Okay, so this is my first non-Avatar: The Last Airbender story. I'm waiting for Korra to come out so I started to watch Ronin Warriors again. Yay! I'm playing with the characters a bit by combining a bit of the Japanese version and the American version, since I know the American version better but like a lot of the original stuff better. So please bear with me if it seems odd. I don't own Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers, and I had to use Wikipedia a lot to try and fit the story in the early '90s (Like 1992). So enjoy!

It was a warm October day when the bus stopped in Yamaguchi. It had been a long bus ride from Sendai for the nineteen year old Shin Mori. It had been a year since he was last at home. A year since Suzunagi. He collected his green bag before heading towards home. It wasn't going to be a far walk, and after sitting on a bus for hours, he decided to walk home. Besides, he thought, his mother wasn't expecting him for another hour. He placed a hand into his pants' pocket to retrieve his armor orb.

"We're heading home Suiko." He said before putting it back.

Shin made a quick stop in a shop to grab his mother flowers, and a baby blanket for his sister. Minutes later, he found himself on his street.

As he walked into the front door of the Mori house, Shin noticed that it was dark inside. It was odd for his mother to keep the house dark as it was. Moving his heavy bag to his other shoulder, he continued to search for anyone. As he headed into the kitchen, he started to smell recently cooked food.

"Mom?" he called as he peeked around the corner.

The lights switched on, and there was a crowd of his family and friends.

"Surprise!" they called out.

Shin dropped his bag as he was rushed by his mother and very pregnant sister for hugs. He immediately hugged them back.

"Our sailor's home!" his sister Sayoko cried.

"Did the Maritime Agency feed you well?" his mother asked.

"Yes mother, they did." Shin smiled.

"Don't let him be modest, he's huge!" Touma teased, "He looks like he can beat Shu at an arm wrestling match."

"He cannot" Shu argued back.

Everyone laughed.

"Hold on Shin," his mother said, "Let me get the camera so I can take a picture of your nice white uniform."

As his mother disappeared, his brother-in-law hit him in the arm.

"Ow, you did add some muscle there." He said holding his hand.

Shin rubbed his arm, "Too hard for you, big brother?"

They both laughed. Shin then continued to greet his other friends.

"Where's Seiji?" he asked.

"Couldn't make it. He said something about being busy at the dojo." Ryo answered.

Shin knew what he really meant though. Seiji didn't come because of a disagreement they had a year ago about the new armors Suzunagi had given them. Shin told them about joining the Maritime Safety Agency to help people. The warrior of light had called him a fool, saying that he was hurting the team with not making a final decision about his armor. When it became heated, they were separated by force of the others. Seiji regained his composure and walked out.

"Shame." Shin mumbled.

"I found the camera." His mother called out, walking back towards the party, "Touma-kun, come help me with the timer."

"Coming Mrs. Mori." He smiled.

The blue haired warrior fiddled with the camera for a bit before running to the group. The timer malfunctioned when Touma moved to see what went wrong.

"I swear I had this thing working earlier." Touma said. He was soon interrupted by a flash.

"I guess that photo is going to you." Ryo responded as everyone else laughed.

"It'll be on time this time. I swear." He soon returned.

As they all smiled at the camera, it soon went off. Mrs. Mori clapped.

"Come on Touma-kun, I have a few other things you can do." She said.

As Shin was about to grab his bag to take to his room, his brother-in-law stepped in. He told him to enjoy the party while he could.

"So about this arm wrestling," Shu started, "I have to prove that I'm still the strongest warrior."

"I'll save you the embarrassment, and claim that you still are." Shin laughed.

"You can't back out of this one, buddy." He said, rolling his sleeves up.

Sayoko frowned, "Mother's going to be angry if you break something Shu."

"Nah, this will be quick."

He headed a table, and smirked. Shin sighed as he joined his friend at the table, offering his hand for the match. Ryo gave them a count and then the two warriors were struggling with each other. It was even for the most part until Touma and Shin's mother walked in.

"Shin, Shu, I swear if you break that table," she yelled in English.

Shin was caught off guard, and had his hand slammed into the table. Shu then jumped up.

"Thanks for slamming my hand into the table." Shin soon spoke.

"Shouldn't have lost." Shu smiled.

Touma was laughing at the misfortune as he put down extra chairs. He then followed Shin's mother into the kitchen to help bring the food out.

"He's been helping around the house and the shop while you've been gone." Sayoko told Shin as he about to ask about Touma doing extra work, "It was a bet that he lost."

Touma came back out with a fake laugh. There was a mixture of English and Japanese food.

Later that night, Shin found himself near the beach. He was wearing his black sweat shirt and a pair of jeans. He was lying on a rock with his feet in the water. Everyone had gone to bed. For him, the excitement of being home hadn't gone away yet, keeping him awake.

"Still awake?" his sister asked, as she was walking up.

"Yeah. What about you?"

"The baby's keeping me up. He won't stop kicking." She said as she sat next to him, "Thanks for the blanket, although I know you bought it here."

Shin laughed, "I didn't have time to stop in Sendai."

"Liar, you're avoiding Sendai still." She said firmly, "Why are you avoiding your friend? Is it about Suiko?"

"Yes." Shin answered, still looking at the stars.

They both sat there in silence for a few minutes before Sayoko spoke again.

"Aren't your feet cold?"

"No. The water's warm compared to up north."

"Still jumping into the water to save people?"

Shin smiled, "I am. I had saved some woman from a boat last week who couldn't swim. The waves were large, and the water was freezing. She clung to me as I tried to get her onto the helicopter. I felt unstoppable."

"Sounds like fun."

"It's much better than fighting." He mumbled.