DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RONIN WARRIORS! IF I DID, I WOUDLN'T BE WRITING FANFICTION!


Two Torrents

I get up at quarter-past 9; at least the little square clock on the nightstand says so. Slowly, I turn to face the other side of the bed, but...there's no one there.

"Guh." My head hits the pillow; annoyed and relieved all at once. Taking a couple casual breaths, I calm my nerves then manage to get myself up, dressed, and head downstairs. It's completely quiet for 9 a.m.; I would at least think Cye would be making breakfast by n ow, but I could be wrong.

Yawning as I get to the stairs, there's still no sounds, no smells; no one around.

"Hello?" I call out.

No answer.

"Mia! Yuli!" I check the kitchen, but no one is in here either. "Cye?" Turning, I go back out to the living room, looking around at a loss. "Hey Rowen! Sage! Kento!" I catch a glimpse of the living room windows, but it should be daylight at 9 a.m.; not dark as night, like it is right now.

"What the...?" My body is drawn to the window, and I look out at the mysterious darkness. Squinting, I can see shadows on the horizon; vaguely people-shaped objects.

The door handle opens easily enough, and I push the door out with my eyes still focused on the shapes.

"Heh-hello?" My voice stammers when I realize I'm out on the porch, in the dark, with strange shapes - possibly people - in the distance. "Ah - I'm not alone in here! I have an army!" Oh, great, Emma; you're reeeally intimidating now. My legs bump the railing of the porch, and it startles me for a second. "Ah, shit..." I sigh, glancing down at my feet then look up at the dark shapes.

Squinting at the dark forms, light begins to shed across the landscape; an ugly red light that makes me sick to my stomach. The light rises over the shapes, illuminating them in its nightmarish crimson glow.

It's the five ronins, all hanging like slaughtered beef, dripping something dark and thick onto the ground from their bodies.

"NO! No, no no, n-! Aaaa!" I fall down, hitting the wooden floorboards of the floor with a thunk.

It takes me a second, but I realize I was just dreaming, I'm in the attic, and it's daylight out. Then the pain in my head sets in. "Ow, ow..."

Someone's moving around on the bed, and then Rowen leans over the edge of the bed with his arms folded under his chin. His hair is loose from the stupid sweatband he always wears, and his dark blue eyes groggily watch me from the mattress.

I catch my breath, letting my arms down from clutching my head, take a short breath then say. "What?"

Rowen's eyes widen for a second then a tires smirk spreads across his lips, and he says back. "Havin' a bad day already?"

"Shuddup." I let my head fall back against the floorboards. I'm just relieved to be awake, it was all a horrible dream, and Rowen's here. Everything's fine.

Rowen adjusts his arms, leaning farther over the bed, and he winks. "Y'know, if yer gonna keep havin' bad dreams, I'm gonna hafta invest in bulk condoms."

I roll my eyes, shaking my head slightly, and work on righting myself from the upside-down position on the floor.

"Speakin' of bad dreams," Rowen holds out a hand to me. "I had some'in like a dream last night."

"Something like a dream?" I take Rowen's hand, and get back up onto the bed; a little dizzier but awake. "You mean it wasn't a dream? Or was it a nightmare?"

Rowen sits back, one leg bent up over the other." I mean, I thought I was really happenin' until I woke up, y'know?"

Recalling my own nightmare, I sigh. "Yeah." And nod.

"But it was really weird, like, not a normal dream." Rowen turns, looks at the clock behind him on the wall, the time piece holding Rowen's gaze for a few moments before he turns back to me.

"You late for a very important date, Row?" I lean to the side, bracing my weight on one hand.

"Nah." Rowen shakes his head. "Maybe a train, but there's always another train." HE runs a hand over his loose hair, looking kinda worried.

"What's wrong? You look nervous." I frown.

Rowen shakes his head again. "Nah, it's nothin'; I gotta pack." He gets up off the bed.

"Oh no you don't!" Leaping out, I grab the back of Rowen's shirt, and pull him back down onto the bed.

"Hey, dammit!" Rowen falls.

I trap Rowen with my arms and legs, turning myself into a human backpack to keep him weighted down. "You're gonna tell me what's got you all nervous, and I'm not letting you go until you do, got it?"

"Fuck off, I ain't a squeeze toy!" Rowen struggles.

"You're gonna tell me , or you will be!" I squeeze him tighter.

"Gah! Ah'kay, a'right! Just get the hell offa me!" Rowen coughs when I let him go.

"Spit it out; what was this dream/not dream of yours about?" Folding my arms, and crossing my legs, I wait for an answer.

"I was in a field." Rowen begins. "Just a big field of grass, lookin' up at some low clouds. I was all in my armor, and had my bow pointed up at the sky." His face looks odd as he recounts more of the dream.

"And then?" I urge him eagerly.

"and then I fired, arrow shockwave, clearin' the clouds, and I was suddenly on a mountain peak, above the clouds, looking out at the night sky."

"Ooky." I comment.

"For you." Rowen frowns. "But I was at pace." He grunts. "Heh. Way clamer than I've been in a long time."

His eyes go softer as he talks. "Then I heard a voice - the ancient, I think."

"The monk?" I ask.

"Yeah." Rowen nods. "He said my power ain't enough; that I gotta know what my limits are."

"He's telling you your reach exceeds your grasp." I say.

"Right?" Rowen's eyes light up. "'Holdin' back ain't a bad thing; might even surprise myself, I bet."

"Learn control, and don't go crazy." I snort.

"Hey, this is important shit." Rowen gently pushes me.

"I know, I get what you're saying." Rubbing my arm, I get a weird tingling feeling but ignore it. "Is this going where I think it's going? You said you were gonna pack."

"Yeah. I gotta go to Amanohashidate." Rowen says. "It's the only place I can test my theory about the meaning of the dream." Rowen gets up off the bed again, but just stands there for a few seconds in his pajamas. "Hey, Em?"

"yup." I swing my legs of the bed, into my flats, and stand up to stretch.

"I want ya to come with me." Rowen says.

"No can do, buckaroo." I walk into the bathroom just to fix my hair in the mirror.

Rowen comes up to the door. "why the hell not?"

I sigh at the mirror, my hair all twisted up in a loopy bun. "Because," I turn to look at Rowen, he looks genuinely disappointed. "I need to process what happened last night, y'know? I mean it wasn't bad, and it didn't hurt, but it happened fast, and I'm not sure I'm really grasping what's happening."

Rowen actually looks relieved. "Really? Oh shit, I'm so glad you fuckin' said that."

"Really?" I grin. "You too?"

"Yeah. Man, Em, yu'know I love ya, but...shit." Rowen looks away.

"Totally fine." I wave my hands, trying to just clear the air already. "I'm gonna try to call my dad; have a nice parental chat n' stuff." I shrug.

"You can call 'im?" Rowen starts. "But I thought he lived in some kinda spirit world, or other dimension."

"Ahh~hence the word try." I nod. "yeah, I'm gonna try and call my dad."

"Well, good luck." Rowen dismissed the subject and turns to leave.

I take a few minutes, get dressed, head downstairs. Rowen's still in his room when I come up to the door - Sage is here too.

"Hey Sage." I say in a passing way. "So, Row, how long is your soul-searching-trip gonna take?"

"What? miss me already?" Rowen smirks, slinging a draw-string bck over his shoulder.

"Well..." I tease, biting my lip.

I catch Sage looking at me sideways, packing a bag of his own.

"You know who else has long white hair?" I don't expect an answer from Sage. "The Ancient. Funny how you automatically assume my father could be evil rather than good." Narrowing my gaze, I add. "Or is it because I helped a demon, so we're both out to destroy you?"

Sage zips up his bag, walks past me, and out the door.

"nice." Rowen grumps.

"what?" I shrug.

"Nah, you're right; I'm talkin' about Sage." Rowen shakes his head. "Whadja see in that guy anyway?" He takes my hand as he walks out the room, taking me with him.

"Aw, he's not so bad. Give the guy a break, okay? For me?" I put a hand on Rowen's arm. "Everyone's under alotta stress, so just lay off. For me, okay?"

Rowen groans, rolling his eyes. "Fine."

"Thank you." I slip my hand from his, and clasp them both behind my back.

"Hey guys." Ryo's just ahead of us.

"Morning." I say.

Ryo arches an eyebrow. "After...noon?"

"Is it?" I start. "Huh. Oh well, you headin' off?" I ask, looking at Ryo's bag.

"Yeah, you?" Ryo's standing by the bannister overlooking the living/dining room.

"Not me. Him." I jerk a thumb at Rowen.

"Ryo gives Rowen a nod. "Ancient one?"

"yeah. buncha fuckin' gibberish." Rowen snorts.

"Right." Ryo chuckles.

"Must be an old story." Mia's voice makes us all turn and look at the dining room, where Kento, Yuli, and Mia are at the table.

"Yeah!" Kento enthuses. "there was these big sand dunes, and they were in my way as I traveled."

"What's a sand dune?" Yuli asks excitedly.

"Big mountains of sand, they just spile up over the years." Kento explains. "I had to concentrate, y'know? and then I found its vein." He looks at huli. "Cause everything has veins; trees, sand, clouds; even water."

Yuli looks kinda confused but nods anyway.

"so and dunes have veins, weak points, that allow you to get through them." Kento's so philosophical this morning.

"Really?" Yuli gets all excited.

"I could see right through it." Kento stands up, holding his arms straight out in front of him. "So, I lined up my staff, and BLAM!" Kento's hand slams against the table. "I blew it to pieces!"

I wince. Mia already had to replace that table once, since the Ronins got here; granted it was a tiger jumping on it that broke it before, but still, I totally see Mia jump when Kento hits the table, and she has this look on her face, like, 'no, not again!'.

"Have to watch out for those nasty sand dunes." Cye quips.

I lean over the railing to see Cye's right at the bottom of the stairs with Sage.

"Sounds like dangerous work." Sage teases.

"Do sand dunes bite?" Ryo looks at Rowen.

"Ha ha." Kento scoffs.

"Well, I enjoyed your story, Kento." I say. "I've never met a sand dune, but you can be sure I'm gonna tell 'em Kento Of Hardrock is a close friend of mine, so it better watch out."

"yes." Rowen pumps a fist slightly, whispering.

"Not you too, pretty girl." Kento slumps. "hey, you guys goin' somewhere?" He has his zeal back again.

"Looks like it. I don't know about sand dunes, but I'm off to see about a whirlpool." Cye says.

"I'm goin' to Amanohashidate." Rowen says. "Far away from sand dunes."

"Caves at Akiyoshidai." Sage shrugs. "No sand."

"It's lava time again." Ryo doesn't sound all that enthused; none of them do, save for digging at Kento for his story about destroying sand dunes.

"Be careful, okay?" I lean over and say to Ryo and Rowen.

"I better go, too!" Kento shoves the last chunk of his sandwich in his mouth, gulping the milk.

Cye and Sage are leaving.

"Where would you go? You can already beat up great big clods of sand." Cye gets in one more dig.

"Yeah? Wanna see how?" Kento tackles Cye out into the hall.

"Woah!" Sage didges. "Hey, knock it off!" He shouts into the hallway.

"Let 'em gettit outta their system." Rowen tisks, pausing in the dining room. "See ya." He kisses my cheek, and I totally see the glare Rowen gives Sage as he walks past the blonde.

Sage waits for Rowen and Ryo to walk out then looks at me. "That was fast."

I shrug. "Tell me about it."

Sage turns, and heads out the door.

"Wait, hey, can we talk about this?" I grab Sage's sleeve. He stops.

Sage turns abruptly. "I was just-!" Sage starts to protest, but stops himself. "I was angry last night. I cant' talk about this right now." He pinches the bridge of his nose, and leaves.

Sighing, I turn to Mia. "Am I missing something here?" I ask.

Mia shrugs. "In what way, Emma?"

I follow as Mia heads out to the balcony overlooking the driveway.

"In the way that everything Sage ranted about last night is somehow justified, and I'm in the wrong here."

"No, not at all." Mia says. "You're right, completely, but I think Sage has a hard time apologizing."

"yeah." After seeing his family dynamic, it totally makes sense. "I can see that. I mean...I dunno what I mean, actually." I sigh. Stopping in the hallway, short of the balcony, I don't go out. "I'll be upstairs; holler if you need me."

I get all the way down the hall before Mia actually hollers out. "Emma! Emma, incoming! Watch out!"

"Demon!" I turn, but get a face full of feathers, and squawk. "Mrrffrrmmshh!"

"That stupid, damn, big, white, stupid, raven freaking body-slammed me. Now I'm laying on the floor in the hallway, with bird all up in my face.

Shoving the bird off, I'm spitting feathers. "Pff! P'too! Hey!" I cough. "Stupid ass..." I get up off the floor, glancing at the bird.

The raven rights itself, fluffing its feathers and preening. I swear as it squawks, it says words. 'horse told me to'.

I stare.

The raven does a double take at me, turns its head, looks down the heal, then seems to shrug, and squawk, with this undertone word. 'what'.

I shake my head slowly, shrug it off, and head up to the attic.

clunk-clickclick

"hm?" I pause about midway up the staircase, thinking about there not being a door to close out noise from the attic. holy crap, with crap on it - everyone heard...everyone KNOWS. Well, shit...

clunk-clickclick

"What the-?" turning, I can't believe my eyes. "You gotta be kidding me."

The 'clunk' is the raven's bill grasping the stair above it, and then pulls itself up onto said stair, its feet going 'clickclick' as it climbs.

I sigh. "Oh, fine. Come with me then." I step down to the raven, crouching with my hand outstretched.

The raven caws around the stair. I swear it just said 'i'm fine'.

I shake my head in disbelief; this bird is not talking to me. I'm just tired. Once in the attic, there's a man standing by the bookcase with his back to me.

I grab my guitar, and brandish it like a baseball bat. "FREEZE!"

He turns and looks at me, a book open on his hands. He startles me with his good looks, brown eyes, and short orange hair, his strong profile, but I quickly recover. Contain yourself, Emma!

"Are you really gonna hit me with that guitar?" He arches an eyebrow at me.

"If I have to. It's heavy, and will knock you senseless!" I get a better grip on the frets.

He shrugs. "Seems like a waste of a hello kitty guitar."

I squint at him. "Not in defense of my life."

"Fair enough, but I'm not here to hurt you, Emiko." he says. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki; I'm a friend of your fathers' - of captain Ukitake's."

I'd really like to think he's lying, but only my dad calls me Emiko. I let the guitar down and set it on the bed. "Fine. What are you doing in my room?"

"Your dad asked me to check on you, but you look like you're handling yourself just fine." Ichigo puts the book back on the shelf.

"Mostly." I shrug. "Are you a soul reaper?"

"Yeah. Substitute sould reaper captain, squad 5." Ichigo holds up a hand, all five fingers extended.

I nod vaguely. "Who...are you subbing for?"

Ichigo snorts. "A guy who isn't coming back."

"So, doesn't that make you soul reaper captain? Without the sub?" I sit on the windowsill.

"MAy I?" Ichigo indicates the windowsill.

"Sure." I tuck my feet in.

"Thanks. And technically, yes." He syas. "But the bosses in charge don't like too much change."

I snort. "Sucks."

"yeah." Ichigo nods. "But it's cool. I do my job, I have my squad's respect, and I don't mind being called a sub."

I shrug. I wouldn't know what else to say. My life was spent in a 10x10 concrete room with bars on the outside of the window, and padlocks on the outside of the door.

"Emma, can you-oh!" Mia stops at the top of the stairs. "Hello."

"Hi." Ichigo waves.

"Mia, hey. This is a friend of my dad's." I gesture to Ichigo. "He's a soul reaper."

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo says.

"Nice to meet you." Mia glances from Ichigo to me. "When you have a second, Emma, I could use your help downstairs. But," she glances at Ichigo again, with this 'sorry I interrupted' smile. "take your time."

"It's fine now, what's up?" I stand up.

"No, no, you chat." Mia winks as she turns.

I roll my eyes. "I'm good now, Mia. What's up?" I walk to the stairs.

"Oh, nothing; it's just silly chore." Mia waves a hand.

"Great. WE'll help." I walk down the stairs, past Mia.

Turns out, it's kind of really nothing; Mia is chopping vegetables for Sukiyaki, and doesn't wanna give Yuli a knife. Ichigo and I help. Ichigo's more of a chatterbox than I would peg a centuries-old soul reaper to be. Then again, my dad can really talk someone's ear off, too.

""You're a doctor?" I start. "Like, in this world?"

"Yeah." Ichigo smiles.

"Oh." I resist the urge to blush - I manage. "How do you work in this world when you're a soul reaper?"

"It's my father clinic." Ichigo explains. "I'm on-call if he needs me, so I'm not really here as much as you would think. Both my sisters are nurses at the clinic, and help out with every day outpatient stuff."

"A family medical clinic - that's interesting." Mia moves to the stove, giving me an intrigued look behind Ichigo's back.

I give her this wide-eyes stare, like, 'do NOT play matchmaker. I MEAN it.'

Ichigo sees my look, but I just grin and go back to cutting carrot slices into decorative flower shapes.

Mia nods, and points at Ichigo.

"Something wrong?" Ichigo asks me.

"Hmm?" I shake my head slowly. "Hmm-mm."

Mia pokes her head between us. "You like ginger, right Emma?" she grins.

I blush. "Mia!"

Mia holds up a little chunk of Ginger.

"Yeh-!" I look at the ginger in Mia's hand, frown, and let out a frustrated breath. "Yes."

"Ginger it is." Mia winks.

Ichigo looks at me out the corner of his eye, turning to watch Mia for a second, and then goes back to chopping mushrooms. "Did I miss something?"

"hmm?" I feel like the canary caught by the cat. "Um, no - you're - " I look at the vegetables Ichigo chopped, all moved aside neatly in their own little piles, and use it as a distraction. "No, you chopped everything; looks great. Thanks, Kurosakisan." I turn, and give Mia a look as I gather my decorative carrots, and drop them in the skillet with the ginger Mia's grating. I just stand and stare at her a second.

I swear, Mia would sprout a mischievous little halo if she could.

All through lunch, Yuli peppers Ichigo with questions, gushes about how cool the ronin warriors are, and how they could totally help soul reapers, and keeps the conversation from getting awkward or suggestive.

Cleaning up, I'm at the sink washing knives, Mia's clearing plates into the disposal, and yuli and Ichigo are putting leftovers in containers.

"I hopeKento gets back so he can eat all this food." Yuli says. "Then again, we never had leftovers before, 'cause Kento would eat it all, so having so much more food is kinda cool."

"It's nice, I guess." Mia says, but sadly.

"They'll be back soon - just a few days, I'm sure." I try to keep the discussion lighter. "I know I'll sure be glad when Cye comes back, so he can wash all the dirty dishes."

"Washing dishes builds character." Mia teases, having no idea what washing dishes means to me.

"AT least neither you or cye use bleach." I say to Mia.

Mia starts, giving me this startled, wide-eyed look.

"And you have gloves to protect my hands from the soap." I say, keeping eye contact with Mia.

Mia looks like she's gonna fall down and gravel.

"Only because cye likes to do it so much." I grin.

Mia lets out a startled, relieved Cye. "Right. Heh, he sure does."

"Yea, Cye's better at it, too!" Yuli pipes in.

I reach into the water to pull the drain plug, and knick my finger on something sharp. "oh. Did I miss one?" All I feel is the drain plug when I carefully move my hand around. "Odd." Pulling the plug, the water swirls around the drain as water does. I slip the gloves off, glancing down at the sink as I do so. The water forms a spinning funnel into the drain, and then splits into two funnels. I think of Naruto strait. One spinning whirlpool catches drips of blood from my finger, swirling it down to the drain. I get this awful, sinking feeling. Why is it the first thing I think of is something is wrong with Cye? We were just talking about Cye, so I guess it kinda makes sense that I would think of him. BUt how odd that the funnel split into two drain funnels, and it caught those drips of blood just because it was travelling with the water.

It's a coincidence, though...isn't it?