Disclaimer: The Troopers and their universe do not belong to me but to their respective creators (whose name escapes me at the moment). Azhure, Orion and Silver belong to me and as for Aikyo and Rin, these characters belong to my friends Annette and Linda Marie.

About the story: I mainly wrote this fanfic for me and my two friends so yes, there will be pairings and yes, there will be romance. However, the story is mainly about the Troopers and how they will deal with a new threat. Love stories are on the side but not the main subject of this story. Also, I wrote that like I was reading a manga so if you want to have a better idea about the facial expressions and the action scenes, do the same.

About comments: Feel free to send me constructive comments about the story.

About misspellings: English is not my first language so, despite the fact that I'm not an awful writer, I'm sure there is grammar errors and misspellings in my chapters. Do not be shy to tell me about it and I shall correct the mistake right away. For future references, feel free to also explain to me the mistake to not repeat it. ^-^

Healing wounds

Chapter 1: How to deal with betrayal

"Rin, we shouldn't be doing this," Azhure whispered.

"It's alright, Azhure. I know what I'm doing. Just follow my lead," Rin answered with a husky deep voice. "Don't be afraid. No one will catch us."

"But Aikyo would be furious if she knew what we were doing while she's asleep." The magician's voice was pleading but at the same time, she wanted to do this.

"Just take your hand and put it here... Yes... That's it. Now slide down slowly...right there. Good girl. You're going to love this. Now scoop it and put it in your mouth..."

The strong light from the ceiling suddenly filled the room, startling Azhure while Rin froze on the spot. Aikyo gave them a hard look, not believing what she was witnessing.

"This is not what it looks like!" Azhure said quickly.

"You mean you're not eating ice cream at 4am? Then please, enlighten me." The silver hair girl crossed her arms on her chest and waited for her friends to explain the situation. It was an early Thursday morning in Nasuti's house and the girls were alone. Without any notice, the guys flew to the United States a few days ago with Nasuti and Jun, leaving them alone in the house. Why did they leave them behind? They didn't know and it was making them angry, especially Azhure.

"Ok so yeah, we are eating ice cream," Rin confessed. "But we saved you your favorite," the tomboy continued, winking handsomely at her. She knew how to handle her friend to avoid fights and she was, once again, successful. Aikyo grinned, took a spoon and joined them in their ice cream morning frenzy.

"Do you think they're alright?" Azhure finally asked after a few minutes of eating. More than anything, she was worried about her friends but she knew the feeling will pass once they're home, safe and sound. Once they were safe, she will turn into an angry beast that will ask for an explanation about why she was left behind.

"I think they are," Rin replied with a nod before sticking out her tongue, a sign she was working to get more ice cream from the box. "I will feel less guilty to beat them up to death when they come back." Little did she and Azhure know that Aikyo was the most wounded of them all but she kept her feelings to herself. Things were starting to get serious between her and Shin and him vanishing with barely a good reason made her wonder if she didn't make a mistake. Wasn't she trustworthy enough to know why he left with his friends to another country? Wasn't she comprehensive enough?

"Whatever you do, leave Shin to me," the water user said between two scoops of ice cream.

As if fate was granting their silent wish, the trio heard some noise from the entrance, soon followed by male voices and a female one. The whispers were barely audible, but they were making enough noises to be heard all the way to the kitchen. Aikyo was the first one to get up and run to the entrance. When Azhure and Rin joined her, bringing their spoons and ice cream boxes along, the girl had already lit the lights and gave Shin one of the deadliest glares a man never received from a woman. The Suiko bearer felt a cold shiver going down his spine and saw from the corner of the eye his Trooper friends carefully stepping back. Shin carefully swallowed and gave Aikyo a shy smile.

"Good morning. I was not expecting you to be up at this hour," he told her. But his smile had no effect. Aikyo gave him the cold look. He knew he had to explain. He sighed and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Aikyo, I'm sorry if you feel like I abandoned you," he started.

"You think I 'felt' abandoned?" she asked coldly. "More like I was tossed aside." She was hurt. She was so angry that tears were now filling her eyes. Shin felt the pain and took a step toward her.

"I didn't want to put you in danger," he continued as he carefully kept on stepping closer to her. He didn't care if they were making a scene in front of his friends. He actually prepared himself mentally for this encounter since he stepped into the plane to fly back home. And he wasn't the only one. The entire group thought about this meeting and quite frankly, they didn't know what to tell the girls.

Just as Aikyo was considering softening her expression a little bit, a big yawn interrupted this moment. Everyone turned to find the source of the yawn and saw little Jun in Ryo's arms, rubbing his eye with his fist. The girls' eyes got wider.

"Are we home yet?" the boy asked innocently. The water user turned bright red. Still, her voice remained calm but went even colder than before. Siberian colder.

"Shin," she started as she joined her hands together, "how bringing a child with you to the United States do whatever you had to do is not dangerous while me, a girl with the power to fill your lungs with water and drown you without a trace, is dangerous?"

"Ryo, she's scaring me," Jun whispered to black hair boy with a scared expression on his face.

"You don't know the half of it," Ryo said with a sweatdrop. The brown hair Trooper didn't know what to answer. It was finally Shuu who replied to her and the girls didn't like the answer one bit.

"It was none of your business, that's why we left you here," he stated.

"Shuu!!" exclaimed Nasuti and Shin together but it was too late. Aikyo's face changed yet again. Her cold expression melted away to reveal a hurt individual. Her fears were confirmed at those words: she was not part of his world.

Without a word, she turned around and ran to Azhure's room before slamming the door. Shin covered his eyes with his hand, ashamed and discouraged. Rin sighed and looked at Shuu. She sure was angry at him for making her friend cry but she surprised everyone when she spoke.

"I kind of figure it was something like that, but you didn't have to say it to her like that," the tomboy said with a surprising calm voice. "She was worried sick about you. We all were. You could have considered that before throwing it at her face." Shuu blinked and felt very embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I just don't like it you know. This wasn't a pleasure trip you know." At those words, Seiji removed silently his shoes, took his luggage and went upstairs without a word. Rin and Azhure had interrogation marks over her heads but the Troopers just sighed. Ryo soon followed him, taking Jun to his room with him.

"What happened?" Azhure finally asked when the red warrior closed the door of his room.

"We'll discuss this in the morning," Nasuti said with a sad smile. "Well, later in the morning. We just came back and we need to settle down a bit if you don't mind. I will explain everything to you, Azhure, I promise."

Azhure slowly nodded to Nasuti. Since her return, Azhure has been living in the house with Nasuti and the guys and the long brown hair girl became somewhat an older sister to her. The boys were surprised to see their connection and how Azhure easily listened to Nasuti and always sought advices from her. Touma really wished this would help her to feel at home and stay in their world for good.

As the girls went to Azhure's room to deal with a heartbroken Aikyo, the rest of the Troopers and Nasuti returned to their respective rooms. Touma entered his room and saw Seiji already preparing for bed. After this adventure, the green warrior was surely longing for a good bed to rest. But it was hard to tell: the blond teenager barely told anything to his friends since his rescue. Touma just smiled and nodded to him. His nod returned, he focused on his own suitcase.

"Geez, you guys are really inconsiderate, you know that?" Orion said, popping his head through Touma's suitcase. The boy jumped back, startled then glared at the ghost's head.

"Orion! Do you mind?"

"What? It's not like I'm disturbing a private moment, am I? Besides, you're not even naked. Not that it would have made any difference to me," the ghost replied with indifference. Touma blushed but he wasn't even sure why. He looked back at Seiji who just ignored the ghost. These two have been ignoring one and the other since Azhure came back. No one knew why they hated each other so much.

"Can we just come back without being jumped on? We had a rough time you know," he replied to Orion.

"You think they didn't? Waiting here, wondering why you left and why you will come back? My sister had to call her friends to not remain alone in this big house."

"Why? It's not like she was in danger," Touma said, blinking. Why would Azhure asked for company? Wasn't she used to being alone?

"I cannot tell you why. It's up to her to face her demons."

"Is she ok?"

"Depends what you mean by ok. You better talk to her about what Shuu just said about this whole 'not your business' thing. Trust me; you don't want my sister to interpret this the wrong way." Since her return, Orion has been working with Touma to make Azhure stay on Earth. The princess was very stubborn and changing her mind was hard and long but their teamwork was slowly getting to her. Of course, she didn't know a thing about it and Orion made sure it will remain this way until she's ready to hear their plot. That was, according to Orion, a possibility to think of in about 10 years at best.

"Yeah… But you know, he's not entirely wrong."

"I know that but if you want her to stay, she must feel like she belongs here. Honesty is your best bet here. She's not a child. Speaking of child, what were you thinking bringing a child with you?"

"Nasuti and Jun always come with us when we have trouble. They are a great help. They already have proven themselves during our fight with Arago. We thought it was just a research mission. Turned out it was more than that." He looked back at Seiji again and saw his friend already asleep. Jet lag or not, Seiji couldn't stay awake any longer and was now deep asleep. Orion noticed his worry.

"He was missing at Ryo's birthday and you got worried. He left for New York, did he not?" Touma explained everything. The fake sword invitation. Their meeting with Luna. The possessed Korin armor. Everything. Orion nodded and flew out of the suitcase. "Just tell her what you told me and she will understand. Make sure she also understands it was something you guys had to do. You know, Trooper business." Touma nodded.

"But what are you doing here? I'm sure you could have wait that I rest before telling me all this," Touma asked. Orion let go a long sigh and rolled his eyes to the sky.

"Man, you don't want to stay around women when they cry unless you can do something about their crying."

"Azhure is…?"

"Of course not! Aikyo is, you idiot! I think it would be a miracle if she doesn't break up with Shin after this mess."

"Hey! Don't call me idiot, you overprotective freak!"

"What did you call me?" Orion replied with a nasty tone. Their teamwork was not always perfect but at least,they both worked toward the same goal: make Azhure understand she found a new home already.

***

Whether it was because of the jetlag or because they were worried about Aikyo, Shuu and Shin couldn't sleep and finally, around 8am, they went back downstairs. They were surprised to see Azhure in the kitchen alone, making breakfast.

"Good morning, Azhure," Shin told her with his usual smile. He wasn't sure how she will greet him but took a chance. He was relieved to see her smile back and greet both of them.

"Hey guys. I was not expecting you to be up at this hour," she told them.

"Well, I was…kind of worried about Aikyo," Shin confessed. "How…is she?"

"Seriously? She almost made a voodoo doll of you. And Shuu."

"What? Why me?" Shuu exclaimed.

"Hn. Because you were rude, that's why. We girls don't need more to hold a grudge you know."

"But…it's true it was none of your business! Seiji is our friend and it was our responsibility to find out what happened to him. He would have never miss Ryo's birthday!"

"Don't worry. I understand. I mean, I can't expect you guys to consider me close enough to bring me along to your adventures. I'm just a visitor. Not a close friend," she answered with a sad smile.

"Azhure…" Shin started but the white warrior held up her hand and shook her head. Shuu then understood how hurt her feelings were and thought that maybe, he should have said his opinion with more tact. He felt bad. He had to apologize and explain his opinion more clearly. Just as he opened his mouth to express himself, the door bell rang. Both Troopers blinked at each other, wondering who could be visiting them at this hour.

"Oh! Shiro is here already," Azhure said as she get on her feet and walked to the door. Shuu and Shin blinked again as the name didn't mean anything to them and followed her. Azhure opened the door and a tall teenager with long grayish hair and violet eyes stood behind it. He remained silent for a couple of seconds as he looked at Azhure.

"Hi," he finally said. "I came to get Rin and Aikyo."

"What?!" Shin and Shuu said in unison.

"Sure thing. You're early though," Azhure replied, inviting him in.

"I kind of understood that Aikyo wanted to leave quickly so I took the liberty of coming earlier," he said, ignoring Shuu and Shin.

"I'll see if they're ready. Wait here." Azhure left the three teenagers alone while she went back to her room.

"Stop staring," Shiro told without looking at the two Troopers. "It's embarrassing."

"Sorry. I'm Shuu. You are?"

"…I'm Shiro. Rin's friend. She called me this morning to come and get her and Aikyo home." His eyebrow twitched a little as he mentioned the early phone call. He was surely asleep when Rin called and it seemed he didn't like it. He wasn't the talkative type. Shin could see that so he just introduced himself to be polite and remained quiet afterwards. He was hoping to get a talk with Aikyo before she leaves the house. Shuu took care of the conversation but Shiro didn't look more interested to talk and just gave short and polite answers.

Finally, the girls arrived. Shiro looked relieved as he couldn't stand any more chat from Shuu. He was already here to do a favor to Rin and the last thing he wanted to do right now was to make new friends. He wouldn't mind to know them another time though. Rin looked in a good mood, but Aikyo, on the other hand, gave a cold look to Shin.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" she asked him while she put her shoes on. "With the jetlag and everything, you need your sleep." She failed to hide her worry in her voice, but she tried to keep her angry face on.

"I was hoping we could talk," Shin told her.

"You should have told me it wasn't my business before you left! I was worried SICK about you! I'm your girlfriend! I thought I deserved to know about important things like Seiji missing and you guys going after him to discover if he was in danger or something!"

"I'm sorry…" the Suiko bearer replied but that did not calm down the water user.

"Sorry? You bring along Jun and Nasuti but you left me behind! How could you?!" Shin blinked at those words.

"You're jealous?"

"Of course I am! Why them more than me?"

"They are used to danger---"

"Used to danger!?"

"Aikyo, please calm down so we can talk about this more calmly." Shin was sincere in his apology but he saw that nothing he was saying was making Aikyo feel any better. He finally hugged her tenderly and whispered to her ear. "I love you and I'm truly sorry for how we behaved. Please forgive me. I will never do it again, I promise." That was all Aikyo wanted to hear. She hugged him back tightly. After a few minutes, Shiro sighed.

"Don't tell me I was taken out of bed for no reason," he said. He tried to not sound too harsh but Aikyo and Shin didn't hear him.

"Nah. I'm coming with you," Rin replied.

"W-what? You are?" Shuu said with surprise.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I have things to do and I must get ready for school and stuff. I'm sure Shin will take Aikyo home when she's ready," she told Shuu with a smile.

"B-But I have to explain what I said last night to you."

"What? Why? I totally agree with you."

"You are?"

"Yeah. It was Trooper's business right? You guys come a long way. I understand you didn't want us meddling in your affairs."

"But…"

"It's ok, really. Don't worry about it. I was pissed at first but now that I know you why you left, I'm not mad anymore. I should have known you guys had a good reason. Just promise me you will not leave again without telling us where you go and why, ok? We're friend, aren't we?"

"Of course!" Shuu said without any hesitation.

"Then friends deserve to know things like that, don't you agree?"

"Absolutely. I'm sorry really…"

"Good! Then it's settled," she said with a beautiful smile that made Shuu blush a little. "I'll check on you guys in a few days but feel free to call me, alright?"

"S-Sure…"

He watched them leave, Shiro gently put an arm around Rin's shoulders to lead her out of the house then close the door behind him. While Shin and Aikyo went to the living room to discuss more privately, Shuu remained in front of the door, staring into space. Azhure went to his side, put her finger under his chin and lifted it up to help him close his mouth.