Vampire Ronin: It doesn't surprise me you're the first to post a review. Glad I caught your attention with this one. Let's see if we can keep it!

LdySubaru: Then more you shall get!

LittleMay: Glad that you like it. I think all of you will really like the twists this story will have.

CHAPTER TWO

Kylie sat on the couch waiting patiently. After Ryo had broken out of his shock, he had invited her inside. He had offered her a seat on the couch before disappearing to find his friends. Craning her head to the side, she could hear him speaking upstairs with three friends. She cringed at the sound of one of the warriors getting frustrated.

Turning her head back around, Kylie heard someone in the kitchen. Curious as to who was where, Kylie stood up, walked around White Blaze and into the kitchen. She found Cye in the kitchen. She noticed he was only a few feet taller than her. Cye turned when he heard her enter.

"Hello," she said.

"Hullo. Are you a friend of Ryo's?" Cye asked.

Kylie shrugged. "Not exactly. We just met. White Blaze led me here."

Cye shot her a quizzical look. That wasn't typical behavior for the tiger. He looked her over, taking in her normal clothes and bag, before noticing something else. She seemed to have a tired look on her face and her hand was holding her stomach, although she was feeling slight discomfort.

"Are you hungry?" Cye asked. "I could fix you something to eat."

Kylie smiled as she sat down at the kitchen table. She nodded her head.

"I am a little hungry. I haven't been able to eat much. My stomach's been bothering me."

Given the look on her face, Cye suspected that this admission had been hard for her to make. He turned away from her to grab out a large pot and started pulling ingredients from the fridge.

"I have just the thing. It's a special soup recipe my mum taught me. It's good for sore stomachs," Cye grinned. "It'll take me just a few minutes to prepare it."

He kept his back to her as he poured water into the pot and started the oven. The youngest ronin started chopping up ingredients with the skills of a professional chef.

"Thank you, Cye of the Torrent."

Cye froze. He stopped what he was doing to crane his neck around.

"Did you just…?" "Yes." Glance up. "And that's why…?" Nod.

Cye sucked in a breath before turning back around. Obviously, there was something very

different about this newcomer; something that was causing great concern among the others if the mental headache was anything to go by.

[I thought you said she was in the living room. I don't see her.]

With his back once again to Kylie, Cye sent a thought back to his friends through the armors' mind link.

[She's down here in the kitchen.]

Silence.

[Oh.]

[What are you cooking?]

Cye covered up a laugh with a cough into his arm. Kento sure had a one track mind. He informed his friend that he was making soup and that it was not for him.

Closing off himself from the link, Cye turned his attention back to the soup and his kitchen guest.

"I didn't mean to be rude, but I forgot to ask you your name," Cye apologized.

Something about Cye caused Kylie to keep a constant smile on her face. They hadn't mentioned anything about the personalities of the ronins; it was a pleasure to try and get to know them.

"My name's Kylie. And you weren't being rude. Quite the opposite, I think," Kylie pointed out.

Cye felt himself turn red. He worked in silence as he concentrated on cooking up his mom's soup. She would be impressed with the improvements he had made on the recipe. Soon he finished it up and dished some out into a small bowl.

Cye brought the bowl over to her with some crackers on the side. She thanked him quietly as she picked up a cracker to chew on it. He walked back to a cabinet to grab out a cup.

"Would you like something to drink? We have water, tea, lemonade, and…" Cye opened the fridge to look inside. "…ginger ale."

Kylie scrunched up her face at the last option. "What's ginger ale?"

Cye pulled out the small bottle to show to her. He explained that it was good for sore stomachs, too. Kylie agreed to try a little. Cye poured her some before putting away the bottle. He joined her at the table with a sandwich for himself.

They ate in silence with the only sound being the clinking of a spoon against a bowl. Kylie ate a few crackers and about half the soup before politely pushing it away.

"Thank you. You're very kind," Kylie said.

Cye smiled as he put up the plates. Kylie picked up her glass to take a small sip of the ginger ale. The taste was odd, but it did seem to make her stomach feel a little better. At that moment, the others came walking into the kitchen. Rowen and Sage sat down on either side of her while Ryo stood by and Kento hopped up onto a kitchen counter.

"Do you know who I am?" Rowen asked her.

Kylie turned her head to look at him and nodded her head.

"Rowen of the Strata." She turned her head towards Sage and Kento. "Sage of the Halo and Kento of the Hardrock."

"I told you," Ryo mumbled.

Rowen ignored his friend in favor of keeping his attention on Kylie. He stared at her as if trying to figure out a new mathematical problem.

"What's your name?" Rowen inquired.

"Kylie."

Rowen seemed to think about something before speaking again.

"Kylie is Irish, Gaelic. It means graceful."

Kylie covered up her laugh with a snort. While she wasn't exactly clumsy, she would never consider herself graceful. She narrowed her eyebrows as she returned the intense stare to him.

"Rowen comes from two different origins; Gaelic and Norse. The Gaelic meaning for 'little red one' and Norse meaning for the Rowan tree," she explained.

Kento almost fell off the counter as he barked out a laugh. Rowen turned his head to shoot his friend a glare. He noticed Ryo and Cye hiding smiles behind their hands. Sage didn't bother hiding his small smirk which didn't irk Rowen at all. He and Sage had been friends long enough that the response wasn't a surprise.

Dispensing with the introductions, Rowen began to question Kylie further. It was a great concern to him and Sage that she knew who they were.

"How do you know about us and our armors?" Rowen asked.

The question caused the others to turn their full attention to Kylie. The young woman flashed them a secretive smile and a small giggle.

"My brothers told me about all of you. They described you and White Blaze to a tee," Kylie answered.

The ronins frowned. Her brothers had told her? They had a few friends in town, but no one close enough for them to have shared their secret. Unknown to the others, the gears in Kento's head had started spinning.

Nah! It couldn't be, Kento thought.

Despite his thoughts, Kento had the oddest feeling he was on the right track. Seeing as Rowen was trying to process what question to ask next, Kento beat him to it.

"How do your brothers know us?" Kento asked.

Kylie shifted her gaze to him as she leaned back in her chair. She folded her hands over her stomach as she spoke.

"They've met you on numerous occasions."

"So we know them?"

"Of course. You've known each other for quite some time."

None of them seemed to like the way she spoke honestly, but not in whole answers. Kento pushed himself off the counter to come closer. He leaned onto the kitchen table while facing Kylie. He had one question to ask that would confirm his suspicions.

"How many brothers do you have?" Kento demanded.

Kylie leaned forward with a big smile on her face. Rather than give a verbal answer, Kylie held up four fingers. She wasn't prepared for him to dash around the table, pick her up around the waist and carry her out of the kitchen. The others quickly chased after him. Cye beat him to the door and blocked his way.

"Kento, what's wrong with you? Put her down," Cye said with a serious tone.

The Hardrock bearer stopped short, but refused to put her down.

"No, no, no, no! We got to get her out of this house and before her brothers show up, too!" Kento exclaimed.

The others stared at him in confusion while Kylie shot him an annoyed look.

"I would very much appreciate it if you would put me down," Kylie said.

"I will as soon as I get you outside," Kento replied, trying to move around his best friend.

Kylie frowned. His stubborn nature reminded her of a certain brother of hers. This meant there was only one way to calm him down.

Kento flinched when he felt her bring her hands up to his stomach. He expected a hard blow which would have made him drop her automatically. However, when her hands came to lie on his stomach, all of his emotions – his frustration, confusion, excitement – all evaporated away. Suddenly, he was nothing but cool, calm and collected.

With Kylie's hands still on him, he righted her up to her feet and let go. Kylie removed one hand but moved the other to his arm. The others watched with mixed emotions. They were confused by the rapid change in emotion from the hard-headed ronin.

"Are you calm now?" Kylie asked in a quiet voice.

Kento nodded. She stared at him as if trying to figure out if he was telling the truth. Finally, she found what she was looking for and took her hand off of him. Almost instantly, Kento snapped out of his calm daze and took an immediate step away from the strange girl.

"What the Hell did you just do?" "You know who her brothers are?"

Kylie looked at Kento who in turn looked at Ryo. Without shifting his gaze from his leader, Kento pointed a finger at Kylie. Frowning, Kylie reached her hand up to push his hand away. He instantly snapped his head back to Kylie.

"You're not actually related to any of your brothers, are you?" Kento accused her.

Kylie shook her head. "Although I do look a little like my one brother."

Kento slowly nodded his head while wagging his finger at her.

"And I bet I know which one it is, too."

Kylie smirked.

"I bet you do."

While the two debated back and forth, the others shifted their heads from side to side. They listened with great interest. Finally, Ryo had enough and stepped up between the two.

"Okay. That's enough, you two. Tell us what you know, Ken," Ryo urged him.

Kento puffed up like an angry five year old. He crossed his arms over his chest as he glared over

Ryo's shoulder at Kylie.

"We have to get her out of here because her brothers are Talpa's warlords."

Everyone's head snapped towards Kylie who smiled sheepishly.

END OF CHAPTER TWO