Vamps and Ronins

Chapter Fourteen: Can You Teach Me…

Written by: Tiasha

~

Can you teach me how fly? (Come on!)

You can see I'm scared to die! (Come on!)

And I've only just begun to learn to crawl…

Can you teach me how to fight? (Come on!)

Would you keep me up all night? (Come on!)

Will you be there on the ground if I should fall,

fall for you…

Black Lab, "Learn to Crawl"

~

Robyn ignored the unusual scowl on Cye's face as she ate her lunch outside with the others. He had been unhappy for the past couple of days and naturally, it was because of her. Or at least her decision. He was not pleased with the idea of her spending so much time with a stranger but, as she pointed out, all friends were strangers at one time. He was still unhappy, as were Ryo, Rowen and Kento. Robyn had yet to see any indication that Sage disagreed since he was continuing to be his indifferent self.

"You know, your face can freeze like that," a female voice said, causing all of them to look up. Standing a few feet away from their picnic table was Mariko, a lop-sided grin on her face and a 'Visitor's Pass' sticker on the front of her sleeveless burgundy turtleneck. Her bracelets wrapped around her wrists and hands like always and she wore a khaki skirt that ended at mid-thigh. A black messenger bag was slung over one shoulder and a pair of sunglasses was perched on the top of her head.

Robyn raised an eyebrow at her attire and asked, "Why are you all decked out?"

Mariko laughed, "You haven't even seen me decked out." She moved to stand next to the table before adding, "I just got off work and stopped by before I went home to change."

"And you stopped by because?" Kento asked, resuming to the task of finishing his lunch before she had even begun to answer.

"I just needed to ask you, Robyn, if you had plans tonight and forgot to tell me."

Robyn paused in her actions, which meant her sandwich was halfway to her mouth. The expression on her face was that of a child being caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "Um…why?"

"Because Mia called and informed me that Jayzen had left a message saying that he would be by to pick you up around seven. Now I know that you did not forget that I was to help you study for your Ancient Japanese History exam, so that left me to wonder, why did Jayzen call in the first place?"

"He got confused?"

Mariko shook her head, "Try again."

"Okay! I forgot! I meant to tell you but forgot! I'm sorry!"

"That's all I needed to know. Now the next question is, which date are you going to cancel?"

"His?"

Mariko gave her a startled look, "why do you say it as if it's a question? Either you'll cancel his or ours, it's your decision, not mine."

"No, it'll be his. The exam's more important than applications," Robyn said, taking a bite of her sandwich. She watched as Mariko dug something out of her messenger bag and gave the latter an apprehensive look as Mariko pulled out a cell-phone.

"Catch," was the only warning she gave Robyn before she tossed the cell-phone to Robyn. With hardly any warning beforehand, Robyn completely missed the phone and instinctively cringed when she realized that the phone would no doubt break now. But the phone never smashed against the surface of the picnic table because someone had caught it. Robyn looked to see who had saved the expensive contraption and found Sage handing the phone to her.

Sheepishly, she thanked him and took the phone. Robyn then looked at the phone before looking at Mariko with a confused look. "Am I supposed to call him?"

Mariko rolled her eyes, "No, I just wanted to see if you could break my phone by not catching it. Jayzen's number is on speed-dial, I had Jon put it in for me, seeing that the two of you were getting pretty cozy."

Robyn's cheeks went red at the implication. "We are NOT getting cozy," she huffed, dialing Jayzen's number and waiting for an answer.

"Sure, and I'm Vanessa Mae," Mariko said sarcastically. Robyn stuck out her tongue but promptly ignored Mariko and everyone else when someone or something picked up on the other end.

"Vanessa who?" Ryo asked, referring to the name Mariko had called herself.

The young woman rolled her eyes, ignoring Robyn's comments completely, and sighed in exasperation. "Vanessa Mae, extremely talented girl, famous violinist at the age of fourteen, now she's probably seventeen or eighteen, I'm not sure really. Vivaldi's Four Seasons was her first album? Also well known for turning the Devil's Sonata into a modified ringer on a cell-phone?"

"Never heard of her," Kento said between mouthfuls. Ryo nodded in agreement.

"Classical music is lost on them, Mariko," Sage chided, finishing his lunch. Mariko shrugged her shoulders and patiently waited for Robyn to finish using her cell-phone.

The young redhead finished and tossed the phone back to Mariko, saying that Jayzen was not home but left a message on his machine.

"So then, six was what we had talked about. Does that still work?" Mariko asked, returning her cell-phone to her black messenger bag. Robyn nodded but then grimaced as she remembered something else.

"I just remembered, Matt wants me to be at his practice tonight. It starts at eight," she said somewhat slowly, praying that the others would not ask why. Her prayer was unanswered because Rowen and Kento gave her an assessing look.

"What kind of practice?" Kento asked, mainly out of curiosity.

Robyn sighed in frustration, "Do I have to tell you guys everything that goes on in my life? Last time I checked, the answer was no, and I'm pretty sure it still is." With that, she took one last bite of her sandwich, stood up and left the table, heading towards the school building.

"Where are you going?" Rowen called as they all watched her leave with surprised expressions on their face, even Sage's face portrayed mild surprise. When Robyn did not reply, Cye stood up, preparing to go after her and make sure she was all right. But Mariko shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"I think you guys had better back off on her a little. She seems to be feeling a bit cramped. You're all being just a little bit too protective of her," she suggested.

"Can you blame us?" Cye asked and Mariko shook her head.

"No, I don't," she said as she brushed some hair out of her eyes. "but I've noticed that you all have been trying to keep a tight reign on where she goes and who she's with. You can't do that forever. I mean, Talpa tried to control me and that never worked, well, not really worked."

"Yeah, but you are going to tell us why she's going to Matt's practice right?" Kento prodded.

Mariko frowned at him, "After what I just said, you expect me to tell you?"

"Well…yeah," nodded Kento and the rest of them looked at her curiously.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before answering no. Upon hearing the finality in her voice, they finished their lunches in a slightly defeated manner. Mariko turned and watched the other students who were outside and began to wonder what it would be like to have been a normal child. It was not the first time she had wondered, but it was the first time that the abnormality of her childhood truly sank in. And it left her feeling slightly isolated.

Turning her thoughts away from an unchangeable past, Mariko looked back at the others as some of them stood to throw away their trash. They were so young and yet seemed to possess wisdom beyond their years, much like her. She was not more than a year or so older than them. They all had to grow up so quickly and experience events that no one should ever have to experience.

"Is there something else on your mind?" Cye asked her, breaking Mariko out of her thoughts. She stared at them with a grave look in her eyes before reluctantly nodding her head.

"Hai, there is, but we'll discuss it later," she said, turning to leave but stopped when Ryo questioned her.

"Like what?" he asked, furrowing his brows slightly. He took another bite of his sandwich while he waited for the young woman to answer his question.

Mariko smiled and laughed; "You all worry too much, you know that?" she teased lightly. "Come on, live a little! Life is too precious to waste…I learned that the hard way with Julien…" her voice fell to a hush as she spoke the last part, her eyes becoming slightly glassy with a faraway look in them. She quickly shook herself out of it though, resituating her messenger bag as she prepared to leave. She paused and then spoke with a curious look on her face. "Oh, and just out of curiosity but has Robyn ever been…bitchy to any of you?"

At the sight of their affronted looks, Mariko laughed out loud as she turned to leave, saying "Man, are you all in for a joy ride."

---

Sage hurried to his creative writing class with the intent of speaking to Robyn about Jayzen. He was fairly sure that the reason she was not taking the others seriously was because they almost always worried about her a bit more than needed. However, if he spoke to her about it then perhaps she would at least consider reducing her time with Jayzen. There was just something about the guy that unnerved him when he was with Robyn, and what frustrated Sage even more was that he could not figure out why it bothered him so much. So what if she was starting to get to know the guy as well as she did the five of them? So what that she was spending so much time with him? So what if she was now seeing him more than the rest of them? It should not have bothered Sage one bit since he found her to be slightly exasperating…but it did. It bothered him and he couldn't figure out why.

All thoughts of his predicament turned to concern when he saw Robyn at her locker, moving in a slow, stiff manner with a look of dread on her face. Sage quickly closed the distance between himself and Robyn in a few strides, noting as he came to stand next to her that she seemed paler than normal. She slowly looked up at him, her green eyes less vibrant than they had been at lunch and she definitely seemed paler than normal.

"Are you all right?" he asked as she grabbed her backpack and closed her locker quietly. That was another odd thing that triggered the warning bells in his mind to go off. Robyn normally closed her locker door was something akin to slamming it shut, not this deliberately slow and quiet movement.

"To be honest-no…but for the sake of keeping Cye and the others from turning into meddlesome worry-warts and mother hens-yes, I'm feeling peachy-keen," she answered in what seemed to be a strained, but unmistakably sarcastic voice.

"You better do some damn good acting because you most definitely do not seem peachy."

"Considering I just threw up my lunch say ten minutes ago, I imagine I look like shit."

Sage pulled Robyn to a stop and looked her over, keeping hold of her arm so that she had to stay where she was. She did seem worse for wear and drained of almost all energy. He could only imagine how she felt right now. And how she was managing to keep going like this was beyond him. But hadn't she pushed herself like this before, right before winter break?

"Sage, we're going to be late, let's go," she whined, trying to tug her arm out of his firm grip.

"Maybe you should just go home," he suggested and noted the annoyed, yet surprised look she gave him.

"What? I can't go home…finals are next week-"

"You can borrow my notes."

She ceased her attempts to get her arm free and stared at him, but not really at him. He could tell she was considering it by the fact the she was biting her lower lip and had a look of contemplation on her face. She finally sighed, her shoulders drooping as she shook her head. "I can't…I mean I can but-I really shouldn't miss this class. You know what our teacher said, Sage. She said that we should be here this week-"

"I know what she said but staying isn't going to do you any good if you're too sick to take decent notes. Besides, you'll be fine for this exam, but your Ancient Japanese History…"

Robyn groaned at the mention of her worst subject of the school year. "Mariko's supposed to help me with that tonight too…man this sucks!" she griped, resituating her backpack on her small shoulder.

"All the more reason for you to go home and rest."

"You really want me to go home, don't you?"

"I think you should rest so you don't get sick and miss exams next week. So yes, I do think you should go home."

"Fine, whatever…" she crossed her arms as best she could with him still holding onto her arm. He promptly released his grip on her and nodded as they both walked to class; the nurse was picky about students having a pass to go see her.

Half-way there Robyn noticed that Sage had something else on his mind. "There's something else, what?"

Sage figured it would be best to be frank, knowing that if he gave her a vague answer she would pester him about it until he told her. And right now Robyn was in no condition for him to do that to her. She'd focus on trying to get him to talk instead of resting for next week.

"It's about college," he said as they swiftly turned the corner in the almost empty hallways. They were going to be late, there was no way around it but he had a feeling that once their teacher caught sight of Robyn, she would understand the situation they had been in. At least he hoped that she would.

"What about it?"

"If you needed help with applications, you could have asked for help."

"I did ask for help, if I remember correctly. It just wasn't from any of you five. I didn't want to bother you all with it, not with your own apps and with finals coming up."

"That's a poor excuse, you know. You're so sick that you can't even come up with a good excuse?"

"Was that to be a joke? Besides, I don't see why it matters so much, especially to you. You're the last one I expected to hear this from…I mean they're just applications."

"It's not that…"

Robyn watched him carefully as they neared their classroom, confused by his behavior. "It's not?" she asked puzzled. "Then what? The fact that I'm doing them with Jayzen?"

She immediately noticed his jaw tighten at the mention of the young man's name. Robyn knew that the others were not too keen on the idea of her spending time with Jayzen, but she never thought that Sage had a problem with it. Nor had she thought he would even voice his opinion on the matter. He'd never really expressed an opinion or interest about her activities before… Why was he now? Was he jeal-no way! There was now way that Sage could be jealous… But then, why was he acting this way? Was he…jealous of Jayzen?

Robyn blushed, the color standing out greatly against her already pale complexion. "Oh…did you want to help me?" she asked softly, instinctively looking away when he glanced at her.

God, why did she have to be so…innocent, for a lack of better words? And why did she act shy when things like this happened? Especially when he was around. He was sure that if it had been Cye or Kento or one of the others she wouldn't be acting this way. But then again, she wasn't feeling top notch at the moment either.

"You've already sent them out, haven't you?" he asked in an indifferent tone. But he couldn't explain why his heart had skipped a beat when she'd asked him for help, nonetheless. And for some reason, he didn't want to know at this point. Later probably, but not now… Right now, she needed to go home and rest.

She was biting her lower lip again. "The ones for college, yeah……but I've got a few scholarship ones I could use some help on."

"If having Jayzen helping you with them works, then fine. I don't have a problem with you working with him," he lied. Lieing to her right now was so hard, especially when she was so vulnerable like this.

"Oh…" was all she whispered before they entered the classroom. By some saving grace, the bell rang just as they set foot inside the classroom. Their teacher gave them a disapproving look before really looking at Robyn.

"Robyn-san, you look ill…would you like to go to the nurse?"

Robyn quickly glanced at Sage and at his stern look, sighed, nodding her head to her teacher's question. "Hai sensei-sama…I think I'd better go see the nurse," Robyn said quietly as she set her bag in her chair before approaching the teacher's desk.

Robyn waited patiently as the teacher scribbled her a pass and absently watched her classmates pull out sheets of paper or pencils for the class. As she did this, a wave of dizziness washed over her and she quickly leaned against the teacher's desk, clenching her eyes shut as she rode the wave of dizziness out.

When she opened her eyes again, she barely made eye contact with her teacher as a bout of nausea followed the dizziness. The unspoken question from her teacher was answered as Robyn quickly excused herself and raced out of the classroom door. She didn't care about the whispers the students were making, only that she find a restroom or even a trashcan quickly.

"Sage-san," the blonde young man looked up at his teacher as she said his name. "Will you take Robyn-san's things and walk her down to the clinic, please?"

He nodded and gathered her belongs, which really was only her backpack and pass to the nurse's office, before quickly leaving the classroom to find his red-haired companion. Sage had seen her suddenly lean against the teacher's desk ready to faint and had tensed, dreading the possibility that she would indeed do just that. He'd known that he wouldn't have been able to reach her in time if she had. He frowned, however, when he spotted her heaving into a large trashcan some four yards away from the classroom. Placing her bag down, he asked if she was all right. He desperately wished Ryo, Rowen or someone else was doing this because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do really. Sure he'd helped his younger sister when she was sick, but that was in the familiarity of their home where his sister didn't have to go anywhere other than back to bed. And even then there had been a bucket next to her bed. But this was different…it wasn't his sister who was sick…it was Robyn…

Robyn tiredly looked up at him, strands of red hair falling into her face. "I'm hanging over a garbage can, in the middle of school, throwing up. What do you think?" her sarcasm was hardly at its finest as she took a shuddering breath and slowly stood, muttering an apology for the snide comment. She took a small step away from the trashcan and Sage before stopping. She swayed a little before whispering, "I feel like I'm going to be sick again."

With that, she quickly turned and dry heaved into the oversized bucket called a garbage can. Sage watched her for a moment before moving to pull back the red hair that had fallen to curtain her face from sight. What he saw pained him a bit. Tears slowly made their way down her face as she continued to dry heave. Once the wave had passed, she clenched her eyes shut, causing a few more tears to squeeze out and fall down her face.

Sage saw her lips move and barely made out the words of her hushed whisper. "It hurts…so badly" was what she had whispered. His jaw tightened as her body was racked by another bout of nausea and knew he couldn't do anything to ease her pain, if even a little. What was wrong with her? What illness had she caught? A stomach virus? It was very possible since this was the sort of position his younger sister had been in when she had caught a stomach virus.

He'd had the unfortunate luck of staying home to take care of her, missing school in the process and receiving a phone call from the principal who was demanding to know his whereabouts. Oh what a day that had been. Between the constant phone calls from school staff and helping take care of his sister, he was exhausted when his father had finally made it home early from the dojo. But Sage shook himself from that memory to focus on the present situation. He was the only help Robyn had at the moment, and for some unknown reason, it meant something to him…to be the only she could depend upon right now.

"Do you think you can make it to the nurse's office now?" he asked, waiting for her to reply. He barely recognized the movement of her head as a nod. He picked up her bag and slowly led her to the nurse's office.

It took them a few stops but they finally made it there. After taking one look at Robyn, the nurse had agreed to send to the young redhead home. Unfortunately, they would have to wait for someone to come pick her up since Robyn refused to pull Kento and Cye out of class just to take her home, especially since finals were next week. It seemed to Sage that she was using next week's finals as an excuse for just about everything now, but he said nothing about it. It really wasn't his place to say anything anyway. He just wanted her to get some rest and if she was willing to wait for one of the twins to come pick her up, then fine.

So here he was waiting on one of the twins to hurry and pick up Robyn. Sage stood by Robyn's chair as they waited, the latter holding a plastic bag at ready so she wouldn't have to run to the restroom. However, it seemed that the nausea had passed, merely leaving her body exhausted. He was trying to figure out whether or not to return to class so that he could take notes for both of them...but he just had a nagging in the back of his mind that told him to forget the notes and stay with her. Even though he really didn't want to stand around and wait, he only did so because the nagging had come from his armor's soul. He glanced down at his companion's pale face, then up at the nurse, and lastly at the clock on the wall. It had been nearly ten minutes since they had called Cody's cell-phone…so where was she?

"Hey there ojou-san," a now familiar voice said quietly, breaking the silence. Everyone turned their heads, some more slowly than others, to see a young woman with long, forest green hair pulled back into two braids. She wore a pair of tight denim jeans, a Native-American designed tank top and a long sleeved, button down shirt over the tank top. The button shirt had been left open, so there was no doubt in Sage's mind that the only reason Cody was wearing it was so that she would be permitted inside the building since Han 'A High kept a strict dress code.

Robyn gave the younger twin a weak smile, "Hi…sorry to bug ya. I just didn't want to bother the guys anymore than I had to."

Cody nodded her head in understanding, "It's no problem kiddo! I was in town when you called anyway." The younger twin's face grew serious as she placed her hand on Robyn's forehead. "So, what symptoms do you have?"

"Dizziness, nausea and a slight fever," the school nurse spoke up, scribbling something down on a notepad.

Cody nodded but leaned in closer to Robyn when the young redhead motioned for her to. "It's not just my stomach though," Robyn whispered so that the nurse would not over hear, "it's also lower…" To Robyn's surprise, Cody's hand that had been place against the former's head quickly flew down to Robyn's abdomen, as if Cody was trying to sense something beyond the nausea attacks. The frown on Cody's face did not console Robyn at all.

"What? What is it?" Robyn asked quietly.

"Pregnancy symptoms…" Cody said in a hushed tone as she stood. Robyn watched as the young woman spoke to Sage for a moment before turning back to ask where Robyn wanted to stay. Robyn gave her an odd look.

"Which home are you more comfortable in, Mia's or Cye's?" Cody asked, trying to phrase the question from a different angle. Robyn again gave her an odd look. Wasn't the answer obvious? Cye's house most definitely! Robyn answered so and watched Cody smiled, digging out her car keys from her jean pocket.

While Robyn appreciated Mia's hospitality and aide, Robyn could sense a tiny bit of resentment in the other young woman's actions. It was as if the other woman was doing those things because she was Cye's childhood best friend and had somewhere along the way become a part of his small group of friends. Besides, Robyn felt as if she had imposed enough on Mia and Robyn was more than ready to fall back into the familiar bed that had become hers since her initial arrival in Japan nearly a year ago.

"I'm going to go back to class now," came Sage's voice from her side. She looked up at him in slight surprise. Robyn had thought Sage had returned to class the moment Cody had finished speaking with him. She thanked him for his help, smiling as he nodded back to her before quickly leaving the nurse's office. She could have sworn that she had seen the barest hint of a genuine smile as Sage had nodded and left, and she smiled at that.

"Come on ojou-san," Cody said, picking up Robyn's backpack and helping the redhead to the office where they could sign out of the school. "Let's get you home so you can snuggle up in bed and sleep for a few hours before my ornery sister comes and drills Japanese History into ya."

Robyn chuckled at the comment, not feeling nearly as nauseous as she had earlier, just exhausted. They took slow, easy steps to the office and then to the school parking lot, Cody holding onto Robyn's exhausted body the whole time. The silence was starting to bug Robyn as they approached a fairly new-looking, red Toyota pick-up truck.

"Cody, do you think Mariko will still let me go see Matt perform tonight?" Robyn asked, not being able to stand the silence between them anymore.

"Probably, as long as you get some rest. All that's bothering you really are some signs of pregnancy."

"But…I can't be-"

"Oh yes you are, kiddo. While Toto is in you, he's acting just like a human child, feeding off of you like a real baby would if you were truly pregnant. But hey, look on the bright side…you won't get the stomach for being pregnant with the bastard."

"Toto?"

"Totoyami actually, I'm just lazy and shortened it to Toto. Karasu was finally able to get a name for this seedling creature thing and that's what it is called."

"Oh…do you know what his name means? I mean, I know that karasu is raven…"

Cody bit her lower lip as she unlocked Robyn's side of the truck. "I don't think you want to know…" she whispered, looking at Robyn with a worried look on her face. "At least, not right now. You've got bigger things to worry about than what some name means, right?"

Robyn put on a fake smile to convince Cody and slowly climbed into the passenger side of the truck, buckling in as Cody ran around to the driver's side. "So, who's car is this?" she asked the younger twin, trying to make it seem as if she had placed the whole 'name meaning' subject out of her mind.

"Mine actually. Shadow refuses to get into a car that is enclosed, if she can avoid it that is."

As Cody continued to make small talk, Robyn slowly began to translate 'Totoyami.' Well, she couldn't think of a definition for the name as a whole, so she decided to take it apart. 'Yami' was 'darkness', she knew that right off the bat from having watched some Anime show a while back. But 'Toto' was stumping her. She finally remembered what it meant about ten minutes later as they headed to the Mouri residence. 'Toto' was 'at last'…so if she put it together in sequence… Robyn's heart fell slightly as she realized what the name meant…It made sense after all…the creature was evil and was to be the Dark Emperor…

Totoyami means…'At last Darkness'…oh god……

---

"Remind me never to ask Mariko for help on any subject," Kento said as he glanced at the clock. Ryo chuckled at that and nodded his head in agreement, while Cye merely shook his head, a smile on his face. They all were in better spirits than they had been after school, or at least the majority of them.

When Robyn hadn't shown up to meet them, they had grown worried; in fact, the moment Ryo saw Kento and Cye, he had asked the two if they had taken Robyn home or something. Both Cye and Kento had given the raven-haired young man a worried, questioning look. Ryo then explained that Robyn had missed class. Right after that Sage and Rowen joined them, Sage immediately telling them that Cody had taken Robyn home because Robyn had been sick.

Cye had practically jumped out of the jeep once they had pulled into the driveway of his home, barely noting the red pick-up parked next to the curb. Running inside, he took the stairs two at a time before reaching the top and going into check on Robyn. She'd been asleep then and he was going to wake her to see if she was all right but had been stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It had been Cody, softly telling him that Robyn was fine and that she would explain everything downstairs. He hadn't liked that idea and had loudly voiced it, only to have been hit in the head by a pillow right after. Robyn had darkly muttered something about over-protective brothers or something like that before having yelled at both him and Cody to 'go away.' He'd left her alone since then.

Cody had explained to the three of them that the creature inside Robyn was just now showing signs of 'life' and that Robyn was now the equivalent to a pregnant woman. None of them had liked the sound of that, and (as they had find out not too long ago) for good reason. It now meant that anything that upset Robyn in the slightest would be blamed on them, whether it was their fault or not. Cody had just barely calmed Robyn's temper, which they hadn't known she possessed really until now due to the fact that she'd rarely released it on them before, when she had become sick to her stomach…again.

Cye frowned as he looked down at his notes. He wished there was something he could do for his female companion but he had to agree with Cody on this one (especially after the glares he'd gotten from Robyn), leaving Robyn alone until she became accustomed to being…pregnant was best. He didn't think he'd ever get used to thinking of Robyn as pregnant, especially since the creature inside her was evil. But Cody had said to give Robyn about a week and their red-haired friend would be back to normal with no temper…only slight mood-swings.

The creaking of the stairs brought their attention to the doorway of the kitchen as someone came down to the first level of the Mouri residence. The three of them watched Robyn bounce into the kitchen, obviously in a better mood than she had been earlier, closely followed by Mariko. Cody had left some while after Mariko had arrived around six for Robyn's 'tutoring' (as she put it) on Ancient Japanese History.

"Hi guys! Mariko's taking me to Matt's concert," Robyn said as she put on her shoes. "I should be back around ten-thirty."

Cye frowned and gave Mariko a disapproving look as he stated that he didn't think that it was such a good idea. He winced slightly as Robyn huffed and crossed her arms, saying that it was her decision and not his on whether or not she could go. He was about to reply when Mariko smiled reassuringly at them.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she stays out of trouble. Three atarashii ronins and a gaki should be enough to handle any problems that should arise, though I doubt any will happen. The club Matt's performing at is highly safe," explained the green-haired young woman she slipped on her boots as well.

"Three?" Kento questioned, not seeing how Matt and Mariko equaled three ronins.

"Matt, myself and Cody said she'd come to see why I always get onto Matt about practicing his guitar. Josh never misses Matt's performance unless it's a dire emergency."

"I won't be out late," Robyn said as she readied to leave.

Cye still didn't like it, but he couldn't really do anything other than trust that Mariko was right in that nothing would happen. "Have fun then," was all he could really say and Robyn smiled appreciatively at him, hugging him before she raced out the door. Mariko chuckled as she said good-bye and promised that she would take care of their redheaded friend as she followed Robyn out of the house.

Cye turned back to his two friends and they all shrugged. Somehow, in the short span of time that the twins, vampire and soul-gaki had spent with them, they had been integrated into the ronins' 'circle' and (the twins mainly) became friends. They did not see Matt and Joshua as often as the twins but they had learned that Mariko, Joshua and Cody home-schooled Matt because of his…dislike/aversion of sunlight. They figured Joshua was the one who mainly schooled Matt during the day, which would explain why the two were hardly seen.

Cye just hoped that nothing would happen. They deserved some quiet time after all…didn't they?

---

Robyn took a deep breath as she entered the club with Mariko and looked around apprehensively. The last time she was in a club, or at least remembered being in a club, was with the guys. She only knew of the 25+ club with Dragon from what she could prod out of the twins; the guys had practically flat out refused to tell her anything about it…other than she hadn't been herself at the time. It bothered her that she could hardly remember a single thing that had happened. All she could remember was the pain in her stomach, blacking out, escaping Dragon's office, running down the hallways trying to escape the building and drowning in an abyss of dark energy. She shuddered as she remembered being dragged under by the dark energy. It had been a frightening experience. But after drowning in that sea of darkness, she couldn't remember anything else. There was just a blank from the drowning to the resurfacing, which had been when Cye had promised her that they all would be there with her when she woke up. Though she didn't know why he had promised her that…

She shook herself from the depressing and disturbing thoughts she was mulling over and smiled at Matt as he came towards her and Mariko. However, Robyn's attention was quickly diverted as an attractive guy walked by them, and she raised an eyebrow at the package he was toting. She noticed that he was heading in the direction of the stage and smiled. So…he was part of Matt's band… Her smile grew bigger; it paid to be so likeable.

"Hey! I'm glad oneesan here let you come. I was starting to wonder, especially when Cody told me you weren't feeling well earlier," Matt said as he reached them, pointing at Mariko and gaining Robyn's attention at the same time. Robyn looked over him with a slightly critical eye before pouting slightly. He looked twenty-five again. She muttered under her breath how annoying it was when he continually changed his age. He merely gave her a lop-sided smile and apologized, though he didn't really mean it.

"Whatever…I'm kinda surprised that Cye didn't try to keep me at home. He usually doesn't give in that easy…" Robyn said thoughtfully and both Matt and Mariko laughed. She gave them an odd look.

"You're bitchy pregnant nerves have got them confused on what they should do. Males are able to sense when a female should truly be left alone (right Matt?), and that is what they are sensing. But their instinct and desire to protect you is clashing with that sense of letting you be," Mariko explained, noting the slightly clueless look Robyn was sporting. "In short, they're confused on what they should do about you."

"Well, I can take care of myself, you know."

"Sure…"

Robyn crossed her arms, mockingly putting her nose in the air as if offended. Matt grumbled something that sounded like 'women' and pulled her over toward the stage area, introducing her to the members of the band. She noted that some of the guys were taking interest in her the moment Matt said that she would be helping to write lyrics for some of their songs. Why she had agreed to write lyrics was beyond her…or maybe it was the fact that she was actually going to sing with them and earn money at the same time. She excused herself however, when they began to tune their instruments in preparation for their 'concert' and took a seat next to Mariko.

As she and the ronin of Phoenix waited for Cody and Joshua to join them, Robyn let her gaze drift around the small club. Her eyes followed the curves of the shadows, no longer fearing them or feeling that she should hate them; however, she was far from loving those shadows. Everything had to be balanced… But she narrowed her eyes when she noticed a shadow within the shadows and as she looked closer, she found the shadow to be a grotesque figure that smiled sadistically at her before vanishing. Robyn swallowed the scream that wanted to escape her lips. THAT had to have been her imagination…

"Robyn, you do know that you can write lyrics and then just give them to Matt, right?" Mariko asked her and Robyn looked at the woman thoughtfully, though for a different reason than what Mariko was assuming. Mariko would have sensed that thing in the shadows…wouldn't she? It didn't matter anymore really; it was gone and that was all the mattered…wasn't it?

"Matt has a natural talent for music. He can take just about anything and turn it into a song. So you can write lyrics and not have to worry about them fitting any style of music," Mariko continued, not sensing the young redhead's worry. Robyn nodded and promptly turned her attention to the stage as Matt's band was introduced. The first song was one from the movie soundtrack 'Spider-man' and Robyn found that she had heard it before she had left America.

"You can laugh, you can fell fine, you can dance with a little twist. Turn your pretty red head babe, you forget that I exist. Can you see yourself in my bed at night, would you leave me at the side of the road? Would you walk right up to me? Would you talk to me?"

Robyn looked up at two newcomers and smiled as Cody and Joshua joined their table. Cody smiled back and turned her attention to the stage while Joshua leaned over to whisper something in Mariko's ear. Mariko didn't seem too pleased by what the soul-gaki had to say but shrugged it off, obviously wanting to deal with it later. It was then Joshua turned to Robyn and smiled in greetance. Robyn smiled back, giving him a questioning look. Joshua mouthed the words 'mortgage payment' and she nodded in her head in understanding. Mariko wasn't happy about a home payment, not anything to do with the whole emperor/empress/Apollo deal.

"I'm already asking, I'm down on my knees. I'm already begging, begging you please…Can you teach me how fly? (Come on!) You can see I'm scared to die! (Come on!) And I've only just begun to learn to crawl."

Robyn sighed in relief and allowed herself to enjoy this quiet time. No having to worry about if she was going to get kidnapped, no worrying about if she was going to die, but most importantly…no worrying about if the guys were going to have to fight again.

"Can you teach me how to fight? (Come on!) Would you keep me up all night? (Come on!) Will you be there on the ground if I should fall, fall for you…"

Peace and quiet, finally. She could try to enjoy a normal life for the moment. Finally.