Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronins. Everyone else I do. The usual drill.
The bell rung for homeroom. Opal was late, yet again, spending too much time talking to Jett. She slid into her sit and pretended she was there the whole time. As usual, she stared at her bag, not really wanting to talk to any one. Then some new kid walked in. He had black hair to the shoulders, blue eyes, and walked with a grace Opal rarely saw. Is this one of the exchange students Jett was talking about? she wondered.
Her homeroom teacher looked at his schedule for the homeroom number then nodded, having him sit next to her. Oh dude! This rocks! She watched as he sat next to her. He sure wasn't bad looking, well, in her opinion. She wondered if she should brave the task of talking to him.
Turns out she didn't have to. He did. "Excuse me," he asked, he accent making it sound funny. "Could you tell me where the 100 hall is?"
Opal nodded. "Take a right out of here, walk down the stairs, and there you are."
"Thanks."
She nodded. Before she could ask his name, she started to get a weird vibe off him. This alarmed her. Dammit, he better not be a freakin' demon! Then she started to get another one. Out the window, she saw a shadow. She squinted. Aw shit, is that…? Yes. Why the hell can't he leave me alone? I'm not going to help him!
At the same moment, Ryo was getting something strange off this girl. It wasn't the normal sense he got off of people when he first met them. Is she one of the Dynasty soldiers? Hmmm… He was going to have to check out if there were any other people with the same vibes.
Then the bell rung. Ryu and Opal went their own ways.
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Jett wasn't as lucky as Opal to get someone she didn't know in her homeroom. The auditorium served as the band homeroom, and that's where she was when she spotted Shuu. She swore under her breath: he wasn't just a tourist as she hoped. He spotted her and walked over to talk to her.
"Hey, you never did answer me." He said.
Jett bit her tongue. "Go away. I've got enough obnoxious creeps bothering me at the moment."
"So what's one more?"
She glared at him in response. Then she got her bag and fished out her math book to do some homework and forget about this annoying person. She hoped his friends weren't as obnoxious.
But Shuu was really having fun bothering her. "My name's Shuu Rei. What's yours?"
"None of your business."
"Ok, None of Your Business." Laughing, he went to talk to someone else.
"Jerk." She said as he left.
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"Jeez, I didn't think they were already going to give us homework!" complained Shuu as he ate his sandwich.
Touma shrugged. "Oh well. It will give us something to do. It looks easy."
The five of them were sitting in the lunchroom 5th period. The counselors were nice enough to give them this period together. Shuu suddenly broke into a grin.
"What are you plotting?" asked Shin, suddenly worried for his lunch.
"There's that girl again. And look, there are two others!" He stood up. "Hey! None of Your Business! Hi!" he waved.
Jett looked over at him and glared then stalked off to a round table in the back in the room.
"That's the girl I was talking about," said Ryu, pointing out Opal.
"She has the weird sense?" asked Touma. "I had her in math class. She was just quiet."
"Let's go bother them." Said Shuu.
Seiji shook his head. "Not a good idea. If they are Dynasty scum, then we need to watch our backs. Shuu, you're drawing too much attention. Sit down."
Meanwhile, at Opal's table, Opal was giving Shuu a dirty look. "What was that all about?"
Jett gave a recon of what happened that morning. "And today, in gym, that blonde guy bumped into me and told me to watch it. We started an argument right there. Man, this bites! I was hoping that we'd get nice guys to our school for once!"
"I'm a nice guy," said Jay. He was laughing.
"Jay, you don't count," said Opal. "You're a teddy bear. Anyway, that kid in red over there? He's in my homeroom. Got a weird sense off of him too." The only one she didn't have in any of her classes so far was Shuu. She prayed she didn't have to put up with him either. She sighed. "It's a pity they're jerks. They're kinda hot."
Jett agreed sadly. Jay made a comment on how he thought Touma was hot. The girls laughed.
***********************
Gym class. Opal hated it. Even more so now that she discovered Shuu was in it as well. Right now they were in the weight room. He had bothered her twice about the "proper way" to lift dumb bells. Opal had commented how it doesn't take a "dumb bell" to figure out how it works. The teacher had to separate them, or there would have been a fight.
Now she was punching a bag furiously, using the martial arts she learned on it to vent anger. Not only did the cutest guys in school had to turn out to be jerks, her boyfriend dumped her. It really wasn't a good day for her. The next kick later, the bag was on the ground and bleeding water. The teacher sent her to ISP.
Perfect way to end a day! She thought, almost near tears from frustration and anger. I need a few demon huntings and some chocolate.
And the worst was yet to come.
When she arrived home that day, she found her parents already home. This was odd. For a moment she thought that someone had died. But she found it much worse. When she arrived inside, she found Shin and Touma sitting on her couch, her parents talking lively to them. She immediately walked down the stairs to her room. I'm going to KILL whoever is against me today! Great, how the f^ck am I supposed to sneak out at night now???
Her father calling her upstairs interrupted her thoughts. Placing a strained smile on her face, she walked up the stairs. "Yes, dad?"
He introduced her to Shin and Touma, both faces also strained. They weren't too pleased either, but they showed absolute politness to her parents and sister.
"They are going to sleep in your other room."
"Dad! That's my ritual room! I need it for my—"
Her mother gave her a look. "Opal," she warned.
Opal sighed, defeated. Her parents didn't approve that she was a witch. Her parents didn't also know she used that room to sneak out at night. It was the only way. Her parents left to attend to other matters of the house; her sister went to use the phone.
"Looks like we'll be seeing more of each other then we'd like," said Touma bitterly.
"Keep out of my designated room, and don't go through my stuff in the other one," was all she said before picking up her cat from the couch and stalking down to her room and slamming the door shut.
"She's pleasant company, isn't she?" asked Shin.
"Quite frankly, I think I find that Shuu complaining about his hunger is more welcoming than having to be here with her all the time."
In her room, Opal dialed Jett's number on her phone. When she answered, Opal let out all the steam her engine was holding. "I'm going to kill my parents! I might not be able to get out and go hunting anymore! You know those guys? Well mom and dad are letting two of them stay- in MY ritual room!"
"Shit!" was all she said. Then Opal heard her yelling about something; the mouthpiece on Jett's end was covered. "Yeah," she said when she got back. "I might have the same problem. I got Blondie and Pig over here."
Opal heard more yelling. Then Jett: "I'm sorry Opal, I gotta go. Shuu is going through my room." There was a click. Opal promptly punched her wall. She needed to meditate. But her other room was taken! Lilith purred, jumping on Opal's shoulders and rubbing her softhead against Opal's. Opal calmed down and pet the cat. "You know Lilith? Life sucks." Lilith mewed in response. Then she jumped onto Opal's school bag. "Alright, I'm getting to it," she sighed.
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Dinner at Opal's house was tense. Drew was talking to Shin and trying to get him hooked up with Opal. Finally Opal snapped at her younger sibling to shut up. Her parents, of course, scolded her. Touma offered to help Drew with her homework. When her parents left, Lilith jumped onto Opal's lap for scraps. Opal gave them to her.
"You shouldn't give her that stuff," said Shin, reaching over to pet Lilith. Lilith hissed at him.
"My cat all over, aren'tcha pretty kitty?" cooed Opal. Lilith was the only thing that was keeping Opal sane when she was home. Lilith ate off of Opal's plate.
"I'd keep away from that cat," spoke up Drew. "She's evil."
"You're evil," muttered Opal. "I'm surprised she hasn't clawed you to death yet for it." Drew just stuck out her tongue. Opal picked up her cat and some meat and went downstairs to her room to work on the Internet and vent some frustrations on some RPG's.
*********************
"You think she could be one of them?" asked Shin once he and Touma were alone. "She has the temperament of a Warlord."
"She may as well as be one," said Touma. "It's either her or the cat. We've been getting strange vibes of them all day, as well as that Jett girl."
Shin frowned. He found Jett pretty, and it would suck if she were a bad guy. "It's a shame Seiji got stuck with her. They don't like each other at all."
Mistaking Shin's meaning, Touma nodded. "Yeah, in some ways, Jett is worse then Opal. But Seiji can handle himself. Hey, what's this?"
He found part of the carpet up and cut in a circle. Curious, he lifted it. He jumped back at the sight. Underneath was a black pentacle, runes going around it. "I guess Blake wasn't kidding when he said that they were witches." Blake was whom Ryu was staying with.
"No, he wasn't." said a cold voice.
Touma turned. Opal was standing in the doorway; eyes looking a lot like daggers, arms crossed, and a scowl on her face. She looked plain deadly. Lilith padded up to her side and hissed at them as she entered.
"Put that back," Opal ordered.
Touma did, keeping an eye on the cat. She seemed to be watching him carefully too. It was making him nervous. Then Opal walked straight into the room, causing him to jump back. She went to the corner of the room and picked up her athame from an altar. Now Shin was getting nervous now too.
"W-what's that for?" He asked.
Opal gave both of them deadly looks. "For my two sacrifices tonight. My gods demand blood for having their sacred space violated by such unworthy people." She said this with a straight face and a lot of conviction. As she left, the cat followed, and both boys were left shaking slightly.
"Give me ten Talpas any day," muttered Touma. "That was the scariest thing I've ever experienced."
"Yeah, now we're going to be shish-kabobs," said Shin as he laid out his bed for the night. He was miserable: he never really wanted to start anything with Opal in the first place.
*******************
Opal in reality never intended to actually sacrifice them. That was just for scare. She just needed the athame for hunting that night, if she could get out of the house unnoticed. And that wasn't the only reason she went in there.
"See?" asked Dais, appearing out of the wall and leaning against it. He wasn't wearing his armor's helmet and his face was in a nasty grin. "They're just here to stop you from protecting your world."
"Get out of here," she muttered, fingering her athame. Lilith growled at him.
"If you join us, you can get back at everybody who has ever betrayed you. Master Talpa can give you the power."
"I said get out!" Opal chucked her athame directly at his chest. He vanished, leaving the athame stuck in the wall up to the hilt.