Author's Note: This is fic is a slight crossover with Ayashi No Ceres, but no worries if you don't know anything about Ceres. I took some of the basic ideas of the Tennyo, but changed a bunch of the stuff to suit my purposes. So, it's not really a crossover, but it is. @_@ On another note… I'm in need of an editor for Ronin Warrior/Samurai Trooper fanfiction (namely, this fic). If you're interested please e-mail me at sere_barton@yahoo.com. I've been a bit under the weather as of late and need someone to point out the things my muddled brain keeps missing. *thinks* Am I missing anything?? *sigh* Well, if I am I'll just put it at the end of the chapter!
"Tennyo Ginyoku"
By Amaya Nyte Rayne
Somewhere in America, Great Plains Region…
The day was bright and sunny with a scattering of white puffy clouds. The perfect day for a fly around the country side. The young woman thought to herself while staring out her window. Her name was Phaedra Aiko Ginyoku and she was the descendent of a Tennyo, a heavenly maiden. Some couple hundred years ago a Tennyo maiden came to earth to bathe in one of its beautiful blue lakes and was spotted by a mortal man who lived near that lake. The two fell madly in love and married, had many children, and when the mortal man grew old and died the Tennyo left her family and returned to the heavens. The family she left behind was the one Phaedra was a part of. That was all ancient history though. The day was beautiful and a flight across her family's lands sounded beautiful.
Rising from her bed, Phaedra quickly dressed in one of her many halter tops and a pair of denim shorts. With a smile she threw open the sliding glass door to her balcony and greeted the morning sun. Stepping to the balcony railing she looked within herself. Her Tennyo blood sang as energy came forth in two balls at her back. Slowly the energy grew to form angel-like wings and took solid form.
The wind felt incredible as it sang through her feathers and hair. She twirled mid-air and then dove for the lake below her, wings dissolving back into energy that fell back into her as water rushed around her. Yes, it was a beautiful day. Laughing she collapsed on the shore.
"Enjoying yourself I see." A voice spoke behind her. Sitting up quickly she turned to see who interrupted her solitude. What she saw was most unexpected. A man with long red hair and sea-green eyes stood watching her. He wore only a pair of beige pants. The most shocking thing was not this, but the white wings that surrounded him.
"You're a Tennyo!" Phaedra shouted in surprise.
"Not quite. Well… yes. I'm a Tennyo." He stood looking deep in thought for moment before shaking his head. "It is complicated. My name is Anubis. Unlike you I am not the descendent of a Tennyo, but rather was made one after I died."
"You're telling me you're dead?"
He laughed. "Forgive me. I'm just confusing you more, aren't I? Let me start from the beginning…"
Near Toyama, Japan. Koji Residence. One week later…
It was sometime in the afternoon and Mia Koji sat at her computer entering data on some new myth she was studying. This was a fairly common sight nowadays. The Ronins had long since moved out of the Koji mansion and either back home or on their own. Looking up from the monitor, Mia sighed. She was lonely. She still saw the boys all the time. They often went out to dinner together, saw movies, or just wandered the city. But each night was the same. She came home to a huge, empty house with only her memories as company. Most often the memory of one man filled her lonely nights. "Anubis."
The door bell rang. Jumping slightly, Mia grabbed her robe since she was still in her pj's, having never bothered to dress, and rushed downstairs. A most unexpected sight greeted her eyes as she opened the door. A young woman with long blond tresses and forest green eyes stared at her. "Mia Koji?" She asked tentatively, her voice spoke volumes of her origins. She was American.
"Hai. Watashi wa Koji Mia desu." Mia tested her Japanese knowledge.
"Ii." The young woman responded with the Japanese word for 'good.' The two smiled at each other for a moment, both nervous.
"Please come in." Mia stepped to the side, allowing her entrance. "Ocha?"
"Oh, you do speak English! Good. I was starting to worry. I know enough Japanese to get from place to place, but not enough for what I came here for. Tea would be wonderful!" The young woman sighed in relief. "Watashi no namae wa Ginyoku Phaedra desu. I was told you were the one to contact if the Ronins and Former-Warlords needed to be called upon once more."
Mia nearly dropped the tea pot she had been carrying. "The Ronins and Warlords? Who are you?"
"That's a long story. Where do I begin? I'm a Tennyo." Phaedra held her tea cup delicately between her hands. "Well, not a full blood Tennyo. Somewhere in my ancestry is a Tennyo. I don't really know where. I never bothered to look." Realizing she was starting to ramble, Phaedra quickly stopped talking and took a sip of her tea. It was slightly sweet with a flowery taste. Jasmine, she realized.
"A Tennyo?" Mia rolled the idea around in her head. "A heavenly maiden? I think I remember something about them. A legend. Tennyo are similar in some ways to the Christian 'angels'. They have white wings and are incredibly beautiful. It is said they come to earth sometimes to bathe in its lakes and seas. There are stories about them throughout the world, all slightly varied but mostly the same. They all tell of a beautiful maiden bathing in some body of water and of a mortal man falling in love with her." Mia stood up and began to pace her living room floor as she continued to recall all she knew about the maidens. "It is said they and their part human descendents have powers. It is never clearly stated what these powers are however. The pure Tennyo who fall from the heavens always leave whatever families they create on earth to return to the skies. They find the earth's people to be impure and disgusting."
It was Mia's turn to stop rambling. Slightly embarrassed she took a seat opposite Phaedra. "I'm sorry. I got a little carried away there."
Phaedra laughed. "It's quite alright. You're specialty is mythology, is it not? I guess I expected your reaction to be similar." Phaedra sobered quickly as she remembered what she had to tell this woman. "Yes, I'm a descendent of a Tennyo. But that is not my reason for coming here. I was sent here to tell you that an evil beginning to rise that will threaten this realm and all others. The Ronin and Warlords are needed once again."
Koji Mansion. That night.
Many hours before, Mia had called all the Ronins and they'd agreed to meet at her house the next day. As per Phaedra's request they knew only that Mia had a guest who needed to talk to them and that it concerned their armors in some way. Mia had then pulled an orb from a closet in her study, explaining that Kayura had given it to her before leaving for the Nether realm in case of emergency. After having a similar conversation with Kayura as she had had with the Ronins, Kayura agreed to come to Mia's with the warlords as soon as possible.
Phaedra was nervous. She was a descendent of a Tennyo, but there were many thousands of descendents of Tennyo's. As far as she knew there was no reason why she of all people had to be the one to 'rally the troops'. Why did it even have to be a Tennyo? Anubis could just as easily have contacted Mia and the Ronins himself. She sighed and glanced at an alarm clock in the guest room Mia had graciously assigned her. 12:30 am. Great. I guess I'm not sleeping tonight. Realizing this she decided a midnight snack was in order. Wrapping a green silk robe around her nude form, she hated sleeping with clothes on, she snuck out her bedroom door and down the stairs. She had a philosophy when it came to staying in foreign houses. 'First off, know your way to the bathroom and second, the kitchen.' The philosophy was stupid, she knew. It wasn't even really a philosophy, but it had aided her greatly in the past.
A quick examination of the kitchen provided only a few options. Chocolate ice cream, ham sandwich, or an apple. She rolled her eyes at the obvious answer and searched for a spoon.
What Phaedra didn't know was that as she had unpacked her few things and then tried to get some sleep, the Warlords and Kayura had arrived. Mia, not wanting to wake her, had offered her weary guests some rooms and then gone off to bed herself. She wasn't the only one craving a midnight snack either. Kale snuck from his temporary room clad in only a pair of black slacks and down the stairs. His wolf-like senses detected a strange perfume. Sniffing the air he realized it was recent and led to the kitchen. Shrugging, he followed his nose.
He stopped in the kitchen doorway, shock filling him as he took in the sight before him. A young woman he didn't recognize leaned against the kitchen counter, a carton of ice cream in one hand, a spoon in the other. Immediately he noticed the blond hair and green silk robe. Looking closer he saw that the robe was loosely tied and all but ready to fall open, already the neckline drooped dangerously low. He took in the pale creaminess of her skin and imagined how soft it would be beneath his hands. What are you thinking? You don't even know this woman! He scolded himself.
After finding the silverware drawer and taking a spoon, Phaedra had leaned against the counter as she drowned her worries in the ice cream that was slowly melting in her hand. What am I doing here? I'm no warrior. I have nothing to do with any of this. Why did you choose me Anubis? Why me? She reached out with her mind to try and find that now familiar presence. Instead she felt a foreign mind not four feet from her. Turning her head, spoon half way to her mouth, Phaedra took in the sight of the former-Warlord of Corruption in only a pair of slacks. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his well chiseled chest, to the muscles of his abdomen. With force of will she raised her eyes. Firm chest, sensual lips, fierce eyes, wild blue hair, and a scar on the left side of his face… hm…
"Hello Kale." Phaedra remembered the spoon in her hand and began eating the ice cream again, giving her eyes something to focus on other then the incredibly hot former-warlord standing in the same room as her
"You know my name." His voice was mild, but the surprise was evident.
"I was told about you." She tried to remain vague. Afterall, how would he react if she told him his former leader came back from the dead to set her on a mission to unite him and his comrades with their old foes to fight a new evil? And while doing so had described all of them in intricate detail? She mentally grinned at the thought of it all and again wondered how she had gotten dragged into the mess.
The kitchen was lit only by the moonlight shining in through the window, casting strange shadows here and there, and giving everything a strange glow. It was enchanting, almost as enchanting as the woman it was shining on. When her eyes had first rested on him they had appeared gold, like a wolfs' eyes at night, but when they had flicked up to stare him in the eye he saw they were truly a deep green with flecks of gold spread throughout.
"It would seem we're on uneven ground then. You seem to know me, but I don't know you." He spoke English for her benefit, not knowing how much Japanese she knew.
"Watashi wa Ginyoku Phaedra desu. That's close to the extent of my knowledge of the Japanese language." She smiled at him softly. Her mood was quickly changing in his presence, she was becoming more herself. "What brings a handsome wolf like you down here in the middle of the night?"
"I suspect the same as you." He chuckled softly, seeing the change in her mood as her shoulders straightened slightly from their former droop. He took a step closer to her. "What do you have there?"
She turned the carton in her hands and glanced at the label, reading, "Death by Chocolate." She smiled at him. "Not a bad way to die if you ask me." She dipped her spoon back into the carton, then pulled it out, and extended it towards Kale.
She was daring him, he realized. He took the few steps necessary to close the distant between them. Dipping his head a bit, he seized the spoon with his lips. Staring her in the eye, he ate the bit of ice cream offered him and then drew back just a bit. "I agree."
His breathe caressed the skin of her neck and there was a strange fire in his eyes. He was so close. His thigh brushed hers just slightly, leaving fire in its wake. With the fire came reality and she quickly drew away. This was not a teenage male she faced. This was a man. A man who wouldn't shy away from her teasing. Throwing the spoon in the sink and popping the ice cream back in the fridge, she said a hasty goodnight and all but ran for the safety of her room.
Kale grinned at Phaedra's retreating back. Things would be interesting with her around. He took a deep breathe and caught a whiff of the perfume he'd smelt earlier. He then realized the perfume was hers, a pleasant mix of rose and something else he couldn't name. Turning to investigate the refrigerator, he stored the scent away in his memory.
Coming up next: The Ronins arrive. Phaedra explains. Ryo singing Michael Jackson?!?! Where'd that come from?
Character Profile of the Chapter:
Name: Phaedra Aiko Ginyoku
Nickname: Phae (Fae)
Age: 17
Species: Part Human, Part Tennyo
Hair Color: Pale Blond
Hair Style: Mid-back in length, usually worn down or held back in a loose ponytail
Eye Color: Green-gold
Skin: Pale cream
Usual outfit: Halter top and denim shorts
Personality: Phae is a strange character. Honestly! She's naturally a tease and enjoys every moment of it. She can dish out a lot, but can rarely take any back for any period of time. She's quick to dish out compliments and they're always from the heart, but shies away from any geared toward her. Well, most of the time anyways. Phae has a tendency to think a little too much, often so lost in thought that the rest of the world ceases to exist in her mind. And, like most good female anime characters, she has tends to ramble.
Family: Phae comes from a large family. Her mother is the oldest of six children and her father the eldest of four. She herself has three siblings: one older brother (21), one younger brother (13), and one younger sister (11).
Hobbies: Flying, swimming, gardening (just about anything dealing with nature), and cooking.
Favorite Quote: "Love is like a wild rose: Beautiful and delicate, but willing to draw blood in its defense." – Unknown (I might work this into the story somehow… still rolling the idea around in my head)
Review, please!! Constructive criticism is appreciated!