CHAPTER ONE
Beep beep beep beep beep.
Ryo's eyes snapped open. He took in several deep breaths as he took in his surroundings. There was a nasal breathing tube tickling the inside of his nose and he was lying in a hospital bed. He turned his head to see his arm attached to an IV and a bag with a clear liquid in it. He looked down at his hands and arms where light bandages were wrapped around them. He couldn't feel any major sores or injuries to his body, but his face stung and his ribs ached.
Ryo brought a hand up to his head. His head was more heavily bandaged than his arms. Ryo glanced out the window to see sunlight. He surmised that it must be the next morning. It had been around four in the afternoon when he and Mia had arrived back at the house.
At that moment, a doctor walked in with a clipboard in hand. A name tag hung from his white coat with the name Yoshi Minke. Ryo turned his head to look at him.
"Good morning. How are you feeling?" Dr. Minke asked.
"How's Mia?" Ryo asked, ignoring the question.
Dr. Minke smiled. "You first, young man."
Ryo shrugged. Or tried to. He winced when a dull pain emitted from his shoulder.
"I'm feeling a bit sore, doc, but nothing I haven't experienced before," Ryo told him.
The doctor frowned at him, but jotted down some notes. He looked at the monitors around Ryo, making a few hmm sounds to himself. The quietness unnerved Ryo. He remained silent while the doctor gave him a look over.
"Your injuries are quite remarkable for what happened. Or, I suppose I should say the lack thereof. Do you remember what happened?" Dr. Minke asked.
Suddenly, the memories slammed into Ryo like a freight train.
Mia's smile. The mail. The explosion. Hitting the jeep. House on fire. Mia on the ground, not moving.
"Nurse! Nurse!"
So lost in his memories, Ryo didn't realize he had started panicking so badly. With assistance from the nurse, the doctor gave him a sedative and his body slowly relaxed down onto the bed. It was much later with a second visit from the doctor that Ryo was calm enough to tell him what he remembered.
"My friends…were they in the house?" Ryo asked.
Ryo felt like he had his answer when Dr. Minke grimaced.
"I'm sorry. Your friend Mia was the only one brought in. I don't know if there was anyone in the house," Dr. Minke apologized.
Ryo nodded sadly. He was in such despair that he couldn't even attempt to reach the other ronins through their connected armor mind link. Ryo quietly asked about Mia's status. The good doctor sighed heavily.
"Your friend is in very critical condition. I can't give you much details because you're not family. However, I will tell you she is going into surgery and the odds are against her."
Ryo's head flopped back against his pillow. He should have brought in the groceries and allowed Mia to get the mail. With the power of Wildfire, it wouldn't take him long to heal. He could have survived the harder damage.
The next few hours were spent in numbing pain with nurses and police officers in and out. Law enforcement were investigating the explosion and fire. There was nothing left of the house. Ryo had been a little relieved to hear no bodies had been found inside. However, the officers had told him it was unlikely that any evidence of residents could be found with the amount of damage.
Ry had cried himself to sleep after the last officer left.
/…/
Mia survived surgery but three hours later, at 6:05 in the evening, she slipped into a coma.
At 6:48, Mia passed away.
At 6:59, Ryo checked himself out of the hospital against professional medical opinion.
/…/
That evening, Ryo stayed at the lakeside cabin that belonged – used to belong – to Mia. He sat on the floor with his back against the couch. His hand absentmindedly stroked across White Blaze's head. The tiger quietly purred with his head resting in his companion's lap.
The only comfort Ryo had was White Blaze was still alive. Unable to contact the other ronins through their mind link or their cell phones, Ryo was forced to accept the sad truth.
The ronin warriors were no more.
Why? Why did this have to happen, Ryo thought.
Ryo's eyes slowly closed. Tears streamed down his face. He was all alone now with only White Blaze for company.
END OF CHAPTER ONE