Chapter 7

Ryo ran behind a tree, stopping to catch his breath. He peaked around it to see no one there. He checked his surroundings for his enemy but didn't see her. Ryo clutched the Fervor swords tightly in his hands then slowly moved away from his hiding place. He walked forward, looking around the area. A branch snapping alerted Ryo to the trees and he looked up. He heard more branches snapping and cracking which made Ryo look everywhere in the trees.

A thump was heard behind him and before Ryo could turn around to face his enemy, he was kicked onto his stomach. Ryo maneuvered out of the way before the sword could strike his head. Ryo briefly glanced up at Tiffany before dodging the other sword aimed for his head. He rolled over onto his knees, quickly got to his feet, and then charged at Tiffany. He swung his katana at her but Tiffany blocked it with her sword. She twisted her sword around Ryo's then flicked it up, sending the Fervor sword out of Ryo's hand and towards a tree. Tiffany swung her sword hard at Ryo's other sword and also knocked it out of his hand. She quickly crouched down and swiped her leg out which knocked Ryo's legs out from underneath him. He fell to the ground and Tiffany stood over him, sword pointing at his throat. The two stayed like that for a moment or two then Tiffany lowered her sword. "I win again."

Ryo groaned as Tiffany smirked down at him. "Why do I have to fight with the Fervor swords? Can't I fix my Wildfire swords and fight with those?"

"You have to get used to fighting with the Fervor swords. If you only use the swords of Wildfire, then when you won't feel comfortable wielding the swords of Fervor when you call upon the armor of Inferno. So until you feel more comfortable with the swords and have beaten me with them, I will not help you fix the swords of Wildfire." Tiffany stared down at him then turned around and walked away. "Maybe you should fight with your friends again. Get more practice."

Ryo huffed in annoyance as he got to his feet. He was getting frustrated at Tiffany's method of teaching. Ryo didn't think she would be that strict but he should have known better, especially when Tiffany first became his teacher.

FLASHBACK

The Ronins, Mia, and Tiffany arrived at the mansion with White Blaze and Kalana following close behind. Yulie was on the tiger's back but he had fallen asleep on the way back, exhausted by today's events.

Mia walked over to the boy and gently shook his shoulder. "Yulie," Mia softly called. "Yulie, wake up."

The boy moaned as he slowly opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them. "What?" he groggily asked.

"We're back, let's get you to bed." Mia helped him off White Blaze's back then grabbed his hand and led him into the mansion. Once they were gone, the Ronins turned their attention to Tiffany. She glanced at each one of them before sighing and rolling her eyes. "Do you have a problem with me now?" she asked them, crossing her arms over her chest.

"How do we know we can trust you?" asked Kento.

"What do you mean?"

"When we first met Saber Stryke, he said he was the guardian of the Priestess," Cye gently explained. He didn't want there to be an argument between Tiffany and Kento so he wanted to keep the two from going at each other's throats. "So we assumed he was your guardian."

Tiffany sighed. "Yes, he was my guardian."

"Then why did he say he killed your guardian?" asked Sage. "Did he forget?"

"Most likely but he also knew that if you knew he was my guardian, you five wouldn't let me stay with you."

"That's not-" Rowen started but Tiffany held up her hand, silencing him.

"Think about it. Your friend that you lost, didn't she work for Talpa?"

"How did you-"

"And weren't you all furious when you found this information out?" When the Ronins didn't answer, Tiffany went on. "I know that it can be difficult to handle that information but did you ever consider hearing their side of the story, of why they did what they did?"

It was a while before Ryo answered, "We did find out eventually why Maria was working with Talpa but we sort of forced it out of her."

"More like Kento forced it out of her," muttered Rowen.

"I didn't force it out of her!" exclaimed Kento.

"Yes you did…well sort of," Cye said. "You two were arguing and Maria did blurt out her secret to all of us when she reached her limit."

Kento opened his mouth to argue against him but he closed it instead. The argument between him and Maria came to his mind as he remembered how he accused her of not knowing who to trust and questioning why she worked with Talpa. Feeling guilty with himself, he wished Maria was here so he could apologize to her but he couldn't.

"You regret it, don't you?" Tiffany questioned, staring at Kento but switched her glance to everyone else. "All of you are. You wish your friend was still here so you could apologize to her. Now you listen to me, you can either accept the fact that Saber Stryke was my protector and let me train you or you can send me away and not know how to use the Swords of Fervor. Your choice."

The Ronins glanced at each other, not knowing what to do.

"If you five need to talk amongst yourselves, I'll give you some time." Tiffany walked away from the group and over to Kalana, giving the animal some much needed attention.

"So, what do we say?" Rowen asked.

"I don't know," started Sage. "She does want to help us control the Inferno's power but I'm still a little edgy of her working with Saber Stryke."

"I don't trust her pet either," said Kento.

"But the animal is very loyal to Tiffany," defended Cye. "Unless Tiffany commands it, the animal wouldn't attack us. Plus, Tiffany did state that Saber Stryke was her protector."

"Yeah, so she probably commanded Saber Stryke to attack us."

"But she was trying to help us," interjected Rowen. "She was the one who warned us about not fighting Saranbo, even though we still fought him anyway."

"What do you think, Ryo?" Sage asked, turning to him. "You're the one who is going to be wielding the swords."

Ryo was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He looked over at Tiffany, who had her arms around Kalana's neck, her head resting on the animal's neck. He glanced back at his friends before nodding his head. "I think I'll take her offer."

The guys nodded as they walked over to Tiffany. She noticed the guys walking over to her and straightened herself up, standing in front of Kalana. "Well?"

"I'll like you to train me how to use the Swords of Fervor and to control Inferno's power."

Tiffany smiled at them. "Good choice." She looked at the mansion. "So where are we sleeping?"

"We?" Cye asked.

"Kalana is staying with me too."

"No," said Kento.

"I'm sorry?"

"That animal is not staying there."

"So a full grown tiger can live you with but my friend can't?" Tiffany crossed her arms. "We're a package deal so if Kalana can't stay, I'm not staying either." Kalana cuffed, nodding her head in agreement.

"It's just…having two full grown animals might cause some issues," reasoned Rowen.

"I see." Tiffany turned to Kalana, nodding her head. Kalana closed her eyes and her body started to glow and shrink. The glow soon disappeared and the Ronins' eyes widen at the results. Instead of a giant wolf-like creature, a cat like version took its place. Kalana meowed then jumped into Tiffany's awaiting arms.

"Ok, what kind of animal is that?" Kento asked.

"It's a combination of a cat and wolf," answered Tiffany, stroking Kalana's fur. "And before you ask, Kalana's a demon animal that I was able to purify and tame. She has two forms. The one you first saw, she looks and acts like a wolf. In this form, she looks like a cat but acts like a kitten. She can make all the noises a cat and a wolf would make." Tiffany smiled sweetly at the guys. "So there should be no problems with Kalana in this form, correct?" When the guys didn't answer, Tiffany strode past them and into the mansion.

"She's…different," commented Cye and the others just nodded in agreement.

END FLASHBACK

"When I agreed to this training, I didn't think you would be this strict," commented Ryo, standing up.

Tiffany turned to him, hands on her hips. "And I didn't think you wouldn't be this terrible. Seriously, what is taking you so long to learn how to use these swords? It's been six weeks already!"

Ryo glared at her comment, his fists clenched as he tried to hold back his anger. Tiffany took a deep breath then let it out. "Look, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, but I'm just trying to help you learn how to use the Fervor swords in a quick amount of time. However, I feel like you aren't taking my advice and aren't training with your friends. If you would take my advice, you would have mastered the swords by now."

A soft 'meow' was heard and both turned their attention to Kalana, who was on White Blaze's back. The tiger walked over to the pair and when they were close enough, Kalana jumped off and landed in Tiffany's arms. White Blaze continued towards Ryo and nuzzled his leg when he got next to his master.

"When you're ready to try again, you know where to find me," Tiffany stated then walked out of the area.

Ryo watched her go then turned his attention to his friend. "What should I do, boy?" he asked his friend, scratching him behind the ears. White Blaze stared at him and his face seemed to be saying 'really?' Ryo sighed, nodding his head. "Yeah, I know."

Tiffany made her way to the mansion, absentmindedly stroking Kalana's fur as she thought about how her training with Ryo was going. She didn't know why but she felt like she couldn't connect with him for some reason. Tiffany has tried to be a nice instructor but when he wasn't listening to her, she started to become a strict master. Now, Ryo's complaining that she's being too strict with him.

Tiffany sighed. What am I going to do with him?

"You all right, Tiffany?" She turned her head to see Cye standing on the porch. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…"

"Ryo?"

Tiffany nodded.

"I know he's hard to work with but he'll come around."

"I hope so, Cye. I hope so."

"Do you want me to make you some tea? You look a little stressed."

"That would be great, thank you." Tiffany followed Cye into the house and into the kitchen, sitting down on one of the chairs as Cye started making the tea.

Through the past six weeks, Tiffany had gotten close with everyone in a way. Cye and Rowen were like big brothers to her, always making sure that she was ok and were always there to take her mind off of things. She also became very good friends with Mia and Mia was happy that she finally had a girl to talk to and so was Tiffany. Yulie loved Kalana and would constantly play with the animal. Tiffany was happy that the young boy got along with Kalana and Kalana loves to hang out with Yulie. She was also happy that White Blaze and Kalana got along as well. At first, the two animals resisted each other but one day, Tiffany found Kalana on top of White Blaze and he didn't seem to mind but actually seemed to be happy. Ever since then, the two animals have been very good friends.

The only people that Tiffany had trouble getting close to were Ryo, Sage, and Kento. They were all resilient of her at first but she soon found something she could relate to with the others.

Tiffany was meditating in her room one day when Sage came in to get her for dinner. When he realized she was meditating, Sage apologized for interrupting her meditation but Tiffany waved him off, saying that it was ok. He asked about her way of meditating and Tiffany responded that she lights a lavender scented candle or incense for that helps her to concentrate and reduce stress. He nodded in understanding but a few days later, Sage asked to meditate with her and she agreed. Sage has now been someone to go to when she's stressed and needs someone to just relax with.

With Kento, it was harder to bond with him. There were no similarities between the two of them and Tiffany was close to giving up on trying to be friends with him. But then, when Tiffany began to train the guys, she asked for a volunteer and Kento was more than happy to accept. The two fought with all their strength and even though Tiffany beat his ass, Kento grinned at her and stated that he'll look forward to a rematch. That's when Tiffany realized the way to get to Kento was with fighting and Kento would always go to Tiffany to fight when the guys didn't want to train with him.

Tiffany didn't know what to do with Ryo. She suspected that because she was training Ryo and that she was frustrated with him was probably why he didn't really get along with her. She hoped that after Ryo finally mastered the swords that he would talk to her and they would be cool.

"Tiffany?"

She snapped out of her thoughts to see Cye standing next to her, holding two cups of tea. "Sorry." Tiffany took the cup from his hands and took a sip. The warm liquid with a hint of honey ran down her throat, immediately making her feel better. Cye took a seat next to her, taking a sip of his own tea.

"So, how's Ryo doing?" Cye asked.

Tiffany stared at her cup, running her finger against the side of it. "Has he been training with you and the others?"

Cye shook his head. "Not really. At first he did but after the second week of training, Ryo thought that he was ready to handle the swords. Even when he lost against you, Ryo didn't train with us. Even when Kento asked to train with him, Ryo declined."

Tiffany released a frustrated sigh. "I don't know what to do with him anymore. If I'm nice, he doesn't listen. If I'm strict, he complains." Tiffany looked at him. "Was he like this during the fight months ago?"

Cye was quiet as he thinks this question over. "No, he was very calm and assertive. He listened to our opinions and made a decision based off them. I think losing Maria changed him."

"Were they lovers?"

"More like a brotherly-sisterly love."

"They were related?"

"He said that he reminded her of…" Cye trailed off, turning his attention to the cup in his hands.

Tiffany reached over, grabbing Cye's hand. "I understand. It's personal and I'm guessing you think Ryo should explain it to me."

"Yeah."

Tiffany squeezed his hand in understanding. "At least he told you. I didn't tell him this, but when he fought against Saber Stryke, Ryo seemed more focused on his fight. He changed a lot from when I fought him to when he fought Saber Stryke."

"Really?"

"Yes. With Ryo telling you and the others what was on his mind cleared it so he could fight better."

"Have you told him yet?"

"No, but in truth, he doesn't want to listen to what I have to say. So why try talking to someone who doesn't want to listen?"

Cye nodded and the two sat in silence, finishing off their cup of tea. Unbeknownst to them, Ryo was standing near the entrance and he heard everything the two discussed.

The next day, Tiffany walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. She was greeted by Cye, Sage, and Mia and Tiffany returned with her own greeting. Tiffany walked over to the cabinets and pulled out some cereal. She poured the cereal into a bowl along with the milk then sat down and began to eat. "Are the others still asleep?" Tiffany asked the group when she realized that Ryo, Kento, and Rowen were not down here.

"No," Sage answered, getting up to wash his plate. "Ryo is training with Kento and Rowen."

Tiffany almost choked on her cereal when she heard that. She cleared her throat then looked up at Sage. "Ryo is training?"

"Yeah. After he ate, Ryo asked Kento and Rowen to train with him," explained Cye. "They've been training for almost an hour now."

Tiffany was certainly surprised by Ryo's sudden improvement. From what Cye told her yesterday, Ryo didn't want to train with the guys at all but all of a sudden, he asked them? She couldn't believe it; she needed to see it for herself.

Finishing her breakfast, Tiffany washed her bowl then walked outside to find Ryo fighting with Kento while Rowen sat on the side, watching the two. Tiffany walked over, standing behind Rowen as she watched the fight with her arms crossed over her chest.

Ryo slashed at Kento with the Fervor sword but Kento blocked it with his naginata and then forced Ryo back a couple of steps. Kento charged at his friend but Ryo side-stepped and watched as Kento raced past him. Ryo swiped his leg out, knocking Kento onto the ground and then pointed the sword at him. Kento stared at up at Ryo before a smile spread across his face. "Wow, I guess I got my ass handed to me." Ryo smirked then helped his friend up.

"Good job, Ryo."

Everyone turned around to see Tiffany standing there. "How long have you been standing there, Tiffany?" Rowen asked, surprised she was standing so close to him and he never heard her walk over to her.

"Not that long." Tiffany smirked at Kento. "I did see your ass get handed to you, though."

Kento playfully glared at her. "Of course you of all people would see that."

She chuckled. "Rowen, could you get Sage and Cye out here?"

"Sure." Rowen got up from his spot and walked into the mansion to retrieve his friends.

Tiffany turned his attention to Ryo. "I see that you are training with your friends. That is good."

"I heard what you and Cye said last night and it opened my eyes to what I needed to do," explained Ryo.

"You heard what we said?" Ryo nodded which got Tiffany thinking that maybe she should have talked to him like Cye had suggested. She was also impressed Ryo was able to beat Kento and with the Swords of Fervor as well! This made Tiffany think Ryo would be able to master the swords if he listened to her new plan.

Rowen walked out of the mansion with Cye and Sage following close behind him. Tiffany saw the trio approaching and she nodded her head in thanks to Rowen for getting them out here. "Now that you are all here, I can tell you all my new plan."

"Plan?" Sage asked, crossing his arms around his chest. "What plan?"

"I think she means training method, Sage," explained Cye.

"Yeah." Tiffany gestured to Ryo. "I witnessed Ryo beat Kento with the Fervor Swords and it got me thinking. If each one of you fights Ryo and he manages to defeat each of you with the swords, Ryo will be able to master the swords."

"Really, you think so?" Cye asked.

"Yes." Tiffany turned her attention Ryo. "I want you to train with Sage, Cye, and Rowen and beat each one of them, but I have to be there to witness it. I've already seen you beat Kento so you don't have to fight him."

"Why do you have to be present to see me beat my friends?" wondered Ryo.

"It's mostly for me to know you are telling the truth. You can train with your friends all you want but until I see you successfully beat them, I won't take your word for confirmation. I need to see you beat them for myself."

"So what you are saying is Sage, Cye, and I fight Ryo and you have to be present when he beats us?" confirmed Rowen.

Tiffany nodded. "I don't have to be present for every single fight but when Ryo thinks he's ready, one of you can come get me and I'll watch you fight. If Ryo loses, he has to train again but if he wins, he can stop training with the person he was fighting."

"What happens if I beat all of them?" Ryo asked.

"Then you will fight me. If you beat me, you'll have mastered the Fervor Swords and I'll take you to fix your Wildfire Swords."

"What happens if I lose against you?"

"You will have to retrain all your friends and beat them again."

"What?!" Kento exclaimed. "Why does Ryo have to fight us again if he loses against you?"

"Fighting against me over and over won't help as much. The more experience Ryo has fighting with different people with the swords will help him be more comfortable when he fights."

"I understand," Ryo said.

"So you agree to my new training method?"

Ryo nodded without a second thought. "Yes."