Ronin Warriors: Shin Teikoku

** You do not have to be a fan of Ronin Warriors to read this. It is more based on the idea, but the series never really had enough about it to begin with that being a fan will make it easier. This is sort of going to be GOT style though. A long narrative with lots of characters that are not so likeable and varrying shades of gray with their action. So please enjoy my crazy interwoven tale, of monsters, armors, and mythology~!*

Chapter One~ Shadowland

In comparison to most American hospitals, Japanese hospitals were very lively and fostered an active but peaceful environment. She sat quietly in the ICU patient lounge looking out the window, funny how they didn't smell of harsh antiseptic either. This was her fifth surgery in a month to help recover the skin on her arm, neck, and face. She flexed her hand, it was odd how fast she was healing. The doctors were so pleased with the progress, but all she could think about was being home.

Home was in America, or at least it was.

The small woman sunk into her wheelchair as the cool breeze wafted her bobbed silver hair from her doll like face. Exposing the soft pink skin and shivered from a sudden chill on the air. She was a small thing, and the cold cut through her like a knife. She was barely over 100 lbs now and she felt sick to her stomach often. Doctors said it was the meds, but most days she threw up all of her meals. Which made the tightly stretched skin on her tiny doll like face burn. Her pale skin was bright pink where the burns splashed on her skin, they covered most of her right shoulder, up her neck to her cheek and temple then back down her arm. Her eyes were sullen gray stormy ocean blue, and her satin silver hair was still shiny like silk.

She felt her stomach churn hard and she grunted softly as she held it.

"Doctor Nakano?"

She looked back and smiled softly at the volunteer who came twice a week to help out. He was a sweet young man with wild chestnut curls, and brilliant blue geen eyes, that when the light hit them just right looked like the California ocean. He was tall and lean with muscle, and had darling sweet face set with a caring smile that she had known like none other. He was dressed in khaki shorts, with dark brown birkens and a baggy gray blue sweater. In his strong hands was a long tray filled with beautiful strawberry tarts that looked more like sculptures than actual food.

She fumbled for her glasses weakly, then looked up at him as she put them on her small face, "please, Shin, call me Hoshi."

The young man came into the lounge and sat across from her, "your stomach hurting too much for a tart today?"

"Yes, I am terribly sorry, you cook so wonderfully," she smiled at him gently.

"Well, next time, you eat two..."

"You're going to make me fat, you know that," she teased and he snorted.

"A little bit of meat on your bones is not gonna kill you."

"No, but your sweets might," she shot back with a weak wink and saw someone come up to the lounge doorway out of the corner of her good eye.

"Shin?"

Hoshi looked up and saw another young gentleman. He was a tall Japanese man with short cut wild blue hair and deep blue green eyes that reminded her of summer's evening. He was skinnier than Shin was and wore a button up polo shirt with slacks. He stuck his hands in his pockets as Hoshi smiled, "friend of yours, Shin?"

Shin set down the tray of beautiful food and nodded as he stood up, "Touma this is Doctor Nakano..."

"Please, it's just Hoshi," she said as she rolled the wheelchair up to the blue haired man and held out a small frail hand.

Touma shook it, "American?"

"Nissei, but yes," she said as she shook his hand the best to her ability. "You both speak English very well."

Touma nodded momentarily and looked at Shin with a concerned look, "we travel a lot."

Shin smiled, "the doc..."

"Shin...just Hoshi."

"Fine...Miss Hoshi is super brilliant, I think you two will get along great while I deliver these," Shin smiled brightly and went to grab the tray of beautiful food before almost scampering off. She smirked to herself, and wondered if he was part of elf of some sort.

Touma sat down in a chair across from her as the breeze picked up again. She shivered hard, "just Touma?"

"Touma Hashiba," he said looking her over. He raised a brown and asked bluntly, "and what are you a doctor of?"

"Aren't you frank," she snickered with a wince. Her stomach churned again and she shifted in her wheelchair as she looked him over better. There was air of superiority to him, not that she minded that but she had a feeling why. "I like that but unfortunately my degree in physiology is null and void without a residency of some sort and hands on training."

He nodded.

She leaned on her good arm, "Hashiba. Like Hashiba Tech?"

"Yeah...that's my dad."

She nodded softly as the air chilled her again. She looked back and saw a storm rolling in and shivered harder, "I hate to ask you, but can you push me back to my room? I would ask Shin, but he loves spreading joy with those tarts he makes."

Touma nodded and got up, glancing out the window himself. He undid the wheelchair breaks and asked for directions. She pointed down the hall the very last room and he pushed her along, "Shin, likes coming here very much recently."

"He's a sweet man, I'm sure you're a good friend too. He's also really partial to the military woman in at the end of the ICU. She's teaching him American sign language, I think."

Touma laughed, "Is that so?"

"Raleigh is a nice woman, just has more rotten luck than me, I suppose."

"Military you say?"

"I think she was hurt in the Gulf War."

"Oh."

"Shin enjoys her company."

"I bet he does. He has a very kind heart."

Touma smirked as she opened the door and he pushed her in. She had pink blanket on her bed and a pot of what smelled like chamomile tea sitting on her night stand, "Shin sure thinks of everything."

He noticed her book shelf filled with her medical text books, "woah."

She reached for a crutch and pulled herself up to her feet and climbed onto her bed, "just because I can't be a doctor doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading and learning."

He glanced at her as he pulled a book and sat next to her as she crossed her legs. He looked through the book and then glanced at her occasionally before going back to reading. She noticed his glances at her and she laughed, "I see you found my drawings."

Touma turned the book so she could see he had found the fearsome drawing in the margin, "you're really good."

"They don't like me drawing those sort of things, so I hide them in my medical books. They have no need to look in there."

Touma flipped a few pages as Hoshi weakly poured herself some tea for her stomach. He glanced at her between drawings. He could see possibly why the doctors didn't like her drawing them. They were scary. Like things he had seen and wondered what had happened to cause her draw such creatures. He then realized how dumb he was, whatever caused the burns. They weren't noticeable when you first looked at her, the way her hair swooped over the right side of her face. They were soft pink and waxy, and they traced their way across her skin like lace.

She glanced at him and met his eyes, realizing he was looking at her scars, and shifted awkwardly, "they're in my dreams."

"Your dreams?"

"The dreams that started the day I lost my career."

"Oh," he said closing the book and looking over the small woman. She sipped the tea softly and looked at him with her silver blue eyes, the right one was ever so slightly clouded. He heard the wind pick up outside and looked out for a moment, then back at her. Storms like this unsettled him and he wrapped his sweater tight as rain began to pour.

She looked at him and placed a hand on his, "you don't like the rain either?"

"Not so fond memories of storms."

She squeezed his hand softly and put down her cup of tea on her dresser. She moved close and hugged his arm, laying on his shoulder. He felt his face flush because of her warmth and gulped hard. Touma looked down and smiled. He didn't know what she had all been through, and she didn't know what he had been through, but the same discomfort of the storm somehow comforted him.

The door slammed open and they both jumped as a woman stood in the door way smiling. She was a tall woman with a grin that went ear to ear, "well don't stop kanoodling for my sake..."

"We weren't kanoodling, Lee," Hoshi squeaked as the woman came in. Her mischievous grin spreading as she looked over the blue haired man who pulled away from the small woman.

Lee looked like a powerful woman. Her hair was a dark raven gray and and braided over each shoulder intricately. Her eyes were a deep dark blue that they were almost black and filled with as much mischief as the grin on her tanned face. She was about 6''1', and had the curves to match. Touma felt his face turn even redder, she was wearing a corset top under a black fringe leather jacket that plumped her breasts up. Her jeans were tight and almost looked like she was poured into the jeans to make them fit. She wore a cowboy hat and boots to the ensemble. There was no question in his mind this woman was 100 percent American.

"Doesn't matter to me, if you snuck a boy in here," the woman said leaning over to Touma and looking his shocked face over. She pushed her boobs up some making him turn even more crimson with wide eyes. "He's cute..."

"LEE~!"

Lee snickered as Touma moved away and stood up, "I'm sorry...who is this?"

"My friend Lee Lucus, I didn't know she had flown in."

"It was gonna surprise you, and sure enough it was," Lee grinned winking at Touma and making him turn scarlet. "I thought you came for treatment, not for boys."

Hoshi threw a pillow at her, "would you knock it off?"

The woman sat in Hoshi's wheelchair and popped a wheel to spin, dodging the pillow with ease and laughing, "I just wanted to say I'm proud of you."

Hoshi grabbed another pillow and hid her face in it.

Touma cleared his throat, his cheeks still a slight shade of pink, "so you're from the US as well?"

Lee smiled and wheeled the chair around, she had some small tattoos on each of her hands. The letters across her knuckles reading, 'Alpha Bitch'. She held out the the hand with a moon on the back in deep indigo colored ink, "Lee Lucus. Bounty Hunter Extraordinare."

Hoshi mumbled under pillow to complain, "Lee..."

Touma shook her hand, "Touma Hashiba."

She shook his hand firmly, almost shaking his arm off, and let go. She spun one more time, and then with all the sweet mocking tone of an older sister, "oooh, the prince of tech. Hoshi, you has fine tastes."

Hoshi threw another pillow and Lee laughed as she blocked it, "well, you two can go back to kanoodling. I've got some other business to take care of while I'm in the country."

"We aren't kanoodling~!"

"Sure, you aren't," Lee teased brightly as she hopped up and dumped the pillows on her small friend. She winked at Touma, "just make sure to use protection. You knock her up, I kill you..."

"LEEEEEE~!"

Lee kissed her friend's head before heading towards the door, "do something I would do~!"

Hoshi threw another pillow as her friend closed the door. She looked at Touma who was red and she sighed, "sorry...she's very open with her perverted nature."

"I can see that."

She curled up with her remaining pillow and hid her face, wincing at the pain that now racked her body from the sudden enthusiastic movements. She could feel her nerves catching on fire and she bit her lip hard as tears stung her eyes.

Touma looked her, reaching out in concern, but recoiling his hand as she pulled away. "Hey...are you alright?"

"Can you go now, please? I want to lay down."

Touma stood up and nodded, "hey, uh...can I come back and visit you?"

She raised a brow and looked up at him and nodded. He could see the pain in her twisting her face and tearing up her gray blue eyes as she squeezed the pillow tight. He stepped out quietly and closed the door behind him. Shin was coming down the hall, "hey, you guys have fun?"

"That better not be a double entendre."

"Hm?"

"Never mind. Yes, I enjoyed her company."

"Good," Shin said with a grin, but then realized why Touma might have left. He had known her for a few weeks now, and he always had to leave when she was in too much pain. "Is she not feeling well?"

"No," Touma answered not really wanting to talk about how the strange busty woman caused the small sweet lady to double over in pain.

"I'll visit with her next time then, she probably doesn't need more excitement for the day." Shin sighed as they started walking down the hall. He slid his hands in his pockets. Miss Hoshi was far more sensitive than Miss Raleigh, even though she was healing a lot faster.

Touma nodded and then in a soft manner, "can I tag along again?"

Shin looked at him and bumped his shoulder with a soft grin spreading across his face, "play nice."

"Of course. She's just a nice person is all. She did say something about a lady that you like visiting yourself."

Shin turned red as he looked away, "oh... Yes. Miss Raleigh. Yes, she's nice."

Touma bumped his shoulder back, "and?"

"It's not like that," Shin said firmly turning even more red.

"Sure..."

"She's so far from home, and has no one here," Shin said with incredibly pink cheeks. "She was hurt real bad, and can't talk anymore. She's learning sign language, and needs someone to practice with."

"She can't talk?"

Shin shook his head.

"Hoshi said she was in the military?"

"Miss Raleigh is a Navy Seal."

"What's up with all the Americans at this hospital?"

"It's Doctor Kazehana," Shin explained as they entered the elevator. "She's sort of a the best doctor right now for those with severe burn injuries. Miss Hoshi went to school with her, and miss Raleigh was closer to Japan than she was the US."

Touma leaned back against the elevator, "that's awful."

Shin nodded.

"You heard from the others?"

"No, Ryo is still off doing whatever. Seiji, last I heard had some family function."

Touma paused awkwardly, "and Shu?"

Shin just shrugged.

"Guess that talk didn't go well."

"No, it didn't," Shin said looking off. He really didn't feel up to talking about the conversation him and their other friend had. It was awkward at best, and painful at the worst. He hated that he left his friend feeling that way, but the conversation had to be had. He kicked his foot against the elevator, "Hey, you should come over for dinner with me and Yuli. I'm making lasagna."

Touma nodded, "sounds good. Don't worry, Shin. Shu just needs some time, you know how much of hot head he is."

"Yeah. I don't think it's that."

Touma nodded quietly as the elevator dinged open and they headed out of the hospital and into the rain.