A/N: Hi Ronin fans! So, this is a story I wrote years and years ago, starting in middle school. It's been finished for much longer, but I've only decided now to post it. It's the deal where you take it was as it is, all plot holes, my Mary Sue's, cultural errors from an eighth grader's knowledge, and idiosyncrasies that occur in my writing.

Please be kind and review if you read.

As it has been for years, since I first started writing, this is for Torrent's Rain, Wildfire Sky, and newly christened Halo's Dawn. In memory of the good days.

Ronin Warriors

Twin Ronin Warriors, Chapter 1: Welcome to Japan

"Next destination, Toyama. Next destination, Toyama."

Opening her eyes, Kelsey glanced around the train car that was empty except for her four companions, three of them sleeping since it was nearly three in the morning after their plane had been delayed in landing in Tokyo for an hour. Sitting up further, she glanced at the only other one not sleeping and saw her friend Jamie putting away the game she had been playing. Without saying anything the two went and woke up the others who sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. By the time the train came to a stop they were mostly awake and in a few minutes they were stepping out of the station to stare around the empty parking lot.

"So, Kelse. Where's the car at?" Jamie asked, shifting the bag around on her shoulder. Next to her, Kelsey dug through her purse, revealing her key chain and a piece of paper.

"Western parking lot," she said, glancing around. The others looked around before someone in the back spoke up.

"West is that way," Akari said softly and the other four glanced at her before nodding. Heading in the way she had pointed the five sighed when they spotted the car waiting for them and arrived to stare in wonderment.

"How did we get an SUV?" Rachel asked as they loaded up their bags. Most of their stuff had been shipped a week ahead to the rental they were staying in during the school year so each person had a backpack and a duffle with them. The SUV only had two rows but it was still comfortable between the five.

"Lots of bribing and money," Kelsey explained as she started the car and headed out of the parking lot. Next to her Jamie was reading the directions that would take them to their new residence for the next year. "It's costing a pretty penny but we're not paying. Our government is."

"All hail our government for paying for a vehicle we were granted to use," Cameron said from where she sat behind Jamie. "Can anyone read all the kanji?"

"That's a geisha house," Akari spoke next to her, having seen the neon sign Cameron had been staring at while they had been stopped at a light.

"Oh. That's informative," Jamie commented as they left the business area and headed into residential. A few more blocks and Kelsey pulled into the driveway next to a small two story house. When they stepped in to the house they found the light switch and started to wander around.

"Two single rooms and a bathroom up here!" Cameron called down from where she was upstairs with Rachel. Downstairs the other three came to the bottom and looked up.

"A single bedroom, a double bedroom, and a bathroom with utilities," Akari said and glanced at Kelsey and Jamie. "We will take the bottom if you guys want up top."

"Sounds…good," Rachel said, her sentence broken by a yawn. Taking the hint everyone headed into their new bedrooms and soon the house was dark.

sSs

In the morning Kelsey walked into the kitchen as the two showers in the house ran with Jamie and Akari showering. Cameron and Rachel were still sleeping, but there would be enough time to shower and change for school.

"School in March. In a skirt too," Kelsey muttered, staring down at the navy blue outfit she wore. However, having seen worse outfits online, she decided the knee length skirt and white buttoned-up collared shirt with an optional black sweater for when it got cold wasn't that bad. It was better than looking like a Sailor Moon reject. However, her mind wasn't on the outfit but on food since it had over twelve hours since she had eaten. "Airplane food. Just the thought is nasty."

"Do we even have food?" Cameron asked from the living room since an island separated the two. In the kitchen Kelsey glanced around before moving to the refrigerator and opening the door. Hanging her head at the empty space, she moved and opened the cabinets. "No food?"

"No food. And I have no idea where to get some," Kelsey said, going to sit on the couch next to Cameron as Akari emerged from upstairs. "You should go shower before all the hot water is gone. And get Rachel up before you go in. Time's running out."

"We only went to sleep three hours ago!" Jamie yelled down the hall as she walked into the room she shared with Kelsey. Upstairs Cameron appeared from Rachel's room and went into the bathroom while a sleep rumpled Rachel appeared from her room wearing the clothes she had worn the day before.

"How long till school starts?"

"An hour, but we have to be there early to get our information secured," Kelsey said and Rachel nodded, heading back into her room. Alone again, Kelsey sighed and got up and went to her bedroom to find Jamie lying on her bed. "Don't go to sleep."

"Why not? And whose idea was it to come the day before school started?" Jamie asked though she sat up on her bed to kick her backpack.

"We had to wait since we had to finish last year early by three months so we could make it over to start when they start here," Kelsey said, sitting on her bed to go through her bag. Remembering something, she glanced up as she zipped her bag and sat it on the floor with a push. "We have no food."

"Serious? But I'm so hungry! It's been so long since we last ate," Rachel said from the doorway, causing the two to look at her

"If everyone gets done we can go out and hopefully find a place," Kelsey replied and Rachel headed into the bathroom across the hall. Only a few seconds later the water turned on while the water upstairs turned off once Cameron finished. "We should get ready so we can get something to eat. I think we are all hungry."

"Sounds good. Think there's a good McDonald's around?"

"There is one on the way to school," Akari said, walking into the room. In her hand was a small pocket-sized book and she held it up casually. "Travel guide I found. Has everything in it."

"Great. Any grocery store we can hit for food since we don't have any?" Kelsey asked and Akari nodded.

"Sorry, but don't you think it is cool that we can go halfway around the world and still get our regular greasy food?" Jamie asked and Kelsey laughed.

"We aren't going every day," she said and Jamie nodded though there was still a happy gleam in her eye. "Go torment Rachel so we can go and eat."

"I'm going to change! Give me five minutes and we can go!" Rachel said as she ran upstairs.

"Ten!" Cameron yelled as the others went to the living room to wait. Soon everyone was ready and they left the house to pile into the SUV.

sSs

"I didn't catch any of that. I think my brain is still asleep," Cameron commented as the five left the office of Ha'na High School. More students had filed in when they had been inside and the halls were noisy with the sound of conversation. Glancing next to her, Cameron laughed to see Rachel hanging off of Jamie with her eyes closed. "We should have gotten coffee."

"That sounds so good," Kelsey muttered, glancing at her schedule. "Why can't we get one year with no PE? I would pay for no PE."

"You would pay for no school, if it was up to you," Jamie said, shrugging Rachel's head off her shoulder once again.

"Who wouldn't? Freedom from homework," Rachel said as she stretched, staring at Jamie's shoulder. "You make a great pillow."

"Thanks, I try so hard for you," Jamie muttered as she glanced at her watch. "So it's only seven-forty and school doesn't start until eight-ten."

"It should be pretty warm outside about now. We can check out the layout," Akari said and the others nodded. Going out the front entrance they found the small courtyard packed full of other students who were talking with each other in rapid conversations.

"This sure is a big school," Cameron commented as the five stood at the top of the stairs. "Where to start first?"

"Did I put my school shoes in the car?" Kelsey asked and the rest turned to see her staring at the pair of tennis shoes she wore instead of high-heels like the rest of them. "I don't think I grabbed them."

"Nope, cause I remember seeing them on the couch where you set them down," Rachel said glancing around. "You walked right past them on our way out."

"And you didn't say anything?" Akari asked and Rachel grinned.

"I wanted Kelse to be my guinea pig for how loose the dress code is. Don't see that many tennis shoes around here on many feet," Rachel commented.

"Don't be too happy. I kick harder in tennis shoes and you are just screaming for a good kick," Kelsey said and saw Rachel's smile fade. "But, I'll save that until we get home."

"So compassionate, young one," Jamie muttered and Kelsey flashed a grin before glancing around. "So, where to?"

"I heard some people saying there's a soccer game going on," Cameron said and Akari nodded next to her.

"It's at the sports field. I bet we can still catch it," Akari said and the five went right where the sports field was. They passed the soccer field and found a large crowd surrounding the field. "Large crowd."

"And they said sumo was the big sport over here," Rachel deadpanned and Cameron laughed softly as they found a spot to watch. It was five against five on full field and the ball was heading in their direction from the farther end.

"How can you tell them apart? They have on the same uniform," Akari said as she shrugged off her bag.

"Such a shame. No skins, but the guys are on the skinny side," Jamie said and Kelsey laughed next to her.

"I wouldn't mind some skins, but I wouldn't say they were skinny," Kelsey said as most of the guys reached eyesight. After three passes the team with the ball scored and they watched as the ball was put into play again. "I'm bored with it. Anyone else want to keep going?"

"I'll go. Never liked the game," Cameron said, grabbing her bag again.

"I'm staying. There's a blond on the field," Rachel said and Jamie claimed to remain herself. Akari hauled up her own bag and the three leaving moved back to the school together as the game continued.

Entering the school through another entrance, Cameron glanced over at Akari who was on her left. "So, you're from Texas, right?"

"Yeah, I spent most of my life there. I'm in the same district as Jamie was, but different school," Akari explained, shifting her bag. "Both of my parents were from Japan so I seized up the opportunity to come here for the year."

"That's cool. So you must know the language and the culture pretty well," Kelsey said and Akari nodded. "First time here?"

"No, I lived in Japan until I was four, but I can't remember a lot about it. I moved to the States soon after," Akari explained before the three paused as the bell rang. The other students around them took for their classes and the three split ways since Kelsey and Rachel were in a different class than the other three were.

"See you at lunch!" Kelsey said before heading up to the second floor to where her first set of classes would take place. Glancing at her schedule Kelsey read she had language, math, science, and physical education in the morning and economy, history, and home economics in the afternoon. Reaching the classroom she spotted a set of open chairs in the back and a few off to the side. After glancing down at her tennis shoe clad feet she went to the back, sitting down as Rachel entered the room. Coming down to sit in front of Kelsey, Rachel sighed as her head hit the desk with a thud, resulting in stares from around the class room. "Care to lift your head up? You're getting stares."

"Don't. Care. Tired," Rachel muttered into her desk and Kelsey shook her head.

"You're tired? I'm the one that had to get up first," Kelsey told her.

"But I got the cold shower since everyone else used the heat," Rachel retorted and Kelsey laughed, surprised to hear other chuckles join in. Rachel noticed too and lifted her head to stare to where the other laughs had come from. One was from a guy next to Kelsey and other from in front of him.

"Is she always like this?" the guy next to Kelsey asked, pushing away a stray strand of blue hair.

"Sadly yes. It comes with caffeine deprivation," Kelsey explained seriously and the guy laughed again.

"Same with him, but he wouldn't admit it," he responded, jerking this thumb to the blond in front of him.

"I can hear," the blond replied, not looking up from where he was leafing through a notebook. Next to Kelsey Rachel collapsed against her desk again, burying her head in her arms as she muttered about lights.

"She's slightly anti-social in the morning," Kelsey said, turning to face the guy again. "Oh, Kelsey McCarthy. That's Rachel Garrison."

"He's Date Seiji. I'm Hashiba Touma," the guy responded in kind, using Japanese for the time and held out his hand to shake hers. "Or Sage and Rowen if you care."

Grabbing his hands, Kelsey blinked as she suddenly found herself surrounded by nothing but the Earth floating below her. Blinking again she found herself back in the school a word softly escaping her lips, "Strata?"

"What?" the two guys asked in surprise and Kelsey shook her head, trying to shake the image from her eyes. "What did you say?"

"Huh? Oh…I'm not sure, sorry. Must be tired because of the trip, we just got in last night," she said honestly, removing her hand from Rowen's. Under the desk she rubbed her hand unconsciously before looking up to see the guys sharing a look before Rowen turned to her, the past minute seemingly forgotten.

"You two ladies exchange students?"

"For the year."

"That would explain the tennis shoes," the blond said and Kelsey was reminded of her footwear.

"No one will mind," Rowen told her after sending his friend a narrowed look.

"Yeah, well, she saw me leave my shoes and decided not to comment," Kelsey said, jerking a thumb towards Rachel.

"Guinea pig," came the muffled reply and Kelsey reached over to swiftly hit her on the back of her head. "What was that for?"

"Because I could. The teacher is here too," Kelsey grinned as Rachel straightened up quickly. In truth the teacher had just walked in so they rose with the rest of the class to give the proper greeting before sitting again.

So far so good. Only six more hours left before we can leave...

Ending A/N: I do have every intention of posting every chapter that is written up over the next month or so. However, please feel free to comment and review if you like. I appreciate all.

Disclaimer: Is it BANDAI? I honestly don't know who owns YST, but sadly it isn't me.