"I am sorry, but we do not accept loose change." said the woman. She was old and ancient looking and very ugly. She reminded me of a witch, with her wiry black and gray hair. "It is money, all the same! You are supposed to accept all forms of money." I answered smugly as Cye, once again, pushed the money across the counter. He was turning a light shade of red now and gave the woman a pleading look that said 'please don't get her mad!' "I am sorry, but I refuse to accept it." she shot back at me with an evil grin. There was something about her that just sent me off the edge. I concentrated extremely hard on keeping my temper at bay, but it was a fruitless attempt, for all of a sudden I felt it. My eyes flashed as electricity flooded through my body. My eyes turned yellow and the lights flickered. Cye and the woman looked up, startled by this. I quickly spun around to hide my eyes. I groped Cye's shirt for his sunglasses and quickly slipped them over my face to cover my glowing eyes. As I turned around, I noticed that the woman's smile had grown, but as she noticed me looking, she quickly transformed her face back to the pleasant old woman's face. "I am sorry. There is a store down the road there..." she pointed to an old dirt path to the side of the store.
Cye and I walked out the doors and glanced down the old dirt path. It didn't look very driveable. We looked at each other and an unspoken decision was made. We were going to have to go into town. I was hoping we wouldn't have to enter the bustling, traffic-ridden city of Tokyo, but of course I would have to deal now. I just hoped my eyes would quit glowing by then and there were not any perverts out. I was really not in the mood to try and control my powers while they whistled and catcalled. We started for the car, my feet dragging the ground and my hands buried in my pockets. Cye knew I was disgusted with the idea of going to town. "It won't be so bad. We can go to your favorite store, or, um, maybe a movie or something. Kento can find some food SOMEWHERE while we are gone. That or he can resort to 'eating the couch' as Yulie says sometimes!" he said, breaking into a light grin in an attempt to cheer me up. "Hey, and maybe your eyes will quit glowing by then!" he added, his smile widening. I giggled and began to calm down. Usually when I calm down, my eyes stop glowing, but for some reason, they didn't. Cye planted a soft kiss on my cheek as we continued to the car. I felt an uneasiness in my stomach and my throat closed up.
***something bad is fixing to happen I can feel it dreadful powers why do I feel this what is going to happen...***
My mind was flooded with these thoughts when I heard it. A high pitched whistling. "Duck" I yelled as I bent my body backwards, pulling him on top of me as I went down. It was a close one. When I hit the ground I looked up and watched as a single arrow passed overhead. I slowed time and watched as it changed shapes. Lightning bolt, arrow, lightning bolt, arrow. I marveled at this wit utmost curiosity. I sped up time again and looked back to see where the arrow had emitted from. I was extremely surprised at what I saw. There stood the old woman with an evil smile on her face. The same smile I saw earlier. She stood with her feet planted firmly and her arm straight out, hand outstretched, in the exact direction that the arrow had traveled. I watched as she morphed into a yellow creature that looked human. Her hair stood straight up in the shape of lightning bolts and her face was beautiful. She was slim and gorgeous with barely any coverings. Thoughts were racing through my mind. Creatures flashed through my mind. Creatures that I remembered from my over 500 years on this earth. Then a light went off in my head and I saw the creature with descriptions and playbacks. She was one of the 'children'. The electric one. "Oh no. This one is going to be a challenge" I muttered as I crawled out from under Cye. He groaned a "huh?" and got up as well. He looked confused, so I explained it to him. Although he was still a bit confused, he sort of halfway understood. We concentrated hard and a light encircled us. As it died down, we stood in our brilliantly colored sub-armors. We dodged a few more arrows and then made a dash to get near her. I distracted her as Cye leapt into the air and landed a kick to her right shoulder. She was not phased at all by this blow and with a swift motion she brushed him off like a rag doll straight into a tree. He looked like he was going to pass out, but fought it. While her attention was still on him, I made a pass at her and made contact with her left shoulder. Again it did not phase her and I also was thrown into a tree. I swiped at the blood running down from the fresh cut on my forehead. I glanced up and she was standing with her eyes closed in deep concentration. "Oh no" I said in a low voice. A ball of pure electricity formed above her, growing quickly. I made a helpless glance to Cye and he nodded. I could tell that I was not the only one that was scared. I made mental contact with him.
~*I think we had better call forth our armors, NOW!*~
I felt his mental agreement and we called out our transformation words. "Tao Shin / Ai!" we both shouted in unison. (His armor's soul is 'shin'/trust. Mine is 'Ai'/love.) Bright light and cherry blossoms filled the clearing surrounding us both. Our armor materialized around us. I stepped out of the cherry blossoms with my yellow armor lighting the entire clearing. I glanced over to Cye as he also stepped out. He stepped up beside me and we were about to attack when the lightning child released her concentration on the sphere and the entire clearing and then some filled with intense electric power. Cye and I held onto each other, but I am not known for my strength. I lost my grip and flew backwards. I felt a sharp stab of pain as my back made contact with a boulder. I tried to get up, but I could not move. I lay there, losing consciousness when I heard Cye use his special attack. "Sup-ah Wave Smash-ah!" he shouted and his power overwhelmed the electricity and injured the child. He rushed to me and inspected the damage. He helped me to my feet and put my arm around his shoulder. As he turned to head back, the child stood and prepared to fire another arrow. Cye laid me down and tried to protect me. I heard a yelp of pain and saw Cye hit the ground. I looked at him and saw the arrow imbedded in his shoulder. I concentrated hard and saw that it had barely missed his heart. I was outraged. I stood, ignoring the cries of agony from my aching back and joints. I glared heatedly at the child, who now had a wide, evil smile on her face again. Attempting to muster up every ounce of energy, I called for one of my most powerful attack, adding along with it a bit of magic to strengthen it a bit. "Lightning Elimination Attack" I hoarsely shouted. My armor began to glow and I stretched my arms to the sky. A cloud formed and a powerful bolt of lightning emitted from it, smashing into my armor and powering it up to an astronomical level. I pooled it all and formed a heart-shaped sphere of energy near the crystal heart on my breastplate. When I felt it reach it's full potential, I stretched my arms up once again and began to twirl. I felt it reach an even stronger power when I added the magic to it. I pulled my arms down to a forty-five degree angle from my body and began to move them around in a dancing motion. When I was able to concentrate on my target fully to be able to insure no miss, I pulled my arms around like I was pushing something to her (see Sailor Mercury's Shine Aqua Illusion and Sailor Moon's Moon Crystal Heart attack) and let the energy go. A dull thud sounded as I made contact and electricity poured through the child and overloaded her with more than she was meant to handle. Exhausted, I crawled to a cherry blossom tree that was charred from the earlier blast from the child and leaned against it. I looked back and saw the child morph back to a human form as a thin ray of yellow light was emitted from her and went skyward. I knew the children possessed people, but I still couldn't believe my eyes. The woman was not the ugly hag from earlier, but a young woman in her thirties. She didn't stir. I regained some energy and called for my armor to leave me. I stood shakily in my sub-armor and stumbled over to Cye. He lay very still with his eyes shut and a pained expression locked on his face. I clutched the arrow and swiftly pulled it out. Cye shuddered, whimpering a bit, and again lay still. I used the energy I had just regained to heal him and slipped into unconsciousness.
I awoke to a shudder. Earthquakes? No, there are no faults hear here. I opened one eye and studied the scene. I was in the car. I glanced up at Cye, who was concentrating on the road. I sat up and looked out the front window. My leg hit something and I looked down. Grocery bags. They were from that store we had been to where the woman… "No…It had to be a dream." I thought aloud, sleepily rubbing my eyes. Cye sensed my movements and pulled onto the shoulder. He turned around and stared me in the eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked worriedly. I could sense the tension and worry in his voice "Huh? Oh, yeah. I am ok. Why?" I asked. He touched my head where the cut…
~*No. Stop. It was only a dream!*~
had been. It now had a bandage on it. "You took it pretty hard back there. I can't believe you used the last of your energy to heal me. You need to rest. We are almost home, and you ARE going to rest if I have to lock you in your room." He said and grinned. We reached the house and e made me wait until he got around to my side so he could help me out. He escorted me to my room and made sure I lay down and began to go to sleep before he left. I woke up to a wonderful smelling scent wafting around the room. It invaded my senses and forced me awake. I looked over and there, by my bed, was Cye. He had prepared me his specialty and brought it to me in bed! He smiled and sat it down on a table. Still smiling, he walked over to the bed and helped me sit up. He planted another kiss on my cheek in the same place the one the day before had been. He brought the tray to my bed. The sweet smell of his homemade waffles invaded my senses. **I bet Kento will be in here soon** I thought and giggled out loud. He glanced at me, confused, and I told him what I had thought. He also laughed. "You better eat quickly then," he said with a grin.
Just then, a crashing sound startled us. We looked to the door where Kento had burst into the room. "WAFFLES!!!" he shouted, staring hungrily at the tray in my lap. He made a mad dash for my bed and Cye tackled him. He began tickling Kento, whose laughter shook the whole house. I scarfed down the delicious breakfast and signaled Cye that it was ok to let him up now. Kento sat up and immediately had a puppy-dog look on his face. "But….but…but….I WANTED SOME!!!" he said, tears welling up in his eyes. So Cye went downstairs and prepared another batch for the household. He came back up to my room with the rest of the guys following him. Mia walked up first and checked my injuries. She made them leave and helped me to the shower and left to do chores. I cleaned myself up, dressed, and helped myself downstairs. Ryo was in the hallway fixing his black hair. He was about to take Mia to town, but he didn't look too happy about it. He shot a surprised look up to me, which quickly turned to worry. He hurried up the stairs and met me half way. He helped me down to the living room, the whole time I was protesting, where the rest of the guys were. Kento was playing a video game with little Yulie, Rowen was watching them, Sage was reading a book, and Cye was staring at the painting above the television that had a beach scene in it. He quickly sensed my arrival and jumped up to steal me from Ryo. He half-carried me to the couch and sat me down. The rest of the guys muttered a hello and went back to what they were doing. Ryo cast a sideways glance towards me, a kind of wishing look in his eyes, and then left to join Mia in the suburban. In a roar of the engine, they were gone, and the house was quiet, save the beeps coming from the game. I settled in and stared at the video game. That didn't keep my interest for long so I grabbed a brush and ran it through my knee length, fiery red hair. I wished that Anubis, my twin brother, were still alive. I was not certain of what happened to him. My long red hair matched his, and they were almost the same lengths. My temper was the same as his…eyes…face…emotions…almost exactly matched. Oh how I wished to see his face…to confide in him. To___…
My thoughts were interrupted by a joyous shout of victory from Kento. He finally beat Yulie at the video game. Kento stood up and did a dance around the room similar to the dance a football player does after a touchdown. Rowen put his hand over his mouth to try and stifle his laughter. Sage glanced over the top of his book, rolled his eyes, and went back to reading, hiding his small grin with the book. Cye was rolling on the floor in a hysterical laughter, and even I laughed a bit until I saw Yulie. He was inching toward the door. I made contact with his mind for a second, but something pushed me out. I got one feeling from it: EVIL…
I stood, concentrating my whole being on Yulie. Everyone stopped laughing to stare at me in confusion. I followed Yulie to and out the door. He spun around and glared at me, eyes bright red. ~~FIRE~~FIRE~~FIRE~~FIRE~~ I got this from his mind before it pushed me out again. He morphed into the fire child. His hair was flames and he was red, yellow and orange all over. His only covering was a loin-cloth-type garment. I backed away as he sent a flame in my direction. The guys stepped forward to face it. In unison they were transformed into their sub-armors and then called for their armors.
Kento: "Armor of Hardrock…Tao Inochi!"
Sage: "Armor of Halo…Tao Gi!"
Cye: "Armor of Torrent…Tao Shin!"
Rowen: "Armor of Strata…Tao Chi!"
Cherry blossoms, bright light, then armor. Kento stepped forward with a mischievous grin. "It is about damn time I get to fight again! Yeeeee-ha!!!" he shouted as he ran into the flames and collided with the child. He used his strength to do damage to the child. He picked it up, twirled it over his head, and effortlessly chunked him into a pile of boulders. The child, visibly injured, tried to hide it by doing the same as the electric child. He formed a massive ball of fire above him and emitted it towards the four. Some of the flame blew towards me and I was burned. My arm stung from the burn and I instinctively ran to the water hose and ran cold water over the burn. It numbed but my rage did not. Even though I was still weak, I quietly uttered the words to call forth my armor, quiet enough for the guys to not be able to hear.
"Armor of Lightning…Tao Ai…"
I scampered into the forest and behind the child. "Well…here goes nothing…one…(sigh) two…THREE!" I shouted as I charged out towards the child. Startled, he turned around. I leapt up and used my attack, the normal one. "White lightning attack" I shouted and the clearing filled with lightning. My mind tells me that I should use a katana, so a single katana materializes in front of me and I slashed into the child. "You little pyromaniac! Take that!!!!" I screamed. It shuddered and passed out with a single strand of red flashing upward into the sky. It materialized back into a sleeping Yulie. After that, I remember very little. I do remember waking up in bed again. Cye was sitting beside me praying for something. Fuzzy glimpses of the other guys coming in and out of the room. I remember seeing Ryo a whole lot when I came to. Of course, they didn't know I came to because I was not able to move much. Everything was stuck in fast-forward. Then, all of a sudden, there was an abrupt halt.
I sat up, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. I surveyed the scene, cringing at the dizziness that hit. How long had I been out? It was dark, so I knew everyone was asleep. I stretched and yawned and stood up on wobbly legs. Slowly and quietly I padded across the floor and slipped on a robe and headed to the kitchen. "Wow…I am famished!" I thought to myself. I fumbled for the light switch and instead felt a sharp pain. A knife had been left out. As I searched again for the light switch, I made contact with a plant of some sort, or at least that was what I thought it was. I got frustrated and, muttering a "Humph!" I turned it on telekinetically and healed my cut and looked at the…plant? Then I screamed. A shrill, high-pitched scream that sent everyone scrambling and tumbling down the stairs. When they got to the door, they were surprised, although I don't know why. They should be used to this by now! I was being held by a vine and tied to a chair. Standing above me was a child. The forest child. Mia was no where to be found, so we assumed that it had invaded her body. We were all transported outside into the cold, misty night air. The guys quickly called upon their armors and me, not able to move, just stared helplessly at the scene. This one was to be easily defeated. One blast from Ryo and it had no chance.
"Flare up now!" Ryo shouted and the plant withered and morphed back into Mia. Again the colored line flew upward. This one was green. (that is a no brainer!) I looked back to the boys. "Ahem…A little help here please!" Sage was closest so he cut me free. I leaned on him for support to get up while Cye hurried over. In a bright flash of light, they were back in their nightclothes. I cringed at the sight of Kento in boxers. He flushed a dark red color and stormed into the house. I sent him a telepathic apology that said I was only joking, and his storming turned into a dragging of feet. I smiled to myself and turned to lean on Cye…but he was not there! I cocked my head to the side and wondered where he had gone. Oh well. I shrugged it off and padded toward the house, grasping at whoever's arm I could reach when I felt like I was going to fall.
When I got to the house, I called for Cye and got no response. I asked Kento and he said he didn't know where Cye was, but that he had better get in here and cook him a midnight snack! I rolled my eyes and continued my search for Cye. An hour went by and no sign of Cye. I concluded that he must be meditating and did not want to be disturbed or he would have answered and once again shrugged it off. I went upstairs and got in bed. For a while, my attempt at sleep was fruitless. All I could do was stare worriedly up at the ceiling until sheer exhaustion made me black out.
I awoke, coughing and sputtering, not able to breathe. I couldn't move my arms or legs and my mouth was covered. I opened my eyes and saw that I was gagged and bound, being dragged along the ground by a momentarily unseen person. I recognized the path we were traveling down. We were heading towards Lake Toyama. I kicked and made a few muffled screams to show the person I was awake so maybe I could see who it was. Success was mine. He dropped the rope and turned toward me, eyes glowing. He slapped me hard, and I caught a glimpse of blue. His hand is blue! **Oh no…** I thought. **The water child** Wait…Cye's armor is torrent…so that is where he went! I searched his mind for some hint that Cye was in there somewhere and found nothing. This creature must be smart, or I would be able to breach the mind barrier. We were no where near the house so it was pointless to scream. He smiled and I knew he could read my thoughts. He went back to the rope. It was not long before we reached one of the tall cliffs surrounding Lake Toyama. He turned back to me with an evil grin. ----You think you can swim, all tied up like that?---- he sent to me, using Cye's voice pattern. All I could do was turn my face away from him. He laughed and picked me up. To the edge he went, and on the way he took the bandana off of my mouth.
----Any last words, Ronin?---- "Yes," I said out loud. I peered up into the child's eyes, sighed, and said "Cye…If you can hear me, I love you." The thing screamed into my mind and threw me over. I tried to think positively about it, because I didn't want to die a madwoman. I thought of how good the air felt whooshing past, and how it was going to be, pretty much, a swift, painless death. Then I hit the water. It was freezing cold. I sank slowly, trying not to panic so I wouldn't loose air so quickly. I, for some reason, felt I was not going to die. I thought I heard a splash above, but it was probably a fish, or so I thought. Then I felt someone grab me and pull me up. It was the child. He pulled me to the shore. I stared in disbelief. Then a light went off inside him and his face transformed into the evil grin again. He couldn't move though. I tried again to enter its mind. Success! He had let his guard down. Cye and the child were having a psychological war. I retreated quickly. Working my wrists and feet up and down to try and free myself, I watched the creature cringe and smile and I hoped Cye would be all right. All of a sudden he lifted his face to the sky and screamed a god-awful banshee scream. A thin blue light came up and flew to the sky.
I sighed with relief and looked at Cye. He stood there, looking into my eyes and smiling. He walked over and untied me and helped me up. When I was standing, I put my arms around him, concentrated, and muttered a magic word (Jin) and we were back up on top of the cliff. We stood there for a while, and then we made our way, in the dark, back to the house. He stayed in my room that night, sleeping on the loveseat near my bed. I watched him drift to sleep and then I tried to sleep again. I finally began to drift off, but Cye's movements snapped me out of it. I groggily glanced at the window. Bright sunlight was pouring through. I groaned and sat up, waiting to stand until the dizziness passed. I strolled over and planted a kiss on Cye's forehead and continued to the bathroom where I showered, groomed and dressed. After all that wonderful stuff, I was wide-awake and in a wonderful mood. I silently hurried down the stairs and startled everyone in the living room. I giggled and crept into the kitchen where Cye was cooking with Kento watching over his shoulder, drooling. Stepping around Kento, I planted another kiss on Cye's cheek and made my way to the cupboard for a glass. Glancing back, I noticed Kento making a horrid face and sticking out his tongue in disgust. I grinned, filling the glass with water and went back to Cye. "Feeling better?" he asked, not looking up from the food. "I should be the one asking you that, eh?" I answered. He frowned, thought it over for a minute, and mumbled that he was feeling perfect. Kento looked us over, and having no idea what we were talking about, wore a confused expression that didn't differ much from his normal blank expression. I pried him off of Cye's shoulder and dragged him into the living room and explained what I was talking about. I sat him down and hurried back to the kitchen. Cye was not there.
I went back to the dining room and the food was there, but Cye was not. I heard the front door shut and hurried outside. He was walking down a forest path, so I followed, keeping my hand around my pendant, which held my power crystal. I caught up to him and stared into his face, which was staring down to the ground in sorrow. I asked him what was wrong and he didn't answer, so I fell behind and stopped. I gracefully leapt into a tree and climbed to the highest limb that I knew would hold my weight. Down the path I saw a clearing with a waterfall and a small body of water. There were flowers dotting the deep green grass. I hurried down the tree and using my speed and invisibility, beat him there. He walked into the clearing and toward the waterfall. Still invisible, I followed him to a cave beneath the waterfall. Deeper into the cave he went until it dead-ended. There he walked to the left and produced a key out of his pocket. He unlocked a small box and brought out an even smaller box and put it in his pocket. It was a ring...sized...box...
I materialized behind him and when he turned he was startled to see me. He stared at the ground with his hands buried deep in his pockets. I crept up to him and put my hand on his face. One of his hands shot out of his pocket and covered my hand. I smiled and took his hand and lead him out of the cave. In the clearing he stopped me and brought out the box. My breath caught in my throat and I felt lightheaded like this morning when I sat up in bed. He started to say something when something happened with the land surrounding the waterfall. It broke open and rocks fell around us. Water poured through the new cracks, forming smaller waterfalls. Cye put the box into his pocket and we called forth our sub-armors. Cye threw me down and covered me with his body. I could feel every boulder that hit him and heard his breath quicken as he strained to keep from crushing me. I flipped over and looked around him. There were no cracks in the pile covering us. I glanced into his eyes and could see his tremendous pain. I concentrated and the rocks dissolved above us. Cye fell onto me, breathing hard. I lay my hand on him and relieved him of his pain. Instead of taking the pain in, I formed a ball of energy and locked it away in my mind. I helped him up and we looked over to where the disturbance had been. We saw nothing. I looked closer and, blended in with the rock like a chameleon, I saw a form. Another child. The child of brute rock strength. I could tell it was Kento bye size and shape. If my memory served me correctly, he was the last.
He flew into the air and landed, kneeling, driving his fist into the ground and creating an earthquake. The earth split and we fell into the hole. We grasped the ledge and held on, staring at the raging inferno beneath us. We laboriously climbed out on separate sides of the huge split. It was too wide to jump across, and every time Cye tried the fire would leap up and prevent him from it. I glanced around on his side and did not see the child, so that meant… I slowly turned around, really scared and nervous now, and glanced toward the child. He had a huge perverted smile on his face. He leapt at me and tackled me. "Where to start…God, I hate decisions…Hmmm…" he stroked my hair and face, staring at me with his evil eyes and that perverted smile. "Get…Off…Of…ME!!!" I shouted as my sub-armor began to glow. Some force within me threw him off and my armor appeared around me without my calling it. I called for the ball that I had locked away and threw it at him and then struck at him, and he fell back. I used my attack and the battle was over. A thin strip of orange flew to the sky and then all the colors appeared in front of us. They crystallized in front of me and formed a multicolored crystal. I concentrated on it and made it into a pendant. I reached for it and fastened it around my neck. The glowing stopped and it was just a beautiful crystal. I felt the energy of all five of the creatures flowing through me.
I looked over at Kento, trying to figure out what happened. He headed back to the house and I leapt across the gap over to Cye. We both banished our sub-armors and his hand went to the pocket. He sat down and took his hands out and lay his head in them, deep in concentration. I sat down beside him, planted another kiss on his cheek, and lay my head on his shoulder. I know that guys like to feel appreciated and I really appreciated him too! He busted his butt trying to make me feel like a princess after all of that bad stuff happened. I wrapped my arm around him and I felt him relax. He looked at me for the first time all day. I saw a pained expression on his face. I could not read that reason. He took out the box and drew a bracelet from it. He slipped it around my wrist and said "Happy Birthday." Shocked, I stared at him. "How…" He smiled and said that Anubis told him in a dream. Then he told me that he would not be able to further our relationship because he found out that I was immortal and it would not work out well in the end. He stood and left, leaving me in tears. Alone again, and resenting ever becoming immortal, I walked home alone that day dragging my feet and leaving a trail from my lonely tears.