Ronin Tomorrow

Part Two:

Dreams and Reality

"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow"

"The Hollow Men" by T.S. Elliot

Dreams

(Zera)

It was dark. The air swam with the darkness, and it swirled around my body. Then, in the midst of the darkness, I laughed. I was wearing my yukata still, and I thought I had taken it off.

There was a voice in the darkness. A sound – like a rushing wind – but I thought I heard someone calling my name, too. I looked down at my yukata, and I could see the images upon it begin to move. I felt frozen in shock. I wouldn't scream, but now something of real terror began to seize me.

The darkness continued to swirl around me, but I didn't move. Whose voice called to me – friend or foe? I could not tell. As I stood there, I saw the yukata change from creamy white to a crimson red color, and tried to check myself to see if I was bleeding. My clothes were turning the color of blood.

I gasped, but the wolves now moved off my yukata, while it continued to absorb the crimson color stains. I struggled in fear, trying to remove the yukata, but the wolves were surrounding me. I heard a noise – that voice in the wind again – whispering something to me. Or was it shouting?

I was too distracted to hear. I yanked at the obi, which bound me tightly, holding me like a boa constrictor. I refused to scream, but I refused to listen to the screeching in the darkness. I thought I might be able to hear it, but I felt a terror overwhelming me.

I broke away and sat up in my bed.

I sat upright, completely frozen in the normal darkness of night in the city. The streetlights could be seen from the window, and their light illuminated patches of the floor and of my bed spread through the curtains. Then, there was also the light on in the bathroom, which came under the door. Nakeisha's alarm clock glowed green beside her bed, and my little portable clock had no lights. I hated the lights of the alarm clock because I liked to sleep in absolute darkness, but the dream had been like falling into an abyss.

A dream? It seemed so much greater than just some silly dream about being alone in the dark. Why would my subconscious produce that particular nasty nightmare? I felt a shiver creep down my spine, and I thought about waking Nakeisha.

No, she was sleeping with head tucked under her blankets. I stared at the lump on her bed, and I told myself I was a big girl. I didn't need to wake my friend in order to blabber to her about my silly nightmare. She would laugh, too, because I had never been afraid of the dark.

What did the voice say?

Why did I want to know? I had rejected it in the darkness, but now, in the safer arena of my bedroom, I wanted to hear what that voice wanted to tell me. Was it a figment of my imagination? No, I couldn't believe that the voice came from me. I had a feeling it wasn't part of me, but maybe it was only one of those things, in dreams, that we can't quite reach.

(Cale)

My face lay on something damp. My one cheek was pressed against the cool, wet surface, and it calmed the throbbing in my head. I kept my eyes closed, and the aching of my body made me keep still long enough for me to realize the simple fact that I was not supposed to be where I was.

I tired not to move, and I tried to recall everything that happened. I wanted to see where I was, but I kept my eyes closed and forced myself to remain still until my head cleared. The dampness of what I thought was stone made me shiver. My entire body was chilled and wet, and then, I realized this was what was wrong.

I did not wear my armor.

I kept still, even when I wanted to jump up and look around. I remembered fighting in the fog, and I knew it was bad when I could not even see through it. Yes, I had been bad, and Sekhmet had realized they, whoever they were, tried to take our armors. Sekhmet and Dais had thrown their armors away, but I had kept mine until the last moment. It seemed wrong to stop fighting.

And now, I knew I was captured. I could not feel any chains, but I felt weak. They probably did not need any chains to keep me at this point. Damn my body and its frailty. I opened my eyes now because I wanted to know where I was. If they had me, I wanted to know where.

However, all I saw was the back of Sekhmet's head. He was still, and I could not tell if he was awake or not. I thought he was alive, but I could not see beyond his head. I wondered if there was anybody watching me. If so, they might do something if I moved. If not, I wanted to look around and find Dais.

I hated to lay there, completely still, but I listened for any noise. The first thing I heard was Sekhemet's breathing, and then, I realized there was someone breathing on the other side of me, too. I thought this was probably Dais, but I could not hear anything else.

It would have to be quick, I realized. If I was being watched, I wanted to look around quickly before they came for me. When they found I was awake, I was not sure what would happen. The presence at the dojo had frightened me. I could not feel that entity now, but if they were around, I thought they would probably cause me some pain.

I sat up in one quick movement, or as quickly as I could. The blood rushed from my head, and the world spun for a moment, but my vision cleared. We were in a cave, and it was very dark. I could hardly see Sekhmet and Dais lying beside me.

Then there was a laugh. It was not the powerful presence, but it was the other woman.

Kayura. It was Kayura.

She struck me, and I saw the twin jitte shimmer in the dim light as I was slammed down to the cave floor. She laughed again while color bursts exploded before my eyes in the darkness. Her laugh, though, was like when she was in the Dynasty. It had regained that cold, metallic ring. Had the other entity captured her and brainwashed her again?

What powerful thing could brainwash the Ancient's Heir?

She struck me again. I felt the world spin away from me as I slipped into the darkness.

(Ryo)

"Kaede?"

I rolled over and there was no one beside me. I groped around in the room, which was still completely dark. There was no light in the room, yet we had managed just fine. I saw the red numbers on the clock that red five o' six. I sat up, wondering when I had fallen asleep. In one of our lulls, I guess I had gone to sleep.

I stood up, and then, I grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around myself. "Kaede?" She wasn't in the room, as far as I could tell, so I stepped outside into the hallway.

I heard the sound of a running shower, and I made my way through the dark towards the noise. It wasn't a very long walk to the bathroom door. I knocked on the door and heard, "Ryo?"

"Want me to come in?"

"Hmmmm, while that's a great idea, you might want to cover yourself," she said, but her voice had this strange muffled quality because of the running water.

"I have a sheet on," I added, "but I thought you might have wanted something more exposed."

She chuckled, and I thought her laughter sounded like water on rocks, but that could have been the illusion of the shower, too. "No, Ryo, what I meant was to call someone and make a story. Your house mates might look for you if you spend more time here."

"Oh, I get it," I told her as I went into the next room to look for a phone. I picked it up, and I debated whom to call. No, I didn't want to call any of the guys. I didn't want to lie to them, but I really didn't think it would be the best idea to tell them what I really did last night and this morning. Yeah, I could see that conversation. Rowen, I slept with that girl you hate, and Kento, I shagged your best friend.

I didn't think so. I dialed Tomo's number, and the phone rang several times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" Akio asked with a groggy voice.

"It's Ryo."

"No, it's five in the morning," Akio muttered. "What's happening?"

"I spent the night at your house, okay? That's what happened," I told him. Akio moaned on the other end of the line.

"Lee did, too, but Tomo and him aren't here, either" Akio acidly noted. "Sure, Ryo, you stayed here. Hope you had a good time. Lee and my brother would be jealous."

"Yeah," I commented. I had lived their dream tonight. I couldn't deny it had been fantastic. I chuckled, and Akio sighed at the other end of the line.

"See you later," Akio muttered, "bye."

He hung up, and then, I hung up. I ambled my way back to the bathroom door, and this time, I opened it and came into the steamy room. The water was still pouring from the nozzle, and she asked, "Is it good?"

"It's a little after five, and we've got some time," I added as I let the sheet fall to the floor. I pulled back the glass door to the shower and stepped inside. Kaede only giggled before she kissed me again.

(Kayura)

The air carried the scent of fresh rain. It cleansed my mind, and I let it lead me effortlessly along. Where was I going? I wasn't sure, but I knew I was meant to be there, and something seemed inviting in the smell of the environmnet. I was so transfixed on the peace I felt that I didn't notice how alive and green everything was for a time.

The path sloped down, and I followed it. I was dressed simply in a brown tunic tied at the waist with golden thread. In my right hand, I held the staff, and the soft clinking of the rings against each other gave me great peace. It had been sometime since I'd know such serenity, and as I wandered through the huts where women cooked and children played, I knew I had arrived in a place I could call home.

"Kayura," a woman called to me. "Come to the cave."

The cave. A shiver passed down my spine. I shook my head, and I went to tell her no, but I was pushed through the crowd. She held my hand, yet she pulled me along.

"But you don't understand," I told her, "I do not want to go!"

But I was there already, and it didn't matter how anxious I had been because nothing compared to how my stomach dropped out from under me. The land in front of the cave formed a platform before the entrance of dirt with nothing growing on it. That's what disturbed me. In this valley, filled with such luscious plants, this one patch of earth grew nothing.

"You must go in."

I turned, and the Ancient stood there, but he didn't have the staff. I did.

"You are my heir. It is your destiny."

"But . . ." I stammered, but I had nothing to say. I stared at the Ancient, and I wanted to ask him why. I couldn't tell him how I feared the eyes, lurking just beyond the cave entrance. Then, I looked towards the cave again.

The eyes were there. They were dark, as if their depths stretched to the beginning of the worlds. In that darkness, something simmered and burned, and I felt like a small child again as I looked into those eyes. They told me they knew me. They knew everything about me.

The vision broke, and I woke up in my bed. My pulse was racing, and I flung myself out of the bed and stood shivering in my pajamas. It was early yet, and the sky had taken on that misty gray color before the sun peaked over the horizon and illuminated the world like one great lamp.

Not even the sun could chase away the eyes. I had seen the eyes when I was little at the cave entrance. When I was taken to the Dynasty, I had seen them in dreams, too. I had been given things to banish the nightmares, but the eyes returned, usually just before I woke. I didn't remember who owned the eyes, but I only saw those eyes boring holes into my soul.

And now, I had seen the eyes again, but this dream had been different. This time, I had an answer. 'You must go in,' the Ancient told me. He had sentenced me, his heir, to face the place that had, through all my long life, remained my greatest fear and horror.

I moved, though, and dressed myself in one of my tunics. To go into the valley of my people, I felt mortal dress was inappropriate, so I tied a silver cord around the waist of my royal blue tunic. I combed my hair and slinked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and go the bathroom before creeping down into the kitchen.

Still remaining quiet, I grabbed one of the guy's bags and put food and bottled beverages into it. Then, I went to leave, but before I did, I went and tore a piece of paper from one of the scribble pads that the guys kept around. Hastily I wrote, 'Need to do something important. Look for me if not back by sunrise in two days. Kayura.'

If things went bad, at least I had my back covered. However, I couldn't bring myself to tell them to come to the valley of the Ancient's people. I felt, in my gut, that I needed to do this alone. Besides, I had never been hurt around the cave. But of course, I had never gone into the cave.

I quietly left the house, and I looked down towards the lake. The mist was already rising from the surface, and I wanted to be there. I wanted to walk those shores at dawn instead of turning my path towards the darkness of the caves.

I heard a rustle, and I turned towards the forest. From the trees emerged Ryo's tiger, and I realized I hadn't seen that animal since the day I came here. It made sense that they would have let it go back into the wilderness to be free and happy, but here it was, coming towards me. It seemed to have waited for me, and it made me wonder if the tiger knew my fear. It wasn't impossible, of course, since this creature was clearly magical.

It stopped by my legs and purred, which made me smile. I scratched the back of his head, and as I walked away from the house, the tiger followed by my side.

(N'deki)

It was dark, and this time, I knew the situation was more ominous. I was back, in that dream, and I felt like I was carrying something heavy, except, this time, it felt worse. I think I was tired and sore, but from what, I had no idea.

It was only a clip again, and I didn't understand what was happening, but I was heading somewhere, and I was going there quickly. It had to be an emergency. I had no idea what was happening or why, but the land was dark, and I thought I might be in some type of palace. Actually, it looked like I raced through the Imperial Palace, from all the pictures I'd seen of that famous place. That couldn't be right, could it?

It was too bizarre, and I was moving abnormally fast. My head kept turning, but I couldn't control my movements again. I felt the fear building in my stomach, but I fought it back.

Then I saw what I raced towards, and I screamed to stop. Except I couldn't scream, and this person didn't stop. They raced towards the giant standing in the courtyard of the palace when all I wanted to do was turn tail and go at the speed of light in the opposite direction.

I was getting closer. I knew this person wouldn't stop. There was that final distance, and if I could have felt my heart beat in panic, I would have. This giant proved much more horrible up close. Why did this person go towards this monster?

He landed beside a person in red armor. Another person in this dream, and when he spoke, I felt I knew him, but my mind was slow and blurred from the fear.

"Anubis?"

"I must complete the Ancient One's Prophecy." It was a man that spoke, but I still felt it was happening to me, N'deki, some stupid little school girl. It wasn't so, but I knew, in the strange illogicalness of it all, that this was most definitely happening to me.

"The Ancient's power, it's coming from you, isn't it?"

What? Who was this? What were they talking about? Why were they even talking when this monster was going to kill them! The Ancient wasn't anyone I knew. This was just getting worse! I felt myself begin to really panic. That giant looked ready to squash us! Oh, dear gods, I didn't want to die!

I leapt into the air, and the guy in the red armor did the same. Why did they want to fight this demon so badly? I wanted to run! Why didn't they run away? Didn't they know it was the end? I was panicking! Why couldn't they hear me scream!

"Join me, Wildfire!"

Why? Why did these people want to die so badly? Because no matter what happened, I knew they were going to die. I was going to die!

"Flare up now!"

"Quake with fear!"

What happened? My body, this person's body, shook with power! It pulsed and flowed, but I couldn't control it! And the monster stopped! For a moment, we had halted his lunge towards us! Yet, I knew it wasn't long. I felt myself anxious, awaiting the moment when this giant would reach for me. He would crush me!

Why was I here? I didn't want to be here! This giant was horrible!

And then, he snapped the chains this person put around his hand. His fingers grabbed them, but I still held the weapon! I was yanked off the ground! No!

I shrieked. I was upside down! I kept screaming, but this person was being dangled! I was going to die! The terror of dying with no control!

No! I felt my body vibrate. No!

"No! Nonononono!"

I heard my voice, and it felt amazing!

"No! No! Nononono!"

I was in hysterics, but I needed it. I couldn't stop. I was begging for my life.

"N'deki! N'deki, calm down!" Ariel threw her scrawny arms around me, but I was still shouting. Then, as she pulled me close to her, and I realized I was crying, too. Gods, I was terrified.

"N'deki, you fell asleep watching TV. We're in you're living room. It's a dream. Please, trust me, it's a dream." Ariel's voice soothed me, and I threw my arms around her and let my screaming dissolve in sobs. I leaned against her, and I realized she was correct. I had fallen asleep on my couch, and the blanket that I had lain over myself was still over my legs. I hadn't moved. I wasn't dangling in the hands of some giant.

"It was a nightmare," Ariel muttered in my ear. I nodded dumbly and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

"It was so real," I whispered. "I was going to die."

"You're alive," Ariel murmured as she removed me from her embrace. Her golden, yet intelligent, avian eyes looked into my own hazel eyes. I felt her concern, but more than that, I realized she sympathized with me.

"You lived a nightmare, didn't you?" I asked as I picked up the edge of my blanket to wipe the tears from my face.

"Yes," she said, and her voice was barely audible. "But that's over. We're both here and okay."

"Yes, you're right," I muttered, but admitting that didn't take away the horror of that dream. It scarred my soul, and all I wanted it to do was to be gone. I rubbed my eyes, and I began to feel weary as the adrenaline from my panic left my system.

"N'deki, do you mind if I ask you something?" Ariel prodded. I nodded, and I was afraid it would be about that nightmare. "Have you ever considered you might have an abnormal amount of power?"

"Not really, but I guess I do. I don't talk about it, so I guess that's my denial." I left out the roundabout way I had been coerced into telling Ryo about my healing skills. I did fix his leg, but I had tended to ignore that, too, but again, that wasn't normal, either.

"You have a strange dream and heal people," Ariel pointed out as she continued to kneel down in front of me to maintain eye level. "N'deki, that dream didn't involve me, did it?"

"Oh no," I reassured her quickly, "you weren't involved. Also, I've had more than this dream. This one was the most powerful, though. It was also the most terrifying. There was actual conversation in this dream."

"Who did you talk to?" Ariel asks.

"It wasn't me, per say," I began to explain, "In these dreams, I am living through someone else. It's not me that's talking or acting. I'm just seeing and feeling the world through some man's eyes, but it seems so real. I feel like it is happening to me. Do you think I'm channeling someone's spirit?"

"It might not be beyond you," Ariel said with a shrug. "I don't have supernatural powers. I have no idea what they entail. All I know is that you have them."

"Yeah, and they're making me tired," I mumbled as I rose off the couch. Ariel stood up, too, and she went over and clicked the TV off. "You can have my bed since you liked my room so much."

"Where will you sleep? I don't want to have to trip over things if you wake up screaming again," Ariel added as I opened the door to my room.

"I'll sleep on the floor, then," I said as I went into my closet to dig out my sleeping bag. "I won't be uncomfortable. I sleep in that bed every night."

Ariel looked like she was going to protest, but she didn't. Instead, she climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up to where her wings connected to her back. Once again, I thought how abnormal it was for this harpy girl to be sleeping in my bed, but I was too drained to ponder on that irony. Instead, I crawled into my sleeping bag and waited for the lights to be turned off.

Between waking and sleeping, I thought about what Ariel had said. I did have powers, but I guess it took someone else telling me I was powerful for me to really under the fullness of my strength. Was I really that strong?

More importantly, what spirit was I channeling? And more important than who I was channeling was how to get rid of that person. I didn't want to keep having these dreams, and if I could break this cycle, I would. If I had to fulfill the spirit's wishes, I didn't know if I could do it. Who would do what I saw in my dreams?

Then, I thought of Ariel again. What happened to Ariel seemed abnormal. How did a girl become a harpy? Yes, there were things I didn't know, and I felt a suspicion that everything might be tied together. What if it was? What would I find?

And I slid into the dream world. I didn't realize it for a moment, but when I felt that weight, I knew I was living in that dream again.

Once again, I was in that palace. I groaned internally, and I felt exhausted. I was exhausted. What was I doing? No, what was this person doing? This man was at his end, I could tell. I could feel the weight and the exhaustion of his body.

It was over. Was I to die now? Or was it later? I didn't know. All I knew was that this wasn't over yet. This man had something else to do, and I was to watch it. I had no choice.

There was a woman standing in front of me. I was pulsing with power, and it would kill me. Then, this woman was bound up in chains. I had seen this before, but it was different, now, and I couldn't understand why. I just knew.

"What do you think you're doing?" the woman screeched at me as I leapt up to meet her. I didn't understand, but I let I happen. I didn't know what was happening, but I felt weak, so I meekly protested not to let this end badly for me.

"Now you'll leave her or die!" The man commanded this woman, and only then did I realize she was possessed. How dreadful, I thought. I felt like I was possessed, but I wasn't, was I? I knew I was seeing this from another time and place, so I wasn't possessed or possessing, but still, how dreadful. I felt sorry for her.

"Curse you, Anubis!" The demon inside the girl screamed. I could almost see him! Maybe that was a good thing. For some reason, my fear had almost deserted me, now. I felt apathetic to this scene, yet I found myself caring, but it wasn't about my life. I cared what happened to this woman because she seemed more real to me than any of the other people in these dreams.

Now, I felt the weight lift from me. It went to the women, and I watched as the demon inside her screamed and shrieked. This weight on me, then, I realized what it was. I was wearing samurai armor, and I wondered how I hadn't noticed it before this moment. Was I that slow in these dreams?

I watched, dumbfounded, as the demon left this woman. She put on the armor that had been on me. I was glad that weight was gone. Then, my mouth opened and this man screamed, "Fight him, Kayura!"

I sat up and opened my eyes. I felt like this Kayura, this man, and this dream were only a scratch away from being in front of my eyes now. If I reached out, I felt I could go back into that vision again. It all seemed real. I knew it was. It was all real, and I was only a hand reach away from taking hold of it.

The light was beginning to filter through my room, and the sun had risen. I looked around, and I felt she was close. Did she need me?

"Kayura," I whispered into the stillness of the dawn, "Listen to your heart and understand."

A/N: July 2007: Yeah! New part! Thank you, all reviewers, because you've helped me push through the previous part one and turn it into a more polished story. However, if I had to publish this, I would definately change part one completely. I know, a lot of it isn't accurate, but I give more info about why I did what I did, what I hated, and what I liked about Interim Battles in my author page.

Now, part two has A LOT more action in it than part one. Also, this is where the plot gets moving. Part one was basically a character builder, but now the stage is set for the real show to begin. It's late, I'm having focusing issues, so I'll probably come back and give this a better author's note later. :) Thanks, MorganRay.