Prologue One: Ryo

Soccer camp. I'll never look at it the same way again. Okay, so maybe going to a coed camp was a bad idea. But I know plenty of girls that play soccer just as well as the guys, maybe even better. And besides, as much as I love hanging out with the other Ronins, you can only deal with that much testosterone for so long before you need a break. Coed soccer camp seemed like a good idea. Play soccer, meet girls, what could go wrong?

Camp was easy. We arrived at the place which was located way out in the country south of Hiroshima and were divided into four teams and thanks to my armor, I was faster, stronger, and had more stamina then anyone else. Or so I thought anyways.

I was proved wrong the day we arrived at camp. Some of us had unpacked, and decided to play an impromptu game of-what else-soccer. I'm a forward, and a damn good one at that. I had the ball, and was preparing myself to score when out of nowhere I felt a body brush against mine. A leg entangled with mine for a moment to steal the ball, and I had just enough time to feel a soft breath on my neck, and catch a flash of black hair and blue eyes before she was gone, scoring the winning goal in our little game.

Menaka Mizuti. She told me later her name meant celestial damsel, rolling her eyes as she relayed the information. Apparently her parents had been obsessed with the heavens. Her older brother's name meant angels. If she had ever asked me I would have told her celestial damsel suited her just fine. Probably a good thing she never asked. She wouldn't have like to hear that.

Now I'm no pervert or anything, don't get me wrong. I'm just your average hormonal, 17 year old boy. Menaka happened to be the most gorgeous thing I'd ever laid eyes on. At first glance, we could be mistaken for brother and sister, but you look closer and you'd see the difference. We shared the same black hair and blue eyes but where I was sun tanned, with cerulean eyes and slightly messy black hair Menaka possessed an ethereal quality that I have never encountered since. Blue eyes almost dark enough to be black, silken raven locks that flowed to her shoulder blades, skin as pale as moonlight, and a body that called out for men to fall down and worship it. It looked even better naked.

We were the two best forwards at that camp, and that drew us to each other. We got to know each other and developed an easy relationship. Menaka was the perfect break I had been seeking, a wild, short tempered beauty with an attitude and a foul mouth. She looked innocent, but wasn't in reality. A devil in white, or a fallen angel. Whichever you prefer.

Apparently she's rubbed off on me, because ever since I've been back the guys say I'm more impatient, more foul mouthed myself. All from spending most of my time at camp with Menaka. At first I and every other straight guy at camp just hung out with her because she was fun and cute, but as time passed I could see that her arrogance was just a façade designed to cover some deep unknown truth. That she was the object of most of her scorn, and her cynicism hiding a broken spirit. I did everything I could to earn her trust, so that she would let me in on her secret. It wasn't uncommon for us to just hang out and do drills together, or go for a jog. It was on one of these jogs that we discovered a lake hidden in the woods our camp was located in. It was there, on that same day, we both lost our virginity. Looking back, neither of us really understood how it happened but it did, and as neither of us regretted it, we never saw it as being important. But it was in it's own way, because was the event that triggered our relationship at camp.

Whenever I had been with a girl previously I had held part of myself back. I was always polite, gentle, and attentive, and part of me despised myself for it. Fire is after all a passionate searing creature that comes and goes as it pleases and I was the Ronin of Wildfire.

I had none of these issues with Menaka. There was nothing gentle, or polite about our relationship. It was a bright, ardent passion that roared within our bodies. Being with Menaka was absolute freedom, the freedom to do what ever the hell our little hearts desired. And they desired a whole lot. It was not uncommon for us to return to our respective cabins sore, walking stiffly for several days. There were no strings attached, and by the end of the month we spent at that camp I knew every single curve of her body, knew exactly what turned her on, what gave her the most pleasure. In return, she had learned how to push me to a dangerous line, once keeping me on the edge of orgasm for three days. It was not easy playing soccer while I was that aroused, but I managed. Menaka informed me at the end of the three days that it hurt to piss. I was rather proud of myself.

We both knew it would never last, would never work out. At the end of the month we exchanged good byes, and promises to keep in touch which both of us knew neither would keep. She bitched for a bit about the plane ride she would have to undergo to return to her native home of Sapporo, located on Japan's northernmost island, and yelled at me for pointing out my car ride back to Tokyo would take longer. Then she was gone, and I was left with a flicker of a memory.

Just like fire…

Leaving and coming back in all it's glory when it was least expected…