
      "Okay, Mia," Ryo said, turning to follow the other Ronin. "Hey, um, Cye," he said, his voice fading as he moved away, "you know, I'm a really bad cook…"

Throne Room, Talpa's Dynasty

      One by one they appeared before the throne, waiting for their master to announce his intentions. Sekhmet and Cale were the first to arrive, and they stood silently watching, shrouded in darkness, as Kayura also shimmered into view, dressed in a spare approximation of armor. Not as if she really needed any, with her skills, although all of the Warlords would admit that only grudgingly.
      Cale made sure that he stayed calm and in control, although unbeknownst to him his cheeks were still flushed with rage. What could he do about that infuriating mystery man now? Talpa had other things on his mind, and it wasn't important anyway, really.
      He glanced over at Sekhmet, who had his usual emotionless expression on his face, and then to Kayura, who looked just a bit… unkempt. And there were red splotches on her neck looking strangely like finger marks. "So where's Dayus?" he asked to the air, hoping his master wasn't waiting for everyone to get there. He would be more likely to get angry at every little thing that way.
      Kayura raised an eyebrow and looked away as if inspecting her fingernails, smirking. "Oh, him? I'm afraid he's too tired to make this meeting…"
      The blue-haired Warlord snorted derisively, crossing his arms over his chest, and Sekhmet rolled his eyes. Not another fight. Really, they are worse than children with their petty little revenges. But still, how else were they to pass the time in this period of waiting, regrouping? He almost felt sorry for the punishment Dayus would undeservedly receive, and even sorrier for Kayura, when he recovered.
      A disembodied shriek rent the air as Talpa arrived, not in the form of a giant head but now as an imposing suit of armor. Thanks to the energy involved when he'd absorbed them, and their subsequent defeat by that strange white yoroi, the Dynasty Lord had been able to manifest a body. His servants were confident now that the Ronins would be destroyed for good.
      Next to Talpa stood another figure in armor, and as the Warlords and Kayura saluted, he stood forward a bit. "This is Saranbo," Talpa said without preamble - he apparently either already knew about Dayus's absence, or didn't care - "and he will be the next to attack the Ronins."
      The three human figures immediately looked offended, and Cale snarled, "Master, that is our duty! We do not need another Warlord to replace the traitor Anubis."
      "I am no Warlord," Saranbo said. His tone was dripping with derision, setting the two men on edge, and even managing to offend Kayura, who wasn't technically one herself. "I work alone."
      "But you serve the master," Sekhmet stated, to which the armored man made no response. After a minute had passed, they bristled in annoyance, and Cale made a move to step forward threateningly.
      Then Talpa held out a hand, immediately stopping them cold. None of them were used to seeing their master move yet. "Enough. Saranbo, explain your plan."
      Curtly nodding, he set the viewscreen alight with a flick of his hand. Talpa might believe he was loyal, but Saranbo had his own motives. He owed nothing to anyone, not even Badamon who had brought him back for the Dynasty and given him this strong armored body. "We must not reveal that Talpa is still alive, not yet. The woman sent to the Ronins may have told them the Warlords yet survive, but they do not know whether or not they have succeeded with the Dynasty Lord."
      At the mention of Taia, faint memories of his former existence as a child bred for loyalty swam within, but he brushed them aside like flies. He felt a growing inexplicable hatred toward her, as if she had done something he couldn't remember. Well, no matter. All that mattered was finding that white armor and a way to control it…
      "Continue," Kayura ordered peremptorily, and he turned his blank shaded gaze toward her momentarily before looking back to the screen. Two humans sat in a rowboat in the middle of a lake, deep in conversation.
      "We will not alert them to the fact that Talpa is really alive," he explained to them in his deep voice, monotone, "but, as they already know parts of the Dynasty still exist…" With a gesture, the screen zoomed in on the two people in the boat, a boy with ash-blue hair and a girl with a long braid hanging over her shoulder. Such fools, that they would bring another mortal into danger, knowing the Dynasty still exists. "I will send down soldiers to kill that Ronin's woman. That will throw them into despair and render them weak enough to easily destroy."
      Sekhmet frowned. "Is that not Taia's purpose among them?"
      Talpa made a strange contemplative noise. "The girl appears to be ineffective. She may as well be terminated also."
      "But--" the green-haired Warlord began, but was silenced by a surreptitious poke from Cale.
      "All the better to confuse and depress them, Master," Kayura sang out gaily. "In fact, why don't you send soldiers to massacre all the Ronins' little weakling friends? That would surely do them in!"
      Before anyone else could say a word, Talpa rang out, "Go, Saranbo. Do it now. Select your troops and send them to the mortal world. Let us give the Ronins a little taste of the resurrected Dynasty's power!" As the demon lord's laugh rang out into the throne room, the Warlords and Kayura looked at each other warily, each holding their own private view of the events, and Saranbo.
      The mysterious armored man, for his own part, merely nodded and disappeared from view. Let Talpa think he was acting on his behalf. No, Saranbo couldn't care less about the power of Dynasty. It was the white Inferno armor he wanted, and one of the Ronins had it. And when he found out which…

Mia's Lake, Outside Toyama, Japan

      "That was… wonderful, Kento. I've never had a better picnic in my life," Sadako complimented, looking up from her sprawled position as she hung a hand over the side of the rowboat, trailing her fingers in the clear, cool water. The two had gone across the lake to where Kento had hidden a lunch in a small clearing earlier that morning.
      Beaming, he replied, "I'm glad you liked it. I tried to make as many of your favorite foods as I could, and could remember." He was feeling pretty proud of himself for the romantic idea. Girls always liked that kind of stuff, at least according to his father. Maybe she would be feeling a little less shy by now.
      She smiled, sitting up straight and fiddling with her braid a little. Truthfully, she was feeling a bit embarrassed by her constant shyness and a little guilty that nothing more important than just holding hands had happened on the entire outing. Even though public displays of affection were discouraged by society, there was plenty of pressure to 'do something' in private. Megumi will chew you out if you have nothing better to tell her than that, she berated herself. "Ah… Kento, do we have to get back to the house anytime soon?"
      "Not really, why?" he answered, raising a brow.
      "Maybe we can just float here on the lake for a while," she responded, crawling carefully toward him so as not to rock the boat. "And… oof… digest."
      He was drawing the oars in and putting them in the bottom of the rowboat before he even said, "Of course, we don't have to be anywhere." Kento gave her a hand, moving forward to help the balance as she sat back next to him.
      "Good." Giving him what she hoped was a sincere, unafraid smile, she leaned her head on his shoulder before she could think about it too hard, staring firmly out at the scenery. Hesitantly, his hand came up around her waist to rest comfortably on her hip.
      Sadako repressed a shiver but made no move to pull away, feeling so confused. She knew she liked him, very much, but having never dated before didn't know what was appropriate, what she should do. Megumi was hardly any help… her sister was an exotic dancer, for gods' sake!
      Kento released a little tense sigh and looked down at her. He knew what her problem was, but it was frustrating. Well, you have to make the first move, man. Let her know it's okay. Hoping she wouldn't take it badly, he reached and stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers, smiling gently as she turned to look at him, thousands of emotions shifting within her gray eyes. Their gazes locked, and she knew what was coming, a rill of excitement rising in her chest, her eyes closing almost involuntarily.
      And it became incredibly cold.
      Suddenly, his head snapped up, and he looked up at the dark sky with a deepening sense of foreboding. No, no, not now, no, it can't be! his mind screamed at him as he snatched for the oars and she scuttled backwards out of the way. "Damn it!" he cursed, adjusting their position in the holds.
      "Kento," Sadako said fearfully, eyes darting about wildly. His sudden actions were making her nervous. "What's going on, why'd the sky get so dark?"
      "Storm," he lied, fiercely rowing the boat toward the nearest shore. "Don't want to be on the water… with lightning…" She nodded, nearly cowering in the bottom of the rowboat. Dammit, he hated to see her so scared like that. They can't attack now, they can't! I don't want Sadako to find out what I am... don't want her to get hurt!
      As he raised his powerful arms for another stroke with the oars, there came a sudden disorienting tipping feeling, and a sudden rush of chilly water. Kento only had time to hear half of her piercing scream before it was cut off by the sound of the lake in his ears and the feeling of water up his nose. The oars slipped from his hands as the Ronin fought his way quickly to the surface.
      Treading water and taking in deep gulps of air, he heard another scream and turned in time to see Sadako's hand disappear beneath the choppy surface of the lake, dragged under by several of the Dynasty soldiers infesting the waters. Oh shit! he thought, delivering a punch to the one trying to sneak up behind him. Ignoring the pain in his fingers from the blow, he took a deep breath and ducked under to evade them, laboriously extracting his armor orb from the pocket of his heavy, wet jeans.
      Knowing his armor would do him little good in the water, Kento transformed into his orange and white subarmor, immediately feeling a surge of power and a tremendous ease on the drag his clothes had been creating. Peering through the depths murkied by the soldiers that had stirred up the lakebed, he quickly located Sadako's thrashing limbs.
      She fought against the things that were trying to drag her to the bottom, although it was a futile gesture. What the hell... happening...? she thought, attempting to hold her breath, to kick against the weights on her legs pulling her deeper below the surface. Kento... what... can't breathe... Her lungs, burning from the effort of holding in air, forced her to take a breath of water. Blackness faded in like a creeping dream.
      And then, with all the sudden effort of a heartbeat, she was floating upward, the air biting into her wet skin, her braid whipping her face although there was no pain, nothing but air that she felt but couldn't take in. Sudden pain that she did feel, now, a slap on the back, and then her throat burst into searing pain as she coughed violently, hacking up lake water.
      Kento was tremendously worried about the girl he held in his arms, but he couldn't spare a glance at her, studying the soldiers surrounding them warily. Precariously balanced on the slimy bottom of their overturned boat, he gauged the distance toward the shore. He couldn't make it in one jump, but two would do. However, that meant…
      "We're going into the water again." Kento scowled at his enemies, adjusting his girlfriend over his shoulder so she might be able to stay further out of the water. "I will not let you drown!"
      "No!" she cried weakly, unable to lift her head up from the strange smooth metallic surface it was resting on. She couldn't recognize the soft voice that spoke to her, or what was happening, but she knew the water was the last place she wanted to be as she continued to try and cough away the feeling of water in her lungs. "No, no… Kento, where is he…"
      Hardening his heart to her cries, he faked one way and then jumped outward as far as he could go, plunging under the water like a missile. As fast as he could, the Ronin dove downward and then kicked up, propelling himself back into the air and nearly shouting in joy as his armored feet hit solid sand.
      Running with his magically enhanced speed, Kento raced into the forest, clutching the girl closely. Her arms were fast around his neck, almost to the point of choking him if not for the subarmor. She was trembling uncontrollably, and he murmured assuring nothings to her as he tried to lose the soldiers long enough to hide Sadako and transform. And then he would kick those tin can asses so hard whoever sent them would feel it; he was going to make damn sure of that.
      Finding a clump of trees, he laid her down in the midst of them before leaping away and holding out his hand. No time for reassurances or backward glances. He had to destroy those things, and fast. "Armor of Hardrock… Tao Gi!" Kento screamed, feeling the exhilaration as the orange light crackled around him, apparitions of silk and sakura exploding to clothe him in mystical metal.
      Hefting his naginata high above his head, he tore through the underbrush back toward the lake, his armor-enhanced senses informing him where the soldiers were. Aided by magic he felt nearly unencumbered, cutting wide swathes of greenery from his path with the ultra-sharp blade. The first soldier he met was greeted with a steely look of rage in the young man's deep blue eyes, a look which would have frozen its soul, had it possessed one.
      An angry howl ripping from his throat, he swung his weapon fiercely, tearing a deep, ragged incision diagonally through the armor-husk's carapace. Fighting mechanically, his vision hazy with a red blanket of rage, Kento annihilated the soldiers almost without seeing them. They are going to pay for what they did!

Mia's House

      Sage was sulking. Yes… sulking. He wasn't particularly proud of it, but neither was he able to control it. He was wonderfully calm in crises, but when things were peaceful he tended to overreact to every little thing and stress himself out worrying and obsessing. His grandfather had noticed this early on and taught him the meditation techniques he used today. He was almost ready to go excuse himself to go relax and use them now.
      Sighing, he glanced over to his left. Taia sat on the couch, sandwiched between Sage and Rowen, listening intently as the blue-haired boy explained the television and the workings of the remote. It was his fight with Rowen earlier that was making him lose his cool, and he wished he could just forget about it like the other Ronin seemed to have. But he should have told us, a voice inside insisted. It could have hurt the team...
      Forget the team. He knew all too well half his anger at Rowen wasn't over his deception, but rather his dealings with Taia. He couldn't sort out these emotions he was feeling, didn't know if it was normal to be reacting this way.
      "Sage," Taia giggled, pointing at the cartoon playing, "isn't that funny?"
      "Hilarious," he remarked mechanically, but she merely returned to her discussion with Rowen, unheeding or just not recognizing his lack of interest. He frowned as she put her hand on his arm, leaning over him a little to grab for the remote he teasingly held out of her way.
      Sage's thoughts were a mix of confusion and derision. Even as his visible silvery-violet eye looked at the images on the television screen, he wasn't watching them. Instead, he was internally laughing at himself for being so stupid. Yeah, that's right, be jealous, Sage. Your roommate... teammate... friend? Friend... is stealing away your pet insane girl. He almost laughed aloud at that. Right... right, Sage. So she doesn't scare you, at least not in the usual way. So she smiles at you and makes you feel like protecting her. You protect everyone; it's what you do. And she's a lunatic...
      But hadn't the Dynasty made her that way? And if Rowen was right, wasn't it their jobs to help her, to fix it, instead of just sheltering her from the evil that had hurt her?
      Hi, Mom, Dad, Grandpa. I'd like you to meet Taia. She can kill people with her voice and has suffered the atrocities of an evil empire, which has really fucked her up. I know I'm just fifteen, but since I helped save the world I think I'm qualified to take care of her till she dies in some kind of raving fit. I hope that's okay with you. He chuckled at the thought in a low, contemptuous tone, a sound which went unnoticed. Or so he thought.
      Rowen continued to act oblivious, but internally he frowned. It was quite apparent that things were bothering Sage and he had a good idea of what they were about. He supposed they would talk about it that night, but he hoped it wouldn't lead to another argument.
      It was true that Taia was causing the strife between them, but what could they do? She was a problem that had been dropped into their laps, and he was unwilling to just abandon her to some government home or something. Any doctor would think she was delusional, but he knew her problems had a very real, very evil cause. They both knew, and it was up to them to fix it… not ignore it, but fix it. On that he wouldn't budge.
      Taia had settled down, leaning against Sage and languidly changing channels with the remote. In the silence marred only by the sound from the television, the sound of grilling sandwiches could be detected, along with the warm smell of the melting cheese. The faint noise was drowned out, however, by the sound of the children playing upstairs.
      The unfamiliar voice belonging to Yulie's American friend rang out, singing in English. Mia had insisted on cleaning her face off before she had lunch, but since it wasn't ready yet they were still messing around upstairs while Mia reorganized stuff in the study. "Oooh… chickens are my friiiieeends… they cluck and strut and shake their back ends… They go cluck a lot… a whole lot… and even more often they have to use theeee… Ooooooooohhhhhhhh chickennss! Chickens! Chickens!"
      Sage burst out laughing at the impromptu song, earning some puzzled glances. However, he didn't really feel like explaining what was so funny at the moment.
      "Chickens are cool…" Sharra continued, laughing as she chased after Yulie, her toy cat under her arm and a large feather from Mia's study in her hand. "They get real mean and chase football players off, who run like fooools… ohhhhh chickens… chickens… chickens…" Her voice faded as they disappeared into a different room in the large mansion.
      Rowen opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to ask was cut off by a low rumble that seemed to shake the walls of the house. "What the hell?" was what came out instead.
      "An earthquake?" Sage said. "It would have to be far away…" He grabbed for the remote, flipping to find a news station that would be reporting any earthquakes. There were plenty of natural ones in Japan, but something inside was telling him this particular quake wasn't anything natural.
      Cye ran into the living room, skidding in his socks along the floor and stopping himself by grabbing onto the side of the wall where it opened into the hall. "Guys," he said breathlessly, "it's not… an earthquake… Ryo says…" Damn it, he thought as the two Ronins immediately stood, Kento and Sadako are still out there...
      Mia tore down the stairs, leaning over the rail. "Ryo!" she cried as the black-haired boy ran from the kitchen, grabbing the back of his shirt as he went by. "Ryo," she said in a low tone, glancing nervously at the children at the top of the stairs, "there are Dynasty soldiers, I saw them from the balcony, they're coming this way!"
      He nodded seriously before glancing toward the front door. "Keep the kids upstairs," he muttered, "get down like it's a real quake, maybe we can keep Sharra from finding out." One less person that knows about us the better. "White Blaze!" he cried as the tiger bounded up. "Stay with them!" The Ronin leader turned and ran for the living room as the white tiger accompanied Mia back up the stairs.
      "Mia, what's happening?" Yulie cried, clutching onto Sharra's shoulder as the ground shook again.
      The woman herded them down the hall and into the spare bedroom where Taia and Sadako slept. It was the barest out of all the rooms, with less chance of something falling on them. "It's an earthquake," she said, "but not a bad one. Don't worry, nothing will break on us."
      The girl wrapped her arm around the tiger's neck, looking around nervously. She didn't understand the word that everyone was saying, but she could grasp its meaning well enough. Yulie had learned early what to do in the event of a quake and was crouching near Mia, away from the window. "Stop," Sharra said faintly, "when it stop?" She held her comfort-toy to her in a death-grip. Don't worry, Joyce, I'll keep you safe.
      "Soon," Mia soothed, reaching out to put her arms around her, patting her back comfortingly. The three figures huddled near the watchful tiger, feeling the tremors beneath them and hoping they wouldn't get any worse. Who is doing this? She felt helpless tears threaten to roll down her cheeks. Damn it, this wasn't the time for weakness, not here, now. Who sent them? Talpa, someone else? It has to be some kind of warning... damn it! Why can't they just leave us alone?

Woods near Mia's Lake

      As the battle exploded some ways away, Sadako stirred from her position on the leafy ground, absently pushing wet clinging strands of hair out of her eyes. "Kento?" she asked, struggling to sit up and coughing a little more. Her mouth tasted like wet silt, and she spit repeatedly until it felt a little cleaner. She felt so dizzy, but managed to get to her feet, clutching onto a tree for support.
      Where am I? She knew the last place she had been was the lake, knew it like she knew her own name. It seemed like a horrible dream, but no dream of nearly drowning left you soaking wet and hacking up water. She tried to piece it together, blinking vacantly and coughing once more, this time to try and get the hollow wet feeling out of her. Something had tipped the boat, and tried to drag her under. Then someone… or something… had apparently rescued her. But…
      "Kento!" she said, her voice hoarse. "Oh gods, Kento…" She whipped her head around before moving forward, pushing between two trees. A short distance away, the girl could clearly see a path of broken tree limbs and severed underbrush leading away from her resting-place. Breathing heavily as if the air was a sweet gift, she went as quickly as she could back toward the lake, determined to find out what had happened to him.
      He wasn't dead. He couldn't be. She drew her eyebrows together as she stumbled over a branch, trying to regain strength and momentum. She didn't know what she could do when she got there, if those things were still around, but she had to do something. Finding her way back to the house for help seemed impossible, as she'd probably just get incredibly lost.
      Sudden sounds met her ears as she drew near the edge of the woods, sounds of fighting, yells and grunts. Hiding behind a tree, she peered around the thick trunk, clutching the bark. A figure in orange and brown, the horns of his helmet making the shape of a crescent moon through his head, was fighting several other figures dressed in gray samurai armor.
      As he easily sliced and bashed his opponents with a bladed staff, instead of dying like normal people, smoke rose out of the pierced armors like a sigh. Sadako whimpered, biting hard on her knuckles. Was this her savior? Who was he? He'd know where Kento is, ask him, her mind said, and she obeyed, terrified but unwilling to just hide while her boyfriend drowned alone.
      She stepped forward, clutching her sopping braid in a hand like a comfort object and ready to raise her voice in question. However, just as she pushed onto the clearing near the shore, the orange-armored man held his staff above his head, twirling it expertly. Kento eyed the mass of soldiers along the beach, secure in the power of the earth beneath him. "Iron Rock Crusher!" he cried, bringing the staff down onto the ground as huge rocks ripped free and rose into the air beneath the soldiers, tearing them into shreds.
      The earth shuddered beneath their feet as if in pain, but the tremors did not affect the armored man. However, Sadako was knocked to her side, the force of the wind and blowing rocks tumbling her backwards and pelting her with rubble. She covered her face, wincing as the sharp debris tore tiny gashes into her exposed skin and ripping through her wet clothes. She slammed against a tree, receiving a dizzying blow to her stomach, and crying out in pain as she was nearly wrapped around the trunk.
      "No, gods no!" Kento breathed, dropping the naginata from a suddenly weak hand. No, why didn't she stay back there? "Sadako!" he cried in anguish, rushing to her still form. Did they want to make me kill her? I'll never forgive them, never! Fighting back the tears, he fell to his knees and rolled her gently onto her back, only to nearly bite off his own tongue as he discovered she was still breathing, was awake and alive.
      Her eyes opened and she blinked at him, trying to regain focus. He saw no recognition in her eyes until he quickly reached up and pulled off his helmet, tossing it uncaringly to the side. "Kento?" she whispered, sudden hope flooding into her, and he wanted to just pull her into his arms. However, conscious of the spikes on his armor's surface, he settled for just helping her up.
      No need to hurt her more, you idiot, he berated himself, although it wasn't as if he knew she was there, really.
      Woozily, she took his hand and sat up, shaking her head, and then looked toward him. However, her eyes had gone unfocused again, and she was quite clearly not seeing him, but rather something else, something that came from inside her head, sparked by the sight of his armor and surekill.
      They wanted fear. Fear was like a power source, a battery, that fed the soldiers and created new ones. Sadako huddled near her father, pressed against his side, her mother and brother Shiro sitting nearby. Several of the diaphanous robed spirits passed above them, and she was conscious of a sharp drawing feeling within as they pulled her terror to use. It only caused more fear, that they were able to steal her very emotions away.
      So many people were sitting about here, taken from their homes and the streets to this strange hell. They sat as if frozen in fear, half-asleep and half terrified, unable to resist. She turned her face from her father's shirt, looking over to where her best friend Megumi sat with her own family, her parents trying to comfort them as well as they could.
      Megumi looked like a ghost, clutching onto her own crossed arms. She was so quiet and shy, such a bookworm, that if anyone raised their voices to her she'd be likely to burst into tears. Never mind these suits of armor threatening her with a spear, she thought vaguely. Megumi's sister Yui wasn't much different, although she looked a bit less scared. Her usually immaculate twist of black hair was disheveled, and she continually tried to pull her skirt lower over her legs.
      Her friend's parents seemed to have different looks in their eyes than most of the other people who just languished in the Dynasty's corral. As a soldier came up to threaten them, provoke more fear, their father leaped to his feet in anger. "Leave my family alone!" he screamed, at the same time drawing his leg up to kick the soldier and knock it off its feet. "Do something!" he cried out to the other people around him as his wife got to her feet to join him. "Don't be afraid! Your fear makes them strong - we have the numbers, fight back!"
      Sadako watched Megumi's face as her father tried futilely to get the trapped people to react. The soldier he had knocked down was getting up again, and it swung its spear, ramming it through the man's chest. A red stain spread slowly through the fabric of his dress shirt as he looked down, almost uncomprehending. Blood spattered the two left sitting on the ground, but neither one flinched, eyes wide and transfixed. The girls' mother screamed as her husband fell, jumping forward and hitting the metal carapace with her fists until the blade swung up and into her side, practically cutting her in two.
      It went on its way impassively, leaving the remains of their parents before the terrified Megumi and Yui, the fear infecting everyone who had witnessed the event. No, no one would dare rise against the Dynasty here… they wouldn't even move. Sadako knew this, as she wanted to go hold her friend in her arms but didn't dare twitch.
      Where was the hope everyone whispered about? The Dynasty had its Warlords in armor, but where were their saviors? Where were the Ronin Warriors?
      As her surroundings swam back into view, she realized she was shaking, drawing in deep, panting breaths. Had that been a hallucination, the memory of a dream? No, it was real, it had happened…
      "Sadako," Kento moaned, shaking her a little. She'd just gone off into la-la land, and nothing he could do would bring her out of it. "Oh gods, I'm sorry, come on, please snap out of it…"
      Finally, she looked over at him, eyes hollow and questioning. She stared at his armor before dragging her eyes up to his face. Worried navy eyes met her own, exuding comfort and safety. Still in shock, Sadako just threw herself against him, smashing her lips against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. He couldn't react for a moment as she kissed him hard, moving to capture his face with her hands. Kento forced himself to remember that the insides of his gauntlets had spikes, letting his arms hang at his sides while leaning forward and returning the kiss with equal force.
      She pulled away for air and watched his face before backing away and standing, her lips feeling almost bruised. She laughed shortly, shaking her head. "I don't believe this… it's just too much! Good joke! Ha! Ha!" The girl turned away, hiding her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with a mixture of laughter and sobs. Gods, no wonder he was confused when she'd talked about Megumi and Yui's parents dying in a car accident. They'd been slaughtered in hell! And Megumi... she was shy? Oh god, what happened to everyone, to everything?
      "Are you okay?" he asked a little dazedly, standing up. She looked over her shoulder and started laughing that short, cut-off laughter again.
      "Ha! Am I okay? Kento, a Ronin Warrior! Ha!" She saw him tense, a questioning frown appearing on his expressive face. "Well, I was nearly drowned, and then I remembered," she informed him, "when I saw you, that everyone was taken away to this awful place, and some people were killed, and it was horrible, but I'm just fine!" She screamed the last part before falling to her knees, sobbing inconsolably. It didn't help that her arms were bleeding and her stomach ached like hell, either.
      He shook his head sadly, crossing his arms in front of him to will away the armor before approaching her. Now that both the layers were gone, he could feel the sodden state of his own clothes from his spill into the lake. "You weren't ever supposed to find out," he whispered, "not like this. We thought they were gone, that we'd won… but I guess we were wrong."
      "And when were you going to tell me?" she snapped, her voice thick with tears. "If we got married?" She realized as soon as she'd said it that it made perfect sense - why give your secret away to some high school freshman you might break up with - but at the moment she couldn't care less.
      Kento knelt behind her, running his hands along the damp, torn fabric of her shirt, gently rubbing her back. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "This is all my fault."
      She sniffled, turning to look up into his eyes. "No… no, it's not your fault. It's no one's fault." His arms went around her, pulling her to his chest, no armor between them anymore. He leaned down slowly, brushing his lips to hers briefly before gently kissing her. She sighed, her eyes closing, raising her hand to his head and feeling his hair between her fingers.
      When the kiss broke he just held her, almost absently unraveling her braid and releasing the gray-black strands, wavy and wet. The gentle breeze ran through her hair comfortingly as she leaned against him, internally confused and scared, but slowly warming up, their bodies together a weapon against the water's chill.
      Kento closed his eyes, leaning his face into her hair. If he had been attacked, the guys and Mia probably had been, too. He'd have to go help them. "Let's go back," he murmured reluctantly. "The guys might need me… and you probably want to go home."
      "All right," she said in a soft tone. "All right."

Mia's House

      Ryo had led the other three guys outside, leaving Taia in the living room with instructions to stay still. She did so, rubbing her fingers and biting her lip. Was the Dynasty attacking? Well, the Ronins weren't going to let them get her, she knew that much. But that didn't mean she wasn't afraid.
      Outside, the four boys stood in their subarmor, eyeing the wave of soldiers that had spilled from a huge red Dynasty gate into Mia's front yard. With the skills they'd gained from continuous fighting, the soldiers weren't very difficult to defeat. However, it was silly to take chances, especially with so many of them, and innocents' lives at stake. "Armor up, guys!" Ryo cried, raising his hand. "Armor of Wildfire, Tao Jin!"
      As the petals flew, both Cye and Sage followed suit. "Armor of Stra--!" Rowen began to call, when something suddenly felt seriously wrong. The power rushing through him reacted badly with the weak state of his stomach, and he dropped his hands, stumbling backward and doubling over in sudden nauseous pain. "Crap!" he muttered, looking back up at the worried eyes of his friends.
      "What's wrong, what happened?" Cye called worriedly, drawing his yari to fend off the incoming soldier while looking back at the stricken Ronin.
      "He was sick last night and never told us," Sage snarled in an I-told-you-so tone, raising his nodatchi in both hands and slamming it down onto the head of a soldier. The sharp mystical blade traveled fast enough to slice the tin can neatly in half.
      Ryo frowned, sweeping the feet off of another enemy. There didn't appear to be a Warlord directing the soldiers… just wave after wave of gray attempting to run them over in a lemming-like rush for the house. "Well, damn it, Rowen!" he shouted.
      Inside and upstairs, Yulie looked up, staring around at the two females. "Where's that other girl?" he asked.
      "Taia?" Mia said, eyes wide. "Agh… well, the guys probably took care of her, Yulie."
      The boy frowned. Nothing was happening here, and he was sure the Ronins were probably fighting bad guys, which was why they were stuck in this boring room. "I'm gonna go get her!" he cried, leaping to his feet and rushing downstairs.
      "Yulie, don't!" she cried, reaching to grab for his sweater as he passed, but to no avail.
      Bounding down the steps, the boy went to the living room, but there was no one there. The sight of the battle outside caught his attention, and for several minutes he stood, transfixed, watching the Ronins destroy soldiers. Soon enough, the smell of smoke hit his nose, and he remembered his excuse and spun around. Out in the hall he could clearly see the gray wisps drifting out from the kitchen.
      "Hey!" he cried, running that way. "Hey, girl… Taia! Where are you?" He coughed, waving his hand in front of his face. The smoke alarm started to go off, and he covered his ears with his hands. Oh, this was a bad idea. He sunk low to the ground, below the smoke, wondering what to do. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he tried crawling out. Was the house on fire? Mia and Sharra were upstairs, how would they get out? And where was that girl?
      "Shh," a voice whispered, and a hand reached down, pulling him to his feet. He was nearly dragged away from the smoke and back into the living room. With the window open here, the smoke wasn't so thick.
      Yulie scrubbed the tears away from his eyes, looking up at the mask-like face of the red-haired woman, Taia. "Hey, it's you," he said, sniffling. "Mia and Sharra are upstairs… I think there's a fire… we have to get the Ronins!"
      She shook her head, taking two steps behind him and kneeling down. He tried to turn to face her, but she prevented it, putting an arm around him like a circle. "Shh," she said again, her breath on his face. "Don't be scared. You don't ever have to be scared again." She moved her other hand, and he felt something cool and sharp against his throat. Yulie tensed, a whimper escaping from between his clenched teeth.
      "Yulie?" Mia's voice came from somewhere else in the house, and he heard her feet on the stairs. "Oh my god, this smoke… Yulie! Yulie, where are you?"
      He wanted to respond to her, but as he opened his mouth to yell the blade of the knife at his throat bit into his skin, causing more tears of pain to fall. As the wet drops hit her hand, Taia made comforting noises, gently stroking his dark hair. "Just close your eyes," she whispered, humming a soft song. He felt his eyelids slowly drooping, despite his fear, his body sagging slightly in her grasp.
      "Taia!" Mia screamed, and though fortunately the noise didn't surprise the woman, Yulie heard it on the edges of consciousness and his body jerked involuntarily as he tried to turn to her. "What are you doing?"
      "No more fear," Taia sang as if she didn't hear. "Close your eyes and join the realm of dreams…"
      Mia clenched her fists, wondering what to do. "Please, let him go!" There was no way she could get the boy away from that psycho without her doing something. "Taia, please, just let him go and we can get out of here!"
      Behind her Sharra stood, holding onto the fabric of the woman's shorts, White Blaze behind them bristling at Taia. What was happening in this place? "Yulie?" she said softly, oblivious to the battle playing out in the front yard.
      Determined not to be a hindrance to the team, Rowen scowled, leaping off one soldier in order to spin sideways, his foot kicking the head clean off of another. He flipped back to the ground, punching and kicking as well as he could. A thin sheen of sweat covered his face, dampening his hair. He had never had to work this hard fighting soldiers, not even when he'd first gotten his armor. You were wrong, his conscience informed him, you should have told them, but he studiously ignored that.
      As a wave of dizziness threatened to knock him over, a soldier swung with its scythe, missing its goal of taking off his head but managing to scrape a long cut down the side of his face. Reeling in pain, Rowen stumbled up to face the soldier, only to see it collapse with the end of Sage's nodatchi poking from its chest.
      "Thanks," he said softly, hoping his eyes expressed the regret he truly was feeling at the moment.
      Sage said nothing, turning to raise his sword and bellow, "Thunderbolt Cut!" He swung the large cloud of light, obliterating a wide swathe of the soldiers. Ryo nearby landed from performing his own surekill, and he turned to look at Rowen.
      "Go inside and make sure none of them have gotten into the house!" he commanded, and Rowen nodded, flushing slightly. So he wouldn't have to go through the front and make a potential opening for the invaders, he jumped off one and up to the balcony above. Flinging open the doors, he was made immediately aware of the smell of smoke.
      No way, we were attacked and they left the sandwiches on! Grimacing at the awful smell, he quickly looked into the upstairs rooms, finding no one there and nothing amiss. They must have gone downstairs. He ran, easily jumping over all the stairs and landing at the bottom. Rowen rushed to the kitchen, wishing he could summon his armor and maybe blow out some of the smoke. Fumbling around, he managed to turn off the stove and knock the burnt remains of the sandwiches into the sink. Opening a window to clear the air, he turned to the blaring smoke alarm and drove his fist into the offending device. He'd replace it for Mia later.
      "Mia? Taia?" he shouted, loping through the empty dining room.
      "Rowen!" Mia responded, a high note of panic in her voice. "In the living room, come quick!"
      He hurried to find her, ready to beat off a soldier or two that had found its way in. However, he paused when he saw the scene before him, and noticing Sharra took a moment to return to his normal clothes before entering. "Taia…" he said softly, almost with a tone of disappointment. "What are you doing?"
      "Oh, Rowen, hi," she replied with a smile, and he winced at her tone. God, it was like she'd just caught sight of him at a picnic or something, not in the middle of slaying a little boy. "He's not going to be afraid anymore, Rowen. I'm going to save him from being afraid ever again."
      He shook his head, taking a few hesitant steps forward. "Taia, it doesn't work that way. Fear is a part of us just like being happy is. You can try to save him from harm, but not from fear." She looked up at him questioningly, her brown eyes filling with tears. Rowen put a hand out, stepping closer. "Please," he said softly, "give me the knife."
      She looked to Yulie before returning her gaze to the blue-haired Ronin. Slowly, she pulled the knife away from the boy's throat, loosening her grip on him. As soon as the kitchen knife was safely in Rowen's hand, Yulie shoved away from Taia, running to fling himself in Mia's arms, sobbing.
      Switching the knife to his other hand, Rowen grabbed Taia by the hand and pulled her to her feet. She had a dazed, unfocused look, stumbling where she stood. He looked over his shoulder at the other three. "I'm going to take her outside and get her calmed down, okay? I took care of the burning stuff in the kitchen," he said, and the auburn-haired woman nodded, patting the boy's back.
      As Rowen dragged Taia toward the back door - he didn't think many soldiers were back that way - Mia looked down at Yulie. "You're okay now, shh, stop crying," she soothed, holding him close.
      Sharra leaned down over her knees, peering at the boy's distraught face. She knew how you felt after something bad happened, like a piece of you was just peeled away. Slowly, she extended her hand with her stuffed cat Joyce in it. "Here, you can hold now," she said, and with a sniffle he accepted it, hugging the toy tightly.
      "Thanks," he whispered, and she smiled crookedly.
      "Only now," Sharra said sternly.
      Mia chuckled weakly, putting her other arm around the girl and relaxing on the living room floor so Yulie could sit in her lap. "As soon as everything calms down I'm calling your parents, you guys," she told the children.
      Yulie just nodded, and the little girl sighed, staring down at the floor. Sean was not going to be happy at all. I'm going to be grounded for a whole year now...

      As they walked away from the house through the large backyard, Rowen sighed to himself. From what he could hear, the rest of the Ronins had taken care of the soldiers and things were quieting down. He didn't know what he was going to do to help Taia, but he would think of something. He'd take her into the woods and try to get her to maybe remember something else. There had to be some way to keep her from doing things like that again…
      "Rowen," she said, resisting slightly as he pulled her along by her wrist, "Rowen, where are we going?"
      "Just to the woods," he said, "while they get Yulie home. Gods, why did you do that?" He had to make her realize the consequences of her actions, like sane people. What made her think 'mercy' killing was all right?
      She shook her head, trying to yank her wrist away. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, please don't, please, let's not go there, please…"
      He stopped and spun around, raising an eyebrow at her sudden distress. "Why?"
      "There's something there, I don't want to go back, please Rowen don't make me go back, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Taia pulled back so hard she would have fallen if he chose to let go of her at that moment.
      Rowen frowned. "Something there?" He scanned the woods, finding nothing, but when she pointed upward followed her gesture. "Holy shit!" he cried, eyes widening as he took in top of the gigantic red Dynasty gate showing above the treetops. "I thought that thing was out front!"
      The blood-haired woman gasped, shaking her head, and then ran forward so quickly he lost his balance and fell to his knees. Cursing, he kept a firm grip on her wrist despite the sudden sweat on his palms, getting back to his feet. "What now?" he asked rhetorically as she suddenly tore off toward the forest. Damn it all, she's taking us straight to the gate and the Dynasty and I can't summon my armor! I'm going to have to think of some way to get us out of this, and fast!
      Taia ran unheeding of her bare feet over pine needles and stones, one hand on her temples. "I don't want to go back!" she cried, even as her feet took her that way.
      Finally Rowen dug his heels into the dirt, yanking her backwards to stop her motion. She fell backwards, and he caught her in his arms, standing her up again and putting his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Taia," he snapped, "damn it, stay still! Why are you going if you don't want to?"
      "He's telling me to," she said in a thready, low voice, her face strained and pale. "I have to do what he says or Talpa will hurt me, he'll make the soldiers go kill me."
      "Talpa's gone!" he cried, shaking her a little. The sudden crunch of sticks and underbrush under an armored foot made both of them look up toward its source. Rowen blanched, but made no other movement. At this moment he was probably deader than a doornail.
      The man in armor stepped out of the shadow of the tall gate, holding his helmet under his arm. Sekhmet laughed softly. "Oh, little Ronin, you are so wrong about that."
      The blue-haired Ronin felt his brows draw together involuntarily. That voice... but... No way. They're all human... He felt a stupid exclamation rise in his throat and clapped a hand over his mouth to quench it. Yes, that definitely was Sekhmet. Even though he'd never seen the Warlord out of his armor, for some reason his wild green hair seemed absolutely unsurprising and perfectly fitting.
      Taia bowed her head, looking away, and reached up to twist her hand in Rowen's black shirt. Finally, she turned to look over at the Warlord. "Please don't kill him," she said. "He was nice to me."
      He frowned for a moment. "All right…" he said, "you will have your wish."
      Rowen shook his head. "Are you here to take her back?" At the man's curt nod, he spat, "Why? What do you possibly need her for? You already messed her up, why don't you just leave her aside like every other life your Dynasty has ruined?"
      "My master wishes her dead," Sekhmet told him, impaling the young man with his gaze.
      "So you're going to kill her."
      He paused for a moment, regarding the Ronin of Life, his enemy, and was impressed by his bravery. Here he was, not even in his subarmor, and yet he dared to argue with a Warlord over an insignificant girl. How… refreshing. "No. That is why I am here," he divulged reluctantly. "I will be able to protect her from my master's whims."
      "And I'm supposed to believe that." Rowen's mind raced frantically, trying to search out some plan. The guys wouldn't have any idea something was wrong. They were already mad at him, and they'd be perfectly incensed at Taia when they found out what she did. "For all I know, you're just going to up and attack me."
      Briefly wondering why he cared what this boy thought, or what anyone thought, the green-haired man crossed his wrists in front of him and banished his armor, appearing now in an embroidered kimono. He knew that if the Ronin should prove false, he had enough skill to fend him off and re-summon the armor. He spread his arms in a 'see' gesture, waiting for the next move in their little game.
      Rowen's frown deepened, but his blue eyes held an odd expression in them. He looked down at the girl standing next to him, but her eyes were firmly fixed on Sekhmet. "And… why should you care about protecting her? Damn it, it was your kind that started this all!"
      He turned a little, sighing. "No, it was Talpa who decided to destroy her mind, Talpa and… perhaps another."
      "But…" He stared at the Warlord, confusion growing within. Why the hell did Sekhmet even give a damn about Taia? Was it possible that the Dynasty contained shreds of humanity… that their enemies weren't just black to the Ronins' white? If the fight started gaining shades of gray, they were going to be in trouble. It was so easy to hate the Dynasty if you just thought of them as faceless demons… not people.
      "I will not explain myself to you, Ronin. Time is growing short." He snapped his fingers imperatively, and much to Rowen's surprise and dismay Taia immediately walked to his side, her head hung low.
      No. I'm not going to let them do this again. They've hurt too many people for me to see them do it again. "Stop," he said, clenching his fists. "You can't take her." Sekhmet just regarded him with those cold, colorless eyes, and Rowen squeezed his own closed, looking away. "I'm coming with you. I'm going to join the Dynasty, and I want you to take me to Talpa so… so I can kneel before him."
      Taia shook her head, her mouth wide in horror. "Rowen, no! You can't! You can't just do that!"
      Sekhmet appeared unsurprised. "She is not worth it, Ronin."
      Images of Ryo's anger, of Sage's frowning, angry face, Cye's wide-eyed worry rushed through him, adding fuel to his plan. If he went through with this, then perhaps he could find out more about Talpa's return, about the state of the Dynasty, and then perhaps with this information would feel useful again, more a part of the team… "It's not just her," he told him. "The others don't need me, they showed me that today. I've always been the last one, the odd one out. I'm tired of protecting the world. They're on their own now." Rowen fervently hoped the Warlord wouldn't be able to see through such a blatant lie.
      The man looked over at him warily. If he thinks to be a spy and just return to his friends, he will soon learn otherwise. But that folly is his own to learn. "Four is an unlucky number, Strata," was all he said in return.
      "Then we'll be even, won't we?"
      With a thin smile, Sekhmet nodded, ignoring Taia's moan of dismay. He waved his hand and the gigantic red doors swung open, the gate glowing slightly. He gestured toward the opening grandly, and Rowen swallowed. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward, toward the portal. He was not betraying his friends. He was not. He was going to help Taia and help them, all at the same time.
      With only a moment's hesitation, he stepped through the gate, a white wind writhing about his limbs like a spider's web. Taia and Sekhmet were only a step behind, and then the doors creaked closed, shutting behind them with an earth-shaking slam. He did not look back.     

DAMN, it's done! Longest "Aria" chapter yet, though it hardly stacks up to "Snake God" Part Eight, heh! Well, many thanks to She-Ronin again (the Chicken Song is of her own devising - do you think I could come up with that? She also did the Samurai Spirits soap opera stuff, heh), and yes, there was an inside joke in there that some of you may get.  Mia said it. The song Taia sang in the beginning is called "Japanese Lullaby".
      Well, anyway, I would absolutely die for some mail about this. Did you know I get hardly any at all? It makes me sad. Tell me what your favorite part was or something, or tell me what you would like to see happen between Rowen and Kayura, heh... should he like her, or not? Anyway, till next time!