Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Valentine's Day ❯ The End ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Valentine's Day: THE END
Firestar

A/N: I don't claim to know anything about being blind and I really don't mean to offend anybody. This is
meant purely as entertainment, but at the same time I truly believe that anything is possible as long as
you refuse to give up. Physical disabilities are no exception.

Disclaimer: The Ronin Warriors are not mine and I'm not making any money.

***********************************************


Sage sat silently in the living room, still as a statue. After hours of fruitless raging, his
anger settled, distilling itself into an iron core of white hot rage. No compassion or reason
tainted it. No thought other than making THEM pay for what they'd done was allowed to
pollute the purity of his emotion.

Oh yes, they would be very sorry indeed.

And so Sage waited for them to return as they would inevitably would, full of contrition
and apology, but infuriatingly certain that they were right. That they had had the RIGHT to
take off with his lover and place him, helpless as he was, directly into the hands of the men
who had tried to kill him, kill them all, just a year before.

He waited in a darkened living room, barely noticible in a room gone dim and filled with
shadows as the day passed. He waited...

******************************

Kento paused as he reached the porch of the mansion, a shivery feeling settled itself like
a leaden weight in the pit of his stomach. Quite often Kento was regarded as thick-headed,
insensitive to what went on around him. But, contrary to popular opinion, his stocky build and
pleasant face hid within them a very intelligent young man. A warrior could not have survived
with less. And now his keen senses warned him of a danger unlike he'd ever faced before.

A pissed off Sage was not to be taken lightly.

******************************

Cye and Rowen exchanged a wordless look as their friend paused at the threshold. They were
no more eager to go on than he, and they used their last moments of safety to ready themselves
for whatever lay ahead.

Sage rarely lost control. He was a calm, collected kind of guy who, although far from being
unfeeling, liked to take the time to think things through. But when he did lose that precious
control, when he allowed something to get through his impressive shields, then hell breaking
loose was the least of their worries.

Finally, they could stand to wait no more. After exchanging another one of those silent communications,
they walked forward to face their friend.

*******************************

Ryo groaned as he was shaken roughly awake by a hard hand on his shoulder, but he willingly
climbed off of his pallet. The warlords insisted he train "like a real warrior", which meant that
soft beds were out of the game plan.

But still, he was looking forward to the day's work-out. It meant he was yet another step closer
to regaining his lost fighting ability. It was amazing what he could sense once he stopped mourning
the loss of his sight.

The tiniest sounds could be used to pinpoint the enemies' location and movement, smells could inform
him of the nature of the threat, even touch could be used to anticipate an attack if he paid careful
attention to the vibrations beneath his feet and the feel of the air against his skin. And he had the
benefit of his armor, which sharpened all those senses and gave him others as well.

It was only recently that he realized just how much he had come so close to losing because of his
self-pity. He'd resisted the warlords help at first, insisting that he was useless, that it was impossible
for him to fight again. Their contempt had forced him to try. His success had spurred him to continue.
And now he realized just how lucky he really was.

********************************

Rowen, Cye and Kento sat stiffly in the kitchen, each of them trying to hold multiple icepacks to
their battered bodies. Among them they sported bloody lips and noses, blackened eyes, gashes that
dripped blood everywhere, and even a few of what they thought to be cracked ribs.

Sage had been merciless, stopping himself just barely at the line of true injury. And they had the feeling
he wasn't through with them, as if he was just waiting for them to heal enough for him to have another
go at it. They were almost grateful that they were still in a war with various netherworld denizens. If they
hadn't been, Sage probably wouldn't have stopped when he did.

All the three Ronins could really do is pray for Ryo's swift, and unharmed, return. It was the only
thing that could placate Sage.


********************************

Ryo hummed happily to himself under his breath, daydreaming of a certain blond haired warrior. He could
almost feel the firm muscles, taste deliciously parted lips, and even smell the slightly rose scented
shampoo his lover used in his hair. It was a good thing he was heading home today, he wasn't sure how
much longer he could stand the separation. The wildfire warrior was feeling downright, well...you know.

Yes, he couldn't wait to go home. The warlords had finally announced him proficient enough, saying
almost grudgingly that "he'd do" after he'd come out on top of a six-way sparring match. Fighting wasn't
the only thing he'd learned, however. It was amazing the advantage the blind could hold over the seeing.
The unimpaired just didn't "see" it coming.


********************************

Sage was sitting alone in his room, as he did every day when he wasn't fighting the netherworld. He wasn't
sure if he could restrain himself if he was around the other three ronin. He wanted to hurt them too much,
and the only thing that kept him from going done there right now and beating the crap out of them was the
possiblity that they'd need to be in fighting shape for another battle.

He wasn't exactly sure what had stopped him the first time he'd been beating them into bloody pulps. He
was quite sure that there hadn't been a reasonable, sane thought in his body when he'd been going at it.
But suddenly he was staring down at his blood covered hands and realizing that it belonged to people
who were supposedly his best friends.

Now he just waited, because somewhere down the line he'd come to the realization that maybe, just
maybe, they had been right. He'd never admit it of course, not even to himself, but the memory of a Ryo
gone pale and thin, once sparkling eyes dim and vacant, it never left him.

But it still didn't negate the homicidal feelings coursing through his veins, so he decided that it was best
he remained isolated until Ryo returned home. Then he would decide if he should start planning the
funeral arrangements.

*********************************

A cheerful, vigorous, whistling young man with black hair and sparkling sapphires for eyes walked
confidently up to the large mansion, letting himself in the front door. He strode into the living room
without a single misstep and stopped in the exact middle of the room, right in front of the blaring TV.

Three other young men stared at him blank-faced and slack-jawed with suprise.

"Hey guys! Where's Sage at?"

They all started to point towards the stairs, but stopped in embarrasent when they remembered he
couldn't see it.

Finally Rowen managed to stammer out a faint "upstairs" and Ryo bounced along his way, stopping
just at the foot of the staircase to turn around and give them a quick thanks and a wink before he
took the steps two at a time with an almost nauseating amount of energy.

*********************************

The three Ronins looked at each other speechlessly once they were alone again. The Ryo that had just
swept through here like the wildfire of his name was a far cry from the wraith they had abandoned to
the warlords.

"C-can you guys believe that?" stammered Kento in awe."He just walked in here like he always did. You
couldn't even tell that he could't see a thing."

"Yeah, I know what ya mean, Kento. It's kinda freaky in a cool sort of way," commented Rowen after
he managed to recover the remaining shreds of his composure.

Cye looked questioningly at the other two. "Do you think he can fight now?"

Rowen just shook his head. "I know he can. Ryo would never be that cheerful otherwise. I'm more
interested in his hurry to find Sage."

"Well they haven't seen eachother in over a month, Rowen. What do you expect?" Kento spoke as if he
were talking to a small child. After all, it was obvious to him, and Rowen was supposed to be some
kind of genius.

Rowen just gave him a sly grin. "I know what I'D expect, I just wasn't sure that Ryo was that kind of guy."

*********************************

Ryo lost a bit of his bounce as he got closer to Sage's room. It had been such a long time since he'd seen
Sage. He hoped that he was still welcome.

He knocked softly Sage's door, but to his confusion no answer was forthcoming. Hesitantly he turned the
knob, not sure of the reaction he would get.

Sage was seated on his bed indian-style with his eyes closed. His golden lashes fluttered slowly as he
heard the door open, puzzled at the thought of one of the other guys coming into his room univited.

Unless....unless it was the single one of them who'd never needed an invitation.

Hope started to build, a fragile thing that could be dashed into nothingness with just the flick of an eyelid.
Dare he open his eyes?

A light touch materialized on his cheek. It came very close to being a caress.
The hope grew stronger, but he still hadn't the courage to look. He felt just as helpless as Ryo had ever
been.

The caress strengthened and he felt a warm, calloused palm cupping his chin and tilting it forward.
Only when a feather-light pressure brushed against his lips did he dare let his sight return.

He stared directly into a pair of tiger bright eyes that held a smile deep within them. A smile that was
meant only for him.

They embraced then, not wasting precious air on words. They understood each other perfectly.

The two lovers paused in their reunion only long enough for the blond haired one to remove a small velvet
box from a drawer and slip the contents onto their hands.

They had a lot of lost time to make up for.

*****************************************

Downstairs , three young men stared abstractedly at the ceiling.

"Do you think he's still mad at us?"

**********

~Owari~