Vampire Ronin: Oooh, I knew I should have looked a second time! Oh well. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. He he he How do you know that isn't my plan? *wink*

Okay, readers and reviewers (or jrzgrl02 and Vampire Ronin), it is my intent to post new chapters for all three stories before this coming weekend. So here's the start. Enjoy!

CHAPTER SIX

From shifting through the Shadows to returning to Namerikawa, Emily had explained what her life was like to White Blaze. One of three sisters to Sage; growing up in Toyama; the ronins and warlords; finding out about everything; Talpa's defeat.

Sadly, White Blaze couldn't talk and answer the questions Emily had. She found a hotel on the opposite end of town that let her stay in the room for a few nights with White Blaze, now disguised as Cooper, in tow.

"You speak the language quite fluently, child. Where did you learn it?" asked the owner, an elderly woman, as she escorted the two to the room.

"My family taught me. I grew up here in Japan," Emily explained as they stopped in front of a door.

The elderly woman stopped and turned to face her.

"Does your family live near her?" the woman asked.

Emily nodded. "Yes."

"Dokodesu ka? [Where?]"

"Toyama."

The answer had just been automatic. She hadn't even meant to say it. She had meant to list off another city nearby. The owner gasped as a hand came up to cover her open mouth. Emily barely heard her as she murmured a prayer in Japanese.

"I'll make sure no one disturbs you," she murmured, before moving past Emily and White Blaze.

Emily strained to listen to the woman's mumblings as she disappeared down the stairs.

"Denakereba narimasen… Yuiitsu no seizon-sha [Must be…only survivor]."

Emily openly frowned as she took out the key she had been given. She unlocked the door and let White Blaze enter first. White Blaze leaped up onto the queen sized bed and laid down. Emily dropped her backpack on the ground by the bathroom door while locking the door behind her.

She immediately moved to the computer set up in the room. She was going to find out what had happened to Toyama. She brought up the search engine, typed in Toyama, and hit the Search button. Normally, her results would have consisted of a Wikipedia page, a Toyama restaurant (in Arizaona), and an official site full of tourism information.

However, what came up was confusing. The first link mentioned something about an anniversary. She moved the mouse across the screen and clicked on the link. The news article was written by a newspaper in Tokyo. It was very vague, almost as if the writer hadn't wanted to say too much. It talked about honoring the dead and the lowering of flags for the entire week. The article was dated yesterday.

Emily hit the backspace and scrolled down through the links before clicking one.

The first image was an almost exact replica of the city now. She scrolled down and started reading. It talked about a tragic moment in Japanese history. Emily read in horror as a disaster worse than a natural disaster had overcome the city. No one knew exactly what had happened. There were speculations about a deadly virus or a nuclear attack.

The number of deaths was staggering. Most of the people hadn't survived the "attack." Those few that had nearly survived had been in intensive care units and hadn't lived for longer than a week. Before dying, several of the near survivors had mumbled things like "castle in the sky" and "bright colors."

A cold feeling wracked through Emily's body. She was beginning to understand. She scrolled down. There were more pictures, one more gruesome to the next. Finally, the cursor stopped on an image that made the nausea strike without warning.

White Blaze picked his head up when Emily bolted out of her chair with her hand covering her mouth. She disappeared into the bathroom. The tiger tilted his head to the side as he heard something slam open and then heard Emily issue a horrible sound. It sounded like the sound one of the warlords made the morning after a long night of drinking.

He listened until all went quiet. A moment later, he heard the toilet flush and the running of water from the sink. When Emily stepped outside the bathroom, she looked like a wreck. Her skin was pale, her arms were shaking, and her hair stuck out everywhere. Emily crossed the room to the computer which she promptly closed the window out and turned off the computer.

Then she stumbled over to the bed where she allowed herself to fall down onto it. Without considering the possible consequences, Emily reached out to grasp his fur. White Blaze jolted a little as Emily pressed her face into his side. Normally, he would have greatly objected to this and reared his head around to bite the mortal. Yet something stopped him from doing just that.

"Oh, Blaze. My family's dojo…" Emily choked back a sob. "It's completely destroyed."

Even reading about no survivors had not prepared Emily for the shock of realizing that her family couldn't have possibly survived. Emily didn't understand any of this. When she had fallen asleep, the world had been normal! The four warlords were forever banished to the Nether Realm, the dynasty gates were sealed, and her family was very much alive!

White Blaze's long tail reached out and curled around Emily's waist. Despite the damp feeling on his fur, White Blaze allowed the little mortal to cry on him. He almost felt as though the blonde woman's pain was his pain.

rest half-Shadow

later question

tomorrow anew

Emily closed her eyes and allowed the Shadows to lull her to sleep. White Blaze shifted so that the blonde could curl up into him and he could lay his head down on top of hers. He needed to see what came of this new alliance.

/…/

Ryo walked into the room frowning. Cale, Sage, and Kento were sitting at a table playing poker. Dais was leaning back against the wall behind Sage and Cale with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Any of you seen White Blaze?" Ryo asked.

"Nope," Cale said, without looking up as he threw a chip out.

"No," Sage answered, before doing the same.

Dais remained quiet with his attention on the others. Kento was the only one of the four to look up after throwing in his chips in and revealing his cards. The normally stoic Sage threw his cards down in disgust while mumbling a curse. Cale gave Kento a dark look before calmly laying his cards down.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere," Kento suggested.

Sage gathered up the cards and began expertly shuffling them while Kento pulled his new prize in. Ryo shrugged.

"I guess so. It's not like him to disappear like that, though," Ryo replied.

Sage dealt out the cards and threw in the starting bid. Kento and Cale both added to it after lifting up their cards.

"When'd ya last see him?" Kento asked.

"When we were in town. Down by the old University. I think he smelled something and went to check it out," Ryo answered.

Cale raised the bid and Sage checked him. As did Kento.

"Probably found a deer and is sleeping it off," Sage added.

Ryo chuckled as Kento won the hand again. This time, it was his turn to shuffle the deck and deal. Ryo shook his head as he turned around and walking out of the room, but not before calling over his shoulder.

"You two do realize Dais is helping Kento…right?"

Ryo didn't have to look over his shoulder to know the two warlords had turned around and were giving Dais dirty looks.

"What the Hell, Dais?!"

"It was pity!"

"Hey!"

"Oh, come on! We all know you suck at this game!"

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do!" yelled a chorus of voices.

Ryo threw his head back and laughed as he disappeared down the hall.

END OF CHAPTER SIX

So what do you think?