Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series. Now back OFF lawyers! ;)
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AN: Well, here's the first chapter of this fanfic. Nothing much to note. Other than I should probably explain a few things. Since this story takes place 500 years after Breath of Fire III, much of the world's government has changed. Also, because Myria has been absent during all of this time, the world was able to proceed the way it should have been. So, some places are more modernized than others are. Like Wyndia and Rhalpha for instance. There, you are most likely to see people driving cars or talking on cellphones. Places like Gant are more likely to have steelmills and the like. Places like Cedar Village (formerly known as McNeil Village) are less likely to be technologically advanced. Mainly due to the location, personal beliefs, that sort of thing.
There are several major ruling nations in this story. These nations govern a specific region. Like Wyndia governs the Wyndia Region. They're like individual countries, if you will. Not all regions have a kingdom or capital city, however. The Urkan Region doesn't have a ruling kingdom. Instead, it is ran by the high priests of Myria, whose head location is Angel Tower. I figure that there is so much to cover and trying to cover it in the author's notes would just give the readers a headache. Besides, most of this stuff is explained in the story itself. It'll be easy to follow along. That and I'll most likely be coming up with a map or something later, like I did for Dragon Legend.
Another thing I want to point out before starting. In the BoF games, the central focus of the story was about the battle between Myria and the Dragon Clan. In BoF II, the St. Eva's religion seemed to take center stage. In the first game, all of the cities had a shrine dedicated to Ladon. This is almost the same for the second game, but some villages have a church to St. Eva in them. This concept seemed to die out by the time BoF III came along. You only find two Dragon Statues in the entire game, and one of them is located in Dragnier. St. Eva is gone, and Myria's base of worship is the Urkan Tapa… and that's it. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Mt. Zublo was once a Dragon Shrine, but it's never said in the game itself. It seems like after each game, people seemed to rely less and less on the gods, and more in themselves, until people didn't even remember who Ladon was. Did anyone even KNOW about Myria at the Myria Station?
So, the point I'm making is this: in this story, religion has once again become important to the people. The majority of the people are Ladonites, followers of the Dragon God, Ladon. Kinda like in the first game. Myria is still very frowned upon by the mortals, especially the Dragon Clan.
Oh, before I forget, the Dragon Clan has regained most of it's power, at least politically, by this point. Um, I'm not talking about the Light Dragons, but the clan in general. Remember that the Light Dragons just kept to themselves in the first game. So, the Dragon Clan is one of the ruling nations in this story. Not quite an empire, but the power of the nation is felt in all of the other nations. They're a world power, if you will. Ugh, it makes more since if you read the story.
Right, where was I? Oh, yeah. The gods and goddesses of Aspara. Um, Ladon has the most followers, often referred to as Ladonites. There are many churches and shrines dedicated to him. He is also viewed as one of the two creator gods. Myria is the second. She still has a base of worship, but her followers are few in number, and very erratic and fanatical. There are the four minor elemental gods as well; Tora the goddess of fire, Titus the god of water, Namanda the goddess of earth, and Miliené the goddess of wind. Each of these gods has an avatar. These gods lead their followers in the form of these avatars. The four avatars are on par with the Dragon Clan in terms of actual power. Two of the avatars lead nations/kingdoms, while one is a high priestess and the other is a shaman. Deis is referred to as the Trickster and goddess of magic. The Yggdrasil isn't so much of a god as it is more like the sentient embodiment of the will of the planet. It is a large collective and it's seat of power is in the Sea of Trees. Even though it does not have an avatar, as it is present in all of plant life, it does have a spokesperson. There is one more goddess, the Faerie Queen and Overseer of the Grand Design. She is a neutral deity that makes sure that the others don't royally screw up. She, like Deis, does not have an avatar.
Uh, nothing much to note? Boy, can I be long winded! Um, well, I thought I'd point some of this stuff out, so readers wouldn't confused, but I think that I managed to make people confused. At least me! I would say more, but that would entail spoilers, and we know that I can't have that. :)
So, here's the first chapter!
Oh, BTW, Arcy did a nice page for my story on his Breath of Fire Library page website. Thanks Arcy. You should go check it out!
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ACT I: Childhood A World Without Danger Four years later…She leaned closer to the dark, hansom stranger, her lips just a breath a way from his. He gently caressed her face with his left hand and then cupped her chin with his right hand. They stared longingly into each other's eyes, the dark stranger gently pulling her into a gentle embrace. She clung to him like he was her lifeline. He was the only one who understood. The only one that…
"Y'know, reading that garbage will just rot your mind."
A young woman with short, light brown hair, dressed in a light blue, two piece dress suit, placed the romance novel down on the kitchen table and just glared. The speaker in question just shrugged and continued reading the morning newspaper.
The woman sighed. She stood up and causally walked over to the stove and opened the oven door. She noted that the biscuits were browning quite nicely. She just shook her head and opened the cupboard and took out a frying pan and some cooking oil.
She quickly walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door and retrieved a carton of eggs. She walked back over to the stove and placed the carton down on the top of the stove. She opened the bottle of cooking oil and poured some into the pan, and then took two eggs from the carton, broke them on the edge of the pan, and then dumped the yoke into the pan. She turned the knob on high and started to scramble the eggs with a fork.
"Shouldn't you add butter and salt to scrambled eggs?" the voice behind the newspaper asked.
Without missing a beat, the young woman placed the fork down on the stove and walked over to the table. She quickly grabbed up the newspaper and rolled it up. The person in question just glanced up at her and grinned. He was a nice looking man that looked to be in his mid twenties with long black hair that fell to his shoulders that was tied back in a ponytail. He was dressed in a blue shirt and khaki-colored pants.
The man grinned as the woman bopped him on the head with the rolled up newspaper. "If you think you can cook this better, then do it yourself!" she grumbled as she placed the paper on the table in front of the man. The man glanced over that the woman and picked up a salt shaker.
"You forgot something," the man said in a cheerful voice as he swung the shaker between his thumb and pointer finger.
"…don't make me take this pan and knock you in the head with it…" the woman growled through gritted teeth.
"Did I say something wrong?" the man asked, placing down the shaker and picking the paper back up. He turned back to the article he was reading, something to do about Dragnier's prince coming to Crete or something like that.
"Not at all…" the woman said, her voice laced with venom.
"You sound pissed," the man observed.
"Really? Wow, maybe you really ARE a genius!"
"Just stating a fact," the man hummed in response.
"Whatever," the woman rolled her eyes. She turned around and glanced at the clock on the wall. 7:20 a.m.
"Hm… I wonder if…" the woman started, but was cut off by a loud shrill coming from somewhere upstairs. "Never mind," the woman deadpanned.
The man placed the paper down. "I never did like the first day of school," the man said, grinning.
The woman turned the stove off opened the door and took out the biscuits. She then dumped the eggs onto a plate and carried the food over to the table and sat it down.
"Have at it!" the woman said as she slipped on a pair of black dress shoes. She grabbed her purse and car keys and walked towards the door. "I have a class to go teach."
"Hey!" the man yelled as he jerked around. "Wait…!" the man's protests died as the woman blew him a kiss bye and slammed the door shut. The man sighed and turned back around in his seat and eyed the scrambled eggs.
"Just great…" he sighed and picked up the salt shaker.
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"CRAP!" a loud, almost whiny feminine voice shrieked from beneath a pile of covers. The loud shrills of the alarm could almost be heard over the girl's constant shrieking.
The girl kicked off the covers and jumped out of bed. She didn't even have to look at the clock to realize she was late for the first day of school. This year she was going to be in the eighth grade. No doubt the teachers would be happy to see her go the next year.
She stumbled over to the dresser and looked in the mirror. Her hair was a bird's nest and she looked more like she belonged in a monster flick than…
"I AM SO LATE!" the girl screamed. She quickly pulled her tang-top and capris off and slid on a light green top with white puffy sleeves and a blue sailor-type collar on it. She then slipped on a blue and green pleated skirt that fell just below her knees. She then added the red scarf that went underneath the sailor-type collar and clipped it in place with a gold, metal clasp in the front. She quickly brushed out her dark, brown hair and pulled it back into two, low ponytails, held back by pink clasps. White socks and a pair of black dress shows completed the junior high school uniform.
The girl picked up a necklace with a small crystal attached to it and clasped it around her neck, along with a black choker. She then put on her narrow-rimmed glasses and bolted out of the messy bedroom and down the stairs. She arrived in the kitchen just in time to see the dark haired man salt the scrambled eggs in front of him.
The girl growled and quickly plopped down in one of the chairs and grabbed up a fork and the plate the eggs were on. She quickly downed them, not once looking at the amused man sitting to the left of her.
When she was finished, she looked over at the man and growled. "Why do you have to be messing with my food for?"
"What sane human being eats scrambled eggs without salt?" the man asked.
"Me…" the girl said venomously.
"Yeah, sure," the man sighed and glanced at the clock. "Hey, aren't going to be late for school or something? It starts at eight, right?"
"ACK!" the girl screamed. "I'm LATE!"
"Un," the man sighed. "I thought we already established that…"
"I need a ride!" the girl looked at the man with all seriousness.
"Pardon?" the man asked.
"I said I need a ride!"
The man smirked. "I thought you had a problem being seen in the same general area with your older brother. Now you say that you want a ride from me?"
"I said I NEED a ride, not WANT one!" the girl sighed. "School starts in fifteen minutes! I can't be late!"
The man stood up and motioned for the girl to do the same. He walked over to the counter and picked up his car keys. "God forbid that I have to start out the new school year with seeing your principal first thing. I bet she's getting tired of our meetings, too."
"You're not funny!" the girl crossed her arms and pouted.
"Seriously, people might start to think that I'm cheating on my wife or something," the man started as he and the girl got into the blue sedan. The car pulled out of the driveway and started down the street.
The man smirked, then continued his tirade, much to the girl's annoyance. "Then she finds out and both women duke it out on one of those sleazy daytime talk shows, where the host is either a loon who thinks they are a gifted psychologist, or a man-hating amazon. If the former is true, the three of us might have to sit around in a circle and talk about how our fathers didn't go to our third grade play or some other inane piece of crap. If the latter is true, then I might as well say goodbye to my…"
"WE'RE HERE!" the girl screamed as the car pulled up to the curb. She quickly jumped out of the car and started to bolt towards the campus of the middle school. Several similarly dressed students glanced over and laughed at the girl as she tried to run. The man honked the horn, causing the girl to cringe and slowly turn back around.
"What?" the girl said sharply through gritted teeth.
The man grinned as he held up a brown paper bag and a small book bag out the window. "Oh, nothing. Just thought you might want these," the man responded.
Cheeks burning, the girl snatched the bags out of the man's outstretched hand. "Thanks," she muttered in embarrassment as she started to turn around. The man clearing his throat caused her to turn back around. He made a waving motion with his hand.
She groaned as she emptied her pockets of her emergency handheld game system, her cell phone, and digital music player. She could hear the laughter growing as the man gave her a cheerful wave. "Have a good day Miyuki!" he said, grinning like an idiot as he rolled the window back up and drove off. She growled and turned around and glared at her peers.
"WHAT?!" she snapped. The preteens snickered and went about their business. The girl, Miyuki, sighed and glanced upward. This was going to be a long day.
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Miyuki was correct. This day was definitely long. She shoved passed many underclassmen on her way to her locker. She went over to the locker she had been assigned and turned the combination lock. When she finished, she tugged on the lock, but it didn't budge. The thing was stuck.
"Crap…" Miyuki grumbled to herself as she kicked and prodded the locker to no avail. Then, as if fate was playing some sort of sick, cosmic joke on her (or maybe it was her brother, she never knew), the tardy bell rang. Miyuki groaned and bolted down the hallway.
She begrudgingly trudged into her first period class, Ancient History. Most of the seats were filled with either incredibly bored students, or the few that were trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. A couple lucky students were playing handheld game systems. Either way, the class itself was a mix of different clans. Among them were a couple of Grassrunners and a Woren hybrid girl that was missing a tail. A Shell clansman was seated towards the back, looking out the window. She thought she saw someone with Manillo's blood, but she wasn't sure. The girl looked more clanless than anything else, but she couldn't help feel that the white skin around her cheeks looked like gills and scales.
The only person she recognized was a young Dirt-eater boy with large glasses that was sitting close to the front. That boy was the one she had algebra with last year.
Miyuki inwardly cursed her brother for his keen intuition and eyesight.
Miyuki noticed a red-haired girl towards the back. The girl grinned and waved at Miyuki. She walked over to the girl and sat down next to the girl. The girl turned and looked over at Miyuki and grinned.
"Hey," she grinned.
"Hi Riley," Miyuki sighed.
"Heh, I bet that was embarrassing," Riley giggled.
"Wuh?"
"The thing outside," Riley explained. "Where your brother made you hand over your shit?"
"Oh, that…" Miyuki sighed.
"I would have screamed at him Yuki," Riley sighed as she leaned her elbows against the desk and rested her head in her hands.
Yuki merely nodded in agreement. "Jin has that special way of annoying me more than usual," Yuki stated as the teacher walked into the room. She seemed rather young to be a teacher. She only looked to be eighteen or nineteen. She had long red hair that was tied back into a bun and was wearing glasses. She was dressed in a three-piece business suit and had a stern look about her.
The oddest thing about her were the two long rabbit like ears that protruded out either side of her head. The ears started out pink and changed to a dark purple at the tips of them. The ears were a dead giveaway to the teacher's Grassrunner heritage.
The young woman narrowed her eyes at the students assembled and cleared her throat. Most of the students quickly jumped to attention. A few that were zoned out merely glanced up. Yuki and Riley sighed.
"This… is going to be a long day, isn't it?" Riley asked.
"There will be no fraternizing in my classroom," the teacher said in a stern voice.
A long day indeed.
The teacher turned to the whiteboard and took a black pen and wrote the class name and rules on the board. She rambled on about how there would be no talking in class, all homework would be turned in on time, etc.
"I am Miss Molly Stephens," the Grassrunner said. "You will address me as Ms. Stephens, not Teach, or anything else that would be degrading to my name."
Yuki idly wondered why Yui had to be a teacher for Crete University and not the ancient history teacher for Brookdale Academy.
Ms. Stephens kept droning on about proper procedures and the like. Finally, she passed out the textbooks. Yuki looked at the book and opened it. She glanced over the Table of Contents and grimaced. Certain sections seemed to jump out at her, like "Age of Heroes," "Age of Man," and the like.
The "Age of Heroes" section seemed more interesting. Mainly because she knew more about this time in Aspara's history, and that was because Jin's study seemed to be overflowing with books and research papers on the subject.
Yuki looked up and noticed the teacher glaring at her. Yuki closed the book and the teacher turned back to the class.
"Oh, and one more thing," the teacher seemed to have an excited gleam in her eyes. "There will be a guest speaker that will come to our school at 1:30 this afternoon. Dragnier's Prince Demus Laurante is on a Good Samaritan global tour in hopes that it will bring each nation and region closer together…"
Yuki slightly growled under her breath. "…honoring the memory of all those who died in the Lahan Massacre four years ago…"
Yuki turned her head and glared out the window. Good Samaritan tour her ass. The Dragons were the ones that started the war in Lahan…
"It will be magnificent!" Ms. Stephens finished, smiling dreamily. If Yuki didn't know any better, she thought this psycho teacher had a crush on the prince of the Brood.
"Everyone better be on their best behavior," Ms. Stephens' voice grew cold and serious. "Or else you will be facing detention until you are thirty."
Yuki sighed and looked back over at the teacher. She noted that there seemed to be a little vein that seemed to be throbbing on the side of the woman's head.
The last thing that Yuki wanted to do was sit through a speech given by the son of the world's biggest asshole. But, really, what could she do? Pretend to be sick? That could get her a ticket out of the speech, but there was just one, tiny drawback. Since she was only twelve, they'd have to call her parents, or lack for thereof. And since her parents have since shuffled off the mortal coil, the job would fall to her legal guardians. And that would be her brother and his wife.
She might be able to get away with something like that with Yui, but Jin was a freaking doctor. He was trained to be able to tell when people were lying out their asses. So, no, faking sick would not get her out of this mess. She might as well go to the pep rally.
But she didn't have to enjoy it.
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She had hoped the day would be long. Apparently, fate was working against her and at 1:10 p.m. that afternoon, an announcement came on over the intercom and told the teachers and student body to assemble to the auditorium. Yuki met up with Riley as they quickly walked in and sat down in the back.
Soon, all the seats were back to the brim as the principal of the school, an attractive young woman with what looked like wolf ears protruding through her long, brown hair, came up to the microphone. She adjusted the height of the stand and picked up the mic.
"Good afternoon!" the principal said into the mic. There was a quick chorus of "good afternoon" and the principal continued. "I hope that everyone is having a good first day. We have with us a very special guest with us today. Prince Demus Laurante of Dragnier has come to Brookdale Academy on a good will tour in hopes of better understanding…"
Yuki sighed and looked around. She took note of the security guards posted around the exits. Well, that crossed out using the exits as a form of escape. She looked over to where the bathrooms were. There was a guard that was stationed between the two doors. Hm…
Maybe she could say she needed to go to the bathroom and climb out the window? That might work. Okay…
Yuki turned her attention back to the stage as the principal stepped to the side and a young man walked up the stairs and onto the stage. He was a very attractive young man with intense, green eyes and midnight blue hair that was neatly tied back into a long ponytail. He was dressed in a gray suit and tie and had a sash around his shoulders. The sash had many metals on it.
"He's cute," Riley giggled.
"Don't make me gag…" Yuki grumbled. "I… gotta go piss. If anyone asks… tell them I went to the bathroom, 'kay?"
Riley looked at her friend in confusion, but nodded. "Gotcha."
Yuki shouldered her backpack and quickly stood up just as Prince Demus picked up the mic and introduced himself. Yuki scrambled in the direction to the bathrooms. When she got there, she was stopped by the security guard. After a "I gotta pee, NOW!," the guard stepped aside and let Yuki into the girl's bathroom.
Yuki spotted the window right away. The thing was almost at the ceiling and was very narrow. Yuki grinned as she jumped up and propelled herself off of the wall. She reached the window and with one, swift kick, sent the glass pane flying. She landed back on the floor of the bathroom and kicked off the wall again and reached for the window. She grabbed it and crawled out…
Onto the school's roof. Lovely. Yuki sighed as she scanned the roof. All doors locked… ah! Yuki spotted a ladder that went from the roof back to the ground outside the back of the school. She ran over and got on the ladder and climbed down.
When she reached the ground, she thought she heard a slight noise. She glanced around and spotted someone lying on the ground a few feet away, near the smelly dumpsters. She cautiously walked over to the still form and bent over.
The form seemed to be of an 11 or 12 year old boy with short, spiky blue hair, dressed in a gray, long sleeved shirt, brown gloves, boots, and a pair of khaki colored pants lying on his stomach. This itself wasn't unusual. It just meant the boy was probably from the country or something. The style of clothing just didn't seem native to the Ceres Region.
What was unusual was the simple fact the boy's clothes and hair were covered in blood. He was also lying in a pool of blood. The boy seemed to have some sort of sheathed short sword in his hand. Yuki freaked and held her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming. She watched as the boy spasm slightly and moaned again. She finally got up the nerve and steeled herself. She reached over and shook the boy's shoulder.
The boy groaned, opened his eyes, and raised his head slightly. He took one look at the girl and sighed in relief. Yuki looked on as the boy shakily maneuvered his body into a sitting position. The boy blinked and looked over at Yuki. Yuki just shook her head.
"What the…?" Yuki asked. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Not so loud, or they might hear you!" the boy hissed.
Yuki, not one to argue, nodded in understanding. He'd probably have some sort of freaky reason for being behind the school, next to a bunch of dumpsters, and lying in a pool of his own blood.
"Did… anyone see you?" the boy asked. Yuki shook her head no. "Good… um…"
"Hn?"
"Can… we get out of here… I'm not feeling so good… ugh…" the boy moaned as he turned around and vomited.
Yuki made a face. Okay, on one hand, the boy was hurt and needed help. On the other, she just found him lying unconscious behind the school. Well, at least she now had a good, legitimate excuse as to why she skipped the speech.
"What's your name?" Yuki asked.
"Um… can we discuss this later?" the boy asked. "I don't what them to find me."
"They?"
"The ones that did this to me."
"Y-okay…" Yuki said hesitantly.
"Can you help me?"
Yuki nodded her head. "I can, but you have to tell me what the heck happened. 'Kay?"
The boy nodded. Yuki and the boy stood up; Yuki supporting the boy by placing her arm around his shoulder. Yuki's uniform started to stain with the boy's blood. The boy gave her a sheepish look and apologized. Yuki nodded as the two started the trek back to Yuki's house.
Yuki prayed that Jin would be home, for once in her life.
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After about forty minutes of dodging cars and hiding in alleyways and ducking behind bushes and trashcans, Miyuki and the boy made it back to her house. Yuki turned the knob and discovered the door was, indeed, unlocked.
Yuki only prayed it was Jin that was home. She opened the door and they both walked into the living room. Yuki dropped her book bag on the floor, causing the contents to spill out. The boy dropped his sword as well. She then led the boy over to the bathroom and sat him down on the toilet.
"You need to change… or something…" Yuki said. "Um, I'll go look for something for you to wear…"
The boy nodded as Yuki went into Jin and Yui's bedroom and started to root through the dresser draws. She sighed and realized how futile this was, as Jin had no close that would fit the boy. Yuki finally settled on a large flannel shirt that belonged to her brother. She left and walked back into the bathroom. She placed the shirt on the hamper.
"Um, you should probably take a shower to clean up or something. The shirt was all I could find for you to wear. When you get cleaned up, we can talk."
The boy nodded and took off his shirt and gloves. Yuki's cheeks burned as she quickly left the room. She listened as the boy turned the shower on. After a few moments, the water was turned off and she heard the rustling of clothes. When she thought it was safe, she reentered the bathroom and looked over at the boy. His bloodied clothes were scattered across the bathroom floor. The boy was standing up and the flannel seemed to come down to his knees. He had rolled the sleeves up.
For the first time, Yuki noticed a necklace around the boy's neck. It seemed to be a silver dragon in the shape of a tear, coiled around a clear stone. The boy looked over at Yuki curiously. Yuki motioned for the boy to follow her downstairs.
Yuki and the boy got down the stairs just as they heard the back door open. Yuki poked her head in the kitchen and saw Jin messing around in one of the draws. Jin stopped and turned his head, a surprise expression evident on his face.
"What are you doing home?" Jin asked.
"Um… long story?" Yuki said sheepishly.
"Uh, huh?" Jin sighed. "Did you skip school or something?"
"Yes and no?" Yuki laughed nervously.
"Miyuki…" Jin grumbled darkly. "What do you think you are doing?" Jin sighed as he placed a hand on her shoulder and slightly pushed her into the direction of the living room. "You know that you can't just… huh?"
Jin looked down at Yuki and noticed her uniform was stained with blood. "What… happened to your clothes?" Jin asked in a hesitant voice.
"Um… like I said, long story," Yuki sighed.
"What happened? Did you get in a fight? Am I going to have to kill someone?!"
"No…?"
"What happened?" Jin snapped. "Why is there blood on your clothes?"
"It's not mine!" Yuki yelled as they entered the living room.
Jin was about to open his mouth to respond, but stopped when he was the boy sitting on the couch, dressed in one of his shirts.
"Okay…" Jin sighed and let go of Yuki. He eyed the boy nervously. "Who are you?"
The boy looked over at Jin, then back at Yuki. Yuki nodded. "He's okay. This is my no-good brother."
The boy nodded. Jin gave Yuki a withering look. The boy stood up and bowed to Jin. The boy straightened up as Jin gestured him to sit back down on the couch. Yuki took a seat beside the boy as Jin sat down in a chair.
"Who are you?" Jin asked the boy.
The boy smiled slightly and nodded. "My name is Ryu Bateson. I am really sorry if I have caused you any trouble, Mr…?"
"My name is Jin," Jin responded. "Jin Uzuki." Jin motioned over to Yuki. "She's Miyuki, my little sister. But, I'm guessing you two have already met."
"Sorta," Ryu responded.
"I like to be called Yuki," Yuki grinned slightly.
"Okay, Yuki," Ryu said.
"Why were you, um, unconscious and bleeding when I found you?" Yuki asked. "And why do you seem better now?"
"Um…" Ryu stuttered. "Some bad people are after me."
"No doubt," Jin mused. "But who and more importantly, why?"
"I don't know," Ryu sighed and looked down at his hands, that were placed on his lap. "I just know that I was at home and these guys dressed in some sort of uniforms came into my house and… oh no!"
Jin and Yuki looked over at Ryu, both had curious looks on their faces.
"What's wrong?" Jin asked.
"My father is in trouble!" Ryu yelled and jumped up. Ryu's vision swam as he staggered around a little.
Jin stood up and walked over to Ryu and placed an arm around his shoulder. Ryu groaned as he closed his eyes and leaned on Jin for support. Jin looked down at the boy and nodded.
"You may seem healed, but you must have suffered some sort of concussion during the struggle."
"Oh," Ryu sighed as he sat back down.
"Now, tell us what happened," Jin said quietly.
Ryu nodded. "Like I said, I was at home and these guys just break in and start wreaking everything. They spotted me and tried to grab for me, but my father stood in their way. They ran him through with swords and, uh, I guess they knocked me out. The next thing I know, I am in the back of some van and I was tied up. I was able to get away, but the guys ran me through, too. I ran and ran and finally just fainted from the pain and blood loss. That's when Yuki found me."
"Where are you from?" Yuki asked.
"Cedar Woods," Ryu responded.
Jin looked confused. "That's in the Yraall Region. Just how fast were they driving?"
"Um… I think I was out for a while. A day or two maybe?" Ryu groaned.
Jin nodded. "What explains a few things. Do you know who attacked you?"
"I think it was Demus…" Ryu growled. "Or at least his men…"
Yuki looked angry. "Why would the prince of the Brood attack a normal human?"
Ryu and Jin both looked over at Yuki like she had gone insane. Ryu opened his mouth to say something, but Jin clearing his throat stopped him. Ryu looked up at Jin. Jin merely shook his head.
"In any case, it is important that we find out if your father is alright," Jin said. "Ryu, what's your father's name, anyway?"
"Bunyan," Ryu said.
"What?" Jin asked. "I thought that Bunyan had no children."
"He doesn't," Ryu responded. "I'm his adopted son."
"Ah," Jin nodded. He crossed his arms and looked over at Yuki. "Go changed into something that you can hike in. We are going on a little hike." Jin turned to Ryu. "Come on, we'll go see if there is any way to clean your clothes."
A half-hour later, Yuki came down from her room. She was dressed in a sleeveless pink tee shirt with a blue, sleeveless vest with a red collar on, and a pair of blue jeans and a pair of black, laced up hiking boots that came to her knees. She had a pair of pink, elbow length gloves on each arm that lacked the hands part. She still had on her black choker and necklace on. Her hair had been tied back into a ponytail.
Ryu's clothes had been cleaned and he was once again dressed in a gray, long sleeved shirt, brown gloves, boots, and a pair of khaki colored pants. Only this time, he had a red scarf around his neck. He was holding his sheathed short sword and standing beside Jin, who had also changed his outfit.
Jin was dressed in a dark, brown shirt, pants, and black boots. He had clothes on his hands and was wearing a black trench coat. In either of his hands were book bags. He handed one off to Ryu and then walked over to Yuki and handed her the other.
"There are supplies in those bags, as well as a few other things you might find useful," Jin replied. He then walked over to the wall and took down a katana from over the fireplace mantel. He grabbed up a sheath and sheathed the katana. He then walked over to the other side of the room and pulled down a pair of slightly curved short swords.
He handed the swords off to Yuki, who just have him a confused look. "They're called kodachi, remember?" Jin asked.
Yuki nodded. "Yeah, I know!" She took the kodachi. "Why are you handing me these?"
"You might need them for later," Jin replied. "We're going to Cedar Woods. Lot's of wildlife and stuff. Or those people that attacked Ryu and his father. You never know."
Yuki numbly nodded. Jin grinned slightly and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly dialed Yui.
"Yeah? Hi honey. Nope, everything's okay. Yup, we're fine. Ah, Yuki and I are heading out for a little while. Nope, we won't be back for diner. Where are we going? Cedar Village. Why? Long story. Will tell you later. Okay, bye hon. Love you, too," Jin grinned as he hung up the phone.
"Ready for a little field trip?" Jin grinned in a way that made Yuki and Ryu feel more than a little uneasy.
"This… is going to be bad, isn't it?" Yuki question.
To be continued…
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