Author's Notes: I do not own the Ronin Warriors, the Warlords, Kayura, or Mia. Nor do I own the Mouri family; they are canon. This story could be considered as somewhat of a sequel to 'Moon Ritual' in 30 Tales.

Chapter One: Telephones

The smell of tide water was heavy tonight, as though she had never grown up with the sea air in her lungs. The shell chimes danced with the wind pulling a gray veil over the moon. Mouri Sayoko shifted the transmission into park, rolled the keys out of the ignition, and started for the darkened house.

The front door's stained glass washed the green of her eyes and her auburn hair in swaths of blue. She turned the lock, seeing through her mirror twin as she searched the shadows for life. Mother was gone for a show, but where was her dear little brother?

Gone down to the shore, she surmised. The lad was always shoulder-deep in the waves, often looking up to the deviant moon as though he loved her. Sayoko found her own comforts in the water, though she always regarded Cye's bonds with a little jealousy. He was given a power that, no matter how destructive, was ultimately benign and nothing short of mystical. Sometimes she wished she could know the delight of feeling the element bend to her will.

So when her own name came stabbing at her in the dark, the blood iced in her veins. "Sayoko! Sayoko, come here!"

Cye was home after all. She led through the living room markedly with knees readied for collision with random furniture. In the entry of her brother's room and reached for the light switch.

"No!" His voice was so sharp her hand drew back as though the electricity had run through her. "I have a migraine."

"Really? You sound fine." Other than your temper, she said inwardly. "Did you go to the doctor for that fever you had last week?"

"Yes, and nothing has helped. I've still got that, too. I made another hospital trip since then. The doctors don't know a damned thing. Do me a favor, will you? Make me some soup? I'm so hungry but the light hurts my eyes."

"Sure thing. Give me a few minutes."

There was nothing but a groan in reply. Sayoko closed the bedroom door, turned on the kitchen light, and set to work. How strange, she thought. Not even a month ago has was bubbling over with energy after one of his night swims. When she stopped in to visit three days later, he had collapsed. Whatever this vague illness is, it must have quite a grip on him.

She finished a small meal of miso and sashimi, pulled the switch chain on the hall table and cut the kitchen glare. A timid knock announced her presence and she opened the door to her brother's room. The sheets rustled. His shadow moved against the navy of the sky through the windows. The silhouette seemed freakishly large to her and it took all her will to fight the reflexive gasp. Instead she steadied her hands with the silver tray gleaming in the moonlight.

He said nothing more than a gruff thanks between bites of fish. Sayoko's eyes adjusted to the dimness and it was then that she saw the red thick over his fair skin as he held the soup bowl to greedy lips, more than any one man should have. In fact, the auburn hair seemed to run all the way up to his eyes glaring at her over the bowl with a certain hunger reserved for beasts.

The food disappeared more quickly than she had anticipated for someone who professed to be sick. "Sill hungry?"

"Mm-hmm." A little piece of flesh dropped from his lips only to be scraped up immediately into the teeth.

"Water?"

"I'm good." He swept up a jug from his feet and rattled the ice for her before craning his head back for a swig.

"Okay. Lie back down and I'll make you some more soup."

For the first time his voice was kind as it should have been. "Hey sis? Can you make some more fish for me, too? This is the first time I've eaten all day."

"Of course." Sayoko smiled, wondered if he could see it in the dark. Cye inhaled with a brief satisfaction and backed away from the silver between her hands.

In the living room she turned on the TV for cover noise and slid open the telephone table drawer. Here the family kept their address books. The shadow in that room had been too large to be her brother. It sounded like him, alright, and those were his eyes. Carnal and downright frightening, but his. Her fingers knew the danger. That was why they fished out the blue cotton-bound organizer and opened it at the D tab. The number she sought was right there on the first page, second one down.

The phone came with her into the kitchen, where she took a salmon fillet from the fridge and threw it on to grill. When the pink steak began to sizzle she washed her hands, shook the excess water in the sink, and rang the number into the rotary with still-wet fingers.

She opened the door to the deck and stood outside the noise of grilling fish, suddenly finding herself at a loss for words. Was the idea within her crazy? Could it really be, when her brother was the warrior decreed to channel the waters in a war between the light and dark?

The line clicked and an older male voice answered, "Good evening. Date residence."

"Oh. Yes," Sayoko stuttered, realizing she had been drifting. "I'm calling to speak with Sage. Is he in, please?"

"Just a moment." The phone muffled as it was set down. A minute passed in which she counted the waves, and then it came back up. The voice on the other end was younger than the first, though just as smooth and sounding older than she had anticipated. "This is Sage."

"Hello, Sage. This is Mouri Sayoko. Cye's sister."

An apprehensive pause and nothing more.

Sayoko continued, "This… may sound awkward, I've heard from Cye's stories that you're quite adept at the art of healing. He's had a fever for a while and it's not coming back down. I stopped by here just now and he's suffering from a migraine. The doctors haven't been able to do anything for him. Usually I would say this is just the flu with a bad headache on top, but…"

She drew a breath, forcing it out of herself. "He's changing. I can understand being sick and cranky, but he's been outright irritable for a while. The thing that really set me off, though, is this- I swore I saw hair all over him. I really don't know what's wrong with him and I thought you might. Do you have any oncoming engagements?"

There was no hesitation now. "That can be rearranged. I'll be there tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sage. You'll be compensated for the trip out."

"Don't worry about it. If Cye is as bad as you say, then I may be in the company of Rowen. You know the one of the Strata, yes?"

Sayoko had never met him but knew the name. "Yes."

"He has some medical training under his belt and may have some insight."

Turning to look at the blackened room where her brother sweated and awaited fish with a tense stomach, "Good, good. Maybe we should get Kento and Ryo out here to see him. I don't think it's that serious, but he's been bedridden for a while now. Maybe he'll get something out of the five of you being together."

"That's reasonable."

"I'll give Kento a call tomorrow." This was the only Ronin she had met. "Would you like me to call the others?"

"I can talk to them. I know their schedules, anyway. Expect whoever can make it tomorrow evening."

"We will be here."

"Good evening, then."

"Yes. Goodnight."

The line disconnected and left the searing to fill Sayoko's ears. She turned the meat and started another batch of miso, much larger this time. The steam rolled over her face as she wondered at the voice in the telephone and the aberrant boy in the other room.