"Boys and girls, I have four new students to introduce to you all," Principal Ho announced, addressing the mass of extremely bored students sitting in the assembly hall. "Nahala Fraser," he said, indicating a short girl with long, blue-black hair and cat-like eyes the color of the sea. "Calypso Ravana," he gestured to another short girl with long, silver streaked red hair and bright green eyes. "Téa Jackson," he nodded toward a bored looking, taller girl with shorter honey brown hair and amber colored eyes, "and Elisa Dupree," he gestured to an excited looking girl with short, pink-streaked white hair and innocent looking brown eyes, "are joining us from the United States. Please do your best to make them feel welcome here at Han a' High. You are dismissed to go to your first period classes."

His words were followed by a typical high school student stampede as the crowd of teenagers hurried out the door to their first period classes. Principal Ho turned to the girls, "Good morning ladies. I hope you enjoy attending Han a' High." With that, he turned and left the room.

"I hope you enjoy attending Han a' High," Calypso mimicked Principal Ho's dull, lifeless voice.

Téa snickered, "I thought I was gonna fall asleep! I hereby swear that I will not get into a single fight here for fear of being literally bored to death by Mr. Ho's voice." Both girls giggled.

"Quiet you two," Nahla commanded, tossing her hair, "Principal Ho is an authority figure and he deserves your respect whether you like it or not."

"Whatever Nahla," Calypso replied tossing her hair mockingly, "I'll say what I like."

"Don't start y'all," Elisa warned, her usually soft Southern accent getting stronger with annoyance, "Let's get to class."

"Elisa's right. Besides, we don't wanna miss our first day of Chemistry do we Calypso?" Téa added with sarcasm.

"No, never!" Calypso replied in mock horror. "See you later Nahla," she added with sarcastic sweetness. The girls walked out of the room heading for their respective classes.

~ [ ~

"Hey Rowen, glad you could make it to school," Sage said with a smile, "You missed the excitement. We have four gorgeous new girls starting today from the United States."

"Really?" Rowen replied not looking up from his Chemistry book, "Oh well, it gave me extra time to get to school. Are you ready to start the assignment?"

"Yeah okay. Anyways, you should see them, they are absolutely beautiful!" Sage continued, "I wonder if I have classes with any of them." His thought was answered a few seconds later as the door opened, admitting the red head and the one with the gold eyes.

"Class I would like to introduce two of our new students, Calypso Ravana and Téa Jackson. Do I have any volunteers to help them get into the routine?" the teacher asked. Several hands shot up, all of them male. The teacher sighed and turned to the girls, "I'm Ms. Jo. Why don't you join Rowen and Sage since they are the top students in the class."

The girls looked towards the table Ms. Jo had pointed to. The one with the blue hair, was reading through the Chemistry book, while the blond smiled flirtatiously. Téa looked at Calypso who was rolling her eyes and laughed slightly, "Okay Ms. Jo. Thank you." She and Calypso walked to the table and sat down.

"Hello ladies. I am Sage and this is Rowen," the blond said, kissing Téa's hand, "I am very pleased to meet you."

Téa pulled her hand away with some difficulty and replied sweetly, "Nice to meet you, I'm Téa. Don't play Romeo with me hon' I don't buy it. I don't suggest trying with Calypso, she gets a little touchy about things like that, okay?"

Sage's eyes widened, "Uh, okay, sure."

The other boy, Rowen, laughed, "Congratulations. I don't think any girl has ever made him speechless before. You, Calypso, and your other two friends have to join us for lunch, I'd like to see you shock Sage some more."

"Coo'. Okay, we'll join you," Téa looked toward the front of the class, "I think it's time to start class."

~ [ ~

"Welcome to class Elisa, please go to the back of the room and obtain a Literature book. You may also take the seat next to Sai in the back there," the teacher said.

"Yes sir, Mr. Jackson," Elisa replied, heading to the back of the room. She grabbed a book and sat down next to the boy Mr. Jackson had pointed out as Sai. "Hi," she whispered softly, "I'm Elisa. What're we studying right now?"

Sai wouldn't meet her eyes, but he replied softly, "Greek mythology."

:Hmmm. He's shy. This oughta be fun,: she thought to herself. "Great!" she whispered enthusiastically, "That's my favorite subject."

"I hope so," he replied, "because Mr. Jackson assigned a huge project on this section. In fact, I think we're choosing partners for it today."

"It's all good, it oughta be fun," Elisa replied.

"Okay class, today we're choosing partners and beginning work on the Greek mythology project. Elisa, would you like a few days to get into the feel of things?" Mr. Jackson asked, interrupting Elisa and Sai's quiet conversation.

"No thank you, sir. I think I'll be fine," she replied, then to Sai, "Would you like to be my partner?" Sai hesitated. "I know lots about Greek mythology," she added enticingly, "and we can work on it at lunch."

"Okay," Sai agreed, "What have I got to lose?"

Elisa grinned wickedly, "Your sanity."

~ [ ~

"Tomorrow we will be having an art test based on simple drawing techniques. Ms. Fraser, you will be expected to take this test as well," Mr. Thompson announced to the class.

Nahla groaned, :I can't draw! I'm going to fail art here too. I absolutely cannot have an 'F' on my transcripts!: she thought to herself. She played absently with the blood star hanging around her neck. A teardrop-shaped ruby with a star-shaped onyx set inside, it was extremely rare. As far as Nahla knew only she, Téa, Calypso, and Elisa had one. Each of the girls had their stones set into a different piece of jewelry. Calypso wore hers on a leather choker, while Téa's was hung on a leather thong. Nahla wore hers on a silver chain, and Elisa velvet choker. :It's hard to believe we're all together because of these little stones,: she mused, :These four stones are the reason we're fighting the Dynasty together.: As an afterthought, she added, :Not to mention each other.: She sighed, :Now if only we could find the other five Ronin Warriors. It's getting harder and harder to fight the dynasty by ourselves.:

"Hi, I'm Ryo," a soft voice interrupted her thoughts, "You don't look too enthusiastic about the art test tomorrow."

Nahla turned, "Oh hi," she replied in her soft Scottish accent, "I'm Nahala Fraser, call me Nahla. Nice to meet you. And to answer your comment, yes, I'm very worried about the test. I have to take some kind of art class in order to graduate from high school, and I can barely draw a straight line with a ruler! If I fail art, then I'm going to have an 'F' on my transcripts. I cannot afford that! Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump my problems on you like that."

Ryo chuckled, "That's okay. I'll tell you what, if you would like to join myself and my friends at lunch, we can discuss ways to keep you from failing this class, how does that sound?"

"Really?" Nahla asked, "Oh I'd love to! But wait, I'm going to be sitting with the other three girls. We always sit together."

"Well, they're invited as well," he replied, "We have the rest of the period free, so how about we just talk?"

"Sounds good," she answered.

"So, what brings you to Japan?" he asked her.

"Calypso and Téa," Nahla replied quickly, "that is, the red-head and the brunette. They got into fights constantly at our last school and, well, Téa managed to get herself expelled. We had to move somewhere else so that she could graduate at the right time."

"What do you mean 'we'?" he asked, "Couldn't she have moved and the rest of you stay at your old school?"

"Well, yes, but it would have made things really difficult. We don't like to be separated from each other, it's proven to be dangerous. Besides, it's easier for us to all move than get separated," she explained.

"So why did you choose Japan?"

"Téa's father is extremely wealthy, and he has guardianship of our group except for Calypso since she's eighteen. Elisa and I were both orphaned after we had known Téa for awhile, and since neither of us have any other family, Téa's father took us in. Daddy told her that we could move wherever we wanted, and we all agreed that we wanted to go to Japan. He even paid for the houses we're living in."

Ryo's eyes widened, "You mean you have more than one house?"

"Well, yeah," Nahla replied, "Our main house is out by Jewel Lake, which is too far to be driving back and forth during school days, so Daddy got us a smaller one here in the city. Like I said, Daddy is extremely wealthy. Each of us have our own car, including Calypso. All four of us are practically sisters."

"Wow! You guys are rich. It must be nice. You know, I can relate to both you and Elisa, even though I haven't met her. I was orphaned a long time ago, except I still have my grandmother to care for me," Ryo said. Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Well, time to go to our next period classes, I'll see you at lunch. My friends and I always eat out under the cherry trees in back of the school."

"Okay, and thanks for the invitation. We'll be there," Nahla replied.

~ [ ~

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be following the same routine that we followed yesterday, the girls will be playing tennis and the boys will be playing football, you may go to your respective areas," the PE instructor called out in a loud voice.

Téa and Calypso waited after the rest of the girls had headed to the tennis courts. "Mr. Lee," Téa asked softly, "we wanted to ask you something."

"What do you want ladies?" he asked, allowing only a little annoyance to show.

"Do the girls get to play football?" she replied.

Mr. Lee looked scandalized, "No, they do not get to play football. It is thought by both myself and Mr. Ho that football is too dangerous for girls to play. During the football program, the girls are sent to play tennis. Why do you ask?"

"Why you little-" Calypso muttered, but was quickly silenced by an elbow in the ribs from Téa.

"Are the girls allowed to play football?" Téa asked.

"I suppose they are," Mr. Lee replied haltingly, "No girl has ever asked to play football before. Why, do you two ladies want to play?"

"Well, yes! We two ladies would like to play," Téa replied, letting her annoyance show through, "Is there a problem with that?"

"No," the coach replied, "It just means that I'll have to tell the boys to lay off a little, that's all."

"You better not," Calypso said, "We're tougher than you think. We can take whatever the boys have to give us and dish it out right back."

"Okay, if you ladies are sure. Get down to the football field and get ready to play."

"Yessir," the girls replied in unison, running down to the football field.

The guys eyed Téa and Calypso suspiciously. "Coach," one of them called, "you're letting girls play with us?!?"

"Yes Kento," Mr. Lee replied, "Men, this is Téa and Calypso, they will be joining us to play football." He turned to the girls, "You two do understand that this is full-contact, tackle football."

The girls shrugged in reply. "The rougher the better," Téa replied.

"Okay, you two are on Kento's team since he's short four players today."

"What?!?" Kento exclaimed, "I don't want any girls on my team!"

Calypso smiled maliciously at him, "Don't judge us until you've seen us play. We might surprise you."

"Yeah right, and I won't eat lunch today," Kento grumbled. Before he could complain anymore, Mr. Lee called for the game to start. The two teams got into a huddle.

"Ryo," Mr. Lee called out, "Your team will be receiving today."

Calypso looked up from the huddle in time to see a good-looking guy with black hair nod his head and get back down into the huddle. "All right," Kento called, "ready, BREAK!" The two teams got ready to play. Kento kicked the ball and it was caught by Ryo who was hidden by five of his team mates. Ryo's "group" ran towards their goal, keeping Ryo hidden and keeping Kento's team from seeing who had the ball. One by one, members of Kento's team tackled members of Ryo's group. Finally Ryo was running on his own with no one left to stop him, or so he thought.

Téa guessed that the black-haired boy had the ball when she realized that the others were keeping him in the middle of the pack. Instead of following the rest of her team, she moved off to the side and out of their line of sight. After the rest of Kento's team had been temporarily taken out of play, Téa saw that she had made the right guess. The black-haired boy, Ryo, was running to make a touch-down and no one was near enough to tackle him. Téa took her chance. She used a quick burst of speed and managed to get almost along side Ryo. Moving toward him, yet staying out of his line of sight, she snuck up behind him and leaped as he passed the twenty-five yard line. Her aim was good, she tackled him seconds later and they both went crashing to the ground. She laughed breathlessly, trying to get some air into her lungs at the same time. Rolling off of Ryo, she sat up and smiled down into his extremely surprised eyes. "Tackle," she said simply.

Ryo laughed as several of the guys on Téa's team ran up and tackled her. Shouts of "Whoa! No one's ever caught up with Ryo!" and "Great tackle!" rang through the air.

Téa shrieked as her other team members tackled her. "Get off me you lousy peoples!" she shouted happily at the guys. One by one they moved away so that she could breathe again. A shadow crossed her line of vision and she looked up to see Kento standing in front of her. They eyed each other warily for a moment before Kento broke out into a grin.

"Great tackle," he said as he offered her a hand.

Téa took it, "Thanks," she replied, "I try." The game continued in a similar manner for the rest of the period. Téa and Calypso brought about Kento's team's first win of the "season" and everyone was in high spirits…especially the members on Ryo's team whom either Calypso or Téa tackled.

"So, would you ladies like to join us for lunch?" Ryo asked the girls as they walked towards the gym and thankfully, the locker rooms.

"We'd love to, but we already promised to join a couple of other guys," Calypso replied apprehensively, she was beginning to develop a crush on Ryo.

"Really?" Kento asked, "Who?"

"Sage and Rowen," Téa replied with a sweet smile.

"Well in that case, you will be joining us for lunch. We always sit together at lunch, along with one other person, Sai," Ryo grinned, "By the way, your other friend, Nahala is going to be joining us as well."

"In that case, we'll see you at lunch," Calypso accepted.

"Great!" Kento exclaimed, "We'll be sitting out under the cherry trees in case you miss us. Well, we better get going."

"Bye!" the girls called, running for the locker rooms.

~ [ ~

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully for Nahala. She ended up skipping lunch so that she could go to the library to do a little research on basic art. After school, she had gone to the public library to get even more. Now she was on her way home to study some more. She was truly worried, tomorrow's art test was getting closer and closer and she still couldn't draw. She had studied the books she had found on art styles for nearly four hours but still had not managed to learn the 'miracle cure' for those lacking in artistic talent. She brushed a strand of jet black hair out of her eyes as she looked at the fading sky and new evening stars. Even studying every classic artist she could think of hadn't helped.

With her eyes towards the sky, she completely missed the street curb. "Oof!" she cried as she fell. She lay face down in the street, the books she had just checked out from the library scattered all the way into the middle.

Rowen had been walking home from a study session and he saw the entire incident. He ran out into the street and retrieved the girl's books and scattered papers. He walked up to the girl and helped her up. "Are you okay! That's a tricky step there," he said.

"Fine, fine thank you. Hey, aren't you in my AP Calculus class?" the girl replied.

Under the light of the street lamp Rowen got a better look at her. "Yeah. You're Nahala Fraser, one of the new girls from the United States, right?"

"Uh huh. We just moved here from Hawaii," she replied, "I don't recall your name though."

"Oh, I'm Rowen Hashiba. By the way, you have an odd accent, even for an American," he answered.

"That's because I'm from Scotland, not the US," Nahla replied with a genuine smile. She liked Rowen, he wasn't acting like most of the other guys at school. He was mature, not as flirtatious as a rabbit.

"Really? Wow! What's it like? Is it like all the pictures show it, all green and beautiful?" Rowen asked with enthusiasm. They had begun to walk again.

"Oh yeah! It's better than in pictures. Pictures can't capture the true beauty of Scotland " Nahala replied. The conversation continued along the same lines until they arrived in front of a somewhat large house.

Rowen looked up to see a traditional Japanese style house. From inside, he could hear the American group 'Death of the Future' singing their most popular song, Amnesiac Baby.

"God damn it!" Nahla muttered, opening the gate and running into the house. Rowen followed slowly behind, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, a loud roar was heard over the music, followed shortly by a loud scream. Nahala ran back out of the house, followed closely by a huge red cat. Running behind the cat came four other girls. Nahala ran past Rowen and out across the street. Fearing for the small, dark-haired girl he had begun to take an interest in, Rowen jumped in front of the cat, taking her attention away from Nahla. The cat didn't slow down, instead, she attacked Rowen.

"Chaos, get off of Rowen now!" Nahala shrieked, coming closer. The cat looked up and left off her attack on Rowen, pouncing on Nahla. "Ow!" Nahla yelled.

"Hey, get off of her!" Rowen yelled, grabbing the cat's golden collar and pulling her off of Nahla as the girl hit the cat continuously.

"No! Stop it! Don't hit her!" cried a red-headed girl as she pushed Rowen away and throwing her arms protectively around the cat's neck. "She was only protecting me. She didn't expect Nahla to come screaming into the house, and it's instinct to chase something that's running away."

"Whatever!" Nahla growled, sitting up, "That panther has been nothing but trouble since you found her.

"Oh yeah? And what about Angel?" the red-head, who Rowen vaguely recognized as Calypso, "If I remember correctly, Angel's the reason we had to move from Washington." She stood up, "From what I recall, Chaos doesn't have a habit of chasing defenseless kids walking down the street carrying their school pets!"

"That's it!" Nahla cried, jumping at Calypso. The two began to fight. The other three girls watched for a second before Téa and a strawberry blonde that Rowen didn't recognize moved in and dragged the two girls apart. "

"Hey sis, stop! You're disturbing the neighbors," Téa said softly to Nahla. The strawberry blond said nothing, just stood there and kept Calypso from attacking Nahla again.

"Yeah, well Calypso started it by insulting my baby. Angel didn't do anything to her," Nahla argued. Her nose was bleeding, which always ended up happening when she and Calypso fought.

"I don't care who started it, you two are acting like a couple of kids. Even I don't get into fights over a few angry words," Téa replied with annoyance, "And Calypso, you know how sensitive Nahla is about insults towards Angel. Both of you should apologize to each other."

Both girls turned angry glances at Téa. "Shut up Téa," they said in unison. Calypso got out of the blonde's grasp and stalked up to the house, slamming the door behind her.

Nahla stayed put, so Téa let her go. "Why the hell do you two hate each other so much?" Elisa asked softly.

"Because she's a bitch," Nahla replied without looking up.

Rowen cleared his throat, "I don't mean to interrupt but I'm completely lost here."

Téa turned and smiled at Rowen. She had forgotten him during the fight. "I'm sorry Rowen," she said sweetly, "How about I walk you home and I'll see if I can straighten things out for you."

"Okay, let's go. Besides, I have to get back to the house before the guys come looking for me," he replied. They began walking towards the house where Rowen lived with Ryo, Sage, Kento, and Sai. "So what's up with Calypso and Nahala?" he asked after they were out of earshot.

"I don't really know," Téa replied absently, "They've always fought, they just don't seem to get along." She shrugged, she was beginning to get a strange feeling as if she recognized Rowen from somewhere. :Now that I think about it,: she thought to herself, :I got the same feeling around the other guys as well. It's almost as if I should know them from somewhere.:

Meanwhile, Rowen was beginning to get the same feeling. :Why do I feel as if I know her? It's strange. I'm wonder if we can trust her and her friends, I sense a lot of power around them. I'll have to ask the other guys about it, I wonder if they got the same feelings.: He stopped and turned to Téa. "Well, this is our house. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said smiling a bit uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I s'pose so," Téa replied with a smile of her own, "Have a good night."

"You too," Rowen said as she began to walk back towards her house. Téa waved without turning around.

:That is just too strange for words,: Téa thought, :They all have a lot of hidden power. I wonder if they're with the Dynasty. That would really suck 'cuz Sai is really cute. Hell, they're all pretty cute. Well, I better get back to the house so we can talk to that girl that Calypso brought home with her. I can't believe there are five female Ronins and five male. Hmmm- I wonder: Her thoughts were interrupted by an all too familiar noise. She looked up from her musings and her suspicions were confirmed. Not twenty feet away stood Dais, looking very annoyed and very ready to fight. :Shee- it!: was all that she managed to think before he charged.