Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Vamps and Ronins ❯ Atarashii no Ronins ( Chapter 3 )

Vamps and Ronins

Chapter Three: Atarashii no Ronins

By: Tiasha

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Beautiful is empty

Beautiful is free

Beautiful loves no one

Beautiful stripped me

Creed, "Beautiful"

~

Pain, blinding, white pain radiated throughout her head as well as her arm and the rest of her body. Robyn emitted a whimper as she slowly drifted back to awareness and the reality of pain. Her body ached to no end, her arm released a sharp pain that radiated throughout the rest of her body and her head felt like it was being split down the middle with an axe. Robyn whimpered again only to find that the action made her head hurt even worse. She slowly opened her eyes to meet a sterile, white ceiling and an extremely bright light. She winced and brought her right arm up to cover her eyes, only regretting the action after it shifted her whole body in the process, jarring her injuries.

A world of pain...man...I'd enjoy some serious painkillers right about now, she thought as she heard hushed voices. She frowned slightly, beginning to wonder where she was. She had not been captured because her captors would not have put her in such a white establishment...so, where was she?

"Robyn?" a familiar voice asked. A slight smile graced her unusually pale face as she saw Cye hover over her.

"I made it…" she whispered, her voice cracking slightly from her labored breathing over the past few days. She saw his face etched with worry and before he could question her, Robyn heard a door open and a commanding female voice resound in the white room. The female voice also sounded familiar and it took a few seconds for Robyn to realize who it was. Cye's face disappeared from her sight almost immediately afterwards.

"Now, I mean it. Once she is rested and has eaten, you all can rant and rave as you like. In the meantime, she is my patient and I had best to attend to her...and I want all of you to leave her alone until I give the okay," the female voice ordered.

Soon after the sound of a door being closed, a blonde head came to claim the spot Cye's head had occupied. The blonde woman smiled down at her gently as she began to check an IV bag.

"Mrs. Date?" Robyn asked, her smile growing a tad bit bigger. Mrs. Date smiled down at her and brushed some of Robyn's red bangs out of her face.

"You're quite lucky in that we got to that bullet early. There wasn't enough time for an infection to occur," Mrs. Date stated, checking the bandage on the redhead's left arm. "By the way, what happened?"

"I walked in on a gang fight...you know, at the wrong place at the wrong time?" Robyn lied, clenching her teeth. Mrs. Date interpreted the action as one of pain from her check-up and not the fact that Robyn was lieing, for she then patted the younger woman's shoulder compassionately.

"Well, you're still lucky...if the boys had not have found you, I'm not sure where you would have ended up. I'll let you rest now and later I'll bring you something to eat. You look like you haven't eaten in days!" Mrs. Date said, leaving the room.

Robyn sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the cold yet secure fingers of sleep touch her exhausted mind. She chuckled at Mrs. Date's comment about not eating in days.

If you only knew Mrs. Date...if you only knew....

~*~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*

Mia flipped through the channels on the television, finding nothing to her liking. Satellite TV and still nothing worth her while. Huffing in frustration, she pushed herself up off the couch and made her way to her study; flopping into her over-stuffed leather business chair, she booted up her laptop computer and placed her chin in her hand, turning the desk lamp on and staring at the screen.

She leisurely moved the mouse cursor over an icon that would connect her to the Internet and clicked on it, typing in her password when asked. She tapped a manicured finger on her chin as she sorted through her e-mail, which was either junk or business documents. She sighed heavily as her mailbox continued to gain mail; this was going to be a long night.

Twenty minutes later, a sudden cool breeze caused the brunette woman to shiver. Scowling, she glanced towards the source of the breeze and felt her heart stop. She had not opened the window all day, yet now it was open, and a dark figure was crouched on the sill of the window, watching her. Her hand jerked towards the phone that lay on the desk but froze when the figure spoke.

"Are you...Miss Mia Koji?" the figure asked, almost as if it was ashamed to have been caught perched on her windowsill. The voice sounded feminine and…uncertain.

Mia stared at the figure for a moment before nodding, the curves of her lips quirking upwards. "Yes, I am...can I...help you?" she asked, watching as the figure relaxed and moved to stand in the light of her desk lamp. Mia gasped as she took in the sight in front of her before she breathed one word.

"How?"

The figure shook her head nonchalantly, dark green curls bouncing around her shoulders. "I need your help in…research," the young woman said timidly.

Mia went rigid, "What type of research?"

The young woman in her early twenties held up a mud-colored, armor-gloved hand. Mia immediately knew what the woman was referring to; the young woman's subarmor was a mud-earthy tone and where the Ronins had white...hers was black. The young woman was obviously shaken about this whole situation, probably had no idea what was going on too.

"How long have you had this armor?" Mia asked gently, motioning to a chair nearby. The young woman bowed as she declined the offer.

"I should introduce myself before this conversation goes any further," the young woman began. "I am the atarashii ronin of Gaea...Cody of Gaea."

Mia's blood ran chill...atarashii ronin...new ronin.

~*~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*

Cye paced the waiting room for the five hundredth time that day, and was slowly losing his patience. It had been two days since Robyn had fell into his arms, figuratively and literally, and still Dr. Date would not allow anyone in to see her. Yesterday, however, he was told that he could possibly speak to the young redhead at visiting hours...visiting hours were almost over. Ryo had long gone home with knowledge of having to cook dinner for himself and his grandmother, and Kento had just recently left having promised his mother that he would be home before too late. So that left Cye with the task of having the hospital buy a new carpet.

"Ahem, Mister Mouri is it?" a voice asked from behind him. He spun on his heel and looked at the nurse with a slight anxiety. He nodded when she continued to look at him curiously.

"Can I go and see her now?" he asked impatiently and sighed in relief when the nurse agreed.

His pace was quick as walked down the hall to Robyn's room, eager to finally talk with her and figure out what exactly happened. Dr. Date had said that it was a gang fight, but something about that answer had unnerved him. Robyn knew better than to go on back streets alone in a place she was unfamiliar with...didn't she?

He raised his hand to knock when he'd reached her hospital room but paused when he heard angry, hushed voices and then small crash. The hand which had been poised in the air, now went to the doorknob and threw open the door. Cye found himself staring at two men, both in a fighting stance, and Robyn sitting up groggily. One of the men however, immediately retreated out of an open window and disappeared.

Cye glared at the other man, "Who the bloody hell are you?!"

The latter relaxed from his stance while the former continued to glare. The young man chuckled, smiled and bowed in good-humor. Cye was not impressed, nor did he find the situation funny.

"I, my good friend, just saved our friend's life," the young man said, waving a hand in Robyn's direction. Cye made his way over to the young red-head and gently steadied her as she sat up and allowed everything to sink in. Cye glanced at the young man again, noting his deep purple hair and subarmor?

"What the?" he gasped, instinctively reaching for his pocket and armor orb.

The young man looked at him curiously before glancing down at himself and laughed, "Sorry about that...fighting gakis is harder than it may seem."

Cye watched in amazement as he banished his subarmor and was clad in his normal clothes; however, he glanced at the young man warily as he realized what he had said. Gakis were mythical creatures, evil and shape-shifting...at least he had thought they were mythical.

"Beware orijinaru no ronin...evil has many forms, I should know," was all the young man said before his disappeared in a blue mist.

Cye blinked a couple of times before looking at Robyn. He saw fear in her green orbs as well as regret. He frowned slightly and glared at her, deciding to use Sage's nickname. He did not enjoy using it but under certain circumstances, he did. At least when he did use it, she did not beat around the bush.

"All right Trouble. You've got some explaining to do," he said sternly, watching her shoulders sag at his words.

~*~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*

Arain looked at his plate, his brows knitted into a frown of concentration as he stared at the traditional meal. He picked up his fork and pushed some macaroni and cheese around, spearing a few peas in the process; his hot-dog was probably under-cooked as usual. Sighing, he picked up the hot-dog and took a bite, turning his attention back to the papers strewn across his bed and the laptop off to the side.

He winced as he heard a ceramic item crash to the floor downstairs and a woman's outcry of fear, his mother's cry of fear. He shook his head and shut his eyes tightly, futilely attempting to block his father's angered words out of his mind. It never worked; he could still hear them. How he wished he could go downstairs and teach that man a lesson. He was so close to snapping and giving his father a piece of his mind.

"NO! Please don't go up there!" he heard his mother shout. Quickly, he shoved his laptop under his bed and hid the fork. The less weapons, the less wounds; he'd learned that lesson what seemed ages ago. The door to his room was suddenly thrown open and Arain was faced with his father's rage.

"Leave him alone George! Let him be! Ah!" his mother's plea was cut off by his father slapping her. His mother had managed to draw the attention to herself as usual, attempting to save him a beating; but never had Arain witnessed the abuse so closely, never had he seen his mother's tears so clearly. A trickle of blood escaped his mother's lips as she whimpered in pain, trying not to anger her husband by seeming weak.

Arain clenched his eyes shut, teeth gritted together and his lips a thin line, he stood and charged at his father, taking a clumsy swing. Fortunately for Arain, his father was too drunk to be domineering and the two seemed to be equally matched. Taking another swing, Arain collided his fist into his father's jaw, enjoying the look of pain that crossed the latter's face. Now he knew how it felt to be abused.

Seconds later though, Arain found his father's fist in his stomach and he doubled over in pain. He felt his father's foot collided many times with his ribs as a shade of red colored his vision. He braced himself for the next kick only to find there was none. Slowly, Arain opened his eyes to find the authorities handcuffing his drunken father and hauling him away.

His mother was kneeling beside him, crying as she looked at his mangled and beaten body. No doubt a few of his ribs were broken, or at least cracked, broken nose most likely, fractured wrist, and maybe a bruised stomach. He winced as his mother shifted his body so that his head was lying in her lap. Every few seconds, water would drip onto his bruised face. Arain gave his mother a lop-sided smile, gripping her hand in his before blackness swept over him.

~*~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*

Sage snapped his head up in the direction of the door, narrowing his eyes at the young woman who stood in the doorway glancing about. She reminded him of someone, someone he had not seen in years and could no longer identify. Her dark forest green hair was short, her bangs falling into her face to contradict her pale ice blue eyes, but her expression unnerved him...emotionless. Only when his father approached her did she seem to come alive, which he thought was odd.

"Sage?" he heard a familiar voice question. He turned and looked at the blue-haired youth next to him, before looking at the young woman again. He knew that Rowen was watching this newcomer too; there was something about her that had him on edge.

"Did you feel that? When she came in…and now too?" he asked his companion who nodded in response. There was a predatory air around this woman, predatory and powerful. She seemed to draw all negative and positive energy to her, converting it somehow and then...vanishing it. Yet, she also replenished the energy took...with her own it seemed. The energy she replaced seemed tainted, tainted with knowledge as well as protection.

Protection against what though? Sage thought as he returned to his practice with Rowen and the rest of the class.

"Sage, come to my office please," he heard his father's voice echo across the dojo. Sage quickly bowed to his teacher before making his way to his father...and the young woman. He narrowed his eyes as the young woman glanced over him with a critical eye, daring to hope that she would not flirt with him like every other girl...just about every other girl. There was only one girl that he knew of, other than his sister, who did not flirt with him...Robyn.

"This is my son, Sage Date and he is going to Han' a High at the moment, but he is graduating this year," Mr. Date explained to the young woman. She nodded in acknowledgement but made no other move, except hold her hand out in greetance. Sage shook her hand, not wishing to embarrass his father by being impolite.

Sage's eyes widened at the contact, pulling his hand away quickly. Her grip burned! The touch of her skin burned! He quickly composed himself before bowing slightly to her.

"And your name is?" Sage asked, raising a blond eyebrow as she chuckled, not giggled as in flirtatiously, but chuckled. She was not interested in him at all, much to his relief.

"I am called many things, but you may know me as Mariko Ying," she said, her alto-soprano voice soft as if shy, or perhaps secretive.

"She wishes to work her in cleaning up after everything is done," Mr. Date explained. Sage nodded, the closer she was the easier to keep an eye on her. She seemed out of place and with this recent accident involving Robyn...he was beginning to wonder if it truly was an accident.

"I understand," Sage said. "Would you like me to show her around?"

"Yes please, I have paperwork to do," his father replied, sitting down at his desk.

Sage nodded and motioned for the young woman to follow. He noticed that she had slipped into her unemotional phase again; however, her eyes danced around, taking in everything he pointed out and everything he did not. Her actions were as if she had been trained to take everything around her into account, much like a samurai. He narrowed his eyes again, why did she unnerve him with her quietness?

"I must be going," she said suddenly, causing him to spin around. There was a look of worry in her eyes and maybe fear. He frowned, what was she afraid of? From the way she slipped on her emotionless mask so easily, he would have thought that nothing frightened her.

"All right then. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, not willing to create any suspicion. She nodded before disappearing out of the door quickly, as if she were afraid that something would not be available later. Her aura was still inside the dojo, but why she replaced everything with her own was a mystery, as well as why they needed a protective energy.

Sage shook his head, making his way to the locker room to change out of his gi uniform and deciding that Trouble needed to explain a few things very soon.