Disclaimer: I do not own Ronin Warriors, or the warlords, or Tapla… snuggles white blaze

The storm

Kento's very first surfing lesson went very well. He took to the water almost as quickly as Cye had. Though Kento fell off his board a lot, he enjoyed the experience, and kept getting back up. The two of them had gone to the beach again a while later. They were alone, as their friends had previous plans. Still, the sin was shining, the water was cool, and the surfing was choice!

They surfed for about an hour before stopping to eat lunch on the beach. After that, Cye was lying on the beach for a while, catching the sun's rays. He naturally had pale skin, and he was hoping the day at the beach would change that. However, he was broken out of his thoughts as a beach ball landed right on his bare stomach. He looked up and saw Kento looking down at him. His lips were moving, but Cye couldn't hear him. After a moment, Cye propped himself up on his elbows and took the ear buggies out of his ears ad removed his sunglasses.

"What's up, Kento?"
"I thought we could play a little one on one in volleyball!"
"What? Now?"
"Yeah… unless you're chicken!"

If it was one thing Cye didn't like, it was being called chicken. Smirking, Cye grabbed the ball and ran towards a net that had been already set up. The two went at it for nearly two hours. Kento, being the stronger one, always got the upper hand with his overhead spikes. However, Cye was faster, and he had better maneuverability. Though, by the end of the game, both boys were exhausted and fell down by their stuff. Kento had won the game. Said winner was lying down on his back, panting as if he had just run a marathon. Cye was a little more tired, but he was able to keep it to himself. For a long time after that, he just looked out to the ocean, spacing out.

He finally came to when a cold drink can was pressed up against his cheek. Cye jumped and fell over sideways into the heated sand. When he sat up again, holding his cold cheek, Kento was laughing at him. The stone-cold- ronin warrior was laughing so hard he was almost in tears. Cye blushed a moment and looked away. Kento heaved a few deep breaths, and then cleared his throat, handing over the can. Cye took it, still not looking at his friend. Again, he was drawn to the sight of the shimmering sea. Kento popped open his drink and looked out, also.

"It's nice just sitting out here…"

"I guess."

"The sea is always so peaceful and calming after…"

Cye trailed off, and Kento gave him a sideways glance. Cye had his head down. He was thinking of all the fighting again. Kento knew how much it all bothered his friend, but he also knew there was nothing he could do about it. He just silently hoped something would take their minds off of the fighting and the pain, even for just a while. Just then, Kento yawned. Cye laughed softly and looked over.

"What? You're tired out already? It's barely into the afternoon! I thought you were tougher than that!"

"Hey, I am! Don't go mocking my macho style!"

"Macho, huh? Maybe in your dreams!"

"Ouch!"

"Did I hurt your pride there?"

"Yeah you did, and now I'm gonna give you a noogy!"

"Ah!"

Cye scrambled to his feet and ran away from Kento, who had his arms stretched out wide. He tried to catch up to the other, but tripped in the sand. Cye took a step back to see if he was okay, and the other boy jumped up, covered in sane and sweat and chased him again. It was an adorable sight, to see two best friends running around without a care in the world. That game of tag soon ended as Cye suddenly stopped dead and stared at the water. Kento was slowing down, also, and he didn't look away from what he saw. The waves were raising up higher and higher and crashing down with crushing force.

Kento had never seen such choice waves before, and so he was obviously excited about getting out into it. Cye was a little reluctant to let a beginner out on the big ones, but when Kento reminded him that he was with him, nothing bad could happen. Sighing, Cye looked back to the water. He did want to go out there, and forget about everything else, and so he ran over and grabbed their boards from the sand.

The waves were a bit stronger than what Kento was used to, and Cye helped him out whenever he fell. However, the big waves didn't last long, and they went back to surfing the smaller ones until it started to grow dark. The sun was just beginning to get low in the sky, and the two were quite a ways from shore, they could barely see it from where they were. Cye was lying back on his board and had his eyes closed. He was tired. Kento, on the other hand, was looking around the water.

"Um…Cye?"

"Yeah?"

"Are there sharks out here…?"

"Maybe."

"H-how can you say that so calmly! If there are sharks, they'll eat us!"

"Relax, Kento!"

Cye opened his eyes and sat up, finally.

"If there are sharks, I'm sure they could find a lot more tasting things to eat than us!"

"Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Maybe!"

"Cye!"

"Cool it! We're perfectly safe out here!"

That's when something completely unexpected happened. Thunder struck above them. Both boys jumped after hearing the loud crash. Soon, dark clouds moved unnaturally fast over their location, and the sea turned choppy. It was all so sudden, and neither of them knew what was going on until they were being pushed and pulled by the water. Cye tried to hold onto Kento's hand, as he was having the most trouble, but a huge wave formed behind them. Neither stood a chance of moving away, and it swept over them. When the choppy water went a little calmer, Cye broke through the surface, gasping. He swam back to his board and looked around, unable to see his friend. The empty board floated nearby, and Cye swam by it, and then left his own board and went back down. It took a minute, but he finally came back up, and helped Kento slide onto his board. Cye was still in the water, and Kento had a death grip on his hand.

"Kento, are you alright!"

"I-I'm fine, man… just a little shaken…"

"I'm with you on that one! This storm came outta nowhere!"

Cye looked up to the sky, and found that it was as wild and angry-looking as an old man who just had his wallet stolen right out of his hands. When Kento squeezed Cye's hand, he looked back and got the hint. They needed to get back to shore. Cye let go of the other's hand for just a moment a made a smart move by tying the boards together by the anklet tethers. Then, he mounted his own board and the two of them padded their way towards shore.

The scary thing was, no matter how long or hard they paddled, they only seemed to be getting further away from their destination. The beach was soon out of sight, and Cye stopped paddling. The storm was not natural at all, and whoever had summoned it did not want them going that way, he began to desperately look for an alternative. Much to his dismay, there was only one, and it wouldn't be pleasant. The current was pushing them towards a rocky cliff, possibly on another island. But there was nothing there but rocks. If they hit full on, they probably wouldn't survive.

"Cye… we'll be okay, right?"

He could tell Kento was afraid. Water wasn't his element, and he couldn't find much assurance in it; though, at the time, Cye was, strangely enough, having the same problems. Could he trust the water to help them, or was he on his own that time? He was a strong swimmer, but everyone had limits, and he wasn't sure what he could manage when he was so tired. But, instead of projecting worry and fear, Cye showed a hopeful smile.

"We'll be fine! I have an idea, but I need you to really trust me!"

"I trust you, man."

"Okay. Just let me do all the work!"

Kento nodded and pulled his hands out of the water and he grabbed onto the side of his board as Cye turned them around. He was heading towards the cliffs. At first, Kento thought he was crazy, but he did trust his friend to protect them. As he swam, Cye concentrated on trying to control the water just around them. He searched out with his mind. And saw something like a hole in the cliff wall. He only had a moment to act, as they had gotten dangerously close, and he rolled both of them off their boards and into the choppy water. They went down, and their boards were smashed into the rock.

The winds were blowing, and the water was still tough to navigate through, even for the water ronin. Luckily, fate was on his side, and he managed to swim around and find the hole in the cliff. He wasn't so lucky getting there, however, because he and Kento were literally thrown inside. Cye groaned as his legs got scratched up by the rough cave, but he had to keep moving. He hauled himself up, and half-drug Kento in far enough so that they were free of the waves.

Cye laid Kento down flat on his back and checked him out. He had a nasty scrape on his arm, and there was some blood on his swim shorts. At the time, he wasn't sure if he had a cut there, or if it was from his arm. At least Kento was breathing, if not a little roughly. Then, he turned the other boy onto his stomach and pushed up on his back, that forced a great deal of seawater out of his lungs, and after a few silent minutes of that, Kento finally reacted, spitting up even more. Then, he coughed, some, and moved his arms from his side to cradle his face, which was lying on the floor of the cold cave. Cye continued to tend to Kento until he was sure that he was okay. As he was doing that, he noticed that some peach colored droplets were falling from his hair and face and onto the back of Kento's swim shirt. Reaching a hand up, he was horrified to see blood on his hand. Sighing, he looked out to the angry sky.

"…What will become of us here…?"