Chapter Ten

Credit to Siffy for her help with this chapter.

All he knew was that it was dark, but that lightning would occasionally strike and light up the sky. Takeo was carrying him piggy-back too afraid that he'd fall behind if he didn't.

A woman with long-auburn hair was ahead of them, looking back every so often making sure they were all there. It felt like an eternity had passed before they reached the room they needed to be in.

Once there, the woman handed something to Adrian and told him to give it to his Aunt An. But that couldn't happen could it? She was dead...Neo Universe was gone.

He recalled Iya, Adrian and Ian entering the portal, Kin hesitant and then following...And as he and the twins were about to step through he heard the shield that had kept the building safe shatter.

That's when the walls started to crack and buckle under the strain, and just before the ceiling came crashing down another portal opened and someone came through hauling him and the twins to the ground…

Replay…His mind was replaying what had happened, with this realization Hiroki finally awoke. The boy was slow to sit up trying to get the fog of sleep to lift with little avail.

The Ronin of Wildfire had finished a meager breakfast and headed back to keep an eye on the boy some hour and a half ago. He was on the other side of the room, sitting in the chair by the desk he had. Seeing movement, he spoke:

"Hey. Good to see you're awake."

The boy frowned as he rubbed at his eyes, not recognizing the voice, "Where in the name of Kaosu am I?"

Ryo chuckled at this, and got to his feet saying, "Not in the future but not in the past either. So I guess you are in the present."

The sleepy fog had lifted now, and Hiroki blinked it sounded like…No, it couldn't be. He turned his head to look slightly taken aback by seeing his father's face. The little boy was quick to rationalize it in his head though.

They had made it to their father's past: a past that Elayne had said was different from what it was before. It was part of the explanation she had given to him and the twins after she and Kayura got them out of the collapsing structure.

Both were there to try and help fix the future, but that it would have to be done in steps to ensure nothing worse would result. She and Kayura would get them to where the other children were after taking care of pressing business. Elayne hadn't felt comfortable sending them back without a guard.

So, this was the present…A past his father might have been able to live but did not have the opportunity, "Are the others okay?"

"Yeah. They are with their parents right now," Ryo assured sitting down next to the bed now, "Are you okay?"

"I...I guess," Hiroki shrugged; if there was anything on the boy's mind, he wasn't showing it in his face.

The Wildfire Ronin reached out, but pulled his hand back a few times. He was almost scared to touch him. Perhaps worried he was dreaming the whole thing and that if he did place a hand on Hiro's shoulder, it would all end.

"You guess?"

"I just woke-up, I'm not coherent for the first fifteen minutes, Aunt Tei says that all the time. Everyone also says I'm related to Uncle Rowen somehow, because my Daddy isn't a sound sleeper," Hiroki answered. For a seven-year-old he was proving to be remarkably thoughtful with a decent head on his shoulders.

Ryo chuckled in partial embarrassment, "Maybe Ro and I are cousins."

Hiroki opened his mouth to say that wouldn't surprise him but he thought better of it…He shouldn't be joking around here he should focus on the important things, shouldn't he?

"Does anyone know how long will be here for?"

The question stopped Ryo, the Ronin Leader not having been prepared to hear it. Not only was it that, but he had never really stopped to think about it himself. How long would they be stuck here for? Was the damage done to the future even repairable?

"I'm sorry," the Wildfire Ronin murmured sadly, "I have no idea, Hiroki. No idea at all."

The little boy leaned back in the bed, "Don't feel bad," he offered a small smirk, "We'll all just have to make the most of it."

At this Ryo chuckled, "Yeah we sure will. Are you hungry?"

He nodded avidly, "Starving." The small boy swung his legs over the edge of the bed and hopped down.

"Then lets go, Hiro-chan," he saw the boy almost fall, "Whoa...Lets just have me carry you for now. Piggy back ride then?"

"Yay!" Hiroki paused a moment and corrected himself, he had better manners than that, "Um, yes please."

Ryo was grinning, "You do know you don't have to be 'proper' around me."

"I'll keep it in mind," the little boy mirrored the grin.

With a soft shake of his head, the Ronin Leader lifted the boy up into his arms and then threw him up in the air before catching him on his back. Hiroki did not seem at all phased by it; in fact he seemed rather prepared for it to happen.

The two made their way downstairs like that, Ryo listened to see if anyone else was around but it was all quiet. Most likely the other three were keeping their kids entertained…From what he had heard upstairs, Kento was still asleep.

Yes, Hardrock's bearer was currently sawing logs. In fact, Ryo was pretty sure the man had his own saw mill (if not two or three).

Their kids…Now there was a thought that had never occurred to him; he and the others actually living long enough, and feeling comfortable enough, to settle down and have families of their own. The thought was almost alien, unbelievable, and unreal.

Yet, apparently they had, and even in doing so there had come evil to get in the way of that. It further proved the point that no matter what they wanted from their lives they were cursed.

The burden of a warrior is to always be a warrior. No matter what occurred their lives would forever be tied to fighting evil, and protecting those that could not protect themselves; at the terrible cost of their own lives and happiness.

Ryo was certain it was that fate Universe had tried so desperately to spare them from, and why she continually felt like she had failed. But, in their books she hadn't: she'd done all she could to protect them, to talk them out of fighting, and they had gone ahead anyway.

He operated on auto-pilot setting the boy down at the counter and opening the oven door to pull out a plate Cye had prepared. The Water Ronin happened to be "Wonder Mom," an exceedingly useful attribute. Of course, the only problem was when he was hen-pecking you to death.

Hiroki could tell that Wildfire's bearer was consumed with his own thoughts and decided not to interrupt. He was silent and ate about half of what was on his plate before picking at the food.

Ryo snapped out of his thoughts, realizing he couldn't worry about their problems now…That right now it was far more important to see to his future son's needs. There would always be time to tackle his own problems later.

"So...Hiro-chan...What would you like to do?"

Hiroki looked up and offered with a smile, "Staying around here's fine."

"Hmm," the Ronin Leader mused it over, "Well, White Blaze is out back if you want to play football with us. Of course, if you-"

"I'm up for it," the seven-year-old excitedly announced eyes lighting up at the thought.

Ryo gave a wry grin, yeah it was definitely his kid, "All right."


A half-hour later the white tiger flopped over onto his side, just as Hiroki took the ball from him. Actually, it was more like he 'let' the little boy have it so as to gain a breather.

The Ronin of Wildfire sniggered at his companion as he teased, "Well, well, the old tiger has a soft side after all."

White Blaze jumped to his feet and bowled Ryo over, as if to prove a point…Then again, he was proving a point.

Hiroki laughed having made a score, and remarked, "I don't know, I think he just might like me better than you."

Hearing this comment, the majestic tiger gave a smug grin to Ryo as he walked over and proceeded to rub into the small boy. As the child rubbed behind his ears, Blaze let out a very deep rumbling purr. Yes, he did seem to like the child better.

Ryo scowled a bit before lifting up Hiroki over his shoulders, "We'll see who he'll like!" He chuckled as he threw the boy up into the air and smirked as he easily caught him.

Hiroki screeched and laughed when Ryo repeated the process, and was still giggling when he was put back down on the ground. Not one to miss an opportunity like this, White Blaze calmly 'bumped' into the Ronin Leader hitting him so hard, Ryo landed on his ass.

The cat proceeded to tug at Ryo's sleeve as if to drag him along, while Hiroki sniggered, "Aww, Yaku leave him alone, we wore him out."

Ryo was trying his best to ignore his companion, but found it difficult to do so…When White Blaze was being a smart-ass it was hard to ignore him. The lidded look the Ronin Leader conveyed that he got the point.

The tiger gave a proud grin as he stretched and then walked onto the porch to lay down, 'I'm getting too old for this.'

"That's for sure, you old lazy tiger," the Wildfire Ronin smirked trying to get a rise out of the cat.

'You try doing this for a living Rekka-cub,' Blaze gave an unimpressed yawned. 'See how old you feel after the first thousand or so years.'

Ryo went to make a retort but moved and his entire body snapped, so instead he winced remarking, "Ouch...Remind me why I called Blaze old?"

"I dunno Daddy," Hiroki laughed, "You always call him old, or fat. And he complains that your still a stupid cub and don't know what your talking about."

The boy had settled in, it was the first time he'd called Ryo his father but Blaze cared about none of this smirking in satisfaction over the "stupid cub" part.

Ryo heard Hiroki call him "daddy" and smiled gently; well, he wasn't too sure he had earned the title, or that he would ever earn it, but it was nice to hear it. Before he let his mind go down a route he knew it would, he snatched the boy in his arms and gave him a light noogie.

"Well maybe he thinks I'm a stupid cub, but he has had thousands more years of being old and fat."

White Blaze flashed his teeth from where he sat on the porch, 'I'm going to bite you, in a certain spot, if you keep it up.'

Hiroki burst into helpless laughter, "Oh Yaku-kun you always say that. Neo says shut-up and put-up, or stop threatening him."

Ryo chortled, "Yeah really, Blaze. You wouldn't want to have me childless, ne? Don't make me give you to the vet to get you neutered like he wanted me to do. You old ball."

THAT was the wrong thing to say to the tiger. In the blink of an eye White Blaze had lunged off the porch and snapped at Ryo with his teeth. A growl permeated his throat, 'I'd move that fat-ass of yours Rekka-cub unless you want to lose it!'

"Gah!" the Wildfire Ronin rolled out of the way of another snap of teeth, "Blaze!"

Hiroki covered his hand with his mouth as the tiger lunged after the Ronin Leader snapping his massive jaws anytime he came close to Ryo's legs. Hiroki was trying very hard to suppress his laughter but the child found it was impossible.

"Can't we talk about this?" Ryo protested as he ran from his tiger companion.

'No!' Blaze growled in annoyance. It was nothing more than a ploy though, he was merely doing this to keep the small boy laughing and content. But, it wouldn't hurt to have Ryo think otherwise. 'Hmm, maybe I have spent one too many years with Universe,' the tiger mused to himself but then quickly dismissed the thought, 'Nah.'

…Ya, right…Not too many years at all.


The young boy sat up in the bed and stretched, managing to suppress an enormous yawn. He rubbed at his eyes with his one hand, reaching over with the other to poke his still sleeping sister.

Tavia only slightly stirred at the action as she seemed to be far more interested in sleeping right then. Takeo wrinkled his nose in annoyance and then poked her harder.

The little girl opened bleary blue-eyes and sat up in the bed, asking with a grumble, "What?" She looked around a moment and frowned, "Where'd we end up?"

"Safe place, I guess," he answered with a shrug, "I know, she and Aunt Kay got us to the past."

"You're a big help," Tavia dryly informed him. Now she stretched and was even more carefully studying her surroundings. The room held two beds, two dressers…Obviously, they had come to a place where having roommates was common.

She recalled her father once making comment about how he and his friends had done that when they were much younger…And then just as quickly pushed the thought away; she didn't want to think about him right now.

Her eyes widened a little in surprise when she noticed the sleeping figure on the floor, "We are in the present. Look!" She said this in a whisper and pointed.

Yet, Takeo's eyes had already landed to where she was pointing, noticing him when she did. The words had never needed to be uttered aloud. The twins looked to each other, their faces now unreadable masks.

Well…Until evil grins surfaced and they proceeded to pounce on the sleeping Ronin of Hardrock.

Kento awoke with a yelp and might've bolted into a sitting position if it weren't for the fact the two kids had him pinned. It took him a moment to actually realize what was going on, and as he opened his mouth the pair rolled off the bed matt and started laughing.

The Warrior of Strength closed his mouth and shook his head in amusement. He sat up allowing the twins to have their moment of laughter. Being the eldest of a family, and having so many younger cousins put Kento into a position to understand kids for one thing, but really he was just used to the tactics. So he let them enjoy themselves.

Once they'd quieted some, he gave a smirk, "You two rascals are finally awake, huh?"

Takeo gave an eager nod, "We needed the nap."

"Everyone's entitled to sleep in like Uncle Rowen, every now and then," Tavia piped up.

Kento bit down a laugh at that, but barely managed to do so because he was sure he heard the Strata Ronin sneezing down the hall. He got to his feet and performed a few stretches then rolled up the matt.

He looked the twins over, and knew they were scrutinizing him, "What? Something on my face?"

"A…Round the clock shadow?" Takeo fumbled for the correct term, but came up empty.

Kento let out a chuckle, "You mean five o'clock shadow, and I don't have one. I already shaved this morning while you guys were still snoozing."

Shaving…Now that brought something to Tavia's mind; she remembered that her father had once shaved an 'L' sign into the back of Rowen's head…The Ronin of Strata had then retaliated by gluing strange frilly underwear to Kento's dresser.

Really…She and Takeo had never gotten the point of that weird joke. Nor did they understand why their mother had proceeded to chase their father around with a metal pipe for the next three hours.

Now, everyone had easily understood when Neo-Universe was beyond pissed off to have to revive the nearly dead Hardrock Ronin…And subsequently ripped into the adults that they needed to…Act like adults for a change.

Tavia shook her head to clear her thoughts, "We're not staring." No, they weren't staring at him much. He looked like their father, but then again he didn't. There were few care and stress lines on this face, and more laughter present.

Their father's face had lost the laughter a long time ago…

"Come on," Kento once more broke the awkward silence, "You guys have got to be hungry." The pair gave a nod and followed him out of the room.

The Warrior of Strength felt a little lost. Sure he was used to dealing with kids, but this was different. These children were traumatized by losing everyone they had ever known and loved. They were stuck here in an unknown place with people that looked like their loved ones. Yet, the people they were stuck with weren't exactly the sa-

All of a sudden Kento understood why Elayne had been so devastated by the fact the children had to be in the past and that their future had been taken away. It was like having someone else living her life, a life she had tried so damn hard to spare he and the others from.

And here were these kids suffering from a fate so frighteningly similar to hers. It made perfect sense to him now. She'd spared the Ronin from it, only to have the next generation suffer.

'Well,' the Ronin of Hardrock thought, 'We promised to help her fix this, and we'll do it. In the mean time, I'll just help these guys enjoy their stay here.'

…Knowing the Twin Terrors of Kongo, that wasn't going to be an easy task. Kento didn't know anything about the terrible two. Someone had conveniently left it out that they were worse than he was at that age.

It was something he'd quickly figure out.