Destiny (Ronin/Witchblade Crossover)
By: Yin-Yang & JanimeLee
~Chapter One~
As the dawn's light crept over the quiet town, it spilled in a room filled with colorful rugs, blankets and pillows all around the floor. Sitting on a large pillow was a teenage girl, dressed in a flannel shirt from last night, silently meditating. The light lit up her soft, dark lavender hair, softly chanting under her breath. She heard the door open yet continued with her morning ritual.
"Zenida," Dini called softly, yet the humorous tone came forward. The pink-haired girl crept into the room, tiptoeing her way over to the other girl.
She continued chanting softly, holding her hands to her chest clasp together, seemingly lost in her own world yet as her friend's hand came close to touch her she reached out and grabbed her wrist in a firm grip. "I'm almost done, Dini," she answered softly, opening an eye to reveal a deep teal with a very calm and balance look in them. Yet she smiled as she closed her eye and released her grip, moving her hands to her lap as she finished and opened both eyes to her friend.
"You're up early."
Dini grinned and flipped a stray lock of hair over her shoulder. "Oh well," she said. "Since I am up early, I don't intend to let this day go to waste. You know me."
"All too well," Zendina couldn't help smiling.
Her friend wrinkled her petite nose at her, flopping back on a plush pillow, not caring as her boxers rode up and stretched her arms over head. "You won't believe how late Nightwolf came in last night. I swear I think she sleeps so late in the day just so she can party all night long!" she laughed at her own joke, curling long legs under her body.
"Hence her nickname," said Zendina.
"If she keeps this up, I'll have to start referring her as a vampire." Dini giggled.
"Oh yeah her dad would like that."
"Whose dad?" A girl around their age with dark electric blue hair stumbled into the room, wearing a pair of black sweat pants with a ragged, blue tank top with her blue hair half sticking up from the gel she hadn't washed out yet. She yawned largely behind her hand. Wolf slippers slid across the floor and she fell face first in the low bed.
"Zen... why must your bed be so low..." she groaned, looking at them with tired greenish blue eyes. "Onna these day's I'm gonna hit the floor 'stead..."
"Maybe you'll finally wake up," Dini said innocently and cried out when a pillow was throw at her.
Zendina shook her head and stood up. "I prefer tradition, as my father taught me."
"Yeah we know. Speaking of dads they're coming to pick us up later today. Dad called me this morning."
A grunt was heard from the bed and the sleeping figure then a voice. "I am not waking the Cobra Queen. Last time she threw everything at me to get out of her room."
Although some of the girls' parents had divorced some years ago their dads had bought this large home so they could stay together, their mothers coming to visit from time to time, and had huge slumber parties. This month Dini's mother came to visit, taking a break from her modeling career.
"Dini," Lupia narrowed her tired eyes, "do not even think about dragging out that magic kit."
"Why not?" Dini looked hurt.
"Because the last time you did a disappearing trick, it was with our money," answered Zenida. "And for some strange reason the next day you were wearing a brand new sweater."
She silently looked away, remembering the new pink sweater she saw that matched her hair and bought it. "It was on sale." She was attack by pillows but they all laughed in a good way. These girls were close friends and so was one other yet she was still sleeping the early day away.
A knock was heard on the door and an older lady with white blonde hair entered the room, smiling at the girls. "Breakfast is almost ready and then after that we can go to the mall before the crowds hit."
The girls cheered and race down the steps into the kitchen. They stopped short in the doorway at the sight of the green-haired girl setting out the dishes. She looked up momentarily and nodded her head, as if giving them permission to enter.
The older woman followed behind them, gently pushing the girls to the chairs and smiled happily. "Naomi was kind enough to help me prepare the table." On the table was a healthy blend of oriental and southern foods filled with fresh fruits and large glasses of juice. She waited as the girls sat down before sitting herself and after giving a morning thanks began to eat.
The girls began to talk as they teased each other and it was Naomi who spoke up. "Lupia. Next time you want to come in at 3 in the morning, don't wake me, expecting me to dance with you or I'll shove you in the shower with ice cold water."
Lupia swallowed. "Sorry. I guess that was real beer in the root beer."
Zenida almost chocked. "You drank?!"
"Just kidding," Lupia waved her spoon. "Gods, why do you have to take everything so seriously?"
"Maybe if you learned to be a bit more responsible than I wouldn't have any problems." She glared at her plate, stuffing her face with food and kept her dark eyes down.
Dini was open to open her mouth to say something but a look from her mother and she stayed quiet. Breakfast went on quietly, talking about today's plans and when they finished they set their dishes in the kitchen and raced to tackle the first bathroom. Dini laughed at her friends as she raced for the master bathroom.
"Make sure you leave some hot water for us!" Lupia yelled from the other side of the door.
"Fat chance! Besides you still have the other bathroom down the hall!" she yelled through the door, tossing her nightclothes in the hamper and turned the hot water on. Soon off-key singing was heard throughout the second floor of the large home.
"I'm going to get dressed already, I took a shower last night." Zenida wished her friends luck and headed to her room to change into her clothes. Even with the large home and multiple bedrooms the bathrooms were only three and a half. And one of the bathrooms had sprung a bad water leak.
"So much for hot water," Lupia sighed.
Naomi narrowed her eyes at the closed door. Without saying a word, she turned and headed down the stairs and into the basement. Naomi raised her hand to the water pipes hanging above her had, tracing them from the water heater itself to where they divided to the different sections of the house. Finally she found the pipe that led to the second floor, which divided into two--one for the sink, the other for the shower.
"Eenie, meenie, minee," Naomi muttered and turned the knob. A loud shriek came from above. "Moe."
Zenida momentarily stuck her head out the room, a question in her eyes but it was answered when a shivering hot pink haired girl stormed out of the bathroom, having hastily wrapped two towels around her nude form. She glared at her friends and stormed to her room to change, slamming the door. The lavender haired girl understood and began to laugh softly.
"One way to shut her up. Bath time!" the blue haired one happily ducked in, not really caring whether or not the water was cold as ice. IN fact winter was her most favorite season. Mom said she got that from her dad.
Later once all the girls were dressed and more or less in better moods they piled into the large van and took off to the mall. Parking relatively close they headed inside. Houdini wore her hair in a high ponytail, wearing her matching sweater and bell bottom, black slacks and pink platform sandals; Lupia opted for knee length slacks with white rhinestones, sleeveless pink shirt with the same thing, blue hair in a bun and sandals also; Zenida wore baggy khakis with black tennis shoes, dark red shirt with a gold chain and Indian scarf across her chest, her hair loose; and Naomi wore her playboy bunny tube top, hip hugger jeans with numerous tears and a studded collar. Her green hair was pulled in a high ponytail tail as well, her pierced navel and heart tattoo on her arm very visible.
Naomi's dad always frowned when she dressed this way. Actually "frowned" was an understatement--he flipped, and yelled at her and at her mother for letting his daughter dress this way. Then her mother commented that Naomi got it from him, as her father had a large cobra tattooed on his back with two matching cobras on both his calves.
Zenida looked at the quiet girl for a moment, thinking how different her relationship with her father was compared to Naomi's and her dad.
Her father was traditional to the last bit but he was more of the eastern culture of Japan while her mother was that of India heritage. needless to say she never knew her grandparents very well since they did not approve of the marriage but her parents always did what they could for her. This month her mother had to return home, her sister was getting married and she was asked as a special guest. She and her dad decided to stay here in Japan.
She looked at her other two friends and smiled. Lupia seemed to have passed for her dad's sister rather than his daughter. He worked late hours at a strip club as a bouncer and at times a bar tender. Irony enough her mother was a dancer/waitress at the same place. Right now they were separated but hadn't filed for a divorce yet. Neither liked it that she stayed out so late but they trusted her. However if these nights affected her schoolwork then both of them would get on her case. She still loved them both greatly.
Houdini, Dini for short, was another case. Her mother was a model and her father was a part time painter and owned his own magic/joke shop. Hence where Dini got her love of pranks. Her parents divorced when she was young but they managed to be there for her when they could. Looking at everyone they were all an unusual bunch yet all in all good friends.
"Ladies! where would you like to go first?" Ms Dominic asked, smiling at the girls warmly. she looked no older than the girls and yet acted more of a friend than Dini's mom.
"Clairia's!" three voices cheered. Naomi remained silent.
"Good," said Ms. Dominic. "it's right next to food court. We'll meet there for lunch at one."
"Mom," Dini said sweetly. "May I borrow some money?"
"What happened to the money I gave you last week?"
"Remember that fund raiser for school?"
"Fine," Ms. Dominic sighed. "Wait until I park. Anybody else need cash?"
"No thanks, Ms. D," said Lupia. "We got our own."
Once the car was parked and Dini charmed a few extra dollars from her mother--swearing she'd pay it back--the four girls ran into the mall towards Clairia's, leaving Ms. Dominic at the entrance.
Once inside it was true to see that the mall was indeed nearly empty. the stores were open but not many people were shopping around. Immediately they hated towards Claire's and looked around. Dini found some large, plastic earrings with fake rhinestones. Lupia said she looked weird in them. Naomi didn't like the store much and waited at the door for them. Zenida found simple bracelet with yellow, dark red, and even darker green.
"My mother would like this," she smiled and bought it right away, slipping it in her pocket when she was done.
"Naomi, aren't you going to get anything?" Zenida asked.
"Nah," the other girl shook her head. "Nothing here ever caught my interest."
"Come on," said Dini. "At least admit there is something that you like."
Just then a young boy in their age group passed by the store. He was wearing dark clothes, had a few tattoos on his arms, and a few piercings in his ears, bottom lip and left eyebrow. The other girls watched Naomi's face light up a bit as the boy walked by and disappeared around the corner.
"I don't think he's on sale, Naomi," said Lupia.
"Shut up," the green haired girl snapped.
Later on, the four were sitting on a bench, debating where to go next.
"Didn't they open a new store last week?" asked Zenida.
"Yeah," said Lupia. "They say that it's rather popular in America. "What was it called... Hot Tropics...?
"Hot Topic?" Naomi asked.
"Yeah, that's it!" Dini said. "You've heard of it?"
"I'm at the web site almost every other day," Naomi grinned, the first time all day showing that she cared. "They've got a lot of awesome stuff there. It's a little expensive but great quality."
"Well then as my mom used to say doing a sale, CHARGE!" She grabbed a hold of their arms and practically dragged them to the store. Most of the people in the mall were already in the store, examining all the articles of clothes and other such items they had. Needless to say all the girls saw what they liked immediately.
"That dress it so cool!" Lupia gaped at the leather-like skin-tight dress that hung on a wall rack to the left.
"Blue tiger stripped pants..." Zendina blinked.
"Check this out!" Dini held up a pink bra and panty set with "Princess" written on the panty.
Naomi was over by the jewelry case, admiring the rings and other baubles inside. A snake bracelet caught her eye.
Each of them moved out to look in the new store, admiring everything as Lupia and Zendina asked to try on the clothes. Dini held onto the underwear set, looking at some more items and also decided to buy a necklace of a spider with the chain looking like a web.
Naomi was studying the snake bracelet intently, trying it on and seeing how it fit her perfectly. She was so in tune in wondering whether or not to buy it when a male voice spoke up behind her.
"I think it suits you." She whirled to snap at the one who startle her and the words caught in her throat. it was the same guy that passed by when they were at Clairia's. She swallowed and nodded.
"You think so?" she asked, looking at the bracelet once more. it reminded so much of her dad.
The young girl smiled as she saw her friend striking a conversation so she decided o wander around some more, thinking about maybe waiting another day to buy the pants but looking in a case with more jewelry was a bracelet with a black carved gem on it. Peering closer it was the head of a dog creature. "A wolf..." she breathed softly and asked the cashier if she could see the bracelet. once in her hands she felt something so weird, so powerful she slowly slipped it on and looked at it. "How much is this?" she asked quietly, eyes never leaving the gem stone wolf on the silver band.
"It's on sale today," said the clerk--a girl about her age with a nose ring. "Half price. It's the only one that was delivered but nobody ever showed any interest to buy."
"It's the only one?" Lupia asked
"Hai," the clerk answered. "That one, the snake, the spider, and the one over there to you left."
She looked down and show that this bracelet was nearly a duplicate and the one she was wearing except the gem was a golden piece of amber and it was carved into something almost human-like. an ogre maybe. Looking at the other two she took a deep breathe and nodded her head. "Okay. I'll take these three and the snake one my friend is wearing." She pointed over to Naomi. "Is it okay if she can wear it out?"
"Sure lemme just ring them up." So she did, scanning the snake bracelet on a displease Naomi and rang the total together. It was a bit much but not so bad that her parents would get after her about it. She also got the dress and holding the bag in her hand and receipt in her pocket wait for Zenida and Dini to finish with their shopping also.
"Hey Lupia." the green haired girl walked to her friend, lightly scowling as she held up her arm. "What's the big idea?"
"Please Naomi just... think of it as a present okay?" she meet her eyes, blue-green meeting a deep color eyes of no determined color. the green haired girl slowly lowered her arm and looked around for her friends yet whispered a single word to her.
"Thanks."
Lupia smiled. "You're welcome."
"Dude! This is so cool!" Dini all but squealed with delight as she looked at the bracelet, now adorning her left wrist.
"How much sugar have you eaten today?" Zenida asked.
"not much," Dini said, sipping her soda.
"Define 'much'," ordered Naomi
The pink haired girl just rolled her eyes some but lowered her soda some. "A bag of sugar coated gummy worms and three packets of sweet tarts."
"And still no cavities. My dear you are lucky," Mrs. Dominic smiled as she ate her salad. They had all finished with their shopping more or less and were now enjoying a nice lunch in the Food Court of the slightly louder mall crowd. Dini seemed very happy eating her large bag of candy she had bought at the Chocolate Shoppe and her large coke; Zenida just smiled and ate her fish sandwich with delight; Naomi shook her head at the younger girl and continued with her Big Mac combo meal, continuously looking at her bracelet; Lupia tried hard not to choke at her laughed and ate her pizza, making a slight mess with the gooey cheese. "I must say you did get a good deal on these bracelets. There are unlike anything I have seen before."
Lupia nodded and swallowed the large mouthful. "Thanks just something was telling me to buy them. Like... I dunno a feeling. Felt right but the more I look at it the more it reminds me of dad..
"You know I got the same feeling! Dad is like always sneaking around to pull a prank on us and when I asked him why he just said that he was invisible like a spider." Dini glanced at the rose pink spider on her wrist that shone in the lights of the large building.
"same here," said Zenida as she looked at her bracelet. Her father loved springtime and she remembered the old story he used to tell her when she was younger about how ogres guarded the spring crystal.
"What about you, Naomi?" Dini asked.
Naomi just shrugged. "Snakes are a part of my dad's life," the green-haired girl said. "Don't forget he has three pythons and several small garden snakes."
"Let's not forget his tattoos, either," said Lupia.
Naomi grunted.
The mother of Dini looked deep in thought as she thought she remembered one time she accidentally over heard Dais and his friends talk about something in their past. It was shortly after they had been married and just now she remembered about it but it quickly faded from her mind. "So! is there any other store you girls wish to go to?"
"Mmm." Zenida wiped her hands on the napkin and began to look for her wallet. "I wanted to buy a new book on history. I already read my books at home inside out."
"Alright ladies. if you're done let's dispose of the trash and head to the bookstore."
"Books are for geeks," Naomi muttered.
"Not really," said Lupia. "You'll see." I think you'll like the occult section.
The ladies headed over to the bookstore an they spread out some, looking in different sections and looking at the new releases so none noticed at a group of young men stepped into the store, spreading out so they blocked the doorway and in a swift motion pulled their coats aside and reveal guns. "Okay everyone! Just give us your valuables and no one gets hurts!"
Everyone looked at each other scared, frozen tot heir spots and even as the clerks did the same one tried to move to hit the security switch under the register. A gunshot was hear and the switch was blown up. The clerk, a woman as old as Mrs. Dominic looked at the man with fearful eyes. "Try that again and you'll end up the same way." Mrs. Dominic stayed calm as she gathered the girls together in the history section of the store. This was the last thing they needed of all days.
Naomi watched as one of the crooks held out a bag and other customers dropped their wallets, jewelry and anything valuable into the bag. Naomi's right hand covered her new bracelet. No, he couldn't take it from her. She wasn't going to lose to this asshole.
The robber walked in front of Mrs. Dominic. "empty it, lady," he said, waving his handgun in a threatening manner. "And whatever you brats have, too."
"Just don't hurt us," was alls he said as she let her purse fall into the bag. The girls silently gave them any visible times that seemed valuable but the bracelets that had just gotten were still on.
"Those things too."
"Try it and I'll make you pay," Naomi hissed at him. Unbeknown to anyone in the store the bracelet seemed to have begun to shine just a bit even with no light reflecting off it. the snake blinked painted eyes and seemed to shift on the girl's wrist.
"You and what army?" the man snorted. He grabbed Naomi's left wrist. Suddenly the bracelet sprang to life and bit the robber's hand. Fangs sank deep into his flesh, making the robber cry out and he yanked back his hand. A light trail of smoke rose from the puncture wounds.
"What's wrong?" another robber asked.
"That damn girl bit me!" the first one shouted. Then his hands flew to his throat and he fell to his knees gasping. "I can't breathe!"
Two of the robber ran over to see what the matte was and if they could help but his face was beginning to turn blue from the lack of air. One of them turned to the girls, the safety trigger off and was pointed straight at Naomi herself. "You little-"
"No!" Dini reached out to push her friend out of the way but at that moment her bracelet sprang to life, literally. The spider attached itself to the man's face and soon began to spin a web tightly around his head. No matter how hard he tried to pull the silk off it kept increasing. "S-Stop it!" The spider halted, slowly the spinning coming to a stop before returning to Dini's wrist.
This unfortunately brought the attention of the other robbers, coming to see what the problem was and saw one of their own laying on the ground, barely alive as she gasped for what little air he could and the other trying vainly to rip threads of pure, sticky silk from around his head.
The remaining robbers looked in fright at the other two; then turned anger filled eyes on the girls.
"Uh oh," whispered Lupia.
Suddenly her bracelet and Zenida's began to glow. A large wolf and a huge ogre appeared before them. The wolf pounced on one of the robbers as the ogre grabbed the remaining two and slammed them together, knocking them out cold. The wolf and the ogre disappeared and all four bracelets stopped glowing.
Everyone looked at them all in sheer shock, wondering just what on earth was going on when the spider bracelet filled the room with a bright light and one word was whispered in their minds. "Forget."
The security guards hauled the robbers away, taking the body of the one with the snakebite out with a sheet thrown over his face. he was pronounced dead on the scene. They asked what went on and how on earth on robber was dead and the other was nearly suffocated to death with spider silk yet no one knew the answer. All they said was they couldn't remember. No one remembered except for four young ladies who kept quiet.
Dini stared out the window as her mother drove them all home, unusually quiet she and the others had much to think on. The bracelets saved them but what were these things? how could they be so magical? so special? The others were thinking along the same lines, each wondering how this was indeed possible. Magic didn't exist. Did it?
~End of Chapter One~