A Part

Chapter Ten

It always felt so strange to come home after a battle. Especially after the attack here the other day.

Ryo rubbed the spot on his arm where he was stabbed. The pain killers wore off half way home and now his whole arm screamed at him. He had been bruised, broken, and cut before but not like this. At this point he'd likely be going to the hospital as soon as he figured out what he'd say. Well he could go now, it was pretty late and dark, he could say he was the victim of a random stabbing.

White Blaze had followed him inside, his eyes never leaving his master.

The ronin leader walked over to the sofa and was going to sit for a while to gather his very jumbled thoughts, when he spotted two familiar figures on the rooftop across the way illuminated by the moonlight. Sekhmet was down there with Noboru, who was motioning to the direction of the building they had destroyed.

Sekhmet? Ryo called out.

The Warlord of Venom turned and looked up right at Ryo's window. He must have said something to Noboru because he also looked up towards the window. A moment later both figures had vanished.

"What the?"

"So this is a modern home?"

Ryo cursed loudly as he spun to see his two new guests. Sekhmet looked just as surprised to be there as Ryo did. Noboru on the other hand was fascinated by his new surroundings.

"How spacious. Separate bedroom, the kitchen is a good size too, is that a large ice box?" He gestured to the refrigerator, "I've heard of those and oh is this what the bathrooms look like now? Much better than the old chamber pots I remember."

You have no idea. "Sorry to show up unannounced," Sekhmet said, "I told Noboru about the attack from the other night and he insisted on coming to see the site."

"You mean the building we destroyed?"

"The same," the sorcerer turned back to Wildfire. "For the five of you to create such an attack from this distance that only leveled one building, takes a great deal of calculation given the sheer power of your armors. Yet I'm told you five didn't plan that attack at all?"

Ryo shook his head, "We didn't even know we could do that."

"Interesting…Hm?" He looked at White Blaze for a moment then back to Ryo, "You were attacked today?"

"Yes."

"Are you alright?" Sekhmet asked.

"Not really."

Noboru took a step forward, "What happened? Please spare no detail no matter how small you think it is."

The ronin sat and motioned for the others to do the same. Ryo told them everything that happened during the attack, the fight, getting stabbed, Kento's siblings getting the crap scared out of them, and Rachel's injury. "The weirdest part is that when struck them they… turned to a black dust before just vanishing. I haven't seen anything do that before."

"And you're sure Rachel is really alright?"

Looking to the warlord he answered, "I think so, I trust her judgment."

He didn't look convinced, "Noboru could these weapons do harm to her? A delayed reaction."

"No." He waved his hand dismissively, "Rachel sounds like a lovely normal girl so this wound she has won't kill her. It's you," he gazed at Ryo, "That worries me. Let me see your wound I want to inspect it. If there is harmful magic I should be able to remove it or at least lessen the damage."

There is no magic. The childish voice said.

"There isn't any," Ryo said before he could stop himself. "It would have affected me by now."

Noboru raised his brow, "You sure about that?"

"He could be right. Cye was stabbed by the Manticore and the venom got to him instantly."

"I recall that part of the story, however my understanding is Manticores are creatures designed to kill instantly. Cye's armor and your care are what kept him alive until Sage got the antidote." He turned his attention back to Ryo, "I understand you can be very stubborn. I want to see the wound."

Ryo took his jacket off with a hiss and a grimace. The bandage was still wrapped around his arm; he could still see were his blood had soaked through earlier. Putting his jacket on his lap he said, "I'm thinking of going to the hospital-just not sure what I'll say."

"You're friend Rachel bandaged this?" Noboru knelt down to examine the bandaging.

"She did."

"She's a very good doctor, a hospital might be a good idea if you are a normal person but let's see what's under these bindings." Before Ryo could protest, the sorcerer unwrapped the bandages to reveal the wound.

When the fresh air hit his wound Ryo thought he was going to go through the ceiling. It was still red, swollen, and hadn't closed yet; thankfully it wasn't bleeding anymore.

Sekhmet edged closer to inspect the wound, "Rachel never stops amazing me with her skills. Clean, disinfected, this doesn't even look like you got it today." What he wouldn't have given for a healer of Rachel's skills at his side back during the Sengoku…

"That's because the wound is healing faster than that of a normal person," Noboru pointed out. "You should be back to normal in five to ten days. There's no magic in the wound, the blade that did this must have been normal. No need to see a doctor."

Ryo nodded, "Wish it didn't hurt so much."

"I can't do anything about this pain but if you have fresh bandages-what's this now?" the sorcerer looked at the white tiger curiously. He had brought over a basket with clear bags that had odd writing on them.

"It's a first aid kit. I'll help you with this, Noborou."

How many guys does it take to do this? The childish voice asked. Rachel did this way faster.

Two from the looks of things, Ryo replied. "…Hey Noboru can I ask you something? It's about my armor."

"I can't promise that I will have the answer."

"I've heard about magical objects being able to gain a conscious of their own. Do you think it's possible our armors can do that?"

The sorcerer slowly looked up at him, "Come again? Are you asking me if your armor can gain a mind of its own?" When the ronin gave him a slow nod, he thought for a few minutes before answering, "It might be possible. There are more than enough tsukumogami to prove such a thing can happen, however I've never heard of a full suit of armor gaining a personality like that. Why do you ask?"

"Since we got the armors, there are times when I can hear a child's voice talking to me. Over the last couple of day's I've been hearing it more."

Noboru looked to Sekhmet who shook his head, "Interesting. And your friends?"

"They hear the child voice too but it sounds different to them. Kento said the voice he hears will even speak to him in Chinese."

Sekhmet's eyebrows rose, "Have you asked Sileny about this? She might have the answer in her horde of mythology books."

"Not yet. Rachel's probably told her about that by now."

"Rachel knows?"

"She was in the dojo with Kento and I when we started talking about it."

"Hmm. Ryo I think this is a question to ask that child voice directly. If it is your armor truly talking to you this will be the first time I've ever heard of such a thing." Standing up he added, "I want to go take a closer look at that building you five demolished, see if there are any magical traces left from your enemy."

"Magical traces?"

He looked at Ryo and gave a nod, "Yes. You should focus on doing what you need to do to use your arm again in battle… And I have a request to ask."

How long it took him to get this deep in meditation was anyone's guess. Or maybe he had just outright fallen asleep trying.

Sage stood in the small traditional room. The candle light was brighter than before and there looked to be more candles. Outside the paper windows he could hear what sounded like wind rustling in the trees-if trees existed in this place-and he was picking up the faint smell of something sweet. Turning to his right he saw it. The jinbaori of Halo hung in the same place he had seen it before.

But no sign of the fox.

"Where are you?" the swordsman asked allowed.

No answer.

Sighing he walked over to the jinbaori, he'd worn it many times over his armor but have never seen it up close before. He took the fabric in his hand, he had expected it to feel like silk but this wasn't the right texture for that. Whenever he had felt it in the past he was still wearing his under armor, but now feeling it with his bare hand it felt like was a similar material.

"It's more durable than silk."

Sage startled and looked down to see the little fox sitting beside his foot. "You are here."

The ears on the fox folded back like it was in trouble, "I'm sorry I scared you last time, Seiji. I wasn't trying too I just thought it was past time you and I met. I mean really met."

He took a step back to study the little fox. The sandy blonde fur and the green eyes, the same shade of green as his armor. "You're... you're the spirit of the armor, aren't you?"

The fox nodded, "I am. Congrats you're the first one to really figure that out, Hardrock would tell you that you get a gold star on your forehead, but you don't like stickers."

"How do you know that I don't like stickers?"

"I can see your memories. I've been carefully looking at them for a while now… I know it sounds like I was snooping, but you're my master, you're the one who wears me, I want to know as much about you as I possibly can to help protect you better. We have a hard thankless job to perform until we die one day."

"So you saw the memory of the time my big sister put the stickers in my hair."

"That was so rude of her!" He fur stood up then he calmed down, "I can also see what you see and hear what you hear. We all can." The little spirit stood up, "I promise you that Wildfire is doing everything it can to help Ryo heal faster."

"Help him heal faster…? You all can do that?" Sage didn't know why this surprised him so much but it did.

"Yes. We each can only heal so much so fast though. For example, I can heal your nervous system faster than the other four can heal the nervous systems of their masters. But when you hurt your bones it makes me longer to heal you than it does for Hardrock to heal Shu." The fox gave what looked like a shrug, "We aren't sure why but that's how it is."

"For my part I'll thank you for that," the swordsman said.

"You didn't come here to thank me."

"No I came here to see if what we suspected is true and it is. You five are trying to reach out to us."

"I've been trying to find the right way to get to you since these dark sorcerers showed up." The fox stood and with a very serious voice said, "I cannot be controlled the way your last set of armor was. I'm rooted deeper into your magic and your soul than my predecessor ever could have been. That armor was a weapon to be used. I am your armor. I will act as such to protect you because I want to."

Sage stared down at the Halo's Spirit wide eyed in surprise. He wasn't sure what to say or do. It did feel like a weight had just been taken off his chest after hearing this declaration.

"I... I just wanted to say that to you."

"Thank you. I needed to hear that."

The fox's tail wagged happily.

"While we're here, there is something else I want to ask you about. The attack that saved us the other night, that was the five of you acting together without us wasn't it?"

"Yes. We could feel the same pain the five of you felt that night. Whatever they hit us with was strong dark magic. The counter attack we used was a combination of all our energy." Looking away he said, "We thought we'd level the whole block, but we got lucky and only leveled the building."

Outside the windows the wind picked up, rustling the trees and howling loud. The fox picked it's ears up, "Seiji you need to wake up. Strata say's something is wrong."

Sage's eyes shot open to once again find himself in his bedroom. It was still dark outside and the clock beside his bed read that was it almost three in the morning. Yet the air in the apartment was thick and heavy.

"Rowen?" He stood, walked out of his room to find his roommate in the living room. Rowen's eyes where narrowed but moving around wildly, his whole body was stiff yet he was breathing fast. "Rowen what is it?"

"I don't know but something is wrong." There was a slight panic to his voice and even the archer didn't know why. He was fine until two minutes ago when his heart rate had gone up and he felt like he was panicking, yet it didn't feel like he was the one panicking. It was more like when you watch an action movie and you begin to react the way the lead character is... Oh shit. It hit him.

"Rowen."

The archer looked at his friend, "Sileny is in trouble."