Magic
Chapter Twenty One: Move
Cye locked the door to the pottery shop, flinching slightly as he moved the sprained wrist. It didn't hurt as bad as it did a few days ago thankfully, however that didn't make it any less annoying. At least he didn't get a concussion like Sage and Ryo.
Thanks to the injuries Keitaro, and the debris, left on them Ryo had deemed it necessary to hold off on the sparring until this afternoon. Instead, they were working on trying to control their elements, which to Cye's surprise was going quite well for them all. Even when they didn't try anything something happened.
Like yesterday when Sage got off the phone with his older sister. Cye knew they had been talking about Sage's upcoming birthday, she had said something that made his blonde friend mad and after he hung up the phone all the lights in the apartment started glowing brightly then they all burned out. And no one was in armor or subarmor when this happened either.
Strange how our powers are picking up faster than our skill, the potter mused to himself, But I wished they would work when we need them too without us thinking of them.
He would have given almost anything for someone's powers to kick in at the amusement park. Or maybe they had after they all blacked out. As it was there were only three things about that night he knew:
One was that three of them (himself included) got hurt pretty bad compared to the other fights with Keitaro.
Two being that between getting knocked out and waking up, Black Blaze had found his way to them and been staying with him and Kento since. Which really wasn't turning out to be as bad as it had first sounded.
Third was the one that really bothered him. White Blaze's choice to have Rachel come over to tend their wounds did not sit well with him. It didn't sit too well with any of them really. Why hadn't their armors kicked in to heal them? For that matter, how in the world did the armor fade and leave him in his pajamas? Rachel had said it happened after a comment she made, but there had to be something more to it than that.
These fights with Keitaro were leaving Cye more questions than answers. Like Rowen, Cye didn't like to be in a fight with little or no answers to the reason. Fighting that way felt pointless and empty. It was no secret that the Torrent Ronin didn't like to fight if he could avoid it, but he was one of the first to pick up arms if the cause was right.
Fighting with a sorcerer, or whatever Keitaro was, to bend his amusement was not a cause.
He pushed those thoughts away; he wanted to worry about little things for a moment. Like dinner. Kento was with his family tonight and Cye would be heading over to Ryo's later so they could do some one-on-one training now that his head was better. Cye had offered to bring things over to cook so they could practice on the water and maybe heating the (already dying) stove.
Noodles or rice? He asked himself while walking past some apartments.
"Cye!"
"Huh?" Turning he saw Rachel standing by a moving van with a box in her arms. "Rachel." He walked across the parking lot and stopped a few feet from her, "So this is where you live."
"Lived," She corrected, "I'm moving into a house with my friend Sileny. It's only a few blocks away so I can finish out the school year."
Cye nodded, "I hope your um.. experiences with us haven't made you run off?"
Rachel regarded him for a moment, "No. Sileny and I have been talking about this since I moved here in September." She set the box in the truck, "But while we are talking about my 'experiences' with you guys, how is your wrist?"
"Still hurts but not as bad," He answered truthfully. "Ryo's pretty much over his concussion, though I think Sage is still a little affected by his."
"I'm glad."
Stepping closer to the younger girl Cye said, "And thank you for helping us. You didn't need to do that."
Sky blue eyes met his sea-green ones, "I wanted to help. I know that I didn't need to but I couldn't just turn a blind eye. All the same you are welcome."
"You probably should have turned a blind eye," He then added in a lower voice, "What if Keitaro attacked while we were unconscious? You would have been defenseless."
"Not completely with two five-hundred pound tigers in the room. But honestly, I didn't think of what I'd do if he attacked. I was way more worried about the five of you on the floor."
Cye went to say something but she cut him off.
"And besides if he really wanted to attack me to get at you guys, again, then what's to stop him from doing so when I'm not around you guys? He could just as easily pop up in my bedroom as he could have at Sage and Rowen's apartment."
He frowned. That was true. "You do have a point, I'm just worried. Sorry."
"No," She shook her head, auburn hair swishing onto her shoulders, "I understand. Since I can't really defend myself that puts me down as a liability. And I'm trying to find a way to easily wrap my brain around the fact that you and the other four are well super heroes-for lack of better term. But if there is a way that I can help then I want to, think of it as my way of pacifying being a liability."
"That's why you gave us those papers on magic." Cye summed, "Look if you are around when Keitaro attacks we will protect you. Ryo mostly since he feels responsible for bringing you into our mess."
Rachel shifted her weight, "Well technically that was my own fault. I was worried about why Ryo and White Blaze were chasing after him, like they say curiosity gets the better of us some times making us look very stupid."
"I can relate to that," Cye admitted. "Do you need any help moving the boxes?"
"Boxes no, all that's left is the really heavy stuff." She then caught on, "and I'm not sure you want to help us move heavy things with a sprained wrist."
"Not really, but I was going to offer closing the back of the van for you. That much I know I can do."
Rachel smiled.
"Who's this?"
Cye looked past the younger girl at the direction of the voice. A girl was approaching them, clearly a foreigner like Rachel, with long light orange hair. She couldn't have been any taller than he was, and she had a bigger box in her arms.
"Sileny this is my friend Cye, Cye this is my best friend Sileny Svensson."
Cye smiled and gave a nod of his head, "It's nice to meet you Sileny. Rachel's said a lot of good things about you."
"Yeah she likes leaving out the bad," Sileny said sarcastically before sliding the box into the van, "I'm glad to meet you too Cye, Rachel has told me about you as well."
"Good or bad things?" The older boy smiled amused.
"Both?" Rachel's answer was more a question really.
"You'll figure it out. How is your wrist? Rachel said you and a few others had a bad fall down some stairs."
That's a good excuse, he thought before answering, "A little sore but not as bad as it was."
"That's good," Sileny looked at Rachel, "That was the last of the boxes. We should drop this stuff off at the house then see who gets death by bed after."
"Death by bed doesn't sound very good." Cye said.
"My bed is heavy," Rachel shrugged, "I'm not sure why since it's made of wood."
"Could be your mattress," Sileny closed the back of the moving van, "Do you need a lift Cye?"
He blinked, "Maybe," looking at Rachel he said, "I was going to Ryo's house but if that's not on the way then don't worry."
"It's on our way." Rachel smiled, "We are moving into the neighborhood a few blocks from him."
"Then in that case I'd be happy for a ride," he smiled at the two girls. "Thank you."
"So you're from Hagi," Sileny smiled, "What's it like there?"
"Quiet compared to Tokyo."
She laughed, "I'm starting to think that every where is quiet compared to Tokyo."
Rachel giggled, "Kyoto's close."
"I'll agree with Rachel, I've been to Kyoto a few times. The only quiet places are the temples." With the exception of the one Dais destroyed…
"Eh well you do have a point there," Sileny turned the van, "So what brought you to Tokyo?"
"Same as you and Rachel, school."
"Are you looking to a college like us?"
"I haven't decided yet, the old lady who is letting me use the shop space is an old friend of my mom and if I'd like to keep it I should look into getting a degree in business."
"Good idea," Rachel looked at him. Could Cye really do that I wonder?
Cye looked out the front window, "Ah there. Ryo's home is third from the corner."
"That's a cute house," Sileny said as she slowed the van down.
Rachel looked over Cye's shoulder, "Are you sure Ryo's home? The lights aren't on."
Cye's brow furrowed, "He's supposed to be…" A chill ran up and down Cye's spine, something's not right. He blinked, oh god what if...? The young girl beside him must have thought the same thing, he felt her grip his arm.
Sileny parked the van, "If you want we'll wait to see if he is home."
May not be the best idea, Rachel thought. She had seen Keitaro and Ryo fight once, that had been more than enough for her. Not to mention the damage she had seen inflicted on the other boys… her gaze went to Cye's wrist while her mind split between the other injuries.
Cye gave Sileny a reassuring smile, "No it's alright. If Ryo did go out for something I can always wait in the backyard with White Blaze."
"White Blaze? That his dog?"
"No his cat," Rachel answered. "Cye will be okay Sileny, if I see Ryo on our way to our house I'll tell you so we can pull over and let him know Cye's here. I'd kinda like to get the rest of my things out of the apartment before it's really dark."
"Alright, alright," Sileny nodded, "If you're still here alone when we come back by Cye I might recruit you to help us."
Cye nodded, "Fair enough." He opened the door and hopped out of the car, "Thanks for the ride."
"Not a problem," Sileny smiled.
Rachel looked at Cye and mouthed, 'be careful,' before adding, "See you later."
"Don't drop anything on your feet," Cye waved as they drove down the road. Don't worry Rachel, I have every intention of being careful if this is an attack. He looked back at the house, it was unnerving the creepy feeling he was getting from it now. Either he was getting jumpy or else Keitaro might really be here.
Slowly Cye started up the walkway of the house, keeping his eyes open in case something did happen.
He heard it before he saw it. The noise was of glass shattering somewhere in the back of the house. The older of the boys ran over, jumped the fence, and saw White Blaze standing over Ryo growling.
"Ryo!"
Ryo looked over and blinked, "Cye get down!"
Cye ducked down just as the window on the side of the house blew out. Glass was thrown all over the side of the house before Keitaro stepped out of the already shattered sliding glass door, only a few feet away from Ryo.
The enemy smirked as he looked between the two Ronin, "Ah seems you called back up, Ryo."
Ryo stood behind White Blaze glaring at Keitaro, "You okay Cye?"
Cye stood up, now in subarmor and he too glared at Keitaro, "I'm fine."
Keitaro smirked, "Let us continue then shall we? I'd like to see just how fast you'll bounce back from this."
White Blaze roared at him, as necessary as this might be the two Ronin were not in a condition to fight again just yet. What was Keitaro thinking?!
He moved his hand out and the shards of glass floated into the air before circling around his hand. The glass formed two long double bladed swords, holding each in one hand he ran to Ryo then veered at the last moment making Cye his target.
Cye leapt to the side, turned, and hammer punched him in the shoulder before landing by Ryo. "You're plan is to attack us with weapons made from glass?"
"That's pretty frail don't you think?" Ryo added.
Keitaro smirked, turning to look at them he said, "You may be surprised how something you see as brittle, can be so deadly."
I don't like this… Cye had that sinking feeling in his stomach. He used to get the same feeling when fighting Sekhmet just before the Warlord of Venom pulled one of his tricks. Something in those stone cold eyes of the enemy…
Next thing Cye knew he heard a familiar whistling sound, both he and Ryo moved just as three arrows shot between them and hit the ground in front of Keitaro. Each arrow let out a miniature shock wave, pushing Keitaro back again the house, and cracking the ground.
Ryo turned to see the youngest of the ronin crouching in the neighbor's tree, "Rowen!"
"Ryo, Cye, are you two okay?" Rowen jumped down into Ryo's backyard, holding his bow and wearing nothing but his subarmor.
"I think so," Ryo answered. How the hell did Rowen call his weapon without full armor?
"Then there were three instead of two," Keitaro mused, "Looks like you five are starting to organize even better. How fun this will get indeed." This is good, Ryo must have called out and that's why he was so easy to throw out the door.
Cye glared, "Just because you knocked us all out last time doesn't mean you can get cocky about it!"
Rowen held his bow out and drew and arrow from the air, "We are not your toys to play with Keitaro."
Keitaro smashed the glass swords together; the shards began floating and spinning around his body. "Oh yes you are." Snapping his fingers he sent the shards of glass flying at the three ronin.
Ryo saw Rowen fire the arrow before all four of them scattered, the glass followed them like heat seeking missiles. The Ronin Leader ran past a tree, hearing glass strike the bark, making a beeline for the enemy, he went to punch him square in the face but Keitaro vanished. Staggering forward he then felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, wincing he reached back and pulled a shard of glass out of his neck. Blood shown on the edge of the half-inch long shard.
"Ryo!" Cye and Rowen yelled in unison.
"I'm alright!" He got up, trying to ignore the trickle of blood running down the back of his neck, as he looked around for Keitaro.
On the roof! Rowen's voice entered Ryo's head.
All three jumped at what seemed a perfect time. The ground below them split into three halves and shot up between them. They reached the roof and Keitaro came at them, holding the two serrated swords from the last time. He clashed with Rowen's bow, kicked Ryo in the side, and brought the other sword down on Cye's shoulder.
White Blaze wanted to leap up and help, badly. Problem was that Black Blaze's words still danced in his head.
Ryo flipped up off his back, turned and landed a kick in Keitaro's ribs while at the same time, Cye punched him square in the apple of his neck.
Keitaro staggered back before something knocked him forward and off the roof.
"Kento!" Cye looked at his roommate who stood with his fists in front of him.
Kento took a deep breath, "Sorry I'm late."
"Don't make a habit out of it." Ryo warned.
"Rowen how did you get your-" Before Kento could finish his sentence, a tree came crashing down between the quartet and through the roof of the house, taking the ronin with it.
"Holy shit!" Ryo cursed loudly after finding himself in what was once his aunt's bedroom.
Rowen stood up and rubbed his head, "Great how are we explain this one to Kim?"
"We can worry about that later!" Cye called from the hall before helping Kento up.
Outside they all heard a cry, "White Blaze!" Ryo shouted and got to his feet.
Keitaro crashed in from the window, flipped off the wall and stood on the trunk of the fallen tree, blood glistening off one of the swords. All four Ronin sprinted in his direction; he jumped into the air before any could touch him, however, Rowen and Ryo went up after him. He was about five feet above the roof when he felt an elbow in his back, the force of that attack sent him into the yard next door.
"Sage!" Ryo looked at his blonde friend.
Sage landed on a corner of the roof, just as Cye and Kento made it up, "Everyone okay?"
"Not sure yet," Rowen answered.
Kento and Ryo jumped off the roof, landed in the backyard and over to White Blaze. The large white tiger lay trapped under part of the fallen tree, his shoulder bleeding badly.
"Guys get down here!" Kento called up before he tried moving the tree.
"Little busy at the moment!" Rowen shouted back.
Ryo looked up and saw Sage and Rowen clash weapons with Keitaro's sword. "Damn it!"
"Go up and help them, I'll get White Blaze out from under this."
"Thanks," Ryo went to jump up but ended up jumping to the side as Keitaro was thrown back onto the ground.
He was about to get up when Rowen's arrows pinned him down to the ground followed swiftly by Sage's sword cutting his shoulder. This fight had gotten very interesting. Now four of the five Ronin stood over Keitaro, a look of kill in their eyes. Which, in his opinion was a good thing.
"Let's see you vanish now," Rowen taunted aiming another arrow in the face of the enemy.
Kento lifted up the tree, "Want me to throw it on him instead?" He looked at his leader.
Yes. Ryo thought, especially after the way Keitaro looked at the tree. Instead, he answered, "Not yet."
"Keitaro how long do you plan on attacking us like this?" Sage asked.
"Until I find myself bored with the five of you," He smirked up at them, "I had planned on leave after defeating you all at that strange park. Then that demon tiger came out of nowhere, I'm surprised you got tiger of Saber Strike's on your side."
"So it was Black Blaze," Kento said allowed. Guess Rachel's theory was really on the money.
"Oh is that his name?" Keitaro chuckled, "I wonder if he is a relation to White Blaze?"
"That doesn't matter," Rowen glared, "Either find a better reason to attack us Keitaro or leave us alone. Your battles are pointless!"
The smirk widened on his face, "I am not done with the five of you just yet. Now that I know your response time, you won't be able to touch me next time." Pounding his fist on the ground it once more split in two, while the Ronin jumped out of the way, Keitaro fell into the crack and vanished.
The lights from the fire department bounced off the houses in the neighborhood, making them that much more annoying. It was past sunset when Kimiko returned home from a long day at work only to find a tree in the house. Ryo had managed to weave a good lie about the whole thing; still the house was pretty much a loss.
Kimiko sighed, "This is just a disaster!" She turned to look at Ryo and his four friends, "I'm just so grateful that none of you got hurt."
"It gave us a good scare, the tricky part was getting out of the living room," Cye said trying to sound convincing enough for the nearby cop. He knew that Ryo's aunt was gullible, for better or worse the same could not be said for the police.
"I hope White Blaze will be okay," Kimiko looked at the tiger beside her nephew.
White Blaze gave a soft growl then nudged Ryo's hip.
The leader stroked the tiger's head, "White Blaze will be fine."
"Will your insurance cover this?" Kento asked looking at Kim.
Kim tiled her head, "If not I'll figure out something, until then I can probably stay at one of the resort hotels near Disneyland." She looked at Ryo, "Do you want to stay at one too?"
Before he could answer Sage jumped in and said, "Ryo can stay with us."
"You sure?" Ryo looked at Sage and Rowen.
Rowen nodded, "Yeah we're sure."
"And if you get sick of those two, you can always bunk with Cye and I."
"Thanks guys."
"Ryo you are so lucky to have such good friends," his aunt smiled at him. "So officer do you think it is safe to go in and get a few of the essentials?"
"I wouldn't recommend it miss," The middle-aged officer answered, "Even after they get that tree out the second floor could collapse."
"I see."
"Sounds like we need to move," Ryo said.
"Sure looks that way," His aunt groaned, "I'll call my insurance agent in a little while, can I get the numbers to your homes?" She glanced at Ryo's friends before opening her purse and pulling out her fate address book.
"Of course," Sage answered.
"And Ryo," opening her wallet she pulled out a credit card.
"Aunt Kimiko-"
"Don't try to argue with me young man," Smiling she handed it to him, "Just get yourself some new clothes so you don't have to wear the same thing every day."
He held the card but didn't take his eyes off her, "…How much is on this?"
She waved a hand, "I'll worry about that. This is an emergency so go on and buy what you need, just don't spend a fortune."
"I'll make sure he doesn't," Kento put a hand on Ryo's shoulder and grinned.
"Miss Kobayashi, may I ask you a few more questions?" The officer looked at Kimiko.
"Sure thing officer," Kim smiled as Cye handed her the address book once he and Sage were done. "I will call you tomorrow on my lunch break and let you know how things are going."
Ryo nodded.
Keitaro sat on the roof of the building a few streets over from where the ronin stood with the cops. His whole body hurt like nothing he could describe thanks to those arrows and the sword of Halo. That battle was much shorter than he had planned, but at least he now knew thing where progressing along nicely.
The ronin still didn't stand much more of a chance than he once did. However, they were much more organized, and it looked to him as though Sage of Halo and Rowen of Strata had figured out how to call their weapons without being in full armor. That trick would be useful to them all.
He heard a sound and looked to his left, blinking he was surprised to see the black tiger approaching him. "What are you doing here?"
Black Blaze sat three feet from the man, You're powers are weakening.
"I'm running out of time," Keitaro nodded, "I'm aware of that."
You keep underestimating the ronin they ambushed you quickly today.
"Which was a good thing. I would have liked that battle to last a little longer but their weapons do a good job of damaging this body." Closing his eyes he let a sigh escape him, "Black Blaze I think these boys don't stand any more of a chance than I once did. You know them in your own ways, what can I do to throw them off? I've hit every mark I can think of without getting a family member since that was never Haytie's style."
Black Blaze looked at the house next to them, That girl you used once to get Ryo to fight… use her again.
"What?" Keitaro opened his eyes and looked at the tiger.
I remember that you don't like doing the same thing twice, but when you used that girl last time Ryo didn't just react out of instinct. Yellow and black eyes fixed on him, last time a girl was brought into their fight she was killed. Ryo and the others will do all they can to be sure that does not happen again.
"I think I understand that. Though I'd rather not attack a defenseless girl for the same reason twice."
She remembers the attack your memory spell didn't work on her. Also this girl, Rachel, tended to their wounds the last time you attacked them.
Keitaro raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"
A/N: Wow do you think I could have used jumped or leapt anymore in this chapter? Sheesh. But yes there is chapter 21 for your enjoyment, 22 will get put up next month. Only a few more chapters until the story is done!!