-runs around- I LIIIIIIIVE!

I know. I haven't written in a while. At least, not for Ronin Warriors. But here's the thing: I couldn't think of anything to write about. It seems that Avirilli was busy keeping all the yaoi bunnies that have taken up permanent residence in my head under some semblance of control…and trying to kill them all when they broke loose. Which would then cause all of them to sit on her and try to infest her, which always seemed to fail. -thinks on it- wonder why…

Now I'm rambling, MOVING ON! My friend Shirley finally gave me an idea—entirely by accident, but it was an idea nonetheless. Thank you, Shirley.

Sorry for the wait on this. I was trying to wait until I felt that my writing style improved enough to write a sequel. Fur and Field was my first fanfic ever, and it sucks. Not bad for a first try. But it still sucks. There's a lot of stuff that I didn't include in Fur that I definitely should have…namely? I barely fleshed out Hil and Hali's characters. They were just kind of…there. -motions with hands- So, because I don't feel like rewriting Fur, I'm just going to include what I was trying to do with their characters in this fic. And yes, I'll work with them here. And maybe someday in the distant future I'll get around to rewriting Fur and Field. Maybe. Don't hold your breath.

Enough ranting. Disclaimer: I don't own Ronin Warriors. Hilaris, Halicyon, Serusin, and all of the messed up ideas I threw at you in Fur and Field are mine. So don't come knocking on my door unless you have a donation for the "Feed the hungry otaku" fund.

And no, suing is NOT a donation.

Enjoy!

Dragondance
By Windsong
Chapter 1
Written 24 February 2004

The grey sky roiled with dark clouds, heavy with the promised autumn rain. The first rain of the fall season, to be precise. Autumns were always known for their tempestuous storms; maybe it was the same in her country, he reasoned, as he leaned his elbows against the balcony, looking at nothing in particular. But I don't want to think about that, he told himself firmly, and looked up at the sky again as he shoved her—and everything about her—to the furthest corner of his mind.

As he scanned the dark sky, he could feel the air currents whipping by at its high speeds overhead. Letting his spirit fly, he felt a wild jubilation rising in his chest as he danced with the wind, and shivered slightly as he felt his magic, now freed from the restraints he struggled to keep upon it, fly upwards with his soul. As he looked up, his eyes unfocused and a slight smile on his face, the wind blew stronger around him in response to the release of his magic, blowing his dark blue hair every which way.

Since that last battle with Talpa, his magic—and the magic of all the others—had been growing increasingly stronger, as they struggled to gain control over it. They were getting better, but still not at the exact level that Hilaris and Halicyon were at—but then again…they've been training all their lives.

His thoughts sent a wave of loneliness and slight frustration over him, bringing his mind back with a jarring thump. Wait, I don't want to think about them! He growled to himself in frustration as he turned restlessly to lean his back against the balcony.

He smiled as he watched a small lightning bolt dash from one cloud to another, soon followed by a disgruntled rumble of thunder. He had always loved storms, ever since he was little; loved their uncontrolled, wild chaos as they completely took over the world for a few hours. Storms felt like a cleansing, a blessing; with storms, he could be free from all of his troubles as he sat in the rain, letting the cold streams run in rivulets down his body and spike his hair as it dripped from it slowly. Yeah, so it took him hours, sometimes, to dry off, and he would usually catch a cold. But for those timeless moments, he had no ties, no problems.

Kind of like a storm falcon…

"Agh!" He yelled, throwing his head back to glare at the sky, which rumbled indignantly in response. "I give up! Damnit, she promised, and she never breaks her promises, so she'll be here! So why the hell am I so worried?!"

Then he looked down at the glass doors in front of him, their white curtains blocking his view of the warm interior. "Because…it's been nearly a year since she left." And all that that entails. What if she's been so caught up with restoring Serusin back to order that she's forgotten about the promise she's made me?

What if she's forgotten about me? His thoughts whispered.

He shook his head violently. "No, she hasn't. She won't have." And then his voice dropped to a whisper in an unconscious echo of his thoughts. "She couldn't have…"

His thoughts continued against his will, now rising to an insidious hiss. But how do you know? She's probably forgotten all about you. How do you know you even meant that much to her? How do you know that it wasn't all just something that you imagined, that she really loved you?

Finally, the cruelest thing of all. What if she's forgotten that you even existed, and gone on to someone new?

"Stop it!" He yelled at the storm clouds, shoving himself violently off of the balcony and beginning to pace, trying to get control over his doubts.

But they were only too true. What if she had forgotten? And what if she had found someone new? Better than him…better suited for her…

Idiot! He could hear Hilaris yell in his mind, probably accompanied with a whack to the head with some kind of instrument—most likely her blue scarf, which she had taken to wearing in the last few weeks she stayed with them. You're thinking too much! Think about something else! Like how you came out into the rain without a raincoat!

Oh. Yeah. That.

But it had been so long since he had last felt a real storm. All they had been getting that summer was summer drought, mist, and light sunshowers so faint and short they might as well have been mist. It had nearly brought the country into a crisis, because there had been such little rain. So in reality, he wasn't the only one standing outside with insufficient protection, waiting for the rains to come and soak the dry land.

But he was probably the only person waiting for something else much more than he was waiting for the rains. Someone, actually.

Maybe his magic had sensed his aversion towards storms that year, and changed the weather patterns so that he would be reminded of her as little as possible. Heaven knows that he had such little control over his magic…and that every storm, he would have thought of her, and probably gotten everyone else in the household irritated at him and his "useless pining", as Mia had dubbed it.

Then Mia probably would have asked Kento to douse me with a pail brimming with freezing ice water. Which is definitely not one of my favorite things. Getting drenched while fully clothed in the middle of a storm is one thing. Getting drenched while fully clothed...by Kento? Not fun.

He looked around for Sai. He knew that somewhere, he was outside, waiting as well…but he couldn't see him from his viewpoint. Sai wasn't half as doubtful as he was. For one, Hali was much more loving, more, well, kind than Hilaris seemed to be. Hilaris always seemed to be more aloof that Hali was, as least in the beginning. Later on, she was vibrant, full of mischevious insanity which, when combined with Kento's wicked sense of humor, set the stage for a lot of pranks in the house. They actually got kicked out of the house for the night a few times, when Mia had had enough of them.God, I miss them...

Sai sighed as he sat in the middle of the backyard on Sage's meditation rock, keeping his mind relatively blank, except for the images of Hali that kept floating across it. It wasn't anything unusual; it had been happening for the past few months, her image appearing in her mind for a split second before receding to the darkness of his subconcious once more, maybe a remembered bit of her laughter, or of her body close to his. Small hints of her, enough to keep her alive in his memory, but not enough to obsess or irritate him. It was kind of interesting, really.

But now that he was going to see her soon, it was getting kind of irritating.

He wasn't like Rowen. He hadn't worried so much about them, about whether they were okay, whether Hali still loved him. I mean, he worried about them, naturally—but he also knew that she was quite capable of taking care of herself. And that she loved her? He rolled his eyes. He was quite certain that she did, and a the very least, he knew he still loved her, so that wasn't even something to consider.

Technically...she hadn't exactly said that she would be coming. But where Hilaris was, there was a 99 chance that Hali would be there too, given that they were both Reserved armors, not to mention best friends and practically sisters in everything but blood—What did Hali call it? War-sisters? Something like that. A tradition in Serusin, where you become bonded through the heat and strain of battle—ah, I don't remember. I'm sure I can ask her when she comes.

When is it going to rain?! He thought with some irritation. He could feel the rain hanging heavy in the clouds overhead, and the promise of it tormented him. He wanted to call it to him, but, he thought, it was probably better not to mess with the weather and let it run its natural course. If nothing else, he had learned that when you messed with nature, strange, often dangerous, and always unforeseeable things happened. So he grumbled to himself, and sat down to wait.

Suddenly, Rowen's thoughts were cut short as three things simultaneously happened: The sky roared, and the heavens opened up like a waterfall with not individual raindrops, but whole sheets of water that drenched him to the skin instantly.

And a bright silver portal opened up about ten feet above his head.

Lightning flashed, and along with it the portal disappeared, leaving a sub-armored figure floating in the air where it had been, before it began to drop directly towards him.

He caught Hilaris' limp figure as she fell into his arms. She was bruised and her right cheek sported a shallow cut. Her sub-armor was covered with soot and ash, and scratched in a few places. Her hair was tangled, also dusted with ash quickly turning to dark muck in the rain, and much longer than it had been before she left.

"Hilaris! Hilaris, are you okay? What happened?" He held her close, nearly frantic at her state.

Dazedly she opened her brilliant silver eyes, and raised them to his own shocked gaze. Her eyes were the same. Wild, untamed, with deep sorrow hiding there, and wry humor too, as she looked up at him. But there was also fondness, joy, and…love. But shadowing that joy was pain, and there were worry lines around her eyes and forehead that had not been there when she had left.

She stirred, only to freeze and shut her eyes tightly as she moaned weakly in pain. She cursed softly in her language before he opened her eyes and managed a watery smile.

"I came back…" she whispered faintly, almost too faint to hear over the storm, before her head fell back as she fainted.

Rowen rushed into the house, yelling for Sage.

And there you have it. First chapter! I finally wrote it! Yaaaaaaaay! Dances Y'know, I've had the first chapter laid out in my head for a long time—it came to be before I even finishedFur and Field, as a matter of fact. I just didn't want to write it until I had a story to tack on after it.

I'm really happy I started writing these characters again. Anyways, PLEASE C&C, I'd really like to know what you think. Like it? Am I OOC? I think I am, a little…for Rowen, anyways. Hil IS OOC, in comparison to Fur, because, as I said, this is what I was trying to do with her character and failed to do miserably. sigh So R&R!

Anyways, ja ne! runs off

Windsong - windsong 137 at gmail dot com

"I'm seriously broke! I'm eating generic cafeteria raisins...what does that tell you?!" Valerie