Summary: The original YST characters have become a very tight knit family with the exeption of Anubis. What happens when they all come together to deal with two certain warlords past? And who are Dais and Kale falling in love with??

italics-thoughts

bold-emphasis

italics - snake language

CHAPTER FIVE

He rounded on Kayura, glaring as his jade eyes turned ebony and filled with anger, "Where are we, Kayura!?"

Her response came in a childlike whisper, "You know where we are, Sekhmet."

His eyes locked on each of his former enemies and warrior brothers, he then bared his fangs and turned back to their priestess, "Take us home! Take us home now, Kayura!"

"No! Not until you face what you need to!"

"I don't need to face anything!!"

"You must face what this place holds, Sekhmet!!"

"It holds death!"

"You must let go!! And we won't leave until you face it!" She rounded on Anubis, "until you both face it."

"It is not right to force this on us, Kayura. From any of you." Anubis reprimanded softly even though his heart was pounding harder than it had in any battle. His skin crawled; he did not want to be here again. This was a place of violence, death, loss.

"We know that," Ryo interjected standing by Kayura, "But you won't do it for yourselves. So we're here to help you face it."

Cye stepped forward and placed a strong supportive hand on Sekhmet's shoulder, "Lead the way, my friend."

Sekhmet fumed inside, how dare thy force him to live this hell? They had no idea what horrors this place held. He looked up and saw the ominous temple from his village, looking down at his boots he sighed and began walking. Oh Kami, please forgive me.

After so many centuries his feet still remembered the same dirt path through the forest, climbing the waterfall, and into his village. His breath was stole away from him when the familiar site of wooden huts entered his vision. He could almost hear the screams from the tortured and burning villagers as he had returned from finding his armor. Tears threatened to fall as he suffered through seeing his father die again, his younger brothers fight and fall and his friends scream to death from their burns. Cye looked towards him to see his body visibly shake from the memories, how difficult this must be for him. Torrent couldn't even begin to imagine what he was going through; he moved forward to offer support only to be held back by Dais. His silver hair shook as he motioned for Cye not to move.

Green filled with unshed tears as Sekhmet faced Kayura with more pain than any one person could bear, "Happy now? Can we-" he stopped short and listened.

Now everyone heard it, so soft it was barely discernable from the blowing breeze. A voice like a belle wafted gently past their ears, but only Sekhmet seemed to be affected so strongly. His eyes were wide in fear and shock as if a spirit had passed right in front of him. Suddenly he began to stride forward through the village despite his apparent fear almost moments ago. The serpent warlord was moving so fast the others almost struggled to keep up with him, he stopped so abruptly and turned that the group practically ran into him. The voice was louder now, as if the owner was just inside the temple doors they stood outside of. Memories flooded his mind of the lullaby they heard, his mother had sung it to him and his siblings when they were younger, but this was not his mother's voice. His hand fell upon the door frame but his feet seemed unable to move as his heart filled with trepidation and hope.

"Oh this is ridiculous!"

"No, Kento! Wait!" Sekhmet reached out to stop him from entering the temple but couldn't force himself to enter.

Hardrock stepped his sub armor clad body into the main room of the temple and was almost stunned into a frozen state. There kneeling in front of the temple shrine was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. Her floor length violet hair was thick and almost inflicted a compulsion to runs one's hands through it. Her eyes were closed and her skin was pale like Sekhmet's but had the look of fine porcelain. Her many layered robe of midnight blue and emerald green seemed to swallow her small frame as she sang softly while praying. He moved forward never taking his eyes off her. Considering she didn't move or even breath differently to show she knew he was there, Kento assumed he was unnoticed as of yet and went to place a hand on her shoulder.

He landed flat on his back completely shocked at the hand that had flown outward and served him such a strong blow he hadn't had time to react. Looking up, Kento locked gazes with two of the most fear striking, glittering emerald eyes he'd seen since Sekhmet. She'd cast off her robes to be clad only in rather tight hunting attire reminiscent of the ancient clans. He was completely unsure of what to do, he certainly had no desire to fight back against a girl but he watched as her eyes trailed over him taking in him in sub-armor. His heart dumped into his stomach as her eyes too turned an angry ebony and a revenge filled smile showed off her fangs.

: I won't let you do it again:

The hissing noises she made sounded as if they may have made a full sentence, but for the life of him Kento had no idea what she was saying. And he certainly wasn't prepared to be slammed into a wall by a little slip of a girl but his temper was rising beyond control as she continued to serve him her vengeance while hissing at him.

: You bastard!! Do you have any idea the horror you rained down upon us: She slammed her fists into him and then held him up by his neck: we had no defense against you and your kind, demon. You killed us all!!!:

Kento was trying to pry her hands loose of his neck, for a girl she was incredibly strong…especially a girl who showed absolutely no muscular structure at all. She was suddenly yanked from behind and skidded into the opposite wall. Shaking her head dazed, she merely sat up waiting for a fatal blow to land.

:Hikari? Is that you? Sekhmet looked down at the woman sitting across from him. It couldn't possibly be. She died. They all had died. It had been centuries. If it was her, her attack on Kento had been somewhat warranted as all she would've remembered was armor clad demons burning and killing their clan. But it couldn't be her.

The woman straightened suddenly upon hearing someone use snake language after so long. Someone who had a strangely familiar voice, she lifted her eyes only to lock them with jade eyes that matched her own, :Sekkie:

He gazed lovingly upon his sister, :I'm over 500 years old and you still wish to call me that?:

:Oh Sekkie!! It is you!!!: The young girl stood up quickly and ran to her brother tackling him with a hug :But I saw you leave! I watched from the apothecary, you walked into the big red gates and left!! You left me here!! All these centuries you left me here!!:

Hikari's surprise quickly turned to anger as she looked at her brother unsure of whether or not she should hug him or hang him. Still weighing her options, Sekhmet found his heart breaking as tears started to swim in her eyes. She had been left her all alone for more than four centuries. Unable to bear that fact that he had caused this pain in his sister, he quickly closed the distance and wrapped his arms around her. Unshed tears spilled from both anger and forgiveness, she only fought him for a moment before her resentment faded away and she held him just as tightly.

: Please don't leave again Guilt ridden shock filled his eyes as he heard her quiet plea. He hadn't actually thought of what he'd do if she was still here. She was supposed to be dead! But he couldn't just leave his sister here, not after they'd been reunited. Closing his eyes he made a fairly easy decision and pulled away from her only to lock eyes with her. : I have to leave…but you're coming with me.

: Coming with you?: she peered past him at the group that had settled in the doorway :With them too?:

: Yes, we all live together in the manor. Come meet my friends.:

: Manor? What the heck is a manor?:But her question went unanswered as Sekhmet brought her over to meet the group. Her eyes lit up upon seeing Anubis and she quickly hugged him, but the other introductions were strained as Hikari was very wary of everyone else, although it was quickly learned that she could speak Japanese and not just snake tongue. Kayura watched with great interest as a terrible weight seemed lifted from him and true happiness settled in his eyes; Mia had been right.

Anubis stepped back from the group as they exited the temple. If Hikari was alive and thriving who was to say Yukiko wasn't? But it could take forever to find Yukiko, her greatest gift beside healing had been stealth. She wouldn't be found if she didn't want to be found. Perhaps Hikari would know, if they were close enough she might know where she'd be.

He never got the chance to ask as an arrow hit his shoulder but was deflected by his subarmor. Knocked to the ground, he laid docile as if injured waiting for his assailant to show herself, even though his heart lifted knowing who it was. About fifty paces away in a large maple tree, a figure clad in a ebony and plum ninja outfit landed perfectly on her feet. A purple face mask covered half her face, so one could only see her slashing metallic teal eyes. Her long auburn hair swished in it high ponytail as she walked stealthily over to her prey. As soon as she was within grasping distance Anubis shot out his hand and twisted her ankle sending her flying over him into the dusty ground. Flipping back up, she met him in a warrior's stance ready to fight.

Meeting her challenge, he merely smirked and took his stance almost bored, "Are you truly going to fight me, Yukiko and think to win?"

Seeing her resolve falter only slightly in her recognition of him, he took the time to sweep and pin her under him, "Hello, Yukiko. Long time no see."

Okay, so Hikari and Yukiko are alive. Niftiness right? What more could possibly happen to our favorite mashos? And who is our new nameless enemy? Will Mia ever tell Sekhmet?

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