Nor Iron Bars a Cage
By Puck
Disclaimer: What's the point of a disclaimer if everyone already knows I don't own the Ronins?
Ryo walked lightly down the street, his unruly bangs shielding the sun from his eyes. Though he expressed no emotions, inside he was doing the Mexican Hat Dance with a smile that could've be seen from Pluto. He was going to see them again. After ten years the Ronins would be reunited.
Ryo thought back to the last time they were all really together. It was after they had defeated Talpa that final time. After that, they had their own lives to go on with. Sure, they saw each other in school, but Rowan and Cye (Cye being one year older and Rowan having skipped a grade) were on the other side of the building completely, and were rarely ever seen.
After high school came collage. Cye had studied marine biology at the University of Oahu in Hawai'i. From what Ryo had heard, Cye had finished school and was currently living in the Philippians.
Sage had also gone to the states. He had gone to a university in Iowa and was currently living there as a schoolteacher with his wife and two children. According to the slightly rumpled picture in Ryo's wallet, depicting the once stolid Sage of Halo with a big goofy grin on his face, it was the best thing to have ever happened to him.
Rowan had been offered an academic scholarship to the best law school in England, and had gone there to study. Ryo received the occasional e-mail from his friend and nothing more.
Kento was a different story altogether. He had tried collage, dropped out his first year, and worked as a caterer until he had saved up enough money to live with his grandmother in China. Ryo had heard rumors that Kento had returned to Japan last year, but he didn't know if they were true.
Ryo himself had gone to collage in Japan. He was now a veterinarian for the Toyoma Zoo. As for Mia and Yuli, he didn't hear much from them anymore. Yuli just didn't have the time, and after a big disagreement, he and Mia were not on speaking terms.
Ryo sighed and pushed his bangs out of his eyes. After high school, long hair just wasn't 'cool' anymore, so he had cut it short, the way Kento's hair used to be. Still, nothing in Heaven, Hell, or purgatory was going to make him give up his bangs.
Ryo stopped. He was there. The five of them had agreed to meet in a park next to their victory site. Ryo looked around. The only other person there was a slim man with in a well-pressed suit and glasses stretched out on a bench. A briefcase was at his feet. Assuming he was the first to arrive, Ryo approached the bench and sat down next to the man.
"Hi."
"Hello," the man replied with a slight English accent, not bothering to look at him. Ryo though for a moment that the man might have been Cye, but assumed that living in the Philippines may have affected his accent. Besides, Cye had brown hair, and this man had black hair that was buzzed short.
Rather that attempt to continue a conversation with the man, Ryo glanced at his watch. He prayed that at least one of his friends showed up. His prayers were answered when a familiar blonde head came bobbing into view. Both men on the bench rose quickly.
"Sage!" they yelled at the same time. Ryo and the man looked at each other closely.
"Ryo?"
"Cye?"
"No, I'm Rowan."
"Rowan?!?"
"I believe I just said that."
"You dyed your hair!"
"Really?" Rowan's hand flew up to his head. "Huh, I s'pose I did." Both men looked towards Sage and saw that he had broken into a sprint upon seeing his friends. The blonde former Ronin swept Ryo up in a big bear hug and flashed the former Ronin of the Wildfire a big toothy grin.
"It's so good to see you again, Ryo!" Sage exclaimed, nearly squeezing the life out of his friend. "And you," he started, turning to the now black haired Rowan, "I'm sorry. I don't think I know you." Rowan sniggered and punched Sage lightly on the arm.
"America may have improved your personality, but it's done nothing for your memory. Go on and guess."
"Cye?" Sage ventured. Rowan nodded his head slightly.
"Yes, I can see where you might think that, but no." Sage furrowed his brow and leaned back a bit.
"Kento?" he suggested, sounding a bit unsure of himself.
"Surely you jest," Rowan guffawed, looking over the rim of his glasses. Sage grinned widely and threw his arms around Rowan, squeezing tight.
"England sure left it's mark on you!" Rowan disentangled himself from Sage's arms, gasping for air. He pointed an accusing finger at Sage's head.
"I'm not the only one. How much do you save on hair care products?" Sure enough, Sage's once gravity defying hairstyle was trimmed back far enough to reveal his warm violet eyes. An offending lock of blonde fell on Sage's nose as he swept his hand through his hair.
"Yeah," he muttered, almost embarrassed. "Juliana thought it made me look funny, and after one of Robert's friends called me "Mrs. Rob's Mom", I caved and got it cut. What do you think?" Sage made a suggestive motion, and strutted down the sidewalk. Ryo laughed heartily and pushed his blonde friend just enough so that he stumbled over his own feet.
"Sage," Rowan began, "You were made for Chippendale's. What on God's green earth possessed you to become a teacher?" Sage picked himself up off the pavement with an "I meant to do that" attitude.
"Needed a job. I started working at a day care, and just fell in love with the kids. It just seemed right."
"Fair enough. What about these kids of yours?"
"Actually, Caryn, the elder of the two, she's from Juliana's first marriage, and we adopted Robby because… Holy Spamonies! Look who's coming!" Sage pointed down the walk, while Rowan and Ryo gave him a look that clearly said, "What the hell is a spamonie?" Sage gave them a look back that said clearly, "When you have children, you will do the exact same thing".
After some more serious look giving, Ryo turned his head in the direction Sage was still conveniently pointing. A cry of joy came leaping up his throat at the sight of Cye and Kento, the last of their group. The smaller of the two former ronins hurried forward, arms flailing, while the larger merely quickened his pace.
Since Sage was the first of the three Cye came to, he was the first to get a hug. There were tears of happiness making their way down the young man's cheeks as he moved on to Ryo. Of the four of them, Cye had changed the least in appearance. Yes, his skin was a little darker and his hair was a little shorter, but Ryo at least knew that it was the real Cye this time.
"I can't believe it's been ten years. It feels like twenty." Rowan smiled as he shook Kento's hand. The burly ronin smiled, a kind of grim, forced smile that Rowan would have noticed under closer inspection.
"Well," Sage pronounced loudly, hands on his hips. "I don't know about the rest of you, but all this happy is making me hungry. Anyone care for some lunch?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After about a half an hour of becoming re-aquatinted with the area, the group of young men finally settled on an inexpensive fast food restaurant. Even though the group had chosen to sit at a table in a far corner, they were so rambunctious that people across the street could have heard snippets of their conversations, had the door been open.
"So I first arrived in Liverpool. I swear, some of those people should come equipped with sub-titles."
"A word of advice: When in America, don't eat at any Japanese restaurant if the cook looks like his family has lived in the America's all of their lives."
"Then she said, 'The problem with your good side and your bad side is that they will fight each other until you die. This proves quite the problem when you are immortal.'"
"Sage! Stop that, people are staring!" Sage pouted, sat the stool and it's occupant back down on the floor, and hopped off the table.
"It's not my fault these people have no sense of humor." Cye snickered as he tried to pry open the plastic lid to his half-finished drink. A loud thump on the window next to him caused the lid to come off and half of what was left to spill on him.
The five former ronins looked to the window. Two young men, dressed in a disturbing array of black clothes, were standing outside. The taller of the two had his fist pressed up against the glass. Ryo noted that both young men had blood red bands tied to their arms with the words "death, destroy, deliver" crudely sewn on.
The taller man thumped the glass again while the smaller started making symbols with his fingers. One. Two. Zero, Zero. The young man pointed a finger at no one in particular, then drew his finger across his neck in a slicing motion.
The message seemed cryptic, but it made sense to the receiver. The man whom they were trying to reach nodded discreetly, and the two dark young men left the window.
There was a moment of silence while the five of them tried to take in what they just saw. Sage sniffed and looked at his watch.
"Gee, guys, I'd like to stay longer, but I promised my kids I'd call them before they went to bed, and what with the time change and all…" Kento stood up and stretched his arms behind him.
"Yeah, I'd better be going, too."
"Same here," said Cye. "Same time tomorrow then?" Ryo nodded. The three of them stood and squeezed out of their table, leaving Rowan and Ryo behind.
"What, do you not have to leave?" Ryo asked.
"Not anytime soon."
"That's good."
"How are things with Mia and Yulie?"
"Wouldn't know," Ryo mumbled, unpleasant memories floating back to him.
"Oh, that's right. Sorry."
"No problem. What are you doing tonight?"
"Business."
"Here? What kind of business could you possibly do here?"
"The personal kind. I have places to go, people to see, things to do." Ryo knew that 'people' probably consisted of Mia and Yulie, while 'places' was probably Mia's summerhouse where they all stayed much longer than they needed to. As for 'things', well, even obvious Rowan had his secrets.
Rowan looked around. He stood suddenly, banding his knee on the table as he did.
"Well, Ryo, I'd love to stay, I really would. But you know how time is so I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" With that, the former Rowan of Strata ran out of the restaurant. Ryo looked up just in time to see a waitress slap a bill down on the table. Ryo looked at the bill, and his eyes grew wide. Rowan could hear his death threats all the way down the street.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~ This is the part of the job I hate ~ he thought as he plodded down the dark street to an empty warehouse. If only they hadn't been so conspicuous, banging on windows and such. He knew what to do, where to go, what to bring. His hand slid into his holster as he check to see if his pistol was still there. He had lost it last time. Almost killed himself.
He raised his eyes and saw his two partners, Maehashi and Tamakia, waiting for him. He clucked his tongue as he approached them.
"I'm not stupid, you know," he said.
"Yeah," said Maehashi, "But you haven't been here in so long, we thought you may have forgotten."
"Forget? This is the only job I have ever had. How could I forget?"
"You tell us," retorted Tamakia. He sighed.
"I explained it to you a million times. I couldn't do the bank because I was on a plane. It's rather hard to rob a bank when you are Twenty-five thousand feet in the air." Tamakia gave him a disapproving look.
"Do you have your weapon?" He patted his coat pocket. "Then let us duel."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Two more murders have been reported on the east side of Toyoma…" Ryo's television blared. "One of the victims was reported to have had multiple stab wounds in the back, while the other received a shot to the head."
"Ryo sighed as he pulled on his shirt. Surely people are bright enough not to run into a knife, but it takes a real idiot to do it more than once.
That was one of the things few people got about Ryo. He had such a light take on murder and death. It wasn't that he thought they didn't happen, but Ryo knew a lot of people in Toyoma, and didn't want to think that one of his friends was a murderer.
"Police found little evidence at the crime scene. What they did find was this arm band, the telltale symbol of the gang that refers to themselves as the Deliverers. Only one witness to the crime has been found, and has given all information on the murders he could. I you have seen this man, or any man matching this description-" Ryo changed the channel. He just didn't want to know.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hello, friends!" Sage called cheerily to the other ronins. They were in the park again today. It was so nice out, Cye opted for a picnic, and no one objected. Ryo and Rowan sat discussing business, Cye was setting out food, and Kento was watching hungrily.
"It's been forever and a day since I've had some of your good cooking, Cye." The former warrior of trust smiled.
"I miss not having anyone to cook for." There was a screech of tires, and all five ronins looked up to see three policemen heading their way. Ryo heard some one curse quietly.
"Kento Rei Faun?" one of the approaching officers asked.
"That's me."
"You are under arrest for the voluntary murder of Tamakia and Maehashi Nakomi. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. If you do not have a lawyer, one will be provided for you…"
To Be Continued…eventually.